Riots not symptom of UK moral decline: Tony Blair

He said talk of “broken Britain” will tarnish the nation s reputation.

Prime Minister David Cameron has blamed Britain s “slow-motion moral collapse” for the riots.

Blair wrote in a newspaper that the violence was not caused by social rot, but by “alienated, disaffected youth,” who are found in most developed nations.

He said claims of Britain s moral decline “will depress ourselves unnecessarily, trash our own reputation abroad, and worst of all, miss the chance to deal with the problem in the only way that will work.”

Blair left office in 2007 and rarely comments on domestic politics.

London riots reveal social strains, say residents

LONDON: Days of riots rocking London point to deeper social unease in poor areas of Britain’s capital, community leaders and residents said Monday, rejecting moves by politicians and police to blame criminals alone.

The touchpaper for the unrest was lit on Thursday when police shot dead Mark Duggan, a resident of the multi-ethnic district of Tottenham in north London, after officers stopped the taxi in which he was a passenger.

Hooded youths torched police cars and a double decker bus in Tottenham on Saturday while a block of flats was gutted after the carpet store on the ground floor was set alight, sending terrified families fleeing into the street.

The violence then spread to other parts of London on Sunday, including Brixton in south London, another racially mixed district which like Tottenham was rocked by riots in the 1980s, with a third day of unrest in Hackney in east London.

The scenes in Tottenham evoked memories of severe rioting on the Broadwater Farm housing estate there in 1985, sparked when a local woman died after police raided her home. In the ensuing violence, a policeman was hacked to death.

A quarter of a century on, with Britain’s economic growth almost at a standstill and government cuts to public spending hitting areas of high unemployment like Tottenham, some residents said they saw the seeds of more unrest.

Osagyefo Tongogara, a community activist who was in Tottenham during the Broadwater Farm riots, said: “There are a lot of parallels with 1985. I don’t call it rioting, I call it rebellion.

“People are angry and frustrated. If you have a community with high levels of unemployment and cutbacks in welfare then this is what you are going to get,” he told AFP.

“We are told that this is a global financial crisis and that we are all in this together but why should we be?

“I don’t know everything about the crisis surrounding this young man’s death. But you can’t just put it (the unrest) down to that or down to criminality. That’s a simplistic explanation for this.”

But others in Tottenham said that although the police had mishandled the aftermath of Duggan’s shooting in an area where there were underlying tensions, there was no excuse for the violence that followed.

“There is anger and frustration here but I feel people have taken advantage of it,” said resident Adam Cuthbert, 24, as he surveyed the damage with his girlfriend.

“The majority of the people on Saturday weren’t from here, they were from other areas. It was people from outside using it as an excuse to create havoc.”

Cheryline Lee, a Tottenham resident, in her 50s, agreed.

“We are not condoning the rioting,” she said. “The police should actually be able to talk to people. But burning buildings like this is much too much. People have lost their houses and people have lost their jobs as well.”

Chuka Umunna, a lawmaker from the opposition Labour Party who represents a district near Brixton, agreed that the “anger and frustration arising from the tragic death” of Duggan was no excuse for the unrest.

“It’s shocking, it’s completely opportunistic and it’s totally unacceptable,” he said.

British officials were united in their attempts to blame “criminals”.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg on Monday condemned the violence as he visited Tottenham to view the damage.

“Let’s be clear, the violence we saw last night had absolutely nothing to do with the death of Mr Duggan. It was needless, opportunist theft and violence — nothing more and nothing less,” he said.

London’s deputy mayor Kit Malthouse, who watched Sunday’s violence unfold from the central police control room, said he saw no evidence of a protest, just looting.

“We’re talking about opportunists,” he told BBC television.

Doubt has now been thrown on the original version of events of the shooting that sparked the Tottenham violence.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission, which is investigating the shooting, initially said 29-year-old father-of-four Duggan was killed in an exchange of fire.

The IPCC were even forced to issue a statement to deny rumours that Duggan had been shot in the head, “execution-style”. Ballistic results were expected on Tuesday.

Professor Gus John of the University of London, a Grenada-born academic who has written extensively about race issues in Britain, said dismissing the rioters as thugs was “fatuous” and failed to acknowledge the deeper issues.

