A 66-year-old is set to become the oldest woman to give birth in Britain, it was reported last night.
Elizabeth Adeney is reported to be eight months pregnant after having had IVF treatment abroad.
She is four years older than the previous record holder, Patricia Rashbrook, who gave birth in 2006, aged 62.
A friend of Adeney told the Daily Mail she was still working a five-day week, in perfect health and looking forward to what is thought to be her first child. Adeney, a divorcee from Lidgate near Newmarket, Suffolk, runs her own textile company. She had been desperate to conceive for years, the unnamed friend said.
Most British clinics will not treat women over 50 and most NHS primary care trusts do not consider anyone over 40.
Adeney travelled to a Ukrainian clinic last year. "She was desperate for a child. She was over the moon when she learned last year that she was pregnant and has been quite open about it. It's not the sort of thing she can hide," the friend said.
"Elizabeth has had a pretty good pregnancy. She has been very well, considering her age. I'm amazed how she keeps going.
"She does get up a little later in the mornings than she used to and sometimes spends an hour or two at home before going to work but she is still at her business Monday to Friday."
Last night Adeney declined to discuss her condition in any detail. "I am a private person and while I appreciate there may be some publicity I will just ignore it," she told the Mail. "This has been a very personal decision and I do not feel I have to give interviews or talk to anyone in the media about what I have decided to do and where I have done it."
The world's oldest woman to give birth was Omkari Panwar, 70, from India, who gave birth to a twin boy and girl last year.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Sri Lankan army 'encircling' last refuge of Tamil rebels
The Sri Lankan military today tightened its grip on the last refuge held by Tamil rebels, ignoring calls to end an offensive that aid officials say has unleashed a humanitarian catastrophe. Two army units little more than a mile apart were fighting their way down the coast from the north and up from the south in a pincer movement to encircle the rebels, a military spokesman, Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, said.
"Troops are coming along the coastal line, and closing in," Nanayakkara said. "We want to rescue the civilians in 48 hours."
Despite their apparently hopeless position, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have vowed not to surrender in their 25-year fight for a separate nation for Sri Lanka's minority Tamils.
As fighting raged, another 1,000 civilians managed to flee rebel-held territory, joining more than 3,700 who had waded across a lagoon to escape the previous day. The rebels fired on those leaving yesterday, killing four and wounding 14 others, according to the brigadier. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said heavy fighting meant no help could reach people trapped in a sandy spit on the island's north-eastern coast, where the Sri Lankan government has cornered the Tamil Tigers.
A Red Cross ferry sent to deliver desperately needed food aid and evacuate the wounded had to turn back for the third day yesterday.
The Red Cross said civilians trapped inside the war zone were taking cover in bunkers they had dug in the ground and were finding it even more difficult to get water and food.
"Our staff are witnessing an unimaginable humanitarian catastrophe," the ICRC operations director, Pierre Krahenbuhl, said. "No humanitarian organisation can help them in the current circumstances. People are left to their own devices."
Britain's secretary of state for international development, Douglas Alexander, said he was appalled that the ICRC was unable to continue its operations.
"Since September last year, the ICRC has been the only humanitarian agency allowed to work in the conflict zone, and now even this lifeline has been denied to more than 50,000 people," Alexander said. "Over the last four months alone, the ICRC has evacuated by ship over 14,000 sick and wounded people. Denying this life-saving evacuation and medical treatment is a fundamental violation of international humanitarian law."
The rebels have denied accusations that they are holding civilians as human shields and shooting at those trying to escape the tiny enclave.
Reports that hundreds of civilians were killed in attacks on a makeshift clinic in rebel territory, for which both sides blamed the other, spurred Barack Obama and the UN security council to make their first formal statements on Sri Lanka since the war intensified this year. Government doctors said constant shelling had prompted them to stop working at the clinic yesterday.
About 200,000 civilians have escaped the war zone in recent months and are being held in displacement camps, guarded by the Sri Lankan army. Those that reach the camps are not allowed to leave. Relief groups say children are arriving at the camp in a severely malnourished state, but no therapeutic feeding has started yet. The food ration for adults is not adequate either and there is insufficient space for communal cooking. Christian Aid said that community kitchens designed for 500 people were providing food for between 1,200 and 1,700.
