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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/629/629/6748859.stm | At 79, Alan Sillitoe, author of the ground-breaking 1950s novel Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, is an unrepentant smoker. He has smoked every day since he was a 14-year-old factory boy.
With the ban on smoking in pubs in England little more than two weeks away, Sillitoe reflects on a life steeped in tobacco, and recalls an era before health concerns dominated, when it seemed "everybody smoked".
Current photographs by Phil Coomes; archive pictures from Getty; audio by Denise Winterman. Slideshow produced by Tom Housden.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/5349186.stm | Click's regular feedback slot allows you to have your say on issues mentioned in the programme and other technology matters.
Your emails have continued to roll in, in the past week. James Mobbs got in touch to recommend a video which has turned up on YouTube, and it really is fascinating.
Imagine what would happen if you took a photo of yourself everyday for six years.
That is exactly what Noah Kalina has done. He is a New York photographer, and his video called Everyday is just a hypnotic watch.
Okay, he does not go from baby to old man, but you really can see him age, and we love the way he has managed to keep his eyes in the same place in every snap.
Another kind of Google
You may remember a couple of weeks back that Google issued instructions to all media on the correct use of its name, "in order to protect its trademark".
Apparently, we're not allowed to say "I googled it", we have to say "I conducted a Google search on it".
We can only assume the Google PR people did not think it had received enough press coverage that week.
You may also remember that we pointed out that people have actually been googling for decades - it is a cricketing term.
And it turns out, the Google was also something a lot more sinister.
Vincent Cartwright Vickers wrote The Google Book in 1913, and it seems to be some kind of children's monster book.
The Google itself probably looked like the image on the right. Mr Vicker's granddaughter Deborah has kindly sent us these scans of the book. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/04/business_first_time_homebuyers_in_beijing/html/7.stm | Lucy reckons furniture, kitchen and electrical goods will cost from 40,000 to 60,000 yuan.
Luckily her boss understands why she is distracted. "He has just finished the decoration of his new home."
Home loans are new in China so borrowers like Lucy have never had to cope with interest rate risk.
But recently the government has said rates may need to rise.
"They will be really cautious...because it's a concern to everyone". |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10396861 | TV star Declan Donnelly misses England World Cup goal
TV star Declan Donnelly was among hundreds of football fans in London who missed England's all-important World Cup goal after a power cut.
The outage, which began at 1520 BST, affected thousands of homes in west London, said energy firm EDF.
"We were watching the game in a pub in Kew," Donnelly told the BBC News website. "One minute before the goal, the power went."
"We got a text from a mate in Swindon, who told us about the goal," he added.
The 34-year-old, who sang England's 2002 World Cup song We're On The Ball, said he and his friends "rushed out into the street and listened to the rest of the first half on car radios".
Jermain Defoe scored England's only goal, 22 minutes into the match against Slovenia in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
It gave Fabio Capello's side the three points they required to avoid an early exit from the tournament.
Although Donnelly - best known for his TV partnership with Anthony McPartlin - made it back to his production office in Chiswick for the second half, the rest of the match proved lacklustre.
"It felt like another part of following England in this World Cup," said the star, philosophically.
"It's just another part of supporting the team against all the odds.
"I suppose it's par for the course, really." |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-21374047 | Florence producer Paul Epworth scoops Brit prize
Paul Epworth has been named producer of the year at the Music Producers Guild (MPG) Awards, automatically earning him a Brit Award for best producer.
The award came in recognition of his work on Florence and the Machine's second album, Ceremonials.
Singer Florence Welch praised his lack of "fear or compromise", saying Epworth had given her music "a singular sound".
The London ceremony also saw the Beatles' producer Sir George Martin win an outstanding contribution prize.
End Quote Sir George Martin
It's a very nice award. Some awards are really crap, but this is a nice one”
Fellow Beatles cohort Glyn Johns, who worked on the troubled Get Back sessions before producing the Eagles, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan, received the inspiration award.
He choked back tears as he accepted the prize from Rolling Stone Bill Wyman.
"I don't know why," he told the BBC later. "I suppose being recognised by your peers is something you always strive to achieve. And to come here tonight and receive this is an emotional thing."
Icelandic singer Bjork also won the innovation award for her avant-garde approach to recording techniques and experiments with interactive music.Standing ovation
Sir George's lifetime achievement award was not only for his work with the Beatles, but for recordings he produced for America, Cilla Black, Celine Dion, and Ultravox, not to mention his comedy albums with Peter Sellers, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.
The prize came almost 50 years to the day since he produced the Beatles' first album, Please Please Me, in a single 10-hour session at Abbey Road Studios.
In a video message, Sir Paul McCartney called the 87-year-old "a great, great guy".
"Thank you for all the great times, and I hope there's many more," he added.
The audience gave the producer a minute-long standing ovation before allowing him to make a speech, which displayed his distinctive modesty and wit.
"I'm so thrilled by this," he began, "because I never thought I'd get any more awards."
"I didn't even think you gave awards to 80-year-olds... and I've been out of work for a few years."
Like all of the evening's winners, his prize came in the form of a gold-plated Shure microphone - commonly known as the "Elvis microphone".
Sir George told the BBC: "It's a very nice award. Some awards are really crap, but this is a nice one.
"I have one little space on the mantelpiece that's still vacant, so this'll do it."'Constantly inspiring'
Epworth, whose list of clients includes U2, Plan B, Cee-Lo, and Primal Scream, won the producer of the year award in 2010, after co-producing Florence and the Machine's debut album, Lungs.
He was subsequently invited to oversee the whole of Ceremonials. Welch said he had been "the only producer I wanted to work with".
"His innovation and passion are constantly inspiring," she added, "and I am grateful to have worked with him on an album that I am so proud of."
Ceremonials, which included the hit singles Shake It Out and Spectrum, was also named album of the year at the MPG ceremony, which was hosted by BBC 6 Music's Lauren Laverne.
Epworth said he was "very humbled" by the recognition. He said his relationship with Florence worked because "I'm probably as eccentric as she is."
The 38-year-old could add another trophy to his cabinet at the Oscars this month - where Skyfall, the James Bond theme he wrote with Adele, is up for best song. |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-20922038 | Belfast flags trouble: Matt Baggott in warning to rioters
Northern Ireland's chief constable Matt Baggott has warned that police will "deal firmly" with outbreaks of violence linked to union flag protests.
On Saturday, police came under attack in east Belfast for the third night running.
Since protests began over the decision to fly the union flag at Belfast City Hall only on designated days, 52 police officers have been injured.
Police said they fired plastic bullets three times during Saturday's violence.
Water cannon was also used as officers came under attack from over 100 people, throwing petrol bombs, stones and fireworks. One officer was injured.
Seven of eight people arrested in east Belfast have been charged with riotous behaviour. They appeared at a special sitting of Belfast Magistrates Court on Sunday.
"I want to commend the tireless courage of my officers at this very difficult time," Chief Constable Matt Baggott said.
"You may be assured there will be sufficient resources in the event of more disorder for however long is necessary.
"The police service will continue to do everything possible to maintain law and order and we will deal firmly with outbreaks of violence."
Church leaders, local politicians and community workers met for more than three hours on Sunday to discuss the recent violence
However, Robin Newton, of the Democratic Unionist Party, said a lack of engagement from protest organisers was making it difficult to see an end to the unrest.
"We have to find a way out of this, but how we do it, I don't know," he said.
Police Supt Paula Hillman said officers were being subjected to "sustained, serious, violence".
"They are being attacked with petrol bombs, masonry, and bricks," she said.
"Lasers are also being used against police officers and those in the police helicopter.
"We're sending out a very clear message to people - we respect people's rights to peaceful protest but if you are going to engage in violence, we will robustly apprehend those either by arresting them at the time or as a result of subsequent follow-up investigations and bring those people before the courts."
On Saturday afternoon, a 38-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after shots were reportedly fired at police.
During the day, a protest took place in the city centre over Belfast council's decision to only fly the union flag on designated days.
Up to 1,000 loyalists demonstrated outside Belfast City Hall.
Police said they later dealt with public disorder in a number of locations including Templemore Avenue and the Albertbridge Road.
Bricks, bottles, fireworks and smoke canisters were thrown by the rioters on the Lower Newtownards Road.
One officer was injured, but did not require hospital treatment.
The chairman of the Police Federation, Terry Spence, said the police were being severely stretched by the disorder and by ongoing dissident republican activity.
"At the time of the inception of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, we had 12,500 full-time officers and we were backed up, at that stage, by 13,000 troops," Mr Spence said.
"Now we have 7,000 full-time officers and there is no military support or back-up and yet the threat level is worse and much more severe than it was 10 years ago.
"That has placed enormous strain and pressure on the officers of the PSNI."
Some loyalists claimed Saturday's trouble was sparked when they were attacked by republicans from the Short Strand area.Third night
It was the third consecutive night that police have been attacked in Belfast.
Nineteen officers have been injured since Thursday and 27 people arrested.
Thirteen people appeared at a special sitting of Belfast Magistrates Court on Saturday night charged in connection with the recent rioting in east Belfast.
Eleven men and one woman were remanded in custody. One woman was released on bail to attend a hospital appointment.
The special two-hour sitting was before Judge George Connor.
A campaign of street demonstrations has been ongoing since Belfast City Council took a vote on 3 December which limited the number of days the union flag is flown at Belfast City Hall.
Since then 70 people have been arrested, 45 of whom have been charged with public order offences. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/uk/2002/new_year_honours/1730228.stm | Honours creating new Privy Counsellors, Knights Bachelor and the Order of the Companion of Honour, among other awards.
Patrick John Armstrong, CBE. For services to the Police. (London)
John Lionel Beckwith, CBE. For services to Youth Sport. (London, SW1X)
Albert Bore. Leader, Birmingham City Council. For services to Local Government. (Birmingham,
Professor Richard John Brook, OBE. Formerly chief executive, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. For services to Science and Engineering. (Oxford, Oxfordshire)
Michael Sydney Buckley. Parliamentary commissioner for Administration and Health Service
commissioner for England, Wales and Scotland. (Kent)
Anthony Thomas Burden, QPM. Chief Constable, South Wales Police. For services to the Police.
de Vic Graham Carey. Bailiff of Guernsey. For services to the Crown. (Guernsey, Channel
Professor Graeme Robertson Dawson Catto. For services to Medicine and to Medical Education.
Timothy Peter Plint Clifford. Director-General, National Galleries of Scotland. For services
to the Arts. (East Lothian)
Professor Ronald Urwick Cooke. Vice-Chancellor, University of York. For services to Higher
Education. (York, North Yorkshire)
Professor Bernard Crick. For services to Citizenship in Schools and to Political Studies.
Professor Liam Joseph Donaldson. Chief Medical Officer for England, Department of Health.
Charles Brandon Gough. Formerly chairman, Review Body on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration.
For public service. (Sevenoaks, Kent)
Nicholas Thomas Grimshaw, CBE. For services to Architecture. (London, NW1)
Iain Robert Hall. Headteacher, Parrs Wood Technology College, Manchester. For services to
Education. (Warrington, Greater Manchester)
Professor Gabriel Horn, FRS. For services to Neurobiology and to the Advancement of
Scientific Research. (Cambridge, Cambridgeshire)
Professor Ian McColl Kennedy. For services to Bioethics and to Medical Law. (London, NW5)
Ben Kingsley. Actor. For services to Drama. (Oxfordshire)
Terence Patrick Leahy. Chief executive, Tesco plc. For services to Food Retailing. (Cheshunt,
Professor Alistair George James MacFarlane, CBE, FRS. Rector, UHI Millennium Institute. For services to Education. (Muir of Ord, Ross and Cromarty)
Graham John Melmoth. Chief executive, Co-operative Group Ltd. For services to the Retail
Industry. (Macclesfield, Cheshire)
Edward Benjamin Crofton Osmotherly, CB. Formerly chairman, Commission for Local Administration in England. For services to Local Government. (London, N10)
Alan William Parker, CBE. Film director and chairman, Film Council. For services to the Film
Industry. (London, SW3)
Robin Keith Saxby. Executive chairman, ARM Holdings plc. For services to the Information
Technology Industry. (Wooburn Green, Buckinghamshire)
Professor Martin Nicholas Sweeting, OBE, FRS. Chief executive, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, and director, Surrey Space Centre. For services to Microsatellite Engineering.
Jimmy Leslie Ronald Young, CBE. For services to Radio Broadcasting. (London)
ORDER OF THE BATH
Edward George Caldwell, CB. First Parliamentary Counsel, Parliamentary Counsel Office.
John Michael Davies. Clerk of the Parliaments, House of Lords. (London)
Kevin Reginald Tebbit, CMG. Permanent secretary, Ministry of Defence. (London)
Ian David Fauset. Executive director, Defence Procurement Agency, Ministry of Defence. (Bath,
Timothy James Flesher. Deputy chairman, HM Board of Inland Revenue. (Aldershot, Hampshire)
Jeremy John Heywood. Principal private secretary to the Prime Minister. (London)
Roger de Lacy Holmes. Chief executive and Deputy Master, Royal Mint. (York, North Yorkshire)
Jeffrey Jacobs. Executive director, Policy and Partnerships, Greater London Authority.
Nicholas James Kroll. Corporate Services director, Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
Richard Hill Mackenzie. For public service. (Belfast)
Ian Bernard Vaughan Magee. Chief executive, Court Service, Lord Chancellor's Department. (St
Raymond Noel McAfee. Director, Regional Business Services, HM Board of Customs and Excise.
George Alexander McCorkell. Director, Pensions Change Programme, Department for Work and
Pensions. (Cleveleys, Lancashire)
Miss Kathryn Mary Stuart Morton. Solicitor and director general, Legal Services, Department
for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. (London)
Jonathan Page Spencer. Director general, Business Competitiveness, Department of Trade and
Industry. (Canterbury, Kent)
Brian Arthur Edward Taylor. Formerly director general, Civilian Personnel, Ministry of
Defence. (Richmond, Surrey)
ORDER OF ST MICHAEL AND ST GEORGE
Edward John Rankin Scott. Chairman, John Swire and Sons Ltd. For services to International
Trade. (London, SW1E)
ROYAL VICTORIAN ORDER
Rear Admiral Patrick Barton Rowe, CBE, LVO. Deputy Master and chairman of the Corporate Board
of the Corporation of Trinity House.
Lt Col Robert Christie Stewart, CBE, TD. Formerly Lord Lieutenant of Clackmannanshire.
Peter Scott Dunn, LVO. For veterinary services, the Royal Mews.
Arthur Michael Johnstone Galsworthy, CBE, DL. Formerly Member of The Prince's Council, Duchy
John Eric Handcock, LVO. Honorary secretary, The Prince Philip Trust Fund for the Royal
Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.
Malcolm Brian Johnston Kimmins. Trustee, Ascot Authority.
Christopher Hamilton Lloyd, LVO. Surveyor of The Queen's Pictures.
Mrs Kathrin Elizabeth Thomas, JP. Formerly chairman, The Prince's Trust--Cymru.
Col Greville Wyndham Tufnell. Lieutenant, The Queen's Body Guard of the Yeomen of the Guard.
Nicolas Clark Adamson, OBE. Private secretary to The Duke of Kent.
William Backhouse. Formerly Treasurer, The King's Fund.
Col Frederic Nicolas John Davies, JP, DL. Secretary for Appointments and chief Clerk, Duchy
Richard Laurence Day, MVO, RVM, JP. Chief Bookbinder, Royal Collection.
The Honourable Elizabeth Anne Crowther-Hunt. Formerly Executive director, The Prince's Trust.
Charles Maurice Petty-Fitzmaurice, The Marquis of Lansdowne. Formerly Member of The Prince's
Council, Duchy of Cornwall.
James Oliver McDonald, MBE. Formerly vice-chairman, Northern Ireland Council, The Prince's
Jonathan Spencer, MVO. Deputy Comptroller, Lord Chamberlain's Office. (Canterbury, Kent)
Michael Stevens. Finance director, Royal Collection.
Douglas Leonard Warner. For surveying services, Sandringham House.
Miss Bridget Anne Wright, MVO. Bibliographer, Royal Library.
Lt Col David Mitchell Anderson, OBE. Superintendent, Palace of Holyroodhouse.
Sgt Paul Leon Bazire. Royalty Protection Department, Metropolitan Police.
John Dobson. Head Forester, Balmoral Estate.
Mrs Hazel Duddy. Formerly head of the Royal Households Secretariat, Foreign and Commonwealth
Caroline Claire, Comtesse de Guitauat. Assistant to the director of the Royal Collection and
David Simon Hutson. Archivist to the Household of The Prince of Wales.
Michael Robertson Hyde. Finance director, Business in the Community.
Cyril Arthur Littlewood, MBE. Founder, the Young People's Trust for the Environment and
Miss Philippa Beris Leigh Norman. Chief Accountant, Royal Household.
Graham Paul Sharpe. Property manager, Windsor Castle.
Patrick William Avern Smart. Special liaison manager, Jaguar Cars Limited.
Douglas Stuart Wilson. Formerly Bursar, Cumberland Lodge.
ROYAL VICTORIAN MEDAL
RVM (Bar to the Royal Victorian Medal - Silver)
John Alan Brown, RVM. Tractor Driver, Sandringham Estate.
John Collings, RVM. Head Chauffeur to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.
David John Watts, RVM. Carpenter, Sandringham Estate.
Charles Victor Brewster. Manager, Stationery and Reprographic Unit, Royal Household.
Ernest Dennis. Chief Steward to the Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario.
Mrs Rosemarie Ethel Farnworth. Dresser to The Princess Royal.
Desmond Fitzgerald. Formerly Parks Worker, Crown Estate, Windsor.
Constable Robert Nicholas Grieve. Royalty Protection Department, Metropolitan Police.
Roderick Andrew Lane. Deputy head Bookbinder, Royal Collection.
Lindsay Henderson Masson. Estate Worker, Balmoral Estate.
Michael Zalec Rasser. For hairdressing services to The Princess Royal.
Edward Patrick Richards. Night Patrolman, Buckingham Palace.
Ronald Ernest Russell. Craft Welder, Crown Estate.
Anthony Michael Rutty. Formerly Chauffeur and General assistant, Sandringham Estate.
David Scrimgeour. Gamekeeper, Balmoral Estate.
Roy Stannett. Parks Worker, Crown Estate, Windsor.
Graham Bernard Sutherland, BEM. Yeoman of the Royal Cellars, Royal Household.
Michael John Andrew Wakeham. Gentleman of the Choir, The Queen's Chapel of the Savoy.
Timothy John Williams. Head Chauffeur to The Prince of Wales.
ORDER OF THE COMPANIONS OF HONOUR
Sir George William Langham Christie, DL. For services to Opera and to Glyndebourne. (Lewes, |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/8735072.stm | Kate Russell gives her latest selection of the best sites on the World Wide Web.
enables users to be found and contacted easily online without having to reveal their e-mail address.
Users who create a profile in this virtual contact book can also link to as much or as little of their online presence as they want.
There is no need to register in order to contact someone listed.
is a great app available for backing up and protecting most smartphones - the iPhone is excluded.
Once activated, GPS tracking will helps locate a lost phone and you can even ask the website to make your handset "scream". Great function, if you lose it down the back of the sofa.
As well as regular virus sweeps, all your phone's data will be automatically backed up online, so you can reinstate it to a new handset should the need arise.
RAINY MOOD (www.rainymood.com)
simply plays a 30 minute looped recording of a raging thunderstorm.
The site also suggests some rainy soundtracks to help you get a better night's sleep.
THE POTHOLE GARDENER (http://thepotholegardener.com)
The Pothole Gardener
is the home of a blogger who's been busy planting miniature gardens in potholes.
This guerrilla gardener got so fed up with running into potholes on his bicycle that he decided to make them into features, in the hope of making them more visible. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7389547.stm | Want to work in a shop? You may be vetted
Workers accused of theft or damage could soon find themselves blacklisted on a register to be shared among employers. It will be good for profits but campaigners say innocent people could find it impossible to get another job.
To critics it sounds like a scenario from some Orwellian nightmare.
An online database of workers accused of theft and dishonesty, regardless of whether they have been convicted of any crime, which bosses can access when vetting potential employees.
But this is no dystopian fantasy. Later this month, the National Staff Dismissal Register (NSDR) is expected to go live.
Organisers say that major companies including Harrods, Selfridges and Reed Managed Services have already signed up to the scheme. By the end of May they will be able to check whether candidates for jobs have faced allegations of stealing, forgery, fraud, damaging company property or causing a loss to their employers and suppliers.
Workers sacked for these offences will be included on the register, regardless of whether police had enough evidence to convict them. Also on the list will be employees who resigned before they could face disciplinary proceedings at work.
The project has attracted little publicity. But the BBC News website can reveal that trade unions and civil liberties campaigners are warning that it leaves workers vulnerable to the threat of false accusations.
TUC policy officer Hannah Reed says that while criminal activity in the workplace can never be condoned, she fears such a system is open to abuse.
WHAT WILL GET YOU ON IT
Theft or attempted theft of money, merchandise or
property from company, suppliers or customers
Falsification or forgery of documents
Fraudulently obtaining money, services or information
Damaging company property
"The TUC is seriously concerned that this register can only lead to people being shut out from the job market by an employer who falsely accuses them of misconduct or sacks them because they bear them a grudge. Individuals would be treated as criminals, even though the police have never been contacted.
"The Criminal Records Bureau was set up to assist employers to make safe appointments when recruiting staff to work with vulnerable groups. The CRB already provides appropriate and properly regulated protection for employers. Under the new register, an employee may not be aware they have been blacklisted or have any right to appeal."
James Welch, the legal director of human rights group Liberty, also says that he is concerned that the register does not offer sufficient redress to the falsely accused.
"This scheme appears to bypass existing laws which protect employees by limiting the circumstances when information about possible criminal activity can be shared with potential employers."
The register is an initiative of Action Against Business Crime (AABC), which was established as a joint venture between the Home Office and the British Retail Consortium "to set up and maintain business crime reduction partnerships". The Home Office says it stopped funding the scheme last year, having granted it almost £1m during its first three years. A Home Office spokeswoman says the register is a "commercial scheme" and it was not consulted.
Selfridges has signed up
Set up by Surrey-based firm Hicom Business Solutions, the database will allow employers to search for potential workers by name, address, date of birth, national insurance number and previous employer.
Records on individuals - accessible online via an encrypted password system - will be kept for a five-year period and can include photos.
Mike Schuck, chief executive of AABC, says that theft by members of staff costs the British economy billions of pounds each year and rejects the notion that the register is a blacklist.
He says that all participating companies will be obliged to abide by the Data Protection Act and that workers named on the database, maintained by AABC, will have the right to change their entries if they are inaccurate.
Should a dispute take place between an employee and an employer about whether an incident occurred, Mr Schuck adds, the worker will be able to appeal to the Information Commissioner's Office.
"We are limiting access to the database to employers who can comply with the Information Commissioner's employment practices code," he says. "We're not going to allow Mr Smith's hardware store. We're quite open about this. People will be told when they apply for jobs that they may be checked as part of the application process.
"Theft in the workplace hurts staff as much as employers because it puts everyone under suspicion."
Nonetheless, many workers may get a nasty surprise when old allegations return to haunt them when they next apply for a job.
Below is a selection of your comments.
This is appalling. I know of a girl falsely accused of stealing by an employer because she refused his advances. If this database goes live innocent folk like her could be blacklisted. This should be stopped now. Too many innocents could be caught up in it. only those convicted of dishonesty or assault on co-workers should be included. Innocent until proven guilty.
Carol Jay, Grangemouth, Scotland
At the age of 18 I was falsely accused of taking money from a till while working in a nightclub (and searched in front of my colleagues, but that was another matter). I left the job immediately after this incident feeling humiliated and disgusted. The idea that someone could use a false accusation like this (which, as anyone knows who works in retail or leisure knows is a common occurrence) against me in securing future employment is disgusting. Especially when a criminal record doesn't stop someone being employed. All it will do is leave more young people unemployed and feeling hopeless.
Surely this can't be allowed under the Data Protection Act. Putting the issues of ex-employers with a grudge, the implications for fraud are horrendous. How can employers disclose so many personal details about human beings without their permission. ID fraud is possible with much less information than is supposedly being put on this website; and presumably without the employees consent.
Stuart Hunter, Cambridge
You can ask they remove your details under the Data protection Act:
Right to prevent processing likely to cause damage or distress (1) Subject to subsection (2), an individual is entitled at any time by notice in writing to a data controller to require the data controller at the end of such period as is reasonable in the circumstances to cease, or not to begin, processing, or processing for a specified purpose or in a specified manner, any personal data in respect of which he is the data subject, on the ground that, for specified reasons -
(a) the processing of those data or their processing for that purpose or in that manner is causing or is likely to cause substantial damage or substantial distress to him or to another, and (b) that damage or distress is or would be unwarranted.
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply -
(a) in a case where any of the conditions in paragraphs 1 to 4 of Schedule 2 is met, or (b) in such other cases as may be prescribed by the Secretary of State by order.
(3) The data controller must within twenty-one days of receiving a notice under subsection (1) (¿the data subject notice¿) give the individual who gave it a written notice - (a) stating that he has complied or intends to comply with the data subject notice, or (b) stating his reasons for regarding the data subject notice as to any extent unjustified and the extent (if any) to which he has complied or intends to comply with it.
In a recent well publicised case, a shop manager for a large company was sacked for giving away a bunch of flowers that were due to be thrown away. She was accused of theft. There would be nothing stopping a company from blacklisting people for similar reasons, leaving the blacklisted with no redress. At the same time, we all know those employees responsible for huge thefts and loss making will seldom have their details added to any blacklist for the simple reason that the companies they have defrauded will not want the publicity it would attract.
