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Vitamin D 'helps beat symptoms of asthma': Supplements could soon be used as treatment alongside other drugs

Mon, 20 May 2013 00:25:02 +0000

Scientists at King’s College London have discovered vitamin D has the potential to significantly cut the symptoms of sufferers. Reported by MailOnline 9 seconds ago.

Julian Assange reveals GCHQ messages discussing Swedish extradition

Mon, 20 May 2013 00:17:23 +0000

WikiLeaks founder uses subject access request to access British agency chatter, which allegedly calls extradition 'a fit-up'

Authorities at GCHQ, the government eavesdropping agency, are facing embarrassing revelations about internal correspondence in which Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is discussed, apparently including speculation that he is being framed by Swedish authorities seeking his extradition on rape allegations.

The records were revealed by Assange himself in a Sunday night interview with Spanish television programme Salvados in which he explained that an official request for information gave him access to instant messages that remained unclassified by GCHQ.

A message from September 2012, read out by Assange, apparently says: "They are trying to arrest him on suspicion of XYZ … It is definitely a fit-up… Their timings are too convenient right after Cablegate."

The messages appear to contain speculation and chatter between GCHQ employees, but Assange gave little further explanation about exactly who they came from.

The WikiLeaks founder, who has spent the past 11 months in the Ecuadorian embassy in London to avoid arrest and extradition to Sweden, claimed GCHQ had been unaware that it might have anything on him that was not classified.

"It won't hand over any of the classified information," he said. "But, much to its surprise, it has some unclassified information on us."

"We have just received this. It is not public yet," he added.

A second instant message conversation from August last year between two unknown people saw them call Assange a fool for thinking Sweden would drop its attempt to extradite him.

The conversation, as read out by Assange, goes: "He reckons he will stay in the Ecuadorian embassy for six to 12 months when the charges against him will be dropped, but that is not really how it works now is it? He's a fool… Yeah … A highly optimistic fool."

"This is what the spies are discussing amongst themselves," Assange told the Spanish television presenter Jordi Evolé.

The Cheltenham-based agency said: "We can confirm that GCHQ responded formally to the subject who made the request. The disclosed material includes personal comments between some members of staff and do not reflect GCHQ's policies or views in any way.

GCHQ is exempt from the Freedom of Information Act. However, it is understood that Assange's request was a subject access request, a mechanism under the Data Protection Act that can be used by individuals to obtain personal information that bodies hold about them.

On its website, the agency says : "As one of the UK's intelligence and security agencies, we gather and analyse digital and electronic signals from many channels, from all corners of the world".

"Converting this information into intelligence material, we play a significant role in informing national security, military operations, police activity and foreign policy." Reported by guardian.co.uk 8 minutes ago.

Set List: John Kennedy's Remedy Tram, London

Sun, 19 May 2013 23:41:09 +0000

XFM DJ John's enviable talent-spotting came good again at his club night, with three superb new acts. Reported by Daily Star 44 minutes ago.

Heidi Range is a star girl

Sun, 19 May 2013 23:41:09 +0000

HEIDI Range celebrated turning the big 3-0 with a massive party in central London. Reported by Daily Star 44 minutes ago.

British PM urges more action on tax from UK territories

Sun, 19 May 2013 23:53:24 +0000

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain called upon its overseas territories to "get their house in order" over the sharing of tax information on Monday as the UK looks to lead a global fight against tax evasion ahead of a meeting of the world's wealthiest states. Reported by Reuters 32 minutes ago.

Arsene Wenger promises to spend on Arsenal's squad

Sun, 19 May 2013 23:41:10 +0000

Arsene Wenger vowed to invest in the summer after Arsenal secured Champions League football for the 16th successive year. A 1-0 victory at Newcastle saw them edge north London rivals Tottenham. Reported by MailOnline 44 minutes ago.

Empty shops hit record high, retail study shows

Sun, 19 May 2013 23:29:56 +0000

One in eight shops lay vacant in April, according to the British Retail Consortium, the highest since July 2011

The number of empty shops on Britain's high streets and malls has hit a record high on the back of a struggling economy and changing shopping habits, industry data released on Monday showed.

Across the UK almost one in eight shops lay vacant in April 2013, according to the British Retail Consortium, the highest since it began collecting such data in July 2011. Almost one in five shops in Northern Ireland and Wales are boarded up, underscoring how far adrift these regions have become from the economic powerhouse of London, where just 1 in 14 shops are vacant.

In Scotland one in 10 shops are shuttered, just below the UK average.

The survey revealed troubling news for the south-west, where the number of empty premises jumped to 14 in 100 in April, up from 9.6 in January, putting this region on a par with northern England and Yorkshire, where one in seven shops are closed.

In contrast the tills are still ringing in London, where only 7.4 shops in 100 are empty, although the capital has seen a slight increase in closures since the start of the year. The wider south-east was not far behind London, with a vacancy rate of one in 10 shops.

