Tuesday, 31 January 2012

Tottenham defender Vedran Corluka joins Bayer Leverkusen on loan

Tottenham defender Vedran Corluka has joined Bayer Leverkusen on loan until the end of the season, the Barclays Premier League club have announced.

The full-back was a regular last season but has dropped down the pecking order at White Hart Lane following the excellent form of England right-back Kyle Walker, who was on loan at Aston Villa last season.

Corluka, who joined Spurs in 2008 from Manchester City, will spend the rest of the season on loan at the German club, who are currently sixth in the Bundesliga.

The loan deal for the 25-year-old could be the first of many deals to go through at the north London club today.

Tottenham are famed for their love of an 11th-hour deal on deadline day and Joe Jordan this afternoon refused to rule out a late move to sign Juventus winger Milos Krasic.

Krasic, 27, has been unable to hold down a first-team place at the Italian club and Spurs' first team-coach Jordan admits an evening swoop for the player is possible.

"I cannot say too much about the club's intentions," he told tuttojuve.com.

"Krasic is one of the many names that the transfer market offers, but a successful negotiation will depend on the will of the player.

"We are happy with our squad. We could do something, though, if a player leaves in the coming hours. Anything is possible."

The Londoners are also rumoured to be keen on adding a forward to their ranks before the transfer window shuts at 11pm tonight and have been strongly linked with a move for Everton striker Louis Saha.

Bolton capture Ryo Miyaichi on loan from Arsenal

Arsenal's Japanese midfielder Ryo Miyaichi has joined Bolton on loan until the end of the season.

The 19-year-old had a successful spell with Feyenoord last season, and returned to make two Carling Cup appearances for the Gunners.

Under Premier League rules, Miyaichi will not be eligible to play for Bolton against Arsenal in tomorrow night's game at the Reebok Stadium.

Wanderers boss Owen Coyle told the club's website: "He's a very talented young player, who is quick and exciting.

"He had a great spell on loan at Feyenoord last season.

"He's a young player with tremendous promise and potential and hopefully at Bolton we can give him a platform on which he can display his qualities."

QPR confirm signing of Lazio striker Djibril Cisse

QPR have completed the signing of Lazio striker Djibril Cisse, the Premier League club have announced.

The 30-year-old former Liverpool and Sunderland player has returned to England for a fee that Press Association Sport understands to be in the region of €5million (£4.18million).

QPR have confirmed that Cisse has signed a two-and-a-half year deal at Loftus Road and has been registered in time to make his QPR debut at Aston Villa tomorrow, subject to international clearance being received one hour before kick-off.

"I rate Djibril very, very highly," Rs manager Mark Hughes told the club's official website, qpr.co.uk.

"I've watched him for many years and always been impressed by what he brings to the table.

"He's a huge threat to oppositions' defences. He's got great pace, power and movement and that's something we will hopefully benefit from."

He added: "His goal record is there for everyone to see. He's scored goals wherever he's played. His record speaks for itself.

"He was desperate to come here once we showed our interest in him and we can't wait to get the best out of him."

Cisse only joined Lazio in the summer after a successful spell in Greece with Panathinaikos.

The Arles-born striker struggled for form in Italy, although he believes he can make an impact in west London.

"QPR have a hugely ambitious project," said Cisse, who will wear the number 23 shirt.

"When I talked to the manager, he spoke highly of the club and where he wants to take it over the next few years.

"He wanted to sign me at Manchester City and now I am finally here with him at QPR.

"He wants to achieve big things here - that was all I needed to hear from him."

He added: "I have unfinished business here in England.

"The English league is the best in the world. It is the league that suits me the most.

"I'm really happy to be here and I can't wait to repay the club's confidence in me, to get back to where I want to be as a player.

"I will always give 100% and I can't wait to start playing games."

Earlier this afternoon, Cisse, who had three years left in his contract with the Roman outfit, bade farewell to Lazio fans.

"I want to thank all the Lazio fans for their affection and support," Cisse said on his twitter account. "All the people that in the past few months I have met.

"I am sorry that in these past months I have not achieved the expectations that some of them had, but I've always given 100%."

Cisse becomes Hughes' fourth signing since taking over as QPR manager from Neil Warnock following the arrivals of Samba Diakite, Taye Taiwo and Nedum Onuoha.

Manchester United striker Federico Macheda arrived on loan earlier this month during Warnock's reign.

West Brom sign Birmingham defender Liam Ridgewell

West Brom have confirmed the signing of Birmingham defender Liam Ridgewell for an undisclosed fee.

Ridgewell has put pen to paper on an initial two-and-a-half year contract plus the option of a further 12 months in the club's favour.

He successfully passed a medical at the Baggies training ground this afternoon after agreeing personal terms.

PA

Rangers confirm rejected bid for Norwich striker Grant Holt

Rangers have confirmed they have had a bid rejected by Norwich for striker Grant Holt.

Ibrox boss Ally McCoist made a move for the Canaries captain, with top goalscorer Nikica Jelavic set to complete his switch to Everton.

However, the Scottish champions have failed in their attempt to bring the 30-year-old to Ibrox.

Everton confirmed earlier today that they had agreed a fee with Rangers for Jelavic, who has netted 17 goals this season.

That means McCoist could be left facing a race against time to replace the Croatian before tonight's transfer deadline if he completes his move to Goodison Park.

Holt caught the eye of the Rangers boss with nine goals in 23 appearances for the Barclays Premier League club so far this season.

But it would appear McCoist must now look elsewhere after his attempts to recruit the player were rebuffed.

Bobby Zamora undergoes medical at QPR

Fulham striker Bobby Zamora is undergoing a medical at QPR but has yet to agree personal terms, Press Association Sport understands.

The England international has been regularly linked with a January move away from the Cottagers and could now be set for a deadline-day move to Loftus Road.

Press Association Sport reported this morning former Fulham manager Mark Hughes has made an approach to sign Zamora and the move has edged closer this evening.

Zamora is currently undergoing a medical ahead of a potential move across west London, although is understood personal terms have yet to be agreed.

The Rs would fork out a fee understood to be between £4million and £5million for Zamora, who would join fellow frontman Djibril Cisse at the Hoops.

Cisse, the 30-year-old former Liverpool and Sunderland player, has returned to England after a spell at Lazio for a fee that Press Association Sport understands to be in the region of 5million euros (£4.18million).

QPR have confirmed that Cisse has signed a two-and-a-half-year deal at Loftus Road and has been registered in time to make his QPR debut at Aston Villa tomorrow, subject to international clearance being received at least one hour before kick-off.

Arsenal sign youngster Thomas Eisfeld from Borussia Dortmund

Arsenal have confirmed the signing of attacking midfielder Thomas Eisfeld from Borussia Dortmund on a long-term contract.

The 19-year-old came through the German outfit's academy and leaves after seven years with the club.

Eisfeld has impressed for Dortmund's Under-19 side this season and has now completed a move to the north Londoners.

"I feel very proud to have signed for Arsenal," Eisfield told the club's official website, www.arsenal.com.

"This is a great club, with many great players, and I'm so happy to be joining Arsenal.

"It's a real honour to be team-mates with the great players at Arsenal, and also training every day with players like Tomas Rosicky - who I grew up watching play at Dortmund.

"I will give it everything I have here and do my best to make the manager, players and fans happy.

"I would also like to thank Borussia Dortmund, where I played for the last seven years, for everything they have done for me.

"I had a great time there, and there were many wonderful coaches who helped me get to where I am today."

Eisfeld has featured at youth level for the German national team and can play in a variety of positions.

Speaking on the addition, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said: "Thomas is a player we have liked for some time.

"We've watched him closely this season, where he has excelled for Dortmund's youth team.

"He is young but has proven to us that he can play, that he has the attitude and technical ability to be a valuable addition to our squad.

"We're very pleased to welcome him to the club and look forward to his contribution in the coming seasons."

Louis Saha omission fuels Tottenham transfer speculation

Louis Saha was missing from Everton's teamsheet for tonight's Barclays Premier League clash against Manchester City, fuelling speculation he could be leaving Goodison Park.

The 33-year-old French striker has been linked with a deadline day move to Tottenham throughout the afternoon.

Saha has struggled for form this season, scoring just twice, and was left on the bench for last Friday's FA Cup fourth-round win over Fulham.

Saha joined Everton on a free transfer from Manchester United in 2008 having previously played for Fulham and Newcastle.

He scored 15 goals in the 2009-10 campaign but has had numerous fitness issues since.

Everton are close to completing a deal for Rangers striker Nikica Jelavic and could have the flexibility to allow Saha to go.

Everton complete deal for Rangers striker Nikica Jelavic

Everton have completed the signing of Croatia striker Nikica Jelavic from Rangers on a four-and-a-half-year deal.