John Bunnett, Swansea
This may have very unpredictable results. Only the police should have possession of this type of information. Already, completely innocent people get blacklisted by credit agencies for the wrong reasons. From an employers point of view, while I would like to know whether someone has been caught stealing during their previous employment, there's a simple way of checking, just call up the previous employer to see what they were like. That is after all what references are for in the first place.
Brian, Dublin, Ireland
This is crazy. It's bad enough that CRB checks (entirely sensible for working with children and vulnerable adults) have crept into virtually very job making the Rehabilitation of Offenders legislation a virtual waste of time. Now a private concern can cause misery by blacklisting someone over what can be very subjective views. The majority of employers are small firms. What is to stop an employer with a grudge, or an employer after a bust up with faults on both sides, just entering the ex-employee on the list and ruining their life? Yes, you can correct it, but by then the damage is done you've lost that job you were shortlisted for or spent months having CVs rejected before you knew why. Indeed, how will an employee get access to the database.
The concept is fine and will be a useful tool for employers with their suitability checks on would-be employees. BUT any individual suffering because of an incorrect/false entry on the database must have full redress - including the right to sue for defamation against the old employer, the AABC and Hicam Business Solutions.
John Andrews, London, England
I left a local council on entirely amicable grounds at the end of a temporary contract. However, one of the senior staff there obviously did not like me and despite handing I a glowing personal reference, when I was offered a job in another council and they contacted my past employer, the job offer was withdrawn because of comments made. A couple of years later, I was offered another job and that to was withdrawn at the last moment; because information had that had been received from somebody. Legal challenges got me nowhere. Sorry to delude people but this immoral practice already goes on, blacklist have been around for years, they are just not in the public domain. The CRB is an acceptable method of checking people's suitability; any other unregulated authority is immoral, will be open to abuse and should be outlawed.
Neal Underwood, Harrow
I own a retail business, I wouldn't employ anyone who has stolen from a previous employer or damaged the property of a previous work place. But what happens if one of my existing staff turns up on the data base? Is that grounds for a sacking?
Steve, Stockport, Cheshire, England
About time employers had a means to see if a prospective employee is worthy of employment. A bit miffed as to why something like this hasn't happened until now. If someone says that they feel like they're being treated like a criminal then that is more than likely because that they are in fact, really are a criminal. Now, all we need is something just like this but in regards to illegal migrants and the means to report those attempts an illegal migrant makes to gain employment. Big brother state? I'm all for that as at the end of the day, it makes society safer and fairer and gives criminals a harder time; if you have nothing to hide then why should you be worried?
To Les in Elgin, do you have curtains? Do you close them? Why? What do you have to hide?
Silas, London, UK
This is crazy, we live in a country where we are "innocent until proved guilty", this scheme blows that out of the water. If the police can not convict someone then there can be no slur on an individuals name.
Peter Gansbuehler, Swindon
Blacklisting - great scenario: much profit for lawyers and profits down for all of society, because people who are not proved guilty are nevertheless not earning so they cannot spend. Capitalism; you know it makes sense. Cheap foreign (illegal) labour? Anything about you in print is subject to data law; it can be reviewed and corrected. Refusal to employ on the basis of suspicion is harder to stop, but such employers will get the staff they deserve in time. So, we could have shops staffed only by those with enough nerve and PC clout to fight, whether honest or not. That makes sense - sure it does. Secondly, when do we get a register of all the bullies and perverts who use seniority at the workplace? When THEIR misdemeanours are "proved"? Thank goodness I'm not 25 again.
Mike Bovingdon, London
This is not funny. When I was a teenager, I was convicted for GBH in a fight. Nobody got hurt, a couple of bruises on each of us, but never the less I was convicted. Here we are 22 years later, I am grown up married with a family and a responsible member of society. Last year I lost my job with a local council over the incident, it was devastating. This database will only marginalise people in society and lead to more crime as these people will feel unemployable.
The cry in favour of the erosion of our civil liberties used to be "The innocent have nothing to fear". Well now it seems they do. A single malicious individual can destroy someone's career. And there are people like that in even large and well respected companies. An absolutely disgusting example of the increasingly paranoid culture that successive governments have forced upon us.
There should not be an appeals process, an entry should not be made until it has been fully investigated. The damage that could be done in the interim could be to severe to rectify, the implications have the potential to be absolutely horrendous. Most people have had at least one nightmare boss, imagine if that person could mar you for the rest of your life? This is worse than 1984.
Lisa Ford, Telford, Shropshire
I would be interested to see the reaction of employers should a similar website be launched containing information about employers' mistreatment of staff - including discrimination, bullying, unfair terms and conditions, outrageous pay rises for principal staff whilst below-inflation rises are given to general workers etc.
In 2004 I was dismissed from a teaching job in a school for "gross misconduct". They had to use that charge to get rid of me. I had made serious allegations against my employer to a number of authorities. After my dismissal I took that employer to the Employment Tribunal and won unfair dismissal on 14 different counts and also won under the Public Interest Disclosure (Whistleblowing) Act. For performing this painful public service will I now be on a list that makes me unemployable? The government should make such a list illegal. But they won't. The UK is becoming a truly horrible place to live.
I'm a headhunter, and try quite hard to get the facts on people and know I don't get the whole story. That's with individual checks done one by one. A mass database cannot hope to get all its records right. But the Data Protection Registrar is the least effective regulator in Britain. None of the high profile data breaches have caused them to do anything more than send a friendly e-mail asking "you Ok mate ?" to the HMRC and the various banks who have shown a cavalier attitude to personal info. The idea that they can regulate this sort of business is like a blind traffic warden in Baghdad.
Dominic Connor, London
I certainly do not agree with this as employers will stick together and ultimately it will be the word of the employee against that of the employer, so how can an employee prove the allegations are false???. I can see legal actions being brought as a result of this register. This could be an employers way of getting back at someone they don't like.
Karen Morgan, Cardiff
Is there any requirement for an individual to be notified that they appear on the database? If not they may never know that they are on it and as such won't think to challenge the information stored. It sounds like a formalised old boys network.
Mick, Basingstoke, UK |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/6292033.stm | Scotland's First Minister Jack McConnell said he was "happy to help" the cash-for-honours investigation.
He made the comments after it emerged he had been questioned by police from Scotland Yard in London last month.
Officers quizzed him about his nomination of Colin Boyd, the then Lord Advocate, for a peerage.
Mr McConnell said he was "disappointed" that what he saw as a "normal and straightforward nomination" had become caught up in the investigation.
Metropolitan Police officers have been probing claims that political donations were given in exchange for peerages.
The inquiry was sparked after it emerged that a number of large secret loans had been made to the Labour Party before the 2005 general election and that some of those lenders had subsequently been nominated for peerages.
Police have so far spoken to about 90 people including Prime Minister Tony Blair and former Tory leader Michael Howard.
All deny wrongdoing and no-one has been charged.
Mr McConnell stressed he knew nothing about cash advances to the Labour Party.
When he was lord advocate, Lord Boyd was head of the prosecution service and was also the Scottish Executive's senior legal adviser.
It has now emerged that the first minister was questioned by two officers from the Metropolitan Police at the offices of the Labour Party's solicitors in London.
Former Lord Advocate Colin Boyd became a peer last year
That took place in December last year and the 15-minute interview was not carried out under caution.
A source close to Mr McConnell said the First Minister was "irritated rather than angry" about being questioned.
Speaking outside his Edinburgh residence on Tuesday, Mr McConnell said: "I was obviously disappointed that the perfectly normal, straightforward nomination of Scotland's lord advocate to serve in the House of Lords has been caught up in this police investigation.
"I'm very happy to help the police with their inquiries."
He added he was also disappointed but that being interviewed was "a distraction" from the fight between his party and the Scottish Nationalists in the run up to May's Holyrood election.
He added: "I will not allow this minor distraction to divert me from winning the debate over the next few months and ensuring Scotland stays on the right path to prosperity and success."
Scottish National Party MP Angus MacNeil raised the original complaint over alleged cash-for-honours to the police.
He said: "The entire Labour Party is becoming engulfed in this crisis of its own making.
"No-one believes for a second that Mr McConnell is directly implicated in securing cash for honours.
"But as a political party, Labour has financed campaigns north and south of the border with funding from people whom Tony Blair has subsequently ennobled or knighted."
Mr McConnell had nominated the then Lord Advocate in 2004, but the announcement was delayed because of the 2005 general election.
As Lord Advocate, Colin Boyd was Scotland's top law officer for six years, until he stood down in October last year.
It was announced he was being ennobled in April 2006 and he was formally introduced to the House of Lords as Lord Boyd of Duncansby a few months later. |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19427141 | Assange row: Hague says 'no solution in sight'
There is 'no solution in sight' to resolving the Julian Assange extradition row, Foreign Secretary William Hague has said.
His comment comes after meeting the vice-president of Ecuador - that country granted asylum to Mr Assange.
The Wikileaks founder is in Ecuador's London embassy fighting extradition to Sweden over sexual assault claims.
The South American country says Britain threatened to storm its embassy but the UK denies making any such threat.
Ecuador claimed Britain made the threats to seize Mr Assange - who remains inside the London building - after UK officials said a 1987 law allowed police to enter diplomatic premises.Sensitive material
Ex-computer hacker Mr Assange's Wikileaks website has published leaked sensitive diplomatic cables involving various countries, including the US.
He has been at the embassy since June and says he fears being passed on to authorities in the US if extradited to Sweden.
The FCO says the UK has a legal obligation to extradite him to Sweden, and he will be arrested if he leaves the embassy.
Speaking to the BBC Radio 4's PM programme, Mr Hague stressed that the UK was not threatening to storm the Ecuadorian embassy - he said he was looking for an "amicable solution".
"We have stressed the legal position of the UK and I stressed that again yesterday to the vice-president [Lenin Moreno], that we are legally bound to arrest Mr Assange and extradite him to Sweden. There is no legal basis for us to do anything else.
"This may go on for a long time so we are not making a threat against the embassy of Ecuador," he said.'Clear position'
Mr Hague said both countries had agreed that officials would continue to talk about finding a solution.
But he added: "Given Ecuador's position on what they call diplomatic asylum and our very clear legal position, such a solution is not in sight at the moment."
In 2010, two women accused Mr Assange of committing sexual offences against them while he was in Stockholm to give a lecture.
The Wikileaks founder says the sex was consensual and he regards the case as politically motivated.
In May, the UK Supreme Court dismissed Mr Assange's attempt to reopen his appeal against extradition and gave him a two-week grace period before extradition proceedings could start.
It was during that time that he entered Ecuador's embassy in London's Knighstbridge area.
The South American country announced it had granted Mr Assange asylum on 16 August, saying his human rights could be violated if he is sent to Sweden to be questioned. |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-21715087 | Aberdeen bypass: Tunnel suggested as alternative
Building a tunnel from the south of Aberdeen would be less disruptive and more effective than the planned bypass, it has been claimed.
Deputy leader of Aberdeen City Council, Marie Boulton, an Independent, has written to the transport secretary outlining plans for the link.
It would run underground from the A90 Aberdeen to Stonehaven road into the Lang Stracht and Hazlehead area.
Opposition councillors have dismissed the idea.
Ms Boulton said it could solve many problems, with one of the advantages being no snow clearing.
The 28-mile Aberdeen bypass was given the green light by Scottish ministers in 2009, but was delayed by legal action.
Previously predicted to cost £347m, that has risen to more than £650m.
It is expected to be completed in 2018. |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-14431031 | Eisteddfod 2011: Wrexham organisers speak of 'pride'
Organisers of the National Eisteddfod say they will look back on the Wrexham event with "pride and happy memories".
Attendance figures for the final day of 18,151 were up 4,500 on the final day in Ebbw Vale in 2010.
Total attendances across the week were more than 9% higher at 149,692.
Aled Roberts, chair of the local executive committee for the Wrexham event said: "It has been a very happy week here in Wrexham, and we have been very lucky with the weather most days."
He added: "It was great to see a winner in all the main ceremonies during the week - and all of these winning for the first time, and all these winners and their stories have added to the friendly atmosphere of the week."
Mr Roberts said 4,500 local people took advantage of a buy-one-get-one free scheme at the start of the week and he was "delighted" so many local people attended with a number returning during the week.
2011 National Eisteddfod Main Prize Winners
- Geraint Lloyd Owen: Crown
- Daniel Davies: Daniel Owen Memorial Prize
- Manon Rhys: Prose Medal
- Meirion Wynn Jones: Musicians Medal
- Kay Holder: Learners Medal
- Rhian Staples: Drama Medal
- Rhys Iorwerth: Chair
He thanked everyone who had worked to stage the event and welcomed the support of local residents who visited the Maes.
"We, the local people and the whole of Wales will look back at the Wrexham and District National Eisteddfod with pride and with happy memories about the year when the Eisteddfod came to our border town," he said.
Caernarfon artist Bedwyr Williams marked the end of a successful week on Saturday, when he won the People's Choice award in Y Lle Celf after picking up the Gold Medal for Fine Art and the Ifor Davies Prize earlier in the week. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8242749.stm | By Tim Masters
Entertainment correspondent, BBC News
Bill Wyman at Abbey Road playing on a charity song with Terry Wogan
Former Rolling Stones star Bill Wyman has expressed concern that music games like Rock Band stop young people from practising real musical instruments.
He told the BBC: "It encourages kids not to learn, that's the trouble.
"It makes less and less people dedicated to really get down and learn an instrument. I think is a pity so I'm not really keen on that kind of stuff."
Wyman was speaking at Abbey Road studios while recording a charity Beatles song for Children in Need.
His words were echoed by Pink Floyd star Nick Mason who described music games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero as "interesting new developments".
But he added: "It irritates me having watched my kids do it - if they spent as much time practising the guitar as learning how to press the buttons they'd be damn good by now."
The Beatles game allows people to play along with the Fab Four
The rock legends were speaking just ahead of the launch of The Beatles: Rock Band game which features 45 re-mastered songs from the Beatles' back catalogue.
The game allows players to play along as The Beatles through their career in environments such as The Cavern Club and the Shea Stadium.
Alex Rigopulos, co-founder of Harmonix Music Systems, which created the Rock Band series, refuted the musicians' claims.
"Most people try to learn an instrument at some point in their lives, and almost all of them quit after a few months or a year or two," he told the BBC.
"This, I think, is because the earliest years of learning an instrument are the least gratifying.
"When people play Rock Band, however, they very quickly get a glimpse of the rewards that lie on the other side of the wall.
"We're constantly hearing from fans who were inspired by Rock Band to start studying a real instrument."
Paul DeGooyer, from Rock Band publishers MTV Games, added: "It is gratifying to be a part of a revival of interest in music education at a time when budgetary challenges are causing many school music programs to be cut."
Nick Mason has played on every Pink Floyd album
Mason said that Pink Floyd has not ruled out working on a Rock Band or Guitar Hero-style game in the future.
"I think we'd consider it," he told the BBC. "I think everyone's looking at new ways of selling the music because the business of selling records has almost disappeared.
"I'm of the old guard who are really sad about that, because I always liked the concept of the album - rather than just cherry-picking tracks - and also the business of the art work that went with it."
He added that any new material from Pink Floyd was "very unlikely".
"We're all still interested in the catalogue and trying to make the most of it, re-mastering when necessary, and looking at other things that we could do with it," Mason added.
"I think we're all still very proud of it - we do talk to each other occasionally." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4032113.stm | A row over the new EU Commissioner for Transport and Tourism, Frenchman Jacques Barrot, has shaken the beleaguered European Commission, just as it starts work and licks its wounds after the debacle over Italy's Rocco Buttiglione.
The spotlight fell on Mr Barrot last week when Nigel Farage, leader of the UK's anti-EU UKIP party, revealed that the Frenchman had been convicted for embezzling party funds.
It has been a bumpy ride to Brussels for Mr Barrot
Now the British leader of the European Liberal Democrats has joined UKIP's calls for Mr Barrot to resign.
His failure to reveal a past conviction, Graham Watson said, "constitutes an unacceptable abuse of trust".
"Mr Barrot is seriously compromised by the revelation of his conviction and suspended jail sentence for conduct that is illegal in many EU member states," Mr Watson added.
Mr Barrot, 67, a close ally of French President Jacques Chirac, received a suspended jail term in a party funding case in 2000, but it was automatically erased by a 1995 presidential amnesty.
Under French law, no reference may be made to such a sentence, which carries no criminal record.
Mr Barrot, of the ruling centre-right Union for a Popular Movement, was never barred from holding public office.
He was one of many politicians from all major parties who got into trouble for illicit funding dating back to a period before 1991, when France had no law regulating campaign financing.
Mr Barrot was for two years leader in the French National Assembly, the
lower house of parliament, before he joined the EU Commission in March to replace Michel Barnier, who had been named French foreign minister in a
Mr Barrot previously served as social affairs minister in the conservative government of former French Prime Minister Alain Juppe. He is married and has three children.
He has called for the allegations to be withdrawn.
"He must take back what he said, so that everything can be fully clarified, so that parliament can be sure of the truth," Mr Barrot said of Mr Farage, according to the French daily Le Monde.
Mr Barrot has promised to clear things up, and in a letter to MEPs released on Monday he said he had nothing to hide.
"I had nothing to cover up and I absolutely did not look to cover up anything from the European Parliament, which I profoundly respect," he wrote.
Mr Barroso too has written to the European Parliament, clarifying the facts surrounding the 2000 conviction and insisting that the Frenchman will make an "excellent" EU commissioner.
But he did admit that he would have preferred to know about the case before, rather than after the commission's inauguration. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7945294.stm | One reason for the failure to reinstate him is thought to be the fact that he challenged an amnesty given by Gen Musharraf that enabled Mr Zardari to return to Pakistan, on the grounds that Gen Musharraf's own rule could be illegal.
Overturning the amnesty could leave Mr Zardari, the widower of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, exposed to corruption charges.
Mr Gilani's announcement, broadcast on television, triggered scenes of jubilation from Mr Chaudhry's supporters outside his home in Islamabad.
The BBC's Barbara Plett, who was at the scene, says the gathered lawyers and activists were in exultant mood, regarding this as the triumph of two years of struggle against both military and civilian governments.
Mr Gilani also said opposition activists and leaders detained over the past week of mounting disturbances would be freed and a ban on demonstrations in the capital and several provinces lifted.
"This is a victory for the people of this country," said Baz Mohammad Kakar, a leader of the lawyers' movement.
"Chaudhry is the first chief justice in the history of Pakistan who has proved himself to be a judge for the people, as a chief justice for the people."
Our correspondent says the development is also a victory for Mr Sharif, a long-time opponent of President Zardari.
He was mobbed by supporters in Gujranwala, about 80km (50 miles) north-west of Lahore, telling them: "We have said that we will restore the judges and the independent judiciary and by the grace of Allah we have achieved it.
"From here, a journey of development will start. From here, a revolution will come."
Our correspondent says that everyone, including Pakistan's Western supporters, will be heaving a sigh of relief that what looked to have been a dangerous political confrontation appears to have been defused peacefully.
The West wants Pakistan to focus on the battle against the Taleban on the Afghan border.
The past two days have provided fresh evidence of the militant insurgency there, with attacks on Sunday and Monday on container terminals near Peshawar in the north-west. The terminals supply Nato and US troops in Afghanistan.
The decision to reinstate the chief justice marks a complete turnaround from the situation on Sunday, when Mr Sharif left Lahore with a convoy of supporters, defying an apparent effort to put him under house arrest.
Iftikhar Chaudhry and other judges were sacked by Gen Musharraf
Riot police had surrounded his Lahore home but after supporters clashed with them Mr Sharif moved past unchecked and left the city.
Several days of rallies around Pakistan were to culminate in a "long march" on Islamabad and a sit-in to press the demand for the reinstatement of the judges.
The government's announcement marks the end for the time being of the power struggle between Mr Sharif and Mr Zardari, says our Islamabad correspondent.
There are indications that other issues that inflamed tensions between the two will be resolved: a Supreme Court decision last month that banned Mr Sharif and his brother Shahbaz from elected office, and President Zardari's decision to put their stronghold in Punjab province under direct rule from Islamabad.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/5171070.stm | Soldiers will not be deployed to assist the policing of the Twelfth demonstrations across Belfast for the first time since 1970.
Soldiers are not being deployed on the Twelfth
The police will handle the security operation for Wednesday's parades, including several controversial ones.
Tens of thousands of Orangemen and supporters attend Northern Ireland's Protestant Twelfth of July parades.
The parades mark the victory of William of Orange over Catholic King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.
The move is part of a general scaling-down, or "normalisation", of the Army's role in assisting the police in Northern Ireland.
Last year, some 1,600 soldiers were used to back up police at several flashpoints in and around Belfast.
There was trouble last year in north Belfast when nationalists attacked police after an Orange Order parade passed the Ardoyne area.
Restrictions have been placed on the march by the Parades Commission, with only a single drum beat to be played over a disputed part of the route at Ardoyne during the return parade.
Supporters are also not allowed to accompany the parade and will be bussed along the disputed stretch of the parade ahead of the march.
During rioting following the Whiterock parade in September last year 1,000 soldiers were deployed to assist police and one man was shot by soldiers. |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/health-15759946 | One in 12 people self-harm in their teenage years, a long-term study has found.
For most people the problem will resolve before adulthood but for 10% it will continue into their adult lives.
Teenage girls are more likely to self-harm than boys and are at greater risk of continuing as young adults.
The Lancet study findings have important implications for the treatment of mental health issues and prevention of suicide in young adults.
The study looked at almost 2,000 adolescents in Australia, repeatedly surveying them over a period of 15 years.
Researchers found that anxiety, depression, heavy alcohol use, cigarette smoking and cannabis use were all associated with self-harm.
The study suggests that self-cutting and burning were the commonest forms of self-harm during adolescence.
As 90% of teenagers who self-harmed stopped before they reached adulthood, the research should offer some reassurance to families, schools and clinicians, the authors of the study say.
But, Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of the mental health charity SANE, said:
"The figures showing that 90% have stopped by the time they reach their twenties should not seduce us into thinking that self harm is just a phase that young people will grow out of".
"Our research shows that counter to common perception, people self-harm and continue to self-harm at times throughout their lives to protect themselves from attempting suicide and their families and friends from experiencing their mental pain."
Because of the association between self-harm and suicide, the researchers suggest treating common teenage mental health problems could be part of an "important and hitherto unrecognised component" of preventing suicide in adults.
"Self-harm is one of the most significant predictors of completed suicide, " a lead author, Dr Paul Moran, of King's College London, said.
Of the people who have died by suicide, around 50-60% have a known history of self-harm, according to Professor Keith Hawton, Director of the Centre for Suicide Research, University of Oxford.
How many people who have self-harmed die due to suicide, is less clear.
But Professor Keith Hawton, who was not involved in the study, said the findings could broaden the focus of the Suicide Prevention Strategy for England, which he is working on.
"We now know from studies like this one..... that there is a very large population of youngsters who are self-harming in the community. And we estimate about one in eight of them go to hospital. So this is the hidden population," he said.
"Though a focus on hospital management is crucial, what we should perhaps be thinking more of is the management of self-harm at a community level, particularly how schools respond and how families can be helped to respond," he said.
The authors say it is important that people living or working with young people are able to spot signs of distress and find the help they deserve.
"Otherwise there may be persistent ramifications in later life," Dr Paul Moran said.
Sue Minto, Head of ChildLine, which last year dealt with 30,000 contacts from children about self-harm, suicide and depression, said:
"In cases of self-harm it is vital to discover what is driving the child to take such drastic action. Something is obviously making them extremely unhappy or frightened and until this is resolved it is likely they will continue to injure themselves or, in extreme cases, be driven to suicide". |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17248892 | Euromillions jackpot won for fourth time in UK in 2012
A ticket-holder has become the fourth person this year in the UK to strike it rich on Euromillions, but they have yet to claim Friday's £22.1m prize.
The person hit the jackpot with the numbers 5, 6, 11, 30, 44 and matched the lucky star numbers 2 and 6.
Euromillions UK operator Camelot said: "It's amazing to have another big winner here in the UK - we've been extremely lucky in recent years."
The most recent prize was just a week ago when a ticket-holder scooped £46m.
Last month Cassey Carrington and Matt Topham, both 22 and from Stapleford, Nottingham, won £45.2m and in January, Gareth, 40, and Catherine Bull, 35, from Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, won £40.6m.
David and Angela Dawes, from Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, won £101m last October.
The UK's biggest Euromillions prize was a £161m jackpot won by Colin and Chris Weir, from Largs, Ayrshire, in July 2011.
Nine countries - the UK, the Republic of Ireland, Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Austria - participate in Euromillions, with ticket sales from all of them going into the jackpot fund.
Camelot said that as well as the chance to win "life-changing" prizes, Euromillions players had helped raise more than £27bn for National Lottery Good Causes, which benefit communities across the UK. |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-19952727 | Llanfair Caereinion attacks: Dogs must be kept on leads
Councillors have banned pet owners from letting their dogs off the lead in part of a Powys town after the animals were blamed for attacking sheep.
Deri Wood and Goat Field, which are maintained by Llanfair Caereinion Town Council, are popular with dog owners.
But following a number of attacks on sheep in neighbouring fields councillors have imposed a dogs on leads policy.
A fence is also being erected along a 300m section to protect livestock.
End Quote Gareth Jones Farmer and town councillor
You expect to lose sheep now and again, but the frequency is costing me a lot of money”
Deri Wood and Goat Field cover an area of about eight acres (3.2 hectares).
