Islamabad denounces as ‘irresponsible’ comments by Admiral Mike Mullen that it sanctioned Syed Saleem Shahzad’s killing Pakistan has lashed out at America’s top-ranking military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, on Friday, saying that its relations with the US have been further damaged by his remarks blaming the Islamabad government for the killing, torture and murder of a Pakistani journalist. The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff shocked Islamabad by saying publicly what US officials had confirmed only in private: that the Pakistani government had “sanctioned” the killing of Syed Saleem Shahzad, the investigative reporter for Asia Times Online whose mutilated body was found on 30 May in a canal 40 miles from the capital. He had been writing about jihadist infiltration of the Pakistani military. Pakistan’s information minister, Firdous Ashiq Awan, told a news conference Mullen had made an “extremely irresponsible and unfortunate statement”. “This statement will create problems and difficulties for the bilateral relations between Pakistan and America. It will definitely deal a blow to our common efforts with regard to the war on terror,” she said, without going into details. The row comes at a time when ties between the two countries have not recovered from the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden on 2 May in the central Pakistani town of Abbottabad. Pakistan’s armed forces are smarting from the humiliation of the special forces mission, which was carried out without their permission or knowledge. After discovering the al-Qaida leader near a military academy in a town full of retired officers, the US remains suspicious that he had been helped by members of the Pakistani government, army or the Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency. Since the raid, Islamabad announced it was stopping US drone flights launched from its soil, although US officials said the flights, aimed at tracking down and killing al-Qaida members and other militants, had been suspended in April, after a row over Islamabad’s arrest of a CIA contractor, Raymond Davis, who shot two Pakistani nationals in Lahore in January. It is unclear whether Mullen’s remarks were approved beforehand by the White House or whether they simply reflected the frustration of a senior officer approaching retirement in two months, who invested considerable time in cultivating relationships with his Pakistani counterparts. US and British intelligence officials believe that apart from a small department dealing with foreign agencies, the ISI’s conduct is beyond the influence of the civilian government in Islamabad and its western allies. Washington and London are anxious the poor human rights record of the Pakistani security services may have helped to entrench extreme jihadism in Pakistani society. The Barack Obama administration has given off-the-record briefings that blame the ISI for Shahzad’s abduction and killing – an allegation the ISI has rejected. In his public remarks at a Pentagon briefing on Thursday, Mullen hwas less specific about the branch of government involvement, but left no doubt over who he thought was culpable. “It was sanctioned by the government,” he said. “I have not seen anything to disabuse the report that the government knew about this.” He added that he thought Shahzad’s killing was part of a pattern of eliminating troublesome journalists. “His [death] isn’t the first. For whatever reason, it has been used as a method historically”, adding that it raised worrying questions about Pakistan’s future. “It’s not a way to move ahead. It’s a way to continue to, quite frankly, spiral in the wrong direction.” The Pakistani government has set up a judicial commission to investigate Shahzad’s death. It has requested copies of the journalist’s email and mobile phone records and has summoned the assistance of 16 “prominent personalities” from the media and human rights organisations. Pakistan US military United States Journalist safety Julian Borger guardian.co.uk
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Former prime minister delivers harshest verdict yet on his successor and warns party to avoid ‘politics of protest’ Tony Blair has delivered his most damning verdict on Gordon Brown’s government to date, claiming New Labour died when he left office in 2007 and that the party “lost its driving rhythm”. The former prime minister said the 13-year Labour government should be remembered in two phases – his and Brown’s – and there was “no continuity” between the two. In a speech in London to the New Labour thinktank Progress, Blair also advocated a “pick and mix” of policy that did not adhere to old narratives of left and right. He urged the party to let go of some of its old ideologies in order to arrive at the “right” policy decisions. He said: “I remain unremittingly an advocate of third-way, centre-ground, progressive politics that came to be called New Labour. From 1997 to 2007 we were New Labour. In June 2007 we stopped. “We didn’t become old Labour exactly. But we lost the driving rhythm that made us different and successful. It was not a government of continuity from 