Press regulation: seven global groups urge Queen not to sign 'toxic' charter

Royal plea … Seven international newspaper bodies have urged the Queen not to sign the royal charter to establish a new UK press regulator. Photograph: DT/Barcroft Media

Seven international newspaper industry trade bodies and media freedom organisations have written to the Queen urging her not to sign a "toxic" royal charter to establish a new UK press regulator.

The letter brands the royal charter to underpin a replacement for the Press Complaints Commission, backed by the three main political parties, as camouflage for a "set of repressive statutory controls" being imposed on the industry against its will.

The seven signatories, including the World Association of Newspapers & News Publishers and FIPP, the worldwide magazine media association, said the royal charter backed by politicians would have a "chilling impact" on UK journalism and be used by foreign governments as an excuse to "muzzle the press" in their own countries.

The final draft of the politicians' royal charter is due to go before the privy council next week and will then be signed by the Queen, the last stage in the legislative process.

Earlier this month the press industry's rival proposal for a PCC replacement underpinned by a royal charter was rejected by eight MPs on a privy council sub-committee. However, the industry is moving ahead with plans to launch its Independent Press Standards Organisation and is understood to be considering a legal challenge to the politicians' charter.

"We urge you, Ma'am, as the final guarantor of freedom of expression across the UK and your Commonwealth, not to sign this charter," the letter stated.

"No one should be in any doubt that the proposed royal charter which politicians are forcing Your Majesty to sign is, despite the camouflage, in reality a set of repressive statutory controls being imposed on the press against its will.

"By laying down rules about how that regulator must work and how the ethical codes that bind the press should be written this toxic charter brings parliament for the first time ever to the heart of the newsroom."

The signatories added: "[The royal charter] will have a chilling impact on journalism throughout the United Kingdom … But far more important to us is the impact of your actions across the globe.

"The actions of Britain's parliament will be used as an excuse by those who want to muzzle the press in their own country and stifle the free flow of information – and there are many governments who would love to do so."

The letter was also signed by the Commonwealth Press Union Media Trust, Inter American Press Association, International Association of Broadcasting, International Press Institute and World Press Freedom Committee.

Hacked Off, the group that campaigns for stricter press regulation and backs the politicians' royal charter proposal, accused the groups that signed the letter of falling for the "hysterical scaremongering of a small group of self-interested editors and proprietors".

"Everything about the letter from the seven organisations suggests that either it was dictated for them by the bosses of the Daily Mail, the Daily Telegraph and the Murdoch press, or that their knowledge of what is happening in Britain is informed exclusively by reading those papers, whose coverage has been biased to the point of parody," said Brian Cathcart, Hacked Off executive director.

Grangemouth crisis: Unite union now accepts plant rescue plan

Grangemouth chemical plant. Unite union has accepted the survival plan for the plant after Wednesday's shock closure news. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

The union at the centre of the Grangemouth crisis has decided to "embrace" a survival plan aimed at preventing the site's closure and the loss of thousands of jobs.

Unite's leader, Len McCluskey, said the union was working to persuade owners Ineos to reverse its shock decision to close the petrochemical complex. But he denied that the union had been forced into a humiliating climbdown by the plant's owners: "My union is engaged with thousands of companies every day to negotiate plans to save jobs. There is nothing humiliating about negotiating plans to ensure jobs and communities are safe."

The development followed a meeting at the site between general secretary Len McCluskey and union shop stewards.

McCluskey said the shop stewards had decided they had to embrace the survival plan, "warts and all", in the wake of the closure decision.

Workers at the petrochemical site, and adjoining oil refinery, had refused to sign up to the plan, which included a pay freeze, ending of the final salary pension scheme, and other changes to terms and conditions.

McCluskey said: "We are not going to let this plant close. We are encouraged by the comments of the First Minister that he too will not let this plant close.

"We have a situation whereby a company has put down an ultimatum and we have to respond. It is not how we engage in modern day industrial relations." Ineos is expected to wait until further meetings are held later today involving politicians before responding to the latest development.

Ineos director Tom Crotty has denied that the firm lured unions into a trap over Grangemouth.