The 26-year-old completed a medical and agreed personal terms at Everton's Finch Farm training base earlier before finalising the details of his contract at Goodison Park.

Jelavic was expected to be introduced to the crowd at half-time of their home game against Manchester City.

He becomes David Moyes' third signing of the January transfer window, following a loan for Los Angeles Galaxy forward Landon Donovan and a permanent deal for Manchester United midfielder Darron Gibson.

Jelavic scored 36 goals in just 55 appearances for Rangers having been signed from Rapid Vienna for £4million in the summer of 2010.

Manchester United youngster Ravel Morrison joins West Ham

West Ham have confirmed the signing of midfielder Ravel Morrison from Manchester United for an undisclosed fee, on a three-and-a-half-year contract.

More to follow...

Party over: Student life is serious business

As official figures reveal that fees of £9,000 have created a record slump in applications, Richard Garner discovers how economic reality is already transforming universities

It used to be about daytime TV, being carried home from bad nightclubs, and halls of residence awash with half-eaten pot noodles and stolen traffic cones, but for the new breed of university student weighed down with the pressures of inflated tuition fees, it's all about business. Today final student application figures are being released by the Universities and Colleges Admission Service (UCAS) and are expected to show record falls in student numbers.

Earlier fears of a 15 to 20 per cent decline are unlikely to be confirmed, but vice-chancellors still predict an overall drop of about 6 per cent (with a larger fall among UK applicants) – up to 30,000 down on last year.

However, it is as much the change in culture in reaction to the tuition fees hike as the drop in numbers which is significant.

Students are shunning the traditional three-year campus course and all its quirks in order to ensure they gain qualifications more quickly, more conveniently, and if necessary while living at home.

London's Birkbeck University, for example, has seen a huge influx of school leavers opting for its "night school" degree course. This consists of three hours' teaching a night, four days a week, crucially leaving students free to take a day job to finance their studies.

This year has seen overall applications for courses in a range of subjects including English, geography, history, law and the psychological sciences soar by 153 per cent to 1,142.

The biggest rise has been among 17 to 20-year-olds – where applications have more than tripled from 219 to 739.

For 19-year-old Tasneem Yahya, the decision to study psychology at night school was a "no brainer". "I live in Central London – only a 15 to 20-minute walk away from the university," she said. "I can save a lot of money."

Similar motives have led to a growth in popularity for two-year degrees – advocated by the Universities Minister, David Willetts, and his predecessor, Lord Mandelson – whereby students forgo their long summer breaks to cut down on the cost of a three-year course.

Then there are a raft of schemes being introduced by employers whereby school leavers get a job and their fees paid while they study. KPMG took on 90 students under this scheme last year, offering them £20,000 a year as long as they worked for the accounting firm while they were not at university.

It has proved so successful that the numbers have doubled this year and many of the major graduate recruiters have followed suit. Those recruited will study for accountancy degrees at Durham or Exeter.

Add to the mix the fact that applications to the Open University are increasing, with the latest figures showing a 4 per cent increase to 260,000. Again the rise is fastest among 18 and 19-year-olds where the numbers have shot up by 30 per cent to 1,611.

Today we will see just how much impact the new fees regime has had on student applications as UCAS publishes details of the numbers that have applied by what is commonly termed the final deadline – January 15. In actual fact you can apply afterwards – it is just that you cannot guarantee being treated equally to those who have met the deadline.

In addition to a drop in student numbers, expect a shift in the pattern of courses students are applying for. Research among school leavers shows they are considering their options more seriously this year – "hard work" has replaced "hard partying" as their motto.

Arts and humanities courses such as creative art and design seem to be the main victims (down 14.6 per cent). The biggest sufferer, however, is non-European languages – which includes Mandarin and Japanese, both considered essential to the UK's future competitiveness.

On the up or holding their own are medicine, law and business studies because of their capacity to lead to well-paid employment.

University applications down 8.7 per cent

Look and learn: New university tribes

THE NIGHT OWL: Niall Quilligan

Niall had already made the decision that he wanted to live in London before opting for Birkbeck College's "night school" degree programme. It gave the 19-year-old from Cheshire the chance to earn while he learns, taking a job to help him finance his way through his course. "You're able to work 9 until 5 if you want to, while other students are studying," he says. "I worked in market research for a bit of cash."

The course in psychology involves him turning up Monday to Thursday between 6pm and 8.30pm for lectures. "It is quite flexible provided you put the main core of learning in between 6pm and 8.30pm," he said. Another student on the Birkbeck night course, Tasneem Yahya, said it was an easy decision because of the money she saved by living at home.

"I'm also able to mix with people of all ages on this course which is what I will have to do when I go out to work," she says. "That wouldn't be the same if I went away to university."

THE DISTANCE LEARNER: Kelly Cutsforth

An Open University degree allowed Kelly to gain work experience while completing her law degree.

The 24-year-old from Hull had already bought her own home when she opted to go on the course soon after completing her A-levels.

"Rather than go to university and come out with a huge debt after three years, I thought it would be good to have a fee earner while I studied," she says. "I wouldn't have been able to afford to go to university and I gained practical skills as well during the course – it is quite difficult to get a job at a solicitor's office."

THE HIGH-EARNER: Joshua Bellamy

Joshua is on the pioneering KPMG scheme. It earns him a £20,000 annual salary while the firm pays his tuition fees for an accountancy degree at Durham University. For the first three years, he spends six to eight weeks on campus and the remainder at work. In the fourth year he completes his course by spending the whole time studying.

The 18-year-old, a former pupil at Holland Park School in west London, says: "It means you're earning a wage while your studying. It did play a large part in my decision that – rather than ending up in debt – I would be earning."

THE CRASH-COURSE KID: Chris Doe

Chose a two-year degree because "I didn't want to spend the summer holiday sitting in bed until 10 o'clock".

It also helped him save on his living costs while he was studying. Critics claim those who opt to study this way deny themselves valuable work experience that will help them get a job – because they will not have the time to fit it in. Chris, 22, studied marketing and media communications at Buckingham University. "I think it gives you something unique to offer [employers]," he says. "Not many people had heard of two-year degrees so I think it proved to them I was prepared to work hard."

Extreme close-up: German film brings the spread of neo-Nazi gangs into focus

For a film that has touched a raw nerve in Germany with its portrayal of neo-Nazi violence, the opening of Kriegerin, or Combat Girl, is deceptively benign: the camera pans to a 10-year-old girl on a lonely Baltic beach weighed down by a heavy load on her back.

"Can I stop now grandpa?" the girl asks the kindly looking pensioner who greets her with open arms. "Of course you can, my darling," he replies with a smile as he removes her rucksack. It proves to be full of wet sand. "You've done well, my little Kreigerin," he tells her. It turns out that Marisa, the young east German girl, has just undergone some Hitler Youth-style military training enforced by the beloved grandfather she idolises. He is an unreconstructed Nazi who is convinced that the Jews have gained the upper hand with "their lies" since Germany's defeat in World War II.

 Fast forward a decade and Marisa, now in her early twenties, has her arms, chest and neck covered with Nazi Swastika tattoos. She and the ultra-violent gang of neo-Nazis she now belongs to are in the process of "doing" a train. Middle aged women passengers, who protest, are slapped in the face as the skinhead gang members storm through the carriages chanting "Sieg Heil" and giving the Nazi salute. A group of Vietnamese immigrants are set upon and brutally beaten up with baseball bats. Finally the guard is set upon and pushed off the train. The gang disappears laughing.

 "Kriegerin", by the young German director David Wnendt, went on general release this month. Less than six months ago, it would have been dismissed by many as an exaggerated if not fanciful depiction of the far-right skinhead problem which has been commonplace in eastern Germany since reunification over two decades ago.

But recent events have led critics to declare that the film an example of how fiction sometimes matches reality. Rolling Stone magazine hailed it as the "best film to come out of Germany for years". Its screening follows last November's deeply disturbing discovery of a far right hit squad comprised of neo-Nazi terrorists bent on murdering foreigners.

The organisation calling itself "National Socialist Underground" (NSU) was comprised of male and female east German neo-Nazis who were found to have been responsible for the murder of eleven foreign immigrants who were shot dead at point blank range in a series of deliberate racist killings. Most of the gangs victims were Turkish doner kebab stall-holders.

Two of the gang members committed suicide after police traced them to a caravan in eastern Germany. One survivor of the gang was a young east German woman, whose background is strikingly similar to the Marisa of "Kriegerin". She is currently in police custody awaiting trial.

Politicians from all parties have since acknowledged that the murders have given neo-Nazi violence a new and shocking dimension. Police last week raided the homes of other suspected NSU members and confiscated weapons as politicians launch a renewed attempt to ban the country's neo-Nazi National Democratic Party (NPD) which holds seats in two east German state parliaments.

