Hope of recovering flight recorders continues but Brazil air force and navy call off Atlantic Ocean hunt for survivors.
Brazil has ended the search for more bodies from the Air France jet that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean last month, calling the task “impossible,” but the search for the jet’s flight recorders will go on.
Brazilian and French searchers have recovered large chunks of debris and 51 bodies from Air France Flight 447, which disappeared with 228 people on board late May 31.
On Friday, Brazil’s air force and navy ended their search for more bodies or debris.
“The reason for this is the impossibility of finding survivors or bodies, which has always been the main focus of our search efforts,” Brazilian Air Force Col. Henry Munhoz said at a news conference.
But Munhoz said the search for the black boxes would continue “coordinated by France.”
Experts say the black boxes may be key to deciding what brought the airliner down. And signals from the voice and data recorders begin to fade after about 30 days.
“We’ll have a better idea July 1 on how much longer we’ll go,” said U.S. Air Force Col. Willie Berges, the Brazil-based commander of the American military forces supporting the search.
Berges said searchers were likely to keep going 12 to 15 days past the 30-day mark of the crash.
A French nuclear submarine and two French-contracted ships towing U.S. Navy listening devices are trolling a search area with a radius of 50 miles (80 kilometers) off Brazil’s northeastern coast where it is believed the plane crashed.
The black boxes send out an electronic tapping sound that can be heard up to 1.25 miles (2 kilometers) away.
Source:THE TIMES
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Saturday, June 27, 2009
LA police to question doctor over Jackson's treatment
Police were investigating claims last night that Michael Jackson received a painkilling injection minutes before his death amid intense pressure to prepare for a series of lucrative comeback concerts in London next month.
A cardiologist who was allegedly with Jackson when he collapsed on Thursday was at the centre of a police inquiry amid claims that Jackson had been receiving daily injections of Demerol, a synthetic painkiller similar to morphine. The coroner confirmed that the doctor, named by Jackson’s business manager as Conrad Robert Murray, had not signed a death certificate. Detectives seized a car linked to Dr Murray, saying that it might contain drugs or other evidence, and spoke to him immediately after Jackson’s death. Charlie Beck, of the Los Angeles Police Department, said that they needed to question him further.
An unidentified man said in a telephone call to the emergency services released yesterday: “The doctor has been the only one here.” Detectives were searching Jackson’s rented home in the upmarket Los Angeles neighbourhood of Holmby Hills.
Brian Oxman, the Jackson family’s former lawyer, criticised “enablers” in his entourage for allowing him to abuse prescription drugs. “This was something which I feared and which I warned about,” said Mr Oxman, who was with Jackson’s sister La Toya and brothers Jermaine and Randy at the hospital. “This is a case of abuse of medication, unless there is another cause I did not know about.”
The night before his death Jackson was rehearsing for 50 concerts due to start at the O2 arena in London on July 13. Uri Geller, the self-styled psychic and friend of Jackson, told Sky News: “Stress is a killer, any doctor will tell you that. I think the anticipation of this mammoth challenge that was coming upon him, doing these 50 concerts, wanting to be close to perfection when he was going to be on stage, put him under huge, huge pressure.”
Results of a post-mortem examination will be delayed while tests, expected to take up to six weeks, are undertaken, the coroner’s office said. A spokesman said that there was no evidence of foul play and that the singer had been taking prescription drugs.
Tohme Tohme, Jackson’s business manager, insisted that the singer was fit, despite having cancelled the first of a series of concerts at the O2.
Randy Phillips, chief executive of AEG, which owns the O2, said that Jackson had shown “pride and confidence” during rehearsals this on Wednesday night.
Source:The times
A cardiologist who was allegedly with Jackson when he collapsed on Thursday was at the centre of a police inquiry amid claims that Jackson had been receiving daily injections of Demerol, a synthetic painkiller similar to morphine. The coroner confirmed that the doctor, named by Jackson’s business manager as Conrad Robert Murray, had not signed a death certificate. Detectives seized a car linked to Dr Murray, saying that it might contain drugs or other evidence, and spoke to him immediately after Jackson’s death. Charlie Beck, of the Los Angeles Police Department, said that they needed to question him further.
An unidentified man said in a telephone call to the emergency services released yesterday: “The doctor has been the only one here.” Detectives were searching Jackson’s rented home in the upmarket Los Angeles neighbourhood of Holmby Hills.
Brian Oxman, the Jackson family’s former lawyer, criticised “enablers” in his entourage for allowing him to abuse prescription drugs. “This was something which I feared and which I warned about,” said Mr Oxman, who was with Jackson’s sister La Toya and brothers Jermaine and Randy at the hospital. “This is a case of abuse of medication, unless there is another cause I did not know about.”
The night before his death Jackson was rehearsing for 50 concerts due to start at the O2 arena in London on July 13. Uri Geller, the self-styled psychic and friend of Jackson, told Sky News: “Stress is a killer, any doctor will tell you that. I think the anticipation of this mammoth challenge that was coming upon him, doing these 50 concerts, wanting to be close to perfection when he was going to be on stage, put him under huge, huge pressure.”
Results of a post-mortem examination will be delayed while tests, expected to take up to six weeks, are undertaken, the coroner’s office said. A spokesman said that there was no evidence of foul play and that the singer had been taking prescription drugs.
Tohme Tohme, Jackson’s business manager, insisted that the singer was fit, despite having cancelled the first of a series of concerts at the O2.
Randy Phillips, chief executive of AEG, which owns the O2, said that Jackson had shown “pride and confidence” during rehearsals this on Wednesday night.
Source:The times
Michael Jackson: finances will take years to unwind
Michael Jackson’s complicated financial legacy will lead to a battle for control of his business and music empire that could last a decade.
Lawyers acting for his family and creditors owed an estimated $500 million (£300 million) will fight for the right to assets of “Michael Jackson Inc”, which could be valued at more than $1 billion.
The singer was reported to have intended to leave his estate to his three children and his mother. Last night it was unclear if that arrangement was amended later.
During his lifetime Jackson was often described as a millionaire who spent like a billionaire. In the years before his death he was clearly struggling for cash to cover his extravagant spending. “What he needs more than anything is independence and cash,” said Diane Diamond, an expert on Jackson, last month. “His wallet is hurting.” But the singer also made a number of shrewd investments. In 1985 a financial trust founded by Jackson paid $47.5 million for ATV Music Publishing which owned the Beatles’ back catalogue and thousands of other songs.
A decade later the trust sold half the company to Sony for $150 million. Sony/ATV Music Publishing now has an estimated value of $2 billion. The $1 billion share owned by the Jackson-created trust is likely to be protected from the singer’s creditors.
At the time of his death Jackson also had an income estimated at $19 million a year, including $12 million royalties from Sony Music for his back-catalogue. Sony Music is expected to reissue special versions of his biggest-selling albums and possibly previously unreleased recordings — leading to significant increase in royalty payments.
The valuable publishing rights for Jackson’s own songs are currently controlled by Warner but that deal is due to expire soon and the catalogue folded into Sony/ATV, substantially increasing the value of the company.
Fernando Gandioli, an international inheritance expert with Withers lawyers, said that if Jackson has not left a will then under California law his assets would pass to his children, assuming there is no legal wife.
If there is a will, Jackson’s legacies willl be made public once probate is granted unless he had established a trust during his lifetime.
After decades of extravagant spending, expensive legal cases and questionable business advice, Jackson finally appeared to be attempting sort out his finances. After going through 11 managers since 1990 he reappointed Frank DiLeo, who had guided him between 1984-1989. Last week he rehired John Branca, the entertainment lawyer who struck many of his most lucrative deals.
Jackson’s financial troubles date back to his success in the 1980s, which had allowed him to indulge in his wildest fantasies. He paid $19.5 million on the Neverland ranch at Santa Barbara, California, turning its 2,600 acres into an estate with its own zoo, amusement park and miniature railway. At one time the estate had a staff of 150 with an estimated wage bill of $10 million.
But even as the hits dried up he continued to spend, with outgoings between $20 million and $30 million a year more than his income. He was an obsessive shopper and collector, spending $4 million in a single spree at one Las Vegas emporium in 2003, including a giant marble chess set and 10ft tall glass urns.
Then there was a series of highly damaging and expensive legal settlements. In 1994 he was reported to have agreed a £16.5 million out-of-court deal with family of Jordan Chandler over abuse allegations. Five years layer he paid £5 million to Debbie Rowe in return for residency rights of their two children in a divorce settlement. In 2004 he paid £1.1 million to the son of an employee at Neverland ranch who accused him of abuse. By the time of his 2005 trial for child abuse he had debts of $300 million. He obtained a $91 million loan from Bank of America, later increased to £166 million.
In 2008 the debt had risen to £178 million. When he defaulted on the loan to the tune of £198,000 the debt was sold to Fortress Investment Group, a hedge fund. Jackson’s financial troubles were highlighted again when he defaulted on £24.5 million debt secured on Neverland in spring last year.
Six months later he was sued for £4.7 million in London by his former benefactor, Sheikh Abdulla bin Hamad al-Khalifa, who had initially lent him £23,000 to pay his utility bills for Neverland. Although the case was settled out of court, there are still a number of outstanding legal cases, including the singer’s former spokesman, who is seeking a $59 million settlement.
But Jackson still owned half of Neverland, which is currently being refurbished in partnership with the real estate firm Colony Capital LLC, and has been valued at up to $80 million.
Tom Barrac, chief executive of Colony Capital, said: “You are talking about a guy who could make $500 million a year if he put his mind to it. There are very few artists who are muiltibillion-dollar businesses, And he is one.”
As lawyers began poring over the finances there was one final bizzare twist with a claim that Sir Paul McCartney could be one of the beneficiaries amid unconfirmed reports that he had been left Jackson’s share of the Beatles’ back catalogue.
All this should give a plethora of lawyers plenty to fight over — and their bills will run into many millions.
Source:The times
Lawyers acting for his family and creditors owed an estimated $500 million (£300 million) will fight for the right to assets of “Michael Jackson Inc”, which could be valued at more than $1 billion.
The singer was reported to have intended to leave his estate to his three children and his mother. Last night it was unclear if that arrangement was amended later.
During his lifetime Jackson was often described as a millionaire who spent like a billionaire. In the years before his death he was clearly struggling for cash to cover his extravagant spending. “What he needs more than anything is independence and cash,” said Diane Diamond, an expert on Jackson, last month. “His wallet is hurting.” But the singer also made a number of shrewd investments. In 1985 a financial trust founded by Jackson paid $47.5 million for ATV Music Publishing which owned the Beatles’ back catalogue and thousands of other songs.
A decade later the trust sold half the company to Sony for $150 million. Sony/ATV Music Publishing now has an estimated value of $2 billion. The $1 billion share owned by the Jackson-created trust is likely to be protected from the singer’s creditors.
At the time of his death Jackson also had an income estimated at $19 million a year, including $12 million royalties from Sony Music for his back-catalogue. Sony Music is expected to reissue special versions of his biggest-selling albums and possibly previously unreleased recordings — leading to significant increase in royalty payments.
The valuable publishing rights for Jackson’s own songs are currently controlled by Warner but that deal is due to expire soon and the catalogue folded into Sony/ATV, substantially increasing the value of the company.
Fernando Gandioli, an international inheritance expert with Withers lawyers, said that if Jackson has not left a will then under California law his assets would pass to his children, assuming there is no legal wife.
If there is a will, Jackson’s legacies willl be made public once probate is granted unless he had established a trust during his lifetime.
After decades of extravagant spending, expensive legal cases and questionable business advice, Jackson finally appeared to be attempting sort out his finances. After going through 11 managers since 1990 he reappointed Frank DiLeo, who had guided him between 1984-1989. Last week he rehired John Branca, the entertainment lawyer who struck many of his most lucrative deals.
Jackson’s financial troubles date back to his success in the 1980s, which had allowed him to indulge in his wildest fantasies. He paid $19.5 million on the Neverland ranch at Santa Barbara, California, turning its 2,600 acres into an estate with its own zoo, amusement park and miniature railway. At one time the estate had a staff of 150 with an estimated wage bill of $10 million.
But even as the hits dried up he continued to spend, with outgoings between $20 million and $30 million a year more than his income. He was an obsessive shopper and collector, spending $4 million in a single spree at one Las Vegas emporium in 2003, including a giant marble chess set and 10ft tall glass urns.
Then there was a series of highly damaging and expensive legal settlements. In 1994 he was reported to have agreed a £16.5 million out-of-court deal with family of Jordan Chandler over abuse allegations. Five years layer he paid £5 million to Debbie Rowe in return for residency rights of their two children in a divorce settlement. In 2004 he paid £1.1 million to the son of an employee at Neverland ranch who accused him of abuse. By the time of his 2005 trial for child abuse he had debts of $300 million. He obtained a $91 million loan from Bank of America, later increased to £166 million.
In 2008 the debt had risen to £178 million. When he defaulted on the loan to the tune of £198,000 the debt was sold to Fortress Investment Group, a hedge fund. Jackson’s financial troubles were highlighted again when he defaulted on £24.5 million debt secured on Neverland in spring last year.
Six months later he was sued for £4.7 million in London by his former benefactor, Sheikh Abdulla bin Hamad al-Khalifa, who had initially lent him £23,000 to pay his utility bills for Neverland. Although the case was settled out of court, there are still a number of outstanding legal cases, including the singer’s former spokesman, who is seeking a $59 million settlement.
But Jackson still owned half of Neverland, which is currently being refurbished in partnership with the real estate firm Colony Capital LLC, and has been valued at up to $80 million.
Tom Barrac, chief executive of Colony Capital, said: “You are talking about a guy who could make $500 million a year if he put his mind to it. There are very few artists who are muiltibillion-dollar businesses, And he is one.”
As lawyers began poring over the finances there was one final bizzare twist with a claim that Sir Paul McCartney could be one of the beneficiaries amid unconfirmed reports that he had been left Jackson’s share of the Beatles’ back catalogue.
All this should give a plethora of lawyers plenty to fight over — and their bills will run into many millions.
Source:The times
‘Jackson Three’ facing an uncertain future after megastar’s death
Life was never ordinary for Michael Jackson’s three children, raised in a world of midnight shopping sprees, Neverland adventures and trips around the world with their eccentric father, who hid them behind veils.
His death leaves the “Jackson Three” — Prince Michael Joseph Jackson Junior, 12, Paris Michael Katherine Jackson, 11, and Prince Michael II, 7 — in limbo. Their future is expected to be set out in his will, but the stage is set for a three-way custody battle between the Jackson family, Debbie Rowe — Jackson’s former wife and mother of the eldest two — and even the children’s Rwandan nanny.
Family members including Jackson’s mother, Katherine, have already offered to take care of the children following the singer’s sudden death. Brian Oxman, the Jackson family lawyer, said last night: “Probably Mrs Jackson will take care of them, she loves them dearly.”
The children have been living with their father and grandmother for the past six months in a rented mansion in Los Angeles.
Prince Michael Joseph Jackson Junior and Paris Michael Katherine Jackson were born during the star’s second marriage to Ms Rowe. The Australian, who divorced Jackson in 1999, gave up all parental rights after a legal battle. A lawyer yesterday, however, was quoted as saying that these rights were not actually terminated, raising the possibility that she will seek access to her children.
In further signs of the potential custody struggle, Stacey Brown, a family friend and co-author of a book on Jackson, told ABC News that he had wanted Grace Rwaramba, his children’s Rwandan nanny, to care for them if anything happened to him.
Mystery surrounds the children, conceived in unusual circumstances. Observers question whether Jackson is even the true father, noting the light colour of their skin.
The eldest two were born to Ms Rowe, 50, who used to work as a nurse for Jackson’s dermatologist before marrying the singer in 1996. The surprise wedding took place in Sydney, Australia, when she was six months pregnant with Prince Michael.
The marriage ended soon after the arrival of Paris, who was born in April 1998. Ms Rowe, who lives in Palmdale near Los Angeles, filed for divorce six months later. As part of the settlement, Jackson said she “gifted” him custody of the children.
It is unclear whether Rowe will demand access to her son and daughter. Adding to the intrigue, she told a newspaper last year that she conceived both times through artificial insemination but refused to give details, fuelling speculation about paternity.
Even less is known about Jackson’s youngest son, nicknamed “Blanket”. Prince Michael II was born in 2002 to an anonymous surrogate mother, apparently after she was fertilised with Jackson’s sperm. Pictures of the infant were beamed around the world in November of that year when Jackson suddenly dangled him, with a blanket over his head, off the balcony of his fourth-floor suite at a Berlin hotel as hundreds of screaming fans gathered below. The stunt drew widespread criticism of Jackson and raised concerns about his suitability as a father.
The children enjoy star treatment wherever they go, but their lives are also quite isolated. The three have never attended school, instead being taught at home.
Behind closed doors, the girl and her two brothers must feel alone after the death of their father.
Source:The times
His death leaves the “Jackson Three” — Prince Michael Joseph Jackson Junior, 12, Paris Michael Katherine Jackson, 11, and Prince Michael II, 7 — in limbo. Their future is expected to be set out in his will, but the stage is set for a three-way custody battle between the Jackson family, Debbie Rowe — Jackson’s former wife and mother of the eldest two — and even the children’s Rwandan nanny.
Family members including Jackson’s mother, Katherine, have already offered to take care of the children following the singer’s sudden death. Brian Oxman, the Jackson family lawyer, said last night: “Probably Mrs Jackson will take care of them, she loves them dearly.”
The children have been living with their father and grandmother for the past six months in a rented mansion in Los Angeles.
Prince Michael Joseph Jackson Junior and Paris Michael Katherine Jackson were born during the star’s second marriage to Ms Rowe. The Australian, who divorced Jackson in 1999, gave up all parental rights after a legal battle. A lawyer yesterday, however, was quoted as saying that these rights were not actually terminated, raising the possibility that she will seek access to her children.
In further signs of the potential custody struggle, Stacey Brown, a family friend and co-author of a book on Jackson, told ABC News that he had wanted Grace Rwaramba, his children’s Rwandan nanny, to care for them if anything happened to him.
Mystery surrounds the children, conceived in unusual circumstances. Observers question whether Jackson is even the true father, noting the light colour of their skin.
The eldest two were born to Ms Rowe, 50, who used to work as a nurse for Jackson’s dermatologist before marrying the singer in 1996. The surprise wedding took place in Sydney, Australia, when she was six months pregnant with Prince Michael.
The marriage ended soon after the arrival of Paris, who was born in April 1998. Ms Rowe, who lives in Palmdale near Los Angeles, filed for divorce six months later. As part of the settlement, Jackson said she “gifted” him custody of the children.
It is unclear whether Rowe will demand access to her son and daughter. Adding to the intrigue, she told a newspaper last year that she conceived both times through artificial insemination but refused to give details, fuelling speculation about paternity.
