http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/UxUebwLjMpY/docky-separates-from-gnome-do-still-a-clever-linux-app-dock

Linux: Application launcher GNOME Do has a "theme" called Docky that we rated as an intelligent Linux interface. Now Docky is available as its own application, bringing many of its best features over and setting the stage for many more.

Docky was a clever app for GNOME Do to integrate with, offering application launching and an OS X-like Dock from a single screen space. It was, however, not quite a perfect pairing, as it tied together a lot of of processes, and was somewhat inconsistent and slightly buggy in how it operated. As its own separate software project and app, it's free to develop, and even in the first alpha of 2.0 available, it's worth checking out as a desktop power tool.

The "docklets" and plug-ins that were present in GNOME Do, like battery, CPU, and weather monitors are still around, while smart items like a Gmail notifier and recent documents icon have been added. The interface is also more functional, allowing for dragging-and-dropping files from the desktop to dock folder icons, and opening files in certain apps by dragging files on them. You can run multiple docks, change each of their themes, icon sizes, and zoom levels, and run Docky in "Panel Mode," taking up the whole of a window edge.

Docky is a free download for Linux systems only; an easily installed Ubuntu repository and source code are available at the link.

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http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/6dmtluxh-yQ/how-to-run-google-chrome-os-from-a-thumb-drive

Last week we pointed you toward a virtual machine build of Chrome OS for anyone eager to play around with (the still incomplete) Chrome OS, but if you'd rather try running it from a thumb drive, weblog MakeUseOf has you covered.

Tech blogger Jorge Sierra details how to install Chrome OS on a bootable thumb drive so you can run it like any other live OS—like a Linux Live CD, for example. Keep in mind, however, that the build is still very young (and technically it's still Chromium OS), and even if you follow all of the directions perfectly, you may still run into some problems. For example:

Chromium OS may or may not work on your computer hardware. I did successfully run it on two home-built frankenstein computers (with ASUS motherboards), but it did not successfully recognize the network adapter on my Dell laptop. All of this work may be for nothing, if it ends up that Chromium OS does not like your network adapter.

Still, it's a fun little afternoon project, especially if you're eager to try Chrome OS. If you've played with a build since last week's preview, let's hear how it worked out for you in the comments.

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http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/index/~3/S3lRkUmkokE/mozilla-reports-786-million-in-revenue-for-2008.ars

http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/11/mozilla-reports-786-million-in-revenue-for-2008.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss

Mozilla has published its audited financial statements from 2008, reporting $78.6 million in revenue for the fiscal year—a five percent increase from 2007. Aside from a weakened investment portfolio, the browser maker has not been hit hard by the economic recession.

Mozilla's organizational structure and governance model are a bit unusual. The Mozilla Corporation is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the non-profit Mozilla Foundation. The corporation, which is taxable, serves as a vehicle for managing the organization's business relationships. The foundation, which has tax-exempt status, holds the organization's intellectual property and directs its policies and mission.

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http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp11162009.shtml

If there are any problems with the comic or website, or if you have any questions, comments, or complaints you would like to address directly to Randy, please email him at choochoobear@gmail.com.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/nov/23/chilcot-inquiry-iraq-war

Panel members criticised for lacking legal expertise to tackle key issue

The Chilcot inquiry is incapable of addressing the key issue of whether the invasion of Iraq was legal, senior judicial figures have said, adding to the controversy surrounding the inquiry's legitimacy.

The inquiry into one of the most contentious political decisions of modern times begins hearing evidence tomorrow, and its chairman, Sir John Chilcot, has insisted that the legality of the invasion in 2003 will be one of the key issues it addresses.

But one senior judge told the Guardian that analysing the war's legality was beyond the panel's competence.It does not include a single judge or lawyer.

"The truth of the matter is, if the inquiry was going to express a view with any kind of authority on the question of legality, it would need a legal member and quite a senior one," the judge said. "Looking at the membership … it seems to me that legality just wasn't going to be a question they would be asked to review."

Another senior legal figure said: "The panel clearly lacks the expertise to address the question of legality. The members are not experienced at cross-examination – it is simply not their skill set."

The criticisms come after the chairman of the inquiry has been repeatedly forced to defend its approach amid claims that the process is a "whitewash".

There have been repeated calls from influential legal and judicial figures for an investigation into whether the invasion of Iraq was illegal, including the former senior law lord Lord Bingham, who last year reiterated that it was "a serious violation of international law".

Sir John Chilcot, a former senior civil servant who was criticised for adopting a "light touch" in some aspects of his questioning during the Hutton inquiry and whom critics regard as having strong links with the establishment, appeared to acknowledge demands for an investigation of legality recently by confirming that Tony Blair, and possibly the former attorney general Lord Goldsmith, would be called to give evidence.

But scrutiny of the panel's lack of experience on law and cross-examination techniques raises questions about the willingness of the government, which established the inquiry, to look seriously at whether the government acted illegally.

"Some of the debates around the legality of the war are quite sophisticated – it is not all clear-cut," the senior legal figure said. "It's going to be very difficult to deal with someone like Blair without a panel experienced in cross-examination.".

"Looking into the legality of the war is the last thing the government wants," said the judge. "And actually, it's the last thing the opposition wants either because they voted for the war. There simply is not the political pressure to explore the question of legality – they have not asked because they don't want the answer."

Last month it emerged that Dame Rosalyn Higgins, former judge and president of the international court of justice – the world's highest court – was to be a legal adviser to the panel. But Higgins, who is highly regarded in legal circles but also said to be an "establishment figure", will not sit on the panel or cross-examine.

"Lawyers are trained to weigh up evidence and will know and say when they see a decision-making process that appears to be out of the ordinary," said the British international law expert Professor Philippe Sands QC. "The fact that the members of the inquiry do not include a lawyer is very, very telling".