Gareth Jones, a town councillor whose land neighbours Deri Wood, said a number of his sheep had been victims of dog attacks over the last couple of years.
"I was at the town council meeting where the decision was taken, but I declared an interest and took no part in the discussions," Mr Jones said.
"The decision wasn't taken lightly by the town council.
"It is very frustrating for me as a farmer. You expect to lose sheep now and again, but the frequency is costing me a lot of money.
"It's not just me, other farmers are having problems too but my land is closest to the wood and Goat Field." |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19316954 | Artists recreate Angkor Wat's lost carvings
A collection of artists including a relative of John Constable have been commissioned to recreate some of the elaborate carvings missing from the temples of Angkor Wat in Cambodia.
They are working to recreate features including Apsara figures which once decorated the roof of the 900-year-old monument.
One of the artists is sculptor Sasha Constable - a member of one of Britain's most famous artistic families - who has been based in Cambodia since 2000 and works as a teacher and curator as well as producing her own work.
She enlisted local sculptor Chhay Saron to join her in researching - and making - the pieces.
Saron has a remarkable story of his own: he is a former soldier and landmine survivor who retrained as a sculptor, and now employs other disabled people in his workshop within the Angkor temple complex.
Video produced by Guy De Launey and Nick Wood |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13051355 | Palestinian Authority largely ready to govern, UN says
The government in the West Bank is largely ready to govern a Palestinian state, the United Nations has said.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has successfully built some institutions and public services required for a future state, the UN said in a report.
But it warned that the PA's efforts could only go so far without resolving its conflict with Israel and the division with the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
The report comes a day ahead of a meeting of Western donors in Brussels.
"In six areas where the UN is most engaged, governmental functions are now sufficient for a functioning government of a state," said the report released by Robert Serry, the UN special co-ordinator for the Middle East peace process (Unsco).
It says the Palestinian Authority - which has limited self-rule government in the West Bank - has built up areas such as governance, rule of law, health and social services, and infrastructure up to a level expected of a state.
The PA has set itself a September deadline to be ready for statehood, with the hope of pressuring the international community to recognise a Palestinian state on all of the territory Israel occupied in 1967, including Gaza - over which PA President Mahmoud Abbas has no control.
Hamas - which governs Gaza - rejects any deal that recognises Israel.
Israel has warned that any unilateral moves to secure statehood are not a substitute for a peace treaty that would establish a Palestinian state by mutual consent.
Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been on hold since late 2010 over the issue of Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7102271.stm | British TV shows have dominated the 35th annual International Emmy Awards in New York.
They won seven out of their eight nominations, and all but one of the British winners were BBC productions.
They included best actor for Jim Broadbent in The Street, which also won best drama series, and best comedy for Little Britain Abroad.
Former US vice-president Al Gore also received an honorary award to recognise his work in broadcasting.
Other British winners included Simon Schama's Power of Art: Bernini, about the Baroque sculptor, for best arts programming.
"I wanted to prove that art actually isn't some sort of cultural luxury, it's our food and drink, it's our necessity," said Schama.
Stephen Fry's The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive won best documentary, and How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? took the award for best non-scripted entertainment.
Robert De Niro presented Al Gore with his honorary award
The one non-BBC British winner was More4's Death of a President, which begins with the fictional assassination of George W. Bush.
Fry said: "It's a lucky evening for us. We're lucky to have this institution, the BBC, and that's helped generations of people."
Broadbent shared his award with Dutch actor Pierre Bokma. Victoria Wood was nominated for her role in drama Housewife, 49 - but the award went to Muriel Robin from France.
In the acceptance speech for his honorary award, former US vice-president Al Gore said humanity faced "a true planetary emergency".
"The climate crisis is by far the most serious challenge human civilization has ever faced," he said.
"But this great powerful medium of television can be part of that solution because networks and channels all around the world represented here can help to get the word out while there is still time."
The awards ceremony, held at the Hilton New York hotel, honours TV programmes produced outside the US. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3303717.stm | As world leaders gather in Geneva to discuss the digital divide, a UN body has suggested that the technology gap may not be as wide as was believed.
Few surveys of net users are done in developing countries
The International Telecommunication Union said the flawed statistics on internet use worldwide were giving a misleading picture of the situation across the world.
"The number of internet users in most developing countries is usually based on government guesstimates or vague estimates", said Vanessa Gray, report co-author.
Part of the problem was that most internet surveys are carried out in industrialised countries by private companies.
By comparison, not a single net study has been carried out in 59 of the poorest countries, said the report.
"A close link exists between the digital and statistical divide", says Michael Minges, lead author of the ITU report.
The study highlighted that many developing nations conducting surveys were being surprised by the number of people online.
In Peru, a survey found twice as many users in the capital, Lima, than had previously been estimated for the entire country.
In Mexico, a recent study uncovered twice as many users than earlier estimates.
Mobile phone use is growing in poor countries
The UN body said these findings suggested that the digital divide may not be as wide in some places as was earlier assumed.
It also suggested that the key issues for the world leaders meeting in Geneva were the cost of computers and going online, together with having the skills to use the latest technology.
The UN communications agency has put forward its own way of measuring the technology gap, listing 23 factors that should be taken into account.
These include figures such as how many homes have electricity, how many use computers at work or in school and the cost of going online.
The report came ahead of the World Summit on the Information Society, which is intended to look at ways of expanding technology to developing countries.
The aim of the summit is to lay down the principles which should underpin the development of the information society and come up with proposals to reduce the divisions between rich and poor countries in their access to technology.
Delegates have managed to agree on most of the key sticking points to be tackled at the United Nations gathering, which runs from 10-12 December in Geneva.
But they remain divided over the issue of who will pay for the development of information and communication infrastructures in poor countries. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympics_2004/athletics/3609052.stm | Has there been a better three hours of athletics than what we witnessed in the Olympic Stadium on Saturday night?
Try listing the events in your head - Kelly's wonderful win, Steve Backley's farewell, Borzakovskiy's sprint to 800m gold, El Guerrouj's 5,000m triumph, the British relay boys - it's a hell of a roll call.
It was a fantastic three hours.
Was it better than 'Magic Monday' in Sydney?
Then we had 112,000 screaming Cathy Freeman to 400m gold, Jonathan Edwards' triple-jump win, Haile Gebrselassie edging past Paul Tergat in the 10,000m and Michael Johnson's farewell 400m.
Part of me says, why compare? Just accept it as a great, great night.
When you start looking at it purely from a British perspective, it was extraordinary.
The 4x100m relay gold was completely out of the blue.
Don't tell me that we got lucky with the US team messing up their second baton change.
That's what the relay is all about - getting the baton round safely as quickly as possible. And the GB quartet did that better than the US.
Marlon Devonish and Mark Lewis-Francis did a very, very good job of holding on when the Americans were coming back at them.
Cast your mind back to the Worlds in Paris 12 months ago.
Then Dwain Chambers took the baton for the anchor leg well clear of JJ Johnson, only to be run down and lose gold.
This time, Mo Greene was chasing MLF - and he's five times the athlete that Johnson is, yet MLF stayed relaxed and brought home the bacon.
As for Kelly Holmes - she's just in a zone right now where everything just seems so easy.
When you're running like she is, you just feel so comfortable.
She was looking around as she came off that top bend because she knew she was going to run away from the rest of the field.
She had no idea she had broken her personal best when she finished, and that is the mark of how beautifully she is running - a new British record felt like a jog round.
Her rivals didn't hand her the race, either. They tried to run the race that would make it as hard for her as possible.
It was a hard race to win, and she made it look easy.
What else? Borza, my old favourite, finally won the gold his talent has been promising.
Then the 5,000m - for someone to win the 1500m, when all were doubting him, and then come again to win the 5,000m - it was fantastic.
It was a great way to underline El Guerrouj's career.
All season it had looked like it was going to go wrong - and yet it came together in way none of us dreamed possible.
I loved the way he held his two fingers up, disbelievingly, as if to say 'Have I really won two golds?' |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-20857346 | Girls killed in Wisbech A47 ditch crash named
Two sisters, aged seven and 10, who died after the car they were in crashed into a drainage ditch in Norfolk, have been named by police.
Jessica and Tamzin Portor died in hospital from serious head injuries after a Ford Focus overturned on the A47 near Wisbech on Thursday night.
The children come from Sutton Bridge, near Spalding, Lincolnshire.
Their father, aged 38, a woman, aged 43, and their 12-year-old brother suffered minor injuries.
The three were taken to hospital in King's Lynn and later discharged.
Ch Insp Chris Spinks appealed for witnesses to come forward.
He said: "Fatal collisions are tragic in any circumstances but given the fact that two young lives have been lost at this time of year seems to make it that much worse.
"Specially trained family liaison officers are supporting the bereaved relatives and collision investigation officers are piecing together the events that led to the crash.
"The circumstances are still unclear at this stage and I would ask anyone who thinks they might have information to come forward."
Officers said the Ford was being driven towards Wisbech when it left the road and overturned, coming to rest on its side.
The A47 was closed in both directions for several hours following the accident. |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-19671826 | S4C 'peace' advert ban claim by Cymdeithas y Cymod
A group that promotes peace claims an advert it wanted to air on the Welsh language channel, S4C, has been effectively banned from television.
Cymdeithas y Cymod, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, said it wanted to counter recruitment adverts for the armed services.
But the body used to clear TV adverts, Clearcast, said it could breach rules banning political causes.
However, an advert image has been cleared to run on S4C's online service.
The fellowship said its 30-second film aimed to highlight the cost of war in money and lives.
But it said the advert had been rejected for broadcast on live television because it was a matter of "public controversy".
End Quote Clearcast spokesperson
'Political' advertising-advertisers cannot advertise on television,”
Mererid Hopwood, a member of the Fellowship's executive committee, said: "If peace is a matter of 'public controversy,' then war must belong to the same category.
"And yet, the armed forces have been allowed to advertise regularly on S4C."Online videos
Clearcast is the main company used by British commercial broadcasters to ensure advertisements meet strict rules on what can be promoted.
Responding to the fellowship's claims, a spokesperson for Clearcast said it had considered the advert and the role of the society in light of rules drawn up by the broadcasting authority, the Committees of Advertising Practice (Bcap).
"Rule seven of the Bcap code states that 'political' advertising-advertisers cannot advertise on television," said the spokesperson.
"'Political' is very widely defined. It does not relate to the nature of the cause wishing to advertise.
"On the face of it and after some discussion with them it appeared that a number of Cymdeithas y Cymod's activities, lobbying government etc, breached that rule but it is open to them to provide further evidence to the contrary."More talks
Clearcast said the same rules did not apply to video-on-demand services, which meant an advert could run on S4C's online channel.
A spokesperson added: "As far as we are concerned the debate is in no way closed and if they wish to provide us with more evidence as to why they are not wholly or mainly caught by the rule, we would obviously be more than happy to consider it."
In a statement, S4C responded: "In this case, Clearcast has not cleared the advert by Cymdeithas y Cymod for use on television.
"S4C has shown an advert on behalf of Cymdeithas y Cymod on its website, as that is permitted under the rules on on-line advertising." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4860570.stm | Conflict in Sudan's Darfur region has forced 50,000 people from their homes since the year began, the International Organisation for Migration says.
Millions of Sudanese have been displaced by the fighting
The group said this was the highest quarterly figure in three years.
The IOM warned the level of violence in Darfur had not lessened since fighting began in 2003, and was putting many areas beyond the reach of aid agencies.
Hundreds of thousands of people have died in the Darfur conflict, with more than 1.5m made homeless.
"Darfur is a difficult, dangerous conflict that has a good chance of getting worse," the IOM's head of operations in Darfur, Robbie Thompson, told journalists in Geneva.
An African Union peace force, which currently comprises 7,000 troops, has been in place for three years.
Earlier this week, Arab leaders agreed to pay for the AU peacekeeping force in Darfur from October this year, when its current funding runs out.
The United Nations had been making plans to take over the Darfur peace mission, but the Sudanese government objected to UN control of the mission. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7226425.stm | Five men who helped the bombers in the aftermath of the failed London attacks on 21 July 2005 have been jailed on terror charges.
Kingston Crown Court heard they had provided the plotters with safe houses, passports, clothing and food.
Their efforts enabled the bombers to evade being caught for some time.
Muhedin Ali, 29, Wahbi Mohammed, 25, Ismail Abdurahman, 25, Siraj Ali, 32, and Abdul Sherif, 30, all from London, were given between seven and 17 years.
Between them, they were convicted of 22 charges of failing to disclose information about terrorism and assisting an offender.
Siraj Ali and Mohammed were also convicted of having prior knowledge of the plot to explode devices on the London transport network.
The four men behind that plot - Muktar Ibrahim, Yassin Omar, Ramzi Mohammed and Hussein Osman - were all jailed for life last year over the attempted attacks.
They had tried to detonate devices on Tube trains at Shepherd's Bush, Warren Street and Oval stations and on a bus in Shoreditch, east London.
Scotland Yard Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke said the two men who knew of the plot before it happened and failed to alert the authorities were "despicable".
Wahbi Mohammed, 25, from Stockwell: 17 years
Siraj Ali, 33, from Enfield: 12 years
Abdul Sherif, 30, from Stockwell: 10 years
Ismail Abdurahman, 25, from Lambeth: 10 years
Muhedin Ali, 29, from Ladbroke Grove: 7 years
"The bombers of July 21 2005 wanted to repeat the carnage of 7/7 by killing and maiming passengers on the London transport system. It was only through luck that they failed," he said.
The others, he added, had contributed to the public's fear of terrorism at that time by helping the bombers escape immediate capture.
Judge Paul Worsley QC, sentencing, said none of the men had shown any remorse and they must serve lengthy prison sentences to protect the public.
But he said the sentences at the court's disposal were "woefully inadequate to reflect the enormity" of the case.
He also said the need for armed police to enter Stockwell tube station on the 22 July when an innocent Brazilian was shot dead could have been avoided if the men had disclosed information about the bombers' identity and whereabouts.
During the four-month trial, the court heard how after the bombers' attempts failed, Sherif played an "integral part" in arranging for his brother Osman to travel to Italy to stay with other family members.
Osman took the Eurostar from Waterloo using his brother's passport but was eventually arrested in Rome.
After more than 10 days of deliberation, the jury found Sherif guilty of assisting the bombers but cleared him of three further counts of failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism, including having prior knowledge of the attacks. He was given a 10-year jail term.
Osman had also been helped by Abdurahman who gave him a place to stay from 23 to 26 July, the court heard.
For his part, the administrative assistant from Lambeth was sentenced to 10 years.
Osman escaped to Rome using his brother's passport
Wahbi Mohammed was the brother of another of the 21 July plotters, Ramzi Mohammed.
The court heard Wahbi Mohammed took a video camera used to record suicide messages from his brother's address in Dalgarno Gardens, north Kensington, and a suicide note intended for his family.
Max Hill, prosecuting, told jurors Mohammed then helped his brother by taking him food, a new mobile phone and a sim card while he was in hiding with Ibrahim at Dalgarno Gardens.
Wahbi Mohammed, from Stockwell, was jailed for 17 years, the longest of the five sentences.
Siraj Ali lived above failed Warren Street bomber Yassin Omar in New Southgate.
The men had once been fostered by the same family and formed a strong bond.
The court heard Siraj Ali not only sheltered Ibrahim, but also housed other members of 21 July plot when the fumes from bomb-making in Omar's flat became overwhelming. The judge sentenced him to 12 years.
The fifth defendant, Muhedin Ali, was a friend of Osman and the Mohammed brothers, with whom he would play football.
He took possession of extremist material belonging to Osman the night before the attacks, and Ramzi Mohammed's suicide note, jurors were told.
They convicted him of assisting an offender and cleared him of two counts of having prior knowledge of the planned attacks. The judge gave him a seven-year sentence. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/hi/northern_ireland/newsid_9774000/9774795.stm | The speaker of the Assembly said he had written letters to all MLAs advising them of the importance of turning up to ask questions, on 3 December 2012.
William Hay said he had issued the letters after seven questions were not asked in the assembly on 27 November 2012.
The questions were either withdrawn at the last minute, or the assembly members who submitted them were not present.
The lack of attendance provoked criticism from both the First Minister and Deputy First Minister at the time.
"I want to avoid a repeat of the situation last week," Mr Hay said.
He added he wanted members to recognise the "seriousness of situation" and said he would reintroduce sanctions on members if this conduct continued.
The TUV's Jim Allister said he would like the warning extended to ministers as he had written questions still not answered after 16 months.
First Minister Peter Robinson also gave a statement on a recent British Irish Council (BIC) summit
The meeting was attended by representatives from Wales, Westminster, Ireland, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Mr Robinson said the economy was the main topic of discussion and there was a "shared recognition of the importance of infrastructural investment as a lever through which governments can influence and mitigate the impact of the downturn".
The first minister also said that those attending agreed they should consider opportunities for young people. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/8660605.stm | ICC World Twenty20, Guyana: New Zealand 36-1 (8.1 overs) beat Zimbabwe 85 (15.1 overs) by seven runs
Styris captured three wickets in his opening six deliveries
New Zealand defeated Zimbabwe by seven runs under the Duckworth/Lewis method to reach the ICC World Twenty20 Super Eights after more rain in Guyana.
Zimbabwe were 58-1 before Nathan McCullum took three wickets in an over as five fell for five runs in 15 balls.
Scott Styris also enjoyed a three-wicket over as the final nine went for 26 in a sorry procession and Zimbabwe were 85 all out with 29 balls unused.
New Zealand were ahead of the required rate at 36-1 when rain ended the game.
So the infamous Guyana climate disrupted another match - the third in succession to fall foul of the elements at Providence - but there was little doubt that New Zealand would have completed victory had the weather not intervened.
Zimbabwe failed to hit a boundary in their unsuccessful revised five-over run chase against Sri Lanka on Monday but both openers hit fours within the first two overs as they started fluently.
The diminutive Tatenda Taibu used the pace of Shane Bond effectively with some inventive shots and a lofted Andy Blignaut boundary followed by five wides from Jacob Oram helped them to a useful position at 54-1 after the powerplay.
But there were to be no more boundaries for Zimbabwe in a false dawn beginning with Taibu pulling a slower ball bouncer from Bond to mid-wicket.
Oram atoned for his wayward delivery with some nimble fielding on the boundary, pirouetting and fizzing back to wicketkeeper Gareth Hopkins, who threw down the stumps from close range to beat Hamilton Masakadza's pursuit for a second run.
Skipper Daniel Vettori, who conceded only 10 singles from his 19 deliveries, struck with his second ball, bowling Bilgnaut round his legs via the glove.
McCullum, older brother of Brendon, had bowled two overs for 13 before his remarkable third over, which began when Elton Chigumbura holed out to long-on.
The bespectacled Charles Coventry, who struck an unbeaten 194 in a 50-over international against Bangladesh in 2009, tamely chipped a return catch to the spinner and left-hander Craig Ervine was drawn out of his crease by a flighted off-break and easily stumped.
The evergreen Styris, looking rather more trim than in previous years, then had a devastating impact with his innocuous looking slow medium-pace variations.
Maruma lofted his second ball to long-on, Cremer's timid poke resulted in a inside edge on to pad and then stumps, while Prosper Utseya was plumb leg before wicket prodding forward.
Vettori inflicted the final blow when Ray Price tried an agricultural sweep and saw the top of his off stump knocked back.
Remarkably given such a low target, New Zealand made a nervous start, perhaps wary of the ever darkening skies.
Hopkins completes the sharp work as Masakadza is dismissed
Jesse Ryder top-edged a slog sweep when Utseya got one to turn and Taibu claimed the catch.
The rain did indeed arrive on a stiff breeze with the score on 36-1 in the ninth over but by then Brendon McCullum, who became the first man to pass 1,000 Twenty20 international runs, whipped Utseya through mid-wicket for four and flicked over his shoulder for three in the fifth over to get his team ahead of the required rate.
After more than an hour's delay due to heavy rain there was another Duckworth/Lewis calculation to confront the players, but this time it befitted the balance of play and New Zealand's target became 45 from 11 overs.
The simplicity of that did not last long as another squally shower cut the match further and it became 40 from 10.
In the end there was to be no further action at all as amid much confusion the umpires called things off and the Kiwis moved through from Group B with Sri Lanka.
The complexities of the revised method meant that the winning margin of victory was measured in runs even though New Zealand batted second, with the Kiwis seven runs ahead of the rate.
Vettori was delighted with his team's performance and said: "After a tough start it was good to fight back in those middle stages particularly with Nathan McCullum and Scott Styris, those two three-wicket overs really helped us.
"I think we knew it would be a difficult wicket to bat on later on with Zimbabwe having so many spin bowlers but the confidence in the middles stages, which we have shown in in a number of T20 games, was there and we were pleased with it again."
Counterpart Utseya lamented his side's capitulation and said: "We are disappointed, we had a good start but didn't make use of it.
"I think it was a bit of inexperience, in the two warm-up games we had been struggling up front and I thought the guys in the middle order tried not to play themselves in.
"The potential is there it is just consistency that's lacking at the moment. If you want to play at the highest level you have to mature as a cricketer." |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-20040240 | Work begins on Inverness River Ness flood scheme
Highland Council has said every effort will be made to keep disruption to a minimum during the construction of a new flood protection scheme.
Preparation work for the £21m development covering the tidal section of the River Ness in Inverness started on Monday.
Bank Street has been closed to allow water and gas mains, and electricity and telephone cables, to be moved.
Construction of the flood defences will start next year.
Neil Gillies, Highland Council's director of transport, environmental and community services, said there would be disruption.
He said: "We apologise to the public for that. It is one of the inevitable things of carrying out work like this in the city centre."
Mr Gillies said the project would lead to improved defences against flooding and also enhance the city centre bank of the river.
He said: "Overall to have this flood scheme starting in Inverness is really good for the city.
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"We will see the riverside very much enhanced on that side, not just the flood scheme, but there is money available being made through Highland Council and Inverness Common Good Fund to carry out streetscape works."
Last month, Highland Council published details on how traffic will be diverted during the first stage of constructing the River Ness Flood Alleviation Scheme.
Some streets will temporarily become one way systems and others will have parking restrictions.
Affected areas include Bank Street, Huntly Street and Friar's Street.
The work will include the building of walls on both sides of the river between Ness Bridge and Friar's Bridge.
The full scheme - which has been designed to protect about 800 homes and 200 businesses in the city centre - is likely to take until April 2015 to complete.
The Scottish government will fund 80% of the cost of the building work.
Some of the diversions and parking restrictions will be in place until the end of the year, but others will remain until the project is finished.
Highland Council has produced a map showing the restrictions. |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/wales/south_east_wales/ | A motorcyclist dies in a crash on the second Severn Crossing, which closed the M4 eastbound, causing long tailbacks.
Up to 150 job losses at the Tesco distribution centre at Magor in Monmouthshire will not involve compulsory redundancy, the firm says.
Bee rustling is a growing problem in Wales, with stolen hives worth more than £200, claims a victim.
From other local news sites
A438 Herefordshire - A438 Newmarket Street in Hereford City Centre closed eastbound between the A49 Edgar Street roundabout junction and the B4359 Widemarsh Street junction, because of water main work. Diversion in operation - Local traffic will be directed along Edgar St up to the Newtown Rd roundabout and then continue via Widemarsh St to rejoin Blueschool St. HGVs and through traffic should follow signed diversion. Expect delays. |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12799920 | Barack Obama visits Chile amid nuclear debate
A few weeks ago, Barack Obama's trip to Chile promised to be little more than a formality - a chance for a courtesy meeting with the Chilean President Sebastian Pinera and a photo opportunity involving the US First Lady and the Obama daughters.
But events in Libya and at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant have turned the trip on its head.
President Obama is visiting Santiago following a weekend of coalition air strikes against Libya and just three days after the US and Chile signed a nuclear co-operation pact .
That deal is modest. It opens the door for US experts to advise Chile should the South American country decide to develop nuclear energy in the future.
It does not commit Chile to build power stations, and if it had been signed a month ago few people would have even noticed.
End Quote Ricardo Lagos Former Chilean president
Japan marks the before and the after in the nuclear debate”
But the Japanese earthquake and tsunami have radically altered the debate over nuclear power.
In Chile - which is every bit as prone to earthquakes as Japan - some critics are questioning why the country is even thinking of going nuclear.
"Japan marks the before and the after in the nuclear debate," former Chilean president Ricardo Lagos told Chile's Radio Cooperativa on the day the agreement was signed.
"In the past I was one of those who highlighted the benefits of Chile having nuclear power and people would look at me and say 'Yes, but this is a country of earthquakes'. I used to reply 'Look at Japan, they have just as many earthquakes as Chile and they have nuclear power'. Well, that argument is now over."
Last week, protesters from Greenpeace unfurled a banner opposite the presidential palace in Santiago urging Chile to abandon its tentative nuclear plans and rip up the agreement with the United States.
On Sunday, some 2,000 people marched through the capital chanting the same message.
Carolina Toha, a senior opposition politician, said the pact made Chile "the laughing stock of the world". Even Laurence Golborne, Chile's energy ministry, acknowledged that it will now be harder to sell the idea of nuclear power to an already sceptical Chilean public.
According to Marta Lagos, executive director of opinion poll organisation Latinobarometro, anger over the accord is being directed at Mr Pinera rather than Mr Obama, particularly because the Chilean leader has questioned the wisdom of developing nuclear energy in the past.
