St Paul's seeks injunction to evict Occupy London camp

The City of London Corporation and St Paul's Cathedral will seek injunctions to evict the anti-capitalist protest camp from the grounds of the historic building, as clergy prepared to celebrate its reopening with a lunchtime service.
A statement from St Paul's, issued moments before it opened its doors to the public after a week's closure on health and safety grounds, said legal action against the Occupy the London Stock Exchange camp had "regrettably become necessary".
"The Chapter has previously asked the encampment to leave the cathedral precinct in peace. This has not yet happened and so, following the advice of our lawyers, legal action has regrettably become necessary. The Chapter only takes this step with the greatest reluctance and remains committed to a peaceful solution.
"At each step of the legal process the Chapter will continue to entreat the protesters to agree to a peaceful solution and, if an injunction is granted, will then be able to discuss with the protesters how to reach this solution."
"Theirs is a message that the Chapter has both heard and shares and looks forward to engaging with the protesters to identify how the message may continue to be debated at St Paul's and acted upon."
The cathedral is still reeling from the departure of its canon chancellor Giles Fraser, who stepped down because he could not sanction the cathedral using force to remove protesters.
Earlier on Friday, the City of London's planning and transportation committee voted overwhelmingly in favour of "the commencement of proceedings to remove the encampment" because it constituted an "unreasonable user of the highway". It could serve notice as early as Monday.
A corporation source told the Guardian: "There is an expectation that [the legal process to remove the camp] will take a lot of time."
A report presented to committee members claimed there were 248 tents in the grounds of St Paul's. The document looked at the right to peaceful protest with a reasonable user of the highway, in this case the area around the cathedral.
"If this [Occupy London] were not a camped protest it would constitute a reasonable user of the highway. The City of London Corporation is not seeking to prevent protest but to limit the exact nature and form of protest it has chosen. A 24-hour non-camped protest would be permissible in this location."
The corporation's principal objection lies with the tents as they do not have planning permission to be there, said the source.
Committee members also learned of the protest's impact on pedestrian activity around the cathedral.
The report said there were 2,610 pedestrians around St Paul's during a one-hour period on one day in February 2011. At the same time of day, but on 25 October, the 11th day of the protest, there were 1,750 pedestrians. It also highlighted harm to the visual impact of the cathedral.
The report claimed that people were urinating in cathedral grounds and placing excrement in the bins.

by Riazat Butt taken from http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/oct/28/st-pauls-injunction-evict-occupy-london

Misery for millions as elderly care funds cut

More than £1.3 billion has been removed from councils’ annual spending on help for the over-65s since the Coalition came to power, House of Commons analysis found.

Most councils are increasing the fees they charge families for home help and meals on wheels as they attempt to plug the funding gap left by Treasury cuts, The Daily Telegraph has learned.

Campaigners for the elderly warned that more pensioners would be condemned to long stays in hospital wards and that people would be forced to give up work to look after their parents.

Ministers said there was “no excuse” for councils to target the elderly to balance their budgets, but Labour attacked the Coalition for failing to protect the most vulnerable adults in society.

The Government is considering plans to overhaul funding for care home places and home help services, which it hopes can protect pensioners from being forced to sell their homes to cover the cost of support. Cross-party talks are being held in an attempt to reach a consensus on social care funding and a White Paper setting out the Coalition’s plans is due to be published in the spring.

