Friends

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/11/world/europe/11prexy.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/11/nyregion/11yoga.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/11/nyregion/11yoga.html

http://www.alternet.org/workplace/141232/when_will_the_recovery_begin_never/

http://www.alternet.org/politics/141157/homesick_for_dictatorship%3A_east_germans_liked_it_better_under_communism/

http://www.alternet.org/world/141157/homesick_for_dictatorship%3A_east_germans_liked_it_better_under_communism/

http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/010128.html

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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/10/sports/baseball/10cameras.html

http://www.alternet.org/environment/141204/are_climate-change_deniers_guilty_of_treason/

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1570

In some alternative history, according to the webcomic Teaching Baby Paranoia:

(Click on the image for a larger version. If your screen is too small, this may not work — in that case, try right-click>>view image or your browser/OS equivalent.)

David Brooks has so far missed this one.

[Hat tip: Neil Cohn]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jul/10/news-of-the-world-phone-hacking-metropolitan-police

Former senior Met officer calls for independent, external review of force's Clive Goodman investigation

The Metropolitan Police faced renewed pressure today to open a new investigation into alleged phone hacking by News of the World journalists, with former senior Scotland Yard officer Brian Paddick calling for an independent inquiry.

Paddick, the former deputy assistant commissioner at the Metropolitan Police, said there should be an independent, external review of the force's investigations, which led to the 2007 conviction of Clive Goodman and a private investigator. The Met's assistant commissioner, John Yates, said yesterday that Scotland Yard would not be reopening its files on Goodman because no new evidence had come to light and the original inquiry had concluded that phone hacking had occurred in only a minority of cases.

However, the Guardian's allegations focus on the activities of many other journalists at the paper, drawing on separate evidence kept secret under a £1m series of deals agreed by its parent company, News International.

The former deputy prime minister, John Prescott, one of those whose phone was allegedly hacked, told the BBC's Newsnight that Yates's statement's had not gone far enough.

"Frankly he has come out, he has defined in a very narrow way what he is going to look at, and then gives a report that everything is OK," he said.

Paddick told the same programme that Yates should not be criticised for dealing with a brief referring just to the Goodman investigation. But he said Yates was not sufficiently distanced from the original investigation to launch a fresh review.

"John Yates said that he had a degree of independence because he was not involved in the initial investigation," Paddick added.

"But he is now in charge of the department that did that initial investigtaion, so not only have we got the Metropolitan Police investigating themselves as far as this is concerned, but the department that investigated it investigating themselves.

"There must be some degree of independence here in this investigation, at least an outside force looking at it if not the Independent Police Complaints Commission."

Mark Stephens, a lawyer at Finers Stephens Innocent, said Yates's statement did not "address the possibility that there had been a criminal attempt or a potential criminal conspiracy".

"I think Keir Starmer, the director of public prosecutions, will force the police to reopen this investigation," he told Radio 4's Today programme this morning.

Legal experts said the Yard's decision would not affect the ability of alleged hacking victims to sue the News of the World for breach of privacy.

Stephens said several legal firms had been approached by people who thought they might have been the target of the News of the World's activities.

"Aggrieved celebrities are contacting lawyers across London," Stephens said. "I had two calls yesterday – one from somebody who has been identified by the Guardian as having been hacked and also the private office of somebody who believes they may have been."

The Guardian also revealed today that the Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, and the former Newcastle United manager Alan Shearer were among those whose private telephone messages were recorded by a private investigator working for the News of the World.

Both men are said to have left messages on the mobile phone of Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, who sued the newspaper last year, according to sources familiar with the police investigation.

The prospect of legal action by victims comes after three fresh inquiries were launched yesterday into the conduct of News of the World journalists following the Guardian's disclosures that Rupert Murdoch's News Group company paid £1m to keep secret the use of apparently criminal methods to get stories.

The director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer, ordered an urgent review of the evidence relating to phone hacking gathered in the investigation of the News of the World reporter Clive Goodman, who was jailed in January 2007 for obtaining information illegally.

A powerful Commons select committee said it would be calling senior managers from News International to give evidence as early as next week to clarify what they knew about malpractice by journalists at the News of the World.

The inquiry by the culture, media and sport select committee is expected to call the former News of the World editor, Andy Coulson, who resigned after Goodman was jailed and is now the Conservative party's director of communications.

The Press Complaints Commission also announced it was conducting an inquiry.

David Cameron, the Conservative leader, has defended Coulson, saying he did "an excellent job in a proper, upright way".

The parliamentary inquiry will focus on executives at News International, including Rebekah Wade, the outgoing Sun editor who has been promoted to News International chief executive; Stuart Kuttner, the News of the World's outgoing managing editor; Colin Myler, the current News of the World editor; and Les Hinton, the former chairman of News International. Hinton left News International in December 2007 to become the New York-based chief executive of anther News Corporation subsidiary, Dow Jones, which publishes the Wall Street Journal.

John Whittingdale, the chairman of the culture select committee, said he was particularly keen to question Hinton, who told a previous hearing he was "absolutely convinced" that Goodman was the only person who knew about the phone hacking at the paper.

Whittingdale added that he was "completely shocked" that News Group had paid out more than £1m to settle cases involving illegal surveillance and said he would be asking Hinton whether he wished to amend the evidence he gave the committee then.

Another member of the committee, Labour MP Paul Farrelly, said Hinton would be asked "whether he wishes to correct, or amplify, his evidence".

"That reopens our inquiry and, if we are not satisfied with the answers, parliament can potentially take the rare – but reputationally serious – step of finding witnesses in contempt," he wrote on the Guardian's Comment is Free website.

News International said last night it was "prevented by confidentiality obligations from discussing certain allegations made in the Guardian newspaper".

The company added that its journalists had complied with relevant legislation and codes of conduct since February 2007, after the Goodman case and Coulson's resignation.

• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000.

• If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jul/09/andy-coulson-tory-phone-hacking

David Cameron and George Osborne threw a protective arm around Andy Coulson today as the Tory high command insisted that their communications director would not be forced to stand down.

Amid unease among some backbenchers at the party's determination to stand by Coulson, Cameron, the Tory leader and Osborne, shadow chancellor, praised Coulson for "upright" conduct in his work for the party.

The leadership decided on Wednesday, soon after the story broke on guardian.co.uk, that they would protect Coulson, a key member of the Cameron and Osborne inner circle.

A message was sent out that there was "no question" of removing Coulson after he reiterated an undertaking he had given in the lengthy negotiations which preceded his appointment as communications chief in 2007. Coulson made clear once again that he knew nothing of the phone hacking at the News of the World but had resigned as editor because he took ultimate, but not personal, responsibility.

"There was extensive due diligence done into Andy before he was appointed," one senior party figure said. "It became clear that he had paid a price by standing down as editor. That is the line we are sticking to."

A bullish Tory leadership intensified its defence of Coulson today by sanctioning an aggressive attack on the Guardian and the Labour party after the Metropolitan police said they would be taking no action over the phone hacking.

Tory sources were so sure of Coulson's position that they issued a point-by-point rebuttal of the Guardian's claims. They said the Guardian had uncovered nothing new, apart from the payment to Taylor.

"Little is new," a source said of the Guardian reports. "Much of its claims have already been considered by the Metropolitan police, the information commissioner and the high court."

The Tory leadership decided to rally round Coulson for three broad reasons:

• Cameron believes Coulson is an invaluable asset, who has played a key role in sharpening the Tories' act in the last two years.

• Losing such a senior figure would raise questions about Cameron's judgment.

• A determination not to allow Labour – which was severely damaged by the resignation of Damian McBride, an adviser to Gordon Brown – to exploit the new allegations to damage the Tories.

Cameron agreed to step up the Tory operation to protect Coulson after finding himself in the rare position this morning of having to answer hostile questions on his doorstep. The Tory leader, who has enjoyed a relatively easy ride in the media over the last two years, criticised the News of the World for invading people's privacy and said it was right that Coulson had taken ultimate – but not personal – responsibility by resigning as editor. "Of course I knew about that resignation before offering him the job," Cameron said. "But I believe in giving people a second chance. As director of communications for the Conservatives, he does an excellent job in a proper, upright way at all times."

Osborne spoke in almost identical terms. "Andy Coulson has conducted his job in a totally upright and proper manner and will continue to do so," he said.

While the leadership is determined to protect Coulson, there is unease in the party on two levels.

