The Guardian World News

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• Obama: no let-up in Libya until Gaddafi departs
• Met kettling at G20 ruled unlawful
• Phone-hacking arrest stuns NoW
• EU puts pressure on Bahrain regime
• Rift opens over PM's migrant speech
• Pub 'ejects gay men for kissing'
• Body of Italian activist found in Gaza
• Typhoon grounded over spare parts
• UK bans export of execution drugs
• Villepin plots move against Sarkozy
• Artificial pancreas for diabetics to try
• Google reports 18% rise in profits
• World's oldest man dies at 114
• Big guns and Brangelina are out
• Alternative royal wedding live session
• Zeta-Jones's courage praised
• Alastair Campbell
• Should Wembley host FA Cup semis?
• My wife's had enough of my fantasies
• Sunday Sport set for return
• Toxic tale wins China press award
• Reel history: Che's clean getaway
• Spotify to halve free music allowance

Obama: no let-up in Libya until Gaddafi departs Posted: 14 Apr 2011 04:04 PM PDT US president reverses previously cautious approach to Libyan conflict and signs America up to more muscular intervention President Obama today signals the return of America to the forefront of the international effort in Libya, writing a joint article with David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy in which the three leaders commit their countries to pursue military action until Colonel Gaddafi has been removed. In the joint article, Obama reverses America's earlier cautious approach to the conflict – which saw the US hand control to Nato and withdraw fighter planes just days after the intervention began – and signs up his country to the more muscular intervention of his European colleagues. Obama's new interest could transform the efforts of the international community after three days of talks in the Gulf state of Qatar in effect came to nothing. Writing in Washington Post, the Times and Le Figaro, the three leaders say the world would have committed an "unconscionable betrayal" if the Libyan leader is left in place, putting rebels who have been fighting against the Gaddafi regime at the mercy of his government. If left, Libya risks becoming a failed state, they write. Obama, Sarkozy and Cameron call on Gaddafi to "go and go for good", rejecting demands for an immediate ceasefire and a negotiated exit for the Libyan dictator. Diplomats are considering how the language of the United Nations mandate can accommodate a more active role on the ground. In the piece, the three leaders acknowledge the legal constrictions but suggest they must overcome them: "Our duty and our mandate under UN Security Council Resolution 1973 is to protect civilians, and we are doing that. It is not to remove Gaddafi by force. But it is impossible to imagine a future for Libya with Gaddafi in power. The international criminal court is rightly investigating the crimes committed against civilians and the grievous violations of international law. It is unthinkable that someone who has tried to massacre his own people can play a part in their future government." Yesterday Gaddafi was seen driving through Tripoli on what seemed to be a victory parade. His soldiers bombarded the city of Misrata with shells. In their article the three leaders call the attack on Misrata a "medieval siege … to strangle its population into submission". They write: "The brave citizens of those towns that have held out against forces that have been mercilessly targeting them would face a fearful vengeance if the world accepted [Gaddafi staying]. It would be an unconscionable betrayal. "So long as Gaddafi is in power, Nato and its coalition partners must maintain their operations so that civilians remain protected and the pressure on the regime builds … Britain, France and the United States will not rest until the UN security council resolutions have been implemented and the Libyan people can choose their own future." The Times reported on its publication that the article originally began as a collaboration between Cameron and Sarkozy, coinciding with the prime minister's trip to Paris on Wednesday to discuss the military action. A draft was sent to the White House as a courtesy, prompting a request from Obama to add his name. Diplomatic sources said that only minor changes were made to accommodate him. Libya Barack Obama David Cameron Nicolas Sarkozy Muammar Gaddafi Nato Middle East Allegra Stratton guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Met kettling at G20 ruled unlawful Posted: 14 Apr 2011 12:21 PM PDT High court rules way in which police kettled up to 5,000 demonstrators at G20 protests in April 2009 was illegal Thousands of people found by the high court to have been illegally detained for hours by police at a central London protest may sue Scotland Yard for false imprisonment. The high court has ruled that the Metropolitan police had broken the law in the way it kettled up to 5,000 demonstrators at the G20 protests in April 2009. The judges heard police used the tactic of mass detention against protesters that they accepted were peaceful, with officers meting out punches to the face, slaps and shield strikes as they tried to move a demonstration against climate change. Judges found that the force used by police was "unjustified", criticised "imprecise" instructions given by senior officers about releasing innocent people, and said the mass detentions for five hours were an unlawful deprivation of liberty under article 5 of the European convention on human rights. The case was brought by Josh Moos and Hannah McClure, who were among the crowd held by police. The judgment does not strike down the police tactic of kettling, or mass detention, but it will be seen as a rebuff to the Met and places police chiefs on notice that the courts will intervene in favour of the rights of protesters over claims that draconian tactics are necessary to prevent violence. The Met announced it would appeal against the judgment. The solicitor who brought the case, John Halford, said the ruling opened the police up to thousands of lawsuits seeking damages for the unlawful behaviour. He said: "Everyone in the kettle has a claim for false imprisonment and damages as they were detained against their will." The case concerned the G20 protests in London on 1 April 2009, during which Ian Tomlinson, a bystander, died after being struck by an officer. There were several demonstrations in the area that day, but the court case deals with a Climate Camp protest in Bishopsgate. Police said they put in a containment of the camp, fearing people from a sometimes violent protest outside the Royal Exchange may join it. In their judgment Sir Anthony May, president of the Queens Bench Division, and Mr Justice Sweeney said police had failed to meet the conditions for the mass detention of protesters to be lawful: "To be justified in law as being the lawful exercise of the common law power to take reasonable steps to prevent a breach of the peace and as not constituting an unlawful deprivation of liberty under article 5 of the convention, the police had reasonably to apprehend an imminent breach of the peace …" But this was not the case, the judges found, citing the fact the two protests were relatively far apart. Those who left the Royal Exchange took two hours to reach the edge of the Climate Camp protest. The judges said the risk of violence was not imminent, and that was the threshold of danger to public order needed to justify the tactic of kettling. "There was such a risk, but it was at that stage only a risk; and it was not, in our judgment, a risk of imminent breaches of the peace sufficient to justify full containment at the Climate Camp." For the Met, policing protests has seen them criticised on several fronts, as too heavy handed at G20,and then underprepared at last year's student protests. The high court judgment found use of force at G20 was excessive, and the rights of innocent protesters were infringed: "It is evident that there were instances of unduly inflexible release [from the containment] and instances of unnecessary and, we think, unjustified force in the pushing operation." The judges also criticised instructions a police chief said he gave to officers to release the innocent from the detention: "They were very general and imprecise and may not have been fully conveyed to individual officers, some of whom appear not to have been trained for crowd control operations of this kind." The judges found a police decision to disperse the crowd to avoid it remaining overnight was lawful. The Met said: "We believe that this issue is so important for the police's ability to prevent disorder within protest that we will be appealing. The MPS believes that the Bishopsgate containment prevented further scenes of violence and criminal damage occurring on 1 April 2009." Dee Doocey, a Liberal Democrat member of the Metropolitan Police Authority, said: "We must have authoritative and crystal clear guidance on who can trigger the use of kettling … the Met must urgently address the insufficient training that police officers receive in the use of shields." Jenny Jones, a Green party member of the Metropolitan Police Authority, said: "They have used kettling illegally, and sometimes violently, on peaceful demonstrations since May 2001. Kettling takes away the human rights and civil liberties of innocent, legal protesters." Police G20 London Protest Human rights Vikram Dodd guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Phone-hacking arrest stuns NoW Posted: 14 Apr 2011 05:44 PM PDT Executives clear desk of news editor James Weatherup hours before police arrive The News of the World reacted to the unexpected arrest of one of its most senior reporters by clearing his desk. Despite the paper having promised that it would co-operate fully with police inquiries, executives descended on the desk of former news editor James Weatherup moments after learning of his arrest. Under the eyes of their legal team, they bagged up notebooks, papers and recording machines and removed them "via our lawyers", a firm whose identity the publisher refused to confirm. A few hours later, the police arrived and took the bags to Scotland Yard. Detectives also conducted a search in the tabloid newsroom while staff were asked to decamp to a nearby bar. The unexpected arrest of Weatherup, one of the most senior journalists at the News of the World, at his home leaves little room for doubt that the new police team investigating the phone-hacking scandal is determined to succeed where its much-criticised predecessors failed. It was three weeks ago that the News of the World dumped a vast archive of data at Scotland Yard's door – a trove that has turbo-charged the Met investigation. The data, which comprises millions of emails from everyone at the newspaper – and which the NoW previously claimed had been lost – could implicate the paper in more instances of malpractice than have been previously suggested. There are 8,000 emails relating to Sienna Miller alone. An examination of their contents could reveal that many more public figures were targeted by the newspaper, in addition to the 24 who are already bringing legal actions, including football agent Sky Andrew and the former culture secretary Tessa Jowell. It was also anticipated that the archived data would include email exchanges between the most senior executives on the NoW, including its former editor Andy Coulson, who resigned as David Cameron's media adviser