World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk

Senate panel warns over climate change
Nairobi airport fire: flights resume as investigators rule out terrorism
Eurozone crisis live: upbeat China trade data eases slowdown fears
Big smiles as Kevin Rudd and Peter Beattie play the happy couple
Cyclist knocked off his bike and abused - video
Syria conflict: Rebels claim to have attacked Assad convoy - live updates
Our hysterical media helped create the immigrant 'go home' van | Greg Philo
Vigil held for brothers killed by snake in Canada - video
Nestlé cuts 2013 target on weaker European markets
Election 2013: Day 4 campaign video roundup
One Nation candidate Stephanie Banister puts Islam on the map
Stephanie Banister: 'I don't oppose Islam as a country' - video
Bo Xilai's lawyer 'not allowed' to represent him during trial
Zanzibar acid attack: two British charity workers injured
Flinders Street station design contest winner announced
Election 2013: unemployment figures released - politics live blog
Syrian rebels 'targeted' Assad motorcade on its way to mosque
Badger cull is right thing to do, says David Cameron
Coalition attacks Labor over unemployment figures
Is the recruitment industry set for a big data revolution?
Wives 'refreshed' by seeing male strip show: from the archive, 8 August 1975
British mother sets biggest baby record
WA insists children will be moved from adult prison on time
Fukushima leaks: Japan PM steps in
Greens to launch food policy online as they reach out to rural Australia

Posted: 08 Aug 2013 01:46 AM PDT

Bipartisan report highlights scientific link between severe weather events and dangerous global warming

A bipartisan warning over the dangers of climate change has pierced the electioneering, with a Senate committee pointing to the rising threat posed by extreme weather events and former Liberal leader John Hewson forecasting severe financial pain from unchecked carbon emissions.

The Senate committee's report highlighted scientific evidence showing a link between climate change and more frequent weather events such as heatwaves and storm surges.

The Senate panel, which includes Labor, Coalition and Greens members, recommended that "credible and reliable flood mapping" be introduced, along with better access to insurance and amended building codes, in order to help Australia cope with floods, storms and bushfires. The insurance industry has welcomed its findings.

The Greens called for the committee in the wake of the Queensland floods in 2010 and 2011. Christine Milne, the Greens' leader, told Guardian Australia that urgent reform was needed to better prepare Australia for extreme weather.

"Local governments aren't changing planning schemes fast enough to prevent people building on floodplains," she said. "And we still haven't got to the point where either of the old parties have a consistent, precautionary approach to climate change.

"Raising one-off levies, like we did for the Queensland floods, reinforces the idea that these are just one-off events that we don't have to plan for. The human toll and the infrastructure toll shows that it makes sense to spend money up front for mitigation, in order to save money and lives in the long term.

"We'd like to see a resilience advisory group paid for by a levy on thermal coal exports because at the moment when disasters strike, the public pays, not the coal industry."

Greg Hunt, the shadow climate change minister, said that he "strongly supports" continued research by the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO into climate change's impact on weather.

"On the specific recommendations on insurance and building codes, those need to be examined in more detail and discussed with the states and local government," he said.

"There needs to be a co-ordinated approach and it is for this reason we were disappointed that the federal government scrapped funding for the National Climate Change Adaptation Facility. It's another example of Labor being all talk but no real action on addressing the challenges."

The committee's warning coincides with a new report by the Climate Institute that outlines how Australia's financial and physical health is at risk from runaway climate change.

The report, called Dangerous Degrees, warned that current warming trends would see a temperature increase of at least four degrees by 2100 – well above the internationally agreed limit of two degrees warming.

This change, the study stated, could significantly affect Australia's social stability, diminish natural resources such as water and trigger greater sea level rises.

Hewson helped unveil the report and said that climate change could carry an economic cost that would make the global financial crisis seem like a "blip".

"A failure to change track puts in jeopardy everything for which Australians have worked and their retirement nest eggs," he said.

"On the other hand, numerous governments and businesses are beginning to invest in clean energy as well as price carbon pollution. Asset owners like superannuation funds are slowly waking up to the climate risks and if they properly manage their investments of our money for these risks, they will help drive investment and innovation in the solutions."

John Connor, chief executive of the Climate Institute, said Australia was more exposed to climate change risks than any other developed nation.

"There is a big and growing gap between the emissions pathway we're on and the one we need to be on to avoid unmanageable, costly climate risks," he said.

"Closing the gap between danger and relative safety is still doable, as long as we start now. Delay only means higher costs and fewer options."

Oliver Milman

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Nairobi airport fire: flights resume as investigators rule out terrorism

Posted: 08 Aug 2013 01:45 AM PDT

Tents are erected to cope with influx of passengers as officials say they will build makeshift arrivals hall within days

Some international flights have resumed at Nairobi's main airport as fears remained that fire damage could threaten its role as Kenya's key transport hub.

Fire swept through Kenya's main Jomo Kenyatta international airport early on Wednesday and forced a day-long shutdown. The blackened shell of the arrivals building continued to smoulder on Thursday as white smoke drifted into the air.

Investigators say it is too early to ascertain the cause of the fire, though they have ruled out terrorism, and officials say they will build a makeshift international arrivals terminal within days.

While construction workers worked on a new terminal at the airport, which will not be finished for months, white tents were erected outside the domestic flights terminal to try to cope with an influx of international travellers.

