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Amazon is backing a referendum to overturn California's sales tax law, the New York Times reports.
Here's what's going on: states -- deep in the hole these days -- want e-tailers, and in particular Amazon, to collect sales tax on their affiliates. Amazon and others say, correctly, that they don't have to if they don't have a presence in the state. This debate has been going on for a while but has new urgency given the budgetary troubles of most states.
Affiliate marketing is one of the big ways Amazon generates incremental sales, so it's a big deal for them.
Recently California demanded the sales tax from Amazon. In response, Amazon shut off its affiliates. California then said, in essence, too bad, you still owe us all the sales tax from before you shut them off. And then Amazon gave them the one-finger salute.
So here we are.
Now Amazon is fighting back with the tools it has, a referendum to change the law in California.
A couple things are worth noting here.
Amazon is in the right here. The law and constitutional jurisprudence say it doesn't have to collect sales tax in states where it doesn't have nexus.Amazon supports a federal-level solution which is backed by 40 states called the Streamlined Sales Tax Initiative.And finally, anyone who messes with Jeff Bezos is in for a big fight.
JEFF BEZOS: Here's Why He Won ?
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Tuesday, 12 July 2011
News Corp boosts buyback plan to $5bn - Financial Times
News Corp will use $3.2bn of the cash it had stored up(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
for the acquisition of British Sky Broadcasting to boost its share buyback programme from $1.8bn to $5bn, in Rupert Murdoch’s latest dramatic response to a crisis that has weighed heavily on the media group’s shares.
The unexpected Tuesday morning announcement is likely to be welcomed by investors and analysts who have long argued for larger buybacks, but is unlikely to dent News Corp’s ability to afford the 61 per cent of BSkyB it does not already own.
On Monday, News Corp opted for a longer review of that deal at the hands of the UK Competition Commission, rather than face a hostile political climate in which ministers were coming under growing pressure to intervene in the deal and other regulators were being asked whether News Corp was a “fit and proper” media owner.
The expanded buyback programme, which will be made over the coming 12 months, is News Corp’s latest tactical response to a spreading legal, political and corporate crisis emanating from allegations of phone hacking on its News of the World tabloid Sunday newspaper.
Last week, James Murdoch, head of News Corp Europe and Asia, announced that it would close the London title, and, on Monday, News Corp withdrew the concessions that would have averted a Competition Commission investigation that could take six months to a year.
News Corp can easily afford the buyback, analysts said, with annual free cashflow of about $1.3bn, and net debt at just 0.3 times estimated 2012 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda).
One analyst estimated that its planned purchase of BSkyB would have taken net debt to just 2.3 times ebitda, and that the multiple would rise to a still manageable three times with the larger buyback.
The likely delay left News Corp facing the prospect of having more than $10bn of unused cash on its balance sheet for another year. The buyback may aso have the effect of shoring up the Murdoch family’s control of the company, if they tender none of their own shares to the programme.
News Corp’s dual class stock gives Murdoch family trusts control of just under 40 per cent of the voting rights with a far smaller equity stake.
News Corp shares, which suffered their biggest daily loss since April 2009 on Monday, opened up as much as 3.5 per cent in New York on Tuesday to $16.57.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011. You may share using our article tools.
Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.
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for the acquisition of British Sky Broadcasting to boost its share buyback programme from $1.8bn to $5bn, in Rupert Murdoch’s latest dramatic response to a crisis that has weighed heavily on the media group’s shares.
The unexpected Tuesday morning announcement is likely to be welcomed by investors and analysts who have long argued for larger buybacks, but is unlikely to dent News Corp’s ability to afford the 61 per cent of BSkyB it does not already own.
On Monday, News Corp opted for a longer review of that deal at the hands of the UK Competition Commission, rather than face a hostile political climate in which ministers were coming under growing pressure to intervene in the deal and other regulators were being asked whether News Corp was a “fit and proper” media owner.
The expanded buyback programme, which will be made over the coming 12 months, is News Corp’s latest tactical response to a spreading legal, political and corporate crisis emanating from allegations of phone hacking on its News of the World tabloid Sunday newspaper.
Last week, James Murdoch, head of News Corp Europe and Asia, announced that it would close the London title, and, on Monday, News Corp withdrew the concessions that would have averted a Competition Commission investigation that could take six months to a year.
News Corp can easily afford the buyback, analysts said, with annual free cashflow of about $1.3bn, and net debt at just 0.3 times estimated 2012 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda).
One analyst estimated that its planned purchase of BSkyB would have taken net debt to just 2.3 times ebitda, and that the multiple would rise to a still manageable three times with the larger buyback.
The likely delay left News Corp facing the prospect of having more than $10bn of unused cash on its balance sheet for another year. The buyback may aso have the effect of shoring up the Murdoch family’s control of the company, if they tender none of their own shares to the programme.
News Corp’s dual class stock gives Murdoch family trusts control of just under 40 per cent of the voting rights with a far smaller equity stake.
News Corp shares, which suffered their biggest daily loss since April 2009 on Monday, opened up as much as 3.5 per cent in New York on Tuesday to $16.57.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011. You may share using our article tools.
Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.
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Alcoa stock down over aluminum price concerns - Reuters
NEW YORK | Tue Jul 12, 2011 9:51am EDT(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares in Alcoa Inc slipped on Tuesday despite posting a strong second-quarter profit, as some analysts voiced concern over a recent drop in aluminum prices.
In early trading on the New York Stock Exchange, the company's stock was down 10 cents at $15.82, while aluminum fell to $2,451 per tonne in London, its lowest price since late January.
UBS cut Alcoa's price target to $16.25 from $16.75 and maintained a "neutral" investment rating on the aluminum producer, which kicked off the earnings season on Monday with a profit that matched Wall Street estimates. Its revenue beat expectations, largely on higher metal prices and volumes.
Analyst David Lipschitz, of Credit Agricole Securities, said his third-quarter estimate of 24 cents per share was lower than Alcoa's second-quarter 32 cents-per-share profit "as we expect prices for aluminum to be lower than in the second quarter.
"We remain concerned that aluminum is a difficult industry in which to capture higher prices as Alcoa continues to see costs pressure," he wrote in a research note.
Tony Rizzuto, of Dahlman Rose & Co, was more positive, reaffirming his "buy" rating on Alcoa and a $22 price target
"The company is effectively managing an environment of rising raw material costs while expanding margins, and is well positioned to benefit from what we believe to be a bullish environment for aluminum."
(Reporting by Steve James; Editing by Maureen Bavdek)
View the original article here
In early trading on the New York Stock Exchange, the company's stock was down 10 cents at $15.82, while aluminum fell to $2,451 per tonne in London, its lowest price since late January.
UBS cut Alcoa's price target to $16.25 from $16.75 and maintained a "neutral" investment rating on the aluminum producer, which kicked off the earnings season on Monday with a profit that matched Wall Street estimates. Its revenue beat expectations, largely on higher metal prices and volumes.
Analyst David Lipschitz, of Credit Agricole Securities, said his third-quarter estimate of 24 cents per share was lower than Alcoa's second-quarter 32 cents-per-share profit "as we expect prices for aluminum to be lower than in the second quarter.
"We remain concerned that aluminum is a difficult industry in which to capture higher prices as Alcoa continues to see costs pressure," he wrote in a research note.
Tony Rizzuto, of Dahlman Rose & Co, was more positive, reaffirming his "buy" rating on Alcoa and a $22 price target
"The company is effectively managing an environment of rising raw material costs while expanding margins, and is well positioned to benefit from what we believe to be a bullish environment for aluminum."
(Reporting by Steve James; Editing by Maureen Bavdek)
View the original article here
Microchip Sinks on Lowered 1Q View - Fox Business
By Matt Egan
Published July 12, 2011
| FOXBusiness(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
Shares of Microchip Technology (MCHP) tumbled nearly 10% Tuesday morning in response to the company’s gloomier guidance about the current quarter.
After Monday’s closing bell, Microchip, which makes microcontrollers and analog semiconductors, cut its fiscal first-quarter guidance amid “broad-based weakness.”
The Chandler, Ariz.-based tech company said it now sees first-quarter non-GAAP EPS of 53 cents to 55 cents on a 1.5% sequential decline in sales. Previously, Microchip forecasted non-GAAP EPS of 58 cents to 62 cents on a 1% to 6% sequential rise in revenue.
Steve Sanghi, the CEO of Microchip, blamed the weaker-than-expected preliminary results on a range of factors, including weakness in its auto business in the wake of the Japan earthquake, high unemployment, lofty oil prices and high unemployment.
In response, analysts at UBS downgraded Microchip to “neutral” from “buy.” JPMorgan slashed its price target to $29 from $36 and maintained its “neutral” rating.
“While we are obviously disappointed with our June quarter results, we continue to see excellent design win traction in our microcontroller and analog product lines and maintain a strong competitive position,” Sanghi said.
Looking ahead, Microchip warned it expects its September quarter revenue to be down low to mid-single digits sequentially.
Shareholders punished Microchip for the disappointing guidance, sending its stock dropping 8.97% to $37.48 ahead of Tuesday’s open.
View the original article here
Published July 12, 2011
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After Monday’s closing bell, Microchip, which makes microcontrollers and analog semiconductors, cut its fiscal first-quarter guidance amid “broad-based weakness.”
The Chandler, Ariz.-based tech company said it now sees first-quarter non-GAAP EPS of 53 cents to 55 cents on a 1.5% sequential decline in sales. Previously, Microchip forecasted non-GAAP EPS of 58 cents to 62 cents on a 1% to 6% sequential rise in revenue.
Steve Sanghi, the CEO of Microchip, blamed the weaker-than-expected preliminary results on a range of factors, including weakness in its auto business in the wake of the Japan earthquake, high unemployment, lofty oil prices and high unemployment.
In response, analysts at UBS downgraded Microchip to “neutral” from “buy.” JPMorgan slashed its price target to $29 from $36 and maintained its “neutral” rating.
“While we are obviously disappointed with our June quarter results, we continue to see excellent design win traction in our microcontroller and analog product lines and maintain a strong competitive position,” Sanghi said.
Looking ahead, Microchip warned it expects its September quarter revenue to be down low to mid-single digits sequentially.
Shareholders punished Microchip for the disappointing guidance, sending its stock dropping 8.97% to $37.48 ahead of Tuesday’s open.
View the original article here
Pozen: It's Time for Social Security Reform - CNBC.com
The time is ripe for Social Security reform. Last month AARP(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
—a historic foe of such reform—announced its openness to modest benefit reductions in order to restore the program to solvency. This week President Obama offered major reforms to Social Security as part of a far-reaching debt reduction deal.
The outflows from Social Security exceeded its inflows in 2010, and it is projected to become insolvent around 2037 — requiring benefit cuts of 25% at that time.
To avoid these across-the-board cuts, Congress needs to package Social Security with measures that attract voters in the middle range of the wage spectrum.
Most proposals for reforming Social Security preserve the current benefit schedule for low wage earners and limit the growth of benefits for high wage earners.
While these two aspects of reform seem to be politically acceptable, the challenge is replacing any benefit reductions for workers in the middle-wage range — with salaries and bonuses (not other income) between $35,000 and $85,000 per year.
To deal with this political challenge, Congress should offer a government match to retirement contributions by workers in this middle-wage range. Specifically, Congress should adopt the Obama Administration's 2010 proposal for an enhanced Saver's Credit – whereby the federal government would match each year a $500 contribution to a retirement plan by any eligible worker with a $250 contribution.
Tom Grill | Photographer's Choice RF | Getty Images
Workers eligible for the full match would include couples with adjusted gross incomes of $65,000 per year or less ($32,500 for singles), with lower matches available to couples with adjusted gross incomes up to $85,000 per year ($42,500 for singles).
The value of this federal match, conservatively invested over a long career, would roughly offset the proposed reductions in scheduled Social Security benefits for the median worker.
Suppose a married male worker at age 30 receives the median US wage of $37,000 per year, and his spouse has annual wages of $13,000 for part time work. He contributes $500 each year to an IRA, which is matched by $250 from the federal government, until he retires at age 66.
If this $250 annual match were invested in a balanced fund – half in long-term government bonds and half in an S&P 500 index – with a real return averaging 5.8% per year, the total value of this match would be $30,150 at his retirement. With that sum at a 5.8% interest rate, he could buy a fixed annuity with monthly payments of $255 for the rest of his life.
These annuity payments from the Savers' Credit would make up most of the modest benefit reductions for middle-wage workers in the future—reductions likely needed to make Social Security solvent.
For example, actuaries estimate that the scheduled monthly benefits of the median worker retiring in 2045 would be reduced by approximately 16%, or $290, under my progressive indexing plan for reforming Social Security. That $290 reduction would be largely offset by the $255 supplemental retirement benefit from the lifetime annuity funded entirely by the federal match.
As a result, the total monthly payments of this median worker — from his federal match and a solvent Social Security program — would be almost the same as the current benefit schedule. And the worker will receive more each month to the extent that federal match induced him to contribute more to his retirement plan.
It bears emphasis that this federal match would come entirely from the Congressional appropriations process, and would not divert any monies from Social Security. This is not a proposal to privatize Social Security.
The proposed federal match will cost $30 billion over the next decade, according to official budget projections. However, if this federal match is the political "sweetener" to help enact Social Security reform, Congress should estimate the cost of the match over the next 75 years – the standard period for measuring Social Security's deficit. Assuming that the cost of federal match grows at a rate of 3% per year, its 75-year cost would be approximately $850 billion.
This is a relatively small price to pay to facilitate the passage of Social Security reform. Without such reform, Congress would have to appropriate more than $13 trillion over the next 75 years to make up the shortfall between the estimated revenues and annual obligations of Social Security.
In short, Congress should combine a generous Savers Credit with a progressive plan to eliminate the long-term deficit of Social Security. The combination would make up a significant portion of the benefit reductions that the AARP recognizes as necessary to restore the program to solvency.
And the combination would not undermine the current economic recovery, since these changes in Social Security would be phased in gradually and would not apply to anyone who is now over age 59.
Robert Pozen will appear today at 4:15 p.m. on Closing Bell with Maria Bartiromo.
_________________________
Robert Pozen is Chairman Emeritus of MFS Investment Management. He currently is a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School.
![]()
View the original article here
—a historic foe of such reform—announced its openness to modest benefit reductions in order to restore the program to solvency. This week President Obama offered major reforms to Social Security as part of a far-reaching debt reduction deal.
The outflows from Social Security exceeded its inflows in 2010, and it is projected to become insolvent around 2037 — requiring benefit cuts of 25% at that time.
