Hayward is alleged to have sold his £1.4 million shares in BP, one month before the Gulf spill. This in netted him over £423,000, before BP’s share price plunged. Hayward’s pay package of £4 million a year may have been insufficient. It is rumoured his cashing out enabled him to pay off the mortgage on his family’s mansion in Kent.

Other life-risking information withheld is that chemicals released have not been monitored. WMR (Wellness Management Recovery Program) colleague John Caylor, a Gulf Coast resident, reported “BP and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which have stated that several hundred air quality monitors have been deployed around the Florida and Alabama coasts and have not detected any benzene levels that would be harmful to human health, are lying.”

The spewing oil and dispersant chemicals are toxic enough for so many people to become ill, evacuation may be the only option, especially before another hurricane blows the lethal cocktail over more Southerners.

The petrochemical-military-industrial operation is believed to be gassing Gulf Coast residents with poisonous Benzene and Corexit dispersant, at dangerously high levels, in the largest U.S. domestic military operation to date.

The military and FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) are engaged in Emergency Plans for 36 urban areas, from Texas to Florida. Some people have already been advised to relocate.

A rapid military build-up and an unconfirmed road-block maneuvers are being conducted, along with a visible exodus of residents in the Barataria Bay area, of Jefferson Parish in South Louisiana. This news from Intel Hub, coincides with the unconfirmed new military rule, which has been gently broken to the public, of having to obtain from the military, carry papers in the region, starting with reporters and photographers.

South Louisiana residents, who have seen hurricane emergency operations for decades, say they have never seen anything like this type of emergency preparedness.

While people are still allowed to leave on their own accord, the road blocks are apparently for people attempting to travel in to the area, according to Project Gulf Impact’s unconfirmed reports. Removal trucks are no longer available in South Louisiana, due to the huge exodus.

Intel Hub Radio host, Shepard Ambellas, received calls reporting people have witnessed a massive build up of combat troops, heavy combat equipment and weaponry, including Active Denial Systems, after he asked for ‘intel soldiers’ to phone in information.

BP’s new cap being trialed could cause the well head to rupture, from extra pressure and cause even more devastation.

“I do not feel that it is necessary for us to implement such a technology while we are operating different methods and have different avenues that have worked so far,” Ahmed bin Thani, the Dubai police’s director of airport security, said.

“The use of such a device violates personal privacy and it raises a very sensitive issue for passengers, in addition to the fact that it does not comply to our national ethics,” he said.

Bin Thani said the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) does not require airports to implement the body scanning technology.

“The acquisition of such devices is based on the decision of every member state of the ICAO and is not a mandatory measure instructed by them,” he said.

According to Omar al Amri, the Dubai police’s deputy director of airport security, Dubai International Airport, which has more than 3, 200 operational security cameras in its three terminals, may introduce face-recognition technology to enhance safety.

Although, Dubai is a cosmopolitan city, visitors still have to respect Islamic tradition and local culture. Permission has to be given before anyone can photograph a local woman. Mostcover themselves with black colored Abaya and some even cover their lips and eyes.

Moslem Ladies Headwear

While Abu Dubai won’t let women be photographed at the airport, France has finally passed the bill that bans the wearing of the full Islamic veil in public. Anyone breaking the law stands to be heavily fined, though it has been reported that some wealthy men are prepared to pay the fines.

According to the French justice minister, Michèle Alliot-Marie, who drafted the bill, “The full Islamic veil challenges the values that we share and the very principles according to which we live together.”

Foreigners, notably wealthy tourists from Gulf states, would also be affected by the ban.

While women wearing a full face veil in public could be hit with a 150 euro fine, the bill stipulates a much harsher penalty for men found guilty of forcing their wives or daughters to cover their face: a one-year jail sentence and a 15,000 euro fine.

France has banned all religious symbols to be worn in public schools and government buildings, not just Islamic symbols.

The Spanish government moved to ban all religious symbols from public spaces, such as schools, hospitals, barracks and jails, as well as in all official ceremonies. The aim was to provide ‘religiously neutral public spaces’.