Even less is known about Jackson’s youngest son, nicknamed “Blanket”. Prince Michael II was born in 2002 to an anonymous surrogate mother, apparently after she was fertilised with Jackson’s sperm. Pictures of the infant were beamed around the world in November of that year when Jackson suddenly dangled him, with a blanket over his head, off the balcony of his fourth-floor suite at a Berlin hotel as hundreds of screaming fans gathered below. The stunt drew widespread criticism of Jackson and raised concerns about his suitability as a father.
The children enjoy star treatment wherever they go, but their lives are also quite isolated. The three have never attended school, instead being taught at home.
Behind closed doors, the girl and her two brothers must feel alone after the death of their father.
Source:The times
Michael Jackson's cause of death yet unknown
Police have put a security on the pop star's case limiting the amount of information that can be released.
A post-mortem on Michael Jackson has revealed there are no signs of external injury to the superstar’s body.
The preliminary findings of the three-hour examination were released by the Los Angeles County Coroner late yesterday.
The exact cause of death for the 50-year-old may not be known for another six weeks as medics await toxicology reports.
Police and the coroner’s officials are currently investigating the role prescription drugs played in Jackson’s death amid claims he was injected with the powerful morphine-like painkiller Demerol shortly before his death.
Entertainment news website TMZ, which broke the story of Jackson’s demise, claims the singer received an injection of painkillers at 11.30am the day of his death.
Later that afternoon the singer was pronounced dead at the UCLA medical centre.
Family lawyer Brian Oxman has said he was concerned about the star's use of pain relief medication as Jackson was dogged by rumours of prescription drug addiction in the latter half of his life.
Speaking outside the coroner’s office late yesterday a spokesman said: “The medical examiner has ordered additional testing such as toxicology and other studies. The cause of death has been deferred.”
He added: “There was no indication of any external trauma or indication of foul play to the body of Mr. Jackson.”
Police have put a security on Jackson’s case limiting the amount of information that can be released.
After pathologists had finished with the singer’s body, taking blood samples for further tests, it was released to the family.
Jackson’s remains were quietly taken to an undisclosed mortuary late on Friday night evading a crowd outside the coroner’s.
Plans for the star’s funeral have yet to be disclosed by the family.
It is thought it could take place in his home town of Gary Indiana, an industrial suburb of Chicago where Jackson, who was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness, grew up with his siblings.
LA police are still seeking to question Jackson’s personal physician, identified by news media as Houston-based cardiologist Dr. Conrad Murray who was with him on the day of his death.
Both Jackson's ex-wife Lisa Marie Presley and a friend, Deepak Chopra, have both voiced concerns over the level of prescription drugs the one-time child prodigy took.
Californian-based writer Deepak Chopra, claimed the singer approached him in a bid to get prescription drugs after his trial on child abuse charges.
He told Sky News: “In 2005 he asked me for a prescription and that’s when I started to get curious about whether he was taking prescription medications and narcotics and the more I probed the more he denied it, but then he admitted he was taking a lot of prescription medication for pain.” He said Jackson asked for a particular drug Oxycontin.
Writing on her MySpace page the daughter of Elvis Presley said Jackson feared he would meet his end in a similar manner to her father who died in 1977 of a suspected drugs overdose.
Ms Presley recalled a conversation where Jackson said: "’I am afraid that I am going to end up like him, the way he did,’", referring to her father. She went on to say she was “overwhelmed” by the loss of ex-husband Jackson
Source:The times
A post-mortem on Michael Jackson has revealed there are no signs of external injury to the superstar’s body.
The preliminary findings of the three-hour examination were released by the Los Angeles County Coroner late yesterday.
The exact cause of death for the 50-year-old may not be known for another six weeks as medics await toxicology reports.
Police and the coroner’s officials are currently investigating the role prescription drugs played in Jackson’s death amid claims he was injected with the powerful morphine-like painkiller Demerol shortly before his death.
Entertainment news website TMZ, which broke the story of Jackson’s demise, claims the singer received an injection of painkillers at 11.30am the day of his death.
Later that afternoon the singer was pronounced dead at the UCLA medical centre.
Family lawyer Brian Oxman has said he was concerned about the star's use of pain relief medication as Jackson was dogged by rumours of prescription drug addiction in the latter half of his life.
Speaking outside the coroner’s office late yesterday a spokesman said: “The medical examiner has ordered additional testing such as toxicology and other studies. The cause of death has been deferred.”
He added: “There was no indication of any external trauma or indication of foul play to the body of Mr. Jackson.”
Police have put a security on Jackson’s case limiting the amount of information that can be released.
After pathologists had finished with the singer’s body, taking blood samples for further tests, it was released to the family.
Jackson’s remains were quietly taken to an undisclosed mortuary late on Friday night evading a crowd outside the coroner’s.
Plans for the star’s funeral have yet to be disclosed by the family.
It is thought it could take place in his home town of Gary Indiana, an industrial suburb of Chicago where Jackson, who was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness, grew up with his siblings.
LA police are still seeking to question Jackson’s personal physician, identified by news media as Houston-based cardiologist Dr. Conrad Murray who was with him on the day of his death.
Both Jackson's ex-wife Lisa Marie Presley and a friend, Deepak Chopra, have both voiced concerns over the level of prescription drugs the one-time child prodigy took.
Californian-based writer Deepak Chopra, claimed the singer approached him in a bid to get prescription drugs after his trial on child abuse charges.
He told Sky News: “In 2005 he asked me for a prescription and that’s when I started to get curious about whether he was taking prescription medications and narcotics and the more I probed the more he denied it, but then he admitted he was taking a lot of prescription medication for pain.” He said Jackson asked for a particular drug Oxycontin.
Writing on her MySpace page the daughter of Elvis Presley said Jackson feared he would meet his end in a similar manner to her father who died in 1977 of a suspected drugs overdose.
Ms Presley recalled a conversation where Jackson said: "’I am afraid that I am going to end up like him, the way he did,’", referring to her father. She went on to say she was “overwhelmed” by the loss of ex-husband Jackson
Source:The times
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Feud over family fortune and $10bn art collection
The battle of the Wildensteins involves two very different protagonists. On the one hand is Guy Wildenstein, 68, a friend of President Sarkozy and patriarch of the world’s most powerful and wealthy art-dealing dynasty.
On the other is Sylvia Wildenstein, 75, his stepmother, born into poverty in Eastern Europe.
Today they are engaged in an epic inheritance struggle for a fortune that includes private jets, yachts, stables, mansions and, above all, an art collection that is the stuff of legend.
Estimated at up to $10 billion (£6 billion), it includes works by Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet, Rembrandt, Cézanne, Fragonnard and Renoir — and Mrs Wildenstein claims that she has been unfairly deprived of her share of it.
Married for 23 years to Daniel Wildenstein, Guy’s father from a first marriage, she was granted a tax-free income of €381,000 (£322,000) a year and a 500 sq metre flat in Paris when he died in 2001.
She wants more — much more — and has spent four years filing lawsuits in the French courts against her stepson in an attempt to obtain half of her late husband’s wealth.
Bitterness and jealousy have accumulated, and there is no sign of a settlement. But one upshot is to shed light on a collection that has been the subject of myth and speculation for decades.
The Wildensteins are famous for their ability to stun art enthusiasts by producing a hidden masterpiece from bank vaults for a sale or exhibition — like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat, according to The New York Times.
The last thing the family wanted was for the contents of its vaults — some of which are rumoured to be in a nuclear bunker in New York state’s Catskill mountains — to be divulged.
That is now happening. Take, for example, the latest piece of evidence produced by Maître Claude Dumont-Beghi, Mrs Wildenstein’s lawyer — a list of works in a trust based in the Cayman Islands.
Among them are two Picassos, valued for insurance purposes at €1.6 million and €300,000; a portrait by David, the 18th-century French painter, valued at €5 million, and two paintings by Pierre Bonnard, the Post-Impressionist, each valued at €2.3 million. In the latest writ Mrs Wildenstein, a sprightly woman with thick make-up and platinum-blonde hair, argues that the trust was part of her late husband’s fortune and thus hers by right.
“I was the victim of great injustice,” she said in an interview with The Times in her lawyer’s office in Paris. “And I am determined to win back my rights.”
Born in a corner of the Carpathian Mountains that now belongs to Ukraine, she went on to become a dancer on Broadway and a model in Paris.
On Valentine’s Day in 1964 she met Daniel Wildenstein, the head of the multibillion-dollar art dealership founded by his grandfather, originally a tailor from eastern France, a century earlier. “He invited me for dinner and we never left each other,” she said.
In 2001, a month after her husband’s death, she signed a document to say that she renounced her inheritance in return for the tax-free income and flat near the Bois-de-Boulogne. She says that the document had been drawn up by lawyers representing Guy and Alec Wildenstein, her husband’s sons from his first marriage. “I didn’t know what I was doing. It was all so cruel and so sudden. I didn’t ask any questions. I just signed.”
When she realised that she might have made a mistake, she went to court and won a ruling that cancelled the renunciation and said that she was entitled to half her husband’s fortune.
A second legal dispute ensued over the extent of that fortune. Although the family owns billions, lawyers for Guy — Alec died last year — said that almost all had been placed in trusts, companies and galleries in New York and London.
Mr Wildenstein’s personal wealth amounted to a few millions, they said. Last month La Cour de Cassation, France’s highest court, agreed, putting Mrs Wildenstein back to square one.
She is now trying to prove that the ruling was flawed because trusts such as the one uncovered in the Cayman Islands had been hidden from judges.
Mrs Wildenstein’s refusal to back down promises further hearings and more unwanted publicity for a family that had learnt the value of discretion.
Some of the better-known works in the Wildenstein collection are:
— The Lute Player by Caravaggio, circa 1600. It is housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
— Pipe and Glass by Pablo Picasso. A 1918 drawing of Mme Georges, one of the Wildenstein ancestors, who was close to the celebrated artist
— Boulevard de Clichy, 1935, and La Corbeille de Fruits, 1946, by Pierre Bonnard
— Biche forcée effet de neige [doe hunted) by Gistave Courbet, 1889
— Jules David by Jacques Louis David — a portrait of the artist’s son
Source: Times database
On the other is Sylvia Wildenstein, 75, his stepmother, born into poverty in Eastern Europe.
Today they are engaged in an epic inheritance struggle for a fortune that includes private jets, yachts, stables, mansions and, above all, an art collection that is the stuff of legend.
Estimated at up to $10 billion (£6 billion), it includes works by Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet, Rembrandt, Cézanne, Fragonnard and Renoir — and Mrs Wildenstein claims that she has been unfairly deprived of her share of it.
Married for 23 years to Daniel Wildenstein, Guy’s father from a first marriage, she was granted a tax-free income of €381,000 (£322,000) a year and a 500 sq metre flat in Paris when he died in 2001.
She wants more — much more — and has spent four years filing lawsuits in the French courts against her stepson in an attempt to obtain half of her late husband’s wealth.
Bitterness and jealousy have accumulated, and there is no sign of a settlement. But one upshot is to shed light on a collection that has been the subject of myth and speculation for decades.
The Wildensteins are famous for their ability to stun art enthusiasts by producing a hidden masterpiece from bank vaults for a sale or exhibition — like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat, according to The New York Times.
The last thing the family wanted was for the contents of its vaults — some of which are rumoured to be in a nuclear bunker in New York state’s Catskill mountains — to be divulged.
That is now happening. Take, for example, the latest piece of evidence produced by Maître Claude Dumont-Beghi, Mrs Wildenstein’s lawyer — a list of works in a trust based in the Cayman Islands.
Among them are two Picassos, valued for insurance purposes at €1.6 million and €300,000; a portrait by David, the 18th-century French painter, valued at €5 million, and two paintings by Pierre Bonnard, the Post-Impressionist, each valued at €2.3 million. In the latest writ Mrs Wildenstein, a sprightly woman with thick make-up and platinum-blonde hair, argues that the trust was part of her late husband’s fortune and thus hers by right.
“I was the victim of great injustice,” she said in an interview with The Times in her lawyer’s office in Paris. “And I am determined to win back my rights.”
Born in a corner of the Carpathian Mountains that now belongs to Ukraine, she went on to become a dancer on Broadway and a model in Paris.
On Valentine’s Day in 1964 she met Daniel Wildenstein, the head of the multibillion-dollar art dealership founded by his grandfather, originally a tailor from eastern France, a century earlier. “He invited me for dinner and we never left each other,” she said.
In 2001, a month after her husband’s death, she signed a document to say that she renounced her inheritance in return for the tax-free income and flat near the Bois-de-Boulogne. She says that the document had been drawn up by lawyers representing Guy and Alec Wildenstein, her husband’s sons from his first marriage. “I didn’t know what I was doing. It was all so cruel and so sudden. I didn’t ask any questions. I just signed.”
When she realised that she might have made a mistake, she went to court and won a ruling that cancelled the renunciation and said that she was entitled to half her husband’s fortune.
A second legal dispute ensued over the extent of that fortune. Although the family owns billions, lawyers for Guy — Alec died last year — said that almost all had been placed in trusts, companies and galleries in New York and London.
Mr Wildenstein’s personal wealth amounted to a few millions, they said. Last month La Cour de Cassation, France’s highest court, agreed, putting Mrs Wildenstein back to square one.
She is now trying to prove that the ruling was flawed because trusts such as the one uncovered in the Cayman Islands had been hidden from judges.
Mrs Wildenstein’s refusal to back down promises further hearings and more unwanted publicity for a family that had learnt the value of discretion.
Some of the better-known works in the Wildenstein collection are:
— The Lute Player by Caravaggio, circa 1600. It is housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
— Pipe and Glass by Pablo Picasso. A 1918 drawing of Mme Georges, one of the Wildenstein ancestors, who was close to the celebrated artist
— Boulevard de Clichy, 1935, and La Corbeille de Fruits, 1946, by Pierre Bonnard
— Biche forcée effet de neige [doe hunted) by Gistave Courbet, 1889
— Jules David by Jacques Louis David — a portrait of the artist’s son
Source: Times database
Pakistan army closes in on Taleban leader Baitullah Mehsud
Pakistan has launched the first ground attacks of a new offensive against Baitullah Mehsud, the Taleban leader, in his mountain stronghold of South Waziristan — also considered to be the possible hiding place of Osama bin Laden.
A local intelligence official told The Times that there was heavy fighting yesterday between government forces and Mr Mehsud’s men around the villages of Madijan and Tanai following several days of artillery raids and airstrikes.
The militants had taken up defensive positions on hilltops and the government troops were attacking them, backed by F16 fighter jets, the official said. All telecommunications and roads in the area had been blocked. “The troops have started advancing towards Baitullah Mehsud’s territory,” he said. He said that the troops were trying to pin down Mr Mehsud and his men before the army launched an all-out offensive, called Operation Rah-eNijat (Path to Salvation).
The army has been moving troops and artillery towards South Waziristan over the past week and has imposed an economic blockade to try to turn Mr Mehsud’s tribesmen against him and force non-combatants to leave the area.
Fighter jets hit two compounds yesterday, three religious schools and a suspected training camp in the villages of Sarwakai and Barwand, both inside Mr Mehsud’s territory.
“We can hear explosions and gunfire but the area is sealed and no one can enter,” said Muhammed Salim, a shopkeeper, 30, in the town of Jandola, just outside Mr Mehsud’s territory. The fighting in South Waziristan comes eight weeks after the army launched an offensive against the Taleban in the northwestern region of Swat, triggering an exodus of about two million refugees. Ahmed Mukhtar, the Defence Minister, declared that the Swat operation was almost complete and said that refugees could start going home today.
He told Dawn News television that the army was now turning its attention to Mr Mehsud because he had claimed responsibility for a series of suicide bombings since the start of the Swat campaign. “We have informers who are after him and the moment his whereabouts are known, the forces are going to hit him,” he said.
The army said that its aim was to kill or capture Mr Mehsud, who is considered the main al-Qaeda facilitator in the country. Western officials hope that the attack will also put pressure on al-Qaeda, which has been sheltering in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.
They say that al-Qaeda’s operations there have already been severely disrupted by US drone attacks, and that the group is seeking sanctuaries in Yemen and Somalia.
However, they also say that alQaeda will continue to operate from South Waziristan and North Waziristan if the army does not confront other Taleban leaders in the areas.
Pakistani and Western intelligence officials say that there are hundreds of foreign militants in the FATA — especially South and North Waziristan — including Arabs, Chechens, Turks, Uzbeks, Algerians, Moroccans and Chinese Uighurs.
Source:The times
A local intelligence official told The Times that there was heavy fighting yesterday between government forces and Mr Mehsud’s men around the villages of Madijan and Tanai following several days of artillery raids and airstrikes.
The militants had taken up defensive positions on hilltops and the government troops were attacking them, backed by F16 fighter jets, the official said. All telecommunications and roads in the area had been blocked. “The troops have started advancing towards Baitullah Mehsud’s territory,” he said. He said that the troops were trying to pin down Mr Mehsud and his men before the army launched an all-out offensive, called Operation Rah-eNijat (Path to Salvation).
The army has been moving troops and artillery towards South Waziristan over the past week and has imposed an economic blockade to try to turn Mr Mehsud’s tribesmen against him and force non-combatants to leave the area.
Fighter jets hit two compounds yesterday, three religious schools and a suspected training camp in the villages of Sarwakai and Barwand, both inside Mr Mehsud’s territory.
“We can hear explosions and gunfire but the area is sealed and no one can enter,” said Muhammed Salim, a shopkeeper, 30, in the town of Jandola, just outside Mr Mehsud’s territory. The fighting in South Waziristan comes eight weeks after the army launched an offensive against the Taleban in the northwestern region of Swat, triggering an exodus of about two million refugees. Ahmed Mukhtar, the Defence Minister, declared that the Swat operation was almost complete and said that refugees could start going home today.
He told Dawn News television that the army was now turning its attention to Mr Mehsud because he had claimed responsibility for a series of suicide bombings since the start of the Swat campaign. “We have informers who are after him and the moment his whereabouts are known, the forces are going to hit him,” he said.
The army said that its aim was to kill or capture Mr Mehsud, who is considered the main al-Qaeda facilitator in the country. Western officials hope that the attack will also put pressure on al-Qaeda, which has been sheltering in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.
They say that al-Qaeda’s operations there have already been severely disrupted by US drone attacks, and that the group is seeking sanctuaries in Yemen and Somalia.
However, they also say that alQaeda will continue to operate from South Waziristan and North Waziristan if the army does not confront other Taleban leaders in the areas.
Pakistani and Western intelligence officials say that there are hundreds of foreign militants in the FATA — especially South and North Waziristan — including Arabs, Chechens, Turks, Uzbeks, Algerians, Moroccans and Chinese Uighurs.
