The euro plunged and US stock markets dived last night after Spain was stripped of its top-level credit rating by a leading rating agency over concerns about its economic growth.
In the latest blow to the eurozone, which is struggling to cope with the fallout from the Greek fiscal crisis, Fitch Ratings downgraded Spain’s sovereign credit rating — a measure of how easily it can meet the interest payment on its debt — by a notch from the top AAA rating to AA+.
Standard & Poor’s, another ratings agency, downgraded Spain’s rating for the second time to AA last month but Moody’s, the other leading agency, has maintained the rating at AAA.
Any downgrade in a sovereign credit rating will push up the interest that a country must pay on its debts. Brian Coulton, Fitch’s head of EMEA sovereign ratings, said that the process of cutting the country’s debt could slow economic growth.Fitch queried Spain’s forecasts for economic growth, highlighting that the inflexibility of the labour market and the restructuring of regional and local savings banks could act as a drag on growth.
Investors were unnerved by the move, sending the Dow Jones industrial average of leading US shares plummeting by 122.3 points, or nearly 1.19 per cent. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index suffered its worst monthly decline since February 2009.
The euro slumped against the dollar after investors abandoned it in favour of the greenback, sliding to $1.2285. It also fell against the pound, dropping to 85.04p, down from 85.40p.
Analysts said that the full effect of Fitch’s announcement, which came after the European markets shut last night, would not be felt until Monday.
John Praveen, the chief investment strategist at Prudential International Investment Advisers, said: “The markets are reacting negatively. If Moody’s also downgrades Spanish debt then we will probably have a very negative reaction because Spain is considered much bigger than Greece.”
Spain’s debt was 40 per cent before the financial crisis in 2007. Britain’s national debt is 62.1 per cent of GDP.
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Saturday, May 29, 2010
I’ll see you get justice, Obama promises victims of BP oil spill
Barack Obama came face to face with the reality of America’s biggest oil disaster last night, seeing tar balls on the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico and promising stricken communities: “Justice will be done.”
As BP struggled for a third day to complete a “top kill” procedure aimed at tapping a leaking well on the seabed, the President flew over the slick, walked Louisiana’s oiled shores and witnessed for the second time the desperate efforts to hold back the tide.
“This is not just a mess we’ve got to mop up. People are watching their livelihoods wash up on the beach, parents are worried about their children’s health, everybody has watched this nightmare threaten the dreams they want to build,” he said during a visit to Grand Isle, a barrier island community.
Under mounting political pressure over the disaster, the President said that he had ordered Janet Napolitano, the Homeland Security Secretary, and Admiral Thad Allen, the US Coast Guard chief, to “triple the manpower in places where oil has hit the shore or is within 24 hours of impact”.BP announced that it has spent $930 million (£640 million) responding to the disaster, but Mr Obama reminded the British oil company that there would be many more bills and that the federal government would be exploring “any and all reasonable contingency plans” if the top-kill plan failed. “Even if the leak was stopped today, it wouldn’t change the fact that these waters are full of oil,” he said.
BP said it would know on Sunday whether the procedure, which now includes a “junk shot” attempt to plug the well with materials such as shredded rubber and golf balls, had worked.
In a message to the people of Grand Isle, which has faced numerous natural disasters, and to others affected in the Gulf region, President Obama said: “I know that you have weathered your fair share of trials and tragedy. I know there are times you have wondered if you have been asked to face them alone . . . you are not alone, you will not be abandoned . . . we are on your side and we will see this through.”
Local residents observed that hours before the President’s arrival on the island, about 300 clean-up workers were brought in and put to work on the beaches. Hired by a contractor for BP, they were paid $12 an hour to pick up debris in what the US Coastguard said was a “pre-cleaning procedure” in preparation for the next wave of oil.
Around Grand Isle it was promising to be one of the busiest weekends of the year, just as it should be for the Memorial Day holiday. But it was the wrong kind of busy: instead of tourists there were squadrons of oil-spill workers clad in protective suits along the shore and helicopters overhead.
“Enjoy the beach by building sandcastles, swimming or sunbathing,” the tourism bureau’s brochure invites visitors. But wooden signs in the dunes now announced: “Beach Closed.” Some residents have erected signs of their own: “BP, we want our beach back”; and “Shame on you BP”. Vicky Lemoine, whose 17-year-old daughter Hannah painted the signs, said: “People are scared. I hope the President will see how precious the land is to the people here.”
Green Isle relies on the tourism, seafood and oil industries. At the Bridgeside Marina, scores of vessels should have been moored for today’s Speckled Trout Rodeo, but the marina is empty and the fishing grounds have been closed on federal orders. The competition was to have raised money for charitable causes, including a family whose home still needs renovation from one of the last disasters here, Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Grand Isle has been affected by hurricanes on average every seven years since 1860.
“We bounced back from it all — Katrina, Gustav, Ike. But I just don’t know if we’ll bounce back from this oil,” said Bob Sevin, the event organiser.
Source:The times
As BP struggled for a third day to complete a “top kill” procedure aimed at tapping a leaking well on the seabed, the President flew over the slick, walked Louisiana’s oiled shores and witnessed for the second time the desperate efforts to hold back the tide.
“This is not just a mess we’ve got to mop up. People are watching their livelihoods wash up on the beach, parents are worried about their children’s health, everybody has watched this nightmare threaten the dreams they want to build,” he said during a visit to Grand Isle, a barrier island community.
Under mounting political pressure over the disaster, the President said that he had ordered Janet Napolitano, the Homeland Security Secretary, and Admiral Thad Allen, the US Coast Guard chief, to “triple the manpower in places where oil has hit the shore or is within 24 hours of impact”.BP announced that it has spent $930 million (£640 million) responding to the disaster, but Mr Obama reminded the British oil company that there would be many more bills and that the federal government would be exploring “any and all reasonable contingency plans” if the top-kill plan failed. “Even if the leak was stopped today, it wouldn’t change the fact that these waters are full of oil,” he said.
BP said it would know on Sunday whether the procedure, which now includes a “junk shot” attempt to plug the well with materials such as shredded rubber and golf balls, had worked.
In a message to the people of Grand Isle, which has faced numerous natural disasters, and to others affected in the Gulf region, President Obama said: “I know that you have weathered your fair share of trials and tragedy. I know there are times you have wondered if you have been asked to face them alone . . . you are not alone, you will not be abandoned . . . we are on your side and we will see this through.”
Local residents observed that hours before the President’s arrival on the island, about 300 clean-up workers were brought in and put to work on the beaches. Hired by a contractor for BP, they were paid $12 an hour to pick up debris in what the US Coastguard said was a “pre-cleaning procedure” in preparation for the next wave of oil.
Around Grand Isle it was promising to be one of the busiest weekends of the year, just as it should be for the Memorial Day holiday. But it was the wrong kind of busy: instead of tourists there were squadrons of oil-spill workers clad in protective suits along the shore and helicopters overhead.
“Enjoy the beach by building sandcastles, swimming or sunbathing,” the tourism bureau’s brochure invites visitors. But wooden signs in the dunes now announced: “Beach Closed.” Some residents have erected signs of their own: “BP, we want our beach back”; and “Shame on you BP”. Vicky Lemoine, whose 17-year-old daughter Hannah painted the signs, said: “People are scared. I hope the President will see how precious the land is to the people here.”
Green Isle relies on the tourism, seafood and oil industries. At the Bridgeside Marina, scores of vessels should have been moored for today’s Speckled Trout Rodeo, but the marina is empty and the fishing grounds have been closed on federal orders. The competition was to have raised money for charitable causes, including a family whose home still needs renovation from one of the last disasters here, Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Grand Isle has been affected by hurricanes on average every seven years since 1860.
“We bounced back from it all — Katrina, Gustav, Ike. But I just don’t know if we’ll bounce back from this oil,” said Bob Sevin, the event organiser.
Source:The times
Dunkirk veterans recall the ‘blood-soaked sands’ on 70th anniversary of evacuation
British veterans gathered on the seafront at Dunkirk today to mark the 70th anniversary of the evacuation of more than 300,000 allied troops trapped on the channel port’s beaches by the German Blitzkrieg.
As the 50-strong group joined a multinational ceremony at the town’s Allied Memorial, dozens of the “little ships” which had ferried the soldiers back to England bobbed offshore after many of the skippers who were part of the rescue operation in 1940 returned to join the commemorations.
On the promenade, the flags of Britain, France, Czechoslovakia and Germany flew over the stone memorial as soldiers, veterans and dignitaries including Prince Michael of Kent observed a minute’s silence. A French military band played the national anthems, and a flame of remembrance was lit.