According to a leaked UN document, 7,000 civilians were killed and 16,700 wounded in the fighting from 20 January to 7 May.
The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, has sent his chief of staff, Vijay Nambiar, to Sri Lanka for a second time amid a growing clamour over the carnage. Nambiar is expected to meet top government officials after he arrives tomorrow and push for ways "to secure the safety of the 50,000 to 100,000 civilians remaining inside the combat zone", a UN spokesman, Gordon Weiss, said.
Meanwhile, the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, said that the US had raised questions about Sri Lanka's application for a $1.9bn (£1.2bn) IMF loan that the government desperately needs.
"We think that it is not an appropriate time to consider that until there is a resolution," she said in Washington.
"Troops are coming along the coastal line, and closing in," Nanayakkara said. "We want to rescue the civilians in 48 hours."
Despite their apparently hopeless position, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have vowed not to surrender in their 25-year fight for a separate nation for Sri Lanka's minority Tamils.
As fighting raged, another 1,000 civilians managed to flee rebel-held territory, joining more than 3,700 who had waded across a lagoon to escape the previous day. The rebels fired on those leaving yesterday, killing four and wounding 14 others, according to the brigadier. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said heavy fighting meant no help could reach people trapped in a sandy spit on the island's north-eastern coast, where the Sri Lankan government has cornered the Tamil Tigers.
A Red Cross ferry sent to deliver desperately needed food aid and evacuate the wounded had to turn back for the third day yesterday.
The Red Cross said civilians trapped inside the war zone were taking cover in bunkers they had dug in the ground and were finding it even more difficult to get water and food.
"Our staff are witnessing an unimaginable humanitarian catastrophe," the ICRC operations director, Pierre Krahenbuhl, said. "No humanitarian organisation can help them in the current circumstances. People are left to their own devices."
Britain's secretary of state for international development, Douglas Alexander, said he was appalled that the ICRC was unable to continue its operations.
"Since September last year, the ICRC has been the only humanitarian agency allowed to work in the conflict zone, and now even this lifeline has been denied to more than 50,000 people," Alexander said. "Over the last four months alone, the ICRC has evacuated by ship over 14,000 sick and wounded people. Denying this life-saving evacuation and medical treatment is a fundamental violation of international humanitarian law."
The rebels have denied accusations that they are holding civilians as human shields and shooting at those trying to escape the tiny enclave.
Reports that hundreds of civilians were killed in attacks on a makeshift clinic in rebel territory, for which both sides blamed the other, spurred Barack Obama and the UN security council to make their first formal statements on Sri Lanka since the war intensified this year. Government doctors said constant shelling had prompted them to stop working at the clinic yesterday.
About 200,000 civilians have escaped the war zone in recent months and are being held in displacement camps, guarded by the Sri Lankan army. Those that reach the camps are not allowed to leave. Relief groups say children are arriving at the camp in a severely malnourished state, but no therapeutic feeding has started yet. The food ration for adults is not adequate either and there is insufficient space for communal cooking. Christian Aid said that community kitchens designed for 500 people were providing food for between 1,200 and 1,700.
According to a leaked UN document, 7,000 civilians were killed and 16,700 wounded in the fighting from 20 January to 7 May.
The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, has sent his chief of staff, Vijay Nambiar, to Sri Lanka for a second time amid a growing clamour over the carnage. Nambiar is expected to meet top government officials after he arrives tomorrow and push for ways "to secure the safety of the 50,000 to 100,000 civilians remaining inside the combat zone", a UN spokesman, Gordon Weiss, said.
Meanwhile, the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, said that the US had raised questions about Sri Lanka's application for a $1.9bn (£1.2bn) IMF loan that the government desperately needs.
"We think that it is not an appropriate time to consider that until there is a resolution," she said in Washington.
Labour MPs who cheat on expenses will be deselected
Any Labour MP found to have made improper expenses claims will be automatically deselected and barred from standing at the next general election as the party desperately tries to overcome the constitutional crisis facing parliament.
The Guardian has learned that the radical proposal is expected to be agreed next week by Labour's national executive, a move that acknowledges the deep anger among voters to the escalating scandal over MPs' claims.