in January, and Ian Edmondson, Greg Miskiw, and Neville Thurlbeck, journalists on the paper. Edmondson and Miskiw had already been implicated in the affair by paperwork seized from Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator who was on the NoW's books. What was not expected, however – even by the most senior executives at the paper – was that a new name would be discovered amid the mountains of data, along with evidence so strong that an arrest could be made. Weatherup's arrest stunned those at the highest level of the paper. News International executives have been saying privately that they were confident Edmondson and Thurlbeck were the only staffers still working at the paper who were likely to be implicated in hacking. The Met was so determined to conceal the new direction of its investigation that Weatherup, 55, was not given notice that he was being investigated by police officers. Unlike his colleague and former colleague Thurlbeck and Edmondson – who were arrested last week on suspicion of unlawfully intercepting mobile phone voicemail messages – he was not given the chance to voluntarily attend a police station before being placed under arrest. Instead, Weatherup – the third news editor under Coulson and one of a handful of senior employees who would take part in private discussions of major news stories with other senior members of the paper – was arrested in an early-morning swoop that left both his family and News International reeling. Not only was his house in Romford, Essex, searched but also the contents of his desk are now being examined by police – the third time Scotland Yard has seized all official and personal material belonging to a NoW employee in little more than a week. What is also significant about yesterday's arrest of a hitherto relatively unknown figure is that the police have worked at such intensity and speed. Until last week, former royal editor Clive Goodman, jailed in January 2007, was the only News of the World journalist to be arrested for listening to private voicemail messages. No other reporters or executives were questioned in the initial police investigation. It was only after a series of high court cases brought by Miller, the football pundit Andy Gray and others that the Met was forced to reveal material found on Mulcaire's computer, during a 2006 raid of his home. In contrast, the 45-member new team, Operation Weeting, have arrested three current or former NoW journalists in the past nine days alone over possible involvement in alleged phone hacking at the paper. Amelia Hill Dan Sabbagh guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

EU puts pressure on Bahrain regime Posted: 14 Apr 2011 11:21 AM PDT Mother of Zainab al-Khawaja – a 27-year-old protesting against treatment of father – says she is struggling to stand up • Follow Zainab on Twitter Britain and the EU have heaped diplomatic pressure on Bahrain over the alleged killing of pro-democracy activists in custody, while the health of a hunger striker protesting against the beating and arrest of her dissident father has deteriorated markedly. In a meeting with interior minister Shaikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, the British ambassador to Bahrain, Jamie Bowden, raised concerns over the deaths of four dissident prisoners in the last week. Catherine Ashton, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs, speaking through a spokesman also called on the Bahrain regime to immediately release all those who have been detained for peacefully expressing themselves. Ashton announced she is to visit Bahrain next week and her spokesman called on the authorities to "investigate all recent events which have resulted in loss of life and injuries". The high-level interventions follow what pro-democracy activists in Bahrain complain has been a period of minimal censure from Europe and the US of the renewed crackdown. They came as Zainab al-Khawaja, 27, one of the prominent twitter voices of the Arab spring, on hunger strike following the beating and arrest of her father, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja – a prominent human rights activist – along with her husband and brother-in-law, saw her health slump. She had been speaking out against the government's treatment of her family through the media and her Twitter blog, @angryarabiya, but she struggled to stand up, vomited and could no longer breastfeed her 18-month-old daughter, according to her mother. "I asked if I could put some sugar in her water because I can see her suffering and her daughter is crying for milk because she can't breastfeed her. She said no," said Khadija al-Khawaja, 52. "She is just sleeping. I go and wake her up, she opens her eyes and speaks to me and says she is OK. I told her you have a little girl whose father is not here and if anything happens to you … but she feels she needs to do something. She is very angry and very upset about what is happening." The family has received no information about the fate of Abdulhadi, Zainab's husband Wafu Almajed or her brother-in-law Hussein Ahmed. But there was hope for her uncle who was arrested three weeks earlier, when his wife was called to bring clothes for him to the military court building, though she was not allowed to see him. Abdulhadi was beaten and arrested after he denounced the King of Bahrain and called for him to be put on trial. It is thought the two other men were arrested because they were with him at the time, but were not the targets. The Bahraini government has widened its crackdown on dissent by preparing a case to dissolve Al Wefaq, a registered political society that previously held 18 of the 40 seats in the chamber of deputies before it withdrew in protest at the government's handling of demonstrations in February. It is also trying to shut down the Islamic Action Society, another registered society. A spokesman for the British Foreign Office denounced the move as "a backward step for reform" and said "the best way out of the situation is through inclusive dialogue". Kareem Fakhwiri, a member of Al Wefaq, was buried on Wednesday after he died in police custody. "We are deeply concerned by the many reports of human rights abuses in Bahrain," said a Foreign Office spokesman. "We are particularly worried by the deaths of four prisoners in the past week. Our ambassador raised these deaths with the minister of interior on 14 April. We call on the government to investigate them fully and transparently and we continue to urge the Bahraini authorities to act in accordance with the law and to meet international standards for the treatment of detainees." Khadija al-Khawaja said she was increasingly afraid the authorities would call to announce her husband's death, after she visited Kobra Fakhwiri, the widow of Kareem Fakhwiri. Bahrain Arab and Middle East unrest Protest Human rights Middle East Robert Booth guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Rift opens over PM's migrant speech Posted: 14 Apr 2011 01:11 PM PDT Tensions grow over 'tens of thousands' figure with 'incandescent' Vince Cable challenging policy interpretation The first major rift between David Cameron and Nick Clegg opened up after the Liberal Democrats accused the Tories of attempting to breach the agreement on immigration. In a sign of tensions in the run up to the local elections and AV referendum on 5 May, senior ministerial sources dismissed Clegg's view of the policy. The row erupted after the prime minister declared in his first major speech on the subject since the election that the government would cut net migration to the "tens of thousands" each year rather than hundreds of thousands. Cameron also warned that immigrants unable to speak English or unwilling to integrate have created a "kind of discomfort and disjointedness" which has disrupted communities. An "incandescent" Vince Cable, the business secretary who was not briefed about the speech, rounded on Cameron. "I do understand there is an election coming but talk of mass immigration risks inflaming the extremism to which he and I are both strongly opposed," he told the BBC. Cable also challenged Cameron's interpretation of government policy. "The reference to the tens of thousands of immigrants rather than hundreds of thousands is not part of the coalition agreement, it is Tory party policy only," he added. Cameron slapped down Cable when he appeared to accuse him of being "off beam". He said after his speech: "[It was] an important attempt to explain why we are doing what we are doing, why it's right and why some of the critics of it, actually, are off beam." Clegg, who "noted rather than approved" Cameron's speech, was initially irritated with Cable for coming close to breaching cabinet collective responsibility. The deputy prime minister was relatively relaxed with Cameron on the grounds that he was mentioning "tens of thousands" as an aspiration and not a formal target. One senior Lib Dem, who reflected Clegg's thinking, said: "The tens of thousands is Conservative policy. It is not Lib Dem policy. We do not think that it can be set as a target. It is not government policy." But Tory government sources challenged Clegg's interpretation when they insisted that the tens of thousands figure was formal coalition policy agreed by the cabinet. One source said: "That figure is in the background documents to the Queen's speech and is in Home Office documents. It has been used on the floor of the Commons. It is government policy. "It is true that it is not in the coalition agreement. But there are quite a lot of things that are not in the coalition agreement. This policy has been cleared at all levels of government." The row over the highly sensitive matter of immigration showed that relations between the Tories and Lib Dems are becoming tense in the run up to the elections and AV referendum. Senior Lib Dem cabinet ministers have become irritated with George Osborne over his claims about the funding of the yes campaign. Danny Alexander, Osborne's deputy at the Treasury, accused him of "pretty desperate scaremongering". Lib Dems made it clear that differences are extending beyond a "permitted" area, such as AV, to immigration where the coalition partners are meant to work together. Lord Oakeshott, an ally of Cable's who resigned as a Lib Dem treasury spokesman in a row with Osborne over the banks, hit out at Cameron. "When something is not in the coalition agreement it does not become coalition policy just because David Cameron says so, even if he has shown his speech to Nick Clegg," he said. Oakeshott's dig at Clegg highlighted tensions between Cable and the deputy prime minister. Cable was angry with both Cameron and Clegg for failing to brief him on the speech which relates to his ministerial portfolio. "Vince didn't know anything about the speech and was absolutely horrified," one source said. "Nick is clearly not being tough enough in saying no to Cameron." Lib Dem sources had earlier hailed Cable for his success in restraining the Tories in cabinet negotiations over immigration. They believe the party's greatest success was in rejecting Tory pressure to impose a cap on student migration. "Nick and Vince are very proud to have worked hard to get the policies where they are. The Tories wanted a student migration cap. That has not happened." Clegg had earlier tried to downplay the differences. His spokesman said: "This is a Conservative prime minister speaking to Conservative party activists using Conservative language." Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said: "The Tory-led government's immigration policy is in chaos. And now the business secretary has said he doesn't even agree with the policy in the first place. "David Cameron said 'no ifs, no buts' he would deliver on his target to cut net migration to the tens of thousands, yet Vince Cable said that it isn't coalition policy. What on earth is going on?" David Cameron Immigration and asylum Liberal-Conservative coalition Nick Clegg Vince Cable Elections 2011 Alternative vote Nicholas Watt guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Pub 'ejects gay men for kissing' Posted: 14 Apr 2011 05:50 AM PDT Two men say staff at the John Snow asked them to leave because they were being 'obscene' At what point does public intimacy tip over from a touching display of innocent romance into offensive vulgarity? Jonathan Williams and James Bull found themselves triggering a public debate on the subject when they were thrown out of a London pub for kissing. Williams, a journalist for a financial magazine, and Bull, a charity volunteer, said they had been ejected from the John Snow in Broadwick Street, Soho, central London, on Wednesday by a woman – claiming to be the landlady – who accused them of being "obscene" while out on their first date. The two men deny having behaved in any unseemly way. "We weren't being over the top; there wasn't anything that would be deemed unseemly," Williams said. "I'm not the kind of person to do that kind of thing in public." While the management at the John Snow were unimpressed by Williams and Bull's embraces – which one bystander told the Guardian amounted to "snogging, but it wasn't heavy petting" – the lovestruck pair found rather more support on Twitter and Facebook, even inspiring plans for a "kiss-in" event at the pub next week. Williams, 26, and Bull, 23, had enjoyed a dinner in Covent Garden before heading for the John Snow to indulge a shared passion – the pub's cider. "It's a nice little pub, it's a nice atmosphere," Williams said. The pub is near the heart of London's "gay village" but does not style itself as a gay bar. "The people are friendly, it's not too expensive considering the area and it's a decent pub where you can just relax," Williams added. Their peace was shattered when a fellow drinker, who claimed to be the landlord, asked them to refrain from kissing because it was "bothering" him. Williams and Bull said they were not indulging in a "huge display of affection" but were merely kissing on the lips. The couple refused what they said was a "polite request" and their stay continued unhindered. At about 10.45pm, a woman who said she was the landlady intervened. Bull said he was putting on his coat to leave and had given Williams "a peck on the lips" when the woman, who was wearing a staff uniform, came up to them. "She said we had to leave because we were being obscene. Then the other guy from earlier came over again and said we had to leave now, we 'weren't allowed to do that'." Bull and Williams said the man took hold of Williams's coat lapels as he asked them to leave the pub, and fellow drinkers joined in the pair's protestations of innocence. Lucy Clements, a 27-year-old production manager, and Jamie Morton, neither of whom know Bull or Williams, were sitting at the next table and witnessed the events. Clements said: "I was totally shocked. Dumbfounded really. From a pub in the middle of Soho you just don't expect it." She added that "no one seemed to mind apart from this one man". She said she spoke to bar staff who confirmed the man who raised the first objections was the landlord, before both she and Morton were also asked to leave. Bull, who said he was physically sick after the confrontation, called police when he got home. They came and took a statement. "I felt so belittled, and to be made to feel so dirty and cheap over something like that – it's just wrong," he said. Williams turned to Twitter to complain about the ordeal."Seven years in London & I've never been made to feel bad for being gay. 45 min ago the John Snow pub, W1F had me removed for kissing a date." His post was retweeted dozens of times and inspired the scheduling of a Facebook kiss-in event at the John Snow next Thursday, which pledged: "Let's show them just how fun same-sex salaciousness can be when it's filling up the pub." More than 200 have said they will attend, with one opportunist posting: "Of course I'm doing this for the principle, but there's a male friend I've always wanted to snog, and this is the perfect excuse." The John Snow is one of about 300 pubs in the UK operated by the Samuel Smith brewery. Bull and Williams said they had not yet complained to the company, but planned to do so later. When the Guardian called the pub twice, a woman said: "Can you just stop calling this number please, or we'll have you done for harassment." A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan police said: "Police are investigating an incident which occurred at approximately 10.50pm last night at a venue in Broadwick Street, W1. There have been no arrests and inquiries are ongoing." The case is intriguing legally. The Licensing Act 2003 gives a landlord the right to eject customers. But the Equality Act 2010 says everyone must be treated equally in the provision of goods and services. For a successful defence against any legal action under the act, the landlord would have to prove he had ejected heterosexual couples for similiarly overt displays of intimacy. Gay rights London Equality Adam Gabbatt guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Body of Italian activist found in Gaza Posted: 14 Apr 2011 04:43 PM PDT Two men arrested after security officials say they found body in abandoned house An Italian pro-Palestinian activist has reportedly been kidnapped and killed by Islamic militants in Gaza. The body of Vittorio Arrigoni was found in an abandoned house in the Gaza Strip on Friday following his abduction by militants, a Hamas official said. Two men were arrested and others were being sought in the killing, the official added. A Jihadist Salafi group in the Gaza Strip aligned with al-Qaida had threatened to execute Arrigoni by 5pm local time on Thursday unless their leader, whom Hamas arrested last month, was freed. "A security force entered a house and they found the Italian's man body, he is dead," the source told Reuters from the scene. Arrigoni, a pacifist and blogger, had lived in the Gaza Strip for some time. In a YouTube clip posted by his abductors, he was shown blindfolded with blood around his right eye and a hand can be seen pulling his head up by his hair to face the camera. The accompanying Arabic text said: "The Italian hostage entered our land only to spread corruption." It described Italy as "the infidel state". The body was found dressed in black clothes as he appeared in the video clip, a witness said. No blood was seen, which suggested he may have been strangled or hanged. Arrigoni was the first foreign national to be abducted in the Gaza Strip since BBC journalist Alan Johnston, who was held for 114 days by an al Qaeda-inspired clan group named the Army of Islam. He was released in 2007. Arrigoni arrived in the Gaza Strip on a boat bringing humanitarian supplies in 2008 that Israel, which enforces a blockade on the tiny coastal territory, allowed into Gaza port. Gaza Middle East Italy Hamas Palestinian territories Europe guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Typhoon grounded over spare parts Posted: 14 Apr 2011 04:01 PM PDT Typhoon fast jets cost £126m each and have too few spare parts, finds Commons report Despite years of delays and soaring costs, Typhoon fighters – the RAF's latest fast jet – are suffering from a shortage of spares, with planes being cannibalised and pilots grounded, according to a Commons investigation. The aircraft, originally called the Eurofighter in a joint project with Germany, Italy and Spain, was conceived in the cold war when the Ministry of Defence ordered 232. The RAF will end up having fewer than half that number from a project in which the cost of each plane has increased by 75% to £126m each. The overall project is costing £20.2bn, £3.5bn more than first expected, says the report by MPs on the Commons cross-party public accounts committee. The RAF has had to spend an extra £2.7bn buying 16 additional aircraft it does not need to honour contractual commitments to other countries producing the planes. In 2019, it will scrap more than 50 Typhoon jets that became operational only three years ago to a cost of more than £4.5bn because it cannot afford to update them. The RAF is experiencing difficulties now as its priority is to adapt as many planes as possible for a ground attack role. "Problems with the availability of spares mean that Typhoons are not flying the hours required and the department is forced to cannibalise parts," the MPs say in the report. "As a result, it is not fully training all its pilots, and only eight of the 48 Typhoon pilots were capable of undertaking ground attack missions on Typhoon. In addition, the [MoD] had to ground five pilots temporarily in 2010." The problem is likely to be exacerbated as Typhoons are used in a wider range of operational roles, today's report says. The aircraft, first conceived as a fighter to attack Soviet planes, was assigned after the cold war to an air defence role – intercepting suspicious planes entering UK airspace, for example. They will be on standby during the Olympics. Typhoons are now being adapted further for ground attack roles. The MoD announced on Wednesday that two RAF Typhoons were involved for the first time in hostile action – striking tanks belonging to Muammar Gaddafi's forces near the Libyan town of Misrata. The RAF released a video of the attack. Liam Fox, the defence secretary, said in response to today's report: "The Typhoon is a world-beating air-to-air fighter and is fast developing a ground attack capability, as is being demonstrated in Libya. We have sufficient numbers of qualified ground attack pilots to meet our operational tasks and this number is increasing all the time." Military Defence policy Richard Norton-Taylor guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