Some of the challenges facing Kenya were underscored by angry passengers who were at the airport early on Thursday when the first international flight landed from Bangkok.

"There is no info," said Jonathan Cross, a British tourist flying with Ethiopian Airlines. "I was expecting there would still be delays but I was expecting at least someone to be here to give us information."

The fire, which destroyed a large part of the international departures section, was a blow to Kenya at the start of the peak tourism season. The airport was operating at more than twice its 2.5 million passenger capacity.

"What is key is the speed at which this is normalised. If they can pull a rabbit out of the hat and get international flights moving they may bail themselves out," said Aly Khan Satchu, a Nairobi-based analyst.

"If this drags on it's going to damage Nairobi's regional hub status."

Kenya's horticulture industry, a major foreign exchange earner for east Africa's biggest economy, said it was preparing for possible losses after cargo planes were grounded.

"We still haven't flown any produce out. We are waiting to see what rolls out today. In the meantime, [we are trying] not to bring any more produce out until we see what happens," Jane Ngige, chief executive officer of the exporters association Kenya Flower Council, told Reuters.

Eurozone crisis live: upbeat China trade data eases slowdown fears

Posted: 08 Aug 2013 01:44 AM PDT

Chinese exports rose faster than expected in July, calming fears of a hard landing for the world's second largest economy

Angela Monaghan

Big smiles as Kevin Rudd and Peter Beattie play the happy couple

Posted: 08 Aug 2013 01:43 AM PDT

Sworn enemies shrug off their differences 'for the sake of the great state of Queensland'

It was a bit like watching a divorced couple coming back together for the sake of a wedding.

There was Kevin Rudd, a smile plastered all over his face, standing there with his sworn enemy Peter Beattie matching the prime ministerial grin, announcing their excitement at reuniting for the election.

Yes things had been said. Yes things had been done. But now, kids, we really love each other.

Rudd knew it was coming because he didn't even wait for a question on said divorce.

"Guess what?" he said. "For me its water off a duck's back. What really matters is standing up for the great state of Queensland."

With a straight face, Beattie said he was "delighted" Rudd had not accepted his advice to pull in his head on the leadership issue.

The animosity centred around Rudd's determination to return to the leadership and his reported leaking during the 2010 election. Beattie was a Julia Gillard supporter. Theirs was a very public spat.

The meeting was delayed as the prime ministerial jet had a power failure. But there was no such failure when these two consummate media performers began their show.

It was hard to know how their two egos would fit into the one room to announce Beattie's surprise candidature in the seat of Forde.

Rudd gave a short introduction outlining the former premier's many virtues before he paid tribute to the preselected but hitherto unknown previous Labor candidate, Des Hardman, and his wonderful campaign team.

"Standing down to make room for Peter Beattie has been a hard decision for him and demonstration of his true Labor values," Rudd said.

It remains unclear whether it was in fact Hardman's decision, because it was as if he ceased to exist from the moment the news leaked out just before 9am on Thursday. His website and his Labor party profiles were taken down, though there was a pesky photo of him with Rudd doing the rounds on Twitter.

Beattie, of course, had publicly ruled out a return to politics a number of times, though the prime minister revealed that Beattie had made his interest known within the party.

A couple of years back Beattie said his wife, Heather, would "murder' him if he ran for a federal seat. When he took the prime ministerial call, he said he was "terrified" and had to ask the long-suffering Heather.

Luckily Heather was on hand to confirm her support.

"Have you built the pine box?" a journalist asked.

"I have his measurements," she offered, before graciously bestowing her total support.

Then Beattie explained that he had almost literally been parachuted into the seat. He had arrived in the country that very morning and moved straight into his brother's house, which happens to be in the electorate.

Beattie also gave us a sneak peek into his childhood, as the seventh child, whose mother died when he was four. "It was only education that took me from working-class trash, in some people's minds," he said.

He told the pack that anyone who had been reading his regular opinion pieces knew he was totally on track with the Rudd agenda. He was all about productivity.

"I have been banging on about productivity and innovation and the prime minister and I are as one on this, that is the future of this country, and when [the prime minister] spelled out his seven pillars, I said, 'Hallelujah!' "

Truly, it was evangelical.

Ultimately, Beattie was making the move for the sake of Queensland and he would accept the role of a "humble backbencher".

"I'm doing this because of what I think is important for Queensland," he said of his home state, where the Labor vote was decimated in the last state and federal elections.

"You have to have balance. If you don't have balance you have excess."

And so the couple have reconciled. At least, until 7 September.

Cyclist knocked off his bike and abused - video

Posted: 08 Aug 2013 01:39 AM PDT

Video: the moment when a Nottingham cyclist, Julian Bentley, was knocked off his bike by a car before being abused by the occupants, who were en route to a funeral. Police later said the incident was at least partly his fault

Syria conflict: Rebels claim to have attacked Assad convoy - live updates

Posted: 08 Aug 2013 01:37 AM PDT

Free Syrian Army says president's motorcade hit with artillery but government says news is 'wholly untrue'

Haroon Siddique

Our hysterical media helped create the immigrant 'go home' van | Greg Philo

Posted: 08 Aug 2013 01:30 AM PDT

The government's 'go home' van is partly the product of media hostility – but also of wider intolerance to immigration in the UK

The government's crowd-pleasing "go home" van has attracted a lot of attention, but a crucial question has been largely ignored: why are the vans crowd-pleasers in the first place? Why is there such hostility to illegal immigrants?

