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en-us Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company Tue, 02 Dec 2008 12:04:39 GMT NYT > Home Page http://graphics.nytimes.com/images/section/NytSectionHeader.gif http://www.nytimes.com/pages/index.html Officials Vow to Act Amid Forecasts of Long Recession http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/business/economy/02econ.html?partner=rss&emc=rss http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/business/economy/02econ.html http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/12/01/business/01paulson-75.jpg image 75 75 Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. spoke at the Fortune 500 Forum in Washington on Monday. Doug Mills/The New York Times As economists said that the U.S. officially sank into a recession last December, the Fed chairman and the Treasury secretary said they would use all the tools at their disposal to restore normalcy to the economy. <a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/business/economy/02econ.html"><img src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/business/economy/02econ.html" border="0"/></a>

Officials Vow to Act Amid Forecasts of Long Recession
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 12:02:31 GMT
As economists said that the U.S. officially sank into a recession last December, the Fed chairman and the Treasury secretary said they would use all the tools at their disposal to restore normalcy to the economy. <a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/business/economy/02econ.html"><img src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/business/economy/02econ.html" border="0"/></a>

Pardon Is Back in Focus for the Justice Nominee
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 08:10:39 GMT
Eric H. Holder Jr., Barack Obama’s choice to be attorney general, was more deeply involved in the 2001 pardon of Marc Rich than his supporters acknowledge. <a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/us/politics/02holder.html"><img src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/us/politics/02holder.html" border="0"/></a>

With Appointments, Obama Moves On From the Campaign
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:11:00 GMT
Barack Obama formally introduced his national security team, led by Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state nominee. <a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/us/politics/02obama.html"><img src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/us/politics/02obama.html" border="0"/></a>

The TV Watch: A Concession Wrapped in an Acceptance
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:09:39 GMT
For some viewers, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s speech was the moment when she finally conceded the election for real. <a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/us/politics/02watch.html"><img src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/us/politics/02watch.html" border="0"/></a>

Nominee Would Lead ID Program She Opposed
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:02:27 GMT
As governor of Arizona, Janet Napolitano, Barack Obama’s choice for homeland security secretary, opposed the Real ID drivers’ license program. <a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/us/politics/02license.html"><img src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/us/politics/02license.html" border="0"/></a>

Thai Court Bans Prime Minister
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 11:57:19 GMT
Thailand’s Constitutional Court dissolved the ruling party and banned the prime minister from politics for five years. <a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/03/world/asia/03thai.html"><img src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/03/world/asia/03thai.html" border="0"/></a>

Military Analysis: Afghan Strategy Poses Stiff Challenge for Obama
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 08:48:36 GMT
Experts caution that a troop increase in Afghanistan is unlikely to lead to the sort of turnaround seen in Iraq. <a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/world/asia/02strategy.html"><img src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/world/asia/02strategy.html" border="0"/></a>

India Demands Pakistan Hand Over Fugitives
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 11:58:28 GMT
As tensions increased between nuclear-armed neighbors after the Mumbai attacks, India demanded that Pakistan hand over 20 people that it considers to be “fugitives.” <a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/03/world/asia/03mumbai.html"><img src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/03/world/asia/03mumbai.html" border="0"/></a>

For Heroes of Mumbai, Terror Was a Call to Action
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 11:58:47 GMT
Ordinary citizens displayed extraordinary grace during one of the most horrific terrorist attacks in India’s history. <a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/world/asia/02heroes.html"><img src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/world/asia/02heroes.html" border="0"/></a>

Hospital Did Not Report Burress’s Wound
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 08:48:34 GMT
Police said a hospital failed to notify them when Plaxico Burress arrived with a gunshot wound, despite state law. <a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/sports/football/02hospital.html"><img src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/sports/football/02hospital.html" border="0"/></a>

Forget Citigroup, Puppet Show Needs a Bailout
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 08:12:02 GMT
California’s economy has taken a toll on a marionette show that is a staple of a Los Angeleno childhood. <a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/theater/02pupp.html"><img src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/theater/02pupp.html" border="0"/></a>

‘Chemical Ali’ Again Sentenced to Die
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 11:57:19 GMT
An Iraqi court sentenced Saddam Hussein’s cousin “Chemical Ali” to death Tuesday for crushing a Shi’ite revolt after the 1991 Gulf War. <a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-us-iraq-trial.html"><img src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-us-iraq-trial.html" border="0"/></a>

Germany Aims to Guide the West’s Ties to Russia
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 08:43:34 GMT
Germany hopes to counter Russia’s renewed militarism by promoting economic development and stability. <a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/world/europe/02germany.html"><img src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/world/europe/02germany.html" border="0"/></a>

Report Cites Problems in Elevator Where Boy Died
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 08:15:07 GMT
Elevator problems at a Brooklyn building were tied to faulty maintenance by the city’s public housing agency. <a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/nyregion/02elevator.html"><img src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/nyregion/02elevator.html" border="0"/></a>

Rider Fatally Stabs City Bus Driver and Flees
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 08:44:10 GMT
A New York City bus driver was fatally stabbed in Brooklyn on Monday after refusing to give a free transfer to his assailant, who had not paid his fare. <a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/nyregion/02driver.html"><img src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/nyregion/02driver.html" border="0"/></a>

Presidential Race Is Still Alive in Georgia Runoff
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 08:58:20 GMT
Bruised Republicans are keeping their fingers crossed for Senator Saxby Chambliss on Tuesday. <a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/us/politics/02georgia.html"><img src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/us/politics/02georgia.html" border="0"/></a>

Well: After Prostate Cancer, the Echo of Desire
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 12:03:43 GMT
Changes in a man's sex life are often the most difficult part of coping with prostate cancer. <a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/after-cancer-the-echo-of-desire/index.html"><img src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/after-cancer-the-echo-of-desire/index.html" border="0"/></a>

The New Old Age: Unpaid Family Caregivers
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 12:03:44 GMT
Some 34 million American adults provide an average of 21 hours a week of care to another adult, usually an elderly parent or spouse. <a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/loves-labor/index.html"><img src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/loves-labor/index.html" border="0"/></a>
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Thailand PM stripped of power as court finds government guilty of corruption
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:57:18 GMT
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/14153?ns=guardian&pageName=World+news%3A+Thailand+PM+stripped+of+power+as+court+finds+government+guilty+of+corruption&ch=World+news&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=Thailand+%28News%29%2CWorld+news&c5=Not+commercially+useful&c6=Ian+MacKinnon&c7=2008_12_02&c8=1127347&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=World+news&c12=Thailand&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FThailand" width="1" height="1" /></div>The political crisis that has paralysed Thailand and stranded as many as 300,000 international travellers took a dramatic turn today when a court disbanded the ruling party and banned the prime minister from office.Judges from the constitutional court found the People Power party (PPP) and two senior coalition partners guilty of electoral fraud for vote-buying in last December's general election and barred the prime minister, Somchai Wongsawat, from office for five years.The People's Alliance for Democracy, whose supporters have occupied Bangkok's two main airports as part of weeks of anti-government demonstrations, greeted the verdict with celebrations and said they would cease their protest tomorrow. But the ruling party raised the spectre of street violence after government supporters, angered by the judges' widely expected decision, surrounded the Bangkok court and refused to allow the judiciary to leave the building.Overnight, a grenade was thrown from a flyover near Bangkok's barricaded domestic Don Muang terminal, killing one person and injuring 22 other sleeping protesters.Analysts portrayed the situation on the ground as extremely volatile, while others said the judges' decision made with uncharacteristic haste was tantamount to a covert coup through which a royalist-military elite sought to strip the elected government of power."Thailand is in the middle of a crisis," said Sunai Thasuk, of Human Rights Watch, who was at the courthouse. "The government supporters are very, very upset. The climate is very volatile and both sides have been known to use violence against each other. It's a highly dangerous situation."Britons caught by the shutdown of Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International airport a week ago told of their fears over the political turmoil, and mounting frustrations over their inability to find a way to leave the country.Foreign secretary David Miliband urged commercial airlines to lay on extra flights for stranded passengers. Speaking to reporters, he said that more than 12 commercial flights will be made to Thailand today. "We are working with all the airlines to honour their responsibility to ticket holders."The airport authorities in Thailand said they would assess tomorrow how soon flights could resume at Bangkok's two main airports.Cargo flights were resumed today, reducing the economic impact of lost export earnings, estimated to be £53m daily.Demonstrators at the airports were overjoyed when they heard the verdict.But one glimmer of hope came as the international airport today reopened to cargo flights, reducing the economic impact of lost export earnings, estimated to be £53m daily.Demonstrators for the anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy, who invaded Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang to demand the government quit and Somchai step down, were overjoyed when they heard the verdict."My heart is happy," said Pailin Jampapong, 41, choking back tears of joy among the throng at Suvarnabhumi. "My friends are very happy."Immediately after the decision to disband the PPP, Machima Thipatai and Chart Thai parties, Somchai said he would abide by the rule of law and stand aside, describing it as "not a problem. I was not working for myself. Now I will be a full-time citizen."But the ruling that bans Somchai and 36 party executives and MPs does not prevent the PPP rump reforming. They immediately signalled they would move to the new party of Puea Thai (For Thailand) - a measure not barred by the constitution.The former minister Jakrapob Penkair, a close confidante of the ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, said the court's decision came as no surprise. "Our members are determined to move on and we will form a government again out of the majority that we believe we still have," he said.But Giles Ungpakorn, a political scientist at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University, accused the "fascist Pad", judges and the monarchist-military elite in the capital of staging a "judicial coup" to rob the rural poor government supporters of their rights."The majority of the Thai population, who are poor, face a double whammy," he said. "First, the elite royalists are doing everything possible to take away their basic democratic rights. Secondly, mass job losses are occurring among workers in the tourist industry as a result of the airport blockade. The Pad protesters are middle-class extremists who don't have to go to work."<div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/thailand">Thailand</a></li></ul></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a> <a href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/0kakUXPSLaxg0WghOQLUM3Kvmkc/a"><img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/0kakUXPSLaxg0WghOQLUM3Kvmkc/i" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a>

