World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk |
- Eurozone crisis live: Japan's Nikkei rebounds on corporate tax talk
- NBN party policies: the key questions answered
- Hyperloop train plans unveiled by PayPal founder Elon Musk - video
- Tony Abbott says female candidate has sex appeal
- Britain has a duty to help the most vulnerable Gypsies and Travellers | Michael Doherty
- Mark Wahlberg says Graham Norton Show antics were pre-planned
- The NBN debate isn't just about costs: it's also about benefits
- Cardboard cathedral takes centre stage in earthquake-ravaged Christchurch
- Toronto Star puts up a paywall
- Condors found 'poisoned' in Chile
- Tony Abbott says Liberal candidate Fiona Scott has 'sex appeal' - video
- Peru: British and Irish women in airport drugs arrest - video
- Election 2013: Day 10 video round-up
- 'The glass ceiling is incredibly low for Muslim women'
- Uganda motorbike deaths: concerns grow over silent killers | Amy Fallon
- US hospital technician accused of infecting dozens with hepatitis C
- Election 2013: PEFO figures released and sexygate - as it happened
- Tony Abbott's GST full stop could be just another black hole
- WikiLeaks hopes to turn international interest into extra backing
- Beijing rooftop villa on the rocks
- Attacking Kevin Rudd's son looks suspiciously like political point scoring | Monica Attard
- Fake Twitter followers and taxis: The Roast - video
- Treasury sticks with disputed forecasts in pre-election report
- How the far right developed an unlikely interest in solar energy | Giles Parkinson
- Xinjiang violence: two get death penalty
| Eurozone crisis live: Japan's Nikkei rebounds on corporate tax talk Posted: 13 Aug 2013 01:40 AM PDT Japanese shares rose 2.6% on Tuesday following reports that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is considering a corporate tax cut.    |
| NBN party policies: the key questions answered Posted: 13 Aug 2013 01:40 AM PDT  Labor and the Coalition are offering distinctly different visions for the National Broadband Network, each with their pros and cons What is the NBN?The NBN is Australia's National Broadband Network, a massive infrastructure project to build an accessible superfast broadband network across the country. Why do we need the NBN?Currently, Australia's broadband speeds are slow compared to many other countries, and very uneven – top speeds vary widely depending on where in the country you are. Either party's NBN plan will standardise a minimum connection speed, making broadband access more equitable. Both will replace swathes of old copper which makes up the current network with more efficient and faster fibre-optic cable. Who will the NBN reach?Both plans extend across the whole of Australia. Labor's NBNCo plans to connect 93% of premises in the country directly to the fibre network. The remainder would be connected by fixed wireless or by satellite, both at much slower speeds. How fast will it be?Labor's plan claims download speeds of up to 1Gbps, and upload speeds of up to 400Mbps. However, the actual speeds experienced by users will depend on what plan they purchase from service providers. In areas where the NBN has already been rolled out, a range of data plans are available – from 12Mbps download/1Mbps upload up to 100Mbps down/40Mbps up. How long will it take to build?Labor plans to complete the NBN rollout by June 2021, with 3.5 million premises connected to the fibre network by 30 June 2015. What technology will be used?Both plans rely on fibre-optic cables for most of their network. Labor's plan is to connect fibre directly to homes and businesses – a strategy called "fibre to the premises", or FTTP. What will it cost users?Under both plans, internet service providers will sell their own plans to customers, after buying wholesale access from the NBN. The end costs to users will depend on the ISP – current retail plans are listed here. What will it cost to build?Labor's plan is costed at $44.1bn in total. The assumptions used in making up those costs have been scrutinised in the NBN Implementation Study and it produces annual business plans based on those numbers. Why does the Coalition claim it will save $60bn compared with Labor's plan?The Coalition says it does not trust Labor's assumptions in four areas – the time it will take to construct the NBN, the cost of connecting each building to the network, the rate at which revenue per user will grow, and the number of wireless-only households. It has constructed its own model based on different assumptions in those areas, and concluded Labor's plan is likely to cost $94bn, not $37.4bn. Labor strongly disputes the Coalition's numbers, and claims its tested projections are accurate. What are the benefits and drawbacks of Labor's plan?• It offers significantly greater speeds than the Coalition's plan, and would give Australia one of the most advanced networks in the world. What are the benefits and drawbacks of the Coalition's plan?• It is slated to be completed more quickly than Labor's plan, alleviating the current problems more quickly. theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Hyperloop train plans unveiled by PayPal founder Elon Musk - video Posted: 13 Aug 2013 01:38 AM PDT Images of plans for a transport system that would allow people to travel faster than the speed of sound that have been unveiled by the founder of PayPal  |
| Tony Abbott says female candidate has sex appeal Posted: 13 Aug 2013 01:37 AM PDT  Would-be MP Fiona Scott is young, feisty and has 'a bit of sex appeal', according to the opposition leader The opposition leader, Tony Abbott, has described a Liberal candidate as having "sex appeal" when asked to list her traits on the campaign trail. Abbott was in the New South Wales electorate of Lindsay with the candidate, Fiona Scott, when he was asked what the similarities were between her and the former Liberal MP for the seat, Jackie Kelly. "They're both good, young, feisty – I think I could probably say have a bit of sex appeal – and are just very connected to the local community," he replied. Abbott's daughter Frances was at the press conference along with Scott, who did not respond directly to the comment. The western Sydney seat will be crucial in the upcoming election and is held by Labor's David Bradbury on a margin of 1.1%. Bradbury had his own stumble last week when he phoned the Smooth FM radio station and, when questioned on interest rates, asked if the presenter was a member of the Liberal party. The "sex appeal" comment comes a day after Abbott made international headlines by saying no one was "the suppository of all wisdom". A spokesman for the ALP said Abbott's comments were "entirely a matter for him". Abbott has previously had to defend himself against accusations of misogyny, in particular from the former prime minister Julia Gillard who launched an attack on him in parliament last year which went viral. "I will not be lectured about sexism and misogyny by this man. Not now, not ever," she said. "The leader of