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Cuttings and links to other online information.
Somali government seeks control
The Somali government is making moves to assert its authority over the capital Mogadishu, a day after its forces moved into the city. (BBC, 29 Dec 2006)
Best pupils to get extra lesson vouchers
The brightest 800,000 pupils in England are to have vouchers to spend on extra lessons as part of a national talent search that starts next week. ! (Telegraph, 28 Dec 2006)
Ethiopian troops told to leave
Somalia
The African Union has told Ethiopia to pull out thousands of its troops from
Somalia, where they are fighting alongside pro-government forces. (Telegraph,
27 Dec 2006)
Lessons in Indian history 'anti-
British, inaccurate and sexually explicit'
New lessons in Indian history announced today are anti-British and expose 12-
to 14-year-olds to the sexually explicit Kama Sutra, according to a curriculum
association. (Telegraph, 27 Dec 2006)
Teachers get guidelines on India
Schools in England are to be sent extra guidelines on how to teach about the legacy of the British Empire in India. (BBC, 27 Dec 2006)
Legacy of the Raj is history
Teenagers will be taught about the Amritsar massacre of 1919 in a new history unit looking at the legacy of the Raj, the curriculum watchdog reveals today. (Times, 27 Dec 2006)
Hundreds burned alive in Lagos pipeline fire
More than 260 people were killed yesterday - burned alive when a ruptured oil pipeline burst into flames in Lagos. (Guardian, 27 Dec 2006)
Thinktank calls for end to national exams for pupils aged 11 and 14
The national testing regime for pupils aged 11 and 14 in England should be scrapped, a thinktank with close links to Tony Blair's government says today.
In two reports, the Institute of Public Policy Research joins union calls for compulsory standard assessment tests (Sats) at the end of key stage two and three to be abolished and replaced largely by a system of continuing teacher assessment. But it also argues for new measures to make schools and teachers accountable.
The IPPR says too many schools are "teaching to the test" in an effort to boost their standing in league tables. (Guardian, 27 Dec 2006)
I'm jealous of Cuba
...American imperialist history started long before. It was inevitable that the original English settlers, not to mention the Dutch and the French who occupied the eastern seaboard of the US, would look west where there was more wealth. (Periodico, 22 Dec 2006)
The problem is that he just doesn't understand race
The following is a draft of Tony Blair's follow-up speech on multiculturalism - or what he might have said if he'd considered the matter more carefully.
My speech this month about multiculturalism... (Guardian, 20 Dec 2006)
The high road to decadence
The global culture we live in is a double-faced creature, part angel, part devil...
...The first group, embracing multiculturalism, have learned that a better understanding of other cultures, based on mutual knowledge of each other's languagess, can foster stronger business partnerships, richer cultural exchanges and lasting peace. The second, often found in the English-speaking world, are proud of their monolingualism, and have retreated into a fantasy world in which it seems everyone speaks their language. (Guardian, 20 Dec 2006)
A modern-day slavery is flourishing in Britain, and we just avert our eyes
We are dehumanising half a million irregular migrants - an army of cheap labour on which our lifestyles depend. (Guardian, 18 Dec 2006)
Blair and Levy face honours storm together
Lord Levy, the man at the centre of the cash for honours investigation, is with Tony Blair in Israel today on the latest leg of his Middle East peacemaking trip as detectives prepare to question again some of the Prime Minister's most important allies. (Telegraph, 18 Dec 2006)
Two explosions in Nigeria's Delta
At least two explosions have hit separate oil facilities in Nigeria's restive Niger Delta region.
The militant group, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) has claimed responsibility for what it called the car bomb attacks. (BBC, 18 Dec 2006) See Q&A Nigeria's oil violence
Migrants 'need more protection'
Migrant workers living overseas are being ignored when conflict breaks out, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has warned. (BBC, 18 Dec 2006)
EU will consign Romanian traditions to history
The deep howl brought neighbours scurrying into the Margarit family's back yard. Four men held down Ghita the pig, her trotters were tied up with wire, and George Margarit plunged a knife into her throat.
