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Bodies of copter crash victims are flown home from Afghanistan

2011-08-14T20:20:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON — Troops killed in the deadliest day of the Afghan war are coming home today — traveling in death much the same way they did in life — shrouded in secrecy.

Pentagon officials said that remains of the 30 killed in a weekend helicopter crash are scheduled to arrive Tuesday at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

But three days after the downing of the aircraft by insurgents, the Defense Department hasn’t released their names. Officials said it’s taking time because there were so many killed. Others say privately there also is hesitancy to release the names because the majority were from secretive special operations forces.

A ceremony later Tuesday will be closed to the press. Top civilian and uniformed leaders will attend along with some family members.

Allen had earlier presided over a solemn ceremony at Bagram airfield, north of Kabul, as the remains were loaded aboard two C-17 cargo planes for the long journey home. In Washington, the Pentagon said the arrival of the remains at the military mortuary at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware would not be open to media coverage because the bodies, badly mangled in the crash, had not yet been individually identified.

The downing of the helicopter was the largest single loss of military lives in the course of the nearly 10-year-old war.

Western military officials confirmed publicly on Monday that the helicopter had gone down as it was arriving to help other troops engaged in fierce fighting. No casualties were reported among the original ground force in the area, identified by military sources as U.S. Army Rangers, who work closely with the SEALs.

Some Western and Afghan officials had initially said the chopper was shot down while lifting off after an engagement with insurgents in a restive district of Wardak province. A precise chronology of the raid has been slow to coalesce, in part because of the intense operational secrecy associated with the elite units involved.

Monday's NATO statement was the first detailed public accounting of the incident, describing an operation that "began as a security search for a Taliban leader responsible for insurgent operations in the nearby Tangi Valley." The area, a gateway to the capital, Kabul, has been overrun by Taliban and other insurgent groups in recent months.

Special operations troops carry out hundreds of raids a month across Afghanistan, based on intelligence-gathering and primarily targeting insurgent field operatives. Most of them take place at night.

The urgent nature of the SEALs' fatal raid -- a hastily assembled rescue mission -- likely accounts for the fact that so many were rapidly deployed aboard a Chinook, a large, vulnerable target when moving slowly on takeoff and landing. When staging a raid at the time and place of their choosing, clandestine forces normally travel aboard smaller, nimbler aircraft, and in less sizable groups. The military investigation into the cause of the crash is likely to scrutinize the decision to send such a large group aboard a single aircraft.

In Saturday's firefight, the initial team on the ground spotted insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades in the area and engaged them, calling for help about the same time, the NATO force said.

"These additional personnel were inbound to the scene when the CH-47 carrying them crashed, killing all on board," the statement said, adding that the troops already on the ground -- backed by forces from a nearby Western base -- then moved in to secure the scene. No casualties were reported among them.

The statement identified those aboard as five air crew members and 25 personnel from the Special Operations command. Previous reports have said those attached to the SEALs force included a civilian interpreter and a dog handler.

Western officials, meanwhile, said the incident should not be depicted as a larger barometer of battlefield fortunes. "The incident, tragic as it was . . . will have no influence on the conduct of operations," said Brig. Gen. Carsten Jacobson, a German spokesman for the NATO force.

Even in the absence of hostile fire, helicopters are vulnerable to mechanical problems and bad weather. Early Monday, a U.S helicopter made a "hard landing" -- essentially a controlled crash -- in Paktia province, near the Pakistan border. Western officials said that there was no indication of hostile fire and that the special operations forces who were awaiting pickup secured the area and attended to the crew.

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Cameron promises 16000 police on London streets

2011-08-09T07:44:00.000-07:00

Riots across London this week could not have come at a worse time for a country preparing to welcome millions of visitors to the Olympics next summer and struggling to attract investment as its economy falters.

Images flashed around the world of burning buildings, looters ransacking shops and police fighting with masked gangs risk damaging Britain's reputation as a place to visit and do business, analysts and business leaders said on Tuesday.

Crisis management expert Alex Woolfall said it was crucial that the police and government end the rioting quickly to avoid causing lasting damage to the perception of Britain overseas.

"If the story becomes 'one week of summer madness', then it will come and go and people will move on," said Woolfall, an executive at public relations company Porter Novelli.

"But if this drags on, or worse, that it looks like there is a genuine inability to stop it, then that really does start to change perceptions," he said, adding that the danger lay in worries building about security and whether the country had enough police.

The British Retail Consortium, a trade body which represents 90 percent of stores, said the rioting sent an "appalling message" to people at home and abroad.

"It will put people from other parts of the UK, and from abroad, off going to London in the medium term," said a spokesman.

Any decline in tourists' spending would be hard on British retailers at a time of low consumer confidence and public spending cuts. Britain's economy barely grew in the second quarter following six months of stagnation.

But while the front pages continue to focus on the bad news, there is also a counter-movement gathering pace on the sidelines. Hackney, where I live, woke up this morning to blaring sirens and a wounded community galvanised into action. Clean ups had already been arranged so residents could gather, brooms and bin bags in hand, to reclaim their high streets. I arrived at Bethnal Green’s 10am clean-up at around 10.10am. By then Tower Hamlets council and volunteers had already cleaned up so thoroughly that the group was able to move their efforts to Hackney. Like most people there I had been alerted to the operation by the RiotCleanUp profile on Twitter. It began shortly after midnight today and now has some 69,000 followers. As I write #riotcleanup is London’s top trending topic on Twitter, ahead of #LondonRiots. The focus for Londoners is on sorting out this mess and getting their city back in shape. You can see images of them in action here.

Other stories of local pride and courage are emerging, too. In Dalston, groups of Turkish shopkeepers and restaurant owners congregated on the streets to protect their stores collectively. It seems they succeeded. There’s the story of how looters raided The Ledbury restaurant in Notting Hill and sought to steal from terrified customers before staff chased them away with rolling pins and whatever other random kitchen utensils were at hand. Diners were provided with champagne and whiskey to help calm their nerves. Today, members of the public are invited to gather in Trafalgar Square from 5-7pm this evening and respond to the riots with peaceful demonstration and mass meditation.

With so many people joining forces to mend our city there will hopefully many more positive stories emerging from this anarchy as the days go on. London’s a huge, restless city and you need stamina and smarts to live here. The people of London are too strong to let this city be held to siege.

Parts Of London Turned Into 'No Go' Areas:Like Karachi Pakistan

2011-08-09T01:55:00.000-07:00

Armoured vehicles have been brought in to clear the streets for the first time by police to tackle what senior officers say is the worst rioting and looting in living memory.

More than 6,000 officers – including 2,500 mostly public order trained officers and 3,500 local officers – were on duty as violence spread from north, to east, west and south London on Monday night. Fires burned in Croydon, Clapham Junction and Hackney as well as flaring up outside the capital in Liverpool.

Senior officers say the violence and looting on Monday night was the worst in living memory; eclipsing the 1980s inner city riots in Toxteth, Brixton and Tottenham at the height of Margaret Thatcher's premiership.

Armoured vehicles – known as Jenkels – were brought in during the early hours of Tuesday morning in Clapham Junction where much of the worst looting and arson took place. The vehicles were driven on to Lavender Hill to push back a crowd of 150 looters who had smashed up Debenhams and other stores and businesses in the area.

The deployment of the Jenkels brought echoes of Northern Ireland during the Troubles to London streets and marked the start of what sources say are much tougher tactics against rioters. But a police source said the use of water cannons was a decision for government, not Scotland Yard.

The use of armoured vehicles to clear the gang of rioters after hours in which it appeared the police had lost the streets means they will be used again if violence continues, the Yard said.

Across London, officers were fully stretched and members of the public were injured as bottles, petrol bombs and other missiles flew.

One man in his 60s received a life threatening head injuries. Three people were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a police officer was knocked down by a car running into him in Brent, north-west London.

Faced with criticism that not enough officers were on the streets, the Met said there were 2,500 public order officers in addition to 3,500 officers in boroughs who were on duty.

The Yard brought in mutual aid from 12 forces and will do so again on Tuesday.

"Officers and staff continue to work long hours at short notice in very challenging circumstances," Scotland Yard said. "We continue to have the plans and resources in place to respond to any further disorder, deal with normal policing across the city and keep Londoners safe."

PC Paul Deller told BBC Radio 4 that the officers gave it everything. Asked whether there were enough police on the ground he said: "Probably there aren't but we gave it everything we could.

The violence that started in Tottenham at the weekend after a man was shot dead by officers spread throughout the capital.

The "inexcusable" attacks saw major fires started in Hackney, Peckham, Lewisham, Clapham, Ealing and Croydon, where a man was injured in a shooting.

A furniture shop in Croydon which had been in the same family for five generations was completely destroyed after being torched.

A huge blaze at a Sony distribution centre near Enfield, north London sent plumes of thick smoke billowing into the sky.

Scotland Yard said 334 people had been arrested, 69 charged and two cautioned across the capital, as over 1,700 extra police were deployed across London, some from neighhbouring forces.

Scotland Yard said between 250 to 300 people had gathered on the Pembury Estate, setting alight cars and throwing petrol bombs.

Looting and outbreaks of violence was also recorded by officers in Newham, Lewisham and Bethnal Green, where more than 100 people looted a Tesco premises and two officers were injured.

South of the river in Peckham, teams of riot officers were seen charging at fleeing troublemakers after a major fire was started at a shop adjoining a Greggs bakery. A nearby bus was also set on fire.

Scotland Yard was forced to use armoured police vehicles to push back more than 150 people at Clapham Junction, south London, as shops and businesses were hit.

The force said it would use the tactic elsewhere if needed.

The violence also spread to leafy suburbs including East Dulwich and Ealing where youths ran amok, starting fires and breaking into shops.

Scotland Yard said the three people were arrested following an incident in Brent, north west London, in which an police officer was hit by a car while trying to stop looters.

Home Secretary Theresa May commented: "The violence we've seen, the looting we've seen, the thuggery we've seen - this is sheer criminality, and let's make no bones about it."

The violence has come after a peaceful protest in Tottenham on Saturday, which followed the fatal shooting of Mark Duggan, 29, on Thursday.

An inquest into Mr Duggan's death is due to open this morning at High Barnet.

London's flames Social networking fanning?

2011-08-09T01:37:00.000-07:00

Daily Telegraph says police were prepared for trouble in Birmingham after a campaign on Facebook, BlackBerry Messenger and Twitter warned of violence and encouraged others to get involved. Rumours spread that trouble would start at 18:00 BST with an out-of-town leisure complex, believed to be Star City, a possible target. West Midlands police posted a message on Twitter at around 17:00 BST yesterday in response to rumours of planned disorder.

The Guardian reports that the most up-to-the-minute rallying in the London riots took place not on Twitter or Facebook "but on a more covert social network: BlackBerry Messenger".

The Daily Telegraph says the BBC was criticised for political correctness last night after continually referring to the yobs rioting across London as "protesters". It said "two days after a peaceful protest over the death of suspected gangster Mark Duggan in Tottenham ended, the corporation was still using the term to describe violent looters".

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt will today announce the 65 towns and cities that are in the running to host new local television services. Former chief executive of Channel 5 David Elstein told Radio 4's Today that Mr Hunt was "pushing a rock uphill".

The Times and Daily Telegraph have attacked football's governing bodies as the lockout of sports journalists from matches over media accreditation disrupted newspaper reports over the weekend, reports the Guardian. Journalists from national titles, news and picture agencies were locked out of all but a handful of the 36 games, after talks broke down on Wednesday night between the Premier League, Football League and a media coalition.

Two images of the riots in London feature on many of the front pages, as reported in the BBC's newspapers review. One shows a man, wearing a hood with a mask to cover his face, walking in front of a car burning out of control. The other is of another masked rioter, carrying a can of strong lager, as he walks past a burning car.

However, BlackBerry reportedly wouldn't be drawn on just what kind of assistance it is willing to offer to the police. The company offered no further tweets, no further comment.

Messenger communication is encrypted and the Guardian says BlackBerry had declared in the past that it is unable to unencrypt BBM messages. Perhaps the chaps at LulzSec could help.

While BlackBerry was helping police with its inquiries, the deputy assistant commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police, Steve Kavanagh, reportedly stated that "really inflammatory, inaccurate" Twitter postings were, in large part, the cause of riots that have seen several areas of London ablaze and residents of two London districts told to leave their homes.

"Social media and other methods have been used to organize these levels of greed and criminality," he told a press conference. He also reportedly declared that those who posted such messages risked arrest.

Yet the more one reads these references to technology, the more one wonders whether, as usual, the focus is on the machine, rather than the individual behind it. It's odd to read headlines such as the BBC's "Is Technology to Blame for the London Riots?", as if technology can force you to do anything more than cease reading books and newspapers.

Even if you happen to adore social media, you can decide what you want to look for and find whatever it is that makes you feel better.

Within that same BBC post, for example, there are beautiful nuggets that purport to show how technology is being used to inflame the riots.

For example, the Daily Mail reported that one tweet read: "'I hear Tottenham's going coco-bananas right now. Watch me roll." This suggests the poster, called AshleyAR, was ready to punch and riot. Yet the Mail, which happens to have a certain political agenda, reportedly managed to omit the last part of the tweet. It actually read: "Watch me roll up with a spud gun."

If Twitter is truly the barometer, then perhaps it's worth mentioning the hashtag #stoprioting. Then there's the hashtag #LondonRiots, where wisdom and garbage are being disseminated in the same social basket.

Who, though, could not be moved by this from poster Lulu Rose: "The Youth of the Middle East rise up for basic freedoms. The Youth of London rise up for a HD ready 42" Plasma TV #londonriots."

Technology does have a negative role--when those who use it have a negative purpose. In a literal sense, it helps them with that purpose. But does it really give them that negative purpose?

If you rely on technology for your information, here's a selection of information, courtesy of posters to the #londonriots hashtag. You decide whether they make you feel good or bad.

Firstly, the Turkish community of Dalston, London, took one look at the rioting thugs and chased them away.

Another tweeter helpfully offered a link to a YouTube video from Sky News, which I have embedded. The reporter asked one of the looters what she thought she was doing. "Getting my taxes back," she said.

Someone called @ged suggested that BlackBerry should simply shut down its Messenger system. Another tweeter, Esme Vos, offered this: "bankers looted the economy, now rioters are looting shops #londonriots."

Technology works for those we agree with and it works for those we don't.

You decide what role social media played in these riots. It will depend on your politics, your sympathies, and your attitude toward technology. But technology didn't cause anything here. It just made some things a little easier. Isn't that what it was always supposed to be for?

London riots, August 8 as it happened

2011-08-09T01:28:00.000-07:00

The latest riot scenes in London echoed those in other areas of the capital over the past two nights, with skirmishes between gangs of youths and police, reportedly prompted by a stop and search incident earlier in the day.

In Hackney, rioters, many wearing hoods and masks, were confronted by police lines spanning the streets, occasionally moving forward to push the groups back.

And a man is in a serious condition after being shot as violence flared in Croydon. Amid the disorder Scotland Yard said it had found a 26-year-old man in a car suffering from gunshot wounds in Warrington Road.

The man was taken to a south London hospital where he is described as being in a serious condition.

As the clashes erupted an officer could be seen lying on the ground after being struck on his shield by a missile. Other officers came under fire from objects including chairs and pieces of wood. At one point several people broke into the back of a stationary lorry, pulling its contents out on to the road, with some hurling it at police and others using it to smash windows of a bus.

South of the river in Peckham, teams of riot officers were seen charging at fleeing troublemakers after a major fire was started at a shop adjoining a Greggs bakery. A nearby bus was also set on fire while TV footage showed a trail of bins and an abandoned vehicle ablaze in Lewisham.

02.57 A 26-year old man is in a serious condition in hospital after being found with gunshot wounds in Croydon.

02.51 Matthew Sparkes, of the Daily Telegraph's City Desk, took this photo as he cycled home at around 1.30am.

He tweeted: "Been crossing off danger areas in my head - now no way home without going through at least one." On his journey he witnessed a number of arrests in Park Lane and King's Cross and looting in Finsbury Park. He adds: "Parts of the city tonight felt entirely normal, others had a real sense of menace. Some were actually dangerous. So sad to see London like this."