Last year, George Osborne, the Chancellor, promised an extra £2 billion for councils to spend on care homes, meals on wheels and help for the elderly and disabled with daily tasks such as washing and dressing.
The analysis of government figures conducted by independent researchers in the Commons Library suggested that this extra money, which was not “ring-fenced”, had not made it to the front line.
Councils have cut back on services after being forced to reduce budgets by up to 30 per cent.
In 2009-10, the last year of the Labour government, councils in England spent £7.6 billion on social care for the over-65s. This year, the inflation-adjusted figure is up to £1.3 billion lower, equivalent to a real term cut of 17 per cent.
Liz Kendall, the shadow minister for care and older people, who commissioned the research, said there was “a quiet crisis in social care” and attacked the Government’s “broken promises”.
“Older people, their carers and families are seeing services reduced, charges increased and support restricted to those only with the most critical needs,” she said.
“These cuts will cost everyone more in the long run, as older people who could remain healthy and independent in their own homes end up in hospital when they don’t need to.”
Further figures, from a survey of councils in England by the charity Age UK, found that two-thirds of local authorities were increasing the fees they charged families for services such as meals on wheels.
Councils increased the average price of a meal from £3.17 last year to £3.44. Almost half of councils were charging more this year than in 2010-11 for home care services, with average prices rising from £13.05 an hour to £13.40.
However, most are also refusing to pay more for places in private care homes. The collapse of Southern Cross, the care home operator, and the perilous position of other such firms were blamed partly on cuts in the rates that councils pay for places.
The Age UK figures showed that only one in four councils have increased the rates they pay for residential care home places this year, while only one fifth of local authorities were prepared to pay higher fees for specialist dementia and nursing homes.
Michelle Mitchell, the charity director of Age UK, said: “We know the care system is in financial crisis. We need the Government to show leadership and make the difficult but vital decisions to reform our broken care system.”
Emily Holzhausen, director of policy at Carers UK, another elderly support charity, said many were suffering from the “real terms cuts”. She said: “It is extremely worrying as we look at what the impact is on families’ lives. We know that families are already under an enormous amount of stress and that will only get worse with these cuts.”
Ministers claimed that the fault lay with local authorities, who chose how to spend their budgets.
Paul Burstow, the care services minister, said: “There is no excuse for local authorities to be cutting social care. Our decision to make up to £2 billion extra a year available to councils means they are receiving more money from the Government than ever before for social care.
“If local councils are cutting front-line services then local people should hold them to account for that decision.”
Grant Shapps, the local government minister, said it was “unacceptable” for councils to “target the elderly and vulnerable to boost their bank balances”.
“We have been quite clear that if local authorities cut out excessive chief executive pay, share back offices, join forces to procure, and root out wild overspends they can avoid raising charges,” he said.

By Tim Ross, and Robert Winnett taken from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/elderhealth/8854308/Misery-for-millions-as-elderly-care-funds-cut.html

Police In Riot Gear Remove 'Occupy SD' Protesters

Police in riot gear cleared Occupy San Diego protesters out of Civic Center Plaza early Friday, making some arrests in the process, a police officer said.

Images: Occupy San Diego Protest

The operation began about 2 a.m. after officials declared the three-week- old event an unlawful assembly, said San Diego police Officer David Stafford. It lasted about 45 minutes, and there were no immediate reports of injuries.

Protesters plan to reassemble at 8:45 a.m. for a solidarity march from Civic Center Plaza to the Wells Fargo Building downtown.During the plaza-clearance sweep, some protesters scattered around downtown San Diego while others were arrested, Stafford said without saying how many.The operation was carried out by some 20 police officers assisted by a score of San Diego County sheriff's deputies, also in riot gear, witnesses said. They reported seeing about a half-dozen protesters being arrested for refusing to leave.Protesters first converged on Civic Center Plaza on Oct. 7, decrying the conduct of banks, corporations and politicians. The Occupy movement began in New York last month and has since spread nationwide.Before Friday, the local protest had been largely confrontation-free, with the exception of Oct. 14, when two protesters were arrested for allegedly delaying police officers. On Oct. 14, protesters were ordered to take down makeshift camp sites that they had erected.Police officers eventually removed all tents and other large items from the plaza but told protesters they were free to remain -- though without the paraphernalia. Earlier this week, protesters brought tents back to the plaza.Protesters have vowed to remain in the downtown area until their demands are met or at least sincerely considered. Those demands include ending joblessness, poverty and political corruption.