Here, the media is at least partially to blame. Coverage of migration, asylum and refugees is often partial, inaccurate, and hysterical – as in the tone of this headline from the Daily Express: "UK message to migrants: you are not wanted" (6 June 2011). Governments do not simply respond to such coverage, they also promote it. In 2008, it was reported that the Home Office had paid £400,000 to fund the series UK Border Force for Sky television.

The money was later returned to avoid controversy, but it was part of much wider funding by the government for public relations initiatives. Police or immigration officials mount high-profile raids seeking "illegal migrants" and "failed asylum seekers", which are filmed and provide material for more media coverage. What we have here is an unholy alliance of media demands and official action, which has an impact both on public debate and on groups such as refugees and established migrant communities in the UK.

Helen Boaden at the BBC recently claimed that the corporation had a "liberal bias" on migration. This is not borne out by the channel's coverage. TV news – including BBC news – has been a major supplier of commentary and images on the alleged "threatening numbers" of migrants, for example in repeatedly using shots of the Sangatte camp in France. In focus groups, people still refer to these images as indicating the threat posed by refugees and asylum seekers.

In our research, we analysed programmes such as Newsnight, which even screened a special report made with a former immigration officer and included claims about illegal migration that more than doubled academic and official estimates. On other occasions, the BBC has corrected some information that is widely believed. To do so is not to be biased; its job is to provide accurate reporting, not to promote false views because many people have been led to believe them.

The overwhelming thrust of media coverage, especially in the conservative press, has been negative and jumbles together migrants and asylum seekers who have the legal right to claim asylum. A journalist from the Daily Star described to us these news values: "There is nothing better than the Muslim asylum seeker, that's sort of jackpot I suppose: all social ills can be traced to immigrants and asylum seekers flooding into this country." Another from a broadsheet described how young, inexperienced reporters would be pressured "to put their conscience aside and go and monster an asylum seeker". The resulting coverage becomes part of the everyday language of our society, and when we asked our focus group members to think up typical headlines, they readily provided us with examples such as "Migrants, how can we cope?", "Britain getting flooded", "Britain being invaded", "Free homes", "Crime rate increases: asylum".

We also spoke with community workers who told of how media coverage legitimised both the exclusion and isolation of those seeking asylum, and attacks upon them. People from established migrant communities described the negative effects on their own lives. One businesswoman who is a British citizen described how she now carried her passport with her because of the impact of police raids. Another British citizen told us: "I have been raided about five times when I was working in my own shops. The way they treat you, that's the worst bit, it's like you are the criminal." He described being questioned by the police and asked, "'Where were you born?' I said, 'Ealing, in London.' But then he said, 'but where are you from?' I knew where he was coming from." The policies come in part from media pressure: on liberal Channel 4 News a newscaster can ask a government minister: "How many employers have you prosecuted in the last year for employing illegal immigrants ... you know we could go to endless places, anywhere in Britain?" (17 May 2006).

In the end the combination of hostile media coverage and "tough" government policies is counter-productive. They produce fear, attacks upon individuals, depression, anxiety and suicide. Refugees are driven underground, and there is little room for serious discussion about the huge benefits that migration has actually brought to our country. In the redress of such issues, press regulation might help. But the problem is deeper in that there is a complex interaction between media accounts, government actions and public attitudes. We must go beyond simply criticising such coverage and argue for a humane and rational approach to the issues of migration, refuge and asylum. We must demand accuracy and balance in media reporting, but also humanity in public life and political policy and the right of the stigmatised and excluded to be heard.

Greg Philo

Vigil held for brothers killed by snake in Canada - video

Posted: 08 Aug 2013 01:23 AM PDT

Hundreds of residents in Brunswick, western Canada, gather to remember brothers Noah Barth, 4, and Connor Barth, 6

Nestlé cuts 2013 target on weaker European markets

Posted: 08 Aug 2013 01:20 AM PDT

KitKat maker has cut prices in Europe in a bid to lure recession-hit shoppers

Nestlé, the world's biggest food group, missed first-half sales forecasts and trimmed its 2013 target on Thursday, after it cut prices in Europe in a bid to lure recession-hit shoppers.

Food groups have long been grappling with weak spending in western European markets and in recent quarters have also seen growth slow in developing countries.

Nestlé, the Switzerland-based maker of KitKat bars, said underlying sales rose 4.1% in the first half, lagging a forecast for 4.6% in a Reuters poll, and implying a further deterioration from 4.3% in the first quarter, mainly due to weakness in Europe.

It lowered its full-year target to around 5% sales growth, from 5-6% previously.

"Organic growth was somewhat muted, reflecting lower pricing by our markets, as we leveraged softer input costs to meet the expectations of today's more value conscious consumers," the Vevey-based company said.

Nestlé said, however, that it hoped the price cuts and investment in its brands would fuel growth in sales volumes in the second half of the year. Marketing spending was up 60 basis points in the first half.

"Disappointing organic growth rate due to weak development in Waters, Beverages and Prepared dishes and cooking aids," Vontobel analyst Jean-Philippe Bertschy said, though he noted the firm had managed to improve its operating margin.

Organic sales strip out foreign exchange swings and the impact of acquisitions and are closely watched by analysts.

Nestlé said sales growth in Europe slowed to 0.6%, from 1.0% in the first quarter, hit by lower pricing. Germany and Britain saw healthy growth, but other markets, including eastern Europe, were hit by lower consumer spending.

