Football ace Linekar wants Gandhi statue in Leicester

Former England football ace Gary Linekar has lent his support for the installation of a statue of Mahatma Gandhi in his home city of Leicester which has a large Asian population. A section of people in the city, located about 100 km from here, have opposed the move to install a statue of Gandhi and has instead favoured Linekar or any other local hero. In a letter written to Keith Vaz, MP, Linekar, who is now a popular football and TV presenter, said he agreed that the ethnic diversity of Leicester should be "celebrated" and that Gandhi's philosophy of brotherhood amongst different religions and ethnicity should be honoured. Such diversity should be supported with public acknowledgment. The statue will come at no extra cost to the tax payer as private funding has already been secured, Vaz, who is leading the campaign to celebrate the religious and ethnic diversity of the City of Leicester, said on Friday. Leicester is predicted to be Britain's' first white minority city in 12 years. Vaz said a statue of Mahatma Gandhi would be an excellent symbol of the leader's and the city's commitment to diversity. In his letter, Linekar said: "As far as a statue of me is concerned, frankly I think that is best left to other people to decide. "Clearly the cost of such a statue will be a factor and perhaps the extra materials required for my ears would make the statue too expensive!”. Linekar is frequently teased on television for his "bigger than normal" ears.

Pentagon bans Google map-makers

The US defence department has banned the giant internet search engine Google from filming inside and making detailed studies of US military bases.
Close-up, ground-level imagery of US military sites posed a "potential threat" to security, it said.
The move follows the discovery of images of the Fort Sam Houston army base in Texas on Google Maps.
A Google spokesman said that where the US military had expressed concerns, images had been removed.
Google has now been barred from filming and conducting detailed studies of bases, following the discovery of detailed, three-dimensional panoramas online - and in particular, views of the Texan base.
"Images include 360-degree views of the covered area to include access control points, barriers, headquarters, facilities and community areas," said the defence department in a statement quoted by AFP news agency.
It said such detailed mapping could pose a threat.
Google spokesman Larry Yu said the decision by a Google team to enter the Texas base, which is in San Antonio, and undertake a detailed survey, had been "a mistake".
He told the BBC that it was "not our policy to request access to military installations, but in this instance the operator of the vehicle with the camera on top - which is how we go about capturing imagery for Street-View - requested permission to access a military installation, was given access, and after learning of the incident we quickly removed the imagery".
Individuals and governments
Military officials are currently looking into exactly what imagery is available - though it may not be able to order its removal if images are taken from public streets.
Among the popular mapping services offered by Google are Street View, which allows web users to "drive" along virtual US landscapes with ground-level views, and Google Earth, which offers detailed satellite and 3D images of locations around the world.
In this case, it was imagery offered on Street View that caused the concern.
But both have provoked complaints - from individuals depicted in the images and from governments concerned that satellite images could compromise security.
Gary Ross, a spokesman for the US Northern Command, told AFP that although such services could be useful, "there has to be a balance".
But Mr Yu said Google would listen to concerns about privacy and security.
"We try to have a compliant image removal policy - not only relative to the military but to consumers also," said Mr Yu. "If people have concerns, they should contact us."

Link BBC News

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