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Cuttings and links to other online information.
Syria stands to gain from Lebanon's pain
Hizbullah's stock is rising among the Arab public, and the Syrian regime is making the most of it. (Guardian, 31 Jul 2006)
Top judge defends fraud juries
Plans by ministers to scrap juries for complex fraud trials are facing opposition from Britain’s most senior judge.
Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, the Lord Chief Justice, said that scrapping juries would not lead to trials that were any shorter or simpler. (Times, 31 Jul 2006)
Corruption 'rife' among prison staff, report claims
Corruption within the Prison Service is rife, according to a leaked report which reveals that there are more than 1,000 officers involved in corrupt practices. (Times, 31 Jul 2006)
A baffling ballot paper is the only hitch in first free election
Bienvenu Kenny carefully folded the six poster-sized pages into a neat packet and pushed it firmly through the ballot box slot.
“I have never voted before in my life but I have always wanted to,” he beamed as he walked out of the polling station in the centre of the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, yesterday. (Times, 31 Jul 2006)
The children went to sleep believing they were safe. And then Israel targeted them as terrorists
His smooth baby skin was mottled purple with bruising and his reddish hair frosted by cement dust, but nine-month-old Abbas Mahmoud Hashem wore a hauntingly peaceful expression when rescue workers reached him yesterday.
&mnbsp; ...Qana itself has been repeatedly bombed during Israel's 19-day campaign but the Hashems and their relatives by marriage, the Shalhoubs, thought they had found sanctuary on the ground floor of a solidly-built three-storey structure. (Telegraph, 31 Jul 2006)
Straw hits No 10 in Israel revolt
Jack Straw has become the first cabinet minister to break ranks with Tony Blair publicly by issuing a strong attack on “disproportionate” Israeli military action in Lebanon. (Times, 30 Jul 2006)
Wal-Mart quits Germany but insists Asda is safe
Wal-Mart insisted it was "fully committed" to its Asda supermarket chain after announcing that it was pulling out of Germany.
..."Asda has struggled recently but it has taken a number of measures and its market share has slightly improved," the spokesman said.
...She added that the UK was the largest contributor to Wal-Mart's international sales. (Telegraph, 29 Jul 2006)
Why we must give up flying
The Bishop of London argued this week that we have a moral obligation to be environmentally friendly and that jetting away for a holiday is a sin. The geographer and journalist Nicholas Crane, who chose nearly 10 years ago never to fly again, explains his decision. (Telegraph, 29 Jul 2006)
De Menezes officers to return to duty
The two police firearms officers involved in the fatal shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes are to resume "full operational duties", Scotland Yard said today. (Guardian, 28 Jul 2006)
One year on, a mother's grief still burns
Faith has brought forgiveness, but little sense of justice, for Gee Walker, whose son Anthony was killed in a racist ambush. (Guardian, 28 Jul 2006)
Former Nato chief becomes BP's voice in Russia
Lord Robertson, the former secretary general of Nato, has joined the board of BP's Russian business in a move that highlights the way political as much as energy experience is valued in that country. (Guardian, 28 Jul 2006)
Police follow up new leads in Lawrence case
Detectives were yesterday investigating new leads on the unsolved racist murder of Stephen Lawrence, after a BBC TV programme triggered 60 calls to a police hotline offering information about the killers. (Guardian, 28 Jul 2006)
Whites protest at African name changes
White South Africans marched in protest yesterday against an attempt to rename their town to make it sound more black and African, part of a controversial nation-wide campaign to change placenames. (Guardian, 28 Jul 2006)
First, Destroy the Archives: 9/11 Nablus
For anyone who witnessed the results of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center buildings in New York City, the scene was horrifyingly familiar, albeit on a smaller scale.