"It is a major concern that the vacancy rate has reached a record high, driven by increases in almost every part of the UK," said Helen Dickinson, BRC director general. "With high streets topping the agenda for many now, there's a real opportunity to seize the moment and stem the tide of further closures." Rates were becoming a bigger and bigger cost that deterred retailers from opening new premises, she said, while lack of car parking kept some customers away.

The BRC report contained some cheer for retailers: the number of customers through store doors was up 1% in April compared to a year ago. "But this compares against a very rainy April 2012, when bad weather left a lot of shoppers running for cover," Dickinson said.

"The unsettled weather at the start of the month seems to have created pent-up demand, which brought many of us out to shop when more spring-like weather made an appearance."

London and the south-east boasted the keenest shoppers and saw the biggest year-on-year rises in footfall. In Northern Ireland and Wales the number of people passing through store doors fell by 6.4% and 2.1% respectively.

Across the UK, customers made a return to the high streets, where footfall was up 3.4% on last year, although they lost interest in out-of-town shopping malls, which registered a 3% fall in visitors.

Diane Wehrle at Springboard, which collected the data, said store closures are "creating holes in retail frontages", making out-of-town centres less attractive to shoppers.

Bill Grimsey, the former CEO of Wickes, Focus and Iceland, predicted that the number of closed shops would continue to rise. "The UK high street is simply a mirror image of the UK economy and the propensity to spend is going down," he said.

Weak spending power combined with a shift in customer habits to online shopping meant bricks-and mortar-outlets were in decline, he said. "Town centres will not recover as a shopping destination in the future. They need to recover as something completely different and it will be focused on social issues, such as housing, education and entertainment and daytime and evening time and night time cultures.

"It is a very complex business challenge that our councils … are unable to react to in the right way. They get seduced by developers wanting to put up shopping centres. But frankly the UK needs more shopping centres like it needs a hole in the head." Reported by guardian.co.uk 55 minutes ago.

Average London house price rockets past £500,000

Sun, 19 May 2013 23:29:56 +0000

Price rise stokes fears of a new house price bubble being fuelled by cheap mortgages and coalition schemes to revive market

New figures showing that the average asking price for a home in London has risen to more than £500,000 for the first time could add to fears of a new house price bubble being fuelled by cheap mortgages and government schemes to boost the market.

According to the Rightmove property website, the average price of a house coming on to the market in the capital jumped by £16,000, or 3.3%, in a month to a record £509,000, while the London borough of Camden has joined Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea in an "elite club" where the average price-tag is more than £1m.

The national average asking price has also hit a new high, having risen by more than £20,000, or 9.1%, since the start of 2013 to reach £249,000 – the strongest start to a year since 2004.

Cheap mortgage rates for those buyers with decent deposits, courtesy of the government's funding for lending scheme, are driving positive sentiment, said a spokesman.

In London, with demand for properties far outstripping supply, open-house viewings attended by multiple buyers were becoming more commonplace, and sealed bids were the norm in some areas, the website claimed.

Rightmove's data comes days after the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) said funding for lending and the "help to buy" initiative announced in the March budget were responsible for a strong pickup in demand for residential property that was not yet matched by an increase in the supply of homes to buy.

Rics this week said conditions were at their most buoyant since mid-2010.

The help to buy scheme is made up of two parts: a scheme where the government will partially guarantee £130bn of low-deposit mortgages with the aim of enabling many more people to obtain a home loan without the need for a prohibitively large deposit, and a £3.5bn investment in government loans to financially stretched homebuyers. However, Rics warned in March that ministers "need to be careful this doesn't create another housing bubble – pushing prices up at the expense of buyers".

The Bank of England governor, Sir Mervyn King, weighed in on the issue on Sunday, telling Sky News' Murnaghan programme that the scheme must not become a permanent one. "This scheme is a little too close for comfort to a general scheme to guarantee mortgages," he said.

Meanwhile, funding for lending allows lenders to borrow from the Bank at below market rates so they can make cheaper loans to businesses and first-time buyers – but some lenders have used this cheap money to offer mortgages with record-low rates that are only available to customers with big deposits.

Lending to first-time buyers has increased in recent months, though at the same time the buy-to-let market appears to be enjoying a new lease of life, with figures issued by the Council of Mortgage Lenders this month showing that lending to landlords jumped in the first quarter of this year.

Miles Shipside at Rightmove, which claims to feature about 90% of all properties for sale, said: "Despite a new national record, it's not 'green shoots of recovery' across the board, especially for the deposit-strapped mass market. They must wait patiently until January, when the Help to Buy scheme extends to the resale market, unless new homes developers can increase building dramatically this year."

According to the website, the average asking price of a newly marketed property in England and Wales rose for the fifth consecutive month, and every region notched up an increase.

