LONDON (Reuters) - London politicians urged the International Olympic Committee to show political courage and allow a minute's silence during the opening or closing ceremonies of the London Games to mark the 40th anniversary of the Munich massacre.
Eleven Israeli team members died at the 1972 Olympics in Munich after being held hostage by Palestinian gunmen.
The London Assembly unanimously voted on Wednesday for a motion supporting a minute's silence for the athletes and coaches who died in the attack.
Andrew Dismore, who proposed the motion, said the deaths went beyond politics and nationality.
"The IOC say to have a minute's silence to commemorate these victims of terrorism would be a ‘political gesture', but surely not having a minute's silence is, in itself, the political gesture," he said in a statement.
"This is not about the nationality of the victims - they were Olympians."
Londoners have forked out about 10 percent of the 9.3 billion pound public bill to stage the Games, with the rest coming from central government and the national lottery.
Roger Evans, another lawmaker, who seconded the motion, said: "The IOC needs to show some political courage and allow the commemoration of a tragedy that affected their guests during their event in their venue 40 years ago.
"This important decision should not be dictated by a small number of their members."
The London organising committee (LOCOG), responsible for staging the Games, said it was a matter for the IOC.
The IOC was not immediately available for comment.
(Reporting by Avril Ormsby; Editing by Robert Woodward)
Source: news.yahoo.com
Fire crews in Essex announce strike days - BBC News
Firefighters in Essex have announced they are to stage five strikes in a dispute over cuts to the service.
The Fire Brigades Union said industrial action will take place on 28 June, 7 and 18 July, 18 August and 18 October.
The union claims Essex will have lost one in five frontline firefighters since 2008 if planned cuts go ahead.
Essex Fire and Rescue said 100 firefighters and dozens of retained crews had declared themselves available during strike periods.
"More than 100 Essex firefighters have signed up to resilience contracts guaranteeing their availability during times of severe staff shortages," the county service said in a statement.
"Added to that are dozens of retained crews determined to continue to provide life-saving cover to their local communities.
"The service has a responsibility to ensure the safety of our communities and that is a responsibility we take seriously and one we are not prepared to leave to chance with the threat of strike action looming."
'Two-faced approach'Alan Chinn-Shaw, chairman of the FBU's Essex branch, said: "This is about cuts to frontline firefighters and changes imposed on firefighters.
"We've had enough and the cuts are now directly impacting on public and firefighter safety.
"The recent highly provocative removal of key fire engines and vital rescue equipment contradicts the fire authority claim that it is being reasonable.
"This two-faced approach has gone on for three years and enough is enough."
Essex firefighters voted by 2-1 in favour of strikes following almost three years of action short of a strike.
Chief Fire Officer David Johnson said Essex Fire and Rescue Service management had moved 95% towards union demands and it was now down to the union to move the other 5%.
"There are only a few points still in dispute - points the service cannot move on, including no changes to anything without prior union agreement," he said.
"The union also wants a reversal of the decision to change Brentwood Fire Station crewing arrangements from two wholetime appliances to one wholetime and one retained."
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
London amongst the most congested cities in Europe - The Independent
London, Manchester and Liverpool were all among the most congested cities in Europe last year, statistics from traffic information company INRIX showed.
Based on rush-hour commute-to-city travel in 2011, the figures revealed that UK drivers spent 32 hours of the year stuck in traffic, although this was four hours less than in 2010.
Heading the congestion list last year was Belgium where drivers wasted 55 hours in traffic. The Netherlands was the next-worst country for jams, followed by Italy.
The INRIX figures also showed that in the London commuter zone last year, drivers wasted 66 hours in traffic, with the Greater Manchester figure being 45 hours and Liverpool being 39 hours.
The worst time for congestion in London was Friday from 4pm to 5pm, while Greater Manchester's worst time was Tuesday from 9am to 10am, with Liverpool's jams being at their worst between 4pm and 5pm on Wednesdays.
Nationwide, the worst time to be on the roads was in London between 4pm and 5pm, when it took an average of 33% longer to complete a journey than in uncongested conditions.
Overall, a journey along a UK major motorway during peak-time driving hours took, on average, 17% longer than in jam-free conditions.
