State school pupils receive 58.5% of offers for 2011 admissions Oxford is on course to have the highest ever proportion of state school pupils in its undergraduate intake this autumn, publishing figures on Friday showing that just 41.5% of offers were made to private school candidates. State school pupils received 58.5% of offers. Based on previous years, the proportion of state school pupils accepted is likely to be around 1% lower than this figure. The increased share of offers reflects a rise in applications from state-educated children, which reached 64.3% for entry this autumn. Universities in England have been told they could be stripped of the right to charge higher fees if they fail to attract a wider mix of students including state school pupils, ethnic minorities and teenagers from areas with no tradition of going on to higher education. The sharpest disparity between state and private school success is at Oxford, where nearly 47% of the intake are privately educated. But 13 of the 16 English Russell Group universities are below existing benchmarks. The university’s director of undergraduate admissions, Mike Nicholson, said: “We are pleased that figures for 2010 and preliminary offer figures for 2011 show the proportion of state students gradually rising. We believe this shows the great amount of effort and energy we have put into our outreach work is paying off.” As a whole, applications to Oxford rose to a record high of 17,300 for 2011 entry. Applications from state school candidates have increased by 73% over the past decade compared with a 31% rise from the private school pupils who have traditionally dominated Oxbridge. The university also published figures on Friday for admissions in the current academic year, which showed that seven black Caribbean students were accepted out of 40 who applied. In autumn 2009, just one black Caribbean student was accepted out of 35. The admissions figures for 2010 entry show that 55.4% of Oxford’s British undergraduate intake was state-educated. Nearly a quarter went to comprehensive schools, compared with less than 20% for the year starting in autumn 2009. Oxford argues that poor attainment at school level presents a major challenge to its aspiration to admit the best candidates, pointing out that independent school students make up a third of all those getting 3 As at A-level. The university also says the focus on the type of school obscures the fact that some poor children are privately educated. Oxford published a breakdown of figures for 2009/10, which showed that 935 students came from families with household incomes below £16,190, the earnings threshold for free school meals. Of these, 295 had been educated in private schools. Nicholson said: “Household income is one important measure, and it does not correlate in an obvious way with school type. “Our figures show that nearly one in ten of our students come from households in the lowest income bracket. Those students went to a range of school types, confirming that state/independent does not equal poor/rich.” Nicholson contrasted this statistic with figures based on pupils who received free school meals. Less than 1% of the intake at the most selective universities, including Oxbridge, were pupils on free school meals, according to a study by the charity the Sutton Trust . He said: “There are very many more students from low-income backgrounds than there are students who were on free school meals – not everyone on the lowest incomes is eligible, and not everyone takes them up.” The breakdown of household income for 2009/10 show that nearly 73% of Oxford’s intake that year were students from households with an income above £50,000. This is the cut-off point for a government maintenance grant. The latest admissions figures show high success rates for candidates who attended Oxford’s summer school for state school pupils. More than 40% of summer school students received offers – a success rate nearly double that of all applicants. University of Oxford Access to university Higher education Jeevan Vasagar guardian.co.uk
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Robert Gates calls for on-going commitment from coalition countries as Pentagon set to withdraw as few as 2,000 troops The Obama administration has begun to lower expectations of a significant withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan in July and warned European allies against pulling out their forces too soon. Speaking at a meeting of the 48 countries contributing troops to Afghanistan, the US defence secretary, Robert Gates, expressed concern that some European countries were talking too much about leaving rather than finishing the job. Gates, who was in Afghanistan earlier this week as part of an assessment of how many US troops could be withdrawn in July, said he was worried that security gains in Afghanistan “could be threatened by ill-timed, precipitous or unco-ordinated national drawdown” by countries contributing troops. When Barack Obama announced in December 2009 an increase in the number of US troops in Afghanistan from 70,000 to 100,000 , he wrung a promise from the Pentagon that a withdrawal would begin in July this year. Facing an election next year for a second presidential term, there was an expectation he would seek a headline-grabbing figure such as 20,000 to signal to the American public that the exit was in sight. But the Pentagon is likely to recommend a figure closer to 2,000 than 20,000. With troops spread over a wide geographical area and facing a Taliban offensive in the spring and summer, the US commander in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, is looking for a limited withdrawal. This is possible because Afghanistan is not a major political issue in the US and does not arouse the same passions as Iraq. Speaking at Nato headquarters on Friday, Gates told other defence ministers there was a need for unity and commitment to maintain progress in Afghanistan. “Unfortunately, some recent rhetoric coming from capitals on this continent is calling into question that resolve. Frankly, there is too much talk about leaving and not enough talk about getting the job done right,” Gates told his fellow defence ministers. “Too much discussion of exit and not enough discussion about continuing the fight. Too much concern about when and how many troops might redeploy, and not enough about what needs to be done before they leave.” Gates did not specify which capitals he had in mind. Politicians in Poland, Denmark, Germany and Italy have spoken about troop withdrawals. The warning from Gates reflects US concern that European countries will use the July withdrawal as an opportunity to make their own reductions. The US does not want a repeat of Iraq, where coalition partners drew out early, leaving America on its own. Poland is due to pull out its 2,600 troops by 2012, Canada is set to withdraw its 2,900 troops by the end of the year and Denmark, with 748 troops, is due to cut about 100. All US and allied combat troops are scheduled to leave Afghanistan by 2014. Although David Cameron expressed hopes in December of early withdrawals of British troops, Britain was not among the countries targeted by Gates in his remarks. It is not unusual for US defence and diplomatic leaders to visit Europe and criticise allies for failing to provide more troops, helicopters or financial support. But Gates was blunter than usual. Due to retire later this year, he has been increasingly outspoken, in Washington as well as overseas. The meeting was closed to the press but the Pentagon provided a transcript of Gates’s comments. “Thanks to the progress we have made, we are setting the right circumstances to begin to reduce some of those US surge forces in July 2011, but will do that based on conditions on the ground and in co-ordination with Nato. We will not sacrifice the significant gains made to date, or the lives lost, for a political gesture,” he said. “In return, we expect the same from your nations. Let me be clear – unco-ordinated national drawdowns would risk the gains made to date. Considerations about any drawdown of forces must be driven by security conditions and the Isaf [International Security Assistance Force] commander’s [Petraeus's] operational needs, and not by mathematical calculation shaped by political concerns.” He called for the countries at the meeting to raise €1bn (£862m) annually to support the Afghan security forces. US military Afghanistan US foreign policy Military United States Ewen MacAskill guardian.co.uk