• Some MPs fear that the continuing revelations about the News of the World's tactics could mean that Coulson will break a famous rule established by Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair's director of communications. This states that a press officer is finished the moment they become the story. One senior Tory said: "This is a breathtaking story. What the hell has happened? Andy Coulson seems to have a very narrow definition of what he did and did not know. I can't imagine as editor he did not know what was happening."

• Some backbenchers said the decision to stand by Coulson highlighted a pattern of behaviour by Cameron: that he protects members of his inner circle while doing little to support other Conservatives. There was particular anger at Cameron's claim that he believed in giving people a second chance, something he did not show to veteran Tory MPs who were ordered to stand down by the leadership when embarrassing details of their expenses were published.

"There does seem to be one rule for the golden circle and another for everyone else," a senior MP said. "Sir Peter Viggers [MP for Gosport] made a silly claim for a duck island which was actually refused. But he was told as soon as the story appeared that he would have to stand down as an MP. Is that fair?"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/10/british-deaths-afghanistan-helmand

Gordon Brown admits UK troops are facing "a very hard summer"

Two more British soldiers have died in southern Afghanistan, taking the death toll to nine in nine days – as Gordon Brown admitted UK troops were facing "a very hard summer".

Brown was returning to the UK tonight and was due to head straight to the Northwood headquarters of the armed forces in Hertfordshire for a private briefing with military chiefs about Afghanistan.

The Ministry of Defence said one soldier from 4th Battalion the Rifles was killed in an explosion while on foot patrol near Nad-e-Ali in Helmand province yesterday afternoon.

The other, from the Princess of Wales Royal Regiment attached to 1st Battalion the Welsh Guards, died after being shot during a battle with insurgents near Lashkar Gah in Helmand last night.

Speaking as the bodies of five other soldiers killed earlier this week arrived back in the UK, Brown admitted the past week had been very difficult. "It is at times like these that the people of Britain understand the sacrifice that has been made by our armed forces," he said.

The prime minister defended the role the UK troops were playing in Afghanistan, saying there was "a chain of terror" linking the country with the streets of the UK.

"We cannot allow southern Afghanistan to remain a lawless place sheltering terrorism, the drugs trade and destabilising the region … this is a very hard summer. It is not over."

Brown's comments came as hundreds of people turned out to line the high street in Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire, to pay their respects to the latest soldiers to die in the conflict.

A spokesman for Task Force Helmand, Lieutenant Colonel Nick Richardson, said: "These fine British soldiers paid the ultimate sacrifice and their memory will live with us forever"

The number of British troops who have died in Afghanistan since the start of operations in October 2001 stands at 178 – one short of the UK death toll in Iraq.

The deaths over the past nine days come in the third phase of a major offensive by US and UK forces aimed at cutting off the Taliban's opium supply, believed to be their chief source of funding.

The government has been criticised for failing to provide proper equipment. The former head of the armed forces, General Lord Guthrie, accused the government and the prime minister of spending the "minimum they could get away with" on UK troops in Afghanistan, putting soldiers at risk.

He told the Daily Mail that commanders on the ground were struggling with too few troops.

And today the mother of a soldier killed in a roadside bomb attack on a Snatch Land Rover in Iraq won the first round of a legal battle over an investigation into the vehicles.

Phillip Hewett, 21, a private in the 1st Battalion Staffordshire Regiment, was driving the lightly armoured vehicle on patrol in July 2005. Two other soldiers also died in the blast.

His mother Susan Smith wants to force the government to rethink its decision not to hold a public inquiry into the use of the vehicles in conflict situations.

Smith, of Tamworth, Staffordshire, was given permission to seek a high court judicial review relating to past use of the vehicles in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But Mr Justice Mitting refused her leave to challenge a Ministry of Defence decision not to hold an inquiry into present and future deployment of Snatch Land Rovers – a decision he described as "unimpeachable" in the courts.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/10/obama-africa-democracy-ghana

US president to emphasise democratic goals for African countries during speech to Ghanaian parliament

The US is planning a dramatically more assertive policy in Africa, sometimes backed by a threat of force, to end conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria that are seen as among the principal obstacles to the continent's revival.

Barack Obama is to address Ghana's parliament tomorrow on his first visit to Africa as president with a speech that is expected to emphasise that the key to prosperity is democratic, accountable government. But an important part of the new administration's policy will focus on ending key conflicts through more forceful diplomatic initiatives after years of drift by the Bush administration.

The White House is shortly to appoint a special envoy to central Africa with a brief to tackle a web of conflicts that have afflicted eastern Congo for 15 years,and destabilised the region, in the belief that the success or failure of one of the continent's largest countries will decide central Africa's future.

A senior administration source said that the US believes the primary problem is the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which is led by men wanted for the 1994 genocide of Rwanda's Tutsis who fled to Congo and controls swaths of territory close to Rwanda's border.

The source said that the priority will be to break the FDLR leadership with a mix of diplomatic pressure, including the prospect of war crimes trials, backed by the establishment of "a more professional force" to replace the ill-trained troops serving in the UN largest peacekeeping mission who have failed to contain the conflict. However, the source said that there is a belief that the threat may be enough to force the FDLR to give up the fight. He said that the make-up of such a force is unresolved.

The initiative will also focus on confronting the Lords Resistance Army, a particularly brutal Ugandan rebel group also based in Congo. But the source said that broader pacification will require more interventionist diplomacy to press other countries such as Rwanda and Uganda that contribute to the destabilisation to recognise that their security is intertwined with Congo's success.

The administration is also eyeing the continuing violent upheaval in the Niger Delta which is a major source of America's oil imports amid deep scepticism over the capabilities of President Umaru Yar'Adua who is seen as weak and indecisive as his country fragments.

The conflict is deepening with several rebel groups and parts of the military now acting as warlords and some major oil companies warning that they are considering pulling out of the region altogether.

But the emphasis there is likely to remain firmly diplomatic as the US presses Yar'Adua to address seriously the issues of impoverishment, environmental devastation and endemic corruption that have alienated people in the delta and given rise to rebel groups and armed gangs that now control large parts of the region.

However there are fears that US intervention could result in the further militarisation of the continent. Confronting the FDLR is likely to draw in the US Africa Command (Africom) which is increasingly involved in conflicts on the continent, including overseeing a botched Ugandan attack on LRA rebels in Congo.

The US military is also now supplying weapons to the fragile government in Somalia as it tries to stave off Islamist insurgents. The Americans also allied themselves closely with Ethiopia's repressive regime during its attack on Somalia.

Daniel Volman, director of the African Security Research Institute, one of three dozen organisations which wrote an open letter to Obama urging him to reverse the militarisation of US policy in Africa, said Africom's growing role will further destabilise the continent.

"It encourages governments to rely on the use of force to deal with internal problems, to avoid democracy, to avoid addressing the internal issues these African countries face," he said.

"The US is now engaged in a major new military project in Somalia, providing arms and ammunition to the Somali government there, encouraging countries like Burundi and Rwanda which have peacekeeping forces there to conduct military training so we don't send to have our own troops there, all of which encourages that government to seek a military solution instead of developing a political solution to the kind of problems that exist."

There remain deep divisions over other aspects of Africa policy, especially Darfur. Before his election, Obama promised strong action against the Sudanese regime but the state department is at odds with itself on the crisis. The US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, believes the Khartoum leadership is not to be trusted and wants a hard line taken with Sudan but others argue that the conflict has been over simplified and that it is in any case largely over.

However, when Obama addresses Ghana's parliament tomorrow, his focus will be on democratisation as the path to Africa's revival.

"This isn't some abstract notion that we're trying to impose upon Africa," he told allAfrica.com. "There is a very practical pragmatic consequence to political instability and corruption when it comes to whether people can feed their families, educate their children. And we think that the African continent is a place of extraordinary promise as well as challenges. We're not going to be able to fulfil those promises unless we see better governance."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/jul/10/ashes-england-australia-live-report

Follow the latest with our enhanced desktop scoreboard and why not immerse yourself in our new Hawk-Eye tool. Send your Ashes emails to andy.bull@guardian.co.uk

In other, scarcely less depressing news Australia's women are enjoying a ridiculous revival in Worcester, having been 28-5, they're now 200-5 thanks to a superb stand of 172 from captain Jodie Fields and no7 debutant Rachel Haynes.

Yup, We've got a flurry of rain sweeping across Cardiff.