the opposition says that people who hold sexist views and who are misogynists are not appropriate for high office. Well I hope the leader of the opposition has got a piece of paper and is writing out his resignation." In the lead up to her loss of the leadership, Gillard and Abbott were involved in what the media labelled "the gender wars" after Gillard said Australia had to be wary of "men in blue ties" running the country. Speaking in parliament about the election date she had set for 14 September, Gillard said: "It will be a contest, counter-intuitive to those believing in gender stereotypes, but a contest between a strong, feisty woman and a policy-weak man, and I'll win it." Abbott has also been criticised for standing next to a sign which said "ditch the witch" in reference to Gillard. Two of his daughters, Frances and Bridget, gave an interview earlier this year in which they defended him. "The definition of it is someone who hates women. We're his daughters and we're women. To me that's implying Dad hates us because we're women," Bridget said. theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds    |
| Britain has a duty to help the most vulnerable Gypsies and Travellers | Michael Doherty Posted: 13 Aug 2013 01:32 AM PDT  An increase in suicides among Britain's Gypsy and Traveller communities is happening in the face of continuing prejudice The UK's Romany, Gypsy and Traveller communities have been rocked to the core by a recent spate of suicides among their young men and women. The suicides of four young Irish Traveller people have been widely reported in the Irish press and has sent shockwaves through this tight community. What little research exists on Traveller mental health issues paints a disturbing picture. A study of suicide among Irish Travellers between 2000-06 by academic Mary Rose Walker, found that levels were more than three times that of the total population, peaking in 2005 when it was more than five times the national rate. The study also found that it was predominantly young male Travellers aged 25-29 who were killing themselves. Thomas McCann, a psychologist and Traveller who runs Ireland's only Traveller counselling service, says these figures have not improved, and there is now "a crisis in the community". This increase in suicide is not confined to Travellers in Ireland. Last month in Birmingham, Gypsy boxer Billy Smith killed himself, three years after his brother did the same. The 2009 Health Needs Assessment report on Cumbria's Gypsy Travellers stated: "Seventy-nine per cent of respondents reported that either they or a family member suffered from depression or 'nerves' [a general term used within the community for anxiety, often reactive to circumstances such as the threat of eviction]. The average prevalence of common mental health problems in England is 16.5% of the population." We do not know the reasons for individual suicides and poor mental health, yet McCann is right that there is a crisis. It is a crisis of rapid economic and legislative change that has destroyed the traditional Traveller's way of life in the space of 50 years. Gypsies and Travellers were once deeply embedded into the fabric of society in this country. They worked in agriculture, with metal and horses, and fought in two world wars. But rapid change has left Traveller culture struggling to adapt and this is a major driver of poor mental health. A significant minority work and many have nowhere to live, or are crowded on to massive, often ghettoised sites, built in the 1960s. You only have to visit an estate in a former colliery town to see the devastation that rapid economic change causes. Gypsies and Travellers are no different, yet they are adapting to change in the face of prejudice not experienced by the working class. The changing culture of the working class always had the background context of past industrial decline to take away the sting of accusations of individual weakness or culpability. This does not happen with Travellers, for whom the sins of the individual are often visited upon the whole group – especially if they chime with a stereotype. For many people, Traveller sites seem to simply appear out of nowhere, on a cricket pitch or a playing field and are duly reported in most (but not all) local papers as if they were a unexplainable bogeyman. Most people do not register that Gypsies and Travellers have a context: their past role in society and the forces that have changed this are simply not recognised. Being a Traveller is about identity – it is as deep and indelible as skin colour. Even individuals who leave Traveller communities still define themselves in opposition to the culture that they used to belong to. The Department for Communities and Local Government is right to insist that councils should plan for the future provision of suitable sites. Travellers need somewhere to settle so they can have access to health services. Some GPs will take on Travellers who have no fixed site or home; others won't. This means that many Travellers continue to go to a GP where they once got good treatment, even though they may have since moved miles away. Others just go straight to A&E. Research conducted late last year by the Irish Traveller Movement, revealed that nearly three-quarters of primary care trusts (now replaced by clinical commissioning groups) failed to monitor the health of Gypsies and Travellers. This lack of care comes from the highest levels of the NHS, as it does not include Gypsies and Travellers alongside the 16 ethnic minority categories that it recommends are monitored. The Department of Health needs to act now on this issue. Because the sad fact is that until Gypsies and Travellers are being counted, they probably won't count. theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Mark Wahlberg says Graham Norton Show antics were pre-planned Posted: 13 Aug 2013 01:11 AM PDT  Actor says he arranged chatshow mayhem beforehand with fellow guest Sarah Silverman When Mark Wahlberg went on The Graham Norton Show back in March, it went down as one of the all time great car-crash chat show guest appearances - especially after Wahlberg clambered on Norton's lap and proceeded to stroke his host's nipples. Viewers were quick to conclude the Ted star – there to promote his film Broken City – had simply availed himself too freely of the pre-show refreshments; a conclusion apparently supported by Norton himself. But it appears everyone was wrong. According to Walhlberg himself, his erratic behaviour was pre-planned, and he had discussed it with fellow guest Sarah Silverman. Speaking to Digital Spy, Wahlberg said of the show: "Sarah Silverman and I talked about doing something funny." He added: "I was trying to do a 'bit' and some people took it too seriously." Third guest, actor Michael Fassbender, appeared thoroughly bemused throughout, and Norton had to fend Wahlberg off sharply. It would appear that Wahlberg's "bit" was to suggest an infatuation with Silverman, gazing flirtatiously at her and occasionally kissing her. Silverman has in the past made comic capital out of supposed intimate relationships with fellow performers, most famously for her Emmy award-winning song I'm Fucking Matt Damon. theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds    |