“Seventy years ago these sands were blood-soaked. They were running with blood,” said John Davis, who fought in the rearguard, finally escaping the beach on the third ship he tried to board. The previous two had been blown up.“Each half an hour there was a raid and always there were 30 to 50 wounded or dead and we had to get stretcher bearers and also take the dead off and give them some sort of resting place,” he said.
“We couldn’t bury them. We covered them with tarpaulins to give them some respect. After the fifth day I noticed the stench – the sweet smell of death. It was a glorious summer so we had this stench of death around us.
“I was kept busy but I was all the while aware of this smell and the smoke from the tanks that was drifting over. It was very, very traumatic. I’d only ever seen neighbours laid nicely in coffins. Now I’d seen headless and limbless torsos with stomachs ripped out. It was a shocking sight for a 19 year old.”
Another veteran, Private Ken Blake, said: “All these things are still in your mind. You don’t forget — you can’t forget.”
The six-day evacuation, called Operation Dynamo, began on May 29, 1940. German Panzer divisions pushing through Belgium and the Ardennes had cut off the British Expeditionary Force and beaten it back to Dunkirk, but in what history has noted as one of Germany’s first major tactical errors of the war, Hitler briefly halted the tanks, giving Britain a crucial opportunity to rescue its stranded army.
As the Allies fought a fierce rearguard action, some 800 small boats, including trawlers, lifeboats, paddle steamers, tugs, yachts and barges, many skippered by amateur sailors, responded to the appeal for help. As the Luftwaffe bombed and strafed the men on the beaches, they ferried troops over the shallow coastal waters to bigger ships or took them straight back to English ports.
Winston Churchill called Dunkirk “a colossal military disaster”, stranding “the whole root and core and brain of the British Army”. Their rescue, he said, had been a “miracle of deliverance”.
A total of 338,000 British, French, Belgian and Canadian troops were rescued. Some 11,000 died on the beaches and 40,000 were captured.
Today’s ceremony was one of a series being held in northern France to commemorate the anniversary, although veteran numbers are dwindling. The youngest of those present today were in their late 80s, and advancing age led the Normandy Veterans’ Association to disband 10 years ago following the 60th anniversary.
Yesterday a service was held at Esquelbecq, just outside Dunkirk, to mark the SS massacre of more than 80 British soldiers captured while defending the town. They were herded into a barn by the crack SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler regiment, who blew them apart with grenades and machine-gun fire.
Source:The times
As the 50-strong group joined a multinational ceremony at the town’s Allied Memorial, dozens of the “little ships” which had ferried the soldiers back to England bobbed offshore after many of the skippers who were part of the rescue operation in 1940 returned to join the commemorations.
On the promenade, the flags of Britain, France, Czechoslovakia and Germany flew over the stone memorial as soldiers, veterans and dignitaries including Prince Michael of Kent observed a minute’s silence. A French military band played the national anthems, and a flame of remembrance was lit.
“Seventy years ago these sands were blood-soaked. They were running with blood,” said John Davis, who fought in the rearguard, finally escaping the beach on the third ship he tried to board. The previous two had been blown up.“Each half an hour there was a raid and always there were 30 to 50 wounded or dead and we had to get stretcher bearers and also take the dead off and give them some sort of resting place,” he said.
“We couldn’t bury them. We covered them with tarpaulins to give them some respect. After the fifth day I noticed the stench – the sweet smell of death. It was a glorious summer so we had this stench of death around us.
“I was kept busy but I was all the while aware of this smell and the smoke from the tanks that was drifting over. It was very, very traumatic. I’d only ever seen neighbours laid nicely in coffins. Now I’d seen headless and limbless torsos with stomachs ripped out. It was a shocking sight for a 19 year old.”
Another veteran, Private Ken Blake, said: “All these things are still in your mind. You don’t forget — you can’t forget.”
The six-day evacuation, called Operation Dynamo, began on May 29, 1940. German Panzer divisions pushing through Belgium and the Ardennes had cut off the British Expeditionary Force and beaten it back to Dunkirk, but in what history has noted as one of Germany’s first major tactical errors of the war, Hitler briefly halted the tanks, giving Britain a crucial opportunity to rescue its stranded army.
As the Allies fought a fierce rearguard action, some 800 small boats, including trawlers, lifeboats, paddle steamers, tugs, yachts and barges, many skippered by amateur sailors, responded to the appeal for help. As the Luftwaffe bombed and strafed the men on the beaches, they ferried troops over the shallow coastal waters to bigger ships or took them straight back to English ports.
Winston Churchill called Dunkirk “a colossal military disaster”, stranding “the whole root and core and brain of the British Army”. Their rescue, he said, had been a “miracle of deliverance”.
A total of 338,000 British, French, Belgian and Canadian troops were rescued. Some 11,000 died on the beaches and 40,000 were captured.
Today’s ceremony was one of a series being held in northern France to commemorate the anniversary, although veteran numbers are dwindling. The youngest of those present today were in their late 80s, and advancing age led the Normandy Veterans’ Association to disband 10 years ago following the 60th anniversary.
Yesterday a service was held at Esquelbecq, just outside Dunkirk, to mark the SS massacre of more than 80 British soldiers captured while defending the town. They were herded into a barn by the crack SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler regiment, who blew them apart with grenades and machine-gun fire.
Source:The times
‘Crossbow cannibal’ case: police find more body parts
Police investigating the suspected murders of two prostitutes have found what they believe to be human remains in the River Aire in Shipley, West Yorkshire.
The discovery was made by police divers at around noon, 200 yards from the spot where the dismembered body parts of a third prostitute, Suzanne Blamires, were found on Tuesday.
Stephen Griffiths, a criminology student, appeared in court yesterday charged with the murder of Ms Blamires and the two other women. Asked to confirm his name, he described himself as “the Crossbow Cannibal”.
Mr Griffiths, a former public schoolboy, appeared on charges linked to the disappearance of three women from Bradford’s red-light district during the past year.Police officers and forensic science experts searching for the missing two were trawling a fast-flowing industrial stream last night less than 400 yards from Mr Griffiths’s home in a block of flats in the red-light area.
A police spokesman said: “At around midday today, officers from West Yorkshire Police’s Underwater Search Unit recovered from the River Aire what are believed to be human remains.
“The remains will now be forensically examined to identify them, and at this stage it is too early to speculate on who the remains belong to.”
A series of drains running from the flats to the stream, known as Bradford Beck, were dug up by police yesterday.
The beck feeds directly into a river three miles away at a spot where dismembered body parts of Ms Blamires were discovered in bin bags and a rucksack four days ago.
She is said to have been murdered last weekend when a crossbow bolt was fired into her head, an act captured by a CCTV camera.
Detectives are investigating whether her killer ate part of her body after chopping it into pieces inside one of the flats. Mr Griffiths’ PhD research at the University of Bradford included an in-depth study of the 1888 Jack the Ripper murders of prostitutes in the East End of London. The mature student has chosen to be defended by the same Bradford law firm that represented Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper.
Relatives of three missing women wept in court yesterday when the alleged serial killer was led into the dock. There were gasps when the court clerk asked him to give his name and he replied: “The Crossbow Cannibal.”
When he was asked for his address, he looked around the court and said: “Here, I guess”.
Hours later the Prime Minister promised to reconsider the laws on prostitution. David Cameron condemned the “truly terrible” killings in Bradford and offered his sympathy to the victims’ families. Asked whether prostitution laws should be reexamined, he said: “I dare say it should be looked at again.”
Prostitution itself is not illegal but there are laws against keeping a brothel, kerb-crawling and soliciting for sex.
Mr Griffiths was remanded in custody until his next appearance in court on June 7.
Source:The times
The discovery was made by police divers at around noon, 200 yards from the spot where the dismembered body parts of a third prostitute, Suzanne Blamires, were found on Tuesday.
Stephen Griffiths, a criminology student, appeared in court yesterday charged with the murder of Ms Blamires and the two other women. Asked to confirm his name, he described himself as “the Crossbow Cannibal”.
Mr Griffiths, a former public schoolboy, appeared on charges linked to the disappearance of three women from Bradford’s red-light district during the past year.Police officers and forensic science experts searching for the missing two were trawling a fast-flowing industrial stream last night less than 400 yards from Mr Griffiths’s home in a block of flats in the red-light area.
A police spokesman said: “At around midday today, officers from West Yorkshire Police’s Underwater Search Unit recovered from the River Aire what are believed to be human remains.
“The remains will now be forensically examined to identify them, and at this stage it is too early to speculate on who the remains belong to.”
