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Berlusconi conviction leaves Italy in crisis - eurozone live
The best news pictures of the day
Aid organisations critical of further cuts to aid budget in economic statement
Australia faces increased risk of disease from climate change, reports find
Tony Abbott embraces 'Gonski' school funding plans
'By boat, no visa' ads to deter asylum seekers could cost $37m
Egypt army was 'restoring democracy', claims Kerry
History's refugees: share your stories
Ian Tomlinson: police to offer family compensation
Moto X: Google unveils 'self-driving', always listening smartphone
Berlusconi defiant after jail term confirmed
Berlusconi's prison sentence upheld by Italian supreme court
Ariel Castro: Ohio kidnap victim says he will 'face hell for eternity'
Michelle Knight confronts her kidnapper in court 'Now your hell is just beginning' - video
Labor announces $17bn savings as it struggles against plummeting revenues
Viral Video Chart: bear back-scratching party, Carly Rae Jepsen goes vintage
Britain is a police state, says Scientology founder: from the archive, 2 August 1968
Vodafone Australia caps its roaming fees: The Roast - video
Mining company fined $150k for desecrating Aboriginal sacred site
US closes Middle East and other embassies after security threat
Emissions target should be 15% by 2020, says Climate Change Authority
At Bayreuth, Angela Merkel shows up Westminster's shocking philistinism | Martin Kettle
Betting markets give Labor almost no chance of winning the election
Chris Bowen's economic statement in full - video
Quotation quiz: Eddie Obeid or Tony Soprano – who said what?

Berlusconi conviction leaves Italy in crisis - eurozone live

Posted: 02 Aug 2013 01:58 AM PDT

The eurozone's third-largest economy is thrown into political crisis, after Berlusconi gets his first criminal conviction

Jennifer Rankin

The best news pictures of the day

Posted: 02 Aug 2013 01:56 AM PDT

The Guardian's award-winning picture team rounds up the most eye-catching images of the day

Joanna Ruck

Roger Tooth

Aid organisations critical of further cuts to aid budget in economic statement

Posted: 02 Aug 2013 01:32 AM PDT

Government accused of using the foreign aid budget as 'an automatic teller machine'

NGOs and aid organisations are lining up to express their disappointment at further cuts to Australia's aid budget, announced by treasurer Chris Bowen in the government's pre-election economic statement on Friday afternoon.

The overall aid budget will be cut by $879m over the forward estimates and an additional $420m will be diverted from the existing funds to Papua New Guinea as part of the asylum seeker policy deal.

Bowen said the government would still meet its foreign aid targets of 0.5% of gross national income by 2017/18 "but we'll get there in a different profile".

Aid spending will still increase overall by 26% but these most recent cuts to growth come on top of May's federal budget announcement that the government would push the 0.5% target back from 2016/17 – which had itself been pushed back from a 2015/16 target in the previous year's budget.

Aid organisations have criticised the decision, accusing the government of using the foreign aid budget as an automatic teller machine.

"Every time we cut our promised aid spending, it means more people will have to wait even longer to access essentials such as clean water, better healthcare and education," said Oxfam's acting public policy and advocacy manager, Kelly Dent.

"The purpose of Australia's overseas aid budget is to fight poverty. It is not an ATM for the government to meet its domestic financial commitments."

Nigel Spence, CEO of ChildFund Australia, said the budget announcement was "deeply disappointing".

"Australian aid is making a huge difference globally. Delaying and diverting aid takes opportunity away from children and families in poor communities around the world. We are extremely concerned that aid money is being retracted to implement an asylum seeker policy that is contrary to humanitarian principles," Spence told Guardian Australia.

Unicef Australia on Twitter labelled the announcement "a broken promise" from Kevin Rudd, claiming the total cuts to aid since 2010 now added up to $5.8bn.

CEO of Save The Children Australia, Paul Ronalds, said the cuts to aid growth meant every dollar spent must now work harder to ensure "that we squeeze even more life-saving bang for buck".

"While we are disappointed that Australian funding for overseas has slowed, it is important to acknowledge that both major parties remain committed to investing 0.5 per cent of GNI on overseas aid," he said.

The government's mini budget announcement also outlined details of the additional aid being given to PNG as part of the asylum seeker policy deal made between Rudd and PNG prime minister Peter O'Neil.

PNG will get $420m from the foreign aid budget, targeting specific projects already mostly revealed on Thursday after O'Neill gave a speech to the University of PNG.

Australia will contribute $207m to upgrading Lae hospital, $62m towards fixing the national university, $19m on courts, prisons and justice, $800,000 scoping for a new highway, and deploy 50 AFP officers at a cost of $132m.

The $420m is on top of the money already spent on PNG in the aid budget. The nation will also receive $18m over the next four years for "law and order".

AusAid programs worth $236m will see their funding shifted to community housing for asylum seekers over the next four years.

Helen Davidson

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Australia faces increased risk of disease from climate change, reports find

Posted: 02 Aug 2013 01:24 AM PDT

A number of recent studies have shown a clear connection between a warming planet and increased health risks

Australia has been warned of the rising threat of dengue fever and heat stroke deaths in the wake of a study that found climate change is aiding the spread of infectious diseases around the world.

The report, part-funded by the US National Science Foundation and published in Science, found that climate change is already abetting diseases in wildlife and agriculture, with humans at heightened risk from dengue fever, malaria and cholera.

Wealthy countries will do much better at predicting and tackling new disease threats than poorer ones, according to the study.

"Moving forward, we need models that are sensitive to both direct and indirect effects of climate change on infectious disease," said Richard Ostfeld, co-author of the report.

"We need to transcend simple arguments about which is more important – climate change or socioeconomics – and ask just how much harder will it be to control diseases as the climate warms? Will it be possible at all in developing countries?"

While Australia, as a wealthy nation, possesses the resources to respond to the health impacts of climate change, studies have shown the country still faces significant challenges.

Last month, the World Health Organisation said there was a clear connection between climate change and eight new health threats that have emerged in the Pacific region over the past decade.

