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New York's police chief says he is impressed with security planning for this summer's London Olympics, rejecting suggestions that US officials were concerned about arrangements for the Games.
Commissioner Raymond Kelly said London's police and security planning was far more comprehensive and organised than had been the case for the Atlanta games in 1996, when he was personally involved in a federal government role.
'It seems they really have a handle on just about any contingency that might take place,' Kelly said in London during a trip to meet Olympic security chiefs, senior London police and officials at MI5 domestic security agency.
'We've been universally very much impressed with everything we've seen. As far as I can see they have done an excellent job preparing all of their forces.'
No concerns: Raymond Kelly has dismissed security fears
Last November, the United States denied that there had been a diplomatic row over the Olympic security planning, following a newspaper claim that 1,000 agents including some 500 from the FBI, would be sent to protect US athletes and officials.
Chris Allison, Britain's national Olympic security coordinator, said the claim was 'rubbish' and that the reported FBI contingent had been grossly exaggerated.
'I think the FBI role is a supportive one. I don't think they're here with specific concerns,' Kelly said, dismissing the idea that the London police needed their assistance.
He added than rather than lecturing the British, his visit had been a learning one.
'We were takers rather than givers, put it that way,' he commented.
Allison and other senior British security figures have said protests and public order issues rather than al-Qaeda and international terrorism were the most likely threats to the Games.
Last year, Britain suffered its worst rioting in decades and there have been high-profile anti-capitalist protests in London, some inspired by New York's Occupy Wall Street moment.
Kelly said he had discussed the riots with his London counterparts and it was an issue that they had factored in, with plans for a rapid mobilisation to deal with any unexpected events.
'Will there be demonstrations, will there be protests of some sort? Sure. That's a given in this day and age. It's something that happens in New York and London literally everyday,' Kelly said.
'But the Met is well experienced. They're well prepared to handle it.'
Source: www.dailymail.co.uk
London close: Stocks sink on Greek exit speculation - Life Style Extra
- BoE policy makers 'finely balanced' on more QE
- CBO warns of US recession
The FTSE 100 sunk to its lowest levels of the day by the end of trade on Wednesday as investors looked ahead to this evening's EU summit with caution as speculation increases over a Greek exit from the Eurozone.
International pressure has been mounting on Eurozone leaders to take quick action to stave off the recession that threatens the region. The European Council is holding an informal dinner Wednesday evening at 18:00 London time, where the members are expected to discuss both the situation in Greece and measures to increase growth.
Former Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos has said that although a Greek exit is unlikely, "it cannot be excluded that preparations are being made to contain the potential consequences" of such a scenario. He later clarified that he has no specific knowledge of any countries of institutions making contingency plans but could not "exclude the possibility".
According to an article by Reuters this afternoon, three officials of the Eurogroup Working Group (EWG) have said that countries should be planning for a Greek exit. "The EWG agreed that each Eurozone country should prepare a contingency plan, individually, for the potential consequences of a Greek exit from the euro," one official said. Germany's Bundesbank has said that a withdrawal from the single currency would be "considerable but manageable".
Gloomy comments from the US Congressional Budget Office (CBO) were also dampening the mood today. The CBO warned of a risk of recession for the world's largest economy in 2013 if the Bush-era tax reductions were allowed to expire at the same time as spending cuts come into effect. It said that the US economy could contract by 1.3% in the first half of next year as the government falls off a "fiscal cliff".
UK economy
In domestic news, the Bank of England's top decision makers indicated that more of them were on the verge of voting to increase stimulus measures at their lasting meeting. While the Monetary Policy Committee voted 8-to-1 to keep the Bank's quantitative easing programme steady at 325bn, the minutes of the meeting showed that "for several members, the decision not to expand the asset purchase programme at this meeting was finely balanced".
UK retail sales registered their biggest monthly fall in April, with fuel sales tailing off dramatically after the panic buying in March, when motorists were encouraged by the government to stock up on petrol.