This number has increased once again with Rosa Otunbayeva being sworn in as president of the troubled republic of Kyrgyzstan.

Mrs Otunbayeva took power following violent street riots in April, which ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

Otunbayeva, made even more history, as the former foreign minister became the first female president of an ex-communist Central Asian country. Her inauguration came only days after a referendum on a new constitution, which created the region’s first parliamentary democracy.

Plus three ruling Queens and four female Govenor Generals, women dominate the world scene.

Yet, even on a local basis, women are in the forefront. If you were a resident of Sydney, Australia, you would be under all female authority.

• Queen Elizabeth as Head of State,
• Quentin Bryce as Govenor General,
• Prime Minister Julia Gillard,
• New South Wales Govenor Marie Bashir,
• Kristina Keneally as New South Wales Premier,
• Lord Mayor of Sydney is Clover More and
• Tanya Plibersek as Federal Representative.

Fun Run Sydney

No wonder Sydney hosts the Sussan Women’s Fun Run, where there the organizers anticipate around 5,000 entrants will join Australia’s premier women, to commemorate the 25^th anniversary of the event.

Sydney will also host the Australian Women’s Leadership Symposium, where hundreds of Australian women gather to explore contemporary leadership. In the two day program, women leaders from all sectors and industries will be exposed to state-of-the-art leadership thinking, delivered first-hand by Australia’s most inspirational leaders, trainers and academics.

At least one male speaker, Emanuel Perdis, Managing Director of Napoleon Perdis, will face the female gauntlet and be one of the guest speakers.

However, on one front Sydney has stood strong. The Anglican diocese has firmly refused to allow women to be ordained as priests. In this aspect, Sydney has set itself aside from all other Anglican Dioceses in Australia. Any woman priest moving from an outside area into the Sydney diocese, is ‘demoted’ to being known as merely a deacon.

This situation has become a source of bitterness and even a court action, as Sydney tried to influence other dioceses to follow their stand.

Almost 200 people were killed and more than a were thousand injured, in the violence that erupted on 5 July 2009, between Uighur Muslims and Han Chinese. It was the region’s worst ethnic violence in decades, as thousands of Han residents armed with clubs, poured onto the streets. Just two days earlier 1000 members of the Uighur minority had rioted.

It was the deadliest eruption of public violence in China since the People’s Liberation Army soldiers killed several hundred people during the 1989 crackdown on demonstrators in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

City on Fire

The violence ended only after huge numbers of troops were deployed in the remote western region and many sections of the city had been set on fire.

Following the riots, the government suspended the region’s communication links to the rest of the world, including text messaging, the internet and international telephone calls.

“We have confidence and we totally have the ability to maintain stability in Xinjiang,” said Major General Qi Baowen, chief of the local paramilitary police, as it came close to the anniversary of the violence.

One restaurant owner told the AFP news agency that police had collected all the large knives from his restaurant and advised him to stay indoors on Monday.

Surveillance cameras in protective casing had been put up in stations, schools and shops and were being monitored around the clock, Xinhua news agency said.

China blamed last year’s violence on the local ethnic Uighur population, saying most of the recorded dead were Han Chinese.

But Amnesty International has challenged the official Chinese version of events, saying police used unnecessary force against Uighurs, followed by mass arrests and torture.

While Han Chinese make up more than 75% of Irumqui’s population, over a million Uighurs live in Xinjiang, which borders Central Asia. Many are unhappy about the large influx of Han Chinese settlers which they say has increasingly marginalized their interests and culture.

“It is hard for you to understand what it is like to be a Uighur,” said a 25-year-old Uighur man named Musa. “Uighur people can’t get jobs.”