Among the regions that have achieved strong price growth over the past month are the north of England (up £6,182, or 4.2%) and East Anglia (up £8,909, or 4%). However, it is the strength of the London market that has surprised many observers. At £509,870, the average asking price in the capital is £40,500 higher than it was a year ago, when the typical figure stood at £469,314.

London's best-performing boroughs included Camden, where average asking prices jumped 7.2% in a month to reach £1.05m; Brent (up 5.9% to £732,000); and Lambeth (up 5.6% to £529,000), according the site.

Shipside said one problem was that new seller numbers were down by 5% in 2013 compared with last year, which was fuelling demand. Meanwhile, some fortunate buyers had benefited from financial assistance from parents and other family members. Rightmove said the "Bank of Mum and Dad" was supporting more than one in three of London's first-time buyers. Reported by guardian.co.uk 55 minutes ago.

The ‘Beverly Hills’ of Surrey pays more income tax than big cities of the North

Sun, 19 May 2013 23:18:17 +0000

A small leafy enclave to the south-west of London, where Elton John, Cliff Richard, Ringo Starr and Jenson Button live, has been revealed as the biggest payer of income tax in the country. Reported by Independent 1 hour ago.

Spurs suffer Euro agony despite Bale magic

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:53:46 +0000

May 20, 2013 6:16 AM

LONDON (AFP) - Gareth Bale scored another stunning late winner for Tottenham, but his side's 1-0 victory over 10-man Sunderland was not enough to win the battle to qualify for the Champions League on Sunday.

Reported by Straits Times 2 hours ago.

Liverpool legend Carragher bows out on high

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:53:46 +0000

May 20, 2013 6:16 AM

LONDON (AFP) - Liverpool gave retiring stalwart Jamie Carragher a fitting send off by beating the Premier League's bottom club QPR 1-0 at an emotional Anfield on Sunday.

Reported by Straits Times 2 hours ago.

Sunderland's Paolo Di Canio slams 'arrogant, ignorant' players

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:53:46 +0000

• Photo of Phil Bardsley covered in £50 notes 'disgusting'
• 'We must bring in six or seven players' after loss at Tottenham

Paolo Di Canio has painted a remarkable picture of wide-ranging indiscipline in his Sunderland squad, claiming that the levels of "arrogance" and "ignorance" are worse than those he encountered at Swindon Town, his previous club, and making it plain he wants to see sweeping changes in personnel over the summer.

The manager opened up as he explained the reasons for the omission of Phil Bardsley from the squad that travelled to London for Sunday's 1-0 defeat against Tottenham Hotspur. Di Canio had been incandescent when he saw a photograph of the defender lying on a casino floor and covered in £50 notes.

Bardsley and some of his teammates had gone out to watch Arsenal's televised victory over Wigan Athletic on Tuesday night – the result that secured Sunderland's Premier League survival – and he went on to the casino with one of them, Matt Kilgallon.

Di Canio said that the photograph of Bardsley, which was posted on a website, had disgusted him, but it quickly became apparent that the indiscretion was not the only thing that had bothered him since he took over from Martin O'Neill at the end of March.

Di Canio fined seven of his squad last week alone for various breaches of the code of conduct that he has introduced and he spoke with scarcely concealed contempt at the attitude of certain players, dwelling upon what he sees as their flippant regard for the basic rules of the profession.

"At the beginning, I thought it was difficult," Di Canio said. "Week by week … daily … I discover that we have more problems than I expected. That's why I said to everybody we made a miracle [to avoid relegation] because what we discovered this week is only one aspect of the problems we've got. It doesn't mean that everybody goes out every night and has a drink session. No. I'm talking in general about professionalism.

"This week, there have been seven fined and this morning, once again … a player that I could not involve in the squad for a different reason decided: 'I don't train today.' He said he had food poisoning. He made the diagnosis. Sorry, are you the doctor? The doctor tried to contact him. Three hours, he switched off his telephone. This is the situation at Sunderland."

Bardsley accepted being left out of the squad and denied that he had been drunk. But Di Canio tore into him. "What we saw is something really wrong, it's disgusting me even to see the image for the club," he said. "It's not about going out late with your friend and getting back at two, three o'clock, which is late but you can close one eye. But full of alcohol?

"It takes three or four days [to recover]. I realised in the morning [on Wednesday], before I had seen the picture, that I wouldn't play Phil on Sunday. I told my assistant. Why? I speak to him [Bardsley] and he look in the sky. He can't listen. He's blurry.

"We have a fantastic academy … but if we don't punish this kind of behaviour, how do they grow up? Thinking they can laugh about what they saw on the website picture? Maybe they think it's fantastic; to be like a gangster. But what mentality are we going to deliver?"

Di Canio spoke with rising levels of anger about the fines that he had handed out last week. One, he said, was to an injured player who left the club at lunchtime and switched off his phone. He also mentioned an incident after the 6-1 defeat at Aston Villa on 29 April when a few players ambled in 20 minutes late for a 4pm meeting the following day.

