The International Atomic Energy Agency said today that Japan has declared a state of emergency at a second earthquake-ravaged nuclear plant after measuring higher-than-permitted levels of radiation. The IAEA says the source is being investigated, but all three reactors at the Onagawa plant are currently under control. Japan also said…
Continue reading …Moammar Gadhafi’s Benghazi compound lies in ruins, torched and defaced by angry rebels who made an eerie discovery underground: A series of tiny cinder-block jail cells, evoking the incredible cruelty of which the regime is capable. Few locals seemed to even be aware of the jail’s existence, but now the…
Continue reading …A mere day after an Israeli family of five was massacred while they slept , the AP reports that Israel has approved the construction of hundreds of new homes in West Bank settlements. The homes will be built in a part of the West Bank that Israel expects to hold onto…
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One of two brothers convicted of killing Damilola Taylor has been returned to prison after breaching licence conditions One of two brothers convicted of killing Damilola Taylor has been returned to prison after breaching licence conditions that were applied to him after he was released last year. Ricky Preddie, who was jailed at the same time as his brother Danny in 2006 for the manslaughter of 10-year-old Damilola, was released in September after serving two thirds of his eight-year sentence. He was arrested on Friday evening after he failed to conform to a curfew on a number of occasions. Damilola, who had moved to Britain from Nigeria a few months before his death, was stabbed with a broken bottle in November 2000 as he walked to his family’s home in Peckham, south London, and was found bleeding from a leg wound in a stairwell on a housing estate. The Preddies, south London gang members who were 12 and 13 at the time of the manslaughter, were convicted of his killing after two police inquiries and three trials which cost an estimated £16m. Police forces around the UK initiated reviews of scores of murders after serious failures at the government-run forensic science laboratory were exposed. A Ministry of Justice spokesman declined to confirm Preddie’s recall but said: “All offenders subject to probation supervision on release from prison have to adhere to a set of strict conditions.” “They are subject to recall to custody if they breach their conditions or their behaviour indicates that it is no longer safe for them or for the public if they remain in the community.” At the time of Preddie’s release, Gary Trowsdale, chief executive of the Damilola Taylor Trust, said the charity had urged the authorities to ensure he received the help he needed. Mr Trowsdale said: “We have very strongly recommended to the authorities that the boy is mentored. “We hope the Probation Service will do its job and he is properly mentored.” Danny Preddie remains in prison serving a sentence for another offence and is due to be released this year. Damilola Taylor Ben Quinn guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …The same hawks who drummed America into a “cakewalk” war in Iraq now want to march right in and liberate Libya, even though, in the case of Paul Wolfowitz, one “would think” he’d “have the good manners to shut up and take up horticulture,” writes Maureen Dowd in the New…
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National Theatre’s revival of 1939 drama is night’s biggest success, alongside Legally Blonde and Stephen Sondheim A Terence Rattigan play that closed early and was largely neglected for 70 years until it was revived at the National Theatre has emerged as the biggest winner at the 2011 Olivier theatre awards. After the Dance, which portrays a group of ageing bright young things still drinking and partying as the nation slides to war, won four awards including best revival. The National was the biggest winner with seven prizes overall. This is Rattigan’s centenary year and there are revivals of his plays across the country, including the wartime tearjerker Flare Path , which opened to loud audience cheers last week. The other big winners at an unashamedly showbizzy ceremony in the West End were Legally Blonde the Musical and Stephen Sondheim. After the Dance opened in June 1939 to good reviews but closed early as the nation’s mood changed and has been staged only rarely since. Its four awards included best actress for Nancy Carroll, whose portrayal of the socialite Joan Scott-Fowler was described as “magnificent” by the Guardian and “almost unbearably moving” by the Telegraph. Adrian Scarborough won best actor in a supporting role for his performance as a drunken hanger-on and Hildegard Bechtler won for best costume design. The National won three awards for its production of The White Guard including best director for Howard Davies, best lighting for Neil Austin and best set design for Bunny Christie. One of the strongest categories was best actor, with Derek Jacobi nominated for King Lear and Rory Kinnear for Hamlet. The winner – from a shortlist that also included Mark Rylance and David Suchet – was Roger Allam as Falstaff in Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 at Shakespeare’s Globe. Sheridan Smith’s portrayal of the pink-obsessed Elle in Legally Blonde won her best actress in a musical. Jill Halfpenny, who played hairdresser Paulette, won best supporting performer in a musical while the production itself won best new musical. It was also a good night for Stephen Sondheim, who