Speculation grows that former Alaska governor will enter 2012 presidential race, as teasing tactics eclipse political rivals Sarah Palin has arrived in Philadelphia on day three of a mystery bus tour that is swamping US media coverage of the Republican race for the White House, leaving her rivals struggling to win attention. Palin, who began her road trip in Washington, is refusing to provide an itinerary for the media, in what is being interpreted as payback for the hostility she faced in the 2008 election. “It’s not really an intention to play cat and mouse,” she said. But the tactic has worked spectacularly to her advantage, with reporters gleefully turning her tour into a chase and guessing game about her next stop. Reporters are enjoying the novelty so much that there is even a Twitter hashtag, #wheressarah, logging sightings and speculating on her next venue. When reporters do catch her, the inevitable question is whether she intends to join other Republicans in seeking the nomination to take on Barack Obama in 2012. She insists she has not made up her mind. “I don’t know, I honestly don’t know,” she says. The 2008 Republican vice-presidential candidate may be engaged in an elaborate tease but, after a few months in which she largely dropped out of public view, the bus tour has renewed speculation that she is contemplating joining the contest. She even admitted to reporters she had been thinking about what kind of campaign she might run, saying it would be non-traditional and unconventional – a bit like her bus trip. She spent Tuesday at a hotel near the site of the battle of Gettysburg, in Maryland. Journalists gathered in the morning outside her bus but she had slipped out earlier to view the battlefield in peace. The media then followed her bus to Philadelphia, where she visited the sites associated with the 1776 declaration of independence. Her trip, accompanied by husband Todd and the rest of the family, has included the capital, George Washington’s home at Mount Vernon and Fort McHenry in Baltimore, where the British laid siege in 1814. She will almost certainly go to Boston, scene of the Tea Party. But there is speculation, too, that she will go to New Hampshire, where the second round of the Republican nomination contest will be held, a sign that political ambition rather than a historical lesson is at the forefront of her mind. She is also planning to visit Iowa, where the first round will be held and where she is to attend the premiere of a documentary about her time as Alaska’s governor. Replying to reporters’ questions about whether she will stand, she said: “It’s still a matter of looking at the field and considering much. There truly is a lot to consider before you throw yourself out there in the name of service to the public because it is so all-consuming.” She has given only one interview, to Fox’s Greta Van Susteren, the only reporter allowed on the bus. Asked why she was not providing reporters with an itinerary, Palin, who has an intense dislike of much of the media, said: “They want, kind of, the conventional idea of, ‘we want a schedule, we want to follow you, we want you to bring us along with you’. I want them to have to do a little bit of work on a tour like this, and that would include not necessarily telling them beforehand where every stop is going to be. The media can figure out where we’re going if they do their investigative work.” The game partly explains the renewed media interest in Palin. But the attention also reflects the lack of excitement about the present Republican field. Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts and Republican frontrunner, is due to announce his candidacy formally in New Hampshire on Thursday. A Gallup poll of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents published on Tuesday put Romney on 17%, with Palin in second place on 15%, followed by Ron Paul on 10%, Newt Gingrich on 9%, Herman Cain on 8%, Tim Pawlenty on 6%, Michele Bachmann on 5%, and Jon Huntsman, Rick Santorum and Gary Johnson all on 2%. These candidates have had a hard time getting on air and when they do they are almost inevitably asked about Palin. Bachmann, who is to declare within the month, was invited on to ABC and asked how she differed from Palin. Bachmann deflected the question, saying they were friends. Pawlenty was interviewed at the weekend and showed signs of irritation when asked about Palin. Palin described the field as quite strong but predicted “there will be more strong candidates jumping in” and wondered about the Texas governor, Rick Perry, and others coming in. She added: “The field isn’t set yet, not by a long shot.” Sarah Palin US elections 2012 Republicans United States US politics Barack Obama Ewen MacAskill guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Speculation grows that former Alaska governor will enter 2012 presidential race, as teasing tactics eclipse political rivals Sarah Palin has arrived in Philadelphia on day three of a mystery bus tour that is swamping US media coverage of the Republican race for the White House, leaving her rivals struggling to win attention. Palin, who began her road trip in Washington, is refusing to provide an itinerary for the media, in what