taken from http://www.10news.com/news/29612019/detail.html

China suspect in US satellite interference

NASA satellites were interfered with four separate times in 2007 and 2008, possibly by the Chinese military, according to a draft of an upcoming report for the US Congress. The latest draft of the report by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission said the computer hackers behind the interference gained the ability to issue commands to one of the satellites on two occasions.
The targeted satellites are used for observation of the earth's climate and terrain, according to the report to be submitted to Congress on November 16. A copy of the latest draft of the report was obtained by AFP on Thursday.
It said the account of the interference with the satellites came from a May 2011 briefing for the Commission by the US Air Force.
The hackers appear to have exploited the information systems of the Svalbard Satellite Station (SvalSat), a commercially operated satellite ground station in Spitsbergen, Norway, to gain access to the satellites, the report said.
SvalSat relies on the Internet for data access and file transfers, it said, citing a recent National Aeronautics and Space Administration report.
On October 20, 2007, Landsat-7, a US earth observation satellite jointly managed by NASA and the US Geological Survey, experienced 12 or more minutes of interference, the report said.
Landsat-7 experienced another 12 or more minutes of interference on July 23, 2008, the report said.
It said that on June 20, 2008, Terra EOS AM-1, a NASA-managed program for earth observation, experienced two or more minutes of interference, it said.
It said the hackers behind the interference with Terra EOS AM-1 "achieved all steps required to command the satellite but did not issue commands."
On October 22, 2008, Terra EOS AM-1 experienced nine or more minutes of interference, the report said, and "the responsible party" again "achieved all steps required to command the satellite but did not issue commands."
"Such interference poses numerous potential threats, particularly if achieved against satellites with more sensitive functions," the report said.
"For example, access to a satellite's controls could allow an attacker to damage or destroy the satellite," the commission said.
"The attacker could also deny or degrade as well as forge or otherwise manipulate the satellite's transmission," it said. "A high level of access could reveal the satellite's capabilities or information, such as imagery, gained through its sensors."
The report stressed that it was not recounting the incidents "on the basis of specific attribution information" but rather "because the techniques appear consistent with authoritative Chinese military writings."
"Authoritative Chinese military writings advocate for such activities, particularly as they relate to ground-based space infrastructure, such as satellite control facilities," the report said.
The draft report also accused China of being behind a "range of malicious cyber activities" including state-level involvement in cyberattacks, industrial espionage and the compromise of US and foreign government computer systems.
"In 2011, US and foreign government organizations, defense contractors, commercial entities, and various nongovernmental organizations experienced a substantial volume of network intrusions and attempts with various ties to China," the report said.
China has repeatedly denied any state involvement in cyberattacks against government agencies and firms, including well-publicized attacks on Internet giant Google that sparked a row between Washington and Beijing.

taken from http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.a81c4d237c34121ec07166c0bfa37900.921&show_article=1

Bangkok braced for month of flooding

By boat, truck and bamboo raft, residents evacuated Bangkok's outer suburbs on Thursday as rising floods – which have claimed close to 400 lives across Thailand since July – closed in on the centre of the capital.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, apparently close to tears as she briefed the media on Thailand's worst flooding for half a century, warned Bangkok's 12 million residents "we're fighting against the forces of nature" and said flood waters were damaging several of the city's dykes. Residents of Sai Mai district were told to evacuate to safer ground and Don Muang airport, location of the government's flood relief operations centre, was inundated.
"What we can do now is to manage it, so that it flows slowly, otherwise everybody will suffer," Yingluck told reporters, her voice trembling. "I haven't cried and I won't. I'll be strong to solve this problem for the Thai people. Right now we need to release floodwater to the sea as soon as possible and we need a quick rehabilitation plan."
The floods, caused in part by unusually heavy monsoon rain, have already killed 373 people in Thailand and disrupted the lives of nearly 2.5 million, until now mostly in the north and central provinces. The rains have also killed dozens in neighbouring Cambodia and Burma.
By Thursday night, floodwaters had overwhelmed seven of Bangkok's 50 districts, mostly on the northern outskirts. Roads became rivers, and homes and businesses were swamped. Relief agencies believe most if not all of the city could be flooded with waters rising between 20cm and 2 metres in the coming days. High tides this weekend are likely to place more pressure on the city's limited flood defences and could swell the Chao Phraya river to overflow flood barriers lining its banks. In the meantime, many people are remaining in their homes.
"The mayor of Bangkok has said that of the 140 evacuation centres that have been set up only a quarter are being used and none are full," Matt Cochrane, spokesman for the International Federation of the Red Cross in Bangkok, told the Guardian. "It is all about waiting and what is coming. This is the beginning of the potential humanitarian crisis for Bangkok. There is going to be water in most or all of the city. It won't be a tsunami, it is more likely to be a gradual rise."
Yingluck has warned the flood waters could stay for as long as a month. The Red Cross believes this will threaten a particular type of urban crisis in which public transport grinds to a halt, there are breaks in electricity leaving the city sweltering in 35C heat and 100% humidity, and the risks of mosquito-borne disease multiply.
And there are other dangers lurking in the waters. "When my father leaves to get food he makes sure he closes all the gates and doors – not to prevent intruders but to keep out the crocodiles," said Nara Rathnarathon, a resident in the north of the city. Thailand is reckoned to be the world's biggest breeder of crocodiles and scores are reported to have escaped from farms during the floods. Several have been killed or captured in residential areas in the ancient capital of Ayutthaya. Cochrane said parents had been told to keep children out of any gardens that remained dry because they could be safe havens for venomous snakes.
The economic impact is already being felt. At least seven huge industrial estates have already shut to the north of Bangkok, causing the central bank to revise down its growth forecast the economy from 4% to 3.1%.
Websites have posted instructions on the proper way to stack sandbags and residents have fortified homes with bricks, gypsum board and plastic sheets. Walls of sandbags or cinder blocks cover building entrances.
There has been panic buying in supermarkets, where bottled water is scarce, but many of the city's thousands of restaurants, bars and food stalls are operating as usual.
Nuntaporn Khorcharoen, whose home is next to the heavily inundated Bang Phlat district, told the Associated Press her family had stocked up and was staying put. "My father is adamant we have to stay to oversee the situation," the 30-year-old said. "He said even without electricity we will still have something to live on."
The defence ministry said 50,000 armed forces personnel were standing by with 1,000 boats and 1,000 vehicles to help evacuate people.
"We're considering whether we should order an evacuation of Tawee Wattana district as the flood situation there is worrying," said Bangkok's governor, Sukhumbhand Paribatra, after more water surged into Tawee Wattana canal.

