Family of murdered British woman will be able to question alleged killer Tatsuya Ichihashi in court The family of the murdered British woman Lindsay Hawker have arrived in Japan on the eve of the trial of the man accused of killing her and burying her body in a bathtub four years ago. “We are here to get justice for my daughter, it’s been a long time coming,” Hawker’s father, Bill, said at Narita airport near Tokyo. “I can’t say much more because the trial is about to start, except to thank the police and everyone who’s been involved in this case. Now we just want to get it over and done with.” Tatsuya Ichihashi has been charged with raping and murdering Hawker, then 22, and disposing of her body at his apartment in Ichikawa, a suburban town in Chiba prefecture, just east of Tokyo, in March 2007. Hawker, from Brandon, near Coventry, had been beaten and strangled, and her hands and legs bound with plastic gardening cord. As “victim participants” under Japan’s court system, the Hawkers will be permitted to question Ichihashi during his trial, which opens on Monday with the first of six hearings at Chiba district court. At the court’s discretion, they may also give their opinion on sentencing. Before leaving Heathrow on Saturday, Bill Hawker, who travelled with his wife, Julia, and their two daughters, Lisa and Louise, said: “We’re a strong family and we’re going to see this through to the end.” The court has appointed six members of the public to serve as lay judges at the trial following the introduction of limited trial by jury in 2009. The lay judge system allows members of the public to work alongside professional judges to determine guilt or innocence and decide on a sentence. The presiding judge, Masaya Hotta, is expected to hand down a ruling on 21 July after consulting the lay judges and three professional judges. The verdict could hang on whether the jurors believe Ichihashi intended to kill Hawker after she accompanied him to his apartment following a private English lesson at a nearby cafe. Ichihashi has reportedly said he inadvertently crushed her windpipe while trying to prevent her calling for help. He has admitted disposing of Hawker’s body but denies the rape and murder charges. Ichihashi, a 32-year-old former horticulture student, evaded several police officers when questioned at the entrance to his apartment about Hawker’s disappearance and fled in his socks, dropping a rucksack containing cash. Inside, officers discovered Hawker’s naked and battered body buried in a sand-filled bathtub on the balcony. Despite a reward of 10 million yen (£80,000) for information leading to his arrest and 8,000 reported sightings, Ichihashi evaded police for more than two and half years. He spent time in 23 of Japan’s 47 prefectures, found casual work on construction sites and underwent extensive plastic surgery in a bid to evade capture. He was arrested in November 2009 in Osaka while waiting to board a ferry to the southern island of Okinawa. A passenger had contacted port officials after recognising Ichihashi, who was wearing a hat, sunglasses and a paper surgical mask. Ichihashi wrote to the Hawkers while he was in custody apologising for their daughter’s death, but the family dismissed the letter as a ploy to gain a lenient sentence. Earlier this year he published a book , Until I Am Arrested, which detailed his two years and seven months as a fugitive. He described the book as “a gesture of contrition”, adding that he wanted royalties to go to the Hawker family or a charity. Ichihashi does not discuss his alleged crimes in the book, but recounts his daily quest to evade capture. He travelled between Aomori in Japan’s north to Okinawa, a subtropical island in the far south. He described how he had removed a mole from his face to alter his appearance, before having several rounds of plastic surgery, paid for with cash earned during 13 months working on an Osaka construction site. Hawker had arrived in Japan in October 2006 to work at an English conversation school after graduating with a biology degree from Leeds University earlier that year. Japan Justin McCurry guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Rafael Nadal v Novak Djokovic – Wimbledon 2011 men’s final live | Jacob Steinberg
July 3, 2011 No Comment
• Hammer F5 or turn on our auto-refresh tool for updates • Email jacob.steinberg.casual@guardian.co.uk for a chat • Follow Jacob on Twitter if that’s your thing The toss. Djokovic calls heads. And it’s tails. An early psychological blow for Nadal, but he chooses to receive. Djokovic will serve first then. The players are led through the corridors and out on to Centre Court. Djokovic, walking a few paces ahead of Nadal, is in his regulation cap, although there’s not much sun today. Then again, my brother wears sunglasses inside. We all have our little quirks. Nadal is wearing his trademark headband. He’s jumping up and down, a nervous ball of energy. He’s got his game face on. This is going to be good. Sue Barker asks what Tim Henman’s handicap is. A useless second serve, I’d say. It’s 10 years since this marvellous game, by the way. I love John McEnroe. He exudes cool. And he was in Curb Your Enthusiasm . Anyway, turns out he’s going for Nadal in five as well. Maybe he never backed Djokovic then. Or maybe he’s changed his mind. It’s not a crime. Boris Becker is talking about the boxing farce last night. “At least David Haye went 12 rounds,” says the German. There was more diving in that travesty of a match than in the Djokovic v Tsonga