Speaking on BBC News 24, Crotty rejected the suggestion that Ineos has wanted to shut the plan all along, and used the unpalatable cost-cutting plan as a way of forcing the union's hand. If staff had voted in favour, he argued, Ineos would have invested £300m and the plant would soon be reopening.

Crotty reiterated that Ineos will consult with shareholders again if the Unite union substantially alters its position and accepts major changes at the plant. A Downing Street spokesman said: "The prime minister is keen that they are back round the table talking. Clearly, we want both sides to continue with those talks and come to a solution if possible.

"Grangemouth is clearly of vital importance to the Scottish economy and the Prime Minister is keen that those discussions continue and hopefully they can find a solution."

Wednesday's closure announcement

The government reacted with dismay to Wednesday's announcement and the climate change secretary, Ed Davey, pledged that all efforts would be made to rescue the plant on the Firth of Forth. Grangemouth isScotland's biggest manufacturing business. Its refinery supplies most of the country's fuel, and the petrochemicals plant produces plastics used in industries ranging from cars to packaging. Its closure would have far-reaching implications for Scotland and the UK.

The company said it had no alternative but to shut down the business after it failed to persuade its staff to accept a survival plan.

Unite said about 680 of the site's 1,370-strong workforce had rejected the company's proposals, which include a pay freeze for 2014-16, removal of a bonus up to 2016, a reduced shift allowance and the ending of the final-salary pension scheme.

Ineos had said it was ready to invest £300m in Grangemouth, but only if workers agreed to the new terms. It said the plant, which has been shut down since last week because of the dispute, was losing £10m a month.

In an urgent question on Grangemouth in parliament on Wednesday, Davey told MPs repeatedly that the government wanted the plant to stay open if at all possible. He said it would still consider a business case to provide investment to help keep the plant running, but Downing Street dismissed speculation that the plant could be nationalised, saying it was a matter for the unions and owner to resolve.

The prime minister's spokesman said it was disappointing that the petrochemicals side of the plant had closed and called on both parties to continue their dialogue over the future of the refinery.

Number 10 said the closure of the Grangemouth refinery would not pose a threat to fuel supplies, after the AA warned it could hit petrol prices. A dispute over pay and conditions at the oil refinery remains unresolved.

Len McCluskey explains Unite's position:

"What's different? The company's closure of the plant has led our stewards to believe the priority is to keep the plant open. We have to say to the company that the survival plan is something we are prepared to embrace and go along with if, if you like. But that includes discussions and consultation and we will see what comes out of those discussions. I wouldn't want to mislead you. Their survival plan requires us to accept certain things and our stewards' position is that we are accepting those issues.

"It's not that it's all up for negotiation. They are demanding we accept their ultimatums and we have decided to accept their ultimatums. The consultation will be around the logistics of those issues and the practicalities of those issues. There will be no doubt some alterations within the context of those discussions. What has changed is the company have closed the plant and have put it into liquidation and we are not going to allow that to happen and the stewards are now responding to the wishes of our members who may feel outraged by what has happened but the priority is to keep the plant open and we will see what the future brings." Sean Farrell

Tim Roth to play Sepp Blatter in film about Fifa

British actor and filmmaker Tim Roth will play Sepp Blatter in F2014. Photographs: AFP/Getty Images.

Behind-the-scenes international intrigue, cronyism and allegations of vast corruption schemes: the story of Fifa, football's governing body, is surely ripe for a dramatic Hollywood retelling.

But a film in the works, starring Tim Roth and Gérard Depardieu, looks likely instead to be a sanitised version of its history and a hagiography ofSepp Blatter, its controversial president.

The film project is provisionally titled F2014 and will be released next year, to coincide with the 110th anniversary of Fifa and the World Cup in Brazil. It will be shot in Azerbaijan, France and Brazil, according to the Azerbaijani ministry of culture. Roth will play Blatter, while Depardieu will play Jules Rimet, the longest-serving president in Fifa history, whose name adorns the World Cup trophy.

The film is being made by Leuviah Films, a French production company that does not appear to have any previous movie credits, and Thelma Films. It is unclear who is funding the project, but it appears to have the full approval of Fifa. Roth is 25 years younger than the 77-year-old Blatter, but the Fifa president said he felt "the casting was well done".