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Unions plan 2012 election counter-attack after weeks of protests that drew tens of thousands Scott Walker, governor of Wisconsin, succeeded on Friday in taking away nearly all collective bargaining rights from the vast majority of the state’s public employees, delivering an epic defeat to the labour movement. Union leaders plan to use the setback to fire up their members nationwide and mount a counter-attack against Republicans at the ballot box in 2012. The bill passed the state’s assembly after more than three weeks of protests that drew tens of thousands of opponents. Union supporters planned a mass rally at the Capitol on Saturday and continued to circulate petitions to recall from office eight of the Republican state senators who supported the bill. The Senate cleared the way for the bill with a surprise move that allowed them to move the measure forward by an 18-1 vote without 14 Democratic senators present. The proposal has touched off a national debate over labour rights for public employees, and its implementation is a key victory for Republicans who have targeted unions amid an effort to slash government spending. Republicans, newly empowered after seizing control of the House of Representatives and many state governments in November, had promised deep spending cuts, to hold or cut taxes and to shrink the size of government. Walker is part of the new, highly conservative wave of Republicans who have moved to cut taxes for businesses in their states. Similar restrictions on union bargaining rights are making their way through Ohio’s legislature. Several other states are debating lesser measures to curb union rights. US unions Wisconsin Republicans US politics United States guardian.co.uk
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Heavy police presence and official warnings deter protests in Riyadh and result in small demonstrations in eastern provinces Saudi security forces came out in strength in Riyadh on a “day of rage” organised by pro-democracy campaigners who managed only small demonstrations in the eastern provinces. Expectations that the unrest sweeping the Arab world in the last few weeks would spread to its most conservative kingdom appeared to have been dashed by pre-emptive security measures and stern official warnings against any protests. Far larger demonstrations rocked Yemen, where tens of thousands of pro and anti-government protesters took to the streets as President Ali Abdullah Saleh struggled to maintain his grip. Clashes broke out in the nearby island state of Bahrain, where Shia protesters were confronted by riot police guarding the royal court in Manama. Demonstrations were also held in Kuwait by stateless people demanding their rights. The calm in the Saudi capital may have been achieved partly by an incident on Thursday in the eastern city of al-Qatif, where police shot and wounded at least two protesters. Unconfirmed reports described trouble there again. Protesters rallied in Hofuf, close to the eastern Ghawar oil field and major refinery installations. The city has seen scattered protests by Shias who complain of discrimination by the Sunni majority. Saudi sources also reported marches involving hundreds of people in al-Ahsa and Awwamiya near al-Qatif. Security in Riyadh was high-profile and intense, with helicopters hovering overhead and police checks on cars and individuals heading for mosques, where protests were expected after prayers. “Police cruisers were given orders to pull over any car,” tweeted Mohammed al-Qahtani, president of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association. “I saw several cars being searched by officers, and they checked IDs.” Disappointed activists counted more policemen and journalists than demonstrators. “Where were all these policemen and helicopters when Jeddah was drowning?” asked one Saudi — a sardonic reference to the floods that devastated the Red Sea coastal city twice in the last two years and fuelled anger and resentment at government incompetence. Last week Saudi Arabia banned public protests following demonstrations by Shia groups in the eastern areas during which 22 people were arrested and later freed. Activists had used a Facebook page to call for protests but many reformist Saudis said they did not know who the organisers were and raised concerns of a possible provocation by the secret police in a country where demonstrations are rare. Characteristically, the government mobilised religious leaders to speak out. “Islam strictly prohibits protests in the kingdom because the ruler here rules by God’s will,” Sheikh Abdel Aziz Alasheikh told worshippers in Riyadh’s central mosque. Leading scholars had earlier issued a fatwa banning protests. Rumours were rife in Riyadh, with anonymous text messages carrying dire warnings of huge fines, loss of nationality and expulsion from the country. “The messages are not coming from official channels, and are obviously scare tactics employed to discourage large numbers from showing up and adding to the tensions,” one resident told the Guardian. Last month King Abdullah, who is 87, sought to defuse opposition demands for change by unveiling an unprecedented package worth about $37bn (£23bn) to pay for unemployment benefits, education and housing subsidies the day after he returned from three months of medical treatment in the US and Morocco. But critics said he was resorting to a familiar tactic of throwing money at a problem and not addressing its root causes — a lack of significant political reform. Since then the streets of Riyadh have been festooned with flags and large green posters of a smiling King Abdullah welcoming him home. “If you are well, we are all well,” one read. “Welcome king of humanity,” said another. Before a soccer match on Thursday, a message was circulated among fans urging them not to wear their team’s colours but the green of the Saudi national flag. For some Middle East analysts the extent of unrest in Saudi Arabia has been seen as a possible indicator of whether the popular unrest across the region will begin to ebb or continue to intensify. But a low turnout in protests may lead the king and his advisers to conclude that internal pressure for reform can be ignored. A special correspondent in Riyadh contributed to this report Saudi Arabia Middle East Bahrain Yemen Kuwait Arab and Middle East protests Ian Black guardian.co.uk