Top policeman brought in to handle Damian Green review
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:43:04 GMT
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/25551?ns=guardian&pageName=Politics%3A+Top+policeman+brought+in+to+handle+Damian+Green+review&ch=Politics&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=Damian+Green%2CPolitics%2CPolice+%28politics%29%2CHouse+of+Commons%2CWhitehall%2CUK+news%2CConservatives%2CLondon+politics%2CLondon+%28News%29%2CBoris+Johnson&c5=Policy+Society%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CLocal+Government+Society%2CUnclassifed+Contributors&c6=Helene+Mulholland%2CDeborah+Summers&c7=2008_12_02&c8=1127341&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Politics&c12=Damian+Green&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FPolitics%2FDamian+Green" width="1" height="1" /></div>MPs today welcomed a decision to appoint a top police officer to review the arrest of Conservative frontbencher Damian Green.Sir Paul Stephenson, the acting Metropolitan police commissioner, has asked Ian Johnston, a chief constable in the British Transport police, to report to him within seven days to review the handling of the police inquiry into Home Office leaks.Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, praised Johnston's appointment and revealed that she sought assurances from Stephenson yesterday that the inquiry was being carried out in a "proportionate" manner.In a statement, she said: "In view of the gravity and sensitivity of this ongoing investigation, I spoke to Sir Paul yesterday to seek his assurance that the investigation was being pursued diligently, sensitively and in a proportionate manner. Sir Paul informed me of his intention to conduct a review of the handling of the case, which I welcomed." David Davis, the former shadow home secretary, said it was "frankly, the first sensible thing that has happened in this whole exercise"."He can look at how disproportionate this was, how heavy-handed it was, how it was actually a criminal offence being laid against somebody who would normally be dealt with by disciplinary proceedings," Davis said. "He can certainly look very hard at how the protection of parliament was trampled over in this investigation."Keith Vaz, the chairman of the Commons home affairs committee, added: "It is important that the circumstances and the decisions, actions and handling of the investigation to date are thoroughly examined against existing guidelines."The review comes amid political outrage over the arrest of Green, the shadow immigration minister, last week following leaks he received from Christopher Galley, a junior Home Office official.Stephenson's decision to sanction Green's arrest and the search of his home, parliamentary and constituency offices, infuriated MPs on all sides.David Wilshire, a Conservative backbencher, formally complained that it breached a ban on agents of the crown entering the Commons imposed after Charles I sent soldiers in to arrest MPs in 1642.However, the Met's actions have been defended by the Association of Chief Police Officers, who insisted that no one, regardless of their position, should be able to influence a police inquiry.In the latest twist, ministers have today been accused of trying to shut the Tories out of top-level talks about Commons Speaker Michael Martin's response to the controversy over Green's arrest.A leaked email revealed that Harriet Harman, the leader of the house, is organising a meeting with other ministers, civil servants and Commons officials this afternoon.It will consider the Speaker's much-anticipated statement to the Commons' tomorrow.Martin is expected to reveal whether he personally authorised police to enter the palace, and what role was played by the serjeant at arms, Jill Pay, and the clerk of the Commons, Malcolm Jack.It is thought the Conservatives – in particular David Davis – may raise points of order in the hope of forcing a debate on the floor of the Commons, potentially disrupting arrangements for the state opening of the new parliamentary session and the Queen's speech.The Tories are demanding to be allowed to take part in today's meeting.David Cameron, the Conservative leader, said: "I think some sort of stitch-up meeting between the House of Commons authority and the Labour party wouldn't be right. If we need to have a meeting, all parties should be there."The meeting is due to discuss "arrangements of the Queen's speech and considerations in advance of the Speaker's statement on police action and parliament".Those invited included Smith, Jack Straw, the justice secretary, Gus O'Donnell, the cabinet secretary, and the serjeant at arms – but no Conservatives.Harman's office insisted they would only discuss the logistics of the event and not the content of the Speaker's statement.But Dominic Grieve, the shadow home secretary, said: "This is a completely improper meeting convened by the government privately with the Commons authorities and senior civil servants to manage the Speaker's statement without any representation from other parliamentarians. We insist on being present at this meeting along with representatives of all political parties to discuss the issues on the agenda."Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, warned of a "slippery slope" if the incident was left unchecked.He told BBC News 24: "In this country opposition MPs already have far fewer rights, far fewer powers, to lift the lid on secrecy in Whitehall, to really scrutinise what ministers do on our behalf."That is essential to any democracy if the public want to get the best out of the government, the government they have elected. The government are not just there to lord it over us no questions asked."Clegg added: "If we let the Damian Green incident just pass, I think we'll go down a slippery slope of letting the government do whatever it likes between one election and the next, and that's not going to help anyone in the country as a whole."<div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/damian-green">Damian Green</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/police">Police</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/houseofcommons">House of Commons</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/whitehall">Whitehall</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/conservatives">Conservatives</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/london">London politics</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/london">London</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/boris">Boris Johnson</a></li></ul></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a> <a href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/oo8LFttmFJz8HIhncgGZr764qmw/a"><img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/oo8LFttmFJz8HIhncgGZr764qmw/i" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a>

Devastating report reveals Baby P failings
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:03:57 GMT
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/17162?ns=guardian&pageName=Society%3A+Devastating+report+reveals+Baby+P+failings&ch=Society&c3=The+Guardian&c4=Baby+P%2CChild+protection+%28Society%29%2CSociety%2CUK+news%2CPolitics%2CLocal+politics+%28Politics%29%2CLondon+%28News%29%2CEd+Balls&c5=Society+Weekly%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CLocal+Government+Society%2CChildren+Society&c6=John+Carvel&c7=2008_12_02&c8=1127201&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Society&c12=Baby+P&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FSociety%2FBaby+P" width="1" height="1" /></div>The head of children's services in the London borough where Baby P died after months of persistent injury and neglect was dismissed from her post yesterday as the government responded to a damning report into the council's failings.On a day which saw two senior figures on Haringey council resign within hours of the report hitting ministers' desks, Ed Balls, the children's secretary, removed Sharon Shoesmith from control of the borough's children's department. He described the findings of the review as "devastating". The report, commissioned at the conclusion of the Old Bailey trial into the toddler's death, found nine fundamental defects, which continue to put children in danger despite the intense public scrutiny since Baby P was killed in August last year. They included failure to identify children and young people at risk of immediate harm, lack of coordination between agencies and poor sharing of information.George Meehan, the council's leader, and Liz Santry, its cabinet member for children and young people, resigned within hours of reading the conclusions. It is understood that Shoesmith offered to follow suit and was astonished to see Balls announce her immediate dismissal on live television in the early afternoon. It also emerged that five other council employees have been suspended over their handling of the case. Balls said he was using powers under the 1996 Education Act to remove Shoesmith and install John Coughlin, director of children's services in Hampshire, in her place. "I have powers to intervene and remove someone who is not fit for office," he told journalists.He added: "Most people would look at this report - look at the clear evidence of management failures - and say that this kind of failure should not be rewarded with compensation or payoffs. That's a matter for Haringey." The council acknowledged that Balls had the authority to remove Shoesmith from her role as director of children services, but the status of her employment contract with Haringey was still a matter for the council to resolve.A spokesman said: "She has been suspended pending disciplinary proceedings, with two others: Cecilia Hitchen, deputy director, children and families; and Clive Preece, head of children in need and safeguarding services." Three other staff - Maria Ward, the social worker, Sylvia Henry, senior social worker and Gillie Christou, the team manager - had been removed from child protection duties pending further investigation."The council would be required to report monthly to the government on progress in reforming the children's department, with a further review by Ofsted by the end of June. Balls said he would then decide whether "further sanction" was needed, including a possible compulsory contracting out of children's services to another provider.Balls said the report by Ofsted, the Healthcare Commission and chief inspector of constabulary was "devastating and damning". On nearly every page, the document was littered with words such as "inadequate", "unacceptable", "poor" and "unreliable". The failings included:• Failure to identify children and young people at immediate risk of harm and to act on evidence;• Agencies working in isolation from one another and without effective coordination;• Poor gathering, recording and sharing of information;• Inconsistent quality of frontline procedures and insufficient evidence of supervision by senior management;• Inconsistent management oversight of the assistant director of children's services by the director of children's services and the chief executive;• Insufficient challenge by the local Safeguarding Children Board to council members and frontline staff;• Poor child protection plans.Balls ordered the review after public outcry over the death of the 17-month-old boy, who suffered more than 50 injuries at the hands of his abusive mother, 27, her boyfriend, 32, and their lodger, Jason Owen, 36, despite 60 contacts with the authorities over eight months. They will be sentenced next year.Balls said he was particularly worried by a finding of the inspectors that child protection staff failed to talk directly to children. He added: "Where children were not seen alone, it worries me greatly that the inspectors found little evidence of management follow-up to ensure children suspected of being abused were properly heard and able to speak up without fear."Balls urged investigations into 38 other abuse cases to be reopened after Ofsted criticised the quality of previous reviews. They include three cases in Cornwall, three in Northamptonshire and deaths and serious injuries to children in Bristol, Derbyshire and Hampshire.Ofsted will also carry out annual unannounced inspections in England.There will be a fresh independent review of the Baby P case, with an executive summary published in March. But the full report will remain confidential and Balls refused to order a full public inquiry.He accepted advice from Lord Laming, head of the inquiry into the death of the abuse victim Victoria Climbié in 2000, who said a public inquiry would set back progress on child protection made in many parts of England and divert effort from the actions needed to keep children safe in Haringey.<div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/baby-p">Baby P</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/childprotection">Child protection</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/localgovernment">Local politics</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/london">London</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/edballs">Ed Balls</a></li></ul></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a> <a href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/dZhSIoRlqL1sYXTXgBxsPgKvLMQ/a"><img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/dZhSIoRlqL1sYXTXgBxsPgKvLMQ/i" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a>

