Looking forward to July 27, 2012

Yesterday marked the year-to go milestone in the run-up to the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Hundreds of sports fans gathered in Trafalgar Square to celebrate the start of the Olympics countdown while London Mayor Boris Johnson unveiled an Olympic countdown clock in the square.

He also announced that the aquatics centre was open and several past Olympians had christened the pool to mark the ‘one year to go to the Olympics’ anniversary.

The main stadium, velodrome, handball arena, basketball arena and international broadcast centre are all ready; this means that almost 90 per cent of building work at the main Olympics Park in Stratford, east London, is now complete.

According to the Prime Minister David Cameron, London 2012 organisers are in this good position of facilities being completed a year in advance that it will be possible to test and make sure everything is perfect.

Despite the excitement over such results, there are still challenges that lie ahead: transport, security and legacy.

London warren-like road system means that chaos could prevent athletes getting to the Games on time; this is why there will be banned turns, phased traffic lights and suspended parking bays. Mr Johnson is also urging Londoners to work from home, cycle or walk to work to ease pressure on public transport.
Security is also under the spotlight and even though there have been some changes at the Met, following the hacking scandal, Mr Cameron, who chairs government emergency committee Cobra, assured people that London has a good set-up for dealing with terrorism.
It is still unclear, instead, whether the £9 billion Olympics will give a long term value for money. By the way, ministers hope that London 2012 will be a showcase for British businesses, as more than one hundred heads of state and many CEOs will be in town during the major sport event.

Meanwhile Londoners and sports fans from all over the world are wondering what Danny Boyle, who is in charge of London’s opening spectacular, has up his Oscar-winning sleeve for July 27 next year.

The most humble day of my life

Rupert Murdoch and his son James were being questioned by MPs about News Of the World (NOTW) phone hacking scandal yesterday. 

The media tycoon declared to be shocked and appalled by recent revelations. In a hesitant performance before MPs, he denied ultimate responsibility for the hacking scandal and blamed people he trusted for having let the newspaper group down.

His son James tried to reply for him several times, but MPs ensured Mr Murdoch senior answered himself; he confessed his regret over not calling in the police when he approved a £ 700,000 payout to a phone-hacking victim three years ago. In fact, he did not know it was common practice.

The pair’s evidence was followed by that of Rebekah Brooks, the NOTW chief executive who resigned her post last week, before being arrested on Sunday. The most powerful woman in British newspapers admitted she knew about the use of private detectives while she was editor of the NOTW, but declared that she would not have approved specific payments to investigators.

Yesterday Mr Murdoch was fighting to save his empire after two weeks of negotiations, apologies and arrests. In fact, before Ms Brooks was arrested on suspicion of corruption, Mr Coulson, the former official spokesman for PM David Cameron and the former editor of the News Of The World, had been arrested as well. Moreover, both Sir Paul Stevenson, who was Britain’s most senior police officer and the Met Assistant Commissioner, Mr John Yates, had resigned amid phone-hack scandal.

The most famous media empire appointed heir, James Murdoch, said he and his father would like over the next six months, years and years, to be judged on the actions the company takes to put this right.

Free travel cards for the Olympics tickets holders

London 2012 will post about eight million paper travel cards with Olympic tickets.

The free tickets scheme is available to all 2012 ticket winners and it comes as the Olympics chiefs promised car-free Games, essential to confirm London’s environmental credibility.

Free 1-9 zone travel cards will be given to millions of Olympics spectators, including overseas visitors and sponsors, to travel to this world famous sports event.

London taxpayers are worried as they could be landed with a multi-million-pound bill in order to fund free travel for all the Olympics ticket holders, but transport bosses said Londoners won’t pay the bill for the free travel.

The scheme comes as Games chiefs have dropped the idea to top up existing cards belonging to Londoners with free one day travel cards. The previous plan has been scrapped as it was too complex.

Last News Of the World

The News Of The World (NOTW) published for the last time in its 168-year history yesterday.

Media tycoon Rupert Murdock closed the Britain’s best-selling newspaper in a desperate attempt to limit the ongoing scandal over years of phone hacking.

Up to 4,000 people, including the parents of murdered Soham schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, those of Danielle Jones and Milly Dowler, relatives of July 7 victims and of British soldiers killed abroad have been targeted.

Ms Brooks, who is News Of The World chief executive and its former editor in 2000-2003, is accused of personally hiring private detectives during the phone hacking activities. To make things even worse, News International has given Scotland Yard papers showing that inappropriate payments were made to police officers in return for confidential information, it was confirmed last week.

Several high-profile NOTW staff and the officers concerned are likely to be arrested within the next few days.

Labour leader Ed Miliband launched a scathing attack on Ms Brooks, saying she should take responsibility and stand down. He also called for the takeover of BSkyB by the News Of The World’s parent company News Corp to be delayed and referred to the Competition Commission. Meanwhile Prime Minister David Cameron told the Commons a public investigation would take place as soon the police investigation was completed.

The tabloid lost millions of pounds last week as more advertisers left the newspaper after customers expressed anger at the phone hacking claims. A fresh wave of companies followed the example set by Ford on Tuesday July 5 and withdrew their promotions from the NOTW: Mitsubishi, Virgin Holidays, Sainsbury’s, Boots, O2 and Dixon are just a few of the brands that pulled their adverts.

The developments piled even more pressure on the newspaper’s chief executive, to quit. Despite News International boss Rupert Murdoch condemned the allegations as deplorable and unacceptable, he backed Ms Brooks to continue in her current role.

On the other side, nearly 200 journalists have lost their jobs and are set to sue Rupert Murdock for unfair dismissal following the closure of the most popular Sunday’s newspaper in the UK.

From its beginnings, the News Of The World specialised in scandal and royalty, politicians, sport stars and celebrities who have been exposed in kiss and tell revelations may be relieved at its closure.

The hacking scandal is one of the biggest affecting the press in living memory, but rumors reveal that Mr Murdock is already thinking to introduce a new 'member' into his media empire. In fact, The News Of The World is likely to be replaced with a Sunday version of the News International’s flagship daily, The Sun.