General Phillippe Mangou has left South African ambassador’s residence, where he sought refuge last week The top army general in Ivory Coast has rejoined government forces days after deserting, providing a rare boost to president Laurent Gbagbo, officials say. General Phillippe Mangou, his wife and five children left the South African ambassador’s residence in Abidjan after fleeing there last week, South Africa’s foreign affairs ministry confirmed. Mangou’s departure had been seen as a blow to Gbagbo, who refuses to cede power to the internationally recognised president, Alassane Ouattara, more than four months after the election. The streets of Abidjan resemble a ghost town as the city’s residents await a final battle for power. Thousands of troops backing Ouattara are massed at a toll booth some 20 miles from the centre of the commercial capital, which has been a fierce battleground over the past four days. Speaking on Sunday on the pro-Ouattara TCI television channel, Ouattara’s prime minister, Guillaume Soro, said their side’s strategy had been to encircle the city, harass Gbagbo’s troops’ positions and gather intelligence on their arsenal. “The situation is now ripe for a lightning offensive,” he said. UN employees were ordered to take refuge inside the basement of their main building. One of the army chief’s aides said Mangou was still supporting Gbagbo despite having fled to the South African ambassador’s residence. “The general is with us and has always been with us,” Lieutenant Jean-Marc Tago said. “Our plan is to defend the institutions of the republic against all its enemies, against the rebels, against the mercenaries, against the [United Nations] and all those who are attacking the institutions of the republic commanded by President Laurent Gbagbo.” There was no confirmation that Mangou, whose house was reportedly looted by pro-Gbagbo youths in his absence, will return to fight for Gbagbo. G4S, a local security company, reported that the two men had met. A Gbagbo spokesman, Ahoua Don Mello, said on state TV: “Phillipe Mangou met with his fellow soldiers on the ground. But we still don’t know if he is willing to return at the helm of affairs. I don’t have enough information about that.” He added: “I saw him today [Sunday] at the residence of the president with his colleagues. He is going to deliver a statement in person, maybe tomorrow.” On Ouattara’s rival TV station, Serges Alla, a journalist, confirmed that Mangou had left the embassy and been picked up by a close collaborator of Gbagbo’s. The journalist added: “Mangou was forced to leave the South African embassy because some of his relatives were made hostage by diehard supporters of Gbagbo, and Gbagbo militiamen were putting pressure on him, saying they would bomb his village if he doesn’t show himself or doesn’t return to the Gbagbo army.” The top UN diplomat in Ivory Coast estimates that up to 50,000 members of Gbagbo’s security force deserted or defected in the hours after the pro-Ouattara forces descended on Abidjan, late on Wednesday. Despite the defections, Gbagbo has surprised many observers by fighting back, issuing a call to arms to his supporters, who descended on his residence on Sunday to form a human shield around it. Pro-Gbagbo forces have wrested back control of the state broadcaster, which at the weekend showed unverified images of Gbagbo calmly sipping tea at what appeared to be his Abidjan residence. Militiamen repeatedly shot at journalists as they tried to approach Abidjan. Leaders around the world, from the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, to the UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, reiterated calls for Gbagbo to step down over the weekend. “There has been too much bloodshed,” Ban said. “I renew my call on Mr Gbagbo to step down to avoid further violence and transfer power immediately to the legitimate general candidate, President Ouattara.” France is sending an extra 150 soldiers from Gabon to Ivory Coast to help protect civilians, a spokesman for the armed forces said. The soldiers’ deployment brings the number of French troops in Ivory Coast to 1,650. The UN has raised concerns about the possible involvement of fighters linked to Ouattara’s forces in hundreds of killings in the west of the country, something the Ouattara camp denies. Ivory Coast Alassane Ouattara Laurent Gbagbo United Nations Hillary Clinton France Gabon Ban Ki-moon David Smith guardian.co.uk
