Aung San Suu Kyi Trial Verdict Delayed Until 11 Aug 2009

I can only give my profound disgust that the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is contiuning to face discrimination by the Burmese junta they want to continue to hold on to power as they cannot stand democracy in Burma.

Many human rights abuse has continued to take place in Burma and if it was not for Aung San Suu Kyi supporters worldwide I am sure the abuse will carry on behind the scenes.

Burmese court has postponed delivering its verdict in the trial of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The court had been due to rule on the case on Friday, but the verdict has now been delayed until 11 August.

The judges said they needed more time to review the case, according to Western diplomats in Rangoon.

Aung San Suu Kyi is accused of breaching the terms of her house arrest by allowing an uninvited American to stay in her home.

Despite international calls for her release, a guilty verdict has been widely expected.

Analysts suggest that the delay may signal a belated recognition on the part of the government at the level of anger over Ms Suu Kyi's prosecution.

Riot police surrounded the prison on Friday, following warnings in the local media that any protests against a guilty verdict would not be tolerated.

All roads leading to Insein prison - where the trial is being held - were blocked by barbed-wire barricades.

But in the event, the streets remained quiet as news got out of the postponement.
The trial had initially been expected to last a few days, but has now dragged on for more than two months.

Analysts say the Burmese junta may use this trial to make sure the popular pro-democracy leader is still in detention during elections planned for early next year.

Ms Suu Kyi's international legal counsel, Jared Genser, said the delay was an attempt by the junta to deflect international criticism.

"It is in some ways a smart move - push off the verdict until the middle of August when numerous government and United Nations officials around the world will be on vacation," he told the French news agency AFP.

"But it remains to be seen whether this ploy will work or if anticipation will be heightened in the run-up to the issuance of the verdict."

Ms Suu Kyi faces five years in jail if she is convicted of violating the terms of her house arrest.

She is accused of allowing American well-wisher John Yettaw to stay at her lakeside home in Rangoon after he swam there. Mr Yettaw has said he swam to her home to warn her he had a vision that she would be assassinated.

Lawyers for Ms Suu Kyi have not disputed the events, but say she had no control over the situation and that the guards around her home should have kept Mr Yettaw away.
Her lawyers have also argued that the law she has been charged under is part of a constitution abolished 25 years ago.

Her Burmese lawyer, Nyan Win, said Ms Suu Kyi was "preparing for the worst", stockpiling books and medicines in anticipation of a long prison sentence.

Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won elections in 1988 but was never allowed to take power.

The 64-year-old has spent nearly 14 of the last 20 years in detention, much of it at her Rangoon home.

Hey Get This The Tory Leader Force To Give An Apology(Read All About In Full:))

David Cameron apologised today after using bad language during a live radio interview.

The Tory leader slipped out the word 't***' as he explained why he did not use the Twitter social networking service.

He then risked making the situation worse by stating that the public was 'p*****' off' with politicians.

Mr Cameron quickly added: 'Sorry, I can't say that in the morning.'

He made the comments during an interview with Absolute Radio about quirky details of his life and character.

Slip-up: David Cameron said 't***' during a radio interview

Asked whether he used Twitter, Mr Cameron said: 'The trouble with Twitter, the instantness of it - too many twits might make a t***.'

The remark was greeted with laughter in the studio, with host Christian O'Connell saying: 'That's fantastic.'

More...

• You twitter! Civil servant's instructions to ministers on how to send 140-character messages are 20 pages long

Shortly afterwards, the Tory leader was talking about how focused he was on the forthcoming general election, and the effects of the expenses scandal.

He said: 'The public are rightly, I think, p****** off - sorry I can't say that in the morning - angry with politicians.'

Aides stressed that Mr Cameron had apologised immediately for the latter slip, and pointed out that 't***' was not defined as a swear word under radio guidelines.

The interview is part of a fresh bid by the Tories to appeal to younger voters and destroy the view the party is one for the older generation.

Mr Cameron famously said in a radio interview three years ago that 'lots of people call me Dave' - creating a moniker that has stayed with him.

Today, he revealed he still asked himself whether he was the right person to become Prime Minister and lead the country.

'Of course you think all the time about "am I going to be able to take those really big decisions, take that responsibility, suffer the consequences when things go wrong, take difficult decision that could involve sending people into harm's way?", he said.

'I did think about that, though, before standing for the leadership of the Conservative Party, because I always thought there was a good chance of winning that.

'I thought very carefully "am I able to make those decisions, am I tough enough, am I strong enough to do it?".

'And I thought "yes I want to do this, I can do this and I am going to give it my best shot".'

Dont Trust The Tories as They Are Plotting To Raise VAT To 20 Per cent

Holy tax increases! Here's a right pair of caped raiders.

Led by greedy Vatman David Cameron and his Robbin' sidekick George Osborne, the Tories are secretly plotting to raise VAT to 20%.

The move is revealed in a leaked letter sent to business bosses that sets out the party's agenda.
It says a 5% rise in VAT is "very likely" if the Tories get into power. In the letter, the head of Conservative Intelligence Tim Montgomerie says that shadow chancellor George Osborne will slash public spending in an attempt to cut government borrowing.

It refers to Tory plans to close the budget deficit as being built on 80% spending cuts and 20% revenue rises.

