Yen equivalent of £29m has been found and returned to its owners since tidal wave disaster After the waves tore into their homes and sent them fleeing for their lives, many of the survivors of Japan’s tsunami must have thought they had lost everything. Yet in the months since the 11 March disaster thousands of people have been reunited with cash totalling 3.7bn yen (£29m), along with other valuables. Of the 2.36bn yen retrieved from 5,700 safes, all found in the three worst affected prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima, 96% had been returned to its owners by mid-July, according to the national police agency. In addition, 1.3bn yen in loose cash has been recovered from handbags and purses, along with credit cards. Police said about 85% had been returned to its rightful owners, adding that the hunt would continue until all of the money had been accounted for. It is scant consolation, given the loss of homes and livelihoods, but the return of piles of cash points to a desire to do the right thing, despite the hardship that continues to blight life for tens of thousands of people along the devastated Tohoku coast. While most of the private and company safes were found by police and troops searching for survivors, others were handed in by members of the public. About 900 safes – which are common in Japanese households, offices and workshops – were returned in the city of Kamaishi alone. One, retrieved from Ishinomaki, contained 100m yen and has been given to its owner. Police have attributed the unusually large number of safes to a preference for cash transactions among fishermen, who make up a large portion of the population affected by the disaster. Many safes also contained the documents that businesses will need to rebuild: bank books, stock certificates, land rights deeds, and gold bars and other precious metals. The grateful recipients include Torazo Chiba, a 65-year-old resident of Iwate prefecture, who was recently reunited with a safe containing cash and his treasured radio operator’s licence. Looking at an old photograph of himself on the licence, Chiba, whose home was washed away by the tsunami, told the Yomiuri Shimbun: “This has inspired me to try hard again, like I did back then.” Japan disaster Japan Natural disasters and extreme weather Justin McCurry guardian.co.uk
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Gemma Redmond remembers her last moments with her husband on their honeymoon, following him being mauled by a shark The widow of a man killed by a shark on their dream honeymoon in the Seychelles has said that her husband had laughed off the dangers of sharks. Gemma Redmond described how she and her husband Ian had gone to the Seychelles partly because they thought the islands were free from dangerous animals. In an interview with the BBC, she said she had asked a receptionist if there were sharks and was told: “No, not in the Seychelles, the Seychelles are very safe waters.” She said: “We didn’t really think that sharks would be in the Seychelles at all. It wasn’t something we were aware of.” Gemma Redmond has also described the moment she heard his “awful scream”. She said she first thought her husband was sneezing as he was snorkelling. But Gemma said she soon realised he was in trouble. She said: “I could see the top of his snorkel because he had a bright orange band around it so I could always follow where he was. “And, all of a sudden, I heard this ‘Help’ and I thought at first he was sneezing. “And then I heard it again – I heard ‘Help’ and the most awful scream. “I can still hear it when I close my eyes.” Redmond said she was sitting with their bag on the beach and her 30-year-old husband had been in the water for 20 minutes when he was attacked. One onlooker described her saying she “still had hope” for her husband while he lay on the sand with terrible injuries after the attack, which happened off Anse Lazio beach on Praslin, the second largest island in the archipelago. Earlier this month, a 36-year-old French tourist was killed by a shark in the same area. Government officials have issued a ban on swimming in certain areas until the killer is captured. Ian Redmond, an IT specialist, was savaged just 10 days after his wedding to primary school teacher Gemma Houghton at St Michael’s Church, in the village of Dalton, Lancashire, just a few hundred yards from the bride’s family home. It is thought that the parents of the couple, from Lancashire, have travelled to the Seychelles following the attack. Police said the incident two weeks ago had been treated as a “freak occurrence”, but the death of Ian Redmond has “changed the whole complexion of things”. Search teams are still trying to find the animal and discover what species it is by examining a tooth they recovered. Until this month the last recorded fatal shark attack in the Seychelles was in 1963. Seychelles Marine life Africa Wildlife Animals guardian.co.uk