is being interpreted as payback for the hostility she faced in the 2008 election. “It’s not really an intention to play cat and mouse,” she said. But the tactic has worked spectacularly to her advantage, with reporters gleefully turning her tour into a chase and guessing game about her next stop. Reporters are enjoying the novelty so much that there is even a Twitter hashtag, #wheressarah, logging sightings and speculating on her next venue. When reporters do catch her, the inevitable question is whether she intends to join other Republicans in seeking the nomination to take on Barack Obama in 2012. She insists she has not made up her mind. “I don’t know, I honestly don’t know,” she says. The 2008 Republican vice-presidential candidate may be engaged in an elaborate tease but, after a few months in which she largely dropped out of public view, the bus tour has renewed speculation that she is contemplating joining the contest. She even admitted to reporters she had been thinking about what kind of campaign she might run, saying it would be non-traditional and unconventional – a bit like her bus trip. She spent Tuesday at a hotel near the site of the battle of Gettysburg, in Maryland. Journalists gathered in the morning outside her bus but she had slipped out earlier to view the battlefield in peace. The media then followed her bus to Philadelphia, where she visited the sites associated with the 1776 declaration of independence. Her trip, accompanied by husband Todd and the rest of the family, has included the capital, George Washington’s home at Mount Vernon and Fort McHenry in Baltimore, where the British laid siege in 1814. She will almost certainly go to Boston, scene of the Tea Party. But there is speculation, too, that she will go to New Hampshire, where the second round of the Republican nomination contest will be held, a sign that political ambition rather than a historical lesson is at the forefront of her mind. She is also planning to visit Iowa, where the first round will be held and where she is to attend the premiere of a documentary about her time as Alaska’s governor. Replying to reporters’ questions about whether she will stand, she said: “It’s still a matter of looking at the field and considering much. There truly is a lot to consider before you throw yourself out there in the name of service to the public because it is so all-consuming.” She has given only one interview, to Fox’s Greta Van Susteren, the only reporter allowed on the bus. Asked why she was not providing reporters with an itinerary, Palin, who has an intense dislike of much of the media, said: “They want, kind of, the conventional idea of, ‘we want a schedule, we want to follow you, we want you to bring us along with you’. I want them to have to do a little bit of work on a tour like this, and that would include not necessarily telling them beforehand where every stop is going to be. The media can figure out where we’re going if they do their investigative work.” The game partly explains the renewed media interest in Palin. But the attention also reflects the lack of excitement about the present Republican field. Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts and Republican frontrunner, is due to announce his candidacy formally in New Hampshire on Thursday. A Gallup poll of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents published on Tuesday put Romney on 17%, with Palin in second place on 15%, followed by Ron Paul on 10%, Newt Gingrich on 9%, Herman Cain on 8%, Tim Pawlenty on 6%, Michele Bachmann on 5%, and Jon Huntsman, Rick Santorum and Gary Johnson all on 2%. These candidates have had a hard time getting on air and when they do they are almost inevitably asked about Palin. Bachmann, who is to declare within the month, was invited on to ABC and asked how she differed from Palin. Bachmann deflected the question, saying they were friends. Pawlenty was interviewed at the weekend and showed signs of irritation when asked about Palin. Palin described the field as quite strong but predicted “there will be more strong candidates jumping in” and wondered about the Texas governor, Rick Perry, and others coming in. She added: “The field isn’t set yet, not by a long shot.” Sarah Palin US elections 2012 Republicans United States US politics Barack Obama Ewen MacAskill guardian.co.uk
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Pentagon has concluded that the laws of armed conflict can be widened to embrace cyberwarfare The US government is rewriting its military rule book to make cyber-attacks a possible act of war, giving commanders the option of launching retaliatory military strikes against hackers backed by hostile foreign powers. The Pentagon has concluded that the laws of armed conflict can be widened to embrace cyberwarfare, in order to allow the US to respond with the use of force against aggressive assaults on its computer and IT infrastructure. The move, to be unveiled in a US department of defence strategy document next month, is a significant step towards the militarisation of cyberspace, with huge implications for international law. Pentagon officials disclosed the decision to the Wall Street Journal , saying it was designed to send a warning to