Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty says ‘the pathway forward for me doesn’t exist’ after finishing third in Iowa vote Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty dropped out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination on Sunday, hours after finishing a disappointing third in the Iowa straw poll . “I wish it would have been different, but obviously the pathway forward for me doesn’t exist so we are going to end the campaign,” Pawlenty said on ABC’s This Week programme. He had told supporters on a conference call shortly before the broadcast interview that he was ending his White House bid. “I thought I would have made a great president, but obviously that pathway isn’t there,” Pawlenty said. “I do believe we’re going to have a very good candidate who is going to beat Barack Obama.” The two-term former governor of a Democratic-leaning state was on John McCain’s shortlist for the vice-presidential nomination in 2008. He spent two years laying the groundwork for his 2012 campaign and hoped to become the alternative to the national frontrunner, Mitt Romney. But this summer he unexpectedly found himself in a grudge match with the Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann, who won the straw poll in Iowa. Pawlenty acknowledged that he needed a strong showing in the poll to quiet concerns that his campaign was faltering, and spent the bulk of his campaign account on TV ads ahead of the contest and on a statewide tour. After finishing well behind Bachmann and the Texas congressman Ron Paul, Pawlenty initially suggested to supporters that he was not dropping out. But hours later, he reversed course. Pawlenty, 50, had seemed to have all the right ingredients as a candidate. His blue-collar upbringing offered him a natural rapport with middle-class America. He governed as a fiscal hardliner in a left-leaning state, winning his second term in a year when Republicans elsewhere got drubbed. He made inroads with the right crowds and assembled an all-star cast of advisers with plenty of presidential campaign experience. But he struggled to connect. He came off as bland and rehearsed next to more dynamic contenders, and languished in the polls. Rick Perry’s announcement of his candidacy on Saturday pushed Pawlenty further to the side. Tim Pawlenty Republicans US elections 2012 US politics United States guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty says ‘the pathway forward for me doesn’t exist’ after finishing third in Iowa vote Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty dropped out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination on Sunday, hours after finishing a disappointing third in the Iowa straw poll . “I wish it would have been different, but obviously the pathway forward for me doesn’t exist so we are going to end the campaign,” Pawlenty said on ABC’s This Week programme. He had told supporters on a conference call shortly before the broadcast interview that he was ending his White House bid. “I thought I would have made a great president, but obviously that pathway isn’t there,” Pawlenty said. “I do believe we’re going to have a very good candidate who is going to beat Barack Obama.” The two-term former governor of a Democratic-leaning state was on John McCain’s shortlist for the vice-presidential nomination in 2008. He spent two years laying the groundwork for his 2012 campaign and hoped to become the alternative to the national frontrunner, Mitt Romney. But this summer he unexpectedly found himself in a grudge match with the Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann, who won the straw poll in Iowa. Pawlenty acknowledged that he needed a strong showing in the poll to quiet concerns that his campaign was faltering, and spent the bulk of his campaign account on TV ads ahead of the contest and on a statewide tour. After finishing well behind Bachmann and the Texas congressman Ron Paul, Pawlenty initially suggested to supporters that he was not dropping out. But hours later, he reversed course. Pawlenty, 50, had seemed to have all the right ingredients as a candidate. His blue-collar upbringing offered him a natural rapport with middle-class America. He governed as a fiscal hardliner in a left-leaning state, winning his second term in a year when Republicans elsewhere got drubbed. He made inroads with the right crowds and assembled an all-star cast of advisers with plenty of presidential campaign experience. But he struggled to connect. He came off as bland and rehearsed next to more dynamic contenders, and languished in the polls. Rick Perry’s announcement of his candidacy on Saturday pushed Pawlenty further to the side. Tim Pawlenty Republicans US elections 2012 US politics United States guardian.co.uk
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• Growing rift between the government and police officers over tactics, strategy and resources • Magistrates courts will continue to hear cases • Two charged with the murder of three Asian males from Birmingham due in court • Senior Lib Dems call for an end to ‘kneejerk’ reactions 3.45pm: UPDATE: We are still to receive an official statement from Greater Manchester Police in regards to the armed response incident as reported by The People newspaper , but we understand that armed officers were called after a member of the public spotted a suspected firearm. GMP has told the Guardian that they believe the response was warranted. Arrests have been made in connection with the incident. 2.56pm: West Midlands Police said they have recovered a third vehicle which they believe was involved in the crash. An black Audi A3 is undergoing forensic tests. Detective Chief Inspector Anthony Tagg said: “We are now confident we have recovered all three vehicles which we believe were involved in the murder in Dudley Road in the early hours of Wednesday August 10.” 2.23pm: Home secretary Theresa May got a bit of a grilling on BBC Radio 4′s The World at One . She was asked about her use of the phrase “I ordered” in regards to her public comments during the riots. Here’s the exchange between her and Shaun Ley: Ley: [Officers] will also have heard last week the home secretary going on the radio and saying “I’ve ordered”, “I’ve ordered” that was the word you used, “I’ve ordered that type of approach to be taken by other forces and cancelled police leave”. Now the home secretary is not the general of an army. The home secretary is separate to the police and yet you have effectively said, “I don’t believe in that any more, I give orders to the police”. May: What I was absolutely clear about…was making sure that police knew what I expected of them and what the public expected from them. And the public were not happy about what they were seeing on the streets. When asked about Cameron’s appointment of US cop Bill Bratton, May appeared to undermine Bratton’s status as a special advisor. She said that alongside Bratton she would be “bringing together a group of people from across the world to learn from best practise”. On police budget cuts, May was crystal clear that there would be no reversal of policy despite calls by senior officers to do just that. I’m absolutely clear that police budgets can be cut without effecting the ability of the police to do the job that they want to do, that I want them to do, and that the public want them to do. 2.04pm: Reports from the Press Association suggest that delays at Westminster magistrates court are also being caused by “normal” defendants – in police custody for non-riot crimes – being processed at the same time. District judge Susan Williamson, hearing cases in court two said: “I don’t know how we have ended up in this rather parlous state.” 