133rd over: Australia 463-4 (Clarke 72, North 51) Umbrellas are popping up around the ground and the rain is starting to come down. "This does seem a bit like a mid-90s test, just substitute Peter Such and Alex Tudor. Ok, so maybe it isn't that bad, but we seem to be a schizophrenic team. One good session, one bleak one. I wouldn't be surprised if, with a few hours rain forecast tomorrow, Australia try to score quickly up to the close to hit 600 then have two days to skittle us out for 200. I still think we can draw this, but we'll need to shed the mental shackles of Test series past." A huge LBW appeal from Collingwood against North. Umpire Doctrove is entirely unfussed, and, well, the covers are coming on and the players are going off.

132nd over: Australia 462-4 (Clarke 72, North 51) And at the other end, Andy Flintoff. Here's a little something to help ease the pain. Clarke flicks a single to leg, North takes another and England then produce the most desultory LBW appeal from the final ball. Hawk-Eye says it was clipping the top of the leg stump, but no umpire could or would ever give it out, as Botham and Atherton agree.

131st over: Australia 458-4 (Clarke 70, North 50) Mercy me, they're opening with Collingwood after tea. I just can't quite fathom how poorly England's spinners have performed. We've picked two of them for goodness sake - it's going to be about two decades before we do that again in a home Test - and they've combined for 55-12-164-1.

"Was Smyth wearing a tie because he had to attend a funeral after his stint?" asks John Stevens, "Rarely has an OBO been so depressing as this afternoon's effort. Disappointing from Smyth, who has overseen some terrible sessions for England thus far."

"I'm sorry to say" begins Jonny Sultoon, "but this is really shaping up to be Adelai..." And at that point Jonny, I have to cut you off. We can all see what's coming, and we just don't want to go there.

Still with us? Still alive? Boy that was painful. This match is feeling like more and more of a nineties throwback by the moment. There's no way back for England now as far as I can see. There's rain due tomorrow, which will help them save the draw but it's all hard yakka from here onwards.

TEA

130th over: Australia 458-4 (in reply to 435; Clarke 70, North 50) North works Flintoff to leg to reach his fifty. Well done. And so ends a dispiriting, wicketless session for England. Australia lead by 23 with six first-innings wickets in hand. Andy Bull will be with you in 10 minutes' time.

129th over: Australia 454-4 (in reply to 435; Clarke 67, North 49) Collingwood has a huge appeal for LBW when Clarke pads up to an off-cutter. It was missing off stump.

128th over: Australia 453-4 (in reply to 435; Clarke 67, North 48) "During my single days, I used to put a kiss on the end of texts to girls I fancied," says Rich Coward. "Two Xs was me being outrageously yet unnoticeably flirty. If I got an x in return, during barren spells, I used to count that as a pull."

127th over: Australia 451-4 (in reply to 435; Clarke 66, North 47) Consecutive deliveries from Collingwood beat North and go for four byes. North then slices a deliberate boundary to third man. "Xs are crucial," says Tom Oxley. "For example in the lines 'Ponting is too fxxking good' and now 'Colly is fxxkin bowlin'. See you after work darling. x"

126th over: Australia 439-4 (in reply to 435; Clarke 66, North 43) Andrew Flintoff replaces James Anderson. Michael Clarke check-pulls his first delivery for a single. Marcus North then pushes a single to midwicket to bring up the century partnership from 183 deliveries. Clarke's contribution is 57, North's 42, extras' 1. Clarke times Flintoff through straight mid-on for three and, from the final delivery, pulls for four to take Australia into the lead.

125th over: Australia 429-4 (in reply to 435; Clarke 58, North 41) Paul Collingwood is going to bowl from the River Taff End. He has taken 14 wickets in 49 Tests at an average of 55.00. Three from the over. "I think the 'X' on the end of a text is worth some debate," says Simon Lampard. "For me, men shouldn't do it, period. It's just not cricket. Other OBOers?"

124th over: Australia 426-4 (in reply to 435; Clarke 57, North 39) North turns Anderson off his pads for four. "North has played in the county championship in each of the last six seasons, for five different teams," writes Andy Bull. "In that time his record is 72 innings, 3015 runs at an average of 45 with eight centuries."

123rd over: Australia 421-4 (in reply to 435; Clarke 56, North 35) North slog-sweeps Swann over midwicket for four and then survives a fairly loud shout for LBW. He got a big stride in, although Hawk-Eye had it hitting leg stump.

122nd over: Australia 416-4 (in reply to 435; Clarke 55, North 31) "Speaking of kissing (over 117)," says Marcus Taylor, "my friend, Simon Dale sent me an Ashes-related text the other day but accidentally put a kiss on the end of it which he claims was meant for his girlfriend who he had been texting just before. Can you please publish this as it will embarass him and amuse me in equal measure."

121st over: Australia 416-4 (in reply to 435; Clarke 55, North 31) Clarke charges Swann and drives him through extra-cover for four. That brings up Clarke's half-century, a high-class effort from 100 balls, with six fours and one six. It's his 14th Test half-century. He charges the next ball as well, this time driving it over extra-cover for four. "I notice that both current batsmen are called 'MJ'," says Daniel Vydra. "Coincidence? I think not."

120th over: Australia 408-4 (in reply to 435; Clarke 47, North 31) A maiden from Anderson to North. "Regarding Daniel Jones's point (over 117), I would suggest that we'd all have trouble imagining two single people having a little kiss," says David Hopkins. "We all spend our time reading the OBO after all..."

119th over: Australia 408-4 (in reply to 435; Clarke 47, North 31) Billy Doctrove, the umpire, turns down a big shout for LBW by Graeme Swann against Marcus North; there was a big inside-edge. North squeezes the next delivery to third man for four.

118th over: Australia 403-4 (in reply to 435; Clarke 47, North 26) After a drinks break, James Anderson comes back into the attack, bowling over the wicket to North, who leaves as much as possible outside off stump while he adjusts to the change of pace. He then works a straighter delivery behind square on the leg side for a single. "Re: over 117," begins David Wholey. "Surely the last line should be: Quite the scandal, I mean, can you imagine it? Someone fancying a geography teacher!"

117th over: Australia 402-4 (in reply to 435; Clarke 47, North 25) Clarke pulls Panesar firmly for four to bring up the 400.
"Regarding Matt Kwan's comment in over 113. I once had a Geology teacher called North," says Daniel Jones. "He was caught snogging the physics teacher whilst on the school skiing trip. Quite the scandal, I mean, can you imagine it? Two single people in their late twenties having a little kiss. "

116th over: Australia 395-4 (in reply to 435; Clarke 42, North 24) Clarke pushes Swann into the covers for a single to continue Australia's steady accumulation.

115th over: Australia 395-4 (in reply to 435; Clarke 41, North 24) "Re Lawrence Aggleton question in over 105 ("S. Darko. Why?")," begins Richard Mansell. "As I work in the film business, I can provide a very simple answer: money."

114th over: Australia 394-4 (in reply to 435; Clarke 40, North 24) A maiden from Swann to North. Swann has figures of 24-8-67-0.

113th over: Australia 394-4 (in reply to 435; Clarke 40, North 24) Clarke, once again on the walk, crunches Panesar into the leg side for two. "Like Brendan Mackinney's son (97th over), I once had a teacher named North," says Matt Kwan. "There can't be too many teachers around with that surname. Can there?"

112th over: Australia 392-4 (in reply to 435; Clarke 38, North 24) Graeme Swann replaces Stuart Broad. His first ball is another full toss, although Clarke does not punish him for it. Later in the over, Clarke walks down the pitch and pushes a single past extra-cover. North then square-drives for four.

111th over: Australia 387-4 (in reply to 435; Clarke 37, North 20) James Anderson is back on the field, and Monty Panesar continues his long spell. There is a big shout for LBW against North, but he was comfortably outside the line. North then gloves an attempted sweep to where leg gully would have been. Australia have scored 39 runs in 12 overs for the loss of no wickets since lunch.

110th over: Australia 383-4 (in reply to 435; Clarke 36, North 17) Broad continues, and North pulls him for one. England's lead is down to 52. "I think this series is going to be decided by one or two spells of bowling in the second innings," says Stephen Hathaway. "Both sides have more penetrating batting line-ups than bowling line-ups and so I think it will come down to an inspired spell from someone or a monumental batting collapse, I rather fear that only England are capable of either."

109th over: Australia 382-4 (in reply to 435; Clarke 36, North 16) North top-edges a sweep off Panesar to fine leg for two. He then touches a single off his pads, and Clarke drives Panesar for a flat six to bring up the fifty partnership. "Neither bowling unit seems to have worked out how best to use this pitch," says Victoria Turner. "Is this a by-product of captains and coaches worldwide being almost exclusively drawn from the ranks of batsmen and 'keepers? Where do the smart bowlers go when they retire?"

