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The Guardian World News

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May 18, 2012
17:24
Facebook IPO: social network makes stock market debut – live blog
» ‎ The Guardian World News
• Facebook launched on the Nasdaq exchange in New York
• 80 million shares sold in first 30 seconds of trading
• But share price almost falls below $38 offer value
• Launch delayed amid confusion at Nasdaq
• Follow our Facebook shareholder wealth tracker here
1.22pm ET/6.22pm BST: Guardian tech editor Charles Arthur looks at what's next for Facebook:
What to expect now? Don't be surprised if the next big thing is a Facebook phone – running its own software and developed from top to bottom to involve you in the site all the time.
Zuckerberg's team has been advised to do this directly, because it needs to reach the "next billion" internet users, and they are mainly going to be using mobile phones, not desktop or laptop computers. Selling its own phone would mean it could make itself the background hum of many peoples' lives everywhere – and show adverts and collect data on its own terms.
Read Charles' full analysis here.
1.16pm ET/6.16pm BST: Dominic Rushe checks in on the Internet gaming company Zynga, and what the poor performance of its stock today could mean for Facebook:
Facebook's shares have recovered after dropping worryingly close to their $38 offer price. But over at Zynga there are still problems.
As we mentioned earlier, it looks likely that Facebook's battalion of bankers moved to make sure FB didn't drop below $38. Zynga had no such luck and was down more than 13% at one point. It's now down nearly 6%.
Zynga is basically a way to trade Facebook, since nearly all of its business comes from the social network. So is this what FB's share fall would look like if the bankers hadn't piled in? Just sayin'.
1.09pm ET/6.09pm BST: Till death do us part – or your company doth go public. Will the Facebook IPO cause a spike in shareholder divorces as new millionaires are created and relationships become more liquid, as it were? The Financial Times has a morbidly droll (and paywall-protected) report:
"When Google went public, there was a wave of divorces. When Cisco went public there was a wave of divorces," says Steve Cone, a divorce attorney based in Palo Alto, near the social network's Menlo Park headquarters. "I expect a similar wave shortly after Facebook goes public."
12.55pm ET/5.55pm BST: Facebook staffers have flocked to the social network to bask in the post-IPO glow, the Guardian's Josh Halliday reports.
Lindsey Cochran, who works in marketing at Facebook, writes: "I vividly remember signing up for facebook in the upstairs quad of 508 Thurston ... in April of 2004. I can't believe I am now going to be a part of such a historic moment. Feeling incredibly lucky!"
Gabe Hernandez, another staffer, says: "While I won't be in any of the Facebook offices to celebrate today, I am wearing my hoodie in solidarity. Thanks everyone for making my job far from the last place I ever want to be. Now stay focused and keep hacking!"
Meanwhile, Zuck has returned to his Facebook to note: "This is a pretty awesome hack."
12.39pm ET/5.39pm BST: If you don't own Facebook shares yet, are you currently missing an historic opportunity to get in on the ground level of a company that's about to break all previous records for stock growth?
Warren Buffett apparently doesn't think so. Here's what the Oracle of Omaha has to say about IPOs in general:
It's almost a mathematical impossibility to imagine that, out of the thousands of things for sale on a given day, the most attractively priced is the one being sold by a knowledgeable seller (company insiders) to a less-knowledgeable buyer (investors).
12.34pm ET/5.34pm BST: Have underwriters stepped in to hold Facebook shares above $38?
Business Insider gets a look at the order book, sent in by Twitter user @Bourbon_Meyer.
"It strongly appears that there's a huge perma-bid at $38 on Facebook," Joe Weisenthal writes. "Check out the big mass of yellow on the left column... all those bids at $38."
12.18pm ET/5.18pm BST: Facebook stock has been out of the gate for 50 minutes. After opening at just above $42 the stock dropped to the break-even level of $38. But instead of continuing to fall, the stock staged a resolute recovery:
So what happened? Here's Dominic Rushe:
Facebook's shares came dangerously close to falling below $38, the offer price, and have now rallied. This chart shows what happened. The speculation is that the underwriters have piled in and supported the price that we are chasing now. If it's true, they can't support the price forever and you can expect FB's shares to fall next week.
But – and it's a big but – there have clearly been problems with the IPO at Nasdaq, orders for shares were backed up and may have caused these weird price movements.
There are however signs that investors are underwhelmed. Zynga shares were suspended after they crashed this morning – not a good sign as the game firm is largely dependent on Facebook for its business.
12.03pm ET/5.03pm BST: One stock that really doesn't like what it's seeing in the Facebook IPO: Zynga, the Internet gaming company.
Zynga, which depends on Facebook for a platform for its games, had an underwhelming IPO of its own in December, when it fell 5 percent in its first day of trading.
So far today Zynga is down 13 percent.
UPDATE 12.07pm ET: Trading in Zynga shares has now been halted.
11.56am ET/4.56pm BST: A look back at the hot tech IPO of 20 years ago:
Celebrating Facebook IPO today while reflecting on AOL IPO 20 years ago. Valuation was $70 million. Most thought Internet was a fad. #wrong
— Steve Case (@SteveCase) May 18, 2012
11.50am ET/4.50pm BST: As the Facebook share price settles back to $38, The Guardian's Nils Pratley contributes his analysis of the pricing dynamics. If the stock goes too high, insiders who sold in advance of the IPO may resent the investment bank. A share price of around $41 would satisfy most everyone, Pratley writes:
A 10% pop should satisfy the IPO advisers. When you start getting to 20%-plus, the insiders who are selling feel short-changed and accuse the investment bank advisers of misjudging demand. 10% is ok - it meets the "leave something on the table for the next person" rule.
11.36am ET/4.36pm BST: How will Facebook shares perform in the first day of trading? Tell us what you think.
For extra credit, let us know in the comments what you think the high price and the low price of the day will be.
11.34am ET/4.34pm BST: How big is trader interest in Facebook? 82 million shares were traded in the first 30 seconds, according to Nasdaq.
The stock price is bumping along at the $40-$41 level. You can follow the stock price here.
11.30am ET/4.30pm BST: And they're off. Facebook is now on sale – and the first shares cross at $42.05, a good deal higher than the $38/share rollout price.
For the time being, at least, the company has 100 billion reasons to cheer.
11.30am ET/4.30 pm BST: Mark Zuckerberg and colleagues ringing the opening bell for Nasdaq at 9.30am ET.
Looks anticlimactic now.
11.27am ET/4.27pm BST: IPO delayed indefinitely by glitch in market: This isn't the headline Facebook was looking for this morning.
Wow, Nasdaq found the only way possible to upstage the Facebook IPO.
— Heidi N. Moore (@moorehn) May 18, 2012
11.23am ET/4.23pm BST: Nasdaq has announced that there has been a delay in the start of Facebook trading. We're reaching out to sources at Nasdaq to find out more about the holdup.
The latest delay is the third or fourth of the morning. Nasdaq itself puts out time call information. Meaning the market itself is failing to predict when the market will go to work.
The Wall Street Journal is now reporting that traders are having problems changing or canceling their orders ahead of the Facebook IPO.
Will Zuckerberg have to change his status again?
11.02am ET/4.02pm BST: Reuters is reporting that the opening of trading has been pushed back a bit:
RT @ProducerMatthew: Reuters: Facebook IPO extended by additional 5 minutes, to trade at 11:05 AM ET - NASDAQ
— Anthony De Rosa (@AntDeRosa) May 18, 2012
10.46am ET/3.46pm BST: Facebook as a growing concern. Whatever happens with the stock price today, the immense market draw of the company is plain to see in a chart tracking users, from about 300 million in March 2009 to 900 million today (blue is all Internet users worldwide; brown/gray is FB users):
10.42am ET/ 3.42pm BST: T-minus three minutes and counting: Nasdaq has just announced that trading in Facebook shares will begin at 10.45am ET.
10.37am ET/3.37pm BST: A major status update for the Facebook cofounder: as Mark Zuckerberg rang the bell to open the Nasdaq exchange, his account automatically spread the news.
Zuckerberg tagged fellow executives Chris Cox, vice president of product; the chief finance officer David Ebersman; the vice president of finance Cipora Herman; and his trusted No 2, Sheryl Sandberg.
10.21am ET/3.21pm BST: Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin came in for a drubbing last week when it was revealed that he had disclaimed US citizenship in favor of residence in Singapore, which does not have a capital gains tax. Saverin responded to the criticism by saying that his move was not a tax dodge; he simply prefers Singapore.
Last night Saverin set the controversy aside to offer his former colleagues a hearty congratulations on his personal Facebook page. He misspelled his co-founder's name – but it's the thought that counts?
On the eve of the Facebook public float, 8-plus years in the making, I as co-founder wanted to look back and cherish Facebook's early beginning. Congrats to everyone involved in the project from day one till today, and I especially wanted to congratulate Mark Zukerberg [sic] on keeping tremendous stead-fast focus, however hard that was, on making the world a more open and connected place.
10.10am ET/3.10pm BST: Facebook is summoning great spectacle in its rollout this morning – but will the stock price hold up? When the excitement dies, will the company warrant its $104 billion valuation, and the $38 share price?
One main place investors locate value in Facebook is its potential power as an advertiser. With 900 million users and counting – and a potentially vast market in China still waiting to be tapped – Facebook has an unparalleled capacity to put ads in front of eyes.
But earlier this week, US auto manufacturer GM decided that those ads weren't worth it, ending its Facebook campaign. The company had been spending $10 million a year to advertise on the site, but none of the reports measuring those ads' profitability came back positive. The Economist spoke with Chris Perry, marketing chief for GM's brand Chevrolet, who confirmed that "a routine marketing review concluded that the site delivered 'insufficient' results.
Companies still believe that Facebook is an indispensable tool for spreading buzz about new products, however:
That viewpoint was echoed by the senior media buyer at a major Detroit ad agency, who asked not to be identified by name because he is not authorised to discuss strategy with the press. Based on clicks-throughs alone, he says, Facebook "doesn't pay off." His agency's approach is to use the service as part of broader social media campaigns.
9.40am: One take on the big offering.
Wocka! Wocka! twitter.com/dmataconis/sta…
— Doug Mataconis (@dmataconis) May 18, 2012
9.39am: The scene at Facebook HQ in Menlo Park in the run-up to the IPO. The company is valued at $104 billion as shares go on sale to the public.
9.36am ET/2.36pm BST: The Guardian's Dominic Rushe has been talking to David Kirkpatrick, author of The Facebook Effect – the only book written so far with Facebook's cooperation – and a man who has spent many many hours with Mark Zuckerberg.
"His impact on the world will be as least as big as Bill Gates and probably already has been," Kirkpatrick tells Rushe. "Like Gates I'm positive he is going to end up being one of the world's great philanthropists. I believe he has a very strong social conscience."
He says this will be a big day for Zuckerberg but that while the Facebook boss may party later, he'll try to keep things as normal as possible once he has rung the bell.
Then the real work begins...
"I spoke to Peter Thiel [Silicon Valley investment legend and one of Facebook's early backers] and he said Facebook had this peculiar quality, it will either completely dominate or it will completely go away. I don't think it's going away anytime soon though."
Fitzpatrick predicts that Zuckerberg could soon be the world's richest man.
9.30am ET/2.30pm BST: Mark Zuckerberg has just rung the bell opening the Nasdaq market. He did so from a stage at the company's Menlo Park HQ. Then he hugged COO Sheryl Sandberg. The stage is full of other FB execs, with a sea of employees all around. A boom camera is capturing the action in the cheering, waving crowd. Looks like Bonnaroo. "A Woodstock event," someone on CNBC just called it.
9.28am ET/2.28pm BST: Hackathon Update. It turns out there was one Facebook face who declined to participate in last night's ritual of camamaderie and computer fun. Zuckerberg apparently called it a night early in the evening, Josh Halliday reports. He went home to his girlfriend Cilla and their Hungarian sheepdog, Beast.
When you're the boss you get to do that.
9.23am ET/2.23pm BST: CNBC, which is tracking the Facebook IPO, is reporting on the overnight "hackathon" at the company's Menlo Park, California, campus. In the run-up to today's big splash, employees spent the night at their place of work writing computer code, over-caffeinating and giving their eyes a little extra practice staring at computer screens. The event reflects the company's youthful, creative, spontaneous, creative culture.
Employees ordered Chinese food and there was talk of them making a run to In-n-Out Burger, CNBC reports. How does the news change your bet on what Facebook stock will do today? Let us know in the comments.
9.13am ET/2.13pm BST: The delayed debut of Facebook stock this morning affords us time for a walk down memory lane... back to 2004, when FB chief Mark Zuckerberg was still just a cocky college student bragging about his hacking exploits in instant messages to friends.
Those messages are now a matter of public record. The Guardian's Josh Halliday writes:
Zuckerberg appears to confirm in one message that he secretly hacked into the website of the Harvard University newspaper, the Crimson, by guessing the emails and passwords of two people in the college database.
"So I want to read what they said about me before the article came out and after I complained," he told a friend. "So I'm just like trying the email/passwords of everyone who put that they're in the Crimson. I wonder if the school tracks stuff like that."
In another message, Zuckerberg boasts about deactivating college students' accounts on the internal Harvard social network, ConnectU. "I got bored so I started deactivating accounts on ConnectU haha," the future cyber-grandee writes.
8.52am ET/1.52pm BST: Trading action on Facebook shares is not likely to commence until 10:30am ET at the earliest, as bankers work through the mechanics of the offer, market sources said.
8.30am ET/1.30pm BST: Mark Zuckerberg will ring the bell for the opening of the Nasdaq stock market at 9.30am as he kicks off a share sale that will value the company at $104bn.
We'll be live blogging the day's events here in New York, and you can see how the fortunes of Zuckerberg and the social network crew rise (or fall).
Not since Google's initial public offering (IPO) has a share sale been as closely watched. It's Super Bowl for social media: every commentator in the land has an opinion on whether the firm is really worth that sort of cash, and is lining up to share it.
At $104bn, Facebook is being valued at more than the combined value of Nike and Goldman Sachs. Last year Facebook had revenues of $3.7bn. Goldman's were 10 times that.
But this is a company with massive potential. Facebook will have more than a billion people logging in to its service this year – that's more than three times the populations of the US – and it hasn't got started in China. Nearly 400 million people log on six days a week. In the first three months of this year those people "liked" or commented on Facebook items 3.2bn times a day.
Google added a verb to the lexicon; Facebook redefined "friend" and "like". Now Zuckerberg has to find a way to make his social network live up to its massive promise.
8.30am ET/1.30pm BST: Mark Zuckerberg will ring the bell for the opening of the Nasdaq stock market at 9.30am as he kicks off a share sale that will value the company at $104bn.
We'll be live blogging the day's events here in New York, and you can see how the fortunes of Zuckerberg and the social network crew rise (or fall).
Not since Google's initial public offering (IPO) has a share sale been as closely watched. It's Super Bowl for social media: every commentator in the land has an opinion on whether the firm is really worth that sort of cash, and is lining up to share it.
At $104bn, Facebook is being valued at more than the combined value of Nike and Goldman Sachs. Last year Facebook had revenues of $3.7bn. Goldman's were 10 times that.
But this is a company with massive potential. Facebook will have more than a billion people logging in to its service this year – that's more than three times the populations of the US – and it hasn't got started in China. Nearly 400 million people log on six days a week. In the first three months of this year those people "liked" or commented on Facebook items 3.2bn times a day.
Google added a verb to the lexicon; Facebook redefined "friend" and "like". Now Zuckerberg has to find a way to make his social network live up to its massive promise.
Tom McCarthyDominic Rushe
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
17:01
Juror fined £450 after smoking cannabis joint on break from rape trial
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Shezad Hussain admits contempt of court after juror on another case spotted him smoking at bus stop during lunch hour
A juror on a rape trial who smoked a cannabis joint in his lunch hour was today fined £450 after admitting contempt of court.
Shezad Hussain, 26, smoked the drug at a bus stop just yards from the entrance to Bolton crown court, Greater Manchester.
But he was spotted by a juror on another case who alerted police. Hussain at first denied but then admitted the offence, blaming stress following a violent attack on his family-owned corner shop by "gangsters".
The father of one from Bolton had been one of 12 jurors on a week-long case of a man accused of raping a child.
Hussain was dismissed from the jury on Monday, charged with contempt of court and told to speak to a solicitor.
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
16:23
British citizen arrested in Thailand on suspicion of smuggling babies' corpses
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Bodies of six babies were found in suitcase in Bangkok hotel room, Thai police say
A British citizen has been arrested in Bangkok on suspicion of smuggling human infant corpses for use in black magic rituals after the bodies of six babies were found in a suitcase in a hotel room, Thai police have said.
Chow Hok Kuen, 28, a British citizen born in Hong Kong of Taiwanese parents, was arrested in Bangkok's Chinatown and was being held for possession of human remains, according to reports.
The bodies belonged to babies aged between two and seven months, Wiwat Kumchumnan, sub-division chief of the police's children and women protection unit, told Reuters, though other reports suggested they were aborted human foetuses rather than dead full-term babies. Photographs obtained by Reuters appeared to show corpses too small to have survived to term.
Some of the remains had been covered in gold leaf, said police, apparently for use in black magic rituals.
Chow was staying at a hotel in Khao San Road, Bangkok's backpacker area, but the bodies were found in a separate hotel, after police received a tipoff that infant corpses were being offered to wealthy clients through a website advertising black magic services.
The authorities said the remains were bought from a Taiwanese national for 200,000 baht (£4,000) and could have been sold for six times that amount in Taiwan, where it is thought they were to be smuggled.
Black magic rituals are still practised in Thailand, where street-side fortune tellers offer ceremonies to reverse bad luck.
Kuen faces one year in prison and a 2,000-baht fine if he is found guilty.
The Foreign Office said it was aware of the man's arrest, but would not confirm his name or any details of the allegations against him.
"We can confirm the arrest of a British national in Bangkok on 18 May," said a spokeswoman. "We stand ready to provide consular assistance."
- Thailand
- Asia Pacific
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15:37
Three fishermen feared drowned off Dorset coast
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Wooden boat disappeared while potting for whelks in choppy seas off Portland Bill in the Channel
Three fishermen are missing, feared drowned, after their boat vanished without trace in the Channel.
The 50-year-old wooden vessel, the Purbeck Isle, disappeared in choppy seas off Portland Bill, Dorset.
A major air and sea search was launched involving three navy ships and the coastguard helicopter, but they could find no trace of the boat or of any wreckage.
The three men have been named locally as 37-year-old skipper David McFarland, and crewmen Jack Craig, 22 and Robert Prowse, 23. Prowse's mother, Maxine Prowse, said: "I'm just listening to the news now and waiting. He's a hard-working lad. He has a lot of friends."
Coastguards are examining a sonar image of an object on the sea bed 55 metres (180ft) down, taken by a survey ship. A spokesman, Fred Caygill, said: "What we have is an image from 55 metres down, but it can't be clearly identified. We had a survey ship in the area with a sonar and it scanned the seabed. It did give us an image from about 10 miles south of Portland Bill, but it is impossible to decipher."
According to locals the crew had been potting for whelks. Ron Brown, a local skipper, highlighted the dangers, saying: "If you are pulling in pots and one gets stuck it can pull the boat down and then if a wave hits you and everyone is on deck there might not be time to raise the alarm."
Dave Pitman, another skipper, said: "They were working with whelking pots as I understand it. They were moving the gear from one place to another, which is a normal operation. We just all hope they are safe."
Andy Alcock, the secretary of the Weymouth and Portland Fishermen and Licensed Boatmen Association, said: "There was a life raft on board and there is a chance the men are in that and have been blown up and down the Channel and are awaiting rescue."
The alarm was raised late on Thursday afternoon when the 11-metre (36ft) boat failed to return to port in Weymouth. By that time there had been no word from the fisherman for nine hours since they left the harbour at 8.30am.
Coastguards repeatedly tried to contact the crew by radio but were met with silence. Two British naval vessels including the type 42 destroyer HMS York and a US navy supply vessel joined the search. A coastguard helicopter searched the Purbeck Isle's regular fishing grounds, up to 10 miles off Portland.
Caygill said on Friday: "The boat went out yesterday morning and was seen leaving the harbour at 8.30am. We received a call at 5.40pm from a fisherman who was concerned about the Purbeck Isle. We commenced a major air and sea search for the Purbeck Isle but with no specific location we went over its usual fishing grounds.
"We are in touch with the men's families and the police. We obviously live in hope of finding the men and we will continue with this search and keep going for the best part of today."
- Water transport
Steven Morris
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15:12
Greek euro exit could throw UK 'into long-term recession'
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Chair of Office for Budget Responsibility says results would be deflation, soaring unemployment and rise in state debt
Greece leaving the euro could plunge Britain into a recession that would cause lasting damage to the economy, the chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility, Robert Chote, has said.
It could be as bad as the recession caused by the credit crunch and there would be a possibility that "you go down and you never quite get back up to where you started", he said.
Chote – who as head of the independent OBR is Britain's economic forecaster-in-chief – delivered his warning in a wideranging interview with the Guardian, in which he also said there was no evidence to show that cutting the 50p top rate of tax would promote growth, that current spending on public sector pensions was sustainable and that the rules preventing the OBR from costing opposition policies should eventually be lifted.
The OBR predicted that the economy would grow by just 0.8% in 2012 when it published its last forecast, at the time of the budget, but Chote said that if the eurozone crisis resulted in Greece leaving the euro, the outcome could be very much worse.
"The concern is that you end up with an outcome in the eurozone that creates the same sort of structural difficulties in the financial system and in the economy that we saw in the past recession, and that that has consequences both for hitting economic activity in the economy, but also its underlying potential," he said.
"And it's the latter which has particular difficulties for the fiscal position, because it means not just that the economy weakens and then strengthens again – ie, it goes into a hole and comes out – but that you go down and you never quite get back up to where you started."
Chote said there were so many uncertainties around what might happen with Greece and the eurozone that trying to produce firm predictions was not "particularly helpful". But the OBR has tried to quantify the impact of a disorderly sovereign debt restructuring in the eurozone on Britain and the figures make grim reading.
Britain would be plunged into recession for two years, according to the OBR analysis, published in its most recent economic and fiscal outlook report. There would also be deflation, and by 2013-14 unemployment would reach almost 11%, with debt subsequently reaching more than 90% of GDP.
Chote admitted these projections were of limited value because the eurozone crisis could develop in so many different ways.
"For example, one issue would be do difficulties in the eurozone make it cheaper or more expensive for the UK government to borrow," he said. "If it makes investors more nervous about risk in general, it might make it more expensive. If they see the UK as more of a safe haven, it might make it less expensive."
Although the chancellor, George Osborne, has presented his controversial decision to cut the top rate of tax for those earning more than £150,000 from 50p to 45p as one of the government measures that will promote growth, Chote cast doubt on this claim.
Osborne said in his budget speech that cutting the 50p rate would improve Britain's competitiveness. But Chote said the OBR's analysis was that there was no evidence to show that the measure would have a positive effect of that kind.
"We didn't feel that there was a strong enough evidence base to say our long-term or medium-term view of the economy is now more optimistic than it was beforehand as a result of that measure," he said.
He also challenged another government nostrum by saying the OBR did not accept government claims that public sector pensions as currently paid were unsustainable.
Although the public finances as a whole would come under pressure in years to come, the current public sector pension regime was "not where the problem is coming from", he said. That was because OBR figures show spending on public sector pensions – even without reform – falling as a proportion of GDP.
Chote also said that eventually it would be a good idea for the OBR to be allowed to cost opposition policies. Currently the OBR is not allowed to do this, but the government is committed to reviewing the operation of the OBR in 2015 and Chote said this would be a good point to change the rules.
He also suggested that the current arrangements, which will allow Osborne to go into the election saying his plans have been approved by the OBR while the shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, would not be able to make the same claim, were potentially unfair.
Andrew Sparrow
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13:57
Abu Qatada applies to be freed on bail
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Islamist cleric could be released on stringent conditions while courts take months to settle issue of deportation
The radical Islamist cleric, Abu Qatada, who faces deportation to Jordan as a national security threat, is to apply to be freed on bail at the end of the month.
The Judicial Communications Office said that the date for Qatada's bail hearing had been set for 28 May at the special immigration appeals commission in London.
Qatada, whom a Spanish judge once described as Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe, was briefly freed in February on the most draconian bail conditions ever imposed, including a 22-hour curfew.
But he was re-arrested and returned to a maximum security prison in April when the home secretary, Theresa May, ordered a new attempt to send him back to Jordan. The attempt was made hours before Qatada's lawyers lodged an appeal to the Strasbourg human rights court, which then blocked his removal.
The pre-emptive move by the home secretary prompted a Westminster row with claims that she had got the date wrong over when the deadline for appeals against his removal had expired.
However the European court of human rights rejected that appeal last week clearing the way for a renewed attempt to send him back to Jordan. The home secretary, who has secured assurances from Jordan that he will not face a trial based on evidence obtained by torture, has acknowledged that it will now be up to the British courts to settle matter – a process likely to take months rather than weeks.
There is a possibility that Qatada, who has already spent more than six years in detention in Britain as an international terror suspect, could be freed once again on draconian bail conditions if there is no immediate prospect of his removal.
Alan Travis
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13:56
Lady Warsi: some Pakistani men think white girls are fair game
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Tory party co-chairman adds voice to row over Rochdale grooming case, saying she believes race played role in crime
The Conservative party co-chairman has hit out at the small minority of Pakistani men who see white girls as "fair game".
In comments that follow the Rochdale grooming case, Lady Warsi said she believed race was a factor in the crime. She urged Muslim leaders to address the issue and ensure that men who regard white women as "third-class citizens" were isolated by their communities.
Nine Muslim men, mainly of Pakistani origin, were found guilty last week of plying girls as young as 13 with drink and drugs so they could use them for sex. After the trial, Greater Manchester police sought to play down suggestions of any racial element to the case, as did Keith Vaz, the Labour chairman of the home affairs select committee.
But Warsi, who is Muslim, told the London Evening Standard newspaper: "There is a small minority of Pakistani men who believe that white girls are fair game. And we have to be prepared to say that. You can only start solving a problem if you acknowledge it first.
"This small minority who see women as second-class citizens, and white women probably as third-class citizens, are to be spoken out against."
Britain's most senior Muslim politician said she had decided to speak out after her father, who moved to the UK from Punjab, told her she should be "out there condemning [the crime] as loudly as you could".
"In mosque after mosque, this should be raised as an issue so that anybody remotely involved should start to feel that the community is turning on them," Warsi said. "Communities have a responsibility to stand up and say: 'This is wrong, this will not be tolerated'."
She urged the authorities to have the confidence to tackle allegations involving minorities. "Cultural sensitivity should never be a bar to applying the law," Warsi added.
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12:54
Leveson inquiry: Hunt adviser and lobbyist to give evidence
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Former special adviser Adam Smith and lobbyist Frédéric Michel to give evidence to the Leveson inquiry next week
The two men at the centre of the row over Jeremy Hunt's handling of the News Corporation/BSkyB deal – his former special adviser Adam Smith and lobbyist Frédéric Michel – are to give evidence to the Leveson inquiry next week.
Lord Justice Leveson will also be hearing evidence next week from former Labour cabinet ministers Tessa Jowell, Alan Johnson, Lord Mandelson, Lord Reid and Lord Smith, broadcasters Andrew Marr and Jeremy Paxman, and phone-hacking campaigner Tom Watson MP.
Adam Smith and Michel will appear on Thursday. Adam Smith resigned as culture secretary Hunt's special adviser last month, after 163 pages of emails written by Michel when he was News Corp's head of European public affairs in 2010 and 2011 were released by the company to the Leveson inquiry.
Those emails, written over several months, appeared to show that Hunt's office was passing information about the minister's BSkyB bid approval process to the company during 2010 and 2011. Michel repeatedly described information he had obtained to his boss, James Murdoch, as emerging from Hunt himself.
The culture secretary denied there was an inappropriate relationship between himself and News Corp. Adam Smith resigned when it emerged that the bulk of Michel's contact was with him rather than Hunt directly.
Hunt said that the volume and tone of the Adam Smith/Michel communication could not be justified, but insisted that he oversaw the Sky bid correctly in a quasi-judicial manner. The culture secretary is also expected to appear at the inquiry.
In February Michel was promoted to News Corp's senior vice-president of government affairs and public policy for Europe, based on Brussels.
James Murdoch described Michel as the firm's "PO box" for correspondence between government ministers and the Murdoch empire during his Leveson inquiry evidence in April.
"On various levels, he was the liaison with policymakers," Murdoch said, describing Michel as a diligent employee. News Corp insiders saw him as a "James Murdoch acolyte".
Former Labour culture secretary Jowell, the MP for Dulwich and West Norwood, received £200,000 from News International after settling her civil claim for breach of privacy over News of the World phone hacking. Of this, £100,000 was paid to a charity of Jowell's choice.
Jowell will be giving evidence to the inquiry on Monday, along with Mandelson, who is likely to be asked about his dealings with journalists, editors and executives from News International and other national newspaper publishers during his time as Labour's director of communications in the 1980s, and from 1997 as a cabinet minister.
Lord Smith, another former culture secretary, will be appearing on Tuesday along with Johnson, the former education, health and home secretary, and Watson, the Labour MP who has doggedly pursued Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation over the scandal.
BBC presenters Marr and Paxman are up on Wednesday, along with Reid, the former Labour defence and home secretary, and Stephen Dorrell MP, who oversaw media policy as heritage secretary in John Major's Conservative government in the mid 1990s.
Also appearing on Thursday with Michel and Smith will be Lord Brooke, another former Tory heritage secretary in the early 1990s.
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Jason Deans
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9:53
Syria: 'Heroes of Aleppo university' protests - live updates
» ‎ The Guardian World News
• Protests across Syria in tribute to Aleppo students
• Ban Ki-moon says al-Qaida responsible for Damascus bombs
• Abul Foutouh in the lead among Egypt's expat voters

• Read the latest summary
5.07pm: Here is a summary of the latest developments:
Syria
• Friday protests have been taking place in Syria under the slogan "Heroes of Aleppo University" – in solidarity with students who have demonstrated despite brutal repression. Today's demonstrations in Aleppo itself were the largest the city has seen so far, according to activists.
• UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has said he believes al-Qaida was responsible for the explosions that reportedly killed at least 55 people in Damascus last week. However, Robert Mood, head of the UN monitoring mission, says it is impossible to say who was to blame for the attack (see 3.41pm). Guardian journalist Martin Chulov, just returned from north-west Syria, says rebels there are scornful of the regime's al-Qaida narrative (see 10.18) The influential Washington Institute thinktank has also joined those expressing scepticism about the role of jihadists in Syria (see 4.25pm).
• A UN monitor has expressed frustration at being being filmed by activists in Dera'a, advising them not to post clips of him to YouTube (see 12.35pm).
• The opposition stronghold of Rastan, between Hama and Homs, has come under more bombardment, according to video from activists (see 10.48 am).
Bahrain
• In Britain, the Queen has been accused of making a catastrophic error of judgment by inviting King Hamad of Bahrain to today's jubilee lunch at Windsor Castle (see 2.16pm).
• Government-backed demonstrations have been taking place today in Iran to denounce plans for closer ties between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia (see 2.17pm).
Egypt
• First results in the Egyptian presidential election – from expatriate communities around the world – show Islamist candidate Abdel Moneim Abul Foutouh in the lead, though well short of the 50% needed to avoid a run-off (see 1.02pm).
4.47pm: Syria: Today's protests in Aleppo were the largest the city has seen so far, according to activists.
Up to now, Aleppo has generally been loyal to the Assad regime though anti-regime sentiment increased following a raid on student dormitories last month which left four dead, the Associated Press reports.
The May 3 raid at Aleppo University was an unusually violent incident for the northern city, a major economic hub, where business ties and the presence of significant populations of sectarian minorities have kept residents largely on the side of the regime or at least unwilling to join the opposition.
On Thursday, some 15,000 students demonstrated outside the gates of Aleppo University in the presence of UN observers, before security forces broke up the protest.
Even bigger numbers took to the streets Friday. Aleppo-based activist Mohammad Saeed said it was the largest demonstration there since the start of the uprising. He said more than 10,000 people protested in the Salaheddine and al-Shaar districts alone and thousands protested in other areas of the city.
"The number of protesters is increasing every day and today saw the biggest protests," said Saeed, adding that several people were wounded when government forces tear gas and live ammunition to try and disperse the rally.
The head of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdul-Rahman, said the protest showed "it's a real uprising happening in Aleppo these days".
Thousands of people across the country also staged anti-government rallies in solidarity with Aleppo.
4.25pm: Syria: The Washington Institute (an influential US thinktank widely regarded as pro-Israel) has joined those expressing scepticism about the role of jihadists in Syria.
It suggests that "someone may be trying to scapegoat the jihadis" for the May 9 bombings in Damascus, adding: "The Assad regime is the obvious suspect, but no evidence as yet supports their culpability." It continues:
Contrary to accounts in many media outlets that Syria's secular state is naturally at odds with Sunni extremist groups, Bashar al-Assad has actually built long-lasting, though indirect, relationships with such groups over the last decade ...
Thus far, terrorist attacks have accounted for only a minuscule portion of the tactics used in the rebellion, although the May 9 attacks would indicate that terrorist attacks in Syria are on the rise in terms of number and scale.
Yet the inconsistencies and discrepancies of the May 12 video [claiming responsibility on YouTube for the Damascus bombings] raises the real possibility that the Assad regime could be manipulating the attack to its domestic and international advantage.
Claims of responsibility for future attacks should be evaluated in light of where a video or claim is released (jihadi forums or YouTube), who produces it, and the consistency of the facts it contains.
3.50pm: Bahrain/Britain: Following his royal lunch of poached egg, spring lamb and strawberries, King Hamad is not expected to linger in Britain. Meanwhile, activists are concerned about the impending visit of his son, Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, who is head of Bahrain's Olympic committee.
An online petition to have him excluded from the London Olympics has attracted more than 7,500 signatures during the last couple of days.
3.41pm: Syria: UN officials have been busy downplaying secretary Ban Ki-moon remarks about al-Qaida being responsible for last week's bomb attack in Damascus.
Earlier, the head of the UN monitoring mission Robert Mood, said it was impossible to say who was to blame for the attack. Now Kofi Annan's spokesman Ahmad Fawzi has urged caution about apportioning blame for the incident, but raised concerns about a "third element" in Syria that is neither opposition nor the government.
Here's a transcript of his briefing to journalists on the issue:
Question: Based on what evidence has secretary-general Ban Ki-moon declared that the bomb attacks in Syria have been carried out by al-Qaida?

Ahmad Fawzi: That is a very important question and I would refer you to the spokesman for the secretary-General. I am aware, and the joint special envoy is aware, of what the secretary-general has said, and I quote from the transcript: "I believe that there must be al-Qaida behind it." So Ban has said that he believes that there must be al-Qaida behind it. The joint special envoy has also said that there is a third element that appeared on the ground in Syria, which is worrying. We have not yet been able to ascertain who this element belongs to – who it is – and we are in the process of doing so. But any further questions on the statement by the secretary-general should be directed to the spokesman for the secretary-general.

Question: Just a follow-up on that. You are talking about a third element. So could you please elaborate on that third element? And I believe that if the Secretary-General is making such statements, he is certainly also relying on elements, documents and evidence that you provide him because you are taking care of that region?

Fawzi: When we speak about third actors on the ground, we mean there are the hallmarks of activities and incidents and explosions that appear to come from sources other than opposition or government sources. This has yet to be verified. We have to be very, very careful. As you know, the twin suicide bombs in Damascus that had horrifying casualties were claimed first by a jihadist group. The same jihadist group denied that that claim was authentic a few days later, denied that the video that was posted on the internet was authentic, called it a fake. So we have to be very, very careful who we apportion responsibility to.
3.18pm: Syria: The activist group the Local Co-ordination Committees in Syria, claims 20 people have been killed so far today in Syria.
Its tally includes nine deaths in Homs, and the killing of an eight-year-old boy in Hama. Graphic images of the boy's body have been circulating by activists.
Activist claim he was killed when the Tareeq Halab neighbourhood of the city was shelled.
These accounts cannot be independently verified.
3.00pm: Britain/Bahrain: Activist Ala'a Ashehabi tweets the scene at the Bahrain embassy during a protest against King Hamad's invitation to Windsor.
Protestors outside Bahraini embassy now shouting "Down with Hamad" as Hamad dines in Windsor #Bahrain twitter.com/alaashehabi/st…
— Dr Ala'a Shehabi (@alaashehabi) May 18, 2012
2.57pm: Bahrain/Britain: Here's the latest on the royal lunch at Windsor Castle, via the Press Association:
Members of the British royal family attending the lunch included the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry, the Duke of York and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie and the Earl and Countess of Wessex.
The King of Bahrain was joined by his wife Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa and at the reception held before lunch she was seen talking to Beatrice and Eugenie.
The event had the atmosphere of a family gathering despite the opulent surroundings with everyone chatting at loud levels as they caught up.
The Royal Family circulated around the chamber mingling with their foreign guests and at one point Harry was engrossed in conversation with the Saudi Ambassador while his brother William and wife Kate chatted to King of Jordan Abdullah II and his wife Queen Rania.
The Duchess wore a pale pink fitted dress by Emilia Wickstead.
Edward joked when he found the African rulers, Swaziland's King Mswati III and King Letsie III of Lesotho and their spouses, standing together, saying "safety in numbers?"
The Queen was hosting 98 guests for lunch in the Castle's magnificent St George' Hall.
They sat at round tables seating up to 12, with each group having at least a sovereign, their spouse, a member of Britain's royal family and a member of the royal household.
On the menu was a starter of poached egg with English asparagus.
The main course was noisettes of new season Windsor lamb with artichokes, peas, carrots, broad beans, spring cabbage, braised potatoes, wild mushrooms, and a tomato and basil salad.
For dessert there were Kent strawberries and vanilla charlotte, fruit and cheese.
2.53pm: Syria: More frustration with the UN monitors...
"Dear UN observers, 15 martyrs fell since your last visit to Qusair, please don't visit us again" #Homs #Syria twitter.com/HamaEcho/statu…
— Free Syrian (@HamaEcho) May 18, 2012
2.41pm: Egypt: No matter who wins the election, Egypt's next president will face a host of economic issues. Jane Kinninmont, of Chatham House, the London-based thinktank, has been looking at the candidates' policies:
Overall, campaign rhetoric suggests public spending is likely to rise in the next year. It can be assumed that any new government will be wary of cutting public spending on salaries and consumer subsidies, and there is clear pressure to increase public spending on healthcare, education and infrastructure.
Of the candidates, Aboul Fotouh, an independent Islamist and doctor, aims to increase healthcare spending to 15% of the state budget, and education spending to 25%, by 2016; Amr Moussa has set the same targets with a vaguer timescale; while Ahmed Shafiq, a former air force commander with links to the military establishment, and Hamdeen Sabbahi, a leftist with a Nasserist background, both favour a health insurance scheme for all Egyptians.
Housing is another key issue: Aboul Fotouh, Moussa and Shafiq have promised programmes to redevelop Egypt's sprawling slums, while Mursi and Sabbahi both pledged new subsidised housing for the poor (and in Mursi's case, for newlyweds).
Raising revenue will be harder. All the front runners agree about the need for a more progressive tax system. The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party has highlighted the need to expand the tax base by legalising and licensing the many businesses that operate informally – but this is likely to be a long-term process, requiring reform of the labyrinthine Egyptian bureaucracy.
Several candidates have mentioned the need to cut energy subsidies to industry, which may be a relatively easy win.
2.22pm: Syria: After quoting Shakespeare last week, the Kafranabel banner maker has devised some original verse for this week's message from the Idlib town.
Banners in this style have been raised every Friday since last summer.
There is now even Facebook group called "the banners from Kafranbel".
2.17pm: Bahrain/Iran: Government-backed demonstrations have been taking place today in Iran to denounce plans for closer ties between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
A protest march in Tehran followed midday prayers led by cleric Kazem Sedighi who said a Saudi-Bahraini pact would be an "ominous conspiracy" aimed at the "annexation" of Bahrain by Saudi Arabia, the Associated Press reports.
"Bahrain and regional nations, as well as the Muslim world and the Iranian nation will never accept the conspiracy," Sedighi said.
State television said similar rallies took place in other cities and towns in Iran, with thousands participating.
Many nationalist and hard-line conservatives in Iran consider Bahrain, which gained independence from Britain in 1971, as a rightful part of the Persian country as it was before it fell under Britain during colonial times.
Until 1971 and under the Western-backed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi who was toppled by the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran kept two empty seats in its parliament for supposed representatives from "Bahrain province".
2.16pm: Bahrain/Britain: The Queen has been accused of making a catastrophic error of judgment by dining with King Hamad of Bahrain at Windsor Castle, the Press Association reports.
The head of state and her family sat down to lunch with the Middle East ruler and other controversial foreign royals as they celebrated her diamond jubilee.
Guests from controversial regimes include Swaziland's King Mswati III, the former prime minister of Kuwait Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Sabah, who stepped down over a corruption row, and Prince Mohammed Bin Nawaf Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Britain.
When King Hamad arrived at the castle he was personally greeted by the Queen, who smiled as she shook his hand and the pair laughed as they shared a joke, the Press Association says.
It quotes Graham Smith, chief executive of the anti-monarchy group Republic:
The Queen cannot hide behind protocol and precedent, this is a crisis of her own making.
The British people strongly support the struggle for democracy in the Middle East and around the world - this is a catastrophic error of judgment that has already prompted a fierce backlash.
The Queen owes a personal apology to all those fighting for freedom in those countries and to the families of those who have died doing so.
The Queen's decision to personally invite these tyrants to lunch sends an appalling message to the world, and seriously damages Britain's reputation. Thanks to the Queen's misjudgement, her jubilee will forever be associated with some of the most repressive regimes in the world.
Demonstrations are planned this evening outside Buckingham Palace when the foreign guests attend a dinner hosted by the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, but the King of Bahrain will reportedly not be attending that event.
2.05pm: Syria: Syria: The head of the UN monitoring mission Robert Mood [pictured] has played down Ban Ki-moon's assertion that al-Qaida was responsible for last week's bombing in Damascus.
Mood was asked about Ban's comments during a press conference with journalists in Damascus. He said: "This is the kind of violence that is obviously impossible at this stage to decide where it came from, by whom. But there is a worrying incident, a worrying trend related to this incident."
So perhaps Ban's comments should not be taken that seriously (in the same appearance he also mistook Hama for "Hamas", as Inner City Press Notes).
Kofi Annan's office has emailed a full transcript of Mood's remarks. The Norwegian said the mission would be moving to full implementation phase now that almost all the monitors from 60 countries had arrived.

He also insisted that the violence had reduced since the arrival of the monitors, but that it was impossible to eradicate without dialogue between the two sides.
Mood said we was concerned about an increase in violence in the last few days.
We are seeing in the areas where we are deployed that we have both a calming effect on the ground and we are seeing that we have a good dialogue and the dialogue is expanding both with the authorities and the opposition elements. I think it is too early to say that it is a trend that we can be conclusive about. But I share the worries of everyone who is concerned that we are seeing more violence in the last days than we did in the previous days.
Mood also revealed that bullet holes were found in damaged UN vehicles recovered after Tuesday's shooting incident in Khan Sheikhoun. He gave this carefully-worded account of what happened:
In Khan Sheikhoun, we had an incident with four UN vehicles that came into the village. There was an explosion in front of or close to the first vehicle. Two of the vehicles were not able to drive. Six observers spent the night in the village and the day after, they found good coordination and cooperation both from local authorities and from the opposition inside the village. We sent a patrol and picked up both the two vehicles and the observers.
This is also a situation in which it is very easy to speculate. The fact we know is that I spoke with my observers by telephone in the evening, during the night, and in the morning. They told us: we feel safe, we want to stay overnight, we want to be picked up in the morning because as light was falling and there were still explosions and fighting in the area, they felt it more unsafe to try to organise a departure from the village.
This is what we know. We also know that we have bullet holes in one of the vehicles, and we know that the explosion damaged the first vehicle. That kind of violence is a kind of violence that we need no more because that is not only challenging, targeting the UNMOs on the ground, it is targeting the efforts of the international community.
So I would ask anyone that, out of whatever motives, would conduct something like that, to rethink, because we, the international community, we are there on the ground to facilitate a reduction in violence and terrible incidents for the Syrian people. We are only 300 observers, so we are not trying to solve all the problems of Syria. The other stakeholders need to be genuine in their commitment and demonstrate that by action.
1.40pm: Syria: A couple of new videos said to show protests in Syria today:
The clip above is from Marea, with a surfeit of revolution flags
... and a long one from Aleppo
1.23pm: Here is a summary of the latest developments:
Egypt
• First results in the Egyptian presidential election – from expatriate communities around the world – show Islamist candidate Abdel Moneim Abul Foutouh in the lead, though well short of the 50% needed to avoid a run-off (see 1.02pm).
Syria
• Friday protests are under way in Syria, under the slogan "Heroes of Aleppo University" – in solidarity with students who have demonstrated despite brutal repression. The presence of UN monitors prompted hundreds of students to converge on Aleppo university yesterday where they were set upon by pro-government students and security forces.
• A UN monitor has expressed frustration at being being filmed by activists in Dera'a, advising them not to post clips of him to YouTube (see 12.35pm).
• The opposition stronghold of Rastan, between Hama and Homs, has come under more bombardment, according to video from activists (see 10.48 am).
• UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has said he believes al-Qaida was responsible for the explosions that reportedly killed at least 55 people in Damascus last week.
• Guardian journalist Martin Chulov, just returned from north-west Syria, says rebels there are scornful of the regime's al-Qaida narrative (see 10.18).
• Syria's ambassador to the UN, Bashar Ja'afari, claims two British citizens who were "engaged in terrorist activity" have been killed in Syria.
Bahrain
• King Hamad al-Khalifa's inclusion in the guest list for the Queen's diamond jubilee gathering at Windsor Castle today, has provoked widespread criticism.
1.02pm: Egypt: More presidential election results are coming in from expatriate communities around the world. Similar results from inside Egypt next week would lead to a run-off, since no candidate seems close to winning 50%.
Ahram Online has figures from the UAE, Austria, France, Sudan, Yemen and Washington (with results from other US voting centres still to come).
The results from the UAE, where more than 21,000 voted, show a similar pattern to those from the UK (see 11.30am), with Abdel Moneim Abul Foutouh in the lead, followed by Hamdeen Sabahi, Amr Moussa, Mohamed Morsi and Ahmed Shafiq (in that order).
Sabahi came top in France, while Morsi was top in Sudan and Yemen (based on a comparatively small number of votes).
12.35pm: Syria: A UN monitor has expressed his frustration at being being filmed by activists in Dera'a, advising them not to post clips of him to YouTube.
The citizen journalist ignored the request.
The monitor, who spoke with a Yemeni accent according to our colleague Mona Mahmood, said: "We are here to watch the two sides and file a report."
Asked repeatedly whether he had seen army checkpoints the monitor said:
Listen man. We are not here to give press statements. Please let us do our job properly, with honesty and impartiality.
Whatever I see I will report. Please let us do our job and don't waste our time.
There is no reason to film me or to put it on YouTube. All these are useless.
At the start of the clip the monitor was challenged to take pictures of the destruction of Dera'a. Gesturing at the scene, a resident said: "Wherever you go you will find destruction. My family has fled to Jordan. This is the house of my cousin this is the house of my sister. No one can stay here."
The encounter appears to reflect a growing frustration from the UN at activists filming their work.
The Guardian asked Kofi Annan's spokesman Ahmad Fawzi to confirm video which appeared to show a UN monitor crawling to safety in Khan Sheikhoun on Tuesday. He said: "We don't comment on videos posted on the internet."
12.01pm: Syria: Videos of post-Friday prayer protests are beginning to emerge. Despite reports of a fresh bombardment in Rastan today, protesters took to the streets to chant in support of students in Aleppo.
Protests have also been filmed in Idlib, and Abu Kamal in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor.
11.52am: Britain: From the official guest list, these are the Middle Eastern royals who will be dining with the Queen today:
HM The King of Bahrain
HRH Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa (Bahrain)
HM The King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
HM Queen of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
HH Sheikh Nasser Mohamed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah of Kuwait
HRH Princess Lalla Meryem of Morocco
HH The Emir of The State of Qatar
HH Sheika Mozah bint Nasser Al-Missned (Qatar)
HRH Prince Mohammed Bin Nawaf Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia
HH The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi
11.30am: Egypt: The Egyptian embassy in London has confirmed that Abdel Moneim Abul Foutouh won the most votes among Egyptians in the UK.
He secured 1,300 of the 4,286 votes casts in the UK presidential election, a spokeswoman told the Guardian. The leftist Hamdeen Sabahi came second with 962, followed by former foreign minster Amr Moussa who secured 907. The Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi came a distant fourth with 354 votes.
The turnout was 60% the spokeswoman said. Votes for the minor candidates are not yet available.
11.13am: Libya: UN human rights experts say they will visit Libya next week to examine the use of mercenaries to fight the uprising that eventually brought down the Gaddafi regime, AP reports.
Faiza Patel, head of the UN Human Rights Council panel, says it also aims to collect "direct and first-hand information" on private companies offering military aid, consultants and security to Gaddafi's regime.
Patel and another expert said Friday they will spend four days in Libya at the invitation of the government, which claims to have evidence linking Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, to the supervision and planning of the recruitment of mercenaries in the civil war that ended the regime.
10.48am: Syria: The opposition stronghold of Rastan, between Hama and Homs, has come under more bombardment, according to video from activists.
One clip showed smoke billowing from behind a minaret, another purported to show the town's skyline during an attack.
There are unconfirmed reports that four people were killed.
10.18am: Syria: The Guardian's Martin Chulov has just returned from north west Syria and is tweeting snippets of what he saw and heard.
Back from 5 days around Idlib. Insurgency raging. Rebels scornful of regime's AQ narrative. Defectors streaming in, but not weapons. #Syria
— Martin Chulov (@martinchulov) May 18, 2012
'If u find me a man from al-qa'ida i'll buy u lunch,' an FSA Leader near Idlib told me. 'All lies. The regime's the terrorists'. #Syria
— Martin Chulov (@martinchulov) May 18, 2012
All defected officers i spoke to in #Syria had 1st hand accounts of regime plots that were blamed on AQ.
— Martin Chulov (@martinchulov) May 18, 2012
The Guardian is planning to publish Martin's dispatch in the next few days.
9.58am: Bahrain: A journalist who criticised Bahrain's proposed union with Saudi Arabia was seized from his home near Manama on Wednesday and his current whereabouts are unknown, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists says.
Ahmed Radhi, a freelance who contributes to local news websites and has an Arabic blog called Silahi Qalami ("My weapon is my pen"), was reportedly arrested by security forces at 4am after they broke down his door.
Although there is no information about any charges against him, Radhi was arrested in the wake of comments he made in radio interviews on Monday and Tuesday criticising the proposed union with Saudi Arabia, his family members told the London-based Bahrain Press Association.
He later posted notes about the interviews on Facebook in Arabic (here and here) and also
tweeted about them.
9.52am: Syria: Robert Mood (pictured) the head of the UN's monitoring team, appears to have given a gloomy assessment about the effectiveness of the mission.
He told a press conference that no amount of observers in Syria can achieve a permanent end to the violence without dialogue, according to AP.
There are currently 257 monitors deployed in Syria. A further 43 monitors will be deployed by the end of the month.
9.40am: Egypt: Preliminary expat results are beginning to emerge pointing to wins for the moderate Islamist candidate Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh.
The former member of the Muslim Brotherhood has come out top among Egyptian in the UK, according to random sampling and exit polls seen by Omar Ashour, visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Centre.
#EgyPresElex results in UK: #Aboulfotouh wins w/1300 votes, hamdin 962, #Moussa 907, #Morsi 354 @SultanAlQassemi @monaeltahawy @seldeeb
— Omar Ashour (@DrOmarAshour) May 18, 2012
Abul Foutouh also appears to be winning among expats in the US, according to activist Mostafa Hussein.
Prelim. elections results from Washington DC according to @ymzada: AF 882, AM 644, HS 641, AS 404, Others 497. Out of 3068 valid votes.
— Mostafa Hussein (@moftasa) May 18, 2012
More significantly perhaps Abul Foutoh looks set to get the backing of Hazem Abu Ismail, a leading Salafist who was excluded from the presidential race, according to the Egypt Independent.
9.31am: Syria: A UN panel of experts which investigates sanctions-busting has accused North Korea of providing weapons-related supplies to Syria, Reuters reports.
One of the cases involving illicit arms trade with Syria was reported to the council's sanctions committee last month.
"In April 2012, France reported to the committee that it had inspected and seized in November 2010 an illicit shipment of arms-related materiel originating from the DPRK and destined for Syria," the report [from the investigators] said.
The shipment, which was on board the ship M/V San Francisco Bridge, was said to be containing "copper bars and plates."
"However, France's inspection of the cargo revealed that it contained brass discs and copper rods used to manufacture artillery munitions (pellets and rods for crimping cartridges and driving bands) and aluminum alloy tubes usable for making rockets," the panel said.
Another case involved a 2007 shipment of propellant usable for SCUD missiles and other items that could be used for ballistic missiles. The panel had referred to it in last year's report but added details about a Syria connection and confirmed that it had been transported via China.
"This shipment originated in the DPRK [North Korea], was trans-shipped in Dalian (China), and Port Kelang (Malaysia), and transited through other ports," the report said. "It was en route to Latakia, Syria."
Although both shipments were made before the Syrian government launched its assault on opposition demonstrators in March 2011, diplomats said they were worrying because it showed the kinds of items Damascus had been trying to add to its arsenal – and the aid it received from North Korea and China.
The panel also reported recently on illegal arms shipments from Iran to Syria.
9.14am: Syria: Video has emerged of protesters at Aleppo university taking shelter in a graffiti-daubed UN monitoring vehicle, as the security forces beat fellow protesters outside.
The footage is unverified but would be difficult to fake.
The state news agency Sana acknowledged that the UN monitors visited Aleppo but made no mention of what took place.
It did say an investigation has been ordered into Tuesday's events in Khan Sheikhoun when UN monitors were fired at after a protest at a funeral.
9.07am: Syria: The state news agency Sana has leapt on Ban Ki-moon's remarks about al-Qaida being responsible for last week's bomb attacks in Damascus.
It says the al-Nusra Front, a shady group with links to al-Qaida, has claimed responsibility for the attack. It doesn't point out that it later denied claiming responsibility.
8.47am: (all times BST) Welcome to Middle East Live. Even before yesterday's clashes in Aleppo, protesters across the country were planning to pay a Friday tribute to students in Syria's second city. Yesterday scenes at the university, which were live streamed over the internet and occurred under the gaze of UN monitors, are likely to give added impetuous to today's demonstrations.
Syria
• The slogan for Friday's protests is "heroes of Aleppo University," in solidarity with students who demonstrated despite brutal repression against the university, Now Lebanon reports. Yesterday students called for the arming of the Free Syrian Army, it said citing an activist.
• The presence of UN monitors, prompted hundreds of students to converge on Aleppo university yesterday where they were set upon by pro-government students and security forces, the New York Times reports. The protest and the mayhem, conveyed by students who streamed live video to the Internet, was the first big demonstration at Aleppo University since security forces raided and emptied the dormitories two weeks ago in a crackdown that left at least four students dead.
• UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said he believed al-Qaida was responsible for two suicide car bombs that killed at least 55 people in Damascus last week. "A few days ago there was a huge, serious, massive terrorist attack. I believe that there must be al Qaida behind it. This has created again very serious problems," Ban told a youth event in New York without elaborating.
Scroll forward to 41 minutes to hear Ban discussing the crisis in Syria.
• The head of Syria's main opposition council has offered to resign "as soon as a replacement is found" after a network of activists threatened to leave the group warning it had drifted away from the spirit of the country's revolution. Burhan Ghalioun said he did not wish to be a divisive figure and was ready to step down, just days after he was re-elected to a third, three-month term.
• Yesterday we featured a video of protesters and UN monitors coming under firing in Khan Sheikhoun, but we failed to spot that it appeared to show a UN monitoring crawling to safety. The New York Times's Lede blog noticed the crucial detail and a subsequent video appearing to show the same monitor being dragged to safety.
• Residents in Areeha, 50km southwest of Aleppo have an ambivalent attitude to UN monitors, according to activist Shakeeb Al-Jabri writing on the opposition website Ayyam.
After each UN visit, Assad's army opened fire on the residents, a move that was seen as regime punishment for receiving the monitors. The short, and largely useless, visits enraged Areeha's residents. "We hated them for this," Ahmad, a local activist said, "They came, did nothing of use to us, they didn't even talk to us, but we still got punished."
However, the activists admit that the mere presence of monitors in Idlib, the main city 15 km away, has helped reduce the regime's assaults ...
The activists have mixed feelings about the monitors' potential. "Every time they visit we get punished," Jalal said "things have improved a bit, but not enough." Ahmad is more optimistic, "They made promises," he said, "we need to give them time to deliver."
• Syria's ambassador to the UN Bashar Ja'afari claims two British citizens who were "engaged in terrorist activity" have been killed in Syria. The letter, addressed to Ban Ki Moon, the UN General-Secretary, lists Hassan Blidi and Walid Hassan among ten foreigners killed in Syria's 15-month conflict, the Times reports.
Bahrain
• King Hamad al-Khalifa's invitation to the Queen's diamond jubilee gathering at Windsor Castle, has provoked widespread criticism because of Bahrain's brutal suppression of pro-democracy protests. The former Foreign Office minister Denis MacShane accused the FCO on Thursday of placing the Queen in an impossible position. The Labour MP said: "Many in Britain will regret that the foreign secretary, who approves all invitations sent in the Queen's name as head of state, has decided to include a representative of the Bahraini regime which has done such terrible things to its own people since the Arab awakening a year ago." Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell accused eight countries whose leaders may be on the guest list of human rights abuses. He said: "It is outrageous that the Queen has invited royal tyrants to celebrate her diamond jubilee. "She should not host the monarchs of countries such as Brunei, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Swaziland and United Arab Emirates."
• There are three main camps in Bahraini politics - the government, the opposition, and the loyalist opposition - and they are all becoming more entrenched, according to a research paper published in Foreign Policy magazine. It concludes:
To avoid that conflagration, everyone must work toward ameliorating the distrust, street, and sectarian dynamics that threaten to rip the very fabric of Bahraini society apart. Unfortunately, potential spoilers abound within each camp, especially among the hardline factions who view the crisis with vastly different lenses and even personally benefit from the continuation of the crisis. It is unclear whether these factions can be convinced to play a productive role on the path to reconciliation. What is clear, however, is that if current trends continue, it is only a matter of time before Bahrain suffers a major escalation.
Egypt
• A week before the polls open for the presidential elections, the results from expatriates ballots are due to be announced. The Egyptian embassy in London said the counting is likely to start Friday morning with results announced by end of the day, Ahram reports.
Matthew WeaverBrian Whitaker
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9:43
Eurozone crisis live: Greek and Spanish fears hit markets again
» ‎ The Guardian World News
• FTSE 100 at new low for 2012
• Asian shares fall sharply
• Wolfgang Schäuble sees 12-24 months of turmoil
• Spain hit by banks downgrade...
• ... and rise in bad bank debts
10.15am: EU trade commissioner Karel De Gucht has confirmed that the European Commission and the European Central Bank are working on an emergency scenario in case Greece should leave the euro zone.
While we'd rather assumed that contingency work was underway, I'm not aware of an official stating it before (shout out if you know better).
De Gucht made the comments in an interview with Belgian newspaper De Standaard, arguing that a 'domino effect' from a Greek exit could be contained:
Both within the European Central Bank and the European Commission, services that are working on emergency scenarios in case Greece doesn't make it.
De Gucht declined to give details, and added that he still expects Greece to remain in the euro.
9.49am: In the financial markets, the FTSE 100 remains sharply lower, down 53 points at 5285, at its lowest point since 30 November.
This moves the UK blue-chip index deeper into 'corrrection' territory, from its recent high of 5965 in mid-March.
The German DAX and French CAC markets are also still in the red, both down around 0.6%.
But surprisingly, the Spanish stock market is actually up. Led by Bankia, whose shares have surged by 28% this morning. Quite a turnaround, following yesterday's rumours of a bank run. Other financial stocks are also now up, despite Moody's volley of downgrades last night.
That follows a report that Goldman Sachs has been hired to value Bankia – which could prelude a break-up.
UPDATE: A couple of City types have also mentioned a rumour that Spain might impose a ban on short selling (selling stocks which you don't actually own). Nothing official though.
9.35am: The crisis in the Spanish banking sector comes nearly four years after Santander was playing a 'white knight' role during the UK's own banking crisis.
Our banking expert Jill Treanor comments:

Interesting times for Santander UK. This was the bank that the Labour government turned to during the 2008 crisis to take on Bradford & Bingley savers. It also bought Alliance and Leicester just before the crash.
Now, unrelated to last nigh's downgrade, its attempts at a stock market flotation - earmarked for two years ago - are now pushed back until at least next year. Even so, it still has a strong rating and has not been downgraded as much as the overall group.
9.13am: The proportion of bad debts sitting on the books of Spanish banks has risen to its highest level since August 1994.
Bank of Spain data showed that the bad loans rate across the Spanish banking sector rose to 8.37% in March. The number of loans falling into arrears increased by €1.6bn to €148bn.
That underlines the thinking behind Moodys' downgrades last night – Spain's banking sector is stuffed full of loans that turned sour once the property market crashed.
Those bad debts could grow significantly if the Spanish economy deteriorates, making it even harder for the Madrid government to recapitalise its banks and put them on a sound footing. As Nicholas Spiro of Spiro Sovereign Strategy points out:
Spanish bank restructuring is a moving target: the deeper the downturn, the bigger the scope for a further deterioration in asset quality.
8.55am: France's new prime minister had stern words for European leaders this morning for their failure to help Greece through the financial crisis.
Jean-Marc Ayrault, a former German teacher, added his voice to the chorus calling for a new growth agenda. Ayrault urged Brussels to put spare structural funds to work to help the Greek economy return to growth:
We waited too long before helping Greece. This has been going on for two years now and only gets worse....
Tough talk, but not exactly unfair.
8.36am: German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble said on Friday that the market turmoil surrounding the euro zone crisis could last another two years.
Speaking on France's Europe 1 radio after Asian markets had tumbled, Schäuble said:
Regarding the crisis of confidence in the euro ... in 12 to 24 months we will see a calming of the financial markets
And that, it seems, is Schäuble being optimistic. He also appeared to warn Greek voters not to trust parties who promise to renegotiate Greece's financial progamme.

