Qatar is using the Arabic news channel al-Jazeera as a bargaining chip in foreign policy negotiations by adapting its coverage to suit other foreign leaders and offering to cease critical transmissions in exchange for major concessions, US embassy cables released by WikiLeaks claim.
The memos flatly contradict al-Jazeera's insistence that it is editorially independent despite being heavily subsidised by the Gulf state.
They will also be intensely embarrassing to Qatar, which last week controversially won the right to host the 2022 World Cup after presenting itself as the most open and modern Middle Eastern state.
In the past, the emir of Qatar has publicly refused US requests to use his influence to temper al-Jazeera's reporting.
But a cable written in November 2009 predicted that the station could be used "as a bargaining tool to repair relationships with other countries, particularly those soured by al-Jazeera's broadcasts, including the United States" over the next three years.
Doha-based al-Jazeera was launched in 1996 and has become the most watched satellite television station in the Middle East. It has been seen by many as relatively free and open in its coverage of the region, but government control over its reporting appears to US diplomats to be so direct that they said the channel's output had become "part of our bilateral discussions – as it has been to favourable effect between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and other countries".
In February, the US embassy reported to Washington how "relations [between Qatar and Saudi Arabia] are generally improving after Qatar toned down criticism of the Saudi royal family on al-Jazeera". In July 2009, the US embassy said the channel "has proved itself a useful tool for the station's political masters".
In one dispatch, the US ambassador, Joseph LeBaron, reported that the Qatari prime minister, Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, had joked in an interview that al-Jazeera had caused the Gulf state such headaches that it might be better to sell it. But the ambassador remarked: "Such statements must not be taken at face value." He went on: "Al-Jazeera's ability to influence public opinion throughout the region is a substantial source of leverage for Qatar, one which it is unlikely to relinquish. Moreover, the network can also be used as a chip to improve relations. For example, al-Jazeera's more favourable coverage of Saudi Arabia's royal family has facilitated Qatari-Saudi reconciliation over the past year."
Although LeBaron noted that the station's coverage of the Middle East was "relatively free and open", he added: "Despite GOQ protestations to the contrary, al-Jazeera remains one of Qatar's most valuable political and diplomatic tools."
US allegations of manipulation of al-Jazeera's content for political ends also contradict Qatar's claim to support a free press. "The Qatari government claims to champion press freedom elsewhere, but generally does not tolerate it at home," the US embassy said after the French director of the Doha Centre for Media Freedom resigned in June 2009, citing restrictions on the centre's freedom to operate.
In a clear example of the regional news channel being exploited for political ends, the Doha embassy claimed Sheikh Hamad (HBJ) told the US senator John Kerry that he had proposed a bargain with the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, which involved stopping broadcasts in Egypt in exchange for a change in Cairo's position on Israel-Palestinian negotiations.
"HBJ had told Mubarak 'we would stop al-Jazeera for a year' if he agreed in that span of time to deliver a lasting settlement for the Palestinians," according to a confidential cable from the US embassy in Doha in February. "Mubarak said nothing in response, according to HBJ."
The US has benefitted, too. "Anecdotal evidence suggests, and former al-Jazeera board members have affirmed, that the United States has been portrayed more positively since the advent of the Obama administration," a cable in November 2009 said. "We expect that trend to continue and to further develop as US-Qatari relations improve."
In 2001 the emir, Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, refused a US request to stop al-Jazeera giving so much airtime to Osama bin Laden and other anti-American figures, saying: "Parliamentary life requires you to have a free and credible media, and that is what we are trying to do.
"Al-Jazeera is one of the most widely watched [TV stations] in the Arab world because of its editorial independence." The Gulf state has frequently held up al-Jazeera as evidence of its relative openness. The independent Visit Qatar website states: "What makes al-Jazeera such a unique channel in the Middle East is its editorial independence.
"This has been seen by many as evidence that Qatar is one of the region's more liberal and democratic countries, and one which provides freedom of press and speech."
Qatar maintains a working relationship with Iran, and the US embassy was concerned by the lack of al-Jazeera coverage of the civil unrest in Iran after the disputed presidential election in the summer of 2009.
"Al-Jazeera's coverage of the Iranian election and its aftermath has been scanty by comparison to other hot topics in the region, such as Gaza," reported the embassy at the time.
Al-Jazeera "has proved itself a useful tool for the station's political masters", the cables said.
Local media are also affected by government interference. "Over the past three [visits] we have assessed as steady the lack of overall media freedom in Qatar," the November cable said.
"Although overt and official censorship is not present, self and discreet official censorship continue to render Qatari domestic media tame and ineffective."
Al-Jazeera last night denied the claims. A spokesman for the station said: "This is the US embassy's assessment, and it is very far from the truth. Despite all the pressure al-Jazeera has been subjected to by regional and international governments, it has never changed its bold editorial policies which remain guided by the principles of a free press." The embassy of Qatar in London declined to comment on the story last night
Monday, December 6, 2010
Sharm el-Sheikh tourist killed in new shark attack
A 70-year-old German tourist died after being mauled by a shark off the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh today – the latest in a series of shark attacks in the Red Sea over the past five days.
Egypt's Chamber of Diving and Watersports (CDWS) sent an urgent message to its members in Sharm el-Sheikh, instructing them to clear the water.
"Following reports of another incident in Middle Garden local reef, CDWS is calling for all its members in Sharm el-Sheikh to stop any snorkelling activities happening from any boats or shore. Please tell all your boats to immediately recall any snorkellers who may be in the water," it said.
The group's chairman, Hesham Gabr, told the Guardian: "We are busy dealing with the crisis. I can confirm that a German woman was injured and she passed away."
According to security officials quoted by the Associated Press, the woman's arm was severed in the attack and she died within minutes.
Last week three Russians and a Ukrainian were badly injured.
The Egyptian authorities had said they were confident that the capture and killing of two sharks on Thursday had eliminated the threat to swimmers.
A 48-hour ban on entering the water had been lifted yesterday but all watersports, except for diving sites, have been closed again following today's attack.
Jochen Van Lysebettens, manager of the Red Sea Diving College at the resort, said the latest victim was a regular guest at the luxury Hyatt Regency hotel. He told Sky News: "The woman was just swimming to stay in shape. Suddenly there was a scream of help and a lot of violence in the water. The lifeguard got her on the reef and he noticed she was severely wounded."
Van Lysebettens said 40 diving instructors had been out in the waters in recent days to check for sharks after the initial catch. "They found nothing," he said. "Based on that the authorities opened the dive sites again and opened the watersports activities again."
He thought the same shark had been responsible for all the attacks. He suggested it may have been drawn to the coast by dead sheep left in the water. "I have no idea why this shark is behaving so aggressively," he continued.
"This must have been triggered by something in the past. Unfortunately in this case he is now looking at snorkellers."
A British couple tonight told the Guardian they were in a group of snorkellers that had to leave the water hurriedly on Saturday after a large shark circled round them. Christina Stafel-Collins, from Broughton, north Lincolnshire, said: "It was definitely an oceanic whitetip. We saw it so close-up. My husband is six foot and it was loads larger than him … I am so upset this woman has died. They should have shut the beaches ."
Her husband, Terry Collins, who was in the army for 24 years, said the shark had acted aggressively. "It was about three metres long. I was about 10 metres behind everyone else. I saw it come out of the depths and it went towards our leader. It circled him and began circling the group.
"It was deep grey and was that close I could see electric blue fish swimming in front of it. It was circling lazily but with intent," he said.
The boats that brought them to the area were on the other side of a reef the group had been circling.
Terry said when he raised his head he saw people on the board shouting warnings.
The swimmers had to make their way to the reef and rested there before swimming one by one across about 100 metres of open water to the boats.
"We tried to keep the splashing down."
Around three million tourists visit Sharm el-Sheikh each year, with the winter months peak season. The Red Sea, with its exotic fish and spectacular corals, is a magnet for divers and snorkellers.
Last week's victims were thought to have been attacked by an oceanic whitetip shark, which rarely swims close to the shore. Experts blamed tourists for throwing food into the water to lure fish in order to get a better close-up view.
"It is clear from our initial discussions with shark behavioural experts that this highly unusual spate of attacks by an oceanic whitetip shark was triggered by an activity, most probably illegal fishing or feeding in the area," Gabr said in a statement on Friday.
Conservationists from the South Sinai National Park caught two sharks on Thursday following the earlier attacks, which happened on Tuesday and Wednesday. The animals were dissected to examine the contents of their stomachs, although the results of the autopsy procedures were not released.
Tourists who witnessed one of last week's attacks, near Tiran beach, were shaken by the experience. Speaking before today's attack, many said they would not return to the water even if the authorities gave the all-clear.
"I was very close by," Uri, a tourist from Moscow, said. "I will be spending the rest of my holiday sitting on the beach."
But Anthony Bradbury, a 38-year-old from Oldham, said he was confident the authorities would catch the shark responsible.
"They'll look after the tourists – they want the trade, don't they? You can't live your life being scared of everything," he said.
Egypt's Chamber of Diving and Watersports (CDWS) sent an urgent message to its members in Sharm el-Sheikh, instructing them to clear the water.
"Following reports of another incident in Middle Garden local reef, CDWS is calling for all its members in Sharm el-Sheikh to stop any snorkelling activities happening from any boats or shore. Please tell all your boats to immediately recall any snorkellers who may be in the water," it said.
The group's chairman, Hesham Gabr, told the Guardian: "We are busy dealing with the crisis. I can confirm that a German woman was injured and she passed away."
According to security officials quoted by the Associated Press, the woman's arm was severed in the attack and she died within minutes.
Last week three Russians and a Ukrainian were badly injured.
The Egyptian authorities had said they were confident that the capture and killing of two sharks on Thursday had eliminated the threat to swimmers.
A 48-hour ban on entering the water had been lifted yesterday but all watersports, except for diving sites, have been closed again following today's attack.
Jochen Van Lysebettens, manager of the Red Sea Diving College at the resort, said the latest victim was a regular guest at the luxury Hyatt Regency hotel. He told Sky News: "The woman was just swimming to stay in shape. Suddenly there was a scream of help and a lot of violence in the water. The lifeguard got her on the reef and he noticed she was severely wounded."
Van Lysebettens said 40 diving instructors had been out in the waters in recent days to check for sharks after the initial catch. "They found nothing," he said. "Based on that the authorities opened the dive sites again and opened the watersports activities again."
He thought the same shark had been responsible for all the attacks. He suggested it may have been drawn to the coast by dead sheep left in the water. "I have no idea why this shark is behaving so aggressively," he continued.
"This must have been triggered by something in the past. Unfortunately in this case he is now looking at snorkellers."
A British couple tonight told the Guardian they were in a group of snorkellers that had to leave the water hurriedly on Saturday after a large shark circled round them. Christina Stafel-Collins, from Broughton, north Lincolnshire, said: "It was definitely an oceanic whitetip. We saw it so close-up. My husband is six foot and it was loads larger than him … I am so upset this woman has died. They should have shut the beaches ."
Her husband, Terry Collins, who was in the army for 24 years, said the shark had acted aggressively. "It was about three metres long. I was about 10 metres behind everyone else. I saw it come out of the depths and it went towards our leader. It circled him and began circling the group.
"It was deep grey and was that close I could see electric blue fish swimming in front of it. It was circling lazily but with intent," he said.
The boats that brought them to the area were on the other side of a reef the group had been circling.
Terry said when he raised his head he saw people on the board shouting warnings.
The swimmers had to make their way to the reef and rested there before swimming one by one across about 100 metres of open water to the boats.
"We tried to keep the splashing down."
Around three million tourists visit Sharm el-Sheikh each year, with the winter months peak season. The Red Sea, with its exotic fish and spectacular corals, is a magnet for divers and snorkellers.
Last week's victims were thought to have been attacked by an oceanic whitetip shark, which rarely swims close to the shore. Experts blamed tourists for throwing food into the water to lure fish in order to get a better close-up view.
"It is clear from our initial discussions with shark behavioural experts that this highly unusual spate of attacks by an oceanic whitetip shark was triggered by an activity, most probably illegal fishing or feeding in the area," Gabr said in a statement on Friday.
Conservationists from the South Sinai National Park caught two sharks on Thursday following the earlier attacks, which happened on Tuesday and Wednesday. The animals were dissected to examine the contents of their stomachs, although the results of the autopsy procedures were not released.
Tourists who witnessed one of last week's attacks, near Tiran beach, were shaken by the experience. Speaking before today's attack, many said they would not return to the water even if the authorities gave the all-clear.
"I was very close by," Uri, a tourist from Moscow, said. "I will be spending the rest of my holiday sitting on the beach."
But Anthony Bradbury, a 38-year-old from Oldham, said he was confident the authorities would catch the shark responsible.
"They'll look after the tourists – they want the trade, don't they? You can't live your life being scared of everything," he said.
Nobel winner Mario Vargas Llosa rules out Peru presidency rerun
Nobel literature prizewinner Mario Vargas Llosa said today he would not run again for the presidency of Peru, saying his 1990 candidacy was due to exceptional circumstances.
While in Sweden to collect his 10m krona (£600,000) prize, Vargas Llosa said he stood against Alberto Fujimori 20 years ago because the country's "very fragile democracy was shaking and on the point of collapse".
He added: "We had practically a civil war … we had hyper-inflation … it was because of those circumstances that I had the necessity of political participation. I certainly won't repeat this experience."
Vargas Llosa was among the leaders of the resurgence in Latin American literature in the 1960s. He lost to Fujimori, who tackled the country's inflation and Maoist guerrillas but is now in jail for human rights abuses.
Vargas Llosa, 74, said he hoped the presidential election in Peru next year would strengthen democracy and the rule of law, and build on the peace of recent years.
A champion of the left in his youth, Vargas Llosa shifted later in life across the political spectrum, angering much of Latin America's leftist intelligentsia.
He said, however, he remained a liberal: "I am totally against all forms of authoritarianism and … totalitarianism."
Vargas Llosa made his international breakthrough in the 1960s with The Time of the Hero, a novel about cadets at a military academy in Lima. Many of his works are built on his experiences of life in Peru in the late 1940s and 1950s.
"The point of departure for all [my] stories are some personal experiences that are preserved by my memory and that awake in my imagination the enthusiasm to fantacise around," he said.
The Swedish Academy singled out his "cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual's resistance, revolt and defeat".
Vargas Llosa said winning the prize had been a shock and that his life had "entered into a vortex" afterwards.
"The way in which the Nobel prize is deserved, for me, is a total mystery," he said. "I still wonder if it is real or a kind of universal misunderstanding."
He picked French novelist Gustave Flaubert as having the most influence on him. He also said he would give the Nobel Literature prize to Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges – after resurrecting him, as only living writers can be honoured by the Nobel committee.
While in Sweden to collect his 10m krona (£600,000) prize, Vargas Llosa said he stood against Alberto Fujimori 20 years ago because the country's "very fragile democracy was shaking and on the point of collapse".
He added: "We had practically a civil war … we had hyper-inflation … it was because of those circumstances that I had the necessity of political participation. I certainly won't repeat this experience."
Vargas Llosa was among the leaders of the resurgence in Latin American literature in the 1960s. He lost to Fujimori, who tackled the country's inflation and Maoist guerrillas but is now in jail for human rights abuses.
Vargas Llosa, 74, said he hoped the presidential election in Peru next year would strengthen democracy and the rule of law, and build on the peace of recent years.
A champion of the left in his youth, Vargas Llosa shifted later in life across the political spectrum, angering much of Latin America's leftist intelligentsia.
He said, however, he remained a liberal: "I am totally against all forms of authoritarianism and … totalitarianism."
Vargas Llosa made his international breakthrough in the 1960s with The Time of the Hero, a novel about cadets at a military academy in Lima. Many of his works are built on his experiences of life in Peru in the late 1940s and 1950s.
"The point of departure for all [my] stories are some personal experiences that are preserved by my memory and that awake in my imagination the enthusiasm to fantacise around," he said.
The Swedish Academy singled out his "cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual's resistance, revolt and defeat".
Vargas Llosa said winning the prize had been a shock and that his life had "entered into a vortex" afterwards.
"The way in which the Nobel prize is deserved, for me, is a total mystery," he said. "I still wonder if it is real or a kind of universal misunderstanding."
He picked French novelist Gustave Flaubert as having the most influence on him. He also said he would give the Nobel Literature prize to Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges – after resurrecting him, as only living writers can be honoured by the Nobel committee.
L'Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt and daughter call truce in legal dispute
France's richest woman, L'Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, and her daughter have called a truce in the three-year family feud that sparked a political crisis.
The pair have agreed to cease the squabbling and hostilities that have torn apart one of the country's most famous families, cost a government minister his job, and thrown suspicion on the president.
The dispute that split Bettencourt, 87, and her only child, Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, 63, began with claims that the heiress was not in her right mind when she gave gifts worth nearly €1bn (£850m) to a charming society photographer.
