Syrian tanks fire on demonstrators

Fears mount that regime of Bashar al-Assad is planning to repeat the siege tactics it deployed in Deraa

Syrian tanks rolled into the Mediterranean coastal town of Banias on Saturday and opened fire on demonstrators as President Bashar al-Assad continued the violent assault on his opponents.

A day after clashes with anti-government protesters that left at least 30 dead nationwide according to activists and an eyewitness, fears mounted that the Syrian regime was planning to repeat the siege tactics it deployed in Deraa, another key opposition centre.

Those fears were bolstered by reports yesterday that Syrian forces had shot dead four women demonstrating on a coastal road near Banias. Ammar Qurabi of the National Organisation for Human Rights said the women, part of a small all-female gathering, had been protesting against the siege and the cutting of power lines when they were killed by plainclothes security forces or pro-government gunmen. Their bodies were taken to hospital in a Sunni district of the besieged town.

"Banias is now surrounded from all all directions, not a single person can go in or out," said a resident, who did not wish to be identified. He added that electricity and phone lines had been cut and residents were charging their mobile phones on car batteries. Activists said gunboats could be seen off the Banias coastline and gunfire was heard after tanks approached from three directions in the early hours.

As civilians made human chains to protect neighbourhoods, eyewitnesses added that Sunni rather than Alawite neighbourhoods were being targeted. Banias, which has an oil refinery and is the main point of export for Syrian oil, is a predominantly Sunni city close to the Jebel Ansuriya stronghold of Assad's minority Alawite sect. It has a potentially explosive mix of religious groups and sects.

The latest attacks came in defiance of a US sanctions regime already imposed and despite the expected announcement that the EU will announce sanctions next week against 14 regime officials, although not Assad .

The eyewitness said an atmosphere of fear and apprehension had taken over the town, adding that two-thirds of the population had already fled, notably women and children.

Activists in touch with residents confirmed his account, saying the town, which has become a leading focus of anti-regime demonstrations, was now besieged. The activists also spoke on condition of anonymity, citing security concerns.

The moves came after human rights groups said at least 30 were shot dead in anti-government protests on Friday's "day of defiance" and rights group Sawasieh raised the total death toll since mid-March to 800.

"The use of tanks makes us think they are planning to siege the city like Deraa," said one analyst in the capital. Banias's persistent restiveness ? like that of the southern stronghold, which was surrounded by tanks on 25 April ? has irked the government. And, like Deraa's Omari mosque imam Ahmed Sayasna, Banias has a prominent cleric, Anas Airout, who has come out in support of the protesters.

As news of the tanks' arrival broke in the capital on Saturday , supporters of the protesters said the international community's response had been too slow, allowing a brutal crackdown to push to the limit the protesters' resolve.

The international community, like Syrian protesters, has rejected military intervention and has struggled to find ways of putting pressure on the Assad regime.

On Saturday some Syrians in the capital expressed frustration at the lack of momentum, claiming that many more people wanted change than the protests numbers suggested.

"When a television show gets one complaint, you know there are 100 more who are unhappy but couldn't be bothered to write," said one young man who identified himself as Omar. "It's the same here, but each protester may be worth 200 or 300 people who are too scared to come out."

Katherine Marsh is the pseudonym of a journalist living in Damascus

• Syria
• Bashar Al-Assad
• Arab and Middle East unrest
• Middle East
• Human rights

Katherine Marsh

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/07/syrian-forces-fire-on-protesters

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Vaitele Soi the last man standing

Vaitele Soi heads to New Zealand this week to take part in the ?Last Man Standing? an all professional 8 man knockout tournament fighting for $10,000 on Saturday 7 May in Auckland.

While the prize money is a huge incentive, the real motivation for Vaitele is getting the opportunity to show that he is a better fighter then his last performance on the Tua verses King card in March.

Source: http://www.samoaobserver.ws/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=32978:vaitele-soi&catid=34:sports&Itemid=54

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A show in Ai Weiwei's absence

While Ai Weiwei remains interned by the Chinese authorities, Nicholas Logsdail, director of the Lisson Gallery, talks about a forthcoming exhibition of the artist's work and his growing influence on the global stage

My last conversation with Ai Weiwei took place in January. My colleague Greg Hilty and I went to Beijing for three days to make selections for the forthcoming show at the Lisson Gallery, and we got a sense of great foreboding from him. He had been placed under house arrest in November and had subsequently been released, but he was already worried about whether he'd get out of the country. He had all these commitments abroad ? in Berlin, in New York, and with us in London ? and he was very concerned about fulfilling them.