To avoid these across-the-board cuts, Congress needs to package Social Security with measures that attract voters in the middle range of the wage spectrum.
Most proposals for reforming Social Security preserve the current benefit schedule for low wage earners and limit the growth of benefits for high wage earners.
While these two aspects of reform seem to be politically acceptable, the challenge is replacing any benefit reductions for workers in the middle-wage range — with salaries and bonuses (not other income) between $35,000 and $85,000 per year.
To deal with this political challenge, Congress should offer a government match to retirement contributions by workers in this middle-wage range. Specifically, Congress should adopt the Obama Administration's 2010 proposal for an enhanced Saver's Credit – whereby the federal government would match each year a $500 contribution to a retirement plan by any eligible worker with a $250 contribution.
Tom Grill | Photographer's Choice RF | Getty ImagesWorkers eligible for the full match would include couples with adjusted gross incomes of $65,000 per year or less ($32,500 for singles), with lower matches available to couples with adjusted gross incomes up to $85,000 per year ($42,500 for singles).
The value of this federal match, conservatively invested over a long career, would roughly offset the proposed reductions in scheduled Social Security benefits for the median worker.
Suppose a married male worker at age 30 receives the median US wage of $37,000 per year, and his spouse has annual wages of $13,000 for part time work. He contributes $500 each year to an IRA, which is matched by $250 from the federal government, until he retires at age 66.
If this $250 annual match were invested in a balanced fund – half in long-term government bonds and half in an S&P 500 index – with a real return averaging 5.8% per year, the total value of this match would be $30,150 at his retirement. With that sum at a 5.8% interest rate, he could buy a fixed annuity with monthly payments of $255 for the rest of his life.
These annuity payments from the Savers' Credit would make up most of the modest benefit reductions for middle-wage workers in the future—reductions likely needed to make Social Security solvent.
For example, actuaries estimate that the scheduled monthly benefits of the median worker retiring in 2045 would be reduced by approximately 16%, or $290, under my progressive indexing plan for reforming Social Security. That $290 reduction would be largely offset by the $255 supplemental retirement benefit from the lifetime annuity funded entirely by the federal match.
As a result, the total monthly payments of this median worker — from his federal match and a solvent Social Security program — would be almost the same as the current benefit schedule. And the worker will receive more each month to the extent that federal match induced him to contribute more to his retirement plan.
It bears emphasis that this federal match would come entirely from the Congressional appropriations process, and would not divert any monies from Social Security. This is not a proposal to privatize Social Security.
The proposed federal match will cost $30 billion over the next decade, according to official budget projections. However, if this federal match is the political "sweetener" to help enact Social Security reform, Congress should estimate the cost of the match over the next 75 years – the standard period for measuring Social Security's deficit. Assuming that the cost of federal match grows at a rate of 3% per year, its 75-year cost would be approximately $850 billion.
This is a relatively small price to pay to facilitate the passage of Social Security reform. Without such reform, Congress would have to appropriate more than $13 trillion over the next 75 years to make up the shortfall between the estimated revenues and annual obligations of Social Security.
In short, Congress should combine a generous Savers Credit with a progressive plan to eliminate the long-term deficit of Social Security. The combination would make up a significant portion of the benefit reductions that the AARP recognizes as necessary to restore the program to solvency.
And the combination would not undermine the current economic recovery, since these changes in Social Security would be phased in gradually and would not apply to anyone who is now over age 59.
Robert Pozen will appear today at 4:15 p.m. on Closing Bell with Maria Bartiromo.
_________________________
Robert Pozen is Chairman Emeritus of MFS Investment Management. He currently is a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School.
View the original article here
Cisco May Cut as Many as 10000 Jobs to Buoy Profit - Bloomberg
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Sales of Cisco’s switches and routers, which made up more than half of revenue last year, will continue to slip. Photographer: Jock Fistick/Bloomberg
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July 11 (Bloomberg) -- Brian Marshall, an analyst at Gleacher & Co., talks about the possibility that Cisco System Inc. may begin "pretty large" workforce reductions in August. Marshall speaks with Betty Liu and Jon Erlichman on Bloomberg Television's "In the Loop." (Source: Bloomberg)
July 11 (Bloomberg) -- Brian Modoff, an analyst at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., talks about Cisco Systems Inc.'s cost-reduction strategy and the outlook for layoffs at the world's largest networking-equipment company. He speaks with Emily Chang and Cory Johnson on Bloomberg Television's "Bloomberg West." (Source: Bloomberg)
The cuts include as many as 7,000 jobs that would be eliminated by the end of August. Photographer: Gianluca Colla/Bloomberg
Cisco Systems Chief Executive Officer John Chambers. Photographer: Jacob Kepler/Bloomberg
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO), the largest networking-equipment company, may cut as many as 10,000 jobs, or about 14 percent of its workforce, to revive profit growth, according to two people familiar with the plans.
The cuts include as many as 7,000 jobs that would be eliminated by the end of August, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans aren’t final. Cisco is also providing early-retirement packages to about 3,000 workers who accepted buyouts, the people said.
Cisco Chief Executive Officer John Chambers is slashing jobs and exiting less-profitable businesses as competitors such as Juniper Networks Inc. (JNPR) and Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) take market share in Cisco’s main businesses with lower-priced, simpler products. Sales of Cisco’s switches and routers, which made up more than half of revenue last year, will continue to slip, said Brian Marshall, an analyst at Gleacher & Co.
Eliminating jobs will help Cisco wring $1 billion in savings in fiscal 2012, the company said in May. Cisco expects costs of $500 million to $1.1 billion in the fiscal fourth quarter as a result of the voluntary early retirement program, it said in a quarterly filing.
“We will provide additional detail on the cost reductions, including layoffs, on our next earnings call,” Karen Tillman, a spokeswoman for San Jose, California-based Cisco, said in reference to an earnings call scheduled for early August. She declined to discuss job-cut figures.
The voluntary retirement packages included one year’s pay and medical benefits, and were offered to about 5,800 employees, two people said.
“The revenue trajectory hasn’t been where it should be,” Marshall, who has a “neutral” rating on the stock with a target price of $17, said in an interview. “The company is not staffed on an appropriate level. They simply have too many employees.”
Cisco gained 7 cents to $15.50 as of 9:32 a.m. New York time. It has dropped 24 percent this year before today on the Nasdaq Stock Market, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index has risen 4.9 percent.
Analysts at Gleacher and Miller Tabak & Co. said yesterday that the company would cut at least 5,000 jobs as part of a turnaround effort.
Cisco’s share of worldwide switching revenue dropped 5.8 percentage points to 68.5 percent in the first quarter of 2011 from a year earlier, according to a May report from Dell’Oro Group, a Redwood City, California-based researcher. Hewlett- Packard gained switching share in that period.
In global router sales, Cisco lost 6.4 percentage points to 54.2 percent of the market, while Juniper gained, Dell’Oro said.
Cisco’s revenue is projected to rise 7 percent this year to $43 billion, less than the 11 percent growth posted in 2010, according to the average estimate of analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Analysts have an average stock target price of $20.62, Bloomberg data show.
Cisco said in May that it shuttered the Flip video-camera unit and cut 550 jobs. The company may eliminate more positions in the consumer-product unit, which makes Linksys home- networking equipment, Marshall said. Some investors have said the company should exit consumer products entirely to focus on traditional enterprise offerings such as routers and switches. Cisco’s equipment is used by corporate networks and telephone and Internet service providers to direct Web traffic.
Trimming about 5,000 jobs would reduce operating expenses by about $1 billion annually and boost 2012 earnings by about 8 percent, Marshall said.
The company is also reorganizing management to streamline its business and focus on areas of growth, Cisco said in May. To speed decision making, the company organized field operations into three geographic regions and reformed a council-style management structure.
To contact the reporters on this story: Ashlee Vance in San Francisco at avance3@bloomberg.net; Olga Kharif in Portland at okharif@bloomberg.net; Zachary Tracer in New York at ztracer1@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net
View the original article here
Sales of Cisco’s switches and routers, which made up more than half of revenue last year, will continue to slip. Photographer: Jock Fistick/Bloomberg (router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
July 11 (Bloomberg) -- Brian Marshall, an analyst at Gleacher & Co., talks about the possibility that Cisco System Inc. may begin "pretty large" workforce reductions in August. Marshall speaks with Betty Liu and Jon Erlichman on Bloomberg Television's "In the Loop." (Source: Bloomberg) July 11 (Bloomberg) -- Brian Modoff, an analyst at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., talks about Cisco Systems Inc.'s cost-reduction strategy and the outlook for layoffs at the world's largest networking-equipment company. He speaks with Emily Chang and Cory Johnson on Bloomberg Television's "Bloomberg West." (Source: Bloomberg) The cuts include as many as 7,000 jobs that would be eliminated by the end of August. Photographer: Gianluca Colla/Bloomberg Cisco Systems Chief Executive Officer John Chambers. Photographer: Jacob Kepler/Bloomberg Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO), the largest networking-equipment company, may cut as many as 10,000 jobs, or about 14 percent of its workforce, to revive profit growth, according to two people familiar with the plans.
The cuts include as many as 7,000 jobs that would be eliminated by the end of August, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans aren’t final. Cisco is also providing early-retirement packages to about 3,000 workers who accepted buyouts, the people said.
Cisco Chief Executive Officer John Chambers is slashing jobs and exiting less-profitable businesses as competitors such as Juniper Networks Inc. (JNPR) and Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) take market share in Cisco’s main businesses with lower-priced, simpler products. Sales of Cisco’s switches and routers, which made up more than half of revenue last year, will continue to slip, said Brian Marshall, an analyst at Gleacher & Co.
Eliminating jobs will help Cisco wring $1 billion in savings in fiscal 2012, the company said in May. Cisco expects costs of $500 million to $1.1 billion in the fiscal fourth quarter as a result of the voluntary early retirement program, it said in a quarterly filing.
“We will provide additional detail on the cost reductions, including layoffs, on our next earnings call,” Karen Tillman, a spokeswoman for San Jose, California-based Cisco, said in reference to an earnings call scheduled for early August. She declined to discuss job-cut figures.
The voluntary retirement packages included one year’s pay and medical benefits, and were offered to about 5,800 employees, two people said.
“The revenue trajectory hasn’t been where it should be,” Marshall, who has a “neutral” rating on the stock with a target price of $17, said in an interview. “The company is not staffed on an appropriate level. They simply have too many employees.”
Cisco gained 7 cents to $15.50 as of 9:32 a.m. New York time. It has dropped 24 percent this year before today on the Nasdaq Stock Market, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index has risen 4.9 percent.
Analysts at Gleacher and Miller Tabak & Co. said yesterday that the company would cut at least 5,000 jobs as part of a turnaround effort.
Cisco’s share of worldwide switching revenue dropped 5.8 percentage points to 68.5 percent in the first quarter of 2011 from a year earlier, according to a May report from Dell’Oro Group, a Redwood City, California-based researcher. Hewlett- Packard gained switching share in that period.
In global router sales, Cisco lost 6.4 percentage points to 54.2 percent of the market, while Juniper gained, Dell’Oro said.
Cisco’s revenue is projected to rise 7 percent this year to $43 billion, less than the 11 percent growth posted in 2010, according to the average estimate of analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Analysts have an average stock target price of $20.62, Bloomberg data show.
Cisco said in May that it shuttered the Flip video-camera unit and cut 550 jobs. The company may eliminate more positions in the consumer-product unit, which makes Linksys home- networking equipment, Marshall said. Some investors have said the company should exit consumer products entirely to focus on traditional enterprise offerings such as routers and switches. Cisco’s equipment is used by corporate networks and telephone and Internet service providers to direct Web traffic.
Trimming about 5,000 jobs would reduce operating expenses by about $1 billion annually and boost 2012 earnings by about 8 percent, Marshall said.
The company is also reorganizing management to streamline its business and focus on areas of growth, Cisco said in May. To speed decision making, the company organized field operations into three geographic regions and reformed a council-style management structure.
To contact the reporters on this story: Ashlee Vance in San Francisco at avance3@bloomberg.net; Olga Kharif in Portland at okharif@bloomberg.net; Zachary Tracer in New York at ztracer1@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net
View the original article here
Stocks barely budge as Europe fears remain - CNN
Click chart for more market data.
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NEW YORK?(CNNMoney) -- U.S. stocks were little changed Tuesday, following a bruising previous session, as fears about the eurozone debt crisis spreading continued to rattle investors.
The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) rose 15 points, or 0.1%, with American Express (AXP, Fortune 500), Travelers Companies (TRV, Fortune 500) and Cisco (CSCO, Fortune 500) leading the small advance.
The S&P 500 (SPX) gained 1 point, or 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite (COMP) fell 5 points, or 0.3%.
Microchip (MCHP)'s stock dragged on both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, as the tech firm's shares slumped 13%. The company lowered its earnings guidance, saying supply disruptions resulting from the Japanese earthquake were impacting its automotive business.
U.S. stocks tumbled Monday, as investors got spooked by worries about how far and deep Europe's debt crisis might spread.
Manoj Ladwa, senior trader at ETX Capital, said contagion fears are likely to stay center stage for investors on Tuesday.
"That's the main concern for the markets," Ladwa said. "Exactly how far this crisis is going to spread."
The yield on 10-year Italian bonds continued to spike, as investors demand higher interest rates in exchange for holding the country's debt. On Tuesday, yields approached 6% -- an elevated premium over the German bund.
Ladwa said yields will rise even higher if the stress tests scheduled for European banks come back worse than expected, and the Italian 10-year bond could spike above 7% if the country's banks perform poorly.
World markets: European stocks fell in afternoon trading. Britain's FTSE 100 shed 0.8%, the DAX in Germany retreated 0.6%, and France's CAC 40 stumbled 1%.
Asian markets ended the session sharply lower. The Shanghai Composite dropped 1.7%, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong tumbled 3.1% and Japan's Nikkei lost 1.4%.
U.S. Treasuries: Investors have been pouring into U.S. Treasuries as uncertainty surrounding Europe's debt problems grows. Treasuries are considered "safer" havens in times of uncertainty since it's backed by the U.S. government.
The price on the benchmark 10-year note rose, pushing the yield down to 2.88% from 2.92% late Monday.
Currencies and commodities: The dollar hit a nearly four-month high against the euro at $1.39. The greenback also gained against the British pound, but fell versus the Japanese yen.
Oil for August delivery slipped 50 cents to $94.65 a barrel.
Gold futures for August delivery rose $2.80 to $1,552 an ounce.
