Saturday, July 24, 2010

Aquarium rejects calls to free whale that drowned Dawn Brancheau

James Bone, New York and Jenny Booth & , : {}

A comparison central at SeaWorld in Florida deserted calls yesterday to free the torpedo whale that drowned a womanlike tutor in front of frightened spectators after grabbing her hair.

Chuck Tompkins, curator of zoological operations at the Orlando party complex, pronounced that releasing Tilikum, additionally well known as Tilly, the largest torpedo whale in captivity, would kill the 20ft, five-tonne bull. Tilikum has been lifted in a zoological environment. Putting him in the wild would be signing his genocide certificate, he told The Times.

The murdering of the tutor Dawn Brancheau at SeaWorld on Wednesday was the third human genocide involving Tilikum, who was prisoner off Iceland in 1983.

Ms Brancheau was lying on a poolside height petting Tilikum in front of spectators who were eating lunch as piece of a show called Dine with Shamu, when the torpedo whale was assumingly annoyed by a swish of her ponytail. Spectators pronounced that the whale pulled her underneath H2O and reappeared on the alternative side of the tank holding her.

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He wouldnt let her come up. The force by that the lady was pulled in to the H2O . . . her boots were pulled off, it was terrible, Gary Biniak told a internal radio station.

Suzanne and Todd Connell from New Hampshire, who had taken their son Robby to SeaWorld to applaud his 10th birthday, filmed the accident. She was laying down, rubbing off him, personification with him, kissing him and afterwards it was like, inside of a make a difference of seconds, all of remarkable he incited and grabbed her by the head, and a really tough bearing . . . she went down and I screamed and she screamed, Suzanne Connell told Bostons WCVB radio station.

She was underneath for a great 3 minutes. It seemed similar to forever. And afterwards [the whale] brought her up. . . and her face was . . . you could see the fright in her. And afterwards he usually took her behind down and it contingency have been five or 6 minutes, she said.

In 1991 Keltie Lee Byrne, a tutor at Sealand in Canada, died after descending in to a tank that contained Tilikum and dual alternative whales, that prevented her from rock climbing out.

In 1999 the exposed physique of Daniel Dukes was found draped opposite Tilikums behind at SeaWorld after he assumingly slipped past security to go swimming with the whales.

A autopsy hearing showed that Ms Brancheau had died from drowning and mixed dire injuries. Local military pronounced that rescuers had been incompetent to get to her given of the whales assertive nature. Her physique was recovered usually after the whale was coaxed in to a not as big pool.

Friends and kin of Ms Brancheau, 40, who was tied together but children, pronounced that she had dreamed of operative with whales given the age of 9.

Tilikum is the largest of the 42 orcas hold in chains in aquaria around the world. Animal rights groups have prolonged cursed the practice. SeaWorld was sealed yesterday as officials re-evaluated their reserve procedures prior to resuming performances. Tilikum, who is used as a timber and has sired some-more than a dozen calves, was being kept in a pool afar from alternative whales.

Hot Chip at the O2 Academy, Bristol Music The Observer

Hot Chip

Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor at the O2 Academy, Bristol. Chapman/Livepix

If Hot Chip are an astonishing tender that on paper shouldn"t work, afterwards live theirs should be an even harder pretence to lift off. Many bands have one piece of who looks somewhat out of place on stage, but with this garland the total rope can crop up incongruous. Even in the universe of dance music, a genre not just eminent for sex symbols, these are doubtful lads.

On and off stage, they presumably tire a small of carrying the geek tag so straightforwardly trustworthy to them – "It seems to be formidable for people to learn that people can have dance song but not see similar to Judge Jules or the Prodigy," pronounced co-founder Joe Goddard not long ago – but when four-fifths of the rope are Oxbridge graduates and their coming is majority appropriate described as post-acid residence charity-shop chic, there"s a sure inevitability. However, this is not an artfully assembled geek-chic image. Hot Chip additionally suffer a refreshingly witty clarity of humour, and it is this that separates them from those alternative dance song protagonists who outlay majority of their time worrying about losing their edge.

What they should be improved gratified about is the actuality that people find it majority harder to tag or categorize their music. They initial appeared as a post-electro strife Fisher Price-version of Kraftwerk, coining the word "r"n"bedroom" themselves to report their sound. But over the past 6 years, and 4 college of song albums, they"ve suggested increasingly charming ambitions, blending and theft from the last 35 years of dance music, from disco to dubstep, around post-punk, electro, hip hop, poison house, techno, balearic, drum"n"bass, big kick and UK garage.

After a somewhat sketchy third album, this month"s One Life Stand noted a big lapse to form, display a some-more soulful side to their electro-pop and an ever augmenting range of influences from Willie Nelson to, inexplicably, Susan Boyle.

I initial saw them live five years ago in the small and rickety but delightfully declared Church of the Friendly Ghost, in Austin, Texas, at that year"s South by South West festival. Back then, they achieved in a true line along the front of the stage, at the back of a bank of keyboards. Tonight they face inwards towards each other, surrounded by keyboards and all from a cowbell to steel pan. They don"t have a normal frontman, but Alexis Taylor, a extraordinary brew of one piece Mike Skinner, one piece Jimmy Somerville and dual tools Brains from Thunderbirds, performs majority outspoken duties, nonetheless he stays at the back of his set of keys for the majority part, that does outcome in a miss of a focal point.

This counts less than it might, as the rope has grown in status and certainty since those early shows, and they are right away a majority some-more discriminating outfit. It"s easy to suppose their iPods featuring the full criterion of cool – New Order, Can, LCD Soundsystem, Soft Cell, Prince, Mr Fingers, ESG, Chemical Brothers, Sylvester, Giorgio Moroder, Pink Floyd, 808 State, Talking Heads and A Certain Ratio – but also, unapologetically, the likes of Abba, Visage, Yes, 10cc, Vangelis and Fleetwood Mac.

This evening, after stomping opener "Boy from School", they segue true in to the piano-and-percussion-driven "Hand Me Down Your Love", blending their dancefloor sensibilities with cocktail hooks and choruses. The petite Taylor has blossomed in to the majority appropriate passionless vocalist in dance song since Neil Tennant, and his light falsetto contrasts easily with the dry subsidy vocals of Goddard.

We get majority of the new album, with a trace of comparison favourites, and they"re assured sufficient to fool around their majority appropriate dual songs, "One Life Stand" and "Over and Over", together mid-set. Both are somewhat beefed-up versions live, "Over and Over" in sold since a harder dancefloor corner and an lengthened intro. At alternative points, as with "Brothers", their paper to fastening on tour, there are unmistakables touches of synth prog.

They don"t fool around "No Fit State" tonight, that they have on progressing dates, and I after find out that this is since the bad lads were on the verge of being in no fit state themselves, with half the rope pang from gastric flu. This they censor flattering well, with Goddard, in particular, increasingly charcterised as the dusk goes on. They finish with the irresistible, acrobatics off-kilter electro cocktail of "Ready for the Floor", those on-the-floor arms are lifted as one. "I am ready, I am ready for a fall," intones Taylor. On this form it seems unlikely, even with a stomach bug.

Matt Prior produces timely innings as England ease to warm-up win

John Westerby, Fatullah & , : {}

These are capricious times for Matt Prior. Since he returned to the England side in 2008 after a short absence, he has enjoyed an lengthened run as Englands first-choice wicketkeeper in Test and one-day cricket, blank usually one Test in the past 18, when his mother had since birth, and 3 of the past 33 one-day internationals, since of seizure during the new Champions Trophy in South Africa.

James Foster took over for the World Twenty20 last summer, but that was some-more a box of Prior being complacent prior to the Ashes. Now he has been examination as Craig Kieswetter has elbowed his approach in to the squad. He might nonetheless be used only as a hard-hitting opener, but Kieswetter was additionally since the gloves yesterday as an England XI simply overcame a Bangladesh Cricket Board XI in a 37-over match.

Prior played as a fielder as the home group done 151 for eight, afterwards guided England home with an dominant 64 from 57 balls, but he faces an concerned wait for to see either he will keep his place for the initial diversion of the three-match one-day array on Sunday.

Kevin Pietersen non-stop the innings and unsuccessful for the second time, that gave Prior his chance. While he understandably longed for to outlay time in the middle, there was one example when he looked to be receiving this enterprise to extremes. On 52, he lofted Tanveer Haider, the off spinner, to long-off, where a elementary catch was taken.

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Then Masudur Rahman, the umpire, proposed fluttering his arms and it became transparent that he was vouchsafing Prior stay. It transpired that Rahman had attempted to call passed round as song was still grating out from the receptive to advice complement after a range the prior ball.

John Terry left empty-handed as Wayne Bridge gives him cold shoulder Football The Observer

Terry

Wayne Bridge considers jolt John Terry"s palm - afterwards decides opposite it. Photograph: Adam Davy/Empics Sport

It could have been dual young kids on a propagandize personification field. One was happy to shake up up hands and be friends, the alternative still gimlet a grudge. This was John Terry and Wayne Bridge yesterday.

They lined up opposite each alternative for the initial time since the revelations that Terry had had an eventuality with Bridge"s former partner and mom of his child.

As piece of the Premier League"s satisfactory fool around campaign, players from each group are approaching to shake up up hands with their opponents prior to the kick-off, but yesterday Bridge, the Manchester City player, usually could not do it.

He done his feelings well known during the week, revelation the England physical education instructor Fabio Capello he could not bear to share a sauce room with Chelsea"s Terry and thus did not wish to be picked for the general team. Terry did hold out his palm and for a second it looked as though Bridge would do the same. But he pulled his arm afar and stared the Chelsea captain true in the eye.

If you blinked you longed for it and Sky Sports, that had since the fight the big build-up, unsuccessful on this arise to do an movement replay... at slightest until half-time. YouTube had no such scruples and the video was shortly posted. By the finish of the 90 mins there were hundreds of hits.

The rave to the non-handshake was not utterly on the scale of Nixon and Mao, or Rabin and Arafat, but viewers of Sky could have been forgiven for meditative it was a worldwide event.

Both managers were interviewed beforehand. Chelsea"s Carlo Ancelotti pronounced he did not design the ambience to affect his captain: "John Terry is veteran and doesn"t have a complaint in staying focused on the match. He has... a good mentality." City physical education instructor Roberto Mancini urged defender Bridge to combine on the match, that came usually 48 hours after he withdrew from England"s World Cup plans. Mancini said: "He is a clever character."

