Sir David King, a former chief scientific adviser, writes in the Guardian to urge prime minister to fill ‘leadership vacuum’ David Cameron must end his silence on climate change and “step up to the plate” to provide international leadership, the former government chief scientific adviser Prof Sir David King says on Wednesday. Writing in the Guardian, King also reveals that after his declaration that global warming was a greater threat than global terrorism in 2004, then US president, George Bush, asked Tony Blair, then prime minster, for to have him gagged. King’s warning made headlines around the world at the time. “But I refused to be gagged, and that statement and others spurred the UK to develop a leadership role on climate change among the international community,” King writes. He argues that the UK’s 2008 Climate Change Act – the most ambitious legally binding emissions targets in the world – along with actions such as its early engagement with China on global warming put the UK at the forefront of global negotiations on climate action in the runup to the UN summit in Copenhagen in 2009 . This summit, attended by scores of world leaders, failed to reach a global deal, and subsequent summits have been far less prominent. “There is, again, a leadership vacuum among heads of states on this issue, just as there was in the early 2000s. Will David Cameron step up to the plate, please? Prime minister, will you take your stated credentials as [wanting to lead] the ‘ greenest government ever ‘ into the global arena?” writes King, who is now director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at Oxford University, where a world forum on “valuing ecosystem services” opens today. Downing Street was unable to provide a comment, but a spokesperson at the d Department of Energy and Climate Change said: “From the top down, the coalition has no intention of letting up in its efforts to get a legally binding agreement. [Energy and climate change secretary] Chris Huhne, with the prime minister’s full backing, played a crucial role at the UN climate conference in Cancún to get agreement on the overall goal of limiting climate change to two degrees, to establish a new climate ‘green fund’ and to take further action to reduce deforestation.” A Liberal Democrat source in government also pointed out that deputy prime minister Nick Clegg , the deputy prime minister, had emphasised climate change issues during recent visits by Barack Obama and China’s premier, Wen Jiabao . Green party MP Caroline Lucas said: “I share Sir David King’s deep disappointment at the prime minister’s lack of personal engagement in the international climate negotiations process. It is astonishing that Cameron has yet to make a single statement on his commitment to securing an international climate change agreement.” Cameron has had to intervene repeatedly to ensure his coalition’s green commitments were not derailed, including in a fierce cabinet battle over the UK’s target of a 50% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 . He also had to face down Treasury objections to the government’s green investment bank and, most recently, has contended with a mutiny among his MEPs over European emissions targets. The prime minister has made high-profile speeches defending the UK’s relatively high level of international aid spending , – one of very few areas ring-fenced from cuts – but he has yet to make any similar intervention on climate change. Phil Bloomer at Oxfam , which praised the government’s stance on international aid, said: “If David Cameron wants to lead the greenest government ever, he must urgently take on the international leadership needed to inject fresh life in the UN talks, so the empty climate fund is filled and poor communities can protect themselves from the impacts of climate change.” King praises the government’s domestic action on climate change. “My cynicism about pre-election statements was squashed with the announcement that the UK will cut its CO 2 emissions by 50% by 2025,” he writes, noting that policies on the green investment bank, on improving home energy efficiency , and on reforming the electricity market to deliver low-carbon electricity provide “excellent opportunities for the radical transition to a low-carbon economy”. He says the UK is once again “setting the bar high for other countries”, but adds: “There has been no statement at all from the government about the need for collective action on the critical issue [of climate change].” Barry Gardiner MP, who is Ed Miliband’s special envoy on climate change, said: “If Cameron had spent a quarter of a billion pounds tackling climate change instead of bombing Gaddafi , he could have transformed Britain’s energy infrastructure to meet our 2025 targets, protected a million hectares of rainforest from deforestation, or fitted solar [panels] to 100,000 homes. It is clear that he thinks Libyan oil is a bigger priority.” Friends of the Earth ‘s senior parliamentary campaigner Martyn Williams said: “The need for bold leadership on climate change is more urgent than ever but the prime minister and leader of the opposition rarely speak out on climate change, and this has created a dangerous vacuum. Urgent action is needed to avoid a climate disaster and reap the huge financial opportunities that would be created by building a low-carbon future.” Climate change Carbon emissions David Cameron Green politics Liberal-Conservative coalition Nick Clegg Damian Carrington guardian.co.uk