It rumbled on in weekly, daily and, at one point, hourly instalments, bringing allegations of illegal donations to Nicolas Sarkozy's ruling political party, tax evasion in secret Swiss bank accounts, and the use of France's secret services to spy on journalists.
"Liliane and Françoise have been reunited and want to end all this arguing," said Olivier Metzner, lawyer for Bettencourt Meyers. "We are bringing an end to all procedures following this family reconciliation. There is no more case as far as we are concerned."
The plot of the Bettencourt affair, as it became known, took more twists and turns than a cheap thriller. Bettencourt Meyers sought to have her mother made a ward of court after discovering she had given photographer François-Marie Banier, a 63-year-old socialite, art masterpieces, life insurance policies and gifts. Bettencourt met Banier, who has taken pictures for the New Yorker and Vanity Fair magazines, in 1985 when he was commissioned to take her picture with Italian film director Federico Fellini.
Banier, once described as a "strategic master on the battlefield of charm" and a friend of Salvador Dali, Pierre Cardin, Yves Saint Laurent, Samuel Beckett and Johnny Depp, among others, charmed, flattered and, if his critics are to be believed, bullied Bettencourt. Soon she was transferring treasures into his name, including works by Picasso, Mondrian, Delaunay, Man Ray and Matisse, and giving him enough money to expand his property empire.
Bettencourt Meyers accused Banier of taking advantage of her mother's state of mind and took legal action against him.
The feud turned political when secret tapes made by the butler at Bettencourt's luxury home in the chic Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine came to light.
They revealed that the heiress had employed the wife of the then budget minister, Éric Woerth, to manage part of her fortune, while at the same time allegedly hiding millions from the taxman in Swiss bank accounts.
Shortly afterwards, the heiress's former bookkeeper claimed Bettencourt had made illegal cash donations to Sarkozy's 2007 presidential election campaign, an allegation vehemently denied by the French leader and his entourage.
At the height of the scandal, police quizzed Bettencourt's financial adviser, Patrice de Maistre, who, it was also revealed, had received a Légion d'Honneur from Woerth.
When Banier's trial for "abuse of weakness" opened in July, fact surpassed any possibility of invention as France's most famous leading lawyers traded insults, threats – and almost blows – in court
Woerth was later dropped from the cabinet in a government reshuffle, but is still facing investigation over the alleged donations. Meanwhile, Sarkozy was accused by Le Monde of ordering France's secret services to spy on its journalists reporting on the Bettencourt case. The surprise reconciliation between Bettencourt and her daughter, who met again for the first time in more than a year today, came after three weeks of secret negotiations.
It was reported that Bettencourt had agreed to have nothing more to do with Banier and De Maistre, while her daughter had agreed to stop all legal action.
Metzner said the pair had signed an agreement to end their various disputes but the details were "private and confidential". A joint statement said they were "looking to the future".
"The decision Françoise and I have taken is a source of hope for me," it said. "This agreement will allow us to rediscover our family harmony."
The L'Oréal group welcomed a "happy ending" to an affair which has seen its image tarnished.
Jean-Paul Agon, director general, said the reconciliation was "very positive for our company".
The pair have agreed to cease the squabbling and hostilities that have torn apart one of the country's most famous families, cost a government minister his job, and thrown suspicion on the president.
The dispute that split Bettencourt, 87, and her only child, Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, 63, began with claims that the heiress was not in her right mind when she gave gifts worth nearly €1bn (£850m) to a charming society photographer.
It rumbled on in weekly, daily and, at one point, hourly instalments, bringing allegations of illegal donations to Nicolas Sarkozy's ruling political party, tax evasion in secret Swiss bank accounts, and the use of France's secret services to spy on journalists.
"Liliane and Françoise have been reunited and want to end all this arguing," said Olivier Metzner, lawyer for Bettencourt Meyers. "We are bringing an end to all procedures following this family reconciliation. There is no more case as far as we are concerned."
The plot of the Bettencourt affair, as it became known, took more twists and turns than a cheap thriller. Bettencourt Meyers sought to have her mother made a ward of court after discovering she had given photographer François-Marie Banier, a 63-year-old socialite, art masterpieces, life insurance policies and gifts. Bettencourt met Banier, who has taken pictures for the New Yorker and Vanity Fair magazines, in 1985 when he was commissioned to take her picture with Italian film director Federico Fellini.
Banier, once described as a "strategic master on the battlefield of charm" and a friend of Salvador Dali, Pierre Cardin, Yves Saint Laurent, Samuel Beckett and Johnny Depp, among others, charmed, flattered and, if his critics are to be believed, bullied Bettencourt. Soon she was transferring treasures into his name, including works by Picasso, Mondrian, Delaunay, Man Ray and Matisse, and giving him enough money to expand his property empire.
Bettencourt Meyers accused Banier of taking advantage of her mother's state of mind and took legal action against him.
The feud turned political when secret tapes made by the butler at Bettencourt's luxury home in the chic Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine came to light.
They revealed that the heiress had employed the wife of the then budget minister, Éric Woerth, to manage part of her fortune, while at the same time allegedly hiding millions from the taxman in Swiss bank accounts.
Shortly afterwards, the heiress's former bookkeeper claimed Bettencourt had made illegal cash donations to Sarkozy's 2007 presidential election campaign, an allegation vehemently denied by the French leader and his entourage.
At the height of the scandal, police quizzed Bettencourt's financial adviser, Patrice de Maistre, who, it was also revealed, had received a Légion d'Honneur from Woerth.
When Banier's trial for "abuse of weakness" opened in July, fact surpassed any possibility of invention as France's most famous leading lawyers traded insults, threats – and almost blows – in court
Woerth was later dropped from the cabinet in a government reshuffle, but is still facing investigation over the alleged donations. Meanwhile, Sarkozy was accused by Le Monde of ordering France's secret services to spy on its journalists reporting on the Bettencourt case. The surprise reconciliation between Bettencourt and her daughter, who met again for the first time in more than a year today, came after three weeks of secret negotiations.
It was reported that Bettencourt had agreed to have nothing more to do with Banier and De Maistre, while her daughter had agreed to stop all legal action.
Metzner said the pair had signed an agreement to end their various disputes but the details were "private and confidential". A joint statement said they were "looking to the future".
"The decision Françoise and I have taken is a source of hope for me," it said. "This agreement will allow us to rediscover our family harmony."
The L'Oréal group welcomed a "happy ending" to an affair which has seen its image tarnished.
Jean-Paul Agon, director general, said the reconciliation was "very positive for our company".
Nick Clegg to make plea to divided party on eve of tuition fees vote
A Liberal Democrat grassroots revolt over the party leadership's support for trebling tuition fees emerged tonight as members of the party's policy committee demanded powers to rein in ministerial independence from Lib Dem policy.
Separately, proposals were being put forward by some activists to make it easier for local parties to deselect Lib Dem MPs.
The moves came as David Davis, the Conservative MP and rightwing standard-bearer, announced that he will rebel in the key Commons vote on Thursday by voting against the trebling in tution fees.
Although Davis insisted he was "a rebellion of one," provoked by the damage he said the fees rise will inflict on social mobility, his move prompted coalition fears that a few other rightwing Tories might also break ranks, so reducing, but probably not endangering, the coalition majority in Thursday's Commons vote.
Davis told the Guardian: "The kids being helped are the very, very privileged indeed. Free school meals being the bar [for applying for the government's financial support fund plan] means quite a lot of aspirant working class kids will not be helped." He added he was concerned by rising indebtedness. "Kids are already leaving university with high levels of debt before they even go to work. I am worried making this worse will see the next generation significantly set back – unable, for instance, to get a mortgage."
His remarks will severely embarrass the Lib Dem leadership as they claimed the entire tuition fee package as a whole will help social mobility.
Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, is to make a desperate final plea to persuade his MPs tomorrow night to retain unity, but that prospect was evaporating tonight. Two junior ministers, the transport minister Norman Baker and the equalities minister Lynn Featherstone are considering whether to abstain, or vote against a move that might require them to resign from the government.
The coalition agreement allows Lib Dem MPs to abstain on tuition fees, but it is not clear how this applies to ministers. At least 13 or 14 backbench MPs, including former party leaders Charles Kennedy and Sir Menzies Campbell, are going to vote against, with Vince Cable, the business secretary, leading a group determined to vote for the measures they support.
Lord Ashdown, the former party leader, today called on the party to back the coalition tuition fees package, but admitted that in the current political climate the public was not listening to Clegg. He added: "Nick could deliver the Sermon on the Mount. They are just not listening."
Clegg's main strategic goal has been to show that coalition politics works, and he will be disturbed that the tuition fees vote is prompting calls for a rethink in the constitutional relationship between the party and ministers.
Gareth Epps, a member of the Lib Dem federal policy committee, warned that "the policy committee elected in November will want to have the opportunity to put out clear policy statements if it feels coalition policies are at odds with the Liberal Democrat principles and policies.
"A more formal mechanism is needed to make ministers realise they need to think again, and this will become more important as the coalition continues and more proposals inevitably emerge that were not covered by the coalition agreement."
Epps said that the party's special conference, called to endorse the coalition agreement in May, was debarred from discussing two motions ordering MPs to stick by their pledge to oppose a rise in fees in line with the manifesto agreement.
Lord Ashdown had yesterday claimed that the special conference had unanimously endorsed the coalition agreement.
Epps said: "It's self-evident now that the failure to tackle this issue at Special Conference has been a significant contributory factor in the difficulties the Party has faced now, and particularly in the disconnect between Ministers and the Party at large.
"The conference organisers did the party a severe disservice by preventing the special party conference from discussing the specific issue of tuition fees. If it had, we might not be in the difficulties we are now and we would be able to rein in ministers as they veer from what was in the manifesto. This is now an issue of trust as much as the policy."
He said two motions demanding Liberal Democrat MPs stick by their election pledge to oppose a rise in tuition fees were not taken by the conference organisers. One motion, designed to refer to the pledge given to the National Union of Students by Liberal Democrat MPs not to support an increase in tuition fees read "no MP can be mandated in matters of conscience, including those matters where they have explicitly pledged a certain course of action to their electorate.'
Another called on the party to reaffiirm its aspiration to scrap tuition fees and to make|" the impact on student debt" the paramount consdieration of any decision.
There are also calls from party activists to change party rules on the deselection of MPs. The current rules, adopted at a time when the Lib Dems wanted to avoid the kind of civil wars that plagued Labour, limit local party ability to deselect MPs with the incumbent given preference. One source said: "Our MPs have to realise they cannot vote for this rise with impunity. It damages not just them but the whole party." In practice redrawing constituency boundaries will make it harder for sitting Lib Dem MPs to claim incumbency.
In a bid to hold the party together cabinet members, including Clegg, have been holding teleconferences with senior party figures including parliamentary candidates to explian his thinking.
More than 135 Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidates have signed a petition urging MPs to oppose the tuition fees increase, and currently the mood is against calling for a special conference, seen as the nuclear option.
'MP' is an impostor
A man interviewed on Radio 4's World at One today, who claimed to be a Liberal Democrat MP, was revealed to be an impostor. Presenter James Robbins thought he was apparent interviewing ministerial aide Mike Crockart, who said he would be prepared to quit over the rise in tuition fees, but the interviewee turned out to be an impostor.
The BBC blamed an incorrect number listed against his name in the corporation's directory of MPs' contact details. All the "usual pre-broadcast questions" had been asked of the man, over the phone, who had "maintained throughout that he was Mr Crockart and appeared credible", the BBC said.
A fake Crockhart was also quoted in today's London Evening Standard, saying he would resign over the issue of tuition fees.
The quotes were picked up by the Press Association, which later issued a correction saying that the quotes attributed to the MP were from an impersonator.
The Lib Dem press office posted on Twitter: "For the record, Lib Dem PPS Mike Crockart was not on Radio 4 resigning earlier – it was an impersonator (he wasn't even Scottish)."
"We are absolutely clueless as to who it was," said a Lib Dem insider. "We figured it out when our head of media was talking to Mike on the phone and the fake Mike Crockart was on the World at One."
The BBC's most famous case of mistaken identity came four years ago: its 24-hour news channel interviewed a man who had been waiting in the BBC's reception., thinkingStaff thought he was computer expert Guy Kewney. Guy Goma gamely bluffed out the interviewer's questions on screen and briefly shot to fame as the "wrong guy".
Separately, proposals were being put forward by some activists to make it easier for local parties to deselect Lib Dem MPs.
The moves came as David Davis, the Conservative MP and rightwing standard-bearer, announced that he will rebel in the key Commons vote on Thursday by voting against the trebling in tution fees.
Although Davis insisted he was "a rebellion of one," provoked by the damage he said the fees rise will inflict on social mobility, his move prompted coalition fears that a few other rightwing Tories might also break ranks, so reducing, but probably not endangering, the coalition majority in Thursday's Commons vote.
Davis told the Guardian: "The kids being helped are the very, very privileged indeed. Free school meals being the bar [for applying for the government's financial support fund plan] means quite a lot of aspirant working class kids will not be helped." He added he was concerned by rising indebtedness. "Kids are already leaving university with high levels of debt before they even go to work. I am worried making this worse will see the next generation significantly set back – unable, for instance, to get a mortgage."
His remarks will severely embarrass the Lib Dem leadership as they claimed the entire tuition fee package as a whole will help social mobility.
Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, is to make a desperate final plea to persuade his MPs tomorrow night to retain unity, but that prospect was evaporating tonight. Two junior ministers, the transport minister Norman Baker and the equalities minister Lynn Featherstone are considering whether to abstain, or vote against a move that might require them to resign from the government.
The coalition agreement allows Lib Dem MPs to abstain on tuition fees, but it is not clear how this applies to ministers. At least 13 or 14 backbench MPs, including former party leaders Charles Kennedy and Sir Menzies Campbell, are going to vote against, with Vince Cable, the business secretary, leading a group determined to vote for the measures they support.
Lord Ashdown, the former party leader, today called on the party to back the coalition tuition fees package, but admitted that in the current political climate the public was not listening to Clegg. He added: "Nick could deliver the Sermon on the Mount. They are just not listening."
Clegg's main strategic goal has been to show that coalition politics works, and he will be disturbed that the tuition fees vote is prompting calls for a rethink in the constitutional relationship between the party and ministers.
Gareth Epps, a member of the Lib Dem federal policy committee, warned that "the policy committee elected in November will want to have the opportunity to put out clear policy statements if it feels coalition policies are at odds with the Liberal Democrat principles and policies.
"A more formal mechanism is needed to make ministers realise they need to think again, and this will become more important as the coalition continues and more proposals inevitably emerge that were not covered by the coalition agreement."
Epps said that the party's special conference, called to endorse the coalition agreement in May, was debarred from discussing two motions ordering MPs to stick by their pledge to oppose a rise in fees in line with the manifesto agreement.
Lord Ashdown had yesterday claimed that the special conference had unanimously endorsed the coalition agreement.
Epps said: "It's self-evident now that the failure to tackle this issue at Special Conference has been a significant contributory factor in the difficulties the Party has faced now, and particularly in the disconnect between Ministers and the Party at large.
"The conference organisers did the party a severe disservice by preventing the special party conference from discussing the specific issue of tuition fees. If it had, we might not be in the difficulties we are now and we would be able to rein in ministers as they veer from what was in the manifesto. This is now an issue of trust as much as the policy."
He said two motions demanding Liberal Democrat MPs stick by their election pledge to oppose a rise in tuition fees were not taken by the conference organisers. One motion, designed to refer to the pledge given to the National Union of Students by Liberal Democrat MPs not to support an increase in tuition fees read "no MP can be mandated in matters of conscience, including those matters where they have explicitly pledged a certain course of action to their electorate.'
Another called on the party to reaffiirm its aspiration to scrap tuition fees and to make|" the impact on student debt" the paramount consdieration of any decision.
There are also calls from party activists to change party rules on the deselection of MPs. The current rules, adopted at a time when the Lib Dems wanted to avoid the kind of civil wars that plagued Labour, limit local party ability to deselect MPs with the incumbent given preference. One source said: "Our MPs have to realise they cannot vote for this rise with impunity. It damages not just them but the whole party." In practice redrawing constituency boundaries will make it harder for sitting Lib Dem MPs to claim incumbency.
In a bid to hold the party together cabinet members, including Clegg, have been holding teleconferences with senior party figures including parliamentary candidates to explian his thinking.
More than 135 Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidates have signed a petition urging MPs to oppose the tuition fees increase, and currently the mood is against calling for a special conference, seen as the nuclear option.
'MP' is an impostor
A man interviewed on Radio 4's World at One today, who claimed to be a Liberal Democrat MP, was revealed to be an impostor. Presenter James Robbins thought he was apparent interviewing ministerial aide Mike Crockart, who said he would be prepared to quit over the rise in tuition fees, but the interviewee turned out to be an impostor.
