North wild fires 'under control'

4 May 2011 Last updated at 06:10 GMT A helicopter used to water bomb fires in the area around Sheil Bridge A series of wild fires which have been burning across the Highlands are now under control, firefighters have said.

Crews have been out overnight at the worst affected areas, including at Inverkirkaig near Assynt, Torridon and Glen Shiel.

After days of battling to control the flames, using both beaters and helicopters dropping water, the worst blazes have been extinguished.

Homes were evacuated over the past five days and the A82 was closed briefly.

Efforts will now get under way to assess the scale of the damage as forest regeneration projects, croft land and sensitive environmental sites with rare wildlife have all been hit.

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Search for family murders suspect

4 May 2011 Last updated at 06:33 GMT Suspect Anxiang Du left a suicide note, Northamptonshire Police said A police search for a man in connection with the murders of a couple and their two daughters is continuing.

Anxiang Du, 52, is being sought in connection with the deaths of Manchester Metropolitan University lecturer Jifeng Ding and his family.

Mr Ding, his wife Helen Chui, and daughters Alice and Xing, were found stabbed in their home in Pioneer Close, Wootton, Northampton, on Sunday night.

Police said Mr Du, from Coventry, had left a suicide note.

Mr Du left a note to his family implying it was time to say goodbye.

He is understood to have been a business associate of Ms Chui dealing in herbal remedies.

Mr Du left his home in Coventry at 1030 BST on Friday to go to work in Birmingham but never returned.

He was last seen on 29 April in Birmingham City Centre, Pallasades Shopping Centre and was wearing a white baseball cap, brown waist-length coat, grey trousers, a blue woollen top and black leather shoes.

He was described by police as being of slim build with a bald patch.

Police said they were still looking for a murder weapon.

Jifeng Ding and Alice Ding died from stab wounds, police have revealed

Officers said the family, who are of Chinese descent, had suffered knife wounds.

Det Supt Glyn Timmins said: "The public should be cautious. The reason being is that, obviously having left a suicide note Mr Du had a particular state of mind.

"What I can say is that he's likely to be frightened, he's likely to be quite desperate and certainly when, and if, he sees this in the media he's certainly going to be very anxious and nervous.

"Therefore I think the prudent thing to do would be to assume that Mr Du should not be approached and that's a job for the police if and when he's sighted."

Police also want to trace a silver five-door Vauxhall Corsa, registration BG60 PMO, that was hired by one of the family members and was last seen on Friday.

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Spend or save

3 May 2011 Last updated at 23:00 GMT By Shanaz Musafer Business reporter, BBC News When Roosevelt became president, the US was in a pessimistic mood "The only thing that we have to fear is fear itself." The words of former US President Franklin D Roosevelt, in his inaugural address.

At the time of his inauguration in 1933, the US was in the middle of the Great Depression.

He was trying to convince the public that a more optimistic outlook was needed in order for the country to turn things around.

Some people would argue that is exactly what consumers in the UK need right now - an injection of confidence.

However, it's all very well saying you need to be more confident, but confidence is a funny thing, with many factors influencing it.

Measuring optimism

For instance, if you took just the health of the economy, you might think that consumers would feel the least confident when a country was in recession.

But according to the Nationwide, consumer confidence hit an all-time low in February 2011, more than a year after the recession officially ended.

Although the economy had shrunk again in the last three months of 2010, this was strongly linked to the extreme winter weather, and the economy was widely expected to grow again at the beginning of this year, which official data has now shown to be the case.

Continue reading the main story

Somebody who is naturally optimistic is less likely to cut back on their spending than somebody who is naturally pessimistic”

End Quote Dr Sue Eccles Bournemouth University Nationwide's index is compiled by asking 1,000 people their view of the current economic and employment situation, their opinion on what it will be like in six months' time, and whether this is a good moment to purchase major goods.

Robert Gardner, Nationwide's chief economist, says that while people's ability to spend may not be as constrained as it was during the recession, there is no getting away from the fact that conditions are still difficult.

"Employment is still tough and wages haven't been rising fast enough to keep up with inflation. People can see the cost of food rising," he says.

To him, confidence is about people's willingness to spend and it is wrong to dismiss it as unimportant - although he admits it is not the only indicator that needs to be looked at when assessing economic recovery.

The real key factor to confidence, he says, is what is going on in the labour market.

"It's such a fundamental to determining what is happening with household budgets.