“Such labels don’t solve anything,” he told AFP.

“The question is, what disposes these young men to be like that? Why is the largest section of the young offender population in Britain young and black?” AGENCIES

Daniel Radcliffe’s New York Property Empire Grows

Daniel Radcliffe is wasting no time and is expanding his property portfolio whilst staying in New York. He has now purchased his third property in Manhattan for $5.65million. He is currently Britain’s wealthiest young star, his net worth is a mere 45.6million pounds since completing a decade of work on The Harry Potter films.

Radcliffe is currently in New York starring in the Broadway musical comedy “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”.

Daniel Radcliffe is proving himself to be a wise young man when it comes to investing his earnings. He’s making a difficult transition in his career now and he is said to be determined to pull it off. He has starred in one of the biggest movie franchises so far and not just that, but as a child. Many child actors have failed to continue their success and fame into adulthood. So far 21 year old Radcliffe is making some smart choices both artistically and financially.

Gaddafi says protesters are on hallucinogenic drugs

CAIRO: Muammar Gaddafi blamed a revolt against his rule on al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden on Thursday, and said the protesters were fueled by milk and Nescafe spiked with hallucinogenic drugs, in a rambling appeal for calm.

 

Gaddafi, who just two days ago vowed in a televised address to crush the revolt and fight to the last, showed none of the fist-thumping rage of that speech.

This time, he spoke to state television by telephone without appearing in person, and his tone seemed more conciliatory, with much of his country out of government control.

“Their ages are 17. They give them pills at night, they put hallucinatory pills in their drinks, their milk, their coffee, their Nescafe,” said Gaddafi.

“They are criminals … is it logical that you let this phenomenon continue in any city? … We do not see what is happening in Egypt and Tunisia happening in Libya, ever!”

“Those (in Egypt and Tunisia) are people needing their governments and they have demands; our power is in the hands of the people,” he said, a typical reference to his idiosyncratic rule, which he says is based on giving power direct to the people.

Gaddafi, battling to preserve his 41-year rule and his “Third Universal Theory,” outlined in his “Green Book,” offered condolences to those killed in the bloodshed and called for calm among people he said were fighting among themselves. Saying bin Laden was “the real criminal,” Gaddafi urged Libyans not be swayed by the al Qaeda leader.

Libyan authorities tend to group anyone who challenges the ruling system under the umbrella of al Qaeda, and anyone accused of association with the group is likely to face extrajudicial punishment.

“Bin Laden … this is the enemy who is manipulating people,” Gaddafi said, adding: “Do not be swayed by bin Laden.”

“From a national, moral, ethical standpoint … they should stop. I have no authority stemming from laws or decisions or anything else, I just have moral authority. I only have moral authority,” he said.

Gaddafi has long sought to present himself as figurehead of a revolution that is led by the people, rather than a traditional executive head of state.

“No sane person” would join the protests against his rule, Gaddafi said, calling on citizens to disarm those who were protesting.

“Remember in the Iraq war: the United States and Britain said they had reason to intervene. Qaeda and the international terrorists work together … Saddam Hussein had a relationship to al Qaeda … look what America did,” he said.

Referring to violent clashes taking place in the town of Zawiyah, about 50 km (30 miles) from the capital Tripoli, Gaddafi said: “What is happening in Zawiyah is a farce … Sane men don’t enter such a farce.”

“You people of Zawiyah, stop your children, take their weapons, bring them away from Bin Laden, the pills will kill them,” he said. “Leave the country calm.”

Assange can be extradited to Sweden: British judge

LONDON: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can be extradited to Sweden to face rape and sexual assault claims, a British judge ruled Thursday after throwing out arguments that he would face an unfair trial.

Lawyers for Assange immediately said they would appeal, setting up a legal battle through Britain’s appeal courts that could postpone the 39-year-old Australian”s ultimate fate for months.

“I must order that Mr Assange be extradited to Sweden,” judge Howard Riddle said in a decision at Belmarsh Magistrates Court in southeast London, following a three-day extradition hearing earlier this month.