Discount drive hits Tesco sales
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 08:24:36 GMT
Figures underline difficulties facing UK retail sector as recession bites <a href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/gX9vI4KOcclVTDUdmmP5tDClF00/a"><img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/gX9vI4KOcclVTDUdmmP5tDClF00/i" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a>

Abu Qatada ordered to return to prison
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:50:26 GMT
Bin Laden's 'right-hand man' to be put back in jail after secret intelligence evidence suggests he might flee the UK <a href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/ftbqaelVlebyMKK_G9BDYQT1OEI/a"><img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/ftbqaelVlebyMKK_G9BDYQT1OEI/i" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a>

Mumbai attacks: India demands Pakistan hand over terror suspects
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:11:10 GMT
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/58173?ns=guardian&pageName=World+news%3A+Mumbai+attacks%3A+India+demands+Pakistan+hand+over+terror+suspects&ch=World+news&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=Mumbai+terror+attacks+%28News%29%2CIndia+%28News%29%2CPakistan+%28News%29%2CWorld+news%2CUS+news%2CTerrorism+-+international&c5=Not+commercially+useful&c6=Julian+Borger%2CVikram+Dodd%2CMark+Tran&c7=2008_12_02&c8=1127301&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=World+news&c12=Mumbai+terror+attacks&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FMumbai+terror+attacks" width="1" height="1" /></div>India today downplayed the possibility of military action in response to the Mumbai attacks but demanded that Islamabad hand over suspected terrorists believed to be in Pakistan."Nobody is talking of military action," India's foreign minister, Pranab Mukherjee, told reporters when asked what action might be taken.Indian investigators have said the attacks that killed at least 172 people last week were carried out by militants from Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Kashmiri extremist group based in Pakistan. Mukherjee said a list of about 20 names was given to Pakistan's high commissioner to India at a meeting last night. India has already demanded that Pakistan take "strong action" against those responsible for the attacks, and the US has put pressure on Islamabad to cooperate.Condoleezza Rice yesterday called for full Pakistani cooperation with the investigation into the Mumbai attacks, saying they represented a "critical moment" in the new civilian government's efforts to stamp its authority on Pakistan's security services.The outgoing secretary of state said she did not want to "jump to conclusions", but made it clear during a visit to London that she expected Islamabad would have to answer for the attacks.Rice, who is due to arrive in India tomorrow, urged its government to focus on the investigation of the attacks, and to avoid actions that might have "unintended consequences", such as troop manoeuvres.The Indian government has claimed the attackers trained in Pakistan.Islamabad has denied any involvement, but has warned that it might have to transfer forces from its western tribal areas, where they are fighting Islamic extremist groups, to its eastern border with India if there were threatening moves by Indian troops.The Indian authorities have been releasing parts of their case against Pakistan to the media. Yesterday Indian media reported intelligence sources as saying an email claiming responsibility for the attack had been traced to an internet address in Lahore.There were signs yesterday that India was winning the diplomatic tussle. A western diplomatic source said India's claims that extremist elements in Pakistan were involved in the attack were being widely believed, and that Pakistan's warning that it would have to move troops away from the Afghan border was being interpreted as "a threat" to western interests.Speaking to reporters in London yesterday, Rice directed most of her remarks to the newly elected government of President Asif Ali Zardari."President Zardari has said rightly that extremism in any form is a threat to Pakistan as well as India. So I fully expect the commitment of Pakistan to absolute transparency and wherever the leads go, to follow them up," Rice said.The civilian government's control over Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) came into question last week when the prime minister, Yousef Raza Gilani, announced he would dispatch the agency's new director general, Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, to India to discuss the attack, only for the offer to be withdrawn within hours. A more junior ISI representative was promised instead.Most foreign observers believe at least some ISI officers still harbour sympathy for Islamic extremist groups and turn a blind eye to their terrorist activities.Rice did not mention the ISI yesterday but made clear she believed the time had come for Pakistan's government to ensure different parts of its security apparatus were not pursuing separate agendas."Everyone knows that you don't have day one with a military government and day two with a civilian government," Rice said. "But this is a critical moment for Pakistan to bring all its institutions into a common strategy to defend Pakistan. And defending Pakistan means rooting out extremism, defending Pakistani interests means cooperating fully, defending Pakistani interests means investigating this so further attacks can be prevented."Rice said she was flying to New Delhi tomorrow "to show solidarity" and offer help with the investigation and counter-terrorism measures. She would also be discouraging the escalation of the situation.India's high commissioner in London said last night the attacks were "probably" aimed at derailing peace talks between India and Pakistan, which had been given a boost by the election of a new democratic government in Islamabad.Shiv Shankar Mukherjee told Sky News that India had made no "aggressive moves" since the attack, but warned that the peace process between the two countries was "under pressure".But he added that "over the last few months we've been having a terrorist attack virtually every month in India. And we've leaned over backwards and have gone the extra mile ... to see that the dialogue succeeds, because there is no alternative, except peaceful dialogue to resolve our problems."<div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/mumbai-terror-attacks">Mumbai terror attacks</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/india">India</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/pakistan">Pakistan</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/usa">United States</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/terrorism">Global terrorism</a></li></ul></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a> <a href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/SF22CSqJO89Za_o06iDH0kmprec/a"><img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/SF22CSqJO89Za_o06iDH0kmprec/i" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a>

It's in the past: Obama and Clinton bury the enmity
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:02:40 GMT
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/22594?ns=guardian&pageName=World+news%3A+It%27s+in+the+past%3A+Obama+and+Clinton+bury+the+enmity&ch=World+news&c3=The+Guardian&c4=Obama+White+House+%28News%29%2CHillary+Clinton+%28News%29%2CBarack+Obama+%28News%29%2CUS+news&c5=Not+commercially+useful%2CUS+Elections&c6=Oliver+Burkeman&c7=2008_12_02&c8=1127202&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=World+news&c12=Obama+White+House&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FObama+White+House" width="1" height="1" /></div> A naive and irresponsible politician, prone to distorting the facts, awarded a crucial role in his cabinet yesterday to a deeply flawed has-been who is neither honest nor trustworthy - or so you might have imagined had you relied on the character judgments that each had previously made of the other. But all that nastiness belonged to another, long-vanished era, the prehistoric period geologists refer to as "last spring". Barack Obama's much-anticipated announcement that Hillary Clinton would be his secretary of state, by contrast, dwelt almost exclusively on the future. Which left only a few hundred lingering questions.The appointment, first mooted in the press nearly three weeks ago, had been variously greeted as ingenious, admirable, baffling, and highly ill-advised. But with its confirmation yesterday - on the day they appeared together for the first time since Obama's election victory - the extraordinary implications began to sink in: Obama's top representative abroad will be a woman with whom he clashed bitterly for months. An opponent and a backer of the invasion of Iraq must work together to end the war there. And Obama's much-publicised plan to talk to leaders of countries hostile to America will now, presumably, be spearheaded by someone who condemned the idea as downright dangerous.Clinton and two other hawkish appointees announced yesterday - Robert Gates, who will continue as defence secretary, and the retired Marine commander James Jones, Obama's new national security adviser - have reportedly all embraced the radical change in direction. "I have known Hillary Clinton as a friend, a colleague, a source of counsel, and a tough campaign opponent," Obama said, outlining her role in what he described as a "new beginning" in American leadership abroad. Clinton would "command respect in every capital," he promised. Obama's victory, Clinton said, reflected the view that "our security, our values, and our interests cannot be protected and advanced by force alone nor, indeed, by Americans". It is standard procedure, of course, for emnities arising during the primaries to be transformed. But clashes are rarely as vicious as Obama versus Clinton was. Then there's the complicating factor of Bill Clinton, who has agreed to allay the Obama transition team's concerns by making public, among other things, the names of more than 200,000 donors to his foundation and library.The cynical interpretation of Obama's decision is that it neutralises a rival Clinton powerbase in the Senate. Another view is he prizes practical experience and independence of mind in his appointees, and is confident of imposing ideological direction on them. "This is fun for the press to try to stir up whatever quotes were generated in the campaign," Obama said. "No, I understand. And you're having fun, and there's nothing wrong with that." One of the most compelling rivalries in modern political history, he seemed to be saying, was now nothing but fond memories. And maybe he is right.<div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/obama-white-house">Obama White House</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/hillaryclinton">Hillary Clinton</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/barackobama">Barack Obama</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/usa">United States</a></li></ul></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a> <a href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/9IMFZkXAP_AHeA7yDKnDSl7cBcE/a"><img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/9IMFZkXAP_AHeA7yDKnDSl7cBcE/i" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a>

Strictly Come Dancing's John Sergeant to release Christmas single
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:39:48 GMT
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/77525?ns=guardian&pageName=Music%3A+Strictly+Come+Dancing%27s+John+Sergeant+to+release+Christmas+single&ch=Music&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=Pop+and+rock+%28Music+genre%29%2CMusic%2CCulture+section%2CStrictly+Come+Dancing%2CThe+X+Factor%2CReality+TV%2CMedia%2CTelevision+%28Culture%29%2CTelevision+industry+%28Media%29%2CChristmas+%28Life+and+style%29&c5=Pop+Music%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CMedia+Weekly%2CChristmas%2CTelevision+Media&c6=Sean+Michaels&c7=2008_12_02&c8=1127338&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Music&c12=Pop+and+rock&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FMusic%2FPop+and+rock" width="1" height="1" /></div>The "dancing pig in Cuban heels" may just top the charts, come Christmas. John Sergeant, the marvellous and maligned political journalist who won the hearts of the nation on <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/strictlycomedancing">Strictly Come Dancing</a>, has announced plans to release a Christmas single.Let's Not Fight This Christmas will be released on December 8. Written by Squeeze's Chris Difford, it is a collaboration between Sergeant, 64, and Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley of The One Show. Sergeant will face tough competition from the X-Factor winners, whose soppy take on Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah is a favourite for Christmas No 1. But of course Sergeant has one distinct advantage: he can't sing.The BBC's former chief political correspondent, Sergeant won the hearts of millions with his, er, distinctive dance moves. Despite the sneers of Strictly Come Dancing's judges, he enjoyed a deluge of fan support – and indeed seemed headed for the crown. But Sergeant decided that this was "a joke too far," resigning from the programme at the end of November. "It's like when you decide when you leave a party, and the time to leave a party is before the fight starts, and I think that's really what's happened on this occasion," he told a press conference.Sergeant may not look like Kylie, but he certainly has the je ne sais quoi of past Christmas hits. Let's just hope that his singing voice is as fine as his dance moves.<div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/popandrock">Pop and rock</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/strictlycomedancing">Strictly Come Dancing</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/thexfactor">The X Factor</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/realitytv">Reality TV</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/television">Television</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/television">Television</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/christmas">Christmas</a></li></ul></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a> <a href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/clTcu6-xzxH9MDUlaflLe6ZTA0Q/a"><img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/clTcu6-xzxH9MDUlaflLe6ZTA0Q/i" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a>