"If the labour market picks up, there will be more people in jobs, people will feel more confident."

That in turn increases demand and will be vital to boosting consumer spending, which makes up about 60% of all spending across the UK.

'Animal spirits'

But according to Dr Sue Eccles, a consumer behaviour expert at Bournemouth University, the key thing about consumer optimism is that it is a very individual feeling, with cultural, social and psychological issues all playing a part.

"To suggest that if the national situation improves, consumer confidence will rise across the board - it's not as simple as that," she says.

More attention is being paid to household budgets

"Somebody who is naturally optimistic is less likely to cut back on their spending than somebody who is naturally pessimistic. Someone who is perhaps a compulsive shopper might still make those purchases."

Her view echoes that of the economist John Maynard Keynes, who believed that people acted on "spontaneous optimism" rather than rational considerations of the pros and cons of that action.

To quote Keynes: "Most, probably, of our decisions to do something positive, the full consequences of which will be drawn out over many days to come, can only be taken as the result of animal spirits - a spontaneous urge to action rather than inaction, and not as the outcome of a weighted average of quantitative benefits multiplied by quantitative probabilities."

Dr Eccles adds that social influences such as what is happening to the people closest to you also affect your outlook.

For instance, if you know colleagues or friends who are having financial difficulties, that will have a big impact on whether you save money for a rainy day.

'Canny and savvy'

She also believes that people have become more sceptical by nature, and this means that even events usually associated with a "feel-good factor" may not be accepted as such so lightly.

The royal wedding might make some people feel upbeat and positive but it might fill others with horror, wondering why all this money is being pumped into a big celebration when there are other things that need our attention.

The same goes for the Olympics.

"Sometimes with the feel-good factors it actually boils down to 'what does it mean to me personally?'" she says.

Consumers face rising costs, particularly at the pumps

"I think it would be wrong to assume that we can actually jolly British consumers with lots of feel-good events. We're much more canny and savvy."

What's more, according to Dr Eccles, this scepticism spreads to the economic statistics we might be fed at a national level.

People don't have as much belief in national statistics as they used to, she says, perhaps because new technology allows us to be more critical about the information we receive.

"We've now got things like blogs, and people are talking to others very openly online in a way they never have done before about the information we are given," she says.

Fuel effects

But things like wage freezes and inflation do have an impact when their effects are seen at a local level.

"People are beginning to see the pound in their pocket doesn't go as far as it once did, so they are having to budget in a way that they weren't previously," Dr Eccles says.

Continue reading the main story

We expect consumer confidence to remain fairly subdued by historic standards”

End Quote Robert Gardner Nationwide chief economist "If filling up the tank in your car used to cost £40 a week but now costs £50, does that £10 come off your grocery bill or do you have one less meal out at a restaurant?"

Fuel prices certainly influence people's outlook.

Consumer advice website Moneysavingexpert.com says the majority of its readers think cutting petrol prices would improve consumer confidence.

Gary Denning, who owns a taxi company in Falmouth, says he has been number crunching for the last three years because of the price of diesel.

"We're paying now £1.42 a litre at the pump. Back in June 2009 I believe it was about £1 a litre," he says. "Our fuel over the last five years has increased by about 60% and the income hasn't gone up to compensate for that."

So with petrol and diesel prices at record highs, that does not appear to bode well for improving optimism in the near future.

"We expect consumer confidence to remain fairly subdued by historic standards," says the Nationwide's Robert Gardner. "Any improvement in the economy will take a while to come through."

Dr Eccles agrees: "I think that most of us realise life has ups and downs and at the moment for most of us it is potentially a downer from an economic point of view, and we just have to ride the storm.

"I think people think things will improve, but at the moment they just can't see how or when it will happen."

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Met officer sublets council flat

4 May 2011 Last updated at 00:39 GMT Met Police officer Stephan Holt is a part-time property developer and crime-prevention officer A serving Metropolitan Police officer has been unlawfully subletting his council flat, according to a BBC Panorama investigation.

Pc Stephen Holt offered to rent his council property to an undercover reporter at £359 more than he pays Southwark council in weekly rent.

The government has labelled unlawful subletting "housing fraud", which costs the taxpayer at least £1bn a year.

Pc Holt did not respond to Panorama's queries about the council flat rental.

As part of its investigation into social housing, Panorama replied to an advert Pc Holt placed on a website and an undercover reporter went to view the flat.