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Qhuram Awan and Karl Ness face life sentences after being convicted of aiding Raoul Moat’s gun rampage last summer Two accomplices who helped the fugitive killer gunman Raoul Moat stay on the run for almost a week are facing life sentences after being convicted of a number of serious offences, including conspiracy to murder, by a jury. Qhuram Awan, 23, and Karl Ness, 26, claimed they had been held hostage by Moat during his rampage through Northumberland last summer. But the jury at Newcastle crown court rejected their version of events and found they conspired with their friend before, during and after Moat shot three people, killing one and seriously injuring the others. They were convicted of a series of charges and can expect life sentences. Ness was convicted of murder and both were found guilty of conspiracy to murder, attempted murder and robbery of a chip shop. Ness was convicted of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life but Awan was cleared of the same charge. The first victim was Chris Brown, 29, a karate expert who was shot dead. He was dating Moat’s former partner Samantha Stobbart, 22, whom Moat shot and seriously injured at a house in Birtley, Gateshead. Brown’s mother, Sally, wept as the verdicts were delivered. Moat then declared war on Northumberland police and shot and blinded unarmed traffic officer Pc David Rathband. Relatives of victims cried “Yes” when the unanimous verdicts were read out. One male jury member appeared overcome by the emotion in the courtroom and had his head in his hands. Pc Rathband hugged his wife, Kath, and sobbed in the public gallery as the verdicts were announced. Mr Justice McCombe said: “A lot of people have been seriously affected by this case.” Moat had a grudge against police after he wrongly believed that Stobbart was dating a police officer. Moat died in July after a six-hour standoff with police in Rothbury, Northumberland, when he shot himself, despite hostage negotiators trying to persuade him to put the gun down. He was also shot by a police Taser that had not undergone proper testing. The hunt for Moat led to a Tornado fighter jet, normally used on covert missions in Afghanistan, being brought in to scour the countryside at dusk as hundreds of officers searched the countryside and woodland in Rothbury. Survival expert Ray Mears was brought in to advise officers after an abandoned campsite was discovered on the edge of the village. The search, costing £1.4m, was one of the biggest ever police operations in the UK. The fugitive’s ability to keep one step ahead of the police for a week fuelled further interest in the investigation, putting pressure on detectives who knew just how dangerous Moat could be. Moat, a former bouncer, had a history of violence and was involved in at least two road rage incidents. He regularly beat his girlfriend and was jailed for assaulting a child. From prison, he ordered Ness to spy on Stobbart, asking him to go through her bins, check her Facebook account and sit outside her house to catch her with another man. During the trial, Awan said he felt he was trapped in a cross between a Bourne Identity film and the Grand Theft Auto game. In notes he made entitled “Diary of a hostage” he wrote: “I know it sounds horrible but it is a game about a man on a mission. You’re going round shooting people and stealing cars.” For a time, the police ordered a news blackout as they thought they were dealing with a hostage situation while Moat was on the run. However, Ness and Awan were willing participants. Awan admitted driving Moat and Ness in his black Lexus from the roundabout where the gunman shot and blinded unarmed officer Rathband. The trial heard that Moat had laughed in the moments after he seriously injured Rathband. Awan claimed he had played along with Moat because he was too afraid to turn him over to the police and said he thought he was only going to “scare” Rathband, not shoot him. Awan said he feared for his life after Moat made threats against his family, and told him: “You’re with me now.” The part-time mechanic, of Blyth, Northumberland, waved to a police helicopter moments before he and Ness were caught by armed officers. He told the court of his relief upon being arrested, and his belief that he would be released to see his family immediately after being interviewed. Detective superintendent Jim Napier said: “Ness was a very close associate of Moat’s – you could probably refer to him as Moat’s right-hand man. He did a lot of running about for Moat, a lot of his dirty work. “Ness was a long-term friend of Moat’s. Moat was the dominant, bullying, assertive, bodybuilding individual. Ness would look after his house, his dogs, his car, run errands for him. “He was under the influence of Raoul Moat and would do whatever Moat demanded, willingly, and always.” Ness’s mother, Maureen, said her son was scared of Moat, his only friend. She said: “I felt on the one hand Karl admired Raoul, but on the other hand he also feared him. If Karl mentioned Raoul I would say, ‘Don’t go, you don’t have anything to do with him’, because I didn’t think he was any good. “Karl took no notice, he just said, ‘It’s OK, mam’.” Much of the evidence used against Awan and Ness came from CCTV cameras that “paranoid” Moat had installed outside his home in Fenham, Newcastle. Napier said the three men were in cahoots and he said “neither has taken responsibility for his actions or shown any remorse. For me, that sums up their cowardliness. They are beneath contempt.” Sentencing was adjourned by the judge until Tuesday. Raoul Moat Gun crime Crime Helen Carter guardian.co.uk
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PJ Crowley says Pentagon is being ‘ridiculous and stupid’ by subjecting WikiLeaks suspect to punitive conditions in jail Hillary Clinton’s spokesman has launched a public attack on the Pentagon for the way it is treating military prisoner Bradley Manning, the US soldier suspected of handing the US embassy cables to WikiLeaks. PJ Crowley, the assistant secretary of state for public affairs at the US state department, said Manning was being “mistreated” in the military brig at Quantico, Virginia. “What is being done to Bradley Manning is ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid on the part of the department of defence,” he said. Crowley’s comments signal a crack within the Obama administration over the handling of the WikiLeaks saga in which hundreds of thousands of confidential documents were handed to the website. As news of the remarks rippled through Washington, President Obama was forced to address the subject of Manning’s treatment for the first time. Asked about the controversy at a White House press conference, Obama revealed he had asked the Pentagon “whether or not the procedures that have been taken in terms of his confinement are appropriate and are meeting our basic standards. They assure me that they are.” Obama would not respond specifically to Crowley’s comments, which are the first critical remarks from within the administration about the handling of Manning. The prisoner is being held for 23 hours in solitary confinement in his cell and stripped naked every night. Until now the US government had presented a united front, promising to aggressively pursue anyone involved in leaking state secrets. Clinton herself described the WikiLeaks material as “an attack on America” and said “we are taking aggressive steps” to hold those who leaked it to account. Manning has been charged with handing state secrets to an unauthorised party. The charges include aiding the enemy, which can carry the death penalty. Crowley, speaking at an MIT seminar