Campaigners are pressing for an examination of Jimmy Mubenga’s death during removal on Heathrow flight The United Nations special rapporteur on torture is being asked to examine the circumstances surrounding the death of an Angolan man who collapsed while being deported on a commercial flight from Heathrow. Campaigners are sending a file on Jimmy Mubenga to the UN and each member of the Commons home affairs select committee, calling for a comprehensive review of the way people are deported from the UK. Deborah Coles, of the Inquest charity, said: “Given the profound human rights issues that this case raises we felt we needed to put pressure not only on parliament but also on the UN so that these issues are examined properly by the state and international human rights mechanisms to ensure enforceable and accountable learning.” Mubenga collapsed and died as he was being deported on a commercial flight from Heathrow in October. Passengers told police they saw three G4S security guards heavily restraining Mubenga, who they said had been complaining of breathing difficulties before he collapsed. The guards were later arrested in connection with the death and have been bailed until 4 May. However, campaigners fear any legal process could take months or even years to complete and warn that there needs to be a comprehensive review of UK deportations to prevent a further tragedy. Mubenga’s wife, Adrienne Makenda Kambana, who lives in east London with the couple’s five children, said she was supporting the move. “Jimmy was a loving and caring father and husband. My children and I don’t understand why he was being deported … We don’t want this to happen to anyone else. We want to know how and why this happened to Jimmy. Why did he die?” The file is being sent to UN special rapporteurs on extra-judicial summary executions, torture and contemporary forms of racism as well as the Council of Europe’s committee on the prevention of torture. Coles said: “The legal processes underway will mean that the systemic issues raised by this death will not be dealt with in a comprehensive or holistic way for a very long time thus frustrating the learning process and the risk of further deaths.” Earlier this year four G4S whistleblowers submitted evidence to the home affairs committee, obtained by the Guardian, that alleged serious failings by G4S. It also contradicted some of what senior G4S officials told MPs at a hearing after Mubenga’s death. Police have interviewed three of the whistleblowers who included a G4S charter operations manager who said he warned seniors they risked “playing russian roulette with detainees’ lives”. Detectives are also seeking to track down other individuals from G4S known to have concerns about safety standards and training at the company. Keith Vaz, the Labour MP who chairs the home affairs committee, said the possibility that whistleblower evidence could assist the police investigation represented progress. The committee has yet to decide whether to recall the G4S officials or hold further evidence sessions. Immigration and asylum United Nations Jimmy Mubenga G4S Keith Vaz Matthew Taylor Paul Lewis guardian.co.uk
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Intelligence analyst suspected of passing government secrets to WikiLeaks has undergone a medical and mental evaluation The intelligence analyst suspected of illegally passing government secrets to the WikiLeaks website has been found competent to stand trial, the U.S. Army has said. Spokesman Gary Tallman says a panel of experts completed its medical and mental evaluation of Bradley Manning on April 22, and had informed Army officials of the conclusion. Tallman says no date has been set yet for the initial court hearing, and added that the evaluation board’s findings “have no bearing on the guilt, innocence, or any potential defences of the accused.” Manning’s case is under the jurisdiction of the Army’s Military District of Washington. The Army private is suspected of obtaining hundreds of thousands of classified and sensitive documents while serving in Iraq and providing them to the website. He faces about two dozen charges, including aiding the enemy, that can bring the death penalty or life in prison. Manning was transferred from a Marine Corps prison near Washington last week to a new facility in the Midwest state of Kansas. He passed the lengthy physical and psychiatric evaluation given to new inmates there and received final clearance Thursday to live alongside other inmates, according to the facility’s commander Lt. Col. Dawn Hilton. He had been held at the Marine prison for the eight months after his arrest, and the conditions of his incarceration triggered protests and international inquiries. At that prison, Manning had to surrender his clothes at night and was required to wear a military-issued, suicide-prevention smock. Manning’s attorney and supporters said that was unnecessary and argued his living conditions, including his isolation from other inmates, were inhumane. Pentagon officials consistently said he was being held under appropriate conditions given the seriousness of the charges against him. Bradley Manning US military WikiLeaks United States guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Intelligence analyst suspected of passing government secrets to WikiLeaks has undergone a medical and mental evaluation The intelligence analyst suspected of illegally passing government secrets to the WikiLeaks website has been found