UK government says must tackle social problems after riots (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain needs to tackle deep-seated social problems following riots and looting in English cities this week, the center-right government said on Saturday, and a U.S. street crime expert it has brought in said arrests alone would not solve the problem.

"There are communities that have just been left behind by the rest of the country. There are communities that are cut-off from the economic life-blood of the rest of the country," Finance Minister George Osborne said.

Prime Minister David Cameron, criticized by some in his Conservative party as being too liberal on crime and punishment, has taken a hard line on rioting in statements this week after returning from his summer holiday and recalling parliament.

He has also come under attack for austerity measures his government is introducing to tackle a huge debt burden.

Osborne said throwing money at the issue was not the answer and the government would press on with deep cuts to the numbers of police, who have been criticized by Cameron for their handling of the riots.

The Conservative mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has said the riots, which broke out a week ago after a demonstration against the police shooting of a suspect, weakened the case for those cuts.

Cameron has said political and economic grievances had little to do with days of looting and violence which followed in which five people were killed, calling it "criminality pure and simple" and saying gang violence lay at its heart.

He enlisted U.S. street crime expert William Bratton on Friday to advise the government on handling it.

Bratton, credited with curbing street crime as police chief in New York, Los Angeles and Boston, said he would offer advice based on his experience tackling gangs.

"You can't arrest your way out of the problem," he told U.S. broadcaster ABC on Saturday. "Arrest is certainly appropriate for the most violent, the incorrigible, but so much of it can be addressed in other ways and it's not just a police issue, it is in fact a societal issue."

Cities were largely quiet on Friday and Saturday. British police flooded the streets again to ensure weekend drinking does not reignite the rioting that shocked Britons and sullied the country's image a year before it hosts the Olympic Games.

More than 1,200 people have been arrested in connection with violence disorder and looting and hundreds have been charged. Police have set up screens in city centers showing pictures of suspects and plan to display them at soccer matches on Saturday.

THANKS

Tariq Jahan, whose 21-year-old son was one of three men who died in an apparent hit-and-run incident in Birmingham on Wednesday, told reporters he was "humbled" by the letters of support from people around the world.

"I also want to thank the young people in Birmingham for listening to what I had to say and staying calm," he said.

Osborne said lessons needed to be learned. "There are very deep-seated social problems which we need to tackle," he said in the interview with BBC radio.

"This about a far bigger challenge for our society which is dealing with people who we have ignored for too long and helping them feel they have a stake in society, feel that they know the difference between right and wrong, understand their responsibilities to other communities, not just their rights."

About 200 people took part in a demonstration on Saturday in north London calling for more support for youngsters living in grim and violent housing estates, a Reuters reporter said.

A ComRes poll for The Independent newspaper showed 54 percent of Britons say Cameron failed to provide leadership early enough to control the riots.

Most offenders are unemployed young men, though they have included a millionaire's daughter, a charity worker, a journalism student and a soldier.

The scale and ferocity of the rioting, not only in inner-city areas but also in some middle-class suburbs, has generated a debate with starkly different views, with many people saying the police should have been tougher.

The former leader of one of London's most feared street gangs said the riots were not the brainchild of gang leaders but, in many cases, the result of a build-up of frustration among young people growing up on grim housing estates with little hope.

"The fire's there, secured in a room, locked away and then someone's opened the door and it's spread through the house," Elijah Kerr, who transformed his gang into an organization helping young people, told Reuters in an interview.

(Additional reporting by Keith Weir and Stefano Abrogi in London and Ray Sanchez and Daniel Trotta in New York; Writing by Philippa Fletcher; Editing by Louise Ireland)

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Bomb wrecks government offices in Oslo, two said dead (Reuters)

OSLO, Norway (Reuters) – A massive bomb shattered Norway's main government building in Oslo Friday, killing two people police were quoted as saying by local news agency NTB.

There was no claim of responsibility, though NATO member Norway has been the target of threats, if not bombs, before, notably over its involvement in conflicts in Afghanistan and Libya. Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg was safe, NTB said.

NRK radio said at least two people were killed in an attack that may have brought global political violence to the quiet Scandinavian city.

"It exploded -- it must have been a bomb. People ran in panic and ran. I counted at least 10 injured people," said bystander Kjersti Vedun, who was leaving the area.