02.48 Numerous reports on Twitter of shops in Stokes Croft, Bristol, being looted. There are reports of six seperate fires at the Cabot Circus shopping mall in the city.

02.46 Matthew Taylor, the Guardian: very few taxis are available in South London, partly because all petrol stations have been closed, according to cab firm staff.

02.41 Met statement: the force used armoured vehicles to push back 150 people in the Lavender Hill areas of Battersea.

The MPS has introduced additional tactics using armoured police vehicles to push back in excess of 150 people in the Lavender Hill area where substantial disorder and damage was being caused to shops and local businesses.

The vehicles were used in support of officers on the ground and resulted in the disorder in Lavender Hill area being brought under control.

The success of this tactic means that we will consider its use elsewhere as required.

Police continue to be deployed across London and are actively tackling pockets of disorder.

Commander Christine Jones, said: "We are using tactics flexibly to respond to the disorder we are still seeing in different areas of the capital. Anyone involved in criminality should be under no illusion that we will pursue you. We have been making arrests all evening and have a team working during the night examining CCTV images. We will follow up evidence in the coming days in order to bring anyone else responsible for criminal acts to justice."

02.35 The Sony warehouse centre at 6 Solar Way, Enfield, is the only UK centre for 'Sony DADC' and a large section of the UK's digital media is stored there.

Tommy Thomson, a witness, tells BBC news he saw 20 male youths coming out the smashed doors of building, carrying consoles. One punched him before driving off. He returned to his Premier Inn hotel workplace. Five minutes later he saw the blaze rip through the warehouse. He helped evacuate guests from the hotel. He says he does not know if there was anyone in the building but many workers have evening shifts.

02.28 Jonathan Wald, CNN's London producer, says in Ealing 15 teenagers took over a bus, forced the driver out and crashed the vehicle. BBC confirms the blaze is a Sony distribution centre, Enfield. Paul Lewis, Guardian, is 200 yards away and says firefighters have the worst of the blaze under control. The building, just off the M25 motorway, is around 70m long and much of it has collapsed in on itself. Locals report an "enormous" explosion and intense heat.

02.25 Incredible footage from the ground of the enormous fire in Essex, taken from a car, on this Facebook page. Rap music and men's shouting can be heard. Locals say it is a Sony distribution centre, not a Sainsbury's depot. (via @tomkingham).

02.23 LBC sources: London Fire Brigade is "running out of fire engines."

02.21 Conflicting reports as to whether the major fire in Waltham Abbey area, Essex, is a Sainsbury's or Sony depot.

02.19 Reports in Chalk Farm from police of a man on a bike armed with an axe.

02.10 Waltham Point Sainsbury's depot employs 750 people. It is one of 13 regional distribution centres run by the supermarket.

02.03 A enormous blaze has engulfed Sainsbury's depot in Waltham Abbey, Essex. The warehousing appears to be the size of a football pitch and the entire store is ablaze and pouring thick black smoke. It is one of the major food depots for central London.

02.00 Disorder has reached the heart of West London. Willard Foxton, a journalist, reports the windows of Hugo Boss on Sloane Square has been smashed.

01.56 Paul Lewis, Guardian: the Sony Centre in Enfield is on fire with thick, billowing black smoke. It has crumpled in on itself, he says.

01.52 Eleven different police forces now on the ground in London. The BBC reports camera crews and journalists have been attacked in North London.

This footage has come from Bristol, where police have confirmed around 150 rioters are on the streets. Harriet Tolputt, a Sky News journalist, tweets: "Police say situation in Bristol volatile. Cars and buildings damaged. Roads closed.

Social Media Leaders Facebook and Twitter are?

2011-08-09T01:20:00.000-07:00

The answer is more nuanced than that question makes it sound. It’s hard to say anything for sure about events in another country an ocean away, but it looks like what’s happening in England right now is a combination of sincere frustration and out-and-out hooliganism.

To start with, the tension has been building in North London, where police and the black community have been at odds for decades. The police have been trying to crack down on gun crime, but the trouble goes back as far as the ‘80s, when the Broadwater Farm riots broke out in response to a death in the black community stemming from a police incident.

Three days of rioting is astonishing, especially when the chaos has roots in a peaceful protest. But not all the rioters are expressing indignation. With the widespread looting of businesses a considerable distance from the epicenter of the initial uprising, you know there are opportunists at work. These are people with no connection to or concern about what happened when police shot and killed Mark Duggan; they’re simply hoods looking to cause trouble for fun and maybe steal some shoes while they’re at it.

The latest reports also say that the rioters have been organizing via Twitter and by using their Blackberry devices. These social technologies seem to be the latest way to help stir up trouble, and unfortunately, the kids using this tech seem to have a better grasp of how it works than the adults that are supposed to be policing them. However, social media has also proven to be an effective way to track down rioters and bring them to justice, as seen following this year's hockey riots in Vancouver.

As for the riots themselves, there may be a point to be made about the actions of the police, but when violence like this erupts, the dialogue gets strained. The best-case scenario is that the government puts time and energy into fixing the situation and the relationship between police and the black community in Tottenham and around London, but you can’t help wishing there was a more positive process to that goal.

As for the shooting of Mark Duggan, there’s still a lot of information left to surface. For now, it seems as if the man was carrying an illegal firearm, but didn’t discharge it. In other words, the police were probably wrong to use lethal force, even though they had targeted a dangerous person.

Facebook, Twitter and other social media have inspired protests in Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Iran, Algeria, Morocco, Yemen, Jordan and even faraway China.

Social media is unleashing movements for peace, democracy and freedom in a region of the world that essentially seemed like it was content to live without them.

Social media is changing the Middle East – perhaps it will have a similar positive effect on politics in the West – promoting a more vibrant democracy that includes participation of a younger generation – one that does not currently vote enough to sustain a true democracy.

In the end, violence and death are regrettable; we all hope for peace and justice. Whatever the final outcome of the 2011 riots in London, moments like these leave everyone frustrated and saddened. Here’s to a swift restoration of peace on the streets of London.

London riots: breakdown of Monday night's violence

2011-08-09T01:18:00.000-07:00

Rioting and looting spread across and beyond London overnight as hooded youths set fire to cars and buildings, smashed shop windows and hurled bottles and stones at police in a third night of violence in Britain's worst unrest in decades.

Prime Minister David Cameron cut short his holiday to fly home to tackle the violence, which appeared to be led by mobs of young people who coordinated their attacks through mobile phones, and spread to the cities of Birmingham, Liverpool and Bristol late last night.

Many of the looters came from areas of high unemployment that are also suffering from cuts in social services and said they felt alienated from society. Police and politicians said they were simply criminals.

"It's been building up for years. All it needed was a spark," said on young man in a baseball cap surrounded by other youths in Hackney in east London. "We ain't got no jobs, no money. . . . We heard that other people were getting things for free, so why not us?"

The violence erupted late on Saturday in London's northern Tottenham district when a peaceful protest over the police shooting of a suspect two days earlier was followed by outbreaks of looting and arson.

Croydon, south London

A string of cars and buildings were set alight by gangs of youths. A 26-year-old man was injured in a shooting, while Reeves, a family furniture business that has stood in the area for more than 100 years, was gutted following a massive blaze. A woman was filmed jumping from a building which had been set on fire by rioters

Ealing, west London

Locals reported similar scenes of violence with groups of youths congregating in Haven Green park opposite Ealing Broadway Tube, throwing bricks at local shops, starting fires in the street and torching cars.

Fulham, west London

Youngsters threw a bicycle under a bus to block a road while they looted Curry’s, the electrical store. Helicopters circled the area throughout the night.

Hammersmith, west London

Further reports of looting. Shopkeepers in Shepherd’s Bush barricaded their businesses to try to keep out troublemakers.

Clapham, south London

Up to 1000 looters preyed on shops causing widespread disruption. Youths raided a Debenhams store and a number shops in Lavender Hill, while some broke into a fancy dress store near Clapham Junction stealing masks to conceal their identities. Looters were heard shouting “I’ve got jewellery, what have you got?” Scotland Yard said armoured police vehicles were used in Lavender Hill to push back more than 150 people in the area.

Bethnal Green, east London

More than 100 people looted a Tesco premises and two officers were injured. Police said there had also been looting in Stratford High Street, Newham.

Lewisham, south London

The Metropolitan Police said roaming groups of youths were also involved in disorder in a number of locations in the area.

Woolwich, south London

A large gang gathered outside the Stone Lane Retail Park branch of PC World last night, trying to force open the doors. Within minutes of gaining entry, large flat screen TVs and other electronic goods were being carted out.

Camden and Chalk Farm, north London

A number of officers were also called to Camden in north London to deal with troublemakers. Rioters smashed windows of a bicycle shop.

Enfield, north London

Around 40 firefighters tackled a large blaze, reported to have been started by looters, at a Sony warehouse in Solar Way.

Liverpool

Violence flared in Liverpool overnight for up to five hours as hundreds of rioters marauded through the streets to the south of the city centre. Cars and wheelie bins were set alight on a trail of destruction which stretched from the city centre to Toxteth, Dingle and Wavertree. The first reports of disorder came in at 10pm and calm was not restored until about 3am.

Birmingham

West Midlands Police said around 100 arrests were made after rioters rampaged across Birmingham city centre and some surrounding areas. Hundreds of youths gathered in the city's main retail area close to the Bullring shopping mall, which closed its doors early in anticipation of violence, while there were reports that a police station in Handsworth was set on fire.

Bristol

More than 150 young rioters also caused disruption in the areas of St Paul's and Stokes Croft in Bristol, with police urging members of the public to stay away from the city centre.

Sony warehouse in London Large blaze engulfs

2011-08-09T01:16:00.000-07:00

Sony has warned deliveries of CDs and DVDs will be affected after rioters set fire to a key warehouse in Enfield, north London.

The three-storey, 20,000 square metre site is Sony's only such depot for CDs and DVDs in Britain.

"There will likely be some impact on deliveries," said a Sony spokeswoman.

She added that the extent of the fire could not be assessed because it was still burning and it was not possible to enter the building.

:: Intercontinental Hotels Group says its profits have risen by 23% on the back of strong bookings in the US and China,

The chain also said revenue per available room (RevPAR - a key industry measure) grew 6.7% over the first half of the year.

"Whilst we continue to monitor the uncertain economic outlook, we look forward with confidence in the currently favourable hotel trading environment," said new Chief Executive Richard Solomons.

:: Bakery chain Greggs has admitted recent trading conditions have been "more challenging than expected".

Its pretax profit for the first half of the year fell to £17.3m from £18.6m in the same period a year ago.

Eyewitnesses described how they saw a gang of about 20 looters leaving the warehouse with electrical goods before the fire took hold.

A LFB spokesman said: "We were called just before midnight to a warehouse in Solar Way, Enfield.

"Eight fire engines are in attendance and around 40 firefighters have been fighting the fire.

"They are making steady progress and will remain on the scene into the morning.

"There was quite a lot of black smoke and the building has partially collapsed into itself."

Around 200 people staying at a hotel next door to the distribution centre were evacuated as the blaze took hold.

Paul Lewis, a journalist for the Guardian, told the BBC that large plumes of smoke could be seen coming from the 70-metre building which had partially collapsed.

"This is further evidence of the riot spreading in all directions really," he said.

A eyewitness, named as "Tommy", also told the BBC how he saw a number of looters leaving the warehouse with electrical goods before the blaze took hold.

He said he was punched by the culprits as the fled the scene.

Scotland Yard confirmed officers were working with colleagues from LFB at the scene of the fire.

Hundreds arrested as London riots spread

2011-08-09T01:15:00.000-07:00

The violence and arson attacks that have rattled north London since the weekend have now moved across all parts of the capital and are spreading on a smaller scale to other British cities, the first time the recent unrest has flared outside the U.K.'s capital.

The wave of rioting now entering its third day was sparked by the shooting death of 29-year-old Mark Duggan in the Tottenham section of North London on Thursday. Angry protesters demonstrated against the fatal shooting in the multi-ethnic neighborhood on Saturday, and the march soon degenerated into chaos.

After spreading across London Monday, violence soon ignited in the British cities of Birmingham, Bristol and Liverpool.

As buildings, vehicles and garbage dumps are being set ablaze, many sections of London have descended into chaos -- an unsettling sight less than a year before the 2012 Olympics take over the capital.

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron has cut his summer vacation in Italy short in order to chair a meeting of the government's emergency committee early Tuesday.

London's Ambulance Service said it had treated 16 patients, of whom 15 were hospitalized. Police said 334 people had been arrested and 69 people charged with offenses, and a 26-year-old man is in a serious condition in the hospital after being shot in Croydon Monday.

The violence started on Saturday night in Tottenham in north London following protests over the fatal shooting of a 29-year-old black man, Mark Duggan, by police.

Tottenham is an impoverished area with an ethnically diverse population, a large black community and a history of unrest. Some residents resent police behaviour, including the use of stop and search powers, which they say are primarily targeted at black youths.

In Peckham, flames leapt into the air from a torched building, while rubble was strewn across the street. People walked in and out of shops looting.

Dozens of riot police were deployed on the streets of Hackney after police cars were damaged, buses attacked and shops looted.

In Enfield, firefighters were tackling a blaze at a Sony warehouse on Tuesday.

In Notting Hill in west London, rampagers forced their way into an exclusive restaurant, The Ledbury, before stealing diners' phones, plates off the tables and attempting to take the till.

But in a sign that the unrest had spread beyond the capital, attackers smashed shops and looted property in the central England city of Birmingham.

West Midlands Police confirmed they had made 87 arrests as youths ran amok in Birmingham centre overnight, smashing shop windows and looting merchandise. The force also said that a police station was on fire.

Liverpool police said a small number of vehicles were set on fire and reported some criminal damage. They said officers were responding to a number of isolated outbreaks of disorder," including vehicles set ablaze and buildings attacked in the city's southern neighbourhoods.

Police reported "copy-cat violence" in Bristol in the southwest and urged people to avoid the city centre after 150 rioters went on the rampage in "volatile scenes''.

Al Jazeera correspondent Barnaby Philips, reporting from Tottenham, said there was anguish and dismay about what had happened over the weekend.

People realise that jobs, property and investments have been damaged for years to come, and they are very distraught about it. Thankfully Tottenham is calm as of now."

Crisis meeting

Meanwhile, the prime minister's office said Cameron, who has faced media criticism for being away on holiday during the riots, would cut short his trip and return to London to chair a crisis meeting on the unrest.

"The violence we've seen, the looting we've seen, the thuggery we've seen, this is sheer criminality ... these people will be brought to justice, they will be made to face the consequences of their actions," said Theresa May, the interior minister, who also cut short her holiday because of the riots.

"It was needless, opportunistic theft and violence, nothing more, nothing less. It is completely unacceptable," said Nick Clegg, Britain's deputy prime minister, during a visit to Tottenham.

Scotland Yard commander Christine Jones said Monday night's events were "simply inexcusable". At least 35 police officers were injured in the unrest at the weekend. An 11-year-old boy was among those arrested.

Tim Godwin, the acting Metropolitan Police Commissioner, earlier urged parents to "start contacting their children" to find out where they were before slamming "spectators getting in the way of the police operations."

Violent skirmishes have taken place between police and rioters. Al Jazeera's Charlie Angela reports from Hackney.

As police struggled to contain the spiralling disorder, they ordered London football clubs to call off matches.

The London police force has been criticised for its handling of recent large protests against the austerity measures, and its chief and the top counter-terrorism officer recently quit over revelations in the News Corp phone-hacking scandal.

While Britain's politicians were quick to blame petty criminals for the violence, neighbourhood residents said anger at high unemployment and cuts in public services, coupled with resentment of the police, had played a significant role.

"Tottenham is a deprived area. Unemployment is very, very high ... they are frustrated," Uzodinma Wigwe, 49, who was made redundant from his job as a cleaner recently, said.

The riots come at a time of deepening gloom in Britain as the pain from economic stagnation is exacerbated by deep public spending cuts and tax rises aimed at eliminating a budget deficit that peaked at more than 10 per cent of GDP.