1997 to 2010 pursing the same politics. It was 10 plus three.” It is the most comprehensive analysis Blair has made distinguishing between his and Brown’s premiership. He also stressed his support for the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, but warned that the party could not indulge in the “politics of protest”. He said: “Parties of the left have a genetic tendency to cling to an analysis that they lose because the leadership is insufficiently committed to being left, defined in a very traditional sense. There’s always a slightly curious problem with this analysis since usually they have lost to a rightwing party. But somehow that inconvenient truth is put to the side. “This analysis is grasped with relief. People are then asked to unify around it. Anything else is distraction, even an act of disloyalty. This strategy never works.” Recalling his government’s policies to introduce academies, more patient choice in the NHS, asbos and university top-up fees, plus its pro-business stance – all of which were controversial on the left of the party – he said: “Some of these policies could be supported by people who don’t vote Labour. That’s not a bad thing. “In the real world of the 21st century there will be some pick and mix of policy. Sometimes it will be less left v right than right v wrong. Above all today, efficacy – effective delivery, motivated of course by values – matters as much if not more than ideology. Don’t fear it. Embrace it. It liberates us to get the correct policy.” He argued that Labour should make the economy its priority. “I still think we need to focus a lot on the micro side: targeted policies that support business, jobs, that allow that large amount of cumulative reserves in business to be invested and that also gives us an opportunity to regain, which I think is very important to us, our relationship with business.” Tony Blair Labour Gordon Brown Polly Curtis guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Bernie Sanders: If White House Thinks Senate Will Pass Social Security Cuts, Think Again
July 8, 2011 No CommentJust got off a conference call with the Strengthen Social Security coalition, featuring Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). Also taking part: Charles Loveless, Director of Legislation, AFSCME; Ed Coyle, Executive Director, Alliance for Retired Americans; Terry O’Neill, President, National Organization for Women, Max Richtman, National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Sarah Lane of MoveOn.org Bernie was his usual feisty self. “The American people are very clear. They understand that for the last 75 years, Social Security has paid out every nickel it was supposed to,” he said. “It is incongruous that in a conversation about the $14.5 trillion deficit to be talking about Social Security, which has nothing to do with it.” “Elections matter. What candidates say when they’re running for president matters. Those (COLA changes) are not good policy options. The president made a promise to the American people and he should keep that promise.” Sanders said there are Americans trying to get by on “$12,000, $13,000 a year. This would mean $560 less a year at age 75 under current law. For somebody who is struggling, that is a heck of a lot of money. He called the present COLA “inadequate” due to the high cost of prescription drugs. He called the proposal “absolutely wrong and going against what the American people want. People want higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations, real shared sacrifice.” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said the White House is “making a mistake if they think they can deal away these programs, come waltzing up to the Senate and we’ll go along with what the President has dealt away.” He said those on Social Security – and their family members – have peace of mind knowing they have Social Security and Medicare to back them up. “The benefits flow widely throughout society on this,” he said. He ended with a dig: “I don’t know how strong a hand the White House has to have to play poker with these guys.” Rich Fiesta said he is “baffled that a program that has done nothing to increase the debt is being used in negotiations to reduce the debt. And Moveon’s Sarah Lane pointed out that 76% of their membership says they would be “less likely to donate or volunteer for the president’s reelection.” “The president must take these cuts off the table,” she said. “The Republicans holding the country hostage.” I told Sen. Sanders that many progressives don’t believe that this is happening, and say the original Washington Post story was based on rumors. He sounded exasperated. “Look, during the State of the Union speech, the president was wishy-washy about cutting benefits. I think they’ve been tiptoeing around this issue before and now it’s here again. “If it’s a rumor, you’ll notice they haven’t stamped out the rumor.” The senators both said the senate was not involved in any of these proposals (in what sounded like a slap at the White House last-minute deal making). Chuck Lawless pointed out that Social Security changes “have always been considered on their own, with no other issue.”