1.50pm: MP Mark Pritchard, secretary of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers, has hit back at ACPO chief Hugh Orde and his comments in the press Sir Hugh Orde’s very public and ill-judged remarks underline the need for the coalition Government to push ahead with elected police commissioners. Senior officers are not a law unto themselves and should not think they have a monopoly of wisdom. At a time when national unity of purpose is required, the remarks of some senior officers do more harm than good – and reveal how out of touch some of them are. 1.36pm: The People newspaper has published a dramatic picture of a police officer holding a “semi-automatic” gun over the head of a young white male as he lays on the ground outside a branch of Greggs bakery in South Manchester. They report that: The boy…was among a group of seven aged 11 to 15 who spent 15 minutes pinned to the floor before the gun cops made an arrest in front of more than a hundred terrified shoppers. A mum of 28 who watched with her six-year-old daughter told The People: “I was absolutely petrified. You wouldn’t normally expect to see anything like this around here but then we had these riots.” Their report quotes another witness to the event: There was a group of lads sitting around on their bikes in the middle of the precinct. Then I heard shouts of “armed police” and “get down”. It was all so fast. The boys flew on to the ground and the police had the guns close to their heads. There were three armed police and about another 10 back up officers. For the next 15 minutes the lads on the ground were being searched and had names and addresses taken. The police seemed particularly interested in a bag one of them had. They tore it open but there just seemed to be boxes of Smarties and other stuff from Greggs. We have asked Greater Manchester police for further information on the incident. 1.11pm: More anger from senior cops. A statement released today by West Midlands chief constable Chris Sims contains a thinly veiled attack on “zero tolerance” policing: I continue to work with the Police Authority to develop a policing response that is consistent with available good practice but is not slavishly adopting empty slogans. The ethos of local policing has been the bedrock which has allowed collective common sense to prevail. It also contains a call for “compassion” towards the rioters: We must not at this time abandon all compassion for some of our very damaged young people who have been caught up in these incidents 1.04pm: Tory MP and novelist Louise Mensch has just tweeted this : So @JamesDelingpole excusing the inexcusable I’m afraid. Not too much of a surprise there. 12.46pm: The David Starkey Newsnight “racism” row continues in the Telegraph courtesy of James Dellingpole who believes that the historian’s comments were not racist. Dellingpole, picks up on Starkey’s comment that MP David Lammy sounded like a white person as opposed to a black one, and the subsequent on air retort from Starkey’s co-panellist, Chavs author, Owen Jones . On Friday night’s show Starkey said:”Listen to David Lammy, an archetypal successful black man. If you turn the screen off so that you are listening to him on radio you would think he was white.” Jones replied: “You said David Lammy when you heard him sounded white and what you meant by that is that white people equals respectable.” Dellingpole’s take is this : This is classic Owen Jones, classic BBC. Note that what Starkey is saying here is actually pretty reasonable. If you listened to David Lammy on the radio you could indeed very easily think that his educated, non-ethnically identifiable (and mildly effete) speaking voice belonged to a white person rather than a black person. But in Jones’s world – and that of his puppetmaster the BBC – the truth in these matters is no defence. 12.34pm: And whilst we are on the subject of reports and the young, here’s another massive study from the OECD in 2008 called ‘ Growing Unequal’ which found that younger people living in developed countries were more likely to be poorer than their older counterparts now than any time during the last 25 years. And this was before the downturn. 12.31pm: A comment piece by Observer columnist Will Hutton today focusses in on the situation of the young and an interesting Unicef report back in 2007 which found that British youth had the worst quality of life across 21 developed nations . The Unicef report that in 2007 placed Britain bottom of 21 industrialised countries in the way it treated its children did not only single out child poverty as a cause of the problem – other factors included the factory-like education and training system, poor relationships with family and friends, the low subjective sense of wellbeing and the risks of everyday life. Add to that picture private shopping centres that allow no public place for kids to gather, inadequate and now closing youth clubs, being routinely questioned by police just for being under 25, and being ordered to disperse, even if there are only two of them – all these impact on an entire age group. The dutiful, non-rioting young may work hard for their qualifications, degrees and apprenticeships. But they too could be forgiven for asking themselves: for what? The country is economically stagnating. For anybody young and unlucky to be trapped in one of our sprawling sink estates through the bad luck of birth, what chance is there? Are their vanishing prospects in any sense deserved or fair? And the larger question that hangs over them all – where is Britain going? 12.17pm: More on the growing row between top cops and the government. Appearing on Sky News this morning, British Transport Police chief Andy Trotter has hit back against policing cuts saying that the government should stop “pretending” that 20% funding reduction won’t affect front line services: We accept that everyone in public service has to play their part in dealing with the state of the economy. We have got to be sensible in the way we do it. But we cannot pretend that the scale of cuts we face will not impact on the front line of policing…It is simply not possible.” 