The letter says: "An increase in VAT to 20% seems very likely, but VAT is a regressive tax that falls most heavily on poorer people."
Labour took VAT from 17.5% to 15% in December to boost the economy. But the cut expires in January 2010.

Mr Montgomerie also discloses that senior Tories are at war over tax rises for business, while private Tory polling says voters are opposed to tax rises on low income families. "Ken Clarke is proving to be an important ally for business within the shadow cabinet," the letter reads.

"He is leading the resistance to any increase in general business taxation."

It is the second time the leaked letter has embarrassed the Tories.

Last week the Mirror revealed David Cameron was secretly looking at making NHS patients pay for meals and maybe even to stay in hospital.

Labour MP Geoffrey Robinson said: "If David Cameron has a secret tax plan he should be honest about it."

A poll yesterday showed the Tories had an 18-point lead over Labour.

The ComRes survey for the Independent puts them on 42%, Labour 24% and the Lib Dems on 16%. Repeated at a General Election it would hand David Cameron a 150-seat majority.

Labour’s Winds Of Change: It’s Time To Nationalise The Vestas Isle Of Wight Turbine Factory

The red-green dissent and action over the imminent closure of the Vestas’ turbine manufacturing factory on the Isle of Wight is brightly gathering momentum, and from whatever way you look at it, there are legitimate reasons to nationalise Vestas’ Isle of Wight factory.

In the short-term, this moment not only represents significant ideological crossroads for the party, but a chance to save 600 preciously skilled jobs. At a time when the party is staring down the barrel of a gun and New Labourism is drawing to its natural close, nationalisation of the plant could be the platform Labour needs for a dramatic late reversal of its fortunes – a seminal, telling moment of vision, clarity and innovation. In the longer-term, this red-green chorus may well be a glimpse at the future.

The truth is that despite rising profits, Vestas as a Danish company and corporate profiteers, do not have sufficient orders and are closing the factory to make the turbines more cheaply in the US, where there is greater demand. As Ed Miliband points out in his piece at Comment is Free:

"We are unlikely to be a centre for onshore wind production, if up and down the country, and on the Isle of Wight, onshore wind applications are consistently turned down."

It should be noted that SERA had previously flagged up the fact that Conservative-run councils had opposed 80% of wind farm applications submitted to them since David Cameron became the leader of the Conservative party, whereas Labour councils had approved 70%.

The UK is the windiest country in Europe, so much so that we could power parts of our country several times over using this free fuel. The fact is we will need a mix of both onshore and offshore wind energy to work towards the targets on climate change and the UK’s energy security.

To overlook wind energy or put too high a reliance on offshore wind generation and fledgling micro-generation technology would condemn the UK to: missing our renewable energy targets; falling short of our commitment to tackle climate change; drifting away from energy independence at a time when it is essential; and contributing to a significant deficit in the country’s short-term energy supply. At this stage, it is unclear as to whether David Cameron appreciates or even fully understands this.

Glancing over our shoulders, many members of the Labour party will have been deeply affected by the impact of coal-pit closures, and also the pernicious influence of the West’s oil addiction on global foreign policy. For these reasons, there is a genuine sense of hope and optimism when the UK’s renewable energy potential is cited as the "Saudi Arabia of green energy". As an island, Britain has 40% of Europe’s wind resource, with strong winds both on and offshore – this is a position we should maximise as a country. Most promising of all is the glittering potential that exists for green collar jobs.

It is clear that the previous tensions between trade unionists protecting energy industry and jobs, and green campaigners protecting the environment, represent a fractious relationship of the past. At a time when there 60 applicants for every vacancy on the Isle of Wight, this growing red-green consensus recognises that to endanger 600 jobs and disperse a skill base that has been nurtured on the Isle of Wight within a fledgling green industry would be disastrous for the country, its manufacturing base and the climate change agenda as a whole.

Although Ed Miliband has met with the sit-in protestors, offered assistance in re-training those made unemployed, awarded £6m to the wind turbine firm's research centre to create some new jobs and promised to shake up the planning system to speed up wind projects, if Labour is seriously committed to preserving the skill base that has been nurtured on the Isle of Wight within a fledgling green industry, and also providing UK industry with an accessible source of turbines (as opposed UK firms shipping over turbines from Germany and Denmark), the substantive solution is nationalisation of the plant. This outcome would also inevitably see Ed Miliband graduate from activists' favourite to the party’s new best hope.

In electoral terms, nationalisation would surely claw back some of Labour’s disillusioned, dejected and dispersed masses - after Norwich, Labour activists need some hope. But looking ahead, I think this current red-green resonance may be a prophetic allegiance and a natural consensus to build the future foundations of the party, regardless of whether or not this happens in the political wilderness.

Ehud Barak Will Not Take Iran strike off the Table

I would like to see the peace process in the Middle East come to some agreement but given that both sides can not get even give an inch to come close tells you something about the peace process in the Middle East my only hope to all my brothers & sisters is not to give hope and contiune with the struggle in a peaceful way.

Israel has dug in its heels in a disagreement with the US over a potential military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities to halt its alleged progress towards nuclear weapons capacity.

"We clearly believe that no option should be removed from the table," Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak insisted, following discussions with US Defence Secretary Robert Gates.