A series of drains running from the flats to the stream, known as Bradford Beck, were dug up by police yesterday.
The beck feeds directly into a river three miles away at a spot where dismembered body parts of Ms Blamires were discovered in bin bags and a rucksack four days ago.
She is said to have been murdered last weekend when a crossbow bolt was fired into her head, an act captured by a CCTV camera.
Detectives are investigating whether her killer ate part of her body after chopping it into pieces inside one of the flats. Mr Griffiths’ PhD research at the University of Bradford included an in-depth study of the 1888 Jack the Ripper murders of prostitutes in the East End of London. The mature student has chosen to be defended by the same Bradford law firm that represented Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper.
Relatives of three missing women wept in court yesterday when the alleged serial killer was led into the dock. There were gasps when the court clerk asked him to give his name and he replied: “The Crossbow Cannibal.”
When he was asked for his address, he looked around the court and said: “Here, I guess”.
Hours later the Prime Minister promised to reconsider the laws on prostitution. David Cameron condemned the “truly terrible” killings in Bradford and offered his sympathy to the victims’ families. Asked whether prostitution laws should be reexamined, he said: “I dare say it should be looked at again.”
Prostitution itself is not illegal but there are laws against keeping a brothel, kerb-crawling and soliciting for sex.
Mr Griffiths was remanded in custody until his next appearance in court on June 7.
Source:The times
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Google admits its Street View cars spied on wi-fi activity
Google’s Street View cars have been spying on people’s internet use for three years, the search giant admitted last night. It had been scooping up snippets of people’s online activities broadcast over unprotected home and business wi-fi networks.
Google admitted that the cars’ radio antennae snooped on e-mails and other bits of information when the vehicles trundled through towns and cities. Google said that the data was collected only in short bursts as the vehicles passed by, and was never used.
The cars, which have cameras on a pole, have covered most of the towns and cities in the UK. Street View, launched in the US in 2007, provides real-world images of streets and roads that the user can manipulate, as part of Google’s online mapping products.
Its launch in the UK in April last year provoked a storm of protest, when people claimed that its images would help burglars seek out where to strike and invaded home owners’ privacy.
The Information Commissioner’s Office this year cleared Street View of any breach of the Data Protection Act but privacy regulators have expressed concern about the service. Yesterday’s confession will raise more fears about internet users’ privacy and how much personal information Google collects through its search engine and other services. Google admitted: “Maintaining people’s trust is crucial to everything we do, and in this case we fell short.”
Google made the admission after German authorities began to examine why Google was using the cars to collect wi-fi data at all. A month ago Google said it was collecting only the name and location of local wi-fi networks — information, it argued, that was publicly available and was useful to help it improve its location services. Its data collection was much more invasive.
Internet activity such as e-mails, photos and which websites a user was looking at could have been collected by the cars. Google said that activity on secure websites, such as banking websites, could not be accessed and any activity on password-protected networks was also safe.
“We will typically have collected only fragments of payload data because our cars are on the move; someone would need to be using the network as a car passed by; and our in-car wi-fi equipment automatically changes channels roughly five times a second,” Alan Eustace, senior vice-president of engineering and research for Google wrote in a blog. “It’s now clear that we have been mistakenly collecting samples of payload data from open networks.”
Google said it had contacted some privacy authorities in Europe and wanted to delete data. Street View cars would not collect any more wi-fi data. Experts said passwords, as well as general surfing, could have been caught in Google’s dragnet.
Source:The times
Google admitted that the cars’ radio antennae snooped on e-mails and other bits of information when the vehicles trundled through towns and cities. Google said that the data was collected only in short bursts as the vehicles passed by, and was never used.
The cars, which have cameras on a pole, have covered most of the towns and cities in the UK. Street View, launched in the US in 2007, provides real-world images of streets and roads that the user can manipulate, as part of Google’s online mapping products.
Its launch in the UK in April last year provoked a storm of protest, when people claimed that its images would help burglars seek out where to strike and invaded home owners’ privacy.
The Information Commissioner’s Office this year cleared Street View of any breach of the Data Protection Act but privacy regulators have expressed concern about the service. Yesterday’s confession will raise more fears about internet users’ privacy and how much personal information Google collects through its search engine and other services. Google admitted: “Maintaining people’s trust is crucial to everything we do, and in this case we fell short.”
Google made the admission after German authorities began to examine why Google was using the cars to collect wi-fi data at all. A month ago Google said it was collecting only the name and location of local wi-fi networks — information, it argued, that was publicly available and was useful to help it improve its location services. Its data collection was much more invasive.
Internet activity such as e-mails, photos and which websites a user was looking at could have been collected by the cars. Google said that activity on secure websites, such as banking websites, could not be accessed and any activity on password-protected networks was also safe.
“We will typically have collected only fragments of payload data because our cars are on the move; someone would need to be using the network as a car passed by; and our in-car wi-fi equipment automatically changes channels roughly five times a second,” Alan Eustace, senior vice-president of engineering and research for Google wrote in a blog. “It’s now clear that we have been mistakenly collecting samples of payload data from open networks.”
Google said it had contacted some privacy authorities in Europe and wanted to delete data. Street View cars would not collect any more wi-fi data. Experts said passwords, as well as general surfing, could have been caught in Google’s dragnet.
Source:The times
Obama denounces ‘big oil blame game’ as experts question information on leak
President Obama vowed last night to end the oil industry’s “cosy relationship” with federal regulators, castigating industry executives for creating a “ridiculous spectacle” after they attempted to blame one another for the Gulf of Mexico spill.
He admitted that the Government shared responsibility for the disaster but expressed frustration at the industry’s failure to do the same during hearings on Capitol Hill this week. “I did not appreciate what I considered to be a ridiculous spectacle during the congressional hearings,” he said last night.
“You had executives of BP and Transocean and Halliburton falling over each other to point the finger of blame at somebody else. The American people cannot have been impressed with that, and I certainly wasn’t. I will not tolerate more finger pointing or irresponsibility.
“For a decade or more there’s been a cosy relationship between the oil companies and the federal agency that permits them to drill. It seems as if permits were too often issued based on little more than assurances of safety from the oil companies. That cannot, and will not, happen any more.”Oil-spill experts have challenged claims by BP that the slick is relatively tiny and said that the company has blocked scientists from measuring it. The British energy giant was coming under pressure to allow independent access to the site around the broken well, with analysts saying that imagery provided by BP suggested a leak of as much as 2.9 million gallons a day.
Admiral Thad Allen, the commandant of the US Coast Guard who is heading the federal response, said that he was treating the incident as catastrophic. While the crisis had not produced the feared impact on the shoreline, “this is a constantly changing life cycle”, he cautioned. “It’s like when you are engaged in a war looking at the enemy. In this case the enemy is oil.”
BP is trying to set equipment in place on the seabed that, if successful, will divert the oil through a pipe to the surface and into floating tankers. John Amos, a geologist and president of Skytruth, a non-profit group that uses satellite imagery to investigate environmental issues, is among those cynical of the company’s claims that it does not know how much oil is gushing.
“One key parameter for BP is, how much oil are we going to have to handle? Is it 200,000 gallons or is it two million? How big do our pipes need to be to handle it, what connections do we need, what kind of pressures are we going to be encountering? To hear these executives saying that ‘well, the number isn’t really important, it wouldn’t change our response’ raises red flags. It suggests a somewhat cavalier attitude.”
The US Coast Guard reported on April 24 that an estimated 1,000 barrels (42,000 US gallons) a day was pouring into the sea. On April 28 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a federal agency, raised the estimate to 5,000 barrels — a figure that BP disputed before its chief operating officer, Doug Suttles, admitted the next day that the figure could be correct. “We’ ll take help from anyone,” he said.
Ian McDonald, a marine geophysicist and expert in oil-slick analysis at Florida State University, said that by that point the slick was 8.9 million gallons, with a daily leak of 26,500 barrels.
Steve Wereley, an expert in fluid mechanics at Purdue University, has also examined BP’s video footage of the leak, assessing the outflow using a method known as particle imaging velocimetry. The results indicated that, if the flow shown on the video remains constant, approximately 70,000 barrels are emptying from the well.
BP has declined to quantify the emission: “We have said all along that there was no way to measure the leak. We are focused on stopping the leak and not measuring it.” Oil-slick experts from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts had been due to fly to the Gulf of Mexico last week to assess the spill. BP then withdrew the plan and told them not to come.
Douglas Brinkley, a Gulf Coast historian at Rice University, told CNN: “We’ ve got to stop relying on BP, we need transparency not cover-up . . . we need our best oceanographers on the site. BP has been blocking people, saying we’ve got it under control, and as we know they don’t. They’re running a misinformation campaign.”
