http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/14/blockbuster-ondemand-en-route-to-samsung-hdtvs-blu-ray-players/

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Blockbuster OnDemand en route to Samsung HDTVs, Blu-ray players, and home theater systems originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Jul 2009 01:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

http://whedonesque.com/comments/20971

http://www.charmcitycakes.com/blog

One of the cakes featured in the season opener for "Ace of Cakes" is an amazing flying replica of Serenity. Including the two side engines made of Rice Krispies. The lucky recipient tells her story here, along with some awesome pics over there. Sweet Serenity, indeed!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/13/troops-afghanistan-karzai-gordon-brown

PM says Afghan soldiers must hold ground taken by British forces

Gordon Brown has told the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, to put more Afghan troops into Helmand province immediately to make sure the costly territorial gains made by UK forces are not lost and British soldiers do not die in vain.

Amid mounting political pressure on the government over the sharp rise in British fatalities this month, Brown issued his demand to Karzai in a phone conversation on Sunday after talks with the US president, Barack Obama.

Less than 10% of the 80,000-strong Afghan army are stationed in Helmand even though 50% of the fighting is being conducted in the Taliban stronghold.

British forces have been repeatedly frustrated that they capture vital ground only for it to be ceded within months due to the lack of Afghan soldiers to move in and take control. There are only 500 Afghan troops involved in the British Operation Panther's Claw in Helmand province.

Brown said bluntly he wanted to see "a very substantial increase" in Afghan troop numbers.

He also gave a strong indication that the British presence will remain at the current figure of just over 9,000 troops, or might even increase after the Afghan presidential elections in August and a US-led 60-day review of the entire Nato Afghan strategy. Britain is also temporarily sending an extra 140 soldiers from Cyprus.

The US-led review is likely to see General Stanley A McChrystal, the new senior commander in Afghanistan, recommend that the Afghan army will have to grow even faster than the planned expansion from 85,000 to 134,000, which was initially expected to take five years but now fast-tracked for completion by 2011.

US marines, currently deploying to Helmand, have been struck by the lack of support from the Afghan army.

The Foreign Office minister Lord Malloch Brown recently highlighted the UK's concern, saying: "We need to look at some slightly out-of-the-box solutions to supplement the numbers we have who are willing to protect communities from Taliban activity."

There is also a growing worry that the presidential election in August will fall way short of a democratic poll, with some observers fearing ballot rigging that will make the recent Iranian elections look like a model of western democracy.

In a Commons statement today, Brown brushed aside Conservative and Liberal Democrat claims that British troops are dying due to insufficient troop numbers or resources. He said: "It has been a very difficult summer and it is not over yet but if we are to deny Helmand to the Taliban in the long term, if we are to defeat this insurgency, and by doing so make Britain and the world a safer place, then we must persist with our operations in Afghanistan … I am confident that we are right to be in Afghanistan, that we have the strongest possible plan."

But a Populus poll for ITV's News at Ten found 75% of the population believe that the troops are inadequately supplied and equipped for the war.

The Tories claim there is a shortage of helicopters and blame Brown for cutting the helicopter budget by £1.4bn in 2004.

It was noticeable that the Tories reined back on some of their rhetoric today, but the Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg, said the government strategy was "over-ambitious and under-resourced".

Brown said the British military had told him that they had sufficient troops for current operational requirements. He also denied that any helicopter shortfall had led to the recent British deaths.

Lieutenant Colonel Nick Richardson, an army spokesman, offered Downing Street a measure of support, saying: "You could put as many helicopters as you wanted in here, but sadly at the end of the day troops have to go on the ground. You cannot defeat the enemy from a helicopter."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/13/cheney-cia-al-qaida-assassinations

• Ex-CIA officials say foreign leaders were also in dark
• Investigation demanded into post-9/11 strategy

Dick Cheney, the former vice president, ordered a highly classified CIA operation hidden from Congress because it pushed the limits of legality by planning to assassinate al-Qaida operatives in friendly countries without the knowledge of their governments, according to former intelligence officials.

Former counter-terrorism officials who retain close links to the intelligence community say that the hidden operation involved plans by the CIA and the military to launch operations, similar to those by Israel's Mossad intelligence service, to hunt down and kill al-Qaida activists abroad without informing the governments concerned, even though some were regarded as friendly if unreliable.

The CIA apparently did not put the plan in to operation but the US military did, carrying out several assassinations including one in Kenya that proved to be a severe embarrassment and helped lead to the quashing of the programme.

A former intelligence official said the plan was hatched in the cauldron of the September 11 attacks when officials were pushing various forms of unilateral action and some settled on the Israelis as an example.

"One of the most sensitive areas has been what we do in friendly countries that don't want to co-operate or maybe we don't have enough confidence to entrust them with information. If you have an al-Qaida guy wandering around certain bits of the world we might decide that we need to deal with that ourselves, directly, without making a lot of noise," he said. "There was a plan to deal with that. It was much talked about in the CIA and the military had its own operation."

Another former senior intelligence official responsible for dealing with al-Qaida said that assassination plans were reined in after similar covert operations by the military were botched and proved to be embarrassing, particularly the killing in Kenya. He did not give details of the operation.

The official said he believes from conversations with serving members of the CIA that the area of real concern in Congress is that the planned operations may also have involved the covert surveillance of American citizens.

There appears to be common agreement among knowledgeable former intelligence officials that the controversy goes beyond the immediate question of assassination and capture of al-Qaida operatives as there have been numerous killings and detentions since the 9/11 attacks.

One former official said that the Bush administration discussed assassinations in the context of a ban introduced in the 1970s that responded to several failed CIA attempts to murder Fidel Castro, and concluded that as the US had declared itself at war with al-Qaida and the Taliban, this ban did not apply.

Peter Bergen, a senior security analyst at the New America Foundation, said that the secret operation must have gone further than that to have created such a backlash in Congress: "If it's an assassination programme of al-Qaida leaders that is hardly surprising. Clinton had an assassination programme against bin Laden. There have been 27 drone missile strikes against al-Qaida alone this year."

The CIA has declined to comment and members of Congress who were finally briefed about the issue by the CIA director, Leon Panetta, last month are bound by confidentiality.

Some former intelligence officials and Republicans have attempted to portray the programme as barely getting out of the planning stages but others in the intelligence community have said it is highly unlikely that the CIA would have kept such an operation going for eight years without advancing it.

The evident anger in Congress is fuelling demands for a full blown investigation in to the CIA's failure to disclose the programme and Cheney's role in the cover up. The Senate majority whip, Dick Durbin, said the programme could have been illegal: "The executive branch of government should not create programs like these programs and keep Congress in the dark. To have a massive program that was concealed from the leaders in Congress is not only inappropriate, it could be illegal."

Anna Eshoo, a senior Democrat on the House of Representatives intelligence committee, is also calling for a probe. "We, by no means, have the full story. We don't know who gave the order. We don't know where the money came from. We don't know all the people who were involved," she told Politico. "We need a full investigation. My preference is that we hire an attorney to come in and run this, someone that is known for their prosecutorial knowledge as well as their knowledge of this particular area of the law."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jul/13/icm-poll-nuclear-weapons

Survey for Guardian finds 54% support disarmament rather than replacing Trident deterrent

Voters want Britain to scrap nuclear weapons altogether rather than replace Trident, according to a new Guardian/ICM poll today. The result marks a sharp turnaround in public opinion amid growing debate about the cost of a new generation of nuclear weapons and the impact of conventional defence cutbacks on the war in Afghanistan.

For decades nuclear disarmament has been seen as a minority issue, with most voters assumed to favour continued investment in an independent British nuclear weapons system. But today's poll shows that 54% of all voters would prefer to abandon nuclear weapons rather than put money into a new generation of Trident warheads, as the government plans.

Last week's G8 summit brought suggestions that Britain might include Trident in international disarmament talks. "What we need is collective action by the nuclear weapons powers to say that we are prepared to reduce our nuclear weapons," said Gordon Brown.

Today's figures mark a dramatic turnaround in public opinion since Trident renewal was announced by Brown three years ago. In July 2006, 51% backed renewal, while 39% opposed it. Since then support for a new Trident system has fallen by nine points while opposition has grown by 15 points.

Overall, only 42% of all voters now back renewal, according to the poll. Until now a majority of voters have always supported a British nuclear system, although one other recent ICM poll showed most people wanting to extend the life of the existing Trident system rather than spend money upgrading it.

In 2006 Gordon Brown reaffirmed Britain's commitment to Trident, and the government won Commons backing, thanks to Tory support. A design contract is expected to be signed this September, during the parliamentary recess, and the nuclear weapons were excluded from the defence review announced last week.

The poll shows for the first time that a majority of Labour voters oppose nuclear weapons, as well as most Liberal Democrats.

On balance, 59% of Labour voters want Britain to scrap nuclear weapons, against 40% who want to replace them. In 2006 Trident renewal was backed by a majority of Labour voters. Even among Conservative voters, 41% would now rather see unilateral nuclear disarmament than a new generation of weapons. That may encourage the opposition to defer renewal as part of a package of spending cuts.

Today's results are one consequence of the growing political battle over public spending, with retired defence chiefs, Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs suggesting that the £20bn cost of replacing Trident would be better spent on conventional forces.

The poll also suggests that the Conservatives are outflanking Labour in the debate over spending. More than two-thirds of voters say they want spending to be cut, double the proportion who believe the government should increase expenditure, as some ministers continue to argue. Even a majority of Labour voters want to see cutbacks.

As a result the Conservative party has extended its lead over Labour to 14 points. At 41%, up two, Tory support is at its highest in an ICM poll since March, before the expenses scandal broke. Labour, unchanged on 27%, is stuck on its second-lowest ICM score since June last year.

The Liberal Democrats are on 20%, up two points, while backing for other parties is 12%, down three as minor party support from the European elections fades.

• ICM Research interviewed a random sample of 1,000 adults aged 18+ by telephone on 10-11 July 2009. ICM is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jul/14/bbc-senior-executives-bonuses-suspended

Bonuses for the most senior executives at the BBC are to be suspended indefinitely, the BBC trust said last night.

The bonuses for the 10 members of the Executive Board, are being halted until further notice, trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons said.

The move comes after widespread public anger over the size of salaries for senior executives. Last month it was revealed 27 BBC executives earned more than the Prime Minister's £195,000 salary last year.