Iraq's 'Chemical Ali' gets second death sentence for Shia massacre
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 10:17:44 GMT
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/76888?ns=guardian&pageName=World+news%3A+Iraq%27s+%27Chemical+Ali%27+gets+second+death+sentence+for+Shia+massacre&ch=World+news&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=Iraq+%28News%29%2CWorld+news&c5=Not+commercially+useful&c6=Mark+Tran&c7=2008_12_02&c8=1127355&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=World+news&c12=Iraq&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FIraq" width="1" height="1" /></div>Ali Hassan al-Majid, the cousin of Saddam Hussein known as "Chemical Ali", has received a second death sentence for the mass killing of Shia Muslims during an uprising in southern Iraq after the 1991 Gulf war.Majid had already been condemned to death by hanging for his role in the killing of tens of thousands of Kurds, but has not yet been executed.He served as Iraq's intelligence chief and defence minister under Saddam. He was one of three former officials sentenced to death in June after being convicted of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for their part in the 1988 Anfal (Spoils) campaign, which killed 180,000 Kurdish civilians and guerrillas.Majid was also behind the brutal suppression of the abortive southern Shia uprising that followed the expulsion of Iraqi forces from Kuwait in 1991.After the US invasion he was listed as the fifth most-wanted man in Iraq, shown as the king of spades in the deck of most-wanted Iraqi playing cards. He was captured in August 2003.Abdul-Ghani Abdul-Ghafur, a former Ba'ath official, also received a death sentence at the end of the trial, which began in August 2007.Four defendants received life sentences, six face 15-year sentences and three were acquitted. Another former defence minister, Sultan Hashim Ahmad al-Tai, who also faces the death penalty for the Kurdish crackdown, was given a 15-year sentence in today's verdict.<div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/iraq">Iraq</a></li></ul></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a> <a href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/4TRwM-rcwBZxVBioaCbxNuT9x5Q/a"><img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/4TRwM-rcwBZxVBioaCbxNuT9x5Q/i" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a>

Smugglers kill more than 20 refugees in Gulf of Aden
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 11:31:47 GMT
Agencies call for action as human traffickers force east Africans overboard taking year's refugee death toll to 380 <a href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/y0AzFiB9eVITztYQW6O3LNoVVuU/a"><img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/y0AzFiB9eVITztYQW6O3LNoVVuU/i" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a>

Hacker in final showdown to avoid extradition to US
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 12:21:36 GMT
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/29042?ns=guardian&pageName=Technology%3A+Hacker+in+final+showdown+to+avoid+extradition+to+US&ch=Technology&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=Technology%2CHacking+%28Technology%29%2CLaw+and+technology%2CComputer+security%2CUS+news%2CUK+news&c5=Not+commercially+useful%2CCorporate+IT%2CConsumer+Electronics&c6=Bobbie+Johnson&c7=2008_12_02&c8=1127395&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Technology&c12=Hacking&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FTechnology%2FHacking" width="1" height="1" /></div>The British man accused of hacking into US military computers will have his final showdown in the UK courts next month.After almost four years of fighting extradition to the US as a result of what prosecutors have called "the biggest military computer hack of all time", Londoner Gary McKinnon will face a judicial review conducted by the high court on January 20.McKinnon – who used the online name Solo – is accused of hacking into computers belonging to the Pentagon, Nasa and US armed forces in raids conducted between 2001 and 2002.Prosecutors say he shut down thousands of machines and caused up to $700,000 worth of damage, while the 42-year-old claims he was searching for evidence of UFOs.Over the course of the case, defence lawyers argued that McKinnon will face unduly harsh punishment for his actions and should instead face trial in the UK, since the alleged hacking attacks were conducted from a house in north London.By the time the decision is made, it will be almost seven years since McKinnon ended his activities. During that time a succession of arguments have been made against his removal – including that he faces up to 60 years in prison or detention at Guantánamo Bay, and that he should receive leniency because he suffers from Aspberger's syndrome.Such protestations have so far proved unsuccessful, however, with a string of decisions against him, including rulings by the law lords and the home secretary. McKinnon's last chance to avoid removal to the US will come in next month's judicial review.Prosecutors acting for the government argued that McKinnon's review should take place today but his lawyers succeeded in pushing it back until the new year.The news brought cheer to some campaigners who see the date as an auspicious sign. Coinciding with the inauguration of Barack Obama as president, supporters at the Free Gary website suggested the date could be the equivalent of "waving a couple of fingers" at the Bush administration.In recent months campaigners – including <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/nov/03/gary-kinnon-hacker-aspergers-extradition">former home secretary David Blunkett</a> have argued that McKinnon should be tried in the UK because of his medical condition. His supporters are hopeful that they can sway the final judgment, particularly after Gordon Brown spoke about the case publicly for the first time last week and hinted that McKinnon may not end up in a US jail.During prime minister's questions last week, Brown was asked about McKinnon's situation and said that existing conventions would enable him to serve any prison sentence in Britain, rather than in the US."The UK and the US are signatories to the Council of Europe convention on the transfer of sentenced persons, which enables a person found guilty in the United States of America to serve their sentence in the UK," he told MPs.<div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/hacking">Hacking</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/law">Law and technology</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/security">Computer security</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/usa">United States</a></li></ul></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a> <a href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/Hf_g_y-z4kF8AEzJrzRnlm7p92M/a"><img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/Hf_g_y-z4kF8AEzJrzRnlm7p92M/i" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a>

Welfare: Lone parents told to be ready to work or face benefit cut
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:04:43 GMT
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/66451?ns=guardian&pageName=Politics%3A+Lone+parents+told+to+be+ready+to+work+or+face+benefit+cut&ch=Politics&c3=The+Guardian&c4=Welfare+%28Politics%29%2CPolitics%2CSociety%2CState+benefits%2CMoney%2CWork+and+careers%2CFamily+finances%2CSocial+exclusion+%28Society%29&c5=Society+Weekly%2CPersonal+Finance%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CSocial+Care+Society&c6=Patrick+Wintour&c7=2008_12_02&c8=1127204&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Politics&c12=Welfare&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FPolitics%2FWelfare" width="1" height="1" /></div>The government will announce further stringent welfare reforms today which would force lone parents with children aged one or more to prepare themselves for work or face benefit sanctions.The proposals, likely to provoke a confrontation in tomorrow's Queen's speech, represent a further extension of the government's responsibilities agenda. Ministers already faced a backlash over aspects of the planned welfare reform bill as lobbyists argued plans to tighten sanctions and give private contractors a bigger role in job placement, should be shelved in view of the recession.But James Purnell, the work and pensions secretary, will defy critics when he publishes a review prepared by the academic Paul Gregg that will propose all lone parents with children as young as one should be required to make themselves ready for work.The government proposed in a green paper in July to make it a requirement for lone parents with children aged seven or more to seek work, proposals that had already led to a backlash. It is estimated there are 600,000 lone parents with children aged under seven. Gregg is to propose a new category of benefit claimants - the progression to work group - who he says should face clearer state requirements to make themselves ready for work. The Department for Work and Pensions said this group would include lone parents with children as young as one, partners of people on benefits with children under seven and incapacity benefit claimants deemed to be capable of work. This group, before they are actually ready to actively seek work, would be expected to address debt, confidence or health problems, as well as taking on work and skills training. Young mothers might also be required to make inquiries about access to childcare in their locality. "Sanctions would only apply to those who refuse to take steps to be job-ready that have been jointly agreed with their personal advisers in Job Centres", said a DWP official. From 2010 many of these advisers would be employed by the private sector or charities. The Gregg review stemmed from concerns in the DWP that the current path to benefit entitlement was not clear. Ministers favoured the example of Scandinavia, especially Denmark, where almost everyone is expected to do something in return for receiving unemployment benefit. The government's previous proposals have already been attacked by Richard Tilt, chairman of the independent social security advisory committee, and by the leftwing pressure group Compass which has argued "it is wrong to profit from the sick and the unemployed".<div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/welfare">Welfare</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/statebenefits">State benefits</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/workandcareers">Work & careers</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/familyfinance">Family finances</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/socialexclusion">Social exclusion</a></li></ul></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a> <a href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/8Kle2bzpmwQzXQxlirUfwlJKm2s/a"><img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/8Kle2bzpmwQzXQxlirUfwlJKm2s/i" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a>