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Soldiers use live ammunition on protesters demanding removal of President Saleh, killing six and wounding more than 30 Yemeni troops have opened fire on crowds of protesters demanding the removal of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, killing six and wounding more than 30 in the second day of clashes in Taiz, witnesses and medical officials said. The bloodshed in the southern city stoked the uprising that has lasted more than a month against Saleh’s 32-year rule. The opposition has held continual protest camps in main squares of cities around Yemen, and on Monday new demonstrations in solidarity with the Taiz protesters erupted in several places. The violence began when thousands of protesters marched through Taiz toward Freedom Square, where demonstrators have been camped out. As the march passed the governor’s headquarters, troops stationed there blocked the procession, and clashes broke out, with some protesters throwing stones, witnesses said. Troops on nearby rooftops opened fire with live ammunition on the crowd. The marchers then besieged the governor’s headquarters, said Bushra al-Maqtara, an opposition activist in Taiz, and other witnesses. At least six protesters were killed and more than 30 wounded, some with gunshots to the head and chest, said Zakariya Abdul-Qader, a doctor at a clinic set up by protesters in Freedom Square. Other doctors at the clinic confirmed the figure. The military has clamped down on the city of nearly half a million, about 120 miles south of the capital, Sana’a. For a second day, tanks and armoured vehicles blocked entrances to the city to prevent outsiders from joining the protests. They also surrounded Freedom Square, containing the thousands in the protest camp and arresting anyone who tried to leave. Saleh’s top security official in Taiz, Abdullah Qiran, is accused by demonstrators of orchestrating some of the most brutal crackdowns, particularly in the southern port town of Aden, where he was stationed until his transfer several weeks ago. Marches in solidarity with the Taiz protesters erupted in the cities of Mukalla, in the east, and Hodeida, on Yemen’s western Red Sea coast. In Hodeida, protesters tried to march on a presidential palace in the city but were blocked by security forces, who opened fire with teargas and live ammunition, said activist Abdel-Hafiz al-Abbasi. He said three people were wounded. Yemen Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East guardian.co.uk
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As thinktank close to No 10 tells David Cameron to slow pace of reforms, health secretary to update MPs on review of plans to create new GP-led consortia The health secretary, Andrew Lansley, will make a statement to MPs about his plans to abolish primary care trusts amid Downing Street fears that he has failed to explain the thinking behind his reforms. As one of the thinktanks closest to No 10 tells David Cameron to slow the pace of health reforms, the prime minister’s spokesman said Lansley would update MPs on a review of his plans to create new GP-led consortia. “There is a job to be done in convincing people of these reforms … which are the right reforms,” the spokesman said. “As a bill progresses through parliament, parliament expresses a view on that and it can be reviewed.” Asked whether Cameron thought Lansley had succeeded in convincing people of the merits of the health and social care bill – which was first introduced to parliament on 19 January – the spokesman said: “We feel there is more work to do.” Lansley will make his statement as the Policy Exchange, the thinktank most closely associated with the Cameron modernisers in the Tory party, warns that the pace of health reforms should be slowed to ensure that GPs feel comfortable in their new role. He will address MPs at around 4.30pm amid concern that the backlash against his plans is putting years of hard work by Cameron to persuade the electorate that the NHS is safe in Tory hands at risk. Nick Clegg is also nervous about the reforms, which appear to run counter to the pledge in the coalition agreement to “stop the top-down reorganisations of the NHS”. Liberal Democrats voted against the reforms at their recent spring conference. Lansley’s plans would transfer about 60% of the NHS budget to GP commissioning consortia, abolish primary care trusts, appoint an independent NHS commissioning board and extend a regulated market in healthcare provision. Cameron’s spokesman insisted the thrust of the reforms was correct, but added that ministers would use the Easter break to put the bill on hold. The announcement of a delay was agreed at a meeting involving Cameron and cabinet colleagues on Thursday. The spokesman said: “We have got to a certain point in the bill. Committee stage [in the commons] has been completed. There is a break now. “[The health secretary] is going to be setting out the next steps. We have a very clear objective in reforming and modernising the health service. We intend to push ahead with this.” The statement by Lansley follows the Policy Exchange warning that the health and social care bill’s proposals to abolish every primary care trust (PCT) by 2013 “could lead to the new structure simply replicating the existing system in all but name”. The report, entitled Implementing GP Commissioning, is based on interviews with the GP leaders or managers of 16 “pathfinder” consortiums, and with other experts. Its findings will add pressure on Cameron to rethink how he sells the reforms and whether they should go ahead at the pace planned, given the growing hostility from GPs. Some of the Policy Exchange ideas would require radical recasting of commissioning. The study concedes that “the government has lost many potential supporters inside and outside the NHS”, and blames the Department of Health for not winning over GPs. It also questions “whether GPs have the necessary skills to run such highly complex