tussle on Friday. Borg tips Nadal to win – in five sets. There, Borg agrees with me. Borg. Bjorn Borg is on the BBC. A man who knows a thing or two about retirement, he expects Roger Federer to quit if he doesn’t win a major next year. Ah, yes, Federer. How strange not to have him here on the final Sunday. Borg didn’t say whether the Swiss great would win another major – but I think we know. Imagine playing tennis against a brick wall that can predict what you’re going to do in three shots’ time. A brick wall that never misses. A brick wall with plenty of tricks of its own, one that can mix power and subtlety, slice and spin. A brick wall with formidable levels of self-belief. A sentient brick wall. I’m terrifying myself already, and having read this, you’re probably sitting in a corner of your room, hunched over, rocking back and forth, furiously weeping. It’s the Mitch Hedberg principle taken to the Nth degree – and this is what it is like to play against Rafael Nadal. How do you beat this? Well, you can make like Andy Bernard , but that only leads to a disciplinary hearing, anger management and a broken fist. For a set and three-and-a-half games on Friday, Nadal was outplayed by Andy Murray, who produced some of his finest tennis ever. We can all pinpoint the moment the match changed though: that missed forehand at 15-30 on Nadal’s serve. It wasn’t Gascoigne against Germany at Euro 96 territory, but it was close. Reprieved, Nadal was never going to lose. Drop your level for a millisecond, and you’ve got more chance of finding your way out of the Bermuda Triangle than locating a route back against him. Which is precisely what happened to Murray. It’s debatable whether Murray actually did anything wrong. Plenty of his shots were hard, accurate and in the corner; it’s just that they kept on coming back over the net, and when that happens, it can drive a player to the edge of insanity. Watch Nadal when he loses a point. The camera pans to him and he’s livid with himself, frowning, grunting and thoroughly resolved to bludgeon a path to the next 20. How intimidating is that? Perhaps not so much for Novak Djokovic. There was a time when this match would have been a foregone conclusion – in fact, probably only a year ago. For a while, it seemed like Djokovic, if not wasting his talent, was certainly not making the most of it. Too often, he would crumble on court, always ready to find a reason to lose. That Djokovic is history. He’s already the world No1, and a 43-match unbeaten run was only ended by a superhuman effort from Roger Federer in the French Open semi-final. His backhand is glorious, his forehand has improved immeasurably and his movement rivals Nadal’s. He’s won the Australian Open and he’s won his last last four matches against Nadal (although he still has an 11-6 losing record overall). But he’s never beaten Nadal in a grand slam match, and even though he was outstanding when the pair met in the US Open final last year, he was defeated. If this match is half as good as that one, we could be in for a treat. And it still might not be enough for Djokovic. Over five sets against Nadal, it’s not enough to be excellent; you have to be perfect. My prediction A stick to beat me with once Djokovic wins 6-0, 6-0, 6-0 : Now then, I don’t like disagreeing with John McEnroe – not that he’ll be bothered – but I fancy Nadal to edge it in four sets (or, if we’re being greedy, five). Although it’s surely not going to be straight sets, I can’t go against Nadal. This is Djokovic’s first Wimbledon final though. It could spur him on. If Nadal wins, The Leftorium will be the place to be tonight. Following on from Petra Kvitova’s win yesterday, it could be a famous weekend for lefties. The action starts at: 2pm. The action ends at: An unspecified time. Wimbledon 2011 Rafael Nadal Novak Djokovic Wimbledon Tennis Jacob Steinberg guardian.co.uk
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Andrew Lansley to welcome key Dilnot recommendation of a cap on total amount any person has to pay for care in their old age The government is ready to accept the key recommendation of a report on support for elderly people and cap the total amount individuals are expected to pay for personal care in their old age, the health secretary indicated on Sunday. But Andrew Lansley made clear that no decision had been made on the level of the cap beyond which the state would pick up the care bill. The health secretary said he expected to give a “very positive” response to the report of the Dilnot commission on the future funding of care and support when it is presented on Monday. Economist Andrew Dilnot’s central recommendation is expected to be an overall cap of between £30,000 and £50,000 on the total amount any individual has to pay for care – at an estimated cost to the exchequer of £2bn or more a year. He believes this would save thousands of pensioners from having to sell their homes to pay for residential care, and would enable insurers to offer cover for the potential cost of personal care. Experts suggest companies could offer insurance to cover care costs of up to £50,000 for a one-off premium of around £17,000. Dilnot’s commission is also expected to recommend a more generous threshold for means-tested assistance from the state, which currently goes only to those with assets worth less than £23,250. Charities have issued a call for all-party talks to ensure that reform is not kicked into the long grass, and David Cameron and Labour leader Ed Miliband have both said they are ready to take part in discussions of this kind. Miliband on Saturday wrote to Cameron and his deputy, Nick Clegg, offering to put aside Labour’s proposals for a levy on the estates of the deceased to pay for care – derided as a “death tax” by Tories – in order to seek cross-party consensus. In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph , Miliband said he had written to the Conservative and Liberal Democrat leaders to offer talks “in good faith”, with no preconditions. The Labour leader wrote: “In return, I hope you both will show the same kind of leadership of your parties as well. The last thing Britain needs is for Andrew Dilnot’s proposals to be put into the long grass. We three party leaders are of similar age and the same generation. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity which our generation must address.” Lansley said that he would also like to see charities and representatives of elderly people and their carers contribute to the debate on the Dilnot recommendations. The health secretary – who said he had not yet read the report – told BBC1′s Andrew Marr Show: “I think we are going to give a very positive response. We are going to treat it as the basis for engagement.” But he added: “Andrew Dilnot’s commission makes clear that there is a range of issues within their own report that need to be resolved and on which it is fair for people to be able to express their view: where a cap should be set; how it is to be paid for; issues with the threshold for the means test; how the means test should be applied to people in the future, so they contribute to the cost of their care. And of course if people are in residential homes, they raise the question of the extent to which they should pay for their accommodation costs – as it were, their ‘hotel’ costs in residential homes.” Lansley made clear that keeping the status quo was not an option. “We will not be able to give people the quality of care and support and the sense of security that they need in the future unless we have change,” he said. Social care Long-term care Older people Health Health policy Public services policy guardian.co.uk
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Exxon Mobil pipeline rupture leaks hundreds of barrels of oil into key waterway and tourist attraction, prompting evacuations An Exxon Mobil pipeline that runs under the Yellowstone river in Montana ruptured on Saturday and has leaked hundreds of barrels of oil into the waterway, causing a 25-mile (40km) plume that fouled the riverbank. The breach in south-central Montana led to temporary evacuations of hundreds of residents along a 20-mile stretch of the river, a key tourist attraction in the region that runs through the famous national park of the same name. Cleanup crews deployed booms and absorbent material as the plume moved downstream at around 7mph (10km/h). The river has no dams on its way to its confluence with the Missouri river just across the Montana border in North Dakota. It was unclear how far the plume might travel. “The parties responsible will restore the Yellowstone river,” Brian Schweitzer, the governor of Montana, said. Exxon Mobil spokeswoman Pam Malek said the pipe leaked an estimated 750 to 1,000 barrels of oil for about half an hour before it was shut down. Other Exxon officials estimate up to 42,000 gallons (158,982 litres) of crude oil escaped. Duane Winslow, Yellowstone county director of disaster and emergency services, said the plume was dissipating as it moved downstream. “We’re just kind of waiting for it to move on down while Exxon is trying to figure out how to corral this monster,” Winslow said. “The timing couldn’t be worse,” said Steve Knecht, chief of operations for Montana disaster and emergency services , who added that the plume was measured at 25 miles near Pompeys Pillar national monument. “With the Yellowstone running at flood stage and all the debris, it makes it dang tough to get out there to do anything.” Brent Peters, the fire chief for the city of Laurel, said about 140 people in the area were evacuated early on Saturday due to concerns about possible explosions and the overpowering fumes. He said they were allowed to return at about 4am after the fumes decreased. Winslow said hundreds of residents downstream were told to evacuate in the early morning hours as authorities knocked on doors, but it was unclear how many did. In a statement, Exxon Mobil said it was sending a team to help with the cleanup, and that state and federal authorities had been alerted to the spill. The Exxon Mobil Pipeline Company “deeply regrets this release”, it said. Oil spills Oil Exxon Mobil Oil United States Pollution guardian.co.uk
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General election victory for Puea Thai party would mark spectacular comeback for fugitive tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra Thailand’s Puea Thai opposition party is poised for a landslide victory in Sunday’s general election, according to exit polls. If correct they mark a spectacular comeback for Thaksin Shinawatra, toppled as the country’s leader by a military coup in 2006. The party is led by his youngest sister Yingluck – who would be the country’s first female prime minister – but is his in all but name. He lives in exile in Dubai, due to a conviction for abuse of power. The electoral commission is expected to release unofficial results later this evening. Political experts say that exit polls are unreliable but today’s indicate a clear majority for