Chinese figures show fivefold rise in babies sick from contaminated milk
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 10:44:16 GMT
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/63506?ns=guardian&pageName=World+news%3A+Chinese+figures+show+fivefold+rise+in+babies+sick+from+contaminated+milk&ch=World+news&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=China+%28News%29%2CWorld+news&c5=Not+commercially+useful&c6=Tania+Branigan&c7=2008_12_02&c8=1127371&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=World+news&c12=China&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FChina" width="1" height="1" /></div>Almost 300,000 babies were taken ill due to contaminated milk powder this year, China's health ministry has said; more than five times as many cases as previously disclosed.It also raised the melamine scandal's death toll from four to six infants, underlining the impact of the country's worst safety scare in years. More than 860 babies are still hospitalised, with 154 of those classed as severe cases.The crisis caused public outrage because it is thought the chemical was added deliberately to allow substandard milk to pass nutrition tests and because of the cover-up. Sanlu, the firm at the heart of the problems, knew the milk was tainted months before it told local officials. It did not contact Hebei's provincial government for another month - leaving babies to drink unsafe milk until mid-September.In a statement released overnight, the ministry said 294,000 babies across the country had suffered from urinary problems after consuming milk powder laced with melamine. Most received outpatient treatment but 54,000 were hospitalised. In sizable quantities, the substance can cause kidney stones and even failure. The ministry said it investigated 11 possible deaths related to melamine-tainted milk and ruled five of them out.But several families are convinced their children died because of tainted formula but have not been counted in the death toll. "When the county health bureau first came to us, they said my child died because of the milk powder," Tian Xiaowei, a farmer from Shaanxi, whose one-year-old son died in August, told the Associated Press."But later, when the case was reported to the district health authority, they said there's no proof that the death was linked."A Beijing lawyer who has aided affected families said he believed even more deaths might have gone uncounted because parents had not reported them. Chang Boyang also told AP there was no word on compensation yet."I assume that the government is worried about the situation of the dairies and is afraid the companies may fall if they have to pay for the compensation amid the current financial crisis," he said.The scandal prompted authorities to announce a complete overhaul of the country's dairy industry to improve safety.Dozens of countries imposed bans and extra checks on Chinese food products, with tests on products ranging from chocolate bars to yoghurt finding traces of the substance. Low levels of the chemical are not thought harmful.It later emerged that eggs also contained melamine because it had been added to animal feed.<div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/china">China</a></li></ul></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a> <a href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/M97o6R8o4UkyU5AjFXEQQkFmLvU/a"><img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/M97o6R8o4UkyU5AjFXEQQkFmLvU/i" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a>

John Barrowman apologises for exposing himself on BBC Radio 1
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:21:45 GMT
Torchwood actor John Barrowman has apologised after exposing himself on a live BBC Radio 1 show. By Leigh Holmwood <a href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/PQXrfcSTvNx0rQyOy1gIUbQRfHQ/a"><img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/PQXrfcSTvNx0rQyOy1gIUbQRfHQ/i" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a>

Guardian Daily podcast: Baby P council chiefs lose jobs; plus dramatic new CO2 targets
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 07:33:09 GMT
The Guardian's social affairs editor, John Carvel, and head of society, health and education, Patrick Butler, discuss the 'damning' report into Haringey council's handling of the case of Baby P.David Kennedy, chief executive of the government's Climate Change Committee, discusses new proposals to reduce greenhouse gases by at least one fifth in just over a decade.The Home Office civil servant alleged to have leaked documents that led police to arrest senior Conservative Damian Green spoke publicly for the first time yesterday. Chief political correspondent Nicholas Watt looks at the latest developments.Diplomatic editor Julian Borger discusses the pressure facing Pakistan to act against terrorists following last week's attack on Mumbai.And art critic Jonathan Jones assesses the winner of the 2008 Turner prize, Mark Leckey. <a href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/aXJTv1rTPq0JEMLM79Y3mXAkJDw/a"><img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/aXJTv1rTPq0JEMLM79Y3mXAkJDw/i" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a>

Redundancy: video on how to survive the threat of losing your job
Thu, 27 Nov 2008 15:32:25 GMT
What to do if you are facing redundancy. <a href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/lxbOH5DUVMTh9dm9ibNmRlwhkg4/a"><img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/lxbOH5DUVMTh9dm9ibNmRlwhkg4/i" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a>

Eyewitness: latest photos from Guardian's centre page
Wed, 28 Nov 2007 12:11:22 GMT
The latest photographs from the Guardian's centre page Eyewitness spread <a href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/7nQp_533yWVFjExCt10taM_PTKY/a"><img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/7nQp_533yWVFjExCt10taM_PTKY/i" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a>

Quiz: Universities trivia
Fri, 28 Nov 2008 09:15:25 GMT
Test yourself on what you didn't know you didn't know about British universities <a href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/3xGNFBGLDGe847zHsA-Ck2-IwSU/a"><img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/3xGNFBGLDGe847zHsA-Ck2-IwSU/i" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a>

Paul MacInnes discovers that the Cairo film festival shows a country divided
Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:26:09 GMT
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/13980?ns=guardian&pageName=Film%3A+Pyramid+selling%3A+the+Cairo+film+festival+shows+a+country+divided&ch=Film&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=Film%2CCulture+section%2CFestivals+%28Culture%29%2CEgypt+%28News%29%2CGender+%28News%29&c5=Not+commercially+useful&c6=Paul+MacInnes&c7=2008_11_26&c8=1124305&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Film&c12=Festivals&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FFilm%2FFestivals" width="1" height="1" /></div>"I think that all films are political," says Susan Sarandon in a tone that suggests she's expressed such sentiments before. "The ones that reinforce stereotypes are just as political as those that do not. The good news and bad news is that Hollywood is not political."Sarandon is in Cairo and this should be a gimme. One of Hollywood's most famous liberals railing against the iniquities of her industry to a group of North African Muslims, it would appear speaker and audience are ideally matched. But Sarandon is having a tough time, railed at in Arabic by a series of circumlocutory questioners, she is accused of being a representative of the very yankee empire she thinks she spends her life railing against. A grand insistence that "art will definitely conquer power in the end" doesn't really help to calm matters.Cairo may well be a jumble of contrasts, as the old cliche has it, or it could be a comfortable sum of its many parts - I wouldn't know. It's a conurbation of up to 20 million people and, as such, it might take more than a flying visit to the banks of the Nile to work it out. What I can say, though, is that the Cairo international film festival (CIFF) and the films it showcases seem to render uncannily the awkward gap between cinema and the real world it hopes to represent. The opening night of the festival saw the Cairo opera house, which nestles in a web of roads a few hundred metres from the river, taken over by the Egyptian glitterati. There was no end to the stars gracing both the red carpet and the hall's main stage where, expertly cajoled by Omar Sharif, they honoured Sarandon and her fellow Hollywood guests in an interminable ceremony that left you wondering whether Goldie Hawn, another guest, had stood up for so long since making <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092214/plotsummary">Wildcats</a>. It was a low-cut night smothered in diamante, that finished up with a screening of Return to Hansala, a Spanish movie about the corpses of drowned immigrants. By that point the auditorium was four-fifths empty.Return to Hansala, which is competing in the main competition in Cairo, is a political film, and not just in the Sarandon sense. Illegal labour (the bloated bodies had been on their way to work in the fruit farms of Andalucía), the migration it inspires and, centrally, the cultural differences between migrants and the native Spanish are all tackled. Much of the movie is spent in Morocco as the hero, an undertaker played by José Luis García Pérez, tries to return the corpse of a boy to his family. A series of misunderstandings follows him on his journey, from his insistence on smoking during Ramadan, to his bafflement at the treatment of his travelling companion by her father. A number of scenes feature nothing more than Pérez conducting mutually uncomprehending conversations with locals. It's not a bad metaphor. Not just for the disjuncture between west and (middle) east, but between those who make cinema and those who watch it. It may be the same at most film festivals, but attending CIFF you do feel as if you're in a bubble, heading from your security-clad hotel to your specially commandeered cinema, and back again in time for a subsidised dinner. I was even warned off attending some of the cinemas participating in the festival as they were too far away and, anyway, only for the normal viewer. When I got to one of them I found it to be in the exclusive Towers Mall, a complex that required you to have your bags scanned upon entry.Everywhere you looked there were two different realities plonked next to each other. While the actresses wear revealing gowns and the promotional campaign for the festival features a woman on all fours, her long hair blown back as she conjures a pyramid out of the air, the majority of Egyptian women go about their daily business wearing a hijab. While the festival screened an interesting programme of movies around the topic of human rights, one of Egypt's leading actors, Mahmoud Qabil, used his festival conference to rail against the censorship that prevails in his homeland. At the same time, the festival would not exist without a reported $1m (£655,000) subsidy from the very government that imposes the censorship. (One of Cairo's English-language newspapers announced the opening of CIFF with an unlikely splash - "Hosny excited about Cairo film fest"; replace Hosny and Cairo with Andy Burnham and London and you'll have its unlikely British equivalent.)Amidst all these contradictions the only certainty seemed to be that CIFF was not there to engage with the average Egyptian cinemagoer. The screenings are spectacularly under-attended. Meanwhile, mainstream Egyptian movies – Laylat El-Baby Doll, for example, which concerns an American Egyptian trying to conceive a child on New Year's Eve despite various comic interventions and some genitals damaged in 9/11 - could be said to offer as nuanced a view of the world as their Hollywood equivalents. So the directors and selectors of the Cairo international film festival have, with care and acuity, developed a programme that is rich, challenging and will be seen only by those people who engage with cinema for their living. The Hollywood stars will express their strong sentiments of solidarity with the Arab people and return home after a tour of the pyramids. The ministers will continue to enjoy seeing CIFF listed among the world's 11 best film festivals and continue to bankroll the red carpet. Yet amid it all, you do wonder if, somewhere along the line, a point has been missed.<div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/festivals">Festivals</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/egypt">Egypt</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gender">Gender</a></li></ul></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a> <a href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/Q6X8RJ7n1G3HCBpUjqFk3Y0DOa8/a"><img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/Q6X8RJ7n1G3HCBpUjqFk3Y0DOa8/i" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a>

