Prosecutors defend Knox evidence

30 July 2011 Last updated at 18:22 GMT Knox is serving a 26-year sentence for Miss Kercher's murder Italian prosecutors have rejected claims that evidence used to convict Amanda Knox of the murder of UK student Meredith Kercher was unreliable.

Knox, 24, and her Italian ex-boyfriend Rafaelle Sollecito, 26, are appealing against their convictions for killing the Surrey student in Perugia in 2007.

On Monday, experts told the court the DNA evidence which helped convict the American could have been contaminated.

But the scientific police director has defended the original forensic work.

In a letter read out to the court, Piero Angeloni described the technology used as being world-class and said the officers were highly experienced.

"Never before" has there been such criticism of his agency, he said.

Patrizia Stefanoni, the police forensic scientist who originally found the DNA on the knife and Miss Kercher's torn bra clasp, has said she will fight the appeal trial experts' accusation that basic errors were made.

'Not reliable'

During proceedings in Perugia, prosecutor Manuela Comodi sought to undermine the independent experts' conclusions and show that the forensic evidence used to convict Knox could stand.

The experts - appointed by the court to review the evidence and procedures used to obtain it - maintain that the original investigation was marked by some glaring errors, the Associated Press reports.

Much of the debate centred on a kitchen knife the prosecutors believe to be the murder weapon.

In the first trial, prosecutors maintained that Knox's DNA was found on the knife's handle and Miss Kercher's DNA was found on the blade. They also said Sollecito's DNA was found on the clasp of Miss Kercher's bra.

But the appeals court heard that the collection of evidence fell below international standards.

Carla Vecchiotti, a forensic specialist from La Sapienza university, Rome, said it was impossible to say whether the British student's DNA was found on the knife.

"There is a complete genetic profile, but it's not reliable," she said.

"We don't know if Meredith's DNA was on it or not."

Ms Comodi insisted that the genetic profile found on the blade should not be thrown out.

Miss Kercher, a Leeds University student, was living in Italy as part of a year of study abroad when she died.

Knox is serving a 26-year sentence for Miss Kercher's murder while Sollecito, an Italian, was sentenced to 25 years.

Both deny any wrongdoing.

Rudy Guede, 21, was also convicted of Miss Kercher's murder in a separate trial and is serving a 16-year term.

The hearing was adjourned until September.

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Aiming for the A-list

29 July 2011 Last updated at 14:18 GMT By Alain de Botton Philosopher and writer We usually think of social climbing as a bad thing, but is it always wrong to seek out the company of the successful?

There are few more distressing or pejorative tags to be labelled with than that of "social climber".

In an age when people are ready to admit to an extraordinary variety of misdemeanours, it would remain genuinely shocking to confess to a strong interest in meeting rich, famous and powerful people - as well as in fending off the appeals of lesser acquaintances whose careers have not developed as they might have done.

You can be sure there's a problem of honesty when society spends its time brutally condemning a behaviour which most of its members seem to be quite interested in, so it's perhaps time to take a frank look at the phenomenon of social climbing - and see what exactly is wrong with it, and if there are any times when it might be OK.

Part of the reason the label is so shocking is that it fails to make any distinction between varieties of social aspiration, some less vicious than others.

Putting them all in the same boat, it implausibly forces everyone sensible to deny any interest in the whole topic. And yet social climbing, like anger or envy, has its good and bad versions, and like these other so-called sins, is an inherent part of our make-up that we would be wise to understand and to nuance - rather than deny and attempt to stamp out in shame.

There are as many ways of being interested in those at the top of society as there are ways of reading books.

What looks to be a unitary activity in fact shelters a range of approaches. Being fascinated by esteemed figures is not a sign of evil per se, just as reading Moby Dick is not in itself a proof of intelligence. One has to dig a little deeper, to figure out how the interest is unfolding before one can deliver judgement.

Let's start by being kind on the activity.

No doubt social climbing would be looked on more benevolently if we described one manifestation of it as "sightseeing" or "ethnography".

To pass over an old chum from primary school in order to take up a chance to meet Bill Gates or Barack Obama should not be thought a depravity - rather evidence of an entirely natural, indeed desirable, curiosity about the way the modern world works.