Source:The times
Berlusconi scandal turns from yachts and glamour to mean streets of Bari
From the billionaire’s playground on the Sardinian coast, the scandal threatening the leadership of Silvio Berlusconi has dripped south to the mean streets of Bari.
Revelations have moved attention beyond the yacht decks and private villas of the Costa Smeralda, to the southern Italian town, where prosecutors are investigating a distinctly less glamorous world of cocaine, corruption and call girls.
It is here, in this rough and ready province on the Adriatic coast that an inquiry has begun into alleged payments to escort girls to attend parties at the Prime Minister’s homes in Rome and Sardinia.
Prosecutors have widened the inquiry to include possible drugs offences. The investigation is the latest blow for Mr Berlusconi, who has faced weeks of scrutiny since attending the 18th birthday party of an aspiring model, Noemi Letizia, in Naples. His wife said she wanted a divorce, claiming that he “frequents minors”.
Among those under investigation is Alessandro Mannavini, the former driver of Giampaolo Tarantini, 35, a Bari businessman who allegedly recruited women for Mr Berlusconi’s parties.
According to Italian reports, Mr Mannavini is being investigated for “possession and use of cocaine”, while Mr Tarantini faces allegations of “abetting prostitution”. There is no suggestion that Mr Berlusconi knew of drugs use and he is not under investigation by the Bari prosecutors.
The inquiry began after police reportedly intercepted phone calls by Mr Tarantini during a wider investigation into corruption charges against Tecno Hospital, the company he owns with his brother, Claudio, which supplies medical equipment to Bari hospitals. He claimed to know Mr Berlusconi in several wiretapped conversations, according to Italian reports.
However, the case took another twist this week, following explosive claims by a former model and escort girl, Patrizia D’Addario.
Not only does she say that she was paid to attend a party — and later spend the night — at Mr Berlusconi’s residence in Rome, she also says that the encounters were arranged by a “friend” named Giampaolo.
But the allegations that have provided most grist to the Italian rumour mill are her claims that she has deposited, “under lock and key” at the prosecutors’ offices in Bari, audio and video tapes allegedly recorded at Palazzo Grazioli, Mr Berlusconi’s Rome residence.
These, she insists, will prove her encounters with the Prime Minister. Both the videos and the audio tapes, which are said to have Mr Berlusconi’s voice on them, are being checked by prosecutors for authenticity. One is said to show his bedroom.
Unusually, for a woman who appears to have spent years seeking the spotlight as model, television showgirl, and — if she is to be believed — magician’s assistant, Ms D’Addario was nowhere to be seen in her home town, yesterday.
Neighbours in Via Trevisani said it was well known in the area that the single mother, 42, worked as an escort. Her late father, Francesco, was a pimp who, before his death several years ago, used to let one of the top-floor flats to a woman who ran a brothel.This week, a local news programme broadcast an old videoclip of Ms D’Addario as a fame-seeking 16-year-old at a nearby talent festival in 1984.
During her dance routine, her bikini slips to reveal her breasts, but five minutes pass before she appears to notice.
As for Mr Berlusconi, who yesterday attended the EU summit in Brussels, he has repeatedly dismissed the claims as rubbish. Antenna Sud, a local Bari television station, broadcast footage clearly showing Mr Berlusconi — who claims that he “does not remember” Ms D’Addario — greeting her with a broad smile as he arrived an election meeting in Bari on May 31. In the footage, he can be heard saying “Ciao” to her while she responds with “Auguri” — good luck. The footage also shows her being prevented from entering the election rally in a hotel, as she described this week to the Corriere della Sera newspaper.
Mr Berlusconi’s lawyer, Niccolo Ghedini has laughed off Ms D’Addario’s claims. However, he was forced to clarify his comments after offending many Italian women this week by saying that “even if” the Prime Minister had spent the night with an escort girl, he had not committed a crime because he would merely have been “the end user”.
Women in the spotlight
Noemi Letizia, an aspiring model and actress at the centre of scandal. Berlusconi attended her 18th birthday party on April 26 and gave her a gold and diamond necklace; she is said to have attended a new year's party at Berlusconi's villa. He has not explained how he came to know her.
Patrizia D'Addario, a former model and escort, 42, who says that she was paid to attend Berlusconi's parties and has secretly filmed herself and Berlusconi in his bedroom.
Elisa Alloro, a slim, blonde former television presenter, 33, and author of We, Silvio’s Girls, who says that she has been invited repeatedly to Villa Certosa. “Every time is a privilege,” she says
Sabina Began, a former nude model who was named by the Italian press as the “queen bee” at Berlusconi's villa parties. Reported to have sat on his knee at a party celebrating his 2008 election victory while he sang the Napoletan song Mala Femmena (Bad Woman)
Veronica Lario, Mr Berlusconi's wife, 53, who announced on May 3 that she was seeking a divorce because she "could not stay with a man who frequents minors"
Source: Times database
Revelations have moved attention beyond the yacht decks and private villas of the Costa Smeralda, to the southern Italian town, where prosecutors are investigating a distinctly less glamorous world of cocaine, corruption and call girls.
It is here, in this rough and ready province on the Adriatic coast that an inquiry has begun into alleged payments to escort girls to attend parties at the Prime Minister’s homes in Rome and Sardinia.
Prosecutors have widened the inquiry to include possible drugs offences. The investigation is the latest blow for Mr Berlusconi, who has faced weeks of scrutiny since attending the 18th birthday party of an aspiring model, Noemi Letizia, in Naples. His wife said she wanted a divorce, claiming that he “frequents minors”.
Among those under investigation is Alessandro Mannavini, the former driver of Giampaolo Tarantini, 35, a Bari businessman who allegedly recruited women for Mr Berlusconi’s parties.
According to Italian reports, Mr Mannavini is being investigated for “possession and use of cocaine”, while Mr Tarantini faces allegations of “abetting prostitution”. There is no suggestion that Mr Berlusconi knew of drugs use and he is not under investigation by the Bari prosecutors.
The inquiry began after police reportedly intercepted phone calls by Mr Tarantini during a wider investigation into corruption charges against Tecno Hospital, the company he owns with his brother, Claudio, which supplies medical equipment to Bari hospitals. He claimed to know Mr Berlusconi in several wiretapped conversations, according to Italian reports.
However, the case took another twist this week, following explosive claims by a former model and escort girl, Patrizia D’Addario.
Not only does she say that she was paid to attend a party — and later spend the night — at Mr Berlusconi’s residence in Rome, she also says that the encounters were arranged by a “friend” named Giampaolo.
But the allegations that have provided most grist to the Italian rumour mill are her claims that she has deposited, “under lock and key” at the prosecutors’ offices in Bari, audio and video tapes allegedly recorded at Palazzo Grazioli, Mr Berlusconi’s Rome residence.
These, she insists, will prove her encounters with the Prime Minister. Both the videos and the audio tapes, which are said to have Mr Berlusconi’s voice on them, are being checked by prosecutors for authenticity. One is said to show his bedroom.
Unusually, for a woman who appears to have spent years seeking the spotlight as model, television showgirl, and — if she is to be believed — magician’s assistant, Ms D’Addario was nowhere to be seen in her home town, yesterday.
Neighbours in Via Trevisani said it was well known in the area that the single mother, 42, worked as an escort. Her late father, Francesco, was a pimp who, before his death several years ago, used to let one of the top-floor flats to a woman who ran a brothel.This week, a local news programme broadcast an old videoclip of Ms D’Addario as a fame-seeking 16-year-old at a nearby talent festival in 1984.
During her dance routine, her bikini slips to reveal her breasts, but five minutes pass before she appears to notice.
As for Mr Berlusconi, who yesterday attended the EU summit in Brussels, he has repeatedly dismissed the claims as rubbish. Antenna Sud, a local Bari television station, broadcast footage clearly showing Mr Berlusconi — who claims that he “does not remember” Ms D’Addario — greeting her with a broad smile as he arrived an election meeting in Bari on May 31. In the footage, he can be heard saying “Ciao” to her while she responds with “Auguri” — good luck. The footage also shows her being prevented from entering the election rally in a hotel, as she described this week to the Corriere della Sera newspaper.
Mr Berlusconi’s lawyer, Niccolo Ghedini has laughed off Ms D’Addario’s claims. However, he was forced to clarify his comments after offending many Italian women this week by saying that “even if” the Prime Minister had spent the night with an escort girl, he had not committed a crime because he would merely have been “the end user”.
Women in the spotlight
Noemi Letizia, an aspiring model and actress at the centre of scandal. Berlusconi attended her 18th birthday party on April 26 and gave her a gold and diamond necklace; she is said to have attended a new year's party at Berlusconi's villa. He has not explained how he came to know her.
Patrizia D'Addario, a former model and escort, 42, who says that she was paid to attend Berlusconi's parties and has secretly filmed herself and Berlusconi in his bedroom.
Elisa Alloro, a slim, blonde former television presenter, 33, and author of We, Silvio’s Girls, who says that she has been invited repeatedly to Villa Certosa. “Every time is a privilege,” she says
Sabina Began, a former nude model who was named by the Italian press as the “queen bee” at Berlusconi's villa parties. Reported to have sat on his knee at a party celebrating his 2008 election victory while he sang the Napoletan song Mala Femmena (Bad Woman)
Veronica Lario, Mr Berlusconi's wife, 53, who announced on May 3 that she was seeking a divorce because she "could not stay with a man who frequents minors"
Source: Times database
Another British soldier killed in Helmand
Latest military death as 1st Battalion Welsh Guards hit by improvised explosive device, brings total combat toll to 169.
Another British soldier has been killed by an explosion in Afghanistan, bringing the combat death toll to 169.
The soldier was on routine patrol near Lashkar Gah in central Helmand province yesterday morning, when his party were hit by an improvised explosive device (IED) commonly used by the Taliban.
The Ministry of Defence have not named the soldier but confirmed he is from the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards and that the next of kin have been informed.
The death takes the number of British combat fatalities in Afghanistan since the start of operations in October 2001 to 169.
Task Force Helmand spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nick Richardson said: “Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of the deceased and also to the soldiers of 1st Battalion Welsh Guards.”
Brigadier-General Richard Blanchette, spokesman for the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force, confirmed that the death was the result of an IED strike.
He added: “With sadness, on behalf of Isaf, I offer our condolences to this service member’s family and friends.
“The absolute commitment of this service member shines like a beacon to guide us as we pursue peace for the people of Afghanistan.”
Source:The times
Another British soldier has been killed by an explosion in Afghanistan, bringing the combat death toll to 169.
The soldier was on routine patrol near Lashkar Gah in central Helmand province yesterday morning, when his party were hit by an improvised explosive device (IED) commonly used by the Taliban.
The Ministry of Defence have not named the soldier but confirmed he is from the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards and that the next of kin have been informed.
The death takes the number of British combat fatalities in Afghanistan since the start of operations in October 2001 to 169.
Task Force Helmand spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nick Richardson said: “Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of the deceased and also to the soldiers of 1st Battalion Welsh Guards.”
Brigadier-General Richard Blanchette, spokesman for the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force, confirmed that the death was the result of an IED strike.
He added: “With sadness, on behalf of Isaf, I offer our condolences to this service member’s family and friends.
“The absolute commitment of this service member shines like a beacon to guide us as we pursue peace for the people of Afghanistan.”
Source:The times
French women may face ban on head-to-toe Islamic dress
France could bar Muslim women from wearing full veils in public, a government minister said yesterday as parliament took action over concerns about an increase in women who are wearing the niqab and burka in big cities.
The latest controversy over dress habits among France’s six million Muslims follows public differences this month between Presidents Obama and Sarkozy over the merits of legislating on religious clothing.
A group of 58 MPs from the Left and Right called on Wednesday for parliament to react to the phenomenon of women who are adopting what they called oppressive head-to-toe Islamic dress that “breaches individual freedoms”.
Luc Chatel, the Industry Minister and government spokesman, supported the MPs. “If it were determined that wearing the burka is a submissive act, and that it is contrary to republican principles, naturally parliament would have to draw the necessary conclusions,” he said.
Asked whether that would mean legislation, he replied: “Why not?”
The new debate over Muslim dress is reviving passions that surrounded France’s 2004 law banning religious headcover in state schools. André Gerin, a Communist MP, led the motion for an inquiry, calling the burka and niqab “a moving prison” for women.
Women’s groups, including some Muslim-led ones, back new measures against the practices of a growing but still small minority of radical Muslims.
Fadela Amara, a rights campaigner of Algerian background, who is the Housing Minister, said that she was alarmed by the number of women “who are being put in this kind of tomb”. She added: “We must do everything to stop burkas from spreading.”
Muslim leaders have mixed views about new legislation. Dalil Boubakeur, the rector of the Paris Mosque, supported an inquiry, saying that face covering for women was a fundamentalist practice originating in Afghanistan that was not prescribed by Islam. The national Muslim Council, which is less tied to the Establishment, accused lawmakers of wasting time on a fringe phenomenon.
“To raise the subject like this . . . is a way of stigmatising Islam,” said Mohammed Moussaoui, the head of the council. There are no precise figures, but experts estimate that several thousand women, mainly born in France, have taken to full costumes with face covering.
In 2004, when he was Interior Minister, Mr Sarkozy was not enthusiastic about the school headscarf ban and he remains wary of stigmatising Muslims.However, he defended the French approach when the US President visited two weeks ago. He is unlikely to be sympathetic to further prohibitions.
Mr Obama had taken a swipe at French and other European laws in a speech in Cairo in which he said that the United States prized freedom of religion and “we are not going to tell people what to wear”.
Mr Sarkozy told Mr Obama in Normandy on June 6 that French principles of equality meant that people should not display religious affiliation in state institutions.
He added: “It is not a problem that young girls may choose to wear a veil or a headscarf as long as they have actually chosen to do so, as opposed to this being imposed upon them, be it by their families or by their environment.”
Source:The times
The latest controversy over dress habits among France’s six million Muslims follows public differences this month between Presidents Obama and Sarkozy over the merits of legislating on religious clothing.
A group of 58 MPs from the Left and Right called on Wednesday for parliament to react to the phenomenon of women who are adopting what they called oppressive head-to-toe Islamic dress that “breaches individual freedoms”.
Luc Chatel, the Industry Minister and government spokesman, supported the MPs. “If it were determined that wearing the burka is a submissive act, and that it is contrary to republican principles, naturally parliament would have to draw the necessary conclusions,” he said.
Asked whether that would mean legislation, he replied: “Why not?”
The new debate over Muslim dress is reviving passions that surrounded France’s 2004 law banning religious headcover in state schools. André Gerin, a Communist MP, led the motion for an inquiry, calling the burka and niqab “a moving prison” for women.
Women’s groups, including some Muslim-led ones, back new measures against the practices of a growing but still small minority of radical Muslims.
Fadela Amara, a rights campaigner of Algerian background, who is the Housing Minister, said that she was alarmed by the number of women “who are being put in this kind of tomb”. She added: “We must do everything to stop burkas from spreading.”
Muslim leaders have mixed views about new legislation. Dalil Boubakeur, the rector of the Paris Mosque, supported an inquiry, saying that face covering for women was a fundamentalist practice originating in Afghanistan that was not prescribed by Islam. The national Muslim Council, which is less tied to the Establishment, accused lawmakers of wasting time on a fringe phenomenon.
“To raise the subject like this . . . is a way of stigmatising Islam,” said Mohammed Moussaoui, the head of the council. There are no precise figures, but experts estimate that several thousand women, mainly born in France, have taken to full costumes with face covering.
In 2004, when he was Interior Minister, Mr Sarkozy was not enthusiastic about the school headscarf ban and he remains wary of stigmatising Muslims.However, he defended the French approach when the US President visited two weeks ago. He is unlikely to be sympathetic to further prohibitions.
Mr Obama had taken a swipe at French and other European laws in a speech in Cairo in which he said that the United States prized freedom of religion and “we are not going to tell people what to wear”.
Mr Sarkozy told Mr Obama in Normandy on June 6 that French principles of equality meant that people should not display religious affiliation in state institutions.
He added: “It is not a problem that young girls may choose to wear a veil or a headscarf as long as they have actually chosen to do so, as opposed to this being imposed upon them, be it by their families or by their environment.”
Source:The times
Court for second woman in child abuse case
Angela Allen appears before magistrates on 16 counts following investigation at Little Ted’s Nursery in Plymouth.
A second woman arrested in relation to a child abuse investigation at a nursery appeared in court today.
Angela Allen, 39, was charged following an investigation at the Little Ted’s Nursery in Plymouth.
Allen of Bulwell, Nottingham, appeared at the magistrates court today on 16 different counts including sexually assaulting a girl under 13.
Vanessa George, 39, who worked at the nursery in Plymouth Devon has already been charged with sexual assault and the making and distributing indecent images of children.
Nottinghamshire Police said Allen’s arrest was a result of information passed to the force by colleagues in Greater Manchester as part of the same inquiry.
Allen was charged with four counts of sexual assault, four counts of taking indecent photographs, four counts of possessing indecent photographs and four counts of distributing indecent photographs.
The offences are alleged to have taken place between April 2006 and June 17 this year.
Allen spoke only to confirm her name, date of birth and address at today’s hearing at Nottingham Magistrates and no application for bail was made.
She was ordered to reappear at the city's Crown Court on 6 July.
A 21-year-old man and a youth, 18, arrested at the same time have been released without charge.
Source:The times
A second woman arrested in relation to a child abuse investigation at a nursery appeared in court today.
Angela Allen, 39, was charged following an investigation at the Little Ted’s Nursery in Plymouth.
Allen of Bulwell, Nottingham, appeared at the magistrates court today on 16 different counts including sexually assaulting a girl under 13.
Vanessa George, 39, who worked at the nursery in Plymouth Devon has already been charged with sexual assault and the making and distributing indecent images of children.
Nottinghamshire Police said Allen’s arrest was a result of information passed to the force by colleagues in Greater Manchester as part of the same inquiry.
Allen was charged with four counts of sexual assault, four counts of taking indecent photographs, four counts of possessing indecent photographs and four counts of distributing indecent photographs.
The offences are alleged to have taken place between April 2006 and June 17 this year.
Allen spoke only to confirm her name, date of birth and address at today’s hearing at Nottingham Magistrates and no application for bail was made.
She was ordered to reappear at the city's Crown Court on 6 July.
A 21-year-old man and a youth, 18, arrested at the same time have been released without charge.
Source:The times
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei raises stakes as Iran braces for violence
Iran’s Supreme Leader dramatically raised the stakes in his country’s political crisis yesterday by demanding an end to the massive street demonstrations and warning of a violent crackdown if they continued. He also accused "treacherous" Britain of leading a western conspiracy to destablise the Islamic Republic by fomenting the protests.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s uncompromising speech raised fears that he could unleash his formidable security forces on a mass protests as early as today, when tens of thousands of opposition supporters are expected to defy him by joining a Tehran rally organised by reformist clerics.