Assange, wearing a dark suit and tie, sat stony-faced in the dock at the top security court as the decision was read out.

Celebrity backers including socialite Jemima Khan and rights campaigner Bianca Jagger also attended the hearing along with around 100 journalists from around the world.

“We will be appealing,” Assange’s lawyer trendpk.comffrey Robertson told the court after the verdict.

Former computer hacker Assange says the claims against him, made by two women he met during a seminar organised by the whistleblowing website in August last year, are politically motivated because of the work of WikiLeaks.

Assange rocked the world’s diplomatic institutions and infuriated Washington last year when WikiLeaks began releasing more than 250,000 secret diplomatic cables sent by US embassy staff.

It has also published sensitive data on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Judge Riddle threw out arguments by Assange’s legal team that the Swedish prosecutor had no power to issue a European arrest warrant and that the allegations did not amount to extradition offences.

“In this country that would amount to rape,” Riddle said about the allegation by one woman that Assange had unprotected sex with her while she was asleep.

He said that Assange’s Swedish lawyer Bjorn Hurtig made a “deliberate attempt to mislead the court” when he said that he had been unable to contact Assange to arrange an interview with Swedish prosecutors.

Riddle also dismissed arguments that Assange could not face a fair trial as some evidence would be held behind closed doors, and that it was possible he would be re-extradited to the United States where he could face the death penalty.

Riddle said that the arrest warrant was valid and said he had to uphold the “mutual respect and confidence this court has in our European counterparts.”

The judge also said it was “highly unlikely” that comments by Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt that Assange lacked respect for women”s rights would have an effect on the case.

Karin Rosander, a spokeswoman for the Swedish prosecutor, said only that they would “see if they appeal or not” before issuing a “very short statement” later.

Assange was arrested in Britain on December 7 on an international warrant issued by a Swedish prosecutor who wanted to question him over four separate allegations of sexual assault made by the two women.

He spent nine days in prison until he was released on bail in December and has since been staying at a friend’s country mansion in eastern England under strict conditions including that he obey a curfew, wear an electronic ankle tag and report to police daily.

The judge relaxed his conditions for Thursday’s hearing to allow him to spend the previous night at the Frontline media club in London.

Assange claimed his greatest fear was eventual extradition to the United States, where his lawyers argued he could be sent to the Guantanamo Bay detention facility or face the death penalty.

He recently said his site was “significantly influential” in the fall of Tunisian leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, an event he said “no doubt” sparked uprisings across the Middle East. (AFP)

Brahmdagh Bugti seeking political asylum in Switzerland

Chief of Baloch Republican Party (BRP) Nawabzada Brahmdagh Bugti has sought political asylum in Switzerland.

Brahmdagh has submitted an application to the Swiss authorities seeking political asylum, Mir Sher Muhammad Bugti, his spokesperson maintained. He will continue to take up the issue of human rights violations in Balochistan at the UN and other international forums, the spokesperson added. Brahmdagh had gone into hiding following the death of Baloch chieftains Nawab Akbar Bugti and Balach Marri. He avoided contacting people for security reasons. Brahmdagh also advised his supporters to continue their struggle for the rights of the Baloch people. The government has made repeated claims about Brahmdagh Bugtis presence in the Afghan capital of Kabul from where he has been leading the Baloch insurgents. He had founded the outlawed Baloch Republican Army (BRA) which is engaged in attacks on government installations and security forces in volatile parts of Balochistan. Pakistan authorities had taken up Brahmdaghs matter with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, when he visited Islamabad last time. And the Afghan leader had promised to look into the matter. Brahmdagh has been denying reports that he was hiding in Afghanistan and instead claimed that he was leading a struggle for the rights of the Baloch people from somewhere in Balochistan.Recently, Nawabzada Hyrbyar Marri was also given political asylum in Britain on a British courts orders. Earlier, Britains Home Office had rejected his application for political asylum.

Abhishek’s ‘Game’ to release on Fools’ Day

First time director Abhinay Deo`s upcoming action thriller ‘Game’, which has Abhishek Bachchan in the lead role, has been scheduled for an April 1 release.

