It’s 10 years since Apple’s original iPod shuffled on to the scene, changing the way we listen to and buy music for
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The Gruffalo cake is fun and simple to make – and has a red nose because he’s supporting Comic Relief
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Deputy prime minister had been due to argue case for a change to ‘new and better’ voting system at Lib Dem yes to AV campaign Nick Clegg has pulled out of the launch of the Liberal Democrats’ yes to AV campaign launch to attend an emergency cabinet meeting on Libya . The deputy prime minister was planning to defy calls for him to “lie low” in the referendum for voting system reform by speaking at the launch of the Liberal Democrats’ yes to AV campaign launch in Manchester on Friday, which will now go ahead without him. Clegg was forced to ditch his plans as the cabinet met to prepare plans to protect the Libyan rebel stronghold of Benghazi after the UN security council voted in favour of a no-fly zone and air strikes against Muammar Gaddafi’s forces. The Liberal Democrat leader was billed to argue the case for a change to a “new and better” voting system “with passion”. The alternative vote is not proportional and was described by Clegg before the general election as a “miserable little compromise”, but it was the best the Lib Dems could secure in coalition negotiations with the Tories as a step change away from first past the post system. The issue has drawn dividing lines between him and David Cameron, who in line with the vast majority of his MPs is in favour of the existing system. Labour is split on the issue, with many high-profile veteran MPs and peers leading a vocal no campaign at odds with Miliband’s support for the change. Clegg had prepared to cast the referendum as a battle “not between left and right” but between “reformers and conservatives”. AV Electoral reform Liberal Democrats Liberal-Conservative coalition Hélène Mulholland guardian.co.uk
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• UN backs no-fly zone and air strikes against Libya • Arab countries to join operation • Gaddafi denounces vote as ‘flagrant colonisation’ • US and UK play down prospect of immediate strikes • Read the Guardian’s main news story on the crisis 10.14am: : ABC, the Australian news channel, reports that hours before the decision was taken on the no-fly zone, a power station was bombed outside Benghazi . Separately, below the line thea1mighty has posted a link to this Youtube footage of a fuel tank that was apparently bombed at Ezwetina power station, outside Ajdabiya overnight. thea1mighty writes: This was a fuel tank that was bombed. This station is holding power grids which lights up the whole area from Sirt along to Benghazi, so if it will catch all fire and burn then we will have no light no more at all we will lose power by the end of the day tomorrow because it’s catching fire all over. They are trying to control it. 10.03am: Al Arabiya news channel is reporting that an unspecified number of people were killed and wounded in the raids on Misurata this morning . The television station also said several mosques, schools and residential buildings were badly damaged in the attack on the city, about 200 km (130 miles) east of Tripoli. “This morning I spoke to a doctor in Misrata, there is heavy bombardment there, explosions inside the city,” Tariq, a doctor from Misrata who now lives in Britain told Al Arabiya. He said he spoke by phone to colleagues and relatives there on Friday morning. “They cannot send out any ambulances. They think it’s artillery and tanks, shelling, not air strikes. It’s very worrying,” he said. 9.52am: Kim Willsher reports from Paris that France is “ready to launch air strikes on Libya within the next few hours” – according to a spokesman for the French government. Kim says British planes are also on standby to start the first attack – “which sources say will involve a joint operation of six French and six British planes”. Here’s more from Kim: Speaking on French radio government spokesman Francois Baroin said military intervention against Colonel Gaddafi would happen “rapidly…in a few hours” but said he would not say “when, how, on what targets and in what form”. “France will take part in military operations agains Libya,” Baroin said adding “it is not a question of occupying Libyan territory…but a tool of a military nature to protect the Libyan people and allow them to achieve their aim of liberty and therefore the fall of the Gaddafi regime.” “The French, who were at the forefront of this demand (for intervention) will naturally follow through with a military intervention in which they will participate.” He said he was disappointed the Germans had not supported the French and British over the United Nations resolution approving the imposition of a no fly zone and targeted strikes on Libya. Ten countries approved the vote of the UN Security Council, while five countries, including Germany, Russia and China abstained. 