"This year alone we had dengue from Papua New Guinea, Fiji, New Caledonia, Solomons, French Polynesia and even northern Queensland," said Dr Colin Tukuitonga, the director of the public health division in the Secretariat of the Pacific Community.

"With the changes that come about with the result of climate change we're concerned dengue will continue to spread."

A report published by Australia's Climate Commission in 2011 warned that rising temperatures and changes in climate variability could trigger an extra 205,000 cases of gastroenteritis a year.

More worryingly, the report stated that deaths from heatstroke, strokes and accidents could soar, while diseases such as dengue could move southwards.

Lesley Hughes, co-author of the report and ecologist in the department of biological sciences at Macquarie University , told Guardian Australia that there needed to be greater awareness of the health implications of climate change.

"I think there's an under-appreciation that climate change is a human issue. People seem to think of it as just an environmental issue that doesn't impact them," she said.

"Incidents of dengue fever are already changing, as are incidents of things like salmonella. Human adaptions are a big driver as well as climate – people put in water tanks to deal with drought but these are ideal breeding grounds for mosquitos."

"This year we've had the hottest ever summer, hottest ever month and hottest ever day on record. We take notice when people die in bushfires, but there's not much awareness of the numbers of people who die from heatwaves, especially the elderly, isolated people and those from poor socio-economic backgrounds who can't afford air conditioning."

Oliver Milman

Tony Abbott embraces 'Gonski' school funding plans

Posted: 02 Aug 2013 01:15 AM PDT

Coalition backs down and says it will run with Labor reforms for four years, putting Abbott on a funding 'unity ticket' with Rudd

Lenore Taylor

'By boat, no visa' ads to deter asylum seekers could cost $37m

Posted: 02 Aug 2013 01:05 AM PDT

The campaign details were revealed by the auditor general in response to independent senator Nick Xenophon's concerns

Helen Davidson

Egypt army was 'restoring democracy', claims Kerry

Posted: 02 Aug 2013 01:03 AM PDT

Secretary of state John Kerry has courted controversy by supporting the Egyptian military's removal of President Mohamed Morsi

Haroon Siddique

History's refugees: share your stories

Posted: 02 Aug 2013 12:38 AM PDT

When we published an interactive timeline of refugees in history, you spoke and we listened. Now, we want to use your contributions to make that interactive better

See the original interactive timeline on history's refugees
See the UN map of refugees since 1960

Last week, as part of a special series looking at Syria's Refugee Crisis, we took a longer view of some of history's largest population movements by producing an interactive timeline.

The comments that followed demonstrated a passion for this subject but they also provoked a debate about the numbers behind, and importance of, certain refugee movements in history.

Some of the examples that were cited - such as the vast numbers of refugees that resulted from the partition of India - should have undoubtedly been included in the article and it was an oversight not to have done so.

Others however, might be more debatable - we only have data that allows us to compare countries from 1960, when the UNHCR first started to systematically register refugees. That makes it difficult to select cases from before that point without giving unfair attention to certain refugee movements and neglecting others.

So we'd like to give you the opportunity to contribute directly to this timeline and make it a better resource for future users.

How do I contribute?

Go back to the original timeline and add your comments below. Although tweets, emails and calls are helpful to us as journalists, they don't always encourage the transparent, open dialogue that comments beneath a piece can.

When should I contribute?

The comments will reopen for another two weeks. After that, we'll choose the best contributions and add them to our interactive timeline. They will be highlighted in a separate colour to show they came from you.

How will you choose?

We can't include everything. There is a physical limit on the article page and a conceptual limit about how much can be added to what is not, and could never claim to be, a comprehensive account of every displacement in history.

The displacements that will be added to the timeline will be those that:

• affected a large number of people either at the time or subsequently
• offer a different insight to those already included about the way that a country's circumstances can disproportionately affect one section of its population - either through disadvantage or persecution

What should I contribute?

Succinct accounts of no more than 250 words will be considered (the longest entry in the interactive so far). Please include:

• the number displaced
• links to sources of your numbers as well as pictures/quotes that illustrate the story

Please consider:

• whether the group has already been given a fair amount of attention in the interactive so far
• whether the sources you have cited are reliable

We look forward to reading your contributions and using them to improve this resource for future readers.

Mona Chalabi

Ian Tomlinson: police to offer family compensation

Posted: 02 Aug 2013 12:34 AM PDT

Deputy mayor for policing and crime authorises Metropolitan police to settle claim over death of London man in G20 protests

The Metropolitan police are close to making an offer of compensation to the family of Ian Tomlinson, who died after being pushed to the ground by a riot officer during the G20 protests in London in April 2009.

The deputy mayor for policing and crime in London, Stephen Greenhalgh, has authorised the Met to settle the claim. It is thought an announcement could be made within the next few days.

Tomlinson, 47, collapsed as he tried to find his way through police lines near the Bank of England during the protests four years ago. He had been an alcoholic for several years and it was initially presumed he died of natural causes – a conclusion supported by an initial postmortem examination, which gave the cause as heart failure.

But six days later the Guardian published video footage shot by an American in London on business that showed a policeman in riot gear – PC Simon Harwood – striking Tomlinson on the leg with a baton before shoving him violently to the pavement, minutes before his final collapse.

The family decided to take civil action against the Metropolitan police after being left with two seemingly contradictory verdicts. An inquest jury took just three hours to decide that Tomlinson had been unlawfully killed by a police officer. But a jury in a subsequent criminal trial found Harwood not guilty of Tomlinson's manslaughter.

Tomlinson's widow, Julia, and seven of his children and stepchildren have since pursued the compensation claim at the high court.

According to documents from the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (Mopac), Tomlinson's family has been seeking damages for "assault and battery", bereavement damages for his widow, "dependency claims" for each family member for "breach of the right to life", and funeral expenses.

In March this year, Mopac said the case had had a "significant impact on public confidence" and on the public's perception of fairness. It said "settling this case may assist in restoring public confidence".

Greenhalgh gave approval to begin negotiations with lawyers for Tomlinson's family, and the Met's legal department later asked the deputy mayor to "agree to increase the sum offered" to settle the claim.