Very few details of Duggan's death on Thursday have been released. Police said initially an officer was briefly hospitalised after the shooting and media reports said a bullet had been found lodged in the officer's radio.

Although a gun was recovered from the scene, The Guardian newspaper reported that the bullet in the radio was police-issue, throwing doubt on speculation that Duggan had fired at an officer.

Britain's police watchdog is investigating the incident and has not commented on the report.

Tiger Woods lose $10m sponsor Tag Heuer gives him the elbow

2011-08-09T01:13:00.000-07:00

Luxury watchmaker Tag Heuer has ended its sponsorship deal with Tiger Woods after the golfer’s contract ran out last month.

“Golf World” executive editor Ron Sirak tweeted the confirmation Friday evening- “Tiger’s agent confirms Woods’ Tag Heuer relationship has expired.”

Tag Heuer, the Swiss company owned by LVMH Moet Hennessy Loius Vuitton SA (MC) signed Woods in 2002. The watch-making house began limiting their use of Woods’ image in advertisements after the November 2009 car accident which resulted in the golfer's admission of marital infidelity.

The 16-time World Golf Championship winner has not won a tournament since the Australian Masters in 2009, one week before the accident. Woods has lost corporate sponsorship agreements with Gillette, Gatorade, Accenture, AT&T, and Golf Digest within the past 19 months.

Forbes magazine recently speculated that Woods’ fortune could be running out, but commercial contracts remain between the golfer and Electronic Arts Inc. (ERTS), Nike Inc. (NKE), Upper Deck, Berkshire Hathaway’s NetJets Inc., and TLC Vision Corp.

Woods announced July 20 that he was firing his caddy of 12 years, Steve Williams. A week later via Twitter, Woods stated that long-time friend Bryon Bell would caddy for him during the World Golf Championships Bridgestone Invitational.

Woods was listed 28th in the Official World Golf Ranking upon entering the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. During the invitational, he finished 37th, 18 shots behind the winner Adam Scott, who now uses Woods’ former caddy Williams.

The contract is believed to be worth more than $10m and the Swiss firm are the sixth major sponsors to drop Woods following revelations about his personal life two years ago.

The Swiss watchmaker suspended use of Woods’ image in the US after details of his extramarital affairs came to light following a 2009 crash outside his Orlando, Florida home.

Woods was accused of cheating on his wife Elin Nordegren with as many as 14 women, including high class escorts and Las Vegas cocktail servers.

He was also linked to several porn stars who claimed they had affairs lasting several years with the golfer who has always prided himself on his clean cut, family image.

Slippery slope: Woods, pictured today, has already lost Gillette, Gatorade, Accenture, AT&T and Golf

After seeing help at a rehabilitation centre following a public apology to his family and friends sponsors, including Gillette, Gatorade, Accenture, AT&T and Golf Digest deserted the world's most famous sportsman.

The series of allegations was reported to have cost Woods more than $25m in sponsorship deals.

Other major sponsors, including Nike and EA Sports, stood by the sportsman who ended up paying his wife almost $100m in a divorce settlement.

Golf websites also reported that Woods has had his sponsorship pay cut by Nike for failing to win any major tournament in the last two years.

Woods is still estimated to be worth about $500 million but since his private life was laid bare he has not won a single tournament and has struggled to find his best form.

He made his comeback this week from a three-month injury lay-off due to knee and Achilles knocks at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio.

But it did not go well, with Woods finishing way off the pace in tied 37th.

Hugh Carey, Who Led Fiscal Rescue of New York City, Is Dead at 92

2011-08-09T01:12:00.000-07:00

Hugh Carey, the two-term New York governor who helped New York City avert bankruptcy in 1975 by imposing financial controls and made tough choices to cut taxes and balance the state budget, has died, the New York Times reported. He was 92.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office said Carey died early today at his summer home on New York’s Shelter Island, the newspaper reported.

“Governor Carey led our state during a time of great financial turmoil and pulled us back from the brink of bankruptcy and economic ruin,” Cuomo said in the statement.

A Democrat who served in Congress as a representative from the New York borough of Brooklyn, Carey made financial discipline a priority from his first days after taking over as governor in 1975. Declaring that New York state had been “living far beyond our means,” he told the legislature in his first State of the State speech that “the days of wine and roses are over.”

By then, New York City was already in a fiscal crisis. Within months, banks cut off the city’s access to credit because it had run up a $5 billion deficit by borrowing to pay operating expenses and loans.

As the 51st governor of New York from 1975 through 1982, Mr. Carey led a small group of public servants who vanquished the fiscal crisis that threatened New York City and the state — the direst emergency a governor had faced since the Depression — by taking on powers over the city’s finances that no governor had wielded before and none has wielded since. A liberal Democrat, Mr. Carey reversed the upward spiral of borrowing, spending and entitlement under one of his predecessors, Nelson A. Rockefeller, a Republican who had presided in an era of limitless government promise.

But even after eight years as governor, Mr. Carey remained an enigma. The witty storyteller who could charm an audience alternated with the irascible loner who alienated many of his allies. The brooding, private man, father of more than a dozen children, who mourned the deaths of his wife and, earlier, two sons killed in a car crash, gave way to a man who engaged in an exuberant, very public romance that led to a second marriage. Hugh Carey rose to power as a Democrat outside his party’s machine. He began the 1974 campaign for governor as a recently widowed congressman from Brooklyn, a long shot who was not taken seriously, yet he cruised to one of the most resounding victories in the state’s history.

Yet he spent his final years as governor frustrated. Absent an emergency, he often seemed bored with the job.

The political strategist David Garth, who was one of Mr. Carey’s closest associates, once said of him: “Hugh Carey on the petty issues can be very petty. On the big stuff, he is terrific.”

Mr. Carey’s stature grew in his decades out of office, and he was hailed as a hero by Republicans and Democrats. As he acknowledged, his handling of government finances overshadowed all else he did.

In an interview in 1982 in his last days in office, he said, “The objectives I set forth I’ve achieved in terms of a state that’s respected fiscally, a city that’s now well on its way back to concrete foundations.”

In four terms as governor, Mr. Rockefeller had built a legacy of state universities and highways but also of much higher taxes and enormous debt. The pattern was repeated at the local level; under Mayor John V. Lindsay, a Republican turned Democrat, New York City had to borrow money for day-to-day operations. The 1974-75 recession opened yawning deficits and exposed years of unsound practices.

On Jan. 1, 1975, Mr. Carey declared in his inaugural address, “This government will begin today the painful, difficult, imperative process of learning to live within its means.”

He immediately faced a cascade of emergencies, as various state authorities, New York City, Yonkers, several school districts and ultimately the state itself flirted with collapse.

New York City lay at the core of the crisis. Mr. Lindsay’s successor as mayor, Abraham D. Beame, was taking drastic action, cutting tens of thousands of jobs, but a solution lay beyond the city’s grasp. In May 1975, Wall Street firms refused to sell the city’s bonds, threatening its ability to pay its bills.

Mr. Carey responded with a series of audacious moves to keep the city afloat. He created the Municipal Assistance Corporation to borrow money for the city. He created and headed the Emergency Financial Control Board, with the power to reject city budgets and labor contracts, giving him vast new authority at Mr. Beame’s expense.

In 1947 he married Helen Owen Twohy, the widow of a Navy flier killed in the war whom he had known as a teenager, and adopted her daughter. They had 13 more children together and divided their time between Park Slope and a rambling white house with a wraparound porch on Shelter Island that in time became the family homestead.

Survivors include 11 children, 25 grandchildren and 6 great grand-children.

After the war, Mr. Carey returned to St. John’s, where he finished his undergraduate education and graduated from law school. He then entered the family oil business. His eldest brother, Edward, struck out on his own, creating the New England Petroleum Corporation and amassing a fortune that would help underwrite his brother’s political career.

In 1960, Hugh Carey ran for Congress in a Brooklyn district that ran from Park Slope to Bay Ridge, challenging a popular Republican incumbent, Francis E. Dorn. Though Mr. Carey was not one of its own, the Democratic Party organization backed him because no one else wanted what was viewed as a hopeless assignment. Running in a strongly Catholic district in a year when John F. Kennedy was pulling Catholics to the Democratic line, Mr. Carey squeezed out a 1,097-vote victory.

In seven terms in Congress, Mr. Carey ranked high on the scorecards of liberal groups and adhered to positions like opposing the death penalty even when they were unpopular. But in keeping with the tone of his district, he portrayed himself as a moderate, playing up his support of federal aid to parochial schools.

In Congress he became one of the most influential members of the New York delegation. He sat on the House Education and Labor Committee, which handled most of the New Frontier and Great Society social welfare legislation of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, and later on the powerful Ways and Means Committee. He played a leading role in trying to save the seat of the Harlem congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr., who was the target of corruption charges, and in the enactment of federal revenue-sharing with the states.

But Mr. Carey became restless, and he and his wife grew tired of commuting to and from Washington with their many children.

In 1969, he ran for mayor of New York as an independent, angering Democratic Party leaders and prompting predictions of his political demise. But his sons Peter and Hugh Jr., both teenagers, were killed in a car accident on Shelter Island, and Mr. Carey abandoned the race. Another son, Paul, died in 2001.

Mr. Carey considered another run for mayor in 1973 but deferred to a fellow Brooklyn Democrat, Mr. Beame. That year, Helen Carey, who had been treated for cancer three years earlier, learned that the disease had returned, and on a family trip to Ireland, Mr. Carey decided to retire from politics.

In December 1973, however, he saw the political opening he had sought, when Mr. Rockefeller resigned as governor to become vice president under President Ford, leaving Lt. Gov. Malcolm Wilson to serve the year remaining on his term. Democratic Party leaders backed Howard J. Samuels, the president of the Off-Track Betting Corporation, for governor, and Mr. Carey was seen as a long shot. On March 8, 1974, Helen Carey died. Her husband, with seven school-age children still at home, was expected to bow out of the race. But on March 26, he announced his candidacy. Friends said that as much as anything, he needed the challenge to distract him from his grief.

When he said that his brother would spend $1 million on television advertising to help his candidacy, the boast was viewed with skepticism, but Edward Carey spent that and more.

With Mr. Garth as media adviser, the Carey campaign began advertising on television even before the Democratic State Convention. At the convention, with Mayor Beame’s covert help, Mr. Carey barely won enough backing to secure a spot on the primary ballot.

He put nearly all of his campaign funds into advertising, ignoring the maxim that primaries were won with organization, and he won the support of two powerful members of the city’s liberal establishment: former Mayor Robert F. Wagner and Alex Rose, the Liberal Party leader.

In September, he defeated Mr. Samuels with 61 percent of the vote. In November, in the national post-Watergate sweep by Democrats, Mr. Carey trounced Governor Wilson, 57 percent to 42 percent.

“All my life, people have been underestimating me,” Mr. Carey often said. In rising to power, he repeatedly ignored the conventional wisdom and trusted his own judgment, and he would again as governor.

Years later, he told a reporter: “A mentor long departed told me that the greatest gift in political life, in any life, is to view yourself objectively, at arm’s length, to make an assessment of yourself. So whom do I rely on? I rely on myself.

Stocks Suffer Sharpest Drop Since 2008

2011-08-09T01:10:00.000-07:00

The stock market buckled Monday under the weight of a crisis in Europe and danger of recession at home. Reeling from a downgrade of American debt, the Dow Jones industrials plunged 634 points.

It was the worst day for the market since the financial crisis in the fall of 2008 and extended Wall Street's sudden, sharp decline. Stocks have lost 15 percent of their value in just two and a half weeks.

Monday was the first trading day since Standard and Poor's downgraded the United States' risk-free credit rating, and the selling started at the opening bell. The Dow dropped 250 points in minutes. For the rest of the day, investors looked for safer places for their money. With few buyers left for stocks, the market could only drift lower.

The Dow finished the day down 5.5 percent. The point decline was the worst since Dec. 1, 2008, and the sixth-steepest ever. The average ended at 10,809.85, its first close under 11,000 since November.

In a bit of irony following the S&P downgrade, investors decided U.S. debt was one of the safest places to be. They also sought refuge in gold, which set a record price.

"The S&P downgrade of U.S. government debt is the least of our problems," said economist Scott Brown at Raymond James & Associates. "The bigger worry is subpar economic growth and the threat of a new recession."

So anxious are many investors that they poured money into Treasury securities, the debt the government sells to finance its operations. Even though the ratings agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded United States debt a notch from the sterling AAA rating on Friday, judging them a slightly higher risk than before, many still deem Treasuries to be safer than just about any other investment.

Typically, a downgrade would cause investors to sell, but financial turmoil in Europe and policy gridlock in Washington overrode concerns about the downgrade. “This is investors running from risk wherever they see it,” said David Kelly, chief market strategist at JPMorgan Funds. “The biggest risk we face here is recession.”

The stock sell-off picked up speed even though President Obama sought to calm markets, telling reporters that “our problems are eminently solvable and we know what we need to do to solve them.” However, there is sharp disagreement how to solve them, as demonstrated by the fiercely partisan battle over raising the federal government’s borrowing limit, which was resolved only through a last-minute compromise.

In the wake of the financial collapse more than two years ago, the government took various steps to invigorate the economy, pouring money into the financial system and adopting stimulus spending. Some economists say they think more stimulus spending is needed now to keep the economy from slowing further, but this seems unlikely given that many Republicans say the country can ill afford to add to the gaping budget deficit with more spending.

It was not just the stock market that was rattled. A few obscure but important parts of the credit market also showed signs of some stress. For example, the market for commercial paper, short-term loans that companies use to finance themselves, became less favorable. This was not nearly as bad as during the financial crisis but people will be keeping an eye on this to see if conditions deteriorate.

“The cause of all this was the marking down of growth expectations,” said Barry Knapp, strategist at Barclays Capital. “It has morphed into one giant global growth recession concern.”

The trading day opened ominously in the United States, after sharp drops of stocks in Asia and in Europe. The European Central Bank sought to calm investors by intervening aggressively in bond markets with special measures to help support financially troubled Spain and Italy, to little avail.

On the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Doreen Mogavero, a trader for Mogavero, Lee & Company, noted that other traders had canceled vacations in anticipation of a wild day. Extra staff was on duty to make sure the computer systems were working properly as volumes surged.

The exchange processed a record 390 million orders in the first hour of trading, eclipsing the last record in May 2010. All told, 18 billion shares trades on the nation’s stock market, the most active day in a year.

Many investors — burned by the relentless decline of stocks in the months after the 2008 financial collapse — seem inclined to sell rather than wait. “It is the psychological impact that I am concerned about in terms of confidence on the market,” said Ms. Mogavero.

The force of the stock market sell-off that has accelerated over the last two weeks — the broader S.& P. 500-stock index has lost 16.8 percent since July 22 — is creating the growing sense that the economy may be nearing a double-dip recession as everyone from consumers to businesses retrench.

The biggest declines were in bank stocks. Bank of America fell 20 percent. Citigroup fell 16 percent. Morgan Stanley dropped 14 percent. JPMorgan fell 9 percent. And Goldman Sachs fell 6 percent.

The French stock market as well as the German market are officially in bear market territory. The German index, the Dax, which dropped 5 percent Monday, has lost 21 percent of its value since the recent peak on May 2. That reflects investor fears that the European Central Bank’s extraordinary bond buying could entangle even Germany in the euro zone’s debt problems.

In the United States, the selling came from both panicked individuals and institutions.

Hank Smith, chief investment officer at Haverford Investments of Pennsylvania, which serves private and institutional investors, said he was fielding calls from clients who “are anxious about is this a replay of 2008-2009 and do I have to go through that again?” he said. “But we say the fundamentals are very different. Corporate America has fortresslike balance sheets.”

All 500 stocks in the S.& P. 500 index were lower by the end of the day. The index closed down 79.92 points, or 6.66 percent, at 1,119.46.

The Dow Jones closed below 11,000 for the first time this year, falling 634.76 points, or 5.55 percent, to 10,809.85.

As investors fled the stock market, and commodities like oil dropped on fears of a slowdown, they sought the safety of gold, which rose past $1,710 an ounce.

