Anders Behring Breivik wants government to resign and the Japanese to investigate his mental state, his lawyer reveals The lawyer defending the man who has confessed to Norway’s bomb and shooting attacks says his client has presented a long list of “unrealistic” demands, including the resignation of the government and that his mental condition be investigated by Japanese specialists. Geir Lippestad said Anders Behring Breivik is linking these demands to his willingness to share information about two other alleged terrorist cells he has mentioned during questioning. Lippestad said the 32-year-old Norwegian wants to be investigated by Japanese specialists because “the Japanese understand the idea and values of honour”. The 22 July Oslo bombing and shooting massacre at a youth camp killed 77. Anders Behring Breivik Norway Europe The far right guardian.co.uk
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The Syrian city of Hama, the scene of a bloody crackdown by President Assad’s army, has a long history of standing up to the brutal Ba’athist regime It’s early July in Hama. Among the
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Charity releases pictures of 10 suspected criminals alleged to be responsible for a total of £200m of fraud The faces of some of Britain’s most wanted suspected fraudsters have been published in an effort to bring them to justice. Crimestoppers, the national charity, said the 10 suspected criminals were allegedly responsible for a total of at least £200m of fraud. The list includes a live-in carer suspected of a £35,000 fraud after she allegedly stole cheques from a vulnerable elderly woman; a man who allegedly posed as an entertainer raising money for a young cancer patient and a man thought to be behind a holiday booking scam. Two men wanted in relation to alleged VAT fraud, who were sentenced in their absence after absconding, also feature. Peter Stead, 48, is suspected of conning Derbyshire pub landlords out of thousands of pounds in 2009 after offering to put on a comedy night to raise money to send a young cancer patient to the US for treatment. Nicholas Slocombe, 28, failed to answer bail after being arrested in April on suspicion of more than 30 allegations of fraud by false representation across Shropshire and Herefordshire. Police said he was wanted in connection with reports from dozens of shops and businesses about alleged false claims of collecting for charity. Jascent Nakawunde, 33, also known as Tania Bird, is wanted for questioning in connection with an alleged £35,000 fraud in the Cardiff area between 2007 and 2008. She was employed as a live-in carer for a woman in her 80s and is accused of stealing cheques from her, which were allegedly paid into false accounts in London. Nasser Ahmed, 38, is wanted in connection with a £156m VAT fraud in the Bristol area. He absconded during his trial and was sentenced to six years in his absence. Crimestoppers said fraud cost the UK an estimated £38bn last year. Lord Ashcroft, founder and Crimestoppers chairman, said: “This is not a victimless crime. Every single one of us is paying higher taxes, bank charges and insurance fees because of fraud. “The amount of fraud against the public purse is around £27bn a year. This is equivalent to 30% of the estimated national education budget for 2011/2012.” He added: “Serious fraudsters often operate as part of gangs and fraud is just one of their business streams. This can result in the funding of drugs and people trafficking, which causes real harm to many.” Ashcroft urged anyone with information about fraudsters, or the whereabouts of the 10 people featured on the list, to call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or to visit its website and fill in an online form. “We guarantee that no one will know your identity,” he said. “Help us take these criminals out of circulation.” The full list • Nasser Ahmed, 38, wanted in connection to an alleged £156m VAT fraud in the Bristol area. He absconded during trial and was sentenced to six years jail in his absence. He is wanted by revenue and customs police. • Timur Mehmet, 38, wanted in connection with a £25m VAT fraud. He absconded before trial and was sentenced in his absence to eight years. He has links with north London and is wanted by revenue and customs police. • Misba Uddin, 48, wanted for fraud by false representation after he allegedly submitted fraudulent mortgage applications worth £5.7m while working as a financial adviser. Once the mortgages were processed he is accused of transferring the funds into his own accounts. He is wanted by the Metropolitan police. • Ajayi Seun, 45, who is charged with conspiracy to money launder and has failed to answer bail. He is alleged to have conned mortgage lenders and banks out of more than £12m between 2004 and 2009. His previous address was in Carshalton, Surrey. He is a solicitor and has strong links to the Carshalton area. He is wanted by Suffolk police. • Peter Stead, 48, wanted after allegedly conning Derbyshire