Writing in the Telegraph, Lyons said: "I can reveal that we have already reached agreement that Executive Board bonus payments will be suspended until further notice and not reintroduced without the trust's approval."

The corporation's executive directors had already agreed to waive their bonuses for 2009, and those with salaries of over £60,000 are facing a pay freeze this year.

The BBC also comes under fire today from the government, as culture minister Ben Bradshaw tells the Financial Times that the corporation's bosses have shown "wrong-headed" leadership in their opposition to plans to share parts of the licence fee with rival broadcasters. Bradshaw told the newspaper: "[There] are plenty of people within the BBC that do not feel it is a well-led organisation ... there is almost a feeling of despair among a lot of highly respected BBC professionals."

The trust's annual report, which is published today, will show the 10 directors earned almost £5 million in salary. This is 17% more than the year before.

Director general Mark Thompson's basic salary of £647,000 has been criticised for being too large.

Lyons said the trust had "consistently emphasised the need for wage restraint within the BBC".

He said a review of executive pay was ongoing, with findings due in the autumn, but bonus agreements had already been made to suspend bonus payments.

He added: "In determining the right level of salaries for BBC staff we must be careful not to cut off our nose to spite our face, ending up without the skills and abilities which make the BBC the world-renowned organisation it is.

"We must, however, also ensure that we maintain the trust and confidence of those who pay for the BBC - the licence fee paying public."

Lyons said big salaries were "always controversial" and added: "We have to be sensitive to the prevailing economic wind which currently can make the top BBC salaries appear too high."

Last November, Lyons said that the corporation's executive directors had agreed to waive their bonuses for 2009.

Thompson would also forgo his entitlement, Lyons said, adding that the BBC was "not immune from financial pressures".

Last July, Thompson defended the decision to award pay rises to directors despite job cuts and phone-in scandals.

Thompson waived his own right to a bonus then because of the "scale of disruption and uncertainty" facing BBC colleagues.

But nine executive directors did receive bonuses in 2007/08.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jul/13/police-ardoyne-orange-order-parade

Sectarian rioting erupted in Northern Ireland yesterday, leaving at least 10 police officers injured during clashes that continued late into the night.

In Ardoyne, north Belfast, the trouble started just before the return of north Belfast Orangemen from the annual 12 July Orange Order parade through the city. Petrol bombs, fireworks, bricks and bottles were thrown by youths from the republican Ardoyne area at police lines from about 6.30pm.

Police confirmed at least one gunshot had been fired at officers during the disturbances, and that they had fired at least 14 plastic baton rounds. Six officers were injured during the violence, and a number of cars and two lorries were hijacked and set alight.

Separately, children were discovered playing with a rifle in the area and the firearm was handed in to police. It was being examined last night. A police spokesman said: "The people who left the firearm in this area have a total disregard for the local community and put local children at risk."

Police were trying to push nationalist youths off the Upper Crumlin Road – the return route for the Orangemen to nearby loyalist areas. Three officers were also injured during disturbances in Rasharkin, Co Antrim, and one was also injured during violent scenes in Derry.

Sinn Féin assembly member Gerry Kelly blamed the Real IRA for the trouble, saying: "It has nothing whatever to do with Irish republicanism."

Local people in the Ardoyne blamed republican dissidents for helping to organise the riot at the end of what was otherwise a largely peaceful 12 July.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/jul/14/heart-organ-donor-piggybacking

• Ten years with two hearts, then her own recovers
• 16-year-old leads full life after cancer and transplant

Her life used to consist of endless rounds of medicines, long stays in hospital and uncertainty about how much longer she would live for. Now 16-year-old Hannah Clark – the first person in Britain to receive someone else's heart but later have it removed, only for her own to unexpectedly recover – relishes typical teenage pursuits such as running, shopping and walking her dog.

Born with a rare heart condition that could easily have killed her, Hannah, from Mountain Ash near Cardiff, was two when she joined an exclusive club by having a five-month-old girl's heart grafted on to her own.

For 10 and a half years she had two hearts – "piggybacking", doctors call it – although it was the donated heart that kept Hannah alive while her original organ took a long rest.

Complications meant the second heart had to be taken out when she was 12, and doctors were unsure what would happen. No one had survived such a procedure.

Now, three and a half years later, one of the most dramatic success stories in recent medical history has just done her GCSEs, started her first part-time job at a kennels and is preparing for a family holiday by the seaside – all powered by a heart which, for her first 12 years, doctors thought could not keep her alive.

Confirmation of Hannah's highly unusual success in recovering from cardiomyopathy, which affects the heart's muscle, comes today in the form of a long article in the Lancet medical journal.

In complicated medicalese, it tells an amazing story of survival. The authors, who include renowned heart surgeon Sir Magdi Yacoub, testify to the teenager's feat.

Yesterday the girl who used to have two hearts negotiated another obstacle: a press conference to tell her story.

At times the constant whirring of cameras, barrage of questions and sheer number of people left her lost for words, or in tears.

How specially does she treasure life now, someone asked? "I can't say," replied Hannah. It took her mother, Liz, to answer: "She just loves life. She doesn't think about tomorrow; she thinks about today, and lives life to the full. She gets up every morning smiling, and it's very, very rare to see Hannah upset.

"She doesn't go to bed until three o'clock in the morning sometimes … that's how much energy she's got. She couldn't have done that before."

Yacoub, of the Harefield hospital in west London, said her recovery had given the many doctors involved in her care insights into many things, such as transplant surgery and the use of immunosuppressant drugs, which must be taken to minimise the chances of a patient's body rejecting a new organ.

Before Hannah, no one's own heart had ever recovered enough to keep them alive, although doctors did think it was a theoretical possibility that a weak heart could somehow become strong.

Among the lessons learned from Hannah, Yacoub said, was that "the possibility of recovery of the heart is just like magic. A heart that was not contracting at all, after a time we put the new heart to pump next to it, and do its work. Now it is functioning normally. That is going to be very fundamental in helping people in the future."

Born in 1993, Hannah underwent what surgeons call heterotopic cardiac transplantation, or "piggybacking", two years later. However, the immunosuppressant drugs led to her developing an incurable, rare cancer that kept returning despite repeated bouts of chemotherapy.

But the doctors' strategy, to reduce the doses of immunosuppressants, led to Hannah's second heart failing. In February 2006, they decided they had no choice but to take it out, or risk Hannah's death. Three and a half years of constant improvement, and Hannah's gloriously normal life, have proved enough for them to pronounce the reversal of her transplant an unqualified, if unexpected, success.

Her father, Paul, recalled how when she was being treated at London's Great Ormond Street hospital the family was told that Hannah was about to die.

"They called us in and said that a tumour had affected her spinal cord and was putting pressure on her brain, and was going to kill her. A nurse told us that she only had 12 hours to live. I said, 'Well, you believe what you believe and I'll believe what I believe'. For some reason, the next day she was OK."

Their experience has made the Clark family advocates of presumed consent, a policy – supported by Gordon Brown and chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson – that would see everyone in the UK presumed to be in favour of donating their organs after death. Supporters believe that, with 1,000 people dying every year due to shortages, the move would greatly increase the supply of organs. Yacoub said that, having previously been opposed to presumed consent, he now backed it.

Survival story

1 May 1993 Hannah Clark born in Wales.

July 1995 Aged two, Hannah undergoes "piggybacking", in which a donor heart is joined with her own. She improves for four and a half years.

August 2001 Hannah is found to have a rare form of cancer caused by immunosuppressant drugs that stop her body rejecting the new organ.

2001-2006 Her cancer keeps recurring. Doctors deem it incurable.

February 2006 Doctors decide to remove the donor heart.

14 July 2009 Hannah's story reported in the Lancet.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jul/13/baha-mousa-inquiry-opens

Video key evidence at inquiry into death of Iraqi soldier in British custody – a death which could have 'rallied extremists', says QC

A video of a British soldier screaming obscenities and abuse at hooded Iraqi detainees was shown today at the opening session of a public inquiry into how the hotel receptionist, Baha Mousa, was killed while in British custody.

The film shows Corporal Donald Payne, formerly of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, shouting and swearing at the Iraqis as they are forced to maintain painful "stress positions".

The video is a key piece of evidence in a wide-ranging inquiry into the death of Mousa, which got under way today. Mousa died after sustaining 93 injuries while being detained by soldiers from the former Queen's Lancashire Regiment in Basra, southern Iraq, in September 2003.

A central issue of the inquiry is why five "conditioning techniques" – hooding prisoners, putting them in stress positions, depriving them of sleep, depriving them of food and water, and playing white noise – were used on Iraqi detainees. The techniques, inflicted on IRA suspects, were banned in 1972 by the then prime minister, Edward Heath.

In an opening statement, Gerard Elias QC, counsel to the inquiry, said of the film: "Even if one considers only the video that we have just looked at, it may be thought to be entirely apparent that these detainees were being subjected to stress positions and prolonged hooding.

Detailing the abuses against six other Iraqis arrested with Mousa, Elias said: "One man says he was made to dance in the style of Michael Jackson."

Other detainees claimed they were urinated on and forced to lie face down over a hole in the ground filled with excrement.

The inquiry heard "scandalous" allegations that the soldiers tried to manipulate the detainees' moans into an "orchestrated choir".

Elias said: "There was shouting, moaning – even screaming – coming from the TDF [temporary detention facility] from time to time during the detention, according to some witnesses."

The inquiry was also told that Mousa's injuries may have been more intentionally inflicted than was previously thought.

Elias said: "Statements to this inquiry now suggest perhaps a greater degree of deliberation than has hitherto been described."

The hearing was told that Mousa died at about 10pm on 15 September 2003 after a "struggle" with Cpl Payne and another soldier, Private Aaron Cooper.

Elias said witnesses suggested that Payne was trying to restrain Mousa by putting his knee on the detainee's back and pulling his arm back to put plastic handcuffs on him.

He went on: "It has been suggested that Baha Mousa's head was banged on the floor or wall as this was happening."

Different pathologists gave the cause of Mousa's death as either asphyxia and multiple injuries or asphyxia alone, the inquiry heard.

The manner of his death risked undermining the sacrifices made by UK troops serving abroad, the inquiry in central London heard.

Elias QC said the manner of Mousa death could "act as a rallying cry for extremists."

Outlining what the inquiry would examine, Elias said it would look at the training and guidance given in relation to the use of hooding and handcuffing and other tactics, he said. It would also explore whether the Ministry of Defence and the Cabinet Office had known of such tactics.