In 2006, Mr Pinera signed a declaration calling for the development of non-conventional renewable energy. It highlighted the dangers of nuclear energy in a country as seismically challenged as Chile.Popular president
Mr Obama is likely to avoid the nuclear issue during his 24-hour visit and concentrate instead on regional concerns.
In his keynote speech on Monday afternoon, he will lay out goals on economic growth and development, democracy and human rights.
He arrives in Chile as one of the most popular US presidents ever to visit the region. Latinobarometro published a poll last week which showed that among Latin Americans, he had a higher approval rating than any other head of state in the Americas.
Last year, 73% of Latin Americans had a "good" or "very good" opinion of the US, a dramatic improvement from the years when George W Bush was in the White House.
In Chile, the figures are even more impressive. Some 81% of Chileans have a "good" or "very good" opinion of the US and 91% regard relations between the two countries as either "'good" or "very good".
But Mrs Lagos said the tremendous outpouring of goodwill towards Mr Obama at the time of his election in 2008 had started to dissipate, largely because his administration has done little to prove its interest in the region.
"The difficulty for Obama is that Latin Americans are no longer expecting roads, dams and infrastructure," she told the BBC. "They're expecting equal, dignified treatment, and these are intangible political goods that are much more difficult to deliver."
Mr Obama is only the third serving US president to make a full state visit to Chile following Dwight Eisenhower and George HW Bush.
On Tuesday the president will leave Chile for El Salvador, the last leg of his Latin American tour. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7985415.stm | Hundreds of millions of voters are expected to cast their ballots when India holds general elections over April and May. Campaigning is in full swing in the run-up to the first phase on 16 April.
The ruling Congress party campaign is being led by party chief Sonia Gandhi (right) and her son, Rahul Gandhi. India's Grand Old Party continues to depend on the Gandhi dynasty to woo voters.
Mayawati, the leader of India's 160 million Dalits (formerly untouchables), is expected to win the key state of Uttar Pradesh. She is seeking pan-Indian appeal and reaching out to upper castes.
The BJP, led by its prime ministerial candidate LK Advani (centre), accuses Congress of being soft on terror, and promises tougher laws and lower interest rates and taxes.
Regional leaders are forging alliances to take on mainstream parties. Once-arch rivals, federal ministers Ram Bilas Paswan (left) and Laloo Yadav have joined hands to take on a common rival in Bihar.
The Communists - estranged allies of Congress - are concentrating on their strongholds in West Bengal and Kerala. This time, they have vowed to support a 'Third Front' of mainly regional parties.
As in previous elections, Bollywood stars are campaigning for various parties. Hema Malini, once known as the 'dream girl' of Bollywood, is backing the BJP.
Former Indian cricketer Navjot Singh Siddhu is among the celebrities contesting elections for the BJP. Indians are obsessed with films and cricket.
Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, convicted for his role in the 1993 Mumbai blasts, is barred from standing in Uttar Pradesh but he is still campaigning for the Samajwadi Party which he recently joined.
Party symbols and banners feature prominently at the election rallies. Here Congress supporters hold flags at a rally in Karnataka state. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4720027.stm | Suspected bomber Yassin Hassan Omar is being questioned in London over the failed July 21 attacks after his arrest in Birmingham, police have confirmed.
Yassin Hassan Omar is suspected of attempting an attack on 21 July
A Taser stun gun was used by officers arresting Omar, 21 - suspected of the attack near Warren Street Tube station - who was found alone in a house.
Police stressed they were still looking for three other men over the attacks.
Officers also raided a house in Stockwell, arresting three women, police confirmed.
Police raided a ground floor flat at Blair House, which is 200 yards from Stockwell Tube station in south London, at about 1800BST (1700GMT).
Police said three women from the Stockwell area were arrested on suspicion of harbouring offenders.
"They have been taken to a central London police station, where they remain in custody. The arrests are in connection with the ongoing investigations into the events of 21 July," a police spokeswoman said.
The front of the flat was later covered up with a blue tarpaulin, and the police are continuing their investigation.
On Wednesday, police also released a second picture of a man they suspect attempted to bomb a Tube at Shepherd's Bush on 21 July.
The unidentified man was pictured on a bus after the attempt.
Omar was arrested in Heybarnes Road, in the Small Heath area of Birmingham, at 0430 BST on Wednesday, and later taken to London's high-security Paddington Green police station.
It is believed a rucksack Omar was carrying at the time of his arrest was thrown out of a window by officers.
Police suspect this man of involvement in 21 July attack at Shepherd's Bush
"There was no intelligence to suggest that there were explosives in the house but local residents were evacuated as a precaution," deputy assistant commissioner Peter Clarke said, as a detailed forensic examination continued.
"This of course is an important development in the investigation.
"However, I must stress how important it is for the public to remain watchful and alert.
"We are still looking for the other three men whose pictures we have released and who we believe tried to set off bombs on 21 July," DAC Clarke said.
He praised the help from the public in "driving forward this investigation" into both 7 and 21 July attacks.
He said the identities of two of the men had not yet been confirmed. Police had previously named Ibrahim Muktar Said, 27 - also known as Muktar Mohammed Said - as a suspect from the attempted bomb on the Number 26 bus.
X-ray of a bomb found at Luton after the 7 July attacks (ABC image)
DAC Clarke released a second picture of the Shepherd's Bush suspect on Wednesday.
The first picture had shown him at Westbourne Park Tube station wearing a short-sleeved dark blue England football shirt and dark trousers.
After the failed bombing, he ran from Shepherd's Bush station, and police believe he threw away the shirt, possibly in MacFarlane Road, about 1230 BST.
He was later pictured wearing a white vest on the Number 220 bus about 1320 BST, which he travelled on to Wandsworth, getting off at 1407 BST.
"I must emphasise that until these men are arrested, they remain a threat," Mr Clarke said.
After a day of other arrests and searches in London and Birmingham, armed police raided an address in Stockwell, south London, on Wednesday evening.
Scotland Yard has confirmed the raid was in connection with the attempted bombings of 21 July and said the residential property was being searched.
Previous developments included:
- Footage is shown on US television of an X-ray of a bomb found at Luton railway station after the 7 July bombs in London.
- Police searched two properties in Enfield and Finchley, north London
- Two people were held in Grantham, Lincolnshire, on a train travelling to King's Cross, under the Terrorism Act 2000 at 2300 BST on Tuesday following information from two off-duty Met police officers. The two were released without charge on Wednesday after police said they were not connected to a terrorist threat
- A man who was detained under the Terrorism Act at Luton Airport has been allowed to continue his journey to Nimes in France. Police said they had responded to reports the man looked like one of the bombing suspects and he was held while his identity was checked
- The body of innocent Jean Charles de Menezes, 27, who was shot by officers at Stockwell Tube, is to be returned to Brazil for a funeral
- Prime Minister Tony Blair described the Birmingham arrests as "an important development".
In Birmingham, shortly after Omar was arrested, a further three men were detained at a separate address and were being held in the city.
WHO IS BEING HELD?
27 July - Man arrested in Small Heath, Birmingham
27 July - Three men arrested in Ward End, Birmingham
25 July - Man arrested near Curtis House, north London
24 July - Man arrested near Curtis House
23 July - Man arrested in Tulse Hill, south London. Held until 30 July
22 July - Two men arrested in Stockwell, south London. One was released on 27 July and the second is still being held
Omar's detention followed a joint operation between West Midlands Police and officers from the Metropolitan Police Anti-Terrorist Branch.
A second address in Bankdale Road, in Ward End, Birmingham, was raided a little later, and three men were arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000.
Mr Blair praised the police for their efforts, saying they have "been working extraordinarily hard on this and have shown a tremendous amount of commitment and dedication to the task in hand".
"I think it is an important development," he added.
US broadcaster ABC News has shown exclusive photographs of bombs found at Luton railway station following the 7 July attacks, including an X-ray of one with nails sticking out of a bottle-shaped object.
It also had images of the inside of the trains damaged by bombs at Edgware Road and King's Cross on 7 July.
Meanwhile, a flat in north London linked to two of the 21 July suspects is being searched, and police say chemicals found there and in a garage may have been intended for use in explosives.
Police have linked Omar and Ibrahim Muktar Said to the flat in the 12-storey Curtis House, in Ladderswood Way, New Southgate.
TRACKS OF THE BOMB SUSPECTS
All journeys started between 12:20 and 12:25. Times approx.
OVAL: Man boards northbound Northern Line train at Stockwell and tries to set off bomb between Stockwell and Oval, where he leaves the train. He is chased out of the station at 1235 BST, but escapes towards Brixton.
HACKNEY: Man, identified by police as Ibrahim Muktar Said - or Muktar Mohammed Said - also sets off from Stockwell. Boards Number 26 bus at 1253 at Bank. Police believe he was carrying bomb in a grey and black rucksack, and tried to detonate bomb while on board. Gets off in Hackney Road, near junction with Columbia Road, at 1306.
WARREN STREET: Man who police believe is Yassin Hassan Omar boards Tube train at Stockwell carrying a purple rucksack that they say contained a bomb. Later tries to set off bomb on a northbound Victoria Line train between Oxford Circus and Warren Street, detectives say. Seen without rucksack at 1240 in Warren Street Station before running towards exit and vaulting over ticket barriers.
SHEPHERD'S BUSH: Man wearing dark blue baseball cap and carrying small rucksack enters Westbourne Park Tube station and gets a train travelling towards Shepherd's Bush on Hammersmith & City Line. Tries to set off bomb at 1225 before escaping, probably through window at the end of the carriage, and running along the tracks. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/beds/bucks/herts/4974304.stm | A former mayor of St Albans lost his council seat after an election tie was settled by getting the candidates to pick the longest pencil.
St Albans Tory councillor Keith Stammers lost out to Lib Dem Judith Shardlow after their votes were tied at 1131 each after three recounts.
The election saw the Lib Dems take back power at St Albans after losing it to no overall control in 1999.
Lib Dem David Poor, who won the Sopwell seat from Labour, welcomed the result.
"Tonight has been an excellent night. It is excellent work by all the Lib Dems," he said.
The party also retained control of Three Rivers District Council in Rickmansworth.
But there was bad news for the Lib Dems in Milton Keynes where the council went to no overall control.
The Tory Party kept control of North Hertfordshire, Broxbourne, South Bedfordshire, Welwyn Hatfield and Hertsmere councils.
Bedford council stayed with no party in overall control. The election saw Labour group leader and deputy mayor Shan Hunt beaten in her ward of Kempton South by the Conservative Jasbir Singh Parmar.
In Watford, Lib Dem Dorothy Thornhill was re-elected Mayor of Watford at the first count.
Votes for the Watford council are not being counted until Friday.
Labour has held onto control of Stevenage council. |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-20094435 | Scottish SPCA rescues snake on a plane at Glasgow Airport
An animal charity has rescued a snake on a plane at Glasgow Airport.
Scottish SPCA staff were called after staff found the 18in long reptile under seats on a flight that had arrived from Cancun, Mexico, on Tuesday.
They used a box to contain the snake, which is believed to be a juvenile Middle American smooth-scaled racer.
The snake was taken to the charity's animal rescue centre in Cardonald, Glasgow, where staff have named it Furtivo - Spanish for sneaky.
Scottish SPCA senior inspector Billy Linton said: "We have had the snake examined by a vet and, although we can't be 100% certain, we believe he is of the Dryadophis family, which are commonly referred to as American smooth-scaled racers.
"Racers aren't venomous but, like all snakes, they can bite and Furtivo is very feisty.
"Although small at the moment, he is still a juvenile and has a lot of growing to do."Exotic creatures
Inspector Linton said staff at Glasgow Airport had "remained remarkably calm" after finding the snake.
"I can only imagine that Furtivo managed to sneak his way onto the plane while it was waiting to take off in Cancun, although it is also possible he has hitched a lift in someone's hand luggage," he said.
"We have rescued several exotic creatures from international flights including scorpions, spiders, turtles and even giant land snails, so this isn't as unusual as many people might think.
"Furtivo will remain in our care until we can find him an expert home with someone who has the necessary experience and knowledge to be able to look after such a creature." |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18506293 | Outside views on euro crisis: BBC correspondents
The G20 summit in Mexico has heard an impassioned defence of the EU's handling of its own economic crisis from European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.
After one top official identified the eurozone situation as "the single biggest risk for the world economy", Mr Barroso told a reporter the crisis was rooted in North America.
Here BBC correspondents examine views of the eurozone crisis from Russia, China and India, all of which have agreed to increase their contributions to the IMF's crisis-fighting reserves.
Mark Mardell, Washington DC
There is a mounting sense of frustration in the White House that Europe always does too little, too late. But there is no appetite at all for American tax payers coming to the rescue of their friends across the Atlantic.
President Obama says he tries not to scold but admits to giving eurozone leaders a "prod". The administration would like to see the European Central Bank act more like the Federal Reserve - coming forward with enough money to underwrite all European Banks.
There is a belief here that some political theatre wouldn't go amiss - a dramatic gesture by the ECB could shock the markets into a new confidence.
There is also growing annoyance that Angela Merkel is not enthusiastic and bold enough about the long-term solution. People do not think she is doing enough to promote greater fiscal and political union within the eurozone.
The average American probably is not aware how much danger the US economy is now in. And in a country where many feel the federal government is spending far too much, there are few who want to help bail out Europe.
Many argue that with its long holidays, generous welfare system and strong regulations Europe has only itself to blame for its plight. President Obama is more sympathetic than that, but knows a deepening of the crisis could cost him a second term.
Steve Rosenberg, Moscow
I remember when the word "Russia" was synonymous with economic hardship.
After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, the savings of millions of Russians became worthless and a large part of the population slid into poverty in the 1990s, despite Moscow receiving multi-billion-dollar loans from the IMF and other lenders.
In 1998, there was a financial crash and giant queues outside bank machines. In 2008, too, there was an economic crisis.
What a turnaround. Now the Russian government is reaching into its pocket and boosting the coffers of the IMF, with both eyes firmly on the eurozone.
But out on the streets, the Russians I have been speaking to are not impressed.
"We've got our own problems to sort out," bus ticket seller Vladimir told me.
"Lots of people, like me, can't afford to buy a place to live in. We need to develop our own economy and industry. Then we won't be affected by what's happening in Europe."
"Have we got $10bn (£6.4bn; 8bn euros) to give away? Is it just lying around?" asked manager Yevgeny.
"We've got a mass of unresolved problems in Russia, like our healthcare system, education. The people who take these big financial decisions live in Moscow. They look around them, see lots of cars on the road here and think everyone lives like this. What's more, Europe's only got itself to blame for its own problems."
John Sudworth, Shanghai
Of all the contributions from developing countries, China's has been most keenly awaited because on some measures, sitting as it does on the world's largest stockpile of foreign reserves, it has the deepest pockets.
In the end, $43bn is not as high as some had predicted, but it is nonetheless a tidy sum, the third largest pledged for the IMF crisis intervention fund and topped only by Japan and Germany.
It will certainly help to dismiss fears that Beijing would baulk at forking out to bail out richer European nations.
But in fact, that was never likely because the pledge comes with a large dollop of self-interest from China's point of view.
It can afford it, the money is a loan, not a payment, and it seems likely that there are strings attached, notably the insistence on faster progress towards the long-promised reform of IMF voting rights that would give Beijing much greater clout on the world stage.
Meanwhile, if China's largesse helps stave off a deeper crisis in the eurozone, its biggest export market, so much the better. The deal is win-win for China.
Shilpa Kannan, Delhi
India has agreed to contribute $10bn to the IMF's $430bn bailout fund.
Though much smaller than the Chinese contribution, it comes at a particularly difficult time for India as the country's GDP growth was just 5.3% in the quarter ending 31 March, the slowest pace in almost a decade.
But the general feeling is that it is something that needs to be done. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the IMF had a critical supportive role to play in stabilising the eurozone and that all members must help the fund to play this role.
The industry too agrees with him. Europe is an important market for India.
The eurozone crisis has already been blamed for the sharp fall in the rupee - which has seen one of the biggest declines among Asian currencies, dropping more than 27% against the US dollar.
Also the worsening situation in Europe is one of the reasons that more than $800m of foreign capital has left India's stock market in recent months.
One-fifth of the country's exports go to European countries.
But the bigger worry for many in India's industry is that if the problem is not contained, Europe could drag down the US market - which could be far worse for India as it is the biggest market for the country's technology companies. |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-21322063 | Israeli forces arrest Hamas members in the West Bank
Israeli forces in the West Bank have arrested at least 20 members of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Those arrested, in overnight raids all over the West Bank, included three members of the Palestinian parliament.
Israel regards Hamas as a terrorist organisation, but has not said why the arrests were carried out.
Palestinian human rights groups condemned the arrests, saying they aimed to undermine the reconciliation talks between Palestinian factions.
Israel holds more than 4,500 Palestinians in its jails, 12 of them members of the Palestinian parliament, according to Palestinian reports.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, settling more than 450,000 people in the territory.
In the 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections Hamas won 74 seats to rival Fatah's 45 seats in 132 seat parliament.
Armed clashes erupted in Gaza between the two faction sides. Hamas violently forced out Fatah from Gaza in June 2007.
Hamas continues to control Gaza while Fatah remains dominant in the West Bank. In May 2011 Fatah and Hamas signed a reconciliation deal but it has not yet been implemented. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6257879.stm | By Andrew Bomford
BBC Radio 4
A British charity has moved to save thousands of acres of environmentally important wetland in South America from destruction.
The Pantanal is home to some 3,500 species of plants
The land, in the Pantanal area of northern Paraguay, has been bought by the World Land Trust, working in partnership with Guyra, a Paraguayan bird life charity.
It is one of a number of land purchase projects which the UK organisation, based in Halesworth, Suffolk, is working on.
The Pantanal is the largest wetland in the world and includes parts of Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay.
Large parts of it are threatened by deforestation through logging and agricultural activities such as soy production.
One study recently estimated 17% of its native vegetation had been destroyed.
It is home to some 3,500 species of plants, 650 species of birds and hundreds of species of mammals, reptiles and fish. Rare mammals include the giant anteater, giant otter, giant armadillo, jaguar and puma.
"There are many reasons why we should save the Pantanal," says Jose Luis Cartes from Guyra, "like all the knowledge we would lose if it disappears.
"For instance there are more than 300 species of fish that we know very little about.
"There are some reserves and national parks there, but they only tend to exist on paper. Deforestation there is very high," he added.
The Sid Templer Reserve, as it is now known, covers 3,600 hectares (about 10,000 acres) and there are plans to expand it to 10,000 hectares.
Although the area has been bought by World Land Trust, it is owned and managed by Guyra. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8139045.stm | Some 800,000 people were killed in Rwanda's genocide
War crimes suspects from Rwanda and the Balkans living in Britain could be tried in the UK, under plans outlined by Justice Secretary Jack Straw.
Under the proposals, anyone suspected of war crimes since 1991 - 10 years earlier than the current law allows - could be prosecuted in a UK court.
Mr Straw said it would close a legal loophole and could bring forward several prosecutions.
Campaigners had warned the UK could be a "safe haven" for war criminals.
"I have received a lot of representations
that we ought to extend and make retrospective these provisions back at least another decade, for example to capture those involved in the Balkans atrocities or in the Rwanda atrocities," Mr Straw told the BBC.
"What we are announcing today is that we will indeed extend the scope of these offences back until 1991."
Mr Straw said amendments would be made to the Coroners and Justice Bill in the House of Lords in the autumn.
But he warned making the changes would be "quite complex".
Under the UK's International Criminal Court Act 2001, UK nationals or residents suspected of war crimes and acts of genocide committed anywhere in the world since 2001 can be prosecuted in Britain.
By extending the cut-off point back to 1 January 1991, the new law would apply to anyone suspected of atrocities committed in the Balkans conflict or the Rwanda massacres.
In a written statement to MPs, Mr Straw said prosecutions were best dealt with in the country of origin, or by international courts or tribunals.
"However, there may be circumstances where these options are not available. We have therefore decided that we should strengthen domestic law in this area," the statement said.
In April 2009 the High Court refused to extradite four men accused of taking part in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, ruling there was a risk they would suffer "a flagrant denial of justice" if returned to the country.
Mass graves from the conflict in Bosnia are still being found
Afterwards, Labour MP Mary Creagh, vice chairwoman of an All-Party Parliamentary Group for Genocide Prevention, said: "Thanks to a loophole in UK law, they cannot now be tried for those crimes of which they were accused in England."
She asked Mr Straw to close the "impunity gap" and "ensure that the UK does not become a safe haven for international criminals".
Under the proposed amended law, the four could be tried in the UK.
The Aegis Trust, an anti-genocide group, welcomed Mr Straw's statement but called on the government to replace the residency requirement for prosecution of war crimes with a simple "presence test".
The trust says some suspects have been present in the UK since the 1990s but not resident because of legal reasons.
The Aegis Trust believes there are as many as 18 suspected war criminals living in Britain from countries including Afghanistan, Sudan, Sierra Leone and Sri Lanka.
In a report in June, it named Felicien Kabuga, accused of financing the Rwandan genocide, and Liberian Chucky Taylor, who was convicted of torture by the US, as two people who came to the UK but were not brought before the courts.
Mr Straw's statement on Tuesday said that under the reforms, the categories of people covered by the legislation would remain UK nationals and residents.
But he added: "However we are exploring the possibility of providing more certainty as to who may [or may not] be considered a UK resident." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/my_club/llanelli_scarlets/5360582.stm | Scarlets wing Dafydd James holds off Denis Hickie to score
Scarlets 33 (27)
Tries: D James 2, I Afeaki, King.
Cons: S Jones 2.
Pens: S Jones 3.
Leinster 21 (7)
Tries: D Hickie 2, L Fitzgerald.
Cons: F Contepomi 3.
Llanelli Scarlets raised themselves to the top of the Magners League in style with an outstanding first-half display of running rugby against Leinster.
Dafydd James, twice, Inoke Afeaki and Regan King all crossed to earn Scarlets a bonus point within the first quarter.
Leinster came back strongly, with wing Denis Hickie grabbing two tries including a long-range interception.
Trevor Hogan went over for the Irish side's third try, but Stephen Jones' boot kept Scarlets out of reach.
Leinster were swept aside in an irresistible opening by their hosts that saw Scarlets run in four tries in the first quarter.
It took James just 70 seconds to open his account, as a series of drives sucked in Irish defenders to create space for the right wing to take Simon Easterby's pass and go in at the corner.
Jones missed the conversion, but made no mistake with an easier chance just three minutes later from Afeaki's try.
Turning over Leinster ball just inside their own half, Scarlets forwards and backs combined in a surging counter-attack that went through a dozen pairs of hands before the Tongan lock stretched over.
The third was almost as good, Regan King's half-break sending Matthew Watkins through a gap before Ceiron Thomas went bounding towards the line.
An excellent cover-tackle from Kieran Lewis downed the Scarlets full-back just short, but James was in support to claim his second try.
Jones added a penalty kick to stretch the lead to 20-0, earning good-natured boos from the Stradey Park crowd.
But the fans need not have worried as a fourth try and bonus point soon followed, Dwayne Peel taking Alix Popham's flick from a five-metre scrum and sending King under the posts for another seven points.
Hickie gave Leinster something to build on by intercepting Popham's loose pass to race 50 metres under the posts, Felipe Contepomi converting, but the Irish trailed 27-7 at half-time.
With Scarlets looking so dangerous with ball in hand, Leinster came out determined to keep it away from the Welsh.
A series of drives took Leinster to within 10 metres of the Scarlets line and Hickie provided the burst of pace to score, Contepomi again converting.
That score was Hickie's 24th in Celtic League rugby, bringing the Ireland wing level at the top of the all-time try list with former Newport Gwent Dragons flanker Jason Forster.
Hickie almost had the record to himself within moments as Leinster again threatened, only to spill the ball as he was tackled going for the corner flag.
An injury to Dwayne Peel disrupted the Scarlets' silky service, the scrum-half going off to ice a bang to his elbow, but Jones settled things down with his second penalty.
A fine bit of trickery from Leinster centre Luke Fitzgerald carved open the Scarlets defence to send lock Hogan under the posts for a converted try.
Although Scarlets had failed to recapture their first-half flair, they retained enough attacking threat to carve out more chances for Jones' boot.
The Wales and Lions fly-half stretched the lead to 33-21 with his third penalty, keeping Leinster at arm's length until the final whistle.
Scarlets: Ceiron Thomas; Mark Jones, Matthew Watkins, Regan King, Dafydd James; Stephen Jones, Dwayne Peel; Iestyn Thomas, Matthew Rees, Craig Dunlea, Inoke Afeaki, Scott Macleod, Simon Easterby (capt), Gavin Thomas, Alix Popham.
Replacements: Deacon Manu for Dunlea (40), Ken Owens for Rees (83), Adam Jones for Afeaki (40), James Bater for G. Thomas (78), Clive Stuart-Smith for Peel (46), Gavin Evans, Barry Davies.
Leinster: R Kearney; L Fitzgerald, K Lewis, M Berne, D Hickie; F Contepomi (capt), G Easterby; R McCormack, H Vermaas, W Green, T Hogan, O Finegan, S Keogh, K Gleeson, J Heaslip.
Replacements: R Corrigan, B Jackman for Vermaas (40), A Byrnes for Hogan (75), N Ronan for Keogh (75), C Whitaker for Easterby (23), C Warner for Fitzgerald (83), G Brown for Kearney (11).
Ref: David Changleng (SRU). |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-20715072 | Mark Titley stab murder trial jury fails to reach verdict
A jury in the trial of a Lincoln man accused of killing his friend over a bag of stolen food has failed to reach a verdict.