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Journalist pens tempered mea culpa saying he was after ‘intellectual’ rather than ‘reportorial’ accuracy in interviews Johann Hari, the journalist at the centre of a row over quotations from interviews, has defended his actions in print but said sorry for an “error of judgement”. The award-winning Hari said he did have “something to apologise for” after being accused of plagarism by journalists and bloggers who condemned his practice of sometimes using quotes which he presented as being made to him in interviews , when they were in fact taken from older articles or the interviewees’ own books. In Wednesday’s edition of the Independent he called accusations of plagarism against him “totally false” and denied producing “churnalism” but said he had lessons to learn. “I’ve thought carefully about whether I have been wrong here. It’s clearly not plagiarism or churnalism – but was it an error in another way? Yes. I now see it was wrong, and I wouldn’t do it again.”. Hari’s article is yet to be published on the Independent’s website. In a blog entitled Interview Etiquette on Tuesday Hari defended his methods, saying he only ever substituted quotes with the writer’s own previous writings that expressed the same sentiment expounded in the interview, but more clearly. In the Independent, he wrote: “I have sometimes substituted a passage they have written or said more clearly elsewhere on the same subject for what they said to me, so the reader understands their point as clearly as possible. “The quotes are always accurate representations of their words, inserted into the interview at the point where they made substantively the same argument using similar but less clear language.” He added: “I did not and never have taken words from another context and twisted them to mean something different.” Hari pointed out that in 10 years of interviews he had not received a single complaint from the people he had interviewed. “It depends whether you prefer the intellectual accuracy of describing their ideas in their most considered words, or the reportorial accuracy of describing their ideas in the words they used on that particular afternoon,” he further argued. “Since my interviews are long intellectual profiles, not ones where I’m trying to ferret out a scoop or exclusive, I have, in the past, prioritised the former. “That was, on reflection, a mistake, because it wasn’t clear to the reader.”. Hari was lambasted on Twitter by readers and fellow journalists who called his professional ethics into question. The controversy also spawned a array of jokes, in which famous historical moments were recounted to Hari, as though in an interview. In his article, Hari thanked those who had helped him realise that “an interview is not just an essayistic representation of what the person thinks; it is a report on an encounter between the interviewer and interviewee”. He concluded: “I’m sorry, and I’m grateful to the people who pointed out this error of judgement. I will make sure I learn from it.” The Independent Newspapers Newspapers & magazines Alexandra Topping guardian.co.uk
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Pontiff sends tweet to officially announce Holy See’s new site is open for business for followers everywhere Pope Benedict XVI has tweeted for the first time, announcing the launch of a Vatican news information portal. Benedict’s tweet on Tuesday read: “Dear Friends, I just launched News.va. Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ! With my prayers and blessings, Benedictus XVI”. The portal for the first time aggregates information from the Vatican’s various print, online, radio and television media. It’s the latest effort by the Vatican to bring its evangelising message to a greater, internet-savvy audience and follows forays into Facebook and YouTube. The pope put the site online himself by tapping an iPad, said Thaddeus Jones, project co-ordinator and an official with the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. Moments later the pope sent the tweet. The 84-year-old pontiff was then shown the portal and its features in greater detail. Jones described him as “interested and impressed,” and “clearly enjoying it.” “He was clearly in awe at the new technology,” said Jones. “It’s a lighter moment but also an important one, it marks a new way of communicating.” Benedict has been bedeviled by communications woes during much of his six-year papacy, much of it the fault of a large Vatican bureaucracy that doesn’t always communicate well internally. Officials hope the new portal, while mostly designed to provide Vatican news in auser-friendly setting to the outside world, might also improve the Vatican’s own internal communications by sharing information. The portal was launched for the feast day of St Peter and Paul, which falls on 29 June but officially begins with a vesper service on 28 June. Wednesday also marks the 60th anniversary of Benedict’s ordination as a priest. Pope Benedict XVI Religion Catholicism Internet Twitter guardian.co.uk
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Ceop completes six-month exercise gathering data on the targeting, grooming and abuse of children The first nationwide assessment of the scale of child sexual exploitation has identified more than 2,000 young people who had been raped, prostituted and internally trafficked. Investigators from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop) spent six months gathering intelligence and data covering the period of March 2008 to January 2011. Police forces, social services, health authorities and charities working with victims contributed to the attempt to quantify the scale of the problem. The findings, to be published on Wednesday, are expected to reveal that the perpetrators were Asian in 20% of the cases examined, but it is understood that Ceop’s head, Peter Davies, will say that the research does not show that child grooming can be associated with any particular ethnic group. The data is so patchy that the perpetrators’ ethnicity was marked as unknown in about 40% of cases. Enver Solomon, head of policy at the Children’s Society, which provided evidence to Ceop, said: “This is obviously disproportionate to the population, but the problem here