There’s no love lost between Paul Allen and Bill Gates—at least, it seems that way in Allen’s new memoir. Idea Man: A Memoir by the Co-founder of Microsoft is scheduled to hit shelves April 17, and its pages contain a biting portrait of Gates, reports the Wall Street Journal…
Continue reading …Judge Maryann Sumi had already blocked Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s controversial union bargaining law, but Republicans found a way around the court order—so yesterday, she blocked it again. “Apparently that language was either misunderstood or ignored, but what I said was the further implementation of [the law] was enjoined,…
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Girl shot in chest is believed to be London’s youngest gun crime victim A five-year-old girl is in a critical condition after she and another passerby were shot during an apparent gang-related attack in a shop in south London. The girl, believed to be London’s youngest gun crime victim, was injured in the chest, and a 35-year-old man was shot in the face. The incident took place at around 9pm on Tuesday at the Stockwell Food and Wine shop in Stockwell Road, Brixton. Police have confirmed that the two victims were not the intended targets of the shooting, which is believed to be connected to local gangs. Just before the shots were fired, witnesses saw two black youths coming from nearby Broomgrove Road, being chased by three other black youths on bicycles. It is understood that the three youths on bikes approached the shop, but did not enter. DCI Tony Boughton from the Met’s Trident taskforce said: “The assumption is at the moment is that the firearm is fired through the open door because there is no damage on the outside.” The shop worker and child were hit as two black youths hid in the store from the other three youths who had been chasing them. As the pair hid inside, the gunman stopped at the door and opened fire indiscriminately. The three attackers, who are thought to be aged between 14 and 17, fled as their intended targets chased them on foot from the Stockwell Road shop along Broomgrove Road and into Stockwell Park Estate. Mareh Silva, age 34, was leaving the Stockwell Food and Wine shop with friends at around 9pm. She said she saw three black youths aged between 14 and 17 drop their bikes outside. She explained how the boys’ faces were covered with black scarves and balaclavas and she could only see their eyes as they ran into the shop. “I looked in and saw a lot of blood on the floor but I didn’t want to look at what had happened, and I was very scared,” she said. DCI Boughton would not confirm if the groups were from rival gangs. He said: “I’m treating it as three young lads chasing two other young lads – we don’t know any affiliations and the assumption is that they are from the local area.” The 35-year-old victim was a worker in the shop, and was not related to the five-year-old, who was at the shop visiting other relatives. The names of the two victims have not been released, but it is understood that both are of Sri Lankan origin. They were taken to King’s College hospital, where they are now in a stable but serious condition. Barny Stutter, 45, co-owner of nearby Brixton Cycles, said workers in the area’s fastfood shops often had similar trouble. “We are absolutely disgusted with what’s happened,” he said. Peter Robbins, one of three Lambeth councillors who represent the area, said, “It is incredibly shocking, I think the whole community at the moment is numb and horrified. “There is a fairly well-known problem with gangs and guns in Lambeth, it is something that the council and the police are working together incredibly hard to solve. There is always more you can do and incidents like this really bring that home.” Rachel Heywood, Lambeth’s cabinet member for community safety, said she found the crime “hugely shocking”. “Tackling serious violence is a major priority for this council. We will of course do everything in our power to assist the police with their investigation. Our thoughts are with the victims and their families at what must be an extremely distressing time.” Anyone with information is asked to call the Metropolitan police on 0300 123 1212 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 Gun crime Crime London Camilla Turner guardian.co.uk
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More than 200 organisations lose support on ‘agonising’ day of 15% cuts to the arts – but those who win, win big Live blog – culture cuts It is a day of radically mixed fortunes for the arts in England , as organisations up and down the country receive news of their funding levels from Arts Council England (ACE). In all, 638 organisations who applied for funding were disappointed as the crucial letters flooded into email inboxes this morning. Of those, 206 were formerly funded regularly by ACE. Alan Davey, chief executive of the organisation, talked of “agonising and painful decisions” and “good organisations we have not been able to fund”. He said there had been a “clear intellectual framework” for the decisions and a “transparent process”. But 110 new arts organisations were brought into the ACE portfolio for the first time, among them innovative young theatre organisations including HighTide Festival Theatre, Birmingham’s live art Fierce festival and the much larger Manchester International Festival. ACE, which received a 29.6% cut in its grant-in-aid from the government, passed on cuts of 15% to the arts as a whole, but it promised not to “salami slice”, giving equal pain to all. This meant there were big winners – and big losers – as the funding decisions were announced. Exeter Northcott theatre and Derby theatre lost their funding totally. So did the organisation that exists to help arts organisations raise funds, Arts and Business. Also disappointed this morning