Two of the remaining three British hostages in Iraq are believed to have died in captivity in a bitter twist to Britain’s longest-running kidnap crisis in two decades.
The families of security guards Alan McMenemy, from Glasgow, and Alec MacLachlan, from South Wales, were told last week that it was likely the men were dead, The Times learnt today.
Two other guards, kidnapped at the same time in May 2007, were shot dead and their bodies returned to Britain last month. It is not yet known how Mr McMenemy and Mr MacLachlan are likely to have died.
United in their grief, the families of the five men appealed once again to the kidnappers.
“We are all deeply upset and troubled to hear the reports that Alec and Alan have died in the hands of their captors, as well as Jason Swindlehurst and Jason Creswell,” they said.
“This is a terrible ordeal for us all. We ask those holding our men for compassion when so many are working hard for reconciliation in Iraq and we continue to pray for the safe return of our men.”
Release efforts will now focus on Peter Moore, the computer consultant whom the four men had been guarding. His condition is not known, though observers have speculated that the kidnappers may have kept him alive to use as a bargaining chip.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office declined to comment other than saying: “We continue to work intensively for the release of the hostages still held in this highly complex case and are extremely concerned for their safety.”
The likely death of two more of the men will increase pressure on the Government, which has been criticised heavily over its handling of the case — the longest-running kidnapping involving Britons since the Beirut hostage-takings in the 1980s.
Kim Howells, the former Foreign Office minister, has questioned publicly whether Britain was negotiating with the right people. He has also voiced frustration at how difficult it has been to get reliable information about the Baghdad Five.
About 40 gunmen in police uniform seized the group in daylight from a Finance Ministry building in Baghdad on May 29, 2007. They were taken to Sadr City, a sprawling Shia slum in east Baghdad, then the trail went cold.
The four security guards worked for GardaWorld, a Canadian security company, and Mr Moore was employed by Bearing Point, an American consultancy contracted to the US Agency for International Development, which provides services such as computer training to the fledgeling Iraqi Government.
Little is known about the gang, which calls itself Asaib al-Haq or the Band of the Righteous. It is believed to have links with Iran, though Tehran denies involvement in any militant activity in Iraq.
The kidnappers have repeatedly demanded the release of ten militants from US detention. Hopes for the hostages rose in June when Laith al-Khazali, one of the detainees with links to the group, was freed from Camp Cropper, a US detention centre next to Baghdad airport.
Days later, the bodies of Jason Swindlehurst, 38, from Skelmersdale, Lancashire, and Jason Creswell, 39, from Glasgow, were handed over to the British Embassy in Baghdad in what was widely perceived as a gesture of goodwill. The two men had been dead for a long time.
It remains to be seen when the bodies of the other two guards will be recovered. Much hinges on ongoing negotiations between elements of the kidnap group who are looking to be included in Iraq’s political process and also the fate of the remaining nine detainees, in particular Qais al-Khazali, the brother of Laith.
The US has promised to hand all detainees in its detention facilities to the Iraqi authorities for release or prosecution by the end of 2011 as part of a wider security agreement.
Commanders say that they hope to complete the process by early next year. Qais al-Khazali’s release, however, will be difficult for the US military because he is accused of being involved in an attack that killed five American soldiers in early 2007.
Source:The times
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Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Local council found liable over birth defects
A group of young people who blame their disabilities on their mothers’ exposure to toxic materials can seek compensation from the local council after winning a crucial legal ruling today.
They claim the birth defects they suffered were caused by exposure in the womb to an “atmospheric soup of toxic materials” when Corby steel works in Northamptonshire was redeveloped.
Today Corby Borough Council, which was responsible for the reclamation of a former steelworks, was found liable at London’s High Court.
The action is thought to be the first of its kind since the thalidomide scandal in the Sixties.
One of the children affected was Dylan South, 13, who endured medical treatment every day for the first five years of his life.
He was born with a deformed right foot and still suffers severe pain when he goes through growth spurts.
“I can’t do some things that other kids are doing, I can’t run,” he said.
Dylan was in court today to hear the judge’s ruling and said afterwards: “I am very happy.”
The group, mostly teenagers, all have serious disabilities; some have missing or underdeveloped fingers and three have deformities on their feet. Others have heart defects, eye problems and skin conditions.
They had accused Corby of negligence while carrying out the work between 1985 and 1999. The council denies the allegation that there was a link between the deformities and the removal of waste to a quarry north of the site.
One of the mothers, Mandy Wright, said the “best thing” now would be for the council to apologise to the children. “That’s all I want - a sorry to the children,” she said.
The families' solicitor Des Collins said: “The first thing I would like to say is how terribly sorry we are that the council put the families through 10 years of anguish in the way they did. It was totally, totally unnecessary.
“What is even more appalling now is I hear from the council that they, even now, refuse to accept the inevitability of the position they are in.
“They got it wrong. They should simply put their hands up now and admit it. We will have to fight on, but we are quite determined to do that.”
Today Mr Justice Akenhead said that the council was liable, paving the way for the youngsters, aged between nine and 21, to seek compensation if they can show a direct causal link in the case of the defects they have individually suffered.
The judge said: “I do not consider that there was a ’systemic’ breakdown as such within [the council] - what happened was that it bit off more than it could chew and did not really appreciate the enormity, ramifications and difficulty of what it was setting out to achieve in terms of removing and depositing very substantial quantities of contaminated material.”
The judge said that his ruling on liability did not cover the two youngest claimants.
The question of causation - whether specific defects were caused by the toxic materials - will be decided at a later date. At a hearing in February this year, David Wilby, QC, representing the claimants, said that the disabilities were caused when their mothers ingested or inhaled toxic substances from the "gargantuan" redevelopment works.
He added that one expert, in trying to convey the appearance of the minute particles hanging over the town at that time, had described it as an "atmospheric soup of toxic materials".
Mr Wilby said that from the council's perspective, it believed it was acting in the interests of the population of Corby by replacing a redundant industry with what it perceived to be new ventures.
He told the court: "I hope it's not too unkind to suggest that, if one reads the papers, particularly the minutes of various council meetings, their motive - to a very considerable degree - was money. They looked to the Government and to the redevelopment organisations for the funds to redevelop the sites. They used that money to pay local contractors and the reality was that many of the contracts were awarded to friends or former work colleagues of members of the council."
He said that when the council began its work, hazardous materials were moved from the site to other parts of Corby, involving "vast numbers of vehicle movements". Mr Wilby compared travelling behind such a vehicle to driving behind a gritter, except that if you were in the car behind and inhaled the minute particles, you would not know it had happened.
Mr Wilby said that legally the landmark ruling was “extremely important”. He said: “It is the first time in the world that it has been established that airborne pollution can cause birth defects of this type.”
All other cases, such as that of Erin Brockovich, involved water pollution.
Mothers of the children and young people lived or regularly visited Corby between 1984 and 1999, when the council undertook demolition, excavation and redevelopment of one of the largest sites in Western Europe, covering 680 acres. It had four blast furnaces and two coke oven complexes. Over the 50 years of its operation a huge quantity of industrial waste was deposited there.
The steel works, Corby's main employer, closed after 60 years in 1980 with the loss of 10,000 jobs. Over the next 17 years, the buildings were demolished and the site reclaimed in parcels of land, which involved the removal of waste, steel dust and slag to a quarry north of the site.
Chris Mallender, chief executive of the council, said: "For the past five years we have thoroughly investigated every aspect of the claims they are making and we know that there is no link between the reclamation work that was carried out in Corby, over a period of 20 years, and these children's birth defects."
He added that epidemiological data would show that there was no cluster of cases and that the numbers of children with such deformities was "normal" for the population.
In his lengthy judgment - which ran to 919 paragraphs - the judge said there was a “statistically significant” cluster of birth defects between 1989 and 1999.
Council leader Pat Fawcett also spoke after the hearing, saying: “There were mistakes at that time and we can understand why mistakes were made.
“British Steel closed and there were God knows how many unemployed in Corby and it was trying to get industry into the town and things were done quickly - maybe more quickly than they should have been done.
“But I think people were acting in the best interests of the town at the time.”
Source:The times
They claim the birth defects they suffered were caused by exposure in the womb to an “atmospheric soup of toxic materials” when Corby steel works in Northamptonshire was redeveloped.
Today Corby Borough Council, which was responsible for the reclamation of a former steelworks, was found liable at London’s High Court.
The action is thought to be the first of its kind since the thalidomide scandal in the Sixties.
One of the children affected was Dylan South, 13, who endured medical treatment every day for the first five years of his life.
He was born with a deformed right foot and still suffers severe pain when he goes through growth spurts.
“I can’t do some things that other kids are doing, I can’t run,” he said.
Dylan was in court today to hear the judge’s ruling and said afterwards: “I am very happy.”
The group, mostly teenagers, all have serious disabilities; some have missing or underdeveloped fingers and three have deformities on their feet. Others have heart defects, eye problems and skin conditions.
They had accused Corby of negligence while carrying out the work between 1985 and 1999. The council denies the allegation that there was a link between the deformities and the removal of waste to a quarry north of the site.
One of the mothers, Mandy Wright, said the “best thing” now would be for the council to apologise to the children. “That’s all I want - a sorry to the children,” she said.
The families' solicitor Des Collins said: “The first thing I would like to say is how terribly sorry we are that the council put the families through 10 years of anguish in the way they did. It was totally, totally unnecessary.
“What is even more appalling now is I hear from the council that they, even now, refuse to accept the inevitability of the position they are in.
“They got it wrong. They should simply put their hands up now and admit it. We will have to fight on, but we are quite determined to do that.”
Today Mr Justice Akenhead said that the council was liable, paving the way for the youngsters, aged between nine and 21, to seek compensation if they can show a direct causal link in the case of the defects they have individually suffered.
The judge said: “I do not consider that there was a ’systemic’ breakdown as such within [the council] - what happened was that it bit off more than it could chew and did not really appreciate the enormity, ramifications and difficulty of what it was setting out to achieve in terms of removing and depositing very substantial quantities of contaminated material.”
The judge said that his ruling on liability did not cover the two youngest claimants.
The question of causation - whether specific defects were caused by the toxic materials - will be decided at a later date. At a hearing in February this year, David Wilby, QC, representing the claimants, said that the disabilities were caused when their mothers ingested or inhaled toxic substances from the "gargantuan" redevelopment works.
He added that one expert, in trying to convey the appearance of the minute particles hanging over the town at that time, had described it as an "atmospheric soup of toxic materials".
Mr Wilby said that from the council's perspective, it believed it was acting in the interests of the population of Corby by replacing a redundant industry with what it perceived to be new ventures.
He told the court: "I hope it's not too unkind to suggest that, if one reads the papers, particularly the minutes of various council meetings, their motive - to a very considerable degree - was money. They looked to the Government and to the redevelopment organisations for the funds to redevelop the sites. They used that money to pay local contractors and the reality was that many of the contracts were awarded to friends or former work colleagues of members of the council."
He said that when the council began its work, hazardous materials were moved from the site to other parts of Corby, involving "vast numbers of vehicle movements". Mr Wilby compared travelling behind such a vehicle to driving behind a gritter, except that if you were in the car behind and inhaled the minute particles, you would not know it had happened.
Mr Wilby said that legally the landmark ruling was “extremely important”. He said: “It is the first time in the world that it has been established that airborne pollution can cause birth defects of this type.”
All other cases, such as that of Erin Brockovich, involved water pollution.
Mothers of the children and young people lived or regularly visited Corby between 1984 and 1999, when the council undertook demolition, excavation and redevelopment of one of the largest sites in Western Europe, covering 680 acres. It had four blast furnaces and two coke oven complexes. Over the 50 years of its operation a huge quantity of industrial waste was deposited there.
The steel works, Corby's main employer, closed after 60 years in 1980 with the loss of 10,000 jobs. Over the next 17 years, the buildings were demolished and the site reclaimed in parcels of land, which involved the removal of waste, steel dust and slag to a quarry north of the site.
Chris Mallender, chief executive of the council, said: "For the past five years we have thoroughly investigated every aspect of the claims they are making and we know that there is no link between the reclamation work that was carried out in Corby, over a period of 20 years, and these children's birth defects."
He added that epidemiological data would show that there was no cluster of cases and that the numbers of children with such deformities was "normal" for the population.
In his lengthy judgment - which ran to 919 paragraphs - the judge said there was a “statistically significant” cluster of birth defects between 1989 and 1999.
Council leader Pat Fawcett also spoke after the hearing, saying: “There were mistakes at that time and we can understand why mistakes were made.
“British Steel closed and there were God knows how many unemployed in Corby and it was trying to get industry into the town and things were done quickly - maybe more quickly than they should have been done.
“But I think people were acting in the best interests of the town at the time.”
Source:The times
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Sex tapes force sober summer on Berlusconi
After fresh revelations about his private life, Italy’s leader Silvio Berlusconi is taking action to restore his dignity.
AS Silvio Berlusconi ate breakfast with a prostitute in his bedroom after a wakeful night last November, she complimented him on his sexual stamina.
A younger man would not have lasted so long, purred Patrizia D’Addario, because “young people are under a hell of a lot of pressure”.
The alleged postcoital conversation of Italy’s 72-year-old prime minister was captured on tape by D’Addario, 42, and a partial transcript was published in L’Espresso magazine last week.
Barack Obama had been confirmed as the victor of America’s presidential election. But at Berlusconi’s Rome residence the prime minister seemed preoccupied with advising his guest to “touch yourself often” and saying premature ejaculation runs in families.
After another week of excruciating disclosures about the billionaire Berlusconi’s peccadillos and predilections between the sheets – and with the promise of more embarrassments to follow from further tapes – it was hardly surprising that his aides were anxious to restore some of his shredded dignity.
With his popularity slipping below 50% for the first time, they let it be known that he wants to put the scandal behind him and is planning a “sober summer”.
Berlusconi will stay away from his estate in Sardinia, which he has considered selling after paparazzi caught him in the company of beautiful young women on previous holidays. Instead, he will prepare the way for a comeback after the summer break by supervising construction projects in L’Aquila, in central Italy, which was badly damaged by an earthquake in April. Berlusconi hosted the G8 summit there earlier this month.
In an attempt to woo the Catholic church, several of whose cardinals have lambasted him for setting a poor moral example, Berlusconi also intends to visit the shrine of Padre Pio, a hugely popular saint, in southern Italy.
It will make a stark contrast with the exchanges recorded at the Palazzo Grazioli, Berlusconi’s home in the capital.
Two other transcripts leaked last week had him telling D’Addario to wait for him in “Putin’s bed” and wanting her to have sex with another female friend of his.
Gianpaolo Tarantini, 34, a businessman from Bari in southern Italy who has been accused of abetting prostitution by paying women to attend Berlusconi’s parties, was quoted as briefing D’Addario before she met the prime minister in October.
“He doesn’t use condoms, you decide,” the transcript said. “But he won’t take you as an escort, you understand? He takes you as a friend of mine.” He added that, if all went well, Berlusconi would “settle up” in some way.
That first evening Berlusconi gave D’Addario a running commentary as he showed a film of his Villa Certosa estate on Sardinia’s Emerald Coast. He boasted about its various delights, including “the prime minister’s ice-cream shop”.
“It also makes sorbets. Look, how wonderful, this is where they make ice-cream!” he said. He then mentioned a lake whose swans he had removed during the summer, “because we want the water to be clean so we can swim there”.
Other treasures include a fossilised whale, meteorites (which he may have confused with megaliths) and a pizzeria.
D’Addario decided not to stay that first night and said Tarantini paid her £850 for attending the dinner.
The prostitute has given prosecutors investigating Tarantini audio tapes from that evening and from the night of November 4-5 which she says she spent with Berlusconi. She also filmed the bedroom with her mobile phone.
The prime minister, who has dismissed her account as “trash and lies”, tried to laugh it off last week with a joke: “It’s true: I’m not a saint.”
Apart from the blow to his personal reputation, the political impact of the affair is taking its toll.
Dario Franceschini, leader of the centre-left Democratic party, the biggest opposition group, claimed Berlusconi could fall this autumn, weakened by declining popularity, coalition tensions and the government’s failure to deal with the economic downturn.
“He’s imprisoned himself in a reality show that he created,” Franceschini said.
Few commentators believe the prime minister’s position is in any immediate danger. But critics have accused him of hypocrisy in consorting with D’Addario while drafting morality legislation and a bill that would throw prostitutes’ clients into jail.
One poll last week showed Berlusconi’s approval rating falling to 49%, for the first time, against 53% in May. Berlusconi, who commissions his own polls, claimed his rating had risen to 68%.
Over the weeks ahead he is expected to project a “can-do” image from L’Aquila. He is anxious to fulfil a promise that thousands of local people made homeless by the earthquake would be out of their campsites and into new housing by the autumn.
As for his pilgrimage to Padre Pio’s shrine, Berlusconi is likely to face further embarrassment regardless of his prayers. An informed source said the audio tapes made by D’Addario last for four hours. So far only about a quarter has been leaked.
Source:The times
AS Silvio Berlusconi ate breakfast with a prostitute in his bedroom after a wakeful night last November, she complimented him on his sexual stamina.
A younger man would not have lasted so long, purred Patrizia D’Addario, because “young people are under a hell of a lot of pressure”.
The alleged postcoital conversation of Italy’s 72-year-old prime minister was captured on tape by D’Addario, 42, and a partial transcript was published in L’Espresso magazine last week.
Barack Obama had been confirmed as the victor of America’s presidential election. But at Berlusconi’s Rome residence the prime minister seemed preoccupied with advising his guest to “touch yourself often” and saying premature ejaculation runs in families.
After another week of excruciating disclosures about the billionaire Berlusconi’s peccadillos and predilections between the sheets – and with the promise of more embarrassments to follow from further tapes – it was hardly surprising that his aides were anxious to restore some of his shredded dignity.
With his popularity slipping below 50% for the first time, they let it be known that he wants to put the scandal behind him and is planning a “sober summer”.
Berlusconi will stay away from his estate in Sardinia, which he has considered selling after paparazzi caught him in the company of beautiful young women on previous holidays. Instead, he will prepare the way for a comeback after the summer break by supervising construction projects in L’Aquila, in central Italy, which was badly damaged by an earthquake in April. Berlusconi hosted the G8 summit there earlier this month.