108th over: Australia 373-4 (in reply to 435; Clarke 30, North 13) A maiden from Broad to Michael Clarke. "You're averaging only 3.57 lines per over, Smyth," says Tom Adam. "Scroll down and see how much more prolific Bull was this morning. You need to come out of your shell and play a few strokes. In fact, I think you need an energy drink."

107th over: Australia 373-4 (in reply to 435; Clarke 30, North 13) Panesar almost bowls Clarke with the arm ball, but Clarke gets bat on it at the last minute and cuts it for a single. North then survives an appeal for LBW, having been well outside the line of off stump at the point of impact. If the ball hits your pad outside the line of off stump, and you are playing a shot, you cannot, or at least should not, be given out LBW.

106th over: Australia 372-4 (in reply to 435; Clarke 29, North 13) James Anderson has left the field, so the substitute Tom Maynard, the son of Matthew, comes on. Broad bowls to Clarke, who cuts him for a single. No other runs from the over.

105th over: Australia 371-4 (in reply to 435; Clarke 28, North 13) Marcus North slog-sweeps Panesar over midwicket for four. "S. Darko. Why?" asks Lawrence Aggleton. "I realise it has nothing to do with the cricket, but I just don't understand why this has happened. Perhaps someone out there can help."

104th over: Australia 367-4 (in reply to 435; Clarke 28, North 9) Michael Clarke leaves the first three balls of Stuart Broad's 20th over, plays a strong defensive stroke to the fourth, and cover-drives the fifth for four.

103rd over: Australia 363-4 (in reply to 435; Clarke 24, North 9) "Here's hoping England turn the screw now, and not take their foot off the gas as we've been prone to in recent series," says Guy Hornsby. "The real challenge will be when the ball becomes soft, which is pretty soon. As for any personal reasons to hate the Australians? How long have you got? 2007 for starters. That and their responsibility for the vast number of Walkabouts now strewn across the capital. Mind you, that at least keeps them in one place."

102nd over: Australia 362-4 (in reply to 435; Clarke 23, North 9) North tucks Broad off his pads for a single. Clarke does the same - actually it was a leg bye; my mistake - and there are two from the over. "Peter Siddle is offensive to my eyes," says Lee Burman.

101st over: Australia 360-4 (in reply to 435; Clarke 23, North 8) Five from Panesar's over. North taps a single into the off side; Clarke cuts a long hop for four.

100th over: Australia 355-4 (in reply to 435; Clarke 19, North 7) Stuart Broad opens the bowling after lunch, to Marcus North, who drives through mid-on for four to get off the mark. "Has anyone else got a personal reason to dislike any of the Australians?" asks David Cotton. "Mr North once gazumped me on a property in Bristol! (Not like he was staying here for long!)"

Hello. Australia resume on 348 for four, a deficit of 87, after a morning session in which James Anderson redefined fast bowling with a new-ball spell that people will be talking about for decades.

LUNCH

Well what an enjoyable session that was. Australia are now 87 runs behind. England were clinging on by their fingernails there weren't they? But the balance has tipped back a little now. I'm desperate for a cigarette so you'll have to excuse me for shooting off. Rob Smyth will be here from 1.30pm or so to guide you through the afternoon. Bye for now.

98th over: Australia 348-4 (Clarke 19 North 0)
This, I imagine, will be the last over. Monty is bowling to Clarke. "Let's take him back with us lads@ shouts Prior. Clarke turns two runs away to square leg. "This is where England get you - the swing from pessimism to hope and back again... You can never rest easy as an English supporter" reflects Rachel Clifton, "if we have another test that goes down to the last 3 runs again, I am going to have to stock up on a lot more booze to get through this series." Amen. Monty has finished his six balls, each of them accompanied by a cry of "catchit!" from the English fielders.

97th over: Australia 346-4 (Clarke 17 North 0)
That's a beauty from Broad, skimming past Clarke's dangling bat. His response is equally impressive though - a neat drive down the ground for three sharp runs. The England trumpeter launches into the theme from the Great Escape, and the crowd claps and sings along. "I have a problem here," writes Brendan Mackinney, "Marcus North is my son's teacher's brother so I would quite like him to do really well and have a successful career but I'm English and I want England to win so given the damage inflicted by Katich & Ponting I can't afford for North to have a good first innings. What should I do?" Move your son to a new school. Clearly.

96th over: Australia 343-4 (Clarke 14 North 0)
"Yep! yeppity yep! Yeppity yeppity yeppity yep!" is the insightful contribution of Kevin Burgoyne. I worry about this chap North you know. He's played for five different counties and scored almost 10,000 first class runs, so forget about the fact he's only played two Tests, he knows exactly what he is doing. Monty has pinned him down with a maiden here, each ball cheered by the England fielders, who are all up on their tip-toes.

95th over: Australia 343-4 (Clarke 14 North 0)
What a comeback in this session by England. And what an innings by Ponting. If anyone was in any doubt about what this Ashes series means to that man, they shouldn't be now. And if England had any illusions about how damn hard they will have to work to even come close to winning this series they too will have been long since dispelled. A superb innings. That said, I'm glad it ended when it did. Broad is into the attack now, and Clarke has squeezed his first ball away fine for four. He takes two past point off the next. A tick edge past slip and a clip for cover for two more make it an expensive over.

WICKET!!!! Ponting 150 b Panesar (94th over: Australia 330-4)
Interesting... here's Monty. Ponting pushes his first ball out to the off for the single that raises his 150. He pauses for a quick wave of his bat, acknowledging the muted applause of the crowd. Clarke, itchy to get down the track, takes a quick single. Monty makes it to the ball in time to have a chance of a run-out, causing English fans to suck in their breath, but he then produces a wild backhand fling that misses the stumps by a mile. No matter! He's got him! Monty has done it! Ponting is out! England are very much back in this game right now and no mistake. They lead by 104 and Ponting is out! He chopped that onto his stumps off the under-edge of the bat, looking to drive the ball away square. Marcus North is in.

93rd over: Australia 329-3 (Ponting 149, Clarke 1)
Another no ball from Fred, patted back down the pitch to the bowler, who fields in his follow-through and picks up to shy at the stumps. Seems he is just starting to flag a little now. Again he field in his follow through and throws the ball back at the batsman. Clarke is entirely unflustered by all these shenanigans.

92nd over: Australia 327-3 (Ponting 149, Clarke 1)
"Ssssh. What's that noise?" asks Luke Shiach, "Oh, it's Rob Smyth chomping loudly on some pie, chock full with extra servings of humble. Anderson on fire!"
Well I couldn't resist it. I sent that little missive over to Smyth. He promptly snarled back: "Fast-bowler-takes-two-wickets shocker. Knighthood please!" Clarke pushes a single to mid-on to get off the mark.

91st over: Australia 326-3 (Ponting 148, Clarke 0)
Here's Simon Rhoades "Why does the OBO always degenerate into sartorial bickering? Yesterday it was Smyth getting sniffy about your sandals. Today you're on about his tie. I'm getting this horrible picture in my mind of him looking a bit like the Michael J Fox character in Family Ties, grimacing distastefully at you sat there in a bark hat straining mung beans and herbal tea through rough hessian cloth while whinging on about him being a dandified materialistic bastard. Awful, just awful." Are you working in the office at the moment? Do we have a web cam on here? You couldn't be more spot-on if you tried. And neither, for that ball at least, could Flintoff. It was a peach, biting on the pitch and jagging away past Clarke's outside edge.

WICKET! Hussey 3 c Prior b Anderson (91st over: Australia 325-3
Hussey goes! Caught behind from a full inswinger which he snicked through to Prior. The ball was pushed out wider, Hussey chased it, and it came back just enough to slip off the edge. You could just feel that one coming somehow. Here's Michael Clarke, with Australia still 110 behind. Bopara dives and stops the ball close in on the off side to keep Clarke on strike. The batsman is keen to get his first run here, he's bouncing around on his toes, trying to sneak a yard down the wicket as soon as he plays the ball. A wicket maiden from Anderson.

90th over: Australia 325-2 (Ponting 147, Hussey 3)
Ponting grunts as he mistimes a pull and the ball thunders into his chest with a thump. Kabira Namit, no offence, but I'm really glad you're not captaining England: "If the new ball fails us, we could bowl a negative length down the leg side and prevent them scoring runs so freely. And who knows, they might get frustrated and start making mistakes. And even if they don't, a period of containment would help us secure a draw." Oh my that's close. Is Ponting rattled? He swings a wild hook at a bouncer, and the ball just clears Monty Panesar in the deep. It was a no ball regardless, so no matter.