Premier League: Liverpool 0-0 West Ham United
Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:20:51 GMT
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/4761?ns=guardian&pageName=Football%3A+Liverpool+blow+chance+to+lay+down+title+marker&ch=Football&c3=The+Guardian&c4=Premier+League+%28Football%29%2CLiverpool+FC+%28Football%29%2CWest+Ham+United+%28Football%29%2CFootball%2CSport&c5=Not+commercially+useful%2CPremier+League&c6=Andy+Hunter&c7=2008_12_02&c8=1127238&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Football&c12=Premier+League&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FFootball%2FPremier+League" width="1" height="1" /></div>Gianfranco Zola handed Chelsea a multitude of reasons to revere him as their greatest ever player. Last night he gave them cause to toast his move into management as West Ham restricted Liverpool's rise to the top at an angst-ridden Anfield. Reaching the summit has rarely been greeted with such bewilderment in these parts.Looking down on Chelsea and Manchester United is the only view Liverpool want this season and, as Rafael Benítez repeatedly said afterwards, the league table makes pleasant reading today. But - there is always a but - it should look much better. Benítez knew it, Liverpool's players knew it and the boos that greeted the final whistle, swift yet audible, showed a frustrated home support knew it, too. A second successive 0-0 draw at home to mid-table opposition was not the response of championship contenders. For the second league game in succession, Liverpool were left to reflect on an opportunity wasted."We have one more point than Chelsea now so, if we can beat Blackburn at the weekend, we will stay top of the table," said Benítez, spelling out the facts. "Yes we are frustrated again, it is clear we deserved to win and some people can be disappointed. We are disappointed. But we are also top of the table and the fans will enjoy seeing the table tomorrow."Liverpool were dominant last night and but for an inspired performance in the West Ham goal from Robert Green they would have achieved their aim of establishing a three-point lead over Chelsea. Yet this was a far more satisfying evening for the genial Italian than the ambitious Spaniard who, with George Gillett in attendance, called on Liverpool's joint-owners to conclude talks on his contract extension as soon as possible. "I am waiting for a communication," Benítez said. "Maybe we have to finish the conversations now and just think about the football."His contract had no bearing on this stalemate, however, and only two errant offside decisions against Carlton Cole late on, plus a wild miss from the substitute Luis Boa Morte, prevented Zola's plan of containment and counter from working to perfection. The visitors' point was delivered around the outstanding Green, Matthew Upson and James Collins, although a lack of confidence in front of goal from Liverpool also contributed to the outcome. Robbie Keane, substituted to his obvious disbelief for the 15th time in his brief Liverpool career, was a notable but far from isolated culprit in the absence of the injured Fernando Torres.Benítez and Jamie Carragher had pleaded for patience from the crowd following the frustration of being held to 0-0 by Fulham last month. Liverpool also gave their backing to the family of Michael Shields last night, the fan jailed for allegedly attacking a Bulgarian waiter after the Champions League Final in 2005, as they campaign for his release before a judicial review on Thursday. Once the Kop's mosaic of "Free Michael Now" had come down, the siege of Green's goal began. But this was a night that would stretch reserves of patience to the limit.Cole cleared off the goal-line from Albert Riera, Sami Hyypia headed the first of several invitations over the West Ham bar and saw a second header blocked on the line by Cole again - all inside the opening 21 minutes. Steven Gerrard and Dirk Kuyt also missed good openings before the interval, yet it was West Ham who came closer to a breakthrough when their former Liverpool striker Craig Bellamy beat José Reina from 25 yards only to see his drive rebound off the inside of a post.Until a pulsating finale, when Kuyt, Boa Morte, Ryan Babel and Cole traded chances at will, the momentum flowed towards Green. One save from the former Hammer Yossi Benayoun, to tip the Israeli's half volley at close range, was sublime. "I've told Robert [Green] that, if he keeps performing like this, he is going to be in the England team," said Zola, manager of a club that had lost on their seven previous visits to Anfield. "He has taken some stick this season but now he is getting what he deserves."Benítez denied reports, however, that Michael Owen would be the January solution to such frustrating nights. "I can guarantee we are not going for Michael Owen," he said.<div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/premierleague">Premier League</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/liverpool">Liverpool</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/westhamunited">West Ham United</a></li></ul></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a> <a href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/wEMm-2bqXIokXGbS8lgyWVE0xB0/a"><img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/wEMm-2bqXIokXGbS8lgyWVE0xB0/i" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a>

Football: Everton look to rekindle short-term Henrik Larsson deal
Mon, 01 Dec 2008 23:58:28 GMT
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/73108?ns=guardian&pageName=Football%3A+Everton+look+to+rekindle+short-term+Larsson+deal&ch=Football&c3=The+Guardian&c4=Everton+%28Football%29%2CPremier+League+%28Football%29%2CFootball%2CSport&c5=Not+commercially+useful%2CPremier+League&c6=Andy+Hunter&c7=2008_12_01&c8=1127251&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Football&c12=Everton&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FFootball%2FEverton" width="1" height="1" /></div>David Moyes, the Everton manager, will reconsider a move for the veteran Sweden captain Henrik Larsson in January as he searches the loan market for reinforcements for his stricken strike force.Injuries have reduced Everton's established four-man attack to one in the past week, the 20-year-old Victor Anichebe, and Moyes, with little money to spend, may have to revive his interest in the 37-year-old Larsson. The Everton manager resisted a chance to sign the former Celtic striker from Helsingborg at the end of last season, when he still had Andrew Johnson on the books, but warmed to the idea after Johnson was sold to Fulham and the August transfer deadline was approaching.By that stage, however, Larsson was reluctant to quit Helsingborg midway through a Swedish league season in which he ultimately scored 14 goals in 27 games and Moyes turned his attentions to Louis Saha. Everton may offer Larsson a short-term deal similar to the one he accepted from Manchester United in 2007, when he played from January until March during Sweden's close season, although whether the veteran remains receptive to the idea is uncertain.Larsson will not be the only option considered as Moyes tries to ease an injury crisis that has claimed Yakubu Ayegbeni, James Vaughan and Saha inside the past week. The £11.25m Yakubu is out for the season having ruptured an achilles tendon during the win at Tottenham while Vaughan will undergo knee surgery this week at the Colorado clinic of Dr Richard Steadman and Saha suffered a muscle spasm in his hamstring at White Hart Lane. Vaughan will be sidelined for up to three months following surgery and Saha will be reassessed later in the week, though he is not as serious as was first anticipated. Yakubu will have an operation today."It is a huge blow to lose Yak and we are all so sorry for him," said Steven Pienaar, Everton's scorer at Spurs. "He was really down. His presence alone in the team gives the players a boost, so it is really unfortunate for him when we are not even halfway through the season."The CSKA Moscow forward Vagner Love would be Moyes' ideal target. The manager watched the Brazilian score twice in a recent Uefa Cup tie at Feyenoord, although his £12m valuation is beyond the Scot and the injury to Yakubu removes any prospect of the Nigerian being sold to raise funds. The Everton manager had previously said Yakubu was not for sale. Alan Smith was another target in the summer, although the Newcastle forward has not played all season due to a stress fracture in his foot, while Kleber, a Brazilian currently on loan at Palmeiras from Dynamo Kiev, has also interested Premier League scouts.<div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/everton">Everton</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/premierleague">Premier League</a></li></ul></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a> <a href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/M7V-RvabcZiR5unj2O2LOrOivPU/a"><img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/M7V-RvabcZiR5unj2O2LOrOivPU/i" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a>

Tom Service on how the daring, experimental London Sinfonietta made it to 40
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 01:03:47 GMT
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/64667?ns=guardian&pageName=Music%3A+Bold+as+brass&ch=Music&c3=The+Guardian&c4=Classical+music+and+opera%2CMusic%2CCulture+section&c5=Classical+Music%2CNot+commercially+useful&c6=Tom+Service&c7=2008_12_02&c8=1127264&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Music&c12=Classical+music+and+opera&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FMusic%2FClassical+music+and+opera" width="1" height="1" /></div>Fortieth birthdays are always hard. Are you 40 years young, or getting long in the tooth? When the London Sinfonietta started out in 1968, it was the only ensemble of its kind anywhere in the world: a place where young composers could hear their music played alongside modernist greats. The group's first-ever programme, in January 1968, looks bizarre to anyone who has been to a Sinfonietta gig in the past decade or so: music by Hans Werner Henze, the world premiere of John Tavener's The Whale, Richard Strauss's conservative and inoffensive Symphony for Wind. These days, the Sinfonietta wouldn't touch Richard Strauss with a bargepole. A concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London tonight shows how far they have come: contemporary classics from Harrison Birtwistle and John Adams, alongside eight first performances.The Sinfonietta was dreamed up by a group of twentysomething young turks - conductor David Atherton, impresarios Nicholas Snowman and Andrew Rosner - and quickly became an essential part of Britain's musical landscape. By 1973, Karlheinz Stockhausen was praising its unique commitment to music-making, and Pierre Boulez was performing his Domaines with the ensemble around Europe. "It was technically incredibly hard," says David Purser, a Sinfonietta trombonist for more than 34 years. "One simply hadn't thought of playing music that difficult. There's a real excitement in that challenge from a player's point of view, and in working with the giants of the 20th century." Xenakis, Carter, Ligeti, Berio, Lachenmann, Reich, Adams: the Sinfonietta's collaborators form a roll call of 20th- and 21st-century musical history.But it is a commitment to British composers that runs like a golden thread through the Sinfonietta's story. Tonight's concert starts with Birtwistle, who first wrote for the group in 1969. Sinfonietta pianist Nicolas Hodges, who had a career-defining moment performing the world premiere of Carter's Dialogues four years ago, has fond memories of the concerts of the late 1980s, when "everything I went to was [performed by] the London Sinfonietta". But he sees the downside to this hegemony of new music. "Looking back, there were relatively few British composers the Sinfonietta promoted heavily. It was basically a bastion of the worst things about the clubs and cliques of British new music. In that time, they would shudder at performing Brian Ferneyhough or Michael Finnissy" - both composers whose complexity puts special demands on their performers. "But," Hodges adds, "it's testament to how the ensemble has developed in the past decade that they have now been included on their programmes."The people who set the Sinfonietta on that course were Oliver Knussen, music director from 1998 to 2002, and Gillian Moore, artistic director from 1998 to 2006. Knussen showcased a new range of international names and styles, but there were also cross-genre collaborations: dance from Akram Khan, live visuals from Peter Greenaway, and a partnership with the avant-garde electronica of Warp Records. Moore says she was consciously trying to put new classical music at the heart of broader contemporary culture: "The reason for working with Warp and Radiohead" - the Sinfonietta regularly performs music by Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood - "wasn't to create crossover, but rather to acknowledge connections between classical and other types of practice."Her strategy has worked. The two Warp concerts at the Festival Hall, which have since toured the world, brought full houses and a new, younger audience. The Sinfonietta packed the place out again this season for a concert of Thomas Adès and Steve Reich. David Purser says the Warp events were the moment when the Sinfonietta broke out of its new-music ghetto: "We got through to people who are interested in contemporary culture, theatre and art, but who hadn't previously come to contemporary music. Gone are the days - mercifully - when you could shake hands with everyone in the audience because they'd been coming to all the concerts of the past 10 years." Not everyone is so enthusiastic. While Hodges praises the ensemble's internationalism, he thinks that "they have also taken on projects and music of dubious quality - which presumably make them a lot of friends and a lot of money, but ultimately are artistically thin". Andrew Burke, the current artistic director, defends this kind of programming: "We have a responsibility to seek out new ways of engaging audiences, whether that's through other art forms or through technology. We have to be part of the digital chatter of people's lives." Burke doesn't want to lose sight of what is at the core of the Sinfonietta's work: giving world-class concerts of music you can't hear anywhere else in the UK. "In a sense, we're a niche of a niche; not just 'classical' but 'contemporary classical'. Yes, this music is often more complex - and I don't think we should be scared of that word - and more deep, more challenging than other areas of music. But when you get into it, my God, the payback! We have a responsibility to take that message out, with religious zeal."• The London Sinfonietta's 40th birthday concert is at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London SE1 (0871 663 2500), tonight. There will also be a special celebration at the Royal Festival Hall, London SE1, on December 13. Details: <a href="http://www.ldnsnf-40.com">ldnsnf-40.com</a><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/classicalmusicandopera">Classical music and opera</a></li></ul></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a> <a href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/XUH9-AVDJ4T-kFt8PbU5Je1sXOI/a"><img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/XUH9-AVDJ4T-kFt8PbU5Je1sXOI/i" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a>