Source:The times
He admitted that the Government shared responsibility for the disaster but expressed frustration at the industry’s failure to do the same during hearings on Capitol Hill this week. “I did not appreciate what I considered to be a ridiculous spectacle during the congressional hearings,” he said last night.
“You had executives of BP and Transocean and Halliburton falling over each other to point the finger of blame at somebody else. The American people cannot have been impressed with that, and I certainly wasn’t. I will not tolerate more finger pointing or irresponsibility.
“For a decade or more there’s been a cosy relationship between the oil companies and the federal agency that permits them to drill. It seems as if permits were too often issued based on little more than assurances of safety from the oil companies. That cannot, and will not, happen any more.”Oil-spill experts have challenged claims by BP that the slick is relatively tiny and said that the company has blocked scientists from measuring it. The British energy giant was coming under pressure to allow independent access to the site around the broken well, with analysts saying that imagery provided by BP suggested a leak of as much as 2.9 million gallons a day.
Admiral Thad Allen, the commandant of the US Coast Guard who is heading the federal response, said that he was treating the incident as catastrophic. While the crisis had not produced the feared impact on the shoreline, “this is a constantly changing life cycle”, he cautioned. “It’s like when you are engaged in a war looking at the enemy. In this case the enemy is oil.”
BP is trying to set equipment in place on the seabed that, if successful, will divert the oil through a pipe to the surface and into floating tankers. John Amos, a geologist and president of Skytruth, a non-profit group that uses satellite imagery to investigate environmental issues, is among those cynical of the company’s claims that it does not know how much oil is gushing.
“One key parameter for BP is, how much oil are we going to have to handle? Is it 200,000 gallons or is it two million? How big do our pipes need to be to handle it, what connections do we need, what kind of pressures are we going to be encountering? To hear these executives saying that ‘well, the number isn’t really important, it wouldn’t change our response’ raises red flags. It suggests a somewhat cavalier attitude.”
The US Coast Guard reported on April 24 that an estimated 1,000 barrels (42,000 US gallons) a day was pouring into the sea. On April 28 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a federal agency, raised the estimate to 5,000 barrels — a figure that BP disputed before its chief operating officer, Doug Suttles, admitted the next day that the figure could be correct. “We’ ll take help from anyone,” he said.
Ian McDonald, a marine geophysicist and expert in oil-slick analysis at Florida State University, said that by that point the slick was 8.9 million gallons, with a daily leak of 26,500 barrels.
Steve Wereley, an expert in fluid mechanics at Purdue University, has also examined BP’s video footage of the leak, assessing the outflow using a method known as particle imaging velocimetry. The results indicated that, if the flow shown on the video remains constant, approximately 70,000 barrels are emptying from the well.
BP has declined to quantify the emission: “We have said all along that there was no way to measure the leak. We are focused on stopping the leak and not measuring it.” Oil-slick experts from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts had been due to fly to the Gulf of Mexico last week to assess the spill. BP then withdrew the plan and told them not to come.
Douglas Brinkley, a Gulf Coast historian at Rice University, told CNN: “We’ ve got to stop relying on BP, we need transparency not cover-up . . . we need our best oceanographers on the site. BP has been blocking people, saying we’ve got it under control, and as we know they don’t. They’re running a misinformation campaign.”
Source:The times
Polanski sexually assaulted me at 16, claims British actress
Roman Polanski was accused yesterday of sexually assaulting a British actress when she was 16. The director is currently fighting to avoid extradition to the US on child sex charges in an unrelated case.
Charlotte Lewis, who appeared in Polanski’s 1986 film Pirates, came forward to claim that she was abused by Polanski “in the worst possible way” at his home in Paris in 1982, while he was a fugitive from his 1977 rape trial in the US.
Ms Lewis, who appeared at a press conference in Los Angeles with the celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred, said that she was coming forward to make sure that the film director “faced justice” as he fights extradition proceedings from Switzerland.
The actress, who made her screen debut in the television series Grange Hill in 1978 and went on to appear in The Golden Child with Eddie Murphy in 1986 and in a string of other lesser-known films, claimed that the director “forced himself upon me” in his apartment in Paris.Ms Allred said that her client was “ready to testify under oath if and when that is necessary”.
Ms Lewis, who read from a prepared statement, said that she had travelled from London to give a statement to prosecutors in Los Angeles. She wanted them to know that the 1977 alleged rape over which Polanski is fighting extradition was “not an isolated incident” as portrayed by Polanski’s lawyers.
“I am also a victim of Roman Polanski. He sexually abused me in the worst possible way when I was just 16 years old, four years after he fled the United States to avoid sentencing for his crimes,” she said.
“Mr Polanski knew I was only 16 years old when he met me and forced himself upon me in his apartment in Paris. He took advantage of me and I have lived with the effects of his behavior ever since it occurred.”
Ms Lewis said that she was coming forward to because she wanted to ensure that the director “gets what he deserves”. She said that the attack on her had similarities with Polanski’s alleged rape of a 13-year-old aspiring model in 1977, but declined to give details. She also declined to say what effect the assault had had on her life.
Ms Allred said she hoped that her client’s testimony would affect sentencing for Polanski, but last night it was not clear what influence an alleged crime committed in France could have on Polanski’s case, should he be extradited.
LA prosecutors confirmed that they had met Ms Lewis on Thursday.
In 1992 Ms Lewis starred opposite James Spader in Storyville.
She also featured on the front page of the July 1993 issue of Playboy magazine, floating in a red bikini.
Her 1995 co-starring role in Men of War alongside Dolph Lundgren is considered her most memorable film.
According to the Internet Movie Database, her last film was Hey DJ in 2003.
Ms Allred said that the attack on her client had had “a major impact on her life”. She did not rule out a law suit against Polanski in the future.
Ms Allred is a leading Hollywood lawyer with a roster of celebrity clients. In the wake of Tiger Woods’s fall from grace, she emerged as the representative of at least two of his mistresses: the nightlife promoter Rachel Uchitel and the porn star Joslyn James.
Asked if Ms Lewis was “shopping for a book deal”, the attorney replied: “Next question.”
Polanski pleaded guilty in 1978 to unlawful sexual intercourse with Samantha Geimer. He was accused of giving her champagne and drugs and raping her at the home of the actor Jack Nicholson back in 1977.
But he fled the country before sentencing, fearing that the judge would renege on a plea agreement limiting his punishment to the 42 days he already had spent behind bars for psychiatric evaluation.
The director of Chinatown and Rosemary’s Baby has since lived as a fugitive in Europe, continuing his film career while facing the prospect of being arrested the moment he set foot back on US soil. In 2003 he won an Oscar for best director for the acclaimed Holocaust film The Pianist.
His latest film, Ghost, has received widespread critical acclaim and won him the Best Director Prize at the Berlin film festival in February.
Polanski was taken into custody in Switzerland in September on a US warrant and remains there under house arrest at his home in Gstaad on $4.5 million bail. This week a California state appeals court ruled that Polanski must return before he can be sentenced.
The decision cleared the way for Swiss authorities to extradite the 78-year-old film-maker. His lawyers have fought for years to have the case thrown out on ground that Polanski was himself a victim of judicial misconduct in 1978.
Polanski has argued that the extradition request is politically motivated by a Los Angeles prosecutor who is seeking publicity.
Polanski’s US legal team released a statement saying: “We don’t have any information about statements made at a Gloria Allred press conference today, but we do know that our District Attorney continues to refuse to provide the Swiss government with accurate and complete information relevant to the extradition issue.”
Source:The times
Charlotte Lewis, who appeared in Polanski’s 1986 film Pirates, came forward to claim that she was abused by Polanski “in the worst possible way” at his home in Paris in 1982, while he was a fugitive from his 1977 rape trial in the US.
Ms Lewis, who appeared at a press conference in Los Angeles with the celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred, said that she was coming forward to make sure that the film director “faced justice” as he fights extradition proceedings from Switzerland.
The actress, who made her screen debut in the television series Grange Hill in 1978 and went on to appear in The Golden Child with Eddie Murphy in 1986 and in a string of other lesser-known films, claimed that the director “forced himself upon me” in his apartment in Paris.Ms Allred said that her client was “ready to testify under oath if and when that is necessary”.
Ms Lewis, who read from a prepared statement, said that she had travelled from London to give a statement to prosecutors in Los Angeles. She wanted them to know that the 1977 alleged rape over which Polanski is fighting extradition was “not an isolated incident” as portrayed by Polanski’s lawyers.