Puea Thai. Analysts have warned that the election could lead to further turmoil in Thailand after six years of intense political conflict. Last year more than 90 people died in clashes as the military cracked down on Thaksin-supporting redshirt protesters in the centre of the capital. Redshirt leaders have warned they will take to the streets again if the 44-year-old Yingluck wins the vote but does not become prime minister. They have said they fear that opponents could attempt to mount a legal challenge against her, or even another coup. Britain was among the countries warning its nationals of potential violence, urging visitors to avoid demonstrations. Thaksin, a billionaire ex-telecoms tycoon, is a polarising figure in Thailand. The rural poor regard him as a champion but urban elites condemn him as corrupt and autocratic. Yingluck said her brother had phoned her to congratulate and encourage her, Reuters reported. She added: “He told me that there is still much hard work ahead of us.” Puea Thai leaders have repeatedly indicated they plan an amnesty allowing Thaksin to return to Thailand without having to serve a jail sentence, though his sister claimed it was not a priority and that such a policy would not be aimed at helping one person. In a telephone interview, Thaksin told the Thai PBS television station: “I have wanted to come back since yesterday, but I do not want to create problems.” The party is well aware that such a move could galvanise its opponents into taking action against them. A spokesman for the incumbent Democrat party said: “Let’s wait for the official results before we can comment. But let’s be assured that everyone will respect the poll results.” Prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva refused to comment as he arrived at the party headquarters. Puea Thai was on course to gain 313 of the 500 parliamentary seats, according to a poll by Bangkok’s Suan Dusit University, with the Democrats trailing with just 152. A Sri Pathum University exit poll gave Puea Thai 299 seats to the Democrats’ 132. Exit polls in Thailand are considered unreliable. But political analyst Chris Baker said: “If it’s that high [313 seats] for Puea Thai I think you can safely say they are going to win a pretty smacking victory. What has tended to happen in the past is that the exit polls have tended to be fairly conservative.” Professor Thitinan Pongsudhirak said that a margin of 80 to 100 seats should give Puea Thai an unassailable victory. If they won over 250 seats it would be a clear mandate, while more than 280 seats could be considered a landslide. “If they win at all it’s a big statement,” he added. “[It means] the ideas and policies that made [Thaksin's] original Thai Rak Thai party so electable are unstoppable and indestructible … This is a party that has been dissolved twice; its leading politicians have been banned twice; it’s being led by a deposed exile and former prime minister a six-hour flight away.” He said that a landslide would be “not just any landslide – it would mean we have a truly new country. Whether people accept that will determine how much pain and grief we have to go through.” The forecasts were released as polls closed at 3pm on Sunday. Police said more than 170,000 officers were on duty throughout the country to monitor voting by 47 million eligible Thais. Puea Thai commanded a clear lead in polls during the campaign, but analysts have warned an inconclusive result could lead to a lengthy period of horse-trading with minor parties attempting to cut deals with either side. Thailand Thaksin Shinawatra Tania Branigan guardian.co.uk
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Hassan Nasrallah defies UN-backed tribunal’s arrest warrants for four Hezbollah members wanted for 2005 assassination Hezbollah’s leader has vowed never to turn over four members of his Shia militant group who have been indicted in the 2005 murder of the former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri. In a defiant speech, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said that “even in 300 years” authorities will not be able to touch them. In his first comments since the indictments were announced Thursday , he promised that the country would not see a new “civil war” linked to the findings of the UN-backed tribunal. But Saturday’s assurance came with a tacit warning that peace in Lebanon depends on the government not pushing ahead with the arrests. Nasrallah also denounced the six-year investigation as a plot by Israel and the US and said it was “an aggression against us and our holy warriors”. Bursts of celebratory gunfire and fireworks erupted in Beirut immediately after Nasrallah’s comments. Hezbollah, which gets crucial support from Iran and Syria, has denied any role in the killing. The accusations that Hezbollah – the most powerful political and military force in Lebanon – had a role in the 2005 Beirut truck bombing that killed Hariri threatens to plunge the country into a new and violent crisis. Nasrallah, however, sought to allay such fears and said “there will be no civil war in Lebanon”. “This is because there is a responsible government in Lebanon that will not act with revenge,” he added. Hezbollah has amassed growing political clout in the government this year, having toppled the previous administration in January when then-prime minister Saad Hariri refused to renounce the tribunal investigating his father’s death. The new prime minister, Najib Miqati, who was Hezbollah’s pick for the post, issued