But perhaps the most surprising beneficiary was United States Treasuries, where, despite the downgrade of government debt, 10-year yields fell to 2.32 percent, from 2.56 percent, and the yield on the two-year Treasury note was at a record low.

President Obama said the markets continued to believe the United States credit rating was AAA.

Warren E. Buffett, perhaps the nation’s most famous private investor, also said he thought the downgrade was unwarranted.

“If there were a quadruple A, I would give it to the U.S.,” he said in an interview. “We will always pay the bonds — the only way we won’t pay is if the printing press strips a gear.

Jay-Z & Kanye West, The iTunes 'tax' on 'Watch the Throne'

2011-08-09T01:09:00.000-07:00

When two of the biggest names in hip-hop – Jay-Z and Kanye West -- collaborate on an album, is there any way it can live up to the hype? Likely not, and that’s the burden “Watch the Throne” (Roc-A-Fella Records/Roc Nation/Def Jam Recordings) faces.

The two have done great work in the past. As a fledgling producer, West delivered soul-fired beats that underscored Jay-Z’s 2001 release, “The Blueprint,” a hip-hop classic. Now the two operate more or less as equals, with West having a hand in most of the production and Jay-Z taking a slightly larger share of the vocals on “Watch the Throne.” In many ways it’s an album about mutual admiration.

Both artists have developed distinct, not necessarily complementary personas. Jay-Z is about imperious flow, bridging his gritty past life on the streets with his current status as a cultural tastemaker and business mogul. He operates at arm’s length from the listener, a self-styled godfather who never seems to break a sweat as he rhymes rings around his inferior would-be competition. He no longer needs to surprise us, he simply needs to file annual updates reminding us that, after all, he’s Jay-Z and you’re not.

West is more desperate, transparent, awkward, vulnerable; he’s not nearly the MC that Jay-Z is, but still he aims for the stars, often shooting well beyond traditional hip-hop subject matter and production in his desire to make an impression. He is the one more likely to surprise and enrage these days, which makes him one of the most compelling figures in contemporary pop.

But on “Watch the Throne,” West must also defer, and this makes for a sometimes difficult partnership. The production is often stellar, favoring West’s soul-dusties sensibility, with snippets of James Brown, Otis Redding and Nina Simone. But it rarely takes the kind of chances West routinely takes on his solo albums. Instead, the idea is to create an album that lives up to its royal billing, a gilded collection of potential hits with lots of hooks and plenty of branding opportunities.

Come Friday, however, the standard edition of the album will be available to all retailers -- physical and digital -- but the deluxe CD edition will be given solely to Best Buy for an additional 10 days. Fans who can sit tight for a few days will have cheaper options, as Best Buy is currently listing the standard CD for $9.99 and the expanded edition, which has the same extra tracks as the iTunes version, at $12.99.

Album review: Jay-Z and Kanye West's 'Watch the Throne'

The iTunes home page immediately directs potential buyers to the expanded $14.99 configuration of the album without making it clear that a slightly cheaper version exists. Retail exclusives have long been a source of contention in the music business, and the arguments against remain the same -- they limit consumer choice by playing favorites and drive prices higher.

Back in 2008, when Best Buy exclusively sold Gun N' Roses' "Chinese Democracy," Michael Kurtz, the driving force behind the indie-retail marketing celebration that is Record Store Day, warned that exclusives would be bad for the consumer. "By eliminating competition, the prices of the CDs are going up," Kurtz said. "The biggest United States retailers are partnering with the biggest labels, driving the price up by not allowing competition."

Pricing for the iTunes exclusives is in the opposite direction of industry trends. Granted, iTunes has never engaged in the extreme discounting of its competitor Amazon, but the latter has been continually challenging the perception of what an album is worth, recently discounting Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" to 99 cents.

Complicating matters have been artists' views on the issue. When asked whether she thought her album was worth more than 99 cents, Lady Gaga told the Wall Street Journal that she had Amazon's back. "It’s invisible," she said. "It’s in space. If anything, I applaud a company like Amazon for equating the value of digital versus the physical copy, and giving the opportunity to everyone to buy music."

As of today, Amazon does not have "Watch the Throne" listed in its MP3 store, perhaps not wanting to tip its hand as to how it will price the album. Amazon, remember, will not have access to the expanded edition until Aug. 23. But it's likely safe to bet that the standard version of "Throne" will go for considerably less than the iTunes price of $11.99. For instance, when West released his "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" in late 2010, Amazon quickly made available a coupon that allowed fans to purchase the $4.99 album for 99 cents.

Despite the maze of configurations and retail exclusives -- imagine a world where the film industry released separate editions of major movies to multiple theater chains -- "Watch the Throne" is still expected to have a solid opening. According to figures released in industry trade Billboard, "Watch the Throne" is on track to sell somewhere between 400,000 and 500,000 copies, which would give it the second largest opening of the year.

US helicopter shot down in Afghanistan was on rescue mission

2011-08-09T01:07:00.000-07:00

KABUL, Afghanistan — The 30 U.S. soldiers, many of them Navy SEALs, who died Saturday in the U.S. military's single biggest loss of the Afghan war, were operating in a Taliban-controlled valley where frequent U.S.-led night raids have won the insurgents popular support, area residents said Sunday.

The raids occur "every night. We are very much miserable," said Roshanak Wardak, a doctor and a former member of the national Parliament. "They are coming to our houses at night."

Wardak runs a clinic about 3 miles from the rugged Tangi Valley where insurgents early Saturday shot down a helicopter carrying the U.S. troops, an Afghan translator and seven Afghan commandoes.

Night raids have become a significant part of the U.S. strategy aimed at weakening the insurgents and compelling their leaders to accept U.S. and Afghan government offers to hold talks on a political settlement of the decade-old war.

The Taliban have suffered heavy losses in the operations, which have soared since last year to an average of 340 per month, according to a Western intelligence official, who requested anonymity in order to discuss the issue.

There has been no apparent progress toward convening peace talks, but U.S. commanders defend the raids as effective in eliminating and capturing insurgents, and gaining intelligence that leads to other militants and arms caches.

"Eight-five percent are shots not fired, when you're talking about night raids and disruption," said the Western intelligence official. "Over 50 percent of the time they hit the target that they're after, which shows the intelligence has been accurate."

Afghan commandoes participate in all such operations, he added.

The tactic, however, has proven highly controversial with ordinary Afghans amid charges that they claim civilian lives. President Hamid Karzai has demanded that they stop.

Residents of the Tangi Valley area, in eastern Wardak Province, about 60 miles southwest of Kabul, issued similar complaints about the night raids in their vicinity, charging that they have killed civilians, disrupted their lives and fueled popular support for the Taliban.

"There are night raids every day or every other day," said a second doctor who asked not to be identified because he feared for his safety. He said he lives about 100 yards from the parched riverbed where the U.S. Chinook helicopter crashed.

Thirty Americans and eight Afghans were killed in the crash, making it the deadliest single loss for U.S. forces in the decade-long war in Afghanistan. The rangers, special operations forces who work regularly with the Seals, afterwards secured the crash site in the Tangi Joy Zarin area of Wardak province, about 60 miles (97km) southwest of Kabul, an official said.

On Sunday, Nato began an operation to recover the remains of the large transport helicopter, while Afghan and American forces battled insurgents in the region of the crash. The clashes Sunday did not appear to involve the troops around the crash site.

"There have been a small number of limited engagements in the same district as yesterday's helicopter crash, however those clashes have not been in the direct vicinity of the crash site," NATO said in a statement. "As of now, we have no reporting to indicate any coalition casualties resulting from these engagements."

Shahidullah Shahid, the Wardak provincial spokesman, confirmed the helicopter recovery mission was under way and said there were reports of Taliban casualties overnight.

"There is a joint operation going on by Afghan and Nato forces. A clearing operation is ongoing in the district and there are reports of casualties among insurgents," Shahid said. "The area is still surrounded by American forces."

Elsewhere in Afghanistan, Nato said insurgents killed four alliance service members in two separate attacks in the east and the south. It did not provide their nationalities or any other details.

The deaths bring to 369 the number of coalition troops killed this year in Afghanistan and 46 this month.

The downing of the helicopter Saturday was heavy setback for the US-led coalition as it begins to draw down thousands of combat troops fighting what has become an increasingly costly and unpopular war.

Of the 30 Americans killed, there were 22 Navy Seals, three Air Force combat controllers and a dog handler, his dog and four crew members, a current US official and a former official said on condition of anonymity because military officials were still notifying the families of the dead.

Most of the Seals belonged to the same elite unit that killed Osama bin Laden, although they were not the same people who participated in the May raid into Pakistan that killed the al-Qaida leader. The downing was a stinging blow to the lauded, tight-knit Seal Team 6, months after its crowning achievement.

Former New York Gov. Carey dies at 92

2011-08-09T01:05:00.000-07:00

Hugh L. Carey, former Governor of New York, is dead at 92.

Carey's family announced his passing through current Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Newsday reports.

He died Sunday at his summer home on Shelter Island, NY, according to the New York Times.

From the Times Union:

Today, New York State mourns the loss of one of our finest leaders, Governor Hugh L. Carey.

Governor Carey led our state during a time of great financial turmoil and pulled us back from the brink of bankruptcy and economic ruin.

Governor Carey was a true American success story. He was born and raised in Brooklyn. He served with valor in Germany during World War II and when he returned home to Brooklyn, he married and started a family. He became a civic and business leader and was elected to Congress, where no one fought harder for New York.

Carey won the first of his two terms in 1974, after serving seven terms in Congress. By the following spring, the largest U.S. city was facing default, and then-President Gerald Ford refused to intervene.

Carey and other state leaders, public and private, stepped in to set up a state financing company that kept the city afloat, a process that involved layoffs, tax increases and fee hikes.

"He was tough, he was smart, and he was the person our state needed to see us through crisis," Cuomo said in a statement.

Cuomo also cited Carey's fight on behalf of the mentally ill and his ability to solve legislative fights through "charisma, wit, and intellect."

"His administration was one that will be remembered for its remarkable achievements and superlative competence in the operation of government, as well as the governor's energy, enthusiasm and love of New York and for all New Yorkers," Cuomo said.

The Brooklyn native is survived by his five daughters, six sons, 25 grandchildren and six great grand-children.

Dollar Weakens After S&P Cuts U.S.’s Credit Rating From 3A

2011-08-09T01:04:00.000-07:00

The $2.9 trillion municipal bond market is preparing for “hundreds and hundreds” of downgrades after Standard & Poor’s lowered the U.S. one level to AA+, the first-ever reduction for the country.

S&P is likely to cut its ratings on municipal debt secured by the federal government, such as pre-refunded bonds, tax- exempts backed by U.S. agencies, and credits that are most dependent on federal spending, Peter DeGroot, head of municipal research at JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), wrote in an Aug. 5 report distributed after the federal downgrade. The New York-based ratings company said it would release a statement on state and local issuers today.

“There will be hundreds and hundreds of municipal downgrades, which will not do well to bolster investor confidence,” Matt Fabian, a managing director of Concord, Massachusetts-based Municipal Market Advisors, said in a telephone interview. “Treasuries may be able to shake off a real impact from the downgrade. Munis I’m less sure about.”

Municipal issuance has fallen amid the U.S. debt-ceiling impasse. The slump and signs of a slowing economy helped drive tax-exempt yields to the lowest this year. Scheduled debt sales total about $2.8 billion this week, the slowest August week since 2003, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

S&P’s move “highlights the much-less advanced pace of fiscal consolidation in the U.S., relative to Europe and the U.K.,” John Normand, the London-based global head of foreign- exchange strategy at JPMorgan Chase & Co., wrote in a report to clients.

The dollar fell to 77.70 yen, from 78.40 on Aug. 5. The U.S. currency depreciated to $1.4357 to the euro, from $1.4282. The Dollar Index jumped 1 percent last week to 74.598.

S&P lowered the U.S. one level to AA+ while keeping the outlook at “negative” as it becomes less confident Congress will end Bush-era tax cuts or tackle entitlements. The rating may be cut to AA within two years if spending reductions are lower than agreed to, interest rates rise or “new fiscal pressures” result in higher general government debt, the New York-based firm said Aug. 5 after markets closed.

“The downgrade reflects our opinion that the fiscal consolidation plan that Congress and the Administration recently agreed to falls short of what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilize the government’s medium-term debt dynamics,” S&P said in a state

Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings affirmed their AAA credit ratings on Aug. 2, the day President Barack Obama signed a bill that ended the debt-ceiling impasse that pushed the Treasury to the edge of default. Moody’s and Fitch also said that downgrades were possible if lawmakers fail to enact debt reduction measures and the economy weakens.

Foreign exchange strategists at Barclays Capital said in a note to clients that S&P’s move may initially lead to rally in assets and currencies perceived to be a haven, such as the Swiss franc and yen, while causing currencies of economies that are depend on commodities to weaken. The dollar may also benefit from the “risk impact of the shock,” though longer-term U.S. “fiscal problems are likely to mean a weaker dollar.”

S&P had been very clear about what it wanted to see in order for the U.S. to maintain its AAA rating, and the agreement reached last week had not met those criteria,” Paul Robinson, a strategist at Barclays in London, wrote in a note to clients. “Commodity currencies look most vulnerable in the short run, again because of the risk element.”

UBS AG strategists said in a note there could be “knee- jerk” selling of the dollar and “risk assets,” especially against the franc and yen.

Finance ministers and central bankers are preparing a statement to release before the open of Asian markets in support of the dollar, the Nikkei newspaper reported, without citing anyone. Japan may intervene in the currency market if dollar falls, Nikkei also reported.

The potential for intervention in the yen and franc “complicates matters,” a currency strategist at Nomura Securities said in a research note.

Euro-region central bank governors will hold emergency talks today intended to stop Spain and Italy from becoming the next victims of the sovereign-debt crisis and limit fallout from the first U.S. credit-rating cut in history.

The central bank chiefs will meet by conference call at about 6 p.m. Paris time, said a euro-area central bank official who declined to be identified because the talks are confidential. A spokesman for the European Central Bank declined to comment. Officials from the Group of 20 held a call earlier today and G-7 finance chiefs may confer by phone as soon as morning in Tokyo before Asian markets open, Kyodo News reported, citing people familiar with the plan.

Traders cut bearish bets on the dollar last week from the highest level in more than two months as concern eased that a political stalemate in Washington on raising the U.S. debt limit would erode the value of the world’s reserve currency.

Aggregate wagers against the greenback fell for the first time since the period ended July 1, dropping to 307,321 contracts from 310,222, data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in Washington show. Futures traders added to bets the dollar will weaken against the yen, Swiss franc, Canadian dollar, U.K. pound, New Zealand dollar and ruble. Wagers on a drop versus the euro, Australian dollar and Mexican peso were trimmed.

Volatility in currency markets rose last week to the highest since March, with the JPMorgan Global FX Volatility Index reaching 12.31 on Aug. 4 before easing to 12.18 a day later.

The committee of bond dealers and investors that advises the U.S. Treasury said the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency “appears to be slipping” in quarterly feedback presented to the government on Aug. 3.

The U.S. currency’s portion of global currency reserves dropped to 60.7 percent in the period ended March 31, from a peak of 72.7 percent in 2001, data from the International Monetary Fund in Washington show.

“The idea of a reserve currency is that it is built on strength, not typically that it is ‘best among poor choices’,” page 35 of the presentation made by one member of the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee, which includes representatives from firms ranging from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to Pacific Investment Management Co. “The fact that there are not currently viable alternatives to the U.S. dollar is a hollow victory and perhaps portends a deteriorating fate.”

Members of the TBAC, as the committee is known, which met Aug. 2 in Washington, also discussed the implications of a downgrade of the U.S. sovereign credit rating. “None of the members thought that a downgrade was imminent,” according to minutes of the meeting released by the Treasury.

Extra police deployed across London tonight

2011-08-07T14:52:00.001-07:00

LONDON: London braced on Sunday for more violence after some of the worst riots in the British capital for years which politicians and police blamed on criminal thugs but residents attributed to local tensions and anger over hardship.

Rioters throwing petrol bombs rampaged overnight through the deprived district of Tottenham in north London, setting police patrol cars, buildings and a double-decker bus on fire.