Gordon Brown has also given ministers a Monday night deadline to ensure their expenses claims for the past five years are lodged with the parliamentary authorities and ready for publication.
Any deselection would happen after the parliamentary commissioner for standards had ruled that an MP had been found clearly guilty of improperly claiming.
The prime minister, who is expected to give a major TV interview on Sunday, is to resist a more sweeping grassroots proposal from leftwing NEC members that would compel every sitting Labour MP to go though a fresh selection process so the public can be reassured all candidates are "fit and proper persons" to stand at the election. Labour officials met and said such a move would be unfair.
In another rollercoaster day which saw the first ministerial casualty of the affair and signs of simmering public anger, Scotland Yard and the Crown Prosecution Service announced they were setting up a joint panel to consider multiple allegations that MPs have broken the law in their expenses claims. The police said they were acting because they had received so many complaints from the public.
In other key developments:
• A second Labour backbencher, David Chaytor, was forced to concede tonight that he had claimed £13,000 in expenses to cover mortgage interest payments on his London flat after the mortgage had been paid off. Downing Street said Chaytor was likely to be interviewed by Nick Brown, the chief whip, and face suspension from the parliamentary party along with a similar backbench offender Elliot Morley. Chaytor said he had made an unforgivable error and would repay the money.
• Lord Foulkes, a close friend of the Speaker, Michael Martin, gave a broad hint that Martin had decided to resign before the election, saying it was logical for him to do so by then.
• Shahid Malik, the justice minister, was forced to stand down from his post by Brown pending an investigation into whether an allegedly subsidised rental of a home in his Dewsbury constituency represented a breach of the ministerial code. He is the first minister to be disciplined since the allegations started, but last night won the support of his local party.
• William Hague, the Tory deputy leader, revealed he was going to divest himself of the vast bulk of his outside interests, a decision that will put pressure on the other shadow cabinet members.
• David Cameron, battling to keep abreast of public anger over the allegations of sleaze, told his Scottish Tory party that this was a time of "great danger" for democracy in the UK.
• The deputy leader of the house, Chris Bryant, was forced to deny stories that he had flipped his second home.
• The former father of the house, Tam Dalyell, was accused of attempting to charge £18,000 for two bookcases two months before he stood down as an MP in 2005.
The furore surrounding Malik forced Brown to act early yesterday. It was alleged Malik should have declared on the ministerial register that the rent on his constituency home was below the market rate, so making him potentially beholden to the landlord. The prime minister told him to step down after discussions with the cabinet secretary, Sir Gus O'Donnell, and the justice secretary, Jack Straw. The true market value of the rent of the home was a matter of dispute, and some ministers said Malik had been made a sacrificial lamb. He said he would return to the government with his head held high.
Morley, the former minister suspended from the parliamentary Labour party on Thursday, said he might quit as the MP for Scunthorpe over the issue. He said: "What matters to me is the view of my local people and my local party. I need to talk this through with them."
Similar signs of a grassroots rebellion were emerging in the Tory party, with two-thirds of those polled on the Conservative Home website urging the Tory MP Andrew Mackay, to quit over his expenses claims.
The Guardian has learned that the radical proposal is expected to be agreed next week by Labour's national executive, a move that acknowledges the deep anger among voters to the escalating scandal over MPs' claims.
Gordon Brown has also given ministers a Monday night deadline to ensure their expenses claims for the past five years are lodged with the parliamentary authorities and ready for publication.
Any deselection would happen after the parliamentary commissioner for standards had ruled that an MP had been found clearly guilty of improperly claiming.
The prime minister, who is expected to give a major TV interview on Sunday, is to resist a more sweeping grassroots proposal from leftwing NEC members that would compel every sitting Labour MP to go though a fresh selection process so the public can be reassured all candidates are "fit and proper persons" to stand at the election. Labour officials met and said such a move would be unfair.
In another rollercoaster day which saw the first ministerial casualty of the affair and signs of simmering public anger, Scotland Yard and the Crown Prosecution Service announced they were setting up a joint panel to consider multiple allegations that MPs have broken the law in their expenses claims. The police said they were acting because they had received so many complaints from the public.