PC Holt, a part-time crime prevention officer and a part-time property developer who has appeared on daytime TV property programmes, showed the reporter around the flat near Butler's Wharf, close to Tower Bridge in London.

Cash deposit

He offered the flat to the reporter at £450 for the week. Rent on the Southwark council flat is £91 a week.

Panorama paid the rental fee in cash, along with a £200 cash deposit.

Under the terms of his tenancy, Pc Holt should be living in the property and should not be renting it out.

Pc Holt told Panorama's undercover reporter that any post that arrived in his name could be directed to the flat opposite, which Pc Holt owns.

The audit commission believes that unlawful subletting of properties is currently removing at least 50,000 council homes from the system in England, adding to the wider shortage at a time when almost five million people in the country are on waiting lists for social housing.

While showing the reporter around property, Pc Holt also said that he owned a chateau in Bordeaux in the south of France. Pc Holt also owns a property in rural Kent.

The tenant of a council property is not prohibited from owning other properties.

'We can't help you'

With subletting adding to a growing social housing problem and demand outstripping supply, Portsmouth Council is informing new enquirers and many on their waiting list they are unlikely to be offered council accommodation.

"Most people on a council waiting list are never, ever going to get offers of council accommodation", said Pete Diamond, a housing officer with Portsmouth Council.

"I just think the fairest way of doing it is just to be honest and just say to people, 'look, you may have a housing need, you may have all this situation going on but we still can't help you'," Mr Diamond continued.

Panorama wrote to Pc Holt, asking him to respond to the allegations but did not receive a reply. Other attempts to contact him failed.

Panorama contacted Southwark Council about Pc Holt.

Following council investigations, Pc Holt has been issued with a notice to quit the property.

Panorama's Council Houses: Cheats and Victims, BBC One, Wednesday, 4 May at 2100BST and then available in the UK on the BBC iPlayer.

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Barenboim in Gaza 'peace concert'

3 May 2011 Last updated at 13:26 GMT Daniel Barenboim was forced to enter the Gaza Strip through Egypt's Rafah crossing Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim has led an orchestra of European musicians in a "peace concert" in Gaza.

Hundreds of Palestinians, many of them schoolchildren, attended the first performance in the coastal territory by an international classical ensemble.

Israel forbids its civilian citizens from travelling to Gaza, so Barenboim entered via Egypt with 25 musicians.

For years, Barenboim has used music to try to promote peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

The conductor, who accepted honorary Palestinian citizenship in 2008, famously set up an orchestra made up of young Arab and Israeli musicians, known as the East-West Divan orchestra. In 2005, it performed in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

But Tuesday's concert in Gaza City was one of his most ambitious moves, says the BBC's Jon Donnison in Ramallah.

'Not political'

Barenboim was greeted with thunderous applause as he entered the hall of the al-Mathaf Cultural House.

He said the members of the orchestra had two things in common.

"They are tremendously good musicians... and they are musicians who care about humanity," he explained.

"This is a unique gesture from the whole of Europe for you, Gaza."

The so-called Orchestra for Gaza includes musicians from five leading European orchestras, including the Berlin and Vienna philharmonics.

The programme included pieces by Mozart including Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and the G minor symphony.

"This visit is very important to us for many reasons, both cultural and civil," Ibrahim al-Najjar, director of al-Qattan music school, the only such establishment in Gaza, told the AFP news agency.

"And from a political perspective, it is important to show that Gaza is a safe place," he added.

Gaza is governed by the Islamist group Hamas, which Israel regards as a terrorist organisation.

The impoverished coastal strip has been subjected to a crippling Israeli blockade since 2006. The embargo was eased somewhat last year following international outrage over the killing of Turkish activists on an aid flotilla.

The Israeli government has previously blocked attempts by Barenboim to perform in Gaza, and Israeli law bans citizens from entering the territory.

The concert was therefore co-ordinated in secret with the United Nations until invitations were distributed earlier this week.

Barenboim's entry through Egypt's Rafah crossing comes amid Israeli criticism of plans by Egypt's new military rulers to open up the border, our correspondent says. Former President Hosni Mubarak tacitly supported the blockade.

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VIDEO: Wildfires hit UK after hottest ever April

3 May 2011 Last updated at 18:32 GMT Help

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Scientists turn 'bad fat' good

3 May 2011 Last updated at 16:24 GMT By Michelle Roberts Health reporter, BBC News Brown fat burns calories while white fat stores them Scientists say they have found a way to turn body fat into a better type of fat that burns off calories and weight.