in Boston, did say he believed Manning was “in the right place”. He was presumably referring to Quantico, where the intelligence specialist has been held pending a court martial since July last year. Crowley said: “There is sometimes a need for secrets for diplomatic progress to be made.” But when asked by one of the audience what he thought about the “elephant in the room” – the US “torturing a prisoner in a military brig” – he replied without pausing that he thought the Pentagon’s actions were “ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid”. Details of Crowley’s comments, which he said were on the record, were posted on the personal blog of Philippa Thomas, a BBC news correspondent on sabbatical doing a Nieman journalism fellowship at Harvard. The remarks were corroborated by another blogger at the seminar. The comments are likely to encourage protesters who have maintained steady pressure on the Pentagon. The UN is investigating whether the treatment amounts to torture. This week, in a legal letter, Manning gave his own description of conditions in the brig. “The determination to strip me of all my clothing every night since 2 March 2011 is without justification and therefore constitutes unlawful pretrial punishment,” he wrote. The 11-page legal letter provided a rare insight into the state of mind of the prisoner, who has been held in solitary confinement for 10 months. After he was arrested in Iraq in May, he was initially held in Kuwait before being transferred to Quantico in July. Manning says in the letter that he is being “left to languish under the unduly harsh conditions of max [security] custody”. He describes being stripped and made to stand naked for inspection. “The guard told me to stand at parade rest, with my hands behind my back and my legs spaced shoulder-width apart. I stood at parade rest for about three minutes. The [brig supervisor] and the other guards walked past my cell. He looked at me, paused for a moment, then continued to the next cell. I was incredibly embarrassed at having all these people stare at me naked.” Manning and his lawyer David Coombs have been trying to convince the military authorities that he is psychologically healthy and does not need such a harsh regime. His supporters argue the treatment is punitive and designed to force him into a coerced confession. Bradley Manning WikiLeaks The US embassy cables United States Hillary Clinton US politics US foreign policy Human rights Ed Pilkington guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Who’da thunk? Evangelicals denounce Glenn Beck as a "New Age" Mormon because of new feel-good book
March 11, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media Back when he was blaming President Obama for the fact that so many malinformed right-wingers believe that he is Muslim, Glenn Beck was fond of remarking that Obama’s brand of Christianity is “a Christianity that many Americans just don’t recognize,” and “I don’t know what that is, other than it’s not Muslim, it’s not Christian. It’s a perversion of the gospel of Jesus Christ as most Christians know it.” As Jon adroitly observed at the time, he was playing with fire: “Sadly for the Fox News host, as many of his Tea Bagging allies view his Mormon faith in precisely the same terms.” Of course, you’ll recall that much of the thrust of Beck’s work in the past year, particularly his big shindig on the Capitol Mall, was about marrying the Tea Partiers with the Religious Right. But we had to wonder how long it would be before his new “friends” on the evangelical set couldn’t stomach his Mormonism any longer. Well, now we know . From WorldNutDaily: Christian author: Glenn Beck actually New Age ‘anti-Christ’ A Christian author and national speaker has just released a video in which he flays radio and TV commentator Glenn Beck as a pagan, New Age “anti-Christ” who is deluding many believers away from the Bible’s teachings and leading them toward Eastern mysticism. Brannon Howse of Worldview Weekend in Collierville, Tenn., who was once a defender of Beck, is now blasting the popular Fox News host based on content of Beck’s new book, “Seven Wonders That Will Change Your Life,” co-authored by psychiatrist Dr. Keith Ablow. “Back in August of 2010, I tried warning folks that Glenn Beck was a pagan, New Age, universalistic Mormon, and indeed, he now has revealed his hand,” Howse says in the video, which is based on a column he wrote earlier this year. “Beck’s book is nothing less than a promotion of universalism, postmodernism and pagan spirituality, also known as the New Age movement.” I doubt that this will even slightly deter the intrepid Beck, who mostly tries to tamp down these kinds of controversies and pretend they didn’t happen. At some point, he may have to actually confront these kinds of voices, but most likely he will try to spin it as vindication somehow that he was right all along. Or something. But it’s also a reminder of the pitfalls that await the presidential candidacy of Beck’s fellow Mormon, Mitt Romney. This should be an interesting year ahead.
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Diplomacy not enough when people are dying, spokeswoman tells EU leaders as Gaddafi’s forces begin to regain control Libya’s revolutionary leadership has appealed for France and Britain to launch air strikes against an intensive assault by Muammar Gaddafi’s forces that has forced the rebel army to retreat towards its eastern stronghold of Benghazi. The Provisional Transitional National Council said that calls by European leaders for Gaddafi to quit and the threat of more sanctions were not enough as the regime regains its footing after the initial shock of the popular uprising. The revolutionaries fear that the hesitation by most European states and the US to take direct action is providing a breathing space for Gaddafi to continue his attempts to crush the uprising in areas around Tripoli and to move toward Benghazi. “If you don’t want to do something, you rely on the diplomatic side. It is not enough when people are dying,” said Iman Bugaighis, spokeswoman for the revolutionary council. “We need more than diplomacy. We need a no-fly zone but we need more than that. We need air strikes. I think they know where to bomb if they want to bomb. They know how to intervene. It’s urgent.” Bugaighis said the Libyan revolutionaries were particularly looking to France for help after the government in Paris on Thursday became the first to recognise the transitional council as the “only legitimate representative of the Libyan people”. “We are sure France will stand with us. It was the first country to recognise us so they believe in our right for a free, democratic Libya,” she said. The revolutionary council is also hopeful that it can win support for military action from Britain, as the other European power with the capability to launch air strikes and potentially the political will to do so. The rebels have appealed for weapons supplies, saying they are being outgunned by Gaddafi’s forces. However, Bugaighis said the revolutionary administration remains opposed to foreign troops intervening in Libya on the ground. The council’s appeal came after Gaddafi’s son, Saif al-Islam, said the regime was hitting back against the three-week-old rebellion with a full-scale assault. “It’s time for action. We are moving now,” he told Reuters on Thursday. On the same day, mobile phone subscribers in Benghazi received text messages appearing to originate from the Gaddafi regime saying the city would soon be recaptured. The rebels’ military situation appeared to deteriorate further on Friday after the regime in Tripoli intensified its assault against the frontline town of Ras Lanuf. The rebels said Gaddafi’s forces entered the town with tanks and from the sea, and that there had been fighting in the streets. The regime’s military were firing rockets and shells at the coastal road in an attempt to stop rebels bringing supplies and reinforcements into the strategic oil town. But the insurgents continue to hold the oil and port facilities about 10 miles from Ras Lanuf. Gaddafi’s forces also bombed the towns of Brega and Uqaylah behind rebel lines. Following the crushing of most resistance in Zawiya, near Tripoli, the only revolutionary holdout in western Libya, Misrata, about 125 miles east of Tripoli, was reported to be calm but bracing for an assault. Further evidence that Gaddafi is regaining control in Tripoli came amid reports that security forces used tear gas and fired in the air to disperse worshippers near a mosque planning anti-Gaddafi protests. Foreign reporters were prevented by the regime from reaching the Tajoura district where there have been violent clashes after Friday prayers in recent weeks. “About 300 people were inside the mosque praying. Militia men fired tear gas and shot in the air to intimidate them,” a resident of the district told Reuters. “There was a lot of tear gas. Everyone ran away. They tried to prevent the protests and succeeded.” Thousands of people rallied outside the revolutionary council’s headquarters in Benghazi on Friday to back the call for the no-fly zone. Some waved French flags. One banner strung between lamp posts read: “Save Zawiya from bombing: no food, no medicine, no baby formula.” Another dismissed Gaddafi’s attempts to portray the revolutionaries as Islamist terrorists: “We are freedom fighters. We are not al-Qaida. We do not support it.” The protesters chanted defiant calls for Gaddafi to go but the mood in the city has shifted as the initial expectation that Libya’s dictator would swiftly be driven from power by popular protest has given way to the realisation that the fight could be long and bloody. Libya Middle East Arab and Middle East protests Muammar Gaddafi France Europe Chris McGreal guardian.co.uk
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• 8.9 magnitude earthquake and aftershocks rock Japan • Emergency at nuclear plant, fears of radiation leak • Tsunami engulfs northern port of Sendai and islands • Japan’s death toll said to be more than 1,000 • Tsunami alerts now lifted in Australia, Philippines Read the Guardian’s latest news on events in Japan 11.47pm GMT: In the comments, many people are asking what the implications of the nuclear reactor power failure is. Given how little we are being told by Tepco and the Japanese government, it’s hard to say. The increase in background radiation near the plant isn’t dangerous at this point, but of course that could change. Reuters has a piece explaining what happens when a reactor loses coolant: When all sources of power fail like at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, coolant begins to boil off, exposing the fuel rods. It would likely take several hours to boil off enough coolant before the core is hot enough to damage it. If the fuel rods became damaged they would release radioactive material into the remaining coolant. – Hours beyond that the metal surrounding the ceramic uranium fuel pellets could potentially start melting if temperatures reach well beyond 1000F as occurred at Three Mile Island. The ceramic fuel pellets would not melt until temperatures reached about 2000 degrees F. – Hours after the fuel rods started to melt, the heat could potentially melt through the reactor vessel, which is made of high tensile steel four to eight inches thick – It would take even more time before the containment fails, which could result in radioactive releases to the environment. The containment is an air tight steel or reinforced concrete structure with walls between four to eight feet thick. As the Three Mile Island accident showed, operators can regain control of the situation if they can get the coolant flowing again. 11.34pm GMT: Meanwhile, Japan’s nuclear safety agency is set to issue an unprecedented order for Tepco to open a valve at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to release pressure, as we reported earlier. The good news is that the 3,000 residents in the initial evacuation radius have been safely removed. 11.29pm GMT: This is more chilling news from Kyodo: The cooling system failed at three reactors of the quake-hit Fukushima No 2 [Daini] nuclear power plant Saturday, the operator Tokyo Electric Power Co said. The company, which has already scrambled to deal with radiation leaks at its Fukushima [Daiichi] No 1 plant, notified the industry ministry that the failsafe system at the No 2 plant stopped functioning as the temperature of coolant water has topped 100C. So much for the “failsafe system”, which appears to have failed. 11.10pm GMT: The Fukushima Daini plant has now been added to the government’s emergency list. Earlier, Tepco – the Tokyo Power company – had reported : A seriously injured worker is still trapped in the crane operating console of the exhaust stack and his breathing and pulse cannot be confirmed. 11pm GMT: The Kyodo news agency is reporting that the Japanese government is ordering Tepco to open valves on the Fukushima Daiichi No 1 reactor to release pressure. 10.45pm GMT: Now there are reports from nuclear plant operator Tepco that the Fukushima Daini plant has lost cooling to three of its reactors. It was one reactor in the Fukushima Daiichi plant that had been the cause for concern earlier – so this news is certainly unwelcome. According to Dow-Jones, Tepco says that the temperatures of its No 1 and No 2 reactors at its Fukushima Daini nuclear power station are rising, and it has lost control over pressure within the reactors. Fukushima Daini station is the second nuclear power plant the company has in Fukushima prefecture in northeastern Japan, where the troubled Fukushima Daiichi plant is located. 10.34pm GMT: The damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor has already been leaking radiation outside the plant, confirms Japan’s nuclear safety agency and the operator, the Tokyo Electric Power company. Compared with the government briefing last night that everything was fine, that’s a turn around. According to AP, the continued loss of electricity has delayed the planned release of radioactive vapor from inside the reactor to ease pressure. Pressure inside one of the reactors had risen to 1.5 times the level considered normal. 10.19pm GMT: Some grim footage from Japanese television. This screengshot is of a carpark in Tokai – a coastal town in in Ibaraki prefecture – showing cars that were first pushed together by the force of the tsunami, and then caught fire. 10.12pm GMT: An AP news alert: Japan says radiation levels surged outside nuclear plant, expands area subject to evacuation. 10pm GMT: It’s getting light in Japan now, on Saturday morning. Reuters previews the day to come: Daybreak was expected to reveal the full extent of the death and damage from Friday’s 8.9 magnitude earthquake and the 10-metre high tsunami it sent surging into cities and villages, sweeping away everything in its path. In one of the worst-hit residential areas, people buried under rubble could be heard calling out “help” and “when are we going to be rescued”, Kyodo news agency reported. 