Amy Winehouse’s death has left her family “bereft” and struggling to cope with a “gaping hole” in their lives, while the mom of her ex-husband Blake Fielder-Civil fears he may attempt suicide in prison where he’s serving time for burglary and possession of an imitation firearm. “I can’t believe it….
Continue reading …Four teenage boys are in critical condition after they were attacked by a brown bear sow and her cub as they hiked through the Alaskan wilderness. The four, all between the ages of 16 and 18, were at the head of a group of hiking teenagers of the National Outdoor…
Continue reading …Investigators are hunting for a possible British connection to the madman who killed at least 93 people in last week’s terror attack in Norway. Before his cold-blooded assault on a youth camp, Anders Behring Breivik typed a 1,500-page “manifesto,” entirely in English, describing his plans. In it, he says…
Continue reading …
Two students suffer life-threatening injuries after animal attacks group on survival course in Alaskan wilderness Two teenagers have life-threatening injuries after being mauled by a grizzly bear while on a survival skills course in the Alaskan wilderness. The group of seven students, who were on day 24 of a 30-day backpacking course in the Talkeetna mountains, north of Anchorage, had been in single file for a river crossing when the animal attacked. The two teenagers at the front of the line, Joshua Berg, 17, from New City, and Samuel Gottsegen, also 17, from Denver, suffered the most serious injuries. Witnesses said the animal struck out at Berg first, turned to another student, then turned back to Berg. The pair were being treated at Providence Alaska medical centre in Anchorage. Both were in a serious condition, said a hospital spokeswoman, Crystal Bailey. The group was rescued early on Sunday after activating their emergency locator beacon. Staff from the Rescue Co-ordination Centre, operated by the Alaska Air National Guard, were called at around 9.30pm in response to the signal but a state trooper and helicopter pilot only found the students in a tent nearly six hours later. Four of the teenagers were taken to hospital in Palmer city, about 40 miles northeast of Anchorage, where they received emergency treatment, but the rescue team decided the two most seriously injured would have to wait for medically trained crew. Bruce Palmer, a spokesman for the National Outdoor Leadership School, which runs the course and organises excursions in Alaska and elsewhere, said: “Our basic goal is that when a student graduates from the course, they have the experience and background to be able to take other people out into the back country. We’re training people to be outdoor leaders.” Among the skills learned on the course is the practice of calling out, to alert bears of human presence in order to give animals a chance to flee. “The students say they attempted that,” Palmer said. Alaska Animals United States Alexandra Topping guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Aircraft gunfire responsible for ‘regrettable’ injuries in Helmand during attack on insurgents, Ministry of Defence says Five Afghan children have been injured, some seriously, by cannon fire from a British Apache helicopter, according to UK defence officials. It is believed they were hit by stray bullets during an intended attack on an insurgent as they worked in a field in the Nahr-e-Saraj district of Helmand province, on Saturday. The children were taken to Camp Bastion, the main British base in Helmand, for treatment, the Ministry of Defence said. Officials are investigating the incident which is likely to focus on the accuracy of the Apache’s cannon and the speed with which they fire. The MoD is expected to offer compensation in the form of ex gratia payments to the families of the children. An MoD spokeswoman said: “On 23 July, UK forces used an Apache attack helicopter to conduct a strike operation against positively identified insurgents who were seen operating in Nahr-e Saraj (south). Regrettably, five local children working in a neighbouring field were injured during the strike. The five children were taken to Isaf medical facilities before being taken on to Camp Bastion where they received medical care.” She added: “Any incident involving civilian casualties is a matter of deep regret and we take every possible measure to avoid such incidents. A shooting incident review is now under way and UK officials in Afghanistan are keeping the provincial governor abreast of the results of the investigation.” Isaf said in a statement: “We are aware of an incident in Nahr-e-Saraj where a known insurgent was targeted by a coalition helicopter. As a result of the