The BBC blamed an incorrect number listed against his name in the corporation's directory of MPs' contact details. All the "usual pre-broadcast questions" had been asked of the man, over the phone, who had "maintained throughout that he was Mr Crockart and appeared credible", the BBC said.
A fake Crockhart was also quoted in today's London Evening Standard, saying he would resign over the issue of tuition fees.
The quotes were picked up by the Press Association, which later issued a correction saying that the quotes attributed to the MP were from an impersonator.
The Lib Dem press office posted on Twitter: "For the record, Lib Dem PPS Mike Crockart was not on Radio 4 resigning earlier – it was an impersonator (he wasn't even Scottish)."
"We are absolutely clueless as to who it was," said a Lib Dem insider. "We figured it out when our head of media was talking to Mike on the phone and the fake Mike Crockart was on the World at One."
The BBC's most famous case of mistaken identity came four years ago: its 24-hour news channel interviewed a man who had been waiting in the BBC's reception., thinkingStaff thought he was computer expert Guy Kewney. Guy Goma gamely bluffed out the interviewer's questions on screen and briefly shot to fame as the "wrong guy".
UK snow: Fresh blizzards grip Scotland with hundreds stranded in cars
Fresh blizzards closed Scottish airports and disrupted rail travel as the army was called in to help ambulance crews reach patients trapped in remote areas.
Hundreds of drivers were stuck on the main route between Glasgow and Edinburgh as the snowy conditions blanketed the central belt of the country. Others opted to bed down in their offices rather than face the long commute home.
Breakdowns and drifting snow blocked major roads. Lothian and Borders police forces said there had been "numerous" problems that brought traffic to a standstill.
"We are trying to remove vehicles from the road and get people that have been stuck," said a police spokesman. "We are looking to put gritters and snowploughs out to clear the carriageway [on the main road between Edinburgh and Glasgow]."
One driver, Mustafa Elshani, said he had been stranded on the M8 for eight hours during a 17-mile journey that normally takes 30 minutes. "I left work early because of the snow chaos," he told Sky News.
"Some families are stuck in their cars, some car batteries are running out. People are totally desperate. There's absolutely no one coming to help. We're just being left here, stranded."
Military 4x4 vehicles were helping medics from the Scottish Ambulance Service reach patients. Pauline Howie, chief executive of the Scottish Ambulance Service, said: "Ambulance crews are battling through horrendous conditions across the central belt, and the additional 4x4 vehicles from the military provides valuable operational assistance to our teams."
The Met Office said that there was between 10cm and 40cm of lying snow in the central lowlands, around 32cm in Edinburgh and 11cm in Glasgow. Both Glasgow and Edinburgh airports were closed for part of the day. Dundee, Inverness, Kirkwall and Campbeltown airports were also closed.
Motorists were advised to drive only if their journey was absolutely necessary, and roads throughout the country were closed. Tayside was the only region with no major routes closed, but drivers were warned to exercise "extreme care" behind the wheel.
In the Highlands a bus with 21 passengers on board slid off the road in the wintry conditions and collided with rocks. No-one was injured and a spare bus was sent so the passengers could complete their journey.
The Forth Road Bridge was closed southbound from around 11am due to a jack-knifed lorry but reopened at 3.30pm. Motorists were warned that a large backlog of traffic had built up and it would be some time before the road cleared.
While 95% of schools in Scotland reopened, many schools sent pupils home early due to the weather. Temperatures are expected to plunge as low as minus 13C in central Scotland and parts of the north.
Severe weather warnings for icy roads were in place throughout the country, with further warnings of snow in Orkney and Shetland and the Highlands & Eilean Siar.
The Scottish government said more than 160 vehicles and almost 400 staff were working "round the clock" to keep the road network moving.
The Scottish transport minister, Stewart Stevenson, said: "Scotland has been in the grip of the worst snow and ice conditions in the early winter since the 1960s. Every effort has been made to keep disruption to a minimum.
"Snow was predicted for today but was significantly heavier than expected, and timing during rush hour made conditions worse. "
In the past 10 days Transport Scotland have spread approximately 50,000 tonnes of salt throughout the country.
Hundreds of drivers were stuck on the main route between Glasgow and Edinburgh as the snowy conditions blanketed the central belt of the country. Others opted to bed down in their offices rather than face the long commute home.
Breakdowns and drifting snow blocked major roads. Lothian and Borders police forces said there had been "numerous" problems that brought traffic to a standstill.
"We are trying to remove vehicles from the road and get people that have been stuck," said a police spokesman. "We are looking to put gritters and snowploughs out to clear the carriageway [on the main road between Edinburgh and Glasgow]."
One driver, Mustafa Elshani, said he had been stranded on the M8 for eight hours during a 17-mile journey that normally takes 30 minutes. "I left work early because of the snow chaos," he told Sky News.
"Some families are stuck in their cars, some car batteries are running out. People are totally desperate. There's absolutely no one coming to help. We're just being left here, stranded."
Military 4x4 vehicles were helping medics from the Scottish Ambulance Service reach patients. Pauline Howie, chief executive of the Scottish Ambulance Service, said: "Ambulance crews are battling through horrendous conditions across the central belt, and the additional 4x4 vehicles from the military provides valuable operational assistance to our teams."
The Met Office said that there was between 10cm and 40cm of lying snow in the central lowlands, around 32cm in Edinburgh and 11cm in Glasgow. Both Glasgow and Edinburgh airports were closed for part of the day. Dundee, Inverness, Kirkwall and Campbeltown airports were also closed.
Motorists were advised to drive only if their journey was absolutely necessary, and roads throughout the country were closed. Tayside was the only region with no major routes closed, but drivers were warned to exercise "extreme care" behind the wheel.
In the Highlands a bus with 21 passengers on board slid off the road in the wintry conditions and collided with rocks. No-one was injured and a spare bus was sent so the passengers could complete their journey.
The Forth Road Bridge was closed southbound from around 11am due to a jack-knifed lorry but reopened at 3.30pm. Motorists were warned that a large backlog of traffic had built up and it would be some time before the road cleared.
While 95% of schools in Scotland reopened, many schools sent pupils home early due to the weather. Temperatures are expected to plunge as low as minus 13C in central Scotland and parts of the north.
Severe weather warnings for icy roads were in place throughout the country, with further warnings of snow in Orkney and Shetland and the Highlands & Eilean Siar.
The Scottish government said more than 160 vehicles and almost 400 staff were working "round the clock" to keep the road network moving.
The Scottish transport minister, Stewart Stevenson, said: "Scotland has been in the grip of the worst snow and ice conditions in the early winter since the 1960s. Every effort has been made to keep disruption to a minimum.
"Snow was predicted for today but was significantly heavier than expected, and timing during rush hour made conditions worse. "
In the past 10 days Transport Scotland have spread approximately 50,000 tonnes of salt throughout the country.
Twenty-one Oxbridge colleges took no black students last year
A bleak portrait of racial and social exclusion at Oxford and Cambridge has been shown in official data which shows that more than 20 Oxbridge colleges made no offers to black candidates for undergraduate courses last year and one Oxford college has not admitted a single black student in five years.
The university's admissions data confirms that only one black Briton of Caribbean descent was accepted for undergraduate study at Oxford last year.
Figures revealed in requests made under the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act by the Labour MP David Lammy also show that Oxford's social profile is 89% upper- and middle-class, while 87.6% of the Cambridge student body is drawn from the top three socioeconomic groups. The average for British universities is 64.5%, according to the admissions body Ucas.
The FoI data also shows that of more than 1,500 academic and lab staff at Cambridge, none are black. Thirty-four are of British Asian origin.
One Oxford college, Merton, has admitted no black students in five years – and just three in the last decade. Eleven Oxford colleges and 10 Cambridge colleges made no offers to black students for the academic year beginning autumn 2009.
Oxford's breakdown of its latest undergraduate admissions figures, published on its website, shows that just one black Caribbean student was accepted in 2009, out of 35 applications.
A total of 77 students of Indian descent were accepted, out of 466 applications. Six black Caribbean undergraduates were accepted at Cambridge the same year.
In advance of a crucial Commons vote on Thursday, ministers have said universities that want to charge students up to £9,000 a year in fees will face fresh targets on widening access to applicants from disadvantaged backgrounds. Oxford and Cambridge, which are expected to charge the maximum fee, say they are keen to recruit the brightest students from all backgrounds. Both have programmes to encourage applications from state school students, and those from black and working-class backgrounds.
But the FoI data shows white students were more likely to be successful than black applicants at every Cambridge college except St Catharine's, where black candidates have had a 38% success rate, compared with 30% for white students.
The starkest divide in Cambridge was at Newnham, an all-women's college, where black applicants had a 13% success rate compared with 67% for white students. The data for Oxford tells a similar story: at Jesus college white candidates were three and a half times more successful than black candidates over an 11-year period. Oxford says the figures are too low for the variation between colleges to be statistically significant.
The most selective universities argue that poor attainment at school level narrows the pool from which candidates can be drawn. But black candidates are more likely to apply to elite universities.
In 2009, more than 29,000 white students got three As or better at A-level (excluding general studies) and about 28.4% applied to Oxford; while 452 black students got three As or better, and nearly half applied to Oxford. A spokeswoman for Oxford said: "Black students apply disproportionately for the most oversubscribed subjects, contributing to a lower than average success rate for the group as a whole: 44% of all black applicants apply for Oxford's three most oversubscribed subjects, compared with just 17% of all white applicants. That means nearly half of black applicants are applying for the same three subjects … the three toughest subjects to get places in. Those subjects are economics and management, medicine, and maths.with 7% of white applicants. This goes a very long way towards explaining the group's overall lower success rate."
The FoI figures show large parts of the country never send students to the most prestigious universities. No one from Knowsley, Sandwell and Merthyr Tydfil has got to Cambridge in seven years. In the last five years, pupils from Richmond upon Thames have received almost the same number of offers from Oxford as the whole of Scotland.
Rob Berkeley, director of the Runnymede Trust, a thinktank that promotes racial equality, said: "If we go for this elite system of higher education … we have got to make sure what they are doing is fair. If you look at how many people on both frontbenches are Oxbridge-educated, Oxford and Cambridge are still the major route to positions of influence. If that's the case we shouldn't be restricting these opportunities to people from minority backgrounds."
Black students do not lack aspiration, but the opportunity to get into the most prestigious universities, Berkeley argued. "Of the black Caribbean students getting straight As at A-level, the vast majority apply to Oxbridge.... those who do choose to apply have a much lower success rate [than white applicants]. One in five in comparison with one in three for white students. That doesn't seem to have shifted for the last 15 years." A boom in university participation in recent years has led to a more diverse student body, but black students are concentrated in a handful of institutions. In 2007-08 the University of East London had half as many black students as the entire Russell group of 20 universities, which include Oxford and Cambridge.
Matthew Benjamin, 28, who studied geography at Jesus College, Oxford, said: "I was very aware that I was the only black student in my year at my college. I was never made to feel out of place, but it was certainly something I was conscious of.
"When I arrived and they wanted to do a prospectus, and have some students on the cover, they chose me, and one other Asian guy and another guy from Thailand. It was clear they wanted to project this image of somewhere that was quite diverse. The reality was very different – there were three [minority] ethnic students in a year.
"On open days, some black kids would see me and say 'you're the only black person we've seen here – is it even worth us applying?'"
A spokesman for Cambridge said 15% of students accepted last year were from minority ethnic backgrounds. "Over the five years to 2009 entry black students accounted for 1.5% of admissions to Cambridge, compared with 1.2% of degree applicants nationally who secure AAA at A-level. Colleges make offers to the best and brightest students regardless of their background, and where variations exist this is due to supply of applications and demand by subject."
The university's admissions data confirms that only one black Briton of Caribbean descent was accepted for undergraduate study at Oxford last year.
Figures revealed in requests made under the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act by the Labour MP David Lammy also show that Oxford's social profile is 89% upper- and middle-class, while 87.6% of the Cambridge student body is drawn from the top three socioeconomic groups. The average for British universities is 64.5%, according to the admissions body Ucas.
The FoI data also shows that of more than 1,500 academic and lab staff at Cambridge, none are black. Thirty-four are of British Asian origin.
One Oxford college, Merton, has admitted no black students in five years – and just three in the last decade. Eleven Oxford colleges and 10 Cambridge colleges made no offers to black students for the academic year beginning autumn 2009.
Oxford's breakdown of its latest undergraduate admissions figures, published on its website, shows that just one black Caribbean student was accepted in 2009, out of 35 applications.
A total of 77 students of Indian descent were accepted, out of 466 applications. Six black Caribbean undergraduates were accepted at Cambridge the same year.
In advance of a crucial Commons vote on Thursday, ministers have said universities that want to charge students up to £9,000 a year in fees will face fresh targets on widening access to applicants from disadvantaged backgrounds. Oxford and Cambridge, which are expected to charge the maximum fee, say they are keen to recruit the brightest students from all backgrounds. Both have programmes to encourage applications from state school students, and those from black and working-class backgrounds.
But the FoI data shows white students were more likely to be successful than black applicants at every Cambridge college except St Catharine's, where black candidates have had a 38% success rate, compared with 30% for white students.
The starkest divide in Cambridge was at Newnham, an all-women's college, where black applicants had a 13% success rate compared with 67% for white students. The data for Oxford tells a similar story: at Jesus college white candidates were three and a half times more successful than black candidates over an 11-year period. Oxford says the figures are too low for the variation between colleges to be statistically significant.
The most selective universities argue that poor attainment at school level narrows the pool from which candidates can be drawn. But black candidates are more likely to apply to elite universities.
In 2009, more than 29,000 white students got three As or better at A-level (excluding general studies) and about 28.4% applied to Oxford; while 452 black students got three As or better, and nearly half applied to Oxford. A spokeswoman for Oxford said: "Black students apply disproportionately for the most oversubscribed subjects, contributing to a lower than average success rate for the group as a whole: 44% of all black applicants apply for Oxford's three most oversubscribed subjects, compared with just 17% of all white applicants. That means nearly half of black applicants are applying for the same three subjects … the three toughest subjects to get places in. Those subjects are economics and management, medicine, and maths.with 7% of white applicants. This goes a very long way towards explaining the group's overall lower success rate."
The FoI figures show large parts of the country never send students to the most prestigious universities. No one from Knowsley, Sandwell and Merthyr Tydfil has got to Cambridge in seven years. In the last five years, pupils from Richmond upon Thames have received almost the same number of offers from Oxford as the whole of Scotland.
Rob Berkeley, director of the Runnymede Trust, a thinktank that promotes racial equality, said: "If we go for this elite system of higher education … we have got to make sure what they are doing is fair. If you look at how many people on both frontbenches are Oxbridge-educated, Oxford and Cambridge are still the major route to positions of influence. If that's the case we shouldn't be restricting these opportunities to people from minority backgrounds."
Black students do not lack aspiration, but the opportunity to get into the most prestigious universities, Berkeley argued. "Of the black Caribbean students getting straight As at A-level, the vast majority apply to Oxbridge.... those who do choose to apply have a much lower success rate [than white applicants]. One in five in comparison with one in three for white students. That doesn't seem to have shifted for the last 15 years." A boom in university participation in recent years has led to a more diverse student body, but black students are concentrated in a handful of institutions. In 2007-08 the University of East London had half as many black students as the entire Russell group of 20 universities, which include Oxford and Cambridge.
Matthew Benjamin, 28, who studied geography at Jesus College, Oxford, said: "I was very aware that I was the only black student in my year at my college. I was never made to feel out of place, but it was certainly something I was conscious of.
"When I arrived and they wanted to do a prospectus, and have some students on the cover, they chose me, and one other Asian guy and another guy from Thailand. It was clear they wanted to project this image of somewhere that was quite diverse. The reality was very different – there were three [minority] ethnic students in a year.
"On open days, some black kids would see me and say 'you're the only black person we've seen here – is it even worth us applying?'"
A spokesman for Cambridge said 15% of students accepted last year were from minority ethnic backgrounds. "Over the five years to 2009 entry black students accounted for 1.5% of admissions to Cambridge, compared with 1.2% of degree applicants nationally who secure AAA at A-level. Colleges make offers to the best and brightest students regardless of their background, and where variations exist this is due to supply of applications and demand by subject."
WikiLeaks cables reveal secret Nato plans to defend Baltics from Russia
Washington and its western allies have for the first time since the end of the cold war drawn up classified military plans to defend the most vulnerable parts of eastern Europe against Russian threats, according to confidential US diplomatic cables.
The US state department ordered an information blackout when the decision was taken earlier this year. Since January the blueprint has been refined.
Nine Nato divisions – US, British, German, and Polish – have been identified for combat operations in the event of armed aggression against Poland or the three Baltic states. North Polish and German ports have been listed for the receipt of naval assault forces and British and US warships. The first Nato exercises under the plan are to take place in the Baltic next year, according to informed sources.