• In 1997 Mary MacAleese was elected president of Ireland
• Tara Halonen was elected president of Finland in 2000
• Chancellor Angela Merkel was elected chancellor of Germany in 2005
• Liberia elected President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf took office in 2006
• India elected President Pratibha Patil took office in 2007
• In 2008 Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed was elected to office in Bangladesh
• Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir was elected in Iceland, by a ruling party
• In 2009 President Dalia Grybauskaite was elected in Lithuania
• Croatia leading party appointed Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor to office
• In 2010 the leading party appointed Doris Leuthard president of Switzerland
• A coup in 2010 put Rosa Otunbayeva as interim president in Kyrgyzstan
• Costa Ricca elected Laura Chinchilla as president of Costa Ricca in 2010
• Trinidad and Costa Rica elected Kamla Persad-Bissessar as prime minister in 2010
• In 2010 the Labour party elected Julia Gillard as Australia’s prime minister.

In July of 2002 there were 13 female leaders: Lativa, Finland, New Zealand, Ireland, Sri Lanka, The Philippines, Indonesia, Panama, Bangladesh, Senegal, São Tomé and Príncipe and South Korea.

In early April of 2006 there were again 13 female world leaders, with Ireland, New Zealand, Latvia, Finland, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Mozambique, Germany, Liberia, South Korea, Chile, Jamaica, and Sao Tomé and Príncipe.

The third time was in January-March 2007 with Ireland, New Zealand, Latvia, Finland, Philippines, Bangladesh, Mozambique, Germany, Liberia, Chile, Jamaica, Switzerland, and South Korea.

Currently women Head of State are:

• Queen Elizabeth II in the United Kingdom
• Queen Margrethe II in Demark
• Queen Beatrix in The Netherlands.

Current female Governor Generals include:

• Michealle Jean as Governor General of Canada
• Dame Perlette Louisy as Governor General of St. Luca
• Lady Louise Lake-Tack as Governor General of Antiqua and Barbuda
• Quentin Bryce as Governor General of Australia.

The world’s first elected woman prime minister was Sirimavo Bandaranaike. She gained office in Sri Lanka in 1960. She died recently at the age of 84, after four decades of political life.

Margaret Thatcher was one of the longest serving woman prime ministers, in office from 1979 to 1990.

Julia Gillard would prefer to stay in her Canberra flat and not move into the Lodge, a modest 40 bedroom Georgian revival style mansion, located in 4.4 acres of landscaped grounds, until when and if she is elected Prime Minister by the people.

Michael Dever, who has been a security provider for several years, pointed out that such decisions in the past were quietly overturned by the Australian Federal Police and ASIO, although John Howard and his wife usually stayed at Kirribilli House in Sydney.

“Even if The Lodge is left vacant, it still has to be guarded,” Dever said.

Neil Fergus, director of security of the Sydney Olympics in 2000 disagreed with Dever. “The risk is to the office and the dignity of the Prime Minister’s office.”

Keeping Ms Gillard in her flat would prove difficult due to lines of sight, secure communications and the potential impact of neighbours.

The Lodge

However, Betinna Arndt wrote in the The Canberra Times in 2007 that the Lodge is a shameful official residence for a nation’s leader. It was built in the 1920’s as a temporary home of the prime ministerial family. Arndt described it as dark and dinghy, with gloomy cramped little rooms, accompanied by the steady roar of traffic from the nearby highway.

Like Britain, Australia operates under the Westminster system of government.

In the recent British election confusion reigned over just who was to be the next prime minister. No10 Downing Street became the centre of attention, as there was no clear winner. Gordon Brown chose to remain in Downing Street until such time as the outcome became clear. Then it was a quick turn around.

Once the decision is final, the outgoing Prime Minister must leave Number Ten within hours. The new Prime Minister’s moving truck is unloaded by the following morning.

An incoming British prime minister is greeted by a very large staff of civil servants, on entering Number Ten, who are ready and willing to work for the new comer, just as they did for the outgoing administration.

Unlike the sudden change over of the British system, American incoming presidents suffer a ‘long goodbye’, up to several months, for the outgoing administration to vacate. The new president walks into an ‘empty’ White House.