engagement, five local children were regrettably injured. Subsequently, the injured were evacuated to an International Security Assistance Force medical facility and are currently being treated. “Isaf is currently assessing this event, and more details will be released as they become available. Coalition forces take every allegation of civilian casualties seriously.” Isaf has said reducing civilian casualties is a priority. More than 400 civilians were killed by foreign and Afghan forces last year and over 2,000 killed by Taliban-led insurgents, according to UN figures. Afghanistan Military Nato Richard Norton-Taylor guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Somalia’s deputy prime minister tells FAO meeting that people in areas controlled by Al-Shabaab may starve to death if aid does not reach them in the next few weeks The vast majority of people in insurgent-controlled areas of Somalia may starve to death unless aid reaches them in the next few weeks, said Mohamed Ibrahim, Somalia’s deputy prime minister. Ibrahim’s blunt warning came at an emergency summit in Rome organised by France, the current president of the G20, and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) as the world community seeks to mobilise help to relieve Somalia’s first famine in 18
Continue reading …
General Peter Wall has told commanding officers that troop reductions will be imposed sooner than ministers have admitted The head of the army has warned that deep cuts will be imposed sooner than ministers have admitted and will mean the end of regiments and battalions, including some that were recently deployed in Afghanistan. General Peter Wall’s warnings in a letter to all commanding officers, appears to contradict assurances made to MPs last month by the defence secretary, Liam Fox. It also appears to undermine the government’s repeated claims that last October’s strategic defence and security review (SDSR) remains valid. Wall says he regrets the “sobering” impact the extra cuts this will have on soldiers and their families, and the “uncertainties” they will cause. He adds that there are “significant changes to the original SDSR provision for the army, including significant cuts”. Wall writes: “Regular army manpower will be cut more steeply, with an additional reduction of 5,000 over and above the 7,000 already in progress as a result of the SDSR. This takes the army to about 90,000 by 2015. The additional manpower cuts are now being scoped but will inevitably require a further redundancy programme.” He continues: “Although the detailed planning is not yet complete we must assume that these reductions will require the further removal of formed battalions and regiments from the force structure, including the combat arm.” Fox told the Commons on 27 June: “When it comes to plans for the army, we have no plans to reduce its size in this parliament.” It is assumed he meant no further cuts than those already announced in the SDSR. The review said the army numbers would be reduced by about 7,000 to 95,000 by 2015. Wall now warns that the cuts will be deeper, leaving an army of 90,000 by 2015. The total will be further reduced to at least 84,000, perhaps to 82,000, by the year 2020, depending on how many more reservists are recruited by then. Either way, the British army will have fewer soldiers than at any time during the past 100 years. The Guardian reported last week that a number of infantry battalions will be disbanded as a result of the cuts. The head of the army’s letter was first reported in the Daily Telegraph. An Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “No one who is preparing for, or is deployed on operations, will be made redundant unless they volunteer. Only those who have returned from operations and have taken all their leave will be considered.” He added: “The defence secretary has agreed with [chief of the general staff] that we will move gradually towards the new army structure so operations are not adversely affected by additional reductions in regular army numbers, which will be made as we draw down our commitments in Afghanistan in 2014/15.” Military Defence policy Liam Fox Conservative and Liberal Democrat cabinet Richard Norton-Taylor guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