Following years of transatlantic dispute over the new policy, Nato leaders are understood to have quietly endorsed the strategy at a summit in Lisbon last month.
Despite President Barack Obama's policy of "resetting" relations with Russia, which was boosted at the Nato summit attended by Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, the state department fears that the major policy shift could trigger "unnecessary tensions" with Moscow.
The decision to draft contingency plans for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania was taken secretly earlier this year at the urging of the US and Germany at Nato headquarters in Belgium, ending years of division at the heart of the western alliance over how to view Vladimir Putin's Russia.
The decision, according to a secret cable signed by Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, marks the start of a major revamp of Nato defence planning in Europe.
The strategy has not been made public, in line with Nato's customary refusal to divulge details of its "contingency planning" – blueprints for the defence of a Nato member state by the alliance as a whole.
These are believed to be held in safes at Nato's planning headquarters in Mons, Belgium.
According to a secret cable from the US mission to Nato in Brussels, US admiral James Stavridis, the alliance's top commander in Europe, proposed drawing up defence plans for the former Soviet Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
The policy was put to top military officials from Nato's 28 states. "On January 22 Nato's military committee agreed … under a silence procedure", the cable notes, referring to a decision carried by consensus unless someone speaks up to object.
Attempts by Stavridis's predecessor, General John Craddock, to push through defence planning for the Baltic were stymied by German-led opposition in western Europe, anxious to avoid upsetting the Kremlin.The policy shift was decided by senior military officials rather than Nato's top decision-taking body, the North Atlantic Council, in order to avoid repeating the splits and disputes on the issue over the past five years. The plan entails grouping the Baltic states with Poland in a new regional defence scheme that has been worked on in recent months and is codenamed Eagle Guardian.
In parallel negotiations with Warsaw the US has also offered to beef up Polish security against Russia by deploying special naval forces to the Baltic ports of Gdansk and Gdynia, putting squadrons of F-16 fighter aircraft in Poland and rotating C-130 Hercules transport planes into Poland from US bases in Germany, according to the diplomatic cables, almost always classified secret.
Earlier this year the US started rotating US army Patriot missiles into Poland in a move that Warsaw celebrates publicly as boosting Polish air defences and demonstrating American commitment to Poland's security.
But the secret cables expose the Patriots' value as purely symbolic. The Patriot battery, deployed on a rotating basis at Morag in north-eastern Poland, 40 miles from the border with Russia's Kaliningrad exclave, is purely for training purposes, and is neither operational nor armed with missiles.
At one point Poland's then deputy defence minister privately complained bitterly that the Americans may as well supply "potted plants'.
Since joining Nato in 2004, the three Baltic states have complained they are treated as second-class members because their pleas for detailed defence planning under Nato's "all for one and one for all" article 5 have been being ignored. Article 5 is the heart of Nato's founding treaty, stipulating that the alliance will come to the rescue of any member state attacked. The only time it has been invoked was following 9/11 when the European allies and Canada rallied to support America.
The Poles and the Baltic states have long argued that rhetorical declarations of commitment to article 5 are meaningless without concrete defence planning to back them up.
The Baltic demands for hard security guarantees became much more desperate in the past three years.
A cyber-attack on Estonia in 2007 was believed to have originated in Russia, and the Kremlin invaded Georgia a year later.
Nerves were further set on edge last year when the Russians staged exercises simulating an invasion of the Baltic states and a nuclear attack on Poland.
The eastern European calls for hard security guarantees, however, were stymied by western Europe, led by Germany, which did not want to antagonise Russia.
"We've found the way forward with Russia. The Baltic states have received strategic reassurance," said a well-placed source. "That's backed up with contingency planning that did not exist before. It's done now. We told them we'll give you your reassurance if you agree to the reset with Russia. That made it easier for the Germans."During intense – if discreet – diplomacy last year, the resistance was overcome by the Americans, and the new policy was tabled as a joint US-German move.
"Most of the information on this is not in the public domain.
But the bottom line is that there is enough political will in Nato now to do defence plans for the Baltic states. The opposition has melted away over the past 18 months," said Tomas Valasek, defence analyst at the Centre for European Reform. He worked with Madeleine Albright, the former US secretary of state, on drafting Nato's new "strategic concept" this year.In a meeting last December in Brussels with the Nato ambassadors from Poland, the three Baltic states and the Nato secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, together with the US and German ambassadors, Ivo Daalder and Ulrich Brandenburg, secured agreement on the new policy.
"Ambassador Daalder acknowledged in these meetings that Germany had initiated the proposal," says another secret cable .The east Europeans were delighted. Paul Teesalu, a senior Estonian diplomat, described the policy shift as "an early Christmas present" when told last December in Tallinn, according to a cable.
Another secret report from the US embassy in Riga says the Latvian foreign ministry's security policy chief "expressed his government's profound happiness."
The Poles, although keen supporters of concrete Nato defence plans for the Baltic, were neverthless worried that the new policy could dilute alliance commitments to their defence, since a limited Polish contingency plan was being turned into an expanded regional blueprint for the four countries.
Poland's late deputy defence minister, Stanislaw Komorowski, told US diplomats in Warsaw that he was "sceptical that a regional approach was the best way ahead. Komorowski said Warsaw would prefer a unique plan for Poland.".
Komorowski, the Polish ambassador in London until 2004, was one of 98 people killed with the country's president, Lech Kaczynski, when their plane crashed at Smolensk, Russia, in April.
The Americans argued that adding defence planning for the Baltic states would reinforce rather than dilute Polish security.
"After two years, contingency plans have been successfully prepared for Poland," Bogdan Klich, the Polish defence minister told Warsaw newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza last month.
In January, after the decision was taken, the state department in Washington instructed US missions and embassies how to proceed, making clear that the drafting of defence blueprints for the Baltic was the beginning of a more ambitious overhaul of Nato's core military planning.
"This is the first step in a multi-stage process to develop a complete set of appropriate contingency plans for the full range of possible threats – both regional and functional – as soon as possible," said the secret cable.
The diplomatic traffic seen by the Guardian is from US state department and US embassies worldwide, but not from Pentagon or CIA communications, meaning that the cables reveal the policy and political decision-making processes but contain little on the specifics of hard military planning.
Details of the nine divisions earmarked for the plan and the prominence of the port of Swinoujscie, on Poland's Baltic coast, were leaked to Gazeta Wyborcza.
It is clear that the defence plans for Poland and the Baltic are to be orchestrated from Nato's Shape planning headquarters at Mons in Belgium and from the Joint Forces Command at Brunssum in the Netherlands, the nerve centre for overseeing the crucial German theatre during the alliance's cold war heyday.
The policy shift represents a sea change in Nato defence planning and in assessments of the threat posed by what a Polish official calls "a resurgent Russia."
Officially the US and Nato term Russia a "partner" and not an adversary, with the Germans, French, and Italians in particular tending to be deferential in dealings with Moscow. But the east Europeans, with their bitter experience of Moscow domination, argue that the Russians respect strength, despise and exploit weakness and division, and that Nato will enjoy better relations only if its most exposed and vulnerable members feel secure.
"The whole point is not to paint Russia as a threat. It is about reassuring those countries that are seriously worried.
The debate is primarily about Poland and the Baltic. Geography has a lot to do with it," said Valasek.
Repeatedly calling for the Baltic military plans to be kept utterly secret, Clinton and other senior US officials acknowledge that the policy shift "would also likely lead to an unnecessary increase in Nato-Russia tensions … Washington strongly believes that the details of Nato's contingency plans should remain in confidential channels."
The US state department ordered an information blackout when the decision was taken earlier this year. Since January the blueprint has been refined.
Nine Nato divisions – US, British, German, and Polish – have been identified for combat operations in the event of armed aggression against Poland or the three Baltic states. North Polish and German ports have been listed for the receipt of naval assault forces and British and US warships. The first Nato exercises under the plan are to take place in the Baltic next year, according to informed sources.
Following years of transatlantic dispute over the new policy, Nato leaders are understood to have quietly endorsed the strategy at a summit in Lisbon last month.
Despite President Barack Obama's policy of "resetting" relations with Russia, which was boosted at the Nato summit attended by Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, the state department fears that the major policy shift could trigger "unnecessary tensions" with Moscow.
The decision to draft contingency plans for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania was taken secretly earlier this year at the urging of the US and Germany at Nato headquarters in Belgium, ending years of division at the heart of the western alliance over how to view Vladimir Putin's Russia.
The decision, according to a secret cable signed by Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, marks the start of a major revamp of Nato defence planning in Europe.
The strategy has not been made public, in line with Nato's customary refusal to divulge details of its "contingency planning" – blueprints for the defence of a Nato member state by the alliance as a whole.
These are believed to be held in safes at Nato's planning headquarters in Mons, Belgium.
According to a secret cable from the US mission to Nato in Brussels, US admiral James Stavridis, the alliance's top commander in Europe, proposed drawing up defence plans for the former Soviet Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
The policy was put to top military officials from Nato's 28 states. "On January 22 Nato's military committee agreed … under a silence procedure", the cable notes, referring to a decision carried by consensus unless someone speaks up to object.
Attempts by Stavridis's predecessor, General John Craddock, to push through defence planning for the Baltic were stymied by German-led opposition in western Europe, anxious to avoid upsetting the Kremlin.The policy shift was decided by senior military officials rather than Nato's top decision-taking body, the North Atlantic Council, in order to avoid repeating the splits and disputes on the issue over the past five years. The plan entails grouping the Baltic states with Poland in a new regional defence scheme that has been worked on in recent months and is codenamed Eagle Guardian.
In parallel negotiations with Warsaw the US has also offered to beef up Polish security against Russia by deploying special naval forces to the Baltic ports of Gdansk and Gdynia, putting squadrons of F-16 fighter aircraft in Poland and rotating C-130 Hercules transport planes into Poland from US bases in Germany, according to the diplomatic cables, almost always classified secret.
Earlier this year the US started rotating US army Patriot missiles into Poland in a move that Warsaw celebrates publicly as boosting Polish air defences and demonstrating American commitment to Poland's security.
But the secret cables expose the Patriots' value as purely symbolic. The Patriot battery, deployed on a rotating basis at Morag in north-eastern Poland, 40 miles from the border with Russia's Kaliningrad exclave, is purely for training purposes, and is neither operational nor armed with missiles.
At one point Poland's then deputy defence minister privately complained bitterly that the Americans may as well supply "potted plants'.
Since joining Nato in 2004, the three Baltic states have complained they are treated as second-class members because their pleas for detailed defence planning under Nato's "all for one and one for all" article 5 have been being ignored. Article 5 is the heart of Nato's founding treaty, stipulating that the alliance will come to the rescue of any member state attacked. The only time it has been invoked was following 9/11 when the European allies and Canada rallied to support America.
The Poles and the Baltic states have long argued that rhetorical declarations of commitment to article 5 are meaningless without concrete defence planning to back them up.
The Baltic demands for hard security guarantees became much more desperate in the past three years.
A cyber-attack on Estonia in 2007 was believed to have originated in Russia, and the Kremlin invaded Georgia a year later.
Nerves were further set on edge last year when the Russians staged exercises simulating an invasion of the Baltic states and a nuclear attack on Poland.
The eastern European calls for hard security guarantees, however, were stymied by western Europe, led by Germany, which did not want to antagonise Russia.
"We've found the way forward with Russia. The Baltic states have received strategic reassurance," said a well-placed source. "That's backed up with contingency planning that did not exist before. It's done now. We told them we'll give you your reassurance if you agree to the reset with Russia. That made it easier for the Germans."During intense – if discreet – diplomacy last year, the resistance was overcome by the Americans, and the new policy was tabled as a joint US-German move.
"Most of the information on this is not in the public domain.
But the bottom line is that there is enough political will in Nato now to do defence plans for the Baltic states. The opposition has melted away over the past 18 months," said Tomas Valasek, defence analyst at the Centre for European Reform. He worked with Madeleine Albright, the former US secretary of state, on drafting Nato's new "strategic concept" this year.In a meeting last December in Brussels with the Nato ambassadors from Poland, the three Baltic states and the Nato secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, together with the US and German ambassadors, Ivo Daalder and Ulrich Brandenburg, secured agreement on the new policy.
"Ambassador Daalder acknowledged in these meetings that Germany had initiated the proposal," says another secret cable .The east Europeans were delighted. Paul Teesalu, a senior Estonian diplomat, described the policy shift as "an early Christmas present" when told last December in Tallinn, according to a cable.
Another secret report from the US embassy in Riga says the Latvian foreign ministry's security policy chief "expressed his government's profound happiness."
The Poles, although keen supporters of concrete Nato defence plans for the Baltic, were neverthless worried that the new policy could dilute alliance commitments to their defence, since a limited Polish contingency plan was being turned into an expanded regional blueprint for the four countries.
Poland's late deputy defence minister, Stanislaw Komorowski, told US diplomats in Warsaw that he was "sceptical that a regional approach was the best way ahead. Komorowski said Warsaw would prefer a unique plan for Poland.".
Komorowski, the Polish ambassador in London until 2004, was one of 98 people killed with the country's president, Lech Kaczynski, when their plane crashed at Smolensk, Russia, in April.
The Americans argued that adding defence planning for the Baltic states would reinforce rather than dilute Polish security.
"After two years, contingency plans have been successfully prepared for Poland," Bogdan Klich, the Polish defence minister told Warsaw newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza last month.
In January, after the decision was taken, the state department in Washington instructed US missions and embassies how to proceed, making clear that the drafting of defence blueprints for the Baltic was the beginning of a more ambitious overhaul of Nato's core military planning.
"This is the first step in a multi-stage process to develop a complete set of appropriate contingency plans for the full range of possible threats – both regional and functional – as soon as possible," said the secret cable.
The diplomatic traffic seen by the Guardian is from US state department and US embassies worldwide, but not from Pentagon or CIA communications, meaning that the cables reveal the policy and political decision-making processes but contain little on the specifics of hard military planning.
Details of the nine divisions earmarked for the plan and the prominence of the port of Swinoujscie, on Poland's Baltic coast, were leaked to Gazeta Wyborcza.
It is clear that the defence plans for Poland and the Baltic are to be orchestrated from Nato's Shape planning headquarters at Mons in Belgium and from the Joint Forces Command at Brunssum in the Netherlands, the nerve centre for overseeing the crucial German theatre during the alliance's cold war heyday.
The policy shift represents a sea change in Nato defence planning and in assessments of the threat posed by what a Polish official calls "a resurgent Russia."
Officially the US and Nato term Russia a "partner" and not an adversary, with the Germans, French, and Italians in particular tending to be deferential in dealings with Moscow. But the east Europeans, with their bitter experience of Moscow domination, argue that the Russians respect strength, despise and exploit weakness and division, and that Nato will enjoy better relations only if its most exposed and vulnerable members feel secure.
"The whole point is not to paint Russia as a threat. It is about reassuring those countries that are seriously worried.
The debate is primarily about Poland and the Baltic. Geography has a lot to do with it," said Valasek.
Repeatedly calling for the Baltic military plans to be kept utterly secret, Clinton and other senior US officials acknowledge that the policy shift "would also likely lead to an unnecessary increase in Nato-Russia tensions … Washington strongly believes that the details of Nato's contingency plans should remain in confidential channels."
Gérard Houllier returns to a muted reception from Liverpool's Kop
It was never going to be Roma revisited for Gérard Houllier on his Anfield return and, on the basis of his reception, it may be a good while yet before Phil Thompson sees his former manager placed alongside Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan, Kenny Dalglish and Rafael Benítez on the Kop banner that reads "Success has many fathers". Lukewarm not only described Aston Villa's commitment to attack.
There was polite applause from Liverpool supporters sat around the dugouts when the club's former manager reappeared for his first competitive game at Anfield since 2004. There was also a banner on the front of the Kop proclaiming "Gérard's Heart Beats", which may have resonated with Houllier in terms of sentiment if not taste. Only in the dying minutes, with Liverpool 3-0 up, did the Kop sing his name.
Otherwise it was a modest reception that spoke of respect for a man who restructured the club, restored discipline, pride and a place on the European stage, but whose final years scarred the legacy to an extent it is still painful to revisit them.
In mitigation, it could just have been that no one was in the mood for tributes on a night of sub-zero temperatures on Merseyside and following the news that Fernando Torres had joined Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher on the sidelines after his wife had gone into labour. Not that star absentees detracted from a comfortable Liverpool victory. Far from it.
Those who prospered under Houllier at Liverpool had been keen to offer their appreciation ahead of his return, Thompson, with his assertion that "he nearly gave his life for Liverpool, just so he could make the club great again", being chief among them. Carragher's dislocated shoulder did not prevent the Liverpool vice-captain sparking debate with an assertion that the Uefa Cup, FA Cup and League Cup treble of 2001 ranked higher than victory in the 2005 Champions League final.