Wnendt's film captures the far-right scene in the unemployment-wracked and largely depopulated east German countryside with depressing accuracy. Skinhead neo-Nazis and their girlfriends hang out in cramped communist-era apartment blocks where they drink themselves senseless and watch banned Third Reich propaganda films which liken Jews to vermin. Gang members drive around the streets of run-down eastern towns giving the Nazi salute and terrorising immigrant stall-holders by beating them up or threatening to shoot them with a wartime service issue pistol bought from a fascist gun dealer.

Wnendt hit upon the idea of making a film about neo-Nazis after touring the region to take photographs of its derelict landscapes. In the small towns he visited he encountered far-right gangs. He was surprised to find that many had women members: "Women are no longer just onlookers, they've taken on important positions within these organisations," he said in an interview last week.

Germany's domestic intelligence service estimates that women make up around 20 per cent of neo-Nazi organisations. Many are involved in ostensibly middle-class social welfare groups which campaign against immigrants and asylum seekers with slogans such as "German town and villages can't be expected to heal the misery of the world."

 Wnendt maintains that, in eastern Germany in particular, many are simply losing their faith in democracy. "The views of the extreme right are becoming increasingly acceptable in mainstream society," he says.

A report published in the run up to Holocaust remembrance day last Friday partially bears him out. It concluded that around one in five Germans held anti-Semitic views and that the problem was prevalent. The survey also revealed that one in five Germans under 30 did not know what Auschwitz was.

Japan's population to fall by third in 50 years

Japan's government yesterday released stark new evidence that the nation is on the brink of a demographic crisis, forecasting that its population will shrink by 30 per cent in the next half-century, while soaring life expectancy will further burden the state.

Click here to see the 'Demographic timebomb - ageing Japan' graphic

The report estimates that by 2060 the number of people in the Asian powerhouse will have fallen from 128 million to about 87 million, of which almost 40 per cent will be 65 or older. The report by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research warns that by 2110 the number of Japanese could plummet to 42.9 million – a third of the current population – "if things remain unchanged".

Japan's population began falling in 2004 and is ageing faster than any other on the planet. More than 22 per cent of Japanese are already 65 or older and women will have roughly 1.3 children, well below the population replacement rate. Experts have warned for years that the inverted population pyramid is a harbinger of economic and social disaster, but the institute's prediction is one of the grimmest yet.

The report will also have ramifications for other developed nations grappling with similar logistics of citizens having smaller families and living longer. "This is Japan's biggest problem," said Florian Coulmas, who heads the Tokyo-based German Institute for Japanese Studies. "It affects every aspect of the country's society, economy, culture and polity. Japan is ahead of the rest of the world. That requires adjustments that no other country has had to make in the absence of war, epidemics or famine. But Japanese politics is totally incompetent. The politicians haven't woken up to the fact that this is a national crisis."

Japan's low birthrate is not seriously out of kilter with the rest of the developed world, but the country is unusual among its economic competitors in shunning mass immigration – roughly 2 per cent of the population is classed as "foreign".

The shrinking and ageing population means the government will struggle to cope with ballooning social welfare costs, and to pay for Japan's enormous public debt – at $12 trillion, the worst in the industrialised world.

Yesterday's report predicts that Japanese women will live, on average, to 90.93 years in 2060, up from 86.39 years, and men will live to 84.19, up from 79.64. "The trend of the ageing society will continue and it is hard to expect the birth rate to rise significantly," said the government's spokesman, Osamu Fujimura.

The earthquake and tsunami last March and the costs of cleaning up after the Fukushima nuclear meltdown have added to the burdens on state coffers. The disasters – which killed more than 19,000 people – caused a short-term dip in average life expectancy in 2010.

Japan's leading business federation, Keidanren, has for years called for importing up to six million foreign workers. And a report in 2007 by a prominent group of conservative politicians said: "In order for Japan to survive, it must open its doors as an international state to the world and shift toward ... accepting immigrants."

In the meantime, millions of young Japanese are putting off marriage and childbirth until their thirties, forcing governments in some rural areas to set up matchmaking agencies.

RBS boss bows to pressure and gives up £1m bonus

Stephen Hester, head of the Royal Bank of Scotland, gave way to heavy political pressure last night to forego his £963,000 bonus.

The final straw for the RBS chief executive appears to have been the looming threat of a vote in the House of Commons condemning the Government for failing to block the payment.

He is reported to have feared becoming "a pariah" over the controversy.

Just a few hours before Mr Hester made his decision known, Ed Miliband announced he would force a Commons vote at the first opportunity. Labour strategists were anticipating that a substantial number of Tory and Lib Dem MPs would support them, giving them a chance of defeating the Government.

This would have created an acute embarrassment for the board of RBS, who would have been in conflict with Parliament and public opinion, when more than four fifths of the bank's shares are held by the Government. Labour also intended to use the row over Mr Hester's bonus to humiliate Prime Minister David Cameron, who had previously promised that he would block any bonus of £1m or more.

Mr Miliband believed that the issue had become a focus for public anger at irresponsibility in the boardroom and showed up a weakness in Mr Cameron's leadership. On his blog last night, the Labour leader claimed: "He's been found out on this issue. He was asked if he would veto £1m bonuses at RBS. He replied: 'The short answer is yes.' Having said that, it is ridiculous for him either to suggest he cannot do anything about it now – or pretend he has achieved that pledge by ensuring Mr Hester's bonus comes just short of seven figures.

"He and George Osborne are caught between what they really believe and what people think. They do not give a monkey's about tackling irresponsible capitalism or indeed the bonus culture."

The news came after two Cabinet ministers were quizzed on the bonus in television interviews yesterday.

The Works and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, and the Treasury Chief Secretary, Danny Alexander, both insisted it was not the Government's role to decide how much Mr Hester is paid, though they hoped he would forego his bonus. London Mayor, Boris Johnson, said it was "very peculiar" that a bank that is almost entirely state owned rewarded executives on this scale. He said he hoped the RBS row would not affect the whole financial services industry.

"It would be absolutely nuts to think that they are all somehow tarred with the brush of the fat cats who take excessive bonuses," he said.

Mr Duncan Smith said: "The contract that we inherited from Labour meant that the board takes the decision on this. You can't interfere and tell them what to do. And if we didn't like that, the only option would be to get rid of the board. Now if you do that, imagine what would happen in the banking sector and imagine what would happen to RBS. You'd have chaos."

Hester's £35.5m pay deal fuels renewed anger over excess

Stephen Hester, the chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland, is in line for an extra payout of £3.3m which would dwarf his controversial bonus of £963,000, it emerged last night.

Disclosure of the staggering figure amounts to political dynamite as the Prime Minister fought off suggestions that he should veto the near-£1m bonus, announced last week, for the boss of the taxpayer-owned RBS.

The extra bonus of £3.3m, revealed yesterday, would be on top of the £35.54m total remuneration package Mr Hester has received since joining RBS in 2008.

As the political storm surrounding executive pay at RBS grew, Ed Miliband called on David Cameron to intervene and urged RBS shareholders to block the £963,000 bonus at its AGM in April.

The Labour leader will call for Mr Cameron or George Osborne, the Chancellor, to make an urgent statement to the Commons tomorrow on the affair at a time when the Government is capping benefits for the poorest in society. It will cast doubt on the vow by the Business Secretary, Vince Cable, to tackle executive pay.

In a further ratcheting-up of pressure on Mr Hester, it also emerged that the RBS chairman, Sir Philip Hampton, has decided to waive his £1.4m shares bonus.

But the Prime Minister, who earlier this year made great play of calling for Sir Fred Goodwin to be stripped of his knighthood for presiding over failure at RBS, yesterday refused to bow to political pressure.

Apparently uncomfortable at being asked by journalists about the bonus following talks with the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, at Chequers yesterday, Mr Cameron insisted that Mr Hester's bonus was "a matter for him" and that installing a new top team at the failed bank, which is 82 per cent owned by the taxpayer, would be even "more expensive" than it is now.

The PM said: "It's obviously his decision. My decision is to make sure the team at RBS get on with the job of turning the bank round and we made our views very clear on the bonus and that's why it was cut in half compared to last year.

"The fact is Stephen Hester was brought in by the last government, a contract signed by the last government to turn round RBS – a bank that had got itself into a complete mess. The Government has made its views known and that is why his bonus was cut in half compared to last year. We do have to bear in mind that the alternatives to what's happening now could be even more expensive if you had a whole new team coming into RBS."

The RBS remuneration committee awarded the £963,000 – 60 per cent of what Mr Hester is entitled to – in an apparent attempt to avoid the politically toxic threshold of £1m.

Yet the new figures revealed last night dwarf the controversial bonus and will escalate pressure on the Government to block it.

Mr Hester's portion from the "share bank" set up for bonus payments would be worth some £3.3m at present prices, based on 12 million shares – although he would not be able to cash them in for three years.