A video on Fifa's website shows a meeting between Blatter and Roth, with Blatter emerging from the back seat of a limousine to embrace the actor. "It was a very interesting get-together," said Blatter after the meeting. "I had read a lot of the CV and all the realisations [films] that this Tim Roth has made. I was very eager to meet him, and I have just realised that really we have something in common."

Blatter said Roth agreed that the pair had "some common, let's say, qualities".

Depardieu became a Russian citizen this year, and was handed his new passport by President Vladimir Putin. Since then, he has been travelling across Russia and the former Soviet republics in what at times appears to be a concerted effort to consort with the region's least savoury politicians. He has been an enthusiastic guest of Ramzan Kadyrov, the autocratic leader of Chechnya, and has also sung a love duet with Gulnara Karimova, socialite daughter of Uzbekistan's dictator, Islam Karimov.

Blatter has run Fifa since 1998, and has hinted that he may try to stand for re-election when his term expires in 2015, despite previously saying he would not do so. His reign has been characterised by allegations of corruption around Fifa, and he has become known for his controversial statements on issues such as women's football and racism in the game

French football clubs to strike over government's 75% 'super tax' plan

Clubs in Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 are to go on strike for one weekend in protest at the French government's plans for a new "super tax" on wealth.

The nation's Professional Clubs' Union (UCPF) announced on Thursday there would be no matches staged on the weekend of 29 November – 2 December.

Under the proposal, companies, rather than individuals, will be liable to pay the 75% rate for the part of employees' annual salaries that exceed €1m. Paris St-Germain, who are owned by Qatar, will be the hardest hit, while Monaco, backed by a Russian billionaire, will be exempt as they do not fall under French tax laws.

The clubs had initially hoped they would be exempt, but the sports minister, Valérie Fourneyron, confirmed last month that that would not be the case.

A statement on the official LFP website said: "This day 'football in danger, all together!' is unprecedented in the history of French football, as a first initiative from football to protest against the introduction of exceptional tax on high salaries paid by employees under the draft budget law for 2014.

"This tax is unfair and discriminatory. The economic crisis has not spared the clubs who have had their ticket sales and television rights decrease for three consecutive years."

Jean-Pierre Louvel, the UCPF president, told a news conference he would meet with the French president François Hollande to discuss the situation: "The survival of French football is at stake. We will ask him once again to drop this tax."

"I agree with the determination of the French clubs," said the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) president Frederic Thiriez, in remarks reported by L'Equipe.

Germany summons US ambassador over claim NSA bugged Merkel's phone

The decision to call in John B Emerson, who has only been the US representative in Berlin since mid-August, is an unusually drastic measure. During previous upheavals in relations, such as over the Syrian crisis, conversations have taken place between diplomats.

Allegations that the US government's spying had reached the highest level were met with outrage and disappointment in Germany on Thursday. The country's defence minister, Thomas de Maiziere, told ARD television it would be bad if the reports turned out to be true.Washington and Berlin could not return to business as usual, he said.

Informed sources in Germany said Merkel was livid about the reports that the NSA had bugged her phone and was convinced, on the basis of a German intelligence investigation, that the reports were utterly substantiated.

The German news weekly, Der Spiegel, reported an investigation by German intelligence, prompted by research from the magazine, that produced plausible information that the chancellor's mobile was targeted by the US eavesdropping agency. She found the evidence substantial enough to call the White House and demand clarification.

While European leaders have generally been keen to play down the impact of the whistleblowing disclosures in recent months, events in the EU's two biggest countries this week threatened an increasing lack of trust in transatlantic relations.

On Wednesday Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, made plain thatthe chancellor upbraided Obama unusually sharply and also voiced exasperation at the slowness of the Americans to respond to detailed questions about the NSA scandal since the Snowden revelations first appeared in the Guardian in June.

Merkel told Obama that "she unmistakably disapproves of and views as completely unacceptable such practices, if the indications are authenticated", Seifert said. "This would be a serious breach of confidence. Such practices have to be halted immediately."

The sharpness of the German complaint direct to a US president strongly suggested that Berlin had no doubt about the grounds for protest. Seibert voiced irritation that Berlin had waited for months for proper answers from Washington on the NSA operations.