Economy: The U.S. trade balance figures for May came in at $50.2 billion -- far larger than a revised $43.6 billion in April. The trade deficit was also wider than the $44 billion expected by economists surveyed by Briefing.com.
In the afternoon, the Federal Reserve's will release the minutes from its Federal Open Market Committee meeting in June.
Companies: News Corp.'s (NWSA, Fortune 500) stock jumped 2% after the media giant announced a $5 billion stock buyback program.
Adding to the tech sector's pain, shares of Novellus Systems (NVLS) fell 8%, after the company delivered disappointing quarterly results and guidance.
After the closing bell Monday, Alcoa (AA, Fortune 500) reported a larger than expected gain in second-quarter sales but investors weren't impressed.
While Alcoa beat on sales, earnings were only in line with recently lowered analyst estimates. Shares slid 0.3% in early trading.
First Published: July 12, 2011: 9:39 AM ET
View the original article here
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NEW YORK?(CNNMoney) -- U.S. stocks were little changed Tuesday, following a bruising previous session, as fears about the eurozone debt crisis spreading continued to rattle investors.
The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) rose 15 points, or 0.1%, with American Express (AXP, Fortune 500), Travelers Companies (TRV, Fortune 500) and Cisco (CSCO, Fortune 500) leading the small advance.
The S&P 500 (SPX) gained 1 point, or 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite (COMP) fell 5 points, or 0.3%.
Microchip (MCHP)'s stock dragged on both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, as the tech firm's shares slumped 13%. The company lowered its earnings guidance, saying supply disruptions resulting from the Japanese earthquake were impacting its automotive business.
U.S. stocks tumbled Monday, as investors got spooked by worries about how far and deep Europe's debt crisis might spread.
Manoj Ladwa, senior trader at ETX Capital, said contagion fears are likely to stay center stage for investors on Tuesday.
"That's the main concern for the markets," Ladwa said. "Exactly how far this crisis is going to spread."
The yield on 10-year Italian bonds continued to spike, as investors demand higher interest rates in exchange for holding the country's debt. On Tuesday, yields approached 6% -- an elevated premium over the German bund.
Ladwa said yields will rise even higher if the stress tests scheduled for European banks come back worse than expected, and the Italian 10-year bond could spike above 7% if the country's banks perform poorly.
World markets: European stocks fell in afternoon trading. Britain's FTSE 100 shed 0.8%, the DAX in Germany retreated 0.6%, and France's CAC 40 stumbled 1%.
Asian markets ended the session sharply lower. The Shanghai Composite dropped 1.7%, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong tumbled 3.1% and Japan's Nikkei lost 1.4%.
U.S. Treasuries: Investors have been pouring into U.S. Treasuries as uncertainty surrounding Europe's debt problems grows. Treasuries are considered "safer" havens in times of uncertainty since it's backed by the U.S. government.
The price on the benchmark 10-year note rose, pushing the yield down to 2.88% from 2.92% late Monday.
Currencies and commodities: The dollar hit a nearly four-month high against the euro at $1.39. The greenback also gained against the British pound, but fell versus the Japanese yen.
Oil for August delivery slipped 50 cents to $94.65 a barrel.
Gold futures for August delivery rose $2.80 to $1,552 an ounce.
Economy: The U.S. trade balance figures for May came in at $50.2 billion -- far larger than a revised $43.6 billion in April. The trade deficit was also wider than the $44 billion expected by economists surveyed by Briefing.com.
In the afternoon, the Federal Reserve's will release the minutes from its Federal Open Market Committee meeting in June.
Companies: News Corp.'s (NWSA, Fortune 500) stock jumped 2% after the media giant announced a $5 billion stock buyback program.
Adding to the tech sector's pain, shares of Novellus Systems (NVLS) fell 8%, after the company delivered disappointing quarterly results and guidance.
After the closing bell Monday, Alcoa (AA, Fortune 500) reported a larger than expected gain in second-quarter sales but investors weren't impressed.
While Alcoa beat on sales, earnings were only in line with recently lowered analyst estimates. Shares slid 0.3% in early trading.
First Published: July 12, 2011: 9:39 AM ET
View the original article here
With Sonic, GM Stands Automaking on Its Head - New York Times
The production line has been squeezed into(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
half the space of a traditional plant. Welding robots are concentrated in efficient clusters, instead of being spaced along the line, while many of the workers earn half the typical union wage. Even the first coat of rust-proofing has been reformulated so that it is one-hundredth as thick as — and thereby cheaper than — the coating on other cars.
One of the oldest axioms in the auto industry is that no company can build a subcompact car in the United States and make money because they are priced too low. The Ford Fiesta is built in Mexico. The Honda Fit is made in several places, including China and Brazil. But(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
with Americans — and Detroit — rediscovering small cars because of high gasoline prices, General Motors is intent on shattering that notion with its new Chevrolet Sonic. Not only does it give G.M. a new entry in the lowest tier of the market when it goes on sale this fall, the Sonic is expected to be a breakthrough in establishing a new level of cooperation between Detroit and the United Automobile Workers.
The radically revamped factory here operates with fewer and cheaper workers, many of whom are paid $14 an hour rather than the full U.A.W. wage of $28 an hour.
The plant itself is smaller and reconfigured to save money, with company executives modeling some of the changes after G.M.’s most efficient factories in Germany and Korea. The production line’s footprint alone was reduced from 1 million square feet to 500,000 — the equivalent of losing the space of more than two Wal-Mart Super Stores. The energy bill was cut by powering some operations with methane gas from neighboring landfills.
The Sonic will be G.M.’s littlest, and most fuel-efficient, conventionally powered vehicle. It was conceived in 2008 before the federal government’s bailout of the bankrupt automaker, when negotiators from the company and the union began brainstorming about what it would take to make a profitable subcompact car in the United States rather than in low-wage countries.
“We wanted to prove we could do it,” said Diana D. Tremblay, G.M.’s head of labor relations , “and we went into it with an open mind.”
The U.A.W. tried to persuade the Ford Motor Company to build the Fiesta subcompact in the United States. But Ford chose a plant in Mexico, where the combined wages and benefits of a production worker total less than $10 an hour. By contrast, a full-wage union member in the United States costs G.M. close to $60 an hour. Even an entry-level wage employee costs about $30 an hour in wages and benefits.
While it is not the only factor in producing a profitable subcompact, lower employment costs were critical to the decision to build the Sonic in Michigan. In a groundbreaking labor agreement, the union allowed G.M. to pay 40 percent of its union workers at Orion Township an “entry-level” wage that sharply reduces overall production costs.
“The entry-level wage structure was an important enabler, because obviously the smaller the car the less the margin,” said Ms. Tremblay.
The U.A.W.’s president, Bob King, said the union considered the significance of a competitive subcompact to G.M.’s overall product lineup. The Sonic is the first subcompact that G.M. has tried to build in its home market since the Chevrolet Chevette almost 40 years ago, aside from a brief joint effort with Toyota to build Geo Prisms. The smallest car in its lineup now is the Chevrolet Aveo, a subcompact developed by G.M.’s South Korean subsidiary.
“We are committed to the success of the company,” Mr. King said recently. “We had to talk about a business model that makes sense.”
For all its promise, the Sonic still has to convince consumers that G.M. has found the right formula for an attractive and affordable subcompact. Previous efforts like the Geo Prism and the Aveo were bland and underpowered, and contributed to G.M.’s lackluster reputation in the overall car market.
“G.M. has a lot to prove with the Sonic," said Joseph Phillippi of the research firm Auto Trends . "They have to cut costs but still put out a competitive car."
The car itself is a mosaic of innovation to make the Sonic lighter, less costly and more fuel-efficient, including high-strength steel used in its windshield pillars and the ultra-thin film applied to prevent rust. The Sonic sedan resembles a shrunken version of the Cruze, while the hatchback version is distinguished by its short rear overhang and upright stance.
The Sonic weighs 500 pounds less and is eight inches shorter than the next biggest car G.M. makes, and its little 1.4-.liter turbocharged engine will deliver the best gas mileage in the company’s fleet. “It will be north of 40 miles per gallon,” said Jim Federico, head of G.M.’s global small cars and electric vehicles.
Still, to get the car to meet cost-saving goals, a team of G.M. engineers and manufacturing specialists also had to adapt and reconfigure the Orion plant. It opened in 1983, and was used to build big cars like the Buick Riviera in the 1990s. It nearly closed two years ago, when three other large assembly plants were shut down to reduce capacity.
G.M. spent heavily in converting the plant, investing $545 million in new equipment and retraining workers — and it shows, from the gleaming floors to the banks of fluorescent lighting that brighten the plant and save $430,000 a year in energy costs. The plant is also the company’s greenest, producing 80 percent less solid waste and using 20 percent less water, all at a savings.
Various stages along the assembly line, like the body shop and trim area, are more compact, with teams of six workers installing parts fed to them on automated carts by independent suppliers who operate inside the plant. That reduces costly inventory and improves productivity. “Normally the suppliers would be five miles away versus 50 feet,” said John Barry, a G.M. manager.
The plant over all employs 1,800, a reduction of 25 percent. To augment the small profit earned on the Sonic, the workers will also make the larger, more upscale Buick Verano on the same line. Even the shifts have been fine-tuned to four 10-hour days rather than the usual five-day week to save wear and tear on the machinery.
Every dollar saved is essential for the Sonic to compete, auto experts said. And if the car is a winner with consumers — production begins in August — Orion Township could become a model.
“This plant has the potential to redefine American manufacturing,” said Harley Shaiken, a labor professor at the University of California, Berkeley. “A success here indicates untapped capabilities.”
View the original article here
half the space of a traditional plant. Welding robots are concentrated in efficient clusters, instead of being spaced along the line, while many of the workers earn half the typical union wage. Even the first coat of rust-proofing has been reformulated so that it is one-hundredth as thick as — and thereby cheaper than — the coating on other cars.
One of the oldest axioms in the auto industry is that no company can build a subcompact car in the United States and make money because they are priced too low. The Ford Fiesta is built in Mexico. The Honda Fit is made in several places, including China and Brazil. But(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
with Americans — and Detroit — rediscovering small cars because of high gasoline prices, General Motors is intent on shattering that notion with its new Chevrolet Sonic. Not only does it give G.M. a new entry in the lowest tier of the market when it goes on sale this fall, the Sonic is expected to be a breakthrough in establishing a new level of cooperation between Detroit and the United Automobile Workers.
The radically revamped factory here operates with fewer and cheaper workers, many of whom are paid $14 an hour rather than the full U.A.W. wage of $28 an hour.
The plant itself is smaller and reconfigured to save money, with company executives modeling some of the changes after G.M.’s most efficient factories in Germany and Korea. The production line’s footprint alone was reduced from 1 million square feet to 500,000 — the equivalent of losing the space of more than two Wal-Mart Super Stores. The energy bill was cut by powering some operations with methane gas from neighboring landfills.
The Sonic will be G.M.’s littlest, and most fuel-efficient, conventionally powered vehicle. It was conceived in 2008 before the federal government’s bailout of the bankrupt automaker, when negotiators from the company and the union began brainstorming about what it would take to make a profitable subcompact car in the United States rather than in low-wage countries.
“We wanted to prove we could do it,” said Diana D. Tremblay, G.M.’s head of labor relations , “and we went into it with an open mind.”
The U.A.W. tried to persuade the Ford Motor Company to build the Fiesta subcompact in the United States. But Ford chose a plant in Mexico, where the combined wages and benefits of a production worker total less than $10 an hour. By contrast, a full-wage union member in the United States costs G.M. close to $60 an hour. Even an entry-level wage employee costs about $30 an hour in wages and benefits.
While it is not the only factor in producing a profitable subcompact, lower employment costs were critical to the decision to build the Sonic in Michigan. In a groundbreaking labor agreement, the union allowed G.M. to pay 40 percent of its union workers at Orion Township an “entry-level” wage that sharply reduces overall production costs.
“The entry-level wage structure was an important enabler, because obviously the smaller the car the less the margin,” said Ms. Tremblay.
The U.A.W.’s president, Bob King, said the union considered the significance of a competitive subcompact to G.M.’s overall product lineup. The Sonic is the first subcompact that G.M. has tried to build in its home market since the Chevrolet Chevette almost 40 years ago, aside from a brief joint effort with Toyota to build Geo Prisms. The smallest car in its lineup now is the Chevrolet Aveo, a subcompact developed by G.M.’s South Korean subsidiary.
“We are committed to the success of the company,” Mr. King said recently. “We had to talk about a business model that makes sense.”
For all its promise, the Sonic still has to convince consumers that G.M. has found the right formula for an attractive and affordable subcompact. Previous efforts like the Geo Prism and the Aveo were bland and underpowered, and contributed to G.M.’s lackluster reputation in the overall car market.
“G.M. has a lot to prove with the Sonic," said Joseph Phillippi of the research firm Auto Trends . "They have to cut costs but still put out a competitive car."
The car itself is a mosaic of innovation to make the Sonic lighter, less costly and more fuel-efficient, including high-strength steel used in its windshield pillars and the ultra-thin film applied to prevent rust. The Sonic sedan resembles a shrunken version of the Cruze, while the hatchback version is distinguished by its short rear overhang and upright stance.
The Sonic weighs 500 pounds less and is eight inches shorter than the next biggest car G.M. makes, and its little 1.4-.liter turbocharged engine will deliver the best gas mileage in the company’s fleet. “It will be north of 40 miles per gallon,” said Jim Federico, head of G.M.’s global small cars and electric vehicles.
Still, to get the car to meet cost-saving goals, a team of G.M. engineers and manufacturing specialists also had to adapt and reconfigure the Orion plant. It opened in 1983, and was used to build big cars like the Buick Riviera in the 1990s. It nearly closed two years ago, when three other large assembly plants were shut down to reduce capacity.
G.M. spent heavily in converting the plant, investing $545 million in new equipment and retraining workers — and it shows, from the gleaming floors to the banks of fluorescent lighting that brighten the plant and save $430,000 a year in energy costs. The plant is also the company’s greenest, producing 80 percent less solid waste and using 20 percent less water, all at a savings.
Various stages along the assembly line, like the body shop and trim area, are more compact, with teams of six workers installing parts fed to them on automated carts by independent suppliers who operate inside the plant. That reduces costly inventory and improves productivity. “Normally the suppliers would be five miles away versus 50 feet,” said John Barry, a G.M. manager.
The plant over all employs 1,800, a reduction of 25 percent. To augment the small profit earned on the Sonic, the workers will also make the larger, more upscale Buick Verano on the same line. Even the shifts have been fine-tuned to four 10-hour days rather than the usual five-day week to save wear and tear on the machinery.