“I am also a victim of Roman Polanski. He sexually abused me in the worst possible way when I was just 16 years old, four years after he fled the United States to avoid sentencing for his crimes,” she said.
“Mr Polanski knew I was only 16 years old when he met me and forced himself upon me in his apartment in Paris. He took advantage of me and I have lived with the effects of his behavior ever since it occurred.”
Ms Lewis said that she was coming forward to because she wanted to ensure that the director “gets what he deserves”. She said that the attack on her had similarities with Polanski’s alleged rape of a 13-year-old aspiring model in 1977, but declined to give details. She also declined to say what effect the assault had had on her life.
Ms Allred said she hoped that her client’s testimony would affect sentencing for Polanski, but last night it was not clear what influence an alleged crime committed in France could have on Polanski’s case, should he be extradited.
LA prosecutors confirmed that they had met Ms Lewis on Thursday.
In 1992 Ms Lewis starred opposite James Spader in Storyville.
She also featured on the front page of the July 1993 issue of Playboy magazine, floating in a red bikini.
Her 1995 co-starring role in Men of War alongside Dolph Lundgren is considered her most memorable film.
According to the Internet Movie Database, her last film was Hey DJ in 2003.
Ms Allred said that the attack on her client had had “a major impact on her life”. She did not rule out a law suit against Polanski in the future.
Ms Allred is a leading Hollywood lawyer with a roster of celebrity clients. In the wake of Tiger Woods’s fall from grace, she emerged as the representative of at least two of his mistresses: the nightlife promoter Rachel Uchitel and the porn star Joslyn James.
Asked if Ms Lewis was “shopping for a book deal”, the attorney replied: “Next question.”
Polanski pleaded guilty in 1978 to unlawful sexual intercourse with Samantha Geimer. He was accused of giving her champagne and drugs and raping her at the home of the actor Jack Nicholson back in 1977.
But he fled the country before sentencing, fearing that the judge would renege on a plea agreement limiting his punishment to the 42 days he already had spent behind bars for psychiatric evaluation.
The director of Chinatown and Rosemary’s Baby has since lived as a fugitive in Europe, continuing his film career while facing the prospect of being arrested the moment he set foot back on US soil. In 2003 he won an Oscar for best director for the acclaimed Holocaust film The Pianist.
His latest film, Ghost, has received widespread critical acclaim and won him the Best Director Prize at the Berlin film festival in February.
Polanski was taken into custody in Switzerland in September on a US warrant and remains there under house arrest at his home in Gstaad on $4.5 million bail. This week a California state appeals court ruled that Polanski must return before he can be sentenced.
The decision cleared the way for Swiss authorities to extradite the 78-year-old film-maker. His lawyers have fought for years to have the case thrown out on ground that Polanski was himself a victim of judicial misconduct in 1978.
Polanski has argued that the extradition request is politically motivated by a Los Angeles prosecutor who is seeking publicity.
Polanski’s US legal team released a statement saying: “We don’t have any information about statements made at a Gloria Allred press conference today, but we do know that our District Attorney continues to refuse to provide the Swiss government with accurate and complete information relevant to the extradition issue.”
Source:The times
Army brings death and carnage to the streets
A day of violence on the streets of the Thai capital left at least ten dead and 125 wounded after renewed fighting erupted in the city’s commercial heart yesterday. Soldiers fired bullets and teargas into the fortified encampment held for weeks by anti-government protesters, and street battles erupted in the city centre.
What began in early March as a defiant and proud rally intended to oust the Thai Government peacefully and fight for social justice had, by last night, largely unravelled as the army strengthened its stranglehold around thousands of diehard protesters.
Hemmed into their fortified encampment by troops, the remaining protesters digested the grim information that several of their leaders had quit. As long as the security forces remain loyal to the Government their options appear increasingly limited in the face of the army’s firepower.
From dawn yesterday the protest site centred on Ratchaprasong intersection in central Bangkok was surrounded by armed troops and police officers in armoured vehicles. They fired live rounds and rubber bullets as well as teargas at members of the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship. The group has spent weeks in the centre of one of Asia’s most cosmopolitan cities demanding the dissolution of the Thai parliament, followed by elections.Known widely as the Red Shirts, the demonstrators responded with petrol bombs and fired home-made rockets into the streets surrounding the upmarket district that they have occupied for nearly six weeks. Several thousand Red Shirts were still behind the high barricades of the site perimeter last night, protected by guards carrying thick bamboo staves.
From the stage in the centre of the demonstration some Red Shirt leaders were still shouting their defiance at the unseen presence of the encircling troops. Sean Boonpracong, a Red Shirt spokesman, confirmed the movement’s leadership had fissured. “Four leaders have decided to leave,” he told The Times. “Veera Musikhapong has resigned from the chairmanship. But there were still 16 leaders meeting here this afternoon.”
Even so, it was becoming apparent that the Red Shirts were losing control. Black smoke billowed from the bamboo and car tyre barricades at the southern end of the site. A bus had been set on fire near Sala Daeng station.
Earlier, sporadic explosions and gunfire had echoed through the area. Red Shirts near Lumpini Park faced shots from troops wedging their weapons through the distant park railings. The protesters hid behind flimsy tents and offered the journalists with them face masks as protection against the expected teargas.
Two hospital gurneys were rattled around the back of the stage, one bearing an apparently wounded protester, the other a dead one. Kannanat Pijitkadipol had seen the pair taken to first one hospital, then raced through the protest site on their way to Bangkok’s Police Hospital. Weeping, she said that she thought that at least one of them was dead. “I saw them at the hospital,” she said. “It’s very bad.”
Three journalists were hit by bullets; two Thai photographers and Nelson Rand, a Canadian working for France24 television, who was seriously wounded by gunshots to the abdomen.
Across Bangkok military and police roadblocks screened traffic and various embassies were closed — including the British compound, which is near to the protest site. The attempted assassination on Thursday of Khattiya Sawasdipol, the renegade general and Red Shirt security leader, who was shot in the head while being interviewed by journalists inside the encampment, appeared to be the catalyst for the Government to take a harder line. Better known as Seh Daeng (Commander Red), General Khattiya had been a divisive figure in the movement and one implacably opposed to reconciliation. A doctor yesterday told Thai media that the general’s chances of survival were low.
Despite the Red Shirts’ fear that an all-out military assault was imminent, pushing them to ask for a ceasefire, an army spokesman insisted that no comprehensive military attacks had been planned to retake the site. “We will allow protesters to leave the area today,” Sansern Kaewkamnerd told reporters, adding that authorities were trying to seal off the encampment, cut off the Red Shirts’ supplies and limit the crowd size. The military cordon around the camp is the result of weeks of brinkmanship, violence and failed negotiation.
Panitan Wattanayagorn, the Government’s official spokesman, appeared on national television to insist that the military’s actions in opening fire had been justified because of the protesters’ “clear intention” to attack. “The soldiers, the police and the civilian officers had no choice but to respond to these attacks by adopting the rules of engagement,” he said, adding that according to the rules, live ammunition could be used only for self-defence, to protect other officers or the public, or to fire into the air. He warned of potential instability in Bangkok but added that it would be dealt with by the security forces. “We hope that in the next few days Thailand will return to normalcy,” he said.
The Government has tried in vain to persuade the protesters, mostly supporters of the deposed former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, to return to their homes, predominantly in the poor north and northeast. Mr Thaksin was told by the tiny Balkan nation of Montenegro, where he is living, that he was not permitted to use the nation as a base for sending political messages to Thailand.
The protesters have proved remarkably resilient and the thousands-strong protest has maintained momentum with non-stop amplified speeches, free food and shelter, and the promise of a better Thailand.
Abhisit Vejjajiva, the Prime Minister, recently offered to hold an election this year, 12 months before it is due, but the protesters insisted that they would not disperse until the Deputy Prime Minister was arrested and charged for ordering a previous military crackdown in April that left 25 people dead. Mr Abhisit has withdrawn the offer of an election but he has said that he will still work towards reconciliation.
Source:The times
What began in early March as a defiant and proud rally intended to oust the Thai Government peacefully and fight for social justice had, by last night, largely unravelled as the army strengthened its stranglehold around thousands of diehard protesters.
Hemmed into their fortified encampment by troops, the remaining protesters digested the grim information that several of their leaders had quit. As long as the security forces remain loyal to the Government their options appear increasingly limited in the face of the army’s firepower.
