Mr Hazare wants tougher anti-corruption laws
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India's
fasting activist Anna Hazare has called on his supporters to gather
outside the PM's house to "appeal to him to listen to the common man".
Talks broke down between the government and Mr Hazare's aides on Wednesday night over a strong anti-graft law.
Mr Hazare's aides said they "were back to square one" after three rounds of talks failed to reach a breakthrough.
Meanwhile, parliament has appealed to the activist to end his fast, which has entered its 10th day.
The activist's aides say he has lost more than 5kg (11lbs) and is weak.
Mr Hazare, who is on a hunger strike at Ramlila grounds in
Delhi, has refused doctors' advice to be put on an intravenous drip to
help him rehydrate.
Mr Hazare's supporters are demanding the government pass their proposed anti-corruption bill within four days.
The government says that it proposes to introduce a new
anti-corruption bill which will include suggestions contained in the
bill drafted by Mr Hazare's team.
"We are urging supporters to gather outside Seven Race Course
Road [the prime minister's residence] at 5pm [1200GMT] today [Thursday]
to appeal to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to listen to the voice of
common man," Arvind Kejriwal, a key aide of Mr Hazare, said.
"If no agreement is reached by Saturday, we will ask the whole country to come to Delhi to join the protest," he added.
Earlier, Mr Kejriwal said the talks had broken down because
the government had "gone back on their assurances", and the negotiations
were "back to square one".
'Disappointed'
He said the government had "agreed to introduce" Mr Hazare's
anti-corruption bill in parliament during talks on Tuesday, but went
"back on its word" after Wednesday night's meeting.
Mr Hazare's team was asked then "to send a new draft that will be sent to parliament".
Prashant Bhushan, another aide of Mr Hazare, said the
government had earlier appeared to be "sympathetic" to most of their
demands.
"But [after Wednesday's meeting] we have been told that
parliamentary procedures cannot be short-circuited. That some timeline
will have to be adhered to, though it is not clear what the timeline
will be. We are quite disappointed with today's meeting."
The two sides are expected to hold a fourth round of talks on Thursday.
Continue reading the main story
Anti-corruption row
- Following a hunger strike by Anna Hazare in April, the government agreed to draft the Jan Lokpal (Citizens' Ombudsman) bill
- The final bill incorporates 34 of the 40 principles set out by Mr Hazare, but he and other activists have rejected it
- Mr Hazare says ombudsman should have power to investigate prime minister and senior judges; the government refuses
- Mr Hazare wants the ombudsman to be able to investigate MPs
accused of taking bribes to vote or ask questions in parliament; the
government says such probes should be carried out by MPs
Mr Hazare has told his supporters to be peaceful and not resist any attempts by the police to remove him from the protest site.
He also asked them to gather outside the homes of MPs and
protest and go to jail if he was arrested or taken away forcibly to the
hospital.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had already appealed to Mr Hazare to end his public demonstration in Delhi.
Correspondents say that while there was unanimity among all
political parties during Wednesday's meeting for him to end his hunger
strike, many MPs complained that his demands would undermine the
sovereignty of the Indian parliament.
In April, Mr Hazare called off a hunger strike after four
days when the government said he could help draft legislation to create a
special ombudsman or lokpal - an independent body with the power to
investigate politicians and civil servants suspected of corruption.
The final version of the bill was presented in early August,
but Mr Hazare and other activists rejected it because it said the prime
minister and senior judges would be exempt from scrutiny.
India has recently been hit by a string of high-profile
corruption scandals which critics say is evidence of a pervasive culture
of corruption in Mr Singh's administration.
A recent survey said corruption in Asia's third largest economy had cost billions of dollars and threatened to derail growth.
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Australia's defence forces have been hit by several scandals, prompting wide-ranging reviews
A
review into sexual abuse in the Australian military has received such a
high volume of complaints that it is being extended, Defence Minister
Stephen Smith says.
The government asked a law firm to begin a review following a sex scandal at an Australian defence academy.
Mr Smith said investigators were dealing with more than 1,000 allegations of abuse.
The review will now report back on 30 September, one month behind schedule.
Investigations began after two cadets from the Australian
Defence Force Academy were accused of secretly filming a female cadet
having sex and broadcasting it on the internet.
They have now been charged in connection with the incident,
which raised questions about the treatment of women within the
Australian defence establishment.
Initial assessment
Six inquiries were initiated in the wake of the incident,
including a review commissioned from law firm DLA Piper by the
government.