Every dollar saved is essential for the Sonic to compete, auto experts said. And if the car is a winner with consumers — production begins in August — Orion Township could become a model.
“This plant has the potential to redefine American manufacturing,” said Harley Shaiken, a labor professor at the University of California, Berkeley. “A success here indicates untapped capabilities.”
View the original article here
Man dies after being hit by train on crossing - Yorkshire Post
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Published on Tue Jul 12 08:46:10 BST 2011
POLICE were last night investigating an incident on the East Coast Main Line in Yorkshire which left a man dead and a three-year-old girl critically injured.
British Transport Police said the pair were hit by an express train bound for Leeds near a pedestrian crossing over the track about half-a-mile from Adwick station, north of Doncaster.
Officers said the 28-year-old man and the chil(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
d were thought to be from the nearby village of Bentley, although neither of them had been identified last night.
A BTP spokesman said: “The child was injured and has been airlifted to Sheffield Children’s Hospital.
“The man was pronounced dead at the scene.
“Officers are currently working to establish the full circumstances surrounding the incident and to establish the identities of both the man and child.”
He said the train involved was the 10.35am East Coast King’s Cross to Leeds service.
Services operated by both East Coast and Northern Rail on the route were badly disrupted yesterday as specialist search officers examined the scene.
Northern Rail services between Doncaster and Wakefield Westgate were replaced by buses, while trains continued to run between Wakefield and Leeds.
The tragedy is the second to happen on the East Coast main line near Doncaster in the last month
An elderly man was struck by a train on the Doncaster to York stretch of line in mid-June.
The body of the 69-year-old was found in undergrowth on Tuesday June 14 next to a level crossing.
Police said that man had been struck by a train near a crossing between Arksey and Bentley just before 7pm the previous day.
British Transport Police officers had conducted an extensive search of the lines and surrounding area – involving both ground units and a helicopter – on the Monday night before finding the body on Tuesday morning.
Officers said the pensioner’s death was not being treated as suspicious.
View the original article here
POLICE were last night investigating an incident on the East Coast Main Line in Yorkshire which left a man dead and a three-year-old girl critically injured.
British Transport Police said the pair were hit by an express train bound for Leeds near a pedestrian crossing over the track about half-a-mile from Adwick station, north of Doncaster.
Officers said the 28-year-old man and the chil(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
d were thought to be from the nearby village of Bentley, although neither of them had been identified last night.
A BTP spokesman said: “The child was injured and has been airlifted to Sheffield Children’s Hospital.
“The man was pronounced dead at the scene.
“Officers are currently working to establish the full circumstances surrounding the incident and to establish the identities of both the man and child.”
He said the train involved was the 10.35am East Coast King’s Cross to Leeds service.
Services operated by both East Coast and Northern Rail on the route were badly disrupted yesterday as specialist search officers examined the scene.
Northern Rail services between Doncaster and Wakefield Westgate were replaced by buses, while trains continued to run between Wakefield and Leeds.
The tragedy is the second to happen on the East Coast main line near Doncaster in the last month
An elderly man was struck by a train on the Doncaster to York stretch of line in mid-June.
The body of the 69-year-old was found in undergrowth on Tuesday June 14 next to a level crossing.
Police said that man had been struck by a train near a crossing between Arksey and Bentley just before 7pm the previous day.
British Transport Police officers had conducted an extensive search of the lines and surrounding area – involving both ground units and a helicopter – on the Monday night before finding the body on Tuesday morning.
Officers said the pensioner’s death was not being treated as suspicious.
View the original article here
Gordon Brown accuses News International - The Independent
Former prime minister Gordon Brown accused News International newspapers today of accessing private information about himself and his family.
He said he and his wife were "in tears" after being told by the Sun that it was going to publish a story about their son's cystic fibrosis.
And he told the BBC: "I think that what happened pretty early on in government is that the Sunday Times appear to have got access to my building society account, they got access to my legal files, there is some question mark about what happened to other files - documentation, tax and everything else."
He went on: "I just can't understand this - if I, with all the protection and all the defences and all the security that a chancellor of the Exchequer or a prime minister, am so vulnerable to unscrupulous tactics, to unlawful tactics, methods that have been used in the way we have found, what about the ordinary citizen?
"What about the person, like the family of Milly Dowler, who are in the most desperate of circumstances, the most difficult occasions in their lives, in huge grief and then they find that they are totally defenceless in this moment of greatest grief from people who are employing these ruthless tactics with links to known criminals."
Mr Brown said he could not think of any legitimate means by which the Sun could have got hold of details of his four-month-old son Fraser's cystic fibrosis in 2006.
"They will have to explain themselves," he told the BBC. "I can't think of any way that the medical condition of a child can be put into the public arena legitimately unless the doctor makes a statement or the family makes a statement.
"I make no claims, but the fact of the matter is that I had my bank accounts broken into, I had my lawyers' files effectively blagged, my tax returns went missing at one point.
"I don't know how all this happened, but I do know one thing: that in two of those instances there is absolute proof that News International was involved in hiring people to get this information."
News International sources were quoted last night as saying they were "comfortable" that stories reported by the Sun about Mr Brown's children were obtained via legitimate means.
In a statement, News International said it noted the allegations about Mr Brown, adding: "So that we can investigate these matters further, we ask that all information concerning these allegations is provided to us."
But Mr Brown's broadside ensured that the hacking story remained firmly in the spotlight.
He spoke out as one of Britain's top policemen, Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner John Yates, told the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee that the News of the World "failed to co-operate" with police inquiries into phone hacking until the start of this year.
Mr Yates, the Met's head of counter-terrorism, also expressed regret at his 2009 ruling that there was no need to reopen the phone-hacking investigation and he said he was "99% certain" his phone had been hacked.
Mr Brown said he tried to secure a judicial inquiry into the conduct of News International while he was in power, but faced resistance from the police, Home Office and Cabinet Office.
He accused the company of seeking to abuse its power for political gain over issues such as the future of the BBC and the "neutering" of broadcasting regulator Ofcom, but insisted that as prime minister he had resisted it.
And he added: "Of course, the abuse of their power for political gain is something that is going to have to be looked at. Any inquiry that is going to be set up is going to have to look at how News International attempted to abuse political power for political gain."
Speaking during a visit to Wales, Prime Minister David Cameron said Mr Brown's claims were "yet another example of an appalling invasion of privacy".
"My heart goes out to Gordon and Sarah Brown because to have your children's privacy invaded in that way - and I know that myself particularly - when your child isn't well, is completely unacceptable and heart-breaking for the family concerned," Mr Cameron said.
He insisted that the police would "find the culprits and make sure they are punished", while the promised judge-led inquiry would find out "what was going on at these newspapers".
"This Government won't rest until we have got to the bottom of what is clearly an appalling mess," he said.
Mr Yates faced difficult questioning by MPs, insisting he had always told the truth to the Home Affairs Select Committee.
He said: "I can assure you all that I have never lied and all the information that I've provided to this committee has been given in good faith.
"It is a matter of great concern that, for whatever reason, the News of the World appears to have failed to co-operate in the way that we now know they should have with the relevant police inquiries up until January of this year.
"They have only recently supplied information and evidence that would clearly have had a significant impact on the decisions that I took in 2009 had it been provided to us."
Mr Yates also strongly denied allegations in the New York Times that he was put under pressure not to investigate phone hacking at the News of the World because of fears that the Sunday tabloid would publish details about his personal life.
"I categorically state that was not the case to each and every one of you. I think it's despicable, I think it's cowardly," he told the MPs.
Mr Yates said he had "never, ever, ever" received payment from journalists for information but admitted it was "highly probable" that some of his officers did.
Asked by committee chairman Keith Vaz whether he had offered to stand down from his job, the senior officer said: "No, I haven't offered to resign.
"And if you're suggesting that I should resign for what News of the World has done and my very small part in it, I think that's probably unfair."
Labour MP Mr Vaz told Mr Yates at the end of the session that the committee found his evidence "unconvincing".
He told him: "There are more questions to be asked about what happened when you conducted this review.
"So you may well be hearing from us again. Please do not regard this as an end of the matter."
Sector leaders lament absence of 'social value' in White Paper - Civil Society Media
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Sector commentators have largely welcomed the Open Public Services White Paper, recognising that the reforms have the potential to create unprecedented opportunity for civil society organisations to deliver more public services.(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
But responses were also tempered by warnings of private sector dominance of the market, the White Paper’s absence of attention on ‘social value’ and problems with accessing finance.
Navca, CAF and NCVO all highlighted the need for more emphasis on social value. Navca’s director of Improving Local Services, Katy Wing, said that the potential to harness the power of local charities will never be realised unless an “intelligent approach to commissioning” is adopted that “places social value at the heart of public services”.
NCVO chief executive Sir Stuart Etherington (pictured) said the concept of social value needs to be “mainstreamed, taken seriously and well understood”.
“Rather than assessing providers purely on price, commissioning decisions should be informed by the full social, environmental and economic value a service can add.”
Other concerns remain around the size of contracts, where all but the biggest providers are excluded, and access to finance and cashflow,” he said.
Charities Aid Foundation head of policy Hannah Terrey agreed: “The government will need to ensure that commissioner at all levels are truly empowered to take risks and to value social impact over pure cost considerations, and that organisations can access the working capital they need to be able to participate on a payment-by-results basis.”
The Social Enterprise Coalition added that without necessary safeguards, private providers will dominate public service provision: “We only have to look at the Work Programme to see that when markets open up, large private sector providers move in and squeeze out smaller organisations,” said CEO Peter Holbrook.
In their foreword in the White Paper, PM David Cameron and his deputy Nick Clegg sought to pre-empt any criticism of the proposals by stating: “Those who resist reform, put the producer interest before the citizens’ needs, and object to publishing information about how services perform are conspiring to keep our society less free, less fair and less united.”
Acevo’s Sir Stephen Bubb took a similar tack: “The White Paper has set out the right direction of travel for our public services, but vested interests will try to make sure we never get to that intended location.
“Over the coming months I urge government to stand strong when facing those vested interests and to bring forward concrete departmental policies in order to move their vision forward.”
Minister for civil society Nick Hurd said the government would shortly publish a 'roadmap' to "inform civil society organisations of the practical new opportunities opening up to deliver these services".
Directory: CAF Charities Aid Foundation | Charities Aid Foundation | National Association of Voluntary and Community Action | National Council of Voluntary Organisations (NCVO)
Who's Who: Hannah Terrey | Sir Stuart Etherington | Sir Stephen Bubb
View the original article here
Sector commentators have largely welcomed the Open Public Services White Paper, recognising that the reforms have the potential to create unprecedented opportunity for civil society organisations to deliver more public services.(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
Navca, CAF and NCVO all highlighted the need for more emphasis on social value. Navca’s director of Improving Local Services, Katy Wing, said that the potential to harness the power of local charities will never be realised unless an “intelligent approach to commissioning” is adopted that “places social value at the heart of public services”.
NCVO chief executive Sir Stuart Etherington (pictured) said the concept of social value needs to be “mainstreamed, taken seriously and well understood”.
“Rather than assessing providers purely on price, commissioning decisions should be informed by the full social, environmental and economic value a service can add.”
Other concerns remain around the size of contracts, where all but the biggest providers are excluded, and access to finance and cashflow,” he said.
Charities Aid Foundation head of policy Hannah Terrey agreed: “The government will need to ensure that commissioner at all levels are truly empowered to take risks and to value social impact over pure cost considerations, and that organisations can access the working capital they need to be able to participate on a payment-by-results basis.”
The Social Enterprise Coalition added that without necessary safeguards, private providers will dominate public service provision: “We only have to look at the Work Programme to see that when markets open up, large private sector providers move in and squeeze out smaller organisations,” said CEO Peter Holbrook.
In their foreword in the White Paper, PM David Cameron and his deputy Nick Clegg sought to pre-empt any criticism of the proposals by stating: “Those who resist reform, put the producer interest before the citizens’ needs, and object to publishing information about how services perform are conspiring to keep our society less free, less fair and less united.”
Acevo’s Sir Stephen Bubb took a similar tack: “The White Paper has set out the right direction of travel for our public services, but vested interests will try to make sure we never get to that intended location.
“Over the coming months I urge government to stand strong when facing those vested interests and to bring forward concrete departmental policies in order to move their vision forward.”
Minister for civil society Nick Hurd said the government would shortly publish a 'roadmap' to "inform civil society organisations of the practical new opportunities opening up to deliver these services".
Directory: CAF Charities Aid Foundation | Charities Aid Foundation | National Association of Voluntary and Community Action | National Council of Voluntary Organisations (NCVO)
Who's Who: Hannah Terrey | Sir Stuart Etherington | Sir Stephen Bubb
View the original article here
Phone-hacking scandal: Tuesday's key quotes - The Guardian
Gordon Brown said he was 'genuinely shocked' by recent News International allegations. Photograph: David Gadd/Allstar/Sportsphoto Ltd./Allstar(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
Allegations that the former prime minister Gordon Brown was the victim of systematic hacking and "blagging" have upped the stakes in the News International scandal still further. Here are some of Tuesday's key quotes:
• "I'm shocked, I'm genuinely shocked, (router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
to find that this happened because of their links with criminals, known criminals, who were undertaking this activity, hired by investigators with the Sunday Times. I just can't understand this – if I, with all the protection and all the defences and all the security that a chancellor of the exchequer or a prime minister, am so vulnerable to unscrupulous tactics, to unlawful tactics, methods that have been used in the way we have found, what about the ordinary citizen? What about the person, like the family of Milly Dowler, who are in the most desperate of circumstances, the most difficult occasions in their lives, in huge grief and then they find that they are totally defenceless in this moment of greatest grief from people who are employing these ruthless tactics with links to known criminals." – Gordon Brown reacts to allegations that his family were targeted by News International journalists.
• "In tears. Your son is now going to be broadcast across the media. Sarah and I were incredibly upset about it. We were thinking about his long-term future. We were thinking about our family. But there's nothing that you can do about it. You're in public life. And this story appears. You don't know how it's appeared. I've not questioned how it's appeared. I've not made any allegations about how it's appeared. I've not made any claims about [how it appeared]. But the fact is it did appear. And it did appear in the Sun newspaper." – Brown on how he and his wife reacted to the news that the Sun had obtained his son's medical records.
• "I find it quite incredible that a supposedly reputable organisation made its money, produced its commercial results, at the expense of ordinary people by using known criminals. That is now what has got to be investigated." – Brown on what must happen next.
• "When the record of my time as prime minister is looked at – and all the papers will be there for people to see – they will show that we stood up to News International, that we refused to support their commercial ambitions when we thought they were against the public interest." – Brown on suggestions that his government was too close to News International.