were Shared Experience theatre company and the Riverside Studios in London. The Almeida theatre in London took a surprise hit of 39% in real terms while its neighbour a few miles east, the Arcola theatre, saw its grant up by 82.1%. Punchdrunk, which has become famous for its immersive theatrical experiences in unusual spaces, had a hefty rise of 141%. The large national organisations, such as the National Theatre, the Royal Opera House and the Royal Shakespeare Company, all received cuts, in real terms, of 15% over the period 2012-15. English National Opera had a slightly smaller real-terms cut of 11%. Tony Hall, chief executive of the Royal Opera House, said: “It is fair that the big organisations take what cut they can to allow others to survive and do great things. Alan Davey has come up with some wise judgments.” In the field of visual arts, the Institute of Contemporary Arts, which has struggled financially in recent years, took a heavy 42% cut, but Davey called thenew grant of £900,000 a year “a good amount of money … Putting this amount of money in is a vote of confidence in their future.” There were uplifts for galleries, such as 107% for the South London Gallery, currently enjoying a successful period, and increases for a trio of new galleries about to open – FirstSite in Colchester (up 16.8%), the Hepworth in Wakefield (up 7.7%) and Turner Contemporary in Margate (up 9.8%). Mima, in Middlesbrough, was a significant winner, with an upswing of 143.8%. The country’s symphony orchestras received a standard 11% cut in real terms, but Cambridge’s Britten Sinfonia was rewarded for innovative touring work with an 11.8% increase; and Tête à Tête opera, which creates small-scale work in innovative spaces, became part of the portfolio for the first time, as did the Academy of Ancient Music. Arts leaders spoke out against the cuts from central government. Tim Etchells, artistic director of the theatre company Forced Entertainment, welcomed his standstill grant, but said: “We feel that the government cuts – to the arts and to other vital areas of social provision – are both destructive and ideologically motivated. Cuts for the arts are particularly shortsighted given that the recent commitment to funding and development has made British culture the envy of the world and an industry which enjoys a sizable return on investment.” Tom Morris, artistic director of Old Vic, also received a standstill grant. “However,” he said, “many organisations and cities have not been so fortunate. It would be easy to blame Arts Council England, but this is not their fault. They have been set a riddle to which there is no fair solution.” Ivan Lewis, the shadow culture secretary, said: “The contention that the cuts will not affect frontline provision of the arts have been blown out of the water. Half of those who applied received no funding. Arts Council England has tried to do its job in good faith … but taken together with cuts to local authorities and to higher education, the picture is not good.” Arts funding Theatre Art Classical music Opera Cuts and closures Charlotte Higgins guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Ronald and Marti Wimmer don’t want money from Facebook, they want the site to delete the gruesome photo that an EMT took of their murdered daughter and shared online. The parents have filed a lawsuit calling for Facebook to turn over the photo, destroy the images in its possession, identify…
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Cost-saving potential set out in government plan for national roll-out of energy-saving technology Smart meters, which monitor energy use in real-time, will save households £7.3bn over the next two decades, the government said on Wednesday as it set out its strategy for the roll-out of the energy-saving technology . The roll-out – the most comprehensive yet planned in any country – will require 53m smart meters to be installed in 30m homes and businesses, starting in 2014 and finishing in 2019. Households are likely to save £23 on their annual energy bills by 2020, the government has estimated, up from its previous estimate of £14 in savings. But these figures were disputed by the consumer group Which? and by smart metering industry experts. Jessica Driscoll, senior advocate at Which?, said: “It’s too difficult to say that people will save a certain amount of money. The savings depend on people making changes to the way they use energy, and that is very hard to do. Smart meters are just one way of helping people make those changes.” She said Which? had not yet made an estimates of the cost or savings from the technology because there was not yet enough information to make a reliable estimate. She said it was more important to reassure consumers that smart meters would bring a variety of benefits, than to try to persuade them of the potential cost savings based on estimates. Some industry experts privately agreed that it was too soon to make such exact estimates of the cost savings that could be realised by the roll-out. Smart meters benefit consumers by showing their energy use in real-time. This means people can respond quickly, for instance by turning off unnecessary lights or appliances, to save money. The technology also benefits energy suppliers, as it eliminates the need for meter readers to visit properties and allow for more accurate billing, and better data on energy demand patterns. Future generations of smart meters are likely to offer even greater advantages, for instance by allowing utilities better to manage demand within consumers’ homes, by switching appliances such as washing machines on when demand is lower, or turning down fridges when demand peaks. This could save billions through more efficient management of the electricity grid, but these capabilities are unlikely to be introduced for several years at the