Hectic scenes in Italian appeal by two of Meredith Kercher’s convicted killers as lawyers swap claims of corrupt evidence The appeal by Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito against their convictions for killing British student Meredith Kercher has taken a surreal turn with two prosecution witnesses accusing a defence lawyer of offering to pay for a witness’s sex change. In a hectic session, Rudy Guede – the Ivorian already convicted for his role in the 2007 killing – started proceedings by accusing Knox and Sollecito for the first time in court of killing Kercher, prompting Knox to rise and tell the court she was “shocked and anguished” by his accusation. “He knows we were not there and were not involved,” she said. Guede was called from Viterbo jail, where he is serving 16 years, to respond to claims by a fellow inmate that he had confided that Knox and Sollecito had played no role in the murder of Kercher, whose throat was cut in the flat she shared with Knox in Perugia. After entering the court in handcuffs and sitting 4.5 metres (15ft) from Knox, Guede read out a letter he had written to his lawyers in which he called those claims “stinking rubbish”. As well as Guede’s fellow inmate, the court has previously heard from a jailed Neapolitan mafioso, Luciano Aviello, who claimed that Kercher was killed not by the Ivorian national, Knox or Sollecito but by his own brother during a burglary gone wrong. A fellow inmate of Aviello’s called by the prosecution on Monday said mafia member had told him he had been offered €70,000 (62,400) by Giulia Bongiorno, an Italian MP and lawyer defending Sollecito, to invent the story. Cosimo Zaccari – who is in jail for fraud, libel, criminal conspiracy and receiving stolen goods – said Aviello had confided that he was “contacted to create confusion in the trial”. Zaccari – who described himself as a former police informer and restaurant owner – was followed on to the stand by Alexander Ilicet, a Montenegrin who shared a cell with Aviello and claimed his cell-mate had boasted of being offered €158,000 by Bongiorno that he had planned to use for a sex change. Francesco Maresca, a lawyer representing the Kercher family, called the statements “extremely credible” but Bongiorno said: “We are beyond the realms of the reasonable,” adding: “Not even the prosecutors appear to believe this story and I will be reporting this libel.” Madison Paxton, a childhood friend of Knox’s who was in court, accused the prosecution of resorting to unreliable witnesses. “Every time we are doing well in the trial they try something desperate, like caged animals,” she said. Amanda Knox Meredith Kercher Italy Tom Kington guardian.co.uk
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Google has received a record number of requests from 26 developed countries to reveal private information about internet users Private information about Google users was demanded by governments or police a total of 14,201 times in 26 developed countries in the last six months of last year, according to figures released for the first time by the internet giant on Monday. In an effort to highlight the amount of online censorship that exists, Google disclosed that it had received more requests from the United States than anywhere else – and that it complied with anywhere from three-quarters to more than 90% of the requests depending on which country they were made in. Google received a record 4,601 requests from the US to disclose internet users’ private data in the six months to December – a 28% increase year-on-year. The California-based company said it fully or partially complied with 94% of user data orders from the US and 72% of those from the UK. According to Google’s figures, the UK made 1,162 user data requests in the second half of last year, making it the fourth-top country for the orders, behind India, Brazil and the US. Google began releasing its half-yearly Transparency Report in April 2010 as a way to highlight state censorship of the internet. “For the first time, we’re disclosing the reasons behind requests for content removal and the percentages of user data requests we comply with, in whole or in part,” a Google spokesman said. “By moving to a country-by-country model, users can more easily see trends upward or downward, and some annotations that provide background for the numbers released. We are releasing these numbers because we believe that it is important for our users to have more information about these types of government requests.” However, Google also revealed that it complied with a request to block access to 43 YouTube videos in Thailand because