Ian Tomlinson inquest - live updates | UK news | guardian.co.uk

Welcome to the first day of our coverage of the inquest into the death of Ian Tomlinson, a newspaper seller who was struck by police during the G20 protests in London in 2009.

Judge Peter Thornton QC, a senior judge sitting as assistant deputy coroner, is overseeing proceedings, which in fact began yesterday with legal argument that we are unable to report.

A jury of seven men and five women were sworn in at 2.15pm, after what Thornton conceded was an "unusually protracted process" due to the limited number of suitable candidates in London's Square Mile. They were sent home while the legal debates continued.

Over the next five to six weeks the jury will determine Tomlinson's cause of death, deciding specifically whether he was unlawfully killed by police. I'll be live-blogging, tweeting, and writing reports. You can email me in confidence at paul.lewis@guardian.co.uk or message me on Twitter.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

BBC News - Final turf laid at London Olympic 2012 Stadium‎

International inspectors laid the last piece of turf on the field of the stadium, just under three years after building work began.

Inspectors will now begin a check-up of preparations for the London 2012 Games.

But London 2012 chairman Lord Coe said: "We wouldn't want anyone to run away with the idea that this stadium is ready to stage an Olympic track and field championship tomorrow."

He added: "With one year and a few months to go, this is a great place to be."

There were about 700 rooms inside the venue which still needed to be completed, he said.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

French vegans face trial after death of baby fed only on breast milk | World news | The Guardian

Two strict vegans have gone on trial in France charged with "neglect or food deprivation" after the death of their breastfed 11-month-old daughter who was found to be suffering from vitamin deficiency.

Sergine and Joel Le Moaligou called an ambulance to their home in the village of Saint-Maulvis - 90 miles north of Paris - in March 2008 after their daughter Louise became listless. By the time paramedics arrived, the baby had died.

The police were alerted after the ambulance crew noticed the baby was pale and thin and a doctor refused to issue a death certificate. A postmortem showed the child, who had been fed only on her 37-year-old mother's milk, weighed 5.7kg when she should have been about 8kg.

She was also suffering from deficiency of vitamins A and B12, which may have left her susceptible to infection. She died of a pneumonia-related illness.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

BBC News - George Clooney named as Berlusconi 'defence witness'

Hollywood star George Clooney is one of 78 witnesses named by Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi for his trial on charges of sex with an under-age prostitute.

Mr Clooney's girlfriend, Italian model and TV star Elisabetta Canalis, is also on the list as are MPs and ministers.

The couple were said to have been seen at one of Mr Berlusconi's parties by Karima el-Mahroug, the teenager whom he is alleged to have paid for sex.

The trial is due to start on 6 April. Mr Berlusconi denies the charges.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

BBC News - Election of Kosovo's president ruled illegal

The election of Kosovo's president last month was unconstitutional, its highest court has ruled after opposition parties complained of irregularities.

Opposition parties said there had not been enough members of the Assembly of Kosovo present to elect Behgjet Pacolli on 22 February because of a boycott.

It is not clear if there will be another election while Mr Pacolli remains in post, or if he must resign.

The ruling was the second against a Kosovan head of state in six months.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Eurointelligence Daily Briefing: Rating agency calls ESM is a negative gamechanger, and downgrades Greece

S&P says new stability mechanism will increase the risk to private sector investors in Europe's periphery; cuts Greek sovereign rating to BB- with a specific reference to the ESM agreement; Greek government reacts with outrage; investors disbelieve that existing bonds are safe under the ESM deal, and avoid the periphery altogether;

Why do we insist on calling speculators 'investors'? Who do we make policy for? How long will it be before the EU policy apparatus wakes up and decides to decouple sovereign financing from the private markets where they get consistently mugged by the rating agencies?

Eurostat found yet another budget hole in Greece that could push the 2010 deficit to above 10%;an IMF study finds that sovereign ratings announcements had significant spillover effects in the eurozone;

How long before rating agencies are written out of regulation?