"There is Twitter conversations that people are being asked to meet again down in Tottenham, so we are all concerned but clearly we will be much better prepared this evening," Richard Barnes, London's Deputy Mayor, told BBC TV.

Additional officers are on duty in Tottenham and cordons remain in place around Tottenham High Road.

Further rioting has already spread to Enfield Town, with some 200 people clashing with riot police. A police car has been trashed and shop windows smashed.

Commander Christine Jones said: “We do have extra resources out tonight on duty across the capital.

"We are carefully monitoring any intelligence and ensuring we have our resources in the right places. No one wants to see a repeat of the scenes that we witnessed last night in Tottenham.

“Our investigation team is continuing its work and those people responsible for the violence, disorder and crime we saw last night will be identified. Anyone else who thinks they can use the events from last night as an excuse to commit crime will be met by a robust response from us."London Police"

Tottenham: echoes of a history not forgotten as rioting returns

2011-08-07T14:41:00.000-07:00

Clashes between police and rioters are taking place in Enfield Town this evening (Sunday), indicating that civic unrest is spreading after violent disorder in Tottenham last night.

Reports from the scene say up to 30 people, many of them young and wearing hooded clothes, have been pushed back from Enfield Town centre by police during a confrontation.

A police car was attacked and badly damaged, while shops came under attack from bricks and slabs of concrete, say as-yet unconfirmed eye-witness reports.

A strong police presence, including the riot squad clad in black, is bidding to protect the town centre from the mob.

Enfield borough borders Haringey, where rioting and looting took place last night. Enfield Town centre is easily accessible by train from Tottenham.

The allegations and counter-allegations of teenagers and the authorities about heavy-handed or incompetent policing are also reminiscent of 30 years ago.

The sequence of events in Tottenham at the weekend has many echoes of the Toxteth riots in Liverpool of 1981, as well as unrest in Tottenham itself in 1985 and other incidents of unrest that decade: a local flashpoint in a deprived urban area, the rapid escalation of a local protest into mayhem as others pile into the area – and long summer nights.

The television producer and commentator David Akinsanya was in Tottenham in the early hours of Sunday morning. He also covered some of the 1980s riots as a reporter. He said: "There are and there aren't similarities between what happened and earlier riots. In those days as a black youth you could be walking down the street, the police would bundle you into a van and nobody would see you for three days. That doesn't happen now. The black community is asking the police to get on top of gun crime, that's another change.

"But there are still many issues about policing in the area, and there are still good kids walking around Tottenham with their hoods up, trying to hide themselves away because they get endless grief from the police."

He added: "The other thing that's the same is the weather. If it had poured down they would all have gone home. We were actually saying earlier, before we knew anything about what was happening, that it was a nice night for a riot."

At least the trouble in Tottenham has not, so far, approached the scale of the worst incidents of the 1980s when thousands were injured, thousands more arrested and millions of pounds worth of damage caused.

In 1981 Toxteth saw some of the worst rioting in Britain. It began when police pursued a man into the area, wrongly suspecting that he had stolen a motorbike. A second man, Leroy Cooper, a photography student who had been at a youth club, intervened and was in turn arrested for assault. That night police were attacked by youths with petrol bombs and paving stones, and in the days and nights that followed more than 500 people were arrested in pitched battles, 470 police officers were injured and 70 buildings were burned down or demolished, including the 150-year-old Raquet Club, a survivor from the district's affluent Victorian heyday, and the famous Rialto Ballroom where the Beatles had played.

After four nights of violence the city's Protestant and Catholic bishops, David Shephard and Derek Worlock, united to appeal for peace and the archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, expressed concern. On 8 July the home secretary William Whitelaw agreed to a request from the Liverpool chief constable that 25 rounds of CS gas should be fired into the crowd by police, its first use on the UK mainland.

Weeks later the battles were over but trouble was still flaring up. On 28 July – the night before the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana – David Moore, who had a bad limp from an earlier car accident, was walking home from visiting friends in Toxteth. He was unable to move fast enough to get out of the way of a police car speeding across waste ground to break up a group of youths. He was hit, and died. More violence on the streets followed. After an investigation by another police force two officers were charged with manslaughter the year after, but acquitted.

Cooper pleaded guilty on legal advice and spent nine months in borstal. This summer he told the Liverpool Daily Post that when he left borstal the area still looked like a war zone. "The riot was a symptom of there being something really wrong with our society," he said. "We smashed our own community up, we destroyed our own homes. There had to be something wrong."

Earlier in 1981 in Brixton, where trouble was sparked when police stopped a young black man who been stabbed but who others thought was being arrested, more than 300 police and civilians were injured. Scores of vehicles and 83 buildings were burned, damaged or looted.

In Handsworth, Birmingham, in 1985, where there had also been trouble in 1981 and would be again in 1991 and 2005, two days and nights of looting and arson followed the arrest of a man. Two brothers died as the post office they ran went up in flames, 35 people were injured and more than 40 shops were destroyed or looted. The local artist and photographer Pogus Caesar told the BBC in 2010, when his images of the riots were exhibited to mark the anniversary: "The scars of 1985 will never heal completely but people of Handsworth are strong, they are resilient. The candles are burning slowly but the flame is bright."

And of course there was Tottenham. In October 1985 the Broadwater Farm estate was the scene of one of the most notorious and chilling incidents, when PC Keith Blakelock was murdered in rioting that followed the death of a local woman, Cynthia Jarrett, who had collapsed during a police raid on her home after her son was arrested. Three local men including Winston Silcott were jailed for the murder but cleared on appeal four years later. Two officers were later cleared at the Old Bailey of fabricating evidence.

In Liverpool 30 years after the riots people still feel aftershocks of the nine nights of street fights, arson, vandalism and looting. The anniversary has been marked by a book and an exhibition at the museum of Liverpool.

The riots led to a reappraisal of policing in black communities, race relations policy in general and the urgent need for regeneration in Britain's post-industrial rundown inner cities.

Lord Gifford's report found that racial discrimination had been "uniquely horrific" in Liverpool. Lord Scarman's report, after the Brixton riots, urged positive discrimination to tackle the problems facing the black community.

Twenty years later, in 2001, many of the same points were made again in official reports on summer riots in Bradford, Oldham and Burnley. The Cantle report, commissioned by the Home Office, found that many lived "parallel lives", never mixing with people from different backgrounds.

It also warned that some regeneration schemes had actually made the situation worse, forcing different communities to compete against each other, breeding resentment and anger.

Riots of the 1980s

• St Pauls, Bristol, April 1980: Sparked by a police raid on the Black and White Café. In the day and night of rioting there were 130 arrests, 19 police were injured, and fire engines and 12 police cars were hit

• Brixton, London, April 1981: People allegedly believed a stabbed youth died through police brutality. Over two nights almost 150 buildings and more than 100 vehicles were damaged. At least 65 citizens and 299 police were injured. The damage was put at £7.5m

• Toxteth, Liverpool, July 1981: Began with the arrest of Leroy Cooper, 20. Over nine days in which CS gas was used by police for the first time on the UK mainland, a man died, knocked down by a police vehicle, 500 people were arrested, 468 police were hurt

• Handsworth, September 1985: Sparked by another arrest. Among the casualties, the brothers Kassamali Moledina and Amirali died in their post office, which burned, 35 others were hurt

• Broadwater Farm, Tottenham, October 1985: Began after the death of Cynthia Jarrett, 49, in a police raid. A small rally escalated into violence. In the evening PC Keith Blakelock was hacked to death at the Farm. Three local men were jailed for his murder, but cleared on appeal in 1991, after evidence that showed police notes had been altered.

London riots set homes, shops ablaze; 48 arrested

2011-08-07T14:36:00.000-07:00

Police in London are in the process of “restoring calm” to an area of the U.K. capital after rioting led to 26 officers being injured and 48 arrests.
Metropolitan Police officers faced “extreme violence” during the disturbances in Tottenham, in the north of the city, late yesterday in which vehicles and buildings were set on fire, Commander Adrian Hanstock said in a televised press conference today. London Fire Brigade said it received 264 emergency calls from the area during the riots.
Trouble flared after a peaceful protest by relatives and friends of a man shot dead during a police operation in the area last week was “hijacked by troublemakers,” Hanstock said.
“There was no indication that the protest would deteriorate into the levels of criminal and violent disorder that we saw,” Hanstock said. “We believe that certain elements, who were not involved with the vigil, took the opportunity to commit disorder and physically attack police officers, verbally abuse fire brigade personnel and destroy vehicles and buildings.”
He said the death of Mark Duggan, 29, was “regrettable” and will be subject to an independent investigation. “It is absolutely tragic that someone has died, but that does not give a criminal minority the right to destroy businesses and people’s livelihoods and steal from their local community.
Rioters threw petrol bombs at police and buildings, the British Broadcasting Corp. said. A bus and two police vehicles were set on fire and business were looted, it reported.
London Fire Brigade said in an e-mailed statement it attended 49 “primary” fires in the Tottenham area.
The rioting was “utterly unacceptable,” Prime Minister David Cameron’s office said in an e-mailed statement. “There is no justification for the aggression the police and the public faced, or for the damage to property.”
Home Secretary Theresa May said “disregard for public safety and property will not be tolerated, and the Metropolitan Police have my full support in restoring order.

Police said 26 of its officers were hurt, one with a head injury, while arrests were made following the violence in Tottenham, north London, late on Saturday, which sparked condemnation from Prime Minister David Cameron’s office.

“The rioting in Tottenham last night was utterly unacceptable,” a Downing Street spokesman said in a statement.

“There is no justification for the aggression the police and the public faced, or for the damage to property. There is now a police investigation into the rioting and we should let that process happen.”

Police on Sunday said they were still having to deal with “isolated pockets of criminality in the Tottenham area involving a small number of people.”

A spokesman for the London Fire Brigade said all the fires were under control.

“We are still at the scene of some of them to damp them down and make sure everything is out,” he added.

The mayhem, which broke out in Tottenham just before sunset on Saturday, followed a protest over the death of a 29-year-old man last week during an apparent exchange of gunfire with police.

Thursday’s killing of Mark Duggan, a father-of-four, was “absolutely regrettable,” police commander Adrian Hanstock said in a statement, adding that an investigation into the shooting was underway.

“It is absolutely tragic that someone has died, but that does not give a criminal minority the right to destroy businesses and livelihoods and steal from their local community,” he said on Sunday.

“There was no indication that the protest would deteriorate into the levels of criminal and violent disorder that we saw,” Hanstock said.

The demonstration had been a peaceful rally outside the police station on Tottenham High Road before two police cars were attacked with petrol bombs and set ablaze.

We warned Tottenham situation could get out of control:community leaders

2011-08-07T14:31:00.000-07:00

LONDON — As London surveyed the damage Sunday in the hours after a small anti-police demonstration in a north London neighborhood spiraled into looting and violent clashes that left 26 police officers injured and led to 55 arrests, many sought to cast the blame wider than the rioters themselves.

In Tottenham, the center of the rioting, residents spoke of twin perils that had converged to leave their streets scarred and smoldering Sunday.

Frustration in this impoverished neighborhood, as with many others in Britain, has mounted as the government’s austerity budget has forced deep cuts in services and aid. At the same time, a widely held disdain for law enforcement here, where a large Afro-Caribbean population has felt singled out by the police for abuse, has only intensified through the drumbeat of scandal that has wracked Scotland Yard in recent weeks and led to the resignation of the force’s two top commanders.

The riot was the latest in what has turned out to be a season of unrest in Britain, with multiple demonstrations escalating into violence in recent months. And there was not long to wait until a new one broke out: on Sunday night, in the northern borough of Enfield, the police were out in force to crack down on looters amid a demonstration hastily organized on Twitter posts, the police said in a statement.

The incident in Tottenham began as a small and peaceful march, in which residents gathered outside a police station to protest the killing of a local man, Mark Duggan, in shooting by police officers last week. Scotland Yard has said that Mr. Duggan, who was riding in a taxi at the time of the shooting, was the subject of a “pre-planned operation” by officers. The policemen involved in the incident have been quoted in newspapers as saying that they had come under fire, which slightly wounded one of the officers, before they began to shoot.

There were also claims that police were warned on Thursday evening and Friday morning by people with knowledge of Tottenham that there could be "significant" community reaction to Duggan's death.

Duggan's fiancee, Semone Wilson, 29, said the family had not wanted trouble, only answers. "When we were outside the police station last night we wanted someone to come out. We want some answers. I have not even told my children that he is dead because we cannot give them any answers."

Of the violence, Wilson said: "I am not happy about what has happened. We didn't want this trouble. We wanted some answers."

Shaun Hall, Duggan's older brother, said the family was "not condoning any kind of actions like that at all, or for this [action] to be taken in my brother's name". He appealed to people in the community who were frustrated and angry to "try and hold it down".

The family were "devastated" at his death, with "the most gruelling" thing for Duggan's parents being that nobody had officially informed them what had happened. He dismissed allegations that Duggan had shot at police as "rubbish".

The IPCC commissioner Rachel Cerfontyne met family members after accusations that they had been left unsupported and isolated since Thursday's shooting.

While Cerfontyne, who is running the independent investigation, is not thought to have met the family until Sunday, the IPCC – faced with criticism from the family – said it had been in regular contact.

Forensic examiners were slowly and painstakingly working their way through the crime scene as part of the police investigation. Officers from the homicide and serious crime command and specialist investigators from the public order branch were reviewing CCTV footage and taking witness statements.

Mr. Been

2011-08-06T10:47:00.000-07:00

Rowan Sebastian Atkinson, born 6 January 1955 is an English comedian, screenwriter, and actor. He is most famous for his work on the satirical sketch comedy show Not The Nine O'Clock News, and the sitcoms Blackadder and Mr. Bean. He has been listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest actors in British comedy, and amongst the top 50 comedy actors ever in a 2005 poll of fellow comedians.

arly life and education

Atkinson, the youngest of four brothers, was born in Consett, County Durham, England. His parents were Eric Atkinson, a farmer and company director, and Ella May (née Bainbridge), who married on 29 June 1945. His three older brothers were Paul, who died as an infant, Rodney, a Eurosceptic economist who narrowly lost the United Kingdom Independence Party leadership election in 2000, and Rupert.Atkinson was brought up Anglican, and was educated at Durham Choristers School, St. Bees School, and Newcastle University. In 1975, he continued for the degree of MSc in Electrical Engineering at The Queen's College, Oxford, the same college his father matriculated at in 1935, which made Atkinson an Honorary Fellow in 2006. First achieving notice at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1976, while at Oxford, he also acted and performed early sketches for the Oxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS), the Oxford Revue and the Experimental Theatre Club (ETC), meeting writer Richard Curtis and composer Howard Goodall, with whom he would continue to collaborate during his career.

Career,Radio

Atkinson starred in a series of comedy shows for BBC Radio 3 in 1978 called "The Atkinson People". It consisted of a series of satirical interviews with fictional great men, who were played by Atkinson himself. The series was written by Atkinson and Richard Curtis, and produced by Griff Rhys Jones.

Television

After university, Atkinson toured with Angus Deayton as his straight man in an act that was eventually filmed for a television show. After the success of the show, he did a one-off pilot for London Weekend Television in 1979 called Canned Laughter. Atkinson then went on to do Not the Nine O'Clock News for the BBC, produced by his friend John Lloyd. He starred on the show along with Pamela Stephenson, Griff Rhys Jones and Mel Smith, and was one of the main sketch writers.

The success of Not the Nine O'Clock News led to his starring in the medieval sitcom The Black Adder, which he also co-wrote with Richard Curtis, in 1983. After a three-year gap, in part due to budgetary concerns, a second series was written, this time by Curtis and Ben Elton, and first screened in 1986. Blackadder II followed the fortunes of one of the descendants of Atkinson's original character, this time in the Elizabethan era. The same pattern was repeated in the two sequels Blackadder the Third (1987) (set in the Regency era), and Blackadder Goes Forth (1989) (set in World War I). The Blackadder series went on to become one of the most successful BBC situation comedies of all time, spawning television specials including Blackadder's Christmas Carol (1988) and Blackadder: The Cavalier Years (1988).