11.57am: This is a very sad report from freelance contributor Rachel Pugh about an international flautist who lost lost pretty much everything including rare instruments and her two cats during the riots after her Croydon flat was burned down. An internationally-known flautist has lost an irreplaceable collection of instruments made for her, when rioters burned her Croydon flat to the ground as part of the weekend disturbances. Carla Rees, 34, is reeling from the loss of more than 10 flutes including two specially made Kingma flutes built for her in the Netherlands and on which she has based her international contemporary music career. She has also lost her music library, including a unique collection of 600 pieces of unpublished music written for her and her ensemble Rarescale, complete with composers’ comments that she says are almost as important as the sheets of music themselves. Her two cats also perished in the fire that completely gutted the building on London Road where she had her second-floor flat. The whole building is having to be demolished. “I am lucky to be alive,” says Carla, who studied at the Royal College of Music in London. She and her boyfriend had just come back from a weekend coaching the National Youth Wind Orchestra, when they encountered gangs of youths and smashed cars in the street. Fearful of the atmosphere, they grabbed clean clothes, fed the cats and booked into a hotel. An hour later, her home was in ruins. A website to help her has already been set up. 11.40am: BREAKING : Two males charged with the murder of three Asian men who were hit by a car whilst protecting local businesses in Birmingham have appeared in court this morning. This is from the Press Association: Joshua Donald, 26, from Kelsall Croft, Ladywood, appeared before magistrates charged with three counts of murder. Donald and a 17-year-old male from Winson Green, who cannot be named because of his age, were arrested on Thursday and were charged late last night after police were granted extra time to question them. Donald, who appeared in court sporting a beard, wearing dark jeans and a black hooded top, spoke only to confirm his name, age and address. In the hearing, which lasted less than five minutes, District Judge Michael Wheeler said to him: “It is said that on August 10 you murdered Shazad Ali, it is also said you murdered Haroon Jahan and you also murdered Abdul Musavir.” Mr Wheeler told the defendant his case could not be dealt with at magistrates’ court and he was to be remanded in custody to appear at Birmingham Crown Court tomorrow. As Donald was taken down by a dock officer a woman in the public gallery mouthed “I love you” to him. The 17-year-old defendant is also due to appear in court today but the case has yet to be heard. 11.34am: Apologies for that technical hitch. The comments section has now been turned on. 11.19am: An update from my colleague Matthew Taylor who is at Westminster magistrates court today. He says that two court rooms are sitting and that they have 60 cases to get through – a fair whack for any day let alone a Sunday. He describes the scene as “low level chaos” with many of the lawyers including those from the CPS lacking the right papers. Hearings were supposed to start at 10am but proceedings are already running over an hour late. Court officials have told him that they expect to be there until late afternoon but a security guards thinks has been told he’ll be there until 8pm. 11.06am: Here’s Cameron’s retort to Orde in the Sunday Telegraph. Asked by columnist Matthew D’Ancona whether he was all for zero tolerance and new policing strategy Cameron replies : Yes, I do. This is why I am so keen on police accountability, where you see police chiefs accountable to elected representatives, as you do in London, I don’t think it is any surprise London was one of the first places to introduce that sort of beat-based policing with a far greater degree of zero tolerance. 10.49am: Sir Hugh Orde, head of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), has given an interview to the Independent on Sunday about the appointment of Los Angeles ‘super cop’ Bill Bratton who has been brought in to advise David Cameron on ‘zero tolerance’ style gang policing. The interview contains some firm words for the prime minister: I am not sure I want to learn about gangs from an area of America that has 400 of them. It seems to me, if you’ve got 400 gangs, then you’re not being very effective. If you look at the style of policing in the States, and their levels of violence, they are so fundamentally different from here. “What I suggested to the Home Secretary is a more sensible approach, maybe to look across far wider styles of policing; and, more usefully, at European styles – they, like us, are bound by the European Convention. My sense is, when we’ve done that, we will find the British model is probably the top. We will not get things right all the time. It’s sad it takes an event like this to counter some of the more negative attacks on policing which is totally unjustified. As background Orde, who is generally well respected and has a lot of public order experience having spent years in Northern Ireland, is one of the current contenders for the position of the head of the Met. It is also worth noting that he and his other senior officers have been brewing since the start of the year over government plans to introduce elected police chiefs – a move to a more US style of policing. 10.35am: Good morning. Welcome to continuing coverage of the aftermath of the riots which began striking English cities eight days ago. Here’s a brief round-up and what’s happened and what’s to come: • The rift between the government and police officers over tactics and policing strategy has continued to widen. The appointment of US senior cop Bill Bratton to advise on gangs and policing strategy has caused a strong reaction from ACPO chief Sir Hugh Orde . • In continued unprecedented opening hours, magistrates courts around the country will be sitting today and hearing cases . Also expected in court are those charged with the murder of the three Asian males from Birmingham who were killed after they were struck by a car while trying to protect local businesses. • A number of magistrates’ sentences are causing controversy , most notably that of a 24-year-old mother of two who received six months for handling a stolen pair of shorts . Harsh sentences and plans to evict rioters and their families from council housing have cause serious disagreement between members of the coalition as senior Lib Dems call for an end to “kneejerk” reactions . • Operations around the country to arrest those involved in the looting are expected to continue. The latest figures from the Metropolitan police are that 1,401 people have been arrested with 808 being charged with offences. UK riots Police London Crime David Cameron Theresa May Birmingham Manchester Shiv Malik guardian.co.uk