All 18 UK cities analysed had fewer jams last year than in 2010, with Friday being the worst traffic day and Tuesday being the worst weekday morning.
The best weekday for traffic in the UK last year was Monday, with the worst commuting hour being 9am to 10am on Tuesdays and the best being 7am to 8am on Fridays.
Among UK cities, the biggest decline in hours wasted in traffic last year was in Birmingham, where drivers spent eight hours less in queues than in 2010.
Londoners spent seven hours less, with drivers in Newcastle upon Tyne, Nottingham and Glasgow all spending five hours less.
For European countries, the biggest drops in congestion between 2010 and 2011 were in Portugal (down 49%), Ireland (down 25%), Spain (down 12%) and Italy (down 12%).
INRIX Europe senior vice president Stuart Marks said: "So goes traffic, so goes the economy.
"Traffic congestion is an excellent economic indicator telling us whether people are going to work, businesses are shipping products and consumers are spending money."
These were the 10 most congested areas in the UK in terms of hours drivers spent stuck in traffic in 2011:
1. London commuter zone 66
2. Greater Manchester 45
3. Liverpool 39
4. Birmingham 34
5= Belfast-Lisburn 33
5= Newcastle upon Tyne 33
7. South Nottinghamshire 32
8. Leeds-Bradford-Harrogate 30
9= Sheffield 29
9= Edinburgh-Lothian 29
Source: www.independent.co.uk
London 2012: Jenny Meadows a doubt for Olympic Games - The Guardian
Jenny Meadows's participation in the London 2012 Olympics is in doubt after she was ruled out of this weekend's trials in Birmingham. The 800m runner has not raced at all this year because of an achilles injury.
Meadows is still recovering from the problem and will now need to rely on the discretion of the selectors to be awarded the third and final place on the team for London. "I am gutted to be missing out on the trials, but we always knew it would be a race against time to be fit enough," she said. "Every day of my recovery is like a week so the extra few days ahead of [the European championships in] Helsinki will make a big difference to the injury and ensure I am able to go out and compete and demonstrate my fitness ahead of selection for London 2012."
Jeanette Kwakye, a 2008 Olympic finalist in the 100m, will also miss the trials due to an achilles and ankle injury. "I have been working with the UKA medical team at Lee Valley and on their advice and in consultation with my coach Michael Afilaka we have decided to miss the trials," said Kwakye, who has a best of 11.68sec this year and sits well down the British rankings. "We will reassess the injury on Monday in relation to the European championships.
"I am eligible for selection for the Games and am still determined to be fit and ready for competing in my own backyard in Stratford."
The pair's withdrawal is worrying news with the Games six weeks away and comes just a day after Hannah England, the world championships silver medallist over 1500m, announced she too would miss the trials after suffering a spike to her achilles in a race in Holland three weeks ago.
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
London 2012 festival: reasons to be cheerful - The Guardian
When Les Commandos Percu's On the Night Shift explodes across the sky over Lake Windermere in Cumbria on 21 June as part of Lakes Alive, it should provide a fitting celebration for the opening day of the London 2012 Festival. But it is also a reminder of how much Ruth Mackenzie's London 2012 programme is asking questions around the nature of art itself, participatory activity in the arts, and who goes and why. I reckon she's done a good job.
The fact that a great many of the events are free is also crucial, but even paid events are attracting support. Yesterday it was reported that the festival has already sold half of its four million tickets, and even more interestingly, 80% of those who saw a play in the Globe to Globe season, which was part of the festival, were new attenders.
Perhaps it does seem odd that some of the theatre events included in the 2012 festival are already over, and others, such as Jonathan Pryce's King Lear, will continue long after the Olympics are but a distant memory. Checking through the theatre entries in the brochure, it does look as if there are a fair number of productions that would have been scheduled whether there was a festival or not. Not that it really matters – the more the merrier, I say. I want to see acrobats swinging around in cavernous English cathedrals, fell runners lighting up Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh and epic tales unfolding on Weymouth beach.