In an attempt to woo the Catholic church, several of whose cardinals have lambasted him for setting a poor moral example, Berlusconi also intends to visit the shrine of Padre Pio, a hugely popular saint, in southern Italy.
It will make a stark contrast with the exchanges recorded at the Palazzo Grazioli, Berlusconi’s home in the capital.
Two other transcripts leaked last week had him telling D’Addario to wait for him in “Putin’s bed” and wanting her to have sex with another female friend of his.
Gianpaolo Tarantini, 34, a businessman from Bari in southern Italy who has been accused of abetting prostitution by paying women to attend Berlusconi’s parties, was quoted as briefing D’Addario before she met the prime minister in October.
“He doesn’t use condoms, you decide,” the transcript said. “But he won’t take you as an escort, you understand? He takes you as a friend of mine.” He added that, if all went well, Berlusconi would “settle up” in some way.
That first evening Berlusconi gave D’Addario a running commentary as he showed a film of his Villa Certosa estate on Sardinia’s Emerald Coast. He boasted about its various delights, including “the prime minister’s ice-cream shop”.
“It also makes sorbets. Look, how wonderful, this is where they make ice-cream!” he said. He then mentioned a lake whose swans he had removed during the summer, “because we want the water to be clean so we can swim there”.
Other treasures include a fossilised whale, meteorites (which he may have confused with megaliths) and a pizzeria.
D’Addario decided not to stay that first night and said Tarantini paid her £850 for attending the dinner.
The prostitute has given prosecutors investigating Tarantini audio tapes from that evening and from the night of November 4-5 which she says she spent with Berlusconi. She also filmed the bedroom with her mobile phone.
The prime minister, who has dismissed her account as “trash and lies”, tried to laugh it off last week with a joke: “It’s true: I’m not a saint.”
Apart from the blow to his personal reputation, the political impact of the affair is taking its toll.
Dario Franceschini, leader of the centre-left Democratic party, the biggest opposition group, claimed Berlusconi could fall this autumn, weakened by declining popularity, coalition tensions and the government’s failure to deal with the economic downturn.
“He’s imprisoned himself in a reality show that he created,” Franceschini said.
Few commentators believe the prime minister’s position is in any immediate danger. But critics have accused him of hypocrisy in consorting with D’Addario while drafting morality legislation and a bill that would throw prostitutes’ clients into jail.
One poll last week showed Berlusconi’s approval rating falling to 49%, for the first time, against 53% in May. Berlusconi, who commissions his own polls, claimed his rating had risen to 68%.
Over the weeks ahead he is expected to project a “can-do” image from L’Aquila. He is anxious to fulfil a promise that thousands of local people made homeless by the earthquake would be out of their campsites and into new housing by the autumn.
As for his pilgrimage to Padre Pio’s shrine, Berlusconi is likely to face further embarrassment regardless of his prayers. An informed source said the audio tapes made by D’Addario last for four hours. So far only about a quarter has been leaked.
Source:The times
Israel’s defiance threatens US peace drive
BARACK OBAMA’S aggressive approach to Middle East diplomacy faces a key test in Israel this week amid mounting resentment in Jerusalem over US policies towards Iran and the Arab world.
After months of conciliatory gestures towards Israel’s neighbours – culminating in his visit to Cairo last month – Obama is dispatching advisers to Jerusalem to press for a breakthrough in the long-stalled Middle East peace process.
Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, and General Jim Jones, Obama’s national security adviser, will address concerns about Iran’s nuclear programme while the former senator George Mitchell, the US president’s Middle East envoy, is already pressing for a freeze on construction of Jewish settlements in the Palestinian-dominated West Bank.
Both issues have provoked angry Israeli complaints that America is reneging on agreements. Last week officials on both sides engaged in an exchange of public irritation as Israel’s concerns about a nuclear Iran clashed with Washington’s need for demonstrable progress on a peace plan.
After months of speculation that Israel is ready to attack Iranian nuclear facilities, a Pentagon official said any such move would have “profoundly destabilising consequences”.
The official told The Jerusalem Post: “It wouldn’t just affect the general level of stability in the region . . . it would affect our interests and the safety of our forces in Afghanistan and Iraq and elsewhere.”
A source close to Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, retorted: “Our relations with Washington are sacred, but at the end of the day it is Netanyahu’s responsibility for the lives of 5m Jews in Israel, not Obama’s.”
A hint of a compromise on the nuclear issue emerged last week when Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, talked of a possible US “defence umbrella” that would shield Israel from an Iranian strike in return for guarantees that Israel would not launch its own attack, a move that would demolish Obama’s strategy of reaching out to the Arab world and Iran.
Yesterday, the leader of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Tehran would strike Israel’s nuclear facilities if attacked.
Gates is expected to expand this week on US proposals for military cooperation, but Israeli officials were quick to denounce Clinton’s statement as defeatist. “It sounds as if they’ve already accepted [a nuclear Iran],” said Dan Meridor, the intelligence minister.
The military issues may prove a cakewalk compared to the potentially explosive argument over Jewish settlements. Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, has warned that if settlement building continues, “Arabs and Palestinians will believe the administration is incapable of swaying Israel”.
Last week the United States warned Israel not to proceed with a residential project in a Palestinian area of East Jerusalem, provoking another sharp response from Netanyahu. “Jews have the right to build all over Jerusalem,” he replied.
A US State Department spokesman dismissed as “premature” reports that Washington had threatened economic penalties if Israel failed to freeze settlements. Yet observers noted that Obama’s credibility with the Arab world depended on his ability to secure early Israeli concessions.
Mitchell was reported to be working on a deal to freeze settlements for three to six months. “Israel never expected to have such pressure put on it publicly,” said Stephen Cohen of the Institute for Middle East Peace and Development.
The problem for Obama is that any sign of Israeli weakness could prove costly for Netanyahu, whose aides described the US hard line as “childish”, “stupid” and “delusional”.
Obama recently described negotiations with Israel as “a kabuki dance going on constantly”. Like many US presidents before him, he may be about to discover that working on Middle East peace plans often means one step forward, followed by two steps back.
Source:The times
After months of conciliatory gestures towards Israel’s neighbours – culminating in his visit to Cairo last month – Obama is dispatching advisers to Jerusalem to press for a breakthrough in the long-stalled Middle East peace process.
Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, and General Jim Jones, Obama’s national security adviser, will address concerns about Iran’s nuclear programme while the former senator George Mitchell, the US president’s Middle East envoy, is already pressing for a freeze on construction of Jewish settlements in the Palestinian-dominated West Bank.
Both issues have provoked angry Israeli complaints that America is reneging on agreements. Last week officials on both sides engaged in an exchange of public irritation as Israel’s concerns about a nuclear Iran clashed with Washington’s need for demonstrable progress on a peace plan.
After months of speculation that Israel is ready to attack Iranian nuclear facilities, a Pentagon official said any such move would have “profoundly destabilising consequences”.
The official told The Jerusalem Post: “It wouldn’t just affect the general level of stability in the region . . . it would affect our interests and the safety of our forces in Afghanistan and Iraq and elsewhere.”
A source close to Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, retorted: “Our relations with Washington are sacred, but at the end of the day it is Netanyahu’s responsibility for the lives of 5m Jews in Israel, not Obama’s.”
A hint of a compromise on the nuclear issue emerged last week when Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, talked of a possible US “defence umbrella” that would shield Israel from an Iranian strike in return for guarantees that Israel would not launch its own attack, a move that would demolish Obama’s strategy of reaching out to the Arab world and Iran.
Yesterday, the leader of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Tehran would strike Israel’s nuclear facilities if attacked.
Gates is expected to expand this week on US proposals for military cooperation, but Israeli officials were quick to denounce Clinton’s statement as defeatist. “It sounds as if they’ve already accepted [a nuclear Iran],” said Dan Meridor, the intelligence minister.
The military issues may prove a cakewalk compared to the potentially explosive argument over Jewish settlements. Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, has warned that if settlement building continues, “Arabs and Palestinians will believe the administration is incapable of swaying Israel”.
Last week the United States warned Israel not to proceed with a residential project in a Palestinian area of East Jerusalem, provoking another sharp response from Netanyahu. “Jews have the right to build all over Jerusalem,” he replied.
A US State Department spokesman dismissed as “premature” reports that Washington had threatened economic penalties if Israel failed to freeze settlements. Yet observers noted that Obama’s credibility with the Arab world depended on his ability to secure early Israeli concessions.
Mitchell was reported to be working on a deal to freeze settlements for three to six months. “Israel never expected to have such pressure put on it publicly,” said Stephen Cohen of the Institute for Middle East Peace and Development.
The problem for Obama is that any sign of Israeli weakness could prove costly for Netanyahu, whose aides described the US hard line as “childish”, “stupid” and “delusional”.
Obama recently described negotiations with Israel as “a kabuki dance going on constantly”. Like many US presidents before him, he may be about to discover that working on Middle East peace plans often means one step forward, followed by two steps back.
Source:The times
Millionaire Lord Bhatia claimed £20,000 on small flat
A MILLIONAIRE peer has claimed more than £20,000 in allowances from the House of Lords by saying that a small rented flat occupied by his brother is his main home. Last week he could not even remember its address.
Lord Bhatia, a businessman and philanthropist, has lived with his wife in a £1.5m home in southwest London for 20 years. Almost two years ago he decided to “flip” the designation of his primary residence to a two-bedroom flat in Reigate, Surrey, which has been his brother’s home for three years. The town is a mile beyond the M25 motorway, a boundary used by peers to define whether they live outside London for expenses purposes.
By saying the Reigate flat was his main home, Bhatia was able to claim lucrative “overnight” allowances from the Lords. Peers whose main home is outside the capital are able to collect £174 a night as reimbursement for the cost of a hotel or maintaining a second home while attending parliament.
Bhatia could not remember the address of the flat when repeatedly asked last week. He had to look it up and even then misspelt the name of the block. A neighbour could not recall him living there, but Bhatia insisted he had spent many weekends at the flat and said he intended to move there with his wife when he sells his family home.
Angus Robertson, the SNP leader at Westminster, said he would be writing to the police and the Lords asking for an investigation into Bhatia’s claims. “These reports warrant full investigation by the House of Lords authorities and the police. This seems to be a misuse of parliamentary money to fund private or family arrangements,” he said.
In recent months The Sunday Times has highlighted the need for an overhaul of the Lords’ expenses system. Unlike the Commons no new legislation is being introduced to change Lords’ allowances, despite a series of scandals.
The police are already investigating the overnight allowance claims made by Baroness Uddin and Lord Clarke of Hampstead following inquiries by this newspaper. Uddin faces fresh questions about her travel expenses as it emerged that she claimed for 89 round trips to a flat at which her neighbours had never seen her.
Bhatia is a 77-year-old Labour party donor who sits as a crossbencher. He is a successful businessman who has been prominent in several charities. After being made a peer by Tony Blair in 2001, he went on to lead the Edutrust Academies Charitable Trust which was formed to open and run city academies. He quit the board of the trust after a government inquiry found evidence of financial and governance mismanagement at the charity.
The Sunday Times began looking into his allowance claims after examining his record in the Lords. Although his attendance record is high, he has taken part in only 15% of votes since becoming a peer and has not spoken in the House for four years. Some peers are known to “clock in” frequently, securing a daily attendance allowance without staying to do any work.
Bhatia lives in a family home in Hampton, southwest London, estimated to be worth £1.5m. It is flanked by long lawns that lead to a second house he used to own, now the home of his daughter. It is 15 miles from Westminster.
In March 2006, Casley Finance, a company owned by Bhatia, began renting a two-bedroom flat in a modest 1970s apartment block in Reigate, 23 miles from Westminster.
His brother, Sultan, who is company secretary of Casley Finance, moved into the flat at around the same time. Sultan, who works for a charity, had left his family home after a marriage break-up. Casley Finance continued to pay the rent, service charges and utility bills.
In October 2007, Bhatia informed the Lords authorities that he had changed his main address from “London to Surrey”. In the next six months he claimed £12,247 in overnight allowances. Although the figures have not yet been published, he was entitled to claim at least as much again before he changed his main address back to London in January this year.
Last week Bhatia said he rented the Reigate flat because his Hampton home was too big and he and his wife wanted to downsize to a smaller property. He said his allowance claims were justified even though he continued to live in Hampton. He said he spent 40%-50% of his weekends while the Lords was sitting sharing the flat with his brother, although his wife occasionally came with him.
There was little evidence that the flat was where he normally lived. He has always given Hampton as his main address to Companies House and the electoral register.
Bhatia admitted he stayed in Hampton during last year’s recess but said he went to Reigate when he “needed to go there”. He said he did not need to stay at the flat during recess because these were not periods when he could claim expenses.
“During the parliamentary period when you’re sitting . . . you claim the night allowance. Outside the parliamentary period, during recess . . . it’s entirely up to me to decide to stay in either of the two houses.”
On Thursday Sultan told a reporter he “looked after” the flat for his brother who stayed at the property “from time to time”. The flat’s only next-door neighbour said of Sultan: “He has lived there for about two or three years. He lives alone and rents the place.”
Bhatia said he redesignated his main address back to Hampton earlier this year because he became ill and could no longer get to Reigate at weekends. He said he had acted within the rules, as he believed the flat had been his main home.
“I rent it and I intend to move there,” he said.
“I’m negotiating with the owner to sell the flat so we could then move there and dispose of this house, because I need to sell this house and move out to a smaller place.”
Source:The times
Lord Bhatia, a businessman and philanthropist, has lived with his wife in a £1.5m home in southwest London for 20 years. Almost two years ago he decided to “flip” the designation of his primary residence to a two-bedroom flat in Reigate, Surrey, which has been his brother’s home for three years. The town is a mile beyond the M25 motorway, a boundary used by peers to define whether they live outside London for expenses purposes.
By saying the Reigate flat was his main home, Bhatia was able to claim lucrative “overnight” allowances from the Lords. Peers whose main home is outside the capital are able to collect £174 a night as reimbursement for the cost of a hotel or maintaining a second home while attending parliament.
Bhatia could not remember the address of the flat when repeatedly asked last week. He had to look it up and even then misspelt the name of the block. A neighbour could not recall him living there, but Bhatia insisted he had spent many weekends at the flat and said he intended to move there with his wife when he sells his family home.
Angus Robertson, the SNP leader at Westminster, said he would be writing to the police and the Lords asking for an investigation into Bhatia’s claims. “These reports warrant full investigation by the House of Lords authorities and the police. This seems to be a misuse of parliamentary money to fund private or family arrangements,” he said.
In recent months The Sunday Times has highlighted the need for an overhaul of the Lords’ expenses system. Unlike the Commons no new legislation is being introduced to change Lords’ allowances, despite a series of scandals.
The police are already investigating the overnight allowance claims made by Baroness Uddin and Lord Clarke of Hampstead following inquiries by this newspaper. Uddin faces fresh questions about her travel expenses as it emerged that she claimed for 89 round trips to a flat at which her neighbours had never seen her.
Bhatia is a 77-year-old Labour party donor who sits as a crossbencher. He is a successful businessman who has been prominent in several charities. After being made a peer by Tony Blair in 2001, he went on to lead the Edutrust Academies Charitable Trust which was formed to open and run city academies. He quit the board of the trust after a government inquiry found evidence of financial and governance mismanagement at the charity.
The Sunday Times began looking into his allowance claims after examining his record in the Lords. Although his attendance record is high, he has taken part in only 15% of votes since becoming a peer and has not spoken in the House for four years. Some peers are known to “clock in” frequently, securing a daily attendance allowance without staying to do any work.
Bhatia lives in a family home in Hampton, southwest London, estimated to be worth £1.5m. It is flanked by long lawns that lead to a second house he used to own, now the home of his daughter. It is 15 miles from Westminster.
In March 2006, Casley Finance, a company owned by Bhatia, began renting a two-bedroom flat in a modest 1970s apartment block in Reigate, 23 miles from Westminster.
His brother, Sultan, who is company secretary of Casley Finance, moved into the flat at around the same time. Sultan, who works for a charity, had left his family home after a marriage break-up. Casley Finance continued to pay the rent, service charges and utility bills.
In October 2007, Bhatia informed the Lords authorities that he had changed his main address from “London to Surrey”. In the next six months he claimed £12,247 in overnight allowances. Although the figures have not yet been published, he was entitled to claim at least as much again before he changed his main address back to London in January this year.
Last week Bhatia said he rented the Reigate flat because his Hampton home was too big and he and his wife wanted to downsize to a smaller property. He said his allowance claims were justified even though he continued to live in Hampton. He said he spent 40%-50% of his weekends while the Lords was sitting sharing the flat with his brother, although his wife occasionally came with him.
There was little evidence that the flat was where he normally lived. He has always given Hampton as his main address to Companies House and the electoral register.
Bhatia admitted he stayed in Hampton during last year’s recess but said he went to Reigate when he “needed to go there”. He said he did not need to stay at the flat during recess because these were not periods when he could claim expenses.
“During the parliamentary period when you’re sitting . . . you claim the night allowance. Outside the parliamentary period, during recess . . . it’s entirely up to me to decide to stay in either of the two houses.”
On Thursday Sultan told a reporter he “looked after” the flat for his brother who stayed at the property “from time to time”. The flat’s only next-door neighbour said of Sultan: “He has lived there for about two or three years. He lives alone and rents the place.”
Bhatia said he redesignated his main address back to Hampton earlier this year because he became ill and could no longer get to Reigate at weekends. He said he had acted within the rules, as he believed the flat had been his main home.
“I rent it and I intend to move there,” he said.
“I’m negotiating with the owner to sell the flat so we could then move there and dispose of this house, because I need to sell this house and move out to a smaller place.”
Source:The times
Afghan suicide attack increases pressure on Pakistan
TALIBAN militants struck at government buildings in the city of Khost in southeastern Afghanistan yesterday with suicide bombs, AK-47 rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, wounding 14 people, including two police officers, and provoking fears of a bloody election campaign.
At least three suicide bombers blew themselves up during the onslaught, which began in the early afternoon near a US military base. General Mohammad Zahir Azimi, a defence ministry spokesman, said later that Afghan forces had surrounded the attackers.
The raid came as the United States asked Pakistan for help in ensuring a peaceful election campaign. Islamabad has been asked to send troops to key points along its border with Helmand to stop Taliban militia crossing back and forth.
