British boxers fight at Munich press conference.

From various newspapers:

Dereck Chisora believed David Haye glassed him during their disgraceful brawl. Haye, with a glass bottle in his right hand, punched Chisora. Drink spilled on to Chisora's shirt and the end of the bottle appeared to catch his chin. Women screamed as more members of both camps joined the fray involving the two British heavyweight boxers, and huge men lurched around the room, scattering bottles, tables and chairs.

Dereck Chisora's promoter Frank Warren described his client's brawl with David Haye as "ugly, horrible, disgraceful and an embarrassment for British boxing".

"It's brought the sport into a bad light, which is a great shame for all the fighters that do behave, and 99 per cent of them do behave and carry a lot of honour into the sport.

"I would say they were total idiots. 


So this brawl has cast in a bad light the noble art of punching someone in the head until they suffer brain damage. My guess is that it has also significantly increased the amount of money Frank Warren will make from the eventual contest between these ’total idiots’.

Russia and China use veto to block UN security council resolution.

Russia and China have vetoed a UN security council resolution calling for the Syrian president to step down, provoking a furious reaction.

All 13 other members of the council, including the US, France and Britain, voted in favour of the resolution, which backed an Arab peace plan aimed at stopping the violence in Syria. Russia and China blocked the resolution because of what they perceived to be a potential violation of Syria's sovereignty, which could allow for military intervention or regime change.

American UN envoy Susan Rice described the veto on Saturday as "shameful", saying Russia and China aimed to "sell out the Syrian people and shield a craven tyrant".

"Any further bloodshed that flows will be on their hands," she said.

I fail to see the advantage either long term or short term for the Russians and Chinese continuing support of Assad because it is inevitable that he will go the same way as Mussolini and George Formby and eventually he’ll be seen hanging around a lamppost. (See my previous post re exit plans.)

It’s good to see the United States indignant regarding the continuing abuse by the Syrian government of its citizens and continuing human rights abuses. But before the US gets all 'holier than thou' it’s worth noting that since 1972 the United States has been the single, solitary veto on 42 Security Council resolutions condemning Israeli violations of international law or human rights.

Chile Invokes Chilling Anti-Terrorist Law

Extracts from: Chile Invokes Chilling Anti-Terrorist Law Against Indigenous Mapuche, published by Indian Country.

Chile’s controversial anti-terror law dates back to the 1973-1990 reign of dictator Augusto Pinochet. The draconian anti-terror law allows for suspects to be detained for indefinite periods of time without charge and allows the use of testimony from anonymous witnesses in trials, Forbes Online said. Some aspects of the Pinochet-era legislation parallel the National Defence Authorization Act (NDAA), which was signed into law by President Obama on New Year’s Eve. The NDAA allows for the indefinite detention without charge or trial of people suspected of terrorism, including U.S. citizens detained on U.S. soil.

Chile’s anti-terrorism law was invoked last year against four Mapuche men—activists involved in the struggle for their land rights who were sentenced to 20 and 25 years in prison in what appeared to be trumped up charges under the anti-terrorism legislation. “What is happening in Chile isn’t justice; it’s a pantomime, because under the anti-terrorism law, there is absolutely no way justice can be done,” said José Venturelli, spokesman for the European Secretariat of the Ethics Commission against Torture. The Mapuche are Chile’s largest indigenous group, numbering nearly one million among Chile’s population of more than 16 million. Their struggle for their land rights has frequently pitted them against not only forestry companies but also large landholders and other private interests.

Under Chile’s anti-terrorist law, prosecutors may keep their evidence secret, anonymous witnesses can testify for the prosecution, prosecutors may apply for powers to tap telephones and intercept correspondence, e-mails and other communications, suspects can be held for up to 10 days before formal charges are brought, and detainees often face long periods of pre-trial detention and disproportionately long sentences.

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/01/11/chile-invokes-chilling-anti-terrorist-law-against-indigenous-mapuche-71708#ixzz1kMucelWI

Today was one of those days I had to look at a calendar and check the date, yes it is 2012. (Unless of course you’re Jewish and it’s 5772, Muslim 1433 or Mayan, very worried.) And not the middle ages and the Spanish Inquisition, not seventeenth century America and the Salem witch trials and not the 1930’s and Nazi Germany.

Franz Kafka wrote ‘The Trial’ in 1915 & based it upon anti-Semitic laws then in force in the Austro-Hungarian Empire:

The central character, Joseph K. is arrested one morning, apparently victim of a slander. The two policemen that arrest him refuse to give any explanation.  He is tried in a court that prevents any access to its Judges, and that does not recognize his legal right to a defence. The court proceedings remain secret and the bill of indictment is not accessible to the accused, nor to his lawyers, and even less to the public in general. The accused is therefore unable to defend himself, since he doesn’t know of what he is being accused. After this entirely non-transparent proceeding, the Court orders the execution of the unfortunate Joseph K.

