Netanyahu rebuffs Clinton demands on settler homes   Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has refused to buckle to US pressure to scrap a Jewish building project in East Jerusalem in a crucial telephone conversation with America's top diplomat. Read Article

   US relinquishes control of the internet • Icann ends agreement with the US government
• Move will give other countries a prominent internet role Comments (68)
Bobbie Johnson in San Francisco guardian.co.ukArticle history
Customers surf the web at an internet cafe in Beijing. Icann, the body that oversees web addresses, has ended its agreement with the US. Photograph: Greg Baker/AP  After complaints about American dominance of the internet and growing disquiet in some parts of the world, Washington has said it will relinquish some control over the way the network is run and allow foreign governments more of a say in the future of the system.Icann – the official body that ultimately controls the development of the internet thanks to its oversight of web addresses such as .com, .net and .org – said today that it was ending its agreement with the US government.The deal, part of a contract negotiated with the US department of commerce, effectively pushes California-based Icann towards a new status as an international body with greater representation from companies and governments around the globe.Icann had previously been operating under the auspices of the American government, which had control of the net thanks to its initial role in developing the underlying technologies used for connecting computers together.But the fresh focus will give other countries a more prominent role in determining what takes place online, and even the way in which it happens – opening the door for a virtual United Nations, where many officials gather to discuss potential changes to the internet. Icann chief Rod Beckstrom, a former Silicon Valley entrepreneur and Washington insider who took over running the organisation in July, said there had been legitimate concerns that some countries were developing alternative internets as a way of routing around American control."It's rumoured that there are multiple experiments going on with countries forking the internet, various countries have discussed this," he said. "This is a very significant shift because it takes the wind out of our opponents."He added that the changes would prove powerful when combined with upcoming plans to allow web users to use addresses with names in Chinese, Arabic or other alphabets other than Latin. Many countries have lobbied for the shift in recent years, as the expansion of the web reaches out deeper into society and business.While the issue reached critical mass in emerging economies such as China, it is not the only country that has lobbied for a change. Earlier this year European officials said that they did not think it was proper for America to retain so much control over the global computer network.Viviane Reding, the EU's commissioner for information society and media, said she was pleased that Washington chose to make the shift."I welcome the US administration's decision to adapt Icann's key role in internet governance to the reality of the 21st century," she said. "If effectively and transparently implemented,…

  Secret papers reveal Iraq war blunders Exclusive: The “appalling” errors that contributed to Britain’s failure in Iraq are disclosed in the most detailed and damning set of leaks to emerge on the conflict with reports shedding new light on “significant shortcomings”. Secret plans for war, no plans for peace Britain 'unprepared' for nation building Troops 'rushed' into battle without armour or training    

   Rising sea level to submerge Louisiana coastline by 2100, study warns Scientists say between 10,000 and 13,500 square kilometres of coastal land around New Orleans will go underwater due to rising sea levels and subsidence     Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Monday 29 June 2009 12.33 BST
Hurricane Katrina exposed the vulnerability of New Orleans and other low-lying areas of Louisiana.   A vast swath of the coastal lands around New Orleans will be underwater by the dawn of the next century because the rate of sediment deposit in the Mississippi delta can not keep up with rising sea levels, according to a study published today.Between 10,000 and 13,500 square kilometres of coastal lands will drown due to rising sea levels and subsidence by 2100, a far greater loss than previous estimates.For New Orleans, and other low-lying areas of Louisiana whose vulnerability was exposed by hurricane Katrina, the findings could bring some hard choices about how to defend the coast against the future sea level rises that will be produced by climate change.They also revive the debate about the long-term sustainability of New Orleans and other low-lying areas.Scientists say New Orleans and the barrier islands to the south will be severely affected by climate change by the end of this century, with sea level rise and growing intensity of hurricanes. Much of the land mass of the barrier island chain sheltering New Orleans was lost in the 2005 storm.But the extent of the land that will be lost is far greater than earlier forecasts suggest, said Dr Michael Blum and Prof Harry Roberts, the authors of the study. "When you look at the numbers you come to the conclusion that the resources are just not there to restore all the coast, and that is one of the major points of this paper," said Roberts, a professor emeritus of marine geology at Louisiana State University.Blum, who was formerly at Louisiana State University, now works at Exxon. "I think every geologist that has worked on this problem realises the future does not look very bright unless we can come up with some innovative ways to get that sediment in the right spot," said Roberts. "For managers and people who are squarely in the restoration business, this is going to force them to make some very hard decisions about which areas to save and which areas you can't save."Efforts to keep pace with the accelerated rate of sea level rise due to global warming are compromised by the Mississippi's declining ability to bear sediments downstream into the delta.The authors used sediment data from the Mississippi flood plain to estimate the amount of sediment deposited on the river delta during the past 12,000 years. They then compared this with sediment deposition today.In paper published in Nature…

  Kagan has many achievements, but her world has been relatively narrow
By Ann Gerhart and Philip Rucker
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, June 10, 2010
 One night, at an intimate dinner, Elena Kagan lavished such praise on Justice Antonin Scalia that he almost teared up. The next afternoon, in front of a crowd of 500, she lauded him some more, nearly choking up herself. Then she smiled, paused and began her interrogation. By that November of 2006, Kagan was the first female dean of Harvard Law School. Scalia was about to mark his 20th year on the Supreme Court. The two had no more than a passing acquaintance. Yet she took it upon herself to honor him at his alma mater, starting with a dinner of beef tenderloin and fine red wine in the law library's Caspersen Room, full of heavy oak and priceless rare books. She presented a clever gift: a framed original letter from Joseph Story, the great 19th-century justice, a witty thank-you to someone who had sent him a salmon. By the next day, when Scalia showed up for a question-and-answer session with law students, the two were bantering easily. "He is the most colorful, the most intellectually playful, the most provocative member of the court, and he is indubitably its greatest writer," Kagan said, introducing Scalia. "I think he is the justice who has had the most important impact over the years on how we think and talk about the law, and that is whether we agree or disagree with many of his positions." He thanked her for the dinner and said that "to be so warmly received by my own school was quite an affecting experience." Kagan then confronted the guest of honor with a two-part question. Citing a previous lecturer's thesis on the "living Constitution," she said: "You have declared yourself a proponent of the dead Constitution." The room rippled with laughter. Scalia looked a trifle peeved. "So," Kagan continued, "is there really a choice" in interpreting the Constitution, and, "if it is a choice, why are you" -- and here she paused for effect -- "a proponent of death?" "I can package it better than that!" Scalia retorted after the laughter subsided. "I call it the enduring Constitution." And then the two new friends grinned at each other, pleased to have discovered such an amiable intellectual adversary in the other. This is what President Obama is hoping Kagan will pull off on the Supreme Court, if her nomination is approved: demonstrate her respect and admiration for those with whom she may not agree, fearlessly take them on and then skillfully, and with a touch of flattery and humor, find the occasional compromise between right and left. This is Kagan's special brilliance. It is both expedient and genuine. She has perfected a way of being that seemed innate even in high school. Her goals are at once selfish and selfless. She projects a style of personal performance that appears to…