• Email Rob with all your thoughts rob.smyth@guardian.co.uk • Press F5 to refresh this page or use our auto-refresher • Follow Rob on Twitter if that’s your thing 37th over: India 98-2 (Laxman 44, Gambhir 1) England have to make Gambhir play here. He will cautious about the impact of ball on bat and therefore elbow, not to mention the fact it’s early in his innings. Anderson fails to do so for most of that over. “Rob, which Test match team currently has the most dudes, would you say?” asks Mark Lloyd. “As well as being No 1 in the world, India would also seem to have a very respectable dude count. Is there any way of incorating dude-ness into the ranking system, so this can be clarified once and for all?” Goodness knows. Who are the dudes of cricket? Chris Gayle is obviously The Big Lebowski of cricket – look at his magnificent Twitter page , a compelling tale of 12-hour kips, afternoon naps, dancing and cheese – but who else? I don’t know if Afridi qualifies as a dude or simply the second coming. Do England have any dudes? Eoin Morgan maybe. 36th over: India 97-2 (Laxman 43, Gambhir 1) The cake, says Alan Gardner, is ” pretty good “. He has now walked off doing this . Tremlett has Gambhir in his sights. You might some early elbow music, but in fact it’s all fairly orthodox stuff, angled across Gambhir, who has to play only one of the five balls he faces in that over. “Half an hour before the start of play going on a walk to find the end of the queue seemed like a good idea,” says Andy Bull. “Forty minutes later I finally got back to my seat in time to see Jimmy Anderson start the second over of the day. I should be grateful it only took me ten minutes to walk each way from the start to the finish, which was a way away down the Wellington Road and around the corner up into Cavendish Avenue. The man at the very front told me it had taken them two hours to get that far. ‘Where did you join the queue?’ I asked. ‘Somewhere in Hampstead,’ he replied. Lord’s certainly seemed to be caught short by the demand. At 9.30 they were turning people away from the tube station. But by 10.30 the stewards were saying that everyone who joins the line before 11.30 should be able to get in eventually. Inside the ground, irritatingly, there are still a lot of empty seats. There has been, as Selve mentioned, a lot of trouble with touts buying up multiple tickets, which means that there is now a limit of one ticket per person in place, that has slowed things down a lot. Test cricket is, of course, dying. It took me huge amounts of will power, by the way, not to begin this email with the cliche ‘they came in their thousands…’” 35th over: India 96-2 (Laxman 42, Gambhir 1) Blimey, we didn’t expect this: the new batsman is… Dame Judi Dench Gautam Gambhir. The stones on this one! His left elbow is heavily strapped after that horrible blow he took yesterday, but he looks in no pain when the ball hits the bat. He gets off the mark with a single to leg off Anderson, and then leaves a ball that misses off stump by a whisker. It was either a brilliant leave or a seriously lucky one. Actually it was an excellent leave because he did so on length rather than line. “One of my favorite Laxman stories is after he shared a (yet another) 300+ run partnership with Dravid, at Adelaide – just over 2 years after THAT day in Kolkata,” begins R Ramesh. “He was asked what was going through his mind when he walked in to bat, with India chasing 550+ and 4 down for not much, by an Aussie commentator, waxing lyrical for a change. Laxman squinted slightly, thought about it and dead-batted ‘nothing much really’! More of that today, please.” Laxman is brilliant, a rare example of a sportsman for whom you can legitimately use the word ‘dude’. WICKET! India 94-2 (Dravid c Prior b Anderson 36) Gone! Jimmy Anderson has struck, and it’s the key wicket of Rahul Dravid. That is a huge breakthrough so early in the day. Dravid fished needlessly outside off stump at a shortish delivery, with the ball taking a thin edge on its way through to Prior. Dravid is livid and swishes his bat in disgust. That was a poor stroke, especially from a champion like Dravid. 34th over: India 94-1 (Dravid 36, Laxman 41) Laxman leaves Tremlett on length, with the ball just bouncing over the stumps. That was a cracking leave in fact. “The cake,” says Lord Selvey. “Not a recipe from the Alice B Toklas cookbook is it? Could be fun if it is.” Now that’s an OBO I’d pay to read, not to mention write. 33rd over: India 91-1 (Dravid 36, Laxman 41) This is brilliant: we have our first ever OBO cake. Katie Cannon promised to send one in the 28th over on Thursday , and here it is. In a Morrisons bag. I will share it with Alan Gardner, my OBO colleague today (Bull is off sick with a bruised fingernail doing real journalism at the ground) and report back. A cake! A real cake! Anyway, the cricket. Yes. Another near miss for England, with Laxman flick-pulling Anderson in the air but between the men at midwicket and mid on. In fairness, I think he had the shot under control, just about. One more from Anderson and then it might be time for Broad. 