Seven soldiers faced a court martial at Bulford camp, in Wiltshire, on war crimes charges relating to the receptionist's death. All but Cpl Payne were cleared on all counts in March 2007.

The court martial highlighted confusion among high-ranking military officers about whether the techniques were lawful.

The MoD has said it will not take disciplinary action against military personnel if their testimony to the inquiry suggests they earlier lied or withheld information.

The public inquiry hearings are expected to take about a year, including several breaks, with the chairman publishing his report and recommendations in autumn next year.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jul/13/organised-crime-fraud

Home secretary unveils strategy to target 30,000 criminals with more powers to seize assets and close front businesses

Between 25,000 and 30,000 criminals are involved in the "long tail" of a serious organised crime business in Britain that is worth more than £30bn a year, according to a government study.

The home secretary, Alan Johnson, has endorsed a renewed "Al Capone-style" drive to use tax powers to target organised criminals, providing stronger powers to seize assets and shut down front organisations such as saunas and massage parlours.

The study warns of an explosion in new criminal activities as a result of the recession, including sharp increases in "phishing" – taking over bank accounts – the flourishing trade in counterfeit goods and a boom in other types of financial fraud.

The joint report, by the Cabinet Office's strategy unit and the Home Office, does not directly criticise the performance of the beleaguered three-year-old Serious and Organised Crime Agency (Soca) but it says much tighter oversight is needed by ministers to keep a grip on the problem.

The Home Office said a "strategic centre" for organised crime would be created in the department to clearly define roles in tackling drug trafficking, organised immigration crime and organised fraud. Further action will be taken next summer if needed.

At the same time the capacity of the police is to be augmented by a further four regional asset recovery teams to complete the network across England and Wales. Each will have tax inspector attached and the Home Office is to extend the legal power to "reverse the burden of proof" in civil recovery cases to make it easier to seize assets of those in organised crime.

Renewed efforts to break up organised gangs even after conviction will be made through an attempt to ban the use of mobile phones in prisons and curb the "abuse" of legally privileged visits between lawyers and clients.

The strategy was published as Home Office research placed a question mark over the credibility of Britain's controls on people trafficking. A Home Office study, based on interviews with 45 convicted people smugglers, found that Britain was seen as a "relatively easy" market offering healthy profits. Those questioned were, however, surprised at the severity of their sentences.

Home Office polling data published today also shows that the public have little recognition that money generated by sales of pirate and counterfeit goods can flow into the criminal economy. The estimate of 25,000 to 30,000 involved in organised crime in Britain is said to include the "lifetime criminals who form the durable core of organised crime groups and loose criminal networks, through to the clusters of subordinates, specialists and others at the lower end of organised criminality". This covers the "top of the chain" through to the "long tail" of organised crime.

Soca says more than 5,000 of them are already on its radar.

The £30bn a year estimate covers the total cost of economic and social harm caused by organised crime. This figure breaks down into £17.6bn in the costs of drug-related crime, £7.8bn in financial fraud, £4.1bn in smuggling of spirits, tobacco and diesel and £2.4bn a year in organised immigration crime.

The Cabinet Office strategy unit also warns that the recession is creating new opportunities for organised criminals. They cite an increased risk of loan-sharking and trading in counterfeit goods, with a warning of a rise in gang-related violence as they battle for market share.

The banking crisis has also made the public more susceptible to frauds that offer high returns on investments; an increase in "phishing" scams has led to a 75% increase in illegitimate access to victims' bank accounts in the first three months of 2009 alone.

Another threat comes in the form of a rise in cases of cybercrime, with the number of malware – malicious software programme – attacks on IT systems increasing by 250% last year.

Ministers are also concerned about growing links between weak and failing states and organised crime. Gangs are increasingly basing themselves in places such as Somalia, where drug trafficking networks are increasingly located.

The home secretary said the new strategy went further than ever in taking the fight to organised criminals.

But Deputy Chief Constable Jon Murphy, of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said political decisions could be behind a gap between the scale of the problem and the ability of law enforcement agencies to tackle it. "I think we all acknowledge that gap does exist. Why does it exist?" said Murphy. "Arguably, it could be because it's a political decision. I think equally it's because of the changing nature of criminality.

"British organised crime gangs are fluid, flexible and opportunistic. There are no set ranks, rules or structures which you can see with international crime gangs."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/13/17-uk-swine-flu-fatalities

• UK fatalities linked to H1N1 virus now up to 17
• Exact cause of deaths to be determined by coroners

A GP and a six-year-old girl have died after contracting swine flu, taking the number of UK deaths linked to the virus to 17, officials announced today.

Dr Michael Day, a family doctor from Bedfordshire, died on Saturday at Luton and Dunstable hospital.

Chloe Buckley, from north-west London, died on Thursday at St Mary's hospital in Paddington after contracting the virus in the UK.

Along with Sameerah Ahmad from Birmingham, also six, Chloe is one of the youngest victims of swine flu. Children aged between five and 14 are most affected by the virus, according to the Health Protection Agency (HPA).

A postmortem will be needed before health officials can determine whether Chloe had any underlying health conditions, Dr Simon Tanner, NHS London's director of public health, said.

NHS East of England said a swab test confirmed Day had also contracted the H1N1 virus, but the exact cause of death will remain unknown until the coroner's report.

The first British patient without underlying health problems died on Friday after contracting swine flu. The patient, from Essex, died at Basildon and Thurrock University hospital.

The UK has the third-highest number of confirmed cases – almost 10,000 – of swine flu after Mexico, which has 10,262 cases, and the US, which has at least 33,902 confirmed cases. Tanner said Chloe's death would "probably not be the last that we have in this pandemic". She was the sixth person in the capital to die after contracting the H1N1 virus.

"We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to the family at this difficult time as they come to terms with their loss," said Tanner.

Dr Day's practice, the Priory Gardens health centre, is to contact everyone who has been in close contact with the doctor recently, including patients, NHS East of England said.

They will be assessed for symptoms of swine flu and offered antiviral medication if necessary.

Dr Paul Hassan, senior partner at Priory Gardens, said staff at the practice were "completely devastated".

"Dr Day was a work colleague and also a personal friend to everyone at the practice," he said.

"I know the news will also come as a great shock to our patients, many of whom have known him for many years. Our thoughts at this time are with his wife and family."

Hundreds of thousands more people than those officially recorded are believed to have swine flu. Doctors have warned that rates of infection are reaching epidemic levels in London and the West Midlands. Its rapid spread has prompted the HPA to stop giving updates of the exact numbers infected.

In its last weekly update, on Thursday, the agency said 335 people had been taken to hospital with the virus, 43 of whom were in critical care. Tanner said it was difficult to say exactly how many people had caught the virus now patients were no longer swabbed. Swabbing was abandoned after it was determined that swine flu was widespread.

Tanner emphasised that most people who contracted the virus would experience mild symptoms and feel better within a few days. The advice remained to wash hands regularly and throw away used tissues, he said.

At St Catherine's school in West Drayton, north-west London, headteacher Sara Benn said pupils were struggling to come to terms with the news of Chloe's death. "It is impossible to put into words the sorrow that the whole school feels in such tragic circumstances," said Benn.

"Chloe was a bright and tenacious student with a keen interest in sports. She will be missed by her fellow pupils and her teachers at the school. Our thoughts are with her parents and family at this time. We are working with the council and health authority to support parents and pupils dealing with this devastating news."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/13/sonia-sotomayor-supreme-court-senate

First Hispanic woman nominated to US supreme court appears before Senate for what may be a gruelling session

Sonia Sotomayor, a New York judge who beat a path from a childhood in a housing estate to become America's first Hispanic supreme court nominee, yesterday began a gruelling run of confirmation hearings in the US Senate.

A New York federal judge, Sotomayor, 55, is the first high court justice nominated by a Democrat in 15 years. She is President Barack Obama's first opportunity to put his stamp on the court, although she would replace another liberal jurist and is thus not expected dramatically to alter the court's political direction. She is widely expected to win confirmation and would be only the third woman to sit on the supreme court.

Sotomayor's stellar academic credentials, years on the federal bench and status as a groundbreaking minority woman give Republican opponents little space to attack her qualifications or preparedness. Republicans instead questioned her impartiality, warning she would let personal biases and ethnic prejudices colour her opinions and that she would rule based on her personal values rather than the law.

"From what she has said, she appears to believe that her role is not constrained to objectively decide who wins based on the weight of the law but who, in her opinion, should win," Arizona senator Jon Kyl said as Sotomayor sat stone-faced at the witness table. Senator Lindsey Graham, a senior Republican, said Sotomayor would be confirmed barring a "meltdown".

But conservatives hope to weaken Obama politically by disparaging his first judicial nominee, with some outside the Republican party stoking vague fears of a Washington takeover by minorities with a dim view of whites.

Sotomayor yesterday had her first opportunity to publicly rebut months allegations of judicial bias that followed her appointment in May.

"The task of a judge is not to make the law, it is to apply the law," she said. "And it is clear, I believe, that my record in two courts reflects my rigorous commitment to interpreting the Constitution according to its terms ... In each case I have heard, I have applied the law to the facts at hand."

Obama's Democratic allies, meanwhile, are playing up Sotomayor's humble upbringing in the Bronx borough of New York, her studies at Princeton and Yale and her 17 years of experience on the federal bench – more than any sitting supreme court justice. "Hers is a success story in which all – all – Americans can take pride," Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont said yesterday. "Let's be fair to her and to the American people by not misrepresenting her views."

In the coming days, Republicans are expected to grill Sotomayor about her views on abortion, the death penalty, same-sex marriage, the role of international law in American jurisprudence, and racial issues. They have signalled they will focus on speeches and public remarks in which she has expressed pride in her ethnic background and statements they say portend she will pursue a personal liberal agenda from the bench.

Separately, Obama nominated African American physician Regina Benjamin as surgeon general yesterday. A 39-year-old rural family doctor from Alabama, Benjamin pledged to fight so that "no one falls through the cracks as we improve our health care system."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jul/13/max-clifford-hacking

The celebrity publicist Max Clifford is starting a legal action against the News of the World to uncover any role its journalists may have played in intercepting messages left on his mobile phone.

He has hired the same legal team who successfully won more than £1m from the paper for Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of the Professional Footballers Association, and two other figures from the world of football.