is that the data is incomplete and poorly recorded so there are questions about the validity and accuracy of the data. We need to be cautious about drawing conclusions but, if patterns are beginning to be identified, we need to begin to understand them more, with more research so we can draw evidence based conclusions rather than jump to any assumptions.” It is understood that Ceop will reveal that 2,083 child victims of sexual exploitation were identified in the study. Of these, 311 came from the care system and 570 were runaways from family homes. The report is expected to reveal that not enough is being done to investigate the targeting, grooming and abuse of children. In 1,087 cases, agencies failed to identify the background of the child victim, suggesting police forces, social services and charities are failing to properly investigate the problem. In many cases, no one bothered to record even the gender of the victim. The number of victims also appears low compared with those identified by charities. Last year, charities across the sector dealt with 2,900 children who had been sexually exploited, according to figures released a fortnight ago by Barnado’s. In 2010, Barnado’s alone worked with 1,098 children who had been sexually exploited; a 4% increase on 2009. Solomon said the figures in the report represented “a scratching at the surface”. Davies commissioned the assessment after public controversy over an apparent pattern which suggested Asian men were disproportionately involved in grooming and sexually abusing young girls. The outcry came after the two ringleaders of a group of Asian men – Mohammed Liaqat, 28, and Abid Saddique, 27 – were sentenced at Nottingham crown court in January to eight years in prison. The pair were jailed for raping and sexually abusing girls from the Derby area aged between 12 and 18. The case led to claims that a pattern had emerged in which Asian men appeared to be disproportionately the perpetrators of child sexual exploitation. In response, Davies said he needed to examine whether any patterns of offending, victimisation and vulnerability could be identified. Child protection Social care Crime Police Sandra Laville guardian.co.uk
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The images were the first of Chavez to be released since he appeared with both Fidel and Raul Castro in photographs taken 11 days earlier and published in Cuban media Images of a convalescing President Hugo Chavez meeting with Fidel Castro were broadcast on Venezuelan state television on Tuesday night, two weeks after he underwent urgent surgery in Cuba. An aide to Venezuela’s president said the encounter in Cuba took place earlier in the day. “We see him recovering,” Information Minister Andres Izarra said on state television as the short video clips and photographs were shown of Chavez standing and talking outdoors with Castro. Cuban state TV also broadcast pictures of the get-together. They were the first images of Chavez to be released since he appeared with both Fidel and Raul Castro in photographs taken 11 days earlier and published in Cuban media. But neither the new images nor government officials provided details about Chavez’s health. Despite assurances that he is doing well, the lack of information since the government announced on June 10 that Chavez had undergone pelvic surgery has spurred talk among both the president’s supporters and opponents that he might be very ill. Officials did not say when Chavez might return to Venezuela, which next week will be celebrating the 200th anniversary of its independence from Spain. Chavez seemed healthy and animated as he talked and smiled alongside Castro in what appeared to be the patio and living room of a house. Chavez wore a track suit jacket with the colours of Venezuela’s flag while Castro sported a red baseball cap and a blue and white track suit. “There we are seeing commander Chavez very dynamic,” Izarra said, describing the images and adding that he spoke with Chavez earlier on Tuesday about government-related issues. At one point in the video, Chavez and Castro look at a copy of what appears to be the Tuesday edition of Cuba’s Communist Party newspaper Granma and apparently discussing it. “There we saw the president sharing a moment with Fidel,” Izarra said. “They discussed different current events.” The words of Chavez and Castro were inaudible and Venezuelan folk music played during the short presentation of video clips and still photos. The normally loquacious Chavez, who Venezuelans are used to seeing in near daily television appearances, has been unusually quiet since the surgery more than two weeks ago. In his only comments that have been heard back home, he told Venezuelan state TV on June 12 that the operation removed a pelvic abscess. His silence and seclusion since then have spurred growing speculation that he might be seriously ill. The leftist president’s political allies have insisted he is improving and is firmly in control of affairs in Venezuela. On state television, Izarra held up a document that he said Chavez had signed earlier on Tuesday approving funds for a government housing project. Izarra’s Twitter account carried a message earlier in the day suggesting Chavez is energetically tending to day-to-day duties, but it did not provide details of his health. The information minister’s tweet said Chavez is governing “like a dynamo” following the operation. In Cuba, Cuban state TV broadcast a one-minute segment on the meeting showing the same pictures, including some with a woman in the background. It said the two longtime friends “reminisced about the past” in the company of family members. Cuba’s report also gave no details about Chavez’s health, but said Wednesday afternoon’s newscast would offer more information about the encounter. Hugo Chávez Venezuela Fidel Castro Cuba guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …The images were the first of Chavez to be released since he appeared with both Fidel and Raul Castro in photographs taken 11 days earlier and published in Cuban media Images of a convalescing President Hugo Chavez meeting with Fidel Castro were broadcast on Venezuelan state television on Tuesday night, two weeks after he underwent urgent surgery in Cuba. An aide to Venezuela’s president said the encounter in Cuba took place earlier in the day. “We see him recovering,” Information Minister Andres Izarra said on state television as the short video clips and photographs were shown of Chavez standing and talking outdoors with Castro. Cuban state TV also broadcast pictures of the get-together. They were the first images of Chavez to be released since he appeared with both Fidel and Raul Castro in photographs taken 11 days earlier and published in Cuban media. But neither the new images nor government officials provided details about Chavez’s health. Despite assurances that he is doing well, the lack of information since the government announced on June 10 that Chavez had undergone pelvic surgery has spurred talk among both the president’s supporters and opponents that he might be very ill. Officials did not say when Chavez might return to Venezuela, which next week will be celebrating the 200th anniversary of its independence from Spain. Chavez seemed healthy and animated as he talked and smiled alongside Castro in what appeared to be the patio and living room of a house. Chavez wore a track suit jacket with the colours of Venezuela’s flag while Castro sported a red baseball cap and a blue and white track suit. “There we are seeing commander Chavez very dynamic,” Izarra said, describing the images and adding that he spoke with Chavez earlier on Tuesday about government-related issues. At one point in the video, Chavez and Castro look at a copy of what appears to be the Tuesday edition of Cuba’s Communist Party newspaper Granma and apparently discussing it. “There we saw the president sharing a moment with Fidel,” Izarra said. “They discussed different current events.” The words of Chavez and Castro were inaudible and Venezuelan folk music played during the short presentation of video clips and still photos. The normally loquacious Chavez, who Venezuelans are used to seeing in near daily television appearances, has been unusually quiet since the surgery more than two weeks ago. In his only comments that have been heard back home, he told Venezuelan state TV on June 12 that the operation removed a pelvic abscess. His silence and seclusion since then have spurred growing speculation that he might be seriously ill. The leftist president’s political allies have insisted he is improving and is firmly in control of affairs in Venezuela. On state television, Izarra held up a document that he said Chavez had signed earlier on Tuesday approving funds for a government housing project. Izarra’s Twitter account carried a message earlier in the day suggesting Chavez is energetically tending to day-to-day duties, but it did not provide details of his health. The information minister’s tweet said Chavez is governing “like a dynamo” following the operation. In Cuba, Cuban state TV broadcast a one-minute segment on the meeting showing the same pictures, including some with a woman in the background. It said the two longtime friends “reminisced about the past” in the company of family members. Cuba’s report also gave no details about Chavez’s health, but said Wednesday afternoon’s newscast would offer more information about the encounter. Hugo Chávez Venezuela Fidel Castro Cuba guardian.co.uk
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Security forces and demonstrators clash in Cairo after former interior minister’s trial is put off without explanation Clashes between protesters and security forces engulfed Cairo once again on Tuesday night, as the fiercest street battles since the fall of Hosni Mubarak left dozens injured. Fighting began after the fall of darkness following earlier protests by relatives of those killed during this spring’s uprising. Armed central security police showered Tahrir Square with tear gas canisters and fired bullets into the air as several thousand demonstrators amassed and called for the resignation of Egypt’s de facto head of state, Field Marshall Mohamed Hussein Tantawi. Some members of the crowd tore up paving stones and threw them towards police lines. The Guardian witnessed successive volleys of tear gas launched into the square and surrounding streets by government forces, including towards areas where ambulances had congregated to treat the wounded. Injured protesters, mostly with head wounds and gas inhalation, were carried to safety on the shoulders of fellow demonstrators. “Mubarak was nothing – this is the revolution,” said one man caught by tear gas. The Interior Ministry blamed a group of “thugs” for the unrest, claiming that they had disrupted an event held earlier in the day to commemorate the martyrs of the revolution and went on to attack the ministry headquarters. Protesters vociferously denied that suggestion, insisting that the police had attacked unarmed relatives of the martyrs – an account seemingly backed up by unverified videos posted on YouTube. The violence came after the trial of the former interior minister, Habib al-Adly, on the charge of unlawfully killing pro-change protesters had been delayed by a judge this week, with no reason given to the public. “People are saying that we’ve replaced one Habib al-Adly with another,” said Mostafa Hussein, a 30-year-old activist in Tahrir. “They believe the Interior Ministry has returned to its former incarnation under the Mubarak regime.” Also on Tuesday an administrative court ordered the dissolution of Egypt’s 1750 municipal councils, a form of local government that was almost entirely controlled by the old ruling NDP