A horse was killed and his owner seriously hurt when swarms of angry bees attacked them in southern California yesterday. The man asked someone to check on his horse as he was being treated in a Riverside emergency room for numerous bee stings. Animal service workers were dispatched to the…
Continue reading …A New Mexico father and stepmother who got drunk with their suicidal, drug-addicted 15-year-old son have been charged with child abuse resulting in death. The teen lost consciousness after a night drinking with the couple and died in hospital 10 days later, ABC News reports. The couple initially denied drinking…
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Photographer David Levene gets exclusive access to No Fit State Circus’s spectacular new show Labyrinth, performed in the extraordinary surroundings of Cornwall’s Eden Project Jim Powell David Levene
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Models at ChinaJoy gaming event in Shanghai banned from wearing bikinis and revealing outfits as authorities clamp down on “vulgarity” To the dismay of attendant geeks but official approval, China’s biggest online gaming fair has ordered exhibitors to cover up their showgirls. While the gaming industry as a whole is not noted for progressive representations of women, Shanghai’s ChinaJoy event – which is sponsored by several official bodies – has become notorious for the scantily clad models promoting gaming stands. The new policy, which follows a government drive against “vulgarity”, limits the number of performers companies may use and how much flesh they may display, the Shanghai Daily newspaper reported on Friday. It includes a ban on bikinis and costumes that expose more than two-thirds of the wearer’s back, and bars models from putting stickers in “sensitive positions”, such as over their breasts. “The length of my dress is longer than before,” one model told the paper. The fair’s organisers were not available for comment but a notice posted on their website earlier this year warned: “To eradicate vulgarity and cultivate a good expo atmosphere [and] avoid a negative impact on ChinaJoy through bad activities … the commission will conduct strict checks on the number, costumes and performance content of performers at the site.” The move follows a government edict last year ordering online gaming companies not to use sexual or violent imagery to promote their products. But thighs and cleavage were still evident in photographs from the event, suggesting exhibitors may be paying more attention to the letter than the spirit of the new code. “To be honest, I came here largely for spicy girls,” said a student, Xavier Du. “I’m satisfied with female models for this year’s ChinaJoy, [who have] impressive faces and curves. I care more about them rather than only sexy clothing.” The event still includes a beauty pageant, described as “the most delightful platform for female players, models and showgirls for gaming companies”. China Games Women Tania Branigan guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Models at ChinaJoy gaming event in Shanghai banned from wearing bikinis and revealing outfits as authorities clamp down on “vulgarity” To the dismay of attendant geeks but official approval, China’s biggest online gaming fair has ordered exhibitors to cover up their showgirls. While the gaming industry as a whole is not noted for progressive representations of women, Shanghai’s ChinaJoy event – which is sponsored by several official bodies – has become notorious for the scantily clad models promoting gaming stands. The new policy, which follows a government drive against “vulgarity”, limits the number of performers companies may use and how much flesh they may display, the Shanghai Daily newspaper reported on Friday. It includes a ban on bikinis and costumes that expose more than two-thirds of the wearer’s back, and bars models from putting stickers in “sensitive positions”, such as over their breasts. “The length of my dress is longer than before,” one model told the paper. The fair’s organisers were not available for comment but a notice posted on their website earlier this year warned: “To eradicate vulgarity and cultivate a good expo atmosphere [and] avoid a negative impact on ChinaJoy through bad activities … the commission will conduct strict checks on the number, costumes and performance content of performers at the site.” The move follows a government edict last year ordering online gaming companies not to use sexual or violent imagery to promote their products. But thighs and cleavage were still evident in photographs from the event, suggesting exhibitors may be paying more attention to the letter than the spirit of the new code. “To be honest, I came here largely for spicy girls,” said a student, Xavier Du. “I’m satisfied with female models for this year’s ChinaJoy, [who have] impressive faces and curves. I care more about them rather than only sexy clothing.” The event still includes a beauty pageant, described as “the most delightful platform for female players, models and showgirls for gaming companies”. China Games Women Tania Branigan guardian.co.uk
