“State abortion rights test limits of Roe v. Wade” reads a teaser headline on CBSNews.com's front page this afternoon. The link brings readers to an article by Stephanie Condon entitled ” Abortion battles spring up nationwide as states test the limits of Roe v. Wade “: In Ohio on March 2, two fetuses “testified” before the Ohio House on behalf of the so-called “heartbeat bill.” The hearing room was packed with spectators who listened to the rapid, gentle pulsing of the heartbeat from a 15-week old fetus, and the barely audible heartbeat of a nine-week old fetus.
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Producers searching for someone with ‘the right mix of raw charm and charisma’ to portray the late rapper Tupac Shakur lookalikes have been offered the chance of screen stardom after a website invited online auditions for the lead in a biopic of the late rapper. Insearchoftupac.skeetv.com calls on would-be actors to download and perform a scene from the film as well as their favourite Tupac track. The scene appears to be a courtroom monologue in which the rapper protests: “I just don’t wanna be the scapegoat. I just wanna be. I wanna be.” The auditions are to run until 30 April. Morgan Creek Productions plans to start shooting its version of the music star’s life story this summer, with Training Day’s Antoine Fuqua in the director’s chair. Producer David Robinson told the Hollywood Reporter : “We’re looking for someone with the right mix of raw charm and charisma for the role. At this point, we’re more concerned about finding someone with the ability to give their entire heart into the performance than just looks and personality.” Shakur was shot dead in Las Vegas in 1996, curtailing a career that appeared to be hitting new heights following the success of his album All Eyez on Me. The rapper continued to sell millions of albums after his death, however, with a string of posthumous releases. In addition to his musical projects, he appeared in a number of films including 1993′s Poetic Justice, in which he starred opposite Janet Jackson. Shakur’s work and untimely death imbued him with near-mythical status in the eyes of some hip-hop fans, and he continues to inspire devotion. One follower reacted with dismay to news of the current casting call, saying on YouTube : “It’s impossible to find somebody to play Tupac or even tell a story about him. He was like the most complex man in the past decades! It’s like making another Mona Lisa with a cell phone. It’s not gonna work!” Rap Hip-hop Urban music Ian J Griffiths guardian.co.uk
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Government spokesman says the education secretary is ‘crystal clear’ that teaching creationism is at odds with scientific fact The Department for Education has said Michael Gove is “crystal clear that teaching creationism is at odds with scientific fact” after a warning that the government’s new free schools could be exploited by fundamentalist churches looking to promote a literal interpretation of the Bible. The remarks follow a letter to the education secretary from the British Centre for Science Education (BCSE) suggesting that creationists planned to use government legislation on free schools to mount a “concerted attack” on science education. Free schools can be set up by charities, universities, businesses, educational groups, teachers and groups of parents. They will have more freedom over the contents of their curriculum, leading to fears that science teaching in the schools may not be as rigorous. Teachers working at free schools will also not need to have formal teaching qualifications. The BCSE, which describes itself as the leading anti-creationist organisation in Europe, wrote to Gove to express its “extreme concern” at applications from groups such as the Everyday Champions Church and the Christian Schools Trust to run free schools. The trust has already had one proposal accepted. A primary school in Hampstead “with a distinctive Christian ethos that permeates every aspect of school life” will open in September. The BCSE says the trust has four applications outstanding. The Everyday Champions Church, in Newark, Nottinghamshire, submitted its proposal for a 652-place school in January, shortly before the DfE held its first free school conference where Gove said he would consider applications from creationist groups on a case-by-case basis. On its website the church says it has “660 children ‘definitely’ signed up to the school and 185 considering”. It spent January and February carrying out public presentations and found parental response “overwhelmingly positive”. “Creationism will be embodied as a belief at Everyday Champions Academy, but will not be taught in the sciences,” said its leader Gareth Morgan. “Similarly, evolution will be taught as a theory. We believe children should have a broad knowledge of all theories in order that they can make informed choice.” The DfE spokesman said groups setting up new free schools in the UK will be vetted to ensure that they have “strong education aims” and “high curriculum standards”. He said: “The education secretary is crystal clear that teaching creationism is at odds with scientific fact. Ministers have said they will not accept any proposal where there are concerns about the people behind the project.” In the letter from the BCSE, Professor Paul Braterman wrote that the embodiment of creationism “as a belief” could only mean that science was “subordinate to religious considerations, and that the central concepts of the natural sciences, as developed over the past 350 years, must be rejected as doctrinally unsound.” In an accompanying report, the BCSE recommended the DfE “carefully vet” free school