...The site itself was a landscape of obliteration--the legacy of the Israeli Occupation Forces' three-day blitzkrieg on a complex of public buildings that included the muqata'a--an enormous command and administrative structure built in the 1920s by the British--a Palestinian security building, part of a prison, and the ministries of agriculture and the interior. (Counterpunch, 27 Jul 2006)
UN 'urged Israelis to hold fire 10 times before post was hit'
Israel was accused yesterday of ignoring repeated appeals to halt attacks around a United Nations monitoring post before it bombed the position, killing four UN officials. (Telegraph, 27 Jul 2006)
Stephen Lawrence murder inquiry won't be reopened
Nine years ago the Daily Mail created a sensation when we named five young white men as the killers of Stephen Lawrence.
...Former policeman Neil Putnam, himself convicted of corruption, alleged that Detective Sergeant John Davidson received money from drugs baron Clifford Norris, father of suspect David Norris.
The programme also claimed to demolish the alibis of the five men named by the Mail - Norris, brothers Jamie and Neil Acourt, Gary Dobson and Luke Knight. (Mail, 27 Jul 2006)
Briefing: Lawrence corruption allegations
Allegations of corruption in the 1993 Stephen Lawrence murder inquiry have been levelled against John Davidson, a former Detective Sergeant who retired in March 1998. (26 Jul 2006)
A new beginning
The Democratic Republic of Congo may finally have a chance to break with its troubled past
Next Sunday the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo will go to the polls in the country's first ever free election.
Other crises claim more attention, but the DRC remains the world's deadliest - deadlier than Israel/Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan all put together. An estimated four million Congolese have died since the war reignited in 1998. (Guardian, 25 Jul 2006)
De Menezes shooting: why you'll have to wait for facts
...The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) told a meeting of Lambeth's Community and Police Consultative Group (CPCG) it would not release its report into the killing of the Brazilian at Stockwell Tube station on July 22 last year until after the Metropolitan Police is tried for health and safety breaches surrounding his death. (South London Press, 25 Jul 2006)
Tories call for limit as wages of spin soar to nearly £6m
The wages of spin have risen to £5.9 million for 84 special advisers, the highest annual figures recorded since Tony Blair came to power in 1997. (Times, 25 Jul 2006)
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The family of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes lay a wreath and bunches of flowers on Saturday at the London underground station where he was mistakenly gunned down by police last year. (Scotsman, 22 Jul 2006)
Sakchai may have helped
The case of Sakchai Makao could well have contributed to the Home Secretary's decision to announce a major shake-up of the Home Office's Immigration and Nationality Directorate, MP Alistair Carmichael said this week. (Shetland Today, 21 Jul 2006)
Aftershocks spark fear on Java
A series of strong aftershocks have sent hundreds of people on the Indonesian island of Java scrambling for high ground in fear of another tsunami.
The four aftershocks, measuring from 4.9 to 5.4 on the Richter Scale, came as the death toll from the giant waves that hit the island on Monday rose to at least 520. (Telegraph, 19 Jul 2006)
New jails for 8,000 prisoners to deal with overcrowding
John Reid is to announce plans for 8,000 new prison places to cope with the overcrowding crisis engulfing jails in England and Wales. (Times, 19 Jul 2006)
ATM fees hit poor
Cash machines that charge a fee are hitting Britain's poor the hardest, a report said yesterday. (Mirror, 19 Jul 2006)
Kenya's Bloody Summer Monday
Mike Thomson investiagtes how in 1953 British soldiers slaughtered 22 Kenyan civilians. (BBC, 19 Jul 2006)
Minister backs down on surveys in home sale packs
The government yesterday abandoned the central element of the controversial home information packs amid mounting concern that the scheme could throw the property market into chaos. (Guardian, 19 Jul 2006)
Mass evacuation from Beirut under way
Swedish nationals wait to board a Malaysian vessel at Beirut port as part of an evacuation at the port in Beirut. (Guardian, 18 Jul 2006)
A mass evacuation of British, American and other foreign nationals was underway today as Israel continued its bombardment of Lebanon.