"When I gave the fine the day after [to the injured player], he was surprised," Di Canio said. "Before, it was normal. To leave and switch off the phone, and the day after everybody forgot because it was more convenient. They don't have friction with the player. I don't care about having an argument with my players.

"This is the behaviour in the Premier League, at a club that every year spent millions and millions. It's not acceptable. I thought that at Swindon … arrogant, ignorant footballers … I have to tell you, unfortunately, I found a worse environment in terms of discipline at this club. This is what I found so we have to change completely."

Di Canio was asked whether he would be prepared to keep the indisciplined players. He said he was not. "We need to bring in six or seven players," he added, "… who know how to behave and have a professional ethic. Otherwise, for me, it's difficult. The owner knows many things. He told me: 'We are going to change many things. Relax.' So it sounds that he supports me completely. We will see in the future." Reported by guardian.co.uk 2 hours ago.

Amol Rajan: The loveliest place to play the game

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:29:45 +0000

Half a lifetime ago, when I played there for London Schools, I was convinced that Arundel was the most beautiful ground in all England. Reported by Independent 2 hours ago.

Is David Cameron Losing Control?

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:11:17 +0000

By Mohammed Abbas
LONDON, May 19 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron is "losing control of his party", Conservative Party grandee Geoffrey Howe said on Sunday, as a row raged over whether a close aide to Cameron had labelled grassroots activists "mad, swivel-eyed loons".
The furore threatens to further alienate Cameron and his inner circle from the core of his party, with whom ties are already almost at breaking point.
Differences with the grassroots over Britain's membership of the European Union and Cameron's support for legalising same-sex marriage have raised questions over his leadership and could hurt the party's chances in the next election, due in 2015.
"Sadly, by making it clear in January that he opposes the current terms of UK membership of the EU, the prime minister has opened a Pandora's box politically and seems to be losing control of his party in the process," Howe wrote in an article for the Observer newspaper.
Howe was former prime minister Margaret Thatcher's longest-serving cabinet minister, but fell out with her over relations with Europe and is best remembered for a scathing resignation speech that helped topple her as leader in 1990.
Cameron's Conservatives have been rattled by the surging popularity of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), whose main aims are to pull Britain out of the EU and curb immigration.
Its rise has fuelled a heated national debate over whether Britain derives sufficient benefits from EU membership to outweigh the financial cost and the ceding of some important powers to Brussels, like the ability to limit immigrants from the other 26 countries in the union.
An opinion poll by pollster ComRes for the Sunday Mirror and Independent on Sunday newspapers put support for UKIP at 19 percent, which ComRes said was the highest level the party had achieved in any survey yet.
The opposition Labour party led with 35 percent, while the Conservatives were on 29 percent and their Liberal Democrat coalition partners on 8.
"The ratchet-effect of Euroscepticism has now gone so far that the Conservative leadership is in effect running scared of its own backbenchers, let alone UKIP," Howe said, referring to the hundreds of rank-and-file Conservative members of parliament who occupy the rows of seats behind Cameron and his ministers.

REFERENDUM PROMISE
In January, Cameron promised that if the Conservatives won the 2015 election they would call a national referendum in 2017 on whether Britain should stay in or leave the EU. But that did not go far enough for many Conservatives, who last week forced him to back a new bill that would enshrine it in law.
The Conservatives' restive right wing also last week voted to criticise the government's legislative agenda for not including such a bill in the first place, an unusual move in British politics that embarrassed Cameron.
Compounding Cameron's problems are media reports that an un-named close aide, at a private dinner last week, described the Conservative grassroots as "swivel-eyed loons".
Cameron's office says the comment did not come from them, and insist the prime minister is still in charge of his party.
The row comes at an especially bad time for Cameron, whose flagship bill to legalise same-sex marriage will be debated in parliament this week. Conservative activists wrote to Cameron on Sunday warning that the move would boost UKIP's membership.
"The prime minister seems to have gathered around himself a metropolitan elite who seem to inhabit a different planet to most of us ... Droves of previously loyal Conservative Party members are leaving," Bob Woollard, chairman of the Conservative Grassroots umbrella group, told the BBC.
Cameron says he would like to do more to satisfy the Conservative core, but is held back by being in coalition with the left-leaning Liberal Democrats.
Ties between the two parties have frequently come under strain since they teamed up in 2010, but they have pledged to stay together to help revive Britain's weak economy.
However, in an article published on Sunday, Cameron hinted that he could end the partnership before the 2015 election.
"Can we improve the state of the country? Can we fulfil our manifesto? The best way to do that is to continue with the coalition, but if that wasn't the case then we'd have to face the new circumstances in whatever way we should," he told Britain's Total Politics magazine. (Editing by Mark Trevelyan) Reported by Huffington Post 2 hours ago.