32nd over: India 88-1 (Dravid 35, Laxman 38) Tremlett beats Dravid with an excellent lifter. Dravid kisses his teeth, walks to short leg and presses the reset button. As the chaps on Sky said this morning, nobody bats time like Dravid. And now Dravid is dropped! I don’t believe it, Ian Bell has dropped him at short leg. It was a really sharp chance, but Bell doesn’t drop them. He never drops them. Dravid inside-edged a defensive stroke onto the pads, from where it deflected high above Bell’s head. He thrust up a right hand, but the ball didn’t stick. Tremlett beats Dravid next ball as well. This has been a brilliant over. “Over coffee this morning have been musing on Broad’s bad luck this Test,” says Tom Crane. “He could have had a five-for but for the dropped catches, and was then denied a ton but the declaration yesterday. Had he achieved both of these he’d have been on the Honours Board with both bat and ball in the same Test. Anyone know if the last time this was achieved? By and England player?” Here’s the full list . You’ll notice a certain English superhero did it a few times. 31st over: India 87-1 (Dravid 35, Laxman 38) There has been no sign of swing, and Bumble reckons the only swing England might get is reverse. As a result they are bowling a fairly orthodox length, with just the occasional full delivery as a surprise weapon. Anderson’s line is a maybe a touch too wide in that over, which allows Laxman to shoulder arms at most of the deliveries. A maiden. “Are you short of emails because your entire traditional readership queued up at 2am to get in and now have no need of you?” says Stephen Russell. “It’s like empty-nest syndrome, even more so because you know they’ll bankrupt themselves buying chips and beer and come crawling back to you for the next game.” 30th over: India 87-1 (Dravid 35, Laxman 38) Dravid chases a full, wide delivery from Tremlett and slices it on the bounce to Pietersen in the gully. This has been a good start from England. If they could pick up one of these early on, especially Dravid, they will really fancy their chances. “The required rate at the start of play was 3.85 runs per over,” says Richard Clarke. “Comeonindia!” 29th over: India 87-1 (Dravid 35, Laxman 38) Here’s Jimmy Anderson, who has had a surprisingly poor match. He has just two slips and a gully – and England will regret that now, because Laxman has just fenced one in the air through the vacant fourth-slip area for four. That’s well worth the first ‘BAH!’ of the day. It won’t be the last. 28th over: India 81-1 (Dravid 34, Laxman 33) This is sport at its most life-affirming, and they haven’t even bowled a bloody ball yet! To wild cheers, Chris Tremlett runs in to bowl the first ball of the day to Laxman… and Harmisons it down the leg side. The atmosphere is sensational. “Every ball is being cheered” says an incredulous Bumble. Laxman gets the first run of the day with a work to leg. A pretty good first over from Tremlett, that loosener aside. “It is bedlam here,” says Mike Selvey. And that’s just the press box, arf. “The queues are beyond massive and for an hour or more people have been turned away from joining. Queues started at around two o’clock this morning and stretched at one time for more than a mile. Yet here we are ten minutes before play and the ground is barely half full. Lord’s is simply not geared up to cash sales. There have been problems with touts too who have paid people to queue for the max four tickets per head allowed. MCC rapidly reduced that to one per person to try and counter that. But it is already obvious as a different type of crowd who have got a beautiful morning and a tremendous day in prospect.” Sachin Tendulkar can bat from around 12.25pm. I know this because, er, it says so on Twitter. That’s how journalism works, right? Gautam Gambhir is also ready to bat, although probably only in an emergency. Don’t bother going to Lord’s . It is already sold out . Great stuff, and a triumph for the MCC, who priced tickets at £20 and allowed under-16s in free. (Prompting an amusing aside from Ebeneezer Hussain on Sky: “I’ll go in as an under-16, bring a load of kids and get them to pay…”) Even my iPod is excited about today’s play . On shuffle this morning, with 7,877 songs to choose from, it went for this . All together now: “I fell into a burning ring of fire…” So , how many of your colleagues have pulled a sicky today? I contemplated it, but I knew that, knowing my luck, the camera would cut to me having a public display of affection with a bottle of gin at precisely the moment everyone I know at the Guardian lifted their head to look at the TV screen my innate professionalism and simple yet profound love for you, the reader, inevitably won out. I wonder what the