Irish economy minister promises bank sell-offs and a smaller banking sector;Bank of Ireland makes a last-ditch attempt to stay independent;Ireland has already drawn down 20% of its EU/IMF loans;Portuguese opposition leader promises tougher austerity;China sabotages Sarkozy's G20 policies on exchange rates;the German banking lobby warns of massive credit rationing as a result of the recent tax and regulatory changes

They need to capitalize like everyone else.

Martin Wolf says ESM is an important agreement, but eurozone must explicitly recognise the role played by surplus countries in the crisis; Adriana Cerretelli says that transfers are the quid-pro-quo for the Germanisation of the eurozone

The serious people finally begin to get it?

Wolfgang Münchau, meanwhile, argues that the CDU's shift towards the Greens will open up a big void on the right - and this is not good for the future euro governance debate.

The CDU shifting toward the 'centre' would actually be good. The problem is if the greens are pulled rightwards by their association with the CDU.

So, in what may be my last act of "advising", I'll advise you to cut the jargon. -- My old PhD advisor, to me, 26/2/11

The biggest lie in British politics : Johann Hari

British politics today is dominated by a lie. This lie is making it significantly more likely you will lose your job, your business, or your home. The lie gives a false explanation for how we came to be in this crisis, and prescribes a medicine that will worsen our disease. Yet it is hardly being challenged.

Here's the lie. We are in a debt crisis. Our national debt is dangerously and historically high. We are being threatened by the international bond markets. The way out is to pay off our debt rapidly. Only that will restore "confidence", and therefore economic growth. Every step of this program is false, and endangers you.

Let's start with a fact that should be on billboards across the land. As a proportion of GDP, Britain's national debt has been higher than it is now for 200 of the past 250 years. Read that sentence again. Check it on any graph by any historian. Since 1750, there have only been two brief 30-year periods when our debt has been lower than it is now. If we are "bust" today, as George Osborne has claimed, then we have almost always been bust. We were bust when we pioneered the Industrial Revolution. We were bust when we ruled a quarter of the world. We were bust when we beat the Nazis. We were bust when we built the NHS. Or is it George Osborne's economics that are bust?

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

BBC News - Portugal and Greece downgraded on debt worries

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's has downgraded struggling Greece and Portugal on further debt worries.

S&P says investors in their bonds could lose out under the terms of a new eurozone bail-out package.

The move pushed up the countries' borrowing costs as lenders demanded a higher rate of return for buying government bonds.

The downgrades left Portugal one notch above junk rating and Greece's creditworthiness below that of Egypt.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Greenspan blasts US financial regulations

Sweeping regulation introduced by the US to prevent future financial crises could create major "market distortions" ex-Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan wrote in Wednesday's Financial Times.

The former bank chief slammed the Dodd-Frank act, which imposes wide-ranging and strict new checks on financial institutions, for failing to "capture the degree of global interconnectedness."

"The act may create the largest regulatory-induced market distortion since America's ill-fated imposition of wage and price controls in 1971," warned Greenspan, who was Fed boss from 1987 to 2006.

Oh my, Greenspan sees distortions.

Libya Live Blog - March 29 | Al Jazeera Blogs

• "There is no future for Libya with Gaddafi in charge," says FM Hague. On the Arab involvement , Hamad Jassim Al Thani says he hopes the Arab involvement in international efforts will increase, and that the Arab League will in the future develop mechanisms to deal with these sorts of crises.

• Timestamp:  6:51pm

  William Hague, the British foreign minister, says that the key conclusions of the summit in London include a reaffirmation of the importance of full, swift implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution on Libya, and that the Libyan government will be judged by its actions and not its words.

  He says additional sanctions will be enforced on the Gaddafi government and its allied individuals and institutions. 

  Hague says a "broad-based coalition" has taken part in action that has been "successful at protecting countless civilians", and that the Gaddafi government has "lost its legitimacy".

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

London Conference on Libya: Chair's statement

Today Foreign Ministers and leaders from the United Nations, the League of Arab States, the African Union, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, the European Union and NATO gathered in London to discuss the situation in Libya.