It's up to Greek politicians to explain the reality to their people and not make false promises.
We want Greece to stay in the euro but meet its commitments and that's a decision that's up to the Greeks.
8.27am: Santander UK, which was downgraded one notch by Moody's last, is stressing this morning that the downgrade won't affect its business.
A spokesman said:
The change to Moody's credit rating of Santander UK plc has no impact on our businesses in the UK or our plans for future growth. Santander UK plc is an autonomous subsidiary of the Santander Group, with more than 90% of its total assets held in the UK and a Eurozone sovereign exposure of less than 1% of assets.
Santander UK is a key player in the British financial sector, having acquired Alliance & Leicester, Abbey National and Bradford and
Bingley. It now has a higher credit rating than its parent company, following Banco Santander's three-notch drubbing.
8.10am: European stock markets have fallen at the start of trading, with Spain's IBEX showing the steepest losses.
The IBEX shed 128 points, or 2%, at the start of trading, hitting a new nine-year low of 6409 points. That follows Moody's downgrading much of the Spanish banking sector last night (see 7.49am)
In London, the FTSE 100 is down 50 points at 5289, a new low for the year. Just four shares have risen, while mining companies and banks are leading the fallers. Rio Tinto, Xstrata, Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays are all down at least 2.5%.
It's a similar tale across Europe, with the Italian FTSE MIB down 1.5% and the French and German markets dropping around 1%.
There's a really downbeat mood in the City this morning. As Clive Duckitt, director at Fyshe Horton Finney, commented:
There seems little respite from the gloomy news that has engulfed equity markets in recent weeks.
7.56am: Risk aversion has driven the US dollar up this morning, as traders look to put their money somewhere safe.
This has pushed the euro down to a new four-month low of $1.2649 against the US dollar.
It has also pushed the oil price to its lowest level of the year, with a barrel of Brent crude dropping $1 to $106.40. That might actually bring some relief to the global economy, as high fuel and energy prices have been blamed for pushing up inflation.
7.49am: Moody's decision to downgrade much of Spain's banking sector last night has put country's financial problems under even more scrutiny.
Some downgrades had been anticipated, but the scale of the move is still quite dramatic – with 16 banks downgraded in total and some, including the giant Santander, by three notches.
Moody's blamed the weak Spanish economy (currently in recession), and the Madrid government's reduced ability to support troubled lenders, given its own problems.
Amidst the ongoing euro area debt crisis, the Spanish government's rising budget deficit and the renewed recession, sovereign creditworthiness has declined.
Spain's banking sector was also reeling from reports, officially denied, that worried customers were pulling deposits out of Bankia.
As analysts at Investec comment, "It's not going to go down in history as a great day for Spanish banks."
7.38am: Asian markets were hit hard overnight by fears over the health of the Spanish banking sector, and the looming threat of a eurozone break-up.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei fell by 2.99% at 8611.31, its lowest level since January. The index has now fallen for seven weeks in a row -- its worst performance since 2001. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index is down -2.69%.
Ben Kwong, Hong Kong-based chief operating officer at KGI Asia, called it straight:
It's really bad....
Fears of a Greek exit from the euro zone and the negative consequences from that are prevailing.
Australian stocks were also hit overnight, particulaly banks and miners (with National Australia Bank falling 4.23%, and Rio Tinto down 5%). Warnings that China's economic growth might be lower than expected this year also hit sentiment.
Chris Weston, institutional trader at IG, was also in bleak mood, predicting a "dark and tiresome open" in European markets.
The world is bereft of good news
7.35am: Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the eurozone financial crisis.
Not that there's much 'good' about this morning. The escalating crisis having sparked heavy losses in Asian stock markets overnight, and another sell-off expected in Europe today.
There are two factors behind the sell-off: Fitch downgrading Greece yesterday evening on concerns that it might soon leave the eurozone and default, and Moody's decision to downgrade 16 Spanish banks.
Those two developments capture the essence of the crisis today – Greece pushed to the brink of euro exit by austerity, a long recession and an huge debt mountain, and Spain battling to avoid the same fate. We'll be watching both countries today.
World leaders are gathering in the US for the G8 summit, facing the growing threat of a global downturn. Barack Obama is expected to demand that Europe bows to pressure at home and abroad with new policies to boost growth.
Graeme Wearden
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9:39
Chen Guangcheng's brother describes beating by officials
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Chen Guangfu says Chinese authorities tried to make him reveal how his sibling escaped from house arrest
The brother of blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng has told reporters how he was chained to a chair and beaten for three days to make him reveal how his sibling escaped from house arrest in the Shandong countryside.
Chen Guangfu described his ordeal in an interview with a Hong Kong magazine as his son, Chen Kegui stood accused of attempted murder for fighting back against a similar beating.
A team of independent lawyers who have offered to represent the defendant were dismissed by the authorities and told not to speak about the case.
Chen Guangfu told a reporter from iSunAffairs.com that local officials came to his home after his brother fled late last month from his home village of Dongshigu to the US embassy in Beijing.
"They put me on a chair, bound my feet with iron chains and locked my hands with handcuffs behind my back," he said, according to a transcript of the interview released to the BBC.
"They pulled my hands upwards forcefully. Then they slapped me in the face," he said.
"They first asked me if I knew what this was about. I said 'I don't know', So they beat me and slapped my face. Only on one side, not the other. And they trampled my feet."
He tried not to implicate others by initially claiming all the responsibility for the escape. But he said the interrogators seemed to know who had been involved so it was ultimately impossible to resist.
His wife, Ren Zongju, also described how officials attacked her son.
"They started fighting inside the house. So many people were beating him. His face was bleeding, and his legs. His trousers were ripped," she was quoted as saying. "He said to me 'Mum, I need to get out immediately'. We had 1,000 yuan... So I picked it up and gave it to my son."
The report is difficult to confirm. Journalists have been turned away from Dongshigu and neighbouring villages. But it fits with Chen Guangcheng's telephone statement to a US congressional hearing earlier this week in which he reported a "pattern of abuse" against his relatives.
The blind activist is now in a Beijing hospital, where he is being treated for colitis and injuries sustained during his escape. Under a deal between the US and Chinese governments, he expects to be given permission to study in New York. US authorities say visas for Chen and his family have been prepared. The Chinese side has told him that passports and travel permission will be ready in 15 days.
"I am not worrying. For sure I can get my visa within two weeks," Chen told the Guardian on Friday. "My worry now is for my family. The local police have confessed that they beat [my nephew] Chen Kegui so his fight back is just self-defence."
It is unclear which family members will be allowed to travel to the US with the activist. Although his wife and two children are certain to go, an official said there were also discussions about whether his mother might join them.
Chen's mother is now 78, and suffers from arthritis and coronary heart disease. According to Chen, local officials previously prevented her from getting medical treatment and followed her when she went out to buy food. But now, she is free to walk around in the village and chat to neighbours.
The activist says he is in daily phone contact with her, but that she does not want to go to New York because she is concerned about those that would be left behind. "She is worried about my extended family, especially her grandson, my nephew Chen Kegui," he said.
A senior lawyer defending the activist described to the Guardian last week how he lost his hearing in a beating by a senior state security official after he tried to visit Chen Guangcheng in hospital.
Jonathan Watts
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9:06
Human rights groups criticise Queen's historic lunch of monarchs
» ‎ The Guardian World News
King of Bahrain, accused of brutally suppressing pro-democracy protests, among those included on controversial guest list
The king of Bahrain, whose regime has been accused of brutally suppressing pro-democracy demonstrations, has been revealed as one of the guests at a historic lunch of sovereign monarchs hosted by the Queen at Windsor Castle on Friday.
Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa appeared on a guest list released early on Friday ahead of the unprecedented gathering to celebrate the diamond jubilee.
Other guests include Swaziland's King Mswati III, as well as Sheikh Nasser Mohamed Aal Jaber Aal-Sabah of Kuwait and Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz Aal Saud of Saudi Arabia.
One definite no-show will be Queen Sofía of Spain, ordered by her government to turn down the invitation in response to a planned trip next month by the Earl of Wessex to Gibraltar, the UK overseas territory Spain wants returned to its sovereignty.
Human rights demonstrators are expected to stage a protest outside Bahrain's embassy in London later on Friday over the inclusion of the country's ruler.
The former Foreign Office minister Denis MacShane accused the FCO on Thursday of placing the Queen in an impossible position. The Labour MP said: "Many in Britain will regret that the foreign secretary, who approves all invitations sent in the Queen's name as head of state, has decided to include a representative of the Bahraini regime which has done such terrible things to its own people since the Arab awakening a year ago."
The Foreign Office said it had advised on "logistics", adding that the invitations would have been issued by the Queen in a private capacity.
It said that "all world sovereigns" were invited to the event, which was "organised by the royal household, with assistance and co-ordination by the FCO". The UK was a "long-standing friend and ally" of Bahrain, and the "strong relationship" allowed "full and frank discussion" on issues of concern, including human rights.
The UK government supported reforms already under way, the Foreign Office said, and wants to help promote that reform, including moves to bring to account individuals responsible for human rights abuse. The human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell was critical of the inclusion of eight of the monarchs on the Queen's guest list. He said: "It is outrageous that the Queen has invited royal tyrants to celebrate her diamond jubilee.
"She should not host the monarchs of countries such as Brunei, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Swaziland and United Arab Emirates."
He added: "All eight royal families preside over a variety of human rights abuses, such as detention without trial, torture, the denial of free speech, restrictions on press freedom, discrimination against women, oppression of minority faiths, homophobic persecution, ill-treatment of guest workers and the violent suppression of peaceful protests."
The Queen is rolling out the full red-carpet treatment, inviting the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, as well as Prince Harry and princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, to the lunch. Prince Charles is hosting his own dinner for foreign royals at Buckingham Palace on Friday night, although without the king of Bahrain.
The Swazi exiles group Swazi Vigil picketed the Savoy hotel in London, where Mswati, who has 13 wives and has been accused of human rights abuses, was said to be installed on Wednesday along with a 30-strong entourage.
Highlighting the impoverished kingdom's high HIV/Aids infection rates, they waved placards reading: "Let them eat cow dung", a reference to Swazi citizens being reduced to eating dung to fill their stomachs in order to take the HIV medication provided by non-governmental organisations.
Thobile Gwebu, the protest's co-ordinator, said they had chosen the Savoy rather than Windsor for their protest because they did not want to spoil the Queen's jubilee celebrations.
But, she added, they had written to the Queen politely asking if she could perhaps "have a word" with the Sherborne-educated absolute monarch.
Recent reports by Amnesty International highlighted a wave of repression in Saudi Arabia as the authorities crack down on protesters and reformist, while Human Rights Watch has criticised the Kuwaiti authorities for the suspension of a daily paper and the conviction of its editor for alleged incitement.
European royals attending include King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden, King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway, Prince Albert II of Monaco and his wife, Princess Charlene.
Caroline Davies
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8:55
Metal thieves target Warrington bomb memorial
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Colin Parry, whose son Tim was killed by the IRA in 1993, dismayed at theft of plaque
Suspected metal thieves have stolen a plaque commemorating two children killed in an IRA bomb attack in Warrington, Cheshire, a crime described by the father of one of the victims as "hard to understand".
Colin Parry, who became a campaigner for peace after his 12-year-old son, Tim, was killed in the 1993 attack, said he had learned on Thursday afternoon that the plaque, part of a memorial in the town centre called the River of Life, had been removed. "It's a great shock to be told someone has taken it," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "It's hard to imagine why anyone would stoop so low as to do this."
The small plaque, which would have minimal scrap value, commemorates Tim Parry and three-year-old Johnathan Ball, who were killed when two bombs placed in litter bins exploded within a minute on 20 March 1993 on a street crowded with shoppers. Another 54 people were injured. Attached to a wall in Bridge Street, where the explosions happened, it depicts the River Mersey and explains the design of the wider memorial. It had been in place since 1996.
Cheshire police said it was stolen between 20 April and 5 May. PC Graham Davies said: "We do not know exactly when the plaque was taken but would appeal to anyone who has any information in relation to the theft to come forward. This plaque forms part of a memorial and is of great significance to the town. It is upsetting for people to see that the plaque has been taken.
"We would urge anyone who knows the identity of the thief, or the whereabouts of the plaque, to contact us immediately. We would also appeal to anyone who may have been offered the plaque for sale to get in touch."
Parry said the crime was "hard to understand". He added: "Anyone with a conscience and any sense of decency … would find something less emotionally damaging to take."
One of the bombs exploded outside a branch of Boots and the other outside a McDonald's. Johnathan died at the scene, while Tim died five days later.
- IRA
- UK security and terrorism
Peter Walker
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7:24
Parenting lessons: this is not the nanny state, says David Cameron
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Prime minister launches Can Parent initiative to offer guidance and says he will push for childcare tax breaks
Parenting classes should be taken as seriously as driving lessons, David Cameron will declare as he announces measures to help the "nation-builders" raising Britain's next generation.
The prime minister, whose Can Parent initiative is allowing parents to fund classes through £100 vouchers handed out at Boots in some areas, said his plans represented the "sensible state" rather than the nanny state. The parenting classes in 10 two-hour sessions will offer advice on nutrition, behaviour and development.
Cameron made it clear on Thursday that he would like to introduce tax breaks for childcare. He reportedly told a Manchester businesswoman after making a speech in the city that he was "hugely attracted to the idea of making childcare tax allowable".
The prime minister will launch a strong defence of parenting classes. "It's ludicrous that we should expect people to train for hours to drive a car or use a computer but, when it comes to looking after a baby, we tell people to just get on with it," he will say.
Cameron, whose late son Ivan was severely paralysed, admits he would have appreciated guidance: "I would have loved more guidance when my children were babies. We've all been there when it's the middle of the night, your child won't stop crying and you don't know what to do
"Parents are nation-builders. It's through love and sheer hard work that we raise the next generation with the right values. That's why this government is doing everything possible to support parents. This is not the nanny state – it's the sensible state.
"To those who say that government should forget about parenting and families and focus on the big, gritty issues, I'd say these are the big, gritty issues. Families don't just shape us as individuals, they make a stronger society. That's why supporting families is right at the top of our agenda – and I'm going to make sure it stays that way."
Parenting classes will take place as pilot schemes, backed by a new website, in Middlesbrough, Camden in north London and in High Peak, Derbyshire. A relationship support service will be piloted in York, Leeds, north Essex and in some London boroughs from July for all expectant parents and those with children up to the age of two.
The idea, drawn up by the prime minister's departing policy guru Steve Hilton, is one response to the riots of last summer.
Frank Field, Labour's former welfare minister, previously proposed parenting classes in a report for Cameron in December 2010. Field said they should be routinely offered to new parents. They "should be seen as something normal to do, rather than remedial, or something only for low income families".
Field wrote: "Poor parenting exists across the income distribution, but tends to have less of an impact on better-off children where other factors provide greater protection against poor outcomes."
He said that children's centres and home visitors should encourage parents to attend classes "as a matter of course". Health visitors should offer "to sign them up as a matter of routine, initially targeting this on those most likely to benefit".
Nicholas Watt
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6:37
Search for fishing boat missing off Dorset coast
» ‎ The Guardian World News

Three-man crew aboard fishing boat the Purbeck Isle have not been seen since leaving port on Thursday morning
A major search operation is under way for a missing fishing boat and its three-man crew after it failed to return from a trip off the Dorset coast.
RNLI lifeboats, coastguard helicopters and a Royal Navy warship are involved in the hunt for the vessel, which was reported missing at around 6pm on Thursday.
The Weymouth-based fishing boat, the Purbeck Isle, has not been seen since leaving port on Thursday morning and cannot be contacted, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said.
Cindy Rodaway, watch manager at Portland coastguard, said: "The coastguard helicopter commenced a search from the air of known fishing grounds of this vessel as soon as we were alerted.
"We have also searched utilising the skills of the lifeboat crew and the crews of the Navy warships and the electronic search aids at their disposal."
Weymouth all-weather lifeboat, the Ernest and Mabel, launched at 7.15pm on Thursday and is still searching, along with the Lyme Regis in-shore lifeboat, the Spirit of Loch Fyne, which set out just after 11pm.
Additional shoreline searches of the coast to the west of Weymouth are also being carried out.
The search is being assisted by HMS York, a Type 42 destroyer, the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Wave Ruler, and US navy supply vessel 2nd Lt John P Bobo.

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1:07
Facebook share price set at $38
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Social network's landmark flotation has investors clamouring to buy, but some analysts issue warnings about IPO
Facebook has set the final price of shares in its landmark initial public offering at $38 (£24), the top of the price range it gave this week, as investors clamoured to buy into the social network. The move values the company at around $104bn.
Facebook had raised the price range to $34-$38 a share from $28-$35 earlier this week. The company's shares will begin trading alongside Amazon, Apple and other tech giants on the Nasdaq stock exchange on Friday in what will be the biggest technology flotation ever.
The $18.4bn share sale will be America's second biggest, behind Visa's $19.65bn sale in 2008. Founder Mark Zuckerberg, who owns 28.1% of Facebook shares, will instantly be propelled into the top tier of the super-rich.
The consultancy Wealth-X estimates his net pre-IPO fortune at $18.95bn. When, and if, Facebook's shares take off on Friday, some are predicting a massive first-day rise, known as a "pop", that would make Zuckerberg richer than Larry Page or Sergey Brin, the Google founders whose wealth soared after their own IPO.
The Los Angeles-based Wedbush Securities, the first firm to rate Facebook after it announced plans to sell shares, has set a 12-month price target of $44.
Facebook increased the size of its iniitial IPO this week by 25%, or about 100m shares, to meet investor demand. Some of its largest shareholders and early investors seized the moment to raise the number of shares they are selling, adding a potential $3.8bn to the value of the sale.
While Zuckerberg said he would be maintaining his holding, the hedge fund Tiger Global, run by 36-year-old New Yorker Chase Coleman, increased its sell-off from 3m to 23m shares. DST Group, which represents Russian investors such as Yuri Milner, is now planning to offload a quarter of its holding.
Goldman Sachs announced that it would sell 29m shares, more than double its previous plans to sell 13m. Peter Thiel, a legendary Silicon Valley investor who was one of the firm's first big backers, is now planning to sell 17m shares, up from 8m.
Zuckerberg will ring the Nasdaq stock exchange's opening bell in New York remotely from the company's headquarters, a 23-hectare complex in Menlo Park, California. The company's shares will then start trading with the stock symbol FB.
The hype surrounding the launch has drawn scepticism from some analysts. Sam Hamadeh, founder of the analysis firm PrivCo, has argued that Facebook is worth a fraction of the estimates. In a note to potential investors, he valued Facebook at just $24-$25 a share.
General Motors announced this week that it was pulling its advertisements off the social network, claiming that they were not working. GM is one of the world's largest advertisers and spent $1.83bn on ads in the US alone last year.
The car firm spent just $10m on Facebook, a tiny fraction of the tech company's $3.7bn revenues. But the move was a PR blow for a company that intends to make most of its cash from advertisers.
Nate Elliott, an analyst with the interactive marketing firm Forrester, wrote on his blog: "We wish we could predict this IPO would serve as a new beginning for Facebook's marketing offering, and that a new focus on becoming a grown-up business would inspire the company to put even half the energy into serving advertisers that it does into serving users.
"But we doubt Zuckerberg's going to wake up any day soon having acquired a taste for advertising, or even a proper understanding of it. And so every day more smart marketers are going to wake up and look for other places to dedicate their social resources."
Dominic Rushe
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0:52
Barack Obama tells EU: boost growth now or face a global crisis
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Germany to be urged to ease austerity during G8 talks as fears of global recession grow
Barack Obama is to put pressure on Germany to ease the pain of austerity with policies to boost growth, as he uses two days of talks with the G8 industrial nations to warn Europe that it needs to act swiftly to spare the world economy from a second deep recession in four years.
Prior to the G8 summit at Camp David this weekend, a warning from the ratings agency Fitch that Greece's days in the single currency could be numbered heightened fears in Washington that the worsening crisis in the eurozone poses a threat to America's fragile recovery and President Obama's re-election chances.
Obama will welcome the new French president, François Hollande, as a potential ally in his push for Europe to follow the US in giving a higher priority to expansionary policies, and as a counterweight to the German chancellor, Angela Merkel.
Obama can expect support from David Cameron, who told Merkel and Hollande on Thursday that eurozone leaders must embark on a series of urgent steps to prop up the single currency if a major implosion across the continent is to be avoided.
In a video conference with fellow EU leaders, the prime minister warned of a "remorseless logic" which dictates that struggling members of a single currency are supported by stronger members.
"The prime minister emphasised the importance of Greece and the eurozone taking decisive action to ensure financial stability and prevent contagion," a Downing Street spokesperson said. The video conference included Mario Monti, the Italian prime minister, José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, and Herman van Rompuy, president of the European Council.
Investors again turned to safe havens, fearing political chaos and economic collapse in Greece having knock-on effects for the global economy. Spain was the main focus of concern, amid reports – denied by the economy minister – of a run on Bankia, the country's fourth-biggest bank. Fitch waited for European markets to close before downgrading Greece's credit rating from B- to CCC.
"The downgrade of Greece's sovereign ratings reflects the heightened risk that Greece may not be able to sustain its membership of economic and monetary union (EMU) ... In the event that the new general elections scheduled for 17 June fail to produce a government with a mandate to continue with the EU-IMF [International Monetary Fund] programme of fiscal austerity and structural reform, an exit of Greece from EMU would be probable," Fitch said.
Leaders of the west's most powerful economies have been meeting for informal talks every year since the oil shock of 1973 brought an end to the postwar boom, and while Obama is not expecting any major decision to emerge from Camp David, it will be a chance for the Americans to vent their frustration that Europe has failed to find a lasting solution to its debt crisis, which is now in its third year.
In Greece, there were hopes that the deposit outflows from banks had reduced. But Stuart Gulliver, chief executive of Britain's biggest bank, HSBC, said: "We're in a worse place than we were a week ago. It remains a very difficult thing to call. I think the second [Greek] election in June will be a referendum on whether to stay in the euro. A month is a very long way away. We are now seeing price action that is consistent with capitulation."
Gulliver said if Greece left the eurozone, a firewall would need to be erected around Spain. If there was a run on banks in Greece, it might not be possible to wait for the elections on 17 June. He said his biggest worry "is absolutely how the eurozone plays out – whether Greece stays in, whether firewalls are high enough to protect Spain and, frankly, whether markets take things into their own hands before 17 June".
Alistair Darling, Labour's chancellor at the time of the Lehman Brothers collapse, said: "From my own experience, these things can blow up in a matter of hours. The slow bleeding of Greek banks should worry everyone. Europe for the last two years has been running round like headless chickens. It's no wonder people now think things will go wrong."
Larry ElliottJill TreanorNicholas WattEwen MacAskill
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0:22
Iran's persecution of gay community revealed
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Lifestyles of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people exposes them to horrific punishment, study finds
The lifestyles of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in Iran are comprehensively and systematically denied by the Islamic regime, which exposes them to horrific punishment, bullying and risk of suicide, a study has found.
The first detailed report on Iran's LGBT community has found that its members live under social and state repression, with some being persecuted, forced into exile or even sentenced to death.
The study was conducted by Small Media, a non-profit group based in London. Researchers led by Bronwen Robertson, director of operations, gathered first-hand testimonies from hundreds of LGBT Iranians using face to face interviews or through a secret online forum.
"The bastions of the Islamic Republic of Iran fully realise that an established (albeit secretive) LGBT community exists beneath the folds of fundamentalism in [the country]," says the report. "[But] figuratively speaking, the Iranian government is doing its utmost to sweep the community under a densely woven Persian rug."
In a speech at Columbia University in New York in 2007, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said: "In Iran we don't have homosexuals like you do in your country … In Iran, we do not have this phenomenon. I don't know who has told you that we have!"
Yet homosexuality is punishable by death, according to fatwas issued by almost all Iranian clerics. Until recently, lavat (sodomy for men) was a capital offence for all individuals involved in consensual sexual intercourse. But under amendments to the penal code, the person who played an "active role" will be flogged 100 times if the sex was consensual and he was not married, while the one who played a "passive role" can still be put to death regardless of his marriage status.
Punishment for mosahegheh (lesbianism) is 100 lashes for all individuals involved but it can lead to the death penalty if the act is repeated four times.
Among the testimonies gathered by Robertson and her team was that of a 27-year-old gay man from Qazvin in the north-west of Iran. He said: "It's very hard to live as a homosexual in this country. Is it me or is it the culture, society, history or all of them? Loneliness is killing me."
Another said: "If I said I saw myself as being part of this society, I'd be telling the biggest lie of my life. I don't see myself as part of this society at all."
In September last year, three men from the south-western city of Ahvaz, the capital of Iran's Khuzestan province, were reported to have been executed after being found guilty of charges related to homosexuality. This week, there were unconfirmed reports of four men, identified as Saadat Arefi, Vahid Akbari, Javid Akbari and Houshmand Akbari, from Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, being sentenced to death for sodomy.
Transsexuality was legalised in Iran in 1987. Yet the report warns that, despite state support for sex-change operations, "the social stigma attached to transsexualism is unwavering and transphobic abuse remains prevalent". It goes on: "Still very much ostracised, transsexual Iranians do not enjoy a privileged status in society."
LGBT Iranians have also fallen victim to the confusion within the Iranian society in regards to differences between being a homosexual and transsexual.
Parents have forced their homosexual children to have sex-change operations, local psychologists and psychiatrists who still deem homosexuality as a mental illness have prescribed cures.
This also exists within the regime with officials often confusing consensual intercourse with rape.
In cases when an execution involving sodomy charges is reported, it's difficult to find out whether the convicts were engaged in consensual sex or whether it's been a rape issue.
One of the contradictions surrounding LGBT life in Iran, is that homosexuals are granted military exemption on the basis that they are mentally ill which will prevent them from doing official work.
The report acknowledges that decriminalisation of homosexuality would not necessarily mean an end to LGBT discrimination. "LGBT issues are particularly taboo and are seldom discussed in Iran's public sphere," it said. "Even if Iran decriminalised homosexuality, it could take decades for it to become socially acceptable in the Islamic Republic of Iran."
As the result, many LGBT members in the country feel excluded from the society. "If I said I saw myself as being part of this society, I'd be telling the biggest lie of my life," said a 26-year-old Iranian gay man. "I don't see myself as part of this society at all. That's because of my homosexuality and the Iranian people's mentality about homosexuality ... I usually refer to Iran as 'your country' instead of 'my country' or 'our country'."
Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said: "[The Iranian LGBT community] show that, despite state repression and the frequent compromises they are forced to make to protect themselves, many Iranian LGBTs manage to get on with their lives and to forge a sense of community and solidarity."
Testimonials from Iran's LGBT community
I am a human being, but I was created with an imperfection. I'm someone that nobody wants to be friends with, someone that even her own family doesn't like … I've been unemployed for 2 years. Nobody will employ me because of the way that I am … I long to become a woman, get married, have a family and find a good job … I like to be surrounded by people, but people always reject me. It's as if I'm from another planet and they don't want to be seen with me. Male to female transsexual, 26 years old, from Lorestan
In my life I've trusted very few people, especially when it comes to my sexual identity, and those whom I've trusted have generally been homosexual too … In order to trust people, I need transparency and honesty more than I need time. Trusting people in the virtual world is much harder, because in the virtual world people can add an extra mask to those they already have and it's hard to figure out exactly who someone is and what their intentions are. Gay male, 22 years old, from Babol
I'd like to leave Iran; I'm getting pretty sick of people … Maybe I'd go to London or Irvine. I'd like to be a basketball coach, but to be a DJ would be my ideal job … in general I haven't had many problems but I often feel like I don't belong to society. Lesbian, 34 years old, Tehran
Saeed Kamali Dehghan
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May 17, 2012
23:10
Barristers may strike over legal aid reforms and fees
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Criminal Bar Association head accuses government of duplicity as he warns of action that hit courts across England and Wales
The head of the Criminal Bar Association is to raise the spectre of strike action by criminal barristers across England and Wales in protest at cuts in fees and legal aid reforms.
In a confrontational speech, Max Hill QC, will accuse politicians of "duplicity". signalling a significant souring of the relationship between the legal community and the coalition government.
Disappointed by criminal fees being repeatedly frozen, then cut by 13.5% by the last Labour government and again by a further 11% by the current administration. Hill will declare that the age of "Rumpole is dead".
The popular perception of "fat cat" lawyers wallowing in claret is inaccurate, Hill will assert, to an audience expected to include the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge. "We may be [Rumpole's] successors but we spend our days worrying about paying the mortgage; worrying about how we can ever afford a pension."
He will declare: "So let us fight, and let us remember the option to strike ... demand better treatment. No more cuts, I say, either for the defence or the prosecution. Do not allow them to say that we must take our share of future cuts demanded by the comprehensive spending review.
"The criminal bar suffered cuts by stagnation in our fees for 15 years before the spending review. Did public sector wages stand still from the mid-nineties? Of course not. But our fees did. And when that argument meets with a hostile reaction, as it will, be ready to strike."
Any decision to strike is only likely to taken following further conversations with all the 3,500 members of the Criminal Bar Association in England and Wales.
The decision to slice £350m out of the Ministry of Justice's annual civil legal aid budget has further contributed to the mood of dismay at the bar, Hill will say. He will say the Legal Aid (Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders) Act "will leave many with no recourse to the law when things go badly wrong, and necessary litigation is being sacrificed on the altar of cost despite all of the right arguments of principle being brought to bear".
Politicians, Hill alleges, express "confidence that the bar will continue to play its vital role in the criminal justice system, when they should be telling the truth, which is: 'We the government are prepared to settle for cheap, partial justice, but we will con the public into believing it is greedy lawyers who are to blame'.
"In the face of such duplicity, I can and do claim that the role reversal is complete. We at the criminal bar uphold the public interest in access to justice and the maintenance of a proper criminal justice system, whilst it is the government who are obsessed by money."
Lawyers are the latest professional group to oppose cuts in funding. Last week more than 30,000 police officers marched through London protesting about the impact of government policies on their pay, pensions and working conditions.
Hill's speech to the CBA also coincides with a decision by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to scrap the minimum wage for trainee solicitors from 2014. The national minimum wage of £6.08 per hour will be the only requirement after that date.
The grievances are widely felt within the Bar, Hill argues. A survey of more than 1,600 CBA members found that 89% were both "prepared to take direct lawful action" and "do not consider the current level of fees for publicly funded defence work is proper and fair remuneration". More than 80% had suffered from delays in payments by the Legal Services Commission.
Barristers' "greatest weakness" in the past, he suggests, had been the "reluctance to use our heavy weaponry. A reluctance to use the ultimate weapon; namely stopping the courts, rather than being the backbone of the court system, which we are year in, year out".
In some cases barristers are facing bankruptcy, Hill will say. One anonymous comment he quoted from the survey said: "The more that those who work in this field are hit by cuts in fees and uncertainty of work and/or a level of earning, the heavier the costs and the more likely they are to outweigh the benefits of stimulation, intellectual challenge and development and the fulfilment inherent in public service."
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: "Striking is never the answer to resolving complaints. The changes we have made to legal aid are necessary and barristers are still paid well for legal aid cases."
Owen Bowcott
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23:10
Examiners axed after marking mistakes
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Exam board OCR apologises for errors that affected GCSE and A-level grades
Four examiners have had their contracts terminated and 78 others have been ordered to improve their performance after mistakes were made in calculating pupils' scores in GCSE and A-level papers from last summer.
The exam board OCR has apologised for marking errors that affected GCSE and A-level grades. Exams regulator Ofqual said it could not be certain that all candidates had the grades they deserved.
Channel 4 News said David Leitch, a senior supervisor at OCR, found wrongly calculated final scores in 100 papers from last summer that schools had referred for checking. A wider search found "hundreds more" mistakes by the same markers but Leitch claims he was instructed to inform only schools which had requested paid-for remarking.
Dissatisfied with a review ordered by regulator Ofqual, the programme reported, he emailed 30 schools directly to alert them to errors and has now been suspended by OCR pending a full inquiry.
Ofqual's director of regulation, Fiona Pethick, said questions remained over the accuracy of marks. Asked if she could be personally sure that no pupil still had a lower grade than they should, potentially affecting a university place, she told the programme: "I'm not satisfied yet. That's why we will be continuing to look into this matter and if we find OCR to be negligent we will take action."
The errors related to examiners totting up marks from traditional pen and paper scripts. The exam board said its investigation had found 16 cases where pupils had received a lower grade than they should – eight AS-levels, two A-levels and six GCSEs.
It resulted in the termination of four examiners' contracts, while 78 others out of 13,000 - "almost all" teachers and ex-teachers with relevant degrees - were ordered to improve their performance.
Mark Dawe, OCR's chief executive, said: "Any error in the exam process is unacceptable and we have taken action to implement more robust processes. This included terminating the contracts of weaker examiners. Students taking exams in the spring and this summer can be assured that mistakes of any sort will not be tolerated."
The exam board's qualifications director, Clara Kenyon, said OCR had not been made aware of the existence of further errors. "We were not told of the existence of these additional scripts with mistakes on them until schools contacted us," she said. "This is of course a concern and we are processing them in the usual way and will make grade changes, if required, and inform schools."
The board was confident that new safeguards would provide "a high level of clerical accuracy" in future, she said, pointing out that marks for three in four papers were calculated electronically.
All papers are due to be handled electronically by 2014.
"Students taking exams both in the spring and this summer can be assured that mistakes of any sort will not be tolerated and we have taken the necessary measures to guard against them," Kenyon said.
Jeevan Vasagar
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23:10
Harold Evans tells Leveson of conflict and 'vindictive' atmosphere at Times
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Former Times editor recalls broken promises and says 'deal involving Thatcher' let Rupert Murdoch takeover papers in 1981
Thirty years after he was forced out from his last fulltime job in British journalism, Sir Harold Evans was back on Thursday to offer his reflections on Rupert Murdoch's 1981 takeover of the Times and Sunday Times and to recall an unhappy year editing the daily title while in constant conflict with the media mogul.
Speaking to the Leveson inquiry via an often failing video link, Evans said the takeover had been the "seminal event" that had propelled Murdoch into the dominant position in British media, a deal that had been assisted by a private meeting with Margaret Thatcher.
Evans recalled that Murdoch did not remember that meeting, the truth of which emerged only when a memo was released by Thatcher's foundation this year.
In effect, the veteran journalist was siding with a suggestion made previously by Robert Jay, counsel to the inquiry, who contended that Murdoch could have suffered "selective amnesia".
The former editor told the inquiry he believed a deal was hatched at that lunch to stop the purchase being referred to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission (MMC).
It was "ridiculous" to push through the "most important newspaper takeover in British press history" in three days, he said, adding that it "was a whole set of chess moves" in which "the pawn" had been advanced in a single move to the middle of the board "to bishop six".
Murdoch transferred Evans from the Sunday Times once the 1981 purchase had been seen through by John Biffen without referral to the MMC. Evans said that when Murdoch started at the Times he was a dream owner with an "electric presence" who was "vigorous and encouraging".
This rapidly changed. Evans described a year of constant editorial interference from Murdoch, replaying the events as if they had occurred the day before yesterday.
"I had a reporter in Poland sending little messages out in people's shoes," he said. The story was "a marvellous narrative" of events around the coup, spread over two pages. The next morning, though, the newspaper owner was unimpressed. "He turned to the Sun newspaper, which had this much on Poland: 'That's all you need on Poland'."
A leader writer was summoned behind Evans's back and told: "You should be attacking the Russians more."
At another point Evans replayed an argument with Murdoch in which the newspaper owner stated: "Sport, didn't I tell you sport, sport, sport, where are the four pages of sport?"
Evans said he had recently seen notes kept by the columnist Hugo Young, then of the Sunday Times, which showed Evans calling Murdoch "evil incarnate … he had his heart removed long ago, together with all his moral faculties". Evans said he had been "kind of so furious" that Murdoch had broken so many of the promises he made on buying the paper.
By this stage he was warming to his theme: "I was so absolutely disgusted, dismayed and demoralised by living in a vindictive atmosphere."
He added that Murdoch went around town telling other journalists he was going to fire him as Times editor because he was a "commie" or a supporter of the SDP, which was "untrue".
The Leveson inquiry seemed to show the rancour between the men was not cooling. Evans told Lord Justice Leveson he wanted to correct Murdoch's testimony in which the media owner said Evans had once come to his office to ask what he should put in the newspaper. "Portraying me as Uriah Heep, coming in and saying 'I don't have an opinion, Mr Murdoch can you tell me what to say?', was the funniest thing I've heard in 100 years."
It was evidence that the inquiry team listened to, for the most part, patiently. At the end the judge said that the insights had been particularly valuable, coming "from one who's spent a lifetime in the area and in respect of whom so much has been written and so many fabulous stories have emerged".
Harold EvansDan SabbaghLisa O'Carroll
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23:09
Ratko Mladic war crimes trial plunged into confusion
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Lawyers prosecuting Bosnian Serb commander failed to provide documents to defence, causing judge to announce delay
The Hague war crimes tribunal, already under fire for its slow pace in dealing with Balkan war crimes cases, was thrown into confusion on Thursday by the revelation that lawyers prosecuting the Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic had failed to turn over hundreds of thousands of pages of evidence to the defence.
The Dutch judge, Alphons Orie, said the mistake would lead to a delay in the trial, which lawyers were already predicting would last four years or more.
"The chamber is still in the process of gathering information of the scope and full impact of this error," Orie said.
He added that, after meeting defence and prosecution lawyers, he would announce a new start date for the prosecution's presentation of evidence and witnesses "as soon as possible". This phase had been due to start at the end of May.
The fiasco drew outrage from Bosnian survivors and bereaved families who had made the trip to The Hague to see Mladic face trial.
"We don't agree with this. We ask to speed up the trial and to speed up the judgment, because it is important for the past, for Bosnia and the whole region, and it's important for the future," said Hatidza Mehmedovic, whose husband and two sons, one still a teenager, were among over 7,000 men and boys massacred by Mladic's forces in Srebrenica.
"Nothing more can happen to me, but I don't want any other mother anywhere to be in my shoes and go looking for the bones of their children, and be happy if they find only small bones," Mehmedovic said. "With my elder son, they have only found two bones. With my younger they have almost a full skeleton. This has to be a fight for justice so that no mother has to look for their children in mass graves."
Mladic claims he was in Belgrade holding meetings and attending a wedding when the Srebrenica massacre took place, but the prosecution demonstrated that he was in Srebrenica and the surrounding towns on the critical days from 11-14 July when the Muslim enclave fell to his forces and when men and teenage boys were rounded up and separated from women and children prior to their execution.
"This was not an army out of control or under the control of someone else. Only an army strictly under control from the top could have murdered over 7,000 people in four days," Peter McCloskey, one of the trial prosecutors, said. "The VRS [the Republika Srpska army] carried out orders with incredible discipline, organisation and military efficiency … It was a truly amazing feat of utter brutality."
For much of Thursday's proceedings, Mladic listened impassively to the evidence presented against him. He became animated only once, clapping and giving a thumbs-up sign when a video was shown of him interrogating and shouting at the Dutch UN commander, Thom Karremans, whose troops were supposed to protect the enclave but were hopelessly outnumbered.
Mladic repeatedly asked Karremans if his soldiers had fired on Bosnian Serb troops who had overrun Srebrenica, and demanded to know if Karremans had called in Nato air strikes. Karremans insisted UN soldiers had been ordered to shoot only in self-defence and air strikes were decided by the UN headquarters.
In fact, as McCloskey pointed out, the air strikes were too little, too late.
The tribunal was shown footage of Mladic walking through Srebrenica town on 11 July 1995, just after it had fallen.
In it he says: "We give this town to the Serb people as a gift … Finally the time has come has take our revenge on the Turks [referring to Muslims] in this region."
The prosecution also showed footage of Mladic on the scene while men and boys were separated from their families. Film was shown of the operation to round up men and boys who had tried to escape through the woods and of piles of corpses outside a nearby warehouse. Other evidence included Mladic's written order to provide several tonnes of diesel fuel to a Bosnian Serb officer in Zvornik whose job it was to excavate mass graves and rebury the remains of the victims in smaller graves in an effort to avoid detection.
It was unclear how the debacle at The Hague had come about. The prosecution declared in November that it had handed the documentation over and only realised last Friday that it had failed to do so. The defence says a million pages were involved. Prosecutors admit that more than 37,000 documents could be missing.
Mladic's lawyers are demanding a delay of six months. Tribunal sources suggested the delay would be significantly less than that, particularly in light of previous criticism of the court for its glacial pace. The trial of the former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic lasted five years and only ended with his death from a heart attack in a cell in The Hague in March 2006.
After the morning session, Mehmedovic accused the international community of conniving in continuing "ethnic cleansing". She pointed to a change in municipal law in Srebrenica this month, accepted by the international community, which meant that Muslim survivors of the massacre could not vote for the mayor. The municipality is now likely to come under Serb control in elections in October.
"What is even worse is that the whole world is seeing this and even now is not doing anything about it. The [ethnic cleansing] project is still alive. People are still suffering. Crimes are being rewarded," Mehmedovic said. "Families of those who were killed cannot vote. With this law, they are legalising genocide. This is very dangerous for the region. This is what has to be stopped. "
Julian Borger
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23:09
French ministers sign up to austerity wages and sober code of conduct
» ‎ The Guardian World News
First meeting backs 30% wage reduction for all ministers and president, but UMP says new government is bigger and costlier
Members of France's new government took up their posts on Thursday with President François Hollande's promise of "dignity, simplicity and sobriety" ringing in their ears.
For the first time, half of the 34 appointed ministers are women, and only four of the new ministers have served in government before.
At the first council of ministers on Thursday afternoon, the government voted on its first measure, a 30% wage reduction for all ministers and the president, as promised by Hollande in his election campaign. Instead of €21,194 (£17,045) a month before tax, the president and prime minister will each receive €14,836. Ministerial monthly salaries drop from €13,423 to €9,396.
As a symbolic gesture in times of austerity, it was a masterstroke. Better still, it sat in stark contrast to the actions of Hollande's predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, whose first move upon taking office was to increase his salary by about 170%.
In another move in keeping with the tone of sobriety in office, ministers were told they would be expected to adhere to a strict code of conduct. The code rules out presents and private invitations, and encourages ministers to take the train whenever possible and, if travelling by car, to respect the highway code.
Hollande had already set an unusual precedent for the latter, by ordering his convoy to stop at red lights as he crossed Paris for his investiture at the Elysée palace on Tuesday.
The two-page document reminds ministers of the "existence of a line of confidence between the citizens and those who govern them", and of "some simple principles that should guide their behaviour".
As well as gender equality, which was a pillar of Hollande's campaign, seven of the new posts went to ministers from French ethnic minorities. There was a considerable nod to a new generation of politicians: seven appointees are under 40 years old, with the youngest – Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, in charge of the newly created women's rights ministry, and Sylvia Pinel, a junior minister in charge of tourism – both 34. Unusually, more than half of the ministries – 18 in total – are being headed by non-Parisiens.
Cécile Duflot, former head of the Green party, now minister for territorial equality and housing, told French TV she felt "emotion and enthusiasm". Christiane Taubira, who becomes justice minister – with another woman, Delphine Batho, as her junior minister – said she was "extremely happy, and really enchanted".
After years of internecine squabbles that have divided the French left, ministers were advised to avoid disputes. "The expression, direct or indirect, of disagreements can only weaken the government and provoke the scepticism of people with regard to the credibility of political action," the code notes. "Once a decision is made … the principle of solidarity comes first."
Ministers were also advised to "listen to the people" and use the internet to consult the public, and were instructed to demonstrate their commitment to the "transparency in government" vaunted by Hollande by signing a public declaration of interests listing all their property.
Jean-François Copé, head of Sarkozy's UMP party, said the much-publicised salary cut was a "deception" as Hollande's government was bigger than his predecessor's and would therefore cost the taxpayer more. Hollande had promised a smaller tighter government ship during his campaign.
"We've gone from 15 ministers, four secretaries of state and one high commissioner to 34 ministers and junior ministers, an increase of 65%. The reduction of salaries by 30% cannot hide the reality: François Hollande's government will cost the taxpayer a lot more," Copé said.
"A second deception is this false-nose of unifying, of openness and of modernity."He said Hollande had gathered a "clan of hard left" around him. "Apart from a few new faces, the most part are the archaic left trapped in the ideology of another century, that has nothing to do with modern social democracy."
The UMP sent out waves of "communications" criticising Hollande's actions. In one, Catherine Vautrin, a party militant, wrote: "He promised us a smaller government; we have 34 ministers. He promised us parity; how many of the key posts are held by women?"
After signing the code of conduct, it was down to work for the new ministers. Hollande told his new team: "There's no time to lose in putting into effect the new changes."
Earlier in the day each minister attended a handover ceremony with their predecessor. Only Roselyne Bachelot, Sarkozy's minister for health and sports, failed to turn up, claiming she had a wedding to attend.
Vallaud-Belkacem, who is also the government spokesperson, said the first council of ministers had been "concentrated, studious and with a sense of gravity, but overlaid with human warmth and confidence".
She said Hollande had told them they were now at the "exclusive service" of the state, and their job was to "put the country back on its feet", with justice at the heart of their actions.
This government, however, may have a short shelf-life. France will go to the polls again next month for parliamentary elections. Hollande has warned that any minister who fails to win their seat in the national assembly will also lose their ministerial post.
Kim Willsher
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23:05
Northern Rock split 'could leave taxpayers with £2bn bill'
» ‎ The Guardian World News
National Audit Office raises questions about Treasury decision to split the Newcastle-based bank in two in 2009
Taxpayers face losses of at least £2bn on the continued state ownership of Northern Rock, the National Audit Office (NAO) has concluded as it raises questions about the decision by the Treasury to split the Newcastle-based bank in two in 2009.
The lender was split into Northern Rock plc, which resumed lending and was sold to Virgin Money at the start of this year, and Northern Rock Asset Management, the "bad bank" which remains in public hands.
The NAO agrees the sale to Virgin was the best way to prevent more losses and concludes that UK Financial Investments (UKFI), which controlled Northern Rock from 2010, had handled the sales process well.
But it said the Treasury, when Labour's Alistair Darling was chancellor, "would have benefited from more effective arrangements for internal challenge of its plans in 2009" to split the bank up.
Under the terms agreed with the European Commission to split the bank, at least 50% of Northern Rock plc had to be sold by a by a "confidential deadline" of 31 December 2013, the NAO said.
But while the spending watchdog points out that the Treasury did not consider alternatives to splitting Northern Rock, it acknowledges that decision to create a new mortgage lender was taken at a time when lending was falling and that the rejuvenated lender provided 22% of all net lending on mortgages during 2010-11.
It said: "The alternative of selling the deposits and closing down the business was, however, unlikely to have been significantly better in financial terms and would not have delivered mortgage lending."
Amyas Morse, the auditor general, said: "Amidst the serious economic turmoil of 2009, it was a reasonable to create Northern Rock plc to support mortgage lending. No alternative was likely to have been significantly better, but the Treasury committed itself before looking in detail at the possible consequences for the taxpayer.
"A sale of Northern Rock plc at the earliest opportunity was the best option to minimise losses on the £1.4bn of public money invested in the bank."
However, he said the continued state ownership of the "bad" bank would present costs for the taxpayer: "Most of the former Northern Rock's assets will be in public ownership for many years to come and there could be a net cost for the taxpayer of some £2bn by the time these assets are finally wound down."
This is based on assumptions that a private investor would demand a higher return on its investment of the 3.5% to 4.5% which UKFI has assumed would be a return for the Treasury.
"Applying a higher discount rate of 6% a year to the cash flows implies that there may be a net present cost for the taxpayer of some £2bn by the time the assets are fully wound down," the NAO report says.
Margaret Hodge, the MP who chairs of the public accounts committee, said: "Given the scale of the crisis, we are fortunate that the net present cost to the taxpayer is potentially not more than £2bn. But this is perhaps more by luck than good judgement.
"Although forced to act swiftly at a time of great financial instability, the Treasury took a big risk with taxpayers' money by going ahead with the decision to split the bank without undertaking due diligence or carrying out a proper analysis of the potential consequences for the taxpayer."
Jill Treanor
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2:49
Mexican generals detained over alleged drug gang links
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Former deputy defence minister and a senior army general are being questioned over suspected links to organised crime
Investigators are questioning Mexico's former deputy defence minister and a top army general for suspected links to organised crime, in the highest level scandal to hit the military in the five-year-old drug war.
Mexican soldiers on Tuesday detained retired general Tomas Angeles Dauahare and general Roberto Dawe Gonzalez and turned them over to the country's organised crime unit, military and government officials said.
Angeles Dauahare was No. 2 in the armed forces under President Felipe Calderon and helped lead the government's crackdown on drug cartels after soldiers were deployed to the streets in late 2006. He retired in 2008.
Dawe Gonzalez, still an active duty general, led an elite army unit in the western state of Colima and local media said he previously held posts in the violent states of Sinaloa and Chihuahua.
An official at the attorney general's office said they would be held for several days to give testimony and then could be called in front of a judge.
"The generals are answering questions because they are allegedly tied to organised crime," the official said.
Angeles Dauahare said through a lawyer that his detention was unjustified, daily Reforma newspaper reported.
If the generals were convicted of drug trafficking, it would mark the most serious case of military corruption during Calderon's administration.
"Traditionally the armed forces had a side role in the anti-drug fight, eradicating drug crops or stopping drug shipments," said Alejandro Hope, a security analyst who formerly worked in the government intelligence agency.