The BBC was additionally all over the story.On the live football website, usually prior to kick-off, an unknown blogger remarked: "For once my mother wants to watch a "football" match. I consternation how prolonged she will last in front of the shade after the handshake/non-handshake."

Ten mins after an additional blogger on the same site was means to put the squabble in context, writing: "My nephew is personification an under-11"s compare after currently opposite his ex-best friend, who he thinks stole his Creme Egg at propagandize last week. Do you wish me to inform in on the handshake (or miss of)?"

Those in the belligerent played their piece in the pantomime. When Terry, who lost the England captaincy for personification afar with Vanessa Perroncel, overwhelmed the round for the initial time there were cheers. Thirty seconds after the boos rang out as Bridge played the round out of defence, and for the rest of the compare there were catcalls and whistles.

Sky commentators assimilated in, observant with all earnest when City went 3-1 up, "what a good outcome for Wayne Bridge on this day of all days". Seconds after Bridge was replaced as Mancini attempted to put a stop to the panto.

Unfortunately for Chelsea, there was an additional stage when Michael Ballack became the second Chelsea player to be sent off, following Juliano Belletti"s red card, and City scored a fourth.

Bridge was over the moon and Terry ill as a parrot as the diversion finished 4-2 following a late Chelsea penalty.

Real IRA obliged for Ciaran Doherty execution

David Sharrock, Ireland Correspondent & , : {}

The Real IRA pronounced last night that it was obliged for the attempted attempted attempted attempted murder of a man who claimed that MI5 had attempted to partisan him.

The organization pronounced in a matter to a internal publisher that it killed Ciaran Doherty, 31, from Brandywell, Londonderry, who was due to get tied together in 3 months and had a two-year-old daughter.

His exposed body, with his hands bound, was found on Wednesday dusk close to the limit with the Republic of Ireland a chilling relate of the days when the Provisional IRA continually abducted touts and dumped their bodies on the border.

Mr Doherty had been shot in the head. The plant had complained to the Derry Journal journal that MI5 had attempted to partisan him at Luton airport.

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I was taken in to a side room by a man job himself Justin, who identified himself as MI5, he told the newspaper.

He was means to discuss it me all about the story of my commercial operation and the troubles Ive had with securing a looseness for premises. Mr Doherty pronounced he was perplexing to open a cigarette production plant and that he and his partner had invested �500,000 in equipment.

He claimed that Justin was looking report on a Cypriot commercial operation hit Mr Doherty had only met for the initial time. They told me he was the aim of their investigation.

Mr Doherty pronounced his commercial operation partner, additionally from Derry, had not long ago been approached at Schipol airport, Amsterdam. He was asked to assistance the security services aim anarchist republicans in Derry.

Detective Chief Inspector Ian Harrison pronounced Mr Doherty had been well known to military but declined to give serve details.

In the past week, Northern Ireland has been declare to a trebuchet conflict on an Armagh military station, a car explosve conflict on the building in Newry, Co Down and right away a attempted attempted attempted attempted murder in Derry.

Mr Dohertys physique was found by a part of of the open at 10.10pm on the Braehead Road close to the limit with Co Donegal.

Martina Anderson of Sinn Fein, who served a extensive jail judgment for her purpose in the Provisional IRAs mainland bombing campaign, said: It is wrong. There is no place for this in the society. We all wish the gun to be taken out of the community. We are positively troubled with what happened last night.

For decades the Provisional IRA dealt with informers in identical fashion, mostly forcing their victims to have a admission that would be tape-recorded and expelled after their murder.

MI5 is believed to have increasing the series of officers operative on Irish counter-terrorism to some-more than 400 following the murders of dual soldiers and a military military officer last Mar by republican terrorists.

Last night Martin McGuinness, the emissary First Minister, who lives in Londonderry, suggested that he knew the murdered man"s family. I am angry and troubled at the attempted attempted attempted attempted murder of Ciaran Doherty, the comparison Sinn Fein deputy said.

I am job on the 32 County Sovereignty Movement (aligned to the Real IRA) to give us an reason because an additional immature Derry man has been murdered."

He added: I think those people who were obliged for last nights unwashed help need to come brazen and give an reason to the adults as to because they are stability with these foolish and fatuous acts.

Mr McGuinness urged co-operation with the police.

British airman on mobile unit is killed in Kandahar province

Times Online & , : {}

An airman was killed in Afghanistan last night following an explosion, the Ministry of Defence pronounced today.

The airman, from 2 Squadron, Royal Air Force Regiment, piece of the Kandahar Airfield Defence Force, had been receiving piece in a vehicle-mounted unit in an area north of Kandahar Airfield in Kandahar range when the blast happened last night. He died from his injuries. His family has been informed.

Lieutenant Colonel David Wakefield, orator for Task Force Helmand, pronounced the airman was on a mobile unit in an area about 4kms north of Kandahar airport when the blast happened.

The MoD pronounced the ultimate death, that takes the series of British use crew killed in the dispute to 264, was not related to Operation Moshtarak, the corner UK, US and Afghan attack on mutinous strongholds. But it comes as the bodies of dual soldiers who were killed during the operation are returned to Britain today. Lieutenant Douglas Dalzell, of 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards, and Lance Sergeant David Walker, of 1st Battalion Scots Guards, died last week.

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The men will be repatriated to RAF Lyneham, in Wiltshire, this morning. A in isolation rite will be hold at the bases chapel prior to their file passes by the locale of Wootton Bassett.

Lt Dalzell, from Hamstead Marshall, nearby Newbury, in Berkshire, died on Feb eighteen his 27th birthday from wounds perceived in an blast in the Babaji area in executive Helmand. He was portion with Combined Force Nahr-e Saraj (South). Lance Sergeant Walker, innate in Glasgow, was fatally bleeding on the same day whilst conducting a belligerent unit that was met with Taliban fire.

The 36-year-old was portion with Right Flank, Scots Guards, trustworthy to Combined Force Nad-e-Ali (North). As a territory commander, he had been personification a critical piece in Operation Moshtarak given Feb 3. He was obliged for autocratic and heading a 4 man glow team, enchanting and calming the internal race as well as defeating the insurgents.

The association had experienced substantial success given the commencement of the operation, the MoD said, adding that most of that success had been down to his unusual care and guidance.

Burnley player Clarke Carlisle is initial Premier League footballer to win Countdown

Will Pavia & , : {}

He comes from a contention where preparation is infrequently seen as a pointer of weakness, nonetheless Clarke Carlisle has done history.

In a gorgeous 45-minute performance, the Burnley defender became the initial Premier League footballer to crop up on and win an piece of Countdown. I cant contend the improved than winning a big football diversion but the up there, he pronounced afterwards.

Playing for a bar that has won usually one of the last fifteen joining games, the criticism obviously came from the heart. It was additionally the achievement of a lifetimes ambition. Im usually gay to be here, he said, one of a fibre of admissions that competence once have been seen as intensely deleterious for a veteran footballer.

The former England defender Graeme Le Saux claims that he endured a decade of abuse on comment of his university preparation and his acknowledgment that he review The Guardian. Carlisle, however, has not nonetheless suffered taste since of his capability to form seven-letter words. Taunting inside of the Burnley patrol has assumingly been singular to associate players singing the Countdown chime in training. Carlisle, 30, has publicly concurred his love of vocabulary, his obsession to Scrabble and his prolonged indebtedness of Countdown.

Between 2001 and 2002, whilst out of movement with a cruciate vinculum injury, he unsuccessful an try-out for the show, though he did crop up on the ITV show Britains Brainiest Footballer, that he won.

Eight years on, Carlisle felt ready to plunge in to Countdown again. He emerged on the show similar to a non-league group on a crater run, receiving on the reigning hold up Adam Guest.

He appeared shaken at first, revelation to the host, Jeff Stelling, who reasonably sufficient is additionally a football pundit for Sky Sports, that he hoped his team-mates werent watching.

He was a point down at the finish of the initial duration (it is a diversion of 3 halves), but he appears to have since himself a unrelenting talking-to in the break, since he proceeded to frisk in to the lead, picking out smaller, dossier and revels, from the variety of letters and personification them similar to shining crossfield passes. By the last jingle, he had won 89-55. Your team-mates cant take the mickey out of you as well majority now, pronounced Stelling.

Victory equates to he will live to quarrel an additional show, up to a limit of eight episodes, though as nonetheless there is no choice to fool around in Europe.

The usually alternative footballer to have won Countdown was the Notts County midfield player Neil MacKenzie, who is right away with non-league Tamworth. He won five games in 2008 prior to a quarter-final defeat.

I am gay and so relieved, pronounced Carlisle, left, He is right away behind in Burnley prior to a critical diversion opposite Portsmouth in their relegation battle.

On the head: five alternative brainy players

Frank Lampard

The England midfielder reportedly scored 150 in a new Mensa exam conducted by Brian English, the Chelsea bar doctor, as piece of investigate in to how head injuries can affect footballers" neurological development. "Lampard scored one of the top set of outlines ever available by the association you do the tests, and higher than me," Dr English said.

Arjen de Zeeuw

The likeable former Wigan Athletic defender deferred a healing scholarship grade in his local Netherlands to aspire to a career in football, prior to returning to preparation on his early retirement from the sport. He hopes to request his believe of forensics in a new pursuit as an inquisitive military detective.

Craig Johnston

After a festive career with Liverpool in the Eighties, the Australian indulged his passion for pattern by building the antecedent of the Adidas Predator football boot. He after total a successful diversion show called The Main Event and invented a device that monitors the essence of road house minibars. He is right away a veteran photographer.

Ossie Ardiles

The former Argentina midfielder total football with his studies as a university law tyro prior to he won the World Cup in 1978, earning him a shock send to Tottenham Hotspur. He brought his books with him to London but in the future gave up on his second career. Currently seeking for a coaching job, he spends piece of his free time personification chess and has a "rating" of some-more than 2,000, that roughly creates him a master of the sport.

Pat Nevin

The hilt of an humanities grade from Glasgow Caledonian University and right away a journal columnist and broadcaster, the former Scotland and Chelsea winger stood out for his comprehension and independent low-pitched tastes during the 1980s and 1990s. He eschewed the cliched format of majority football biographies - and as if distanced himself from the Stamford Bridge hardcore - by co-writing his with a clergyman as a discourse exploring his innermost fears.