Implementing UNSCRs 1970 and 1973

Participants today have reaffirmed the importance of full and swift implementation of UNSCRs 1970 and 1973 (2011). Participants reaffirmed their strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and national unity of Libya.  They have reaffirmed their commitment to enforce the restrictions and sanctions on the regime and to act to prevent the supply and operations of mercenaries. We are working together to ensure that all states implement these Resolutions, of which Qadhafi still stands in breach. We agreed to consider pursuing, in the UN and regional organisations, additional sanctions on individuals and entities associated with the regime. Participants here today are implementing these measures as a clear message to Qadhafi that he cannot attack civilians with impunity.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

UN: Gbagbo forces behind Abidjan 'atrocity' - Africa - Al Jazeera English

The UN peacekeeping mission in Cote d'Ivoire (UNOCI) has released a statement saying forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo, the country's incumbent leader, opened fire on civilians in Abidjan on Monday, killing about a dozen people.

The organisation said that in another incident, a group of pro-Gbagbo youths put a tyre around a young man and burnt him alive in the Riviera area of the city, and that another group "savagely attacked" two UN staff.

"With the increase in human rights violations and barbaric practices, there are grounds for wondering whether President Gbagbo is still in charge of his forces and supporters," Tuesday's statement said.

"UNOCI believes it is imperative to end this spiral of violence by finding a definitive solution to the political impasse which stemmed from the post-electoral crisis."

Gbagbo's camp was not immediately available to comment on the UN statement.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

US gunships mark change of tactic in Libya air strikes | World news | guardian.co.uk

The US has been giving the impression that it has backed away from the bombing campaign in Libya. It has now emerged that while the initial intensity of the high-altitude air strikes and cruise missile attacks has diminished, the US has not let up. In a dramatic and significant escalation of the assault on Gaddafi's forces, the US has deployed low-flying, heavily-armed aircraft against Libyan armour.

It is a deployment far removed from the initial concept of a "no-fly" zone.

The Pentagon has revealed that AC-130 gunships and A10 tankbusters, of the kind used in Iraq and Afghanistan, have been deployed in Libya. "We have employed A10s and AC-130s over the weekend," Vice-Admiral Bill Gortney, said.

The aircraft are better suited than high-flying fighter bombers to attack targets in built-up areas without so much risk of civilian casualties, defence officials say.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

U.S. condemns Syria's 'brutal repression' of protesters - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the Syrian government on Tuesday for the harsh way it had responded to pro-democracy protests, while the State Department spokesman said Syria must make more progress on reforms.

"In a series of side meetings I also had the chance to discuss a number of issues, including Syria," Clinton said after a London meeting of international powers on Libya.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Tunisia condemns Israeli calls for Jews to emigrate - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

Tunisia's Foreign Ministry on Monday condemned a call by Israeli officials for Jews to emigrate to Israel over concerns about possible economic hardship ahead in the North African country.

"The ill-disposed call amounts to meddling in Tunisia's domestic affairs and an attempt by Israel to tarnish the post-revolutionary image of Tunisia," the ministry said.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

40 killed, 100 wounded in attack on Iraq's local council

TIKRIT, Iraq, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Up to 40 people were killed and 100 others wounded when gunmen stormed into the provincial council of Salahudin province on Tuesday and held hostages in the building, including council members, a provincial police source told Xinhua.

"Our latest reports said that 40 people were killed and some 100 others wounded by the attack," the source said, citing reports collected from Tikrit's hospitals.

"Most of the victims were security members and employees of the provincial council, four of the killed were provincial council members," the source said.

Earlier the source put the toll at 12 killed and 60 wounded by the coordinated attack.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

NASA - NASA Satellites Detect Extensive Drought Impact on Amazon Forests

A new NASA-funded study has revealed widespread reductions in the greenness of the forests in the vast Amazon basin in South America caused by the record-breaking drought of 2010.

"The greenness levels of Amazonian vegetation -- a measure of its health -- decreased dramatically over an area more than three and one-half times the size of Texas and did not recover to normal levels, even after the drought ended in late October 2010," said Liang Xu, the study's lead author from Boston University.