UK bans export of execution drugs Posted: 14 Apr 2011 01:37 PM PDT Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to prohibit American orders of three drugs used in lethal injections Britain is to ban the export to the US of three pharmaceutical drugs that are used to execute prisoners on death row, Vince Cable has said. An export ban for pentobarbital, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride – used in lethal injections – will be formalised in a few days, said the business secretary, who is urging a Europe-wide ban on sales of the drugs to the US. "We oppose the death penalty in all circumstances and are clear that British drugs should not be used to carry out lethal injections," he said. "Because of the importance and urgency of the situation this is an issue on which we felt we had to take the lead." The move comes after a parliamentary inquiry heard that enough pharmaceutical drugs have been sold to the US by licensed British wholesalers since last summer to execute 100 death row inmates. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills last November imposed export controls on sodium thiopental, a rarely-used anaesthetic, after it emerged that a small-scale wholesaler working out of the back office of a west London driving school had sold the drug to Georgia's and Arizona's department of corrections. The anti-capital punishment charity Reprieve, which mounted a legal challenge to ban sodium thiopental, welcomed the new block on the three drugs. But the charity said US states imposing the death penalty via lethal injection are now turning to a Danish company, Lundbeck A/S, for supplies of pentobarbital. Denmark's foreign minister said she will urge US states such as Texas and Ohio to stop using that drug. Reprieve director Clive Stafford Smith said: "Britain has now taken the lead in ending complicity in the US death penalty, which is very welcome. Since the US executing states are now turning to a Danish company, Lundbeck, to kill people, we must hope that the UK can persuade our EU partners to take a similar line." Pentobarbital is a sedative with a range of medical uses, including the treatment of epileptic seizures and other conditions that require some form of sedation. It is often used for putting down animals. Since late last year, it has been used in the US for lethal injections after supplies of sodium thiopental became scarce. The Danish foreign minister, Lene Espersen, said she cannot take direct action against Lundbeck because the drug is produced by a plant in Kansas. Pentobarbital has been used to execute prisoners in Ohio and Oklahoma. Mississippi and Arizona are also considering switching to the drug for lethal injections. Lundbeck has written letters to US prison authorities asking them not to use pentobarbital for lethal injections, but with little effect. The pharmaceutical company, whose bestsellers include drugs for the treatment of psychiatric and neurological disorders, is under pressure from human rights groups to take stronger action, such as rewriting distribution contracts with clauses prohibiting sales of pentobarbital to US prisons. Lundbeck has rejected that idea, saying it would be impossible for distributors to track how every vial is used. The company said it sells about 50mn doses of pentobarbital a year, but has declined to give any breakdown of sales. Pancuronium bromide is a muscle relaxant and potassium chloride is used to stop the heart and is sometimes used in abortion procedures. In February, a parliamentary inquiry heard that a shortage of supplies in the US was forcing American states to search abroad for painkillers, paralysing agents and heart-stopping compounds administered in lethal injections. Pharmaceuticals industry United States Denmark Europe David Batty guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Villepin plots move against Sarkozy Posted: 14 Apr 2011 12:39 PM PDT Dominique de Villepin – a vocal critic of Nicolas Sarkozy on traditional right – is considering run for president in 2012 Dominique de Villepin, the former French prime minister, moved closer to the ultimate standoff with his arch-enemy Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday as he presented a programme for running for president next year. Villepin, who Sarkozy once said he would like to hang from a butcher's hook, recently quit Sarkozy's ruling rightwing UMP party, setting up his own political grouping, République Solidaire, and considering challenging Sarkozy's bid for presidential re-election in 2012. A Gaullist, Villepin has become the most vocal critic of Sarkozy on the traditional right. He has called him "a problem for France" and slammed his policy to round up Roma migrants as "a stain on the French flag". Although Villepin has only a small army of activists – his movement claims 25,000 members – if he stands in the election he could split the traditional rightwing vote. This would cause headaches for Sarkozy whose party, the UMP, is falling apart, torn between centrists and rightwingers who can't agree over the president's extremist line on immigration, crime and Islam. Villepin, a former protege of Jacques Chirac who became famous for arguing France's case at the United Nations against the 2003 invasion of Iraq, said it was too early to announce whether or not he would run for president. But the 57-year-old part-time poet and historian laid out his proposals, including a "citizen's income" welfare benefit of €850 a month for people with no other earnings. He said he offered a "credible alternative" to Sarkozy. The political rivalry between Sarkozy and Villepin is legendary. It culminated in the Clearstream trial last year in which Villepin was cleared of falsely smearing Sarkozy over alleged acts of money laundering. A retrial is due to begin next month, and Villepin may be waiting for that to close before he makes a final announcement on whether or not to run. Sarkozy is at his lowest-ever approval ratings, around 29% according to a Le Point poll. The only other French president to have ever stooped lower was Chirac, at the height of his unpopularity following the EU constitution referendum of 2005. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the favourite for the primaries for a Socialist candidate, stands at 52% approval ratings, with the far-right's Marine Le Pen at 28%. Sarkozy, who has yet to officially announce he will stand for re-election, is under severe pressure, not just from the Front National, but within the UMP camp, a broad coalition of centrists and rightwingers which is fast disintegrating. The former environment minister and centrist Jean-Louis Borloo also recently quit the party to prepare for his own bid for the presidency. Addressing his own concerned MPs, Sarkozy insisted this week that he had a "good feeling" about next year's election. Nicolas Sarkozy France Europe Angelique Chrisafis guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Artificial pancreas for diabetics to try Posted: 14 Apr 2011 03:29 PM PDT A patch that monitors glucose levels continuously has worked in a small trial. Now scientists want more diabetics to try it out Trials of an artificial pancreas that can monitor the blood sugar levels of people with diabetes and then deliver insulin more accurately should move out of hospital into homes as soon as possible, funders of the research programme say. Promising evidence that adults may be better able to control their condition overnight has emerged from a Cambridge University-led study involving 24 adults and using developments of existing technologies. It was funded by the charity Diabetes UK, and follows encouraging research using similar equipment on pregnant mothers and children with Type 1 diabetes. Type 1 usually strikes people before they are 40 years of age and affects about one in 10 of those with diabetes. They need to test their own blood sugar levels regularly before injecting themselves with insulin or setting a pump which releases the hormone via a cannula under the skin. The new system involves placing a small circular patch on the body which continuously monitors glucose levels, sending the results by radio signals to the insulin pump which then automatically delivers the appropriate amount of insulin. This should reduce the incidence of "hypos", when blood sugar levels fall too low, possibly rendering a person unconscious or causing unpleasant symptoms, including sweating, tingling in the lips and a pounding heart. The latest tests, involving 10 men and 14 women aged 18-65, suggested a 22% improvement in the time participants kept their blood glucose levels in a safe range, halving the time they spent with low blood-glucose levels and reducing the risk of both short- and long-term complications. Half the participants were monitored overnight after consuming a medium-sized meal and the others after a larger meal and alcohol. Dr Roman Hovorka, who led the research, said: "Hypoglycaemia remains a major challenge, especially during the night, so it's encouraging to see such promising results from our trial using commercially available devices. "The study is a stepping stone to testing the artificial pancreas at home and suggests that the artificial pancreas may be suitable in adults as well as in children and adolescents we found previously." Iain Frame, head of research at Diabetes UK, said: "The improvements in glucose control overnight using this new technology are impressive, and it is good to see this work develop with the addition of testing the effects following a meal with some wine. "We now need to see an extension of this study, one which tests larger numbers of people, and then take it out of the hospital and in to the home setting." Diabetes Health James Meikle guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Google reports 18% rise in profits Posted: 14 Apr 2011 05:06 PM PDT Results likely to heighten investor fears that Google's commitment to recruit 6,200 workers this year will harm profits Google has reported an 18% rise in first-quarter profit, disappointing analysts who are increasingly concerned about thecompany's aggressive expansion strategy and lavish spending. Google's first-quarter earnings of $2.3bn, or $7.04 a share, for the quarter ended 31 March came in below analyst projections as the internet search leader accelerated recruitment hiring and spending in other areas, driving up its expenses. The company's shares shed $27.74, or nearly 5%, to $550.77 in extended trading. These results are likely to heighten investor fears that Google's earnings will suffer because of the company's commitment to hire at least 6,200 workers this year. That would be the most in its 13-year history. Google co-founder Larry Page, who replaced Eric Schmidt as CEO after the quarter ended, has indicated he plans to keep investing in long-term opportunities that may take years to pay off, even if that affects the short-term results. Page offered a determinedly optimistic view of the figures. "I'm very excited about Google and our momentum, and I'm very, very optimistic about our future," he said. He insisted that the management transition Google announced three month ago is unfolding as planned, with Page overseeing day-to-day operations while Schmidt handles government relations and stalks possible acquisition targets in his new role as executive chairman. If not for the cost of employee stock rewards, Google said it would have earned $8.08 a share. The company hired 1,916 staff, taking its workforce over 26,300. Half of the new staff are working on products and services to supplement search advertising, which makes most of Google's money. Google US economy Economics guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

