Rumblings of discontent in both north and south serve as reminder of country’s fractious reality Silvio Berlusconi has been booed at a ceremony to mark the 150th anniversary of Italy’s national unity. The public holiday saw joyful celebrations in cities such as Rome and Turin, but also further signs of how fractured the country still seems at times. Politicians in the wealthy north questioned whether workers and students should have been given the day off, while some in the south said they were tired of being regarded as second-class citizens. Berlusconi’s government declared a one-off national holiday to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the day Victor Emanuel II became the first king of a united Italy following centuries of rivalry among city-states and foreign occupation along the peninsula. Italians rarely hang out their nation’s red, white and green flag, except for sports events like the World Cup. But the holiday saw a sprinkling of flags draped from balconies, terraces and windows in the Italian capital. Children also waved tiny flags as Berlusconi, the Italian president Giorgio Napolitano and other VIPs attended ceremonies in Rome, including one at the Altar of the Homeland, known as the Wedding Cake, in Piazza Venezia. The monument was erected in 1911 to mark what was then the 50th anniversary of a united Italy. State TV and the Italian news agency ANSA said Berlusconi was greeted with catcalls on the Janiculum Hill, where monuments and a museum honour efforts by Giuseppe Garibaldi and other Italian heroes top forge a united nation. Berlusconi is due to stand trial in the coming weeks for allegedly paying an underage Moroccan teenager for sex and for using his position to try to cover up his relationship with her – charges he has consistently denied. His three-year-old government suffered the defection of a major ally last year , and his most important coalition partner is now the Northern League, which once advocated the north’s secession from Rome. Several Northern League politicians criticised the declaration of a public holiday and others said they would keep town halls in the region open in defiance. Some in the less developed south said their region was considered second-class by Rome. “The south doesn’t have a lot to celebrate,” said Arturo Iannaccone of the Noi Sud movement. “After 150 years we still have a two-speed Italy.” Italy Silvio Berlusconi Europe guardian.co.uk
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Hospital secures backing of London assembly, which says there is no medical reasoning to support cuts to services The Royal Brompton hospital in London is seeking a judicial review in an attempt to block the closure of its children’s heart surgery unit as part of plans for a major reorganisation of the NHS. Its efforts to stay open have been backed by the London assembly, which passed a motion opposing the move and will be putting its concerns to the health secretary, Andrew Lansley. The proposal to close the Brompton unit – moving the work to Great Ormond Street and the Evelina children’s hospital at Guy’s and St Thomas’ – is part of a rationalisation of children’s heart surgery that has been under discussion for a decade. A reduction in the number of NHS hospitals performing complex operations on children’s hearts was recommended 10 years ago by the Kennedy inquiry into the deaths of babies at the Bristol Royal Infirmary. Sir Ian Kennedy concluded that surgeons became more expert the more of the same type of operation they carried out, and that too many hospitals in England did not see enough children with complex heart conditions to provide a safe service. The 11 hospitals in England performing children’s heart surgery are to be reduced to six or seven under proposals under consultation from the joint committee of primary care trusts. London, it says, needs two children’s heart surgery units rather than three. Proposals to close any hospital service almost always provoke strong reactions, often from patients or relatives but also from doctors, local politicians and the general public. The Brompton argues that closure of its children’s heart surgery will have a detrimental impact on other services. “Of major concern to the trust is the effect that the removal of paediatric cardiac care would have on other services – for children and for adults,” said chief executive Bob Bell earlier this month. “Paediatric cardiac services do not exist in a vacuum. They are supported by other disciplines such as intensive care and anaesthesia.” Ending children’s heart surgery would lead to the closure of the Brompton’s paediatric intensive care unit, he said. The entire paediatric unit would be destabilised, threatening its specialist children’s cystic fibrosis service. There would also be a damaging impact on adult heart surgery, he added. The Brompton said the three London hospitals had submitted a proposal instead to pool their services. It is pursuing a judicial review of the reconfiguration process. The London assembly unanimously carried a motion to object to the closure. “This specialist unit at the Royal Brompton has