applications and “be very wary” of approving applications from creationist groups. Last July, Gove acknowledged there were concerns about “inappropriate faith groups using this legislation to push their own agenda.” The education secretary, who was addressing MPs on the cross-party Commons education committee, said his department was working on the regulations to ensure there were no “extremist groups taking over schools”. Braterman claimed that teaching in schools run by such groups in Sweden forced a revision of the original “friskolor” legislation there, making free schools subject to the same regulations that ensure teaching is objective as traditional schools. Evolution Biology Creationism Religion Free schools Teaching Michael Gove Riazat Butt guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Security firm to provide 10,000 guards to patrol London Games venues in 2012 Organisers of the 2012 Olympic games have signed a £100m deal with the security firm G4S to provide 10,000 guards to patrol venues during the event. Under the £757m security plan developed for the Games, the government is responsible for policing outside the venues and the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games must provide security inside the park in east London. Mark Hamilton, G4S’s managing director of security services for the Games, said it would dwarf similar events in terms of size and complexity. “Nothing compares to the Olympic Games in scale and complexity. But we’ve got decades of experience managing large-scale events such as Wimbledon, the Grand National at Wembley, music festivals and the G20 summit in London,” he said. “This is where the breadth of our experience comes in, in particular across the field of sports. We’re well versed with managing security needs for large sporting events and understand the need for maintaining the visiting experience. It’s about making sure staff are aware this is a unique visitor experience.” Like the police, the company’s staff will have to walk the line between tight security and a welcoming atmosphere. Hamilton also said the company was working on new methods of reducing queuing time by ensuring that entrance searches were conducted as quickly as possible. But the appointment of G4S could prove controversial if the Crown Prosecution Service decides to pursue a case of corporate manslaughter against the company. Last week it emerged that Scotland Yard is considering charging G4S over the death of an Angolan deportee . Passengers on the British Airways flight in October told police they saw three G4S guards heavily restraining Jimmy Mubenga, who had been complaining of breathing difficulties before he collapsed. The guards were later arrested and have been bailed until 4 May. They could face manslaughter charges. However, sources with knowledge of the case have said police are also considering passing a file to the CPS recommending a corporate manslaughter charge against G4S. The company earns more than £600m from the UK government for services including the running of four prisons, three immigration removal centres and 675 court and police cells, and is the second-largest private employer in the world, boasting a £7bn turnover. G4S said in a statement last week: “As this is the subject of an on-going investigation, we are unable to comment as this time. We can confirm that G4S has received no approach at this time from the authorities in relation to the company’s position and potential liabilities. Olympic Games 2012 G4S G4S London Owen Gibson Matthew Taylor guardian.co.uk
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• Military action against Libya to continue into third night • Disputes over whether Gaddafi is a legitimate target • Four New York Times journalists freed • Read our latest summary of events • Read our latest Libya news story 6.50pm: Another picture has emerged of the New York Times journalists, including a Briton, who were freed earlier today. It shows them taking cover in a construction pipe near Ben Jawat, Libya, on 6 March before they were captured. Another Briton is among four al-Jazeera journalists who are still being held in Libya. The prime minister, David Cameron, praised the work of journalists in Libya in the House of Commons this afternoon. 6.42pm: Our political editor, Patrick Wintour, has more on the apparent differences between the British military leadership and their political masters over the legality of taking out Gaddafi. He says Downing Street has appeared to side with the defence secretary Liam Fox against the chief of the defence staff Sir David Richards, by saying the removal of Gaddafi through military targeting is lawful under the UN security council resolution, if Gaddafi is threatening civilian lives. Earlier Richards had said Gaddafi “is absolutely not a target”. But Patrick points out that the Downing Street spokesman has taken a different line. The PM’s spokesman said: “The security council resolution provides for a wide range of action – all necessary measures – but that action must be in the pursuit of the objectives that are set out, and obviously we will act according to that security council resolution and any action we take and any targets will be legitimate targets. One of the objectives of the resolution is the protection of civilians”. He stressed the resolution did not give legal authority to bring about Gaddafi’s removal of power by military means. The stated objective is a no-fly zone and protection of civilians. He added: “Our targets will be chosen to meet those objectives – prevent attacks on civilians and achieve a no-fly zone – but we will not be giving a running commentary on those targets.” The dispute over the interpretation of the security council resolution goes beyond an argument inside the British government and has implications for the breadth of Arab and international support. The US defence secretary Robert Gates had said it is unwise to describe Gaddafi as a legitimate target, and many Arabs fear the west may be going beyond establishing a no-fly zone and is instead making regime change an objective of the current coalition military offensive, rather than a broad policy aspiration of the government. 