89th over: Australia 318-2 (Ponting 141, Hussey 3)
I swear Bumble has just called Mike Holding 'Mr T'. Speaking of which "has anyone commented on the similarity between Mitchell Johnson and Derrick Zoolander?" asks Peter Hodgkinson. Yes. Yes they have. Australia's women are now 28-5. An innocuous over from Anderson this, as Hussey either leaves everything well alone or blocks it down by his feet.

88th over: Australia 318-2 (Ponting 139, Hussey 3)
I've just noticed Smyth is wearing a tie today, as though we were expecting a visit from the Queen during the lunch break. I love it when Smyth wears a tie. It adds a certain Glengarry Glen Ross aura to the office. Ow! Hussey ducks into a short ball from Flintoff that didn't quite get up as high as he anticipated. The ball clanged him on the top of his helmet and ricocheted away over Prior's head for four. "Anderson is a world beater, the Ashes are coming home" or so James Rowe tells me.

87th over: Australia 309-2 (Ponting 136, Hussey 2)
Suddenly Anderson is making the ball swing in a little, he has one coming back from a length and, heartened, pitches the next up looking for a repeat of the fuller ball that did for Katich. He almost has it, but not quite, and Ponting escapes with a leg bye. Hussey is on strike now, and Anderson has a heavy leg side field, suggesting, Gower tells us, he'll be bowling straight and looking for the LBW. Indeed he does, though Hussey survives the appeal. He taps the final ball away to leg for two. "Very salutary to compare the use which England and Australia have respectively made of Billy Doctrove's reluctance to raise the finger," points out Tom Adam, "KP is plumb when 61, given a life by Billy, and goes on to make a mighty 8 further runs. Katich is plumb when 56, given a life by Billy, and is ends up with 122."

86th over: Australia 306-2 (Ponting 136 Hussey 0)
Over in Worcester, Australia are now 23-4, heheheh. Sadly back in Cardiff, Ponting is flicking four away through the leg side. Hussey, a dollop of zinc on his nose and a thick smear around his mouth faces the final ball of the over, which he defends solidly.

WICKET!!!! Katich 122 lbw Anderson (85th over: Australia 298-2
Now here's a convincing argument for making team changes for the next Test, from a man who wishes to remain anonymous for fear of being collared shirking by his boss: "Can Anderson cope with carrying the blame of a nation for the whole series or would it be best to bring in a more experienced scapegoat and accuse Harmison at Lord's?" Jimmy Anderson's head is drooping over onto his chest, he looks like a daisy with a broken stem. He's got him! He's got Katich! With his sixth ball, a full swinging delivery on off stump which pinned the batsman on the boot. Up goes Billy Doctrove's finger and England, at last have a wicket! Oh look, here's Mike Hussey, a man with a meagre Test average of 55.

84th over: Australia 298-1 (Katich 122, Ponting 130)
Flintoff comes around the wicket to Katich, the ball shooting away off the edge for four through third man. Flintoff digs in a bouncer and Katich, like a true Trojan, turns his back and wears the ball on his leading shoulder. Impressively, rather than worry about the pain he is instantly looking about himself to make sure the ball isn't going to ricochet onto the stumps. "Just another thought on Anderson's development," offers Andi Thomas, "he lost about two years of his international career after Troy Cooley took his action apart. As much credit as Mr Cooley gets - and deserves - for the priming of the 2005 attack, it's worth remembering that he took a raw and exciting swing bowler, who frequently devastating in limited-overs cricket, and made him into a 12th man."

83rd over: Australia 294-1 (Katich 118, Ponting 130)
Strauss claps his hands and implores his men to "come on". Yeah, thanks for that skip. Ponting cuts the ball down towards gully, the ball landing a foot in front of the fielder. That's as close to a breakthrough as England have come. All you people hungering to see Harmison running in, go away and think about that. Just think about it. He would have lost interest by lunchtime yesterday and spent the rest of his time bunging long-hops down the leg side.

82nd over: Australia 290-1 (Katich 118, Ponting 126)
And at the other end Flintoff opens with a wide. Stuart Wilson, like Mickey Arthur, is a South African with a little advice to provide: "Just watched the first few overs and England's problem is obvious. They just keep bowling at the middle of the bat. All they need to do is shift their lines slightly either way and, hey presto, edges galore!" Thanks. Katich chases a wide one, the shoulders arms to a straight one. Flintoff's next two deliveries are sharper, spitting up past the batsman, but too wide to tempt Katich to play at them.

81st over: Australia 289-1 (Katich 118, Ponting 126)
So here we go. Anderson has the shiny new ball, and Strauss sticks in two slips and a gully. Aww that's just filth. What the hell? Anderson drops short and Ponting swivels and smears the ball away for four through long leg. The next ball is better, fuller and swinging away a touch towards the slips. Brutal. Absolutely brutal. Ponting has just unveiled a crunching cover-drive, the kind of shot that just makes you want to give up now and go home.

80th over: Australia 281-1 (Katich 118, Ponting 118)
Swann is not bowling very well, it has to be said, Ponting chips three runs to leg from his first ball, and Katich takes a four from the fifth ball, cutting a short, wide delivery away with contempt. No matter, England are taking the new ball.

79th over: Australia 274-1 (Katich 114, Ponting 115)
Now Monty has six balls at Katich from around the wicket, and immediately he makes him look uncomfortable. The fourth ball snicks off the edge but lands short of Collingwood at slip, the fifth though is too full and Katich slaps away a drive for four through cover. Mark Gillespie, this email seems far too sensible: "I don't know what people expect of Anderson. He's a very good (but not great) swing bowler, but like the majority of swing bowlers, he's a bit ineffective once the ball gets older if it's not swinging. Hoggard was the same until (relatively) late in his England career, and Anderson is probably a little behind in his development for his age because of all the times he was carrying drinks for the England team rather than learning by bowling overs somewhere. The "leader of the attack" bit just seems like the usual media building him up into something he's not, which they'll then use to knock him down again, when in reality he'll look very good when the ball is swinging, and a bit innocuous when it isn't, and that's the bowler he is."

78th over: Australia 270-1 (Katich 109, Ponting 114)
Swann is on now, and his third ball has ripped back from outside off to shave off-stump. "What's in Smyth's crisp locker this morning?" wonders Jon McCauley-Smith, "I firmly believe England's fortunes are inextricably linked to his choice of snack and he needs a sharp change of tack in order to effect a few wickets. Forget the high falutin tastes and shapes of your Skips, Quavers and Monster Munch, he should go for something that summons up the sinews of a British Bulldog spirit. Bring on the pork scratchings." Pork scratching are the sinews of a bulldog, never mind the 'summoning up the spirit' part.

77th over: Australia 263-1 (Katich 109, Ponting 109)
Over in Worcester, Australia are 7-2 after 4.3 overs in the other Ashes series. Huzzah! Maybe we should switch all our resources around and cover that instead. Ponting forces away four runs off Panesar.

76th over: Australia 259-1 (Katich 109, Ponting 105)
The solidity of that stroke from Ponting, an on-drive past Broad's outstretched right hand, was truly soul-sapping. They scurry three runs, denied a fourth by a relay throw back from the boundary. "After our toothless bowling yesterday what changes in personnel are we going to have for Lords?" asks Tim Vogel. What? Come on. Its only day three for goodness sake, and you already want to clear out half the team. Remember how many people wanted to kick out GO! Jones and Giles after the first Test in '05?

75th over: Australia 256-1 (Katich 109, Ponting 102)
Monty hurries through another over, giving up only a single. Broad knocks down the stumps with a throw from the deep, and when Katich comes on strike for final ball Strauss sticks in four close fielders.

74th over: Australia 255-1 (Katich 109, Ponting 101)
The first run of the day is eased down to fine leg by Katich. Smyth has just sent me an email about Jimmy Anderson. It doesn't contain any words. Just this link, and the silent implication 'enough said'. Broad switches over the wicket to attack Ponting, and when he takes a single Broad then moves back around to Katich. Much good it does him... Katich leans on a sweet on-drive and watches the ball race away for four down the ground. All you gluttons for punishment may like to have a look at our Aussie press round-up, as if you weren't hurting enough already.