For the past two weeks, 4,500 US marines have been engaged in Operation Khanjar (Strike of the Sword), their largest offensive yet. They have grabbed a swathe of territory in southern Helmand.
Although July has been the deadliest month for foreign troops in the eight-year war, with 66 killed, including 20 British men, military officials say the operation has so far faced less resistance than expected.
But this is because the Taliban faded away and officials are well aware that the militants can be eliminated only if Pakistan stops allowing them sanctuary. Border controls led to surprisingly peaceful polls in 2004 and 2005.
The request to Pakistan was made during a visit to Islamabad last week by General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan, and General Karl Eikenberry, the US ambassador to Kabul. It was reinforced by President Barack Obama’s special envoy Richard Holbrooke, who is visiting the region.
Nato commanders and the Afghan government have long complained about the sanctuary the Taliban enjoy in Pakistan where they send their wounded, train and recruit fighters and raise funds. Mullah Mohammed Omar, the one-eyed Taliban leader, and his senior associates operate from Quetta, and journalists often receive calls from Taliban spokesmen in Peshawar.
But Pakistan’s military has recently taken a tough new stance after Taliban forces launched a spate of suicide attacks and took over the Swat valley, a former tourist area 70 miles from the capital. “We suddenly realised we could be left an army without a country,” said one general.
However, with Swat almost cleared after three months of fighting and Pakistani troops moving into the border areas of Waziristan to pursue Baitullah Mehsud, leader of the Pakistani Taliban, there is concern that Islamabad seems to have no interest in taking on militant groups that are using its territory to attack western forces over the border.
A senior US official said: “We still don’t see any evidence that Islamabad has politically or militarily made a decision to go after the Afghan Taliban.
“As far as we’re concerned, they will only turn the corner when they tell the Quettashura [tribal council], ‘You have a choice – go back home and either negotiate or fight, but you’re not welcome here’.”
McChrystal said last week: “What I would love is for the government of Pakistan to have the ability to eliminate the safe havens that the Afghan Taliban enjoy.”
Briefings by senior Pakistani military indicate that they still divide Taliban into good and bad. “They cause no trouble to us,” replied one general when asked about Mullah Omar and Jalaluddin Haqqani, the Waziristan warlord closest to Al-Qaeda.
“What we have to consider is what happens when the foreign troops leave Afghanistan,” said another. “If the Taliban then take over, we don’t want to be on the wrong side.”
Pakistan has objected that American operations in southern Afghanistan are forcing more militants over its side of the border.
“There is a need for better coordination at the military level,” said Shah Mehmud Qureshi, Pakistan’s foreign minister. “Pushing the buck over won’t solve the problem as with such a porous border the buck will just go back again.”
In an interview with The Sunday Times in Islamabad, Qureshi insisted that his country would no longer give sanctuary to Mullah Omar and the Afghan Taliban.
“We are clear we have to deal with all elements that are challenging the writ of the government and making Pakistan or other places insecure,” he said. “We don’t want our soil, our national territory, to be used against anyone.”
“We’re no more differentiating between good terrorists and bad terrorists. They’ve created havoc, made our environment insecure, and wherever they are, we’ll take them on.”
Asked specifically if this would include Mullah Omar and his Quetta shura, which runs the Afghan Taliban, the minister replied: “Absolutely, we’ll be taking them on.”
Source:The times
At least three suicide bombers blew themselves up during the onslaught, which began in the early afternoon near a US military base. General Mohammad Zahir Azimi, a defence ministry spokesman, said later that Afghan forces had surrounded the attackers.
The raid came as the United States asked Pakistan for help in ensuring a peaceful election campaign. Islamabad has been asked to send troops to key points along its border with Helmand to stop Taliban militia crossing back and forth.
For the past two weeks, 4,500 US marines have been engaged in Operation Khanjar (Strike of the Sword), their largest offensive yet. They have grabbed a swathe of territory in southern Helmand.
Although July has been the deadliest month for foreign troops in the eight-year war, with 66 killed, including 20 British men, military officials say the operation has so far faced less resistance than expected.
But this is because the Taliban faded away and officials are well aware that the militants can be eliminated only if Pakistan stops allowing them sanctuary. Border controls led to surprisingly peaceful polls in 2004 and 2005.
The request to Pakistan was made during a visit to Islamabad last week by General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan, and General Karl Eikenberry, the US ambassador to Kabul. It was reinforced by President Barack Obama’s special envoy Richard Holbrooke, who is visiting the region.
Nato commanders and the Afghan government have long complained about the sanctuary the Taliban enjoy in Pakistan where they send their wounded, train and recruit fighters and raise funds. Mullah Mohammed Omar, the one-eyed Taliban leader, and his senior associates operate from Quetta, and journalists often receive calls from Taliban spokesmen in Peshawar.
But Pakistan’s military has recently taken a tough new stance after Taliban forces launched a spate of suicide attacks and took over the Swat valley, a former tourist area 70 miles from the capital. “We suddenly realised we could be left an army without a country,” said one general.
However, with Swat almost cleared after three months of fighting and Pakistani troops moving into the border areas of Waziristan to pursue Baitullah Mehsud, leader of the Pakistani Taliban, there is concern that Islamabad seems to have no interest in taking on militant groups that are using its territory to attack western forces over the border.
A senior US official said: “We still don’t see any evidence that Islamabad has politically or militarily made a decision to go after the Afghan Taliban.
“As far as we’re concerned, they will only turn the corner when they tell the Quettashura [tribal council], ‘You have a choice – go back home and either negotiate or fight, but you’re not welcome here’.”
McChrystal said last week: “What I would love is for the government of Pakistan to have the ability to eliminate the safe havens that the Afghan Taliban enjoy.”
Briefings by senior Pakistani military indicate that they still divide Taliban into good and bad. “They cause no trouble to us,” replied one general when asked about Mullah Omar and Jalaluddin Haqqani, the Waziristan warlord closest to Al-Qaeda.
“What we have to consider is what happens when the foreign troops leave Afghanistan,” said another. “If the Taliban then take over, we don’t want to be on the wrong side.”
Pakistan has objected that American operations in southern Afghanistan are forcing more militants over its side of the border.
“There is a need for better coordination at the military level,” said Shah Mehmud Qureshi, Pakistan’s foreign minister. “Pushing the buck over won’t solve the problem as with such a porous border the buck will just go back again.”
In an interview with The Sunday Times in Islamabad, Qureshi insisted that his country would no longer give sanctuary to Mullah Omar and the Afghan Taliban.
“We are clear we have to deal with all elements that are challenging the writ of the government and making Pakistan or other places insecure,” he said. “We don’t want our soil, our national territory, to be used against anyone.”
“We’re no more differentiating between good terrorists and bad terrorists. They’ve created havoc, made our environment insecure, and wherever they are, we’ll take them on.”
Asked specifically if this would include Mullah Omar and his Quetta shura, which runs the Afghan Taliban, the minister replied: “Absolutely, we’ll be taking them on.”
Source:The times
Government to cut wounded soldiers’ awards
The government will this week launch an attempt to deny soldiers crippled in battle full compensation for their injuries.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) will go to the Court of Appeal on Tuesday to try to slash the compensation awarded to two injured soldiers by up to 70%. If the government wins, it will fuel the mounting disquiet over the relatively paltry payments some soldiers are receiving for lifelong injuries.
The legal action comes as British troops are suffering their heaviest casualties since the beginning of the conflict in Afghanistan in 2001.
Yesterday a soldier from the 40th Regiment Royal Artillery became the 20th to die this month, and the 189th overall, when he was killed in an explosion in Lashkar Gah in Helmand province.
It also emerged this weekend that the new commander of a platoon that had lost five men in a Taliban bomb attack earlier this month has himself been badly wounded in an explosion. Second Lieutenant James Amoore, 2nd Battalion the Rifles, stepped on an improvised explosive device last Sunday.
The 24-year-old officer had just replaced his predecessor, who had been seriously wounded in a similar explosion that killed five soldiers. Both officers are receiving critical care at the Selly Oak hospital in Birmingham.
The rising number of casualties has attracted attention to deficiencies in the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme, which was introduced in 2005. Last week Sir John Major, the former Conservative prime minister, said the nation was not meeting its “obligations” to injured servicemen.
Compensation payouts to soldiers are routinely dwarfed by those awarded in the civil courts. In one of the most high profile cases Ben Parkinson, 25, suffered 37 injuries, including brain damage and the loss of both legs. He initially received £152,000. After a campaign by his mother, this was raised to £546,000.
Lawyers believe that Parkinson would have received £3m in a civil trial.
In the landmark legal case this week Bob Ainsworth, the defence secretary, is appealing against a ruling that two soldiers should have their compensation increased.
In September 2005 Anthony Duncan, a soldier with the Light Dragoons, was on patrol in Iraq when he was shot in his left thigh. He needed 11 operations to clean and close the wound and had a pin inserted in his leg to help the bone heal.
He subsequently suffered calcification in his thigh muscle and constant pain in his leg. He struggled to walk without crutches while attempts to run left him “crippled” with pain, according to court documents.
The MoD initially gave him £9,250 in compensation, arguing that his injury was only a fracture. Duncan appealed and a tribunal awarded him a lump sum of £46,000 and a guaranteed weekly income payment for life.
Matthew McWilliams, a Royal Marine, suffered a fracture of his thigh bone during a training exercise. He was awarded £8,250, which was increased on appeal to £28,750 and a guaranteed weekly payment because of damage to his knee following surgery.
In June last year the MoD took both cases to a higher court, claiming it should have to compensate the men only for the initial injuries and not subsequent complications. The three judges ruled against the ministry, saying it was “absurd” to divorce the injury from treatment.
The MoD was so concerned by the ruling that earlier this year it suspended payouts for three months, barring the most serious injuries. If it loses at the Court of Appeal, wounded soldiers who suffered further complications after treatment will be entitled to higher payouts.
Carl Clowes, 23, from Bradford, is among those taking a keen interest in the case. In July 2007 he was in a Land Rover in Helmand when it drove over a mine. Both his legs were crushed. His left leg was amputated below the knee 10 months later and he still suffers pain in his right leg. He can walk only short distances without crutches.
Clowes was awarded £92,000 for his amputated left leg, but £8,000 for his damaged right leg. He will be medically discharged from the army this week but will only be able to do sedentary work.
He appealed against his payout and shortly afterwards was delighted to find £48,300 in his bank account, which he used to pay off his mortgage. A day later the MoD contacted him to tell him the money had been paid in error. He is now being forced to return it.
“I’m permanently disabled. The last thing I expected was for the MoD to quibble over compensation,” he said.
Colonel Tim Collins, who commanded the Royal Irish Regiment in Iraq in 2003, said: “It is not surprising (the MoD) is doing this because of its finely tuned budgets, but it is a reflection of the regard this government has for the services.”
Sue Freeth, director of welfare at the Royal British Legion, said: “People who are putting themselves in harm’s way for their country feel cheated. These injuries affect people for the rest of their lives, but for many the compensation system fails to address that.”
Source:The times
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) will go to the Court of Appeal on Tuesday to try to slash the compensation awarded to two injured soldiers by up to 70%. If the government wins, it will fuel the mounting disquiet over the relatively paltry payments some soldiers are receiving for lifelong injuries.
The legal action comes as British troops are suffering their heaviest casualties since the beginning of the conflict in Afghanistan in 2001.
Yesterday a soldier from the 40th Regiment Royal Artillery became the 20th to die this month, and the 189th overall, when he was killed in an explosion in Lashkar Gah in Helmand province.
It also emerged this weekend that the new commander of a platoon that had lost five men in a Taliban bomb attack earlier this month has himself been badly wounded in an explosion. Second Lieutenant James Amoore, 2nd Battalion the Rifles, stepped on an improvised explosive device last Sunday.
The 24-year-old officer had just replaced his predecessor, who had been seriously wounded in a similar explosion that killed five soldiers. Both officers are receiving critical care at the Selly Oak hospital in Birmingham.
The rising number of casualties has attracted attention to deficiencies in the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme, which was introduced in 2005. Last week Sir John Major, the former Conservative prime minister, said the nation was not meeting its “obligations” to injured servicemen.
Compensation payouts to soldiers are routinely dwarfed by those awarded in the civil courts. In one of the most high profile cases Ben Parkinson, 25, suffered 37 injuries, including brain damage and the loss of both legs. He initially received £152,000. After a campaign by his mother, this was raised to £546,000.
Lawyers believe that Parkinson would have received £3m in a civil trial.
In the landmark legal case this week Bob Ainsworth, the defence secretary, is appealing against a ruling that two soldiers should have their compensation increased.
In September 2005 Anthony Duncan, a soldier with the Light Dragoons, was on patrol in Iraq when he was shot in his left thigh. He needed 11 operations to clean and close the wound and had a pin inserted in his leg to help the bone heal.
He subsequently suffered calcification in his thigh muscle and constant pain in his leg. He struggled to walk without crutches while attempts to run left him “crippled” with pain, according to court documents.
The MoD initially gave him £9,250 in compensation, arguing that his injury was only a fracture. Duncan appealed and a tribunal awarded him a lump sum of £46,000 and a guaranteed weekly income payment for life.
Matthew McWilliams, a Royal Marine, suffered a fracture of his thigh bone during a training exercise. He was awarded £8,250, which was increased on appeal to £28,750 and a guaranteed weekly payment because of damage to his knee following surgery.
In June last year the MoD took both cases to a higher court, claiming it should have to compensate the men only for the initial injuries and not subsequent complications. The three judges ruled against the ministry, saying it was “absurd” to divorce the injury from treatment.
The MoD was so concerned by the ruling that earlier this year it suspended payouts for three months, barring the most serious injuries. If it loses at the Court of Appeal, wounded soldiers who suffered further complications after treatment will be entitled to higher payouts.
Carl Clowes, 23, from Bradford, is among those taking a keen interest in the case. In July 2007 he was in a Land Rover in Helmand when it drove over a mine. Both his legs were crushed. His left leg was amputated below the knee 10 months later and he still suffers pain in his right leg. He can walk only short distances without crutches.
Clowes was awarded £92,000 for his amputated left leg, but £8,000 for his damaged right leg. He will be medically discharged from the army this week but will only be able to do sedentary work.
He appealed against his payout and shortly afterwards was delighted to find £48,300 in his bank account, which he used to pay off his mortgage. A day later the MoD contacted him to tell him the money had been paid in error. He is now being forced to return it.
“I’m permanently disabled. The last thing I expected was for the MoD to quibble over compensation,” he said.
Colonel Tim Collins, who commanded the Royal Irish Regiment in Iraq in 2003, said: “It is not surprising (the MoD) is doing this because of its finely tuned budgets, but it is a reflection of the regard this government has for the services.”
Sue Freeth, director of welfare at the Royal British Legion, said: “People who are putting themselves in harm’s way for their country feel cheated. These injuries affect people for the rest of their lives, but for many the compensation system fails to address that.”
Source:The times
Saturday, July 18, 2009
‘Blindness is not the end of the world’
The tragedy of soldiers blinded by war is an emotive issue seldom aired in public. However, the way soldiers come to terms with their loss, and the extraordinary devotion shown to them by organisations such as St Dunstan’s, provide uplifting insight into this particular aspect of Britain’s present and past military campaigns.
Ray Hazan, 64, lost his right hand and his sight in 1973 when, as a captain and the second-in-command of the 2nd Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment, a parcel that had been booby-trapped by the IRA blew up in his face during a tour of duty in Londonderry.
After long treatment in hospital, he went for training at St Dunstan’s, and when a job subsequently came up inside the organisation in 1977 he applied and was accepted. He has stayed ever since and in 2004 was selected to be the president. The stories he has to tell about the way blinded soldiers learn to adapt and start new lives are inspirational. “Our youngest soldier is only 20,” he says. “He lost his sight in Iraq and when he arrived he had no confidence but he found people in similar situations as himself who were laughing and joking, which helped him to realise that it is possible to become accustomed to a new lifestyle.”
There are at present 2,783 past members of the Armed Forces who have passed through St Dunstan’s. Known as “St Dunstaners”, 205 are categorised as “war-blinded” — 123 post-Second World War. They include five from the campaign in Iraq and one from Afghanistan, a dozen from Northern Ireland, three from the 1991 Gulf War and one from Bosnia.
The second youngest St Dunstaner, Craig Lundberg, 23, a former section commander and sniper with the 2nd Battalion The Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment in Iraq, suffered permanent sight loss when in March 2007 he sustained severe injuries from a rocket-propelled grenade attack. Another soldier, Simon Brown, 30, a former corporal with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) suffered severe facial injuries after a sniper attack in Iraq in December 2006. He lost his left eye and retains only peripheral vision in his right eye. Hazan explains that Brown, and other blinded veterans, were taught new skills and helped to start careers. “We have 49 different professions among the St Dunstaners. We haven’t had an airline pilot yet but we are working on it,” he says with a laugh. In Simon Brown’s case, as well as teaching him independent living skills and providing equipment, St Dunstan’s has supported him working towards a qualification in information technology and helped with his application to college to gain a certificate of education to teach mechanics.
“He has a lovely attitude, he’s so positive,” Hazan says. “Some people come to us who are terrified but after a short time with us they change completely and their confidence returns. Blindness is not the end of the world.” The oldest resident of St Dunstan’s flagship centre at Ovingdean, just outside Brighton, is Henry Allingham, who is not only the oldest surviving veteran from the First World War but also, at 113, the oldest man in the world. St Dunstan’s has 109 beds for residents.
Given the nature of the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan where roadside bombs, mines and rocket-propelled grenades have posed the gravest danger to soldiers’ daily lives, it is perhaps remarkable that more troops have not received injuries that have led to blindness. “There are several reasons for this, first of all eye protection is now better for the soldiers but also modern surgical techniques have saved individuals from permanent loss of sight,” Hazan says.
St Dunstan’s was founded in the First World War when Sir Arthur Pearson, a newspaper proprietor who was blind from glaucoma, noticed the soldiers coming home with serious eye injuries, often caused by gas attacks, and decided to set up a special centre for them. He donated £5,000. The first home for St Dunstan’s, which was established on March 16, 1915, was at Winfield House in Regents Park, now the residence of the American Ambassador to the Court of St James. St Dunstan’s moved to its location near Brighton in 1927. It costs £27 million a year to run the entire St Dunstan’s operation, the centre at Ovingdean and another one in Sheffield. There are plans to open a third, at Llandudno.