(Guardian, 18 Jul 2006)
US attack on online gaming
US authorities have arrested five people connected to online gambling group BetonSports, including British chief executive David Carruthers, and are seeking the extradition of six others in an unprecedented industry crackdown. (Telegraph, 18 Jul 2006)
Campaign to stop bus stands being built
A campaign has been launched to stop two bus stands being built in a busy street. Residents of Albion Avenue, Stockwell, have put together a 169-name petition against the plans. (South London Press, 18 Jul 2006)
Proposal to transfer houses out of council control
Opposition councillors have slated a proposal to transfer 40,000 households out of direct council control..
Cash-strapped Lambeth wants to place all its housing stock into the hands of a private company because it does not have the £200million needed to improve tenants' homes. (South London Press, 18 Jul 2006)
Average cost of a home 'to hit £300,000 in five years'
The average home could cost almost £300,000 in five years which would make it impossible for young people to get a foot on the property ladder, economists said yesterday. (Telegraph, 18 Jul 2006)
The full statement...
delivered by Stephen O'Doherty, senior lawyer in the CPS's Special Crime Division, at the organisation's central London headquarters today. (Telegraph, 17 Jul 2006)
De Menezes: the real story
Ahead of the report into the London Tube killing, Chris Heath goes in search of the Brazilian mistaken for a terrorist. He found an ambitious young man and devoted son. (Independent, 16 Jul 2006)
Bush refuses to curb Israeli assault
By Alec Russell in St Petersburg and Tim Butcher in Beirut
President George W Bush refused last night to rein in Israel as its close ally brought international condemnation by stepping up its offensive in Lebanon.
For the second day running Israeli aircraft bombed southern Beirut, hitting the headquarters of Hizbollah, the Iranian-backed militant Islamic group, and the residence of its leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah. (Telegraph, 15 Jul 2006)
Supermarket inquiry into 'strawberry slaves'
Two leading supermarkets are investigating their supplier of British strawberries amid allegations that the workforce is being subjected to "modern day slavery.
...Evidence compiled by the Transport and General Workers' Union alleged that fruit pickers, mostly migrant workers from Eastern Europe, had worked more than 14 hours a day and seven days a week, with only 30 minutes break per day. (Telegraph, 15 Jul 2006)
Tsunami charities 'swept locals aside in rush to spend cash'
International aid agencies "brushed aside" the work of local communities in their haste to be seen to be responding to the Asian tsunami, a report said yesterday. (Telegraph, 15 Jul 2006)
No officers will face charges over Menezes killing
No police officer will be tried over the Stockwell shooting, but Scotland Yard is expected to face charges under health and safety laws. (Times, 15 Jul 2006)
Sorry, but our peace envoy is under arrest
As mortar rounds and rocket bombs exploded around Israel’s borders on Wednesday, Tony Blair’s personal envoy to the Middle East was neither huddled away in urgent talks nor racing to Tel Aviv. Instead, Lord Levy was at Colindale police station where he had been arrested in the loans-for-peerages inquiry. (Times, 15 Jul 2006)
DR Congo backs 'bikes for guns'
A scheme under which gunmen in the Democratic Republic of Congo are given bicycles in exchange for their weapons is being extended due to its success. (BBC, 14 Jul 2006)
Police seek Mumbai bombs evidence
Indian police are hunting for clues as to who was behind Tuesday's bomb attacks on Mumbai's train network which killed 174 people and injured 485. (BBC, 12 Jul 2006)
Misguided plan laid to rest by £12 tax bill
The Home Office was putting a brave face yesterday on the collapse of its ambitious, if misguided, plans for a network of regional police forces in England and Wales. (Telegraph, 12 Jul 2006)
'Slave' streets could be renamed
Streets in Liverpool whose namesakes are linked to slavery would be renamed if a local councillor gets her way. (BBC, 9 Jul 2006)
Rivals face off in electric car capital of the world
They're small, eccentric and as quiet as Paris in August. But Britain, obsessed as it is with speed cameras and petrol prices, has unexpectedly become the world capital of electric cars. (Guardian, 8 Jul 2006)
Victory for islanders as Thai avoids deportation
Thousands of islanders were celebrating last night after a Thai man who has been living in Shetland for 13 years was told he could remain in Britain. (Telegraph, 8 Jul 2006)
Sakchai Makao returns home to Shetland today
A Thai man who won his appeal against deportation will return to his home in Shetland later today.