Many of us take a dim view of social climbers

It is an incoherence of our mechanisms of judgement that one should be labelled a serious and honourable person for sitting alone in bed reading a scholarly book on the robber barons of 19th Century America (filled with details on how they made their wealth, the attitudes of their compatriots, their relationship with religion, their personal habits etc), and yet that it might be deemed trivial, desperate and shallow to want very badly to take up an opportunity to have dinner with a group of titans from Silicon valley.

Social climbing also becomes a little less absurd if one acknowledges how much of it is really a strategy for survival.

A great many people's interest in going to parties and having a conversation with the powerful is not idle pleasure-seeking, but an attempt to keep oneself in line for work, based on the true supposition that bosses often look more benevolently on those they have met socially.

To make a bee-line for a plutocrat may hence be no less serious, and no less worthy of respect and dignity, than a boar hunt on whose successful conclusion the fate of an entire primitive community might once have hung.

Parties carry mortgages and food bills on their backs. We may not be taught to associate corporate events with heroism. They involve battles fought with the most bathetic of instruments, with bad jokes and remarks about the quality of the canapes, but they are battles nonetheless, comparable in their intensity and demands to the tracking of furtive animals through the deadly forests of the prehistoric world.

Continue reading the main story

What really marks out corrupt as opposed to forgivable social climbers is the former's strong belief that the rich, powerful and famous are at heart better than other people”

End Quote It's impossible to be a social creature, to be part of society, and not feel miserably ripped apart by envy quite a lot of the time. Of course, few emotions are as taboo for us as envy.

If we chuckle at Gore Vidal's famous quip - "Every time a friend of mine succeeds, a small part of me dies" - it is because it gives us a rare chance to own up to a feeling that we are otherwise largely forced to endure in lonely silence.

Then again, as social creatures, we should be careful to deny ourselves the chance to feel envy fairly regularly. To refuse to feel envy is also to refuse any chance of growth or development, for our envious feelings are in truth important guides to what we should aim for in life.

To shut yourself off from all envious feelings is also to shut yourself off from what you actually want, and might one day have - if you can bear to look frankly at what is still missing.

It is only right, indeed healthy, for anyone starting out in business or sport or cookery or art to envy more successful people - to pour over their success and feel crushed by a sense of inadequacy by comparison. How else could one ever have the energy to achieve?

Envy becomes noxious when we become helpless before it. We can fall into hatred, pure and simple, and then, gradually, a self-destructive bitterness.

The most envious people are often consciously unaware of their envy, and their inadequacies infect their judgements on everything. The person envious of another's love life will start to make abstract speeches about how romantic love is an illusion.

Social aspiration is a recurring theme

We are in danger of missing out on something valuable when we simply label envy a sin. Like many of our drives, it has positive and negative components, which need to be balanced and managed - rather than simply cut out like a cancer.

We might respect envy as the first step, painful but inevitable, towards generating something we can be proud of - something that will make others envious.

What really marks out corrupt as opposed to forgivable social climbers is the former's strong belief that the rich, powerful and famous are at heart better than other people. They don't merely accept that these types are lucky or gifted in a particular area, they sincerely hold that they are finer human beings. This is the route to true snobbery as well as to a vicious neglect of anyone who cannot display the necessary badges of success.

In the 16th Century, the French philosopher Montaigne advised us to remember the role played - in his words - by "chance in bestowing glory on us according to her fickle will: I have often seen chance marching ahead of merit, and often outstripping merit by a long chalk".

So Montaigne asked that we keep a rein on our excitement when meeting the powerful and wealthy and on our judgements when encountering the poor and obscure.

As he wrote: "A man may have a great suite of attendants, a beautiful palace, great influence and a large income. All that may surround him, but it is not in him. Measure his height with his stilts off."

There are better and worse people at large in the world, but it is naive and cruel to assume that they could be so conveniently located on the basis of how much money they have or what work they do.

It is this the snob refuses to believe, trusting instead in the existence of water-tight elites whose members unfailingly win out over the rest of us - electricians, nursery teachers or writers whose names one has never heard of.

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Non-league team play Real Betis

30 July 2011 Last updated at 21:46 GMT Portsmouth FC's players became stranded in the US when their plane was hit by a catering lorry A non-league football team lost 7-0 in a "once in a lifetime" game against Spanish side Real Betis, after replacing Portsmouth at the 11th hour.

Conference South side Havant and Waterlooville took on the La Liga team in a pre-season friendly on Saturday.

Pompey players, who were due to take on Real Betis, are stuck in North Carolina after their plane was hit by a catering lorry at the end of a tour.