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• Growing rift between the government and police officers over tactics, strategy and resources • Magistrates courts will continue to hear cases • Two charged with the murder of three Asian males from Birmingham due in court • Senior Lib Dems call for an end to ‘kneejerk’ reactions 3.45pm: UPDATE: We are still to receive an official statement from Greater Manchester Police in regards to the armed response incident as reported by The People newspaper , but we understand that armed officers were called after a member of the public spotted a suspected firearm. GMP has told the Guardian that they believe the response was warranted. Arrests have been made in connection with the incident. 2.56pm: West Midlands Police said they have recovered a third vehicle which they believe was involved in the crash. An black Audi A3 is undergoing forensic tests. Detective Chief Inspector Anthony Tagg said: “We are now confident we have recovered all three vehicles which we believe were involved in the murder in Dudley Road in the early hours of Wednesday August 10.” 2.23pm: Home secretary Theresa May got a bit of a grilling on BBC Radio 4′s The World at One . She was asked about her use of the phrase “I ordered” in regards to her public comments during the riots. Here’s the exchange between her and Shaun Ley: Ley: [Officers] will also have heard last week the home secretary going on the radio and saying “I’ve ordered”, “I’ve ordered” that was the word you used, “I’ve ordered that type of approach to be taken by other forces and cancelled police leave”. Now the home secretary is not the general of an army. The home secretary is separate to the police and yet you have effectively said, “I don’t believe in that any more, I give orders to the police”. May: What I was absolutely clear about…was making sure that police knew what I expected of them and what the public expected from them. And the public were not happy about what they were seeing on the streets. When asked about Cameron’s appointment of US cop Bill Bratton, May appeared to undermine Bratton’s status as a special advisor. She said that alongside Bratton she would be “bringing together a group of people from across the world to learn from best practise”. On police budget cuts, May was crystal clear that there would be no reversal of policy despite calls by senior officers to do just that. I’m absolutely clear that police budgets can be cut without effecting the ability of the police to do the job that they want to do, that I want them to do, and that the public want them to do. 2.04pm: Reports from the Press Association suggest that delays at Westminster magistrates court are also being caused by “normal” defendants – in police custody for non-riot crimes – being processed at the same time. District judge Susan Williamson, hearing cases in court two said: “I don’t know how we have ended up in this rather parlous state.” 1.50pm: MP Mark Pritchard, secretary of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers, has hit back at ACPO chief Hugh Orde and his comments in the press Sir Hugh Orde’s very public and ill-judged remarks underline the need for the coalition Government to push ahead with elected police commissioners. Senior officers are not a law unto themselves and should not think they have a monopoly of wisdom. At a time when national unity of purpose is required, the remarks of some senior officers do more harm than good – and reveal how out of touch some of them are. 1.36pm: The People newspaper has published a dramatic picture of a police officer holding a “semi-automatic” gun over the head of a young white male as he lays on the ground outside a branch of Greggs bakery in South Manchester. They report that: The boy…was among a group of seven aged 11 to 15 who spent 15 minutes pinned to the floor before the gun cops made an arrest in front of more than a hundred terrified shoppers. A mum of 28 who watched with her six-year-old daughter told The People: “I was absolutely petrified. You wouldn’t normally expect to see anything like this around here but then we had these riots.” Their report quotes another witness to the event: There was a group of lads sitting around on their bikes in the middle of the precinct. Then I heard shouts of “armed police” and “get down”. It was all so fast. The boys flew on to the ground and the police had the guns close to their heads. There were three armed police and about another 10 back up officers. For the next 15 minutes the lads on the ground were being searched and had names and addresses taken. The police seemed particularly interested in a bag one of them had. They tore it open but there just seemed to be boxes of Smarties and other stuff from Greggs. We have asked Greater Manchester police for further information on the incident. 1.11pm: More anger from senior cops. A statement released today by West Midlands chief constable Chris Sims contains a thinly veiled attack on “zero tolerance” policing: I continue to work with the Police Authority to develop a policing response that is consistent with available good practice but is not slavishly adopting empty slogans. The ethos of local policing has been the bedrock which has allowed collective common sense to prevail. It also contains a call for “compassion” towards the rioters: We must not at this time abandon all compassion for some of our very damaged young people who have been caught up in these incidents 1.04pm: Tory MP and novelist Louise Mensch has just tweeted this : So @JamesDelingpole excusing the inexcusable I’m afraid. Not too much of a surprise there. 12.46pm: The David Starkey Newsnight “racism” row continues in the Telegraph courtesy of James Dellingpole who believes that the historian’s comments were not racist. Dellingpole, picks up on Starkey’s comment that MP David Lammy sounded like a white person as opposed to a black one, and the subsequent on air retort from Starkey’s co-panellist, Chavs author, Owen Jones . On Friday night’s show Starkey said:”Listen to David Lammy, an archetypal successful black man. If you turn the screen off so that you are listening to him on radio you would think he was white.” Jones replied: “You said David Lammy when you heard him sounded white and what you meant by that is that white people equals respectable.” Dellingpole’s take is this : This is classic Owen Jones, classic BBC. Note that what Starkey is saying here is actually pretty reasonable. If you listened to David Lammy on the radio you could indeed very easily think that his educated, non-ethnically identifiable (and mildly effete) speaking voice belonged to a white person rather than a black person. But in Jones’s world – and that of his puppetmaster the BBC – the truth in these matters is no defence. 