| The NBN debate isn't just about costs: it's also about benefits Posted: 13 Aug 2013 12:53 AM PDT  The question should be about what the National Broadband Network can do for Australia, not just about what we can afford The National Broadband Network debate between Malcolm Turnbull and Anthony Albanese on Lateline offered very little that was new. The Coalition's numbers won't see such scrutiny until – and unless – they're built into the business plan. Their $94bn figure is no more stable and secure than Labor's own costings – and while Labor has good reason, before the election, to underestimate the costs of the NBN rollout, the Coalition has equally good reason to overestimate them. Just as Australia's congested road network now demands funds for highway widening and upgrading, an NBN that only brings Australia's internet infrastructure into the present will, in the long term, be more expensive than a future-proof option. If the NBN is simply an attempt to bring broadband in Australia up to current standards for the cheapest price possible, then it risks being obsolete before it has been built. theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds    |
| Cardboard cathedral takes centre stage in earthquake-ravaged Christchurch Posted: 13 Aug 2013 12:51 AM PDT  A world-first building gives New Zealanders hope, but it's hard for people to let go of a much-loved Gothic materpiece With its celebration of the Gothic revival style and pride in being called that most English of cities, conservative Christchurch is an unusual place to host the world's first cardboard cathedral. Two years and seven months after the February 2011 earthquake which physically and mentally rocked the foundations of Christchurch, killing 185 people, the Transitional Cathedral has opened its doors. Designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban and delivered by Christchurch architectural firm Warren and Mahoney, the cardboard cathedral cost $5.3m, accommodates 700 people and has an expected life of 50 years. In a city without a town hall, and limited performance space, an expectant flock and the curious public are streaming in. But in a broken place that has experienced so much loss – more than 220 heritage buildings have been demolished in a wasteland CBD where the wrecking ball is still swinging – it is hard for many to let go of a 132-year-old Gothic cathedral whose image was the city's brand in every postcard. Much in evidence after the quake were pendants dangling tiny images of the rose window of the cathedral as people struggled to find a civic identity. A bitter battle that has become personal rages over the fate of the old Christ Church cathedral with the Great Christchurch Buildings Trust. In one corner, wanting to restore the old cathedral, are the unlikely bedfellows Philip Burdon, a wealthy former National party cabinet minister, and former leftwing minister Jim Anderton. In the other is Bishop Victoria Matthews, referred to as the iron lady, who wants it demolished. The Wizard of New Zealand, a political character and public speaker played by Ian Brackenbury Channell, used the cathedral as a prop in his public rants in which he compared Matthews to the damaged cathedral. "She is in a very dangerous state, being seriously cracked and I can see no evidence that she can be made safe. Even if it were possible there would be no point in restoring her as she is as dull and bland as her cardboard cathedral," he said. It was initially thought people had died when the quake struck the cathedral and the Canadian-born Matthews, relatively new to the job, had to wait anxious days for confirmation that there were no deaths. She has earned some respect for having to endure misogynistic and xenophobic attacks and for showing strong leadership during the rebuild. As the acting dean, Lynda Patterson, says, the old cathedral was caught up in the story of the Canterbury settlement, and "if you put 10 Cantabrians in a room you'll have at least 12 opinions". This is borne out in the pages of the local paper where those deeply into ancestral worship slug it out with a majority who have been polled and ticked the box for a contemporary cathedral some have likened to an upturned dinghy or "women's parts". Campaigners battling to save the old cathedral are determined to keep fighting even though the latest court ruling allows the demolition to proceed. Inside the new cathedral the space has a transcendental tranquility, with a Danish interior of white walls contrasting with a beige cardboard cross and a steeple of enormous cardboard tubes inserted with timber. Shaped like an old-fashioned ridge tent, the cathedral is located next to the 185 White Chairs art installation representing the dead, and sits diagonally opposite the CTV site where 115 people perished. The minimalist cathedral's frontage has a large trinity window with brightly coloured panels and faces north-south looking over Latimer Square, which accommodated so much drama on the day of the quake. A triage area was set up at one end to tend to the injured as helicopters dropped off medical equipment into a panic of traumatised students, tourists and city workers who had fled there to shelter from falling buildings. In about 10 years, the temporary cathedral will be handed over to St John's, an evangelical Anglican church demolished on the site after the quake. Patterson says it had been tough being a refugee cathedral and sees the transitional cathedral as a sacred space in the city where the diocese can draw breath and "offer a place of worship in new circumstances". Luckily the renowned choir and its music director are intact, and the opening has been celebrated by a series of packed concerts in a festival irreverently called Joyfully Un-Munted. It is hoped this will kick-start an income stream that has been impossible without a cathedral. The old one brought in $100,000 a year from the bell tower tours alone. The arrival of the cardboard cathedral might take the heat off and allow for a more considered approach to the rebuild in the square, but with Aftermath, a pro-heritage documentary about to be aired, the raking over the rubble looks set to continue. theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds    |
| Toronto Star puts up a paywall Posted: 13 Aug 2013 12:42 AM PDT  The Toronto Star, Canada's largest-selling daily newspaper, has erected a paywall. Subscribers are initially being asked to pay 99 cents (63p) for a month's full digital access. After that, they must pay $9.99 (£6.30) every month. Readers will be able to access only 10 free articles on the website before being required to pay a subscription. The paper's owner, Torstar Corp, has previously placed other of its titles, such as the Hamilton Spectator and the Waterloo Region Record, behind paywalls. In July, Torstar reported its fifth successive decline in quarterly profit. Its media business revenue fell 8% in the second quarter of 2013 compared to the same period the year before. At the time, its executives said the raising of newspaper paywalls should help the situation. Sources: Toronto Star/Globe & Mail/Reuters theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