competent to stand trial, the U.S. Army has said. Spokesman Gary Tallman says a panel of experts completed its medical and mental evaluation of Bradley Manning on April 22, and had informed Army officials of the conclusion. Tallman says no date has been set yet for the initial court hearing, and added that the evaluation board’s findings “have no bearing on the guilt, innocence, or any potential defences of the accused.” Manning’s case is under the jurisdiction of the Army’s Military District of Washington. The Army private is suspected of obtaining hundreds of thousands of classified and sensitive documents while serving in Iraq and providing them to the website. He faces about two dozen charges, including aiding the enemy, that can bring the death penalty or life in prison. Manning was transferred from a Marine Corps prison near Washington last week to a new facility in the Midwest state of Kansas. He passed the lengthy physical and psychiatric evaluation given to new inmates there and received final clearance Thursday to live alongside other inmates, according to the facility’s commander Lt. Col. Dawn Hilton. He had been held at the Marine prison for the eight months after his arrest, and the conditions of his incarceration triggered protests and international inquiries. At that prison, Manning had to surrender his clothes at night and was required to wear a military-issued, suicide-prevention smock. Manning’s attorney and supporters said that was unnecessary and argued his living conditions, including his isolation from other inmates, were inhumane. Pentagon officials consistently said he was being held under appropriate conditions given the seriousness of the charges against him. Bradley Manning US military WikiLeaks United States guardian.co.uk
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Muammar Gaddafi’s army continues shelling port as main clashes centre on area around airport Heavy fighting has erupted on two fronts on the outskirts of the Libyan city of Misrata, with government troops using tanks to try to keep rebel forces at bay. Muammar Gaddafi’s army also continued shelling the port, the besieged city’s lifeline. Nato said its warships had caught government naval forces trying to lay sea mines in the harbour. Brigadier Rob Weighill, the British director of Nato’s Libyan operations, said his force’s ships had intercepted small boats laying mines in the harbour – the only entry point for food and medical supplies into the city. “It again shows his [Gaddafi's] complete disregard for international law and his willingness to attack humanitarian delivery efforts,” Weighill said. Rebels have also used to the port to bring in light weapons from eastern Libya. The main clashes centred on the area around the airport, the last position held by Gaddafi’s forces in the city after they were defeated in the centre. After several days of low-intensity clashes, rebels attacked early in the morning with automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns. Government troops responded with missiles and tanks, setting fire to a shoe factory and spreading a pall of black smoke across the city. “It’s very difficult against tanks,” said Rami Pengharpia, a 21-year-old rebel fighter wounded in the back by shrapnel. “Only Nato can do something against them.” On the western side of Misrata, where rebels have been slowly forcing Gaddafi’s forces back along the road to Tripoli, there was close-quarter fighting near the satellite town of Zawiya al-Majhoub. Several tanks fired at rebel positions and into civilian areas, and mortars were also used. By mid-afternoon, at least 15 rebel fighters and civilians had died, according to doctors in Misrata. Several dozen people were injured. They included three young siblings, two boys and a girl who had colourful flower patterns drawn on her hand. All suffered shrapnel wounds after a shell fired by Gaddafi’s forces struck their house. “They will soon be able to go home, if they still have a home,” said Dr Ahmed Diab, a surgeon at the Hikma Hospital in Misrata. While the rebel losses are mourned, it is the mounting civilian casualties that are causing the greatest distress in Misrata. On Thursday, at least nine people, including two women and three children, were killed when government forces fired mortars into residential neighbourhoods, according to doctors. “Gaddafi knows that he cannot win in Misrata as long as Nato is flying above,” said Dr Khalid Abu Falgha. “But he is still trying to kill as many people as he can by shelling indiscriminately.” Libya Middle East Muammar Gaddafi Nato Xan Rice guardian.co.uk
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Muammar Gaddafi’s army continues shelling port as main clashes centre on area around airport Heavy fighting has erupted on two fronts on the outskirts of the Libyan city of Misrata, with government troops using tanks to try to keep rebel forces at bay. Muammar Gaddafi’s army also continued shelling the port, the besieged city’s lifeline. Nato said its warships had caught government naval forces trying to lay sea mines in the harbour. Brigadier Rob Weighill, the British director of Nato’s Libyan operations, said his force’s ships had intercepted small boats laying mines in the harbour – the only entry point for food and medical supplies into the city. “It again shows his [Gaddafi's] complete disregard for international law and his willingness to attack humanitarian delivery efforts,” Weighill said. Rebels have also used