By Lizzy Davies (World news
and comment from the
Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

French court judges tax would punish households while letting off big industrial polluters

Nicolas Sarkozy's dreams of putting France on the frontline of the fight against global warming were in disarray today, after his flagship carbon tax was ruled unconstitutional two days before it was due to come into effect.

In an unexpected and embarrassing blow, the court responsible for ensuring the validity of French legislation rejected the reform as ineffective and unfair.

It ruled that rather than being the revolutionary measure Sarkozy promised, the tax would have let off many industrial polluters, w h i l e

a disproportionately heavy burden on ordinary households.

"The large number of exemptions from the carbon tax runs counter to the goal of fighting climate

change and violates the equality enjoyed by all in terms of public charges," said the constitutional council in its eleventh hour ruling last night.

Scrambling to salvage a project which the President had vigorously defended against criticism from opposition politicians, green groups and members of his own party, the government insisted today the carbon tax had not been put off for good. "It is a tough fight, but a worthwhile one," said spokesman Luc Chatel. Ministers promised a revised text within weeks.

However, there was little the government could do to distract from the humiliation of having a much-trailed reform batted back by the sages of the august constitutional council.

Nor will the hopes of a new and improved plan do much to calm heightening worries over revenue. Even if a revised proposal is made, the tax – which was expected to raise €1.5bn (£1.34bn) during 2010 – will take

weeks to reach parliament again and even longer to start boosting state coffers.

The opposition Socialist party made no secret of their glee at seeing the right-wing president fall at the final hurdle of his marathon battle to introduce a tax which was opposed by two-thirds of the public.

"This is a good decision and shows once again that Sarkozy's way of doing things does not work," the Socialist party's parliamentary leader, Jean-Marc Ayrault, told French radio. "They announce a reform, listen to no one and produce a poor job. It's a real mess."

Sarkozy, who has championed the environmental cause with increasing vigour since the strong performance of the French Greens in June's European elections, set out his vision for

the zeal of the ecological convert he claims to be. "It's a question of survival of the human race," he said. A tax of €17 (£17.22) per tonne of carbon emissions would

But, while green campaigners warned the tax was not high enough to be effective, the Socialists and consumer groups claimed it would lead to an unfair situation in which certain people, such as car-dependant households in isolated areas, would be hit harder than the real culprits.

The ruling of the constitutional council appeared to support those criticisms. It said that more than 1,000 of France's biggest polluters could have been exempted from the charges, and that 93% of industrial emissions would not have been taxed.

However, many big polluters are required to participate in the EU emissions trading scheme, in which they must buy carbon permits if they exceed pollution targets.

Speaking on French radio this yesterday morning, the junior minister for trade and consumption admitted mistakes had been made. "It was perhaps

shocking that the sectors given exemptions were those that polluted the most," said Hervé Novelli. "So we will have to put that right."

Sarkozy, who is returning tonight from a Christmas break in Morocco with his wife Carla Bruni, has made no public comment on the setback. But Chantal Jouanno, the junior minister for ecology, said he remained "very determined" to get a carbon tax into law before the summer.

• Carbon emissions
• Nicolas Sarkozy
• F r an ce
• Climate change
• Carbon footprints

By Mark Tran, Martin Chulov
(World news and comment
from the Guardian |
guardian.co.uk)

IT consultant from Lincoln is lone survivor of five taken in May 2007 militant raid on finance ministry in Baghdad

Peter Moore, the only known survivor from five British hostages in Iraq, has been released in Baghdad.

The computer programmer was captured in the Iraqi capital in 2007 by Shia militants with four other Britons and spent 31 months in captivity. The bodies of all but one of the others have since been returned to Britain.

Moore, aged 39, was released to Iraqi officials this morning and then transferred to the British embassy in Baghdad. A young Shia cleric, Qais al-Ghazali, was expected to be freed from American military custody in exchange.

The British foreign secretary, David Milliband, said Moore was in good health and "delighted" to be freed. He was in a "remarkable frame of mind given the two and a half years that he has had. Real strength, real commitment, a real determination to get back to his life."