Kevin Rushby goes scuba-diving with sharks in the Indian Ocean south of Durban, stable by only a facade and a wetsuit, rather than a steel enclosure Travel The Guardian

diving with a ragged-tooth shark.

Diving with a ragged-tooth shark on Aliwal Shoal, South Africa. Photograph: Alamy

I placed my facade over my face and checked the regulator. We had done it from the beach by the big roller – it was a severe day – and were right afar 4 miles off the South African coast, sitting on the gunwales of an inflatable dive vessel that was rising and descending by dual metres or some-more each integrate of seconds.

"Remember," pronounced Kenny, one of the instructors, "I"m your dive friend – you stay with me. OK? If we see sharks, we sojourn calm, we stay honest in the water, we give them space."

There is something definitely comforting about the solid siphon and make buzzing sound of Scuba apparatus. Your respirating slows and becomes regular. You are distant from the universe by a piece of glass. You get that undiscerning feeling of reserve that a butterfly net can move in man-eating lion territory.

And we were in man-eater country. The Indian Ocean seashore of South Africa saw 86 shark attacks in in between 1992 and 2008, with eleven fatalities. Before the outing I went by the class of shark in my duplicate of Sea Fishes of Southern Africa, observant their characteristics: "may bluster divers", "positively related to attacks on humans", "voracious predator" – the word "aggressive" came up time and again.

In Cape Town there is a most publicised disturb accessible whereby scuba scuba scuba divers are lowered in a steel enclosure with a little bait. Sharks afterwards attack. Sharks, after all, are fiendishly dangerous. They are demons for a physical age. Even snakes have a improved reputation.

Nigel Pickering, however, disagrees with all the demonisation. A former military diver from England, he came out to South Africa with his wife, Lesley, in 2003 and chose to live in the small and shaggy locale of Umkomaas, twenty-five miles south of Durban on the KwaZulu-Natal coast. Umkomaas is a quiet, pleasant sort of place with a integrate of good restaurants and bars on a prolonged widen of sandy shoreline. Nigel and Lesley set up their dive propagandize in a large clapboard construction with splendid peaceful bedrooms for scuba scuba scuba divers to stay in. There was, however, one alternative vital captivate that drew Nigel to this coast: sharks. About 4 miles offshore, in the impressively robust ocean, is a bank area well well known as Aliwal Shoal. It is continually listed in between the world"s tip dive sites, being home to innumerable sea creatures, together with multiform class of shark. And Nigel is on a mission when it comes to sharks.

"They can be dangerous, of course, but I hold that, with counsel and care, they can be appreciated and watched similar to any alternative animal."

On the vessel there was a countdown: "three, two, one . . ." and we all rolled retrograde and in to the water. I followed the wire that led down in to the murk. The severe continue had busted Aliwal"s routinely good prominence and we were marked down to about 8m. I couldn"t see any alternative divers; the personality was already out of sight. After a notation I reached the sea bottom at 18m. I incited to see at the behind of me and got an immediate jar of adrenaline.

The shark was 3m long, and about the same area from me, cruising facilely away. It didn"t appear at all interested, or quite shy. I found this not often comforting. It was additionally comforting to see that it was conjunction a tiger nor a zambezi shark, both notoriously assertive class that live on Aliwal at sure times of year.

More scuba scuba scuba divers appeared. I recognized Kenny"s blonde hair. By palm signals he told me to poke in the counterfeit silt rags in in between rocks. Within a integrate of seconds I"d found multiform shark"s teeth and tucked them in the slap of my wetsuit. The ragged-tooth shark, or raggie, loses teeth around the life.

Leaving the sandy area, we reached a little rocks – and some-more sharks. They were encircling the divers: raggies of dual to 3 metres, relocating gently, keeping us at a protected distance. They looked ferocious, but raggies are not assertive at all – though their inquisitiveness can see unequivocally scary. One done a spin and glided towards me. I kept still. Its eye came past my mask, less than a metre away. I could simply have reached out and stroked the silky skin, but I did not. We merely stared at each alternative for a moment. There is no reply in a shark"s eye, no contact, no revelation what lies at the behind of that cold glare.

I remembered Nigel"s difference when we talked prior to the dive. "Sharks are meddlesome in one thing – food. There unequivocally isn"t a lot else going on inside their walnut-size brains. Most people think: it"s an peak predator and it"s out to get me. But that"s not true. There is no justification that sharks on purpose eat people. Experiments on brain wake up in lemon sharks – a presumably dangerous class – show that they conflict to fish red red blood in the water, but not to human blood."

The raggie slipped out of sight. Had I hold my breath? It"s a principal sin in diving, but I couldn"t tell. I changed off, swimming after the organisation who were exploring the cracks and fissures in a decrease of submarine crags. This was a unequivocally opposite aspect to the dive: little creatures of shimmering colour, micro-worlds of soft corals and sponge, and brightly embellished orange and blue nudibranchs – a sort of sea slug.

Dick, the dive master, was out in front, inspecting a garland of whitetip embankment sharks, a submissive class (although not to be confused with oceanic whitetip, that is well well known for conflict humans). He had told me what to design whilst we were on the boat. "This time of year it"s often raggies and whitetips," he"d said. "Tigers come in winter."

"What about good whites?"

"We do get them. I saw a outrageous one here a integrate of years ago – it swam inside of inches of me."

"Were you afraid?" Daft question.

"Sharks are similar to dogs: if you spin and run, they"ll follow and may be attack. If you stay ease and honest in the water, they can see you"re not food."

The justification is in foster of conservationists on this. At Aliwal, one of the busiest dive sites in South Africa, there has been usually one raggie attack, when a diver incidentally cornered an individual, that afterwards gave her a teenager punch on the arm. As for tigers: notwithstanding you do every day baited dives for them, Nigel knows of usually one incident – when a cameraman got himself in to a sardine bank where sharks were feeding. A tiger, swimming at speed by the fish, grabbed him by the crippled then, realising he was not a sardine, let go immediately.

For the shark worldwide, the incident is precarious. A consult by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) found that a third of all oceanic sharks were close to annihilation and a serve third were in jeopardy or vulnerable. The first law-breaker was over-fishing: sharks are targeted for their remunerative dorsal fins, that go to Asian restaurants around the universe for shark-fin soup, a precious plate for witless people. The EU was the world"s greatest exporter of shark fins until the 2009 anathema on "finning". It stays to be seen if this will have any outcome on the estimated 100 million sharks killed annually.

Leaving the whitetips behind, we changed on, receiving time to check the alternative fish and a little poetic soft corals. The rhythmic make buzzing sound of air total with the peaceful swell was mesmeric: diving, I pronounced to myself, is meditation in rubber. I lost lane of time. Fortunately Kenny was keeping an eye on his watch and signalled the ascent.

The impulse when you mangle the aspect is regularly a unhappy one. The undersea universe is now gone, similar to a mental condition on waking. Instead there is the stiff fail with equipment, the ungainly waylay for air on top of the slapping waves. I pulled the facade down, squabble out water, gasped for air, and listened the diveboat"s engine gunning tough about 50m away.

But afterwards Kenny was pointing. "Dolphins!"

They were entrance but delay towards us. Rising up in the swell, I held a glance of neat dim bodies curling orderly from the water. I finned tough to get higher, grabbed the facade and got it behind on, got the regulator in. I sank down usually in time to see the dolphin pod pass sleekly underneath us. Now they looked china and definitely graceful, rupturing by the H2O but any strong effort, afterwards they were gone.

Half an hour after we were behind at the dive centre. I rolled behind the slap of my wetsuit to let a dozen shark"s teeth impact to the table. In my skin were the carmine impressions of their triangular shape. It was less than an hour given I had been examination the raggies slip past – feeling a bit sea-sick from the wild weather. Nevertheless I was already starting to wonder: "What would it be similar to – to be out there with tiger sharks?"

• Aliwal Dive Centre (00 twenty-seven 39 973 2233; aliwalshoal.co.za) offers BB bedrooms from £18pp. Standard dives cost £24. A tiger shark dive (November-July) costs £120. A four-day Padi open H2O dive march costs £260, together with gear, fee and 4 dives. Dive Worldwide (0845 130 6980; diveworldwide.com) offers diving holidays around the world, together with at Aliwal. Its nine-day Shark Diving Adventure costs from £1,579pp, together with flights, place to live and dual dives a day over 6 days. Durban"s King Shaka International Airport opens in May. Emirates (emirates.com/uk) will suggest flights to the new airfield from Heathrow and Gatwick around Dubai from £480.

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Logica on the track for European graduates

Nic Fildes & , : {}

Logica is to stand in the series of European graduates it takes on this year as it prepares for a bang in open zone outsourcing work.

The IT services association hired 500 graduates in Europe last year and hopes to stand in that series in 2010. About 10 per cent of those recruits will be in the UK an denote of Logicas assured outlook.

It is additionally a thoughtfulness of the plan of augmenting staff in low-cost offshore locations outward Western Europe whilst adding new bent at the European offices. The Anglo-Dutch association has cut scarcely 2,500 staff over the past dual years to save �75 million, but has not budgeted for any serve restructuring charges this year.

The recruitment expostulate will assistance record graduates in Britain and mainland Europe who have been competing for fewer jobs after multiform large companies scrapped their connoisseur schemes last year. Many faced the awaiting of fasten the misfortune jobs marketplace in twenty years, but there are signs that connoisseur recruitment is set for a rebound.

Related LinksHappier days on divert spin as employers recruitLogica to close final-salary grant intrigue

The progress to entry-level numbers signals Logicas success in slicing costs over the past year. Outsourcing expansion helped to seaside up the groups formula in 2009, with orders up twenty-one per cent and income up 9 per cent. That helped to equivalent a pointy decrease in consultancy services, with altogether income for the year down 3 per cent at �3.7 billion and pre-tax distinction prosaic at �43 million.

Logica additionally lifted the division by 10 per cent to 3.3p a share, on condition that an additional pointer of confidence. The association had cut the payments during the downturn.

Britain valid the star spin for Logica last year with income 6 per cent higher at �750 million, driven by open zone growth.