Even more exciting is just how much of the work, such as On the Night Shift or Belfast's Land of Giants, is operating outside of traditional theatre spaces, is family friendly and participatory and reflects a growing awareness of the changing nature of theatre, whether it's Punchdrunk's Dr Who-inspired adventure, The Crash of the Elysium in Ipswich, or Unlimited's The Giant and the Bear at West Yorkshire Playhouse, in which the audience are also playing a game.
Marc Rees's Adain Avion in Wales is one of many hybrid projects that cross all the artform boundaries. I love the link-up with the fabulous sounding Ghost Parade in Ebbw Vale, which marks the closure of the steel works almost 10 years to the day. A great deal of the work in the festival has a strong social factor, springing from communities and creating a community out of those who attend. It's a reminder that the arts play a crucial role in making people feel happier in themselves but also about each other, their surroundings and their futures.
Many of those going to see performances simply because they are listed in the London 2012 festival brochure are probably unaware they are seeing work which is pushing the boundaries of what we mean by theatre and performance. If people go, and have a good time, it doesn't matter what it is called. If they go and have a good time, maybe some of them will come back demanding more. That alone is a reason to celebrate.
• Which London 2012 events are you looking forward to most? Tell us by posting a comment below.
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Woman who lost legs in 7/7 bombing after London Olympic party meant she caught later train makes Paralympic team - Daily Mail
- 'I was one of the lucky ones,' says mother-of-one caught in 7/7 bombing
- Sportswoman makes sitting volleyball team after losing legs in the terrorist attack
By Claire Bates
|
A survivor of the July 7 suicide bombings said her dreams had come true after being picked to compete at the London 2012 Paralympics.
Martine Wright, 39, took up sitting volleyball after losing her legs in the 2005 terror attacks, and spends up to 25 hours training a week.
Martine Wright, a former marketing manager, is now on Britain's women's sitting volleyball team
After finding out she had made the squad, she said: 'I have dreamt of being part of it and now I am going there to do my country proud.
'I would like to thank my family and friends for all their love and support they have given me in my quest to become a Paralympian. They are all amazing'.
Mrs Wright, from Tring in Hertfordshire, was one of the last people to be pulled from the wreckage of the tube train at Aldgate. She lost 75 per cent of her blood, spent 10 days in a coma, and lost both her legs.
She only narrowly survived because off-duty policewoman Elizabeth Kenworthy braved the wreckage and tied a tourniquet around her legs. Seven people died in her tube carriage, while 52 people were killed in total in the terrorist attack.
'I was one of the lucky ones,' she told Trans World Sport.
'I'm still here. I got new legs and I survived.'
Martine Wright now walks with false limbs. She says she is lucky to have survived the 7/7 bombings
In a strange twist of fate, the sportswoman caught a later train than usual on July 7th 2005 because she was running late after celebrating London winning the Olympics the night before. She was sitting just 3ft from one of the bombers when they detonated.
She spent 10months in hospital before learning to walk again at Queen Mary's Hospital in Roehampton.
She returned briefly to her job in marketing but then turned to sport as she felt something was missing from her life.
'Someone who goes through something traumatic can lose their confidence and lose their goals,' she said.
'I think sport revives these things in people.'
The mother-of-one tried a taster Paralympic day and fell in love with the team sport of sitting volleyball.
The sport is in its infancy in Britain, potentially putting them at a disadvantage in comparison to their rivals, but with London 2012 on the horizon the team has made a determined push to try and prove they are worth their home nation spot.
ParalympicsGB had only sent a standing volleyball team to compete at the Games before London 2012.
Martine, pictured in 2010, married her partner Nick and had son Oscar after the bombings
Also on the women's team is Sam Bowen, a former soldier who lost a leg in a mortar attack in Iraq.
When Volleyball England took control of the British Sitting Volleyball programme in 2009, there were just a few male players training.
Now there are a men's and women's squads with players training daily with a full time coach.
ParalympicsGB Chef de Mission Craig Hunter said: 'Today we have announced a group of athletes who are truly phenomenal.
'Not only have they worked incredibly hard to get to this point, but as individuals many of them have gone through difficult personal circumstances in order to do so.
'These athletes epitomise the power of the Paralympic Games to inspire people, both disabled and non-disabled, and the power of sport to change peoples' lives.'