73rd over: Australia 249-1 (Katich 104, Ponting 100)
And from the River Taff end, Monty Panesar. His first ball is just fine, on a length and spinning away. Ponting taps it out to cover, and leaves the next alone. By the way, the auto-refresh function should be fixed now, for those of you who worry about such things. Another maiden. "I just got a call from the Lords ticket office saying they had a number of returns and offering me the chance to buy them," says Ben Mimmack, "I can only assume that several people watching the cricket yesterday got so depressed they immediately turned off the TV and sent their tickets back. Therefore, I would like to thank Punter and Katich for indirectly giving me the chance to watch them flay the England attack to all parts next Sunday."

72nd over: Australia 249-1 (Katich 104, Ponting 100)
So Australia come out, still 186 runs behind, to face the first over from Stuart Broad. I think we'll see a different England today. I really do. And last evening I really thought we'd see some wickets. Broad opens around the wicket, slanting the ball into Katich. England chirrup a chorus of 'bowling Broady!' as the third ball slides by the off-stump. The next ball is better still, and cuts back past Katich's hip. And that's a maiden. "Who fixes Eamonn Maloney's boots?" asks Tom Carver, "The dynamic footwear solutions group - bringing innovative thinking to your foot wardrobe malfunctions'?"

"What sort of boots are they, Bull?" guffaws Chris Rose, "As a chap from the shires, laughing at the latest footwear fads of you London media types maybe the only amusement of the day." They're thigh high wellingtons, Chris, the kind of thing you country types only slip on for the 'special' barn dances at the weekend. Anyway, enough of this cobblers, the cricket is starting.

Here's Jim Morgan: "Is Anderson solely a bully boy of limited line ups in helpful conditions? In nine overs time, with a new cherry, we find out the answer and with it, given that he has been so widely touted as the leader of our attack, we will probably know how the series will turn out." Rob Smyth, sitting to my right with a frown creased across his forehead, wouldn't need to wait nine overs to tell you the answer to that. Anderson looked nothing like an attack-leader yesterday.

One man who has risen to the challenge is Mark Taylor: "In my experience having sporadically watched 3rd team level village cricket I can safely say that 3rd team level village cricket is of slightly higher standard than mixed under 10's village cricket."

And remember people if England don't rise to it, we'll still have our greatest weapon to come. The rain.

"This is dreadful" Richard Coleman tells me, "Like the game itself." What he's talking about, I've no idea. The OBO? His morning? The email? That may all be true, but you're wrong about the match, which has been marvellous. The Australian batting yesterday was superb, teeth-pullingly painful to watch, but still superb. It's up to England to rise to the standard they've set.

"Sorry...cobbler?"scoffs Eamonn Maloney, "How's that saucepan you bought off the tinker going? And has the blacksmith finished with your candelabra yet?"

Any email that begins "In my experience having sporadically played 3rd team level village cricket" is not going to get published. Sorry Tom v d Gucht.

I can tell some of you are going to need some convincing if you're going to swallow this whole 'optimism' thing. Here's Simon Pye: "All things are relative I suppose. In 1989 and 2002 my optimism disappeared after the toss, in 1994 and 2006 my hopes faded after the first ball, in 2001 Slater destroyed me after one over, and McGrath's spell in 2005 crushed me. At least this year my expectations for an England triumph lasted until after tea on the second day. Hopefully we can hold on for a draw here and take them back to fortress Lord's where we have a great record against the Aussies.....oh."

Other business... if the cobbler who is repairing my boots is reading this, yes it does bother me you haven't finished them yet, yes it does bother me that you said that the last person to repair them did a bad job when it was someone who works in your shop, yes it does bother me that you're going to charge me another £25 for doing such a tardy job. No, I didn't say any of this this morning, because when it comes to complaining in shops I'm utterly inadequate, like most English people.

This morning I have been mainly listening to this. Go on, do yourself a favour.

In both cases then, England made the mistake of attacking the stumps, rather than holding to a wide, boring line and biding their time.

His conclusion on Ponting was quite similar: "There was a feeling that you should bowl straight at him because he plants his front foot and is a candidate for lbw. But he's so quick and strong through the leg side that he picks you off through there, and then he's off and running. If that happens, your chance has gone. What we tried, with relative success, was to go wide outside off stump. The reason is that he likes to feel bat on ball early, especially in the first five deliveries. He doesn't like leaving the ball, so we just hung it out there, outside his eyeline, and made him fetch it."

Finally, and I touched on this yesterday, England got their plans wrong when the two men did settle in. Here's what South African coach Mickey Arthur had to say about getting the two men out: "Katich walks across his crease to off stump, which lulls you into thinking you want to bowl straight at him (to get him lbw). But then he picks you off through the on side. So we decided to go wider to him, to get the ball outside his eyeline, and he started to feel for the ball."

So what went wrong? The ball didn't swing, that's the big thing. Never mind reverse, there wasn't even any straightforward swing. That hampered Anderson, and meant Strauss didn't have a particular amount of confidence in bowling him through the afternoon. The skipper also seemed to be a touch too doubting of Monty, who was hardly allowed to settle in and bowl from one end. Then, Graeme Swann was too nervous, as he admitted after the match, and over-pitched all day long.

Morning everyone.

No one told you it was going to be easy did they? Two days into a seven-week series is no time to be losing hope. These two teams will be trading punches all summer long. Yesterday morning England's tail slapped Australia across the cheek, in the afternoon Australia shook their head and swung a pair of meaty blows to England's gut. It was painful to watch. Agonising even. It was also brilliant batting.

Since he came back into the team last May Katich has scored six centuries in 16 matches, at an average of 57.42. He is in monstrous form. Ponting's innings included his 11,000th Test run for goodness sake, and suggested he wasn't joking when he said he was more motivated by the challenge of this series than he had been by any contest in his career. I believe that. This match will determine so much of Ponting's legacy as a captain.

Let's see what Paul Hayward made of it, and here's David Hopps' take on that man Katich, and this is Mike Selvey's take on what we saw. And here's our new Hawk-Eye tool.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jul/10/general-motors-bankruptcy-new-gm

'Business as usual is over at GM,' said CEO Fritz Henderson

America's biggest car manufacturer, General Motors, emerged from bankruptcy today after a swift, smooth court-approved financial restructuring which gave birth to a radically slimmed-down enterprise controlled by the US government.

After just 40 days under legal protection from its creditors, GM officially emerged as a solvent business shortly after 6.30am when lawyers in New York signed over the Detroit-based company's assets to a 'new GM' entity in which 72% of the shares are held by the US and Canadian governments.

GM's chief executive, Fritz Henderson, pledged to pay back $50bn (£30.9bn) of public loans well in advance of a deadline of 2015 and promised that the streamlined company would be a nimbler, more decisive organisation.

"Business as usual is over at GM," said Henderson at a press conference in Detroit. "Today, we take the intensity, decisiveness and speed of the past several months and transfer it from the triage of the bankruptcy process to the creation and operation of a new General Motors."

Henderson said emergence from the bankruptcy courts would allow "every employee, including me, to get back to the business of designing, building and selling great cars and trucks".

The 101-year-old company's progress through bankruptcy has been far quicker than anybody expected. President Obama had predicted that it could take up to 90 days to drag the carmaker through insolvency courts but in the event, the New York bankruptcy judge presiding over the case, Robert Gerber, struck out the objections of disgruntled creditors swiftly and decisively.

Going forward, the Detroit company will focus on just four brands - Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC. The firm is in the process of selling international names including Saab, Vauxhall, Opel and Hummer as part of its downsizing.

By the end of its restructuring, GM is expected to have just 68,500 employees in the US, compared to 91,000 at the end of 2008. The management's aim is for the company to break even with industry-wide vehicle sales running at a rate of 10m annually in the US, rather than the 15m to 17m level viewed as typical prior to 2007.

Henderson announced a wide-ranging shakeup of senior leadership in which an entire level of management will be removed. The number of US executives will drop by 35% and the white-collar payroll overall will fall by 20%. He insisted that GM could shake off its reputation for bureaucracy.

"Einstein's definition of insane is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results," said Henderson, who took charge of GM when the Obama administration ousted previous boss Rick Wagoner in March. "We know we have to change."

Among GM's priorities will be the development of environmentally friendly vehicles such as the electrically powered GM Volt, which is due to be launched by the end of next year. GM executives have even reportedly mulled changing the company's distinctive blue logo to a green hue, although Henderson said he did not plan to do this.

Along with its rival Chrysler which also recently went through bankruptcy, GM has been hit by the worst slump in US vehicle sales since the second world war. The company has struggled to cope with high petrol prices, a change in tastes towards smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles and fierce competition from Asian rivals.

Victims of GM's difficulties include parts suppliers and high-street car showrooms - GM has slashed its network of dealerships by 20%, cutting loose 1,100 franchised outlets. Many of these town and city car yards have been obliged to shut their doors, as they have nothing left to sell.