"The review has received over 1,000 allegations - some from
people who contacted the review directly, some referred to the review
from the minister's office or the defence department," Mr Smith said in a
statement.
"While the role of the DLA Piper review team is not to fully
investigate allegations, it must report, based on the information
provided to it, an evidence-based and reasoned initial assessment of
each allegation."
Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick is also
conducting a review into the treatment of women both at the academy and
in the wider military.
Reviews were also ordered into the use of alcohol and social media in the military.
The scandal followed another relating to the navy.
In February, the defence department released a report
chronicling what it called a culture of predatory sexual behaviour on
board the naval supply ship, HMAS Success.
It revealed a fiercely tribal culture in which women sailors
were treated with disdain, alcohol was seriously misused and discipline
had broken down.
Deborah passed her maths GCSE with an E grade
A six-year-old girl from east London, who sat her GCSE maths at the age of five, has passed the exam.
Deborah Thorpe, of Chadwell Heath, thought to be the youngest in England to pass a GCSE, achieved an E grade.
Her father Charles said: "You see young people in the newspapers who have taken exams and you think, why not?"
Deborah, who wants to be a doctor, said maths was not her
favourite subject. The girl was among 650,000 pupils receiving their
GCSE results.
A spokesman for the Joint Council for Qualifications, which
releases the exam results, said the organisation did not hold records on
the ages of pupils taking the exams.
But he added that he could not recall a younger GCSE entrant in England.
Last year a boy of seven, Oscar Selby, from Surrey, received an A* in GCSE maths.
Gender gap
Across England, Wales and Northern Ireland the proportion of
entries awarded between an A* and a C grade rose for the 23rd year in a
row, with 69.8% making the grade.
But boys dropped behind girls yet again at the top grade,
with 19.6% of their exam entries awarded A* or A, compared with 26.5%
for girls.
Deborah, a pupil at St Bede's Catholic Primary School in
Chadwell Heath, takes extra lessons on Saturdays and is not allowed to
watch television after classes on school nights.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
I wouldn't say that she is too young”
Charles Thorpe
Deborah's father
She said she was not sure whether she would take more exams next year.
Mr Thorpe, 44, a mental health support officer, said: "We thought we might as well just give it a go.
"I wouldn't say maths is her favourite subject, but when she
says she wants to be a doctor I tell her that she must be very good at
science and maths.
"We want her to be outstanding and exceptional in every way."
Mr Thorpe, who does not think his daughter is too young to
cope with exams usually taken by 16-year-olds, said: "I wouldn't say
that she is too young.
"Presidents of the world used to be old and now they are middle-aged. The younger generations are taking over now.
"We don't stress her out, telling her 'you've got to do this'."
The cost of dealing in the precious metal has risen by almost a third
The price of gold has fallen again after the cost of dealing in the metal jumped sharply on two key exchanges.
Hopes the global economy will stabilise also prompted sales.
Fears about European and US debt and growth prospects had led
investors to buy gold - which is seen as a safer investment - in recent
months.
Thursday trading saw the spot price of gold fall to $1714.4 an ounce, a drop of 10.4% from Tuesday's record high of $1913.5.
The price of gold has risen steadily this month during a
tumultuous period on the markets caused by fears about the global
recovery and the eurozone debt crisis.
Higher margin
On Thursday, a major market place for speculating on the price of the metal, the CME, raised dealing charges by 27%.
The initial-margin requirement, or the minimum amount of
funds that speculators must keep on deposit, will rise to $9,450 per
100-ounce contract from $7,425.
That was the CME's second increase in a month.
The Shanghai Gold Exchange has also this week raised the amount of margin investors must keep to trade in gold.
David Thurtell, an analyst at Citigroup, said the increase in
margin requirements had pushed some to sell: "With the margin hike, if
speculators don't have the money [for the] extra margin they'll just cut
their positions."
But he also said there had been profit-taking over the past 24 hours.
The gold price has risen about 25% since July and some
investors saw this as a good time to sell and crystallise some of their
gains.
US stimulus
Analysts are hoping that the Federal Reserve chief Ben
Bernanke will signal more economic stimulus when he speaks at a
gathering of central bankers on Friday.
A healthier US economy would provide a broader range of
places for investors to put their money and lessen the need for a safe
haven investment.
A third bout of quantitative easing QE - in which the central
bank injects new money into the economy - is seen as unlikely, but
investors are still hoping further stimulation is on its way.
However, QE was also previously cited by other analysts to explain the jump in the gold price to its record high on Tuesday.
According to that line of thinking, QE could depress the value of the dollar, making gold a more attractive investment.
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