vrijdag 8 juli 2011

Rapist escapes the punishment of the law, twice.

Summary
Dost Mohammed,  72, escaped Britain’s judgement again. The now elderly rapist was charged in 1986 for raping a student after he invited her to his flat for a curry. But before he was arrested he fled to Pakistan, where he stayed for 19 months and then sneaked back to Britain. However, Mohammed was finally tracked down today in Bradford, West Yorks. But when given bail by magistrates, party due his high age, he took out 5.900 pound from his bank and did the trick again. Mohammed is believed to be hiding in Pakistan.

Comment
The man obviously is guilty, and isn’t making it really easy on either sides to come to justice. It is quite a difficult case because the man is not believed to have committed more crimes in his lifetime, except the rape. Then is the question, is someone after 20 years still guilty? And especially if he is as old as Mohammed. Should he be send to jail, where he will likely die in a year or so? I think it’s best just to stop him in a treatment centre for the elderly, but only if we catch him again. Which I don’t think is really worth pursuing. Just put him on a black list so he can’t enter Britain again and let him stay in Pakistan.


'The anger came later'

Summary
The announcement that Sunday would be the last edition ever of the News of the World was greeted with disbelief by the staff of the newspaper. When Rebekah Brooks said she had an announcement, everyone thought it would be her resignation, just like with Andy Coulson four years ago. However, instead of telling them she would lose her job, she announced that the employees of the News of the World were the ones who would lose their jobs. The employees were stunned but ‘the anger came later’.  The employees are confused, angry and upset about the sudden loss of their jobs and don’t know how to react.

Comment
What Rebekah Brooks did here is really unforgivable. I cannot understand how it is viewed as fair that she gets to keep her job, while the employees, of who it is not ever sure that they were involved, as all the phone-hacking was done by hired detectives, lose their jobs. This really shows the true sentiment going on in the top of Murdoch’s empire, a sentiment of cold people who do not really care about their people but just about profit. I feel really sorry for the people who lose their jobs, but I can’t help but enjoy the fact that a paper like The News is quitting.

Andy Murray's recovery from Wimbledon.

Summary
After his agonizing defeat on the Centre Court in the semi-finals of Wimbledon against, now world number 2, Rafeal Nadal, Murray will begin the long climb back to his old shape again. Britain’s only hope in men’s single tennis and number four on the ATP list, will begin his climb today in the Davis cup, starting with playing a crucial tie to Great Britain against a former professional who is now coaching youngsters. Murray will be the highest ranked player he will have face. The contrast with Wimbledon is stark and painful. From playing against world’s best players  in front of millions of people to playing an unranked hobbyist, but Murray will have to bulk up and continue, if Britain ever wants to see a British grand-slam victor.

Comment
I love Andy Murray and most things he does, so it was really hard to see him lose to badly to Nadal, who is only ranked two places higher on the list. But whatever the ranking says, the difference in mental discipline is immense. After one difficult set Murray breaks down, whereas Nadal can play 6 hours at his best. I do hope that Murray will haul in the Davis cup for Britain though but I doubt it unlikely as Djokovich, the world number 1 is also participating for his country, Servia.

Downing Street Spokesman faces police questioning.

Summary
The ex-Downing Street spokesman, Andy Coulson has to present himself at the police station in London in order to investigate his connections with the huge phone-hacking scandal surround The News of the World. Andy Coulson has been the editor of The News of the World and is widely expected to be arrested so the police can face him with questions about if he was aware of the phone hacking and whether he authorized it. An arrest would be a huge stain on Cameron’s still white shirt, who appointed him Downing Street director of communications after becoming PM.

Comment
A controversial case, as it is not proved yet that Andy Coulson is actually guilty. However, he ran a newspaper without knowing about the illegal acts it was involved with, which I hardly believe so I do think it is safe to assume that he was aware of the acts being committed. I am also really doubting Cameron right now, and really curious to his involvement in all this. Was he aware of the phone-hacking? Did he appoint Coulson, knowing he was aware? I guess we will have the answers soon enough, or never.


Clegg attacks Conservatives

Summary
Clegg has fiercely attacked the Conservative sceptics about supporting euro victims, saying that, “We must aid euro victims instead of being triumphalist about their downfall’ and that, ’There is no room for schadenfreude here’. Clegg says Britain should help the European countries survive the economic crisis instead of laughing at them. His comments contrast Cameron’s own words, who said that Britain should not bail out struggling European countries like Greece and Portugal. But Clegg stated that the UK and Europe are intertwined and that if the European countries go bankrupt, it will not be good for Britain.

Comment
I very much agree with Mr. Clegg here. I do think that Britain should help European countries as well, point simply being that Britain is economically too dependent on the rest of Europe. If the other countries fall, Britain will soon fall as well. It is time for many British citizens and especially politicians to get their heads out of their butts and to start working towards a long term solution, instead of laughing at the other countries, al though I do think that is a bit of an overstatement as Britain has been supportive until now.


Three men charged with murder of teenagers.

Summary
Three men will have to appear in court because of charges for the murder on two teenagers shot in an alleyway. Yahya Harun, 20, Sharmake Abdulkadir, 20 and Fuad Awale, 23 will have to  appear at Milton Keynes magistrates court on Friday. All three men are from Milton Keynes. The men are charged with the fatally shooting of Mohammed Abdi Farah, 19 and Amin Ahmed Ismail, 18 on may the 26th. Abdulkadir was also charged of carrying a firearm with intent to harm. There was another suspect, a 17 year old boy but he has been released.  Both victims were from the Somali community and were known to be engaged in crime.

Comment
Seems like a fair case, if the men are guilty. This does raise some questions about the safety and crime in the UK though. Milton Keynes is not really a ghetto, so it does make you wonder about how safe it actually is with something like this happening. Notable is also the ethnicity of all the people involved. I don’t want to stereotype but this does really seem like the sort of thing you would encounter at a ghetto.

Murdoch shuts down The News of the World

Summary:
Rupert Murdoch has shut down his best-selling newspaper News of the World after the immense phone-hacking scandal surrounding News of the World. Murdoch’s son James, who runs the UK titles had to tell the staff of the paper that Sunday would be their last edition. This will be the end of the 186-year history of News of the World. There was immediate speculation that the News of the World will be replaced by a Sunday edition of The Sun, with the registration of several the site domain names like TheSunOnSundat.co.uk.

Comment:
I am quite glad to see this happen. I do not really trust Murdoch and I do not believe he did not know about the illegal actions his newspaper was engaging in. He is a businessman solely focused on making profit and this once again proves that if something stops making profit, he just shuts it down. I wonder what will happen to the 200-man staff that made The News of the World. I also think it’s kind of weird that tabloids like The News of the World and The Sun are more popular than normal news papers. But either way, Murdoch still has about 11 other newspapers left so I do not think that he sleeps bad at night.