"From the methods I know that are used, and the impact it has on your phone, your pin number, I am 99% certain my phone was hacked during a period of 2005-06. Who by, I don't know. The records don't exist any more." – Metropolitan police assistant commissioner John Yates, who decided not to reopen investigations into hacking in 2009, giving evidence to the Commons home affairs select committee.
"I can assure you all that I have never lied and all the information that I've provided to this committee has been given in good faith," Yates told the MPs. He added that his decision not to pursue hacking allegations in 2009 was a "poor decision", saying: "We didn't have the information we should have done."
• "I think it's terrible what happened to Gordon. I think it's disgusting, and I think it just adds to the long list of outrages that we've seen practised by certain newspapers and I think it reinforces the need for comprehensive action to be taken. There can be nothing good about this crisis but one thing that can come out of it is a determination among politicians, journalists and others to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again." – the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, gives Sky News his reaction to the situation.
• "John Yates is in charge of counter-terrorism. He is doing a very good job in that role. I have confidence in John Yates." – the home secretary, Theresa May.
• "If I'd have ordered a public inquiry at the time, I'd have probably been castigated because in the runup to a general election people would have said it was an attempt to get at Andy Coulson who'd been appointed by Cameron. So you can't take today's knowledge and just apply it retrospectively. You have to look at the information that was available at the time." – the former Labour home secretary Alan Johnson tells Sky News why he did not set up an inquiry into phone hacking.
• "We note the allegations made today concerning the reporting of matters relating to Gordon Brown. So that we can investigate these matters further, we ask that all information concerning these allegations is provided to us." – News International reacts to the Brown allegations.
• "The latest revelations that the details, personal details of a former prime minister, were obtained, the fact that police officers may have been involved in protecting members of the royal family and then selling that information on to journalists – these are all very serious allegations, the most serious allegations, certainly this committee has seen over the last few years." – Keith Vaz, chair of the Commons home affairs committee.
"Unconvincing." – Vaz describes the view of the committee on Yates's evidence.
View the original article here
• "I'm shocked, I'm genuinely shocked, (router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
to find that this happened because of their links with criminals, known criminals, who were undertaking this activity, hired by investigators with the Sunday Times. I just can't understand this – if I, with all the protection and all the defences and all the security that a chancellor of the exchequer or a prime minister, am so vulnerable to unscrupulous tactics, to unlawful tactics, methods that have been used in the way we have found, what about the ordinary citizen? What about the person, like the family of Milly Dowler, who are in the most desperate of circumstances, the most difficult occasions in their lives, in huge grief and then they find that they are totally defenceless in this moment of greatest grief from people who are employing these ruthless tactics with links to known criminals." – Gordon Brown reacts to allegations that his family were targeted by News International journalists.
• "In tears. Your son is now going to be broadcast across the media. Sarah and I were incredibly upset about it. We were thinking about his long-term future. We were thinking about our family. But there's nothing that you can do about it. You're in public life. And this story appears. You don't know how it's appeared. I've not questioned how it's appeared. I've not made any allegations about how it's appeared. I've not made any claims about [how it appeared]. But the fact is it did appear. And it did appear in the Sun newspaper." – Brown on how he and his wife reacted to the news that the Sun had obtained his son's medical records.
• "I find it quite incredible that a supposedly reputable organisation made its money, produced its commercial results, at the expense of ordinary people by using known criminals. That is now what has got to be investigated." – Brown on what must happen next.
• "When the record of my time as prime minister is looked at – and all the papers will be there for people to see – they will show that we stood up to News International, that we refused to support their commercial ambitions when we thought they were against the public interest." – Brown on suggestions that his government was too close to News International.
"From the methods I know that are used, and the impact it has on your phone, your pin number, I am 99% certain my phone was hacked during a period of 2005-06. Who by, I don't know. The records don't exist any more." – Metropolitan police assistant commissioner John Yates, who decided not to reopen investigations into hacking in 2009, giving evidence to the Commons home affairs select committee.
"I can assure you all that I have never lied and all the information that I've provided to this committee has been given in good faith," Yates told the MPs. He added that his decision not to pursue hacking allegations in 2009 was a "poor decision", saying: "We didn't have the information we should have done."
• "I think it's terrible what happened to Gordon. I think it's disgusting, and I think it just adds to the long list of outrages that we've seen practised by certain newspapers and I think it reinforces the need for comprehensive action to be taken. There can be nothing good about this crisis but one thing that can come out of it is a determination among politicians, journalists and others to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again." – the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, gives Sky News his reaction to the situation.
• "John Yates is in charge of counter-terrorism. He is doing a very good job in that role. I have confidence in John Yates." – the home secretary, Theresa May.
• "If I'd have ordered a public inquiry at the time, I'd have probably been castigated because in the runup to a general election people would have said it was an attempt to get at Andy Coulson who'd been appointed by Cameron. So you can't take today's knowledge and just apply it retrospectively. You have to look at the information that was available at the time." – the former Labour home secretary Alan Johnson tells Sky News why he did not set up an inquiry into phone hacking.
• "We note the allegations made today concerning the reporting of matters relating to Gordon Brown. So that we can investigate these matters further, we ask that all information concerning these allegations is provided to us." – News International reacts to the Brown allegations.
• "The latest revelations that the details, personal details of a former prime minister, were obtained, the fact that police officers may have been involved in protecting members of the royal family and then selling that information on to journalists – these are all very serious allegations, the most serious allegations, certainly this committee has seen over the last few years." – Keith Vaz, chair of the Commons home affairs committee.
"Unconvincing." – Vaz describes the view of the committee on Yates's evidence.
View the original article here
Church of England faces being wiped out, report warns - Telegraph.co.uk
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has acknowledged that the Church must devote more energy to increasing the number of regular worshippers over the next five years Photo: PA(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
In the last 40 years the number of adult churchgoers has fallen by half while the number of children regularly worshipping in public declined by 80 per cent, the study says.(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
The Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham, the Rt Rev Paul Butler, will present findings to the Church's national assembly, the General Synod, in York on Saturday.
Synod members will be urged to vote for a new national drive to recruit more members.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has acknowledged that the Church must devote more energy to increasing the number of regular worshippers over the next five years.
The report, Mission Action Planning in the Church of England, states that the "sharp" fall in churchgoing since 1970 poses a significant threat.
"This decline in membership, and the accompanying rise in average age, means that fewer people are becoming disciples of Jesus Christ, and that the Church is able to have less impact and influence in the public realm, both nationally and in the transformation of local communities," it says.
"We are faced with a stark and urgent choice: do we spend the next few years managing decline, or do we go for growth?
"In other words, do we accept the continual numerical decline of the Church of England as inevitable, or do we dare to believe a different future, that God might want his Church to grow, in holiness and in numbers?"
According to official figures, the number of worshippers attending church each week fell by 30,000 between 2007 and 2009, to 1.13 million.
Church of England officials argue that the decline partly reflects the nature of modern society, in which many kinds of membership organisation - including political parties - have lost supporters.
The House of Bishops is expected to oppose Bishop Butler's motion calling for a "national mission action plan" to help parishes grow. His critics argue that recruitment is most effective at a local level.
The General Synod will also hear a call for an emergency debate on homosexuality. Church officials will be accused of "woeful" failure to protect the institution of marriage from erosion by the rise of civil partnerships and Coalition plans to allow same-sex couples to register their partnerships in religious settings.
A lay member of Synod, Andrea Minichiello Williams, will urge the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to calls an "emergency" debate to discuss Church's stance on marriage reforms.
View the original article here
Synod members will be urged to vote for a new national drive to recruit more members.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has acknowledged that the Church must devote more energy to increasing the number of regular worshippers over the next five years.
The report, Mission Action Planning in the Church of England, states that the "sharp" fall in churchgoing since 1970 poses a significant threat.
"This decline in membership, and the accompanying rise in average age, means that fewer people are becoming disciples of Jesus Christ, and that the Church is able to have less impact and influence in the public realm, both nationally and in the transformation of local communities," it says.
"We are faced with a stark and urgent choice: do we spend the next few years managing decline, or do we go for growth?
"In other words, do we accept the continual numerical decline of the Church of England as inevitable, or do we dare to believe a different future, that God might want his Church to grow, in holiness and in numbers?"
According to official figures, the number of worshippers attending church each week fell by 30,000 between 2007 and 2009, to 1.13 million.
Church of England officials argue that the decline partly reflects the nature of modern society, in which many kinds of membership organisation - including political parties - have lost supporters.
The House of Bishops is expected to oppose Bishop Butler's motion calling for a "national mission action plan" to help parishes grow. His critics argue that recruitment is most effective at a local level.
The General Synod will also hear a call for an emergency debate on homosexuality. Church officials will be accused of "woeful" failure to protect the institution of marriage from erosion by the rise of civil partnerships and Coalition plans to allow same-sex couples to register their partnerships in religious settings.
A lay member of Synod, Andrea Minichiello Williams, will urge the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to calls an "emergency" debate to discuss Church's stance on marriage reforms.
View the original article here
Petrol bombs thrown at police in Belfast riot - The Guardian
Police under attack during riots in west Belfast on Monday night. Photograph: Stephen Wilson/AFP/Getty
The first leg of the most controversial Orange parade of the Ulster loyalist marching season passed off peacefully on Tuesday morning.(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
After violence on Monday night, there was a heavy police presence on Belfast's Crumlin Road as officers separated loyalist marchers and nationalist demonstrators as the parade passed by the Ardoyne shops.
Amid driving rain and the drone of a police helicopter overhead the Orangemen and two loyalist bands were accompanied by two rows of protesters shortly before 8.30am on Tuesday. As marchers reached the nearby Protestant Twaddell Avenue they were given a heroes' reception by local loyalists.(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
Attention now turns to Tuesday evening, when the parade will return up the Crumlin Road past the nationalist area. A rally has been organised for Tuesday afternoon in Ardoyne with some demonstrators vowing to block the Crumlin Road to prevent the Orangemen's return.
Violence overnight in Belfast saw 22 police officers injured as nationalist youths attacked the security forces hours before the biggest day in the Orange Order's calendar.
Plastic bullets were fired and water cannon was deployed to deal with a mob of up to 200 youths in the Broadway area in the west of the city. The rioters attacked police lines separating the area from the loyalist Village district close to the M1 motorway.
Baton rounds were also fired during street disturbances in the Oldpark area of north Belfast close to a so-called peaceline separating nationalist and loyalist communities.
Police were also investigating reports that gunshots were fired in the area but there are no reports of any injuries.
A bus was hijacked on the Falls Road with the driver dragged from the vehicle and passengers ordered off it. It was then driven at police lines on the Donegall Road, but crashed a short distance away. A van was also set alight on the Donegall Road.
About 40 people gathered in North Queen Street near the city centre and petrol bombs have been thrown at police.
There was a minor disturbance on the Shore Road after a barricade was erected across the road at Greencastle Station.
Up to a quarter of a million people are expected to attend or watch the annual 12 July parades across Northern Ireland, the biggest of which will take place through Belfast.
View the original article here
The first leg of the most controversial Orange parade of the Ulster loyalist marching season passed off peacefully on Tuesday morning.(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
Amid driving rain and the drone of a police helicopter overhead the Orangemen and two loyalist bands were accompanied by two rows of protesters shortly before 8.30am on Tuesday. As marchers reached the nearby Protestant Twaddell Avenue they were given a heroes' reception by local loyalists.(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
Violence overnight in Belfast saw 22 police officers injured as nationalist youths attacked the security forces hours before the biggest day in the Orange Order's calendar.
Plastic bullets were fired and water cannon was deployed to deal with a mob of up to 200 youths in the Broadway area in the west of the city. The rioters attacked police lines separating the area from the loyalist Village district close to the M1 motorway.
Baton rounds were also fired during street disturbances in the Oldpark area of north Belfast close to a so-called peaceline separating nationalist and loyalist communities.
Police were also investigating reports that gunshots were fired in the area but there are no reports of any injuries.
A bus was hijacked on the Falls Road with the driver dragged from the vehicle and passengers ordered off it. It was then driven at police lines on the Donegall Road, but crashed a short distance away. A van was also set alight on the Donegall Road.
About 40 people gathered in North Queen Street near the city centre and petrol bombs have been thrown at police.
There was a minor disturbance on the Shore Road after a barricade was erected across the road at Greencastle Station.
Up to a quarter of a million people are expected to attend or watch the annual 12 July parades across Northern Ireland, the biggest of which will take place through Belfast.
View the original article here
First female president for Isle of Man - BBC News
12 July 2011 Last updated at 13:10 GMT(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
Clare Christian has become the first woman to be elected as president of Tynwald The Manx parliament of Tynwald has elected the first female president in the history of the Isle of Man.(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
Clare Christian received 20 votes in the ballot while Steve Rodan, the only other candidate, received 12.
Mrs Christian, a former health minister, is the daughter of Sir Charles Kerruish, a Manx politician who also held the role of president.
After the election Mrs Christian said she expected to miss "active" politics but was honoured to be chosen.
She added: "I will do my best to see business is carried out in a fair manner for the benefit of the people of the Isle of Man."
Mrs Christian first became a member of the House of Keys in 1980.
She was appointed a member of the legislative council in 1993 and is chairman of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.
View the original article here
Mrs Christian, a former health minister, is the daughter of Sir Charles Kerruish, a Manx politician who also held the role of president.
After the election Mrs Christian said she expected to miss "active" politics but was honoured to be chosen.
She added: "I will do my best to see business is carried out in a fair manner for the benefit of the people of the Isle of Man."
Mrs Christian first became a member of the House of Keys in 1980.
She was appointed a member of the legislative council in 1993 and is chairman of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.
View the original article here
News International found 'smoking gun' e-mails in 2007 - BBC News
10 July 2011 Last updated at 13:10 GMT Rupert Murdoch has met Rebekah Brooks over the phone-hacking scandal(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
News International found e-mails in 2007 that appeared to indicate that payments were being made to the police for information, although this evidence of alleged criminal behaviour was not handed to the Metropolitan Police for investigation until 20 June of this year.(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
According to sources, these e-mails were in the possession of the firm of solicitors, Harbottle & Lewis.
They were retrieved from Harbottle & Lewis by lawyers acting for News Interernational and for William Lewis - general manager of News International - who is in charge of News International's clean-up of what went wrong at the News of the World (and who was recruited by News International last July).
The e-mails appear to show Andy Coulson, editor of the News of the World from 2003-2007, authorising payments to the police for help with stories.