His words caused widespread alarm. European leaders meeting in Brussels demanded the regime “refrain from the use of force against peaceful demonstrations”. Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, urged Iran not to go “beyond the point of no return”. Navi Pillay, the UN human rights chief, feared the “illegal use of excessive force”.
Speaking for the first time since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s hotly-disputed re-election, Ayatollah Khamenei sided firmly with the president, denied the vote was rigged, and accused foreign powers led by Britain of fomenting the protests to destabilise the Islamic Republic.
Addressing Friday prayers at Tehran University, the bearded septuagenarian offered no concessions to the millions of irate Iranians who have taken to the streets this week. Instead he issued an unmistakable warning to Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, the defeated candidates.
“Those politicans who have influence on people should be very careful about their behaviour if they act in an extremist manner,” he said. “This extremism will reach a level which they will not be able to contain. They will be responsible for the blood, violence and chaos."
Following Ayatollah Khamenei's speech, President Obama made rare comments on Iran’s post-election crisis, although critics — including his former election rival, Republican Senator John McCain — say he did not go far enough. “I’m very concerned, based on the tenor and tone of the statements that have been made, that the Government of Iran recognise that the world is watching,” Mr Obama said in an interview with CBS News.
"And how they approach and deal with people who are, through peaceful means, trying to be heard will, I think, send a pretty clear signal to the international community about what Iran is, and is not."
The US House of Representatives and Senate passed identical resolutions condemning Tehran’s crackdown, expressing support for “all Iranian citizens who embrace the values of freedom, human rights, civil liberties and rule of law”. Robert Gibbs, Mr Obama's chief spokesman, welcomed the resolutions.
Mr Mousavi did not respond immediately to Ayatollah Khamenei’s 90-minute televised sermon, but the Supreme Leader made clear that the former prime minister would be cast from Iran’s political establishment, and perhaps arrested, if he did not drop his demands for a new election. The threat appeared to extend to his backers, the former presidents Ali Akbar Rafsanjani and Mohammed Khatami.
Mr Karroubi, a former parliamentary speaker, responded with an open letter demanding a fresh election, and denounced government repression.
“Accept the Iranian nation’s will by cancelling the vote and guarantee the establishment’s survival ," he said.
Ayatollah Khamenei’s hardline sermon was greeted with roars of approval from thousands of zealous supporters bussed in to the university for a stage-managed show of strength.
But protestors said they would attend today’s rally come what may. “If the crowd is large enough there’s nothing they can do,” Bahrooz, an engineer, said. “If they start killing people that would bring about the fall of the regime.”
“All my friends are coming and they’re bringing their families,” Taraneh, an office worker, said. ”How many people can they arrest or kill?”
The speech also angered the British government, which Ayatollah Khamanei called the “most treacherous” of Iran’s enemies. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office summoned Iran’s charge d'affaires in London to protest. Gordon Brown insisted it was “right for us to speak out for human rights, to speak out against repression, to speak out in condemnation of violence.”
With Mr Ahmadinejad sitting in the front row, Ayatollah Khamenei described last Friday’s elections as "epic" and “historic”. He said the massive 85 per cent turnout showed how much the Iranian people trusted their political establishment, and the superiority of Iran's religious democracy.
Ayatollah Khamenei said foreign powers were now conspiring to ruin that achievement, and to destroy the Iranian people's confidence in their political leaders, by spreading lies about vote-rigging.
“Some of our enemies intended to depict this absolute victory, this definitive victory, as a doubtful victory,” he said. “It is your victory. They cannot manipulate it.”
The Islamic Republic would never commit "treason" by rigging the vote, he continued. Referring to Mr Ahmadinejad’s margin of victory, he asked: "How can one rig 11 million votes?”
Ayatollah Khamenei demanded the demonstrations stop. "I want to tell everyone these things must finish. These street actions are being done to put pressure on leaders but we will not bow in front of them," he said. “I call on all to put an end to this method...If they don’t they will be held responsible for the consequences and chaos.”
He ordered the losing candidates to "open their eyes" and see behind the demonstrations "the enemy hands working, the hungry wolves waiting in ambush".
He blamed the deaths and violence of the past week on "ill-wishers, mercenaries and elements working for the espionage machines of Zionism and western powers".
Mr Mousavi and Mr Karroubi have been invited to present their charges of electoral fraud to the Guardian Council, a body of senior clerics, today, but nobody expects it to order the re-run Mr Mousavi wants. “There’s no way it’s going to overturn an 11 million majority,” said one Iranian analyst.
Source:The times
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s uncompromising speech raised fears that he could unleash his formidable security forces on a mass protests as early as today, when tens of thousands of opposition supporters are expected to defy him by joining a Tehran rally organised by reformist clerics.
His words caused widespread alarm. European leaders meeting in Brussels demanded the regime “refrain from the use of force against peaceful demonstrations”. Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, urged Iran not to go “beyond the point of no return”. Navi Pillay, the UN human rights chief, feared the “illegal use of excessive force”.
Speaking for the first time since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s hotly-disputed re-election, Ayatollah Khamenei sided firmly with the president, denied the vote was rigged, and accused foreign powers led by Britain of fomenting the protests to destabilise the Islamic Republic.
Addressing Friday prayers at Tehran University, the bearded septuagenarian offered no concessions to the millions of irate Iranians who have taken to the streets this week. Instead he issued an unmistakable warning to Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, the defeated candidates.
“Those politicans who have influence on people should be very careful about their behaviour if they act in an extremist manner,” he said. “This extremism will reach a level which they will not be able to contain. They will be responsible for the blood, violence and chaos."
Following Ayatollah Khamenei's speech, President Obama made rare comments on Iran’s post-election crisis, although critics — including his former election rival, Republican Senator John McCain — say he did not go far enough. “I’m very concerned, based on the tenor and tone of the statements that have been made, that the Government of Iran recognise that the world is watching,” Mr Obama said in an interview with CBS News.
"And how they approach and deal with people who are, through peaceful means, trying to be heard will, I think, send a pretty clear signal to the international community about what Iran is, and is not."
The US House of Representatives and Senate passed identical resolutions condemning Tehran’s crackdown, expressing support for “all Iranian citizens who embrace the values of freedom, human rights, civil liberties and rule of law”. Robert Gibbs, Mr Obama's chief spokesman, welcomed the resolutions.
Mr Mousavi did not respond immediately to Ayatollah Khamenei’s 90-minute televised sermon, but the Supreme Leader made clear that the former prime minister would be cast from Iran’s political establishment, and perhaps arrested, if he did not drop his demands for a new election. The threat appeared to extend to his backers, the former presidents Ali Akbar Rafsanjani and Mohammed Khatami.
Mr Karroubi, a former parliamentary speaker, responded with an open letter demanding a fresh election, and denounced government repression.
“Accept the Iranian nation’s will by cancelling the vote and guarantee the establishment’s survival ," he said.
Ayatollah Khamenei’s hardline sermon was greeted with roars of approval from thousands of zealous supporters bussed in to the university for a stage-managed show of strength.
But protestors said they would attend today’s rally come what may. “If the crowd is large enough there’s nothing they can do,” Bahrooz, an engineer, said. “If they start killing people that would bring about the fall of the regime.”
“All my friends are coming and they’re bringing their families,” Taraneh, an office worker, said. ”How many people can they arrest or kill?”
The speech also angered the British government, which Ayatollah Khamanei called the “most treacherous” of Iran’s enemies. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office summoned Iran’s charge d'affaires in London to protest. Gordon Brown insisted it was “right for us to speak out for human rights, to speak out against repression, to speak out in condemnation of violence.”
With Mr Ahmadinejad sitting in the front row, Ayatollah Khamenei described last Friday’s elections as "epic" and “historic”. He said the massive 85 per cent turnout showed how much the Iranian people trusted their political establishment, and the superiority of Iran's religious democracy.
Ayatollah Khamenei said foreign powers were now conspiring to ruin that achievement, and to destroy the Iranian people's confidence in their political leaders, by spreading lies about vote-rigging.
“Some of our enemies intended to depict this absolute victory, this definitive victory, as a doubtful victory,” he said. “It is your victory. They cannot manipulate it.”
The Islamic Republic would never commit "treason" by rigging the vote, he continued. Referring to Mr Ahmadinejad’s margin of victory, he asked: "How can one rig 11 million votes?”
Ayatollah Khamenei demanded the demonstrations stop. "I want to tell everyone these things must finish. These street actions are being done to put pressure on leaders but we will not bow in front of them," he said. “I call on all to put an end to this method...If they don’t they will be held responsible for the consequences and chaos.”
He ordered the losing candidates to "open their eyes" and see behind the demonstrations "the enemy hands working, the hungry wolves waiting in ambush".
He blamed the deaths and violence of the past week on "ill-wishers, mercenaries and elements working for the espionage machines of Zionism and western powers".
Mr Mousavi and Mr Karroubi have been invited to present their charges of electoral fraud to the Guardian Council, a body of senior clerics, today, but nobody expects it to order the re-run Mr Mousavi wants. “There’s no way it’s going to overturn an 11 million majority,” said one Iranian analyst.
Source:The times
Police to probe MPs over expenses
Scotland Yard launch inquiry with panel of senior detectives and prosecutors; new claims emerge over council tax payments.
MPs face criminal investigations into allegations that they abused their expenses - as still more revelations emerge.
Scotland Yard announced today it was launching full inquiries into several MPs and peers, understood to include Labour MPs David Chaytor and Elliot Morley, both of whom claimed for non-existent mortgages.
Also thought to be under investigation is Baroness Uddin, who has been accused of claiming an empty Maidstone flat was her main residence so that she could claim an allowance for peers who live outside the capital. Her family home is said to be in east London.
Hours after the police announced they were stepping up their inquiries, it emerged that MPs had claimed on their expenses for council tax that they have not paid, with some said to have raked in thousands of pounds on "phantom" local authority bills, according to a newspaper.
The Metropolitan Police said a joint assessment panel of senior detectives and prosecutors had decided full inquiries were necessary into allegations that expenses were misused, expected to focus on politicians accused of deliberately misleading the authorities or claiming "phantom" mortgages.
The investigation will be conducted by officers from the Met's Economic and Specialist Crime Command, overseen by Temporary Assistant Commissioner Janet Williams.
Officers believe there is only a realistic chance of prosecution in cases where it can be proved individuals misled the Commons Fees Office.
Bury North MP Mr Chaytor said he would pay back £13,000 after admitting an "unforgivable error" in continuing to submit £1,175 monthly bills for a paid-off loan.
Mr Morley was suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party after admitting a similar £16,000 claim and referring himself to the Westminster sleaze watchdog.
Parliamentary standards inquiries into both are on hold while the police continue to consider their cases.
Mr Chaytor told BBC News: "I've said all along that I would cooperate fully with an investigation. I want to explain my case, explain what happened.
"I've acknowledged that there is an error here and I want to clear my name."
Mr Morley said: "I have always made it clear I would be more than happy to fully co-operate with any inquiry and I would welcome the opportunity to put my side of the story."
Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph newspapr said that dozens of MPs' claims for council tax on their second homes had been in excess of town halls' published rates by house band.
Labour MP Eric Illsley was accused of over-claiming by more than £6,000 between 2004 and 2008. Former minister Beverley Hughes was said to have profited by up to £2,000, Government whip Mark Tami by about £1,500 and ex-home secretary David Blunkett by £178.
Mr Tami said last night: "I am going to look into whether I have over-claimed and if I have then clearly I will pay back any over-claim."
Tory frontbenchers David Willetts and Jeremy Hunt were reported to have over-claimed for council tax by about £500 each.
Mr Willetts said it was possible that he had "inadvertently" claimed for an 11th month while his council tax bills were divided into only 10 and that he was "still checking the position".
"If I have inadvertently made incorrect claims I will of course pay any money back," he added
Source:The times
MPs face criminal investigations into allegations that they abused their expenses - as still more revelations emerge.
Scotland Yard announced today it was launching full inquiries into several MPs and peers, understood to include Labour MPs David Chaytor and Elliot Morley, both of whom claimed for non-existent mortgages.
Also thought to be under investigation is Baroness Uddin, who has been accused of claiming an empty Maidstone flat was her main residence so that she could claim an allowance for peers who live outside the capital. Her family home is said to be in east London.
Hours after the police announced they were stepping up their inquiries, it emerged that MPs had claimed on their expenses for council tax that they have not paid, with some said to have raked in thousands of pounds on "phantom" local authority bills, according to a newspaper.
The Metropolitan Police said a joint assessment panel of senior detectives and prosecutors had decided full inquiries were necessary into allegations that expenses were misused, expected to focus on politicians accused of deliberately misleading the authorities or claiming "phantom" mortgages.
The investigation will be conducted by officers from the Met's Economic and Specialist Crime Command, overseen by Temporary Assistant Commissioner Janet Williams.
Officers believe there is only a realistic chance of prosecution in cases where it can be proved individuals misled the Commons Fees Office.
Bury North MP Mr Chaytor said he would pay back £13,000 after admitting an "unforgivable error" in continuing to submit £1,175 monthly bills for a paid-off loan.
Mr Morley was suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party after admitting a similar £16,000 claim and referring himself to the Westminster sleaze watchdog.
Parliamentary standards inquiries into both are on hold while the police continue to consider their cases.
Mr Chaytor told BBC News: "I've said all along that I would cooperate fully with an investigation. I want to explain my case, explain what happened.
"I've acknowledged that there is an error here and I want to clear my name."
Mr Morley said: "I have always made it clear I would be more than happy to fully co-operate with any inquiry and I would welcome the opportunity to put my side of the story."
Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph newspapr said that dozens of MPs' claims for council tax on their second homes had been in excess of town halls' published rates by house band.
Labour MP Eric Illsley was accused of over-claiming by more than £6,000 between 2004 and 2008. Former minister Beverley Hughes was said to have profited by up to £2,000, Government whip Mark Tami by about £1,500 and ex-home secretary David Blunkett by £178.
Mr Tami said last night: "I am going to look into whether I have over-claimed and if I have then clearly I will pay back any over-claim."
Tory frontbenchers David Willetts and Jeremy Hunt were reported to have over-claimed for council tax by about £500 each.
Mr Willetts said it was possible that he had "inadvertently" claimed for an 11th month while his council tax bills were divided into only 10 and that he was "still checking the position".
"If I have inadvertently made incorrect claims I will of course pay any money back," he added
Source:The times
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
New twist in Melbourne mafia war as matriarch is charged over family murder
It is a tale worthy of a Scorsese script: warring factions and families embark a bloody battle to reign over a city’s organised crime scene, spanning two decades and involving death, destruction and mayhem on the streets of one of Australia’s biggest cities. But this drug turf war is fact, not fiction, and this week it erupted again.
The underworld battle – dubbed Victoria’s gangland war – began in 1998 and has resulted in the deaths of more than 30 people. On Monday, after two years of relative peace, it was re-ignited with the broad daylight killing of a member of one of the leading families.
The alleged murder was followed by a dramatic series of events which left even the hardened police investigating the Sopranos-style saga scratching their heads in disbelief.
The story, centred around the Moran and Williams' family battles, has been the subject of many books. It was immortalised in two high-rating television series, called Underbelly, in Australia. A third series is being written, and this week’s events may give screenwriters plenty of fodder.
Even the Victorian Police Chief Commissioner Simon Overland – who previously ran the Purana task force which has been investigating Melbourne’s organised crime networks for two decades – admitted that the saga is so far-fetched it is hard to fathom.
“Fact is almost stranger than fiction with what we've seen,” Commissioner Overland said on Wednesday. “If you were a scriptwriter and sat down and wrote this stuff you'd probably say, ‘look, no, it's a bit far fetched no one will believe it'.”
This week came an extraordinary turn of events with the killing of Des "Tuppence" Moran, 61, the last male member of the family, as he sipped his daily coffee in a café in suburban Melbourne. The death of Des Moran, considered one of the more amiable members of the family, was initially regarded by Victorian police as not gangland-related, but a dispute related to a previous attempt on his life in March, when a masked gunman shot at him while he sat in his car.
About 15 minutes after his death, Mr Moran's sister-in-law Judy Moran – the matriarch of the family – arrived at the crime scene in tears screaming “Dessy, Dessy”. Within 24 hours she had been charged in relation to his death.
Mrs Moran is a widow. Her husband Lewis, Des Moran’s brother, was killed during the gangland wars along with her two sons, Jason and Mark.
Mrs Moran was charged along with a family friend Suzanne Kane, the sister-in-law of Jason Moran, and Kane's de facto boyfriend Geoffrey Amour. Mrs Moran, 64, and Ms Kane, 45, were charged with being an accessory after the fact. Amour was charged with murder.
Police alleged during a court hearing that Mrs Moran had dumped the suspected getaway car and was monitored talking about disposing of items used in the murder. A police search of Mrs Moran's home had uncovered three handguns, a loaded shotgun, stolen number plates and clothing – including a wig – matching the description of that worn by the two gunmen who shot her brother-in-law.
On Wednesday Mrs Moran was refused bail by a Melbourne magistrate after police deemed her a flight risk. Jelena Popovic said she was concerned about Mrs Moran’s access to several firearms and that she was “unacceptable risk to the community”.
In a further twist, Mrs Moran’s house was severely damaged on Tuesday night by what police were describing as a “suspicious” fire.
It was just the latest chapter in the gangland war, in which the Moran family played a major role, battling for control of Melbourne's drugs trade. Other players include Carl Williams, currently serving life in prison for three murders, the Carlton Crew, an Italian-Australian criminal organisation, and underworld figure Mick Gatto, a professional mediator and former heavyweight boxer.
There are fears that this week’s events – while seemingly kept within one family – could lead to a renewal of hostilities.
Commissioner Overland was at pains to say that while “violence begets violence”, the police are keen to “get on top and put a stop to it”. “The community wants to know – is this a restart of the gangland wars? I don’t believe it is,” he said on Wednesday. “The evidence or briefings that I’ve got indicate to me that its not, but we’ll obviously continue to watch the situation pretty carefully.”
Source:The times
The underworld battle – dubbed Victoria’s gangland war – began in 1998 and has resulted in the deaths of more than 30 people. On Monday, after two years of relative peace, it was re-ignited with the broad daylight killing of a member of one of the leading families.
The alleged murder was followed by a dramatic series of events which left even the hardened police investigating the Sopranos-style saga scratching their heads in disbelief.
The story, centred around the Moran and Williams' family battles, has been the subject of many books. It was immortalised in two high-rating television series, called Underbelly, in Australia. A third series is being written, and this week’s events may give screenwriters plenty of fodder.
Even the Victorian Police Chief Commissioner Simon Overland – who previously ran the Purana task force which has been investigating Melbourne’s organised crime networks for two decades – admitted that the saga is so far-fetched it is hard to fathom.