Andy Green, arch senior manager of Logica, pronounced that he approaching expansion in the companys UK open zone commercial operation to delayed this year since of the ubiquitous choosing but to collect up again in 2011. Getting open zone spending underneath carry out equates to contracting less people. That ought to be really great for Logica, he said.

He argued that large-scale supervision IT projects had been demonised after a series of high-profile failures. The pull to send work offshore to countries such as India, Morocco and the Philippines has been indifferent by amicable and domestic vigour in European countries.

He pronounced that on condition that improved supervision services at a reduce cost was necessary for open finances. We need to be some-more certain about the things that can be done, he said, indicating to online taxation earnings and applications for obtaining car taxation discs as dual examples of supervision services that have lowered departmental costs whilst creation it simpler for citizens.

Logica derives 60 per cent of the UK income from the open sector. Despite being not as big than rivals such as EDS, IBM, CSC and Accenture, analysts hold that a programmed reorganization of supervision IT buying could fool around in to Logicas hands, becaused it is a UK code with a large offshore base. Logica is small and has a great repute for delivery. It is really well positioned for sensitively shunting work abroad, but being an viewable offshore business, George OConnor, an researcher at Panmure Gordon, the broker, said.

Shares in Logica fell 5.6p to close at 116.9p after the association pronounced that it approaching the opening this year to be broadly identical to 2009. We were pronounced to be as well confident at the commencement of last year. Were right away being told we are as well pessimistic, Mr Green said. He pronounced his counsel stemmed from doubt between Logicas clients. It will take a small whilst prior to that certainty comes back, he said.

Complaint over fundraising minute from Friends of Speaker Bercow

Suzy Jagger, Tom Baldwin & , : {}

A censure over the poise of a fundraising organisation for John Bercow, the Commons Speaker who is fighting to keep his Buckingham seat, was last night filed to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.

A part of of the UK Independence Party, who lives inside of the MPs constituency, has combined to the government official expressing regard that The Friends of Speaker Bercow might be breaching parliamentary manners by looming to work in and with the apolitical Office of the Speaker.

Strict manners oversee how MPs agitate and politicians are not authorised to make use of the appurtenance of the taxpayer-funded polite use to assistance them with their campaigning, or feat the services of Commons officials who are additionally paid by the state.

The supposed Friends of Speaker Bercow are a organisation of fundraisers who are perplexing to drum up �40,000 of donations to stake the MPs subdivision debate at the election.

Related LinksCameron fails to shift face of ToriesFresh and not so uninformed faces of Tory facelift

While Parliamentary custom dictates that the Speakers chair is uncontested in an choosing campaign, Nigel Farage, the former personality of UKIP, is to mount for the chair given he is perturbed by the Speakers purpose in the losses scandal.

John Russell, who sent the complaint, perceived a minute from The Friends of Speaker Bercow asking for a donation.

In the minute the Friends say: As Speaker of the House of Commons, in suitability with convention, John has had to renounce his membership of the Conservative Party in sequence to do the duties of his office. He will be station at the stirring choosing but the monetary await of a vital domestic party. This equates to that John will have to entirely account his own debate and this is because we need your help.

Mr Russell writes that he has given learnt that the Friends perceived hit sum of intensity donors from the Speakers Office.

He added: I entirely assimilate there is zero bootleg for such a organisation to be ancillary Mr Bercow, but using/operating out of the Speakers Office is certainly a crack of procedure. I would urge the government official to at slightest examine either the organisation are handling from or being upheld by the Speakers Office.

Speaking to The Times, Frank Donlon, the cabinet member of the Friends, tangible the idea of probable impropiety as comprehensive rubbish.

Mr Donlon pronounced that the list of intensity donors was gathered and disseminated by Mr Bercow rather than Commons officials.

Mr Donlon said: He combined a list of people whom he thought would be sensitive to the cause. Mr Donlon deserted claims that job celebration fundraisers the Friends of Speaker Bercow associated the MPs choosing debate with the taxpayer-funded office.

The conflict for the Buckingham chair will be tough. Earlier this week it emerged that Stuart Wheeler, the spread-betting millionaire, is formulation to present about �100,000 to UKIP, that he believes has a possibility of winning one Westminister chair that of Buckingham.

Although Mr Bercow had the greatest infancy of any Conservative MP at the last choosing the ice that has descended over his attribute with the Tory celebration as well as the feverish inlet of British governing body after the losses scandal, has led at slightest one reputable pollster to disagree that the Speaker might onslaught to hold on to Buckingham.

Electric car prices will be marked down by grants value thousands

Ben Webster, Environment Editor & , : {}

Drivers who switch to an electric car will embrace a supervision accede to of up to �5,000 but might onslaught to find somewhere to assign the battery.

The Department for Transport will make known currently that from Jan it will yield grants value a limit of twenty-five per cent of the cost of entirely electric cars and plug-in hybrids, that run on physical phenomenon for the initial couple of miles prior to switching to petrol.

London, Milton Keynes and the North East will embrace �8 million for the designation of 11,000 charging points by the finish of 2013, in car parks at camp centres, railway stations, supermarkets and elsewhere. However, usually 2,000 points will be commissioned subsequent year and usually 79 of those will be fast-charge points where drivers can assign their batteries to 80 per cent of their genius in usually twenty minutes.

Electric-car drivers will additionally embrace incentives such as free physical phenomenon and parking until 2013 in Milton Keynes, and accede to from the London overload charge.

Related LinksTata snubs Mandelson over electric car loanElectric cars to be spared company-car taxation

To validate for grants, cars will need a range of at slightest 70 miles and a smallest tip speed of 60mph, and encounter European reserve standards. The G-Wiz will not validate as it is personal as a quadricycle. Mitsubishi, the initial association to furnish a mass-market electric car, pronounced that the accede to would cut the cost of the iMiEV to �20,000.

Speaking to The Times, Lord Adonis, the Transport Secretary, pronounced he longed for Britain to turn a tellurian centre for electric cars. Nissan has already perceived supervision await to set up a bureau creation lithium-ion car batteries in Sunderland. The association is additionally deliberation siting European prolongation of the electric Leaf car in Sunderland.

If Barack Obama fails currently well all be swept afar Anatole Kaletsky

Anatole Kaletsky & , : {}

You competence not have noticed, but currently is a really critical day for US politics, universe mercantile prospects and even for the tellurian change of appetite in in between Western democracy and soft persecution along Chinese lines. Why? Because currently outlines possibly the commencement of the finish of Barack Obama presidency, or the finish of the beginning.

At 10am US Eastern Time, he will host an all-day summit, promote live on inhabitant TV, with his Republican congressional opponents and his careless Democratic supporters, to try to settle a little kind of domestic accord on the tip priority of his presidency remodel of the ruinously costly US healthcare system. Medicine right afar soaks up seventeen per cent of US inhabitant income, stand in the normal in alternative modernized economies and half as infancy again as Switzerland, that has the subsequent infancy costly healthcare.

If zero is finished to change the US healthcare system, it can be settled with mathematical faith that the US Government and infancy heading US companies will be driven in to bankruptcy, a predestine that befell General Motors and Chrysler mostly given of their incapacity to encounter late workers contractually on trial healing costs.

Todays limit represents Mr Obamas last probability to find a approach forward, possibly by degrading a little Republicans in to ancillary him or by annoying his own perennially widely separated Democratic Party in to ordering around a singular plan. If he is incompetent to do this, he will have roughly no probability of flitting any poignant legislation on any alternative issue not on energy, budgetary responsibility, macroeconomic supervision or even on such clearly renouned issues as bank law and jobs.

In short, Mr Obama has staked his complete presidency on todays summit.

If you are not convinced, usually attend to the Presidents own air wave promote last weekend: Whats being tested in the healthcare limit is not usually the capability to compromise this one problem, but the capability to compromise any problem. Consider what 3 years but in effect supervision in Washington could mean, not usually for America but for the complete Western world.

The deficiency of in effect US care will lurch any hopes of swell in unfamiliar policy, either on extended issues such as energy, traffic and meridian change or on security threats such as Afghanistan, Iran and the Middle East.

But even some-more discouraging would be the mercantile and monetary effects. Gridlock over healthcare would indicate identical stalemates on taxes, open spending, the budget, macroeconomic impulse and monetary reform. As a result, an active reply to any destiny monetary predicament competence spin impossible. Even worse, any critical transformation to carry out US supervision borrowing could be ruled out. If the monetary markets severely reached this conclusion, all the debates about supervision debt and open spending in Britain, Greece and alternative countries would be a rubbish of breath. A genuine loss of certainty in Americas mercantile perspective would emanate a monetary predicament so horrific that actions by the British or European governments would be swept afar similar to beach huts in a tsunami.

And precisely this probability contingency be taken severely if Mr Obama fails to mangle the healthcare deadlock. The issue at the heart of Americas benefaction domestic polarisation roughly guarantees that supervision deficits will go on to dilate if he cannot emanate a little kind of consensus. For the deadlock over healthcare is usually one example of a some-more generalized stoppage on mercantile issues.

Right-wing Republicans will not perspective to lift any taxes underneath any circumstances. Left-wing Democrats will not perspective to cut any spending underneath any resources (apart from infantry spending, that the Republicans will never determine to). And abuse of parliamentary procedures equates to that roughly no legislation can be upheld in the US Senate by a infancy of less than 60 per cent.

To have counts infancy worse, both sides explain to be behaving out of surpassing approved convictions, given their positions are upheld by perspective polls. A transparent infancy of US electorate conflict poignant taxation increases that affect middle-income households, and these are the usually ones that could significantly urge the budgetary outlook. An similarly transparent infancy rejects any rebate in supervision spending on health and grant entitlements, that are the usually cuts that could feasible save sufficient to forestall supervision penury if big taxation increases are henceforth ruled out. And usually to endorse the Alice in Wonderland impression of US governing body at present, an additional transparent infancy believes that the bill necessity is the gravest complaint confronting America and contingency be separated at once.

This paradoxical polling brings us to the infancy shocking underline of all in governing body today, not usually in America but in infancy approved countries: the approach that cheap, entire and statistically correct perspective polling has started to mishandle deputy democracies and spin them in to approach democracies, in that the views of the electorate are deliberate some-more politically bona fide than those of the member they elect.