Experts also criticised Chilcot's statement todaythat the inquiry was "not definitive in the sense of a court verdict". "That's an avoidance strategy" to "keep control of the agenda", one said.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/nov/23/mps-expenses-police-mps-peers

• Director of prosecutions to decide if trials take place
• Accused parliamentarians all deny wrongdoing

Scotland Yard believes it has uncovered enough evidence to bring criminal charges against four MPs and peers for allegedly abusing their expenses. Police announced they had sent files of evidence concerning four parliamentarians to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Keir Starmer, the director of public prosecutions, will now oversee the decision on whether any MPs or peers should be charged, and for what alleged offences.

The offences being investigated – fraud and false accounting – carry sentences of up to 10 years on conviction.

The CPS decision on prosecutions is not expected until the new year, making it unlikely that any trial would begin before the general election, which must be held by June 2010 at the latest.

The expenses row engulfed scores of MPs and peers, but police narrowed their investigations to concentrate on a handful of parliamentarians. Insiders in the criminal justice system say the fact that the Met sent the files to the CPS means detectives believe they have enough evidence to put before a jury.

The Met refused to name those accused, but six names have consistently been mentioned in media reports and at Westminster as facing possible criminal action.

Labour MP Elliot Morley said he did not know whether his case was among the files passed to the CPS. "I have heard absolutely nothing. I have no idea where this story has come from," he said.

Asked whether her case was among those involved, the Labour peer Baroness Uddin said: "I could not possibly comment."

Media reports had suggested that five Labour politicians and one Conservative might face prosecution. They are Morley – a former minister, David Chaytor and Jim Devine, and peers Uddin, Lord Hanningfield and Lord Clarke of Hampstead.

Morley and Chaytor both claimed taxpayer reimbursements for "phantom mortgages" they had long since paid off – amounts they have since paid back to the taxpayer.

Morley claimed more than £16,000 in this way, and also admitted wrongly claiming £20,000 in mortgage capital repayments.

Chaytor claimed almost £13,000 for a mortgage he had already paid off, which he has since described it as an "unforgivable error" in "accounting procedures", but police are also interested in why he claimed almost £5,000 in office allowances to pay his daughter, Sarah, under a different name.

The remaining four politicians thought to have questions to answer are:

• Scottish Labour MP Jim Devine, who submitted invoices for electrical work worth £2,157 from a company with an allegedly fake address and an invalid VAT number.

• Conservative peer and leader of Essex county council Lord Hanningfield, who claimed £100,000 over seven years and has been investigated to establish whether in fact he was returning to his home in Essex while claiming "overnight allowances''. Lord Hanningfield told the Daily Telegraph he could justify all his expenses and blamed questions over his claims on a "vindictive campaign against me".

• Former Labour party chairman Lord Clarke of Hampstead, who claimed up to £18,000 a year for overnight subsistence despite frequently staying with friends or returning to his home in Hertfordshire. He has since admitted a "terrible error" in a newspaper interview.

• Baroness Uddin, who allegedly claimed £100,000 in allowances by registering as her main home a property in Maidstone, Kent, that was apparently barely occupied.

All of the MPS and peers consistently deny criminal wrongdoing.

In a statement, the Met said: "The Metropolitan police service has today delivered four main files of evidence relating to parliamentary expenses to the Crown Prosecution Service. The files relate to four people, from both the House of Lords and the House of Commons, and will now be subject to CPS consideration on whether there should be any charges.

"A small number of cases remain under investigation."

A CPS spokesman said a decision on whether to charge the four individuals under suspicion would be made as quickly as possible. He said: "The Crown Prosecution Service can confirm that it has today received four separate files of evidence in relation to parliamentary expenses. Any decisions on whether or not there should be any charges in relation to these files will be made as quickly as is reasonably practical.

"Since a number of other cases in relation to parliamentary expenses are still under investigation, it would be inappropriate to comment any further."

The fact that detectives believe they have uncovered enough evidence to bring charges against the MPs and peers does not mean they will stand trial.

Scotland Yard went through the bitter experience of the cash for peerages investigation, and believed that 16 months of inquiries had produced enough evidence to stage prosecutions. But in 2007 police were left disappointed after the CPS decided there was insufficient evidence to put before a jury.

In that case officers believed they had found evidence of honours being traded for cash by Labour, and of an attempt to thwart the police investigation.

In the criminal investigation into expenses police and the CPS set up a joint panel to examine which cases detectives should pursue.

The criminal investigation has been conducted by Scotland Yard's specialist crime directorate.

The CPS will decide whether there is a realistic prospect of gaining a conviction and whether a prosecution would be in the public interest.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/23/afghan-ministers-face-corruption-inquiry

Speculation mounts, but no charges possible until president lifts immunity

Afghanistan's chief prosecutor has thrown down a gauntlet to Hamid Karzai by announcing an unprecedented attempt to prosecute for corruption two sitting cabinet members who cannot be touched until the president strips them of their ministerial immunity.

Mohammad Ishaq Aloko, the attorney general, said he was preparing a case for the prosecution of two members of Karzai's current cabinet as well as three former ministers, in what could become a key test of the Afghan president's willingness to tackle corruption.

The two ministers have not been named, but speculation has focused on the minister of mines and the minister of religious affairs. Fazel Ahmad Faqiryar, the deputy attorney general, said they had collected sufficient evidence to prosecute officials at the ministry but not the minister, Sadiq Chakar, although the investigation was continuing.

The officials allegedly overcharged for rented accommodation in Mecca to house Afghans during the annual hajj pilgrimage and pocketed the difference. They were discovered on their return from Saudi Arabia with $360,000 (£217,000) on them.