9.51pm GMT: A tsunami emergency has been declared for Chile’s Easter Islands, with waves expected there within the hour. 9.43pm GMT: The level of radiation in the control room of the No 1 reactor of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is “1,000 times higher than normal,” according to Japan’s nuclear and industrial safety agency, visiting the site. According to the Kyodo news agency: “The discovery suggests radioactive steam could spread around the facility operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co.” 9.20pm GMT: More unsettling news from the Fukushima Daiichi’s No 1 nuclear power reactor in Onahama: the plant’s operator Tepco says that radioactive substances “could have already been released” from the damaged reactor, while Japan’s prime minister Naoto Kan is saying that residents within 10km of the plant must leave the area. Kan was set to visit the plant this morning. Previously, the area of three kilometres around the reactor had been evacuated, while those within 10km were told to stay indoors. Radiation has been more than eight times the normal level according to a monitoring post near the main entrance to the plant, the Japanese industry ministry’s nuclear and industrial safety agency said. 9.01pm GMT: Kyodo news agency is reporting that four commuter trains are still unaccounted for in the Miyagi and Iwate prefectures, the coastal area of northeastern Japan that were hardest hit by the tsunami. 8.50pm GMT: Experts from the Union of Concerned Scientists are raising safety concerns about the shutdown of the damaged nuclear plant, writes the Guardian’s US environment correspondent Suzanne Goldenberg: UCS notes that the company has evacuated surrounding areas in a 3 km radius from the plant while they try to restore downed coolant system. The campaign group quotes Tepco as saying the shutdowns were caused by the loss of two off-site power systems. The shutdown triggered emergency diesel power supply. But that system failed when the tsunami hit about an hou later. According to UCS: “This power failure resulted in one of the most serious conditions that can affect a nuclear plant – a “station blackout” – during which off-site power and on-site emergency alternating current (AC) power is lost. Nuclear plants generally need AC power to operate the motors, valves and instruments that control the systems that provide cooling water to the radioactive core. If all AC power is lost, the options to cool the core are limited.” The plant reactors have a steam driven cooling system which does not need electricity – but it does need batteries. If those run down before mains power is restored the water level in the reactor will drop. The UCS warns: “If it drops far enough, the core would overheat and the fuel would become damaged. Ultimately, a ‘meltdown’ could occur: The core could become so hot that it forms a molten mass that melts through the steel reactor vessel. This would release a large amount of radioactivity from the vessel into the containment building that surrounds the vessel. “The containment building’s main purpose is to keep radioactivity from being released into the environment. A meltdown would build up pressure in the containment building. At this point we do not know if the earthquake damaged the containment building enough to undermine its ability to contain the pressure and allow radioactivity to leak out. “According to technical documents translated by Aileen Mioko Smith of Green Action in Japan, if the coolant level dropped to the top of the active fuel rods in the core, damage to the core would begin about 40 minutes later, and damage to the reactor vessel would occur 90 minutes after that.” 8.37pm GMT: The Associated Press has news of US workers at the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plants in Onahama city, about 270km northeast of Tokyo: Pineville, Louisiana, resident Janie Eudy said her husband, Danny, was working at Fukushima No 1 when the earthquake struck. After a harrowing evacuation, he called her several hours later from the parking lot of his quake-ravaged hotel. He and other American plant workers are “waiting to be rescued, and they’re in bad shape,” she said in a telephone interview. Danny Eudy, 52, a technician employed by Pasadena, Texas-based Atlantic Plant Maintenance, told his wife that the quake violently shook the plant building he was in. “Everything was falling from the ceiling,” she said. Eudy told his wife that he and other workers were evacuating the plant when the tsunami swept through the area, carrying away homes and vehicles. They retreated so they wouldn’t get caught up in the raging water. “He walked through so much glass that his feet were cut. It slowed him down,” she said. 8.23pm GMT: Follow reactions in Japan using this Google maps and Twitter mash-up , showing tweets in real time and their location. 8.16pm GMT: Friday’s earthquake in Japan was the the strongest quake in the area in nearly 1,200 years, the Associated Press reports: David Applegate, a senior science adviser for earthquake and geologic hazards for the U.S. Geological Survey, said the 8.9-magnitude quake ruptured a patch of the earth’s crust 150 miles long and 50 miles across. He said the earthquake, which also spawned a massive tsunami that hit Japan before racing across the Pacific to Hawaii and the west coast of the United States, likely caused tens of billions of dollars in structural damage in Japan. 8.02pm GMT: New Zealand has had its own earthquake problems in recent weeks, so it’s a relief to learn that the tsunami caused sea levels to rise by only 15cm by the time it reached the southern Pacific nation. 7.56pm GMT: More awful footage of Kesennuma from Japan’s public broadcaster NHK – at night the town appears to be one giant bonfire, covering multiple blocks, and still burning more than 15 hours after the earthquake struck. 7.47pm GMT: Felicity Carus is on the west coast of the US, watching the reaction to the huge waves generated by the tsunami arriving there: Tens of thousands of people were evacuated from coastal and low lying areas along the west coast of the US this morning as seven-foot waves generated by the 8.9 earthquake near Japan first struck the US mainland coast at Crescent City, 20 miles south of the Oregon border. The West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Centre issued a warning for the California coast after waves travelled at 500 miles an hour across the Pacific, hitting Hawaii with waves up to 11ft high. The first surges hit the US mainland at around 7.30am local time. Schools, highways and national parks were closed as authorities urged people to stay away from beaches, jetties and harbours. Sirens sounded across Crescent City in far northern California in the early morning and police went door to door evacuating homes in the tsunami impact zone along the coast as fishermen left the busy harbour. A tsunami in 1964 devastated Crescent City and killed 11 people. Surges were expected continue to hit the California coast for up to 12 hours. In the event, Crescent City experienced increasingly large waves from 3ft at 8.15am rising to 8.1ft at 10.15am. Some 6,000 people were evacuated from Crescent City town and police have sealed off the harbour. In San Francisco police closed the city’s Great Highway and the National Park Service closed Ocean Beach, Baker Beach, China Beach, Fort Funston and Aquatic Park tucked inside the bay. Transport services to these areas were stopped and boats took shelter within the bay. There were also concerns that surging waves would pass under the Golden Gate Bridge and flood low-lying areas within the Bay Area, but low tide was expected to reduce their full force. 