The £3.3m is on top of Mr Hester's total package of £35.54m since joining the bank in 2008. That year, when the then Labour government bailed out RBS, Mr Hester was awarded £4.99m in restricted shares, forgoing pay and bonuses. In 2009, his package was worth £6.9m. In 2010, his total package rose to £8.16m. Last year, the total was £8.08m, including a long-term incentive plan (LTIP) worth £4.8m, bonus £1.66m and salary and pension contributions. For 2012, the total figure is £7.38m – including LTIP worth £4.8m, his bonus of £963,000 and £420,000 pension contributions and £1.2m salary..

Mr Hester, who presided over losses of £3.6bn in 2009 and £1.13bn in 2010, has so far remained silent. Ministers insist they cannot prevent the payout as it was enshrined in the contract agreed by the Labour government after Mr Hester took over RBS in 2008.

However, despite the continuing economic problems, Mr Hester's generous remuneration package is not unusual and several more senior RBS executives will still be in line for multi-million pound awards. A plan to monitor top pay is being launched today by a new independent body, the High Pay Centre. Its director, Deborah Hargreaves, said: "The concept of any bonus in these circumstances is insensitive. But if Hester knew that £3m of shares were about to be vested for him, their insensitivity in awarding this bonus is even greater."

The Shadow Business Secretary, Chuka Umunna, said: "The public will find these sums to be completely unacceptable at a time when public sector workers are having pay freezes imposed on them."

Archbishop warns against gay marriage

Ministers should not overrule the Bible by allowing same-sex marriage and David Cameron would be like a "dictator" if he lets homosexual couples get married, the Archbishop of York has said.

Dr John Sentamu, the second most senior cleric in the Church of England, said marriage must remain a union between a man and a woman.

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, the archbishop said marriage is set in history and the state cannot change it overnight.

He said: "I don't think it is the role of the state to define what marriage is. It is set in tradition and history and you can't just (change it) overnight, no matter how powerful you are.

"We've seen dictators do it in different contexts and I don't want to redefine very clear social structures that have been in existence for a long time and then overnight the state believes it could go in a particular way.

"It's almost like somebody telling you overnight that the Church, whose job is to worship God (that it will be) an arm of the Armed Forces. They must take arms and fight. You're completely changing tradition."

The Government will open a consultation on the issue in March.

Dr Sentamu said the bishops in the House of Lords did not try to stop Labour introducing civil partnerships in 2004, giving same-sex couples improved legal rights.

He added the Church was also content with last year's move to allow civil partnership ceremonies in places of worship, as long as it is voluntary and agreed by the governing body of any particular denomination.

But Dr Sentamu said the Government would face a rebellion on any changes in legislation on gay civil marriage.

"The rebellion is going to come not only from the bishops. You're going to get it from across the benches and in the Commons.

"If you genuinely would like the registration of civil partnerships to happen in a more general way, most people will say they can see the drift. But if you begin to call those marriage, you're trying to change the English language.

"That does not mean you diminish, condemn, criticise, patronise any same-sex relationships because that is not what the debate is about.

"The Church has always stood out - Jesus actually was the odd man out. I'd rather stick with Jesus than be popular because it looks odd."

Dr Sentamu has previously expressed concern over the "gay marriage" of homosexual clergy after two reverends exchanged rings and vows at a service held in St Bartholomew the Great Church in the City of London in 2008

In a joint statement with the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, he said: "Those clergy who disagree with the Church's teaching are at liberty to seek to persuade others within the Church of the reasons why they believe, in the light of Scripture, tradition and reason that it should be changed.

"But they are not at liberty simply to disregard it."

Government shake-up for vocational qualifications

Just 70 vocational qualifications will count towards a school's GCSE performance in league tables in future - a cut from more than 3,000 under the current system.

The move is part of an attempt by the Government to stop schools encouraging youngsters to take qualifications that boost their league table position but do not help a pupil's prospects.

Ministers today confirmed that just 125 vocational qualifications will be included from 2014. Of these, only 70 will count towards the main performance measure - the percentage of pupils getting at least five Cs at GCSE, including English and maths.

The other 55 will count in the tables, but will not contribute towards the main measure.

Plans to slash the numbers of “equivalent” qualifications were first announced by ministers last year following Professor Alison Wolf's review of vocational education.

Under the current system, 3,175 vocational or “equivalent” courses count in the league tables, and some of these are multiple GCSEs.

For example, a level 2 BTEC in horse care, one of the qualifications to be cut from the new style tables, is worth four GCSEs at grade C or higher.

The new system will see every qualification count equally in the tables.

Among the others that will not be included in the future are the Level 1 certificate in practical office skills (worth two GCSEs), the BTEC level 2 extended certificate in fish husbandry (worth two GCSEs) and the level 2 certificate in nail technology services (worth two GCSEs).

Qualifications that will still count include many of the diplomas introduced by the last government and a number of BTECs and OCR Nationals covering areas such as performing arts, sport, health and social care, media, music and engineering.

Some of the courses which will count in the tables are still subject to further review because they are either too new, or still have to demonstrate they have all the characteristics needed to be included, the Department for Education said.

Education Secretary Michael Gove said: “The weaknesses in our current system were laid bare by Professor Wolf's incisive and far-reaching review. The changes we are making will take time but will transform the lives of young people.

“For too long the system has been devalued by attempts to pretend that all qualifications are intrinsically the same. Young people have taken courses that have led nowhere.”

Qualifications that do not meet the set standards can still be offered by schools but will not count in the league tables.

Prof Wolf said there had been a 40-fold increase in the number of vocational qualifications being taught in schools in just five or six years.

“It would be lovely to think that was just because these were qualifications that were good for children but some of that is chasing league table points,” she told BBC Radio 4's Today.

“There are a number of schools which are going out there and basically trying to pile up GCSE-equivalent points.”

Even after the reforms, the UK was likely to remain the European country which awarded the most vocational qualifications to 14-16-year-olds, she pointed out.

“I am very keen on vocational qualifications but they need to be good ones, and ones that employers recognise and value. The most important thing the Government can do is make clear to people which vocational qualifications and which practical and applied qualifications are really valuable.”

Former education secretary David Blunkett said it was “entirely wrong” if schools were deliberately seeking to skew league tables but warned that the tone of reforms risked discrediting important vocational qualifications.

“If there's a problem, let's root it out. But let's encourage youngsters to mix and match. I got my qualifications by getting a vocational qualification in business studies and going to evening classes to get A-levels at the same time.

“By all means slim them down but do not send the message out that this is a wholesale trashing of what was there and that somehow vocational education has been downgraded.

“If you do that, you will do us a very grave disservice.”

He questioned whether schools really were offering some of the subjects being reported.

“I don't know anybody in my neck of the woods who takes horse care. I think the only people in my constituency who have horses are the police” he said.

Shadow education secretary Stephen Twigg said: "Labour will support attempts to maintain rigour in our qualification system. It is not right that some young people are told they can get a qualification which won't be valued by universities, colleges or employers.

"However, we need to be careful not to throw the baby out with the bath water. As employers like JCB have said, the Government is undermining important subjects like the engineering diploma.

"However, the Tory-led Government should talk to teachers, parents and pupils rather than rushing a decision. We saw with the cancellation of the schools building programme, how ill-thought-through changes can cause chaos.

"Practical and vocational skills are important to our economic success and the Government need to make sure they don't devalue them."

Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), said: "The Government seems determined to construct a rigid system of incentives that constrains and crowds out the professional and moral judgment of teachers.

"Playing with the equivalencies of vocational qualifications is part of the problem rather than the solution. A system which placed more trust in teachers would help them make judgments that are right for children rather than the school's position in a league table. Instead, the approach is an escalation of restrictions.

"Schools must focus on what is right for every individual pupil, not on their standing in the league tables. However, when your school can be closed and your staff sacked for a fall in league table standings, it can be hard to do so.

"Vocational qualifications are an essential part of the mix, and should not be treated as second-class courses. Of course, they need to be rigorous and they need to be relevant to the expectations of employers."

Royal Navy destroyer set for Falklands

One of the Royal Navy's most advanced new warships is being sent to the Falkland Islands, the Ministry of Defence said today.

Officials said the deployment was long planned, however, and not a riposte to increased tensions over the sovereignty of the islands.

HMS Dauntless, a Type 45 destroyer, is due to set sail for the South Atlantic on her maiden mission in the coming months to replace frigate HMS Montrose.

It comes amid a diplomatic war of words over renewed Argentinian claims to what it calls Las Malvinas, with David Cameron accusing them of "colonialism".

The issue is especially sensitive as the 30th anniversary approaches of the liberation of the islands by Britain from an Argentine invasion.

A Royal Navy spokesman rejected suggestions the decision to send the ultra-modern destroyer to the region represented an escalation of the UK's position.