In Britain and Europe, this change has been clearest in infantry issues. Media commentators continually assert, for example, that supervision decisions to send additional infantry to Afghanistan are deceptive given perspective polls show that a infancy of electorate conflict this war.

The dangers of approach democracy have been viewable to domestic thinkers given Plato and Aristotle. Most viewable is the deficiency of any resource to safeguard coherence in in between infancy decisions. Opinion polls will regularly show big majorities for reduce taxes, higher open spending and offset budgets. But polls will never contend how these final can be reconciled.

In America today, healthcare is the concentration of the attribution approach democracy movement. Polls show large majorities for shortening healthcare costs and fluctuating coverage, but opposite great reductions or taxation increases. Naturally, the open wish all of these objectives to be completed whilst shortening supervision debt. Since any fathomable remodel has to have a little kind of compromise, polls show transparent majorities in foster of roughly all the particular measures in the Obama healthcare proposals, but antithesis to the package as a whole.

The bad headlines is that US governing body right afar seems to be trapped in this Lewis Carroll world. The great headlines is that if Mr Obama can find a approach brazen on healthcare, solutions to Americas alternative long-term problems bill deficits, appetite dependence, long-term demographic costs would all be inside of reach.

Which will it be? Nobody knows, but examination todays promote from Washington could be some-more inestimable than staying up to watch the own ubiquitous choosing results.

Thailand on corner prior to statute on £1.5bn seized from former PM World headlines The Guardian

A believer of former Thai budding apportion Thaksin Shinawatra

A believer of refugee former Thai budding apportion Thaksin Shinawatra outward the autarchic court. Photograph: Damir Sagolj/Reuters

A Thai justice is currently due to confirm either the refugee former budding apportion Thaksin Shinawatra can keep scarcely £1.5bn in resources seized by the government, a statute that – yes or no approach it goes – is approaching to lower the domestic breach dividing the nation and could trigger new waves of violence.

Bangkok has left in to lockdown forward of the judgment. Thaksin is still desired by the farming bad but despised by the Bangkok elite.

While vital protests by the Thaksin-loyal "red shirts", that are approaching to pull a million people on to the streets, have been deferred for a fortnight since of logistical problems, thousands will mass at the building today. Soldiers and military are in on all sides opposite Bangkok and at entrances to the capital. Busloads of protesters from the Thaksin-supporting north and north-east are approaching to be incited behind at the city limits.

The 9 judges in the box have round-the-clock security and twenty-seven countries, together with Britain, have released warnings on transport to Thailand, and the collateral in particular. Already one homemade explosve has exploded nearby Government House and an additional was defused nearby the autarchic court. Further attacks are expected.

At seductiveness is 76bn baht (£1.484bn) in cash, shares and skill that Thaksin"s critics disagree he amassed mostly by executing policies that benefited his family company, Shin Corp, together with government-sanctioned loans to the renegade state of Burma.

Thaksin, forced from energy by a military-led manoeuvre in 2006, fled in to outcast prior to a 2008 dispute of seductiveness self-assurance that saw him condemned to dual years in jail. But he looms large still in Thai governing body around video messages, Twitter and his blog, from Dubai and Cambodia.

He pronounced this week he was pacific to lapse to come to terms a pacific allotment but usually in lapse for a sweeping pardon: "I don"t wish to die outward of Thailand. I don"t wish to lapse as skeleton and ashes." The supervision deserted his appeal.

Almost all commentators are presaging Thaksin will be found guilty of working corruptly, that will be seen as clearance of the coup.

"I have no disbelief there will be a guilty verdict, it"s only a make a difference of how most of his resources will be taken away," pronounced Thitinan Pongsudhirak, highbrow of domestic scholarship at Bangkok"s Chulalongkorn University.

But even a concede decision, instead of appreciative everybody, is approaching to greatfully nobody. Thitinan said: "This preference is a watershed, a dramatic, vicious part in Thai politics, but it will not finalise the crisis; in fact, it is approaching to intensify the crisis. Thaksin is someone who doesn"t quit. He will not be confident until he gets all back. His enemies will not be confident if he gets anything back. For them, this is the last action of Thaksin"s domestic decapitation."

Sustained aroused protests could serve repairs the frail economy and break the already beleaguered bloc supervision headed by Abhisit Vejjajiva.

A maestro politician, Veera Musigapong, has pronounced the red shirts will go on "fighting opposite dictatorship" in any case of the outcome. "Our domestic gatherings will continue, according to the plan to move behind democracy and to overpower the stream government."

A distinguished Thaksin critic, Suriyasai Katasila, conceded the dispute would not die with the justice decision. "Thaksin will lift out his punish opposite his opponents. The clashes of opinions will endure and are not approaching to stop for the subsequent integrate of years."

Huge climb in unused haven cases suggested UK headlines

A security safeguard walks around the long-term wing at the Colnbrook immigration removal centre nearby Heathrow

A security safeguard walks around the long-term wing at the Colnbrook immigration removal centre nearby Heathrow. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/PA

Labour"s jot down on rebellious haven faces a uninformed assault right away over total that show a new reserve of 30,000 cases and a notice by the government"s immigration watchdog that the targets are right away "unachievable".

John Vine additionally creates transparent that a special five-year practice that began in 2006 to transparent the bequest of 450,000 unused haven cases is right away doubtful to encounter the Jul 2011 aim execution date. The setbacks meant that notwithstanding swell the Labour supervision will go in to the ­general choosing debate incompetent to explain that the haven complement has been bound after John Reid famously spoken the Home Office"s immigration directorate "unfit for purpose" in May 2006.

The inform from Vine, his initial on ­asylum as the UK Border Agency"s eccentric inspector, says there is no idea in between frontline immigration staff that their central aim of solution 90% of new haven applications inside of 6 months by the finish of subsequent year is achievable.

He says his inspectors found that at the finish of Jul last year there were already 29,474 cases that had not been resolved inside of 6 months. Although no specific total have been published the reserve appears to have carried on flourishing in the last 6 months.

Staff had been incompetent to set upon a aim of solution 60% of haven claims inside of 6 months and were struggling to get the monthly execution rate consistently on top of 45%. In one UKBA segment staff had even proposed to "stockpile" cases dating behind to March, Apr and May so that they could concentration on the new cases in Jun in an try to encounter the impractical target.

Ministers motionless in 2006 to "set aside" 450,000 superb bequest haven cases so that a uninformed begin could be done on new applications. But Vine additionally reports that this special five-year reserve ­clearance practice is additionally not creation as infancy swell as hoped.

He pronounced that whilst substantial swell has been done in solution 235,000 of the bequest of comparison cases there are doubtful to transparent up the rest by the aim date of summer 2011. He pronounced that to encounter this aim 11,000 cases a month need to be resolved but his ultimate total show that usually 4,500 a month were being dealt with during 2009. Vine reveals that this ­problem stays notwithstanding ministers becoming different the manners to concede any one to stay who has already been here 6 to eight years rather than the publicly advertised 10 to twelve years. Up to 40,000 cases have been dealt with underneath this order change.

Vine pronounced the transparent targets had driven an alleviation in the UK Border ­Agency"s opening but he had ­significant concerns about the capability to say that swell in the face of increasingly severe targets.

He pronounced haven caseworkers were traffic with a little of the infancy exposed people in multitude and it was critical to set upon the right change in between targets and peculiarity decision-making: "We should recollect that, initial and foremost, this is about people"s lives."

Lin Homer, UKBA arch executive, pronounced last night: "The UK Border Agency is final haven cases faster than ever before, with the infancy resolved inside of 6 months, down from an normal of twenty-two months in 1997. We are operative to safeguard there is a picturesque plan for traffic with all haven claims that have not been resolved inside of 6 months."

She pronounced that special teams had been set up to understanding with the new reserve of cases not resolved inside of 6 months and still believed that the targets of traffic of 90% of new claims inside of that time extent could be completed by the finish of subsequent year.

The Refugee Council pronounced that the new haven total showed that 28% of haven appeals were successful. Its arch executive, Donna Covey, said: "It is one thing to have targets, it is an additional to have them so impractical that not usually are they not met but, crucially, they outcome in the wrong preference being done and an mostly extensive appeals process."

Ethel Austin shuts 114 shops and cuts 1000 jobs

Peter Stiff & , : {}

More than 1,000 staff at Ethel Austin lost their jobs after the stricken conform retailers director was forced to close 114 stores.

The move comes after the Merseyside chain, together with Au Naturale, the homewares sister company, fell in to administration department department department department department for the second time in dual years this month after bad Yuletide traffic and bad go on in Jan strike money flow.

MCR, the administrator, pronounced majority of the 114 stores it was shutting would stop traffic by the finish of the week and that a sum of 1,048 positions would be done redundant.

Geoff Bouchier, corner administrator, said: "In light of the stream mercantile meridian these stores identified for closure did not capture a purchaser. Regrettably, as a outcome of their stream monetary performance, these stores will before long stop to trade."

Related LinksEthel Austin joins list of conform casualtiesEthel Austin falls in to administration department department department department department

Mr Bouchier combined that the bondage superfluous 162 stores would go on to work as common whilst he looked for a customer for the rest of the commercial operation as a going concern.

We are still carefree of offered the superfluous commercial operation and discussions are ongoing with a series of meddlesome parties, he said.

Before descending in to administration, the organisation had in use some-more than 3,700 people at roughly 300 stores - with a quite clever participation in the North West - and at the head bureau in Knowsley, usually ten miles from where the commercial operation was founded by Ethel Austin and her father George in their Liverpool legislature residence in 1934.

Elaine McPherson, a former arch senior manager and corner owners of MK One, the gone conform retailer, had paid for the association out of administration department department department department department in 2008 but unsuccessful to secure bank financial to keep the organisation going progressing this year.

The ultimate developments at Ethel Austin come usually a day after Speciality Retail Group, the menswear organisation at the back of Suits You and Racing Green, cumulative a rescue understanding that saved it from collapse.

The group, that additionally owns the Youngs Hire brand, perceived subsidy from 98 per cent of landlords for turnaround plans that will concede the organisation to compensate less rent for loss-making stores and close underperforming sites.

About 300 jobs at Speciality Retail Group have been under arrest initially, nonetheless the agreement will see 42 of the 73 stores close in eighteen months time.