Greenhalgh gave his authorisation for that in a document dated 30 June. The amount of money has not been disclosed.

Tomlinson's family is also seeking an apology from the Met and for the force to accept responsibility for his death on 1 April 2009.

Matthew Taylor

Moto X: Google unveils 'self-driving', always listening smartphone

Posted: 02 Aug 2013 12:20 AM PDT

Motorola's Moto X can be operated hands free using voice control, and is designed to be in permanent listening mode

Google has unveiled an American-built "self-driving" smartphone, the first made from scratch by Motorola since it was acquired by the internet company last year.

Using voice control as its standout feature, the Moto X is designed to be in permanent listening mode, able to serve up directions, a weather forecast or dial a number in response to a spoken command.

Using similar technology to the Google Glass spectacles which the company is preparing for commercial launch, the device can be operated hands free. By speaking the trigger words "OK Google now", users will be able to wake up the phone without touching its screen.

"Google is the first to commercialise the self-driving car," said Motorola chief executive Dennis Woodside, in a reference to the vehicles Google's laboratories have been developing. "This is the first self-driving phone."

The Moto X is the most high profile attempt by Google's founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin to mesh software and hardware creation under one roof, emulating the business model that helped Apple become the world's most valuable company.

While Apple introduced the world to voice commands through its Siri application, it has been criticised for its limited functionality and integration with other application in the phone, and must be activated by pushing the home button.

Google is using the Moto X to push the limits of voice control, but it also responds to motion. Sensors linked to the phone's camera allow it to be launched by two twists of the wrist, and the shutter is triggered by touching any part of the screen.

The company is embracing the "made in America" banner as a point of difference. In another deliberate contrast to Apple, whose reliance on Foxconn's assembly plants in China has left it open to accusations of allowing the iPhone to be produced by poorly treated workers, Google will assemble its handset at a newly opened and Motorola owned factory in Texas.

"Users have large screens, they have voice control – so at the end of the day what may attract users to replace their current smartphone is a completely new experience," said IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo. "In my opinion, it's one of the biggest trends of the next year."

Google is also counting on the appeal of customisation. When ordering their handset, new owners will be able to choose front and back case colours and order their names or a short message engraved into the body of the phone, via an online service called Moto Maker.

With smartphone ownership approaching saturation point among high- to middle-income earners in the west, the Moto X is priced at the budget end of the market.

Featuring a 4.7 inch screen and a 10 megapixel camera, it will cost from $199 (£132) on contract for a handset with 16GB of storage. However, Google has no plans yet to release the handset in Europe. It will go on sale in the United States, Canada and Latin America from late August or early September.

• This article was amended on 2 August

Juliette Garside

Berlusconi defiant after jail term confirmed

Posted: 02 Aug 2013 12:15 AM PDT

Former PM says conviction for tax fraud is 'founded on absolutely nothing' and inveighs against 'uncontrolled' judiciary

Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's longest-serving postwar prime minister, has railed against the country's "uncontrollable and uncontrolled" judiciary and accused them of persecuting him with a "fury that has no equal anywhere in the civilised world" hours after being handed his first definitive criminal conviction in more than two decades of legal battles.

In a defiant video message broadcast on one of his own private television channels, the billionaire centre-right leader denied having committed the tax fraud of which he was convicted and for which he was sentenced to a four-year jail term by Italy's supreme court. "No false invoice exists in the history of [Berlusconi's television empire] Mediaset," he said.

In the wake of the landmark verdict, which threatened to plunge the eurozone's third-largest economy back into political instability, he said: "In return for all this, in return for the commitment that I have lavished on my country in the course of almost 20 years, now almost at the end of my working life, I receive as a reward accusations and a sentence founded on absolutely nothing which deprives me of my personal freedom and my political rights."

As Italian politics reeled from the decision of the five judges at the court of cassation, Giorgio Napolitano, the 88-year-old president, and Enrico Letta, the centre-left prime minister in charge of a fragile coalition with Berlusconi's Freedom People (PdL) party, pleaded for calm to prevail.

After more than seven hours of closed-door deliberations, the judges dismissed Berlusconi's final appeal against his convictions for the fraudulent purchase of broadcasting rights by Mediaset, ordering him to serve a jail sentence that had already been cut to one year according to a 2006 amnesty.

Owing to Berlusconi's age – he will be 77 in September – it will not be served in prison but through house arrest or community service.

The only element of the verdict which prevented it from being an unmitigated disaster for the three-times prime minister was the judges' decision to order another court to determine the length of his ban from public office. Prosecutors this week had argued that the ban, which their lower court equivalents had fixed at five years, should be cut to three.

Had the ban been upheld, it would have stymied Berlusconi's immediate political ambitions. As it is, he will be able to continue as a senator in Italy's upper house of parliament and leader of his party – although he made clear in his video message on Thursday night that that party would not be the PdL but a revamped Forza Italia, the party named after a football chant with which he entered politics in 1994.

Even as Letta appealed in a statement for "a climate of serenity", the huge pressure that the conviction will place on his government was starting to show.

Government under secretary Michaela Biancofiore, a member of the PdL, was reported to have said she would be resigning in protest at the verdict. Luca d'Alessandro, a PdL MP and secretary of the lower house of parliament's justice commission, said: "This country was famous for being the cradle of the law. Today it has become its tomb run by a corporation of grave diggers in gowns who have carried out the perfect crime. Honour and solidarity with Silvio Berlusconi, who is certainly more innocent and clean than those who unjustly convicted him."

But the verdict was thought likely to prompt equally strong reactions within Letta's centre-left Democratic Party (PD), many of whose members were already squeamish about joining forces with their political bête noire and may draw the line at continuing in a coalition with a convicted criminal.

Immediately after the verdict, Nichi Vendola, head of the opposition Left Ecology Freedom party, said it was "not possible" for the coalition to continue.

"Faced with this conviction I think it is necessary to bear the consequences: it is not possible to imagine that the PD can remain an ally of Silvio Berlusconi's party. It is not possible to imagine that Silvio Berlusconi can remain at the centre of the political scene. I think that big changes are necessary to give a moral response to the country."

