The case against Dominique Strauss-Khan has fallen apart so dramatically that he could be freed from house arrest as soon as Friday, well-placed law enforcement officials tell the New York Times . The prosecution’s investigators have found major issues with the credibility of the maid who accused the former IMF chief…
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Alleged hit man for drug cartel detained in connection with mass kidnap and murder of migrants Mexican soldiers have detained an alleged hitman who is suspected of kidnapping bus passengers, killing them and burying them in mass graves. Abraham Barrios Caporal, 26, was captured in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz and had acknowledged working for the Zetas drug cartel, Mexico’s defence department said on Thursday. He was suspected of taking part in the killings of bus passengers and their burial at a ranch in San Fernando in the northern state of Tamaulipas. Barrios Caporal was arrested in Coatzacoalcos on Tuesday along with three other members of his cell, an army spokesman, Colonel Ricardo Trevilla, said. Authorities in Tamaulipas began uncovering bodies in mass graves early in April after reports that passengers were being pulled off buses at gunpoint. By early June, 193 bodies had been found in 26 graves. Officials say most were Mexican migrants heading to the US who were kidnapped from buses and killed by the Zetas drug cartel. Barrios Caporal told authorities that some of the passengers were kidnapped because they were suspected of being members of the rival Gulf cartel. Seventy-two Central and South American migrants were killed in San Fernando by the Zetas cartel last August. Barrios Caporal was suspected of involvement in those killings, the department said. Mexico’s brutal drug war has claimed more than 35,000 lives since President Felipe Calderón deployed thousands of federal security forces four years ago to fight traffickers. The offensive led to a splintering of the country’s cartels and increased gang fighting over territory. Mass graves have become an increasingly common discovery. On Thursday, gunmen opened fire during a football game in Acapulco, killing two people and wounding at least two children who were watching the match. The victims were city police officers who were playing in a match against Guerrero state government employees.. Factions of the Beltran Leyva cartel have been fighting for control of Acapulco since the December 2009 killing of the cartel boss Arturo Beltran Leyva. Mexico Drugs trade guardian.co.uk
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Simon Kelner has lost the editorship of The Independent. He is being replaced by Chris Blackhurst, currently the business editor of the London Evening Standard. Kelner will take the title of editor-in-chief, but will have no responsibility for the day-to-day running of the Indy and its stablemate, the Independent on Sunday. The decision to appoint Blackhurst, a former deputy editor of the Indy, was taken by Evgeny Lebedev, son of the Russian business tycoon, Alexander, who negotiated the acquisition of the titles last year. Evgeny emailed staff to announce the appointment ( full text here ). It brings to an end Kelner’s control of The Independent after 13 years. He was appointed as editor in 1998 by the then owner, Tony O’Reilly’s Irish company, Independent News & Media. At the time, Blackhurst was deputy editor to Rosie Boycott. Both of them then went on to run the Daily Express. Blackhurst, 51, has spent most of his journalistic career as a business journalist, though he started off in the law after graduating from Cambridge, (Trinity Hall). Following a stint as assistant editor of International Financial Law Review in the mid-1980s, he worked for a business magazine until becoming deputy editor of the Sunday Times’s Insight team in 1990. He went on to be business editor of the Sunday Express – lured to the paper by his Sunday Times colleague, Robin Morgan – before joining the Independent on Sunday as a business writer. Translated to The Independent, he spent time as a Westminster correspondent, returning to the Sindy as assistant editor. Then came the years as Boycott’s deputy, first at the Indy and then the Express. He left in the aftermath of the Richard Desmond takeover of Express Newspapers, spent a year back with the Indy before accepting an offer from the Standard’s then editor Veronica Wadley, to head up her paper’s business coverage. He has won several awards, most recently being named business journalist of the year in the London Press Club awards last month. Sources: Confidential The Independent Simon Kelner Evgeny Lebedev London Evening Standard Newspapers Newspapers & magazines Roy Greenslade guardian.co.uk
