A selection of the best images from around the world
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/gallery/2011/nov/29/24-hours-in-pictures
środa, 30 listopada 2011
Day of strikes as millions heed unions' call to fight pension cuts
? Disruption across UK as many services come to virtual halt
? Airports, schools, rail services and hospitals affected
? Reform of public sector pensions is at heart of dispute
The UK is experiencing the worst disruption to services in decades as more than 2 million public sector workers stage a nationwide strike, closing schools and bringing councils and hospitals to a virtual standstill.
The strike by more than 30 unions over cuts to public sector pensions started at midnight, leading to the closure of most state schools; cancellation of refuse collections; rail service and tunnel closures; the postponement of thousands of non-emergency hospital operations; and possible delays at airports and ferry terminals.
The TUC said it was the biggest stoppage in more than 30 years and was comparable to the last mass strike by 1.5 million workers in 1979. Hundreds of marches and rallies are due to take place in cities and towns across the country.
Pickets began to form before dawn at many hospitals, Whitehall departments, ports and colleges.
The strikes have been called over government plans to overhaul pensions for all public sector workers, by cutting employer contributions, increasing personal contributions and, it emerged on Tuesday, increasing the state retirement age to 67 in 2026, eight years earlier than originally planned.
Union leaders were further enraged after George Osborne announced that as well as a public sector pay freeze for most until 2013, public sector workers' pay rises would be capped at 1% for the two years after that.
In Scotland an estimated 300,000 public sector workers are expected to strike, with every school due to be affected after Scottish headteachers voted to stop work for the first time.
The UK Border Agency is braced for severe queues at major airports after learning that staffing levels at passport desks will be "severely below" 50% despite a successful appeal for security-cleared civil servants to volunteer.
"We will have the bare minimum to run a bare minimum service," said a Whitehall insider. Many major public buildings and sites, including every port, most colleges, libraries, the Scottish parliament, major accident and emergency hospitals, ports and the Metro urban light railway around Newcastle and Sunderland will be picketed.
At Holyrood, Scottish government ministers and MSPs in the ruling SNP, the Liberal Democrats and Tories are expected to cross picket lines to stage a debate on public pensions; Labour and Scottish Green party MSPs will join the protesters.
Here are some of the actions across the country:
? In London up to 2,000 schools will be shut or affected, and ambulance crews will strike, there will be pickets in Whitehall, at universities, hospitals and a TUC regional march through the city from Lincoln's Inn Fields to the embankment.
? In Scotland union leaders including Rodney Bickerstaff, general secretary of Unison, will march through central Edinburgh to a mass rally outside the Scottish parliament, with protests at Edinburgh castle, a major march and rally attended by Scottish union leaders in Glasgow, where civil servants will picket MoD and tax offices. There will be marches and protests in Dundee, Inverness and Aberdeen.
? In southern and south-west England and Wales unions will hold marches and rallies in towns and cities including Brighton, Southampton, Bristol and Exeter, while a New Orleans-style marching band will lead a march through Cardiff.
? In the north-west up to 25 Cumbrian schools may open, the Mersey tunnel is expected to be closed, while in Liverpool protesters will be urged to sound car horns, blow vuvuzela horns, clap and shout at 1pm in an action dubbed "One Noise at One".
? In the Midlands union general secretaries including the TUC leader Brendam Barber and Dave Prentis of Unison will lead a rally at the Birmingham Indoor Arena, while marches will be held in Nottingham.
? In the north-east of England, Metro services will be severely hit and the RMT rail union leader Bob Crow will address a rally.
? In northern England marches are due to be staged in Manchester, Bradford, Leeds and Sheffield.
? In Northern Ireland there will be no train or public bus services, Belfast's passport office will be closed along with leisure centres and schools. The main march will be through central Belfast.
The TUC said the strike would also include tens of thousands of border agency staff, probation officers, radiographers, librarians, job centre staff, courts staff, social workers, refuse collectors, midwives, road sweepers, cleaners, school meals staff, paramedics, tax inspectors, customs officers, passport office staff, police civilian staff, driving test examiners, patent officers, and health and safety inspectors.
Unions and employers have struck local deals to avoid disruption to emergency operations and essential medical services at hospitals, mental health units and residential care units for children. Emergency rotas have been introduced by mental health social workers with union agreement.
The Prospect union has exempted staff from strike action who work in 100 essential defence posts, including intelligence analyst posts at British bases in Afghanistan and civil servants supplying frontline troops.
Steve Jary, the national secretary of Prospect, which represents thousands of MoD staff, said: "These people are not the Whitehall bureaucrats of popular imagination. It is ironic that this important work by staff who risk their own lives in supporting the UK's armed forces only comes to light in a situation like the industrial action."
Dean Royles, the director of the NHS Employers organisation, which represents NHS trusts in England and Wales, said the unions had agreed to protect emergency services but he warned patients they might still experience significant delays that could spill over into Thursday.
"The absolute priority of everyone in the NHS must be to ensure that patients are safe and we avoid unnecessary distress too patients," he said. "We believe robust plans will be in place for the people who need urgent care but those needing non-urgent care may experiences delays."
The Local Government Association, which represents English and Welsh councils, said it was "working tirelessly" to minimise disruption to essential services, and to protect services for the elderly, vulnerable and young. Social workers were operating emergency rotas, children's residential centres were being staffed as fully as possible and service updates would be posted on council websites.
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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/nov/30/public-sector-workers-strike-uk
wtorek, 29 listopada 2011
Harry Potter wins big at Bafta children's awards
Animated shows Peppa Pig and The Amazing World of Gumball were also awarded at the Bafta ceremony
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two was one of a host of double winners at the Bafta children's awards on Sunday night.
The movie adaptation of the boy wizard's final adventure scooped the feature film prize, beating the likes of Kung Fu Panda 2, Tangled and its own predecessor, Deathly Hallows Part 1.
The blockbusting release also triumphed in the film category of the Bafta kids' vote, chosen by more than 400,000 7- to 14-year-olds in an online poll.
"Harry Potter is part of popular culture," said Warwick Davis, who played the role of Professor Filius Flitwick in the films, and who accepted the award.
"The series is going to leave a legacy for generations of children to enjoy. Look at Star Wars; the original movies are 30 years old, but we talk about them as though they were released recently. The Harry Potter films will be the same."
The animated series Peppa Pig and The Amazing World of Gumball were also double winners. The former claimed the pre-school animation award again, having previously won in 2005, and nine-year-old actress Harley Bird ? the voice of the eponymous piglet ? won best performer.
The Amazing World of Gumball, a surreal animated sitcom from Cartoon Networks, beat strong competition in the animation and writer categories.
"It's a really exciting time for children's comedy," said James Lamont, who penned Gumball with co-writer Jon Foster after working on the likes of Armstrong and Miller and School of Comedy.
"Shows like Horrible Histories and Sorry I've Got No Head are attacking comedy in the way that adult programmes attack comedy. They have different sensibilities, but they have the same standards. It's not comedy for kids anymore, it's kids' comedy, and that's important."