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Spanish fashion chain’s parent denies claims but will compensate 15 migrants ‘rescued’ from Sao Paulo workplace Retail fashion chain Zara is under investigation by Brazil’s ministry of labour after a contractor in São Paulo was found to be using employees in sweatshop conditions to make garments for the Spanish company. The Brazilian government listed 52 charges against Inditex, Zara’s parent company, after it “rescued” 15 workers from a factory sub-contracted by AHA, the company responsible for 90% of Zara’s Brazilian production. Fourteen of the workers were Bolivians and one was from Peru. One was 14. Inditex said in a statement that it could not be held responsible for “unauthorised outsourcing” but would compensate the workers because AHA had violated Inditex’s code of conduct. Zara has 1,540 stores worldwide, including 64 in the UK. The response has not satisfied the Brazilian authorities. “AHA is a logistical extension of its main client, Zara Brasil,” said the prosecutor, Giuliana Cassiano Orlandi. “The company is responsible for its employees. Its raison d’être is making clothes and it follows that it must know who is producing its garments.” Inditex said its 50 suppliers last year produced 7m garments, with only 0.03% made in unlicensed workshops. It was working closely with the ministry of labour to eradicate sweatshop conditions. Renato Bignami, who led the investigation, said the workers – who lived on the premises – worked 12-hour shifts in dangerous and unhealthy conditions. One Bolivian told the TV channel A Liga that the labour component of a pair of Zara jeans selling at $126 (£76) was $1.14, which was divided between the seven people involved in the process. The workers earned between $156 and $290 a month. The minimum wage in Brazil is $344. The investigation began after unions reported last June that sweatshops in Sao Paulo were producing garments for Zara. “Before then, no accusations had been made against Zara,” said Maria Susiclea Assis of the local garment-makers’ union. Bignami said the economic crisis in Spain was driving impoverished migrant workers from places such as Bolivia, Paraguay and Peru back to Brazil, which is in a boom. The high exchange rate for the Brazilian real means that, even at these wages, workers can send money home. “They work 16 or even 18 hours a day,” he said. “It is extremely exhausting work, from Monday to Saturday, sometimes even Sunday depending on demand. I’ve seen workers who have taken home R$150-250 (£57-94) at the end of the month – after paying off housing debt, food debt, telephone card debt, debt [to people traffickers] for the journey here.” Many have to work for three or four months to pay off the “coyotes” who have smuggled them into the country. “These are classic cases of immigrant sweatshops,” Bignami said, adding that he had no doubt that such labour conditions characterised modern-day slavery. Workers often face “threats, coercion, physical violence. All this to increase productivity,” he added. Ineke Zeldenrust of the Clean Clothes Campaign, in Amsterdam, said such sub-contracting was common in the industry. “It is Zara’s responsibility to know who is making their clothes,” she said. “According to the code of conduct that they have signed up to, they are responsible for everyone involved in the supply chain. It is up to them to do the monitoring.” Zara is a family business founded in 1975 in La Coruña, north-west Spain by Amancio Ortega, who has become Spain’s richest man and the seventh richest in the world. According to Forbes magazine, half of production remains in Spain, with 26% per cent in Europe and the remainder spread around the world. In July, 300 Zara employees staged a demonstration in Madrid, complaining that 80% of the mainly female workforce were on temporary contracts. They earn €830 for a 40-hour week. Slavery Brazil Spain Retail industry Europe Stephen Burgen Tom Phillips guardian.co.uk
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Leroy James, 14, seen in ‘altercation’ with another youth before 10th fatal stabbing of a teenager in London this year Detectives are appealing for help in finding the killer of a 14-year-old boy who was stabbed to death in a daytime attack in a busy north London park. Police and an air ambulance were called to Ponders End recreation ground in Enfield at about 5.30pm on Wednesday. They arrived to find Leroy James fatally injured in the centre of the park. Attempts to resuscitate him failed and he was pronounced dead at the scene. Officers, who believe the boy was stabbed by another youngster, said there was no evidence his death was gang-related. Officers said the victim had been in an altercation with at least one other youth. The teenager’s father – also called Leroy – visited the scene on Thursday to pay tribute to “a pretty quiet boy” and football enthusiast who would live on in his memory. Mr James, a 41-year-old scrap metal dealer from nearby Edmonton Green, said he found out about the attack when one of his son’s friends called him. “I was at home,” he said. “[Leroy's friend] just said to me if I heard what happened. He said Leroy has been stabbed and he’s been taken to the Royal Free hospital. “But actually he was still in the park until 2am.” Detective Chief Inspector Caroline Goode of the Metropolitan police appealed for more witnesses to come forward. “We know from what witnesses have told us so far that Leroy was in an altercation with at least one other boy,” she said. “I’m completely open-minded as to the motive at this stage. “There’s certainly no evidence or any intelligence at this time that this is a gang-related murder.” Goode described Leroy as “a 14-year-old young man who didn’t deserve to lose his life”, adding: “People who were there will know who has done this. We want to hear from anyone who was in the park at 5.30pm and can help us … There will be a lot of people who were in the park and a lot of talk in the community. We plead with people to come forward.” Darren Griffiths, who lives in a flat backing on to the scene, said he had seen police taping off the area at 5.30pm. “I knew it was something fatal,” said the 39-year-old. “It’s normally peaceful around here. They’ve just built an outside gym here which is where the kids hang out and where it’s taken place. “Last week, we had the kids walking through the park from the riots, but apart from that it’s quiet.” The murder – the 10th fatal stabbing of a teenager in London this year – was met with sadness and anger in Ponders End. But one resident said he was not surprised, adding: “Things happen in that park at night.” Many in the area complained that the local police station, which is only 50 metres from the entrance to the park where Leroy was killed, had recently closed. Hazel Nelson-Williams, founder of an anti-youth crime group, the Nelson Williams Foundation, said it had been a mistake to close the station. “If that young man had had the opportunity to run away, where would he have run to?” she asked.”In light of what’s happened, cutting police numbers is so not the right thing to do.” Enfield, which has significant areas of deprivation alongside streets of comfortable suburban homes, experienced a night of riots and looting earlier this month. The disturbances spread from the town centre towards Ponders End to the east. According to Scotland Yard figures, knife crime involving young people in London has risen almost 10% over the past year, with a bigger increase in the number of youths injured in knife attacks in the past few years. Knife crime Crime London Sam Jones Peter Walker guardian.co.uk
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Chaos in Bournemouth as about 60mm of rain falls – more than the average for the whole of August Flash flooding caused chaos in Bournemouth as torrential rain drenched parts of Dorset and Hampshire, closing roads and leading to the evacuation of shops and offices. Water rose to the level of car bonnets in some areas, according to Dorset police, as around 60mm (2.4in) of rain fell in a few hours – more than the average 56mm for the whole of August. Firefighters attended more than 150 emergency calls over two hours from 10.30am as storms, accompanied by thunder and lightning, hit on the first day of the Bournemouth air festival. Dorset fire brigade said more than 20 appliances and 100 firefighters were used. Wading teams rescued a man from his car in Charminster, Bournemouth. “It’s localised flooding affecting supermarkets, shops, hotels, even a private hospital,” said a spokeswoman, “but also domestic premises and roads.” Central Bournemouth was one of the worst hit areas and Central Gardens and Boscombe Gardens were under water. There were also reports of flooding in Poole and Christchurch. Debbie Reeves, who co-owns four ice-cream kiosks in Bournemouth’s Lower Gardens, said her staff had to abandon their posts. “The water came downhill through the town centre square and the narrow entrance to the gardens made a channel for it,” she said. “The water just kept coming and coming, it was like a waterfall. “The water got to waist-high in two of the kiosks and about one feet deep in the other two. We have lost the fridges, microwaves, electrical goods and a lot of stock which was ruined in the flooding.” Dozens of shop workers had to be evacuated when a wall collapsed in the town centre, triggering a gas leak. A Dorset police spokesman said a number of roads had been closed and many vehicles broke down. One of the worst affected roads was the A338 Wessex Way, which was temporarily closed with flood water reported between 60cm and 90cm. “The rainwater was very deep, almost reaching the bonnets of some of the vehicles,” said the spokesman. A woman caller told police a slip road was “splitting” and that “water was coming out of the road like a fountain”. In Westbourne, the fire brigade were called to bale out two basements. The Nuffield Health Bournemouth hospital was turning away patients as water leaked through a ceiling. Meanwhile, organisers of the Bournemouth Air Festival decided to cancel some of the evening’s events, which were to include fireworks, musical performances from an Abba tribute act and the Royal Marines Band. Residents and holidaymakers were warned not to go out unless absolutely necessary.” Flooding is extremely dangerous. Please call us if you believe yourself to be in danger in your property or in your car. And don’t go out if you don’t have to,” said the fire brigade spokeswoman. In neighbouring Hampshire, roads were closed in Basingstoke, Winchester, Southampton and the New Forest. In the New Forest, the A338 at Fordingbridge was flooded. A motorcyclist and passenger were treated by ambulance crews in Burley after coming off the vehicle on Forest Road and their motorcycle ended up submerged. In the Winchester area, there were reports of widespread flooding. The services at Sutton Scotney on the A34 were also affected. Weather Bournemouth United Kingdom Caroline Davies guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Police raiding a suspected meth lab 70 miles east of Los Angeles found the drugs and guns they were expecting, plus a surprise: Two dozen stolen granite tombstones. Police believe the home’s residents ripped the tombstones from the ground in several local cemeteries, but they have no idea why. “There’s…