"The Royal Navy has had a continuous presence in the South Atlantic for many years. The deployment of HMS Dauntless to the South Atlantic has been long planned, is entirely routine and replaces another ship on patrol," he said.

Sister ship HMS Daring has already been sent to the Gulf for her first mission amid heightened tensions with Iran over threats by Tehran to block a busy shipping lane.

They are the first of six new destroyers which will replace the Type 42 vessels which started service in the 1970s.

With crews of 180, they are the first to be built with a futuristic design that makes it difficult to detect using radar.

The Type 45s are armed with high-tech Sea Viper anti-air missiles and can carry 60 troops. They also have a large flight deck which can accommodate helicopters the size of a Chinook as well as take on board 700 people in the case of a civilian evacuation.

Foreign Secretary William Hague told Sky News: "These are formidable vessels - the Royal Navy packs a very considerable punch - but it's a routine deployment.

"We will always be in a position to defend the Falkland Islands if necessary, not that we are aware of any military threat to the Falkland Islands at the moment.

"We will always reaffirm that capability and we will always make sure that it's there.

"There's nothing unusual about this deployment. It doesn't reflect any change in the situation of any kind."

The 50 Best Travel Websites

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Isabelle Caro, the face of anorexia, dies at 28

Isabelle Caro, a French model who became a symbol of the fight against anorexia when she was photographed naked for a controversial advertising campaign, has died at the age of 28. Caro rose to global prominence three years ago when posters featuring her emaciated body were displayed around Milan on the eve of fashion week, sending shockwaves through an industry criticised in some quarters for failing to tackle eating disorders among its models.

The posters were banned by the Italian advertising watchdog but the images went viral online, sparking a debate just months after the deaths of two prominent Latin American models.

Caro, who had struggled with anorexia since she was 13, chose to battle her demons in public in a bid to warn women away from the disease. She appeared on talk shows and wrote a blog and then a book titled The Little Girl Who Didn't Want to Get Fat.

She died on 17 November after returning to France from a job in Tokyo but news of her death was kept secret until this week.

The exact cause of death is not known but she was treated in hospital for a fortnight with an acute respiratory disease after returning from Japan. Her family held a private funeral in Paris. Referring to Caro's anorexia, Daniele Dubreuil-Prevot, her long-time acting instructor, said the French model "had been sick for a long time".

Vincent Bigler, a Swiss singer who became a close friend of Caro, told The Independent that Caro had been determined to help women like her who suffered from eating disorders.

"She was this thin girl with a fragile voice but inside she was amazingly strong," he said. "She was always very close to people like her. She would give out her phone number to anyone who wanted to talk about eating disorders. She even put her number on her blog. On her birthday this year she invited all her followers and fans to her party. That was the kind of person she was. She was very open-minded."

Bigler had got to know Caro personally after writing a song about her called "J'ai fin," a wordplay that roughly translates as "I'm done" but is also near-identical to J'ai faim, the French for "I am hungry."

In a video tribute posted on YouTube yesterday he wrote: "Thank you Isabelle for your courage and for the messages you passed on. I hope that up there you enjoy what you love: art, poetry, reading and the love of others."

Caro's poster campaign caused anger among some campaigners who feared that her skeletal image might inspire young women rather than encourage them.

On "thinspiration" internet forums yesterday there were a number of tributes glorifying the model's anorexia problems. One blog placed a picture of a painfully thin looking Caro alongside the words "die young, stay pretty".

But Caro had always rebuffed such criticism, saying she believed most young girls would be repulsed and not encouraged by the poster campaign.

"My anorexia causes death," she explained in an interview three years ago. "It is everything but beauty, the complete opposite. It is an unvarnished photo, without make-up. The message is clear – I have psoriasis, a pigeon chest, the body of an elderly person."

The Italian photographer Oliviero Toscani, who shot the hard-hitting campaign, made a similar argument. "Looking at my ad, girls with anorexia would say to themselves that they have to stop dieting," he said at the time. "When you do something extreme, there are always people who oppose it. It shouldn't be the photos that shock, but the reality."

Yet despite her public determination to combat anorexia, Caro still struggled to fully overcome the disease. At the time of the campaign she weighed just 29 kilograms and had fallen into a coma the previous year.

Last year she was interviewed by the American pop star Jessica Simpson and said her weight had risen to 39 kilograms, but she still looked painfully thin. During the interview she told Simpson how she had started modelling during her last year of high school and had been immediately told to lose 10 kilograms. Despite her obviously frail physique she said she had never once been told by a modelling agency to put on weight.

"People are just used to seeing skinny people at the modelling agencies," she said.

Teenagers turn their backs on a university education

Universities have suffered the steepest fall in applications since records began, with the total number of students seeking places this autumn plummeting by 8.7 per cent as the true impact of tuition fee increases is felt.

Click here to see the 'University Crisis' graphic

Last night, there were warnings that the decline would lead to course closures and redundancies at campuses across the country. An even more marked drop of 9.9 per cent was recorded in applications from students in England, where fees are rising to up to £9,000 a year.

More men than women have been discouraged from applying, with their numbers falling by 8.5 per cent to 230,342, figures from Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas) showed. There are 309,731 female applicants – 6.7 per cent fewer than at this time last year.

A subject-by-subject breakdown reveals that the courses suffering the worst declines include non-European languages such as Japanese and Mandarin, which are often cited as being vital to the future of the British economy. Applications to these courses are down 21.5 per cent. Creative arts and design courses are down by more than 16 per cent and technology by 17 per cent. The only degrees to register an increase are some medicine courses, including nursing, which are up 2 per cent.

In all, there are 43,473 fewer applications for degree courses starting in autumn 2012 than there were last year.

Martin Freedman, of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: "We are deeply concerned that many potential students are being put off applying and their career prospects will be damaged as a result. The fall in applicants also has worrying implications for universities' finances now that ... most of their funding is due to come from students rather than the Government."

The Ucas chief executive, Mary Curnock Cook, said she was "concerned about the wide and increasing gap between the application rate of men compared to women". However, she said she was relieved that the new fees structure did not seem to have affected the number of disadvantaged students seeking to enter higher education. "Our analysis shows that decreases in demand are slightly larger in more advantaged groups than in disadvantaged groups," she said.

Twenty universities have seen a fall in applications of more than 15 per cent. The biggest drop is at the University of the Creative Arts – which has campuses in Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester – where numbers are down 29 per cent. By contrast, Cambridge University has had 2 per cent more applications.

The number of overseas students seeking a place is still rising, despite curbs on immigration, with applications up 13 per cent. Britain is particularly popular with students from Hong Kong, with applications from there rising by 37 per cent.

Prospective students from EU countries, who face the same fee increases as their English peers, applied for 11 per cent fewer places. Mature students also seem to be staying away, with applications from 23-year-olds showing a 13.5 per cent decline, and from 25- to 29-year-olds falling by 11.8 per cent. Applications from 18-year-old school-leavers dropped by only 2.6 per cent.

The figures show the number of English students applying for degree courses has slumped by 9.9 per cent. Tuition fees for English students at English universities will treble to a maximum of £9,000 a year this September. In Scotland, where Scottish students do not have to pay fees, applicants are down by 1.5 per cent. In Wales, where Welsh students are subsidised, numbers are 1.9 per cent lower.

Shabana Mahmood, the shadow Minister for Higher Education, said: "It is clear the drastic increase in fees and the debt burden is putting people of all ages off going to university."

With some degree subjects hit by a drop in applications of more than 20 per cent, the new higher education landscape could well threaten the viability of courses, especially in arts and humanities subjects which have lost their funding under government cutbacks. The overall number of applications – 540,073 – is already 65,000 higher than the number of places on offer this autumn. Last year, Ucas received 100,000 applications after the January deadline had expired.

Many students appear to be casting their eyes further afield to secure a good-value education. Maastricht University in the Netherlands said yesterday that it had 152 per cent more applications from British students than it did at this time last year. The university, which charges £1,500 a year and teaches all courses in English, expects about 600 young people from the UK to apply this year.

Professor Michael Farthing, the vice-chancellor of Sussex University, said: "The cuts to funding gave universities little option other than to increase fees and, as a result, many prospective students have obviously been wary of applying this year."

The Universities minister, David Willetts, insisted: "Even with a small reduction in applications, this will still be a competitive year like any other."

Tough Guy Challenge: Fire, mud and skirts

Not for the faint of heart, weedy of stature or flaky of disposition, this year’s Tough Guy Challenge saw around 6,000 competitors willingly hurl themselves into mud the consistency of chocolate milkshake, dart through fire, crawl on their bellies beneath barbed wire and splash their way through freezing water.

Click here or on "View Gallery" to see the race in pictures

The competitors, both men and women, were so tough that many wore skirts, fancy dress and other attire which might have hindered, rather than have facilitated, their daring endeavours.