They also appear to show that phone hacking went wider than the activities of a single rogue reporter, which was the News of the World's claim at the time.
Mr Coulson, who subsequently became David Cameron's director of communications in 10 Downing Street, was arrested and bailed last week.
In a letter presented to the Commons Culture, Media and Sport select committee, Harbottle & Lewis confirmed that it had been asked by News International to review whether the illegal actions of Clive Goodman - the News of the World's former royal editor, jailed in 2007 for phone hacking - were known to his News of the World colleagues.
In this letter, dated 29 May 2007, and sent to Jon Chapman of News International, Lawrence Abramson of Harbottle & Lewis wrote that it had "reviewed e-mails to which you have provided access from the accounts of Andy Coulson, Stuart Kuttner, Ian Edmondson, Clive Goodman, Neil Wallis, Jules Stenson".
Mr Abramson confirmed to Mr Chapman that it "did not find anything in those e-mails which appeared to us to be reasonable evidence that Clive Goodman's illegal actions were known about and supported by both or either of Andy Coulson, the editor, and Neil Wallis, the deputy editor, and/or that Ian Edmondson, the news editor, and others were carrying out similar illegal procedures".
The letter from Mr Abramson to Mr Chapman makes no mention of whether the e-mails contain evidence of wrongdoing by journalists other than Mr Goodman.
However, when William Lewis and his fellow News International executives re-acquired those e-mails from Harbottle & Lewis, they found what they perceived to be prima facie evidence that the illegal phone hacking went wider than just the activities of Mr Goodman and that there were potentially illegal payments to the police.
William Lewis went looking for these e-mails after the Metropolitan Police of Operation Weeting, who are investigating alleged phone hacking, enquired about the existence of 2,500 e-mails that Colin Myler - who replaced Andy Coulson as editor of the News of the World - mentioned to MPs on the Culture, Media and Sport committee.
Mr Myler told the MPs these e-mails had been trawled through as part of his own inquiry into whether hacking was carried out by others than Mr Goodman.
In response to a question by the MP Philip Davies about whether Mr Goodman was working alone, Mr Myler said: "I conducted this inquiry with Daniel Cloke, our director of human resources. Over 2,500 e-mails were accessed because we were exploring whether or not there was any other evidence to suggest essentially what you are hinting at. No evidence was found; that is up to 2,500 e-mails".
William Lewis and his News International colleagues on a newly created management and standards committee have not found the full 2,500 e-mails mentioned by Mr Myler, just the sub-set of 300 that were passed to Harbottle & Lewis.
The disclosure that News International found 300 e-mails as long ago as 2007, that indicated wider malpractices at the News of the World than those which led to the jailing of Mr Goodman and of the private detective Glenn Mulcaire, will pose very difficult questions for News International's chairman, James Murdoch, son of Rupert Murdoch.
In December 2007, James Murdoch took charge of News International as chief executive of the European and Asian operations of its parent company, News Corporation.
Some four months later, in April 2008, he authorised the payment of a substantial out-of-court settlement, running to hundreds of thousands of pounds, with Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, over the hacking of Mr Taylor's phone.
That settlement - which was agreed by Mr Murdoch and signed by News International's chief operating officer at the time, Clive Milner - contained a gagging clause, making it impossible for either party to talk about the settlement or what led to it (though many of its details were subsequently revealed by the Guardian).
Mr Murdoch has now conceded that it was wrong of him to agree to the settlement with Mr Taylor and also to other out-of-court settlements made at a similar time.
He said on Thursday: "I now know that I did not have a complete picture when I did so. This was wrong and is a matter of serious regret."
There have been allegations that Mr Murdoch, in settling with Mr Taylor, was endeavouring to put a lid on the furore to deter a wider police investigation of the News of the World's behaviour.
News International denies this.
It insists that Mr Murdoch only approved the Taylor settlement and gagging clause because he was ignorant of the alleged transgressions by other News of the World journalists.
In particular, News International says Mr Murdoch had no knowledge of the 300 e-mails that Harbottle & Lewis were asked to review.
View the original article here
They were retrieved from Harbottle & Lewis by lawyers acting for News Interernational and for William Lewis - general manager of News International - who is in charge of News International's clean-up of what went wrong at the News of the World (and who was recruited by News International last July).
The e-mails appear to show Andy Coulson, editor of the News of the World from 2003-2007, authorising payments to the police for help with stories.
They also appear to show that phone hacking went wider than the activities of a single rogue reporter, which was the News of the World's claim at the time.
Mr Coulson, who subsequently became David Cameron's director of communications in 10 Downing Street, was arrested and bailed last week.
In a letter presented to the Commons Culture, Media and Sport select committee, Harbottle & Lewis confirmed that it had been asked by News International to review whether the illegal actions of Clive Goodman - the News of the World's former royal editor, jailed in 2007 for phone hacking - were known to his News of the World colleagues.
In this letter, dated 29 May 2007, and sent to Jon Chapman of News International, Lawrence Abramson of Harbottle & Lewis wrote that it had "reviewed e-mails to which you have provided access from the accounts of Andy Coulson, Stuart Kuttner, Ian Edmondson, Clive Goodman, Neil Wallis, Jules Stenson".
Mr Abramson confirmed to Mr Chapman that it "did not find anything in those e-mails which appeared to us to be reasonable evidence that Clive Goodman's illegal actions were known about and supported by both or either of Andy Coulson, the editor, and Neil Wallis, the deputy editor, and/or that Ian Edmondson, the news editor, and others were carrying out similar illegal procedures".
The letter from Mr Abramson to Mr Chapman makes no mention of whether the e-mails contain evidence of wrongdoing by journalists other than Mr Goodman.
However, when William Lewis and his fellow News International executives re-acquired those e-mails from Harbottle & Lewis, they found what they perceived to be prima facie evidence that the illegal phone hacking went wider than just the activities of Mr Goodman and that there were potentially illegal payments to the police.
William Lewis went looking for these e-mails after the Metropolitan Police of Operation Weeting, who are investigating alleged phone hacking, enquired about the existence of 2,500 e-mails that Colin Myler - who replaced Andy Coulson as editor of the News of the World - mentioned to MPs on the Culture, Media and Sport committee.
Mr Myler told the MPs these e-mails had been trawled through as part of his own inquiry into whether hacking was carried out by others than Mr Goodman.
In response to a question by the MP Philip Davies about whether Mr Goodman was working alone, Mr Myler said: "I conducted this inquiry with Daniel Cloke, our director of human resources. Over 2,500 e-mails were accessed because we were exploring whether or not there was any other evidence to suggest essentially what you are hinting at. No evidence was found; that is up to 2,500 e-mails".
William Lewis and his News International colleagues on a newly created management and standards committee have not found the full 2,500 e-mails mentioned by Mr Myler, just the sub-set of 300 that were passed to Harbottle & Lewis.
The disclosure that News International found 300 e-mails as long ago as 2007, that indicated wider malpractices at the News of the World than those which led to the jailing of Mr Goodman and of the private detective Glenn Mulcaire, will pose very difficult questions for News International's chairman, James Murdoch, son of Rupert Murdoch.
In December 2007, James Murdoch took charge of News International as chief executive of the European and Asian operations of its parent company, News Corporation.
Some four months later, in April 2008, he authorised the payment of a substantial out-of-court settlement, running to hundreds of thousands of pounds, with Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, over the hacking of Mr Taylor's phone.
That settlement - which was agreed by Mr Murdoch and signed by News International's chief operating officer at the time, Clive Milner - contained a gagging clause, making it impossible for either party to talk about the settlement or what led to it (though many of its details were subsequently revealed by the Guardian).
Mr Murdoch has now conceded that it was wrong of him to agree to the settlement with Mr Taylor and also to other out-of-court settlements made at a similar time.
He said on Thursday: "I now know that I did not have a complete picture when I did so. This was wrong and is a matter of serious regret."
There have been allegations that Mr Murdoch, in settling with Mr Taylor, was endeavouring to put a lid on the furore to deter a wider police investigation of the News of the World's behaviour.
News International denies this.
It insists that Mr Murdoch only approved the Taylor settlement and gagging clause because he was ignorant of the alleged transgressions by other News of the World journalists.
In particular, News International says Mr Murdoch had no knowledge of the 300 e-mails that Harbottle & Lewis were asked to review.
View the original article here
Lord Harewood changed the face of post-war British culture - Telegraph.co.uk
The Earl of Harewood visited by Queen Elizabeth as part of her nationwide golden jubilee tour Photo: GETTY(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
At a ripe old age, Lord Harewood died yesterday. I only met him once, but our encounter was memorable, and I think it says much about the man.(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
About ten years ago, he took exception to some views I had expressed in print relating to the management of English National Opera, an organisation close to his heart, as one which he had done much to create and nurture and of which at that time he remained President.
Rather firmly, I was 'invited' to Harewood House for lunch, during which his secretary told me I could expect Lord Harewood to talk 'frankly'. It was a daunting prospect, but I need not have worried.
Lord and Lady Harewood lived in a modest, comfortable flat in the wing of Harewood House, and they could not have been more welcoming or hospitable.
Lord Harewood and I did indeed talk 'frankly' about ENO, but he did me the honour of respecting my sincerity and made no attempt to pull rank or intimidate me. His only concern was ENO's ultimate well-being - a concern I also shared - and we soon came to amicable and constructive agreement.
It was clear to me what an excellent manager he must have been - firm, objective, sensitive, unhysterical, and principled. If only opera could always have governance of this quality.
Once our formal discussion was over, we got down to the real business - a good lunch and some uninhibited operatic gossip. What a mine of information and experience he could tap and how deep his passion and enthusiasm ran! We talked high and low, about Callas and Britten, about the foundation of Opera magazine, and his pride in Opera North, the company he had been instrumental in establishing down the road in Leeds, as well as about singers, conductors and directors of the day. He could be very funny and did not mince his words, but nothing he said was gratuitously nasty or trivial. Although his health and energy were already in decline, one felt that such conversation recharged his batteries, and I only hope he enjoyed my visit a tenth as much as I did.
Our Royal Family, God bless it, is not noted for either its intellectual stature or artistic sophistication. But Lord Harewood, the Queen's cousin, was the exception: a man who combined intense aesthetic sensibility with practicality and erudition. As someone who changed the face of post-war culture in Britain entirely for the better, his memory should be honoured.
View the original article here
Rather firmly, I was 'invited' to Harewood House for lunch, during which his secretary told me I could expect Lord Harewood to talk 'frankly'. It was a daunting prospect, but I need not have worried.
Lord and Lady Harewood lived in a modest, comfortable flat in the wing of Harewood House, and they could not have been more welcoming or hospitable.
Lord Harewood and I did indeed talk 'frankly' about ENO, but he did me the honour of respecting my sincerity and made no attempt to pull rank or intimidate me. His only concern was ENO's ultimate well-being - a concern I also shared - and we soon came to amicable and constructive agreement.
It was clear to me what an excellent manager he must have been - firm, objective, sensitive, unhysterical, and principled. If only opera could always have governance of this quality.
Once our formal discussion was over, we got down to the real business - a good lunch and some uninhibited operatic gossip. What a mine of information and experience he could tap and how deep his passion and enthusiasm ran! We talked high and low, about Callas and Britten, about the foundation of Opera magazine, and his pride in Opera North, the company he had been instrumental in establishing down the road in Leeds, as well as about singers, conductors and directors of the day. He could be very funny and did not mince his words, but nothing he said was gratuitously nasty or trivial. Although his health and energy were already in decline, one felt that such conversation recharged his batteries, and I only hope he enjoyed my visit a tenth as much as I did.
Our Royal Family, God bless it, is not noted for either its intellectual stature or artistic sophistication. But Lord Harewood, the Queen's cousin, was the exception: a man who combined intense aesthetic sensibility with practicality and erudition. As someone who changed the face of post-war culture in Britain entirely for the better, his memory should be honoured.
View the original article here
Northern Ireland rioting leaves 24 police injured - Herald Sun
Twenty-four Northern Ireland police have been injured in riots as the protestant marching season comes to a head. Source: AAP(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
POLICE officers in west Belfast came under attack early yesterday from crowds of rioters who threw petrol bombs, stones and bricks, as the Protestant marching season comes to a head.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said a bus was also hijacked and driven at a police cordon, but crashed nearby.(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
A total of 24 police officers were injured during the violence, 22 in Belfast and two in Portadown, according to Belfast Citybeat radio station. Four officers were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, the PSNI said.
Authorities fired plastic bullets and used water cannon in efforts to disperse crowds of between 100 and 200 people who began throwing stones and missiles at police lines in the nationalist areas of Broadway and Old Park.
Petrol bombs were thrown at officers in North Queen Street and the bus was hijacked on the traditional flashpoint of Falls Road before being driven at police.
Other vehicles were hijacked or set on fire.
There were reports of gunshots in the Broadway area, but no injuries, police said.
On Monday PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Alistair Finlay appealed to those with influence to "stay calm" over the next 48 hours, as the marching season - an annual time of heightened tension between Protestant and Catholic communities - reaches its climax, the Belfast Telegraph reported.
Trouble flared late Monday when Protestants began lighting bonfires, the signal for the start of a day of celebrations during which tens of thousands of "Orange Order" men are expected to march.
The annual Twelfth of July celebrations mark the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 when King William III, a Protestant, defeated the Catholic King James II, unseated by William two years earlier.
It is feared sectarian tensions could continue to boil over in areas of Belfast and Craigavon, County Armagh, and politicians and clergy on all sides have appealed for a day free of violence.
Every available police officer will be on duty at 19 separate demonstrations, with the largest expected to be in Belfast.
The Orange Order leadership said the parades showcase its history and heritage and attracts tourists.
Grand master Edward Stevenson said, "There is no other single event that can produce crowds like the Twelfth. It is such a special day of religion, culture, music and pageantry."
View the original article here
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said a bus was also hijacked and driven at a police cordon, but crashed nearby.(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
Authorities fired plastic bullets and used water cannon in efforts to disperse crowds of between 100 and 200 people who began throwing stones and missiles at police lines in the nationalist areas of Broadway and Old Park.
Petrol bombs were thrown at officers in North Queen Street and the bus was hijacked on the traditional flashpoint of Falls Road before being driven at police.
Other vehicles were hijacked or set on fire.
There were reports of gunshots in the Broadway area, but no injuries, police said.
On Monday PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Alistair Finlay appealed to those with influence to "stay calm" over the next 48 hours, as the marching season - an annual time of heightened tension between Protestant and Catholic communities - reaches its climax, the Belfast Telegraph reported.
Trouble flared late Monday when Protestants began lighting bonfires, the signal for the start of a day of celebrations during which tens of thousands of "Orange Order" men are expected to march.