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Click here to view this media Rupert Murdoch’s News International announced Thursday that the British tabloid News of the World was shutting down, but Vanity Fair contributor Michael Wolff says the phone hacking scandal may not end there. “Hacking, listening to your voicemail messages was for a period, a rather long period, a tabloid tool,” Wolff told Current’s Keith Olbermann Wednesday. “It was like a typewriter. Everybody in the newsroom did it and they did it to everybody who the news touched.” “Is there any reason to assume or that we are correct in assuming that nobody in the Murdoch companies would have done that [in the U.S.]?” Olbermann asked. “I think it’s the next question,” Wolff said. “So it’s just now, the questions are just kind of dawning on everyone. In my newsroom today, I said, ‘Hey, what happened? They must — could they have done it here? Literally, can you do it here? Can you hack someone’s phone here? Is there a difference?’” “And there is not a difference,” he explained. The Independent revealed in February that Murdoch’s most read British tabloid, The Sun , was also being investigated for phone hacking.
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Minister’s suggestion of a mandatory rest day for all domestic workers reignites a long-running debate over workers’ rights If you’re a domestic maid in Singapore, there’s no such thing as the weekend. Since employers are not legally bound to grant days off, the weeks never end. In the country that officially works the longest hours in the world, where one in six families has domestic help, the legal right to a day off has long seemed unthinkable for maids. But a government minister’s suggestion that a mandatory rest day could minimise stress has reignited a long-standing debate in Singapore over workers’ rights. Halimah Yacob, Singapore’s minister for community development, health and sports, says domestic workers need one day a week to “rest and recuperate”. The government has said it is “studying the suggestion”. But no legal right to a day off isn’t the only problem for Singapore’s 201,000 domestic workers, for whom there is, perhaps not surprisingly, no minimum wage either. It’s the attitudes of their employers – and indeed the country at large – that stands in the way of progress. “Are maids really that overworked?” asked schoolteacher Low Ai Choo, in a letter to the local Straits Times . “My maid has a day off once a month. Every time she comes back from her outings she appears even more tired and listless, and needs to recuperate from her outing. “My maid is the one who goes to bed by nine every night and my husband and I are the ones still up way beyond nine to tuck in our children and catch up with school work.” Low is one of many employers reacting angrily to Yacob’s suggestion, which came after the International Labour Organisation (ILO) agreed last week to give domestic workers a day off every week, as well as other basic labour rights. Singapore, along with the UK, was among 63 member states that abstained from the vote. For some domestic employers such as Choo, the real issue lies in Singapore’s “workhorse” mentality, whereby everyone – not just maids – could do with more time to relax. Singaporeans work the longest hours in the world according to the ILO, clocking up an average of 46.6 hours a week. New parents often struggle with the work-life balance, as statutory maternity leave in Singapore is limited to 16 weeks and there is no right to paternity leave. In the UK new mothers can take up to 52 weeks’ maternity leave and fathers up to two weeks. Many domestic workers in Singapore are hired as live-in cooks, cleaners and nannies, and some agencies, such as Best Maid, capitalise on Singapore’s strong work ethic. “In Singapore, [a] maid is not a luxury, but a necessity,” reads the company’s website. But not everyone can afford domestic help. On top of the salary, employers are required to pay a £2,500 security bond on their maid, as well as a monthly fee of around £135 throughout the standard two-year contract. Such rules can encourage employers to be less concerned about the welfare of their workers than “getting value for money”, says Vincent Wijeysingha of the charity Transient Workers Count Too. “Unlike more liberal countries where your rights are protected by law, here it all comes down to the personal goodwill of the employer, he said. “Many think, ‘I already pay so much for her, I don’t want to let her out of the house where she might find a boyfriend, get pregnant and make me lose my security bond.’” While physical abuse of domestic workers has decreased in recent years, psychological abuse is very common, says Bridget Tan of the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics, which counsels some 1,000 runaway domestic workers every year. “Newcomers usually have their mobiles taken away, aren’t allowed to communicate with family or neighbours and get no day off. The working conditions here are making people go crazy.” Domestic helpers – nearly one-third of which come from the Philippines – work an average of 14 hours a day, with only 12% given