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Private investigator takes legal action against News International to force firm to pay his legal bills Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator at the centre of the News of the World phone-hacking affair, is suing the now defunct tabloid’s publisher News International in an attempt to force the company to pay his legal bills. Mulcaire’s action comes after the company, part of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, announced on 20 July it would stop paying his legal costs with immediate effect. It emerged earlier this week that News International has paid “approximately £246, 000″ to lawyers acting for Mulcaire. He has issued a high court writ claiming News Group Newspapers, the News International subsidiary that published the News of the World until last month, has a contractual obligation to pay the legal bills he is running up fighting more than a dozen high court cases being brought by public figures. The company received the writ on Wednesday. Mulcaire is named as a defendant in numerous cases, including those being fought by Steve Coogan and Labour MP Chris Bryant, along with News Group Newspapers. It was Mulcaire who is alleged to have routinely hacked into messages left on mobile phones on the instructions of senior figures at the News of the World. He has already served a jail sentence for illegally intercepting messages left on phones belonging to members of the royal household. News International confirmed it had received the writ but had no further comment. James Murdoch, who has managerial responsibility for News International as News Corp’s deputy chief operating officer, told MPs on the Commons culture, media and sport select committee in July that he was surprised when he was told the company was meeting Mulcaire’s legal costs and said he would end that arrangement. Murdoch revealed in evidence provided to the culture select committee on Tuesday that News International had funded Mulcaire’s legal bills to the tune of about £246,000. Mulcaire was employed on a rolling 12-month contract by News International and it was reviewed on an annual basis. That was cited by the company as the reason it awarded him a payoff despite the fact he had been arrested for phone hacking in 2006, at which point his relationship with the company ended. James Murdoch told MPs he was “very surprised” to learn the company was meeting the private investigator’s legal costs. Following Murdoch’s 20 July comments, Mulcaire’s solicitors Payne Hicks Beach wrote to News International to inform the company it was still legally liable to pay for a high court appeal he was fighting. Mulcaire’s appeal was against an order forcing him to identify who at the News of the World ordered him to hack into mobile phones. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly “for publication”. • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook . Phone hacking Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers News of the World News International James Murdoch Rupert Murdoch James Robinson guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Air strikes come hours after gunmen armed with heavy weapons and explosives killed at least seven people in southern Israel Israel launched air strikes on Gaza on Thursday after blaming militants in the Palestinian territory for deadly attacks near Eilat earlier in the day. Militants said five Palestinians were killed in the strikes. Earlier at least seven people died when squads of gunmen armed with heavy weapons and explosives crossed into southern Israel from Egypt and attacked buses, cars and an army patrol, officials said. The Israeli government immediately blamed attackers from Gaza. “This is specific information,” said spokesman Mark Regev. “This is not an assessment. This is not an estimation. This is very, very precise information that they came out of Gaza. We have no doubt.” He did not provide further detail. Taher Nunu, a spokesman for the Hamas government in Gaza, denied that the militants were involved. “Gaza has nothing to do with these attacks in Eilat,” Nunu said. The attacks in Israel began around midday local time and lasted for about three hours. Assailants targeted a packed bus driving along a road about 10 miles north of the Red Sea resort, close to the border crossing into Sinai. Within the space of about an hour, the attackers opened fire on another bus and two civilian vehicles on the same road, and an army vehicle rushing to the area drove over an explosive device, the military said in a statement. TV footage showed a bus pulled off the road with its door and windows shattered, and soldiers were patrolling the area on foot. Inside the bus, seats were stained with blood, and luggage littered the aisle. “We heard a shot and saw a window explode. I didn’t really understand what was happening at first. After another shot there was chaos in the bus and everyone jumped on everyone else,” passenger Idan Kaner told Channel 2 TV. He said the attack lasted three or four minutes until the bus was able to drive away. Roadblocks were thrown up in the area and entrances and exits to Eilat were sealed. The military said a “large number” of assailants were working in multiple squads, but gave no specifics. “We are talking about a terror squad that infiltrated into Israel,” Israeli military spokeswoman Avital Leibovich said. “This is a combined