operations before the transition to GP commissioning takes places”. Eve Norridge, the lead author of the report, said: “There are many GPs who have the potential to become highly successful commissioners. It would be a loss to everyone, especially patients, if the policy were discredited due to overly hasty implementation. “Ministers need to address GPs’ concerns before loading such huge new responsibilities on their shoulders. “The danger is that GPs take part so reluctantly in the new scheme that it ends up replicating the existing model rather than becoming the new and innovative system the government desires.” The Department of Health has insisted that applications to join the pathfinder projects show real support for the ideas contained in the bill, but others argue that GPs have merely bowed to what they regard as the inevitable. The interviews suggest: • Not abolishing primary care trusts too quickly. PCTs are struggling to deal with the transition because good staff are increasingly leaving, knowing their organisations are set to be abolished in two years’ time. The subsequent loss of expertise is creating a vacuum that is deterring many GPs from trying new and innovative ideas under the new system. • An end to micromanagement. The authors argue that “many GPs are worried about the size of the new commissioning board and whether a culture of bureaucracy is really ending”. The research found some had been pushed into large groups against their will. Others are “facing pressure to employ ex-PCT staff, regardless of whether they are the best people for the job”. • Bringing commissioning decisions much closer to patients. The report says: “This is one of the key aims of the policy, but it is under threat. GP consortia need to be much smaller than existing PCTs. Current projections for the size of GP consortia mean that commissioning could be no closer to patients than it was in 2002.” • A lack of clarification about the framework and terms under which external support providers might operate. • An absence of trust in the new system. The report says: “It is crucial that patients have absolute trust in their GPs if the new system is going to work. Consortia and their GPs should have to declare any hospitality or gifts they receive from providers of NHS care. “The regulator will need to ensure that information is widely available to mitigate against the conflict of interests between GPs’ roles as providers and commissioners of services.” Health policy Andrew Lansley David Cameron Nick Clegg Liberal-Conservative coalition Health NHS GPs Doctors Nicholas Watt Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
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Vast numbers of youth are out of work as the industrial age draws to a close. If we don’t act, generational conflict looms A common thread to the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt and protests elsewhere in the Middle East and north Africa is the soul-crushing high rate of youth unemployment. Twenty-four percent of young people in the region cannot find jobs. To be sure, protesters were also agitating for democracy, but nonexistent employment opportunities were the powerful catalyst. Youth unemployment is similarly dire in other parts of the world. In the UK, young people aged 16 to 24 account for about 40% of all unemployed, which means almost 1 million young adults are jobless. In Spain more than 40% of young people are unemployed. In France the rate is more than 20%, and in the US it’s 21%. In country after country, many young people have given up looking for work. A recent survey in the UK revealed that more than half of the 18- to 25-year-olds questioned said they were thinking of emigrating because of the lack of job prospects. Unemployed young people comprised a large portion of the crowd that marched in London on March 26 to protest against the economic policies of the government. Fortunately, the protest was largely peaceful. But youth unemployment will continue to stay high, and the coalition’s austerity measures are not going to help. We’re deluding ourselves if we believe the young will simply continue to be stoical and deferential to authority. Today’s society is failing to deliver on its promise to young people. We said that if they worked hard, stayed out of trouble, and attended school, they would have a prosperous and fulfilling life. It turns out we were inaccurate, if not dishonest. And then we rub salt in the wound by saying we’re in a “jobless recovery” – an oxymoron to tens of millions of young people who are having their hopes dashed. Widespread youth unemployment is one facet of a deeper failure. The society we are passing to today’s young people is seriously damaged. Most of the institutions that have served us well for decades – even centuries – seem frozen and unable to move forward. The global economy, our financial services industry, governments, healthcare, the media and our institutions for solving global problems like the UN are all struggling. I’m convinced that the industrial age and its institutions are finally running out of gas. It is young people who are bearing the brunt of our failures. Full of zeal and relatively free of responsibilities, youth