On Sunday, Chakar angrily denied local media reports that he was being investigated and said he was the victim of a plot to smear him.

Mohammad Ibrahim Adel, the minister of mines, refused to comment.

Afghanistan has vast, untapped mineral wealth and the ministry of mines is responsible for issuing large numbers of short-term excavation rights.

Irregularities have been alleged in the issuing of a $2.9bn contract to a Chinese conglomerate to exploit the Aynak copper reserve south of Kabul ‑ one of the world's biggest copper stores.

The Washington Post recently reported allegations by US officials that Adel had taken a $30m bribe from the Metallurgical Corporation of China to secure the deal. He denied receiving any illicit payments.

The attorney general is looking at around 40 cases, with senior officials in the "high single figures", an official said.

But under Afghan law ministers and governors cannot be investigated and must be suspended from their duties. "It's a great thing that the Afghans are finally publicising cases like this, but at the moment they have no power to bring these people in," said one western lawyer in Kabul.

Adding to the frustration of international anti-corruption officials, the country's 2005 constitution calls for special courts to be set up to hear cases against various types of officials.

It is hoped that the supreme court will back the establishment of a specialised anti-corruption tribunal with secure facilities to protect the judges to hear all such cases.

But no site has yet been identified.

Much international effort has gone into improving Afghanistan's law enforcement agencies, with British lawyers helping to mentor prosecutors in a special unit of the attorney general's office focused on high- level corruption.

Also recently set up is the Serious Crimes Task Force (SCTF), known as the "Afghan FBI" because the elite police operatives are trained by the FBI and Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) to use wiretaps and other sophisticated methods to collect evidence.

Nato has also set up an anti-corruption unit that will help gather intelligence which will be handed over to law enforcement bodies.

However, sceptics warn that such initiatives will only come to anything if they receive strong support from Karzai.

Some western law enforcement agencies believe that Karzai's recently announced plans to beef up the powers of one of Afghanistan's anti-graft bodies amount to little more than a "public relations blitz" to appease critics.

One US official pointed to a recent case where evidence amassed by the SCTF led to the arrest of a senior police official in the southern province of Kandahar, who cannot be named until the case concludes.

The arrest of the officer, who has close ties to Ahmed Wali Karzai, the powerful half-brother of the president, caused intense embarrassment to Hanif Atmar, the interior minister, who was only alerted to the investigation after the arrest had been made.

The official said: "The ministry of the interior deliberately prevented a search warrant from being executed because of spurious civil unrest fears.

"They even refused to hold a press conference to announce what a great success they had."

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/23/climate-change-emails-uea

• Online publication seized on by denial bloggers
• No evidence that data was falsified, says Met Office

The University of East Anglia is to launch a review into the theft and online publication of hundreds of emails sent by scientists in its climate research unit.

Selected and unverified extracts from the emails have been used by climate change deniers to claim that the scientists colluded to manipulate climate data, causing a storm on deniers' blogs. The charge is rejected as "despicable" by those involved and as groundless by leading scientific bodies.

With less than two weeks before the crucial UN climate change summit in Copenhagen, climate scientists and campaigners are assessing the damage the incident has caused to the public understanding of global warming. Opinion was split last night over how to deal with the fallout.

Bob Ward, director of policy and communications at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change at the London School of Economics, called for an investigation.

"Once appropriate action has been taken over the hacking, there has to be some process to assess the substance of the email messages as well," he said.

"The selective disclosure and dissemination of the messages has created the impression of impropriety, and the only way of clearing the air now would be through a rigorous investigation. "

However, others said an investigation would be a mistake, particularly as some climate sceptics were also calling for one.

Andy Atkins, Friends of the Earth's executive director, said: "Calls for an inquiry look suspiciously like an attempt to cast doubt on the science of climate change ahead of crucial UN negotiations.

"The overwhelming majority of climate scientists believe that climate change is happening, that it is man-made, and that it poses a major threat to people across the planet. We can't afford to be distracted from the need for urgent action."

George Marshall, founder of the Climate Outreach and Information Network, said: "The UEA response has been frankly pathetic. One can only imagine that the UEA's communications team is totally out of its depth. A less charitable conclusion is that they are defending the interests of UEA and are not concerned about – or have not understood – the damage to climate science."

The Met Office, which jointly produces global temperature data with the climate research unit, said there was no need for an inquiry. "If you look at the emails, there isn't any evidence that the data was falsified and there's no evidence that climate change is a hoax," a spokesman said.

"It's a shame that some of the sceptics have had to take this rather shallow attempt to discredit robust science undertaken by some of the world's most respected scientists. It's no surprise, with the Copenhagen talks just days away, that this has happened now."

Michael Mann, director of the earth system science centre at the University of Pennsylvania, and a long-term target of sceptics, agreed the timing was suspicious.

"What appears to have happened is that going into this monumental climate summit in a couple of weeks the other side, which does not favour taking action to combat climate change, resorted to an illegal smear campaign," he said.

"They are going through them and cherry-picking them for any word they can find that is cited out of context and can appear incriminating. I think it's despicable."

He told the Guardian the emails – though embarrassing – did not undermine the body of science. "This doesn't make any difference at all in degree of consensus on climate change," Mann said. "I hope it boomerangs back on the criminals."

A joint statement from the Met Office, Royal Society and the Natural Environment Research Council said: "The scientific evidence which underpins calls for action at Copenhagen is very strong.

"Without co-ordinated international action on greenhouse gas emissions, the impacts on climate and civilisation could be severe."

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/nov/23/andy-coulson-now-bullying-payout

A News of the World reporter who suffered from a culture of bullying led by former editor Andy Coulson, who is now David Cameron's head of communications, has been awarded almost £800,000 for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination.