12.34pm: And whilst we are on the subject of reports and the young, here’s another massive study from the OECD in 2008 called ‘ Growing Unequal’ which found that younger people living in developed countries were more likely to be poorer than their older counterparts now than any time during the last 25 years. And this was before the downturn. 12.31pm: A comment piece by Observer columnist Will Hutton today focusses in on the situation of the young and an interesting Unicef report back in 2007 which found that British youth had the worst quality of life across 21 developed nations . The Unicef report that in 2007 placed Britain bottom of 21 industrialised countries in the way it treated its children did not only single out child poverty as a cause of the problem – other factors included the factory-like education and training system, poor relationships with family and friends, the low subjective sense of wellbeing and the risks of everyday life. Add to that picture private shopping centres that allow no public place for kids to gather, inadequate and now closing youth clubs, being routinely questioned by police just for being under 25, and being ordered to disperse, even if there are only two of them – all these impact on an entire age group. The dutiful, non-rioting young may work hard for their qualifications, degrees and apprenticeships. But they too could be forgiven for asking themselves: for what? The country is economically stagnating. For anybody young and unlucky to be trapped in one of our sprawling sink estates through the bad luck of birth, what chance is there? Are their vanishing prospects in any sense deserved or fair? And the larger question that hangs over them all – where is Britain going? 12.17pm: More on the growing row between top cops and the government. Appearing on Sky News this morning, British Transport Police chief Andy Trotter has hit back against policing cuts saying that the government should stop “pretending” that 20% funding reduction won’t affect front line services: We accept that everyone in public service has to play their part in dealing with the state of the economy. We have got to be sensible in the way we do it. But we cannot pretend that the scale of cuts we face will not impact on the front line of policing…It is simply not possible.” 11.57am: This is a very sad report from freelance contributor Rachel Pugh about an international flautist who lost lost pretty much everything including rare instruments and her two cats during the riots after her Croydon flat was burned down. An internationally-known flautist has lost an irreplaceable collection of instruments made for her, when rioters burned her Croydon flat to the ground as part of the weekend disturbances. Carla Rees, 34, is reeling from the loss of more than 10 flutes including two specially made Kingma flutes built for her in the Netherlands and on which she has based her international contemporary music career. She has also lost her music library, including a unique collection of 600 pieces of unpublished music written for her and her ensemble Rarescale, complete with composers’ comments that she says are almost as important as the sheets of music themselves. Her two cats also perished in the fire that completely gutted the building on London Road where she had her second-floor flat. The whole building is having to be demolished. “I am lucky to be alive,” says Carla, who studied at the Royal College of Music in London. She and her boyfriend had just come back from a weekend coaching the National Youth Wind Orchestra, when they encountered gangs of youths and smashed cars in the street. Fearful of the atmosphere, they grabbed clean clothes, fed the cats and booked into a hotel. An hour later, her home was in ruins. A website to help her has already been set up. 11.40am: BREAKING : Two males charged with the murder of three Asian men who were hit by a car whilst protecting local businesses in Birmingham have appeared in court this morning. This is from the Press Association: Joshua Donald, 26, from Kelsall Croft, Ladywood, appeared before magistrates charged with three counts of murder. Donald and a 17-year-old male from Winson Green, who cannot be named because of his age, were arrested on Thursday and were charged late last night after police were granted extra time to question them. Donald, who appeared in court sporting a beard, wearing dark jeans and a black hooded top, spoke only to confirm his name, age and address. In the hearing, which lasted less than five minutes, District Judge Michael Wheeler said to him: “It is said that on August 10 you murdered Shazad Ali, it is also said you murdered Haroon Jahan and you also murdered Abdul Musavir.” Mr Wheeler told the defendant his case could not be dealt with at magistrates’ court and he was to be remanded in custody to appear at Birmingham Crown Court tomorrow. As Donald was taken down by a dock officer a woman in the public gallery mouthed “I love you” to him. The 17-year-old defendant is also due to appear in court today but the case has yet to be heard. 11.34am: Apologies for that technical hitch. The comments section has now been turned on. 11.19am: An update from my colleague Matthew Taylor who is at Westminster magistrates court today. He says that two court rooms are sitting and that they have 60 cases to get through – a fair whack for any day let alone a Sunday. He describes the scene as “low level chaos” with many of the lawyers including those from the CPS lacking the right papers. Hearings were supposed to start at 10am but proceedings are already running over an hour late. Court officials have told him that they expect to be there until late afternoon but a security guards thinks has been told he’ll be there until 8pm. 11.06am: Here’s Cameron’s retort to Orde in the Sunday Telegraph. Asked by columnist Matthew D’Ancona whether he was all for zero tolerance and new policing strategy Cameron replies : Yes, I do. This is why I am so keen on police accountability, where you see police chiefs accountable to elected representatives, as you do in London, I don’t think it is any surprise London was one of the first places to introduce that sort of beat-based policing with a far greater degree of zero tolerance. 10.49am: Sir Hugh Orde, head of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), has given an interview to the Independent on Sunday about the appointment of Los Angeles ‘super cop’ Bill Bratton who has been brought in to advise David Cameron on ‘zero tolerance’ style gang policing. The interview contains some firm words for the prime minister: I am not sure I want to learn about gangs from an area of America that has 400 of them. It seems to me, if you’ve got 400 gangs, then you’re not being very effective. If you look at the style of policing in the States, and their levels of violence, they are so fundamentally different from here. “What I suggested to the Home Secretary is a more sensible approach, maybe to look across far wider styles of policing; and, more usefully, at European styles – they, like us, are bound by the European Convention. My sense is, when we’ve done that, we will find the British model is probably the top. We will not get things right all the time. It’s sad it takes an event like this to counter some of the more negative attacks on policing which is totally unjustified. As background Orde, who is generally well respected and has a lot of public order experience having spent years in Northern Ireland, is one of the current contenders for the position of the head of the Met. It is also worth noting that he and his other senior officers have been brewing since the start of the year over government plans to introduce elected police chiefs – a move to a more US style of policing. 