any hacker threatening US security by attacking its nuclear reactors, pipelines or public networks such as mass transport systems. “If you shut down our power grid, maybe we will put a missile down one of your smokestacks,” an official said. The new strategy would adapt the existing right of self-defence contained in the UN charter by bringing cyberweapons under the definition of armed attacks. Joel Reidenberg, a professor at Fordham University in New York who teaches on IT law, said the policy was an important recognition that new forms of warfare can harm Americans, “and that the US will protect its citizens in their 21st-century activities.” Sami Saydjari, a former Pentagon cyber expert who now runs a consultancy called Cyber Defense Agency, said the rule change was a logical and reasonable next step. “The US is vulnerable to sabotage in defence, power, telecommunications, banking. An attack on any one of those essential infrastructures could be as damaging as any kinetic attack on US soil.”But other cyber specialists warned the new provision would be extremely hard to implement and could escalate the militarisation of the internet. Jody Westby, co-author of the UN publication The Quest for Cyber Peace, said attacks are difficult to track and trace back to their origins, often making it impossible to determine who is behind them. She also called for more diplomatic efforts to increase co-operation between governments rather than widening military options. “Sabre-rattling like this in the cyber age could backfire on the US, as it could spark further cyber-attacks on US infrastructure that could be massively destructive for American civilians.” The Obama administration signalled its intentions two weeks ago when the White House released its vision for the future of cyberspace. “When warranted, the US will respond to hostile acts in cyberspace as we would to any other threat to our country,” it said, adding that such responses included “all necessary means” including military ones. The US is considered especially prone to cyber-attacks because millions of computers in America have been infected and because its military networks are so highly computerised. Alan Paller, research director at the Sans Institute, which trains computer security professionals, said military and defence computers in the US have come under attack from foreign states at least since 2003, with losses including key technical data for the $300bn F35 fighter. “The military knows its systems are under constant and increasingly sophisticated attacks,” he said. The threat was underlined at the weekend when arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin announced its computer systems had come under a “tenacious attack” on 21 May, though the company said it had thwarted the assault. US analysts have their sights particularly on China and Russia as potential sources of state-sponsored cyberwarfare. A congressional panel has warned that China had the capability of hitting federal networks connected via the internet, such as the national electricity grid, in a way that “could paralyse the US”. Russia was blamed in 2008 for a computer attack on the US Central Command which oversees the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Russia was also implicated in more localised cyber attacks on Georgia and Estonia . The US has also been implicated in cyber sabotage. It has been suggested that Stuxnet, the computer worm unleashed last year against Iran, was the work of the Israeli government, backed by Washington. Westby pointed out that the US has not denied the claim. “It seems we’re happy to launch our own cyber-attacks when it suits us. That’s hardly good diplomacy.” US national security United States Internet Computing Ed Pilkington guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Pentagon has concluded that the laws of armed conflict can be widened to embrace cyberwarfare The US government is rewriting its military rule book to make cyber-attacks a possible act of war, giving commanders the option of launching retaliatory military strikes against hackers backed by hostile foreign powers. The Pentagon has concluded that the laws of armed conflict can be widened to embrace cyberwarfare, in order to allow the US to respond with the use of force against aggressive assaults on its computer and IT infrastructure. The move, to be unveiled in a US department of defence strategy document next month, is a significant step towards the militarisation of cyberspace, with huge implications for international law. Pentagon officials disclosed the decision to the Wall Street Journal , saying it was designed to send a warning to any hacker threatening US security by attacking its nuclear reactors, pipelines or public networks such as mass transport systems. “If you shut down our power grid, maybe we will put a missile down one of your smokestacks,” an official said. The new strategy would adapt the existing right of self-defence contained in the UN charter by bringing cyberweapons under the definition of armed attacks. Joel Reidenberg, a professor at Fordham University in New York who teaches on IT law, said the policy was an important recognition that new forms of warfare can harm