Clifford, like Taylor, is one of five people named in charges against Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator working for the News of the World who was jailed with the paper's royal reporter, Clive Goodman, in January 2007. At the time of the trial, the News of the World said it had no knowledge of any phone hacking. But when Taylor sued, Scotland Yard and the Information Commissioner's office were ordered by the court to hand over documents which revealed the involvement of the paper's journalists in using criminal methods to get stories.

Clifford's solicitor, Charlotte Harris, and her partner, Mark Lewis, claimed to have some 20 other potential clients from politics, sport and entertainment, for whom they plan to organise a class action against the paper.

Separately, Kieren Fallon, the former champion jockey, accused of race-fixing by the News of the World and subsequently found not guilty at a trial, is also moving against the paper. His lawyer, Christopher Stewart-Moore, has written to Scotland Yard saying he believed there was evidence the News of the World succeeded in intercepting the jockey's voice messages. Fallon also believes there was an attempt to trick his bank into supplying information.

Another leading media lawyer, who asked not to be named but who has a number of high-profile clients from the entertainment world, told the Guardian he had written to Scotland Yard and the director of public prosecution asking for information about 12 of them who are concerned they may have been victims of phone hacking or other illegal techniques.

Clifford, who has been involved in a sequence of high-profile tabloid stories, said he had been told by the police more than two years ago that his phone had been hacked: "I believed that this was a one-off, just two lads overstepping the mark. I gave them the benefit of the doubt," he said. "Now it is increasingly worrying that there could be an awful lot more. I want to know which journalists were involved, in case I'm still dealing with them. I have a lot of clients phoning me all the time with confidential information. A lot of them have been in touch, worried, looking for me to get to the bottom of it all."

Clifford said he had fallen out with the News of the World some years ago and stopped giving them stories. "It isn't rocket science to work out that I would have been a valued target for them."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/14/florida-couple-murdered

A town in Florida's western panhandle is coming to terms with a murder in which a team of up to eight men broke into the home of a couple known locally for caring for disabled children and shot them in front of their family.

Police investigating the double murder in Pensacola, near the border with Alabama, said the break-in and killing was organised with military precision. Melanie and Byrd Billings were shot a number of times last Thursday, when nine of their children were in the house.

The Billings were well-known locally because in addition to four biological children they had adopted 12 children with conditions ranging from autism to Down's syndrome. Some in the town referred to the parents as "angels".

Three men were in custody last night over the murders: Wayne Coldiron, a labourer, 41; Leonard Gonzalez Jr, 35, who was arrested in Florida, and his father, 56, also called Leonard.

Two other men were being questioned yesterday, and police said they were searching for a further three.

Coldiron and the younger Gonzalez have been charged with murder.

The investigation has been aided by the fact that the couple had installed CCTV cameras in every room and around the house as a security measure for their children.

Footage recorded by one outside camera showed a large red van pulling up to the front door of the house. The van deposited three men dressed in black clothes and masks who entered the house, while two others, also dressed in black, came out of hiding in nearby woods and entered via an unlocked door at the back.

Sheriff David Morgan, leading the investigation, told reporters the break-in and shootings took barely 10 minutes. "I think you'll find this particularly chilling, and here's why: we have a team that enters at the rear of the home and another that enters at the front of the home," he said.

Three of the nine children at home at the time witnessed the intruders and one ran out of the house and alerted a neighbour who called the police. None of the children, all aged between eight and 14, were hurt.

Morgan said the mastermind of the killings was among the three men in custody, though he would not identify him. He added there were many possible motives for the attack, one of which was robbery.

A clue to the possible motive was found by the local paper, the Pensacola News Journal, on the MySpace page of Leonard Gonzalez Jr. It was last updated on Wednesday, a day before the murders.

His last profile status reads: "Making a move for humanity." On his page he wrote about his eight-year-old daughter Mary Gonzalez whom he refers to as Bella. "She was taken from me, against my will, several years ago and I miss her very much."

In a post on 6 July titled "We are getting closer" he tells his daughter she will be returned soon to her "true loving family".

He went on: "Not only are you descended from aristocracy … you have the DNA and family lineage to back up whatever dreams you may have."

According to police, the elder Gonzalez has admitted acting as the getaway driver, remaining in the van while others entered the house. Warrants suggest that he has also alerted police to the involvement of several other men.

Gonzalez Sr has been charged with tampering with evidence after he allegedly tried to paint over the van to disguise it. His bail has been set at $500,000 (£300,000).

An adult daughter of the Billingses, Ashley Markham, said the younger children were now being cared for together with family and friends at an undisclosed location.

She said there was no known connection between anyone in their family and the three men being held in custody.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jul/13/boris-johnson-second-salary-chickenfeed

The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has dismissed the £250,000-a-year he earns from a controversial second job as "chicken feed".

Johnson also insisted it was "wholly reasonable" for him to write newspaper columns on the side because he did them "very fast".

The comments risk infuriating millions of Londoners struggling to make ends meet amid the economic downturn.

They are also unlikely to please David Cameron, who has ordered his shadow cabinet to give up extra work in the run-up to the general election to show their "commitment".

Johnson, who is paid nearly £140,000 for his day job, was questioned over his lucrative contract with the Daily Telegraph during an interview for the BBC's HARDTalk programme.

He responded "It's chicken feed."

Pressed on whether voters would agree with that description, the mayor said he was being "frivolous".

But he went on: "I happen to write extremely fast. I don't see why on a Sunday morning I shouldn't knock off an article, if someone wants to pay me for that article then that's their lookout and of course I make a substantial donation to charity.

"Maybe that money shouldn't go to charity, maybe you'd rather I didn't make those contributions to charity. It seems to me to be a wholly reasonable thing to do."

Johnson said: "I think that frankly there's absolutely no reason at all why I should not, on a Sunday morning before I do whatever else I need to do on a Sunday morning, should not knock off an article as a way of relaxation."

Johnson decided to continue with his columns for the Telegraph after being elected last year, but donates £50,000 from his annual fee to charities.

Liberal Democrat frontbencher Norman Baker said: "There is nothing wrong with people writing newspaper columns but this is an enormous amount of money and for Boris Johnson to dismiss it as 'chicken feed' shows just how out of touch he and the Conservative party are from the reality of life for millions of Londoners struggling to make ends meet in the depths of a recession."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/quiz/2009/jul/13/guardian-news-quiz-sunday-papers

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/gallery/2009/jul/13/1

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/blog/audio/2009/jul/13/guardian-daily-podcast1

Richard Norton Taylor assesses the government's latest position on Afghanistan, after a week in which eight soldiers died in a 24-hour period.

A leading Cambridge academic predicts that exams will cease to exist, as online assessment takes over. Polly Curtis takes a look into the future to find out how new systems will work, and what effect they'll have.

Ashley Seager investigates allegations that delays to the introduction of feed-in tariffs, designed to boost green energy, are being caused by civil servants who favour nuclear power.

Illegal file-sharing among teenagers is on the wane, as they get their music from streaming sites. Alexandra Topping gets down with the kids to find out what it means for the industry.

And England defy expectations to draw with Australia in the first Ashes cricket Test.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/video/2009/jul/11/arctic-monkeys-humbug

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/video/2009/jul/13/torture-algeria

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jul/13/miliband-air-travel-emissions

Mass air travel will be preserved even in a low-carbon Britain because the government will find deeper emissions cuts in other areas, the climate change secretary Ed Miliband said today.

Dismissing demands for punitive sanctions to curb flying, Miliband said the government was determined to ensure that airline travel remains affordable for ordinary people.

In a Guardian interview, ahead of the publication of a white paper on climate change , Miliband said air travel would become more expensive as Britain tries to meet a G8 target to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 80% by 2050. But he said it would be wrong to impose the target on airlines, which will be covered by the European Emissions Trading Scheme from 2012 if they fly to and from the EU.

"Where I disagree with other people on aviation is if you did 80% cuts across the board, as some people have called for on aviation, you would go back to 1974 levels of flying," he said. "I don't want to have a situation where only rich people can afford to fly."

Miliband spoke of the importance of flying for his constituents in Doncaster which has benefited after an RAF airbase was turned into an international airport in 2005. "People in my constituency have benefited from being able to have foreign travel which, 40 years ago, the middle classes took for granted," he said. "There are sacrifices and changes in lifestyle necessary. But the job of government is to facilitate them and understand people's lives and what they value."

The pledge by Miliband echoes remarks by Tony Blair in 2007 who said it would be wrong to impose "unrealistic targets" on airline travellers. Britain has pledged to bring its aviation emissions down to 2005 levels by 2050.

Miliband's remarks are designed to illustrate the government's overall approach to meeting the 2050 target which will not involve imposing a blanket 80% cut on all areas of the economy. The white paper is expected to build on government plans to tolerate relatively high emissions in one area if action is taken in other areas by, for example, lagging lofts and driving less. Carbon levels have already been brought down from 1990 levels, the benchmark for global climate talks. So far they have been reduced by 22% and are due to come down by 34% by 2020, with a target of at least 80% due in 2050.

The government has already announced that will be achieved by dividing the economy into a series of sectors. The biggest is power, with others including transport, homes, work places and agriculture.

Miliband will outline on Wednesday how much carbon Britain is emitting in each area and will suggest steps to bring them down. He refused to outline the details of his white paper out of respect to John Bercow, the new Commons speaker, who has demanded ministers make announcements first to parliament. But he said his philosophy is to outline a vision of "green hope" – with jobs in green technology and a safer country – not "green despair".

"If Martin Luther King had come along and said 'I have a nightmare' people would not have followed him," Miliband said, quoting someone he met at the Guardian's recent Manchester climate change summit. "You have to persuade people that, yes, there are costs of not acting but also there is a vision of society at the end of this: more secure, more prosperous, fairer better quality of life. All those things are crucial to persuade people to take the leap.

"All our research indicates that people in Britain are not climate change deniers. But now they are persuaded it is a problem, you have to start offering them a vision about how you tackle the problem."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jul/13/stephen-fry-hugh-laurie

TV host says he downloaded show starring his former comedy partner Hugh Laurie because he could not get a legal copy

Stephen Fry has admitted illegally downloading House, the hit US show that stars his former comedy partner Hugh Laurie.

The QI host told an audience in London that he had used the bittorrent system to get a copy of Laurie's show House.

Speaking at the iTunes Festival in London's Roundhouse, Fry said: "The last thing I illegally downloaded. Was it a gay sex romp? … It was the season finale of House."