They have been informed in writing by the local mayor that when Romania joins the EU such practices will have to stop. (Telegraph, 18 Dec 2006)
Call for more transparent banking in deprived areas
Britain should follow America's example and consider forcing banks to disclose more information about their lending and investment in deprived areas as part of the fight against financial exclusion, according to a new report. (Guardian, 18 Dec 2006)
Ministers compared to Nazis over Islam stigma
A senior Muslim invoked Hitler's 1930s Nazi regime while attacking the Government over its treatment of British Muslims.
Muhammed Abdul Bari accused ministers of stigmatising Britain's Islamic community and fuelling xenophobia. (Telegraph, 17 Dec 2006)
Pack up Israel, Ahmadinejad tells West
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday met anti-Israel Jewish rabbis who took part in a controversial Holocaust conference and told Western powers to “pack up” Israel. “Big powers and Zionist leaders should pack up the Zionist regime because they lied to create this fake regime,” the state IRNA news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. (The International News, 16 Dec 2006)
Cool response to British Gas price cuts
British Gas has promised to cut bills in the spring, but came under attack for holding back until after the winter, when demand peaks. (Telegraph, 16 Dec 2006)
Ruling puts restrictions on polytunnels
Farmers will need to get planning permission before creating polytunnels on their land following a high court ruling yesterday which producers claim will endanger the £200m soft fruit industry. (Guardian, 16 Dec 2006)
'Government should be stripped of power to halt prosecutions'
The government should be stripped of its power to stop prosecutions in the national interest, a professor of law at Cambridge University said yesterday. (Guardian, 16 Dec 2006)
Council rents to go up by 5 per cent
Council tenants could face inflation-busting rent rises of almost five per cent. Labour-run Lambeth has proposed increasing the rent of its 30,000 tenants by 4.99 per cent in April. (South London Press, 15 Dec 2006)
West could be sucked into new battleground
Watching Somalia right now is like standing on a beach, waiting for a category five hurricane to hit. The looming cataclysm threatens to spark a regional war, suck in east African and Arab actors, and create a dangerous new theatre in the polarising, global contest between western power and Islamist jihadism. Somalia has the potential to make Darfur look like a little local difficulty. (Guardian, 15 Dec 2006)
Holy man in child trafficking arrest
Cops have arrested a Kenyan evangelical pastor over allegations of child trafficking.
Peckham-based Gilbert Deya was arrested on Wednesday in relation to six accusations of kidnapping babies. (South London Press, 15 Dec 2006)
No release for Guantanamo detainees
The hard core of detainees held at America's Guantanamo Bay detention camp will continue to be held indefinitely even if there is insufficient evidence to bring them to trial, a senior Bush administration official has warned.