Seville-based Real Betis are currently on a pre-season tour of the UK.

'Lengthy discussions'

Trevor Brock, a director at the Hampshire club, described the visiting team as "electric".

"I think we knew they were going to be good but I don't think we knew how good they were going to be, " he said.

"They have just won the equivalent of the Championship - they basically brought their whole squad here.

"This team was something else, we did the best we could."

The visiting club were already 5-0 ahead by half time, with a hat-trick by Ruben Castro and two goals by Jorge Molina.

Sergio scored the sixth goal in the 54th minute with the victory sealed by Salva, who knocked in a penalty two minutes from full time.

About 800 supporters packed into Westleigh Park, with tickets costing fans ?5 and ?10.

Goalkeeper Nathan Ashmore managed to hold off about eight near misses.

Havant and Waterlooville are hoping for a win away against local side Gosport Borough on Monday in a pre-season friendly.

Mankini invader

Real Betis had been due to play Portsmouth at Fratton Park.

Portsmouth FC said: "Almost all of the squad and its coaching staff will not arrive back in Britain until Sunday.

"After lengthy discussions, the difficult decision to call the match off was made in conjunction with Real Betis."

Portsmouth FC chief executive David Lampitt said: "Unfortunately events outside of our control have conspired against us and we have been left with no choice but to cancel this match.

"We are naturally disappointed as we were looking forward to welcoming Real Betis, their fans and directors to Fratton Park and we thank them for their patience and understanding."

Fans who bought tickets for the Portsmouth match will be refunded, the club said.

In 2008, Havant and Waterlooville played Liverpool in the fourth round of the FA Cup, losing 5-2.

In March the team also hit national headlines after a match against non-league Dorchester Town. A Dorchester player was sent off for tackling a pitch invader who was dressed in a mankini.

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Crowded skies

30 July 2011 Last updated at 10:56 GMT By Susannah Cullinane BBC News EasyJet will offer 70 flights a week from Southend Airport From next spring, one of Europe's largest airlines will be flying from a small airport in south-east England. The BBC's Susannah Cullinane went to London Southend Airport in Essex to find out more about the deal.

There are very few people on the 08:32 train from Liverpool Street to London Southend Airport's new ?12m rail terminal.

A quick glance at the neighbouring Stansted Express shows it to be comparatively overflowing - or at least carrying more people per carriage than the one person in mine.

But from next April, Southend Airport - a 50-minute train journey from Liverpool Street compared to Stansted's 46 minutes - will be the departure point for 70 EasyJet flights a week.

The Stobart Group, which owns the airport, aims to have two million passengers a year passing through its terminal by 2020.

Aer Arann and Flybe already operate from Southend, offering flights to Ireland and Jersey, but EasyJet will massively extend the airport's reach.

The airline has announced it will fly from Southend to Alicante, Barcelona, Ibiza, Malaga and Majorca in Spain, as well as Belfast, Amsterdam and Faro in Portugal.

The deal means Southend be the sixth airport serving south-east England to offer flights to mainland Europe, alongside Stansted, Heathrow, Gatwick, London City and Luton airports.

Arriving at Southend Airport railway station the expansion work is immediately obvious.

A ?3m control tower opened on 18 July stands opposite, near a new terminal building due to be completed by autumn. A few hundred metres away, the airport's current terminal is flying an orange EasyJet flag.

'No hustle and bustle' Easyjet's arrival at Southend airport has put it on the map

Inside, however, the impression is more black coffee and full English breakfast than international transport hub.

About 15 people are scattered at wooden tables, apparently unworried by pressing travel concerns, lingering instead over the day's newspapers and chatting amongst themselves.

Cafe Stobart supervisor Jill Ross explains that the relaxed mood is probably because 85% of her customers are local residents rather than travellers.

"That's why it's so friendly - they're sort of friends rather than customers."

But Ms Ross says there have been a lot of changes at Southend Airport since she started working in the coffee shop four years ago.

Since Aer Arann began flying out of Southend this March, she says, cafe staff numbers have doubled.

"Everyone is for the expansion," Ms Ross said. "Everyone's said 'how brilliant that they're going to fly here'."

Smoking a cigarette beneath the orange flag outside, is Ann Duffy who says she flew into Southend from her home in Waterford, Ireland, to visit her son and his family.

Cafe Stobart has been serving more local residents than air passengers

She is pleased at news that the airport is to be expanded. "It's good to give some money back to this area. Keep it close to home," she said.