Matt Driscoll, a sports reporter sacked in April 2007 while on long-term sick leave for stress-related depression, was awarded £792,736 by the east London employment tribunal. It is believed to be the highest payout of its kind in the media, and legal costs could take News International's total bill well over the £1m mark.

The award will cause fresh embarrassment for Coulson, who resigned in January 2007 from the newspaper after the former royal editor, Clive Goodman, was jailed for hacking into the phone messages of aides to the royal family.

Earlier this year, Coulson faced renewed pressure, after the Guardian revealed that the News of the World's owner, News International, had paid out £1m to settle claims from Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, and other victims of phone hacking.

Driscoll, who has not been in a full-time job since his dismissal, said the award reflected the severity of the case.

"Andy Coulson was at the heart of all of this," he said. "He should look at himself and decide if his actions in the course of the way I was treated were correct. If I were him, I would find it very hard to look in the mirror. I was subjected to unprecedented bullying and he did nothing to stop it, if anything he accelerated it. I didn't do anything wrong."

He added: "I was in the top 30 sports writers in the country. I then came up against the venom of Andy Coulson, which I found very hard to take. It has taken an incredible amount of strength to take on the richest news group in the world and win. I don't think anyone has ever done that before with the success that I have."

The tribunal found in December 2008 that Driscoll had fallen victim to "a consistent pattern of bullying behaviour". "The original source of the hostility towards the claimant [Driscoll] was Mr Coulson, the editor; although other senior managers either took their lead from Mr Coulson and continued with his motivation after Mr Coulson's departure; or shared his views themselves. Mr Coulson did not attend the tribunal to explain why he wanted the claimant dismissed."

The News of the World, which defended the case, said the main reason for Driscoll's dismissal was his capability or qualifications for performing his work.

Before going on sick leave in July 2006, Driscoll was subject to disciplinary proceedings and issued with formal warnings starting from November 2005 over alleged inaccuracies in his reporting and for failing to turn up punctually on one occasion.

The tribunal found that was merely a pretext and the real reason for the disciplinary proceedings was simply that Coulson wanted to "get shot" of him. In July 2006, Coulson wrote in an email to the deputy editor, Neil Wallis, that he wanted Driscoll "out as quickly and cheaply as possible".

Driscoll, who joined the paper in 1997 and was promoted twice, was initially highly regarded, according to the tribunal ruling. That changed in August 2005 when Coulson turned against him for failing to stand up a tip that Arsenal were planning to play in purple shirts, a story that later appeared in sister paper, the Sun.

The judgment singled out Coulson for making "bullying" remarks in an email to Driscoll after the first formal warning, letting him know that he thought he should have been sacked.

According to the tribunal, the bullying continued after Driscoll went on sick leave. Senior management at the paper sent Driscoll a barrage of emails, phone calls and visited his home to demand that he see a company doctor, despite Driscoll's GP advising him to "distance" himself from the source of his stress.

News International declined to comment .

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/23/cumbria-floods-cleanup-cockermouth-workington

Cumbria police urge thorough checks as owners return to 900 homes and businesses

Get the latest on the floods with our live blog

Cumbria police were reopening 900 homes and businesses in Cockermouth to residents this morning, as the county was facing up to the aftermath of the most severe flooding in its history.

Thousands remained affected, with roads and bridges closed and several schools shut, as the environment secretary warned there might be "some further flooding".

Homes and businesses affected by floods in Cockermouth were being reopened, Cumbria police said, but they warned that thorough checks must take place before people are allowed to re-enter.

"Many homes will be contaminated, some walls and structures may be unstable and electricity supplies may be dangerous," said a police spokeswoman. "All of these things must be checked before you can re-enter your property."

Residents wanting to return to damaged buildings will be allocated a United Utilities officer and structural engineer.

"They will also be providing rubber gloves and an information pack with emergency contact numbers and advice for those returning to damaged property," the spokeswoman said.

The environment secretary, Hilary Benn, made a statement in the House of Commons this afternoon paying tribute to PC Bill Barker, who died when Northside bridge collapsed on Friday, as a "very brave man".

With one woman still missing, Benn said "thoughts are with all their families and colleagues". He said the flood had been "utterly devastating," and warned that more heavy rain was expected, with forecasters predicting up to 75mm in parts of Cumbria tomorrow. Benn said the UK could see an increase in severe conditions.

"Although we cannot attribute this particular event to climate change, we can expect to see more extreme weather in the years ahead," he said. "This is a future we must prepare for."

Benn said the £40m flooding defence scheme in Carlisle had helped prevent flooding to around 3,000 properties over the weekend, and defended the adequacy of flood warning systems in affected areas.

"There is no warning for surface water flooding, because unless you know exactly where the rain is going to land, then it is hard to indicate," he said.

Structural engineers were continuing to review 1,800 bridges across Cumbria, where 16 are closed or destroyed and the Calva bridge, in Workington, is reportedly on the verge of collapse. The bridge is closed, effectively cutting the town in half and forcing residents from Northside, on the northern bank of the river Derwent, to travel 40 miles to reach the main part of the town.

The prime minister has announced that emergency funding will be made available to help repair the damaged roads and bridges. In a speech to the CBI conference in London this morning, Gordon Brown said the emergency funding to help rebuild bridges and roads would be made available to local authorities via the Department for Transport, and that investment in flood defences was also set to reach £800m by next year.

The chief constable of Cumbria police, Craig Mackey, has warned it could be "years" before parts of the county recover.

"What will distinguish this from many other floodings across the country is the length of time the recovery phase will take," he said.