most absurd excuse for having today off has been. If hot dogs be the food of love… “Rob, I finally accepted I’m never going to be selected for England last week and – in full Samit Patel style – entered my first ever competitive eating competition,” says Luke Dealtry. “I went to support a friend but there was a no-show, so I was roped into the ‘rookie’ section. And then I found myself sitting alone at a table save for 19 full-size hot-dogs, 30 minutes to do the business and a large crowd of rubberneckers (and they talk about the pressure on Sachin ). Pleased to report I finished in second place on 11 not out in the time allotted, so I did alright. The first five were easy but things got progressively harder with numbers 8-11 being literally some of the toughest eating I have ever done. By the end, I was on a near-constant retch, was succumbing to a 180-pounder headache and had meat-sweats so bad you could’ve fried bacon on me. But I finished. Best of all, my friend vomited on 16 so was disqualified, gifting me bragging rights. I’m never, ever, ever doing that again.” Other bits and bobs 1. A postgraduate student at City University London is conducting some research into how people read and interact with live coverage on guardian.co.uk and would like to recruit some readers to interview over the telephone about their experiences. She’s already had the Naylor Experience. If you are interested in taking part you can fill in this form . 2. Thanks so much to those who sponsored my friend Adam , who is doing a series of runs for SANDS. My colleague Steph Fincham is also bike-riding around Sri Lanka in support of MAG . For the rest of the series, starting on Friday, we’ll have an auction for a pretty cool piece of memorabilia that Lord Selvey has provided. Preamble Morning. In this age of entitlement, all most folk are interested in is instant gratification, which is a shame because playing the long game can be seriously rewarding. A recent study showed that 99.94 per cent of sexual relationships eventuate from one party grinding the other into submission until they are too tired to say anything except “I do”; and it’s fair to say that, if England find a way to take nine Indian wickets today, it will be a darn sight more fulfilling than if they were to blow them away before lunch. This is a going to be a long, long day; a day for that sub-genre of cricket tragics, the cricket masochists. It’ll be a day of nip and tuck, ebb and flow, booze and fags (if you’re so inclined). We’re all going through the wringer. And it’s going to be brilliant . If you’re not so excited that you can’t sit still, you need some urgent shakabuku. For England, things are less urgent. Ninety-eight overs is a bloody long time. England need to chip away, taking every chance and a good percentage of the half-chances. They need to stay calm, even if India are one down at lunch or three down at tea. And they reALLY NEED TO GET EITHER DRAVID OR BLOODY LAXMAN OUT EARLY BECAUSE MY BLOOD PRESSURE CAN’T TAKE THE PROSPECT OF INDIA CHASING OVER 450 TO WIN. Sorry, where was I? Ah yes, staying calm. For both sides it’s going to be a unique test of talent, technique, nerve, patience, stamina, self-belief and ability to ignore the itchy cleft that invariably afflicts you on such a sweltering day. The sort of test only this remarkable and superior sporting format can provide. The precedent for today is neon-lit: the last day at Old Trafford in 2005. Then, as now, thousands were locked out of the ground. Then, England needed ten wickets and Australia 399 runs; today England need nine wickets and India 378 runs. That Test went straight into the pantheon. By 7pm, it might need to shift up and make some room for Lord’s 2011. India in England 2011 England cricket team India cricket team Cricket Over by over reports Rob Smyth Alan Gardner guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Giuseppe Leanza returns to Rome after Irish prime minister accuses Catholic church of attempting to frustrate Cloyne inquiry The Vatican has recalled its ambassador to Ireland after the publication of a devastating report criticising the church’s handling of clerical sex abuse in county Cork. Vatican Radio said the papal nuncio, Giuseppe Leanza, was being called back to Rome for consultations over the Cloyne report , which accused the church authorities, right up to the Vatican itself, of frustrating attempts by Irish police to investigate numerous complaints against priests relating to child sexual abuse. The Irish prime minister, Enda Kenny, launched a blistering attack last week on the Vatican for what he said was an attempt to frustrate the Cloyne inquiry. He accused the Vatican of downplaying the rape of