Tube workers reject Olympics offer

Leaders of London Underground workers have rejected a pay offer for working during the Olympic Games worth up to £500, it was announced.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, which represents thousands of Tube staff, said the money was not an adequate reward for being on duty during the event, which will see a huge increase in passengers across the capital for weeks.

The RMT said the offer had been slightly improved to £100 dependent on meeting "customer satisfaction" targets, and extra per shift which could add another £400.

Leaders of Tube workers said a bonus of up to
500 pounds was not an adequate reward
 for being on duty during the Olympics

The union pointed to other deals, including one of £1,100 atDocklands Light Railway which the RMT said could be worth double that amount, and £600 atLondon Overground.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: "RMT is rejecting this latest Olympics and Paralympics pay offer from LU and we will be meeting with the company again to press our case for a flat-rate, across-the-board payment which recognises the contribution of all staff throughout the high-pressure extended Olympics and Paralympics period and which is free from a whole barrage of strings and caveats.

"Other employers, notably London Overground, Network Rail and most recently DLR, have come up with serious offers and agreements and we expect London Underground to do the same.

"It is well-documented that transport will be the biggest logistical challenge throughout the Olympics period, with massive pressure on staff and services from moving millions of extra passenger journeys around Greater London and the South East.

"All we are calling for is a fair deal for all the staff involved in delivering the colossal transport challenge that we will be facing this summer and the negotiations to achieve that are ongoing."

"Vindicated" India renews call for London to drop Dow

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on Friday renewed its demand that London 2012 terminates itssponsorship deal with Dow Chemicals, feeling vindicated by the resignation of a Games watchdog panel member over the tie-up.

Meredith Alexander quit the Commission for a Sustainable London2012 on Wednesday, saying she did not want to be part of a body that "became an apologist" for Dow Chemicals, the U.S. firm linked to India's 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy.

Meredith Alexander, former member of the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012, speaks to a reporter at the headquarters of Amnesty International in London January 25, 2012. REUTERS/Chris Helgren

Dow bought the Bhopal plant owner Union Carbide in 1999.

Alexander said a number of other panel members were also "deeply disturbed" by the company's sponsorship of a temporary decorative wrap around London's Olympic Stadium.

Her resignation prompted IOA chief Vijay Kumar Malhotra to send a second letter to International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge exactly six months before the Games, saying there was no need to carry "this toxic legacy."

"...the resignation of Ms Meredith Alexander from the Games Ethics Committee - the Commission for Sustainable London 2012 - has vindicated IOA's stand of opposing Dow's sponsorship," Malhotra wrote in his letter, copies of which were distributed to Indian media.

"I am sure that you are well aware of the growing opposition to this sponsorship the world over with NGOs (non-governmental organisations), intellectuals like Noam Chomsky, Members of British Parliament and civil society openly coming out against it.

"On behalf of the IOA I again urge you to take steps to remove Dow as sponsor and settle the matter as early as possible," Malhotra added.

Activists say 25,000 people died in the years that followed the gas leak at a pesticides factory in the central Indian city of Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh.

Campaigners have demanded Dow boosts a 1989 compensation package for those affected by the disaster.

Dow, also an IOC worldwide partner, has denied any responsibility for the accident and says Union Carbide had settled its liabilities with the Indian government.

A number of former Olympians have slammed the London sponsorship deal while Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan has urged the government to boycott the Games over the issue.

However, Malhotra has ruled out the possibility.

Malhotra said he has sent a copy of his letter to London Games chief Sebastian Coe as well, while also conveying the IOA's position to the British High Commissioner in India last week.

LEAGUE DEMANDS END TO BLOODSHED

The Arab League has demanded that the Syrian government immediately stop all violence and allow more monitors in, as activists reported at least 10 more civilians, including two teenagers, were killed by regime forces.

Fierce clashes in the south between government troops and military defectors left 11 soldiers dead, activists said. The Arab League also called on other armed parties to halt all bloodshed, an apparent reference to the defectors.

Syrian mourners pray in front of the coffins of 11 Syrian police officers who were killed in an explosion in the Midan neighborhood of Damascus (AP)

Qatari foreign minister Sheik Hamad Bin Jassem Bin Jabr Al Thani said the ministers did not agree to call for UN experts to join the observers' mission in Syria, but said UN experts will train the monitors in Cairo before they leave. Even had they called for the UN experts to go in, Syria's regime may well have blocked them.

The success of the mission, said Mr Al Thani, who heads the committee, "depends on the government of Syria, and that means stopping the killings, withdrawing troops from the cities, and allowing journalists to work and enter Syria".