9.46am: @ChangeinLibya tweets on the situation in Misrata: Misrata is reported to be under a huge armoured attack but the revolutionaries captured a few and burnt others there today. #libya #feb17 9.43am: Following Eurocontrol’s tweet that Tripoli is “not accepting any traffic”. Twitter user @mpoppel asked if that means all airports in Libya are closed, Eurocontrol replied: “As I understand, it means that Libya has closed its airspace”. 9.37am: Europe’s air traffic control agency says Libya has closed its airspace to all traffic. Eurocontrol told airlines: “The latest information from Malta indicates that Tripoli (air control centre) does not accept traffic.” The agency’s map of air traffic over Europe and the Mediterranean showed that Libyan air space was off limits. 9.35am: My colleague, Hélène Mulholland, has some British reaction to the UN vote. Colonel Bob Stewart, Conservative MP for Beckenham and former commander of UN forces in Bosnia, said the no fly zone should be easier than the one in Bosnia, which he said “wasn’t effective”. “I’m quite certain it’s a different situation in Libya. You’ve only got to protect the coastal literal where the population are and it’s a relatively easier than flying above the mountains of Bosnia. So this is going to be a tremendous boost to the so called rebels and it will give Gaddafi a headache because he will have to try and work out whether to push on hard and get through to Benghazi.” Sir Jeremy Greenstock, former UK ambassador to the UN, said the aim of the resolution had to be to end the Gaddafi regime. “It’s not the point to have no Libyan aircraft flying, the point is to stop Libyan tanks, Libyan artillery, and Libyan troops murdering their own people and that’s going to be quite difficult still from the sky,” he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. “Success is the end of this regime. Otherwise we are up there flying for a very long time if they are still in Tripoli and he [Gaddafi] will come back if we go away. The future is pretty misty on that front. So we want this regime to go. and maybe people around him will desert him when they see the odds are stacked against him.” 9.15am: The rebel-held town of Misrata, in western Libya, has come under fire from tanks and heavy artillery from Gaddafi’s forces, according to the Al Arabiya news channel. “The bombardment started about two or three hours ago, and has continued until now,” Saadoun al-Misrati, an anti-Gaddafi protester told Al Arabiya. He said it was a heavy bombardment using tanks and heavy artillery targeting civilians. Al Arabiya also reported there were an unspecified number of killed and wounded in the attack. Rebels in Misrata, the last big opposition stronghold in western Libya, had earlier said they were preparing for a new attack on Thursday and had rejected reported offers from the government to negotiate their surrender. 9.12am: The Americans said it was crucial to get Arab support before they agreed to a no-fly zone and air strikes against Gaddafi’s troops. It appears that Egypt is already on board. The Wall Street Journal reports that Egypt has begun sending arms over the border to Libyan rebels with US knowledge . Earlier in the week, Malcolm Rifkind, formerly a defence and foreign secretary, argued that Egypt should send a brigade to stop Gaddafi’s advance on Benghazi. Here’s an extract from the WSJ. The shipments – mostly small arms such as assault rifles and ammunition—appear to be the first confirmed case of an outside government arming the rebel fighters. Those fighters have been losing ground for days in the face of a steady westward advance by forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi… “We know the Egyptian military council is helping us, but they can’t be so visible,” said Hani Souflakis, a Libyan businessman in Cairo who has been acting as a rebel liaison with the Egyptian government since the uprising began. “Weapons are getting through,” said Mr Souflakis, who says he has regular contacts with Egyptian officials in Cairo and the rebel leadership in Libya. “Americans have given the green light to the Egyptians to help. The Americans don’t want to be involved in a direct level, but the Egyptians wouldn’t do it if they didn’t get the green light.” 9.04am: A bevy of cabinet officials, including Liam Fox, the defence secretary, and William Hague, the foreign secretary, have been arriving at Downing Street for the top-level meeting on Libya. None have responded to reporters’ questions. David Cameron is scheduled to address parliament around 11am. 8.54am: The Guardian’s Paris correspondent, Angelique Chrisafis, tweets : French air strikes on #Libya to begin imminently, according to government spokesman 8.53am: Senior US officials gave a classified briefing to senators on Capitol Hill yesterday on possible American military action in Libya. Here are some interesting snippets from senators who were briefed, courtesy of The Cable on the Foreign Policy website . Senator Lindsey Graham: “I learned that it’s not too late, that the opposition forces are under siege but they are holding, and that with a timely intervention, a no-fly zone and no-drive zone, we can turn this thing