are traditionally the generation most inclined to question the status quo and authority. Fifty years ago, babyboomers had access to information through the new marvel of television, and as they became university-age and delayed having families, many had time to challenge government policies and social norms. Youth radicalisation swept the world, culminating in explosive protests, violence and government crackdowns across Europe, Asia and North America. In Paris in May 1968 , protests that began as student sit-ins challenging the Charles de Gaulle government and the capitalist system culminated in a two-week general strike involving more than 11 million workers. Youth played a key role in the so-called Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia that same year. In West Germany, the student movement gained momentum in the late 60s. In the US, youth radicalisation began with the civil rights movement and extended into movements for women’s rights and other issues, and culminated in the Vietnam war protests . Young people today have a demographic clout similar to that of their once-rebellious parents. In North America, the baby boom echo is larger than the boom itself. In South America the demographic bulge is huge and even bigger in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. A majority of people in the world are under the age of 30 and a whopping 27% under the age of 15. The 60s baby boomer radicalisation was based on youthful hope and ideology. Protesters championed the opposition to war, a celebration of youth culture, and the possibilities for a new kind of social order. Today’s simmering youth radicalisation is much different. It is rooted not only in unemployment, but personal broken hopes, mistreatment, and injustice. Young people are alienated; witness the dropping young voter turnout for elections. They are turning their backs on the system. Most worryingly, today’s youth have at their fingertips the internet, the most powerful tool ever for finding out what’s going on, informing others and organising collective responses. Internet-based digital tools such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube were instrumental to the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions. We need to make the creation of new jobs a top priority. We need to reinvent our institutions, everything from the financial industry to our models of education and science to kickstart a new global economy. We need to engage today’s young people, not jack up tuition fees and cut back on retraining. We need to nurture their drive, passion and expertise. We need to help them take advantage of new web-based tools and become involved in making the world more prosperous, just and sustainable. If we don’t take such measures, we run the risk of a generational conflict that could make the radicalisation of youth in Europe and North America in the 1960s pale in comparison. Young people Unemployment Protest Internet Social networking Social media Arab and Middle East unrest Don Tapscott guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Motorway closed northbound near Stansted airport after lorries, cars and a coach crash near A11 junction People are thought to be trapped in their vehicles after a pile-up on the M11 near Stansted airport involving four lorries, four cars and a coach shortly before 10am, emergency services said. The motorway remains completely closed northbound, with only the hard shoulder open on the southbound carriageway. An ambulance service spokesman said six ambulances and an air ambulance were at the scene, with reports that people remained trapped inside the coach. There was no immediate word on injuries. The crash happened between Junction 8, the turn-off for Stansted airport in Essex, and Junction 9, for the A11. Cambridgeshire police, which also has responsibility for the section of motorway, said there had also been another, less serious accident on the other carriageway. More details to follow Road transport Peter Walker guardian.co.uk
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Underwater robots discover remains and debris but hunt continues for flight recorders to determine crash’s cause Investigators have found bodies among the wreckage of an Air France plane discovered around 4,000 metres (2.5 miles) deep in the Atlantic Ocean, nearly two years after it dropped out of the sky. Flight AF447 from Rio to Paris disappeared on 1 June 2009, killing all 228 people on board . In the days after the crash around 50 bodies and several hundred aircraft parts were picked up out of the water. Despite three costly searches, nothing more was found until Sunday, when undersea robots discovered part of the aeroplane’s cabin containing bodies. The gruesome find shows the aircraft did not smash to pieces when it hit the sea, as previously thought. However French officials said they had not yet located the flight recorders from the Airbus A330, which would enable them to establish the precise cause of the crash. Investigators say without the black boxes, the cause may never be determined. The French transport minister, Thierry Mariani, told a radio station that “bodies have been found” but said he would not give any more details until the victims’ families had been informed. Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, minister for environment and transport issues, was more direct: “In the past we found the tail, pieces scattered about, but this time we have found a large part of the plane surrounded by debris, she told French radio. “I’m not an expert but everything didn’t explode. There is part of the cabin and in this cabin there are bodies.” She said it was possible that the bodies might be identified. A statement from the French air investigation unit, the Bureau d’enquÍtes et d’analyses (BEA), said the latest search for the plane, that began a fortnight ago, had discovered the engines, landing gear, and wing parts. They were discovered by underwater robots operating off an expedition ship at a depth of between 3,800 – 4,000 metres. “The good news is that the area over which the debris is scattered is relatively concentrated. Because of this we hope to find the black boxes,” BEA director Jean-Paul Troadec said. Air France director Pierre-Henri Gourgeon added the find was good news. “It brings hope that we will finally have information a bout the cause of this accident that until now remains unexplained.” In the days after the crash, only a small percentage of the aircraft and around 50 bodies were picked up out of the water. Nothing else has been found until now despite three costly searches. Preliminary investigations have claimed the aircraft, which was flying through a high-altitude thunderstorm when it disappeared, may have suffered a failure of its speed sensors. Both Air France and Airbus have been put under investigation for manslaughter. Robert Soulas, the vice-president of a crash victims’ association, described the find as “excellent news”, that might finally reveal “the truth about this crash”. Plane crashes France Airline industry Kim Willsher guardian.co.uk
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Discipline rules grant heads right to charge pupils who make false allegations about teachers Schools have become adept at hiding their naughtiest pupils and worst teachers from inspectors, the education secretary has warned. Michael Gove said it was impossible to know the extent of poor behaviour in England’s schools because teachers had told him that, on the day of an inspection, they had learned to “invite” the worst teachers to stay at home and ensure the best ones were patrolling the corridors. However, Gove said he believed there was a “real behaviour problem in some of our schools”. Speaking at the launch of new guidance on discipline, he said the single biggest reason why teachers left the profession was poor behaviour, and what stopped many graduates from becoming teachers was the fear that they may not be safe in the classroom. “We rely on Ofsted – the school inspectorate – to let us know how behaviour is in many schools … One school I visited told me that teachers had become experts in showing their best face for inspectors.” Gove has introduced no-notice inspections to try to ensure Ofsted sees the true picture, but only a handful of schools have been subjected to these unexpected visits. The new guidance on discipline gives headteachers the right to press criminal charges against pupils who make malicious allegations about their teachers. It states that schools will no longer have to automatically suspend teachers accused of using unreasonable force towards a pupil, and insists that malicious allegations should not be included in teachers’ employment records. The education bill making its way through the Commons gives teachers the right to search pupils for banned items, such as mobile phones, and removes the requirement to give parents a day’s notice of a detention. Charlie Taylor, the government’s new behaviour tsar and the headteacher of a school for children with special needs in west London, said many teachers wanted more training in how to cope with unruly behaviour. He said schools should consider hiring psychotherapists to help teachers. “Pupils need to have high expectations, rules and boundaries. In deprived areas, we need to do a lot more for pupils.” Gove said: “There has to be a sharper focus on schools where behaviour is not what it should be.” Pupil behaviour Teaching Schools Michael Gove Education policy Jessica Shepherd guardian.co.uk
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The US version of the hit crime series begins effectively enough – but it’s haunted by the ghost of the Danish original When it was announced that AMC, the channel behind Mad Men, was making an American version of The Killing, my first reaction was: Why? Even if they believed Americans incapable of watching a subtitled a show, surely US television bosses couldn’t hope to capture the spirit of Forbrydelsen, with its lengthy pauses and satisfyingly complicated, slow-burning storylines, Wouldn’t a US version soften Sarah Lund’s sharp edges, trying to make this most dysfunctional of heroines more likeable? And – most importantly of all – what would happen to the knitwear? Fans of the latter can rest assured. The jumpers are still present – although Lund has become Linden, the murdered girl is now Rosie Larsen and we’re are