[News] from [guardian.co.uk]
[Environment > Climate Camp]
Police prepared to admit Climate Camp 'stop and search' was unlawful
Eleven-year-old twins and a long-standing campaigner travelling to a Kingsnorth protest seek judicial review of police tactics
Press Association
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 12 January 2010 16.13 GMT Article history
Police are prepared to admit that the "stop and search" of 11-year-old twins and a veteran environmental campaigner going to a climate camp protest was unlawful, the high court was told today.
The twins were stopped while attending a demonstration against the proposed Kingsnorth coal-fired power station in Kent in August 2008.
The energy company E.ON owns the power station on the Medway estuary, but in 2006 sparked a long-running campaign by environmental activists by announcing plans to build two new coal-burning units at the site. Last October, the German company postponed the plans, citing the economic recession.
Lawyers for the twins, referred to as girl E and boy T for legal reasons, said they had been intimidated and shaken.
The children and David Morris, from north London, a long-standing environmental campaigner who said he was forcibly searched against his will, are seeking judicial review – and potential damages – against the police.
All three were searched under section 1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, which requires officers to have "reasonable suspicion" that an individual is carrying prohibited weapons or articles that could be used for criminal damage.
Today two judges heard that the three cases could now be settled following admissions by the police that section 1 powers were wrongly used.
Climate campaigners and reports by the National Policing Improvement Agency and South Yorkshire police have been highly critical of the policing operation at Kingsnorth. Commanders, the South Yorkshire force's review reveals, initially told officers that "personal grounds must be justified and no blanket power approach is to be taken" when searching under section 1 of Pace. But they were then told "that the camp is illegal and the intention of the camp is to commit damage, hence the grounds for searching attendees to the camp is made", which resulted in almost every activist being searched multiple times.
Hundreds of other similar cases are in the pipeline. The cost of the legal action to the public purse has been described by one lawyer as "staggering".
[News > World news > Haiti]
Heavy death toll feared in Haiti quake
> UN headquarters and hospital collapse
> Tens of thousands lose homes in 7.0 magnitude quake
Rory Carroll and Haroon Siddique
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 13 January 2010 09.22 GMT Article history
A huge rescue operation is under way this morning after a powerful earthquake hit Haiti, toppling buildings in the capital, Port-au-Prince, burying people in rubble and triggering repeated aftershocks in what is feared to be a major catastrophe.
A 7.0-magnitude quake – the biggest recorded in this part of the Caribbean and the largest to hit Haiti in more than 200 years – rocked Port-au-Prince last night, collapsing a hospital and sending houses tumbling into ravines.
The five-storey UN headquarters was destroyed and the UN peacekeeping chief, Alain Le Roy, said late last night that many people remained unaccounted for. "As we speak no one has been rescued," he said.
No estimate of the death toll inflicted by the quake has been possible but fears are rising that it could run into thousands. It was clear tens of thousands of people had lost their homes in Port-au-Prince, which has a population of about 1 million, and that many had perished.
Dead and injured lay in the streets even as strong aftershocks rippled through the impoverished country. Women covered in dust crawled from the rubble wailing as others wandered through the streets holding hands. Thousands gathered in public squares late into the night singing hymns. There are almost no emergency services to speak of and many gravely injured people were still sitting in the streets early this morning, pleading for doctors.
"Everything started shaking, people were screaming, houses started collapsing, it's total chaos," said Joseph Guyler Delva, a Reuters reporter. "I saw people under the rubble and people killed. People were screaming 'Jesus, Jesus' and running in all directions."
With telephone services erratic, much of the early communication came from social media such as Twitter. Richard Morse, a well-known musician who manages the famed Olafson Hotel, kept up a stream of dispatches on the aftershocks and damage reports. Belair, a slum even in the best of times, was said to be "a broken mess".
Raymond Joseph, Haiti's ambassador to the US, told CNN from Washington: "I think it is really a catastrophe of major proportions."
The quake was shallow, with a depth of 6.2 miles, and struck at 4.53pm local time with the epicentre 10 miles south-west of Port-au-Prince, according to the US Geological Survey. It was said to have lasted around a minute and was quickly followed by two strong aftershocks of 5.9 and 5.5 magnitude. The last major quake to hit the capital was of magnitude 6.7 in 1984.
The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, said: "My heart goes out to the people of Haiti after this devastating earthquake. At this time of tragedy I am very concerned for the people of Haiti and also for the many United Nations staff who serve there. I am receiving initial reports and following developments closely."