| Condors found 'poisoned' in Chile Posted: 13 Aug 2013 12:29 AM PDT  Authorities find 20 birds, two of them dead, after they crashed into rocks in the Andes and say they may have eaten poisoned meat Chilean authorities are investigating the apparent poisoning of 20 condors in the Andes after two birds died, authorities revealed on Monday. On Sunday, witnesses reported condors crashing into rocks high in the mountains near a hydroelectric power plant. Officials and volunteers rescued 17 birds that had crash-landed and were foaming from the beak and apparently too weak or dizzy to take off again. Another sick condor and two dead birds were found on Monday. The birds are being treated at a veterinary clinic in the city of Los Andes, 40 miles (70km) east of the capital, Santiago. "The hypothesis is that they suffered organophosphate poisoning after they were exposed to insecticides used for agriculture," said veterinarian Eric Savard, who has been treating them. The 18 survivors are recovering after being treated with an antidote, antibiotics and saline solution, Savard said, and will remain under intensive care for 10 days. Vergara said two dead foxes and a dead cow were also discovered in the same area and samples have been sent to a laboratory for testing. Officials say the birds could have eaten poisoned meat or drunk water contaminated with insecticides. When they regain strength, the birds will be taken to Santiago's Metropolitan zoo for further care and released in the same place where they were found, Pablo Vergara, regional director of Chile's agriculture and livestock service, told local media. The Andean condor is one of the largest flying birds in the world and biologists estimate only a few thousand are left in the wild. They have wingspans of up to 10ft (3m) and can glide on air currents for hours. theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
| Tony Abbott says Liberal candidate Fiona Scott has 'sex appeal' - video Posted: 13 Aug 2013 12:06 AM PDT Tony Abbott, has described a Liberal candidate as having "sex appeal" when asked to list her traits on the campaign trail  |
| Peru: British and Irish women in airport drugs arrest - video Posted: 12 Aug 2013 11:56 PM PDT Two women are arrested at Lima airport, Peru, after 11kg of cocaine was found in their baggage    |
| Election 2013: Day 10 video round-up Posted: 12 Aug 2013 11:16 PM PDT Tony Abbott is under renewed pressure to release the Coalition's policy costings after the final budget    |
| 'The glass ceiling is incredibly low for Muslim women' Posted: 12 Aug 2013 11:01 PM PDT  Prejudice based on their religious clothing and faith is creating extra barriers for workers in the UK Muneera, a 19-year-old art student from London, wants to set up her own business selling her paintings. But she wears a headscarf, and she is concerned that it might be difficult. "I don't know if it'll be a real problem, or if it's all in my head. I want to know how to deal with it if people in the business world act differently towards me because of my scarf." Muneera's friend Nour, meanwhile, wants to be a doctor. "I don't really get career advice at college," she says. "So talking to other Muslim women helps. When I see them doing their own thing and getting on with their careers, it's really motivating." Muneera and Nour went to the Urban Muslim Woman Show, an annual networking event that took place earlier this summer, in order to meet new contacts who might guide them in their careers. Like many Muslim women, they fear their professional identity may be distorted by the hijab and the presumptions people have about it. Some of the barriers facing them affect all women, such as unequal pay and gender discrimination. But many Muslim women face extra difficulties, such as prejudice based on their religious clothing and faith, while others feel sidelined in terms of career advice or guidance. In December last year, an all-party parliamentary report found Muslim women of south Asian origin are susceptible to triple discrimination because of their gender, ethnicity and religion. The report, published by the Runnymede Trust, expressed concern that Pakistani and Bangladeshi women were more likely to be made redundant in comparison with other women and found employers made generic stereotypes about them, such as expecting them to want to stop working after having children. Many Muslim women interviewed for the report spoke of disparaging comments made about their dress. Others, including second-generation, highly-educated graduates, said job offers only materialised after they removed their hijabs; many felt written off by recruitment companies. When Fauzia, 32, first started work in the banking sector as a graduate, she was determined to make a good impression on her predominately male colleagues. But she found they didn't take her seriously and rarely noted her contributions. She feels certain it was because she was not just the only woman in the office, but also because she wore a headscarf. "They used to refer to me as 'the girl with the sheet on her head'. They thought it was funny, but it was incredibly hurtful," says Fauzia. "I felt belittled every day. It was like they didn't want to acknowledge me as a real person by using my name." Sara Khan from the Muslim women's rights group Inspire says: "The glass ceiling is incredibly low for Muslim women. The Muslim women I work with say that they don't understand why they aren't given the same chances as other women. They question whether it's their name or the way they dress." Numerous recommendations were put forward after the publication of the Runnymede Trust report, such as increasing the take-up of "blankname" job application forms. But few, if any, of the report's recommendations have been implemented. "It's incredibly complex," says Khan. "The transition from leaving education to entering the labour market is where Muslim women can find themselves disadvantaged. There's an assumption that Muslim women will marry younger and have children younger whereas, really, there are so many Muslim women who want to work. Recruitment agencies could do a lot more with graduate Muslim women in terms of putting them forward for positions, but job centres also have a role to play in helping women with writing their CV and basic interview skills." Many Muslim women, like Muneera and Nour, are looking elsewhere for career advice. Initiatives like the Muslim Women's Network, which offers training schemes and highlights female role models, and the Urban Muslim Woman Show are proving popular. Nuna, a 38-year-old banker, says she has never encountered discrimination in her career (she does not wear a headscarf). But she feels it is important for Muslim women to support each other: "What's missing for me is simply having a concentration of like-minded Muslim women in the workplace. So surely it can only be a good thing to bring women who share similar beliefs together." theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