The Westminster system builds in a high level of continuity, by tasking its highly trained civil service with high level policy jobs. In fact, a new Prime Minister names only about 150 or so political party colleagues to the total of all ministerial jobs in the numerous departments of governments. This compares to about 10,000 political appointments in the Washington governmental structure. It normally takes up to a full year before all the political appointments are filled.

The amended bill, now approved by a Senate committee, would grant the President of the United States, broad emergency powers over the Internet in times of national emergency. The bill claims the Internet is a National Asset.

President Obama would be able to order search engines such as Google, Yahoo and YouTube, all based in the U.S., to suspend access to their websites whenever the government deemed there was a national crisis, or an emergency. There is no effort in the bill to define the exact nature of an emergency or crisis.

Game Over

The ‘kill switch’ would thus give the government control of access to the Internet. Google alone logs an estimated two billion hits a day from 300 million users.

If the bill succeeds the US government bureaucracy will be spending tax dollars to figure out private networks, find choke points and places where they can control the flow of communication. Furthermore, Internet companies are going to be required, by law, to supply the federal bureaucrats with whatever network, account, usage and history information they deem appropriate. All in the name of cyber safety.

The law would require companies, where the executive branch is deemed “critical”, to adopt restrictions on who it could hire to work with network security, to a limited pool of those who had undergone government training and certification.

The Internet is an important means of communication and self-organization among the population, allowing them to respond to any crisis or debate. Any move to limit this is perceived as a direct threat to the constitutional rights of assembly and speech upon which the government cannot infringe.

One Pew research study cites as many as 69% of Americans are now getting news from Internet sites. While another study states that the internet has overtaken newspapers and fast challenging television as themajor source of news and information. The internet has proven it can react faster and in many cases better than traditional media outlets.

Proponents of the new law say that the number of attacks on Government departments, from Cyber Space, have increased by 400% in the last three years.

China has tried for long enough to muzzle and control Cyber Space with only limited success. By its very nature, the Internet is not easily controlled by any government — it is the ultimate embodiment of free speech and free press. Changes in the proposed law are needed to ensure that cyber security measures do not unnecessarily infringe on free speech, privacy, and other civil liberties interests, not just in America but across the world.

Internet Muzzled

The question remains, will the new law turn Bill Gates into the new ‘007’, simply muzzle the Internet, or will someone end up with egg on his face?

The further set-back, is yet another in the line of many, in the nine-week effort to stop the oil gusher, as thick pools of oil washed up on Pensacola Beach in Florida.

Gas rose through the vent that carries warm water down, to prevent ice-like crystals, hydrates, from forming, when the robot hit it.

Before the problem with the containment cap, it had collected about 700,000 gallons of oil in 24 hours and sucked it up to a ship on the surface. That’s oil that’s now pouring into the Gulf. Another 438,000 gallons was burned on the surface by a different system that was not affected by the issue with the cap.

In May BP had to abandon the attempt to place a four-story containment box over the well, after ice crystals clogged it, threatening to make it float away.

The smaller cap, which had worked fine until now, had been in place since early June. To get it there, though, crews had to slice away a section of the leaking pipe, meaning the flow of oil could be stronger now than before.

The current estimate is that 2.5 million gallons a day are spilling into the Gulf. Anywhere between 67 – 1127 million gallons have been spilt since April 20, from the Deepwater Horizon rig, which is 5000 feet underwater. BP was leasing the rig from Transocean Ltd.

BP said Wednesday that Dudley has been appointed to head the new Gulf Coast Restoration Organization, which is in charge of cleaning up the spill. He takes over from the loose-lipped BP CEO Tony Hayward, who has been widely criticized for his handling of the crisis.

In Florida, dozens of workers used shovels to scoop up pools of oil that washed up overnight, turning the sand orange.

Tar balls have been reported as far east as Panama City, Florida and heavier oil is predicted to wash ashore further east along the coast line in the coming days. Oil has also washed up on beaches in Alabama and coated wetlands in Louisiana.