"After 2006, they were more directly involved in public security, putting them at a higher risk of contact (with drug gangs)," he said.
About 55,000 people have been killed in drug violence over the past five years as rival cartels fight each other and government forces.
Worsening drug-related attacks in major cities are eroding support for Calderon's conservative National Action Party, or PAN, ahead of a 1 July presidential vote.
Over the weekend, police found 49 headless bodies on a highway in northern Mexico, the latest in a recent series of brutal massacres where mutilated corpses have been hung from bridges or shoved in iceboxes.
Opinion polls show Calderon's party is trailing by double digits behind opposition candidate Enrique Pena Nieto from the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which says the government's drug strategy is failing.
Traditionally, the military has been seen as less susceptible to cartel bribes and intimidation than badly paid local and state police forces, who are often easily swayed by drug gang pay offs.
But there have been cases of military corruption in the past. Angeles Dauahare himself oversaw the landmark trial of two generals convicted of working with drug gangs in 2002.
Those two generals were convicted of links to the Juarez cartel once headed by the late Amado Carrillo Fuentes, who was known as the "Lord of the Skies" for flying plane loads of cocaine into the United States.
Since then, the Sinaloa cartel - headed by Mexico's most wanted man Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman - has expanded its power and is locked in a bloody battle over smuggling routes with the Zetas gang, founded by deserters from the Mexican army.
- Mexico
- Drugs trade
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1:06
Cost of Greek exit from euro put at $1tn
» ‎ The Guardian World News
UK government making urgent preparations to cope with the fallout of a possible Greek exit from the single currency
The British government is making urgent preparations to cope with the fallout of a possible Greek exit from the single currency, after the governor of the Bank of England, Sir Mervyn King, warned that Europe was "tearing itself apart".
Reports from Athens that massive sums of money were being spirited out of the country intensified concern in London about the impact of a splintering of the eurozone on a UK economy that is stuck in double-dip recession. One estimate put the cost to the eurozone of Greece making a disorderly exit from the currency at $1tn, 5% of output.
Officials in the United States are also nervously watching the growing crisis: Barack Obama on Wednesday described it as a "headwind" that could threaten the fragile American recovery.
In a speech in Manchester before flying to the United States for a summit of G8 leaders, the British prime minister, David Cameron, will say the eurozone "either has to make up or it is looking at a potential breakup", adding that the choice for Europe's leaders cannot be long delayed.
"Either Europe has a committed, stable, successful eurozone with an effective firewall, well capitalised and regulated banks, a system of fiscal burden sharing, and supportive monetary policy across the eurozone, or we are in uncharted territory which carries huge risks for everybody.
"Whichever path is chosen, I am prepared to do whatever is necessary to protect this country and secure our economy and financial system."
Officials from the Bank, the Treasury and the Financial Services Authority are drawing up plans in the expectation that a Greek departure from monetary union – increasingly seen as inevitable by financial markets – could be as damaging to the global economy as the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008.
With a second election in Greece called for 17 June, King dropped a strong hint that the Bank would take fresh steps to stimulate growth if policymakers in Europe failed to deal with the sovereign debt crisis.
"We have been through a big global financial crisis, the biggest downturn in world output since the 1930s, the biggest banking crisis in this country's history, the biggest fiscal deficit in our peacetime history and our biggest trading partner, the euro area, is tearing itself apart without any obvious solution," he said.
Doug McWilliams, of the Centre for Economic and Business Research, said a planned breakup of the single currency would cost 2% of eurozone GDP ($300bn) but a disorderly collapse would result in a 5% drop in output, a $1tn loss. "The end of the euro in its current form is a certainty," he added.
Alistair Darling, who was Chancellor of the Exchequer under the former Labour administration, said: "This has the seeds of something disastrous. It is madness. If it spreads to bigger countries, this could be really disastrous for Europe. It could consign us to years of stagnation."
Capital flight from Greece has increased since it became clear that a coalition government could not be formed after the election earlier this month. The Greek president, Karolos Papoulias, said citizens were withdrawing their money amid "great fear that could develop into panic" at the risk of a debt default and exit from the euro area, according to minutes of their meetings posted on the presidency's website. In little more than a week following the election on 6 May, €3bn was withdrawn from bank accounts. The central bank reported that €800m was taken out in a single day earlier this week.
The head of the International Institute of Finance banking lobby, Charles Dallara, said money was leaving Greece at a growing pace due to political uncertainty. "There has been a pickup of deposit flight from Greece, but I think that is stabilisable once you get a new government in place, if that government reaffirms its intention to remain in the eurozone." The damage to the rest of Europe if Greece were to leave the euro would be "somewhere between catastrophic and armageddon", he said.
The Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, told parliament that his country faced trouble financing itself as borrowing costs shoot up to "astronomic" levels. The Irish finance minister, Michael Noonan, said Dublin's plan to return to capital markets in late 2013 might not be achievable because of the uncertainty.
The first meeting between French president François Hollande and German chancellor Angela Merkel helped to calm nerves in the markets at one stage, with suggestions that Berlin might be amenable to initiatives to boost growth in Greece and the other austerity-stricken nations of the eurozone.
But the jittery mood was underlined by a fall in European shares and the single currency late in the day amid reports that the European Central Bank was cutting off its funding lifeline to Greek banks that had failed to amass enough capital to protect them from future losses.
The ECB later said it expected the Greek central bank to use part of the €130bn bailout from the EU and IMF to ensure that the country's banks were safeguarded from collapse, and that they would receive additional help from Frankfurt only once this had happened. Already delayed by the political uncertainty in Greece, €18bn is now expected to be released to recapitalise the banks.
Sony Kapoor, of the Brussels-based Re-Define thinktank, said: "The high-stakes game of chicken between Greek and other EU politicians must end now. Those saying that a Greek exit from the eurozone will not be a big deal either don't know what they are talking about, or have some ulterior motives. The social, political and economic damage to the EU from a Greek exit is potentially incalculable."
At the G8 summit, which starts on Friday, Obama will press Merkel to lean more towards a growth package for Europe, instead of pressing so hard for the austerity measures that were rejected by Greek voters.
But foreign affairs analysts said that Obama's leverage with the European leaders is minimal. Although the US has the economic muscle to help Europe out of its mess, the Obama administration has taken the strategic decision not to become involved directly.
Instead, Obama is to use the Camp David summit for some quiet diplomacy, hoping to sway Merkel to endorse some immediate actions to help growth.
King, speaking at the publication of the Bank of England's quarterly inflation report, said growth in Britain was weaker and inflation higher than Threadneedle Street had expected three months ago. It would take until 2014 for output to return to where it was in 2008, when Britain's deepest post-war recession began.
"What is so depressing about it is that this is a rerun of the debates in 2007/08 – these are not liquidity problems, they are solvency problems," King said. "Imbalances between countries in the euro area have created creditors and debtors and at some point the credit losses will need to be recognised and absorbed and shared around," he said.
"Until that is done, there will not be a resolution. That is why just kicking the can down the road is not an answer. The European Central Bank has performed heroically in trying to buy time but that time hasn't been used to put in place fundamental underlying solutions."
Larry ElliottJill TreanorPatrick Wintour
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0:59
Sam Hallam released after seven years in prison
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Decision to release 24-year-old after appeal over 2004 murder conviction follows long legal battle by family
Sam Hallam became one of the youngest victims of a miscarriage of justice on Wednesday when the court of appeal released him after he served seven years for murder.
Hallam, 24, emerged with his mother on to the steps of the high court, where, in front of a crowd of photographers, he was sprayed with champagne by the friends and supporters who have long campaigned for his release.
Hallam, of Hoxton, north London, was just 18 when he was jailed for life for the murder of Essayas Kassahun in a gang attack in October 2004.
The court of appeal is expected to quash his murder conviction on Thursday after the crown dramatically withdrew all opposition to his appeal.
The court heard Hallam was jailed as a result of a flawed investigation that failed to follow lines of inquiry and in which the Metropolitan police and the Crown Prosecution Service withheld evidence.
Outside the court, his mother, Wendy Cohen, said: "I am just shocked. I knew this would happen, he should never have been in there. My family has gone through hell, it is like we were all being tortured. Sam's father killed himself while he was inside, all of us have suffered."
Hallam's release comes after a campaign run by friends and family and supported by the actor Ray Winstone.
Henry Blaxland QC, for Hallam, said: "Sam Hallam – and I put it boldly – has been the victim of a serious miscarriage of justice brought about by a combination of manifestly unreliable identification evidence … failure by police properly to investigate his alibi and non-disclosure by the prosecution of material that could have supported his case."
Shortly afterwards, supporters and friends inside the court gasped as David Hannon QC, for the crown, announced: "We have given this anxious consideration for a long time, and again today, and we are not in a position to oppose the appeal."
Hallam was one of two men convicted of the killing of 21-year-old Kassahun in a gang attack which was over within seconds on the night of 11 October 2004. The trial judge recommended he serve life with a minimum term of 12 years.
The only evidence against him was two supposed witnesses who claimed he was present at the murder, one of whom gave several different accounts. The second retracted his evidence at the trial.
There was no forensic evidence to link him to the scene, and under cross-examination the main witness, Phoebe Henville, admitted: "I just wanted someone to blame."
The appeal was brought after the criminal cases review commission instructed an outside police force to investigate – something it only does in a handful of cases. The inquiry by Thames Valley police uncovered new evidence which showed the witness evidence was "so manifestly unreliable" that it should never have been put to a jury, the court of appeal was told.
Other new evidence included information from previously undisclosed police documents about another suspect, and evidence from Hallam's mobile phone which suggested he was in the pub with his father on the night of the murder.
As the crown withdrew its opposition to the appeal, Lady Justice Hallett adjourned the hearing for a few minutes and asked Hallam if he needed time to compose himself. She then announced that he would be released on bail with almost immediate effect. Hallam was led to the court cells, from where, shortly afterwards, he emerged into the well of the high court and the embrace of his mother. As campaigners cheered and clapped, most in tears, he stared straight ahead, looking dazed.
His brother Terry Hallam, 32, said: "It feels amazing. I just want to get him back home. The first thing we are going to do is visit my dad's grave together, he hasn't been able to do that. We are all stunned, we knew it would happen but we didn't think it would happen so suddenly."
As Hallam was driven away, Paul May, who led the campaign to release him, said he was considering referring the case to the Independent Police Complaints Commission. "There's a legal duty on the police to pursue reasonable lines of inquiry. They didn't do it, they didn't do their job," said May."Not only has an innocent man gone to prison, the perpetrators of this dreadful murder have largely escaped justice."
Winstone criticised the police and demanded answers on Wednesday evening. He said there had been "an outrageous miscarriage of justice" on ITV's Tonight With Trevor McDonald. "For me it is the disgraceful unprofessional action of the police involved in this case. Action that has caused a terrible stress within the family of the Hallams."
Sandra Laville
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0:10
Statins could benefit health of millions
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Medical journal says cholesterol-lowering pills can reduce the risk of heart problems, especially in the over-50s
Millions of over-50s could safeguard their health by taking statins, according to a study that found the drugs benefit healthy people with no heart problems.
The findings could lead to a change in policy by the NHS, which currently restricts cholesterol-lowering statins to those who either have heart disease or have at least a 20% risk of suffering a "major vascular event", such as a non-fatal heart attack, stroke or surgery on damaged arteries, within the next decade.
But a big study of statins' effectiveness, published in the online version of the Lancet medical journal, challenges that policy and concludes that even for people with no record of heart problems, taking statins can reduce their risk by a fifth.
The international criteria for who should receive statins should be reviewed and extended, the authors say. As many as 20 million Britons could be offered them, which would add up to £240m to the NHS's annual drugs bill.
"If we want to prevent heart attacks and strokes that come out of the blue in people with no previous evidence of problems – and about half such events happen in the absence of any prior history of disease – then we have to identify and treat people who are currently healthy but are known to be at increased risk of developing heart disease," said Professor Colin Baigent of Oxford University, co-author of the study.
The researchers reviewed 175,000 patients who took part in 27 previous randomised trials. They divided the participants into five groups, each with a different five-year risk of a major vascular event. They found that taking statins reduced the risk of such events by 21% for each unit reduction achieved in someone's level of harmful low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. The benefit applied even in the patients deemed at lowest risk, they concluded.
"This benefit greatly exceeds any known hazards of statin therapy. Under present guidelines, such individuals would not typically be regarded as suitable for LDL-lowering statin therapy. The present report suggests, therefore, that these guidelines might need to be reconsidered." they said. The research also found no evidence that that statins increased incidence of cancer or deaths from non-vascular causes.
June Davison, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, which part-funded the study, said: "Those who already have heart disease, or are at high risk, are offered statins because it's well established they help to lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease. This large-scale research found that even people at low risk of heart disease could benefit from statin therapy. The findings will help to inform policy and treatment guidelines in the future."
A Department of Health spokesman said: "We keep all new research under consideration. Nice [National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, which assesses the cost-effectiveness of treatments] regularly reviews its published guidance in order to take account of new evidence."
- Health
- Heart attack
Denis Campbell
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May 16, 2012
23:34
Syria's Bashar al-Assad vows to display captured foreign mercenaries
» ‎ The Guardian World News
President issues warning on Russian state TV against those fighting his regime and denounces governments who interfere
Syria's president Bashar al-Assad has promised to display captured foreign "mercenaries" who have been fighting his regime and denounced western governments for failing to protest at the violence being perpetrated by his enemies.
In his first interview in many months, Assad told Russian state TV that the Syrian opposition had shown itself to be insignificant by calling for a boycott of the recent parliamentary elections – dismissed as a sham by critics in Syria and abroad.
"How can you boycott the people of whom you consider yourself the representative?" the president asked. "I don't think that they have any kind of weight or significance within Syria."
Opposition activists meanwhile reported 30 dead across the country on Wednesday. The Local Coordination Committees group said 21 had been killed in Homs, four in Daraa, two each in Damascus and Idlib and one in Deir Ezzor. In all, an estimated 10,000 people have been killed by the Assad regime over the last 15 months.
Assad also issued a veiled warning to unnamed countries he said were interfering in Syria – an apparent swipe at Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which have called for arming the rebels.
"For the leaders of these countries, it's becoming clear that this is not 'spring' but chaos. If you sow chaos in Syria you may be infected by it yourself, and they understand this perfectly well."
Syria claimed from the start of the uprising it was facing armed terrorists rather than a popular and at least initially largely peaceful uprising. But the opposition has become more militarised and violent in recent months.
Assad also mentioned religious extremists and al-Qaida members from abroad. "There are foreign mercenaries, some of them still alive," he told Rossiya-24 TV. "They are being detained and we are preparing to show them to the world."
Syria has previously mentioned a list of 12 foreign terrorists killed in Syria, including one French citizen, one British and one Belgian.
The US and other western governments say they have detected a jihadi or al-Qaida presence there. The al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has urged all good Muslims to fight Assad's "pernicious, cancerous regime".
Several Tunisians were recently killed in Syria and Islamist fighters from Libya are known to have made their way to the Idlib area via Turkey. Others have entered the country from neigbouring Lebanon and Iraq but in small numbers and on an ad hoc basis.
But the strong suspicion is that Assad is deliberately exaggerating the point. "The Syrians have tried to make a big thing recently about the influx of foreign fighters but the majority of serious security problems are still home-grown," said one western diplomat. "In essence this is still a Syrian problem."
The issue came up dramatically last week when twin suicide bombings killed 55 people and injured nearly 400 others near a Damascus security building – the worst attack of its kind so far. Responsibility was initially claimed by a little-known jihadi group called Jabhat al-Nusra but that claim was later withdrawn.
"The Assad regime has been quick to blame jihadi elements linked to the opposition," commented Emile Hokayem of the International Institute of Strategic Studies. "This fits neatly with the regime's attempt to ensure the loyalty of urban Sunnis and minorities fearful of Islamist rule by portraying all opposition as radical, violent and foreign-inspired."
"Just as unsurprising is the opposition's accusation that the bombings were the work of Assad's manipulative and nefarious security services. This is not entirely implausible, given their record and Assad's previous sponsorship of jihadi outfits operating in Lebanon and Iraq. However, a more likely scenario is that those jihadi outfits, which never had much in common with the Alawite Assad beyond an anti-American agenda, have simply turned against their former patron."Analysts of the 7 May elections say a vote for Assad's reforms was undermined by the participation of renamed pro-government parties, safe seats being given to loyalists and regime cronies who were described as independents. They also mention widespread irregularities and massive exaggeration of the reported 51% turnout.
Ian Black
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23:09
Theresa May heckled and jeered during police conference speech
» ‎ The Guardian World News
The home secretary defended 20% funding cuts in a speech to a rowdy Police Federation conference in Bournemouth
The home secretary, Theresa May, had to endure heckling and jeering by rank and file police officers as she defended 20% funding cuts to policing and reforms to their pay and conditions.
May's 25-minute set-piece speech to the 1,200 strong Police Federation conference in Bournemouth ended in complete silence.
But she had to sit stony-faced through huge cheers and applause when one officer told her she was "a disgrace" and was no longer trusted by the police, and she was heckled when she promised not to privatise the police. "You already are," shouted one officer.
When May took to the stage at the Bournemouth conference centre she was greeted by a sea of banners saying "Enough is enough" and "20% cuts are criminal" held up by the audience of 1,200 officers. The home secretary had already taken pre-emptive steps to ensure she did not have to deliver her speech in front of a conference backdrop saying "20% cuts are criminal".
The home secretary insisted that the police funding cuts were "affordable and manageable" and directly answered accusations that policing had been singled out to take the pain. "Let's stop pretending the police are being picked on," she told them. "Every part of the public sector is having to take its share of the pain."
She also responded to growing voices within the Police Federation calling for them to be given the right to strike. "The right to strike is off the table. Keeping our communities safe is simply too important."
The home secretary strongly defended her reform programme and said whatever final conclusions came out of the Winsor review of their pay and conditions she promised the police would remain the best paid of the emergency services.
She also tried to allay concerns about the creeping privatisation of policing by promising that it would only be warranted police officers who made arrests, who led investigations and directed operations.
"We will not privatise patrolling," she said, but when she added: "It is because the police are crime-fighters that we will never privatise policing," one officer shouted: "You already are."
The home secretary had to sit through a 40-minute speech by Paul McKeever, the Police Federation chairman, who told her that 5,200 officers had already been lost, and that she was on the precipice of destroying a police service that was admired throughout the world.
"We are about to go through some fundamental change that will alter policing for ever," McKeever said.
"This is a bad deal for police officers, it's a bad deal for the service and most of all it's a bad deal for the British public."
During her speech, the home secretary announced that the police prosecution powers are to be extended to take over nearly 50% of the cases that go through magistrates' courts. She said they, rather than the Crown Prosecution Service, would have the power to prosecute 500,000 uncontested traffic cases where defendants either did not enter a plea or failed to turn up at court. She was considering extending police prosecutions to other low-level offences and would make an announcement later this summer, she said.
Alan Travis
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23:08
Charles Taylor accuses Hague court of targeting African leaders
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Liberian war criminal likens offences he was convicted of to those he claims US forces committed during Iraq war
The convicted war criminal Charles Taylor has accused the international community of selectively targeting African heads of state with prosecutions while ignoring offences committed by US forces in Iraq.
In his final address before sentencing by a UN-backed tribunal in The Hague, the 64-year-old former Liberian president denied encouraging human rights abuses during the long-running civil war in neighbouring Sierra Leone, insisting he had in fact been trying to stabilise the region.
The court should deliver its sentence in a spirit of "reconciliation, not retribution", said Taylor, who offered no admission of wrongdoing or words of remorse.
"I express my sadness and sympathy for crimes suffered by individuals and families in Sierra Leone," he told the panel of judges at the special court for Sierra Leone (SCSL).
"What I did to bring peace to Sierra Leone was done with honour. I was convinced that unless there was peace in Sierra Leone, Liberia would not be able to move forward. I pushed the peace process hard, contrary to how I have been portrayed in this court."
In his 30-minute statement, the one-time accountant and Libyan-trained guerrilla-leader disputed the accuracy of evidence presented during his four year-long trial. "Witnesses were paid, coerced and in many cases threatened with prosecution if they did not give statements," Taylor told the court.
"Families were rewarded with thousands of dollars to cover costs of children's school fees, transportation, food, clothing, medical bills and given cash allowances for protected and non-protected witnesses in a country where income is less than a dollar a day."
He repeatedly blamed his predicament on the US, comparing what he has been convicted of to offences he says American forces carried out during the Iraq war. Other African leaders could be subjected to similar unjust fates. "I never stood a chance," he said. "Only time will tell how many other African heads of state will be destroyed."
Taylor was found guilty last month of 11 counts of aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity by supporting rebels in Sierra Leone between 1996 and 2002 in return for conflict diamonds. Offences of which he was found guilty included: murder, rape, sexual slavery, recruiting child soldiers, enforced amputations and pillage.
He will be sentenced by the court on 30 May. The special court, which is based in the Dutch capital, cannot impose capital punishment or life sentences but the prosecution has called for an 80-year prison term. Any sentence is likely to be served in the UK, which has offered to accommodate Taylor once his trial and appeal are completed. The civil war left more than 50,000 dead in the West African state.
Taylor's defence lawyers say that exiling him to Britain's jails – where a Serbian war crimes convict was attacked in his cell two years ago – would leave him "culturally isolated" and constitute a "punishment within a punishment".
Courtenay Griffith QC, his lead counsel, has argued that "the suggestion that but for Mr Taylor the war in Sierra Leone would not have happened the way it did is an outright fallacy or wild speculation at best."
The lawyer has also pointed out that: all those awaiting trial at the international criminal court, including the former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo, are from Africa.
During the trial, Griffiths also said that Africans were being sent for trial and detention thousands of miles away to Europe "in handcuffs and chains", a judicial intervention which amounted to "a 21st-century form of colonialism".
The court's chief prosecutor, Brenda Hollis, a former US military prosecutor, has dismissed allegations that witnesses had been paid as inaccurate, saying that they had only received the standard entitlement to court expenses.
"Considering the extreme magnitude and seriousness of the crimes that were committed against the people of Sierra Leone for which Taylor has been found responsible … the prosecution recommends that Charles Taylor be sentenced to a prison term of no less than 80 years. No significant mitigating circumstances exist in this case," she told the court.
"[His] positions both as president of Liberia and within the west African regional bodies distinguish him from any other individual that has appeared before this court. Taylor's abuse of his authority and influence is especially egregious given that west African leaders repeatedly entrusted him with a role to facilitate peace."
Owen Bowcott
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23:06
Marcel Theroux: life with Ukraine's street children
» ‎ The Guardian World News
For some it's a utility room, for others a water pipe. As Ukraine gets set to host Euro 2012, the writer and broadcaster asks why more isn't being done for its thousands of homeless kids
Seventeen-year-old Seryozha squeezes himself through a pair of absurdly narrow bars and beckons me to follow. It's -8C, but I have to take off my coat or I'll never make it through the gap. I lie on the ground, hold my breath, and wriggle slowly under the bars. It's undignified and awkward, but there's no other way in.
The bars fence in an underground utility room that holds the heating and sewage system for a Soviet-era apartment complex. I follow Seryozha warily through a series of pitch-dark chambers, using my head torch to avoid low-slung pipes and piles of human shit. Above us, Kiev is enjoying a day of crisp winter sunshine. At the far end of the chambers, a jury-rigged lightbulb casts a pale-yellow glow on a row of filthy mattresses.
Seryozha shows me a bag of food-scraps he has scavenged from bins. The smell makes me gag. For Seryozha and at least two others, this place is home. They seem indifferent to its shortcomings; probably because they are all high. The dirt floor underfoot is scattered with empty yellow tubes. They're from a brand of Ukrainian glue that's used for resoling shoes, but when inhaled from a plastic bag, the fumes suppress feelings of cold and hunger and produce auditory and visual hallucinations. They also cause brain damage.
On one of the mattresses, a woman in her 20s is inhaling eagerly. The bag she holds clamped to her mouth inflates and deflates in time with her breath. "Look, she's sniffing!" Seryozha giggles. He has a heavily scarred face and wary eyes, but when he smiles he looks young and suddenly lovable. The woman's eyes roll back in her head and she's briefly transported to another realm. "Glukhi, glukhi!" says Seryozha. Hallucinations.
At 17, Seryozha's young enough to get a place at one of Kiev's shelters for homeless children, but he's not interested. "There are bars on the windows," he says. I point out that there are also bars on this cellar. He gives one of his cherubic grins. "But you can get out, you can go for a walk." The word he uses for going for a walk, "gulyat", means to wander around, but when street children say it, it can mean variously "wander around", "hang out", and even "beg".
Seryozha's what Ukrainians call "a social orphan": a child with one or more living parents who are unable to care for him. His is a story of alcohol abuse, beatings, spells in orphanages, and parental failure. By now, the story is familiar: I've heard a version of it from every street child I have spoken to.
He can't remember when he started using glue, and when he speaks he mumbles in a way that reminds me of a punch-drunk boxer. He has a vague plan to get into a rehabilitation centre and kick his habit, and then in the next breath he's talking about his plans for summer, and how he's looking forward to living outdoors.
No one knows how many Seryozhas are sleeping in manholes, or basements, under bridges, or on top of hot water pipes around Ukraine, but the figure is likely to be in the tens of thousands. Unicef puts the number at around 100,000, but it's a contentious estimate: it includes children who have a home, but spend a significant portion of each day on the street.
The head of Kiev's Centre for Children's Services is a charming former social worker called Nikolai Kulyeba. He says there are no more than 10 or 15 children under 18 living on the streets in Kiev. "Otherwise," he says, with a certain circularity of thinking, "I would know about it."
I list the children I have met so far: Dima, a 14-year-old from western Ukraine who sleeps on heating pipes by the railway station; Slavik, 16, who has fled from his drunken mother and lives in a basement with 12 others; Sergei, a 17-year-old with a black eye; 15-year-old Olya who is illiterate and lives in a basement full of drug addicts. I quickly get up to 11 – not including the borderline cases, such as Sabina, who says she's 18 but looks 15 and lives in a manhole. I ask Kulyeba if it's possible that in two weeks in Kiev, during a record freeze when many people didn't venture out of their houses, I might have met the city's entire population of street children. "Maybe they didn't tell you their real age. Maybe they said they were under 18 so you would feel sorry for them."
Outside Kiev's main railway station, outreach teams are offering free health checks to children aged between 14 and 17. A girl with dark hair who gives her age as 18 tentatively offers her finger to be pricked. It takes the nurse an age to coax it into surrendering a few drops of blood. Within minutes, the single lines on the test kits confirm that she is free of hepatitis B and C, and HIV, but positive for syphilis. "It's terribly bad for the baby she's carrying," says the nurse, "but, sadly, we see a lot of cases like this."
Street children are also disproportionately affected by Ukraine's HIV epidemic. The base rate of infection here is already higher than the 1% of the population that epidemiologists say is a critical threshold. The outreach teams tell me that close to 1 in 10 of all children they tested turned out to be HIV positive. Oksana, 17, says she contracted HIV when she was raped while living on the street.
She is in the early stages of infection, when no medication is necessary. But will she have access to anti-retroviral therapy when the time comes? In principle, Ukraine's constitution guarantees free health care to every citizen, but when you mention this to a Ukrainian, the reaction is a roll of the eyes, or a derisive laugh. In practice, you have to give bribes or "donations" when you visit the hospital, as well as paying for your own medicine.
Kiev's main thoroughfare, Khreshchatyk, boasts high-end stores and coffee shops, as well as a Marks & Spencer. It seems very much a part of western Europe. And yet, in some ways, Ukraine is still encumbered with its Soviet inheritance. The country has not scrapped the system of internal passports which the Soviet Union used to control the movement of its citizens. Ukrainians still have a registration stamp in their passport showing their place of residence, and while it's supposed to be irrelevant to job opportunities and healthcare, in practice, you're severely compromised without it. "Bez bumazhki, ty bukashka," goes the old Soviet saying: without the right paperwork, you're an insect.
Ukraine is spending a fortune on the Euro 2012 next month. The final will be played in Olympiskiy Stadium, high above Kiev, a gleaming piece of architecture that was rebuilt from scratch for the occasion at a cost of $700m (£440m).
"Of course, I would love to have that money in my budget," says Kulyeba with a rueful laugh. "But I'm sure it's been calculated so it will yield a profit." Across town, at one of the city's drop-in centres for street youth, the common room is full of the smell of unwashed bodies. Someone tells me that Seryozha was here earlier but was asked to leave because he broke one of the centre's rules by being high on glue. It is typically self-sabotaging behaviour: seeking help, and then disqualifying yourself from it. Three months on, the last I have heard of Seryozha is that he has moved out of his basement, but his life is unchanged in other ways. He's still begging and still using glue. He's clearly not ready to leave street life, and it's not clear he ever will be.
The director of the centre, Leonid Krysov, is bustling around trying to reunite the children with vital paperwork: the birth certificates, passports and registration papers that are a prerequisite for escaping street life.
"Usually we get an allocation, but this time I can't get any tickets to the football," he says with a sigh. "But the kids have told me not to worry. Apparently they know some heating pipes that come up right inside the stadium."
• Unreported World: The Teenagers Who Live Underground is on Channel 4 on Friday 18 May at 7.30pm.
Marcel Theroux
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23:05
Leveson inquiry: Jack Straw used to gossip with Rebekah Brooks
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Former justice secretary reveals he regularly arranged to meet the then Sun editor as they made the same train journey
Jack Straw arranged to meet Rebekah Brooks for a gossip once a week when they commuted on the same train when he was justice secretary and she was editor of the Sun, the Leveson inquiry has heard.
Straw, the former Labour cabinet minister, told the inquiry on Wednesday that they made the arrangement to sit together and used to "gossip about personalities" and what "was in the papers" as they took the hour-long journey from Charlbury in west Oxfordshire to London.
He revealed his meetings just moments after railing against politicians who had too close a relationship with journalists and criticising the press for "recording" his profession as "personality, conflict-based".
Straw said his media policy was "don't have favourites" because politicians were like "shares", in that when they get too close to journalists their price is "over-valued and there is then a crash".
He told Lord Justice Leveson he was an old friend from University of Leeds days with Paul Dacre, the editor-in-chief of the Daily Mail, and generally one of Labour's fiercest critics in the national press. But in contrast with Brooks, he only met Dacre about once a year.
Straw, who had previously been one of Tony Blair's closest allies as home secretary, had the justice portfolio between 2007 and 2010.
He said the commuting arrangement with Brooks "stopped when she became chief executive of News International" in 2009.
Asked what he would talk about he said: "We would talk about what was in the papers, what was the gossip about personalities, that sort of thing."
But he added they could never get into too confidential a discussion because it was a busy commuter line.
"There were all sorts of people around ear-wigging so there was a kind of limit to what one was going to say either way," Straw said.
He remained a friend of Brooks and was one of several top politicians at her wedding to Charlie Brooks in June 2009, along with David Cameron and the then prime minister Gordon Brown.
Earlier the inquiry heard how the Sun had been "ruthlessly hostile" to the Labour party and that owner Rupert Murdoch enjoyed playing "a power game" with politicians, according to Straw.
Unlike other witnesses to the inquiry, such as Alastair Campbell, who testified earlier this week that the Sun backed Labour because it was a winner, Straw was of the view that the News International tabloid did have the power to make or break politicians' fortunes.
"Few of us who took part, for example, in the 1992 general election, are in any doubt that the Sun's approach lost us seats. That was the purpose [of the hostile coverage] and it is disingenuous for anyone to deny it," Straw said.
He added: "The Sun played a huge part in the fortunes of the Labour party."
The 1992 election saw the then Labour leader Neil Kinnock "knocked mercilessly" by the Sun. He was pilloried as a "Welsh windbag" and on the day of the election the Sun splashed with the headline "If Kinnock wins today will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights".
Straw said the Sun attacked members of the Labour party in the runup to the election. Just days before polling day in April 1992, the paper branded him "a hypocrite for preaching socialism from the luxury of three houses". He complained that this was already in the public domain but that now "every burglar in west Oxfordshire knew that the one day of the year" his house would be empty, was election day. His house was burgled and property stolen but when he complained to the Sun he got the "glazed-eye look", Straw said.
He said he had a run-in with Brooks when she was editor of the News of the World and had launched the campaign for "Sarah's law" to allow parents to check whether people with access to their children were sex offenders. At the time Straw was home secretary.
"I felt there were better ways of controlling the predatory instincts of sex offenders than having them bluntly subject to a mob outside their doors," he added.
He said newspapers should "calm down about the effects of autonomy from politicians" and acknowledge that statutory regulation would not been state control. That, he said, was "nonsense".
Straw said he believed newspapers had debased public discourse about government and democracy and had contributed to the low turnout at elections because they portrayed politics as "boring" and "completely self-serving".
In a barbed remark about journalists, he said: "As John Major famously said, 'the only people who've never made a mistake are the people who have never made a decision'. To which I would simply add: they are called journalists."
Straw told Leveson he was in favour of radical reform of press regulation, which had "palpably failed" over the past 50 years.
He said some sort of "statutory" regime which would provide remedies for fast-tracking cases of defamation and breaches of privacy.
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Lisa O'Carroll
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23:05
Derby fire: father speaks of anguish as police say blaze was started with petrol
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Mick Philpott, the father of the six children killed in last week's house fire, breaks down as he speaks at press conference
The father of six children who were killed in a house fire in Derby early on Friday has spoken of his anguish as police revealed that petrol had been poured through the letterbox in an arson attack.
Mick Philpott wept as he spoke at a press conference on Wednesday morning with his wife, Mairead, alongside him and said he had been overwhelmed by support from the local community. Five of their children, aged between five and 10, died following the blaze at a house in Victory Road, Allenton, despite his "valiant efforts" to save them. A sixth son, Duwayne Philpott, aged 13, died in hospital overnight on Sunday with his family at his bedside.
Derbyshire police said they believe the fire was started when petrol was poured through the letterbox. Assistant chief constable Steve Cotterill said the seat of the fire was below the letterbox at the front door of the house. Investigations showed the accelerant was petrol.
Mick Philpott thanked fire crews for their efforts to save his children. He revealed that Duwayne's organs had been donated to save the life of another child.
Results of postmortem examinations revealed that the five younger children – Jade Philpott, 10, and brothers John, nine, Jack, seven, Jessie, six and Jayden, five – died as a result of smoke inhalation.
Philpott said that donating his son Duwayne's organs to help another child "makes us happy and it takes a bit of the pain away." He said: "We grew up in a community that's been through a lot of problems with violence and to see this community come together like it has, it's too overwhelming. Those poor gentlemen from the fire brigade who saw what we saw – my heart goes out to them. It's not just us that's suffering, it's them."
He begged the media to leave his family alone as it is disrupting the inquiry. "Please leave my family alone. If you've got any questions or anything at all please don't come through me or my family, please go to the police. You're disrupting what these officers are trying to do." He urged the media to let them grieve in peace and quiet.
On Monday Cotterill said: "After further forensic examination we believe the fire was not accidental, initial indications are that it was deliberately set and, as a result, six children have been unlawfully killed."
"I think it was a very difficult thing for them to do," he said of the Philpotts' decision to hold a press conference. "I pay tribute to their courage. The community have really pulled together and that's manifested itself in additional information that's starting to trickle through." Previously, the police had expressed frustration at the lack of intelligence.
The forensic examination at the scene is likely to continue for some time. A 28-year-old woman and 38-year-old man, both from Derby, were arrested by officers investigating the deaths but were released without charge.
The children were asleep in their beds upstairs when the fire broke out at the semi-detached house in the early hours of the morning. Their parents were asleep downstairs.
Mick Philpott became the subject of media attention five years ago after asking for a larger house to share with his wife, his girlfriend and eight of the 17 children he is said to have. He also featured in a documentary with Ann Widdecombe on the issue of welfare culture.
- Crime
- Derby
Helen Carter
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21:50
Robert F Kennedy Jr's estranged wife found dead in New York home
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Mary Richardson Kennedy's final years had been troubled ones, including arrests for driving under the influence
The estranged wife of Robert F Kennedy Jr has been found dead in her home in Bedford, New York, according to the family.
Mary Richardson Kennedy, 52, was RFK Jr's second wife. The couple was married for 16 years and had four children together before separating in 2010.
"We deeply regret the death of our beloved sister Mary, whose radiant and creative spirit will be sorely missed by those who loved her," read a statement from Mary Kennedy's family. "Our heart goes out to her children who she loved without reservation. We have no further comment at this time."
The past couple of years had been troubled ones for Mary Kennedy. She was charged with driving while intoxicated in May 2010, when she was pulled over with a blood alcohol level of .11. The legal driving limit is .08.
The only passenger at the time had been the family dog, although Kennedy allegedly told police that she was driving to the school carnival to pick up "some people".
After Kennedy's original DUI arrest, rumors of marriage trouble bubbled to the surface, including reports that RFK Jr had already filed for divorce.
Twice in the week prior, Bedford, New York, police had responded to domestic incidents at the Kennedy home. In 2007 Bobby attempted to take his wife to Northern Westchester Hospital for psychiatric evaluation but she reportedly bolted from the car.
At the time the New York Post reported that Kennedy had suspected her husband, a prominent environmental lawyer and activist, of infidelities.
Three months later she was again charged with driving under the influence. She had been driving 82 mph when police stopped her. She said she told them she was on her way to yoga class, according to the Journal News.
Robert F Kennedy Jr is the son of the former US attorney general, who was murdered while campaigning for president in 1968. He is also the nephew of John F Kennedy Jr, who was also assasinated in 1963.
Brian Braiker
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15:25
Michael Caine trapped in dressing room
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The actor, who was filming Now You See Me in a disused theatre, was accidentally locked in a makeshift dressing area overnight before being set free the next morning
No tabloid story about Michael Caine is complete without a headline referencing his famous line from The Italian Job: "You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!" Sub-editors at the Mirror must have thought all their Christmasses had come at once yesterday after the unfortunate 79-year-old actor was locked in his dressing room overnight while taking a nap.
According to the newspaper, Caine was on a break earlier this month from shooting thriller Now You See Me, which also stars Morgan Freeman, Isla Fisher, Mark Ruffalo, Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson, at a disused theatre in Louisiana when he decided to grab some well-deserved shut-eye. Because the actor did not have a personal assistant, staff at the Loew's State Theatre were unaware he had not left for the day when they locked his room. An irritated Caine was only freed the next morning when a carpenter turned up for work and heard his cries.
A production source told the Mirror: "It had been a long day of filming and Michael decided to slip upstairs to a makeshift dressing area and catch 40 winks.
"When Michael eventually woke up, he realised he was locked in. His mobile phone was in his trailer and there was no electricity in the attic, meaning he couldn't see a thing. It was pitch black.
"Michael started shouting for help but no one could hear him. It was only when an on-set carpenter who had left his tools in the theatre went to do some maintenance work the following morning that he was discovered. It's fair to say Michael wasn't in the best of moods – although he was grateful to have been found."
Now You See Me, from French director Louis Leterrier, centres on an FBI hunt for a team of illusionists who pull off bank heists during their performances and hand their audiences the cash. The film is due out in January 2013.
- Michael Caine
Ben Child
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14:27
Ratko Mladic goes on trial for Bosnia war crimes
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Former Serb general gives truculent display at Hague court as prosecution outlines case including 1995 Srebrenica massacre

Ratko Mladic, the Serb military commander in the Bosnian war, has gone on trial for the worst crimes against humanity that Europe has witnessed since the second world war.
Facing 11 charges including two counts of genocide, the 70 year-old former general appeared unrepentant on Wednesday. When he entered the courtroom at a war crimes tribunal in The Hague, he gave a sarcastic thumbs-up and a slow handclap to the public gallery. At one point, he looked directly at a survivor of the Srebrenica massacre and drew his finger across his throat.
"We visited him before the trial and tried to persuade him to be quiet, not to say anything at all," Branko Lukic, his defence lawyer said. "He told me he made that sign at a woman in the gallery who provoked him by showing him the middle finger. He is like that. He does the same to me."
After the break, Mladic complained about gestures from the public gallery. The judge told him to focus on the trial while warning the gallery he would put up a screen up around the court if there was any further "interaction".
For more than four hours, the prosecution at the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, outlined its case. Dermot Groome, one of the two senior prosecutors, said that the evidence would show that Mladic, as the head of the Bosnian Serb general staff, was directly responsible for the atrocities committed. More than 100,000 people died in the conflict, mostly Muslims and Croats, including tens of thousands of civilians.
"The prosecution will present evidence that will show beyond a reasonable doubt the hand of Mr Mladic in each of these crimes," Groome said. In his statement, he drew on the defendant's published directives to his troops during the war, as well his wartime notebooks seized by Serbian police in a Belgrade flat where he had been hiding during his 16 years on the run.
Groome's also highlighted the individual tragedies that lie beneath the statistics, like the 14 year-old boy whose father and uncle were among 150 men from the same community murdered by Bosnian Serb forces in November 1992. He also told the story of a seven-year-old boy in Sarajevo killed by a Serb sniper while out with his mother gathering firewood. The bullet passed through her stomach and into his head. Lying wounded on the street, she thought her boy was simply following her instructions to take cover. It was only when UN soldiers lifted up his limp body that she realised he was dead.
Groome said that by the time Mladic's forces stormed the supposedly UN-protected enclave of Srebrenica in 1995, killing 8,000 Muslim men and boys, "they were well rehearsed in the craft of murder."
He added that Srebrenica was "different in scale, but no different in intent" from other atrocities carried out by Bosnian Serb forces. "It was no different in its utter inhumanity."
One of the survivors in the gallery, Zumra Sehomerovic, said: "I am proud when I see Mladic finally behind that glass, in front of the court. It has come after 16 years but there is no statute of limitations on the crimes he committed".
Her husband and three other family members were killed at Srebrenica and she said she saw the general up close when he appeared at the scene to "reassure" the terrified captives.
"When I look at him today, I see the man I saw then in 1995. I was standing a metre from him," Sehomerovic said. " There he was with his sleeves rolled up, and he was telling us everything would be OK. He was giving chocolate to the children and said he said he just needed to keep some of the men for a prisoner exchange but that everybody would be together again soon. And then he killed them all."
Groome said the documentary evidence pointed to an "overarching" plan, set out in a list of six war aims drawn up by Mladic, aimed at ethnic cleansing hundreds of thousands of Muslims and Croats and carving out an ethnically pure Serb homeland in western and eastern Bosnia.
The prosecution statement also focused on the 44-month siege of Sarajevo. Groome quoted Mladic from wartime documents and interviews in which he appeared to boast about "putting a ring around the dragon's head of Sarajevo".
At one point the general is quoted as saying: "I have blocked Sarajevo from all four sides. There is no exit. It is in a mousetrap."
Lukic said that he intended to cross-examine prosecution witnesses carefully, but would let the prosecution present its entire case before making his own opening statement.
"Our strategy is not to reveal our strategy and to keep our cards close to our chest," Lukic said, but pledged to present "new evidence" when his turn came. He predicted that the trial could take more than four years to complete.
In court, Mladic cut a much diminished figure from the bluff, stocky and ruddy-faced military commander he was in the war. He survived for 16 years on the run, at first with the help of the Serbian army and the Serbian government in Belgrade, but since the election of a reformist president, Boris Tadic, in 2004, the layers of protection fell away. Mladic was cut off from funds and had been reduced to hiding in the garden shed of a relative in a Serbian village when he was caught last year.
The Bosnian Serbs' wartime leader, Radovan Karadzic, was caught in 2008, living under a false name and posing a new-age healer. He is already midway through his trial at The Hague. Slobodan Milosevic, the former Yugoslav president who orchestrated the Balkan wars from Belgrade, died of a heart attack in his cell in 2006 before a verdict could be delivered in his case.
At the start of Wednesday's hearing the presiding judge, Alphons Orie of the Netherlands, said the court was considering postponing the presentation of evidence, due to start on 29 May, owing to material omitted by the prosecutors when it disclosed evidence to the defence. Groome said he would not oppose a "reasonable adjournment".
Julian Borger
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14:18
Blue Peter and other children's shows to be ditched from BBC1
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Kids' programming to move to CBBC and CBeebies as shows struggle against TV aimed at adults
Blue Peter is to be dropped from BBC1 as part of wide-ranging shakeup that will see all the BBC's children's programmes moved from its flagship channel after more than 60 years.
The corporation will move all children's programming to digital channels CBBC and CBeebies, as part of wide-ranging plans to cut hundreds of millions of pounds from its budget by 2017 and rejig its output for the post-analogue broadcasting era.
Blue Peter is currently presented by Helen Skelton and Barney Harwood, and airs on BBC1 on Friday afternoons, as well as CBBC. Last Friday, Blue Peter attracted 300,000 viewers and a 3% audience share, and struggles to win viewers who tune into programming aimed at adults.
On Wednesday, the BBC Trust gave the green light to director general Mark Thompson's Delivering Quality First proposals, including the children's programming switch. The DQF cuts will also see fewer entertainment shows, more repeats and reduced programming budgets for BBC3 and BBC4.
The BBC Trust said that viewing of children's programming on BBC1 and BBC2 was low and had fallen significantly over recent years.
As a result, following the completion of digital switchover later this year all children's shows will transfer to CBBC and CBeebies, which the BBC Trust said would affect a very low number of children viewers. Following switchover, CBBC and CBeebies will be available to all UK households.
The BBC Trust said that the level of investment in children's programming would be maintained, meaning that the proportion of the licence fee spent on children's output would actually increase.
"Children's output remains a cornerstone of the BBC's public service offering and one of the BBC's foremost editorial priorities," said the BBC Trust.
A BBC Trust spokeswoman added: "Children's programmes are absolutely fundamental to the BBC and that is why we have protected investment in them in the light of cuts elsewhere.
"Only a very small percentage of children still solely watch these programmes on BBC1 and BBC2 alone, so moving them to digital channels is merely following current viewing patterns and reflects the fact that CBeebies and CBBC will be universally available from the end of this year. We have asked the executive to ensure the changes are prominently publicised well in advance."
BBC1 and BBC2 currently have a shared requirement to show 1,500 hours of children's programming a year.
Digital switchover is due to be completed on 24 October, when analogue broadcasting ends in the final region to go through the process, Northern Ireland.
The BBC began broadcasting kids' programming on its TV service before the second world war, with the For the Children strand.
For the Children returned to the BBC's then only TV channel after the war in 1946 as a weekly strand and subsequently kids' programmes became an established featured of BBC1's weekday afternoon schedule, with Blue Peter launching in 1958.
BBC2 also broadcast children's programmes from its launch in 1964, with one of its earliest shows being pre-school format Play School, which transferred to BBC1 in 1983 and ran until 1988.
BBC1's weekday afternoon children's programming was rebranded Children's BBC – later shortened to CBBC – in September 1985, with Phillip Schofield presenting from the tiny "broom cupboard" continuity announcer's studio. Other occupants of the "broom cupboard" over the years included Andi Peters, Zoe Ball, Gordon the Gopher and Edd the Duck.
BBC1 and BBC2
On other changes to BBC1 and BBC2, the BBC Trust said the two main channels would be largely protected from making significant cuts to the scope of their peak time content and output, with changes targeting less valued parts of the schedule.
BBC1 would see a small reduction in peak-time entertainment shows and the number of repeats aired in peak time would rise.
"Under this plan they will remain below 10% which we believe is an acceptable level," said the BBC Trust.
In addition, BBC1 would stop broadcasting mid-morning and 3pm news summaries and see a small reduction in the number of new programmes broadcast after the 10pm news.
BBC1 is also reducing the minimum hours of arts and music from 45 to 40, achieved through cutting episodes of shows in particular Film 2013.
BBC2 would make slightly fewer entertainment, panel and chat shows and would continue to show international news and current affairs at lunchtime and repeats of factual programmes from the corporation's archive and some live sport.
BBC2's minimum hours of arts and music will be dropped from 200 to 150, first run factual programming hours will be cut from 520 to 375.
BBC3 and BBC4
The BBC Trust said that BBC3 and BBC4 would remain valuable but would suffer budget cuts and would support the flagship channels with more co-ordinated commissioning and scheduling.
BBC3 would reduce drama, music and entertainment programming and focus on appealing to younger audiences.
BBC4 would cut investment in UK original drama and some specialist factual output, the funding for which would move to BBC2, and take a clearer lead role in arts and cultural output.
BBC3's minimum hours of arts and music changed from 35 to 30, first run factual programming cut from 125 to 100.
BBC4's minimum hours of arts and music increased from 100 to 150, factual programming is to be dropped from 110 to 60.
Sport
The BBC is also cutting back its sports right budget by 15%, with the BBC Trust noting that a good deal of this target had already been achieved through its shared broadcast deal with BSkyB for Formula One.
The BBC Trust has given guidance on how the sport rights budget should be spent telling the corporation to prioritise events that have the "greatest national resonance" and provide airtime for minority sports.
BBC News
BBC News will see about 800 job cuts and as well as cuts in the BBC1 bulletins, a reduction in party conference coverage and fewer features and special reports on the BBC News Channel.
There will also be a "small reduction" in lighter current affairs output and the "targeted reinvestment in investigative resources for Panorama".
BBC News channel will also not have to broadcast business and personal finance each hour and there will no longer be co-presenters at the scene of a "breaking major international story".
BBC radio
Radio 1 and Radio 1Xtra will share news bulletins, outside of breakfast programmes, and will simulcast between 2am and 4am.
Radio 1 will also replace regional late night shows with a single UK-wide programme, a proposal that was strongly opposed by the public and a number of established musicians with more than 7,000 signatories in Scotland, 6,400 in Northern Ireland and 556 in Wales.
However, the BBC Trust remained unbowed and said the current schedule represents "poor value for money".
Radio 2 will reduce live music broadcasts, to be replaced by more repeats of shows like Friday Night is Music Night, and the amount of comedy programming. Radio 6Music will share some news output with Radio 2.
Radio 3 will have about 25% fewer live and specially recorded lunchtime concerts, fewer orchestral concerts in the evening, which will be replaced with chamber and instrumental concerts, and less contemporary music for Hear and Now.
Overall the number of specially recorded Radio 3 performances will be reduced from 500 to 400 annually, while new drama productions will be cut from 35 to 25 a year.
Radio 4 will have a "limited" change to programming with a 2% increase in the number of repeats and a small reduction in factual and current affairs budgets. Radio 4 Extra will see a 30% reduction in originated programmes.
Radio 5 Live and 5 Live Sports Extra have been tasked with reducing costs for overnight programming and sports presentation, ending some Sunday programmes including comedy in the morning.
The BBC had planned to drop a one-hour weekly current affairs show on Radio 5 Live, however the BBC Trust overturned this proposal and the programme has been moved to a more prominent slot to boost the audience.
The Asian Network has been saved from closure, however it will no longer broadcast between midnight and 6am. There will be a £1.7m cut to its annual content budget, about 18%; the amount of music will rise from 50% to 60% of output, although this will be split 50/50 during daytime; there will be reductions in sports coverage, drama and bespoke documentaries.
The BBC Trust said that it agrees "in principle" with plans to reduce medium wave transmission for local radio where there is duplicate FM coverage. However, the BBC Trust has told the corporation to do more work to establish costs and impact across the UK before it makes a decision.
HD and red button
The BBC HD channel is to be shut in order to allow a simulcast HD channel for BBC2 to be launched, along with BBC1 HD channels for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The BBC Red Button interactive service has "substantial costs" and as a result the number of video streams on satellite and cable TV will be cut from nine to just one. The news multi-screen service will be shut.
"It is a new experience for the BBC to see its income fall significantly in real terms," said the BBC Trust. "We understand this has been a difficult process for staff and that some licence fee payers will be disappointed by some of the particular choices we have taken as they become apparent on air."
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Mark Sweney
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13:25
Anders Behring Breivik trial: survivors tell of hiding under bodies
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Oslo court hears testimony from three who escaped gunman in Utøya massacre by lying motionless among dead and dying
Three survivors of Anders Behring Breivik's Utøya island massacre have described how they clung on to life in a room filled with death.
Seven teenagers were killed in the Little Hall of the island's cafe on 22 July last year. Ingvild Leren Stensrud survived only because another girl, Ronja Søttar Johansen, fell on top of her.
Stensrud had been shot twice in the knee and shoulder. As the life ebbed out of Johansen, Stensrud played dead underneath her, trying not to breathe.
"I was lying with my eyes closed, motionless. Then he hit me in the shoulder," she told Oslo's criminal court. There was silence and she thought he had gone – until she heard a terrible sound. "He was reloading."
Whether Breivik believed she was dead or whether he got distracted is unclear. But he finally left the room. Lying there, she heard cries outside which she thought belonged to Breivik's accomplices. "I thought I could hear war cries or battle cries or celebratory shouts," she said.
She couldn't make out the words and thought they were speaking a foreign language. It was only later she realised she was hearing the terrified screams of her friends trying to escape.
Also lying on the floor of that bloody room was a boy, now 18, who does not want to be identified. Breivik shot him in the foot. Right next to him was the body of his friend, Bendik Rosnæs Ellingsen. He was dying: Breivik had shot him eight times in the head and face. The witness said he had one overriding memory: "What I remember best was opening my eyes and feeling the rush of blood from Bendik."
He lay there quietly until help eventually arrived. "I lay there with all the people, the blood. It was like a pool of blood that I lay right in the middle of. Blood is warm in the beginning but it turns icy cold after a while, so I was really cold."
His mind was full: "I was thinking what consequences this would have to the nation, to us, to my life. You have a lot of philosophical thoughts in a situation like that."
He ran through in his mind images of the man who had shot him: "I noticed, though I didn't look at him too much, I noticed that he was white and dressed in black. So I quickly associated him with something rightwing extremist. That turned out later to be true. All traitors from before the war until today have been rightwing extremists."
At this point in proceedings, Breivik smiled. Until then, he had stared straight ahead, occasionally fiddling with his pen; never showing any emotion.
The 18-year-old remembered talking to Stensrud and them both trying to keep another boy awake, Glenn Martin Waldenstrøm, now 20.
The anonymous witness felt sure he was watching Waldenstrøm die.
"I was pretty certain that he would bleed to death before we could get any help. The way I remember it, he was bleeding so badly. We tried to keep contact with him but he could barely speak."
But Waldenstrøm survived to give evidence on Wednesday. It was immediately clear that he has yet to recover from the physical and mental injuries Breivik caused him that day. He has a scar in the middle of his neck, where a bullet entered, passing through the palate of his mouth and out just under one of his eyes.
His vision is severely impaired – one eye has just 10% vision left and the other struggles to compensate. But Waldenstrøm did not want to face Breivik in the courtroom. His lawyer made an application for Breivik to watch proceedings from a side room. He agreed.
When Waldenstrøm woke up from a coma two days after the attacks, his first thoughts were of guilt. "The first thing I said was I apologised for not saving Silje," he said, referring to his friend Silje Merete Fjellbu, whom he tried and failed to protect from Breivik's bullets.
He remembered the strange expression on Breivik's face. "It was a mixture of joy and anger. His face was distorted in a way. His forehead looked angry but his mouth was smiling," he said.
On Tuesday, another survivor of the Little Room massacre was defiant in the face of the atrocity. "We are stronger than ever," Ina Rangønes Libak told the court.
On Monday, another girl who swam to safety said she triumphed over Breivik: "We won. He lost. Norwegian youth can swim."
And though Waldenstrøm still suffers the effects of the attack – "I have been terribly frightened sometimes," he said – he allowed himself to feel triumphant. He had read Breivik's witness statement, he told the court, and noted his account of the Little Room massacre. Breivik referred to seeing a boy bleeding heavily from the neck, dead or dying. "I felt that had to be me and I felt a great sense of victory," said Waldenstrøm. "I felt, yes, I tricked him. I was able to fool him."
Helen Pidd
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May 15, 2012
20:14
François Hollande meets Angela Merkel - full coverage
» ‎ The Guardian World News
France's newly appointed president arrives in Berlin for his first meeting with Germany's chancellor
9.12pm: A couple of key quotes in full now from that first joint Merkel-Hollande press conference.
Hollande, who wants to temper Berlin-led austerity policies with pro-growth measures said he and Merkel both wanted Greece to remain in the euro currency zone and hoped voters there would show they did too in a June 17 election.
"I hope that we can say to the Greeks that Europe is ready to add measures to help growth and support economic activity so that there is a return to growth in Greece," Hollande said.
"On growth, the method that we agreed is putting all ideas and all proposals on the table and seeing what legal means exist to put them into effect."
8.56pm: It wasn't exactly a cordial press conference and seemed a little awkward at times even though Merkel and Hollande tried their best to show they will get on, according to Mathieu von Rohr, Paris bureau chief for Der Spiegal.

