The Guardian World News

---

• Patients 'denied key NHS treatments due to cuts'
• Rebels flee renewed Ajdabiya assault
• Two Britons shot dead in Florida
• Police used kettling 'too readily'
• Greens anger over 'red tape' label
• PM and Miliband lock horns over AV
• Respect right to protest, Bahrain told
• Jonathan leads in Nigeria's election
• Yemeni women join street protests
• Minister decries adoption 'age bar'
• M1 could remain closed for days
• Raúl proposes 10-year term for MPs
• New gag order 'hampers journalists'
• Tornadoes leave dozens dead in US
• Soy sauce company symbolises Japan's determination
• Tate's Lowry 'exclusion' challenged
• Challenge to Maundy Thursday
• Graphic story: A Well-Oiled Mind
• Daniel Barenboim: unstuffed shirts
• Isle of Grain fate hangs in the balance
• Brixton windmill set to sail again
• Pass notes: the Chronophage clock

Patients 'denied key NHS treatments due to cuts' Posted: 17 Apr 2011 05:02 PM PDT Open letter accuses health trusts of letting public down by branding some elective surgery 'lower value' Read the FSSA's letter Growing numbers of patients are being wrongly denied a new hip, a weight loss operation or even cancer treatment because of NHS cost-cutting, the leaders of Britain's surgeons have warned. Increasing rationing of operations is forcing patients to endure pain, injury or disability because NHS primary care trusts (PCTs) are ignoring evidence about the effectiveness of certain treatments simply to balance their books. The warning from the Federation of Surgical Specialty Associations (FSSA), which represents the nine major types of surgeon in the UK, is in an open letter passed to the Guardian. It accuses trusts of letting down needy patients by branding forms of elective surgery as of limited clinical value in order to help them cope with the NHS's tough financial climate. The FSSA, which represents about 15,000 surgeons, says it is "concerned that lists of surgical procedures and interventions, deemed of low clinical effectiveness or of 'lower value', are being used by PCTs to limit access to certain procedures … Review of the lists reveals that there is little or no evidence to support the view that many of the procedures are of limited value to individual patients". The unprecedented statement goes on: "For example, the lists include types of hip, spinal, ENT [ear, nose and throat], dental, bariatric [obesity] and cancer surgery for which there is overwhelming evidence of benefit. The only justification for these lists can be that they are a means of reducing expenditure at a time when the NHS faces a financial crisis." The surgeons' move highlights the fact that PCTs across England are increasingly delaying or denying patients access to surgery to repair a hernia, replace an arthritic hip or knee, and remove cataracts, infected tonsils, gallstones, wisdom teeth, adenoids and varicose veins. Some are even restricting the number of patients who can have a hysterectomy or have their baby in a planned caesarean section. Surgeons, heath charities and patients' groups are increasingly frustrated that PCTs are introducing what they regard as arbitrary lists of treatments of supposedly low or no clinical value despite medical evidence that many help relieve patients' symptoms. The joint statement says the FSSA is concerned the evidence for the lists is "very poor and it is therefore inappropriate for them to be used to determine patient care without the involvement of the Specialty Associations". Many PCTs, which commission and pay for healthcare, are struggling with the fact that, after a decade of budget increases averaging 7% a year, the NHS in England has to find £20bn in "efficiency savings" by 2015 and cope with close to zero annual rises during the same period. While they are rationing care, many hospitals and ambulance services are shedding staff. Peter Kay, chairman of the British Orthopaedic Association (BOA), the largest of the letter's nine signatories and to which 4,000 surgeons belong, said: "This growing rationing is unfair because it is leaving more and more patients in pain, discomfort and misery. But it's also a false economy because it stops some people from getting back to work and costs the state unnecessarily in welfare benefits for others. Plus conditions like arthritic knees, hernias and varicose veins don't get better by waiting – they get worse and can cost more to treat when the patient is eventually treated." Kay said he deplored refusing senior citizens a new hip or knee. "Older people are easy targets. Arthritis means they may be hobbling around and become virtual prisoners in their own home, dependent on friends and relatives, if rationing means they do not get the operation they need." Surgeons' leaders have been talking to the Department of Health (DH) since last autumn about the increasing use of the lists. The DH has voiced concern but so far failed to intervene or produce a single national list for England of treatments which can be restricted because agreed evidence shows they have limited effect. "Many tens of thousands" of patients, and potentially as many as 200,000 a year, are affected by the rationing, Kay believes. "This all makes a mockery of [health secretary] Andrew Lansley's mantra that for patients, there should be 'no decision about me without me', as patients are not involved and PCTs aren't assessing the severity of their condition." Lansley's radical reorganisation of the NHS is partly to blame, Kay said. "PCTs are doing anything they can to balance their books by the time that the new GP commissioning consortiums take over in 2013. I think that's what's driving this." The trend would exacerbate existing postcode lotteries in the availability of certain treatments, he added . Last week the Audit Commission said PCTs could save up to £500m a year by carrying out far fewer operations which it said had limited clinical use. The King's Fund thinktank also urged the NHS in some places to stop removing so many children's tonsils or varicose veins in order to help it meet what it called "the biggest financial challenge in its history". The Patients Association has been receiving a growing number of calls from patients who have had elective surgery delayed or denied. One with an arthritic knee told them in January: "I have been to my GP begging for them to speed up my knee replacement, but he says there is no funding and I will have to wait until April. I can't do anything, not even go to the shops, and it's so painful if I put any weight on it I scream." The health department said: "We welcome the leadership of top surgeons and value their commitment. We share their passion for the NHS. We have invested an extra £11.5bn in the NHS and have been clear there is no excuse for waiting times to increase." The shadow health secretary, John Healey, said: "Short-term decisions are being taken across the health service, in part because of David Cameron's NHS reorganisation plans. Faced with a huge upheaval and greater financial uncertainty, PCTs are now cutting back on services. People are starting to see the NHS go backwards again under the Tories, with waiting times rising, operations blocked and frontline posts going. So much for David Cameron's promise to 'protect' the NHS." On Sunday, in a Sky interview, Cameron said that there would be "proper and substantive changes" to the bill setting up the new GP-led consortiums at the end of the two-month pause in its passage through parliament. Stressing that he took "absolute responsibility" for the legislation, Cameron signalled that the fresh consultation now taking place would lead to the membership of the consortiums being widened. NHS Health policy Public sector cuts Public services policy Public finance Health Andrew Lansley David Cameron Liberal-Conservative coalition Denis Campbell guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Rebels flee renewed Ajdabiya assault Posted: 17 Apr 2011 11:34 AM PDT Six more killed and dozens injured in Misrata, as rebels face renewed attacks from government troops Muammar Gaddafi's forces mounted a heavy assault on Libyan rebels holding the key town of Ajdabiya on Sunday in a sign that the regime is stepping up efforts to regain territory in the east of the country. Explosions were heard for several hours in the morning, forcing some of the few remaining families to flee to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, 90 miles away. Dozens of vehicles, some of them rebel trucks with heavy machine guns mounted in the back, were seen leaving Ajdabiya for Benghazi. Rebels were also seen laying anti-tank mines at the eastern gate of the city, highlighting their fears that Gaddafi's forces could retake the town. In the besieged town of Misrata in the west, rebels said that six civilians were killed and dozens injured on Sunday in attacks by Gaddafi's forces. Misrata has been under heavy attack for seven weeks, with hundreds of civilians killed in the effort to rout the rebels, who are reportedly better organised and disciplined than in the east of the country. Witnesses in the city have backed up reports from Human Rights Watch that Libyan government troops have been using cluster bombs as part of their offensive. The government has denied this. Ajdabiya in the east is situated at a strategic highway junction and has changed hands several times since the conflict began. Last month, Gaddafi's troops encircled the town with tanks, armoured personnel carriers and heavy artillery. Nato air strikes enabled the rebels to more or less hold their positions, but their inexperience and inferior firepower has prevented them from advancing west towards Tripoli. Assisted by sandstorms, which have provided cover for air assaults, Gaddafi's forces have increased their attacks near Ajdabiya's western gate in recent days, mostly through long-distance shelling. On Saturday, eight rebels were killed and 27 injured on the road leading west to the oil port of Brega, according to Dr GS Mohamed, the head surgeon at Ajdabiya's hospital. Many of the casualties occurred when a shell struck one of the rebels' improvised rocket launchers outside the town, causing horrific burn injuries, Mohamed said. "On the open road, Gaddafi's troops are stronger and better trained. Our [rebel] forces shoot and stay in the same place, which is why they got hit yesterday. But in the town, which we know, we have the advantage." During a lull in the fighting around midday, more than 20 rebel vehicles – pickup trucks mounted with heavy machine guns, rocket launchers and anti-aircraft guns – sped into Ajdabiya to provide reinforcements. "Gaddafi is trying to clear the city before sending his troops in," said Ahmed Shomi, 30, a rebel volunteer driving a battered pickup with no windscreen. "But with God's help we will never allow that." As the humanitarian situation there and in other towns worsens, international development secretary Andrew Mitchell is to travel to the United Nations on Monday for urgent talks. He said he would discuss plans to improve lead times and access for medical supplies and other aid. At the same time, David Cameron denied that a joint letter he published with the presidents of the US