“Fact is almost stranger than fiction with what we've seen,” Commissioner Overland said on Wednesday. “If you were a scriptwriter and sat down and wrote this stuff you'd probably say, ‘look, no, it's a bit far fetched no one will believe it'.”
This week came an extraordinary turn of events with the killing of Des "Tuppence" Moran, 61, the last male member of the family, as he sipped his daily coffee in a café in suburban Melbourne. The death of Des Moran, considered one of the more amiable members of the family, was initially regarded by Victorian police as not gangland-related, but a dispute related to a previous attempt on his life in March, when a masked gunman shot at him while he sat in his car.
About 15 minutes after his death, Mr Moran's sister-in-law Judy Moran – the matriarch of the family – arrived at the crime scene in tears screaming “Dessy, Dessy”. Within 24 hours she had been charged in relation to his death.
Mrs Moran is a widow. Her husband Lewis, Des Moran’s brother, was killed during the gangland wars along with her two sons, Jason and Mark.
Mrs Moran was charged along with a family friend Suzanne Kane, the sister-in-law of Jason Moran, and Kane's de facto boyfriend Geoffrey Amour. Mrs Moran, 64, and Ms Kane, 45, were charged with being an accessory after the fact. Amour was charged with murder.
Police alleged during a court hearing that Mrs Moran had dumped the suspected getaway car and was monitored talking about disposing of items used in the murder. A police search of Mrs Moran's home had uncovered three handguns, a loaded shotgun, stolen number plates and clothing – including a wig – matching the description of that worn by the two gunmen who shot her brother-in-law.
On Wednesday Mrs Moran was refused bail by a Melbourne magistrate after police deemed her a flight risk. Jelena Popovic said she was concerned about Mrs Moran’s access to several firearms and that she was “unacceptable risk to the community”.
In a further twist, Mrs Moran’s house was severely damaged on Tuesday night by what police were describing as a “suspicious” fire.
It was just the latest chapter in the gangland war, in which the Moran family played a major role, battling for control of Melbourne's drugs trade. Other players include Carl Williams, currently serving life in prison for three murders, the Carlton Crew, an Italian-Australian criminal organisation, and underworld figure Mick Gatto, a professional mediator and former heavyweight boxer.
There are fears that this week’s events – while seemingly kept within one family – could lead to a renewal of hostilities.
Commissioner Overland was at pains to say that while “violence begets violence”, the police are keen to “get on top and put a stop to it”. “The community wants to know – is this a restart of the gangland wars? I don’t believe it is,” he said on Wednesday. “The evidence or briefings that I’ve got indicate to me that its not, but we’ll obviously continue to watch the situation pretty carefully.”
Source:The times
Sri Lanka Tamil Tigers say struggle for separate state will continue from exile
Almost a month after their devastating defeat by the Sri Lankan Army, the Tamil Tigers’ last few surviving leaders have announced that the rebel group will be reborn as a separatist movement in exile.
In an e-mailed audio file that has flown around the Tamil diaspora, the rebels’ head of international relations, Selvarasa Pathmanathan, said that the group was reorganising to pursue its goal of a separate Tamil state from outside Sri Lanka. “The struggle of the people of Tamil Eelam has reached a new stage,” he said. “It is time now for us to move forward with our political vision towards our freedom.”
Mr Pathmanathan gave no indication that the group would renounce violence but announced the establishment of a “provisional transnational government of Tamil Eelam”, which would decide on a course of action “within democratic principles”. Tamil Eelam is the name given by the Tigers to the north and eastern areas of Sri Lanka to which they lay claim.
Mr Pathmanathan, who is wanted by Interpol in connection with his role as the Tigers’ main arms smuggler, is one of a handful of senior cadres who escaped annihilation last month because he is based overseas.
The Tamil diaspora, a community of millions from Canada to Australia, has been crucial in financing the rebel movement, donating millions of dollars, much of it for weapons. Some Tamils in Sri Lanka have condemned the diaspora for its support of an undemocratic regime which its members did not have to live under.
Velupillai Prabhakaran, the Tiger leader killed during the offensive in May, resisted democratic reform of his movement, posing a key obstacle to the peace process which was finally abandoned in 2006, heralding the return to war.
After the Tigers’ military defeat some supporters overseas said that they were waiting for word of what would happen to the movement in order to decide how to channel their money.
The Tigers are a banned terrorist group in most Western countries. Last week the founder of the British Tamil Association was sentenced to two years in jail for illegally procuring electrical components for the group.
Almost 300,000 Tamil civilians who had been trapped in the war zone are now interned in military-run camps in northern Sri Lanka. The Government says they must stay there until they can be “screened” for links to the Tigers — although Sri Lanka’s Foreign Secretary has suggested that all Tamils could be considered as being “with” the Tigers “at least mentally”.
The United Nations has called on the Sri Lankan Government to allow full humanitarian access to the camps.International human rights groups have called for an independent inquiry into war crimes allegedly committed by both sides during the final assault in May. A Times investigation last month found that more than 20,000 Tamil civilians were killed, most of them during government shelling.
Yesterday government officials revealed that the only human rights investigation into the war had been disbanded with more than half of its cases unresolved. The inquiry was established two years ago under international pressure and was assigned 16 cases of alleged abuses by both sides, including the execution-style killings of 17 aid workers from the French group Action Contre la Faim.
In March last year a team of international observers on the commission resigned saying the Government lacked the will to investigate the abuse claims.
Source:The times
In an e-mailed audio file that has flown around the Tamil diaspora, the rebels’ head of international relations, Selvarasa Pathmanathan, said that the group was reorganising to pursue its goal of a separate Tamil state from outside Sri Lanka. “The struggle of the people of Tamil Eelam has reached a new stage,” he said. “It is time now for us to move forward with our political vision towards our freedom.”
Mr Pathmanathan gave no indication that the group would renounce violence but announced the establishment of a “provisional transnational government of Tamil Eelam”, which would decide on a course of action “within democratic principles”. Tamil Eelam is the name given by the Tigers to the north and eastern areas of Sri Lanka to which they lay claim.
Mr Pathmanathan, who is wanted by Interpol in connection with his role as the Tigers’ main arms smuggler, is one of a handful of senior cadres who escaped annihilation last month because he is based overseas.
The Tamil diaspora, a community of millions from Canada to Australia, has been crucial in financing the rebel movement, donating millions of dollars, much of it for weapons. Some Tamils in Sri Lanka have condemned the diaspora for its support of an undemocratic regime which its members did not have to live under.
Velupillai Prabhakaran, the Tiger leader killed during the offensive in May, resisted democratic reform of his movement, posing a key obstacle to the peace process which was finally abandoned in 2006, heralding the return to war.
After the Tigers’ military defeat some supporters overseas said that they were waiting for word of what would happen to the movement in order to decide how to channel their money.
The Tigers are a banned terrorist group in most Western countries. Last week the founder of the British Tamil Association was sentenced to two years in jail for illegally procuring electrical components for the group.
Almost 300,000 Tamil civilians who had been trapped in the war zone are now interned in military-run camps in northern Sri Lanka. The Government says they must stay there until they can be “screened” for links to the Tigers — although Sri Lanka’s Foreign Secretary has suggested that all Tamils could be considered as being “with” the Tigers “at least mentally”.
The United Nations has called on the Sri Lankan Government to allow full humanitarian access to the camps.International human rights groups have called for an independent inquiry into war crimes allegedly committed by both sides during the final assault in May. A Times investigation last month found that more than 20,000 Tamil civilians were killed, most of them during government shelling.
Yesterday government officials revealed that the only human rights investigation into the war had been disbanded with more than half of its cases unresolved. The inquiry was established two years ago under international pressure and was assigned 16 cases of alleged abuses by both sides, including the execution-style killings of 17 aid workers from the French group Action Contre la Faim.
In March last year a team of international observers on the commission resigned saying the Government lacked the will to investigate the abuse claims.
Source:The times
Greek anti-terror police officer shot dead guarding home of witness
A plain-clothes policeman was shot dead in Athens early this morning as he was about to go on duty guarding the home of a key witness in Greece's biggest terrorist trial.
Two gunmen sprayed the officer with bullets as he was about to get into an unmarked car to guard the home of Sophia Kyriakidou. Her ex-husband Angeletos Kanas has been charged with belonging to the Revolutionary Popular Struggle, an urban guerrilla group believed to be a spin-off from the more notorious 17 November group which was uprooted seven years ago.
She had been a key protected witness in the mass trial of the 17 November defendants in March 2003.
Although she had been under constant discreet police protection since then, neither her identity nor her address had been changed. Witnesses to the murder said that the protection had been widely known in the densely-populated Patissia quarter where she lived.
Philippos Koutsaftis, the coroner called in for an initial examination of the policeman's body, said he counted 22 cartridges at the scene of the attack. "He was hit repeatedly on the left side of the body and in the head," Mr Koutsaftis said. "He didn't have time to pull his own gun."
The terrorist attack appeared to be the most serious since Bridagier Stephen Saunders, the British military attache in Athens, was gunned down by 17 November in June 2000, in what turned out to be that group's last political murder before its key members were run to ground two years later.
The news stunned Greeks who had been hoping for an international publicity boost for their country with the opening of the new Acropolis Museum, scheduled for Saturday. Heads of state and government from around the world are expected to begin arriving for the extravaganza on Friday.
In January an Athens policeman was critically wounded in a pre-dawn terrorist attack, weeks after serious anarchist rioting had all but devastated the centre of the city.
Police sources in Athens today claimed that Greece's anti-terrorism squad, set up with the aid of Scotland Yard several years ago, had been gutted by apparently arbitrary transfers and firings, undermining the squad's morale and effectiveness.
Source:The times
Two gunmen sprayed the officer with bullets as he was about to get into an unmarked car to guard the home of Sophia Kyriakidou. Her ex-husband Angeletos Kanas has been charged with belonging to the Revolutionary Popular Struggle, an urban guerrilla group believed to be a spin-off from the more notorious 17 November group which was uprooted seven years ago.
She had been a key protected witness in the mass trial of the 17 November defendants in March 2003.
Although she had been under constant discreet police protection since then, neither her identity nor her address had been changed. Witnesses to the murder said that the protection had been widely known in the densely-populated Patissia quarter where she lived.
Philippos Koutsaftis, the coroner called in for an initial examination of the policeman's body, said he counted 22 cartridges at the scene of the attack. "He was hit repeatedly on the left side of the body and in the head," Mr Koutsaftis said. "He didn't have time to pull his own gun."
The terrorist attack appeared to be the most serious since Bridagier Stephen Saunders, the British military attache in Athens, was gunned down by 17 November in June 2000, in what turned out to be that group's last political murder before its key members were run to ground two years later.
The news stunned Greeks who had been hoping for an international publicity boost for their country with the opening of the new Acropolis Museum, scheduled for Saturday. Heads of state and government from around the world are expected to begin arriving for the extravaganza on Friday.
In January an Athens policeman was critically wounded in a pre-dawn terrorist attack, weeks after serious anarchist rioting had all but devastated the centre of the city.
Police sources in Athens today claimed that Greece's anti-terrorism squad, set up with the aid of Scotland Yard several years ago, had been gutted by apparently arbitrary transfers and firings, undermining the squad's morale and effectiveness.
Source:The times
Police stop and search innocent people to balance race figures, terror watchdog says
Members of the public are being stopped and searched under controversial anti-terror laws to racially balance the overall official figures, the Government's watchdog over the issue said today.
Lord Carlile of Berriew, QC, also said people are being stopped by police when there is not the slightest possibility of the individual being a terrorist.
He warned of the “poor and unnecessary” use of special powers which give police the ability to stop anyone in a designated area without them having “reasonable suspicion”.
Lord Carlile said there was little or no evidence that blanket use of searches under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 had the potential to prevent a terror attack.
He added that he could see no reason for the whole of Greater London to be permanently designated an area where the power could operate.
In his annual report on the operation of the anti terror laws, Lord Carlile said: “I repeat my mantra that terrorism related powers should be used only for terrorism related purposes; otherwise their credibility is severely damaged. The damage to community relations if they are used incorrectly can be considerable.”
He said there was evidence that people are being stopped by police to produce a racial balance for the official statistics.
“I believe that it is totally wrong for any person to be stopped in order to produce a racial balance in the Section 44 statistics. There is ample anecdotal evidence that this is happening,” he said.
He said he understood why the police are anxious to ensure they should be free from allegations of prejudice but it was not a good use of resources to waste them on “self evidently” unmerited searches.
“It is also an invasion of the civil liberties of the person who has been stopped, simply to ‘balance’ the statistics,” the report said.
Lord Carlile said: “The criteria for section 44 stops should be objectively based, irrespective of racial considerations: if an objective basis happens to produce an ethnic imbalance, that may have to be regarded as a proportional consequence of operational policing.”
He said that examples of the poor use of Section 44 abound. “I have evidence of cases where the person stopped is so obviously far from any known terrorist profile that, realistically, there is not the slightest possibility of him or her being a terrorist and no other feature to justify the stop.”
He added: ”In one situation the basis of the stops being carried out was numerical only, which is almost certainly unlawful and in no way an intelligent use of the procedure.”
Lord Carlile said the chief police officers must always bear in mind that a stop under Section 44 is an invasion of a person’s freedom of movement.
Figures released earlier this year revealed a huge increase in searches using Section 44 powers. Officers in England and Wales used the powers to search 124,687 people in 2007/8, up from 41,924 in 2006/7 and only 1 per cent of searches led to an arrest.
Nearly 90 per cent of the searches were carried out by the Metropolitan Police which recorded a 266 per cent increase in its use of the power. Officers in London use Section 44 to carry out stop and search between 8,000 and 10,000 times a month.
He criticised the Metropolitan Police for not limiting Section 44 use to parts of London and said the number of searches being carried out by the force was “alarming”.
He said: “The intention of the section was not to place London under permanent special search powers.
“The figures, and a little analysis of them, show that section 44 is being used as an instrument to aid non-terrorism policing on some occasions and this is unacceptable.”
The number of people searched in Greater London under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 increased dramatically after two thwarted terrorist attacks in 2007 outside a nightclub in London and at Glasgow airport.
Ethnic minorities bore the brunt, with the number of black people stopped in London increasing by 322 per cent and the number of Asians searched increasing by 277 per cent. The increase for white people was 185 per cent.
Earlier this year the Metropolitan Police agreed to limit its use of Section 44 powers.
Lord Carlile also highlights concerns over police threatening people with prosecution under anti terror laws for taking photographs of officers on duty.
He said photography of police on duty was legitimate unless the photograph is likely to be of use to a terrorist. “It is unexcusable for police officers ever to use their provision (of anti terror laws) to interfere with the rights of individuals to take photographs. The police must adjust to the undoubted fact that the scrutiny of them by members of the public is at least proportional to any increase in police powers - given the ubiquity of photograph and video enabled mobile phones,” he said.
Alan Johnson said in a response that the Home Office is preparing to clarify the position both for the public and police on the issue of taking photographs of officers on duty.
A Home Office spokesman defended the use of the powers. He said: “Stop and search under the Terrorism Act 2000 is an important tool in the on-going fight against terrorism.
“As part of a structured anti-terrorist strategy, the powers help to deter terrorist activity by creating a hostile environment for would-be terrorists to operate.
“Countering the terrorist threat and ensuring good community relations are interdependent and we are continuing to work with the police to ensure that the use of stop and search powers strikes the right balance.”
Source:The times
Lord Carlile of Berriew, QC, also said people are being stopped by police when there is not the slightest possibility of the individual being a terrorist.
He warned of the “poor and unnecessary” use of special powers which give police the ability to stop anyone in a designated area without them having “reasonable suspicion”.
Lord Carlile said there was little or no evidence that blanket use of searches under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 had the potential to prevent a terror attack.
He added that he could see no reason for the whole of Greater London to be permanently designated an area where the power could operate.
In his annual report on the operation of the anti terror laws, Lord Carlile said: “I repeat my mantra that terrorism related powers should be used only for terrorism related purposes; otherwise their credibility is severely damaged. The damage to community relations if they are used incorrectly can be considerable.”
He said there was evidence that people are being stopped by police to produce a racial balance for the official statistics.
“I believe that it is totally wrong for any person to be stopped in order to produce a racial balance in the Section 44 statistics. There is ample anecdotal evidence that this is happening,” he said.
He said he understood why the police are anxious to ensure they should be free from allegations of prejudice but it was not a good use of resources to waste them on “self evidently” unmerited searches.
“It is also an invasion of the civil liberties of the person who has been stopped, simply to ‘balance’ the statistics,” the report said.
Lord Carlile said: “The criteria for section 44 stops should be objectively based, irrespective of racial considerations: if an objective basis happens to produce an ethnic imbalance, that may have to be regarded as a proportional consequence of operational policing.”
He said that examples of the poor use of Section 44 abound. “I have evidence of cases where the person stopped is so obviously far from any known terrorist profile that, realistically, there is not the slightest possibility of him or her being a terrorist and no other feature to justify the stop.”
He added: ”In one situation the basis of the stops being carried out was numerical only, which is almost certainly unlawful and in no way an intelligent use of the procedure.”
Lord Carlile said the chief police officers must always bear in mind that a stop under Section 44 is an invasion of a person’s freedom of movement.
Figures released earlier this year revealed a huge increase in searches using Section 44 powers. Officers in England and Wales used the powers to search 124,687 people in 2007/8, up from 41,924 in 2006/7 and only 1 per cent of searches led to an arrest.
Nearly 90 per cent of the searches were carried out by the Metropolitan Police which recorded a 266 per cent increase in its use of the power. Officers in London use Section 44 to carry out stop and search between 8,000 and 10,000 times a month.
He criticised the Metropolitan Police for not limiting Section 44 use to parts of London and said the number of searches being carried out by the force was “alarming”.
He said: “The intention of the section was not to place London under permanent special search powers.
“The figures, and a little analysis of them, show that section 44 is being used as an instrument to aid non-terrorism policing on some occasions and this is unacceptable.”
The number of people searched in Greater London under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 increased dramatically after two thwarted terrorist attacks in 2007 outside a nightclub in London and at Glasgow airport.
Ethnic minorities bore the brunt, with the number of black people stopped in London increasing by 322 per cent and the number of Asians searched increasing by 277 per cent. The increase for white people was 185 per cent.
Earlier this year the Metropolitan Police agreed to limit its use of Section 44 powers.
Lord Carlile also highlights concerns over police threatening people with prosecution under anti terror laws for taking photographs of officers on duty.
He said photography of police on duty was legitimate unless the photograph is likely to be of use to a terrorist. “It is unexcusable for police officers ever to use their provision (of anti terror laws) to interfere with the rights of individuals to take photographs. The police must adjust to the undoubted fact that the scrutiny of them by members of the public is at least proportional to any increase in police powers - given the ubiquity of photograph and video enabled mobile phones,” he said.