CBBC natural history programme Deadly 60 won in the factual programme and presenter categories.
The show's format, in which presenter Steve Backshall gets as close as possible to the world's deadliest animals, has proved immensely popular with children since its debut in 2009.
After receiving the award, series producer John Miller told the Guardian: "You have to be honest with children. I've worked on a lot of natural history programmes where you'll get out and do a beautiful shot of the car driving past, but that's not real. We said, no, the audience has always got to be in the car with the presenter.
"So we got a lot more cameras involved ? there are three cameras filming all the time, and you see all the things that go wrong as well as right. I wanted to make the kids feel that they're at the heart of it, that they're part of the gang. We just had to be careful about the number of animals we showed attacking and eating each other."
Video games were also recognised on the night. Lego Pirates of the Caribbean won in the main video game category, while dancing game Just Dance 2 claimed the kids' vote prize.
For the second year running, Bafta also held a young game designers competition, encouraging school children to devise their own game concepts. The prize was won by three students from the City of London school whose surreal platform puzzles game, Rollin Scotch, tasks players with controlling a roll of sticky tape as it traverses a wild west environment. The design will now be prototyped by developers at the University of Abertay.
Other winners included Cbeebies for channel of the year, critically acclaimed sketch show Horrible Histories for comedy and CBBC's Just William adaptation in drama.
The BBC's 40-year-old news bulletin Newsround was honoured with a special award, collected by series creator Edward Barnes as well as original presenter John Craven and current frontman, Ore Oduba.
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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/nov/28/harry-potter-childrens-bafta-awards
poniedziałek, 28 listopada 2011
Leveson inquiry: Charlotte Church, Anne Diamond, Chris Jefferies - live
? Chris Jefferies tells how he was portrayed as a 'creepy oddball', a 'pervert' and a' peeping Tom'
? He says he will 'never fully recover' from the libellous coverage
? He says the PCC did not acknowledge a request to investigate the 'scurrilous reporting'
? Jefferies says despite his vindication some people will always 'retain the impression that I am a very weird character indeed who is best avoided'
? Former army intelligence officer Ian Hurst alleges corruption at the highest level at the Met police
?�Charlotte Church claims she was offered �100,000 or 'favourable coverage' in News International titles if she sang at Rupert Murdoch's wedding to Wendi Deng
Diamond tells how she was catapulted to fame in 1983 when on Britain's first breakfast TV station, TV-am.
Anne Diamond is now taking the stand.
Church concludes:
I feel strangely strong because I've survived it all and I don't know how because at times it really messes with your mind. In a way I think it's made me stronger but professionally because I've been made a caricature for so long and that really isn't me, the person I am or the way I live my life ? I think that has had a massive impact on my career. I find it really difficult to be taken seriously because my credibility has been knocked for so many years.
Church has just launched an attack on Daily Mail editor-in-chief Paul Dacre and other editors. She said if they are not "whiter than white" their misdeeds deserve to be reported in the press rather than her private life.
The hearing has been told that Church has read a speech that Dacre recently gave to the Society of Editors.
I don't want to single out Paul Dacre at all. Just in terms of editors and people who are high up in tabloid papers ? he [Dacre] said that there were many journalists who were exposing the misdeeds of the rich, the powerful and the pompous.
It just struck me that Mr Dacre themselves and other editors are probably rich, definitely powerful; I'm not sure about pompous, but if they were subjected to the investigative journalism, maybe they would come out whiter than white, but if they weren't then their misdeeds are much more in the public interest as rich and powerful people than me as a TV presenter/singer or my friends.
Church says the PCC is not worth complaining to.
There is a massive problem to deal with and they just don't deal with the problems, they don't deal with it at all.
There's a massive financial implication just in submitting a complaint, Church says.
The damage is done once it's in print. It's been disseminated all over the internet or other publications It just feels a little pointless.
Earlier this month, the People newspaper suggested Church was going to get married with a splash headline "Marryoke". The paper had not contacted her.
She contacted the newspaper to say it was untrue and defamatory and there are ongoing legal proceedings.
Counsel for the inquiry Carine Patry Hoskins says it has been contacted by the publisher and says:
The People have now published a correction and an apology ? on 2 of yesterday's edition.
Church says she has seen this but it isn't good enough. She was seeking an apology on agreed terms on how it was written, and how there were quotes from her partners when it was totally made up.
A recent article claimed Church was drunk in a pub. It was "a complete fabrication".
The photograph to illustrate the article, she said, was from 2007 and a radio show she was doing with Chris Moyles.
It was a massively out of date photo.They phoned my publicist very late on Friday and asked what the nature of my relationship was ? they didn't give much away and therefore neither did we.
Within 36 hours it was picked up by 71 outlets and reported as fact.
The rest of the press picked up the story and the New York Post's headline was "Voice of an angel spews venom".
Church says her record company deemed it necessary to hire police guards.
The interviewer, Jasper Gerard, had asked her a lot of questions. She thought she had done really well. She was still used to interviews asking her about her favourite colour.
She recalls she had criticised a TV show for "demeaning" the firefighters by making them present an award for best soap.
This was turned into criticism of the firefighters as "celebrities".
I'd flown back from New York. The record company had set up the interview with me, that's quite normal. I felt at the time that the interview was going really well, he was asking interesting questions. It felt totally different and new. When I eventually saw the piece I was totally shellshocked. No one had sat it on the interview with me so I had the Sony people saying, have you said this, what's going on? I had to defend myself for ages against things that I was alleged to have said.
When I eventually saw the piece I was just totally shellshocked. Nobody had sat in the piece, nobody was taping it from our side ? I was alleged to have said ?
One of the most denigrating claims was the one about the "celebrity" firefighters. The comment was not disparaging, it was the reverse.
Church says she asked for the tape of the interview and the Times refused to release it ? "it was a terrible experience".
She is now talking about an article in the Times, although counsel for the inquiry says it may have been the Sunday Times.
The article concerned the 9/11 atrocity and Church, who was 14 at the time, was spending a lot of time in New York.
Her manager had organised a visit to Ground Zero, fire stations and some benefit gigs.
Church says one of the worst things for her was an article that claimed she and her friends had a nickname for an overweight friend. She had never ever spoken about her friend in this way.
She didn't complain to the PCC, she tells Leveson.
The damage is already done, there are no repercussions and it doesn't help. Most of the time I didn't bother. The sporadic nature of them [her complaints to the PCC] is when I just had enough and therefore had gone to the PCC to made a complaint.
Saying nothing is best; you just have to put up and shut up and that's the way it is.
She is told that her first boyfriend sold stories about her and that was a sign of things to come. It happened again with a boyfriend she had when she was 19.
Church says it was terrible to think somebody like her grandmother could read intimate details of her love life.