saved the lives of so many children in London and continues to be a vital service for many families. The proposal to close it has come at the eleventh hour, with no medical reasoning to support it,” claimed Victoria Borwick, who proposed the motion. Health Children London Andrew Lansley Health policy Public sector cuts NHS Sarah Boseley guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …This is typical Newt. Last year, former Speaker Newt Gingrich offered his vocal support for the ultimately successful campaign to oust three of the nine Iowa Supreme Court justices who had unanimously ruled in favor of marriage equality. As Gingrich courts social conservatives while exploring a possible presidential bid , new disclosures from his camp indicate that he and his associates bankrolled more than one-third of the $850,000 campaign to remove the Iowa justices. ThinkProgress previously reported on $200,000 that Gingrich funneled from an anonymous donor to the anti-marriage equality group Iowa for Freedom, which was also being funded by AFA Action, the political arm of the virulently anti-gay American Family Association. The Associated Press revealed yesterday that one of the cogs in Gingrich’s vast network of business enterprises and front groups, ReAL Action, provided $125,000 to AFA Action. The Des Moines Register reported this morning that ReAL Action also contributed $25,000 to yet another Iowa anti-LGBT group, the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition. AFA is not only of the nation’s most prominent anti-LGBT groups, it has been officially labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. As ThinkProgress has reported, the AFA is known for making incendiary comments about gays, including blaming gays for crop failure and various other biblical plagues, claiming that Hitler was gay, saying lesbians can’t be justices, equating gay sex with domestic terrorism, and equating gay sex to heroin, just to cite a few examples. Gingrich’s tacit support for these radical views would not seem to be in question, as his spokesman went to great pains to explain that the grant to AFA Action was for “general support,” noting: “We leave up to the groups receiving the money to determine how they would spend the money. While those who fought to retain the Iowa justices question why Gingrich had previously kept his financial support for the anti-LGBT groups secret and is only now acknowledging it as his possible 2012 bid ramps up, Gingrich’s spokesman said that there was no connection between his support for the Iowa groups and his possible presidential ambitions.
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US writer James Frey and British author John Niven will both publish books imagining return of Messiah to contemporary New York It’s as awkward as two socialites wearing the same dress to a party. Hard on the heels of news that US author James Frey ‘s new novel will be a second-coming story entitled The Final Testament of the Holy Bible , comes word that a novel on a stunningly similar theme, this time by a British writer, will also be published in April, just days before Frey’s book. Frey’s story will feature the return of the Messiah in contemporary New York, in the form of Ben Zion Avrohom, an alcoholic bisexual who impregnates a prostitute. John Niven ‘s novel The Second Coming features Christ returning to earth in contemporary New York as a struggling musician who, as the author puts it, “smokes dope and gets laid”. Niven – whose literary CV will be no more reassuring to the Christian right than Frey’s, given that his book Kill Your Friends was described by Guardian reviewer Jane Housham as “an orgy of mad, gleeful nastiness” – is philosophical about the uncanny coincidence. “It’s not that unusual to have a couple of novels published in the same ball park, but it’s slightly freakish scheduling that they’re so close together,” he said. “But the atheist debate has raged in non-fiction in recent years and now it’s moving into fiction.” Niven’s story is more lighthearted than Frey’s appears to be: his Christ-figure lives by just one true commandment – “Be Nice” – and realises his best chance of winning the hearts and minds of the American people is by entering a TV talent contest. The author describes it as very much a “comic novel”. But Niven, like Frey, is anticipating some controversy – and like Frey, he has run into issues over publication in the US. Frey has chosen to avoid mainstream publishers with his new book, preferring instead to publish with the Gagosian gallery in New York, although in the UK he is sticking with John Murray, who also published his previous works. John Murray managing director Roland Philipps said: “James knew he didn’t want to publish in the traditional way in the US because it has a much more charged relationship with religion. He anticipates death threats, book burnings and bannings. In the US, James couldn’t see a publisher standing by him.” Philipps added: “I’m sure there will be people who are offended, but I think what he’s done is an entirely valid attempt to create a mythology around imagining what it would