Britain
EVERYONE’S GETTING WORRIED ABOUT THE OLYMPICS
The security seems a bit of a shambles and menial workers are living in shitty conditions
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The Olympics is coming soon and everyone’s starting to panic.
The weekend’s Olympics news has been dominated by a story about the security arrangements. The firm in charge of sorting it out is called G4S and they didn’t hire enough security staff so they’re having to get 3,500 soldiers in to make the numbers up.
People are calling it a “shambles”, a “disaster” and a “debacle” and other things of that nature.
The Home Office are also getting it in the neck for hiring G4S and then not monitoring them closely enough.
Lord Sebastian Coe, the chairman of London 2012, reckons it’ll be “a safe and secure Games” regardless.
“This comes together in stages and when the rubber really hits the road, that’s when plans collide with reality and that’s the reality of security,” said Coe.
“I can’t put it more simply than this, G4S expected people to materialise and when they didn’t, as the home secretary has said, we moved very quickly to fill that gap.”
In other news, The Mail are reporting that the people employed to keep the Olympic Park clean are being housed in what seems to amount to a concentration camp “hidden from public view” in East London.
Living conditions don’t sound great. Apparently each toilet is being shared by 25 people and each shower by 75.
They all sleep in cabins and some of them are leaking.
World
IT’S OFFICIAL: SYRIA IS NOW AT CIVIL WAR
The Red Cross says so
Videos by VICE
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The Red Cross has decided that the situation in Syria is now sufficiently fucked up to qualify for official “civil war” status.
Apparently the fact it’s been recognised as such could change the rules of engagement in the country, though to be honest it doesn’t seem like anyone’s abiding by any rules over there at the moment.
One plus side is that it could make it easier to charge people for war crimes once the mess has been sorted out and President Bashar al-Assad has stopped blowing up his own people.
World
A GUY IN ISRAEL SET HIMSELF ON FIRE
His name was Moshe Silman and he was protesting against the future
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The French far-right party Front National is gonna sue Madonna.
The singer was playing a show in Paris on Saturday night when the face of Front National’s leader Marine Le Pen appeared on giant video screens with a swastika on her forehead (skip to 1.15 on the video above).
Other famous figures to be on the receiving end of the crotch-thrusting pop star’s biting satire included Pope Benedict and Sarah Palin.
Le Pen had warned Madonna that she would sue after hearing about the video showing at a gig in Tel Aviv.
“If she tries that in France, we’ll see what happens,” the Nazi said at the time.
“It’s understandable when ageing singers who need publicity go to such extremes.”
TV
KEITH ALLEN’S GONNA BE ON TV TAKING MDMA
Drugs charities don’t seem too happy about it
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Actor Keith Allen, father of Lily Allen, will apparently be on TV soon taking MDMA.
The show will air as part of a forthcoming Channel 4 documentary series.
He’s 59.