"The treble is a better achievement than Istanbul. Istanbul as a one-off will never be beaten by anyone but someone wins the Champions League every year," claimed Carragher, perhaps revealing where Benítez ranks in his own affections rather than where a golden-goal victory over the 10 men of Alavés, Michael Owen's virtuoso display against Arsenal and a penalty shoot-out defeat of Birmingham City stands alongside those infamous nights against Juventus, Chelsea and Milan.
No one disputes Houllier's dedication to the Liverpool cause and the internal revolution he conducted after the joint-management ticket with Roy Evans – surely the politest sacking in Liverpool's history – was brought to an inevitable early end. The night he defied doctor's orders to return against Roma in the Champions League, five months after being told to telephone his family before undergoing emergency heart surgery lest he should not survive, remains imprinted on all present.
But the decline started soon after, the football deteriorated as the excuses increased, and Liverpool demanded better. They still do.
Benítez met that requirement and elevated Liverpool to a place they are pining for again. Without Carragher and Gerrard on display, however, it was hard to identify a lasting Houllier legacy at Anfield.
For the Villa manager's sake, it must be hoped the emphasis on youth pays dividends quickly at Villa Park.
After a passionless first half devoid of one meaningful attack, the visitors were booed off at Anfield and, with only one win in 10 league games, they languish two points above the relegation zone. Houllier may have to savour the Anfield reception on this form.
There was polite applause from Liverpool supporters sat around the dugouts when the club's former manager reappeared for his first competitive game at Anfield since 2004. There was also a banner on the front of the Kop proclaiming "Gérard's Heart Beats", which may have resonated with Houllier in terms of sentiment if not taste. Only in the dying minutes, with Liverpool 3-0 up, did the Kop sing his name.
Otherwise it was a modest reception that spoke of respect for a man who restructured the club, restored discipline, pride and a place on the European stage, but whose final years scarred the legacy to an extent it is still painful to revisit them.
In mitigation, it could just have been that no one was in the mood for tributes on a night of sub-zero temperatures on Merseyside and following the news that Fernando Torres had joined Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher on the sidelines after his wife had gone into labour. Not that star absentees detracted from a comfortable Liverpool victory. Far from it.
Those who prospered under Houllier at Liverpool had been keen to offer their appreciation ahead of his return, Thompson, with his assertion that "he nearly gave his life for Liverpool, just so he could make the club great again", being chief among them. Carragher's dislocated shoulder did not prevent the Liverpool vice-captain sparking debate with an assertion that the Uefa Cup, FA Cup and League Cup treble of 2001 ranked higher than victory in the 2005 Champions League final.
"The treble is a better achievement than Istanbul. Istanbul as a one-off will never be beaten by anyone but someone wins the Champions League every year," claimed Carragher, perhaps revealing where Benítez ranks in his own affections rather than where a golden-goal victory over the 10 men of Alavés, Michael Owen's virtuoso display against Arsenal and a penalty shoot-out defeat of Birmingham City stands alongside those infamous nights against Juventus, Chelsea and Milan.
No one disputes Houllier's dedication to the Liverpool cause and the internal revolution he conducted after the joint-management ticket with Roy Evans – surely the politest sacking in Liverpool's history – was brought to an inevitable early end. The night he defied doctor's orders to return against Roma in the Champions League, five months after being told to telephone his family before undergoing emergency heart surgery lest he should not survive, remains imprinted on all present.
But the decline started soon after, the football deteriorated as the excuses increased, and Liverpool demanded better. They still do.
Benítez met that requirement and elevated Liverpool to a place they are pining for again. Without Carragher and Gerrard on display, however, it was hard to identify a lasting Houllier legacy at Anfield.
For the Villa manager's sake, it must be hoped the emphasis on youth pays dividends quickly at Villa Park.
After a passionless first half devoid of one meaningful attack, the visitors were booed off at Anfield and, with only one win in 10 league games, they languish two points above the relegation zone. Houllier may have to savour the Anfield reception on this form.
The Ashes 2010: England run riot against Australia to win second Test
It was only a morning, but it was one of the great mornings for England cricket in modern times. No weather to save Australia. In winning the second Test overwhelmingly, by an innings and 71 runs, they have achieved what no England side has managed for 24 years and won a Test in Australia while the Ashes were still at stake.
This represents a hammer blow to Australia, who must now win two of the final three Tests if they are to regain the Ashes, a prospect not helped by the news that their opener Simon Katich will miss the remaining matches with an Achilles injury.
There were tense final moments as England, a bowler down because of the injury to Stuart Broad which has also finished his involvement in the series, sought the final wicket with the two Australian tailenders at the crease. To gasps from the crowd and players, balls beat the bat.
Finally, at 11.27am precisely, almost an hour and a half into the day, Graeme Swann spun an off-break through the gate left by Peter Siddle to hit off stump and spark celebrations.
Swann had taken the last three wickets to finish with five for 91 and confirm his status as the leading spinner in world cricket. It was Swann who took the final wicket at The Oval when the Ashes were won last year. Only Marcus North, for almost an hour, offered resistance as Mike Hussey went to Steve Finn and the new ball for 52, and the tail folded. In 17 overs England took six for 64.
Such has been the efficiency of England's approach into the Ashes series and dominance of the second Test that it almost seemed too good to be true, with a setback lurking round the corner waiting to mug them.
At first it seemed as if a little of the spirit had drained from the England team as Broad watched from the dressing room, contemplating a lonely journey home, and his team-mates took to the field without him.
The team is one that thrives in adversity, however: the rearguard actions in Cardiff last year and Brisbane last week have both been followed by outstanding performances in their next games. There was also the manner in which they shrugged off the 2009 Headingley debacle in the fourth Test to win at The Oval.
There are also replacements ready to step in, good ones who bowled England to an overwhelming win against Australia A last month. None of Chris Tremlett, Ajmal Shahzad or Tim Bresnan can quite capture the abrasive competitive edge of Broad, but each would serve well.
For this morning, there was a potential heap of work in the hands of Finn and Jimmy Anderson. With North new to the crease, England delayed taking the new ball which was due immediately. Kevin Pietersen finished his over from the previous evening, Swann switching ends.
It was during the second over from there, the City end, that the day's first drama came. First, with Swann round the wicket, North was hit low on the pad as he pushed forward, England opting to refer the not-out decision. The ruling was that the batsman had been struck a smidgen outside the line of off-stump so the decision of the umpire Marius Erasmus remained.
Immediately Hussey clipped a boundary beneath the diving body of the substitute fielder Eoin Morgan to bring up his half century, from 98 balls with five fours and a six. Finally Swann got one to turn and bounce wickedly to Hussey, the feathered edge proving too much for Matt Prior. Would it be one of those mornings?
Strauss decided to take the new ball after six overs, at 248 for four, and immediately North took boundaries from Finn, to third man, and Anderson, through extra cover. Finn has a wicket-taking knack, however, and with the second delivery of his next over he made a vital breakthrough as Hussey, attempting to pull, miscued to Anderson at mid-on, who made no mistake, sending the ball into orbit in celebration.
It was going to be important for England's plans that Swann played a major role, enabling Andrew Strauss to rotate his two seam bowlers, and after two overs the off-spinner returned at the Cathedral end. Immediately North slapped him away to the point boundary.
Throughout this game Anderson, seeking swing, has pitched a full length and leaked runs as a result. But when there is movement none in world cricket is more dangerous, and suddenly he propelled England onwards, wickets coming with successive deliveries. First Brad Haddin, not on Anderson's Christmas card list, edged an away-swinger in routine fashion to Prior, and then Ryan Harris, on a king pair, duly completed that indignity, padding up to a clever inswinger, his inevitable referral confirming the decision.
The gates were open and two balls later Swann removed North, who had pushed forwards to a ball that pitched in line and turned, England's referral overturning the not-out decision of Tony Hill.
Three wickets then for no runs in four balls. Another almost came when Peter Siddle's inside edge hit the stumps firmly but incredibly failed to dislodge a bail. Swann was not to be denied, though. Xavier Doherty was bamboozled by a ball that went straight through the left-hander's defence, and Siddle was befuddled by the turn. This was a majestic performance.
This represents a hammer blow to Australia, who must now win two of the final three Tests if they are to regain the Ashes, a prospect not helped by the news that their opener Simon Katich will miss the remaining matches with an Achilles injury.
There were tense final moments as England, a bowler down because of the injury to Stuart Broad which has also finished his involvement in the series, sought the final wicket with the two Australian tailenders at the crease. To gasps from the crowd and players, balls beat the bat.
Finally, at 11.27am precisely, almost an hour and a half into the day, Graeme Swann spun an off-break through the gate left by Peter Siddle to hit off stump and spark celebrations.
Swann had taken the last three wickets to finish with five for 91 and confirm his status as the leading spinner in world cricket. It was Swann who took the final wicket at The Oval when the Ashes were won last year. Only Marcus North, for almost an hour, offered resistance as Mike Hussey went to Steve Finn and the new ball for 52, and the tail folded. In 17 overs England took six for 64.
Such has been the efficiency of England's approach into the Ashes series and dominance of the second Test that it almost seemed too good to be true, with a setback lurking round the corner waiting to mug them.
At first it seemed as if a little of the spirit had drained from the England team as Broad watched from the dressing room, contemplating a lonely journey home, and his team-mates took to the field without him.
The team is one that thrives in adversity, however: the rearguard actions in Cardiff last year and Brisbane last week have both been followed by outstanding performances in their next games. There was also the manner in which they shrugged off the 2009 Headingley debacle in the fourth Test to win at The Oval.
There are also replacements ready to step in, good ones who bowled England to an overwhelming win against Australia A last month. None of Chris Tremlett, Ajmal Shahzad or Tim Bresnan can quite capture the abrasive competitive edge of Broad, but each would serve well.
For this morning, there was a potential heap of work in the hands of Finn and Jimmy Anderson. With North new to the crease, England delayed taking the new ball which was due immediately. Kevin Pietersen finished his over from the previous evening, Swann switching ends.
It was during the second over from there, the City end, that the day's first drama came. First, with Swann round the wicket, North was hit low on the pad as he pushed forward, England opting to refer the not-out decision. The ruling was that the batsman had been struck a smidgen outside the line of off-stump so the decision of the umpire Marius Erasmus remained.
Immediately Hussey clipped a boundary beneath the diving body of the substitute fielder Eoin Morgan to bring up his half century, from 98 balls with five fours and a six. Finally Swann got one to turn and bounce wickedly to Hussey, the feathered edge proving too much for Matt Prior. Would it be one of those mornings?
Strauss decided to take the new ball after six overs, at 248 for four, and immediately North took boundaries from Finn, to third man, and Anderson, through extra cover. Finn has a wicket-taking knack, however, and with the second delivery of his next over he made a vital breakthrough as Hussey, attempting to pull, miscued to Anderson at mid-on, who made no mistake, sending the ball into orbit in celebration.
It was going to be important for England's plans that Swann played a major role, enabling Andrew Strauss to rotate his two seam bowlers, and after two overs the off-spinner returned at the Cathedral end. Immediately North slapped him away to the point boundary.
Throughout this game Anderson, seeking swing, has pitched a full length and leaked runs as a result. But when there is movement none in world cricket is more dangerous, and suddenly he propelled England onwards, wickets coming with successive deliveries. First Brad Haddin, not on Anderson's Christmas card list, edged an away-swinger in routine fashion to Prior, and then Ryan Harris, on a king pair, duly completed that indignity, padding up to a clever inswinger, his inevitable referral confirming the decision.
The gates were open and two balls later Swann removed North, who had pushed forwards to a ball that pitched in line and turned, England's referral overturning the not-out decision of Tony Hill.
Three wickets then for no runs in four balls. Another almost came when Peter Siddle's inside edge hit the stumps firmly but incredibly failed to dislodge a bail. Swann was not to be denied, though. Xavier Doherty was bamboozled by a ball that went straight through the left-hander's defence, and Siddle was befuddled by the turn. This was a majestic performance.
Julian Assange to be questioned by British police
Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, is expected to appear in a UK court today after his lawyers said he would meet police to discuss a European arrest warrant from Sweden relating to alleged sexual assaults.
As the legal net continued to close around the whistleblowers' website and the US attorney general, Eric Holder, said he had authorised "a number of things to be done" to combat the organisation, Assange appeared to be reconciling himself to a lengthy personal court battle to avoid extradition to Sweden.
Jennifer Robinson, a solicitor with Finers Stephens Innocent, which represents the Australian freedom of information campaigner, told the Guardian: "We have a received an arrest warrant [related to claims in Sweden]. We are negotiating a meeting with police."
Another lawyer representing Assange, Mark Stephens, added: "He has not been charged with anything. We are in the process of making arrangements to meet the police by consent, in order to facilitate the taking of that question and answer that is needed. It's about time we got to the end of the day and we got some truth, justice and rule of law."
Stephens explained that the interview would happen in the "foreseeable future" but he could not give a precise time. According to other sources, it is thought that Assange would appear before a court to negotiate bail .
Assange is seeking supporters to put up surety and bail for him. He said he expected to have to post bail of between £100,000 and £200,000 and would require up to six people offering surety, or risked being held on remand.
In recent days, Assange, 39, has told friends he is increasingly convinced the US is behind Swedish prosecutors' attempts to extradite him for questioning on the assault allegations.
He has said the original allegations against him were motivated by "personal issues" but that Sweden had subsequently behaved as "a cipher" for the US.
Assange has also said that he declined to return to Sweden to face prosecutors because he feared he would not receive a fair trial, and prosecutors had requested that he be held in solitary confinement and incommunicado.
This weekend Assange said he was exhausted by the effort of running his defence against the allegations in Sweden and the release of the US embassy cables at the same time, as well as running WikiLeaks itself, which has split since some supporters became disaffected over Assange's handling of the Afghanistan war logs. Once he turns himself in to the police, he will have to appear before a magistrates' court within 24 hours, where he will seek release on bail. A full hearing of his extradition case would have to be heard within 28 days.
In the past, Assange has dismissed the allegations, stating on Twitter: "The charges are without basis and their issue at this moment is deeply disturbing."
Last week Stephens added: "This appears to be a persecution and a prosecution. It is highly irregular and unusual for the Swedish authorities to issue [an Interpol] red notice in the teeth of the undisputed fact that Mr Assange has agreed to meet voluntarily to answer the prosecutor's questions."
Stephens has said that the claims stem from a "dispute over consensual but unprotected sex". While the latest US diplomatic cables released on WikiLeaks have been stirring international political alarm and recriminations, Assange is understood to have been staying out of public sight in south-east England.
Prosecutors in Sweden issued a warrant for his arrest last month but it could not be enforced because of a technical blunder. The Australian's details were also added to Interpol's most wanted website after a red notice was issued, alerting police worldwide to his status.
Detectives in Sweden want to question Assange after two women claimed they were sexually assaulted by him when he visited the country in August. The country's supreme court upheld an order to detain him for questioning after he appealed against two lower court rulings.
The sex assault claims may be Assange's most pressing legal issue, but it may not be the only legal complication he faces as several countries consider the impact of his diplomatic cable disclosures.
He has come under growing pressure after WikiLeaks started publishing excerpts from a cache of 250,000 secret messages.
In the US, the level of political vituperation has become more vengeful. The former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has described Assange as "an anti-American operative with blood on his hands". The senior Republican Mike Huckabee said that "anything less than execution is too kind a penalty".
Meanwhile WikiLeaks has been forced to move to a Swiss host after being dumped by US internet companies as it comes under siege from cyber attacks.
PostFinance, the financial arm of the Swiss post office, said it had closed Assange's account after he provided "false information".
"PostFinance has ended its business relationship with WikiLeaks founder Julian Paul Assange," the bank said in a statement. "The Australian citizen provided false information regarding his place of residence during the account opening process."
Last night hackers claimed they had targeted the firm's websites in support of WikiLeaks.
MasterCard also said it would block payments to WikiLeaks, according to the CNET News website, a move that will dry up another source of funds for the website.
"MasterCard is taking action to ensure that WikiLeaks can no longer accept MasterCard-branded products," a spokesman for MasterCard Worldwide said yesterday.
The credit card firm said it was cutting off payments because WikiLeaks was engaging in "illegal activity". "MasterCard rules prohibit customers from directly or indirectly engaging in or facilitating any action that is illegal," its spokesman, Chris Monteiro said. The online credit firm PayPal has already refused to allow payments through for WikiLeaks.
In Sweden, a WikiLeaks spokesman called for action against those who have attacked Assange. "There have been death threats to his life and incitement to murder," he added.
Canadian newspapers reported that police are investigating whether there is evidence to proceed against a former adviser to the prime minister after he called for Assange to be killed.
Tom Flanagan, now a professor at the University of Calgary, suggested on television last week that Assange "should be assassinated, actually", adding: "I think Obama should put out a contract and maybe use a drone or something."
Flanagan later retracted his statement saying it was not meant seriously.