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Work and pensions secretary will use speech to thinktank in Spain to say of school-leavers: ‘We need businesses to give them a chance’ The work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, will appeal to businesses to recruit young and unemployed British people ahead of “labour from abroad”. Duncan Smith will use a speech to a thinktank in Spain to say of school-leavers: “We need businesses to give them a chance”, and appeal for industry to assist the government in giving Britons jobs. While stressing that immigration plays a vital role in British society, he will argue that many immigrants end up doing jobs that could easily be done by British citizens. Official figures unearthed by the Labour MP Frank Field show that 87% of the 400,000 jobs created over the first year of the coalition government went to workers from abroad. “We have to ensure that our immigration system works in the interests of Britain, enabling us to make a realistic promise to our young school-leavers,” he will say in his speech to the Foundation for Analysis and Social Studies thinktank in Madrid. “It is part of our contract with the British people.” Extracts released in advance show Duncan Smith will insist that the government is “reforming welfare to make work pay, and to help people back to work … and we are toughening sanctions against those who refuse to take jobs when they are available”. He will add: “But we also need an immigration system that gives the unemployed a level playing field. “If we do not get this right, then we risk leaving more British citizens out of work, and the most vulnerable group, who will be the most affected, are young people.” Gordon Brown was criticised after his 2007 pledge to provide “British jobs for British workers” was followed by figures which showed that around 80% of jobs created during Labour’s time in power went to migrants. Duncan Smith will say that controlling immigration is “critical” to avoid “losing another generation to dependency and hopelessness”, but will appeal for help in ensuring that British citizens are awarded jobs. “Government cannot do it all,” he will say. “As we work hard to break welfare dependency and get young people ready for the labour market, we need businesses to give them a chance and not just fall back on labour from abroad. “If government and business pull together on this, I believe we can finally start to give our young people a chance. A chance to experience the benefits of work that so many of the rest of us take for granted. A chance to become productive members of our society. And a chance of a better future.” Iain Duncan Smith Liberal-Conservative coalition Unemployment Young people Immigration and asylum Adam Gabbatt guardian.co.uk
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• Summer sale gets off to strong start • Childrenswear up 42% • Waitrose sales up 8% • Poll: will you be splurging in the summer sales? John Lewis’s summer sale got off to a flying start last week, providing evidence that it’s not all doom and gloom on the high street . Boosted by the mini heatwave, the department store enjoyed 20% sales growth (18.2% excluding VAT) in the week to 25 June compared with the same week last year. “Starting online on Wednesday night and on Thursday in our shops has clearly paid dividends, with us trading up 14% compared to the first four days of clearance last year,” said Peter Ruis, buying & brand director at John Lewis. Freddie George, retail analyst at Seymour Pierce, said: “It was an outstanding week for the department stores … indicating that consumers are still spending despite the difficult economic outlook and predictably are buying into the sales and discounts.” He noted that the company benefited from having two extra days of the sale, which started on Thursday (last year Saturday) and relatively easy comparatives with the previous year, which was impacted by the World Cup (England played Slovenia on the Wednesday and the second round started on the Saturday) and very hot weather. Fashion sales climbed 22.6%, boosted by a strong performance in childrenswear (up 42%) and 22% growth in accessories and beauty; electricals were 17.6% ahead, with IT up 58%, led by Special Buy laptops, while homewares advanced 20.5%. All John Lewis stores were in positive territory – the stand-outs were Brent Cross (up 15%), Southampton (up 18%) and Kingston (up 11%). Johnlewis.com was also strong – sales were 46% higher, with fashion leaping 80%. At Waitrose, sales climbed 8%, in line with recent trends. George said: “These figures will provide some relief to a sector that has been significantly impacted by the economic headwinds. However, we remain cautious on the outlook and think it likely that, as in April, consumers have brought forward their spending taking the advantage of the sales. We also think it likely that discounts have not been as deep as in previous years as the retailers have been focused on preserving margins.” Debenhams has also done a roaring trade in its beauty hall and put it down the “lipstick effect” in recessionary times – women cheering themselves up with a new lipstick or bottle of perfume rather than splurging on expensive designer items. Howard Archer, chief UK & European economist at IHS Global Insight, said: “It is highly likely that once the clearance sale is over, or the best of the bargains are gone, consumers will quickly put their hands back in their pockets.” John Lewis Retail industry Consumer spending Julia Kollewe guardian.co.uk
