An enormous new clock that appears to ‘eat time’ is being unveiled at London’s Science Museum Age: Brand spanking newish. Appearance: A dinner gong getting intimate with a fly. The Chrono-what clock? Chronophage . It comes from the Greek, of course. Of course. And means “time-eating”. It’s the Time-eating clock! And what’s a clock? It’s an instrument for telling the . . . Oh, ha ha. And we’re talking about it because . . . ? Because G2 is paying us to. The readers can’t see this, but I’m making one of those flourishy hand gestures . . . Careful! . . . one of those flourishy hand gestures that means, “Go on.” And also because it’s a very special clock. London’s Science Museum , where it goes on show today, calls it a “genuinely new way of presenting time”. And is it? Sort of. There is an older model, but it’s in some lah-di-da Cambridge college, so no one’s seen it except some floppy-haired Jeremys. Up the revolution! How does it work? It’s full of boring old springs and stuff. I’m making that gesture again. What is interesting is the face: a big golden disk with a hungry mechanical insect on top. If I may quote the press release . . . That is how journalism works. “The Chronophage shows time in a way that causes its viewers to reflect on the very nature of time measurement. Some minutes race by, others drag, some disappear and others appear to stand still. Every five minutes the clock corrects itself and accurate time is shown through light slits, as the Chronophage is without hands or numbers. The hour is tolled by the sound of a chain clanking into a small wooden coffin . . .” Oh, bloody hell. It’s art. No, it’s a “fusion of art and technology”. More than 100 people worked on it, including engineers, jewellers and calligraphers. Have we mentioned that the face was shaped by underwater explosions ? As for inventor John Taylor . . . Please tell me it’s the one who used to be in Duran Duran. I can’t! But he was responsible for the cordless kettle! Do say: “This subject’s so fascinating even Pass Notes can’t bugger it up.” Don’t say: “Back to normal tomorrow?” Engineering guardian.co.uk
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Actor demands London galleries sell 23 works by Manchester painter rather than continue to store them The Tate has been challenged to put its collection of paintings by LS Lowry up for sale if it intends to continue to exclude them from its London galleries. The actor Sir Ian McKellen threw down the challenge in a joint attack by leading figures from the art world which questioned whether the “matchstick men painter” has been sidelined as too northern and provincial. Although many artists from the north of England enjoy metropolitan critical acclaim, including David Hockney and Damien Hirst, none assert the character of northern people and landscape with Lowry’s dogged persistence. “Over the years, silly lies have been thrown around that he was only a Sunday painter, an amateur, untrained and naive,” said McKellen, who narrates a highly critical television programme about Lowry’s “exclusion” to be screened by ITV1 on Easter Day. “His popularity needs no official endorsement from the Tate, but it is a shame verging on the iniquitous that foreign visitors to London shouldn’t have access to the painter English people like more than most others.” The film sees others line up to condemn the fact that the Tate has shown only one of its 23 Lowrys – Industrial Landscape, painted in 1955 and owned by the gallery for 50 years – and then only briefly. Noel Gallagher, of the Manchester band Oasis, said: “They’re not considered Tateworthy. Or is it just because he is a northerner?” The controversy reached a crunch point when the Tate was refused permission to copy Industrial Landscape to form part of a temporary mural on the work of landscape artists. Lowry’s estate, which has donated much of his unsold work to the Lowry centre at Salford Quays, has made no secret of its irritation at the continued storage of his work. The Tate denied any deprecation of “northern-ness” in Lowry’s work, pointing to its record of establishing Tate Liverpool and supporting new Hepworth Wakefield gallery, which opens next month. Henry Moore, the Yorkshire sculptor and contemporary of Barbara Hepworth, has also been much feted by the gallery, whose founder Sir Henry Tate, the sugar mogul, was one of Lowry’s fellow-Lancastrians. The Tate said it planned to give Lowry space when its galleries are extended in 2013, but Tate Britain’s head of displays, Chris Stephens, said in the television programme: “What makes Lowry so popular is the same thing which stops him being the subject of serious critical attention. What attracts so many is a sort of sentimentality about him. He’s a victim of his own fan base.” McKellen said: “If the Tate feels no responsibility to give the art-viewing public their favourite painters to view, perhaps they could let their stash go elsewhere. They could pass them on to a gallery like the Lowry, which shares its visitors’ tastes. Or perhaps a touring retrospective, with a twist – the exhibits would be for sale.” Painting Ian McKellen Tate Britain Tate Modern Tate Liverpool Manchester Art Oasis Martin Wainwright guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Hydraulic fracturing blasts at least 29 carcinogens and other hazardous chemicals deep into the earth to break up shale formations and get at oil and natural gas, says a new report released yesterday by House Democrats. Known as fracking, the industry used 780 million gallons of drilling fluids between 2005…
Continue reading …Libyan rebels are getting a little help from abroad in their quest to drive out Moammar Gadhafi, reports the New York Times, with Gen. Abdel Fattah Younes yesterday confirming that his troops had received weapons from nations he wouldn’t name. Qatar’s emir said Thursday his nation would send arms, and…