"This is our policy and we mean it," Mr Barak blustered. "We recommend to others to take the same position but we cannot dictate it to anyone."

While the United States also reserves the right to use force if need be, the Obama administration has been playing down that possibility while it tries to draw Iran into talks about its disputed nuclear programme.

Mr Gates urged patience and said that Washington still hoped to have an initial answer about negotiations in the Autumn.

Israeli leaders fear that the US is prizing contact with Iran over its ties to Israel.

The issue of how to deal with Iran's advancement toward nuclear proficiency has become one of the most public differences between the new administrations in Tel Aviv and Washington.

Mr Gates's visit to Israel was believed to be aimed at dissuading Israel from a pre-emptive attack on Iranian nuclear sites.

But Mr Barak's comment seemed to indicate that Mr Gates made no visible headway in getting Israel to soften its line.

President Obama pledged a new initiative towards Iran during his presidential campaign.

Mr Obama argues that a strike would upset the fragile security balance in the Middle East, perhaps triggering a new nuclear arms race and leaving everyone, including Israel and Iran, worse off.

Israel is also under pressure to freeze construction in Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, land the Palestinians want for their eventual state and capital. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has so far resisted and the issue is a growing sore point between the US and Israel.

The US says continued Israeli construction on lands claimed by the Palestinians threatens to undermine future peace talks.

Israel insists that some expansion must be permitted to accommodate the "natural growth" of settler families.

The number of Jewish settlers in the West Bank is now 304,569, a 2.3 per cent increase since January.

Gaza War Crimes Case Rejected by the Court

The High Court has thrown out a legal bid by a Palestinian human rights group to hold the British government to account for its "complicity" in Israeli war crimes in Gaza.

Ramallah-based Al-Haq accused the government of failing in its international legal obligations to stop "aid and trade" with Israel, including supplying arms, following Israeli incursions into Gaza in December and January which led to the deaths of 1,400 Palestinians.

The government argued that, were it to condemn Israel for its actions, it would sour relations between the two states.

This is despite Britain being accused last week at the United Nations, along with other UN members states, of silence over Israel's continued blockade of the ravaged West Bank region.

Addressing a UN meeting in Geneva last week, general assembly president Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann accused Britain and other member states of "standing silent" while Israel breached UN resolutions calling for an end to the blockade of Gaza.

"With governments and the UN standing mute, unwilling or unable to provide assistance or protection to the people of Gaza," he said, "international civil society had taken the lead."

Referring to civilian convoys which deliver aid to the besieged region, often in the face of hostile opposition from the Israeli military, he stated: "The UN would do well to follow that example in bringing pressure to bear on the occupying power."

He also reminded UN members states of their obligation "to protect any civilian population facing violations of international humanitarian law."

But today at the High Court in London, a judge ruled that the court was "not competent" to deal with what was an issue involving the government's foreign policy.

Lord Justice Pill, sitting with Mr Justice Cranston, said that Al-Haq's claim sought condemnation of Israel and for the courts of England and Wales to decide whether Israel was in breach of its international obligations.

The judge said this was "beyond the competence" of the domestic courts and ruled: "While there may exceptionally be situations in which the court will intervene in foreign policy issues, this case is far from being one of them."

In his written judgement, Justice Cranston cited Foreign Office claims that granting the application would "imperil amicable relations between states" and that "compelling the government to take a public position on the matters in the claim would risk hindering the UK's engagement with peace efforts in the Middle East."

He further concurred with Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who argued that, to allow the case, would mean that any non-governmental organisation anywhere in the world would be able to bring a claim for judicial review in similar circumstances.

But Palestine Solidarity Campaign director of campaigns Sarah Colbourne said: "This ruling does not negate the complicity of the British government in the crimes against the Palestinian people.

"In international law, the government is bound to uphold the rights of the Palestinian people whenever they are violated."

A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman said: "The UK takes its domestic and international legal obligations very seriously. We vigorously defended the proceedings and are pleased that the court has agreed with us that the case was wholly inappropriate for resolution by the domestic courts."

Wind Farm In Westminster?

A real opportunity has presented itself for this government and, in particular, Business Secretary Lord Mandelson to establish that what various spokesmen have been saying over the last year was not just so much hot air.

Ever since the banks threw the economy into turmoil, Mr Mandelson and his mouthpieces have been loudly trumpeting their willingness to aid the development of alternative, more environmentally friendly energy sources during the process of reviving the economy.
And now, from the unlikely location of the Isle of Wight, comes his and their opportunity to prove their green credentials.

In the process, they can provide an example of creative government thinking about saving jobs, as well as making an investment of taxpayers' money which, for once, won't just find its way straight into the pockets of the big bankers.
Vestas Wind Systems has announced that it is going to close two factories, one on the island and another in Southampton, employing a total of 625 people, because, believe it or not, of a "lack of demand."

Now that makes the management of Vestas, if not liars, then certainly a bit confused, since their company's website proclaims loudly that it hasn't seen any cancellations in its orders backlog.
It also shows, for the first quarter of 2009, profits after tax of 56 million euros, a rise of 70 per cent over the same period last year, from revenue of 1.1 billion euros, a rise of 58 per cent. And, given that its orders backlog has risen by a whopping 6.7 per cent, there's certainly no reason to reduce productive capacity.

