Copenhagen eatery retains accolade from Restaurant magazine while chefs from Russia and Peru make list for first time Read Jay Rayner’s blog on the world’s 50 top restaurants The celebrated Copenhagen restaurant Noma has retained its status as the world’s best place to eat, according to the annual list compiled on behalf of Restaurant magazine , a distinction which arguably draws in more diners than Michelin stars. René Redzepi’s influential cooking, with a heavy reliance on seasonal and foraged Scandinavian ingredients, ousted Spain’s El Bulli in 2010 from four consecutive years of dominance, a feat which Redzepi said prompted 100,000 overnight booking requests. El Bulli itself, which has never been out of the top three since the list was created in 2002, is entirely absent this year; this is not because Catalan chef Ferran Adrià’s cooking has waned, merely that he has decided to close the restaurant later this year . Spanish gastronomy remains prominent in the views of the 837 judges worldwide – a mixture of chefs, writers and restaurateurs – with second spot taken by El Cellar de Can Roca , the three Michelin-starred Girona restaurant run by three brothers. Behind this was Mugaritz , in the Basque country. It’s a more mixed picture for UK dining. The Spanish pair’s ascent helped push Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire, from third to fifth on a list it topped in 2005. Last year’s lowest-ever tally of just three British restaurants in the top 50 is now four, with London’s Ledbury – the highest new entry at no. 34 – joining the Fat Duck, Hibiscus and St John. The 2011 list is also notable for the geographical spread, with the first sighting in the top 50 of restaurants in Russia – Moscow’s Vavravy, famed for its £160-a-head tasting menu – and Peru, where Lima’s Astrid Y Gastón serves up haute cuisine incarnations of traditional South American dishes such as “chupe” stews. Perhaps more notable still is a Brazilian eatery, DOM in Sao Paulo, at seven, while Mexico has two restaurants on the list. “We do have a global reach,” said William Drew, editor of Restaurant magazine. “It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. In places like Sao Paolo, Mexico City and Lima, the best restaurants are as good as anywhere in the world.” Nonetheless, some traditional cookery powerhouses predominate, with almost half the list comprising restaurants in France, Italy, Spain and the US. Following last year’s Gallic anguish, when only six French outlets made the list, there are now eight, with Parisian super-bistro Le Chateaubriand rising to reach the top 10. However entertaining the list, many food critics doubt the validity of such arbitrary rankings. “My worry is that I don’t see how you can compare such different types of restaurant, doing such different things,” said Charles Campion, who writes about food for London’s Evening Standard. “If something stimulates debate and interest about food and gastronomy then it’s a good thing, but it shouldn’t be taken seriously at all. You can’t take a great experience and just put a number on it.” The gradual slippage down the list of the Fat Duck did not mean it was becoming a worse restaurant, said the food writer William Sitwell, editor of Waitrose Food Monthly. “I believe Heston’s at the top of his game,” he said. “A lot this is simply about novelty. This list isn’t about the dining most people do. It’s food couture. These are places you save up to go to. These are not the sort of places you go to when you’re hungry, it’s food as an event, as theatre.” What isn’t in doubt is the economic impact getting a high place, as shown by Noma, which went from having regular free tables at lunch to an queue of would-be diners that would fill the restaurant for 15 years. This has brought concern at open lobbying, for example tourist boards flying judges to sample free meals at their city’s top dining spots. “We’re not in a position to say to tourist boards that they can’t lobby, or tell critics they can’t take press trips, but we devolve a level of trust,” said Drew. “Judging restaurants is a fundamentally subjective activity but they realise when they are being lobbied and should take this into account.” Restaurants Food & drink Restaurants Peter Walker guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Yemen security forces unleashed gunfire and tear gas on protesters yesterday in Sanaa, where hundreds of thousands had gathered, the BBC reports. At least 30 were reported wounded in the capital. “We neared the Sanaa Trade Centre when police confronted us with tear gas, and suddenly opened heavy gunfire on…