around.” Asked exactly what the first wave of attacks would look like, Graham said, “We ground his aircraft and some tanks start getting blown up that are headed toward the opposition forces.” Senator Mark Kirk told reporters that he expected the military operations to be run out of Sicily, where Nato base Sigonella and US naval air station Sigonella are located. “It seems that the administration is moving and now the only question is time,” said Kirk. “A lot still depends on the rebels at the very least holding Benghazi. If they do, there may be time for the international political system to respond. If they collapse quickly, no.” 8.39am: Libyans celebrate in Benghazi after last night’s vote in the UN security council. Photograph: Patrick Baz/AFP/Getty Images 8.37am: Reuters is reporting that Misrata, the last rebel-held city in the west, is coming under heavy bombardment . 8.25am: How will the no-fly zone work? Al Jazeera has this handy report explaining which bases and which US aircraft carriers will be involved. The Guardian’s Richard Norton-Taylor also goes into considerable detail on the practicalities of a no-fly zone . 8.04am: Good morning and welcome to live coverage of Libya following last night’s dramatic vote at the UN, which paves the way for possible military action by the west and some Arab countries against Muammar Gaddafi. For the Libyan rebels it must seem as if the US or western cavalry is riding to the rescue. Celebratory gunfire and fireworks filled the skies over Benghazi after the UN security council voted in favour of a no-fly zone and air strikes to stop Gaddafi’s forces. But details of any US military action were still unclear. The US air force chief of staff, General Norton Schwartz, told Congress it would take as much as a week to impose a no-fly zone over Libya. Downing Street has also cautioned against earlier suggestions that British planes could be in action “within hours” and declined to put a timetable on operations. David Cameron will chair an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss the next steps this morning before addressing MPs in the Commons, so that might provide pointers on the timing of any military action. Even before the security council’s 10-0 vote, the Obama administration prepared plans to enforce the no-fly zone, with congressional officials describing a closed-door briefing in which the administration said it could ground Gaddafi’s air force by Sunday or Monday. The effort is likely to involve jet fighters, bombers and surveillance aircraft, officials said. The US is pressing Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to take part in the operation. Much will depend on how Gaddafi reacts to his increasing isolation. Before the UN’s uncharacteristically decisive action – following days of American fence-sitting – Gaddafi had declared that there we be no mercy against those put up a fight in Benghazi. There was also blood-curdling rhetoric about disruption of air and maritime traffic in the Mediterranean. This morning, his son Saif al-Islam is reported as saying that Libya is not afraid of the UN resolution. Here is the Guardian’s overnight coverage UN security council backs no-fly zone and air strikes Gaddafi threatens retaliation in Mediterranean as UN passes resolution Libya finally forces Barack Obama’s hand as he goes for broke Libya ‘no-fly’ vote a significant moment for David Cameron Arab and Middle East protests Libya Bahrain Saudi Arabia Egypt Yemen Tunisia Iran Iraq United Nations Mark Tran Adam Gabbatt guardian.co.uk
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StumbleUpon believed to be in the running to acquire bookmarking service Yahoo is believed to be on the verge of selling its bookmarking service Delicious, possibly to the social “discovery engine” StumbleUpon, for price believed to be around $1m (£619,000). Delicious has been up for sale since it was revealed as being on a so-called “sunset” list of Yahoo’s properties in mid-December, as part of an overarching review by chief executive Carol Bartz to try to focus only on profitable elements of the company that fit with its vision of being a content creator and means of carrying advertising. Delicious doesn’t offer any way for Yahoo to sell adverts. At the same time of the December announcement the handful of engineers who were developing the Delicious systems are understood to have either been fired or redeployed inside Yahoo, leaving only support staff. Delicious has not revealed how many users it had at the time when Yahoo put it up for sale, but at the end of 2008 it had nearly 6m users. StumbleUpon offers a similar bookmarking service to Delicious, and recently completed a $17m venture capital funding round. Other bookmarking services, such as Pinboard, have seen a rapid influx of people migrating from Delicious because they fear their bookmarks will be lost when Yahoo closes the service. However in a posting a Delicious team member suggested that the API allowing third-party access to bookmarks will continue after any sale : “feeds and API’s are a key part of Delicious, and I would doubt that anyone