one day off per week, according to a new report. Employers negotiate contracts directly with their workers, with many offering a monthly payment of around £25 if no rest day is taken. Salaries range from around £125 to £350 a month, although many workers receive no pay for the first six to 11 months of their contract due to agency fees. Mandatory rest days are already enshrined in employment law in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and it seems Singapore’s domestic employers may soon have to follow suit in allowing their employees some relaxation time, says Edmund Pooh of Universal Employment Agency. “It will be difficult for them to attract good workers if they don’t.” For Filipina worker AJ, 40, who uses her weekly day off to attend computer classes and socialise with friends, more time to rest can only be a good thing. “I came here for a better life – we all did,” said the former agricultural worker. “But you cannot work from 6am to 9pm every day with no rest and so little pay. Sometimes I really do think they just consider us a commodity, like we are for sale.” Singapore Employment law Work-life balance Work & careers guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Minister’s suggestion of a mandatory rest day for all domestic workers reignites a long-running debate over workers’ rights If you’re a domestic maid in Singapore, there’s no such thing as the weekend. Since employers are not legally bound to grant days off, the weeks never end. In the country that officially works the longest hours in the world, where one in six families has domestic help, the legal right to a day off has long seemed unthinkable for maids. But a government minister’s suggestion that a mandatory rest day could minimise stress has reignited a long-standing debate in Singapore over workers’ rights. Halimah Yacob, Singapore’s minister for community development, health and sports, says domestic workers need one day a week to “rest and recuperate”. The government has said it is “studying the suggestion”. But no legal right to a day off isn’t the only problem for Singapore’s 201,000 domestic workers, for whom there is, perhaps not surprisingly, no minimum wage either. It’s the attitudes of their employers – and indeed the country at large – that stands in the way of progress. “Are maids really that overworked?” asked schoolteacher Low Ai Choo, in a letter to the local Straits Times . “My maid has a day off once a month. Every time she comes back from her outings she appears even more tired and listless, and needs to recuperate from her outing. “My maid is the one who goes to bed by nine every night and my husband and I are the ones still up way beyond nine to tuck in our children and catch up with school work.” Low is one of many employers reacting angrily to Yacob’s suggestion, which came after the International Labour Organisation (ILO) agreed last week to give domestic workers a day off every week, as well as other basic labour rights. Singapore, along with the UK, was among 63 member states that abstained from the vote. For some domestic employers such as Choo, the real issue lies in Singapore’s “workhorse” mentality, whereby everyone – not just maids – could do with more time to relax. Singaporeans work the longest hours in the world according to the ILO, clocking up an average of 46.6 hours a week. New parents often struggle with the work-life balance, as statutory maternity leave in Singapore is limited to 16 weeks and there is no right to paternity leave. In the UK new mothers can take up to 52 weeks’ maternity leave and fathers up to two weeks. Many domestic workers in Singapore are hired as live-in cooks, cleaners and nannies, and some agencies, such as Best Maid, capitalise on Singapore’s strong work ethic. “In Singapore, [a] maid is not a luxury, but a necessity,” reads the company’s website. But not everyone can afford domestic help. On top of the salary, employers are required to pay a £2,500 security bond on their maid, as well as a monthly fee of around £135 throughout the standard two-year contract. Such rules can encourage employers to be less concerned about the welfare of their workers than “getting value for money”, says Vincent Wijeysingha of the charity Transient Workers Count Too. “Unlike more liberal countries where your rights are protected by law, here it all comes down to the personal goodwill of the employer, he said. “Many think, ‘I already pay so much for her, I don’t want to let her out of the house where she might find a boyfriend, get pregnant and make me lose my security bond.’” While physical abuse of domestic workers has decreased in recent years, psychological abuse is very common, says Bridget Tan of the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics, which counsels some 1,000 runaway domestic workers every year. “Newcomers usually have their mobiles taken away, aren’t allowed to communicate with family or neighbours and get no day off. The working conditions here are making people go crazy.” Domestic helpers – nearly one-third of which come from the Philippines – work an average of 14 hours a day, with only 12% given one day off per week, according