Alan Johnson said in a response that the Home Office is preparing to clarify the position both for the public and police on the issue of taking photographs of officers on duty.
A Home Office spokesman defended the use of the powers. He said: “Stop and search under the Terrorism Act 2000 is an important tool in the on-going fight against terrorism.
“As part of a structured anti-terrorist strategy, the powers help to deter terrorist activity by creating a hostile environment for would-be terrorists to operate.
“Countering the terrorist threat and ensuring good community relations are interdependent and we are continuing to work with the police to ensure that the use of stop and search powers strikes the right balance.”
Source:The times
More than 100,000 join defiant silent protest in Tehran
At least 100,000 demonstrators marched silently through the streets of Tehran tonight in a direct challenge to the authority of Iran's clerical regime.
Witnesses said that the protesters, both young and old and many accompanied by children, marched through central Tehran Haft-e Tir square towards Vali Asr square in the heart of the city.
The rally was called by the defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi to protest against the "shameful fraud" that saw Mahmoud Ahmadinejad re-elected by a landslide in last Friday's election.
Mr Mousavi's appeal to supporters, issued via his website, flew in the face of a declaration by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader, that the former prime minister should pursue his objectives through the electoral system and not on the streets
It also came despite a demand from the powerful Revolutionary Guard that websites and bloggers should remove any materials that "create tension".
But the regime is struggling to keep a lid on the protests. In an extraordinary display today, five players in Iran's World Cup qualifier against South Korea in Seoul took to the pitch with green armbands in apparent support of Mir Hossein Mousavi, although they removed the armbands for the second half of the match.
The same armbands were to be seen everywhere in the Tehran demonstration, along with placards accusing Mr Ahmadinejad of having "stolen" people's votes. Mr Mousavi was not attending the march, which has been branded illegal by the authorities.
According to the official election results, Mr Mousavi scored 34 per cent of the vote in last Friday's election, against almost 63 per cent for Mr Ahmadinejad. His supporters say that in reality it was he who was the clear first round victor after a massive upsurge in support for his moderate message, particularly from young urban voters desperate for change.
In the biggest political protests since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of Tehran on Monday to protest against the alleged voter fraud. In clashes afterwards at a Basiji militia post, at least seven protesters were killed.
Yesterday, Mr Mousavi was forced to call off a mass protest in the heart of Tehran after Ayatollah Khamenei called a pre-emptive "unity rally" in the same square an hour earlier.
Today, the 67-year-old announced on his website: "We are after a peaceful rally to protest the unhealthy trend of the elections and realize our goal of annulling the election results." He also called for "a new presidential election that will not repeat the shameful fraud from the previous election".
He also called a day of mourning for tomorrow,asking people to come together in mosques or in peaceful demonstrations in solidarity with those killed on Monday.
The crackdown on the protests has been accompanied by a ban on journalists working for foreign media reporting from the streets of Tehran - officially they are only allowed to work on stories sanctioned by their Government minders.
The regime has also done its best to restrict access to the social networking sites and messaging systems through which news of planned protests has been disseminated – among them Facebook, Twitter and the video-sharing site YouTube.
They have not been able to prevent traditional word-of-mouth communication – usually through car windows at traffic jams in the capital.
Mr Mousavi condemned the government for blocking websites and trying to silence the voice of the opposition. The Revolutionary Guard, an elite military force answering only to Mr Khamenei, said through the state news service that its investigators have taken action against "deviant news sites" that encouraged public disturbance and street riots.
The Guards are a separate military with enormous domestic influence and control of Iran’s most important defence programmes and are considered a key source of power for Iran's rulers.
The Guards alleged that dissident websites had been backed by Canadian, American and British interests, a frequent charge levied by Iranian hard-liners against their opposition.
"Legal action will be very strong and call on them to remove such materials," it said.
Meanwhile, tensions over the election appeared to be spreading further into the Iranian political and religious classes. The semi-official ISNA news agency and the private ILNA news agency reported that scuffles broke out between a reformist MP and a hardliner in an open session of the Parliament after they exchanged verbal attacks over the vote results.
The agencies said that hardliner, Ruhollah Jani Abbaspour, attacked Amir Taherkhani after a parliamentary committee probing the protests met Mr Mousavi and the speaker of parliament gave a report on the probe.
Iran’s most senior dissident cleric said that the ruling Islamic system had no political or religious legitimacy because of the alleged electoral fraud. Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri said in a statement that "no sound mind" would accept the results of Friday's election.
"A government that is based on intervening in the vote has no political or religious legitimacy," said Mr Montazeri, who had once been set to succeed Ayatollah Khomeini as supreme leader until he was ousted because of criticisms of the revolution.
The US-based International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said that several dozen noted figures associated with Iran’s reformist movement had been arrested yesterday, among them politicians, intellectuals, activists and journalists.
The Tehran-based analyst Saeed Leilaz, who is often quoted by Western media, was arrested Wednesday by plainclothes security officers who came to his home, said his wife, Sepehrnaz Panahi.
At least 10 Iranian journalists have been arrested since the election, Reporters Without Borders said. A website run by the former vice-president Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a noted reformist, said that he too had been arrested.
Saeed Hajjarian, a prominent reformer, has also been detained, along with his ’s wife, Vajiheh Masousi. Mr Hajjarian is a close aide of former President Mohammad Khatami.
In an attempt to placate the opposition, the main electoral authority has said it was prepared to conduct a limited recount of ballots at sites where candidates claim irregularities. The recount would be overseen by the Guardian Council, an unelected body of 12 clerics and Islamic law experts close to the Supreme Leader.
Source:The times
Witnesses said that the protesters, both young and old and many accompanied by children, marched through central Tehran Haft-e Tir square towards Vali Asr square in the heart of the city.
The rally was called by the defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi to protest against the "shameful fraud" that saw Mahmoud Ahmadinejad re-elected by a landslide in last Friday's election.
Mr Mousavi's appeal to supporters, issued via his website, flew in the face of a declaration by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader, that the former prime minister should pursue his objectives through the electoral system and not on the streets
It also came despite a demand from the powerful Revolutionary Guard that websites and bloggers should remove any materials that "create tension".
But the regime is struggling to keep a lid on the protests. In an extraordinary display today, five players in Iran's World Cup qualifier against South Korea in Seoul took to the pitch with green armbands in apparent support of Mir Hossein Mousavi, although they removed the armbands for the second half of the match.
The same armbands were to be seen everywhere in the Tehran demonstration, along with placards accusing Mr Ahmadinejad of having "stolen" people's votes. Mr Mousavi was not attending the march, which has been branded illegal by the authorities.
According to the official election results, Mr Mousavi scored 34 per cent of the vote in last Friday's election, against almost 63 per cent for Mr Ahmadinejad. His supporters say that in reality it was he who was the clear first round victor after a massive upsurge in support for his moderate message, particularly from young urban voters desperate for change.
In the biggest political protests since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of Tehran on Monday to protest against the alleged voter fraud. In clashes afterwards at a Basiji militia post, at least seven protesters were killed.
Yesterday, Mr Mousavi was forced to call off a mass protest in the heart of Tehran after Ayatollah Khamenei called a pre-emptive "unity rally" in the same square an hour earlier.
Today, the 67-year-old announced on his website: "We are after a peaceful rally to protest the unhealthy trend of the elections and realize our goal of annulling the election results." He also called for "a new presidential election that will not repeat the shameful fraud from the previous election".
He also called a day of mourning for tomorrow,asking people to come together in mosques or in peaceful demonstrations in solidarity with those killed on Monday.
The crackdown on the protests has been accompanied by a ban on journalists working for foreign media reporting from the streets of Tehran - officially they are only allowed to work on stories sanctioned by their Government minders.
The regime has also done its best to restrict access to the social networking sites and messaging systems through which news of planned protests has been disseminated – among them Facebook, Twitter and the video-sharing site YouTube.
They have not been able to prevent traditional word-of-mouth communication – usually through car windows at traffic jams in the capital.
Mr Mousavi condemned the government for blocking websites and trying to silence the voice of the opposition. The Revolutionary Guard, an elite military force answering only to Mr Khamenei, said through the state news service that its investigators have taken action against "deviant news sites" that encouraged public disturbance and street riots.
The Guards are a separate military with enormous domestic influence and control of Iran’s most important defence programmes and are considered a key source of power for Iran's rulers.
The Guards alleged that dissident websites had been backed by Canadian, American and British interests, a frequent charge levied by Iranian hard-liners against their opposition.
"Legal action will be very strong and call on them to remove such materials," it said.
Meanwhile, tensions over the election appeared to be spreading further into the Iranian political and religious classes. The semi-official ISNA news agency and the private ILNA news agency reported that scuffles broke out between a reformist MP and a hardliner in an open session of the Parliament after they exchanged verbal attacks over the vote results.
The agencies said that hardliner, Ruhollah Jani Abbaspour, attacked Amir Taherkhani after a parliamentary committee probing the protests met Mr Mousavi and the speaker of parliament gave a report on the probe.
Iran’s most senior dissident cleric said that the ruling Islamic system had no political or religious legitimacy because of the alleged electoral fraud. Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri said in a statement that "no sound mind" would accept the results of Friday's election.
"A government that is based on intervening in the vote has no political or religious legitimacy," said Mr Montazeri, who had once been set to succeed Ayatollah Khomeini as supreme leader until he was ousted because of criticisms of the revolution.
The US-based International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said that several dozen noted figures associated with Iran’s reformist movement had been arrested yesterday, among them politicians, intellectuals, activists and journalists.
The Tehran-based analyst Saeed Leilaz, who is often quoted by Western media, was arrested Wednesday by plainclothes security officers who came to his home, said his wife, Sepehrnaz Panahi.
At least 10 Iranian journalists have been arrested since the election, Reporters Without Borders said. A website run by the former vice-president Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a noted reformist, said that he too had been arrested.
Saeed Hajjarian, a prominent reformer, has also been detained, along with his ’s wife, Vajiheh Masousi. Mr Hajjarian is a close aide of former President Mohammad Khatami.
In an attempt to placate the opposition, the main electoral authority has said it was prepared to conduct a limited recount of ballots at sites where candidates claim irregularities. The recount would be overseen by the Guardian Council, an unelected body of 12 clerics and Islamic law experts close to the Supreme Leader.
Source:The times
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Imran Khan warns of Pakistan’s ‘suicide’
Pakistan's military offensive against the Taliban will backfire and fuel more extremism and bomb attacks, the cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan warned last week.
“I have never been so depressed in my life,” he said. “Pakistan is on a suicidal course.”
Khan was speaking in London, where he was visiting his two sons by his ex-wife Jemima before heading to America to raise funds for refugees displaced by the fighting.
The 56-year-old leader of Pakistan’s Movement for Justice party has been branded pro-Taliban for speaking out against the military operation, which has driven 2.5m people from their homes.
“I’m not pro-Taliban,” he said. “But my point is: shouldn’t we have looked at other options? How do you justify using heavy artillery, helicopter gunships and F-16 fighter-jets in civilian areas? Who in the world does this? Meanwhile all the top Taliban leadership have escaped. It’s so inhuman, what they have done; it will backfire.”
Khan pointed out that the launch of the operation coincided with President Asif Ali Zardari’s visit to Washington in late April, after which the US agreed a five-year deal worth $1.5 billion (£910m) a year. “Was this operation to save the people of Swat or to get dollars from the Americans?” he asked.
“Only 10 days earlier, Parliament had passed a resolution endorsing a peace deal in Swat with the Taliban. Why was there no discussion? A military operation should have been the last resort.”
Khan insisted that Pakistan would never contain extremism as long as American troops remained across the border in Afghanistan. “Hatred of America is much more than of the Taliban,” he said.
The first European Union-Pakistan summit will be held in Brussels this week at which Zardari will call for more aid for the refugee crisis.
“How do we look after these refugees?” Khan asked. “Already you see the anger. This is a very sorry chapter in Pakistan's history.”
Source:The times
“I have never been so depressed in my life,” he said. “Pakistan is on a suicidal course.”
Khan was speaking in London, where he was visiting his two sons by his ex-wife Jemima before heading to America to raise funds for refugees displaced by the fighting.
The 56-year-old leader of Pakistan’s Movement for Justice party has been branded pro-Taliban for speaking out against the military operation, which has driven 2.5m people from their homes.
“I’m not pro-Taliban,” he said. “But my point is: shouldn’t we have looked at other options? How do you justify using heavy artillery, helicopter gunships and F-16 fighter-jets in civilian areas? Who in the world does this? Meanwhile all the top Taliban leadership have escaped. It’s so inhuman, what they have done; it will backfire.”
Khan pointed out that the launch of the operation coincided with President Asif Ali Zardari’s visit to Washington in late April, after which the US agreed a five-year deal worth $1.5 billion (£910m) a year. “Was this operation to save the people of Swat or to get dollars from the Americans?” he asked.
“Only 10 days earlier, Parliament had passed a resolution endorsing a peace deal in Swat with the Taliban. Why was there no discussion? A military operation should have been the last resort.”
Khan insisted that Pakistan would never contain extremism as long as American troops remained across the border in Afghanistan. “Hatred of America is much more than of the Taliban,” he said.
The first European Union-Pakistan summit will be held in Brussels this week at which Zardari will call for more aid for the refugee crisis.
“How do we look after these refugees?” Khan asked. “Already you see the anger. This is a very sorry chapter in Pakistan's history.”
Source:The times
Indonesia ‘war crimes’ general Prabowo Subianto seeks election
One of the darkest characters from Indonesia’s bloody past has reinvented himself as a respectable candidate for vice-president and could emerge as the country’s most powerful politician after elections next month.
He is Prabowo Subianto, 58, a former special forces commander and army lieutenant-general, who married Titiek, the second daughter of the late dictator Suharto, and was associated with the violence and nepotism of his regime.
Human rights groups have condemned his record in East Timor and Jakarta, where men under his command shot demonstrators and kidnapped opponents. Last week activists called for voters to shun him.
Prabowo refused to talk about his past when questioned by The Sunday Times last week. Over the years he has repeatedly denied all the allegations. But they will not go away.
He served four tours of duty in East Timor, where Indonesian occupation forces were accused of war crimes including torture, rape and murder. In the last years of the Suharto regime, special units under his command were blamed for abductions and disappearances of pro-democracy activists.
The Indonesian media reported widespread rumours that he organised mobs to loot, burn, kill and rape throughout Jakarta’s Chinatown in 1998 in an attempt to sow chaos and pave the way for a coup.
After Suharto stepped down, Prabowo was accused of threatening the new president, B J Habibie, by deploying his commandos around the palace.
Prabowo went into exile but has made a comeback thanks to a multi-million-dollar advertising campaign funded by his brother, a tycoon. He is standing as running mate to Megawati Sukarnoputri, who served an undistinguished term as president from 2001 to 2004.
“I would like to see Indonesia as a more prosperous and self-reliant country and to be able to better manage its resources for the benefit of the people,” he said.
Political analysts see Megawati as weak and ineffective. They believe that if she won the presidency, Prabowo would become the stronger figure.
Megawati is the daughter of Sukarno, Indonesia’s first president, while Prabowo is casting himself in Sukarno’s role as a friend of the poor.
“I realised the only way to make a difference was through the political system,” he said.
The pair are challenging President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is standing on a platform of competence and personal integrity.
President Barack Obama, who spent part of his childhood in Indonesia – the most populous Muslim nation with 210m people – is planning a symbolic visit later this year to continue improving relations between America and Islam.
The prospect that he may be greeted by Prabowo is likely to dampen the enthusiasm of White House planners.
Source:The times
He is Prabowo Subianto, 58, a former special forces commander and army lieutenant-general, who married Titiek, the second daughter of the late dictator Suharto, and was associated with the violence and nepotism of his regime.
Human rights groups have condemned his record in East Timor and Jakarta, where men under his command shot demonstrators and kidnapped opponents. Last week activists called for voters to shun him.
Prabowo refused to talk about his past when questioned by The Sunday Times last week. Over the years he has repeatedly denied all the allegations. But they will not go away.
He served four tours of duty in East Timor, where Indonesian occupation forces were accused of war crimes including torture, rape and murder. In the last years of the Suharto regime, special units under his command were blamed for abductions and disappearances of pro-democracy activists.
The Indonesian media reported widespread rumours that he organised mobs to loot, burn, kill and rape throughout Jakarta’s Chinatown in 1998 in an attempt to sow chaos and pave the way for a coup.
After Suharto stepped down, Prabowo was accused of threatening the new president, B J Habibie, by deploying his commandos around the palace.
Prabowo went into exile but has made a comeback thanks to a multi-million-dollar advertising campaign funded by his brother, a tycoon. He is standing as running mate to Megawati Sukarnoputri, who served an undistinguished term as president from 2001 to 2004.
“I would like to see Indonesia as a more prosperous and self-reliant country and to be able to better manage its resources for the benefit of the people,” he said.
Political analysts see Megawati as weak and ineffective. They believe that if she won the presidency, Prabowo would become the stronger figure.
Megawati is the daughter of Sukarno, Indonesia’s first president, while Prabowo is casting himself in Sukarno’s role as a friend of the poor.
“I realised the only way to make a difference was through the political system,” he said.
The pair are challenging President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is standing on a platform of competence and personal integrity.
President Barack Obama, who spent part of his childhood in Indonesia – the most populous Muslim nation with 210m people – is planning a symbolic visit later this year to continue improving relations between America and Islam.
The prospect that he may be greeted by Prabowo is likely to dampen the enthusiasm of White House planners.
Source:The times
Mullahs ‘rigged poll’ in fear of Barack Obama effect
President Barack Obama’s hopes of halting Iran’s nuclear programme have been dealt a blow by the election result but the policy of the “outstretched hand” will continue.
“The Iran election seriously complicates Obama’s game plan in the region,” said Steven Clemons, of the New America Foundation, a left-of-centre Washington think tank. “But if Ahmadinejad is sworn in and the situation gets relatively stable, nothing at all has changed in the equation that Obama set out during the campaign: we have to deal with our enemies – we must engage.”
There had been high hopes of an “Obama effect” in Iran, similar to the victory for a pro-western coalition in Lebanese elections this month in which Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed “party of God”, was defeated.
Obama had said that what had been true in Lebanon could be true in Iran as well – “you’re looking at people seeing new possibilities”.
Tehran drew a different lesson from Hezbollah’s defeat, according to Lawrence Korb, of the Center for American Progress, who was a foreign policy adviser to Obama during his election campaign. “The mullahs were afraid that if they went two-nil down, the United States and Europe would have taken a tougher line with them on the nuclear issue,” he said.