Again though, as was so often the case during her political relationship with Hollande's predecessor, Merkel's body language is under close scutiny:
Merkel didn't say anything when Hollande used the dirty word "renegotiation" in front of her. But showed a strange smile/grimace afterwards
— Mathieu von Rohr (@mathieuvonrohr) May 15, 2012
8.50pm: Faisal Islam, economics editor at Channel 4 News, has been tweeting what he took from the press conference:
I got a sense that Hollande and Merkel might give a little back to Greece. No strict reference to "full implementation of memo".
— Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) May 15, 2012
Boils down to this: will Merkel/ Hollande give some ground to Greece over the austerity conditionality ahead of June bailout payment? #HoMer
— Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) May 15, 2012
8.45pm: And that's it for now. A handshake between the two leaders signals the end of the first joint press conference between the two leaders.
It was a million miles away from anything in the way of political fire-works but, equally, there seemed to have been no attempt to paper over differences.
Hollande emphasised his belief in the need to introduce an impetus for growth within the eurozone while both leaders were completely open about the fact that they disagreed.
8.40pm: A question to the two leaders now on the Greek situation, and whether the new elections will be helpful.
Merkel responds first to another question about what language they used during the discussions this evening.
Everything was talked about in their "native tongues", she says.
As for Greece, she says that the wishes of the people of Greece have to be respected, and the decision to hold elections.
Hollande says he will respect whatever happens with the Greek vote. He also "appreciates" the suffering of the Greek people
As for the conversation earlier with Merkel, he says that they used "the language of intelligence, the will to find solutions".
8.37pm: Hollande is once again emphasising the need for growth creation.
Tomorrow, he says that the new French government will seek advice on how to execute the budget of 2012.
8.34pm: The euro is not just a monetary project but "a political project" too, says Merkel.
European have benefitted from this and will continue to do so, she says, adding that those on the continent have the same values: freedom of speech, liberty and democracy.
"This is also expressed via the single european currency," she says.
8.32pm: Again to the thorny, but ultimately central, question of the Eurozone's fiscal treaty.
Hollande is largely non-committal in answer to a question about what exactly he will be pressing for but repeats that he has told the French people that he wants to renegotiate it.
8.27pm: Hollande says that he wants efforts towards encouraging growth in the Eurozone to be tangible, rather than just words.
A range of options should be on the table, including eurobonds, adds the French President, referencing an instrument which has long been rejected by Angela Merkel as a possible way of bringing the eurozone crisis under control.
8.24pm: Hollande is talking now about the importance of a "balance" in the relationshup between France and Germany.
The two talked about Greece, he adds. Like his Germany counterpart, he says that he wants Greece to remain in the eurozone.
"We have to allow the Greeks to find solutions," says Hollande, adding that he hopes the Greeks will express in the forthcoming June 17 elections their attachment to the eurozone.
8.21pm: We wish to have Greece within the Euro and we know that the majority of the Greek population agree with us, says Merkel.
The two leaders talked about what they could to to help greece in terms of "structure", adds the German chanellor (according to the BBC translator).
8.17pm: The Merkel-Hollande news conference is underway now in Berlin.
Merkel starts by suggesting that the lightning strike on his plane is a good omen for their future relationship.
"We have quite an intensive agenda in terms of European questions," she adds, in what may be the understatement of the week.
8.03pm: While most of the media spotlight is currently on Berlin, it was Greece that was once again centre-stage earlier today.
In case you missed the news, the country is heading back to the polls again after a final round of talks this morning broke up without a deal following the fractured results of its most recent general election.
Amid fears the new election will do the very thing it is supposed to stop, hasten the country's economic collapse and exit from the eurozone, the Guardian's Helena Smith has filed a report from Athens:
After a week of political high drama after inconclusive elections, feuding party chiefs acknowledged their inability to form a unity government on Tuesday, with several blaming Alexis Tsipras, whose Left Coalition party has taken Greece by storm.
"Unfortunately the country is being led again to elections … under very bad conditions," said the socialist Pasok leader, Evangelos Venizelos, after the breakdown of the last-ditch negotiations at Athens' presidential palace. "For God's sake let's move towards something better, not something worse."
Across Europe there is no illusion that the poll, expected to take place on 10 or 17 June, is a referendum on whether the near insolvent country – kept afloat by EU and IMF rescue loans – stays in the eurozone.
Within hours of the election being announced, the German finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, summed up the predicament Greece now faced. "If Greece – and this is the will of the great majority – wants to stay in the euro, then they have to accept the conditions," he told reporters at a meeting of European finance ministers in Brussels.
"Otherwise, it isn't possible. No responsible candidate can hide that from the electorate."
7.57pm: Back to the issue of the Merkel-Hollande body language. Here's the take of Kate Connolly, Berlin-based foreign correspondent for the Guardian and Observer:
#Merllande cordial but awkward. #Merkel had to steer him back onto red carpet when he stepped across her path. Sign of things to come?
— Kate Connolly (@connollyberlin) May 15, 2012
7.52pm: While we're waiting for the press conference to get underway, Reuters has filed an interesting profile of France's new prime minister, a German speaker whose familiarity with the corridors of power in Berlin may prove invaluable as Paris seeks to temper Germany's austerity drive in Europe.
The stately, silver-haired Jean-Marc Ayrault, a former German teacher and long-time ally of president-elect Francois Hollande - has made pragmatism his hallmark in holding together the Socialists' fractious parliamentary group as its floor leader since 1997.
With his understanding of Germany's language and culture, the conciliatory Ayrault could be a bridge-builder with Berlin after a bruising presidential election race in France that focused on Hollande's demands to renegotiate a German-inspired budget discipline pact for Europe.
At home, his new government will also face the difficult task of selling inevitable deficit-cutting measures to a public weary of unemployment running at nearly 10 percent.
"This is the outcome of a long fight alongside Francois Hollande for the 15 years we have known each other," Ayrault said, adding that despite his reputation for shyness he was not afraid to admit he was moved by the appointment.
"I am aware of the difficulty of the task, the mission which awaits me."
7.34pm: The Merkel-Hollande talks come as an unexpectedly strong recent economic performance by Germany helped compensate for weaker output in Greece, Italy and Spain.
Figures released in European capitals today underlined the two-speed nature of the 17-nation single currency area, even though the 0.5% expansion in Europe's biggest economy helped to compensate for weaker output in Greece, Italy and Spain.
But analysts warned that any respite could be short-lived, with the latest flare-up in Europe's long-running sovereign debt crisis likely to damage growth prospects for the rest of the year, reports Larry Elliott, the Guardian's economics editor:
Figures released in European capitals on Tuesday showed that Germany – which accounts for 27% of eurozone GDP – bounced back from a 0.2% drop in output in late 2011, while France followed growth of just 0.1% with a quarter of stagnation in early 2012. In the year to the end of March 2012, Germany grew by 1.2% and France by 0.3%.
Other countries to post quarterly growth included Finland (1.3%), Austria (0.2%), Belgium (0.3%) and Slovakia (0.8%).
But tough austerity measures took their toll on Italy, where the 0.8% quarterly drop in output was the third in a row; Spain, which saw activity decline by 0.3% for a second quarter; and Greece, which reported that the economy was 6.2% smaller at the end of the first quarter of 2012 than a year earlier.
The Netherlands also posted a third consecutive quarter of negative growth, with activity down by 0.2% in the first quarter of 2012.
Overall, the eurozone economies have shown no growth in the past year, while the 27-nation European Union has seen output increase by just 0.1%.
7.26pm: The Merkel-Hollande press conference is due to get underway in 30 minutes time.
7.17pm: Watchers of this evening's meeting have had their eyes peeled for the first indications of what the body language will be like between the two leaders.
Sarkozy and Merkel eventually developed a friendlier working relationship as they worked to resolve the continent's debt crisis, but the relationship between the two often looked awkward to say
Some slightly worrying signs emerged from the meeting earlier in Berlin however as Mathieu von Rohr, Paris bureau chief for Der Spiegel, tweeted:
Merkel had to push Hollande around on the red carpet because he stood on the wrong side.
— Mathieu von Rohr (@mathieuvonrohr) May 15, 2012
7.07pm: Hollande has been received by Merkel with an honour guard ahead of talks.
The two leaders are scheduled to hold a joint news conference following the meeting and then have dinner together.
6.59pm: The two leaders are expected to hold a press conference this evening following talks which, Hollande has said, is about getting to know each other.
But there will be much more going on besides that, as the Guardian's Europe Editor, Ian Traynor, has explained:
The pressing issue of Greece, for example, as weeks of a power vacuum fuel German exasperation and add to the sense that enough is enough – time for Greece to end its ill-advised sojourn in the single currency.
The Germans and the Greeks have been the opposing poles in the euro crisis for more than two years. Nicolas Sarkozy hitched himself to Merkel and followed the German line.
No one knows yet where Hollande stands, but the signs are he will favour flexibility over German stickling for the rules.
On the broader national and European issues of recession, debt, and fiscal rigour, Hollande has been outspoken and blunt, campaigning as the anti-Sarkozy challenger to Germany's austerity prescriptions. Asked by French TV if he would arrive in Berlin bearing gifts, he replied: "The gift of growth, jobs, and economic activity."
Merkel, by contrast, made clear she saw no reason to shift her position on the European debt dilemmas just because of a weekend election rout for her Christian Democrats.
Hollande goes to Berlin on the first day of his presidency buoyed by a fresh and powerful mandate from the voters of France. Merkel, in office seven years and squaring up for a third term next year, looks diminished by the calamity on Sunday in the big state of North-Rhine Westphalia where her CDU slumped by 8 points to record its worst postwar performance there.
6.47pm: It's the most eagerly awaited dinner date on the international stage for some time, where the debate over growth versus austerity is expected to take centre-stage.
Hours after taking over as France's president, François Hollande has arrived in Berlin for talks on Europe's debt crisis with the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel.
In what many are hoping is not an ill-omen, the Falcon 7X aircraft which he boarded earlier was struck by lightning and had to return to the Villacoublay air base outside Paris as a precaution.
Hollande and his entourage were transferred to another aircraft, a Falcon 900, and took off shortly thereafter.
As the future of the Eurozone hangs in the balance, we're going to bring you full coverage of the first top level meeting between the two current leaders of the Eurozone's Franco-German engine.
Ben Quinn
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20:11
David Davis says case for secret courts based on a 'falsehood'
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Former shadow home secretary says government's argument 'blown out of water' following US leak about British double agent
The government's central argument for the creation of new generation of secret courts has been "blown out of the water" by the leak of highly sensitive British intelligence in the US, according to former shadow home secretary David Davis.
Ministers are stepping up plans to expand secret hearings into civil courts at the behest of MI5 and MI6, amid concerns that the US authorities will cut off the flow of intelligence if details emerge in open court.
But in a Guardian article, Davis calls on ministers to face down the demands after details were leaked in the US about a British double agent instructed by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula to blow up an aeroplane with a highly sophisticated underpants bomb.
"This argument has been blown out of the water by last week's disclosures, which demonstrate that the American system leaks far more than the British ever could," Davis writes. "This leak happened not in the pursuit of justice but as a casually irresponsible piece of political spin."
Ministers have been under fire from civil liberty groups over plans to allow some material to be concealed from the public, the media and claimants during civil trials. The proposals are a response to the public airing of evidence during litigation brought on behalf of Binyam Mohamed and other former detainees in Guantánamo Bay.
The deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, raised concerns about the plans in a letter to ministers on the national security council. Clegg said the courts should only be used in exceptional cases where there are national security concerns.
In the Queen's speech last week, the government announced an acceleration of the plans when it said that they would be included in a justice and security bill. The so-called "material procedures" would allow sensitive material to be heard in court in front of approved special advocates.
Davis argues that the arguments in favour of the secret courts are based on a "falsehood" – that intelligence remains secret in the US. He quotes Mark Fallon, the deputy commander of the Guantánamo military interrogation team, who said: "In the US there are no secrets, only delayed disclosure."
Davis writes: "In the coming year, the government, at the behest of the intelligence agencies, is going to ask us to introduce a secret procedure into our civil courts for the first time in our history. It will allow the covering up of crimes – such as complicity in torture – that may have been carried out in our name. It is being justified as a way of protecting secrets from a country that makes a virtue of being even more open than we are, and which as a result lets slip more classified data in a day than our courts do in a decade.
"It is being argued on the assumption that our allies are naive, and are willing to compromise the fundamental values of our justice system in a war that is supposed to be in defence of those very values. None of these arguments stand, and so this proposal should fall."
Nicholas Watt
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20:10
Rebekah Brooks defiant over charges relating to phone-hacking 'cover-up'
» ‎ The Guardian World News

Former New International CEO expressed anger that those close to her, including her husband, had been 'dragged into the affair'
Rebekah Brooks made a defiant attack on the "weak and unjust" decision by the prosecuting authorities to bring charges against her on Tuesday and dismissed the case against her as an "expensive sideshow and waste of public money".
Speaking outside her solicitor's office in London, the former chief executive of News International said she could not express how angry she was that those close to her had been "unfairly dragged into this".
An emotional and nervous-looking Brooks, 43, spoke out after a momentous day in the phone-hacking affair saw her facing three charges of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice over allegations that she concealed "material, documents and computers" from detectives investigating phone hacking at the News of the World and alleged bribes to public officials by journalists at the Sun. Her husband, Charlie Brooks, a racehorse trainer and friend of the prime minister, faces one charge of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice by acting with others to "conceal documents, computer and other electronic devices" from detectives.
Speaking alongside his wife, he also condemned the decision as "an attempt to use me and others as scapegoats, the effect of which is to ratchet up the pressure on my wife, who I believe is the subject of a witch-hunt".
The couple were among six individuals – including News International's head of security, Mark Hanna – charged over allegations that they were engaged in a cover-up to hide evidence from police investigating phone hacking at the News of the World.
One of the most high profile figures in the newspaper industry, and a close confidante of Rupert Murdoch, Brooks was charged by police at a police station in Lewisham on Tuesday afternoon.
She had travelled to London with her husband from their home in Oxfordshire to answer bail after their arrest in March.
The couple were made to attend different police stations – Mrs Brooks at Lewisham, and her husband at Hammersmith – to have the charges laid against them.
The decision to bring the first charges in the long-running phone-hacking investigation, Operation Weeting, had been announced earlier by Alison Levitt QC, of the CPS, in a high-profile televised statement, the lawyer said, in the interests of "transparency and accountability".
Brooks, however, condemned the live broadcast as "the further unprecedented posturing of the CPS".
All the alleged offences took place in July last year when the phone-hacking investigation was at its height.
The charge is a serious one which carries a maximum penalty of life, although the average term served in prison is 10 months. Brooks also remains on bail over phone-hacking allegations and allegations over bribes to public officials.
Levitt said the decision to charge six of the seven individuals arrested for conspiring to pervert the course of justice came after prosecutors applied the two-stage test they are required to when making charging decisions.
"I have concluded that in relation to all suspects except the seventh there is sufficient evidence for there to be a realistic prospect of conviction," she said.
"I then considered the second stage of the test and I have concluded that a prosecution is required in the public interest in relation to each of the other six."
Brooks and her husband were arrested in March. Detectives from Operation Weeting then handed their file of evidence on the couple and the other individuals to the CPS on 27 March. The five others arrested were Hanna, Cheryl Carter, Ms Brooks's former personal assistant for 19 years, Paul Edwards, Brooks's chauffeur and employee of News International, and Daryl Jorsling, who provided Brooks with security, supplied by News international.
The seventh suspect – who has not been named – also provided security.
Scotland Yard said later that the seventh man – for whom no charges were laid – had been released with no further action to be taken.
The first charge against Mrs Brooks alleges that between 6 July and 19 July 2011 she conspired with Charlie Brooks, Cheryl Carter, Mark Hanna, Paul Edwards, Daryl Jorsling and persons unknown to conceal material from officers of the Metropolitan Police Service.
The second charge, which she faces along with Carter, alleges that between 6 July and 9 July 2011 they conspired together to permanently remove seven boxes of material from the archive of News International.
In the third charge she is accused, along with her husband, Mark Hanna, Paul Edwards and Daryl Jorsling and persons unknown, of conspiring together between 15 July and 19 July 2011 to conceal documents, computers and other electronic equipment from officers of the Metropolitan Police Service.
Brooks and her husband revealed they were to be charged some 10 minutes before the CPS live announcement on Tuesdaymorning.
They promised they would make a further statement after attending the police station. They did that shortly after 5pm outside their solicitors, Kingsley Napier, in London.
Looking tired, Brooks said: "Whilst I have always respected the criminal justice system, you have to question whether this decision has been made on a proper impartial assessment of the evidence. Although I understand the need for a thorough investigation, I am baffled by the decision to charge me.
"However, I cannot express my anger enough that those close to me have unfairly been dragged into this.
"As the details of the case emerge people will see today as an expensive sideshow, and a waste of public money as a result of this weak and unjust decision."
Standing next to her, Mr Brooks raised doubts that his wife would get a fair trial.
"There are 172 police officers, about the equivalent of eight murder squads, working on this; so it doesn't surprise me that the pressure is on to prosecute, no matter how weak the cases will be," he said.
"I am confident that the lack of evidence against me will be borne out in court, but I have grave doubts that my wife will ever get a fair trial, given the volume of biased commentary which she has been subject to."
Scotland Yard said all six defendants were released on bail to appear at Westminster magistrates on 13 June.
Sandra Laville Dan Sabbagh
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19:32
Greece faces stark election choice – in or out of the euro
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Collapse of coalition talks plunges eurozone into fresh turmoil as EU policymakers work on plans for post-Greek single currency
Europe is facing a month of political and economic upheaval after the failure of nine days of coalition talks in Greece prompted fears on Tuesday that a fresh election in the crisis-torn country would herald the start of the breakup of the single currency.
In what was being seen in the financial markets as an "in or out" referendum on membership of the 17-nation eurozone, party leaders in Athens called a second poll next month once it became clear that they were unable to piece together a national unity government to manage Greece's biggest crisis in modern times.
Karolos Papoulias, the president of Greece, finally admitted defeat in his attempts to form a government and the date of the new election – either 10 June or 17 June – will be announced on Wednesday.
The collapse of talks sent tremors through financial markets and prompted warnings from Germany's finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, that Greece would have to stick to its hardline austerity programme in order to continue to receive the bailout cash needed to pay government salaries and support troubled banks.
Europe's policymakers are now actively working on plans to minimise the fallout from a possible Greek departure from the single currency after an election in which the anti-austerity Syriza party is expected to increase its support. Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, said she wanted Greece to stay in the euro but said the IMF had to be "technically prepared for anything".
News of the political impasse in Athens put paid to a modest rally in European markets on Tuesday caused by the surprise news that growth of 0.5% in Germany spared the eurozone collectively from the double-dip recession suffered by Britain.Growth in the monetary union area ground to a halt in the first three months of 2012, although the picture would have looked less rosy had statisticians in Europe followed the UK tradition of adjusting data for the extra working day in a leap year.
David Owen, economist at Jefferies, said that in Germany alone the leap-year effect would added 0.4 percentage points to growth over a full year.
Official figures released on Tuesday showed that Italy's economy had shrunk by 1.3% over the past year, Spain had contracted by 0.4% and Greece by 6.2%. The length and depth of the slump in Greece – which has seen a 20% drop in output in the past four years – has led to the growing popularity for parties of left and right opposed to the terms of the €130bn bailout package agreed earlier this year.
No group won enough votes, however, to have a working majority in Athens's 300-seat parliament and parties that backed the terms of the bailout lost support.
The euro fell to its lowest in three and a half years against the pound on the foreign exchanges, while concern that a Greek exit from the single currency would have a domino effect pushed shares in Spain to their lowest in nine years. The interest rates paid by the Italian and Spanish governments for their 10-year borrowing were both above the key 6% level as concerns grew that the eurozone's third and fourth biggest economies might need bailouts from the IMF and the European Union.
A caretaker government will replace the outgoing left-right coalition, led by the technocrat banker Lucas Papademos, as the nation prepares for another round of election campaigning.
Attributing the breakdown to "petty party interests", Evangelos Venizelos, who heads the socialist Pasok, said he hoped the next decision of Greek voters would be more mature. "Unfortunately the country is being led again to elections … under very bad conditions," he said. "The country can find its way again," the politician insisted, before urging citizens to read the minutes of the two-hour-long talks. "Let's choose to go towards the better. In God's name, let it not be worse."
Like its longtime rival New Democracy, Pasok was pummelled in the 6 May election, a ballot that will be remembered for reconfiguring Greece's political map.
Athens is not only dependent on rescue funds from its "troika" of creditors – the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund – that rushed to prop up its ailing economy in May 2010. It is also running out of money fast.
With an €18bn cash injection for the banking system put on hold, a senior official in the outgoing government admitted there were concerns over whether Greece could "make it" until the next election.
"It is a real issue," he told the Guardian. "The economy is in very bad shape. "The banks have no money. There is no liquidity. It is vital that this cash injection is released by the EFSF [the EU's emergency rescue fund]."
Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist at Capital Economics, said: "There is now a considerable danger Greece simply runs out of money next month – that it can't pay wages, can't run public transport, can't maintain infrastructure and that the country just descends into complete chaos."
Greece's eurozone partners are likely to spend the next few weeks ratcheting up the pressure on the country's voters to back parties prepared to stick to the spending cuts, wage reductions, tax increases and privatisation included in the austerity programme. But the economist Nouriel Roubini said he expected Syriza, which wants to "tear up the barbaric accord" to emerge victorious, leading eventually to default and exit from the euro.
Chris Beauchamp, market analyst at IG Index, said: "The reality now is that there will be elections in mid-June, and at present the anti-bailout, leftwing Syriza party is poised to win a majority.
"If it does, it is pledged to abandon most austerity measures, which would result in the halting of bailout payments and likely result in the exit of Greece from the euro. After two years, this event now seems inevitable, barring some major turnaround in the Greek political climate."
Larry ElliottHelena Smith
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18:51
Doctors 'rewire' hands of paralysed man
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Man, 71, regains some use of hands after surgeons use healthy nerves to bridge damaged area between brain and forearm
A man who was paralysed in a car crash four years ago has regained some use of his hands after doctors rewired the nerves in his arms.
In a pioneering operation, US doctors took healthy nerves from the man and used them to bridge the damaged wiring that stopped signals getting from the man's brain to his hands.
Surgeons at Washington University's school of medicine said the operation may prove to be a breakthrough for some patients paralysed by spinal cord injuries.
The 71-year-old broke his neck in a car crash in 2008 that left him unable to walk. Though he could still move his arms, he had lost the ability to grasp or hold things in either hand.
In the operation surgeons used healthy nerves to bypass the damaged area and connect working nerves above the spinal breakage to those in the anterior interosseous nerve in the forearm that ultimately controls hand movement.
The man received extensive therapy after the operation and began to move the thumb and fingers of his left hand eight months after surgery. He could move the fingers of his right hand 10 months afterwards.
The patient can now feed himself and write to some extent. Though slight, his improvement is nonetheless remarkable, given the severity of the injury and the 22 months that passed before surgery.
"To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of thumb and finger flexor reinnervation after a spinal cord injury. While the results in this patient are usually modest, due to the severe joint stiffness, his function has improved significantly with his ability to feed himself," the team writes in the Journal of Neurosurgery.
"The use of nerve transfers may represent a significant breakthrough toward improved independent function in select patients with cervical spinal cord injuries," the authors said.
Despite their success, doctors said the procedure would never restore normal function to patients. The limited improvement came after the patient learned to use a nerve that normally bends the arm at the elbow to make hand grasping movements.
Mark Bacon, director of research at the charity Spinal Research, told the BBC: "One of the issues with techniques such as this is the permanence of the outcome – once done it is hard to reverse.
"There is an inevitable sacrifice of some healthy function above the injury in order to provide more useful function below. This may be entirely acceptable when we are ultimately talking about providing function that leads to a greater quality of life.
"For the limited number of patients that may benefit from this technique this may be seen as a small price to pay."
The operation is only suitable for those patients who suffered damaged spines at the base of the neck.
When injuries are higher, there are no nerves to tap into to bypass the damage. And if the spinal cord is severed lower down, the patients are unlikely to lose the use of their hands.
Doctors said further research was needed to work out how reliable the procedure was in patients and the best time to perform surgery.
- Medical research
- United States
Ian Sample
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18:11
JP Morgan: justice department opens investigation into $2bn trading losses
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Chief executive Jamie Dimon sees off attempts by shareholders to strip him of his role as chairman – but pressure is mounting
The US justice department opened an investigation into how JP Morgan lost more than $2bn in poorly managed trading at its London office as the bank's embattled boss, Jamie Dimon, saw off attempts by shareholders to strip him of his role as chairman.
The justice department inquiry is at a preliminary stage and as yet there appears to be no evidence of criminal wrongdoing at the bank. The Securities and Exchange Commission has already launched a separate investigation and as political pressure for greater regulation of Wall Street banks begins to mount.
President Barack Obama appeared on the daytime talk show The View on Tuesday to call for Wall Street reform. "JP Morgan is the best, or one of the best managed, banks. You could have a bank that isn't as strong, isn't as profitable making those same bets and we might have had to step in. That's exactly why Wall Street reform's so important," he said.
He said Dimon, the chairman and chief executive officer of JP Morgan, was "one of the smartest bankers we've got – and they still lost $2bn and counting."
At the bank's annual meeting, held at a tightly secured facility seven miles outside Tampa, Florida, shareholders quizzed Dimon on what went wrong. He said the losses "never should have happened" and that "all corrective actions" were being taken.
Forty-one percent of shareholders voted for a proposal by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) to appoint an independent chairman. Dimon also received 94.8% approval from shareholders on his $23m pay package from last year.
Lisa Lindsley, a AFSCME director, said the vote on splitting chairman and CEO was "pretty high" in favour considering most of the votes were in before the losses were announced last week. A similar proposal last year for an independent lead director got only 11.9% of the vote.
"We're not saying he should be fired as CEO," said Lindsley. But the "stakes were too high to continue business as usual," she told shareholders. "An all-powerful CEO is his own boss," she said. "Looking for an infallible CEO is a fool's errand."
After the meeting, Dimon told reporters that the bank was considering whether to claw back bonuses from those responsible for the losses. "We will do the right thing. And that may well include clawbacks," Dimon said. "The buck always stops with me."
On Monday Ina Drew, JP Morgan's chief investment officer, quit. Drew oversaw the London-based bankers at the heart of JP Morgan's losses.
Drew earned over $31m in the past two years, according to regulatory filings. She is expected to be the first of several bankers to leave the bank in the wake of the fiasco.
The scandal has put intense pressure on Dimon, who also sits on the advisory board of the New York Federal Reserve. Shareholders at the meeting questioned Dimon's role at the New York Fed, a position that has recently attracted criticism from US politicians. Dimon said his role is on an "advisory" board and that he isn't allowed to vote on anything.
But having emerged from the credit crisis as the most credible banker on Wall Street, the London trading loss has dented Dimon's reputation, and his role as Wall Street's chief cheerleader against new financial regulations – in particular the Volcker rule that would limit trades like the ones that went wrong in London.
In April, analysts asked Dimon about rumours of problems in London by analysts. At Tuesday's AGM, Father Seamus Finn, who represents Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, told Dimon that he "had heard the same refrain" before.
"Mr Dimon, you showed your disappointment at the mistakes our company has made over robo-signing and sloppy practices that have wreaked havoc on the life of many homeowners. You assured us you would learn from those mistakes," he said.
Finn said: "We heard you describe the latest problem as an 'oversight' … you spoke of red flags. Do you still believe that the company should still self-regulate any trading on their own accounts?
"Are your thoughts on the Volcker rule still evolving? We can't help wondering if you are listening."
Dominic RusheKaren McVeigh
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18:00
The court of Cannes
» ‎ The Guardian World News
It is the most glamorous, prestigious film festival in the world. But who controls Cannes? How do you get past the bouncers? And will Lars Von Trier ever be allowed back? Xan Brooks decodes the Croisette
Sometimes, standing in line outside the Lumière theatre in Cannes, I find myself wondering whatever happened to Liz, the immaculate American executive last seen being hauled over the barricades at the 2008 premiere of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. One bouncer had her by the shoulders and another had her by the legs, and she had just time to shout despairingly to her colleagues – "They don't know who I am!" – before she vanished over the side to rejoin the hoi-polloi. Liz may well have been a player back in LA, someone not to be messed with. In Cannes, though, she was a near-criminal: a woman in the wrong place at the wrong time, with the wrong badge around her neck.
Let Liz stand as an example to us all. In breaking the code of Cannes, she entered a notorious hall of shame that also includes director Lars von Trier (declared persona non grata at last year's event, after saying he "understood Hitler" and was "a Nazi") and all those trigger-happy film buffs who this year dared to post the lineup before the official announcement. "It is disgusting to play with such a thing," fumed festival director Thierry Frémaux in the wake of this leak. "There is a code of conduct for Cannes and it must be respected. Those who don't respect the code will never come back to Cannes." The message is clear: obey the code and, yes, you may look upon the face of Indiana Jones. Break it and you will be cast out like Satan.
The Cannes film festival, which opens today, basks in its reputation as the world's pre-eminent movie showcase. It is a crucial launchpad for prestige pictures and a thriving business hub, sustained by a bustling film market behind the theatres. And yet these lofty credentials come burnished – and perhaps buttressed – by a self-aggrandising mystique, the sense that this is less a festival than a kind of high church with its own strict moral framework. Or, as the actor Henry Hopper (son of Dennis) told me: "It's 'Come into our temple. But remember that this is our effing temple, man. You better behave yourself.'"
The critic and film-maker Mark Cousins prefers to view the setup in more regal terms. "France is a republic, obviously," he tells me. "So instead of the pomp and circumstance of a monarchy, it crowns its cultural and intellectual life. Cannes, therefore, has something of the court about it, and its director has the hint of Louis XIV." All the same, he says, there is a religious dimension, too. "The rituals, the grandeur, the deification, the massing of hordes, the climbing the steps like Santiago de Compostela."
Eve Jackson, culture editor at French news site France 24, agrees. She points out that the organisers recently rebuilt the steps outside the Palais (the regally titled conference centre where screenings and press briefings take place). "They made them even steeper," she explains. "This was to give the impression that the guests are ascending to movie heaven."
Over the coming 10 days, there will be no shortage of dignitaries ascending those steps. Proceedings kick off with the premiere of Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom, a comedy set in the 1960s about a pair of teenage runaways starring Bruce Willis, Bill Murray, Ed Norton and Tilda Swinton. Then it's full-speed ahead to the finish line, with 22 films in the main competition, scores more in the sidebar sections, and hundreds of others consigned to the market out back.
Past glories are embodied by a quartet of former Palme d'Or winners: Michael Haneke, Cristian Mungiu, Abbas Kiarostami and Ken Loach, all of whom have work screening in the main competition. Other potential highlights include Jacques Audiard's Rust and Bone, in which Marion Cotillard has her leg chewed off by an orca; and The Hunt, an account of a modern-day witch trial from Festen director Thomas Vinterberg.
Lest this seem too rarefied for certain tastes, be assured that US cinema is out in force. Up for examination is The Paperboy, a sweaty Florida-noir starring John Cusack, Zac Efron and Nicole Kidman. Elsewhere, Reese Witherspoon headlines in coming-of-age drama Mud, while the Brazilian director Walter Salles attempts to bring Jack Kerouac's On the Road to the screen with its freeform magic intact. Perhaps most intriguing of all, we have the premiere of Cosmopolis, based on the Don DeLillo novel, directed by David Cronenberg and starring Twilight posterboy Robert Pattinson as a listless billionaire who takes a chauffeur-driven trip across a Manhattan in meltdown.
Cannes prides itself on offering (or purporting to offer) the best of the best. While thousands of films are submitted for the festival programme, fewer than 2% are deemed good enough to make the final cut. Steven Gaydos, executive editor at Variety magazine, feels it's this exclusivity that marks the event out from such competitors as Berlin, Toronto or Sundance. "Cannes is the highest profile, most important and best-curated festival on the planet," he says. "An industry boss recently told me that to have your film play in any of the sections at Cannes is better than having it play in the top section at any other festival. I have no reason not to believe him."
But is there a downside? Undeniably, all this reverence and exclusivity does breed a kind of snobbery. The result is a byzantine system in which delegates are badged according to rank, selected films are winnowed into various categories, and the rest of the world can go hang. Cannes can be a trial for first-time visitors and a nightmare for those on the fringes. Journalists, for example, are split into five castes, separate and unequal, each with a colour-coded card that allows them into certain screenings ahead of others and through doors few others can enter. The topmost white card, or carte blanche, grants access-all-areas and is reserved for high-status critics (our own Peter Bradshaw among them). At the bottom of the heap are yellow cards, for lowly bloggers, freelance photographers and the like. All this is part of a hierarchy that, in the opinion of Scott Macaulay, editor of Filmmaker magazine, is "as rigid as a fascist state".
France 24's Eve Jackson says: "Every year I have friends say, 'Oh, you're going to Cannes. Maybe I'll come stay for a few days.' And I think, 'Well, yeah, you can. But one, you won't see me because I'll be working. And two, you won't see anything else, either.' If the public has no access to the film festival, that means they can't see the stars, can't attend the parties and can't see the films. And, of course, all of this makes the film world seem more elitist than ever."
Mark Cousins agrees, up to a point. "The downside is international hubris," he says. Even so, given a choice between the "charmed circle" of the Cannes film festival and the market-driven world of the industry at large, he knows which he'd choose. "Commerce, in general, disenchants. And money kills the magic of movie-going. So Cannes' reverence involves a great re-enchantment."
Variety's Stephen Gaydos also balks at the notion that Cannes is becoming too cosy and calcified. If you want to see real calcification, he says, look at the rest of the business: the big studios pumping out "pre-sold, pre-digested" fodder that asks questions of no one. Compared to that, the festival is positively radical, even inclusive. "Everyone thinks of Cannes as a citadel, a fortress on the hill, utterly unchanging," he says. "But what you have to remember is that the festival has to be recreated from the ground up every year. It has to line up sponsors, select films, and liaise with the French government on a national and local level. So Cannes is constantly evolving and renewing itself. It takes a lot of work to stay number one."
It's no surprise to find Cousins and Gaydos so reluctant to condemn the festival. Both are members of what Cannes president Gilles Jacob refers to as "the Cannes family": brought into the fold, they are given free run of the Palais. In this way, all those who attend become part of the pageant: honoured guests at an exclusive party where even those who boo at the end of screenings only add to the merriment, since they are seen to be protesting against the films rather than the festival itself. Let the faithful into heaven and keep the sinners locked outside – be they Liz or Lars or the hapless onlookers out on the Croisette.
Xan Brooks
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17:49
Afghanistan hopeful of extra US cash to fund security
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Officials believe Washington will pay more on top of lion's share of expected $4.1bn annual budget after foreign troops leave
Afghanistan is confident the US will stump up billions of extra dollars for its army and police on top of the main chunk of a $4.1bn (£2.6bn) annual budget that is expected to be sealed at a Nato summit this month, an Afghan diplomat has said.
With foreign combat troops already heading home, and all due to be all gone by the end of 2014, there is little hope the impoverished country will be able to hold off the hardened Taliban insurgents without outside financial help.
Nato nations fighting in Afghanistan have informally agreed that they will top up $500m of Afghan government cash to reach $4.1bn annually, the amount western diplomats and the Afghan government say is sufficient to support 228,000 soldiers and police.
The deputy foreign minister, Jawed Ludin, said of the sum: "We are pretty confident that we will get that." But he added that while the money would cover the slimmed-down force numbers scheduled for 2017, it would cost more than that to pay for the much larger force expected to be securing the country in two years' time.
"The $4.1bn is the cost not of 352,000 [soldiers and police] but of the reduced size, which is 228,000," Ludin told journalists at a briefing in Kabul. "The United States will be paying for the gap between 2014 to 2017."
The speed of the reduction will depend on conditions across the country, which few experts believe will improve rapidly. The US embassy declined to comment on Ludin's remarks.
Afghanistan's own contribution could also go up, if finances allowed, Ludin said. If planned major copper and iron ore mines start production on schedule this decade, it could revolutionise the national budget.
The main funding deal is expected to be announced at a summit in Chicago on May 20-21, at which Nato heads of state will gather to agree their commitments to Afghanistan, along with other major non-military donors, such as Japan, regional powers and international organisations.
Pakistan was issued a last-minute invitation to the gathering after signs that the country could be moving to reopen its Afghan border to Nato military supplies.
The route was closed nearly six months ago after US cross-border air strikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, forcing an expensive and logistically challenging rerouting of truck convoys through Russia and central Asia.
A spokesman for Pakistan's president, Asif Ali Zardari, said he would consider the invitation, which the spokesman added was not linked to any reopening of the supply lines, the Associated Press news agency reported.
Ludin said there had been some "positive signs" from Pakistan that the border could soon reopen. "It may be resolved today or tomorrow, but as it stands, it's still unresolved," he said.
Last-minute summit planning was slightly overshadowed by suggestions that the top US and Nato commander in Afghanistan, General John Allen, could leave the country before his tour of duty ends. Allen is under initial consideration to become head of US-European command this winter, Reuters cited an anonymous US official as saying.
"Allen is one of the most widely respected leaders in the military. No one would bat an eye if he were nominated," the official told Reuters, adding that the plans were preliminary and could change.
If Allen does leave Kabul early, he would be the fourth successive commander of forces there to fail to see out his posting. Barack Obama replaced General David McKiernan after taking office, as he sought a new strategy for the war.
General Stanley McChrystal then resigned in summer 2010 after Rolling Stone magazine quoted the commander and his aides making disparaging and "contemptuous" remarks about senior administration officials, including the president himself. McChrystal's successor, General David Petraeus, was appointed head of the CIA last summer.
Emma Graham-Harrison
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16:44
A4e back-to-work contract terminated by Department for Work and Pensions
» ‎ The Guardian World News
DWP says its investigation into company found no evidence of fraud, but 'significant weaknesses in internal controls'
The Department of Work and Pensions has terminated a contract with a back-to-work company some of whose employees are under police investigation for fraud.
In a statement on Tuesday afternoon, the DWP said that after its own investigation into the company, A4e, it had found no evidence of fraud but felt that it was "too risky" to allow the contract for organising mandatory work placements in the south-east region to continue.
A4e says it still operates 16 other contracts for several back-to-work schemes and that these will remain in place.
In a written statement to the House of Commons, the department found that in an investigation of A4e's Windsor office – which is at the centre of a Thames Valley police investigation – 97% of payments to the company under the mandatory work activity (MWA) programme were correctly billed for and logged. "In the remaining 3% of cases," the statement said, "DWP investigators were nevertheless satisfied that the anomalies were attributable to inadequate procedures rather than fraud.
"The audits for the work programme, the new enterprise allowance programme and mandatory work activity are now complete. They have found no evidence of fraud in any of these contracts.
"However, while the team found no evidence of fraud, it identified significant weaknesses in A4e's internal controls on the mandatory work activity contract in the south-east."
The DWP's most severe criticism was about A4e's supporting paperwork, which it described as "seriously inadequate", and in a small number of cases it said claims were "erroneous".
The most recent figures show that across the country 24,010 jobseekers have been referred by jobcentres to do MWA, which means they must work for four weeks unpaid for 30 hours a week. When the scheme was set up last year, numerous private companies and charities bid to organise the placements on behalf of Jobcentre Plus. Companies are paid an upfront fee for each month-long placement in a charity or business that they organise.
The DWP added that the company, some of whose employees are under investigation for fraud relating to its other back-to-work contracts, was also not compliant with its own internal guidance.
"The process established prior to March fell significantly short of our expectations. As a result, the department has concluded that continuing with this contract presents too great a risk and we have terminated the mandatory work activity contract with A4e for the south-east," it said.
The DWP said contingency plans were in place to keep placements going.
In its own statement the company, whose former chair Emma Harrison recently resigned, said it welcomed the "positive findings" of the investigation and dismissed the MWA contract as "small".
"A4e today welcomed the positive findings of the audits undertaken by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) into allegations of fraudulent activity. Both confirmed they identified no evidence of fraud, systemic, attempted or otherwise in relation to any audit completed of the contracts they hold with A4e," the company said.
"Along with reviews by the Welsh and Northern Ireland assembly governments, this means that the majority of A4e's business has been fully examined by external auditors – ensuring our customers and government funders can have full confidence in our organisation."
A4e added that just five staff members were employed on the £1m contract and it made up just 0.5% of the company's total revenues.
The chief executive, Andrew Dutton, said: "These findings demonstrate what I have always maintained to be true – that there is no place for fraud at A4e and make it clear that A4e has strong controls around its flagship contract, the work programme. Our immediate task is to further enhance our controls to cement our position as a trusted provider of frontline public services.
"As a company, I recognise that we haven't got it right all of the time, but we are committed to taking responsibility for our mistakes and remedying them.
"No other provider has undergone such a thorough and forensic review of its contracts, and the positive outcome speaks for itself – this is huge reassurance for taxpayers and our customers."
The company added: "Our administrative processes fell short of our own standards and those required by DWP, and to this end we have accepted that the MWA contract will be terminated."
Shiv Malik
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16:17
Equality and Human Rights Commission has workforce halved
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Government also removes equality watchdog's obligation to consider policy impact on poor and downgrades role of chair
The Equality and Human Rights Commission has been stripped of its duty to promote a society with equal opportunity for all and had its budget and workforce halved, the government has announced.
The move comes days after the watchdog chided ministers for failing to consider how crucial policies would affect women, disabled people and ethnic minorities.
The EHRC has long been a bugbear for the Tory right who see it as a relic of the past. It has also been criticised by MPs for financial mismanagement after the National Audit Office (NAO) refused to sign off the commission's accounts for three years in a row.
In a widely anticipated shakeup, equality minister Lynne Featherstone said the commission would seek a new chair to replace Trevor Phillips, the former television executive and presenter, and conduct a review of the commission's budget.
Last year, the NAO found that commission staff were "paid too much" and said the quango spent £1.6m "without authority".
The EHRC will have its budget halved to £26m by 2015 and staff numbers will drop to 180 – down from 455 in 2010. The new chair will be paid £56,000 a year for two days a week compared with the £112,000 Phillips earned for a three-and-a-half day week.
Ministers have brought forward a key review to next year and warn that if progress is not made the EHRC risks being broken up.
"We will seek to implement more substantial reform to ensure that the EHRC's core functions are discharged effectively and efficiently in the future. This could mean more fundamental, structural changes to the EHRC's remit including some functions being done elsewhere, or splitting its responsibilities across new or existing bodies".
In part the changes aim to dismantle a legacy left by the previous government. Featherstone said the government would repeal the obligation to assess whether policies affect the poor, which when introduced by Labour was characterised as "socialism in one clause". The minister said instead the "socio-economic duty" would be repealed.
Unions also said the responses to the government's earlier consultation "clearly show overwhelming opposition" to the repeal of specific sections of the Equality Act 2006. However, ministers have "decided to scrap vague, unnecessary and obsolete provisions" so the EHRC could focus "on its core functions".
In a package of measures, £10m of grants would be cut from the EHRC budget, reducing funding for many local equality groups. Also axed is the helpline run for disabled air passengers to handle complaints about poor service.
In its own submission to the government, the commission said it "remains to be convinced that a sufficiently strong case" has been established over losing its commitments to wider society. Among its triumphs was a successful legal case against the British National party, establishing that its membership criteria, which excluded people on the basis of race, was unlawful.
Unions warn that cuts mean the commission's status as a UN-accredited "national human rights institution" is under threat. Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services union, said: "Rather than helping to make our society more equal, these cuts risk setting us back decades and abandoning people who need help.
"Investing in equality is not 'red tape', it's absolutely necessary in recognition of the fact that, after years of fighting, sections of our communities still face discrimination and hatred."
Mark Hammond, the EHRC's chief executive, said on Tuesday: "The commission has recently agreed a new three-year strategy and today publishes plans for its work for the next 12 months. We will continue to deliver high-impact work on protecting people from discrimination and human rights abuses.
On Monday, the commission said that a detailed evaluation of the controversial 2010 spending review showed the government had not "fully grasped … the requirements of public sector equality duties". The Home Office said a review was needed to see whether "the duty is operating as intended".
Randeep Ramesh
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16:02
Syria: UN monitors attacked - live updates
» ‎ The Guardian World News
• Video shows UN monitors under fire north of Hama
• Parliamentary election results announced in Syria
• Palestinians and Israeli police clash on Nakba day

• Read the latest summary
5.00pm: Here's a summary of the latest developments:
Syria
• Video has emerged showing UN monitors under fire in Kham Sheikhoun, north of Hama. A member of the team has told Reuters that no monitors were injured, contrary to an earlier report from an activist (see 3.42pm).
• Turnout in last week's parliamentary elections was more than 50%, according to election officials. The names of winning candidates have been announced, but not the parties they represent or how many votes they got.
• A group calling itself the al-Nusra Front has denied claiming responsibility for last Thursday's bombings in Damascus.
• The European Union has imposed its fifteenth round of sanctions against the Syrian regime, CNN reports. EU ministers froze the assets of two firms and imposed a travel ban and asset freeze on three people believed to provide funding for the regime.
• The opposition Syrian National Council has re-elected Burhan Ghalioun as its leader. Last night the Arab League postponed talks on Syria due to be held today after the SNC refused to attend.
• Government forces have attacked humanitarian aid workers according to report by the USAID, Foreign Policy reports. In its latest update the agency said troops attacked Syrian Arab Red Crescent vehicle on 24 April which was trying to evacuate wounded civiliansfrom Douma, a suburb of Damascus. One volunteer was killed and three were injured. Twenty-six aid workers were trapped in an SARC building following the attack and the SARC had to negotiate a temporary ceasefire between opposition and government forces to get them out, USAID reported.
Israel and Palestinian territories
• Clashes have broken out between Israeli police and Palestinian demonstrators in the east Jerusalem during Nakba day protests. Palestinian sources say more than 80 people were injured in the West Bank. Israel also said a projectile fired from Gaza landed in the country's south.
Egypt
• Former foreign minister Amr Moussa is edging ahead in the latest opinion polls while his rival in last week's TV debate, Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh, has dropped into third place. Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak's last prime minister, jumped to second place in this week's survey, receiving almost 20% – a 2% increase on the last poll, Ahram reports.
Lebanon
• The Lebanese army has intervened to prevent sectarian clashes in the country's second city Tripoli after the Syrian crisis spilled over into three days of gun battles that killed five people in the city. Heavily armed soldiers were seen taking up positions on Syria Street which separates the mostly Sunni Bab al-Tabbaneh from the predominantly Alawite Jabal Mohsen, Beirut's Daily Star reports.
4.33pm: Syria/Lebanon: In a comment posted on Twitter, Russia has expressed support for the Lebanese army's handling of the clashes in Tripoli:
#Russia greatly appreciates the Lebanese authorities' commitment to combating terrorism and condemns efforts to stir up interfaith discord
— MFA Russia (@MFA_Russia) May 15, 2012
4.21pm: Syria: Peter Harling of the International Crisis Group, whose analyses of the unfolding situation in Syria have often been admired, makes some interesting comments in an interview published by the Council on Foreign Relations:
• The Assad regime is "both well-entrenched and losing control".
• The opposition Syrian National Council "has championed an increasingly radicalised street, over-invested in an elusive international intervention, and eschewed more constructive politics".
• It is surprising "that foreign fighters and jihadis, for now, have not taken on a bigger role".
• Kofi Annan's ceasefire plan "grew out of the international community's inability to agree on anything else," and as long as the "stalemate endures, it will continue to enjoy support, even from states that do not put much faith in it but have no workable alternative to offer."
4.04pm: Israel and Palestinian territories: The Nakba is part of Israel's history and should not be denied, the Israeli Haaretz newspaper says in an editorial comment.
The tremendous effort that the [Israeli] state puts into wiping out the Nakba's memory is astonishing and outrageous. The Nakba has been scoured from textbooks, and Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar has "suggested" that Tel Aviv University reconsider holding the Nakba Day ceremony it had planned.
Does the government really believe that thwarting a commemoration ceremony, imposing a ban on teaching the Arab chapter in Israel's history, and passing laws that forbid empathy with the Nakba will erase the tragedy from memory? Will the state's expression of grief for the refugees' suffering really shatter Israel's right to exist? And why shouldn't the state allow the uprooted villagers of Ikrit and Biram, who are citizens of Israel, to return to some of their land, which has been abandoned and unused for decades?
A person who understands that an Arab citizen should not be forced to sing "a Jewish soul still yearns" should be expected to let that citizen commemorate the Nakba without having to pay for it and without being denied government funding. Nakba Day does not belong only to the Arabs; it is an inseparable part of the story of Israel's revival.
3.42pm: Syria: None of the monitors was hurt in the attack in Kham Sheikhoun, a member of the observer team has told Reuters.
The monitor told Reuters by telephone that the seven-strong team had lost their cars and were trying to organise a safe return to their base. Another monitor and a member of the Free Syrian Army said they were with FSA rebels.
Activist Mousab Alhamadee claimed that one of the monitors was injured, but gave no further details (see 3.14am).
Kofi Annan's office has yet to respond to queries about the incident.
3.21pm: Syria: Video has emerged of the moment UN monitors came under fire in Kham Sheikhoun, north of Hama.
Activists claim one monitor was injured in the attack. At the end of the clip one of the vehicles appears to run over a person on the ground.
3.14pm: Syria: Activist Mousab Alhamadee claims a UN monitor was injured when UN monitors were caught by government shelling in Kham Sheikhoun, in Idlib province north of Hama.
Speaking via Skype, 20km from Kham Sheikhoun, he said monitors were observing a protest at the funeral of a man killed yesterday when shooting began.
The demonstration went so huge. That's why the soldiers of the regime started to open fire on the demonstrators. Four people were killed, dozens were injured, and the cars of UN monitors was targeted. One of the UN monitors was injured.
He said men in military uniformed filmed attending the damaged UN vehicle were members of the Free Syrian Army.
Alhamadee said the rebel troops were there to defend civilians. "We are being targeted everyday. Those UN monitors are very dear to us," he said.
3.04pm: Israel and Palestinian territories: More than 80 Palestinians have been injured in clashes with Israeli forces near Ramallah during today's Nakba commemoration, Maan News reports citing medical sources.
After a mass rally in Ramallah's clock square, protesters headed to Israel's Ofer detention centre and the Qalandiya checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem to commemorate the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians during the founding of the state of Israel.
Medics said 63 Palestinians were injured outside Ofer prison and 21 were hurt at Qalandiya as Israeli forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said forces used riot dispersal means at protesters hurling rocks.
2.55pm: Syria: For the first time in many months, the Free Syrian Army appears to be carrying out widespread offensive attacks, James Miller writes in an article for EAWorldview.
Yesterday, several [government] operating bases outside al-Rastan, north of Homs, fell to the insurgent fighters. Those fighters were able to beat back several regime counter-attacks, as the Syrian military alternated between shelling the city and advancing with tanks. Perhaps 20 regime soldiers were killed. There were more firefights last night and more shelling today, and still the FSA has not lost ground.
Attempts to retake the town, and similar FSA strongholds, have proved extremely bloody since February, and they also provide opportunity for the insurgents to capture soldiers and equipment, while restocking their ranks with defectors.
So instead, the Syrian military has besieged Rastan for months, shelling it from the countryside and conducting raids down its main thoroughfares.
Miller cautions against reading too much into this, though he says the FSA is "showing a degree of coordination and a military capability that it has displayed rarely since February" and there are signs that the regime is worried about it.
2.32pm: Bahrain: Rights activist Maryam al-Khawaja (daughter of the hunger-striker Abdulhadi al-Khawaja) has posted a series of tweets attacking Nasser bin Hamad, the king's eldest son, who is also president of Bahrain's Olympic committee.
Activists are seeking to have the prince excluded from Britain during the London Olympics because of his alleged links to human rights abuses.
2.21pm: Syria/Jordan: The US has denied that an unfortunately-named military exercise involving forces from 19 countries in Jordan has any connection with events in neighbouring Syria.
The exercise is called "Eager Lion 12" – prompting Syrian newspapers to complain that it refers to President Assad, whose surname is the Arabic word for "lion", the Associated Press reports.
The 7-28 May drill in Jordan focuses on training Jordanian and Saudi servicemen in the treatment of refugees, anti-terrorism tactics and naval interception of smuggling vessels, according to Maj Gen Ken Tovo, a US commanding general of special operations ...
Tovo told a news conference in the capital Amman that the mock war games were "not connected to any real-world event" ...
The exercise includes more than 11,000 service members from the Middle East excluding Israel and Iran and from the United States, as well as from Europe, Australia, Pakistan and Brunei.
Maj Gen Awni Edwan, chief of staff for training operations in the Jordanian army, said the drill would take place in southern Jordan and that no troops will come near the Syrian border in the north.
"This exercise does not target anyone, none of the neighboring or world countries," Edwan said, adding that preparations and the selection of the name of the exercise began two years ago.
2.13pm: Syria: A UN monitoring vehicle has been damaged in Khan Sheikhoun, north of Hama.
Video footage appeared to show extensive damage to the front of the vehicle, as residents and men in uniform express concern for those inside.
It is unclear what caused the incidents, but activist claim the area was being shelled despite the presence of monitors.
Khan Shakoun in under shelling today even with UN observers presence. Their car was hit in the attack youtube.com/watch?v=acfGq3… #Idlib #Syria
— Free Syrian (@HamaEcho) May 15, 2012
1.51pm: Syria: Activists in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor have been filmed trying to redirect UN monitoring vehicles.
The footage purported to show the monitors being refused entry into neighbourhood of Jubaila.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights reported that school boy was killed in random shelling in the city on Monday.
1.44pm: Syria: A spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross has confirmed that one of its volunteers was injured in Homs. But she could not confirm reports that its partner organisation the Syrian Arab Red Crescent is suspending activities in Syria.
Update: The spokeswoman later confirmed that the SARC will not be suspending activities in Syria.
1.32pm: Syria: The Assad regime is exploiting western concerns that the opposition militias could prove harmful to western and Israeli interests, Syria-watcher Joshua Landis says in a new blogpost.
He quotes a report by Deborah Amos for NPR that the regime is targeting its moderate opponents for arrest, in order to make the active opposition more extreme.
Landis describes this as "an evident attempt to create an 'either-or' dilemma for western governments and Syrians themselves: they must choose either between and Assad dictatorship or divided Islamists". But he adds that it is not a new development: "This has been the Assad strategy for 40 years."
1.16pm: Syria: The results of last week's parliamentary election were announced this morning, though it's difficult to work out what they mean.
The official news agency, Sana, names the 250 winning candidates – though without saying which party (if any) they represent, or how many votes they got. There are 30 women among the winners.
Sana reported earlier that there had been re-runs of the ballot in 18 centres "due to some violations of the rules of the elections general law".
According to the Higher Committee for Elections, 5,186,957 Syrians voted, out of 10,118,519 eligible electors – giving an official turnout figure of 51.26%. This is slightly less than in the 2007 election when the regime claimed a turnout of 56%.
The authorities have said they will not give a regional breakdown to show turnout levels in the areas hardest hit by the conflict. Reuters notes:
Voting in the capital Damascus last week appeared patchy. At one polling station, where authorities said 137 people voted in the first three hours, foreign journalists saw only three people cast their ballots in a 40-minute period.
12.42pm: Syria: Medecins Sans Frontieres has supported claims made by USAID that humanitarian workers are being targeted by government forces, amid unconfirmed reports that the Syrian Arab Red Crescent is suspending its activities in the country following the arrest of two of its workers.
Marie-Noëlle Rodrigue, MSF's director of operations in Paris, said:
A number of Syrian colleagues are reported to be missing. The authorities and all parties to the conflict must ensure that medical workers can operate without fear of retribution and that wounded people can safely seek and receive immediate life-saving care, without resorting to inadequate improvised clinics for fear of arrest, or worse.
The Red Crescent is yet to confirm that it has suspended activities.
"Being caught with patients is like being caught with a weapon," MSF' quoted an orthopedic surgeon as saying in an Idlib village. "The atmosphere in most medical facilities is extremely tense; health care workers send wounded patients home and provide only first aid so that facilities can be evacuated quickly in the event of a military operation."
12.19pm:Here's a summary of the main events so far today:
Lebanon
• The Lebanese army has intervened to prevent sectarian clashes in the country's second city Tripoli after the Syrian crisis spilled over into three days of gun battles that killed five people in the city. Heavily armed soldiers were seen taking up positions on Syria Street which separates the mostly Sunni Bab al-Tabbaneh from the predominantly Alawite Jabal Mohsen, Beirut's Daily Star reports.
Syria
• The turnout in last week's Parliamentary elections was more than 50%, according to election officials. The results are being published today.
• A shadowy group thought to be responsible for last Thursday's suicide bombings in Damascus, has denied that it was involved. The al-Nusra Front denied that it claimed for the blasts.
• European Union has imposed its fifteenth round of sanctions against the Syrian regime, CNN reports. The EU ministers froze the assets of two firms and imposed a travel ban and asset freeze on three people believed to provide funding for the regime, the European Council announced.
• The opposition Syrian National Council has re-elected Burhan Ghalioun as its leader. Last night he Arab League has postponed talks on Syria due to be held today after the SNC refused to attend. International envoy Kofi Annan had been due to address the meeting.
• Government forces have attack humanitarian aid workers according to report by the USAID, Foreign Policy reports. In its latest update the agency said troops attacked Syrian Arab Red Crescent vehicle on 24 April which was trying to evacuate wounded civiliansfrom Douma, a suburb of Damascus. One volunteer was killed and three were injured. Twenty-six aid workers were trapped in an SARC building following the attack and the SARC had to negotiate a temporary ceasefire between opposition and government forces to get them out, USAID reported.
Israel and Palestinian territories
• Clashes have broken out between Israeli police and Palestinian demonstrators in the east Jerusalem during Nakba day protests Israel also said a projectile fired from Gaza landed in the country's south.
Egypt
• Former foreign minister Amr Moussa is edging ahead in the latest opinion polls while his rival in last week's TV debate, Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh, has dropped into third place. Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak's last prime minister, jumped to second place in this week's survey, receiving almost 20% – a 2% increase on the last poll, Ahram reports.
Bahrain
• Parliament is due to discuss plans to crackdown on dissent on social media. Legislation has been tabled to curb the misuse of electronic communication, the Bahrain Tribune reports.
12.00pm: Bahrain: Agenda for today's session of parliament, courtesy of the Bahrain Tribune:
A proposal on legislations to curb misuse of electronic means of communication as well as punish perpetrators using the platform to incite violence in the kingdom ...
This is in line with the government's keenness to address the escalation of abuse on social media sites Twitter and Facebook.
Plus: Legal action against those who project anti-Islamic behaviour in public places, and increasing the number of surveillance cameras around all the main roads, populated areas and commercial markets.
11.57am: Syria: The president of the Syrian Olympic committee, Mowaffak Joumaa, says the Syria will send 20 officials and 10 athletes to the London Games, AP reports.