Basically there was always paparazzi around, always journalists around trying to speak to friends, money in order to talk or give a quote. My first boyfriend sold a story on me when I was 17 and that was pretty dreadful. I remember thinking why is it OK that someone senior in a newspaper could pay an unemployed boy from Cardiff tens of thousands of pounds to reveal intimate sexual details about another 17-year-old girl from Cardiff?
Church was subsequently shown another file which had more information than Mulcaire's notes.
[It was] a massive black book which seemed to be full of information when I was 19, more than Glenn Mulcaire. Information about me, friends, family; criminal records, DVLA records, mobile numbers and house numbers. We were just completely taken aback.
She is asked if there were transcripts of phone calls.
This was something my dad recalled. I remember something to do with live interception of phone calls.
Church adds:
To find out that they were hacked and you had accused these people, you're left with a feeling of guilt. It wasn't my fault for accusing people.
When Church's new born baby Ruby was born she wanted to keep it secret for about a week. It appeared in the papers within two days and she accused her family but she now realised that could be "entirely down to hacking".
Church says her phone was hacked when she was just 17.
The police have told her that her phone messages were monitored and intercepted by private investigator Glenn Mulcaire.
She first found out that earlier this year when she was contacted by the police who showed her his notes.
She says:
[They had] passwords, pin numbers, phone numbers of lots of people in my life, my mother, my father, their friends, my friends, my old boyfriend's number, it was quite substantial.
The hacking related to 2003 to 2006.
Church tells the inquiry that the press were interested in her from the start of her career.
When I was younger, it was a commodity that I was this small girl with a big operatic voice therefore you needed to see it. As a TV presenter definitely you need the press more than as a musician. They do aid people and encourage people to watch your shows and know when they are on and so on.
If you have a show on television or a book you're signed to a company and contractually obliged to promote that product. I was obliged to do so and I didn't really have any formal training from when I was 12.
She says she had no guide to help her deal with the intense interest in her life.
Categorically, no. I think there is no rulebook for dealing with the tabloid press. I've tried lots of different approaches. They made up stories and used old photographs.
She described how she was made a prisoner in her own life. She shopped online to avoid going outside her house.
There were six to eight photographers outside her house throughout her pregnancy.
She agrees that interest comes with being famous, but wanted to try something different to get rid of the press ahead of the birth of her baby.
She decided to do a deal with celebrity magazine.
Whilst I'm giving birth to my first child I'm well aware there are six photographers outside my house. By signing that exclusivity deal I thought I was reducing the value of paparazzi photographs.
Church then reads out some of the article.
"Superstar singer Charlotte Church's mum tried to kill herself because of ?" she reads.
It was totally sensationalised, whether partially or wholly true. And I just really hated the fact that my parents who had never been in this industry ? apart from looking after me ? were being exposed and vilified in this fashion. It had a massive massive impact on my family life.
They knew how vulnerable she was and still printed this story, which was just horrific. I see no public interest at all, other than to sell papers.
It just had a massive impact on my mother's health, her mental health, her hospital treatment ? the only way they know about that was either through the hacking or the bribing of hospital staff.
They knew how vulnerable she was but still published the story, which was horrific.
She is now talking about the News of the World's allegations that her father had an affair headlined "Church three in a bed cocaine shock".
The NoW reported that my father was having an affair. I'm not sure whether we were given knowledge of this article being published to comment on it ?
I'm just not sure how it came about. The front-page headline had my picture behind it.
I think I've just blanked out how bad these articles were.
Church is now alking about a kidnap plot reported by News of the World.
A lot of this information about kidnap stuff really was kept from me to protect me and my sanity.
The News of the World deemed it acceptable to publish that there was a kidnap plot.
I asked the publication not to print in any terms where I lived, but they did.
It was really quite exact.
The PCC upheld Church's complaint against the Sun.
The Sun said it had received firm information that she was pregnant. The newspaper was told the information was private and would not be commented on; despite this the newspaper referred to her pregnancy.
When Church found herself pregnant with her first baby the Sun ran a story titled "Church sober shock".
It was the first trimester and it was very sensitive time.
She doesn't know if her phone was hacked but says she just can't see it came from any other route.
My family were really upset that it had come out in this way. It was my news to tell and they took that away from me.
It should have been left up to me to tell people ? the PCC complaint was upheld. But what does that mean? There was a small retraction but I just don't think that would deter another paper in the future.
Audio of Charlotte Church talking about press intrusion:
She adds:
At different times there were different levels of interest. I don't live in London so a lot of photographers would have to travel. Generally from 16 to 18 there was at least one photographer for most days and by most days I mean five out of seven days. If there was a story at the time, they would be there all the time ? maybe six to eight of them.
Church also tells the inquiry how photographers tried to take pictures up her skirt.
Church reveals how photographers had cut a hole in a hedge near her home so they could track her every move.
My manager and said he'd found a camera and that there was something cut out of the hedge. There was really no other person in the world who would do that other than the press.
It had happened before, but not quite so dramatically.
Church is talking about the runup to her 16th birthday. The paper had a "countdown clock" on its website, which she found was "a little bizarre".
How did it make her feel? "Just horrible," she says. "I was a 16-year-old girl and I was really uncomfortable with it."
She says she was flown in on Murdoch's private jet from LA to New York.
Church is now talking about this sensational disclosure:
I remember being told that Murdoch had asked me to perform at his wedding to Wendi Deng in New York on his yacht. I remember being told of the offer of the favour ? to get good press ? and I also remember being 13 and thinking why would anyone take a favour of �100,000?
But I was being advised by my management and certain member of the record company that he was a very very powerful man and could certainly do with a favour of this magnitude.
News International has denied the allegations. It says that Church's performance was a surprise to Murdoch.
But Church claims she received a specific request from Murdoch to sing Pie Jesu.
She is now talking about an incident when she was 13 years old and she was asked to perform at Rupert Murdoch's wedding to Wendi Deng in New York.
The Leveson inquiry's junior counsel tells the hearing:
She was told by management there would be �100,000 or if her fee was waived she would be looked upon favouraby by Rupert Murdoch's papers.
Yes, that is correct, says.
She was convinced into taking the latter.
Church started life as a singer aged 11.
There was a massive amount of interest right from the start, because I didn't have any skeletons; they kind of treated me with kid gloves.
They were always at my school, but at that time it didn't feel that intrusive; it was all rather new, totally exciting and different
Is started to change when I was about 14. It got more negative and got more intrusive.
Church has revealed that paparazzi have made her life totally public.
She hasn't had a holiday since she was 16 without their presence and blames a network of paid tipsters as well as paparazzi for her lack of privacy.
They will follow me wherever I go, taking my children to nursery even though I've asked expressly for them not to take photographed.
It's everywhere. There's a shadow network, concierges; restaurants; the airlines; I haven't been on a holiday since I was 16 where I haven't been found and photographed.
Much of that was bought information.
Charlotte Church is now taking the stand. Wearing a black suit and top, she looks composed. She says however she has never given evidence before.