The eight-mile assault course in Perton, near Shropshire, is made up of “25 obscurantismalistic obstackels (sic)”, which carry pain and fear ratings of between 10 and 1. From fields of fire to vertigo-inducing climbing walls, each obstacle has a suitably terrifying name, such as the Killing Fields, Colditz Walls and Underground Interrogation Pits.

Race organisers claim it is the toughest such challenge on earth. Of the estimated two-thirds of those who completed it over the weekend, few will have avoided the burns, blisters, scratches and bruises that the conditions demand. This is the 25th such annual event.

Cheerleader must compensate school that told her to clap 'rapist'

A teenage girl who was dropped from her high school's cheerleading squad after refusing to chant the name of a basketball player who had sexually assaulted her must pay compensation of $45,000 (£27,300) after losing a legal challenge against the decision.

The United States Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a review of the case brought by the woman, who is known only as HS. Lower courts had ruled that she was speaking for the school, rather than for herself, when serving on a cheerleading squad – meaning that she had no right to stay silent when coaches told her to applaud.

She was 16 when she said she had been raped at a house party attended by dozens of fellow students from Silsbee High School, in south-east Texas. One of her alleged assailants, a student athlete called Rakheem Bolton, was arrested, with two other young men.

In court, Bolton pleaded guilty to the misdemeanour assault of HS. He received two years of probation, community service, a fine and was required to take anger-management classes. The charge of rape was dropped, leaving him free to return to school and take up his place on the basketball team.

Four months later, in January 2009, HS travelled to one of Silsbee High School's basketball games in Huntsville. She joined in with the business of leading cheers throughout the match. But when Bolton was about to take a free throw, the girl decided to stand silently with her arms folded.

"I didn't want to have to say his name and I didn't want to cheer for him," she later told reporters. "I just didn't want to encourage anything he was doing."

Richard Bain, the school superintendent in the sport-obsessed small town, saw things differently. He told HS to leave the gymnasium. Outside, he told her she was required to cheer for Bolton. When the girl said she was unwilling to endorse a man who had sexually assaulted her, she was expelled from the cheerleading squad.

The subsequent legal challenge against Mr Bain's decision perhaps highlights the seriousness with which Texans take cheerleading and high school sports, which can attract crowds in the tens of thousands.

HS and her parents instructed lawyers to pursue a compensation claim against the principal and the School District in early 2009. Their lawsuit argued that HS's right to exercise free expression had been violated when she was instructed to applaud her attacker. But two separate courts ruled against her, deciding that a cheerleader freely agrees to act as a "mouthpiece" for a institution and therefore surrenders her constitutional right to free speech. In September last year, a federal appeals court upheld those decisions and announced that HS must also reimburse the school sistrict $45,000, for filing a "frivolous" lawsuit against it.

"As a cheerleader, HS served as a mouthpiece through which [the school district] could disseminate speech – namely, support for its athletic teams," the appeals court decision says. "This act constituted substantial interference with the work of the school because, as a cheerleader, HS was at the basketball game for the purpose of cheering, a position she undertook voluntarily."

The family's lawyer said the ruling meanst that students exercising their right of free speech can end up punished for refusing to follow "insensitive and unreasonable directions".

Zante, bloody Zante: Sun, sex and the dark side of The Med

Thousands of young Brits flock to the Greek islands each year in search of sun, sex and serious drinking. But as Charlotte Philby finds out, there's a darker underbelly to the revelry

It's 2am on the Greek island of Zakynthos, and outside the Cocktails and Dreams nightclub, the party is in full swing. Swarms of excitable Brits stumble between bars and clubs, scuffling and fumbling on their way. But for some the distance proves a little too much, and a girl in a hot-pink bikini seeks refuge against a lamppost. Hers is just one of a string of slumped bodies lining the roadside; while across the street, ambulance workers assist a limp figure on to a stretcher.

Welcome to the resort of Laganas, and its epicentre: a heaving 300m-long strip of neon nightlife. This is a world where inhibitions are well and truly thrown to the wayside, along with a mountain of discarded underwear. If you don't fancy making the journey yourself, and can stomach some pretty uncomfortable viewing, a quick search on YouTube leads straight to the belly of the beast. Among pages of graphic mobile-phone footage, one upload, simply titled "Laganas Women", displays a sequence of wasted Brits gyrating manically in various states of undress, accompanied by the words "this is in every club you go to". You get the picture.

But it has not always been this way. Zakynthos – also known as Zante – was once a sleepy Ionian island, favoured by an altogether milder sort of tourist. With 70 miles of coastline, and golden beaches home to a high population of turtles, this was a place to sit back, unwind and soak up the sun. Until a few years ago, it was Faliraki (in Rhodes) and Malia (in Crete) that were the obvious ports-of-call for Britons with a livelier holiday agenda. But then, according to the Greek National Tourist Office, a concerted police crackdown on anti-social behaviour in these areas rendered Faliraki and Malia less appealing. And so, the resort of Laganas (affectionately known as "Slaganas") – and to a lesser extent, its neighbour Argasi – stepped in. And as you can see from as Jocelyn Bain Hogg's photographs, taken over the course of the summer, it has certainly found its audience. Last year alone, Zakynthos attracted 300,000 UK holidaymakers, most of whom were under 30, with many still in their teens, away from home for the first time. With cheap package deals regularly including alcohol in the price, it is easy to see how things can soon turn rather messy.

This summer, the antics of tourists in Laganas have been subject to heavy criticism by the Greek authorities. A stream of headlines revealed the sleazy events unfolding in a resort where tour operators offer "non-stop partying" and "wild entertainment well into the night". As well as the obvious consequences of combining a high number of excited young people with a hell of a lot of very cheap and often low-quality booze – the minor street brawls and general rowdiness that barely raises eyebrows these days – a more sinister picture has emerged.

Last month, nine British women faced charges of prostitution, having taken part in an "oral sex competition" at Laganas beach. And this was not an isolated incident. While British tourism is a major boost to the local economy, the reputation of certain resorts impacts significantly on all of Zakynthos – if not Greece.

It only takes one night out on the main strip to see what the fuss is about. Yet in official facts and figures, the situation is less clear. The Greek Embassy has released a comparative study (based on data provided in two reports from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) entitled "British Behaviour Abroad". One contains figures obtained between April 2006 and April 2007, and the other is based on the same period of the previous year. According to the embassy's analysis, the number of UK citizens admitted to hospital in Greece has fallen, by around a third, to 602; and the number of British deaths fell too, by eight to 131. Statistics specific to Zakynthos are hard to track down, yet it's no secret that there have been a worrying number of allegations of sexual assault. While results from the same FCO report state that the number of rape allegations made by Brits in Greece as a whole fell from 48 to 28 the following year, Zante State Hospital announced that 25 ("largely unproven") allegations of Brit-on-Brit rape were made on the island in 2007. This year's statistics have not yet been revealed – and besides, as Jess Prasad, who heads the Foreign Office's Know Before You Go information campaign notes, "you're not going to get a true picture because so many people don't report [instances of rape]. This is only the tip of the iceberg."

But however confusing the numbers, the situation does not look good from the ground either. According to one doctor working in Zakynthos, whose job it is to examine rape claimants, many women are so inebriated that they do not know whether they have had sex that night or not. It all makes for pretty grim reading, but there is a faint silver lining. Measures are now being taken by British and Greek authorities to educate tourists on how to avoid danger when on holiday. So, officially at least, it now lies with the individuals to make their choices accordingly. But judging from a conversation on one internet message board, the warnings will well and truly bypass some travellers. "Have you seen any trouble in Laganas this year?" asks one user. "Plenty," another replies, "and it's fuckin' wicked mate!"

The picture that shames Italy

The picture that shames Italy

It's another balmy weekend on the beach in Naples. By the rocks, a couple soak up the southern Italian sun. A few metres away, their feet poking from under beach towels that cover their faces and bodies, lie two drowned Roma children.

The girls, Cristina, aged 16, and Violetta, 14, were buried last night as the fallout from the circumstances of their death reverberated throughout Italy.

It is an image that has crystallised the mounting disquiet in the country over the treatment of Roma, coming after camps have been burnt and the government has embarked on a bid to fingerprint every member of the minority. Two young Roma sisters had drowned at Torregaveta beach after taking a dip in treacherous waters. Their corpses were recovered from the sea – then left on the beach for hours while holidaymakers continued to sunbathe and picnic around them.

They had come to the beach on the outskirts of Naples on Saturday with another sister, Diana, nine, and a 16-year-old cousin, Manuela, to make a little money selling coloured magnets and other trinkets to sunbathers. But it was fiercely hot all day and, about 2pm, the girls surrendered to the temptation of a cooling dip – even though they apparently did not know how to swim.