Joumaa says he and other sports officials will travel to London despite the British government's warning that they could be banned from attending the Olympics because of his close links to President Bashar Assad.
11.38am: Israel and the Palestinian territories:Four people were arrested in East Jerusalem Issawiya after throwing stones at Israeli forces, Maan News reports.
11.23am: Syria: Following the regime's release of two Turkish journalists at the weekend (see 8.36am), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) notes that at least nine others are still detained.
They include five (out of 13 people) who were arrested in February when the authorities raided the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression in Damascus.
Mazen Darwish, prominent blogger Hussein Ghrer, and three other individuals affiliated with the centre remain in detention ... Darwish and Ghrer are being held by Air Force Intelligence in solitary confinement despite their deteriorating health, according to news reports, Human rights groups say they have been tortured and denied basic legal rights.
The Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression was instrumental in reporting the killing and detaining of journalists since Syria's uprising began last year. The organisation's website has been disabled since at least April 27.
At least two more journalists have been detained in the past month: Salameh Kaileh and Mary Iskander Issa. The CPJ adds:
Citizen journalists are also being targeted by the Syrian government. Ali Mahmoud Othman, who ran the makeshift media centre in the Baba Amr neighbourhood of Homs ... has been in detention without charge in Damascus since his arrest in early April.
International reporters and leaders including UK Foreign Secretary William Hague have expressed concern that he has been tortured. On 5 May, Othman appeared on Syrian state television in what was described as a routine interview; his comments were used to buttress a theory of an international media conspiracy against the regime.
11.04am: Syria: The opposition Syrian National Council has re-elected Burhan Ghalioun (pictured) as its president at a meeting in Rome, Reuters reports.
He was reported to have secured almost twice as many votes as his nearest challenger George Sabra.
Reuters reports:
Ghalioun, a secular academic, has been leader of the opposition in exile since August 2011 when the SNC was formed. But he has been criticised for being out of touch with the opposition inside Syria and for failing to unify the SNC.
10.50am: Israel and Palestinian territories: The international community should "pay its historic debt to the Palestinian people", Saeb Erekat (pictured), the chief Palestinian negotiator, says in a statement issued to mark Nakba Day.
He said:
"Sixty-four years ago, a nation's thriving society and rich culture was forced into exile and mass expulsion. A country was wiped out off the map.
Today, the international community has the moral responsibility to repair what has been done by putting an end to Israel's impunity and realising the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people to self-determination, independence, and return, in accordance with international law and relevant United Nations resolutions ...
Israel has been doing everything possible to destroy the prospects for a two-state solution and to render attempts at reaching a just and agreed settlement to the conflict meaningless.
We call on the EU to protect its investment in peace and its vision for a two-state solution by exerting every effort within its power to end the Israeli occupation."
10.44am: Israel and Palestinian territories: Sirens sounded at noon in Ramallah as hundreds of Palestinians observed Nakba Day, the Bethlehem-based Maan News Agency reports.
Maan is liveblogging today's events which commemorate the dispossession of Palestinians in 1948 during the establishment of Israel.
It says Hamas has released a statement to mark the anniversary saying that "countries which contributed to the Nakba of Palestine, namely Britain, must do penance for their sin by stopping Israeli aggressiveness".
The Associated Press says marchers in Ramallah carried Palestinian flags and posters, some of which read: "Return is our right and our destiny." It adds that dozens of youngsters threw stones at Israeli troops near Ramallah, and soldiers fired tear gas to push them back.
This was the scene in Ramallah according to activists:
Ramallah NOW #Nakba64 twitter.com/Occupy2gether/…
— Occupy Together(@Occupy2gether) May 15, 2012
10.24am: Syria: There's more confusion over who was responsible for last Thursday's bomb attacks in Damascus which killed at least 55 people.
The shadowy al-Nusra Front has now denied that it claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the terrorist monitoring group Site.
A video posted online claiming it carried out the attack was faked it said.
Now Lebanon quoted its new statement as saying: "We say, this video as well as the statement appearing in it are fabricated and... full of errors."
It's all very murky, since some Syria activists claim the group has been fabricated by the Syrian government in an effort to smear the opposition.
10.13am: Syria: Russia has warned Kosovo against allowing Syrian opposition fighters to be trained on its territory, Now Lebanon reports via AFP.
Russian ambassador [at the UN] Vitaly Churkin condemned what he called "disturbing information" that Kosovo authorities had been "establishing contacts with the Syrian opposition to train insurgents" in Kosovo. Kosovo's foreign minister denied any training was planned.
Diplomats and media reports said that at least three exiled Syrian activists have been in Kosovo recently for talks with the former Kosovo rebels who fought a separatist war against Serbia in 1998-99.
Kosovo has denied training fighters.
The Syrian activists who went to Kosovo were exiled dissident Ammar Abdulhamid, Molham Aldroby, a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood, and Djengizkhan Hasso, a leading member of the National Assembly of Kurdistan. Abdulhamid has written about the trip it on his blog.
The Associated Press, which reported their trip on 26 April, said they were "turning to Kosovo's former rebels-turned-politicians for advice on how to topple Bashar Assad's regime". It quoted Abdulhamid as saying:
We are here to learn. Kosovo has gone through an experience that I think will be very useful to us in terms of how the different armed groups that formed the KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army) organised themselves.
Russia Today recycled the Associated Press story on 4 May but with a different spin. It said the three Syrians went to Kosovo "to exchange experience of partisan warfare", adding that the Syrian opposition "is sending militants to Kosovo for adopting tactics and being trained to oust President Bashar Assad's regime".
Abdulhamid insists that it was an "innocent visit". The group were reportedly
invited by Veton Surroi, a Kosovan politician who was a senior negotiator for Kosovo at the Rambouillet peace talks in 1999. Last week, Surroi wrote an article arguing that the Balkan conflict of the 1990s
holds lessons for Syria.
10.00am: Lebanon/Syria: The Lebanese army appears to have quelled sectarian gun battles in the northern port of Tripoli, according to Lebanon-based journalists.
El Mundo's Javier Espinosa, who escaped from Homs earlier this year, tweets:
I see more army and police in the streets of #TripoliLB less fighting #Lebanon
— JAVIER ESPINOSA (@javierespinosa2) May 15, 2012
Lebanese agency NNA: last night 1 dead and 45 wounded #TripoliLB #Lebanon
— JAVIER ESPINOSA (@javierespinosa2) May 15, 2012
AP's Bassem Mroue tweets:
North Lebanese city calm after three days of street clashes over Syria's crisis #Lebanon #Syria #TripoliLB
— Bassem Mroue (@bmroue) May 15, 2012
And Al-Jazeera's Rula Amin tweets a similar picture:
Lebanese army slowly deploys in the tense areas of #Tripoli overnight as fighting comes to a lull #lebanon #syria
— Rula Amin (@RulaAmin) May 15, 2012
9.37am: Syria: The opposition Syrian National Council said it decided to stay away from the now postponed Arab League meeting in Cairo, because the league's general secretary Nabil al-Arabi suggested he wanted to begin a dialogue with the Assad government.
In a statement it said:
The SNC has repeatedly made its position clear; it will not participate in any dialogue unless it revolves around the end of the dictatorial regime and the establishment of a democratic form of government in Syria. Therefore, al-Arabi's statement clearly contradicts with the goals of the SNC. Dialogue cannot be considered until the Assad regime fulfils its promises to the Syrian people, starting with the implementation of a complete ceasefire. It also needs to withdraw heavy artillery and security forces from cities to military barracks, free detainees, allow relief agencies into the country, allow reporters and journalists to freely move around Syria, and grant the people the right to peacefully demonstrate without fear of retaliation in all cities and villages across Syria.
9.25am: Syria: Britain's foreign secretary William Hague has urged the UN to deploy all 300 peace keeping monitors to Syria.
Called #Syria Envoy Kofi Annan to urge political process & full deployment of UN mission. Thanked him for his work & gave full UK support
— William Hague (@WilliamJHague) May 15, 2012
There are currently 189 monitors in Syria with the full complement not expected to be deployed until the end of May.
9.07am: Syria: The head of the electoral commission has announced that turnout in last week's parliamentary elections was more than 50%, the despite a boycott of the poll by the opposition.
The results are due to be announced today, according to the state news agency.
8.36am: (all times BST) Welcome to Middle East Live. The Syrian government is starting to announce result from parliamentary elections that the US government described as "ludicrous".
Here's a round up of the latest developments:
Lebanon
• The Lebanese army has intervened to prevent sectarian clashes in the country's second city Tripoli after the Syrian crisis spilled over into three days of gun battles that killed five people in the city. Heavily armed soldiers were seen taking up positions on Syria Street which separates the mostly Sunni Bab al-Tabbaneh from the predominantly Alawite Jabal Mohsen, Beirut's Daily Star reports.
Syria
• Nearly two dozen Syrian government soldiers were killed in intense clashes with the opposition over control of the central, rebel-held city of Rastan, opposition groups said Monday, deepening questions about the viability of a cease-fire engineered under United Nations auspices, the New York Times reports.
After enduring days of mortar fire from a government stronghold on Rastan's outskirts, the rebel soldiers decided to attack the base, said Capt. Iyad ad-Deek, a commander there and a Syrian Army defector. They first used loudspeakers to encourage soldiers to switch sides, he said in an interview via Skype.
Four soldiers tried to defect with a T-62 tank, he said, but the government forces focused their fire on the tank, killing the commander and wounding the three other men.
• European Union has imposed its fifteenth round of sanctions against the Syrian regime, CNN reports. The EU ministers froze the assets of two firms and imposed a travel ban and asset freeze on three people believed to provide funding for the regime, the European Council announced.
• The Arab League has postponed talks on Syria due to be held today after the opposition Syrian National Council refused to attend. International envoy Kofi Annan had been due to address the meeting.
• Government forces have attack humanitarian aid workers according to report by the USAID, Foreign Policy reports. In its latest update the agency said troops attacked Syrian Arab Red Crescent vehicle on 24 April which was trying to evacuate wounded civiliansfrom Douma, a suburb of Damascus. One volunteer was killed and three were injured. Twenty-six aid workers were trapped in an SARC building following the attack and the SARC had to negotiate a temporary ceasefire between opposition and government forces to get them out, USAID reported.
• "Idlib is our Benghazi," Free Syrian Army fighters told the Independent's Portia Walker. But their attempts to former a shadow state in the north west Syria are a long way from the Libyan safe haven protected by Nato air strikes, she writes.
• A Turkish journalist who was held captive in Syria for two months said he was intensely interrogated while blindfolded by Syrian authorities who suspected he was a spy. Adem Ozkose (left), and a colleague, cameraman Hamit Coskun (right) flew home to Turkey this weekend after Iran helped to secure their release.
Egypt
• Former foreign minister Amr Moussa is edging ahead in the latest opinion polls while his rival in last week's TV debate, Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh, has dropped into third place. Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak's last prime minister, jumped to second place in this week's survey, receiving almost 20% – a 2% increase on the last poll, Ahram reports.
Israel and Palestinian territories
• Clashes have broken out between Israeli police and Palestinian demonstrators in the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Issawiya, at the start of Nakba day protests, al-Arabiya reports. Israel also said a projectile fired from Gaza landed in the country's south.
• There is a sort of bizarre political ying-yang today, writes Khaled Diab as Israelis celebrate their independence and the birth of their country, while Palestinians grieve over their dispossession and the loss of their land. Known to Arabs as the Nakba (catastrophe), it is scorched deep into the collective and private memories of Palestinians. Here's how the Manchester Guardian covered the estabilisment of the Israel in 1948.
Bahrain and Saudi Arabia
• Saudi-led plans for deeper Gulf Arab regional integration to challenge Iran are in doubt after the failure to announce an expected unity deal between Saudi Arabia and neighbouring Bahrain. Expectations had been running high ahead of a special summit of the six-member Gulf Co-operation Council in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, but a decision was put off until the GCC next meets, in December. Iranian MPs warned that the plans were likely to increase insecurity in the Gulf. The proposal has been angrily denounced by the Bahraini opposition, which see it as a way to unite the two western-backed Sunni monarchies to work together to crush Shia dissent and confront Iran.
Matthew WeaverBrian Whitaker
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14:49
Work days lost to sickness fall in 2011
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Concern over job security is possible cause of reduction in number of working days lost to illness, ONS report shows
A fall in the number of working days lost to sickness in 2011 is the latest sign British workers are increasingly concerned about job security.
About 131m working days were lost to sickness in 2011, a fall of 6m from 2010, according to data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The organisation said this equates to an average of four-and-a-half days off sick a year for each working adult. The figures compare with 178m days lost to sickness in 1993, when records began, when the average was more than seven days per employee.
The percentage of working hours lost due to sickness absence also fell between 2010 and 2011 from 1.9% to 1.8%, and was down from 2.8% in 1993.
The Work Foundation and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) both said the statistics indicate more British workers are going to work while ill – known as presenteeism – due to increased job insecurity while the country is in recession.
Work Foundation spokeswoman Ksenia Zheltoukhova said: "Sickness absence is in the spotlight because it is something management can measure, putting individual managers under pressure to reduce the level of absenteeism among staff – but it leads to increased presenteeism, especially during a recession.
"If you look at the reasons why workers are taking time off sick, stress has fallen down the list – people don't want to say they are stressed because it makes them look weak. In the current economic situation, workers really don't want to appear weak in case they lose their job, so they will come to work even when they shouldn't."
A 2010 report by the Work Foundation showed that more than 40% of employees are under pressure from managers and co-workers to come to work when ill. It also showed that employees struggling to make ends meet, who were unable to save and who were worried about debt, had a significantly higher number of sickness presence days than those without these problems.
Meanwhile, the Labour Force Survey found in November 2011 that there were 400,000 cases of stress in 2010/11 – significantly lower than the number seen in 2001/02 – leading to the loss of 10.8m working days.
Ben Willmott, head of public policy at the CIPD, said there was a direct link between sickness leave and the recession. "A fall in sickness absence runs in parallel to rising economic uncertainty and rising unemployment. If there are going to be redundancies, workers worry that sickness absence will be one of the criteria they will be judged on," he said.
A 2011 CIPD survey found that more than a quarter (28%) of employers noticed an increase in the number of people coming to work ill in the last 12 months, and nearly two-fifths reported an increase in mental health problems such as anxiety and depression among employees. Half of organisations (52%) also told the CIPD they use employee absence records as part of their criteria when selecting for redundancy.
The ONS also said women had higher sickness absence rates than men in 2011, losing 2.3% of their hours compared with 1.5% for men. Older workers, meanwhile, are more likely to have increased sickness rates: for workers aged 16-34 about 1.5% of hours were lost to sickness in 2011 compared with 2.5% for workers aged 50-64.
Public sector workers also take more sick leave than the private sector, with 2.6% of hours lost to sickness compared with 1.6% for the private sector. But the ONS said there are differences in the types of jobs between the two sectors, and the public sector employs a higher proportion of women. It also said workers in London took fewer days off sick than those elsewhere in the country.
- Work & careers
- Office for National Statistics
Mark King
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13:23
Eurozone crisis live: Greek talks break up without a deal
» ‎ The Guardian World News
• Last-ditch talks fail in Athens
• Talks always appeared doomed to failure
• Eurozone economy avoids recession
• Analysts still gloomy
2.18pm: Shares on the Athens stock market tumbled as soon as the news broke. The main index has now fallen by 5.2%, with bank shares losing around 10%.
Markets are in retreat across Europe, with the German DAX down by almost 1%, and the FTSE 100 and the French CAC both losing 0.7%.
2.12pm: Pasok leader Evangelos Venizelos spoke to the press after the talks over the formation of a unity government broke up in the past few minutes.
Venizelos, the former finance minister, said he would fight for Greece to find its way forward. Confirming that Greece must hold fresh elections, Venizelos said he hoped for a "mature decision" this time, adding:
in God's name let's not go to the worse.
The next step is that political leaders must reconvene at the Athens presidential palace tomorrow at 1pm local (11am BST) to agree a "service government" to run the country in the short term.
2.04pm: Breaking news from Greece -- the last-ditch talks over a unity government have ended, seemingly without agreement.
Panos Kammenos, leader of the Independent Greeks party, has just told reporters that the talks have failed.
Update: A spokesman for the Greek president has confirmed that a deal could not be reached, and that new elections must now be called.
The news has sent the euro tumbling to a new four-month low of $1.2786 against the dollar. Shares are also falling across Europe.... More to follow
2.00pm: Out in Ireland, a leading businessman has warned that the country would risk crashing out of the euro if it rejected the new stability pact in an upcoming referendum.
Ireland correspondent Henry McDonald reports:
Sean O'Driscoll, chairman of the Glen Dimplex manufacturing group, said proponents of a no vote on 31 May were being "disingenuous" in claiming the republic could remain in the euro even if the electorate rejected the EU fiscal treaty.
Speaking at the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly in Dublin, O'Driscoll, whose company exports 30% of its household appliances to the UK, said exit from the euro was inevitable if Ireland said no to the new rules on EU states' budgets.
"There is only one vote, and it's a yes vote," he said. "It is very interesting that those who are advocating a no vote will not then come out and say whether or not Ireland should leave the euro.
While other business leaders agree with O'Driscoll, opponents of the pact argue that it will lead to yet more austerity being piled on the Irish people. More details here.
1.23pm: It's that time of the day when European finance ministers start opining on the Greek crisis.
Sweden's finance minister Anders Borg has told reporters in Brussels that we are now "very close to the end of the road regarding Greece", and that Greece must "seriously consider" if wants to remain in the eurozone (quotes via Dow Jones).
Sweden, of course, isn't actually in the eurozone, but it is still exposed to the crisis. The IMF warned today that subdued exports are likely to reduce output this year, mainly due to the weak European economy.
1.05pm: Here's a snap from the wires of Alexis Tsipras, seemingly the rising star of Greek politics, and his staff arriving for today's meeting in the presidential palace in Athens.
12.49pm: My colleague Nick Mead has created an interactive map showing how Europe's economies have fared over the last year, including today's GDP data.
Click here to see it in action.
12.25pm: While negotiations over the "government of personalities" begin in Athens (see 12.12pm), it's worth checking out the views of Greece's former prime minister, Costas Simitis, today.
The man who oversaw the country's entry into the euro zone in 2001 has been making some interesting comments about the crisis today. Helena Smith has the details:
Addressing a forum in Beijing, the 75-year-old politician said Greece's exit from the common currency would be a "catastrophe."
"The idea of coming back to the drachma is an idea that cannot function," Simitis, whose first foreign language is German, said in slightly idiosyncratic English.
The former socialist leader insisted that speculation of a euro exit was a "discussion without sense" and said, more than anything else, he believed it was really about political parties "trying to renegotiate the conditions [of rescue fund handouts] with the European Union."
Withdrawal from the common currency was irrational, he said, because it would require banks to shut for a period of "at least three months" while printing of a new currency was carried out and preparations were made.
"Having the banks close for three months – that's nonsense," he said. "If they close more than three days there will be a bank run."
But if this is all about bargaining over measures that have clearly been rejected by majority vote (nearly 70% backed "anti-bailout" parties in the May 6th elections), then Greece is also playing a dangerous game.
Alexis Tsipra, whose Syriza party has benefited most from anti-austerity sentiment, was warned by his mentor, the veteran leftist Alekos Alavanos this week, that rejection of Athens' loan agreement with creditors would also mean leaving the 17-nation bloc. Tsipras has said the controversial accord should be "torn up."
"The left must warn the people responsibly. Not only by telling them that the road away from the bailout is also the road that leads to exiting the euro," Alavanos wrote in an opinion piece on the news website tometopo.gr "But also that it will be particularly painful. But with prospects."
12.24pm: My colleague Giles Tremlett gets in touch from Madrid with an update on the latest developments in Spain, another key part of the eurozone crisis:
While Spanish banks dominate the headlines, this is also a key week for sorting out what markets see as the country's other major headache (barring, of course, massive unemployment and recession) – which are the budgets of the regional governments.
Spain missed its 6% deficit target spectacularly last year, hitting 8.5% instead. This is precisely because of the regions - which run health and education and, so, do much of Spain's public spending. The two biggest regions, Catalonia and Andalucia are presenting budget plans today.
Catalonia has just announced the privatisation of motorways and water companies, as well as a fire sale of public property. Andalucia is expected to cut civil service pay.
On Thursday all the regions meet with budget minister Cristobal Montoro to have their budgets approved (or not).
12.12pm: The talks between the Greek president and five political leaders over the formation of a national unity government to lead Greece forwards and end the mounting political uncertainty engulfing the country have just begun.
Helena Smith reports that five leaders have just been ushered into the presidential palace. Television channels have broadcast footage of them sitting around an oval table with president Carolos Papoulias at the head.
As on Sunday, there are again strained smiles although this time mixed with an air of gravity amid heightened concerns over Greece's place in the the euro zone.
The five leaders are New Democracy's Antonis Samaras, Syriza's Alexis Tsipras, Pasok's Evangelos Venizelos, Independent Greeks' Panos Kammenos, and Democratic Left's Fotis Kouvelis.
They must consider Papoulias's proposal that a government of technocrats or respected personalities should be formed, after repeated negotiations for a coalition government have failed.
12.01pm: Here's another picture from the break-up of the austerity protests in Athens (see also 11.55am).
11.55am: It appears that police in Greece have broken up a small protest against austerity in Syntagma Square, the site near the Athens parliament.
Pictures from the scene show officers forcibly detaining protesters, before taking some away in a police van.
Greek newspaper Kathimerini reports on its website that around 25 people from "Spain, Italy, Ireland, France and Greece" had pitched tents in the square yesterday, and that 16 people were arrested.
11.41am: Finance ministers have been arriving in Brussels for today's meeting.
Here's what George Osbone said to the press pack:
This is a time of considerable uncertainty in the eurozone economies and that uncertainty is undermining the entire European recovery.
I think we are reaching a point where we have got to make a decision to see the eurozone stand behind their currency.
A very important part of that, of course, is strengthening the entire European banking system, and that is what we intend to do today.
European finance ministers are expected to reach a deal on core capital requirements for the region's banks today.
10.56am: The news that the eurozone has avoided recession is politically tricky for the UK government, which has repeatedly blamed Britain's economic woes on the problems over the English Channel.
Just last night, chancellor George Osborne warned that the eurozone crisis was affecting the wider economy, saying in Brussels that:

The euro zone crisis is having a real impact on growth across the European continent, including Britain....
The British recovery has been damaged over the last two years not by Britain getting a grip on its public finances but by uncertainty in the euro zone.
So it's somewhat embarrassing to now find that the Eurozone managed to avoid contracting in the last three months, while the UK shrank by 0.2% (although, in the spirit of balance, many business leaders reckon that reading was too negative).
Ed Balls, Labour's shadow chancellor, has already argued that today's GDP data shows the UK's double-dip was caused by domestic policy.
After all George Osborne's bluster, Germany & France avoid recession -confirming the UK does have a recession made in Downing Street
— Ed Balls (@edballsmp) May 15, 2012
10.53am: Spain (anothe country in recession) is increasingly sending out SOS messages to its eurozone partners.
My colleague Giles Tremlett reports from Madrid:
Finance minister Luis de Guindos has today suggested the European Central Bank should help with the two valuations of total bank assets that Spain's government is to commission from independent valuers. Fellow eurozone ministers are pressing for Spain to complete the valuations quickly, but the task is huge. De Guindos says they will try to get it done in two months.
Spain's conservative People's party government, ideologically aligned with Angela Merkel, went into the eurogroup meeting claiming it is doing all it can to sort out banks and deficit-spending, while pushing ahead with key labour market and budget reforms.
If that is not enough to stop bond yields soaring (and yesterday they reached their highest level since the nerve-shattering month of November, with the interest on ten year bonds closing at over 6.2 percent), then the eurozone must react as a whole, De Guindos said. "What we need now is cooperation from the eurozone and a joint reply," (to market pressures) he said.
10.41am: A quick shout-out for my colleague Andrew Sparrow, who will soon be interviewing Robert Chote, head of the Office for Budget Responsibility. Chote is the man who scrutinises the UK budgets to ensure they are based credible economic foreacsts -- effectively he's Britain's budget regulator. We'd love to hear your questions for Chote -- so if you've got one, please post it over here.
10.31am: Here's a round-up of reaction ot the surprising news that the eurozone is not in recession:
Mads Koefoed of Saxobank
Germany is leading the bloc, but this doesn't mean we will have a strong rebound, austerity is not going away and southern European economies are really struggling.
We are looking at stagnation to very mild growth in the year to come.
Howard Archer of IHS Global Insight
The Eurozone has struggled for any growth at all since the first quarter of 2011.
While it is welcome news that the Eurozone avoided recession, its performance is hardly something to celebrate as GDP was only flat year-on-year in the first quarter of 2012. Furthermore, generally weaker latest data and, particularly, survey evidence suggests that renewed GDP contraction is very much on the menu for the second quarter.
Jennifer McKeown of Capital Markets
The region remains heavily reliant on Germany, where activity rose by a better-than-expected 0.5 percent, thanks mainly to strong net trade.
Looking ahead, the situation will only get worse as the periphery remains mired in recession and German exports falter.
Ranvir Singh, chief executive of RANsquawk
At the top of the pile are the Germans, quietly assured of the power and reliability of their export-driven economy.
In the middle sits France, which is heading the other way but has so far just teetered on the edge of recession. Modest growth at the end of 2011 turned slipped into stagnation in the first three months of this year.
[But]With recessions battering Spain, Greece and Portugal, the Eurozone as a whole was pegged back to stagnation in the first quarter of 2012.
10.19am: Portugal's economy has also continued to shrink, but at a slower rate.
The third member of the eurozone to seek a bailout saw its GDP fall by 0.1% in the first three months of 2012, a much shallower decline than the 1.3% slump seen in Q4 2011.
10.12am: New GDP data from Greece was also just released, and shows that its long, deep recession continued.
On a year-on-year basis, Greek GDP fell by 6.2% in the first three months of 2012.
That's a year-on-year figure, rather than the quarter-on-quarter data reported by other countries this morning. But it's still indicates a savage fall in activity. Economists have calculated that the Greek economy will have shrunk by 20% between 2008 and 2012.
10.00am: Breaking news - the eurozone has avoided recession, with GDP remaining flat in the first three months of 2012.
Data just released showed that the economic growth across the 17-member single currency union was 0%, defying economist predictions of a 0.2% contraction (following the 0.3% decline reported in the previous quarter).
It appears that strong growth in Germany dragged the eurozone away from a second quarterly contraction, with German GDP up by 0.5% (while Italy suffered a 0.8% decline).
On a year-on-year basis, the eurozone economy also posted flat growth.
We shouldn't get carried away - stagnation will not solve the eurozone's economic problems. But it's still a small relief.
9.45am: Today's talks over the formation of a 'technocratic government' in Greece appear doomed to fail, even before they begin.
From Athens, our correspondent Helena Smith reports that Greece's feuding party chiefs are trading blows, in a sign that the political paralysis is not easing. Helena writes:
In a new twist to the escalating drama engulfing Athens, political party leaders are back at it again: firing salvos of venom at each other and, above all, pouring cold water on the latest possible exit route out of the crisis by forming a government of "personalities."
The technocrat solution was tountamount to "the defeat of politics," said Fotis Kouvellis who heads the small Democrat Left party.
"I told the President ... that a government formed by technocrats and personalities means the defeat of politics. I expressed that I am against it."
Greece's head of state Carolos Papoulias was reported this morning as telling leaders that their differences where "insignificant" compared with their "duty towards the country."
The president, who proposed that personalities man a new government in what is being seen as the VERY LAST attempt to plug Greece's power vacuum, meets political leaders at 2 PM local time (noon GMT). With the exception of Aleka Papariga, the communist party chief and Nikos Michaloliakos, who heads the neo-fascist Chyrsi Avgi party, the heads of every single party catapulted into parliament in the inconclusive May 6 elections will be there including Left Coalition leader Alexis Tsipras who refused to attend yesterday's talks.
But the president's pleas appear to have had no impact.
Hopes of a solution being reached with the help of Panos Kammenos, a former conservative MP who now heads the vehemently anti-austerity breakaway Independent Greeks party were also dashed today. With 33 seats in the 300-member parliament, Kammenos, in effect, could have held the key to a solution. Cooperation with the centre right New Democracy and centre left Socialist Pasok would have given the new 'national unity' government a comfortable 182 seats in the House.
But this morning Kammenos, a blustering right-wing populist, said he would not attend a separate one-hour meeting with Papoulias prior to the talks following the "provocative" distribution of a highly sensitive document attributed to his party. The paper, which had been circulated by the presidential office to party leaders, said Independent Greeks would support a unity government if it were a matter of "national urgency." Independent Greeks, which has described the EU-IMF imposed austerity and structural reform program as a form of "foreign occupation" reportedly also said it would accept to participate in such a coalition if given the portfolio of the defense ministry.
Speaking to Skai radio this morning, Kammenos said: "This document is not mine, it has never been submitted by Independent Greeks, it is not stamped, nor does it have a protocol number. I did not give it to the president.
With Greece's euro zone member ship on the line and the stakes so high, the infighting has left many aghast. "I really don't see how there is any way out apart from going to fresh elections," Nikos Evangelatos, a veteran observer of the political scene, told a local radio station. "At least elections will give everyone [the parties] the chance to air their views."
Many Greek citizens sound weary of the ongoing saga, with Diane Shugart questioning the its democratic legitimacy on Twitter:
good morning from the cradle of democracy--government by the people appointed by a few people for the people
— Diane Shugart (@dianalizia) May 15, 2012
9.12am: There's quite a lot of interest this morning in comments made last night by Jean-Claude Juncker, the chairman of the eurogroup of finance ministers.
Asked whether the eurogroup has considered the chances of Greece exiting the euro at yesterday's talks, Juncker responded that such talk was "propaganda and nonsense".
Juncker continued:

The exit of Greece out of the euro was not the subject of our debate today. Absolutely no one, absolutely no one, argued in that sense....
But the Greek public, the Greek citizens, have to know that we agreed on a programme and this programme has to be implemented.
Hmmm. If Juncker is being completely honest, that's actually rather worrying. The idea of Greece leaving the euro isn't just a media contruct -- many economist believe it may be inevitable.
However, Juncker's comments have been well-received in Athens, our Greece correspondent Helena Smith informs me:
Radio stations commentators have been quoting Juncker as saying: "I don't envisage, not even for one second, Greece leaving. " Many have sounded "quite relieved."
9.00am: Italy's recession is getting worse -- with news breaking that GDP shrank by 0.8% in the first quarter of 2012.
That's worse than expected, and much worse than other data this morning (such as Germany's 0.5% expansion and France's flat performance). Italy has now been shrinking for the past nine months.
The biggest drop in quarterly GDP in three years comes just hours after rating agency Moody's downgraded 26 Italian banks.
8.58am: Over in Greece, reports are coming in that the Athens government will repay a €450m bond which matures today. There had been speculation that the country might have withheld the money, which is due to investors who refused to take part in this year's debt swap, which would have added another level of uncertainty to the crisis.
8.44am: The recession in the Netherlands has continued, with data just released showing that the Dutch economy shrank by 0.2% in the first three months of 2012.
That's the third quarterly contraction in a row, at a time when the Netherlands faces political uncertainty following the collapse of its government last month.
And outside the eurozone, Hungary has suffered its first fall in GDP since 2009, with a 0.7% drop in output in Q1 2012.
Other data has been more optimistic this morning, with Austria growing by 0.2% in the first three months of 2012.
8.22am: European stock markets have recovered in early trading, thanks to the better-than-expected economic data from Germany this morning (see 7.52am).
FTSE 100: up 27 points, or 0.4%, at 5487
German DAX: up 45 points, or 0.7%, at 6497
French CAC: up 26 points, or 0.8%, at 3084
Spanish IBEX: up 41 points, or 0.6%, at 6852
Italilan FTSE MIB: up 88 points, or 0.6%, at 13744.
8.12am: This morning's GDP data from France and Germany adds another twist to Angela Merkel and François Hollande's meeting today. A stagnating French economy could reinforce Hollande's case for a new growth pact, while Merkel's domestic audience may feel that their economy is performing quite well as things stand.
Our Europe editor Ian Traynor has predicted that Hollande faces a baptism of fire when he arrives in Germany fresh from his inauguration:
If the Frenchman has the advantage of freshness to the German's slightly jaded air, the underlying reality is of German strength and relative French weakness. The crisis of the past two years has laid bare the myth that the traditional Franco-German relationship at the EU's core is a partnership of equals.
"France has much less clout in the EU than Germany. The financial crisis and the euro crisis have highlighted the vulnerabilities of the French economy: its waning competitiveness," wrote Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform.
Merkel may be weakened at home as a result of the North-Rhine Westphalia defeat and increasingly isolated internationally for her euro policies which are also under fire from Washington and the International Monetary Fund.
But she remains personally popular in Germany and by far the most powerful EU leader. She has no intention of reopening her eurozone fiscal pact, which Hollande has consistently criticised. But the new French leader also looks likely to make a difference.
After years of Merkel and Sarkozy cutting deals in private and then presenting faits accomplis to the rest of Europe, Hollande will be less open to doing Berlin's bidding.
7.52am: Germany's economy roared back to growth in the first three months of 2012, according to data released this morning.
Germany GDP increased by 0.5% between January and March, recovering from the 0.2% contraction in the final three months of 2011. Much better than the 0.1% expansion pencilled in by City economists.
Net exports were the main driver of growth quarter-to-quarter, another indication that Germany has not been badly hit by the eurozone crisis.
So, no double-dip in Europe's powerhouse economy. But also a sign that the eurozone's two-speed economy may be getting worse (data released last month showed that Spain is in recession, and more data will be released this morning).
Jeremy Cook, chief economist at World First, argues that the data shows the impossibility of setting monetary policy across such divergent economies:
German GDP of 0.5% further emphasises the fact that a strong Europe is impossible with a strong Germany
— World First (@World_First) May 15, 2012
7.42am: The news that the French economy stagnated in the first three months of 2012 underlines the challenge faced by new president François Hollande.
Paris-based national statistics office Insee reported this morning that French GDP was unchanged compared with the fourth quarter (when it expanded by a meagre 0.1%).
Hollande could take comfort in the fact that the French economy isn't actually suffering an Anglo-Saxon double-dip recession. But looking into the figures, it was flattered by an increase in government spending, while business investment fell by 0.7% (which could hit growth down the line).
Economists warn that the French economy is on a slippery path, making it hard for Hollande to reduce the deficit without crushing growth. As Societe Generale economist Michel Martinez put it (via Bloomberg):
The new government faces a high-wire act.
A hardening budget stance will only make things more difficult in the months ahead....Too heavy tax increases could cause growth to falter.
7.40am: Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the eurozone financial crisis.
Coming up.... in Greece, another round of last-ditch, make-or-break talks will take place in Athens today, nine days after the general election. President Karolos Papoulias will propose setting up a 'government of technocrats', after the leaders of the main political parties failed to form a coalition.
The Greek crisis will also dominate a meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels today. After Monday's heavy falls on world stock markets, leaders are under relentless pressure to solve the crisis.
Economically it's a big day, with eurozone GDP for Q1 2012 being released. We've already had data from France (which stagnated with 0% change to GDP), and Germany (which smashed forecasts with a 0.5% rise). More on these shortly.....
And on the political front, François Hollande is being sworn in as France's new president, and will immediately fly to Germany to meet with Angela Merkel to discuss the crisis.
Graeme Wearden
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13:11
François Hollande sworn in as president in low-key ceremony
» ‎ The Guardian World News
France's first socialist leader in nearly 20 years attends ceremony at the Elysée Palace before flying to Berlin
François Hollande, France's first socialist president in nearly 20 years, was sworn in at the Elysée Palace on Tuesday in a deliberately low-key ceremony ahead of a meeting in Berlin with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, at which he will begin his quest to temper Europe's austerity drive.
In his first speech as president, Hollande promised a new way forward for Europe and economic recovery in France, vowing a five-year term that would be fair and just. He called for France to unite, saying he would bring the country much-needed calm and reconciliation, and fight against divisions and racism.
Hollande said he was aware of the challenge that awaited him and the difficult conditions: weak growth, high unemployment, a France that is not competitive, and a Europe struggling to find economic growth. He said his priorities would be education and giving back hope to French youth.
He promised "scrupulous sobriety of behaviour" as president, a subtle contrast to his predecessor, the rightwing Nicolas Sarkozy who was dubbed President Bling-Bling.
Hollande saluted the contributions of previous presidents, including Jacques Chirac's attachment to the "values of the Republic", but stopped at citing any achievements for Sarkozy, saying simply he wished him well in his "new life".
Hollande, who has styled himself as Mr Normal, has been keen to keep the usually pomp-filled presidential inauguration as modest as possible, particularly to distinguish himself from Sarkozy's celebrity-style start to his term five years ago. Sarkozy put his then wife, stepdaughters and sons centre-stage, opening up a new chapter in the blurring of boundaries between public and private life in France.
Hollande invited just three dozen or so private guests to join the 350 officials at the event. His partner, the political journalist Valérie Trierweiler, was present, but their children were not.
After walking up the red carpet in the Elysée courtyard, Hollande retired with Sarkozy for a private meeting at which presidents have traditionally handed on the codes to France's nuclear strike force.
After a handshake for the departing Sarkozy, Hollande was presented with the official chain of office, a gold collar weighing nearly 1kg engraved with the names of all Fifth Republic presidents.
He was then taken up the Champs Elysées in an open-topped hybrid Citroën.
Hollande will visit the tomb of the unknown soldier under the Arc de Triomphe before a private lunch at the Elysée with former socialist prime ministers. The first Socialist party president since François Mitterrand will then add his own touch, laden with symbolism and reminiscent of Mitterrand, paying tribute to Jules Ferry, regarded as the father of France's secular school system, and Marie Curie, the Polish-born scientist and Nobel prizewinner. Some politicians in the French Caribbean island of Martinique have warned that Ferry, as well as an education pioneer, was also an advocate of colonial expansion.
In the afternoon, Hollande will take part in a ceremony at the Paris town hall where he is likely to greet crowds outside.
The president will later announce his prime minister ahead of the full list of government appointments on Wednesday. Jean-Marc Ayrault, head of the socialist group in parliament, mayor of Nantes, and a German expert who has had a major role in contacts with Berlin, is the favourite to be prime minister.
Hours after taking office, Hollande will fly to Berlin where, after meeting Merkel for the first time, he will give the first press conference of his presidency before returning to Paris. His first cabinet meeting on Wednesday will begin tackling the difficult task of how to kickstart a country beset by economic gloom and high public debt. Latest figures from the national statistics agency Insee showed France's economy did not grow in the first quarter of the year, raising concerns that it could be heading toward a recession.
Angelique Chrisafis
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13:06
Anders Breivik trial: man sets himself on fire outside court
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Man in hospital with serious injuries after setting himself ablaze outside Oslo courthouse
A man is in hospital with serious injuries after setting himself on fire outside the Oslo courthouse where Anders Behring Breivik is standing trial for mass murder and terrorism.
Police say the man was seen pouring liquid over himself before igniting the liquid and trying to gain access to the court building.
He was stopped by security officials when he reached the temporary security tent set up to scan everyone entering the building during the 10-week trial.
A video posted on the website of the daily newspaper VG showed a man running towards the tent with his black hat on fire, shouting after dousing himself with liquid from a bottle. He is wrestled to the ground by armed security officers who stamped out the flames.
Kjell Kverme from Oslo police said the man had been taken to hospital with serious injuries to his stomach and chest.
Kverme said the man was believed to be Norwegian.
Helen Pidd
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12:58
Rebekah Brooks to be charged with perverting the course of justice
» ‎ The Guardian World News

