Jon Stewart nearly explodes on the Daily Show last night holding in a flood of zingers he’d like to deliver about the apparent sexual orientation of Michele Bachmann’s seemingly self-hating gay-bashing husband Marcus. But he holds his tongue as best he can, finally spilling that the mister has apparently “absorbed”…
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Bonn University annuls MEP Jorgo Chatzimarkakis’s doctorate for insufficient acknowledgement of other authors Another high-profile German politician has been stripped of a doctorate for plagiarism. This time the culprit tried to explain away his bad habit, blaming it on a stint at Oxford in the 1990s. On Wednesday, the faculty of philosophy at the University of Bonn announced that it was annulling the doctorate awarded to MEP Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, a member of the liberal Free Democrats (FDP). The scandal is the latest political plagiarism case exposed in recent months, following those of former defence minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg and MEP Silvana Koch-Mehrin. On Wednesday Bonn University said that Chatzimarkakis had used verbatim passages from other authors’ work without using quotation marks. While he did mark the passages with footnotes, there was insufficient acknowledgment of the original authors. Yet, the politician has insisted he thought his method was sound, saying he had picked it up at one of the most prestigious universities in the world while he was a research fellow at St Antony’s College, Oxford University in 1995. Speaking on Germany’s premier political talkshow, Anna Will, in early July, he said that in Oxford, “they phrase things somewhat differently. They intertexualise, that is they make texts readable.” Bonn’s dean of philosophy, Günther Schulz, said the method the politician had used was simply not acceptable: “He didn’t use quotations marks, so the reader thinks that he is reading a text by Chatzimarkakis, when actually more than half the text is from other authors.” The FDP politician’s comments so infuriated a couple of Germans studying at Oxford that they decided to take action. Markus Gestler, studying for a doctorate in systems biology, fired off a string of letters to various bodies within the universities, including St Antony’s, alerting them to the slur on their reputations. “It was really his mistake. I can’t imagine that he learned that way of doing things in Oxford,” he said, adding he thought it was in the university’s interest to know what was being said about it in Germany. Meanwhile, Jan Rosenow, doing a doctorate in energy policy, decided to write to Philipp Rösler, the leader of the FDP, to complain. “I got really annoyed. I think actually in the UK there is much more emphasis on plagiarism compared to Germany. And I felt that he was throwing dirt at my university.” Ruth Collier, head of the press office at Oxford University, said that the academic standards expected of Oxford students were the highest internationally accepted. “It’s hard to believe there would have been encouragement to use substandard academic practices from Oxford.” Schulz said Bonn University had never accepted the excuse that this was common practice at Oxford, adding: “It is important that there are no bad feelings between German and British universities.” Germany Plagiarism Higher education Europe guardian.co.uk
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Neil Wallis, who has been questioned over phone hacking, advised commissioner on communications, Scotland Yard says Scotland Yard has admitted it employed Neil Wallis, a former executive at the News of the World, as an adviser to the commissioner until September 2010. Wallis was employed to advise Sir Paul Stephenson and John Yates on a part-time basis from October 2009 to September 2010. During this time the Yard was saying there was no need to reopen the phone-hacking investigation – a decision made by Yates despite allegations in the Guardian that the first police investigation had been inadequate. Wallis is a former News of the World executive editor. He was arrested on Thursday morning as part of the police’s renewed phone-hacking inquiry. Wallis joined the News of the World in 2003 as deputy to then editor Andy Coulson. In mid-2007 he became executive editor, eventually leaving the News International title in 2009. Police say he supplied “strategic communication advice”. The Met said his company was chosen because it offered to do the work for the lowest price. Relations between senior Met officers and News of the World senior executives have been under scrutiny. In September 2006 Stephenson, as deputy commissioner, accompanied by the Yard’s head PR man, Dick Fedorcio, dined with Wallis. This was a month after officers had arrested the paper’s royal correspondent, Clive Goodman, and at a time when detectives were still attempting to investigate whether other journalists or executives were involved in the interception of voicemail messages. In theory Wallis was a potential suspect in the inquiry. Scotland Yard said: “Chamy Media, owned by Neil Wallis, former executive editor of the News of the World, was appointed to provide strategic communication advice and support to the MPS, including advice on speechwriting and PR activity, while the Met’s deputy director of public affairs was on extended sick leave recovering from a serious illness. “In line with Metropolitan Police Service/Metropolitan Police Authority procurement procedures, three relevant companies were invited to provide costings for this service on the basis of two