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Nicholas Read, who played an Ewok in Return of the Jedi, given suspended sentence for performing sex act in front of teenager An actor who appeared in the Harry Potter and Star Wars films has been given a suspended 20-week jail term for indecently exposing himself to a teenager on a train. Former pantomime star Nicholas Read, who played an Ewok in Return of the Jedi, was told by a judge that a suspended sentence would offer the best opportunity for rehabilitation. Read, of Cheadle, north Staffordshire, was convicted of indecent exposure last month after a 17-year-old girl told Leicester crown court how the actor performed a sex act under the cover of a juggler’s hat. Read was shown mercy by recorder Richard Bond despite having previous convictions for sexual offences, including an incident in which he climbed into the bed of a stage manager and his girlfriend. The 40-year-old’s previous convictions also included a series of “random” and explicit phone calls made to women from a hotel room as long ago as 1995. Passing sentence, Bond said: “A relatively short sentence of imprisonment will not help you, and it certainly will not protect the public from your fantasies. I have had to ask myself this question: is this a case where not just you, but more importantly, the public would benefit from you receiving a short custodial sentence? The answer to that is no.” The judge imposed two specific requirements on Read, which will require him to be supervised by the probation service and to undertake a community sex offender group work programme. Read, who must also pay £500 towards the cost of his prosecution, was arrested last October after “trapping” his victim in a window seat on a train travelling between London and Leicester. Bond described Read’s latest offence as chilling, telling him: “It was obvious that she was extremely scared by what you did to her. She was so scared that she couldn’t complain immediately for fear that you would touch her.” Offering mitigation, Read’s defence barrister, Nigel Hamilton, said his client had been involved with pantomimes since the age of 16, earning a weekly wage of up to £800. Hamilton told the court: “He will not be able to do that anymore – he has had cancellations left, right and centre.” Crime guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Nicholas Read, who played an Ewok in Return of the Jedi, given suspended sentence for performing sex act in front of teenager An actor who appeared in the Harry Potter and Star Wars films has been given a suspended 20-week jail term for indecently exposing himself to a teenager on a train. Former pantomime star Nicholas Read, who played an Ewok in Return of the Jedi, was told by a judge that a suspended sentence would offer the best opportunity for rehabilitation. Read, of Cheadle, north Staffordshire, was convicted of indecent exposure last month after a 17-year-old girl told Leicester crown court how the actor performed a sex act under the cover of a juggler’s hat. Read was shown mercy by recorder Richard Bond despite having previous convictions for sexual offences, including an incident in which he climbed into the bed of a stage manager and his girlfriend. The 40-year-old’s previous convictions also included a series of “random” and explicit phone calls made to women from a hotel room as long ago as 1995. Passing sentence, Bond said: “A relatively short sentence of imprisonment will not help you, and it certainly will not protect the public from your fantasies. I have had to ask myself this question: is this a case where not just you, but more importantly, the public would benefit from you receiving a short custodial sentence? The answer to that is no.” The judge imposed two specific requirements on Read, which will require him to be supervised by the probation service and to undertake a community sex offender group work programme. Read, who must also pay £500 towards the cost of his prosecution, was arrested last October after “trapping” his victim in a window seat on a train travelling between London and Leicester. Bond described Read’s latest offence as chilling, telling him: “It was obvious that she was extremely scared by what you did to her. She was so scared that she couldn’t complain immediately for fear that you would touch her.” Offering mitigation, Read’s defence barrister, Nigel Hamilton, said his client had been involved with pantomimes since the age of 16, earning a weekly wage of up to £800. Hamilton told the court: “He will not be able to do that anymore – he has had cancellations left, right and centre.” Crime guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …News of the World staffers were promised they’d be taken care of, but it’s turned out to be very cold comfort. The entire crew found themselves out on the street last month when owner Rupert Murdoch’s (now busted) editor Rebekah Brooks announced a shutdown of the tabloid amid the phone…