terrorist attack against Israelis.” Israeli security forces tracked down some of the assailants and killed seven in a gunbattle, she added. Almost immediately Israel said the attackers came from the Gaza Strip and made their way through Sinai, which borders both Israel and Gaza. “The incident underscores the weak Egyptian hold on Sinai and the broadening of the activities of terrorists,” the Israeli defence minister, Ehud Barak, said in a statement. “The real source of the terror is in Gaza and we will act against them with full force and determination.” Security in Sinai has deteriorated sharply since February, when Hosni Mubarak was toppled from power. The attack comes just a week after the Egyptian army said it was about to launch an operation in Sinai to target what it described as “al-Qaida elements” on the Egyptian side of the border who had attacked a gas pipeline. In Egypt, a senior security official denied that the attackers crossed into Israel from Sinai or that the buses were fired at from inside Egyptian territory. “The border is heavily guarded,” said a Sinai-based official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media. Israel Palestinian territories Middle East guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …I spy trouble in the staff ranks of the Michele Bachmann campaign. It turns out the worker Bachmann credits with a “tremendous” job in helping her win the Ames straw poll was charged with terrorism five years ago in Uganda. Peter E. Waldron was arrested for possession of assault rifles…
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Severely disabled man wants doctors to be allowed to ease his death in the UK, or help him travel to Switzerland to end his life A 46-year-old-man who wants to die after a stroke that left him almost completely paralysed is bringing a groundbreaking legal action that could effectively lead to the legalisation of assisted suicide in the UK. Martin, as he has agreed to be called to preserve his anonymity and that of his family, was a fit and active man who enjoyed rugby, cars and socialising with friends in the pub before suffering a brainstem stroke three years ago. Now requiring round-the-clock care, his mobility is limited to moving his eyes and small movements of his head. He communicates by staring at letters on a computer screen which the machine recognises and forms into words spoken by a digitised voice. Martin has been asking to die since six months after the stroke but says he has no one willing to assist him and cannot on his own organise a trip to the Swiss clinic Dignitas, where he could end his life legally. His wife, who chooses to be known as Felicity, says she will be with him if he dies but will not help bring about his death. Human rights lawyers at the firm Leigh Day in London have taken the first step in an action on Martin’s behalf that, if successful, could have massive implications. One possibility is that the case could lead to a court ruling that Martin has the right to help not only from a paid professional to assist him get to Switzerland, but also to the services of a palliative care doctor in the UK to ease his death, should he decide to end his life by refusing food and drink. Such a ruling would dramatically alter the current options for seriously ill and severely disabled people who wish to end their own lives in the UK. “There would be no more planes to Switzerland,” said Richard Stein of Leigh Day. “Why would you bother?” However, Stein added that beginning this legal action would potentially put the lawyers working on it in legal difficulty, since both they and any doctor or psychiatrist who came to examine Martin for the case could be considered to be assisting his suicide, thus exposing them to potential prosecution or disciplinary action from professional bodies. The case of Debbie Purdy in 2009 established that friends and family could help someone who is terminally ill travel to Dignitas without fear of prosecution on their return. Purdy has multiple sclerosis and wanted assurances that her husband, musician Omar Puente, could take her to Switzerland when she was ready to die, without legal consequences. In the guidance issued with the judgement Keir Starmer, the director of public prosecutions (DPP), made clear that those without a close emotional commitment who assisted a suicide – including professionals – could face criminal proceedings. Stein is seeking an interim declaration from the courts that lawyers and doctors will not be prosecuted or disciplined if they prepare Martin’s case. Even though many lawyers have worked on right-to-die cases before, neither the DPP, Solicitors Regulation Authority or the General Medical Council would give assurances that preparing the case was legally and professionally acceptable. “The important thing is that lawyers and doctors will know that, providing they have assisted somebody to end their lives compassionately and in good faith, they won’t face criminal prosecution or disciplinary action that will affect their livelihoods,” Stein said. If the interim declaration is granted Stein can take the next step on Martin’s behalf – asking the courts to rule that a doctor should be able to assist him with pain relief and palliative care if he decides he wants to stop eating and drinking in order to end his life. Assisted suicide Health Solicitors Sarah Boseley guardian.co.uk
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