Mark Titley, 38, who lived at a homeless shelter in Monks Road, is accused of stabbing Gary Hayes in the chest in April.
Prosecutors at Lincoln Crown Court said the men argued over who should carry the heavy bag of stolen milk and bread.
Mr Titley denied stabbing Mr Hayes, 44, but admitted punching him in the face.
During the trial the jury heard the pair had been walking back to Mr Hayes's flat in Walnut Place, Lincoln, when they had a disagreement.
Mr Hayes was found with a stab wound at the junction of Kesteven Street and Portland Street and was later pronounced dead.
Jurors considered the evidence for three-and-a-half hours before telling the judge they were unable to reach a verdict.
Mr Titley now faces a possible retrial. |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-21537374 | Prince Charles visits young patients at Great Ormond Street Hospital
The Prince of Wales has visited young cancer and epilepsy patients at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.
During his visit Prince Charles also saw the complementary therapy suite where massages are offered.
Marcus Henson, 11, from Surrey, who is undergoing chemotherapy said: "He was really kind, really soft-hearted."
As a child Prince Charles was admitted to the hospital with appendicitis, and his sons, Princes William and Harry have also been treated there.'Covered in glue'
During his visit he spent time at the complementary therapy unit where more than 250 children have had massages since it opened in 2010.
Jenni Hallman, a complementary therapy nurse specialist, said: "The prince was very interested to hear about how the children are benefiting from the therapy, including ways it's helping them to relax, sleep and how it can often be a distraction from the pain of their treatment."
The room has green lights and screens showing a blue sky which Marcus told the prince "gets rid of all the memories of what's happening".
Six-year-old Joseph Black, from Muswell Hill, showed the prince his toy models to which he replied "I used to do those when I was your age," adding, "I'd get my things covered in glue."
The chief executive of the hospital, Jan Filochowski, said: "It was fantastic to have the opportunity to show him round our hospital." |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-18955691 | Claims advice for Ulster Bank and RBS group customers
The Financial Ombudsman has published details of what Ulster Bank customers, and others affected by the RBS crisis, may be able to claim compensation for.
Hundreds of thousands of customers within the RBS group were temporarily unable to access their bank accounts after a technical failure last month.
The ombudsman has produced a fact sheet listing the types of loss and expenses for which claims could be considered.
They include extra bank charges, phone calls, loss of trade and legal bills.Powers
The ombudsman's office said customers' claims could also be considered for indirect losses and expenses, such as losing interest from savings due to a late payment, or having to take time off from work to deal with urgent banking problems.
What might you be able to claim for?
- Bank fees, charges and fines incurred due to delayed transactions (e.g. missed mortgage payments)
- 'Out of pocket' expenses such as phone calls or parking charges incurred while trying to sort banking problems
- Loss of bank interest due to delayed payment into a savings account
- Loss of trade for a company due to disruption of its business account
- Additional legal bills if a house purchase was delayed
- Having to take time off to sort out urgent banking problems
- Trouble, stress or inconvenience (e.g embarrassment because you couldn't repay a debt)
The Financial Ombudsman Service has official powers to sort out disputes between banks and consumers and holds the authority to order a bank to compensate customers in certain circumstances.
The office said it had received lots of queries about compensation from customers within the RBS group and its role was to "look at the facts, ask questions and decide what's fair in each case".
The problem at RBS followed a failed software update on 19 June.
Ulster Bank customers in Northern Ireland were among the worst affected within the RBS group as it had the longest backlog of transactions to process.
There were queues outside its branches for weeks after the issue had been resolved in Great Britain.
David Cresswell from the Financial Ombudsman Service said the compensation fact sheet was based on calls and queries from concerned customers who contacted BBC Radio Ulster's Talkback programme in the weeks during the crisis.Stress
"It's really important for people to realise they are going to have to claim things themselves, it won't necessarily happen automatically," he said.
"There are some things that the bank might be able to do automatically, where the bank itself has applied charges to your account but there's so much other stuff - the way in which it impacted on our real life - that unless you make some notes and write it down and actually claim, no-one else is going to know about it", Mr Cresswell explained.
The checklist also advises customers that they can consider submitting a compensation claim for losses that are not financial, including stress or inconvenience
"This could cover things like embarrassment because you couldn't repay the debt you owed to someone", the fact sheet states.
Mr Cresswell admitted that making and processing claims for such matters - putting a value on inconvenience - would be "quite a challenge".
"Two people might have had the same experience, but the impact of it could be very difference depending on who they are and how that actually affected them.
"So we're saying get in touch with the bank and actually tell them what actually happened and tell them what you want them to do as a result of it," he said.
A spokesperson for Ulster Bank said: "We have already started to correct and reverse fees and charges to Ulster Bank customers impacted by this issue.
"We said that we would shortly be announcing details on how we address out of pocket expenses and recognition of inconvenience caused, and we continue to discuss the details of these with our regulators. We will provide further details to our customers as soon as we can." |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13728326 | Head of state: King Letsie III
King Letsie III succeeded his father, King Moshoeshoe, who was dethroned in 1990.
Five years later, after the return to civilian government and amid political instability, he abdicated and his father was reinstated as monarch.
Letsie III was restored as king in 1996 after his father died in a car accident. The monarch has no legislative or executive powers.
Prime minister: Motsoahae Thomas Thabane
Thomas Thabane heads a coalition government which ousted his predecessor after elections in May 2012.
Mr Thabane's All Basotho Convention, the largest opposition party, teamed up with the Lesotho Congress for Democracy and the Basotho National Party (BNP) to share power and oust the unpopular Pakalitha Mosisili, who had been in power for 14 years.
Mr Mosisili's Democratic Congress party won the most seats, but fell short of the required majority to govern alone.
Mr Mosisili had been in power since 1998, when post-poll wrangling led to weeks of unrest that ultimately triggered military intervention by neighbouring South Africa and Botswana to restore order.
Since independence from Britain in 1966, Lesotho has undergone several military coups. |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-20873410 | Colombia landslide kills five in Neiva with 25 missing
Rescue teams in Colombia have been searching for at least 25 people missing after a landslide cut off a road near the south-western city of Neiva.
Five people were killed in the accident, which happened on Saturday.
The Colombian authorities believe at least six cars are buried under tons of mud and rocks.
Hundreds of fire-fighters, paramedics and army troops have been sent to help the rescue operation in Huila province.
James Kelly reports. |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20002393 | Bahrain policeman dies from injuries after bombing
A Bahraini policeman has died of his injuries following a bombing at an anti-government protest on Thursday night, the interior ministry has said.
A statement said the "terrorist" attack happened during clashes in al-Akr, a village about 20km (12 miles) south of the capital, Manama.
Another policeman was injured by the blast at the demonstration, organised by the 14 February Youth Coalition.
At least 60 people have been killed since protests began in February 2011.
Opposition supporters have been demanding more democracy and an end to what they say is discrimination against the majority Shia Muslim community by the Sunni royal family.'Violent rioters'
Those who took to the streets of al-Akr, a predominantly Shia village, on Thursday chanted "The people want to topple the regime" and "Down Hamad", referring to the king, according to the AFP news agency.
An Information Affairs Authority statement said police officers had been on patrol at an eastern entrance to al-Akr at the time of the bombing.
"The patrol unit was attacked by violent rioters and the policemen were subject to assault with petrol bombs and an explosive device," the statement said.
"[Two] officers were taken to hospital. One of the men died this morning while the other remains in critical condition."
An investigation has begun to find those behind the attack.
Bahraini police have been the target of several bombings in the past year. The last such attack took place May, when four policemen were wounded, according to the Reuters news agency. |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-21077174 | Jazz, the sound of soft power in the desert
Qatar has spent billions bringing the world to the tiny gulf kingdom. Major universities have set up campuses here while international think tanks have opened up offices.
Culture, arts, music. They're all here. It's called soft power and the ultimate in soft power may be jazz.
At the luxury St Regis hotel in Doha, the Alvester Garnett Quintet is performing for 12 nights.
Finding a jazz band at a luxury hotel isn't surprising but in this part of the world, the music faces criticism from religious scholars.
Conservative clerics have long warned against importing western music into Islamic societies.
A cleric in neighbouring Saudi Arabia wrote recently that music was "an obsession that contains every conceivable form of evil."
While most jazz musicians keep their clothes on and shirts buttoned up - unlike some of their pop counterparts - hardline clerics believe that all music save the sung call to prayer is haram, forbidden.
The Qatari Muslim scholar Sheikh Mohamed Hasan al-Mreiki has described music and singing as "a sin and cause for the sickening of the heart" and warned young Muslims not to be tempted by it.
But such a strict interpretation is increasingly a minority view.
The idea for the Doha club was first hatched more than a year ago.
Omar Alfardan, the Qatari president of Resort Development Company, which holds the franchise for St Regis Doha, is a jazz enthusiast, whose father brought him up listening to Louis Armstrong.
He invited jazz legend Wynton Marsalis, to Doha as "part of a long-cherished dream to bring some of the best in world culture to Qatar"
It launched in October last year as Jazz at Lincoln Centre, Doha and the opening act was Marsalis himself.
"It will be a pre-eminent centre for jazz in the Middle East," Alfardan said at the time and a place for those who are "passionate about this unique art form".
"It is my wish that we will also be able to inspire people in Qatar to understand jazz and that one day, a young person from this nation will share the stage with our guest of honour."
Mr Garnett, an American jazz drummer who has played with many of the jazz world's top performers, is the current artist in residence.
"It's been wonderful," he says. "The audiences have been so loving. There's a strong ability to pay attention which I find impressive."
Possibly, they're paying too much attention and not getting into the swing of things. Mr Garnett feels the audience has yet to fully relax during sets.
"It's still a process of educating," he observes. "These are new fans to the music. We've have had to say at points, feel free to applaud during the solos," he laughs.
It's already won over some fans. Young Qataris like Khalifa al-Haroon sees the music as an opportunity not a threat.
The 28-year-old is the driving force behind a popular website called I Love Qatar, an online celebration of all things Qatari and what he says are "the good things" that Qatar has brought from the west.
"It is content that matters. Jazz is all about the soul and our religion is focussed on intention. If you have good intention then there is not much to fear."
It's a sentiment echoed by Mr Garnett.
He says jazz "still crosses all barriers, all borders of race, culture, religion".
"If you want to come to it and you're willing to sit and listen and accept it. If the band's good, you're going to feel good!"
As to the objections of the more conservative minded, he has this to say.
"A lot of books that relate to communing with the higher power, relate to love," he says.
"Even just coming here, being still, hearing the prayers. That does something to you too. I might not understand what they're saying but you feel the spiritual nature of it. I just hope more people can be introduced to the jazz culture and they can respect that too. " |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-21251448 | Hillary Clinton: US set up credible opposition in Syria
The outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the US has played an indispensable role in working to establish a credible opposition coalition in Syria.
Speaking to the BBC's Kim Ghattas, Secretary Clinton said the US has been deeply involved in channelling humanitarian aid to help those affected by the crisis.
The US Senate has approved John Kerry as the next Secretary of State by an overwhelming vote.
President Obama chose Mr Kerry to replace Hillary Clinton who stands down on Friday. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7728630.stm | Nevres Kemal was worried about children in Haringey
A whistle-blower warned the government of alleged failings in child protection in Haringey six months before Baby P died, it has emerged.
Former social worker Nevres Kemal sent a letter about her concerns to the Department of Health in February 2007.
It was passed to the Department for Children, Schools and Families, which said proper procedures were followed.
Baby P, 17 months, died in August 2007 following abuse. His mother and two men were convicted of causing his death.
Lawyer Lawrence Davies told BBC Radio 4's Today programme his client's letter expressed worry that children in the borough were "at risk".
This was despite an inquiry into the killing of eight-year-old Victoria Climbie - she died from abuse and neglect in the same borough eight years ago.
Ms Kemal believed recommendations made by Lord Laming following that inquiry were still not being followed.
The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) confirmed it received a letter dated 16 February 2007 that arose from an employment tribunal and contained "an allegation that child protection procedures were not being followed in Haringey".
The letter was sent to the then health secretary, Patricia Hewitt. It was then forwarded on to the DCSF.
She told the BBC that correct procedures were followed.
A DCSF spokeswoman said the department's reply on 21 March "made the point that ministers could not comment on the specific details of the employment tribunal case".
"Secondly, as is standard practice, [officials] suggested that the individual should notify the relevant inspectorate, the Commission for Social Care Inspection, to take appropriate action and they provided the necessary contact details.
"The permanent secretary of the DCSF has looked at the reply and is confident that the proper procedures were followed," added the spokeswoman.
Mr Davies said: "If the social care inspectorate had acted on it or the ministers had acted on it, it seems hard to believe that the situation in which Baby P was seen 60 times in total... presumably several times after February, couldn't have been averted."
The social worker, who no longer works for Haringey Council, cannot discuss the issue as the local authority has taken out an injunction preventing her from doing so.
Mr Davies said his client was "pushed from pillar to post" before finally being advised to tell the inspectorate.
"By that time we had an injunction against us so we couldn't go back to the inspectorate. The inspectorate had been properly advised at the time and had done nothing."
Mr Davies said he was in the process of appealing against the ban.
No-one at Haringey Council has lost their job over the case
He said his client was effectively calling for a public inquiry and that her letter stated the "situation seemed to be out of control".
Baby P died in August last year after suffering 50 injuries including a broken back, fractured ribs and extensive bruising.
Four separate inquiries have been ordered into the death, which happened despite the child being on the "at risk" register and receiving more than 60 visits from health and social work professionals and police over eight months.
On Thursday, Haringey Council's cabinet member for children, Liz Santry, said of Baby P: "We are truly sorry that we did not do more to protect him".
An official inquiry into the Victoria Climbie case by Lord Laming made a raft of recommendations for child protection procedures - ministers have asked him to check on their implementation across England.
The other inquiries are being led by the government, Haringey Council and the General Social Care Council.
There have also been calls from MPs for an independent public inquiry.
No-one at Haringey Council has lost their job over the case.
The council welcomed the government review, saying it would be "open and co-operative" with inspectors and would implement the findings "swiftly and comprehensively".
The minister for London, Tony McNulty, said government departments would be looking again at the contents of the letter.
Michael Gove, shadow secretary of state for children, schools and families, said the public deserved a government explanation about what had happened.
After a nine-week trial at the Old Bailey, Jason Owen, 36, from Bromley, and a 32-year-old man were convicted of "causing or allowing the death of a child or vulnerable person".
The boy's mother had already pleaded guilty to the same charge, and all three will be sentenced on 15 December.
The mother and her 32-year-old boyfriend also cannot be named. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8270092.stm | "All nuclear weapons states must reciprocally play their part in reducing nuclear weapons as part of an agreement by non nuclear states to renounce them.
"This is exactly what the Non-Proliferation Treaty intended. In line with maintaining our nuclear deterrent I have asked our national security committee to report to me on the potential future reduction of our nuclear weapon submarines from four to three."
He added the UK would insist non nuclear states proved they are not developing weapons and could offer civil nuclear power to non nuclear states which were ready to renounce any plans for nuclear weapons.
But he said one of the greatest risks was that terrorists would acquire nuclear weapons.
Mr Brown also warned Iran and North Korea that the world would be even tougher on nuclear proliferation and was ready to consider further sanctions.
US President Barack Obama is chairing a Security Council meeting as part of the process of drawing up a replacement for the Non-Proliferation Treaty, designed to stop countries developing nuclear weapons.
David Miliband: "The long-term aim is a world free of nuclear weapons"
He has said he will try to negotiate with Moscow to reduce US and Russian nuclear warheads - which make up the vast majority of the world's total - from more than 2,000 each to 1,500.
The UK government says it has cut its stockpile of Trident warheads from 200 to 160 but many Labour MPs would like it to scrap the weapons altogether.
Earlier, Mr Brown told BBC Radio 5 live there were "no proposals at the moment about warheads".
The government estimates the cost of renewing Trident at about £20bn but Greenpeace says it could cost £34bn and, once lifetime running costs are included, would cost nearly £100bn in total.
Professor Ron Smith, a defence economist at Birkbeck College, told the BBC that reducing the number of submarines would probably have little effect on Britain's nuclear capability because one was essentially "a spare".
The four Vanguard submarines which host Trident missiles can attack targets within a range of just over 4,600 miles (7,400km). The example above shows this range if the sub were located in the mid-Atlantic.
Britain keeps at least one submarine armed and at sea at all times. Normally, the remaining three - or two, should one be scrapped - will be undergoing maintenance, taking part in training exercises, or docked at port.
He added that losing one submarine would only save "a couple of billion" in about 2020 as there were a lot of fixed costs upfront and each boat cost less to build than the last one.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband said: "We reject unilateral nuclear disarmament for ourselves precisely because the world cannot end up in a situation where responsible powers get rid of their weapons, but the danger of nuclear proliferation by other powers remains."
But the former defence secretary John Hutton, in whose Barrow and Furness constituency the submarines are built, said it was "very, very important" that Britain could have "absolute confidence and the knowledge that we can maintain one of those submarines - at least one of those submarines - on continuous deterrent patrol".
The existing Trident submarines are housed at the Faslane naval base on the Clyde, but the Scottish National Party has firmly opposed their replacement.
Shadow defence secretary Liam Fox said reducing the number of submarines was not a new idea as it was an option set out in the government's 2006 White Paper.
He told the BBC: "If we can maintain our nuclear deterrent and make a contribution to disarmament that's all very well but the prime minister is not planning to reduce the number of warheads from 160 ... merely to have them in fewer submarines."
He said it was "reasonable and sensible" to look at doing that if the technology was available to make it possible.
The Liberal Democrats say they would not seek a "like-for-like replacement" for Trident - which is due to need replacing by 2024.
Leader Nick Clegg said it was good the prime minister had acknowledged the need for alternatives to a "like-for-like" replacement but he might have to go "a lot further".
However the party's foreign affairs spokesman Edward Davey told the BBC that the suggestion "looks like tinkering at the edges" of the nuclear weapons issue.
Bruce Kent, the vice-president of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, said multilateral reductions "don't mean anything".
He added: "What does it matter if you have 100 nuclear weapons or 200 nuclear weapons - you could do horrendous damage, numbers don't really matter at all.
"British nuclear weapons have no function, apart from encouraging other people to get nuclear weapons."
All numbers are estimates because exact numbers are top secret.
Strategic nuclear warheads are designed to target cities, missile locations and military headquarters as part of a strategic plan.
Israeli authorities have never confirmed or denied the country has nuclear weapons.
The highly secretive state claims it has nuclear weapons, but there is no information in the public domain that proves this.
The International Atomic Energy Agency reported in 2003 there had been covert nuclear activity to make fissile material and continues to monitor Tehran's nuclear program.
US officials have claimed it is covertly seeking nuclear weapons.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-18392009 | iPads 'will help raise Penzance school results'
A Cornish school which handed out iPads to more than 900 students and staff is predicting a rise in exam performances as a result.
Mounts Bay Academy in Penzance said last November that it was spending about £300,000 on the computers over three years.
Some critics questioned whether it would raise standards.
The school said it was hoping for a 10% improvement in exam results this year, partly due to the iPads.
It also said the school was saving money on paper.
Head teacher Sara Davey said: "Our predictions are that we might get a 10% increase this year in the headline figure.
"It's not just because of the iPads because we have a lovely year 11 who are working very hard and staff who are even more focused than they've every been.
"However I think the iPads are an extra thing that has helped us improve standards." |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-21430422 | Bluewater seeks to halve its annual energy bill
One of the UK's largest shopping centres is taking an innovative approach to try to halve its annual energy bill.
Bluewater, near Dartford, in Kent, opened in March 1999 and attracts 27 million visitors a year.
Over the last few years, its energy bill has been reduced by about 20% - to £1.4m a year - but managers are keen to improve on this, and transform it into "Europe's most energy-efficient retail complex" by rethinking their approach.
Lend Lease, the owner of Bluewater, has been working with Sefaira - a London-based company that produces energy efficiency software - to analyse its energy consumption.
Sefaira's chief executive, Mads Jensen, said it involved pinpointing inefficiencies across the centre's public areas before designing a programme of upgrades and improvements.'Capture savings'
Pascal Mittermaier, head of sustainability at Lend Lease, explained that rather than tackling each individual area of energy separately, "an integrated and holistic" approach was being taken in order to make an impact in the way energy was managed.
BLUEWATER: KEY ENERGY FACTS
- 27 million people visit the centre every year
- 1.66m sq ft of shopping space
- Annual utility bill for non-tenant areas is £1.4m
- Annual carbon emissions: 8,000 tonnes - equivalent to 14,000 homes
- Annual energy use: 16 800 MWh
- Biggest energy users are space conditioning (heating & cooling) & lighting, accounting for more than 90% of total consumption
- The estimated combined energy bill for the UK's top 40 shopping centres is £40m
"If you just change your lighting to be efficient that will have an impact on the amount of heat those lights generate, which therefore has an impact on the amount of heating you would do, which therefore has an impact on your building management system, and so-on," he said.
"So by looking at things in an integrated and a holistic way we think we can really understand all the interactions of the different energy-saving measures," Mr Mittermaier added.
He said a 50% reduction in energy consumption could be achieved by "capturing the savings from one to help pay for the next", so reducing the centre's carbon footprint even further.
Bluewater is the fourth-largest retail centre in the UK, but in contrast, the Metrocentre in Gateshead is the largest in Europe with 2.1m sq ft of shopping space.
The site in Tyneside has a three-year target to achieve an annual reduction of electricity usage of 10% from 2011 to 2013.'Optimum amount'
Mr Mittermaier said the procedure being undertaken at Bluewater was so complex that it had not been tried anywhere else.
"We've never been able to analyse that much data the way we are now with the help of Sefaira.
"This is really where their ability to crunch literally thousands of different variables will help us determine which is the best place to invest, and the best place to put our money, to achieve the optimum amount of energy reduction."
Mr Mittermaier said he hoped the analysis would be completed in the next few weeks, after which a decision had to be made on the duration of the project.
"If energy bills keep going up the way they have in the past couple of years… if we factor those things in the call will be to implement those measures as early as possible to get the most long-term saving you can." |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-20861098 | Paralympian Josef Craig given new year honour
Paralympic gold medallist Josef Craig is among those recognised in the New Year Honours list.
The 15-year-old swimmer from South Tyneside is appointed MBE.
He was also named the BBC's Young Sports Personality of the Year earlier this month.
Among others honoured are Northern Stage chief executive Erica Whyman, who becomes an OBE, and John James Fenwick, deputy chairman of Fenwick Ltd, who becomes a CBE, and community champions.
They include Northumberland swimming coach Christine Hall who received the British Empire Medal (BEM) for her work for Tynedale Amateur Swimming Club, which she has been involved with for about 25 years.
The 57-year-old's involvement started when her children began swimming with the club and has developed into a full-time role as head coach and co-ordinator.
She spends up to 17 hours a week coaching, including opening the pool up at Hexham just after 05:00 GMT, and travels to competitions at weekends.
During her time at the club it has developed and now 120 children are involved across six different squads.
Mrs Hall spoke of her pride at being recognised for something "her life revolves around" and praised the other people who worked alongside her.
She said: "Nobody ever does it for an award but it is nice to have appreciation.
"I am just immensely proud."
Robert Oliver also received the BEM for services to higher education and to the community of Cullercoats.
The 47-year-old has been porter and handyman at Newcastle University's Dove Marine Laboratory for nearly eight years.
He also volunteered with the Cullercoats lifeboat crew for 30 years before he was forced to retire earlier this year after having a hip replacement. His family's links with the crew go back six generations.
He said: "It's nice to get recognition for anything you do but it's not what I do it for.
"It is good to have your name put forward never mind to receive one." |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-18828634 | Yorkshire Regiment parade in York to mark Afghan return
Soldiers from the 1st Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment have paraded through York to mark their homecoming from Afghanistan.
It was the latest in a series of parades around the region with marches already being held in Leeds, Bradford and East Yorkshire.
York mayor Keith Hyman said it was a celebration of their service.
Earlier this month the government announced the regiment's 2nd Battalion would be lost as part of defence cuts.
The Yorkshire Regiment currently consists of three full-time battalions.
The cuts mean the 2nd Battalion, formerly the Green Howards, will be absorbed into the rest of regiment in autumn 2013.
In March, five soldiers from 3 Battalion, the Yorkshire Regiment, were killed when a bomb exploded under their vehicle in Helmand province. |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19845492 | Mike Nesbitt reshuffles Stormont assembly team
The Ulster Unionist party leader Mike Nesbitt has reshuffled his Stormont assembly team.
He has made Roy Beggs the party's new health spokesman.
Mr Beggs replaces John McAllister, who stepped down from the role after Mr Nesbitt sacked him as deputy leader of the UUP's Assembly group.
Mr McAllister joins the first and deputy first minister and finance committees.
Mr Nesbitt has also created an economic unit in the party. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/teachers/pshe_11_14/subject_areas/peer_pressure/newsid_2268000/2268311.stm | Ask the class:
- What are criminal offences?
- What causes people to commit crimes?
- Will police officers in schools help cut crime?
Give the class this list of offences sometimes committed by young people:
- breaking into cars
- picking a fight
- driving under the influence of drugs
- solvent abuse
- doing a paper round at the age of 11
- shouting racist abuse
- being sold alcohol in a pub at the age of 16
Students identify the victims of each of these offences, and consider how the offence would affect those people.
- Which of these are crimes?
- Which of them, if any, are victimless?
They should organise the offences into an order from "serious" to "less serious".
Ask the class to look at the list of offences from the first activity again, considering which of the following factors might lead someone to commit each one:
For example, shoplifting might result from peer pressure and/or a desire for excitement.