Of the 435 detainees currently being held at Guantanamo, only 10 have so far been charged with terrorism-related offences. (Telegraph, 15 Dec 2006)
Green belt reform 'will lead to land banking'
Proposals to relax planning rules will fuel the expansion of the practice of "land banking" which leaves fields and woods neglected, a report said yesterday. (Telegraph, 15 Dec 2006)
The arms deal they called the dove: how Britain grasped the biggest prize
The deal of the century, as it came to be known, took three years to complete. But when it was finally signed by Prince Sultan, the Saudi defence minister, on the Caribbean island of Bermuda in 1988 it provided British Aerospace with a stream of revenue worth around $2bn (£1.02bn) a year, with a current total that stands at more than $40bn. (Guardian, 15 Dec 2006)
Secret flow of £1bn through accounts
The money trail uncovered by the Serious Fraud Office during its two-year corruption inquiry into BAE turned out to be much more sizeable - and to lead in much more dangerous directions - than anyone had first imagined. (Guardian, 15 Dec 2006)
Planting trees to save planet is pointless, say ecologists
Planting trees to combat climate change is a waste of time, according to a study by ecologists who say that most forests do not have any overall effect on global temperature, while those furthest from the equator could actually be making global warming worse. (Guardian, 15 Dec 2006)
Bushmen return to their ancient homeland
An ancient way of life was saved from oblivion yesterday when Botswana's High Court allowed the San Bushmen to return to the Kalahari, reversing an official campaign to drive them from the desert. (Telegraph, 14 Dec 2006)
Police violated rights of antiwar protesters
The way police handle protests will have to be changed radically after peace campaigners won a ruling in the House of Lords yesterday that police violated their human rights by stopping them attending an anti-Iraq demonstration. (Times, 14 Dec 2006)
This year will be Britain's warmest since records began, say scientists
Britain is on course for the warmest year since records began, according to figures from the Met Office and the University of East Anglia yesterday. Temperatures logged by weather stations across England reveal 2006 to have been unusually mild, with a mean temperature of 10.84C. The record beats the previous two joint hottest years of 1999 and 1990 by 0.21C. (Guardian, 14 Dec 2006)
Sleeping with the enemy
Iain Duncan Smith is the son of a wartime group captain, he is a Thatcherite MP, and a former leader of the Conservative party. I am the son of a wartime factory worker, a socialist and community activist. Yet we have found common ground. (Guardian, 13 Dec 2006)
Rubbish levels soar in former 'third-cleanest borough'
New statistics reveal Lambeth's streets have failed to meet cleanliness targets. (South London Press, 13 Dec 2006)
Funding plans will end bankrolling of Labour by union leaders
... The draft proposes a £50,000 cap for all individuals and organisations, which will more or less end the bankrolling of Labour by union leaders. Sir Hayden says his proposals "will be challenging for trade unions, they will require new systems and new management arrangements".
...Sir Hayden also recommends a continuous cap on party spending throughout parliament and a ban on anonymous bodies donating to political parties. Such moves would hit the Conservatives; they have long used groups such as the Midlands Industrial Council and the Yorkshire and Humberside Industrial Council as front bodies for donors. (Guardian, 13 Dec 2006) See Party Funding Review.
Ministers 'trying to buy off' sub-postmasters
Ministers were accused last night of trying to "buy off" opposition to post office closures with compensation payments for sub-postmasters. (Telegraph, 11 Dec 2006)
Iran Holocaust conference opens
A two-day conference which says it will examine whether the Holocaust actually happened has opened in Iran. (BBC, 11 Dec 2006)
Iran has no intention to deny, confirm Holocaust, says FM Tehran
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said here Monday that Iran does not intend to deny or confirm the Holocaust with its opening of a conference on the subject. (Islamic Republic News Agency, 11 Dec 2006)
No school, no work and little hope for 1.24m young Britons
The number of young people doing nothing with their lives has risen sharply since Labour came to power, government figures reveal. (Times, 11 Dec 2006)
Gender bias 'worsening poverty'
Inequality at home between men and women leads to poorer health for the children and greater poverty for the family, says a new study.