There was a discussion then about whether we should do the show now or delay it for a year so that he could produce an entirely new body of work. We decided to go ahead because there was an urgency to it, due to his situation at home, and we wanted to give a London audience a sense of the range of his work and the thinking behind it.

In my opinion, Ai Weiwei is one of the major artists of the early 21st century. My gallery avoided the gold rush for Chinese art in the boom years because, in my experience, it's almost always a false premise to group artists together by generation or nationality. What's important is the quality of the individual artist, and it was clear to us that Ai Weiwei stood apart. He's not just the most important Chinese artist of his generation but a truly international figure.

His work is a very interesting blend of traditionalism and liberalism, with a revolutionary bent. He has an outspoken nature, which is what has got him into trouble, but my reading is that his primary impulse is less to overturn society than to improve it. He is unwilling to keep quiet in the face of ignorance and prejudice and he speaks out against injustice wherever he finds it.

I've met him on a number of occasions over the last couple of years. When we were preparing for the show, I found him to be highly practical and thoroughly professional. He is a serious man of few words but he has an ironic sense of humour. He's also a big guy, physically, with a barrel chest and a commanding presence. We had some very interesting conversations about the time he spent living in New York in considerable hardship. He was an exile, partly by choice, partly out of necessity because of his family's political problems in China. It was a gestation period, a time of growth. He was taking stock of the bigger world and putting his house in order, as an artist and an intellectual.

He may not think of himself as an intellectual, but I would certainly describe him as one. Although he can be irrational himself, he despises irrationality and tries to give a clear and logical approach to the issues that are important to him. He's committed and idealistic, and unaccepting of injustice to the point of self-denial ? allowing himself to get into this position is surely a form of self-denial.

All the arrangements for the show had been made before his arrest, but it feels rotten putting it on in his absence. We've been praying, metaphorically speaking, that some news of his whereabouts would break, but nothing has: it's been total silence since his detention.

The outpouring of respect and admiration for him, his honesty, his bravery ? maybe you could say his foolhardiness as well ? have been completely astonishing. Many other artists have shown their solidarity, including Anish Kapoor who has dedicated his forthcoming Grand Palais show in Paris to Ai Weiwei. The best we can do now is to maintain our support for him and keep up the pressure. It's crucial that all the planned projects go ahead ? his work is also showing in New York and, from next week, at Somerset House in London.

How do we put ourselves into the heads of the Chinese authorities who are responsible for his arrest? How do we reach them? What is it that we need to say to them? In arresting Ai Weiwei, I believe they have failed to understand what it means to be an artist. They have failed to be culturally aware. He is exactly the kind of person they should have onside. He's actually much more dangerous now, under arrest, than he ever was before. I think he is a great global cultural ambassador for the new China, but this arrest is making China's new cultural revolution look rather unrevolutionary.

They have accused him of tax evasion, bigamy and spreading pornography on the internet, but these charges are clearly trumped up. If you want to nail somebody and put them away for a while, you can probably find dirt on anybody on the planet, let alone a controversial artist like Ai Weiwei. Some people have commented that the Chinese government saw what was going on in north Africa and the Middle East and got nervous. That may well explain his arrest.

I am hopeful though ? that he's in a reasonable state and can speak for himself; he's an intelligent man and should be able to provide arguments for his release. Although of course it's not going to get you anywhere if you're talking to a brick wall. What's so distressing about this situation is that there is no obvious authority that one can appeal to or challenge about what has happened.

It's so sad that this charismatic, larger-than-life, gentle guy has been arrested. I'm deeply upset. I'd get on the next plane to China if I thought there was anything I could do, and I'm sure loads of people feel the same way.

We have organised a very different series of events from the ones we had originally planned. Alongside the show, we will have a press conference and then a big open party to celebrate Ai Weiwei's work. We will also have a moment of silence to remember his situation, although until he is released I don't think it is going to be far from anyone's mind.

• Ai Weiwei
• Art

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/may/08/ai-weiwei-by-nicholas-logsdail

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Saracens power past Harlequins to record 11th successive win

Harlequins 13-16 Saracens

Harlequins won a monumental victory in Limerick last weekend but stopping Saracens is harder than halting Munster at the moment. Hertfordshire's finest are finishing the season like a runaway train. This was their 11th victory in succession.