In other key developments:
• A second Labour backbencher, David Chaytor, was forced to concede tonight that he had claimed £13,000 in expenses to cover mortgage interest payments on his London flat after the mortgage had been paid off. Downing Street said Chaytor was likely to be interviewed by Nick Brown, the chief whip, and face suspension from the parliamentary party along with a similar backbench offender Elliot Morley. Chaytor said he had made an unforgivable error and would repay the money.
• Lord Foulkes, a close friend of the Speaker, Michael Martin, gave a broad hint that Martin had decided to resign before the election, saying it was logical for him to do so by then.
• Shahid Malik, the justice minister, was forced to stand down from his post by Brown pending an investigation into whether an allegedly subsidised rental of a home in his Dewsbury constituency represented a breach of the ministerial code. He is the first minister to be disciplined since the allegations started, but last night won the support of his local party.
• William Hague, the Tory deputy leader, revealed he was going to divest himself of the vast bulk of his outside interests, a decision that will put pressure on the other shadow cabinet members.
• David Cameron, battling to keep abreast of public anger over the allegations of sleaze, told his Scottish Tory party that this was a time of "great danger" for democracy in the UK.
• The deputy leader of the house, Chris Bryant, was forced to deny stories that he had flipped his second home.
• The former father of the house, Tam Dalyell, was accused of attempting to charge £18,000 for two bookcases two months before he stood down as an MP in 2005.
The furore surrounding Malik forced Brown to act early yesterday. It was alleged Malik should have declared on the ministerial register that the rent on his constituency home was below the market rate, so making him potentially beholden to the landlord. The prime minister told him to step down after discussions with the cabinet secretary, Sir Gus O'Donnell, and the justice secretary, Jack Straw. The true market value of the rent of the home was a matter of dispute, and some ministers said Malik had been made a sacrificial lamb. He said he would return to the government with his head held high.
Morley, the former minister suspended from the parliamentary Labour party on Thursday, said he might quit as the MP for Scunthorpe over the issue. He said: "What matters to me is the view of my local people and my local party. I need to talk this through with them."
Similar signs of a grassroots rebellion were emerging in the Tory party, with two-thirds of those polled on the Conservative Home website urging the Tory MP Andrew Mackay, to quit over his expenses claims.
GM to close up to 1,100 dealer
General Motors (GM) has announced plans to close up to 1,100 of its dealerships in the US as it desperately tries to cut costs and stave off bankruptcy.
It also plans to cut ties with another 470 Saturn, Hummer and Saab dealers.
Closures announced today represent one quarter of the dealership network. GM plans to cut the total number of dealers by 42% by the end of 2010.
On Thursday, rival Chrysler said it would be closing 789 US dealers as part of a massive restructuring programme.
GM is also in negotiations with unions to reduce wage costs.
Cutting costs
The carmaker said the 1,100 "underperforming and very small sales volume US dealers...will be advised that GM does not see them as part of its dealer network on a long-term basis."
"It is obvious that almost all parts of GM, including the dealer body, must get smaller and more efficient," explained Mark LaNeve, vice president of North American sales for the carmaker.
GM currently has 6,246 dealers in the US and plans to cut the number to 3,605 by the end of next year.
The car firm says the move will reduce costs, but others argue that dealerships, as franchises, are not a cost to the company and generate much needed revenue.
Mr LaNeve said many dealers were selling 35 or fewer vehicles annually.
But there are concerns that the closures will flood the market with cut-price cars, pushing prices down.
"A concern of all dealers would be if the market value of vehicles were to decline because terminated dealers would be desperate to sell," said Jim Eagan at consultancy Plante & Moran in Michigan.
Cutting costs
GM is facing a deadline of 1 June to agree reorganisation plans with the US government or face bankruptcy.
Earlier this week, the company's new chief executive Fritz Henderson said going into bankruptcy protection was looking more likely.
GM had already warned it would probably need to enter protection if it could not get additional funding from the government.
It has already taken billions of dollars in emergency state aid in a desperate attempt to stay afloat in the face of plummeting sales.
Indeed, closing dealerships is just the latest in a long line of cost cutting measures.
Last month, the carmaker confirmed it would be cutting 21,000 jobs worldwide and shutting a number of factories in an effort to stay in business.