they were “mocking or criticising” the king, Bhumibol Adulyadej, in violation of the country’s strict laws. The figures show that Brazil still leads the way in requesting that Google removes content from its services, with 263 orders, ahead of South Korea, Germany, Libya and India. The UK’s Office of Fair Trading requested the removal of 93,360 fraudulent Google Adwords linked to scams over the period. The majority of content removal requests from the US arise from court orders over defamation. According to the figures , six US court orders resulted in the removal of 1,110 items from the Google Groups forums over the defamation of a man and his family. Google also, for the first time, revealed that it had received no content removal requests from Chinese authorities in the latter part of 2010. Google began redirecting Chinese users to its uncensored Hong Kong site in June 2010 amid allegations of state spying. Hong Kong increased its demands for user data by 80% in the six-month period, to 90. Google complied with 59% of them. Google Data protection Search engines Internet Digital media Josh Halliday guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Who knew God kept tabs on GOP party politics? Apparently, he gives Michele Bachmann an inner “sense” about what office to seek when she consults him. “Did God tell you he wanted you to run for the Minnesota State Senate, or something like that?” Bob Schieffer asked yesterday on CBS…
Continue reading …A South Carolina mother has been busted for for killing her 6-week-old baby with drug-tainted breast milk. Stephanie Greene, 37, is a pill addict, and had so much morphine in her system that her baby overdosed, reports the New York Daily News . Greene began using Fentanyl and Hydrocodon in 2009,…
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French president says post-Fukushima abandonment of nuclear ‘makes no sense’ as he announces push for new technology The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has bucked the anti-nuclear trend following Japan’s Fukushima disaster by pledging €1bn of investment in atomic power. Despite growing worldwide concern about the safety of nuclear plants, Sarkozy said the moratorium on new nuclear reactors adopted by certain countries since the Japanese nuclear crisis in March “makes no sense”. “There is no alternative to nuclear energy today,” he told journalists on Monday. “We are going to devote €1bn to the nuclear programme of the future, particularly fourth-generation technology,” Sarkozy said. Sarkozy also promised “substantial resources” to strengthen research into nuclear safety and a further €1.3bn (£1.2bn) investment in renewable energy. The announcement confirming France’s commitment to atomic power came as neighbouring Germany drew up plans to shut all its nuclear stations by 2022. It also came 24 hours after thousands of anti-nuclear protesters formed a human chain outside France’s oldest nuclear power station to demand its closure. The plant at Fessenheim in Alsace, on France’s border with Germany, has become the focus of a fierce debate over nuclear safety. At the weekend, demonstrators from France, Germany and Switzerland surrounded the plant calling for its number one reactor, in operation since 1977, to be taken out of service, claiming it was vulnerable to flooding and earthquakes. The plant is operated by French power group EDF. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, announced in May that Germany would phase out its 17 nuclear reactors, which provide up to 40% of the country’s energy, by 2022 at a cost of €40bn. She said Germany would concentrate on renewable energy sources. “We want to end the use of nuclear energy and reach the age of renewable energy as fast as possible,” Merkel said. Switzerland has also decided not to replace its five existing nuclear reactors, which supply around 40% of its energy, when they reach the end of their working life. The last of the nuclear stations is expected to end production by 2034, leaving time for Switzerland to develop alternative power sources. Italy’s prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, sought to restart his country’s nuclear programme, abandoned in the 1980s. But 94% of Italian voters rejected the idea in a referendum earlier this month. France has 58 nuclear reactors, which supply 74% of its electricity, and is the world’s largest net exporter of electricity from nuclear sources. Sarkozy said France was known to be “considerably ahead” of other countries in terms of atomic power technology and safety. “Our power stations are more expensive because they are safer,” he said. Following the