A Reuters reporter at the scene said the blast scattered debris across the streets and shook the entire city center around 3:30 p.m. (9:30 a.m. EDT). He saw eight people injured, one covered in a sheet and apparently dead.

"So far I can confirm that we have received seven people at Oslo University Hospital," a press officer at the clinic said.

"I don't know how seriously wounded they are."

The explosion blew out most of the windows of the 17-storey central government building, cast a huge pall of smoke over the city and scattered shards of metal and other debris for hundreds of meters.

Nearby ministries were also hit, including the oil ministry, which was on fire. Heavy debris littered the streets.

John Drake, senior risk consultant, at London-based consultancy AKE said: "It may not be too dissimilar to the terrorist attack in Stockholm in December which saw a car bomb and secondary explosion shortly after in the downtown area.

"That attack was later claimed as reprisal for Sweden's contribution to the efforts in Afghanistan."

The Reuters correspondent said the streets had been fairly quiet in mid-afternoon on a Friday in high summer, when many Oslo residents take vacation or leave for weekend breaks.

The tangled wreckage of a car was outside one building, as well as the damage to the buildings, appeared consistent to witnesses with that from car bombs.

THREATS

NATO member Norway has sometimes in the past been threatened by leaders of al Qaeda for its involvement in Afghanistan. But political violence is virtually unknown in a country known for sponsoring the Nobel Peace Prize and mediating in international conflicts, including in the Middle East and Sri Lanka.

It has also taken part the NATO bombing of Libya, where Muammar Gaddafi has threatened to strike back in Europe.

David Lea, Western Europe analyst, at Control Risks said: "There certainly aren't any domestic Norwegian terrorist groups although there have been some al Qaeda-linked arrests from time to time. They are in Afghanistan and were involved in Libya, but it's far too soon to draw any conclusions."

(Additional reporting by Gwladys Fouche in Oslo and Peter Apps and William Maclean in London; Writing by Alister Doyle; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)

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British government moves to halt Murdoch Sky bid (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) – The British government joined efforts to block Rupert Murdoch's bid for broadcaster BSkyB on Tuesday, dashing his hopes of a rapid expansion in television as the scandal over phone-hacking by one of his newspapers widened.

By completing a phalanx of resistance to the global media magnate that includes all Britain's main parties, the move by Prime Minister David Cameron showed how far a man long feared and courted by left and right as a kingmaker may be hampered by outrage over the past week's allegations about his journalism.

The opposition Labour party, which has sought to capitalize on Conservative leader Cameron's personal ties to key figures in the affair, scheduled a non-binding vote in parliament for Wednesday. It will call on Murdoch to withdraw News Corp's $14-billion bid for the 61 percent it does not already own in BSkyB, Britain's main pay-TV group.

Barely an hour later, a spokesman for the government said it too would back the motion, setting a huge political, if not strictly legislative, hurdle for the takeover. Ministers had looked increasingly embarrassed by having already given their provisional blessing to Murdoch's offer, a fact that left the fate of the deal largely in the hands of independent officials.

Labour leader Ed Miliband said after calling the vote: "The best way of achieving our objective, which is to make sure that this bid cannot go ahead while the criminal investigation is going on, is for Mr Murdoch to withdraw the bid."

Developments since the scandal blew up had already meant the bid being referred to the competition watchdog, entailing a delay of possibly a year. But while that may have seemed a convenient respite for News Corp and the government to let the scandal die down, parliamentary unanimity against the takeover, even if not binding, may prove durable and hard to overcome.

SHARES DOWN

BSkyB shares closed 3.3 percent lower. News Corp shares lost gains they had made on news of a $5 billion share buyback that has taken advantage of a 14-percent slide in the stock price in New York since Thursday, when Murdoch announced the closure of top-selling tabloid the News of the World.

One London media analyst, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the companies' future was very hard to predict, given how far politicians had been forced to take positions in the light of popular anger: "The worm is turning," the analyst said of the stance Cameron's party was taking.

"It's serious in that it shows the political will at the moment. But the truth is things are changing by the hour in all of this so in a year's time, who knows? News Corp may not own any more newspapers in a year's time. So it's a tough one to call. The politicians are blowing in the wind."

Earlier on Tuesday, a senior policeman who investigated phone hacking by Murdoch's journalists said his own voicemails were probably spied on, but he denied that fear of embarrassing exposure intimidated him into dropping the inquiry.

