The very last space shuttle landing was as smooth as they come. NASA’s 30-year space shuttle program came to end just before sunrise as Atlantis landed safely in Florida, the AP reports. The shuttle, which performed perfectly during its final mission to resupply the International Space Station is home for…
Continue reading …Chris Christie’s approval ratings have dived and the Republican would be dead even with his favorite Democratic rock star in a hypothetical 2013 contest for New Jersey governor, according to a new poll. Christie—who has clashed with the Boss over spending cuts —and Springsteen both scored 42% in the…
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Marine Le Pen says on Belgian national day that Paris should consider turning francophone half of politically riven Belgium into French region When are foreigners not foreign, but Gallic compatriots in all but name? When they are French-speaking neighbours with a penchant for moules and frites, it seems. France’s far-right Front National party is prepared to soften its notoriously hard line against immigrants in the case of its francophone Belgian cousins. Not that the party leader, Marine Le Pen, is suggesting all French-speaking Walloons come to France en masse; simply that Paris might consider taking on half of Belgium. In a provocative statement issued on Belgium’s national day, Le Pen said if Belgium could not remain united, Paris should “extend a hand” to the francophones and suggest they be allowed to decide whether to become a region of France. The idea would be laughable if the situation in Belgium were not so ridiculous. The Dutch-speaking north, where the Flamands live, and the French-speaking south, home to the Walloons, have been unable to agree on how the country should be run since an election last year. Brussels, a largely French-speaking enclave in the Flemish area, is particularly contested. As a result of the deadlock, the Belgians have now been without a government for more than 400 days. “The political situation that Belgium is going through is getting worse, appears to have no solution and has left both Walloons and Flamands in a terrible uncertainty,” Le Pen wrote in a statement. “Nobody is rejoicing at this situation and everyone in France shares the Belgians’ concerns. At this time of the Belgian national day, it is nevertheless the responsibility of France and the French to extend a hand to the Walloons. “If Belgium is going to split, if Flanders pronounces its independence, which seems more and more credible a possibility, the French republic would do well to welcome Wallonia to its heart.” Le PenShe said there were “historic and fraternal links that unite our two people”, and these links were “too strong for France to abandon the Walloons”. She said any such plan should be agreed by a referendum in both countries. In his eve-of-holiday address, King Albert II urged Belgians to find a political solution to their differences and to rapidly form a government. “Our current situation is causing concern among our partners and may even damage our position at the heart of Europe, and even call into question the European construction itself, already undermined by eurosceptics and populists,” the 77-year-old monarch said. Belgians accused Le Pen of fuelling nationalism. “It’s a Pandora’s Box and will simply fuel the cause of autonomists … those from Flanders, Savoy, Brittany, Corsica, the Basque region will be jumping for joy,” wrote one commentator on the Belgian newspaper Le Soir’s website. Another wrote: “There will never be a French Wallonia … there has never been an example in history of two peoples being united on the basis of their language, except Germany and that was one nation to start with. The Walloons are too proud to fall for such a low idea.” However, another wrote: “For all those who predict that an attachment with France will never happen, I ask you not to react in an emotional way. Open the debate so at last we can discuss this.” After 400 days without a government, French-speaking Belgians might just be prepared to consider Le Pen’s offer. On the other hand, it might persuade them to come to an agreement with their Flemish compatriots. Marine Le Pen France Belgium The far right Europe Kim Willsher guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Fake Apple products are common in China but some entrepreneurs have stepped it up a notch with entire fake Apple stores. Kunming-based blogger BirdAbroad stumbled across one such store, and found that its interior—and products—resembled the real thing so closely that she had to check online to make…
Continue reading …At least 22 deaths have now been attributed to the heat wave scorching the US this week, which one AccuWeather meteorologist yesterday predicted would “be more significant and impact a larger area than the deadly 1995 heat wave.” That disaster killed a whopping 750 people over four days, but that…
Continue reading …A shipping industry group has released a harrowing video of Danish and Filipino seamen being held hostage by Somali pirates. The men, who were seized when pirates hijacked a Danish cargo ship in January, plead for their freedom in the video, which Save Our Seafarers says it uploaded to YouTube…