Jonathan Glancey is dazzled by the thrilling new European court of justice in Luxembourg
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:08:07 GMT
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/33971?ns=guardian&pageName=Art+and+design%3A+Let+there+be+light&ch=Art+and+design&c3=The+Guardian&c4=Architecture%2CEuropean+Union+%28News%29%2CWorld+news%2CCulture+section&c5=Middle+East+Travel%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CArchitecture&c6=Jonathan+Glancey&c7=2008_12_02&c8=1127261&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Art+and+design&c12=Architecture&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FArt+and+design%2FArchitecture" width="1" height="1" /></div>If the law were a colour, what would it be? Dominique Perrault, the Parisian architect of the newly reconstructed European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, thinks the answer is gold. Why gold? "Because this is not a criminal court," he says. "It's not a place concerned with prisons and punishments. It's do with relations between European countries, with constitutional concerns. And anyway, I thought the sky over Luxembourg is often so sad that it would be nice, somehow, to catch the sun and bring it here." He's right: when the low, late November sun catches the base of the court's brand new twin towers, they light up like a pair of giant candles. The European Court of Justice, founded in 1952, is the highest court in the union, with a judge appointed from each member country. Located on top of the Kirchberg plateau, separated from Luxembourg City by a deep ravine, the court was until recently a rather soulless place. Perrault has succeeded in introducing an unexpected playfulness. "I like those cities you find in Spain, Austria or Bavaria," he says, "which have patches of wonderful and unexpected colour - where buildings have been designed to bring some nice architectural weather when conditions are grey." The Kirchberg plateau forms a sort of latter-day bureaucratic Acropolis. Since the founding of the European Union, this place has been studded with a large number of imposing, if not exactly delightful, EU buildings. The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg was one of the six founding members of the European Community, and as the EU has expanded, the need for new architecture here has grown. Today, mighty institutions such as the European Investment Bank, housed in a purpose-built 1980s fortress designed by Denys Lasdun (the architect behind the National Theatre), stand next to a new generation of cultural buildings, among them the recently completed Philharmonie concert hall by French architect Christian de Portzamparc, and the new museum of modern art by IM Pei, the Chinese-American architect behind the glass pyramid at the Louvre. This all seems well done, although somewhat worthy and antiseptic.As for the Court of Justice, this had to expand when it was announced that EU membership would increase to 27 countries. Perrault was commissioned to wrap a new building around the existing complex. His brief was not simply to enlarge the court, but to ensure that every one of its 2,000 staff, formerly spread across a huge campus, was housed under one roof. He and his collaborators have doubled the amount of space - and yet the building does not appear twice the size. It feels generous, easy to use, and well crafted - which, given that it cost you, me and everyone else in the EU more than €500m, is as it should be. Behind those two pencil-thin gold towers lies a kind of shimmering palace. This is the grand new public plaza, between the towers and the main building, and its interiors are some of the most extraordinary yet created for the EU.From the main entrance into the building, a ramp leads down to the central court. A dramatic room by any standards, this handsome timber-lined chamber boasts a ceiling straight out of One Thousand and One Nights. Above a great glass screen, a giant gold flower appears to blossom out over the judges' benches and the public viewing gallery. This is in fact a woven steel veil, which floats over the court like an improbably glamorous mosquito net over the bed of a fairytale princess. Well, that's what I saw, anyway. Perrault describes this ceiling as "like a shining Medusa". Perhaps the judges who meet here will make the final ruling on what it is meant to signify."I wanted to create a warm ambience," explains Perrault, "not a confrontational one. I wanted to grab the sun and bring it inside the court. The judges wanted some daylight, but not views out because this might distract them from their deliberations. So I thought of this golden veil, where the light can come in, [where it can be] warm even on a cold day. Then I made the floors and walls in warm wood, and the carpets in purple."The smaller courtrooms, while less dramatic than the main chamber, are also timber-lined and warmly finished. These are encircled by a new two-storey corridor or internal street of crisp, modern spaces - lobbies, cafes, libraries, judges' chambers. Daylight filters through the building, while the artificial light is playful and imaginative. The overall impression is of an earnest giant who, despite himself, wants to dress up and play. While Perrault has decked his building in colour and plays of shimmering light, the structure of the remodelled court is logical and perfectly serious. In a way, it reminds me of Barry and Pugin's Palace of Westminster: a mighty parliamentary building for what was once the hub of an empire, garbed in stunning fancy dress, and all the better for it. Outside, the twin 100-metre-high towers are reminiscent of Oscar Niemeyer's National Congress Building in Brasilia. In cityscape terms, they have been designed with the same end in mind - as eyecatchers, architectural focal points to be seen from afar. Perrault's towers will be home to some 600 legal writers from across the EU, whose job it is to ensure that European laws are understood in more than 20 languages. That there are a lot of EU laws is evident in the sheer scale of the towers. Dominique Perrault's Court of Justice is a highly unexpected one - though you could argue that we should expect nothing less. Born in Clermont-Ferrand and based in Paris since 1981, the architect made his name with the vast and hugely controversial Bibliothèque Nationale de France, one of President Mitterand's "grands travaux". Rising from what was an industrial wasteland in the 13th arrondissement on the south bank of the Seine, this giant library, known as "la TGB" (Très Grande Bibliothèque), is composed of four giant glass towers shaped in the guise of open books set about a plinth. Books are stacked in these towers, while readers gaze out into a sunken garden, planted with evergreen trees. Stacking books in glass towers was, to many minds, an odd and even contrary thing to do. Soon after the building opened, wooden screens were placed inside the tower windows to keep the sun at bay. Exotic woods lining the reading rooms were a further source of controversy. Had they come from a sustainable source? What did their use say about a nominally post-imperial France? Despite these concerns, the building remains deeply impressive. Perrault has the knack of somehow combining the role and skills of an architect with those of an art director. His up-and-coming Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, women's university in Seoul and San Pellegrino thermal baths near Bergamo all promise to be cinematic buildings of great daring and adventure. (The latter will look something like a fall oftumbled boulders, seen through a glacier at the foot of a real mountain.)Perrault's designs can be wildly imaginative, and they can be abstractly minimal. He treads his own bold path. With the EU Court of Justice, he has shown us how a rational, highly organised and seemingly matter-of-fact building can be dazzling, even romantic. The law has never looked quite so colourful.<div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/architecture">Architecture</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/eu">European Union</a></li></ul></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a> <a href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/9OwS53y_DuogirRTc4O4YW0ULA8/a"><img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/9OwS53y_DuogirRTc4O4YW0ULA8/i" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a>