The drought sensitivity of Amazon rainforests is a subject of intense study. Scientists are concerned because computer models predict that in a changing climate with warmer temperatures and altered rainfall patterns the ensuing moisture stress could cause some of the rainforests to be replaced by grasslands or woody savannas. This would cause the carbon stored in the rotting wood to be released into the atmosphere, which could accelerate global warming. The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned that similar droughts could be more frequent in the Amazon region in the future.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

A Texas-Sized Plan for Nuclear Waste | Mother Jones

The nuclear crisis in Japan has provided a vivid reminder that one of the biggest conundrums of atomic power is what do do with all of the resulting radioactive waste. Harold Simmons believes he's found an answer. The Texas billionaire and corporate raider is opening a nuclear waste dump in West Texas, despite objections from environmentalists and the state's own experts. One of the Lone Star State's largest donors to Republican causes, Simmons expects his that privately-owned site will become the nation's most sought after radioactive waste repository.

The reclusive, litigious 79-year-old made his personal fortune from garbage collection, drug stores, metals, and chemicals. His net worth is valued at $5.7 billion, making him the 55th richest American, according to Forbes. He's shared his money--more than $10 million of it--with conservative politicians and causes, bankrolling attack ads against John Kerry and Barack Obama and giving Republican Texas Governor Rick Perry at least $1.2 million. He has been fined for violating campaign donation limits and outed by one of his daughters for paying her to let him make political contributions in her name. He's been called the "King of Superfund Sites" for his work disposing of hazardous waste. Last year, D Magazine named him "Dallas' most evil genius."

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Earth Hour 2011 - The Big Picture - Boston.com

People, governments, companies, and organizations observed Earth Hour 2011 as 134 countries switched off lights worldwide Saturday, March 26, at 8:30 p.m. The movement to raise awareness about energy consumption took on added relevance with a Japanese nuclear power station crippled after the earthquake and resulting tsunami there. Gathered here are a series of before-and-after photographs from this year - which (starting with the second one below) will fade between "on" and "off" when clicked. [See also: last year] This effect requires javascript to be enabled. -- Lane Turner (15 photos total)

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Beppe Grillo's Blog

The immigration taboo has undesirable effects and desirable ones too. The undesirable ones are in front of everyone's eyes, with thousands of poor wretches left to their own resources and to the mafias. The desirable ones are the provision of low cost labour, often on the black market, often destined to die on the job for the profit of their little boss and that of the Confindustria. The triumph of the globalisation of slaves. Political refugees must always find a welcome. Those who come from war zones must always find a welcome. The others are welcome only if there are the conditions to receive them, a home and a job, otherwise there's electoral demagogy to the benefit not of our goody-goody and good-for-nothing left wingers, but to the benefit of the Lega. An invasion, because it's a matter of invasion, will give the Lega absolute control of the North of Italy. In recent years the Lega has fed on immigration. Every immigrant without proper credentials means an extra vote. The destabilisation of the States has always happened even thanks to the immigration factor. The Lega is the party with the most interest in keeping alive the taboo of the unresourced welcome, justified by the myth of the Italian with a cardboard suitcase. The problem of the Lega and of immigration that feeds it is not just an Italian issue, but European. Fascism was not just an Italian issue, and neither will the Lega be. But Europe is having a blessed sleep and as we have seen in Libya, in reality it doesn't exist.

as usual with beppe, he goes a notch or two too far, but has good points to make.

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

Conservative Think Tank Seeks Michigan Profs' Emails About Wisconsin Union Battle ... And Maddow | TPMDC

A free enterprise think tank in Michigan -- backed by some of the biggest names in national conservative donor circles -- has made a broad public records request to at least three in-state universities with departments that specialize in the study of labor relations, seeking all their emails regarding the union battle in Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) and MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, TPM has learned.

According to professors subject to the request, filed under Michigan's version of the Freedom Of Information Act, the request is extremely rare in academic circles. An employee at the think tank requesting the emails tells TPM they're part of an investigation into what labor studies professors at state schools in Michigan are saying about the situation in Madison, Wisc., the epicenter of the clashes between unions and Republican-run state governments across the Midwest.

One professor subject to the FOIA described it as anti-union advocates "going after folks they don't agree with."