Morecambe & Wise Immortalised With Blue Plaque

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:28:13 +0000

Legendary British comedy duo Morecambe & Wise has been honoured with a special tribute in London.Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise recorded the majority... Reported by ContactMusic 2 hours ago.

Robert Plant Duets With Patty Griffin At Album Launch

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:28:13 +0000

Rocker Robert Plant showed his support for partner Patty Griffin by duetting with the singer during her album launch in London on Thursday night... Reported by ContactMusic 2 hours ago.

Thanks for everything! Andrey Arshavin says goodbye to Arsenal

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:05:33 +0000

Andrey Arshavin has thanked everyone connected to Arsenal after the Russian’s spell in north London came to an end following the Gunners’ final game of the season. The 31-year-old made nine substitute appearances in this season’s Premier League and Champions League, as well as two starts in the League Cup. Gunners boss Arsène Wenger revealed [...] Reported by The Sport Review 2 hours ago.

Jamie Dimon Could Be Dealt A Major Blow This Week

Sun, 19 May 2013 21:51:36 +0000

NEW YORK -- Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of the country's biggest bank, faces a key test this week: His shareholders are voting on whether to let him keep both jobs.

It's been just more than a year since his bank, JPMorgan Chase, revealed a surprise trading loss that tarnished its usually stellar reputation in Washington and on Wall Street, and what a difference it has made. Shareholder groups are calling for the bank to strip him of his chairman job, a move that would be a bruising referendum against a man who's normally chieftain even among other big-bank CEOs. They're also lobbying to kick out multiple long-time board members, saying they should have done more to detect or prevent the trading loss.

In all, it's a powerful reminder of how fortunes can quickly shift in the banking industry, and how banks, supposedly chastened by the financial crisis, are still stumbling through regulatory and legal crises.

On Tuesday, at the bank's annual meeting in Tampa, Fla., union group AFSCME, the New York City Comptroller's Office and other fund managers will ask bank shareholders to approve a proposal asking JPMorgan to split the roles of chairman and CEO, and to give the chairman job to someone who isn't a bank employee. The underlying idea is to install stricter checks and balances against Dimon and other top bank executives.

A similar measure got 40 percent approval at last year's meeting, which was held just days after the bank announced the so-called London whale loss. In the previous six annual meetings where Dimon has been both chairman and CEO, shareholders have been asked about separating the roles four times, and last year marked the highest level of votes in favor of the idea. In 2007 and 2008, only about 15 percent of shareholders voted for similar measures.

"Even a Master of the Universe can be swallowed by a London whale," said AFSCME president Lee Saunders. The loss is nicknamed for the location of the trader who made the outsized bets on complex debt securities that went wrong, eventually losing the bank $6 billion.

Both Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services, two influential firms that give advice to big shareholders, are recommending that the jobs be split. Glass Lewis is also recommending getting rid of six of the 10 independent board members, and ISS recommends booting three.

The board has defended Dimon. It says that keeping him in both jobs is its "most effective leadership model." It's an arrangement that they are used to: Six of the 10 independent board members are or have been the simultaneous chairman and CEO of other businesses. Lee Raymond, who is No. 2 on the board behind Dimon, is the retired chairman and CEO of Exxon Mobil.

The board also points out that JPMorgan has done well under Dimon, who guided it through the financial crisis and nursed it to emerge as one of the strongest banks in the country. It says it meets regularly without him and has taken steps to clean up the practices that caused the trading loss, including cutting Dimon's 2012 pay – down 19 percent to $18.7 million, according to Associated Press formulas for executive compensation, though the bank calculates that it cut his pay by half.

At an investor conference in February, Dimon dismissed the groups lobbying to separate the jobs as "all the union investors," and called the debate "a sideshow." He also said that he wouldn't have gone to Bank One, a troubled Chicago bank that he took over and turned around in the early 2000s, if the bank hadn't given him the leeway to be both chairman and CEO. "Troubled company, big turnaround, divided board?" he said. "Not me. Life is too short."

It's not clear what would happen if shareholders vote to take away Dimon's chairman job. The proposal is non-binding, so technically the bank doesn't have to follow it. In 2009, shareholders at Bank of America voted to split the jobs, and the bank took away the chairman title from chairman and CEO Ken Lewis. Later that year, he resigned from the bank entirely.

Last year, shareholders at just four U.S. companies voted to split chairman and CEO roles, according to ISS. So far this year, shareholders at only one company, department store chain Kohl's, have voted to separate the jobs.

At a public company, the board is essentially supposed to be the boss of the CEO, hiring and firing him and reining him in from risky practices that could hurt shareholders. Shareholder activists say that if the CEO is also running the board, then the board can hardly police him. Many companies argue that the CEO knows the company better than anyone and is best equipped to run the board as well.