Vestas certainly isn't an unsuccessful company. During the first half of 2009, the price of Vestas shares increased by 25 per cent. Over the early years of the 21st century it has increased its staffing from just over 2,000 to well over 20,000 to date.
So we have a successful and booming company working on an expanding market with great prospects.

But what of the employees who have earned all these profits with their work and commitment?
Well, at the first sign that the going might get a little tougher, this successful and supposedly forward-looking company dumps them like so much waste product. And that just isn't good enough.

It isn't good enough for several reasons.

The first, obviously, is the staff. But there is also the fact that, if the firm dumps its capacity in this country, any further installations will rely on material imported from abroad at huge cost, given the environmental penalty of transporting such enormous components.

So much for its green credentials, in that case. If wind turbines are to be environmentally positive, they must be manufactured as near as possible to their ultimate site. Their environmental effect is by no means established as totally positive and transport fuel penalties might well tip the balance.

So, there we have it. A transnational is dumping its staff in this country for no good reason except fears for the future. This staff has the skills, the abilities and the established production facilities.

It would seem to be ready-made for this government to save, by nationalising it and making the factories a centrepiece of its environmental efforts to cut greenhouse gases and produce clean energy.

It need not cost the taxpayer a penny over time, since the profit margins boasted by Vestas would easily pay for buying out the company and saving 625 jobs, with the resulting unemployment benefit savings, in a relatively short time. It would cut the cost of new Labour's alternative energy programme dramatically.

So get to it, Mr Mandelson. No-one will accept a failure to save these factories, least of all the employees and certainly not the environmental movement.

You can save these factories with ease - or is it just another great big wind farm in Westminster?

My Phone Was Hacked Too, Coulson Tells MPs

The Conservative Party's director of communications Andy Coulson gives evidence to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee yesterday

The Panel On Fair Access To the Professions

The Panel on Fair Access to the professions has published its final report. Lead by the Rt Hon. Alan Milburn its 18 panel members examined the barriers and pathways to reaching professions for all people - regardless of their background.

The report was commissioned by the Prime Minister following the New Opportunities White Paper which examined the issue of social mobility and its importance for the economy and social justice, ensuring everyone has the chance to fulfil their potential and secure the jobs of the future.

• Unleashing Aspiration: The Final Report of the Panel on Fair Access to the Professions [PDF 614KB, 167 pages]
• Unleashing Aspiration Summary and recommendations of the full report [PDF 359KB, 64 pages]

The Panel on Fair Access to the Professions was announced on the 13th January 2009. The Panel will complement measures contained in the New Opportunities White Paper [External website].

The Panel will look at the processes and structures that govern recruitment into key professions. It will identify actions that the professions, supported by government where relevant, could undertake to improve access into professions.

The Panel will run until summer 2009 supported by a secretariat based in the Cabinet Office.

National Youth Survey for the Panel released

• Fair Access - national youth survey results [PDF 160KB, 27 pages]

Fair Access: Good Practice paper released

The Panel on Fair Access to the Professions has published a Phase 2 report outlining the good practice currently underway to support fair access to the Professions.

This lays down a foundation to all the professions, as well as employers and the Government to rise to the challenge to now go further and faster in breaking down the practical barriers that stand in the way of talented young people across the country being able to realise their aspirations

• Fair Access: Good Practice - a Phase 2 report from the Panel [PDF 223KB, 46 pages]
• Annex to the Phase 2 report [PDF 67KB, 3 pages]
• Fair Access: Call for Evidence Summary [PDF 193KB, 54 pages]

Research paper released:

The Panel on Fair Access to the Professions has published a research paper highlighting key trends and issues in access to the Professions. The report identifies where progress had been made to widen access to the Professions for young people but also identifies where barriers still exist. for young people but also identifies where barriers still exist.

• Fair Access Panel Research Paper [PDF 452KB, 52 pages]

Meeting information

• Information from the first panel meeting
• Meeting timeline

List of Panel Members

• Chair
  Rt. Hon. Alan Milburn MP
• Academia
  Professor Madeleine Atkins, Vice-Chancellor, Coventry University
• Accountacy and Business Advice
  Neil Sherlock, KPMG
• Armed Forces
  Major General David McDowall MBE, Armed Forces
• Arts
  Jude Kelly, Artistic Director, Southbank Centre
• Architecture
  Sunand Prasad, President, Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)
• Civil Service
  Gill Rider, Director General, Civil Service Capability Group
• Engineering
  Philip Greenish CBE, Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Engineering
• Expert
  Trevor Phillips OBE, Head of Commission for Equalities and Human Rights
• Expert
  Geoffrey Vos QC, Chairman of The Social Mobility Foundation
• Finance
  Azeem Ibrahim, founder of the European Commerce and Mercantile Bank
• Journalism
  Elinor Goodman, Freelance journalist and former political editor of channel 4 news
• Law
  Lord David Neuberger PC QC
• Local Government
  Katherine Kerswell, Chief Executive, Northampton County Council
• Media
  Michael Grade CBE, Executive Chairman, ITV
• Medicine
  Professor Sir John Tooke, Dean, Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry
• Police
  Sara Thornton, Chief Constable, Thames Valley Police
• Politics
  Baroness Gillian Shephard, Conservative Peer
• Publishing
  Gail Rebuck, Chair and Chief Executive, Random House
• Science
  Lord Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal
• Unions
  Francis O’Grady, Deputy General Secretary, TUC

List of Panel Members [PDF 74KB,1 page]

Further details

• Press Notice announcing the Panel
• Terms of Reference for the Panel [PDF 75KB, 1 page]
• Frequently Asked Questions about the Panel [PDF 70KB, 2 pages]

This page will be regularly updated as the Panel’s work progresses.