The report contrasts with that of French yoghurt maker Danone, which reported a 6.5% rise in quarterly sales on the back of an improvement in European trading. Anglo-Dutch group Unilever said its sales rose 5% in the quarter, but warned of slowing growth in emerging markets.

Nestlé's growth in emerging markets also decelerated further to 8.2%, from 8.4% in the first quarter, though it added that China, Indonesia, Malaysia and much of Africa continued to grow well, and it had seen a recent pickup in southern Asia, Central West Africa and in the Middle East.

Net profit rose 3.7% to SFr5.1bn (£3.57bn), in line with estimates in a Reuters poll, while the operating margin rose to 15.1% from 14.9% a year ago, helped by lower input costs and cost-cutting measures.

Nestlé shares were seen opening 0.4% lower, according to pre-market indications by bank Julius Baer. They have had a weak run so far this year, but have risen some 5% since Danone posted results last week.

They are trading at 17.7 times forward earnings, at a discount to Danone at 18.5 times, Unilever at 18.1 times and Kraft Foods at 18.6 times.

Election 2013: Day 4 campaign video roundup

Posted: 08 Aug 2013 01:16 AM PDT

Former Queensland Premier Peter Beattie has been unveiled as Labor's surprise candidate in Brisbane

One Nation candidate Stephanie Banister puts Islam on the map

Posted: 08 Aug 2013 01:10 AM PDT

Rankin hopeful says: 'I don't oppose Islam as a country but I do feel their laws should not be welcome here in Australia'

Bridie Jabour

Stephanie Banister: 'I don't oppose Islam as a country' - video

Posted: 08 Aug 2013 01:07 AM PDT

Stephanie Banister, the One Nation candidate for Rankin, Queensland managed to confuse Islam with a country

Bo Xilai's lawyer 'not allowed' to represent him during trial

Posted: 08 Aug 2013 01:02 AM PDT

Lawyer hired by disgraced Chinese politician's family says he has 'not received approval', reinforcing belief that Bo's conviction is foregone conclusion

A lawyer appointed to represent Bo Xilai in his corruption case has said he has been denied permission to act on Bo's behalf, a move likely to reinforce belief that the disgraced Chinese politician's conviction is a foregone conclusion.

Gu Yushu, a lawyer appointed by Bo's sister, Bo Jieying, said on Thursday he would not be allowed to represent Bo during his trial, which is likely to open this month, as authorities attempt to close the door on China's biggest political scandal in decades.

"We did not receive approval, so it's over with the client," Gu said by telephone.

When asked why, he said: "It's not convenient to talk about this."

Prosecutors charged Bo with bribery, abuse of power and corruption in late July, capping the country's biggest political scandal since the 1976 downfall of the Gang of Four at the end of the Cultural Revolution.

His wife, Gu Kailai, and his former police chief, Wang Lijun, have both been convicted and jailed over the scandal, which stems from the murder of the British businessman Neil Heywood in the south-western city of Chongqing, where Bo was Communist party chief until his sacking early last year.

Bo will be represented by two lawyers, Li Guifang and Wang Zhaofeng. Li had told Reuters that he was appointed by Bo. But the state-owned Global Times newspaper later reported that Li had been "assigned" by the government-run Beijing Legal Aid Centre. Li could not be reached for comment.

Gu Yushu declined to say whether Bo would plead guilty, when the trial would start or whether he had seen Bo, saying he could not provide any details "given the sensitivity of the matter".

The news of Bo being denied his sister's choice of legal representation comes as Chinese police detained a supporter of Bo who had urged people to protest against the upcoming trial, underlining government nervousness about the case.

Analysts say Bo's trial will be a test case for the prospects of legal reform in China. But Bo is certain to be found guilty as China's prosecutors and courts are under Communist party control and unlikely to challenge the party's accusations against Bo.

"For such kinds of cases, who will act as lawyers are all arranged by the higher-ups," said He Weifang, a law professor from Peking University who has followed the Bo case. "Whoever acts as the lawyer will not affect the outcome of the trial."

Two lawyers previously hired by Bo's family, Li Xiaolin and Shen Zhigeng, told Reuters last year they had not been given permission to either see Bo or represent him.

Bo has not been seen in public for about 17 months and has not been able to respond to the accusations against him. At a news conference days before his dismissal, Bo scorned as nonsense unspecified accusations of misdeeds by his wife and said people were pouring "filth on my family".

Gu Kailai and Zhang Xiaojun, an aide to the Bo family, were both denied their choice of lawyers at their trials last year and had to accept government-appointed lawyers. Zhang was also jailed.

Zanzibar acid attack: two British charity workers injured

Posted: 08 Aug 2013 12:59 AM PDT

Two teenagers reportedly have acid thrown in their faces by men on moped on east African island

Two young British women working for a charity on the east African island of Zanzibar have been attacked with acid, according to reports.

The pair, both of whom are 18, were walking through the old part of the island's capital, Zanzibar City, when two men on a moped threw acid at them.

According to Sky News, the liquid splashed the women's faces, chests and hands. They were flown to hospital in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and their injuries are said not to be life-threatening.

Local police said the teenagers were working with a charity on Zanzibar, which is a popular destination for gap year students.

"The motive for the attack on the volunteers, aged 18 years, has not been established," said the deputy police commissioner Mkadam Khamis.

"Police in Zanzibar have launched a manhunt, and we ask for public assistance in identifying the attackers."