Beppe Grillo, the figurehead of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, declared on his blog: "The verdict is like the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989."

Berlusconi's lawyers were led by Franco Coppi, a lawyer specialised in cassation appeals who successfully defended former prime minister Giulio Andreotti against charges of mafia ties. After the verdict they issued a statement saying they were evaluating all their options "even at the European level so that this unjust sentence is radically changed".

Until Thursday night not a single one of Berlusconi's many court cases had ended in his definitive conviction. Several lower grade convictions were either thrown out, overturned on appeal or timed out owing to their statute of limitations.

On Wednesday, his defence lawyers had argued that he should be acquitted because his political commitments meant he was not actively involved in the company. They also argued that the crime of which he was accused was not technically a penal offence.

But prosecutors, supporting the verdicts of two lower courts which convicted Berlusconi in October last year and again in May, said Berlusconi's control over Mediaset was "ongoing" at the time, and he was "the mind" behind the system of tax fraud.

Berlusconi was not present at the court but spent the day at his Rome residence, Palazzo Grazioli, reportedly with two of his children, his closest advisers, lawyers and girlfriend Francesca Pascale.

It is not only with the court decision on his public office ban that his legal battles will continue. In June he was given a lower-grade conviction and sentenced to seven years in jail and a lifetime ban on public office for paying for sex with an underage prostitute and abusing his office to cover it up. He is appealing against the verdict – and, even if that appeal fails, he will be allowed a second.

He is also appealing against a conviction for publishing the transcript of a leaked wiretap in his family newspaper, Il Giornale, for which he was ordered to serve a one-year jail sentence. In October, meanwhile, a court is due to rule on whether he should be tried for allegedly bribing a senator to switch political sides. He denies the allegations.

Lizzy Davies

Berlusconi's prison sentence upheld by Italian supreme court

Posted: 02 Aug 2013 12:00 AM PDT

One-year jail term to be served through community service or house arrest, with ban on public office referred to another court

Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's longest-serving postwar prime minister, has been handed his first definitive criminal conviction in more than 20 years of legal battles but the country's supreme court spared him the immediate prospect of being barred from public office.

In a long-anticipated ruling, the five judges of the court of cassation emerged from more than seven hours of deliberations to issue a verdict confirming a four-year jail term for the leader of the Freedom People party (PdL), a vital part of Italy's coalition government.

That sentence had already been cut to one year according to a 2006 amnesty, and, owing to Berlusconi's age – he will be 77 in September – it will be served through house arrest or community service.

It was enough, however, to place great pressure on the fragile government and prompt fury among his supporters. "This country was famous for being the cradle of the law. Today it has become its tomb," said Luca d'Alessandro, a PdL MP and secretary of the lower house of parliament's justice commission. "Honour and solidarity with Silvio Berlusconi, who is certainly more innocent and clean than those who unjustly convicted him."

The editor of a right-wing newspaper, Il Foglio, labelled the sentence "vile".

The part of the sentence that Berlusconi was most worried about – a five-year ban on public office – will not be enforced in the near future after the judges ordered another court to determine its length. Prosecutors during this final appeal hearing had argued that the ban should be cut to three years. Had it been upheld, it would have stymied Berlusconi's immediate political ambitions. As it is, he will be able to continue as a senator in Italy's upper house of parliament and leader of his party.

The verdict is still likely to cause trouble for the ruling coalition of Enrico Letta, which since late April has united his centre-left Democratic Party with Berlusconi's PdL in an awkward and unhappy marriage.

The prime minister said this week he was not expecting an "earthquake" from the verdict, and Berlusconi himself – who has historically railed against leftwing magistrates plotting against him – has seemed unusually reluctant to provoke his party members into open rebellion. That has not stopped many of them threatening it.

The PdL leader could yet decide to pull the plug on a government he feels is not serving his interests as he had hoped. However, he may realise that plunging the eurozone's third-largest economy into fresh turmoil would not win him any popularity with weary voters or the head of state, president Giorgio Napolitano.

Observers say pressure on the government could equally come from the other side of the coalition, where many in the PD who were squeamish about joining forces with their political bête noire may draw the line at continuing in an coalition with a convicted criminal. Immediately after the verdict Nichi Vendola, head of the opposition Left Ecology Freedom party (SEL), said it was "not possible" for the coalition to continue.

The verdict convicted Berlusconi of the fraudulent purchase of broadcasting rights by his Mediaset empire and the evasion of about €7m (£6m) in taxes in 2002 and 2003 – when he was prime minister. His defence lawyers had argued that he should be acquitted because his political commitments meant he was not actively involved in the company.

His defence lawyers had argued that he should be acquitted because his political commitments meant he was not actively involved in the company. Led by Franco Coppi, a lawyer specialised in cassation appeals who successfully defended former prime minister Giulio Andreotti against charges of mafia ties, they also argued that the crime of which he was accused was not technically a penal offence.

Berlusconi was not present at the court but spent the day at his Rome residence, Palazzo Grazioli, reportedly with two of his children, his closest advisers, lawyers and girlfriend Francesca Pascale.

Ever since he entered politics in 1994, Berlusconi has been fighting an almost relentless wave of court cases, but until Thursday night not a single one had ended in his definitive conviction. Several lower grade convictions were either thrown out, overturned on appeal or timed out owing to their statute of limitations.

He is also appealing against a conviction for publishing the transcript of a leaked wiretap in his family newspaper, Il Giornale, for which he was ordered to serve a one-year jail sentence. In October, meanwhile, a a court is due to rule on whether he should be tried for allegedly bribing a senator to switch political sides. He denies the allegations.

Lizzy Davies

Ariel Castro: Ohio kidnap victim says he will 'face hell for eternity'

Posted: 01 Aug 2013 11:52 PM PDT

Former bus driver sentenced to life imprisonment plus 1,000 years after holding three women captive for eleven years

One of three women who were kidnapped, imprisoned and repeatedly raped in an Ohio home for more than 10 years, told the perpetrator he would "face hell for eternity" as he was jailed for life on Thursday.