Atkinson's other famous creation, the hapless Mr. Bean, first appeared on New Years Day in 1990 in a half-hour special for Thames Television. The character of Mr. Bean has been likened somewhat to a modern-day Buster Keaton. During this time, Atkinson appeared at the Just for Laughs comedy festival in Montreal in 1987 and 1989. Several sequels to Mr. Bean appeared on television in the 1990s, and it eventually made into a major motion picture in 1997. Entitled Bean, it was directed by Mel Smith, his former co-star from Not the Nine O'Clock News. A second movie was released in 2007 entitled Mr. Bean's Holiday.

Film

Atkinson's film career began in 1983 with a supporting part in the 'unofficial' James Bond movie Never Say Never Again and a leading role in Dead on Time with Nigel Hawthorne. He appeared in former Not the Nine O'Clock News co-star Mel Smith's directorial debut The Tall Guy in 1989. He also appeared alongside Anjelica Huston and Mai Zetterling in Roald Dahl's The Witches in 1990. In 1993 he played the part of Dexter Hayman in Hot Shots! Part Deux, a parody of Rambo III, starring Charlie Sheen.

Atkinson gained further recognition with his turn as a verbally bumbling vicar in the 1994 hit Four Weddings and a Funeral. That same year he was featured in Walt Disney's The Lion King as Zazu the Red-billed Hornbill. Atkinson continued to appear in supporting roles in successful comedies, including Rat Race (2001), Scooby-Doo (2002), and Love Actually (2003).

In 2005, he acted in the crime/comedy Keeping Mum, which also starred Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith and Patrick Swayze.

Theatre

Rowan Atkinson did live on-stage skits - also appearing with members of Monty Python - in The Secret Policeman's Ball (1979).

Rowan Atkinson appeared in the 2009 revival of the West End musical Oliver! as Fagin.[15] The production was directed by Rupert Goold. A year prior he starred in a pre-West End run of the show in Oxford, directed by Jez Bond.

Comedic style

Best known for his use of physical comedy in his trademark character of Mr. Bean, Atkinson's other characters rely more heavily on language. Atkinson often plays authority figures (especially priests or vicars) speaking absurd lines with a completely deadpan delivery.

One of his better-known trademark comic devices is over-articulation of the "B" sound, such as his pronunciation of "Bob" in a Blackadder episode. Atkinson suffers from stuttering, and the over-articulation is a technique to overcome problematic consonants.

Atkinson's often visually based style, which has been compared to Buster Keaton, sets him apart from most modern television and film comedies, which rely heavily on dialogue, as well as stand-up comedy which is mostly based on monologues. This talent for visual comedy has led to Atkinson being called "the man with the rubber face": comedic reference was made to this in an episode of Blackadder the Third, in which Baldrick (Tony Robinson) refers to his master, Mr. E. Blackadder, as a "lazy, big nosed, rubber-faced bastard".

Personal life

Atkinson first met Sunetra Sastry in the 1980s, who was working as a make-up artist with the BBC.Sastry is of mixed descent, being the daughter of an Indian father and a British mother. The couple married at the Russian Tea Room in New York City in 1990. They have two children and live in Oundle, Northamptonshire as well as Ipsden, Oxfordshire and Highbury, London. In October 2010, his Blackadder co-star Stephen Fry confessed on The Rob Brydon Show that he had contemplated asking Sastry out (she was a make-up artist on the series), but discovered she was going on a date with Atkinson and kept quiet. Fry was best man at Atkinson's wedding in 1990. Atkinson was formerly in a relationship with actress Leslie Ash.

Politics

In June 2005, Atkinson led a coalition of the UK's most prominent actors and writers, including Nicholas Hytner, Stephen Fry, and Ian McEwan, to the British Parliament in an attempt to force a review of the controversial Racial and Religious Hatred Bill, which they felt would give overwhelming power to religious groups to impose censorship on the arts.

In 2009, he criticised homophobic speech legislation, saying that the House of Lords must vote against a government attempt to remove a free speech clause in an anti-gay hate law.

Cars

With an estimated wealth of £100 million, Atkinson is able to indulge his passion for cars that began with driving his mother's Morris Minor around the family farm. He has written for the British magazines Car, Octane, Evo, and "SuperClassics", a short-lived UK magazine, in which he reviewed the McLaren F1 in 1995.

Atkinson holds a category C+E (formerly 'Class 1') lorry driving licence, gained in 1981, because lorries held a fascination for him, and to ensure employment as a young actor. He has also used this skill when filming comedy material.

A lover of and participant in car racing, he appeared as racing driver Henry Birkin in the television play Full Throttle in 1995. In 1991, he starred in the self-penned The Driven Man, a series of sketches featuring Atkinson driving around London trying to solve his car-fetish, and discussing it with taxi drivers, policemen, used-car salesmen and psychotherapists.

Atkinson has raced in other cars, including a Renault 5 GT Turbo for two seasons for its one make series. He used to own a McLaren F1, which was involved in an accident in Cabus, near Garstang, Lancashire with an Austin Metro. It was written off in a serious crash in August 2011 when it caught fire after Atkinson reportedly lost control and hit a tree.He also owns a Honda NSX. Other cars he owns include an Audi A8, and a Honda Civic Hybrid.

The Conservative Party politician Alan Clark, himself a devotee of classic motor cars, recorded in his published Diaries this chance meeting with a man he later realised was Atkinson while driving through Oxfordshire in May 1984: "Just after leaving the motorway at Thame I noticed a dark red DBS V8 Aston Martin on the slip road with the bonnet up, a man unhappily bending over it. I told Jane to pull in and walked back. A DV8 in trouble is always good for a gloat." Clark writes that he gave Atkinson a lift in his Rolls Royce to the nearest telephone box, but was disappointed in his bland reaction to being recognised, noting that: "he didn't sparkle, was rather disappointing and chétif.

One car Atkinson has said he will not own is a Porsche: "I have a problem with Porsches. They're wonderful cars, but I know I could never live with one. Somehow, the typical Porsche people—and I wish them no ill—are not, I feel, my kind of people. I don't go around saying that Porsches are a pile of dung, but I do know that psychologically I couldn't handle owning one.

Television appearances

Canned Laughter (1979), an experimental sitcom pilot for LWT

The Secret Policeman's Ball (1979), a charity special for Amnesty International

Not the Nine O'Clock News (1979–1982)

Peter Cook & Co (1980)

The Innes Book of Records (1980), guest appearance

Blackadder as Prince Edmund (The Black Adder), Lord Blackadder (Blackadder II), Edmund Blackadder (Blackadder III), Ebenezer Blackadder (Blackadder's Christmas Carol) & Captain Blackadder (Blackadder Goes Forth) (1983–1989)

Saturday Live as guest host (1986)

Mr. Bean as Mr. Bean (1990–2009 various times)

Rowan Atkinson Live as assorted characters (1992) (VHS of live sketches)

Bernard and the Genie as Bernard's Boss (1991) (TV movie)

Funny Business (1992), a documentary about the craft of comedy

A Bit Of Fry And Laurie (1992), guest appearance

The Thin Blue Line as Inspector Raymond Fowler (1995–1996)

Blackadder: Back and Forth as Blackadder (2000)

Mr. Bean (animated TV series) as Mr Bean, voice (2002)

The Comic Relief Red Nose Day telecasts, including appearing in:

Blackadder: The Cavalier Years as Edmund Blackadder (1988)

Nosenight sketches (1989)

Mr Bean's Red Nose Day as Mr Bean (1991)

(I Wanna Be) Elected as Mr Bean (1992)

Blind Date with Mr Bean as Mr Bean (1993)

Torvill and Bean as Mr Bean (1995)

Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death as The Doctor (1999)

Popsters as Nasty Neville (2001)

Lying to Michael Jackson as Martin Bashir (2003)

Spider-Plant Man as Peter Piper and Spider-Plant Man (2005)

Mr Bean's Wedding as Mr Bean (2007)

The Greatest Worst Bits of Comic Relief as Himself (2007)

We Are Most Amused (2008), a special show to celebrate Prince Charles' 60th birthday

Blackadder Rides Again as himself (2008)

Cable says new reserve currency "sensible"

2011-08-06T10:38:00.000-07:00

Britain remains in "a fairly good position" to weather the current financial storms because of the market credibility earned by the Government's deficit reduction strategy, Business Secretary Vince Cable said.

Mr Cable was speaking as the world absorbed the shockwaves of the downgrading of America's cherished Triple-A credit rating for the first time in its history.

Rating agency Standard & Poor's said it was marking the US down a notch to AA+ because the deficit reduction plan passed by Congress on Tuesday did not go far enough to stabilise the country's debt situation.

However, it was not immediately followed by the two other major credit rating agencies, Moody's and Fitch, which continued to rank the US as a AAA nation, alongside Britain.

The downgrade sparked a biting response from America's largest creditor, China, which called on the US to end its "debt addiction" and even suggested that the dollar may have to cede its position as the world's reserve currency. India's finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said the situation was "grave".

The development came at the end of a week of turmoil on markets around the world, which saw the FTSE 100 in London lose almost 10% - or £150 billion - of its value, while the eurozone was rocked by fears over whether Italy and Spain can pay their debts.

Unconfirmed reports suggested that finance ministers or officials of the G7 group of industrialised nations may hold a telephone conference call over the weekend to steady nerves ahead of the markets opening on Monday.

The Chinese have been arguing for a long time that the world monetary system needed reforming and that we need a strong reserve currency, by which I think basically they mean the special drawing rights of the IMF," Cable told BBC TV.

"This argument's been around a long time and it would be a sensible way for the world to move but it's not something we're going to do overnight."

Cable has been a vocal critic of the U.S. Congress's protracted arguments to agree a deficit-cutting deal and had warned that Washington's triple-A sovereign debt rating was at risk.

"In the short run, the United States dollar is the key international currency and although, frankly, the American legislators made a terrible mess of things a few weeks ago, they have now got back on track, they have undertaken to manage their debt in a prudent way," he said.

Mr Bean Rowan Atkinson traumatised after second supercar crash

2011-08-06T10:30:00.000-07:00

Mr Bean, it is his love of fast cars that is currently attracting the headlines.

The 56 year-old is a known car enthusiast and races cars as a hobby. He owns an impressive auto collection that includes an Aston Martin and a McLaren F1, which he crashed on the A605 in Haddon, Cambridgeshire on Thursday night.

Rowan Sebastian Atkinson was born in Consett, County Durham on January 6, 1955 and grew up on a farm in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

He attended Chorister School in Durham, at the same time as Tony Blair, the former prime minister, and St Bees School, Cumbria, before going on to study electrical engineering at Newcastle University.

He later moved to the Oxford University where he studied a MSc in electrical engineering.

It was at Oxford where he met Richard Curtis, with the pair becoming close friends and co-writers and performers for comedy revues.

At the age of 21, he was spotted by John Lloyd, a television producer and comedy writer, performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

In 1979 Lloyd, 60, produced Atkinson’s first starring roles as one of the four members of the Not The Nine O'Clock News sketch team.

In 1981 he became the youngest person to have a one-man show in the West End of London, which earned him an Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Comedy Performance.

Two years later Atkinson starred in The Blackadder, which he co-wrote with Curtis, and together with its sequels, propelled him to the league of star status.

But it was his role as Mr Bean which led to critical acclaim and international stardom. The clumsy character was a walking disaster and critics praised the show as pure “physical comedy”.

It was in stark contrast to the polished dialogue of his previous character Edmund Blackadder. Atkinson made his big-screen debut in the 1983 unofficial James Bond picture Never Say Never Again.

He has also starred in other box office hits including Four Weddings and a Funeral, Love, Actually, the Lion King, Scooby Doo and Jonny English. The Mr Bean television series have also spawned feature films.

As a long-time collaborator with Curtis, he regularly contributes to Comic Relief and also played the 9th Doctor, in the 1999 Doctor Who spoof The Curse Of Fatal Death.

The Blackadder and Mr Bean star managed to escape with only a broken shoulder after his two-million-pounds car lost control and hit a tree and a road sign before catching fire.

“I understand he has a fractured shoulder blade which is very painful and why he needed to stay in overnight. He is shaken but not stirred. I think he was in pain and had painkillers,” the Mirror quoted Peter Bennett-Jones, Atkinson’s agent as saying.

“He will be very rattled and I think he’ll want to keep as low profile as possible,” he added.

The 56-year-old has been discharged from the hospital and according to his agent, the accident took place as the actor drove back home after working on his new film Johnny English Reborn.

Atkinson hospital faced power cut

2011-08-06T10:25:00.000-07:00

Atkinson left the new £289 million Peterborough City Hospital in a wheelchair having been admitted the previous evening.

A spokeswoman for the hospital, which was built under a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) scheme, said power went down in some parts of the building at 10.15pm on Thursday following a power failure in the north of the city.

A back-up generator failed to operate properly and an investigation is under way to find out why.

The emergency department was blacked out as was the critical care unit, the neo-natal intensive care unit, maternity, and some operating theatres, though no operations were taking place at that time of night.

Power was restored at 2.30am on Friday. Four operations due to take place on Friday morning were cancelled while safety checks took place.

The spokeswoman said: “A major incident was declared and the action plan was initiated. Ten additional staff members were brought into the hospital to help move patients and manage the situation.

“During this period the emergency department was relocated into the adjacent ward area and emergency calls were diverted to other hospitals. Patient safety remained a priority at all times and patient care was not compromised in any way.”

Rowena Barnes, chief operating officer, said: “I would like to thank our staff, the East of England Ambulance Trust, and our neighbouring hospitals for their help and support during the incident.”

Atkinson,. 56, who starred as Blackadder and Mr Bean, is believed to have suffered a shoulder injury after the accident on the A605 in Haddon, Cambridgeshire. He was driving his McLaren F1 supercar when it spun around several times, ran into a tree and a lamppost and caught fire, according to reports.

Zara Phillips Skips Honeymoon Launches New Line of Clothing

2011-08-06T10:21:00.000-07:00

It's been just under a week since they were sipping champagne in their wedding finery as they celebrated their marriage at Edinburgh's Holyrood House.

Today though, wedding gowns and morning suits were swopped for some rather more practical bootcut jeans and navy polo shirts as Zara and Mike attended the first day of Gatcombe Horse Trials.

Joining Zara's brother Peter and sister-in-law Autumn with their baby Savannah, the group gathered to watch the opening day of eventing at the Gloucestershire festival.

The Queen's granddaughter will ride for the last time on her 'horse of a lifetime' Toytown, as the gelding, who has suffered a series of injuries, is to be retired after Zara's event.

Eighteen-year-old 'Noddy' will be paraded in the main arena at 1.45pm on Sunday, so that his fans can pay tribute to the legendary white-flecked chestnut horse.

Zara recently told the Daily Mirror, “We’re kind of missing the quiet period where we can catch up and have some sleep.” Zara and Mike wed on July 30th and Zara’s new clothing line launched on August 1st. Zara explains, “It’s back to work and that’s what we do.” The former world champion horse rider has a professional life she must take care of first. Her new husband has training that cannot be skimped on.

Zara is an accomplished business woman in the clothing world. She released her first line of equestrian clothing back in 2009 under the name, ZP 176. Her newest foray into the fashion world is a line of clothing for children who are competitive outdoor athletes. The new bride talked about her latest line with the Telegraph, “It’s less to do with mainstream fashion and more about practicality and engineering something that works in training, but which you wouldn’t be embarrassed to be seen in, in public.” The horsewoman had a lot of fun working on her new line.

The clothing includes a variety of waterproof fleeces, gilet vests and long-cut riding jackets. Each article is designed to be durable enough to withstand outdoor activities even during the cold English winters. The down-to-earth royal is adamant when she says she designs clothes for work, not play, “Oh god, don’t call me a fashion designer!”

She reveals how she came up with the ZP 176 Kids line, “It was more of making their range a bit like mine but in a smaller package – sort of ‘Mini Me’, but with the same great fabrics, so they are able to go out and do whatever they want and still be technical and good.” The line of clothing is sold under the Musto brand and will be available this fall,

Kate sports a custom hat for Zara's nuptials

2011-08-06T10:15:00.000-07:00

She may have recycled an old outfit for the wedding of Zara Phillips and MIke Tindall last weekend, but one thing that was new to Kate last Saturday was the magnificent hat she wore to the ceremony.