A new chairman, former AT&T boss Edward Whitacre, will preside over the board. He told reporters: "For 100 years, General Motors was among the world's greatest companies. It deserves to be there again and it will be there again."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/10/uighur-urumqi-friday-prayers

• Police break up small protest after Friday prayers
• DNA tests begin on victims of ethnic violence

Riot police broke up a small group of Uighur protesters after Friday prayers in the troubled capital of Xinjiang, in the first sign of fresh unrest after this week's ethnic violence.

Hundreds of Uighur men gathered at the gates of mosques in Urumqi, forcing officials to relent on a decision to cancel the prayers. Several mosques in Uighur areas had carried notices saying services were suspended. Officials cited "safety" reasons after brutal inter-ethnic attacks which began on Sunday.

Police had begun DNA testing to identify 156 people killed that day, thought to be primarily Han Chinese targeted by Uighur rioters, state media reported. The official news agency Xinhua said authorities would pay the families of "innocent" victims 200,000 yuan (about £18,000) compensation.

More than 1,000 people were injured in the riots. Subsequent days saw revenge attacks on Uighurs by Han Chinese, but no details of resulting fatalities or other casualties have been offered. Several Uighurs told the Guardian they believed at least four people had died.

The mood in the city appeared to have calmed but a heavy security presence remained, with armoured personnel carriers parked at the Grand Bazaar – where the violence began – and trucks full of troops touring the streets. Loudspeaker vans drove around the city urging people not to be swayed by "criminal elements".

The attempt to close the mosques appeared to be prompted by the authorities' anxieties about large crowds. At the Yang Hang mosque, Uighurs applauded and up to 400 worshippers carrying prayer mats flooded in as the doors were unlocked. A notice cancelling the day's service disappeared from the front gate.

About 100 men won the day at the popular White mosque after demanding that guards allow them in for prayers. A Uighur policeman guarding the building, who declined to give his name, told the Associated Press: "We decided to open the mosque because so many people had gathered. We did not want an incident."

At the Dong Kuruk Bridge mosque, one of several to remain closed, a young man told Reuters: "We feel we are being insulted. This is our mosque. But we are not allowed in, while they let in non-believers."

He said Chinese security forces had been stationed inside and even in the minarets.

At another mosque, used primarily by Hui Muslims, Uighurs were among those allowed to enter but there was no formal service. "It's a shame they don't allow us to practise our religion," said a passer-by.

Many people prayed at home instead, residents of Uighur neighbourhoods said.

The secretary-general of the Urumqi Islamic Association, who gave his name as Ma, denied the authorities had ordered the closures. But an official at the Urumqi Administration for Religious Affairs said only mosques in areas not affected by the violence were allowed to remain open.

Barry Sautman, an expert on China's ethnic policies at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, said the 23,000 mosques in Xinjiang gave it the highest mosque-to-Muslim ratio in the world. "It's impossible to control such an extensive number of religious personnel," he told AP.

About 30 or 40 Uighurs launched an impromptu march near the White mosque this afternoon, crying and pumping their fists in the air and demanding the release of men detained this week. One begged foreign reporters to stay with them as they walked.

"Every Uighur people are afraid," Madina Ahtam told AP. "We are afraid ... The problem? Police."

Security forces initially stood back, but when the demonstration continued they surrounded and detained protesters. Footage shot by the BBC showed riot officers kicking one demonstrator and punching another in the face. They detained journalists filming events.

In Kashgar, a mainly Uighur city in southern Xinjiang, officials ordered foreign media to leave, escorting some journalists to the airport. They had earlier prevented them from leaving their rooms.

"There are no conditions for interviews in Kashgar, so we hope the foreign reporters will leave for their own safety," said Chen Li, a media officer with the city government.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/10/running-bulls-kill-man-pamplona

Man gored to death at annual running of the bulls

A man died this morning after being gored in the neck and lung during the famous San Fermin running of the bulls fiesta in the northern Spanish city of Pamplona.

The runner, Daniel Gimeno Romero, 27, from Alcalá de Henares, near Madrid, was one of more than a dozen people rushed to hospital after one of the most dangerous runs in recent years. Nobody had died as a result of goring since 1995 during the annual San Fermin fiesta, in which half-tonne bulls charge along an 850-metre course through the city's streets with a crowd of runners.

The victim was taken straight into the operating theatre but doctors were unable to save him. He had been on holiday with his parents and girlfriend, who identified him. Early reports that the dead man was British turned out to be incorrect.

Three other people who were gored are not believed to be in danger. The death occurred after one of the bulls became separated from the rest of the pack and began to attack runners. It turned around several times and charged back into the crowd.

A video on the Cuatro website shot by an onlooker showed Romero on the ground and trying to scrabble towards the thick wooden railings that mark the edge of the course as the rogue bull turned back on the runners.

As he sat up and turned around, the bull lowered its head and rammed a horn into the join of his neck and shoulder.

The victim was pulled under the railings and attended to by Red Cross attendants as other panicked runners jumped the barrier and fell.

The bull was finally pulled away by other runners who grabbed it by the tail and the horns on the last stretch of the run between a holding pen and the city's bull ring..

The bull's horn had caught the victim "at the height of the left-hand superclavicular region", said Fernando Boneta, who is in charge of medical services at the fiesta. The horn then followed "a downwards trajectory that affected the left lung, the aorta and the vena cava".

Two of the other injured runners are reported to be a 61-year-old American man and a 24-year-old Argentine. The American was struck in the chest and had internal bleeding in his lungs. Doctors said he was in intensive care but his condition was not considered life-threatening.

A 20-year-old man from London is reported to have sustained bumps and brusises.

The runs attract more than 2,000 people every morning of the nine-day fiesta. Many of the runners are young foreigners, drawn to an event made famous by Ernest Hemingway in The Sun Also Rises.

Fifteen people have died at the Pamplona event over the past century. The last fatal goring was of 22-year-old American Matthew Tassio in 1995.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/10/gadafy-brown-lockerbie-g8

Prime minister tells Libyan leader at G8 summit that Megrahi case is matter for the Scottish courts

In his first face to face meeting with Gordon Brown, Muammar Gaddafi today demanded the return of the convicted Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi.

The Libyan leader was told by the prime minister that it was a matter for the Scottish courts.

Gaddafi, wearing a flowing black and white silken robe and protected by female bodyguards, is at the G8 summit in Italy as the rotating president of the African Union.

He has pitched a bedouin-style tent outside the G8 barracks in which world leaders are staying during the three-day summit.

In a 40-minute meeting between the two leaders, conducted in Arabic and English, Brown insisted he could not intervene in the Megrahi case.

Scottish judges this week delayed completing an appeal into Megrahi's conviction until at least September, even though he has prostate cancer and faces a risk of dying in prison.

The bombing of flight Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie in 1988 killed 270 people on the aircraft and the ground.

Gaddafi's demand for the return of Megrahi was countered by Brown urging him to do more to cooperate with the Metropolitan police investigation into the shooting of WPC Yvonne Fletcher in 1984.

Her murder led to the severing of diplomatic ties between the two countries for a decade, but Gaddafi subsequently worked to improve relations with the west, so much so that Tony Blair went to Tripoli to meet him in 2004.

The Libyans have admitted responsibility for Fletcher's killing by embassy staff and have paid compensation, but Britain is complaining that Libya is not producing witnesses, meaning the inquiry has stalled for more than a year.

Brown also called on Gaddafi to help bring about the return of six-year-old Nadia Fawzi, who was abducted by her Libyan father in 2007.

Her English mother, Sarah Taylor, wants her daughter returned, and Gaddafi promised Brown that the Libyan courts were on course to reunite the two shortly.

More broadly, Brown – who was accompanied by three UK officials – also urged Gaddafi to use his influence to persuade Middle Eastern countries to renounce nuclear weapons.

It is not clear whether Gaddafi has any influence over the Iranian regime.

The 67-year-old leader, wearing dark glasses for much of the day and sporting long dark hair, resembled an ageing rock legend and was generally seen as the star of today's meetings.

Brown praised him for abandoning his chemical weapons programme unilaterally in 2003, a move intended to bring about a normalisation of relations with the west.

The two leaders also agreed to work together to bring stability to the oil market, with Brown promising to use his influence to improve African representation on the boards of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

British officials admitted the meeting had started formally, but gradually warmed up as discussions continued.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/jul/10/breast-cancer-over-diagnosis

Screening for breast cancer is leading to over-diagnosis with many women undergoing unnecessary surgery and chemotherapy, scientists say

One in three women who is told she has breast cancer after screening is being diagnosed and treated unnecessarily, scientists say today.