10.35am: Good morning. Welcome to continuing coverage of the aftermath of the riots which began striking English cities eight days ago. Here’s a brief round-up and what’s happened and what’s to come: • The rift between the government and police officers over tactics and policing strategy has continued to widen. The appointment of US senior cop Bill Bratton to advise on gangs and policing strategy has caused a strong reaction from ACPO chief Sir Hugh Orde . • In continued unprecedented opening hours, magistrates courts around the country will be sitting today and hearing cases . Also expected in court are those charged with the murder of the three Asian males from Birmingham who were killed after they were struck by a car while trying to protect local businesses. • A number of magistrates’ sentences are causing controversy , most notably that of a 24-year-old mother of two who received six months for handling a stolen pair of shorts . Harsh sentences and plans to evict rioters and their families from council housing have cause serious disagreement between members of the coalition as senior Lib Dems call for an end to “kneejerk” reactions . • Operations around the country to arrest those involved in the looting are expected to continue. The latest figures from the Metropolitan police are that 1,401 people have been arrested with 808 being charged with offences. UK riots Police London Crime David Cameron Theresa May Birmingham Manchester Shiv Malik guardian.co.uk
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Anti-government activists say gunboats and armoured vehicles have fired on Sunni-majority city, killing at least 19 people At least 19 people were shot dead in the Syrian port city of Latakia on Sunday morning as the Assad regime’s aggressive military campaign to quell protests during the holy month of Ramadan continued. Machine guns were fired from at least one ship and several armoured vehicles at the neighbourhood of Ramel, according to local residents and activists. “Tanks and armoured cars entered as far as possible into the narrow streets and they started to use machine guns to fire at some houses,” said Amer al-Sadeq, a pseudonym for a representative of the Syrian Revolution Co-ordinators Union. Another local activist network, the Local Co-ordination Committees, posted amateur footage on its Facebook page showing a boat apparently patrolling the Latakia coastline, although its location could not be confirmed. Local residents say the latest incidents began on Saturday when armed vehicles approached the neighbourhood and opened fire, activists said. The death toll across Syria has escalated during the first half of Ramadan, bringing the total to around 2,000 people since the uprising began five months ago. A resident from Latakia, who identified himself only as Ahmad, said women and children fled the area on Saturday night as gunfire started and two people were shot dead. He said mosques called on regime forces not to shoot, to no avail, and that the assault continued on Sunday morning. Ahmad said only one nurse was currently operating in the area, where more than 50 people required treatment, after doctors from the local medical clinic were arrested two months ago. There have been large and persistent protests in the Ramel neighbourhood, in the south of Latakia on Syria’s small stretch of coastline. The Sunni-majority city is in the heartland of the Alawite sect, to which President Bashar al-Assad belongs, and is home to religiously diverse neighbourhoods. In March when protesters took to the streets for a sit-in protest against the crackdown in the opposition hub of Deraa, presidential adviser Buthaina Shaaban attributed the unrest to sectarian strife, encouraged by a sermon by Qatar-based cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi. Since then residents say the shabiha , a gang of former smugglers loyal to the Assad family, and security forces have sought to pin down areas and scare people about the danger of sectarian clashes. Over the past five months residents have spoken of Sunni neighbourhoods being warned of attacks by Alawites and Alawite neighbourhoods being warned of a Sunni backlash if the regime falls. Activists say sectarianism is not playing a part and a handful of defections are fuelling continuing clashes. Ahmad said a small number of soldiers had defected in the area to join the fightback against the regime. “Now there is a battle between defected soldiers and the others,” he said. Radwan Ziadeh, a US-based Syrian human rights expert, told the Guardian: “The regime is repeating what it did in Hama and Deir Ezzor to try to put an end to this. And every time we see more violence, some soldiers defect, and we see more violence.” Opposition figures are looking for greater splits in the army than handfuls of defectors, which they see as key to toppling the regime. The regime, which has not spoken about the assault in Latakia, claims it is fighting armed gangs and Islamists. Nour Ali is the pseudonym of a journalist based in Damascus Syria Bashar Al-Assad Middle East Arab and Middle East unrest Protest Nour Ali guardian.co.uk
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• Hit F5 for all of the latest updates from the match • Stats centre: league tables, top scorers and much more • And you can email jacob.steinberg.casual@guardian.co.uk 3 min: Pennant curls it into the six-yard box, but the whistle blows for a foul on Cech. 2 min: The first Rory Delap long throw of the season. The first of many. He hurls it in from the right and with some difficulty, Cech, flapping slightly, punches clear. Ramires hooks it out of the box, but Stoke keep the pressure up, Walters winning a corner on the left. 1 min: At a very loud Britannia Stadium – as if that needed saying – we’re off. Chelsea, kicking from right to left, get us going. Fernando Torres doesn’t mess up the kick-off, so he’s already looking better than he did last season. “Going by the success of debutants so far I reckon Villas-Boas’ll get manhandled by Shawcross and get red-carded,” offers Oliver Lewis. Or he’ll nick Tony Pulis’s baseball cap. These youngsters get up to all sorts. Ray Wilkins, in the commentary box, makes a very good point about Drogba’s absence from the starting line-up meaning