In a rare display of discord in the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin has demanded an end to feuding by powerful clans in the Russian security services.
The President waded into a conflict that started after senior officials from the Federal Drug Control Service were arrested for alleged corruption by agents of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the successor to the KGB.
– The Times
The authorities and their opponents are fighting a phoney war over anti-terror laws, in which liberty is already the loser.
Our elected leaders are once more doffing their caps to a man in a police helmet. Gordon Brown and his ministers have indicated they will support extending the time limit for detention without charge beyond 28 days. Two weeks ago Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police chief, gave the Government its cue by demanding powers to hold suspects for at least 50 days. In how many cases had police found 28 days inadequate? Sir Ian admitted that the total is – none. Since the limit was extended to 28 days in 2005, only 11 people have been held for longer than 14 days, and eight of them were charged.
– The Times
The asset’s coordinates are longitude -0.098610, latitude 51.519699. At least that’s what the read-out on my computer screen says. I’ve never heard my son, Robbie, described as an asset before, but I guess there’s a first time for anything. Two minutes later, I get an update. He’s barely moved, since he’s walking at an unbelievable 1.1 mph. It’s definitely him. No one else can dawdle like that. I switch the screen over to a Google Earth satellite map and follow his return to the building.
Robbie is wearing one of the first GPS tracker jackets, launched this week in the UK by Blade Runner, the clothing manufacturer that specialises in equipment for the police and security services and which recently brought out the first school uniform in slash-proof Kevlar, in partnership with Asset Monitoring Solutions (AMS), a market leader in tracking and security technologies.
– The Guardian