The sculptural headgear was made by British milliner Gina Foster, who created the one-of-a-kind piece especially for the Duchess of Cambridge.

Ms Foster revealed that the Duchess came into the boutique she runs in Kensington, west London, with the cream embroidered Day Birger et Mikkelsen brocade coat she planned to wear for the nuptials.

The Duchess said she wanted 'something in a colour to match her outfit.'

After 30 minutes in the store, the Duchess settled on the elaborate circular 'Launceston Place coulis' design from Gina Foster's Kensington W8 spring/summer collection.

Kate requested the hat be made for her in a neutral straw colour, and put her own stamp on the style with the addition of a large flower she had added to the sinamay bow on the underside of the hat's brim.

Duchess of Cambridge - recently placed on the international best-dressed list - is an admired wardrobe recycler.

But the royal was a little less thrifty when it came to the stunning hat she donned for Zara Phillips' Edinburgh nupitials.

While her dress and coat were both items Kate wore in 2006, she spent over £400 on the custom headwear to match.

She found the structured white piece at British milliner Gina Foster's Kensington boutique - just ten days before the wedding.

GIna told People: "She rang and asked to come in, then she tried a few on and we went from there.

"She wanted something in a colour to match her outfit.

"It's a slight departure from her normal hat style but it's quite good to try different shapes.

"And for a wedding it's easier to wear something a bit more extravagant than you would wear for work.

Three injured as crash closes M25

2011-08-06T10:03:00.000-07:00

MOTORISTS endured a 28-mile tailback on the M25 last night after a crash shut both carriageways.

A lorry smashed through the central reservation and hit a Nissan on the other side around junction seven in Surrey at 4pm. Three people were hurt.

The Highways Agency said that part of the motorway would be closed until 09:00 on Saturday at the earliest.

Queues of up to 28 miles built up after the crash.

Stationary traffic reached junction 10 and Clacket Lane, between junctions five and six on the Kent and Surrey border.

Highways Agency said the clockwise traffic stretched back for six miles and the anti-clockwise queue back to Wisley ran for 28 miles.

Continue reading the main story

Surrey Police spokeswoman

A Highways Agency spokeswoman said the HGV had spilled diesel on to the anti-clockwise carriageway and shed its load on the clockwise carriageway.

Traffic which had been trapped on either side of the closed section was cleared from the motorway by about 20:30.

Police allowed the hard shoulders on the closed section to be opened and motorists were allowed to leave the motorway via the closed junctions.

She said: "Road users are advised to avoid the area and make alternative travel arrangements.

"The Highways Agency will work with partners to do all we can to reopen the carriageways as soon as it is safe to do so.

Officers later confirmed the crash involved two vehicles, an HGV and a Nissan Micra.

The three people taken to hospital were the driver of the lorry and a man and a woman who were travelling in the car, a police spokeswoman said.

She confirmed there had been no fatalities.

A police investigation into the cause of the crash has begun.

Clockwise traffic was diverted on to the M23 and anti-clockwise traffic was being sent towards Reigate and Godstone on the A217 and the A25.

Gatwick Airport warned passengers of road delays in the area and said people should check for updates on the BBC and Highways Agency websites.

160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment

2011-08-06T09:55:00.000-07:00

160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment Airborne is a special operations unit of the United States Army that provides helicopter aviation support for general purpose forces and Special Operations Forces. Its missions have included attack, assault, and reconnaissance, and are usually conducted at night, at high speeds, low altitudes, and on short notice. The 160th SOAR is headquartered at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. The 160th SOAR (A) are also known as the Night Stalkers and their motto is Night Stalkers Don't Quit.

Overview

The regiment consists of a "training" battalion, the Special Operations Aviation Training Battalion, and four "operations" battalions: the 1st and 2nd at Fort Campbell, the 3rd at Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia, and the 4th at Fort Lewis, Washington.

The 160th SOAR (A) consists of the Army's best-qualified aviators and support soldiers. Officers volunteer while enlisted soldiers volunteer or are assigned by the U.S. Army Human Resources Command. All soldiers receive intensive training upon joining the 160th and are required to pass the Green Platoon course. The basic Night Stalker course for enlisted soldiers lasts five weeks; the officer course 20 to 28 weeks. A new Night Stalker arrives to their unit Basic Mission Qualified (BMQ), after a series of test qualifications, experience and leadership, the Night Stalker is designated Fully Mission Qualified (FMQ). After three to five years as an FMQ, the Night Stalker will have the chance to assess for flight lead qualification. The 160th recruits women, though only for staff positions.

Equipment

An MH-6 Little Bird from 160th SOAR carrying Special Forces Soldiers from the 5th SFG(A) prepares to land during a SOF aerial infiltration demonstration 28 Sept. at NASCAR's Kansas Speedway 400.

The 160th SOAR fly MH-47G Chinooks, A/MH-6M Little Birds, MH-60K Black Hawks and MH-60L Black Hawks.

History

After the 1980 Operation Eagle Claw attempt to rescue American hostages held in Tehran, Iran. President Jimmy Carter ordered former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. James L. Holloway III to figure out how the U.S. military could best mount another attempt. One key lesson: there were no U.S. helicopter units trained in this kind of stealthy, short-notice Special Operations mission.

The Army looked to the 101st Aviation Group, the air arm of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), which had the most diverse operating experience of the service's helicopter units, and selected elements of the 158th Aviation Battalion, 229th Aviation Battalion, and the 159th Aviation Battalion. The chosen pilots immediately entered intensive training in night flying.

This provisional unit was at first dubbed Task Force 158 since the majority of the pilots were Blackhawk aviators detached from the 158th. Their distinctive 101st "Screaming Eagle" patches remained on their uniforms. The Blackhawks and Chinooks continued to operate around Campbell Army Airfield at the north of post, and Saber Army Heliport at the south. The OH-6 Cayuse "Little Birds", an aircraft vanished from the Division's regular inventory after Vietnam, were hidden out by the ammunition holding area at spot still known as the "SHOC Pad", for "Special Operations Helicopter Company".

As the first batch of pilots completed training in the fall of 1980, a second attempt to rescue the hostages was planned for early 1981. Dubbed Operation Honey Badger, it was called off when the hostages were released on the morning of President Ronald Reagan's inauguration.

The capability gained was judged too important to future contingencies to lose. The new unit was quickly recognized as the Army's premier night fighting aviation force, and its only Special Operations Aviation force. The pilots and modified aircraft would not be returned to the 101st. Original members of the Night Stalkers refer to it as "the day the Eagles came off". The 101st's patches came off, the personnel and equipment would be reassigned, and a new tradition was born. The unit was officially established on 16 October 1981, when it was designated as the 160th Aviation Battalion.

The 160th first saw combat during 1983's Operation Urgent Fury, the U.S. invasion of Grenada.

In 1986, it was re-designated as the 160th Aviation Group (Airborne); and in May 1990, the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne). As demand for highly-trained Special Operations Aviation assets bloomed, the regiment activated three battalions, a separate detachment, and incorporated one Army National Guard unit, the 1st Battalion, 245th Aviation (OK ARNG).

In 1987 and 1988, its pilots took part in Operation Earnest Will, the protection of re-flagged Kuwaiti tankers in the Persian Gulf during the Iran–Iraq War. They flew from US Navy warships and leased oil barges in a secret sub-part called Operation Prime Chance, and became the first helicopter pilots to use night vision goggles and forward looking infrared devices in night combat.

In June 1988, the unit executed Operation Mount Hope III. Two MH-47 crews flew 490 miles (790 km) deep into Chad to retrieve a crashed Mi-24 Hind medium-attack helicopter.

The Night Stalkers spearheaded Operation Just Cause, the 1989 invasion of Panama, and they were also used in Operation Desert Storm in 1991.

In October 1993 in Somalia, Night Stalkers became involved in the Battle of Mogadishu, which later became the subject of the book Black Hawk Down, and its film adaptation. Two Night Stalker Black Hawks, Super 6-1 (piloted by Cliff Wolcott), and Super 6-4 (piloted by Mike Durant), were shot down in the battle. Five of the eighteen men killed (not counting a nineteenth post-operation casualty) in the Battle of Mogadishu were members of the SOAR(A) Night Stalkers team, who were lost along with the two Black Hawks.

Afghanistan 2001: On 19 October an MH-47E carrying ODA 595 landed at Dehi. They flew over 150 miles from Karshi-Khanabad (K2) in Uzbekistan. A few weeks later ODA 595 and ODA 555 along with the Northern Alliance retook the city of Mazari Sharif from the Taliban.

In December the same year Night Stalker crews were essential in resupplying over 150 Delta Force, British SBS and CIA SAD operatives during their hunt for Osama bin Laden in the Tora Bora mountain complex.

Philippines, 2002: Chinook helicopter lost-4 killed.

Afghanistan, 2005: Eight Night Stalkers were lost along with eight Navy SEALs on a rescue mission for Marcus Luttrell, after their MH-47 Chinook helicopter was hit by an RPG (rocket propelled grenade). They were sent out to look for Luttrell after Operation Red Wings, which he was undertaking with three other SEALs, went horribly awry when their presence was revealed to the Taliban, presumably by goat herders. The Night Stalkers lost on the search and rescue mission included:

Staff Sgt. Shamus O. Goare, 29, of Danville, Ohio

Chief Warrant Officer Corey J. Goodnature, 35, of Clarks Grove, Minnesota.

Sgt. Kip A. Jacoby, 21, of Pompano Beach, Florida

Sgt. 1st Class Marcus V. Muralles, 33, of Shelbyville, Indiana

Master Sgt. James W. Ponder III, 36, of Franklin, Tennessee

Maj. Stephen C. Reich, 34, of Washington Depot, Connecticut.

Sgt. 1st Class Michael L. Russell, 31, of Stafford, Virginia

Chief Warrant Officer Chris J. Scherkenbach, 40, of Jacksonville, Florida

The 160th provided aviation support during numerous special operations raids during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. One of them was the rescue mission of PFC. Jessica Lynch taken prisoner in 2003, the raid in Al Qadisiyah, as well as the rescue of three Italian contractors and one Polish businessman held for ransom by Iraqi insurgents in 2004.

Night Stalker helicopters were present during the 2008 SOCOM counter-terror exercises in Denver.

On 24 April 2008, Company D, 160th SOAR was inactivated at a ceremony conducted at Hunter Army Airfield, GA, as part of an overall regimental transformation plan.

The 160th SOAR also took part in the 2008 Abu Kamal raid.

On 19 August 2009, four Night Stalkers from D Company, 1st Battalion, 160th SOAR lost their lives in a MH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crash in Leadville, Colorado, during a mountain and environmental training.

On 22 October 2009, a 3rd Battalion helicopter crashed into the USNS Arctic during a joint training exercise involving fast roping about 20 miles off Fort Story, Virginia. The crash killed a soldier, Sergeant First Class James R. Stright, 29, and injured eight others, three seriously.

The Night Stalkers provided insert and cover for the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in May 2011.

Syria looks toward parliamentary elections

2011-08-06T09:20:00.000-07:00

DAMASCUS — Syria vowed on Saturday to hold "free and transparent" elections by the end of 2011 as Arab states in the Gulf joined a chorus of Western pressure over its deadly suppression of anti-regime protests.

An activist, meanwhile, said hundreds of tanks and armoured cars had been deployed in the northeastern city of Deir Ezzor and around Homs in central Syria.

"Syria will hold free and transparent elections that will give birth to a parliament representing the aspirations of the Syrian people," Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said in a meeting with ambassadors posted to Damascus.

"The general elections will be held before the end of the year," Muallem said, quoted by the official SANA news agency.

The foreign minister stressed "the commitment of the Syrian leadership to the continued reform process and implementation of measures announced by President (Bashar al-) Assad."

The embattled president issued a decree on Thursday allowing opposition political parties, but the move was largely dismissed by the opposition as a ploy to appease protesters.

The oil-rich Arab monarchies of the Gulf on Saturday turned up the heat on Damascus, with the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council calling in a statement for an "immediate end to violence... and bloodshed."

They urged a "resort to wisdom and introducing serious and necessary reforms."

Their call followed a pledge by the US, French and German leaders to consider new steps to punish Syria after a deadly crackdown on the first Friday of Ramadan, the holy Muslim month of fasting.

President Barack Obama spoke separately to France's Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel as Western nations cranked up pressure on Assad.

They "condemned the Assad regime's continued use of indiscriminate violence," the White House said. They "also agreed to consider additional steps to pressure the Assad regime and support the Syrian people."

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, in an interview to be published on Sunday, said Assad no longer has a future in Syrian politics.

"I don't believe that Assad has a political future ahead of him which is supported by the Syrian people," Westerwelle told the newspaper Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

The Syrian government has sought to crush the democracy movement with brutal force, killing around 1,650 civilians and arresting thousands of dissenters, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory, told AFP by telephone that around 250 tanks and armoured cars were deployed in four districts of Deir Ezzor on Saturday.

The tanks were also posted around the airport in Deir Ezzor, many of whose residents started to flee the city from Wednesday, fearing imminent military action.

Syrian opposition members say it's questionable whether the move could end decades of single-party Baathist rule without constitutional reform. Observers say one of the articles of the Syrian constitution guarantees supremacy for the ruling Baath party.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group, said 2,000 people have died in the unrest, mostly demonstrators.

Moallem said Syria is intent on fostering security, stopping vandalism, and pursuing democracy and progress, SANA reported.

Anti-government protests erupted across Syria on Friday, but the turbulent city of Hama appeared to have borne the brunt of it.

The city endured steady shelling and bombing Friday morning while the government's military offensive continued in full swing, said a resident whom CNN has not identified for his safety.

Two witnesses, who talked to CNN independently, said scores of people -- one said he had counted 53; the other said 58 -- were killed instantly when a tank positioned 150 meters from Hurani Hospital launched an artillery shell that landed in front of the building. One opposition activist estimated that 300 people have died in violence in Hama during the past six days.

The observatory put Friday's death toll in Syria -- not including Hama -- at 14. But a spokesman for the Local Coordination Committees cited 21 deaths -- not including Hama.

The U.S. Department of State is urging U.S. citizens in Syria to depart immediately while commercial transportation is available.

PH gov’t on cautious mode as US loses AAA credit rating

2011-08-06T09:15:00.000-07:00

A handful of elite life insurers sporting triple-A credit ratings are expected to suffer a downgrade from Standard & Poor's in line with the downgrade of the U.S. government Friday.

More broadly, the rating firm's move means insurers that hold Treasurys in their investment portfolios may well end up required to set aside capital to back up those holdings.

In mid-July, when the U.S. government was warned of possible action by S&P, the ratings firm also put the five insurers holding its coveted triple-A rating on CreditWatch negative. S&P said the move was the "downstream effect" of its action on the nation's credit rating; under S&P's criteria, a nation's rating constrains the financial-strength ratings on insurers.

The insurers currently rated triple-A by S&P are Knights of Columbus, New York Life Insurance Co., Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America, and United Services Automobile Association.

In recent interviews, the companies said their financial strength justified continued triple-A ratings, and that they remain confident in the strength of their business models.

"The Knights of Columbus has earned a rating of AAA from Standard & Poor's for 19 consecutive years, and we have every confidence in our continued success because we have a fundamentally solid business model which continues to serve us well," a Knights of Columbus spokesman said last month.

A New York Life spokesman noted earlier this summer that S&P had affirmed New York Life's AAA counterparty-credit and financial-strength ratings in April.

"The change to CreditWatch was not in response to any new initiatives of the insurers; rather S&P tells us that no financial institution can carry a higher rating or outlook than its sovereign," the spokesman said. "We believe our diversified $165-billion portfolio of cash and invested assets continues to be of outstanding quality, and along with our mutuality, our leadership position in life insurance, and the strength of our career agent distribution system, fully justifies our continued triple-A ratings.

Purisima said the downgrade should prompt policymakers around the globe to coordinate in instituting actions that would somehow shield their economies from the ill-effects of the United States’ fiscal and economic problems.