- emotional immaturity
- peer pressure
- lack of empathy
- a desire for excitement
- to buy drugs or
- alcohol poverty
- peer pressure
Ask pupils to think of factors, positive and negative, that might stop young people committing crimes, and how effective each factor might be.
Recap on the main teaching points.
Can students reach a consensus for the most serious offences and the causes of youth crime.
The options for dealing with young offenders are chosen from a scale linked to the severity of the crimes committed:
- 70% of all crimes that affect ordinary people are committed by a small number of young men - almost all of whom began offending in their teens.
- Tell pupils that while some offences have no apparent victims, eg taking drugs, the offenders themselves might suffer as a result. For example, by gaining a criminal record or going to a youth detention centre, or health-related problems.
- Prevention schemes - the teams organise activities and supervision to keep the children away from drugs and criminality.
- Final warnings - after being given a 'final warning', the offender is expected to take part in a programme to tackle their actions. If they offend again, they are sent to court.
- Community sentences - includes a meeting between victim and criminal or an order to carry out work to repair damage done. More than 5,000 reparation orders have been made since June 2000.
- Intensive supervision - full surveillance of the offender through electronic tagging and personal visits.
- Custody and training - in the year to March 2001 approximately 6,600 young offenders ended up on a Detention and Training Order (DTO) which aims to punish and rehabilitate in equal measure. A DTO can last between four and 24 months with half the time spent in custody and the remaining half in community rehabilitation.
For all links and resources click at top right. |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20918604 | Tasmania wildfires force thousands to flee
Wildfires on the Australian island of Tasmania have forced thousands of people to flee and destroyed at least 80 homes.
Much of Australia is experiencing a heatwave, and temperatures in the Tasmanian state capital Hobart earlier reached a record high of 41C.
Some took shelter on beaches on the Tasman peninsula, from where hundreds were rescued by boat.
Fire crews have also been battling blazes on mainland Australia.
Nick Bryant reports. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7910841.stm | The RUF trio committed atrocities during the 1991-2001 civil war
An international tribunal has found three Sierra Leone rebels guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
RUF leaders Issa Sesay, 38, and Morris Kallon, 45, were convicted of 16 of the 18 charges, while Augustine Gbao, 60, was found guilty on 14 of the counts.
The Freetown trial of the RUF rebel leaders, related to Sierra Leone's 10-year civil war, began in mid-2004.
Many RUF victims in the court sighed with relief at the verdicts. Sentences will be decided at a later date.
The BBC's Umaru Fofana at the court in Freetown said that as the verdicts were delivered, Sesay looked very serious and Kallon, clad in a smart light green suit, could have been mistaken for one of the lawyers, while Gbao buried his face in his hands and looked very dejected.
The last case to be held at the special court had heard how the rebel leaders were involved in the rape, mutilation and killings of civilians.
Tens of thousands of civilians had limbs, noses or ears chopped off
The three committed atrocities during the 1991-2001 civil war as senior commanders of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF).
On Wednesday the judges concluded the rebel chiefs "significantly contributed" to a joint criminal enterprise with former Liberian President Charles Taylor to control the diamond fields of Sierra Leone to finance their warfare.
They were also found guilty of forced marriage - the enslavement that countless young girls suffered when their villages were raided and they were forced to "marry" a rebel.
The convictions mark the first time the forced marriage charge has been successfully handed down in an international court of law.
The trial heard harrowing tales from 75 prosecution witnesses of rapes and killings at the hands of the RUF.
The three rebels chiefs were initially indicted along with RUF founder Foday Sankoh, a close ally of Mr Taylor. But Sankoh died in custody before the case ever came to trial.
Tactics favoured by the rebels included amputating hands and arms or carving the initials RUF into the bodies of their victims.
The RUF was notorious for using the so-called Small Boys Units - child soldiers forcibly recruited and issued with AK-47 assault rifles - who had a reputation for particular cruelty among the civilian population.
By the time the conflict ended, some 120,000 people had been killed while tens of thousands were left mutilated, their arms, legs, noses or ears cut off.
Sierra Leone expert Gregory Gordon, a US law professor who has worked as a prosecutor in Africa, told the BBC's Network Africa programme: "When we think about blood diamonds, when we think about people having their hands chopped off, when we think about child soldiers and sexual slavery and forced marriages - all the horrors of the civil war in Sierra Leone, we think about the Revolutionary United Front."
The only trial still ongoing before the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone is that of Mr Taylor, whose case has been moved to The Hague for security reasons.
He faces 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The Sierra Leone conflict was depicted in the 2006 film Blood Diamond, starring Djimon Hounsou, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Connelly. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4575388.stm | By Helen Fawkes
BBC News, Solotvyno, western Ukraine
Solotvyno is not exactly a glamorous destination.
From the outside, Solotvyno mine seems an unlikely health centre
But the Soviet-looking Ukrainian mining town attracts thousands of visitors each year.
They come to this run-down area searching for a remedy buried deep underground.
The Solotvyno Salt Mine, near the Romanian border, offers speleotherapy, an alternative treatment for people with respiratory conditions.
It now hopes to attract patients from Britain, where more than five million people suffer from asthma.
At Solotvyno, patients spend several hours a day breathing in the salty air more than 300 metres (984ft) below the surface.
When you get out of the lift, which is shared with salt miners, you step into what looks like a magical kingdom.
The walls appear to be sculpted out of white ice.
Everywhere salt crystals sparkle and twinkle.
"It's beautiful, and it looks like a marble castle from a fairy tale," says Maria Congard, from Denmark, who suffers from bronchitis.
"The air is very good, so you don't have problems with your lungs down here."
The mine is said to have a unique micro-climate because of tiny salt particles in the air.
It is claimed that this helps people with breathing difficulties.
At around 22C it is also very warm underground, so most people just wander around the tunnels in their pyjamas.
This salt sanatorium specialises in helping youngsters - about half of the 200 people who get treated every day are children.
"It's easy to breathe and it's pleasant to sleep here. Nothing disturbs you," says Yaroslav Chonka, the mine's chief doctor.
"The kids who come here start running around like mice as soon as they get down into the mine."
Treatment takes place over a two or three week period.
Some people stay underground for a few hours every day, while others spend the night.
Each session costs $22 (£13).
Wearing bright green pyjamas, Roxlana colours in a picture of a princess, helped by her mum.
The seven-year-old from central Ukraine has come here because she has asthma.
"I'm not frightened about being here, why should I be? The mine is very interesting and very beautiful.
Inside, the passageways and rooms are carved from salt
"It looks like somewhere that Father Christmas would live. And it makes me cough less."
In the giant children's room, some of the youngsters play, others rest on their beds and a couple play chess.
All along the passages there are small rooms which have been carved out of salt.
There are about four patients to a room, each with a blue curtain for privacy.
This state-run salt mine was established as a treatment centre during Soviet times and most of the patients are Ukrainian.
But there has been an increase in the number coming from Europe, now that people from EU countries no longer need a visa to get into Ukraine.
"We were not allowed to promote this place, so for many years only a few people knew about us outside the USSR," says Mr Chonka, the chief doctor.
"Now we want to attract more patients from abroad - especially British people, as according to medical research they have some of the highest levels of asthma in the world."
Western doctors are sceptical of claims that salt therapy can cure respiratory problems.
But many of the patients have already been won over.
Patients are required to wear hard hats while underground
Twelve-year-old Anya is giving piggybacks to friends.
Throughout the mine you can hear children running around - something that many of them often find quite difficult.
For these youngsters just a few days or weeks free from their condition is good enough for them.
"I came here to get treated as I have severe asthma," says Anya.
"I feel great because the salt is very good for helping my condition and since I've been here I haven't had any asthma attacks." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/5342246.stm | 43 police forces are expected to use the new database
Operation Trident, a Metropolitan Police team dedicated to tackling gun crime within the black community, seized hundreds of weapons in dawn raids in Kent. What is the operation?
What are the origins of Operation Trident?
Operation Trident was set up in 1998 in response to a string of what are often called "black-on-black" shootings and murders in the Lambeth and Brent areas of London.
The killings, mainly of young men, came amid fears of a wave of 'yardie'-style violence, linked to a growing crack cocaine problem and a spiralling guns culture.
Officers were finding the cases hard to investigate as fear of reprisals meant witnesses were afraid to come forward, and there was a general distrust of the police.
As the violence continued, the operation was extended to cover the whole of the capital a year later, with a special focus on drug-related gun crime.
How does it work?
Operation Trident now exists as a dedicated unit within the Metropolitan Police, which helps officers in local police stations investigate shootings and collate intelligence from across the capital on suspected gunmen, firearms suppliers and gun converters.
This information is then used to arrest suspects, trying to stop shootings from happening and disrupting the flow of weapons.
The unit also works with customs and immigration officials and other agencies in the UK and Jamaica to gather intelligence and identify suspects.
In 2000, a fresh commitment by the Met to improve its performance in tackling black community murders gave Operation Trident renewed impetus.
Operation Trident has waged a series of ad campaigns
It was relaunched with three specialist senior detectives in command, supported by a team of 160 officers.
It now has some 290 police officers and scores of support staff working in teams dedicated to murders, shootings and intelligence gathering.
Since 2004, Trident has further expanded beyond the black communities to cover shootings in all the capital's communities.
How is the community involved?
Community involvement has been seen as key to Trident's success from the outset, with the Trident Advisory Panel set up to harness public support and keep officers informed.
Before the operation was launched, the flow of intelligence about drug-related shootings was negligible.
The operation has maintained a high profile, waging glossy advertising campaigns, using eye-catching posters, cinema adverts and celebrity backing, and involvement in community events such as the Urban Music Festival at Earl's Court.
Publicity is seen as key both to persuading the public to play its part in providing crucial intelligence and to challenging gun culture and the belief among some sections of communities that someone with a gun will gain respect and fear.
Has it been a success?
Along the way, Operation Trident has had a number of successes, including the conviction in 2004 of Owen Clark, aka Father Fowl - a drugs kingpin whose operation, involving crack cocaine and gun crime, stretched from north west London to Jamaica and the Caribbean.
The Met says his detention had a major impact on drug dealing and shootings in north west London.
Last July two men were convicted at the Old Bailey over a massive gun conversion racket uncovered by Trident officers, disrupting an operation which had supplied hundreds of illegal firearms to criminals throughout Britain.
After reaching a peak of 24 murders investigated by Trident in 2002, the number of such cases halved to 12 in 2003 - with suspects apprehended in most.
According to the Met, all of the 15 murders the Trident team investigated between 2005 and 2006 were solved.
The latest figures show gun crime incidents investigated in the capital by Operation Trident fell from 95 offences in April to July 2005 to 78 in April to July 2006.
Overall, gun-enabled crime was 23.1% lower, the Met Police said.
Similar operations have now begun in other cities including Birmingham, Bristol and Nottingham.
However, the reluctance of witnesses to testify remains a problem, with some unwilling to be on protection schemes because of the personal sacrifices involved.
Drugs are still readily available - at lower prices - and in spite of pro-active investigations targeting gun dealers, the flow from abroad of illegal weapons, replicas and deactivated guns that can be made ready for use continues. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/newswatch/ifs/hi/newsid_4980000/newsid_4987700/4987754.stm | By Bernard Gabony
BBC News website, South Asia editor
A cartoon on our office wall shows the BBC crouching low to paint whitewash on the backside of a tiger, representing of course, Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels.
Sinhala protesters outside BBC offices
It appeared recently in a Sinhala-language newspaper at the same time as a number of other cartoons and columns vilifying the BBC's coverage of the rising violence on the island.
The reporting of the BBC's main English language journalist in Colombo, the state-run Sunday Observer observed, was "calculated to malign" the government.
Compare that with the following: "Why do your media black out news about Tamils in Sri Lanka where the Sri Lankan armed forces are still carrying out brutal murders?" an e-mailer asks.
"I think you got some bribes from the Sri Lankan government," another mailer says.
These e-mails are part of a campaign organised by a pro-Tamil Tiger website which included a bombarding the BBC with phone calls.
The two campaigns from opposing ends of Sri Lanka's political spectrum illustrate two things.
The number of people who fled government bombing in April is hotly contested
One is that people really care what the BBC says about Sri Lanka. It is the only international broadcaster with a permanent presence in Sri Lanka. The amount of coverage we give Sri Lanka through English language online, TV and radio reports and through the Sinhala and Tamil language services is vast compared to our competitors.
The second is that, no matter how much we strive to maintain our guidelines of impartiality and accuracy, there will always be people on either side convinced we are biased against them.
Take the cartoon about whitewashing the Tigers' backside.
That was triggered by outrage that the BBC reported that local officials had said that more than 40,000 people had fled their homes in eastern Sri Lanka after bombing by the Sri Lankan military.
We were accused of grossly exaggerating the numbers fleeing, of being na´ve and of falling for Tamil Tiger propaganda.
But the fact is, local officials did say this. And the BBC has documentary proof that the figure of homeless, 43,000 plus, came from the Sri Lankan government side.
Moreover the government carried out its own examination of transcripts of BBC reports and did not identify incidents of inaccurate or biased reporting.
An earlier pro-Tamil Tiger campaign was triggered when we carried a Human Rights Watch report accusing the Tigers of extorting money from members of the Tamil diaspora unwilling to contribute to their funds.
"This report is totally biased," was a typical comment.
But this is an issue the BBC has received its own reports on, independently of Human Rights Watch.
Apart from all the above, there are some difficult problems reporting Sri Lanka.
Lots of the worst things that happen go on well away from the eyes of independent journalists.
In these circumstances, when we can't be sure for ourselves who has done what, all we can do is report what people say has happened.
In Sri Lanka that often means this: A group of people are killed, quite possibly civilians. The government and the Tigers accuse each other of the killings.
To complicate matters further, "shadowy paramilitary groups" may have been involved.
In other words, a lot of lying goes on, but unless you have the proof of who is lying, all you can do is report what the different sides say.
That can be frustrating for journalists. But for victims of the violence, and their friends and relatives, it is sometimes seen as bias on our part if we carry the denials of those accused of the attacks.
On top of all this we sometimes make mistakes. In less contentious areas, mistakes may be taken as just that.
A Sinhala demonstrator outside the BBC's offices in central London told me how the BBC website had published a "deliberate mistake" in one of its headlines.
"There is a den of activity here," Douglas Wickramaratne of the Sinhala Association in the UK said, referring to the BBC's Sinhala and Tamil language services. They are staffed, he said, by Tamil Tiger "sympathisers and activists - they openly influence some of the reporters who go to Sri Lanka."
"Bias Brainwashing Corporation" read one banner held by a fellow protester.
The protests from either side will doubtless continue, just as organised campaigners seek to influence how the BBC covers other hotly disputed parts of the globe, such as the Middle East.
In the meantime we can only continue to try to give as balanced a view as we can on events, knowing that that is the main reason why so many people think the BBC is worth following. |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20469486 | Uproar over Saudi women's 'SMS tracking'
A discovery that Saudi male guardians are automatically getting text messages about cross-border movements of female dependants has caused a Twitter uproar.
"Hello Taliban, herewith some tips from the Saudi e-government!" read one post, while another suggested microchips.
Attention was drawn to the system when a man travelling with his wife got an alert as they left Riyadh airport.
Saudi women are denied the right to travel without their guardian's consent and are also banned from driving.Reform attempts
Saudi men earlier had the option of requesting alert messages about their dependants' cross-border movement, but it appears that since last week such notifications are being sent automatically.
Some Twitter users have mocked the move, suggesting also the use of microchips and ankle bracelets to track women.
Another tweet read: "If I need an SMS to let me know my wife is leaving Saudi Arabia, then I'm either married to the wrong woman or need a psychiatrist."
The text alerts are part of an electronic passport system launched by the Saudi authorities last year.
The government argues that e-passports make it easier for citizens to deal with their travel arrangements "without having to visit the passport office".
Saudi Arabia remains a deeply conservative country, however King Abdullah has recently introduced some cautious political and social reforms.
In September 2011, he announced that women would be given the right to vote and run in future municipal elections. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3509744.stm | By Dominic Bailey
BBC News Online, Madrid
Spain is going to the polls under a dark cloud.
All the conventional issues have been overshadowed
The new chapter that general elections are supposed to bring came three days early with the bomb attacks on commuter trains in Madrid.
Elections or no elections, the future will always be post-11 March not post-14 March.
One of the country's leading dailies, El Pais, summed up the mood when it said: "It is inevitable that the elections will take into account the situation created by the attacks".
Spaniards are grieving, still recoiling from stunned disbelief, but they are also angry.
At the peace demonstrations on Friday , millions across Spain directed that anger at the bombers who left 200 dead and more than 1,000 injured.
The protest was a symbol that they would not be broken by terror.
Turn-out for the polls - which was 68% in 2000 - is expected to be higher this year as voters reinforce that message that bombs cannot break their democracy.
But the governing Popular Party (PP), which had been widely expected to win, has also been a target for that anger and frustration.
The interior minister promised total transparency in the investigation
At the peace marches and at "spontaneous" protests outside PP headquarters in Madrid on Saturday, thousands demanded "Who was it? Tell us the truth" and held up banners warning "Don't play with the dead".
El Pais referred to "the more than dubious attitude of the government in relation to the lines of investigation".
And protesters accused the government of managing the release of information about the attacks to their own political ends.
Until the arrests on Saturday, the government had insisted its prime line of investigation was directed at the Basque separatists Eta, although the scale of the attack and devastation it caused left some unconvinced.
If Eta is to blame it would justify the PP's hard line against the group and separatism in Spain.
But if al-Qaeda is to blame, however, it would bring into question Spain's decision to join the United States and Britain in the war on Iraq, something 90% of Spaniards opposed.
The newspapers have different views of the government's behaviour over the last few days.
ABC says that "in little more than 48 hours the Interior Ministry has been able to present citizens the first concrete results of the police investigation into the 11-M attacks... The Executive and Jose Maria Aznar have behaved with efficiency and transparency."
But El Mundo calls the latest arrests "an embarrassing situation for the government just a few hours from the elections".
Some are sceptical about the ruling party's response
La Razon noted that "it would have been better to know these facts (about the arrests) on Thursday so that the election campaign wouldn't suffered such uncertainty. But what is certain is that seldom has a police force showed the efficiency of the Spanish police."
Electrician Karim Al-Jadyan, 33, believes the bombing will affect the outcome of the elections, but could not predict whether PP would be defeated or gain a majority.
"I think there will be changes," he said. "When something like this happens there is a change for something new. There will be a new way of thinking, new laws for everything and no more flexibility."
Felipe Clavello, 72, and his wife Carmen, 72, said people were disappointed with the government but they preferred Jose Maria Aznar's successor Mariano Rajoy to the Socialist (PSOE) leader Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, the main challenger.
As people go to cast their votes, party political posters put up before 11 March are now side-by-side with black ribbons of mourning.
How much change Spain wants will be decided by Monday morning. |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21606004 | Medical students job offers withdrawn after exam marking error
Thousands of medical students face having their first hospital job offer withdrawn because of marking errors in their exams.
On Monday more than 7,000 final year students were told the region they were assigned to as junior doctors.
However, a day later the examining body, the UK Foundation Programme Office (UKFPO), withdrew all offers due to flaws in the scoring system.
The British Medical Association says the situation is "unacceptable".
The UKFPO announced on Tuesday that it had discovered "a potential error in the scanning process of the situational judgement test" and promised to manually re-mark all the affected sheets within a week. The test is a multiple-choice exam used to test judgement in clinical scenarios.
Combined with other exams, this test helps determine the geographical region students will work in for the duration of their foundation programme - a two-year training course which forms the bridge between medical school and training for a specialism. They then choose their preferred hospitals in this region.
A large number of medical students have contacted the BBC saying their initial elation of being offered their preferred job location has turned to anxiety.'Extremely distressing'
Jonathan Ford, a final year medical student at Leicester, said: "My dad was extremely happy when I told him I had got my first choice - he was so proud. But now I don't know what will happen.
"It is extremely distressing and stressful - and couldn't come at a worst time - many of us are facing our final exams in the next two weeks."
Alice Rutter, the co-chair of the BMA medical students committee, said: "This is totally unacceptable. We view this problem very seriously indeed and will be taking action to ensure students who are affected are kept updated and supported."
Dr Katie Petty-Saphon, executive director of the Medical Schools Council, who commissioned the suppliers who introduced the errors apologised. She said: "I do understand how upsetting and frustrating it must be to be told you have a particular position one day and then to be warned the next that this might not be the case.
"We shall provide the results as soon as we are completely confident that we have done all we can to ensure their accuracy." |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-18041946 | MPs go back to school for Schools Questions and Answers
A BBC satellite truck stands at the door of a school hall in West Yorkshire; cables snake to live cameras; the panel of national politicians and a packed audience are waiting for the familiar theme tune to be played in.
This is the BBC's Question Time - but not as we know it.
The entire production of Schools Questions and Answers has been researched and fixed by a team of teenagers.
The broadcast is put together using the same equipment and technicians as the BBC's longest running television political discussion programme, but is being broadcast as a live webcast on the internet.
Cardinal Heenan Catholic High School in the Leeds suburb of Chapel Allerton won the chance to produce this "junior" version of Question Time by being one of the winners of a national competition run by the BBC.Teenage agenda setters
After sitting through the event I think the term "junior" ought to be ditched.
The panel certainly found it no less probing than the long-running original version.
The Yorkshire teenagers had a clear agenda that pulled no punches: the iniquities of email and online "snooping"; unaffordable higher education and why is the political elite made up of "toffs"?
"I think they do sometimes take into account what young people say," said 16-year-old Henry Theakston.
"But not enough. They are mostly focused on the older generations. We, and people slightly older than myself, tend to feel a bit lost."
Henry Theakston, one of the team from the school whose presentation to the BBC won it the chance to put on their own programme, was speaking to me just before he became the school's representative on the panel.
He was in powerful company.
Sitting alongside him was George Galloway, the new Respect MP for Bradford.
Rising Labour front bench star and Leeds West MP Rachel Reeves; Anna Soubrey, the outspoken Conservative back bencher for Broxtowe in Nottinghamshire, and senior Liberal Democrat MEP for the North West region Chris Davies made up the rest of the panel.Energising youth vote
Veteran BBC Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark chaired the meeting. She was full of enthusiasm for schools to take part in the competition and watch the programme.
"I think it's important that it is a webcast as well. We should be using all sorts of technologies to have programming that can reach all schools," she told me.
"The idea that it's live around the country with more than 200 schools taking part is fantastic.
"I think politicians have got a long way to go to energise the youth vote."
The need for action was highlighted by the Hansard Society just a few days before the webcast when it published its latest Audit of Political Engagement.
End Quote Kirsty Wark Newsnight presenter
I think politicians have got a long way to go to energise the youth vote”
The educational charity was set up in 1944 to promote parliamentary democracy in the UK and has regularly reported on the issues of falling political interest in the young.
A MORI poll for the society reveals just 39% express any interest in politics.
Only 27% say they are "certain to vote".
Just before the May 2012 local government elections the government's Electoral Commission warned that 56% of 17-25 year olds are not even registered to vote. |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-13193685 | Royal wedding: Fans camp out at Westminster Abbey
Royal enthusiasts have begun camping out in front of Westminster Abbey for the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.
John Loughrey was first to arrive on Monday night, and said he planned to stay in his position to ensure a prime spot for the event on Friday.
The 56-year-old from Wandsworth, south-west London, said: "I have always been loyal to the Royal Family."
He was joined on Tuesday by Guen Murray, 76, from Attleborough, Norfolk.
The mother-of-four arrived with a suitcase, a roll of bedding and a large ball of wool so she could knit during the week.Together 'forever'
Mr Loughrey was dressed in a Kate and William T-shirt stating "Diana would be proud".
The former assistant chef - a self-confessed "super fan" of the late Diana, Princess of Wales - also wore a Union flag hat.
He said of the Royal Family: "We have had them for more than 1,000 years and they make a great contribution to the life of this country."
Mr Loughrey also spent four days camped outside following the death of Diana in 1997.
He said he thought Miss Middleton and William would be together "forever".
Mrs Murray said she camped outside Buckingham Palace for the wedding of Diana to Prince Charles 30 years ago.
She did the same for the wedding of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson in 1986 and went to Windsor when Charles married Camilla Parker Bowles.
Mrs Murray thought Friday's ceremony would be "great", adding: "I think they both deserve a good day - they have waited long enough, haven't they?"
About 200,000 people are expected to flock to Hyde Park and about 20,000 will gather in Trafalgar Square, where screens will show highlights. |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-15275419 | York Minster Great East window's secrets explored
The secrets of the Great East window at York Minster are to be explored in a BBC television documentary.
The window, at 78ft (24m) in height, is the UK's largest medieval stained-glass window.
The 311 individual panels reveal a Christian history of the world, as told in the Bible, from Creation to the Last Judgement.
Often referred to as Britain's Sistine Chapel, the window was created between 1405 and 1408 by John Thornton.
It is one of the earliest pieces of art by a named artist in England.
Britain's Most Fragile Treasure, on BBC Four, follows art historian Dr Janina Ramirez, from the University of Oxford, as she watches the work of the conservation team at York Glaziers Trust.
The trust is undertaking a five-year project to repair and conserve both the window and stonework of York Minster's East Front, supported by a £10m Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grant.
As part of the work, the trust has dismantled the entire 600-year-old window.
This has given Dr Ramirez the opportunity to examine the panels to discover more about how the window was originally created and designed.
The programme will also examine what the window can tell the modern world about the medieval mind and world view.