turned 80 last year. He was presented with the equivalent of a lifetime achievement award, while productions of his work also took prizes. Into The Woods, at the Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park, was named best musical revival and David Thaxton won best actor in a musical for Passion at the Donmar Warehouse. As widely tipped, Bruce Norris’s Clybourne Park, which opened at the Royal Court before transferring to the West End, won best new play. The theatre won three prizes in total with Michelle Terry named best supporting actress in a play for Tribes and Leon Baugh taking the theatre choreography award for Sucker Punch. Organisers of this year’s ceremony have tried to give it more pizzazz. It was held in the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, rather than a hotel ballroom, with performances by entertainers including Barry Manilow. It was also broadcast live for the first time, via the BBC’s red button. The awards were decided by panels apart from an audience prize voted by Radio 2 listeners which pitted long-running musicals against each other. We Will Rock You emerged as the winner from a list that included Jersey Boys, Les Miserables and Billy Elliot the Musical. The Railway Children, which was performed at Waterloo station, won best entertainment from a shortlist that also included Beauty and the Beast, Ghost Stories and Potted Panto. There had been annoyance in the dance community that the shortlist for outstanding achievement contained no actual dance performances and the winner last night was the artist Antony Gormley, for his set designs for Babel (Words) at Sadler’s Wells, a show that also won best new dance production. The German baritone Christian Gerhaher won an outstanding achievement award for his performance in Tannhäuser at the Royal Opera House, while OperaUpClose’s La Bohème at the Soho Theatre sprang a surprise by winning best new opera production. The Lyric Hammersmith’s revival of Sarah Kane’s Blasted won outstanding achievement in an affiliate theatre, while the Donmar’s King Lear won for sound design. Julian Bird, the chief executive of the Society of London Theatre, said it had been a good year. “The strength can be seen throughout the nominations across both drama and musicals. There were some very hard choices for the panels to make.” Olivier awards Awards and prizes Theatre Musicals Terence Rattigan Stephen Sondheim London Mark Brown guardian.co.uk
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Guardian/ICM survey in five EU countries shows people see a bleak economic future and don’t think their leaders will deliver Europe’s hope of a better future is faltering, as the financial crisis and spending cuts bite, according to a Guardian/ICM poll of five leading EU countries. It finds trust in government at rock bottom and widespread fear of further economic decline. Few people are convinced that the present signs of recovery can be sustained. The poll was carried out online using a representative sample of more than 5,000 people of working age in five leading EU states – Britain, France, Germany, Poland and Spain. It paints a picture of a continent confident in its liberal values and still mostly committed to EU institutions such as the euro and the free movement of people between states, but notably hostile to state spending and political leaders. Carried out at the start of a month-long Guardian series examining Europe in the wake of recession, the poll makes it clear that few Europeans believe the worst of the economic crisis is over. A majority are also against immediate cuts in government spending. The result is a crisis in European democracy. While people are divided on the need for state spending cuts and the speed with which they should take place, very few in the five states surveyed trust their politicians to deal with the problems facing their countries – or even their honesty. Only 6% of people across Europe say they have a great deal of trust in their government, 46% say they have not very much and 32% none at all. Only 9% of Europeans think their politicians – in opposition or in power – act with honesty and integrity. The lack of trust in government is greatest in Poland and France, where distrust outweighs trust by a net 82 percentage points. In France, the net negative score is 78 points and in Germany 80 points. Only Britain breaks the consensus somewhat, with a net negative score of 66 points. Even fewer Europeans think their politicians are honest. In Poland, only 3% of those questioned agree; in Spain 8%; in Germany 10%; in France 11%; in Britain 12%. Overall, the percentage of those who think politicians are not at all, or not very, honest outweighs those who disagree by a massive 89 percentage points. Political anxiety appears to be fuelled by deep economic worries. Overall, 40% of those polled think their economy will get worse over the next 12 months, against 20% who think it will improve. Only in Germany are more people optimistic than pessimistic. Economic anxiety is greatest in France, where pessimists outnumber optimists by a net difference of 46 points. In Britain, the difference is 40 points and in Poland 30 points. Spain is more optimistic, with a net difference of 18 points – which could be explained by few people in the country thinking things can get worse than they already are. There are also signs of hope: except in Poland, people on balance are more likely to think things will get “a little worse” (26% of those polled) than “a lot worse” (21%). And others (31%) think things will simply