Americans, “and that the US will protect its citizens in their 21st-century activities.” Sami Saydjari, a former Pentagon cyber expert who now runs a consultancy called Cyber Defense Agency, said the rule change was a logical and reasonable next step. “The US is vulnerable to sabotage in defence, power, telecommunications, banking. An attack on any one of those essential infrastructures could be as damaging as any kinetic attack on US soil.”But other cyber specialists warned the new provision would be extremely hard to implement and could escalate the militarisation of the internet. Jody Westby, co-author of the UN publication The Quest for Cyber Peace, said attacks are difficult to track and trace back to their origins, often making it impossible to determine who is behind them. She also called for more diplomatic efforts to increase co-operation between governments rather than widening military options. “Sabre-rattling like this in the cyber age could backfire on the US, as it could spark further cyber-attacks on US infrastructure that could be massively destructive for American civilians.” The Obama administration signalled its intentions two weeks ago when the White House released its vision for the future of cyberspace. “When warranted, the US will respond to hostile acts in cyberspace as we would to any other threat to our country,” it said, adding that such responses included “all necessary means” including military ones. The US is considered especially prone to cyber-attacks because millions of computers in America have been infected and because its military networks are so highly computerised. Alan Paller, research director at the Sans Institute, which trains computer security professionals, said military and defence computers in the US have come under attack from foreign states at least since 2003, with losses including key technical data for the $300bn F35 fighter. “The military knows its systems are under constant and increasingly sophisticated attacks,” he said. The threat was underlined at the weekend when arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin announced its computer systems had come under a “tenacious attack” on 21 May, though the company said it had thwarted the assault. US analysts have their sights particularly on China and Russia as potential sources of state-sponsored cyberwarfare. A congressional panel has warned that China had the capability of hitting federal networks connected via the internet, such as the national electricity grid, in a way that “could paralyse the US”. Russia was blamed in 2008 for a computer attack on the US Central Command which oversees the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Russia was also implicated in more localised cyber attacks on Georgia and Estonia . The US has also been implicated in cyber sabotage. It has been suggested that Stuxnet, the computer worm unleashed last year against Iran, was the work of the Israeli government, backed by Washington. Westby pointed out that the US has not denied the claim. “It seems we’re happy to launch our own cyber-attacks when it suits us. That’s hardly good diplomacy.” US national security United States Internet Computing Ed Pilkington guardian.co.uk
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Former Bosnian Serb general allowed to visit daughter’s grave ahead of flight to Netherlands and Scheveningen prison Ratko Mladic was flown to the Netherlands on Tuesday night to face charges at The Hague war crimes tribunal for his role in the killing of thousands of Muslims in the Bosnian war after an emotional final day in Serbia. The former Bosnian Serb general was flown into Rotterdam airport on a small Serbian government jet, and then transferred by helicopter to a 15 sq metre cell in a special unit in Scheveningen prison, a brick castle-like jail in a leafy suburb of The Hague yards from the North Sea coast. “In the detention unit, he will be introduced to the regulations and the rules of the unit and of the tribunal, he will be give a copy of the indictment and then a medical examination,” said Nerma Jelacic, the spokeswoman for the International criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia at The Hague. “He will be held in a isolation cell on his own for at least few days so that his assimilation can be monitored, and after that he will be in a cell in one of the three wings of the detention unit.” After the first few days, Mladic will be able to mix with the other 36 war crimes defendants of various nationalities, including other Serbs, Croats and Bosnian Muslims. They have an exercise yard, computers, televisions, art classes and even massage on request. The tribunal’s prosecutor, Serge Brammertz, will give a statement on Wednesday, and Mladic is expected to appear before judges by Friday to hear his indictment for the worst crimes committed in Europe since the Nazi era. Before Mladic left Belgrade he was granted a parting wish – insistently repeated from the time of his arrest – to visit the grave of his daughter, Ana, who killed herself in 1994 with his favourite revolver. Her motive was reportedly despair at her father’s role in the Bosnian slaughter but if she left a note it was never made public. Mladic, who always