Chelsea will be weaker when defending set-pieces. Good old Raymondo. The first email. “Did he?” asks Benjamin List of Adrian Mole. “He quoted from it in his impassioned argument about the Falklands, he must’ve had some knowledge, even if it was only an inkling, as to it’s intended meaning. Anyway, 1-1. Lampard with Chelsea’s, Woodgate for Stoke. But he’ll injure himself in the process and it’ll turn from triumph to tragedy.” Chelsea won’t have fond memories of Jonathan Woodgate as well. Everyone’s been asking about what to expect from Villas-Boas. I’ve got no idea to be honest, having not followed the Portuguese league last season. I do know that he’s 33 and worked for Jose Mourinho though. Stoke (4-4-2): Begovic; Huth, Shawcross, Woodgate, Wilson; Pennant, Delap, Whelan, Etherington; Jones, Walters. Subs: Sorensen, Collins, Pugh, Diao, Whitehead, Wilkinson, Shotton. Chelsea (4-3-3): Cech; Bosingwa, Alex, Terry, Cole; Ramires, Mikel, Lampard; Kalou, Torres, Malouda. Subs: Hilario, Ivanovic, Benayoun, Drogba, Ferreira, McEachran, Anelka. Referee: Mark Halsey (Lancashire) Some early team news for you. Fernando Torres starts for Chelsea. He suffered concussion during Spain’s defeat to Italy on Wednesday, but is deemed fit to play. Well. That’s a big vote of confidence in the Spaniard from Villas-Boas. Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka are apparently left on the bench. So can Andre Villas-Boas do it on a dry, warm Sunday afternoon in Stoke? There are probably better places than the Britannia Stadium for the manager – who is 33 years old and used to work for Jose Mourinho – to get acquainted with English football. In this fixture last season, Stoke gave Chelsea a good going over and were desperately unlucky not to come away with all three points, the match ending in a 1-1 draw. There shouldn’t be too many surprises from Stoke: no-nonsense defending, set-pieces, a reliance on Matthew Etherington to provide the creativity, plenty of long balls and no end of endeavour from their two attackers. It sounds simple, but then Adrian Mole thought Animal Farm was a pleasant novel about a group of animals on a farm. Although Chelsea have a new look in the dug-out, not much has changed on the pitch. In fact, three years after Sir Alex Ferguson suggested that Chelsea were too old to win the title, there squad largely remains the same from then, barring a few tweaks here and there. The days of big spending at Stamford Bridge increasingly appear to be over, the splurge on Fernando Torres and David Luiz in January the exception rather than the rule. From 2003 to 2006, Chelsea bought the likes of Hernan Crespo, Juan Sebastian Veron, Didier Drogba, Arjen Robben, Michael Essien, Petr Cech, Ricardo Carvalho, Michael Ballack and, er, Andriy Shevchenko. This summer, they’ve bought Oriol Romeu and Thibault Courtois, with Romelu Lukaku on the way. Not quite the same, is it? The problem for Villas-Boas’s predecessor, Carlo Ancelotti, during Chelsea’s dodgy spell last season was a thin squad and that problem hasn’t been rectified. Today Chelsea are likely to have a clutch of youngsters, squad players and Fernando Torres on the bench. Perhaps Luka Modric will be signed. Wesley Sneijder’s available as well. Hint, hint. Right now, Chelsea do not have a team capable of keeping up with the Manchester clubs, let alone one that can harbour realistic hopes of winning the Champions League, the holy grail for Roman Abramovich. No pressure, AVB. Premier League 2011-12 Stoke City Chelsea Premier League Jacob Steinberg guardian.co.uk
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Ignacio Estrada ties the knot with Wendy Iriepa, whose sex-change operation was paid for by the state A gay man and a woman whose sex-change operation was paid for by the state tied the knot this weekend in a first-of-its-kind wedding for Cuba. The bride, Wendy Iriepa, 37, arrived at the wedding hall in Havana in a full white wedding gown, with flowers in her hair and holding a rainbow flag. Inside, a public notary joined the couple in a brief civil ceremony and the newlyweds kissed to cheers from friends and family. “This is the first wedding between a transsexual woman and a gay man,” said the 31-year-old groom, Ignacio Estrada. “We celebrate it at the top of our voices and affirm that this is a step forward for the gay community in Cuba.” Gay marriage is not legal in Cuba and Saturday’s wedding does nothing to change that, since Iriepa – born Alexis – is a woman in the eyes of the law. She underwent sex-change surgery in 2007 as part of a pilot programme that began in earnest the following year and made gender-reassignment procedures part of the island’s universal healthcare system. One other transgender woman married years ago, but Iriepa is the first to do so having benefited from the new policy. In the early years after Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution, homosexuality was considered highly suspect in Cuba along with other “alternative” forms of expression, such as US fashion trends and rock’n’roll. Many gay and transsexual people were fired from government jobs, jailed, sent to work camps or went into exile. That climate of persecution was chronicled by the exiled writer Reinaldo Arenas’ autobiographical Before Night Falls, which became a feature film starring Javier Bardem. Today the island and its government are much more tolerant. Cuba’s most prominent gay rights activist is Mariela Castro, Fidel’s niece and the daughter of the president, Raul Castro. She heads the National Sex Education Centre and, at a transgender event on Friday, she spoke of the institution’s work, including anti-homophobia campaigns and pushing for the state to cover sex-change operations. “One of our accomplishments has made it possible for Wendy to get married,” she said. “It seems she found the love of her life and we wish her many congratulations, because all of our work has been for this, the wellbeing and happiness of our sisters.” Castro’s words belied divisions that have taken hold within the gay movement. Some have accused her of monopolising the cause and struck out on their own, organizing a separate, smaller pride march this year and coming to be labelled members of a “dissident” gay community. Estrada was part of that march, and Iriepa left her job at the Sex Education Centre, reportedly after Castro questioned the relationship. Castro said she was not invited to the wedding. Iriepa thanked Castro for wishing them well. “I think this has been politicised by the Cuban government. I have not wanted to make this into a circus or something really political,” she said. “It is the happiest day of my life.” Estrada, in recent comments to the US-based Radio Marti, called the marriage a “birthday present to Fidel Castro to remind him of the atrocities he committed against the Cuban gay community, above all in the 1960s.” Castro, who turned 85 on Saturday, has expressed regret in recent years over the treatment of gay people during that period. Cuba Gay rights guardian.co.uk