Michelle Knight, giving her victim impact statement before her abuser, Ariel Castro, in a Cleveland courtroom, told him that her life was just beginning while his was now over.

The 53-year-old former school bus driver, who pleaded guilty last week to 937 criminal charges under a plea deal to avoid the death penalty, was sentenced to life imprisonment plus 1,000 years.

Knight, 32, wept as she told him: "You took 11 years of my life away and I have got it back. I spent 11 years in hell. Now your hell is just beginning. I will overcome all that has happened, but you will face hell for eternity."

She said she had cried every night and that her years in captivity had "turned into eternity". She was the only one of the victims to speak at the hearing. Relatives of the other two women read statements on their behalf.

Knight was abducted by Castro. In 2002, at the age of 20, she was lured by him into his house in Seymour Avenue, Cleveland, in the US, with the promise of a puppy for her son.

Castro has pleaded guilty to charges that he repeatedly raped Knight and two other victims, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus. He also forced Knight to miscarry after he impregnated her.

Castro later gave a rambling partial apology to his victims, telling the court that he knew that what he had done was wrong but also claiming that his captives were not tortured and that most of the sex was consensual.

He said: "I believe I am addicted to porn to the point that it really makes me impulsive and I just don't realise what I'm doing is wrong. I'm not a violent predator … I'm not a monster, I'm a normal person." He added that he had not planned the kidnapping of Knight.

Michael Russo, the judge, dismissed his claims of the women living a happy life with him. "I'm not sure there's anyone in America that would agree with you."

Law enforcement agents also told the court on Thursday that Castro played Russian roulette with his victims, keeping them chained and repeatedly raping them.

Andrew Burke, an FBI agent, said Castro turned his home into a prison by creating a makeshift alarm system and chaining the women inside bolted bedrooms.

Bedroom windows were boarded shut from the inside with heavy cupboard doors, and door knobs were removed and replaced with multiple locks, he said. The house was split so as to make it more secure and hide the existence of rooms.

Burke also said Castro would occasionally pay his victims after raping them. But he then made them pay him if they wanted something special from the store.

Dave Jacobs, a detective, said he talked to Castro a few days after the women escaped and claimed the accused said, "I knew what I did was wrong".

The court also heard testimony from Barbara Johnson, a police officer who helped locate the women in the house. She said one of the captives launched herself into an officer's arms, and another was initially too afraid to leave her room.

The officer added that all three women were frightened even after being taken out of the house. But they soon began sharing details on the horrors they had endured, including being starved and beaten, the officer said.

Andrew Harasimchuk, a detective, said the women spoke of a pattern of physical, sexual and emotional assaults over the years. He said they had been abducted after Castro offered them a ride and that each was chained in his basement and sexually assaulted within a few hours of being kidnapped.

The victims – including Amanda Berry, aged 16 when she was kidnapped in April 2003 and Georgina DeJesus, 14 when abducted in April 2004 – escaped on 6 May this year, when Berry kicked out part of a door, aided by a neighbour alerted by her screams for help.Berry gave birth to a child, now six years old. On the day the daughter was born, Castro raped one of the other women, who had helped deliver the baby.

Other pregnancies never went to full term. Knight told prosecutors that she became pregnant five times but was starved and beaten up by Castro so she would miscarry.

Berry, 27, made a surprise onstage appearance at a rap concert last weekend, and DeJesus, 23, has made a few televised comments.

Knight, 32, appeared with Berry and DeJesus in a video early last month thanking the community for their support.

Knight also sent police a handwritten letter thanking them for their help in collecting cards and gifts for the women. In the note, Knight told Cleveland's second district commander, Keith Sulzer, "life is tough, but I'm tougher!"

David Batty

Michelle Knight confronts her kidnapper in court 'Now your hell is just beginning' - video

Posted: 01 Aug 2013 11:34 PM PDT

Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro gets life in prison after an emotional hearing in which one of his victims

Labor announces $17bn savings as it struggles against plummeting revenues

Posted: 01 Aug 2013 11:09 PM PDT

In pre-election economic statement the government argues bigger short-term cuts would hurt economy and hit jobs

Lenore Taylor

Viral Video Chart: bear back-scratching party, Carly Rae Jepsen goes vintage

Posted: 01 Aug 2013 11:06 PM PDT

Watch grizzlies itching to get down and a ragtime version of a massive US hit in our rundown of the top online clips

The Viral Video Chart gets down to the bear necessities this week, as we feature some great new animal videos. First we have a film shot by park rangers of bears playing about at their favourite tree in in Alberta Parks, Canada. You can't help but think of Baloo in Disney's Jungle Book movie telling Mowgli: "Kid, we've got to get to a tree. This calls for some big scratching!" The grizzlies jostle for position at the tree, joining each other in what looks like some kind of dance – guess their itch just got un-bearable.

Next up is a spoof on the "soldier returns home to excited dog" meme – this time featuring a cat. Do cat owners think their pet would be that indifferent after six months' absence? We're not so sure. We also have footage of what might just be the cutest animal ever featured in our chart – the prehensile porcupine, otherwise known as a coendou. It might look a bit like a spiky rat, but the film of the South American creature making chatty noises and eating slices of banana will make your heart melt.

If you love popping bubble wrap, we have the ultimate toy for you. Magician and comedian Eric Buss has invented a bicycle that not only dispenses the plastic wrap but pops it as you pedal along. We don't want to burst his bubble, but his creation doesn't seem that environmentally friendly – maybe he could invent a machine to seal up the wrap so people could pop it again?

Finally, you might think Carly Rae Jepsen's Call Me Maybe was all played out – it was one of the world's biggest-selling singles of last year, and attracted a host of cover versions, from Ben Howard to Cookie Monster. But Scott Bradlee and his band The Postmodern Jukebox have managed to put a new spin on the track with their 1920s version. Featuring vocals by Robyn Adele Anderson and some great ragtime piano playing, it's enough to make you dust off those dancing shoes and have a shimmy.