Dimon, 57, a native of Queens and grandson of a Greek immigrant, is an essential player in banking's world order. During a time of increased public anger against the industry, and as some of his peers tried to fly under the radar, he was outspoken, defending big paydays for bankers and criticizing some of the government's proposed new rules for the industry. He was President Obama's confidante in the banking industry, and then the banking leader with the guts and credibility to challenge him.

"He's obviously a brilliant executive," said Brandon Rees, acting director of the investment office at the AFL-CIO, a union group that supports splitting the roles. "But it's a rare quality for brilliance to be accompanied by lack of hubris."

Not everyone thinks that getting rid of Dimon would be best for shareholders. CLSA analyst Mike Mayo predicts that the stock would plunge 10 percent, noting there's no obvious successor. Nomura analyst Glenn Schorr, writing to clients last week after a meeting with Dimon, said he found it "fascinating" that investors were considering "shrinking the role of one of the best managers there's ever been in the business."

What everyone agrees on is this: From a public relations perspective, it's been a tough year at JPMorgan Chase & Co. Many of Dimon's highest-level executives have departed, including co-chief operating officer Frank Bisignano, who left in April to become CEO of payment processor First Data. The bank is also under extra scrutiny from regulators who are examining not only the trading loss but also the bank's foreclosure practices, its controls for preventing money laundering and other areas.

"Let me be perfectly clear: These problems were our fault, and it is our job to fix them," Dimon wrote in the annual letter to shareholders this year. "In fact, I feel terrible that we let our regulators down." Reported by Huffington Post 3 hours ago.

Leading climate scientist: Canada’s tar sands makes climate change ‘unsolvable’

Sun, 19 May 2013 21:48:05 +0000

Major international oil companies are buying off governments, according to the world’s most prominent climate scientist, Prof James Hansen. During a visit to London, he accused the Canadian government of acting as the industry’s tar sands salesman and “holding a club” over the UK and European nations to accept its “dirty” oil. “Oil from tar sands makes sense only for a small number of people who are making a lot of money from that product,” he [...] Reported by Raw Story 3 hours ago.

Karen Ruimy: Glamour and Riots in Paris: An Evening With Eva Longoria and David Beckham

Sun, 19 May 2013 21:18:05 +0000

This week, Eva Longoria invited me to co-chair the Global Gift Gala that she organizes every year in Paris, Cannes, London, Marbella, LA and Mexico. It is an amazingly generous event where she honours a charity. Since its initiation in 2011, the Global Gift Gala has benefitted more than 10 foundations and raised over $12m. This year they are honoring The Great Initiative the charity I established with Mariella Frostrup fighting for gender equality in the world.

The gala presents the work of the charity it is supporting and a part of the proceeds are generously given to it. The bala is the epitome of glamour and entertainment. Eva throws all her enthusiastic energy into it. She presents the people, the causes, she helps the auction - and boy is she good at it. She puts her name and her fame to the service of the gala. She usually invites other big names to attract donors. This week she invited David Beckham to the Paris gala...!

It is a fantastic philanthropic venture. Sharing time with Eva I discovered that she is a truly passionate philanthropist and is dedicated to many causes. First, she finances schools for disabled children in the US. Second, she became a public figure for the Latin-American community, and was an official supporter of the Obama campaign. Now she is passionate about dedicating her foundation to gender equality, which is why we are partnering so well.

The gala was a huge success at the Hotel Georges V. It felt like a preview of the Cannes Film Festival. The flower arrangements were designed by the famous florist Jeff Leatham, the dinner by the Georges V hotel's two-starred executive chef Eric Briffard. There was a red carpet, lots of paparazzi, a very chic crowd. Lots of French TV stars were there as well as actors and singers. The auction offered Roland Garros French Open box seats from Serena Williams, some beautiful scooters, trips to a castle in France, a trip to the gala in Marbella. The entertainment included the successful candidates of the French version of The Voice, which is huge. The famous presenter of Star Academy, Nikos Aliagas, was the master of ceremonies.

But with all the glamour there was still a disaster! At the last minute David Beckham couldn't come... That night, Paris Saint-Germain won the French football league after 19 years, and the team were celebrating. There was a certain amount of regret that the team had won and stole our football legend for the evening! Little did we realize that David would also be announcing his retirement from football this week, so unknown to all of us, it was a major celebration for him - but I was still very disappointed not to meet the world's most famous footballer - who also happens to be rather gorgeous! David however did take the time to send us a lovely film. He looked beautiful and relaxed and was really happy to receive the Global Gift Philanthropist Award from the Global Gift Gala Foundation.

The crowd at the event was really happy that he sent the film, but at the very same time that we were watching the video of David, Paris was under siege with a series of unexpected riots! Yes, hard to believe as it was, but a few minutes away from all the glamour of the gala, a group of extremist hooligans seized the opportunity of the city's celebrations to fill the streets around the Trocadéro with violence - an area which is usually very quiet and bourgeois.