would remove them from service, and we would certainly not want that to happen.” In a statement last week when rumours of the sale emerged Yahoo said: “we are actively thinking about the future of Delicious and believe there is a home outside the company that would make more sense for the service, our users and our shareholders.” A report at Business Insider suggested the sale is taking some time to complete because Delicious’s systems are reliant on Yahoo’s infrastructure, and that it is being migrated onto third-party machines so that a sale can be wrapped up. Yahoo acquired Delicious in December 2005, and is reckoned to have paid between $10m and $15m for it at the time. Delicious lets users bookmark web pages and share their bookmarks, including tags (such as “social” or “important” or “earthquake”, or any combination of tags) for pages. That meant Delicious could generate a picture of what pages people thought had relevance to certain tags in real time. It was expected then that Yahoo would integrate the results into its search engine. But the integration never happened to any extent. Josh Schachter, the founder of Delicious in late 2003, left the company in mid-2008, expressing dissatisfaction with Yahoo’s use of the service. Other properties that were listed on Yahoo’s “sunset” list were Altavista, the rump of the search engine that in the late 1990s was the web’s most popular, MyBlogLog, Yahoo Bookmarks and Yahoo Picks. Yahoo Internet Digital media Media business Charles Arthur guardian.co.uk
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Asylum seekers in protests over delays in processing applications at Australian offshore detention centre More than 200 rioters set fire to buildings and tried to escape a crowded Australian offshore detention centre in an escalation of protests to gain asylum in the country. Police fired non-lethal so-called bean bag rounds and teargas canisters to regain control over the detention centre on Christmas Island after the riot started on Thursday night, the immigration minister Chris Bowen said. Two administration buildings were burned as well as seven accommodation tents after asylum seekers armed with bricks and poles and throwing rocks charged police and the perimeter fences, the Australian federal police deputy commissioner, Steve Lancaster, said. Some rioters breached the perimeter wall and police were not yet sure whether all had been recaptured, he said. Two asylum seekers were taken to hospital, one with chest injuries and another suffering chest pains. The riot follows a week of sometimes violent protests at immigration detention centres on the Indian Ocean island and on the Australian mainland over delays in processing asylum applications. Authorities are struggling to cope with increasing numbers of asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Sri Lanka who attempt to reach Australia by boat. “A small group of detainees have made it clear that they would continue violent action until they were granted visas,” Bowen told reporters. “We don’t let that sort of behaviour influence our consideration of visa applications.” Authorities responded to the riots by accelerating plans to relocate hundreds of the 2,500 detainees on Christmas Island to mainland detention centres to reduce crowding and brought in police reinforcements. A total of 105 detainees, none of whom was involved in the fracas, were flown from the island on Friday, while 70 police were flown in, bringing the total police strength to 188. “This is a very tense and serious situation,” Bowen said. Police would investigate charging the rioters. Bowen warned that the culprits could fail their refugee test on character grounds. An asylum seeker broke his leg this week in another Christmas Island protest, which police quelled. The detainees include asylum seekers whose refugee applications have yet to be judged, those who have had their applications rejected but refuse to return to their homelands and those who have been accepted as refugees but are pending security clearances before they are freed in Australia. The Australian human rights commissioner, Catherine Branson, is concerned about processing delays, which have left most of the 6,500 asylum seekers in detention for more than six months. Australia Refugees Human rights guardian.co.uk
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Call comes as trucks douse reactor at Fukushima Daiichi facility with dozens of tonnes of water in renewed attempt to cool reactor The head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog has urged Japan to provide more information on its “extremely serious” crisis as the battle to regain control of a failing power plant enters a second week. Yukiya Amano, the International Atomic Energy Agency chief, told the prime minister, Naoto Kan, that although it had been briefed, “there is the opinion in the international community that more detailed information is needed”. Earlier, as he arrived in Tokyo, Amano told reporters: “This is not something that just Japan should deal with, and people of the entire world should co-operate with