St Dunstan’s is a charitable organisation for ex-Service personnel and for reservists if they have served for more than three years, and it relies on donations and beneficiaries. In 1965 it stopped fundraising because it was judged to have enough money to cater for all the needs of blinded ex-servicemen up to the end of the century. In 1993, however, St Dunstan’s started raising money once again to ensure there were enough funds both for the war-blinded and for those who have lost their sight because of age, accident or illness.
Hazan, a father of two sons in their 30s, feels privileged to be the president of St Dunstan’s and to share his life and experiences with the people who have suffered similar war injuries. “We have a chap here who lost his left hand and his sight, so when we go skiing together, we share gloves. He has the right one and I have the left one.”
Source:The times
Ray Hazan, 64, lost his right hand and his sight in 1973 when, as a captain and the second-in-command of the 2nd Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment, a parcel that had been booby-trapped by the IRA blew up in his face during a tour of duty in Londonderry.
After long treatment in hospital, he went for training at St Dunstan’s, and when a job subsequently came up inside the organisation in 1977 he applied and was accepted. He has stayed ever since and in 2004 was selected to be the president. The stories he has to tell about the way blinded soldiers learn to adapt and start new lives are inspirational. “Our youngest soldier is only 20,” he says. “He lost his sight in Iraq and when he arrived he had no confidence but he found people in similar situations as himself who were laughing and joking, which helped him to realise that it is possible to become accustomed to a new lifestyle.”
There are at present 2,783 past members of the Armed Forces who have passed through St Dunstan’s. Known as “St Dunstaners”, 205 are categorised as “war-blinded” — 123 post-Second World War. They include five from the campaign in Iraq and one from Afghanistan, a dozen from Northern Ireland, three from the 1991 Gulf War and one from Bosnia.
The second youngest St Dunstaner, Craig Lundberg, 23, a former section commander and sniper with the 2nd Battalion The Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment in Iraq, suffered permanent sight loss when in March 2007 he sustained severe injuries from a rocket-propelled grenade attack. Another soldier, Simon Brown, 30, a former corporal with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) suffered severe facial injuries after a sniper attack in Iraq in December 2006. He lost his left eye and retains only peripheral vision in his right eye. Hazan explains that Brown, and other blinded veterans, were taught new skills and helped to start careers. “We have 49 different professions among the St Dunstaners. We haven’t had an airline pilot yet but we are working on it,” he says with a laugh. In Simon Brown’s case, as well as teaching him independent living skills and providing equipment, St Dunstan’s has supported him working towards a qualification in information technology and helped with his application to college to gain a certificate of education to teach mechanics.
“He has a lovely attitude, he’s so positive,” Hazan says. “Some people come to us who are terrified but after a short time with us they change completely and their confidence returns. Blindness is not the end of the world.” The oldest resident of St Dunstan’s flagship centre at Ovingdean, just outside Brighton, is Henry Allingham, who is not only the oldest surviving veteran from the First World War but also, at 113, the oldest man in the world. St Dunstan’s has 109 beds for residents.
Given the nature of the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan where roadside bombs, mines and rocket-propelled grenades have posed the gravest danger to soldiers’ daily lives, it is perhaps remarkable that more troops have not received injuries that have led to blindness. “There are several reasons for this, first of all eye protection is now better for the soldiers but also modern surgical techniques have saved individuals from permanent loss of sight,” Hazan says.
St Dunstan’s was founded in the First World War when Sir Arthur Pearson, a newspaper proprietor who was blind from glaucoma, noticed the soldiers coming home with serious eye injuries, often caused by gas attacks, and decided to set up a special centre for them. He donated £5,000. The first home for St Dunstan’s, which was established on March 16, 1915, was at Winfield House in Regents Park, now the residence of the American Ambassador to the Court of St James. St Dunstan’s moved to its location near Brighton in 1927. It costs £27 million a year to run the entire St Dunstan’s operation, the centre at Ovingdean and another one in Sheffield. There are plans to open a third, at Llandudno.
St Dunstan’s is a charitable organisation for ex-Service personnel and for reservists if they have served for more than three years, and it relies on donations and beneficiaries. In 1965 it stopped fundraising because it was judged to have enough money to cater for all the needs of blinded ex-servicemen up to the end of the century. In 1993, however, St Dunstan’s started raising money once again to ensure there were enough funds both for the war-blinded and for those who have lost their sight because of age, accident or illness.
Hazan, a father of two sons in their 30s, feels privileged to be the president of St Dunstan’s and to share his life and experiences with the people who have suffered similar war injuries. “We have a chap here who lost his left hand and his sight, so when we go skiing together, we share gloves. He has the right one and I have the left one.”
Source:The times
Heart treatment in UK ‘among worst in West’
TREATMENT for heart disease in Britain is worse than almost anywhere else in the western world, despite pledges by Labour to improve services.
A new study reveals that fewer NHS patients have access to defibrillators, pacemakers and heart surgery than in most neighbouring nations.
In some parts of Britain, such as the northwest, up to a third of patients are failing to receive life-saving operations.
Doctors are demanding a public debate on how to tackle the growing pressure on heart services. One in three people in Britain are destined to suffer from heart disease.
The study, Access to Cardiac Care, has been commissioned by the British Heart Foundation, the British Cardiovascular Society and a coalition of 41 charities and voluntary groups.
The report predicts that demand for heart treatment will double by 2020, yet there is no clear indication that funds will be available to pay for it.
The forecast is in stark contrast to the ambition shown 10 years ago by Alan Milburn, then the health secretary, when heart disease claimed 140,000 lives annually. In a newspaper article at the time, Milburn said: “Tackling heart disease is one of the keys not only to a healthier nation but to a fairer nation.”
However, the number dying from heart disease has since increased to 198,000, with one in three victims under 75.
The study, carried out by Oxford Healthcare Associates, showed startling regional variations in cardiac services, with “overprovision” of treatment in affluent cities and the shires.
Roger Boyle, the heart czar, said heart operations had increased by 59% since 2000 and that deaths from cardiovascular disease had fallen by 44% in the past decade.
Source:The times
A new study reveals that fewer NHS patients have access to defibrillators, pacemakers and heart surgery than in most neighbouring nations.
In some parts of Britain, such as the northwest, up to a third of patients are failing to receive life-saving operations.
Doctors are demanding a public debate on how to tackle the growing pressure on heart services. One in three people in Britain are destined to suffer from heart disease.
The study, Access to Cardiac Care, has been commissioned by the British Heart Foundation, the British Cardiovascular Society and a coalition of 41 charities and voluntary groups.
The report predicts that demand for heart treatment will double by 2020, yet there is no clear indication that funds will be available to pay for it.
The forecast is in stark contrast to the ambition shown 10 years ago by Alan Milburn, then the health secretary, when heart disease claimed 140,000 lives annually. In a newspaper article at the time, Milburn said: “Tackling heart disease is one of the keys not only to a healthier nation but to a fairer nation.”
However, the number dying from heart disease has since increased to 198,000, with one in three victims under 75.
The study, carried out by Oxford Healthcare Associates, showed startling regional variations in cardiac services, with “overprovision” of treatment in affluent cities and the shires.
Roger Boyle, the heart czar, said heart operations had increased by 59% since 2000 and that deaths from cardiovascular disease had fallen by 44% in the past decade.
Source:The times
Bill Gates in bid to tame hurricanes
The world’s richest man has joined the battle against the world’s most destructive weather. Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, is backing inventors and climate scientists who claim to have devised a technique for diminishing the power of hurricanes.
Gates was named last week among a group of weather experts who have applied for patents on a system for lowering ocean temperatures. Using a fleet of barges equipped with pumps, Gates and his team believe a hurricane can be slowed by cooling the tropical waters that fuel its progress.
American scientists agreed last week that the system was theoretically feasible but several noted that its backers had yet to prove it could be managed on a scale that would have any serious effect.
“Is it plausible? Yes,” said Frank Marks, director of hurricane research at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “Is it possible? Maybe. Realistic? I just can’t answer that.”
The plan calls for a line of barges to be scattered along the coastline of the United States, ready to be deployed in a hurricane’s path. Each barge would have a pair of tubes that thrust warmer surface waters to cooler depths while sucking up colder water.
Hurricanes gain momentum from the heat energy released by warm, humid air evaporating on the water’s surface, so the idea is that the hurricane’s force would be reduced.
“The bottom line here is that if enough pumps are deployed it is reasonable to expect some diminution of hurricane power,” said Kerry Emanuel, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He estimated that a hurricane might be stopped in its tracks if the ocean could be cooled by 4.5C.
As the world’s most successful entrepreneur, with the world’s biggest private fortune, Gates is no stranger to daunting challenges. The $35 billion (£21 billion) charitable foundation he set up with his wife, Melinda, is also trying to eradicate polio and malaria in the Third World.
Yet critics are already wondering if he has fully thought through the implications of trying to control the weather. His patent applications refer to “atmospheric management, weather management, hurricane suppression . . . hurricane deflection”.
“What if the system works and he succeeds in deflecting a Florida-bound hurricane towards Cuba?” asked one Miami scientist. “Would that be seen as an act of war?” Others wondered about the ecological consequences of radically altering ocean temperatures.
Numerous attempts to control the weather have been made around the world. During the Vietnam war, the Pentagon launched Operation Popeye, a partially successful attempt to extend the monsoon season over Laos to bog down North Vietnamese troops advancing through the jungle.
Gates’s applications do not spell out how his scheme would be paid for. But analysts said insurance companies and the American government might be keen to invest in research that could save at least some of the $10 billion in damages inflicted on the United States each year by hurricanes.
Source:The times
Gates was named last week among a group of weather experts who have applied for patents on a system for lowering ocean temperatures. Using a fleet of barges equipped with pumps, Gates and his team believe a hurricane can be slowed by cooling the tropical waters that fuel its progress.
American scientists agreed last week that the system was theoretically feasible but several noted that its backers had yet to prove it could be managed on a scale that would have any serious effect.
“Is it plausible? Yes,” said Frank Marks, director of hurricane research at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “Is it possible? Maybe. Realistic? I just can’t answer that.”
The plan calls for a line of barges to be scattered along the coastline of the United States, ready to be deployed in a hurricane’s path. Each barge would have a pair of tubes that thrust warmer surface waters to cooler depths while sucking up colder water.
Hurricanes gain momentum from the heat energy released by warm, humid air evaporating on the water’s surface, so the idea is that the hurricane’s force would be reduced.
“The bottom line here is that if enough pumps are deployed it is reasonable to expect some diminution of hurricane power,” said Kerry Emanuel, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He estimated that a hurricane might be stopped in its tracks if the ocean could be cooled by 4.5C.
As the world’s most successful entrepreneur, with the world’s biggest private fortune, Gates is no stranger to daunting challenges. The $35 billion (£21 billion) charitable foundation he set up with his wife, Melinda, is also trying to eradicate polio and malaria in the Third World.
Yet critics are already wondering if he has fully thought through the implications of trying to control the weather. His patent applications refer to “atmospheric management, weather management, hurricane suppression . . . hurricane deflection”.
“What if the system works and he succeeds in deflecting a Florida-bound hurricane towards Cuba?” asked one Miami scientist. “Would that be seen as an act of war?” Others wondered about the ecological consequences of radically altering ocean temperatures.
Numerous attempts to control the weather have been made around the world. During the Vietnam war, the Pentagon launched Operation Popeye, a partially successful attempt to extend the monsoon season over Laos to bog down North Vietnamese troops advancing through the jungle.
Gates’s applications do not spell out how his scheme would be paid for. But analysts said insurance companies and the American government might be keen to invest in research that could save at least some of the $10 billion in damages inflicted on the United States each year by hurricanes.
Source:The times
Guantanamo row may halt Queen’s visit to Bermuda
THE Foreign Office is threatening to cancel a state visit by the Queen to Bermuda after a row with the island over its “unacceptable” decision to give sanctuary to four former inmates of Guantanamo Bay.
The boycott is being considered after Bermuda infuriated David Miliband, the foreign secretary, by allowing the four men, all Chinese Muslim Uighurs, to stay on what is an overseas British territory.
The move followed a secret deal struck between Washington and the Bermudans. It was carried out without consulting Britain or the island’s governor.
Miliband protested to Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, about the pact. He told her the move was “invalid” because it breached Bermuda’s constitution, under which the UK has control over the island’s foreign and security policy.
The Uighurs are Muslim separatists from Xinjiang province. They had fled to Afghanistan in 2001 to escape Chinese oppression and were detained after they went to Pakistan.
Their arrival in Bermuda last month sparked an angry response from Sir Richard Gozney, the island’s governor. He summoned Ewart Brown, the Bermudan prime minister, for a dressing down.
The men’s sudden appearance surprised MI5, which is monitoring a Bermudan security assessment to establish whether the Uighurs represent a continuing terrorist threat.
The Uighurs had spent seven years inside America’s high security prison in Cuba, alongside other Al-Qaeda suspects, accused of being enemy combatants after they were turned in by Pakistani villagers.
Buckingham Palace had agreed in principle for the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh to go to Bermuda this autumn to mark the 400th anniversary of its settlement by shipwrecked British sailors. This decision is being reviewed following the Guantanamo move.
“It’s a big issue which is being considered alongside the usual issues in deciding whether the Queen should visit,” said a senior official. The Foreign Office declined to comment on the trip.
Bermuda’s decision to accept the former detainees sparked street protests among some of its 60,000 people. They accused Brown of being a “dictator” and of harbouring terrorists.
The four men have been cleared of taking up arms against America but plans to resettle them in the United States caused a furore.
Conchita Ming, chairman of the Bermuda 2009 committee, said she was still awaiting confirmation of the royal visit. “We are keeping our fingers and toes crossed,” she said. The Irish government is in the process of taking two Guantanamo Bay detainees to assist in efforts to close the prison. A delegation will interview two Uzbek inmates this week.
Source:The times
The boycott is being considered after Bermuda infuriated David Miliband, the foreign secretary, by allowing the four men, all Chinese Muslim Uighurs, to stay on what is an overseas British territory.
The move followed a secret deal struck between Washington and the Bermudans. It was carried out without consulting Britain or the island’s governor.
Miliband protested to Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, about the pact. He told her the move was “invalid” because it breached Bermuda’s constitution, under which the UK has control over the island’s foreign and security policy.
The Uighurs are Muslim separatists from Xinjiang province. They had fled to Afghanistan in 2001 to escape Chinese oppression and were detained after they went to Pakistan.
Their arrival in Bermuda last month sparked an angry response from Sir Richard Gozney, the island’s governor. He summoned Ewart Brown, the Bermudan prime minister, for a dressing down.
The men’s sudden appearance surprised MI5, which is monitoring a Bermudan security assessment to establish whether the Uighurs represent a continuing terrorist threat.
The Uighurs had spent seven years inside America’s high security prison in Cuba, alongside other Al-Qaeda suspects, accused of being enemy combatants after they were turned in by Pakistani villagers.
Buckingham Palace had agreed in principle for the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh to go to Bermuda this autumn to mark the 400th anniversary of its settlement by shipwrecked British sailors. This decision is being reviewed following the Guantanamo move.
“It’s a big issue which is being considered alongside the usual issues in deciding whether the Queen should visit,” said a senior official. The Foreign Office declined to comment on the trip.
Bermuda’s decision to accept the former detainees sparked street protests among some of its 60,000 people. They accused Brown of being a “dictator” and of harbouring terrorists.
The four men have been cleared of taking up arms against America but plans to resettle them in the United States caused a furore.
Conchita Ming, chairman of the Bermuda 2009 committee, said she was still awaiting confirmation of the royal visit. “We are keeping our fingers and toes crossed,” she said. The Irish government is in the process of taking two Guantanamo Bay detainees to assist in efforts to close the prison. A delegation will interview two Uzbek inmates this week.
Source:The times
John Hutton breaks silence to fight for the generals
JOHN HUTTON, the former defence secretary, stepped into the political row over Afghanistan last night, urging government ministers not to “second guess” the military or behave like “armchair generals”.
In his first public statement on the war since he quit the cabinet last month, Hutton said the army should be given the extra troops and equipment it needed to beat the Taliban.
The remarks place him squarely on the side of the military chiefs who last week provoked fury among Labour ministers by publicly calling on Gordon Brown to spend more money on the Afghan conflict.
Hutton, who writes books on military history, said in an interview with The Sunday Times: “We have got to commit the right resources to ensure we can win this conflict.
“When it comes to the numbers and the equipment it is absolutely essential politicians listen to advice from the military. Politicians must not become armchair generals. They must make decisions based on clear military advice.” As the latest offensive against the Taliban, code-named Operation Panther’s Claw, intensifies, public concern over the government’s reluctance to fund the war is undermining support for the prime minister in the polls.
A YouGov poll for The Sunday Times today reveals that 60% of voters believe Brown is trying to fight the war “on the cheap” and only 20% believe he is doing his best to provide the necessary equipment.
The Tory lead over Labour has widened to 17 points, its highest since last September, up from 16 last month. The Conservatives are on 42%, up two, Labour on 25%, up one, and the Liberal Democrats unchanged on 18%.
The death on Thursday of Rifleman Aminiasi Toge from 2nd Battalion The Rifles takes the total UK death toll in the conflict to 185.
Last week the military stepped up the pressure on the government to commit more resources to the war with a series of extraordinary public statements General Sir Richard Dannatt, the head of the army, announced that he would hand the prime minister a £500m “shopping list” of extra equipment needed to help soldiers combat the Taliban’s roadside bombs.
Brown has said he will consider the military’s requests, but officials have warned that the war budget might be cut.
The Treasury has told Ministry of Defence officials that the budget for fighting the war could be reduced by as much as 50% next year.
The military are putting forward emergency requests Continued on page 2 Continued from page 1 for aerial surveillance drones, more helicopters and new armoured land vehicles. However, it is understood that the funds available for “urgent operational requirement” will not rise above this year’s £736m.
“We do have a problem with spending on equipment – the Treasury appetite is not as great to support us as in the past,” said a senior officer involved in defence procurement.
The government has also been hit by claims that three years ago it was urged by the Prince of Wales to send more helicopters to Afghanistan.
Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Tootal, the former commanding officer of 3 Para, reveals how he expressed concern about the issue to Prince Charles shortly before his unit was sent to Afghanistan in March 2006. The prince passed on the concerns in a telephone conversation with John Reid, then defence secretary.
According to Tootal the request fell on deaf ears. “The line was ‘You’ve got what you have got’,” the former officer told The Sunday Times.
The surprise resignation of Hutton as defence secretary came amid rumours that he had become fed up fighting the Treasury and No 10 for more resources. Yesterday he refused to discuss his reasons.
He insisted that his latest comments were not meant as a personal criticism of the prime minister, who had “always paid careful attention to what the military had been saying”.
Clarence House confirmed that Charles had visited 3 Para before their deployment but would not comment on private conversations “that may or may not have occurred”. Underfunding costs lives, Letters, p20 Afghan president tells Brown: let’s bring Taliban to the table, pp 22-23
Source:The times
In his first public statement on the war since he quit the cabinet last month, Hutton said the army should be given the extra troops and equipment it needed to beat the Taliban.
The remarks place him squarely on the side of the military chiefs who last week provoked fury among Labour ministers by publicly calling on Gordon Brown to spend more money on the Afghan conflict.
Hutton, who writes books on military history, said in an interview with The Sunday Times: “We have got to commit the right resources to ensure we can win this conflict.
“When it comes to the numbers and the equipment it is absolutely essential politicians listen to advice from the military. Politicians must not become armchair generals. They must make decisions based on clear military advice.” As the latest offensive against the Taliban, code-named Operation Panther’s Claw, intensifies, public concern over the government’s reluctance to fund the war is undermining support for the prime minister in the polls.
A YouGov poll for The Sunday Times today reveals that 60% of voters believe Brown is trying to fight the war “on the cheap” and only 20% believe he is doing his best to provide the necessary equipment.
The Tory lead over Labour has widened to 17 points, its highest since last September, up from 16 last month. The Conservatives are on 42%, up two, Labour on 25%, up one, and the Liberal Democrats unchanged on 18%.
The death on Thursday of Rifleman Aminiasi Toge from 2nd Battalion The Rifles takes the total UK death toll in the conflict to 185.
Last week the military stepped up the pressure on the government to commit more resources to the war with a series of extraordinary public statements General Sir Richard Dannatt, the head of the army, announced that he would hand the prime minister a £500m “shopping list” of extra equipment needed to help soldiers combat the Taliban’s roadside bombs.
Brown has said he will consider the military’s requests, but officials have warned that the war budget might be cut.
The Treasury has told Ministry of Defence officials that the budget for fighting the war could be reduced by as much as 50% next year.
The military are putting forward emergency requests Continued on page 2 Continued from page 1 for aerial surveillance drones, more helicopters and new armoured land vehicles. However, it is understood that the funds available for “urgent operational requirement” will not rise above this year’s £736m.
“We do have a problem with spending on equipment – the Treasury appetite is not as great to support us as in the past,” said a senior officer involved in defence procurement.
The government has also been hit by claims that three years ago it was urged by the Prince of Wales to send more helicopters to Afghanistan.
Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Tootal, the former commanding officer of 3 Para, reveals how he expressed concern about the issue to Prince Charles shortly before his unit was sent to Afghanistan in March 2006. The prince passed on the concerns in a telephone conversation with John Reid, then defence secretary.
According to Tootal the request fell on deaf ears. “The line was ‘You’ve got what you have got’,” the former officer told The Sunday Times.
The surprise resignation of Hutton as defence secretary came amid rumours that he had become fed up fighting the Treasury and No 10 for more resources. Yesterday he refused to discuss his reasons.
He insisted that his latest comments were not meant as a personal criticism of the prime minister, who had “always paid careful attention to what the military had been saying”.
Clarence House confirmed that Charles had visited 3 Para before their deployment but would not comment on private conversations “that may or may not have occurred”. Underfunding costs lives, Letters, p20 Afghan president tells Brown: let’s bring Taliban to the table, pp 22-23
Source:The times
Hamid Karzai says bring Taliban to table
The president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, has urged the West to develop a new strategy for his country, warning that more troops will not necessarily improve security.
“Military operations are no longer enough,” he said as the deaths of British and coalition soldiers in Afghanistan reached their highest monthly total of the eight-year war. “We have to rethink the way we do things — without that there won’t be any improvement.”
Karzai called for negotiations with the Taliban. Even Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader, should be encouraged to attend talks, he said.
Speaking yesterday in an office so heavily secured that journalists are no longer allowed to take in pens or lipstick, the president expressed his sorrow at the mounting toll of British troops but cast doubt on the value of sending more.
American soldiers have been pouring into Afghanistan over the past few months as the United States more than doubles its strength from 32,000 to 68,000 this year, along with 36,000 troops from other western allies. This is partly to secure the country for the elections next month, yet the situation continues to worsen.
“I don’t think the increase in troops will address the problem,” Karzai said. “We need to concentrate on finding other avenues of defeating terrorism and seeking peace.
“We must engage in negotiations, bring back those Taliban who are willing to return, who have been driven out by fear and coercion and the mistakes we’ve all made. They are part of this country and must be called back.” He said he welcomed a speech last week by Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, in which she held out an olive branch to Taliban militants who renounce violence.
“We’ve been talking about this for years but didn’t have enough support or understanding from our allies,” he said. “I see in the new administration a lot more willingness to engage in peace talks.”
The Saudi government has already hosted some tentative negotiations. Karzai promised that, if re-elected as president, he would make talks with the Taliban and other militant groups, such as Hezb Islami, his priority. “If Mullah Omar wants to come and talk, he’s welcome — it’s a desire we have and we should try for it,” he said. “Without a sincere peace process on all sides, matters will only get worse.”
So far this month 46 foreign soldiers have been killed, 16 of them British. “We don’t want British mothers finding their 18-year-old sons coming home in coffins,” Karzai said. “We’re very sorry about what has happened in Helmand.”
He said he had spoken twice to Gordon Brown in the past week. The second occasion was on Friday, when Brown telephoned to ask for more Afghan forces to enter the fray.
“He’s right about that,” said Karzai. “We also want more of our own forces to be present on the ground, to provide protection and security. I’ve promised to do whatever I can to increase Afghan forces. I’ve also requested the UK and others to provide speedier training to Afghan forces.”
He has called a meeting with his defence minister today to discuss numbers. “A lot of Afghan and British lives have been lost in the past few years, for which we are sorry,” he said. “We’re willing to give the UK all the help it needs to reduce casualties and bring back the trust that’s needed.”
Karzai’s relations with Britain have soured since UK troops went into Helmand in 2006. Britain’s insistence that he sack the provincial governor, an alleged drug lord, before
it sent in troops still rankles with him.
“When Mullah Sher Akhundzada was governor, Helmand had 180,000 boys and girls going to school,” he said.
“Today what do we have? With all those troops, Helmand has four times more drug production, no boys and girls going to school. We’re fighting a war and we just lost eight British soldiers in one day.”
He said that his discussions with Brown had improved matters. “I don’t want to reopen the debate on what was not done right,” he said. “I want to bring a new debate of how to do it right.”
Karzai’s biggest complaint about the international forces is over civilian casualties, particularly after an incident in Azizabad last summer when 90 villagers, including women and children, were killed in error. “To go and bomb a village and cause so many casualties was not only unwise but totally out of their minds,” he said.
“Afghan people want the international community to stay here but that contract has to be renewed and certain issues corrected.”
He said he was pleased with an operation by 4,000 US marines in Helmand, which had so far not used airstrikes. “I’m glad they have now agreed to be more careful,” he said.
It is hard to find anyone with a good word to say about Karzai’s government, which has become a byword for corruption. Yet most diplomats expect him to win the elections on August 20, partly because his opposition is so divided — there are 41 candidates — and partly because of some canny negotiating. He has brought on board a number of potential rivals.
To the horror of many in the international community, his slate includes warlords such as Marshal Mohammad Fahim and General Abdul Rashid Dostum. Both have received US support in the fight to oust the Taliban. But Dostum is a whisky-drinking Uzbek who has been known to rip his enemies in two by strapping them to tanks moving in opposite directions.
Karzai insisted that he would emerge the victor if the election was “free and fair”. It seemed a strange remark from a man with all the resources of the government at his disposal.
Source:The times
“Military operations are no longer enough,” he said as the deaths of British and coalition soldiers in Afghanistan reached their highest monthly total of the eight-year war. “We have to rethink the way we do things — without that there won’t be any improvement.”
Karzai called for negotiations with the Taliban. Even Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader, should be encouraged to attend talks, he said.
Speaking yesterday in an office so heavily secured that journalists are no longer allowed to take in pens or lipstick, the president expressed his sorrow at the mounting toll of British troops but cast doubt on the value of sending more.
American soldiers have been pouring into Afghanistan over the past few months as the United States more than doubles its strength from 32,000 to 68,000 this year, along with 36,000 troops from other western allies. This is partly to secure the country for the elections next month, yet the situation continues to worsen.
“I don’t think the increase in troops will address the problem,” Karzai said. “We need to concentrate on finding other avenues of defeating terrorism and seeking peace.
“We must engage in negotiations, bring back those Taliban who are willing to return, who have been driven out by fear and coercion and the mistakes we’ve all made. They are part of this country and must be called back.” He said he welcomed a speech last week by Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, in which she held out an olive branch to Taliban militants who renounce violence.
“We’ve been talking about this for years but didn’t have enough support or understanding from our allies,” he said. “I see in the new administration a lot more willingness to engage in peace talks.”
The Saudi government has already hosted some tentative negotiations. Karzai promised that, if re-elected as president, he would make talks with the Taliban and other militant groups, such as Hezb Islami, his priority. “If Mullah Omar wants to come and talk, he’s welcome — it’s a desire we have and we should try for it,” he said. “Without a sincere peace process on all sides, matters will only get worse.”
So far this month 46 foreign soldiers have been killed, 16 of them British. “We don’t want British mothers finding their 18-year-old sons coming home in coffins,” Karzai said. “We’re very sorry about what has happened in Helmand.”
He said he had spoken twice to Gordon Brown in the past week. The second occasion was on Friday, when Brown telephoned to ask for more Afghan forces to enter the fray.
“He’s right about that,” said Karzai. “We also want more of our own forces to be present on the ground, to provide protection and security. I’ve promised to do whatever I can to increase Afghan forces. I’ve also requested the UK and others to provide speedier training to Afghan forces.”
He has called a meeting with his defence minister today to discuss numbers. “A lot of Afghan and British lives have been lost in the past few years, for which we are sorry,” he said. “We’re willing to give the UK all the help it needs to reduce casualties and bring back the trust that’s needed.”
Karzai’s relations with Britain have soured since UK troops went into Helmand in 2006. Britain’s insistence that he sack the provincial governor, an alleged drug lord, before
it sent in troops still rankles with him.
“When Mullah Sher Akhundzada was governor, Helmand had 180,000 boys and girls going to school,” he said.
“Today what do we have? With all those troops, Helmand has four times more drug production, no boys and girls going to school. We’re fighting a war and we just lost eight British soldiers in one day.”
He said that his discussions with Brown had improved matters. “I don’t want to reopen the debate on what was not done right,” he said. “I want to bring a new debate of how to do it right.”
Karzai’s biggest complaint about the international forces is over civilian casualties, particularly after an incident in Azizabad last summer when 90 villagers, including women and children, were killed in error. “To go and bomb a village and cause so many casualties was not only unwise but totally out of their minds,” he said.
“Afghan people want the international community to stay here but that contract has to be renewed and certain issues corrected.”
He said he was pleased with an operation by 4,000 US marines in Helmand, which had so far not used airstrikes. “I’m glad they have now agreed to be more careful,” he said.
It is hard to find anyone with a good word to say about Karzai’s government, which has become a byword for corruption. Yet most diplomats expect him to win the elections on August 20, partly because his opposition is so divided — there are 41 candidates — and partly because of some canny negotiating. He has brought on board a number of potential rivals.
To the horror of many in the international community, his slate includes warlords such as Marshal Mohammad Fahim and General Abdul Rashid Dostum. Both have received US support in the fight to oust the Taliban. But Dostum is a whisky-drinking Uzbek who has been known to rip his enemies in two by strapping them to tanks moving in opposite directions.
Karzai insisted that he would emerge the victor if the election was “free and fair”. It seemed a strange remark from a man with all the resources of the government at his disposal.
Source:The times
Airlines will ban swine flu suspects
BRITISH holidaymakers suspected of suffering from swine flu are being stopped from boarding flights.
Check-in staff at Heathrow and other main British airports are vetting passengers for possible symptoms and turning away those suspected of being infected. Some countries, including Thailand, Egypt and China have installed thermal body scanners to identify passengers with fever.
More than 50 British children and teachers were yesterday under quarantine in Beijing after four of the children were diagnosed with swine flu. It also emerged this weekend that: Hospitals face a potential crisis over the limited number of intensive care beds. Under the worst-case scenario, seriously ill patients could have to make way for swine flu victims. The manufacturers of the new swine flu vaccine are to be given legal indemnity amid concerns over any side effects. Regulators are due to fast-track its approval. Some patients – whatever their illness – face waits of up to 11 hours before getting a call back from weekend and evening GPs’ services. Calls are running at double the normal rate. Security guards are to protect NHS supplies of Tamiflu when the drug is handed out at temporary distribution centres, such as community buildings.
British Airways and Virgin Atlantic confirmed this weekend that its staff were not allowing suspected sufferers to travel. A BA spokesman said some passengers had already been turned away at check-in because they showed symptoms of infection
“Our staff are trained on what to look out for if someone has swine flu or any other communicable disease,” said the spokesman. “The staff seek medical advice and anyone with swine flu would be advised they are unfit to travel.”
A Virgin Atlantic spokesman said check-in staff would call in a medical team for advice if passengers were showing possible signs, such as coughing or excessive sneezing. “We would be advised by our medical experts. But advice for anyone with swine flu is that they should not travel and wait until they recover,” said a spokesman. The Association of British Insurers said cancelled holidays or postponed flights would normally be covered under insurance policies. Passengers are advised to check airline websites for advice.
Passengers who are suffering from swine flu but are not spotted at check-in may find themselves quarantined on their arrival overseas.
The group of 52 children and teachers were put in quarantine in China after four pupils were diagnosed with swine flu on arrival in the country on Tuesday. The trip was organised by the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust and involves schoolchildren from around the country.
Sulaimon Prince, 14, a pupil at the Central Foundation boys’ school, east London, is one of the four who tested positive and is recovering in Ditan hospital, Beijing. He said yesterday: “We were taken to hospital by ambulance. My temperature has come down. I’m not feeling ill so I think everything is okay.”
The party has been quarantined with American children in the Yanxiang hotel, a four-star hotel in Beijing. More than 200 foreigners are in quarantine.
The Department of Health said yesterday that Britain would get sufficient swine flu vaccine and it would indemnify drug manufacturers if there were any serious side effects from the vaccine.
Doctors are also worried about the demand for intensive-care beds. In the worst case scenario, flu victims in need of intensive care could outnumber the available beds. There are only 3,636 such beds in England.
Source:The times
Check-in staff at Heathrow and other main British airports are vetting passengers for possible symptoms and turning away those suspected of being infected. Some countries, including Thailand, Egypt and China have installed thermal body scanners to identify passengers with fever.
More than 50 British children and teachers were yesterday under quarantine in Beijing after four of the children were diagnosed with swine flu. It also emerged this weekend that: Hospitals face a potential crisis over the limited number of intensive care beds. Under the worst-case scenario, seriously ill patients could have to make way for swine flu victims. The manufacturers of the new swine flu vaccine are to be given legal indemnity amid concerns over any side effects. Regulators are due to fast-track its approval. Some patients – whatever their illness – face waits of up to 11 hours before getting a call back from weekend and evening GPs’ services. Calls are running at double the normal rate. Security guards are to protect NHS supplies of Tamiflu when the drug is handed out at temporary distribution centres, such as community buildings.
British Airways and Virgin Atlantic confirmed this weekend that its staff were not allowing suspected sufferers to travel. A BA spokesman said some passengers had already been turned away at check-in because they showed symptoms of infection
“Our staff are trained on what to look out for if someone has swine flu or any other communicable disease,” said the spokesman. “The staff seek medical advice and anyone with swine flu would be advised they are unfit to travel.”
A Virgin Atlantic spokesman said check-in staff would call in a medical team for advice if passengers were showing possible signs, such as coughing or excessive sneezing. “We would be advised by our medical experts. But advice for anyone with swine flu is that they should not travel and wait until they recover,” said a spokesman. The Association of British Insurers said cancelled holidays or postponed flights would normally be covered under insurance policies. Passengers are advised to check airline websites for advice.
Passengers who are suffering from swine flu but are not spotted at check-in may find themselves quarantined on their arrival overseas.
The group of 52 children and teachers were put in quarantine in China after four pupils were diagnosed with swine flu on arrival in the country on Tuesday. The trip was organised by the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust and involves schoolchildren from around the country.
Sulaimon Prince, 14, a pupil at the Central Foundation boys’ school, east London, is one of the four who tested positive and is recovering in Ditan hospital, Beijing. He said yesterday: “We were taken to hospital by ambulance. My temperature has come down. I’m not feeling ill so I think everything is okay.”
The party has been quarantined with American children in the Yanxiang hotel, a four-star hotel in Beijing. More than 200 foreigners are in quarantine.
The Department of Health said yesterday that Britain would get sufficient swine flu vaccine and it would indemnify drug manufacturers if there were any serious side effects from the vaccine.
Doctors are also worried about the demand for intensive-care beds. In the worst case scenario, flu victims in need of intensive care could outnumber the available beds. There are only 3,636 such beds in England.
Source:The times
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Seven Somalis beheaded by extremists for 'spying for government'
Seven people accused of renouncing Islam and spying for the Government were beheaded in Somalia yesterday in a move that underlined the growing authority of the country’s Islamist insurgents.
The extremist al-Shabaab group is battling the interim Government in Mogadishu and has implemented a strict interpretation of Sharia in the parts of the country that it controls.
“Al-Shabaab told us that they were beheaded for being Christian followers and spies,” a relative said after the killings. A witness described seeing the decapitated bodies in the back of a lorry in the town of Baidoa.