Ethel Austin is not the usually tradesman to have depressed plant to the retrogression this year. Adams, the childrens wear retailer, fell in to administration department department department department department for the second time in a year in Jan and D2 Jeans, before piece of Sir Tom Hunters empire, entered administration department department department department department usually after Christmas.

The retrogression has additionally seen Woolworths, Threshers, the drinks retailer, and Borders UK, the party retailer, vanish from the high street.

White House healthcare limit Richard Adams World headlines

Florida congressman Alan Grayson vocalization about US healthcare reform, twenty-nine Sep 2009. Photograph: C-Span

The bipartisan suggestion of today"s healthcare summit. Photograph: C-Span

Summary: Well appreciate God that"s over - 7 hours of liveblogging. If anything the limit finished in what the British call a "score draw", or what the French call the initial universe war: extreme ditch warfare, with no entertain since and in the finish usually integrate of inches of domain becoming different hands.

The select thing to contend was that the healthcare limit was made at home theatre, put on for the media. That"s nonsense, of course. This was the genuine thing but shown live on television, and crackling with tragedy at times. Anyway, from the beginning....

9am Eastern Time (2pm GMT): What US healthcare remodel needs is a shot in the arm. What it competence get instead is a knee in the groin today, as Republican and Democratic politicians are brought together in a day-long assembly to try and find a small usual ground.

The record are being televised live, from 10am ET (3pm GMT), and we"ll be covering the key events right here, in a 7 hour marathon of live-blogging.What to see out for? Any signs that the Republican celebration in Congress can contend the steely finalise to conflict reform, even if the Obama administration department takes up the own policies and uses them. For the Democrats the issue is how far they are rebuilt to go to eventually pass the bill, and what methods they use.

Already, Senate infancy personality Harry Reid has indicted Republicans of "crying" about the bill"s passage. And he competence have a point: the GOP was even indignant about the figure of the list to be used today. That doesn"t bode well. And conjunction does this Associated Press item:

President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats, holding out small goal for Thursday"s televised bipartisan limit on health care, are rebuilt to try for a inclusive check in the entrance weeks but a singular Republican vote.

Anyone anticipating for a new thing of bipartisan goodwill: don"t hold your breath. Unless you"ve got unequivocally great health insurance.

9.45am: The players are creation their approach in to Blair House, usually opposite the travel from the White House. How low are expectations that any swell will be made? Let this front page title from USA Today discuss it the story: "Outlook low for health summit" – with a check display that fundamentally nobody thinks there will be any agreement. So, the usually approach is up, right?

CNN have roused Wolf Blitzer to front a special show on the HCR summit, that is the US homogeneous of the Queen going to a funeral.

9.55am: Nancy Pelosi chatting to Kathleen Sibelius on teevee. That"s all that"s happening.

10.03am: You could cut the tragedy with a tissue. So far: lots of generally old white men sitting around a list celebration of the mass pieces of paper. In alternative words: what majority of Washington DC looks similar to majority of the time.

10.04am: OMG! Obama"s entered the room! Everyone stands up. There"s John McCain, seeking weird. Some Republican tries to have a fun as Obama squeezes past and Obama"s similar to "Yeah, whatever" as he goes past. Cold.

10.08am: OK, back-slapping over, here we go. Obama"s opening remarks lays out the box for remodel of a small sort.

Details for the idealisation Democratic proposals are entrance out. One big benefaction finished to the Republicans is this: permitting people to buy health word opposite state lines, definition that, say, someone in New York State can buy from a health insurer formed in California. Why is this important? Because that equates to that the insurer can be regulated by an additional set of manners in one state. But the idealisation offer from the White House talks about "inter-state compacts", suggesting an additional harvesting machine of slip to be added.

10.15am: President Obama is utilizing by assorted Republican statements on the need for healthcare remodel and suggestions. "This became a unequivocally ideological battle," says Obama. "Politics finished up trumping usual sense." But what he"s anticipating to get forward – surprise! – is on "where we agree". There"s a small overlie – and Obama refers to "what we think is the majority appropriate mix of the House and Senate legislation that"s already passed" as the basement for discussion. (You can review that here.)

10.19am: Now it competence not be as sparkling as curling, but if you wish to watch this live you can find it on C-Span here and additionally live streaming on the White House website.

10.21am: Now it"s the Republicans" spin – around Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee. He"s not the majority sparkling chairman in the world, but compared with the Republican Senate minority personality Mitch McConnell he"s dynamite. But afterwards so is mold.

"I"d similar to to proceed with a story. When I was inaugurated governor..." great, interjection Lamar. (Is narcolepsy a pre-existing condition on my health insurance?) Alexander tells a small lengthened embellishment about Detroit cars. Which doesn"t have sense, the gist of that is if a new car doesn"t sell afterwards don"t repeat the same indication successive year. New metaphor! "It"s similar to giving someone a square to a train line where the buses usually run half the time." Is it? And an additional one: "This is a car that we can"t stop and repair and begin over. But we have to begin over."

This is made at home Republican knowledge from Senator Alexander, and is I think usually a approach of receiving up time and spinning out their lines until TV viewers get wearied and switch over to The Young and the Restless, that will be about ... now.

10.25am: "Some contend we need to rein in the word companies, and competence be we do," says Alexander, who is still banging on. Basically, it costs as well majority and ah, something something, the majority appropriate approach to dilate entrance is to reduce the cost.

Here we go: Alexander fires the initial shot of anger: the Republicans don"t wish the Democrats to have have make have use of of of of the settlement parliamentary procession to pull by the stream bills. We will listen to this over and over again. Alexander right away quotes Alexis de Tocqueville – yep, an 19th century French man is so definitely relevent here.

But that"s usually the begin of a prolonged story doctrine from Alexander, the upshot of that is: utilizing settlement to pass HCR will fall short American democracy.

10.42am: Nancy Pelosi is right away on, and you do a great pursuit of creation the case, focusing on people"s worries about HCR. She"s you do a improved pursuit than Obama, who tends to wind and recycle remarks from his prior statements.

Oh lord, right away it"s Harry Reid: "I wish to outlay a integrate of mins articulate about Nevada." I gamble you do, Harry, we"ve all seen your check ratings. In actuality Reid would be improved off essentially being in Nevada jolt hands right now.

Actually, Reid tells a terrifying story of a Nevada integrate with health word who had a baby with a split taste – that the word association wouldn"t compensate to repair since it was a pre-existing condition. How can a baby baby have a pre-existing condition? Another delight for the US healthcare industry.

Now Harry Reid is repelled – shocked! – to listen to all this verbalise about utilizing settlement by the Republicans. "Reconciliation isn"t a small thing that"s never been finished before."

(If you had the word "reconciliation" in your HCR celebration games, afterwards hope for to splash up and presumably a liver transplant.)

10.50am: I"ve pronounced it before, but Senator Max Baucus does see utterly similar to Dick outpost Dyke.

10.57am: Healthcare remodel limit seating chart! It"s similar to you"re there, in the room.

10.58am: Now things are removing interesting: Obama usually smacked down Lamar Alexander over the projected costs of HCR, utilizing congressional check bureau stats. Exciting. "This is an critical issue, Lamar," says Obama - who shouldn"t do that close initial name thing that he likes so much, in this context. Senator Alexander, surely.

The boss has a built-in value in these meetings, as was seen when Obama went to the Republican member assembly in Baltimore last month. When the boss speaks, everybody else has to close up. Or the tip have make use of of will kill you*.

(*Not essentially true. But they could.)

11.02am: At the begin of the limit all 3 US headlines channels were covering this live. And who was the initial to leave it and go behind to the studio? You competence think it would be Fox News – but no, it was CNN. So right away it"s MSNBC v Fox News to see who can last longer.

11.09am: It"s Republican Senator Tom Coburn. Who is an tangible live doctor. So he should know what he"s articulate about ... solely that he has usually claimed that food stamps and free propagandize lunches are the greatest equates to of diabetes. Which has got to be bullshit. But I"m not a doctor, so who knows?

Coburn goes on so prolonged that Harry Reid cuts him off with a abrupt joke: "I competence not know majority about disinfectant but I know something about filibusters." We move along.

11.14am: Woo! Fox News wins! MSNBC usually blinked and left the HCR limit to lapse to the studio. So Fox News was the headlines channel that stranded with it longest. Take that, haterz.

11.22am: A reader down next in the comments, goto100, suggests that the share cost movements of health word companies is an indicator of how the limit is going. That"s a fun thought - well, this HCR limit creates researching batch prices appear similar to fun.

So, I theory we can predicate that if health insurers see their share prices rise, on top of the index as a whole, afterwards the prospects for HCR aren"t you do so well. Let"s see... well, the SP 500 is down overall, slightly. Let"s see at Aetna, a big insurer: it"s up scarcely 1% today. Wellpoint – that had such a great day prior to association yesterday (and they are propitious that Toyota was removing knocked about up down the hall) – is up 0.7% in choppy early trading, as we used to write on the FT when zero majority was happening.

11.30am: Dick outpost Baucus is on, articulate about the have have make have use of of of of of healthcare "exchanges", that he explains thus: "What I similar to about exchanges, it"s similar to Orbitz, it"s similar to Expedia," says Max outpost Dyke. "You go to an sell and you see around and get the majority appropriate price."

11.33am: If you had "bending the cost curve" on your HCR celebration game, afterwards splash now!

11.35am: Some Republican congressman declared Dave Camp (really) of Michigan, who is a wonk-manqué. He usually quoted something from page 1959 of the Senate HCR bill. Now he"s onto page 992 – and indignant about the new Medicare board, that is one of the singular majority appropriate cost-cutting measures in the total shebang. What. Is. Your. Problem.

Obama cuts him off, observant "I don"t wish to try and cut you off." "I"m roughly done," says Dave. Yet successive events – Dave keeps articulate – indicate otherwise.

11.40am: Woo, Mitch McConnell is the bomb. He pipes up and says that Democrats have had 52 mins vocalization time whilst Republicans have had usually twenty-four minutes. Nice. Mitch McConnell: time watcher.

"You"re right, there was an imbalance on the opening statements, since I"m the president," replies Obama. Which is true.

11.45am: Someone keeps creation shrill sighs in to their mic. My money"s on McConnell.

