An ocean away from the unfolding nuclear crisis in Japan, worried Americans are stocking up on Geiger counters and supplements that can block one effect of radiation exposure. Pharmacies around the country are rapidly running out of potassium iodide, which can protect the thyroid gland from radiation damage, the AP…
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Corporation seeks more job losses as it holds considers other cost-cutting measures such as reducing daytime output The BBC is planning to cut up to a quarter of its workforce by 2016 in order to make the necessary savings following the six-year licence fee freeze . More than 1,000 job losses have already been announced – including 650 at the World Service and 360 from the BBC’s online operation – and this figure is expected to grow significantly in the coming years. BBC executives are understood to be working with a 25% staff reduction figure as they draw up plans to meet director general Mark Thompson’s target of a 20% cut to the corporation’s costs in the coming years. According to BBC internal figures, as of September 2010 about 21,927 full-time staff were employed by the corporation, including 1,865 at commercial arm BBC Worldwide. This suggests total job losses could top 5,000, although BBC sources said no specific jobs figure could yet be put against the 25% staff reduction as a number of factors are still being worked out. For instance, the number of job cuts may be reduced if greater than expected savings are made in areas other than staff cost. The September 2010 BBC staff figure also excludes World Service employees. The BBC spent just over £1bn on salaries during the 12 months to the end of March 2010, out of a total licence fee income of £3.6bn. A BBC spokesman said the savings being made will “transform the BBC”. “Whilst we cannot speculate about job losses because it is far too early to say, there are many other ways of make savings and it will depend on what we can achieve in areas such as technology and finding better ways of working,” the spokesman added. “That is why we are asking staff for their ideas and input now including how we become a simpler organisation, and how we can attract, retain and inspire the best people. We recognise that this is difficult for staff and will be providing as much support as is possible to those areas affected.” However, BBC source said: “The only way to make the savings is by cutting headcount. The BBC has made so many efficiencies, it is very lean already.” The issue of how big the BBC should be is being planned out as executives gear up for moving out of BBC Television Centre in west London . BBC children’s, learning, sport, BBC Breakfast and parts of technology and Radio 5 Live are moving to the BBC’s new northern headquarters in Salford by next year, while BBC News is moving to the redeveloped Broadcasting House in central London. Remaining staff, such as BBC Vision employees, are due to be housed in buildings in White City just down the road from Television Centre, alongside BBC Worldwide. The iconic Television Centre is due to be emptied by about 2015/16 and sold, although the BBC is considering keeping a small presence there and renting some studios. Alongside the proposal to cut 25% of staff, there is a series of internal discussions about savings, under the banner Delivering Quality First. According to reports, one idea being mooted is to cut BBC2 daytime output and replace it with footage from the BBC News Channel. Those familiar with the situation say it could save between £12m and £15m a year. One executive said: “Politically it’s a good statement and would not be terribly bad share-wise. It would also help prop up BBC1′s Weakest Link, which is expensive and has been hit a bit by ITV’s The Chase.” However, the outgoing BBC Trust chairman, Sir Michael Lyons, said last week at his farewell speech at the London School of Economics that cutting BBC2′s daytime to fill it with news in order to save money is “not the preferred option” and he thinks it “unlikely” it will end up being a proposal put to the trust. ‘Staff are incredibly stressed and getting more so by the day’ As the BBC considers the impact of the licence fee freeze, the picture for programme-makers at the coal face is already bleak in some areas. One BBC producer claimed efficiencies are so tight on BBC4 series Timeshift that producers could not afford camera crews and are having to “self-shoot” while researchers and assistant producers learn how to record sound. In addition, they are having to travel with kit on National Express coaches, rather than more expensive trains or cars and work very long hours. One source said: “Although the health and safety policy and risk assessment will dictate a day no longer than 14 hours, this isn’t always adhered to because there just isn’t money for hotels. “People will say that they’re fine and that it’s going well, to save face with the executives, when behind the scenes the staff are incredibly stressed and getting more so by the day.” The insider alleged that staff feel pushed and are “too exhausted and stressed to follow health and safety procedures”. “These schedules don’t work, they don’t encourage a creative atmosphere but they do create stressed staff.” Another producer said that in their division contracts of around one or three months were increasingly “the norm” as the BBC tries to save money but said it is leading to job insecurity and lack of loyalty. •
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The singer lent his gangsta croon to chart-topping singles by Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mariah Carey and Eminem Hip-hop star Nate Dogg, who has just died at the age of 41, isn’t as familiar a name as his friend and long-time collaborator Snoop Dogg, who even your Grandma has heard of. But Nathaniel D Hale, always an immaculate figure in his suit and trademark bowler hat, had his gangsta croon all over dozens of hit records. A