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

CRUISE SHIP CONFESSION: Top Fox News Executive Admits Lying On-Air About Obama | Media Matters for America

In newly uncovered audio, a Fox News executive boasts that he lied repeatedly during the closing days of the 2008 presidential campaign when he speculated on-air "about whether Barack Obama really advocated socialism."

Speaking in 2009 onboard a pricey Mediterranean cruise sponsored by a right-wing college, Fox Washington managing editor Bill Sammon described his attempts the previous year to link Obama to "socialism" as "mischievous speculation." Sammon, who is also a Fox News vice president, acknowledged that "privately" he had believed that the socialism allegation was "rather far-fetched."

"Last year, candidate Barack Obama stood on a sidewalk in Toledo, Ohio, and first let it slip to Joe the Plumber that he wanted to quote, 'spread the wealth around,' " said Sammon. "At that time, I have to admit, that I went on TV on Fox News and publicly engaged in what I guess was some rather mischievous speculation about whether Barack Obama really advocated socialism, a premise that privately I found rather far-fetched."

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Tom Loosemore's next challenge: rebuilding public services online | Media | guardian.co.uk

After the demise of Channel 4's digital investment fund 4ip, we wondered in what form Tom Loosemore would next emerge. Loosemore has an impressive and rather privileged CV that spans Wired's first UK magazine, head of web 2.0 for the BBC and digital strategy adviser for Ofcom, before he joined Channel 4 in September 2008.

Loosemore's next gig, the Guardian can reveal, is possibly the most ambitious yet. Leading a small team of developers including Richard Pope, formerly of Moo and MySociety.org, and former BBCer Matt Patterson, Loosemore's project is to build an alpha version of One Government Website to Rule Them All.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Using the prolific planet hunting Kepler spacecraft, astronomers have discovered 1,235 candidate planets orbiting other suns since the Kepler mission's search for Earth-like worlds began in 2009. To find them, Kepler monitors a rich star field to identify planetary transits by the slight dimming of starlight caused by a planet crossing the face of its parent star. In this remarkable illustration, all of Kepler's planet candidates are shown in transit with their parent stars ordered by size from top left to bottom right. Simulated stellar disks and the silhouettes of transiting planets are all shown at the same relative scale, with saturated star colors.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Why "#StartUpBritain" is nothing more than a government backed link farm

Cameron launched a new, unoriginally named (see Startup America) website today purporting to be a "£1500 rescue package" for small businesses.

This morning, to much media fanfare, David Cameron launched a website to go with it - `startupbritain.org'. To the trained eye, it's clearly a glorified government backed `link farm' - a term which is used by those in the industry to describe a page full of `spam' advertisements. Digging deeper however, it's clear that the representations made by the website released today are a direct reflection of Cameron's `private-sector led' policies and proposals regarding start-ups, enterprise and entrepreneurialism in Britain under the Tory led coalition.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Reading Between The Lines On The Times' `Paywall' Numbers | paidContent:UK

Let's dive in to News International's second release of numbers pertaining to Times Newspapers' digital fees...

 They say (1): "Combined, The Times and The Sunday Times had 79,000 monthly digital subscribers at the end of February, up from just under 50,000 on 31 October 2010."

See more of our latest News International coverage
or add an alert for future coverage of News International.

Our take (1): In other words, the papers notched 50,000 digi subs in their first four months - but only 29,000 additional subs in their second four months.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Superinjunction scores legal first for nameless financier in libel action | Law | The Guardian

A wealthy financier involved in a family dispute has made British legal history by winning anonymity in a libel case. This latest court attempt to censor internet material has led to claims that free speech is being further eroded in Britain.

In a novel extension of controversial superinjunctions, Mr Justice Tugendhat forbade anyone in Britain from identifying "Mr Z", who claims to have been defamed by his relatives in a row over a multimillion pound family trust.

The judge ordered that the relatives' identities also be kept secret, and that no-one be allowed to detail allegations aired in the secret hearings in the high court in London. His ruling was published under the coded title ZAM v CFW and TFW.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

CT State Policeman Wants to Arrest Judge : Dispatches from the Culture Wars

Here's one of the most appalling abuses of power I've ever seen. A judge refuses to sign an arrest warrant so the state policeman who submitted it now wants the judge arrested for hampering an investigation and "coercion."