Not all breast cancers are potential killers, say researchers in a paper in today's British Medical Journal. Some are inconsequential. If they were not picked up, women would not know they had them. But because they are detected through breast cancer screening, women usually undergo surgery and chemotherapy which are traumatic and potentially harmful.

The Nordic Cochrane Centre group, which did the research, has identified over-diagnosis of breast cancer in the past from the original trials carried out before mammography screening was widely introduced. But in today's paper, it calculates the extent of that over-diagnosis (detecting harmless cancers) in real populations where screening is offered in the UK, Canada, Australia, Sweden and Norway.

It is no longer contested that screening leads to over-diagnosis, according to an editorial published by the BMJ. "The question is no longer whether, but how often, it occurs," writes Gilbert Welch, professor of medicine at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice in the US. "The NHS recently scrapped its leaflet inviting women to undergo mammography in response to criticisms that it failed to mention the major harm of screening – over-diagnosis."

Some cancers grow so slowly that the person eventually dies of something else, while others are dormant or even regress, he says.

"Because doctors don't know which patients are over-diagnosed, we tend to treat them all. Over-diagnosis therefore results in unnecessary treatment.

With the advent of widespread efforts to diagnose cancer earlier, over-diagnosis has become an increasingly vexing problem."

In other cancers, it is well recognised that there is a risk of picking up and treating tumours that would have done no harm. Prostate cancer is an obvious example, where the advice to men in the UK who have a screening test (although it is far from conclusive) is to watch and wait. But neuroblastoma, melanoma, thyroid cancer and lung cancer can also sometimes be detected and yet cause no harm.

"Mammography is one of medicine's 'close calls' – a delicate balance between benefit and harm – where different people in the same situation might reasonably make different choices. Mammography undoubtedly helps some women but hurts others. No right answer exists, instead it is a personal choice," writes Professor Welch.

The study, by Karsten Jorgensen and Peter Gotzsche, looked at breast cancer trends seven years before and seven years after screening was introduced in the five countries. They also took account of other factors that may have affected the results, such as changes in background levels of breast cancer and any compensatory drop in rates of breast cancer among older, previously screened women.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/jul/10/new-maths-a-level-criticised

Use of mathematics A-level will not prepare students for university and should be scrapped, say professors

Academics are today calling on the government to abandon plans to introduce a new maths A-level, labelling it "weak" and "mindless", and claiming it will not prepare pupils to study maths at university.

The new A-level, called "use of mathematics", risks "cannibalising" the subject and will only appeal to students from lower-performing schools, the group of 58 maths professors said in a report compiled by the right-of-centre thinktank, Reform. The new exam is "not of A-level standard", they say.

A consultation on the new A-level closes today and it is due to be introduced to schools in September 2011. It was designed to encourage more young people to do maths but the professors, calling themselves Educators for Reform, today argue that it is part of a move towards exams based on "widening participation" instead of academic rigour.

They claim that it could mislead some pupils in lower-performing schools who might do the exam hoping to go on to study maths at university when it is inadequate preparation. The exam is designed to be taken alongside other subjects so that they are proficient in using maths as it applies to economics or sociology, but it is not intended as a route to study maths on its own. An AS-level in the use of mathematics already exists.

One of the academics, Professor Nick Shepherd-Barron at Cambridge University, said: "As far as the A-level is concerned, creativity has been not just hidden but lost. Instead, mathematics is presented as a mindless exercise in the execution of routines."

The academics claim the new A-level will worsen the maths teacher shortage, "cannibalise" the subject by encouraging young people to take the "easier" option and mislead students who want to study maths at university.

In particular, they claim the compulsory algebra and calculus units are far below the level of difficulty of the equivalent units in the straight maths A-level.

The report says universities will continue to require the ordinary maths A-level. It says: "Students attending schools – usually in the poorest areas – that do not have a detailed knowledge of university admission policies will be unaware of this.

"Some university admissions tutors have already had to turn away bright students whose teachers (wrongly) believed that a grade A in AS-level use of mathematics was appropriate preparation for subjects requiring a high degree of mathematical literacy."

A spokesman for the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, which is organising the consultation, said: "It is too early for us to comment on the final specifications of the new mathematics A-level and AS-level qualifications. QCA is committed to ensuring that all A-level and AS-level qualifications meet the needs of all students and are fit for purpose."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/10/china-earthquake

The 6.0 magnitude quake in China's southwest also collapsed 10,000 homes and damaged another 30,000

A moderate earthquake rocked southwest China last night, injuring at least 336 people and collapsing 10,000 homes, state media reported.

The magnitude-6.0 temblor, centered in Yunnan province's Yao'an county, damaged another 30,000 homes, the Xinhua News Agency said.

Thirty people suffered severe injuries, while the other 305 were slightly injured.

The quake was followed by eight aftershocks and the provincial civil affairs department was sending 4,500 tents, 3,000 quilts and other relief materials to Yao'an, while hundreds of police were dispatched to the disaster zone.

Yunnan is a quake-prone, mountainous region that lies on China's southern border with Thailand and Burma. It also borders Sichuan province, where a magnitude-7.9 quake last year left almost 90,000 people dead or missing.

In 1988, a 7.1-magnitude quake in Yunnan near Burma killed more than 930 people. More than 15,000 people died after a magnitude-7.7 earthquake in the province in 1970, though authorities at the time covered up information on casualties and damage amid the chaos of the Cultural Revolution.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jul/10/fire-soho-blaze-london

Office fire cuts off parts of central London

Parts of central London were sealed off today after a major fire broke out in Soho.

Sixty firefighters in 12 engines tackled the blaze in Dean Street, at the heart of the West End tourist district and home to many firms in the creative industry.

Crews were called to the street at 2pm, the London Fire Brigade said.

The fire began in the building of a company called Futures Capital.

One of the workers who was rescued said everyone in the building had been evacuated, and that the fire was believed to have originated from an air conditioning duct.

"It's really shocking, it's something that you don't see every day. It's really getting to serious stuff now – we can see the black bits coming out," said Nino Ripani, the manager of a nearby restaurant, Signor Zilli.

Restaurant customers who had been dining outside were brought inside for safety, he said.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/audio/2009/jul/10/guardian-daily-podcast

Broadcaster Vanessa Feltz reacts to news that her mobile phone messages were allegedly intercepted by private investigators working for the News of the World. We also hear from another victim; not a celebrity but painter and decorator Tony Harding.

Michael White assesses the mood in Westminster after the police announce there will be no new inquiry into the Guardian's revelation that News Group Newspapers - the Rupert Murdoch company that owns the News of the World - paid £1m to keep details of its journalists' methods secret.

Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of the Professional Footballers Association, was one of those whose phone was tapped. Among those contacting him were the football managers Sir Alex Ferguson and Alan Shearer. Media Talk presenter Matt Wells explains how widespread the practice of phone-tapping is in British journalism.

Steven Morris meets the relatives of British soldiers serving in Afghanistan, after a week of grim news.

And Maev Kennedy looks forward to a major exhibition of Vincent Van Gogh's paintings and letters at London's Royal Academy.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/audio/2009/jul/08/film-weekly-podcast-soul-power

Soul and funk take centre stage in this week's podcast as Jason Solomons gets down with Stewart Levine. The legendary music producer is the man behind Soul Power, an extraordinary documentary chronicling the three-day festival in Kinshasa, Zaire pegged to the 1974 Rumble in the Jungle fight between Ali and Foreman. Levine shares how he got the idea for the concert, and how he and Hugh Masekela put together a dream ticket of performers (including Miriam Makeba, Bill Withers, BB King, Celia Cruz and main attraction James Brown) and crew (including producer Leon Gast and cameraman Albert Maysles). He explains how the venture survived the news that the fight had been postponed, and how the 450,000 feet of film footage was distilled into this joyous film.

Xan Brooks then joins Jason to review the week's key releases: Claire Denis's haunting 35 Shots of Rum; Bruno, Sacha Baron Cohen's followup to Borat; and Paul Schrader's cool biopic of the Japanese author, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters.

And finally, Jason meets Rebecca Miller and Robin Wright Penn to talk about The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, Miller's movie of her novel. Miller, who also wrote and directed the film, tells Jason how she managed to change Alan Arkin's mind about playing the part of an elderly publisher who betrays his perfect wife, while Wright Penn shares what it was like to work with the veteran actor.

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