a vague promise on Thursday that Lebanon would respect international resolutions as long as they did not threaten the civil peace. The ambiguous wording leaves ample room to brush aside the arrest warrants if street battles are looming. The cabinet is packed with Hezbollah allies, so there is little enthusiasm within the current leadership to press forward with the case. Even if Saad Hariri were still in power, however, it’s unlikely he would be able to force Lebanese authorities to arrest the men to do so– they would have to directly confront a well-armed militant group that wields serious power over the Lebanese state. The bombing that killed Hariri and 22 other people in February 2005 was one of the most dramatic political assassinations in the Middle East. A billionaire businessman, Hariri was Lebanon’s most prominent politician after the 15-year civil war ended in 1990. In the six years since his death, the investigation has sharpened some of Lebanon’s most intractable issues: the role of Hezbollah and its massive arsenal, and the country’s history of sectarian divisions and violence. Lebanon Global terrorism Middle East guardian.co.uk
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After adulatory crowds in Ottawa, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s tour of Canada enters tricky phase in Quebec The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge faced the first organised protests against their visit to Canada within minutes of their arrival in Montreal on Saturday night. Demonstrators held up placards denouncing the couple as “parasites” as they arrived at the world renowned Sainte-Justine university hospital. They were heavily outnumbered by others who had come out to cheer the royal couple, but one of the protest organisers, Guillaume Martin, told reporters: “We think the monarchy is something from the middle ages and we don’t want to pay for the trip.” The Canadian government, which is meeting the bill, says that the extra cost equivalent to £950,000 amounts to only a few cents a head for the country’s entire population. The couple ignored the demonstration and spent more than an hour chatting to child cancer patients inside the hospital. Sunday promises to be more fraught when the royal party moves on to Quebec City, the heart of the long-established separatist movement, where more protests are planned. Royal visitors have had an uncertain welcome in Quebec province – where more than 80% of the population speak French – in recent decades. The Queen has not returned to Quebec city since protesters turned their backs on her and booed in 1964, and two years ago Prince Charles and Camilla were held up by scuffles between demonstrators and police as they visited Montreal. Radical young protesters from the Quebec Resistance Network have called for a demonstration outside the city hall, though they have promised it will be peaceful. Patrick Bourgeois, leader of the network, said the separatists want to send a message “that the monarchy is not welcome in Quebec”. Prince William has emphasised Canada’s bilingualism and dual identity – “Bonne fête, Canada, happy birthday,” he exclaimed in a speech. The visit to Quebec province is a sign that the authorities believe their appearance there will be a success. In a recent poll, more than half of those questioned described themselves as excited by the prospect of seeing them. During the first two days of their tour in Ottawa, the royal couple have been greeted by huge and adulatory crowds. More than 300,000 people were estimated to have crowded around the capital’s Parliament Hill during the Canada Day celebrations on Friday, many of them travelling for hours and some sleeping out to catch a glimpse of the prince and his bride. Although the duchess has not visited Canada before, her husband has stressed her links to the country where he recalled that her grandfather had trained as a pilot in Alberta during the second world war. The Queen has visited Canada more frequently than any other country: 22 times, most recently last year. The royal couple on Saturday went through the near-obligatory tree-planting ceremony at the governor-general’s residence – a Canadian hemlock. They later met military veterans and members of the war brides association at the Canadian war museum – nearly 45,000 young British and European women emigrated to the country after the second world war. Canada Prince William Monarchy Kate Middleton Stephen Bates guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …After spending years at the center of national debate over capital punishment, Illinois’ death row officially died yesterday when a state law abolishing the death penalty quietly took effect. The fate of executions in the state was sealed in March when Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation ending the death penalty,…
Continue reading …Crazy twist in a high-profile murder case going back half a century: A retired cop in Seattle has been charged in the 1957 murder of a 7-year-old girl near Chicago. The arrest of 71-year-old Jack Daniels McCullough came after an ex-girlfriend found an unused train ticket from the day of…
Continue reading …This lesson in diplomacy is hot on BuzzFeed : A female mayor in the Philippines city of Davao City punched out a sheriff in front of TV cameras. Mayor Sara Duterte was incensed that the sheriff insisted on demolishing a shantytown despite her request for a two-hour delay. (Fittingly, she wanted…
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