The UN children's agency, Unicef, found that where women are excluded from family decisions, children are more likely to be under-nourished. (BBC, 11 Dec 2006)
5.5m Britons 'opt to live abroad'
Almost one in 10 British citizens are living overseas, according to a study of people coming in and out of the UK. (BBC, 11 Dec 2006)
Black pupil exclusions 'racist'
Black pupils are three times more likely to be excluded from school because of "systematic racial discrimination", a Government inquiry has found. (Guardian, 10 Dec 2006)
Million 'outcasts' march on city to honour hero and demand equality
Nearly a million low-caste Hindus, sporting commemorative scarves and demanding equal rights in the hierarchical society of India, descended on a Bombay park yesterday to mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Bhimrao Ambedkar, the champion of the underclass and an architect of the constitution. (Times, 7 Dec 2006)
No duty for 'zero carbon' homes
Chancellor Gordon Brown said it was the Government's ambition that by 2016 all new homes would be "zero carbon" – even though a spokesman in his department could not define what that means. (Telegraph, 7 Dec 2006)
Blair's Asbo is failing to tame offenders
A hard core of yobs who cause mayhem in their neighbourhoods is proving impervious to Tony Blair's multi-million pound drive against anti-social behaviour, a study has found. (Telegraph, 7 Dec 2006)
Oxfam warning on Aceh's homeless
More than 25,000 landless families in Indonesia's Aceh are still waiting for new homes following the 2004 Asian tsunami, aid agency Oxfam has warned. (BBC, 7 Dec 2006)
World's richest 1% own 40% of all wealth, UN report discovers
The richest 1% of adults in the world own 40% of the planet's wealth, according to the largest study yet of wealth distribution. The report also finds that those in financial services and the internet sectors predominate among the super rich. (Guardian, 6 Dec 2006)
Gas and electricity firms told to pass on price cuts
Ofgem will take action against energy firms that fail to pass on to customers steep drops in wholesale prices, its chairman, Sir John Mogg, indicated yesterday. He said the British market regulator expected retail gas and electricity prices to fall next year. (Guardian, 6 Dec 2006)
Junk food ad consultation extended
Ofcom has extended the consultation period on its controversial restrictions on junk food advertising to under-16-year-olds.
(Guardian, 6 Dec 2006)
Tenants to get £38k to leave council homes
Up to £38,500 will be offered to tenants to get them to leave council accommodation.
Lambeth is to offer the huge financial incentive to encourage people to buy private sector homes instead. (South London Press, 5 Dec 2006)
Aid helps the rich at the expense of the poor
What we should be talking about is Africa and humanitarian development aid. Africa has been a target, and a victim, of foreign aid in a way China, India and south-east Asia never were. Aid to Africa has not worked over the last 50 years. (Guardian, 5 Dec 2006)
Revealed: the real rate of inflation
The cost of living for many British households is up to four times the Government's published rate of inflation, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.
Millions of families are experiencing inflation far beyond the official rate of 2.4 per cent, new research suggests. (Telegraph, 4 Dec 2006)
Annan: Iraq 'much worse' than civil war
Kofi Annan, the outgoing United Nations Secretary General, has declared that the situation in Iraq is 'much worse’ than civil war and that ordinary lives there are worse now than under Saddam Hussein. (Telegraph, 4 Dec 2006)
Heirs to the slavers
Nearly 200 years after Britain abolished slavery its legacy is all around. As the PM sidesteps a state apology, Andy Beckett talks to descendants of slave traders. And prominent black Britons speak out. (Guardian, 2 Dec 2006)
Visitor numbers soar at Britain's free museums and galleries
Frank Skinner would like to see a world where people ring their partners and say: "Darling, I'll be 20 minutes late because I'm nipping in to see George Stubbs's Whistlejacket at the National Gallery," instead of the usual reason, the pub.
The comedian himself is a regular popper-inner at the gallery and was yesterday happy to take people on a tour of his favourites to help celebrate the fifth anniversary of free entry into England's museums and galleries.
To mark the occasion, the government released figures which showed an average 83% rise in visits to museums and galleries which formerly charged. That is 30m extra visits, says the government, and something to be celebrated, according to the culture secretary, Tessa Jowell. (Guardian, 2 Dec 2006)
GPs angered by call to reveal names of NHS database rebels
The Department of Health provoked uproar among doctors yesterday by asking GPs in England to send in correspondence from objectors who do not want their confidential medical records placed on the Spine, a national NHS database. (Guardian, 2 Dec 2006)
Public to be sold shares to fund new prisons
The public is to be offered the chance to own shares in new prisons as part of John Reid’s attempt to fund an emergency jail building programme to tackle prison overcrowding. Home Office officials are considering the unique initiative of giving the public an opportunity to invest in jails after Gordon Brown refused to fund a huge expansion of the prison estate. (Times, 1 Dec 2006)
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