Given the links of emerging markets to the US, any unfavorable event in the world’s biggest economy is expected to somehow dampen even their performance, according to economists.

Purisima said the Philippines will also be affected by the downgrade because the country’s foreign exchange reserves are denominated in US dollars and are mostly invested in US Treasuries.

The United States’ lower credit rating could reduce the value of US Treasuries in the international bond market, thus adversely affecting the Philippines’ reserves of foreign currencies.

The Philippines’ gross international reserves (GIR)—the reserves of foreign currencies that determine the country’s ability to purchase imports, pay debts to foreigners, and engage in other commercial transactions with the rest of the world—stand at about $69 billion and the bulk of these are invested in US Treasuries.

According to US Treasury data, the Philippines holds $23.6 billion in US securities, now rated AA+ by S&P with a negative outlook.

The US is also its top export market, main provider of foreign military aid, and a key host for the Philippines’ nine million-strong overseas workers whose remittances help fuel household consumption in the Philippines.

Purisima said the US credit rating downgrade should encourage policymakers to talk about considering other “more stable” reserve currencies as alternatives to the US dollar and US Treasuries.

S&P said that in addition to the downgrade, it is issuing a negative outlook, meaning that there was a chance it will lower the rating further within the next two years.

One analyst suggested the downgrade might move Congress to take concrete steps to fix the nation’s budget problems.

“It’s a downgrade and it’s bad, but if it spurs more conversation about bringing down spending and maybe more intelligent tax policy, it could be a good thing in the long run,” said Frank Barbera, a portfolio manager of the Sierra Core Retirement Fund.

The downgrade announcement came after markets closed for the weekend, but there was no evidence of any immediate disruption.

A spokesperson for the Federal Reserve said the decision would not affect the ability of banks to borrow money by pledging government debt as collateral, a statement that could set the tone for the reaction of the broader market.

The statement was issued to make sure banks did not feel that the downgrade would affect the amount of capital that regulators require the banks to hold against possible losses.

The downgrade is likely to have little to no impact on how the US finances its borrowing, through the sale of Treasury bonds, bills and notes. This week’s buying proves that.

“Investors have voted and are saying the US is going to pay them,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics. “US Treasuries are still the gold standard.”

He noted that neither his parent organization, Moody’s, nor Fitch, the other of the three major rating agencies, have downgraded US debt.

The ratings agencies were sharply criticized after the financial crisis in 2008 for not warning investors about the risks of subprime mortgages. Those mortgages were packaged as securities and sold to investors who lost billions of dollars when the loans went bad.

Japan had its ratings cut a decade ago to AA, and it didn’t have much lasting impact. The credit ratings of both Canada and Australia have also been downgraded over time, without much lasting damage.

S&P cuts US rating, flays Congress

2011-08-06T09:06:00.000-07:00

US cut its "gigantic military expenditure and bloated welfare costs," another downgrade would be inevitable.

But other countries, such as Australia, France and Japan, said they retained their faith in US bonds.

The downgrade ended a week of growing uncertainty for the world economy.

Fears that the US might be headed for a double-dip recession and the eurozone's debt problems were set to spread to Italy and Spain saw stock market sell-offs around the world.

The downgrade is a major embarrassment for the administration of President Barack Obama and could raise the cost of US government borrowing.

This in turn could trickle down to higher interest rates for local governments and individuals.

One initial estimate says that could add an extra $75bn (£46bn) to the US annual interest rate bill at a time when its debt levels are already high.

The other two major credit rating agencies, Moody's and Fitch, said they had no immediate plans to follow S&P in taking the US off their lists of risk-free borrowers.

An unnamed Japanese government official told Dow Jones Newswires Saturday that Tokyo continued to trust US Treasuries "and their attractiveness as an investment will not change because of this action."

India described the downgrade as "grave," while Russia and France said they were untroubled by the rating slip, and Britain's Business Secretary Vince Cable called it "entirely predictable."

The rating downgrade came after a strong pushback from the White House, which called S&P's analysis of the economy deeply flawed and politically-based.

A Treasury spokesperson alleged that there was a "two trillion dollar error", arguing that S&P admittedly used the wrong baseline and erred on spending plans and debt projections.

But John Chambers, chairman of the S&P sovereign ratings committee, defended the decision.

"It's a matter of the medium and long-term budget position of the United States that needs to be brought under control," he said on CNN.

"This is a problem a long time in the making."

He pointed to the White House, Democratic and Republican lawmakers battling for months until the country was on the precipice of default on Tuesday before they finally agreed to a deal to raise borrowing limits and slash the deficit.

Tuesday's fiscal consolidation plan "falls short of what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilise the government's medium-term debt dynamics," S&P said in its ratings statement.

"More broadly, the downgrade reflects our view that the effectiveness, stability, and predictability of American policymaking and political institutions have weakened at a time of ongoing fiscal and economic challenges to a degree more than we envisioned" back in April, it said.

"Our opinion is that elected officials remain wary of tackling the structural issues required to effectively address the rising US public debt burden in a manner consistent with a 'AAA' rating."

A debt downgrade is a symbolic embarrassment for President Barack Obama, his administration and the United States, and could raise the cost of US government borrowing - a move that would likely trickle down to most Americans in the form of higher interest rates.

But S&P, which based its case in part on the assumption that Bush-era tax cuts would remain in place, also pointed the finger of blame at Republicans who had insisted that no new tax revenue be a part of the debt deal.

"We have changed our assumption on this because the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues, a position we believe Congress reinforced by passing the act," S&P said.

There are worries that the downgrade will wreak unpredictable havoc in global financial markets where the US dollar has long been the most important currency, but some analysts believe the cut will not have much impact.

Indeed, despite a downgrade hanging overhead, the Treasury easily auctioned off tens of billions of dollars in new debt this week, and Treasury yields fell to the year's low.

S&P is considered the most influential of the three major rating agencies ahead of Moody's and Fitch - both of which said this week that they continue to review the country's deficit reduction plan for possible downgrades.

S&P first warned Washington of a possible downgrade in April.

Then in July, during the protracted political standoff over raising the government's debt ceiling, S&P placed the United States on credit watch and warned of a possible cut within 90 days.

The plan finally agreed on Tuesday calls for $US917 billion ($878 billion) in cuts over 10 years, but also mandates an as-yet unnamed congressional panel to come up with another $US1.5 trillion in cuts by the end of the year.

Miranda Kerr looks a million miles away as she dines out with happy husband Orlando Bloom

2011-08-06T09:05:00.000-07:00

Kerr was the only model who managed to crack a smile at the David Jones parade in Sydney this week, and it worked for her.

For years now, models have such a grim look on their face when they walk down the catwalk.

Hopefully, Kerr's performance on Wednesday night will change things.

She's been a constant presence by his side since he was born, even taking him thousands of miles across the world to Australia with her.

So it was no surprise to see Miranda Kerr looking like she was missing her baby boy Flynn as she dined out with husband Orlando Bloom last night.

The model, 28, looked a million miles away as she and her actor other half met family for dinner in Rose Bay, Sydney, Australia this week.

Even when they all left the restaurant, Miranda looked itching to get a car home as they stood around talking outside.

Orlando, on the other hand, couldn't stop smiling and looked delighted to have a grown-up night out with his beautiful wife.

He even managed a broad smile for the cameras as he grabbed Miranda's hand and led her to their car.

Miranda has been in her motherland for just over a week now where she has been working and spending time with her family.

She flew out with Flynn and was joined by Bloom last week.

Apart from the modelling work she has been doing for department store David Jones, she has not left Flynn's side.

Three hurt in suspected drug house blast

2011-08-06T09:03:00.000-07:00

THREE people are in hospital with serious burns after a suspected clandestine drug lab explosion at a house in Perth's north.

Police, firefighters and ambulance officers went to the Balga property at around 2.25am (WST) today after a neighbour reported a loud blast, flames and screaming.

Two men, aged 34 and 37, have been taken to Royal Perth Hospital (RPH), the younger man with extensive burns to his body.

A 43-year-old woman with serious burns later presented at Joondalup Hospital and was transferred to RPH.

Police said a number of people were seen running from the house and driving off in a car.

Items associated with the manufacture of methylamphetamine were found in the house.

Police said a number of people were seen running from the property trying to escape the flames in the house. They got into a vehicle and drive away.

A 37-year-old man who lived at the house and a 34-year-old man from Baldivis were taken to Royal Perth Hospital by ambulance.

A 43-year-old woman presented herself at Joondalup Hospital but was transferred to Royal Perth Hospital. She and the 34-year-old man have serious burns.

The organised crime squad is examining the property after a number of items associated with the manufacture of methamphetamine were found inside the house, according to police.

38 die as US chopper crashes

2011-08-06T09:01:00.001-07:00

US senior administration official said yesterday a Chinook helicopter that crashed, killing 31 US special operations forces and seven Afghan soldiers, was apparently shot down by insurgents.

It was the highest number of American casualties recorded in a single incident in the decade-long war in Afghanistan.

Twenty-five of the dead were US Navy SEALs, US television network ABC News reported.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai sent his condolences to US President Barack Obama, according to a statement issued by his office.

Taliban claims to have brought the helicopter down in a rocket attack but it has been known to make exaggerated claims.

NATO said there ‘‘was enemy activity in the area’’.

The helicopter was brought down during an anti-Taliban operation in an insurgent-infested district of the eastern province of Wardak, just south-west of Kabul.

It was shot down by a Taliban rocket that destroyed it, the Wardak governor’s spokesman said after the Taliban had claimed responsibility.

The death toll was given in a statement issued by Mr Karzai’s office and was not immediately confirmed by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.

During a joint special operation last night a helicopter crashed and as a result 38 people lost their lives. Among the dead, seven of them are from the Afghan Special Commando Army and the other 31 victims are international forces,” said Zaher Azimy, spokesman for the Afghan defence ministry.

A statement from the Afghan presidential palace said the helicopter crashed in central Maidan Wardak province to the west of the capital Kabul.

The Taliban issued a statement claiming to have shot down the Chinook during a firefight which also killed eight insurgents.

Azimy would not be drawn on the possible cause of the Chinook crash saying: "The incident is already under investigation. As this helicopter belongs to international forces, obviously they will provide details of the crash and the reason.

4WD driver tested

2011-08-06T09:00:00.001-07:00

Epping woman, 34, who was driving a 4WD carrying 10 children when it crashed on Friday night has been released from the Royal Melbourne hospital after taking a blood alcohol test.

Police were last night waiting for the results before interviewing the unlicensed driver.

The 10 children are in a stable condition at the Royal Children's and Western hospitals. The Pajero ran off the Western Highway and rolled.

Maddie Pulver fights back after bomb hoax

2011-08-06T08:59:00.000-07:00

BOMB hoax victim Madeleine Pulver had a return to normalcy, of sorts, this weekend, four days after being subjected to a terrifying 10-hour ordeal at her Mosman home.

The teenager set off before 7.30am yesterday for a swim before returning home with a friend.

After a quick change, she left the house again, this time accompanied by her parents, Bill and Belinda Pulver, to join teammates from Wenona School for Girls for a hockey match, where she was warmly greeted by teammates.

It is believed to be the first school activity she has undertaken since being held in her home on Wednesday as the victim of an elaborate extortion attempt during which a hoax bomb device was chained around her neck.

As she left,, Madeleine said she just wanted to get on with her life.

''I'm doing well,'' she said. ''Every day is getting better. It's good to be getting back to normal.''

The way individuals cope with trauma is influenced by how their lives have been up until that point, according to Sydney neuro-psychotherapist Trisha Stratford, who said not all victims needed counselling.

''If something like this happens to you and you have had a fairly happy, enjoyable life up until that moment, then you cope with it better.''

Mr and Mrs Pulver stood on the sidelines cheering their daughter on.

Mr Pulver, who said his daughter would return to school on Tuesday, said the family would not feel safe until their daughter's tormentor was caught.

The note attached to Maddie - which featured references to Tai-Pan - did not include instructions for a handover of money, but Det Supt Luke Moore confirmed a "demand" had been made.

Yesterday, the 18-year-old donned her shinpads and headed to Sydney's inner west for an inter-school hockey competition.

Leaving home in the company of her father, Bill, and mother, Belinda, soon before 9am, Maddie clearly relished the opportunity to catch up with teammates.

After laughing and chatting with friends in a warm-up session, watched by a slew of television crews, she took to the field for a spirited game.

Her team eventually went down 2-0, but she was commended for her determination in attending.

There were supportive cheers from the crowd, and her teammates patted her on the back as she returned to the change rooms.

Maddie said she had looked forward to rejoining her teammates, saying her friends had been a "very good pillar of support" following her ordeal.

"It will be good to be back to normal," the 18-year-old said.

Earlier, Maddie took advantage of the warmer weather, heading out for an early morning swim with a male friend about 8am.

It was the same friend who had comforted her on Friday night, cuddling and hugging her during a visit from school mates.

But it won't be all fun and games for Maddie in the weeks ahead.

As she tries to come to terms with her horror bomb hoax ordeal, she will also have to resume her studies for her HSC exams.

Along with her fellow year 12 classmates, Maddie had been scheduled to begin the tests last Thursday - the day after she was attacked while studying alone at her Mosman home.

Staff at Wenona postponed the exams in the wake of the attack, citing the distress the incident had caused all students.

Norway polar bear attack: grieving family pays tribute to Horatio Chapple

2011-08-06T08:57:00.000-07:00

JUST before Patrick Flinders headed out on the expedition to the Arctic Circle he and his father posted a short film on the internet to express his excitement over the ''fantastic'' trip.

The 16-year-old, like his friends, Horatio Chapple and Scott Smith, both 17, dreamed of experiencing raw nature and were particularly excited about seeing polar bears in their natural habitat.

However, it was the brutality of the wilderness they had to face after their group was attacked by the world's biggest land carnivore.

A 2.1-metre, 254-kilogram bear rampaged through their camp on Friday, ignoring traps designed to keep it at bay. By the time it was shot, Horatio, an Eton schoolboy, was dead and Patrick, from Jersey, and Scott along with their two guides were seriously injured.

Patrick survived by punching the bear repeatedly on the nose.

Police who arrived by helicopter found the group in shock, the bloody carcass of the bear still lying among the tents and the injured.

The injured have undergone surgery and are recovering in hospital.

The victims were part of a group of 80 that landed last month on the Norwegian arctic island of Spitsbergen, home to more than 3000 polar bears.

Michael Reid sustained injuries to his face and neck in the incident and remained in hospital today, along with fellow leader Andrew Ruck, 27, Patrick Flinders, 16, and Scott Bennell-Smith, 17, who also underwent treatment overnight.

Mr Ruck's and Mr Reid's injuries were described as severe, while Scott and Patrick sustained less serious injuries. All were stable after operations.

The five men and boys attacked were part of a group travelling on a British Schools Exploring Society (BSES) expedition, which was camped on the Von Postbreen glacier near Longyearbyen on Svalbard, north of the Norwegian mainland.

Peter Reid described his shock when the BSES called him on Friday to inform him of the incident in which Horatio, from near Salisbury in Wiltshire, died.

"We were very anxious," he said. "We're upset, but there's a family in Wiltshire with a 17-year-old son who's been killed and we can't imagine the grief they're going through."

On hearing that his son had shot the bear, he felt a "mixture of anxiety and pride", he said.

His son, who lives in London and works as an events co-ordinator for the Royal Geographical Society, spoke warmly of Horatio in his email, he added.

Michael Reid described the schoolboy as "one of the best members of our group" and wrote "I am so devastated".

Hospital staff said it was hoped the survivors could be transferred to a hospital in the UK as soon as possible.

Jane Owen, the British ambassador to Norway, has visited the four survivors and said they were "all bearing up well".<

She said: "It's clearly a priority to get them home as soon as possible. They're receiving extremely good treatment here at the hospital in Tromso.

"We are working with the hospital authorities to establish when will be the right time to arrange for them to be medevaced (given a medical evacuation) back to the UK so that they can be with their families as they go through the recovery process.

"Our priority is obviously to support those involved and respect families' need for privacy at this very difficult time.