The website stuff.tv said Fry pointed out he had legally downloaded the entire series but was in Indonesia and unable to download a legitimate copy of the final episode.

Asked how he felt about his own work being pirated, Fry, who has written about technology for the Guardian, said: "I'm against cynical bootlegging but I work in a very mollycoddled, overpaid business."

Fry was invited to speak about copyright and the future of music as part of the free festival, sharing a bill with bands such as The Temper Trap and Mumford & Sons.

After his speech, he said he was not suggesting people should simply help themselves to downloads. On Twitter, he said: "Hope I'm not misunderstood. Such a pity if I get misrepresented as a 'help yourself and be a pirate' advocate ..."

http://www.365tomorrows.com/07/14/grey-matter/

Author : Peter Lavelle

‘I think it looks just wonderful on the mantelpiece, don’t you?’ Mrs. Smithey asked cheerfully.

Mrs. Everett leisurely stirred the contents of her teacup. The tinkling of the spoon against the fine china was an eerie peal that unsettled the very furniture of the front room. She gave a final decisive tap against the brim of the cup, and placed the spoon noiselessly on the table.

‘Yes,’ she said sternly, ‘although you might have found something a little more befitting to keep it in than the goldfish tank.’

Mrs. Smithey bristled. She leant forward from the sofa and seized upon the plate of digestives. ‘Ohh,’ she said, her voice quavering, ‘that’s only temporary, it’s temporary. We’ve a crystal salad bowl in the loft we’ve been thinking of bringing down for it. Biscuit?’

‘No; thank you,’ Mrs. Everett determined. She brought the teacup to her lips and then paused, considering her question, before asking in a lilting tone, ‘Where was it you heard of this procedure, Mrs. Smithey?’

‘Thinking of having it done for your Earnest, are you?’ replied Mrs. Smithey with a knowing wink.

‘Perhaps.’

‘Oh, you ought to consider it, I really think so.’

Mrs. Everett said nothing, and for a moment only the ticking of the grandfather clock punctuated the silence between the two women. Mrs. Smithey brushed away a crumb from her floral print dress, before continuing:

‘We saw it on the television one afternoon. It’s all as professional as you could wish for. They just send two of their technicians in the middle of the night, strap him down, saw open the cranium, and scoop out the brain.’

She munched on a digestive, reflectively.

‘I tell you,’ she added, ‘Jack’s been ever so good since we had it done.’

Mrs. Everett nodded slowly, and stared down into the steaming body of sepia-coloured liquid she held between her palms. ‘It’s not very usual,’ she said, forming the syllables of the last words carefully.

‘Oh, well, I don’t know,’ her hostess replied. ‘It’s as things should be, if you ask me. Puts a husband in his place.’

‘And they just let you keep the leftovers?’

The two women turned together and looked to the small round portion of grey matter, situated above the fireplace. It sat centred beside an old photograph of a newly-wed couple, the wife’s arm entwined around her husband’s so that the pair were clasped together. Their features were barely discernible through the layers of dust that smothered the glass. The brain, meanwhile, was mostly flaccid and, though the goldfish tank in which it was housed was only small, was comfortably accommodated.

‘Perhaps you ought to fill the tank with water so that it doesn’t just… sit there,’ Mrs. Everett suggested.

‘Perhaps,’ replied Mrs. Smithey, tilting her head thoughtfully.

‘And your husband Jack…’ Mrs. Everett began, but faltered. She settled her teacup on the tiled surface of the coffee table with a clatter. ‘He… doesn’t mind seeing it every day?’

Mrs. Smithey chuckled and leaned close toward her guest from across the table, a conspiratorial smile upon her face.

‘My dear Mrs. Everett,’ she confided, ‘he doesn’t say a peep about it.’

Her guest nodded but kept silent, and so Mrs. Smithey once again took up her plate of biscuits.

‘He doesn’t say a peep,’ she repeated. ‘You’re sure I can’t tempt you?’

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/13/troops-afghanistan-karzai-gordon-brown

PM says Afghan soldiers must hold ground taken by British forces

Gordon Brown has told the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, to put more Afghan troops into Helmand province immediately to make sure the costly territorial gains made by UK forces are not lost and British soldiers do not die in vain.

Amid mounting political pressure on the government over the sharp rise in British fatalities this month, Brown issued his demand to Karzai in a phone conversation on Sunday after talks with the US president, Barack Obama.

Less than 10% of the 80,000-strong Afghan army are stationed in Helmand even though 50% of the fighting is being conducted in the Taliban stronghold.

British forces have been repeatedly frustrated that they capture vital ground only for it to be ceded within months due to the lack of Afghan soldiers to move in and take control. There are only 500 Afghan troops involved in the British Operation Panther's Claw in Helmand province.

Brown said bluntly he wanted to see "a very substantial increase" in Afghan troop numbers.

He also gave a strong indication that the British presence will remain at the current figure of just over 9,000 troops, or might even increase after the Afghan presidential elections in August and a US-led 60-day review of the entire Nato Afghan strategy. Britain is also temporarily sending an extra 140 soldiers from Cyprus.

The US-led review is likely to see General Stanley A McChrystal, the new senior commander in Afghanistan, recommend that the Afghan army will have to grow even faster than the planned expansion from 85,000 to 134,000, which was initially expected to take five years but now fast-tracked for completion by 2011.

US marines, currently deploying to Helmand, have been struck by the lack of support from the Afghan army.

The Foreign Office minister Lord Malloch Brown recently highlighted the UK's concern, saying: "We need to look at some slightly out-of-the-box solutions to supplement the numbers we have who are willing to protect communities from Taliban activity."

There is also a growing worry that the presidential election in August will fall way short of a democratic poll, with some observers fearing ballot rigging that will make the recent Iranian elections look like a model of western democracy.

In a Commons statement today, Brown brushed aside Conservative and Liberal Democrat claims that British troops are dying due to insufficient troop numbers or resources. He said: "It has been a very difficult summer and it is not over yet but if we are to deny Helmand to the Taliban in the long term, if we are to defeat this insurgency, and by doing so make Britain and the world a safer place, then we must persist with our operations in Afghanistan … I am confident that we are right to be in Afghanistan, that we have the strongest possible plan."

But a Populus poll for ITV's News at Ten found 75% of the population believe that the troops are inadequately supplied and equipped for the war.

The Tories claim there is a shortage of helicopters and blame Brown for cutting the helicopter budget by £1.4bn in 2004.

It was noticeable that the Tories reined back on some of their rhetoric today, but the Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg, said the government strategy was "over-ambitious and under-resourced".

Brown said the British military had told him that they had sufficient troops for current operational requirements. He also denied that any helicopter shortfall had led to the recent British deaths.

Lieutenant Colonel Nick Richardson, an army spokesman, offered Downing Street a measure of support, saying: "You could put as many helicopters as you wanted in here, but sadly at the end of the day troops have to go on the ground. You cannot defeat the enemy from a helicopter."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/13/cheney-cia-al-qaida-assassinations

• Ex-CIA officials say foreign leaders were also in dark
• Investigation demanded into post-9/11 strategy

Dick Cheney, the former vice president, ordered a highly classified CIA operation hidden from Congress because it pushed the limits of legality by planning to assassinate al-Qaida operatives in friendly countries without the knowledge of their governments, according to former intelligence officials.

Former counter-terrorism officials who retain close links to the intelligence community say that the hidden operation involved plans by the CIA and the military to launch operations, similar to those by Israel's Mossad intelligence service, to hunt down and kill al-Qaida activists abroad without informing the governments concerned, even though some were regarded as friendly if unreliable.

The CIA apparently did not put the plan in to operation but the US military did, carrying out several assassinations including one in Kenya that proved to be a severe embarrassment and helped lead to the quashing of the programme.

A former intelligence official said the plan was hatched in the cauldron of the September 11 attacks when officials were pushing various forms of unilateral action and some settled on the Israelis as an example.

"One of the most sensitive areas has been what we do in friendly countries that don't want to co-operate or maybe we don't have enough confidence to entrust them with information. If you have an al-Qaida guy wandering around certain bits of the world we might decide that we need to deal with that ourselves, directly, without making a lot of noise," he said. "There was a plan to deal with that. It was much talked about in the CIA and the military had its own operation."

Another former senior intelligence official responsible for dealing with al-Qaida said that assassination plans were reined in after similar covert operations by the military were botched and proved to be embarrassing, particularly the killing in Kenya. He did not give details of the operation.

The official said he believes from conversations with serving members of the CIA that the area of real concern in Congress is that the planned operations may also have involved the covert surveillance of American citizens.

There appears to be common agreement among knowledgeable former intelligence officials that the controversy goes beyond the immediate question of assassination and capture of al-Qaida operatives as there have been numerous killings and detentions since the 9/11 attacks.

One former official said that the Bush administration discussed assassinations in the context of a ban introduced in the 1970s that responded to several failed CIA attempts to murder Fidel Castro, and concluded that as the US had declared itself at war with al-Qaida and the Taliban, this ban did not apply.

Peter Bergen, a senior security analyst at the New America Foundation, said that the secret operation must have gone further than that to have created such a backlash in Congress: "If it's an assassination programme of al-Qaida leaders that is hardly surprising. Clinton had an assassination programme against bin Laden. There have been 27 drone missile strikes against al-Qaida alone this year."

The CIA has declined to comment and members of Congress who were finally briefed about the issue by the CIA director, Leon Panetta, last month are bound by confidentiality.

Some former intelligence officials and Republicans have attempted to portray the programme as barely getting out of the planning stages but others in the intelligence community have said it is highly unlikely that the CIA would have kept such an operation going for eight years without advancing it.

The evident anger in Congress is fuelling demands for a full blown investigation in to the CIA's failure to disclose the programme and Cheney's role in the cover up. The Senate majority whip, Dick Durbin, said the programme could have been illegal: "The executive branch of government should not create programs like these programs and keep Congress in the dark. To have a massive program that was concealed from the leaders in Congress is not only inappropriate, it could be illegal."