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President’s suggestion unprecedented but Communist party congress likely to endorse ‘Thatcherite’ reforms Raúl Castro has proposed term limits for Cuba’s rulers, including himself, in an unprecedented effort to rejuvenate the island’s political leadership. The 79-year-old Cuban president told the Communist party congress that senior positions should be rotated at least every 10 years to shake off the inertia and “self-delusion” that has crippled the economy. “We have reached the conclusion that it is advisable to recommend limiting the time of service in high political and state positions to a maximum of two five-year terms,” he said. The four-day congress, which ends on Tuesday, is expected to endorse most – if not all – of 311 proposals to liberalise Cuba’s stagnant, centrally planned, economy with cuts and privatisations. Castro sprung a surprise in a speech on Saturday, which opened the congress, by denouncing a tendency towards geriatric leadership. Veterans of the 1959 revolution dominate senior posts. The first vice president, Juan Machado Ventura, is 80 and the second vice president, Ramiro Valdés, is 77. Raúl’s brother and predecessor, Fidel, 84, still retains influence. The congress, the first in 14 years, was likely to be the last for the Castros and their generation, said the president, adding that efforts to promote young people to top jobs had failed. “Life proved we did not always make the best choice … it’s really embarrassing that we have not solved this problem in more than half a century.” His call for systematic rejuvenation will be debated not at the congress but at a party conference in January. Raúl succeeded Fidel in 2008, suggesting he could stay in charge at least until 2018, when he would be 86. The congress is expected to confirm the president as the party’s first secretary but it remains unclear whether the second secretary – and possible successor – will be from a younger generation. The congress, which has gathered 1,000 delegates, coincided with a parade of military hardware and hundreds of thousands of marchers to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs, when the revolution defeated a CIA-backed invasion of exiles. The stirring speeches about the continued fight against imperialism reinforced official rhetoric that liberalising the economy was about saving socialism, not abolishing it. Even so, some western diplomats in Havana say there is a Thatcherite agenda of cutting rights and welfare, and of emphasising personal responsibility and hard work. Across Havana and the countryside slogans on old government billboards have acquired some irony: “Revolution means the historic moment.” “Revolution is to change everything that can be changed.” The state, which dominates the economy, accounts for about 80% of jobs, which pay on average about $20 a month. Agriculture and industry are anaemic. Castro criticised a sclerotic bureaucracy which stifled initiative and buried problems. “No country or person can spend more than they have. Two plus two is four. Never five, much less six or seven as we have sometimes pretended.” Of late, about 171,000 licences have been acquired for small businesses. The government hopes a partially unshackled private sector will soak up about a million state-sector workers soon to be jobless. Many formerly black-market hustlers have become legitimate traders with licences pinned to their chests. “Before I used to have a zipped bag under my shoulder and say ‘pssst, want some flowers?’” said Rodolfo Mera, with a cartload of blooms. “Now the cops don’t bother me.” Castro said the universal monthly food ration, already whittled down, would be restricted to the neediest. It had become “an unsupportable burden for the economy and a de-stimulus of work,” he said. He promised that Cuba would avoid “shock therapy” and not allow a concentration of property in private hands. It was unclear whether this meant a continued ban on selling cars and houses. “Little by little this place is opening up. It’s getting a bit easier to get by,” said Angel Morales, a 23-year-old who drives his father’s Lada taxi. Cuba Communism Fidel Castro Rory Carroll guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Tepco today laid out a plan to have the nuclear crisis at Fukushima Dai-ichi contained within six to nine months. “We sincerely apologize for causing troubles,” said Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata in unveiling the plan. “We are doing our utmost to prevent the crisis from further worsening.” Tepco and government officials…
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Foreign Office issues call following Bahraini targetting of participants in peaceful protest outside BBC in Manchester The government has called on Bahrain to respect the right to peaceful protest. The move follows claims that families of students studying in Britain, who were photographed attending a peaceful protest in Manchester in solidarity with the country’s pro-democracy movement, had been targeted. The Foreign Office said it was aware of the actions of Bahraini citizens living in the UK campaigning against the regime and said they had a right to voice their concerns without intimidation or retaliation. “We have made clear to the Bahraini government that, unless these individuals commit a criminal offence in the UK, they will be free to carry out their activities in line with UK laws.” Students told the Guardian the Bahraini authorities had stripped government-funded scholarships from those who attended the event outside the BBC building last month and told parents to order their children home. Students said they had “strong and well-founded” fears they and their families could suffer beatings and torture following Bahrain’s crackdown on the protests 3,000 miles away and they were likely to be arrested on their return. The Foreign Office said: “We continue to urge the government of