Waiting for a fare at the airport, taxi driver Jim Nolan says he expects the expansion will bring work and jobs to the area.

"It's long overdue that this airport is being developed. It should've happened years ago."

Judicial review

Not all Southend's residents are as supportive of the expansion however.

Continue reading the main story

I think it's long overdue that this airport is being developed. I think it should've happened years ago.”

End Quote Jim Nolan Local resident Stop Airport Extension Now (SAEN) was formed in opposition to the extension of Southend's runway. SAEN says the 300m extension will lead to a "massive" increase in flights and impact on the lives of people living, working or going to school near the flight path.

Spokesman Denis Walker says EasyJet will not be able to land fully-laden Airbus 319 planes at Southend until the airport's runway has been lengthened.

SAEN had been trying to get a judicial review of Southend Council's decision to approve planning permission for the extension, but on Wednesday its appeal was refused.

Mr Walker says the secretary of state must approve the closure of a road at the end of the current runway and a public inquiry into the closure of some public footpath - due to start in November - also needs to be completed before work on the extension can begin.

"We're very concerned about the effect the expansion will have, particularly because it's so close to housing on the south-west side," he said.

Southend's head of business development, Jonathan Rayner, says time has become an important commodity for air travellers and the airport hopes to attract passengers through the relative accessibility of its services.

The airport says it will ensure it takes no more than four minutes to go through its security area while passengers travelling without check-in luggage can expect to be on the arrivals platform within 15 minutes of their plane's doors opening, he says.

A spokesman for Stansted says the airport is disappointed EasyJet is transferring some of its operations to Southend. But he says the airports are so different it is impossible to directly compare them.

"The decision clearly reinforces just how competitive the airports market is for point-to-point passengers, especially if the UK's largest airline is prepared to start-up at one of the UK's smallest airports."

Southend Airport has opened a ?3m control tower and ?12m railway station

Gatwick Airport says EasyJet's decision to fly from Southend "shows that competition is working". It says 15 million people live within an hour's drive of Gatwick.

"Some of those people will have the choice to fly from either Gatwick Airport or a smaller airport like Southend."

London City Airport says "London has a chronic long term shortage of airport capacity" and it recognises attempts will be made to bring "peripheral destinations" in the area market.

Luton Airport says it is too early to tell what the impact of Southend's expansion on its own operations will be.

Peter Morris, chief economist for aviation consultancy Ascend, says the actual level of demand for EasyJet's flights from Southend will only become clear once they're up and running.

With six airports servicing the area around Greater London, and in the face of a weak economy and high fuel costs, Southend's expansion is more likely to redistribute existing aviation traffic than to create a new market, he says.

"Whether the market has got a critical saturation - that's something that only gets validated when people try it and see if it works," he says.

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'Record' for space hopper bounce

30 July 2011 Last updated at 17:11 GMT More than 700 people took part on their space hoppers

Hundreds of people jumped on space hoppers in Leeds in an attempt to break the record for the largest number of people bouncing for 100m.

More than 700 people took part in Bounce for Leeds at Roundhay Park on Saturday.

Organisers Yorkshire Cancer Research believe they managed to break the record - which they set at an event last year.

On that occasion, 771 hoppers took part in a race in Sheffield.

Rachel Speight, from the charity, said the aim was to raise more than ?30,000.

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Button hoax story taken off site

31 July 2011 Last updated at 00:06 GMT Button will start third on the grid for Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix Hackers who posted a story on Jenson Button's official website claiming that he had been seriously injured in a car crash carried out a "distasteful hoax", his spokesman has said.

The story appeared on Saturday night, saying the F1 driver was in a "critical condition" in hospital following a "serious accident" in Hungary.

The website was taken down soon after the post emerged.

His spokesman said a hacker had breached the site's security.

"The story is completely untrue and is a very distasteful hoax," the McLaren driver's spokesman said.

"The website was immediately taken down and its security will now be reviewed. Jenson was asleep in bed when we were made aware that someone had hacked into his site and made the untrue claims. He is still totally oblivious.

"We can assure people that he is completely fit and healthy and will be taking part in today's race."

The hacker had posted the story on www.jensonbutton.com and his representatives were made aware just after 2330BST. They later posted an explanation of what had happened, adding to Button's fans: "We can only apologise for any alarm this may have caused."

Button, 31, and his team are in Hungary ahead of Sunday's Grand Prix where he will start third on the grid.