Japan and the people in the disaster areas.” Fire trucks are dousing a reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi facility with dozens of tonnes of water in a renewed attempt to cool the reactor posing the biggest threat. Officials have warned that the nuclear incident is hampering efforts to deliver aid to victims of last Friday’s earthquake and tsunami, with reports that drivers are reluctant to travel to areas even outside the exclusion zone. Shortages of petrol and obstructed routes have also left many in the 2,200 emergency shelters across the disaster zone short of food, fuel, water and medicine. Yoshihiro Murai, governor of the worst-hit prefecture, Miyagi, urged survivors to move away, saying it would be difficult to provide housing in the near future. More than 6,400 people have been confirmed dead, police have said, including more than 3,600 in Miyagi. In Iwate more than 1,900 are confirmed dead, while the figure for Fukushima is approaching 600. The fate of tens of thousands more remains unknown. Early signs offered some hope that radiation levels might be stable or even dropping at the Fukushima No 1 nuclear plant after police water cannons and helicopters doused unit No 3 yesterday. NHK reported that measurements taken near the facility’s west gate fell from 309 microsieverts per hour to 271. There have been enormous variations in readings at different parts of the plant and within short spaces of times. More than 20 fire engines – one of them able to discharge water at a rate of 5 tonnes per minute – are dousing unit 3. The water levels in the spent fuel pool are thought to be almost depleted. It is thought that exposed rods led to significant increases in radiation levels in the last two days. There is also concern about unit 4 and water levels in No 1 are thought to be decreasing. The pools in units 5 and 6 are also thought to be warming, but are of less immediate concern. A spokesman for the Japanese nuclear agency said steam or smoke was seen at No 2 this morning – where an earlier explosion may have damaged the containment vessel – and acknowledged that the authorities could yet bury the reactors in sand and concrete, as happened at Chernobyl in 1986. Hidehiko Nishiyama said the priority was adding water to the spent fuel pools. Asked about the “Chernobyl solution”, he replied: “That solution is in the back of our minds, but we are focused on cooling the reactors down.” The units may not cool down for weeks, the head of the US nuclear regulatory commission has warned. Gregory Jaczko said on Thursday night the situation ”continues to be very dramatic”, adding: ”I really don’t want to speculate on where this could go.” The plant’s operators say workers are also attempting to lay a cable to restore power to the cooling systems of at least two reactors. But their work is hampered by the radiation risk and they were expected to stop work when fire trucks began dousing the reactors. There are fears that the electricity could short and cause another explosion and that the pumps may have been damaged by the earthquake, tsunami and explosions at the plant. “Preparatory work has so far not progressed as fast as we had hoped,” an official from the Tokyo Electric Power Company said. In the US, Barack Obama said the situation posed ”a substantial risk” to nearby residents. The US has advised its citizens to evacuate or take shelter if within 80km of the plant, a recommendation adopted by Britain and Canada. Tokyo has told everyone living within 20km to evacuate, and advised people between 20km and 30km away to stay indoors. The ministry of health said on Frideay it had ordered local governments to test the radioactivity levels of domestically produced food. The US president added that his administration had asked the nuclear regulatory commission to review the safety of reactors at home. He said the US was “aggressively” supporting Japan, adding: ”It has people who are strong, who are resilient, who are dedicated to their country, who are brilliant. I am confident that Japan will emerge even stronger than before.” There was some relief for Tokyo as G7 nations agreed on a rare coordinated intervention to stem the yen’s surge, which has been prompted by the assumption that Japanese firms will want to repatriate funds held overseas. Japan earthquake and tsunami Japan Natural disasters and extreme weather Nuclear power Tania Branigan guardian.co.uk