"We will be working with our communities for weeks, months, and in some cases years to come. The particular issue which made this so different is the damage to infrastructures. It is highly unusual to see that level of damage to infrastructures and clearly means that this next phase that we are moving into as a county is going to take a considerable amount of time."

Earlier, Mackey praised the "real sense of community spirit" shown in Cumbria and paid tribute to PC Barker.

"Bill is a hero who died saving the lives of others and our thoughts are with his family at this devastating time," Mackey said.

"He was an inspiration to everyone he knew and will be sadly missed by all his friends here in the constabulary." More than 35,000 people have joined a Facebook group set up in tribute.

Tiffany Curnick, a forecaster at MeteoGroup, said Cumbria could see more flooding tomorrow, although on a smaller scale. "A warm front is spreading in from the south-west, and especially across north-west England and west Scotland rain will become more persistent through tonight," she said.

"From 6am Tuesday, Cumbria could see heavy rain, up to 50mm over 24 hours. There may be some extreme rain up in the fells, possibly up to 75mm, but that will be in very localised areas. This could cause small flooding but nothing like we saw last week."

The chief executive of Cumbria county council, Jill Stannard, said the damage from the floods had run into "tens of millions of pounds". She pledged that authorities would be able to deliver prescriptions to people stranded in the county.

"We are confident we can reach everyone," she said. "We have been reaching people over the weekend. People get very frightened – totally understandably because this is very traumatic. It is important that people listen to advice through the media and don't listen to rumour and gossip."

Hundreds of police, soldiers and volunteers were in action along Britain's west coast as a second slow-moving weather front unloaded hours more rain from Dartmoor to the Scottish border.

Army Bailey bridges are likely to be installed temporarily to relieve Northside, where the local MP, Tony Cunningham, said the police station was out of action and the medical centre was down to its last supplies. "Until we can get bridges, people are having to take a 90-mile round trip to reach their former neighbours."

Canon Bryan Rowe, of St Michael's Church in Workington, said: "We are isolated. We are a long way from a motorway now. We can't even go to the other side of the river. It's going to take months to put right. But you won't hear any twining [Cumbrian dialect for moaning]. Nobody is going: 'Woe is us'. Everybody is just trying to help somebody else."

Police taped off the whole centre of Cockermouth yesterday as 13 buildings were declared in imminent danger of collapse and engineers struggled to restore street lighting in pouring rain. About 60 people remain at emergency centres in the town and Workington, but more than 250 are staying with friends, relatives or at hotels and B&Bs, most of them unlikely to return home before Christmas.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/23/yemen-refugees-middle-east-conflict

A long-running conflict between rebels and government forces has entered a dangerous phase with attacks by Saudi forces forcing thousands of families into overcrowded refugee camps

Eyelashes still thick with the dust of a three-day journey, Nasser Mohammed stood with his family amid the plastic pots and bright blankets of the recently uprooted as children and old men gathered around the tent to hear his story.

Speaking slowly, he told of their 60-mile trek from a village in the tough mountain scrublands of Yemen's north-west after a warning from Saudi authorities that their lives were at risk.

"Please evacuate your homes in order to survive," blared the message from loudspeakers across the Saudi side of the border.

Mohammed, 35, who scratches out a living smuggling food or bundles of narcotic qat leaves into Saudi Arabia for a dollar or two a day, said: "We heard the sounds of planes and heavy shelling. The Saudis were bombarding the Houthi positions and our village was hit."

Mohammed, his wife and six children now find themselves in an overcrowded refugee camp, the latest victims of the Middle East's forgotten conflict. The fighting that forced them from their home grew out of a local conflict between the Yemeni government and rebels in the north and risks turning into a proxy war that pits Saudi Arabia, the Sunni powerhouse of the region, against its great Shia rival, Iran.

Carved into remote and inaccessible regions by its soaring mountains and vast, empty plains, Yemen remains a tribal society, the poorest in the Middle East and as complicated to rule as Afghanistan, where clan elders and the armed men they command often trump the authority of central government.

For five years, fighters from the powerful Houthi clan have led an armed rebellion against the Yemeni government in Sana'a, accusing it of religious, economic and political discrimination.

Dug into tunnels and bases in the mountainous north, the Houthi rebels, estimated at between 5,000 to 10,000, have been waging an effective guerrilla insurgency, fighting with rockets, grenades, machine guns and roadside bombs to inflict serious casualties on Yemen's outdated military. The conflict has killed several thousand people, uprooted 175,000 and directly challenged the ability of Yemen's three-decade president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to maintain his rule over this wild and rugged land.

Despite relentless air bombardment of the area, the Sana'a government has struggled to gain the upper hand. Then the military might of Yemen's oil-rich, US-supplied northern neighbour got involved three weeks ago.

Enraged that Houthis had allegedly killed a border guard and crossed on to their side of the now all too aptly named Jebel Dukhan, or Smoking Mountain, the Saudi military declared a "kill zone", pounding positions with airstrikes and artillery, the first war for Saudi forces since fighting with the allies against Saddam Hussein in 1990.

Mohammed and his family were caught in the middle of it. "I felt I was going to faint with fear every time I heard the planes and bombs," said his wife, Raira. "I was so scared my children would be killed."

Mohammed said Houthi rebels threatened to kill him and the other villagers if they refused to fight alongside them. "We replied, 'We are ordinary citizens. We can't join an uprising against the government'."

As the violence intensified, the family set off on foot and on the back of a donkey and pickup truck for the journey south to the UN-run camp at Mazrak.

"It was a horrible trip. We haven't eaten properly for three days and the children are tired, hungry and still scared," said Raira, speaking to the Guardian a few hours after their arrival.