Produced under Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar`s banner Excel Entertainment, the film has been shot in Greece, Turkey, Thailand, Britain and India.

Filmmaker-actor Farhan Akhtar has penned dialogues for the movie that also stars Kangana Ranaut, Jimmy Shergill, Anupam Kher, Boman Irani, Shahana Goswami, Gauhar Khan and newcomer Sarah Jane Dias.

Timeline: Benazir Bhutto

Jun 21, 1953: Born in Karachi.

1976: She was elected President of the Oxford Union while reading PPE at Lady Margaret Hall.

Apr 10, 1986: She returns from exile in London to lead the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) founded by her father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.

Dec 1, 1988: She becomes the first woman Prime Minister of a Muslim nation at the age of 35.

Aug 6, 1990: Her government is dismissed on grounds of corruption.

Oct 19, 1993: She is sworn in elected for second term as Prime Minister.

Nov 5, 1996: Bhutto’s government is again dismissed over accusations of corruption.

April 14, 1999: A court convicts Miss Bhutto of corruption while she is out of the country. The conviction was later overturned by Supreme Court, but she remains in self-imposed exile, living in Britain and Dubai.

Oct 5, 2007: President Pervez Musharraf signs National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), opening the way for Benazir Bhutto to return.

Oct 18: She flies in to Karachi and her welcoming procession is struck by a suicide attack, killing 136.

Nov 3: President Musharraf announces emergency rule.

Nov 9: She is put under house arrest in Lahore to prevent her leading a pro-democracy rally and security forces round up thousands of her supporters.

Nov 13: Authorities put her under house arrest for a second time in a week.

Dec 15: President Musharraf lifts emergency rule.

Dec 27: Assassinated in Rawalpindi after a public rally.

Assange says signed 1.1 Million Pounds in Book Deals

LONDON: WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange said in an interview published Sunday he had signed deals for his autobiography worth more than one million pounds (1.2 million euros, 1.5 million dollars).

Assange told Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper that the money would help him defend himself against allegations of sexual assault made by two women in Sweden.

“I don’t want to write this book, but I have to,” he said. “I have already spent 200,000 pounds for legal costs and I need to defend myself and to keep WikiLeaks afloat.”

The Australian said he would receive 800,000 dollars (600,000 euros) from Alfred A. Knopf, his American publisher, and a British deal with Canongate is worth 325,000 pounds (380,000 euros, 500,000 dollars).

Money from other markets and serialisation is expected to raise the total to 1.1 million pounds, he said.

The latest project of Assange’s whistleblower website is the gradual release of tens of thousands of US diplomatic cables.

Since this latest project began Assange, who is on bail in Britain fighting a bid by Sweden to extradite him over the sex assault claims, has faced problems financing WikiLeaks.

Credit card companies Visa and MasterCard and the Internet payment firm PayPal have blocked donations to WikiLeaks, prompting Assange to label them “instruments of US foreign policy.”

The Bank of America, the largest US bank, has also halted all transactions to WikiLeaks.

Washington has been infuriated by WikiLeaks as the site slowly releases the cache of around 250,000 secret US State Department cables. The US is believed to be considering how to indict Assange over the huge leak.

Assange has been staying at a friend’s country mansion in eastern England since his release from jail on December 16 on strict bail conditions that include reporting to police daily and wearing an electronic tag.

A court in London is due to hold a full hearing on the Swedish extradition request starting February 7.

Assange fears for his life in US jail

WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange said that there was a high chance he would be killed in a US jail if he were to be extradited from Britain on espionage charges.

The Australian is on bail in Britain fighting a bid by Sweden to extradite him over sex assault claims, but Washington is believed to be considering how to indict him over the leaking of thousands of US diplomatic cables.

In an interview, Assange told it would be politically impossible for Britain to send him across the Atlantic, adding that the government of Prime Minister David Cameron would want to show it had not been co-opted by Washington.

Legally the UK has the right to not extradite for political crimes. Espionage is the classic case of political crimes. It is at the discretion of the UK government as to whether to apply to that exception, he said.

Assange added that if the United States succeeded in getting him extradited from Britain or Sweden, then there was a high chance of him being killed Jack Ruby-style in an American prison.

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