She's agreed to testify because she thinks the things she went through when she was younger ? from the age of 12 ? show that it is "imperative that children are protected"
I've agreed to be here today because I think that the things I went through when I was quite young, I was a minor, 12 years old, I want to show through my experiences that it's imperative that children are protected.
Leveson is now back. Robert Jay tells Leveson he can see arguments for both sides of the argument as to whether Alastair Campbell's statement should be published on the Leveson website.
Jay has said that Paul Staines, otherwise known as Guido Fawkes should make "appropriate immediate effects" with regards the Alastair Campbell statement.
Leveson is returning 15 minutes early today ?�the inquiry is resuming at 1.45pm when we will hear from Charlotte Church and former breakfast host Anne Diamond.
We should also hear whether Alastair Campbell's evidence will be officially published on the Leveson website.
Tom Watson has just tweeted this:
Remarkable: Read Ian Hurst's testimony to #Leveson on the Guardian live feed
Here is a lunchtime summary of today's evidence so far:
? Chris Jefferies tells how he was portrayed as a "creepy oddball", a "pervert" and a "peeping Tom".
? He says he will "never fully recover" from the libellous coverage of his arrest.
? He says the PCC did not acknowledge a request to investigate the "scurrilous reporting".
? Jefferies says despite his vindication some people will always "retain the impression that I am a very weird character indeed who is best avoided".
? Former army intelligence officer Ian Hurst alleges corruption at the highest level at the Met police and calls on Leveson to investigate.
? He says News of the World hacked his computer using "Trojan" software that collected his emails.
? The head of British Irish Rights Watch, Jame Winter, says the hacking of Hurst's phone compromised her organisation's security because of the highly sensitive nature of their work.
The Leveson inquiry has broken for an extended lunch while counsel discuss "administrative issues" in relation to the Alastair Campbell evidence and whether it will be published today.
The inquiry will resume at 1.45pm, with Anne Diamond and Charlotte Church scheduled to appear.
Jane Winter's evidence has now concluded. It was short but reinforced the allegations Hurst made.
"This ripple effect is particularly chilling for an organisation such as BIRW, which handles extremely senstive information and can compromise the security of people," says Jay.
Winter's written statement says that it is not clear that her intercepted messages were being used for publication, and that is something that should be investigated.
Winter says that when she heard the documents had been compromised a lot of vulnerable witnesses would lose confidence in her charity.
From the point of view of my organisation, we really rely on trust and confidentiality ? when I first heard these documents had been compromised, my first thought was when all of the people involved in this will lose confidence in us.
That is a very chilling thought for an organisation like us ? it is a real issue for us. This could dent our reputation for confidentiality.
Robert Jay, counsel to the inquiry, says: "If you hack into one person's computer you see a panoply of information that may derive from third parties such as yourself."
Mr X, the hacker referred to earlier by Hurst, had documents on her, but she was not aware if her computer was hacked or not.
Winter says she has spoken to the Met police about hacking. Police showed her attachments of emails, not the actual content of emails themselves, Winter says.
"They were both very confidential and sensitive," she adds.
Lord Justice Leveson says the peace process is an "extra dimension among many other dimensions" in his own inquiry into press ethics.
Winter says she was told by Ian Hurst earlier this year that documents she had sent to him had been illegally accessed. "I was aware that his computer had been hacked, but I didn't know correspondence with me was involved," she says.
Jane Winter, a peace campaigner and charity worker in Northern Ireland who runs British Irish Rights Watch, is appearing now.
Hurst says he will provide the inquiry with more evidence. He says he he understands when Leveson points out that the inquiry will deal with the press's relationship with the police in part two.
Then Hurst alleges that there is corruption at the highest level of the Metropolitan Police Service.
Hurst calls on Leveson to "ask that the MPS provide you with all intelligence of police corruption including that at very highest level. It is there, it is at the highest level and out there with journalists today."
Hurst says the MPS "has let society down they should be making a full disclosure".
Hurst then reads a statement that was made during the filming of the Panorama programme:
Andy Coulson was the editor [of the News of the World] and he is fucking big pals with a lot of powerful people including police officers.
Hurst then declares to the inquiry:
That is exactly what you are dealing with here ladies and gentlemen ? corruption.
In April 2009 when Mr X was arrested, documents showed that the security of his wife, who is a nurse, had been compromised. Mr X had documents including her CV, her pin numbers, documents concerned with her telephone, address, and phone records.
"There's copious amount of knowledge that the police had," says Hurst.
Hurst tells how the police knew from 2007 that his computer had been hacked.
In February 2007 documents were recovered from a hard drive involved in a separate investigation. At that stage this person's phone records had been obtained and News of the World had paid �850 for that.
Because the subject of those phone records and I were linked, the police were aware in 2007 that directly and unambiguously that I and muy family's security had been compromised.
That information was then leaked to a journalist and used in a book in 2008.
Documents seized in 2007 by the police show the security on his computer had been compromised and information had been obtained from it.
The Metropolitan police did not tell Hurst of the hacking of his computer until October 2011.
The inquiry hears that the hackers were not interested in Hurst's private life, but his work in the intelligence community in northern Ireland.
They were looking to obtain a commercial advantage as well, claims Hurst.
He adds they were also trying to obtain information on an IRA informer.
Hurst indicates he has this week received fresh information about the source of the Trojan, but this information is disallowed from the inquiry because it is not in his written statement.
For clarity he confirms that he does not believe Mr X was the source of the Trojan, which he says leaves "fragments" on the hard drive even after it self-destructs.
"It is not an interpretation ? people tell you porkie pies and you try and separate the wood from the trees. You do that by evidence, not conjecture," says Hurst.
He does not accept that the email came from Mr X, but from a newspaper contact.
Hurst says the Trojan was programmed to be on the hard drive for three months and then it self-destructed.
The hacker admitted that he placed it [the Trojan] on Hurst's hard drive.
"We know there was a Trojan on the hard drive and I have seen the evidence."
Hurst sent him an email with an attachment which he opened and that was it.
He said he thinks he sent it from a bogus email address.
Hurst says:
We had a meeting. I had known Mr X for number of years, we had a drink and in a relaxed atmosphere he made it clear these events took place a long time ago ? there was nothing personal, it was professional, which I accepted.
He outlined the majority of people involved in the conspiracy. He was keen to leave out one or two for his own personal reasons and he more or less charted the events from the middle of June 2006, he states for a three-month period, and all documents he could access via Trojan - emails, hard drive, social media.
He didn't say this, but the Trojan would have allowed [him see through the cam], the webcam, so he could have actually seen me or the kids at the desk.
Hurst says:
I was aware that there was probably gaps in knowledge by the BBC. The reality was that we needed to confront him ? I needed to extract that information to put together the jigsaw puzzle.
During the making of the documentary he confronted Mr X and met him in a local hotel.
X said he was not surprised that you had made contact. He had heard a few days earlier that Panorama "were sniffing around".
The private investigator had employed a private detective who specialised in computer viruses to do the computer hacking job.