to a new report. Employers negotiate contracts directly with their workers, with many offering a monthly payment of around £25 if no rest day is taken. Salaries range from around £125 to £350 a month, although many workers receive no pay for the first six to 11 months of their contract due to agency fees. Mandatory rest days are already enshrined in employment law in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and it seems Singapore’s domestic employers may soon have to follow suit in allowing their employees some relaxation time, says Edmund Pooh of Universal Employment Agency. “It will be difficult for them to attract good workers if they don’t.” For Filipina worker AJ, 40, who uses her weekly day off to attend computer classes and socialise with friends, more time to rest can only be a good thing. “I came here for a better life – we all did,” said the former agricultural worker. “But you cannot work from 6am to 9pm every day with no rest and so little pay. Sometimes I really do think they just consider us a commodity, like we are for sale.” Singapore Employment law Work-life balance Work & careers guardian.co.uk
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Yemurai Kanyangarara was stabbed in the neck after getting off a bus in south-east London last week A third teenager has been arrested in connection with the murder of a 16-year-old on a busy high street in London. Yemurai Kanyangarara was stabbed in the neck seconds after getting off a No 96 bus in Welling, south-east London, last Friday. He was attacked outside the Superdrug store in Upper Wickham Lane, and taken to Queen Elizabeth hospital in Woolwich where he died. Today a 15-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of murder and remains in custody. Two other boys – one aged 15 and the other 14 – have already been charged with murder and appeared at Camberwell youth court on Thursday. They were remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey on Monday. Kanyangarara came to the UK from Zimbabwe as a toddler and was living in nearby Belvedere. He was a pupil at St Columba’s Catholic boys’ school in Bexleyheath and had recently finished his GCSEs. His father Kelton left a message on his Facebook page that read: “My boy is gone it is so painful – my heart is bleeding. RIP my boy I will always love you.” London Knife crime Crime guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Yemurai Kanyangarara was stabbed in the neck after getting off a bus in south-east London last week A third teenager has been arrested in connection with the murder of a 16-year-old on a busy high street in London. Yemurai Kanyangarara was stabbed in the neck seconds after getting off a No 96 bus in Welling, south-east London, last Friday. He was attacked outside the Superdrug store in Upper Wickham Lane, and taken to Queen Elizabeth hospital in Woolwich where he died. Today a 15-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of murder and remains in custody. Two other boys – one aged 15 and the other 14 – have already been charged with murder and appeared at Camberwell youth court on Thursday. They were remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey on Monday. Kanyangarara came to the UK from Zimbabwe as a toddler and was living in nearby Belvedere. He was a pupil at St Columba’s Catholic boys’ school in Bexleyheath and had recently finished his GCSEs. His father Kelton left a message on his Facebook page that read: “My boy is gone it is so painful – my heart is bleeding. RIP my boy I will always love you.” London Knife crime Crime guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Faisal Abdu’Allah has worked with scientists, athletes and local residents to highlight the dangers of living and competing in the city One of Britain’s leading film artists has teamed up with scientists to show how polluted air in East London threatens athletes at next year’s Games and shortens the lives of people living near the Olympic park. Film and photography artist Faisal Abdu’Allah , who has exhibited at Tate Britain, the Serpentine and Stamford University in the United States, worked for more than one year with four of Britain’s leading air quality experts, including Frank Kelly, professor of environmental health at King’s College, London . The film, called Double Pendulum, features athletes including Jeanette Kwakye, footballer Anthony Grant and martial artist Ammar Duffus, and 11 to 14-year-olds living near the Olympic Park. “I was looking at how breathing is affected by pollution, how race impacts on how we breathe and how where we live geographically impacts on how we breathe,” he said. “A lot of athletes develop asthma after their sports career is over.” Where you live, says Abdu’Allah, determines not only the air you breathe but also the length of your life. Because poor people tend to live closer to busy roads and black and Asians live mostly in heavily polluted inner cities, life expectancy in East London, he said, is shorter than for richer communities in London suburbs. London is one of the most polluted cities in Europe, with more than 4,000 premature deaths attributed to air pollution at a cost of about £2bn