earliest. But these capabilities also bring potential problems, according to Driscoll, such as what happens to the valuable consumer data that the meters collect how utilities will ensure that people can retain control over their own energy use. Some companies might try to use the opportunity of installing smart meters to sell souped-up versions with more features, or to sell additional services, such as internet or telephones. “Once they’re in your home, they might try to ‘upsell’, which is something we are worried about,” Driscoll warned. She added: “People do not trust energy companies. They need to work very hard to ensure that this rollout is going to be a big benefit to British people.” Chris Huhne, the secretary of state for energy and climate change, stressed the potential benefits of the plan, which is one of the most visible aspects of the government’s low-carbon strategy, as the meters will be in every home. He said: “Smart meters are a key part of giving us all more control over how we use energy at home and at work, helping us to cut out waste and save money. In combination with our plans to reform the electricity market and introduce the green deal [project to insulate homes], the roll-out of smart meters will help us keep the lights on while reducing emissions and getting the best possible deal for the consumer.” From now until 2014, the government plans to work with industry and consumer groups to lay the groundwork for the roll-out, including setting specifications for the kinds of smart meters to be used. Today’s announcement is expected to kick off a frenzy of activity among smart meter technology companies, utilities and communications businesses as they jockey for position in pressing for the adoption of their competing ideas on how smart meters should work. During this phase, companies are expected to build and test trial systems, get customer feedback and demonstrate how they can ensure energy savings. Consumers are likely to be invited to take place in trials. The government will also set up a Data and Communications Company, intended to provide data and communications services for the smart metering system nationwide. In the following stage, from 2014 to 2019, the mass roll-out will take place. Charles Hendry, energy minister, said: “Smart meters will enable us to modernise the electricity system over the coming years and create the smart grids we will need to bring new low carbon energy sources online, and handle much higher demand for electricity as we progressively electrify transport and heating.” Energy monitoring Energy efficiency Energy Ethical and green living Energy bills Consumer affairs Household bills Fiona Harvey guardian.co.uk
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Paul Allen uses memoir to portray Bill Gates as a bully who sought to deprive him of his share in Microsoft fortune Bill Gates betrayed his ailing business partner and tried to deprive him of his share of the Microsoft fortune, according to a scathing memoir from Paul Allen , the company’s billionaire co-founder. Allen portrays the Microsoft mogul as a sarcastic bully who tried to force his founding partner out of the firm and to cut his share in the company as he was recovering from cancer. The book, Idea Man: a Memoir by the co-founder of Microsoft, is set to go on sale on 17 April, and an extract appears in May’s Vanity Fair magazine and has been released online . Despite Gates’s moves Allen held on to his Microsoft stake – a stake that contributed to the lion’s share of what Forbes magazine’s estimates to be a $13bn (£8.1bn) fortune. The two were once inseparable and met at Lakeside high school in Seattle where Allen paints a picture of the couple as the original nerds. Allen didn’t fit in amid the golfers and tennis players “who carried their rackets wherever they went”. Then in 1968 he met Gates, another gawky kid who was also spending all his free time hunkered over the school’s first computer, a ASR-33 Teletype model . “His blond hair went all over the place. You could tell three things about Bill Gates pretty quickly. He was really smart. He was really competitive; he wanted to show you how smart he was. And he was really, really persistent.” At the age of 13 Gates was already pouring over Fortune magazine and planning on building a company. When Gates went to Harvard, Allen followed him and the two spent their spare time working on ideas for a software firm. “I’d assumed that our partnership would be a 50-50 proposition. But Bill had another idea,” Allen writes. Gates had put in more work than Allen, and eventually after some quibbling from Gates, Allen agreed to a 64-36 split. Allen writes that when the relationship soured he wondered again about that split. “I’d been taught that a deal was a deal and your word was your bond. Bill was more flexible,” he writes. Gates pushed deals “as hard and as far as he could”. Relations worsened as Microsoft took off. Gates would prowl the car park to see who came in on the weekend. He thrived on conflict and sarcasm. Allen and Gates would argue for hours at a stretch. Then Gates brought in Steve Ballmer , the firm’s current boss, to help manage the company. Gates offered Ballmer 8.75% of the firm, angering other employees and Allen, who had agreed to a far smaller percentage. In 1982 Allen contracted Hodgkin’s lymphoma. When he returned to work relations with Gates and Ballmer hit a new low. Allen claims the pair undermined him and he overheard them discussing ways of diluting his stake in the firm. “Unable to stand it any longer, I burst in on them and shouted, ‘This is unbelievable! It shows your true character, once and for all,’” he writes. Ballmer and Gates later apologised but the partnership was over. Allen resigned and Gates tried to buy him out for $5 a share, Allen refused and said he wouldn’t discuss less than $10. Gates balked at the price and Allen left with what was to become an enormous fortune. Shares are trading at more than $25 and the company is now worth more than $214bn. “While my recollection of many of these events may differ from Paul’s, I value his friendship and the important contributions he made to the world of technology and at Microsoft,” Gates said in a written statement given to the Wall Street Journal. Microsoft Bill Gates Computing United States Dominic Rushe guardian.co.uk