Guardian Viral Video Chart. Compiled by Unruly Media and tweaked by Dugald

1. What goes on when you are not there
What bears really do in the woods

2. Cat sees owner after six month leave
Paws for thought

3. How German Sounds Compared To Other Languages
Harsh on German or the last word in humour – you decide

4. Porn Sex vs Real Sex: The Differences Explained With Food
Warning: contains seriously fruity content

5. Eric Buss' "Bubble Wrap Bike"
Top of the pops

6. 3 Million Subscribers : Best Pranks (Rémi Gaillard)
French pranks

7. Kemosabe's Tree Fort
Licence to quill

8. Call Me Maybe - Vintage 1927 Music Video / Carly Rae Jepsen Cover
A right flapper

9. Oops! WJRT reporter Siobhan Riley Accidentally Doodles Giant Penis While Talking About Construction
Yet another TV cock-up

10. Yorkshire Anthem - Ilkla Moor Baht 'At
Marking Yorkshire Day. Ey up!

Dugald Baird

Britain is a police state, says Scientology founder: from the archive, 2 August 1968

Posted: 01 Aug 2013 11:00 PM PDT

Ron Hubbard hits back as he is declared an undesirable alien by British government

Mr Lafayette Ronald Hubbard, American founder of the Scientology movement, sent a message to the movement's East Grinstead headquarters yesterday saying : "I have finished my work. Now it is up to others." He founded the movement in the early 1950s.

The movement, which was called "socially harmful" by the Minister of Health in the House of Commons, has been described by one scientologist as "an applied religious philosophy, designed to increase the individual's ability within his community."

The news of Mr Hubbard's message was given by Mrs David Gaiman, wife of the movement's chief spokesman. She said the message read: "I retired from directorships over two years ago and have been exploring since. I gave Scientology to the world with hopes of good usage. If it is a decent world, it will use it well. If it is a bad world, it won't. I finished my work. Now it is up to others. Love, Ron."

In another message attributed to Mr Hubbard, there is a rebuke for England "once the light and hope of the world" and now "a police State" which can no longer be trusted. Mr Hubbard's whereabouts is a mystery. Last week he was believed to be somewhere at sea aboard his vessel the Royal Scotsman.

The organisation yesterday also issued writs claiming damage for libel in four newspapers, the "Sunday Express," "News of the World," "Daily Express," and "Sunday Mirror." The writs seek injunctions restraining publication of the "said or any similar libels."

In the writs the organisation is stated to be a non-profit-making corporation incorporated under the laws of California and with a registered office in Fitzroy Street, London W1. Co-plaintiff in two of the actions is Mrs Jane Kember, a senior executive and deputy guardian in the organisation at East Grinstead.

After a private hearing before a vacation judge, Mr Justice Fisher, in the High Court yesterday, the organisation's solicitors issued a statement. It said that following recent Government statements, an application was being prepared on behalf of the organisation for submission to the European Commission of Human Rights.

Vodafone Australia caps its roaming fees: The Roast - video

Posted: 01 Aug 2013 11:00 PM PDT

Tonight, Vodafone scraps its high roaming charges, there are tax hikes on cigarettes and we look at the New South Wales Labor corruption inquiry: without 'corruption' that sentence would be terrifyingly boring

Mining company fined $150k for desecrating Aboriginal sacred site

Posted: 01 Aug 2013 10:35 PM PDT

OM Holdings apologises after being found guilty in what custodians are calling a landmark ruling

A mining company has been fined $150,000 for desecrating and damaging an Aboriginal sacred site in what the custodians are describing as a landmark ruling.

OM Holdings, a subsidiary of OM Ltd, were found guilty of desecrating the Booto Creek Aboriginal sacred site known as Two Women Sitting Down in the first contested prosecution of its kind in Australia.

The case was brought to Darwin magistrates court by the Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority (Aapa) after a complaint was made to them two years ago that blasting by OM Holdings at the nearby Masai mine had split the site into two with a substantial part of it collapsing.

Part of it was almost removed by the company while creating the mine.
The chief executive of Aapa, Ben Scambary, said the company had consulted with traditional owners in the area but "abused their trust" when it did not reveal the full extent of the potential impacts of the operation.

"It was an emotional scene in the courtroom when the decision was handed down," Scambary said. "There was not celebrating though. It was more a scene of sorrow."

OM Holdings was found guilty of one count of desecration of a sacred site and one count of damaging a sacred site and was cleared of a third charge of continuing to mine when it realised the damage it had done.

It was fined $120,000 for desecration and $30,000 for damage.

Two Women Sitting Down is about 170 km north of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory and Scambary said the custodians of the site still faced "the very real possibility" of reprimand from custodians of neighbouring land if they found the desecration had been "allowed" to happen.

He said the traditional owners, the Kunapa people, had been left devastated by the desecration and the site was estimated to be tens of thousands of years old.

"This has real significant consequences for the custodians of the land who are left with this enduring legacy," Scambary said. "[OH Holdings] grossly failed in its responsibility to the custodian and breached their trust."

He emphasised it was not an everyday occurrence in the Northern Territory and most mining companies acted responsibly but Aapa hoped the ruling would ensure companies were extra vigilant about protecting sacred sites.

"This a loss of heritage values for the entire state," he said. "The attitude is 'it has happened to us, it shouldn't happen to anyone else'."

To the Kunapa people the site relates to a dreaming story about a marsupial rat and a bandicoot that had a fight over bush tucker.

The blood from the creatures spilled out on to the rocks, turning them a dark red colour now associated with manganese.

Community representative Gina Smith said the site was part of a dreaming songline.

Like a railway line, each sacred site represented a different station along the way, she said.

"It's been significantly changed, which makes it much harder for Aboriginal people to recognise the dreaming," Smith said. "We're not likely to use it any more."

The OM Holdings chief executive, Peter Toth, said the company accepted the ruling and apologised unreservedly for the hurt and pain it had caused the custodians.

"The company never intended to harm, damage or disrespect the sacred site. We sincerely regret the damage and the hurt caused," he said.

Bridie Jabour

US closes Middle East and other embassies after security threat

Posted: 01 Aug 2013 10:28 PM PDT

State Department declines to elaborate on 'security considerations' that led to decision

US embassies that would normally be open on Sunday – including those in Abu Dhabi, Baghdad and Cairo – will close for the day because of unspecified security concerns, the State Department said on Thursday.