Speaking at the selection announcement at City Hall, London Mayor Boris Johnson wished the team 'the very best of luck when they battle it out against the best teams from around the world this summer.'
For more information on the London 2012 Paralympics visit www.london2012.com/paralympics
Source: www.dailymail.co.uk
London 2012 Olympics: Andy Murray selected for Team GB tennis squad - Daily Telegraph
The final takes place on August 5, and Murray will hope to still be in the competition, if only to keep up a rich tradition of success.
Team GB top the all-time Olympic tennis medals table, having accumulated 16 gold, 13 silver and 16 bronze medals between 1896 and 1924.
The sport did not feature on the Olympic programme for the next 64 years, but Tim Henman and Neil Broad returned Team GB to the podium with a men’s doubles silver medal at the Atlanta 1996 Games.
“I can't wait for the Olympics to start, it's such an incredible event and for it to be in London is extra special," said Murray.
"I remember being part of the Olympic ceremony in Beijing, which was an unbelievable atmosphere and like nothing I'd experienced before.
"Winning a medal this summer for Team GB is one of my major goals.”
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Essex v Kent, FLt20 South Group, Chelmsford - espncricinfo.com
Essex 158 for 6 (Foster 51) beat Kent 155 (Smith 5-17) by 3 runs
Scorecard
Greg Smith took five wickets in two overs in a controversial climax as Essex collected their first Friends Life t20 success of the campaign with a three-run victory against Kent at Chelmsford.
Kent's chase was going steadily until the start of the 17th over, at which point they were 118 for 3. From that point, Essex hoover up seven wickets for the addition of 37 runs, including three sixes with Smith finishing with 5 for 17.
A six-run penalty against Essex for a slow over-rate moved Kent's chase closer but with four runs officially needed to win off the final ball, Graham Napier bowled last man Mark Davies.
Confusion about the score in the closing stages added to the uncertainty with Kent insisting they actually needed two runs from the last ball and Matt Coles saying as he left the ground that he had scored eight runs, not six as shown in the scorecard.
His view was supported by other independent statisticians and left scorers and statisticians anxious to study video evidence.
Prior to the tense finale, Foster's innings was the main attraction. Foster hit four sixes in a top score of 51 in 27 balls as Essex posted 158 for 6, with James Franklin's 39 the next best contribution. He arrived in the 11th over with only 69 on the board and brought much-needed impetus to his side's cause with a swashbuckling knock.
His effort included four sixes and two fours before he departed in an eventful final over sent down by Kent's pace bowler Matt Coles. It cost 24 runs including one delivery that cost eight runs when Foster despatched a no-ball for six. Foster also hit another six in the over, as did Adam Wheater before he was bowled.
Thanks to that onslaught, Essex amassed 53 from the final four overs, Coles conceding 46 from his full allocation.
James Franklin was Essex's other main contributor, striking six boundaries in his 39. He was bowled by Adam Ball after sharing in a stand of 53 in eight overs for the second wicket with Graham Napier, who was run out in the same over for 20.
Kent's hopes of launching their reply on a solid foundation were ruined by David Masters, playing against his former county. In his third over, he bowled Rob Key for five and had Azhar Mahmood leg before with his next delivery. Although Kent reached the halfway stage without further loss, they had progressed to only 61.
Darren Stevens fell for 21 but opener Sam Billings and Brendan Nash brought about an acceleration with a fourth-wicket stand of 54 in seven overs.
Medium-pacer Smith then made a dramatic impact in the 17th over, removing Billings for 59, an innings containing four fours and two sixes and spanning 55 balls, and Nash with successive deliveries.
He then bowled Geraint Jones for a single but Kent made a tremendous effort to reach their target despite the clatter of wickets.
Sam Northeast hit two sixes while compiling 14 before he too became a victim of Smith, who also removed Matt Coles on his way to career-best figures.
Source: www.espncricinfo.com
What an inspirational story and a wonderful woman, her positive attitude is just fantastic and makes me even prouder to be British than I was before, go Team ParalympicsGB we are behind you all the way!!!!
- Mrs P, Dewsbury, UK, 21/6/2012 12:59
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