be like if a Messiah figure came down today. It’s a worthwhile exploration of the nature of belief.” Niven has yet to find an American publisher for his novel at all, although both his previous books have been published there by HarperCollins. “We had an incredible reaction to this novel in Europe – a big sale in Germany, an auction in Italy,” he said. “But in America the publisher who had published my last two declined to publish, citing commercial reasons.” Niven hopes that in the “relatively sane” culture of the UK, any controversy will be muted. But he admits that one episode in the novel, in which God calls a board meeting of all the saints, including Mohammed, does occasionally cause him to wake up bathed in sweat. “From the reading I did, I gathered you’re not meant to have a physical representation of Mohammed, so I changed it so that he was only on speakerphone,” Niven said. “But I did still get a text from a friend saying ‘I look forward to seeing your be-hooded pleas for mercy on Al-Jazeera.’ I very much hope it won’t come to that.” Niven and Frey’s Easter novel clash is one of many such examples. Novelist David Lodge was unlucky when his 2004 novel Author, Author, about writer Henry James, was eclipsed by the close publication of Colm Tóibín’s The Master, on the same subject. Meanwhile Philip Seymour Hoffman’s portrayal of Truman Capote in the Oscar-winning 2005 film Capote took the limelight from Toby Jones’s portrayal of the same writer in the film Infamous, released shortly afterwards. James Frey Christianity Religion Fiction Benedicte Page guardian.co.uk
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England 243 all out; West Indies 225 all out England win by 18 runs England are still alive in the World Cup, after a flurry of late wickets rescued victory from the jaws of defeat against West Indies at the MA Chindambaram Stadium in Chennai. Graeme Swann took two wickets in his final over and Suliemen Benn was then run out to decide the Group B match. Swann took three wickets in the innings and another spinner, James Tredwell, took four. England are not definitely through to the quarter-finals, but to deny them Bangladesh must beat South Africa and West Indies must take at least a point against India this weekend. Ramnaresh Sarwan and Andre Russell had seemed to be guiding West Indies home, with a seventh-wicket partnership of 72. Russell survived a contentious decision when he was caught by Jonathan Trott on the boundary, only for the England fielder to be adjudged, by the third umpire, to have brushed the boundary marker as he fell backwards. The batsman was thus awarded a six instead. Russell was eventually lbw to Tredwell for 49 and Benn then survived a close lbw call, on review, again off the bowling of Tredwell. Sarwan was the next man out, off the first ball of Swann’s final over, caught at short leg by Ian Bell. Kemar Roach joined Benn at the crease with 21 needed for victory off 41 balls – he was dismissed on his second delivery, caught by Chris Tremlett at mid-off. The leg-spinner Devandra Bishoo was last man in for West Indies, on his international debut. After Andrew Strauss won the toss and chose to bat, the captain and Trott got off to a flying start. But the scoring rate stagnated as wickets began to fall and it fell to a man playing his first World Cup match, Luke Wright, to salvage a competitive total in an innings that did not feature a half-century or a 50 stand. Bishoo and Russell shared seven wickets and Roach bowled economically. England appeared assured of a big total after they had raced to 94 for two from 15 overs. But they lost momentum and then wickets – four men falling for 30 runs at one stage. No fours came between the 21st and 35th overs, with the pace off the ball, and Bishoo took three for 34 by using the conditions well. Russell dismissed both openers, an unsuspecting Matt Prior bowled through the gate on the back foot and Strauss mis-pulling the medium-pacer to go to a very good running catch by Chris Gayle. Trott announced himself with six fours from his first nine balls and a total in excess of 250 was on. But Trott then went tamely, three runs short of a half-century, when he chipped a Bishoo leg-break straight to Gayle at mid-wicket. Bell played himself in, only to be done for pace by the first ball of Roach’s second spell. Then Eoin Morgan’s renowned innovation backfired with an unorthodox deflection into the wicketkeeper’s gloves off Bishoo. Ravi Bopara was the third batsman to be bowled by pace and a suspicion of low bounce but Wright batted with skill and sense. His seventh-wicket partner, Tredwell, went in a run-out mix-up and Wright eventually holed out on the slog-sweep in Bishoo’s final over. England knew they would need to get Gayle early. He was gone by the end of the seventh over, but the West Indies captain still did significant damage. Gayle smashed 18 in four blows from one Tremlett over, only to be trapped lbw pushing forward to Tredwell, giving the off-spinner his first one-day international wicket. Tredwell had a second when Prior got the bails off to stump Devon Smith down the leg-side. Darren Bravo was well caught at slip by Strauss to give Tredwell his third wicket. Bopara dismissed Darren Sammy and Devon Thomas and Swann trapped Kieron Pollard lbw. Cricket World Cup 2011 England cricket team West Indies Cricket Team Cricket guardian.co.uk