From dawn yesterday the protest site centred on Ratchaprasong intersection in central Bangkok was surrounded by armed troops and police officers in armoured vehicles. They fired live rounds and rubber bullets as well as teargas at members of the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship. The group has spent weeks in the centre of one of Asia’s most cosmopolitan cities demanding the dissolution of the Thai parliament, followed by elections.Known widely as the Red Shirts, the demonstrators responded with petrol bombs and fired home-made rockets into the streets surrounding the upmarket district that they have occupied for nearly six weeks. Several thousand Red Shirts were still behind the high barricades of the site perimeter last night, protected by guards carrying thick bamboo staves.
From the stage in the centre of the demonstration some Red Shirt leaders were still shouting their defiance at the unseen presence of the encircling troops. Sean Boonpracong, a Red Shirt spokesman, confirmed the movement’s leadership had fissured. “Four leaders have decided to leave,” he told The Times. “Veera Musikhapong has resigned from the chairmanship. But there were still 16 leaders meeting here this afternoon.”
Even so, it was becoming apparent that the Red Shirts were losing control. Black smoke billowed from the bamboo and car tyre barricades at the southern end of the site. A bus had been set on fire near Sala Daeng station.
Earlier, sporadic explosions and gunfire had echoed through the area. Red Shirts near Lumpini Park faced shots from troops wedging their weapons through the distant park railings. The protesters hid behind flimsy tents and offered the journalists with them face masks as protection against the expected teargas.
Two hospital gurneys were rattled around the back of the stage, one bearing an apparently wounded protester, the other a dead one. Kannanat Pijitkadipol had seen the pair taken to first one hospital, then raced through the protest site on their way to Bangkok’s Police Hospital. Weeping, she said that she thought that at least one of them was dead. “I saw them at the hospital,” she said. “It’s very bad.”
Three journalists were hit by bullets; two Thai photographers and Nelson Rand, a Canadian working for France24 television, who was seriously wounded by gunshots to the abdomen.
Across Bangkok military and police roadblocks screened traffic and various embassies were closed — including the British compound, which is near to the protest site. The attempted assassination on Thursday of Khattiya Sawasdipol, the renegade general and Red Shirt security leader, who was shot in the head while being interviewed by journalists inside the encampment, appeared to be the catalyst for the Government to take a harder line. Better known as Seh Daeng (Commander Red), General Khattiya had been a divisive figure in the movement and one implacably opposed to reconciliation. A doctor yesterday told Thai media that the general’s chances of survival were low.
Despite the Red Shirts’ fear that an all-out military assault was imminent, pushing them to ask for a ceasefire, an army spokesman insisted that no comprehensive military attacks had been planned to retake the site. “We will allow protesters to leave the area today,” Sansern Kaewkamnerd told reporters, adding that authorities were trying to seal off the encampment, cut off the Red Shirts’ supplies and limit the crowd size. The military cordon around the camp is the result of weeks of brinkmanship, violence and failed negotiation.
Panitan Wattanayagorn, the Government’s official spokesman, appeared on national television to insist that the military’s actions in opening fire had been justified because of the protesters’ “clear intention” to attack. “The soldiers, the police and the civilian officers had no choice but to respond to these attacks by adopting the rules of engagement,” he said, adding that according to the rules, live ammunition could be used only for self-defence, to protect other officers or the public, or to fire into the air. He warned of potential instability in Bangkok but added that it would be dealt with by the security forces. “We hope that in the next few days Thailand will return to normalcy,” he said.
The Government has tried in vain to persuade the protesters, mostly supporters of the deposed former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, to return to their homes, predominantly in the poor north and northeast. Mr Thaksin was told by the tiny Balkan nation of Montenegro, where he is living, that he was not permitted to use the nation as a base for sending political messages to Thailand.
The protesters have proved remarkably resilient and the thousands-strong protest has maintained momentum with non-stop amplified speeches, free food and shelter, and the promise of a better Thailand.
Abhisit Vejjajiva, the Prime Minister, recently offered to hold an election this year, 12 months before it is due, but the protesters insisted that they would not disperse until the Deputy Prime Minister was arrested and charged for ordering a previous military crackdown in April that left 25 people dead. Mr Abhisit has withdrawn the offer of an election but he has said that he will still work towards reconciliation.
Source:The times
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Moody's warns UK banks 'at risk of Greek contagion’
UK banks are at serious risk of falling victim to “contagion” from the Greek debt crisis, the credit rating agency Moody’s warned today.
The sheer size and “vulnerability” of the Britain’s banking sector would present a threat to the economy if the UK’s sovereign creditworthiness was called into question after Greece and its banks were downgraded last week, the ratings agency said in a report.
While Portugal is at the forefront of investor concern over the level of its debt, the UK was in greater danger of sovereign contagion from exposure to the Greek banks, Moody’s said.
Banking assets represent the equivalent of more than 400 per cent of GDP in the UK, compared with 150 per cent in Greece.
“Each of the six banking systems Portugal, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Greece, the UK... faces different challenges, but the contagion risk could dilute these differences and impose very real, common threats on all of them,” Moody’s said.
The warning fuelled concerns that the Greek crisis might engulf other debt-laden eurozone economies, as the euro slid to a one-year low against the dollar.
The euro fell to $1.2780, with the report from Moody’s arguing that the Greek debt crisis could infect the economies of the UK, the Irish Republic, Italy, Portugal and Spain.
However, markets bounced back as the Greek Government prepared to pass a vote on austerity measures that would enable it to accept a 110 million (£93.3 million) bailout package.
The FTSE 100 rallied to 5,36.51 in mid-morning trading after losing 1.3 per cent at the market’s opening, with investors still jittery over the uncertainty surrounding the general election and suggestions among traders that lending between European banks was tightening.
Other European markets opened down this morning before rallying later, with the Paris CAC 40 index falling by 1.44 per cent before regaining ground to 3,641.42 points, while the Frankfurt DAX 30 climbed 16.71 points to 5,975.16 points.
In Asia, the Nikkei in Japan recorded its biggest one-day loss since March last year, falling 3.3 per cent to a two-month low of 10,695 as the markets opened after a public holiday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 221.47 points, or 1.09 per cent, to 20,106 and in Shanghai the Composite index fell to 2,808.3 points, down 1.7 per cent.
The cost of insuring Portuguese debt rose to a record high yesterday after Moody’s placed Portugal’s credit rating on a three-month review, suggesting an imminent downgrade.
Meanwhile, the mood in Greece was sombre as the banks there closed out of respect for the three bank workers who died in protests yesterday.
The Greek Government is expected to pass a vote today on the austerity measures attached to the financial bailout package.
Greek unions called today for more protests at the public sector cuts.
The sheer size and “vulnerability” of the Britain’s banking sector would present a threat to the economy if the UK’s sovereign creditworthiness was called into question after Greece and its banks were downgraded last week, the ratings agency said in a report.
While Portugal is at the forefront of investor concern over the level of its debt, the UK was in greater danger of sovereign contagion from exposure to the Greek banks, Moody’s said.
Banking assets represent the equivalent of more than 400 per cent of GDP in the UK, compared with 150 per cent in Greece.
“Each of the six banking systems Portugal, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Greece, the UK... faces different challenges, but the contagion risk could dilute these differences and impose very real, common threats on all of them,” Moody’s said.
The warning fuelled concerns that the Greek crisis might engulf other debt-laden eurozone economies, as the euro slid to a one-year low against the dollar.
The euro fell to $1.2780, with the report from Moody’s arguing that the Greek debt crisis could infect the economies of the UK, the Irish Republic, Italy, Portugal and Spain.
However, markets bounced back as the Greek Government prepared to pass a vote on austerity measures that would enable it to accept a 110 million (£93.3 million) bailout package.
The FTSE 100 rallied to 5,36.51 in mid-morning trading after losing 1.3 per cent at the market’s opening, with investors still jittery over the uncertainty surrounding the general election and suggestions among traders that lending between European banks was tightening.
Other European markets opened down this morning before rallying later, with the Paris CAC 40 index falling by 1.44 per cent before regaining ground to 3,641.42 points, while the Frankfurt DAX 30 climbed 16.71 points to 5,975.16 points.
In Asia, the Nikkei in Japan recorded its biggest one-day loss since March last year, falling 3.3 per cent to a two-month low of 10,695 as the markets opened after a public holiday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 221.47 points, or 1.09 per cent, to 20,106 and in Shanghai the Composite index fell to 2,808.3 points, down 1.7 per cent.
The cost of insuring Portuguese debt rose to a record high yesterday after Moody’s placed Portugal’s credit rating on a three-month review, suggesting an imminent downgrade.
Meanwhile, the mood in Greece was sombre as the banks there closed out of respect for the three bank workers who died in protests yesterday.
The Greek Government is expected to pass a vote today on the austerity measures attached to the financial bailout package.