Anna Eshoo, a senior Democrat on the House of Representatives intelligence committee, is also calling for a probe. "We, by no means, have the full story. We don't know who gave the order. We don't know where the money came from. We don't know all the people who were involved," she told Politico. "We need a full investigation. My preference is that we hire an attorney to come in and run this, someone that is known for their prosecutorial knowledge as well as their knowledge of this particular area of the law."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jul/13/icm-poll-nuclear-weapons

Survey for Guardian finds 54% support disarmament rather than replacing Trident deterrent

Voters want Britain to scrap nuclear weapons altogether rather than replace Trident, according to a new Guardian/ICM poll today. The result marks a sharp turnaround in public opinion amid growing debate about the cost of a new generation of nuclear weapons and the impact of conventional defence cutbacks on the war in Afghanistan.

For decades nuclear disarmament has been seen as a minority issue, with most voters assumed to favour continued investment in an independent British nuclear weapons system. But today's poll shows that 54% of all voters would prefer to abandon nuclear weapons rather than put money into a new generation of Trident warheads, as the government plans.

Last week's G8 summit brought suggestions that Britain might include Trident in international disarmament talks. "What we need is collective action by the nuclear weapons powers to say that we are prepared to reduce our nuclear weapons," said Gordon Brown.

Today's figures mark a dramatic turnaround in public opinion since Trident renewal was announced by Brown three years ago. In July 2006, 51% backed renewal, while 39% opposed it. Since then support for a new Trident system has fallen by nine points while opposition has grown by 15 points.

Overall, only 42% of all voters now back renewal, according to the poll. Until now a majority of voters have always supported a British nuclear system, although one other recent ICM poll showed most people wanting to extend the life of the existing Trident system rather than spend money upgrading it.

In 2006 Gordon Brown reaffirmed Britain's commitment to Trident, and the government won Commons backing, thanks to Tory support. A design contract is expected to be signed this September, during the parliamentary recess, and the nuclear weapons were excluded from the defence review announced last week.

The poll shows for the first time that a majority of Labour voters oppose nuclear weapons, as well as most Liberal Democrats.

On balance, 59% of Labour voters want Britain to scrap nuclear weapons, against 40% who want to replace them. In 2006 Trident renewal was backed by a majority of Labour voters. Even among Conservative voters, 41% would now rather see unilateral nuclear disarmament than a new generation of weapons. That may encourage the opposition to defer renewal as part of a package of spending cuts.

Today's results are one consequence of the growing political battle over public spending, with retired defence chiefs, Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs suggesting that the £20bn cost of replacing Trident would be better spent on conventional forces.

The poll also suggests that the Conservatives are outflanking Labour in the debate over spending. More than two-thirds of voters say they want spending to be cut, double the proportion who believe the government should increase expenditure, as some ministers continue to argue. Even a majority of Labour voters want to see cutbacks.

As a result the Conservative party has extended its lead over Labour to 14 points. At 41%, up two, Tory support is at its highest in an ICM poll since March, before the expenses scandal broke. Labour, unchanged on 27%, is stuck on its second-lowest ICM score since June last year.

The Liberal Democrats are on 20%, up two points, while backing for other parties is 12%, down three as minor party support from the European elections fades.

• ICM Research interviewed a random sample of 1,000 adults aged 18+ by telephone on 10-11 July 2009. ICM is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jul/13/max-clifford-hacking

The celebrity publicist Max Clifford is starting a legal action against the News of the World to uncover any role its journalists may have played in intercepting messages left on his mobile phone.

He has hired the same legal team who successfully won more than £1m from the paper for Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of the Professional Footballers Association, and two other figures from the world of football.

Clifford, like Taylor, is one of five people named in charges against Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator working for the News of the World who was jailed with the paper's royal reporter, Clive Goodman, in January 2007. At the time of the trial, the News of the World said it had no knowledge of any phone hacking. But when Taylor sued, Scotland Yard and the Information Commissioner's office were ordered by the court to hand over documents which revealed the involvement of the paper's journalists in using criminal methods to get stories.

Clifford's solicitor, Charlotte Harris, and her partner, Mark Lewis, claimed to have some 20 other potential clients from politics, sport and entertainment, for whom they plan to organise a class action against the paper.

Separately, Kieren Fallon, the former champion jockey, accused of race-fixing by the News of the World and subsequently found not guilty at a trial, is also moving against the paper. His lawyer, Christopher Stewart-Moore, has written to Scotland Yard saying he believed there was evidence the News of the World succeeded in intercepting the jockey's voice messages. Fallon also believes there was an attempt to trick his bank into supplying information.

Another leading media lawyer, who asked not to be named but who has a number of high-profile clients from the entertainment world, told the Guardian he had written to Scotland Yard and the director of public prosecution asking for information about 12 of them who are concerned they may have been victims of phone hacking or other illegal techniques.

Clifford, who has been involved in a sequence of high-profile tabloid stories, said he had been told by the police more than two years ago that his phone had been hacked: "I believed that this was a one-off, just two lads overstepping the mark. I gave them the benefit of the doubt," he said. "Now it is increasingly worrying that there could be an awful lot more. I want to know which journalists were involved, in case I'm still dealing with them. I have a lot of clients phoning me all the time with confidential information. A lot of them have been in touch, worried, looking for me to get to the bottom of it all."

Clifford said he had fallen out with the News of the World some years ago and stopped giving them stories. "It isn't rocket science to work out that I would have been a valued target for them."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/13/17-uk-swine-flu-fatalities

• UK fatalities linked to H1N1 virus now up to 17
• Exact cause of deaths to be determined by coroners

A GP and a six-year-old girl have died after contracting swine flu, taking the number of UK deaths linked to the virus to 17, officials announced today.

Dr Michael Day, a family doctor from Bedfordshire, died on Saturday at Luton and Dunstable hospital.

Chloe Buckley, from north-west London, died on Thursday at St Mary's hospital in Paddington after contracting the virus in the UK.

Along with Sameerah Ahmad from Birmingham, also six, Chloe is one of the youngest victims of swine flu. Children aged between five and 14 are most affected by the virus, according to the Health Protection Agency (HPA).

A postmortem will be needed before health officials can determine whether Chloe had any underlying health conditions, Dr Simon Tanner, NHS London's director of public health, said.

NHS East of England said a swab test confirmed Day had also contracted the H1N1 virus, but the exact cause of death will remain unknown until the coroner's report.

The first British patient without underlying health problems died on Friday after contracting swine flu. The patient, from Essex, died at Basildon and Thurrock University hospital.

The UK has the third-highest number of confirmed cases – almost 10,000 – of swine flu after Mexico, which has 10,262 cases, and the US, which has at least 33,902 confirmed cases. Tanner said Chloe's death would "probably not be the last that we have in this pandemic". She was the sixth person in the capital to die after contracting the H1N1 virus.

"We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to the family at this difficult time as they come to terms with their loss," said Tanner.

Dr Day's practice, the Priory Gardens health centre, is to contact everyone who has been in close contact with the doctor recently, including patients, NHS East of England said.

They will be assessed for symptoms of swine flu and offered antiviral medication if necessary.

Dr Paul Hassan, senior partner at Priory Gardens, said staff at the practice were "completely devastated".

"Dr Day was a work colleague and also a personal friend to everyone at the practice," he said.

"I know the news will also come as a great shock to our patients, many of whom have known him for many years. Our thoughts at this time are with his wife and family."

Hundreds of thousands more people than those officially recorded are believed to have swine flu. Doctors have warned that rates of infection are reaching epidemic levels in London and the West Midlands. Its rapid spread has prompted the HPA to stop giving updates of the exact numbers infected.

In its last weekly update, on Thursday, the agency said 335 people had been taken to hospital with the virus, 43 of whom were in critical care. Tanner said it was difficult to say exactly how many people had caught the virus now patients were no longer swabbed. Swabbing was abandoned after it was determined that swine flu was widespread.

Tanner emphasised that most people who contracted the virus would experience mild symptoms and feel better within a few days. The advice remained to wash hands regularly and throw away used tissues, he said.

At St Catherine's school in West Drayton, north-west London, headteacher Sara Benn said pupils were struggling to come to terms with the news of Chloe's death. "It is impossible to put into words the sorrow that the whole school feels in such tragic circumstances," said Benn.

"Chloe was a bright and tenacious student with a keen interest in sports. She will be missed by her fellow pupils and her teachers at the school. Our thoughts are with her parents and family at this time. We are working with the council and health authority to support parents and pupils dealing with this devastating news."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/jul/14/heart-organ-donor-piggybacking

• Ten years with two hearts, then her own recovers
• 16-year-old leads full life after cancer and transplant

Her life used to consist of endless rounds of medicines, long stays in hospital and uncertainty about how much longer she would live for. Now 16-year-old Hannah Clark – the first person in Britain to receive someone else's heart but later have it removed, only for her own to unexpectedly recover – relishes typical teenage pursuits such as running, shopping and walking her dog.

Born with a rare heart condition that could easily have killed her, Hannah, from Mountain Ash near Cardiff, was two when she joined an exclusive club by having a five-month-old girl's heart grafted on to her own.

For 10 and a half years she had two hearts – "piggybacking", doctors call it – although it was the donated heart that kept Hannah alive while her original organ took a long rest.

Complications meant the second heart had to be taken out when she was 12, and doctors were unsure what would happen. No one had survived such a procedure.

Now, three and a half years later, one of the most dramatic success stories in recent medical history has just done her GCSEs, started her first part-time job at a kennels and is preparing for a family holiday by the seaside – all powered by a heart which, for her first 12 years, doctors thought could not keep her alive.

Confirmation of Hannah's highly unusual success in recovering from cardiomyopathy, which affects the heart's muscle, comes today in the form of a long article in the Lancet medical journal.

In complicated medicalese, it tells an amazing story of survival. The authors, who include renowned heart surgeon Sir Magdi Yacoub, testify to the teenager's feat.

Yesterday the girl who used to have two hearts negotiated another obstacle: a press conference to tell her story.

At times the constant whirring of cameras, barrage of questions and sheer number of people left her lost for words, or in tears.

How specially does she treasure life now, someone asked? "I can't say," replied Hannah. It took her mother, Liz, to answer: "She just loves life. She doesn't think about tomorrow; she thinks about today, and lives life to the full. She gets up every morning smiling, and it's very, very rare to see Hannah upset.

"She doesn't go to bed until three o'clock in the morning sometimes … that's how much energy she's got. She couldn't have done that before."

Yacoub, of the Harefield hospital in west London, said her recovery had given the many doctors involved in her care insights into many things, such as transplant surgery and the use of immunosuppressant drugs, which must be taken to minimise the chances of a patient's body rejecting a new organ.