6.30pm: Good evening and welcome to our continuing coverage of events in Libya. You can catch up with earlier coverage here . • The legality of targeting Gaddafi appears to be causing differences of opinion in Britain and the US. Downing Street has briefed that while removing the Libyan leaders is not an aim of the UN resolution, were it to be necessary to do so in order to fulfil the resolution’s aim of protecting civilians, it would be legal. But the US Army’s General Carter Ham said attacking the Libyan leader was not part of his mission and Britain’s General Sir David Richards, said Gaddafi was “absolutely not” a target and “it is not allowed under the UN resolution”. • The Commons debate on the situation in Libya is ongoing. David Cameron told MPs coalition forces have largely neutralised Libyan air defences. He said action had come “in the nick of time”. Cameron said that Britain thought Libya would be better off without Colonel Gaddafi, but that it was only intervening militarily to enforce the UN resolution and that the Libyans would have to decide Gaddafi’s fate. Andrew Sparrow’s full coverage of the debate continues here. • Military sources have told the Guardian that action will continue against the Libyan regime for a third night, as more details of earlier operations have been revealed. Last night the military coalition imposing the no-fly zone flew 70 to 80 sorties and fired 10 to 12 missiles. An RAF Tornado bombing run over Libya was aborted as civilians and journalists were identified within the target area – specifically a CNN journalist reporting live at the time. • Vladimir Putin has compared the UN resolution authorising military action in Libya to “medieval calls for crusades”. The Russian prime minister said: “The resolution is defective and flawed” … “It allows everything.” Russia abstained from voting on the resolution. • Four New York Times journalists being held in Libya have been freed. The paper said the Libyan authorities had released Anthony Shadid, Tyler Hicks, Lynsey Addario and Stephen Farrell. They have now left the country. Four al-Jazeera journalists, including a Briton, are still being held. Libya Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Military Muammar Gaddafi Ben Quinn guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …There is a writer who actually believes that Sarah Palin has a coherent foreign-policy doctrine, and uses Ahmed Chalabi — the scam artist who helped George W. Bush sucker the rest of us into invading Iraq — as a credible source of information. His name is Benyamin Korn: The call by the Arab League for Western military intervention in an Arab state — in this case asking that a UN “no-fly zone” be imposed over Libya – is not only without precedent but it puts in formal terms what Governor Palin stated three weeks ago should have been America’s response to the political and humanitarian crisis now unfolding there. The former GOP vice presidential candidate was being interviewed on February 23rd on national television by Sean Hannity on a range of issues. On the Libya crisis, she proposed a no-fly zone to protect the armed and un-armed opposition to the Qaddafi regime. Mrs. Palin’s formulation had been blogged about for nearly a week when it was echoed by the man who, before the Iraq war, had led the Iraq democratic movement in exile, Ahmed Chalabi. A long-time foe of Saddam Hussein who has emerged as a leading figure in Iraq’s democratically elected legislature. Mr Chalabi recounted in the Wall Street Journal how President George H. W. Bush’s 1991 call for a popular uprising against Saddam had been heeded by the Iraqi people, only to have Saddam then murder some 30,000 of them from helicopter gunships while the Western world stood by. Not again, Mr. Chalabi pleaded in his essay, and explicitly demanded a Libyan no-fly zone. But it now it seems Qaddafi will be allowed to repeat a Saddam-style repression, even as President Obama, and the rest of what he likes to call the international community, is “watching carefully.” Mrs. Palin also continues to link America’s energy policy — a realm in which she has experience — and U.S. foreign and anti-terrorism policies. She recognizes that the ongoing transfer of billions of U.S. petro-dollars to unstable or even hostile Mideast regimes has, since the formation in 1973 of the Organization of Petoleum Exporting Countries, been an drain on U.S. financial resources. In a critique of Mr. Obama’s energy policies published yesterday at about the same time the Arab League was adopting her prescription for a Libya no-fly zone, Mrs. Palin laid out how the president’s “war on domestic oil and gas exploration and production has caused us pain at the pump, endangered our already sluggish economic recovery, and threatened our national security.” Nor is Gov. Palin’s insight into complex international issues limited to areas of her immediate expertise … read on Chalabi is the opportunist hack who misled our media into transmitting the phony arguments that supported George Bush’s war against Iraq. He’s like a Zombie that doesn’t die . Once the Villagers trust a liar of the highest order like Chalabi to mislead a nation into one of the worst foreign policy decisions in the history of America, don’t be surprised if they let him do it again. And Benyamin Korn actually attaches his lies to this new “Palin Doctrine.” It’s simply remarkable. The word expertise and Palin mix as well as oil and water. The views attributed to Palin are nothing more than typical right-wing talking points — the point of parody. At first I thought it was written by The Onion . (h/t Jason)