Korb argued that the regime had rigged the vote in response to Obama’s success in reaching out to Muslims on a visit to the Middle East this month. “It shows how concerned the regime is about his popularity in the Muslim world. They didn’t have to fake the results of the previous election.”
In a speech in Cairo, Obama signalled that while he supported human rights, he was willing to deal with autocrats. Korb believes that Washington will still want to talk to Ahmadinejad, even if he was fraudulently re-elected.
Iran’s foreign policy remains under the control of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader.
Richard Perle, a neoconservative and former Pentagon adviser, said Obama must share the blame for Ahmadinejad’s power grab. “Normally, when you unclench your fist it benefits the hardliners, because Obama appeared to be saying we can do business with you even with your present policies.”
Iran’s defiance comes after a series of foreign policy setbacks for Obama, including North Korea’s test-firing of a nuclear missile and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, refusing to freeze the building of settlements in the West Bank.
“It underscores the folly of the president’s basic premise that the problem we have with bad actors around the world is that they don’t understand us,” said Frank Gaffney, of the Center for Security Policy, a conservative think tank. “These people are thugs and they have been emboldened by our weakness.”
Obama’s relations with Russia could also be affected. The US had hoped to drop its proposed missile shield in eastern Europe, ostensibly designed for defence against Iran, in exchange for Russian pressure on Iran to suspend its nuclear programme.
If negotiations on the nuclear issue fail, there is no appetite on Obama’s part for military action against Iran, nor is he expected to give the go-ahead to Israel to strike. American military chiefs remain adamantly opposed to taking on Iran while Iraq faces growing turmoil and US troops are surging into Afghanistan.
If the Iranians continue to defy the West, “they will have to live with the consequences”, Korb predicted. “Sanctions will really start to bite.”
Source:The times
“The Iran election seriously complicates Obama’s game plan in the region,” said Steven Clemons, of the New America Foundation, a left-of-centre Washington think tank. “But if Ahmadinejad is sworn in and the situation gets relatively stable, nothing at all has changed in the equation that Obama set out during the campaign: we have to deal with our enemies – we must engage.”
There had been high hopes of an “Obama effect” in Iran, similar to the victory for a pro-western coalition in Lebanese elections this month in which Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed “party of God”, was defeated.
Obama had said that what had been true in Lebanon could be true in Iran as well – “you’re looking at people seeing new possibilities”.
Tehran drew a different lesson from Hezbollah’s defeat, according to Lawrence Korb, of the Center for American Progress, who was a foreign policy adviser to Obama during his election campaign. “The mullahs were afraid that if they went two-nil down, the United States and Europe would have taken a tougher line with them on the nuclear issue,” he said.
Korb argued that the regime had rigged the vote in response to Obama’s success in reaching out to Muslims on a visit to the Middle East this month. “It shows how concerned the regime is about his popularity in the Muslim world. They didn’t have to fake the results of the previous election.”
In a speech in Cairo, Obama signalled that while he supported human rights, he was willing to deal with autocrats. Korb believes that Washington will still want to talk to Ahmadinejad, even if he was fraudulently re-elected.
Iran’s foreign policy remains under the control of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader.
Richard Perle, a neoconservative and former Pentagon adviser, said Obama must share the blame for Ahmadinejad’s power grab. “Normally, when you unclench your fist it benefits the hardliners, because Obama appeared to be saying we can do business with you even with your present policies.”
Iran’s defiance comes after a series of foreign policy setbacks for Obama, including North Korea’s test-firing of a nuclear missile and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, refusing to freeze the building of settlements in the West Bank.
“It underscores the folly of the president’s basic premise that the problem we have with bad actors around the world is that they don’t understand us,” said Frank Gaffney, of the Center for Security Policy, a conservative think tank. “These people are thugs and they have been emboldened by our weakness.”
Obama’s relations with Russia could also be affected. The US had hoped to drop its proposed missile shield in eastern Europe, ostensibly designed for defence against Iran, in exchange for Russian pressure on Iran to suspend its nuclear programme.
If negotiations on the nuclear issue fail, there is no appetite on Obama’s part for military action against Iran, nor is he expected to give the go-ahead to Israel to strike. American military chiefs remain adamantly opposed to taking on Iran while Iraq faces growing turmoil and US troops are surging into Afghanistan.
If the Iranians continue to defy the West, “they will have to live with the consequences”, Korb predicted. “Sanctions will really start to bite.”
Source:The times
Anger at Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election
THE motorcycle police came from behind. They fired stun grenades that exploded as I was walking among thousands of demonstrators on Tehran’s central boulevard, and talking to two young women about their anger at what they called the “theft” of the Iranian election.
Tempers ran high. Protesters jostling shoulder to shoulder filled the road and pavements, punching the air with their fists and shouting, “Down with the dictator,” and, “Be ashamed and give us back Iran.”
They were convinced their candidate in the presidential election, Mir Hossein Mousavi, a former prime minister, had been cheated of victory by the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The election had been hard fought - Mousavi and Ahmadinejad were the front-runners in a field of four – and an evidently tight race had been predicted to go to a second round this Friday.
Emotions ran high in the campaign. Mousavi’s supporters, many of them young men and women, nearly shut down the city last week with all night street campaigning, dancing until dawn as they handed out campaign leaflets.
Such a spectacle had never been seen in a conservative city where women are legally obliged to wear the hijab (head-scarf) and an overcoat, and the sexes are not allowed to mix unless married or related.
Rallies for both candidates drew tens of thousands of fervent supporters.
Just as they had all week, yesterday’s demonstrators waved green ribbons and banners and wore green T-shirts signalling their support for Mousavi.
“The election was stolen,” Safoor Nayafi, 26, shouted over the din of the march, clutching her black hijab at her chin. “We are marching to the ministry of interior to get our stolen votes back.” She was just telling me she had a master’s degree in science when her voice was drowned out by the roar of motorcycles from behind us and along the sides of the road.
They were riot police, dressed in camouflage uniforms, wearing black flak jackets and black helmets with their menacing visors pulled down.
They fired several grenades, scattering the crowd. Women screamed and fell to the ground; men leapt onto the pavements, then ran back to drag the fallen out of the road. Shop owners pulled scared bystanders inside and slammed down their metal grates.
It took only seconds to realise they were stun grenades, fired into the air to scatter the marchers, but they were terrifying seconds.
An acrid smell hung in the air as young men started shouting and running forward after the riot police. They were from a special unit trained to put down protests and named after Hassan Nasrallah, the Lebanese Hezbollah leader. Confronting them seemed a brave, but foolish, gesture.
About 50 yards ahead of us, at the junction of Valiasr Street and a square called Saei Park, there was a skirmish, with motorcycles roaring and fired-up young men yelling, “Allahu akbar” (God is great).
Smoke rose from the scene as the crowd cleared. Two riot police motorcycles lay burning in the middle of the junction, flames leaping from their metal carcasses and smoke rising into the overcast sky. A loud cheer went up from the crowd.
The demonstrators were not seasoned fighters. Tehran residents told me they had never seen such a crowd – young men and women, intellectuals, workers.
One elderly woman came up to me, screaming: “We hate this government. It’s my generation’s fault to have let them come in 1979 [when the shah was ousted]. These children are doing what we were not brave enough to do.”
The riot police returned with much roaring of engines and more wielding of stun grenades, but the marchers stubbornly regrouped and the stand-off continued.
Walking back to my hotel, I saw burning dustbins surrounded by riot police swinging their batons at bystanders – they had clearly been set alight by protesters.
A colleague said he had counted four more burnt-out police motorcycles and seen dozens of riot police beating people in the street.
The city was tense as dusk fell. No one knew what to expect next. I asked one of the march’s leaders, sweating in his black T-shirt and green wristband, if the protests would turn into a fully fledged revolution.
“I don’t know,” he said. “This is new to us.” The first protest had begun at about 4am, as Mousavi supporters, who had stayed up all night to wait for the results, converged on the ministry of interior, the department in charge of the poll, in the centre of the city. They were beaten back by riot police, who seemed to have been expecting them.
Later in the morning, I visited Mousavi’s headquarters in a five-storey building on a residential street. The riot police had already been there.
A guard in the lobby of the building told me they had stormed in about three hours earlier, firing tear-gas canisters and shouting that they had seen a suspect flee into the building. They beat people with batons, the guard said, and Mousavi had ordered the headquarters to be closed to stop any more violence.
The disappointment at Mousavi’s defeat quickly turned to anger as people absorbed the scale of Ahmadinejad’s victory.
Polls in Iran are unreliable, but every unofficial sampling had indicated a close race. The outpouring of support for Mousavi in Tehran could have been deceptive as Ahmadinejad’s supporters are mostly the rural poor and urban working class, but the gap between the two candidates caused Iranian analysts and voters alike to suspect that something was amiss.
Mousavi was ensconced with advisers last night, but said he would challenge the result: “I will not surrender to this dangerous charade.” He called on his supporters to remain calm until he decided his course of action. Few seemed to be listening, however. Another demonstration was planned in central Tehran for late last night.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, said the election result should stand. “Other honourable candidates must refrain from any kind of provocative and distrustful words or deeds,” he said on state radio.
News of the clashes travelled only by word of mouth; state-run television was still showing film of queues of voters on Friday. The texting network that Mousavi’s supporters had used to organise their campaign was blocked.
Even before yesterday’s riots, it was clear many ordinary people felt they had been cheated. “Almost everybody I know voted for Mousavi but Ahmadinejad is being declared the winner. The government announcement is nothing but widespread fraud. It is very, very disappointing. I’ll never again vote in Iran,” said Nasser Amiri, a Tehran hospital clerk.
This isn’t over yet, News Review
Source:The times
Tempers ran high. Protesters jostling shoulder to shoulder filled the road and pavements, punching the air with their fists and shouting, “Down with the dictator,” and, “Be ashamed and give us back Iran.”
They were convinced their candidate in the presidential election, Mir Hossein Mousavi, a former prime minister, had been cheated of victory by the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The election had been hard fought - Mousavi and Ahmadinejad were the front-runners in a field of four – and an evidently tight race had been predicted to go to a second round this Friday.
Emotions ran high in the campaign. Mousavi’s supporters, many of them young men and women, nearly shut down the city last week with all night street campaigning, dancing until dawn as they handed out campaign leaflets.
Such a spectacle had never been seen in a conservative city where women are legally obliged to wear the hijab (head-scarf) and an overcoat, and the sexes are not allowed to mix unless married or related.
Rallies for both candidates drew tens of thousands of fervent supporters.
Just as they had all week, yesterday’s demonstrators waved green ribbons and banners and wore green T-shirts signalling their support for Mousavi.
“The election was stolen,” Safoor Nayafi, 26, shouted over the din of the march, clutching her black hijab at her chin. “We are marching to the ministry of interior to get our stolen votes back.” She was just telling me she had a master’s degree in science when her voice was drowned out by the roar of motorcycles from behind us and along the sides of the road.
They were riot police, dressed in camouflage uniforms, wearing black flak jackets and black helmets with their menacing visors pulled down.
They fired several grenades, scattering the crowd. Women screamed and fell to the ground; men leapt onto the pavements, then ran back to drag the fallen out of the road. Shop owners pulled scared bystanders inside and slammed down their metal grates.
It took only seconds to realise they were stun grenades, fired into the air to scatter the marchers, but they were terrifying seconds.
An acrid smell hung in the air as young men started shouting and running forward after the riot police. They were from a special unit trained to put down protests and named after Hassan Nasrallah, the Lebanese Hezbollah leader. Confronting them seemed a brave, but foolish, gesture.
About 50 yards ahead of us, at the junction of Valiasr Street and a square called Saei Park, there was a skirmish, with motorcycles roaring and fired-up young men yelling, “Allahu akbar” (God is great).
Smoke rose from the scene as the crowd cleared. Two riot police motorcycles lay burning in the middle of the junction, flames leaping from their metal carcasses and smoke rising into the overcast sky. A loud cheer went up from the crowd.
The demonstrators were not seasoned fighters. Tehran residents told me they had never seen such a crowd – young men and women, intellectuals, workers.
One elderly woman came up to me, screaming: “We hate this government. It’s my generation’s fault to have let them come in 1979 [when the shah was ousted]. These children are doing what we were not brave enough to do.”
The riot police returned with much roaring of engines and more wielding of stun grenades, but the marchers stubbornly regrouped and the stand-off continued.
Walking back to my hotel, I saw burning dustbins surrounded by riot police swinging their batons at bystanders – they had clearly been set alight by protesters.
A colleague said he had counted four more burnt-out police motorcycles and seen dozens of riot police beating people in the street.
The city was tense as dusk fell. No one knew what to expect next. I asked one of the march’s leaders, sweating in his black T-shirt and green wristband, if the protests would turn into a fully fledged revolution.
“I don’t know,” he said. “This is new to us.” The first protest had begun at about 4am, as Mousavi supporters, who had stayed up all night to wait for the results, converged on the ministry of interior, the department in charge of the poll, in the centre of the city. They were beaten back by riot police, who seemed to have been expecting them.
Later in the morning, I visited Mousavi’s headquarters in a five-storey building on a residential street. The riot police had already been there.
A guard in the lobby of the building told me they had stormed in about three hours earlier, firing tear-gas canisters and shouting that they had seen a suspect flee into the building. They beat people with batons, the guard said, and Mousavi had ordered the headquarters to be closed to stop any more violence.
The disappointment at Mousavi’s defeat quickly turned to anger as people absorbed the scale of Ahmadinejad’s victory.
Polls in Iran are unreliable, but every unofficial sampling had indicated a close race. The outpouring of support for Mousavi in Tehran could have been deceptive as Ahmadinejad’s supporters are mostly the rural poor and urban working class, but the gap between the two candidates caused Iranian analysts and voters alike to suspect that something was amiss.
Mousavi was ensconced with advisers last night, but said he would challenge the result: “I will not surrender to this dangerous charade.” He called on his supporters to remain calm until he decided his course of action. Few seemed to be listening, however. Another demonstration was planned in central Tehran for late last night.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, said the election result should stand. “Other honourable candidates must refrain from any kind of provocative and distrustful words or deeds,” he said on state radio.
News of the clashes travelled only by word of mouth; state-run television was still showing film of queues of voters on Friday. The texting network that Mousavi’s supporters had used to organise their campaign was blocked.
Even before yesterday’s riots, it was clear many ordinary people felt they had been cheated. “Almost everybody I know voted for Mousavi but Ahmadinejad is being declared the winner. The government announcement is nothing but widespread fraud. It is very, very disappointing. I’ll never again vote in Iran,” said Nasser Amiri, a Tehran hospital clerk.
This isn’t over yet, News Review
Source:The times
Photographer Antonello Zappadu warns of more embarrassing pictures of Silvio Berlusconi
The photographer who prompted an international scandal with images of topless young women bathing in Silvio Berlusconi’s Sardinian villa has hinted that there are more embarrassing pictures to come — including a “mock marriage” between the Italian Prime Minister and a woman in her twenties.
In his first interview with a British newspaper, Antonello Zappadu confirmed that the unseen pictures show guests at Mr Berlusconi’s private paradise of Villa Certosa. As with previous images of a naked man and semi-clad girls published in the Spanish newspaper El País last week, the subjects have their faces pixelated to protect their identity.
Mr Zappadu declined to give many details but did say that among the photographs were images of Mr Berlusconi participating in a “fake wedding” with a young woman in the villa gardens. He said: “It seemed to be a puerile game. He was the only man. There were around six girls, and there seemed to be some sort of marriage with one of them. I would guess she was aged around 25-30.”
Mr Zappadu, 54, says he does not have any of the images in his possession and they have not yet been sold. They are believed to be in the hands of his contacts abroad, who would be able to distribute them depending on the advice of his lawyers. “There are more. This is not finished for me or Mr Berlusconi,” he told The Times.
Marco Ventura, a spokesman for the Prime Minister, denied yesterday that any such “wedding” had taken place. “It is an invented circumstance. An image like that cannot exist, and if it did it would be a doctored photograph.” Since being accused of invading the privacy of Italy’s most powerful man, Mr Zappadu has been arrested and had his photo archive seized by police. He has been threatened in anonymous e-mails and been branded a prurient paparazzo by the Prime Minister’s supporters.
At his local bar in Olbia, Sardinia, however, the thick-set man with heavy stubble and an easy smile was being treated like a hero. “Only three days ago a lady I had never met before asked to pay for my breakfast. People have come up to me on the street and hugged me. I was quite surprised at first,” he said.
During our interview a number of locals approached Mr Zappadu to shake his hand. One girl in her twenties came up to compliment him shyly on his scoop. A middle-aged couple at the next table offered their congratulations, their jokes indicating that they were not Berlusconi voters. “There are only two types of Italians: those who love Berlusconi and those who hate him. Very few are in the middle.”
The billionaire Prime Minister, 72, has been under pressure to explain why so many young women with no obvious political experience are invited to his private villa on the Costa Smeralda — although his spokesman denied that the Villa Certosa guest list was dominated by young women.
Mr Berlusconi tried to block publication of photographs of guests within the grounds and at the airport disembarking from military planes, which were taken by Mr Zappadu from 2007 to new year 2009. The Italian leader insists that the parties are “completely innocent” and claims that the shots are a gross violation of privacy.
Some of them, picturing a naked man who was later identified as Mirek Topolanek, the former Czech Prime Minister, and other unidentified girls in thongs and miniskirts, were sold to El País.
The photographer, who has been observing visitors at Villa Certosa for more than two years, said: “If we’re talking percentages, I would say around 90 per cent of guests are women — and not seasoned women. These are young girls. It is a sea of young, beautiful girls.
“You see girls in short skirts, girls being driven around the grounds by his staff, in little golf buggies. You can hear laughing, music, partying, but you do not know what is going on.”
The son of a journalist, Mr Zappadu has had a career rich in variety, including a stint covering the guerrilla conflict in Colombia. He started photographing comings and goings at Villa Certosa in early 2007 after Veronica Lario, Mr Berlusconi’s wife, first demanded — and duly received — a public apology from her husband over his alleged interest in younger women.
“I went expecting to get a picture of Berlusconi hand in hand with Lario, patching up their marriage. Instead, I saw him without Lario, with five young girls hand in hand and sitting on his knee.” One was Angela Sozio, a red-haired former Big Brother housemate whom the Prime Minister would later propose as a candidate for the European elections. The pictures, published by Oggi magazine, reportedly made the photographer more than £1 million.
“But it was when I started photographing the state flights I realised there was something that was not right,” he said. “People were coming off these flights who, to me, didn’t appear to be authorised — musicians, girls in miniskirts and fur coats.”
He estimates that about two state flights were arriving every week.
The focus returned to Villa Certosa last month after it emerged that Noemi Letizia, the teenage model at the centre of Mr Berlusconi’s troubles, had attended a party there without her parents when she was only 17.