Plenty of true grit in the city of sandbags

Bangkok is a city of sandbags where instant noodles are like gold dust and bottled water like vintage wine. Amid the panic-induced bare shelves there is bewilderment in the air: what exactly is going to happen to Thailand's capital?
All along downtown Asoke Road, locals have been fortifying their shopfronts, some opting to build little cement walls as a last line of defence against floodwater that is gushing into the city and disturbing people on the outskirts and near the mighty Chao Phraya river.
Bangkok's 10 million residents have been expecting the worst for a while – waiting for 4bn cubic metres of rain water to start draining through the city from the north – but on Thursday many of the streets remained bone dry.
Advice from the authorities has ranged from "get out now!" to "don't panic!" and some of the wealthier residents have already packed up to clog the roads and take impromptu vacations south, to beach resorts such as Hua Hin, while others remain behind, ready to face the elements.
"My family was too chilled about preparing for the flooding, which is probably a pretty bad thing," said Aim Monobelle, 25, who is staying with friends while her family sticks it out in western Bangkok. "I would say most older people don't want to leave their houses, thinking it's not going be too bad. I am trying to convince them to move – anywhere but Bangkok – because it's risky, but they are not listening to me."
For people 50 miles north of Bangkok, in Ayutthaya province, there was little else to be done but watch as the roads turned into rivers and water inundated their homes. People now get around by long-tail boat or leaky creations fashioned out of old oil drums, tyre inner tubes or large tubs.
Some 2.5 million people have been affected by the flooding in Thailand, including 800,000 children, many of whom are lacking basic necessities such as nappies and food. Getting aid to those people has proved a challenge. Plan, a global child-rights organisation, travelled by truck, boat and fire engine on Saturday to deliver 900 relief kits to families in Bang Pa-in, Ayutthaya, but many more are still in need. Not everyone is fleeing. "I'm not going to desert the city in its time of need. I'm staying right here," Richard Barrow, a Thailand-based blogger, proclaimed on Twitter.

by Robert Booth and Andrew Chambers taken from http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/27/bangkok-floods-evacuation-thailand