This individual was known to Hurst as he had served in the intelligence forces in northern Ireland for three years.
He tells how his computer was hacked by a "Trojan horse". He says the military Trojans would have been quite sophisticated because they would have contained in a "micro-dot" or a "full stop" but the newspaper Trojans were not so sophisticated because they required someone to open an attachement.
He had been shown a seven-page fax by the BBC. This contained material from July 2006 which was "not only material from his computer" but also "one particular extract from an email and other material that hadn't been directly related" to his computer.
"It was a precis of information they had collected and forwarded to Dublin [to the News of the World headquarters in Ireland]."
The Panorama team covertly filmed one of the computer hackers involved. The film was shot over two-and-a-half hours and this was cut to about one minute.
He told the BBC that he believed one of his computers was hacked by the News of the World.
He went to live in France in 1994 but has maintained links with his previous work.
He goes on to discuss the Panorama documentary about the phone and computer hacking row that was engulfing the News of the World. It was broadcast in March 2011 and contained an interview with Hurst.
Here is Roy Greenslade's coverage of the programme at the time.
His statement is redacted because of a gagging order ? an injunction brought by the Crown against him in 1999.
He says his job was to recruit, develop and exploit agents in republican paramilitary organisations.
Hurst was a "handler" in northern Ireland and acted as one of the British army's contacts for IRA spies.
He served in covert units between 1980 and 1991 in northern Ireland.
Leveson is now back. Ian Hurst, the former British army intelligence officer, is the next witness.
The inquiry has now taken a five-minute break.
Jefferies finishes his evidence by saying:
I very much hope that as a result of the present inquiry, it will be possible to put in a place arrangements whereby it will be very difficult indeed for newspapers to in the future behave in the way they did in my case.
Jefferies says the libel actions completely cleared him of any involvement in the murder and also of any improper behaviour in his past.
However he says he "will never fully recover from the events" and the "incalculable" effect will "be difficult ever to escape".
He tells Leveson:
The smears were so extensive, it's true to say there will always be people who don't know me, who will retain the impression that I am some sort of very weird character indeed who is best avoided.
Jefferies says the bias against him was not confined to tabloid newspapers.
He doesn't identify the paper, but cites one broadsheet that ignored reader protests about the coverage of his arrest.
I am aware that quite a large number of people complained about a newspaper. None of those letters were published in that broadsheet and there was no response to those letters even when one of their columnists brought them to the attention to the editor.
Jefferies says the apologies in the newspapers were printed "on page 2 towards the top of the page". He received no communication from the editors of the papers that made payouts.
Jefferies wrote to the PCC complaining about the "scurrilous reporting of an innocent man". In a lengthy written appeal for action he said:
In the coverage of my case there was flagrant lawlessness. Newspapers searching for sensation and increased sales will take almost any risk.
He tells Leveson he didn't receive an acknowledgement from the PCC.
?�11.55am UPDATE: The PCC has responded to Jefferies's comment as follows:
That is regrettable and we will be writing to him to explain the position.
We contacted him (via his representatives) on a number of occasions since he first came to attention, including the letter requesting his comments to which he has referred. We are still considering all of the circumstances of his case, with a view to making use of it for the purposes of reform. The PCC proactively made itself available to Mr Jefferies, including after the end of the libel trial. We are actively considering the points he has made to us.
Jefferies says the director of the PCC, Stephen Abell, wrote to his solicitor indicating that it would wish to examine how the problems arose and how they could be prevented.
Jefferies also gave an interview to ITV which can be seen here. He gave it to ITV because he used to teach the reporter.
Leveson says "it was worse than that" ? it was "damaging" and "false".
Jefferies says:
It is incontestable that the whole slanting of the coverage was as sensational as it was exploitative, as titillating to appeal in every possible way to people's voyeuristic instincts.
Jefferies did give one interview. It was with Brian Cathcart for the Financial Times, published on 8 October.
He said Cathcart did a good job of "distilling" his experience.
Legal proceedings are never speedy, says Jefferies, and it took three months for his case to come to court. Jay says "that is pretty fast".
Some of the newspapers admitted liability and agreed to pay damages.
Jefferies then launched libel proceedings against eight newspapers ? the Sun, the Daily Express, Daily Mail, The Daily Mirror, the Scotsman, the Daily Record and the Sunday Mirror.
Here's a link to the Guardian's story at the time.
On 4 March, the police lifted Jefferies's bail conditions.
Jefferies said the period preceding was hell:
It was the most difficult period I have spent living this hole-in-corner existence with my life in effect being in abeyance.
A statement by Yeates's boyfriend Greg Riordan was more or less ignored by the press in relation to Jefferies.
The third article which attracted contempt proceedings was on the Daily Mirror on New Year's Day. It was headlined: "Was killer waiting in Jo's flat?"
Jefferies says it suggested that because he was the the landlord and had keys to the flat he must have been waiting there for Yeates's return.
An article in the Daily Mirror on 31 December 2010 which was the subject of contempt of court proceedings was headlined "Jo suspect is peeping tom".
"It appears to be linking you to an old murder and paedophile crimes," Robert Jay the counsel for the inquiry notes.
A Sun article titled "The strange Mr Jefferies" referred to him as "WEIRD 'Strange talk, strange walk'; POSH 'Loved culture, poetry'; LEWD 'Made sexual remarks'; CREEPY 'Loner with blue rinse hair'". It also branded him a "creepy oddball".
Another article was headlined "Murder police quiz nutty professor".
There were more than 40 articles cited in Jefferies' evidence.
Three of the articles were held in contempt of court including the Sun, which reported "Jo suspect scared kids - obsessed by death", and an article in the Daily Mirror asking "Was killer waiting in Jo's flat?".
The inquiry hears how the press protrayed Jefferies as some sort of sexual deviant.
It was certainly suggested that there may well have been some sort of sexual motive for the murder of Joanna Yeates and ... it was suggested in some of the articles that I was gay.
So that created a bit of a problem as far as that line goes. There was another suggestion that I was a bisexual. The press were trying to have it every possible way.
The impact of these photographs was that I was instantly recognisable. It would be fair to say that I had a distinctive appearance and it was a result of the entire world knowing what I looked like. It was suggested to me that I ought to change my appearance so I wouldn't be recognised and harassed by the media.
Sources often had very spurious links to him.
One of them just happened to live in a flat that he had owned.
Somebody who was not on the staff of the establishment where I was teaching ? had at one time lived in one of the flats in the building where I live. He had sold that flat to somebody else, who sold it to another person, it was that person who I eventually bought the flat. There was a very considerable gap [between buying the flat from the person].
Jefferies says reporters were so good at hunting him down, they were like private detectives.
The efforts which some members of the press went to to contact some of these people was extraordinary and worthy of private detectives, I would have thought.
A number of those who were contacted by the press refused to make any statements. Very many of the comments contained in the articles published are not attributed ? only a handful are attributed. I haven't been in contact with any of those whose names have been attached to supposed quotations.