A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office said it was made aware of the incident on Wednesday night and was providing consular assistance.

The attack is thought to be the first such assault on foreigners, although religious violence has recently flared up on the archipelago, which lies around 22 miles off the coast of mainland Tanzania.

In February this year, a Roman Catholic priest was shot dead and a church torched. In November, a Muslim cleric was attacked with acid.

Around 75,000 Britons travel to Tanzania each year, according to the FCO, which says that although most visits are trouble-free, "violent and armed crime is increasing".

In advice posted on its website, it adds: "Mugging, bag snatching (especially from passing cars) and robbery have increased throughout the country."

The FCO warns travellers to take sensible precautions to protect themselves and their belongings, noting that incidents have occurred in Stone Town and on popular tourist beaches.

Zanzibar is an archipelago of islands in the Indian Ocean around 22 miles off the coast of mainland Tanzania.

Sam Jones

Flinders Street station design contest winner announced

Posted: 08 Aug 2013 12:40 AM PDT

Australian and Swiss architects triumph with plan to build undulating roof over Melbourne landmark

A team of Australian and Swiss architects has won a competition to overhaul Melbourne's Flinders Street station – although a public vote picked a rival design.

A jury of architectural experts and celebrities, including the chef George Calombaris, picked the Hassell, Herzog & De Meuron plan from six shortlisted contenders.

The design envisages the station covered by a lengthy, undulating roof, yet still retaining its open-air feel. It includes a public art gallery, a marketplace and an amphitheatre on the waterfront that is open to the elements.

Denis Napthine, Victoria's premier, said the jury was unanimous in its decision, which it called a "beautiful and compelling integration of aspects of the original station design".

The jury, according to Napthine, felt "the proposal offers tremendous benefits to Victorians, connecting the city to the north with the river and Southbank while at the same time opening up views and access to the historic administration building.

"The design was judged to offer the best experience for rail travellers with a layout that was spacious, comfortable and easy to get around."

But in a "people's choice" poll of more than 19,000 people, a University of Melbourne team – Eduardo Velasquez, Manuel Pineda and Santiago Medina – came out on top.

The team, who all hail from Colombia, proposed creating rolling parkland on the station's roof.

It's unclear when the new Flinders Street station will be unveiled to the public; the state government has so far not allocated any funding to the project.

Oliver Milman

Election 2013: unemployment figures released - politics live blog

Posted: 08 Aug 2013 12:33 AM PDT

Live coverage of all today's campaign events as jobless figures are expected to show worst rate since August 2009

Paul Owen

Katharine Murphy

Syrian rebels 'targeted' Assad motorcade on its way to mosque

Posted: 08 Aug 2013 12:18 AM PDT

Rebel brigade says rockets were fired at president's motorcade in Damascus but Syrian state television shows president unhurt

A Syrian rebel brigade has said it targeted President Bashar al-Assad's motorcade as he headed to a Damascus mosque for prayers to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, but footage broadcast by state television on Thursday showed him unharmed.

The Tahrir al-Sham rebel brigade, a unit of the Free Syrian Army, said in a statement: "After conducting reconnaissance [on] the timing and course of Bashar al-Assad's motorcade the area was hit with artillery. We pray to God and await the field report about the results."

After the statement, Syrian state television showed what it described as footage of Assad praying at Anas bin Malek Mosque in the Malki district, where his residence is located.

Islam Alloush of the Liwa al-Islam, another rebel brigade, had told Reuters earlier on Thursday that rebels fired rockets which hit Assad's motorcade on his way to attend the prayers.

"Assad was not hit but the information we have, based from sources within the regime, is that there were casualties within his entourage," Alloush said.

Other activists also reported rockets were fired into the Malki area, which was sealed off by security forces.

Syria's information minister denied the motorcade was hit by rebel rocket fire. "The news is wholly untrue," Omran Zoabi told Syrian state television.

Badger cull is right thing to do, says David Cameron

Posted: 07 Aug 2013 11:58 PM PDT

Prime minister says government could spend £1bn over 10 years tackling bovine TB without cull

Culling badgers is the right thing to do to avoid "appalling consequences" for farmers, cattle and badgers, David Cameron has said.

The prime minister warned that the government could spend "another billion pounds" dealing with the consequences of bovine tuberculosis, which is partly spread by badgers, if culls not go ahead.

Cameron said the coalition had the political courage to help the countryside.

He told BBC Radio 4's Farming Today: "They are going to go ahead and it's important that they go ahead. I think the countryside needs from the government not just cash and commitment but it needs courage.

"This does require political courage, but we have that political courage because quite simply it's the right thing to do.

"If we don't do anything we're going to be spending over the next 10 years another billion pounds dealing with the consequences of bovine TB, and let's be clear there are appalling consequences not just for the cattle and the farmers, there are also appalling consequences for the badgers."

Some 5,000 badgers are set to be killed in two pilot culls in west Gloucestershire and west Somerset. It is believed the culls could start this month.

Culling has been licensed over a six-week period in the six months from 1 June and the pilots will assess whether sufficient badgers can be killed in an area to have an impact on reducing TB in cattle.

Coalition attacks Labor over unemployment figures

Posted: 07 Aug 2013 11:53 PM PDT

Joe Hockey says unemployment rate has stayed the same because 'people have given up looking for work'

Lenore Taylor

Is the recruitment industry set for a big data revolution?