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Prince tells crowd of tens of thousands to ‘be strong’ at memorial service for victims of last month’s earthquake in New Zealand Prince William has urged the people of Christchurch to “be strong” as he addressed a crowd of tens of thousands at a memorial service for victims of last month’s earthquake in New Zealand. William said he was conveying his own message, as well as one from his grandmother, and told the crowd on Friday they were an “inspiration to all people”. “My grandmother once said that grief is the price we pay for love. Here, today, we love, and we grieve. “We honour the lives and memories of all those who did not survive the earthquake – New Zealanders, and those from many countries around the world who came to this city as visitors, or to make it their home. “Our thoughts and our prayers are with the families, wherever they may be.” The prince told the crowd it was hard for them to “grasp the degree of admiration – indeed, awe”, with which they were regarded by the rest of the world. He also told the people they could appreciate more than anyone else the “full horror” of what was unfolding in Japan. “Courage and understated determination have always been the hallmark of New Zealanders, of Cantabrians,” he said. “These things the world has long known. But to see them so starkly demonstrated over these terrible, painful months has been humbling. “Put simply, you are an inspiration to all people. I count myself enormously privileged to be here to tell you that. In the last two days, I have heard tales of great tragedy – but also of extraordinary bravery and selfless courage. “Throughout, one phrase unites them all. With the Queen’s heartfelt good wishes, and those of the Prince of Wales and other members of my family, I say it to you now: Kia kaha – be strong.” The prince’s address was greeted with applause from the crowd, some of whom were sporting T-shirts reading Kia kaha . William, who donned a Korowai – a traditional Maori feathered cloak – had earlier been welcomed by Henare Rakiihia Tau, from the Ngai Tuahuriri sub-tribe, who told William to “nibble at the apple and be fruitful”. The mayor of Christchurch, Bob Parker, spoke of the difficulty for people to understand why the quake had hit the city. But in a rousing speech, he said: “It seems to me that those lives that have been lost have to be given real meaning in this city as it goes forward. We have to reach into our hearts and our spirits and our self belief and build a safer city so this thing can never happen again. “We will rise, we will rebuild the city based on strength and optimism. We will have a city that again will be the most beautiful place on earth, that you and I could hope to live in.” New Zealand’s prime minister, John Key, said those who lost their lives in the quake, which left more than 160 people dead, from other countries would be remembered by New Zealanders as they remembered their own. He said: “We are conscious that we are united in our loss with families from more than 20 countries whose fate it was to have a loved one far, far from home when the earthquake struck. “We will remember your loved ones as we remember our own.” Of all those who died in the quake, he said, “they are the faces of a Christchurch that will never be as it was again”. “The earthquake of February 22, 2011, has altered forever the lives of those who live here, no words or deeds can change that. “So today we remember Christchurch as it was and we treasure the memory.” Key also paid tribute to Japan’s “desperate plight”, adding: “For the people of Christchurch who have lived through two large earthquakes and many thousands of aftershocks these images of Japan bring flooding back the raw emotion and pain that accompanies such an event.” Prince William is due in Australia on Saturday, where he will visit regions affected by the floods, including locations in Queensland followed by a visit to north-west Victoria. Prince William New Zealand Monarchy Natural disasters and extreme weather guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Unfair in Philadelphia? Little Media Scrutiny of Grand Jury Report Against Catholic Church
March 17, 2011 No CommentWhile all decent people demand compassion and justice for victims of clergy abuse, there is compelling evidence to believe that portions of the recent high-profile Philadelphia grand jury report have unfairly maligned the Catholic Church. No media outlets have taken note of the report's glaring contradictions, notable omissions, and unfair characterizations of Church officials. (Maureen Dowd certainly didn't .) The report also routinely assigns the most sinister motives to actions by archdiocesan employees, even though an objective assessment would conclude otherwise. For example: 1. The grand jury report slams the Philadelphia archdiocese by saying it had “conducted non-investigations that predictably failed to establish priests' guilt.” This charge is patently untrue. In fact, for a number of years now, Philadelphia has maintained a high-profile web page that publicly posts the names, pictures, and assignments of those clerics whom the archdiocese has found to be guilty of abuse. The list is extensive and spans the removal of priests over the past several decades. (In fact, SNAP, the so-called victims' advocacy group that relentlessly criticizes the Church, has publicly praised Philadelphia on numerous occasions for being among the few dioceses that have such an accessible list. ( 2008 )) The archdiocese's web page is clear-cut evidence that the Church in Philadelphia has in fact investigated several priests, found misconduct to be true, and laicized offenders. In other words, the report's claim of “non-investigations” by the archdiocese is clearly contradicted by historical facts. 