CBS reported that the embassy closings were tied to US intelligence about an al-Qaida plot against diplomatic posts in the Middle East and other Muslim countries. CBS said the intelligence did not mention a specific location.

"The Department of State has instructed certain US embassies and consulates to remain closed or to suspend operations on Sunday, August 4th," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters at her daily briefing. "Security considerations have led us to take this precautionary step."

Harf declined to detail the "security considerations" or name the embassies and consulates that would be closed, but a senior State Department official told reporters later they were those that would normally have been open on Sunday.

The State Department website showed that those included embassies in Abu Dhabi, Baghdad and Cairo.

CBS News said embassies would also be closed in Bahrain, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

"The department has been apprised of information that, out of an abundance of caution and care for our employees and others who may be visiting our installations... indicates we should institute these precautionary steps," Harf said.

"The department, when conditions warrant, takes steps like this to balance our continued operations with security and safety."

Emissions target should be 15% by 2020, says Climate Change Authority

Posted: 01 Aug 2013 10:08 PM PDT

Guardian Australia: Leaked report by key government advisory body calls for 40% cuts in carbon emissions by 2030 and 90% by 2050

Oliver Milman

At Bayreuth, Angela Merkel shows up Westminster's shocking philistinism | Martin Kettle

Posted: 01 Aug 2013 10:00 PM PDT

Our MPs are Lenininst in their belief that politics is all and excludes a rich artistic life. It's a sign of a failed society

Listening on the radio to the stormy grandeur of Beethoven's Appassionata piano sonata the other day, I thought, as some of us still do occasionally, about Lenin. Lenin had strong views about the Appassionata. He loved Beethoven's great sonata – but he also hated it. Or rather he hated the fact that he loved it.

According to Maxim Gorky, Lenin once said this about the sonata. "I know of nothing better than the Appassionata and could listen to it every day. What astonishing, superhuman music! It always makes me proud, perhaps with a childish naivety, to think that people can work such miracles. But I can't listen to music very often. It affects my nerves. I want to say sweet, silly things, and pat the little heads of people who, living in a filthy hell, can create such beauty."

Not for the first time, Lenin was seriously wrong. He was wrong because he thought that politics was always more important than everything else in life. But that just isn't so. It's one of the reasons why Lenin's revolution failed. Politics is certainly important, and everything in life, even today, may to some degree be described as political. But politics is not everything, as Lenin claimed that it was. Politics has to take its place among other things that matter just as much, and perhaps even more.

The summer is a particularly appropriate time to consider where politics fits among the other great appetites of humankind. Politics may seem to rule the public roost much of the rest of the year – but it is a striking fact that politics has no power against the summer. This is something with which the political class has managed to come to terms only by insisting that these few weeks are merely a break from reality. Politics reassures itself that September is not far distant and the natural order will then be restored.

But perhaps this is the wrong way of thinking about the place of politics in life. It might be more useful to think about the summer break in a more positive way. This, after all, is the time of year when politics can no longer keep up the pretence that it is all-encompassing. So it is therefore also an opportunity not for suspending all thought about politics but for trying to put politics into a more life-enhancing balanced context.

Over recent months I have written large numbers of articles about the big political issues of 2013. I have written often about the financial crisis, the future of the UK's union and its governing coalition, the prospects for Labour, and the politics of the United States. All of these subjects genuinely interest me. All of them still seem to me immensely important.

But I would be lying if I said they were the events that have dominated my waking hours or fired my imagination the most. For that, I would have to turn to seeing Gareth Bale score so many improbable goals this spring; to the scent of the Albertine rose in my garden this summer; to watching Ricky Ponting's final century and the flowering of Joe Root; to listening to Peter Brook talking about Shakespeare at the National Theatre or John le Carré about the cold war at the Hay festival; to hearing The Sixteen in St Albans Cathedral, and Jonas Kaufmann at the Met; to meeting Joyce DiDonato at Covent Garden; to watching Phil Mickelson at Muirfield; and to walking the Brecon Beacons with old friends on the May Day bank holiday.

Most of all, though, I would turn to the operas of Wagner. Throughout my life, these extraordinary works have been the gift that keeps on giving, almost more than anything else. This year, which is Wagner's bicentenary, they have given even more than usual. The passion is greater than ever. Indeed this column is being written from Wagner's home town of Bayreuth in northern Bavaria, where a new production of Wagner's Ring cycle came to a close on Wednesday night. I'm afraid it was not Bayreuth's finest hour.

This column is not about to segue into a review of the new Bayreuth Ring cycle. There was a time when newspaper columnists could get away with that sort of thing. HL Mencken certainly did it, and more recently Bernard Levin would annually regale readers of the Times with descriptions of the hotel plumbing in Wagner's town and with accounts of the operas he had seen as he trekked up the hill in the heavy August heat to the Wagner theatre that overlooks Bayreuth. Matthew Parris could pull it off too, in our own era, if only he were wise enough to like Wagner.

I lack the gifts of a Mencken, a Levin or a Parris. But I know this from watching and listening to Wagner, and I know it with absolute certainty too: I know that political engagement and a sustained cultural life are twin necessities of the civilised condition, twin embodiments of the belief that the world can be a better place than it is, not the foes that Lenin wrongly believed them to be. And not just Lenin, either.

Last week I watched as Angela Merkel and a host of German politicians and other public figures arrived at Wagner's theatre for the Bayreuth festival opening. Their presence was a political affirmation that in Germany the arts matter. It was, in its way, a sign of a healthy civic society.

But its equivalent simply would not happen in Britain. In Britain too many politicians are philistines. Some of them glory in it. A lot of them barely notice it. They may not be Leninists in any other respect, but they share with the Bolshevik leader the belief that politics is all, and that politics excludes a rich cultural life. There are, of course, exceptions – honourable mention to Labour's Nick Brown, a devoted Bayreuth pilgrim. In general, though, it is a sign of a failed society and a failed culture.