and France saying that Gaddafi would have to go meant that regime change was main goal of the international allies' mission. In an interview with Sky News, the prime minister said that the three men had merely been expressing what was on every world leader's mind. Cameron said that there was "no question of an invasion or an occupation" under the terms of the UN resolution and that this was making fighting the conflict "more difficult in many ways" for the coalition. But he said that the allies were supplying the rebels with non-lethal material, such as body armour and communications equipment. "There's no doubt in my mind that Colonel Gaddafi is still intent on murdering people in Misrata and taking control of that large city and also pushing towards Benghazi, where I'm sure, if he ever got there, there would be a bloodbath," Cameron said. "We should be taking all the necessary steps to stop that from happening and to save civilian life." Libya Middle East Arab and Middle East unrest Muammar Gaddafi United Nations David Cameron Foreign policy Xan Rice guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Two Britons shot dead in Florida Posted: 17 Apr 2011 04:16 PM PDT Police arrest 16-year-old on suspicion of murder of James Kouzaris, 24, and James Cooper, 25, in Newtown, Sarasota Two British holidaymakers have been shot and killed in Florida in what police believe may have been a botched robbery. James Kouzaris, 24, and James Cooper, 25, former students at the University of Sheffield, were found dead in Newtown, a crime-ridden neighbourhood of Sarasota, at about 3am on Saturday. Police have arrested a 16-year-old on suspicion of murder but were unable to provide any further details about what the two friends were doing in the early hours of the morning in an area of the city notorious for gang activity. "That is one of the key things we are investigating, just why they were there," Captain Paul Sutton of the Sarasota police department told the Guardian. "At approximately 3am on 16 April, Sarasota police officers responded to a 911 call, the caller advised that a person was lying on the ground covered in blood. "Officers checking the area located two male victims." Despite local reports to the contrary, no bullet casings were found at the scene, Sutton said. Neither of the victims was carrying a weapon. Additionally, no trace of drugs nor an abnormally large amount of money was found. "There is no link between the victims and the suspect," Sutton said. "A 16-year-old male, a resident of Sarasota, was arrested on two counts of murder and it's likely he'll be indicted on those charges as an adult at a later date." Florida is one of the states that still has the death penalty on its statutes. The crime scene is a far cry from the sugar-sand beaches and luxurious resorts of Longboat Key, 12 miles away, where police said that Cooper and Kouzaris had been staying. Newtown, situated on the mainland north of Sarasota's downtown area, is an economically depressed, social housing district with high unemployment, a history of gang violence and a crime rate higher than any other area of the city. According to his Facebook page, Kouzaris had spent most of the past few months touring South America, posting pictures of his travels from Argentina, Brazil and Ecuador. He returned to the UK at the end of last month before setting off again a week later to Florida with Cooper, a part-time tennis coach he befriended when they were students together at the University of Sheffield. An acquaintance of Cooper in the UK told the Guardian: "It's a shock. They were just enjoying a two-week break away from everything." The two victims exchanged messages on Facebook before their trip in which expressed how much they were looking forward to going to Florida and their holiday. The British consulate in Miami issued a statement saying that next of kin had been notified. Officials from a consular office in Orlando were believed to be heading to Sarasota to offer assistance. Police, meanwhile, said a press conference was scheduled to take place at 10am on Monday. The suspect is currently being held at the Sarasota county jail. United States Richard Luscombe guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Police used kettling 'too readily' Posted: 17 Apr 2011 04:01 PM PDT Human rights group: There seemed to be "a continual expectation containment would be used" on London TUC march Senior officers policing protests in London last month focused too heavily on kettling to contain activists, Liberty says. The rights group, which had 120 observers, including two inside Scotland Yard's special operations room (SOR), for the TUC march on 26 March, said the tactic was "under near constant consideration" when potential trouble emerged. "In the SOR, there seemed to be a continual expectation that a containment would be imposed at some point," Liberty's report said, adding that the tactic "does appear seriously to undermine the relationship of trust and confidence between peaceful protesters and the police". The report added: "The possibility of mass containment of peaceful protesters has undoubtedly had a chilling effect on many people's rights to freedom of expression and assembly." Despite its criticism, Liberty added that the Met's response was "on the whole proportionate" and found no need for further police powers to deal with violent groups who infiltrate demonstrations. Assistant Commissioner Lynne Owens, of the Met, said: "We were faced with the difficult task of striking the right balance between ensuring the vast majority of people were able to peacefully protest whilst managing the small number of criminals intent on disorder." Police Protest London TUC Trade unions guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Greens anger over 'red tape' label Posted: 17 Apr 2011 01:14 PM PDT All of Britain's 278 environment laws under review, including National Park, Clean Air and Climate Change Acts Environmental campaigners have condemned the coalition's inclusion of all of Britain's 278 environmental laws in a list of "red tape" regulations considered by the public for the axe. The Wildlife and Countryside Act, National Park Act, Clean Air Act and the Climate Change Act are among the packages of environmental safeguards included in the "red tape challenge" – a crowdsourcing exercise launched by the government to establish which regulations restrict business in the UK. All of the UK's more than 21,000 pieces of regulation are included on the government's website for an evaluation. Users are told only the issues of tax and national security are exempted. Participants are assured the "onus" will be on ministers to make the case for keeping a regulation recommended for cutting. The inclusion of environmental legislation has alarmed green groups. John Sauven, director of Greenpeace, said: "We don't yet know if this is cock-up or conspiracy. If it's a cock-up, David Cameron needs to come out and say the Climate Change Act, central to the push for a clean technology revolution, is safe from the axe. But if ministers are serious about scrapping it and other vital environmental regulations then we'll be looking at something akin to the worst excesses of the Bush-Cheney White House. When did clean air and green jobs become a burden?" Environmental campaigners also expressed alarm that the authors of the website suggested the government no longer thought issues of climate change to be of national security. In 2009, William Hague, then shadow foreign secretary, said climate change was "not simply an environmental and developmental concern but an urgent foreign and national security concern". A source from the business department said the exercise was not simply an audit of which regulations should be cut. Rather, it was an attempt to find out the public sentiment and ideas on all red tape, for better or worse. Their responsibility was to business as much as to those concerned about the environment, the source added. David Babbs of the campaigning group 38 Degrees, which played a central role in forcing the government's U-turn on the sale of Britain's forests, said his members would take exception to climate change amelioration or wildlife protection measures being called "red tape". He urged the government to demonstrate how the legislation would be guarded. "38 Degrees members supported David Cameron's promise to make this the greenest government ever, and we want him to keep that promise," Babbs said. "Laws like the Countryside and Wildlife Act and the Climate Change Act aren't red tape, they help keep Britain green and pleasant and protect our planet for future generations." The repeal of the Wildlife and Countryside Act – which governs the protection of wild birds, animals and plants – would see national parks, marine reserves and sites of special scientific interest unprotected. It protects birds, their nests and eggs by law and so makes it an offence to intentionally kill, injure or capture a wild bird. The Climate Change Act – feted as the first of its kind worldwide – makes it the duty of the secretary of state to ensure net UK carbon emissions for all six Kyoto greenhouse gases are at least 80% lower in 2050 than the 1990 baseline. Campaigners are concerned the move by the government to put environmental safeguards up for grabs will render them vulnerable to a growing body of climate change sceptics. On 19 March, a meeting in Cambridge of scientists and climate change sceptics launched the "repeal the climate change act" group – a movement that is talking of launching a climate change truth commission. Once the red tape initiative winds up, ministers will have three months to work out which regulations they want to keep and why. A business department spokesman said: "It wouldn't look right for [environmental regulations] not to be on there. We are committed to meeting our climate change obligations, but at the same time we did not want to keep certain things off the website because we knew people would want to comment on them. "We've got to look at things from both sides. Yes, there's the environmental side, but businesses have to deal with these regulations on a daily basis and it takes a lot to grow a business." Activism Climate change Wildlife National parks Pollution Greenpeace Green politics Liberal-Conservative coalition David Cameron William Hague Protest Allegra Stratton guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