FTSE 100: Miners bear the brunt of risk aversion
The blue-chip miners were dominating the fallers list on the Footsie as metals prices dropped on concerns that the Chinese economy may be affected greatly by Greece leaving the euro: investment bank China International Capital Corp said today that the world's second-largest economy could see its lowest levels of growth in more than two decades in this scenario. Mining peers Vedanta Resources, Kazakhmys, Polymetal, Xstrata, Glencore, Fresnillo, Rio Tinto, and Antofagasta were all suffering heavy losses.
Financials were also unwanted due to risk aversion. Barclays was out of favour after it announced the pricing details of the open offer part of its recently announced sale of its stake in US wealth management giant Blackrock. Meanwhile, there were rumours that the lender could be thinking about a shake-up in Italy, which could involve the sale of branches or a restructuring. Sector peers RBS, Lloyds and HSBC also finished lower.
Iconic British luxury brand Burberry dropped despite reporting solid profit growth in the year ended March 31st. Adjusted profit before tax increased by 26% from 298m to 376m, broadly in line with estimates. Analysts at Investec said this morning that bears make "take issue" today given the lack of upgrades following the results.
There were only a few stocks that finished with their head above water today: British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) rose after the Competition Commission announced that it was no longer concerned that 'Sky Movies' has an unfair advantage over its competitors; while Smith & Nephew was benefiting from renewed bid speculation.
FTSE 250: LSE falls after Italian banks sell up
Italian banks UniCredit and Intesa Sanpaolo have announced that they have sold their combined 11.5% stake of market operator London Stock Exchange (LSE), causing shares to take a tumble today. The banks made the transaction via an "accelerated bookbuild" at 960p per share, a discount to Tuesday's closing price.
Second-tier miners were firmly lower, like their FTSE 100 counterparts - Ferrexpo, Petropavlovsk and Avocet registered significant losses by the close. Aquarius Platinum was also under pressure due to the news of a fire at its Mimosa mine in Zimbabwe. "At this stage, the extent of the damage and impact on production cannot be ascertained," Aquarius said.
Buses and trains operator FirstGroup was a high riser after saying that it is to shake up its UK bus operations to focus on those areas that offer the greatest potential for growth. The group announced full-year results for the year to the end of March that were slightly ahead of expectations.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 594.50p +0.42%
British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 693.00p +0.36%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 241.30p +0.04%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Vedanta Resources (VED) 951.50p -9.12%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 679.50p -7.86%
Man Group (EMG) 73.10p -5.86%
Polymetal International (POLY) 794.00p -5.42%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,312.00p -5.41%
Aviva (AV.) 263.90p -5.14%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,337.00p -5.04%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,790.50p -4.97%
Glencore International (GLEN) 343.65p -4.96%
Xstrata (XTA) 926.20p -4.80%
FTSE 250 - Risers
FirstGroup (FGP) 220.10p +7.42%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 107.80p +5.89%
COLT Group SA (COLT) 118.70p +5.14%
Great Portland Estates (GPOR) 392.90p +2.80%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 128.80p +2.79%
Paragon Group Of Companies (PAG) 160.80p +2.42%
Spirent Communications (SPT) 157.30p +2.28%
KCOM Group (KCOM) 69.00p +2.22%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,725.00p +2.14%
Lamprell (LAM) 103.00p +1.98%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 204.40p -10.82%
Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 74.80p -10.10%
Petropavlovsk (POG) 380.50p -9.10%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 947.00p -7.25%
Essar Energy (ESSR) 112.80p -6.70%
Kenmare Resources (KMR) 41.39p -6.48%
Avocet Mining (AVM) 143.50p -6.45%
New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 316.30p -6.42%
Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 146.90p -6.25%
Lonmin (LMI) 736.00p -6.18%
BC
Source: www.lse.co.uk
London 2012 Olympics: magic in the air as flame fever grips the country - Daily Telegraph
Like every other torchbearer on his section of the route, 1968 Olympic 400metre hurdles champion David Hemery included, Drogba was required to meet at Lime Kiln to board the bus that deposits torchbearers along the route.
Fans wearing Chelsea shirts appeared, waiting two hours for a glimpse of their hero, who repaid their patience with signatures and photographs before climbing aboard for his brush with the Olympics.