days per month. Chamy Media were appointed as they were significantly cheaper than the others. The contract ran from October 2009 until September 2010, when it was terminated by mutual consent. “The commissioner has made the chair of the police authority aware of this contract.” Phone hacking Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers News of the World News International Metropolitan police Police Vikram Dodd guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Neil Wallis, who has been questioned over phone hacking, advised commissioner on communications, Scotland Yard says Scotland Yard has admitted it employed Neil Wallis, a former executive at the News of the World, as an adviser to the commissioner until September 2010. Wallis was employed to advise Sir Paul Stephenson and John Yates on a part-time basis from October 2009 to September 2010. During this time the Yard was saying there was no need to reopen the phone-hacking investigation – a decision made by Yates despite allegations in the Guardian that the first police investigation had been inadequate. Wallis is a former News of the World executive editor. He was arrested on Thursday morning as part of the police’s renewed phone-hacking inquiry. Wallis joined the News of the World in 2003 as deputy to then editor Andy Coulson. In mid-2007 he became executive editor, eventually leaving the News International title in 2009. Police say he supplied “strategic communication advice”. The Met said his company was chosen because it offered to do the work for the lowest price. Relations between senior Met officers and News of the World senior executives have been under scrutiny. In September 2006 Stephenson, as deputy commissioner, accompanied by the Yard’s head PR man, Dick Fedorcio, dined with Wallis. This was a month after officers had arrested the paper’s royal correspondent, Clive Goodman, and at a time when detectives were still attempting to investigate whether other journalists or executives were involved in the interception of voicemail messages. In theory Wallis was a potential suspect in the inquiry. Scotland Yard said: “Chamy Media, owned by Neil Wallis, former executive editor of the News of the World, was appointed to provide strategic communication advice and support to the MPS, including advice on speechwriting and PR activity, while the Met’s deputy director of public affairs was on extended sick leave recovering from a serious illness. “In line with Metropolitan Police Service/Metropolitan Police Authority procurement procedures, three relevant companies were invited to provide costings for this service on the basis of two days per month. Chamy Media were appointed as they were significantly cheaper than the others. The contract ran from October 2009 until September 2010, when it was terminated by mutual consent. “The commissioner has made the chair of the police authority aware of this contract.” Phone hacking Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers News of the World News International Metropolitan police Police Vikram Dodd guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …The last thing Stephen Rooney said was: “Don’t worry, lightning never strikes twice.” It did, killing Rooney at a New Jersey barbeque almost 48 years to the day after it struck dead his father on a fishing trip. Rooney and a cousin were both struck as they stepped away from…
Continue reading …The first, but almost certainly not the last, former News of the World reporter has come forward with stories of her time at the disgraced tabloid. The US-based journalist says that during stint at the British paper, she was ordered to catch Mike Tyson in a cocaine orgy. Using a…
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Eliana Guerrero is the guardian angel of the Spanish city – blowing her whistle when she spots the thieves who prey on tourists in metro trains and stations but are rarely prosecuted A lone woman armed with a whistle and enormous courage has set herself the task of defending unsuspecting tourists from the pickpockets who plague Barcelona. Eliana Guerrero became so incensed by the way groups of thieves were able to freely roam the city’s underground network that she now patrols the metro on her own . She gives loud blasts on her whistle whenever she sees the thieves, who operate mostly in a dozen city centre stations including the Sagrada Familia and Placa Catalunya, and hands out flyers warning about the criminals. “They normally run off when they hear the whistle,” Guerrero told the Guardian. “But sometimes they threaten me and last week, after I stopped them robbing someone, one of them grabbed me and sprained my finger.” Guerrero, 38, started her campaign after seeing a thief snatch a bag from a German tourist, look inside and then hurl it away – smashing the insulin containers inside, despite the pleas of the tourist involved. “I couldn’t believe that they would do that. Why would they throw away a diabetic’s insulin?” she asked. She began by simply trailing the pickpockets and shouting out warnings while handing out the flyers that she prints herself, but found that not enough people could hear her – which is why she bought a whistle. “The whistle is what really gets them,” she says. “That, and a sign I hold up that tells people, in four different languages, there are pickpockets at work.” About 150 bag-snatchers operate on Barcelona’s metro, trains and buses, committing 90 robberies a day, according to police. The thieves form well-organised gangs that often co-ordinate the shifts they work. Guerrero blames Spanish law for the