a year. East London is one of the capital’s most air polluted districts with an expanding airport and some of the busiest roads in Britain. Levels of air pollution across London exceed EU limits and breach World Health Organisation guidelines. In 2006, Beijing was forced to take 50% of its 3.5m vehicles off the road before the Games to lower air pollution. According to the Olympic Delivery Authority’s strategic environmental assessment, the expected increases in traffic along the 600km of the Olympic route network will lead to further breaches of European legal limits in areas that already suffer from poor air quality. Last week, an alliance of environment and helath organisations said that air pollution in the UK is killing or shortening the lives of as many people today as the dense “pea souper” smogs of the 1950s . The Healthy Air Campaign is pressing government to meet its legal targets. Pollution Health Olympic Games 2012 London Installation Art guardian.co.uk
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Tensions mount as hundreds of thousands of activists expected in capital for Arab spring-style rally against ‘dirty politics’ Malaysia is bracing for an Arab spring-style stand-off on Saturday, when activists angry at “dirty politics” are expected to rally in Kuala Lumpur despite draconian government efforts to nip the movement in the bud. Tensions have mounted in this normally staid state, often called “Moderate Malaysia”, after a group of 62 non-governmental organisations known locally as Bersih 2.0 proposed a peaceful protest, dubbed the “Walk for Democracy”, against alleged vote-rigging and other electoral abuses in a recent state election. But the government last week declared Bersih – which means “clean” in Malay – illegal, and has warned that anyone wearing the yellow colours of protest will be detained. It has already arrested more than 200 supporters and organisers on charges ranging from the promotion of “illegal assembly” to “waging war against the king”. Some are being held for an indefinite period without trial. Although Malaysia’s next general election is not until 2013, polls could take place as soon as this year – with many speculating that the incumbent Barisan Nasional (National Front) may not fare so well. Headed by the prime minister, Najib Razak, Barisan Nasional has ruled Malaysia since 1955. It suffered a major setback in 2008 when it lost more than one-third of its parliamentary seats to Pakatan Rakyat (People’s Alliance), a coalition of opposition parties. Despite government accusations that they are actively threatening national security, Bersih’s leaders have been adamant that they are pushing solely for electoral changes. “We are calling for a government through free and fair elections, not street demonstrations” like in Egypt or Libya, said Bersih’s chairwoman, Ambiga Sreenevasan. After calling Bersih illegal, the government assented to a rally in a stadium. Opposition groups expect as many as 300,000 supporters to turn out. Police, however, have refused to grant Bersih a permit for the rally – a requirement for any gathering of five or more people – and have said they will work with the army to disperse Saturday’s crowds. Earlier this week police held a military exercise in which soldiers held up banners reading “Disperse or we will shoot”. Najib threw his endorsement behind local silat – or martial arts – groups, including one that has openly vowed to “wage war” against Bersih. “If there are evil enemies who want to attack the country from without and within,” Najib said this week, “you, my brothers, will rise to fight them”. Bersih organisers say they have received death, bomb and gang-rape threats in recent weeks, which they claim police have not investigated. “It has been challenging personally,” said Ambiga. Nonetheless, Bersih “understand our responsibility in holding the line on behalf of all of you who want nothing more than a clean electoral system and a better Malaysia.” While no one is entirely sure what to expect on Saturday, the lead-up has already caused mayhem. Extensive roadblocks have caused near standstills in Kuala Lumpur and many businesses will be closing. Widespread mobile phone and internet disruption is expected. Despite it being a supposedly peaceful protest, many are expecting violence. “This is the formula now, all around the world – in Libya, Egypt, it’s all the same – there will be violence,” said Mohamed Rayak, 32, a hotel manager. “But no one knows if it will be coming from the government or the opposition. If it’s from the government, then they can say it all got out of hand, and [the rally] has to be stopped.” Thousands of supporters have aired their views on Facebook and Twitter, with many of them, such as Thomas Chai, tweeting directly to the prime minister. “Beneath this YELLOW there is an idea, Mr Najib, and ideas are bulletproof,” he wrote. Bersih supporters in other parts of the world are expected to hold similar rallies on Saturday in Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, France, Switzerland, the US, Canada and the UK. Malaysia Protest guardian.co.uk
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