On Thursday Süddeutsche Zeitung conveyed a strong sense of the depth of disillusionment with the US president in Germany when it wrote that "Barack Obama is not a Nobel peace prize winner, he is a troublemaker".

In a comment piece in the German broadsheet, Robert Rossmann wrote that during his last visit to Germany, "the American president had flamboyantly promised more trusting collaboration between the countries. Even Merkel seems to have lost faith in that promise by now. One doesn't dare imagine how Obama's secret services deal with enemy states, when we see how they treat their closest allies."

Die Zeit wrote that Obama's "half-hearted denial" of the allegations raised more questions than it answered. "Was Merkel's mobile the target of NSA surveillance in the past? … It is time for Obama and the US Congress to be ruthlessly transparent about the macabre practices of the NSA and restrain them strongly. They promised it months ago, but until recently very little has happened. With each revelation trust is eroded further. If America wants to stop annoying its friends and allies, it only has one option. Get on the front foot and be open."

Criticism was not focused solely on Obama, but was extended to Merkel, whose chief of staff only recently declared that the NSA scandal was finished. Many feel Merkel failed to react appropriately to the Snowden revelations, and was only stepping up the rhetoric now that she had been personally affected.

Germany's data protection commissioner, Peter Schaar, said that the reports showed "the absurdity of politicians trying to draw to a close the debate about surveillance of everyday communication here". He said it had been irresponsible of politicians not to be more upfront in calling for the US to clear up the matter.

Anke Domscheit-Berg, of the German Pirate party, told the Guardian: "In the past few months, Chancellor Merkel did very little to make the US government answer all those questions that should have had highest political priority. Now she gets a taste of what it feels like when foreign secret services spy on all your communication. We have stopped trusting empty promises and so should Angela Merkel. It is about time to get all dirty secrets on the table."

The debate in the coming days is likely to focus on how the allegations will affect new data protection regulation at the European level, with some MEPs calling for a Europe-only data cloud. In Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Georg Mascolo and Ben Scott warned of the creation of a "digital Maginot line" between Europe and the US, and instead called for a "no-spy treaty" between European countries.

"Storing data and surveillance would only be allowed for previously agreed goals – the fight against terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction as well as grave acts of crime. All forms of political and economic espionage would be banned. The privacy of every EU citizen has to be respected by each EU secret service as if they were their own.

Expo 2020 Delegation Visit Dubai Internet City’s Pavilion At GITEX Technology Week

A delegation from Expo 2020 visited Dubai Internet City (DIC)’s pavilion yesterday at GITEX Technology Week, as part of their visit to the Emirate. The delegation received a presentation from Ammar Malik, Director of Business Development, Dubai Internet City and Dubai Outsource Zone, who highlighted DIC’s support for the Expo bid, as well as the wider benefits the Expo will bring to Dubai and its thriving economy and industries.

Since 2000, DIC has successfully developed a prosperous ecosystem for technology organisations and has been one of the forerunners in carrying forward Dubai’s vision of transitioning into a knowledge-based economy.

Dubai iPhone game receives UK award

“It is a great honour to win this award. Due to the tremendous amount of apps, it is extremely hard to differentiate your idea and get the attention it deserves. Especially if it is an educational game,” said Peter Saghegyi, the managing director of Sentiomedia. “We are happy to be the first internationally acclaimed studio to portray Dubai via a cutting-edge medium such as smartphone apps. To see your home come to life in a game is priceless. We hope the residents of Dubai will feel the same way when playing with the game.”

The game, which is available for iPhone & iPod touch, showcases not only the landmark districts of Dubai but also presents the culturally diverse life of its residents. It is available for FREE on the Apple Store.

http://www.dubaideliverygame.com

About FWA:FWA is an industry recognised award program, established in 2000, showcasing projects which use cutting edge technology, together with inspirational ideas, that lead the way for future generations.

About Sentiomedia:Sentiomedia is an independent interactive studio creating games and digital experiences for consumers, commercial brands, art spaces, and live events.

Established in Dubai Media City by veteran console game developers, Sentiomedia is specialized in developing interactive content for touch devices from smartphones to huge interactive walls. In the past years the studio delivered content for clients such as Emaar, Mubadala, Dubai Government, FlyDubai, and Art Dubai.