GM is also selling its Hummer and Saturn brands and scrapping Pontiac entirely.
And it is in talks to sell its GM Europe business, which comprises Opel, Vauxhall and Saab.
Shares in the car company ended 6 cents, or 5.2% lower at $1.09.
It also plans to cut ties with another 470 Saturn, Hummer and Saab dealers.
Closures announced today represent one quarter of the dealership network. GM plans to cut the total number of dealers by 42% by the end of 2010.
On Thursday, rival Chrysler said it would be closing 789 US dealers as part of a massive restructuring programme.
GM is also in negotiations with unions to reduce wage costs.
Cutting costs
The carmaker said the 1,100 "underperforming and very small sales volume US dealers...will be advised that GM does not see them as part of its dealer network on a long-term basis."
"It is obvious that almost all parts of GM, including the dealer body, must get smaller and more efficient," explained Mark LaNeve, vice president of North American sales for the carmaker.
GM currently has 6,246 dealers in the US and plans to cut the number to 3,605 by the end of next year.
The car firm says the move will reduce costs, but others argue that dealerships, as franchises, are not a cost to the company and generate much needed revenue.
Mr LaNeve said many dealers were selling 35 or fewer vehicles annually.
But there are concerns that the closures will flood the market with cut-price cars, pushing prices down.
"A concern of all dealers would be if the market value of vehicles were to decline because terminated dealers would be desperate to sell," said Jim Eagan at consultancy Plante & Moran in Michigan.
Cutting costs
GM is facing a deadline of 1 June to agree reorganisation plans with the US government or face bankruptcy.
Earlier this week, the company's new chief executive Fritz Henderson said going into bankruptcy protection was looking more likely.
GM had already warned it would probably need to enter protection if it could not get additional funding from the government.
It has already taken billions of dollars in emergency state aid in a desperate attempt to stay afloat in the face of plummeting sales.
Indeed, closing dealerships is just the latest in a long line of cost cutting measures.
Last month, the carmaker confirmed it would be cutting 21,000 jobs worldwide and shutting a number of factories in an effort to stay in business.
GM is also selling its Hummer and Saturn brands and scrapping Pontiac entirely.
And it is in talks to sell its GM Europe business, which comprises Opel, Vauxhall and Saab.
Shares in the car company ended 6 cents, or 5.2% lower at $1.09.
Hubble spacewalk hits gyro glitch
Astronauts have struggled to complete the most critical repair to the Hubble Space Telescope in a second spacewalk.
Mission specialists Mike Good and Mike Massimino put a refurbished pair of gyroscopes into the telescope after a new set refused to go in.
Besides the gyroscopes - to orient it precisely - Hubble got fresh batteries to ensure five more years of life.
Despite the setbacks, scientists said Hubble would function well, pointing to ever distant objects in the cosmos.
Friday's troubled spacewalk was the longest yet, lasting eight hours.
"At times, I felt like I was wrestling a bear," Mike Massimino was quoted as saying by AFP news agency, as he and Mike Good struggled to install the gyroscopes, or "rate sensing units" (RSUs).
Previously, only three of the six gyroscopes worked. But after today's marathon spacewalk, Hubble has four brand new sets and two refurbished ones. Only two are needed to orient the telescope properly.
Troubled mission
The spacewalk was the 20th undertaken in the service of Hubble, but was Mike Good's first.
"Welcome to the wonderful world of working in a vacuum," Mike Massimino told him as he exited the airlock
The first part of the spacewalk was to replace the three RSUs, each of which contains two gyroscopes.
While the first RSU went in as planned, the second one did not seat properly on its plate. The crew opted to place the third RSU in the slot of the second.
The same problem occurred when the RSU meant for the second slot was placed into the third, so the crew opted to install a refurbished unit instead.
But Hubble's deputy senior project scientist, Mal Niedner, said he was not concerned that the astronauts had to resort to refurbished gyroscopes, which lack the latest anticorrosive wiring.
"It's the difference between an A and an A-plus," he was quoted as saying by AP news agency.
The three batteries that were replaced were the original equipment installed on Hubble 19 years ago, intended to have just a five-year lifespan.