You can contact The Panel on Fair Access to the Professions by email: access.professions@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk

or in writing at:

The Panel on Fair Access to the Professions
4.16, Admiralty Arch
The Mall
London
SW1A 2WH

Trevor Phillips Has Been Condemned From Equality Watchdog Spending

EHRC spent almost £1m making staff redundant and then rehiring them.

Auditors delivered a searing rebuke to the Government's equalities commission yesterday for spending almost £1m on making senior staff redundant and then employing them again as "consultants".

Their findings add fuel to the argument over Harriet Harman's decision to reappoint Trevor Phillips, the high-profile chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), for a second term in office.

Though it was not Mr Phillips's personal responsibility to hire staff, a former commissioner, who has worked with Mr Phillips for a number of years, said yesterday that the seven staff taken on improperly were people he knew well.

"If he didn't know what was going on then he is a hopeless chair, in my view," Kay Hampton, who resigned from the new Commission in April, said.

Yesterday's report from the National Audit Office, which watches over public spending, focused on the summer and autumn of 2007, when three government bodies – for racial equality, sex discrimination and disability rights – were wound up and absorbed into the new super commission, with over 400 staff and a £70m budget, chaired by Mr Phillips.

More than £11m was paid out in redundancy to staff who did not want to move from the old quangos to the new. But in the run up to October 2007, when the new commission was due to start operations, it was short of 140 staff and 15 out of 25 directors.

Seven staff from the old Commission for Racial Equality, which Trevor Phillips headed in 2003-06, were hired as consultants, despite having just accepted large redundancy cheques. Yesterday's report said there was no evidence there was even a gap between when they left one job and moved into another, but they were not asked to pay back their severance money.

One had received £104,125, and was taken back on for 11 months and paid fees totalling £105,216. In all, it cost £629,276 to make the seven staff redundant, and £323,708 to re-employ them. That decision should have been cleared with the Treasury, who did not find out until later and refused to approve it.

Kay Hampton was Mr Phillips's deputy at the former Commission for Racial Equality, and headed it for 10 months until it went out of existence. She was a commissioner on the EHRC until she resigned in April. Five out of 14 commissioners have resigned in two months, and two more are expected to quit this week. Several have complained about Mr Phillips's management style.

"Although Trevor Phillips and I have been friends at one point – and were colleagues for many years – and I don't care about his leadership style, I have to say that these were people who were handpicked by Trevor in the CRE," she said yesterday.

"I'm not surprised by the issues raised in the National Audit Office report. I picked up on some of these issues while I was still there. It reached the point where, for my own personal integrity, I was not going to be associated with the accounts. I'm very pleased that the accounts were qualified. The public deserves to know the truth."

Mr Phillips and his senior staff will face a grilling by the Commons' Public Accounts committee when MPs return from their summer break.

"Poor management and oversight following its creation resulted in EHRC being understaffed and unprepared," the committee chairman, Edward Leigh, said yesterday. "The total cost to the taxpayer of paying off these executives only to bring them back as consultants was almost £1m. The Treasury, when it found out that public money had been used in this way, refused to approve the payments."

Mr Phillips's defenders say that as a non-executive chairman, he did not personally hire staff, and the officials who did have since left.

"Of course it's terrible to get your first set of accounts qualified by the National Audit Office," one said. "But this was a time when they were trying to get a £70m operation up and running, and there was a feeling that they had done well just to get the place open on time."
Harriet Harman's decision to reappoint Mr Phillips last week came as a surprise and provoked three commissioners to resign over the weekend. It was rumoured that Mr Phillips might carry on for a short time before being given a peerage and made a minister, but he has accepted his reappointment and indicated that he means to serve another full, three-year term.

What is the EHRC?

The Commission for Equality and Human Rights was set up by an Act of Parliament in 2006, to replace three bodies – the Commission on Racial Equality, the Disability Rights Commission, and the Equal Opportunities Commission. It has 410 full-time staff, and employs about 120 agency staff at any time – slightly fewer than the 620 people working for the three commissions it replaced.

It is run by a board which, until April, was made up of the chairman, Trevor Phillips, his deputy, Margaret Prosser, and 14 commissioners. Mr Phillips and Mrs Prosser had their terms of office renewed last week, but Harriet Harman told the commissioners they must reapply for their jobs, and that there will be fewer of them. Five have resigned since April and two more are likely to go.

As well as upsetting some people by management style, Mr Phillips has caused controversy through his strategy for combatting discrimination, dealing with human rights as a whole rather than on racism, sexism etc. as discrete issues. He created waves by criticising multiculturalism, a cause which many anti-racist campaigners hold dear.