to the port to bring in light weapons from eastern Libya. The main clashes centred on the area around the airport, the last position held by Gaddafi’s forces in the city after they were defeated in the centre. After several days of low-intensity clashes, rebels attacked early in the morning with automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns. Government troops responded with missiles and tanks, setting fire to a shoe factory and spreading a pall of black smoke across the city. “It’s very difficult against tanks,” said Rami Pengharpia, a 21-year-old rebel fighter wounded in the back by shrapnel. “Only Nato can do something against them.” On the western side of Misrata, where rebels have been slowly forcing Gaddafi’s forces back along the road to Tripoli, there was close-quarter fighting near the satellite town of Zawiya al-Majhoub. Several tanks fired at rebel positions and into civilian areas, and mortars were also used. By mid-afternoon, at least 15 rebel fighters and civilians had died, according to doctors in Misrata. Several dozen people were injured. They included three young siblings, two boys and a girl who had colourful flower patterns drawn on her hand. All suffered shrapnel wounds after a shell fired by Gaddafi’s forces struck their house. “They will soon be able to go home, if they still have a home,” said Dr Ahmed Diab, a surgeon at the Hikma Hospital in Misrata. While the rebel losses are mourned, it is the mounting civilian casualties that are causing the greatest distress in Misrata. On Thursday, at least nine people, including two women and three children, were killed when government forces fired mortars into residential neighbourhoods, according to doctors. “Gaddafi knows that he cannot win in Misrata as long as Nato is flying above,” said Dr Khalid Abu Falgha. “But he is still trying to kill as many people as he can by shelling indiscriminately.” Libya Middle East Muammar Gaddafi Nato Xan Rice guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Apple’s profits have outstripped Microsoft’s for the first time since Extreme was topping the charts and Mark Zuckerberg was in second grade. Microsoft’s revenue and profits were actually up last quarter, but Apple managed to move ahead for the first time in 20 years with a $6 billion profit on…
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Three men of Moroccan origin posed ‘concrete and imminent danger’ to country, according to officials German police on Friday arrested three suspected al-Qaida members who officials say posed a “concrete and imminent danger” to the nation. Authorities did not say whether the three had planned specific targets and offered few details, but security officials said that all three suspects were of Moroccan origin. They also said that two were arrested were in the western German city of Duesseldorf and one in nearby Bochum. The arrests were based on suspicion they were planning a terror attack, they said. Local media reported that officers had seized large amounts of explosives when the three were arrested. The arrests “succeeded in averting a concrete and imminent danger, presented by international terrorism,” German interior minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said in a statement. They showed “Germany remains a target of international terrorists.” Germany has escaped any large-scale attack by an Islamic terror organisation, such as the Madrid train bombings of 2004 and the London underground attacks of 2005. But Germany’s presence as part of the Nato coalition in Afghanistan has sparked anger and at least two major plots have been thwarted or failed in Germany before they could be carried out. The suspects had been under surveillance since November when Germany increased security across the country in response to heightened terror threat warnings in Europe, but authorities only had enough evidence to launch an official criminal investigation starting 15 April, Friedrich said in a statement. Federal prosecutors said earlier that they had ordered federal police to arrest the trio, but gave no further information about the timing or location of the arrests. Officials were planning a news conference for Saturday. A US official speaking on condition of anonymity said a team picked up three people in a raid on suspicion they were planning an attack with explosives. “Our concerns about threats in Europe had a number of different threads and strands, some of which have been disrupted by good intelligence and law enforcement work by the relevant services,” another US official said. “There have been five disrupted plots in Europe during the past four years including a credible plot in Germany in 2007 all of which demonstrate Pakistan-based al-Qaida’s steadfast intent to attack the US and our allies.” Duesseldorf, a city of 600,000, has one of the largest Moroccan immigrant communities in Germany. It is to host the Eurovision Song Contest on 14 May, which is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of spectators. Prosecutors said the three alleged terrorists would be brought before a judge Saturday who will decide whether they are to remain in detention pending a trial. Germany raised its security posture in November after receiving information from its own and foreign intelligence services that led authorities to believe a sleeper cell of some 20 to 25 people may have been planning an attack inside the country or in another European nation. Germany Europe Global terrorism guardian.co.uk