PM and Miliband lock horns over AV Posted: 17 Apr 2011 05:09 PM PDT PM to share platform with Labour's John Reid, while opposition leader joined by Vince Cable David Cameron will today declare that he is opposing the alternative vote from gut instinct as much as from rational argument, as he goes head to head on the issue of voting reform with Ed Miliband. The prime minister and the Labour leader are due to make speeches on the subject at rival events at almost the same time. With coalition and Labour splits on full display, Cameron will be joined by John Reid, the former Labour home secretary, while Miliband will be accompanied by Vince Cable, the business secretary. Cameron has not shared an anti-AV platform with a Labour politician before and he will insist that he and Reid "don't agree on much". Reid is expected to reciprocate the sentiment, but will say "some issues are so important that they transcend party politics" and that he and Cameron are opposed to AV because they are "united in believing that politicians are the servants of the people". Writing in today's Independent, the Labour leader, meanwhile, characterises the AV contest as a "choice coming down to hope versus fear", and accuses Cameron of making baseless negative claims about the system. The campaign has, at times, become particularly acrimonious, with Lord Ashdown, the former Lib Dem leader, accusing George Osborne and other Tories campaigning for a no vote in the AV referendum of "cynical smears and scaremongering". But the party leaders are expected to seek to raise the tone of the debate by focusing more on the respective merits of their favoured systems. Miliband writes today: "[The Tories] claim [AV] will somehow help extremist parties; quite the opposite, given the need to gain more votes from a wider spectrum of opinion to win a seat. Little wonder the BNP wants people to reject change." He said that the current system, first past the post, give parties no motivation "for pretending anything other than that they hate each other equally". No reason to find points of common ground; just to disagree. "To secure a majority of votes under AV, candidates will need to be more honest about points of agreement." Cameron, claiming the debate on AV too often involves "a language of proportionality and preferences, probabilities and possibilities", will say: "For me, politics shouldn't be some mind-bending exercise. It's about what you feel in your gut – about the values you hold dear and the beliefs you instinctively have. And I just feel it, in my gut, that AV is wrong." He will argue that AV will take power away from the people, "damage our democracy permanently" and lead to more hung parliaments. This assertion was disputed by the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, who told the BBC's Politics Show that AV would not lead to more coalition governments. "More hung parliaments have been delivered under first past the post than have been delivered under AV in Australia," the Lib Dem leader said. But Cameron said the coalition would survive, whoever won the referendum: "Whoever is on the losing side, as it were, will just have to pick themselves up and say: well, it was a fair argument, a fair fight, a fair referendum, the country has decided and now we have to get on with all the things that really matter so much." Cameron also found himself defending his chancellor after Osborne was singled out for attack in a particularly strongly worded article by Ashdown. Osborne infuriated AV campaigners last week by suggesting the Electoral Reform Society should not be funding the yes campaign because its subsidiary, Electoral Reform Services Ltd, a company that organises elections, could profit from a switch to AV. The ERS says it is completely untrue but Five days ago, lawyers for the ERS sent a letter to journalists saying that although ERSL makes money from election administration, the type of election system used is "entirely irrelevant" to the provision of these services and "a change in the voting system would, therefore, have absolutely no impact on any of the revenue earned by the ERSL." Osborne said its involvement in the funding of the yes campaign "really stinks", prompting Ashdown to accuse him and other anti-AV campaigners in an article in the Observer of resorting to "smears, deliberate misrepresentations and sometimes even downright lies". In an interview on Sky News, Cameron said: "The point George Osborne made, that the Electoral Reform Society is a big funder of the yes campaign, that it has an organisation that could make money out of it, that's a fact, and I think there's nothing wrong with bringing that fact out." But although this seemed potentially provocative, Ashdown subsequently praised the prime minister for focusing in his Sky interview largely on the substantial issues at stake in the campaign. Cameron also insisted that the coalition would survive whoever won the referendum. "Whatever the result on May 5, this is a five-year government, Nick [Clegg] and I are absolutely committed to taking the government and its programme forward," he said. "Whoever is on the losing side, as it were, will just have to pick themselves up and say: well, it was a fair argument, a fair fight, a fair referendum, the country has decided and now we have got to get on with all the things that really matter so much." Migration divisions Nick Clegg highlighted continuing coalition divisions over immigration on Sunday by claiming that the government is not pursuing a "fixed numerical target" for the number of people coming to Britain every year. The deputy prime minister repeatedly refused to say that he agreed with David Cameron that the government was aiming to reduce the level of net migration from hundreds of thousands a year to tens of thousands a year. In his speech last week Cameron said he believed that government immigration policies would have the effect of getting net migration down to the tens of thousands. Vince Cable, the business secretary, had said this was not part of the coalition agreement and that Cameron was just talking about Tory policy. Asked if Cable was right, Clegg told the BBC's The Politics Show: "The result of our immigration policy will lead to a reduction in numbers. It is not government policy to pursue a fixed numerical target." Lib Dem sources say that an "aim" is not the same as a policy. But the Tories disagree. "Vince Cable was wrong on this," one Tory source said on Sunday. "Theresa May is in charge of the policy on this and she has said innumerable times that the aim of the policy is to bring immigration down to the tens of the thousands." Cameron and May have not expressed this in terms of a precise target, but their wording suggests that 99,999 is their upper limit for net migration. Andrew Sparrow AV referendum Alternative vote Electoral reform Conservatives David Cameron George Osborne Labour David Miliband John Reid Liberal Democrats Nick Clegg Vince Cable Paddy Ashdown Liberal-Conservative coalition Andrew Sparrow guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Respect right to protest, Bahrain told Posted: 17 Apr 2011 12:26 PM PDT Foreign Office issues call following Bahraini targetting of participants in peaceful protest outside BBC in Manchester The government has called on Bahrain to respect the right to peaceful protest. The move follows claims that families of students studying in Britain, who were photographed attending a peaceful protest in Manchester in solidarity with the country's pro-democracy movement, had been targeted. The Foreign Office said it was aware of the actions of Bahraini citizens living in the UK campaigning against the regime and said they had a right to voice their concerns without intimidation or retaliation. "We have made clear to the Bahraini government that, unless these individuals commit a criminal offence in the UK, they will be free to carry out their activities in line with UK laws." Students told the Guardian the Bahraini authorities had stripped government-funded scholarships from those who attended the event outside the BBC building last month and told parents to order their children home. Students said they had "strong and well-founded" fears they and their families could suffer beatings and torture following Bahrain's crackdown on the protests 3,000 miles away and they were likely to be arrested on their return. The Foreign Office said: "We continue to urge the government of Bahrain to respect the right to peaceful protest and respond to the legitimate concerns of the Bahraini people. It is also vital that those protesting respect law and order and refrain from intimidating and provocative acts." The students said at least nine people studying in Manchester, Huddersfield, Newcastle, Reading and London had seen their £850-a-month subsistence grants removed and had been told their tuition payments would be stopped. Some said they were homeless as a result and were considering requesting asylum in the UK when their student visas expired. One student, who said his scholarship had been revoked, said the ministry of education in Bahrain called his father to order him home a couple of days after the protest, in a pattern repeated for many of the protesters. The students believe some images from the protest were taken by Bahraini or Saudi "spies" alerted to the event on the Facebook. The demonstration was disrupted by interventions from supporters of the Hahrain government and others the protesters identified as being from Saudi Arabia. Some of the students' families have also received visits from the Bahraini authorities, according to Amin Elwassila, an Arab activist in Manchester who is supporting the group. Bahrain Protest Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Foreign policy Students Higher education Matthew Taylor guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Jonathan leads in Nigeria's election Posted: 17 Apr 2011 02:07 PM PDT Unofficial results from 30 of the country's 36 states suggest the president has an unassailable lead over Muhammadu Buhari The Nigerian president, Goodluck Jonathan, last night appeared to have secured victory in an election intended to draw a line under decades of coups, violence and vote rigging. Jonathan had an unassailable lead as votes were tallied from around Nigeria, despite a strong showing by his rival Muhammadu Buhari in his mainly Muslim strongholds. Buhari, a former military ruler from the north, was hoping to at least force a second round against Jonathan, a Christian and the first head of state from the oil-producing Niger delta. That looked impossible, with a Reuters tally of results from 35 of 36 states across Africa's most populous nation showing Jonathan on 22m votes to 12m for Buhari. Jonathan's officials said there would be no victory claim until results were announced by the independent national electoral commission, but they were upbeat. Oronto Douglas, a senior adviser to the president, said: "This is no time for triumphalism. It is a time for deep reflection, for strengthening the bond of our union and for all of us to work together." Jonathan, 53, a fedora-wearing zoologist from the south, inherited the presidency last year when Umaru Yar'Adua, a northerner, died during his first term. Some members of the ruling People's Democratic party said another northerner should have be allowed to stand for what would have been Yar'Adua's second term. As expected, the results revealed a geographical divide. Jonathan did particularly well in the predominantly Christian south, while Buhari swept many of the Muslim-dominated northern states. Since the end of military rule in 1999, Nigerian elections have been widely condemned for state-sponsored manipulation and fraud bordering on the farcical. Observers generally gave a clean bill of health to this year's vote. The former president of Botswana, Festus Mogae, who leads the Commonwealth observer group, told the Associated Press: "In recent decades, Nigeria had come to be known for flawed elections. People outside and Nigerians themselves had come to believe that elections could not reflect the will of the people, but today people showed that they can change that. We seem to be witnessing a giant of Africa reforming itself and putting its house in order."A senior political source, however, told the Guardian he could see a different picture emerging from election monitor reports. "I'm afraid they'll be singing a different tune," said the source, who did not wish to be named. "I can see there are massive complaints, including the abandonment of collection centres. It's very disquieting." There were allegations of underage voting in the north and the snatching of ballot boxes in the south-east. Fearing the ruling party would try to fiddle the results, Buhari supporters took to the streets in some northern cities. Bello Ar-Adam, a representative of Buhari's Congress for Progressive Change, told Reuters: "Rigging is the stock in trade of the PDP. A leopard doesn't change its spots." Trouble flared in isolated areas. Police said a bomb was detonated at a hotel in the city of Kaduna, wounding eight people on Saturday night. A PDP official's house was burned down in the town of Azere. Shots were fired in Bauchi and a car thought to be carrying fraudulent ballots was set ablaze in what turned out to be a case of mistaken identity. Young men stalked the streets armed with bows and arrows. There were signs that young people had voted in record numbers. Chude Jideonwo, the co-founder of EnoughisEnough Nigeria (EiE), a youth voter registration campaign, said: "Young people came out massively to vote across the country, including in rural areas. This election disappointed the cynics and defied even our expectations." Jideonwo added that, curiously, social media sites such as Twitter had seemed to indicate a likely victory for Buhari, but now results suggested Jonathan would win. "Goodluck Jonathan spent five or six months trying to engage young people in various ways. "His strategy was to emphasise his likeability by being positive and reluctant to criticise. A week ago I would have said it's too passive, but now it seems to have been a good strategy." Jonathan, whose PDP lost seats in a parliamentary election last week, cast his ballot in his home state of Bayelsa in the Niger delta and hailed the election as a "new dawn in Nigeria's political evolution". "If the ballot paper means nothing then there is no democracy," he said. "Nigeria is now experiencing true democracy where we the politicians have to go to the people." Nigeria David Smith guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Yemeni women join street protests Posted: 17 Apr 2011 12:59 PM PDT President's 'no-women' comment draws hundreds of thousands of enraged Yemenis out for mass protests Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated across Yemen on Sunday, denouncing President Ali Abdullah Saleh for saying women should not take part in protest rallies. At least 10 people were shot and wounded in Sana'a by forces loyal to the president, doctors said, and around 200 were overcome by teargas. Clashes were also reported to have taken place in Dhamar, just south of the capital. In a speech on Friday, Saleh had condemned the mingling of men and women at demonstrations, saying it violated Islamic law. The comments enraged many Yemenis and prompted the youth movement to call for mass protests, on what they called a day of honour and dignity. There was a significant turnout, with more than 100,000 people – including significant numbers of women – taking to the streets in Taiz, and tens of thousands more marching in Ibb, Aden, Shabwa and other cities. Demonstrators also demanded the president step down. Abdel-Malek al-Youssefi, a youth movement activist and organiser, said the protests could be "the last nail in Saleh's coffin". Yemen has been racked with anti-government demonstrations for the past two months. The protesters are calling for steps to improve livelihoods and open up the country's restricted political life. A young woman first led anti-Saleh rallies on a university campus in January, but women did not begin taking part in large numbers until early last month. While Yemen has conservative social and religious traditions, women can vote, run for parliament and drive cars, unlike in neighbouring Saudi Arabia. Near-daily protests and defections by key allies in the military, powerful tribes and diplomatic corps have failed to bring an end to Saleh's 32-year autocratic rule. A crackdown on protesters by government forces has killed more than 120 people, according to Yemeni rights groups, but has not deterred the crowds from gathering. Last week, the six-nation Gulf Co-operation Council suggested Saleh transfer power to his deputy, seeking an end to the unrest. The opposition criticised the proposal for not suggesting that the power transfer should be immediate. Opposition members are expected in the Saudi capital on Sunday to explain their position to Riyadh and other Gulf mediators. In Syria, three people were killed after a gunman opened fire at the funeral of an anti-government protester. It was not clear who was behind the shooting at the funeral near Homs, 100 miles from Damascus. More than 200 people have been killed by security forces trying to crush the protests using live ammunition, tear gas and batons over the past four weeks. The government has blamed many of the killings on armed gangs looking to stir up unrest. Syria's state-run news agency later said one policeman was killed and 11 others wounded when an "armed criminal gang" opened fire on them in Talbiseh. The killings occurred as thousands of people waving national flags and demanding freedom took to the streets Sunday the day after President Bashar al-Assad promised to end nearly 50 years of emergency rule, hoping to quell the unrest. Activists had called the protests to mark Independence Day, and to bolster the month of demonstrations against the country's authoritarian regime. Demonstrations also erupted on Sunday in the southern agricultural city of Deraa, which has become the centre of the protest movement, and the nearby town of Suweida. Witnesses reached by telephone said tens of thousands of people were marching in Deraa, shouting "Whoever kills his own people is a traitor!" Others shouted: "The people want to topple the regime," which was the rallying cry during protests in Egypt and Tunisia that ousted the countries' longtime leaders. Another demonstration in Suweida drew about 300 people. Witnesses. They said police beat up demonstrators with batons, injuring several of them. The witness accounts could not be independently confirmed because Syria has placed tight restrictions on media outlets and expelled foreign journalists. Syria Yemen Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Bashar Al-Assad Protest guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Minister decries adoption 'age bar' Posted: 17 Apr 2011 04:52 PM PDT Tim Loughton says few children taken in care at five or older are placed with a family, due to 'informal age limit' by local authorities The minister responsible for fostering and adoption has registered concern that some local authorities operate "an informal age limit" whereby children were not considered for adoption if aged five or over when taken into care. Tim Loughton was commenting on analysis of previously published figures which show the proportion drops from one in three at four or younger to one in 15 at five. Among children aged 12 or older, only one in 100 is adopted after being taken into care, according to the Department for Education. Prospective adopters are sometimes thought to be reluctant to take on older children, who may have developmental or emotional problems as a result of more years of abuse or neglect. However, Loughton told the Times that older children should not be denied the possibility of adoption. "For kids who've had a pretty traumatic childhood, getting them into a safe, stable, loving family placement is of the utmost priority, and every day that we fail to achieve that puts them at even more of a disadvantage. "While many babies are being adopted, as children get to school age the chances of getting adopted fall off dramatically. We need urgently to redouble our efforts to show these children are even more needing and deserving of a long-term placement and should not be written off simply because they are not babies or toddlers. I want to make sure local authorities are not operating some sort of informal age limit." New guidelines already drawn up by the government state that older children and those from ethnic minorities should all be considered for adoption by suitable families of any background, regardless of their racial background or social status. Ministers are eager to see an increase in adoption levels after the number of children placed for adoption fell by 15% between March 2009 and 2010, while more children are also waiting longer to be adopted. Loughton is on record as saying previously that it was "disappointing" that some councils placed only two% of the children in their care for adoption, while the rate was eight times higher in other areas. Adoption Children Local government Ben Quinn guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

M1 could remain closed for days Posted: 17 Apr 2011 11:45 AM PDT Friday fire so badly damaged an elevated section that it may be middle to end of week before motorway can be fully reopened A seven-mile stretch of the M1 into London may not reopen fully until towards the end of the week because an elevated section has been so badly damaged by a fire in a scrapyard, according to transport minister Mike Penning. The delay means the country's main south-north trunk road could still be partly closed for the Easter getaway. Two northbound lanes were open by Sunday afternoon and two southbound ones were expected to open on Monday morning, but it might be "the middle to end" of the week before all lanes are open, the minister said. The closures, between the motorway's junctions 1 and 4 at Brent Cross and Elstree, disrupted the travel plans of thousands of people, including football fans travelling from Manchester, Bolton and Stoke for two FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley over the weekend and others visiting for the London marathon. Appealing for motorists to continue to seek alternative routes along the M40, A41 and A1, Penning said he was sure government agencies would look at how many scrapyards and stores were built under roads following the effects of the blaze early on Friday morning. The reinforcement of the elevated section has involved putting new supports under the road. One lane northbound was opened on Saturday evening but drivers will continue to suffer significant delays and diversions for some time. Penning said: "We have to build a new bridge underneath the existing bridge so we can open more lanes and get traffic moving safely." In an interview with Sky News, he said the hard shoulder was particularly badly damaged. "It is a pre-cast concrete bridge and the heat has damaged it