State Trooper from Salisbury, CT (where watching paint dry is exciting) Mark Lauretano apparently submitted an arrest warrant for a man who got into a bar fight with someone else. The "victim" of the fight (meaning the guy who got beaten up worse), was obviously not arrested, as these things go. Judge Klatt, upon reviewing the information in the warrant declined to sign it, apparently until the "victim" was also arrested.

Judge Klatt, a former prosecutor from Death Valley Waterbury, CT, should have known better. You simply do not refuse the State Police what they want. So instead of, I don't know, reviewing the information again to see if maybe the Judge had a point, Lauretano does the logical thing and is now seeking an arrest warrant for the Judge herself*.

Here's the trooper's argument:

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

NASA - First Image Ever Obtained from Mercury Orbit

Of Interest: Early this morning, at 5:20 am EDT, MESSENGER captured this historic image of Mercury. This image is the first ever obtained from a spacecraft in orbit about the Solar System's innermost planet. Over the subsequent six hours, MESSENGER acquired an additional 363 images before downlinking some of the data to Earth. The MESSENGER team is currently looking over the newly returned data, which are still continuing to come down. Tomorrow, March 30, at 2 pm EDT, attend the NASA media telecon to view more images from MESSENGER's first look at Mercury from orbit.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Man Charged With Trying To Sell Military Spy Plane On EBay | TPMMuckraker

A foreign national was indicted yesterday for allegedly illegally importing an unmanned spy plane into the U.S., and then trying to resell it on eBay.

According to a press release from the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement service, Henson Chua of the Philippines was indicted and charged by a grand jury in Tampa with violating the Arms Export Control Act and smuggling. Chua is accused of importing an RQ-11B "Raven" Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) from the Philippines into the U.S., which is listed on the U.S. Munitions List as a defensive item, "without having first obtained from the U.S. Department of State a license or written authorization." He then "aided and abetted the attempted export" of the same UAV.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

BBC News - Facebook drops 'intifada' page for promoting violence

Facebook has removed a page calling for a new Palestinian uprising against Israel after more than 350,000 people signed up to it.

The page which appeared on the social networking site was called Third Palestinian Intifada after two previous uprisings against Israeli occupation.

It was removed for featuring calls for violence, a company spokesman said.

Israel had raised concerns about the page. Facebook has helped spread calls for protests in Arab states.

The Third Palestinian Intifada page had called for an uprising after Muslim prayers on Friday 15 May.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Earth Warmed by Trails of Clouds that Jets Leave Behind

BBC - Mind The Gap: The royal wedding Oyster card...

The royal wedding Oyster card.

What do you think? Tacky? Regal?

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

BBC News - 'Spiderman' Alain Robert scales Burj Khalifa in Dubai

Alain Robert, the French urban climber dubbed spiderman for his feats, has scaled the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

It took him six hours to ascend the 828-m (2,717-ft) tower in the United Arab Emirates city, including the tapered spire above the top floors.

A large crowd watched from the ground as he moved up the facade, picked out by spotlights after darkness fell.

Unusually, he used a rope and harness, to comply with safety requirements.

"I know that sometimes there may be some specific requirements," he told Reuters news agency before the climb.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

BBC Sport - Cricket - Ricky Ponting resigns as Australia captain

Ricky Ponting has resigned as Australia captain but wants to carry on playing for the team.

The 36-year-old made the announcement in Sydney after arriving home following his side's World Cup quarter-final defeat by co-hosts India.

"I have decided to stand down as captain of the Test and one-day teams as of now," he told a news conference.

Michael Clarke, who has deputised for Ponting in several matches, is tipped to replace him as captain.

Ponting took over the one-day captaincy in 2002 and the Test captaincy from Steve Waugh in 2004 and statistically has been Australia's most successful skipper.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

South Asia has ground to a halt today.

Cricket World Cup Semi-Final

India vs Pakistan

It's an enormous event.