The Very Reverend Keith Jones, Dean of York, said: "To think that not long ago we thought all the great works of European art were in museums or on the walls of churches abroad. Yet we had these amazing glass windows, able to compare with anything.
"At last we are waking up to what we have got and this programme will open our eyes." |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-10725744 | Q&A: Kosovo's future
Kosovo's parliament voted for independence from Serbia on 17 February 2008, and put a new constitution into place four months later.
The move remains controversial, but Kosovo received a significant boost to its case on 22 July 2010 when the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that its declaration of independence was not illegal under international law.What is Kosovo's current legal status?
Kosovo's parliament pressed ahead with the rapid adoption of packages of law setting out the framework of independence. A new constitution was adopted in April 2008, and came into force two months later, transferring power to the majority ethnic-Albanian government after nine years of UN rule.
Kosovo has established its own army and intelligence agency, issued passports and set up its first embassies. A national anthem has also been adopted.
It has also become a member of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Seventy countries have recognised its independence so far, including the US, Turkey, and 22 of the EU's 27 nations, including the UK, Germany, France and Italy.
But Serbia and Kosovo's minority Serbs are vehemently against it - and they have the support of Russia and China. Soon after the independence declaration, Serbia's Prime Minister at the time, Vojislav Kostunica, damned Kosovo as a "false state".
Russia and China have both opposed a new UN Security Council resolution to settle Kosovo's status.
Serbia requested a ruling from the ICJ, the UN's main judicial organ, which found that Kosovo's declaration of independence did not violate "general international law".
The ruling is not binding, but is seen as politically important since it may encourage more countries to recognise Kosovo.
The ICJ judges said their ruling was restricted to the secession declaration itself and did not address the wider issue of Kosovo independence.Are there still international forces in Kosovo?
The European Union has a mission of some 1,900 law enforcement officials deployed across Kosovo to strengthen law and order.
It deployed at the end of 2008 under a plan drawn up by UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari for "supervised independence", after delays linked to Russian objections over the withdrawal of the UN force it replaced.
The force, known as Eulex, consists of police officers, judges, prosecutors and customs officials.
Meanwhile, the 10,000-strong, Nato-led K-For mission has remained responsible for Kosovo's security.
It also has also been training a new 2,500-member multi-ethnic internal security force, the Kosovo Security Force (KSF), which was launched in January 2009.Why are some countries opposed to an independent Kosovo?
Russia is a traditional ally of Serbia - considering it to share a Slavic and Orthodox Christian tradition - and opposed Nato intervention in Kosovo in 1999.
It has played on fears that Kosovo could open a "Pandora's box" of independence claims, saying there is little difference between the separatism of Kosovo and the ambitions of pro-Russian areas such as Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia and Trans-Dniester in Moldova.
Russia is also concerned by the EU's expansion into the Balkans. Brussels recently offered Belgrade an interim agreement on the path towards EU membership.
Other countries oppose Kosovo's independence because of their own fears about secessionist challenges and the aspirations of minority groups.
These include China and five states within the EU: Cyprus, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and Greece.How has Serbia reacted?
Serbia's main political parties are unanimous in their rejection of Kosovo as an independent state, but the declaration of independence ultimately led to the collapse of Vojislav Kostunica's government, as the main coalition partners split over the EU's plans to deploy in Kosovo.
Elections in May 2008 were won by President Boris Tadic's pro-EU alliance.
After weeks of negotiations, the bloc formed a coalition government with its former rivals, the Socialists.
Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic promised to take Serbia into the EU, but said Belgrade would never recognise Kosovo's independence.What will happen to Kosovo's Serb minority?
Kosovo's 2m population includes an estimated 120,000 ethnic Serbs, many of whom live in Serb-dominated areas north of the Ibar river, adjoining Serbia proper. Half of the population lives under Nato protection in scattered enclaves south of the Ibar river.
Under the UN plan, the Serb minority is meant to have guaranteed places in local government and parliament, proportionate representation in the police and civil service, and a special status for the Serbian Orthodox Church.
However, Serb hardliners vowed not to co-operate. Some 150 Kosovo Serb police officers in the south-east were suspended when they refused to take orders from the capital, Pristina.
A degree of partition is already a fact of life in the Serb-dominated areas, and in June 2008 Kosovo Serbs set up their own rival assembly in Mitrovica.
Although it has no real powers, it is seen as a challenge to the ethnic Albanian government in Pristina and a way of strengthening parallel Serb institutions and links with Serb authorities in Belgrade.
Kosovo's President Fatmir Sejdiu described it as "an attempt to destabilise Kosovo", and a UN spokesman called the assembly a "virtual reality".Could tensions turn to violence?
Clashes have occasionally erupted in parts of northern Kosovo that are divided between ethnic Albanians and Serbs.
The main northern town of Mitrovica, where ethnic Serbs live north of the Ibar river and ethnic Albanians to the south, has been a flashpoint.
Crowds of Serbs reacted angrily to the independence declaration. They burned down two border posts in northern Kosovo and staged mass protest rallies. Nato reinforcements were sent to secure the border with Serbia.
A riot in March 2008 left one UN policeman dead. Ethnic clashes broke out in Mitrovica in August 2009, and in July 2010 one person was killed and 11 injured by an explosion at a rally in the Serb part of the city.
However, there have been few signs that discontent could turn into organised violence, or that ethnic populations might be forced to leave their homes.
Nato forces said they were ready for any violence triggered by the ICJ ruling.
The alliance was heavily criticised in 2004, when its troops failed to quell ethnic Albanian riots targeting Serbs. |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19481835 | Salafists raid Tunisian hotel bar for serving alcohol
Muslim hardliners known as Salafists have attacked a hotel in the Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid because its bar still served alcohol, reports say.
Dozens of activists smashed bottles and chased away customers at the Horchani hotel, news agencies reported.
The sale and drinking of alcohol is legal in Tunisia, which is popular with foreign tourists.
The country has witnessed a resurgence of Islamist hardliners recently since the overthrow of President Ben Ali.
The central Sidi Bouzid is the cradle of Tunisia's revolution, which ended secular rule and triggered the Arab Spring.Threats
Hotel owner Jamil Horchani told Reuters the Salafists "attacked the hotel on Monday night and smashed all its contents. They entered the rooms and damaged furniture and smashed bottles of alcohol."
They had previously threatened to attack the hotel if he did not stop serving alcoholic drinks, he said.
In May, Salafists in Sidi Bouzid staged an anti-alcohol protest demanding that hotels and bars be relocated outside the town, some 300km (186 miles) west of the capital Tunis.
The Tunisian uprising in January 2011 unseated veteran President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and inspired a wave of pro-democracy movements across North Africa and the Middle East.
But since the government's overthrow, Salafist fundamentalists have been gaining in power.
The movement's most radical branches are demanding the reintroduction of Sharia law into Tunisia. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3743663.stm | The opposition says it will contest the poll results
On the day Malawi's president is sworn in, the country's media urges restraint following riots in the commercial capital, Blantyre, after the delayed announcement of Thursday's elections results.
The ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) party candidate, Bingu wa Mutharika, was declared the winner, defeating four other candidates - including opposition leader Gwanda Chakuamba - despite opposition claims that the elections were rigged and a refusal to accept the results.
"The nation has made its choice, although there are people who may not be happy with the outcome of the election," an editorial in The Daily Times is quick to declare.
Concerns over violence
"Let's have an end to the contest and get on with the business of government," the paper urges, calling on the president-elect "to rein in" some of his "overzealous supporters".
"It will do nothing to uphold your own dignity if you let ruffians get away with impunity."
Violence is also the main concern of the writers in the Malawi Nation.
"The violence and looting of shops that followed the announcement of election results .. was uncalled for," says an editorial.
The paper calls on the leaders of all political parties to urge their followers to avoid violence.
"Violence should be avoided at all costs since it just brings more misery."
Writing in the same paper, commentator Idriss Ali Nassah calls on the 70-year old former World Bank economist - said to have been hand-picked by the outgoing president - to prove quickly that he is up to the job.
"If there was ever a leader so controversially chosen, a president assuming power when political opinion in the country is so sharply divided, then it is you in 2004."
"Now that you have won power, it is obligatory that you start to assert your authority immediately to erase any doubts that you have no political spine of your own".
Media under fire
Meanwhile, international observers said the elections were marred by serious shortcomings, including errors with the electoral roll and the state media bias towards the ruling UDF party.
Malawian independent Capital Radio reported on Sunday that the police shut down a private radio station, MIJ 90.3, and arrested four journalists - including its station manager Evans Masamba - for interviewing an opposition spokesman who threatened to call on the army to "take over" if Mutharika was declared president.
The station's director James N'gombe told AFP news agency that four of its reporters were arrested for broadcasting what police said was an "inflammatory interview" with opposition spokesperson Kholiwe Mkandawire.
He said Mkandawire had also threatened to send supporters to surround the airport and the stadium in Blantyre where the swearing-in ceremony was due to be held.
Capital Radio reported that the National Media Institute of Southern Africa, Namisa, "had expressed shock" over the event and called for their immediate release.
The radio further reported that the Malawi army rejected claims by MIJ 90.3 that it was "angered by the current election process".
It quoted an army spokesman, Clement Namangale, as saying the military "would always remain neutral and not interfere in the electoral process".
According to the radio, "Namangale urged individuals and all stakeholders in the electoral process to refrain from making inflammatory statements that may incite violence".
BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7048346.stm | Singer Kylie Minogue paid tribute to her fans as she attended the London premiere of a film about returning to the stage after battling breast cancer.
Minogue arrived wearing a white dress encrusted with diamonds
White Diamond, directed by her friend and stylist William Baker, goes behind the scenes of her Showgirl tour.
Minogue said the film was "a good way to thank the fans for their support and see where all their good wishes went".
The documentary had "shonky" camera work, she admitted, but still showed "the gist" of what went on backstage.
"This started as quite a humble little project, and in many ways it still is."
Minogue was joined at Tuesday's event in London's Leicester Square by her sister Dannii and actor Rupert Everett.
Shot between August 2006 and March 2007, White Diamond follows Minogue as she resurrects the Showgirl tour she was forced to abandon after her breast cancer diagnosis.
The film, which features an appearance by U2 singer Bono, is scheduled for a DVD release in December.
The Times' Caitlin Moran described White Diamond "as a documentary made by a very discreet friend" that runs "an arse-fatiguing two hours".
She signed autographs and spoke to reporters before the screening
The film, she wrote, "leaves you in no doubt that Kylie is a charming, merry, adorable disco mouse with a fabulous collection of shoes."
It has been a busy week for Minogue, who was in the West End on Monday as well at the opening night of the musical Rent.
The singer has recorded a series of different answer phone messages for use in the show, also directed by William Baker.
Minogue, who releases a new album next month, will soon be seen in an hour-long special on ITV1 as well as the Doctor Who Christmas special. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/world/02/september_11/how_the_world_has_changed/html/political_view/syria.stm | However, the US State Department accepted that Syria had “not been implicated directly in an act of terrorism since 1986”. Washington also said that Syria had co-operated with the United States and other governments in investigating al-Qaeda.
Syria has traditionally opposed Islamist groups operating within the country and has brutally repressed them in the past. But it has supported those engaged against Israel, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon. Syria’s relationship with the United States therefore remains uneasy. |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21571568 | New contender for smartphone crown?
The Barcelona Mobile World Congress is the biggest show in the mobile phone industry's calendar.
With Apple and Samsung far ahead of their rivals in the smartphone market, much of the focus is on the battle for third place.
Nokia and Blackberry are trying to regain lost ground, while China's Huawei is the surprise contender to be the big new force in mobile phones.
Rory Cellan-Jones reports. |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-20459416 | Labour councillors agree Bristol cabinet role
Bristol independent mayor George Ferguson has invited a former council leader to be his deputy mayor.
Labour's Helen Holland has been offered the role while colleague Mark Bradshaw will be invited to be executive for transport and infrastructure.
Previously, local Labour party members voted to boycott the cabinet but councillors have gone against this.
Mr Ferguson said it was "good news for Bristol" while Labour leader Peter Hammond said he was "satisfied".'Politics changed'
"This is all about burying differences," Mr Ferguson said.
Architect Mr Ferguson won the mayoral election last week with a total of 37,353 votes, ahead of Labour's Marvin Rees.
Mr Hammond said: "There are still areas we might discuss and there are still areas we continue to disagree on.
"They key thing for us is actually doing firstly what the people of Bristol expect us to do and secondly recognising that with George's win that the politics of Bristol have changed significantly."
Labour will be also offered a third cabinet place while three other positions will be offered to different parties. |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-20599098 | Carwyn Jones authorised Pobol y Cwm badger cull letter
First Minister Carwyn Jones has said he authorised a complaint about a soap opera after a character criticised his government's decision not to cull badgers.
The Welsh government asked Welsh-language channel S4C to pull a repeat episode of Pobol y Cwm.
The repeat was broadcast as planned, despite claims it breached guidelines.
Taking questions in the Senedd, Mr Jones was accused of trying to "censor" the broadcaster.
At first minister's questions, Plaid Cymru AM Simon Thomas asked if he had "taken advantage of the excellent S4C service online Clic in order to view the whole Pobol y Cwm episode before authorising the letter asking them not to repeat the programme".
"Did you actually watch the programme?" he asked.
End Quote Carwyn Jones AM First Minister
A letter was written by press officers and I authorised that action”
Mr Jones said he had seen the programme and its script.
"A letter was written by press officers and I authorised that action," he said.
He said the Welsh government was waiting for responses from the BBC - which produces the soap - S4C and the regulator Ofcom.
"There is a public policy issue here that has to be debated," he said.
The Welsh government claimed the episode last Wednesday - seen by 33,000 viewers - broke editorial guidelines and that it had been denied a right of reply.
S4C rejected the complaint and said the programme included a variety of viewpoints.
One of the characters accuses the Welsh government of not having the "backbone" to cull badgers and of not caring about the countryside.
But in another scene, other characters gave an opposing point of view, saying farmers were to blame for the spread of TB in cattle.
Opposition leaders rounded on Mr Jones in the assembly chamber on Tuesday.
Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies asked if the Welsh government would try to "pull the plug" on Gavin and Stacey if the sitcom couple got stuck on the M4.
Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Kirsty Williams said that on the day of the Leveson report into press standards "you were busy trying to protect your government by censoring a public service broadcaster". |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13882235 | President: Rajkeswur " Kailash" Purryag
Parliament chose its speaker, Rajkeswur Purryag, as president in July 2012 after the resignation of Anerood Jugnauth.
President Jugnauth stepped down in March in order to join the opposition to Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam.
President Purryag is a longstanding member of the Labour Party leadership and served as Mr Ramgoolam's deputy until being chosen as speaker of parliament in 2000.
Prime minister: Navin Ramgoolam
Former Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam of the Social Alliance returned to power after defeating Paul Berenger of the Mauritian Militant Movement in elections in July 2005.
The ruling alliance, which included Mr Ramgoolam's Labour Party and the Militant Socialist Movement, was re-elected in a closely fought vote in 2010, defeating the Mauritian Militant Movement led by Mr Berenger.
Both main blocs campaigned on a promise of strengthening the welfare state and social justice.
Born in 1947, Mr Ramgoolam served as prime minister between 1995 and 2000. He is a doctor and lawyer.
His predecessor Paul Berenger, a white Mauritian of French descent, became the island's first non-Hindu prime minister in 2003.
The ruling coalition shrank in August 2011 when the Militant Socialist Movement (MSM) leader Pravind Jugnauth said his party was now in opposition. Six ministers from the party had quit in protest against the arrest of the health minister by an anti-corruption watchdog. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7737357.stm | Check-in staff were concerned about carrying stem cells
The pioneering windpipe transplant carried out by Spanish doctors was almost scuppered by the low-cost airline Easyjet, the BBC has learned.
The crucial stem cells involved in the transplant had been grown in a Bristol lab, but had to be flown to Barcelona.
The airline had said it would carry the cells, but on the day check-in staff refused, leading medics to charter a private jet for £14,000.
Easyjet said it had no record of the request, but would refund the doctors.
In the world first, doctors were able to grow an artificial windpipe - or trachea - in the lab, which was then used to treat 30-year-old mother-of-two Claudia Castillo, whose airways had been damaged by tuberculosis.
But the work to prepare for the transplant involved international collaboration.
There was a 16-hour window in which the cells had to be transported from the Bristol lab to Barcelona after which they would have been un-usable.
But Professor Anthony Hollander, one of the scientists involved, added: "Check-in staff said that they couldn't take the material on board and that it could have been some kind of dangerous material.
"After significant debate, it was concluded that it wasn't going to happen."
'Clock was ticking'
A German medical student, Philip Jungerbluth, was due to accompany the cells on their flight, and it was he who saved the day.
Professor Martin Birchall, one of the lead researchers, had had several conversations with the airline up to hours before the flight, in which he was told it could carry the cells.
He said: "The clock was ticking. We'd taken the cells out of their culture media an hour before.
"We thought about driving to Barcelona, but that would have taken too long.
"Philip knew a German surgeon who he said used to fly.
"We had a couple of conversations, and within two hours the surgeon was in Bristol - with his private jet."
Professor Birchall had to pay for the flight out of his own pocket, though the cost was later reimbursed by Bristol University.
Professor Birchall paid for the private jet himself
He said he had e-mailed Easyjet, and written to its chief executive and chairman following the incident, but had not received a satisfactory response.
Professor Birchall said the whole operation had been under threat.
"If we hadn't been able to get the cells there, we would have wasted years of work and this major breakthrough for surgery and science wouldn't have taken place."
"In a very short space of time we arranged for a thoracic surgeon from Germany who we know flies planes to come to Bristol and pick up the cells and a scientist and take them to Barcelona - at some considerable cost."
In a statement, Easyjet told the BBC: "We do not have any record of the passenger's request to carry medical materials on board the flight.
"However as a gesture of goodwill Easyjet has refunded the passenger for the cost of his flight." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8147566.stm | "After a little bit of investigation, I discovered that there are other cat owners who are similarly bombarded early in the morning."
While miaowing might get a cat expelled from the bedroom, Dr McComb said that this pestering purr often convinced beleaguered pet lovers to get up and fill their cat's bowl.
To find out why, her team had to train cat owners to make recordings of their own cats' vocal tactics - recording both their "soliciting purrs" and regular, "non-soliciting" purrs.
"When we played the recordings to human volunteers, even those people with no experience of cats found the soliciting purrs more urgent and less pleasant," said Dr McComb.
She and her team also asked the volunteers to rate the different purrs - giving them a score based on how urgent and pleasant they perceived them to be.
"We could then relate the scores back to the specific purrs," explained Dr McComb. "The key thing (that made the purrs more unpleasant and difficult to ignore) was the relative level of this embedded high-frequency sound."
"When an animal vocalises, the vocal folds (or cords) held across the stream of air snap shut at a particular frequency," explained Dr McComb. The perceived pitch of that sound depends on the size, length and tension of the vocal folds.
Impossible to resist: Cats use sounds that humans are "highly sensitive" to
"But cats are able to produce a low frequency purr by activating the muscles of their vocal folds - stimulating them to vibrate," explained Dr McComb.
Since each of these sounds is produced by a different mechanism, cats are able to embed a high-pitched cry in an otherwise relaxing purr.
"How urgent and unpleasant the purr is seems to depend on how much energy the cat puts into producing that cry," said Dr McComb.
Previous studies have found similarities between a domestic cat's cry and the cry of a human baby - a sound that humans are highly sensitive to.
Dr McComb said that the cry occurs at a low level in cats' normal purring. "But we think that (they) learn to dramatically exaggerate it when it proves effective in generating a response from humans."
She added that the trait seemed to most often develop in cats that have a one-on-one relationship with their owners.
"Obviously we don't know what's going on inside their minds," said Dr McComb. "But they learn how to do this, and then they do it quite deliberately."
So how does Dr McComb feel about Pepo now she knows he has been manipulating her all these years?
"He's been the inspiration for this whole study, so I'll forgive him - credit where credit's due."
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7533358.stm | Papa Wendo began his career as a boxer in the 1940s
World music star Papa Wendo, often hailed as the "father" of Congolese rumba music, has died at the age of 82.
The musician was admitted to a clinic in Kinshasa in DR Congo on Monday and died after a long illness.
His music first came to the attention of international audiences in the 1950s with Marie Louise, which some Congolese believed could wake the dead.
Wendo was born Antoine Wendo Kolosoy in the Bandundu region but became an orphan at the age of nine.
His parents' deaths meant he was taken care of by priests - until he found them too strict and left about three years later, Agence France-Press said in an obituary.
The singer started his career as a boxer in the 1940s and travelled to Cameroon and Senegal before he made his first record in 1948.
The Catholic church suspected his song Marie Louise had satanic powers, and the singer was briefly jailed.
In the 1940s Wendo befriended the country's first legally elected prime minister, Patrice Lumumba.
But he was assassinated shortly after taking office at the height of the Cold War, in 1961, by a combination of Belgian and United States agents.
Four years later, army chief Joseph Mobutu took power and Wendo decided to stop playing music, citing politics as his reason.
Mobutu was forced out in 1997 and the father of current leader Joseph Kabila helped Wendo when he restarted his recording and touring career.
A documentary on Wendo called On the Rumba River, made by French film-maker Jacques Sarasin, was released last month. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3695748.stm | By Robert Piggott
BBC religious affairs correspondent
The Roman Catholic Church has attacked the Spanish government's plans to introduce gay marriage, comparing them to releasing a virus into society.
Spain could join other European countries in allowing same-sex unions
The government says it expects homosexual people to be able to marry as early as next year.
The legislation highlights the steep decline in the power and authority of the Church in Western Europe.
This is especially the case in Spain - which was until recently one of Europe's most devout countries.
The bill allowing same sex marriage - expected to be passed by the Spanish cabinet this week - has prompted a harsh response from Roman Catholic bishops.
Their spokesman likened gay marriages to a counterfeit currency.
"It would impose on society a virus, something false, which will
have negative consequences for social life," Juan Antonio Martinez
Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero took office in April, intending to remove what he called the Church's undeniable advantages and create a secular state with streamlined divorce and relaxations in abortion law.
The changes have distressed and outraged the Church, whose influence on Spaniards has declined precipitously since the death in 1975 of the dictator General Francisco Franco. His regime was closely linked to the Church.
Opinion polls suggest that nearly half of Spaniards now almost never go to mass. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/welsh/7241504.stm | Full-back David Bortolussi is set to miss Italy's Six Nations trip to Wales.
Full-back David Bortolussi is Italy's key goal-kicker
The Italian's key place-kicker injured his shoulder in training with his French club Montpellier and could miss the rest of the Six Nations.
Wing Kaine Robertson will also miss Italy's clash in Cardiff on 23 February because of a thigh injury.
Alessio Galante replaces Ludovico Nitoglia, who was a late call-up with Calvisano's Paolo Buso, while former captain Marco Bortolami also returns.
Gloucester second row Bortolami missed Italy's first two Six Nations games because of a fractured eye socket.
Bortolussi's absence is a major blow for the Italians as the 26-year-old full-back has kicked all but 10 of Italy's 20 points in this year's Six Nations.
Uncapped 21-year-old full-back Buso and wing Nitoglia, who has 17 caps, have been called up from Italy's A squad.
Italy squad to face Wales on 23 February:
Mauro Bergamasco, Mirco Bergamasco, Marco Bortolami, Paolo Buso, Gonzalo Canale, Martin Castrogiovanni, Carlo Antonio Del Fava, Santiago Dellape, Carlo Festuccia, Ezio Galon, Leonardo Ghiraldini, Andrea Lo Cicero, Andrea Marcato, Andrea Masi, Carlos Nieto, Sergio Parisse (captain), Enrico Patrizio, Salvatore Perugini, Simon Picone, Alessio Galante, Alberto Sgarbi, Josh Sole, Pietro Travagli, Alessandro Zanni |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9747000/9747293.stm | The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has been appalling, its economic forecasts a disaster which have given George Osborne "no end of trouble". So says one of the men who helped write the brief for the OBR back when it was set up in 2010.
Douglas McWilliams, chief executive of the Centre for Economics and Business Research, said the OBR's track record had been "pretty lousy".
"I think they've caused the politicians a lot of trouble," he told the Today programme. "In effect, I think, the coalition has lost the first couple of years, looking at economic growth, because they thought economic growth would come back anyway, and it's turned out not to have happened."
The OBR declined the offer of an interview but said in a statement: "Anyone approaching this task has to recognise the huge uncertainty around all forecasts, and the extent to which data revisions will change the picture of what was an accurate forecast long after the event...
"We always strive to learn lessons from the performance of our forecasts, and we will publish our latest regular report on this in October."
Get in touch with Today via
or text us on 84844. |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12235237 | Baroness Warsi says Muslim prejudice seen as normal
Prejudice against Muslims has "passed the dinner-table test" and become socially acceptable in the UK, a senior Conservative is to say.
Baroness Warsi, co-chairman of the Tory Party, will warn against dividing Muslims into moderates and extremists.
The baroness, the first Muslim woman to serve in the cabinet, will say such labels fuel misunderstanding.
She will use a speech at Leicester University to accuse the media of superficial discussion of Islam.
Baroness Warsi will say anti-Muslim prejudice is now seen by many Britons as normal and uncontroversial, and she will use her position to fight an "ongoing battle against bigotry".
In extracts of the speech, published in the Daily Telegraph, the peer blames "the patronising, superficial way faith is discussed in certain quarters, including the media", for making Britain a less tolerant place for believers.