Bahrain to respect the right to peaceful protest and respond to the legitimate concerns of the Bahraini people. It is also vital that those protesting respect law and order and refrain from intimidating and provocative acts.” The students said at least nine people studying in Manchester, Huddersfield, Newcastle, Reading and London had seen their £850-a-month subsistence grants removed and had been told their tuition payments would be stopped. Some said they were homeless as a result and were considering requesting asylum in the UK when their student visas expired. One student, who said his scholarship had been revoked, said the ministry of education in Bahrain called his father to order him home a couple of days after the protest, in a pattern repeated for many of the protesters. The students believe some images from the protest were taken by Bahraini or Saudi “spies” alerted to the event on the Facebook. The demonstration was disrupted by interventions from supporters of the Hahrain government and others the protesters identified as being from Saudi Arabia. Some of the students’ families have also received visits from the Bahraini authorities, according to Amin Elwassila, an Arab activist in Manchester who is supporting the group. Bahrain Protest Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Foreign policy Students Higher education Matthew Taylor guardian.co.uk
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Inspired by artist’s installation with 1001 Qing dynasty seats, curator suggests taking chairs into street in silent protest Demonstrators all over the world were sitting outside Chinese embassies on Sunday demanding the release of the detained Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. Hundreds of protestors brought chairs onto the street tocall for the immediate release of Ai, and in support of the rights of all Chinese artists. In Hong Kong there were scuffles as 150 protestors came up against lines of police, with reports of at least one detention. In Berlin, about 200 people took part in a largely silent protest. There was also a gathering outside the Chinese embassy in London. Ai was arrested on 3 April at Beijing airport and is being investigated by the Chinese authorities for tax evasion, bigamy and spreading pornography on the web, according to a Hong Kong newspaper. His whereabouts remain unknown. “Missing” was written across images of the artist, held up by Berlin demonstrators, as they sat on wooden kitchen chairs in the sunshine. Ai’s sister, Gao Ge, doubted the protests would help her brother, “but I don’t think they will make his situation any worse,” she told the German news agency, dpa. Inspired by one of Ai’s installations, a Canadian curator appealed to artists worldwide via social networking sitesto take chairs out onto the street and sit in silent protest. In his 2007 installation, Fairytale, Ai took 1,001 Qing dynasty wooden chairs to the German city, Kassel, along with 1,001 Chinese citizens for the Documenta 12 exhibition. The curator of the Kassel show, Roger Bürgel sat outside the embassy yesterday, perched on a small wooden stool, his son on his knee. “It’s crucial to exert pressure now, before they come up with a verdict,” he said. “It’s really important for the people to realise they have the power to change things. German politicians are being lazy and the west is too easily seduced by China’s economic clout. The regime needs to be confronted,” he said. The protest had a special significance for Berlin artists. Ai had intended to open up a studio in the German capital and had an exhibition planned for the end of the month. In growing political embarrassment for Berlin, two days before Ai’s arrest, Germany’s foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, opened The Art of Enlightenment exhibition, at China’s National Museum on Tiananmen Square. Westerwelle has demanded Ai’s immediate release, but critics say the exhibition should be cancelled. “The red line has been crossed. They need to bring the paintings back,” said Agataki, a young Berlin artist at the sit-in. “The Chinese set them one trap after another,” said Inge-Ruth Markus, a Berlin pensioner. with fiery red hair. “We are ashamed by the blindness of the German delegation in Beijing.” Ai Weiwei Art China Germany Protest guardian.co.uk
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Senior official says German engineering giant supplied US and Israel with details of control system used by Tehran Iran has accused the German engineering firm Siemens of helping Israel and the US launch a computer worm designed to sabotage its nuclear facilities. A senior Iranian military commander said that the company facilitated the Stuxnet worm cyber-attack against Iran by providing Washington and Jerusalem with information about a Siemens-designed control system, SCADA, used in Iran’s nuclear sites. “Our executive officials should legally follow up the case of Siemens SCADA software which prepared the ground for the Stuxnet worm,” Gholamreza Jalali, Iran’s civil defence chief was quoted by the IRNA state news agency as saying. “Siemens should explain why and how it provided the enemies with the information about the codes of the SCADA software and prepared the ground for a cyber attack against us,” he added. Iran initially played down the impact of the malware after its first appeared in July 2010, but in November President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad admitted that the nuclear programme had been affected . However he said that the issues had been resolved without any serious damage. According to Jalali, an internal investigation revealed that the worm had been disseminated from sources in the US and Israel. “It was a hostile action which could have inflicted serious damage on the country if it had not been dealt with in a timely manner,” he said. Last year, Iran assigned an expert group to combat the computer