Former News International chief executive, her husband and four others to be charged in phone-hacking inquiry
Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of News International, is to be charged over allegations that she tried to conceal evidence from detectives investigating phone hacking and alleged bribes to public officials.
Brooks, one of the most high-profile figures in the newspaper industry, will be charged later on Tuesday with three counts of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice in July last year at the height of the police investigation, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announced.
She is accused of conspiring with others, including her husband, Charlie Brooks, the racehorse trainer and friend of the prime minister, and her personal assistant, to conceal material from detectives.
Brooks and her husband were informed of the charging decision – the first since the start of the Operation Weeting phone-hacking investigation last January – when they answered their bail at a police station in London on Tuesday morning.
They are among six individuals from News International, along with the company's head of security, Mark Hanna, to be charged over allegations that they removed material, documents and computers to hide them from officers investigating phone hacking. The charge carries a maximum penalty of life, although the average term served in prison is 10 months.
In a statement, Brooks and her husband – who are both close to David Cameron – condemned the decision made by senior lawyers and overseen by Keir Starmer QC, the director of public prosecutions.
"We deplore this weak and unjust decision after the further unprecedented posturing of the CPS," the statement said. "We will respond later today after our return from the police station."
The CPS chose to announce the charges against Brooks, her husband and four others in a televised statement in the interests of "transparency and accountability".
Brooks is accused in one charge of conspiring with her PA, Cheryl Carter, to "remove seven boxes of material from the archives of News International".
In a separate charge she is accused of conspiring with her husband, Hanna, her chauffeur and a security consultant to conceal "documents and computers" from the investigating detectives. All the offences are alleged to have taken place in July last year.
Alison Levitt QC, Starmer's principal legal adviser, said the decision to charge six of the seven individuals arrested over the allegations came after prosecutors applied the two-stage test required of them when making charging decisions.
"I have concluded that in relation to all suspects except the seventh there is sufficient evidence for there to be a realistic prospect of conviction," she said.
"I then considered the second stage of the test and I have concluded that a prosecution is required in the public interest in relation to each of the other six."
Levitt said the televised statement had been made in "the interests of transparency and accountability to explain the decisions reached in respect of allegations that Rebekah Brooks conspired with her husband, Charles Brooks, and others to pervert the course of justice".
She said detectives handed prosecutors a file of evidence on 27 March this year in relation to seven suspects: Brooks, her husband, Hanna, Carter, Paul Edwards who was Brooks's chauffeur employed by News International, and Daryl Jorsling, who provided security for Brooks, supplied by News international.
The seventh suspect – who has not been named – also provided security. But Levitt said no charges were to be laid against him.
Brooks is charged on count one that between 6 July and 19 July 2011 she conspired with Charles Brooks, Carter, Hanna, Edwards, Jorsling and persons unknown to conceal material from officers of the Metropolitan Police Service.
On count two she is charged with Carter between 6 July and 9 July 2011 of conspiring together to permanently remove seven boxes of material from the archive of News International. In the third count Brooks is charged with her husband, Hanna, Edwards and Jorsling and persons unknown of conspiring together between 15 July and 19 July 2011 to conceal documents, computers and other electronic equipment from officers of the Metropolitan Police Service.
In a statement issued through her solicitor, Carter said she "vigorously denies" the charges.
Hanna said: "I have no doubt that ultimately justice will prevail and I will be totally exonerated."
All the allegations relate to the police investigation into allegations of phone hacking and corruption of public officials in relation to the News of the World and the Sun newspapers, Levitt said.
Brooks and her husband had travelled to London from their home in Oxfordshire to answer bail following their arrest in March on suspicion of perverting the course of justice. They were informed of the decision at that meeting. They will attend Westminster magistrates court along with the four others at a date to be fixed.
The six people become the first to be charged as a result of the new Scotland Yard investigation into phone hacking. The inquiry is one of three linked investigations for which the Yard has budgeted £40m until 2015.
Carter was the first to be arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice in January. Two months later the other suspects were arrested.
The news of the charges came as Scotland Yard announced on Tuesday that two further people had been arrested in connection with alleged bribery of public officials.
A 50-year-old man who works for HM Revenue and Customs and a 43-year-old woman from the same address were arrested by officers from Operation Eleveden, the Met police operation investigating alleged bribery of public officials. The man was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in a public office and the woman on suspicion of aiding and abetting the offence.
Brooks was a high-flyer at News International. At 31, she became News of the World editor and three years later, in 2003, was given the editorship of the Sun. She was appointed chief executive of News International in 2009 before quitting in July 2011.
Days later she was arrested over alleged phone hacking and corruption offences, for which she remains on bail without charge. She was arrested again in March in connection with the separate allegation of perverting the course of justice along with her husband and others.
Charlie Brooks has been a columnist for the Daily Telegraph as well as writing a novel entitled Citizen.
Prosecutors are still considering four files of evidence – relating to at least 20 suspects – and involving allegations of phone hacking, alleged bribery of public officials and misconduct in a public office from the linked inquiries.
Starmer said he was facing "very difficult and sensitive decisions" as he predicted last month that more cases were coming his way.
Police launched Operation Weeting, the inquiry devoted specifically to phone hacking, after receiving "significant new information" from News International on 26 January last year.
Operation Elveden was launched months later following allegations that News International journalists made illegal payments to police officers.
As the inquiry escalated officers launched three related operations: the Sasha inquiry into allegations of perverting the course of justice; Kilo, an inquiry into police leaks; and Tuleta, the investigation into computer-related offences.
News International did not immediately make a statement, but confirmed that it still employed Hanna and Edwards.
A spokesman for Rebekah Brooks said she and her husband were still with police, and that the couple were likely to release a further statement on Tuesday afternoon.
Sandra Laville
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12:58
Extra border staff to be hired for post-Olympics student influx
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Immigration minister says 70 extra staff will be recruited for September when overseas students are due to arrive
Seventy extra border staff are to be urgently recruited from within Whitehall to avoid a renewed passport crisis at Britain's airports in September immediately after the Olympics, the immigration minister has announced.
Home Office ministers have cancelled all summer leave for UK Border Force officers and drafted in 480 extra temporary staff from other parts of Whitehall to cope with the expected surge of 650,000 extra tourists this summer.
But the immigration minister, Damian Green, has acknowledged that the Olympic contingency plans could result in severe staff shortages after the Games when tens of thousands of overseas students are due to arrive for the start of the academic year.
He has told MPs that the 70 extra staff to be recruited had been due to be taken on by 2014 for the reopening of Heathrow's Terminal 2. "We have brought forward the first wave of recruitment for the reopening of Terminal 2 to give Border Force even more flexibility to secure the border while dealing with record passenger numbers at Heathrow," Green said.
Staff will be recruited from elsewhere in Whitehall and are expected to be in post between July and October after being trained and receiving security clearance.
The minister told the Commons home affairs select committee that a return to a "risk-based" policy of passport checks at Heathrow would not necessarily prove the panacea for long queues after a clampdown last autumn. He said the length of queues at Heathrow and Stansted could depend just as much on the wind as on the nature of the checks, especially for long-haul flights.
If the weather meant that a New York flight was delayed and arrived just behind a Nigerian flight whose passengers had to undergo full passport checks, then the passengers from New York would face longer waits to clear security than if their flight arrived 10 minutes earlier. "That will depend on the wind, over which, with the best will in the world, airlines and the Border Force don't have the control," he said.
Green said he was not in principle opposed to the introduction of risk-based controls, but a pilot scheme last year was tainted by unauthorised relaxation of the checks because of queues. "They were not risk-based controls, but queue-based controls," he said.
"It is not at all obvious that just having risk-based controls reduces queues. They may well involve doing more thorough checks on some of those non-EU passengers," Green said.
Airline and airport representatives giving evidence to the MPs said there had been a noticeable improvement in queueing times over the past 10 days since David Cameron ordered Home Office ministers to get a grip on the border crisis.
But both Green and Keith Vaz, the chairman of the committee, reported continuing problems at Heathrow and Stansted. Green visited Heathrow privately on Monday morning when the UK Border Force had been told to expect 2,500 passenger arrivals between 6am and 9am. At six hours' notice this had risen to an estimate of 5,000, and in fact 7,500 passengers turned up. "With the best will in the world you cannot call border staff at home at 1am telling them to turn up for duty at 5am," Green said.
Vaz complained there had been long delays at Stansted on Sunday night when the border control appeared unprepared to process more than 6,000 passengers who arrived between 10pm and midnight.
Joan Collins became the latest celebrity to be caught up in the passport chaos on Tuesday. She tweeted: "Arrived LHR after great trip on @British_Airways but 1000s waiting at passport control – listen up Ms. May – need more officers!"
Alan Travis
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12:51
JP Morgan crisis: Obama backs tougher Wall Street regulation
» ‎ The Guardian World News
US president says the crisis at JP Morgan clearly shows 'why Wall Street reform is so important'
President Obama has said JP Morgan Chase's $2bn (£1.2bn) trading loss demonstrates the need for tighter financial services regulation, amid reports that Ina Drew, the bank's departing chief investment officer, is walking away with a $32m payout.
Obama said the losses at JP Morgan were so big that the US government might have had to step in if the trading blunders had happened at a smaller institution, where they could have prompted a bank run.
News of the losses wiped more than $19bn off JP Morgan's market value in just two days, renewing concerns about whether Wall Street's giants really are "too big to fail".
"This is the best, or one of the best managed, banks. You could have a bank that isn't as strong, isn't as profitable making those same bets and we might have had to step in. That's exactly why Wall Street reform's so important," Obama said in an interview for ABC's The View that will be broadcast on US TV later on Tuesday. "Jamie Dimon, the head of it, is one of the smartest bankers we got and they still lost $2bn and counting, precisely because they were making bets in these derivative markets.
"Keep in mind if we get all the rules that we proposed and were passed by Congress implemented into law, it should prevent this kind of stuff from happening. But this, again, is going to be part of what the election is about. We've got real differences here, because Governor Romney, members – some of the Republican members of Congress and the financial industry have been arguing that this is unnecessary, that this is impeding capital formation."
Obama comments come after Ina Drew, a 30-year veteran of JP Morgan and one of Wall Street's most senior female bankers, quit as the bank fought to contain the massive losses at its London operation. According to reports overnight, Drew holds a share award worth more than $16m. In addition, Drew also holds unexercised options valued at $3.44m, retirement benefits worth around $2.63m and a $9.87m deferred compensation pot.
Dimon, JP Morgan's chairman and chief executive, said on Sunday there was "no excuse" for the disastrous series of bets it made under the guidance of Drew. Later on Tuesday Dimon will face angry shareholders who want him to step down as chairman.
A White House spokesman said the losses reinforced the importance of Wall Street reform and lambasted Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney for demanding the repeal of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation.
Barney Frank, co-author of the act, said the fiasco showed how important it is. "It shows how wrong he is in arguing that the legislation is not needed," he told the Guardian. "This isn't a stupid mistake at some poorly run company. It's not some outlier like Countrywide [the fallen sub-prime mortgage giant]. Dimon is a very able guy. But even in a well-run institution things like this can happen."
Drew was one of the bank's highest-paid staff, earning more than $31m in the past two years. Among her responsibilities as chief investment officer (CIO), she oversaw the bank's London offices and the strategy that led to trader Bruno Iksil becoming known as the London Whale for the huge positions he was taking.
Obama's interview was recorded on Monday as the president raised cash for his reelection campaign at the New York apartment of Tony James, head of private equity firm Blackstone Group.
At the fundraising event, which 60 donors had paid $35,800 each to attend, Obama warned that Congress would not provide another bailout if banks faced another credit crisis, according to a Bloomberg source at the swanky gathering.
Rupert Neate
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12:33
Parents to control budgets for children with special educational needs
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Fears draft legislation will see many children removed from the special education register altogether
Parents in England are to be given control over their children's special educational needs (SEN) budgets, allowing them to choose expert support rather than local authorities being the sole provider.
In what the government described as the biggest reform of SEN for 30 years, the measures will legally force education, health and social care services to plan provision together.
Sarah Teather, the minister for children and families, said this would prevent parents being forced to go from "pillar to post" in a battle between different authorities and agencies.
The reforms were set out on Monday in the government's formal response to the public consultation on a green paper that trailed the reforms last year.
Fears were raised that the draft legislation, which contains proposals to merge categories of special needs, would see many children removed from the special education register altogether but, speaking on Radio 4's Today programme on Tuesday morning, Teather said she did not have a "target" number in mind.
"For me this is not about numbers. It is about getting the right children identified and getting the support in place.
"We are very aware that there are children who are being identified [as special needs] who shouldn't be," but, she added, because of the way funding was calculated, it would make no difference to school budgets if categories of special needs were merged.
Teather said some children were being wrongly identified as having special needs when they were actually facing "other problems", and the reforms would help tackle those situations.
"We have a number of children who are identified as having special education needs who actually may have other problems and what's important is that we focus on the other causes and get the support they need. For example, they may well be caring for a relative at home and they might not be attending school.
"But we also have a situation where a lot of children are not being identified early enough and actually they may turn up later in the criminal justice system and if we don't support children properly, particularly those with speech and language problems, we often find they fall out of education and create all sorts of problems later for themselves and for others," she said.
Some 21% of schoolchildren in England were identified as having SEN in January 2010. Only 2.7% have statements. More than half of the pupils, 11.4%, are in the school action category for which schools receive no specific extra money.
Legislation for the reforms will be put in place via the children and families bill, which was announced in the Queen's speech last week.
Under the proposals, SEN statements and separate learning difficulty assessments for older children are to be replaced with a single, birth-to-age-25 assessment process and education, health and care plan from 2014.
Parents with such plans would have the right to a personal budget for their child's support, and local authorities and health services would be required to ensure services for disabled children and young people were jointly planned and commissioned.
Managing the budgets will be optional for parents, and the government will try out a number of different approaches, either giving money to parents directly or leaving the budgets with the local authority.
In a departmental statement, Teather said: "Thousands of families have had to battle for months, even years, with different agencies to get the specialist care their children need. It is unacceptable they are forced to go from pillar to post – facing agonising delays and bureaucracy to get support, therapy and equipment."
Alison Ryan, a policy adviser for the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said the organisation welcomed the requirement that agencies plan services together. But, pointing to redundancies among educational psychologists and speech and language therapists, she said the measures came at a time when cuts had eaten into many of the specialist services teachers rely on to help them support children with SEN.
Ryan said there were worries about the impact on forward planning and co-ordination of putting budgets in the hands of many individuals and families.
"Many parents can be the best advocates for their children's needs, but you cannot say that for every parent. Sometimes it may be a matter of their own ability to decide on the best type of expert assistance for their children," she said.
Ben QuinnShiv Malik
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12:18
EU forces in anti-piracy raid on Somali mainland
» ‎ The Guardian World News
No casualties reported in air strikes by naval forces against pirate targets on shore in Galmudug region
The EU's naval force off the Somali coastline on Tuesday carried out its first air strikes against pirate targets on shore, officials said.
Maritime aircraft and attack helicopters took part in the attacks early in the morning on the mainland, a spokesman said. No casualties were reported in the raid along Somalia's central coastline in the region of Galmudug.
The long coastline of war-torn Somalia provides a perfect haven for pirate gangs preying on shipping off the east African coast.
The EU is the main donor to the Somali transitional government. It also trains Somali army troops, and is reinforcing the navies of five neighbouring states to enable them to counter piracy themselves.
"This action against piracy is part of a comprehensive EU approach to the crisis in Somalia, where we support a lasting political solution on land," said Michael Mann, spokesman for the EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton.
Since December 2008, the EU has kept five to 10 warships off the Horn of Africa in an operation known as Atalanta. Nato has a similar anti-piracy flotilla known as Ocean Shield, and other countries including the US, India, China, Russia, and Malaysia have also dispatched naval vessels to patrol the region.
The EU naval force is responsible for protecting World Food Programme ships carrying humanitarian aid for Somalia, and the logistical support vessels of the African Union troops conducting operations there. It also monitors fishing activity off the coast of Somalia, which has been without a functioning government since 1991, when dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown.
In March, the EU adopted a more robust mandate for its naval force, allowing it for the first time to mount strikes against pirate targets in Somalia's "coastal territory and internal waters". At the time, officials said the new tactics could include using warships or their helicopters to target pirate boats moored along the shoreline, as well as land vehicles or fuel tanks used by the pirates.
The EU did not say which member nation's forces carried out Monday's raid. British forces were not involved, according to the Ministry of Defence.
Two months ago, the Atalanta force was joined by French amphibious assault ship Dixmude. The 21,000-ton ship, the largest to serve with the EU mission, is capable of acting as a mobile operating base for 16 helicopters including Tigre helicopter gunships, significantly adding to the reach of the naval force.
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12:08
Snow falls in the UK … in May
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Northerly winds bring cold air down from the Arctic and Scandinavia, causing wintry weather on higher ground
Chilly air has brought snow to parts of the UK – days after the Premier League ended and weeks after the cricket season began.
Cold northerly winds brought wintry showers to higher ground, including the Pennines, Shropshire, parts of Wales and Scotland.
The meteorologist Chris Burton said it was late in the year for snow but it was not unheard of this far into spring. He said warmer temperatures for some were expected by the weekend.
The forecaster for MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said: "It is late to snow and it has happened because northerly winds brought colder air down from the Arctic and Scandinavia. We have showers that can turn wintry on higher ground.
"The next few days are looking chilly but there are signs that the weekend will start to warm up towards the average. We might see temperatures of 17C in the south-east on Sunday."
University lecturer Neil Farrington was walking his dogs in Castleside, near Consett, County Durham, when the snow fell on Tuesday morning.
"It lasted for 20 minutes and it came down quite heavily with big flakes," the 41-year-old said. "It was quite a sight to behold, then it turned to rain and the snow on the ground disappeared.
"My oldest son was supposed to be playing cricket tonight so he was not best pleased. Getting snow after the FA Cup final feels strange."
- Weather
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11:04
Exporting medicines for profit puts British patients at risk, say MPs
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Report by MPs and peers says selling treatments intended for NHS to other EU countries has caused serious shortages
The health of patients has been put at risk by speculators trying to increase profits by exporting medicines intended for use in the UK, according to a group of MPs and peers.
Ministers must consider banning the practice, which is legal under EU trade rules, and put the wellbeing of Britons over the free movement of goods, said MPs on the all-party pharmacy group.
Selling on treatments intended for the NHS to other EU countries had caused serious shortages of some treatments, claims the highly critical report.
Patients with mental health problems, diabetes, epilepsy and pregnant women were among those undergoing "stress, anxiety and sometimes harm" due to shortages.
Wholesalers and others who do not help protect UK supplies, which are often bought cheaply because of the size of the NHS, should face sanctions, said the group's report.
Regulators should also consider whether it was in the best interests of patients to increase the number of licences to wholesalers.
The problem, which has grown over four years, was caused by the weak pound and strong euro, a position that has only changed recently because of the crisis in the eurozone.
"We have no objection to the export of medicines in principle, so long as this practice does not harm patients," said the report. "However, throughout this inquiry, we have seen evidence that patients are suffering and that pharmacists' time and resources are being diverted away from patient care as a result of medicines being in short supply."
Were it not for the efforts of pharmacists to find alternative emergency supplies, the problem would be even worse.
Attempts to mitigate problems, including setting quotas for UK use, had proved ineffective. The parliamentary group said it detected "an air of resignation" among those responsible for trying to protect supplies.
"The problem of shortages has been dismissed variously as either inevitable, or having been inherited from the previous government. The Department of Health has also seemed reluctant to take action without having hard evidence that patients have been affected."
The group said it was satisfied from anecdotal reports that patients' wellbeing was at risk.
It added that regulators, companies and professional bodies must do more to provide information on the scale of the problem and which medicines were most attractive financially to export.
At present, listed shortages might affect 30-40 products at any one time, out of a total of about 16,000 licensed medicines. Although that might seem to suggest problems were small, it was no exaggeration to say that the effective functioning of supplies for some drugs "can make the difference between good health and illness, and potentially even life and death".
In any event, lack of market-wide data meant even the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency "does not even know which products are in shortage, much less by whom they are being exported".
Kevin Barron, Labour MP for Rother Valley, south Yorkshire, who chairs the group, said the problem was getting worse.
"Other countries experiencing the same problem are now looking into the possibility of prohibiting the export of medicines, and this government needs to urgently look at what they can learn from this."The British Association of Pharmaceutical Wholesalers (BAPW), which represents the nine big companies that supply 85% of the UK's medicines, said there were about 1,700 other licence holders and some of these were buying medicines cheaply in the UK and selling them where prices were higher.
Martin Sawer, director of the BAPW, told the BBC: "It varies from medicine to medicine but in Germany, which is the highest priced market in the EU, some medicines can be nearly twice as much as in the UK."
The Patients' Association, which gave extensive evidence to the MPs' inquiry, said: "The government needs to investigate this problem as a matter of urgency, using the findings of this report as a starting point."
Three organisations – the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee, Pharmacy Voice and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society – said in a joint statement that the report "reinforces the views of all pharmacy bodies that delays to the supply of medicines to patients cause distress, risk patient harm and are unacceptable."
The Department of Health in England said it would consider the report carefully. A spokesman said work was going on behind the scenes to ensure contingency supplies were available.
James Meikle
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9:56
Hair you go: New Zealanders puzzled by mystery gifts from Paris
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Surprised South Island residents receive cash and hairdressing tools in what police believe may be money-laundering dry-run
Police are investigating a series of mysterious packages sent from Paris to residents along New Zealand's remote west coast.
At least four unexpected parcels were delivered to homes on the South Island in the last fortnight, all with Parisian post marks, police said. They contained cash – a €50 note (£40) was in one, a New Zealand $100 note (£48) in another – and a special hair-themed gift: in three cases a brand new hairdryer, in the other a set of hair clippers.
The parcels included handwritten notes, two of which had the words "thank you for being a true friend" scrawled in a mix of lower and upper case letters. There was no obvious link between the recipients, who were left baffled by the gifts, said police.
Police said early on Monday the parcels "appeared to simply be a goodwill gesture", but by the afternoon they had begun to suspect more sinister motives.
In a press conference in Greymouth, police suggested the apparently random acts of long-distance kindness could in fact have been a dry run for a money-laundering or drug-trafficking operation.
Senior Sergeant Allyson Ealam said New Zealand customs and Interpol had been engaged to help track down the sender of the packages.
"We have already been told that the return addresses on each of the parcels exist and we are now checking the names of the senders," she said. Each package had a different return address, she added.
Experts had failed to find any concealed drugs in the parcels, while fingerprints had been taken from the packaging.
It was unlikely to be an elaborate marketing stunt, she said.
"They all did the right thing by contacting police about their surprise parcels. Maybe they have come from someone who won the lottery over there. Or it could be that it's a nice prank."
Toby Manhire
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7:52
Iran hangs man accused of killing nuclear scientist
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Majid Jamali Fashi, 24, was labelled a Mossad agent by Iran and sentenced to death for the murder of Masoud Ali-Mohammadi
Iran has hanged a man accused of being an Israeli agent who was convicted of killing a nuclear scientist in 2010, state media has reported.
Twenty-four-year-old Majid Jamali Fashi was hanged at Tehran's Evin prison on Tuesday after being sentenced to death in August last year for the murder of Masoud Ali-Mohammadi, Iran's state news agency quoted the central prosecutor's office as saying.
Mohammadi was killed in January 2010 when a remote-controlled bomb attached to a motorcycle exploded outside his home in Tehran.
In a televised appearance last year, Fashi confessed to the crime and said he had travelled abroad on several occasions to receive training from the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad.
But western analysts said Mohammadi, a 50-year-old Tehran University professor, had little, if any, role in Iran's sensitive nuclear programme. A spokesman for Iran's atomic energy organisation said at the time he was not involved in its activities.
The most recent attack on an Iranian scientist occurred in January. Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, a deputy director of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility, was killed when a magnetic bomb planted on his vehicle detonated.
Tehran has accused Israel and the US of assassinating four Iranian scientists in order to sabotage its controversial nuclear programme. Washington has denied any US role, while Israel has declined to comment.
Last month, Iranian intelligence officials said they had arrested 15 people they called a "major terror and sabotage network with links to the Zionist regime". The group had plotted to assassinate an Iranian scientist in February, the authorities said.
Iran denies western accusations it is seeking to develop a nuclear weapons capability, but major powers are pushing Tehran to become more transparent and co-operative ahead of talks later this month.
The foreign secretary, William Hague, warned on Monday that the European Union would impose tougher sanctions on Iran if it failed to take concrete steps to allay international concerns over its nuclear programme.
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May 14, 2012
22:02
JP Morgan boss to face shareholders over $2bn 'tempest in a teapot'
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Jamie Dimon is battling shareholders who want to see his position split and lawmakers who want to regulate his company
The embattled boss of JP Morgan, Jamie Dimon, faces shareholders at the bank's annual general meeting on Tuesday amid a backlash against its campaign to dilute plans for the tighter regulation of Wall Street.
Pension funds have called for the positions of chairman and chief executive, which are both held by Dimon, to be split, in the aftermath of a $2bn trading loss announced by the bank last week.
The White House called on Monday for the efforts of "Wall Street lobbyists" to be resisted. Congressman Barney Frank, co-author of the act that contains the proposed new rules against which Dimon has campaigned, told the Guardian that the JP Morgan fiasco "shows how wrong he is in arguing that the legislation is not needed".
JP Morgan confirmed on Monday that its chief investment officer, Ina Drew, a thirty-year veteran the bank and one of Wall Street's most senior women financiers, quit. Dimon had previously rejected several officers by Drew to resign.
Until now, criticism has rolled off Dimon. His closest rival, Goldman Sachs' Lloyd Blankfein, was bloodied by the credit crisis, and most of his fellow bank bosses lost their jobs. But the JP Morgan chairman and chief executive emerged as the survival king of Wall Street and its chief defender.
But thanks to the spectacular cock-up at JP's London office, the bank's shareholders have seen some $19bn wiped off the value of their investments, the result of by a gamble that only weeks ago Dimon memorably dismissed as a "tempest in a teapot". As shareholders gather in Tampa, Florida, for the AGM on Tuesday, Dimon faces the thorniest moment of his tenure.
As the man who steered JP Morgan through the credit crisis and secured its position as the biggest bank in the US, Dimon is more used to bouquets rather than brickbats from his shareholders. This year may be different: major pension funds and shareholder advisory firms were already calling for Dimon to step down as chairman.
After the loss was announced, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees reiterated its view that the bank's top jobs need to be split to improve corporate oversight. "We need an independent chairman of the board. The stakes are too high to leave Jamie Dimon unsupervised," said Gerald McEntee, trustee of the AFSCME pension plan, in a statement. All eyes will be on the combative boss to see how he reacts.
Over the weekend Dimon offered an unusual mea culpa for the $2bn loss the bank made at its London office. The trades were "flawed, complex, poorly reviewed, poorly executed and poorly monitored," he said, in a remarkably candid choice of words.
Dimon is not usually so contrite. He said Paul Volcker, chairman of the Federal Reserve under two presidents, "by his own admission … doesn't understand capital markets". Volcker was the original proposer of a rule designed to prevent losses similar to those JP Morgan is now facing, against which Dimon has led a concerted, and largely successful, campaign.
The rule is a key component of the Dodd-Frank Act, legislation brought in after the credit crisis. Barney Frank, co-author of the act, said the fiasco shows how important the legislation is. "It shows how wrong he is in arguing that the legislation is not needed," Frank told the Guardian. "This isn't a stupid mistake at some poorly run company. It's not some outlier like Countrywide [the fallen subprime mortgage giant]. Dimon is a very able guy. But even in a well-run institution things like this can happen."
Frank said he was confident that the Dodd-Frank legislation would be implemented as originally drafted and that Wall Street's lobbying would ultimately prove futile, "There have been delays, but a year from now this will all be substantially in place."
Others are less sure. "The Volcker rule as originally proposed would have prevented something like this," said Akshat Tewary, an attorney and co-founder of Occupy SEC, part of the Occupy Wall Street movement. "But in its current form it wouldn't."
Tewary said it was not the magnitude of the loss, which the giant JP Morgan can easily absorb, but the way that it came about that should be a cause for concern. "This happened in a division that was supposed to be about managing risk, but this wasn't risk management at all," he said. "The real question now is – what is happening at other banks?"
Tewary said that many in Washington had originally dismissed Occupy SEC's concerns about Volcker's dilution. Now they listening, and it looks increasingly like that Frank will be proved right. Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential front runner, has threatened to repeal Dodd-Frank in its entirety. JP Morgan has handed Obama a golden opportunity to draw the battle lines.
The White House spokesman Jay Carney, briefing reporters on Air Force One as the president flew to New York for a series of engagements on Monday, addressed the attempts to water down the water down the proposed regulation. "It's so important that we resist the efforts of Republicans and Wall Street lobbyists," he said.
The lasting legacy of this scandal may be tighter regulation for Wall Street, but Dimon will probably see off calls to split his chairman and chief executive rules. JP Morgan is likely to remain Wall Street's biggest player even if the Volcker rule is passed.
Dimon's original interview for Meet the Press on Sunday was taped before the scale of the London problems became clear, and it was an anodyne affair about his views of the economy and the importance of Wall Street to the wider economy. A second interview had to be recorded to take in the news.
The bank boss seemed to suggest that there were early warnings. "First of all, there was one warning signal – if you look back from today, there were other red flags," he said.
As Dimon prepares for his Tampa appearance on Tuesday, a prime focus for regulators and shareholders considering law suits against the bank will be what Dimon knew and when he knew it.
Dominic Rushe
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19:56
Palestinian prisoners end hunger strike
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Israel says inmates have signed deal that should allow them more visiting rights and better conditions in jails
Israel delivered significant concessions to end a mass hunger strike by around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners on Monday, in a deal that was hailed as a victory by Palestinian leaders on the eve of the most symbolic day in their calendar.
Under the agreement, which was signed following mediation by Egypt and Jordan, Israel will end solitary confinement for all prisoners and allow around 400 prisoners from Gaza to receive family visits. It agreed to discuss improvements to prison conditions, such as access to televisions and telephone calls.
Prisoners on administrative detention orders – Israel's term for imprisonment without charge or trial, the key issue behind the hunger strike – will not have their terms renewed without fresh information or evidence being brought before a military judge.
In return, Palestinian prisoners' leaders have "signed a commitment to completely halt terrorist activity inside Israeli prisons", including recruitment, practical support, funding and co-ordination of operations, according to a statement released by the Israeli security agency, Shin Bet.
An Israeli government official acknowledged that Israel had "gone the extra mile" in agreeing the terms to end the protest, but added the deal was intended to be an "inducement" to the Palestinian leadership to return to peace talks.
Veteran Palestinian politician Hanan Ashrawi applauded the deal. "The hunger strikers' courage is magnificently inspiring, and their selflessness deeply humbling. They have truly demonstrated that non-violent resistance is an essential tool in our struggle for freedom," she said in a statement.
Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Israeli government, said: "In response to a request by [the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas], Israel has negotiated the end of the strike. It is our hope that this gesture by Israel will serve to build confidence between the parties and further peace."
The deal comes a week after the realignment of the Israeli coalition government towards the political centre, which has prompted speculation that Israel's prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, may be more open to serious peace talks with the Palestinians. The record of his government for the past three years has been to talk about negotiations without making any gestures to advance them. The agreement to end the hunger strike was cast by Israeli officials as a confidence-building gesture.
Around 2,500 prisoners joined the hunger strike after it began as a mass protest on 17 April, according to Palestinian human rights groups. A handful of prisoners had been refusing food for a longer period. Two, who had been on hunger strike for 77 days, were believed to be close to death, and six others were in a critical condition.
The IPS said that 1,550 prisoners were taking part in the protest under medical supervision, and that no life had been in danger.
The hunger strike sparked widespread sympathy protests and demonstrations across the West Bank and Gaza among a population in which most families have direct experience of imprisonment.
Abbas had warned that solidarity action could spiral out of control in the event of a prisoner's death, and Tony Blair, the former British prime minister who is now envoy for the Middle East Quartet, warned of "serious implications for stability and security conditions on the ground".
Without a deal it was feared that protests would escalate on Nakba Day on Tuesday, when Palestinians mourn the loss of their land in 1948.
The two prisoners who had refused food for the longest period, Tha'er Halahleh and Bilal Diab, have been imprisoned for 23 months and nine months respectively on administrative detention orders. Both are members of Islamic Jihad.
United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon had called on Israel to either put administrative detainees on trial or release them.
The maximum period of administrative detention is six months, but that can be renewed indefinitely by a military judge. Under the terms of Monday's deal Israel has agreed that such detentions will not be extended without the submission of additional intelligence. However, all evidence will continue to be secret.
The first prisoner to embark on hunger strike in the current round of protest was Islamic Jihad member Khader Adnan, who was released almost a month ago after 66 days of refusing food.
The hunger strike was one of the biggest prisoners' protests staged by Palestinians.
Harriet Sherwood
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19:37
Banned junk food on sale in nine out of 10 academies, research finds
» ‎ The Guardian World News
School Food Trust study contradicts Michael Gove's claim that academies would champion government's nutritional standards
Nine out of 10 academies are selling pupils junk food such as crisps, chocolate and cereal bars that are banned in maintained schools to protect children's health, research has revealed.
The findings from a study by the School Food Trust (SFT) contradict the education secretary Michael Gove's claim that the academies he champions are following the high nutritional standards introduced in 2008-09 after the chef Jamie Oliver exposed how unhealthy many school lunches were.
The research shows 89 out of 100 academies were selling at least one of the snack foods high in sugar, salt or fat that were outlawed by Labour to rid schools of products that were bad for children and damaging their concentration. Their sale in dining halls, tuckshops and vending machines is exposing children to temptations that will normalise consumption of sweet treats, campaigners warned.
The academies that sell the junk food are making between £3,000 and £15,000 a year from catering for their pupils having a sweet tooth, according to the SFT.
Of the 100 academies 31 were selling one type of banned fattening food, 33 were selling two and 15 were selling three. A total of 82 academies sold sweetened fruit juices, which often contain only a small amount of actual fruit juice and would therefore be banned in maintained schools; the national school food standards stipulate such products must contain at least 50% fruit juice before they can be offered.
Similarly, 54 sold cereal bars, which usually comprise 20%-40% sugar, 26 sold crisps and savoury snacks and 16 sold confectionery and chocolate. However, just six sold fizzy drinks such as Coca-Cola and Sprite and just two offered energy drinks such as Lucozade and Red Bull.
Dr Michael Nelson, the SFT's director of research and nutrition and a reader in public health nutrition at King's College London, said: "Although many academies have said that they are committed to the standards, in practice 89 out of the 100 in our survey chose not to follow them.
"It is particularly worrying that a third of the academies regard the standards as a burden or too restrictive, and that 10% say outright that they plan not to follow them. This is clearly not acting in the best interests of their pupils."
The last Labour government ordered the handful of academies it created to follow the tough standards brought in after Oliver's 2005 Channel 4 series Jamie's School Dinners. They also included a ban on selling the foods the survey has revealed are common in many academies.
But when the coalition took power in 2010 Gove said neither they nor free schools had to stick to the restrictions and that he trusted the schools to provide nutritious food.
Until now Gove had claimed there was no evidence that any academies were not following the standards. Gove wrote to Oliver last year saying he "would like to reassure" him that the government had "no reason to believe the academies will not provide healthy, balanced meals that meet the current nutritional standards". He went on: "As part of the broader freedoms available to academies I trust the professionals to act in the best interests of their pupils."
Last month he told MPs on the education select committee he doubted there was any proof of noncompliance with the standards by academies, which Oliver has warned risks creating a two-tier system where some pupils receive healthy food and others do not.
"All the evidence seems to me to point in the other direction: that schools that have academy freedoms have improved the quality of food they offered children", Gove added.
But the revelation of such widespread noncompliance by academies has led to fresh calls for Gove to withdraw their exemption and ensure the standards apply in all schools.
Professor Terence Stephenson, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said: "Mr Gove said he didn't know of any evidence suggesting that schools were rowing back on the nutritional standards and exposing children to an unhealthier diet. Now that he has it, let's hope he acts on it and tells headteachers their academies shouldn't be profiting from feeding their children unhealthy food.
"It's also proof that without tight legislation in place to protect children they end up being encouraged to make the wrong choices. We should be grateful the School Food Trust has established this now, before we end up falling down a slippery slope back towards the dreaded Turkey Twizzler that Jamie Oliver campaigned to banish," he added.
"If we don't act now, there will be thousands of children across the country eating unhealthy food at school, nutritional standards will plummet and we'll be fuelling what is already an obesity crisis amongst our young," he warned.
There are now 1,807 academies in England – 1,300 secondaries, 476 primaries and 31 special schools – which between them teach about 1.5million of the total 7.2million pupils.
The findings have prompted Oliver to write to every MP urging them to back an early day motion by the Conservative backbencher Zac Goldsmith urging the standards to be made universal.
"Academies selling junk food should be named and shamed for profiteering at the expense of pupils' health. In refusing to make academies follow the same rules as other schools Mr Gove is putting ideology above children's wellbeing," said Charlie Powell, director of the Children's Food Campaign.
"All the evidence – as well as common sense – says that legally binding nutrition standards for school food are good for children's physical and mental development. Ignoring this is shameful, and not befitting behaviour for an education secretary," Powell added.
Lynda Mitchell, national chair of the Local Authority Caterers Association (LACA), said that while many academies do apply the standards, "a significant number" of others do not. "LACA has evidence itself from around the country that many heads are allowing the return of banned food and drink items back into schools and now there is additional proof that our fears were justified.
"There is considerable financial temptation for academy heads to allow a slide backwards to the old ways, but there is a real danger that this erosion of standards could undermine the progress being made to ensure healthy eating in schools."
Steve Iredale, president of the National Association of Head Teachers, said he feared the commitment to ensure pupils eat healthily had been "marginalised" in academies that do not apply the standards.
Non-compliant academies were using the freedom Gove gave them "in the wrong way" and should take a long, hard look at their policies, he added.
The standards should apply in all schools and make life simpler for them, said Iredale, who urged Gove to examine very carefully the case for them being universal. "If you present children with a healthy or unhealthy option, quite a lot of them will go for the unhealthy option. When children have a more balanced diet, they are more ready to learn", he said.
Alasdair Smith, the national secretary of the Anti Academies Alliance, said: "It comes as no surprise that some academies are seeking to profit by selling junk food to their children. For a long time we were sold the myth that academies were philanthropic or charitable organisations. But behind the mask of charitable status lie businesses intent on maximising profit margins."
The Department for Education declined to comment directly on the SFT's findings. "We trust teachers – the professionals on the frontline – to do what is best for their pupils. Many academies go over and above the minimum requirements and are offering their pupils high quality, nutritional food," a spokeswoman said."The School Food Trust's own research on all secondary school food shows that even with food standards in place, many maintained schools – far from being paragons of nutrition – are not meeting all the standards and are still offering cakes, biscuits, confectionery and noncompliant drinks to their pupils. Clearly there is room for improvement in all schools – maintained schools as well as academies," she added.
Denis Campbell
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19:33
Rebekah Brooks to learn if she will face charges over phone-hacking scandal
» ‎ The Guardian World News
CPS to announce decision in cases of journalist and six others concerning allegations of perverting the course of justice
Rebekah Brooks, the former News International chief executive, will be told on Tuesday if she is to be among the first people to face criminal charges over the phone-hacking scandal.
The Crown Prosecution Service will announce whether Brooks will face charges over allegations of perverting the course of justice relating to the phone-hacking investigation.
The CPS will announce its decision in the cases of one journalist and six members of the public, all concerning allegations of perverting the course of justice. Among those whose cases are under consideration by prosecutors are Brooks's husband, Charlie, a race horse trainer and friend of the prime minister.
Kingsley Napley, the lawyers for Rebekah Brooks, confirmed that they expected to hear from the CPS on Tuesday. The human rights and criminal litigation specialist also acts for Brooks's husband.
The decision on whether criminal charges will be brought or not has been made by Alison Levitt QC, who is the principal legal adviser to the director of public prosecutions.
Levitt is in charge of the CPS's decision-making concerning the investigations into phone hacking and other related police inquiries.
The Metropolitan police have sent files of evidence to the CPS during the course of the investigation.
In March, detective from Operation Weeting arrested Brooks and her husband at their home in Oxfordshire on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
The two were held at dawn with four others, including News International's head of security, Mark Hanna, and a driver Rebekah Brooks used. A sixth non-journalist, Cheryl Carter, Brooks's former PA, was arrested in January also on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
Police said the arrests did not result from information passed to them by News Corporation's management and standards committee (MSC).
Brooks was also previously arrested on 17 July 2011 on appointment at a police station in London on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications, contrary to Section1(1) Criminal Law Act 1977 and on suspicion of corruption allegations contrary to Section 1 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906.
The former Sun and News of the World editor was held in the summer 48 hours after she resigned as News International's chief executive.
The announcement of the CPS's decision comes days after Brooks gave five hours of evidence to the Leveson inquiry, in which Brooks discussed her friendship with Tony Blair, Gordon Brown's wife Sarah, and the prime minister, David Cameron. Cameron, she said, texted once or twice a week, signing off his messages 'LOL' until she told him it stood for 'laugh out loud'.
News International declined to comment.
Vikram DoddDan Sabbagh
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19:12
European leaders and financial markets braced for Greece exit from euro
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Return to drachma nears amid political impasse in Athens and open discussion in Brussels of possible end of single currency
Financial markets are hastily making preparations for a Greek exit from the euro after a day of political and economic turmoil ended with Europe's policy elite admitting for the first time that it may prove impossible to keep the single currency intact.
With attempts in Athens to form a government after last week's election looking increasingly doomed, European leaders abandoned their taboo on talking about the possibility that Greece might have to leave the euro.
Shares, oil, and the euro were all sold heavily on Monday in anticipation that anti-austerity parties would garner support in a second Greek election likely to be held next month, bringing the row between Greece and its European creditors to a climax.
Critical talks are scheduled to continue in Athens between all party leaders, although President Karolos Papoulias's decision to prolong the negotiations came despite widespread signs the talks were heading towards collapse. He has until Thursday, when the Greek parliament reconvenes, to broker a deal.
The British chancellor, George Osborne warned that the prospect of Greece crashing out of the euro was damaging economies across Europe.
Uncertainty over the future of struggling eurozone nations was having a "real impact" on growth, he said.
Speaking in Brussels, where he is attending talks over the crisis, Osborne criticised the "open speculation" by some eurozone members.
"The eurozone crisis is very serious and it's having a real impact on economic growth across the European continent, including in Britain, and it's the uncertainty that's causing the damage," he said.
"Of course countries have got to make difficult decisions about their public finances. We know that in Britain.
"But it's the open speculation from some members of the eurozone about the future of some countries in the eurozone which I think is doing real damage across the whole European economy."
Amid claims in the markets that politicians in Athens were playing a dangerous game of bluff, a potential schism in the monetary union saw borrowing costs for Spain and Italy rise over fears that contagion could spread from Greece through southern Europe. The City's FTSE 100 Index lost almost 2% of its value, dropping more than 100 points, and there were big falls in share prices in Paris, Frankfurt, Madrid and Athens.
Chris Towner, director of FX advisory services at currency traders HiFX, said: "The Greeks seem to be playing a game of chicken here, first of all putting party politics above sovereign interests and secondly in the bigger picture questioning whether the European Central Bank are bluffing when it comes to not offering them bailout money if they fail to form a government."
On Monday night city firms were making sure their computer-trading systems could cope with the return of the drachma, and were predicting that a "grey market" in a new Greek currency could be operating within the next few days.
But despite the market turmoil and the anti-austerity mood reflected in the elections in Greece and France, finance ministers meeting in Brussels insisted there could be no softening of the tough conditions that Athens agreed to last year in return for a $130bn rescue package financed by the EU and the IMF. The talks openly discussed the likelihood of Greece quitting or being kicked out of the euro, while also differing over whether Greece would also need to leave the EU.
Maria Fekter, the gaffe-prone Austrian finance minister, said there was no basis in EU law for a country leaving the single currency, but noted that the Lisbon Treaty included provision for a country departing from the EU.
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, by contrast, stressed that Greece would "always" be in the EU, a statement interpreted as meaning it might not always be in the euro.
Following suggestions from Jean-Claude Juncker, the Luxembourg prime minister and eurogroup chairman, that Greece's debt reduction timetable should be relaxed, the Germans made clear that no such loosening could be permitted.
With central bankers across the eurozone openly discussing the pros and cons of a Greek departure, it appeared that the terms of the debate had shifted towards accepting the inevitability of a Greek exit. Talk of the impact of a return to the drachma was predominant, split between those who believed the fallout from an outright Greek default could be contained and those who thought that the knock-on effect, particularly in Spain, would shift the euro crisis into an entirely new dimension.
"The contagion risk would be far, far smaller than one and a half years ago," said the Dutch finance minister, Jan Kees de Jager, of the effect of a Greek exit. Others predicted the result would be "catastrophe".
The debate focused on the financial and banking impact of a country leaving the single currency, with little emphasis being given to the political, social, security or foreign policy implications.
The European Commission said: "We want Greece to stay in the euro." But it emphasised that Athens could only accomplish that by living up to the terms of the bailout bargain with the eurozone.
Markets are braced for figures due out on Tuesday to show that the eurozone is officially in a double dip recession, and fear that the events of the past few days will intensify the slump.
On Monday investors were seeking out safe havens, including German bonds and the pound, as they sold eurozone assets. The boss of PKO Bank Polski predicted that Europe was hurtling towards its Lehman moment, with Portugal, Spain, and Italy being dragged into the slipstream of a Greek exit.
Stephen Lewis, economist at Monument Securities, said: "It may well be that eurozone leaders would raise the threat of Greece being obliged to leave the eurozone if it fails to comply with bailout terms, so as to sway Greek voters to support pro-bailout parties. But if this threat were to be credible, the EU would have to start elaborating measures to facilitate Greece's departure from the eurozone well before the election took place. Otherwise, Greek voters would assume eurozone leaders were bluffing."
Larry ElliottIan Traynor
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18:48
Iranian rapper faces death threats and fatwa for 'blasphemous' song
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Shahin Najafi accused of denigrating imams as clerics call him an 'apostate' and religious website puts bounty on his head
An Iranian rapper has become "the Salman Rushdie of music" after clerics in the Islamic republic issued fatwas calling him an apostate, which is considered punishable by death under the country's sharia law.
Shahin Najafi, a Germany-based Iranian singer, recently released a song with references to Ali al-Hadi al-Naqi, the tenth of the 12 Shia Muslim Imams, a religious figure highly respected by millions in Iran.
The controversial clip posted on Youtube, watched by hundreds of thousands online, has divided opinions in the country with many finding it offensive and insulting to their beliefs and others defending the song, saying it broke taboos especially in regards to expressing views about religious personalities.
When asked for a religious ruling on the fate of Najafi and his "blasphemous music", clerics unanimously declared that such a person must be considered an apostate.
According to the semi-official Mehr news agency, Ayatollah Naser Makareme Shirazi, a pro-Iranian regime cleric based in the holy city of Qom with a great deal of influence among Muslims in the country, was the latest person to issue a fatwa in regards to Najafi.
"Any outrage against the infallible imams ... and obvious insult against them would make a Muslim an apostate," he said. Makareme Shirazi has in the past issued other controversial rulings, including those against women attending football matches, keeping pets and the Holocaust.
Najafi's song, called Naqi, is a chronology of events in the past year. Najafi, 31, has rejected claims that he meant to insult people's religious beliefs, though the song criticises Iranian society.
"I thought there would be some ramifications. But I didn't think I would upset the regime that much. Now they are taking advantage of the situation and making it look like I was trying to criticise religion and put down believers," he told the Germany broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
"For me it is more of an excuse to talk about completely different things. I also criticise Iranian society in the song. It seems as though people are just concentrating on the word 'imam'."
Meanwhile, an Iranian religion website which runs on the regime-controlled .ir domain, Shia-Online.ir, has offered a $100,000 (£62,000) reward for anyone who kills Najafi.
"A (website) founder who lives in one of the Gulf Arab states has promised to pay the ($100,000) bounty on behalf of Shia-Online.ir to the killer of this abusive singer," the site said.
The fury surrounding Najafi and his work is reminiscent of the fatwa against Salman Rushdie whose novel, The Satanic Verses, brought him a death sentence by the founder of the Islamic republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Iran.
- Iran
- Middle East and North Africa
Saeed Kamali Dehghan
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17:50
Italian mafia boss's tomb opened in search for missing girl
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Dozens of boxes of unidentified human bones found in mobster's sarcophagus during search for daughter of Vatican bank worker
Forensic teams and marble workers have pried open a mobster's tomb in the basilica Sant'Apollinare in Rome, searching for clues that might help to solve one of Italy's greatest mysteries.
Fifteen-year-old Emanuela Orlandi, the daughter of a Vatican bank functionary, disappeared in 1983 on her way to a music lesson. Her body has never been found, and the truth about what happened to her has puzzled investigators for nearly 30 years. One of the most prominent conspiracy theories was that Orlandi's remains would be found in the crypt where the notorious Roman mafioso Enrico "Renatino" De Pedis was eventually laid to rest after he was shot dead in a Rome square in 1990.
On Monday, his tomb was finally opened. His body was there, inside a three-layer sarcophagus, well preserved and wearing a dark blue suit and black tie. Police took fingerprints and confirmed his identity. But also, tucked inside a niche of the ancient crypt – a burial place since before Napoleonic times – were dozens of boxes containing unidentified human bones.
The city's chief prosecutor, Giuseppe Pignatone, said the findings would be inspected as part of the ongoing investigation into Orlandi's disappearance.
"It is impossible that a young 15-year-old girl could disappear just like that, without a trace," said Orlandi's cousin, Pasquale Lo Russo, outside the basilica. "Now, finally, with Vatican and state officials allowing the opening of this tomb, we hope it will help us to verify the truth."
As the day went on, forensic officers came and went through the courtyard of the church complex alongside young robed priests studying at the pontifical university at the same location near the Piazza Navona, as curious onlookers and journalists gathered to watch.
"It is an enormous and fascinating story that interweaves the church and the criminal underworld in the political context of the cold war years in Rome," said journalist and author Rita di Giovacchino, who has been following the case from its beginning and was present outside the basilica as the crypt was opened. "It is better than a Dan Brown novel."
Over the years, there have been numerous conspiracy theories about Orlandi's disappearance, ranging from shady Vatican bank affairs (at the time presided over by American archbishop Paul Marcinkus, who died in Arizona in 2006), to the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II, to sourced financial deals between the church officials and organised crime bosses in Rome.
De Pedis was shot dead near the Campo de' Fiori in 1990. Years later, an investigative journalist brought to light the fact that his body had been mysteriously moved from a cemetery to the prestigious basilica, normally reserved for cardinals, princes and other illustrious prelates. Who moved it and why is still disputed. But the opening of the De Pedis crypt marks a long-awaited step forward for the Orlandi family, who now await news of further DNA testing by coroners and forensic anthropologists at Rome's University of Sapienza.
"This is just one more step forward for the investigation," Emanuela's brother, Pietro, said outside the basilica. "We hope eventually it will bring us clarity."
After testing is concluded, the remains of De Pedis are expected to be returned to a regular cemetery.
Andrea Vogt
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17:48
Derby house fire was started deliberately, police say
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Six children who died in Allenton blaze were killed unlawfully after Derbyshire police rule fire was not an accident
A house fire last week that led to the deaths of six children in Derby is believed to have been deliberately started, police said on Monday.
Five children aged between five and 10 died in the early hours of Friday after the blaze at a property on Victory Road in the Allenton area, while a sixth child died in hospital overnight on Sunday.
Assistant Chief Constable Steve Cotterill of Derbyshire police said: "After further forensic examination we believe the fire was not accidental, initial indications are that it was deliberately set and, as a result, six children have been unlawfully killed."
Results of postmortem examinations revealed that the five younger children – Jade Philpott, 10, and brothers John, nine, Jack, seven, Jessie, six and Jayden, five – died as a result of smoke inhalation.
A cause of death has yet to be established in the case of Duwayne, 13 who died overnight on Sunday in the Birmingham Children's Hospital with his parents at his bedside.
Assistant Chief Constable Cotterill added: "The forensic examination is still continuing. A number of specialists, including fingerprint officers, have been examining the scene and this is likely to continue for some time.
"We've yet to speak in detail with Mr and Mrs Philpott and that will happen sometime this week as, understandably, the couple are distraught at the loss of their six children."
A 28-year-old woman and 38-year-old man, both from Derby, were arrested by officers investigating the deaths but were released without charge.
The children were asleep in their beds upstairs when the fire broke out at the semi-detached house in the early hours of the morning.
Their father, Mick Philpott, became the focus of media attention in 2007 after asking for a larger house to share with his wife Mairead, girlfriend Lisa, and eight of the 17 children he is said to have.
- Derby
- Crime
Ben Quinn
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17:44
Yemeni troops kill al-Qaida militants
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Military officials say 10 killed in air strike on hideout and six killed in missile attack on vehicle in troubled southern region
Yemeni troops have killed at least 16 militants in the troubled south where the army is trying to uproot al-Qaida, military officials say.
In one attack, Yemeni warplanes struck an al-Qaida hideout about 45 miles (70km) from Zinjibar, the provincial capital of Abyan, killing at least 10 militants. The army also fired missiles at a moving vehicle on the outskirts of Lawder, killing six militants, the officials said.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.
The town was controlled by al-Qaida last year until residents drove them out. They have since been trying to stage a comeback.
Monday's raids came a day after bombings of al-Qaida positions across the south killed at least 30 militants.
Al-Qaida-linked fighters have seized towns and territory across southern Yemen over the past year, taking advantage of a security vacuum linked to the political turmoil that pushed the longtime authoritarian leader Ali Abdullah Saleh from power.
The front lines are concentrated around Zinjibar and another Abyan town, Jaar, where al-Qaida has held sway since March 2011. If the military were to reclaim the two strongholds, it would deal a severe blow to the militants, leaving them scattered in remote mountain areas away from urban centres.
In Jaar, militants sought refuge from Sunday's intense bombardment inside government buildings in the town centre. Warplanes dropped leaflets urging residents not to let the militants hide in their homes.
The intensifying war against al-Qaida in Yemen – which the US says is one of the terror network's most active – is a top priority for Saleh's successor and former deputy, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. He took office in February in a US-backed power transfer deal and has since intensified the fight against al-Qaida.
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16:45
Andrew Lansley branded a liar as nurses give him a frosty reception
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Royal College of Nursing conference delegates berate health secretary's claim of rise in number of clinical staff in NHS
Andrew Lansley has been accused of lying about staffing levels in the NHS amid angry scenes at the Royal College of Nursing's annual congress.
The health secretary's claim that the number of clinical staff in the NHS has increased since the 2010 election was greeted with derision by many delegates, with some heckling or laughing and others shouting "liar".
The RCN has collected evidence, based on a variety of official sources, that 61,113 NHS posts across the UK have disappeared or been earmarked to be lost since it began monitoring workforce numbers a month before the May 2010 election.
Lansley insisted that although the number of nurses has fallen by almost 3,000 since the coalition took power, overall numbers of clinical staff have increased by almost 4,000, because of greater recruitment of doctors.
Despite care scandals linked to understaffing at hospitals such as Stafford, overall numbers of clinical staff were up across the NHS in England as a whole, he said.
"There are places across the country where from time to time the Care Quality Commission on our behalf, as the inspector, finds that staffing levels are not safe.
"Current warning notices are in place that staffing levels were thought not to be safe at Dewsbury, at Leeds, at Lancaster, at Mid Staffordshire, at Pembury and at Queen's hospital in Romford. That can happen and we do need to identify it," he conceded.
Lansley said NHS trusts were to blame for nurse numbers falling, not him. "Across the whole of the NHS we have seen staffing levels reduce. But clinical staffing levels overall have gone up by nearly 4,000. The number of qualified nurses has gone down by nearly 3,000 in two years in England but those are decisions made by trust boards," he said.
A succession of delegates intervened to say that Lansley's confidence about staffing levels did not match their own experience, with some raising concerns that falling numbers threatened patient safety and the quality of patient care.
Dr Peter Carter, the RCN's general secretary and chief executive, dismissed the health secretary's claim: "All this nonsense that there's more clinical staff than there was two years ago is just incorrect."
Delegates also derided Lansley's suggestion that any nurse worried care was at risk because of too few staff should raise their concerns with the management of their NHS trust. "If any of you have a view that staffing levels are literally not safe for patients I think part of your professional responsibility is to say that. Part of the responsibility of nursing directors and trust boards is to listen to what you are saying," he said.
Lansley, wearing an NHS lapel badge, was addressing the congress in Harrogate a year after delegates passed by 98% a vote of no confidence in him, at the height of the controversy over the health and social care bill. This year he made only a 12-minute speech and spent most of his hour-long appearance answering questions from delegates about key issues such as the NHS's financial squeeze, pensions reform, the potential closure of A&E and maternity units, and his desire to see more "market-facing" pay in the NHS, dependant on where staff worked rather than relying on national agreements.
Delegates loudly applauded nurses who took Lansley to task and claimed there was a gap – what Carter called a "disconnect" – between his insistence that the NHS is in good shape and the reality on the ground.
The health secretary reiterated the guarantee made last year that nurses would be granted a seat on the ruling boards of clinical commissioning groups – the local groups of GPs who will start commissioning and paying for care from April 2013. The NHS Future Forum recommended the move to soothe clinical opposition to Lansley's NHS reforms.
However, Carter said the pledge was not being kept and that he had written last week to Sir David Nicholson, the NHS chief executive, to outline his concerns about lack of representation.
Acknowledging the tension among nurses over Lansley's appearance, Carter said the absence of an "undignified spectacle" did not mean delegates believed the health secretary. "There's a great deal of unhappiness," Carter told Lansley, earning a standing ovation from the 1,200-strong audience.
The Department of Health said the total number of professionally qualified clinical staff in the NHS in England had risen by 3,600 (0.6%) in the two years between January 2010 and January 2012 – from 626,778 to 630,378. There was also an increase of 4,141 (0.7%) between May 2010 and January 2012, from 626,237 to 630,378, it added.
The department conceded that the total number of full-time equivalent qualified nurses, midwives and health visitors in England had fallen from 310,793 to 308,199 between May 2010 and January 2012 – a reduction of 2,595 (0.8%).
"The total headcount number of qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff has decreased by 3,677 (1.0%) between May 2010 and January 2012, from 353,912 to 350,235," it added.
Ed Miliband will on Tuesday offer to join forces with Britain's nurses to fight the government's "reckless" reforms of the NHS, which he will depict as a betrayal of David Cameron's pre-election commitments.
The Labour leader is expected to receive a warm reception when he addresses the Royal College of Nursing Congress in Harrogate after Lansley's bumpy reception.
Miliband will announce that Labour is to launch a new service, NHS Check, that will allow patients and staff worried about the impact of the government's reforms to register their concerns with the party.
Denis Campbell
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14:55
Eurozone crisis live: Markets slide as Greek euro exit looms
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Chances of Greece leaving the eurozone are growing, as political leaders prepare for last-ditch coalition talks in Athens
• FTSE 100 falls 100+ points at one stage
• Spanish and Italian bond yields rise
• Fears of civil disorder...
• ....or Greece running out of money in June
• Today's agenda
3.34pm: The Athens stock market has closed after a torrid day, in which the main stock index shed 4.56%.
At 584 points, the main Athens index has hit lows not seen since 1992. The old adage about 'buying and holding' shares delivering value over the long term didn't really work out for Greek investors.
Europe's markets remain deep in the red (the Spanish IBEX and Italian FTSE MIB have both lost over 3%). Russia's stock market is not immune either -- its main index has now fallen 20% since its recent peak in 2012, putting it officially in bear market territory.
3.16pm: German chancellor Angela Merkel has warned today that Europe's solidarity with Greece would end abruptly if the country ditched the commitments it made in return for the €130bn aid deal hammered out earlier this year.
Merkel insisted that her appproach to the crisis will not be changed by yesterday's resounding defeat in North Rhine-Westphalia. On the issue of Greek euro-exit, she said:
I don't expect this to happen.
UPDATE: Bloomberg has more details of Merkel's comments. Apparently she was speaking to school children in Berlin, and acknowledged that many ordinary Greeks are now suffering from a crisis they didn't cause:
I believe that people who are absolutely not at fault now have to pay for the mistakes of the past....That's the sad thing.
2.45pm: Wall Street has joined in the global selloff, with the Dow Jones industrial average falling 132 points, or just over 1%, to 12689 at the start of trading.
Today's strengthening of the US dollar has pushed the price of gold down to its lowest level since December 30, at $1,556 per ounce. It's a while since I heard any analysts confidently predicting that gold would shatter the $2,000/oz mark....
1.55pm: A fomer adviser to the Greek government has revealed that serious consideration was made to quitting the euro last year, only to conclude that the move would be too damaging.
Harvard economics professor Richard Parker told Sky News that withdrawing from the single currency was investigated once the current crisis blew up, sayign:
Frankly we discussed everything...All options were on the table. [The question of leaving the euro] was considered seriously.
So why did the research conclude that a euro exit would not work? Apparently, it found that tourism and shipping – two key Greek industries – would not receive enough of a boost to make up for the pain of devaluation (such as massive losses for Greek banks).
More details here.
Many economists have argued that devaluation is Greece's only hope - Shaun Richards did a nice explainer about the process back in February. But it would be hugely problematic (not least because there is no exit).
Banks would have to be shut for days. Euro deposits would be arbitarily converted into (presumably ) drachma, Greek companies would find that domestic revenues would suddenly slump, potentially leaving then unable to meet euro-demoninated debt payments.
And as for the contagion risks..... If it can happen in Greece, it can happen elsewhere, so you might expect a major capital flows out of peripheral countries into the safer core (indeed, the current record low bond yields on German and Dutch sovereign debt suggests this is already happening).
Last September, hedge fund manager John Hempton argued that the only solution was to put troops at the borders of Northern Europe, and ban electronic transfers, while the euro was unceremoniously broken up. He wrote:

There is a precedent. It is not a pretty one. When the Austro-Hungarian empire collapsed there was a single currency over a huge area covering much of what is now Euroland. In this case the rather Germanic Austrians were in charge (or rather were in charge until their empire collapsed).
What they did was put troops on all the borders and made it illegal to take cash (or wire cash!) across borders. Then all Austro-Marks in each country was stamped - converted to Drachma for Greece, Marks for Germany, Peseta for Spain or whatever the currencies of the day were [If someone remembers the 1918 border splits better than me they are welcome to say…]
In this conception all Spanish debts become Peseta debts. All German debts become Mark debts. All Greek debts become Drachma debts. Unstamped currency goes worthless.
There's more on the on Economic Musings blog.
1.29pm: Fears of an imminent euro exit is causing growing consternation in Athens, with one government minister speaking publicly about the risk of armed gangs toting Kalashnikovs hitting the streets.
Our own Helena Smith reports:

Throughout the day politicians have been talking about the dire effects a euro exit would have on the economy with one senior former official in the outgoing government speaking of "massive food shortages, petrol rations and run on Greek banks."

"If there was a stoppage of payments because we refused to commit to the [EU-IMF] program and Europe cut us loose we would see a drastic drop in the circulation of currency as well," said the official, who requested anonymity as the government is no longer effectively in power. "We would have to freeze deposits. We wouldn't have enough capital to afford imports, rationing would have to be introduced, there would be shortages in medicines and other commodities. They [the EU] wouldn't have to force us out. It would be so difficult we would leave," he told me.

In the last hour fears have also been voiced about the effect a euro exit would have on social order.

Speaking to a local radio station earlier today, Michalis Chrysohoidis, the minister for citizen protection in the outgoing government, chose to be more outspoken. He predicted that Greece would descend into "civil war" it if left the euro zone and reverted to the drachma.

"If Greece cannot meet its obligations and serve its debt the pain will be great," Chrysohoidis, a senior member of the socialist Pasok party, told Flash radio. "What do we have to lose more than we have lost already? Our freedom," he said. "What will prevail are armed gangs with kalashnikovs and which one has the greatest number of Kalashnikovs will count … we will end up in civil war."
1.23pm: The weakening euro has just hit a new three-and-a-half year low against sterling.
One pound is now worth €1.2501, making one euro worth 79.92p.
The euro had remained surprisingly resilient through much of 2012, before losing value as the Greek crisis intensified. Jane Foley, Rabobank's currency expert, reckons it could well strengthen later this year:
We do not expect the euro to remain on a permanent downward course. If Greece decides to adhere to the terms of its bailout, the euro would likely recover some ground. If politicians manage to steer euro through a Greek exit, the EUR would also recover in time.
Even on the unlikely event that politicians fail to prevent an European Monetary Union collapse and the euro becomes the currency of Germany and the core, the EUR would also eventually push sharply higher.
12.47pm: Global financial markets have hit new lows as the trading day has continued. Here's a round-up:
FTSE 100: down 116 points, or 2.1%, at 5458
German DAX: down 136 points, for 2.08%, at 6443
French CAC: down 70 points, or 2.25%, at 3059
Spanish IBEX: down 175 points, or 2.5%, at 6818
Italian FTSE MIB: down 430 points, or 3%, at 13616.
But the worst losses have been seen in Athens today, where the main index has fallen by 5.35% so far today.
Across Europe, financial stocks are the biggest fallers. Miners have also suffered big losses, which reflects fears that the eurozone crisis could derail the global economy.
12.33pm: Breaking news out of Athens from our correspondent Helena Smith:

Greek media are reporting that politicians in Pasok, New Democracy and the small Democrat Left – the three parties which in effect have agreed on the need to form a government with the aim of keeping Greece in the euro zone – are now considering establishing a short-lived coalition to steer the country through the next few months.

Helena continues:
Under this latest scenario, a government would be formed with the aim of running affairs for the next two to three months only. In that time it would deal with the "pressing matters" that would ensure Greece kept on receiving rescue loans from creditors. As reported earlier, Athens is due to receive a bumper €30bn injection of cash in June. But the quid pro quo is that the debt-stricken country also announces €11.5bn in further cuts to reign in public finances.

It should be recalled that the Democratic Left has demanded that Greece steadily "de-link" itself from the controversial conditions it has signed up to in its latest €130bn loan agreement with international creditors. How this will happen remains to be seen.
Helena adds that Wolfgang Schäuble's comments this morning (see 11.03am) that Greece needs help getting 'back to its feet' have raised hopes of a change in attitude by Berlin.
Regarding a coalition governmentt, there were similar rumours on Thursday evening when Pasok leader Evangelos Venizelos called for a unity government. Then, there was some support from the Democratic Left, but hopes of a deal still floundered.
Pasok, New Democracy and Democratic Left do have enough seats for a small majority in the Athens parliament. But as so many voters voted for parties who reject the terms of Greece's financial package, such a coalition could be very unpopular.
12.21pm: Helena Smith has got hold of this morning's statement from Syriza, in which leader Alexis Tsipras indicated he would be prepared to take part in new cross-party talks as long as Golden Dawn were excluded (as mentioned at 10.22am). Tsipras also attacked the "selective discussions" which he claims have been taking place in Athens in recent days.
Helena writes:
Syriza's statement, which spoke of Tsipras's "willingness" to participate in talks attended by all the party leaders - with the exception of the neo fascist Chrysi Avgi-- also demanded that the minutes of Sunday's meeting between the country's leading party heads and president Papoulias be "immediately published so the Greek people can be informed and the mass media stops the rumour mill regarding the positions and intentions of the parties."

"The presidency has a self-evident obligation" to release the minutes, it said.
12.01pm: The European Commission has followed Finland in firing a warning shot towards Athens today, warning that Greece cannot remain in the eurozone if it doesn't stick to the terms of its aid deal.
European Commission spokeswoman Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen told today's news briefing in Brussels that:
We wish Greece will remain in the euro and we hope Greece will remain in the euro... but it must respect its commitments.
Another signal that European leaders are "facing the inevitable" with Greece, or an attempt to put pressure on Greek leaders to somehow patch together a deal?
11.48am: The escalating eurozone crisis has prompted another dash into 'safe-haven' government bonds.
This has driven down the yields on sovereign bonds from the UK, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, and Luxumberg to record lows.
For Britain, this means that the 10-year gilt is trading at a record low yield of just 1.87% (compared to Spain's 6.2%).
Sky News' Ed Conway has tweeted this handy graph showing how UK borrowing costs have tumbled over the last 12 months.
UK govt borrowing rates now below 1.9% for 1st time since creation of capital markets 300yrs ago (10yr = 1.88%) twitter.com/EdConwaySky/st…
— Ed Conway (@EdConwaySky) May 14, 2012
Amazing what a financial crisis and €325bn of quantitative easing from the Bank of England can accomplish....
11.39am: As the fraught negotiations to form a government in Greece continue, the outgoing prime minister Lucas Papademos has weighed in with a stark warning, reports Helena Smith.

It has emerged that Papademos, a former vice president of the European Central Bank, has warned the country's president Carolos Papaoulias that if the political uncertainty continues much longer Greece's near empty coffers may dry up completely – and sooner than thought.
The technocratic prime minister, whose outgoing government officially no longer wields power, issued the warning in a note sent to the head of state on Sunday.
Described as an SOS by the Greek media, the epistle sounded the alarm, saying Athens faces the danger of default as early as the "beginning of June" because it will be unable to service its foreign debt obligations.
Papademos, who secured a second €130bn EU-IMF bailout for Greece after six months of tortuous negotiations, warned that funds could run out faster than expected because foreign lenders had withheld €1bn of the vital €5.2bn aid installment that arrived in Athens last week.
The political paralysis of the last few weeks had, he pointed out, drastically reduced the ability of Greece's tax collecting mechanisms to work effectively with the result that state revues had also dropped precipitously. Revenues have fallen from an average €40m per day to less than €25m.
Before the political turmoil, Greece had been expecting a "bumper" cash installment of €30bn euro with which it had planned to recapitalize banks (to the tune of €25bn), meet debt repayments and cover public sector pay and pensions.
Its troika of creditors at the EU, IMF and ECB have, with increasing force however, made plain that there will be no more aid before Athens gets a government that can show it will commit to the austerity and structural reform program viewed as vital to regaining competitiveness in a country whose economy, in a fifth straight year of recession, is virtually on its knees. Once the government is formed, troika officials will return to the Greek capital to review the financial progress made.
Papademos said the political uncertainty was not only hindering headway but putting immense pressure on Greece's banking system and, with it, the nation's cash-starved real economy. Another six weeks of instability following elections on June 17 – their most likely date – will aggravate the situation considerably, the macro-economist wrote in the note.
The outgoing finance minister Filippos Sachinidis (although invested with no real power) is expected to address the growing concern over Greece's leaderless state when he attends the Ecofin meeting in Brussels later today. Unlike Belgium which managed to survive without a government for a record 541 days, there is little illusion that Athens could remain rudderless for even a fraction of that time without its dysfunctional public administration collapsing first.
11.23am: New opinion poll data has been released in Athens.
It found that 66.1% of people want a coalition government to be formed, while 32.4% want new elections.
A narrow majority of people surveyed (53.6%) said they believe Greece should stick with its current economy plan. And on the question of Greece's future in the eurozone, 81.5% said they want the country to stay in the single currency.
(that's via Linda Yueh of Bloomberg)
11.03am: Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany's finance minister, put his finger on one of the causes of Greece's predicament this morning, telling reporters in Berlin that Greece would choose to devalue, if it had its own currency.
However, clearly Greece can't devalue without leaving the eurozone – and Schäuble went on claim that despite the crisis, Greece is better off staying where it is. He added that he understands Greece is in a:
desperately difficult situation.
Update: Schäuble also told reporters that "We have to get Greece back on its feet," perhaps a sign that Germany might concede some ground over the pace of fiscal reform?
Finland's European Affairs minister, Alexander Stubb, also commented on the Greek crisis, warning that the country cannot stay in eurozone if it rejects its bailout deal (as demanded by some of the parties which made gains in the 6 May election). Stubb said:

I think that is an impossible equation, and I think that in that sense it is an iresponsible statement.
10.51am: The curious thing about today's stock market selloff is that it comes eight days after the Greek electorate delivered a resounding rejection of the terms of the country's rescue package. European stock markets did fall last Monday (London was closed for a bank holiday), but there was then a recovery on optimism that a unity government could be chiselled out of the mess.
As David Jones, chief market strategist at IG Index, comments:
What little difference a weekend makes. Two days of back-and-forth negotiations in Athens produced much heat but little light, and the world woke up on Monday morning to yet another day without a Greek government. New elections in June now look like a certainty, and the possibility of a Greek exit from the eurozone is being openly discussed in the corridors of power.
European markets remain deep in the red, with the Athens index slumping to a 22 year low (down 4.15% at 586) this morning.
10.34am: Italy, like Spain, saw its borrowing costs rise as it auctioned sovereign debt this morning.
The Italian treasury agreed to pay a yield of 3.91% in return for finding buyers for three-year bonds, which is the highest rate since January (according to Reuters data). On the upside, Italy did sell the maximum €5.25bn it was aiming for.
Alan McQuaid of Bloxham Stockbrokers, in Dublin, warned that "things are going to get worse rather than better" for Italy in the bond markets, at least in the short term. That would add to the pressure on Mario Monti, Italy's technocratic PM, at a time when opposition to his economic reforms is growing.
Nicholas Spiro of Spiro Sovereign Strategy agreed, saying:
These are critical moments for Italy. The list of concerns is becoming longer, and includes the economy's ability to withstand more austerity, the dearth of foreign buyers at auctions, the increasingly uncertain political environment and, most importantly, the intensification of the Greek crisis. Italy remains extremely vulnerable to a sharp deterioration in sentiment, not least because of its large funding needs in the second-half of this year.
10.22am: An interesting development in Athem, vie the newswires. Alexis Tsipras, leader of Syriza, has apparently just aked the Greek president to hold a meeting with the leaders of all the main political parties, except Golden Dawn (the neo-Nazi party which won 21 seats in the election eight days ago).
More as we get it
10.08am: The eurozone economy is shrinking even faster than feared, according to industrial output data just released.
Eurostat reported that industrial production across the region shrank by 0.3% in March, and was 2.2% lower than a year ago. Economists had expected a rise of 0.4%.
The largest year-on-year decreases were seen in Luxembourg (-11.3%), Greece (-8.5%), Spain (-7.5%), Estonia and Finland ( -6.1%) and Italy (-5.8%).
Howard Archer of IHS Global Insight said eurozone manufactuers were suffering from tighter fiscal policy, weak consumer spending, and rising unemployment at home, along with higher oil prices and "relatively muted" global growth.
The official GDP data for the first three months of 2012 will be released on Tuesday morning. It is highly likely to show that the region's economy shrank for the second quarter in a row -- and this weak industrial production data suggests that the downturn could be faster than expected.
9.54am: Spain's borrowing costs have risen at its auction of short-term debt this morning.
Spain sold €2.9bn of 12 and 18-month bonds, slightly below its maximum target of €3bn. The yield (the interest rate) on the 12-month bonds jumped to 2.985%, from 2.623% at the last auction of this type, while the 18-month bonds sold at a yield of 3.3%, up from 3.11%.
So, Spain can still find buyers for its debt, but only at higher borrowing costs.
Update: Here's some reaction from Nicholas Spiro of Spiro Sovereign Strategy to the auction, and the situation in Spain:
It's turning into a perfect storm: a loss of confidence in the Rajoy government's ability to stop the rot and, perhaps more worryingly, renewed fears of a disorderly Greek exit from the eurozone.
In the eyes of investors, Spain has a serious credibility problem. It's not that its failing to tick the right boxes. Rather, it's that it's not ticking them quickly and forcefully enough.
9.31am: In a sign of the escalating unrest gripping Greece, the country's hardline KKE communist party has announced a major protest demonstration this evening.

Helena Smith reports:
Sensing that the announcement of fresh elections is just a matter of time, the country's unreconstructedly Orthodox communist party is getting ready to hit the streets. As I write, officials are already preparing for what is being described as a mass demonstration against the "destructive" one-way policies of the monopolies of capitalist power [the EU and IMF] in Athens pedio tou Areo park. The rally's motto is: "no expectation, no self-deception, no submission." Protestors have been asked to gather at 8:30 PM local time (6.30pm BST) to hear the party's fiery leader Aleka Papariga (at 67 the widow shows no sign of fading into the back ground) address the crowd.

In an annoucement the party singled out the country's political parties and the Greek Industrialists' association (SEV) for spreading "deceit and lies" in order to ensure further profits for the capitalist oligarchy. The KKE, like Syriza, have long argued that the threat of bankruptcy and chaos that would grip Greece if it defaulted on its debt has been vastly overblown.