'She bathes in blood'

From todays Daily Mail

'She bathes in blood': Lady Gaga accused of bizarre Satanic ritual in London hotel
 

The 25-year-old Bad Romance singer has been accused of leaving a London hotel room bathtub drenched in blood.

Rumours have flown around the net that the stiletto loving singer has started taking part in morbid Satanic rituals to keep her safe from spirits.

Staff at the plush Intercontinental Hotel in London were shocked when they went to clean Gaga's room and found blood in the bath.

However, the red substance has not been identified as blood and that it was more likely that the red liquid is part of a 'weird' stage costume or prop.

So absolute bollocks then.

North Korean 'dear leader' Kim Jong Il dies.

The news came as North Korea prepared for a hereditary succession. Kim Jong Il inherited power after his father, revered North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, died in 1994.

In September 2010, Kim Jong Il unveiled his third son, the twenty-something Kim Jong Un, as his successor, putting him in high-ranking posts.


The official title for North Korea is :


The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

British Library's early newspaper archive goes online

From today’s Guardian newspaper:

British Library's early newspaper archive goes online

More than 4m pages, drawn mainly from 19th-century regional newspapers, previously kept in decent obscurity at the library's newspaper archive in Colindale, north London, will now be available for historians and family researchers to browse for a small fee, or free if they visit the central library in King's Cross. All human life, not to say all the news fit to print, is certainly there, albeit written up in florid Victorian prose – great events, horrible murders reported in exhaustive detail, celebrity gossip, as well as the occasional intrusion into private grief.

For example:

Following the death of Grace Darling, the lighthouse keeper's daughter who had become a heroine for rescuing shipwrecked passengers off the coast of Northumberland, the editor of the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette sneered in the sort of tone to be heard any day now on blogsites: "We wonder our contemporaries do not know better than to suppose the public are generally interested in the health of this peasant."

And as for scandals, the British Chronicle in September 1790 had a ripe one about an unnamed peer who fancied his valet's wife and sent the servant off on an errand which would take him away overnight. The valet was suspicious, hid near his wife's apartment and locked the couple in when he heard his employer enter, before heading off to the peer's wife's chamber on a similar mission. "In the morning gentle readers you may picture to yourselves the confusion of the whole family: his lordship was found locked in the arms of Mrs Anne and her ladyship was discovered in the same situation with Mr Thomas."

Here is the link

http://newspapers.bl.uk/blcs/

When I worked for British Telecom  the Newspaper Library was in my ‘area’ and I was fortunate enough to work there on several occasions and it was a fascinating place and of course in those days there were no ‘soft’ copies of the newspapers, just the actual newspapers.

Golf and racism, it’s just not cricket.

I don’t know if you follow golf but the big story of the last couple of weeks is the racist remark made by Tiger Woods former caddie Steve Williams at the recent "caddie of the year" ceremony

The caddie described his new employer's triumph at the time as the "greatest victory of my career". When asked to explain why he had made such an obvious exaggeration given that he had caddied Woods to 13 major championship wins, Williams said: "I wanted to shove it up that black arsehole."

Williams conceded in a public apology that his remarks, which were made in front of 200 players, caddies and officials at a "caddie of the year" ceremony, "could be construed as racist" and added: "However, that was not my intent."

Despite this admission, a statement issued jointly by the US PGA and European Tours on Sunday made it clear that Williams will not be punished: "[We feel] strongly there is no place for any form of racism in ours or any other sport. We consider the remarks of Steve Williams, as reported, entirely unacceptable in whatever context. We are aware that he has apologised and we trust we will not hear such remarks again. Based on this, we consider the matter closed."

Racism is without a doubt vile, obnoxious and incredibly stupid. I have lived in many countries and the population of each is made up of roughly the same proportion of the good, the bad and the ugly. Anyone who has any knowledge of the history of mankind with it’s continuous migrations across continents realises, that despite outward appearances we are all basically the same and to claim that people from one particular place are somehow intrinsically superior to the rest of humanity is insane.

Back to the golf.

Steve Williams made a great deal of money whilst caddying for Tiger Woods, well in excess of ten million dollars and his remarks at the very least smell of ingratitude.

Steve Williams is from New Zealand, whose idea of culture is The Haka.

With regards to the remark itself.

"I wanted to shove it up that black arsehole."

I thought that Steve Williams was referring anatomically to what he wanted to do with the trophy that his golfer had just won.

Unlike a great number of ‘ladies’, (if you believe the press) I am not familiar with the colour of Tiger Woods nether regions but I do suspect judging by the parts normally visible to the public, they are probably quite dark, so in that area alone Steve Williams was making an accurate statement.

And finally:

Tiger Woods ethnic background is, and in no particular order. Chinese, Thai, Native American, African American and Dutch. So if  anyone wanted to racially insult Tiger Woods, why pick on the African American part? Why can't they be a little more imaganitive and feel free to indulge their own petty brand of xenophobia in a more creative way.