Continue reading …House Republicans may have taken note of Juan Williams’ op-ed on NPR yesterday, because they’ve called an emergency meeting—to try to block NPR’s funding. The Rules Committee session today will take up legislation to permanently ban federal funding for NPR and its affiliate stations in the wake of conservative…
Continue reading …Former Chicago Bear Shaun Gayle’s real estate agent and sometime lover has been found guilty in the 2007 murder of his pregnant girlfriend. Prosecutors said Marni Yang used nasty anonymous letters to try to drive off other women involved with Gayle but her jealousy turned murderous when she learned Rhoni…
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Italian PM says sexual schedule too much for man half his age, and adds his girlfriend would ‘scratch his eyes out’ anyway Silvio Berlusconi has ridiculed the case against him on vice charges, saying that the number of women with whom he was alleged to have had relations defied belief. “I am 75 years old”, he told the centre-left newspaper, La Repubblica. “And even if I am a rascal, 33 girls in two months seems to me to be too many, even for a 30-year-old. It’s too many for anyone.” With three weeks to go before his trial, Berlusconi was signalling the launch of a vigorous counter-offensive. In fact, Italy’s prime minister is 74 years old, and the prosecutors do not claim he had sex with all the female guests who attended dinners at his mansion home outside Milan, some of whom stayed on for alleged, so-called “bunga bunga” parties. Berlusconi portrayed them as “Carefree, elegant dinners”. Asked why, in that case, the women had been paid large sums of money by his accountant, he said it was because of his charitable nature. “I pay for operations, the dentist [and] university fees to all those who have need of it”, he said. The prime minister, who split from his second wife in 2009, said that another reason for disbelieving the prosecution case was that his girlfriend would have “scratched my eyes out” if he had done the things of which he is accused. He had earlier been quoted as saying he had a steady female companion. But, despite fevered speculation in the Italian media, she has never been identified. Berlusconi said that “fortunately, I have managed to keep her out of this dirt”. On 6 April, he is due to go on trial charged with paying an underage prostitute and then trying to cover up the alleged offence by abusing his position. The young woman at the centre of the case is a Moroccan immigrant, Karima el-Mahroug. Documents published on Tuesday showed prosecutors believe she was only 16 years old – and not 17 as previously believed – when she first visited Berlusconi. In May 2010, she was taken to a police station on suspicion of theft, but then released after the prime minister telephoned to say, erroneously, that she was the grand-daughter of the then Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak. Berlusconi has insisted he believed this to be the case, and was trying to avert a diplomatic incident. But in his latest interview, and for the first time, he appeared to place responsibility for the misunderstanding on Mubarak. “I can swear that a week before I had spoken to Mubarak about this girl for at least 15 minutes,” he said. Berlusconi added that, at the time, he was “dealing with the crisis between Libya and Switzerland. I thought: what would happen if the relative of a foreign prime minister [sic], in this case Mubarak, were to be jailed in Italy?” In 2008, relations between Libya and Switzerland were pitched into crisis following the arrest of Colonel Gaddafi’s son, Hannibal, and his wife for allegedly beating up their servants. Silvio Berlusconi Italy John Hooper guardian.co.uk
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‘Right to be forgotten’ would ensure users of Facebook and other sites could completely erase personal data The European Union is to enshrine a “right to be forgotten online” to ensure that, among other things, prospective employers cannot find old Facebook party photos of someone wearing nothing but a lampshade. In a speech to the European parliament, the EU justice commissioner, Viviane Reding, warned companies such as Facebook that: “A US-based social network company that has millions of active users in Europe needs to comply with EU rules.” In a package of proposals to be unveiled before the summer, the commissioner intends to force Facebook and other social networking sites to make high standards of data privacy the default setting and give control over data back to the user. “I want to explicitly clarify that people shall have the right – and not only the possibility – to withdraw their consent to data processing,” Reding said. “The burden of proof should be on data controllers – those who process your personal data. They must prove that they need to keep the data, rather than individuals having to prove that collecting their data is not necessary.” Under the proposals, national privacy watchdogs will be endowed with powers to investigate and launch legal proceedings against companies with services that target EU consumers. Reding’s spokesman, Matthew Newman, said: “A year ago she issued Facebook a warning because the privacy settings changed for the worse and now she’s legislating to put flesh on those bones.” Facebook profiles have been accessible by default since January last year. Users have to opt in to ensure that their photographs and other information can be viewed only by friends. Newman said companies “can’t think they’re exempt just because they have their servers in California or do their data processing in Bangalore. If they’re targeting EU citizens, they will have to comply with the rules.” Privacy settings are often so complex that a typical user does not know how to use them, Reding’s staff say. The new legislation will ensure privacy is inbuilt and not tacked on later as an added extra. The rules will also outlaw the surreptitious