She is expected to reveal that she raised the issue of Islamophobia with Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to Britain last year, urging him to "create a better understanding between Europe and its Muslim citizens".'Social rejection'
The BBC's religious affairs correspondent Robert Pigott said Baroness Warsi is to say publicly what many Muslims privately complain about - that prejudice against them does not attract the social stigma attached to prejudice against other religious and ethnic groups.
End Quote Baroness Warsi
It's not a big leap of imagination to predict where the talk of 'moderate' Muslims leads”
"Lady Warsi has broached the issue before," Robert Pigott says.
"She told the 2009 Conservative Party conference that anti-Muslim hatred had become Britain's last socially acceptable form of bigotry, and claimed in a magazine article last October that taking a pop at the Muslim community in the media sold papers and didn't really matter."
In her speech, she is expected to say the description of Muslims as either moderate or extremist encourages false assumptions.
"It's not a big leap of imagination to predict where the talk of 'moderate' Muslims leads; in the factory, where they've just hired a Muslim worker, the boss says to his employees: 'Not to worry, he's only fairly Muslim'," she will say.
"In the school, the kids say: 'The family next door are Muslim but they're not too bad'.
"And in the road, as a woman walks past wearing a burka, the passers-by think: 'That woman's either oppressed or is making a political statement'."
Baroness Warsi will say terror offences committed by a small number of Muslims should not be used to condemn all who follow Islam.
But she will also urge Muslim communities to be clearer about their rejection of those who resort to violent acts.
"Those who commit criminal acts of terrorism in our country need to be dealt with not just by the full force of the law," she will say.
"They also should face social rejection and alienation across society and their acts must not be used as an opportunity to tar all Muslims."
Asked about Baroness Warsi's speech, a No 10 spokesman said she was expressing the view that there needed to be a debate "about the issue of radicalisation in Great Britain and terrorism". |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20248635 | Pakistan attack: Karachi suicide bomb 'kills three'
At least three soldiers were killed and many others injured in a suicide attack on a paramilitary base in the Pakistani city of Karachi, officials say.
The bomber rammed an explosives-laden truck into the entrance of the Rangers camp in the early hours of the morning.
No group has said it carried out the attack. The Taliban have targeted security bases in Karachi before.
The bombing coincided with a high-profile annual defence equipment exhibition in the southern city.
The blast was heard across a large area and images from the site showed a scene of destruction, including a building with its facade ripped off.
Witnesses said they saw the truck break through an outer gate and then explode after hitting a tree inside the compound.
The blast sent plumes of smoke into the air, and caused traffic jams during the early rush hour.
One official told the AFP news agency that tight security at the base prevented the attack being more deadly.
"It seems it was a suicide attack. The vehicle exploded before the gate of [the] Rangers' complex because it could not enter inside due to high security," Fayyaz Lagahari said.
Last year, suspected al-Qaeda militants carried out a 16-hour assault on a naval base in the city, which killed at least 10 people.
Karachi has long suffered outbreaks of violence, either carried out by the Taliban or because of turf wars between rival political groups.
Hundreds of people have been killed in such attacks in the city this year - at least 800 people died in politically motivated attacks last year. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6583413.stm | A Zambian man has won a prestigious Goldman Prize for helping to curb widespread elephant poaching by setting up economic projects for villagers.
Hammerskjoeld Simwinga was named after the former UN chief
Hammerskjoeld Simwinga wins $125,000 for the award, sometimes called the Nobel prize for the environment.
He helped set up bee-keeping and fish-farming projects for people in the North Luangwa valley, where elephant numbers had shown a dramatic fall.
He persuades local people they can earn money by keeping elephants alive.
The elephants help attract tourists, and their money, to the region.
"People are now seeing the benefit of protecting their natural resources," Mr Simwinga said.
"Not only do they see the beauty of a live animal, but the live animals are now putting money in their pockets."
Over 70% of loans are made to women and Mr Simwinga says they are the backbone of the programme.
"We deliberately pushed our resources to the womenfolk in the community because we knew that working with the women was the strongest part of persuasion," he told Reuters news agency.
Local communities were given a grinding mill to earn money but this was withdrawn if elephants were poached in the area.
The programme also provides 35,000 people with services such as healthcare and education.
He inherited the North Luangwa Wildlife Conservation and Community Development Programme (NLWCCDP), when its US founders Delia and Mark Owens were forced to leave in 1996.
Despite fears it would collapse, Mr Simwinga, known as "Hammer" and named after UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold who died in a 1961 air crash in Zambia, instead managed to expand the project.
"If I had left as well then the work we had worked for so many years to build would have just collapsed," he said. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2927873.stm | Thirty letters written by author Ernest Hemingway to actress Marlene Dietrich have been donated for public display in the US.
Hemingway had a strong friendship with Dietrich
They have been handed to the John F Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston, along with several early drafts of Hemingway's stories and poems.
The documents, donated by Dietrich's daughter Maria Riva, will be made public in 2007.
They consist of 30 letters, cards and other documents that Hemingway and his wife Mary wrote to Dietrich from 1949 to 1959.
They also include drafts of three stories - Across the River and Into the Trees, The Good Lion, and The Story of the Faithful Bull - and two poems, First Poem to Mary in London and Poem to Mary.
I love you too you beauty,
Ernest Hemingway to Marlene Dietrich
Ms Riva's son, Peter, said the letters depicted a relationship that was more than friendship but fell short of physical romance.
They include lines like: "I love you too you beauty, indestructible... I love you very much and hope you are well and happy and try to maintain a little communication."
Ms Riva's son said: "You read these letters and you come to understand that theirs was a relationship of firm, fast friendship based on an experience of the world they lived in.
"They could bare their souls in a way that was unusual then, and probably still is today."
Hemingway became the second most-translated author in English after Agatha Christie with masterpieces such as For Whom the Bell Tolls, A Farewell to Arms and The Old Man and the Sea.
He committed suicide at the age of 61.
Dietrich, who died in Paris in 1992, made her film breakthrough as a vamp in The Blue Angel in 1930. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6070038.stm | A TV advertisement warning young people of the damage cannabis can do to the brain is to be screened as part of a drugs awareness campaign.
Paranoia is a symptom of too much cannabis
The advert, by drug helpline Frank, is set in a brain shop in the future where customers can buy new brains when their own has become too addled.
It aims to show that prolonged use of cannabis can lead to mood swings, poor motivation, paranoia and vomiting.
But mental health charity Rethink said it did not outline all the risks.
The commercial, to be aired from Monday, features a spooky shop assistant who advises spaced-out customers how best to choose a new brain.
Drug of choice
The so-called Brain Store is stocked with more than 20 different brains, cerebral fluid and memory stalks, all catering for the symptoms of cannabis use.
A spokesman from Frank said they were particularly targeting 11- to 17-year-olds.
He added that although cannabis was being produced to be stronger than ever before, it was clear from its helpline and case studies that the class C drug was growing in popularity.
The advert wants to reach 11- to 18-year-olds
"We know more and more that cannabis is the drug of choice of young people," he said.
"The aim is to drive home that cannabis is harmful."
But Paul Corry, the director of public affairs for Rethink, said the commercial did not go far enough.
"Rethink believes these adverts fall far short of the commitment given by the then Home Secretary Charles Clarke for a 'massive' health education campaign highlighting mental health risks.
"Government must honour its promises so that young people are aware of the true risks of cannabis."
Frank was launched three years ago by the government and gives drugs advice over the phone, online and face to face.
Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of the mental health charity Sane, sad: "We are concerned that advertisements like these alone will increase the growing popularity of cannabis amongst young people. They cannot undo the damage caused by previous confused messages, nor warn sufficiently about the fact that cannabis, particularly Skunk and its other forms, can have far more serious effects than the advertisements appear to suggest. The drug can not only alter the thoughts and feelings of those taking it, but in those who are susceptible it can alter the mind and lead to life-long illness such as schizophrenia.
"Every day there is new evidence of the links between cannabis use and serious mental illness, and a recent study showed that 8 out of 10 of those experiencing first episode psychiatric disorders were heavy users of the drug. Until we know more about the direct effects of cannabis and its derivatives on the developing brain, we should not be relying on awareness messages alone. We need to give clear direction to young people and their families, to teachers and the police, that the drug is illegal and provenly dangerous to a significant number of people." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/6369971.stm | Launching rockets to create a sulphur screen high in the stratosphere is one way to counter global warming explored in a new BBC documentary, Five Ways To Save The World.
In 1995, Professor Paul Crutzen won the Nobel Prize for helping to explain how the ozone layer is formed and depleted.
Partly as a result of his work, world governments took action and banned the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) - chemicals used in fridges and aerosols - that were thinning the ozone's presence over Antarctica.
Now the chemistry professor has a solution to mitigate global warming.
He believes that sulphur particles similar to those erupting from volcanoes could act as a natural cooling device for the planet, by creating a "blanket" that would stop the Sun's rays from reaching the Earth.
In 1991, there was a massive eruption in South East Asia.
Mount Pinatubo ejected about 10 million tonnes of sulphur into the stratosphere at about 10-40km above the Earth's surface.
Scientists like Professor Crutzen could measure how much sulphur dioxide was injected into the stratosphere, where it was injected and what happened to it over time.
"After the injection at high altitude, it started to move around the globe with the air motions; first in an east-west direction, but also with time in a north-south direction. After about a year, the initial input of pollutants in the stratosphere by the volcano had spread rather evenly around the world," the Nobel Laureate said.
For two years after Pinatubo erupted, the average temperature across the Earth decreased by 0.6C.
The volcano's location close to the equator helped make Pinatubo the perfect model for explaining how sulphur in the stratosphere could reduce global warming.
But Professor Crutzen does not want to wait for another volcano.
Hundreds of sulphur rockets could launch into the stratosphere
Instead, controversially, he wants to duplicate the effects of volcanic eruptions and create a man-made sulphur screen in the sky.
His solution would see hundreds of rockets filled with sulphur launched into the stratosphere. He envisages one million tonnes of sulphur to create his cooling blanket.
"Hydrocarbons are burnt to lift the rocket material, and the rocket then goes into the stratosphere. In the stratosphere, hydrogen sulphide is burnt, and the sulphate particles reflect solar radiation," he explains.
But at low altitudes within the Earth's atmosphere, sulphur has been known to create a lot of damage.
Since the industrial revolution began over 200 years ago, the combustion of fossil fuels has put just over a trillion tonnes of carbon dioxide, as well as sulphur, into the atmosphere.
By the mid-1950s, the effects of sulphur were killing thousands of people through respiratory disease. It also caused acid rain and had devastating effects on plants and animals.
To combat this, clean air acts were introduced and filters were put in place to reduce sulphur emissions.
The chemistry professor finds it ironic that prior to these clean air acts, filthy factories actually shielded us from the Sun.
He explains the paradox: "We want to clean up the environment because air pollution is unhealthy. But this pollution also cools the Earth by reflecting solar radiation into space."
Professor Crutzen is not proposing a return to the bad old days; rather, he wants to avoid the previous problems by making sure the sulphur is injected into the atmosphere at high altitude.
Nevertheless, the consequences of putting gargantuan quantities of sulphur into the atmosphere as he proposes are unknown.
It could increase acid rain, or even damage the ozone layer - the very thing Professor Crutzen has dedicated his life to protecting.
Regarded as the second layer of Earth's atmosphere
Above the troposphere but below the mesosphere
Positioned at 10-50 km altitude above the Earth's surface
Neither does his solution tackle - or offer a way of reducing - the increasing amount of CO2 that is still being emitted.
But Professor Crutzen believes global warming may reach such critical levels within the next 30 years that a radical strategy will be needed.
He thinks we should at least test his plan, so we know now what the risks might be if we face a catastrophic situation in the future.
"I am prepared to lose some bit of ozone if we can prevent major increases of temperature in the future, say beyond two degrees or three degrees," he says.
Whether other scientists agree that a sulphur screen is a viable solution remains to be seen.
Five Ways To Save The World was broadcast on Monday 19 February at 2100 GMT on BBC Two. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4770718.stm | By Jyotsna Singh
BBC News, Delhi
An inquiry by the Indian rail ministry into a fire on a train in Gujarat four years ago has concluded that it was caused by an accident.
Fifty-eight Hindu activists were killed in the attack
The February 2002 blaze claimed the lives of 59 Hindus and sparked religious riots in which at least 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed.
But the railway ministry finding has been rejected by the Hindu nationalist BJP which governs Gujarat.
A separate inquiry into the Gujarat riots is yet to submit its conclusions.
It was alleged that the fire on the train which took place in the town of Godhra had been caused allegedly by an attack by a Muslim mob.
Dozens of suspects are being held in connection with the blaze under a tough anti-terrorist law which has since been repealed.
A committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge, Umesh Chandra Banerjee, submitted its final report to the railway ministry on Friday.
"We have come to the conclusion that it was not a deliberately attempted fire. It was an accidental fire," Justice Banerjee told a news conference.
He said his interim report released last year, had made the same conclusion.
The detailed report has not been yet made public.
But the BJP has dismissed the findings saying the matter was a criminal case and should be decided in court.
"This is not something that can be decided by a departmental inquiry," BJP spokesman Arun Jaitley told journalists.
"It's a document... that has no credibility."
The committee was set up by the Congress-party led government after it came to power defeating the BJP in May 2004.
Most accounts following the train fire said a Muslim mob threw petrol bombs at the train, starting the blaze.
Survivor accounts also spoke of a stone-throwing mob attacking the train.
But Justice Banerjee said that according to eyewitness accounts people had been cooking in the carriage at the time it caught fire.
The riots in 2002 were among the worst religious riots in India since the country's partition in 1947.
The BJP state government were criticised for not doing enough to contain the violence. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6604817.stm | Voters in the May local elections will be passing a verdict on "all of us", not just Tony Blair, says Gordon Brown.
Mr Brown is likely to face a leadership challenge
The chancellor made the comments on ITV's Sunday Edition when asked whether the electorate would be judging 10 years of him and the prime minister.
But Mr Brown said people would also vote on local issues, and said that Labour's apparent poor opinion poll ratings were "a phase".
Tory leader David Cameron said Mr Brown was part of a failed government.
Mr Brown is the favourite to succeed Mr Blair when the prime minister stands down.
Polls predict that the party will fare badly at the ballot boxes on Thursday in elections for local councils in England as well as the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly.
Asked if they would be a referendum on Tony Blair, Mr Brown said: "Well, people will be voting on all of us."
He added: "I think primarily people will be looking also at the powers that the assembly and the parliament has, and what local government's doing, and voting on these things as well."
When questioned as to whether Tony Blair had "hung around too long and damaged you in the process", he replied: "Yes - well, that, you have... you have to establish."
But asked about poor opinion poll ratings he said: "You go through phases", adding that the only result that matters in the end is when it actually comes to a general election".
Tory leader David Cameron has repeated his call for an early election if Mr Brown becomes prime minister this summer. But the chancellor rejected the idea, saying many before him had arrived there mid-term.
"I didn't hear Mr Cameron or the Conservatives calling for a general election the minute that John Major took over in 1990.
He said David Lloyd George, HH Asquith and Winston Churchill had not faced such calls either.
"I think you've got to put this in its proper historical perspective, that the British people elect a House of Commons, and out of the House of Commons the leadership is chosen."
Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell said he did not think Mr Brown was in a position to hold a snap election anyway.
"First of all Labour has no money, and secondly the opinion polls are very damaging to him," he said.
Mr Brown looks increasingly likely to face a Labour leadership challenge after it emerged there will only be one left-wing candidate.
Labour MPs Michael Meacher and John McDonnell - who had been planning separate leadership bids - have agreed one of them will withdraw based on how much support they have when Mr Blair resigns.
The Sunday Times has reported that Mr Blair will back Mr Brown as his successor after Environment Secretary David Miliband indicated he would not run.
On Sunday Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt said she believed Mr Blair would publicly endorse a successor "fairly soon".
But the Conservative said Mr Brown was responsible for NHS targets and taking away responsibility from teachers and police officers.
"Gordon Brown to me is part of the government that has failed, is part of the government that has given us top-down state control." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/cycling/tour_de_france_2003/3086279.stm | The peloton may once have been described as the "convicts of the road", but they share an innate sense of sportsmanship and fair play.
Armstrong went on to win stage 15 after crashing
Lance Armstrong's victory on stage 15 was due partly to a sporting gesture from the elite group of riders surrounding the yellow jersey on the final climb to Luz-Ardiden in the Pyrenees.
Armstrong fell after colliding with a spectator, but instead of seizing their opportunity, the group, which included his closest rival Jan Ullrich, sat up and waited for Armstrong to remount.
Once they were back up to racing pace, Armstrong surged forward to win by 40 seconds and opened up a crucial 67-second gap over 1997 champion Ullrich with five stages left.
Such sporting gestures are a long-held tradition in the professional peloton, which ironically has been plagued by accusations of cheating through the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
"The Tour de France is special but it's normal practice for this type of thing to happen," former British Tour rider and Team CSC number two Sean Yates told this website.
"You are racing against the same guys day-in, day-out and it's in everyone's best interest to get along the best they can."
In the 2001 Tour, Armstrong and Ullrich were locked in an epic high-speed tussle as they plummeted down the descent of the mighty Col de Peyresourde in the Pyrenees.
But the German misjudged a corner and plunged off the road.
Instead of making good his escape, Armstrong waited to see if his rival was fit to continue and then coasted while the shaken Ullrich picked himself up.
And Yates insisted that what goes around, comes around in cycling.
"They were paying back that gesture," he said of Monday's act of sportsmanship.
"If everyone behaves in the same way it all evens itself out in the end. And it's best for the sport."
The unwritten rule extends to any misfortune, or even call of nature, that befalls the yellow jersey or a prominent rider in a breakaway.
"There are times when a lot of people stop [for a call of nature] and especially if it's the yellow jersey, the unwritten rule is you don't attack at that point," said Yates.
But he warned that the gentleman's agreement must not be taken for granted.
"If there's a crash and it's out of people's control and the whole bunch are storming along not everyone will sit up," he said.
"But in yesterday's case it was a small, elite group of riders and everyone knew what happened and it was best that they behaved that way.
"It would have been the same if there had been a puncture.
"But sometimes mistakes are made. You have to be careful and can't assume that everyone will stop."
If the agreement is broken, the miscreant can expect a severe tongue-lashing from the other riders.
And they may seek retribution further down the line by preventing him from winning a stage or a one-day race.
As Yates said: "Lance won't forget."
But he insisted the days of the Tour's enforcers have gone.
"There's not many patrons like [Eddie] Merckx or [Bernard] Hinault left in the peloton," he said.
"Everyone was scared of them. No-one wanted to be on the end of Hinault's tongue. But those days are over." |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/horse_racing/4552838.stm | Watch live racing on the BBC
BBC Sport provides coverage of the major meetings.
You can follow updates from the BBC correspondent Cornelius Lysaght on
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Times and channels are subject to change.
14-16 April -Grand National meeting, Aintree
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15570669 | Unison members vote for pension strike
Members of the Unison trade union have voted in favour of striking against the government's plans to change public service pension schemes.
There was a 78% majority, with 245,358 in favour and 70,253 against on a 29% turnout.
The vote means there is likely to be a huge national strike on 30 November.
On Wednesday, the government offered to change its plans, which are aimed at cutting the cost of funding public service pensions.
Following the ballot result, the Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude called on Unison members not to go ahead with a strike.
"We listened to the concerns of public sector workers about their pensions and yesterday responded with a new generous settlement which is beyond the dreams of most private [sector] employees."
"Today's Unison ballot received a very low turnout - with less than a third of their members even voting - which shows there is extremely limited support for the kind of strike action their union leaders want," he added.
However, the government's changes to its original plans have met with only a lukewarm response from public sector unions.
End Quote Dave Prentis Unison general secretary
We still have had no offer in those negotiations”
Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said: "Yesterday's statement in Parliament was a marked improvement on earlier proposals."
"But it is important to understand that the statement has to be translated into offers in the scheme-specific talks.
"We still have had no offer in those negotiations, where such an offer can legitimately be made," he added.Combined action
The 30 November "day of action" is being co-ordinated by the TUC and could involve members of 20 trade unions in the public sector.
Five already have a mandate for action from earlier this year, while the others are still in the process of balloting their members.
If they all vote in favour of action, then the day may turn into the biggest co-ordinated strike since 22 January, 1979.
Then, during the so-called "winter of discontent", four big public sector unions held a strike in pursuit of a pay rise above the then Labour government's 5% ceiling.
As well as many NHS and local government staff, Unison represents police staff (though not police officers), probation officers, and clerical and ancillary staff in schools, colleges and universities, who are all in the local government pension scheme.
Some civil servants across the UK took part in a pension strike in June this year.
They were joined by many teachers and further education lecturers in England and Wales, and the next strike is likely to involve them all again.Changes planned
The government's pension plans have been largely inspired by Lord Hutton's independent inquiry into the rising cost of public service pensions.
He suggested that most staff should pay higher contributions, with the increases being phased in during the next three years.
Then, from 2015, most current staff and all new recruits will be offered career-average schemes instead of the more expensive, mainly final-salary, versions now on offer.
These new schemes will typically involve staff working to later pension ages, which in turn will rise in step with the state pension age.
The government has made it clear all along that it wants public employees to work longer, and pay more.
But it argues that for most staff the pensions they receive will be the same as before, or even better.
Negotiations with trade unions have been taking place over the past few months, and more are scheduled, but there has been no agreement so far. |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-19063991 | London 2012: Elbow's BBC Olympics theme music on sale
The BBC's Olympic theme tune by indie band Elbow has gone on sale to raise money for charity.
The track, First Steps - which features the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and NovaVox Gospel Choir - is available to download online.
It was commissioned by the BBC and the band has waived all fees and royalties from the digital download.
Retailers have waived all profits from the release and funds raised will go to BBC Children In Need and Sport Relief.
First Steps will be used for on BBC television and radio Olympic coverage.
Olympics coverage online
In a short film about the making of the track and the trail, lead singer Guy Garvey said they did not want it to sound like an Elbow song.
"We got the music to a place where we were feeling very emotional," he said.
"Having heard it 100 times, we were still feeling the moods within the piece so hopefully there won't be a dry eye in the country."
The release features two tracks including the full six minute, 21-second version and the four-minute edit.
It was played for the first time on the Chris Evans Radio 2 Breakfast Show live from the Olympic Park on 27 July, the day of the Olympic Games opening ceremony.
A minimum of 20p per download will be shared equally between BBC Children in Need and Sport Relief.
Music fans are able to download the track from several retailers. |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18401162 | Demolition dam: Why dismantle a huge river barrier?
A century after the Elwha River dam was built, the vast structure that once provided power for large parts of the US state of Washington has been demolished.
The dam's removal will help revive a threatened salmon run on the river and enable the restoration of sacred tribal sites flooded decades ago.
The Elwha dam was built in 1913 in what is now the Olympic National Park. The demolition of a second hydro-electric dam a few miles away - the Glines Canyon dam, built in 1927 - is well under way in the biggest project of its kind in US history.
The park is home to the Klallam tribe, whose identity is strongly connected with the river and with salmon fishing. The failure to build fish ladders when the dams were originally built had decimated what was once one of the richest salmon runs outside Alaska.
Adding new ladders would have proved prohibitively expensive. And the dams also needed major upgrades because they no longer met modern environmental standards or produced energy at an efficient price.
The BBC went to see the drilling and explosions in action and to find out how the salmon will be reintroduced to the river.
Produced by Anna Bressanin. Camera by Ilya Shnitser |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-19182353 | West End to get Agatha Christie memorial
Planning permission has been granted for a 2.5m (8.2ft) memorial celebrating crime novel author Agatha Christie in London's theatreland.
The statue will be positioned between Great Newport Street and Cranbourn Street, Covent Garden.
Cast in bronze, it will feature a large book with an oval opening containing a portrait bust of the author, designed by sculptor Ben Twiston-Davies.
Westminster Council granted planning permission on Wednesday night.
The memorial will be erected by the end of the year.
Covent Garden was chosen as a location because historically, eight theatres have shown her work in the area, most recently The Mousetrap at St Martin's Theatre.
The play, which has been in the West End since 1952, is the world's longest-running stage production.
It will celebrate its 60th birthday on 25 November with a gala performance. |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-20296292 | Intruder breaks in and steals Tower of London keys
An inquiry is under way after a person broke into the Tower of London and stole a set of keys.
The incident took place in the early hours of 6 November and the intruder got past the first gate, a spokeswoman for the Historic Royal Palaces said.
Keys for a restaurant, conference rooms and an internal lock to the drawbridges were on the stolen set. The locks have now been changed.
Security was not up to "the expected standards", the spokeswoman said.
The Tower, which houses the Crown Jewels, is guarded by the Yeoman Warders or Beefeaters.
The Crown Jewels were not at risk and "at no point was the security of the Tower at risk", the spokeswoman added.
The spokeswoman for the Historic Royal Palaces said the intruder was found on site by security guards, but refused to reveal further details.
The Metropolitan Police said no arrests had been made as yet.'Security robust'
The Historic Royal Palaces spokeswoman added: "We can however confirm that during this incident, keys for a restaurant and conference rooms were taken together with a key to an internal lock to the Tower drawbridges that is not accessible from the outside.
"It would not have been possible to gain access to the Tower with any of these keys. All affected locks were immediately changed."
The spokeswoman said an internal investigation found that "our well-established security systems and procedures are robust".
"However on this occasion, these procedures were not carried out to the expected standard," she said.
"A staff disciplinary procedure is under way to address this issue."
The Metropolitan Police said: "We have received an allegation of theft and this is being investigated by Tower Hamlets CID." |