Greek unions called today for more protests at the public sector cuts.
Ukip's Nigel Farage crashes as millions turn up to vote
The outspoken Ukip candidate Nigel Farage managed to upstage an entire general election today when he was injured in a plane crash during an election day stunt.
After a tightly contested month-long campaign, polling booths opened across the country at 7am and there was anecdotal evidence of a high turnout as the main party leaders cast their votes. Polling will end at 10pm.
First to vote was the Tory leader David Cameron, who opinion polls suggest could overturn 13 years of Labour rule and grab the keys to No 10. Mr Cameron and his wife Samantha voted in Witney, Oxfordshire, although their arrival was delayed by more than two hours after pranksters scaled the roof of the polling station and displayed a huge banner mocking the candidate's Eton education.
Gordon Brown voted next in North Queensferry, with his wife Sarah, with the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg then casting his vote in Sheffield, accompanied by his wife Miriam González Durántez — who cannot vote for her husband because she is a Spanish citizen.
The focus of the news crews was already elsewhere, however, after an early morning plane crash involving Mr Farage, the MEP and former Ukip leader.
Mr Farage, who is standing in the Buckingham constituency, was the passenger in a Polish-built light aircraft towing a “Vote for your country — Vote Ukip” banner when it plunged to the ground at an airfield in Northamptonshire during a photo-shoot.
The single-engined PZL-104 Wilga broke up on impact and Mr Farage was dragged from under its wreckage by his media relations man and a passer-by. He was bloodied and dazed but managed to walk away from the scene and was taken to hospital in Banbury.
The extent of his injuries was unclear: Ukip said initially that he had suffered "minor head injuries" but it later emerged that he was drifting in and out of consciousness and could also have broken ribs.
The pilot of the plane was cut from its wreckage and taken for treatment at a trauma unit in Coventry. He is believed to have suffered leg and back injuries but remained conscious throughout.
A series of election-eve opinion polls gave Mr Cameron's Conservatives a clear lead over Labour and the Liberal Democrats but suggested that they could fall tantalisingly short of an overall majority and would have to form some kind of minority administration.
A Populus poll for The Times put the Tories on 37 per cent with Labour on 28 and the Lib Dems on 27, representing a 6-point swing to the Conservatives. Given the number of three-way contests, the pollsters face an almost impossible task projecting final results but the Populus figures point to the Tories winning an extra 91 seats but falling 25 seats short of a majority.
After a frenetic final 48 hours of campaigning, which saw them criss-cross the country in a whirlwind of rallies and constituency visits, all three main party leaders last night issued appeals to activists to help get the vote out today.
Mr Cameron told cheering supporters in Bristol that it was time for the Tories to “win for Britain”, urging them: “Vote for change. Vote Conservative. Vote to give this country the hope, the optimism and the change we need. Together, we can build a better, stronger country.”
Mr Brown returned to Scotland, where he rounded off his campaign at a rally in Dumfries with a plea to wavering voters: “At this moment of risk to our economy, at this moment of decision for our country, I ask you to come home to Labour.”
And Mr Clegg addressed a crowd of hundreds of people on the steps of Sheffield City Hall with an appeal for voters to “aim higher, don’t settle for second best”.
Much will depend on performance in individual constituencies, particularly the 100 or so Labour/Conservative marginals that hold the key to tonight’s result and where the fiercest battles have been fought.
Party strategists believe that an unusually large number of voters will only make their minds up when they get into the polling booths, adding an additional layer of uncertainty to the result.
If the Lib Dems suffer a last-minute “third party squeeze”, with voters gravitating to the two larger parties, it could even have the effect of handing the balance of power to the Welsh and Scottish nationalists or the Northern Irish parties.
Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, was in typically optimistic mood as he cast his vote in Islington, predicting a "strong Conservative victory".
“If you haven’t voted yet, vote Tory,” he shouted out to reporters as he arrived by bicycle at his polling station.
"Walking around London yesterday and today, I feel very strongly that the swing is on and the public are in the mood for change. I think when people look at the risk of a hung Parliament and the possibility of endless deal-making, and jiggery-pokery between politicians, I think that people in the end are going to want to give the country a new start.”
Source:The Times
After a tightly contested month-long campaign, polling booths opened across the country at 7am and there was anecdotal evidence of a high turnout as the main party leaders cast their votes. Polling will end at 10pm.
First to vote was the Tory leader David Cameron, who opinion polls suggest could overturn 13 years of Labour rule and grab the keys to No 10. Mr Cameron and his wife Samantha voted in Witney, Oxfordshire, although their arrival was delayed by more than two hours after pranksters scaled the roof of the polling station and displayed a huge banner mocking the candidate's Eton education.
Gordon Brown voted next in North Queensferry, with his wife Sarah, with the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg then casting his vote in Sheffield, accompanied by his wife Miriam González Durántez — who cannot vote for her husband because she is a Spanish citizen.
The focus of the news crews was already elsewhere, however, after an early morning plane crash involving Mr Farage, the MEP and former Ukip leader.
Mr Farage, who is standing in the Buckingham constituency, was the passenger in a Polish-built light aircraft towing a “Vote for your country — Vote Ukip” banner when it plunged to the ground at an airfield in Northamptonshire during a photo-shoot.
The single-engined PZL-104 Wilga broke up on impact and Mr Farage was dragged from under its wreckage by his media relations man and a passer-by. He was bloodied and dazed but managed to walk away from the scene and was taken to hospital in Banbury.
The extent of his injuries was unclear: Ukip said initially that he had suffered "minor head injuries" but it later emerged that he was drifting in and out of consciousness and could also have broken ribs.
The pilot of the plane was cut from its wreckage and taken for treatment at a trauma unit in Coventry. He is believed to have suffered leg and back injuries but remained conscious throughout.
A series of election-eve opinion polls gave Mr Cameron's Conservatives a clear lead over Labour and the Liberal Democrats but suggested that they could fall tantalisingly short of an overall majority and would have to form some kind of minority administration.
A Populus poll for The Times put the Tories on 37 per cent with Labour on 28 and the Lib Dems on 27, representing a 6-point swing to the Conservatives. Given the number of three-way contests, the pollsters face an almost impossible task projecting final results but the Populus figures point to the Tories winning an extra 91 seats but falling 25 seats short of a majority.
After a frenetic final 48 hours of campaigning, which saw them criss-cross the country in a whirlwind of rallies and constituency visits, all three main party leaders last night issued appeals to activists to help get the vote out today.
Mr Cameron told cheering supporters in Bristol that it was time for the Tories to “win for Britain”, urging them: “Vote for change. Vote Conservative. Vote to give this country the hope, the optimism and the change we need. Together, we can build a better, stronger country.”
Mr Brown returned to Scotland, where he rounded off his campaign at a rally in Dumfries with a plea to wavering voters: “At this moment of risk to our economy, at this moment of decision for our country, I ask you to come home to Labour.”
And Mr Clegg addressed a crowd of hundreds of people on the steps of Sheffield City Hall with an appeal for voters to “aim higher, don’t settle for second best”.
Much will depend on performance in individual constituencies, particularly the 100 or so Labour/Conservative marginals that hold the key to tonight’s result and where the fiercest battles have been fought.
Party strategists believe that an unusually large number of voters will only make their minds up when they get into the polling booths, adding an additional layer of uncertainty to the result.
If the Lib Dems suffer a last-minute “third party squeeze”, with voters gravitating to the two larger parties, it could even have the effect of handing the balance of power to the Welsh and Scottish nationalists or the Northern Irish parties.
Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, was in typically optimistic mood as he cast his vote in Islington, predicting a "strong Conservative victory".
“If you haven’t voted yet, vote Tory,” he shouted out to reporters as he arrived by bicycle at his polling station.
"Walking around London yesterday and today, I feel very strongly that the swing is on and the public are in the mood for change. I think when people look at the risk of a hung Parliament and the possibility of endless deal-making, and jiggery-pokery between politicians, I think that people in the end are going to want to give the country a new start.”
Source:The Times
Mumbai attacks: Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, sole-surviving terrorist, sentenced to death
The sole gunman to be taken alive during the 2008 Mumbai terror attack was sentenced to death today for his role in an atrocity that left 166 people dead and shocked the world.
The judge sentenced Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, 22, to death by hanging on four counts: murder, abetting and conspiracy to murder, waging war against the state, and violating India's unlawful activities laws.
Sitting in the dock of a special bomb-proofed courtroom in Mumbai’s highest security prison, the Pakistani national said nothing as the sentence was read out. At two points he appeared to break into tears.