Tapping popular anger at the global media magnate over allegations a tabloid newspaper spied on thousands of people, from the rich and powerful to vulnerable victims of crime, parliament summoned Murdoch and two top lieutenants to answer questions next Tuesday. It was not clear if they would attend.

The crossfire of mutual recrimination among politicians, press and police included an emotional charge from former prime minister Gordon Brown that Murdoch journalists hired "known criminals" to probe his private affairs at a time when they were running stories about his finances and his baby son's illness.

News International, News Corp's British newspaper arm, defended the story in its Sun daily, about the infant's cystic fibrosis, saying its source had been legitimate.

Police have been under fire for failing to follow up inquiries into phone hacking by the News of the World after the paper's royalty correspondent was jailed in 2007 for conspiring to listen in to the voicemails of court officials.

Serving and former senior officers faced hostile questions from a parliamentary committee about allegations police sold information to journalists and may have been bribed or pressured to prevent inquiries. Several tried to turn the tables, accusing News International of withholding evidence.

(Additional reporting by Michael Holden, Paul Sandle, Keith Weir, Tim Castle, Mike Collett-White, Sudip Kar-Gupta, Sinead Cruise, Chris Vellacott and Karolina Tagaris; Writing by Alastair Macdonald, editing by Tim Pearce)

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UK government turns against Murdoch BSkyB bid (AP)

By DANICA KIRKA and ROBERT BARR, Associated Press Danica Kirka And Robert Barr, Associated Press – 1?hr?19?mins?ago

LONDON – The British government on Tuesday joined in calls for Rupert Murdoch to shelve his ambition of taking full control of British Sky Broadcasting as a widening investigation of phone hacking and bribery at his newspapers fed the backlash against the powerful media mogul.

The decision followed a dramatic accusation by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown that Murdoch's U.K. newspapers employed criminals to obtain confidential information about his family and ordinary people, and as police officers came under sharp criticism for failing to turn up evidence of some of the most serious spying allegations.

Prime Minister David Cameron's office said the government would vote with the opposition Labour Party on Wednesday to support a motion calling on Murdoch and his News Corp. to withdraw the $12 billion bid for highly profitable satellite broadcaster BSkyB.

Labour leader Ed Miliband said the motion, which is not legally binding but is a powerful expression of sentiment, would be the simplest way to ensure that the bid isn't considered until the criminal investigations are complete.

"Ultimately, that is a decision for News Corp. but we would always expect people to take seriously what Parliament has said," said Cameron's official spokesman, Steve Field.

Cameron's decision marked a sharp breach in relations with News International, the U.K. branch of News Corp., which published the Sunday tabloid News of the World, the focus of two criminal investigations.

Since public outrage exploded last week when it was claimed that News of the World employees hacked the phone of Milly Dowler, a 13-year-old murder victim, Cameron has said he would have accepted the resignation of his friend Rebekah Brooks, the chief executive of News International. On Monday, he said Murdoch should focus on the hacking and bribery issues, not the takeover.

Cameron has been embarrassed by the arrest of former News of the World editor Andy Coulson, who from 2007 until January was the prime minister's communications director.

On Monday, Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt reportedly was prepared to tell the House of Commons that the government could veto a bid only on grounds that the takeover would give New Corp. too large a share of the news market. But, that position collapsed when News Corp. withdrew promises to spin off Sky News as a separate company, and the government responded by ordering the Competition Commission to undertake a review expected to last the rest of the year or longer.

Brown's furious denunciation of the politically powerful News International papers came a day after it was revealed The Sun newspaper obtained confidential information in 2006 that Brown's infant son Fraser had cystic fibrosis — and that he was among those whose privacy was breached by Murdoch's papers.

They "really exploited people — I'm not talking so much about me here now, I'm talking about people who were at rock bottom," Brown told the BBC. Brown said he knew of no legitimate way The Sun could have found out about his son's illness, though the newspaper said it used legitimate means.

News International defended the story, issuing a statement which said that it was "able to assure the Brown family that we did not access the medical records of their son, nor did we commission anyone to do so."

The widening allegations of illegal eavesdropping of politicians, royalty and hundreds of ordinary people at Murdoch-owned newspapers also renewed anger at London's Metropolitan Police for dropping an earlier investigation into company practices.