The killings were the largest number to take place at one time. They were the latest in a series of beheadings, amputations and stonings to death ordered by al-Shabaab, which is accused of having links to al-Qaeda and is listed as a terrorist organisation by the US.
In areas that al-Shabaab controls, including most of southern Somalia and much of Mogadishu, numerous others accused of collaborating with the Government or committing crimes such as adultery, rape, theft or murder have been publicly executed, flogged or had amputations ordered in recent weeks.
“This is a worrying new development,” Roger Middleton, a Somalia analyst at Chatham House, the British foreign policy think-tank, said. “It shows that al-Shabaab is willing to use these kind of extreme punishments and that the Government has no ability to influence events on the ground in places where it has no military presence.”
President Sharif Ahmed’s Transitional Federal Government is protected by 4,300 African Union peacekeepers, backed by the United Nations and propped up by Western governments, which arm and train its forces. Its authority extends to only a small area of the capital and the roads to the port and airport.
Last month four teenagers who were accused of theft each had a hand and a foot amputated in Mogadishu and in the southern town of Wanlaweyn a married man accused of rape and murder was buried up to his neck in sand and stoned to death by ten masked men.
In October last year a 13-year-old victim of gang rape was convicted of adultery in a Sharia court and stoned to death in the town of Kismayo, controlled by al-Shabaab, near the Kenyan border. The brutality of this informal justice has outraged human rights activists.
Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that the Islamist insurgents and government forces might be committing war crimes in renewed fighting that has killed hundreds and forced more than 200,000 civilians to flee Mogadishu since May.
“Fighters from both sides are reported to have used torture and fired mortar shells indiscriminately into areas populated or frequented by civilians. Some of these acts might amount to war crimes,” Ms Pillay said.
In moves reminiscent of the Taleban, which in 2001 destroyed two statues of Buddha, the Somali hardliners have desecrated the tombs of saints worshipped by Sufis, a mystical branch of Islam despised by the extremists but widespread among ordinary Somalis.
They have forced women to wear veils, banned dances and other events at which men and women mix and outlawed the chewing of khat, a popular drug.
Analysts said that an influx of hundreds of foreign jihadis from Britain, Pakistan and elsewhere has further radicalised al-Shabaab and transformed it into a more effective guerrilla force.
With the help of foreign fighters al-Shabaab began a fresh offensive in May, carrying out at least one suicide attack, in which a senior minister was killed in Beledweyne, near Ethiopia.
Despite a UN arms embargo imposed more than 16 years ago, the Islamists remain well supplied. Last month the African Union called for sanctions on Eritrea for arming al-Shabaab, which Eritrea denies.
Living in fear
— Somalia has been embroiled in civil war, lacking a functioning central government, for 18 years
— 18,000 civilians have been killed in the conflict since the start of 2006
— 1.2 million people are displaced within Somalia and more than 200,000 have fled to Kenya
— Less than 1 per cent of Somalia’s population is Christian, with the rest Sunni Muslim. Most Christians belong to the Roman Catholic Church or Church of the Nazarene
— Somali Christians keep a low profile, mostly worshipping in house churches, but have been the target of mob attacks and kidnappings
— A Somalian who had moved to Britain was shot dead in his home country in April last year; Daud Hassan Ali’s widow said that it was because he had converted to Christianity
— Christian pressure groups say that five Christians were killed for their religion last year
Source: Times database
The extremist al-Shabaab group is battling the interim Government in Mogadishu and has implemented a strict interpretation of Sharia in the parts of the country that it controls.
“Al-Shabaab told us that they were beheaded for being Christian followers and spies,” a relative said after the killings. A witness described seeing the decapitated bodies in the back of a lorry in the town of Baidoa.
The killings were the largest number to take place at one time. They were the latest in a series of beheadings, amputations and stonings to death ordered by al-Shabaab, which is accused of having links to al-Qaeda and is listed as a terrorist organisation by the US.
In areas that al-Shabaab controls, including most of southern Somalia and much of Mogadishu, numerous others accused of collaborating with the Government or committing crimes such as adultery, rape, theft or murder have been publicly executed, flogged or had amputations ordered in recent weeks.
“This is a worrying new development,” Roger Middleton, a Somalia analyst at Chatham House, the British foreign policy think-tank, said. “It shows that al-Shabaab is willing to use these kind of extreme punishments and that the Government has no ability to influence events on the ground in places where it has no military presence.”
President Sharif Ahmed’s Transitional Federal Government is protected by 4,300 African Union peacekeepers, backed by the United Nations and propped up by Western governments, which arm and train its forces. Its authority extends to only a small area of the capital and the roads to the port and airport.
Last month four teenagers who were accused of theft each had a hand and a foot amputated in Mogadishu and in the southern town of Wanlaweyn a married man accused of rape and murder was buried up to his neck in sand and stoned to death by ten masked men.
In October last year a 13-year-old victim of gang rape was convicted of adultery in a Sharia court and stoned to death in the town of Kismayo, controlled by al-Shabaab, near the Kenyan border. The brutality of this informal justice has outraged human rights activists.
Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that the Islamist insurgents and government forces might be committing war crimes in renewed fighting that has killed hundreds and forced more than 200,000 civilians to flee Mogadishu since May.
“Fighters from both sides are reported to have used torture and fired mortar shells indiscriminately into areas populated or frequented by civilians. Some of these acts might amount to war crimes,” Ms Pillay said.
In moves reminiscent of the Taleban, which in 2001 destroyed two statues of Buddha, the Somali hardliners have desecrated the tombs of saints worshipped by Sufis, a mystical branch of Islam despised by the extremists but widespread among ordinary Somalis.
They have forced women to wear veils, banned dances and other events at which men and women mix and outlawed the chewing of khat, a popular drug.
Analysts said that an influx of hundreds of foreign jihadis from Britain, Pakistan and elsewhere has further radicalised al-Shabaab and transformed it into a more effective guerrilla force.
With the help of foreign fighters al-Shabaab began a fresh offensive in May, carrying out at least one suicide attack, in which a senior minister was killed in Beledweyne, near Ethiopia.
Despite a UN arms embargo imposed more than 16 years ago, the Islamists remain well supplied. Last month the African Union called for sanctions on Eritrea for arming al-Shabaab, which Eritrea denies.
Living in fear
— Somalia has been embroiled in civil war, lacking a functioning central government, for 18 years
— 18,000 civilians have been killed in the conflict since the start of 2006
— 1.2 million people are displaced within Somalia and more than 200,000 have fled to Kenya
— Less than 1 per cent of Somalia’s population is Christian, with the rest Sunni Muslim. Most Christians belong to the Roman Catholic Church or Church of the Nazarene
— Somali Christians keep a low profile, mostly worshipping in house churches, but have been the target of mob attacks and kidnappings
— A Somalian who had moved to Britain was shot dead in his home country in April last year; Daud Hassan Ali’s widow said that it was because he had converted to Christianity
— Christian pressure groups say that five Christians were killed for their religion last year
Source: Times database
Obama's rallying call in Africa
Barack Obama has called for African countries to follow the democratic example during a visit to Ghana today.
On his first trip to sub-Saharan Africa as US president Obama hailed Ghana’s stable democracy saying it should be the ‘model’ for the rest of the continent.
Obama said he wanted to assure Africa it was not excluded from world affairs, but called for widespread change in its governance.
Speaking after a meeting with Ghanaian President John Atta Mills in Accra this morning Obama said: “We wanted to make sure to come to an African country after the G8 and after my business in Moscow to emphasise that Africa is not separate from world affairs.
We think that Ghana can be an extraordinary model for success throughout the continent.
"The 21st Century will be shaped by what happens not just in Rome or Moscow or Washington, but by what happens in Ghana as well.
"Development depends upon good governance.That is the ingredient which has been missing in far too many places, for far too long. And that is a responsibility that can only be met by Africans."
Ghana’s democracy, which held peaceful elections last year in which the ruling party conceded power, is seen as atypical of the coups and corruption, which blight other African nations.
President Mills welcomed Obama’s comments and said: “We like the positive signals that this visit is sending and will continue to send.”
“This encourages us also to sustain the gains that we have made in our democratic process.”
As the son of Kenyan immigrant Obama is revered by many Africans and his arrival in Ghana was greeted with cheering crowds, waving banners, billboards and posters plastered across the city.
During the 24 hour visit the president and his wife Michelle also made a trip to the Gold Coast Castle, a seaside fortress converted to the slave trade by the British in the 17th Century.
Obama said Africa’s colonial history had been the source of much conflict in the region , but could not be blamed for many of the continent's current problems
He said: "The West is not responsible for the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy over the last decade, or wars in which children are enlisted as combatants."
Source:The times
On his first trip to sub-Saharan Africa as US president Obama hailed Ghana’s stable democracy saying it should be the ‘model’ for the rest of the continent.
Obama said he wanted to assure Africa it was not excluded from world affairs, but called for widespread change in its governance.
Speaking after a meeting with Ghanaian President John Atta Mills in Accra this morning Obama said: “We wanted to make sure to come to an African country after the G8 and after my business in Moscow to emphasise that Africa is not separate from world affairs.
We think that Ghana can be an extraordinary model for success throughout the continent.
"The 21st Century will be shaped by what happens not just in Rome or Moscow or Washington, but by what happens in Ghana as well.
"Development depends upon good governance.That is the ingredient which has been missing in far too many places, for far too long. And that is a responsibility that can only be met by Africans."
Ghana’s democracy, which held peaceful elections last year in which the ruling party conceded power, is seen as atypical of the coups and corruption, which blight other African nations.
President Mills welcomed Obama’s comments and said: “We like the positive signals that this visit is sending and will continue to send.”
“This encourages us also to sustain the gains that we have made in our democratic process.”
As the son of Kenyan immigrant Obama is revered by many Africans and his arrival in Ghana was greeted with cheering crowds, waving banners, billboards and posters plastered across the city.
During the 24 hour visit the president and his wife Michelle also made a trip to the Gold Coast Castle, a seaside fortress converted to the slave trade by the British in the 17th Century.
Obama said Africa’s colonial history had been the source of much conflict in the region , but could not be blamed for many of the continent's current problems
He said: "The West is not responsible for the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy over the last decade, or wars in which children are enlisted as combatants."
Source:The times
University black hole exposed as applicants surge
Tens of thousands of capable sixthformers will miss out on university places this year because record numbers of applicants and a government freeze on places have created a crisis in the higher education system.
Talks are under way with Lord Mandelson, the Skills Secretary, in the hopes that funding for an extra 10,000 places may be found. But university heads could veto the plan after they were told that they may not get extra money to teach the additional students.
Vice-chancellors warned that competition in the clearing system would be fierce and universities will be far less lenient on students who miss their grades this year. Ucas, the university admissions service, said that almost 600,000 had applied — a rise of nearly 10 per cent on last year. The biggest rises were among mature students, with a 22 per cent increase in applications from the over-25s, possibly motivated by a desire to acquire more skills during the recession.
However, ministers have capped degree course numbers and so 50,000 able applicants will miss out this September because there is no money to fund them. University applications closed at the end of June and figures showed an extra 52,204 people compared with last year were seeking the 408,000 places on offer. But only 3,000 extra full-time undergraduate places have been made available because of a £200 million budget deficit.
Professor Les Ebdon, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bedfordshire and chairman of Million+, a think-tank that works to solve problems in higher education, said: “If the Government could find £93 million per year more in student support, many universities would be able to offer these students places.”
Sixth-formers who miss their grades in August will face the toughest fight yet for places, as most courses are now full. The clearing system, in which students who miss their grades are given a second chance, is expected to have 60 per cent fewer places on offer than last year.
Only 16,000 may be available, Million+ said. Last summer 43,000 people found places through clearing. Diana Warwick, the chief executive of Universities UK, which represents the heads of UK universities, said clearing would be “briefer and tighter” than in previous years.
The Government has threatened universities with fines if they take on more students than they are allocated. Disproportionate numbers have applied to study nursing, engineering and tourism, suggesting that demand for vocational courses is on the rise. Wendy Piatt, the director-general of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities, said: “The clampdown on student numbers this year means it is likely that Russell Group universities may have to make fewer offers in oversubscribed courses, and students who miss out on their grades are less likely to be accepted than in previous years.”
Alistair Jarvis, from the 1994 Group of research intensive universities, said: “We would like to help meet this healthy demand for university places but would need additional funding to ensure the quality of the academic experience.”
The target to put 50 per cent of young people through higher education — a mantra of new Labour — now seems an impossibility. David Willetts, the Shadow Skills Secretary, accused ministers of sleepwalking into a crisis. “Young people are becoming the biggest victims of this recession. The number of young people not in education, employment or training is already at record levels, and now we are on course to have a record number of young people refused a university place.”
David Lammy, the Universities Minister, said students who achieved the right grades would secure a place, and that the Government was working to manage increased demand.
Source:The times
Talks are under way with Lord Mandelson, the Skills Secretary, in the hopes that funding for an extra 10,000 places may be found. But university heads could veto the plan after they were told that they may not get extra money to teach the additional students.
Vice-chancellors warned that competition in the clearing system would be fierce and universities will be far less lenient on students who miss their grades this year. Ucas, the university admissions service, said that almost 600,000 had applied — a rise of nearly 10 per cent on last year. The biggest rises were among mature students, with a 22 per cent increase in applications from the over-25s, possibly motivated by a desire to acquire more skills during the recession.
However, ministers have capped degree course numbers and so 50,000 able applicants will miss out this September because there is no money to fund them. University applications closed at the end of June and figures showed an extra 52,204 people compared with last year were seeking the 408,000 places on offer. But only 3,000 extra full-time undergraduate places have been made available because of a £200 million budget deficit.
Professor Les Ebdon, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bedfordshire and chairman of Million+, a think-tank that works to solve problems in higher education, said: “If the Government could find £93 million per year more in student support, many universities would be able to offer these students places.”
Sixth-formers who miss their grades in August will face the toughest fight yet for places, as most courses are now full. The clearing system, in which students who miss their grades are given a second chance, is expected to have 60 per cent fewer places on offer than last year.
Only 16,000 may be available, Million+ said. Last summer 43,000 people found places through clearing. Diana Warwick, the chief executive of Universities UK, which represents the heads of UK universities, said clearing would be “briefer and tighter” than in previous years.
The Government has threatened universities with fines if they take on more students than they are allocated. Disproportionate numbers have applied to study nursing, engineering and tourism, suggesting that demand for vocational courses is on the rise. Wendy Piatt, the director-general of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities, said: “The clampdown on student numbers this year means it is likely that Russell Group universities may have to make fewer offers in oversubscribed courses, and students who miss out on their grades are less likely to be accepted than in previous years.”
Alistair Jarvis, from the 1994 Group of research intensive universities, said: “We would like to help meet this healthy demand for university places but would need additional funding to ensure the quality of the academic experience.”
The target to put 50 per cent of young people through higher education — a mantra of new Labour — now seems an impossibility. David Willetts, the Shadow Skills Secretary, accused ministers of sleepwalking into a crisis. “Young people are becoming the biggest victims of this recession. The number of young people not in education, employment or training is already at record levels, and now we are on course to have a record number of young people refused a university place.”
David Lammy, the Universities Minister, said students who achieved the right grades would secure a place, and that the Government was working to manage increased demand.
Source:The times
Swine flu claims life of first victim without other health problems
A previously healthy man has died in hospital after contracting swine flu, bringing the total number of deaths in Britain linked to the virus to 15.
The patient, from Essex, is the first person without an underlying health condition to die from swine flu complications. NHS East of England confirmed that the man had died at Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The patient’s family did not want further details to be released last night.
Regional health officials said: “This case tragically underlines that, although the virus is generally mild in most people, it is more severe in some cases. As with all flu-like viruses, some people are at higher risk than others. People who are otherwise healthy could become seriously ill or die.”
Sir Liam Donaldson, the Government’s Chief Medical Officer, said that until yesterday all the patients who had died had other health problems, but their exact medical details or whether an H1N1 infection contributed to the deaths is not known in some cases.
At least 43 people were said to be in “critical care” yesterday after becoming infected, and 335 were being treated in hospital.
John Oxford, Professor of Virology at Queen Mary’s College of Medicine in London, said that the man’s death did not give any extra cause for concern. “We have all been gritting our teeth, waiting for this to happen. This doesn’t necessarily mean the virus has mutated,” he said.
“Whether more patients with no underlying health problems die of the disease really depends on what the virus does next.”
People with suspected swine flu could be allowed to take up to two weeks off work without a doctor’s note, under plans for dealing with the pandemic being discussed by the Government. Employees are at present allowed to sign themselves off sick for up to seven days.
Rates of illness are already approaching epidemic levels in London and the West Midlands, and doctors say that several million people could become ill with the onset of seasonal flu in the autumn and winter.
The proposals to extend sick leave, reported in Personnel Today magazine, would stay in place for six months in an effort to contain the spread of the virus. However, business leaders fear that workers could abuse the system and see the changes as a “freedom pass” to taking time off.
Previous estimates suggest that widespread H1N1 infections could cost employers £1.5 billion a day as up to a quarter of the workforce take time off.
At least 27,000 people contacted their GP to complain of “flu-like illness” last week, but laboratory reports suggest that only 28 per cent of those, about 8,000 people, had the swine flu virus.
Those with symptoms such as a high temperature, dry cough and general feeling of weariness are encouraged to stay at home and contact health services by phone.
Professor Sayeed Khan, chief medical adviser at the manufacturers’ body EEF, said: “The advice is not to visit your GP if you get swine flu. Being realistic, there will be some people who think, ‘I’ve got a bit of a cold’ and will stay off work. There’s nothing you can do to fix that.”
The Department for Work and Pensions said: “We don’t want people to feel obliged to leave the home or return to work when they are still unwell or put an unnecessary burden on GPs in a pandemic. Contingency plans therefore include the possibility of extending self-certification to 14 days for a limited period.”
Employers’ groups admitted that short-term measures to contain swine flu were likely to be necessary. Neil Carberry, head of employment policy at the CBI, said: “The CBI has had a number of discussions with the Department of Health about this. Employers need to be thinking through their business resilience plans in the face of the threat of a pandemic.”
Source:The times
The patient, from Essex, is the first person without an underlying health condition to die from swine flu complications. NHS East of England confirmed that the man had died at Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The patient’s family did not want further details to be released last night.