so badly that the steels are exposed that are part of the infrastructure of the bridge." Penning said: "We have to make sure it's safe for the motorist and safe for our workers underneath the bridge." He would not comment on the particular incident that caused the motorway closure, saying a police investigation was under way and he did not know what had been stored there. But he was sure the Environment Agency and Department for Transport would "look at these sorts of places around the country". He added: "I am sure there are hundreds and hundreds of these sorts of scrapyards and storage places. We don't know exactly what was stored here – the local authority will be involved on Monday morning – but the key is to make sure we get as much of the motorway open as soon as possible, but safely." Penning said: "As a former firefighter I know first-hand the intensity of fires of this kind. I've seen the damage to the bridge and it should not be underestimated. "Even as lanes do reopen I would urge drivers to still consider using different routes to avoid congestion on what is already a busy route in and out of London." Scores of firefighters tackled the original blaze which led to the evacuation of nearby homes and disrupted rail services. The London fire service has said a number of gas cylinders were involved and a hazard zone was set up in case they exploded in the heat. The Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, earlier described the decision to play two semi-finals involving four northern clubs at Wembley as "quite incredible". Supporters of a high-speed rail link to the north are also likely to point to the weekend road chaos as evidence for their cause. An AA spokesman said Penning's remarks were "a bit worrying" and lessons must be learned. He said there were also hundreds of railway viaducts where inflammable materials were stored under arches. The transport department said it would be looking at the scope of any future motorway checks over the next few days. Transport FA Cup London Marathon London James Meikle guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Raúl proposes 10-year term for MPs Posted: 17 Apr 2011 12:45 PM PDT President's suggestion unprecedented but Communist party congress likely to endorse 'Thatcherite' reforms Raúl Castro has proposed term limits for Cuba's rulers, including himself, in an unprecedented effort to rejuvenate the island's political leadership. The 79-year-old Cuban president told the Communist party congress that senior positions should be rotated at least every 10 years to shake off the inertia and "self-delusion" that has crippled the economy. "We have reached the conclusion that it is advisable to recommend limiting the time of service in high political and state positions to a maximum of two five-year terms," he said. The four-day congress, which ends on Tuesday, is expected to endorse most – if not all – of 311 proposals to liberalise Cuba's stagnant, centrally planned, economy with cuts and privatisations. Castro sprung a surprise in a speech on Saturday, which opened the congress, by denouncing a tendency towards geriatric leadership. Veterans of the 1959 revolution dominate senior posts. The first vice president, Juan Machado Ventura, is 80 and the second vice president, Ramiro Valdés, is 77. Raúl's brother and predecessor, Fidel, 84, still retains influence. The congress, the first in 14 years, was likely to be the last for the Castros and their generation, said the president, adding that efforts to promote young people to top jobs had failed. "Life proved we did not always make the best choice … it's really embarrassing that we have not solved this problem in more than half a century." His call for systematic rejuvenation will be debated not at the congress but at a party conference in January. Raúl succeeded Fidel in 2008, suggesting he could stay in charge at least until 2018, when he would be 86. The congress is expected to confirm the president as the party's first secretary but it remains unclear whether the second secretary – and possible successor – will be from a younger generation. The congress, which has gathered 1,000 delegates, coincided with a parade of military hardware and hundreds of thousands of marchers to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs, when the revolution defeated a CIA-backed invasion of exiles. The stirring speeches about the continued fight against imperialism reinforced official rhetoric that liberalising the economy was about saving socialism, not abolishing it. Even so, some western diplomats in Havana say there is a Thatcherite agenda of cutting rights and welfare, and of emphasising personal responsibility and hard work. Across Havana and the countryside slogans on old government billboards have acquired some irony: "Revolution means the historic moment." "Revolution is to change everything that can be changed." The state, which dominates the economy, accounts for about 80% of jobs, which pay on average about $20 a month. Agriculture and industry are anaemic. Castro criticised a sclerotic bureaucracy which stifled initiative and buried problems. "No country or person can spend more than they have. Two plus two is four. Never five, much less six or seven as we have sometimes pretended." Of late, about 171,000 licences have been acquired for small businesses. The government hopes a partially unshackled private sector will soak up about a million state-sector workers soon to be jobless. Many formerly black-market hustlers have become legitimate traders with licences pinned to their chests. "Before I used to have a zipped bag under my shoulder and say 'pssst, want some flowers?'" said Rodolfo Mera, with a cartload of blooms. "Now the cops don't bother me." Castro said the universal monthly food ration, already whittled down, would be restricted to the neediest. It had become "an unsupportable burden for the economy and a de-stimulus of work," he said. He promised that Cuba would avoid "shock therapy" and not allow a concentration of property in private hands. It was unclear whether this meant a continued ban on selling cars and houses. "Little by little this place is opening up. It's getting a bit easier to get by," said Angel Morales, a 23-year-old who drives his father's Lada taxi. Cuba Communism Fidel Castro Rory Carroll guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

New gag order 'hampers journalists' Posted: 17 Apr 2011 07:19 AM PDT Lib Dem MP John Hemmings fears reporters could face imprisonment simply for asking questions, creating a 'recipe for hiding miscarriages of justice' An MP who is launching an inquiry into excessive and possibly unlawful court secrecy says a new type of gagging order is hampering the work of investigative journalists. John Hemming said the new breed of injunction, which was used in relation to a case in the high court in London last week, meant journalists could face jail simply for asking questions. "This goes a step further than preventing people speaking out against injustice," said Hemming, the Liberal Democrat MP for Birmingham Yardley and a longtime campaigner against secrecy. "It has the effect of preventing journalists from speaking to people subject to this injunction without a risk of the journalist going to jail. That is a recipe for hiding miscarriages of justice." Hemming has labelled the new gagging order the "quaero injunction" after the Latin word "to seek". "It puts any investigative journalist at risk if they ask any questions of a victim of a potential miscarriage of justice … I don't think this should be allowed in English courts." There has been growing concern over the use of gagging orders in UK courts. It is not known precisely how many superinjunctions have been issued, but an informed legal estimate is that as many as 20 have been granted in the UK over the last 18 months. In the most notorious case, the oil trader Trafigura last year briefly obtained a superinjunction against the Guardian to suppress a leaked report on its toxic waste dumping, which even prevented reporting proceedings in parliament. Earlier this month, Hemming highlighted a new type of hyperinjunction which forbids the recipient talking to their MP. He says he is now launching an inquiry in parliament into excess court secrecy and is planning to collect a range of gagging orders that he will then analyse and present to the justice select committee in a number of "parliamentary petitions" later this year. "What is clear is that almost all of the superinjunctions and hyperinjunctions have no public judgment," Hemming said. "That means that they are not compliant with the rules for a fair trial. There is also the question as to whether there should be an automatic time limit on an interim order. Many cases have an interim order and no final hearing. This is clearly wrong. "We also need to know what the costs are both for the applicant and for the media in defending these orders. It is wrong to have a system whereby people can buy the sort of justice they want. That is a contravention of clause 29 of Magna Carta 1297, which is still in force." Hemming is asking anyone who is subject to a gagging injunction that they would like to be included in the review to forward the information to him at the House of Commons. Media law House of Commons Liberal Democrats Freedom of speech Freedom of information Press freedom Newspapers & magazines Newspapers Matthew Taylor guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Tornadoes leave dozens dead in US Posted: 17 Apr 2011 09:58 AM PDT A savage storm system tore through the southern states reducing homes to rubble and leaving thousands without power A savage storm system has killed dozens of people across southern US states and left hundreds of thousands without power after they were battered by torrential rain, lightning and hail stones the size of golf balls. North Carolina was hit by 62 tornadoes, the highest number for two decades. Emergency crews expect the number of people killed to rise as they deal with the aftermath of a storm that claimed its first victim in Oklahoma on Thursday, before sweeping through Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. Seven people were killed in Alabama on Friday, including a mother and her two adolescent children who were crushed when their mobile home was lifted by the storm and thrown about 90 metres before landing upside down. On Sunday the National Weather Service reported 14 deaths in Bertie county, North Carolina. The state's governor, Beverly Perdue, declared a state of emergency after fatalities were reported across the state. She said the storms were "the most widespread tornadoes we've seen since the mid-80s. "Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody in North Carolina who has been through this horrible day," Perdue said. The death toll includes 23 people in North Carolina, seven in Alabama, seven in Arkansas, four in Virginia, two in Oklahoma and one in Mississippi. More than 100 tornadoes have been spotted across the southern states. Storm damage brought down power lines leaving 250,000 without electricity in North Carolina. Fallen trees blocked streets in Raleigh, the state capital. In