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Should it be run by writers? Take over the King’s? With director Dominic Hill heading for Glasgow, now is the time for the Traverse to get experimental once again The rumours were right. Dominic Hill, the most widely tipped candidate in the theatre bars of Scotland, has landed the job of artistic director of Glasgow’s Citizens theatre . He will move to Gorbals Street in October after directing Philip Massinger’s The City Madam at the RSC in May, and overseeing his final Edinburgh fringe season as artistic director of the Traverse in August. The first indication of his plans for the Citz comes in an interview with the Herald , in which he proposes to reinvent the theatre and put classical work on the main stage: “I want to draw on the history of the building,” he tells the newspaper, “and what that stage is brilliant at doing – theatre that is both epic and intimate, with a dynamic, almost rough quality to it that is both exciting to be part of and to see.” For the Citizens, it is an opportunity to reclaim the reputation it once had under the long-serving directorial triumvirate of Giles Havergal, Philip Prowse and the late Robert David MacDonald who, in the early 1970s, established the company as an outpost of exotic European style. It was a tough act to follow and Jeremy Raison, who stepped down as artistic director in October after seven years, cannot be blamed if he did not live up to it. Hill may fare better. His accolades at the critics’ awards for theatre in Scotland say it all. First at Dundee Rep then at the Traverse, he has picked up the best production award three times – for Scenes from an Execution (2004), Peer Gynt (2008) and The Dark Things (2010). In two of those years he was fending off competition from his own productions. Where, though, does that leave the Traverse, Scotland’s self-styled home of new writing? Hill’s departure has come round sooner than the Cambridge Street theatre would have liked, but he has made his mark both in the productions themselves (other highlights include Edward Albee’s The Goat and Chris Hannan’s The Three Musketeers and the Princess of Spain ) and in the general level of activity in the building. Having brought Manipulate , the adult puppetry festival, with him from Dundee, he introduced a cross-disciplinary autumn festival and supported a raft of music and script-reading nights, helping create more of a buzz at the venue, even if the famous bar is not the social fulcrum it once was. It would not be a disaster if his replacement simply offered more of the same. Directors who might want to consider the job and have strong new-writing credentials include John Tiffany, of the National Theatre of Scotland, Roxana Silbert, ex-Paines Plough and now with the RSC, and former Traverse associate director Lorne Campbell. But what more radical possibilities are there? What could happen to make the Traverse not merely good but essential? One option would be to remember the theatre’s core function and hand it over to the playwrights. That British theatres tend to be run by directors is not an inevitability. There was a time in the 1980s, for example, when the Liverpool Playhouse was run by Alan Bleasdale, Chris Bond, Bill Morrison and Willy Russell. And Alan Ayckbourn set a powerful precedent in Scarborough. Put in a call to the Scottish Society of Playwrights and a very different vision of how the theatre should be run might emerge. Or maybe it’s time for the Traverse to catch up with performance art again. The theatre’s origins lie in the experimental work of the 1960s, but today’s Edinburgh audiences have to venture to Glasgow, and venues such as the Arches and the Tramway, for their avant garde fix (although, to be fair, Glasgow audiences often have to venture to Edinburgh for a decent play). Third suggestion: what about exploiting the close proximity of the Traverse, the Royal Lyceum and the King’s (which, after all, is struggling to make ends meet ) and putting them all under a single heavy-hitting artistic management? A big-name international director might not be enticed by the Traverse on its own, but might relish the flexibility of working on four different-sized stages and developing a dynamic relationship between them. It’d be a big organisational shift, but perhaps it could change the list of candidates from the usual suspects to the truly inspirational. Theatre Mark Fisher guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Should it be run by writers? Take over the King’s? With director Dominic Hill heading for Glasgow, now is the time for the Traverse to get experimental once again The rumours were right. Dominic Hill, the most widely tipped candidate in the theatre bars of Scotland, has landed the job of artistic director of Glasgow’s Citizens theatre . He will move to Gorbals Street in October after directing Philip Massinger’s The City Madam at the RSC in May, and overseeing his final Edinburgh fringe season as artistic director of the Traverse in August. The first indication of his plans for the Citz comes in an interview with the Herald , in which he proposes to reinvent the theatre and put classical work on the main stage: “I want to draw on the history of the building,” he tells the newspaper, “and what that stage is brilliant at doing – theatre that is both