pub landlords out of thousands of pounds in 2009. He is accused of fraudulently posing as an entertainer and brother of the comedian Peter Kay. He offered to put on a comedy night to raise money for the Lewis Mighty Fund, which was set up to send a six-year-old cancer patient to the US for treatment. Stead, who allegedly used the alias of Danny Kay, was allegedly given cash by landlords to secure the booking but failed to perform. He is wanted by Derbyshire police. • Nicholas Slocombe, 28, wanted in connection with reports from dozens of shops and businesses about alleged false claims of collecting for charity. He was arrested in April on suspicion of more than 30 allegations of fraud by false representation across Shropshire and Herefordshire. He failed to answer bail in May. A warrant has been issued for his arrest. He is alleged to have used the aliases of Owen Roswell and Arron Renfry and is wanted by the West Mercia police force. • Jascent Nakawunde, 33, also known as Tania Bird, wanted for questioning in connection with an alleged £35,000 fraud in the Cardiff area between 2007 and 2008. She was employed as a live-in carer for a woman in her 80s. During this time she is accused of stealing cheques from her which were allegedly paid into false accounts in the London area. She has strong links and previous addresses in London. She is alleged to have used the aliases of Tania Bird and Tracey Bird and is wanted by South Wales police. • Mohamad Khan, 29, from Waltham Cross, north-east London, accused of using counterfeit credit cards to buy more than £100,000 worth of goods from shopping centres such as Bluewater and Lakeside. He was arrested and charged but failed to attend crown court. A warrant has been issued for his arrest. He is believed to be in London and is wanted by City of London police. • An unknown woman, who is alleged to have falsely obtained a debit card and account details in the name of a legitimate customer from a bank in Bethnal Green, east London, in October 2008. She then went to three more banks in Saffron Walden, Cranbrook and Cambridge Hills and is accused of fraudulently transferring funds out of the customer’s account. The electronic transfers were wired to locations across the world and used to buy a number of expensive vehicles, it is alleged. The total amount she is accused of stealing is £650,000. She is wanted by City of London police. • Kevin Leitch, 48, from Liverpool, who is wanted by Devon and Cornwall police. He allegedly took bookings for a holiday let in Cornwall, accepting payments often worth more than £1,000, but then cancelled the bookings only days beforehand, claiming the property was no longer available. He lived in Cornwall and has links to St Austell and Newquay, Brixham in Devon and Southampton. He allegedly used the alias of Kevin Branson. Crime Police Identity fraud guardian.co.uk
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As the security council inches towards a resolution censuring violence, Assad forces press on with crackdown on protesters Twenty-four people have been killed across Syria as the UN Security Council showed signs of inching towards condemning the violence being unleashed by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. According to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 10 people died in the central city of Hama on the first day of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month. A further six were reported to have been killed in the eastern Damascus suburb of Arbeen early on Tuesday, three in the central province of Homs, two in the eastern border town of al-Boukamal, two in the coastal city of Latakia and one in Maadamiyah near Damascus. Describing the attacks in the capital, one resident told Reuters: “People marched after the nightly Ramadan prayers. Security cars and pick-up trucks with machine-guns mounted on their beds entered Erbin around midnight and assembled at the main roundabout before branching out in the streets and firing at neighbourhoods.” News of the continuing bloodshed in a military crackdown which has now cost an estimated 1,700 civilian lives came as western diplomats intensified efforts to force a UN security council resolution condemning the violence . An hour-long meeting in New York late on Monday night, which had been called by Germany after up to 100 people were killed on Sunday in a brutal assault on Hama, failed to yield any unified stance. But diplomats insisted progress was being made. “I detected a certain convergence of thinking, concern about the escalating violence,” said Indian ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri. “The members of the council all felt that the council should address itself to the situation and pronounce itself if the need be.” The 15-member security council has been divided for months over how to address the Syrian crackdown, with nations including Britain pushing for a resolution but others, including veto-wielding China and Russia, opposing such a move, saying they