Posted: 07 Aug 2013 11:32 PM PDT

Sports teams have realised the potential of taking a data-driven approach to recruitment, but with staffing taking up a large chunk of firms' costs, is corporate recruiting ripe for the same transformation?
• More from our series on big data
Go straight to:
• The HR team needs a statistician
• Directly monitoring the workforce
• Privacy concerns

Midway through his documentary The Outside View, Rob Symes asks Kevin Roberts, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi, how the advertising giant manages recruitment. "Our employee turnover rate is 30%", comes the proud response.

But should such a slash and burn approach to staffing be aspired to? Depending on the industry you look at, staff costs account for between roughly 30% and 80% of an organisations outgoings.

With hiring, firing and training taking up significant portions of this cost bracket, there are evidently considerable savings to be made by playing the long game when it comes to recruitment.

The data-driven approach to recruitment is taking off in sport, with Michael Lewis' bestselling book Moneyball either the catalyst or the commentary, depending on your viewpoint. Anybody familiar with the use of analytics in football will have noticed the rise this summer of the "using data to find transfer targets" theme.

But in the broader business world, adoption of these methods has to date been limited to a handful of examples, most of which have come from the usual suspects - Silicon Valley giants such as Facebook and LinkedIn.

The HR team needs a statistician

Symes, a recruitment consultant for Campbell Black and the man at the heart of the aforementioned film, believes the primary obstacle for businesses to overcome is a skills gap in human resources.

"HR people - traditionally - are brilliant for legal, they're brilliant for motivating people, but they're not numbers orientated. Only 10% of HR professionals at FTSE 100 firms have a degree in a subject involving statistics - maths, economics, sciences", says Symes.

This lack of analytical capabilities can make the hiring process overly subjective, and another lesson modern businesses may be able to take from sport is the concept of the aggregation of marginal gains, most recently popularised by cycling mastermind Sir Dave Brailsford.

Aggregation of marginal gains

It may not seem like rocket science, but a natural tendency - even among scientists - for allowing prejudices to hold sway over empirical evidence to the contrary, makes this concept easier to blithely reference than to adopt.

"Michael Lewis did make Moneyball a bit hyperbolic - data doesn't solve every problem. But what it does is it gives you an advantage over any of your competitors who are working with untested theories and anecdotal evidence. Even if it's a 2%, 3% advantage, it's worth having", says Symes.

It's all very well pointing to data as a silver bullet, but it's not for want of trying that many businesses have stuck with the traditional approach to recruitment. There is scarce little data for the forward-thinking recruiter to use, and where it does exist there are few, if any established methods for extracting insights that can be fed back into a firm's hiring strategy.

"Once people are aware that there is a data gap in recruiting, the next step is collecting data. Existing systems have various data points - what time a member of staff arrives and leaves, how they are progressing towards previously established and measurable goals - but these are very rarely joined up.

"This is where big data comes in. You need software, algorithms, and - at the real cutting edge - machine learning - to spit out significant patterns that can then be used to make decisions", says Symes.

At this point, of course, we have the human/machine interface, but this is where the need for numerate HR teams is at its clearest. In order to be able to fully understand what the data is showing and to fully trust it, while at the same time being able to put any insights into the context of real world recruitment, this dual skillset - HR and a working knowledge of statistics - should be an absolute minimum.

Directly monitoring the workforce

"The three functions of HR are to make companies healthier, wealthier and happier. Healthy and happy employees will work better, and a more productive workforce will make a company wealthier.

"A data-driven HR department would use data to test different ways of achieving these three aims. To use an extreme example, a company may offer its staff the opportunity to use devices that monitor blood sugar, mental alertness and so on. It may sound a bit science fiction right now, but when you think about it as an employer, the health and wellbeing of your workforce during the working day is going to impact upon your bottom line", says Symes.

Monitoring and optimising employees' health and wellbeing could yield quick gains, but these are examples of retrospective techniques. If the base workforce isn't up to scratch, improving productivity can only achieve so much.

The real challenge is being able to use data to create an image of the ideal employee for a given role, and then to carry out predictive analytics to reveal who from a pool of candidates should be appointed in order to maximise the chance of them developing into a similarly valuable asset.

"Any aspect of performance that you think is important should be measured. If we can find the key data points that indicate leadership qualities, then we can recruit leaders.

"The traditional recruitment model is you recruit an employee, and they either sink or swim. What I'm interested in is using data to define the elite portion of your workforce, and then training your recruiters, or your whole recruitment system, to seek out those same characteristics", says Symes.

The problem with psychometric tests

An obvious solution springs to mind - psychometric tests. But top recruitment consultants are already well are of a number of weaknesses to the data these methods yield.

"I interviewed 25 CEOs in Silicon Valley and the UK technology sector, and asked them how important were psychometrics to them in terms of making a recruitment decision. 10 was important, 0 was unimportant, and they came back with an average of 1.5. The reason? You can game psychometrics", says Symes.

This presents a new challenge for the data-driven approach, but psychometric tests and the pitfalls that accompany them are not new, and there are ways to make employee performance data more reliable.

"If the data is collected over a long enough period of time, it becomes very difficult - albeit not impossible - to fool the system in the same way. Another crucial step is to measure a whole class of information. An interview is just one snapshot, and can in many cases be gamed in much the same way as a psychometric test", says Symes.

Privacy concerns

But to many, the idea of having your diet, exercise regime, productivity and efficiency at various tasks actively monitored by your employer will be a disturbing one.