In Assange's homeland, however, Australian police are investigating whether he has broken any laws
As the legal net continued to close around the whistleblowers' website and the US attorney general, Eric Holder, said he had authorised "a number of things to be done" to combat the organisation, Assange appeared to be reconciling himself to a lengthy personal court battle to avoid extradition to Sweden.
Jennifer Robinson, a solicitor with Finers Stephens Innocent, which represents the Australian freedom of information campaigner, told the Guardian: "We have a received an arrest warrant [related to claims in Sweden]. We are negotiating a meeting with police."
Another lawyer representing Assange, Mark Stephens, added: "He has not been charged with anything. We are in the process of making arrangements to meet the police by consent, in order to facilitate the taking of that question and answer that is needed. It's about time we got to the end of the day and we got some truth, justice and rule of law."
Stephens explained that the interview would happen in the "foreseeable future" but he could not give a precise time. According to other sources, it is thought that Assange would appear before a court to negotiate bail .
Assange is seeking supporters to put up surety and bail for him. He said he expected to have to post bail of between £100,000 and £200,000 and would require up to six people offering surety, or risked being held on remand.
In recent days, Assange, 39, has told friends he is increasingly convinced the US is behind Swedish prosecutors' attempts to extradite him for questioning on the assault allegations.
He has said the original allegations against him were motivated by "personal issues" but that Sweden had subsequently behaved as "a cipher" for the US.
Assange has also said that he declined to return to Sweden to face prosecutors because he feared he would not receive a fair trial, and prosecutors had requested that he be held in solitary confinement and incommunicado.
This weekend Assange said he was exhausted by the effort of running his defence against the allegations in Sweden and the release of the US embassy cables at the same time, as well as running WikiLeaks itself, which has split since some supporters became disaffected over Assange's handling of the Afghanistan war logs. Once he turns himself in to the police, he will have to appear before a magistrates' court within 24 hours, where he will seek release on bail. A full hearing of his extradition case would have to be heard within 28 days.
In the past, Assange has dismissed the allegations, stating on Twitter: "The charges are without basis and their issue at this moment is deeply disturbing."
Last week Stephens added: "This appears to be a persecution and a prosecution. It is highly irregular and unusual for the Swedish authorities to issue [an Interpol] red notice in the teeth of the undisputed fact that Mr Assange has agreed to meet voluntarily to answer the prosecutor's questions."
Stephens has said that the claims stem from a "dispute over consensual but unprotected sex". While the latest US diplomatic cables released on WikiLeaks have been stirring international political alarm and recriminations, Assange is understood to have been staying out of public sight in south-east England.
Prosecutors in Sweden issued a warrant for his arrest last month but it could not be enforced because of a technical blunder. The Australian's details were also added to Interpol's most wanted website after a red notice was issued, alerting police worldwide to his status.
Detectives in Sweden want to question Assange after two women claimed they were sexually assaulted by him when he visited the country in August. The country's supreme court upheld an order to detain him for questioning after he appealed against two lower court rulings.
The sex assault claims may be Assange's most pressing legal issue, but it may not be the only legal complication he faces as several countries consider the impact of his diplomatic cable disclosures.
He has come under growing pressure after WikiLeaks started publishing excerpts from a cache of 250,000 secret messages.
In the US, the level of political vituperation has become more vengeful. The former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has described Assange as "an anti-American operative with blood on his hands". The senior Republican Mike Huckabee said that "anything less than execution is too kind a penalty".
Meanwhile WikiLeaks has been forced to move to a Swiss host after being dumped by US internet companies as it comes under siege from cyber attacks.
PostFinance, the financial arm of the Swiss post office, said it had closed Assange's account after he provided "false information".
"PostFinance has ended its business relationship with WikiLeaks founder Julian Paul Assange," the bank said in a statement. "The Australian citizen provided false information regarding his place of residence during the account opening process."
Last night hackers claimed they had targeted the firm's websites in support of WikiLeaks.
MasterCard also said it would block payments to WikiLeaks, according to the CNET News website, a move that will dry up another source of funds for the website.
"MasterCard is taking action to ensure that WikiLeaks can no longer accept MasterCard-branded products," a spokesman for MasterCard Worldwide said yesterday.
The credit card firm said it was cutting off payments because WikiLeaks was engaging in "illegal activity". "MasterCard rules prohibit customers from directly or indirectly engaging in or facilitating any action that is illegal," its spokesman, Chris Monteiro said. The online credit firm PayPal has already refused to allow payments through for WikiLeaks.
In Sweden, a WikiLeaks spokesman called for action against those who have attacked Assange. "There have been death threats to his life and incitement to murder," he added.
Canadian newspapers reported that police are investigating whether there is evidence to proceed against a former adviser to the prime minister after he called for Assange to be killed.
Tom Flanagan, now a professor at the University of Calgary, suggested on television last week that Assange "should be assassinated, actually", adding: "I think Obama should put out a contract and maybe use a drone or something."
Flanagan later retracted his statement saying it was not meant seriously.
In Assange's homeland, however, Australian police are investigating whether he has broken any laws
Sunday, October 17, 2010
air force football
The Air Force Falcons are the college football team from the United States Air Force Academy, located just outside of Colorado Springs, Colorado. The team is a mid-major program that competes in Football Bowl Subdivision of NCAA Division I and the Mountain West Conference.
jerry mathers
Gerald Patrick "Jerry" Mathers (born June 2, 1948 in Sioux City, Iowa) is an American television, film, and stage actor. Mathers is best known for his role in the television sitcom series Leave It to Beaver (1957 –1963), in which he played Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver, the younger son of archetypal suburban couple June and Ward Cleaver (played by Barbara Billingsley and Hugh Beaumont), and the brother of Wally Cleaver (played by Tony Dow).
tony dow
Tony Lee Dow (born April 13, 1945) is an American film producer, director, sculptor, and a television child actor of the 1950s and 1960s.
Dow is best known for his role in the television sitcom Leave It to Beaver, which ran in primetime from 1957 to 1963. Dow played "Wallace 'Wally' Cleaver" the older son of "June" (Barbara Billingsley) and "Ward Cleaver" (Hugh Beaumont) and the brother of "Theodore 'Beaver' Cleaver" (Jerry Mathers).
Dow is best known for his role in the television sitcom Leave It to Beaver, which ran in primetime from 1957 to 1963. Dow played "Wallace 'Wally' Cleaver" the older son of "June" (Barbara Billingsley) and "Ward Cleaver" (Hugh Beaumont) and the brother of "Theodore 'Beaver' Cleaver" (Jerry Mathers).
columbus marathon
The Columbus Marathon, first run in 1980, features a flat, fast course which saw nearly 20 percent of finishers qualify for the Boston Marathon in 2005. The cloverleaf design of the course also makes it easy for spectators to see their athletes at several different points – all within a block walking distance. The course begins in downtown Columbus and takes athletes east through Bexley, Ohio, past the Governor’s Mansion and Capital University; back through the festive neighborhood of Old Town East; south through German Village; up High Street through downtown Columbus and the Short North Arts District; a jaunt through Upper Arlington, down through the campus of The Ohio State University, through the tree-lined streets of Victorian Village and back to a huge crowd awaiting finishers outside Nationwide Arena in the Arena District.
The 2007 marathon and half marathon reached a record field of 10,000 participants. The overall marathon winner was Robb Kestner with a time of 2:31:48. The female winner was Kelly Stewart, who achieved a time of 2:43:28. During the second annual running of the half marathon, Thomas Lentz led with a time of 1:09:32. The female winner was Jill Scully at 1:20:27.
The 2006 marathon is the first year to feature a half marathon. It is limited to 3,000 places.[1]
The 2005 overall winner was Teren Jameson (USA) in a time of 2:16:26. The female winner that year was Lyudmyla Pushkina (Ukraine), who achieved a time of 2:29:57.
The 2007 marathon and half marathon reached a record field of 10,000 participants. The overall marathon winner was Robb Kestner with a time of 2:31:48. The female winner was Kelly Stewart, who achieved a time of 2:43:28. During the second annual running of the half marathon, Thomas Lentz led with a time of 1:09:32. The female winner was Jill Scully at 1:20:27.
The 2006 marathon is the first year to feature a half marathon. It is limited to 3,000 places.[1]
The 2005 overall winner was Teren Jameson (USA) in a time of 2:16:26. The female winner that year was Lyudmyla Pushkina (Ukraine), who achieved a time of 2:29:57.
hugh beaumont
Eugene Hugh Beaumont (February 16, 1909 – May 14, 1982) was an American actor and television director. He was also licensed to preach by the Methodist church. Beaumont is best known for his portrayal of Ward Cleaver, the husband of June Cleaver (Barbara Billingsley) and the father of Wally (Tony Dow) and Beaver (Jerry Mathers) on the television series, Leave It to Beaver (1957–1963).
mandelbrot
Benoît B. Mandelbrot[note 1][note 2] (20 November 1924 – 14 October 2010) was a Franco-American mathematician. Born in Poland, his family moved to France when he was a child. Mandelbrot spent much of his life living and working in the United States, acquiring dual French and American citizenship.
Mandelbrot worked on a wide range of mathematical problems, including in mathematical physics and quantitative finance, but is best known as the father of fractal geometry. He coined the term fractal and described the Mandelbrot set. Mandelbrot extensively popularised his work, writing books and giving lectures aimed at the general public.
Mandelbrot spent most of his career at IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center, including as an IBM Fellow. He later became Sterling Professor of Mathematical Sciences at Yale University. Mandelbrot also held positions at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Université Lille Nord de France, Institute for Advanced Study and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.
Mandelbrot worked on a wide range of mathematical problems, including in mathematical physics and quantitative finance, but is best known as the father of fractal geometry. He coined the term fractal and described the Mandelbrot set. Mandelbrot extensively popularised his work, writing books and giving lectures aimed at the general public.
Mandelbrot spent most of his career at IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center, including as an IBM Fellow. He later became Sterling Professor of Mathematical Sciences at Yale University. Mandelbrot also held positions at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Université Lille Nord de France, Institute for Advanced Study and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.
the lovely bones
The Lovely Bones is a 2002 novel by Alice Sebold. It is the story of a teenage girl who, after being raped and murdered, watches from heaven as her family and friends struggle to move on with their lives while she herself comes to terms with her own death. The novel received a great deal of critical praise and became an instant bestseller. A film adaptation of the novel, directed by Peter Jackson who personally purchased the rights, was released in American theatres on January 15, 2010, and in the UK on February 15, 2010.
tower prep
Ian is a rebellious teenager who had recently been suspended from his school. One day, he wakes up in a mysterious preparatory high school, with no idea how he got there or where it is located. The school itself is focused on finding the "unique potential" of its students. Along the way, he makes friends with CJ, Gabe, and Suki; together, they investigate the mysteries of the school while trying to escape. On the first episode they try to escape but then creatures make them go back to the school. They then later play a prank on the school bullies, by stealing their clothes while they are in the shower and putting them in the front lawn; causing them to go out and get in trouble for being naked.
rain man
Rain Man is a 1988 American comedy-drama film written by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass and directed by Barry Levinson. It tells the story of an abrasive and selfish yuppie, Charlie Babbitt, who discovers that his estranged father has died and bequeathed all of his multimillion-dollar estate to his other son, Raymond, a man with autism of whose existence Charlie was unaware.
The film stars Tom Cruise as Charlie Babbitt, Dustin Hoffman as Raymond Babbitt, and Valeria Golino as Charlie's girlfriend, Susanna. Morrow created the character of Raymond after meeting Kim Peek, a real-life savant; his characterization was based on both Peek and Bill Sackter, a good friend of Morrow who was the subject of Bill, an earlier film that Morrow wrote.[1] Rain Man received overwhelmingly positive reviews at the time of its release, praising Hoffman's role and the wit and sophistication of the screenplay.
The film won four Oscars at the 61st Academy Awards (March 1989), including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Actor in a leading role for Hoffman. Its crew received an additional four nominations
The film stars Tom Cruise as Charlie Babbitt, Dustin Hoffman as Raymond Babbitt, and Valeria Golino as Charlie's girlfriend, Susanna. Morrow created the character of Raymond after meeting Kim Peek, a real-life savant; his characterization was based on both Peek and Bill Sackter, a good friend of Morrow who was the subject of Bill, an earlier film that Morrow wrote.[1] Rain Man received overwhelmingly positive reviews at the time of its release, praising Hoffman's role and the wit and sophistication of the screenplay.
The film won four Oscars at the 61st Academy Awards (March 1989), including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Actor in a leading role for Hoffman. Its crew received an additional four nominations
tetris friends
Tetris (Russian: Те́трис) is a puzzle video game originally designed and programmed by Alexey Pajitnov in the Soviet Union. It was created on June 6, 1984,[2] while he was working for the Dorodnicyn Computing Centre of the Academy of Science of the USSR in Moscow.[3] He derived its name from the Greek numerical prefix tetra- (all of the game's pieces, known as Tetrominoes, contain four segments) and tennis, Pajitnov's favorite sport.[4][5]
The Tetris game is a popular use of tetrominoes, the four element special case of polyominoes. Polyominoes have been used in popular puzzles since at least 1907, and the name is given by the mathematician Solomon W. Golomb in 1953. However, even the enumeration of pentominoes is dated to antiquity.
The game (or one of its many variants) is available for nearly every video game console and computer operating system, as well as on devices such as graphing calculators, mobile phones, portable media players, PDAs, Network music players and even as an Easter egg on non-media products like oscilloscopes.[6] It has even inspired Tetris serving dishes[7] and been played on the sides of various buildings,[8][9] with the record holder for the world's largest fully functional game of Tetris being an effort by Dutch students in 1995 that lit up all 15 floors of the Electrical Engineering department at Delft University of Technology.[10][11][12]
While versions of Tetris were sold for a range of 1980s home computer platforms, it was the hugely successful handheld version for the Game Boy launched in 1989 that established the reputation of the game as one of the most popular ever. Electronic Gaming Monthly's 100th issue had Tetris in first place as "Greatest Game of All Time". In 2007, Tetris came in second place in IGN's "100 Greatest Video Games of All Time".[13] It has sold more than 70 million copies.[14] In January 2010, it was announced that Tetris has sold more than 100 million copies for cell phones alone since 2005
The Tetris game is a popular use of tetrominoes, the four element special case of polyominoes. Polyominoes have been used in popular puzzles since at least 1907, and the name is given by the mathematician Solomon W. Golomb in 1953. However, even the enumeration of pentominoes is dated to antiquity.
The game (or one of its many variants) is available for nearly every video game console and computer operating system, as well as on devices such as graphing calculators, mobile phones, portable media players, PDAs, Network music players and even as an Easter egg on non-media products like oscilloscopes.[6] It has even inspired Tetris serving dishes[7] and been played on the sides of various buildings,[8][9] with the record holder for the world's largest fully functional game of Tetris being an effort by Dutch students in 1995 that lit up all 15 floors of the Electrical Engineering department at Delft University of Technology.[10][11][12]
While versions of Tetris were sold for a range of 1980s home computer platforms, it was the hugely successful handheld version for the Game Boy launched in 1989 that established the reputation of the game as one of the most popular ever. Electronic Gaming Monthly's 100th issue had Tetris in first place as "Greatest Game of All Time". In 2007, Tetris came in second place in IGN's "100 Greatest Video Games of All Time".[13] It has sold more than 70 million copies.[14] In January 2010, it was announced that Tetris has sold more than 100 million copies for cell phones alone since 2005
barbara billingsley
Barbara Billingsley (December 22, 1915 – October 16, 2010)[1][2] was an American film, television, voice and stage actress, who in her five decades of television came to prominence in the 1950s on the big screen in The Careless Years opposite Natalie Trundy, followed by her best-known role, that of June Cleaver on Leave It to Beaver and its sequel Still the Beaver (also known as The New Leave It to Beaver).
fractals
A fractal is "a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced-size copy of the whole,"[1] a property called self-similarity. Roots of mathematically rigorous treatment of fractals can be traced back to functions studied by Karl Weierstrass, Georg Cantor and Felix Hausdorff in studying functions that were continuous but not differentiable; however, the term fractal was coined by Benoît Mandelbrot in 1975 and was derived from the Latin fractus meaning "broken" or "fractured." A mathematical fractal is based on an equation that undergoes iteration, a form of feedback based on recursion.[2]
A fractal often has the following features:[3]
It has a fine structure at arbitrarily small scales.
It is too irregular to be easily described in traditional Euclidean geometric language.
It is self-similar (at least approximately or stochastically).
It has a Hausdorff dimension which is greater than its topological dimension (although this requirement is not met by space-filling curves such as the Hilbert curve).[4]
It has a simple and recursive definition.