Saracens may not be pretty to look at, but they are brutally effective, personified by the Namibian flanker Jacques Burger. With his straggly hair Burger looks like a heavy-metal guitarist. He is a heavy-duty tackler, too, and he and his forward colleagues squeezed the life out of the game.

Outside The Stoop there was traffic chaos before the game, some bright spark having decided that it was OK to host this game at the same time as the Army v Navy game across the road at Twickenham. There was a snarl-up on the pitch, too, with few try-scoring opportunities. The one that mattered came 10 minutes after the interval. Quins lost their own scrum in their 22 and Neil de Kock fed his fly-half, Owen Farrell, who battered his way over.

With Nick Evans injured, Farrell's duel with the young Quins stand-off Rory Clegg was always going to be an interesting sub-plot to the match. But being named Clegg was probably a bit of a burden recently and it was the 19-year-old Saracen who had the better of the battle of the young English No10s, converting his try and stretching Saracens' lead with a penalty.

Mark McCall, the Saracens head coach, said: "It's hard to remember sometimes that Owen is only a year out of school. What he does for us week in, week out is amazing. He's such a calm influence on the pitch."

Clegg kicked a couple of first-half penalties when Harlequins looked the better side but failed to translate their territorial dominance into points and by the time they scored a try from a breakaway by Chris Robshaw two minutes from time it was too late to stop that runaway try. With Stade Fran�ais to play in the Challenge Cup final on 20 May, there was concern over Ugo Monye leaving the pitch near the end with a thumb injury.

Harlequins: Brown; Camacho, Lowe, Turner-Hall, Monye (Chisholm, 78); Clegg (Urdapilleta, 70), Care; Jones (Lambert, 70), Cairns (Buchanan, 70), Johnston (Andress, 58), Kohn (Browne, 61), Robson, Fa'asavalu, Robshaw (capt), Easter.

Try: Robshaw. Con: Urdapilleta. Pens: Clegg 2.

Saracens: Goode; Strettle, Wyles (Mordt, 63), Barritt, Short; Farrell (Cato, 74), De Kock (Wigglesworth, 52); Stevens (Gill, 45), Brits (George, 66), Nieto (Du Plessis, 61), Smith (Borthwick, 45), Botha, Burger, Saull (Melck, 60), Joubert (capt).

Try: Farrell. Con: Farrell. Pens: Goode 2, Farrell.

• Premiership
• Harlequins
• Saracens
• Rugby union

Ian Malin

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/may/07/harlequins-saracens-premiership

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Jack's last season ticket after 62 years

Leicester City fan Jack Harrison has rarely missed a match since he picked up his first season ticket 62 years ago.

But the football-mad pensioner, believed to be the longest consecutive season ticket holder at the club, will watch his last game as a regular match-goer when he cheers on City this afternoon.

The 85-year-old, who has supported City since he was a boy, is giving up his seat in the Upton Steel stand due to ill health, but says he will continue to attend occasional home games.

Jack, who lives in Hinckley, said: "I've been a supporter since 1935 when I was 10 or 11. My dad used to take me as a special treat – he was a true blue like me.

"I got my first season ticket in 1949 and I've had a really good time following the City, no regrets, I've really enjoyed it.

"I know City have had greats like Gordon Banks and Peter Shilton, but the one who impressed me was a big Scottish goalkeeper called Sandy McLaren before the war.

"I thought he was the best keeper Leicester had, but I was an impressionable lad then.

"I also remember Johnny Duncan, who built the side up from nothing, and when Don Revie came on the scene."

Mr Harrison said he would be sad to give up his seat.

"It's in front of the directors' box right on the centre line," he said. "It's a brilliant seat, I'm reluctant to let it go. I haven't missed many matches over the years, but ill health is starting to catch up with me.

"I have some excellent memories of the City and their ups and downs, but I prefer to think of the ups. You can watch it on the TV, but that can't recreate the atmosphere.

"I will really miss it."

Jack's wife, Joan, 83, said: "I'm sorry for him because he really has enjoyed it. It's a big thing to give up after all these years."

His daughter, Jane, said: "He probably knows more about the previous managers and players than anyone at the club. He's been going to the games with a friend who used to drive him there, but he is emigrating so can't take him. "He's gutted at giving it up and he's also disappointed because he had a bet on them getting promotion or into the play-offs this year."