epic and intimate, with a dynamic, almost rough quality to it that is both exciting to be part of and to see.” For the Citizens, it is an opportunity to reclaim the reputation it once had under the long-serving directorial triumvirate of Giles Havergal, Philip Prowse and the late Robert David MacDonald who, in the early 1970s, established the company as an outpost of exotic European style. It was a tough act to follow and Jeremy Raison, who stepped down as artistic director in October after seven years, cannot be blamed if he did not live up to it. Hill may fare better. His accolades at the critics’ awards for theatre in Scotland say it all. First at Dundee Rep then at the Traverse, he has picked up the best production award three times – for Scenes from an Execution (2004), Peer Gynt (2008) and The Dark Things (2010). In two of those years he was fending off competition from his own productions. Where, though, does that leave the Traverse, Scotland’s self-styled home of new writing? Hill’s departure has come round sooner than the Cambridge Street theatre would have liked, but he has made his mark both in the productions themselves (other highlights include Edward Albee’s The Goat and Chris Hannan’s The Three Musketeers and the Princess of Spain ) and in the general level of activity in the building. Having brought Manipulate , the adult puppetry festival, with him from Dundee, he introduced a cross-disciplinary autumn festival and supported a raft of music and script-reading nights, helping create more of a buzz at the venue, even if the famous bar is not the social fulcrum it once was. It would not be a disaster if his replacement simply offered more of the same. Directors who might want to consider the job and have strong new-writing credentials include John Tiffany, of the National Theatre of Scotland, Roxana Silbert, ex-Paines Plough and now with the RSC, and former Traverse associate director Lorne Campbell. But what more radical possibilities are there? What could happen to make the Traverse not merely good but essential? One option would be to remember the theatre’s core function and hand it over to the playwrights. That British theatres tend to be run by directors is not an inevitability. There was a time in the 1980s, for example, when the Liverpool Playhouse was run by Alan Bleasdale, Chris Bond, Bill Morrison and Willy Russell. And Alan Ayckbourn set a powerful precedent in Scarborough. Put in a call to the Scottish Society of Playwrights and a very different vision of how the theatre should be run might emerge. Or maybe it’s time for the Traverse to catch up with performance art again. The theatre’s origins lie in the experimental work of the 1960s, but today’s Edinburgh audiences have to venture to Glasgow, and venues such as the Arches and the Tramway, for their avant garde fix (although, to be fair, Glasgow audiences often have to venture to Edinburgh for a decent play). Third suggestion: what about exploiting the close proximity of the Traverse, the Royal Lyceum and the King’s (which, after all, is struggling to make ends meet ) and putting them all under a single heavy-hitting artistic management? A big-name international director might not be enticed by the Traverse on its own, but might relish the flexibility of working on four different-sized stages and developing a dynamic relationship between them. It’d be a big organisational shift, but perhaps it could change the list of candidates from the usual suspects to the truly inspirational. Theatre Mark Fisher guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Sources: AT&T Will Face ‘Thorough Investigation’ In Proposed T-Mobile Merger
March 21, 2011 No Comment
enlarge This was my first thought when I heard the news : Are the feds really going to let this merger go through? It sounds as though I’m not the only person who had that reaction. But then, I still don’t understand how the Comcast/NBC merger went through, either: The surprising announcement that AT&T Inc. would acquire T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom AG in a $39 billion merger leaves one giant question mark: Will the U.S. government approve an acquisition that most experts thought was unthinkable until recently? At the very least, most technology, finance and policy experts say the combination of the second and fourth largest providers of U.S wireless service by revenue will face a rocky road as the two companies seek approval from government regulators. First, AT&T will need the FCC’s approval to acquire T-Mobile’s spectrum licenses. But the deal is also certain to face a thorough investigation by the Justice Department, according to people familiar with the matter. The merger is likely to be of particular concern to antitrust enforcers because the industry’s two dominant companies—Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Vodafone Group PLC and Verizon Communications Inc., and AT&T—are already so far ahead of anyone else, raising the specter of an effective duopoly in mobile telephony. Antitrust enforcers would likely have taken a more benign view of a potential merger of Sprint Nextel Corp. and T-Mobile USA which would have created a larger third player to compete with the top two providers, those people said. Herbert Hovenkamp, a law professor at the University of Iowa who specializes in antitrust matters, said the deal would also have a hard time meeting the new merger guidelines recently issued by the Department of Justice. “It’s a pretty highly concentrated market,” he said. “The guidelines would say this is a highly questionable merger unless there is a significant provable efficiency. This will get fairly close scrutiny.”
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