There was a time when radical politicians could quote Shakespeare, Milton and Byron and not be thought odd or pretentious for doing so. There was a time when radical journalists could do likewise. Those times are disappearing. Politicians, it is often said, live in a political bubble. That criticism is right – and the two things are umbilically connected. It means, to quote Robert Kennedy, that far too many of them know about everything in the world except the things that make life worth living.

Martin Kettle

Betting markets give Labor almost no chance of winning the election

Posted: 01 Aug 2013 09:48 PM PDT

Seat-by-seat wagering currently favours the Coalition in 11 Labor-held seats

If Labor and the Coalition really are at 50-50 nationally then Labor ought to be on track for about 75 seats or so, right? Indeed, if Labor is going to pull this election out of the fire, then what seats will it take from the Coalition? Where does Labor improve on 2010?

The usual answer is "Queensland marginals", maybe New South Wales too. But there isn't a lot of public polling behind this point of view. Nor do the betting markets see Labor picking up enough seats to win. In fact, seat-by-seat, the betting market reckons the probability that Labor wins is just seven in 10,000. Moreover, the betting currently favours the Coalition in 11 Labor-held seats.

For the last couple of election cycles, betting markets have added an interesting dimension to Australian elections. In addition to the "headline" national-level markets, the major online bookmakers also offer seat-by-seat wagering.

We don't have a lot of polling in the public domain from marginal seats at this stage, although we can expect more once the formal election campaign is underway. In the absence of a steady stream of polling information, might the betting markets convey some information about what is going on in marginal seats?

In the graph below I show the relationship between the probability of the ALP winning a given seat implied by the betting market prices (vertical axis) and the ALP's 2010 two-party preferred result (or "notional" result, taking into account electoral redistributions in Victoria and South Australia since the 2010 election). The implied probability of an ALP win is computed by averaging over two online bookmakers: Centrebet and Sportsbet.

For each bookmaker and for each seat, I convert the prices into implied probabilities (factoring out the bookies' profit margins, a simple computation), then average between the two bookies.

The inverted, "S-shaped" curve in the graph summarises the relationship between the two quantities. Clearly, bookies (and maybe punters too) are not fools, with the prices on offer tracking the 2010 (or notional) results reasonably closely.

Maroon (yes, really!) coloured points indicate the 30 Queensland seats. These Queensland data points tend to sit above the S-shaped curve, meaning that the betting markets are pricing Labor's chances as slightly better there than in other states. In this way the betting markets are merely echoing the conventional wisdom, that whatever the national swing is, it will be a more ALP-friendly swing in Rudd's home state.

I've labelled some specific seats. Brisbane is the most marginal Coalition seat in Queensland (closest to the vertical line at 50% ALP 2PP), and would fall to Labor with a 1.13% 2PP swing. It is close to a 50-50 proposition at the betting markets (50.3% at Centrebet, 47.8% at Sportsbet), so well short of being considered a Labor pickup. Knocking off Teresa Gambaro — the LNP incumbent in Brisbane — will be no small chore. Other Coalition marginals in Queensland (Forde, Longman, Herbert, Dawson and Flynn) are priced at much more competitive odds than similar seats elsewhere in the country, with the implied probabilities of Labor wins ranging from 38% to 43%; seats on similar margins elsewhere are priced at around a 20% chance of a Labor win.

The story in Lilley is especially compelling, the kind of seat that will fall to the Coalition when a big swing is on. Wayne Swan lost the seat in 1996, but won it back in 1998. Swan was in grave danger of losing Lilley before Rudd's return. It is one of the more delicious morsels of this election that Rudd's return substantially boosts the likelihood that Swan stays in national politics.

But the bigger story here is that the betting markets see barely any Labor pickups at the moment: maybe Brisbane, and with slightly more confidence, Labor is tipped to take Melbourne back from the Greens (eg, Labor's currently at $1.50 to the Greens $2.45 at Centrebet).

Indeed, in the bottom right quadrant of the graph we find 11 seats that are currently held by Labor, but are tipped to fall to the Coalition! Three are in Victoria, two in Tasmania and six in NSW, although the betting markets have slowly become a little more optimistic about Labor's marginal seat showing in NSW in recent weeks.

Notice too that the inverted-S shape curve in the graph intersects the vertical 50% TPP line at around the 35% probability level. That is, a (hypothetical) seat that split 50-50 last election is thought to have just a 35% chance of being won by Labor in 2013. This closely echoes the position of the national-level, "winning party" betting markets, which prices Labor as about a 30% chance of winning government.

Averaging over the two bookmakers in this analysis, Labor is ahead in just 62 seats, well short of the 76 seats needed for a majority in the House of Representatives. We can also induce a probability distribution over Labor's seat count in the next parliament, given the probabilities implied by the betting markets. Some 61 or 62 seats for Labor are the single most likely scenarios, given the current state of the betting markets, with only a seven in 10,000 chance that Labor wins 76 or more seats.

The results of this analysis may reflect nothing other than the seat-by-seat betting markets simply flying below the radar for now, and hence somewhat uninformative as to the actual election outcomes. There is no way that Labor could be polling as well as it is nationally but wind up with only 62 seats. Labor will do better than that, if its TPP vote winds up in the 49-50% range.

Nonetheless, it is clear that people who are putting their money at stake on the election aren't convinced. And fair enough. There is a lot we don't know. If Labor is going to pull this election out of the fire, then which Coalition seats is it likely to pick up? Marginal seat polling out of Queensland and NSW would be pretty valuable right about now. Rest assured the major parties have plenty of it, and what it is saying will be critical in the decision about the election timing.

Simon Jackman

Chris Bowen's economic statement in full - video

Posted: 01 Aug 2013 09:47 PM PDT

Labor treasurer Chris Bowen gives the pre-election economic statement in Canberra

Quotation quiz: Eddie Obeid or Tony Soprano – who said what?

Posted: 01 Aug 2013 09:31 PM PDT

One is a former politician accused of corruption; the other is a fictional member of the mob. But Eddie Obeid and Tony Soprano share some similar views. Can you tell who said what?

Aneka Info