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President Blaise Compaore’s reshuffle fails to ease unrest in Ouagadougou and around the country Students burned down the ruling party headquarters and the prime minister’s house in Burkina Faso on Monday as a soldiers’ mutiny spread to several corners of the west African country, posing a grave challenge to a president who seized power in a bloody coup 24 years ago. President Blaise Compaore announced on Friday he was dissolving his government and naming a new army chief and a new head of presidential security, but the steps have failed to stem discontent. The mutiny in the impoverished, landlocked nation seems partly inspired by events in north Africa. Unrest erupted on Thursday night in Compaore’s presidential compound in Ouagadougou, the capital city, when members of the presidential guard fired into the air and demanded unpaid housing allowances. By Monday, soldiers in several cities joined in. Calm only returned to the capital when soldiers there got paid. Anatole Kiema, a teacher at a grammar school in the town of Kaya, north of Ouagadougou, said schools in the area closed after soldiers shot into the air. “There was a panic in town and we have closed classes as a precautionary measure,” Kiema said. Tassere Koanda, who lives in Tenkodogo, east of the capital, said soldiers stole mobile phones and demanded free drinks in bars. They shot into the air for hours on Sunday night before returning to their barracks. On Monday, students burned down buildings in Koudougou, the location of riots in February, when protests were held after a young man died in custody. The government said he had meningitis, but accusations of mistreatment fuelled demonstrations in which at least six people died and buildings were torched. “There’s pent-up concern and hostility that’s been simmering for a long time,” said David Shinn, a former US ambassador to the country. Shinn, who is an adjunct professor of international affairs at George Washington University, said students were inspired by developments in Tunisia and other north African countries that have seen regime changes. The escalating cost of living was at the root of the current unrest, said Cema Blegne, who works for the National Syndicate of African Teachers of Burkina Faso, a group that has protested against food price rises. “We have translated the anger and feeling of frustration that these students and their teachers feel each time there is corruption. We have blasted impunity and bluntly told our truths.” Burkina Faso is near the bottom of United Nations rankings of wellbeing and has high rates of unemployment and illiteracy. Most people survive through subsistence agriculture. Soldiers, many of whom have families to support, have been frustrated that their wages have been late or stolen. “All the time complaints are issued, but we realise that nothing is transmitted to the authorities so the only way to be heard is to shoot bullets,” Somnoma Rabo, a soldier serving in Ouagadougou, told the Associated Press. Compaore, a former army captain, came to power in a 1987 coup in which Burkina Faso’s first president, Thomas Sankara, was killed. Since the coup, Compaore has won several elections that lacked transparency. He was re-elected again in November in an election which the opposition said was rigged. Shinn and others say it is unclear whether the unrest will bring down Compaore. Shinn said he might be simply buying time with his government reshuffle and other moves and that the soldiers who are mutinying have narrower, more personal concerns than who is in power. “I doubt the soldiers are concerned about who are running certain ministries,” he said. “Generally speaking, soldiers are interested in more mundane things such as pay and living circumstances.” Burkina Faso Protest guardian.co.uk
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President Blaise Compaore’s reshuffle fails to ease unrest in Ouagadougou and around the country Students burned down the ruling party headquarters and the prime minister’s house in Burkina Faso on Monday as a soldiers’ mutiny spread to several corners of the west African country, posing a grave challenge to a president who seized power in a bloody coup 24 years ago. President Blaise Compaore announced on Friday he was dissolving his government and naming a new army chief and a new head of presidential security, but the steps have failed to stem discontent. The mutiny in the impoverished, landlocked nation seems partly inspired by events in north Africa. Unrest erupted on Thursday night in Compaore’s presidential compound in Ouagadougou, the capital city, when members of the presidential guard fired into the air and demanded unpaid housing allowances. By Monday, soldiers in several cities joined in. Calm only returned to the capital when soldiers there got paid. Anatole Kiema, a teacher at a grammar school in the town of Kaya, north of Ouagadougou, said schools in the area closed after soldiers shot into the air. “There was a panic in town and we have closed classes as a precautionary measure,” Kiema said. Tassere Koanda, who lives in Tenkodogo, east of the capital, said soldiers stole mobile phones and demanded free drinks in bars. They shot into the air for hours on Sunday night before returning to their barracks. On Monday, students burned down buildings in Koudougou, the location of riots in February, when protests were held after a young man died in custody. The government said he had meningitis, but accusations of mistreatment fuelled demonstrations in which at least six people died and buildings were torched. “There’s pent-up concern and hostility that’s been simmering for a long time,” said David Shinn, a former US ambassador to the country. Shinn, who is an adjunct professor of international affairs at George Washington University, said students were inspired by developments in Tunisia and other north African countries that have seen regime changes. The escalating cost of living was at the root of the current unrest, said Cema Blegne, who works for the National Syndicate of African Teachers of Burkina Faso, a group that has protested against food price rises. “We have translated the