fear it could be used as a pretext for military intervention in Syria. Russia’s UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin said: “We are still under the shadow of events in Libya where we found a resolution adopted by the security council dealt with very frivolously, and we cannot but keep that in mind as we contemplate what the security council can and cannot do on Syria.” On Monday, William Hague, the foreign secretary, said that that was “not a remote possibility”. Later, in New York, the US ambassador to the UN said the claims of countries opposing a resolution were a “canard”. “In my opinion, it’s an excuse by those who don’t want to confront what’s happening in Syria,” she said, according to Reuters. A more palatable solution with the potential to unite all security council members, even Syria’s neighbour Lebanon, would be the issuing of a formal statement by the council president that called for an end to violence and urged a peaceful political solution. Churkin, who insisted a resolution would be “somewhat excessive”, said he thought such a move would be “satisfactory”. Speaking before Monday night’s meeting, Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, urged the security council to come up with some form of unified position. In a veiled appeal to China and Russia, she said in a statement: “We call on those members of the United Nations security council who have opposed any security council action that would call on Assad to stop the killing to reconsider their positions.” Clinton is due to meet with a group of US-based Syrian activists and representatives of the Syrian-American community on Tuesday. The Arab League has failed to specifically condemn the Syrian government, preferring to urge its members to “abide by human rights”. Turkey, however has expressed increased concern since Sunday. “…Beginning the holy month of Ramadan within a bloody environment is unacceptable,” President Abdullah Gül told the Anatolia news agency on Monday, adding: “The use of heavy weapons against people in Hama when Ramadan began shocked me. It is not possible for us to remain indifferent to this violence.” Syria Arab and Middle East unrest United Nations Bashar Al-Assad Middle East Lizzy Davies guardian.co.uk
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Taliban claim responsibility for blast and gunbattle which followed in hotel popular with German aid workers A suicide car bomber blew up his vehicle outside a small residential hotel frequented by foreigners just after dawn on Tuesday, killing at least four guards in the latest of a rising number of violent attacks in northern Afghanistan. After the attacker detonated his cache of explosives, two other militants stormed inside the hotel in Kunduz city and engaged police in a two-hour gunbattle, said Mubobullah Sayedi, a provincial spokesman. “When the bomber blew himself up, the explosion shook everything,” Sayedi said. “It broke glass everywhere.” Four building guards were killed and 10 other people, including an Afghan policeman, were wounded, he said. Foreigners staying at the two-storey hotel escaped through the rear of the building, he said. Sarwar Husseini, a provincial police spokesman, said German aid workers often stayed in the house, but that it was not clear who the foreigners staying there when the attack took place were. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the insurgent group, said that the bombers had attacked a “German intelligence centre and security company.” The inn burned and several nearby buildings were damaged. Flames could be seen shooting up an exterior wall as police contained the area. A severed leg lay on the ground, while other body parts had been collected and tied up in a blanket. “We heard a very big explosion that shook all of Kunduz,” said Ahmadullah, a 30-year-old shopkeeper in Kunduz, who lives about 10 yards (meters) from the building. “It was a very strong explosion.” Ahmadullah, who uses just one name, said he and his family quickly ran out of the neighbourhood to a relative’s house nearby. Worried that they were still too close to the fighting, they moved even farther away to seek protection in another relative’s house. “All my children were so scared,” he said. “We have never been so close to a suicide bombing.” Fighting has been focused in southern and eastern Afghanistan, but insurgents have been conducting a rising number of attacks in the once-peaceful north. Late last month, a vehicle carrying the deputy governor of Kunduz province struck a roadside bomb, injuring three of his bodyguards. In June, a bombing at a bazaar in the province killed at least 10 people. Also in June, three policemen were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself outside a mosque and another bomber hit a German NATO convoy, killing three civilians. In May, a suicide bomber infiltrated a high-level meeting in neighbouring Takhar province and killed northern Afghanistan’s top police commander, General Mohammed Daoud, provincial police chief Shah Jehan Noori and two German soldiers. The German NATO commander in northern Afghanistan was wounded. Late last year, a suicide bomber killed Kunduz governor Mohammed Omar and 15 other people at a mosque in neighbouring Takhar province. Afghanistan Taliban Global terrorism guardian.co.uk