Virginia a tornado killed three people as it ripped across more than 12 miles (19 km) in Gloucester county, uprooting trees and pounding homes to rubble. Elsewhere in Virginia the storms triggered flash floods. The storm system has now made its way into the Atlantic, according to the National Weather Service. Natural disasters and extreme weather United States Dominic Rushe guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Soy sauce company symbolises Japan's determination Posted: 17 Apr 2011 04:05 PM PDT Michihiro Kono has taken over a company destroyed by the disaster, and is determined to reopen its doors Read more stories from tsunami survivors In less tumultuous times, Michihiro Kono could have expected a seamless transition as the new head of the soy sauce company he took over from his father at the start of the month. But in post-tsunami Japan, Kono is the president of a company that, by any conventional measure, no longer exists. Yet amid the devastation and despair, Kono's optimism is proof that, just weeks after the disaster that killed 28,000 people, some residents of this fishing town in Iwate prefecture are daring to think of the future. All that remains of the business his family has run for nine generations is an early-19th-century document confirming its legal status, a handful of metal signs, soya beans and bottles of soy sauce, and an unshakable belief that he will reopen his doors. "There is no doubt in my mind that we will be back in business," the 37-year-old says. "My family has been making soy sauce in Rikuzentakata since the Edo era, and we owe it to our customers to get back on our feet." Outside the prefabricated hut that serves as his makeshift office stand crates containing those treasured bottles of soy sauce, including one from a limited edition to mark the firm's bicentenary in 2007. Inside hangs a sign rescued from the debris, bearing one of the company's mottos: spreading gratitude through food. Yagisawa soy sauce, fermented in barrels made of local cedar, is famed for its exquisite fragrance. Its storehouse was a symbol of the town, which was reduced to rubble by waves that easily breached its 6.5-metre tsunami wall. At the site of his former factory, a few blocks away from his destroyed home, it is just possible to catch the aroma of soy sauce on the afternoon breeze. The new plant will have to be built in a different location with a supply of pristine water, he says, and a new generation of clients found if the venture is to survive. It will be at least five years before the next bottle of Yagisawa soy sauce is produced. Until then, the firm will act as an agent for other manufacturers in an attempt to reconnect with his remaining customers. The stream of letters urging Kono to rebuild is testament to Yagisawa's place at the heart of Rikuzentakata's commercial life. One, requesting a bottle of soy sauce, was accompanied by a 10,000 yen note and instructions for the change to go towards the firm's renaissance. "About 70% of our customers died or were made homeless in the tsunami," Kono says. "If we just do the same as before, our sales will be a third of what they were. We need to do a 180-degree turn. This company is 200 years old. If we want it to last another 200 years, this is the moment of reckoning." The same could be said for the entire town, where 2,000 of the 23,000 residents died and 80% of the 8,000 homes were swept away. Led by a young mayor, Futoshi Toba, whose wife died when waves engulfed their seaside town, Rikuzentakata is emerging as a model for the post-disaster recovery. Earlier this month it became the first town to erect temporary homes, albeit enough for only one in every 50 people who applied to live in them. The town will need around 4,000 units, but they won't be ready until August. Almost 1,200 people applied to live in the first batch of 36 homes, half of which were reserved for elderly and disabled people, and single women with children. "We're building them as quickly as we can," says Tomoyuki Murakami, a town official. Authorities in the three worst-hit prefectures have requested 60,000 prefab homes they hope will be completed within six months. But builders are struggling to find space for them on the few slivers of land on higher ground. So far they have secured land for just 8,000 homes. "There are still about 7,000 people living in evacuation centres in Rikuzentakata, so we want to build more temporary shelters quickly and give people the opportunity to rebuild their lives in privacy," says Murakami, who has continued working despite losing both of his young children in the tsunami. "We're taking slow steps in the right direction." Yukie Sato, who is living in a school gymnasium with her mother and son, is among those hoping to secure temporary housing. Her husband, a government official, went straight back to work after being rescued from the roof of the town hall, where he survived by clinging on to the perimeter fence while 70 of his colleagues drowned. "Even if we get rent-free temporary housing, we will still have to pay electricity and gas bills, and buy food," says Sato, 27. "I don't know how it will all work out. My car was swept away, my workplace has gone, and we have no money." In Kono's neighbourhood, 99% of which lies in ruins, every child from kindergarten to middle school age was led to safety by quick-thinking teachers and elderly locals, some of whom were swallowed up by waves as they ushered children to higher ground. But for 24 hours, Kono was convinced that his wife and their three young children had perished. The family were reunited three days later, but Kono's grandmother is still missing. As he waited for news of his family, Kono distracted himself by accounting for his 45 employees and their relatives. It was then he discovered that his head of sales, a 30-year-old volunteer firefighter, had drowned trying to close the harbour gates. Today he is preparing to attend a welcome party, complete with cups of tea and slices of cake, for two new employees. Before he returns to his makeshift HQ, Kono leads us up a crooked stairway to the temple where he and dozens of others spent the night of the tsunami, shaking with cold and traumatised by the panoramic view of their ruined homes. "I stood here and thought there's no way my children could have survived." Then, as he gazes at the flattened town below, company president Kono becomes Kono the father, and for the first time today his eyes fill with tears. "It's time to go," he says. Japan disaster Japan Natural disasters and extreme weather Justin McCurry guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Tate's Lowry 'exclusion' challenged Posted: 17 Apr 2011 01:58 PM PDT Actor demands London galleries sell 23 works by Manchester painter rather than continue to store them The Tate has been challenged to put its collection of paintings by LS Lowry up for sale if it intends to continue to exclude them from its London galleries. The actor Sir Ian McKellen threw down the challenge in a joint attack by leading figures from the art world which questioned whether the "matchstick men painter" has been sidelined as too northern and provincial. Although many artists from the north of England enjoy metropolitan critical acclaim, including David Hockney and Damien Hirst, none assert the character of northern people and landscape with Lowry's dogged persistence. "Over the years, silly lies have been thrown around that he was only a Sunday painter, an amateur, untrained and naive," said McKellen, who narrates a highly critical television programme about Lowry's "exclusion" to be screened by ITV1 on Easter Day. "His popularity needs no official endorsement from the Tate, but it is a shame verging on the iniquitous that foreign visitors to London shouldn't have access to the painter English people like more than most others." The film sees others line up to condemn the fact that the Tate has shown only one of its 23 Lowrys – Industrial Landscape, painted in 1955 and owned by the gallery for 50 years – and then only briefly. Noel Gallagher, of the Manchester band Oasis, said: "They're not considered Tateworthy. Or is it just because he is a northerner?" The controversy reached a crunch point when the Tate was refused permission to copy Industrial Landscape to form part of a temporary mural on the work of landscape artists. Lowry's estate, which has donated much of his unsold work to the Lowry centre at Salford Quays, has made no secret of its irritation at the continued storage of his work. The Tate denied any deprecation of "northern-ness" in Lowry's work, pointing to its record of establishing Tate Liverpool and supporting new Hepworth Wakefield gallery, which opens next month. Henry Moore, the Yorkshire sculptor and contemporary of Barbara Hepworth, has also been much feted by the gallery, whose founder Sir Henry Tate, the sugar mogul, was one of Lowry's fellow-Lancastrians. The Tate said it planned to give Lowry space when its galleries are extended in 2013, but Tate Britain's head of displays, Chris Stephens, said in the television programme: "What makes Lowry so popular is the same thing which stops him being the subject of serious critical attention. What attracts so many is a sort of sentimentality about him. He's a victim of his own fan base." McKellen said: "If the Tate feels no responsibility to give the art-viewing public their favourite painters to view, perhaps they could let their stash go elsewhere. They could pass them on to a gallery like the Lowry, which shares its visitors' tastes. Or perhaps a touring retrospective, with a twist – the exhibits would be for sale." Painting Ian McKellen Tate Britain Tate Modern Tate Liverpool Manchester Art Oasis Martin Wainwright guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Challenge to Maundy Thursday Posted: 17 Apr 2011 02:47 PM PDT Cambridge professor Sir Colin Humphreys claims Last Supper took place on a Wednesday, not a Thursday The vagaries of Easter, whose connection with the moon's phases leads to much confusion over its annual change of date, are about to be compounded by a scientific challenge to Maundy Thursday. Astronomical data, textual research and the rediscovery of an ancient Jewish calendar have convinced a Cambridge academic that Christ and the disciples' Last Supper actually took place on a Wednesday. Professor Sir Colin Humphreys, a metallurgist and materials scientist, claims to have solved what is described by previous researchers as the thorniest problem in the New Testament: the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke assert that the Last Supper coincided with Jewish Passover, while John claims it was the day before. The former account's credibility suffers from the sheer number of events – from arrest to trial and conviction – that would have had to take place before Jesus's crucifixion on Good Friday. Anomalies also include the fact that the Jewish Sanhedrin, or religious court, was not allowed to meet at night and the Wednesday of Holy Week is curiously absent from the gospels' chronology. "Whatever you think about the Bible, the fact is that Jewish people would never mistake the Passover meal for another meal, so for the