Xinjiang To 'Crack Down' On Separatism

It is high time that the Chinese Communist Party revisit the past as a form of lesion the Provence of Xinjiang and listen to the Urumqi people and Tibet people. Instead of calling the ethnic Chinese people as Separatists

Chinese state media has reported that Xinjiang's regional congress is speeding up the passage of laws against separatism in light of the deadly violence that rocked Urumqi earlier this month.

Xinhua quoted Xinjiang Regional People's Congress standing committee chairman Eligen Imibakhi as saying that Xinjiang legislators are working on a raft of laws that would "provide legal assistance to Xinjiang's anti-secession struggle and the cracking down on violence and terrorism."

Mr Imibakhi blamed the July 5 riots, in which nearly 200 died, on extremism, separatism and terrorism, both at home and abroad.

He said that the public's lack of understanding of the laws that are already in place is an "urgent problem," adding that the government plans to distribute legal booklets in ethnic minority languages to farmers and herdsmen across the region.

China already has a national law against secession, though there are no similar regional laws.

Investigators have determined that rioters had stockpiled weapons and planned synchronised attacks across Urumqi.

Targets included the offices of the Xinjiang regional committee of the Communist Party, the public security and fire departments and media organisations.
Xinhua cited the local security department as saying that most rioters were from outside Urumqi.

The news agency reported that Chinese businesses, public institutions and individuals have so far donated over 270 million yuan (£24m) to the Ethnic Unity Fund, which has been set up by the Xinjiang regional administration to aid those injured or bereaved in the riot.

Call For £20 charge To See Doctor By The Social Market Foundation A Centre-Right Think-Tank

Patients should be charged £20 to see a GP in a bid to limit demands placed on the health service, a centre-right think-tank says.

The Social Market Foundation said forcing people to pay a fee for an appointment could help the NHS cope in the tight financial times ahead.

The group said it would not breach the values of the NHS as charges already applied to dentistry and prescriptions

But both the government and doctors said they were against such a move.

The think-tank said the NHS was facing a tough couple of years.

“ All patients have a right to free healthcare that is based on their clinical needs, not the size of their bank balance ”

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, of the British Medical Association

While funding is guaranteed until 2011, many are expecting the budget to be frozen or cut after that.

The Social Market Foundation said the only way for the NHS to cope was to raise taxes to put more money into the system, limit demand or work more effectively.

The NHS is already looking to make savings and the think-tank said there was little appetite for tax rises.

Instead, they said charging for GPs would be a good way to reduce demand.

Report author David Furness said: "It would get people thinking twice about whether the visit was essential.

"If we don't introduce rationing like this, there will be rationing by stealth through waiting lists, crumbling hospitals and poor quality services."

Opposition

He said the move was not about making money and insisted even a small charge like this could help reduce appointments by about 5%.

He said children and those receiving tax credits should not be charged and said the think-tank was opposed to fees being levied on any form of emergency care.

But Dr Chaand Nagpaul, of the British Medical Association's GPs committee, said the union was opposed to charging.

"All patients have a right to free healthcare that is based on their clinical needs, not the size of their bank balance.

"I would also be concerned that charging some of my patients to see me would undermine the doctor-patient relationship. Many would be put off coming to their local surgery when they might need care."

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said ministers were also against introducing charging like this.

She said it would be against the "founding principles of the NHS".

Suicide Bombers kill Eight & Injure At Least 50 In Attack on Jakarta Hotels

It is with sadness to say the menace of international terrorism returned to Indonesia when explosions ripped through two luxury hotels in Jakarta, killing eight guests and injuring at least 50 others. My heart goes out to the families and their friends who have lost a love one.

Two suicide bombers who had checked in as hotel guests triggered the blasts, which occurred within minutes of each other at the neighboring JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in the Indonesian capital's business district.

Two Australians and a New Zealander were reportedly among the dead, and the wounded included 18 other foreign nationals from the US, Australia, Canada, India, the Netherlands, Norway and South Korea. The Foreign Office said it had no indication of any British casualties.

The attack forced Manchester United, who are on a pre-season tour of south-east Asia, to cancel a friendly fixture against an Indonesian XI in Jakarta on Monday. The team, currently in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, had planned to stay at the Ritz-Carlton this weekend.

Investigators say the bombers had checked in to the Marriott on Wednesday and assembled the bombs in a room on the 18th floor, where an unexploded device was found after the blasts. CCTV cameras recorded the moment of the Marriott blast; grainy images show a man pulling a bag on wheels across the lobby before the flash of the explosion.

The bombs went off in the hotels' restaurants during breakfast. Witnesses reported seeing bloodied bodies being carried away moments after the explosions, which turned the facades of both hotels into masses of twisted metal. Others said they had seen hundreds of guests, most of whom appeared to be westerners, emerge dazed from the Ritz-Carlton as plumes of thick smoke engulfed nearby buildings and restaurants. "There were bodies on the ground, one of them had no stomach," said a local man."

The attacks came as Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, appeared to be re-establishing itself as a tourist destination. They were the first in the country since 2005, when 20 people died in blasts on the resort island of Bali.