Miilband said the British government had made no substantive concessions to the kidnappers and attributed Moore's release to the process of reconciliation being carried out

by the Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki. "The process of reconciliation is the foundation of the decision of the kidnappers to release him," Miliband said.

Moore's captors called the Iraqi government early this morning and said they were willing to free him in east Baghdad. The hardline Islamic group known as the Righteous League had insisted on trading Moore for Ghazali, who was captured near Basra by the SAS along with his brother Laith al-Ghazali and a senior member of Lebanese Hezbollah in March 2007.

The others Britons captured with Moore – all security guards – were Alec Maclachlan from Llanelli in Wales, Alan McMenemy from Dumbarton in Scotland, Jason Swindlehurst and Jason Creswell. The bodies of Swindlehurst and Creswell were identified in June, followed by Maclachlan in September. McMenemy is also believed dead, though his body has not been returned.

Until today there had been no word on Moore's fate since a DVD was handed to Iraqi officials a few months ago showing him alive.

Senior Righteous League members have said Moore did not know the fate of the other four, all of whom were almost certainly killed about 18 months ago, according to forensic science findings.

said he was "over the moon" at the news. "We are so relieved and we just want to get him home, back now to his family and friends. I'm breaking down, I'm just so overjoyed for the lad. It's been such a long haul. I know that there have been one or two people working in the background to get Peter released. "Peter is a very resilient lad and he always has been because of his background … but I don't know how close he was to those others who have been shot."

Graeme Moore said he felt the Foreign Office had been "obstructive" in the effort to secure his son's safe release.

Gordon Brown said he was "hugely relieved" by the "wonderful news" that Moore had been released and would be reunited with his family. "They have faced a terrible ordeal and I know that the whole nation will share their joy that he is coming home," Brown said. "At this moment of celebration we also remember the families of British hostages who have been killed in Iraq and elsewhere."

There has been a phased release of Shia prisoners from American custody this year, many of whom had been linked to the Righteous League and to the firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

Moore's release had been widely predicted to take place during the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha, which this year fell in November. As it drew near Moore's captors had grown increasingly

concerned about his psychological state. The net of those who knew his whereabouts was so small that the kidnappers would not risk taking him to a doctor to treat a range of ailments he developed over the past six months.

"To an extent the captors had become captive to their hostage," said one senior Iraqi government negotiator familiar with the negotiations. "They wanted to hand him back but they were not going to do so before Sheikh Qais was freed. And the Americans were holding out."

Moore is being debriefed in Baghdad by embassy officials, medical staff and police attached to the embassy. He is expected to be flown to Kuwait or Jordan and then home to Britain. He had been working in Iraq as an IT consultant for the country's finance ministry, where he had also been helping install financial software. The five Britons were kidnapped by up to 40 men, many of whom were dressed in Iraqi police uniform, and driven towards Sadr City.

Earlier this month a leading member of the Righteous League confirmed for the first time to the Guardian that the group was holding Moore and expressed frustration at delays over the trade for Ghazali.

"This was due to be completed at the time of Eid al-Adha," said Salam al-Maliki, a Shia politician who heads the Righteous League's dialogue committee. "It

was not finalised because the Americans did not honour their pledge to release Sheikh Qais. "We have discussed this for many months and there has been progress made. But the sticking point has always been Sheikh Qais."

A blueprint for the release of Moore was outlined earlier in the year in an interview given by a senior Righteous League figure to a Saudi website. The interview spelled out a phased series of trades of the five Britons for a large number of Shia Islamist prisoners, culminating in a swap of Moore for Ghazali and Ali Mahmoud al-Dakduk, of Hezbollah.

The US military blames Ghazali, his brother Laith and Dakduk for an ambush in the Shia shrine city of Karbala in January 2007 in which five US soldiers were killed. The three were captured three months later by the SAS near Basra. Moore and the four guards were seized in Baghdad in late May the same year to try to secure the militants' release.

A promising political career beckons for Ghazali, who has been courted by several Shia factions for a senior role. The former understudy to Moqtada al -Sadr has won favour in Shia Islamic circles in neighbouring Iran.