Jefferies says he felt he was under "house arrest" after his release from custody, besieged by press.
I was very strongly advised not to go out. If it had have been apparent where I was staying those friends would have been beseiged by reporters and photographers.
In effect for a period after I was released I was effectively under house arrest and went from friends to friends, rather as if I was a recusant priest at the time of the Reformation going from safe house to safe house.
During the time Jefferies was in custody he was not aware of the reporting by the press.
When he was released, his solicitor outlined in "general terms" what the press coverage had been.
They suggested that it might be good for his "psychological health" that he didn't read the coverage.
At this point the press were also talking to his neighbours, but at that point they had not got in contact with any former pupils or relatives.
Jefferies is asked whether there was any interest by the press before the arrest.
Jefferies says the press were interested in the second statement he had given to the police.
They had a "garbled version" of this statement, Jefferies says.
The inquiry is now setting the scene for Jefferies testimony. It was 17 December last year when Joanne Yeates disappeared. Jefferies was arrested at 7am on 30 December and released on police bail on 1 January 2011.
Jefferies, who is well spoken and composed, is now running through his career. He is now retired, and owns three flats in Bristol.
Jefferies, a former schoolteacher, won a case against two papers for contempt in their coverage; the Sun was fined �18,000, and the Daily Mirror �50,000.
It must be singularly unpleasant to relive the events that you lived through, Leveson tells Jefferies.
Chris Jefferies is now taking the stand.
Dan Sabbagh, our head of media, tweets:
Brilliant. Paul Staines who is opposed press regulation, is now summoned to Leveson. Statutory regulation right there.
Here are profiles of today's witnesses:
Christopher Jefferies
This time last year Christopher Jefferies was an anonymous former English teacher from Bristol. His life was turned upside down over a manic fortnight of tabloid intrusion in December, after he was arrested and later released without charge over the murder of the architect Joanna Yeates. His public "character assassination", as Jefferies' solicitor later described it, led to Britain's tabloid press appearing in the dock over charges of libel and contempt of court. Eight titles ? the Sun, Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, Daily Record, Daily Mail, Daily Star, Scotsman and Daily Express ? agreed to pay Jefferies substantial libel damages, thought to total six figures, in July. The Sun and Daily Mirror were separately fined �18,000 and �50,000 respectively for contempt of court.
Ian Hurst
Hurst is a former British army intelligence officer who worked in Northern Ireland. His computer was allegedly hacked by the News of the World, which was supposedly searching for details of an IRA informer. Hurst claims that a private investigator confirmed to him that he placed a Trojan virus on his hard drive to obtain emails over a three-month period for the News of the World. This is now the subject of a Scotland Yard investigation. The BBC's Panorama filmed Hurst being shown copies of information allegedly obtained from his computer. The programme claimed the investigator was commissioned by Alex Marunchak, a former News of the World journalist who was a senior figure at the paper. Hurst is suing the owner of the defunct paper, Rupert Murdoch's News International, in the high court.
Jane Winter
A peace campaigner and charity worker in Northern Ireland who runs British Irish Rights Watch, a non-governmental organisation which monitors human rights abuses on both sides of the political and religious divide.
Charlotte Church
Charlotte Church will tell the Leveson inquiry how the News of the World in 2005 printed lurid details of her father's alleged extramarital affair allegedly gleaned from voicemail messages left on the singer's phone. Through intercepted voicemail messages, the paper is alleged to have learned that Church's mother was admitted to hospital shortly before the story was published after attempting to commit suicide. Barrister David Sherborne told the Leveson inquiry that the News of the World then approached Church's mother and persuaded her to an exclusive interview about the affair, in return for not publishing further "lurid" details gleaned from alleged voicemail intercepts. "When people talk of public interest in exposing the private lives of well-known people or those close to them this, is the real, brutally real impact, which this kind of journalism has," Sherborne said.
Anne Diamond
Former breakfast TV presenter Anne Diamond insists her battle with News International began over two decades ago, when she asked Rupert Murdoch at a party how it felt to own newspapers that ruin people's lives. "You can't do that to a newspaper mogul," David Sherborne told the Leveson inquiry. Diamond is expected to tell the inquiry how she felt when the Sun published a front page picture of her holding her son's coffin at his funeral in 1991. On a separate occasion, the Sun was accused of paying the Diamond family's nanny to reveal intimate details about her alleged relationship with Diamond's husband.
Leveson shows his displeasure with Guido Fawkes. "It wasn't how I was envisaging spending Sunday evening either," he says referring to the leak last night on Fawkes blog.
The judge say he is concerned to "deprive" Guido Fawkes of that "oxygen" of publicity.
He says he will be summoning Paul Staines to explain how he got the testimony.
I intend to issue notice under section 21 of the Inquiries Act requiring him to disclose how he came about the evidence ... and requiring him to give evidence.
Caplan says:
The fact is that although the leak itself has been widely published the contents of Mr Campbell's statement it appears have not been widely disseminated. The content of Mr Campbell's statement make a number of points against a number of organisations and individuals.
Jonathan Caplan, counsel for Associated Newspapers, does not want Campbell's statement to be published today.
Leveson says his view last night was that it should be published today ? two days in advance ? this is affording people 72 hours' notice in advance.
Leveson says he does not want to give Guido Fawkes "the oxygen of additional publicity" and is minded to have the Campbell testimony published.
Leveson says he is "concerned for the future" and has warned anyone who leaks testimony that they can be referred to the high court for "appropriate action".
He has reminded those at the hearing that section 19 of the Inquiries Act restricts the publication or disclosure whether in whole or in part ? outside the confidentiality circle which comprises Leveson, his assessors, the core inquiry team, the core participants ? any statement prior to the making of the statement orally.
The blogger got hold of Campbell's draft statement and published it three days before he was due to appear. Normally the statement is not made available until the witness is sworn in.
I am obviously concerned about the security of the information that is available and to maintain the integrity of the inquiry as we move forward.
As a result I am intending to inquire ... into the circumstances in which this statement came to be made available for publication.
The inquiry has now opened and Lord Justice Leveson is talking about Guido Fawkes' leak of Alastair Campbell's witness statement.
Roy Greenslade today writes how many veteran journalists were appalled by the evidence given at the Leveson inquiry last week:
Evidence given to the Leveson inquiry last week appalled many veteran journalists. Among them was John Dale ? a former national newspaper reporter and magazine editor ? who wrote on the gentlemenranters site of "journalistic corruption and debasement" that "shamed Fleet Street."
Another hardened old hand, Jim Cassidy, was disgusted too. As the editor of two red-tops ? the Glasgow-based Sunday Mail and, briefly, theSunday Mirror ? he knows the business from the inside.
I am pleased to act as host to his passionate response to the revelations of the first week's hearings...
Do journalists cry? Do editors cry? Do photographers cry? They should. They do. They must. I advise any of the journalists due to attend court 73 of the Royal Courts of Justice over the next week to stop and take some time out at prayer room E131.