children in order to protect its power and reputation. The Taoiseach said that since making that speech, he had been inundated with thousands of messages ofsupport. His Fine Gael party has traditionally been one of the two main parties protective of the power and privilege of the Catholic church in Ireland. Speaking in Donegal at the weekend, Kenny said he was “astounded” by the response to his words. “The fact that I have had thousands of messages from around the world speaks for itself about the impact and the way people feel,” he said. “The numbers of members of the clergy who have been in touch in the last few days to say it is about time somebody spoke out about these matters in a situation like you are, has astounded me.” After his address to the McGill summer school, Kenny received a standing ovation from the participants. Vatican Ireland Catholicism Enda Kenny Religion Europe Italy Henry McDonald guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Energy firms told to cease ‘Del Boy’ sales tactics and compensate customers
July 25, 2011 No Comment
MPs condemn doorstep salesmen for pressurising consumers into signing up for unsuitable gas and electricity tariffs Energy companies should drop “Del Boy” style sales tricks and pay compensation to customers who were mis-sold gas and electricity contracts on the doorstep, a group of MPs said. In its report, the energy and climate change select committee said it was concerned that householders were being pressured by salesmen into switching suppliers and onto new deals which were no better, and sometimes worse, than their current tariff. Energy regulator Ofgem estimates that 40% of people who switch do not get a better deal. The committee said it seemed that vulnerable customers were being particularly targeted by salesmen, with Ofgem telling MPs that 70% of prepayment customers had been won on the doorstep Tim Yeo, chairman of the select committee, said: “There is mounting concern in parliament about the doorstep selling techniques of large energy companies. “If it turns out that consumers are being persuaded to switch contracts when it’s not in their best interests, by salespeople keen to earn commission, then it would only be right for the energy companies to cough up compensation.” Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE), one of the big six group of energy suppliers, recently suspended all its doorstep activity after being found guilty of two counts of mis-selling in a case brought by Surrey county council. SSE, which is appealing against the Surrey verdict, said the market had changed, with fewer people willing to engage with traditional doorstep sellers. The committee welcomed SSE’s decision and urged other energy companies to take action themselves without waiting for the government or Ofgem to act. Yeo said: “The rest of the big six should ditch the Del Boy sales tricks and concentrate on giving customers the information they need to choose the correct contract.” A spokesman for Ofgem said the select committee was right to highlight the issue of compensation for customers. He added: “Ofgem’s recent review of the retail market signalled that there may be a case for additional powers for the regulator to better protect and put right problems for consumers.” The select committee also said it is concerned over recent rises in energy prices, the growth in the complexity of tariffs and the dominance of the market by six big suppliers. Yeo said a lot of people were “simply bamboozled” by their bills, and that even the energy minister had admitted that he got confused when trying to switch. Consumer organisation Which? estimates that the number of tariffs available to energy customers has risen from 180 to 400 in the past 18 months, even though 99% of all domestic accounts have been held by the big six suppliers since 2008. The select committee criticised Scottish Power for the way it structured increases in gas and electricity tariffs announced in June, saying those who used least energy would be hardest hit. Consumer groups welcomed the MPs’ report. Mike O’Connor, chief executive of Consumer Focus, said: “Cold calling on the doorstep should end now. “Organised confusion, pressured selling, misleading information – no market should be able to operate like that, and especially not one that provides an essential product that is getting more and more expensive.” He added that Ofgem needs to take a firm grip on the market and “set it on the right course for the enormous changes we will all face”. Energy bills Consumer affairs Household bills Consumer rights Utilities Energy industry Scottish and Southern Energy Hilary Osborne guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …