Cheryl Cole braves protesters at Cannes

It is not known if Cole spotted the riot police guarding the red carpet with batons and shields, or if she had any idea what the film was about as she posed for photographers in a white bandage dress split to the thigh.

She is a "spokesmodel" for L'Oreal, which sponsors the festival.

Around 1,200 protesters demonstrated outside the festival hall on the Croisette and the nearby town hall, although there was no violence as police with batons and shields lined up opposite them.

Right-wing politicians have accused Bouchareb of distorting history in his emotionally-charged account of two Algerian brothers who are driven from their home by the French and grow up to fight in mainland France for the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN).

It opens with a massacre of Algerian civilians by French soldiers in the town of Setif in 1945 -- a historical event which critics say is misrepresented.

The brothers flee and end up in an immigrant shanty town in Paris, where two of them launch a campaign of violence targeting French police but also fellow Algerians, justifying their violent tactics as a "revolution".

Ahead of the festival, some politicians criticised the film's treatment of France's role in Algeria during the colonial period and the war that led to independence in 1962.

Lawmaker Lionnel Luca of the governing UMP party said after seeing it on Friday that is was "a partisan, militant, pro-FLN film" which "compared the French to the SS and the French police to the Gestapo".

Police said 1,200 people joined the Cannes protest which involved the far-right National Front party, but no incidents were reported. Army veterans and groups representing former colonists and "harkis", Algerians who fought for France, joined the protest, with demonstrators waving French flags and singing the French national anthem.

"It is a falsification of history," said Frederic Bruno, a 62-year-old pensioner who travelled from Nice to join the rally. In Setif, "the army kept order" after Algerians killed French people, he said.

French historians estimate that some 15,000 Algerians were killed in Setif when forces fired on a pro-independence rally, but their Algerian counterparts put the figure as high as 45,000. More than 100 Europeans also died.

Bouchareb insisted after the screening: "The film isn't a battlefield. The film is not there to provoke confrontation. It is there to launch a calm debate."

British troops in Afghanistan to be put under US command

As part of a restructuring plan, command and control in southern Afghanistan will be split into two areas, according to the Ministry of Defence.

Command will be rotated between US and UK forces under the new structure.
The first commander in Helmand will be Major General Richard Mills of the US Marine Corps.

Under the arrangements, expected to be implemented by the end of the summer, the existing Regional Command (South) will be split into two new headquarters based in Helmand and Kandahar.

There will be a new Regional Command (South West) based in Helmand and the first commander will be Maj Gen Mills. It has been agreed in principle that this rotational command will be shared between US and UK forces.

The existing Regional Command (South), headquartered in Kandahar, is under the command of British Major General Nick Carter.

Also under the changes, the command of the 1,100-strong British battle group based in Sangin, scene of some of the bloodiest fighting involving British troops, and Kajaki will transfer to a US-led force from June 1.

The changes were announced by Major General Gordon Messenger at a press briefing at MoD headquarters in central London.

He said: "This command and control change makes complete sense and is welcome. The span and complexity of the command challenge in southern Afghanistan has increased enormously in recent months and these changes provide the best command support to the troops on the ground."

The new strategy follows negotiations between the US, Britain and the other main contributors to the Isaf (International Security Assistance Force) in Afghanistan.

It has proved sensitive in Britain and until now UK troops answered to Maj Gen Carter, who was in charge of the whole of southern Afghanistan.

Maj Gen Messenger said that when Maj Gen Carter left his post in November as commander of Regional Command (South) the "likelihood" was that his replacement would be an American Army two-star commander.

Asked if the announcement meant Britain was effectively giving up its responsibilities and handing them over to the Americans, Maj Gen Messenger said: "That is simply not the case, this is us doing exactly the same job as we have been doing up to now, under slightly different arrangements.

"The whole business of a greater American presence is a reflection of the scale of the challenges that the British have faced in Helmand.

"I think we should take considerable pride of the families and the soldiers themselves should take enormous pride in the fact that for several years they were facing that challenge without this level of force."

David Cameron vows to cut taxes

the Prime Minister said he would deliver “lower” rates of tax as soon as the economic conditions allowed.

Mr Cameron indicated that the new 50p rate of income tax could be scrapped if it was shown that it was failing to bring in sufficient revenue.
He said he still believed that inheritance tax was unfair and suggested that tax breaks for married couples would be introduced next year.

The Prime Minister’s support for lower taxes in the long term was designed to reassure traditional Conservative voters facing a series of tax rises. Capital gains tax on the sale of second homes and shares is expected to double imminently, while motorists and holidaymakers also face higher levies.

Speaking in Paris during his first official overseas visit, the Prime Minister said: “I absolutely do believe in a lower tax country and I want to deliver lower marginal rates of tax. The problem is the appalling budget deficit. I am still a low-tax Conservative. Born one; lived one; will die one.”

In his first major newspaper interview since becoming Prime Minister, Mr Cameron indicated that George Osborne, the Chancellor, would scrap the new 50p rate if an analysis of the revenues being raised from the levy showed that it was counter-productive. Many accountants and financial experts predicted that revenues would be low as high earners avoided paying the top rate or left the country.

“We will always be looking at the yields from different taxes to see whether they are effective and efficient,” said Mr Cameron. “I have always had my doubts that 50p will yield a lot of money. But the great thing about being in office is we can give you the figures now. Let’s have a look and see.

“We don’t like high marginal rates of tax. They are not good for the country, but we always had a queue and the [front of] the queue is cutting tax for the low paid.”

Next week, the Government will begin unveiling detailed policies. On Monday, Mr Osborne will set out how he intends to cut public spending by £6 billion this year.

The Queen’s Speech on Tuesday is expected to outline more than a dozen pieces of legislation that will be introduced over the next 18 months. These will include plans to give schools more freedom and release hospitals from dozens of “intrusive” Labour measures.

Mr Cameron said he and his deputy, Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, were confident of running a more effective government than Tony Blair and Gordon Brown — despite the unusual circumstances that pushed them together.

“I can put my hand on my heart and say that I really never thought that I would end up in a coalition Government. I always thought that minority government was much more likely,” the Prime Minister said. “[But] I think we are two relatively practical and reasonable people. We have some very big differences but we do share some important values and we’ve been able to put together this coalition government in very quick time. It’s very substantial.”

He insisted that Conservative supporters should be optimistic about the coming years. “I’m a glass half-full man,” Mr Cameron said. “In fact, in this case the glass is seven eighths full, nine tenths full. Because look at the cap on immigration, the European referendum lock, the £6 billion of cuts, the ending of Labour’s jobs tax, the internal market in the NHS, free schools, academies by the autumn, all of the green economy stuff. It is a huge programme.”

However, the Prime Minister did express regret over his failure to scrap inheritance tax for everyone other than millionaires.

“Only millionaires should pay inheritance tax,” he said. “I’m absolutely clear on that. As the economy recovers and as house prices continue to rise you will find people getting caught by the inheritance net that should not be there.”

However, he was confident of introducing tax breaks for married couples next year. “Watch this space,” he said.

Mr Cameron insisted that the Government would extradite foreign criminals posing a risk to Britain. “The first part of my job is keeping the country safe and you’re not safe if you have people who are threatening your country who you cannot either monitor [or deport],” he said.

He also said his proposals for fixed-term parliaments that could be dissolved only if 55 per cent of MPs voted in favour were right. He said he had “yet to hear a better answer” as to how set parliaments could be secured.

Mr Cameron also refused to back down in his battle with his own backbenchers, saying the 1922 Committee “wasn’t really working terribly well” and meetings were often “very thinly attended”. But he admitted that he would have to engage far more with his own MPs if the coalition government was to succeed.

He said he intended to holiday with his family this summer and was happy for Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader and Deputy Prime Minister, to run the country in his absence.

His comments came amid growing turmoil on financial markets over fears about the prospects for the euro as several European countries struggled with large debts.

During meetings yesterday with President Nicolas Sarkozy and Chancellor Angela Merkel, Mr Cameron ruled out British taxpayers helping in a eurozone bail-out.

He also risked a diplomatic row by pledging to veto any treaty giving the European Union more powers to deal with the euro crisis.

David Laws: £6bn cuts will usher in 'age of austerity'

Natalie Gentle has also been banned from pole dancing, lap dancing and being drunk in public.

She faces up to five years in prison if she breaches the interim Anti-Social Behaviour Order (Asbo).
The council claimed Miss Gentle, 28, from Plymouth, had caused "a great deal of harassment, alarm and distress" to people living nearby. It alleged she had been funding a drug habit through prostitution at her home.

At least one family, it was alleged, had been moved into emergency housing, while others were said to have suffered ill-health.

Miss Gentle appeared before the city’s magistrates on Thursday in advance of a hearing in July, when Plymouth City Council will seek to gain a full Asbo against her.

Her lawyer, David Teague, told the court she denied the allegations. "She does not accept behaving in the ways described," he said.

Miss Gentle will argue her case at the two-day hearing, beginning on July 22.

Until then, she is not allowed any male visitors, except her two brothers and emergency services personnel, between 10pm and 6am.

She is also banned from being found drunk or under the influence of drugs anywhere in Plymouth.

The interim Asbo further prevents Miss Gentle from causing any noise or disturbance to her neighbours through loud music, shouting or arguing.

She is also prohibited from using abusive words or language towards anyone in the city.

Dylan Sadler, prosecuting for the council, told magistrates police supported the council in its attempt to keep the case public, after the defence tried to prevent details from being published.

ASBO bans woman from lap dancing, pole dancing and prostitution

Natalie Gentle has also been banned from pole dancing, lap dancing and being drunk in public.

She faces up to five years in prison if she breaches the interim Anti-Social Behaviour Order (Asbo).
The council claimed Miss Gentle, 28, from Plymouth, had caused "a great deal of harassment, alarm and distress" to people living nearby. It alleged she had been funding a drug habit through prostitution at her home.

At least one family, it was alleged, had been moved into emergency housing, while others were said to have suffered ill-health.

Miss Gentle appeared before the city’s magistrates on Thursday in advance of a hearing in July, when Plymouth City Council will seek to gain a full Asbo against her.

Her lawyer, David Teague, told the court she denied the allegations. "She does not accept behaving in the ways described," he said.

Miss Gentle will argue her case at the two-day hearing, beginning on July 22.

Until then, she is not allowed any male visitors, except her two brothers and emergency services personnel, between 10pm and 6am.

She is also banned from being found drunk or under the influence of drugs anywhere in Plymouth.

The interim Asbo further prevents Miss Gentle from causing any noise or disturbance to her neighbours through loud music, shouting or arguing.

She is also prohibited from using abusive words or language towards anyone in the city.

Dylan Sadler, prosecuting for the council, told magistrates police supported the council in its attempt to keep the case public, after the defence tried to prevent details from being published.

British family shot dead in Pakistan

Three people, believed to be two parents and their child, from Nelson, Lancs died in the incident that took place in the early hours of Thursday morning.

A spokesman for Lancashire police said: "We were informed that an incident had taken place in Pakistan.
"We are currently liaising with authorities in Pakistan.

"We have also made contact with family in Nelson regarding the incident."

A foreign office spokesman confirmed that the incident had taken place in a village in the district of Gujrat in north east Pakistan. They did not give further details about the family.

US warns Pakistani leaders their children could be terrorists

A "clear, if carefully worded warning" has been delivered by US officials after it was discovered that Faisal Shahzad, the man behind the recent failed attack on Times Square was the son of a retired Pakistani air marshal.

The father is one of Pakistan's most accomplished pilots and flight instructors and was stationed overseas in Britain and Saudi Arabia.
"We've got elements of the Pakistani gentry - people who can get in and out of the United States with ease, if they're not already citizens here-who are getting roped into terrorism," a US official said.

It is understood the message was delivered last week when James Jones, the National Security Adviser, and Leon Panetta, the CIA director, met their counterparts in Pakistan.

The US has for years suspected that elements of the Pakistani military and intelligence service are connected to terror groups. It has publicly warned Pakistan of severe consequences if Pakistani terrorists attempt to strike America again.

The home-made car bomb which failed to detonate on May 1 at busiest time of day in New York's theatre district could have wreaked heavy damage.

Another confessed bomb plotter, David Headley, is the son of a retired senior Pakistani diplomat who may have served at the Pakistani embassy in Washington. His late mother was American but he changed his name to Daood Gilani to make crossing international borders easier. His half brother is spokesman for the prime minister of Pakistan.

Headley is facing a life sentence after admitting his involvement both in the 2008 terrorist attacks in downtown Mumbai and in a foiled plot to attack the Danish newspaper that stoked a global controversy by publishing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in 2005.

Teresita Schaffer, a retired American diplomat who worked in Pakistan, said the sons of the privileged had been involved in terror since the inception of al-Qaeda, whose leaders are from wealthy backgrounds.

"The thread running through this is that the leaders who build bombs and direct operations are not poor and down trodden. I don't think being child of privilege a military officer predisposes anyone to terrorism, but it certainly doesn't immunise.

US officials are investigating reports that a Pakistani army major was arrested this week in Pakistan on the suspicion of involvement in the Times Square plot.

Shahzad, who lost his job and then his house in the run up to the New York attack, is still talking to investigators and made his first court appearance this week. He has yet to enter a plea.

British family killed in Pakistan in revenge killing

Mohammad, Yousaf, 51, his wife Pervaze, 49, and their 22-year-old daughter Tania from Nelson, Lancashire, were in the country to attend a family wedding when they were shot dead by five armed men.

It is understood they were targeted by members of their own extended family when a bitter feud which had been rumbling spilled over into violence.
Police sources in Pakistan said they thought the attackers were led by Khusheed Arif, who was enraged after learning his sister Nabeela was being divorced by Mr Yousuf’s son Kamar.

The couple, who were cousins, married around 10-years ago and had two daughters, nine-month old Harris and three-year-old Arien. They separated recently and had attended court earlier this month to finalise their divorce.

A close friend of the family, Councillor Mohammed Sakib, condemned the murder as a cold blooded "honour killing".

He said: “I know the family well, the parents are nice people. This incident wasn't just murder, it was an honour issue.”

However, Pakistani legal experts insisted it did not constitute an honour killing as divorce was not prohibited within the traditional system which is regarded as law in several rural provinces.

The honour system, which is based on the eye for an eye principle, is often used to settle punishments for adultery, elopments and rapes.

Eileen Ansar, who is married to Mr Yousaf's cousin Mohammed, said the split between the couple's son and his wife had caused tensions within the family.

She said: “There have been tensions since the son and girl separated but the father treated her like his own daughter.

“He looked after the girl, kept her at his home. She is his sister's daughter but he treated her like his own daughter, he loved her and respected her as his own daughter.”

She added: “It is an absolute tragedy. You could not meet nicer people, they never did harm to anyone. It has destroyed the family.”

Two of the gunmen were arrested shortly after the attack but three others were still being hunted last night.

The Yousaf family had travelled to Pakistan to attend the wedding of one of their other sons, 24-year-old Asad, and had stayed on in the country to enjoy a holiday.

After visiting relatives they had stopped at a graveyard to pray when they were ambushed by the armed gang.

The gunmen, who were all believed to be brothers, shot Mr and Mrs Yousaf with Kalashnikov rifles, before dragging Tania from the family’s car and killing her.

Yesterday blood was smeared across one of the low, marble tombstones at the scene.

In Nelson friends and neighbours of the family expressed their shock and outrage at the killings.

Family friend Mohammed Iqbal, who sits on Pendle Borough Council and Lancashire County Council, said: "Everybody is shocked. It was a family dispute that obviously went horribly wrong."

He said two of Mr Yousaf's sons had returned early to Lancashire from Pakistan but had flown back to the country after being told of the deaths.

He said: "They went for a wedding and a holiday and they are now having to bury members of their family."

Tania, who was also married with two young boys, had worked as a clerical assistant at business solutions firm Liberata in Nelson.

She had been granted a month’s leave and was due to return to work next week.

Her manager Wendy Smith, said: "Tania was a hard-working and conscientious member of the team who was always happy and one of the nicest people we have ever met. She had a lovely sense of humour and was always a team player.

"We are extremely shocked by this and our deepest sympathies go out to the family. She will be very sadly missed."

A Facebook tribute page which was set up by friends had hundreds of messages of condolence last night.

Pendle MP Andrew Stephenson addressed the hundreds of men who came to pay their respects at Brunswick Street Mosque, Nelson for Friday prayers.

The Conservative MP assured those gathered that British and Pakistani authorities were liaising together to ensure the protection of the remaining family members.

Thailand crisis: where tourists stand

British holidaymakers are unlikely to receive a refund if they cancel holidays to Thailand due to the escalation of violence in the country, it emerged this week.
Tour operators maintain that holidays to Thailand, with the exception of those involving stays in Bangkok or Chiang Mai, will continue despite a strengthening of Foreign Office advice.

Following the violence that has spread across the country after a crackdown on anti-government protesters, the Foreign Office warned against all travel to Bangkok and any non-essential travel to Chiang Mai. It had previously warned against all but essential travel to the Bangkok, but reviewed its advice amid clashes in which 1,800 people have been injured and dozens killed. It is currently advising any Britons in the Thai capital to stay indoors and to monitor local media or its travel advice. Those elsewhere in Thailand were advised "wherever possible" to take transport services which do not involve transiting Bangkok. The city's Suvarnabhumi airport was operating as normal, and it was safe to transfer from Bangkok airports by road or air to other destinations.

A spokeswoman for Kuoni said that it was contacting tourists due to stay in Chiang Mai or Bangkok in the coming weeks to offer alternative itineraries within Thailand or further afield. All holidays to other parts of Thailand will operate as normal.

"If customers are due to travel to Bangkok or Chiang Mai within the next seven days, they can amend free of charge to alternative destinations, subject to availability," she said. "Any additional cost more than the value of the original holiday will be passed on to customers."

A spokeswoman for Abta, the travel association, said that those disinclined to travel would be considered on a case-by-case basis but should contact their operator as soon as possible.

Airlines confirmed that flights to Bangkok were operating as normal, but several carriers amended their policies. British Airways and Emirates were allowing anyone due to travel to the country to rebook to the same destination up until June 30. British Airways was also allowing passengers to switch their flights to an alternative destination, up to the price of the original ticket. Passengers now in Thailand have the chance to rebook on the next available flight home. Emirates said it would refund tickets to Bangkok if passengers cancel.

Intrepid, which offers group tours throughout Thailand, has cancelled its trips up to May 31.

Kongkrish Hiranyakij, chairman of the Federation of Thai Tourism Industries, estimates that foreign visitors may fall by 20 per cent in the next six months at cost of 120 billion baht (£2.6 billion) to the economy.

The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) has been trying to assure tourists that it is still safe to travel to Thailand. "The major part of Bangkok remains open for tourists and business travellers, with hotels, shops and tourist sites open for business," said Greg Duffell, PATA's chief executive. "The popular tourist resorts such as Phuket, Koh Samui, Krabi and Pattaya are unaffected".