No group has claimed responsibility, but analysts believe they were the work of Jemaah Islamiyah, an Islamist militant group that advocates an Islamist super-state spanning Indonesia, Malaysia, the southern Philippines, southern Thailand, Singapore and Brunei. The group carried out a bombing at the Marriott in 2003 in which 13 people died, and is blamed for over 50 other attacks in Indonesia in the last decade. They include the October 2002 bombings of two nightclubs in Bali in which 202 died, mainly westerners.

Indonesia's president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, condemned the attack as "cruel and inhuman" and vowed to hunt down the perpetrators. Yudhoyono, who was reelected last week, has been credited with bringing peace and stability to a country that had become a target for Islamist militants."[The bombers] do not have a sense of humanity and do not care about the destruction of our country, because this terror act will have a wide impact on our economy, our business climate, our tourism, our image in the world and many others," he said.

Australia warned its citizens to reconsider plans to travel to Indonesia, and urged those already there to exercise "extreme caution." Britons have been advised not to go there unless absolutely necessary.

The Australian prime minister, Kevin Rudd, said he was "sick in the stomach as I think all Australians would feel sick in the stomach. Australians accounted for 88 of the victims in the 2002 attacks on Bali.

"This is an assault on all of us and we are dealing with some very ugly people here," Rudd said. "Very, very ugly people ... and dangerous."

President Barack Obama said: "These attacks make it clear that extremists remain committed to murdering innocent men, women and children of any faith in all countries."

GLA Workers Plot Stunt To Confront Johnson's Salary

Greater London Authority (GLA) workers will be inviting the public to chuck feed at a chicken man representing Boris Johnson during a protest over job cuts next week.

GLA staff are clucking mad after the mayor described his £250,000 salary for his second job as a Daily Telegraph columnist as "chicken feed."

Currently 120 workers are being threatened with redundancy, despite warnings from workers that downsizing City Hall would mean downsizing life for Londoners.

Over 350 public-sector union UNISON members at the GLA were balloted as part of the fight against job cuts and 75 per cent voted in favour of industrial action.

Regional officer Shirley Mills said: "Boris 'two jobs' Johnson described his £250,000 second job as 'chicken feed' while slashing jobs of low-paid workers.

"Leo Boland, the GLA chief executive, is also earning over £205,000 - £10,000 more than the Prime Minister.

"It is disgusting that these two wallow in their huge wages while low-paid staff face the axe."

The protest will take place at 12.20pm next Tuesday at Potters Field, next to City Hall, The Queens Walk. SE1 2AA.

The Co-operative Party Is Launching 'The Feeling's Mutual Campaign,

Today the Co-operative Party is launching 'The Feeling's Mutual', a campaign to build a better economy which puts the needs of ordinary people first.

Mutual financial organisations like building societies, the Co-op Bank and credit unions have weathered the economic crisis better than high street banks. Because they are owned and controlled by their customers, they have taken fewer risks and put the interests of ordinary people first.

So we think that those banks that failed us, like Northern Rock, should become mutuals.

It's time to remind people why mutuals matter.

Thatcher and the Conservative governments of the 80s and 90s wreaked great damage on mutuals and their savers and borrowers by encouraging short-term greed and the de-mutualisation of many building societies - often long-standing local institutions. By joining our campaign, you can help reverse the damage the Conservatives and their fat cat friends did to our building societies.

Want a safe place for your money?

Want an economy that puts people before profit?

Think the Government should re-mutualise the failed banks?

The feeling's mutual.


If you support our campaign, there are plenty of ways to find out more, show your support and spread the word. Please visit our website www.thefeelingsmutual.org.uk and keep checking back for updates.

There you can also check out our campaign video with Treasury Select Committee Chair John McFall MP, Labour Co-operative MP Mark Lazarowicz, and candidates Stella Creasy, Stephen Twigg, Rachel Reeves and Andrew Pakes talking about why they support this campaign.

We have also produced campaigning materials for local Co-operative Party branches and candidates to use to get support in your local communities. Get in touch if you want supplies - we're sending them out this week.

http://www.thefeelingsmutual.org.uk

Brown Formally Supports Tony Blair As Candidate For 'President Of Europe'

Post will be created as early as January once the Treaty of Lisbon is ratified. The endorsement of Tony Blair was announced by Baroness Kinnock

Tony Blair won the formal backing of Gordon Brown yesterday as Britain's candidate to become the first "President of Europe".

Downing Street endorsed Baroness (Glenys) Kinnock, the Europe minister, who said in Strasbourg: "The UK Government is supporting Tony Blair's candidature for President of the [European] Council." Asked if the prospect had been discussed with Mr Blair, she said: "It is the Government's position. I am sure they would not do that without asking him." Mr Brown's spokesman said: "What the Prime Minister supports is Tony Blair's candidature for the President of the European Council if Tony Blair decides that that is what he would like to do and as and when such a position exists."

The post would be created, possibly as early as next January, if the Lisbon Treaty is ratified. The biggest remaining hurdle is a second referendum in Ireland in October, but opinion polls suggest people will vote Yes this time.

Allies of Mr Blair said he was not campaigning actively for the job but would be interested if it involved being a figurehead representing the European Union on the world stage. "He doesn't want to spend his time chairing meetings of EU leaders," one said.