At a tense House of Commons parliamentary committee hearing, one current and two former senior officials of London's Metropolitan Police said they regretted that an investigation of the News of the World in 2006 had not uncovered the extent of the alleged phone hacking.

They blamed the News of the World and News International for not cooperating and pleaded that the force was preoccupied with terrorism investigations.

Resources were stretched and there were not enough officers to fully staff 70 terrorist investigations running at the time, said Peter Clarke, former commander of the anti-terrorist branch.

The hacking case yielded convictions and prison sentences for a reporter and a private detective working for News of the World, but recent allegations suggest the practices were much more widespread at Murdoch's papers.

Documents gathered in the first investigation yielded 3,870 names, 5,000 landline numbers and 4,000 mobile numbers that may potentially have been hacked, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers told the committee. So far, she said, police had contacted 170 potential targets of hacking.

The scandal has broadened, with among others accusations, the allegation that Murdoch reporters paid bodyguards of Queen Elizabeth II for sensitive phone numbers and travel plans.

BSkyB shares fell for the sixth straight day, closing down 3.3 percent at 692 pence ($11.03) on the London Stock Exchange. At the start of last week, they were at 850 pence.

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UK, U.S. and Canada step up travel curbs on Iran government (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain, the United States and Canada are increasing travel curbs on members of the Iranian government over Tehran's disputed nuclear program and human rights record, British and U.S. officials said on Friday.

"The UK is working closely with its partners to prevent a wide range of individuals connected with Iran's nuclear enrichment and weaponization programs from entering our countries," Foreign Secretary William Hague said.

"These include scientists, engineers and those procuring components," Hague said, adding the measures were being coordinated with partners such as the United States and Canada. "Iran continues to seek equipment and components from around the world for its illicit nuclear program."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, announcing new U.S. visa restrictions, said the move was also aimed at holding Iranian officials accountable for human rights abuses.

"Today's actions are an important reminder to Iran that the international community will continue to hold accountable those officials who commit human rights abuses and suppress the democratic aspirations of fellow citizens," Clinton said in a statement.

U.S. and British officials said more than 50 Iranian officials would be subject to the new restrictions but declined to identify specific people.

Western powers suspect Iran is seeking to develop a nuclear weapons capability, while Tehran says its nuclear program is aimed at generating electricity.

Britain believes there is some evidence that international sanctions have slowed Iran's nuclear program but remains concerned about its activities and its support for repression in Syria.

(Reporting by Keith Weir; Additional reporting by Andrew Quinn in Washington; Editing by Jon Hemming)

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Minnesotans frustrated, angry over state government shutdown (Reuters)

MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) – Tara and Jose Garcia wanted to spend the holiday weekend camping with their four children.

But a Minnesota government shutdown prevented them from pitching a tent at a state park. So they checked out county campgrounds, only to find those parks overflowing with people.

"It's bulls--t," said Tara Garcia of Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota. "I am just feeling, 'Are you kidding? C'mon!'"

So the Garcias parked their minivan at Ft. Snelling, a state historical site nestled on the edge of the Mississippi River, just outside Minneapolis. That too was closed. They wandered the desolate paths anyway, with nerf guns in hand and a gaggle of kids, all under age 8.

After Democratic Governor Mark Dayton and Republican legislative leaders failed to reach agreement on a $5 billion budget deficit Thursday, state offices, parks, highway rest areas and a state zoo were shuttered. In addition, 22,000 government workers were hit with layoff notices.

When negotiations broke down, the two sides were about $1.4 billion apart with Democrats insisting on a tax increase for the rich and Republicans strongly opposed. The partisan impasse angered many people.

"You have a job to do, figure out how to do your job," said Laura Sandquist, 27, of Bloomington, Minnesota, who was at Ft. Snelling with her husband. The pair were not there to visit, but to unload their bikes and go for a ride along the river.

Jeff Sandquist, also 27, did not think the shutdown would actually happen. "It's mean," he said. "I'm sure they are both to blame."

At nearby Minneapolis park, Jeff Freidson, 63, of New Hope, Minnesota, was relaxing at picnic table with his family. As a bus driver for a private company with a government contract, he worries the shutdown may threaten his livelihood.

"If this goes on long-term, I'll lose my job," Freidson said.

Freidson's wife was laid off from a teaching job more than two years ago. His job is their only source of income and health care insurance. "Times are tough," he said. "We really cannot cut back much more than we have already."