anger and feeling of frustration that these students and their teachers feel each time there is corruption. We have blasted impunity and bluntly told our truths.” Burkina Faso is near the bottom of United Nations rankings of wellbeing and has high rates of unemployment and illiteracy. Most people survive through subsistence agriculture. Soldiers, many of whom have families to support, have been frustrated that their wages have been late or stolen. “All the time complaints are issued, but we realise that nothing is transmitted to the authorities so the only way to be heard is to shoot bullets,” Somnoma Rabo, a soldier serving in Ouagadougou, told the Associated Press. Compaore, a former army captain, came to power in a 1987 coup in which Burkina Faso’s first president, Thomas Sankara, was killed. Since the coup, Compaore has won several elections that lacked transparency. He was re-elected again in November in an election which the opposition said was rigged. Shinn and others say it is unclear whether the unrest will bring down Compaore. Shinn said he might be simply buying time with his government reshuffle and other moves and that the soldiers who are mutinying have narrower, more personal concerns than who is in power. “I doubt the soldiers are concerned about who are running certain ministries,” he said. “Generally speaking, soldiers are interested in more mundane things such as pay and living circumstances.” Burkina Faso Protest guardian.co.uk
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Shawn Tyson, 16, previously arrested for aggravated assault and lives in ‘close proximity’ to murder scenes Detectives in Florida are trying to establish what led two British holidaymakers from a “night on the town” in the centre of Sarasota to a run-down, crime-ridden area of the city where they were shot dead in the early hours of Saturday. The bodies of university friends James Cooper, 25, and James Kouzaris, 24, were found 15 metres apart on a street in the Newtown neighbourhood of the west coast Florida city at about 3am following an emergency call from a resident. Each of the victims – described in tributes as popular role models who lived life to the full – had been shot “more than once”, said Captain Paul Sutton of the Sarasota police department. Why they were in an area notorious for gang activity was a “key part” of the inquiry, he added. “We want to determine what would cause two people, who are here on a vacation, to travel to a residential neighbourhood at three o’clock in the morning, where there are no open businesses or bars, none of the things you would normally think might attract someone at that time of the day. “We know they were having a night on the town. They are both recent college graduates and good friends, and were having a night out. There’s some evidence they visited a couple of downtown establishments during the night before and in the early morning hours of the day they were killed.” Among the theories police are investigating is that Cooper and Kouzaris were involved in a drug deal, although they say they are looking at all possibilities including that they were victims of a robbery. No drugs, weapons or large amounts of money were found at the scene. The two, who met as students at Sheffield University, were on a three-week holiday with Cooper’s parents and were staying at an upmarket resort on the exclusive barrier island of Longboat Key, 12 miles from where they were shot. A 16-year-old male suspect arrested 24 hours after the shootings following a tip-off was named as Shawn Tyson. The teenager was previously arrested on 7 April for aggravated assault with a handgun and lives in “close proximity” to the murder scenes. Sutton said earlier much work needed to be done before details were released of how Cooper, from Warwick, and Kouzaris, from Northampton, were killed. “I’m not going to talk a lot about their injuries but I will say that each of them had more than one gunshot wound,” Sutton said. He ruled out a claim that a Newtown resident heard machine-gun fire, and corrected earlier erroneous reports that at least 20 bullet casings were recovered. “The crime scene investigators found no shell casings,” he said. At a detention hearing in Sarasota on Monday that Tyson did not attend, a judge gave prosecutors 21 days to decide if he will face trial for murder as a juvenile or adult. Florida retains the death penalty for offences including felony murder – when a killing is committed in the course of another crime – and first-degree murder. City leaders in Sarasota portrayed the killings as a rare occurrence as they promised the community’s support to detectives. Marlon Brown, the deputy city manager, said: “Any loss of life is always something we take seriously. I offer condolences to the families of the deceased and we’ll do everything in our power to piece things together and get it solved quickly.” James Roe, head coach at Kenilworth Tennis, Squash and Croquet Club in Warwickshire, where Cooper was a member, said it was tragic. “None of us are sure of the ins and outs of what went on and how he came to be in that situation,” he said. “For somebody to die in that manner, to be murdered, to be shot, it is just bizarre.” “He was a normal guy, he had a very responsible job as a coach. He was an only child and was the apple of his mum and dad’s eye,” adding that Cooper had once played against Andy Murray. Mark Tennant, a