Originally both the Prime Minister and Ms Letizia’s family had insisted that the tycoon and the teenager had met only in the presence of her mother and father. It was later confirmed that Ms Letizia had been a guest at Villa Certosa after her former boyfriend, Gino Flaminio, gave an interview claiming that she and a friend were flown to Sardinia for a new year’s party.
Mr Zappadu had taken photographs while she was there. “It wasn’t really until I read Gino’s interview that I realised I had something interesting in my hands. I didn’t know of Noemi at the time. But others who have seen the pictures say they recognised her.”
Mr Zappadu denies claims that he is invading the privacy of the Prime Minister. “For me, the state flights are more important than any ‘harem’. Many of us Italians have low pensions, minimal salaries. We are in times of economic crisis. So when I see around two state flights at the airport every week, with musicians and girls arriving to have parties, that annoys me. I think Berlusconi needs to explain that.” Mr Zappadu says that he is forbidden from selling any more photographs until the legal restrictions have been lifted. He claims that he is being monitored by the secret service and that his telephone is bugged.
Source:The times
In his first interview with a British newspaper, Antonello Zappadu confirmed that the unseen pictures show guests at Mr Berlusconi’s private paradise of Villa Certosa. As with previous images of a naked man and semi-clad girls published in the Spanish newspaper El País last week, the subjects have their faces pixelated to protect their identity.
Mr Zappadu declined to give many details but did say that among the photographs were images of Mr Berlusconi participating in a “fake wedding” with a young woman in the villa gardens. He said: “It seemed to be a puerile game. He was the only man. There were around six girls, and there seemed to be some sort of marriage with one of them. I would guess she was aged around 25-30.”
Mr Zappadu, 54, says he does not have any of the images in his possession and they have not yet been sold. They are believed to be in the hands of his contacts abroad, who would be able to distribute them depending on the advice of his lawyers. “There are more. This is not finished for me or Mr Berlusconi,” he told The Times.
Marco Ventura, a spokesman for the Prime Minister, denied yesterday that any such “wedding” had taken place. “It is an invented circumstance. An image like that cannot exist, and if it did it would be a doctored photograph.” Since being accused of invading the privacy of Italy’s most powerful man, Mr Zappadu has been arrested and had his photo archive seized by police. He has been threatened in anonymous e-mails and been branded a prurient paparazzo by the Prime Minister’s supporters.
At his local bar in Olbia, Sardinia, however, the thick-set man with heavy stubble and an easy smile was being treated like a hero. “Only three days ago a lady I had never met before asked to pay for my breakfast. People have come up to me on the street and hugged me. I was quite surprised at first,” he said.
During our interview a number of locals approached Mr Zappadu to shake his hand. One girl in her twenties came up to compliment him shyly on his scoop. A middle-aged couple at the next table offered their congratulations, their jokes indicating that they were not Berlusconi voters. “There are only two types of Italians: those who love Berlusconi and those who hate him. Very few are in the middle.”
The billionaire Prime Minister, 72, has been under pressure to explain why so many young women with no obvious political experience are invited to his private villa on the Costa Smeralda — although his spokesman denied that the Villa Certosa guest list was dominated by young women.
Mr Berlusconi tried to block publication of photographs of guests within the grounds and at the airport disembarking from military planes, which were taken by Mr Zappadu from 2007 to new year 2009. The Italian leader insists that the parties are “completely innocent” and claims that the shots are a gross violation of privacy.
Some of them, picturing a naked man who was later identified as Mirek Topolanek, the former Czech Prime Minister, and other unidentified girls in thongs and miniskirts, were sold to El País.
The photographer, who has been observing visitors at Villa Certosa for more than two years, said: “If we’re talking percentages, I would say around 90 per cent of guests are women — and not seasoned women. These are young girls. It is a sea of young, beautiful girls.
“You see girls in short skirts, girls being driven around the grounds by his staff, in little golf buggies. You can hear laughing, music, partying, but you do not know what is going on.”
The son of a journalist, Mr Zappadu has had a career rich in variety, including a stint covering the guerrilla conflict in Colombia. He started photographing comings and goings at Villa Certosa in early 2007 after Veronica Lario, Mr Berlusconi’s wife, first demanded — and duly received — a public apology from her husband over his alleged interest in younger women.
“I went expecting to get a picture of Berlusconi hand in hand with Lario, patching up their marriage. Instead, I saw him without Lario, with five young girls hand in hand and sitting on his knee.” One was Angela Sozio, a red-haired former Big Brother housemate whom the Prime Minister would later propose as a candidate for the European elections. The pictures, published by Oggi magazine, reportedly made the photographer more than £1 million.
“But it was when I started photographing the state flights I realised there was something that was not right,” he said. “People were coming off these flights who, to me, didn’t appear to be authorised — musicians, girls in miniskirts and fur coats.”
He estimates that about two state flights were arriving every week.
The focus returned to Villa Certosa last month after it emerged that Noemi Letizia, the teenage model at the centre of Mr Berlusconi’s troubles, had attended a party there without her parents when she was only 17.
Originally both the Prime Minister and Ms Letizia’s family had insisted that the tycoon and the teenager had met only in the presence of her mother and father. It was later confirmed that Ms Letizia had been a guest at Villa Certosa after her former boyfriend, Gino Flaminio, gave an interview claiming that she and a friend were flown to Sardinia for a new year’s party.
Mr Zappadu had taken photographs while she was there. “It wasn’t really until I read Gino’s interview that I realised I had something interesting in my hands. I didn’t know of Noemi at the time. But others who have seen the pictures say they recognised her.”
Mr Zappadu denies claims that he is invading the privacy of the Prime Minister. “For me, the state flights are more important than any ‘harem’. Many of us Italians have low pensions, minimal salaries. We are in times of economic crisis. So when I see around two state flights at the airport every week, with musicians and girls arriving to have parties, that annoys me. I think Berlusconi needs to explain that.” Mr Zappadu says that he is forbidden from selling any more photographs until the legal restrictions have been lifted. He claims that he is being monitored by the secret service and that his telephone is bugged.
Source:The times
Another soldier killed in Afghanistan
Latest death, as family mourn 20-year-old Private Robert McLaren, brings total number of men and women lost to 168.
A soldier killed in Afghanistan yesterday morning was from the 2nd Battalion the Rifles and was killed in a military operation near Sangin in Helmand as friends and colleagues paid tribute to another serviceman, who lost his life on Thursday. Both men died in two separate explosions while fighting the Taliban.
Task Force Helmand spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Nick Richardson, offered his condolences, saying: "It is with deep regret that we report the death of another soldier in Helmand Province. Our deepest heartfelt sympathies go out to the soldiers and officers of 2nd Battalion the Rifles and the bereaved friends and family of this brave soldier."
On Thursday Private Robert McLaren, of the Black Watch, 3rd Battalion who was fresh out of infantry recruit training and had only been on active service for four weeks, was killed. The 20-year-old died during a protracted firefight with insurgents outside the city of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan It was only the fourth time Pte McLaren had faced enemy fire.
Today his commanding officer said McLaren, from the Isle of Mull, had given his life to protect his fellow soldiers. Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Cartwright said: "Robert had displayed enormous physical courage during this battle for one so young. He gave his life for his friends with his selfless commitment, moving forward in the face of a determined and ruthless enemy."
Yesterday his family paid tribute saying: “We are very proud of Robert. He died doing a job he loved and we will cherish fond memories of him forever.”
The recent deaths bring the number of service men and women who have lost their lives in Afghanistan up to 168.
Source:The times
A soldier killed in Afghanistan yesterday morning was from the 2nd Battalion the Rifles and was killed in a military operation near Sangin in Helmand as friends and colleagues paid tribute to another serviceman, who lost his life on Thursday. Both men died in two separate explosions while fighting the Taliban.
Task Force Helmand spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Nick Richardson, offered his condolences, saying: "It is with deep regret that we report the death of another soldier in Helmand Province. Our deepest heartfelt sympathies go out to the soldiers and officers of 2nd Battalion the Rifles and the bereaved friends and family of this brave soldier."
On Thursday Private Robert McLaren, of the Black Watch, 3rd Battalion who was fresh out of infantry recruit training and had only been on active service for four weeks, was killed. The 20-year-old died during a protracted firefight with insurgents outside the city of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan It was only the fourth time Pte McLaren had faced enemy fire.
Today his commanding officer said McLaren, from the Isle of Mull, had given his life to protect his fellow soldiers. Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Cartwright said: "Robert had displayed enormous physical courage during this battle for one so young. He gave his life for his friends with his selfless commitment, moving forward in the face of a determined and ruthless enemy."
Yesterday his family paid tribute saying: “We are very proud of Robert. He died doing a job he loved and we will cherish fond memories of him forever.”
The recent deaths bring the number of service men and women who have lost their lives in Afghanistan up to 168.
Source:The times
North Korea threat to 'weaponize' plutonium
Defying UN sanctions, Foreign Ministry admits uranium enrichment programme and says it won't give up nuclear ambitions.
North Korea has vowed to weaponize all its plutonium and threatened military action against the United States and its allies after the UN Security Council approved new sanctions to punish the communist nation for its recent nuclear test.
Its Foreign Ministry also acknowledged for the first time the country's uranium enrichment programme - previously denied - and insisted it will never abandon its nuclear ambitions.
A defiant statement read: "The sanctions are yet another vile product of the U.S-led offensive of international pressure aimed at undermining ... disarming DPRK and suffocating its economy."
It added that it was impossible for North Korea to abandon its nuclear programs, which it called a self-defensive measure against hostile US policy and added any attempted blockade of any kind by the US and its followers will be regarded as an act of war and met with a decisive military response.
North Korea tested its first nuclear device in 2006 and a second one on May 25 in defiance of a UN ban, attracting the latest sanctions aiming to halt the communist nation's weapons exports and financial dealings. They also allow inspections of suspect cargo in ports and on the high seas.
North Korea is believed to have enough plutonium for at least half a dozen atomic bombs. The North also has about 8,000 spent fuel rods which, if reprocessed, could allow the country to harvest 13-18 pounds (6-8 kilograms) of plutonium — enough to make at least one nuclear bomb, experts say.
Source:The times
North Korea has vowed to weaponize all its plutonium and threatened military action against the United States and its allies after the UN Security Council approved new sanctions to punish the communist nation for its recent nuclear test.
Its Foreign Ministry also acknowledged for the first time the country's uranium enrichment programme - previously denied - and insisted it will never abandon its nuclear ambitions.
A defiant statement read: "The sanctions are yet another vile product of the U.S-led offensive of international pressure aimed at undermining ... disarming DPRK and suffocating its economy."
It added that it was impossible for North Korea to abandon its nuclear programs, which it called a self-defensive measure against hostile US policy and added any attempted blockade of any kind by the US and its followers will be regarded as an act of war and met with a decisive military response.
North Korea tested its first nuclear device in 2006 and a second one on May 25 in defiance of a UN ban, attracting the latest sanctions aiming to halt the communist nation's weapons exports and financial dealings. They also allow inspections of suspect cargo in ports and on the high seas.
North Korea is believed to have enough plutonium for at least half a dozen atomic bombs. The North also has about 8,000 spent fuel rods which, if reprocessed, could allow the country to harvest 13-18 pounds (6-8 kilograms) of plutonium — enough to make at least one nuclear bomb, experts say.
Source:The times
Brown at risk of another MP revolt
GORDON Brown will face another leadership challenge before the end of the year, Lord Mandelson has warned, believing the threat to Mr Brown will re-emerge at the party’s annual conference in September.
Lord Mandelson, who is effectively Deputy Prime Minister after being made First Secretary of State earlier this month, said some Labour MPs will never accept Mr Brown as party leader and will continue the fight to oust him.
"There's a small group who keep coming back... they wouldn't have voted for him in the first place," Mandelson told a national newspaper.
However, he said he would not “lose any sleep” over their plots.
His prediction comes just days after the Prime Minister successfully survived Labour’s disastrous showing in the local and European elections and the resignation of a raft of high-profile ministers prior to a recent Cabinet reshuffle.
On Monday Mr Brown was also forced to face the Parliamentary Labour Party in Westminster to shore up an increasingly tenuous position.
In the same interview Lord Mandelson suggested levity and humour were important qualities in a leader, in what could be taken as a veiled criticism of Mr Brown who has developed a reputation as a dour leader compared to his predecessor Tony Blair.
The Prime Minister’s chief political advisor said: “You don’t have to be too grey or serious the whole time. You can do your work and enjoy it at the same time and include people along the way.
“I believe in leadership and in being decisive…and introducing a bit of humour and jollity to your work,” he added.
The First Secretary of State’s warnings came as David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, admitted he came very close to joining his friend and ally, James Purnell, in handing in his resignation from the government on the night of the European elections.
In a revealing interview Mr Miliband told the Guardian: “I’d made my decision on Thursday. Sometimes you can make your decisions with great planning and calculation and sometimes you have to make them rather more quickly.
“I made my decision in good faith… we all have to live with our decisions.”
He also added the issue of Mr Brown’s leadership was in danger of splitting the party.
Mr Miliband said: "This divides people who are close and people feel passionately one way and people feel passionately the other way."
As the countdown to the latest point Labour can call the next General Election reaches 11 months Mr Miliband added Labour should be prepared for the fight of its life after only one in 20 people voted them in Wales, a former Labour heartland.
He claimed many voters no longer knew what Labour stood for.
Source:The times
Lord Mandelson, who is effectively Deputy Prime Minister after being made First Secretary of State earlier this month, said some Labour MPs will never accept Mr Brown as party leader and will continue the fight to oust him.
"There's a small group who keep coming back... they wouldn't have voted for him in the first place," Mandelson told a national newspaper.
However, he said he would not “lose any sleep” over their plots.
His prediction comes just days after the Prime Minister successfully survived Labour’s disastrous showing in the local and European elections and the resignation of a raft of high-profile ministers prior to a recent Cabinet reshuffle.
On Monday Mr Brown was also forced to face the Parliamentary Labour Party in Westminster to shore up an increasingly tenuous position.
In the same interview Lord Mandelson suggested levity and humour were important qualities in a leader, in what could be taken as a veiled criticism of Mr Brown who has developed a reputation as a dour leader compared to his predecessor Tony Blair.
The Prime Minister’s chief political advisor said: “You don’t have to be too grey or serious the whole time. You can do your work and enjoy it at the same time and include people along the way.
“I believe in leadership and in being decisive…and introducing a bit of humour and jollity to your work,” he added.
The First Secretary of State’s warnings came as David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, admitted he came very close to joining his friend and ally, James Purnell, in handing in his resignation from the government on the night of the European elections.
In a revealing interview Mr Miliband told the Guardian: “I’d made my decision on Thursday. Sometimes you can make your decisions with great planning and calculation and sometimes you have to make them rather more quickly.
“I made my decision in good faith… we all have to live with our decisions.”
He also added the issue of Mr Brown’s leadership was in danger of splitting the party.
Mr Miliband said: "This divides people who are close and people feel passionately one way and people feel passionately the other way."
As the countdown to the latest point Labour can call the next General Election reaches 11 months Mr Miliband added Labour should be prepared for the fight of its life after only one in 20 people voted them in Wales, a former Labour heartland.
He claimed many voters no longer knew what Labour stood for.
Source:The times
Vogue editor launches new war on size-zero fashion
The editor of Vogue has accused some of the world’s leading catwalk designers of pushing ever thinner models into fashion magazines despite widespread public concern over “size-zero” models and rising teenage anorexia.
Alexandra Shulman, one of the most important figures in the multi-billion-pound fashion industry, has taken on all the largest fashion houses in a strongly worded letter sent to scores of designers in Europe and America. In a letter not intended for publication but seen by The Times, Shulman accuses designers of making magazines hire models with “jutting bones and no breasts or hips” by supplying them with “minuscule” garments for their photoshoots. Vogue is now frequently “retouching” photographs to make models look larger, she said.
Her intervention was hailed last night as a turning point in the debate over model size that has raged after the deaths of three models from complications relating to malnutrition, and the decision of leading fashion shows to ban size-zero models.
Baroness Kingsmill, who headed the 2007 Model Health Inquiry on behalf of the British Fashion Council, said the stand taken by Shulman was “an encouraging sign” from one of the industry’s “leading lights.”
Britain’s leading eating disorder charity, says that 1.1 million people are affected by anorexia or bulimia.
Shulman claims that the clothes created by designers for catwalk shows and subsequently sent to magazines for use in their photoshoots have become “substantially smaller”.
The garments are typically sent to magazines six months before they appear in the shops and editors have no choice but to hire models that fit the clothes or fail to cover the latest collections from the leading designers.
“We have now reached the point where many of the sample sizes don’t comfortably fit even the established star models,” Shulman writes, in a letter sent to Karl Lagerfeld, John Galliano and fellow designers at Prada, Versace, Yves Saint Laurent, Balen- ciaga and other top fashion houses.The supermodel Erin O’Connor described the stand by the editor of Britain’s most prominent fashion magazine as “a huge breakthrough”.
“The fact that Alexandra Shulman with her enormous influence has opened this conversation means that it will have a huge impact,” she said. “It has . . . made it compulsorily relevant that we address this now.”
Source:The times
Alexandra Shulman, one of the most important figures in the multi-billion-pound fashion industry, has taken on all the largest fashion houses in a strongly worded letter sent to scores of designers in Europe and America. In a letter not intended for publication but seen by The Times, Shulman accuses designers of making magazines hire models with “jutting bones and no breasts or hips” by supplying them with “minuscule” garments for their photoshoots. Vogue is now frequently “retouching” photographs to make models look larger, she said.
Her intervention was hailed last night as a turning point in the debate over model size that has raged after the deaths of three models from complications relating to malnutrition, and the decision of leading fashion shows to ban size-zero models.
Baroness Kingsmill, who headed the 2007 Model Health Inquiry on behalf of the British Fashion Council, said the stand taken by Shulman was “an encouraging sign” from one of the industry’s “leading lights.”
Britain’s leading eating disorder charity, says that 1.1 million people are affected by anorexia or bulimia.
Shulman claims that the clothes created by designers for catwalk shows and subsequently sent to magazines for use in their photoshoots have become “substantially smaller”.
The garments are typically sent to magazines six months before they appear in the shops and editors have no choice but to hire models that fit the clothes or fail to cover the latest collections from the leading designers.
“We have now reached the point where many of the sample sizes don’t comfortably fit even the established star models,” Shulman writes, in a letter sent to Karl Lagerfeld, John Galliano and fellow designers at Prada, Versace, Yves Saint Laurent, Balen- ciaga and other top fashion houses.The supermodel Erin O’Connor described the stand by the editor of Britain’s most prominent fashion magazine as “a huge breakthrough”.
“The fact that Alexandra Shulman with her enormous influence has opened this conversation means that it will have a huge impact,” she said. “It has . . . made it compulsorily relevant that we address this now.”
Source:The times
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