Companies already monitor a variety of feeds including CCTV, email metadata and file transfers in order to protect their intellectual property, but carrying out the same - or more invasive - practices to decide who stays in their job and who doesn't has rather a different feel to it.

"The 'big brother' element is certainly a very interesting and very important consideration. One of the pilots we're running at the moment has caused some concerns among employees, but I would absolutely want to know if there were elements of my professional life that I could improve", says Symes.

That might all be very well for Symes, but I wager his is not the majority view. The marketing industry has already learned to its cost what happens when you let the data-driven approach run wild, not stopping to ask about intrusivity and privacy. A safer, albeit more challenging approach is to extract more value from existing data.

LinkedIn: let the data do the work

One early success story is that of LinkedIn. Doubtless many of you reading this article will be all too familiar with having scores of "people you may know" forced upon you like a rogues gallery of marketing types upon logging in to accept a new connection, but of substantially more interest to recruiters is its new function: "people you may want to hire".

As George Anders writes over at Forbes, "LinkedIn has created algorithms that might do the sorting even more nimbly. The result: a digital cheat-sheet for recruiters".

The tool, available to its most generous customers (an annual subscription for an individual costs over £3,500) uses a company's existing candidate shortlists to search for other potential hires with similar characteristics.

As a customer interacts with these suggestions, LinkedIn's algorithms learn the recruiter's preferences, and can filter future recommendations to better suit their perceived priorities when selecting a candidate.

Perhaps the same shift from targeted advertising to a social media analytics centred approach that we are beginning to see in marketing, will be replicated in recruitment before an HR analytics project becomes the new Target pregnancy story.

Do you share Symes' view that having your professional life closely monitored will make you a better employee, or is this intrusive approach the wrong way to close the recruitment data gap? Have your say below or join in the debate on Twitter either with me directly @jburnmurdoch or our official account @Guardiandata

John Burn-Murdoch

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Wives 'refreshed' by seeing male strip show: from the archive, 8 August 1975

Posted: 07 Aug 2013 11:00 PM PDT

Defence team claims women who went to a club to see male strippers came away refreshed and happy 'and no doubt better wives and mothers'

Women who went to a club in the West Country to see male strippers came away refreshed and happy "and no doubt better wives and mothers," the defence in a case at Bournemouth Crown Court claimed yesterday.

The show, at Spetisbury Manor Hotel, near Wimborne, enabled the women to get away from their families and relax, Mr Roger Backhouse said. "It is all basically funny and basically a belly-laugh and certainly no harm ever came from that whatsoever."

Mrs Suzanna White, a mother of two, of Mill Road, Christchurch, said that she had seen and enjoyed the show six times. "It is the only place I can go to relax."

Before the court are John Fort (28), a former police officer, and his partner, Gareth York (32), who deny keeping a disorderly house. The jury is expected to give its verdict today.

In earlier evidence, it was said that two policewomen were in the audience when one stripper, dressed as a Viking, removed all his clothes except for a blazing helmet. He was alleged to have walked through the audience inviting women to take off his clothes.

But Mr Fort told the jury that the only time Viking stripper Peter Plummer had left the stage naked was after finishing his act. That was because he was "totally nervous."

He said that Brian Jason, another stripper seen by the policewomen, "was so professional - he didn't get nervous."

A number of housewives, including a former policewoman, said that they had been to the "hen" night and had not been offended.

Mrs Angela Coleman, a former policewoman and former model, of Grange, Wimborne, said that her husband took her one night because she was "curious" to see the male stripper. Asked if she would go again she replied: "I don't think I'd bother, no."

Miss Diedre McKinney, prosecuting, said that the fact that members of the public attended the performances and appeared to gain pleasure from them was neither here nor there. Women had been urging the performers on, shouting "get them off," and drinks had been circulating.

"Were you embarrassed by the number of married ladies, some of them with children? Were you embarrassed they came along and told you they enjoyed these performances, or do you find it something of a degrading spectacle that women, apparently respectable women, should go along and shout at this kind of spectacle?"

Mr Backhouse said laughter had been the theme of the evening. "Husbands know what is going on. There is no hint of marital infidelity, no hole in the corner emotions. It is all basically funny and basically a belly-laugh and certainly no harm ever came from that whatsoever."

The shows enabled women to get away from their families and relax. "No doubt they go back on each occasion refreshed and happy and no doubt better wives and mothers."

Judge David Pennant, a lay preacher who is married with four children, told the jury: "You are in the front line. You are setting the standards.

"You may think there are differences between men and animals, at least for people who want to belong to a civilised country. For one thing, animals don't exhibit their sexual organs deliberately." If this sort of show was allowed at Spetisbury, it would be all right elsewhere, he said.

"Approach it as ordinary, reasonable people. Put any prejudices out of your mind. What would ordinary people think?"

The jury failed to reach a decision in the first trial but in October 1975, after a retrial, both men were cleared. The story made front page news.

British mother sets biggest baby record

Posted: 07 Aug 2013 10:43 PM PDT

Maxime Marin gives birth in Spain to daughter Maria Lorena, at 13lb 7oz that country's heaviest ever natural birth

A British mother has given birth to the biggest ever baby born naturally in Spain, a hospital has said.

Maxime Marin, 40, did not even need an epidural painkiller to deliver the baby girl who weighed 13lb 7oz (6.2kg) – around twice the weight of an average baby.