director of inspire2coach at the University of Warwick, where Cooper recently became head tennis coach, said: “We will remember James with great fondness, as a great guy, as a talented coach, a committed team member and, above all, a close friend.” Kouzaris had spent several months travelling in South America before his death, visiting Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Bolivia. He captained a team at the Old Northamptonians Rugby Club from the age of nine until he went to university, former coach Peter Bason said. “He developed into a very fine rugby player and also a good leader, he was captain here and also at his school.” He said he had been popular and likeable. United States Florida Gun crime Richard Luscombe Helen Carter guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Shawn Tyson, 16, previously arrested for aggravated assault and lives in ‘close proximity’ to murder scenes Detectives in Florida are trying to establish what led two British holidaymakers from a “night on the town” in the centre of Sarasota to a run-down, crime-ridden area of the city where they were shot dead in the early hours of Saturday. The bodies of university friends James Cooper, 25, and James Kouzaris, 24, were found 15 metres apart on a street in the Newtown neighbourhood of the west coast Florida city at about 3am following an emergency call from a resident. Each of the victims – described in tributes as popular role models who lived life to the full – had been shot “more than once”, said Captain Paul Sutton of the Sarasota police department. Why they were in an area notorious for gang activity was a “key part” of the inquiry, he added. “We want to determine what would cause two people, who are here on a vacation, to travel to a residential neighbourhood at three o’clock in the morning, where there are no open businesses or bars, none of the things you would normally think might attract someone at that time of the day. “We know they were having a night on the town. They are both recent college graduates and good friends, and were having a night out. There’s some evidence they visited a couple of downtown establishments during the night before and in the early morning hours of the day they were killed.” Among the theories police are investigating is that Cooper and Kouzaris were involved in a drug deal, although they say they are looking at all possibilities including that they were victims of a robbery. No drugs, weapons or large amounts of money were found at the scene. The two, who met as students at Sheffield University, were on a three-week holiday with Cooper’s parents and were staying at an upmarket resort on the exclusive barrier island of Longboat Key, 12 miles from where they were shot. A 16-year-old male suspect arrested 24 hours after the shootings following a tip-off was named as Shawn Tyson. The teenager was previously arrested on 7 April for aggravated assault with a handgun and lives in “close proximity” to the murder scenes. Sutton said earlier much work needed to be done before details were released of how Cooper, from Warwick, and Kouzaris, from Northampton, were killed. “I’m not going to talk a lot about their injuries but I will say that each of them had more than one gunshot wound,” Sutton said. He ruled out a claim that a Newtown resident heard machine-gun fire, and corrected earlier erroneous reports that at least 20 bullet casings were recovered. “The crime scene investigators found no shell casings,” he said. At a detention hearing in Sarasota on Monday that Tyson did not attend, a judge gave prosecutors 21 days to decide if he will face trial for murder as a juvenile or adult. Florida retains the death penalty for offences including felony murder – when a killing is committed in the course of another crime – and first-degree murder. City leaders in Sarasota portrayed the killings as a rare occurrence as they promised the community’s support to detectives. Marlon Brown, the deputy city manager, said: “Any loss of life is always something we take seriously. I offer condolences to the families of the deceased and we’ll do everything in our power to piece things together and get it solved quickly.” James Roe, head coach at Kenilworth Tennis, Squash and Croquet Club in Warwickshire, where Cooper was a member, said it was tragic. “None of us are sure of the ins and outs of what went on and how he came to be in that situation,” he said. “For somebody to die in that manner, to be murdered, to be shot, it is just bizarre.” “He was a normal guy, he had a very responsible job as a coach. He was an only child and was the apple of his mum and dad’s eye,” adding that Cooper had once played against Andy Murray. Mark Tennant, a director of inspire2coach at the University of Warwick, where Cooper recently became head tennis coach, said: “We will remember James with great fondness, as a great guy, as a talented coach, a committed team member and, above all, a close friend.” Kouzaris had spent several months travelling in South America before his death, visiting Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Bolivia. He captained a team at the Old Northamptonians Rugby Club from the age of nine until he went to university, former coach Peter Bason said. “He developed into a very fine rugby player and also a good leader, he was captain here and also at his school.” He said he had been popular and likeable. United States Florida Gun crime Richard Luscombe Helen Carter guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Shed a tear, literature lovers: The 25-room Long Island mansion said to have inspired The Great Gatsby is in the process of being torn down. The demolition of Land’s End, where parties in the 1920s and 1930s were attended by the likes of Winston Churchill and Ethel Barrymore, began Saturday,…