2. The report heralds itself as uncovering “new” information, yet the report spends several pages outlining cases allegedly involving Rev. Edward Avery . (Although the report is 128 pages long, the name “Avery” appears 162 times.) Most readers of the report would be unaware of the fact that the media already widely reported the history of Fr. Avery back in 2003 , and the Church laicized him in 2006 . In other words, the Church already removed Rev. Avery from ministry even before the first Philadelphia grand jury report in 2005 . Meanwhile, the latest report provides nothing revelatory about Avery, except for the fact that another accuser came forward in 2009 to claim abuse by the cleric in the late 1990's. (This accuser, “Billy,” has claimed that three men, two priests and a teacher, abused him.) 3. As an example of a case that supposedly contains “substantial evidence” of abuse, the report profiles the case of Rev. Joseph DiGregorio . A woman came forward in 2005 to accuse the cleric of molesting her in “1967 or 1968.” With no other allegations against him in over four decades as a priest, a Review Board concluded back in 2006 that “evidence obtained through the investigative process was not sufficient to substantiate” the single allegation against the cleric. The report takes strong issue with the archdiocese's 2006 decision to return Fr. DiGregorio to ministry. Yet a closer look reveals that this accused priest could very well be innocent, rather than guilty. After the grand jury released its report last month, the archdiocese re-suspended Fr. DiGregorio (along with two other priests the report profiled). Rather than bow to public pressure, Fr. DiGregorio forcefully went to the media to declare his innocence. On February 18, 2011, the priest appeared live on The Dom Giordano Show on Talk Radio WPHT 1210AM : ” In my almost 45 years of me being a priest my character and integrity have never been questioned. Almost 20 of those 45 years were spent as an army chaplain in the United States Army. I was deployed in Operation Desert Shield, Desert Storm for almost a year, and again in Operation Iraqi Freedom for 10 months. “I love my country, I love my church. I am not intimidated by false accusations against my character. I am, however, angry, very angry, and I intend to fight these accusations with every legal means at my disposal. I applaud and support any organization or group of people, including SNAP, that seeks to protect minors against any abuse, sexual or otherwise, by anyone. I also applaud those who seek the truth with honesty … ” Every statement [the accuser] made concerning me is an absolute lie, completely and totally a lie. I never once touched her. I never once groped her or did anything inappropriate. I was never in her company alone. The only times I saw her was when she came to the rectory to see [another priest].” The priest also cited reported inconsistencies in his accuser's allegations. Yet a reading of the grand jury report would leader an observer to believe that Fr. DiGregorio committed abuse without a doubt . Among the little evidence that the report provides is the news that the cleric reportedly failed a polygraph test. However, the jury left out an important element regarding Fr. DiGregorio's polygraph. As the cleric said on the radio: “The [report and the local newspaper] failed to mention that I requested the polygraph test to establish my innocence . The test was administered in a Holiday Inn in Allentown, PA by an archdiocesan-appointed investigator. Needless to say how upset I was when the results of that test indicated that I was not telling the truth. [However,] a review of the transcripts of the test was [later] made by two polygraph experts with more than 30 years combined experience in administering and reading polygraphs. Their conclusion in reading the results of that test were [that] at best the test was 'inconclusive,' and at worst, it was wrong .” Fr. DiGregorio makes a convincing case for his innocence. If the Fr. DiGregorio case is among the most egregious that the jury could profile, it does not say much for the veracity of the claims against the other three dozen “credibly accused” priests that the jury claims were in active ministry. Indeed, many clerics in the Philadelphia archdiocese wrecked deep harm on innocent youth and shattered numerous families. Compassion and justice is demanded for victims. As the late Pope John Paul II declared, “There is no room in the priesthood for those who abuse children.” And as Pope Benedict has said, the Church must rid itself of its “filth.” However, someone in the major media should take a closer look at some of the wild charges that this high-profile Philadelphia grand jury report has publicized. [IMPORTANT NOTE: This is a shortened and edited version of a much-longer article. The original, full version appears at TheMediaReport.com .] — Dave Pierre is the author of the book, Double Standard: Abuse Scandals and the Attack on the Catholic Church . Dave is also the creator of TheMediaReport.com and is a contributing writer to NewsBusters .