They broke shop windows and set cars ablaze - they robbed and attacked other supporters. Many people called for the Minister of the Interior Manuel Valls to be dismissed for allowing such unimaginable and uncontrolled riots to happen in the streets of Paris. It turned out that due to the riots David Beckham couldn't celebrate the glory of his club and his last ever game of professional football.

But with all this happening, bizarrely enough the UK media didn't really talk about this major violent event happening in the streets of one of the closest foreign European capitals to London. Outside of the gala it was a total nightmare, the guests couldn't leave the venue, all the cars were blocked in and the streets were closed as the hooligans went mad around the gorgeous Place du Trocadéro!

An evening of strange contrasts.

Karen Ruimy is co-founder of the GREAT initiative (Gender Rights & Equality Action Trust) www.thegreatinitiative.com. Her new album Come With Me is out on May 28 available for download from iTunes http://bit.ly/145noRw. Karen will be appearing at Mind Body Spirit at Earls Court 24-27 May. www.karenruimy.com Reported by Huffington Post 3 hours ago.

Ed McKeever misses out on podium place at second World Cup meeting

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:23:08 +0000

This is Bath -- Olympic champion Ed McKeever suffered a rare disappointment at this year's second Canoe Sprint World Cup in Racice, Czech Republic. The hugely-consistent Bradford on Avon paddler missed out on a podium place in today's K1 200m final as he was forced to settle for fourth spot behind winner Marko Dragosavljevic of Serbia. McKeever picked up a silver medal in the opening round of the series in Szeged, Hungary, a week previously as he returned to international competition for the first time since his London 2012 triumph. Afterwards, he turned his attentions to next month's European Championships in Zagreb. McKeever said: "I'm a little disappointed but there are plenty of improvements to make with the Euros in four weeks." Reported by This is 2 hours ago.

US fund Monarch to open office in London

Sun, 19 May 2013 21:51:59 +0000

US hedge fund has about a fifth of its $5.5bn under management invested in Europe and expects the figure to grow as more opportunities arise Reported by FT.com 3 hours ago.

Jonny Wilkinson says Heineken Cup win has released his World Cup angst

Sun, 19 May 2013 21:28:24 +0000

Clermont Auvergne 15-16 Toulon

It has become a familiar refrain but Gary Player's favourite one-liner sprang to mind as Jonny Wilkinson hoisted the most personally-satisfying trophy of his life on Saturday, the 2003 Rugby World Cup included. "The more I practise the luckier I get," observed Player, golf's black-clad equivalent of the perpetually-driven Wilkinson, and the age-old truism neatly summed up Toulon's remarkable Heineken Cup heist.

How else to explain the defeat of a Clermont team who, in almost every regard, had the better of a truly thunderous all-French final? Toulon enjoyed just 25% territory and less than a third of the game's possession but still somehow emerged as champions of Europe, propelled by the unshakeable example of their English fly-half and captain who, during the quarter-final, semi-final and final combined, landed every single place-kick he attempted. The lethal Wilkinson boot, regardless of shirt colour or surroundings, continues to prove mightier than the sword.

His galvanising influence on players around him, not to mention his contented expression as he held the trophy, was equally impossible to ignore in a Lions context. It was Alex King, Clermont's assistant coach and a former England squad-mate, who put it most succinctly: "If I was Warren Gatland I would take Wilkinson tomorrow because he is a matchwinner. We've seen it throughout his whole career. If the Lions want to win the Test series they've got to have players like that in their squad, simple as that."

The fly-half's Toulon colleagues also formed a patient queue to big up the man who, for a long time, feared his life and career would forever struggle to live up to his momentous 2003 drop-goal in Sydney. "I don't know what's going on but I'm sure there'll definitely be a call-up to the Lions," insisted Delon Armitage, whose 64th-minute try swung a contest which had been heading inexorably towards the Massif Central. "I hope he does go because he's the best 10 in Europe, if not the world, at the minute." The Australian Matt Giteau felt likewise. "I've never seen anyone train and work as hard, not for himself but for the team. It's great for me that he's not going on the Lions tour. I'm an Australian."

The former London Irish lock Nick Kennedy, another exultant member of Toulon's foreign legion, also reckons Wilkinson's intense loyalty to his club encourages his team-mates — and Toulon's supporters — to go the extra mile. "We are so grateful to him as a team because when we are at home sitting on our arses he is out there kicking, working for moments like this," explained Kennedy, understandably savouring a result which will forever rate among his favourite memories. "Jonny loves Toulon, and everyone in Toulon loves Jonny."

As for the man himself, – he was named European player of the year on Sunday – a rare sense of inner peace was discernible as he reflected on an outcome which seemed far-fetched when Napolioni Nalaga and Brock James scored rat-a-tat tries inside six minutes early in the second-half to put Clermont ahead 15-6. In the morning Wilkinson had been unable to practice his goal-kicking at the stadium but he still never looked like missing the crucial angled conversion of Armitage's try, Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe having stolen a game-changing turnover.