Before Hannah, no one's own heart had ever recovered enough to keep them alive, although doctors did think it was a theoretical possibility that a weak heart could somehow become strong.

Among the lessons learned from Hannah, Yacoub said, was that "the possibility of recovery of the heart is just like magic. A heart that was not contracting at all, after a time we put the new heart to pump next to it, and do its work. Now it is functioning normally. That is going to be very fundamental in helping people in the future."

Born in 1993, Hannah underwent what surgeons call heterotopic cardiac transplantation, or "piggybacking", two years later. However, the immunosuppressant drugs led to her developing an incurable, rare cancer that kept returning despite repeated bouts of chemotherapy.

But the doctors' strategy, to reduce the doses of immunosuppressants, led to Hannah's second heart failing. In February 2006, they decided they had no choice but to take it out, or risk Hannah's death. Three and a half years of constant improvement, and Hannah's gloriously normal life, have proved enough for them to pronounce the reversal of her transplant an unqualified, if unexpected, success.

Her father, Paul, recalled how when she was being treated at London's Great Ormond Street hospital the family was told that Hannah was about to die.

"They called us in and said that a tumour had affected her spinal cord and was putting pressure on her brain, and was going to kill her. A nurse told us that she only had 12 hours to live. I said, 'Well, you believe what you believe and I'll believe what I believe'. For some reason, the next day she was OK."

Their experience has made the Clark family advocates of presumed consent, a policy – supported by Gordon Brown and chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson – that would see everyone in the UK presumed to be in favour of donating their organs after death. Supporters believe that, with 1,000 people dying every year due to shortages, the move would greatly increase the supply of organs. Yacoub said that, having previously been opposed to presumed consent, he now backed it.

Survival story

1 May 1993 Hannah Clark born in Wales.

July 1995 Aged two, Hannah undergoes "piggybacking", in which a donor heart is joined with her own. She improves for four and a half years.

August 2001 Hannah is found to have a rare form of cancer caused by immunosuppressant drugs that stop her body rejecting the new organ.

2001-2006 Her cancer keeps recurring. Doctors deem it incurable.

February 2006 Doctors decide to remove the donor heart.

14 July 2009 Hannah's story reported in the Lancet.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jul/13/baha-mousa-inquiry-opens

Video key evidence at inquiry into death of Iraqi soldier in British custody – a death which could have 'rallied extremists', says QC

A video of a British soldier screaming obscenities and abuse at hooded Iraqi detainees was shown today at the opening session of a public inquiry into how the hotel receptionist, Baha Mousa, was killed while in British custody.

The film shows Corporal Donald Payne, formerly of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, shouting and swearing at the Iraqis as they are forced to maintain painful "stress positions".

The video is a key piece of evidence in a wide-ranging inquiry into the death of Mousa, which got under way today. Mousa died after sustaining 93 injuries while being detained by soldiers from the former Queen's Lancashire Regiment in Basra, southern Iraq, in September 2003.

A central issue of the inquiry is why five "conditioning techniques" – hooding prisoners, putting them in stress positions, depriving them of sleep, depriving them of food and water, and playing white noise – were used on Iraqi detainees. The techniques, inflicted on IRA suspects, were banned in 1972 by the then prime minister, Edward Heath.

In an opening statement, Gerard Elias QC, counsel to the inquiry, said of the film: "Even if one considers only the video that we have just looked at, it may be thought to be entirely apparent that these detainees were being subjected to stress positions and prolonged hooding.

Detailing the abuses against six other Iraqis arrested with Mousa, Elias said: "One man says he was made to dance in the style of Michael Jackson."

Other detainees claimed they were urinated on and forced to lie face down over a hole in the ground filled with excrement.

The inquiry heard "scandalous" allegations that the soldiers tried to manipulate the detainees' moans into an "orchestrated choir".

Elias said: "There was shouting, moaning – even screaming – coming from the TDF [temporary detention facility] from time to time during the detention, according to some witnesses."

The inquiry was also told that Mousa's injuries may have been more intentionally inflicted than was previously thought.

Elias said: "Statements to this inquiry now suggest perhaps a greater degree of deliberation than has hitherto been described."

The hearing was told that Mousa died at about 10pm on 15 September 2003 after a "struggle" with Cpl Payne and another soldier, Private Aaron Cooper.

Elias said witnesses suggested that Payne was trying to restrain Mousa by putting his knee on the detainee's back and pulling his arm back to put plastic handcuffs on him.

He went on: "It has been suggested that Baha Mousa's head was banged on the floor or wall as this was happening."

Different pathologists gave the cause of Mousa's death as either asphyxia and multiple injuries or asphyxia alone, the inquiry heard.

The manner of his death risked undermining the sacrifices made by UK troops serving abroad, the inquiry in central London heard.

Elias QC said the manner of Mousa death could "act as a rallying cry for extremists."

Outlining what the inquiry would examine, Elias said it would look at the training and guidance given in relation to the use of hooding and handcuffing and other tactics, he said. It would also explore whether the Ministry of Defence and the Cabinet Office had known of such tactics.

Seven soldiers faced a court martial at Bulford camp, in Wiltshire, on war crimes charges relating to the receptionist's death. All but Cpl Payne were cleared on all counts in March 2007.

The court martial highlighted confusion among high-ranking military officers about whether the techniques were lawful.

The MoD has said it will not take disciplinary action against military personnel if their testimony to the inquiry suggests they earlier lied or withheld information.

The public inquiry hearings are expected to take about a year, including several breaks, with the chairman publishing his report and recommendations in autumn next year.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jul/13/organised-crime-fraud

Home secretary unveils strategy to target 30,000 criminals with more powers to seize assets and close front businesses

Between 25,000 and 30,000 criminals are involved in the "long tail" of a serious organised crime business in Britain that is worth more than £30bn a year, according to a government study.

The home secretary, Alan Johnson, has endorsed a renewed "Al Capone-style" drive to use tax powers to target organised criminals, providing stronger powers to seize assets and shut down front organisations such as saunas and massage parlours.

The study warns of an explosion in new criminal activities as a result of the recession, including sharp increases in "phishing" – taking over bank accounts – the flourishing trade in counterfeit goods and a boom in other types of financial fraud.

The joint report, by the Cabinet Office's strategy unit and the Home Office, does not directly criticise the performance of the beleaguered three-year-old Serious and Organised Crime Agency (Soca) but it says much tighter oversight is needed by ministers to keep a grip on the problem.

The Home Office said a "strategic centre" for organised crime would be created in the department to clearly define roles in tackling drug trafficking, organised immigration crime and organised fraud. Further action will be taken next summer if needed.

At the same time the capacity of the police is to be augmented by a further four regional asset recovery teams to complete the network across England and Wales. Each will have tax inspector attached and the Home Office is to extend the legal power to "reverse the burden of proof" in civil recovery cases to make it easier to seize assets of those in organised crime.

Renewed efforts to break up organised gangs even after conviction will be made through an attempt to ban the use of mobile phones in prisons and curb the "abuse" of legally privileged visits between lawyers and clients.

The strategy was published as Home Office research placed a question mark over the credibility of Britain's controls on people trafficking. A Home Office study, based on interviews with 45 convicted people smugglers, found that Britain was seen as a "relatively easy" market offering healthy profits. Those questioned were, however, surprised at the severity of their sentences.

Home Office polling data published today also shows that the public have little recognition that money generated by sales of pirate and counterfeit goods can flow into the criminal economy. The estimate of 25,000 to 30,000 involved in organised crime in Britain is said to include the "lifetime criminals who form the durable core of organised crime groups and loose criminal networks, through to the clusters of subordinates, specialists and others at the lower end of organised criminality". This covers the "top of the chain" through to the "long tail" of organised crime.

Soca says more than 5,000 of them are already on its radar.

The £30bn a year estimate covers the total cost of economic and social harm caused by organised crime. This figure breaks down into £17.6bn in the costs of drug-related crime, £7.8bn in financial fraud, £4.1bn in smuggling of spirits, tobacco and diesel and £2.4bn a year in organised immigration crime.

The Cabinet Office strategy unit also warns that the recession is creating new opportunities for organised criminals. They cite an increased risk of loan-sharking and trading in counterfeit goods, with a warning of a rise in gang-related violence as they battle for market share.

The banking crisis has also made the public more susceptible to frauds that offer high returns on investments; an increase in "phishing" scams has led to a 75% increase in illegitimate access to victims' bank accounts in the first three months of 2009 alone.

Another threat comes in the form of a rise in cases of cybercrime, with the number of malware – malicious software programme – attacks on IT systems increasing by 250% last year.

Ministers are also concerned about growing links between weak and failing states and organised crime. Gangs are increasingly basing themselves in places such as Somalia, where drug trafficking networks are increasingly located.

The home secretary said the new strategy went further than ever in taking the fight to organised criminals.

But Deputy Chief Constable Jon Murphy, of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said political decisions could be behind a gap between the scale of the problem and the ability of law enforcement agencies to tackle it. "I think we all acknowledge that gap does exist. Why does it exist?" said Murphy. "Arguably, it could be because it's a political decision. I think equally it's because of the changing nature of criminality.

"British organised crime gangs are fluid, flexible and opportunistic. There are no set ranks, rules or structures which you can see with international crime gangs."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jul/13/police-ardoyne-orange-order-parade

Sectarian rioting erupted in Northern Ireland yesterday, leaving at least 10 police officers injured during clashes that continued late into the night.

In Ardoyne, north Belfast, the trouble started just before the return of north Belfast Orangemen from the annual 12 July Orange Order parade through the city. Petrol bombs, fireworks, bricks and bottles were thrown by youths from the republican Ardoyne area at police lines from about 6.30pm.

Police confirmed at least one gunshot had been fired at officers during the disturbances, and that they had fired at least 14 plastic baton rounds. Six officers were injured during the violence, and a number of cars and two lorries were hijacked and set alight.

Separately, children were discovered playing with a rifle in the area and the firearm was handed in to police. It was being examined last night. A police spokesman said: "The people who left the firearm in this area have a total disregard for the local community and put local children at risk."

Police were trying to push nationalist youths off the Upper Crumlin Road – the return route for the Orangemen to nearby loyalist areas. Three officers were also injured during disturbances in Rasharkin, Co Antrim, and one was also injured during violent scenes in Derry.

Sinn Féin assembly member Gerry Kelly blamed the Real IRA for the trouble, saying: "It has nothing whatever to do with Irish republicanism."