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Deep cuts to inner-city youth services are already causing gang to rise, while knife crime in London is up by almost 10% The UK’s cities should brace themselves for a summer of gang and knife violence as the impact of cuts to youth services takes hold, experts are warning. Youth violence is already increasing in London. Figures given to the Guardian reveal that serious youth violence increased by 4% year on year across the capital, with a 9.6% spike in knife crime. There are fears that deep cuts to youth services, particularly to programmes that divert inner-city youths away from gangs and knife crime, could have a devastating impact on crime levels. Professor John Pitts , who advises several London local authorities on gangs and violent crime, warned that inner cities were likely to experience increased crime as the holidays begin. “If you cut summer activities for young people as night follows day you will see an increase in crime,” he said. “My anxiety is that those gang members who were in school will now be on the streets. Coupled with cuts to the services they use and fewer youth workers who can mediate, those streets will be a lot more dangerous and I would expect the level of crime and violence to rise.” Gang violence, including peer violence against girls and young women, is increasing, he said. “It is getting worse, it is becoming more embedded and more serious – this is not the time to be pulling the plug.” Eight teenagers have died in London already this year, including Negus McLean , 15, who was chased by seven youths on bicycles before being stabbed. Earlier this month Yemurai Kanyangarara , 16, died after being stabbed in the neck – two 15-years-old youths and a 14-year-old boy have since been arrested. According to Scotland Yard the number of recorded knife-crime injuries in London went up from 941 to 1,070 in the three months between February and April this year compared with the previous three months; victims in the 13-24 aged group injured during knife crime increased by more than 30% between 2008-09 and 2010-11. Youth services, particularly those that prevent gang violence, have been savaged by local authorities because of government-imposed cuts. More than £100m was removed from local authority services for young people up to March this year, according to the Confederation of Heads of Young People’s Services , which surveyed 41 of their members. Budget cuts imposed at the start of the financial year averaged 28%, but some local authorities were cutting 70%, 80% or even 100% of youth services, it said. And almost 3,000 full-time staff who work with youths have been lost. Universal services such as youth clubs have been hit hardest: 96% of the 41 heads of youth services who responded said club activities would be either reduced or stopped altogether by April next year. MPs on the education select committee warned parliament last month that “disproportionate budget reductions” could have “dramatic and long-lasting” consequences. Graham Stuart, the select committee’s chairman, told the Guardian the current situation was “damaging” and an increase in crime was “inevitable”. He said: “Tim Loughton [the children's minister] has said that cuts to children’s services are disproportionate and we agree.” Youth services have been cut in every area of the country. According to the union Unison , Norfolk, Suffolk, Buckinghamshire and Manchester part of a “growing number of local authorities planning to get rid of the youth service altogether”. Birmingham is likely to reduce youth services by 50% over the next three years; Haringey and Hull local authorities have cut 75% of its their youth services; Warwickshire is facing an 80% cut; the prime minister’s Witney constituency, in Oxfordshire, has closed 20 out of 27 youth centres – there is not a youth service in the country that remains untouched. At the same time London Councils – a lobbying organisation that promotes the interests of the 32 London boroughs, the City of London, the Metropolitan Police Authority and the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority – has warned about the consequences of slashing funding to youth-offending teams by as much as 30% in some boroughs. And the Youth Justice Board is to be scrapped, leading MPs to warn that the move could prove costly if crime rates rise. The government hopes the voluntary sector will play a bigger role in tackling the youth violence, announcing £18m of funding earlier this year to help charities tackle knife, gun and gang crime after Brooke Kinsella, the actress turned knife crime campaigner whose brother Ben was killed in 2008, released a report. Some charities argue this is not new money, and with 70% of voluntary organisation funding coming from already squeezed local authorities, according to the union Unison, some in the sector fear charities will be unable to provide a comprehensive system. Smaller charities, while doing positive work, can be uncoordinated and much effective inter-agency work will be lost, warned Mick Hurley, an adviser to Greater Manchester police on serious youth violence, who was awarded an OBE last year for services to young people. Knife crime Gangs Crime UK criminal justice Youth justice Young people Alexandra Topping guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Deep cuts to inner-city youth services are already causing gang to rise, while knife crime in London is up by almost 