* The Thai Government has extended its curfew (from 9pm to 5am) until Sunday morning in Bangkok and the 23 other provinces where a state of emergency is in place: Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani, Nakhon Pathom, Ayutthaya, Chon Buri, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Lampang, Nakhon Sawan, Nan, Khon Kaen, Udon Thani, Chaiyaphum, Nakhom Ratchasima, Si Saket, Ubon Ratchathani, Nong Bua Lumphu, Mahasarakham, Roi Et, Sakhon Nakhon, Kalasin, Muk Da Han and Samutprakarn...

Cannes Film Festival 2010: Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives,

It’s barely a film; more a floating world. To watch it is to feel many things – balmed, seduced, amused, mystified. It’s to feel that one is encountering a distinctive metaphysics far removed from that on display in most contemporary cinema. Weerasethakul has not only drawn on the themes, landscapes and mood-states he tapped in Blissfully Yours, Tropical Malady and Syndromes And A Century, films that extended the imaginative and emotional grammar of arthouse cinema over the last decade; he has refined them to create his most accessible and most enchanted film to date.
Uncle Boonmee (Thanapat Saisaymar) is dying of kidney failure and has retired to the countryside in North-East Thailand to see out his days in the company of his loved ones. When he’s not receiving medical attention, he tends to his bees and gazes out at the lush nature that surrounds him.

One evening, as he’s dining with his family, his wife Huay (Natthakarn Aphaiwonk), who died fourteen years before, appears at the table. So does, a strange-looking simian whose eyes resemble red lasers: he is, albeit in the form of a Monkey Ghost, Boonmee’s long-lost son. And so begins a conversation, laden with joy and sadness, drifting into the night, in which a man on the verge of dying questions his wife on what he might find in the afterworld – and, if he will find her there too.

Later, he will travel with his family through jungles and deep into a hilltop cave that he likens to a womb, and whose darkness is suddenly and spectacularly interrupted by walls that effulge rather like Roger Hiorns’s Seizure installation in a deserted South London council flat.

But this is a film that is only partly about journeys. The story that it tells isn’t dramatic, just as the world it evokes isn’t new; here, reincarnation, to say nothing of the division between humans and animals, is widely accepted. At points, it’s implied – an important word, for Weerasethakul is too sensitive and generous an artist to insist on single interpretations – that Boonmee may, in a previous life, have been a buffalo, or perhaps a catfish that in one of the film’s most bizarre and delicately handled scenes has sex with a disfigured princess by a sylvan waterfall.

There are many elements of this film that remain elusive and secretive. But that’s a large part of its appeal: Weerasethakul, without ever trading in stock images of Oriental inscrutability, successfully conveys the subtle but important other-worldliness of this part of Thailand. He doesn’t have to take recourse in fantasy; there are frequent allusions to battles fought against Communism in the region, as well as the arrival there of many migrants from Laos and Cambodia.

In this respect, given the bloody battles in Bangkok over the last few weeks, it’s tempting to see the red-eyed Monkey Ghost as a distant antecedent of the (class- rather than rural-conscious) Red Shirt protestors (many of whom come from the North East of the country).

Those Monkey Ghosts are described as “past people”, but they’re past people in the same way as ghosts: they still have the power to attach themselves to the present, to make an impact. In spite of constantly being tracked and chased by hunters, they grow in number towards the end of the film: they are part rumour, part multitude, utopian possibility. They symbolize – just as the Red Shirt protestors fight to keep aflame - an alternative vision of the present and of the future in that anxious nation.

Mostly though, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives is a film about what it means to take care of others, and of the importance of caring and of being cared for. And it’s a film, in its meticulous attention to sound design, its exquisite cinematography, and the patience with which it unfolds, morphs and insinuates itself in our imaginations, that, I hope upon hope, the selection committee of the Palme d’Or will care for as much as I do.