The ministerial committee called on "the Syrian government and various armed groups to immediately halt all forms of violence and to return to protesting peacefully for the success of the Arab League observers' mission in Syria".

At the meeting, the head of the observers issued his first report on the mission, sharing photos, maps and initial findings.

The five foreign ministers from the 22-member Arab League, who met in Cairo, said the 165 Arab League monitors now on the ground need greater independence from President Bashar Assad's regime.

The monitors are supposed to be ensuring Syrian compliance with a plan to end the government's crackdown on dissent. The Arab League plan calls on Syria to remove heavy weaponry, such as tanks, from all cities, free all political prisoners and allow in human rights organisations and foreign journalists. Syria agreed to the plan on December 19.

Opposition activists say around 450 people have been killed by Mr Assad's regime since observers began work in Syria nearly two weeks ago.

A Syrian activist in Cairo, Thaer Al-Nashef, said the regime is misleading the observers and that the mission has done nothing to resolve the crisis. He said the issue should be dealt with at the UN Security Council.

"The monitors have not moved the situation forward or backward in Syria. At the same time the regime is killing the Syrian revolution," he said. "The Arab League should stop this staged performance, because the Syrian regime is not adhering to the agreement."

Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby said observers will continue their month-long mission in Syria, despite claims by activists that the mission is giving cover to Mr Assad's crackdown on protesters and delaying further action.

He also defended the choice for head of the mission, Sudanese General Mohammed Ahmed Al-Dabi, saying his military experience was useful on the ground. Gen Al-Dabi has drawn criticism because he served in key security positions under Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted for crimes against humanity in Darfur.

Although the Arab League said it needs more monitors in Syria, ministers today did not name an exact number. Initially, the League had requested to send 500 monitors, but so far Syria has allowed in only 165.

The Qatari foreign minister told reporters after the meeting that the League is aware that the mission has not fulfilled its goal of stopping the bloodshed.

"Is what happened, ideal? We want to do more," he said. "We know that the Syrian people have made a decision, but what we want is to lessen the losses, human losses."

According to the UN, more than 5,000 people have been killed since March when mostly peaceful anti-government protests began and drew a harsh military response from the government. Hundreds more have been killed since the UN issued that estimate last month.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 11 soldiers died in intense fighting in the town of Basr al-Harir in southern Daraa province. More than 20 troops were wounded.

In Homs, seven civilians were killed by troops raiding houses and pro-government snipers on rooftops. A 15-year-old boy was among seven civilians killed, the Observatory said.

The Local Co-ordination Committees activist network and other activists confirmed the killing of civilians. In the Damascus suburb of Zabadani, two people were killed during raids that followed clashes with defectors, and in the eastern Deir el-Zour province, a 19-year-old was also killed during raids in pursuit of activists, the activists said.

While many of the anti-government protests sweeping the country since March remain peaceful, the Syrian uprising as a whole has become more violent in recent months as frustrated demonstrators take up arms to protect themselves from the steady military assault. An increasing number of army defectors also have launched attacks, killing soldiers and security forces.

The regime's crackdown has led to broad worldwide condemnation and sanctions, weakened the economy and left Mr Assad an international pariah just as he was trying to open up his country and modernise the economy.

The government says that the turmoil in Syria is not an uprising but the work of terrorists and foreign-backed armed gangs.

PM VOWS TO BLOCK EU TRANSACTION TAX

Britain will veto any attempt to introduce an EU-wide financial transaction tax, Prime Minister David Cameron said today.

He said France, Germany and other countries pushing for a levy were welcome to implement it within their own borders.

But imposing a tax across the EU without similar measures being in place elsewhere in the world would hit European jobs and prosperity, he said.

French finance minister Francois Baroin has suggested France could push ahead alone with a so-called "Tobin tax" amid UK hostility.

Mr Cameron told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show: "If the French themselves want to go ahead with a transactions tax in their own country then they should be free to do so.

"We actually have stamp duty on share transactions in Britain and yet we have one of the most competitive and successful financial services markets anywhere.

"But the idea of a new European tax when you are not going to have that tax put in place in other places and so I will block it unless the rest of the world all agreed at the same time that we were all going to have some sort of tax."

Former chancellor Alistair Darling, who ran the Treasury during the 2008 financial crisis, warned of an "unmitigated disaster" in Europe after European leaders had tied themselves into a "suicide pact".

He told the Sky News Murnaghan programme: "If the eurozone crisis is not resolved, the chances are we will get recession in Europe. If you get recession in Europe, the chances are we will follow because it is such a big market.

"I think the imperative at the moment is for eurozone leaders to finally face up to the fact we have to sort out this imbalance between the rich countries and the poorer countries on the periphery of Europe.