Schools Warn Of Bracelets Used To Smoke Pot

Orange County school administrators are worried about a new bracelet that students may be using to conceal drug paraphernalia used to smoke marijuana.
The district sent administrators and principals a letter along with pictures of the suspicious bracelets. They look like any other bracelets, but when Local 6 showed parents what was inside, they were stunned.
"This is scary because this is promoting drugs even earlier on," said Kathy Barbay, who has been teaching 21 years and has never seen anything like the bracelets.Even her daughter, Lauren, who is a senior in high school, was amazed at the clever new way to conceal drug equipment."If I saw that on one of my friends, I would not think twice about it," said Lauren. "Honestly, it's smart. They would have never figured it out."School administrators have already developed a punishment plan. If a student has one, they could be suspended. And if they have one that's been used for drugs, they could be expelled. But that policy comes with some concern."Whose responsibility is it going to be to look for this? Is it going to be the teacher's responsibility," asked Barbay. "And then, what do you do about the kids that have it on or its planted on them and they don't even know what it's for? Then you're punishing some students who truly may not understand what they're wearing, and this could get in the hands of younger kids and then you have a whole other problem."So far, OCPS has not punished any student for having the bracelet.Barbay teaches in a private high school and after seeing the bracelet plans on warning all the private schools as well.

taken from http://www.clickorlando.com/news/29609837/detail.html

Solar subsidies to be cut by more than half

Solar subsidies will be dramatically cut by more than half, according to government documents that were prematurely published online and quickly taken down.
The cut will almost double the payback period for householders, the document revealed, meaning someone installing £10-12,000 solar panels will only be in credit after 18 years rather than the current 10. The rate will be reduced from 43.3p per kilowatt hour of solar electricity to just 21p, the document revealed, cutting returns from around 7% to 4%.
Although the solar industry said it could bear the cuts, many companies said the reductions would hurt the poorest consumers hardest. Lower income households are more likely to rely on free deals whereby the installer takes the subsidy but the household gets free power – often enough to rescue people from fuel poverty.
While the PDF on the Energy Saving Trust website noted that "these proposals are currently under consultation and are not final", the figure is in line with earlier speculation that the rate will be cut by over half. It also said consumers considering solar should assume the 21p figure is what they will get if they install after 8 December.
Howard Johns, MD of Southern Solar, who spotted the document, tweeted: "It seems that EST know exactly what the outcome of the Fit review already – so much for consultation." Toby Ferenczi, chief technology officer at solar company Engensa, wrote: "This isn't acceptable and will result in massive job losses – don't be fooled."
The official announcement on the slashing of the feed-in tariff rate paid to householders looks set for Monday, with energy secretary Chris Huhne slated to make a statement in parliament, echoing tweets from the climate change minister, Greg Barker.
A Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) spokesman said: "We'll be publishing a full consultation on changes to the solar PV tariff changes in parliament on Monday. The Energy Saving Trust inadvertently published a draft of documentation on its website that was neither final nor accurate." However, the figures are line with those disclosed by the Guardian.
The spokesman added that if government took no action now, by 2014-15, Fit payments for solar would be cost consumers £980m annually, adding £26 to electricity bills by 2020. Average electricity bills are estimated to be £512 by 2020.
The government has argued that as the cost of solar power has come down, the subsidies should also be reduced as at present solar companies are absorbing some of the extra profits. Although the payback period has been reduced, the financial return at about 4% a year still beats most bank offerings and other financial investments available to individuals.
Prof Stephen Frankel, who chairs the Wadebridge Renewable Energy Network in Cornwall, which wants to install solar panels for free to local homes, warned the cuts would endanger the project.
"The Fit underpins these installations, and the benefits then flow not to outside speculators but are retained in the area and contribute to our community fund. This fund is available for local projects, as decided democratically by local people. We are now told that the Fit is to be curtailed drastically. If that is true, our efforts to act upon government advice and encouragement will have been for naught."
Daniel Green, of the solar installer HomeSun, said people without the money to invest £10,000 or more upfront in roof panels would be hardest hit, as suppliers would no longer find it worth their while to install solar panels for them.
HomeSun is one of a range of companies fitting solar panels to homes and community buildings for free: the roof-owner gains free energy, and the subsidies are kept by the installer. Proponents of these schemes argue that it helps to rescue people from fuel poverty.