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Rising food prices have pushed up the price of arable land in parts of the UK, but life is tougher for livestock farmers Agricultural land prices in Britain have hit record levels following the surge in global food prices, according to figures from Savills. An acre of prime arable land in East Anglia is fetching up to £8,500 compared with around £3,000 in 2005, with demand driven by the dramatic increase in wheat prices over the past year. Last week, feed wheat was selling for nearly £200 a tonne, a 115% gain on the £93 a tonne price British farmers were achieving this time last year. “There’s no recession in the arable land market at the moment, it’s really flying,” said Savills director Christopher Miles. “There is a lack of supply coming on to the market at the same time that farming has become a lot more profitable as commodity prices have shot up.” But while the “grain barons” of East Anglia and Lincolnshire are enjoying record prices, livestock farmers in other regions are coming under pressure. “Pig farmers are losing £20-£30 per finished animal, while dairy and beef producers are barely covering the cost of production,” said Ian Ashbridge of Farmers Weekly. A doubling in animal feed prices, plus rising fuel and haulage costs, have thrown many into losses. Land used for livestock farms sells for much lower prices, with £3,000 an acre not uncommon in northern counties. The drought-like conditions across much of Britain are piling more pressure on livestock farmers, who rely on rainfall for grass much more than the drier eastern part of the country. Savills expects a continued surge in the price of arable land, forecasting 10-15% growth in 2011, driving the highest cost per acre over £10,000. The forecast chimes with the latest Rural Land Market Survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, which found prices rising steeply everywhere in the UK except Scotland. Domestic farmers, agribusiness investors and cash-rich individuals have replaced the “lifestyle” buyers from the cities, plus the Irish and Danish, who helped drive the market before 2007. “They see it as a store of value in inflationary times, it’s gold with a cashflow,” said Miles. Supply is tightest in East Anglia, where the number of acres for sale was less than half of that for the same time last year, said Savills. “This pushed up average values by 5% to £6,553 per acre, but where competition was strongest values achieved highs of £8,500 per acre for prime arable land in the region.” Other land agents are not as bullish. Bidwells, one of the biggest agents in East Anglia, said a lot of land is beginning to come on to the market as foreign owners start to sell up. “You just need to look in Farmers Weekly where the amount of land for sale last week was probably as much as they’ve had in the last eight weeks combined,” said land agent Ben Taylor. “People are seeing the prices being achieved and are now attempting to sell. I suspect future price growth won’t be quite as fast as some are predicting, although over the long term arable is going to continue to attract investors.” He added that Britain currently has a two-tier market, with “arable very optimistic, livestock less so”, he said. The rise in agricultural land and food prices is likely to put pressure on policymakers to cut subsidies to farmers. The current single farm payment scheme gives British farmers a subsidy of around £90-£100 an acre, but it is under review and many farmers are anxiously anticipating what will happen after 2012. Some farmers argue that despite the soaring price of wheat, they have gained little because they forward-sold their supply when prices were lower. “It wasn’t long ago that famers were getting around £110 a tonne for wheat, compared to a cost of production of £105-£110 a tonne, and they sold forward,” said Ashbridge. “In the meantime, things like diesel have jumped in price, while ammonium nitrate fertiliser, while below its peak, has still doubled in price.” In reality, however, the price of agricultural land and food prices reflects global as much as domestic factors. Forward market prices for wheat remain very strong, despite a note last week from Goldman Sachs advising investors to take profits in the commodity sector. Wheat prices surged after a poor harvest last year in Russia and Ukraine prompted a temporary export ban. Demand for meat products, fed on grain, is rising in China and other emerging markets, while in the US many farmers have switched from wheat production to making bioethanol. Meanwhile, rural farmhouses remain firm in an otherwise weak residential property market. Rural specialists Carter Jonas said the average price of a farmhouse rose by 1% in the first quarter of 2011, compared with the 0.6% fall in the average house price in Britain over the same period. Commodities Property Farming Food & drink industry Agriculture Goldman Sachs Patrick Collinson guardian.co.uk
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