The British government has been repeatedly criticised for its hands -off role in the hostage

(World news and comment
from the Guardian |
guardian.co.uk)

Iran's police chief threatens 'no mercy' in crushing opposition protests, as state-sponsored rallies take place across country

Tens of thousands of hardline government supporters turned out for state-sponsored rallies today, some of them calling for the execution of opposition leaders, while Iran's police chief threatened to show "no mercy" in crushing any new protests by the pro-reform movement.

Pro-government rallies were staged in Shiraz, Arak, Qom and Tehran, among other cities. Demonstrators in Tehran chanted "Death to Mousavi", a reference to the opposition leader, Mir Hossein Mousavi. Some shouted "Rioter hypocrites must be executed" and held up a banner that read: "We sacrifice our blood for the supreme leader."

The government gave all civil servants and employees the day off to attend the rallies and organised buses to ferry in groups of schoolchildren and supporters from outlying rural areas.

Hardline cleric Ahmad Alamolhoda labelled opponents of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as supporters of

"Enemies of the leader, according to the Qur'an, belong to the party of Satan," Alamolhoda told demonstrators in Tehran in comments broadcast on state television. "Our war in the world is war against the opponents of the rule of the supreme leader."

Police chief General Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam warned anti -government protesters to stay off the streets or face harsh consequences. At least eight people were killed in violence on Sunday, the country's worst unrest since the aftermath of the disputed presidential election on 12 June.

"In dealing with previous protests, police showed leniency. But given that these opponents are seeking to topple (the ruling system), there will be no mercy," Moghaddam said, according to the official news agency IRNA. "We will take severe action. The era of tolerance is over. Anyone attending such rallies will be crushed."

One of those killed on Sunday was the nephew of Mousavi. Iran's deputy police chief, Ahmad Reza Radan, said Ali Mousavi was assassinated by unidentified assailants and not killed by security forces.

Ali Mousavi was buried yesterday in a hastily organised ceremony. Authorities had taken

his body from the hospital earlier in the week in what was seen as an attempt to prevent the funeral from turning into another pro- opposition protest.

The opposition says Ali Mousavi was killed by security forces. The New York Times quoted a family friend saying he was run over by a vehicle outside his home in an assassination.

The opposition leader and other family members attended the funeral.

Iranian authorities faced uncomfortable questions about a graphic video broadcast on the internet purportedly from Sunday's demonstrations. It showed two white police pickup trucks, with large bullbars on the front bumpers, plowing separately into a group of protesters.

One truck is first seen driving into the crowd, then reversing away from a body lying face down on the asphalt. The second truck then speeds up and runs over the body, lying in a pool of blood, as people nearby cry out. The authenticity of the video couldn't be independently verified.

When asked about the video and whether police trucks intentionally ran over people, Moghaddam became enraged. "Don't ask lies," he said. "There are no pictures showing police

Radan said police had a video showing a black car running over two people during Sunday's violence. He said the owner of the car had been arrested but provided no other details.

Moghaddam said more than 500 protesters who took part in Sunday's demonstrations were arrested, although the number may be higher since hardline Basij militiamen and intelligence agents may have apprehended more people on their own.

There are increasing fears Mousavi could also be arrested, following the detention of a number of prominent activists and the sister of Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi.

The government has also limited the movement of a leading opposition figure, Mahdi Karroubi, by refusing to protect him when he leaves his home.

Karroubi and Mousavi were the two defeated reformist candidates in the disputed June election, which set off the worst unrest in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Authorities were also tightly restricting media coverage of street rallies, internet access in the country is sporadic, as are cell phone and text messaging services.

solemn day of the year for Shia Muslims. The observance commemorates the 7th century death in battle of one of Shia Islam's most beloved saints, and it conveys a message of sacrifice in the face of repression.

The arrests, along with tough criticism of the US and Britain, added to rising tensions with the west, which is threatening to impose tough new sanctions over Iran's suspected nuclear programme and has criticised the violent crackdown on anti- government protesters.

Yesterday the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, urged the government to keep security forces from using excessive force.

She said she was "shocked by the upsurge in deaths, injuries and arrests" and stressed the people have the right to peacefully protest without being beaten and thrown into jail.