gathering of data without the user explicitly giving permission. Newman said that the laws would make the EU the first jurisdiction to deliver a “right to be forgotten”. “Maybe you’ve been at a party, up until four in the morning and you or someone you know posts photos of you,” he said. “Well, it’s a harmless bit of fun, but being unable to erase this can threaten your job or access to future employment.” The rules would give consumers a specific right to withdraw their consent to sharing their data. “And after you have withdrawn your consent, there shouldn’t even be a ghost of your data left in some server somewhere. It’s your data and it should be gone for good,” he said. Facebook believes it is already compliant with EU law and says it is working alongside Brussels officials in the revision of data protection legislation that was enacted in 1995, in the early days of the internet. “Facebook is fully engaged in the debates around the review of the European Union’s data protection directive,” said a company spokeswoman, Sophy Silver. “We work closely with data protection authorities across the EU and with the European commission and parliament.. Silver said Facebook users were already able to remove their data completely from view, after which it took a few weeks to clean up the company’s servers. Social networking Facebook European Union Internet Europe Leigh Phillips guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Michele Bachmann yesterday fired back at critics who poked her recent American history gaffe on the Laura Ingraham Show . She accused all “3,400″ members of the “mainstream media” of being “part of the Obama press contingent.” There’s just one tiny problem with her counting, notes Alex Pareene in Salon…
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One approach is to patronise the locals, another is to immerse yourself in a culture. Failing that you could just hate robots They’ll let just about anyone present a travelogue these days. Caroline Quentin’s got one. Kate Humble’s got one. Justin Lee Collins has got one. So how could you get one too? Here are five things you need to remember … Become famous for something completely unrelated to travel You don’t need to be an experienced travel presenter to present a travelogue. Or a presenter. You don’t even need to particularly enjoy travelling, for that matter. Here, more or less, is how the modern travelogue commissioning process works: one bag contains the names of people off the telly (Griff Rhys Jones, Piers Morgan, Robbie Coltrane, Joanna Lumley, Caroline Quentin, Martin Clunes), and another contains some locations (Dubai, India, the B roads of the United Kingdom, Guernsey, all of Africa as seen from a hot air balloon). Then they get drawn together, FA Cup-style. Have a clear reason for making the travelogue Covering the battle of Anzio for the British army’s Film and Photo Unit instilled in Alan Whicker a deep love of capturing the world on camera. It was this love that prompted him to become an international reporter for BBC’s Tonight , which in turn spurred him on to make a beloved travel-based documentary series of his own. Meanwhile, in the first episode of Channel 5′s recent travelogue Turning Japanese , Justin Lee Collins unveiled a different, but no less worthwhile, motivation: “I’m not particularly well-travelled, I’ve never really been outside of my comfort zone … I don’t like robots”. Which is basically the same thing if you think about it. Please don’t think about it. Where possible, link travel with food If you want to see a country, look at its food. This is why so many travelogues shine a light on the cuisines of far-flung lands. And, if you’re after a food-based travelogue, it’s important to find your niche. There are presenters who’ll eat anything, such as Anthony Bourdain . There are presenters who’ll drink anything, such as James May and Oz Clarke. There are presenters who’ll eat everything, such as Adam Richman from the brilliant Man v Food. However, there has never been a presenter who goes abroad, only ever orders chips regardless of location and still somehow manages to contract an explosive form of food poisoning that rears up at spectacularly inopportune moments. Commissioning editors, call me. Develop advanced condescension skills A great deal of your travelogue will be taken up by your interaction with real locals, and your experiences with a culture that you might not be familiar with. And, while it’s important not to directly judge them, you are allowed to be a bit condescending. Just like Caroline Quentin during her travelogue A Passage Through India, really – especially the moment when she meets a housewife who has to cook for 10 people every day much to Quentin’s obvious dismay. And the moment when a local tells her that the Ganges river has antiseptic properties. And, oh, pretty much everything else she does. Go native If you want to fully immerse yourself in a different culture, like Bruce Parry , then you have to follow a different set of conventions. First you must throw yourself into any gruesome initiation ceremony that your host tribe requests of you, even if it does look like it’s been cooked up to make you look like a fool. And second, always end your travelogue with a shot of a tribeswoman saying how handsome you are. It doesn’t matter if she doesn’t actually say you’re handsome because she’s saying it in a language that hardly anyone speaks, so you can just subtitle whatever you like. Not that Bruce Parry does that, you understand. But I would. Travel TV Television Stuart Heritage guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …West Coast gangsta rap star Nate Dogg has died at the age of 41, reports his hometown newspaper, the Long Beach Press-Telegram . The cause of death is not yet known, but the rapper—real name Nathaniel D. Hale—had battled health problems in recent years and suffered strokes in 2007…
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