Because they appear similar at all levels of magnification, fractals are often considered to be infinitely complex (in informal terms). Natural objects that are approximated by fractals to a degree include clouds, mountain ranges, lightning bolts, coastlines, snow flakes, various vegetables (cauliflower and broccoli), and animal coloration patterns. However, not all self-similar objects are fractals—for example, the real line (a straight Euclidean line) is formally self-similar but fails to have other fractal characteristics; for instance, it is regular enough to be described in Euclidean terms.
Images of fractals can be created using fractal-generating software. Images produced by such software are normally referred to as being fractals even if they do not have the above characteristics, such as when it is possible to zoom into a region of the fractal that does not exhibit any fractal properties. Also, these may include calculation or display artifacts which are not characteristics of true fractals.
A fractal often has the following features:[3]
It has a fine structure at arbitrarily small scales.
It is too irregular to be easily described in traditional Euclidean geometric language.
It is self-similar (at least approximately or stochastically).
It has a Hausdorff dimension which is greater than its topological dimension (although this requirement is not met by space-filling curves such as the Hilbert curve).[4]
It has a simple and recursive definition.
Because they appear similar at all levels of magnification, fractals are often considered to be infinitely complex (in informal terms). Natural objects that are approximated by fractals to a degree include clouds, mountain ranges, lightning bolts, coastlines, snow flakes, various vegetables (cauliflower and broccoli), and animal coloration patterns. However, not all self-similar objects are fractals—for example, the real line (a straight Euclidean line) is formally self-similar but fails to have other fractal characteristics; for instance, it is regular enough to be described in Euclidean terms.
Images of fractals can be created using fractal-generating software. Images produced by such software are normally referred to as being fractals even if they do not have the above characteristics, such as when it is possible to zoom into a region of the fractal that does not exhibit any fractal properties. Also, these may include calculation or display artifacts which are not characteristics of true fractals.
scream awards 2010
The Scream Awards is an award show dedicated to the horror, sci-fi, and fantasy genres of feature films, hosted and sponsored by Spike TV. The show was created by executive producers Michael Levitt, Cindy Levitt, and Casey Patterson.
gomez
He began his playing career at a team called the Banjul Hawks and Flamemins F.C.[1]. Gómez joined Manchester United in July 2001. Having played internationally at a young age, the English club had spotted him and he was soon apart of the youth ranks. Gómez was recommended to United by the Swedish club Göteborg.
Gómez was quickly sent on loan to Royal Antwerp FC[2] in the Belgian Second Division from the 2002/03 season till 2004/05 season before joining Dessel Sport for the 2005/06 season. After taking no part in the team he soon left and moved to the Chinese giants Henan Construction for the 2006 season. He left Henan after two seasons and is currently without a club.
Gómez was quickly sent on loan to Royal Antwerp FC[2] in the Belgian Second Division from the 2002/03 season till 2004/05 season before joining Dessel Sport for the 2005/06 season. After taking no part in the team he soon left and moved to the Chinese giants Henan Construction for the 2006 season. He left Henan after two seasons and is currently without a club.
jamie mcmurray
James Christopher "Jamie" McMurray (born June 3, 1976) is an American race car driver. McMurray is best known for winning the 2002 UAW-GM Quality 500 as a substitute driver in his second Winston Cup start and winning both the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 in 2010. He currently drives the #1 Bass Pro Shops/McDonald's Chevrolet Impala in the Sprint Cup Series for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing crew chiefed by Kevin Manion.
france strikes
The 2007 strikes in France were a series of general strikes, mostly in the public sector, which started on 13 November 2007.[1][2] The strike was over President Nicolas Sarkozy's and Prime Minister François Fillon's attempt to reduce early retirement benefits for 500,000 public employees. Sarkozy had stated that pension reform is the first in a series of measures designed to roll back protections for trade unions in France, and both unions and Sarkozy saw the pension strikes as a key political test
one piece episode
One Piece is an anime series adapted from the manga of the same title written by Eiichiro Oda. Produced by Toei Animation, and directed by Konosuke Uda, Munehisa Sakai and Hiroaki Miyamoto, the series premiered in Japan on Fuji Television on October 20, 1999. As of September 26, 2010 (2010 -09-26)[update], 468 episodes of the series have aired, spanning thirteen seasons. One Piece follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy, a 17-year-old boy, who gained supernatural abilities by eating a magical fruit, and his ragtag crew of heroic pirates, named the Straw Hat Pirates. Luffy's greatest ambition is to obtain the world's ultimate treasure, One Piece, and thereby become the next King of the Pirates.
In 2004, 4Kids Entertainment licensed the series for an English-language broadcast. This dub was heavily edited for content, as well as length, reducing the first 143 episodes to 104.[1] The series premiered in the United States in September 2004 on the Fox network as part of the Fox Box block, and later premiered on the Cartoon Network as part of the Toonami block in April 2005. In December 2006, 4Kids cancelled production due to financial reasons.[2] In April 2007, Funimation Entertainment acquired the license of One Piece from 4Kids and would use their in-house voice cast in preparation for the series' DVD releases.[3] The new dub of the series aired from September 2007 until it was canceled in March 2008.[4] In Australia, Cartoon Network resumed airing new One Piece episodes in November 2008, starting with episode 170,[5] lasting until January 2009 following episode 195.[5] The first unedited, bilingual DVD box set, containing 13 episodes, was released on May 27, 2008.[6] Similarly sized sets followed with eleven sets released as of July 6, 2010 (2010 -07-06)[update].[7]
The series uses thirty different pieces of theme music: thirteen opening themes and eighteen closing themes. Several CDs that contain the theme music and other tracks have been released by Toei Animation. After experimenting with an English dubbed version of "We Are!", 4Kids decided to create its own theme music with "Pirate Rap" voiced by Russell Velasquez. 4Kids created four vocal versions of the rap as opening themes, one of them unused, and two instrumental versions as ending themes before they lost the rights.
In 2004, 4Kids Entertainment licensed the series for an English-language broadcast. This dub was heavily edited for content, as well as length, reducing the first 143 episodes to 104.[1] The series premiered in the United States in September 2004 on the Fox network as part of the Fox Box block, and later premiered on the Cartoon Network as part of the Toonami block in April 2005. In December 2006, 4Kids cancelled production due to financial reasons.[2] In April 2007, Funimation Entertainment acquired the license of One Piece from 4Kids and would use their in-house voice cast in preparation for the series' DVD releases.[3] The new dub of the series aired from September 2007 until it was canceled in March 2008.[4] In Australia, Cartoon Network resumed airing new One Piece episodes in November 2008, starting with episode 170,[5] lasting until January 2009 following episode 195.[5] The first unedited, bilingual DVD box set, containing 13 episodes, was released on May 27, 2008.[6] Similarly sized sets followed with eleven sets released as of July 6, 2010 (2010 -07-06)[update].[7]
The series uses thirty different pieces of theme music: thirteen opening themes and eighteen closing themes. Several CDs that contain the theme music and other tracks have been released by Toei Animation. After experimenting with an English dubbed version of "We Are!", 4Kids decided to create its own theme music with "Pirate Rap" voiced by Russell Velasquez. 4Kids created four vocal versions of the rap as opening themes, one of them unused, and two instrumental versions as ending themes before they lost the rights.
jimmie johnson
Jimmie Kenneth Johnson (born September 17, 1975), nicknamed "Superman" by fellow driver Mark Martin, is an American stock car racer from El Cajon, California. Johnson started his NASCAR career in 1996 and currently drives the 48 Lowe's / Kobalt Tools Chevrolet Impala co-owned by Rick Hendrick and his teammate Jeff Gordon operated by Hendrick Motorsports. Johnson is a four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, and in 2009 he became the only driver to win four consecutive Sprint Cup Series Championships.[1] He is the 2009 Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press, 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Driver of the Year, as well as being considered as 2000's "Best Driver of the Decade."
Shanghai Rolex Masters 1000
The Shanghai Rolex Masters (formally the Shanghai ATP Masters 1000 presented by Rolex) is a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It is currently part of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) World Tour. It will be held annually in October at the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena in Shanghai, People's Republic of China.[1] The inaugural edition took place from October 11–18, 2009
wisconsin badgers
The Wisconsin Badgers are the collegiate athletic teams from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. This NCAA Division I athletic program has teams in football, basketball, ice hockey, volleyball, soccer, cross country, tennis, swimming, wrestling, track and field, rowing, golf, and softball. The Badgers have several major on-campus facilities, including Camp Randall Stadium, the UW Field House, and the Kohl Center. They compete in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except men's and women's ice hockey and crew. Ice hockey competes in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and crew in the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges (EARC).
The athletic director is Barry Alvarez, former head coach of the football team. The Badgers team colors are cardinal and white, and the team mascot is named "Buckingham U. Badger," known as "Bucky Badger." Additionally, people sometimes use "Bucky" to refer to the university's teams, much like what is done with "Sparty" at Michigan State University.
The athletic director is Barry Alvarez, former head coach of the football team. The Badgers team colors are cardinal and white, and the team mascot is named "Buckingham U. Badger," known as "Bucky Badger." Additionally, people sometimes use "Bucky" to refer to the university's teams, much like what is done with "Sparty" at Michigan State University.
carlos condit
Background and training
Condit formerly fought in the UFC's sister promotion, World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC), where he was the final WEC welterweight champion[1] and also competed for Pancrase.
Condit now trains at Jackson's Submission Fighting out of Albuquerque, NM. Condit is currently ranked the #10 welterweight in the world by Sherdog.[3]
[edit] World Extreme Cagefighting
Condit made his debut for the WEC at WEC 25 where he defeated Kyle Jensen in the first round via submission (Rear Naked Choke). Condit's second fight would be for the vacant WEC Welterweight Championship against John Alessio at WEC 26. Condit would win this fight in the second round, once again, by Rear Naked Choke and became the WEC Welterweight Champion.
Condit would then defend the title against Brock Larson at WEC 29 and Carlo Prater at WEC 32, defeating both by submission in the first round. Condit's final defense would be against Hiromitsu Miura at WEC 35. The fight would end via TKO in the fourth round, winning Fight of the Night honours, which meant that Condit would be the last ever WEC Welterweight Champion after the UFC dissolved the title and division. Condit's record in the WEC would end at a perfect 5–0.
[edit] Transition to the UFC
Condit would make the move to UFC after the WEC buyout and he made his debut in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) organization, losing via split decision against Martin Kampmann at UFC Fight Night 18.
He was then scheduled to fight Chris Lytle on September 16, 2009, at UFC Fight Night 19, but Lytle had to drop out due to a knee injury.[4] UFC newcomer Jake Ellenberger would step up to replace Lytle.[5] Condit then defeated Ellenberger via split decision to get his first win in the UFC. Condit later had to drop out of a scheduled fight at UFC 108 against Paul Daley due to a hand injury.[6]
Condit defeated Rory MacDonald via third-round TKO at UFC 115[7] in a bout that earned the Fight of the Night award. Although MacDonald seemed to get the better of the first two rounds with effective striking and takedowns, Condit came back with a more aggressive attitude in the final stanza, finishing MacDonald with a combination of elbows and short punches that prompted the referee to end the bout with only seven seconds remaining.[8] It was later revealed after analysis of the judges' scorecards, that had MacDonald not been finished in the last seven seconds, then he would have picked up a split decision victory.[9]
Condit faced Dan Hardy on October 16, 2010 at UFC 120. In the first round, Condit connected with a powerful left hook during an exchange, which dropped Hardy. Condit then landed two punches to Hardy on the ground before the referee stopped the fight at 4:27 of the first round. This victory made Condit the first man to defeat Hardy by way of KO, and was also Condit's first KO victory via a punch
Condit formerly fought in the UFC's sister promotion, World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC), where he was the final WEC welterweight champion[1] and also competed for Pancrase.
Condit now trains at Jackson's Submission Fighting out of Albuquerque, NM. Condit is currently ranked the #10 welterweight in the world by Sherdog.[3]
[edit] World Extreme Cagefighting
Condit made his debut for the WEC at WEC 25 where he defeated Kyle Jensen in the first round via submission (Rear Naked Choke). Condit's second fight would be for the vacant WEC Welterweight Championship against John Alessio at WEC 26. Condit would win this fight in the second round, once again, by Rear Naked Choke and became the WEC Welterweight Champion.
Condit would then defend the title against Brock Larson at WEC 29 and Carlo Prater at WEC 32, defeating both by submission in the first round. Condit's final defense would be against Hiromitsu Miura at WEC 35. The fight would end via TKO in the fourth round, winning Fight of the Night honours, which meant that Condit would be the last ever WEC Welterweight Champion after the UFC dissolved the title and division. Condit's record in the WEC would end at a perfect 5–0.
[edit] Transition to the UFC
Condit would make the move to UFC after the WEC buyout and he made his debut in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) organization, losing via split decision against Martin Kampmann at UFC Fight Night 18.
He was then scheduled to fight Chris Lytle on September 16, 2009, at UFC Fight Night 19, but Lytle had to drop out due to a knee injury.[4] UFC newcomer Jake Ellenberger would step up to replace Lytle.[5] Condit then defeated Ellenberger via split decision to get his first win in the UFC. Condit later had to drop out of a scheduled fight at UFC 108 against Paul Daley due to a hand injury.[6]
Condit defeated Rory MacDonald via third-round TKO at UFC 115[7] in a bout that earned the Fight of the Night award. Although MacDonald seemed to get the better of the first two rounds with effective striking and takedowns, Condit came back with a more aggressive attitude in the final stanza, finishing MacDonald with a combination of elbows and short punches that prompted the referee to end the bout with only seven seconds remaining.[8] It was later revealed after analysis of the judges' scorecards, that had MacDonald not been finished in the last seven seconds, then he would have picked up a split decision victory.[9]
Condit faced Dan Hardy on October 16, 2010 at UFC 120. In the first round, Condit connected with a powerful left hook during an exchange, which dropped Hardy. Condit then landed two punches to Hardy on the ground before the referee stopped the fight at 4:27 of the first round. This victory made Condit the first man to defeat Hardy by way of KO, and was also Condit's first KO victory via a punch
amanda knox
The murder of Meredith Kercher occurred in Perugia, Italy, on 1 November 2007. The following day, police discovered the body of the 21-year-old British student in the upstairs flat that she shared with three other young women.
On 6 November 2007, police arrested three suspects: Amanda Knox, an American student who shared a flat with Kercher, Raffaele Sollecito, an Italian student, and Patrick Lumumba, a bar owner. On 20 November 2007, Rudy Hermann Guede, a resident of Perugia, was also arrested and Patrick Lumumba, completely exonerated, was released.
Guede was convicted on 28 October 2008 of the sexual assault and murder of Kercher. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison. On appeal, his sentence was reduced to 16 years. Guede filed a second appeal in May 2010.
On 4 December 2009, Knox and Sollecito were found guilty of murder, sexual violence and other charges. Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison, while Sollecito received 25 years. Appeals in these two cases are expected to be held in the autumn of 2010.
The case received much media attention in Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States with some questioning the fairness of the trial.
On 6 November 2007, police arrested three suspects: Amanda Knox, an American student who shared a flat with Kercher, Raffaele Sollecito, an Italian student, and Patrick Lumumba, a bar owner. On 20 November 2007, Rudy Hermann Guede, a resident of Perugia, was also arrested and Patrick Lumumba, completely exonerated, was released.
Guede was convicted on 28 October 2008 of the sexual assault and murder of Kercher. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison. On appeal, his sentence was reduced to 16 years. Guede filed a second appeal in May 2010.
On 4 December 2009, Knox and Sollecito were found guilty of murder, sexual violence and other charges. Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison, while Sollecito received 25 years. Appeals in these two cases are expected to be held in the autumn of 2010.
The case received much media attention in Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States with some questioning the fairness of the trial.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
weeds season 6
The sixth season premiered on Monday August 16, 2010 at 10ET/PT on Showtime. In May 2010, Elizabeth Perkins (Celia Hodes) announced that she will be leaving the series.[10][11] Linda Hamilton will be joining the cast as Linda; along with her partner Fiona, Linda will help Nancy in her business.[12] It has been confirmed that Mark-Paul Gosselaar has been cast in one episode in the upcoming season.[citation needed] A teaser for the new season was released on June 3, 2010, depicting Nancy disposing of the croquet mallet and evading the police. Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alanis Morissette will also be reprising their roles.[13] Actor Richard Dreyfuss has signed on to appear in at least four episodes of the season.[14] The season premiere was leaked on August 1, 2010.[citation needed]
On the run again, Nancy abruptly leaves—along with Shane, Silas, and the baby—bringing the croquet mallet with her, which she later disposes. In need of a larger car, the three stop off in Ren Mar to pick up Andy's minivan. Discovering Audra to be held at bay with a cross bow by an anti-abortionist, Nancy helps Andy subdue the attacker. Audra rejects Andy because he had fled and left her alone with the armed attacker, causing their relationship to end. Reluctantly, Andy flees with the family. Meanwhile, Cesar and his brother-in-law have discovered security footage of the murder, which Cesar orders destroyed. Esteban and the FBI begin a hunt for Nancy and the rest of the family as Nancy continues to ignore their persistent phone calls. Andy has new identities created for the family in order to become hidden—switching from the Botwins to the Newmans. Shane's alias is Shaun; Silas' is Mike; Nancy's is Nathalie; and Andy's is Randy. Nancy resides with her sons and brother-in-law in Seattle, Washington, while believing they can establish a real family with ordinary lives. In more recent episodes, Nathalie (Nancy Botwin) is sprung back into the world of marijuana by making hash.