| Uganda motorbike deaths: concerns grow over silent killers | Amy Fallon Posted: 12 Aug 2013 11:01 PM PDT  Boda-bodas help to combat youth unemployment, but they are also maiming and killing thousands of people every year They have been dubbed Uganda's silent killers. Boda-bodas, the country's ubiquitous motorbike taxis, snake through gridlocked traffic, navigate potholed roads and provide much-needed employment for young people. They are also maiming and killing thousands every year, monopolising hospital budgets and wiping out livelihoods. Since they appeared on the streets of Uganda in the 1960s, the number of boda-bodas has swelled. One recent news report estimated there were more than 300,000 bikes operating in the capital, Kampala. The number of motorbike accidents has increased exponentially. According to the Injury Control Centre, there are up to 20 boda-related cases at Mulago National Referral hospital in Kampala every day. The strain on the country's limited health budget is growing. According to a report by Makerere University College of Health Sciences and the department of orthopedics at Mulago, about 40% of trauma cases at the hospital are from boda-boda accidents (pdf). The treatment of injured passengers and pedestrians accounts for almost two-thirds of the hospital's annual surgery budget. Dr Michael Edgar Muhumuza, head of Mulago's neurosurgery unit, believes the boda-bodas are deathtraps. "These are young people, the youth of tomorrow," he says as he examines x-rays. "It's a big problem [for] this nation. The last two, three years the number of these accidents has become much greater. It's now very bad." As well as those who are injured or die in accidents, Muhumuza is seeing an increasing number of riders who have been beaten and left for dead after being robbed of their vehicles. While boda-bodas are helping to reduce youth unemployment – one recent study estimated that 62% of young people in Uganda are jobless – the impact of a serious injury can prove catastrophic for riders and their families. Ali Niwamanya, 25, a boda-boda driver, spent three months in Mulago hospital and another five at home recovering after a collision with a car in the capital in September. "I had a broken leg. It was too painful," he recalls. "It was hard for me to get money because I could not work, and so my family had to suffer during that time." Niwamanya is now in debt after taking out a 3m Ugandan shilling loan (£765) for a new bike. While the human impact of the boda-boda craze is evident in the packed hospital wards, the strain that spiralling road fatalities could have on the economy is worrying politicians. The death toll on Uganda's roads is twice the average across Africa. The Ugandan annual crime and traffic/road safety report showed 3,343 road deaths were registered in 2011 (pdf) although the World Health Organisation has estimated the figure to be more than double that. Some are warning that, if action is not taken, the death toll from Uganda's roads could top that from diseases such as malaria – and be second only to HIV and Aids as the leading cause of death in the country. "This translates into a monetary loss to the country," says Winstone Katushabe, secretary of the transport licensing board at the transport ministry. "It's about 1 trillion shillings [£255m] in terms of loss to the economy, [with] investigations of accidents, post-trauma care, families you have to look after." Kampala's metropolitan traffic police director, Lawrence Nuwabiine, agrees. He says Uganda must "fight this road carnage" with the same commitment it used to tackle HIV and Aids a decade ago. "When we started [with] the issue of Aids, the president … said: 'We are dying, every person must talk about Aids'," Nuwabiine says. "And people started talking about Aids in churches, in schools. We managed to reach somewhere. But [with] this one, people are not talking about death as a result of these boda-bodas." Some measures are being taken to try to stem the problem. Last month, the government announced that the works and transport sector would be allocated one of the biggest chunks – about 15% – of the 2013-14 budget to improve and maintain roads. Even though road safety measures were not specifically included within the budget, the government is establishing a national agency to run advocacy campaigns and manage roads. In Kampala, the Capital City Authority is attempting to introduce regulations, including mandatory registration of drivers, first-aid training, reflector jackets and helmets, and a monthly fee of 20,000 Ugandan shillings paid by the city's 250,000 motorbike taxis. Other initiatives are also springing up. The Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative is holding a one-day workshop for 100 riders, part of a national scheme under which it has trained 1,800 boda-boda riders in basic road safety. On completion, each participant receives a yellow helmet bearing the slogan: "Your life is your wealth". It is a message that seems to be getting through. Ronald Katetemera, 27, says he will not be taking his new headgear off. "Every day it's going to be the first thing I put on," Katetemera says. "They say life has no money value. I have my children. I don't want to die." theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| US hospital technician accused of infecting dozens with hepatitis C Posted: 12 Aug 2013 11:01 PM PDT  David Kwiatkowski agrees plea deal after admitting he had been stealing drugs since 2002 and was 'killing a lot of people' A hospital technician in the US infected dozens of people with hepatitis C by secretly injecting himself with the painkillers they were supposed to receive and refilling the contaminated syringes with saline solution. The travelling medical worker told investigators he had been stealing drugs for more than a decade and was "killing a lot of people", according to a plea agreement filed on Monday that would send him to prison for 30 to 40 years. David Kwiatkowski, who has been jailed since his arrest in July 2012, is accused of stealing painkiller syringes from the cardiac catheterisation lab of Exeter hospital in New Hampshire, leaving them tainted with his blood when he refilled them with saline. He has agreed to plead guilty to the 14 federal drug theft and tampering charges he faced in exchange for a lighter sentence. Had he been convicted at trial he could have been sentenced to up to 98 years behind bars. Thirty-two patients in New Hampshire have been diagnosed with the strain of hepatitis C carried by Kwiatkowski, who worked at 18 hospitals in seven states before being hired in