Once he was escorted from the dock, apparently to compose himself, before reappearing.
On Monday he had been found guilty of being one of ten Islamist gunmen who sailed from Pakistan to India’s commercial capital 18 months ago with orders to kill as many people as possible.
The commando-style assault singled out soft targets popular with foreigners: two luxury hotels, a backpacker bar and a Jewish prayer centre.
Kasab helped to conduct the bloodiest episode of the 60-hour siege of south Mumbai: the slaughter of 52 people at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai’s main train station.
"He should be hanged by the neck until he is dead," the judge, M.L. Tahaliyani, said. "I don't find any case for a lesser punishment than death in the case of waging war against India, murder and terrorist acts."
The judge added that in considering whether the death sentence should be applied he had tried to draw up a "balance sheet" of mitigating and aggravating factors. But he had found nothing to mitigate the crimes that would argue against execution.
He said that the evidence had shown "previous, meticulous and systematic planning" of an atrocity that led India to halt peace talks with Pakistan.
"Brutality was writ large," the judge said, adding that the offences were "of exceptional depravity" and constituted a brazen act of war against India.
“It was not a simple crime of murder or intent to murder.”
Kasab and his colleagues, the judge added, had been trained and equipped by the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist faction.
Before announcing the death penalty, he asked Kasab if he had anything to say. Kasab, who wore a traditional white kurta, said nothing and gave a dismissive gesture with his hands.“
The death sentence is likely to lead to a series of appeals and a lengthy wait on death row for Kasab.
The last execution in India was in 2004, when a security guard was hanged in Calcutta for the rape and murder of a schoolgirl 14 years earlier. Since then the last trained hangman in India has reportedly retired, leaving the country with no executioners.
Source:The Times
The judge sentenced Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, 22, to death by hanging on four counts: murder, abetting and conspiracy to murder, waging war against the state, and violating India's unlawful activities laws.
Sitting in the dock of a special bomb-proofed courtroom in Mumbai’s highest security prison, the Pakistani national said nothing as the sentence was read out. At two points he appeared to break into tears.
Once he was escorted from the dock, apparently to compose himself, before reappearing.
On Monday he had been found guilty of being one of ten Islamist gunmen who sailed from Pakistan to India’s commercial capital 18 months ago with orders to kill as many people as possible.
The commando-style assault singled out soft targets popular with foreigners: two luxury hotels, a backpacker bar and a Jewish prayer centre.
Kasab helped to conduct the bloodiest episode of the 60-hour siege of south Mumbai: the slaughter of 52 people at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai’s main train station.
"He should be hanged by the neck until he is dead," the judge, M.L. Tahaliyani, said. "I don't find any case for a lesser punishment than death in the case of waging war against India, murder and terrorist acts."
The judge added that in considering whether the death sentence should be applied he had tried to draw up a "balance sheet" of mitigating and aggravating factors. But he had found nothing to mitigate the crimes that would argue against execution.
He said that the evidence had shown "previous, meticulous and systematic planning" of an atrocity that led India to halt peace talks with Pakistan.
"Brutality was writ large," the judge said, adding that the offences were "of exceptional depravity" and constituted a brazen act of war against India.
“It was not a simple crime of murder or intent to murder.”
Kasab and his colleagues, the judge added, had been trained and equipped by the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist faction.
Before announcing the death penalty, he asked Kasab if he had anything to say. Kasab, who wore a traditional white kurta, said nothing and gave a dismissive gesture with his hands.“
The death sentence is likely to lead to a series of appeals and a lengthy wait on death row for Kasab.
The last execution in India was in 2004, when a security guard was hanged in Calcutta for the rape and murder of a schoolgirl 14 years earlier. Since then the last trained hangman in India has reportedly retired, leaving the country with no executioners.
Source:The Times
President Yar’Adua’s death may spark power struggle in oil-rich Nigeria
President Yar’Adua of Nigeria, whose long sickness plunged Africa’s most populous country into a constitutional crisis, has died, the Office of the Presidency announced last night.
A spokesman said Mr Yar’Adua, 58, passed away at 9pm at Aso Rock presidential villa, with his wife Turai by his side. He will be buried today in accordance with Muslim custom.
The official news of his death will surprise few Nigerians, many of whom believed the President — who was last seen in public half a year ago — died many weeks ago. It is almost certain to renew a vicious power struggle at the heart of Government.
The late President, a Muslim from the north, will be succeeded by his deputy, Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian from the oil-rich south, who was nominated Acting President earlier this year.
Mr Yar’Adua’s wife brought her husband back to the country from a clinic in Saudia Arabia, where he had been receiving treatment for heart problems in February in what was seen as an attempt to stop Mr Jonathan cementing his position and becoming the ruling party’s next candidate.
Under an unwritten deal to keep rival religious and geographical groups happy, the Presidency is supposed to alternate between north and south. The northerners fear that southerners will now capitalise on the late President’s death to capture the highest office in the land before their due date.
Mr Yar’Adua was barely half way through his first term when he fell ill. The country faces elections next year and in a country where patronage rules the governing party is more or less certain of victory.
The prospect of Nigeria slipping into a protracted power struggle will ring alarm bells across the continent. Nigeria has recently seen the worst intercommunal violence for decades.
Mr Yar’Adua’s fellow northerners are determined not to let the presidency slip from their grasp before their time is up. Mr Yar’Adua was expected to stand for a second term in 2011. The northern political elite suspect that once Mr Jonathan, a southerner, steps into the presidential mansion he will not leave.
In the background lurk the military — many of whose senior generals are also northerners — which found it hard in them past to resist the temptation to carry out a coup. “The country is in crisis but despite the anarchical nature of the democracy in place, it is still better than military rule,” said Banjo Adewale, a Nigerian analyst. “It is not like the 1970s and 80s. There is no support for the military.”
Mr Yar’Adua took office in 2007 in a country notorious for corruption. He gained the accolades of many for being the first leader to declare publicly his personal assets when taking office — setting up a benchmark for comparison later to see if he misappropriated funds. But enthusiasm for his rule waned as little changed in a country burdened by years of corruption.
However, Mr Yar’Adua sought to end the violence in the oil-rich Niger Delta. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta has been attacking oil installations, kidnapping oil company employees and fighting Government troops since 2006 in what it called a protest against the unrelenting poverty of the people in the region.
A spokesman said Mr Yar’Adua, 58, passed away at 9pm at Aso Rock presidential villa, with his wife Turai by his side. He will be buried today in accordance with Muslim custom.
The official news of his death will surprise few Nigerians, many of whom believed the President — who was last seen in public half a year ago — died many weeks ago. It is almost certain to renew a vicious power struggle at the heart of Government.
The late President, a Muslim from the north, will be succeeded by his deputy, Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian from the oil-rich south, who was nominated Acting President earlier this year.
Mr Yar’Adua’s wife brought her husband back to the country from a clinic in Saudia Arabia, where he had been receiving treatment for heart problems in February in what was seen as an attempt to stop Mr Jonathan cementing his position and becoming the ruling party’s next candidate.
Under an unwritten deal to keep rival religious and geographical groups happy, the Presidency is supposed to alternate between north and south. The northerners fear that southerners will now capitalise on the late President’s death to capture the highest office in the land before their due date.
Mr Yar’Adua was barely half way through his first term when he fell ill. The country faces elections next year and in a country where patronage rules the governing party is more or less certain of victory.
The prospect of Nigeria slipping into a protracted power struggle will ring alarm bells across the continent. Nigeria has recently seen the worst intercommunal violence for decades.
Mr Yar’Adua’s fellow northerners are determined not to let the presidency slip from their grasp before their time is up. Mr Yar’Adua was expected to stand for a second term in 2011. The northern political elite suspect that once Mr Jonathan, a southerner, steps into the presidential mansion he will not leave.
In the background lurk the military — many of whose senior generals are also northerners — which found it hard in them past to resist the temptation to carry out a coup. “The country is in crisis but despite the anarchical nature of the democracy in place, it is still better than military rule,” said Banjo Adewale, a Nigerian analyst. “It is not like the 1970s and 80s. There is no support for the military.”
Mr Yar’Adua took office in 2007 in a country notorious for corruption. He gained the accolades of many for being the first leader to declare publicly his personal assets when taking office — setting up a benchmark for comparison later to see if he misappropriated funds. But enthusiasm for his rule waned as little changed in a country burdened by years of corruption.
However, Mr Yar’Adua sought to end the violence in the oil-rich Niger Delta. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta has been attacking oil installations, kidnapping oil company employees and fighting Government troops since 2006 in what it called a protest against the unrelenting poverty of the people in the region.
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