World's oldest man dies at 114 Posted: 14 Apr 2011 05:53 PM PDT Walter Breuning was born in 1896 and put his longevity down to eating just two meals a day and working for as long as he could Walter Breuning, the world's oldest man and second-oldest person, has died aged 114. Breuning died of natural causes in a Montana hospital, said a spokeswoman for the Rainbow retirement home where he lived. Breuning was admitted to hospital at the beginning of April with an undisclosed illness. Breuning was 26 days younger than Besse Cooper of Georgia, whom the Gerontology Research Group in Los Angeles lists as the world's oldest person. In an interview last autumn, Breuning attributed his longevity to eating just two meals a day, working as long as he could and always embracing change, especially death. "We're all going to die. Some people are scared of dying. Never be afraid to die. Because you're born to die," he said. Breuning was born on 21 September 1896, in Minnesota and spent his early life in South Dakota. His family had no electricity or running water. He lied about his age and got a job in Minnesota with the Great Northern Railway in 1913 at age 16. He moved to Montana two years later and worked on the railway for 50 years – the rest of his working life. He married his work colleague Agnes Twokey in 1922 and stayed with her until her death in 1957. The couple had no children and Breuning never remarried. He earned $90 a month – working seven days a week – at the beginning of his career. He said this amount was "a lot of money at that time". In 1919, he bought his first car, a $150 secondhand Ford, which Breuning remembered spooking the horses when he drove around the streets of Great Falls. He and his wife bought property for $15 and hoped to build a house, but their plans never came to fruition because of the Great Depression. "Everybody got laid off in the 30s," Breuning said. "Nobody had any money at all. In 1933, they built the civic centre over here. Sixty-five cents an hour, you know. That was the wage, big wage." Breuning remained in his job until 1963 – the year the Beatles released their first album – when he decided to retire at the age of 67. But he kept working, becoming the manager and secretary for the local Shriners, a group similar to the Freemasons, a position he held until he was 99. He moved into the Rainbow retirement community in 1980, calling home a spare studio apartment with bare walls. Breuning would spent his days in an armchair outside the retirement home director's office in a suit and tie, sitting near a framed Guinness certificate proclaiming him the world's oldest man. He would eat breakfast and lunch and then retire to his room in the early afternoon. He would visit the doctor twice a year for check-ups and the only medication he would take was aspirin, director Tina Bundtrock said. With most of his relatives gone, Breuning said his real family was there in the Rainbow. He received letters from admirers from around the world, and he kept up with world events. "Everybody says your mind is the most important thing about your body. Your mind and your body. You keep both busy, and by God you'll be here a long time," Breuning said. United States David Batty guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Big guns and Brangelina are out Posted: 14 Apr 2011 09:13 AM PDT Lars von Trier, Pedro Almodóvar, Gus Van Sant ... and Mr and Mrs Pitt. Cannes rolls out a classic red-carpet lineup • In pictures: the Cannes contenders The announcement of the Cannes competition list is an exciting event. Rightly or wrongly, no other festival in the world can command anything like the same interest for its lineup-unveiling ceremony. The list is always guaranteed to trigger a canonical debate among critics and observers, an argument about which films and film-makers are thought to be making the grade. And the announcement is accumulating its own theatrical traditions, now that live TV coverage of the Paris press conference – hosted by the festival's ebullient head of selection Thierry Frémaux and its cool, mandarin president Gilles Jacob – itself can be watched online. The announcement is a time when Cannes re-establishes a kind of cultural brand-identity by rehearsing the names of those heavyweight auteurs in which it has made a long-term investment. In Cannes this year will be Pedro Almodóvar, Lars von Trier, Nanni Moretti, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Ari Kaurismäki, Paolo Sorrentino and Gus Van Sant. Terrence Malick's long-awaited The Tree of Life is to play in competition: Malick is not one of those American directors Cannes is especially associated with – such as the Coens or Van Sant – but he won the Director's prize in Cannes in 1978 for Days of Heaven. And Cannes and its corporate sponsors adore Hollywood celebrity and – starring Brad Pitt as it does – The Tree of Life will undoubtedly provide a colossal Brangelina-paparazzi storm on the red carpet. The out-of-competition lineup includes Jodie Foster's weird-sounding film The Beaver, starring Mel Gibson, Pirates of the Caribbean 4 (On Stranger Tides), the Sarkozy biopic The Conquest. And, of course, the whole festival is to be kicked off with Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris. As to this last film, well, there are no massive expectations – but Allen has always had an indulgent sponsor in Cannes: his film can more or less be relied on to supply some confectionery for the opening night, and plenty of stars for the red carpet. So far, the surprising omissions from the list are Andrei Zvyagintsev's Elena, about an old woman attempting to rescue her alcoholic son from poverty, Yorgos Lanthimos's Alps, about a night nurse who runs a bizarre psycho-therapeutic bereavement service, and Brillante Mendoza's Prey, starring Isabelle Huppert as a woman abducted by an Islamist separatist group. But the whispers are that at least one of these films – probably Alps – will be added to the competition list in the coming weeks. There is some British interest. Lynne Ramsay makes her Cannes competition debut with We Need to Talk About Kevin, adapted by Ramsay and Rory Kinnear from the best-selling novel by Lionel Shriver and starring Tilda Swinton, John C Reilly and Ezra Miller as the eponymous Kevin. Ramsay has been a prizewinner for her short films in previous Cannes festivals, but this is her major debut. In fact, it is her first full-length feature since Morvern Callar back in 2002. It must surely be a personal boost for Ramsay, having famously been once attached to the movie version of The Lovely Bones, a project taken over by Peter Jackson. Ramsay found the experience disagreeable and bruising. But in or out of Cannes, it is a pleasure to welcome back this superb director, whose Ratcatcher and Morvern Callar announced her as a major talent at the beginning of the last decade. Croisette conversations We can, however, be in absolutely no doubt as to who the star of Cannes will be: Lars von Trier is certain to rule the Croisette conversations with his mysterious movie Melancholia, which the master of mischief has described as a "beautiful film about the end of the world". My colleague Xan Brooks has already blogged about Von Trier's genius for winding us all up. The trailer is fascinating though, as Xan says, Von Trier is a master of misdirecting the press with these cheeky hints. When I discovered the title of Lars von Trier's new film, I wondered if it might be an allusion to the director's depression, which was solemnly announced and widely discussed when his sensational horror movie Antichrist came to Cannes two years ago. Apparently not: his depression is evidently in abeyance, or at any rate announcements about it are in abeyance. Similarly in abeyance are, apparently, plans to make the third in the projected Dogville movie trilogy – this too was once earnestly discussed at Cannes press conferences, but now the Von Trier caravan has passed on. Well, I have to say the trailer makes this movie look great. No other director can give me a feeling I can only describe as sinking-butterflies-in-the-tummy: a feeling that I am about to be hit with a brilliantly concealed sucker punch. Pedro Almodóvar's La Piel Que Habito, or The Skin I Live in, reunites the director with Antonio Banderas and is a revenge drama about a plastic surgeon tracking down the men who raped his daughter. It is based on the 2003 novel Mygale by the French author Thierry Jonquet. There are some Spanish TV news clips online about the production here, here and here, but these are for Spanish speakers only. It looks like a much darker, more politically flavoured movie than Almodóvar's other works. Palme d'Or It had been expected to feature out of competition, but Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life is in the running for the Palme d'Or, and it will be interesting to see the odds that the bookmaker Paddy Power offers on this. It must surely be the odds-on favourite. Starring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain, it is reportedly a symbolist, even surrealist film and a radical departure for Malick. Set in the 1950s, it centres on a boy in the midwest who grows up to be an adult lost in the modern world. This film, too, is bound to have thousands of cineastes milling around on the Croisette after the screening, excitedly debating its meaning. As I write, we are still being told that Tree of Life will actually have its world premiere in the UK in advance of the Cannes outing. This is a fascinating prospect for this director's British admirers (I am one), but I can't believe that Malick or his distributors would spike their global guns in this way. Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne are double-Palme winners, and their Le Gamin au Vélo, or The Boy With a Bike, starring Cécile De France and Jérémie Renier, looks very much as if it will be a return to their classic theme: parenthood. Cyril is a 12-year-old boy searching for the father who abandoned him in a children's home. He forms a complicated friendship with Samantha, a woman who runs a hairdressing salon. Any Dardenne movie is guaranteed respectful attention at Cannes, but these directors are not in the business of offering us the shock of the new. There are two Italian film-makers at Cannes. Nanni Moretti is the director whose sad and beautiful film The Son's Room (2001) is still, in my view, the best Palme winner of the last decade: the Palme of Palmes. His new film is Habemus Papam, or We Have a Pope, a comedy about the relationship between the newly elected pope and his therapist, starring Michel Piccoli and Moretti himself. The Italian trailer is online here. Paolo Sorrentino's This Must Be the Place will, for my money, be one of the hottest tickets in Cannes. Sean Penn stars as a wealthy and faintly Robert Smith-like rock star in retirement in Dublin, who decides to travel to the US and search for the fugitive Nazis who persecuted his father. Hollywood names and an American setting will take Sorrentino out of his comfort zone, and European arthouse directors can sometimes come a cropper with pop music and pop culture. But this promises to be a fascinating film. Gus Van Sant is a Palme winner for his nightmarish, Columbine-inspired movie Elephant (2003). Many had expected his new movie Restless, starring Mia Wasikowska, to be in competition. Instead, it is opening the Un Certain Regard sidebar. Why is this? Well, the trailer unmistakably announces it as one of Van Sant's more mainstream Hollywood-friendly pictures, such as his Good Will Hunting or Finding Forrester. It is also co-produced by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard. I wonder if Thierry Frémaux thought this a flimsier film, more appropriate as a glamorous opener outside the competition? We can only speculate. High-risk strategy Australian author turned director Julia Leigh is making a startling Cannes debut with her Sleeping Beauty, based on her own novel: a nightmarish thriller about a university student drugged and coerced into prostitution. It might be the hit of the festival, but it is high-risk stuff. There is something about Cannes that brutally magnifies failure. Among the other directors, Nuri Bilge Ceylan has his Once Upon a Time in Anatolia and Aki Kaurismäki is there with Le Havre, about a man who attempts to help an immigrant child in the French port city. Kaurismäki is a director traditionally, if tacitly, entrusted with the tricky responsibility of providing some laughs at Cannes, and sometimes they can be in very short supply. The Japanese director Naomi Kawase was a Grand Prix winner at Cannes in 2007 for her much admired film The Mourning Forest. Her latest film, Hanezu no Tsuki, is reportedly set in AD 500 – aside from that, nothing much is known. More will undoubtedly emerge in the next few weeks, including the lineup of the Director's Fortnight and Critics' Week sidebars. On paper, this looks like a classic Cannes year, with familiar big names: Variety commented of one Cannes that it was an "auteur smackdown": and that is really what we hope and expect for in every Cannes list – a massive meeting up of powerfully original film-makers. Cannes 2011 Cannes film festival Lars von Trier Pedro Almodóvar Gus van Sant Terrence Malick Brad Pitt Festivals Peter Bradshaw guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Alternative royal wedding live session Posted: 14 Apr 2011 05:00 AM PDT Emmy the Great explains how Mistress England is a lament for all would-be mothers-in-law of Prince William Andy Gallagher Ben Kape Laurence Topham