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Finnish phone-maker is overtaken by Samsung and Apple in smartphone sector as sales slide continues The Finnish phone-maker Nokia crashed to a loss for the second quarter as its smartphone and mobile business collapsed, leaving it in third place in the sector behind Samsung and Apple, and with no clear sign of any improvement in the short term. Overall the company made a loss of €368m despite receiving a one-off payment of €430m from Apple to settle a long-running patent dispute. Revenues fell overall by 7% to €9.3bn. The company’s mobile revenue, normally the stalwart of its business, fell by 20% year on year to €5.47bn and made a loss of €247m, as the number of phones sold dropped by the same amount, to 88m – both figures not seen since 2006. Its existing Symbian smartphone business, which it has said that it will phase out in favour of phones using Microsoft Windows Phone from later this year, fell by 30% year on year to just 16.7m. The Navteq mapping and Nokia Siemens Network (NSN) businesses offered no comfort either, both racking up operating losses of €58m and €111m respectively, although sales at NSN were up by 20%. Stephen Elop, the former Microsoft executive who took over as chief executive last September, said in a statement: “The challenges we are facing during our strategic transformation manifested in a greater than expected way in Q2 2011. However, even within the quarter, I believe our actions to mitigate the impact of these challenges have started to have a positive impact on the underlying health of our business. Most importantly, we are making better-than-expected progress toward our strategic goals.” But Francisco Jeronimo, research manager for European mobile devices at the analysts IDC, warned that Nokia risks missing out on a window of opportunity as more and more people switch over to smartphones from older “featurephones”: “I think it will take at least two or three quarters after the launch of Nokia Windows Phone devices before they get positive results. That takes you to March of next year. But consumers are moving to smartphones, and it will be very hard for Nokia to get them if they have just signed up to two-year contracts using an Android, iPhone or other smartphone.” Already more than 50% of mobile phone shipments in the US and Europe are smartphones, and 30% of mobile users in the US and 38% in the UK are already using them. Elop’s forecast for the next quarter remained around breakeven – but Elop admitted there was “limited visibility” on it. He said he was “optimistic” about the Windows Phone potential in the long term. “Step by step, beginning this year, we plan to have a sequence of concentrated product launches in specific countries, systematically increasing the number of countries and launch partners.” Nokia’s shares moved up in early trading by about 4%, to trade at about €5.80, because analysts had expected worse – but the shares have almost halved in value since February, when Elop announced the tieup with Microsoft – which coincidentally will announce its fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday evening. “It is a glimmer of hope in an overall very gloomy picture,” said Angus Campbell, head of sales at Capital Spreads. “The picture for Nokia is difficult – it is competing in an incredible competitive environment and their smartphones are not as popular, against Apple’s iphone and Google’s Android.” Nokia needs to take quick action to develop new products or it will continue to lose ground to its rivals, said Neil Mawston of London-based Strategy Analytics. “Pretty much everything is heading in the wrong direction,” Mawston said. “Nokia has to move with lightning speed to upgrade their portfolio.” The results contrast spectacularly with Apple’s from Tuesday, when it said that it had sold more than 20.3m iPhones during the quarter even though there was no new model to spur sales; the iPhone has not been updated since June 2010. Apple’s sales from the iPhone alone, totalling $13.3bn (€9.4bn), mean that Apple’s mobile phone business generated almost twice the revenue of Nokia’s in the same period. Samsung will release quarterly earnings next week that are expected to show that it took the lead in the smartphone market, and may have beaten Nokia to the title. Smartphones running Google’s free Android operating system now make up the largest share of the top-end devices, with about 36% of the market. Apple’s latest sales figures suggest that it has grabbed about 20% of the global smartphone market, while Android is expected to have grown to around 40% of the business. Nokia dominated the mobile phone business for almost two decades, and for years had the majority section of the valuable smartphone market. But the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, followed by the arrival of Google’s Android operating system in 2008, has eroded its share and profits substantially. Elop could point to some success in having driven Apple to a settlement over a patent dispute settled during the quarter, leading to the one-off payment without which the results would have been even worse. Apple will continue to pay a royalty on some patents belonging to Nokia. Nokia Smartphones Mobile phones Telecoms Telecommunications industry Charles Arthur guardian.co.uk
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General Abdul Nabih Zayid arrested during rebel advance and questioned over Misrata civilian killings, says opposition Libyan rebels in Misrata say they have captured the chief of operations of government forces in Zlitan on the first day of their offensive against the town. General Abdul Nabih Zayid was caught late on Wednesday after advancing fighters overran his command post at Souk Talat, a small village on the outskirts of Zlitan, opposition commanders said. “We have him in custody. He is being well looked after,” said Mohamed Frefr, in charge of detainees for the rebels. “After three days talking with him we will hand him to the military prison.” Rebels in the besieged coastal city said the general was being interviewed by intelligence officers and well looked after, with supplies of insulin procured because he has diabetes. A member of the Misrata Military Council, Hassan Duwa, said the general was captured as rebel units advanced towards Zlitan late on Wednesday. “He was in his house, 11 guys surrounded the house.” His capture is regarded as a major feather in the cap for rebel forces. The general gained notoriety among rebels when he helped co-ordinate the deployment of tanks into the streets of Misrata in March, triggering two months of street fighting that saw much of the city wrecked and hundreds killed. Misrata’s war crimes investigators say the general, who was operations officer at the city garrison before the war, is a “person of interest” for his role in what they say were