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Government tank and artillery fire forces opposition fighters to abandon ground won since Nato air strikes began Troops loyal to the Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, have retaken Brega, forcing rebel fighters into a chaotic retreat under a barrage of tank and artillery fire to their stronghold of Benghazi. With Gaddafi’s forces advancing on the town of Ajdabiya, rebels are fleeing back to the position they held before Nato air strikes began, on Saturday. Nato planes continued to bombard the regime troops, but their outgunned opponents were forced back from positions taken earlier in the week, when they advanced to within 60 miles of Sirte, Gaddafi’s home city. Meanwhile, as debate within the anti-Gaddafi international coalition over the legality of arming the rebellion continued, the foreign secretary, William Hague, said it would be possible to supply weapons under certain circumstances. Earlier, David Cameron told the Commons no decision had been made but he “would not necessarily rule out the protection of civilians in certain circumstances”. The rebels’ rapid withdrawal came just days after they raced westwards following the destruction of government tanks and artillery in five days of aerial bombardment in Ajdabiya. Ragtag opposition fighters have repeatedly been forced to retreat after fierce bombardments by the more disciplined government troops. “Gaddafi hit us with huge rockets. He has entered Ras Lanuf,” one rebel fighter, Faraj Muftah, told Reuters after pulling out of the oil port. “We were at the western gate in Ras Lanuf and we were bombarded,” said a second fighter, Hisham. Scores of rebel four-wheel pickups raced east, away from Ras Lanuf. Later, pro-government forces moved through Ras Lanuf into Brega, sending rebels fleeing once more. Speaking to the Commons, Hague revealed that five Libyan diplomats had been expelled from the regime’s London embassy because they represented a potential security risk. Hague said that while the current arms embargo prevented weapons being provided to the whole of Libya, UN resolution 1973 allowed “for all necessary measures to protect civilians” to be taken. The British government’s view, which was not necessarily shared internationally, was that this meant rebels protecting civilians could be armed, although ministers had “not yet taken a decision”, he said. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said on Tuesday she believed arming rebels was legal under the UN security council resolution , which sanctioned the no-fly zone and air operations. But experts in international law have questioned this interpretation , which they say would breach the arms embargo on Libya agreed last month. There also remain questions about who is represented in the interim national council (INC) guiding the uprising. In Washington, Admiral James Stavridis, Nato’s supreme allied commander in Europe, told the Senate intelligence reports had suggested “flickers” of al-Qaida or Hezbollah presence within the rebel movement. A UK diplomat, Christopher Prentice, the ambassador in Rome, met rebel leaders in their stronghold of Benghazi on Monday and Tuesday, the Foreign Office said. Cameron told the Commons during prime minister’s questions: “In terms of the situation on the ground, it is an extremely fluid situation, but there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that the ceasefire is still being breached and it is absolutely right for us to keep up our pressure under UN security council resolution 1973.” Asked by the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, whether the terms of the resolution that authorised “all necessary measures” to protect Libyan civilians, overrode the arms embargo, Cameron said: “I have said before in the house that we must do everything to comply with both the security council resolutions. “The arms embargo applies to the whole of the territory of Libya, but at the same time UN security council resolution 1973 allows all necessary measures to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas. “Our view is that this would not necessarily rule out the provision of assistance to those protecting civilians in certain circumstances. We do not rule it out but we have not taken the decision to do so.” Cameron said coalition forces had “taken action yesterday against regime forces harassing civilian vessels trying to get into Misrata”, the rebel-held town in the west of Libya, under siege from Gaddafi’s troops for several days. The RAF had flown 24 sorties over Libya on Tuesday night and Wednesday. “Tornado aircraft destroyed artillery and an armoured fighting vehicle near Sirte,” he told MPs. He also revealed that in his talks with the INC’s special envoy at Tuesday’s international conference on the Libya crisis he had been “reassured” the group wanted its role to be transitional. “They are democrats. They are not tribal, and they want to see a future for the whole of Libya where the people have a choice over how they are governed.” Hague told the Commons afterwards: “To underline our grave concern at the regime’s behaviour, I can announce to the house that we have today taken steps to expel five diplomats at the Libyan embassy in London, including the military attache. The government also judged that were these individuals to remain in Britain, they could pose a threat to our security.” Libya Middle East Arab and Middle East unrest David Cameron United States Nato Hillary Clinton William Hague Chris McGreal James Meikle guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …British builder George Bentley and Edinburgh cleaner Sarah Kemp felt a strange connection when they met on an online dating site and chatted it up over the Internet. But an hour after their very first face-to-face date at a London bar, they discovered why: They were siblings. “To meet your…
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If the supreme court says innocence is no reason to commute, is it any wonder the US is one of the world’s leading executioners? On 28 March, the US supreme court refused to hear the death penalty case of Troy Anthony Davis . It was his last appeal. Davis has been on Georgia’s death row for close to 20 years, after being convicted of shooting dead off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail in Savannah. Since his conviction, seven of the nine non-police witnesses have recanted their testimony, alleging police coercion and intimidation in obtaining the testimony. Despite the doubt surrounding his case, Troy Anthony Davis could be put to death within weeks. Davis is now at the mercy of the Georgia state board of pardons and parole, which could commute his sentence to life without parole. It will be a tough fight, despite widespread national and international support for clemency from figures like Pope Benedict XVI, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former US president Jimmy Carter. Davis’s sister, Martina Correia, has tirelessly campaigned for justice for her brother. In response to the supreme court decision, she told me : “We were really shocked and appalled when we received the news … no one wants to look at the actual innocence, and no one wants to look at the witness recantation as a real, strong and viable part of this case, even though new witnesses have come forward. There needs to be a global mobilisation about Troy’s case, and the fact that in the United States it’s not unconstitutional to execute an innocent person needs to be addressed once and for all by the US supreme court.” Correia brings up a significant but little-known fact about death-penalty law in the US – namely, that current court precedent allows the execution of innocent people. Remarkably, the supreme court, in a 1993 opinion, suggested that “actual innocence” is not a sufficient cause to be let free. The court only cares if the legal rules are followed, while acknowledging that innocent people could still be convicted and put to death. In such cases, a prisoner could appeal for executive clemency. It seems the court has not yet learned what many states have: that the death penalty system is broken beyond repair. Illinois recently became the 16th state in the US to outlaw the death penalty. Governor Pat Quinn, after signing the bill into law, said: “I have concluded that our system of imposing the death penalty is inherently flawed … it is impossible to devise a system that is consistent, that is free of discrimination on the basis of race, geography or economic circumstance, and that always gets it right.” He follows an earlier Illinois governor, Republican George Ryan, who commuted the death sentences of 120 death row prisoners in that state. Both Illinois governors bring to mind former US supreme court justice Harry A Blackmun, who wrote, in a dissenting opinion in 1994 after the court denied yet another death row inmate’s last appeal: “From this day forward, I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death.” Tinkering with the machinery of death is just what some states seem to be doing. Thiopental is one of the three drugs used in the lethal “cocktail” administered in most executions in this country. Hospira, the last US-based company to make sodium thiopental , stopped making the controlled drug, creating a national shortage. States began scrambling to keep their death chambers well stocked. When California borrowed a similar drug from Arizona, California under-secretary of corrections and rehabilitation Scott Kernan wrote in an email: “You guys in AZ are life savers.” Georgia, it turns out, seems to have illegally imported its supply from a dubious, London-based company called Dream Pharma , run by a husband and wife duo out of a rented space in the back of a driving school. Georgia is not currently licensed by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to import controlled substances, so the DEA recently confiscated the state’s thiopental supply. Pending an investigation, Georgia will not have this key ingredient and will not be able to execute Davis or any other death-row inmate. On the same day that the US supreme court denied Davis’s appeal, Amnesty International issued its annual report on the death penalty . The United States remains among the world’s leading executioners, along with China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and North Korea. In addition to leading the fight for her brother, Martina Correia has been fighting for her own life. The day of the court decision was the 10th anniversary of her ongoing battle against breast cancer. Her face adorns the mobile mammography van that helps save the lives of poor women in Savannah. The National Breast Cancer Coalition named her and former House speaker Nancy Pelosi “Women Who Get It Right”. Correia, with customary humility, feels she won’t have earned the title until her brother’s life is saved as well. • Denis Moynihan contributed research to this column. © 2011 Amy Goodman; distributed by King Features Syndicate Capital punishment US supreme court US domestic policy State of Georgia Illinois United States Amy Goodman guardian.co.uk
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