Zeta-Jones's courage praised Posted: 14 Apr 2011 11:50 AM PDT Mental health charities say disclosure will have huge impact after Catherine Zeta-Jones checks into clinic for five days No amount of PR spend could have brought Catherine Zeta-Jones the fund of sympathy and goodwill she has received after announcing she was being treated for bipolar disorder. Mental health charities congratulated her on her courage in speaking up, and even the red-top tabloids treated her with dignity. It's only eight years since the Sun's front page screamed, "Bonkers Bruno locked up", after the former boxer Frank Bruno suffered a breakdown and was sectioned under the Mental Health Act. On Thursday the tone reserved for reporting Zeta-Jones's illness was very different: "Bipolar Zeta in clinic five days – star's depression after Michael's cancer fight," said a much more muted Sun. Zeta-Jones, 41, came to prominence 20 years ago in the bucolic TV comedy about the Larkin family, The Darling Buds of May. Born in Swansea to a seamstress mother and sweet factory-owning father, from the off she looked destined for Hollywood. And so it proved. Not only did she go on to star in movies such as The Mask of Zorro and Traffic, she also married leading Hollywood player Michael Douglas in 2000. They were the showbiz dream team, a source of endless stories (their 25-year age difference, their combined wealth, her looks, his drug addictions – and then there were the movies). They sold pictures of their marriage to OK! for £1.5m, and even that resulted in a dramatic court case when Hello! ran the pictures without permission. Zeta-Jones's film career peaked in 2003 when she won the best supporting actress Oscar for her performance as Velma Kelly in Chicago. But there has been plenty of well-documented turbulence in her life too. In 2004 Dawnette Knight, who had been infatuated with Douglas, was jailed after stalking Zeta-Jones – she sent letters telling her she would die like John F Kennedy or Manson Family victim Sharon Tate. "This has affected me and it will affect me the rest of my life," Zeta-Jones testified. "I felt like a ticking timebomb." There were also rumours in 2007 that her marriage was creaking, and last August it was revealed that Douglas, with whom she has two children, had stage IV throat cancer. Even in her earlier 20s, there had been hints all was not well. In 1993 after splitting from Blue Peter presenter John Leslie, she said: "I get very lonely and think nobody wants me any more. I can't take a bus or tube on my own any more. It terrifies me. I get all panicked." Last year she admitted to fighting depression: "I try and stay positive because I don't just bring myself down, I bring everyone else down." This week Zeta-Jones issued a statement that she had spent five days in a psychiatric hospital in Connecticut being treated for bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression. She is said to have struggled with stress after Douglas's cancer diagnosis. Her spokeswoman said: "After dealing with the stress of the past year, Catherine made the decision to check into a mental health facility for a brief stay to treat her bipolar II disorder." The announcement that she is suffering from bipolar II – a form of manic depression in which the ups are not as high as with bipolar I – was welcomed by mental health organisations. In recent years, celebrities such as Stephen Fry, Paul Gascoigne and Ruby Wax have helped to normalise depression and bipolar disorder. Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of the mental health charity Sane, said: "[Zeta-Jones's announcement] will have a huge impact on [people] recognising mental illness is a condition that everyone can suffer from. The importance is for people to accept it's a treatable illness rather than live with it for years so that they become more and more sucked into a downward spiral and at risk of suicide." Bipolar disorder is estimated to affect up to 2.4 million people in the UK, and sufferers are estimated to be 10 times more likely to kill themselves than the rest of the population. The average time for seeking help is 4.5 years, and a US survey showed that it took an average of 10.2 years for correct diagnosis and treatment. Although bipolar disorder is often first experienced in the teens or 20s, trauma can often tip sufferers into a crisis. "I think with the diagnosis and accepting the need for treatment, Catherine will feel liberated and believe that things can improve," Wallace said. "Whereas those with bipolar I tend to experience severe mania as well as severe depression, bipolar II presents more as depression, feelings of sadness, hopelessness and guilt." Sue Baker, director of Time to Change, a campaign to end the discrimination surrounding mental health problems, said Zeta-Jones's statement would make it easier for others to admit to their illness. "We already know the impact of Stephen Fry's documentary and how that helped people discuss the issue more openly." The danger, she said, is that members of the public start to believe depression or bipolar disorder is something only suffered by famous or creative people. "It can almost seem that this is the price of success, which is nonsense. Major life changes can have an impact on anybody's mental health and wellbeing." Time to Change and Sane say that while celebrities are more willing to publicise mental health problems, there is still a stigma in many walks of life. "We want to see people in key public positions coming forward, feeling more able to talk about it," Baker said. "The former prime minister of Norway, Kjell Magne Bondevik, got re-elected with an even higher majority once he disclosed he'd had to step back for a couple of months because he'd been experiencing depression." Yet for British politicians admitting to depression or bipolar disorder is still taboo. "A confidential survey carried out by the all-party parliamentary mental health group showed one in five politicians had experienced a mental health problem but how many of them have actually talked about it?" said Baker. "As the law stands at the moment if you're a sitting MP and you get sectioned, you wouldn't be able to remain an MP. For me that is the very height of discrimination."Zeta-Jones, meanwhile, seems on the road to recovery after her brief stay in the Silver Hill clinic in Connecticut. Her spokeswoman said: "She's feeling great and looking forward to starting work on her two upcoming films." Catherine Zeta-Jones Michael Douglas Bipolar disorder Mental health Health United States Wales Simon Hattenstone guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Alastair Campbell Posted: 14 Apr 2011 12:00 PM PDT A focus on famous people risks blurring the message that mental illness can happen to anyone In an ideal world, it would not take a film star to get the media focused on mental illness. But we don't live in an ideal world, we live in a celebrity culture where Catherine Zeta-Jones being treated for bipolar disorder can soar to the top of news websites' "most viewed", and relegate Andrew Lansley's woes or even David Cameron's pre-election views on immigration. I am an ambassador for Time to Change, the campaign to change attitudes on mental illness, to break down the stigma and taboo which still surround it. It appears to be having some success: when England cricketer Michael Yardy left the World Cup because of depression, the "pull yourself together ... what has he got to be depressed about?" brigade were in the minority. There is greater understanding, but still stigma. Some people with mental illness say the discrimination can be worse than the symptoms. What the mental health charities find deeply frustrating is that they can only get on the media via celebrities. If Zeta-Jones had been diagnosed with cancer, we would be talking about cancer. It is as though the celebs attached to an issue lead a debate, rather than the issue and how it affects millions of people. There is a danger that focus on famous people tends to get in the way of one of our central messages – it can happen to anyone – or that it reinforces one of the myths, that mental illness hits "creative, achieving people". But if you are the charity in question, trying to raise your profile so as to raise funds and awareness for the services you provide, you have to play the game. I was inundated with media bids and the charities wanted me to take them up. Isn't it better if a doctor or a nurse goes up? Ah, but they want a name. So here's an idea for the Guardian. Take Catherine Zeta-Jones as the "peg" – but open a few pages of G2 to fellow sufferers most of us have never heard of. The charities will help find them. Then your readers will see that not all bipolar sufferers look like Stephen Fry or Catherine Zeta-Jones ... They look like the woman next door, the guy on the bus, the colleague across the office, the kid you met on holiday last year. One in four of us will have a mental illness at some point. That is a lot of people. Very few are film stars. Zeta-Jones will help raise the profile of the issues, whether she wanted it that way or not. That should lead to better understanding. But as I said when I spoke to the Royal College of Nursing on Wednesday about mental health, including my own issues of breakdown and depression, better understanding must be an accompaniment to good treatment, not a substitute. I join the many others who wish her well and thank her for the support her name will lend our campaign. But there are people with the same illness who cannot get the support they need, who still feel they have to lie about their condition to get or keep a job, and who really worry about the impact of government cuts and reforms that will fundamentally change the way mental health services are run. Those issues should be getting an airing regardless of celebrity support or involvement. Alastair Campbell has asked for his fee for this article to go to Rethink. Bipolar disorder Mental health Catherine Zeta-Jones Charities Depression Health Alastair Campbell guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Should Wembley host FA Cup semis? Posted: 14 Apr 2011 10:04 AM PDT An FA spokesman and the secretary of the Manchester City Supporters Club