Regional health officials said: “This case tragically underlines that, although the virus is generally mild in most people, it is more severe in some cases. As with all flu-like viruses, some people are at higher risk than others. People who are otherwise healthy could become seriously ill or die.”
Sir Liam Donaldson, the Government’s Chief Medical Officer, said that until yesterday all the patients who had died had other health problems, but their exact medical details or whether an H1N1 infection contributed to the deaths is not known in some cases.
At least 43 people were said to be in “critical care” yesterday after becoming infected, and 335 were being treated in hospital.
John Oxford, Professor of Virology at Queen Mary’s College of Medicine in London, said that the man’s death did not give any extra cause for concern. “We have all been gritting our teeth, waiting for this to happen. This doesn’t necessarily mean the virus has mutated,” he said.
“Whether more patients with no underlying health problems die of the disease really depends on what the virus does next.”
People with suspected swine flu could be allowed to take up to two weeks off work without a doctor’s note, under plans for dealing with the pandemic being discussed by the Government. Employees are at present allowed to sign themselves off sick for up to seven days.
Rates of illness are already approaching epidemic levels in London and the West Midlands, and doctors say that several million people could become ill with the onset of seasonal flu in the autumn and winter.
The proposals to extend sick leave, reported in Personnel Today magazine, would stay in place for six months in an effort to contain the spread of the virus. However, business leaders fear that workers could abuse the system and see the changes as a “freedom pass” to taking time off.
Previous estimates suggest that widespread H1N1 infections could cost employers £1.5 billion a day as up to a quarter of the workforce take time off.
At least 27,000 people contacted their GP to complain of “flu-like illness” last week, but laboratory reports suggest that only 28 per cent of those, about 8,000 people, had the swine flu virus.
Those with symptoms such as a high temperature, dry cough and general feeling of weariness are encouraged to stay at home and contact health services by phone.
Professor Sayeed Khan, chief medical adviser at the manufacturers’ body EEF, said: “The advice is not to visit your GP if you get swine flu. Being realistic, there will be some people who think, ‘I’ve got a bit of a cold’ and will stay off work. There’s nothing you can do to fix that.”
The Department for Work and Pensions said: “We don’t want people to feel obliged to leave the home or return to work when they are still unwell or put an unnecessary burden on GPs in a pandemic. Contingency plans therefore include the possibility of extending self-certification to 14 days for a limited period.”
Employers’ groups admitted that short-term measures to contain swine flu were likely to be necessary. Neil Carberry, head of employment policy at the CBI, said: “The CBI has had a number of discussions with the Department of Health about this. Employers need to be thinking through their business resilience plans in the face of the threat of a pandemic.”
Source:The times
Gordon Brown insists Afghan war being won
Gordon Brown today insisted the UK is winning the war in Afghanistan despite a surge in the deaths of British soldiers.
The Prime Minister claims troop morale remains high despite the deaths of eight soldiers in the space of 24 hours.
In a letter to senior MPs Brown acknowledged the ‘tragic loss’, but said current operations against the Taliban were succeeding.
The death toll in Afghanistan since combat began in 2001 has now reached 184, overtaking the 179 killed in Iraq.
Fifteen soldiers have died in the last ten days following the launch of Operation Panther’s Claw, which aims to rid Helmand of Taleban insurgents ahead of the presidential elections.
Writing to the Commons Liaison Committee Brown said: “Despite the tragic losses, morale remains high - and I can report the assessment of commanders on the ground: that the current operations are succeeding in their objectives.”
“They are having a marked impact on the Taliban in central Helmand, will improve security for the population in the run up to the elections, and will allow longer term work on governance and development to begin.”
The escalating death toll has led to questions over the UK armed forces’ continuing presence in the country.
Brown said securing Afghanistan was essential to prevent the ‘return of al Qaida’.
He said: “While I know there are some who have questioned our strategy, I continue to believe our strategy is the right one,” he said.
“It has been a very difficult summer and it is not over. But if we are to deny Helmand to the Taliban in the long term; if we are to help Afghanistan and Pakistan to defeat this vicious insurgency and prevent the return of al Qaida - then it is vital that the international community sees its commitment through.”
Earlier today foreign secretary David Miliband also stressed the importance of staying in Afghanistan saying the ‘future of Britain’ was dependant on victory.
Five soldiers from the Battalion The Rifles were killed in two blasts near Sangin yesterday, just hours after another soldier 2nd Royal Tank Regiment had died near Nad Ali in Helmand.
The evening before one solider, of the 4th Battalion The Rifles, also on foot patrol near Nad Ali, were killed by hidden explosive devices, while a second, from Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment, was shot down near Lashkar Gah.
Source:The times
The Prime Minister claims troop morale remains high despite the deaths of eight soldiers in the space of 24 hours.
In a letter to senior MPs Brown acknowledged the ‘tragic loss’, but said current operations against the Taliban were succeeding.
The death toll in Afghanistan since combat began in 2001 has now reached 184, overtaking the 179 killed in Iraq.
Fifteen soldiers have died in the last ten days following the launch of Operation Panther’s Claw, which aims to rid Helmand of Taleban insurgents ahead of the presidential elections.
Writing to the Commons Liaison Committee Brown said: “Despite the tragic losses, morale remains high - and I can report the assessment of commanders on the ground: that the current operations are succeeding in their objectives.”
“They are having a marked impact on the Taliban in central Helmand, will improve security for the population in the run up to the elections, and will allow longer term work on governance and development to begin.”
The escalating death toll has led to questions over the UK armed forces’ continuing presence in the country.
Brown said securing Afghanistan was essential to prevent the ‘return of al Qaida’.
He said: “While I know there are some who have questioned our strategy, I continue to believe our strategy is the right one,” he said.
“It has been a very difficult summer and it is not over. But if we are to deny Helmand to the Taliban in the long term; if we are to help Afghanistan and Pakistan to defeat this vicious insurgency and prevent the return of al Qaida - then it is vital that the international community sees its commitment through.”
Earlier today foreign secretary David Miliband also stressed the importance of staying in Afghanistan saying the ‘future of Britain’ was dependant on victory.
Five soldiers from the Battalion The Rifles were killed in two blasts near Sangin yesterday, just hours after another soldier 2nd Royal Tank Regiment had died near Nad Ali in Helmand.
The evening before one solider, of the 4th Battalion The Rifles, also on foot patrol near Nad Ali, were killed by hidden explosive devices, while a second, from Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment, was shot down near Lashkar Gah.
Source:The times
Saturday, July 4, 2009
BT in bid to cut staff pay in return for holidays
BT is asking its staff to take a 75% pay cut in return for long-term holidays to help the company ride-out the recession.
British Telecom is offering workers the chance to take a year off if they accept a fraction of their salary as an upfront payment.
It is part of a raft of measures being introduced by BT to cut costs until the economy improves without having to resort to further redundancies.
The former state telecom company, which employs more the 100,000 people, posted £1.3billion losses for the first quarter of this year.
Other options available to staff include a one-off payment of £1000 for going part-time and giving the parents the opportunity to work around their childrens' school holidays.
BT cut 15,000 jobs this year, mostly in the UK, and claims these ‘extremely progressive’ measures are necessary to save further losses.
A spokesman said: “BT is known for it’s progressive human resources policies with flexible working.”
“Being one of the largest employers in the UK, I think this is an extremely progressive way of managing costs during recessions, rather than making redundancies.”
Many UK employers are now looking at ways to reduce their wage bill, while avoiding the high costs of recruiting a new workforce once the economy improves or the bad publicity which comes with laying off staff.
Last month British Airways, which has posted annual losses of £401 million, asked their staff to work without pay to help the company.
The appeal, sent by e-mail to more than 30,000 workers in the UK, asked them to volunteer for between one week and one month's unpaid leave, or unpaid work.
Source:The times
British Telecom is offering workers the chance to take a year off if they accept a fraction of their salary as an upfront payment.
It is part of a raft of measures being introduced by BT to cut costs until the economy improves without having to resort to further redundancies.
The former state telecom company, which employs more the 100,000 people, posted £1.3billion losses for the first quarter of this year.
Other options available to staff include a one-off payment of £1000 for going part-time and giving the parents the opportunity to work around their childrens' school holidays.
BT cut 15,000 jobs this year, mostly in the UK, and claims these ‘extremely progressive’ measures are necessary to save further losses.
A spokesman said: “BT is known for it’s progressive human resources policies with flexible working.”
“Being one of the largest employers in the UK, I think this is an extremely progressive way of managing costs during recessions, rather than making redundancies.”
Many UK employers are now looking at ways to reduce their wage bill, while avoiding the high costs of recruiting a new workforce once the economy improves or the bad publicity which comes with laying off staff.
Last month British Airways, which has posted annual losses of £401 million, asked their staff to work without pay to help the company.
The appeal, sent by e-mail to more than 30,000 workers in the UK, asked them to volunteer for between one week and one month's unpaid leave, or unpaid work.
Source:The times
Briton Michael Garveigh accused in US of impersonating MI5 agent
With his links to the Royal Family, his international lifestyle and his impressive physique, Michael Garveigh was the perfect British secret agent.
When the wealthy businessman was introduced to American police as an MI5 officer who required help in an antiterrorism operation, there was no reason to doubt him. But he has been accused of posing as an intelligence officer to trick the police into helping to carry out robberies by removing cash from houses supposedly used by terrorists.
Mr Garveigh, 45, a former classmate of the Earl of Wessex, has been arrested on a charge of impersonating a foreign official, but he insists he is the innocent victim of a sophisticated fraud.
The FBI says that the British businessman and an American friend pretended to be part of a special counter-terrorism task force during meetings with two city police forces on the outskirts of Atlanta, Georgia. Mr Garveigh, who has an American wife, has lived in Georgia for the past four years.
The two men are alleged to have requested help from senior officers to recover terrorists’ money during raids at several locations scheduled for the week starting today, Independence Day.
The friend, Louis Aprile, claimed to be a regional deputy director of the National Security Agency during at least five meetings with police officers in the cities of Alpharetta and Marietta. According to an affidavit by FBI Special Agent Matthew Carman, he was accompanied to at least three meetings by Mr Garveigh, who was portrayed as a British intelligence officer.
Mr Aprile, 49, told the police they were investigating a terrorist group with cells in Detroit, Michigan and Britain that planned to buy milk trucks in Florida and pack them with explosives, it is alleged. During one meeting Mr Garveigh left the room to receive phone calls. He returned from one saying that British officials, including himself, were being scrambled to deal with North Korea’s nuclear test.
Although the police officers were instructed not to contact anyone about the top-secret operation, someone consulted the FBI, which discovered that neither man was a secret agent. A final meeting between the pair and the police was recorded secretly by the FBI. During the meeting Mr Aprile revealed the locations of three addresses to be raided.
Katherine Hoffer, an assistant US attorney, said: “I’ve seen impersonating cases but this one is pretty elaborate. They’ve offered some explanations but nothing that really had any merit.”
An FBI agent involved in the investigation said: “I’ve never seen two such clever guys do something so stupid. It was a very bold attempt to scam a police department to help them carry out a crime.” He claimed that the men had told officers they wanted to recover large sums of money from the locations of the raids, while the police would have the glory of arresting dangerous terrorists.
The FBI has refused to reveal the intended locations of the alleged raids. However, Brian Will, who lives near the Garveigh family, believes he was one of the targets. He said that he had sued Mr Garveigh for $100,000 after he failed to complete a $150,000 project to install a security system at his home.
After their arrest Mr Aprile was described as a software contractor and Mr Garveigh as a self-employed commodities broker. Each has been released on bail of $20,000. They have said they intend to deny any wrongdoing.
Mr Garveigh is from a wealthy Anglo-Portuguese family that has made a fortune from development of the Algarve. He was educated in Britain and was in the same year as Prince Edward at Gordonstoun, the Scottish public school, which was also attended by the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York. After attending Loughborough University he returned to Portugal to set up a landscaping business.
Four years ago Mr Garveigh moved to Georgia with his American wife, Victoria, and their son and set up a business supplying internet wireless services. The family lives in a gated community in Roswell, a smart suburb of Atlanta.
Friends say they are amazed at the allegations surrounding Mr Garveigh. Anthony Carlyle, a former director of Mr Gaveigh’s British subsidiary, said: “He is a great guy and totally honest. He would never get involved in crime. It is totally laughable. I suppose he was a bit like James Bond but he is the most down-to-earth person.”
Mawuli Mel Davis, Mr Garveigh’s lawyer, said: “My client is as much a victim in this as anyone else. He has been misled by someone he trusted and he will be cleared of all criminal charges. The person he trusted told law enforcement officers that he was a British intelligence officer and Mr Garveigh did not correct that impression. But he thought he was legitimately helping an investigation.”
Source:The times
When the wealthy businessman was introduced to American police as an MI5 officer who required help in an antiterrorism operation, there was no reason to doubt him. But he has been accused of posing as an intelligence officer to trick the police into helping to carry out robberies by removing cash from houses supposedly used by terrorists.
Mr Garveigh, 45, a former classmate of the Earl of Wessex, has been arrested on a charge of impersonating a foreign official, but he insists he is the innocent victim of a sophisticated fraud.
The FBI says that the British businessman and an American friend pretended to be part of a special counter-terrorism task force during meetings with two city police forces on the outskirts of Atlanta, Georgia. Mr Garveigh, who has an American wife, has lived in Georgia for the past four years.
The two men are alleged to have requested help from senior officers to recover terrorists’ money during raids at several locations scheduled for the week starting today, Independence Day.
The friend, Louis Aprile, claimed to be a regional deputy director of the National Security Agency during at least five meetings with police officers in the cities of Alpharetta and Marietta. According to an affidavit by FBI Special Agent Matthew Carman, he was accompanied to at least three meetings by Mr Garveigh, who was portrayed as a British intelligence officer.
Mr Aprile, 49, told the police they were investigating a terrorist group with cells in Detroit, Michigan and Britain that planned to buy milk trucks in Florida and pack them with explosives, it is alleged. During one meeting Mr Garveigh left the room to receive phone calls. He returned from one saying that British officials, including himself, were being scrambled to deal with North Korea’s nuclear test.
Although the police officers were instructed not to contact anyone about the top-secret operation, someone consulted the FBI, which discovered that neither man was a secret agent. A final meeting between the pair and the police was recorded secretly by the FBI. During the meeting Mr Aprile revealed the locations of three addresses to be raided.
Katherine Hoffer, an assistant US attorney, said: “I’ve seen impersonating cases but this one is pretty elaborate. They’ve offered some explanations but nothing that really had any merit.”
An FBI agent involved in the investigation said: “I’ve never seen two such clever guys do something so stupid. It was a very bold attempt to scam a police department to help them carry out a crime.” He claimed that the men had told officers they wanted to recover large sums of money from the locations of the raids, while the police would have the glory of arresting dangerous terrorists.
The FBI has refused to reveal the intended locations of the alleged raids. However, Brian Will, who lives near the Garveigh family, believes he was one of the targets. He said that he had sued Mr Garveigh for $100,000 after he failed to complete a $150,000 project to install a security system at his home.
After their arrest Mr Aprile was described as a software contractor and Mr Garveigh as a self-employed commodities broker. Each has been released on bail of $20,000. They have said they intend to deny any wrongdoing.
Mr Garveigh is from a wealthy Anglo-Portuguese family that has made a fortune from development of the Algarve. He was educated in Britain and was in the same year as Prince Edward at Gordonstoun, the Scottish public school, which was also attended by the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York. After attending Loughborough University he returned to Portugal to set up a landscaping business.
Four years ago Mr Garveigh moved to Georgia with his American wife, Victoria, and their son and set up a business supplying internet wireless services. The family lives in a gated community in Roswell, a smart suburb of Atlanta.
Friends say they are amazed at the allegations surrounding Mr Garveigh. Anthony Carlyle, a former director of Mr Gaveigh’s British subsidiary, said: “He is a great guy and totally honest. He would never get involved in crime. It is totally laughable. I suppose he was a bit like James Bond but he is the most down-to-earth person.”
Mawuli Mel Davis, Mr Garveigh’s lawyer, said: “My client is as much a victim in this as anyone else. He has been misled by someone he trusted and he will be cleared of all criminal charges. The person he trusted told law enforcement officers that he was a British intelligence officer and Mr Garveigh did not correct that impression. But he thought he was legitimately helping an investigation.”
Source:The times
Los Angeles profits from Michael Jackson stimulus
Los Angeles is a city in mourning. And by that we mean Los Angeles is a city with dollar-signs spinning in its neon eyeballs, thanking its lucky stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for the Celebrity Death of the Century. What with the housing market and the Dow Jones and the unemployment figures, it couldn’t have come at a better time.
With only three days to go before the Funeral To End All Funerals — or the Memorial To End All Memorials, as it might more accurately be called — this city has suddenly found itself the direct recipient of what can only be termed the 2009 Michael Jackson Stimulus Package.
And just how stimulating is Tuesday’s $25-per-head deathapalooza at the Staples Centre going to be? “It’s going to be huge. Massive,” promises Brian Oxman, one of the singer’s less publicity-shy former lawyers.
In fact, up to a million people from across the globe are already supposedly on their way. Tuesday was chosen as the date, because on Wednesday the venue had already been booked — by a circus, of all things.
The money generated by all this will be staggering. Think of the flowers that will have to be shipped in. Think of the hot dogs that will have to be eaten. Think of the novelty bobble-heads that will have to be purchased. More than any of that, think of all those hourly lawyers’ and publicists’ fees that will have to be billed, and the new Mercedes AMGs and Viking kitchen appliances that will undoubtedly be purchased once the cheques have cleared.
To see what’s happening to this city all you need to do is elbow your way through the crowds on Hollywood Boulevard: Jackson has done for LA what TARP (troubled asset relief programme) did for Wall Street. A fortnight ago the place was half empty. Now it’s a zoo. Jackson impersonators are on every corner. Thriller is blaring from every bursting-at-the-the-seams tourist emporium. And the queue for the StarLine tour, which will take you (via open-topped bus) to the points of historical interest in Michael Jackson’s life, is snaking around the block.