The annual Twelfth of July celebrations mark the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 when King William III, a Protestant, defeated the Catholic King James II, unseated by William two years earlier.
It is feared sectarian tensions could continue to boil over in areas of Belfast and Craigavon, County Armagh, and politicians and clergy on all sides have appealed for a day free of violence.
Every available police officer will be on duty at 19 separate demonstrations, with the largest expected to be in Belfast.
The Orange Order leadership said the parades showcase its history and heritage and attracts tourists.
Grand master Edward Stevenson said, "There is no other single event that can produce crowds like the Twelfth. It is such a special day of religion, culture, music and pageantry."
View the original article here
Church of England General Synod live blog - The Guardian (blog)
2.05pm: I am momentarily stepping away from the Church of England's cunning plan to dominate, sorry "position itself even more centrally in the education system of England and Wales" to bring you reaction to the Equality and Human Rights Commission application to intervene in the case of four Christians.
Ben Summerskill, from Stonewall, has issued this response:(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
He told Synod:
This morning is about education, education, education. There has been lots of coverage about this debate - with a leading bishop warning the Church of England must act now to secure its role amid policy change; the same bishop warning that church schools are under threat and again that middle-class parents will lose their monopoly on school places.
The advice on admissions and comment from the leading bishop in question - John Pritchard - can be found here.
While the debate is going on I'll do a round-up of news and blogs emerging from yesterday's business.
The Daily Telegraph has a story on how Christians should learn how to be a minority from Muslims, drawn from comments made by the bishop of Bradford, Nick Baines. Baines has written about race and the Church of England on his own blog:
A transcript of the bishop's statement (Dover, not Willesden) is here (via Titus One Nine) and it's rather astonishing.
View the original article here
Ben Summerskill, from Stonewall, has issued this response:(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
Stonewall is deeply disturbed at the EHRC's statement announcing applications to intervene in European Court cases of claimed discrimination against Christians in the workplace. The case features two individuals, Lillian Ladele and Gary McFarlane, who have refused to provide public services to gay people.(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)The National Secular Society has a statement on its website:The Commission should be crystal clear that if it seeks to defend the claimed right of any public servant to turn away any user of a public service, it will face strong opposition. Gay taxpayers currently contribute £40 billion a year to the cost of Britain's public services and no lesbian and gay person should ever be deprived of access to them.
The EHRC's announcement, which has apparently been made by officers without consulting its board, confuses a settled legal situation that is currently clear. If employees are allowed to discriminate against gay people in the delivery of publicly-funded services, using the cloak of religion as justification, then we risk seeing a situation where Muslims may start refusing to treat alcoholics in hospital or social workers might decline to assist single mothers.
Recent research has demonstrated that the majority of religious people in Britain are proud of our progress toward gay equality. They understand that religious beliefs do not mean individuals have a right to treat lesbian, gay and bisexual people unfairly. We regret that the EHRC does not appear to support this sentiment. We hope it will now offer an unambiguous clarification of its position.
The cases that have been referred to Europe are not as straightforward as we are led to believe by the campaigners running them. Some of them have been tested in court and repeatedly found to be groundless (for example, Nadia Eweida, the BA employee) and the others have been settled by employment tribunals or through workplace negotiation. The fact that in every case where they have been brought to court they have been dismissed illustrates the emptiness of the claims being made by the likes of the Christian Legal Centre.The British Humanist Association is also joining the fray:
Mr Phillips should realise that by encouraging these worthless cases he is putting at risk the rights of gay people and others to live free from discrimination and injustice. For every privilege granted to religious people, someone else's rights are diminished. The fight for equality for gays has been long and hard, and now we see this campaign putting them at risk as religious believers fight for the right to legally enforce their prejudices against LGBT people.
All reasonable people will agree both that equality law in this area must be clear and also that there is scope in a secular democracy for reasonable accommodation of religious beliefs when that accommodation does not affect the rights and freedoms of others. But it is one thing to make the case for reasonable accommodation in matters such as religious holidays, and quite another if the accommodation sought is to allow the believer to discriminate against others in the provision of a service.1.31pm: Here are some extracts from the opening speech of the bishop of Oxford about education. Audio for the debate can be found here and audio files for the whole of Synod - I know I spoil you - are also available for the Church of England website.
In spite of our own work on the government steering group that first established it, ever since the EHRC opened for business our attempts to work with it have run aground on the constant priority it gives to religion. The EHRC has covered itself with shame on "religion or belief" issues since its doors first opened and this latest action is wholly disproportionate.
The changes are just tumbling out of government at a bewildering pace and the whole educational world is scrambling to keep up.12.20pm: More on the Church of England's stake in News Corporation. First Estates Church Commissioner Andreas Whittam Smith has warned (there's a lot of that going on) this morning against a premature purge of the Church of England's £3.76m News Corporation investment as it was possible that Murdoch might dump his British papers leading to a rise in share price. Canny.
[The 200th anniversary of the National Society] has given us the opportunity to revisit those core values and ask the crucial question about the purpose of church schools at the start of the 21st century. The question is being asked quite sharply of us by the increasingly vociferous band of secularists. It is important we are clear about the purpose, the rationale, the justification for our church schools. We need to stay on the front foot and be confident in the importance of these church schools in the mixed educational economy.
Seismic movements are afoot in education. We've focused on three - academies, RE and admissions. The educational marketplace is opening up, free of local authority control. Local education authorities make out for very little in this context having few roles and fewer funds. Independent service providers will be needed for school improvement, HR, legal expertise and so on. Who's going to provide that experience skill and knowledge now that the LEA has withered on the vine? Enter the Church. This is a great opportunity for diocesan boards of education if we can hold our nerve and be quick on our feet.
Non-church schools will be looking for experienced, wise, skilled friends who they can trust. We've been in the business a long time and we can provide or broker or benchmark the services they need.
The second major concern is about RE. All is still not lost although it's a close run thing. Discussions continue at a very high level. Can we all do our bit to commend the idea of RE teaching as Christian vocation?
The third issue is admissions, this isn't one of the googlies bowled to us by government. Not much has changed. Out of nearly 5000 schools only a very small number allocate more than half their places to Christian families. There's no tension between serving the whole community and nurturing the faith of children from Christian families.
We could lose much of what we have built up over the last 200 years if governors, bishops, clergy don't rise to the challenge of a new era. The changes are momentous the opportunities are huge.
He told Synod:
I feel that a premature sale of News Corp and BSkyB might just be simply very bad timing.11.53am: Morning all! Welcome to the final General Synod live blog.
I don't argue with anything that anybody is saying about them but I think it must be possible that News Corp will get rid of its entire British holdings, of newspapers that is, and that if it is to do so, first of all the problem would have vanished if you like from the point of view of the parent company and for us as investors, and the shares will certainly bounce up again, and so it is a ticklish area.
I do wish them the best of luck in talking to Rupert Murdoch and James Murdoch and Rebekah wotsit, it won't be easy, and I do not volunteer to be part of the team.
This morning is about education, education, education. There has been lots of coverage about this debate - with a leading bishop warning the Church of England must act now to secure its role amid policy change; the same bishop warning that church schools are under threat and again that middle-class parents will lose their monopoly on school places.
The advice on admissions and comment from the leading bishop in question - John Pritchard - can be found here.
While the debate is going on I'll do a round-up of news and blogs emerging from yesterday's business.
The Daily Telegraph has a story on how Christians should learn how to be a minority from Muslims, drawn from comments made by the bishop of Bradford, Nick Baines. Baines has written about race and the Church of England on his own blog:
One of the major challenges facing Muslims in this country is how to be a minority community and faith. Islam assumes majority status, so the learning is not an easy exercise. Where Christians find themselves a minority presence in a parish here, it has to ask what sort of a community it should be, how it should shape its life, how it can best witness to Jesus Christ, what sort of language it needs to enable its voice to be heard and its life to be understood.The Telegraph also has a story about the curious incident involving the bishop of Dover and the chair of the business committee. The bishop of Dover was due to be confirmed as that position holder, but whisperings and grumblings meant he chose not to take on the role. It led to the archbishop of Canterbury's intervention, a blog post from another bishop and mildly feverish activity on Twitter.
We could pretend that the situation didn't exist. We might wish the situation were different. But that would simply be to 'do a Daily Mail' and live with a rather unpleasant fantasy. It is always better to live in the real world and embrace the questions and challenges we might otherwise ignore.
A transcript of the bishop's statement (Dover, not Willesden) is here (via Titus One Nine) and it's rather astonishing.
Trevor Willmott, Bishop of Dover, number 45 – Chairman, I am grateful for this unusual opportunity to speak. I ask Synod's forgiveness if what I am about to say strikes hard. It is not intended to do so. Throughout my time on Synod in many different ways, I have tried to be of assistance to our working, and I will continue so to act in the future.Hmm.
I understand however, that there are some who question the appropriateness of a member of the House of Bishops chairing the Business Committee of this Synod and perhaps, dare I say, even this bishop in particular.
I want to say it is a role which I have not sought. I will not speculate on the reasoning behind these views, partly because I am ashamed to say, many of them have been spoken in the darkness!
I just want to say that I am deeply saddened at the thought that a member of any house of this Synod is somehow disqualified from holding a particular office, merely because he or she belongs to that particular house. Even more so, the thought that somehow belonging to that house, cuts across personal integrity and the loyalty to carry forward a shared task.
Members of Synod, I do not intend to embarrass you any further this morning. I therefore ask the Archbishops' Council, not to consider me for nomination as Chairman of the Business Committee. If such a nomination cannot gain the consent and confidence of the Synod, I do not believe that this office or any office is worth holding. I would suggest however, that very urgent consideration now be given to the amending of the standing orders of this Synod, so as to find a better and more transparent way of appointing the Chair of the Business Committee, and somehow preventing others finding themselves in that unenviable place in which I now find myself.
View the original article here
News of the World: Prince Charles and Camilla warned over phone hacking - The Guardian
The Duchess Of Cornwall and Prince Charles are among at least 10 members of the royal family who have been warned they were targeted for hacking. Photograph: Tim Graham/Getty Images(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
Police have warned Buckingham Palace that they have found evidence that the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall may have had their voicemail hacked by the News of the World.
The heir to the throne and his wife are among at least 10 members of the royal household who have now been warned they were targeted for hacking, according to police records obtained by the Guardian. Only five had previously been identified.(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
A palace source on Monday confirmed to the Guardian that the prince and the duchess had been approached by police recently to be warned that they had been identified as likely targets of the News of the World's specialist phone-hacker, Glenn Mulcaire.
The revelation comes as the BBC disclosed that the emails which News International handed to Scotland Yard in June include evidence that the paper had paid bribes to a royal protection officer in order to obtain private phone numbers for the royal household.
It is believed that personal phone details for Prince Charles and Camilla have been found among the 11,000 pages of handwritten notes that were kept by Mulcaire and which were seized by the original Scotland Yard inquiry in August 2006.
The palace source said: "The question that has to be answered is: if somebody had access to this evidence back then, why didn't they do something about it?"
Previous statements by police have identified only five royal victims – Prince William, Prince Harry and three members of staff who were named in the trial of the News of the World's royal correspondent, Clive Goodman, in January 2007.
In response to a Freedom of Information request from the Guardian, Scotland Yard has now revealed that it warned a total of 10 royal victims. Eight were warned at the time of the original police inquiry in 2006. Two others were warned only after the Guardian revived the story in July 2009.
It is not clear whether Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, are among the 10 victims to which its records referred. The palace source suggested that they had been warned only recently.
The remaining unidentified victims are thought to be members of the royal family, not staff. The prosecution strategy at the time of the trial was to name staff but not family.
Paperwork held by the Crown Prosecution Service reveals that police and prosecutors adopted a deliberate strategy to "ringfence" the evidence they presented in court in order to suppress the names of particularly prominent victims, including members of the royal family.
Scotland Yard took more than 14 months to provide the information, which was originally requested under the Freedom of Information Act in April 2010.
View the original article here
The heir to the throne and his wife are among at least 10 members of the royal household who have now been warned they were targeted for hacking, according to police records obtained by the Guardian. Only five had previously been identified.(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
The revelation comes as the BBC disclosed that the emails which News International handed to Scotland Yard in June include evidence that the paper had paid bribes to a royal protection officer in order to obtain private phone numbers for the royal household.
It is believed that personal phone details for Prince Charles and Camilla have been found among the 11,000 pages of handwritten notes that were kept by Mulcaire and which were seized by the original Scotland Yard inquiry in August 2006.
The palace source said: "The question that has to be answered is: if somebody had access to this evidence back then, why didn't they do something about it?"
Previous statements by police have identified only five royal victims – Prince William, Prince Harry and three members of staff who were named in the trial of the News of the World's royal correspondent, Clive Goodman, in January 2007.
In response to a Freedom of Information request from the Guardian, Scotland Yard has now revealed that it warned a total of 10 royal victims. Eight were warned at the time of the original police inquiry in 2006. Two others were warned only after the Guardian revived the story in July 2009.
It is not clear whether Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, are among the 10 victims to which its records referred. The palace source suggested that they had been warned only recently.
The remaining unidentified victims are thought to be members of the royal family, not staff. The prosecution strategy at the time of the trial was to name staff but not family.
Paperwork held by the Crown Prosecution Service reveals that police and prosecutors adopted a deliberate strategy to "ringfence" the evidence they presented in court in order to suppress the names of particularly prominent victims, including members of the royal family.
Scotland Yard took more than 14 months to provide the information, which was originally requested under the Freedom of Information Act in April 2010.
View the original article here
Monday, 11 July 2011
Night of violence casts a shadow over the Twelfth - Belfast Telegraph
A dark shadow hangs over the beginning of the Twelfth period today after serious violence engulfed a number of towns across Northern Ireland.(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
Fears of further rioting were high after simmering tensions erupted into ugly scenes in Ballyclare, Carrickfergus and Newtownabbey in a row sparked by flags.(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
Crisis talks were held between politicians, police and loyalist representatives yesterday in a bid to quell fears of more trouble in Co Antrim.
The severe disruption started in Ballyclare on Saturday night before spreading to other towns, leaving six police officers injured and several vehicles hijacked and burnt out.
Violence broke out in the Doagh Road and Grange Estate areas of the town at 11.30pm on Saturday, when it is understood between 70 and 100 loyalists protested after officers removed flags.
During the worst of the disturbances, officers came under fire with petrol bombs and missiles in the early hours of yesterday.
Five officers were injured when a police vehicle was rammed with a hijacked bus in Ballyclare. The sixth was hurt after being struck by flying masonry. All the officers suffered whiplash.