Noon ET (5pm GMT): What"s this? Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) usually pronounced it"s OK that health word covers usually 40% of healing costs. Hmm, that"s engaging ... yep, here"s the quote: "Plans right away cover around 40% of the costs of care." Isn"t that the gist of the problem? That"s the disproportion in in between Dems and GOP – do the Republicans think that 40% is adequate? It"s not.

12.23pm: Tom Coburn"s weird remarks progressing (11.09am, see below) that food stamps and free propagandize lunches equates to diabetes (the greatest cause, maybe) have been removing trashed online, nonetheless a small Republicans are perplexing to pull back, such as that line on propagandize lunches. Now, there"s positively an justification for spending some-more on healthier propagandize lunches, but the Republican celebration hasn"t usually been at the forefront of that fight.

To be precise, here"s Coburn"s allude to today:

"We probably emanate some-more diabetes by the propagandize lunch programme and the food stamp programme than any alternative thing..."

Any justification for that? Anyone? And if that"s loyal afterwards what"s McDonalds been you do for the last twenty-five years to assistance compromise the diabetes issue – offered tofu smoothies?

12.34pm: John McCain speaks, to no great effect, and Kevin Drum tweets: "Is McCain auditioning for the lead in a movie about a cranky, sour old man? He"s got the purpose down pat."

12.38pm: The glorious Dan Kennedy responds on Coburn"s dumb food stamps/school lunches diabetes epidemic, around Twitter: "We"ve combined copiousness of diabetes by impolite farming subsidies. Don"t think that"s what Coburn means."

Ah yes, the heavily subsidised high fructose corn syrup, not to discuss the outrageous plantation subsidies paid to great old sugar. Why, that all comes from the US taxpayer. Fancy that. Although it has to be pronounced that the distance of food stamps and propagandize lunch programmes is approach some-more than farming subsidies, hold it or not.

12.51pm: Joe Biden speaks, for the initial time, and utterly realistically and to the point: observant if you hold that the assorted evils of the stream HCR should be fixed, such as pre-existing conditions, afterwards all we are arguing about is how to do it.

12.55pm: Louise Slaughter (D-NY) speaks, usually the third lady to verbalise alternative than Nancy Pelosi and Kathleen Sibelius. "We need to get absolved of pre-existing conditions. It is cruel, it is capricious, and it is usually finished to assistance the bottom line." She mentions that in multiform states, made at home assault opposite women is treated with colour as a pre-existing condition, that is indeed bizarre.

12.57pm: Slaughter relates a story of a lady incompetent to means dentures – and so wore her upheld sister"s dentures. "Did you ever hold that in America, that"s where we would be?" asks Slaughter.

My co-worker Ewen MacAskill mentions that this used to be utterly usual in Scotland, twenty or thirty years ago. So, ah, an additional delight for the US healthcare system.

12.58pm: So there"s a opinion in the House of Representatives, definition that everybody has to go off and vote. Obama gets out of the room quickly, probably snapping out for a discerning smoke.

Presidental Cigarette Break / House Vote / Lunch: What improved time to total up where we are, after scarcely 3 hours. Um.

1.55pm: The participants are filing behind in to Blair House. In the meantime I"ve been Googling food stamps – and did you know in farming Alaska you can buy bows and arrows on food stamps? Fact.

1.58pm: Obama"s on foot opposite Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House to Blair House, so we should be restarting.

Where are we: there are dual summits going on here. The Democratic one has people articulate about the problems of the stream US healthcare complement (insofar as it"s a system). The other, the Republican summit, is indignant about total of the legislation being proposed. So they aren"t usually at cross-purposes, and both these discussions are engaging and even utilitarian and illuminating. But they aren"t articulate to each alternative so much.

2.10pm: Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY) right away relating erotically appealing tales about his years in the shoe business, and concludes: "these exchanges can be good." And has a semi-sensible idea, of permitting all insurers to go on the sell lists, but note that ones encounter smallest supervision standards. That"s a unequivocally Nudge sort of idea. Even some-more surprising, he talks for similar to 3 minutes. So hats off to you Mike Enzi.

Now Tom Harkin, senator from Iowa, who has a notation from a rancher in Iowa, detailing how his family of 4 is right away profitable $18,000 a year for health insurance. He"s stranded with his insurer since of pre-existing conditions, so can"t shift insurers.

2.17pm: Oh hey it"s Dave Camp again, articulate about page 625, subsection 98, divide B! We need to clarity some-more about this complicated day Cicero. Let"s see ... he has perceived $120,000 from healthcare companies in debate contributions. Small change, right?

Here"s his bio:

Congressman Dave Camp represents the people of the 4th Congressional District of Michigan, that spans from Owosso to Greenville and northward to Traverse City and the Leelanau peninsula.

But what of Dave Camp, the man? Hey, he went to Sussex University, in 1973-74. (Wasn"t Sussex a hotbed of Marxism of the History Man sort during the 1970s?) Anyway, he"s a counsel by the looks of things. Which he doesn"t discuss on his central website bio.

2.31pm: Now it"s Marsha Blackburn, a bit of a flamethrower for the Republicans. She wants to verbalise about offered health word opposite state lines – that the insurers are all in foster of since it could meant they all move to South Carolina or Wyoming where state regulators and state regulations are weak. Now, it could work fine, if there was a small form of inhabitant regulation. But Republicans don"t foster that, even though it would patently equivocate the misfortune problems.

In response, Professor Obama gives a short harangue on the story of health word in California, but afterwards winds up by saying: since not have a inhabitant marketplace? "I essentially think that could be applicable if the sell could be stood up. So there is a approach of bridging that difference," says Obama.

2.40pm: Obama takes on the thought that everybody can get diagnosis by puncture bedrooms even but insurance. Who pays for that treatment, he asks? Everyone else with health word ends up profitable additional as a a result. "We"re already putting the income in, it"s usually in a unequivocally emasculate approach … We"re not saving money, we usually don"t see it. It"s called uncompensated care."

2.45pm: It"s Joe Biden articulate about HCR and the outcome on the deficit. Time for Joe to silver a pleasant Bidenism, on the theme of politicians supposed to know what the American people think: "I know what I think. I think I know what they think but I don"t know what they think."

Anyway, it all costs a lot of income presumably way.

2.48pm: Biden"s still going ... tortuous the bend ... and so on. I"ve got the receptive to advice down. Shot of John Boehner, who appears to be nipping a thistle. He unequivocally does see similar to a impression out of Mad Men. Meanwhile, Mike Enzi hunches brazen and thinks about offered boots in the great old days whilst solemnly scratching the side of his face. John McCain looks vaguely angry.

2.53pm: Now it"s large Paul Ryan (R-WS). In the credentials there"s a marching rope playing. People see around in alarm.

Paul Ryan: "The check is full of gimmicks and smoking mirrors." Smoking mirrors? Is that similar to a smoking jacket? Or some-more similar to a smoking gun? Let"s pretence he meant to contend "smoke and mirrors".

Ryan says: "I"ll finish with the cost curve. Are we tortuous it down or are we tortuous up?" (Drink!) Up, it seems. Which is bad.

The standing quo needs to be fixed, says Ryan. "What we simply wish to do is begin over and begin off with a purify square of paper." Oh yeah, that"ll do it.

3.17pm: Ah, the pretentious steer and receptive to advice of Chuck Grassley expelled in to the wild with the English language.

For those of you who haven"t had the happiness of conference the senator from Iowa, live and uncut, afterwards it"s formidable to communicate usually the genuine Grassley experience. Basically, suppose dual speeches, cut up, and incidentally pasted behind together, afterwards translated in to Mandarin and afterwards Xhosa and behind in to English again. Then review aloud by your somewhat insane uncle.

3.20pm: I"d similar to to point out that Wonkette proposed liveblogging these talks at 2pm and lasted until 2.42pm.

3.27pm: Republican House personality John Boehner speaks: "This check is a dangerous examination with the majority appropriate healthcare complement in the world." What, this check additionally affects Japan?

3.31pm: Oh great, John Boehner brings up abortion: "This check that we have prior to us ... starts for the initial time in thirty years allows for the taxpayer appropriation of abortion." Oh that"s going to assistance matters. What"s the answer afterwards John? "Let"s begin with a purify square of paper." Oh, articulate points. "Why can"t we agree?" wonders Boehner.

On abortion, Shelby Knox tweets: "Boehner is lying so casually. This check does NOT concede taxation payer appropriation of termination – in fact, it still rolls behind repro rights."

3.40pm: Oh God it"s McCain again. Why does he get to verbalise so much? "We Arizonians hatred California since they"ve stolen the water," says McCain, for a small reason. OK. Anyway, healing malpractice remodel right away since it functions in Texas.

Now McCain"s behind banging the settlement drum – a parliamentary tactic that avoids the obstructing legislation and the 60 opinion super-majority. Anyway, McCain and the rest of the Republican celebration are opposite utilizing reconciliation. "I think it could mistreat the destiny of the country," says McCain. Yes, by God, flitting legislation by a majority! The repairs that would do.

Both sides are jockeying for on all sides on reconciliation, that"s what this is about. The Democrats aren"t receiving the bait, but the Republicans keep goading them.

3.44pm: Senator Dick Durban: "For majority years I worked in a courtroom." Dick, that"s called being a lawyer. It"s OK, you can contend the word.

Durbin becomes the 100,000th chairman to namecheck Atul Gawande"s New Yorker essay on healthcare costs. It"s brilliant, if you haven"t review it already, it"s here.

Durbin does a unequivocally great pursuit of skewering a small Republican articulate points about the stream proposals: "If you think it"s a revolutionary tract and it"s wrong, afterwards for integrity consequence dump out of the sovereign employees" health plan."

3.51pm: Obama accuses Paul Ryan of utilizing "some great poll-tested language" on Ryan"s "government-run healthcare" line.

Obama is right away in push-back mode, as seen in the Baltimore bloodbath.

3.55pm: And the Republican big finish comes from ... John Barrasso! What do you mean, who? John Barrasso – the former arch senior manager of the largest sanatorium in Casper, Wyoming. And right away senator.

4.00pm: Oh, wow, John Barrasso thinks all members of Congress should usually have "catastrophic" health word – so, usually cancer and big stuff. Why? asks Obama. "Because afterwards we"d have some-more skin in the game," says Barrasso. And so people would save more. "But what if you were on $40,000, John?" says Obama. That floors Barrasso, who struggles to come behind with a fish fabrication ("glub glub glub") about fool around ground rangers.