New Hampshire in 2011. There have been seven cases in Maryland, six in Kansas and one in Pennsylvania. One of the Kansas patients has died and hepatitis C, a blood-borne viral infection that can cause liver disease and chronic health issues, played a "contributing role", the plea agreement said. The plea agreement includes details of an interview Kwiatkowski gave to investigators in New Hampshire after his arrest in which he said he knew he had been diagnosed in 2010 but continued to "swap out" syringes of the painkiller fentanyl. He said he had been stealing drugs since 2002 and estimated he had swapped syringes at least 50 times in New Hampshire, at least 30 times in Georgia and more than 20 times in Kansas. Under the plea deal Kwiatkowski would avoid criminal charges in the latter two states. Asked if anyone helped him divert drugs in Exeter, Kwiatkowski said: "It was all me." He then added: "And I'm going to kill a lot of people out of this," the plea agreement states. Asked to clarify his comment, he replied: "I'm killing a lot of people." Kwiatkowski, who grew up in Michigan, was sent by staffing agencies to hospitals around the country, usually for temporary jobs. In announcing federal drug charges last year, US attorney John Kacavas called him a "serial infector". Kwiatkowski's attorneys did not immediately respond to emails or a phone message left at their office on Monday night. A hearing on the plea agreement is set for Wednesday. theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
| Election 2013: PEFO figures released and sexygate - as it happened Posted: 12 Aug 2013 10:49 PM PDT Treasury releases independent pre-election fiscal outlook – putting pressure on Tony Abbott and the Coalition to publish their policy costings    |
| Tony Abbott's GST full stop could be just another black hole Posted: 12 Aug 2013 10:19 PM PDT  As the China-fuelled boom slows, will the opposition leader's emphatic promise turn out to be his carbon tax? Kevin Rudd says there's no budget "black hole" that his whatever-point productivity plan can't deal with. Tony Abbott and his team are clearly saying they think there will be a black hole, but insist they aren't going to do anything unexpected or drastic to fill it. Both major parties understand we can't afford current levels of spending in the medium term as the China-fuelled economic boom slows. But for electoral purposes they seem determined to make out that everything is OK, or at least sufficiently OK for their steady-as-you-go economic plans to handle. The last time this happened was the 1996 election campaign when everyone knew the budget was in deficit but pretended to believe it was in surplus. When John Howard won he ''uncovered'', with suitable gasps of feigned surprise, the $8bn ''Beazley black hole'', resulting in some serious cost-cutting in the 1996 budget and the ''charter of budget honesty'', which is why we get this pre-election fiscal and economic outlook – or PEFO – in the first place. The 2013 PEFO sticks with the economic forecasts the Coalition says it doesn't believe and says it will ask the Treasury to revise after the election in the full expectation that the result will be a much bleaker picture. But – while Labor was still rehearsing its "Tony Abbott's hidden spending cuts" attack lines – Abbott himself emerged to promise that whatever the true position of the budget turned out to be and whatever pressure he was under to make bigger spending cuts after the election, he wouldn't be making cuts other than those he is going to tell us about some time soon. Also he would be implementing his very expensive paid parental leave policy in his first term of government and he would not – at any time – increase the goods and services tax. I have no doubt Abbott genuinely wants to restore the nation's trust in its leaders. Having seen the devastating impact of his own campaign against Julia Gillard for her ill-advised "no carbon tax under a government I lead" promise during the 2010 election, he is determined no charge of "lying" or "promise-breaking" can be levelled against him as prime minister. But saying "the GST will not change. Full stop. End of story" is a similarly ill-advised election campaign promise. The Coalition had not said it would change the GST but it had included it in its promised review of taxation for good reason. Abbott wants to be a prime minister known for both truthfulness and economic management. But he's busy making promises that bring the first intention into direct conflict with the second. theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds    |
| WikiLeaks hopes to turn international interest into extra backing Posted: 12 Aug 2013 10:17 PM PDT  Julian Assange's political party looks at creating 'supporter class' membership for people outside Australia Julian Assange's WikiLeaks party is investigating ways to harness international backers and mobilise support in the lead-up to the Australian election. The party is running seven candidates in the election, including Assange, who remains in the Ecuadorean embassy in London. A spokeswoman, Sam Castro, said while the party's key obligation was to its Australian members, it was looking at creating a "supporter class" for people outside Australia. "Australian people don't realise how much interest there is in this election," she said. "As soon as we set up the party, we had people from Greece, India, Iceland, South Africa, Brazil, Germany – just about everywhere – who said we've been watching and we want to do the same in our countries. "[The WikiLeaks movement] didn't happen in a cultural vacuum – it is about transparency and justice. There is generational change taking place. People are searching for a new body politic." WikiLeaks launched its Senate campaign in July. It will be run by the barrister Greg Barns, a former Liberal staffer who ran the Australian Republican Movement's referendum campaign in 1999. Assange is leading the ticket in Victoria, with the ethicist Leslie Cannold and the academic Binoy Kampmark. The human rights lawyer Kellie Trantor and the former diplomat Alison Broinowski are running in NSW and the journalist Gerry Georgatos and the economist Suresh Rajan in Western Australia. WikiLeaks has a fundraising target of $700,000 for the election but the party has only attracted $49,000 so far. The former banker, philanthropist and animal activist Philip Wollen has provided it with a Melbourne campaign headquarters. Membership costs $20; so far the party has attracted about 2,000 members. Assange gave an address at the campaign launch and continues to hold forums over Skype connections. He speaks to WikiLeaks staff daily. He sought asylum from Ecuador to avoid the risk of extradition to the US from Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning about alleged sexual offences. theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds    |