worm. Both the US and Israel, which are reported to be conducting covert operations against Iran’s nuclear programme, have not denied computer experts’ claims that they were behind the development of the Stuxnet worm. The New York Times reported in January that intelligence services in both countries collaborated in a joint project to develop a malware which targeted the industrial management software that Iran uses to run its centrifuges. In March, Ralph Langner, a leading security expert told a conference in California that in his opinion the Israeli intelligence service, the Mossad, was involved but that “there is only one leading source, and that is the United States.” Siemens did not respond to the Guardian’s request on Sunday for an interview over Iran’s allegations of its involvement in developing the malware. Last year, apart from the Stuxnet worm, Iran’s nuclear programme suffered from the assassinations of three of its scientists in operations that some analysts asserted might be a part of the convert war against Iran. Siemens was also caught in another row involving Iran when an imprisoned Iranian activist filed a suit against the company and its joint venture with Nokia, NSN, in August 2010 over allegations that they have provided Iran’s state-run telecommunications company with a monitoring system that it has used to spy on its opposition. Iran Germany Middle East United States Israel Worms Data and computer security Malware Saeed Kamali Dehghan guardian.co.uk
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Six more killed and dozens injured in Misrata, as rebels face renewed attacks from government troops Muammar Gaddafi’s forces mounted a heavy assault on Libyan rebels holding the key town of Ajdabiya on Sunday in a sign that the regime is stepping up efforts to regain territory in the east of the country. Explosions were heard for several hours in the morning, forcing some of the few remaining families to flee to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, 90 miles away. Dozens of vehicles, some of them rebel trucks with heavy machine guns mounted in the back, were seen leaving Ajdabiya for Benghazi. Rebels were also seen laying anti-tank mines at the eastern gate of the city, highlighting their fears that Gaddafi’s forces could retake the town. In the besieged town of Misrata in the west, rebels said that six civilians were killed and dozens injured on Sunday in attacks by Gaddafi’s forces. Misrata has been under heavy attack for seven weeks, with hundreds of civilians killed in the effort to rout the rebels, who are reportedly better organised and disciplined than in the east of the country. Witnesses in the city have backed up reports from Human Rights Watch that Libyan government troops have been using cluster bombs as part of their offensive. The government has denied this. Ajdabiya in the east is situated at a strategic highway junction and has changed hands several times since the conflict began. Last month, Gaddafi’s troops encircled the town with tanks, armoured personnel carriers and heavy artillery. Nato air strikes enabled the rebels to more or less hold their positions, but their inexperience and inferior firepower has prevented them from advancing west towards Tripoli. Assisted by sandstorms, which have provided cover for air assaults, Gaddafi’s forces have increased their attacks near Ajdabiya’s western gate in recent days, mostly through long-distance shelling. On Saturday, eight rebels were killed and 27 injured on the road leading west to the oil port of Brega, according to Dr GS Mohamed, the head surgeon at Ajdabiya’s hospital. Many of the casualties occurred when a shell struck one of the rebels’ improvised rocket launchers outside the town, causing horrific burn injuries, Mohamed said. “On the open road, Gaddafi’s troops are stronger and better trained. Our [rebel] forces shoot and stay in the same place, which is why they got hit yesterday. But in the town, which we know, we have the advantage.” During a lull in the fighting around midday, more than 20 rebel vehicles – pickup trucks mounted with heavy machine guns, rocket launchers and anti-aircraft guns – sped into Ajdabiya to provide reinforcements. “Gaddafi is trying to clear the city before sending his troops in,” said Ahmed Shomi, 30, a rebel volunteer driving a battered pickup with no windscreen. “But with God’s help we will never allow that.” As the humanitarian situation there and in other towns worsens, international development secretary Andrew Mitchell is to travel to the United Nations on Monday for urgent talks. He said he would discuss plans to improve lead times and access for medical supplies and other aid. At the same time, David Cameron denied that a joint letter he published with the presidents of the US and France saying that Gaddafi would have to go meant that regime change was main goal of the international allies’ mission. In an interview with Sky News, the prime minister said that the three men had merely been expressing what was on every world leader’s mind. Cameron said that there was “no question of an invasion or an occupation” under the terms of the UN resolution and that this was making fighting the conflict “more difficult in many ways” for the coalition. But he said that the allies were supplying the rebels with non-lethal material, such as body armour and communications equipment. “There’s no doubt in my mind that Colonel Gaddafi is still intent on murdering people in Misrata and taking control of that large city and also pushing towards Benghazi, where I’m sure, if he ever got there, there would be a bloodbath,” Cameron said. “We should be taking all the necessary steps to stop that from happening and to save civilian life.” Libya Middle East Arab and Middle East unrest Muammar Gaddafi United Nations David Cameron Foreign policy Xan Rice guardian.co.uk
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