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President visits wrecked university city of Tuscaloosa in Alabama, the worst hit of seven states where 210 people died Barack Obama has flown to the epicentre of one of the United States’ worst tornado disasters to pledge federal support for recovery after 310 people were killed. The president and his family visited the wrecked university city of Tuscaloosa in Alabama, the hardest hit of seven states that were blasted this week by tornadoes and storms that flattened whole neighbourhoods. It was the worst US natural catastrophe since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. In Alabama alone, 210 people lost their lives. Approaching the airport in Tuscaloosa yesterday, Air Force One flew over the tornado strike zone, giving Obama and his family a clear view of a wide brown scar of devastation several miles long and hundreds of meters wide. The president is eager to show that federal relief is on its way and that he is not taking the disaster lightly. His predecessor George Bush was fiercely criticised for what was viewed as a slow response to Hurricane Katrina. White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama “wants to put a spotlight for the rest of America on the suffering that a storm like this implies for so many families.” Recovery could cost billions of dollars and even with federal disaster aid it could complicate efforts by affected states to bounce back from recession. It will place an added burden on municipalities grappling with fragile finances. Tornadoes are a regular feature of life in the south and midwest, but they are rarely so devastating. Deaths also were reported in Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Georgia, Virginia and Louisiana. The tornadoes ravaged Alabama’s poultry industry – the state is the country’s third-largest chicken producer – and battered at least one coal mine and other manufacturers and industries. The second-biggest US nuclear power plant, the Browns Ferry facility in Alabama, may be down for weeks after its power was knocked out and the plant automatically shut, avoiding a nuclear disaster, officials said. Clothing company VF Designs said one of its jeanswear distribution centres in Hackleburg, Alabama, was destroyed and an employee killed. At first light on Friday, state authorities deployed teams in Tuscaloosa, home to the University of Alabama, to help survivors still picking up the pieces after the tornadoes on Wednesday devastated homes and businesses. The twisters, including one a mile-wide that cut a path of destruction, reduced houses to rubble, flipped cars and knocked out power and other utilities. “We are bringing in the cadaver dogs today,” said Heather McCollum, assistant to the mayor of Tuscaloosa, who put the death toll in the city at 42 but said it could rise. She said 900 people were injured. Hundreds of people were left homeless by the tornadoes and stayed in shelters. A curfew would be renewed on Friday night to prevent looting, although there had been almost none, she said. The city has been inundated with offers of help from around the country, McCollum said. McFarland Boulevard, normally one of the busiest streets, was wrecked and largely blocked off and state troopers and city police patrolled its shattered shops and houses. The storms left up to a million homes in Alabama without power. Because of damage to infrastructure and gas stations, Alabama and the neighboring state of Tennessee advised people traveling to affected areas to fill up their tanks with gas. Water and garbage collection services were also disrupted in some areas. Alabama’s Jefferson County, which is fighting to avoid what would be the largest municipal bankruptcy in US history over a $3.2bn bond debt, suffered damage and 19 dead but said the storms would have little direct impact on its finances. “It won’t directly impact us in that the president has declared a national disaster which requires grants,” county commission president David Carrington said. The storm threw into turmoil the University of Alabama. Two students died off campus and administrators canceled final exams and postponed graduation until August. Many students slept in dorm rooms without power overnight and large numbers were heading home on Friday. “Everyone is getting out,” said Katie Bayless, 19, whose parents had driven through the night from Houston, Texas, to collect her. Natural disasters and extreme weather Alabama Barack Obama United States guardian.co.uk
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Protest groups claim Facebook has taken down dozens of pages in a purge of activists’ accounts Activists are claiming that dozens of politically linked Facebook accounts have been removed or suspended by the company in the last 12 hours. The list of suspended pages include those for the anti cuts group UK Uncut, and pages that were created by students during last December’s university occupations. A list posted on the UCL occupation blog site says the Goldsmiths Fights Back, Slade Occupation, Open Brikbeck, and Tower Hamlet Greens pages as no longer functioning. It is not yet known how many websites have been affected in total or why they are not working. Facebook is currently looking into the issue. Guy Aitchison, 26, an administrator for one of the non-functioning pages said, “I woke up this morning to find that a lot of the groups we’d been using for anti-cuts activity had disappeared. The timing of it seems