Green said: "In the residential sector, providers of free solar panels are around 50% of installations and they will disappear at anything less than 28p per kWh. This means the less well-off will not be able to benefit from solar."
The news comes a day after the government signalled support for the 25,000 jobs in the fast-growing solar industry. Barker said the government wanted growth in solar panel installations to continue.
"We are determined not just to drive down carbon emissions but to build a successful, thriving, prosperous low-carbon economy," he told a solar power conference in Birmingham.
"I'm personally committed to ensuring that your industry can prosper in the longer term, sustaining green jobs at a critical time for our economy, jobs that people can build a career on [and] that can help drive the recovery."
Johns told the Guardian that the cuts would be a "disaster". "If they go ahead with this, the tariff is way too low, and all the social housing and free solar schemes – which make the feed-in tariffs exciting in terms of fuel poverty – will be destroyed." He added that this was the third government review into solar subsidies this year, saying: "We've invested business in PV [solar photovoltaic panels] and had it sliced up three times in a year. They [the government] have no credibility on this any more."
"You can't do U-turns like this without having to answer for it – it puts the spotlight firmly on the coaliton's green credentials," he said.
Seb Berry, head of public affairs at the UK's largest solar company, Solarcentury, said they would campaign against the proposals:
"Today's leak from the EST confirming the government's intention to more than halve the domestic tariff from 8 December to 21p makes a mockery of the feed-in tariff consultation process established by the Energy Act. The minister tried to reassure the industry yesterday that he supported this sector and valued our investment, jobs, innovation and rapid growth. Today those reassurances ring hollow."
Juliet Davenport, CEO of utility Good Energy, said: "Clearly we'll have to wait until Decc comes out with the final details on Monday, but if these rumours are true they are very concerning. Feed-in tariffs have been successful at the end of the day because they give households control over their energy supply, insulating themselves from price hikes and reducing their carbon footprint."
But the consultancy PwC argued that the deep fast cuts proposed by government were better then continued uncertainty or the risk of a bubble leading to over capacity in the short term followed by cuts later, which would mean sharper job losses. "A deep and fast cut in UK Feed in Tariffs (FiTs) will be required to protect the UK solar Photovoltaic (PV) industry from stalling or creating a market bubble before any rate changes take effect," the consultancy said in a report on Friday.
On Thursday, Germany, the world's biggest solar-panel market, said it will also cut subsidies for solar photovoltaic power. Rates will be reduced 15 percent from January 2012, the Bundesnetzagentur, the federal grid regulator, announced. Power from panels will earn 17.94 euro cents to 24.43 euro cents a kilowatt-hour, depending on size and location.
Deep cuts to the popular feed-in-tariff have been overseen in recent years, with the German government arguing that economies of scale and improvements in technology are resulting in rapid reductions in the cost of the sector, meaning the industry no longer needs such a high level state aid. Since Germany's Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) was introduced 11 years ago, providers are guaranteed fixed prices for the electricity they feed into the grid. Like the UK scheme, it is paid for by consumers, adding 3,59 euro cent a kilowatt-hour on energy bills or, according to calculations by The Rheinish-Westphalian Institute for Economic Research (RWI)€ 85,4 billion for the solar built between 2000 and 2010 and ensuing payments.
The Bundesnetzagentur revises the tariff regularly. A 9 percent reduction every year is given by law, but it can be higher depending on actual new installations. "During the last 12 months an additional new capacity of approximately 5.200 megawatts (MW) has been registered. This figure results in a 15 % lower remuneration compared to the actual FiT for systems connected to the grid beginning January 1st, 2012," said Matthias Kurth, President of the federal grit regulator. The rate could have been cut by as much as 24% (the annual cut's ceiling) if a larger amount of solar, 7,500MW, had been added.
In 2010 Germany added a record 7.400 megawatts of solar power, and small green energy firms have become sizeable within just a few years. The renewable industry supports 380,000 jobs in total, 108,000 within the photovoltaic industry alone. "Germany is the global market leader in the renewable energy sector," German Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen stresses repeatedly.
However, German solar cell manufacturers can hardly keep up, now that prices are collapsing and Chinese suppliers are flooding market. "The prices were falling down more rapidly than German manufactures expected. but they will prevail in the long time because of the better quality", Daniel Kluge from the German Renewable Energy Federation said.

by Adam Vaughan and Fiona Harvey taken from http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/oct/28/solar-subsidies-cut-half