Before telephone lines were broken, Karel Zelenka, a Catholic Relief Services representative, told US-based colleagues that "there must be thousands of people dead", the aid group reported.
The Pacific tsunami warning centre ruled out a major tsunami but said coasts up to 60 miles away might be affected, prompting alerts in neighbouring Dominican Republic, Cuba and the Bahamas.
Haiti, a former French colony that forms half of the island of Hispaniola, is especially vulnerable to natural disasters. Most of the capital's 3 million people live in hillside slums made of wood, tin and cheap concrete.
"Everybody is just totally, totally freaked out and shaken," said Henry Bahn, a US agriculture official visiting Haiti. "The sky is just grey with dust." He was walking to his hotel room when the ground began to shake. "I just held on and bounced across the wall. I just heard a tremendous amount of noise and shouting and screaming in the distance."
A local employee for the US charity Food for the Poor reported seeing a five-storey building collapse in Port-au-Prince. A colleague said there were more houses destroyed than standing in Delmas Road, a major thoroughfare. Taiwan's foreign ministry said its embassy was destroyed and the ambassador was in hospital with injuries.
The quake crumbled Haiti's presidential residence, the National Palace, but Haiti's ambassador to Mexico, Robert Manuel, said the president, Rene Preval, and his wife had survived. He had no details.
The hospital in Petionville – a wealthy neighbourhood home to diplomats and expatriates – was wrecked. As darkness fell survivors filled the streets trying to dig people from rubble with their bare hands and improvised tools.
The United States would provide military and civilian disaster assistance, Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said in Hawaii.
The US president, Barack Obama, issued a statement sending his "thoughts and prayers". "We are closely monitoring the situation and we stand ready to assist the people of Haiti."
Bill Clinton, the UN's special envoy for Haiti, said his office would do whatever it could to help the country recover and rebuild. "My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Haiti."
The quake was felt in the Dominican Republic, sending people running on to the streets in the capital, Santo Domingo. Houses shook in eastern Cuba but no major damage was reported. "We felt it very strongly and I would say for a long time. We had time to evacuate," said Monsignor Dionisio Garcia, the archbishop of Santiago.
Felix Augustin, Haiti's consul general in New York, said: "Communication is absolutely impossible. I cannot get through."
[Environment > Climate Camp]
Police prepared to admit Climate Camp 'stop and search' was unlawful
Eleven-year-old twins and a long-standing campaigner travelling to a Kingsnorth protest seek judicial review of police tactics
Press Association
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 12 January 2010 16.13 GMT Article history
Police are prepared to admit that the "stop and search" of 11-year-old twins and a veteran environmental campaigner going to a climate camp protest was unlawful, the high court was told today.
The twins were stopped while attending a demonstration against the proposed Kingsnorth coal-fired power station in Kent in August 2008.
The energy company E.ON owns the power station on the Medway estuary, but in 2006 sparked a long-running campaign by environmental activists by announcing plans to build two new coal-burning units at the site. Last October, the German company postponed the plans, citing the economic recession.
Lawyers for the twins, referred to as girl E and boy T for legal reasons, said they had been intimidated and shaken.
The children and David Morris, from north London, a long-standing environmental campaigner who said he was forcibly searched against his will, are seeking judicial review – and potential damages – against the police.
All three were searched under section 1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, which requires officers to have "reasonable suspicion" that an individual is carrying prohibited weapons or articles that could be used for criminal damage.
Today two judges heard that the three cases could now be settled following admissions by the police that section 1 powers were wrongly used.
Climate campaigners and reports by the National Policing Improvement Agency and South Yorkshire police have been highly critical of the policing operation at Kingsnorth. Commanders, the South Yorkshire force's review reveals, initially told officers that "personal grounds must be justified and no blanket power approach is to be taken" when searching under section 1 of Pace. But they were then told "that the camp is illegal and the intention of the camp is to commit damage, hence the grounds for searching attendees to the camp is made", which resulted in almost every activist being searched multiple times.
Hundreds of other similar cases are in the pipeline. The cost of the legal action to the public purse has been described by one lawyer as "staggering".
[News > World news > Haiti]
Heavy death toll feared in Haiti quake
> UN headquarters and hospital collapse
> Tens of thousands lose homes in 7.0 magnitude quake
Rory Carroll and Haroon Siddique
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 13 January 2010 09.22 GMT Article history
A huge rescue operation is under way this morning after a powerful earthquake hit Haiti, toppling buildings in the capital, Port-au-Prince, burying people in rubble and triggering repeated aftershocks in what is feared to be a major catastrophe.