gospels to contradict themselves in this regard is really hard to understand," said Humphreys. "Many biblical scholars say that, for this reason, you can't trust the gospels at all. But if we use science and the gospels hand in hand, we can actually prove that there was no contradiction." The missing piece of the jigsaw, argues Humphreys in a book, The Mystery of the Last Supper, lies in an overlooked Jewish calendar which Christ and his followers may have used as outsiders and intellectual rebels within their country's strict religious framework. In 2007 the pope suggested Jesus may have followed the solar calendar of the Qumran community, used by the Essene sect and described in the Dead Sea Scrolls. "The problem with this is that under that system Passover would have fallen a week later, after both the Last Supper and Christ's death," said Humphreys. Instead, he suggests that a third calendar in use at the time, adapted from Egyptian usage at the time of Moses, dates Passover in AD33 to the Wednesday of Holy Week. "The gospels are full of examples of Jesus presenting himself as the new Moses, and use of this calendar would accord with that," said Humphreys, whose previous theological studies include scientific analysis of the star of Bethlehem and the numbers involved in the Exodus. "By choosing the Wednesday of the Passover, he was again identifying himself explicitly with Moses, setting himself up as a deliberate parallel. He then died on Nisan 14th, just as the Passover lambs were being slain according to the official Jewish calendar as well. "These are deep, powerful symbolisms and through the use of this calendar they can be based on objective, historical evidence." Changing Maundy Thursday to Wednesday in the church calendar would inevitably take years, but the effects would be felt more in social terms than theologically. Although the day is set aside for contemplation of Jesus's homilies at the Last Supper, its best-known feature is Maundy Money, given by the Queen to "deserving senior citizens" – one man and one woman for each year of her age. Easter Christianity Religion The Bible Martin Wainwright guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Graphic story: A Well-Oiled Mind Posted: 16 Apr 2011 04:01 PM PDT In Simone Lia's oil story, Sarah tries to get a grip on a slippery subject after a bad dream casts a dark shadow

Daniel Barenboim: unstuffed shirts Posted: 17 Apr 2011 01:30 PM PDT His recent cameo at Tate Modern offended the piano purists, but Daniel Barenboim doesn't care. He tells Alan Rusbridger what Arab revolution can teach classical music When Daniel Barenboim's hands are not at the piano or holding a baton, they demand a cigar. It is the first thing he mentions as he bustles into Claridge's Hotel on the afternoon of his recent cameo concert at Tate Modern. We will go upstairs to his suite, he explains, and then he can light up. As if reading his mind, a member of staff shouts down the corridor after him: "Now then, Maestro" (he really does call him Maestro). "No smoking now." Safely settled into an armchair, Barenboim produces a double-barrelled leather case, lights a very fat cigar and savours the moment. It's 3pm. He's not due at the Tate for four hours. He has not yet decided quite what to play, and is not sure of the acoustic that awaits him in the giant Turbine Hall. He looks tired, but up for a conversation. And a smoke. A conversation with Barenboim does not take a regular, linear form. It if were a score, it would not resemble a sonata, or indeed anything with a recognisable beginning, middle or end. It is much more like a Sibelius symphony – a multitude of thematic germs, which occasional fuse into a big theme. So, within five minutes, the thread might go something like this: the shape of the recording industry since the 1980s; the need for new marketing ideas in music, post-internet; the Egyptian and Tunisian revolutions; the Japanese tsunami; the speed of change in the world today; his performances in the West Bank; and the nature of musical communication. There is a connection there, and in time it reveals itself, but there are moments, as with Sibelius, where it's not entirely clear where it's all going. We start with his new recording deal with Universal. He recalls that he made his very first recording in London ("of all places") in 1954. For years, he was with Deutsche Grammophon ("We did quite a lot of not unimportant things together, like the cycle of the Bruckner symphonies in Chicago"). The Universal deal retains his link with DG, but now he wants to try new things. The first three discs give a flavour of what's to come: a Warsaw recital of solo piano Chopin pieces; the first recording he has made of the Chopin concertos with the Staatskapelle Berlin; and conducting the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, which brings together musicians from Israel and Arab countries, in the Schoenberg variations and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No 6. You could say his primary current obsessions are wrapped up in those three programmes: his rediscovery of Chopin (forbidden to him by his father, who was interested only in the Haydn-Schubert grand tradition); his life in Berlin; and his work exploring the power of music to bridge cultural divides. But, Barenboim being Barenboim, he first takes a step back before discussing his new recording deal – to talk about recorded sound. "When the CD came in 1982, it was a completely new departure in the sense that it took [music] completely away, technically speaking, from the human experience, because it was so perfectly recorded." A spiral of dense smoke drifts up from his chair. I peer up through it, at what may or may not be a smoke alarm. "It was both the blessing and the curse of the record industry. The blessing, because any technological advance is very positive. It's a curse because it was able to make all the old recordings sound almost like contemporary recordings. Therefore all of us artists were not only in competition with our contemporaries, but with Furtwängler and Nikisch. "I think now, after 30 years, we must really see what should be done for the future – how to record, what to record, and how to present it. The technical development has been huge, but the presentation, if you want, or to use a more vulgar word, the marketing didn't change that much. I think this evening [at the Tate] is a very small point, but it shows a new departure." From Egypt to Japan The subject of change leads him to Egypt. And then Japan. The next bit is more linear in my recounting than it was in the increasingly fusty room in Claridge's as he warmed to his theme. "I don't want to sound melodramatic, but I think that in the last 15 or 20 years, the world has changed so much, in so many ways. And in the last two months, the Egyptian revolution and the Japanese catastrophe – I mean, obviously, not just the earthquake but the atomic menace – shows that we cannot think in the old ways. "Sixty per cent of the population of Egypt is under 30 years old. In the occupied territories it is 85%. For the first time in history, it was a revolution that happened without leadership. "What a unique gesture it was that young people were able to create this kind of revolution with the help of the internet and other means of communication. That means we all have to speak of other ways of communication. Can you understand what I'm trying to say?" I can, but he is on to Japan. "Two weeks ago, I went back to reading what Einstein was writing about the atomic dangers. How many years ago? And how he foresaw all that. "What the world is saying to us human beings is, 'Don't stick to the old ways, learn to think anew.' And that's what musicians do every day. You don't go out and play Beethoven's Opus 111 without having rethought about it every time you play." Then come digressions on the uncertain future of the Venezuelan experiment in musical education; why the Palestinians have yet to rise up; the folly of Israel's current political path; how a common love of cuisine might draw Middle Eastern cultures together; and playing Bach in Ramallah. Performing The Well-Tempered Klavier in the heart of the Palestinian occupied territories in 2007 left a deep impression on him. "It was the quality of listening," he says. "I had the feeling I didn't have to go to them, they were all coming on to the stage to me, in their concentration. This is what music is about" – not, he says, the centuries-old traditions of Vienna or Berlin. "In Ramallah you don't have that. It was one of the most wonderful audiences I ever had for that piece." This leads Barenboim on to a diatribe against governments cutting back on the opportunities for young people to experience music. This, he thinks, is not only diminishing for them, but for music, which will become limited to a select elite of passionate aficionados "away from the rest of the world, away from the human problems. Therefore you get a community made up of artists and an audience that is an ivory-tower community, because both have lost a great part of the connection between music and everything else." It's this stranglehold on the future of classical music that Barenboim says he is trying to break. The impromptu concert at Tate Modern – a short recital in an unfamiliar venue – is one tiny example. Within three days of the free concert being announced, 8,000 people had applied for the 400 seats, while 700 more watched a live relay in the hall below. When he was finished, the 1,100 people gave him a standing ovation. As if to illustrate his point, there was a bitterly divided critical response the following day. One critic was struck by the spell he cast, how no one in the throng stirred as he played: "Sixty years on, he still plays the piano with boyish curiosity, as if the instrument had just been invented." Another critic expended 900 words sneering at the "legions of crazed fans . . . there to witness their Messiah. "Mention his name in pianophile company," continued the lofty wordsmith, "and it is quickly dismissed". He concluded: "We were . . . wrong to attend last night's recital." Barenboim had begun our conversation with a recollection of an unkind notice by a Guardian critic (of Menuhin, not himself). There may have been a time when he cared about the opinions of "pianophiles" and musical arbiters of ivory tower taste. But, 18 months short of his 70th birthday, he gives every impression of having his eye fixed on new and much more expansive horizons. • Daniel Barenboim's Chopin Concertos; The Warsaw Recital; and Tchaikovsky Symphony No 6 and Schoenberg Variations for Orchestra with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra are out now. Classical music Tate Modern Alan Rusbridger guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Isle of Grain fate hangs in the balance Posted: 17 Apr 2011 10:26 AM PDT A disused, contaminated stretch in north Kent is an ecological wonder that charity Buglife is fighting to have recognised It looks like one of Britain's least attractive places, a blighted stretch of abandoned industrial land littered with plastic, broken concrete, crash barriers and building rubble. Contaminated with