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Scottish Labour party candidate Iain McKenzie wins 53% of vote despite well-resourced campaigning effort by SNP The Scottish Labour party has welcomed its “stunning” victory in the Inverclyde byelection after it held the seat by an unexpectedly convincing margin, claiming it was a triumph. Labour won the contest with a majority of 5,838, far higher than many of its MSPs and MPs had expected following an intense and heavily resourced campaign by the Scottish National party (SNP), which included repeated visits to the seat by the first minister, Alex Salmond. Iain McKenzie, the local council leader, was elected with 53% of the vote, a similar margin won at the general election by his predecessor, David Cairns, a former Labour minister whose sudden death in May prompted the byelection. The SNP’s share of the vote nearly doubled, surging to 33%, after the Liberal Democrats’ vote collapsed by more than 10 points to 2.2%, losing the party its deposit. In a result which is likely to depress the Lib Dems further after their rout at the Holyrood election, its candidate, Sophie Bridger, attracted just 627 votes. The Tories’ vote also fell by two points, to less than 10%. It was the first test for Labour and its UK leader, Ed Miliband, since the party was humiliated by the SNP’s landslide victory in the Scottish parliament elections on 5 May. Boosted by sunny weather, the turnout was higher than many had predicted, at 45%. Ann McKechin, the shadow secretary of state for Scotland, said the result was a significant blow for the SNP and Salmond, the party’s leader. The day before polling, the first minister had hoped for a victory of “earthquake proportions” in the seat, west of Glasgow. “Just 56 days since losing the Holyrood election, Labour has shown we are able to win back the trust of the electorate in Scotland,” McKechin said. “This is a real setback to the SNP and a personal humiliation for Alex Salmond, who campaigned here no fewer than seven times and told his party members he would win before a single vote had been cast. “I think voters were turned off by the SNP’s arrogant and negative campaign and responded to Labour’s positive vision for our future.” The SNP’s optimism about winning the seat, repeating its shock byelection victory in Glasgow East in 2008, had increased in the later stages of the campaign after its candidate, Anne McLaughlin, attracted significant levels of support on the doorstep. Kenny Gibson, the SNP’s campaign manager, said the party had still achieved a swing of 9% and cut Labour’s majority by more than half in just three weeks. This was a larger swing than it achieved in the equivalent seat in the Holyrood elections in May, he said. “The SNP campaign and the popularity of Anne McLaughlin cut Labour’s majority and puts Labour on notice that they can no longer take voters here for granted,” he said. “There will be real questions for Labour’s leadership after letting such a safe seat come so close to defeat.” Labour’s hopes of holding the seat had been buoyed up by indications that it had done significantly well in the postal votes cast in the first days of the campaign. About 12,000 residents had postal votes, which were sent out several days before the SNP had been able to post its free election address to all voters, party officials said. Scottish politics Labour Scottish National Party (SNP) Liberal Democrats Conservatives Scotland Severin Carrell guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Glenn Beck is no more on Fox News: He signed off from his show for the final time today. “He kept the chalkboards to a minimum, and shed no tears,” writes Jack Mirkinson at the Huffington Post . “He also shied away from too many specific recollections about his show.” Beck,…
Continue reading …Google’s new plunge into social networking hasn’t exactly been met with unanimous praise in the tech world. But Ezra Klein at the Washington Post sees one distinct advantage that Google+ has over goliath Facebook: It gives people “the opportunity to start over online,” he writes. Facebook has evolved several times…
Continue reading …No more Tim Geithner at Treasury? Bloomberg and the Washington Post say he might resign once a deal on the debt ceiling is in place. Both reports are carefully couched with phrases such as “has signaled” and “is considering” and are based on anonymous sources. The Post adds that Geithner…
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