10% The UK’s cities should brace themselves for a summer of gang and knife violence as the impact of cuts to youth services takes hold, experts are warning. Youth violence is already increasing in London. Figures given to the Guardian reveal that serious youth violence increased by 4% year on year across the capital, with a 9.6% spike in knife crime. There are fears that deep cuts to youth services, particularly to programmes that divert inner-city youths away from gangs and knife crime, could have a devastating impact on crime levels. Professor John Pitts , who advises several London local authorities on gangs and violent crime, warned that inner cities were likely to experience increased crime as the holidays begin. “If you cut summer activities for young people as night follows day you will see an increase in crime,” he said. “My anxiety is that those gang members who were in school will now be on the streets. Coupled with cuts to the services they use and fewer youth workers who can mediate, those streets will be a lot more dangerous and I would expect the level of crime and violence to rise.” Gang violence, including peer violence against girls and young women, is increasing, he said. “It is getting worse, it is becoming more embedded and more serious – this is not the time to be pulling the plug.” Eight teenagers have died in London already this year, including Negus McLean , 15, who was chased by seven youths on bicycles before being stabbed. Earlier this month Yemurai Kanyangarara , 16, died after being stabbed in the neck – two 15-years-old youths and a 14-year-old boy have since been arrested. According to Scotland Yard the number of recorded knife-crime injuries in London went up from 941 to 1,070 in the three months between February and April this year compared with the previous three months; victims in the 13-24 aged group injured during knife crime increased by more than 30% between 2008-09 and 2010-11. Youth services, particularly those that prevent gang violence, have been savaged by local authorities because of government-imposed cuts. More than £100m was removed from local authority services for young people up to March this year, according to the Confederation of Heads of Young People’s Services , which surveyed 41 of their members. Budget cuts imposed at the start of the financial year averaged 28%, but some local authorities were cutting 70%, 80% or even 100% of youth services, it said. And almost 3,000 full-time staff who work with youths have been lost. Universal services such as youth clubs have been hit hardest: 96% of the 41 heads of youth services who responded said club activities would be either reduced or stopped altogether by April next year. MPs on the education select committee warned parliament last month that “disproportionate budget reductions” could have “dramatic and long-lasting” consequences. Graham Stuart, the select committee’s chairman, told the Guardian the current situation was “damaging” and an increase in crime was “inevitable”. He said: “Tim Loughton [the children's minister] has said that cuts to children’s services are disproportionate and we agree.” Youth services have been cut in every area of the country. According to the union Unison , Norfolk, Suffolk, Buckinghamshire and Manchester part of a “growing number of local authorities planning to get rid of the youth service altogether”. Birmingham is likely to reduce youth services by 50% over the next three years; Haringey and Hull local authorities have cut 75% of its their youth services; Warwickshire is facing an 80% cut; the prime minister’s Witney constituency, in Oxfordshire, has closed 20 out of 27 youth centres – there is not a youth service in the country that remains untouched. At the same time London Councils – a lobbying organisation that promotes the interests of the 32 London boroughs, the City of London, the Metropolitan Police Authority and the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority – has warned about the consequences of slashing funding to youth-offending teams by as much as 30% in some boroughs. And the Youth Justice Board is to be scrapped, leading MPs to warn that the move could prove costly if crime rates rise. The government hopes the voluntary sector will play a bigger role in tackling the youth violence, announcing £18m of funding earlier this year to help charities tackle knife, gun and gang crime after Brooke Kinsella, the actress turned knife crime campaigner whose brother Ben was killed in 2008, released a report. Some charities argue this is not new money, and with 70% of voluntary organisation funding coming from already squeezed local authorities, according to the union Unison, some in the sector fear charities will be unable to provide a comprehensive system. Smaller charities, while doing positive work, can be uncoordinated and much effective inter-agency work will be lost, warned Mick Hurley, an adviser to Greater Manchester police on serious youth violence, who was awarded an OBE last year for services to young people. Knife crime Gangs Crime UK criminal justice Youth justice Young people Alexandra Topping guardian.co.uk
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