stay the same. Europe is not in economic depression. But on the other hand there is limited hope for the future expressed in the EU’s traditional economic powerhouses of Germany and France. Almost three-quarters of the French questioned think they will be worse off in a decade than they are now. In Germany – despite its recovery – over half think the same. In Britain, a majority think the next decade will either leave them poorer or, at best, no better off. Only a quarter think Britain will get richer over the next 10 years. Only in the more recent EU entrants of Spain and Poland is there significant optimism. In Poland, almost half think they will end up better off in a decade; in Spain, a majority think this. Both countries have experienced rapid growth within recent memory as a result of EU entry. The poll focused on national attitudes rather than those to the EU as a whole. But despite economic worries and the cost of bailing out Greece and Ireland, EU states already using the euro want to keep it. Overall, 68% questioned in the three euro countries – France, Spain and Germany – are in favour of retaining it. Spain (71%) is keenest, followed by France (60%). But a majority of Germans (59%) also want to keep the euro despite national concern about the Greek bailout. However, a narrow plurality of Poles (48% to 40%) oppose their country joining the single currency as is planned. ICM interviewed a random sample of 5,023 adults in five EU states aged 18–64 from its online panel between 24 February and 8 March, 2011. In order to achieve a nationally representative sample within each country, quotas were set by gender, age and region. At the data analysis stage, data were weighted to the profile of all adults aged 18-64 in each country Europe European Union Euro France Germany Poland Spain Euro European debt crisis Recession Julian Glover guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Disasters often yield miracles, and a 60-year-old Japanese man is a case in point: Rescuers plucked Hiromitsu Shinkawa off of his roof last night, from nine miles out at sea where the tsunami swept him. Shinkawa was from the city of Minamisoma, which was virtually leveled in the destruction, reports…
Continue reading …If you’re a fan of the afternoon nap, there’s no need to be ashamed—in fact, new research gives you the perfect excuse to stop reading this right now and go grab some midday shuteye. In the study, volunteers who napped for 100 minutes prior to completing a memorization test…
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Police criticised for failing to secure single conviction as group warns known cases are the tip of the iceberg At least 80 children have been trafficked to Scotland to face sexual exploitation and other forms of abuse including forced labour, benefit fraud and domestic servitude, a report published on Monday says. The findings conclude that these cases are the tip of an iceberg, with many more child victims who have been sold, stolen and transported thousands of miles remaining unidentified. The report – Scotland: a safe place for child traffickers? – criticises police for failing to secure a single conviction for trafficking, and the authorities for their poor response to young victims’ needs. In November, it emerged that a young Nigerian girl had been trafficked to Scotland, held prisoner and gang-raped. Her case was just one of several documented by the Scottish Refugee Council. Some of the children identified have been forced to work in cannabis factories and private homes and pose as dependents for benefit scams. They came from a number of countries including China, Sudan, Somalia, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Vietnam. The youngest was 14 years old. Child trafficking has long been considered an issue of border control, the study said, leading to those who have been trafficked being regarded as part of a problem, rather than as victims. Scotland’s commissioner for children and young people, Tam Baillie, and the Centre for Rural Childhood at Perth College University of the Highlands and Islands produced the report, and made a number of urgent recommendations. They called on the UK government to review the national referral mechanism to strengthen co-operation between government agencies, and to appoint an independent human trafficking rapporteur accountable to the UK parliament. The authors recommended the Scottish government should ensure adequate resources are available to tackle the problem and act as a lead for local authorities to ensure that nationally agreed procedures are followed consistently at a local level. Baillie said: “When children are raped or exploited as slaves in households or businesses in Scotland it becomes our national scandal. When we fail to notice, fail to pick up the signs and fail to act on children’s trauma, it demands action. I hope this report, the first of its kind in Scotland, will take the issue out into the open and result in action and change for child victims of trafficking.” Professor Rebecca Wallace, director of the centre for rural childhood at Perth College UHI, said the report’s findings address the previous lack of an evidence base regarding child trafficking in Scotland. She added the study was an opportunity to “harness the very evident willingness of professionals encountered during the research to improve the identification and treatment of children trafficked into and within Scotland”. Human trafficking Children Scotland Child labour guardian.co.uk
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