On the run again, Nancy abruptly leaves—along with Shane, Silas, and the baby—bringing the croquet mallet with her, which she later disposes. In need of a larger car, the three stop off in Ren Mar to pick up Andy's minivan. Discovering Audra to be held at bay with a cross bow by an anti-abortionist, Nancy helps Andy subdue the attacker. Audra rejects Andy because he had fled and left her alone with the armed attacker, causing their relationship to end. Reluctantly, Andy flees with the family. Meanwhile, Cesar and his brother-in-law have discovered security footage of the murder, which Cesar orders destroyed. Esteban and the FBI begin a hunt for Nancy and the rest of the family as Nancy continues to ignore their persistent phone calls. Andy has new identities created for the family in order to become hidden—switching from the Botwins to the Newmans. Shane's alias is Shaun; Silas' is Mike; Nancy's is Nathalie; and Andy's is Randy. Nancy resides with her sons and brother-in-law in Seattle, Washington, while believing they can establish a real family with ordinary lives. In more recent episodes, Nathalie (Nancy Botwin) is sprung back into the world of marijuana by making hash.
cloverfield monster
Clover is the production name given to the giant, fictional monster that appears in the 2008 film Cloverfield. The creature was originally conceived by producer J. J. Abrams and was designed by artist Neville Page. In the film, the monster is never named; the name "Cloverfield" is only given to the US Department of Defense case file of the incidents depicted in the movie.[1] The Department of Defense names the creature "LSA" for Large-Scale Aggressor in the movie's Blu-ray special feature called "Cloverfield Special Investigation Mode". The name Clover was the nickname affectionately given to the monster among the production staff.
Minka Kelly
Minka Dumont Kelly (born June 24, 1980) is an American actress. She starred in the NBC series Friday Night Lights as Lyla Garrity from 2006 to 2009.Kelly was born in Los Angeles, California.[1] She is the only child of former Aerosmith guitarist Rick Dufay[2] and the late[citation needed] Maureen Kelly, a former Vegas showgirl. According to Kelly, her childhood was "pretty rough". She resented Dufay, as he had abandoned her and her mother. However, at seventeen, she decided to try to reconcile with him by inviting him out to New Mexico.[3] She is of Irish and French descent
johnny weir
John Garvin "Johnny" Weir [1] (born July 2, 1984) is an American figure skater. He is a three-time U.S. National Champion (2004–2006), the 2008 Worlds bronze medalist, a two-time Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, and the 2001 World Junior Champion.
As of April 2010[update] Weir is ranked 12th in the world by the International Skating Union (ISU).[2]. He does not intend to skate competitively in the 2010–11 season.
As of April 2010[update] Weir is ranked 12th in the world by the International Skating Union (ISU).[2]. He does not intend to skate competitively in the 2010–11 season.
trace cyrus
Trace Dempsey Cyrus[1] (born February 24, 1989) is an American musician. He was a guitarist, songwriter and vocalist in the band Metro Station before the band broke up. He is the owner of a clothing company called From Backseats to Bedrooms.[2] Cyrus is the adopted son of country singer Billy Ray Cyrus. He is the older brother of Miley Cyrus, Braison Cyrus, and Noah Cyrus, and the younger brother of Brandi Cyrus.Cyrus was born in Ashland, Kentucky. Cyrus's mother is Leticia "Tish" Finley Cyrus. His biological father is Baxter Neal Helson,[3] but he was adopted by Billy Ray Cyrus.[4][5] He spent the summers of his youth on tour with Billy Ray. Cyrus is the older brother of Miley Cyrus, the star of the Disney Channel original television series Hannah Montana. In an interview with MTV, he discussed recording with Miley: "Actually, I'm going to sing on one of the tracks on her next album," he said. "I can't say much about it right now, but we will be collaborating."[6] Cyrus has many tattoos on his arms and chest, including the words "stay gold" tattooed on his knuckles.[5] Cyrus once worked at a shopping mall in Burbank, California before dropping out of La Cañada High School.[5] Cyrus briefly dated Disney singer/actress Demi Lovato, but the relationship ended because of conflicting schedules
santorum
Richard John "Rick" Santorum (born May 10, 1958) is a former United States Senator from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Santorum is a member of the Republican Party and was the chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, the number-three job in the party leadership of the Senate.
Santorum is considered a social and fiscal conservative.[2] He is particularly known for his stances on the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Social Security, intelligent design, homosexuality, and the Terri Schiavo case.[3] Santorum was defeated 59% to 41% in the 2006 U.S. Senate election by Democratic candidate Bob Casey, Jr. This was the largest margin of defeat for an incumbent Senator since 1980.
In March 2007, Santorum joined the law firm Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC. He will primarily practice law in the firm’s Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C. offices, where he will provide business and strategic counseling services to the firm's clients. In addition to his work with the firm, Santorum also serves as a Senior Fellow with the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., and is a contributor to Fox News Channel. Santorum is currently considering a bid for president in 2012.
Santorum is considered a social and fiscal conservative.[2] He is particularly known for his stances on the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Social Security, intelligent design, homosexuality, and the Terri Schiavo case.[3] Santorum was defeated 59% to 41% in the 2006 U.S. Senate election by Democratic candidate Bob Casey, Jr. This was the largest margin of defeat for an incumbent Senator since 1980.
In March 2007, Santorum joined the law firm Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC. He will primarily practice law in the firm’s Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C. offices, where he will provide business and strategic counseling services to the firm's clients. In addition to his work with the firm, Santorum also serves as a Senior Fellow with the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., and is a contributor to Fox News Channel. Santorum is currently considering a bid for president in 2012.
sons of anarchy season 3
Sons of Anarchy is an American television drama series created by Kurt Sutter about the lives of a close-knit outlaw motorcycle club operating in Charming, a fictional town in Northern California. The show centers on protagonist Jackson "Jax" Teller (Charlie Hunnam), the Vice President of the club who begins questioning the club and himself. Sons of Anarchy premiered on September 3, 2008 on cable network FX. Its second season debuted on September 8, 2009, and its third season began on September 7, 2010.
The show's first season averaged 5.4 million viewers weekly making it the network's most successful show since Rescue Me
The show's first season averaged 5.4 million viewers weekly making it the network's most successful show since Rescue Me
americas got talent vote
America's Got Talent is a British-owned American reality television series on the NBC television network. It is a talent show that features singers, dancers, magicians, comedians and other performers of all ages competing for the advertised top prize of US$1 million. The show debuted in June 2006 for the summer television season. Starting in the third season, the Talent top prize included US$1 million, payable in a financial annuity over forty years (or the present cash value of such annuity), and a show as the headliner on the Las Vegas Strip.
Among its significant features were that it gave an opportunity to talented amateurs or unknown performers, with the results decided by an audience vote. The format is a popular one and has often been reworked for television in the United States and the United Kingdom.
The current incarnation was created by Simon Cowell, and was originally due to be a 2005 British series called Paul O'Grady's Got Talent[1] but was postponed due to O'Grady's acrimonious split with broadcaster ITV. As such, the American version became the first full series of the Got Talent franchise.
Despite being heavily involved in the show's production, Simon Cowell does not appear as a judge. This is due to the conditions of his American Idol contract. However he does appear as a judge on Britain's Got Talent. America's Got Talent began airing season one in the United Kingdom on ITV1 on 22 June 2007, TV3 Ireland on July 2007 and in New Zealand on Prime Television on 9 July 2007. The third season of Talent premiered on ITV2 beginning 4 June 2009.
Among its significant features were that it gave an opportunity to talented amateurs or unknown performers, with the results decided by an audience vote. The format is a popular one and has often been reworked for television in the United States and the United Kingdom.
The current incarnation was created by Simon Cowell, and was originally due to be a 2005 British series called Paul O'Grady's Got Talent[1] but was postponed due to O'Grady's acrimonious split with broadcaster ITV. As such, the American version became the first full series of the Got Talent franchise.
Despite being heavily involved in the show's production, Simon Cowell does not appear as a judge. This is due to the conditions of his American Idol contract. However he does appear as a judge on Britain's Got Talent. America's Got Talent began airing season one in the United Kingdom on ITV1 on 22 June 2007, TV3 Ireland on July 2007 and in New Zealand on Prime Television on 9 July 2007. The third season of Talent premiered on ITV2 beginning 4 June 2009.
samcro Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club
The Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club (SOAMC), also known as the Reaper Crew, is a fictional outlaw motorcycle club from the FX television series Sons of Anarchy. The club was formed by John Teller and Piermont "Piney" Winston, two Vietnam War veterans, in 1967 in Charming, California. Six of the original nine members were war veterans.[1] Their logo is a Grim Reaper wielding an M-16 rifle with scythe blade and holding a crystal ball. The Sons' mottos are "Fear the Reaper" and "Ride Free or Die", and their colors are blue and black. The club has 28 chapters worldwide. In North America, these are located in Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, New England, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming in the United States, and Alberta and Manitoba in Canada. There are also a number of chapters in England, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Scandinavia.[2]
The series follows the club's Mother Chapter, the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, Redwood Original, or SAMCRO. The chapter's President is Clay Morrow and his Vice-President is Jax Teller. Their primary business is importing illegal weapons and selling them to drug gangs in the East Bay, along with protection runs for local businesses by protecting valuable truck shipments from hijacking. They also protect Charming from outside gangs who try to manufacture and sell drugs, mainly methamphetamine, there. Naturally, their main enemy is the White supremacist Nordics gang who specialize in the meth trade. The fact that the Sons of Anarchy are racially diverse also puts them at odds. They also have to deal with a rival Oakland-based motorcycle club, the Mayans, who control the neighboring territory of Nevada, and the League of American Nationalists, another criminal racist organization. The Sons of Anarchy also have a number of allies, in the form of the True IRA, which supplies them with illegal Russian-made guns, and the One-Niners, an African American street gang to which SAMCRO sells weapons, and various affiliates in the state prison system.
The series follows the club's Mother Chapter, the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, Redwood Original, or SAMCRO. The chapter's President is Clay Morrow and his Vice-President is Jax Teller. Their primary business is importing illegal weapons and selling them to drug gangs in the East Bay, along with protection runs for local businesses by protecting valuable truck shipments from hijacking. They also protect Charming from outside gangs who try to manufacture and sell drugs, mainly methamphetamine, there. Naturally, their main enemy is the White supremacist Nordics gang who specialize in the meth trade. The fact that the Sons of Anarchy are racially diverse also puts them at odds. They also have to deal with a rival Oakland-based motorcycle club, the Mayans, who control the neighboring territory of Nevada, and the League of American Nationalists, another criminal racist organization. The Sons of Anarchy also have a number of allies, in the form of the True IRA, which supplies them with illegal Russian-made guns, and the One-Niners, an African American street gang to which SAMCRO sells weapons, and various affiliates in the state prison system.
brian warner Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson (born Brian Hugh Warner; January 5, 1969) is an American musician and artist known for his controversial stage persona and image as the lead singer of the eponymous band, Marilyn Manson. His stage name was formed from the names of actress Marilyn Monroe and convicted murder-planner[1] Charles Manson.[2][3] He has a long legacy of being depicted in the media as a bad influence on children. The seemingly outrageous styles for which he models and the controversy surrounding his lyrics have led to his very pronounced public appeal
glenn shadix
Shadix was born William Glenn Shadix in Bessemer, Alabama. He attended Birmingham-Southern College for two years, studying with absurdist playwright-director Arnold Powell. He lived in New York City prior to moving to Hollywood in the late 1970s. He got his breakthrough film role in Beetlejuice while doing a stage play, portraying Gertrude Stein. According to Shadix, it was the play that his agent warned him against doing, since it was a role that seemed too risky. But the actor went on instinct and played the role. As fate would have it, Tim Burton was one of the people sitting in the audience that night. Shadix became personal friends with Burton while making Beetlejuice, and the two would go on to make two more films together: 1993's The Nightmare Before Christmas and the 2001 remake of Planet of the Apes.
In 2005, Shadix was cast as the Brain and Monsieur Mallah in season five of the Teen Titans animated series. Other voice work done by Shadix includes the aforementioned Nightmare, and episodes of Jackie Chan Adventures and Justice League Unlimited. He reprised his Nightmare Before Christmas role in the sequel, Oogie’s Revenge, and the Square-Enix video game Kingdom Hearts II.
His television work included the HBO drama Carnivàle, the NBC television comedy Seinfeld, in which he played Jerry's landlord, and playing the roles of giant brothers Typhoon and Typhon in "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys".
On stage, Shadix was set to begin rehearsals for History Boys, the award winning Broadway play by Alan Bennett. It would have been Shadix's first time back in Birmingham Theatre since 1973 when he appeared in Boys in the Band at the Birmingham Festival Theatre.
In 2005, Shadix was cast as the Brain and Monsieur Mallah in season five of the Teen Titans animated series. Other voice work done by Shadix includes the aforementioned Nightmare, and episodes of Jackie Chan Adventures and Justice League Unlimited. He reprised his Nightmare Before Christmas role in the sequel, Oogie’s Revenge, and the Square-Enix video game Kingdom Hearts II.
His television work included the HBO drama Carnivàle, the NBC television comedy Seinfeld, in which he played Jerry's landlord, and playing the roles of giant brothers Typhoon and Typhon in "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys".
On stage, Shadix was set to begin rehearsals for History Boys, the award winning Broadway play by Alan Bennett. It would have been Shadix's first time back in Birmingham Theatre since 1973 when he appeared in Boys in the Band at the Birmingham Festival Theatre.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
baylor football
The Baylor Bears football team represents Baylor University in Division I FBS college football. They are a member of the Big 12 Conference. The team plays its home games at Floyd Casey Stadium in Waco, Texas.
paul conrad cartoons
Paul Francis Conrad (June 27, 1924 – September 4, 2010 [1]) was an American political cartoonist from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. During college, Conrad started cartooning at the University of Iowa for the Daily Iowan.[2] While serving with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, during World War II, Conrad received a B.A. in art in 1950.[3] After receiving his degree, he worked for the Denver Post, where he spent 14 years before joining the Los Angeles Times.
He was chief editorial cartoonist for the Los Angeles Times from 1964 to 1993 and had been syndicated to hundreds of newspapers worldwide. Conrad drew numerous cartoons about Richard Nixon's downfall. One cartoon showed Nixon, during his last days as president, nailing himself to a cross.[4] Another example, the Los Angeles Times refused to run. Just prior to the vote to impeach President Nixon, Conrad drew the president in only a pair of tight fitting underwear, with the caption "The Last Nixon Supporter in Washington."[citation needed] He was also named in Richard Nixon's enemy list in 1973.[5]
Conrad wrote several books and his work is in the permanent exhibition of the United States Library of Congress.
He earned the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning in 1964, 1971 and 1984.[6] Conrad has also won two Overseas Press Club awards (1981 and 1970) and in 1988, the Society of Professional Journalists/Sigma Delta Chi (SDX) honored him with his seventh Distinguished Service Award for Editorial Cartooning.
Conrad is survived by his wife, Kay King, a former society writer for The Denver Post, two sons, two daughters and one grandchild.
He was chief editorial cartoonist for the Los Angeles Times from 1964 to 1993 and had been syndicated to hundreds of newspapers worldwide. Conrad drew numerous cartoons about Richard Nixon's downfall. One cartoon showed Nixon, during his last days as president, nailing himself to a cross.[4] Another example, the Los Angeles Times refused to run. Just prior to the vote to impeach President Nixon, Conrad drew the president in only a pair of tight fitting underwear, with the caption "The Last Nixon Supporter in Washington."[citation needed] He was also named in Richard Nixon's enemy list in 1973.[5]
Conrad wrote several books and his work is in the permanent exhibition of the United States Library of Congress.
He earned the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning in 1964, 1971 and 1984.[6] Conrad has also won two Overseas Press Club awards (1981 and 1970) and in 1988, the Society of Professional Journalists/Sigma Delta Chi (SDX) honored him with his seventh Distinguished Service Award for Editorial Cartooning.
Conrad is survived by his wife, Kay King, a former society writer for The Denver Post, two sons, two daughters and one grandchild.
vanderbilt football
The Vanderbilt Commodores football program is a college football team that represents Vanderbilt University. The team currently competes in NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision as a member of the Southeastern Conference. The Commodores currently play their home games at Vanderbilt Stadium, located in Nashville, Tennessee.