debate the merits of playing the FA Cup semi-final at the national stadium Matt Phillips, FA spokesman: The Football Association said eight years ago that Wembley would be the host for the semi‑finals and the final of the FA Cup so we won't see a return to any other stadiums for the foreseeable future. Wembley has a capacity of nearly 90,000, which means many more fans have the opportunity to see their team in the semi-finals now than when the matches were played at grounds such as Anfield, Villa Park and Old Trafford. Semis have been played at Wembley since 1991 and some of the biggest crowds in the history of the FA Cup have come from those matches. Stoke City have already sold out their allocation so the demand for Wembley is clearly there. Wembley is set up to deal with large crowds and that's what you'll always get at semi-finals – it's purpose built for major events, particularly major football events. This is a stadium that will host the Champions League final next month. We're aware that some fans wonder why Saturday's semi-final – a Manchester derby – is being played in London rather than at Old Trafford or Anfield but when it comes to the FA Cup we're beholden to the draw. We've got two teams from the north in the first semi-final but Saturday's match could quite easily have been between two London clubs: in the past we've seen London sides and teams such as Portsmouth play at Wembley. At the start of the season everyone knows the semi-finals will be in London, so it's not like it comes as a shock when fans need to make travel arrangements. The semi-finals and the final are both played at Wembley but that doesn't take away the magic of a final at the stadium. Wembley is set out in a different way for each round so fans who come for the semi-final will have a different experience from those who come for the final. This weekend three of the clubs involved – Manchester City, Bolton Wanderers and Stoke – will play their first game at the new Wembley so it will be a fresh experience for them. At least one of those teams won't be coming back for the final so playing the semis at Wembley gives more supporters and clubs the chance to experience the national stadium. London will host a number of big events this weekend with the FA Cup semi-finals, the marathon and Liverpool's visit to Arsenal but it's a city that can cope with large crowds. Bear in mind that next year the capital will take in the Olympics – if it's set up to cope with the logistics of so many events and people in one place I'm sure it can handle this weekend's schedule. Kevin Parker, general secretary, Manchester City Supporters Club: My family, friends and I are looking forward to going to Wembley for the semi-final because we haven't played in a Cup final since 1981. But the reality is that we'd be looking forward to the semi-final whether it was being played at Wembley, the Millennium Stadium, the Emirates or at St James's Park – although perhaps not Old Trafford. It's more about it being the semi-final. My view is that semi-finals shouldn't be played at Wembley. For me and for lots of people I've spoken to Wembley should be the venue for the final, not the semi-finals. It will take a little bit of gloss off the final – it's bound to. It's still going to be a special day but Wembley should be about finals not semi-finals. You've got City and United on Saturday, you've got Bolton and Stoke on Sunday, you've got the London marathon, you've got Liverpool going to the Emirates – logistically it's going to be an absolute nightmare. It's going to be a problem for fans who are travelling to Wembley, it's going to be a nightmare for whoever is in charge of transport, for the police, for the public services. No one has sat down and looked at the calendar and looked at what may happen. I think everybody knows the reason is the need to pay the bills at Wembley. I don't think there's any other reason. They will give you an argument that it lets more fans get to the semi-final because you can get more people in, but if that were the case just they'd split the total allocation between the two teams that are playing, but they don't do that. United have got 32,000, City have got 32,000 so the rest is going to sponsors, friends of the FA and others. So it's not about the fans in reality, it's about them being able to sell off the day and get more revenue than they could anywhere else. On the one hand they're trying to tell the fans they're doing a great thing for them, on the other hand they're just trying to bring some more money in to recover some of the ridiculous amount they spent on the stadium in the first place. Fans aren't stupid, they know the reason why the semi-finals are being held at Wembley. Because of that financial situation – and there doesn't seem any end to the mess the FA has got itself in financially – it's hardly likely that it is going to change its policy on the semi-finals being played there. That's the frustrating thing. I'm not worried about agreeing with Sir Alex Ferguson, because I'm working on the basis that he is agreeing with me. I'm happy for him to know that I am right on this occasion. Wembley stadium FA Cup The FA Football politics guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

My wife's had enough of my fantasies Posted: 14 Apr 2011 01:01 PM PDT My wife has indulged my fantasies about her with other men but not anymore, and now I'm struggling without the prospect of new sexual adventures I'm a 45-year-old man who has been married to a beautiful woman for 15 years. I find my wife talking about her previous sexual experiences very erotic. But she's quite conventional and her imagination isn't great. She's indulged my desire to hear new stories by meeting other men, sometimes just for drinks but occasionally it's gone far beyond that – to my pleasure. She's now told me she will no longer indulge this and I'm struggling to accept there's no scope for adventure. It's a big part of what makes me tick sexually, and my frustration's growing. We've discussed me having an affair, but it's not what I want. My wife says she couldn't cope with it, anyway. The issue is the difference between fantasy and reality. It's fantasy that does it for you, isn't it? You don't need your wife to actually go with someone else. Since the idea of her being with someone else turns you on, you could negotiate with her to create fantasy scenarios that will inspire you. But first, find out what she really wants from your love-making, and provide it. If you can give her what she wants, and promise you won't expect her to have sex with other men, she may be willing to put more effort into making up new stories or searching for erotic tales in, say, the media. Perhaps you could find scripts for her, or research stories yourself and use them privately to enhance your arousal.• Pamela Stephenson Connolly is a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist who specialises in treating sexual disorders. • Email your problem to private.lives@guardian.co.uk Sex Relationships Pamela Stephenson Connolly guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Sunday Sport set for return Posted: 14 Apr 2011 10:05 AM PDT Newspaper expected to return to newsstands on 8 May, but there's no reprieve for its sister title, the Daily Sport The Sunday Sport is expected to begin publishing again in early May, with the paper's founder, David Sullivan, on the verge of buying it from administrators for less than £1m. A contract for the Sunday Sport deal – but not for its sister title, the Daily Sport – is understood to have been issued although Sullivan, the co-owner of West Ham, has not yet signed it. One source familiar with the deal said it is "highly likely" to go through. The Sunday Sport is expected to return to newsstands on 8 May, just over a month after its previous owner, Sport Media Group, ceased publication of the paper and its daily counterpart. SMG ceased trading and put the papers up for sale on 1 April, after admitting that an "insufficient recovery" since poor sales during the inclement weather at the end of last year left it cash-strapped and "uncertain of support" from its bank. Following unsuccessful talks with Royal Bank of Scotland, the company appointed BDO as administrator for the business. One of BDO's first moves was to make the papers' 80 employees redundant. A BDO spokeswoman said: "Negotiations are ongoing. We are not in a position to announce a sale or confirm a sale." Sullivan launched the Sunday Sport in 1986 and its daily sister title five years later. He sold his 50% stake in the business in December 2007, a deal that valued the Sport papers at about £40m. But in 2009 Sullivan saved the business by loaning it £1.68m in return for a 9.9% stake. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication". • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook. Newspapers Newspapers & magazines Media business David Sullivan Mark Sweney guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Toxic tale wins China press award Posted: 14 Apr 2011 08:42 AM PDT Higher standards and bigger challenges evident at prize ceremony organised by the Guardian and partners A horrifying investigation of a toxic spill from China's biggest gold mining company was among the winners at the second China environmental press awards on Wednesday. Investigations of solar panel subsidies and corporate greenwashing were also recognised with prizes as Chinese journalists reflected on the challenges and changes facing their coverage of arguably the world's worst environmental crisis. The awards, which were launched last year, are jointly organised by the Guardian, chinadialogue and Sina, the leading Chinese web portal. The increased quantity and quality of story submissions reflected another tumultuous year for the Chinese environment, which was buffetted by outbreaks of heavy metal poisoning, the Dalian oil leak, river pollution and over-exploitation of resources. Yang Chuanmin of Southern Metropolitan Daily won the in-depth investigation award for the second year in a row, firmly establishing herself as one of China's environmental journalists. Her report on a toxic spill from Zijin Mining – China's biggest gold mining company - ripped apart the company's claim to "Double Excellence" in balancing economic gains and environmental protection. The full article is here, but you can get a taste of the grim landscape and its dire health implications in the following two extracts: "The village secretary, Huang Jingxin, said: "Your hands start to itch as soon as you come into contact with the river water." Even the colour of the Ting River scares them. When there is no wind or rain the water is green. But when it rains heavily, sediment from the bottom of the river is brought up and the water turns into a rusty sunset colour." "Ten years of mining has turned Yueyang into a 'cancer village'. There are more than 3,000 people living in the three administrative villages of the Yueyang area. In the past five years, about 60 to 70 cancer patients have died in these villages, many of them married couples or siblings. The youngest cancer patient is only 18 years old. Southern Metropolis Daily obtained a detailed case list. The most common causes of death were stomach cancer, lung cancer, esophageal cancer and liver cancer. Yuan Ying won the award for most influential report with an expose of shortcomings in the state's solar energy subsidy program that prompted the government