7.41pm GMT: A Japanese minister says a radioactive leak likely to come from the damaged nuclear plant in Fukushima – 240km (150 miles) north of Tokyo – is expected to be small. Reuters reports: “It’s possible that radioactive material in the reactor vessel could leak outside but the amount is expected to be small and the wind blowing towards the sea will be considered,” Chief Cabinet Yukio Edano told a news conference. “Residents are safe after those within a 3km radius were evacuated and those within a 10km radius are staying indoors, so we want people to be calm,” he added. The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co, said pressure had built up inside a reactor at the plant after the cooling system was knocked out by the earthquake, the largest on record in Japan. The company had been operating three out of the six reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant at the time of the quake, all of which shut down. The remaining three had already been shut down for planned maintenance. 7.35pm GMT: Police in Miyagi prefecture say 200-300 bodies have been found in the northeastern coastal city of Sendai, the city closest to the epicenter of today’s first earthquake. Another 151 were confirmed killed, with 547 missing. Police also said around 800 people were injured. 7.28pm GMT: Ecuador’s president Rafael Correa has declared a national state of emergency and urged coastal and island residents to evacuate fast to higher areas, as the tsunami approaches. 7.23pm GMT: The US Geological Survey has said the new quake around Nagano a few minutes ago was measured at 6.2 magnitude – a big quake in most places. It’s 4.23am in Japan and I suspect quite a few people have had an early wake-up jolt. 7.16pm GMT: A 6.6 magnitude shock has just been reported in the Nagano Niigata area of Japan, apparently on a different faultline from the 8.9 magnitude quake earlier. 7.05pm GMT: The Emergency in SF Twitter account has posted this tweet for San Francisco residents. 6.52pm GMT: NHK television is still showing footage of a very large section of Kesennuma – a town of 70,000 people in Miyagi province – ablaze, with firefighters unable to put it out. According to military observers who have looked at the fires from the air, the blaze covers a strip 4.5km wide and 2.5km deep. 6.46pm GMT: A nuclear expert speaking to CNN said that “a worst case scenario” was a Chernobyl-style meltdown if power and cooling could not be restored. But he stressed that it was a remote possibility. 6.41pm GMT: More details on the planned release of radioactive vapour to reduce pressure on the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, where Japan’s nuclear safety agency said pressure in one of six boiling water reactors had risen to 1.5 times the level considered normal. The Associated Press reports: After the quake triggered a power outage, a backup generator also failed and the cooling system was unable to supply water to cool the 460-megawatt No. 1 reactor, though at least one backup cooling system is being used. The reactor core remains hot even after a shutdown. The agency said plant workers are scrambling to restore cooling water supply at the plant but there is no prospect for immediate success. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said the 40-year-old plant was not leaking radiation. The plant is in Onahama city, about 170 miles (270 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo. If the outage in the cooling system persists, eventually radiation could leak out into the environment, and, in the worst case, could cause a reactor meltdown, a nuclear safety agency official said on condition of anonymity , citing sensitivity of the issue. Another official at the nuclear safety agency, Yuji Kakizaki, said that plant workers were cooling the reactor with a secondary cooling system, which is not as effective as the regular cooling method. Kakizaki said officials have confirmed that the emergency cooling system — the last-ditch cooling measure to prevent the reactor from the meltdown — is intact and could kick in if needed. “That’s as a last resort, and we have not reached that stage yet,” Kakizaki added. 6.38pm GMT: Japanese authorities will release radioactive vapor to ease pressure at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor, it has just been announced. More to come on this. 6.27pm GMT: Fears of significant tsunami impact has receded in many parts of the Asia-Pacific area. Tsunami alerts have now been lifted in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and the Philippines. 6.18pm GMT: Asked by a Japanese journalist what sort of practical assistance the US plans to offer Japan, President Obama says the most useful will be heavy lifting equipment. Obama then says he feels a personal connection because he grew up in Hawaii. “I’m very confident that the Japanese people are so resourceful … that Japan will successfully rebuild,” he said. 6.10pm GMT: Japanese authorities are now warning that the pressure is still rising at the Fukushima Daiichi No 1 nuclear power plant after its cooling system failed, with 3,000 residents being moved out of the area after the government issued a state of emergency. Japan’s nuclear safety agency says pressure inside the reactor has risen to 1.5 times the level considered normal. To reduce the pressure, slightly radioactive vapor may be released – but the agency said the radioactive element in the vapor would not affect the environment or human health. The agency says staff are trying to restore cooling water supply at the plant but “there is no prospect for an immediate success,” according to AP. 6.07pm GMT: An urgent flash from the Kyodo news agency: Radiation level rising in Fukushima nuclear plant turbine building 6pm GMT: Japan’s defence ministry has given the latest official estimate of the death toll, saying it expected the number of deaths to be more than 1,000, following the devastation in the Fukushima prefecture. 5.52pm GMT: The Guardian Comment is Free section has an account of the earthquake from Cecilia Fujishima , a student and English language teacher living in Tokyo: This time, the epicentre was off the Sanriku coast in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures, 300km from Tokyo…. The settled areas of the picturesque Sanriku coast have low-lying fishing villages with an acute awareness of tsunami. The tsunami flood gates and inundation zone warning signs along the coast are a stark reminder of the 1896 Sanriku tsunami in which more than 20,000 people died. 5.46pm GMT: So far, rising waters of around seven feet (just over two meters) have been reported on the coast of Oregon, where residents have evacuated low-lying areas. But there have been no reports of damage there or in northern California. There are reports of surfers in Santa Cruz, California, out on the water attempting to ride the tsunami swells. 5.40pm GMT: The Twitter feed of singer-songwriter Blaise Plant gave a dramatic minute-by-minute account of the earthquake and its aftermath near Sendai, one of the hardest-hit parts of Japan: 1507: My house is trashed! I’m ok! It was spooky…the biggest one yet!! 1647: Hey Everyone! It seems to have calmed down a bit.from where I am.the buildings are all busted up..massive billboards on the verge of falling 1648: I urge everyone to keep alert…things are falling all over the place… I heard tsunami looks pretty big on TV 1649: I currently can’t go home the ground is still shaking and shaking 1716: So far a lot of people from the neighborhood gathered together to keep warm. 1724: Still big shakes…the tsunami seems to have really done damage… Looks as though there are deaths…but I can’t be sure on that. 1828: The city is a complete black out! Can’t see anything except car lights!! 