There, they can find time to reflect, pray and perhaps shed a few tears for the hurt, anguish and pain they have caused...
At the Leveson inquiry today is Dan Sabbagh - you can follow him on @dansabbagh.
On the live blog today are Lisa O'Carroll and Josh Halliday ? you can follow them on Twitter at @lisaocarroll and @JoshHalliday.
James Robinson ? @jamesro47 ? is also in court to cover an application by Steve Coogan and former Max Clifford PR Nicola Phillips to force former private investigator Glenn Mulcaire to reveal who ordered him to hack into phones. The hearing begins at 10.30am.
We will bring you the latest as soon as it breaks.
Lord Justice Leveson yesterday summoned Guido Fawkes blogger Paul Staines to give evidence to the inquiry after his website published evidence from Alastair Campbell three days before it was due to be publicly heard.
Evidence has not previously been made available to the public or the press until the witness is sworn in, but the leak was apparently of a draft Campbell testimony.
Good morning and welcome to day eight at the Leveson inquiry.
The paparazzi will be centre stage again today, with singer Charlotte Church describing how she has been tailed by photographers throughout her life but particularly when she started dating rugby player Gavin Henson.
Former army intelligence officer Ian Hurst will testify on his experience on northern Ireland where he alleges he was spied on by press interested in his job as a "handler" for IRA informers.
Newspaper stories about alleged spy Freddie Scappaticci and murdered solicitor Pat Finucane are expected to be raised.
Hurst believes someone acting for a newspaper infected his computer with a Trojan virus to try and establish Scappaticci's whereabouts and to source information about Martin McGuinness.
Also taking the stand today is former breakfast TV presenter Anne Diamond; Chris Jefferies, the Bristol landlord wrongly linked to the murder of Joanne Yeates; and Jane Winter, a peace campaigner who has worked in northern Ireland.
Please note that comments have been turned off for legal reasons.
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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/blog/2011/nov/28/leveson-inquiry-charlotte-church-anne-diamond-live
niedziela, 27 listopada 2011
Leveson inquiry: blogger summoned over leak
Probe after Guido Fawkes posts Alastair Campbell evidence three days before it was due to be heard
The Leveson inquiry into the culture, practice and ethics of the press has been forced to a launch an inquiry into a possible leak of its own after a document purporting to be the evidence of Tony Blair's former communications adviser, Alastair Campbell, was released on a political blog three days before it was due to be heard.
Lord Justice Leveson has summoned Paul Staines to appear before the inquiry to probe how a version of Campbell's evidence, which included his fear that a newspaper may have hacked phone messages involving Cherie Blair while she was in Downing Street, came to appear on the Order-Order website he runs under the pseudonym Guido Fawkes.
A statement on the inquiry website said the judge was extremely concerned to hear about the publication in spite of strict confidentiality agreements under which witness statements are disclosed in order that witnesses may prepare for the evidence.
"The website asserts that this statement was obtained by 'legal means' but Lord Justice Leveson will be enquiring further into this claim and Mr Paul Staines will be required to give evidence pursuant to section 21 of the Inquiries Act 2005," it said. "Witness statements are disclosed under strict confidentiality agreements in order that participants can prepare for the evidence; that confidentiality must be observed to maintain the integrity of the inquiry."
Campbell said on Twitter he was "genuinely shocked someone has seen fit to leak my statement to Leveson". Staines' website published extracts from what it claimed to be Campbell's evidence and a link to a document.
It is understood that the evidence published may be an early draft which differs from what Campbell finally submitted to the inquiry.
The inquiry said: "In the interests of fairness to Mr Campbell and others, Lord Justice Leveson has directed (and Mr Campbell has agreed) that his statement, which had been amended slightly, should be published on Monday on the inquiry website."
Campbell was due to give evidence on Wednesday morning and has prepared a wide-ranging critique of the media, sections of which were extracted on the Guido Fawkes blog.
The controversy comes at the start of the third week of hearings. Last week was dominated by the testimonies of Kate and Gerry McCann, the parents of Madeleine McCann, and Margaret Watson, from Glasgow, who told the inquiry how her son killed himself after reading derogatory articles about his dead sister. Actors Steve Coogan and Hugh Grant also took the stand along with JK Rowling and Sienna Miller.
Appearingon Monday will be Chris Jefferies, the Bristol landlord who won libel damages from eight national newspapers after they ran inaccurate and defamatory stories about him following the murder of his tenant Joanna Yates in December 2010. The singer Charlotte Church will be questioned about alleged phone hacking of her family and the former TV presenter Anne Diamond will also speak. Diamond was involved in an acrimonious divorce from Mike Hollingsworth and their private lives were written about extensively by the tabloid press.
, Nick Davies, the Guardian journalist who has led the phone-hacking revelations, will be questioned ahead of former tabloid reporters, Richard Peppiatt and Paul McMullan.
Peppiatt has confessed to making up stories while he was at the Daily Star. He has said he was ordered to do so and was paid a �150 bonus when he did.
Paul McMullan is a former deputy features editor at the News of the World who has publicly defended phone hacking and criticised Steve Coogan for "bleating" about it in a memorable clash on Newsnight.
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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/nov/27/leveson-inquiry-leak-blogger-summoned
Today's mystery bird for you to identify | @GrrlScientist
This Ethiopian mystery bird has a special anatomic feature sets it apart from all other passerine families
Mystery Bird photographed at the Gerfasa Reservoir, Ethiopia. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 11 February 2011 (with permission) [velociraptorize].
Nikon D300, 600 mm lens, f/9, 1/1250 sec, ISO 800
This Ethiopian mystery bird is part of a taxonomic family with a special anatomic feature sets it apart from all other passerine families. What is this anatomic feature? Can you identify this species and name its taxonomic family?
About the Daily Mystery Bird:
The Rules:
1. Keep in mind that people live in zillions of different time zones around the globe, and some people are following on their mobile phones. So let everyone play the game. Wait to identify the bird until 24 to 36 hours after it's been published.
2. If you know the bird's identity, provide subtle hints to let others know that you know. Your hints may be helpful as small clues to less experienced players.
3. Describe the key field marks that distinguish this species from any similar ones.
4. Comments that spoil others' enjoyment may be deleted.
The Game:
1. This is meant to be a learning experience where together we learn a few things about birds and about the process of identifying them (and maybe about ourselves, too).
2. Each mystery bird is usually accompanied by a question or two. These questions can be useful for identifying the pictured species, but may instead be used to illustrate an interesting aspect of avian biology, behaviour or evolution, or may be intended to generate conversation on other topics, such as conservation or ethics.
3. Thoughtful comments will add to everyone's enjoyment, and will keep the suspense going until the next teaser is published. Interesting snippets may add to the knowledge of all.
4. Each bird species will be demystified approximately 48 hours after publication.
You are invited to review all of the daily mystery birds by going to their dedicated graphic index page.
If you have bird images, video or mp3 files that you'd like to share with a large and (mostly) appreciative international audience here at The Guardian, feel free to contact me to learn more.