asbestos, oil and industrial chemicals, this 189-hectare (467-acre) former BP oil refinery brownfield site on the Isle of Grain in the Thames estuary is a messy, dangerous place. But the site near Rochester in north Kent is also potentially one of Britain's two or three most important wildlife sites – the equivalent of a national park for bees, butterflies, beetles and other invertebrates. Left alone by humans for nearly 25 years, fenced off and allowed to degenerate by its present owner, National Grid, this remote corner of the Thames Gateway is being compared to a miniature lost world by conservationists who are fighting to avoid its planned destruction to make way for a giant lorry park. No one knows exactly what nature has squatted here, says Sarah Hensall, a conservation officer with the charity Buglife. In the past 40 years, she says, one person has been allowed in to study its wildlife. In a few hours in August 2009, that researcher found 258 species of invertebrates, birds and reptiles. Of these, 13 were classified as threatened with extinction on the conservation red list, many were priority species that Britain has to protect in law, 23 were nationally scarce and 11 were considered rare. They included the white eye-stripe hoverfly (Paragus albifrons) – until recently believed to be extinct – and Mellet's downy-back beetle (Ophonus melletii), which is so rare that it has been seen only five times in the UK in the past 20 years. The site is also home to most of Britain's rarest native bees, including the brown-banded carder bee (Bombus humilis) and the shrill carder bee (Bombus sylvarum). Not surprisingly Hensall, an ecologist, is eager to get on to the site. To find a habitat of this size and quality, she says, is extraordinary. "It looks messy and polluted but sites like this are few and far between. It's perfect 'open mosaic' habitat for bugs, spiders, flies and insects. They need this mix of bare land, pools, ditches. It's got everything. They can burrow in it, bask, shelter and feed there, breed and hibernate. It's just heaven for them." She wants to take a team of researchers through the fence to study the wildlife. She is confident that if four people could go in for a few days several times over a year, as recommended by government ecologists, they could record 1,000, perhaps even 1,300 species. This would put the old refinery site on a par with West Thurrock marshes, an old power station site in Essex and now better protected after a long struggle. But it is unlikely she will get permission, because Buglife and National Grid are locked in a court dispute over the future of the site. The company wants to turn it into a giant lorry park and warehousing for Thamesport, Britain's third largest container port, and its plan would sweep away the bug and bee paradise before it had even been properly recorded. Buglife claims the owners failed to properly assess the impact on the wildlife of the site. "We say that they did not follow the environmental impact survey properly and the council should have insisted on a better inspection. But we don't want to stop development. We want the company and the local Medway council to rethink the plan to save the most valuable parts of the site," Hensall says. "People and bugs should be able to live side by side. We were not consulted, but somebody has got to stick up for the bugs, give them a voice, too." National Grid is adamant that it has followed the law. In a statement, a spokesman said: "We did consult with the community and with bodies including Natural England, and we do believe our development will provide a number of benefits for the local area." Where nature thrives Korea's demilitarised zone (DMZ) The zone separating South and North Korea is home to more than 1,000 plant species and rare animals. Since the 1953 armistice was signed, the strip of land measuring 2.4 miles wide and 155 miles long has been untouched by human activity and has developed into a de facto nature reserve. The endangered Asiatic black bear, Eurasian lynx, Goral sheep and the very rare Amur tiger, right, are just some of the species reputed to roam the ground where four million people were killed or wounded. Chernobyl A contaminated wasteland after the nuclear disaster in 1986, Chernobyl has now become a haven for wildlife. Since tens of thousands of humans were evacuated from the "exclusion zone" – a contaminated 20-mile zone around the site of the nuclear reactor explosion – animals and plants have thrived. Boar, elk and lynx have returned to the area and the footprints of a bear have been discovered. There are 300 or so wolves, too. Canvey Wick Ninety-three hectares of former petrochemical works next to a Morrison's superstore on Canvey Island, Essex, was the first brownfield site in Britain to be protected for its endangered invertebrate species, including the shrill carder bee and emerald damselfly. Abandoned to nature in the 1970s, it was designated a site of special scientific interest in 2005 and now boasts among the greatest biodiversity in western Europe. Emine Sinmaz Wildlife Endangered habitats Conservation Endangered species Animals National Grid John Vidal guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Brixton windmill set to sail again Posted: 17 Apr 2011 10:24 AM PDT Carnival procession will celebrate restoration of Regency mill now poised to grind home-grown barley once more Halfway up Brixton Hill, in a small park hidden away behind terraces of tall Victorian houses, one of the most startling historic buildings in London has sprouted gleaming white sails. Brixton Windmill, now restored, is ready to start grinding flour again, as soon as the wheat and barley being planted around it by local volunteers is ready for harvest. "It's a joy to see it, it's just so beautiful," Annick Alet said, straightening up for a moment from the back-breaking work of picking stones from the new field. On 2 May there will be singing and dancing as a carnival procession from the centre of Brixton heads towards the mill. It will be the first time many people learn of the mill's existence. Built in 1816, and run until 1934 by generations of the Ashby family, the south London mill was a sad wreck when Florence Nosegby, a local councillor who was brought up on an estate nearby, first saw it. Many of the hundreds of residents who joined the campaign to save it, raising thousands of pounds and donating years of work, lived a few streets away but had never heard about the building. "It was so sad when I first saw it 13 years ago," said Richard Santhini, an actor, vice-chair of the Friends of Windmill Gardens, and now a trained miller. The park had been a no-go area after dusk, the mill vandalised and littered with drug users' needles. "I thought, we have to bring this wonderful treasure back to life," he said. The structure is the last survivor of a small regiment of mills that once stood in open countryside on the hills of Lambeth, producing food for London. Even by the 1860s the city had crept so far up the hill there was no longer enough wind to turn the sails; the Ashbys installed first steam and then gas power to keep the mill grinding until 1934. Its importance was recognised as early as 1951 with a Grade II* listing, but its inexorable decline continued. It passed into the ownership of London county council and then Lambeth council. In the 1960s, Carmela Zucconi, who owns the flower stall outside the station, climbed the mill's narrow winding staircase with her excited twin sons; she recalls, too, the little buildings and shops that surrounded it. By the 1970s the miller's cottage and outbuildings were flattened, and the building was judged too dangerous for the public, though one local man remembered hiding out there from the police. By the 1990s the mill had taken up what looked like a permanent place on the Buildings at Risk register, until the Friends of Windmill Gardens were founded and took up the cause. Despite ominous cracks in the walls, and the fact that the building turned out to have no foundations, being built straight on to the London clay, the mill proved surprisingly sound structurally. Most of the machinery and millstones, much of the woodwork, and the timber cap that rotates to bring the sails into the wind, are the restored originals. The small provender mill the Ashbys added is ready to run, now powered by electricity, but Santhini is determined to continue until the wind-powered 1.5-tonne millstones are also working again. The restoration cost just under £600,000, including help of £400,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund and £55,000 from the council. "It's a living part of our history," Santhini said. "If we lose buildings like this, we lose something of ourselves as human beings." Heritage London Communities Maev Kennedy guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Pass notes: the Chronophage clock Posted: 17 Apr 2011 11:59 AM PDT An enormous new clock that appears to 'eat time' is being unveiled at London's Science Museum Age: Brand spanking newish. Appearance: A dinner gong getting intimate with a fly. The Chrono-what clock? Chronophage. It comes from the Greek, of course. Of course. And means "time-eating". It's the Time-eating clock! And what's a clock? It's an instrument for telling the . . . Oh, ha ha. And we're talking about it because . . . ? Because G2 is paying us to. The readers can't see this, but I'm making one of those flourishy hand gestures . . . Careful! . . . one of those flourishy hand gestures that means, "Go on." And also because it's a very special clock. London's Science Museum, where it goes on show today, calls it a "genuinely new way of presenting time". And is it? Sort of. There is an older model, but it's in some lah-di-da Cambridge college, so no one's seen it except some floppy-haired Jeremys. Up the revolution! How does it work? It's full of boring old springs and stuff. I'm making that gesture again. What is interesting is the face: a big golden disk with a hungry mechanical insect on top. If I may quote the press release . . . That is how journalism works. "The Chronophage shows time in a way that causes its viewers to reflect on the very nature of time measurement. Some minutes race by, others drag, some disappear and others appear to stand still. Every five minutes the clock corrects itself and accurate time is shown through light slits, as the Chronophage is without hands or numbers. The hour is tolled by the sound of a chain clanking into a small wooden coffin . . ." Oh, bloody hell. It's art. No, it's a "fusion of art and technology". More than 100 people worked on it, including engineers, jewellers and calligraphers. Have we mentioned that the face was shaped by underwater explosions? As for inventor John Taylor . . . Please tell me it's the one who used to be in Duran Duran. I can't! But he was responsible for the cordless kettle! Do say: "This subject's so fascinating even Pass Notes can't bugger it up." Don't say: "Back to normal tomorrow?" Engineering guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

You are subscribed to email updates from The Guardian World News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610