Before Drogba’s rapturously-received trot through Swindon, the torch passed through Royal Wootton Bassett. Its inhabitants are used to sombre parades in a town synonymous with the repatriation of Britain’s war dead, but the atmosphere was transformed on Wednesday.
Every school had the morning off, the children lining the roads clutching flags and cardboard torches. Members of the Purton Amateur Dramatic Society danced a cancan on a roundabout. The residents of the Bassett Care Home assembled to watch from the other side of the road.
In her front garden Audrey Wannell draped the flags of Wiltshire, Royal Wootton Bassett and England beneath the bunting and poured champagne for her neighbours.
“We are having strawberries and champagne because we are very excited about the Olympics,” she said. “We didn’t get any tickets, but we thought we would have our own party today.”
By the war memorial, servicemen joined crowds five-deep who watched Ben Fox, born with one leg and nursing ambitions to play wheelchair basketball at the 2016 Paralympics, carry the torch.
Hemery, who lives in nearby Marlborough, said it was an honour to run the first leg in Royal Wootton Bassett. “It is very symbolic. For me the flame represents the Olympic truce, and I hope it could be a focus for thinking about peace. This is a very meaningful site that has honoured those servicemen who, like it or not, have done their political masters bidding.”
From Royal Wootton Bassett the flame travelled to Swindon, preceded by the three sponsors’ vehicles transporting youthful promotional staff whose job is to stoke enthusiasm for the torch along the route. This is the major difference between London’s torch relay and Beijing’s.
While China used special-forces troops to face down opponents, London is relying on the sponsors’ ‘fluffers’. On the Coca-Cola Beat Box, a red mobile disco, staff who look like they might have drunk too much of the product, dance, wave and hand out free samples.
It works, though. The crowds react with a cheer and every wave from the bus is returned 10-times over.
A long day ended in Cheltenham with a royal turn at Prestbury Park, where an estimated crowd of 16,500 turned to watch their local 14th-in-line to the throne ride the final leg. Phillips received the flame aboard her world championship-winning mount Toytown, and lit a cauldron to the sort of reception usually reserved for Festival winners.
Today, the torch travels to Wales. Within a fortnight it will have been to Northern Ireland, Dublin and Scotland. If the reaction there is anything like this, we can score it a triumph, or suspect magic.
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Wembley appearance is lined up for Leicester Tigers - Leicester Mercury
Leicester Tigers look set to make their first ever appearance at Wembley three weeks into next season.
Details of a fixture between home club Saracens and Leicester are already being advertised on ticket-selling website www.eticketing.co.uk – a service used by many top Premier League football clubs.
The site has ticket details, a date of Saturday, September 15 and a start time of 2.15pm.
It also bills the entertainment for the day as being from "chart-topping sensation, Cover Drive" – a four-piece band from Barbados. Adult tickets range from £16 to £65 with concessions for juniors.
It reads: "On Saturday September 15, Saracens will take to the Wembley stage once more.
"This fixture will welcome Leicester Tigers to Wembley for their first appearance against Saracens at their second home."
Despite this detail, Premiership Rugby (PRL), the Aviva Premiership's governing body, say that no apparent plans will be made concrete until the 2012-13 fixture list is released on Wednesday July 4.
A spokesman for PRL said: "The fixture list has not been confirmed yet and they will be released on July 4, as planned."
It is understood that Saracens have requested a home fixture for that third round of competition though and, if Tigers are confirmed as their opponents, it will provide a first visit to the iconic national football stadium.
Saracens used Wembley for home games on two occasions last season.
They beat the Ospreys 31-26 in the Heineken Cup in a game that attracted 41,036 supporters.
They lost to Harlequins 24-19 in March at the same venue but attracted 83,761 for the all-London clash – a world record for a club rugby game.
Saracens will play their home games next season in Barnet at the renovated 10,000-seater Copthall Stadium.
Tigers did not wish to pass comment.
Source: www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk
Wembley attendance by Kirklees Council deputy mayor slammed by Labour man - Huddersfield Examiner
Source: www.examiner.co.uk
Welcome to Britain, America's 51st state.... Shouldnt the FBI be concerning themselves with America's security?
- RossD89, Lancashire, 23/5/2012 22:57
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