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Deputy first minister attacks dissident republicans after disturbances at the climax of loyalist marching season Northern Ireland’s deputy first minister Martin McGuinness has branded republican youths involved in rioting in his native Derry this weekend as sectarian. It was one of the strongest attacks McGuinness has made on dissident republicans and their supporters since the Real IRA and other anti-ceasefire groups have escalated their violent campaigns over the past two years. Four men were arrested overnight in connection with the disturbances during which cars were hijacked and in one incident a mother and daughter were pulled out of their vehicle. Petrol bombs were thrown at police officers and vans by masked youths in the Bogside area, and at the Apprentice Boys’ Memorial Hall HQ in Derry at the climax of the loyalist marching season. Dissident republicans were also believed to be behind a pipe bomb attack at police lines close to Derry city centre on Saturday evening. No one was injured during the disturbances, which lasted for several hours. The violence erupted after supporters of the Real IRA-linked 32 County Sovereignty Movement attempted to make their way into the city centre. At the time up to 15,000 members of the Apprentice Boys along with their supporters were marching in Derry. McGuinness said on Sunday: “What we witnessed last night in Derry was completely unacceptable. I challenge those who were behind this violence to come out and try and defend the incidents that occurred in our city. “Let them stand over a mother and daughter being dragged from their car in Creggan and other people’s livelihoods being destroyed with work vans being burnt. “The attacks on the Memorial Hall were motivated entirely by sectarianism and whoever carried them out should know that such behaviour goes against everything about Irish Republicanism.” He added: “The vast majority of people in Derry want to get on with the job of moving this city forward. Those behind last night’s violence seem to be wedded to an entirely different agenda.” Dissident republicans had staged protests against the parade and were involved in scuffles with police as the march passed through the centre of the city. The Apprentice Boys’ celebrations marked the 322nd anniversary of the ending of the Siege of Derry in 1689 and has in the past been the focal point of violent republican counter-demonstrations. Northern Ireland Martin McGuinness Real IRA Henry McDonald guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …55-year-old director of Muktir Gaan and Matir Moina was one of Bangladesh’s most prominent and celebrated film-makers One of Bangladesh’s most prominent and celebrated film-makers died on Saturday when the car in which he was travelling collided head-on with a speeding bus outside Dhaka. Tareque Masud died along with Ashfaque Munier Mishuk, the head of a local television channel, and three other people. Masud’s American-born wife and producer, Catherine Masud, and the Bangladeshi painter Dhali Al Mamun are in a serious condition in hospital. Masud, 55, rose to prominence with the films Muktir Gaan in 1995 and Matir Moina in 2002, the latter of which is based on Masud’s experiences as a madrassa student during Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971. The film won a Fipresci prize at the 2002 Cannes film festival and was the first Bangladeshi film to compete for the best foreign-language film award a the Oscars. Mishuk, 52, was an eminent cinematographer and journalist who had worked for BBC World, Discovery Channel and National Geographic. Thousands of people gathered at the Central Shaheed Minar monument in Dhaka on Sunday to pay their respects. The education minister, Nurul Islam Nahid, said: “It is a very unfortunate incident for us. Masud through his movies had given a new dimension to liberation war. Mishuk was an immensely talented journalist. It is a national loss.” Professor Mazharul Hoque, a road safety expert at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, said Bangladesh had one of the worst crash rates in the world, at more than 60 per 10,000 registered motor vehicles. The official death toll for road traffic accidents is about 4,000 a year, but independent research funded by agencies such as Britain’s Department for International Development have put the figure twice as high. Activists blame shoddy roads, poorly maintained vehicles and reckless drivers. Last month 43 schoolchildren died near the port city of Chittagong when the truck taking them home from a football match overturned. Bangladesh Road transport guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …55-year-old director of Muktir Gaan and Matir Moina was one of Bangladesh’s most prominent and celebrated film-makers One of Bangladesh’s most prominent and celebrated film-makers died on Saturday when the car in which he was travelling collided head-on with a speeding bus outside Dhaka. Tareque Masud died along with Ashfaque Munier Mishuk, the head of a local television channel, and three other people. Masud’s American-born wife and producer, Catherine Masud, and the Bangladeshi painter Dhali Al Mamun are in a serious condition in hospital. Masud, 55, rose to prominence with the films Muktir Gaan in 1995 and Matir Moina in 2002, the latter of which is based on Masud’s experiences as a madrassa student during Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971. The film won a Fipresci prize at the 2002 Cannes film festival and was the first Bangladeshi film to compete for the best foreign-language film award a the Oscars. Mishuk, 52, was an eminent cinematographer and journalist who had worked for BBC World, Discovery Channel and National Geographic. Thousands of people gathered at the Central Shaheed Minar monument in Dhaka on Sunday to pay their respects. The education minister, Nurul Islam Nahid, said: “It is a very unfortunate incident for us. Masud through his movies had given a new dimension to liberation war. Mishuk was an immensely talented journalist. It is a national loss.” Professor Mazharul Hoque, a road safety expert at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, said Bangladesh had one of the worst crash rates in the world, at more than 60 per 10,000 registered motor vehicles. The official death toll for road traffic accidents is about 4,000 a year, but independent research funded by agencies such as Britain’s Department for International Development have put the figure twice as high. Activists blame shoddy roads, poorly maintained vehicles and reckless drivers. Last month 43 schoolchildren died near the port city of Chittagong when the truck taking them home from a football match overturned. Bangladesh Road transport guardian.co.uk
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