Fukushima nuclear accidents, caused by a combination of earthquake and tsunami, the French prime minister, François Fillon, asked the nuclear safety authority to carry out an “open and transparent” audit of the country’s nuclear installations, examining the risks of flood and earthquake damage, loss of power and cooling, and emergency accident procedure, to examine if any improvements could be made. Its conclusions are expected in September. All 143 working nuclear power plants in the EU’s 27 member states are facing new safety tests in the wake of the Fukushima disaster. French ecology minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet said no decision on the future of Fessenheim would be made before the nuclear safety watchdog submitted its report. France Nuclear power Nicolas Sarkozy European Union Europe Energy Kim Willsher guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Floodwaters have poured over a berm surrounding a Nebraska nuclear power plant, forcing a shut down of electricity controlling cooling systems. Emergency generators were used until an off-site power supply could be connected to the Fort Calhoun plant, and officials say there has been no danger to the public, reports…
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• Follow every moment of Andy Murray’s match • Or keep tabs through Xan Brooks’ live blog • Send your thoughts to simon.burnton@guardian.co.uk First set: Murray 6-6 Gasquet A sense of impending doom grips the audience as Murray twice pulls out of his service action before the game gets under way, and though the Scot does win the game he doesn’t look particularly good in doing so, and he lands few first serves. Gasquet has a strange habit of standing four yards (or more) behind the baseline for many of Murray’s second serves, which is widely regarded as being the biggest chink in his armour. Then every now and then he’ll hit one from a yard inside the baseline. Puzzling. What he’ll do every time he can, though, is rip beautiful backhands down the line. Anyway, tiebreakarama. First set: Murray* 5-6 Gasquet Another easy hold for Gasquet, who – though Murray helps by providing him with the ammunition – produces a few great shots, the highlight being another stunning down-the-line backhand winner. “I like the cut of Gasquet’s jib,” notes David Savage. “Not only does he wear a proper (collared) tennis shirt, he hits proper (one-handed) backhands too. If only he had a double-barrelled surname, he’d be a certainty for the title.” First set: Murray 5-5 Gasquet* Now Gasquet wastes a challenge – the players have lost all of their three appeals so far. Other than man v hawk-eye, which isn’t going so well, this is on a knife-edge. First set: Murray* 4-5 Gasquet A weirdly easy service game, held to love – with Murray barely offering a shot to give away the final point. First set: Murray 4-4 Gasquet* Murray’s first-serve percentage in his first three service games was a very underwhelming 60% – Gasquet’s average over his first four service games was 77%. But that was better from Murray – slower serves, but greater accuracy. First set: Murray* 3-4 Gasquet Having twice decided not to challenge (wrongly), Murray finally has a go (also wrongly). It looks set to be another very standard service game as Gasquet goes 40-0 up, but one brilliant return and a fluffed volley later (er, and another point), it’s deuce. This allows Gasquet to produce a brilliant drop-half-volley on his way to winning the game anyway. First set: Murray 3-3 Gasquet* Three big serves win the game; Gasquet lands three returns and wins two of those points. There have been a lot of attempted lobs already today, I’m noticing. Something to do with attempting to bewilder your opponent by forcing them to confront the presence of a sun, I’m guessing. Not something they had to deal with very often in week one. First set: Murray* 2-3 Gasquet Gasquet has a go at attacking the net – several goes, to be fair. This allows Murray to unleash one great passing shot, but then the Frenchman stays back and creams a brilliant backhand down the line. And Gary Naylor, with some inevitability, wins the competition to produce a “blowing Gasquet” pun that doesn’t seem smutty and crude. “So McEnroe, who often blew a gasket at Wimbledon, is advising Murray on how to blow away a Gasquet at Wimbledon,” he writes. “Quite an important preposition in that sentence, I feel.” First set: Murray 2-2 Gasquet* Gasquet wins the first point after Murray’s first serve was called long – incorrectly, and again unappealed. A sense of gentle sparring pervades, at least until game point when Gasquet attacks a forehand for the first time. A fine shot, but then Murray serves an ace and wins the game anyway. First set: Murray* 1-2 Gasquet Murray’s having some calibration issues with his radar, the upshot being that Gasquet holds to love in a game that revealed little about anything, but did give the line judges a fairly remorseless work-out. First set: Murray 1-1 Gasquet* McEnroe is making a big deal about the importance of not counterpunching, despite that being both players’ natural game. Though you’d have thought that if a tactic is good enough to take a player to No4 in the world it would probably be good enough to take him past the No13. Anyway, Murray’s problem here isn’t so much counterpunching it’s where he’s counterpunching the ball – into the net, quite often, and straight at a French bloke the rest of the time. He’s not helped by an incorrect and unappealed call at 15-15, and before long he’s facing his first break point. It’s saved, though, and the game duly won with a lovely trademark drop shot. First set: Murray* 0-1 Gasquet Murray wins the first point but that’s where the good times end, and three unforced errors hand Gasquet the game. 1.12pm: The players are warmed up. Gasquet to serve. 1.09pm: There are genuine royals in the royal box! I’m talking about the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, or Prince William and Mrs William as they’re otherwise known. Preamble Welcome, then, to Andy Murray’s latest step on his route to world domination. Today’s straightforward conquest is Richard Gasquet, the French No17 seed, whom Murray has soundly thrashed every time they’v … hang on … he’s only gone and lost the last two. So who is Richard Gasquet, then? He’s 25, his hero is Zinedine Zidane. He tested positive for Cocaine in 2009 but successfully blamed it on a waitress he kissed in Miami. He doesn’t have dandruff . And he’s a decent outside bet to win Wimbledon if our Andy doesn’t (though it might be worth holding off your trip to the bookies for a couple of hours). They’ve met at Wimbledon once before, in 2008, when Murray fought back from two sets and a break down to win, improbably, 5-7, 3-6, 7-6, 6-2, 6-4, in what Murray calls “the best moment I’ve ever had on a tennis court”. More drama like that, please. Only slightly less dramatic. Wimbledon 2011 Wimbledon Andy Murray Tennis Simon Burnton guardian.co.uk
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• Follow every moment of Andy Murray’s match • Or keep tabs through Xan Brooks’ live blog • Send your thoughts to simon.burnton@guardian.co.uk First set: Murray 6-6 Gasquet A sense of impending doom grips the audience as Murray twice pulls out of his service action before the game gets under way, and though the Scot does win the game he doesn’t look particularly good in doing so, and he lands few first serves. Gasquet has a strange habit of standing four yards (or more) behind the baseline for many of Murray’s second serves, which is widely regarded as being the biggest chink in his armour. Then every now and then he’ll hit one from a yard inside the baseline. Puzzling. What he’ll do every time he can, though, is rip beautiful backhands down the line. Anyway, tiebreakarama. First set: Murray* 5-6 Gasquet Another easy hold for Gasquet, who – though Murray helps by providing him with the ammunition – produces a few great shots, the highlight being another stunning down-the-line backhand winner. “I like the cut of Gasquet’s jib,” notes David Savage. “Not only does he wear a proper (collared) tennis shirt, he hits proper (one-handed) backhands too. If only he had a double-barrelled surname, he’d be a certainty for the title.” First set: Murray 5-5 Gasquet* Now Gasquet wastes a challenge – the players have lost all of their three appeals so far. Other than man v hawk-eye, which isn’t going so well, this is on a knife-edge. First set: Murray* 4-5 Gasquet A weirdly easy service game, held to love – with Murray barely offering a shot to give away the final point. First set: Murray 4-4 Gasquet* Murray’s first-serve percentage in his first three service games was a very underwhelming 60% – Gasquet’s average over his first four service games was 77%. But that was better from Murray – slower serves, but greater accuracy. First set: Murray* 3-4 Gasquet Having twice decided not to challenge (wrongly), Murray finally has a go (also wrongly). It looks set to be another very standard service game as Gasquet goes 40-0 up, but one brilliant return and a fluffed volley later (er, and another point), it’s deuce. This allows Gasquet to produce a brilliant drop-half-volley on his way to winning the game anyway. First set: Murray 3-3 Gasquet* Three big serves win the game; Gasquet lands three returns and wins two of those points. There have been a lot of attempted lobs already today, I’m noticing. Something to do with attempting to bewilder your opponent by forcing them to confront the presence of a sun, I’m guessing. Not something they had to deal with very often in week one. First set: Murray* 2-3 Gasquet Gasquet has a go at attacking the net – several goes, to be fair. This allows Murray to unleash one great passing shot, but then the Frenchman stays back and creams a brilliant backhand down the line. And Gary Naylor, with some inevitability, wins the competition to produce a “blowing Gasquet” pun that doesn’t seem smutty and crude. “So McEnroe, who often blew a gasket at Wimbledon, is advising Murray on how to blow away a Gasquet at Wimbledon,” he writes. “Quite an important preposition in that sentence, I feel.” First set: Murray 2-2 Gasquet* Gasquet wins the first point after Murray’s first serve was called long – incorrectly, and again unappealed. A sense of gentle sparring pervades, at least until game point when Gasquet attacks a forehand for the first time. A fine shot, but then Murray serves an ace and wins the game anyway. First set: Murray* 1-2 Gasquet Murray’s having some calibration issues with his radar, the upshot being that Gasquet holds to love in a game that revealed little about anything, but did give the line judges a fairly remorseless work-out. First set: Murray 1-1 Gasquet* McEnroe is making a big deal about the importance of not counterpunching, despite that being both players’ natural game. Though you’d have thought that if a tactic is good enough to take a player to No4 in the world it would probably be good enough to take him past the No13. Anyway, Murray’s problem here isn’t so much counterpunching it’s where he’s counterpunching the ball – into the net, quite often, and straight at a French bloke the rest of the time. He’s not helped by an incorrect and unappealed call at 15-15, and before long he’s facing his first break point. It’s saved, though, and the game duly won with a lovely trademark drop shot. First set: Murray* 0-1 Gasquet Murray wins the first point but that’s where the good times end, and three unforced errors hand Gasquet the game. 1.12pm: The players are warmed up. Gasquet to serve. 1.09pm: There are genuine royals in the royal box! I’m talking about the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, or Prince William and Mrs William as they’re otherwise known. Preamble Welcome, then, to Andy Murray’s latest step on his route to world domination. Today’s straightforward conquest is Richard Gasquet, the French No17 seed, whom Murray has soundly thrashed every time they’v … hang on … he’s only gone and lost the last two. So who is Richard Gasquet, then? He’s 25, his hero is Zinedine Zidane. He tested positive for Cocaine in 2009 but successfully blamed it on a waitress he kissed in Miami. He doesn’t have dandruff . And he’s a decent outside bet to win Wimbledon if our Andy doesn’t (though it might be worth holding off your trip to the bookies for a couple of hours). They’ve met at Wimbledon once before, in 2008, when Murray fought back from two sets and a break down to win, improbably, 5-7, 3-6, 7-6, 6-2, 6-4, in what Murray calls “the best moment I’ve ever had on a tennis court”. More drama like that, please. Only slightly less dramatic. Wimbledon 2011 Wimbledon Andy Murray Tennis Simon Burnton guardian.co.uk
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• Follow every moment of Andy Murray’s match • Or keep tabs through Xan Brooks’ live blog • Send your thoughts to simon.burnton@guardian.co.uk First set: Murray 6-6 Gasquet A sense of impending doom grips the audience as Murray twice pulls out of his service action before the game gets under way, and though the Scot does win the game he doesn’t look particularly good in doing so, and he lands few first serves. Gasquet has a strange habit of standing four yards (or more) behind the baseline for many of Murray’s second serves, which is widely regarded as being the biggest chink in his armour. Then every now and then he’ll hit one from a yard inside the baseline. Puzzling. What he’ll do every time he can, though, is rip beautiful backhands down the line. Anyway, tiebreakarama. First set: Murray* 5-6 Gasquet Another easy hold for Gasquet, who – though Murray helps by providing him with the ammunition – produces a few great shots, the highlight being another stunning down-the-line backhand winner. “I like the cut of Gasquet’s jib,” notes David Savage. “Not only does he wear a proper (collared) tennis shirt, he hits proper (one-handed) backhands too. If only he had a double-barrelled surname, he’d be a certainty for the title.” First set: Murray 5-5 Gasquet* Now Gasquet wastes a challenge – the players have lost all of their three appeals so far. Other than man v hawk-eye, which isn’t going so well, this is on a knife-edge. First set: Murray* 4-5 Gasquet A weirdly easy service game, held to love – with Murray barely offering a shot to give away the final point. First set: Murray 4-4 Gasquet* Murray’s first-serve percentage in his first three service games was a very underwhelming 60% – Gasquet’s average over his first four service games was 77%. But that was better from Murray – slower serves, but greater accuracy. First set: Murray* 3-4 Gasquet Having twice decided not to challenge (wrongly), Murray finally has a go (also wrongly). It looks set to be another very standard service game as Gasquet goes 40-0 up, but one brilliant return and a fluffed volley later (er, and another point), it’s deuce. This allows Gasquet to produce a brilliant drop-half-volley on his way to winning the game anyway. First set: Murray 3-3 Gasquet* Three big serves win the game; Gasquet lands three returns and wins two of those points. There have been a lot of attempted lobs already today, I’m noticing. Something to do with attempting to bewilder your opponent by forcing them to confront the presence of a sun, I’m guessing. Not something they had to deal with very often in week one. First set: Murray* 2-3 Gasquet Gasquet has a go at attacking the net – several goes, to be fair. This allows Murray to unleash one great passing shot, but then the Frenchman stays back and creams a brilliant backhand down the line. And Gary Naylor, with some inevitability, wins the competition to produce a “blowing Gasquet” pun that doesn’t seem smutty and crude. “So McEnroe, who often blew a gasket at Wimbledon, is advising Murray on how to blow away a Gasquet at Wimbledon,” he writes. “Quite an important preposition in that sentence, I feel.” First set: Murray 2-2 Gasquet* Gasquet wins the first point after Murray’s first serve was called long – incorrectly, and again unappealed. A sense of gentle sparring pervades, at least until game point when Gasquet attacks a forehand for the first time. A fine shot, but then Murray serves an ace and wins the game anyway. First set: Murray* 1-2 Gasquet Murray’s having some calibration issues with his radar, the upshot being that Gasquet holds to love in a game that revealed little about anything, but did give the line judges a fairly remorseless work-out. First set: Murray 1-1 Gasquet* McEnroe is making a big deal about the importance of not counterpunching, despite that being both players’ natural game. Though you’d have thought that if a tactic is good enough to take a player to No4 in the world it would probably be good enough to take him past the No13. Anyway, Murray’s problem here isn’t so much counterpunching it’s where he’s counterpunching the ball – into the net, quite often, and straight at a French bloke the rest of the time. He’s not helped by an incorrect and unappealed call at 15-15, and before long he’s facing his first break point. It’s saved, though, and the game duly won with a lovely trademark drop shot. First set: Murray* 0-1 Gasquet Murray wins the first point but that’s where the good times end, and three unforced errors hand Gasquet the game. 1.12pm: The players are warmed up. Gasquet to serve. 1.09pm: There are genuine royals in the royal box! I’m talking about the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, or Prince William and Mrs William as they’re otherwise known. Preamble Welcome, then, to Andy Murray’s latest step on his route to world domination. Today’s straightforward conquest is Richard Gasquet, the French No17 seed, whom Murray has soundly thrashed every time they’v … hang on … he’s only gone and lost the last two. So who is Richard Gasquet, then? He’s 25, his hero is Zinedine Zidane. He tested positive for Cocaine in 2009 but successfully blamed it on a waitress he kissed in Miami. He doesn’t have dandruff . And he’s a decent outside bet to win Wimbledon if our Andy doesn’t (though it might be worth holding off your trip to the bookies for a couple of hours). They’ve met at Wimbledon once before, in 2008, when Murray fought back from two sets and a break down to win, improbably, 5-7, 3-6, 7-6, 6-2, 6-4, in what Murray calls “the best moment I’ve ever had on a tennis court”. More drama like that, please. Only slightly less dramatic. Wimbledon 2011 Wimbledon Andy Murray Tennis Simon Burnton guardian.co.uk
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