The scope of the new post has not been defined. Brussels insiders warned that Mr Blair could miss out unless he shows he is hungry for it. "He has to really want it and work for it to be successful," one said. Even his critics admit Mr Blair is the most heavyweight of the candidates in the frame. But he faces opposition in some quarters. Some countries do not want Britain to land the post because it is not inside the eurozone and nor is it party to the "open borders" Schengen agreement. Although memories of Mr Blair's role in the Iraq war have faded, it still rankles for some European politicians.

Other potential candidates include Felipe Gonzalez, the veteran former Spanish prime minister. He is said to be favoured by the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, who initially championed Mr Blair. Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, is thought to be lukewarm about the idea of "President Blair".

William Hague, the shadow Foreign Secretary, said the former prime minister should be let "nowhere near the job". He said: "The creation of a new EU President could be enormously damaging for Europe. Any holder is likely to try to centralise power for themselves in Brussels and dominate national foreign policies. In the hands of an operator as ambitious as Tony Blair, that is a near certainty."

A spokesman for Mr Blair said: "There is no campaign. As we have said time and again on this, there is nothing to be a candidate for since the job doesn't actually exist."

Denis MacShane, Labour's former Europe minister, said: "Blair cannot avoid having his name being dragged into any list of names for top jobs. Does he really, really want it? Does he know himself?"

One EU official said: "The difficulty is that no one has come up with a proper job description. People say the exact nature of the job will be shaped by whoever is appointed, and whoever is appointed must be a former president or prime minister of a member state."

Award-winning Human Rights Campaigner Found Killed In Chechnya

I would like to send out my sincere condolences to the family of Natalia Estemirova who was found shot dead after being abducted outside her home. The Russian human rights activist was found dead today.

Russia's human rights record tonight came under severe criticism after one of the country's most famous human rights campaigners was abducted from her home in Chechnya and brutally murdered.

Natalia Estemirova was seized by four unknown men this morning as she left for work. Neighbours at her house in Grozny, Chechnya's capital, heard her shout: "I'm being kidnapped."

Her body was found near Gazi-Yurt village, in neighbouring Ingushetia. She had been shot twice in the head and chest, police said, adding that her corpse had been dumped on the main road.

Human rights activists expressed outrage at her murder, reminiscent of the killing of Anna Politkovskaya, the journalist, writer, and bitter Kremlin critic shot dead outside her Moscow apartment in 2006.

Estemirova, 50, was a close friend of Politkovskaya's. The two had collaborated on numerous investigations into human rights abuses in Chechnya. Both were scathing opponents of Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya's pro-Kremlin president.

"Natasha was at the forefront of some of the most intense human rights investigations in Chechnya," said Allison Gill, director of Human Rights Watch in Russia. "She was targeted because of her work. I have no doubt her killing was to silence her. One of the most amazing things about Natasha is that she never stopped doing what she was doing. She never checked herself. She was highly public in her calls for accountability.

"I think the human rights situation is in crisis in Russia," she added. "We have a deathly silence from the authorities whenever activists, lawyers or journalists are murdered. Not a single person is brought to justice."

Estemirova was the Chechnya-based head of Memorial, Russia's oldest human rights group.

Operating out of a small office in Grozny, she doggedly pursued stories of human rights abuses in the face of official intimidation and hostility.

She recently collaborated on two damning reports into punitive house burnings and extra-judicial killings in Chechnya, allegedly carried out by Kadyrov's forces. The reports documented how on 2 July his troops allegedly shot 20-year-old Madina Yunusova and her husband near Grozny.

Chechen officials claimed her husband had been involved in a plot to kill Kadyrov. Yunosova died three days later in hospital under mysterious circumstances.

"Natasha was always involved in the most sensitive cases. She knew what she was doing. She knew the risks," Shamil Tangiyev, a former Memorial colleague said. "She was extremely brave. It was in her nature to be an activist."

Estemirova made no attempt to hide her work. Her office near the newly renamed Putin avenue was well known.

The timing of her murder follows Barack Obama's first visit to Moscow last week as US president. Obama met with Russian human rights activists and set out the US's commitment to "universal values".

The Kremlin responded with hardline pronouncements, with the president, Dmitry Medvedev, visiting the breakaway Georgian republic of South Ossetia on Monday. The trip appeared to be a direct rebuff to Obama who had said that both Georgia and Ukraine should be free to choose their own leaders.

Estemirova, who leaves a 15-year-old daughter, was probably the best-known human rights activist in Russia's provinces.

Earlier this year she attended the trial in Moscow of four people – two of them Chechens – accused of involvement in Politkovskaya's murder.

Speaking to the Guardian in February, Estemirova called the Politkovskaya trial a "farce".

Kadyrov, a close ally of Russia's prime minister, Vladimir Putin, has denied accusations he was involved in Politkovskaya's killing, remarking: "I don't kill women."

Recently the Kremlin has given Kadyrov unprecedented powers for counter-terrorist operations in Ingushetia, amid a worsening Islamist insurgency across the entire North Caucasus.

Estemirova was also a close colleague of Stanislav Markelov, the human rights lawyer murdered in Moscow in January. A masked assassin shot Markelov in the back of the head, not far from the Kremlin, along with Anastasia Baburova, a journalist with the Novaya Gazeta newspaper.

Tonight human rights activists urged the west to place human rights at the centre of any dialogue with Russia. Gill said: "We can't talk about trade or energy without mentioning the rule of law."