A 7.0-magnitude quake – the biggest recorded in this part of the Caribbean and the largest to hit Haiti in more than 200 years – rocked Port-au-Prince last night, collapsing a hospital and sending houses tumbling into ravines.
The five-storey UN headquarters was destroyed and the UN peacekeeping chief, Alain Le Roy, said late last night that many people remained unaccounted for. "As we speak no one has been rescued," he said.
No estimate of the death toll inflicted by the quake has been possible but fears are rising that it could run into thousands. It was clear tens of thousands of people had lost their homes in Port-au-Prince, which has a population of about 1 million, and that many had perished.
Dead and injured lay in the streets even as strong aftershocks rippled through the impoverished country. Women covered in dust crawled from the rubble wailing as others wandered through the streets holding hands. Thousands gathered in public squares late into the night singing hymns. There are almost no emergency services to speak of and many gravely injured people were still sitting in the streets early this morning, pleading for doctors.
"Everything started shaking, people were screaming, houses started collapsing, it's total chaos," said Joseph Guyler Delva, a Reuters reporter. "I saw people under the rubble and people killed. People were screaming 'Jesus, Jesus' and running in all directions."
With telephone services erratic, much of the early communication came from social media such as Twitter. Richard Morse, a well-known musician who manages the famed Olafson Hotel, kept up a stream of dispatches on the aftershocks and damage reports. Belair, a slum even in the best of times, was said to be "a broken mess".
Raymond Joseph, Haiti's ambassador to the US, told CNN from Washington: "I think it is really a catastrophe of major proportions."
The quake was shallow, with a depth of 6.2 miles, and struck at 4.53pm local time with the epicentre 10 miles south-west of Port-au-Prince, according to the US Geological Survey. It was said to have lasted around a minute and was quickly followed by two strong aftershocks of 5.9 and 5.5 magnitude. The last major quake to hit the capital was of magnitude 6.7 in 1984.
The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, said: "My heart goes out to the people of Haiti after this devastating earthquake. At this time of tragedy I am very concerned for the people of Haiti and also for the many United Nations staff who serve there. I am receiving initial reports and following developments closely."
Before telephone lines were broken, Karel Zelenka, a Catholic Relief Services representative, told US-based colleagues that "there must be thousands of people dead", the aid group reported.
The Pacific tsunami warning centre ruled out a major tsunami but said coasts up to 60 miles away might be affected, prompting alerts in neighbouring Dominican Republic, Cuba and the Bahamas.
Haiti, a former French colony that forms half of the island of Hispaniola, is especially vulnerable to natural disasters. Most of the capital's 3 million people live in hillside slums made of wood, tin and cheap concrete.
"Everybody is just totally, totally freaked out and shaken," said Henry Bahn, a US agriculture official visiting Haiti. "The sky is just grey with dust." He was walking to his hotel room when the ground began to shake. "I just held on and bounced across the wall. I just heard a tremendous amount of noise and shouting and screaming in the distance."
A local employee for the US charity Food for the Poor reported seeing a five-storey building collapse in Port-au-Prince. A colleague said there were more houses destroyed than standing in Delmas Road, a major thoroughfare. Taiwan's foreign ministry said its embassy was destroyed and the ambassador was in hospital with injuries.
The quake crumbled Haiti's presidential residence, the National Palace, but Haiti's ambassador to Mexico, Robert Manuel, said the president, Rene Preval, and his wife had survived. He had no details.
The hospital in Petionville – a wealthy neighbourhood home to diplomats and expatriates – was wrecked. As darkness fell survivors filled the streets trying to dig people from rubble with their bare hands and improvised tools.
The United States would provide military and civilian disaster assistance, Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said in Hawaii.
The US president, Barack Obama, issued a statement sending his "thoughts and prayers". "We are closely monitoring the situation and we stand ready to assist the people of Haiti."
Bill Clinton, the UN's special envoy for Haiti, said his office would do whatever it could to help the country recover and rebuild. "My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Haiti."
The quake was felt in the Dominican Republic, sending people running on to the streets in the capital, Santo Domingo. Houses shook in eastern Cuba but no major damage was reported. "We felt it very strongly and I would say for a long time. We had time to evacuate," said Monsignor Dionisio Garcia, the archbishop of Santiago.
Felix Augustin, Haiti's consul general in New York, said: "Communication is absolutely impossible. I cannot get through."
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