| Beijing rooftop villa on the rocks Posted: 12 Aug 2013 10:10 PM PDT  Authorities poised to demolish fantasy structure of boulders and foliage that crowns apartment block A man who made his fortune in traditional medicine spent six years building his own private mountain peak and luxury villa atop a high-rise apartment block in China's capital. Now, authorities are giving him 15 days to tear it down. The craggy complex of rooms, rocks, trees and bushes looming over the 26-storey building looks like something built into a seaside cliff, and has become the latest symbol of disregard for the law among the rich as well as the rampant practice of building illegal additions. Angry neighbours say they have complained for years that the unauthorised, 800 sq ft mansion was damaging the building's structural integrity and its pipe system, but that local authorities failed to crack down. They had also complained about loud, late-night parties. "They've been renovating for years. They normally do it at night," said a resident on the building's 25th floor, who added that any attempts to reason with the owner were met with indifference. "He was very arrogant. He couldn't care less about my complaints," said the neighbour, who declined to give his name to avoid repercussions. Haidian district urban management official Dai Jun said on Tuesday that authorities would tear the two-storey structure down in 15 days unless the owner does so himself or presents evidence it was legally built. Dai said his office has yet to receive such evidence. The villa's owner has been identified as the head of a traditional Chinese medicine business and former member of the district's political advisory body who resides on the building's 26th floor. Contacted by Beijing Times newspaper, the man said he would comply with the district's orders, but he belittled attempts to call the structure a villa, calling it "just an ornamental garden". Authorities took action only after photographs of the villa were splashed across Chinese media on Monday. Newspapers have fronted their editions with large pictures of the complex, along with the headline: "Beijing's most outrageous illegal structure." The case has resonance among ordinary Chinese who regularly see the rich and politically connected receive special treatment. Expensive vehicles lacking licence plates are a common sight, while luxury housing complexes that surround Beijing and other cities are often built on land appropriated from farmers with little compensation. China's leader Xi Jinping has vowed to crack down on official corruption, and Beijing itself launched a campaign earlier this year to demolish illegal structures, although the results remain unclear. Demand for property remains high, however, and the extralegal rooftop mansion construction is far from unique. A developer in the central city of Hengyang recently got into hot water over an illegally built complex of 25 villas on top of a shopping centre. He later won permission to keep the villas intact as long as they were not sold to others. While all land in China technically belongs to the state – with homebuyers merely given 70-year leases – the rules are often vague, leaving usage rights and ownership murky. A city in Sichuan province recently caused a minor stir when it was discovered to have cut the length of land leases from the normal 70 years to just 40 years. The local government's response to public queries drew even more jeers. Officials posted a statement online maintaining that the law allows for lease periods of less than 70 years and added: "Who knows if we'll still be in this world in 40 years. Don't think too long-term." theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds    |
| Attacking Kevin Rudd's son looks suspiciously like political point scoring | Monica Attard Posted: 12 Aug 2013 10:09 PM PDT Monica Attard: Politicians' family members shouldn't lose their right to privacy for choices they haven't made. Journalists should know better    |
| Fake Twitter followers and taxis: The Roast - video Posted: 12 Aug 2013 09:21 PM PDT Rumours that Abbott's Twitter followers are fake, the Norwegian prime minister poses as a taxi driver, and we look at the leaders' debate    |
| Treasury sticks with disputed forecasts in pre-election report Posted: 12 Aug 2013 09:13 PM PDT  PEFO analysis uses projections Coalition dismissed as 'not credible' and explains volatility in economic predictions An independent analysis by the Treasury has stuck with economic forecasts the federal Coalition has labelled "not credible" but has provided margins of error and lengthy explanations to explain volatility in its recent economic predictions. The government is using the pre-election economic and fiscal outlook (PEFO) to ramp up its attack on the Coalition, accusing the opposition leader, Tony Abbott, of trying to use allegations of uncertainty about the forecasts to "hide" deep spending cuts he intends to make if he wins. Kevin Rudd said Abbott lacked "the guts" to say where he would make cuts, because he was worried people would be less likely to vote for him. But Abbott, who said he "wanted to be known as a prime minister who keeps his commitments", for the first time categorically ruled out any change to the GST, even if elected for a second term, despite its inclusion in the Coalition's promised first-term tax review. "The GST will not change. Full stop. End of story," he said. He also promised no unexpected spending cuts, beyond those to be announced by the Coalition later in the campaign, saying pressure to cut further after the election "will be pressure that I will resist, I will defy … I will do what I say we will do." The pre-election fiscal outlook document – an independent calculation by the Departments of Finance and Treasury – maintains every major forecast from the government's economic statement that was delivered shortly before the election was called, except for the small projected surplus in 2016-17, which is revised upwards slightly, from $4bn to $4.2bn. The shadow treasurer, Joe Hockey, had said the forecasts and projections in the economic statement were "not credible" and the numbers "not real" and that the Coalition was unlikely to commit to any budget surplus or deficit using them as a starting point, an intention Abbott appeared to confirm in remarks to the press. And the Coalition will ask the Treasury to strip out what it claims are unrealistically optimistic and politically directed assumptions from the budget to reveal a true picture of the government's bottom line, which it believes will be much bleaker than the official forecasts. Abbott said this was because "we want to get the best possible advice''. ''I absolutely respect the professionalism of the Treasury; it is unfortunate though that under this government the figures, the forecasts, the costings have been consistently unreliable. We want everyone to lift their game," he said. But Treasury and Finance have gone to some lengths in the PEFO document to explain the uncertainties faced when making economic forecasts and to include a "margin of error" calculating the probability, based on experience, that