23-year-old Sakchai Makao faced being thrown out of the country after Home Office officials launched a crackdown on foreign nationals with a criminal record. However islanders on Shetland set up a campaign to keep him here and yesterday a judge decided that he did not have to be deported. (Scotland Today, 8 Jul 2006)
Slave trade research unit in Wilberforce birthplace
Britain's first research unit into slavery was opened yesterday in Hull, the home of William Wilberforce, who led the campaign to abolish the trade. (Guardian, 7 Jul 2006) !
Interpol to examine 11 bodies
A team of Interpol experts is expected next Monday to begin a scientific examination of the 11 bodies found on a small boat off the east coast of Barbados last April 29. (Daily Nation, 7 Jul 2006)
18 die in worst fighting since withdrawal last year
At least 17 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier were killed yesterday in the most serious violence since Israel withdrew its forces from the Gaza Strip last year. (Guardian, 7 Jul 2006)
Travellers told: Don't forget your health card
Two thirds of holidaymakers are unaware that travel insurance cards have replaced the traditional E111 forms that covered them for medical treatment on the Continent, says new research. (Telegraph, 7 Jul 2006) See EHIC
Migrant worker figure 'too low'
The number of East Europeans coming to work in Britain since 2004 may be 50% higher than previously thought, a BBC Two Newsnight survey suggests.
...Official figures show 375,000 workers have registered since the EU expanded in May 2004 but the survey suggests 187,000 more may have come to the UK. (BBC, 7 Jul 2006)
On nuclear power: 'Changed my mind'
Tony Blair admitted he had made up his mind that Britain needed a new generation of nuclear power stations before the Government's own energy review is published later this month. (Telegraph, 6 Jul 2006)
Upgrade for residents on £450m estate
A multi-million pound regeneration scheme is bringing a brand new look to the Clapham Park Estate.
...But some opposed the sell-off and formed an umbrella group to fight the regeneration master plan in its current form. (South London Press, 6 Jul 2006)
Israeli Black Panthers support the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
During the late ‘60s and into the ‘70s, the reputation of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, which had its start in Oakland in 1966, spread far and wide, not only throughout the United States, but around the world, where the party was considered the leading arm of the Black liberation struggle in AmeriKKKa.
...In Israel, the Black Panthers’ exploits caught the attention of the Mizrahi, dark-skinned Jews from North Africa and the Middle East – also known, less correctly, as Sephardim – who had been encouraged to come to the country following the expulsion of the Palestinians in the 1948 war. (San Francisco Bay View, 5 Jul 2006)
Documents reveal hidden fears over Britain's nuclear plants
Government nuclear inspectors have raised serious questions over the safety of Britain's ageing atomic power stations, some of which have developed major cracks in their reactor cores, documents reveal today. (Guardian, 5 Jul 2006)
Who are you?
...a large proportion of the male population of Britain carries the Y chromosome of the Celtic speakers who were supposedly chased off the land by the Anglo-Saxons. (Salon, 5 Jul 2006)
HRD rubbishes MIT's laptop scheme for kids
The HRD ministry has rejected the idea of 'one-laptop-per-child' (OLPC) being aggressively marketed by Nicholas Negroponte of MIT Media Laboratory. "India must not allow itself to be used for experimentation with children in this area," the ministry has said. (Times of India, 3 Jul 2006)
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