A club spokesman said their records could not confirm whether or not Jack was the longest consecutive season ticket holder. But he will be invited by Leicester City ambassador Alan Birchenall to help make the weekly club lottery draw at half-time during today's match against Ipswich in recognition of his support.

The Birch said: "Sixty-two years as a season ticket holder is an incredible level of commitment and I'd be amazed to hear of anybody who can match Jack's record. City fans are some of the best in the country because our support is made up of people like Jack, who love nothing more than coming to home games and getting behind the team through thick and thin.

"I'm looking forward to congratulating him in person.''

Source: http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/32715/f/503348/s/14a8ebe6/l/0L0Sthisisleicestershire0O0Cnews0CJack0Es0Eseason0Eticket0E620Eyears0Carticle0E3530A7280Edetail0Carticle0Bhtml/story01.htm

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Malawi?s Press Corp to slim down

Malawi’s Press Corporation, a beer-to-banking conglomerate and the country’s biggest company, was likely to see annual profit growth stabilise at 8 percent to 10 percent, its chief executive said yesterday.

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Malawi’s Press Corporation, a beer-to-banking conglomerate and the country’s biggest company, was likely to see annual profit growth stabilise at 8 percent to 10 percent, its chief executive said yesterday.

The company, a bellwether of the small but fast-growing country’s economy with a market capitalisation of $136 million (R917m), said it would continue to slim down its diverse portfolio of interests from 14 sectors to just six or seven.

“The future for us lies in telecommunications, banking and the energy sector,” the group’s chief executive, Matt Chikaonda, said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town.

“We’ve experienced tremendous growth over the past seven to eight years, averaging 12 percent to 15 percent profit growth,” he said.

“It has been fantastic, but that should stabilise to more normal ranges of around maybe 8 percent to 10 percent long-term growth.

“That’s the reason why we are also talking about other sources of growth – getting into the power generation side.” – Reuters

Source: http://www.iol.co.za/malawi-s-press-corp-to-slim-down-1.1065523

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Hunt is on for Leicester city centre's most family-friendly pub

The hunt is on for Leicester city centre's most family-friendly pub.

Again this year, as part of the Best Bar None awards, the Leicester Mercury is holding an online poll for readers to vote for the pub or bar they think is the most welcoming to families.

Twelve venues that put themselves forward have made the shortlist for the award, which is sponsored by the Mercury, after meeting Best Bar None standards for the category.

Among the nominated pubs is the Jungle Club, in Checketts Road, Belgrave, which won the first award in 2008.

Owner Bally Chauhan said: "It would be great to win again.

"We have the bar here and serve food from all over the world but I think we have more stuff for kids than anywhere else in Leicester. Parents love to come here and chat together while their kids play.

"But there are also things for older age groups such as Laser Quest and pool tables. We also have everything from weddings to karate classes here.

"I don't think there are many places like this where there is really something for everyone. The building opened as a working men's club more than 100 years ago, so there is also a lot of history here."

Another contender is Bar Dos Hermanos, in Queens Road, Clarendon Park.

Duty manager Charlotte Wood said: "There are loads of people living around here with young children so we make it a very family-friendly bar.

"People think of it as a nice environment where their kids will be looked after.

"We sell non-alcoholic cocktails so that when people come in with their kids they can have the same kind of drink – the kids can really join in."

Best Bar None is a Home Office scheme organised by Leicester City Council for pubs in the central Leicester area.

Certificates are given to the businesses that meet highest standards of health and safety.

This year, more than 70 pubs and bars have applied for Best Bar None accreditation.

On June 14, successful venues will receive their certificates and awards will be presented for in a number of categories.

Other venues shortlisted for our family-friendly award are the Corn Exchange, Leicester Market; The Goose, Hotel Street; the High Cross, High Street; Polar Bear, Oxford Street, Revolution, New Walk; The Almanack, Bath House Lane; The Last Plantagenet, Granby Street; The Old Horse, London Road; The Slug and Lettuce, Market Street, and Yates's, Belvoir Street.

City council licensing manager Bobby Smiljanic said the awards, first held in 2007, were improving the standards.

She said: "We are exceptionally proud of the hard work that our premises demonstrate."

The vote runs from now until Tuesday, May 17. Use the voting form below.

Source: http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/32715/f/503348/s/14a8ebe8/l/0L0Sthisisleicestershire0O0Cnews0CPubs0Ewelcome0Eages0Carticle0E3530A5890Edetail0Carticle0Bhtml/story01.htm

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