The frenzy is such that many well-wishers ended up laying flowers at the wrong star on the Walk of Fame last weekend — they didn’t realise that there are, or were, two Michael Jacksons, one of them a radio talk-show host born in Britain — and that the other one’s star had been covered up by red carpet for the premier of Brüno, the new Sacha Baron Cohen film.
But it’s all good for business.
You can only imagine the guilty smiles in the boardroom of Merlin Entertainments Group, which at the height of the housing bubble bought Madame Tussauds for £1 billion and then proceeded to build a multilevel, 44,000 sq ft museum next to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre — just in time for the world’s economy to collapse. It is due to open in three weeks. And thanks to Jackomania it might actually end up paying for itself. LA hasn’t been on people’s minds so much since Paris Hilton went to jail.
Every day this week Anderson Cooper — the matinee idol of America’s cable news business — has been broadcasting on the roof of the CNN building, posing in golden sunlight against the backdrop of the Hollywood sign. A city can’t buy that kind of advertising. Especially not LA, which has been so ravaged by the economy that it can barely afford to keep the traffic lights switched on at night.
But the real financial beneficiaries of Jackson’s death have yet to be decided. For now, the talk from his family, friends and lawyers might be about toxicology reports and child custody arrangements, but the issue with perhaps the most lasting consequences will be the place of Jackson’s burial — which will undoubtedly become a Disneyland-style franchise that will generate vast sums of money, every day, of every year, in perpetuity. While the sideshow of the Staples Centre memorial goes on, this is what the real power-brokers of LA will be talking about.
Neverland is the natural choice. Jackson’s brother, Jermaine, has made it clear that this is his first choice — although it is doubtful how much clout he has within the clan. He told a cable news channel on Thursday night: “I really feel this is where he should be rested because it’s him. It’s serene.” For the most part, tourism experts agree. Roger Brooks, CEO of Destination Development International, said: “Neverland embodied who Michael Jackson was — the good and the bad. I think it could draw about one million visitors a year.” He added that Neverland clearly had the capacity for a such a role because it was significantly bigger than Graceland, the former home of Elvis Presley in Memphis that for years has operated successfully as a multimillion-dollar cash machine.
But turning Neverland into a mini-Disneyland would have profound consequences for the rustic wine country of the Santa Ynez Valley that surrounds it — as the hundreds of journalists who attempted to book hotel rooms in the nearby town of Los Olivos discovered.
Put simply, there aren’t any hotel rooms. And the hotels and yuppie B&Bs that do exist in the surrounding towns of Solvang and Buellton sold out within hours of rumours emerging that a wake would be held up there this weekend.
Another problem: Neverland, which is three hours away from LA, isn’t even accessible via a fully paved road. It’s halfway up a dirt track in a bear reserve — which presumably helped to keep paparazzi away. For a million people to go there every year would at the very least require a new two-lane highway to be built.
Added to that, Neverland has also been stripped bare because of Jackson’s financial problems before his death. “We removed everything — the gates, the fireplaces, the chandeliers,” says Darren Julien, who was hired by the singer to help to organise an auction of his possessions. It’s not clear who now owns all the stuff, or if the new operators of Neverland would have to buy it back. Given all this, it was no surprise when the Jackson family cancelled the public wake that was supposed to be held at Neverland this weekend.
But what now? There are two obvious places for Jackson to be buried in LA. First is the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, on Santa Monica Boulevard by the 101-freeway, which was satirised by the British novelist Evelyn Waugh in his 1948 novel The Loved One. If only Waugh could see the place now. If enough money changes hands you can create a tomb that resembles Superman’s Fortress of Solitude. With the resources of the Jackson estate involved the mind boggles at what could be achieved.
But a more likely resting place is LA’s other great resting place: the Forest Lawn Memorial Park, on the valley side of the Hollywood Hills, overlooking Warner Bros studios. No other funeral home — not even Hollywood Forever — is quite as skilled in the industry of death, and out-of-town visitors could easily be catered for and accommodated by the vast University Studios complex only a few blocks away.
Forest Lawn’s motto: “Celebrate a Life”. It even comes with an asterisk, reminding you that it’s a trademark.
Source:The times
With only three days to go before the Funeral To End All Funerals — or the Memorial To End All Memorials, as it might more accurately be called — this city has suddenly found itself the direct recipient of what can only be termed the 2009 Michael Jackson Stimulus Package.
And just how stimulating is Tuesday’s $25-per-head deathapalooza at the Staples Centre going to be? “It’s going to be huge. Massive,” promises Brian Oxman, one of the singer’s less publicity-shy former lawyers.
In fact, up to a million people from across the globe are already supposedly on their way. Tuesday was chosen as the date, because on Wednesday the venue had already been booked — by a circus, of all things.
The money generated by all this will be staggering. Think of the flowers that will have to be shipped in. Think of the hot dogs that will have to be eaten. Think of the novelty bobble-heads that will have to be purchased. More than any of that, think of all those hourly lawyers’ and publicists’ fees that will have to be billed, and the new Mercedes AMGs and Viking kitchen appliances that will undoubtedly be purchased once the cheques have cleared.
To see what’s happening to this city all you need to do is elbow your way through the crowds on Hollywood Boulevard: Jackson has done for LA what TARP (troubled asset relief programme) did for Wall Street. A fortnight ago the place was half empty. Now it’s a zoo. Jackson impersonators are on every corner. Thriller is blaring from every bursting-at-the-the-seams tourist emporium. And the queue for the StarLine tour, which will take you (via open-topped bus) to the points of historical interest in Michael Jackson’s life, is snaking around the block.
The frenzy is such that many well-wishers ended up laying flowers at the wrong star on the Walk of Fame last weekend — they didn’t realise that there are, or were, two Michael Jacksons, one of them a radio talk-show host born in Britain — and that the other one’s star had been covered up by red carpet for the premier of Brüno, the new Sacha Baron Cohen film.
But it’s all good for business.
You can only imagine the guilty smiles in the boardroom of Merlin Entertainments Group, which at the height of the housing bubble bought Madame Tussauds for £1 billion and then proceeded to build a multilevel, 44,000 sq ft museum next to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre — just in time for the world’s economy to collapse. It is due to open in three weeks. And thanks to Jackomania it might actually end up paying for itself. LA hasn’t been on people’s minds so much since Paris Hilton went to jail.
Every day this week Anderson Cooper — the matinee idol of America’s cable news business — has been broadcasting on the roof of the CNN building, posing in golden sunlight against the backdrop of the Hollywood sign. A city can’t buy that kind of advertising. Especially not LA, which has been so ravaged by the economy that it can barely afford to keep the traffic lights switched on at night.
But the real financial beneficiaries of Jackson’s death have yet to be decided. For now, the talk from his family, friends and lawyers might be about toxicology reports and child custody arrangements, but the issue with perhaps the most lasting consequences will be the place of Jackson’s burial — which will undoubtedly become a Disneyland-style franchise that will generate vast sums of money, every day, of every year, in perpetuity. While the sideshow of the Staples Centre memorial goes on, this is what the real power-brokers of LA will be talking about.
Neverland is the natural choice. Jackson’s brother, Jermaine, has made it clear that this is his first choice — although it is doubtful how much clout he has within the clan. He told a cable news channel on Thursday night: “I really feel this is where he should be rested because it’s him. It’s serene.” For the most part, tourism experts agree. Roger Brooks, CEO of Destination Development International, said: “Neverland embodied who Michael Jackson was — the good and the bad. I think it could draw about one million visitors a year.” He added that Neverland clearly had the capacity for a such a role because it was significantly bigger than Graceland, the former home of Elvis Presley in Memphis that for years has operated successfully as a multimillion-dollar cash machine.
But turning Neverland into a mini-Disneyland would have profound consequences for the rustic wine country of the Santa Ynez Valley that surrounds it — as the hundreds of journalists who attempted to book hotel rooms in the nearby town of Los Olivos discovered.
Put simply, there aren’t any hotel rooms. And the hotels and yuppie B&Bs that do exist in the surrounding towns of Solvang and Buellton sold out within hours of rumours emerging that a wake would be held up there this weekend.
Another problem: Neverland, which is three hours away from LA, isn’t even accessible via a fully paved road. It’s halfway up a dirt track in a bear reserve — which presumably helped to keep paparazzi away. For a million people to go there every year would at the very least require a new two-lane highway to be built.
Added to that, Neverland has also been stripped bare because of Jackson’s financial problems before his death. “We removed everything — the gates, the fireplaces, the chandeliers,” says Darren Julien, who was hired by the singer to help to organise an auction of his possessions. It’s not clear who now owns all the stuff, or if the new operators of Neverland would have to buy it back. Given all this, it was no surprise when the Jackson family cancelled the public wake that was supposed to be held at Neverland this weekend.
But what now? There are two obvious places for Jackson to be buried in LA. First is the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, on Santa Monica Boulevard by the 101-freeway, which was satirised by the British novelist Evelyn Waugh in his 1948 novel The Loved One. If only Waugh could see the place now. If enough money changes hands you can create a tomb that resembles Superman’s Fortress of Solitude. With the resources of the Jackson estate involved the mind boggles at what could be achieved.
But a more likely resting place is LA’s other great resting place: the Forest Lawn Memorial Park, on the valley side of the Hollywood Hills, overlooking Warner Bros studios. No other funeral home — not even Hollywood Forever — is quite as skilled in the industry of death, and out-of-town visitors could easily be catered for and accommodated by the vast University Studios complex only a few blocks away.
Forest Lawn’s motto: “Celebrate a Life”. It even comes with an asterisk, reminding you that it’s a trademark.
Source:The times
Sarah Palin hints at White House bid by quitting as governor of Alaska
Sarah Palin set off a storm of speculation about an imminent White House bid when she said yesterday that she was stepping down as governor of Alaska.
Americans were stunned by the surprise announcement, made from her home in Wasilla, Alaska, on the eve of Independence Day celebrations.
There has been intense speculation in recent weeks that Mrs Palin was considering running for the Republican nomination in 2012, bolstered by heavy hints she dropped earlier this week in the guise of an interview about jogging.
Few expected her not to see out her first term as governor where, despite her polarising effect, she was seen as a shoo-in for re-election.
Mrs Palin’s announcement that she will stand down on July 25, handing the reins to the state’s Lieutenant Governor, had some commentators questioning whether another scandal surrounding herself and her family was about to break, after the 2008 campaign revelations about the pregnancy of her teenage daughter and an embarrassing ethics investigation into allegations she sacked a state official over a family feud.
The first investigation by the state legislature into the scandal — popularly known as Troopergate — found her guilty of breaching ethics, prompting Mrs Palin to order a second investigation by a special counsel which cleared her of wrongdoing.
The resignation also sparked a flurry of speculation that she might seek a Senate seat in 2010 as a prelude to a White House run in 2012.
Critics branded it a high-risk strategy for a future in public life, inviting criticism that she is not capable of finishing the job she started. Mrs Palin has a reputation for doing things her way and refusing to take advice of more experienced political operatives.
Much of the criticism that dogged her during her vice-presidential campaign in November centred on her parochialism and lack of national and international experience — something she might seek to improve on a national stage.
In a pointed reference to her recently expanded international experience, she said that her decision had been bolstered by a trip to visit American troops serving in Kosovo, and to the US military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, where wounded servicemen and women from Iraq and Afghanistan are treated.
Her announcement came days after the publication of a damning Vanity Fair profile in which McCain campaign workers turned on her, blaming her “narcissistic personality disorder” for sinking the campaign.
Todd Purdum, the author, described Mrs Palin’s public life as “an unholy amalgam between Desperate Housewives and Northern Exposure”, a cult Nineties comedy about Alaska and mocked her for once saying: “Believe me, Alaska is a microcosm of America.” “Believe me, it is not,” he wrote.
Her voice shaking Mrs Palin told journalists that she was stepping down for the good of Alaskans, expressing her anger at the battering the state has taken in the press as a by-product of her governorship.
“I’m not going to put Alaskans through that,” she said. “That’s not what’s best for Alaskans. She addedthat she believed she could be more effective “outside government”. She later she corrected her remarks to “outside the governor’s office”, leaving the door back to public life ajar.
Mrs Palin has courted so much attention on the national stage of late — leading parades and appearing on national talk shows — that she has attracted criticism in her home state for failing to serve their needs. The former Alaskan governor, Wally Hickel, Mrs Palin’s mentor, broke with his protegee over what he saw as her over-arching personal ambition.
“When Governor Palin was elected in 2006 we believed she would put Alaska first. But once elected, she put Sarah first,” he said in a statement last month. “Because of her national ambitions she is promoting an agenda that will allow outside corporations to dominate Alaska’s resources, including our energy and the jobs it provides.”
Mrs Palin said her decision had been made with the encouragement of her family. “Much of it had to do with the kids seeing their baby brother Trig mocked by some pretty mean-spirited adults,” she said, a reference to her youngest child who suffers from Down’s syndrome.
In fact it was Mrs Palin who came in for criticism for taking a risky flight when in labour and embarking on a vice-presidential campaign when he was only four months old.
Mrs Palin’s presidential ambitions horrify as many Republicans as they delight.
Pit bull hockey mom
— Born in Idaho on February 11, 1964, Sarah Palin has lived in Alaska since she was three months old
— She once worked as a commercial fisherman with her husband, Todd, her high-school sweetheart and a native Yup’ik Eskimo
— Likes hunting, fishing, and eating moose burgers
— A keen runner who named the first of her five children Track
— She is a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association and was runner-up in the Miss Alaska beauty contest in 1984
— A devout Christian opposed to abortion rights
— Took office in 2006 as Alaska’s youngest governor and first woman to hold the post. “As governor I’ve stood up to politics as usual,” she said. “I’ve stopped wasteful spending, cut taxes, and put the people first”
— Admitted that she smoked marijuana when it was legal in Alaska — but didnt like it
— Gave birth in April 2008 to her son, Trig, after refusing to let the results of prenatal testing that showed he had Down’s syndrome affect her decision to have the baby
— Launching her Vice-Presidential campaign in August 2008 she said: “I was your average hockey mom in Alaska”
Source: Times database, Reuters
Americans were stunned by the surprise announcement, made from her home in Wasilla, Alaska, on the eve of Independence Day celebrations.
There has been intense speculation in recent weeks that Mrs Palin was considering running for the Republican nomination in 2012, bolstered by heavy hints she dropped earlier this week in the guise of an interview about jogging.
Few expected her not to see out her first term as governor where, despite her polarising effect, she was seen as a shoo-in for re-election.
Mrs Palin’s announcement that she will stand down on July 25, handing the reins to the state’s Lieutenant Governor, had some commentators questioning whether another scandal surrounding herself and her family was about to break, after the 2008 campaign revelations about the pregnancy of her teenage daughter and an embarrassing ethics investigation into allegations she sacked a state official over a family feud.
The first investigation by the state legislature into the scandal — popularly known as Troopergate — found her guilty of breaching ethics, prompting Mrs Palin to order a second investigation by a special counsel which cleared her of wrongdoing.
The resignation also sparked a flurry of speculation that she might seek a Senate seat in 2010 as a prelude to a White House run in 2012.
Critics branded it a high-risk strategy for a future in public life, inviting criticism that she is not capable of finishing the job she started. Mrs Palin has a reputation for doing things her way and refusing to take advice of more experienced political operatives.
Much of the criticism that dogged her during her vice-presidential campaign in November centred on her parochialism and lack of national and international experience — something she might seek to improve on a national stage.
In a pointed reference to her recently expanded international experience, she said that her decision had been bolstered by a trip to visit American troops serving in Kosovo, and to the US military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, where wounded servicemen and women from Iraq and Afghanistan are treated.
Her announcement came days after the publication of a damning Vanity Fair profile in which McCain campaign workers turned on her, blaming her “narcissistic personality disorder” for sinking the campaign.
Todd Purdum, the author, described Mrs Palin’s public life as “an unholy amalgam between Desperate Housewives and Northern Exposure”, a cult Nineties comedy about Alaska and mocked her for once saying: “Believe me, Alaska is a microcosm of America.” “Believe me, it is not,” he wrote.
Her voice shaking Mrs Palin told journalists that she was stepping down for the good of Alaskans, expressing her anger at the battering the state has taken in the press as a by-product of her governorship.
“I’m not going to put Alaskans through that,” she said. “That’s not what’s best for Alaskans. She addedthat she believed she could be more effective “outside government”. She later she corrected her remarks to “outside the governor’s office”, leaving the door back to public life ajar.
Mrs Palin has courted so much attention on the national stage of late — leading parades and appearing on national talk shows — that she has attracted criticism in her home state for failing to serve their needs. The former Alaskan governor, Wally Hickel, Mrs Palin’s mentor, broke with his protegee over what he saw as her over-arching personal ambition.
“When Governor Palin was elected in 2006 we believed she would put Alaska first. But once elected, she put Sarah first,” he said in a statement last month. “Because of her national ambitions she is promoting an agenda that will allow outside corporations to dominate Alaska’s resources, including our energy and the jobs it provides.”
Mrs Palin said her decision had been made with the encouragement of her family. “Much of it had to do with the kids seeing their baby brother Trig mocked by some pretty mean-spirited adults,” she said, a reference to her youngest child who suffers from Down’s syndrome.
In fact it was Mrs Palin who came in for criticism for taking a risky flight when in labour and embarking on a vice-presidential campaign when he was only four months old.
Mrs Palin’s presidential ambitions horrify as many Republicans as they delight.
Pit bull hockey mom
— Born in Idaho on February 11, 1964, Sarah Palin has lived in Alaska since she was three months old
— She once worked as a commercial fisherman with her husband, Todd, her high-school sweetheart and a native Yup’ik Eskimo
— Likes hunting, fishing, and eating moose burgers
— A keen runner who named the first of her five children Track
— She is a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association and was runner-up in the Miss Alaska beauty contest in 1984
— A devout Christian opposed to abortion rights
— Took office in 2006 as Alaska’s youngest governor and first woman to hold the post. “As governor I’ve stood up to politics as usual,” she said. “I’ve stopped wasteful spending, cut taxes, and put the people first”
— Admitted that she smoked marijuana when it was legal in Alaska — but didnt like it
— Gave birth in April 2008 to her son, Trig, after refusing to let the results of prenatal testing that showed he had Down’s syndrome affect her decision to have the baby
— Launching her Vice-Presidential campaign in August 2008 she said: “I was your average hockey mom in Alaska”
Source: Times database, Reuters
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