In a bid to restore calm police deployed a water cannon and fired baton rounds.
The destruction is believed to have been sparked by the removal of union flags in the Co Antrim town which had been put up outside a Catholic church near the Grange estate.
Police said 12 flags — both legal and illegal — were removed from the area. During the crisis meeting, Assistant Chief Constable Alistair Finlay offered an apology to people who “felt they have not received the police service that we strive to deliver” over the flag removals.
Mr Finlay, however, said that “nothing excuses” the violence that broke out.
Following the riot Paul Girvan, DUP MLA, described the atmosphere in Ballyclare as an “uneasy calm”.
“Everybody is working hard to resolve this issue,” he said.
“The scenes in Ballyclare were horrendous. There is tension in the town but nobody wants to see that repeated.”
Trouble also broke out in Magherafelt, Co Londonderry, Carrickfergus and Ballyduff in Newtownabbey.
It is understood loyalists blocked roads in Carrickfergus and set a number of hijacked vehicles alight.
PUP representative Phil Hamilton denied, however, that any illegal organisations were involved in the violence.
“I don't think there's paramilitaries involved in it,” he said.
“I think we've seen a community at boiling point and it just shows what can happen, people's patience have just gone thin.”
A Catholic church in Harryville, Ballymena, was also attacked by vandals. The damage caused to the Church of Our Lady has been branded a deplorable attempt to raise sectarian tensions ahead of annual Orange marches.
In Coleraine, a man escaped injury after two shots were fired at a house in the Kingsbury Gardens area of the town shortly after 11pm on Saturday. SDLP Assembly member John Dallat said he believed the attack was sectarian.
A Catholic family, meanwhile, said they are moving from the Leckagh Drive area of Magherafelt after their home was attacked during trouble. The family said they no longer felt safe.
Their home was one of four damaged in overnight attacks.
View the original article here
The severe disruption started in Ballyclare on Saturday night before spreading to other towns, leaving six police officers injured and several vehicles hijacked and burnt out.
Violence broke out in the Doagh Road and Grange Estate areas of the town at 11.30pm on Saturday, when it is understood between 70 and 100 loyalists protested after officers removed flags.
During the worst of the disturbances, officers came under fire with petrol bombs and missiles in the early hours of yesterday.
Five officers were injured when a police vehicle was rammed with a hijacked bus in Ballyclare. The sixth was hurt after being struck by flying masonry. All the officers suffered whiplash.
In a bid to restore calm police deployed a water cannon and fired baton rounds.
The destruction is believed to have been sparked by the removal of union flags in the Co Antrim town which had been put up outside a Catholic church near the Grange estate.
Police said 12 flags — both legal and illegal — were removed from the area. During the crisis meeting, Assistant Chief Constable Alistair Finlay offered an apology to people who “felt they have not received the police service that we strive to deliver” over the flag removals.
Mr Finlay, however, said that “nothing excuses” the violence that broke out.
Following the riot Paul Girvan, DUP MLA, described the atmosphere in Ballyclare as an “uneasy calm”.
“Everybody is working hard to resolve this issue,” he said.
“The scenes in Ballyclare were horrendous. There is tension in the town but nobody wants to see that repeated.”
Trouble also broke out in Magherafelt, Co Londonderry, Carrickfergus and Ballyduff in Newtownabbey.
It is understood loyalists blocked roads in Carrickfergus and set a number of hijacked vehicles alight.
PUP representative Phil Hamilton denied, however, that any illegal organisations were involved in the violence.
“I don't think there's paramilitaries involved in it,” he said.
“I think we've seen a community at boiling point and it just shows what can happen, people's patience have just gone thin.”
A Catholic church in Harryville, Ballymena, was also attacked by vandals. The damage caused to the Church of Our Lady has been branded a deplorable attempt to raise sectarian tensions ahead of annual Orange marches.
In Coleraine, a man escaped injury after two shots were fired at a house in the Kingsbury Gardens area of the town shortly after 11pm on Saturday. SDLP Assembly member John Dallat said he believed the attack was sectarian.
A Catholic family, meanwhile, said they are moving from the Leckagh Drive area of Magherafelt after their home was attacked during trouble. The family said they no longer felt safe.
Their home was one of four damaged in overnight attacks.
View the original article here
BSkyB takeover: Jeremy Hunt seeking new advice - BBC News
11 July 2011 Last updated at 08:10 GMT Rupert Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks met on Sunday after he flew into the UK(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
The culture secretary is seeking fresh advice from regulators on News Corp's takeover bid for BSkyB, amid the News of the World phone-hacking scandal.
Jeremy Hunt has written to Ofcom and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) after the 168-year-old paper was shut down.(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
The implication is that Mr Hunt could now refer the deal to the Competition Commission, BBC business editor Robert Peston said.
Milly Dowler's parents are meeting Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.
The murdered schoolgirl's phone was allegedly hacked in 2002 while she was still missing, and that revelation last week set in motion a train of events which ended with the closure of the News of the World (NoW).
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander told the BBC: "These are appalling crimes which seem to have taken place and the victims have an important role in this process."
The BBC understands former NoW editor Rebekah Brooks could be questioned by police as a witness, rather than a suspect.
Mrs Brooks, who has denied having had any knowledge of hacking while she was editor from 2000 to 2003, is now chief executive of the NoW's publisher News International, which is owned by News Corp.
Shares in BSkyB opened more than 6% lower on Monday and have dipped below the 700p offer price proposed last year by News Corp, when it expressed interest in bidding for the 61% of shares in BSkyB it did not own.
The chairman of the media select committee, Tory MP John Whittingdale, said the BskyB bid should be put on hold.
He said: "In the present atmosphere it's become so poisonous, it is very difficult for this takeover to proceed. The best thing would be if it could be put on hold until we have a much clearer idea of who knew what, who was responsible."
Mr Hunt will suggest the NoW closure is "a significant change to the media landscape", our correspondent said.
Continue reading the main story Norman Smith Chief political correspondent, BBC Radio 4
The government may be unwilling to publicly sound the death knell of the planned Murdoch buy out of BSkyB but behind the scenes funeral arrangements are being made.
The reason? Public opinion.
Throughout the whole hacking scandal, the government has found itself lagging well behind public opinion and is determined not to allow itself to be seen as somehow on the side of Rupert Murdoch.
The problem ministers face, however, is in finding a politically palatable way of killing the deal without invoking the wrath of Mr Murdoch or the courts.
A reference to the Competition Commission would still leave the Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt with the responsibility for taking the final decision.
A reference to Ofcom would not involve the government but Ofcom in the past has shown a marked reluctance to block such deals.
In his letter to the media regulator, Ofcom, and the OFT, Mr Hunt writes: "I would be grateful if you could indicate whether this development (and/or the events surrounding it) gives you any additional concerns in respect of plurality over and above those raised in your initial report to me on this matter received on 31 December 2010."
He goes on to ask if last week's events caused them to reconsider previous advice about the "credibility, sustainability or practicalities of the undertakings offered by News Corporation".
Commons vote
Labour leader Ed Miliband has demanded the BSkyB bid be referred to the Competition Commission and said the government could not rely on assurances from News Corp executives in the wake of the hacking scandal.
He has put down a motion calling for the bid to be delayed until the criminal investigation is completed and is seeking support from the Liberal Democrats and some Tories.
Sources have told the BBC that despite recognising the growing pressure to put the BSkyB bid on hold, Mr Hunt has to act in a quasi-judicial manner and cannot legally simply announce a delay after the police have completed their inquiries into phone hacking.
Jeremy Hunt, who was at the British Grand Prix on Sunday, has written to Ofcom
News Corp chairman and chief executive, Rupert Murdoch, flew into London on Sunday to personally handle his organisation's response to the phone-hacking crisis.
After visiting News International for talks with senior executives, Mr Murdoch appeared later with Mrs Brooks. Asked what his priority was, he said: "This one," gesturing at her and smiling.
She is under pressure to quit after the paper was closed amid the damaging allegations about hacking.
She was the editor when voicemails on 13-year-old Milly Dowler's mobile phone were allegedly intercepted, but has denied knowing it was happening.
The emergence of those and other allegations last week prompted NI to announce the closure of NoW after 168 years in print.
Campaigners claim Mr Murdoch has been pulling the strings of Mr Cameron and Mr Hunt
The paper's final edition, published on Sunday, included a full-page apology for hacking the mobile phones of hundreds of people. "Quite simply, we lost our way," it said.
E-mails found
Meanwhile, the BBC understands NI found e-mails in 2007 that appeared to show payments were made to police for information for stories.
The evidence of alleged criminal behaviour was not handed to the Metropolitan Police for investigation until 20 June, 2011, BBC business editor Robert Peston reported.
The e-mails appeared to show Andy Coulson, editor of the News of the World from 2003-07, authorising payments to the police for help with stories, Mr Peston reported.
And they also appear to show that phone-hacking went wider than the activities of a single rogue reporter, which the News of the World claimed at the time.
News International said it was "co-operating fully with the police".
The government has announced two independent inquiries into the scandal, firstly a judge-led probe into the activities of the NoW and other papers, and the failure of the original police investigation from 2005 into phone-hacking.
The second inquiry will examine the ethics and culture of the press.
View the original article here
Jeremy Hunt has written to Ofcom and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) after the 168-year-old paper was shut down.(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
Milly Dowler's parents are meeting Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.
The murdered schoolgirl's phone was allegedly hacked in 2002 while she was still missing, and that revelation last week set in motion a train of events which ended with the closure of the News of the World (NoW).
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander told the BBC: "These are appalling crimes which seem to have taken place and the victims have an important role in this process."
The BBC understands former NoW editor Rebekah Brooks could be questioned by police as a witness, rather than a suspect.
Mrs Brooks, who has denied having had any knowledge of hacking while she was editor from 2000 to 2003, is now chief executive of the NoW's publisher News International, which is owned by News Corp.
Shares in BSkyB opened more than 6% lower on Monday and have dipped below the 700p offer price proposed last year by News Corp, when it expressed interest in bidding for the 61% of shares in BSkyB it did not own.
The chairman of the media select committee, Tory MP John Whittingdale, said the BskyB bid should be put on hold.
He said: "In the present atmosphere it's become so poisonous, it is very difficult for this takeover to proceed. The best thing would be if it could be put on hold until we have a much clearer idea of who knew what, who was responsible."
Mr Hunt will suggest the NoW closure is "a significant change to the media landscape", our correspondent said.
Continue reading the main story Norman Smith Chief political correspondent, BBC Radio 4
The government may be unwilling to publicly sound the death knell of the planned Murdoch buy out of BSkyB but behind the scenes funeral arrangements are being made.
The reason? Public opinion.
Throughout the whole hacking scandal, the government has found itself lagging well behind public opinion and is determined not to allow itself to be seen as somehow on the side of Rupert Murdoch.
The problem ministers face, however, is in finding a politically palatable way of killing the deal without invoking the wrath of Mr Murdoch or the courts.
A reference to the Competition Commission would still leave the Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt with the responsibility for taking the final decision.
A reference to Ofcom would not involve the government but Ofcom in the past has shown a marked reluctance to block such deals.
In his letter to the media regulator, Ofcom, and the OFT, Mr Hunt writes: "I would be grateful if you could indicate whether this development (and/or the events surrounding it) gives you any additional concerns in respect of plurality over and above those raised in your initial report to me on this matter received on 31 December 2010."
He goes on to ask if last week's events caused them to reconsider previous advice about the "credibility, sustainability or practicalities of the undertakings offered by News Corporation".
Commons vote
Labour leader Ed Miliband has demanded the BSkyB bid be referred to the Competition Commission and said the government could not rely on assurances from News Corp executives in the wake of the hacking scandal.
He has put down a motion calling for the bid to be delayed until the criminal investigation is completed and is seeking support from the Liberal Democrats and some Tories.
Sources have told the BBC that despite recognising the growing pressure to put the BSkyB bid on hold, Mr Hunt has to act in a quasi-judicial manner and cannot legally simply announce a delay after the police have completed their inquiries into phone hacking.
Jeremy Hunt, who was at the British Grand Prix on Sunday, has written to Ofcom News Corp chairman and chief executive, Rupert Murdoch, flew into London on Sunday to personally handle his organisation's response to the phone-hacking crisis.
After visiting News International for talks with senior executives, Mr Murdoch appeared later with Mrs Brooks. Asked what his priority was, he said: "This one," gesturing at her and smiling.
She is under pressure to quit after the paper was closed amid the damaging allegations about hacking.
She was the editor when voicemails on 13-year-old Milly Dowler's mobile phone were allegedly intercepted, but has denied knowing it was happening.
The emergence of those and other allegations last week prompted NI to announce the closure of NoW after 168 years in print.
Campaigners claim Mr Murdoch has been pulling the strings of Mr Cameron and Mr Hunt The paper's final edition, published on Sunday, included a full-page apology for hacking the mobile phones of hundreds of people. "Quite simply, we lost our way," it said.
E-mails found
Meanwhile, the BBC understands NI found e-mails in 2007 that appeared to show payments were made to police for information for stories.
The evidence of alleged criminal behaviour was not handed to the Metropolitan Police for investigation until 20 June, 2011, BBC business editor Robert Peston reported.
The e-mails appeared to show Andy Coulson, editor of the News of the World from 2003-07, authorising payments to the police for help with stories, Mr Peston reported.
And they also appear to show that phone-hacking went wider than the activities of a single rogue reporter, which the News of the World claimed at the time.
News International said it was "co-operating fully with the police".
The government has announced two independent inquiries into the scandal, firstly a judge-led probe into the activities of the NoW and other papers, and the failure of the original police investigation from 2005 into phone-hacking.
The second inquiry will examine the ethics and culture of the press.
View the original article here
Murder inquiry into Redcar house fire death - BBC News
10 July 2011 Last updated at 11:29 GMT(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
A post-mortem examination revealed the dead man had been assaulted A murder investigation is under way in Redcar after the death of a man whose body was recovered from a house fire.(router,verizon wireless,wireless network,wireless internet,i phone,i phone verizon,my verizon wireless,wireless adapter,att wireless)
Cleveland Police said a post-mortem examination carried out on the 77-year-old victim showed that he had died as a result of an assault.
A forensic team has sealed off the property in Pennine Crescent to try to piece together events leading up to the fire early on Saturday.
A 50-year-old local man has been arrested and is being questioned.
View the original article here
A forensic team has sealed off the property in Pennine Crescent to try to piece together events leading up to the fire early on Saturday.
A 50-year-old local man has been arrested and is being questioned.
View the original article here
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