insisted she had been killed by his enemies, was allowed to linger for 10 minutes, lighting a candle at the black granite grave in a Belgrade cemetery before being driven away in an armoured police motorcade. The visit angered some of the relatives of the Bosnian dead. Kadira Gabeljic, whose husband and two sons were killed in the Srebrenica slaughter, told the Associated Press: “He was allowed to do it, and I am still searching for my children for the past 16 years, ever since Srebrenica happened. “My husband had been found, but what about my children? I will wait for years. I might even die before their complete remains are found.” After a 16-year manhunt, Mladic’s journey from Balkan fugitive to prisoner in the Netherlands unfolded at remarkable speed. The 69-year old former Yugoslav officer, one of the world’s most wanted men, was arrested at his cousin’s house in a northern Serbian village on Thursday and faced an extradition hearing the same night. His lawyer, Milos Saljic, insisted he was not well enough physically or mentally to stand trial, and tried to slow the proceedings by sending his appeal by post at the last possible moment on Monday, but Serbia’s war crimes court rejected it almost as soon as it arrived on Tuesday. According to Saljic, the ex-general’s wife and sister arrived for a tearful farewell in the early afternoon, bringing with them a large suitcase of clothes he will need, and by the evening the 69-year-old former commander was on a flight to The Hague. At his first appearance at the tribunal, Mladic will hear the charges against him, for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. In particular, he is charged with overseeing the execution of 8,000 Muslim men and boys from Srebrenica, whose bodies were found in mass graves after his troops had overrun the eastern Bosnian town. He is also held responsible for the three-year siege of Sarajevo, during which an estimated 10,000 of the Bosnian capital’s residents were killed. Mladic will have 30 days to decide how to plead, and then there could be many months of preparations before the trial begins. Ultra-nationalists staged rallies in Belgrade and at Mladic’s childhood home in eastern Bosnia but they were easily contained and did nothing to deflect the determination of Serbia’s president, Boris Tadic, to deliver Mladic to The Hague and thus remove the most serious obstacle to Serbia’s eventual EU membership. Tadic has also pledged to go after the last Serb war crimes suspect still at large, Goran Hadzic, as well as the suspected network of followers and state officials thought to have sustained and concealed Mladic in his 16 years on the run. There had been fears that Mladic’s arrest might trigger a dangerous backlash among Serb officers with the same Yugoslav army roots, but the demonstrations were thinner and less fiery that those which greeted the arrest of the Bosnian Serb political leader, Radovan Karadzic, three years ago. The flame of ultra Serb nationalism appears to be guttering, although it could be replaced with a quieter long-lasting resentment. Rasim Ljajic, one of Tadic’s ministers, has acknowledged that the government could be voted out at the next elections as a result of Mladic’s extradition. Ratko Mladic Serbia Bosnia and Herzegovina Europe European Union United Nations War crimes Netherlands Julian Borger Robert Booth guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Former Bosnian Serb general allowed to visit daughter’s grave ahead of flight to Netherlands and Scheveningen prison Ratko Mladic was flown to the Netherlands on Tuesday night to face charges at The Hague war crimes tribunal for his role in the killing of thousands of Muslims in the Bosnian war after an emotional final day in Serbia. The former Bosnian Serb general was flown into Rotterdam airport on a small Serbian government jet, and then transferred by helicopter to a 15 sq metre cell in a special unit in Scheveningen prison, a brick castle-like jail in a leafy suburb of The Hague yards from the North Sea coast. “In the detention unit, he will be introduced to the regulations and the rules of the unit and of the tribunal, he will be give a copy of the indictment and then a medical examination,” said Nerma Jelacic, the spokeswoman for the International criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia at The Hague. “He will be held in a isolation cell on his own for at least few days so that his assimilation can be monitored, and after that he will be in a cell in one of the three wings of the detention unit.” After the first few days, Mladic will be able to mix with the other 36 war crimes defendants of various nationalities, including other Serbs, Croats and Bosnian Muslims. They have an exercise yard, computers, televisions, art classes and even massage on request. The tribunal’s prosecutor, Serge Brammertz, will give a statement on Wednesday, and Mladic is expected to appear before judges by Friday to hear his indictment for the worst crimes committed in Europe since the Nazi era. Before Mladic left Belgrade he was granted a parting wish – insistently repeated from the time of his arrest – to visit the grave of his daughter, Ana, who killed herself in 1994 with his favourite