"The sea was rough on Saturday," said Enzo Esposito, the national treasurer of Opera Nomadi, Italy's biggest Roma organisation. "Christina and Violetta went farther out than the other two, and a big wave came out of nowhere and dashed them on to the rocks. For a few moments, they disappeared; Manuela, who was in shallow water with Diana, came to the shore, helped out by people on the beach, and ran to try and get help."

Other reports said that lifeguards from nearby private beaches also tried to help, without success. "When Manuela and Diana came back," Esposito went on, "the bodies of her cousins had reappeared, and they were already dead."

It was the sort of tragedy that could happen on any beach. But what happened next has stunned Italy. The bodies of the two girls were laid on the sand; their sister and cousin were taken away by the police to identify and contact the parents. Some pious soul donated a couple of towels to preserve the most basic decencies. Then beach life resumed.

The indifference was taken as shocking proof that many Italians no longer have human feelings for the Roma, even though the communities have lived side by side for generations.

"This was the other terrible thing," says Mr Esposito, "besides the fact of the girls drowning: the normality. The way people continued to sunbathe, for three hours, just metres away from the bodies. They could have gone to a different beach. It's not possible that you can watch two young people die then carry on as if nothing happened. It showed a terrible lack of sensitivity and respect."

The attitudes of ordinary Italians towards the Roma, never warm, have been chilling for years, aggravated by sensational news coverage of crimes allegedly committed by Gypsies, and a widespread confusion of Roma with ordinary, non-Roma Romanians, who continue to arrive. The Berlusconi government has launched a high-profile campaign against the community, spearheaded by the programme announced by the Interior Minister, Roberto Marroni, to fingerprint the entire Roma population. The move has been condemned inside Italy and beyond as a return to the racial registers introduced by the Fascist regime in the 1930s. The fingerprinting of Roma in Naples began on 19 June.

The most senior Catholic in Naples, Cardinal Crescenzo Sepe, was quick to point out the coarsening of human sentiment which the behaviour on the beach represented. But the Mayor of Monte di Procida, the town on the outskirts of the city where Torregaveta beach is located, defended his citizens' behaviour.

When the Roma girls got into difficulties, he said: "There was a race among the bathers and the coastguard and the carabinieri to try and help them." He rejected the claim that the indifference of the bathers was due to the fact that the girls were Roma.

The two cousins were given a Christian Orthodox funeral service in the Roma camp in Naples, attended by 300 Roma and city and regional representatives.

In a speech yesterday, Mr Maroni proposed, "for humanitarian reasons", granting Italian citizenship to all Roma children in Italy abandoned by their parents.

The Italians and the Roma

Roma have been living in Italy for seven centuries and the country is home to about 150,000, who live mainly in squalid conditions in one of around 700 encampments on the outskirts of major cities such as Rome, Milan and Naples. They amount to less than 0.3 per cent of the population, one of the lowest proportions in Europe. But their poverty and resistance to integration have made them far more conspicuous than other communities. And the influx of thousands more migrants from Romania in the past year has confirmed the view of many Italians that the Gypsies and their eyesore camps are the source of all their problems. The ethnic group is often blamed for petty theft and burglaries. According to a recent newspaper survey, more than two thirds of Italians want Gypsies expelled, whether they hold Italian passports or not.

Monday, 23 January 2012

She asked him to divorce her if he takes a second wife

My wife and i have discused me having a second wife and she sayes that if i do then she would devorse me.we did not get married by the kafirs but we do have a islamic contract. and there was no agreement on that contract forbiding me from taking a second wife.so my question is .Is it permisable for her to deny me this?And is'nt she making the hallal harram on me. my wife is a good muslimah (I.S.A.) and she would respect a answer whith proof. jazallahkum ma lakair

Praise be to Allaah. 

If a man is able to marry a second wife, physically and financially, and he can treat both wives in a just manner, and he wants to take a second wife, then he is allowed to do so according to Islam. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“… then marry (other) women of your choice, two or three, or four…” [al-Nisaa’ 4:3]

And this was the practice of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), and of his Companions (may Allaah be pleased with them), but apart from the Prophet, no one is permitted to have more than four wives.

It is well known that women are by nature jealous and reluctant to share their husband with other women. Women are not to be condemned for this jealousy, for it existed in the  best of righteous women, the Sahaabiyyaat, and even in the Mothers of the Believers [the wives of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)]. But women should not let jealousy make them object to that which Allaah has prescribed, and they should not try to prevent it; a wife should allow her husband to marry another woman for this is a kind of cooperating in righteousness and piety. According to a hadeeth whose authenticity is agreed upon, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever pays attention to his brother’s needs, Allaah will pay attention to his needs.”

The first wife’s consent is not a prerequisite for a man to take another wife. The Standing Committee for Issuing Fatwas was asked about this and replied as follows:

“It is not obligatory for the husband, if he wants to take a second wife, to have the consent of his first wife, but it is good manners and kindness to deal with her in such a manner that will reduce the hurt which women naturally feel in such situations. This is done by being kind to her and speaking to her in a gentle and pleasant manner, and by spending whatever money may be necessary in order to gain her acceptance of the situation.”

Concerning her request for divorce if her husband wants to marry another wife, this is a mistake. But they should examine the situation, and if she really cannot cope with living with another wife, then she can ask him for khula’ [ a kind of divorce instigated by the wife, whereby she forgoes the mahr]. If she can cope with living with the second wife, but it hurts her to do so, then she should be patient and seek the pleasure of Allaah. Thawbaan (may Allaah be pleased with him) narrated that the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:

“No woman asks her husband for a divorce for no reason, but the fragrance of Paradise is forbidden for her.” (Narrated by Abu Dawood and others, and classed as saheeh by al-Albaani, may Allaah have mercy on him).

If she bears it with patience, then Allaah will make it easier for her and will expand her chest (i.e., grant her peace and calm), and will compensate her with something good. The husband must also help her by treating her kindly, being patient with her for any jealousy etc. on her part, and overlooking her mistakes. And Allaah is the source of help.

She does not want to live with her husband’s family

I live with my inlaws for last 7 years, I dont get along with my father inlaw, I have asked my husband to move out from them. He is very hurt on this matter, He says he cannot live without his parents, and its hard for me to live with his parents and his younger brother, am i asking too much. What does islam role says on this. Please answer me ASAP. I am desperate to move out, But I like my husband to be happy with me also.

Praise be to Allaah. 

Firstly:

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) warned against the husband’s relatives who are not mahrams to the wife entering upon her. It was reported from ‘Uqbah ibn ‘Aamir that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Beware of entering upon women.” A man from among the Ansaar said: “O Messenger of Allaah, what about the brother-in-law?” he said: “The brother-in-law is death.” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 4934; Muslim, 2172). 

It is not permissible for her to be alone with any of her in-laws except those who are so young that there is no fear that they will tempt her or be tempted by her.

 Secondly:

The husband must provide his wife with a dwelling place that will conceal her from the eyes of people and protect her from heat and cold, where she can live and settle and be independent. Whatever meets her needs is sufficient, such as a room in good condition with a kitchen and bathroom – unless the wife has stipulated larger accommodation in her marriage contract. He does not have the right to make her eat with any of her in-laws. The kind of accommodation provided must be commensurate with what the husband is able to provide and be suitable according to local custom (‘urf) and the social level of the wife.

 (a)   Ibn Hazam (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:

He has to provide her with accommodation according to his means, because Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Lodge them (the divorced women) where you dwell, according to your means” [al-Talaaq 65:6]

 (al-Muhallaa, 9/253).

 (b)  Ibn Qudaamah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:

She (the wife) is entitled to accommodation because Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Lodge them …” [al-Talaaq 65:6]

If it is obligatory to provide lodgings for a divorced wife, then it is even more appropriate that lodgings should be provided for one who is still married. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“… and live with them honourably…” [al-Nisaa’ 4:19]. Part of that means providing them with accommodation, because she cannot do without proper accommodation to conceal her from people’s eyes and so that she may go about her business, relax and her keep her belongings in order.

(al-Mughni, 9/237)

(c)  Al-Kaasaani (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:

If a husband wants to make her live with a co-wife or her in-laws, such as his mother or sister or daughter from another marriage or another  relative, and she refuses to accept that, then he has to provide her with accommodation of her own… But if he lodges her in a room of the house that has a door of its own, this is sufficient for her and she should not ask him for alternative accommodation, because the harm caused by fear for her belongings and not being able to relax is no longer there. (Badaa’i’ al-Sanaa’i’, 4/23)

(d)  Ibn Qudaamah also said:

A man does not have the right to make two wives live in the same dwelling without their consent, regardless of whether the house is large or small, because this will cause them harm due to the enmity and jealousy between them. Making them live together will cause conflict and each of them will be able to hear when the husband spends time with (has marital relations with) the other or she will see that. If they both agree (to live together in one house), this is permissible because they have the right to do to ask for independent accommodation, or they may choose to forgo this right. (al-Mughni, 8/137)

He did not mean that it is OK for the husband to have marital relations with one where the other can see and hear that; what he meant was that it is permissible for them to live in one house, where (the husband) can come to each of them on her night in a place in the house where the other cannot see her.