party and was a key tool of control for Mubarak’s dictatorship. Revolutionary activists have long demanded that the councils be disbanded, pointing out that in ‘elections’ held in 2008 over 99% of open seats were awarded to Mubarak allies. However it is not yet clear whether the interim government will implement the judicial ruling. Almost 1,000 people are believed to have died in the year’s 25 January revolution, in which Mubarak’s black-suited central security troops were beaten off the streets by a mass uprising. Since the resignation of the former president, Egypt has been run by the armed forces who have promised a swift transition to a democratic civilian government. But many fear that the pace of change has been too slow, accusing generals of hijacking the revolution and failing to hold members of the old regime to account. “For those that had loved ones killed in January – and indeed all those who lived through that time – just the sight of the Amin al-Markazi [central security forces] on the streets is a provocation in itself,” a doctor who had been treating the injured told the Guardian. “People are shouting ‘our revolution is being stolen’. The situation is very tense.” In the early hours of the morning Tahrir Square remained shrouded in gas with the battle continuing. Activists took to Twitter and other social media sites to call for medical supplies and people to join the gathering. Egypt Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Africa Jack Shenker guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Security forces and demonstrators clash in Cairo after former interior minister’s trial is put off without explanation Clashes between protesters and security forces engulfed Cairo once again on Tuesday night, as the fiercest street battles since the fall of Hosni Mubarak left dozens injured. Fighting began after the fall of darkness following earlier protests by relatives of those killed during this spring’s uprising. Armed central security police showered Tahrir Square with tear gas canisters and fired bullets into the air as several thousand demonstrators amassed and called for the resignation of Egypt’s de facto head of state, Field Marshall Mohamed Hussein Tantawi. Some members of the crowd tore up paving stones and threw them towards police lines. The Guardian witnessed successive volleys of tear gas launched into the square and surrounding streets by government forces, including towards areas where ambulances had congregated to treat the wounded. Injured protesters, mostly with head wounds and gas inhalation, were carried to safety on the shoulders of fellow demonstrators. “Mubarak was nothing – this is the revolution,” said one man caught by tear gas. The Interior Ministry blamed a group of “thugs” for the unrest, claiming that they had disrupted an event held earlier in the day to commemorate the martyrs of the revolution and went on to attack the ministry headquarters. Protesters vociferously denied that suggestion, insisting that the police had attacked unarmed relatives of the martyrs – an account seemingly backed up by unverified videos posted on YouTube. The violence came after the trial of the former interior minister, Habib al-Adly, on the charge of unlawfully killing pro-change protesters had been delayed by a judge this week, with no reason given to the public. “People are saying that we’ve replaced one Habib al-Adly with another,” said Mostafa Hussein, a 30-year-old activist in Tahrir. “They believe the Interior Ministry has returned to its former incarnation under the Mubarak regime.” Also on Tuesday an administrative court ordered the dissolution of Egypt’s 1750 municipal councils, a form of local government that was almost entirely controlled by the old ruling NDP party and was a key tool of control for Mubarak’s dictatorship. Revolutionary activists have long demanded that the councils be disbanded, pointing out that in ‘elections’ held in 2008 over 99% of open seats were awarded to Mubarak allies. However it is not yet clear whether the interim government will implement the judicial ruling. Almost 1,000 people are believed to have died in the year’s 25 January revolution, in which Mubarak’s black-suited central security troops were beaten off the streets by a mass uprising. Since the resignation of the former president, Egypt has been run by the armed forces who have promised a swift transition to a democratic civilian government. But many fear that the pace of change has been too slow, accusing generals of hijacking the revolution and failing to hold members of the old regime to account. “For those that had loved ones killed in January – and indeed all those who lived through that time – just the sight of the Amin al-Markazi [central security forces] on the streets is a provocation in itself,” a doctor who had been treating the injured told the Guardian. “People are shouting ‘our revolution is being stolen’. The situation is very tense.” In the early hours of the morning Tahrir Square remained shrouded in gas with the battle continuing. Activists took to Twitter and other social media sites to call for medical supplies and people to join the gathering. Egypt Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Africa Jack Shenker guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Title: When You Were Mine Artist: Mitch Ryder Hope y’alls week started off on the right foot. Here’s a Prince penned piece covered by Mitch Ryder in 1983.
Continue reading …The Republican presidential contest is picking up steam. Obama is consistently polling under 50 percent. This one's a toss-up, and in the thick of it is the Fox News Channel. It's not just their role in hosting and vetting the candidates. It's their role as the chief villain in the eyes of liberal Democrats struggling to push their version of the “truth” about Obama.
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