Viv Groskop discovers how to drink in moderation
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:03:56 GMT
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/9109?ns=guardian&pageName=Society%3A+Drastic+measures&ch=Society&c3=The+Guardian&c4=Drugs+and+alcohol+%28Society%29%2CSociety&c5=Society+Weekly%2CCommunities+Society&c6=Viv+Groskop&c7=2008_12_02&c8=1127196&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Society&c12=Drugs+and+alcohol&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FSociety%2FDrugs+and+alcohol" width="1" height="1" /></div>I am not an alcoholic but I do have a problem with drink. I rarely get properly drunk - maybe two or three times a year - but when I do, it's on a shameful, monumental scale. Historically, this has often coincided with the Christmas party season.This year, however, will be different. Or that is the idea, at least.Six months ago, after I found myself telling friends yet another "hilarious" tale of a drunken incident, I embarked on a self-imposed period of alcoholic awareness, designed to remove the possibility of ever again being incapacitated by drink. I realised that unless I could find a way to avoid my epic displays I would be forced down the route of the alcoholic and have to give up drink completely. I was going to have to learn to deal with one drink at a time. Here's what I, and others in my position, have discovered.First, establish whether you have a drink problemThis is easier said than done. Hypnotherapist Georgia Foster, author of The Drink Less Mind (Foster Publishing) and a specialist in helping people gain control around alcohol, says: "Sometimes we all drink too much. The odd, one-off 'blitzing it' moment is fine. But if it's a regular occurrence and it's not in check, that's a problem." That may be the case for many, but although my drunkenness was infrequent, to me, those blitzes felt problematic. Tania Glyde, author of Cleaning Up: How I Gave Up Drinking and Lived (Serpent's Tail), agrees that defining the extent of your drink problem is often subjective. "When I gave up drinking, lots of people said to me, 'You weren't that big a drinker'. Some people are able to drink huge amounts and not worry about it. I think you only have a problem when you reach your personal limit of shame."Sarah (not her real name), 29, faced this question three years ago. Now a personal trainer, she used to work in the City where binge drinking after work was common. "I wasn't an alcoholic in that I didn't need to drink every day," she says. "But if I went out, I had only to have one glass and I just wanted to keep on and on. Every time I drank, it would result in me getting drunk. I didn't have any control." She was becoming increasingly miserable, smoking more and overeating, too.Try hypnotherapyIn 2005 Sarah saw a hypnotherapist for 12 one-hour sessions which, she says, helped re-programme her mind, and convince her that she has control over her actions. It also helped her deal with other issues which were causing her stress and exacerbating her binge drinking. She now finds it easy to stop at two or three units. (She has also stopped smoking.) "I am at a point where I will happily say during an evening's drinking, 'Shall we just have a cup of tea?' instead of, 'Come on, let's do some shots'."Be proactive, and prepared to lieSince her successful hypnotherapy sessions, Sarah still follows some tried and tested practical steps to help control her drinking. And I can vouch for the fact that these tips work even if you haven't been hypnotised (I've always found hypnotism a bit freaky). "Always order a glass of water with every alcoholic drink," says Sarah, "and drink them simultaneously. Stick to small drinks: be firm if someone insists on you having a large glass. If they complain, tell them you prefer small glasses because the drink stays colder." Be prepared for hostility, she adds: "A few people I used to work with did not respond to it well because they felt it was a judgment on them. I would just say: 'Get lost.'"If it gets too much, says Foster, resort to fibbing. "Pretend you're taking antibiotics, that you have a big meeting the next day or that you have a hangover. Drinking less can be a big social problem - people feel guilty about it. They feel they have to fit in with the social environment by drinking too much." In my experience, this is not always the case: I was with a very drunk friend the other night and apologised for ordering a Diet Coke. "You don't have to jushtify yourself to me," he slurred. The truth is, most people are too distracted by their own drinking to notice yours.The other advice I have assiduously followed over the past six months is screamingly obvious, but it works. "It's all common sense really - eat before going out," says Don Shenker, chief executive of Alcohol Concern. "And don't drink in rounds," he adds, "because you feel obliged to have another drink even if you don't really want one." That sounds a bit Scrooge-like to me. My advice is: buy rounds if you can afford it, just exclude yourself if you want to. If you can't manage alcohol-free days, you are in troubleHaving a few days a week when you don't drink at all is crucial for gaining control of your alcohol consumption, says Foster. But seven out of 10 of her clients are bemused when she advises this. "Most of the people I see have drunk pretty much every day since they went to university." Personally, I can go for days without drinking, though, and then have no idea of moderation when I do drink. Commonly, people who are infrequent binge drinkers are perfectionists, says Foster. "They're very good when they're not drinking, but as soon as they drink, their rebelliousness comes out and they become "perfect" at doing the opposite of what they're supposed to. When I work with someone like that I try to tell them to stop driving the system so perfectly - because something is going to give." This is me all over.Exercise extreme vigilance around free booze"There is a real attitude of, 'If it's free, we are obliged to consume it'," says Glyde. "It seems rude not to swipe as much free alcohol as possible." Plus, alcohol is not called a social lubricant for nothing: "Work-related parties can be so intimidating," she says. "Especially if you are supposed to be networking. Everyone is looking over their shoulders, gimlet-eyed. The pressure of having to act like someone you're not brings out the child in all of us. I can remember spitting wine over a company director once and thinking, 'Aren't I clever? I'm really pissed, but I don't care.'" If you are aware of all these factors, have admitted to yourself that you are nervous or intimidated, then you don't have to get caught up in them.Shenker's key party survival suggestion is to avoid top-ups from waiters: "Finish your glass and pick up a fresh one so you know exactly how much you've had. Decide in advance how much you are going to drink and stick to it."If in doubt, don't drink at allIf you are like me, then there will be some times in your life - periods of stress, anxiety or childish over-excitement - when you are better off not drinking because the risk of getting trolleyed is too high. Taking the car is my top tip for complete alcohol avoidance in these situations. When I first resolved never to get drunk again I drove everywhere for weeks and drank nothing. Once you've done that for a while, when you start drinking again you can re-learn your limits. Now I know how I feel after one glass (not much different to sober), how I feel after two (a bit merry), and after three (disastrously drunk and ready to become more so). For the first time in my life I have an idea of when I am supposed to stop. I can say from experience that it is far more rewarding than letting gravity decide.<div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/drugsandalcohol">Drugs and alcohol</a></li></ul></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a> <a href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/3rPNay1FQuWh9_Pk89Ms_spblsg/a"><img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/3rPNay1FQuWh9_Pk89Ms_spblsg/i" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a>

Christmas gift guide 2008
Fri, 28 Nov 2008 18:48:58 GMT
Our department store is full of hundreds of great gift ideas. Explore the different floors for gift ideas for everyone, from pampered pets to fussy fashionistas <a href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/mHNypFJcS2tqCba18pWLOIBtz9Q/a"><img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/mHNypFJcS2tqCba18pWLOIBtz9Q/i" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a>

Internet start-ups going cheap, says MySpace's Chris DeWolfe
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 10:53:38 GMT
MySpace co-founder Chris DeWolfe has said the economic downturn means digital media start-ups are on the market at knock-down prices. By Mark Sweney <a href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/Gfc4lsECtojQc6wroyF8o0bmR5Y/a"><img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/Gfc4lsECtojQc6wroyF8o0bmR5Y/i" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a>

Ford may sell Volvo as car sales worsen
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:07:38 GMT
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/82291?ns=guardian&pageName=Business%3A+Ford+may+sell+Volvo+as+car+sales+worsen&ch=Business&c3=The+Guardian&c4=Ford%2CAutomotive+industry+%28Business%29%2CUS+economy+%28Business%29%2CSweden+%28News%29%2CUS+news%2CBusiness&c5=Motoring%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CBusiness+Markets%2CUnclassifed+Contributors%2CUS+Economy&c6=Mark+Milner&c7=2008_12_02&c8=1127208&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Business&c12=Ford&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FBusiness%2FFord" width="1" height="1" /></div>Ford may sell its luxury Swedish marque Volvo as part of a strategic review of the business. The struggling carmaker made the announcement yesterday as the fragile state of the global motor industry was underlined by plummeting sales figures for November. Today, Ford and its fellow US carmakers, General Motors and Chrysler, will submit business plans to Congress in an effort to win backing for a $25bn (£17bn) emergency aid package. Ford's initiative came amid more bad news from the ailing industry as economic gloom and a dearth of consumer credit continue to hammer sales. Latest figures show sharp falls in car sales in Belgium, Italy, Sweden and France last month. The worst hit was Spain, where sales have fallen by almost half - the most dire data since 1993. The government is already budgeting for an €800m (£680m) package to help the automotive industry amid fears it could shed 50,000 jobs. Car sales fell 18% in Japan and were down 8.6% in South Korea.In the UK, where sales fell by more than 20% in September and October - the November figures are due this week - Aston Martin said it was seeking cuts because of falling demand. The carmaker said it could cut staff by 300 and reduce the number of temporary workers by a similar amount because of the downturn.The company, which has already extended the Christmas holiday shutdown by two weeks, employs 1,850, mainly in the West Midlands.Ulrich Bez, Aston Martin's chief executive, said: "Like other premium car brands, Aston Martin has been forced to take action to respond to the unprecedented downturn in the global economy. These are regrettable but necessary measures in the extraordinary market conditions we all now face." The poor sales figures in continental Europe will make grim reading for British carmakers as the bulk of cars made in the UK are exported and a number of factories are already taking extended Christmas breaks. "The financial crisis and the weaker economy is now hitting the auto market full force," said one European automotive industry executive yesterday. Share prices tumbled in Europe and the US yesterday as fears about recession and job cuts took hold. In London the FTSE 100 share index fell more than 5% to 4065.9 and there were also falls of more than 5% in the main indices in Frankfurt and Paris. In the US the Dow Jones industrial average was 4.8% lower at 8,405 in the early afternoon.Ford's decision to launch another strategic review at Volvo - only 12 months after the last one - appears to be aimed at helping to win Congressional approval for the emergency aid. The big three US carmakers were warned by Democrat leaders last month that a bail-out would not be forthcoming unless they came up with credible restructuring plans.Yesterday Ford said the review at Volvo was "in line with a broad range of actions Ford is taking to strengthen its balance sheet and ensure it has the resources to implement its product-led transformation plan". Volvo, which was part of Ford's stable of marques under its luxury division, the Premier Automotive Group, has been looking increasingly isolated since the sale of other PAG brands - first Aston Martin and then Jaguar and Land Rover. Its sale would also help to reassure Congress that any funds would not be used to support overseas subsidiaries. Other Ford asset sales include an agreement to sell part of its stake in the Japanese carmaker Mazda. The US carmakers are not the only ones seeking aid from governments. Volvo and Saab, which is owned by GM, are reported to have approached the Swedish government for financial help.The European commission has pledged to help the car industry as part of a €200bn stimulus package and the UK's pre-budget report included measures to boost sales, although the industry would also like to see carmakers' finance arms have access to the funding being provided to banks.<div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/ford">Ford</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/automotive"&