"If they don't do that I see nothing but unmitigated disaster.

"In 2008 we were dealing with a banking crisis which, although difficult, you can and we did deal with it.

"What we have now is doubt over the solvency of countries. It is much more wide spread.

"It does not have to be like this. If countries would act together with the same spirit as they acted in 2009 then in Europe, it would be painful, it would be slow, but at least we could begin to turn the corner and begin to get the economies growing again.

"If you don't get growth then you can't get borrowing and debt down. That's why I think the summit just before Christmas was a complete disaster because they came up with a solution that may have been appropriate a few years ago but is actually locking them into a suicide pact.

"It was a complete wasted opportunity back in December and I would like think eurozone leaders spent Christmas working on a plan that we will see shortly because it is a plan we do need to turn the corner.

"It's terribly important we are engaged in that process."

Mr Cameron tried to play down concerns Britain will end up excluded from decisions affecting the single market under a new treaty being thrashed out in Brussels.

The latest draft of a fiscal accord designed to shore up the crisis-hit eurozone specifically talks about "deeper integration in the internal market".

It also suggests EU institutions would be involved in policing tough new deficit rules.

A bid to apply new rules across the EU was vetoed by the Prime Minister last month - but Britain found itself alone among the 27 member states in remaining outside.

"The interesting thing about this new treaty that's under discussion is it says very, very clearly in Article 2 that this treaty does not supersede or interfere with or override in any way the treaties of the European Union.

"It's entirely subservient and separate to them. And that's the absolute key."

Britain remained a "committed" member of the EU, he insisted, but said he was "quite relaxed" about being outside elements that were not in the national interest.

Shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander said: "Contrary to what David Cameron said, the draft EU agreement explicitly mentions the single market - leaving the Prime Minister's guarantee looking increasingly threadbare.

"When jobs and growth in Britain depend on an effective resolution to the eurozone crisis, David Cameron's decision to walk away from the table is looking more and more reckless."

Pressure on Mr Cameron to agree a resolution will be heightened tomorrow when Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg hosts a summit of prominent Liberal politicians from across the EU.

The pro-European Lib Dem leader warned last week of a danger that "other countries seek to do things in a way that is not particularly helpful to us as a country and when we have not got a proper influence or a good voice" in the wake of the veto.

Liberal Democrat sources said the focus would be on the economy and the single market rather than institutional change but questions over Britain's future role are certain to feature.

Among those leading discussions alongside Mr Clegg will be the Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte and Olli Rehn, the European Commissioner for economic and monetary affairs.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Mr Clegg said: "Europe is at a vital point in its history and the crucial thing for us to do is concentrate on economic growth.

"That's why I'm hosting a meeting of my Liberal colleagues from parties in government across Europe to focus on the only credible path out of the current crisis: creating jobs and boosting competitiveness.

"We will be using this opportunity to set out an ambitious agenda for reform which will help set the stage for the discussions at the next European Summit."


PA 2012

FAKE BOMB BREACHES OLYMPIC SECURITY

Police carrying out security tests ahead of the Olympics managed to smuggle a fake bomb on to the main site, it was reported today.

A dummy device is believed to have made it past security staff at the Olympic Park in Stratford, east London, on at least one occasion as security measures were scrutinised.

A spokesman for the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) refused to comment on the incident but added: "Testing is standard practice in all major security operations.

"Such tests have a key role in developing our capability to ensure that London 2012 is safe and secure and that we are best prepared to detect potential threats before and during the Games.

"Members of the public with tickets should be reassured that such exercises are being staged to ensure their safety, our number one priority."

The Metropolitan Police also said it would not comment on the security breach.

London 2012 has been put at severe terror threat level, the second highest classification.

The Olympics is a symbolic target and this year's Games also marks the 40th anniversary of the 1972 Munich Olympics where the Black September terror group killed 11 Israelis.

Risks from protest groups or natural disasters are also part of the detailed safety planning.

Last month the Ministry of Defence confirmed that 13,500 military personnel, more than the 10,000 that were deployed to Afghanistan, will be part of the 23,700 security force for the Games.

The deployment across all military services includes 3,500, rising to a peak of 7,500, who will provide venue security.

Around 5,000 servicemen and women will support the police and other civil authorities, providing specialist capabilities such as bomb disposal and dog teams.

Another 1,000 will provide logistical support.

There will also be a 1,000-strong unarmed contingency force for deployment in the event of an "Olympics-related civil emergency".

The overall 23,700-strong security force will include a mix of military, private security guards and at least 3,000 unpaid London 2012 volunteers who will be used at the start of the security process.

PA 2012