On Thursday, the telescope's Wide Field Camera was replaced, giving the telescope an even deeper view into space - and thus into the history of the Universe.
A data processing unit that failed in 2008 was also replaced.
In three further spacewalks to be undertaken in the next three days, two spectrographs will be installed and the remaining three of Hubble's batteries will be replaced
Mission specialists Mike Good and Mike Massimino put a refurbished pair of gyroscopes into the telescope after a new set refused to go in.
Besides the gyroscopes - to orient it precisely - Hubble got fresh batteries to ensure five more years of life.
Despite the setbacks, scientists said Hubble would function well, pointing to ever distant objects in the cosmos.
Friday's troubled spacewalk was the longest yet, lasting eight hours.
"At times, I felt like I was wrestling a bear," Mike Massimino was quoted as saying by AFP news agency, as he and Mike Good struggled to install the gyroscopes, or "rate sensing units" (RSUs).
Previously, only three of the six gyroscopes worked. But after today's marathon spacewalk, Hubble has four brand new sets and two refurbished ones. Only two are needed to orient the telescope properly.
Troubled mission
The spacewalk was the 20th undertaken in the service of Hubble, but was Mike Good's first.
"Welcome to the wonderful world of working in a vacuum," Mike Massimino told him as he exited the airlock
The first part of the spacewalk was to replace the three RSUs, each of which contains two gyroscopes.
While the first RSU went in as planned, the second one did not seat properly on its plate. The crew opted to place the third RSU in the slot of the second.
The same problem occurred when the RSU meant for the second slot was placed into the third, so the crew opted to install a refurbished unit instead.
But Hubble's deputy senior project scientist, Mal Niedner, said he was not concerned that the astronauts had to resort to refurbished gyroscopes, which lack the latest anticorrosive wiring.
"It's the difference between an A and an A-plus," he was quoted as saying by AP news agency.
The three batteries that were replaced were the original equipment installed on Hubble 19 years ago, intended to have just a five-year lifespan.
On Thursday, the telescope's Wide Field Camera was replaced, giving the telescope an even deeper view into space - and thus into the history of the Universe.
A data processing unit that failed in 2008 was also replaced.
In three further spacewalks to be undertaken in the next three days, two spectrographs will be installed and the remaining three of Hubble's batteries will be replaced
Anger at Obama Guantanamo ruling
Civil liberties groups have reacted angrily to US President Barack Obama's decision to revive military trials for some Guantanamo Bay detainees.
Mr Obama has previously denounced the Bush-era judicial system, but in a statement said new safeguards would ensure suspects got a fairer hearing.
New rules include rejecting statements obtained from harsh interrogations and limitations on using hearsay evidence.
There are still 240 detainees at the US base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Mr Obama halted the controversial military commissions as one of his first acts on taking office in January, saying the US was entering a new era of respecting human rights.
"It's disappointing that Obama is seeking to revive rather than end this failed experiment," said Jonathan Hafetz, a national security attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union.
"There is no detainee at Guantanamo who cannot be tried and shouldn't be tried in the regular federal courts system. This is perpetuating the Bush administration's misguided detention policy."
Kenneth Roth, head of Human Rights Watch, said: "By resurrecting this failed Bush administration idea, President Obama is backtracking dangerously on his reform agenda."
Campaign statement
On the campaign trail last year, Mr Obama had branded the military commissions "an enormous failure".
But in the statement issued on Friday, he said he had supported their use as one avenue to try detainees, and in 2006 had voted in favour of them.
He said he had opposed the tribunals used by George W Bush's administration because they had failed to establish a legitimate legal framework and undermined swift and certain justice.
The extra safeguards for detainees include a ban on evidence obtained by harsh interrogation; restrictions on hearsay evidence; giving detainees more leeway to choose their own lawyers and protecting detainees who refuse to testify, the statement said.
Mr Obama said he was seeking more time so that the new procedures could be implemented.
These reforms will begin to restore the commissions as a legitimate forum for prosecution, while bringing them in line with the rule of law," he said.
"This is the best way to protect our country, while upholding our deeply held values."
But Geneve Mantri, of Amnesty International, said Mr Obama's message was confusing.