"The KKE is directing a rallying cry ... for unremitting battle and readyness to overturn the rotten system," it said. We fiercely denounce this campaign of misinformation and are bent on stepping up our stuggle."
9.20am: The selloff in Europe is getting worse -- the FTSE 100 is now showing triple-figure losses, down 102 points at 5473.
Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland are all down at least 4%, as bank shares across Europe suffer (several Italian financial stocks are being briedly suspended in Milan after falling sharply).
The dollar is strengthening in the currency markets, as investors dash for the traditional safety of the US currency. That's pushing the euro lower ($1.2864 at pixel time).
9.11am: Spanish and Italian government debt has fallen in value this morning, driving up their implicit borrowing costs.
The yield (or interest rate) on Spain's 10-year bonds climbed higher to 6.2%, while the Italian equivalent hit 5.8%. This indicates that traders are growing more nervous that the Greek crisis could send dominoes toppling across Europe's preiphery.
Yields in the bond market don't directly affect a country's borrowing costs. However, it's a worrying sign as both Spain and Italy are selling debt today (see here).
Given the dire state of the Spanish banking sector, there are concerns that Spain will need a Greek-style bailout which would involve its bondholders taking losses. That could be one blow that the eurozone could not absorb, as Gary Jenkins of Swordfish Research explains:
The potential outcome would be that investors would immediately withdraw from funding Italy and if Italy goes then the whole Eurozone probably implodes.
8.52am: Greeks are in brittle and panic-stricken mood this morning, reports Helena Smith from Athens, as the crisis again dominates front pages across Europe.
Helena reports on the latest political development in Greece:
The failure of government-building negotiations here in Athens is now seen as certain. The ability of president Carolos Papoulias to act as a deus ex machina in the unfolding drama appears to have floundered on the resolute refusal of the increasingly assertive Syriza, the radical leftist group that yesterday was revealed by Kappa Research, the polling company, to be the most popular force in the land.
The small Democrat Left party, headed by the sensible pro-European former lawyer Fotis Kouvellis, knows that participation in a coalition without Syriza would be the equivalent of electoral suicide. Laos, the far right party, did it for a while by agreeing to cooperate in the outgoing "national salvation" government of technocrat Lucas Papademos and its popularity, as a result, plummeted. On May 6th, it didn't even cross the threshold to make it into Athens' 300-seat parliament. Attacking austerity is what gets votes and in that respect Alexis Tsipras, Syriza's leader, couldn't be doing better. New Democracy and Pasok, the parties now widely branded as 'pro-European' for their support of the unpopular austerity and structural reforms demanded by the EU and IMF in return for aid, say Syriza's cooperation (even if it is just tolerating the government) is essential if the new government is not to be constantly obstructed by anti-austerity strikes and protests.
The leaders – without Tsipras it would seem – will meet around the negotiating table again at 7:30 PM local time. Will they, with the chances of a Greek exit from the euro zone higher than at any other time, finally bite the bullet and go for it? In an ideal world, all three have said they would rather plug the power vacuum in Athens with a coalition government than go to elections again in June. For starters, the country can ill afford the estimated €25 million it will cost to hold another poll. But the answer seems to be 'no.'
"Everyone recognizes there will not be an agreement tonight," said one well-placed insider who has been busy working the phones. "They are just going through the motions. We are going to go to a new round of elections probably on June 17."
Meanwhile, he said, "we should expect movement" later in the day on the issue of the outstanding €450m bond repayment Greece must pay by tomorrow. "This has to be paid otherwise we default. The finance ministry is working on it."
8.40am: Greek banks shares tumbled this morning when trading began in Athens. Piraeus Bank shed 9.7%, with Alpha bank close behind with a 8.1% drop.
Greek shares had rallied last week on optimism that a unity government might be formed. Those hopes were firmly dashed last night, when Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras (the rising star in Greek politics), refused to let his coalition become "partners in crime" by forming an administration.
As our Athens correspondent Helena Smith explained last night:
The 38-year-old Tsipras has much to be happy – and immovable – about. An opinion poll published on Sunday, seven days after Greece's electoral earthquake, suggested voters were bent on sending further tremors through the political landscape. The survey, conducted by Kappa Research for To Vima, showed support for Syriza climbing from 16.8% to 20.5%.
8.29am: Spain's renewed indignado protests, now in their third day, appear to have calmed down - with far fewer people in Madrid's Puerta del Sol square overnight compared to the previous day.
Giles Tremlett reports from Madrid:

Police moved in to clear the square of the final 100 or so indignados at about 6am - with no complaints so far of violence.
Tomorrow marks the first anniversary of the the day, last May, when spontaneous camp-outs happened in city squares around the country, setting the example for the occupy movements in Wall Street and London. The impact of this year's protest is clearly less than last year.
The protests began on Saturday, when tens of thousands of Spaniards took to the streets in 80 cities in protest at Spain's deep economic problems. On Sunday, 18 people were arrested at Puerta del Sol after refusing to leave the square. But as the picture above shows, many protesters remained in situ last night.
8.14am: This morning's early stock markets losses (see 8.05am) were partly triggered by the news that even members of the European Central Bank's governing council have started discussing the prospect of a Greek eurozone exit.
Luc Coene, the central bank governor of Belgium, told the Financial Times yesterday that "I guess an amicable divorce – if that was ever needed – would be possible", adding that he'd regret such a break-up.
Ireland's central bank governor, Patrick Honohan, also claimed that a Greek exit from the eurozone would be "rather destabilising" but not disastrous. Honohan told a conference in the Estonian capital Tallinn this weekend that:
It is not necessarily fatal but it is not attractive.
It's very unusual for senior members of the ECB to speculate about a member leaving the euro. Arguably it simply reflects the political reality in Greece today, where voters rejected the terms of the country's aid deal. Or is it a signal to Athens that the rest of the eurozone would be prepared to see Greece cut adrift?
8.05am: European stock markets have fallen sharply at the start of trading,
In London, the FTSE 100 has shed 70 points, or 1.2%, to 5503. Every share has lost ground, with banking stock and miners leading the fallers.
Trading screens across Europe are flashing red. Here's a round-up:
German's DAX: down 1.1%
French CAC: down 1.5%
Spanish IBEX: down 2.3%
Italy FTSE MIB: down 1.9%
The growing prospect of a disorderly Greek default is alarming investors, explained Michael Hewson of CMC Markets, who commented:
Markets continue to feel the pressure and the stakes continue to rise as what was declared unthinkable a year ago or so now, starts to permeate mainstream thinking in Europe.
Political developments in Germany were also alarming traders, with Angela Merkel suffering electoral losses in North Rhineland Westphalia (details here). Hewson added:
These defeats could weaken her hand in trying to pass the fiscal compact through parliament at a time when her insistence on fiscal discipline or austerity comes under attack from around Europe.
7.55am: The eurozone crisis will be dominated today by talks in Athens and Brussels, while new industrial production data will show the state of the eurozone economy. Spain and Italy must also test investor confidence with bond sales.
Here's the agenda:
• Eurogroup finance ministers meet in Brussels: from 12.30pm BST / 1.30pm CEST
• Coalition talks resume in Athens: 5.30pm BST / 7.30pm Athens
• Spain sell €2bn-€3bn of 12 and 18-month bonds: from 9.30am BST
• Italy sells €3.5bn-5.25bn of bonds: from 10am BST
• Germany sells €4bn of 6-month bonds
7.45am: Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the eurozone debt crisis.
It's the start of a crucial week. The political crisis in Greece has intensified over the weekend, after attempts to form a unity coalition floundered. Leaders are due to meet again today, but without leftist coalition Syriza -- which yesterday refused to join a multi-party government that would stick to Greece's austerity plans.
If a coalition can't be formed (as appears likely), Greece heads for new elections in a few weeks.
The talk in the financial markets today is that a Greek exit from the eurozone is now a question of when, rather than if. The prospect of a disorderly default is likely to hit markets again today.
The political vacuum in Greece will dominate the agenda in Brussels later today, where finance ministers from across the eurogroup are meeting.
Graeme Wearden
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
14:55
Leveson inquiry: Alastair Campbell, Lord O'Donnell - live
» ‎ The Guardian World News
• Campbell: 'no express deal' between Blair and Murdoch
• Says Tessa Jowell sought assurances no deals had been done
• Plays down Blair-Murdoch phone calls before Iraq war
• Gove attack on Leveson inquiry was 'political strategy'
• O'Donnell: Coulson should have disclosed News Corp shares
• Coulson's predecessor Campbell 'probably' vetted to DV level
• Explains why he advised against hacking inquiry in March 2010
• Some senior police officers 'too close' to media
• Ministers should authorise special advisers on media links
• Suggests information commissioner could regulate press
3.52pm: Newspapers were given a sense of power under Margaret Thatcher, says Campbell, but that changed under John Major.
He admits that New Labour may have given the media "too much of a sense of their own power and we should have challenged that more".
3.51pm: Campbell does not believe newspapers derive power from their readers, as argued by Paul Dacre, Rebekah Brooks and others.
He says that any newspaper can launch an effective campaign and argues that some of the small circulation titles are among the most influential.
He adds that national newspapers can set the terms of debate, referring to the Daily Mail's present campaign against online pornography, but that this will not regularly dictate a policy response.
3.46pm: Politicians have done a "very very bad job standing up for themselves" in explaining why they need to maintain frequent contact with the media, Campbell says.
He adds that there must be a "proper reckoning" of power and status between media and politicians.
3.43pm: Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman has just tweeted:
I've just raised a point of order in the House of Commons about Jeremy Hunt and his accountability to Parliament harrietharman.org/raising-a-poin…
— Harriet Harman (@HarrietHarman) May 14, 2012
3.40pm: Jay asks if Rebekah Brooks amplified the fractious relationship between Gordon Brown and Tony Blair.
Campbell says not, but that Brown's people might have said things to her that they would not have said to Blair's people.
Jay asks if Campbell ever fed stories to the Sun.
"Yeah, so were other papers," he says. Every newspaper felt rivals were better treated by the Labour government, he adds.
3.39pm: The Guardian's Dan Sabbagh has just tweeted:
House of Commons has woken up to the point that Jeremy Hunt is accountable to Parlt, not Leveson. Cult Sec shld give full statment to Parlt.
— Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) May 14, 2012
3.38pm: Paul Waugh of PoliticsHome has just tweeted:
Tory MP Edward Leigh: "this House is supreme and Sovereign" + shd get documents 1st. Bercow agrees Parl shd be 'pre-eminent'
— Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) May 14, 2012
3.36pm: The BBC's Rebecca Keating has just tweeted:
Speaker Bercow rules Jeremy Hunt's accountability to Parliament is "not diluted or suspended by... engagement with an inquiry" #leveson
— Rebecca Keating (@RebeccaKeating) May 14, 2012
3.30pm: Campbell is asked about Rebekah Brooks. He attended Brooks's first wedding and her later marriage to Charlie Brooks.
"We were friendly, very friendly, and I liked Rebekah, but I think 'friendship' overstates it," he says, adding that he was "independently friendly" with her husband.
Campbell says he always had a sense that Rupert Murdoch really liked Rebekah and that she was "a rising star".
He adds that Brooks "overstated it" when she told the inquiry that Blair and his cabinet were a "constant presence" in her life for a number of years.
3.29pm: The inquiry has resumed.
Campbell is asked about media proprietors using the back door of No 10 to avoid being seen.
He says that Rupert Murdoch – who famously used the back door to visit the Tories – was seen as "uniquely neuralgic" and would spark a flurry of media interest if seen entering Downing Street.
3.18pm: Here is a summary of Campbell's evidence so far:
• Alastair Campbell has denied there was an "express or implied" deal between Tony Blair government and Rupert Murdoch before 1997 election
• Campbell played down three phone calls between Murdoch and Blair in runup to Iraq war in 2003
• Michael Gove speech critical of Leveson inquiry was part of Tory political strategy, claimed Campbell
3.17pm: The inquiry is now taking a short break.
3.14pm: Campbell reiterates that the phone calls between Murdoch and Blair did not strike him as odd.
"Even at times like this he would have spoken to all sorts of people. No, I wouldn't read too much into it, to be absolutely frank."
3.06pm: Campbell is asked about Blair's three phone calls with Murdoch in the runup to the Iraq war in March 2003.
Leveson asks what Blair was attempting to achieve with the phone calls.
Campbell explains that most non-Murdoch papers were against the war and Blair would have "appreciated the support" of Murdoch's titles.
He says: "I wouldn't overstate the significance of a couple of phone calls with Rupert Murdoch."
3.04pm: Campbell says he was "not too involved" in government discussions over media policy and the Communications Act 2003.
He says he was much more engaged with foreign policy at the time.
3.01pm: Campbell says when Tesssa Jowell took over as culture secretary she made it clear to Blair and Campbell that she wanted to take the job without any pacts or deals having been made on media policy. He says Blair gave her that assurance.
3.00pm: There was no appetite within the Labour government for a public inquiry into the standards and ethics of the press, Campbell tells the inquiry.
He says it is not unreasonably for politicians to "take account of political factors" when taking these decisions, including whether to wage war on the press.
2.57pm: Campbell says it became apparent there was a problem with the press, but Blair took the view it was not politically sensible to take them on.
He says the cultural issues of the press have been ongoing for some time and both politics and the media "have not faced up to that".
Jay asks if there is an appetite now.
"No, if I'm being frank," Campbell answers.
He adds that he believes David Cameron is reluctant to take on this issue and that a recent speech by Michael Gove in which the education secretary warned that the inquiry could have a "chilling effect" on the press was part of a "political strategy.
Campbell says it would very difficult for Cameron not to go along with the majority of the recommendations the Leveson inquiry produces, but he doesn't think there's much appetite for change.
2.56pm: The PoliticsHome.com editor, Paul Waugh, has just tweeted:
Worth watching out for a Commons point of order on J Hunt at 3.30pm I hear...
— Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) May 14, 2012
2.52pm: Hacked Off campaigner Natalie Peck is at the high court and has just tweeted:
AC statement:Gove speech on chilling effect of inquiry may be part of political strategy to ensure Tories don't lose media support. #Leveson
— Natalie Peck (@nataliepeck) May 14, 2012
2.49pm: Campbell is asked about the row in 1998 over Tony Blair being accused of intervening on behalf of Rupert Murdoch to help him buy the Italian TV firm, Mediaset.
He maintains that this was not an intervention, despite Murdoch saying in an interview he had asked Blair to contact the Italian prime minister about the planned deal.
2.40pm: Campbell repeats that there was no deal between Labour and News International.
Jay cites a half-page article the Sun offered Blair during the 1997 election that was headlined "Why I love the pound", when Labour's policy was to join the euro. Campbell admits that he felt "a little bit queasy" about the headline, but insists that the article was merely repeating existing Labour policy on Europe.
2.38pm: Jay asks Campbell about an "implied trade-off" between Labour and Murdoch, as suggested by former special adviser Lance Price.
Campbell denies Blair's thinking on cross-media ownership policies was influenced by Murdoch.
2.30pm: Jay reads out former Australian prime minister Paul Keating's reported advice to Blair on dealing with Murdoch:
He's a big bad bastard, and the only way you can deal with him is to make sure he thinks you can be a big bad bastard too. You can do deals with him, without ever saying a deal is done. But the only thing he cares about is his business and the only language he respects is strength.
Campbell repeats that no deal was done, adding there are lots of areas of media policy where one would struggle to say the Murdochs got a good deal out of the Labour government.
He says:
I was never witness to a discussion where he [Rupert] said, 'Tony, if you do this and this and this, we'll back you'. It just never happened.
2.29pm: Campbell is asked whether a deal was made between Rupert Murdoch and Tony Blair to support New Labour
"I don't think there ever was such a deal," he answers.
Do you have any evidence to support any idea that there was a deal? "No, absolutely not," he says.
2.26pm: Campbell contrasts Murdoch's hands-off attitude when he was at Today with Robert Maxwell, the former Mirror Group proprietor, who he says had a "fairly interfering" approach at the Daily Mirror.
Murdoch was "certainly the most important media player, without a doubt," says Campbell, adding that Murdoch backed New Labour because it was going to win the election; New Labour did not win because Murdoch backed the party.
2.25pm: Campbell says he was never in any doubt whether to fly Tony Blair out for a Hayman island conference at which Rupert Murdoch attended.
He says it was his idea to "use that event as a broader public platform and set out for a huge number of editors and executives what New Labour was about".
2.21pm: The Sun was a "significant player" and there was a sense of hierarchy of the importance of newspapers, Campbell says.
Dealing with "the Murdoch press", as Robert Jay QC puts it, was part of the job and Murdoch was the most powerful proprietor in Britain.
Campbell says he "felt a little uneasy at times" about dealing with the Sun, but that it was part of his job. His remark about feeling uneasy was in the context of the Sun asking for an article about Europe from a government minister, he says: "We didn't change policy, but we knew what they wanted rhetoric-wise".
2.18pm: Campbell says he was vetted to the DV level when he entered No 10. He cannot recall whether he signed a confidentiality agreement in opposition.. He was covered by the Official Secrets Act when in government.
Campbell says it was always assumed that he would be involved in "sensitive" areas that Blair had to deal with, citing Nato issues and Northern Ireland.
2.12pm: Campbell was hired by Blair in 1994. Blair told Campbell he wanted someone who was strategic and who understood the press but "not particularly someone from the tabloids". Campbell was previously political editor of the Daily Mirror.
Campbell believes he had to be "pretty robust and not shy of engaging in difficult debate" with the press as it was developing at the time.
He says there was a sense that Gordon Brown "had his own team" which Campbell wanted to lead, and that Peter Mandelson would also attempt to do Campbell's job.
Jay reads from Blair's book A Journey, which says:
Peter [Mandelson] would slip into the castle through a secret passageway and, by nimble footwork and sharp and incisive thrusts of the rapier, cleave his way through to the throne room. Meanwhile, Alastair would be a very large oak battering ram destroying the castle gates, and neither boiling pitch nor reinforced doors would keep him out.
Jay reads on "… he had great clanking balls as well".
Campbell says: "Ah, right."
Leveson comments: "Let's move on."
2.08pm: Alastair Campbell has taken the witness stand.
Campbell was Tony Blair's press secretary from 1997 to 2000 and then the No 10 director of communications and strategy until 2003.
2.00pm: In the light of News International's denial that Rupert Murdoch has "selective amnesia" about his 1981 meeting with Margaret Thatcher, it is worth re-reading Bernard Ingham's notes of the meeting, and Rupert Murdoch's "thank you" letter (at the end of the document linked here).
1.56pm: Lord Justice Leveson has published his ruling on the Independent on Sunday's publication of Andy Coulson's shareholdings.
The judge confirms that he will take no further action against the newspaper, after its editor, John Mullin, was summoned to give evidence last Thursday.
However, Leveson warns that he will "unhesitatingly" refer the source of any future leaks from the inquiry to the high court for breach of an order.
1.16pm: Here is a lunchtime summary of the key points from this morning's evidence:
• The former cabinet secretary, Lord O'Donnell, said Andy Coulson should have disclosed News Corp shares when he entered No 10.
• Coulson was not given top security clearance despite it applying to other former No 10 spin doctors.
• Jeremy Hunt's ex-special adviser, Adam Smith, should have treated News Corp's BSkyB bid process fairly, said O'Donnell.
• O'Donnell suggested that the information commissioner could take over press regulation.
• Some senior police officers were too close to the media, O'Donnell told the inquiry.
1.01pm: O'Donnell has now completed his evidence. The inquiry has broken for lunch and will resume with evidence from Alastair Campbell at 2pm.
1.00pm: O'Donnell warns that it would be "very dangerous" to cover social networks such as Twitter and Facebook with regulation that also applied to newspapers.
However, he suggests that blogs may be covered if they have a relatively high readership.
Lord Justice Leveson says that the future of regulation will be covered in the next module of the inquiry, starting in July.
12.48pm: O'Donnell is asked about the advice he gave to former prime minister Gordon Brown just before the May 2010 general election on whether there should be an inquiry into phone hacking.
O'Donnell's advice to Brown setting out the options, which was sent to Brown's principal private secretary, Jeremy Heywood, in March 2010, read:
From the limited information available it is doubtful whether this case would merit holding an inquiry under the 2005 act.
Any decision to hold such an inquiry could be challenged by judicial review particularly if the inquiry were extended to the media in general and it is not inconceivable that such a challenge might succeed.
You can read the Guardian's full story on the advice here.
O'Donnell says at that time evidence of widespread phone hacking was limited, there was no all-party support, and the timing, just before a general election, was not ideal. In addition, any such inquiry could have been subject to a judicial review.
He adds:
Well, I would say it's clearly a big potato, if you like to use that phrase. The timing wasn't ideal. If you're going to do this, actually it would be good to have – where stated, all-party agreement, and it would be much better to do that – trying to broker such a thing in the weeks running up to a general election was always going to be very difficult, so I think it's quite got good that we have something set up now with all-party agreement and hopefully when we come to the recommendation stage, you can get all parties to agree to that. I think that will give us something secure and lasting in what is a very, very difficult task, I admit, you have been given."
12.43pm: Jay asks whether there should be further enhancements to the ministerial code in relation to social interactions between ministers and the media.
O'Donnell says his advice to the prime minister was that "the social side does have to be there".
"I would strongly recommend to my successors that in the light of this inquiry whether that requires any amendments to the ministerial code," he adds.
He says that the current cabinet secretary should consider the outcome of the Leveson inquiry and whether to make relevant amendments to the ministerial code.
12.36pm: O'Donnell is asked about the future of press regulation.
He says that the new regulatory body should be chaired by someone independent of the press and with no media background.
Newspaper journalists should use the civil servants' code – emphasising impartiality – when reporting news, he suggests.
The information commissioner could undertake the role of a regulator but would have to be "very significantly enhanced". He says the Information Commissioner's Office is clearly independent and perceived as such.
12.27pm: O'Donnell is asked about the relationship between the press and police.
He says a number of senior police officers were "too close" to members of the media. "I happen to think it's not the right way to operate".
It was quite apparent to me that a number of senior police officers had very strong links with the media, and they were very close, and in my view, I would say too close. Their defence of this was that this was necessary, and this was true of a number of senior police officers. I happen to think it's not the right way to operate.
12.18pm: Lord Justice Leveson turns to the relationship between Jeremy Hunt's special adviser, Adam Smith, and the News Corp lobbyist Fred Michel over the BSkyB bid.
Leveson: Without making any decisions, because of course you are not there to do that any more, is there any assistance or light that you can shed on how the relationship should have worked, who should have got authority for what and how that should have happened?
O'Donnell: Well, the… I think it's clear in the special advisers' code that in terms of authorisation, ministers should authorise their special advisers as to what they do, for example, with the media. I would have expected the minister to be clear about what he thought his special adviser should be doing. Particularly, I think, the minister and permanent secretary will make clear what the nature of engagement should be in a – if we're going to use the shorthand – quasi-judicial procedure, absolutely.
Leveson: And would you expect that to be documented?
O'Donnell: Not necessarily. I mean, these are fairly regular and routine things. They're slightly different in every particular case. If, for example, you're in … and you're dealing with a planning issue, it's different. If you're dealing with a technical, economic or financial issue, again it's different. So these areas have slightly different aspects to them, but in general, the principles of keeping all parties informed about process is perfectly reasonable, but not getting into substance. I think that's a general accepted principle.
Leveson: Do you have any other observations upon the – not the detailed fact, which I don't think it would be fair to ask you to comment upon – but upon the principles in relation to this particular case?
O'Donnell: I think the principles should be very clear, that it should be made absolutely clear to all concerned that the way they should operate is fairly … talking about process is fine, but you should make sure that the same information is passed on all parties in a case, so that – I mean, this is not least to protect against a future judicial review, so fairness is absolutely crucial to what happened. And – well, that should be at the heart of the whole process, that everyone should be clear that that's the way they should operate.
12.15pm: The Guardian's deputy editor, Ian Katz, has just tweeted:
Remarkably shaky answer from normally silky Gus O'Donnell on Coulson (non) vetting at #Leveson. Few points...
— ian katz (@iankatz1000) May 14, 2012
and
1. O'Donnell v uncomfortable whn asked if Coulson's predescessors DV vetted. Claimed hd to work out which previous roles analagous. Nonsense
— ian katz (@iankatz1000) May 14, 2012
and
2. O'Donnell says some prev No 10 press secs were not initially DV vetted but later chose to be.Have heard no evidence of that.
— ian katz (@iankatz1000) May 14, 2012
and
3. GOD says aim wasto to minimise no of people with access to Top Secret papers but Coulson had access to Top Sec papers - without vetting
— ian katz (@iankatz1000) May 14, 2012
and
4. O'Donnell says DV process wd not have looked in into hacking - only seeks to establish "if you're blackmailable". Err, contradiction?
— ian katz (@iankatz1000) May 14, 2012
and
5. #Leveson has askd for full record of whether prev press secs DV vetted - big prob now for No 10 if they were. (I know just 1 who wasn't)
— ian katz (@iankatz1000) May 14, 2012
and
6. Key question now is who was involved in discussions about Coulson's security clearance. #Leveson must call Jeremy Heywood + Ed Llewellyn
— ian katz (@iankatz1000) May 14, 2012
12.13pm: O'Donnell repeats that it is crucial for the prime minister's press spokesperson to be a civil servant, because they speak on behalf of the government without party political influence.
He says:
I think it's really important that the prime minister's official spokesman is a civil servant and that's the clear government line. If there is a desire to get some political spin on that, then you can talk to the special adviser, but everyone knows that what the prime minister's official spokesman says is the government's position and there's no wriggle room.
12.11pm: O'Donnell is asked whether he gave any advice to Gordon Brown about his former press secretary Damian McBride when the former Labour leader was prime minister.
He says:
I did have a conversation with Gordon Brown when he was chancellor by felt that what Damian McBride was getting into as press secretary was in the areas where it would be more appropriate for Damian McBride to be a special adviser than a civil servant and that status change was made.
12.00pm: Andy Coulson did not disclose his shareholding in News Corp on his entry into No 10 when he should have done, says O'Donnell.
Coulson signed a disclosure form in May 2010 but did not reveal his shares in News Corp. He told the inquiry last week that he should have declared the shareholding.
He says:
A form was signed, but it didn't disclose the shareholding and it should have done.
11.58am: O'Donnell says that up to the airline bomb plot the vetting of Coulson "hadn't been an issue" because he was not heavily involved in security issues.
Developed vetting takes a while, O'Donnell says, and it was felt "given Mr Coulson's interests" that general security clearance was sufficient.
O'Donnell says that developed vetting is whether you are "blackmailable" and personal finance issues.
He adds:
It wouldn't have gone into enormous detail about phone hacking, for example.
He says he is aware of the danger of leaks, adding:
When people say to me, 'do you know how many people there are DVed?' I say 'actually we should look at that and keep it as tight as we need to.' So these should be on a need-to-know basis. So I think I do have a bias towards trying to keep the numbers low.
11.51am: Jay turns to Andy Coulson, the former News of the World editor and director of communications to David Cameron until July 2011.
On the vetting process, O'Donnell says Coulson was cleared to SC (or "security clearance") level, which allowed him access to secret papers but not to the higher DV (or "developed vetting") level, which was necessary for regular access to top-secret documents.
He says only a small number of people in No 10 were vetted to DV level. However, he says that Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair's director of communications, probably was cleared to this level.
11.49am: O'Donnell says there is a "need in the whole process to show absence of bias or perception of bias".
Ministers must be subject to "very careful rules about process" when ruling on business deals, he says.
11.48am: The Guardian's Lisa O'Carroll has just tweeted:
O'donnell written statement: need to find better ways of policing the compliance of special advisers with their code #Leveson
— lisa o'carroll (@lisaocarroll) May 14, 2012
11.48am: O'Donnell says elected politicians are best placed to rule on big business transactions, including media mergers, rather than a judge.
He says ministers should be entirely open about how they dealt with the bid and why they made decisions at every step.
11.44am: O'Donnell gave the green light for Jeremy Hunt, the culture secretary, to be given responsibility for the News Corp-BSkyB bid when it was removed from Vince Cable, the business secretary, following his comments about Rupert Murdoch.
The prime minister asked O'Donnell whether there was "any legal impediment to moving it to Mr Hunt", says Robert Jay QC.
O'Donnell says he received legal advice and told the prime minister he was "satisfied those statements [on Hunt's personal website in support of Murdoch] do not amount to a pre-judgment of the case in question".
11.37am: O'Donnell explains that the prime minister has a number of press secretaries and advisers in No 10, but most are senior civil servants. Only Craig Oliver, the prime minister's current director of communications, is technically a special adviser on the media.
He says that the shift to special advisers with a media rather than a policy background is regrettable. He cites Ed Balls as a former special adviser who was a trained economist and so on top of his subject.
11.28am: The inquiry has resumed and O'Donnell is asked about the appointment of Alastair Campbell as Tony Blair's director of communications in 1997.
Campbell was given the power to direct civil servants below him, according the Robert Jay QC. O'Donnell says: "I didn't think this was a good idea and I was glad when it was abandoned" because it gave the perception that impartial civil servants could be influenced politically.
Now, the prime minister's director of communications has no power to direct civil servants.
11.18am: The inquiry is now taking a short break.
11.17am: O'Donnell is asked about the role of special advisers.
He suggests that a rule requiring special advisers to work in the coalition government's interest will become strained towards the end of parliament.
Special advisers are able to represent ministers' views to the media, according to the special advisers' code as read by Robert Jay QC.
O'Donnell says in his witness statement that when special advisers have to resign it is usually because they became a bigger story than the minister they represent.
11.12am: O'Donnell is asked about an amendment to the ministerial code on meetings with the media he recommended in July 2011.
Does this include social interactions?
Yes, O'Donnell says, lunches should be included. "It goes back to not just the reality but the perceptions," he says.
Leveson asks if there needs to be further clarity about the category of these meetings, ie is "general discussion" transparent?
O'Donnell suggests there should be greater disclosure of the detail of these meetings, but warns that this throws up questions of whether notes from these meetings are subject to freedom of information requests.
11.09am: BBC political correspondent Ross Hawkins has just tweeted:
Cons MP Chris Heaton-Harris dubs #leveson Inquiry "pathetic Westminster village navel gazing"
— Ross Hawkins (@rosschawkins) May 14, 2012
11.02am: O'Donnell says it would be "disproportionate" to record all details of meetings between politicians and journalists – these conversations are the "basic lifeblood" of media and politics, he says – so he sets the bar at editors and proprietors.
"These should be noted in a transparent way, but they shouldn't be stopped," he adds.
O'Donnell says that if a minister is personal friends with an editor he would urge transparency over their meetings and caution over what they discuss.
10.58am: Jay turns to the ministerial code, which O'Donnell agrees is "a series of high-level principles rather than strict rules".
O'Donnell says ministers take the code very seriously. He says, over history, "amazing conflicts" have been allowed to place.
Here is the ministerial code that O'Donnell is discussing.
O'Donnell says he recommended changes to the code in a bid for transparency over ministers' meetings with media proprietors and editors.
"The whole principle behind this was err on the side of caution," he says.
10.51am: O'Donnell is asked about self-regulation of the press.
He says phone hacking has "dented the public perception" of self-regulation and that the PCC "didn't solve the problems; didn't foresee them" and "in a sense, there was no regulator" because it did not see itself as one.
10.50am: O'Donnell says he agrees with David Cameron that relationships between proprietors and top politicians got too close.
He is asked about special advisers.
O'Donnell says that special advisers often have a media or PR background and he believes some of them may leak or spin stories to newspapers.
10.46am: O'Donnell asks for the inquiry to explore the potential for separating news and comment in newspapers; he says these two are "much more mixed up than I think it should be".
Lord Justice Leveson asks whether it is tenable for broadcasters to remain impartial.
O'Donnell says any regulation of the media should "look at" all media, including broadcasters and newspapers, because to do otherwise would "create incentives" for the different mediums.
"Do the readers understand that they are actually subject to different sets of regulation?" asks O'Donnell. He is worried that specific legislation to cover the media would cover today's technology, but adds that it is very complex "which is why we have such an eminent inquiry..."
"Don't start," interrupts Leveson, to laughter.
10.39am: O'Donnell is asked about the perceived closeness between newspaper proprietors and top politicians.
"The degree of relationships increased through time, there's no doubt about that," he says. "But I am not aware of anything … where I think something happened that shouldn't have done."
O'Donnell says it is in politicians' "strong interests" to talk to editors and proprietors to explain policies and attempt to win their support.
"As long as you have newspapers which are allowed to strongly support political parties … that relationship is going to continue."
O'Donnell says he would like to see a shift to a US model for newspapers, which largely separate "pretty straight" news stories from editorial opinion.
10.34am: O'Donnell opposed televising lobby briefings because he believed that would turn the press secretary into a public figure.
He describes "the dark arts" as when politicians would spin policies to suit a particular newspapers. He says the lobby briefing was meant to be a "definitive guide" to policies to "keep the system honest".
10.32am: Jay asks if Major was obsessed with press coverage.
Major felt "quite strongly that it was important that the press should be accurate," O'Donnell says. "He took a keen interest".
O'Donnell adds that Major "got particularly upset" when subject to criticism of a personal nature and once sued the New Statesman over "incorrect statements," he says.
10.28am: Jay asks about Lord O'Donnell's time as press secretary for John Major during his prime ministership, between 1990 and 1997.
O'Donnell says his job was to make sure all newspapers were represented in the lobby system, following the Guardian and Independent's exit under his predecessor Sir Bernard Ingham.
He was the impartial explainer of government policy he says, adding that he does not believe the election of John Major in 1992 was influenced by the press.
10.24am: Lord O'Donnell, the former cabinet secretary, has taken the witness stand.
Robert Jay QC, counsel to the inquiry, is doing the questioning.
10.20am: Davies says there was "no express deal, no implied deal either" for the Times takeover. "To call this thesis speculation is to use too dignified a term," he says.
Davies adds that it is "against the rules" for Jay to accuse Murdoch of selective amnesia after – and not during – the News Corp boss had given evidence.
"There is no basis for Mr Jay's delayed airing of doubts over [Murdoch's] credibility," he says.
Davies has now finished the News International statement.
10.17am: Davies says that Jay claimed deals were done using "finely tuned antennae" and "this is the stuff of fantasy".
"Documentary evidence does not support any thesis that the rules were bent … Deals cannot be done on telepathy," he says.
Murdoch did not ask Thatcher to cut any corners for him over the Times deal, he adds.
10.09am: News International is making an opening statement about module three, the inquiry probe into relations between press and police.
Rhodri Davies, the News International counsel, is on his feet.
Davies criticises the inquiry's lead counsel, Robert Jay QC, for implying in his statement that there was a "sinister" relationship between News International and politicians. He says this is "quite wrong" and newspapers are perfectly entitled to support politicians if they agree with them.
"The problem comes when proprietors prostitute their papers," he adds.
Davies says it seemed at times from Jay's opening statement that it was "discreditable to own or edit the Sun".
10.05am: The inquiry has begun.
Lord Justice Leveson opens by turning to the Independent on Sunday's story about Andy Coulson on 6 May.
Leveson says he will publish later today a detailed ruling in relation to this incident. He will not take action under section 36 of the Inquiries Act.
However, he warns anyone considering publishing material not yet heard by the inquiry to read the judgment very carefully.
10.04am: The Guardian's Dan Sabbagh has just tweeted:
NewsInt going to make opening statement to Leveson this am, big legal guns present, so expect something interesting..
— Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) May 14, 2012
9.56am: Here's how the Guardian's Stephen Bates described Campbell's evidence before the Leveson inquiry in November:
He was determined to have his day in court and, for three hours, he had it entirely on his own terms, to settle scores and disdain his former trade. "I have a very, very thick skin," he told the inquiry, demonstrating perhaps the opposite. "I frankly have reached the point where I genuinely don't care what the papers say about me at all. I have never sued a paper … most of the bile, I couldn't give a damn."
The press was relentlessly negative, its agendas swamped its news-gathering, its journalists invented quotes and made up stories: "This is routine, this is endemic. The attitude is, 'How do we turn this to fit what we think of the world?' If the public knew the truth about the way certain sections of the media operate, it would be absolutely horrified."
Campbell produced a 55-page witness statement, detailing some of the horrors, but a draft had already been leaked on the web. "I think British journalism is the best in the world and the worst in the world, sometimes in the same edition. I do defend a free press, but this press is barely worth defending."
He turned his ire especially on Paul Dacre, editor of the Daily Mail. This was Campbell in St Sebastian mode, assailed by lies and smears by a newspaper constructed entirely in its editor's image. The Mail had only printed a correction after it reported his father had died, when he was demonstrably still alive.
You can read the full article here.
9.52am: Welcome to the Leveson inquiry live blog.
Today Alastair Campbell, former director of communications and strategy for Tony Blair, gives evidence for a second time.
In November, Campbell typically pulled no punches at the inquiry, describing a "frankly putrid" press with some sections "barely worth defending". His targets included Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre and his former employer the Daily Mirror, which he accused of hiring private eyes to investigate him and Peter Mandelson.
He is expected to be similarly forthright today as he is questioned about his relationship with journalists as Tony Blair's press chief and his role in persuading Rupert Murdoch's Sun to back Labour at the 1997 general election.
Also giving evidence is Lord O'Donnell, who as Sir Gus O'Donnell was cabinet secretary for three prime ministers from 2005 to 2011.
In No 10, O'Donnell was responsible for ensuring ministers' advisers had the correct security clearance, and he is likely to be asked why former News of the World editor Andy Coulson was only given mid-level SC clearance and whether he had access to top secret papers.
O'Donnell is also expected to be asked whether he persuaded Gordon Brown not to set up a phone-hacking inquiry before the last general election.
Please note that comments have been switched off for legal reasons.
Josh HallidayDugald Baird
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14:40
North Dakota: riding the oil rush
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Oil has brought money and jobs to this sparsely populated region – but residents fear a ban on fracking will stop the boom
North Dakota sits on top of the largest continuous oil deposit in the lower 48 states. The Bakken shale formation covers about 200,000 square miles, extending through North Dakota and Montana into the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. There are also moves to look for oil in South Dakota, too.
The US Geological Survey estimated in 2008 there were 4bn barrels of recoverable oil in the Bakken Formation. Oil company estimates range as high as 24bn barrels.
Geologists have known about those oil deposits since 1951, but could not easily get at the oil – contained in relatively shallow layer of rock – with traditional well-drilling techniques. A second oil rush in the 1970s and 1980s also sputtered out, because of a fall in global oil prices.
North Dakota oil would still be in the ground if it weren't for technological advances, such as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. Horizontal drilling means there is virtually no chance of drilling a dry well; oil companies had a 99% success rate in 2011.
Now state officials and oil industry executives say this time they expect the boom to last – unless there is a ban on the process known as fracking.
"My biggest concern is that the federal government will put a two-year moratorium on fracking," said Ward Koeser, the mayor of Williston, the town at the centre of the oil rush. "We all hear the term fracking and it has a pretty bad image."
With the new techniques, crews use sensors to drill up to 2 miles below the surface of the earth, and then track formations for up to 2 miles, fracking the well by injecting huge volumes of water sand and chemical into the ground to blast the oil out of the rock.
It's costly and environmentally damaging. It can take up to 3m gallons of water to open up a single well, and there will eventually be 50,000 wells in this corner of North Dakota. The state is already tapping into one of the six reservoirs on the Missouri river.
Therre are also concerns about flaring, the widespread practice of burning off the natural gas coming out of the wells. Ceres, the sustainable investment group, warned last month that flaring in North Dakota was producing as many carbon emissions as putting more than 380,000 new cars on the road. And that's just the beginning of the climate change impacts of producing and using all that oil.
But for now, North Dakota is riding the rush. State officials have said the oil boom is bringing in about $2bn a month to this sparsely populated region, and dramatically reversing a steady decline in population.
Drilling a well creates about 120 direct jobs, and about 420 additional jobs in spin-off industries.
Williston is now the fastest growing micro-city in America. Some projections suggest that the town, which a few years ago had a population of 10,000, could soon be home to 100,000.
Koeser can't quite envisage that. He has been mayor for 18 years, and can't see Williston growing beyond 50,000. But he acknowledges the area is in for tremendous change.
As with the influx of oil workers, there have been winners and losers. A handful of farmers have become multi-millionaires overnight by leasing land to oil companies.
Typically, however, mineral rights are divided among several different family members. A single individual may get only a relatively small share of the oil revenue – but that could still amount to about $5,000 a month when the well is running strong, Koeser said.
The oil boom is also boosting pay cheques. In the last two years, the average weekly wage has risen from $1,000 to $1,400, according to figures supplied by the city.
But rents in Williston have gone up even faster than salaries, rising from $500 a month for a two-bedroom apartment to $2,500 a month.
Some locals may end up with nothing at all in this boom – or may even be forced out, Koeser said.
"Young people accept it quite well. They see a lot of opportunities. They don't mind the traffic. They don't mind waiting in stores," Koeser said. "But the older people are stressed by it. They kind of liked living in a town of 12,500 where everybody knew everybody."
Suzanne Goldenberg
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14:24
O'Donnell: Hunt should have known of adviser's contact with News Corp
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Former head of civil service tells Leveson inquiry that information should have also been passed to opponents of BSkyB bid
The former head of the civil service, Lord O'Donnell, has told the Leveson inquiry that the culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, should have known that his special adviser was giving feedback to News Corporation on its BSkyB takeover bid.
O'Donnell, also the former cabinet secretary, said during his appearance before the inquiry on Monday that if ministers or their special advisers were passing on information to News Corp, they should have been passing on the same information to the opponents of the bid.
Hunt has been facing calls to resign over his handling of the BSkyB takeover bid since last month, when his special adviser Adam Smith was forced to resign after 163 pages of emails submitted to the Leveson inquiry revealed his close contact with News Corp lobbyist Frédéric Michel.
Hunt has insisted it was Smith, not him, that had the back channel of communication with News Corp and intends to defend his conduct before the Leveson inquiry.
O'Donnell told the inquiry Hunt should have known what his special adviser was doing.
"I think it's clear in the special advisers' code that in terms of authorisation, ministers should authorise their special advisers as to what they do, for example, with the media. I would have expected the minister to be clear about what he thought his special adviser should be doing," he said.
He added that this was crucial where a minister had a quasi-judicial role, as Hunt did, as he had the power not to refer the BSkyB on to the competition authorities.
"I think the minister and permanent secretary will make clear what the nature of engagement should be in a … quasi-judicial procedure," O'Donnell said.
Asked by Lord Justice Leveson about the "principles" involved in overseeing a takeover bid such as News Corp's move for Sky, O'Donnell said: "You should make sure that the same information is passed on all parties in a case. This is not least to protect against a future judicial review, so fairness is absolutely crucial to what happened."
He also suggested new codes could be drawn up to prevent special advisers getting entangled in issues of competition. "Recent events have demonstrated the need to keep special advisers out of areas where ministers are operating in a quasi-judicial capacity."
O'Donnell defended the decision not to put former No 10 spin doctor Andy Coulson through the highest level of security vetting even though he was getting access to "top secret" documents.
He said it was unlikely the highest grade of vetting – developed vetting – would have revealed anything significant about phone hacking because the questioning would not have been detailed.
"It would not have gone into enormous detail about phone hacking," O'Donnell added.
He said he was comfortable that Coulson had been given the lower "SC" vetting because he needed to get straight down to business and "DV" vetting would have taken six months.
Only when a terror plot was discovered at East Midlands airport in late 2010 did the need for DV vetting come up because Coulson then needed access to counter-terror briefings, O'Donnell said.
DV vetting started in November 2010 but was not complete when Coulson resigned his job in January 2011, the inquiry heard.
O'Donnell also confirmed that Coulson had not declared that he held £40,000 shares in News Corp when he entered No 10. "A form was signed, but it didn't disclose the shareholding and it should have done."
Earlier, O'Donnell suggested to Leveson that journalists should adhere to the civil service code and that the press could be regulated by the information commissioner.
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Lisa O'Carroll
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14:23
JP Morgan investment boss Ina Drew quits over bank's $2bn losses
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Chief investment officer to be replaced by Matt Zames as banking giant fights to contain massive losses at London offices
Ina Drew, a thirty-year veteran of JP Morgan Chase and one of Wall Street's most senior women bankers, has quit, as the bank fights to contain massive losses at its London operation.
Jamie Dimon, JP Morgan's chief executive, said Sunday there was "no excuse" for the disastorous series of bets it made under the guidance of Drew, the chief investment officer.
Drew, 55, was one of the bank's highest-paid employees, and earned over $31m in the past two years. Among other responsibilities as chief investment officer (CIO), she oversaw the bank's London offices, and the trading strategy that led to trader Bruno Iksil becoming known as the "London Whale" for the massive positions he was taking.
The bank said Drew will retire. It made no mention of her severance package. US law allows banks to claw back bonuses from executives when it discovers that their trades have backfired.
Dimon praised Drew's contribution to the bank. "Ina Drew has been a great partner over her many years with our firm. Despite our recent losses in the CIO, Ina's vast contributions to our company should not be overshadowed by these events," he said in a statement.
Until this week the low profile mother of two was viewed as one of the most powerful women on Wall Street. She became CIO in 2005 and was a close confidante of Dimon's, frequently making lists of the most powerful women in business. She was known as a mentor of other women within the bank.
Matt Zames, currently co-head of investment bank's global fixed income unit and head of capital markets, will succeed Drew, JP Morgan said.
JP Morgan is still weighing the fate of Iksil and other traders. Iksil has been suspended from trading and is currently at home in Paris. Achilles Macris, in charge of the London-based desk that placed the trades, and trader Javier Martin-Artajo, a managing director on Macris's team, are also expected to leave.
In London, rumours were spreading that workers in the bank's chief investment office, where the losses occurred, are at risk of dismissal. The bank did not return calls for comment.
Drew's trading strategy was meant to shield the bank from the ongoing European financial crisis, and involved a series of complicated investments in credit derivatives.
The size of the bank's investments rattled investors and analysts earlier this year. In April, Dimon dismissed those concerns in a conference call with analysts. Asked about the London Whale, Dimon said: "It's a complete tempest in a teapot. Every bank has a major portfolio and in those portfolios you make investments to offset exposures. Obviously it is a big portfolio we are a large company."
When he announced the loss on May 10, Dimon called the firm's handling of the situation "flawed, complex, poorly reviewed, poorly executed and poorly monitored."
Despite Drew's departure and the likelihood of more to come, pressure remains on Dimon. Regulators on both sides of the Atlantic are now investigating the losses, shareholders are threatening to sue, and in Washington politicians are calling for new regulations to be tightened, regulations of which Dimon has been a vocal critic.
Regulators are currently drafting the so-called "Volcker rule", which would limit the types of trading banks are allowed to undertake. Over the weekend, US senator Carl Levin, co-author of the rule, said Wall Street had successfully watered down the rule.
Levin said the enormous loss at JP Morgan was a prime example of why the rule had to be enforced in its original format.
"The issue here is the power of the banks and whether or not we are going to put a cop back on Wall Street," he told NBC's Meet The Press.
"The issue is whether we are going to stick with the law as written, which will prevent us from bailing out banks again."
Dominic Rushe
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14:23
Defence cuts help MoD win war against 'woeful budget indiscipline'
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Defence secretary Philip Hammond vows to cut further if necessary as department fills £38bn funding gap
The savage cost-cutting programme at the Ministry of Defence has finally brought the department's budget under control, filling a £38bn funding gap, the defence secretary Philip Hammond has said.
But though the department has found enough money to boast a small surplus, Hammond said none of the cash would be used to reduce the number of civilian and military personnel being made redundant.
He also warned he would cut the number of new aircraft bought for the Royal Navy's new aircraft carriers if the budget for them spiralled out of control.
Hammond said the MoD's reputation had been tarnished by years of mismanagement, and promised that "woeful budget indiscipline" would not be repeated.
The chief of the defence staff, General Sir David Richards, said the military, politicians and civil servants had all been guilty of allowing the department's spending to get out of control.
Nick Hopkins
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14:02
Obama takes swipe at Romney's jobs record – US politics live
» ‎ The Guardian World News
New ad attacks Romney's time at Bain Capital while new Gallup poll reveals gender gap on same-sex marriage
5.30pm: At least one Mitt Romney supporter has changed sides in the wake of Obama's support for same-sex marriage. Bill White, an openly gay man who had donated to Romney's camapign, has written the Republican candidate a letter that CNN also received:
I feel that I no longer wish to support your presidential campaign and ask that you please return the maximum contribution that I gave to you last year... You have chosen to be on the wrong side of history and I do not support your run for president any longer.
After hearing Romney's address at Liberty University on the weekend, White wrote: "I believe that you will do as you now say and try to force a constitutional amendment which would attempt to make my own legal and blessed marriage null and void."
And with that, we shall say good evening.
5.20pm: Barack Obama, meanwhile, is at a fundraising event in New York City, where he cautions that the coming presidential election is going to be a close one:
Which reminds us all of Pauline Kael's famous quote after Richard Nixon's victory in 1972: "I only know one person who voted for Nixon. Where they are I don't know."
4.44pm: Ron Paul's decision to retreat from active campaigning comes as the candidate is "deeply uncomfortable with the spectacles staged on his behalf," according to Molly Ball in the Atlantic:
Short of winning the nomination, Paul's aim throughout the primary has been to achieve recognition for his ideas and to get libertarians accepted as part of the Republican Party's larger coalition. Racking up primary votes and encouraging his supporters to embed themselves within their local GOP infrastructure are ways of forcing the establishment to accept that there are a lot of people out there who believe what Paul believes, and they're here to stay. But the chaos now afoot threatens to undermine any inroads Paul has made by once again casting his supporters as hostile invaders bent on overthrowing the Republican Party from within.
But there is no truth that Ron Paul plans to change his name to Metta World Peace, like another famous Ron.
4.28pm: The inevitable Romney campaign riposte to the Obama campaign's earlier ad about Romney's venture capital firm Bain.
In this edition, Bain created a new steel company that now employs 6,000 people.
But as always, there's more to the story, as Think Progress quickly points out:
But the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reported at the time (via Nexis), that Bain was just one of eight financiers for the project – hardly the lone white knight:
Financing to build the plant is coming from the Mellon Bank in Pittsburgh, NBD Bank, Fort Wayne National Bank, Lincoln National Life Insurance Co., the Bank of Japan, the Bank of Germany and the Paris Bank. Capital and Bain Capital are also investors.
And while the video touts Romney's "private-sector" team, the company was successful thanks, in part, to big government subsidies and grants – $37m from the state of Indiana and DeKalb County.
4.10pm: There's an interesting Republican senatorial primary in Nebraska tomorrow. While two more mainstream Republican candidates – Jon Bruning and Don Stenberg – have been slugging it out, the Tea Party-backed Deb Fischer has been gaining ground.
Here's one of Fischer's ads – note the cows labelled "Stenberg" and "Bruning" while the announcer intones "Tired of the same old politician bull?" – which is pretty punchy and hits all the Tea Party buttons.
It's not quite that simple: Bruning has been backed by the Tea Party's spiritual godfather, Senator Jim DeMint, for example, while Sarah Palin is backing Fischer. But two polls show it to be a tight race between the pair.
The battle is for the seat held by the Democratic party's retiring Ben Nelson – and former senator Bob Kerrey is likely to be the Democratic nominee awaiting the winner.
4pm: Slightly late to this but Politico has some intriguing comments regarding Mitt Romney's likely vice presidential choice: an "incredibly boring white guy" according to its source:
"If not [Ohio Senator Rob] Portman, [former Minnesota Governor Tim] Pawlenty, [Indiana Governor Mitch] Daniels — some other incredibly boring white guy," the official said. "If there was a fourth name on the list, it's [Virginia Governor] Bob McDonnell."
One argument for Pawlenty is that he would help the ticket among evangelical Christians who are suspicious of Mormonism.
Other names will be floated but, under the campaign's current theory of the case, are long shots: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who is said by insiders to want it the most and also to annoy some aides with his aggressiveness; Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who is not being as seriously considered as popularly believed because aides don't see him as experienced enough or appropriately vetted.
3.42pm: The Obama campaign's "secret weapon" – an online suite of tools named Dashboard – is examined by my Guardian colleagues Ed Pilkington and Amanda Michel:
They have put together a team of more than 100 statisticians, predictive modellers, data mining experts, mathematicians, software engineers, bloggers, internet advertising experts and online organisers at the Obama For America headquarters in downtown Chicago, which has been labouring since its start to craft a new generation of digital campaign tools.
They are keeping specific details about Dashboard heavily under wraps for fear that they might lose the substantial advantage they now enjoy over their rivals in the Romney campaign.
3.26pm: I have little to add to this headline: "Mitt Romney supporters, Ron Paul partisans brawl at Oklahoma GOP convention".
"The procedures took a back seat to physical altercations," says the local anchor. And as you'd expect for a brawl involving Ron Paul and Mitt Romney supporters, it all went down at an Embassy Suites.
3.19pm: An interesting Reuters piece interviews US army veterans on who they are likely to vote for president in November and finds – surprise, surprise – that they are as conflicted about the choice as the rest of the country:
The GOP's heated rhetoric, aimed at the party's traditional hawks, might be expected to resonate with veterans. Yet in interviews in South Carolina, a military-friendly red state, many former soldiers expressed anger at the toll of a decade of war, questioned the legitimacy of George Bush's Iraq invasion, and worried that the surge in Afghanistan won't make a difference in the long run.
3.10pm: One big difference between British and American politics – apart from the accents and the socialism – appears to be: lack of Rupert Murdoch on this side of the Atlantic.
From today's Leveson inquiry sprang this strange fact:
British prime ministers, on the other hand, don't have to ask anyone. They invite Rupert over for tea on multiple occasions, along with his children, co-workers and executives. It's one big happy family.
3pm: Will Mitt Romney meet British prime minister David Cameron in London during the summer? According to the FT, it's sounding likely, although the Romney campaign is all "no comment" on the subject:
A face-to-face meeting with Mr Romney would help to smooth any sore feelings over Mr Cameron's extremely friendly visit to Washington in March, when President Barack Obama flew him on Air Force One to watch a basketball match in Ohio.
Mr Cameron's team say the prime minister would like to meet Mr Romney, the presumptive Republican party nominee, probably around the start of the London Olympics on July 27.
Certainly the British sound keen, with one official telling the FT "the idea is that [Romney] would certainly get a generous reception from Cameron".
Romney could do with the exposure and the chance to do a bit of statesmanlike posing, since foreign policy is a hige hole in his resume. What Cameron gets out of it isn't so clear, other than hedging their bets in case Romney wins in November.
2.50pm: Something that has always puzzled me about America is why trenchant social conservatives – such as, say, Sarah Palin – give their children remarkably unconservative names like Trig, Track, Willow and Piper. Meanwhile, radical socialist class warrior Nancy Pelosi called her children Paul and Christine.
On the heels of the latest official list of most popular children's names, here's the sensible explanation from Laura Wattenberg, founder of BabyNameWizard.com, via NPR:
The reason for more outlandish-sounding names cropping up in conservative quarters is simple, Wattenberg says. Women in red states tend to have their first children earlier than women in blue states. A 23-year-old mom is more likely to come up with something out of the ordinary than one who is 33.
Time, Newsweek, there's a cover for you right there.
2.42pm: New Mexico governor Susana Martinez has been tagged as a potential vice presidential pick for Mitt Romney, although she has firmly insisted that she's not interested, for commendable personal reasons.
And it would appear she wasn't kidding, either, based on her view of where the Republican party should be on immigration, in an interview with Newsweek:
It's a topic she has been reluctant to discuss since winning the Republican primary in 2010, so what comes next is surprising: a battle plan that contradicts nearly everything the GOP has been doing and saying since 2007, Romney's "self-deportation" strategy included. "'Self-deport?' What the heck does that mean?" Martinez snaps. "I have no doubt Hispanics have been alienated during this campaign. But now there's an opportunity for Governor Romney to have a sincere conversation about what we can do and why."
Naturally, Martinez has some suggestions. First, Republicans should remind Latinos that Obama pledged to pass comprehensive immigration reform by the end of his initial year in office, but "didn't even have the courage to try." Next, the GOP should outflank the president – on the left – by proposing its own comprehensive plan.
Outflank Obama on the left? Yes that sounds like today's GOP all right.
2.22pm: While President Obama was addressing the graduands at Barnard, there was a surprising development in the Republican presidential contest.
Ron Paul, the doughty presidential candidate, announced via a statement, that he will no longer be running an active campaign:
Moving forward, however, we will no longer spend resources campaigning in primaries in states that have not yet voted. Doing so with any hope of success would take many tens of millions of dollars we simply do not have. I encourage all supporters of Liberty to make sure you get to the polls and make your voices heard, particularly in the local, state, and Congressional elections, where so many defenders of Freedom are fighting and need your support.
I hope all supporters of Liberty will remain deeply involved – become delegates, win office, and take leadership positions. I will be right there with you. In the coming days, my campaign leadership will lay out to you our delegate strategy and what you can do to help, so please stay tuned.
Ron Paul was the last hold-out from the inevitable march to triumph for Mitt Romney. As someone once said: They think it's all over. It is now.
This is Richard Adams, taking over from Tom McCarthy's excellent live-blogging of President Obama's commencement address.
2.12pm: That wraps up our live coverage of the president's commencement address at Barnard College.
If the president set out to shore up his status as the candidate with the best record on women's issues, he went about it not by harping on policy initiatives but by mentioning the issues and then telling personal stories about the influence of women throughout his life.
This was the president's home court, his sympathetic audience, the kind of crowd who could listen to him tell stories about Michelle all day. Literally, not just figuratively.
Does this speech help the president expand his appeal beyond his base? There's the feeling that he is preaching to the choir. But maybe that's a smart thing to do every once in a while. Maybe now the rest of the national congregation will get the message more forcefully when the choir turns around to sing.
2.00pm: Now some rhetorical flourish from the president, and his first allusion to his coming out in support of gay marriage:
"That's how we achieved women's rights, that's how we achieved voting rights, that's how we achieved worker's rights, that's how we achieved gay rights."
The "gay rights" bit brings a burst of cheers.
Here's a picture of the populist tone the president is out to strike this election cycle. He stands and intones the rights of workers, the rights of women. He's plausible in this role.
The students are chanting "Obama! Obama!" as he makes his exit.
1.56pm: The president is lecturing on the importance of perseverance.
"I got it from watching the women who shaped my life. I grew up as the son of a single mom... she had marriages fall apart... but she didn't quit.
"My mom ended up dedicating herself to helping women around the world get the money they needed to start their own businesses. She was a pioneer in microfinance."
Obama talks about his grandmother, who went to work for a bank, "hit the glass ceiling" and watched men she'd trained pass her on the corporate ladder. "But she didn't quit."
The president talks about Michelle Obama, and the tension of work-family balance. "We persisted. We made that marriage work. But the reason that Michelle had the strength to balance everything ... is because she too grew up in a family of folks who didn't quit."
"Those are the folks who inspire me. Those quiet heroes all across this country--some of your parents and grandparents who are sitting here. No fanfare. No articles written about them... They just persevere. They don't quit. I'm here because of them."
1.48pm: "One reason we're actually refighting settled battles in women's rights is that women hold only 1 in 5 seats in Congress."
That line has a political edge to it. Obama says "let's face it," Congress would work better if there were more women on Capitol Hill.
The president talks about a friend, the daughter of immigrants who was discouraged from attending college and told to become a secretary. She ignored that advice and went to college.
"Lo and behold, Hilda Solis did end up becoming a secretary – she is America's secretary of labor!"
Big applause.
"Think about what that means to a young Latina girl, when she sees a Cabinet secretary who looks like her... Do not underestimate the power of your example."
All this section of the speech might be taken as putting forward an answer to the question of who's really helping to win the "war on women."
1.39pm: "As tough as things have been, I am convinced you are tougher. I have seen your passion, and I have seen your service."
The president made a passing reference to "reproductive rights" and he mentioned equal work for equal pay. But he is not dwelling on the hot-button issues that define the current discourse on women and which politician does most for them.
"All of you will help lead the way. I recognize that that's a cheap applause line. But it's true. In part it is simple math. Today women are not just half this country -- it's half its workforce."
He says women are out-earning their husbands, and they're more than half the nation's earners of graduate degrees. "You've got us outnumbered," he says. That gets a laugh.
1.34pm: "Hillary Clinton, Meryl Streep, Sheryl Sandberg, these are not easy acts to follow." [Update/clarification: the trio were the last three to speak at Barnard's commencement.]
President Obama recalls his graduation in 1983. "Music was all about Michael and the moonwalk."
Then he has to chide someone in the crowd, off-camera.
"No moonwalking!" the president says.
This is history's first known instance of a president remonstrating with an audience member for moonwalking (if that is indeed what she did).
Now the president is turning to material that is not so cheer-able. He cites unemployment figures. Acknowledges the bleak jobs landscape.
1.28pm: The president is on. Huge cheers. Let's listen.
1.20pm: The president is being awarded the Barnard Medal of Distinction, the college's highest honor. He is smiling as the citation is read. Still waiting to speak.
1.12pm: Twitter isn't being very nice to these young speakers preceding the president at the lectern at Barnard College (livestream here).
Wrap it up boring #Barnard2012 speaker.
— Anna Brand (@thebrandedgirl) May 14, 2012
Andrew Kaczynski admonishes:
Seriously Twitter, not nice to pick on the graduation speakers, public speaking isn't easy, especially w/the President sitting next to you.
— Andrew Kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) May 14, 2012
12.59pm: *N.B.: This live blog coverage of President Obama's commencement address at Barnard College is brought to you by Tom McCarthy in NYC.
12.55pm: By our count the president now has sat through 20 minutes of undergraduate speechifying as he waits to address the Barnard graduates.
"As we sit at our commencement, the onus is now on us. ... It is incumbent upon us to take the lessons of our foremothers... in our digital information age... pay it forward..."
That kind of thing.
12.51pm: The president on the dais.
12.49pm: The class president is wrapping it up with a quote from Robert Frost, the American poet.
12.43pm: C-SPAN is carrying the president's remarks at Barnard College live.
He's not on yet. We're currently hearing from the class president. "With all due respect Mr. President, it is a good thing that none of the women from the class of 2012 are running for president this year!"
(Because if any of them were she would win!)
Cheers.
12.42pm: The contrast between Obama's planned speech today at Barnard College and Mitt Romney's speech Saturday at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia could not be sharper.
Barnard is 123 years old. Liberty is 41 years old.
Barnard is a pioneer in the education of women. Liberty is a pioneer in the education of evangelical Christians.
Barnard was founded by the writer and activist Annie Nathan Meyer. Liberty was founded by the televangelist Jerry Falwell.
Romney used his speech to take a dig at Obama's support for gay marriage.
Obama is likely to use his speech to reiterate that support and make a broader case for his record on civil rights and women's health.
12.27pm: President Obama is in New York City today to tape an appearance on "The View" and to deliver the commencement address at Barnard College, part of Columbia University.
We will be live blogging the speech, which is scheduled to be broadcast live at 12:35.
How did Barnard, an all-women's college, nab the president as graduation day speaker? It was all the White House's idea.
In early March, as the administration drew Republicans into a debate over contraception and health insurance, someone in the White House realized that a great way to showcase the president's support for women's health would be to have him speak at one of the country's most historically significant institutions of higher learning for women.
Barnard agreed to bump scheduled commencement speaker Jill Abramson, the executive editor of The New York Times.
Obama graduated from Columbia University in 1983.
12.03pm: Both Newsweek and the New Yorker put the president's support for gay marriage on their covers this week.
The Newsweek cover may or may not be creating a controversy, depending on whether you believe everything you see on TV. CNN for one just aired a story claiming that the Newsweek cover is creating a controversy. They interviewed two people who are able to get offended by magazine covers.
The headline of the Newsweek story is the target of a large share of the outrage. How can they call Barack Obama the first gay president when he's not even gay?
It might be noted that nowhere does the story itself, by Andrew Sullivan, call Obama the first gay president.
The New Yorker cover is eliciting respecful demonstrations of admiration. The Internet equivalent of a golf clap.
Bob Staake, who created the New Yorker cover, says:
"I am honored to be doing this cover. It's a celebratory moment for our country, and that's what I tried to capture. (I don't especially like those rainbow colors, but they are what they are—I had to use them.) I wanted to celebrate the bravery of the President's statement—a statement long overdue—but all the more appreciated in this political year. We are on the right side of history." —Bob Staake, the artist who created "Spectrum of Light," the cover of next week's issue.
9.45am: Good morning and welcome to Monday's US politics live blog, and here's a summary by Ryan Devereaux of where we are so far.
• The Obama campaign's latest offensive takes aim at Mitt Romney's jobs record. A new two-minute ad from the president's team focuses on the former governor's time at Bain Capital and the acquisition, and shutting down, of a GST Steel plant. Workers are featured in the clip laying the blame on Romney, with one directly challenging the presidential hopeful's business savvy by saying: "I know how business works. I know why jobs come and why they go. As I look around at the millions of Americans without work, it breaks my heart."