1841: Gotta go pick up my cousin at Sendai station…I hope she’s alright 1850: I’m standing in the middle of the city…pitch Black 1932: Thank god we live in a great, organized country where everyone is helping each other out! 5.34pm GMT: President Obama is giving a press conference at the White Hoiuse and begins with a statement on the earthquake and tsunami. Obama says he has told the Japanese government that the US stands ready to provide any assistance it needs. “Our hearts go out to our friends in Japan and across the region,” Obama said. The president also spoke of the tsunami heading for the US west coast, and underlined the need for residents to stay away from low-lying coastal areas and to respect evacuation orders. 5.31pm GMT: The Japanese media are reporting that the death toll is expected to exceed 1,000, most of whom appeared to have drowned. And that figure could rise significantly once the waters recede. 5.29pm GMT: Hoisted from the comments from our previous live blog is this from reader SaffronHS in Tokyo , who has decided to stay in the office for the night: We are feeling rather sick, both from devastating news and dizziness of actual shaking. Odakyu line (departs from Shinjyuku and goes into Kanagawa) started running again, and will be running through the night, but some of us decided it’s better waiting until the sun is up; it’s cold outside, and we are not sure if we can get onto the train at all – it must be fully packed now, and might not be able to get on board. 5.25pm GMT: In this video you can see skyscrapers in Japan swaying in unsettling fashion during one of the earthquakes there today – as they are designed to do. 5.19pm GMT: The Tokyo Electric Power company (Tepco) is the source of the news that the pressure inside the No 1 reactor at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has been rising, with the risk of a radiation leak, reports Jiji News via Reuters. Tepco says it plans to take measures to release the pressure, the report added. No comment was immediately available from Tepco. 5.15pm GMT: Robyn Gallagher is a New Zealander visiting Tokyo, and she has blogged her reaction to feeling the quake from inside Shinjuku railway station, said to be the busiest train station in the world with two million people using it each day: It wasn’t the sort of gentle Wellington quake that I’m used to. It was this weird swaying, like standing on a platform on top of a giant spring. It actually took a little while to figure out that it was an earthquake and not a random Japanese public transport bump. When I realised, I headed for a wall, fearful of debris, though the building seemed to be intact. My mental what-if earthquake plan, formulated post-Christchurch, was put into full effect. After the swaying stopped – except it didn’t so much stop as just slow down – I noticed that everyone around was not panicked or freaking out. There was a general sense of calmness. 5.13pm GMT: The Guardian’s Justin McCurry in Tokyo emails to say that the Kyodo news agency is reporting that radiation levels are rising at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant turbine building, but doesn’t give a source. 5.05pm GMT: Mathew Honan is a resident of Ocean Beach in San Francisco, where the tsunami is expected to hit shortly. He’s set up a live webcam with a view of the beach, which you can see here . 5pm GMT: Here’s a summary of the aftermath of today’s earthquake and massive tsunami in Japan: • An earthquake measured at 8.9 magnitude by the US Geological Survey, the sixth biggest since 1900, struck Japan today . The USGS has recorded more than 50 subsequent earthquakes. • The earthquake triggered a tsunami with 10m-high waves hitting the northern port of Sendai . Waves have swept across farmland, sweeping away homes, crops, vehicles, triggering fires. Tsunami warnings and watches have been issued in dozens of other countries. • The death toll has been rising throughout the day. Police have just said 200 to 300 drowned bodies have been found in Sendai . A ship carrying 100 people was swept away by the tsunami, according to the Kyodo news agency. Reuters is reporting that a train is unaccounted for in coastal areas affected by the tsunami. • A state of emergency has been declared at a nuclear plant in Fukushima . The authorities said there was no radiation leak but people within 2km of the plant have reportedly been told to evacuate their homes. • The Japanese prime minister Naoto Kan urged people to help their neighbours and to act to “minimise the damage” . “We ask the people of Japan to exercise the spirit of fraternity, help each other and act fast,” he said. • The tsunami has reached Hawaii, with rising waters reported but no significant impact is expected when it reaches the US mainland around coastal Oregon and northern California . For earlier updates, read the Guardian’s previous live blog here . Japan earthquake and tsunami Japan Natural disasters and extreme weather United States California Richard Adams guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Well, at least one member of the United States Senate is listening to the people on where this “shared sacrifice” should be coming from to reduce the deficit and it’s not the working class. Release: Sanders Introduces Emergency Deficit Reduction Act : March 10, 2011 Bill to Create a Millionaires Surtax and End Tax Breaks for Big Oil WASHINGTON, March 10 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today introduced The Emergency Deficit Reduction Act that would establish a surtax on millionaires and eliminate tax breaks for big oil and gas companies. Sanders, a member of the Senate Budget Committee, said any proposal to fund the government for the rest of this fiscal year must pair additional revenue from those who can afford it the most with spending cuts. “The American people get it. They understand you can’t move toward deficit reduction just by cutting programs that working families, the middle class, low-income people desperately need in order to survive in the midst of this terrible recession. They understand that serious, responsible deficit reduction requires shared sacrifice,” Sanders said in a Senate floor speech. Under Sanders’ legislation, a 5.4 percent tax on income of more than $1 million a year would yield up to $50 billion annually for the U.S. Treasury. The same legislation would end tax breaks for big oil and gas companies. That provision would yield about $3.5 billion a year in new revenue. Sanders voted yesterday against a House-passed spending bill that slashed Head Start, Pell grants, community health centers, LIHEAP, the Social Security Administration and many other programs that are vitally important to millions of middle-class families. “The Republicans wanted to move toward a balanced budget solely on the backs of the middle class and some of the most vulnerable people in this country, but didn’t ask the wealthiest people, who are becoming much wealthier, to contribute one penny in shared sacrifice.” He also voted against a Democratic alternative saying afterward that “if the Democrats are serious about deficit reduction they have to raise revenue along with spending cuts.”
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