The escalation of the war, which today saw further Saudi bombardment of Houthi hideouts, has uprooted an estimated 25,000 people, overwhelming resources at the camp just north of Harad, the last Yemeni town before the Saudi border.

Raira and her children, along with dozens of other families, were sharing tents in Mazrak's crammed reception area, while Nasser and other men from the new arrivals slept beyond the camp's fence, out in the open rather than share quarters with another man's wife.

A second camp in Mazrak for up to 1,000 families is due to open before the end of the month, but the majority of the displaced have scattered across large swaths of northern Yemen, seeking shelter and food among the local rural population.

Inside Mazrak camp, UN agencies are struggling to cope. Over half the camp's residents are under 18, and there are upwards of 1,000 cases of severe malnourishment.

According to Unicef, some 250 children die from malnutrition daily in Yemen and scenes in Mazrak at times resemble a famine. Six-year-old Faris al-Thawebi, his arms and legs little more than skin and bone, his empty stomach swollen, cried in distress as a Unicef doctor examined him. The family had arrived in Mazrak in September from the Haiden district west of Sa'ada, but two months into his stay at the UN-run camp, Faris remained severely malnourished. So too did his three-year-old baby sister. "They've been ill since they were born. I don't have any money and I can't read or write. I don't even know what my age is," said Faris's father, Ali Mohsen al-Thawebi, when asked why his children were in such poor health.

Unicef recently launched a special feeding centre in Mazrak for severely malnourished children and along with the World Food Programme has been distributing food rations and sachets of Plumpy'nut, a food used in famine relief. "Malnutrition is the silent emergency in Yemen, but no one is talking about it," said Naseem ur Rahman, a Unicef spokesman.

With plans to lay a 14-mile pipe to pump much needed additional water to the camp, and electricity pylons being driven into its dusty ground to provide lighting, it appears Mazrak and its residents won't be going anywhere soon.

The same could be said of the war in Yemen, which may now have taken on a regional dynamic, but has its roots in a local struggle that dates back to the 1960s. The Houthis are members of the Zaydi sect, an offshoot of Shia Islam, and estimated to number one third of Yemen's 25 million people. The majority of Yemenis are Shafeis, one of the four traditional schools of Sunni Islam. Commentators in the west have thus often explained the Houthi conflict in terms of another Middle East struggle between Sunni and Shia Muslims, a Sunni-led Yemeni government battling a minority Shia rebellion.

But the simple religious divide between Islam's two main branches has traditionally gained little traction in Yemen, as elsewhere in the region. In their religious observance, Shafeis and Zaydis are surprisingly close, with Zaydis adhering to practices closer to Sunni religious doctrine than those followed by Shias in Iran, Iraq or Lebanon.

Zaydis and Shafeis have prayed together in mosques in Yemen for generations, even as their Shia and Sunni brethren across the region grew ever further apart. Importantly, many Zaydis do not believe the Houthis represent their religious identity.

Mohammed Dahiry, professor of political science at Sana'a University, argues the Houthi rebellion is rooted in their view that as Hashemites, or direct descendants of Prophet Muhammad, the Houthis must restore the rule of Yemen to Zaydi imams, who lost their position in the creation of the Yemen Arab Republic in the 1962 revolution.

"President Saleh comes from the working class," said Dahiry. "The Houthis claim they are more eligible to rule Yemen." The Houthis insist they are defending their community from government aggression and discrimination, and deny links to Iran. The military believes it is closing in on victory, though admits the insurgency is difficult to quell.

"We are tightening the noose and they are besieged," said Askar Zuail, the army's spokesman, speaking to the Guardian.

With a renewed secessionist movement in the south and al-Qaida gaining a foothold among the disaffected tribes of the east, the stakes for the Yemeni authorities in the Sa'ada conflict could hardly be higher.

Analysts warn that failure to defeat the Houthis risks encouraging other militant groups to challenge the president's authority. Abdulelah Shaea, an expert on Islamist groups, said: "Al-Qaida has tried to divide Yemen for a long time and that is what this war is doing."

For now though, the war has taken on a logic of its own. Smugglers are making vast profits running "food, fighters and weapons" through the military checkpoints on the only road open to Sa'ada city, according to Nabil al-Soufi, a journalist who recently gained rare access to Sa'ada.

"This war is now being fought for the continuation of the war," said Soufi. "The war that the Houthis want will not come, and the war that the government wants will not end."

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/nov/23/jane-andrews-royal-absconds-prison

Jane Andrews, 40, who was the Duchess of York's trusted personal assistant for nine years, absconded from East Sutton Park Prison in Maidstone, Kent, last night

A former royal aide to the Duchess of York who was jailed for killing her lover has gone on the run from prison.

Jane Andrews, 40, who was Fergie's trusted personal assistant for nine years, absconded from East Sutton Park Prison in Maidstone, Kent, yesterday.

A Prison Service spokesman said: "Jane Andrews is believed to have absconded from HMP East Sutton Park on 22 November 2009 after being found missing at the 8pm roll-check. Police have been informed and are assisting with the search."

Andrews was jailed in 2001 for life for the "brutal" murder of her boyfriend Thomas Cressman. The court heard she hit the wealthy businessman across the head with a cricket bat and stabbed him through the chest with a kitchen knife in the bedroom of their west London home.

Andrews was recently moved from Send Prison in Surrey to the open prison at East Sutton Park, in Maidstone Kent.

At her Old Bailey trial, a jury accepted the prosecution's case that she killed Cressman as revenge after he said he would not marry her.

Andrews launched an appeal claiming that she had been sexually abused by as a child saying the trauma damaged her personality and meant that she was not guilty of murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility. The appeal was dismissed.