"Before the Twickenham game against Saracens I felt fabulous. Before this game I didn't feel amazing. Even just before the game, I missed a couple and my head started to go. I was thinking: 'Hold on, why did that go like that?'" said Wilkinson.

Toulon's first European title, though, has finally brought him not just the warm glow of late-career silverware but a sense of belated release. The 2003 World Cup may have thrilled a nation but it left the perfectionist in Wilkinson deeply concerned. "At the time I almost hated it … I was worrying I had topped out at 24 and that was it. The 2003 World Cup was great but it felt like something was almost battling me every time I stepped on the field afterwards. Now we've got to a final and it feels like you've written something. At the end of your career — a bit like Martin Johnson and Lawrence Dallaglio and others who experience these incredible highs — you can actually start to appreciate that it's done and is something that will last forever. I was always so worried the World Cup was going to be the last thing. Now I can enjoy it and appreciate it. I don't have to compete with it."

Quite what this savage disappointment will do for Clermont remains to be seen; their habit of losing winnable finals has suddenly returned. Depending on the outcome of this week's Top 14 semi-finals they could confront Toulon again in the French championship final but David Skrela's late charged-down drop-goal was caused by a lack of clear thinking as much as Mathieu Bastareaud's onrushing presence. It all left Toulon's president, Mourad Boudjellal, virtually delirious with joy. "Tonight I'm gonna get drunk, listen to James Brown and at midnight I'll say 'I feel good!'" he roared. Quite.

*Clermont* Byrne; Sivivatu, Rougerie (capt; King, 69), Fofana, Nalaga; James (Skrela, 72), Parra (Radosavljevic, 71); Domingo (Debaty, 67), Kayser (Paulo, 67), Zirakashvili (Ric, 72), Cudmore, Hines, Bonnaire, Vosloo (Bardy, 69), Chouly.

*Tries* Nalaga, James. *Con* Parra. *Pen* Parra.

*Toulon* D Armitage; Wulf, Bastareaud, Giteau, Palisson; Wilkinson (capt), Tillous-Borde (Michalak, 51); Sheridan (Jenkins, 61), Bruno (Orioli, 51), Hayman (Kubriashvili, 77), Botha (Suta, 69), Kennedy, Rossouw (Van Niekerk, 51), Fernández-Lobbe, Masoe (S Armitage, 69)

*Try* D Armitage. *Con* Wilkinson. *Pens* Wilkinson 3

*Referee* A Rolland (Ireland). *Att* 51,142 Reported by guardian.co.uk 3 hours ago.

An Emotional Ending to David Beckham's Soccer Career

Sun, 19 May 2013 21:53:05 +0000

Watch Video

(Image Source: Sky News)

*BY CANDICE AVILES*

Tears, standing ovations and a victory was how soccer superstar David Beckham ended his more than two-decade-long career Saturday night.

*“Tonight was a nice way to go out in front of my own fans. In front of a crowd that were excited because we won the league. Celebrations have been incredible.”* (Via Sky News)

His team won 3-1 against Brest. Beckham also noted his team has one more game to play but said he likely won’t play in it. (Via ESPN)

The Paris Saint-Germain’s coach made Beckham captain for the night. He also started the game but was subbed out 82 minutes into it. CNN reports as Beckham realized his 847-game career was winding down his emotions got the best of him.

*“I expected to have them a little bit but it was hard. You try to fight it back but it’s always difficult."* (Via ESPN)

It was an emotional but somewhat perfect ending to Beckham’s star-studded career.

*“A global icon, he’s renowned for his ever changing hair cuts, the fashion triumphs and failures, the ad campaigns and of course that key role to help him bring the 2012 olympics to london.”* (Via BBC)

The Telegraph reports as Beckham slowly walked off the pitch, the crowd rose for a standing ovation. In the crowd was Beckham’s family, his wife, former Spice Girl Victoria, and even former French president Nicolas Sarkozy. (Via Feint Zebra, The Telegrah)

What’s next for the soccer star? Reports are surfacing that Beckham won’t go too far from soccer at all.

A writer for MLS reports Beckham may look to own an MLS expansion team, reportedly in the Miami market. They quote Beckham saying, *“I feel like I’m starting a new adventure and I’m genuinely excited about what lies ahead. I’m fortunate to have been given many opportunities throughout my career and now I feel it’s my time to give back.”*

Beckham retires as the only English player to win league titles in four different countries with teams Manchester United, Real Madrid, Los Angeles Galaxy and Paris Saint-Germain. Reported by Newsy 3 hours ago.

Privatised service is failing NHS patients – official

Sun, 19 May 2013 20:53:36 +0000

A private company that took over the running of a GP out-of-hours service in north London has been severely criticised by the NHS regulator for failing to provide enough doctors to keep patients safe. Reported by Independent 4 hours ago.