Local people in the Ardoyne blamed republican dissidents for helping to organise the riot at the end of what was otherwise a largely peaceful 12 July.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/13/sonia-sotomayor-supreme-court-senate

First Hispanic woman nominated to US supreme court appears before Senate for what may be a gruelling session

Sonia Sotomayor, a New York judge who beat a path from a childhood in a housing estate to become America's first Hispanic supreme court nominee, yesterday began a gruelling run of confirmation hearings in the US Senate.

A New York federal judge, Sotomayor, 55, is the first high court justice nominated by a Democrat in 15 years. She is President Barack Obama's first opportunity to put his stamp on the court, although she would replace another liberal jurist and is thus not expected dramatically to alter the court's political direction. She is widely expected to win confirmation and would be only the third woman to sit on the supreme court.

Sotomayor's stellar academic credentials, years on the federal bench and status as a groundbreaking minority woman give Republican opponents little space to attack her qualifications or preparedness. Republicans instead questioned her impartiality, warning she would let personal biases and ethnic prejudices colour her opinions and that she would rule based on her personal values rather than the law.

"From what she has said, she appears to believe that her role is not constrained to objectively decide who wins based on the weight of the law but who, in her opinion, should win," Arizona senator Jon Kyl said as Sotomayor sat stone-faced at the witness table. Senator Lindsey Graham, a senior Republican, said Sotomayor would be confirmed barring a "meltdown".

But conservatives hope to weaken Obama politically by disparaging his first judicial nominee, with some outside the Republican party stoking vague fears of a Washington takeover by minorities with a dim view of whites.

Sotomayor yesterday had her first opportunity to publicly rebut months allegations of judicial bias that followed her appointment in May.

"The task of a judge is not to make the law, it is to apply the law," she said. "And it is clear, I believe, that my record in two courts reflects my rigorous commitment to interpreting the Constitution according to its terms ... In each case I have heard, I have applied the law to the facts at hand."

Obama's Democratic allies, meanwhile, are playing up Sotomayor's humble upbringing in the Bronx borough of New York, her studies at Princeton and Yale and her 17 years of experience on the federal bench – more than any sitting supreme court justice. "Hers is a success story in which all – all – Americans can take pride," Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont said yesterday. "Let's be fair to her and to the American people by not misrepresenting her views."

In the coming days, Republicans are expected to grill Sotomayor about her views on abortion, the death penalty, same-sex marriage, the role of international law in American jurisprudence, and racial issues. They have signalled they will focus on speeches and public remarks in which she has expressed pride in her ethnic background and statements they say portend she will pursue a personal liberal agenda from the bench.

Separately, Obama nominated African American physician Regina Benjamin as surgeon general yesterday. A 39-year-old rural family doctor from Alabama, Benjamin pledged to fight so that "no one falls through the cracks as we improve our health care system."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jul/14/bbc-senior-executives-bonuses-suspended

Bonuses for the most senior executives at the BBC are to be suspended indefinitely, the BBC trust said last night.

The bonuses for the 10 members of the Executive Board, are being halted until further notice, trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons said.

The move comes after widespread public anger over the size of salaries for senior executives. Last month it was revealed 27 BBC executives earned more than the Prime Minister's £195,000 salary last year.

Writing in the Telegraph, Lyons said: "I can reveal that we have already reached agreement that Executive Board bonus payments will be suspended until further notice and not reintroduced without the trust's approval."

The corporation's executive directors had already agreed to waive their bonuses for 2009, and those with salaries of over £60,000 are facing a pay freeze this year.

The BBC also comes under fire today from the government, as culture minister Ben Bradshaw tells the Financial Times that the corporation's bosses have shown "wrong-headed" leadership in their opposition to plans to share parts of the licence fee with rival broadcasters. Bradshaw told the newspaper: "[There] are plenty of people within the BBC that do not feel it is a well-led organisation ... there is almost a feeling of despair among a lot of highly respected BBC professionals."

The trust's annual report, which is published today, will show the 10 directors earned almost £5 million in salary. This is 17% more than the year before.

Director general Mark Thompson's basic salary of £647,000 has been criticised for being too large.

Lyons said the trust had "consistently emphasised the need for wage restraint within the BBC".

He said a review of executive pay was ongoing, with findings due in the autumn, but bonus agreements had already been made to suspend bonus payments.

He added: "In determining the right level of salaries for BBC staff we must be careful not to cut off our nose to spite our face, ending up without the skills and abilities which make the BBC the world-renowned organisation it is.

"We must, however, also ensure that we maintain the trust and confidence of those who pay for the BBC - the licence fee paying public."

Lyons said big salaries were "always controversial" and added: "We have to be sensitive to the prevailing economic wind which currently can make the top BBC salaries appear too high."

Last November, Lyons said that the corporation's executive directors had agreed to waive their bonuses for 2009.

Thompson would also forgo his entitlement, Lyons said, adding that the BBC was "not immune from financial pressures".

Last July, Thompson defended the decision to award pay rises to directors despite job cuts and phone-in scandals.

Thompson waived his own right to a bonus then because of the "scale of disruption and uncertainty" facing BBC colleagues.

But nine executive directors did receive bonuses in 2007/08.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/14/florida-couple-murdered

A town in Florida's western panhandle is coming to terms with a murder in which a team of up to eight men broke into the home of a couple known locally for caring for disabled children and shot them in front of their family.

Police investigating the double murder in Pensacola, near the border with Alabama, said the break-in and killing was organised with military precision. Melanie and Byrd Billings were shot a number of times last Thursday, when nine of their children were in the house.

The Billings were well-known locally because in addition to four biological children they had adopted 12 children with conditions ranging from autism to Down's syndrome. Some in the town referred to the parents as "angels".

Three men were in custody last night over the murders: Wayne Coldiron, a labourer, 41; Leonard Gonzalez Jr, 35, who was arrested in Florida, and his father, 56, also called Leonard.

Two other men were being questioned yesterday, and police said they were searching for a further three.

Coldiron and the younger Gonzalez have been charged with murder.

The investigation has been aided by the fact that the couple had installed CCTV cameras in every room and around the house as a security measure for their children.

Footage recorded by one outside camera showed a large red van pulling up to the front door of the house. The van deposited three men dressed in black clothes and masks who entered the house, while two others, also dressed in black, came out of hiding in nearby woods and entered via an unlocked door at the back.

Sheriff David Morgan, leading the investigation, told reporters the break-in and shootings took barely 10 minutes. "I think you'll find this particularly chilling, and here's why: we have a team that enters at the rear of the home and another that enters at the front of the home," he said.

Three of the nine children at home at the time witnessed the intruders and one ran out of the house and alerted a neighbour who called the police. None of the children, all aged between eight and 14, were hurt.

Morgan said the mastermind of the killings was among the three men in custody, though he would not identify him. He added there were many possible motives for the attack, one of which was robbery.

A clue to the possible motive was found by the local paper, the Pensacola News Journal, on the MySpace page of Leonard Gonzalez Jr. It was last updated on Wednesday, a day before the murders.

His last profile status reads: "Making a move for humanity." On his page he wrote about his eight-year-old daughter Mary Gonzalez whom he refers to as Bella. "She was taken from me, against my will, several years ago and I miss her very much."

In a post on 6 July titled "We are getting closer" he tells his daughter she will be returned soon to her "true loving family".

He went on: "Not only are you descended from aristocracy … you have the DNA and family lineage to back up whatever dreams you may have."

According to police, the elder Gonzalez has admitted acting as the getaway driver, remaining in the van while others entered the house. Warrants suggest that he has also alerted police to the involvement of several other men.

Gonzalez Sr has been charged with tampering with evidence after he allegedly tried to paint over the van to disguise it. His bail has been set at $500,000 (£300,000).

An adult daughter of the Billingses, Ashley Markham, said the younger children were now being cared for together with family and friends at an undisclosed location.

She said there was no known connection between anyone in their family and the three men being held in custody.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jul/13/boris-johnson-second-salary-chickenfeed

The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has dismissed the £250,000-a-year he earns from a controversial second job as "chicken feed".

Johnson also insisted it was "wholly reasonable" for him to write newspaper columns on the side because he did them "very fast".

The comments risk infuriating millions of Londoners struggling to make ends meet amid the economic downturn.

They are also unlikely to please David Cameron, who has ordered his shadow cabinet to give up extra work in the run-up to the general election to show their "commitment".

Johnson, who is paid nearly £140,000 for his day job, was questioned over his lucrative contract with the Daily Telegraph during an interview for the BBC's HARDTalk programme.

He responded "It's chicken feed."

Pressed on whether voters would agree with that description, the mayor said he was being "frivolous".

But he went on: "I happen to write extremely fast. I don't see why on a Sunday morning I shouldn't knock off an article, if someone wants to pay me for that article then that's their lookout and of course I make a substantial donation to charity.

"Maybe that money shouldn't go to charity, maybe you'd rather I didn't make those contributions to charity. It seems to me to be a wholly reasonable thing to do."

Johnson said: "I think that frankly there's absolutely no reason at all why I should not, on a Sunday morning before I do whatever else I need to do on a Sunday morning, should not knock off an article as a way of relaxation."

Johnson decided to continue with his columns for the Telegraph after being elected last year, but donates £50,000 from his annual fee to charities.

Liberal Democrat frontbencher Norman Baker said: "There is nothing wrong with people writing newspaper columns but this is an enormous amount of money and for Boris Johnson to dismiss it as 'chicken feed' shows just how out of touch he and the Conservative party are from the reality of life for millions of Londoners struggling to make ends meet in the depths of a recession."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/quiz/2009/jul/13/guardian-news-quiz-sunday-papers

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/gallery/2009/jul/13/1

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/blog/audio/2009/jul/13/guardian-daily-podcast1

Richard Norton Taylor assesses the government's latest position on Afghanistan, after a week in which eight soldiers died in a 24-hour period.

A leading Cambridge academic predicts that exams will cease to exist, as online assessment takes over. Polly Curtis takes a look into the future to find out how new systems will work, and what effect they'll have.

Ashley Seager investigates allegations that delays to the introduction of feed-in tariffs, designed to boost green energy, are being caused by civil servants who favour nuclear power.

Illegal file-sharing among teenagers is on the wane, as they get their music from streaming sites. Alexandra Topping gets down with the kids to find out what it means for the industry.

And England defy expectations to draw with Australia in the first Ashes cricket Test.