The infant, Maria Lorena Marin, was in "perfect health" following the straightforward delivery at the Marina Salud hospital in the Mediterranean city of Denia on Wednesday morning, the hospital said in a statement.

Dr Javier Rius, the chief of gynecology at the hospital, said in his 40 years of practice he had never known a baby born naturally to weigh so much.

Marin said she expected the baby, born after 41 weeks, to be "big but not that big" as her three older children each weighed more than 9lb 14oz at birth.

She brushed off the five-hour labour as "simple" and gave birth without an epidural, a painkiller delivered into the spine during childbirth.

Marin and the baby's Colombian father, Jaime Marin, said everything went well.

The heaviest baby ever born weighed 23lb 12oz in Canada in 1879, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. But the baby, whose mother Anna Bates had giantism, died 11 hours later.

In 1955 a baby boy weighing 22lbs 8oz was born to Carmelina Fedele in Aversa, Italy.

WA insists children will be moved from adult prison on time

Posted: 07 Aug 2013 10:28 PM PDT

Phased return to Banksia Hill juvenile facility planned for end of August despite review concluding it would be months away

The Western Australian government is standing by its commitment to begin returning more than 100 child detainees currently being held in an adult prison to a juvenile facility at the end of August, despite a review concluding it was "likely to be many months" yet.

A custodial services review into the January riot at Banksia Hill juvenile detention facility on Wednesday found the incident was "entirely predictable" and highlighted multiple security failings.

The report also concluded that the security concerns of guards and unions which were delaying the return of the teenage detainees to Banksia Hill were "not rocket science" and capable of being fixed.

The detainees – the majority of whom are Indigenous – were transferred to Hakea prison after damaging many of the Banksia Hill cells, and families and supporters have long questioned the legality and ethics of the arrangement which has been in place and frequently extended for over six months.

The report noted the current target of late August to begin returning the teenagers to Banksia Hill from Hakea but said "there is no certainty", predicting it was more likely to be many months away.

The state minister for corrective services, Joe Francis, told Guardian Australia on Thursday that "a phased return of detainees to Banksia Hill from Hakea is planned to begin in late August".

Francis said: "The state government will fully consider [the inspector's] recommendations and respond to them in the coming weeks.

"The inspector's report reinforces the concerns and issues the government has raised about the structures, procedures and culture within corrective services. The government is already acting to address those concerns and issues and to reform the department."

The report from inspector Neil Morgan also concluded that the detainees were living in unnecessary and unsuitable detention conditions at Hakea prison where they have faced rolling lockdowns and a lack of education and rehabilitation programs.

The shadow correctional services minister, Paul Papalia, told Guardian Australia the current WA government compromised juvenile detention and rehabilitation and set the conditions for the riot when they amalgamated Banksia Hill and Rangeview remand centre.

"It was completely counterintuitive. The best time for intervention is in the early years," Papalia said.

The report made 35 recommendations, including the creation of a new agency solely dedicated to youth justice, and that in the meantime the Department of Corrective Services alter its current practices of restraining and strip-searching young inmates which the inspector observed "has become in many instances routine when it should be based on an individual risk assessment".

A spokesman for Francis said the department had begun a number of reforms of corrective services initiatives "including a heightened focus on programs aimed at diverting young people away from crime. He added: "It is also addressing the shortage of youth custodial officers, while the public sector commissioner is in the process of recruiting a new corrective services commissioner."

Helen Davidson

Fukushima leaks: Japan PM steps in

Posted: 07 Aug 2013 09:37 PM PDT

Shinzo Abe promises 'firm measures' after nuclear plant operator Tepco admits radioactive water is escaping

Japan's prime minister has promised "firm measures" to combat leaks of radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant after its operator, Tepco, was criticised for a lack of action.

"There is heightened concern among the public, particularly about the contaminated water problem," Shinzo Abe said during a government nuclear disaster response meeting at his office. "This is an urgent matter that needs to be addressed. The government will step in to take firm measures." Such measures might include funding a costly containment project.

The announcement came a day after Tepco admitted some of the water was seeping over or around an underground barrier it created by injecting chemicals into the soil. The Fukushima plant was crippled and went into multiple meltdown after 11 March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Tepco has been battling to contain the situation every since.

The latest problem involves water that accumulated over the last month since Tepco began creating the chemical barrier. Government officials have said an estimated 300 tonnes of radioactive water has been leaking into the sea each day since early in the crisis.

Since a major leak from a maintenance pit a month after three reactors at the plant melted down, Tepco had denied any further leaks of radioactive water into the sea, despite repeated warnings by experts, until finally acknowledging them in July.

The underground barrier on the coastal embankment has slowed the leaks somewhat but has caused underground water to swell. To prevent an overflow above the surface, which is feared to happen within weeks, Tepco will start pumping out about 100 tonnes of underground water from coastal observation wells this week. Later this month it will remove old contaminated water from trenches near the coast, something it had left untouched despite repeated prodding from the government.

Government officials said Wednesday they were considering funding a separate, multibillion-dollar project to surround the reactor buildings with a wall of frozen ground to block underground water from entering the contaminated buildings. The project, announced in May, is scheduled for completion in July 2015.

Greens to launch food policy online as they reach out to rural Australia

Posted: 07 Aug 2013 09:33 PM PDT

Christine Milne says launch will help show that 'contrary to some perceptions, rural and regional Australia is very active online'

Gabrielle Chan

Aneka Info