Landing another job seems unlikely, he said, because employers would rather hire young workers than someone nearing retirement.

Mussette Wade, 37, hoped to buy Minnesota Lottery tickets at a Minneapolis gas station. But the state shutdown prevented her from doing that. "I usually buy scratch-offs once a week when I get paid," she said. "It's just something I leisurely do."

Wade was more upset by a bigger shutdown inconvenience: She was not able to visit a friend who is incarcerated in a Minnesota prison. Staff cutbacks at correctional facilities have ended visitation rights for inmates.

Wade had driven to Indiana to pickup the inmate's parents for the visit. "My friend was really looking forward to seeing his Dad and Mom," she said. "It's sad. It's really sad."

(Editing by Greg McCune)

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Minnesota government shutdown begins after talks fail (Reuters)

MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) – Minnesota's state government began a broad shut down on Friday going into the July 4 holiday after Democratic Governor Mark Dayton and Republican legislative leaders failed to reach a budget deal.

Parts of the government had already begun to shut down on Thursday ahead of the midnight budget deadline, including some websites and dozens of highway rest stops on one of the biggest travel days of the year.

The budget impasse means that some 23,000 of the roughly 36,000 Minnesota state employees will be furloughed and state parks and campgrounds closed ahead of what is usually their busiest stretch of the year for the July 4 holiday.

Dayton and Democratic legislative leaders Senator Tom Bakk and Representative Paul Thissen met for more than a week with Republican leaders including House Speaker Kurt Zellers and Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch. The leaders met several times on Thursday in the governor's office.

Neither Dayton nor the Republican leaders gave any indication when they would meet next to discuss the budget.

"I deeply regret that the last week of intense negotiations between the Republican legislative leaders and Senator Bakk, Representative Thissen and myself have failed to bridge the divide between us," Dayton said in a speech.

He said his last proposed two-year general fund budget was $35.7 billion, but the differences between his approach and the Republican leaders had not changed since January. The gap between the two sides stood at $1.4 billion, he said.

Republican leaders had asked Dayton to call a special session to approve a temporary extension of funding for 10 days while the budget negotiations were completed, saying that they believed they were close to a budget deal.

Dayton dismissed the offer as "a publicity stunt."

"They have known for two months, I have said consistently, that I would not agree to anything until I agree to everything," Dayton said.

All but the most critical state functions will be suspended while the spending impasse continues into the new fiscal two-year period that starts on Friday, which would make the 2011 shutdown much broader in scope than one in 2005.

Dayton and the Republican-led legislature have been far apart in their public positions over a two-year budget plan to close a $5 billion deficit. Only the agricultural budget was approved during the legislative session that ended in May.

Dayton's first budget proposal included an income tax increase on the wealthiest state residents and an expansion in overall spending. Republican leaders first sought some tax cutbacks in aiming to halt spending increases.

In the latest negotiations, Republicans had offered to raise $1 billion of revenue by shifting schools payments and issuing bonds for tobacco settlement money and Dayton offered to limit his proposed income tax increase to residents earning more than $1 million per year. None of the offers stuck.

"Tax revenues are still in my view the fairest way to resolve this, but we have offered an awful lot of different possibilities and they have too," Dayton said.

Republican leaders had said they believed the sides were close to agreement, but Thursday afternoon Koch told reporters that after a temporary funding extension they could "work for the next week or so and get everything wrapped up."

Prison staffing, state police patrols and staffing at nursing and veterans homes were among services found critical and allowed to continue by a Ramsey County judge. Staffing at numerous other departments will be cut to the bare bones.

Other critical functions included the executive and legislative branches of state government and the courts.

Payments to schools and local governments, and programs such as food stamps, Medicaid and temporary assistance to needy families also will continue during the shutdown.

However, numerous other programs were not considered critical and will be closed including the state lottery, the gambling control board and the racing commission.

About 100 road and bridge programs not considered critical to prevent an imminent bridge collapse or in response to a road emergency also were to be suspended after Thursday.

The Minnesota Zoo would also close to the public with spending permitted only to feed and care for the animals.

And among popular northern Minnesota spots, vacationers may stay at the privately run villa and lodge operations at Giants Ridge golf resort during the shutdown, but its lauded golf courses will be closed.

(Reporting by David Bailey; Editing by Greg McCune and Jerry Norton)

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