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UN votes in favour of ‘all necessary measures short of an occupation force’ as Tripoli regime warns of counterattack British and French military aircraft are preparing to protect the Libyan rebel stronghold of Benghazi after the UN security council voted in favour of a no-fly zone and air strikes against Muammar Gaddafi’s forces. With Gaddafi’s troops closing in on Benghazi, the French prime minister, François Fillon, said “time is of the essence” and that France would support military action within hours of the vote. But a US official was more cautious, warning against expectations of imminent action. French planes will operate from bases on its Mediterranean coast. Several Arab countries have promised to join the operation. The US backed the resolution, a complete turnaround after weeks of resisting no-fly zone proposals, but has not yet said what role it would play in military action. The 15-member security council voted in favour of a resolution authorising all necessary measures to protect civilians under threat of attack, in particular Benghazi. Ten members voted in favour, with five abstaining, including China, Russia and Germany. The resolution ruled out putting troops on the ground. Rebels in Benghazi celebrated in the streets after the no-fly vote was announced. Gaddafi called the vote “flagrant colonisation” and warned of dire consequences. “This is craziness, madness, arrogance,” he told the Portuguese TV channel. RTP. “If the world gets crazy with us, we will get crazy too. We will respond.” In a chilling message earlier, he also threatened that no mercy would be shown to residents of Benghazi who resisted him. Earlier, his regime issued a strong warning that it would target all maritime traffic in the Mediterranean if it is targeted by foreign forces. In a statement broadcast on Libyan television, the defence ministry said: “Any foreign military act against Libya will expose all air and maritime traffic in the Mediterranean Sea to danger and civilian and military [facilities] will become targets of Libya’s counterattack.” Residents and a rebel spokesman reported three air strikes on the outskirts of Benghazi on Thursday, including at the airport, and another air raid further south. There was also heavy fighting in residential areas of nearby Ajdabiya, where around 30 people were killed, the TV station al-Arabiya reported. The UN resolution was co-sponsored by Britain, France and Lebanon, with the US heavily involved in the drafting. A security council source said the resolution would impose a no-fly zone over Libya but that was no longer enough. “The resolution authorises air strikes against tank columns advancing on Benghazi or engaging naval ships bombarding Benghazi,” he said. Nato would have to meet before committing any forces. The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, who is on a visit to Tunisia, said a no-fly zone would “require certain actions taken to protect the planes and the pilots, including bombing targets like the Libyan defence systems”. Speaking outside the UN security council in New York, Alain Juppé, the French foreign minister, said there was “reason to anticipate that some Arab countries will participate”. The Wall Street Journal reported that Egypt, with the knowledge of the US, was already sending weapons to the rebels. Germany, which opposes a no-fly zone, remains sceptical about the value of military action. In an interview with the Guardian, its foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, said Berlin remained strongly opposed to any military intervention in Libya or the use of air strikes against Gaddafi. Westerwelle warned that the consequences of western military intervention were ‘unpredictable’ and could affect freedom movements in the Arab world. “Your own instinct is to say ‘We have to do something’. But military intervention is to take part in a civil war that could go on for a long time. Germany has a strong friendship with our European partners, but we won’t take part in any military operation and I will not send German troops to Libya,” he said. Instead, Westerwelle said there were non-force options that could still be used against Libya, including ‘targeted sanctions, political pressure and international isolation.” “Considering alternatives to military engagement is not the same as doing nothing,’ he said. He declined to say how Germany would vote ahead of this evening’s vote in the UN security council.William Hague, the foreign secretary, said the resolution was necessary “to avoid greater bloodshed and to try to stop what is happening in terms of attacks on civilians”. The British and EU criteria for a no-fly zone – a demonstrable need, a clear legal basis and broad regional support – had all been met, he added. “This places a responsibility on members of the United Nations and that is a responsibility to which the United Kingdom will now respond,” Hague said at the Foreign Office shortly before heading for talks in Downing Street with the prime minister around 11pm last night. David Cameron and Barack Obama discussed the operation in a phone call. Ministers were holding talks late into the night in Downing Street to discuss the next steps. Sir Malcolm Rifkind, the former foreign secretary, told the BBC: “Without action of this kind, Benghazi would have been a bloodbath. By the standards of the last 20 years, this is a remarkable vote. This is a tremendous morale booster for Libyans, not just in Benghazi.” After weeks of stalling by the US, Washington backed the resolution after the Arab League at the weekend joined the calls for a no-fly zone. The Obama administration had been divided between Clinton, who favoured a no-fly zone, and the defence secretary, Robert Gates. Gates, although opposed to the no-fly zone, redeployed US naval vessels close to the Libyan coast and told the president that the military was capable of fighting on a third front. Three US senators, representing a cross-section of political opinion, John Kerry, John McCain and Joe Lieberman, issued a joint statement welcoming the vote: “With Gaddafi’s forces moving towards Benghazi, we must immediately work with our friends in the Arab League and in Nato to enforce this resolution and turn the tide before it is too late.” Libya Muammar Gaddafi Arab and Middle East protests Middle East US foreign policy Hillary Clinton United States France Europe Military Lebanon David Cameron Nicholas Watt Ewen MacAskill Ian Black Ed Pilkington Luke Harding guardian.co.uk
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