If he can give each wife a part of the house with a bedroom, bathroom and kitchen, this will be sufficient. Similarly, he could give each wife a separate house or apartment.

Al-Haskafi (may Allaah have mercy on him) – one of the Hanafis – said: Similarly, she is entitled to a place in the house that is free of his family and her family according to their means, as is the case with food and clothing. A separated part of the house with a door of its own and facilities such as a bathroom and kitchen will be sufficient for the intended purpose.

Ibn ‘Aabideen commented:

What is meant by “a bathroom and kitchen” is bathroom facilities and a place for cooking that should be within the room or in a place which is not shared by any other family members.

(al-Durr al-Mukhtaar, 3/599-600)

I say: what indicates that what is meant by “house” [bayt – literally, “house”, translated above as “room”] is a room is the comment of al-Kaasaani (may Allaah have mercy on him): If the house has rooms, a room should be allocated to her and given its own door. They said: she does not have the right to ask him for alternative accommodation.

(Badaa’i’ al-Sanaa’i’, 4/34)

On this basis, it is permissible for him to accommodate you in a room of the house that has its own facilities, so long as there is no fitnah (temptation) or being alone with any non-mahrams who have reached the age of puberty. He does not have the right to force you to work for them in the house or to eat and drink with them. If he is able to provide you with accommodation that is completely separate from his family, that will be better for you, but if his parents are elderly and need him, and they have no one else to serve them and the only way he can serve them is by living with them, then he has to do that.

Finally, we urge you to be patient and to strive to please your husband and to help him to honour and be kind to his family as much as possible until Allaah grants you a way out. May Allaah bless our Prophet Muhammad.

If she calls her husband to bed and he refuses

Somre sisters ask the following question:
We hear the hadeeth that if a man calls his wife to his bed and she refuses, then the angels curse her until morning. The question is, what if the wife calls the husband to bed and he refuses?

Praise be to Allaah.

It is not permissible for a man to forsake his wife and thus harm her, except in the case of nushooz (rebellion) and disobedience. But he is not committing a sin if he does not lie with her without intending to harm her, because the need is his and depends on his desire and he cannot control his desire at will. If he forsakes her, then he is a sinner because there should be no harming or reciprocating harm. And Allaah knows best.

Woman goes out to gatherings of dhikr without permission

A woman is asking: what is the ruling on my going to the mosque or to a gathering of dhikr in a Muslim’s house for da’wah or to learn, without my father’s permission? If he knew about it he would stop me from going, but eemaan (faith) wears out just as clothes wear out, and I need to renew my faith because I am in an environment that is filled with munkaraat (undesirable things). Is it permissible for me to go in secret or what?

  Praise be to Allaah. 

Before marriage, a woman is under the guardianship of her father, so it is not permissible for her to go out of the house except with his permission, whether it is to go to the mosque or elsewhere, because obedience to one’s father is obligatory so long as it does not involve disobedience towards Allaah. We advise you to listen to broadcasts from the Al-Qur’aan Al-Kareem station, because there is much knowledge and sound teaching to be gained from it. They have a program called “Noor ‘ala’l-Darb (Light on the Way)” in which a group of scholars answer questions from listeners. May Allaah help you to do all that is good and grant you a sound understanding of Islam.

Being absent from one’s wife for more than six months

I'm getting married back home , but unfortunately I will not be able to bring her to this country because I,m student. I know a Hadith where Omar ibn Alkhatab (RAA)- if I,m right - said that husband and wife must not be way from each other for more than six months. Unfortunately , I will only be able to comeback after a year minumum. Am I allowed to do that using the islaamic principal "necessity dictates exception".

Praise be to Allaah.

If your wife accepts your being away for this length of time, then there is nothing wrong with it. May Allaah bless us and you with all strength and goodness.

Wednesday, 18 January 2012

After Years of Decline, Polio Cases in Afghanistan Triple in a Year

In a country where insurgents have for years attacked and killed people working for the government or the international community, a small army of vaccination teams connected to both has, year after year, fanned out through some of Afghanistan’s most dangerous areas, quietly and mostly safely.

Appointed by the government, paid for by international agencies and given free passage by the Taliban in one of the last three countries in the world where polio is endemic, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s 65,000 volunteers and workers had seemed to have nearly wiped out the disease — until recently.

After years of steady decline, only 25 polio cases were reported in the country in 2010, prompting one international health care official to declare that “the Afghans are heroes.” Then last year, the number tripled to 76, the Afghan Ministry of Public Health said. While the total remains small, polio is highly contagious, and health experts say that each detected case is an indicator of hundreds of “silent” ones, mainly children with mild infections who become carriers.

Health workers are alarmed at the reversal of what has been a local and worldwide trend — particularly since some of the cases erupted far outside the disease’s traditional areas in Afghanistan.

“This is a national tragedy to end up with a major polio outbreak, especially with all the effort they have put into it,” said Dr. Bruce Aylward, the polio coordinator for the World Health Organization. “It increases the risk to neighboring countries and is both a local and national, and international, concern.”

President Hamid Karzai, in a statement, in effect blamed the Taliban. “Those who stand in the way of vaccination are the true enemies of our children’s future,” he said, calling on “the armed opposition to allow the vaccination teams to help save children against the lifetime paralysis.”

Health care officials said they had experienced no change in the militants’ tolerance for the vaccination efforts, and the Taliban reacted indignantly. “It is not for Karzai to ask us to attack or not to attack someone,” said the Taliban’s southern Afghanistan spokesman, Qari Yousaf Ahmadi.

Mr. Ahmadi said there had been no change in Taliban policy toward polio vaccination teams. “We have never attacked medical teams, as long as they coordinate with us when they enter areas under our control,” he said.

After decades of worldwide immunization efforts, polio is now considered endemic only to Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, where cases also increased drastically last year, and in northern Nigeria. India, long a center of the disease, last week celebrated its first full year with no new cases, the World Health Organization reported.

“It has been a huge achievement,” Vidhya Ganesh, Unicef’s deputy representative in Afghanistan, said of the worldwide effort. Unicef and the World Health Organization oversee the $32 million eradication campaign in Afghanistan. “If polio were to be eradicated, it would be only the second disease ever,” she said. The last case of smallpox, the first human disease believed to be successfully eradicated, was diagnosed in 1977.

Ahmad Azadi, a spokesman for the World Health Organization here, said, “At only 25 cases, you could almost smell the victory.”

Peter Crowley, Unicef’s country representative in Afghanistan, said security was a factor in the rising number of cases, “but it is not the only factor.”

In Afghanistan, polio has traditionally been concentrated in the Pashtun belt across southern Afghanistan — some of the most dangerous areas of conflict in the country. Last year, however, cases also emerged in northern, central and eastern parts of Afghanistan, apparently spread by travelers or refugees from endemic areas in Pakistan.

One of Pakistan’s major polio areas is the Pashtun tribal region contiguous with Afghanistan’s. Just as a porous, rugged border has allowed the infiltration of insurgents, it has also provided pathways for the spread of polio.

New polio cases in Pakistan rose to 192 in 2011 from 80 in 2010, said Muhammed Taufiq Mashal, the director general of preventive medicine in the Afghan Ministry of Public Health. He blames much of the polio increase on infiltration from Pakistan, which World Health Organization scientists say is confirmed by gene sequencing of the virus in victims.

While some extremist Muslim leaders in Pakistan and Nigeria have denounced vaccination programs as a Western conspiracy, that has not been the case with the Taliban. Many polio vaccination teams carry a letter bearing the signature of the Taliban leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar, approving of their work.

Those who saw Mr. Karzai’s statement as politicizing the issue were sharply critical.

“I was very shocked when I read the president’s statement,” said an international health official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of his agency’s rules about criticizing a host country’s government. “Politicizing this issue is alarming. Health is not a political thing.”

A Western official speaking anonymously said, “The reason polio vaccination teams have been able to operate is because they’re allowed to operate.”

Naqibullah Faieq, who leads the health committee in the Afghan Parliament, said, “This health issue is nonpolitical, nonmilitary.” He added, “We want both the government and the Taliban to not use the issue of vaccination in their speeches.”

The World Health Organization is expected this week to declare increases in polio cases a “global public health emergency,” Dr. Aylward said. He said that the eradication program in Afghanistan remained effective, and that authorities on all sides seemed determined to make it work.

Still, he said, “anytime you see a three-fold increase in an epidemic-prone disease, you’ve got to be concerned about it.”