Video: Anarchist violence in City of London ahead of G20 Summit April 1st 2009

Video:The BBC's Andrew Marr interviews the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ahead of the G20 summit in London-29/3/09

Only one in eight Russians may believe he is in charge but President Dmitry Medvedev presides over a nuclear arsenal and one of the biggest reserves of natural fuel in the world, and he is increasingly media-savvy as the BBC's Andrew Marr found out.

The crunch of snow underfoot, a brisk cold wind blowing through the birch forests and, at last, a single black official car sweeping up the drive.

President Dmitry Medvedev is reckoned by most Russians polled to be much less important than his mentor Vladimir Putin - the former president and currently prime minister.

But when he arrives, he feels important - the leather-jacketed security men snapping into activity. At this official dacha outside Moscow, the mood is suddenly urgent.

It is a curious situation. I am greeting him at his own official residence, a gothic Germanic castle dating from the 1880s.


Russia says it is working on plans as well for a new European security treaty
Once, the Czar came here.

Now it is in the middle of an area colonised by super-rich Russians - the road junction has a "Luxury Village" sign and adverts on the road here are all for Rolex, Gucci and condos in the US.

But here, Barvikha, is where President Medvedev receives foreign visitors. He has not done extended interviews like this before - we are very privileged.

He bounds out, smiling, and thrusts a buff coloured folder at me. My FSB file?

No - phew! - just the Wikipedia file on another Marr, this one a philologist from the Stalin era, who tried to apply the principles of class struggle to the development of language..........Continue at BBC

The Jarrow Song sung by Alan Price commemorating The Jarrow March of 1936

The Jarrow March (or Jarrow Crusade) was a protest march, which took place in 1936. The protestors were marching against poverty and unemployment, which had ravaged North Eastern England. The 200 marchers travelled from the town of Jarrow to the Palace of Westminster in London. This was a distance of almost 300 miles. They lobbied Parliament. Their MP, Ellen Wilkinson walked with them. She was known as 'Red Ellen'.

England-Miracle Brain Operation Baby has seven operations

SkyNews reports

A two-week-old baby girl is thought to have become the world's youngest patient to undergo brain tumour surgery...Madison Quartarone was born with the large benign tumour in her head.

She was taken to London's Great Ormond Street Hospital when she was just one week old.

And after seven operations, she was allowed home to spend Christmas with her parents in Bedford...
Doctors said if left untreated, the tumour would have killed Madison within a few weeks.

Olympic Flame Arrives in San Francisco -Huge protests anticipated

Tibetan activists have been protesting outside San Francisco City Hall since the crackdown in Tibetan areas began in mid-March. On Monday, three members of Students for a Free Tibet scaled the Golden Gate Bridge to unfurl banners. On April 1, having been pressurised by human rights groups, city authorities released details of the torch route and the mayor publicly assured protesters that they would have access along the entire route. Hopefully as many people as possible will come out to vent their spleen at the jackboot tactics of the Chinese authorities in Tibet. Indeed Darfur and human rights abuses in China itself must not be forgotten

"Just because we have a very large Chinese population in San Francisco doesn't mean we support actions abuses committed by the Chinese government," San Francisco Board of Supervisors Member Chris Daly has said. The torch relay has triggered protests in previous host cities, including Athens London, and Paris. The next city stops are Buenos Aires and Dar es Salaam.

Kevin Rudd, the newly elected Australian Prime Minister has shown moral leadership by warning that he would not allow Chinese officials to provide their own security for the Olympic torch when it is carried through Canberra this month.
Mr Rudd referred to the outrageous behaviour of Chinese Olympic officials who were involved in unsavoury clashes with demonstrators in London and Paris- “All security, repeat all security, is provided by Australians,” he told The Times during a visit to London.

The Olympic torch is due to be carried through Canberra on April 24. As many Australians as possible must come out to show solidarity with Tibetans and Darfurians.