More details soon

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/23/man-trapped-coma-23-years

Paralysed patient could not move or communicate with doctors until Belgian neurologist tested new brain scanner

For 23 years Rom Houben was trapped in his own body, unable to communicate with his doctors or family. They presumed he was in a vegetative state following a near-fatal car crash in 1983.

But then doctors used a state-of-the-art scanning system on the brain of the martial arts enthusiast, which showed it was functioning almost normally.

"I had dreamed myself away," said Houben, now 46, whose real "state" was discovered three years ago and has just been made public by the doctor who rescued him.

Steven Laureys, a neurologist at the University of Liège in Belgium, has published a scientific paper saying Houben could be one of many falsely diagnosed coma cases around the world.

Houben is being cared for at a facility near Brussels and now communicates via a computer with a special keyboard activated with his right hand, which is capable of minimal movement. He said his body was paralysed when he came round after his accident. Although he could hear every word his doctors spoke, he could not communicate with them.

"I screamed, but there was nothing to hear," he said, via his keyboard.

Houben then suffered years of being effectively trapped in his own body as care personnel and doctors at the hospital in Zolder tried to communicate with him, but eventually gave up hope that he would ever come round.

The moment it was discovered he was not in a vegetative state, said Houben, it was like being born again. "I'll never forget the day that they discovered me, it was my second birth."

Experts say Laureys' findings are likely to reopen the debate over when the decision should be made to terminate the lives of those in comas who appear to be unconscious but might have almost fully-functioning brains.

Belgian doctors used an internationally accepted scale to monitor Houben's state over the years. Known as the Glasgow Coma Scale, it requires assessment of the eyes, verbal and motor responses. But they failed to assess him correctly and missed signs that his brain was still functioning.

Laureys, who is head of the coma science group and neurology department at Liège University hospital, concluded coma patients are diagnosed falsely "on a disturbingly regular basis". In around 40% of cases diagnosed as vegetative, more careful examination shows there is still some level of consciousness. He examined 44 patients believed to be in a vegetative state, and found that 18 of them responded to communication.

"Once someone is labelled as being without consciousness, it is very hard to get rid of that," he told Spiegel magazine, calling for a systematic overhaul of the methods of diagnosis.

Laureys said patients who are not fully unconscious can often be treated and are capable of making considerable progress.

Around a fifth of patients who suffer serious head and brain injuries spend more than three weeks in a coma. Of those, between 15% and 25% are, technically speaking, still alive but remain in a state of unconsciousness, never to wake up.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/23/new-chameleon-species-magombera-tanzania

Latest find in natural world was result of reptile coughing up lizard as conservationist studied monkeys in the jungle

It was so nearly known as dinner. Instead, a small and not terribly impressive chameleon has become the newest discovery of the natural world, after a startled Tanzanian snake spat a still-undigested specimen at the feet of a British scientist, who identified it as a previously unknown species.

Dr Andrew Marshall, a conservationist from York University, was surveying monkeys in the Magombera forest in Tanzania, when he stumbled across a twig snake which, frightened, coughed up the chameleon and fled. Though a colleague persuaded him not to touch it because of the risk from venom, Marshall suspected it might be a new species, and took a photograph to send to colleagues, who confirmed his suspicions.

Kinyongia magomberae, literally "the chameleon from Magombera", is the result, though Marshall told the Guardian today the fact it wasn't easy to identify is precisely what made it unique.

"The thing is, colour isn't the best thing for telling chameleons apart, since they can change colour for camouflage. They are usually identified based on the patterning and shape of the head, and the arrangement of scales. In this case it's the bulge of scales on its nose."

Happily for Marshall, shortly afterwards he spotted a second chameleon, this time alive, and was able to photograph it. The two creatures were found about six miles apart, which he believes may be the full extent of the area colonised by the extremely rare species. Though he found the specimen in 2005, his paper on the discovery, published this week, puts the find formally on record. "It takes quite a long time to convince the authorities that you have a new species," he said.

Had Marshall hoped it might be named after him? "Oh crumbs, no. The thing is, if you work in an area of conservation importance and you can give a species the name of that area it can really highlight that area. By giving it the name Magombera it raises the importance of the forest." The tiny area of jungle is currently unprotected, he said, and he hopes the find will persuade the Tanzanian authorities to extend protection.

"When we presented our findings to the local village people they were just amazed that the world now knows an animal by the Swahili name Magombera," he said.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/nov/23/jean-charles-de-menezes-settlement

• Dead electrician's relatives agree to end legal action
• Scotland Yard pay legal fees and repeat apology

The four-year battle for justice by the family of Jean Charles de Menezes finally ended today after they reached a legal settlement with Scotland Yard.

The Metropolitan police agreed to pay compensation to the family, and in return the relatives of the Brazilian electrician agreed to end their legal action.

De Menezes was killed on 22 July 2005 in a tube carriage by officers hunting for would-be suicide bombers who had attacked London's transport network the previous day.

The sum of money involved in the settlement is believed to be just above £100,000. In addition the family's substantial legal costs will be paid.

Both sides refused to comment on claims that the compensation was less than it otherwise would have been because the De Menezes family, who come from Brazil, are poor.

A string of police blunders led to the innocent electrician being held down by police and shot repeatedly in the head. They mistakenly believed he was a suicide bomber about to detonate a device.

Menezes, 27, was mistaken for failed suicide bomber Hussain Osman, who had attempted to bomb London on 21 July 2005, just a fortnight after terrorist attacks in the capital had killed 52 people and injured 750 others.

A string of police blunders led two members of the force's elite armed unit, CO19, to open fire with their guns just 1cm to 8cm away from De Menezes's head as another officer pinned him into a seat on an underground train. Seven bullets entered the innocent man, one misfired, and one missed. He was killed instantly.