• A new Gallup poll reveals a gender gap on the issue of same-sex marriage. While 56% of women support same sex couples having the right to marry, just 42% of men do. Overall the poll found 50% of Americans support same sex marriage. The issue has taken centre stage over the last week following president Obama's historic announcement that he supports same sex marriage, an announcement that came just one day after North Carolina passed a constitutional ban on legally recognized same sex unions.
• Romney made an appearance at Liberty University over the weekend, the conservative religious school that was founded by the Rev Jerry Falwell, a man who once linked 9/11 to society's embrace of homosexuality (among countless other homophobic proclamations). Romney largely avoided the topic of same sex marriage, however. When he did discuss the issue, he did so by linking himself to his former rival, Rick Santorum, who is popular among the Christian right. Romney pointed to a Brookings Institute study he said Santorum brought to his attention which claims those who graduate from high school, marry before having children and have a full-time job are likely to have better economic situations.
• Rick Santorum has urged Romney to use same sex marriage to attack president Obama. Appearing on CNN, Santorum called the issue a "potent weapon" Romney could use to "take advantage of a president who is very much out of touch with the values of America".
• Mitt Romney has been reluctant to take the sort of aggressive approach to same-sex marriage that Santorum has advocated. In an interview with CBN, Romney suggested that he's waiting to see if the issue has staying power, saying "What I speak about day to day in some respects reflects what I'm being asked about. And so those issues, by virtue of the president's change of view on this topic has become more current today. How important it is to the people a few months from now, time will tell."
Richard AdamsTom McCarthy
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12:28
Ministers 'playing immigration numbers game' by including students
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Thinktank says government is refusing to exclude overseas students from figures so it can appear to show fall in immigration
Ministers have included overseas students in the government's net migration count because they are more interested in playing the numbers game than with long-term migration, a leading thinktank has claimed.
The Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) report says the refusal to exclude international students from the government's drive to reduce net migration to the tens of thousands is damaging British education and putting at risk £4bn to £6bn a year in benefits to the UK economy.
The IPPR researchers Matt Cavanagh and Alex Glennie say only the 15% of overseas students who stay on to work permanently in Britain should be counted within the net migration figures, which measure the long-term flow of migrants in and out of Britain.
Home Office ministers have introduced a wide range of curbs on the 400,000 overseas students who come to Britain each year to study as part of their drive to reduce annual net migration from its current level of 240,000 a year to below 100,000 by the time of the 2015 general election.
Ministers have turned down demands from Universities UK and the National Union of Students to exclude overseas students from the long-term net migration figures, arguing they are simply complying with international standards laid down by the International Labour Organisation.
But the IPPR reports that the UK's main competitors in the overseas student market – the US, Canada and Australia – make clear they are only included in the immigration figures as temporary or "non-immigrant" admissions.
"The decisive reason why the UK government is sticking with the current method of measuring student migration flows is not a genuine concern with long-term net migration but a desire to 'game' its own net migration target by banking large apparent reductions in 2013 and 2014 which reflect the limitations of the current method of measurement rather than real changes in long-term net migration trends," concludes the report.
It says that while it is true there has been abuse of student visas, cutting down on abuse and cutting down on numbers are fundamentally different objectives.
"The government needs to take international students out of the 'immigration' numbers game, which is damaging our universities and colleges, our economy and our international standing," it concludes.
Sarah Mulley, the IPPR's associate director, said: "If the government ignores these arguments and persists with the current method of measuring students for the purposes of meeting its net migration target in 2015, and therefore continues to regard a dramatic reduction in international students as an objective in its own right, it must admit that it is placing short-term political considerations above a genuine concern with long-term net migration."
The immigration minister, Damian Green, has told MPs that he disagrees with the argument that students are not migrants. "Under longstanding international measures, students and others who come to the UK for more than a year are counted as migrants. I agree that not all students remain permanently but significant numbers do." He said that of those migrants granted the right to settle in 2009, 13% – more than 23,000 – had come to the UK as a student.
Alan Travis
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12:10
Nick Clegg dismisses regional public sector pay plans
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Deputy PM says no plans for regional pay bargaining are in place and he will not allow north-south divide to be exacerbated
Nick Clegg has poured cold water on plans to impose regional pay bargaining in the public sector, saying he would reject any action that exacerbated the north-south divide.
Speaking at an event in north London to set out his plans to help disadvantaged children, the deputy prime minister said: "Nothing has been decided, and I feel very, very strongly, as an MP in South Yorkshire with a lot of people in public services, we are not going to be able simply, willy-nilly, to exacerbate a north-south divide. There has been ludicrous scaremongering, particularly by the trade unions, when there is no proposal on the table at all, and in very specific cases it was done by a previous government."
He said the government was looking only at some localised bargaining in the public sector, along the lines of the previous Labour government's reforms in the courts service.
He added: "I think people should be reassured we are not going to rush headlong in imposing a system from above, which if it was done in the way sometimes described would be totally unjust because it would penalise some of the people working in some of the most difficult areas."
George Osborne, the chancellor, has suggested local pay bargaining should become a major part of public sector pay, and pay review bodies have been asked to draw up proposals for localised pay markets. Clegg's remarks suggest, however, thast there would be resistance to proposals that could lead to long-term pay freezes in the north.
Clegg was speaking at an event to highlight his plans to implement the pupil premium, aimed at narrowing the attainment gap between rich and poor children. One of his proposals has been to allow schools that are not academies to pay more to teachers working in challenging areas and schools, a freedom so far given only to academies.
He said he wanted schools to become engines of social mobility, and that the pupil premium was one of the policies that would define his time in office.
His goal was "a more socially mobile Britain where ability trumps privilege, where effort trumps connections, where sharp elbows don't automatically get you to the front", he said.
The pupil premium, which the National Union of Teachers has denounced as unfair and ad hoc, is additional funding given to schools on the basis of the number of children on its rolls that have been on free school meals in the past six years. It is worth £600 for each child on free school meals, and by the end of the parliament will cost £2.5bn a year.
Clegg denied it was cash given to schools to plug gaps left by other spending cuts.
In his speech, Clegg tried to balance the need to make sure schools were accountable for how they spent the extra cash with allowing them freedom from narrow goals. He said he wanted to show that teachers do best when Whitehall steps out of the way. "We won't be telling you what to do, but we will be watching what you achieve," he said.
All schools receiving the pupil premium will from this autumn be required to set out the progress they are making to narrow the attainment gap. Clegg said they were more likely to be labelled a failing school by Ofsted, the school inspection body, if the gap was not narrowing.
He warned: "Schools need to know that in assessing their performance Ofsted will be looking forensically at how well their pupil-premium pupils do."
He said that if the school's pupil-premium population was failing, more probably than not the whole school would be judged to be failing. "There is only one freedom we are not giving schools," he said: "the freedom to fail."
He claimed success against the odds could be achieved, saying: "There are now 440 secondary schools – one in five – where disadvantaged pupils are doing better in their GCSEs than the national average for all children."
He announced new funding for summer schools as well as sabbaticals for teachers to develop successful academic projects that narrow the attainment gap. He claimed the summer school concept was already proving popular, with as many as 70,000 11-year-olds attending, or seven out of every eligible 10.
Clegg also announced extra cash would be available to support pupil-premium pupils who left primary school without the expected level-four literacy skills. The cash is designed to help children suffering at the point of transition from primary to secondary school, seen as a point when some children fall behind their peers. He said he expected schools would want to use the money for small catch-up classes or one-to-one tuition or vouchers for literacy tuition, which parents could spend.
In a shift from some coalition rhetoric, Clegg went out of his way to praise teachers, saying he was disturbed at the weekend by a survey showing a third of teachers felt undervalued.
"When all the odds are stacked against a child – hardship, low confidence, parents who can't cope – it is teachers who step in and make the difference, teachers who go above and beyond the call of duty, day in, day out to give those families hope, teachers who help these children unlock the doors that otherwise hold them back," he said.
Patrick Wintour
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11:46
Anders Breivik trial: young survivors give evidence
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Some of those who escaped gun massacre on island of Utøya, in which 69 died, were initially unaware they had been shot
Young people who survived Anders Behring Breivik's gun massacre on the island of Utøya have been giving evidence at his trial in Oslo.
Breivik, 33, admits carrying out the bomb and gun attacks last summer which left 77 dead – including 69 on Utøya – but is pleading not guilty on the grounds that the attacks were an act of "self preservation" carried out to protect the "indigenous" population of Norway from immigration.
Frida Holm Skoglund, 20, became the first witness in the 10-week trial to ask Breivik to leave the courtroom before she took the stand. Breivik agreed and watched proceedings via video link next door.
Wearing a headband made of daisies, Skoglund described in a quiet voice how she had been in the tent camp when she heard a series of bangs. She saw a man "dressed in police uniform" and suddenly fellow campers "scattered like birds".
The man was not a police officer. It was Breivik, halfway through the act he now describes as "brutal but necessary".
Skoglund had run some distance before she realised she had been shot.
"I touched my thigh and felt something sharp there," she said. "I pulled it out and I saw, I felt the bullet."
Another witness, Silja Kristianne Uteng, 21, also did not register she had been hit until some time after the event. She thought her arm had somehow caught a tent guy rope as she ran away from the island camp when Breivik opened fire. It was only after she swam all the way across to the mainland that she realised she too had been shot.
The survivors described their thought process as they plotted their escape. Lars Grønnestad, 20, recalled lying on the ground after one of Breivik's bullets punctured his lung. "I remember thinking I can't just lie here, I need to get away, this is too open. While I was looking for somewhere to go I was thinking who this could be? A rightwing extremist, leftwing extremist, a coup d'etat, what it could be?"
When real police officers finally reached his part of the island, Grønnestad was reluctant to call out for help. "I was a bit hesitant to tell them because it was a police officer who shot me, I thought they might come and finish what the other one started," he said.
Later, Skoglund described how Breivik had attempted to lure her to shore after she had started swimming, calling: "Come back here!" She had no intention of doing so. "It was very absurd. I didn't really understand what was going on but I would never have swum towards a person like that," she said.
She carried on swimming despite the bullet wound in her thigh, vomiting twice and suffering an asthma attack before finally being dragged aboard a rowing boat. She told the court how a friend swam with one arm out of the water, holding a mobile phone, so they could call the police. "We had to shout into the phone to say that it was no joke … We thought they weren't taking us seriously," she said, claiming the operator hung up on the girls several times.
The survivors talked about how the attacks had affected their lives.
Skoglund said it had been "up and down" and that she experienced feelings of guilt. Asked why, she said: "I was the leader of my delegation in my county and I lost the three youngest ones."
Grønnestad appeared to be coping better. "Things are going OK," he said. "I react somewhat [badly] to loud sounds but apart from that I have a full life. Perhaps I appreciate things more."
But despite her vulnerability, Skoglund ended on a defiant note. "We won. He lost. Norwegian youth can swim."
Helen Pidd
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11:35
Two men jailed for shooting man dead after argument in McDonald's
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Horace Campbell and Liam Douglas-O'Callaghan given life terms for killing Devon Scarlett, 32, in 'shoot-out' after queue row
Two men have been given life sentences for shooting a stranger dead after a row in a queue at McDonald's.
Horace Campbell, 28, and Liam Douglas-O'Callaghan, 18, were found guilty of murdering Devon Scarlett, 32, after a minor argument led within half an hour to the death of the father of four.
The Old Bailey judge Richard Hawkins jailed Campbell for life with a minimum term of 32 years. Douglas-O'Callaghan was ordered to be detained for a minimum term of 18 years.
Scarlett and Campbell got into an early morning spat involving others at the fast food restaurant in Brixton, south London, in April 2010.
They were escorted outside by security guards but the row carried on and the two strangers agreed to meet in a nearby street for a shootout, said Bobbie Cheema, prosecuting.
Campbell called Douglas-O'Callaghan to bring his "thing", or gun, a retrial was told. Scarlett appeared to make a similar call but no actual call was made.
Cheema said: "Horace Campbell was determined to avenge the perceived lack of respect that Devon Scarlett showed him. Devon Scarlett acted with foolish bravado, behaving like a tough guy, but whatever he said and did, he was not armed."
Campbell, who had been drinking, followed Scarlett into Marcus Garvey Way and fired three shots, two of them hitting the victim. Campbell said: "You are not so hot now," before walking away.
Scarlett, of Croydon, who was born Raymond Mitchell, died a few hours later in hospital.
Campbell, of Anerley, and Douglas-O'Callaghan, of Tulse Hill, both in south London, denied murder.
The court heard that Scarlett had become involved in "someone else's argument" in McDonald's at around 6.30am on 17 April.
Outside, Scarlett was heard saying he had been shown disrespect, and Campbell said Scarlett was "going to be shot in the head".
When people tried to intervene, Campbell told them Scarlett had been "too disrespectful and was going to be shot in the head" and would be "filled up with lead".
A woman had heard them agreeing to meet in the nearby street, "effectively for a shootout", jurors were told.
Detective Inspector Henry Lindsley said: "Unbelievably, Devon Scarlett's murder was triggered by the most minor of incidents that Horace Campbell chose to involve himself in.
"His arrogance and obvious disregard for life is evident when, even after Mr Scarlett walked away from him, he continued spoiling for a fight."
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11:23
Boris Johnson: next BBC boss must be Tory
» ‎ The Guardian World News
London mayor calls BBC 'statist, corporatist, defeatist, anti-business, Europhile and overwhelmingly biased to the left'
The next boss of the BBC must be a Tory, according to the mayor of London, Boris Johnson.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, he said the guarantee of funding from the licence fee left BBC staff with "an innocent belief that everything in life should be 'free'".
He said: "No wonder – and I speak as one who has just fought a campaign in which I sometimes felt that my chief opponent was the local BBC news – the prevailing view of Beeb newsrooms is, with honourable exceptions, statist, corporatist, defeatist, anti-business, Europhile and, above all, overwhelmingly biased to the left."
Johnson said the corporation treated eurosceptic views as "if they were vaguely mad and unpleasant" and "completely ignored" the private sector.
He said the next director general, replacing Mark Thompson, who is stepping down later this year, should be someone who is "free-market, pro-business and understands the depths of the problems this country faces. We need someone who knows about the work ethic, and cutting costs. We need a Tory, and no mucking around."
Conservative commentators have long taken aim at the BBC as a hotbed of leftwingers and Thompson has said it had been guilty of a "massive bias to the left" in the past.
He told the New Statesman two years ago that staff were "quite mystified" by the rise of Margaret Thatcher but now there was "less overt tribalism" among its journalists.
The current favourite to replace him as director general is the BBC's chief operating officer, Caroline Thomson, who worked as political assistant to Roy Jenkins in the SDP.
A BBC spokeswoman said: "BBC News is committed to impartiality and we reject Boris Johnson's assertions of bias.
"Our approach means asking difficult questions of politicians, businesses and unions alike.
"People with trenchant views often find this process uncomfortable but our audience expects us to challenge those in power, as well as those who seek it."
Johnson had a well-publicised run-in with a BBC reporter during the mayoral election campaign. He was caught on camera accusing Tim Donovan, BBC London's political editor, of talking "fucking bollocks" after he questioned Johnson's attempts to secure commercial deals with News International while the company was being investigated over phone-hacking.
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11:22
Minimum alcohol price in Scotland to be set at 50p a unit
» ‎ The Guardian World News
A bottle of wine will be at least £4.69 and four cans of lager £3.52 under Scottish ministers' proposals
Scottish ministers have taken a tougher line than anticipated on alcohol abuse by fixing their planned minimum price for alcohol at 50p a unit, pushing up the cost of cheap vodka by nearly 50%.
Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish health secretary, signalled that she plans to confront the alcoholism and binge drinking endemic in some parts of Scotland by introducing a minimum price which is higher and more wide-ranging than the 45p she had previously planned.
Unveiling the most radical health policy yet proposed by the Scottish National party government in Edinburgh, Sturgeon said: "Cheap alcohol comes at a price and now is the time to tackle the toll that Scotland's unhealthy relationship with alcohol is taking on our society. Too many Scots are drinking themselves to death."
The new minimum price of 50p a unit will push the price of the cheapest bottles of wine to £4.69, while four cans of basic lager will cost at least £3.52. Tesco's own brand basic vodka will rise in price from £8.72 to £13.13, while Tesco own brand basic whisky will now cost 40% more, at £14.
It is the first time minimum pricing has been tried in the European Union, and the policy is expected to be passed overwhelmingly by the Scottish parliament after the Tories and Liberal Democrats swung behind the proposal earlier this year.
The two opposition parties changed tack shortly before David Cameron, the prime minister, confirmed the UK government will also look at minimum pricing across England and Wales in a consultation due out later this year.
After resisting it for four years, Scottish Labour is also preparing to support the policy if Alex Salmond's government presses on with plans for a £130m "health levy" on supermarkets to claw back the £125m increase in their revenues from a 50p minimum price.
Sturgeon's decision to set a 50p floor price, which is expected to face legal challenges in the Scottish and European courts, will heavily influence Cameron's proposal to start with a 40p floor price for England and Wales.
After first suggesting 35p in 2008 and then 45p in 2010, Sturgeon shifted ground after experts on alcohol pricing at Sheffield university said in January that inflation and a drop in alcohol misuse meant only a 50p cost would have a significant impact now.
Researchers at the School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR) said that in 2010 a floor price of 45p would have saved 50 lives in the first year, and 225 lives a year within a decade.
Now a 50p basic price was needed to have a similar affect. That would cut overall consumption by 5.7%, saving 60 lives in the first year, and 318 a year within a decade. It would most directly affect alcoholics, costing them an extra £120 a year.
While the Scottish pub trade and some brewers who specialise in premium brands support minimum pricing, the measure is opposed by the large retailers and the spirits industry. The Scotch Whisky Association again warned that minimum pricing was likely to be illegal, breaching European and global rules on free trade and competition. The SWA said it would push the cost of one litre bottle of Scotch up by 22% to £20, and a standard bottle up by 11% to £14.
Gavin Hewitt, the SWA's chief executive, said: "The Scotch whisky industry remains opposed to the principle of minimum unit pricing. It will be ineffective in tackling alcohol misuse. It has consistently been ruled to be illegal in Europe. It will damage the industry."
Severin Carrell
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6:44
Nato killed 72 civilians in Libya air strikes, says Human Rights Watch
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Alliance called on to compensate survivors and victims' families and explain attacks on 'military' sites that killed civilians
Nato air strikes killed 72 civilians in Libya last year, Human Rights Watch has said, accusing the western alliance of failing to acknowledge the scope of collateral damage it caused during the campaign that helped to oust Muammar Gaddafi.
In a report based on investigations at bombing sites during and after the conflict, the New York-based HRW said Nato strikes killed 20 women and 24 children. It called on the alliance to compensate civilian victims and investigate attacks that may have been unlawful.
"Attacks are allowed only on military targets, and serious questions remain in some incidents about what exactly Nato forces were striking," Fred Abrahams, special adviser at HRW, said in a statement.
The report claims to be the most extensive investigation to date of civilian casualties from Nato's air campaign and presents a higher death toll estimate than a March paper by Amnesty International which documented 55 civilian deaths, including 16 children and 14 women.
Nato considers its Libya operation highly successful, illustrating the allies' ability to work well together in a limited campaign. Nato carried out 26,000 sorties including some 9,600 strike missions and destroyed about 5,900 targets before operations ended on 31 October 2011.
The alliance said the campaign had been conducted with "unprecedented care and precision and to a standard exceeding that required by international humanitarian law".
"Nato did everything possible to minimise risks to civilians, but in a complex military campaign, that risk can never be zero," said Nato spokeswoman Oana Lungescu in a statement.
"We deeply regret any instance of civilian casualties for which Nato may have been responsible."
HRW acknowledged that Nato had taken care to minimise civilian casualties and added that countries such as Russia that had made claims of large-scale civilian deaths did so "to score political points".
But Abrahams, principal author of the report, said the care Nato took during the campaign was "undermined by its refusal to examine the dozens of civilian deaths".
Concerns about civilian deaths in Libya could hamper Nato's ability to carry out future operations outside the territory of its members, in North America and Europe.
Although Russia co-sponsored the UN resolution authorising intervention in Libya, it later said Nato had "grossly violated" its mandate. This was a factor earlier this year when Russia opposed a UN resolution calling for action to stop the violence in Syria.
HRW highlighted an attack on the village of Majer, 100 miles east of Tripoli on 8 August when Nato air strikes on two family compounds killed 34 civilians and wounded more than 30.
HRW said Nato had told it that the Majer compounds were a "staging base and military accommodation" for Gaddafi forces, but had not provided specific information to support that claim.
"During four visits to Majer, including one the day after the attack, the only possible evidence of a military presence found by Human Rights Watch was a single military-style shirt - common clothing for many Libyans - in the rubble of one of the three destroyed houses," it said.
Nato said it had looked into each credible allegation of harm to civilians and confirmed that the targets struck "were legitimate military targets, selected in a manner consistent with the UN mandate".
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6:39
Yahoo chief Scott Thompson quits amid claims of fake qualification
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Internet giant replaces CEO with former News Corp executive after less than six months in job
Yahoo's chief executive Scott Thompson quit on Sunday as the struggling web giant sought to defuse a row over an allegedly fake computer science degree on his CV.
After a board meeting on Sunday morning, the company announced that Thompson, who has led the internet services firm for less than six months, would be replaced by Ross Levinsohn with immediate effect.
Levinsohn is a former News Corp executive who presided over the Murdoch-controlled media firm's ultimately disastrous purchase of MySpace in 2005.
Yahoo said Roy Bostock, the company's chairman, would also leave and be replaced by Fred Amoroso, a veteran technology executive.
Thompson has been under pressure since activist shareholder Daniel Loeb of the hedge fund Third Point claimed that Thompson had misrepresented his degree.
Thompson was brought in from PayPal, the online payment firm where he was president, in January. His arrival followed the controversial ousting of Carol Bartz, Yahoo's previous chief executive, who claimed the company had "fucked her over" after she failed to turn the struggling internet service firm round.
But less than six months later it was revealed that Thompson's resumé claimed he had obtained a bachelor's degree in computer science and accounting from Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts. The college subsequently confirmed that he had achieved only the accounting degree.
Thompson reportedly blamed the error on a head-hunting firm, Heidrick & Struggles, which had worked on Yahoo's search for a chief executive officer. But the firm said that was "verifiably not true".
A special committee was established earlier this month to review the situation. Yahoo's board had been due to meet on Sunday to discuss its findings and other changes.
Third Point, a hedge fund that owns 5.8% of the firm's shares, had wanted to install its own choice of directors at Yahoo and had pushed for Amoroso to join the board of directors. Loeb and several other executives close to Third Point will now also join Yahoo's board. The firm has agreed to halt its fight.
"The board is pleased to announce these changes and the settlement with Third Point, and is confident that they will serve the best interests of our shareholders," Amoroso said in a statementon Sunday night.
Despite a massive online presence, Yahoo has been struggling for years to keep up with Google and Facebook. Yahoo's share of overall US online ad revenues, which reached 15.7% in 2009, declined to just 9.5% last year, according to eMarketer. While the online advertising market is expected to grow 23.3% to $39.5bn this year, Yahoo's share of revenues will fall further to 7.4%, eMarketer estimates.
The departure of Thompson and Bostock is a victory for Third Point. Loeb said: "We are confident this board will benefit from shareholder representation, and we are committed to working with new leadership to unlock Yahoo's significant potential and value."
Yahoo owns significant Asian assets, including a stake in Alibaba, China's largest e-commerce business, but has struggled to reach an agreement on a sale. Thompson was reportedly close to a partial sale of the Alibaba holding shortly before his plans were derailed by the allegations about his qualification.
Yahoo bought the 40% stake in Alibaba for $1bn in 2005 and its holding is now estimated to be worth $16bn. But successive managements have failed to reach any agreement on a sale.
Last month, Thompson announced a round of layoffs at Yahoo, totalling 2,000 jobs, about 14% of the total. It was the sixth round of job cuts in the past four years for the beleaguered company.
Bartz, too, had sought to revive Yahoo's fortunes by cutting costs. She replaced Yahoo's co-founder Jerry Yang, who had returned to the company as chief executive in 2007 and in 2008 rejected a $44.6bn offer from Microsoft. Last week, Yahoo was valued at $18.51bn.
Dominic Rushe
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6:17
Derry: fear and republican vigilantes stalk new city of culture
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Exclusive: at least 85 people have been shot in escalating campaign of shooting and beatings
Republican vigilantes conducting a campaign of shootings and beatings have in the past year forced more than 200 young men out of Derry, which will become Britain's City of Culture in 2013, the Guardian can reveal.
At least 85 men have been shot over the past three years in "punishment" attacks by Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD), according to community groups researching the vigilante violence.
In some instances those targeted, mostly in their teens or early 20s, have been forced to turn up with a parent or relative for a pre-arranged appointment to be wounded for alleged drug dealing and other supposed crimes.
Martin McGuinness, the Provisional IRA ex-chief of staff turned deputy first minister of Northern Ireland, made an unprecedented move calling on the public in his native city to inform on the republican paramilitaries responsible. Figures from community organisations in Derry mediating between RAAD, the Real IRA and the victims show up to four men are being forced out of the city every week.
As Derry prepares to be the UK's City of Culture, the families of those under attack, including the mother of a RAAD victim who was murdered in February, say they are existing "in a city of fear".
Derry-based John Lindsay, author of "No Dope Here", a new book on the violence, who has shown his research to the Guardian, said: "On average there are about four young men being forced out of the city by RAAD and other vigilante groups per week.
"The figures are being recorded by at least two community groups who are called into liaise between the organisations and the men.
"There are, on a conservative basis, more than 200 who were put out of Derry over the last 12 months. They are going to places as diverse as Belfast, Armagh, Dublin and of course England, anywhere where they have friends or relatives to flee to. And they are told if they don't leave they will be shot or even killed."
The vigilante campaign turned murderous last February when RAAD gunmen shot dead a former Derry boxer, Andrew Allen, 24, just across the border in a relative's house in Co Donegal. His family say hardline republicans were so affronted when he stood up to them that they decided to kill him. Allen's mother, Donna Smith, said the peace process no longer meant anything to her or her family.
"How can they call this the City of Culture when they (RAAD) are going around butchering children? Something has to be done, it has to be stopped before another family is sitting in the situation that we are in: me without a son, my other children without a brother and two small children without a father."
There have been several demonstrations against the attacks, including one last month. Just before, an 18-year-old was shot in both legs.
Although some RAAD members are ex-IRA members who supported the end of its "war" against Britain and declined to join the anti-peace process Real IRA, McGuinness has issued his sternest condemnation yet of the vigilante campaign.
He said: "I think it is quite obvious the community is beginning to rise up against this and as a result of that it is quite clear that RAAD are about to make the biggest mistake of their lives. They are about to bite off more than they can chew because if the community in Derry turns against you then you are going absolutely nowhere.
"And I think they (RAAD) do need to be going somewhere and they need to be going to prison. And I would hope as a result of the rise in opposition to the activities of RAAD that people will come forward to give all the information they have about this group."
McGuinness, the Provisional IRA's second-in-command in the city on Bloody Sunday, described the republican vigilantes as "the new oppressors of the people of Derry".
The police have vowed to prosecute those responsible. However, there have been no prosecutions for the "punishment" attacks" and no one has been charged in connection with Allen's murder.
• This article was corrected on 14 May 2012. The original said 85 shootings in Derry had taken place over the past year, according to police figures. The shootings have taken place over the past three years, according to figures provided by community groups researching the vigilante violence.
Henry McDonald
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6:03
NHS community care struggling to cope with demand, survey shows
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Royal College of Nursing claims 61,113 posts in the NHS have been lost or placed at risk since April 2010
District nurses and health visitors are facing job cuts, rising workloads and less time to care for patients, despite pledges by ministers that NHS community services would be boosted to relieve the pressure on overstretched hospitals.
A dossier of evidence assembled by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), which represents the UK's 400,000 nurses, reveals that NHS services outside of hospitals are struggling to cope with growing demand brought on by the ageing population, hospital bed shortages and staff cutbacks.
The union also claims that a total of 61,113 posts in the NHS across the UK have been lost or placed at risk since April 2010, as the service undergoes a financial squeeze, including a £20bn efficiency savings drive in England by 2015.
The findings come as the health secretary, Andrew Lansley, prepares to address RCN members at the opening of its annual congress in Harrogateon Monday. Lansley's appearance comes a year after 98% of delegates backed a vote of no confidence in him at their last congress in Liverpool, amid widespread hostility to his controversial health and social care bill.
According to the UK-wide RCN survey, almost nine out of 10 NHS community nurses (89%) have seen their caseload rise over the last year, while 59% said they were spending less time with their patients than this time last year.
Some 68% said staffing levels had fallen where they worked, while 86% reported that patients were being discharged from hospital more quickly than before.
"These results raise major concerns about the capacity of community services to deal with an increasing number of acutely ill patients," the RCN document says. "Despite the stated intentions of politicians across the UK and all the advice from health experts, the RCN found very little clear evidence of this shift actually happening on the ground.
"The acute sector may be getting smaller but the community sector is not expanding to 'take up the slack' and is vulnerable to short-term cuts."
Dr Peter Carter, the RCN's general secretary and chief executive, said NHS community services were "overburdened, under-invested and at risk from cutbacks". In England, the NHS community nursing workforce fell in 2011, with 1,995 fewer nurses, midwives and health visitors employed, official NHS statistics show.
Cuts to district nursing were "a false economy", said Carter, because these services saved the NHS money by keeping elderly or patients with long-term conditions out of hospital. Social care budget cuts also put pressure on them and other NHS community personnel, he added.
"This worrying survey shows that the NHS is coming under attack from every possible angle. Services are clearly being cut at both ends – in hospitals and in the community – and that is a very dangerous path for the NHS to take," said Andy Burnham, the shadow health secretary. "If hospital beds and wards are closing, it is essential that community services are protected. The government's failure to ensure that suggests there is no clear plan for the efficiency challenge and haphazard cuts are being made across the system."
But Simon Burns, the NHS minister, said ministers did not recognise the RCN's job loss figures – reiterating the response he has given each time the union has produced an updated estimate of the total number of posts set to disappear. The RCN insisted its statistics had been strictly certified and were based on official NHS information.
There are only 450 fewer qualified nurses working in the NHS now than in September 2009, while 2,300 community nurses and health visitors are being trained this year, double the number of the year before, Burns said.
"The health and social care act will make shifting care out of hospitals and closer to people's homes simpler. No one should stay in hospital longer than they need to and we are already investing £300m to help people return to their homes with the support that they need more quickly after a spell in hospital," he added.
Denis Campbell
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5:50
Labour says government may have broken law in handling of BSkyB bid
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Emails from Hunt's office 'could be an offence', says shadow minister as Osborne comes under fire over meeting with Brooks
Labour's former deputy leader of the Commons, Chris Bryant, has joined growing calls for an investigation into whether culture secretary Jeremy Hunt broke the ministerial code during his handling of the £8bn BSkyB bid.
Bryant, a shadow immigration minister and MP for Rhondda, said a criminal offence may have been committed if News International was handed information about last year's BSkyB bid by Hunt's office.
His comments came amid calls for George Osborne to give evidence to the Leveson inquiry after it was disclosed that former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks and her husband spent a weekend at Dorneywood, the chancellor's official residence, during a key period in the bid by News Corp to take over BSkyB.
On Monday, Lord O'Donnell, the former cabinet secretary, and Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair's former press secretary, are due to give evidence to the inquiry.
Bryant said Lord Justice Leveson had made it clear he would not rule on whether Hunt broke the ministerial code during his handling of the £8bn BSkyB bid.
Labour has called for Hunt to resign after publication by the Leveson inquiry of emails between News International lobbyist Frédéric Michel and Adam Smith, a special adviser to Hunt. Smith quit his post after the revelations last month. Bryant, a former Minister for Europe, told the BBC's Sunday Politics programme: "The point nobody can run away from in either Downing Street or Jeremy Hunt's office is the fact that every element Fred Michel predicted the secretary of state would say [in parliament], he did say. News International knew information about what the secretary of state was going to say before he said it, and also before commercial operators did. That's a criminal offence, a straightforward criminal offence."
The culture department said Hunt would respond fully to all allegations about his conduct when he gives evidence to the Leveson inquiry. "It has already been made clear that when Fred Michel has claimed in emails to be speaking to Jeremy Hunt, that was not the case," a spokesman said.
David Cameron has said Hunt should be allowed to give his evidence to the Leveson inquiry before any judgment is made on whether he has broken the ministerial code.
The controversy over Hunt's role took another twist after the Mail on Sunday claimed that a former News International chauffeur is submitting evidence to the Leveson inquiry alleging he had met Hunt to discuss the company's cash payments to police officers. Hunt's office confirmed he had met the chauffeur, but denied all wrongdoing.
Also present at Osborne's weekend meeting with Brooks at Dorneywood, in Buckinghamshire, was Andy Coulson, then Cameron's director of communications and former News of the World editor.
Labour said the meeting raised questions about Osborne's judgment and increased the pressure for him to appear at the inquiry. Osborne is only being asked for written evidence but has indicated he is willing to appear in person.
Coulson's appointment as director of communications is expected to come under scrutiny at Leveson on Monday, when O'Donnell gives evidence. O'Donnell oversaw the vetting process for civil servants, including advisers such as Coulson, who was subjected to a low level of security clearance when he became director of communications at No 10 in May 2010.
Coulson told the inquiry last week that he may have had "unsupervised access" to material designated top secret or above and attended meetings of the national security council. He says he did not know at the time what his security clearance was.
Senior Tory sources have denied claims in the Independent on Sunday that Coulson refused to sign a confidentiality deal. "We have a copy of a signed agreement," a source said.
Rajeev Syal
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5:35
Disability benefits to be slashed
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Work and pensions secretary unrepentant that half a million can expect to lose payments under new regime
Half a million people are set to lose their disability benefits under government plans, it has emerged.
The work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, said he was determined to introduce radical reforms to disability allowances that could slash the annual cost by £2.24bn.
Around 500,000 people in the UK who receive disability living allowance (DLA) could no longer be eligible for the replacement personal independence payment (PIP) under the plans, which are outlined in a report by the Department for Work and Pensions this month.
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Duncan Smith said there had been a 30% rise in the the number of claimants in recent years, with the annual cost of the benefits soon to reach £13bn.
Under the reforms two million claimants would be reassessed in the next four years and only those considered to be in need of support able to qualify.
Duncan Smith told the Daily Telegraph: "We are creating a new benefit, because the last benefit grew by something like 30% in the past few years.
"It's been rising well ahead of any other gauge you might make about illness, sickness, disability or for that matter, general trends in society.
"A lot of that is down to the way the benefit was structured so that it was very loosely defined. Second thing was that in the assessment, lots of people weren't actually seen.
"Third problem was lifetime awards. Something like 70% had lifetime awards, (which) meant that once they got it you never looked at them again. They were just allowed to fester."
Duncan Smith defended the reforms which could see people without limbs, including ex-servicemen and women, no longer entitled to disability benefits as their everyday mobility is not undermined by their prosthetic limbs.
"It's not like incapacity benefit, it's not a statement of sickness. It is a gauge of your capability. In other words, 'Do you need care, do you need support to get around?'.
"Those are the two things that are measured. Not, 'You have lost a limb.'"
Ministers are consulting on the new eligibility criteria for the disability benefit system, which will be announced in the autumn.
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0:06
Spain's indignados accuse police of violence
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Protest co-ordinators say 20 people were injured at end of demonstration to mark movement's first anniversary
Spain's "indignados" gathered again in Madrid's emblematic Puerta del Sol on Sunday to protest against what they claim was excessive violence when riot police cleared the square of a previous demonstration early in the morning.
Witness accounts from those in the square when it was cleared at 5am contradicted statements from the interior ministry, which claimed dozens of protests around Spain on Saturday had ended "without incident".
Press photographers were among those expelled from the Puerta del Sol as police chased protesters around nearby streets.
Javier Bauluz, part of a team of Pulitzer prize-winning photographers from Associated Press, was pushed and struck in the face by a police officer. "They hit me for doing my job," said Bauluz. "The general attitude was to get us out of the square and prevent us from working, shoving us if necessary," said fellow photographer Gabriel Pecot.
Protest co-ordinators said about 20 people were injured after demonstrations marked the first anniversary of the non-violent indignado movement.
Police reported that two of their number were hurt. Eighteen people were arrested and many more reportedly face administrative fines after having their details taken down.
"The violence used was disproportionate," said an indignado spokeswoman. "People were having a very calm assembly when police came in."
Sunday night's demonstration, which included a series of open assemblies to debate political change, was far less well attended than the previous evening. El País newspaper estimated that some 5,000 people were in the square an hour before the midnight deadline to leave.
The indignados began protesting last year against the political system as a whole and have since moved on to fight health and education cuts, bank bailouts, mortgage foreclosures and austerity measures that have pushed Spain back into recession.
The conservative government of Mariano Rajoy has vowed not to allow the indignados to repeat the camp-outs that were tolerated by the previous socialist government.
The interior ministry did not respond to queries about the allegations from the Guardian.
With protests called for Monday and Tuesday, the situation looked set to remain tense. It was not clear whether protesters planned to stay again all night, a move that would almost certainly see riot police return.
"I imagine this is something that the various open assemblies being held this afternoon will debate," the spokeswoman said. On Saturday the Puerta del Sol was packed with demonstrators, including families with young children on their shoulders and a group of pensioners that called itself the Indignant Grandparents.
Rajoy's government is wary of the indignados, especially with financial markets jittery about the state of the country as it falls back into recession, unemployment reaches 24%, bond yields rise and the country's fourth largest bank, Bankia, is nationalised. A poll in el País newspaper on Sunday showed that 51% of Spaniards still sympathised with the movement, though this had fallen from 64% a year ago.
Giles Tremlett
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0:01
EU leaders set for showdown on fate of euro as crisis deepens
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Angela Merkel and François Hollande to have first face-to-face talks in Berlin after eurozone finance ministers meet in Brussels
Europe is braced for a crucial 48 hours of high-stakes summitry likely to decide whether Germany and France can strike a grand bargain aimed at dispelling growing pessimism over the chances of the single currency surviving in its current form.
While eurozone finance ministers are to meet on Monday in Brussels, apparently at a loss over how to respond to political paralysis in Greece and a worsening crisis in Spain, all eyes are on François Hollande, the new French leader, who is to go to Berlin for his first face-to-face meeting with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, as soon as he is sworn in as president on Tuesday.
Hollande, Europe's new champion of growth policies, lines up against Merkel, the dominant cheerleader of austerity as the solution to the crisis. The German leader, increasingly isolated if inherently strong in the European contest, suffered a big setback on Sunday night, with her Christian Democrats slumping to a crushing defeat in an election in the big German state of North-Rhine Westphalia, according to German TV exit polls.
Against a background of intense volatility, Europe was pulled in opposing directions by voters, protests, and political paralysis at the weekend, deepening uncertainty over its future shape and gnawing away at the prospects for the euro's survival as a 17-country union.
Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, and the former EU commissioner Lord Mandelson claim that the coalition government must commit with other European governments to a new growth strategy if the eurozone is to survive.
In a joint article for the Guardian, Balls and Mandelson call for a "new political settlement" across the continent to achieve growth.
The business secretary, Vince Cable, gave a bleak warning that if the eurozone fails to contain the problems facing Greece then Britain could face a huge economic impact. He said the UK could only hope that the eurozone's economic firewalls were strong enough to stop the financial turmoil from spreading. He said Britain did not have the problem of managing the issue, as it remained outside the eurozone, but could still be hit. "The problem would affect us if it spread, if you had these contagion effects in Italy and Spain," he said.
"[Michel] Barnier [EU commissioner for the internal market] has expressed optimism that those firewalls have now been created, and we must hope he's right – because if they're not, then of course it has a massive impact on our trade – half of our exports go to the eurozone countries, our banks are quite substantially exposed to those countries."
The large protests and minor clashes in Spain, political gridlock in Greece, the crucial regional election in Germany, and rising hostility to the EU in the Netherlands have all contributed to an air of crisis supplanting more than two years of financial panic and bitter argument over how to rescue the euro.
Hollande goes to Berlin on Tuesday with the psychological advantage, buttressed by a strong new mandate that has shifted the terms of European politics. After a string of setbacks among her political allies at home and in the EU, Merkel was weakened by the spectacular defeat in Düsseldorf.
The state election, involving almost one in four of German voters, was seen as a bellwether. Elections in North-Rhine Westphalia are often a gauge of the future of German national politics. The opposition Social Democrats and Greens were on the brink of securing an absolute majority, according to TV projections, with Merkel's CDU said to have dropped between eight and nine points on two years ago and four points below what the opinion polls had predicted.
After the French Socialists' presidential election triumph, the victory for Germany's Social Democrats – projected to be up four points from 34.5 – will be seen as a further fillip for the European centre-left.
Eurozone finance ministers are to meet in Brussels on Monday to ponder their options, but are unlikely to decide very much, given the political imponderables and the unresolved splits between German-led belt-tighteners and French-led proponents of growth policies as the answer to Europe's travails.
Tens of thousands of Spanish people took to the streets to protest at soaring unemployment in a country where anyone under 25 is now more likely to be out of than in work. The fourth attempt in less than a week to form a government in Greece looked destined for failure, signalling weeks of instability before fresh elections likely to strengthen the hard left, which rejects the terms of Greece's €240bn bailout and the restructuring of much of its national debt.
Opinion polls in the Netherlands, meanwhile, for the first time showed the hard left, anti-European Socialist party as the strongest single party before early elections in September in which Europe looks like being the central issue.
While the pressure from Spain, Greece, and France pointed towards a relaxation of cost-cutting austerity, the signals from Germany went in the opposite direction. The CDU's worst postwar performance in North-Rhine Westphalia, while weakening Merkel, is unlikely to cause her to abandon her tough line on a new fiscal pact for the eurozone and her arguments that Europe's debt crisis cannot be fixed by piling up more debt.
The cover of Monday's influential news weekly Der Spiegel declares "Adieu Greece", arguing that it is time to kick the country out of the euro. Almost four in five Germans believed Greece should forfeit its bailout cash if it does not comply with the stringent eurozone terms, according to a poll in the bestselling tabloid Bildzeitung. Against this background, Merkel is unlikely to expose herself to charges that she is going soft on the euro. More quietly, however, the government in Berlin and the German central bank have signalled over the past week that they favour tolerating greater inflation and higher wage increases in Germany in order to spur domestic demand and effect a partial rebalancing of the chronically imbalanced EU economy. Data being released on Tuesday will confirm that the EU is in recession, registering contraction of gross domestic product for the last two quarters. The figures are expected to show very slight growth in Germany while the French economy stagnated.
Ian Traynor
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May 13, 2012
23:38
Caroline Lucas to step down as leader of the Green party
» ‎ The Guardian World News
MP for Brighton Pavilion making move 'in order to raise the profiles of others aspiring to election'
Caroline Lucas, who was elected in the 2010 general election as the UK's first Green MP, has announced that she is to stand down as leader of the party.
The party said on Sunday that she was making the move "in order to broaden opportunities for the range of talent in the party and to raise the profiles of others aspiring to election".
Lucas is to step down in September at the end of her second two-year term as leader, a period during which the party has made gains at local council level in addition to her own Westminster breakthrough in the constituency of Brighton Pavilion.
"We're lucky to have a wealth of capability and experience in our party," she said, adding that she would continue "putting the Green case for change in parliament".
"Now feels like the right time to step aside, to allow more of that ability to come forward and help the party to grow," she said in a statement on the party's website.
"I'm proud that during the four years of my term, we've moved Green politics forward to a higher level, with the party by far the most influential it has ever been."
Originally an activist with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Lucas joined the Greens in 1986 and achieved her first electoral success in 1993 when she won only the party's second UK council seat in Oxford.
She was elected to the European Parliament in the South East England Region in 1999 – a seat she held until giving it up after her election to Westminster.
Nominations for leadership candidates have been opened and will close towards the end of June. A new leader, or co-leaders, will take up the two year post in early September.
The roles of leader, which can be shared, and deputy leader were established in 2008 by the party after it switched from a system of having two principal speakers.
The Greens won 34 seats during this month's local elections, a net increase of 11. The party won in target areas such as Reading and Dudley, and defended all six seats in Norwich.
It was also third in the list of London-wide assembly members, while its London mayoral candidate, Jenny Jones, came third, ahead of the Liberal Democrat Brian Paddick.
- Caroline Lucas
- Green party
Ben Quinn
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23:38
Father and son die and two in hospital after incident on river Avon
» ‎ The Guardian World News

Small motorised boat they were in thought to have capsized when it went over a weir
A father and his three-year-old son have died after their boat overturned at a weir during an afternoon trip on the river Avon in Warwickshire
Two other children who were in the boat when the accident happened on Saturday are being treated in hospital.
The father, named locally as Julian Mynott, 42, and his son, Freddie, were pronounced dead at the scene, close to the family home in Barford, near Warwick.
Their small motorised boat is thought to have capsized when it went over a three-metre high weir as the four were coming back to the shore from a trip.
Witnesses said the river was higher than normal at the time, and there was a strong current.
Freddie was pulled from the water at about 8.30pm on Saturday and Mynott, an antiques dealer, was found shortly after 10pm.
A local resident and a police officer managed to rescue the two surviving children, a girl and a boy, according to the West Midlands Ambulance Service.
The girl suffered a cardiac arrest and was later transferred to Birmingham children's hospital where she was said to be seriously ill but stable while the boy was described as conscious but poorly.
Neighbours and friends spoke warmly of Mynott, and his wife Emma, 41, who was not on board the boat, and said they were thinking of them and their two other children, Florence and Archie.
Polly Bonner-Evans, who lives close to the family, said: "They were just really lovely people. The family were so kind, so nice, pleasant."
The family only moved into their home in Barford in February after carrying out restoration work.
Charles Barlow, who lives in Barford, said the community was shocked and saddened by what had happened.
"As kids we used to canoe up and down the river with scouts, so if ever the river was the way it is now we wouldn't go anywhere near the weir," he said.
Ben Quinn
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23:38
Trayvon Martin petition site Change.org comes to UK
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Website that teenager's mother used to bring his case to world attention says it has 'structure of a business but non-profit ethos'
It helped a 22-year-old nanny working two jobs take on Bank of America, a bullied teenager make the Motion Picture Association think again about a film's rating and, most memorably, a mother and father bring the man who shot their son to court. Now Change.org – the fastest-growing website for social change in the world – is launching a UK platform.
The site, which models itself as the "YouTube of social action campaigns", is expanding its reach in the hope that millions more people will be empowered to take on corporations and even governments, said its founder, Ben Rattray.
"We're radically changing the way in which people can influence those in power to deliver social change," he said. "There is a strong tradition of social justice in the UK – one of the most powerful petitions in history, to end slavery, was started here – and we strongly feel that the desire to fight for change is not an American, or even western trait, but a human one."
The website has 14 million users, with two million more joining every month. It reflects a zeitgeist in which desire for change, disenchantment with traditional power structures and new technology is connecting people online like never before, said Rattray. "At the moment we are at an interesting intersection where people are remarkably frustrated by politics, the economy, the lack of jobs but at the same time mobilised by technology, especially social media, that brings them together. That is the exciting thing."
A platform where anyone can start a petition before encouraging others to sign up, Change.org currently launches more than 15,000 campaigns a month, and has hosted almost 130,000 petitions since it was launched in 2007. But it was Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin's campaign that propelled the site into the public consciousness.
The petition called for the arrest and prosecution of George Zimmerman, a neighbourhood watch volunteer, who, on 26 February shot and killed Tracy Martin's son Trayvon in a suburb of Orlando but was released without being arrested after pleading self-defence. More than 2.2 million people signed the petition, causing nationwide soul-searching in the US, and finally – two months after the shooting – Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder. In a note sent via the site, Trayvon's mother wrote: "More than 2 million people joined our call for Zimmerman's arrest [...] We feel less alone knowing that so many people stood with our family during this impossible time."
Change.org already has a presence in Britain, with 500,000 UK users and more than 300 petitions started a month but Rattray hopes having a new UK-based team will help people in this country access local campaigns. "We can have a huge global impact but the essence of Change.org is that we have deep local roots. People can mobilise around issues that were previously ignored and really make their voices heard," he said.
The site is used for campaigns big and small – from a skater lobbying to have a park for his sport in Kirklees to a librarian urging Amazon UK to pay more tax. Brie Rogers Lowery, campaigns director for Change.org in the UK, said that in a era where people were increasingly rejecting top-down decision-making, sites such as Change.org put power back in their hands. "Less than a third of the electorate turned out to vote in the recent local elections. People desperately want their voice heard on issues but no longer trust traditional politics to deliver on them," she said. "Change.org is here in the UK to fill that gap – giving everyone the chance to build large-scale campaigns on issues they care about and deliver change at both a local and national level."
Rattray denied that the ease of starting a petition could encourage some "troublemakers" and create headaches and expense for authorities. "This is not direct democracy; it doesn't mean that the people making the decisions have to agree or comply," he said. "But it does mean that instead of ignoring the people their decisions affect, those in power have to respond, and that is very healthy for democracy."
The website is officially for profit – receiving payments from organisations such as Amnesty International and the Humane Society to host their petitions – but Rattray prefers the term "for benefit". "We have the structure of a business but the ethos of a non-profit," he said. "We want to show that it is absolutely possible to build a company that focuses on the social good while still being a viable business. We don't expect every company to do the same, but we want to demonstrate that it is at least possible."
There have already been successful Change.org campaigns that have gained media attention in the UK: in February the Advertising Standards Authority banned a Ryanair advert featuring a scantily clad female cabin crew member after a petition started by a Ryanair flight attendant attracted 11,000 signatures, while amateur boxer Elizabeth Plank successfully fought boxing authorities' stipulation that female boxers must wear skirts in the ring at the Olympics after garnering 55,000 signatures.
As she put it: "This petition is not about a piece of fabric, it's about athletes ... If there's one lesson I've learned through my experience as a boxer is that when someone throws a punch, curling up in the foetal position is not an option. You stand up and you fight. You don't ask for power, you just take it."
Alexandra Topping
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23:06
JP Morgan 'dead wrong' to dismiss concerns over trading, admits boss
» ‎ The Guardian World News
CEO says bank made egregious mistake over warnings about derivatives market bets, as senior banker set to resign
The chief executive of JP Morgan Chase, Jamie Dimon, has said he was "dead wrong" to dismiss concerns about the US bank's trading a month before posting a $2bn loss.
The loss has led to calls for greater oversight of Wall Street, triggered regulatory investigations on both sides of the Atlantic and wiped $14bn (£8.7bn) off the bank's value.
Stories began circulating in April that a London-based JP Morgan trader in London – nicknamed "the London whale" or "Voldemort" – had taken huge bets in the credit derivatives market.
Dimon initially dismissed concerns as a "tempest in a teapot", but last week the bank shocked investors when it reported $2bn losses.
Dimon's admission came amid reports that Ina Drew, the bank's chief investment officer and one of the most senior women on Wall Street, is set to resign along with at least two other bank executives.
Drew, who has worked for the bank for three decades, had already tendered her resignation in the wake of the scandal. She oversaw Bruno Iksil, the trader identified as "the whale". He too is believed to be set to leave the bank.
"We made a terrible, egregious mistake," Dimon said in an interview on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday. "There's almost no excuse for it."
He said bank executives were completely wrong in public statements made in April after being challenged over the trades in media reports.
"We got very defensive. And people started justifying everything we did. We told you something that was completely wrong a mere four weeks ago."
Dimon added: "In hindsight we took far too much risk, the strategy was barely vetted, it was barely monitored. It should never have happened."
The bets that went wrong are believed to have been aimed at shielding the bank from Europe's financial crisis. But the complicated hedging operation backfired spectacularly and led to a huge hit.
On Friday, US senators Carl Levin and Jeff Merkley said the losses were a "textbook illustration" of why Wall Street needed tougher regulation.
Financial watchdogs have been drawing up the so-called Volcker rule which would limit trades similar to those that went wrong at JP Morgan.
The rule forms part of the Dodd-Frank Act brought in after the credit crisis. Dimon has campaigned against the Volcker rule and other sections of the act. Levin and Merkley said Wall Street has successfully managed to weaken the rule.
Levin told Meet The Press that Wall Street had undertaken massive lobbying to create a huge loophole in the Volcker rule.
The rule would limit the bets that banks can make with their own funds – which is known as proprietary trading. They would only be allowed to hedge against risky bets on an individual basis. The loophole currently under consideration would permit hedging against a portfolio of investments.
"We have got to be very, very careful that the regulators here are not undermined by this huge effort to weaken the rule by putting in a huge loophole," said Levin.
"The issue here is the power of the banks and whether or not we are going to put a cop back on Wall Street," he said. "The issue is whether we are going to stick with the law as written which will prevent us from bailing out banks again."
Dominic Rushe
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23:06
Taliban infiltration fears grow as 'rogue' Afghan police gun down British soldiers
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Two servicemen killed while protecting meeting with Afghan officials at patrol base in Helmand province
Two British servicemen have been shot dead by two Afghan policemen, the latest in a string of "rogue attacks" on foreign forces by the men who are supposed to be their allies in the fight against the Taliban.
The Ministry of Defence said that a Royal Air Force airman and a soldier from 1st Battalion Welsh Guards were killed on Saturday in southern Helmand province, when they were protecting a meeting with Afghan officials at a patrol base. The next of kin have been informed.
"What appears to have happened is that an Afghan police officer opened fire on a mentoring team working with the Afghan police," Philip Hammond, the defence secretary, told BBC's Andrew Marr Show.
"We don't yet know what the motive was; we don't yet know whether this was an insurgent who'd infiltrated the police or whether it was a policeman who simply had a grievance of some kind," he said.
About one in every seven of the Nato soldiers who have died in Afghanistan this year were killed by Afghan forces.
The attackers ranged from an elite commando who turned his gun on a special forces mentor in a remote base, to a sergeant who shot dead two senior officers inside the interior ministry in Kabul.
The rate of these attacks, known to the military as "green-on-blue" incidents because of the colours that represent the Afghan forces and Nato-led coalition, has been rising even as foreign forces reduce their presence in Afghanistan.
In 2011 there were 35 soldiers killed in 21 attacks by Afghan forces. This year 22 soldiers have been killed in 16 separate attacks by Afghan forces, a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force said. There have been several other attacks that did not lead to any foreign soldiers' deaths. A total of 414 members of UK forces have died since operations in Afghanistan began in October 2001. A Ministry of Defence spokesman said about a dozen of them had been killed by friendly Afghan forces in "green-on-blue" attacks.
At least four British soldiers are among this year's dead. In March, Sergeant Luke Taylor, of the Royal Marines, and Lance Corporal Michael Foley, of the Adjutant General's Corps, were shot dead by an Afghan soldier at the entrance to the UK headquarters in Helmand province.
The shootings are posing an increasing problem for both the Afghan government and its western supporters. The military strategy in Afghanistan is now focused on training the national army and police to fight the Taliban more effectively so foreign combat troops can leave by a 2014 deadline. But the trust essential to the mentoring missions is being steadily eroded by the attacks.
Jim Murphy, the shadow defence secretary, said the recruitment process of Afghan recruits needs to be re-examined as Britain moves towards the withdrawal of nearly all forces in 2015.
"There has been a real emergence of these horrific attacks by people dressed in friendly uniform. This tells us that we should look at the recruitment processes again," he told Sky's Dermot Murnaghan.
"My concern is that in 2015, when Britain is going to be running training regimes in Afghanistan, who is going to be ensuring the security of British personnel then?" he said.
The Afghan government has set up counter-infiltration units to root out possible Taliban agents or sympathisers. The Nato-led coalition has also assigned some soldiers as "guardian angels" to watch over other troops as they go about their day on joint bases or sleep at night.
But senior officers also argue not all killings are the work of insurgents, noting that Afghan forces often use weapons to resolve personal disputes or settle grudges.
Hammond, in a comment that may prompt claims he is reverting to cultural stereotypes, then added: "Remember, this is a society where people traditionally settle grievances by violence."
A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack, and named the shooters as Mohammad Wali and Sayed Wali, but the insurgent group sometimes takes credit for actions it wishes to be associated with but has not carried out.
The attackers had been in the police for nearly two years; one came from Helmand and the other from the east, where insurgents have a strong presence, said Daoud Ahmadi, a spokesman for the provincial governor. He confirmed that the shooter who survived was captured late on Saturday night, and was being questioned, but declined to comment on whether either attacker had Taliban links. The provincial government has also sent a delegation to investigate the killing.
In a reminder that the rogue shooters are still a tiny – if deadly – minority, a third Afghan policeman fired at the attackers, said a provincial police spokesman, Fareed Ahmad.
Additional reporting by Mokhtar Amiri
Emma Graham-HarrisonRajeev Syal
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23:06
Israel warned of volatile situation as Palestinian hunger strikers near death
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Tony Blair urges action and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas fears potential 'disaster that no one could control'
Demonstrations in the West Bank and Gaza in support of about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike are escalating amid efforts by Egyptian mediators to broker a deal to avoid protests spiralling out of control if a detainee dies.
Two prisoners, who have refused food for 77 days, are thought to be close to death with another six in a critical condition, say Palestinian groups. The Israeli prison service (IPS) says no one's life is at risk.
In an unusual intervention, Tony Blair, the representative of the Middle East quartet, urged Israel to "take all necessary measures to prevent a tragic outcome that could have serious implications for stability and security conditions on the ground". He said he was "increasingly concerned about the deteriorating health conditions" of hunger strikers.
Earlier, Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, said the situation was "very dangerous". He told Reuters: "If anyone dies … it would be a disaster and no one could control the situation." Abbas has appealed to Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, to intervene.
Jamal Zahalka, a member of the Israeli parliament, told a solidarity rally in Jaffa: "If one of the striking prisoners dies, a third intifada [uprising] will break out."
According to Physicians for Human Rights, there is no previous recorded case of anyone surviving without food or supplements for more than 75 days. IRA hunger strike Bobby Sands died after 66 days in 1981.
Israeli security forces have responded to protests and marches in towns and villages across the West Bank with teargas, rubber bullets and water cannon. In Gaza, protests and rallies have been held and the hunger strike has featured in sermons at Friday prayers. About 50 people, including former prisoners and activists, have started a sympathy hunger strike.
"The protests are getting bigger every day," said Hurriya Ziadi from Ramallah, whose brother is on hunger strike after 10 years in jail. "The Palestinian people are very angry because these are our brothers and sisters who are asking for basic human rights. This touches every Palestinian."
The prisoners' protest was "feeding a wide range of nonviolent protests all over the West Bank," said former presidential candidate Mustafa Barghouti.
"A hunger strike is one of the most effective forms of nonviolent resistance. But if there is a death, it will spark a lot of anger."
Egyptian negotiators are trying to head off that scenario by brokering a deal to end the protest. Some progress had been made, said Palestinian officials. Egypt mediated a deal last autumn which saw captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit released in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.
The detainees' key demands are an end to imprisonment without trial or charge, known as "administrative detention"; an end to solitary confinement; allowing families from Gaza to visit prisoners in Israeli jails; access to educational materials; and an end to strip searches and night-time raids on cells.
The issue of prisoners' rights has strong resonance among Palestinian families, many of whom have seen relatives jailed. According to the Addameer, a prisoners' rights organisation, on 1 May there were 4,635 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, including 308 on administrative detention, seven women and 218 children.
Palestinian human rights group say about 2,500 prisoners have joined the hunger strike since it started as a mass protest on 17 April.
The IPS says 1,550 prisoners are on hunger strike under medical supervision. Four prisoners were moved to hospital last week, Two prisoners had been removed from solitary confinement, an IPS spokeswoman said, including Mahmoud Issa who was in isolation for more than 10 years.
In a letter addressed to "my beloved Lamar", Tha'er Halahleh, who has refused food for 77 days, asked for forgiveness from his daughter who was born two weeks after he was imprisoned 23 months ago and whom he has never seen.
"When you grow up you will understand how injustice was brought upon your father and upon thousands of Palestinians whom the occupation has put in prisons and jail cells, shattering their lives and future for no reason other then their pursuit of freedom, dignity and independence," the letter said.
"You will know that your father did not tolerate injustice and submission and that he would never accept insult and compromise, and that he is going through a hunger strike to protest against the Jewish state that wants to turn us into humiliated slaves without any rights or patriotic dignity."
Bilal Diab, who has been held under an administrative detention order since last August, sent a will to his family two days ago, requesting celebratory sweets be distributed at his funeral.
"We will have victory, but only through martyrdom or immediate release – not any partial solution," he wrote. "On the 75th day of my hunger strike, I am still determined, patient and focused."
Israel says both men are members of Islamic Jihad and their detention is necessary on security grounds.
Harriet Sherwood
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