the budget outcome will be in line with its forecasts. "The degree of uncertainty around forecasts can be estimated based on past forecast errors and presented using confidence intervals. Similar approaches for estimating uncertainty have been adopted by a number of monetary and fiscal authorities," it says. For the all-important forecasts about growth, the Treasury presents an average over the next two years (when it is forecast at 2.5% and 3%). "Average annualised real GDP growth over the two years 2011-12 to 2013-14 is expected to be 2.75%, with the 70% confidence interval," it says. "In other words, if forecast errors are similar to those in the past, there is a 70% probability that the average annualised growth rate will lie in this range." For its projections of unemployment, the Treasury also uses some "alternative assumptions" which would mean unemployment stayed slightly higher for longer – falling to 6% in 2015-16 instead of 5% as in the official projections, and to 5.75% in 2016-17, instead of 5%. The reasury has stuck with its projections of the revenue to be reaped from the mining tax and the carbon tax, both of which hthe Coalition has uestioned But it concedes the floating carbon price "is subject to considerable uncertainty" and provides a way of calculating the impact of any variations on the budget. It says the carbon price "will continue to be significantly affected by changes in the economic outlook in Europe following a period of profound economic weakness, as well as uncertainty associated with the impacts of short-term and structural reform proposals in the EU ETS."" "To illustrate the sensitivity of the estimates to changes in the Australian dollar carbon price," it says, "in the absence of policy change, a simple rule of thumb for a $1 change in the carbon price in any given year would be a change in the underlying cash balance of around $160m in 2014-15 or around $220m in either 2015-16 or 2016-17." It says there are "both external and domestic risks" to Australia's outlook. "The crisis in the euro area remains unresolved, and markets are anxious about how the eventual unwinding of US monetary policy will play out. There is also lingering uncertainty about the sustainability of Japan's recovery, while markets remain concerned about financial developments in China. "This uncertainty surrounding global growth prospects poses a risk to the terms of trade and nominal GDP forecasts. There is also a risk that the anticipated fall in resources investment following its peak could be sharper than expected, especially around the middle of the decade. In addition, the transition to new sources of growth may not occur as smoothly as anticipated. Unexpected global or domestic developments could also generate further sharp movements in the exchange rate." It also maintains the assumption that asylum seekers will continue to arrive by boat at the rate of about 1,100 per month during 2013-14, despite some evidence that arrivals may be falling following the decision to send all new arrivals to Papua New Guinea. "Retaining the arrival assumption at 1,100 per month for 2013-14 at this time is prudent. It reflects an on-balance judgment that incorporates recent arrival rates on the one hand and the likely impact, over time, of recent policy announcements on arrival numbers on the other hand," the Treasury says. The treasurer, Chris Bowen, said the release of PEFO meant Abbott's "alibis end, his excuses end, he has nowhere to hide", insisting the Coalition leader now had to release his full policy costings. And the finance minister, Penny Wong, insisted the Coalition should have its policies costed using processes set up by Peter Costello under the charter of budget honesty, rather than "random accounting firms". But the shadow treasurer, Joe Hockey, said the PEFO document "contains significant commentary" about "exceptional" downside risks for the economy, and needed to be "carefully considered" by the Coalition. He said the Coalition would release the costings of its spending and saving measures when it had received all the advice it had sought from the Parliamentary Budget Office. theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| How the far right developed an unlikely interest in solar energy | Giles Parkinson Posted: 12 Aug 2013 09:10 PM PDT Giles Parkinson: From the US to Australia, solar energy is increasingly supported as an individual right against centralised control – a headache for many conservatives  |
| Xinjiang violence: two get death penalty Posted: 12 Aug 2013 08:35 PM PDT  Men from Uighur ethnic minority convicted over deaths of 15 members of security forces in restive Muslim region of China Two men have been sentenced to death and three others to prison terms over deadly attacks in the traditionally Muslim region of Xinjiang, Chinese state media has reported. The violence on 23 April was one of a series of incidents between authorities and members of the region's native Turkic Uighur ethnic minority. The Xinhua News Agency and other outlets said Musa Hesen, the alleged leader of an extremist group, sentenced to death following a one-day trial on Monday for murder, forming and leading a terrorist organisation and illegally manufacturing explosives. Another defendant, Rehman Hupur, received the death sentence for murder and belonging to a terrorist organisation. The sentences imposed on the three others ranged from nine years to life in prison. The reports said the defendants did not contest the charges and had lawyers present during their trial. Death sentences in China are automatically reviewed by the country's highest court before being carried out. Officials from the Kashgar intermediate court and local Communist party spokesmen were not immediately available for comment to the Associated Press on Tuesday. A total of 19 members of the group were arrested and more trials are expected. Authorities said the group regularly watched video clips advocating religious extremism and terrorism and attended illegal preaching ceremonies, and had planned to carry out a major attack in densely populated areas of Kashgar in the summer. The clash erupted after local police and community workers discovered suspicious behaviour at a home in Bachu county outside the city of Kashgar, authorities have said. Fearing his group's discovery, Hesen led other members in hacking and burning to death 15 members of the security services, while six of his own group were shot dead at the scene. The death toll was the highest for a single incident in months in north-western China's Xinjiang region, where recurring violence pits Uighurs against the authorities and majority ethnic Han Chinese migrants. Beijing says China faces an organised terrorist threat from radical Muslim groups in the region. theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
| You are subscribed to email updates from World news and comment from the Guardian | theguardian.com To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
Posting Komentar