Trucks carrying supplies to US troops allegedly pay security firms to ensure their safe passage in dangerous areas of Afghanistan.

The convoys are attacked if payments are not made, according to allegations in a US military document.

The document claims that trucks carrying food, water, fuel and ammunition may be supplying up to $4 million (£2.7m) per week to the firms, in a vast protection racket. Bribes are allegedly paid to the Taliban and virtually every governor, police chief and local military commander whose territory the convoys pass through.

The report states that “although the warlords do provide guards and coordinate security, the contractors have little choice but to use them in what amounts to a vast protection racket”.

One of the security companies in question is alleged to be owned by two cousins of the Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

The security agreements violate laws on the use of private contractors, as well as US Department of Defense regulations.

Watan Risk management is one of the largest security providers in Afghanistan and one of the companies currently under investigation.

The military report states that representatives of the company allegedly negotiate or dictate the price of safe passage in a given area. The company then issues warnings to trucking companies who are late in paying or refuse to pay the sum.

Not only is money from the US tax payer being used to finance the enemy, but also to undermine international efforts towards stability in the country.

Will General Petraeus do things any differently, now that President Obama has fired the ‘loose-lipped’ General Stanley McChrystal, as Afghanistan Commander?

All this comes at a time when Afghanistan and Pakistan are privately hoping to do a peace deal with the insurgents and Afghanistan is playing Russian roulette with the latest findings of its unexpected mineral wealth.

Juilia Gillard won a stunning leadership contest against Kevin Rudd, in an historic decision. Mr Rudd will go down in history as the first Prime Minister ever to be thrown out by his party within his first term of office. Mr Rudd’s defeat represents the most stunning political turnaround ever, for a leader who just a few months ago was rivaling Bob Hawke in popularity stakes.

Ms Gillard was confident when she entered the Caucus, flanked by the Treasurer, Mr Swan, her would-be deputy, that she had the numbers to defeat Mr Rudd. Senior factional members claimed Ms Gillard had at least 70 votes out of a possible 112.

Mr Rudd, who won power in 2007 with a popular Kevin 07 campaign, bowed to pressure from his colleagues and withdrew from the contest, assuring Ms Gillard’s ascension to the leadership.

Senators David Feeney and Don Farrell are not household names in Australia, yet they led the push that brought down a Prime Minister. Along with Victorian MP Bill Shorten, they initiated the move that ousted Mr Rudd.

Senator Farrell is a powerbroker who has long been feared in his native South Australia. A former long-time state secretary of the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association, he is a kingmaker in the Right faction. He formed an alliance with the Left faction in SA in the mid-1990s. Known as ”the Machine”, it set about crushing the remnants of the once-powerful Centre Left, including the then senator Chris Schacht.

Senator Farrell entered the Senate at the last election, as did Senator Feeney, a right-wing powerbroker from Melbourne. A controversial character, Senator Feeney was formerly the Victorian Labor state secretary.

Senator Feeney, along with Senator Farrell, were verbally abused by Mr Rudd last year when they met him to protest at the paring back of MPs’ entitlements.

Mp Bill Shorten entered Parliament at the last election. He and Mr Rudd did not get along and his relatively junior position as a parliamentary secretary was regarded as Mr Rudd snubbing him.

Associate Professor Haydon Manning of Flinders University says Australia can expect a remarkable time before the federal election now that Ms Gillard is Prime Minister. “Now we find a woman Prime Minister, a scholar from Unley High in Adelaide, with a momentous job to try and reverse this slippage in the polls and to tackle this powerful [Tony] Abbott who’s come on very strongly and surprisingly as Opposition Leader,” he said.

It is felt Mr Rudd’s ditching of the emissions trading scheme and a new 40% ‘super’ profits tax on the mining sector, saw Mr Rudd’s collapse in the Labour vote, but ultimately it was the men Kevin Rudd spurned, who brought him down.

It is also said that Julia Gillard, a proven parliamentary performer, knows how to get out of tough spots.