in Seattle, the only place in America as wet as The Killing’s Copenhagen. There are other changes too – Veena Sud, the show’s executive producer, has compared the US version to jazz: “We get to riff off a really beautiful piece, but we tell our own story” – the biggest difference of all being that the killer and the motive are apparently completely different. That’s perhaps understandable in our spoiler-ridden internet age. But it’s also a pretty risky move, as anyone who sat through the US remake of Life on Mars, only to be confronted with an ending so laughably ridiculous that it practically induced retinal bleeding, could tell you. The US Killing is unlikely to collapse in quite the same way, although its worth noting that one of the most satisfying things about the original was that the killer not only made sense, the clues as to why had been carefully sewn from the beginning. There is one other change, which concerns Linden’s character: according to Sud, Linden is hiding a secret. It’s a tired plot device that seems unlikely to illuminate the character. Much of the power of Forbrydelsen lay in Lund – a tightly wound woman unable to communicate with those closest to her – and how she differed from the standard TV cop. By contrast Linden, although still contemplative and aloof, is much more like the driven female cops on US TV that we’re used to seeing from The Closer to Saving Grace. It comes as no surprise to discover that Sud was also executive producer of Cold Case. So given the differences, is the remake actually any good? It’s been ecstatically reviewed in the US and it’s true that the first episode is compelling, clever television with a good performance from Big Love’s Mireille Enos as Linden and a particularly powerful turn from Michelle Forbes as the missing girl’s mother, now named Mitch. That said, it’s hard to judge the show as an original piece of work, not least because the first two episodes stick pretty closely to the original, establishing the story and introducing us to the different, interconnecting strands. It’s also arguable that, good as the Danish version is, at least half of the joy of the programme derived from it being set in a world that was alien to British viewers, who enjoyed pronouncing the names, staring at the gloomy scenery and attempting to unravel the intricacies of a different political and police system. By contrast the American police procedural is so ingrained in our cultural experience that AMC’s version has to work twice as hard to capture its audience and make them believe they are seeing something we haven’t seen countless times before. In this it is largely successful: the pace is slower than your average US cop drama, the dialogue less forced, and the characterisation strong. If I hadn’t seen the original then I would be phoning people up to speculate as to who the killer might be – which is just what the Americans with whom I watched the first episode were doing. The problem is that, like everyone else who has been glued to BBC4 for the past few weeks, I have seen the original and it’s impossible not to think of it when watching the new version. And while Sarah Linden is a smart, interesting and pretty believable cop, at this (admittedly early) stage in the game she’s no Sarah Lund. The Killing Television US television Sarah Hughes guardian.co.uk
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Promoter Live Nation pulls concert for victims of the Japan earthquake and tsunami after failing to secure enough artists Organisers have called off plans for a massive “supergig”, which was to benefit the relief effort in Japan. Live Nation was reportedly “unable to secure artists” for the Wembley Arena concert in London, which was to be broadcast worldwide. Promoters had been working with major labels Sony and Universal to organise a gigantic fundraiser on 14 April, with plans to involve world-class artists. It was to be “a huge global spectacle” and “the biggest concert in years”, according to sources . “No names have been confirmed yet but the organisers are expecting a massive response from acts of all eras.” Unfortunately, those names failed to materialise. “[With just] days to go to the proposed Concert for Japan, sadly we are in a position where we have been unable to secure the artists required to produce the worldwide TV broadcast that we had hoped for and have therefore very reluctantly decided to proceed no further,” a spokesperson for Live Nation told Music Week . Despite the cancellation of this mega-benefit, a smaller event was held at London’s Brixton Academy on Sunday night, raising funds for the British Red Cross Japan Tsunami appeal . Headlined by Beady Eye, the gig also featured Graham Coxon, Paul Weller, Richard Ashcroft, and Primal Scream performing with guest bassist Glenn Matlock, from the Sex Pistols. Pop and rock Charities Japan disaster Japan Sean Michaels guardian.co.uk
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As shared parental leave arrives, Dads should grasp the chance to bring up baby, writes Anthony Herbert New rules start today that mean fathers can share parental leave with their partners when a child is born.
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