"It was clear from his announcements soon after he reached the White House what he was going to do," he said.
"Now it is somewhat confusing what the administration's standard is or what their policies are."
Zachary Katznelson of Reprieve, which represents a number of Guantanamo Bay detainees, told the BBC that the president was making a "fundamental mistake".
"He is taking a gravely, truly flawed system, tinkering at the edges and hoping that the world is somehow going to see this as legitimate, as open, as fair - it's not going to happen," he said.
In contrast, Mr Obama found support for his decision among his opponents.
"I am pleased that President Obama has now adopted this view," said Republican Senator John McCain, who lost the presidential election to Mr Obama.
Ari Fleischer, who was George W Bush's first press secretary, said President Obama "should acknowledge his campaign criticisms were wrong".
"With some minor changes, he really is following the same path President Bush pursued," he said.
Pragmatic style
The BBC's James Coomarasamy in Washington says that although some are disappointed, for others it is further evidence of Mr Obama's pragmatic style of leadership, one that recognises the need to balance the change he has promised with the reality he has inherited.
Mr Obama has said he wants the Guantanamo Bay camp closed by 2010.
Shortly before his announcement, US officials said that Algerian detainee Lakhdar Boumediene had left Guantanamo Bay for France.
Mr Boumediene was arrested in Bosnia in 2001 and was held for seven years. He was cleared of any wrongdoing in November
Mr Obama has previously denounced the Bush-era judicial system, but in a statement said new safeguards would ensure suspects got a fairer hearing.
New rules include rejecting statements obtained from harsh interrogations and limitations on using hearsay evidence.
There are still 240 detainees at the US base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Mr Obama halted the controversial military commissions as one of his first acts on taking office in January, saying the US was entering a new era of respecting human rights.
"It's disappointing that Obama is seeking to revive rather than end this failed experiment," said Jonathan Hafetz, a national security attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union.
"There is no detainee at Guantanamo who cannot be tried and shouldn't be tried in the regular federal courts system. This is perpetuating the Bush administration's misguided detention policy."
Kenneth Roth, head of Human Rights Watch, said: "By resurrecting this failed Bush administration idea, President Obama is backtracking dangerously on his reform agenda."
Campaign statement
On the campaign trail last year, Mr Obama had branded the military commissions "an enormous failure".
But in the statement issued on Friday, he said he had supported their use as one avenue to try detainees, and in 2006 had voted in favour of them.
He said he had opposed the tribunals used by George W Bush's administration because they had failed to establish a legitimate legal framework and undermined swift and certain justice.
The extra safeguards for detainees include a ban on evidence obtained by harsh interrogation; restrictions on hearsay evidence; giving detainees more leeway to choose their own lawyers and protecting detainees who refuse to testify, the statement said.
Mr Obama said he was seeking more time so that the new procedures could be implemented.
These reforms will begin to restore the commissions as a legitimate forum for prosecution, while bringing them in line with the rule of law," he said.
"This is the best way to protect our country, while upholding our deeply held values."
But Geneve Mantri, of Amnesty International, said Mr Obama's message was confusing.
"It was clear from his announcements soon after he reached the White House what he was going to do," he said.
"Now it is somewhat confusing what the administration's standard is or what their policies are."
Zachary Katznelson of Reprieve, which represents a number of Guantanamo Bay detainees, told the BBC that the president was making a "fundamental mistake".
"He is taking a gravely, truly flawed system, tinkering at the edges and hoping that the world is somehow going to see this as legitimate, as open, as fair - it's not going to happen," he said.
In contrast, Mr Obama found support for his decision among his opponents.
"I am pleased that President Obama has now adopted this view," said Republican Senator John McCain, who lost the presidential election to Mr Obama.
Ari Fleischer, who was George W Bush's first press secretary, said President Obama "should acknowledge his campaign criticisms were wrong".
"With some minor changes, he really is following the same path President Bush pursued," he said.
Pragmatic style
The BBC's James Coomarasamy in Washington says that although some are disappointed, for others it is further evidence of Mr Obama's pragmatic style of leadership, one that recognises the need to balance the change he has promised with the reality he has inherited.
Mr Obama has said he wants the Guantanamo Bay camp closed by 2010.