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Discovery at crippled plant a fresh reminder of risks faced by workers battling to contain nuclear accident Pockets of lethal levels of radiation have been detected at Japan’s crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in a fresh reminder of the risks faced by workers battling to contain the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl. Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) reported on Monday that radiation exceeding 10 sieverts (10,000 millisieverts) per hour was found at the bottom of a ventilation stack standing between two reactors. On Tuesday Tepco said it found another spot on the ventilation stack itself where radiation exceeded 10 sieverts per hour, a level that could lead to incapacitation or death after just a short period of exposure. The company used equipment to measure radiation from a distance and was unable to ascertain the exact level because the device’s maximum reading is 10 sieverts per hour. While Tepco said the readings would not hinder its goal of stabilising the Fukushima reactors by January, experts warned that worker safety could be at risk if the operator prioritised hitting the deadline over radiation risks. “Radiation leakage at the plant may have been contained or slowed but it has not been sealed off completely. The utility is likely to continue finding these spots of high radiation,” said Kenji Sumita, a professor at Osaka University who specialises in nuclear engineering. “Considering this, recovery work at the plant should not be rushed to meet schedules and goals as that could put workers in harm’s way. We are past the immediate crisis phase and some delays should be permissible.” Workers at Daiichi are only allowed to be exposed to 250 millisieverts of radiation a year. Tepco, which provides power to Tokyo and neighbouring areas, said it had not detected a sharp rise in overall radiation levels at the compound. “The high dose was discovered in an area that doesn’t hamper recovery efforts at the plant,” Tepco spokesman Junichi Matsumoto told reporters on Tuesday. Although it is still investigating the matter, Tepco said the spots of high radiation could stem from debris left behind by emergency venting conducted days after the 11 March earthquake and tsunami that crippled the plant. Japan disaster Japan Nuclear power Energy guardian.co.uk
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• Barclays profits down 33% to £2.6bn • 3,000 jobs to go this year • £2.3bn of profit came from Barclays Capital • Bob Diamond calls for regulatory clarity Barclays is preparing to cut 3,000 jobs during 2011, its chief executive admitted on Tuesday, as the bank suffered a 33% slump in first-half profits, dented by a £1bn provision for customers mis-sold payment protection insurance . The £2.6bn of pre-tax profits was slightly higher than the City had been expecting and continued to be driven by Barclays Capital, the investment bank. Bob Diamond, who took the helm at the start of the year to replace John Varley , said that the headcount had fallen 1,400 so far this year and that job cuts would accelerate in the second part of the year. He indicated that around 3,000 cuts were likely across the 155,000-strong workforce. HSBC on Monday admitted that it expected to make 30,000 job cuts over the next three years . Even though profits at BarCap are down from £3.4bn a year ago as a result of the turmoil in the financial markets caused by the eurozone and the US debt crisis, the division still generated £2.3bn of the total £2.6bn of profits. Diamond called for clarity on the wave of new regulations that the banking industry is braced for once Britain’s Independent Commission on Banking reports on 12 September. “A final regulatory outcome will provide a clearer backdrop against which we can judge how much we continue to invest in our business and in the broader promotion of economic growth, versus how much we retain in higher levels of capital, or distribute to shareholders by way of a dividend. Our current dividend policy in the meantime must remain conservative though we are mindful of the importance of progressive, and affordable, increases,” Diamond said. “We look forward to certainty post-12 September.” Shares in Barclays rose more than 2% in early trading, up 4.25p to 221.5p. The profits were helped by a 41% fall in the impairment charge and other credit provisions to £1.8bn but knocked by a previously announced £1bn provision for compensating customers mis-sold payment protection insurance. “It has clearly been a very difficult operating environment,” said Diamond. The chief executive has embarked on a cost-cutting programme to help the bank generate a