The Crown Prosecution Service decided that no individual should be prosecuted. That included the two police marksmen who shot dead the Brazilian, despite a jury disbelieving key parts of their account of the killing.

In December 2008 a jury at the inquest into the killing returned an open verdict after hearing damning evidence of police blunders that led to the shooting.

Yesterday a joint statement from the Metropolitan police service and the De Menezes family said: "The commissioner of police of the metropolis and representatives of the De Menezes family are pleased to announce that all litigation between them arising out of the tragic death of Jean Charles de Menezes has been resolved.

"The members of the family are pleased that a compensation package has been agreed which enables them to put these events behind them and move forward with their lives.

"In view of the physical and mental distress caused to the members of the family by these events and the understandable publicity and press interest, it has been agreed that it is in the best interests of the family that no further statement in relation to this settlement will be made either by them or the commissioner.

"The commissioner would like to take this opportunity of making a further unreserved apology to the family for the tragic death of Jean Charles de Menezes and to reiterate that he was a totally innocent victim and in no way to blame for his untimely death."

The fallout from the shooting played a key part in destroying the commissionership of Sir Ian Blair, who was eventually ousted from office.

The Metropolitan police was convicted of health and safety failures at the Old Bailey, fined £175,000 and ordered to pay £385,000 costs.

The conclusion of court proceedings opened the door for the publication of a critical Independent Police Complaints Commission ≠report.

The coroner Sir Michael Wright recorded an open verdict at the end of a multimillion-pound inquest last year.

A jury rejected the police account of the shooting at the end of the detailed three-month inquest.

Immediately after the shooting the Met hand-delivered a letter to the family in Brazil, offering an "ex gratia" payment of £15,000.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/nov/23/alec-collett-remains-found-lebanon

Tests confirm remains are those of Alec Collett, who was kidnapped in 1985 while working on an article for the UN

The remains of a British journalist who was kidnapped almost 25 years ago have been found in Lebanon, the Foreign Office confirmed today.

Experts found human bones in the Bekaa Valley last week and tests have now shown that they are Alec Collett's remains.

He was kidnapped at gunpoint in 1985 while working on an article for the United Nations about Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.

The following year his captors released a poor quality videotape showing a hooded figure who had apparently been hanged, but who was never formally identified.

Today his family said they were relieved he could finally be laid to rest.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "The family are pleased to have closure after 24 years. Private arrangements will now be made."

Collett was one of several Britons targeted by one of the deadliest terrorist organisations of the day, the renegade Palestinian Abu Nidal group, which was backed successively by Iraq and Libya. The group claimed to have killed Collett, then 64, in revenge for a US air raid on Libya in April 1986, in which American planes flew from bases in Britain. Four years ago former member Zaid Hassan Safarini told the Sunday Times he witnessed the Briton's murder in 1986.

Sabri al-Banna, Abu Nidal's leader, had reportedly thought that Collett could be swapped for three members jailed in Britain after the attempted assassination in 1982 of Shlomo Argov, the Israeli ambassador to London.

The UN tried three times between 1995 and 2000 to find Collett's body. A spokesman for UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said today: "The secretary-general appreciates the role played by the relevant authorities in the United Kingdom and in Lebanon to resolve this matter after so many years.

"He is grateful for the work done by the Department of Safety and Security in helping to determine what happened to Mr Collett. Although he is saddened by Alec Collett's death, he hopes that the actions taken to find his remains can provide a measure of comfort to his loved ones.

"The secretary-general expresses his sincere sympathies to Alec Collett's family and would like to restate the commitment of the United Nations to assist them in the days ahead."

Collett was one of more than 80 foreigners who were taken hostage in Lebanon between 1984 and 1991. Fourteen were British nationals, including Terry Waite, the special envoy of the archbishop of Canterbury, and John McCarthy, then a television reporter. Most were held by Lebanese Shia groups with links to Iran.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/nov/23/policeman-admits-murdering-fiancee

Martin Forshaw bludgeoned Claire Howarth with hammer and staged car crash to look like accident, court told

A policeman has been jailed for at least 18 years for murdering his police constable fiancee and trying to hide the act with a staged car accident.

As his trial was due to start at Manchester crown court today, Martin Forshaw, 27, of Tottington, Bury, changed his plea to guilty. Forshaw used a lump hammer to bludgeon his girlfriend, Claire Howarth, 31, at least five times a few hours before they were due to fly to St Lucia for their wedding five days later. He carried her downstairs at their home in Tottington and put her in her BMW car.

Prosecuting, Ray Wigglesworth QC said Forshaw drove around secluded country lanes in the area before staging a fake road accident and dialling 999.

Forshaw placed Howarth, who was still alive, in the driver's seat. He sat beside her with his foot on the accelerator and crashed the vehicle into a hedge.

When police and paramedics arrived at the scene Forshaw, known to friends and family as Alex, told them his fiancee had not been wearing a seatbelt.

She was taken to Royal Bolton hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Forshaw had been a serving police office with Cheshire constabulary since November 2003 and was an expert in self-defence and violent persons training. Howarth had joined Greater Manchester police in March 2007 and had just completed two years' probation with the force. She had been appointed as a community beat manager in Rochdale.

The couple had been in a relationship for 10 months and were set to fly to London Gatwick airport on the day of Howarth's death for a connecting flight to the Caribbean island where they were to be joined by family and friends.

Wigglesworth said there was evidence that Forshaw had still been seeing the mother of his four-year-old son and had kept the pending wedding a secret from some of his colleagues.

A postmortem examination showed that Howarth suffered multiple injuries including 14 separate injuries to her head and neck.

Forshaw told detectives that Howarth had attacked him with the mallet and was struck while he tried to defend himself. Pathologists ruled that account "totally implausible".

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