widespread and systematic attacks against civilians. Khalid Alwafi, a lawyer for Misrata’s Human Rights Activists Association, made up of volunteer Libyan lawyers, which is assembling evidence it hopes can later be used by the international criminal court, said: “For sure we need to interview him. There are lots of questions that need answers from him.” Rebel units say they are on the outskirts of Zlitan and deploying around the town. The offensive has been launched simultaneously with a push by forces on the eastern front to capture the key oil town of Brega. Both offensives have been augmented by heavy Nato air strikes over the past few days, with alliance aircraft flying over Misrata on Wednesday night. Loud explosions could be heard from behind the frontline. In a sign that government forces may be feeling the strain, Libya’s state television channel on Thursday morning broadcast an appeal for volunteers to join the army. An announcer told viewers there were vacancies in all units, including special forces, and that soldiers would be well paid. Several rebel commanders in Misrata have told the Guardian in recent days that pro-Gaddafi forces are running short of manpower. The twin attacks are as much political as military, with the rebel National Transitional Council, based in Benghazi, keen to demonstrate that it can break a six-week deadlock and gain the initiative. Libya Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Africa Chris Stephen guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Tiger Woods parted ways yesterday with Steve Williams, the man who’s been lugging his clubs around for 12 years. “I want to express my deepest gratitude to Stevie for all his help, but I think it’s time for a change,” Woods said in a statement. He offered no other explanation…
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US spending on emergency assistance in drought areas of east Africa this year tops £431m, but assurances sought before funding will be directed to rebel-held famine regions of Somalia The US has pledged an additional $28m in aid for people affected by the drought and food crisis in Somalia, but stressed the money would not be used to provide assistance in areas under the control of the rebel group al-Shabaab. The two regions declared to be in a state of famine in Somalia are Bakool and Lower Shabelle in the south of the country. Both are believed to be in the hands of al-Shabaab, which is affiliated to al-Qaida and is on the US list of terrorist organisations. Around 3.7 million people – almost half of the Somali population – are now facing severe food shortages , 2.8 million of whom are in the south. The UN says that up to 12 million people are now in need of emergency assistance as a result of failed harvests, drought, rising food prices and conflict in east Africa. The US has spent more than $431m in emergency assistance in the area this year. In a press briefing in London on Wednesday, Donald Steinberg, deputy administrator of USAid, the US agency for international development, made it clear that America would need assurances from the UN and the World Food Programme that al-Shabaab would not restrict the delivery of US-funded aid before authorising its delivery to rebel-held regions. “We are committed to saving lives in Somalia and we are already working in any area not controlled by al-Shabaab,” said Steinberg. “Unfortunately, about 60% of people affected are in al-Shabaab territories. We’ve instructed Unicef and WFP that they can use our assistance in any part not under al-Shabaab control. As soon as UN and WFP declare that al-Shabaab is not going to be taxing assistance or hindering assistance using the local population as hostages and can prove unfettered access we are prepared to go ahead with assistance through any agency.” Last week, al-Shabaab said it would now allow foreign aid agencies into territories it controlled . The move has been welcomed by aid agencies, but the UN wants further guarantees that the aid will get to the people most in need. Around $5m of the additonal $28m in US aid is expected to be spent on relief for Somali refugees arriving daily at Dadaab refugee complex in Kenya. The rest will be spent on food aid and other basic services. Steinberg said the US was pressing the president of Eritrea, Isaias Afewerki, to disclose information on the impact of the drought in his country. He said weather patterns and the affect of the drought on neighbouring states, such as Dijbouti, where 120,000 people are believed to be in need of assistance, would suggest Eritrea is experiencing similar problems, but there was too little information to offer anything other than a “scewed picture” of the situation. “We have called on the president to allow the international community, as well as humanitarian organisations, to fully monitor what is going on and open up to life saving assistance if necessary,” said Steinberg. Around 7.5 million people in Ethiopia were now able to ride the worst of the drought because of the agricultural cash for work programmes that had been introduced in the country to enable people to become more food secure, added Steinberg. However, he conceded that 4.5 million people were still in need of humanitarian assistance and the government would need to address long-term food security concerns brought about by changing weather patterns. “It’s not just every 10 years we are experiencing drought. We have a situation where rains fail every other year and so this is the climactic effect we are seeing. It’s going to have a dramatic affect on the way of life in Ethiopia. Pastoralist communities will be increasingly under pressure. The government and its people are going to have to respond effectively.” Last month, a third refugee camp was opened in Dolo Ado in Ethiopia to accommodate Somali refugees, which, as of 30 June, numbered more than 54,000. The total number of refugees in Ethiopia is believed to be more than 135,000. Famine Aid Somalia Refugees Africa Liz Ford guardian.co.uk
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