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England 243 all out; West Indies 225 all out England win by 18 runs England are still alive in the World Cup, after a flurry of late wickets rescued victory from the jaws of defeat against West Indies at the MA Chindambaram Stadium in Chennai. Graeme Swann took two wickets in his final over and Suliemen Benn was then run out to decide the Group B match. Swann took three wickets in the innings and another spinner, James Tredwell, took four. England are not definitely through to the quarter-finals, but to deny them Bangladesh must beat South Africa and West Indies must take at least a point against India this weekend. Ramnaresh Sarwan and Andre Russell had seemed to be guiding West Indies home, with a seventh-wicket partnership of 72. Russell survived a contentious decision when he was caught by Jonathan Trott on the boundary, only for the England fielder to be adjudged, by the third umpire, to have brushed the boundary marker as he fell backwards. The batsman was thus awarded a six instead. Russell was eventually lbw to Tredwell for 49 and Benn then survived a close lbw call, on review, again off the bowling of Tredwell. Sarwan was the next man out, off the first ball of Swann’s final over, caught at short leg by Ian Bell. Kemar Roach joined Benn at the crease with 21 needed for victory off 41 balls – he was dismissed on his second delivery, caught by Chris Tremlett at mid-off. The leg-spinner Devandra Bishoo was last man in for West Indies, on his international debut. After Andrew Strauss won the toss and chose to bat, the captain and Trott got off to a flying start. But the scoring rate stagnated as wickets began to fall and it fell to a man playing his first World Cup match, Luke Wright, to salvage a competitive total in an innings that did not feature a half-century or a 50 stand. Bishoo and Russell shared seven wickets and Roach bowled economically. England appeared assured of a big total after they had raced to 94 for two from 15 overs. But they lost momentum and then wickets – four men falling for 30 runs at one stage. No fours came between the 21st and 35th overs, with the pace off the ball, and Bishoo took three for 34 by using the conditions well. Russell dismissed both openers, an unsuspecting Matt Prior bowled through the gate on the back foot and Strauss mis-pulling the medium-pacer to go to a very good running catch by Chris Gayle. Trott announced himself with six fours from his first nine balls and a total in excess of 250 was on. But Trott then went tamely, three runs short of a half-century, when he chipped a Bishoo leg-break straight to Gayle at mid-wicket. Bell played himself in, only to be done for pace by the first ball of Roach’s second spell. Then Eoin Morgan’s renowned innovation backfired with an unorthodox deflection into the wicketkeeper’s gloves off Bishoo. Ravi Bopara was the third batsman to be bowled by pace and a suspicion of low bounce but Wright batted with skill and sense. His seventh-wicket partner, Tredwell, went in a run-out mix-up and Wright eventually holed out on the slog-sweep in Bishoo’s final over. England knew they would need to get Gayle early. He was gone by the end of the seventh over, but the West Indies captain still did significant damage. Gayle smashed 18 in four blows from one Tremlett over, only to be trapped lbw pushing forward to Tredwell, giving the off-spinner his first one-day international wicket. Tredwell had a second when Prior got the bails off to stump Devon Smith down the leg-side. Darren Bravo was well caught at slip by Strauss to give Tredwell his third wicket. Bopara dismissed Darren Sammy and Devon Thomas and Swann trapped Kieron Pollard lbw. Cricket World Cup 2011 England cricket team West Indies Cricket Team Cricket guardian.co.uk
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Six were arrested in Harare and accused of plotting against their country by watching Egypt and Tunisia uprising videos Six Zimbabweans accused of treason for watching videos of the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia have been granted bail after a judge said he had seen “no iota” of evidence against them. The six were arrested in Harare on 19 February with 40 other activists, students and trade unionists who were later freed due to the weak case against them. They were all attending a discussion led by the former opposition lawmaker Munyaradzi Gwisai about the north African revolutions and what they might mean for Zimbabwe. Prosecutors claimed that the group was plotting to overthrow Robert Mugabe. But on Wednesday high court judge Samuel Kudya described the evidence against the six, including Gwisai, as unsubstantiated. “I see no iota of evidence that any Zimbabwean ever contemplated any Tunisian or Egyptian revolution,” he said. The six were granted bail of Z$2,000 after Kudya rejected the prosecution’s argument that they would abscond. But he ordered the accused to report to the police three times a week. No trial date has been set. At an earlier court ruling, the accused had complained of being beaten by the police with sticks and iron bars. Defence lawyers argued that their clients were merely debating African politics and democracy at the time of the arrest. The tumult in the Arab states of north Africa has shown little sign of spreading south of the Sahara, though it has clearly put some of the continent’s longest-serving leaders on edge. In Cameroon, where Paul Biya has been president for 28 years, the government banned a Twitter text messaging service last week. During the Ugandan elections last month, which saw Yoweri Museveni extended his 25-year presidency, authorities ordered mobile phone companies to block messages referring to the Egyptian or Tunisian uprisings. In the case of Mugabe, 87, who has ruled Zimbabwe for 31 years – longer than the deposed leaders in Egypt or Tunisia – the heavier-handed response was little surprise. Over the past decade he has used the police to violently suppress any opposition. A brutal campaign of torture and intimidation by the security forces helped him cling on to power in 2008 after he lost the first round of the presidential election. His challenger, Morgan Tsvangirai, reluctantly agreed to enter a power-sharing government in order to help end a socio-economic crisis. But the coalition remains fragile, with Mugabe appearing determined to force Tsvangirai’s MDC party into quitting, which would force early elections. Last week police arrested energy minister Elton Mangoma, a co-founder of the MDC, for alleged corruption. Mangoma was freed on bail on Tuesday, with the judge saying there was no evidence he had personally gained from a deal to import petrol from South Africa. Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe Protest Tunisia Egypt Middle East Xan Rice guardian.co.uk
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Six were arrested in Harare and accused of plotting against their country by watching Egypt and Tunisia uprising videos Six Zimbabweans accused of treason for watching videos of the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia have been granted bail after a judge said he had seen “no iota” of evidence against them. The six were arrested in Harare on 19 February with 40 other activists, students and trade unionists who were later freed due to the weak case against them. They were all attending a discussion led by the former opposition lawmaker Munyaradzi Gwisai about the north African revolutions and what they might mean for Zimbabwe. Prosecutors claimed that the group was plotting to overthrow Robert Mugabe. But on Wednesday high court judge Samuel Kudya described the evidence against the six, including Gwisai, as unsubstantiated. “I see no iota of evidence that any Zimbabwean ever contemplated any Tunisian or Egyptian revolution,” he said. The six were granted bail of Z$2,000 after Kudya rejected the prosecution’s argument that they would abscond. But he ordered the accused to report to the police three times a week. No trial date has been set. At an earlier court ruling, the accused had complained of being beaten by the police with sticks and iron bars. Defence lawyers argued that their clients were merely debating African politics and democracy at the time of the arrest. The tumult in the Arab states of north Africa has shown little sign of spreading south of the Sahara, though it has clearly put some of the continent’s longest-serving leaders on edge. In Cameroon, where Paul Biya has been president for 28 years, the government banned a Twitter text messaging service last week. During the Ugandan elections last month, which saw Yoweri Museveni extended his 25-year presidency, authorities ordered mobile phone companies to block messages referring to the Egyptian or Tunisian uprisings. In the case of Mugabe, 87, who has ruled Zimbabwe for 31 years – longer than the deposed leaders in Egypt or Tunisia – the heavier-handed response was little surprise. Over the past decade he has used the police to violently suppress any opposition. A brutal campaign of torture and intimidation by the security forces helped him cling on to power in 2008 after he lost the first round of the presidential election. His challenger, Morgan Tsvangirai, reluctantly agreed to enter a power-sharing government in order to help end a socio-economic crisis. But the coalition remains fragile, with Mugabe appearing determined to force Tsvangirai’s MDC party into quitting, which would force early elections. Last week police arrested energy minister Elton Mangoma, a co-founder of the MDC, for alleged corruption. Mangoma was freed on bail on Tuesday, with the judge saying there was no evidence he had personally gained from a deal to import petrol from South Africa. Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe Protest Tunisia Egypt Middle East Xan Rice guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Wisconsin Protesters Follow GOP Republicans To Beltway Fundraiser. On, Wisconsin!
March 17, 2011 No Comment
enlarge I must say, with so much bad news in the world right now, I can always count on the Wisconsin labor movement to cheer me right up. Last night, Wisconsin’s Republican muckety-mucks were in D.C. for a lovely little fundraiser being thrown by Haley “Heck, I’m No Racist” Barbour’s high-powered Beltway lobbying firm. Guess what happened! Wisconsin Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald and Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald along with Assistant Leaders Rep. Scott Suder and Senator Glenn Grothman; and Joint Finance Co-Chairs Rep. Robin Vos and Senator Alberta Darling are all in DC this evening enjoying a quiet evening of fundraising with their hosts the Barbour Griffith & Rogers lobbying firm. Or maybe not. A few hundred protesters sought to make the GOP Representatives feel like they were back in the occupied Capitol building by taking over the atrium of the Homer Building where BGR LLC is headquartered. Our friends at First-Draft report that after 13th Street began to overflow, the protesters began marching toward the White House. Here’s video of the march . Oh, and so many protesters gathered on 13th Street that the police shut down the block — because they won’t all fit on the sidewalk. On, Wisconsin!
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One-in-500 women die in childbirth in Bangladesh – with cultural factors as much to blame as a lack of medical care There’s hardly a man to be seen in the maternity ward of the Maternal and Child Health Training Institute in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. Despite the lack of any law forbidding men to enter the delivery room, fathers are normally not present during the birth of their own child – an attitude that needs to change, say the country’s first midwives, who are due to graduate next month. “Men need to be involved in the labour process if we are to reduce maternal mortality,” says Mala Reberio, one of the 20 midwives being trained to international standards in Bangladesh, which is still heavily reliant on community skilled birth attendants, who lack the skill and the authority to perform more complicated deliveries. Currently, one in 500 women in Bangladesh dies during childbirth. “If [men] could see firsthand the complications of childbirth, they would be more likely to send their pregnant wives to proper medical facilities and less likely to insist on early childbirth after marriage,” says Reberio. More than 75% of deliveries take place at home, and the average age of women having their first child is just 16 years, according to the UN. Fathers are not present during the delivery. The support role is usually taken on by the father’s mother or another senior female member of the family, said Dr Roushon Ara Begum from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the organisation leading the training. However, recent figures show that attitudes towards childbirth are changing. According to the government’s Bangladesh Maternal Mortality and Healthcare Survey 2010 , women are increasingly choosing to use professional medical facilities (mainly due to a growth in private practices). The proportion of women giving birth in medical facilities has more than doubled, from 9% in 2001 to 23% last year – a trend that is likely to continue as fertility rates decrease, incomes increase and education levels improve. “I would recommend to everyone to give birth in a hospital for comfort and safety,” says Samia Zakia Sultana, 20, who is expecting her first child in a few weeks. Bangladesh is on target to meet MDG5 – reducing maternal mortality. According to the BMMS 2010, the maternal mortality ratio in Bangladesh has declined from 322 per 100,000 in 2001 to 194 in 2010. However, data collection in this area is notoriously difficult and there tends to be a large margin of error and much disagreement about the exact figures. Other reports from 2010 place Bangladesh as the worst in south Asia for maternal mortality.
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