suspicious given a general political crackdown because of the royal wedding.” “It seems that dozens of other groups have also been affected, including some of the local UK Uncut groups.” Earlier, it was reported that the Metropolitan police had invoked special powers to deter anarchists in central London ahead of the royal wedding. Police threw a section 60 cordon around the whole of the royal wedding zone on Friday morning to respond to anarchists masking up at a small gathering in Soho Square in central London. The section 60 order allows police officers to stop and search anyone without discretion. The police also imposed section 60a, which gives them the power to remove masks and balaclavas from anyone within the area. Scotland Yard said the decision was made after individuals were seen putting on masks in Soho Square where a group of anarchists had gathered. The Guardian is awaiting a comment from Facebook. • If your page is affected, please email the Guardian at newseditor@guardian.co.uk or post in the comments below. UK Uncut Activism Protest Crime Facebook Shiv Malik guardian.co.uk
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Diehard royal fans celebrate Kate and William’s nuptials but for most it’s business as usual “He knocked off my fascinating!” cried Laura Martin, 55, in full evening dress complete with enormous jewelled brooch (“Fake – don’t tell the Queen!”) as she glared at a jogger disappearing towards the Hudson River, before stooping down to pick her fasincator off the sidewalk. “It’s a fascinate, Laura,” said her friend, in a similarly implausible outfit for 6am. “Fascinate.” It wasn’t so much a tale of two cities in New York as a tale of two sides of the street. On one side of Greenwich Avenue stores were decked with union flag bunting in preparation for the afternoon’s street party. People took fashion cues from Me and My Girl and Four Weddings and a Funeral queued up outside Lyon restaurant hoping to get inside for the special wedding breakfast with screens set up to allow diners to judge Kate’s dress while they ate fried bread. Any journalist with a British accent was immediately assumed to be a royal expert, even one from the soi-disant republican Guardian. “We’re not going to have to eat English food, right?” fretted one gentleman outside, topped and tailed. “I just wanna see the wedding.” Unfortunately for him they did, as it was fry-ups all round. But New Yorker Elizabeth Lang, 51, who was already inside and sporting a tiara, had reassuring words for him: “You know this isn’t too bad – I was worried as I thought the English food would be a little dicey,” she said as she carefully left her baked beans untouched. “Who’d have thought, a French restaurant doing an English breakfast,” marvelled Ben Mann in a morning suit as he leaned upon his cane, and one of the few Brits to be found. “It’s not the first time the British have invaded and saved France – 1939 and all that,” smirked Sean Cavanagh-Dowsett, the British owner of the nearby English-themed restaurant and shop, Tea and Sympathy, in full pearly king regalia. “It’s our job to be English today,” explained Mann. “It’s such a shame Diana isn’t here,” said Kevin de l’Aigle, an American sporting a union flag t-shirt and Kate’n’Wills badge while he, too, left his baked beans untouched. “But I’m sure she’s here in spirit.” Actually Diana was there, and celebrating with great enthusiasm: Diana Zorek, age 5. “I love the wedding! I love princesses!” she announced, and proved it by wearing a Disney princess outfit. But as “really pretty” as she thought Kate Middleton’s wedding dress was, she hadn’t usurped her favourite princess from the top spot: Ariel from the Little Mermaid. The other side of the street may as well have been a different country. Almost directly opposite the postcard recreation of all things parodically English was a similarly cliched, if more accurate, image of New York: a gym. Young men in various lycra get-ups that would surely permit no ingestion of fried bread jogged on into Equinox gym for early morning workouts, headphones plugged firmly into their ears, blocking out the shrieks from across the street. “No, I don’t care about the wedding at all to be honest,” said Matthew Reinhardt. “If it’s on the TV screens inside I guess I’ll watch it. Maybe it will help me run faster on the treadmill.” Back across the street there was no time for republican scepticism: Sean Cavanagh-Dowsett and his wife, Nicky Perry, were organising the afternoon’s street party where fish and chips, cups of tea and someone from Squeeze who wasn’t Jools Holland would be there, apparently representing some vision of Great Britain. “To us Kate and William are the prince and princess on top of the cake, they’re the happily ever after,” said New Yorker Linda Siciliana in black tie garb, apparently unbothed by the Windsors’ somewhat dubious marital record. “I think this is such a great day,” said Californian Diana Modica from beneath her Kate Middleton face mask. “How can anyone resist this?” But by 7am someone was beginning to resist: Diana Zorek, who announced that she was “SO tired” after having risen so early in the morning. Was she still feeling like a princess? “Yes,” she replied, falling asleep on her father Michael’s shoulder, oblivious to the jogger running right past her. “Sleeping Beauty.” Royal wedding New York Kate Middleton Prince William Monarchy United States Hadley Freeman guardian.co.uk
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