return on equity of 13% by 2013. The former head of BarCap, he is edging towards that goal, reaching 9.1% in the first half from 6.9% a year earlier. The first-half figures showed that the Barclays Corporate arm will be hit by a £47m loss because of a £64m charge taken in anticipation of the sale of its Russian business . The bank also said it was meeting its targets under the Project Merlin deal with the government over lending to small businesses. “We are meeting our Project Merlin commitments and have extended £20bn of new lending to businesses in the UK in the first half. We are on track to lend at least £40bn for the year,” Diamond said. He added: “Our capital, liquidity and funding position is rock solid. We look forward to the finalisation of new banking regulations over the coming months. This will help us balance requirements to hold more capital and liquidity on the one hand, with the desire of shareholders for us to distribute higher dividends and with business demand for us to help support economic growth, on the other,” he said. The bank is paying a 1p dividend for the second quarter, as expected, taking the half year dividend to 2p. Barclays had reported first half profits of £3.9bn a year ago . Some £3.4bn of the total was generated by BarCap, which reported a trebling in profits over the period. It stressed that its crucial core Tier 1 ratio – a measure of its financial strength – has now doubled from 5.6% since the end of 2008 to 11%. Barclays Banking Project Merlin Bob Diamond Jill Treanor guardian.co.uk
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News International warns names and addresses may have been posted online by hacker, understood not to be linked to LulzSec News International has emailed thousands of people to warn them that one or more hackers have copied personal details of thousands of people who entered competitions and polls on the Sun’s website and are posting them publicly on the internet. In an email sent out late on Monday evening, the director of customer data for News International, Chris Duncan, says that in a hacking attack on 19 July – when a fake story claiming that Rupert Murdoch was dead was planted on the site – “some customer information from competitions and polls was breached”. Among the details are names, addresses, date of birth, email and phone numbers. “No financial or password information was compromised,” Duncan writes. Samples from files in which Sun readers entered a Monarch quiz in 2009, a list of Scottish students, the Miss Scotland contestants database, a Wrigleys football competition, an Xbox competition, referendum, royal wedding well-wishers, and a forum for bullied people have been posted on the Pastebin site, a popular site among hackers for posting public messages anonymously. Many include personal information including phone numbers and addresses. Duncan says that News International is working closely with the police and the information commissioner “to ensure that all steps are taken to retrieve the files involved”. The files appear to have been released by a hacker who on Twitter calls himself Batteye. He claims not to have any association or affiliation with the hacking group LulzSec, which claimed responsibility for the NI hack on 19 July. Three Britons alleged to have been involved with LulzSec have been arrested in the past six weeks. In what appears to be a manifesto of his motivations, Batteye wrote on Pastebin that “Mankind makes mistakes. Mankind is all the better for them. Mankind learns from them. Some people, however, do not learn. Until these people are pruned by natural selection, incarceration, or otherwise, then mankind will not develop. We will remain prey to the ‘malicious’ type of hacker that steals credit card information, or deletes voicemail messages and pushing the victims family to grieve more for their loved ones. “This is unacceptable… We will begin today be presenting to you, various files obtained from the Sun, a company within the News Corp group. We will continue, then, by exposing the world for what it is; a less than perfect place where we cannot trust those who we ask to protect our information.” It is not clear whether Batteye is American or British. Hacking Internet The Sun News International Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers Charles Arthur guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …NYT Trumpets Female Catholic ‘Priests’ For Second Week In a Row; HuffPo Fumbles
August 1, 2011 No CommentFor the second week in a row, the New York Times has embraced the mission of trumpeting the fruitless cause of female “priests” in the Catholic Church. What gives? As faulty as Laurie Goodstein's article was last week, the offering from Dirk Johnson (Sun., 7/31/11) doesn't fare much better. Johnson's one-sided piece omits
Continue reading …Title: Brokedown Palace Artist: Grateful Dead Jerry Garcia was born 69 years ago today. Here’s one of my favorite Dead tunes. What’s yours?
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