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Why do social networks want your real name?

28 July 2011 Last updated at 07:26 GMT By Alex Hudson BBC News Many people are loath to reveal their identity Google+ took only 24 days to reach 20 million users but their decision to delete accounts without real names attached has caused anger. So why do social networks insist on your real name?

Many people choose to conceal or alter their identity online.

Visit many forums and you'll see the likes of "Jboy72" and "NYgirl" outnumbering those giving their real names. But it's something social networks really don't like.

Over the past few days, Google has enforced its policy for requiring a real name on its new social network Google+ by suspending accounts.

The affected users were not happy at all. Blogger GrrlScientist, who prefers her real-life identity to remain private, thinks the decision to delete her account was "gormless".

"I've established an identity and a personality and an online and off-line world using this name," she says. "I look at it as the best part of myself so I'm not going to give it up now."

So why do the social networks want your real identity?

Many social networks require a full name before you can use their services

Google says it is addressing those with genuine complaints, but it maintains that to use the network effectively, users should be able to search for a friend or a family member as quickly and as easily as possible. And that, they say, means demanding real names.

Indeed, the guidelines are very similar to other social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn.

"By providing your common name, you will be assisting all people you know in finding and creating a connection with the right person online," a Google spokesman says.

Insisting on real names is supposed to combat spam. MySpace struggled with it in the past and Twitter "spambots" crop up from time to time.

And some see being made to use your real name as the antidote to the unpleasantness that happens on forums.

The theory goes that when people are using their real names online, they are more likely to act responsibly and engage honestly with the community.

"There is an issue of trolls," says Benjamin Cohen, Channel 4 News' technology correspondent.

Continue reading the main story Facebook users must agree to provide their real names and giving any false personal information allows Facebook to stop providing all or part of the siteGoogle says: "To help fight spam and prevent fake profiles, use the name your friends, family or co-workers usually call you. For example, if your full legal name is Charles Jones Jr but you normally use Chuck Jones or Junior Jones, either of those would be acceptable.""The authentication is important - it's a big problem on the internet and social networks make it more unlikely for someone to be pretending to be someone else."

And certainly things can get heated when the mask of anonymity is granted to users. Messageboard community 4Chan has received significant attention for its posts, often featuring adult content, which offer absolute anonymity, though founder Chris Poole still believes that this is vital to allow honest opinions and is responsible for much of the popularity of the site.

But choosing to use a pseudonym is not just about examples like GrrlScientist.

Some users choose to hide their identity to avoid being found by people they would not like to be contacted by. Others live in countries where identification could have serious implications for those who have expressed political views or associated themselves with others who have.

Many users in China, where access to Google+ itself is difficult because of restrictions by Chinese authorities on some websites, have called on Google to change its mind.

Twitter user Newsinchina - known by the English name Richard Zhang - wrote in Chinese on Google+ before his profile was removed: "Please Google+, when you are deciding regulations, you must consider Chinese usage, especially from users in mainland China.

"Be sure to consider the user's actual situation. Please do not force them to use a real-name system. Otherwise, I think that Google will be violating its principle of 'don't be evil'."

Indeed, Google's motto of "Don't be evil" has featured in a number of posts, but some analysts think Google+ suspending accounts is more an oversight than anything else.

"They're still in Beta [test] mode and perhaps been too strict in enforcing the rules," says Robin Grant, managing director of social media agency We Are Social.

"They are most probably going to change it to allow human rights activists, for example, to hide their identity. They're not going to leave themselves open to that sort of criticism.

"It's not a fully fleshed out product and they made a mistake but I don't think it's sinister."

But there has been a muttering in the blogosphere that the real reason the social networks want real names is that it makes them more money. A real name is more lucrative for advertisers.

"The more Google knows about its audience, the better it can target adverts of interest and therefore make more money," says Nate Elliott, vice-president principal analyst at technology company Forrester Research.

"That said, it's very unlikely that people would focus on the first name or last name fields to target people."

"Of all the ways Google has to connect your profile with your other behaviour on Google, that's by far the least exact."

Others agree that it is not the name that is vital, but demographics and interests information that holds the real key to revenue.

"It's not really about being to sell someone's name but their intent - people's search and social behaviour," says Grant.

"It doesn't matter if you know their name or not, it matters that there's a link between what they say they do and what they actually do."

But whatever the reasons, there will be many who still press for the right to use a pseudonym.

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