Shortly before his announcement, US officials said that Algerian detainee Lakhdar Boumediene had left Guantanamo Bay for France.
Mr Boumediene was arrested in Bosnia in 2001 and was held for seven years. He was cleared of any wrongdoing in November
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Changing tones: Karat comes full circle on Congress
With exit polls indicating only a slender edge for the Congress and a crumbling of the Third Front, the Left could tacitly allow the formation of a Congress-led minority government.
CPM general secretary Prakash Karat (56) told Hindustan Times on Thursday that the Left would not “help the Congress” but said nothing to suggest it would bring down a Congress-led government in a trust vote if the Congress is the single-largest party.
“Why speculate at this point. No government is possible without the Third Front and our involvement. Let’s wait for the results,” Karat said, when asked if the Left would let the Congress seize power to keep the BJP out.
The Left had built its campaign around a non-Congress, non-BJP alternative government. A day before results, such a government looks like a numerical impossibility.
The Left’s position vis-à-vis the Congress has come down to two options. If the Congress’s tally drops, the Left is likely to put forward the argument that the Congress should support a secular government of the communists and their regional allies.
But if the Congress improves upon its 2004 figures, then the Left can keep an equal distance from the BJP and the Congress. Such a position will only help the Congress sustain a minority government.
The Left and its allies could then form an influential bloc that will pressure the government on policies, hanging over it like a Damocles' sword.
Such a position would go well with at least two Left allies: the Biju Janata Dal and the Telugu Desham Party.
Both are fundamentally anti-Congress and yet very conscious of their secular appearance, making it unlikely that they will support the BJP.
“Whatever decision we take, we will take it in consultation with our allies. That’s why we have called a meeting on May 18,” Karat said.
Karat has said the Left would never allow the BJP —which it considers a right-wing party — to leverage election results that are too close to call.
Karat said he did not make much of the exit polls and therefore did not rule out the possibility of the Third Front forming a minority government either.
Going by Karat’s statements over the past two days, it is clear that the first priority of the Left would be to see the formation of a “secular government”.
It is also safe to infer that the Left would head for the Opposition benches and do nothing to pull down a Congress government down during a trust vote, to keep the BJP out.
Karat’s refusal to spell out the Left stand in the event of the Congress emerging as the single-largest party means that the comrades may change their pre-poll stand.
CPM general secretary Prakash Karat (56) told Hindustan Times on Thursday that the Left would not “help the Congress” but said nothing to suggest it would bring down a Congress-led government in a trust vote if the Congress is the single-largest party.
“Why speculate at this point. No government is possible without the Third Front and our involvement. Let’s wait for the results,” Karat said, when asked if the Left would let the Congress seize power to keep the BJP out.
The Left had built its campaign around a non-Congress, non-BJP alternative government. A day before results, such a government looks like a numerical impossibility.
The Left’s position vis-à-vis the Congress has come down to two options. If the Congress’s tally drops, the Left is likely to put forward the argument that the Congress should support a secular government of the communists and their regional allies.
But if the Congress improves upon its 2004 figures, then the Left can keep an equal distance from the BJP and the Congress. Such a position will only help the Congress sustain a minority government.
The Left and its allies could then form an influential bloc that will pressure the government on policies, hanging over it like a Damocles' sword.
Such a position would go well with at least two Left allies: the Biju Janata Dal and the Telugu Desham Party.
Both are fundamentally anti-Congress and yet very conscious of their secular appearance, making it unlikely that they will support the BJP.
“Whatever decision we take, we will take it in consultation with our allies. That’s why we have called a meeting on May 18,” Karat said.
Karat has said the Left would never allow the BJP —which it considers a right-wing party — to leverage election results that are too close to call.
Karat said he did not make much of the exit polls and therefore did not rule out the possibility of the Third Front forming a minority government either.
Going by Karat’s statements over the past two days, it is clear that the first priority of the Left would be to see the formation of a “secular government”.
It is also safe to infer that the Left would head for the Opposition benches and do nothing to pull down a Congress government down during a trust vote, to keep the BJP out.
Karat’s refusal to spell out the Left stand in the event of the Congress emerging as the single-largest party means that the comrades may change their pre-poll stand.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)