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
twitter: @GrrlScientist
facebook: grrlscientist
email: grrlscientist@gmail.com
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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/punctuated-equilibrium/2011/nov/26/3
sobota, 26 listopada 2011
Take Shelter: 'Spins us around and shouts in our face' - video review
Xan Brooks is impressed and alarmed by Jeff Nichols's brooding take on societal unease
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/video/2011/nov/25/take-shelter-video-review
Thomas Cook secures �100m lifeline
Troubled tour operator given last-minute lending extension by its banks after three days of emergency talks
Debt-laden tour operator Thomas Cook secured a new deal with its lending banks late on Friday night, following three days of emergency talks to avert a winter debt crisis. The deal should remove highly damaging doubts about the company's future solvency.
An additional �100m extension to existing borrowing facilities is expected to remove immediate concerns prospective customers may have over Thomas Cook's future. However, the deal is unlikely to be the last word in longer term discussions with shareholders and lenders over the group's colossal debt burden. A more radical solution to the tour operator's borrowings is expected to be sought.
On Friday night Thomas Cook said the emergency deal "significantly improves the robustness of the group's financial position". It added that it was taking "steps to reduce the group's debt and reach a more appropriate capital structure over time".
Alongside the extended borrowing facility, Thomas Cook has secured a further loosening to the terms of a critical loan covenant test which it risked failing at the end of next month. The group's net debt ? which, in common with all tour operators', fluctuates throughout the year ? is expected to peak at the end of December at about �1.5bn.
An initial �100m loan extension and a lighter covenant test were agreed only five weeks ago. However, recent poor booking rates in France and Belgium forced the tour operator to return to its lenders cap in hand. Some 17 banks ? led by Barclays, HSBC and Unicredit ? were as anxious as Thomas Cook's management to secure a deal as quickly as possible in the hope of resolving the tour operator's crisis before uncertainty over its finances began to affect customer bookings and damaged its relationships with hotels and airlines.
Yesterday, rival group Tui Travel, which controls the Thomson and First Choice brands, took out full-page adverts in the national press saying "another holiday company may be experiencing turbulence, but we're in really great shape".
This week Thomas Cook shares slumped by 75% after the shock announcement ? for the second time in a month ? that the business needed a further �100m to ensure it could stay within loan agreements.
The warning prompted Thomas Cook to postpone its full-year results and much-awaited restructuring plans for the troublesome UK business.
The results will now be published in three weeks' time.
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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/nov/26/thomas-cook-secures-deal-with-banks
Snooping around ? in pictures
From a Yorkshire town house to a Cornish wreck in need of attention
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/gallery/2011/nov/26/snooping-around-homes-market
czwartek, 24 listopada 2011
Removed: Joe Strummer article
This article was taken down on 23 November after it became clear the source was incorrect about Julie Delpy signing on to direct a Joe Strummer biopic
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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/nov/23/removed-joe-strummer-article
środa, 23 listopada 2011
Zeebox brings TV and Twitter together
Dual-screen app for smartphone and iPad offers viewers social network updates, viewing figures and fact tags in real time
Following live Twitter commentaries from the likes of the Daily Mirror's 3am column and Caitlin Moran has become an indispensable part of watching The X Factor or Strictly Come Dancing on Saturday nights. Suddenly, watching primetime TV without Twitter or Facebook feels like you're missing a shared event.
Until this week, no startup or broadcaster had made a convincing attempt to capitalise on this so-called "dual-screen phenomenon". The BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Sky all have smartphone and iPad apps, but none display updates from social networking sites.
Enter Zeebox, a new iPad app and website that combines social networking, live programme information and real-time viewing figures in a way that manages to complement the latest episode of Doctor Who or Downton Abbey. That is feat enough, but the free app also turns into a remote control for internet-connected TVs.
Zeebox is the brainchild of Anthony Rose, the former chief technology officer responsible for the BBC's iPlayer, and Ernesto Schmitt, a former marketing executive at EMI.
"In many ways the last 10 years have fundamentally shaped how we all expect to consume entertainment, and that's often driven by technology," says Schmitt. "Technological change is driving fundamental consumer change. But TV has remained unchanged since the 1970s. That struck us as untenable."
Schmitt says they could not have launched Zeebox six months ago, but a recent tipping point in Britons' use of smartphones and social networks meant now is the right time for such a "racy" idea.
Britons' appetite for media multitasking is indisputable. The regulator Ofcom found it in abundance last year, and Zeebox's own study of 4,800 13 to 65-year-olds earlier this year found 57% of us "often or almost always" send emails or browse social networks while watching TV. Broadcasters are waking up to this, too. In the US, viewers of The X Factor can vote via Twitter's direct messaging function (no plans for a UK launch yet, we're told).
Zeebox is nothing if not ambitious. From the iPad app's homepage, users can see in real time which channel the majority of Zeebox users are watching, giving a snapshot of what the nation is viewing. It tells users whether viewership is "booming", "steady" or ? avert your eyes, Simon Cowell ? "plummeting".
Several broadcasters and programme makers have asked Zeebox for this real-time data so they can analyse viewer sentiment during live programmes, according to Schmitt.
But the app isn't just an electronic programme guide with bells on. Alongside a stream of programme-related tweets and a chat box sits the company's "secret sauce", dubbed Zeetags.
Zeetags offer a short precis of Wikipedia information about any given topic, place, person or thing mentioned in the programme you are watching, as well as links to related news or products. For example, Zeetags profiles of Pakistan cricketers Mohammad Asif and Salman Butt appeared during BBC's 1pm news bulletin on Tuesday during a report on the duo's spot-fixing verdict.
Schmitt describes Zeebox as Google for TV ? "we spider live TV, extract content and bring users together ? and cites the recent MediaGuardian Edinburgh international television festival speech given by executive chairman Eric Schmidt who said: "If content is king, context is its crown".
Early usage of Zeebox on the iPad, Apple's app of the week since its launch last week, has "completely blown us away", says Schmitt. He won't give a precise figure, but claims tens of thousands of downloads in the UK alone ? a figure he claims is growing by a third each day. More significantly, Schmitt says the average session length for each user is 30 minutes ? indicating most users have Zeebox open for the duration of a programme.
Though Schmitt doesn't mention paid arrangements, he says Zeebox is in talks with broadcasters and advertisers about using its dataset. Zeebox also takes an affiliate cut of transactions sold through Amazon or iTunes from the app. In future, he says, advertisers could correspond their on-screen ad with marketing materials inside the app.
"Fundamentally, this is a consumer-facing proposition," Schmitt says. "If a massive audience engages with it [it will generate revenue], whether or not broadcasters are interested in the data feeds is kind of irrelevant."
If the rise of the "dual screen" is the latest trend in live TV, Zeebox represents the newest frontier in the increasingly symbiotic relationship between TV, social media and new technology.
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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2011/nov/02/zeebox-brings-tv-twitter-together
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