revolver. Her motive was reportedly despair at her father’s role in the Bosnian slaughter but if she left a note it was never made public. Mladic, who always insisted she had been killed by his enemies, was allowed to linger for 10 minutes, lighting a candle at the black granite grave in a Belgrade cemetery before being driven away in an armoured police motorcade. The visit angered some of the relatives of the Bosnian dead. Kadira Gabeljic, whose husband and two sons were killed in the Srebrenica slaughter, told the Associated Press: “He was allowed to do it, and I am still searching for my children for the past 16 years, ever since Srebrenica happened. “My husband had been found, but what about my children? I will wait for years. I might even die before their complete remains are found.” After a 16-year manhunt, Mladic’s journey from Balkan fugitive to prisoner in the Netherlands unfolded at remarkable speed. The 69-year old former Yugoslav officer, one of the world’s most wanted men, was arrested at his cousin’s house in a northern Serbian village on Thursday and faced an extradition hearing the same night. His lawyer, Milos Saljic, insisted he was not well enough physically or mentally to stand trial, and tried to slow the proceedings by sending his appeal by post at the last possible moment on Monday, but Serbia’s war crimes court rejected it almost as soon as it arrived on Tuesday. According to Saljic, the ex-general’s wife and sister arrived for a tearful farewell in the early afternoon, bringing with them a large suitcase of clothes he will need, and by the evening the 69-year-old former commander was on a flight to The Hague. At his first appearance at the tribunal, Mladic will hear the charges against him, for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. In particular, he is charged with overseeing the execution of 8,000 Muslim men and boys from Srebrenica, whose bodies were found in mass graves after his troops had overrun the eastern Bosnian town. He is also held responsible for the three-year siege of Sarajevo, during which an estimated 10,000 of the Bosnian capital’s residents were killed. Mladic will have 30 days to decide how to plead, and then there could be many months of preparations before the trial begins. Ultra-nationalists staged rallies in Belgrade and at Mladic’s childhood home in eastern Bosnia but they were easily contained and did nothing to deflect the determination of Serbia’s president, Boris Tadic, to deliver Mladic to The Hague and thus remove the most serious obstacle to Serbia’s eventual EU membership. Tadic has also pledged to go after the last Serb war crimes suspect still at large, Goran Hadzic, as well as the suspected network of followers and state officials thought to have sustained and concealed Mladic in his 16 years on the run. There had been fears that Mladic’s arrest might trigger a dangerous backlash among Serb officers with the same Yugoslav army roots, but the demonstrations were thinner and less fiery that those which greeted the arrest of the Bosnian Serb political leader, Radovan Karadzic, three years ago. The flame of ultra Serb nationalism appears to be guttering, although it could be replaced with a quieter long-lasting resentment. Rasim Ljajic, one of Tadic’s ministers, has acknowledged that the government could be voted out at the next elections as a result of Mladic’s extradition. Ratko Mladic Serbia Bosnia and Herzegovina Europe European Union United Nations War crimes Netherlands Julian Borger Robert Booth guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Newly married LeAnn Rimes Cibrian has gone from catching flak for her cheating ways to getting plenty of grief for her shrinking frame. The latest body beef erupted over the holiday weekend after Rimes tweeted photos of herself, on honeymoon in Cabo San Lucas, wearing a barely there bikini … which…
Continue reading …The housing industry keeps finding new lows: Today’s Case-Shiller price index shows that prices fell in the first quarter to the lowest levels since the crash began, reports the Wall Street Journal . The drop of 4.2%, on top of last quarter’s 3.6% drop, is evidence of a “double…
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Activists call for investigation into abuse after Egyptian general admits tests were conducted and defends practice Egyptian activists will hold an online protest on Wednesday to press the military leadership to investigate soldiers who abused pro-democracy demonstrators, including women who were detained and forced to take “virginity tests”. The interim authority, formed after Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February, has come in for increasing criticism from the youth movement for the slow pace of its reforms, and intolerance of dissent. The abuse of the women, which was confirmed by a senior army official, has caused particular anger, and prompted a storm of protest on the internet. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces had previously denied claims by Amnesty International that 18 women detained in March were subjected to virginity checks and threatened with prostitution charges. But an Egyptian general told an American television network on Monday that tests were in fact conducted, and defended the practice. “The girls who were detained were not like your daughter or mine,” the general, who requested anonymity, told CNN . “These were girls who had camped out in tents with male protesters in Tahrir Square, and we found … molotov cocktails and [drugs].” He said the tests were conducted so that the women would not be able to claim that they had been sexually abused while in custody. “We didn’t want them to say we had sexually assaulted or raped them, so we wanted to prove that they weren’t virgins in the first place,” the general said. “None of them were [virgins].” Amnesty condemned the general’s comments and called for a full investigation. “This general’s implication that only virgins can be victims of rape is a long-discredited sexist attitude and legal absurdity,” a statement said. “When determining a case of rape, it is irrelevant whether or not the victim is a virgin. The army must immediately instruct security forces and soldiers that such ‘tests’ are banned.” The women were detained on 9 March, nearly a month after the revolution that forced Mubarak from power, when soldiers cleared Tahrir Square after men in civilian clothes attacked protesters. One of the female victims, Salwa Hosseini, 20, told Amnesty that she and the other women were forced to remove their clothes before being strip-searched by a female guard. Male soldiers looked into the room, and took pictures, she said. The women were also beaten and given electric shocks, Amnesty reported. The growing dissatisfaction with the interim government is increasingly clear. While the military council has pledged to organise elections this year and hand over to a civilian government, tens of thousands of people appeared in Tahrir Square last week to demand faster reforms. Youth activists have said that additional, online protests are necessary because Egypt’s mainstream media treads too softly around the military, a taboo carried over from Mubarak’s reign. The new rulers have shown themselves to be thin-skinned, with a military prosecutor summoning a prominent blogger and a television journalist after they criticised the army during a talkshow. Three other journalists were also called in for questioning on Tuesday. They were all released without charge. In a statement , the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information condemned the military council for “dispersing fear” among the media and the judiciary. The group said that three judges were also under investigation for appearing on talkshows where they criticised the use of military courts for civilian cases and called for judicial reform. Egypt Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Africa Xan Rice guardian.co.uk
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Controversial fuel crops linked to rising food prices and hunger, as well as increased greenhouse gas emissions British firms have acquired more land in Africa for controversial biofuel plantations than companies from any other country, a Guardian investigation has revealed. Half of the 3.2m hectares (ha) of biofuel land identified – in countries from Mozambique to Senegal – is linked to 11 British companies, more than any other country. Liquid fuels made from plants – such as bioethanol – are hailed by some as environmentally-friendly replacements for fossil fuels. Because they compete for land with crop plants, biofuels have also been linked to record food prices and rising hunger . There are also fears they can increase greenhouse gas emissions. A market has been created by British and EU laws requiring the blending of rising amounts of biofuels into petrol and diesel, but the rules were condemned as unethical and “backfiring badly” in April by a Nuffield Council on Bioethics commission . In the UK, only 31% of biofuels used meet voluntary environmental standards intended to protect water supplies, soil quality and carbon stocks in the source country. There are no central records of land acquisitions in Africa, but research by the Guardian revealed the scale of the biofuels rush in sub-Saharan Africa – 100 projects and 50 companies in more than 20 countries. Crest Global Green Energy has the largest recorded landholding, 900,000ha in Mali, Guinea and Senegal. Tom Stuart, the chief executive, said: “It is true in some cases [that biofuels displace food], but in our projects we ‘inter-crop’, planting as much food as biofuel on the marginal land we have brought into agricultural use. There is a large social element to our projects, with all the local people needing to be in agreement, and that’s normally written into contracts at government level.” Another UK company, Sun Biofuels , leased 8,000ha in Tanzania where it grows Jatropha curcas , a non-edible plant whose oil-rich seeds can be processed into biodiesel. “We’ll start harvesting and producing in two years,” said Peter Auge, office manager in Tanzania. “The main attraction for us is exporting to Europe.” Claims that J curcas use prevents biofuels competing with food because it grows easily on marginal and arid land unsuitable for other agriculture have been challenged even within the industry. “Growing jatropha in a profitable way on dry lands is a