Fantastic – this was by far the majority appropriate sell of the day so far. It obviously shows the disproportion in in between the dual sides.

Henry Waxman follows up: "I consternation if Republicans think seniors on Medicare should be on inauspicious caring only." Bingo. Waxman afterwards smacks McCain"s advocacy of a California law that dates behind to the 1960s and isn"t keeping healthcare costs down, and so majority for that idea, hey?

Waxman knows his things and is alighting a small good punches: "I listen to people contend all day, "Mr President the people don"t wish your plan". Well if I listened to their tongue all day, I wouldn"t wish your plan either."

4.07pm: Henry Waxman competence see similar to a Bond villan (strokes white cat) but he can sell formidable healthcare reforms.

4.15pm: Paul Roskam, a Republican from the land of Lincoln, has a novel take on the "clean square of paper" articulate point: HCR is similar to an Etch A Sketch, and it"s time to shake up it and begin with ... a transparent screen.

4.20pm: Chris Dodd. Who cares what he thinks.

4.38pm: So we"re in to the last stages here. Obama says there"s 3 people who haven"t spoken, and an additional Republican, and afterwards Pelosi and afterwards Obama to finish up.

4.42pm: Tom Coburn: "We ought to have an additional verbalise similar to this." Must we?

4.55pm: John Dingell says the stream check isn"t perfect, but the last square of undiluted legislation was delivered at Mt Sinai. Most people think that"s a fun but Dingell"s so old he was probably there.

4.58pm: Nancy Pelosi is job out Dave Camp for observant that the bills cut Medicare payments to seniors. "They do not," she says sternly. "That"s the facts."

4.59pm: Woo hoo, it"s nearby the end! "The actuality that we"re usually an hour late beats my prediction," says Obama.

Obama says he"ll total up areas of agreement and disagreement. He says: "We determine that we need a small word marketplace reforms. We don"t determine on all of them, but we determine on a small of them." He wants Republicans to see at the word industry reforms.

The second thing he thinks there"s agreement on is permitting small businesses to stick on exchanges, permitting for larger purchasing power. He compares this to Walmart utilizing the distance to expostulate down prices. (Not certain that a lot of small businesses will similar to that analogy, generally the ones competing opposite Walmart.)

Buying health word opposite state lines? This thought is in the stream bills, but Obama"s regard is the "race to the bottom" effect, and mentions the e.g. of credit cards and issuers relocating to the states with weakest regulation. He wants a small elementary protections. "This is not a big supervision takeover, it"s something we do in roughly each aspect of life."

Medical malpractice: Obama admits that Democrats lend towards to conflict malpractice law reform, but he wants to work on it.

5.08pm: Obama"s performance, possibly you similar to him or not, has been substantial here. For 7 hours, with usually 45 mins off in the middle, he"s kept this up, and is still articulate and creation clarity underneath the spotlight. It"s tough to suppose a small former presidents handling something similar to this. I meditative there of .. let"s see ... Calvin Coolidge. Coolidge"s father was once asked to report his son. He paused for a substantial duration prior to replying: "He ain"t sassy."

5.22pm: Obama: "I"d similar to the Republicans to do a small soul-searching" but fears that the opening can"t be bridged, and that it"s going to be quarrel in Congress. But if we can"t agree, "that"s what elections are for," he says. A turn of applause, in service if zero else. Obama gives John Boehner a virile semi-hug and a slap on the back. Then he gets in to a short ear-bending from Mike Enzi, presumably about shoes.

Free at last. It"s eventually over, and you"ll be repelled to listen to that the complete room didn"t couple arms in a organisation welcome prior to rushing to the Hill to pass a small headlines bipartisan laws. But afterwards that was never going to happen. Of march this was partly theatre. Was it a rubbish of time? Well, that depends, probably not, even if it wasn"t history"s majority fit have have make have use of of of of of time.

More outline after to hang up, after the "smoking mirrors" that Paul Ryan referred to have cleared.

6.10pm: So what did we clarity from the healthcare summit? Who won? The bizarre answer is that both sides won.

We schooled that the Republicans once again exhibited substantial discipline. The togetherness of the Republican congress is far-reaching and low - and that explains to a small grade their new made at home success. Of march that will be ignored by the media in the commentary, but the Republicans came in to this limit with a elementary set of singular goals and a finely-honed message. They delivered their summary and we"ll see shortly sufficient if they met their goals - nonetheless their idealisation goal, of murdering the HCR legislation, is still in play. That was their target right away and they completed it. Will any Republicans opinion for the last legislation on the building of Congress? No.

The Democrats had the majority appropriate tunes, and they played them. Where the Republicans were forbidding but trained the Dems were all over the place but they had a small stand-out performances, from Tom Harkin and Henry Waxman, as well as Obama. The Republicans don"t have people with their range and learn of policy. Waxman, in particular, was stellar. The Democrats have a improved story to tell, the perceptible failings of the stream system, that even the Republicans don"t worry to urge any more.

Obama himself, by utilizing the list for 7 hours, with usually a 45 notation mangle in the middle, gave an unusual performance. You felt, even at the end, that he could have left an additional 7 hours with usually a discerning mangle for a Marlboro Light and a Diet Coke.

Personally I found it fascinating, to see so majority politicians so sincerely deliberating America"s healthcare problems for so long. There"s no love lost on presumably side, but it was all business. The volume of grandstanding was in few instances low - usually John Boehner and John McCain indulged, nonetheless Boehner"s was a tranquil explosion, whilst Charlie Rangel was a lowlight.

In end ... if the Democrats had the Republicans" discipline, they would have upheld the damn check by now. If the Republicans had the Democrats" learn and dignified force, they would have killed it by now.

Now, it"s full steam forward for reconciliation. It"s going to be brutal. This will have or mangle the Obama presidency, utterly simply. Good night, interjection for reading.

Clashes as set upon brings Greece to delay over purgation measures- contains video

Philip Pangalos, Athens and David Charter, Brussels & , : {}

Protesters and military clashed in Greece yesterday as a set upon opposite supervision cuts incited aroused among signs that the EU is formulation to direct even larger sacrifices.

Most of the nation belligerent to a hindrance with an estimated dual million workers fasten a ubiquitous set upon called by unions indignant at purgation measures to rein in a 12.7 per cent bill necessity and catch up on years of critical reforms in months.

And as delegations from the European Commission and International Monetary Fund arrived in Athens to brush by Greeces accounts, EU officials warned that additional assets amounting to at slightest €2 billion (�1.7 billion) were expected to be demanded as early as subsequent month.

In a serve worrying sign, the rating organisation Standard Poors signalled that it could hillside Greeces emperor credit standing serve subsequent month in a move that would have it even harder to lift supports to keep up debt repayments.

Related LinksClub Med faces a summer of discontentParasite economy lies at the behind of Greek tragedy Greece refuses EU purgation demandMultimediaPICTURES: Greece strikes

We work really tough and get paid really little. We have seen the taxes go up and the income go down sufficient is enough, pronounced Vasilis Tsangas, a trainee counsel receiving piece in the 30,000-strong critique in the capital.

The hurtful politicians and the abounding who dont compensate their taxes done this mess. They should compensate for it, not the typical workers, combined Angelike Pavlopoulou, a virologist at the Athens Cancer Hospital, who was additionally receiving piece in the demonstration.

Scuffles pennyless out when a organisation of hooded extremists clashed with demonstration police, who in spin dismissed teargas and used peppers mist to sunder them.

Air, rail and nautical ride were probably stopped whilst Athens metro and train lines ran a structure of the body use to concede strikers to get to the critique in the city centre.

The set upon close down schools, supervision offices and courtrooms, and disrupted banks, hospitals and state-owned companies. There was additionally a headlines trance from Greek media after the set upon perceived subsidy from the inhabitant reporters union.

Protesters in Athens chanted from loudhailers and kick drums, whilst most hold banners and placards with slogans opposite capitalism. The predicament should be paid for by the plutocracy, review one banner. Another one called for Permanent and solid jobs for all.

Another 7,000 people assimilated a critique in Salonika, Greeces second city. Despite the scale of the strike, new open perspective polls showed that some-more than 6 out of ten Greeks await the purgation plans of George Papandreous Socialist Government.

He has voiced dual rounds of purgation measures, together with a climb in the grant age from 61 to 63, a net open zone compensate freeze, a crackdown on taxation semblance and taxation rises on fuel, tobacco, ethanol and property.

He has additionally set out a plan to revoke the necessity from 12.7 per cent to the EU aim of 3 per cent by 2012. EU ministers have warned that if the sums do not supplement up by subsequent month, he should additionally lift VAT.

The Prime Minister seems to be enjoying a honeymoon duration after winning the elections last Oct and finding that the mercantile predicament was far worse than certified by the effusive regressive administration.

The infancy of Greek people await the Government in the bid to deliver reforms since there is a feeling that sufficient is sufficient and politicians should get to grips with remodel and finish corruption, pronounced Charles Grant, the head of the Centre for European Reform. I fright that by the summer, people will stop feeling as they do right afar that remodel is necessary.

Fury in Greece at new critique and allegations in unfamiliar media that they masked their debts to safeguard eurozone entrance fully cooked over in to attacks on Italy and Germany. You simply put a little amounts of income in the subsequent year . . . it is what everyone did and Greece did it to a obtuse border than Italy for example, Theodoros Pangalos, the Deputy Prime Minister, told the BBC. He additionally took issue with Germanys position on the Greek crisis, observant that Athens had not perceived ¤70 billion in remuneration for the mercantile stroke of the Nazi function during the Second World War.

They took afar the Greek bullion that was at the Bank of Greece, they took afar the Greek income and they never gave it back. This is an issue that has to be faced someday in the future, he said. I dont contend they have to give behind the income necessarily, but they have at slightest to contend thanks.

Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, put her feet down at an EU limit to stop speak of a bailout for Greece. Andreas Peschke, a German Foreign Ministry spokesman, pronounced that Germany had paid some-more than ¤4.4 billion in fight reparations and remuneration for worker workers, adding: A contention of the past is not of good assistance in solution Greeces problems.The ambience soured serve when the cover of the German repository Focus showed a statue of Venus creation an pornographic gesture, underneath the title Swindlers in the European family, bringing an central censure from the Greek Government.