impunity enjoyed by Barcelona’s pickpockets. “If they take less than €400 [£350], then they only get a small fine – and then only if the victim turns up to give evidence, which is why they target tourists,” she said. “And the police don’t have a database that enables them to tell if the thief has been arrested before. “In Barcelona you get fined more for double-parking or wandering around with your shirt off than for stealing three purses in one day.” Families with small children, pushchairs and lots of suitcases were favourite targets, she said. “Who is going to chase a pickpocket if they have to worry about their child?” The thieves not only threaten her, but have sometimes tried to buy her off. “I am very careful about my own security and don’t tell anyone where I live,” says Guerrero, who moved to Barcelona from her native Colombia 12 years ago. She has become something of a celebrity in Barcelona, and has challenged the city mayor, Xavier Trias, to ride the metro with her. “Politicians and judges don’t use the metro, so they don’t understand what is going on,” she said. “We need more plainclothes police down there, but what really needs changing is the law.” She said she would like police not in uniform to take a trip with her. “And I am sure we would see at least one group of bag-snatchers. Every time I go with a film crew we always find some, but whoever has the camera needs to be fast – because I go like lightning.” Spain Barcelona Giles Tremlett guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Eliana Guerrero is the guardian angel of the Spanish city – blowing her whistle when she spots the thieves who prey on tourists in metro trains and stations but are rarely prosecuted A lone woman armed with a whistle and enormous courage has set herself the task of defending unsuspecting tourists from the pickpockets who plague Barcelona. Eliana Guerrero became so incensed by the way groups of thieves were able to freely roam the city’s underground network that she now patrols the metro on her own . She gives loud blasts on her whistle whenever she sees the thieves, who operate mostly in a dozen city centre stations including the Sagrada Familia and Placa Catalunya, and hands out flyers warning about the criminals. “They normally run off when they hear the whistle,” Guerrero told the Guardian. “But sometimes they threaten me and last week, after I stopped them robbing someone, one of them grabbed me and sprained my finger.” Guerrero, 38, started her campaign after seeing a thief snatch a bag from a German tourist, look inside and then hurl it away – smashing the insulin containers inside, despite the pleas of the tourist involved. “I couldn’t believe that they would do that. Why would they throw away a diabetic’s insulin?” she asked. She began by simply trailing the pickpockets and shouting out warnings while handing out the flyers that she prints herself, but found that not enough people could hear her – which is why she bought a whistle. “The whistle is what really gets them,” she says. “That, and a sign I hold up that tells people, in four different languages, there are pickpockets at work.” About 150 bag-snatchers operate on Barcelona’s metro, trains and buses, committing 90 robberies a day, according to police. The thieves form well-organised gangs that often co-ordinate the shifts they work. Guerrero blames Spanish law for the impunity enjoyed by Barcelona’s pickpockets. “If they take less than €400 [£350], then they only get a small fine – and then only if the victim turns up to give evidence, which is why they target tourists,” she said. “And the police don’t have a database that enables them to tell if the thief has been arrested before. “In Barcelona you get fined more for double-parking or wandering around with your shirt off than for stealing three purses in one day.” Families with small children, pushchairs and lots of suitcases were favourite targets, she said. “Who is going to chase a pickpocket if they have to worry about their child?” The thieves not only threaten her, but have sometimes tried to buy her off. “I am very careful about my own security and don’t tell anyone where I live,” says Guerrero, who moved to Barcelona from her native Colombia 12 years ago. She has become something of a celebrity in Barcelona, and has challenged the city mayor, Xavier Trias, to ride the metro with her. “Politicians and judges don’t use the metro, so they don’t understand what is going on,” she said. “We need more plainclothes police down there, but what really needs changing is the law.” She said she would like police not in uniform to take a trip with her. “And I am sure we would see at least one group of bag-snatchers. Every time I go with a film crew we always find some, but whoever has the camera needs to be fast – because I go like lightning.” Spain Barcelona Giles Tremlett guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Mitch McConnell’s budget compromise plan has been met with either rejection or silence from the GOP’s White House contenders. Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, and Ron Paul have come out against the plan, and not a single candidate has endorsed it, reports AP . Bachmann and Paul have pledged to vote against…
Continue reading …Score one for girl power: Three young American women took the top prizes at Google’s first-ever science fair, beating 7,500 other contestants from 91 countries. The grand prize went to 17-year-old Shree Bose, who discovered a way to improve ovarian cancer treatment for patients who have built up a…
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