myth. It needs water, fertilisers and pesticides to provide high yields,” Auge said. Jamidu Katima, at the University of Dar es Salaam, is critical of biofuels guidelines adopted by Tanzania’s government in 2010. “There are no plans to build refineries, nor obligations for foreign investors to reserve part of their output for the domestic market,” he said. Another risk is that biofuel use could increase carbon emissions by increasing destruction of forests when displaced local farmers clear land. The Institute of European Environmental Policy recently said carbon released from deforestation linked to biofuels could exceed carbon savings by 35% in 2011 rising to 60% in 2018. Currently, this indirect impact is not considered in European sustainability guidelines. James Smith, professor of African and Development Studies at Edinburgh University, said: “Private investment is running far ahead of our knowledge of the impacts of biofuels, such as land dispossession. This action is eroding the UK’s position of enlightenment on development issues.” Unpublished research by the charity ActionAid , seen by the Guardian, confirms the picture of scores of projects amassing millions of hectares on the east and west coasts of Africa. “I suspect the estimates are actually quite conservative,” said Smith. Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat junior transport minister, said: “I consider the sustainability of biofuels to be paramount. No biofuel will count towards our targets unless it meets certain sustainability requirements. But we are pushing [Europe] to go further, to reduce the risk of knock-on effects, including deforestation in new areas.” He added: “Only a tiny proportion – less that 0.1% – of UK biofuel has come from Africa.” As oil prices rise, said Jeremy Woods, a lecturer in bioenergy at Imperial College London, biofuels could boom . “Once oil is over $70 a barrel, conventional and new generation biofuels become cost competitive. When oil and biofuels are competitive, we are into a different world.” Expansion of the biofuels industry has been fuelled by capital raised on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange. In the Guardian survey Italy is the next biggest player with seven companies, followed by Germany (six), France (six) and the US (four). Brazil and China have been acquiring land in Africa for biofuels and food but the investigation identified only a handful of established biofuels projects. The database of biofuels projects in Africa was compiled with the help of the University of California Berkeley’s Africa Reporting Project. Some projects provide local benefits through investment, employment and local use of the produce, but many do not, says Lorenzo Cotula at the International Institute for Environment and Development, who recently analysed 12 contracts from African land deals . “Some of the contracts we analysed only contain vague and unenforceable promises.” Some have 100-year leases, at very low or free rent and priority access to water, he added. “Extensive commercial plantations dislocate rural communities from their land”, said Cotula. “Instead, self-managed biofuels production can offer cheaper energy and complementary sources of income”. The chief executive of Sun Biofuels, Richard Morgans said: “Our company produces sustainable and ethical biofuels – categorically yes. We would welcome higher sustainability standards, but you do have to balance this with economic development. If you are a local [in Tanzania or Mozambique] and need a job, you probably aren’t worried about whether the orangutans sleep at night. It’s also insulting to say African governments can’t run their own affairs.” A community-based approach is embraced by a few investors. “Our farmers in Mozambique are given seedlings to grow jatropha on their own land with the option to sell the seeds back to us,” says Chris Hunter, of UK-based Viridesco . “We help smaller plantations that cater to the developing world markets, as opposed to big monocultures that service the developed world’s energy needs”. UK companies were the first into Africa in 2005, but this has not been without problems. D1 Oils froze its export plans and started supplying locally in Malawi and Zambia, following the failure in 2009 of its joint-venture with BP, which doubted jatropha’s market potential. Last year GEM Biofuels , operating in Madagascar, suspended its LSE quotation for four months. The revelation of the central role of UK companies in biofuels coincides with a report from Oxfam forecasting that the price of staple foods will more than double in the next 20 years . The report identifies biofuels as a factor and demands that western governments end biofuel policies that divert food to fuel for cars. “We are sleepwalking towards an age of avoidable crisis,” said Oxfam’s chief executive, Barbara Stocking. “One in seven people on the planet go hungry every day despite the fact that the world is capable of feeding everyone. The food system must be overhauled.” Leader comment, page 30 Biofuels Energy Renewable energy Carbon emissions Africa Energy industry Mozambique Senegal Mali Guinea Damian Carrington guardian.co.uk
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