to shift direction. Yuan said she received irate calls from senior officials who were upset that she had cast them in an embarrassing light. "They should not blame the report. My aim is to improve the industry." Liu Jianqiang, a veteran journalist who led the judging panel as a representative of chinadialogue, noted that all but one of the 14 short-listed stories adopted a critical tone. He said these types of report played an increasingly constructive role in society. "When I started writing, it was impossible for environment stories to get on the front page, but now they do," he said. "I've come to realise that coverage of the environment can make a bigger impact and result in more positive change than the usual stories about crime." Selection was difficult because of the depth of good entries. I found it particularly tough. My language skills are regrettably not up to the task of assessing the quality of the writing, which I left to my two Chinese fellow judges. Instead – with the help of my research assistant and friends - I focussed on the detail of the investigations, the strength of the impact and the originality of the approach. The country is catching up not just with ecological awareness, but also dubious "greenwashing" marketing campaigns. One of the most highly praised award winners was a humorous investigation of a paper company's claim to be improving the environment by adding non-biodegradable plastic to its products. Off the usual track of pollution and climate, the judges added an award this year for the best human interest story, which was won by an empathetic profile of a bird-watching Tibetan monk. The writer, Geng Dong spent months researching this piece. He said his aim was to make readers reflect on their views of wildlife. "The lama had a very different relationship with nature than that of someone from a conventional education system. His observations of birds were both distinct and remarkable. I wanted to pose the question whether his way of seeing was best or ours." Each of the five main prizes was worth 8,000 renminbi (about 800 pounds), while nine runners up received 2,000rmb. Peter Preston, co-director the Guardian Foundation, which provides most of the funds, said he was encouraged by the development of the award : "It's tremendously exciting to see expert, vivid and independent environmental journalism develop so swiftly in China - and a pleasure to help sponsor a contest which demonstrates rising standards and rising awareness so clearly". The winners highlight the longstanding strength of the Southern newspaper group based in Guangdong and the pioneering role played by a handful of investigative magazines. But the media industry is undergoing a transformation. During the ceremony and following discussions, participants described changes in tastes and technology that will challenge conventional news gathering and reporting. The event was cosponsored by Sina, the nation's biggest web portal and the host of the Weibo microblog - China's twitter, which is an increasingly influential source of news. Sina representative, Zhou Xiaopeng said the company hoped to boost its role in green issues. "We want to use Weibo to build a circle for people interested in the environment. Our hope is that this turn into an influential forum." As elsewhere in the world after the Copenhagen conference, the appetite for climate related stories also appears to have waned in China. "It became harder last year to interest editors and readers in stories about climate change so I'm focussing more on renewable technology," said Yuan of Southern Weekly. Hopefully, the awards will continue to highlight and encourage different approaches. Translations of the winning stories will appear on chinadialogue and select ones will be republished on the Guardian Environment Network. Top prize winners: Best investigative report Paper Made From Stone, An Uproarious Myth of Environmental Protection By Lu Zongshu, Southern Weekly Best in-depth report (two winners) 1) Zijin's poisoned legacy By Yang Chuanmin Southern Metropolitan Daily 2) The Alarm from Zhouqu By Gong Jing, Wang Heyan, Zhang Ruidan,New Century Weekly Best human interest story Bird Watching Lama In Nianbao Yuze By Geng Dong, Shanshui Conservation Centre Most influential report The Green, Twisted "Golden Sun" Project: Questioning the Support Policy For The Photovoltaic Industry By Yuan Ying, Southern Weekly China Pollution Mining Water Energy Solar power Renewable energy Jonathan Watts guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Reel history: Che's clean getaway Posted: 14 Apr 2011 05:53 AM PDT Gael García Bernal is overgroomed as Che Guevara, but this chronicle of a formative and revolutionary roadtrip is accurate Director: Walter Salles Entertainment grade: B History grade: A– Ernesto Guevara de la Serna was an Argentine doctor. Under the name Che Guevara, he became a comandante, or major, in the Cuban revolution, and later led communist guerrilla units in the Congo and Bolivia. Casting Medical student Ernesto Guevara and his biochemist friend Alberto Granado set out on their motorcycle from Buenos Aires, heading for North America. According to press reports, Rodrigo de la Serna, playing Alberto, is a second cousin to the real Che Guevara. DNA isn't everything, though: the unrelated Mexican actor Gael García Bernal, playing Ernesto, much more closely resembles Guevara in 1952. Indeed, when the real Ernesto was well groomed, it was often said that he looked like a movie star. But that didn't happen too often, for he had a lifelong aversion to grooming. He once wore a pair of underpants for two months, and then gleefully won a bet that they would stand up by themselves. Thankfully, that isn't in the film. Romance The first stop on the men's trip is Miramar, south of Buenos Aires, where they visit Ernesto's girlfriend Chichina. He gives her a puppy, named (in English) Come-back, to indicate that he intends to, well, come back. In the film, she gives him $15 to buy her a bathing suit when he reaches the United States. In real life, according to one of Che's biographers, the money was for a scarf. Other than that, this is accurate. Media The bike breaks down near a small Chilean town. Alberto and Ernesto are broke – but they have an idea. They give an interview to the town paper, claiming to be touring leprosy experts, and then use the piece to impress the locals into giving them free stuff. This is also true. The mechanic who fixes their bike invites them to a dance. By now, Chichina has dumped Ernesto, and he is nursing a broken heart. Which means he's trying to cop off with the mechanic's wife. Scandal The film subtly cleans Ernesto's conduct up in comparison with his own description of the evening. It depicts the mechanic's wife, as the real Guevara wrote, acting "pretty randy", but glosses over the fact that Ernesto too was "full of Chilean wine". When she refused him, "I was in no state to listen to reason and we had a bit of a barney in the middle of the dance floor," he admitted. As in in the movie, Ernesto and Alberto were chased out of the dance hall by a mob of angry Chileans. But the film uses dramatic licence when it has them bust out their bike from the mechanic's garage and speed off in the nick of time. In reality, they stayed another night, had lunch with a family next door to the garage, and left without incident in the afternoon. Politics In the mining settlement near Chuquicamata, Alberto and Ernesto meet an impoverished couple who fear persecution on the grounds that they are communists – which, at the time, Ernesto was not. From 1948 until 1958, the Chilean Communist party was banned and its adherents prosecuted under the Law for the Defence of Democracy. The poet Pablo Neruda was among those who fled the country. The scene in the movie sticks closely to Guevara's account. There's one striking difference. In the film, we are later told that Ernesto gave Chichina's $15 to the couple. In real life, both Ernesto and the $15 eventually made it to Miami – and, though Ernesto never saw Chichina again, he did apparently send her that scarf. Verdict If the young Ernesto Guevara needed a clean-up, it was in the sense of an actual wash. As for his faults, he himself was more frank about them than this movie is. That aside, The Motorcycle Diaries gets a lot right. It's an entertaining and accurate portrayal of the formative youth of a revolutionary icon. • Alex von Tunzelmann's Red Heat: Conspiracy, Murder and the Cold War in the Caribbean, is published by Simon & Schuster this week. Che Guevara Alex von Tunzelmann guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Spotify to halve free music allowance Posted: 14 Apr 2011 02:31 AM PDT Music streaming service limits non-subscribers to five plays for an individual track, and 10 hours free Spotify is to cut back the amount of free listening available to users from 20 hours to 10. From 1 May, the music streaming service will reduce by half the amount of free music available each month to its 6 million users in the UK and Europe. Non-subscribers will only be allowed to listen to an individual track a maximum of five times. Users will move to the restricted model six months after they register – some existing users' listening time will remain free, for others the restricted plan starts on 1 May. Since its 2008 launch, Spotify's free offering has become popular, tempting more than 1 million people to become paying customers. "The service become incredibly popular. People are listening to more music and from a wider range of artists … and are giving up on piracy," Daniel Ek, Spotify's co-founder, announced in a blogpost on the company's website on Thursday. "This is exactly what we hoped would happen. "So it's vital that we continue offering an on-demand free service to you and millions more like you," he added. "But to make that possible we have to put some limits in place going forward." Ek said that the changes would mainly affect heavier users, and that people would still be able to listen to about 200 tracks, or 20 albums, free each month. The move will no doubt rankle with some music fans, who had grown used to Spotify's free streaming service being "too good to be true". The first commenter on Spotify's official blogpost lamented: "So long Spotify. It was nice knowing you. Guess I'll go back to pirating music again then." However, Ek told the Financial Times last month: "We are trying to experiment with new ways to increase monetisation on free as well as paid. We are constantly trying to get people to pay but we prefer using carrots rather than sticks." The Anglo-Swedish company has been negotiating with the four major music labels – Universal, Warner Music, Sony and EMI – about its plans for a launch in the US. The music majors have long been wary of free music streaming services, like Spotify's non-premium offering. Spotify has always insisted that a sizeable base of free users would eventually translate into paying subscribers. Last month, the company announced its 1 millionth paying customer – paying subscribers make up 15% of Spotify's active users. The most recent audited annual accounts for Spotify, for 2009, show it lost £16.6m in the UK on revenues of £11.3m. Spotify Daniel Ek Internet Digital music and audio Digital media Media business Music industry Josh Halliday guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

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