The US Johns Hopkins team made the breakthrough in rats but believe the same could be done in humans, offering the hope of a new way to treat obesity.

Modifying the expression of a protein linked to appetite not only reduced the animals' calorie intake and weight, but also transformed their fat composition.

"Bad" white fat became "good" brown fat, Cell Metabolism journal reports.

Brown fat is abundant in babies, which they use as a power source to generate body heat, expending calories at the same time.

But as we age our brown fat largely disappears and gets replaced by "bad" white fat, which typically sits as a spare tyre around the waist.

Continue reading the main story

We will need a lot more work to tease this out, but it could offer a feasible way to develop new treatments for obesity”

End Quote UK obesity expert Dr Jeremy Tomlinson Experts have reasoned that stimulating the body to make more brown fat rather than white fat could be a helpful way to control weight and prevent obesity and its related health problems like type 2 diabetes.

Novel approach

Various teams have been searching for a way to do this, and Dr Sheng Bi and colleagues at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine believe they may have cracked it.

They designed an experiment to see if suppressing an appetite-stimulating protein called NPY would decrease body weight in rats.

When they silenced NPY in the brains of the rodents they found their appetite and food intake decreased.

Even when the rats were fed a very rich, high-fat diet they still managed to keep more weight off than rats who had fully functioning NPY.

The scientists then checked the fat composition of the rats and found an interesting change had occurred.

In the rats with silenced NPY expression, some of the bad white fat had been replaced with good brown fat.

The researchers are hopeful that it may be possible to achieve the same effect in people by injecting brown fat stem cells under the skin to burn white fat and stimulate weight loss.

Dr Bi said: "If we could get the human body to turn bad fat into good fat that burns calories instead of storing them, we could add a serious new tool to tackle the obesity epidemic.

"Only future research will tell us if that is possible."

Dr Jeremy Tomlinson, an expert at the University of Birmingham's Centre for Obesity Research, said: "This is exciting, novel and interesting.

"We will need a lot more work to tease this out, but it could offer a feasible way to develop new treatments for obesity."

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Change of scenery

4 May 2011 Last updated at 04:45 GMT Louise Ann Wilson draws parallels between the brain and the landscape The caves, quarries and clifftops of the Yorkshire Dales will be the settings for a unique theatrical experience later this month.

Fissure will last three days and lead the audience on a strenuous 12-mile hike up hill, down dale and deep into an intensely personal landscape created by director and designer Louise Ann Wilson.

Are you fit? Got sturdy, waterproof boots? Warm clothing? Do you mind scrambling over rocky terrain on your hands and feet?

The instruction sheet is pretty clear - Fissure takes place a long way from the nearest comfy theatre seat.

It is the most ambitious project yet for Louise Ann Wilson, who has previously staged acclaimed site-specific productions in Morecambe Bay, woods near Whitby, artisans' cottages in Huddersfield and a department store in Watford.

It is also her most personal, based on her relationship with her sister, who died from a brain tumour a decade ago.

The story follows the course of a tumour, from diagnosis to death, and uses the contours and caverns of the landscape to draw parallels between the brain and the earth.

Fissure begins in the evening of Friday 22 May, when the 150-strong audience arrives at a secret location by train. They will be met by a dozen singers, musicians and contemporary dancers, who will launch into the production on the platform.

The performers will act out scenes at regular intervals across the next two days and 12 miles - rain or shine - from a "happening" involving pairs of sisters in a quarry, to singing, calling and dancing through a shadowy, echoey "underworld".

It represents the sisters' journey, and the journey of the illness.

As well as the professional performers, the audience will come across visual art installations, a small local choir on a clifftop and the Kirkby Lonsdale handbell ringing group during the main walk on the Saturday.

Wilson has created the artistic adventure with collaborators including poet Elizabeth Burns, Olivier Award-winning composer Jocelyn Pook and choreographer Nigel Stewart.

As well as exploring the potent terrain, the audience will also explore the brain.

Struck by the way doctors spoke of caverns and streamlines inside the skull, Wilson enlisted two neurologists, a geologist and a caver to expand on the scientific similarities by giving talks on site.

"In the way that we've been mapping the landscape, there's been a parallel process about mapping the neurological system," says Wilson.

Wilson stages her shows in unconventional places because they give her a connection to a location and attract people who do not venture into theatres, she says.

And the audience has to get involved. "They have to bring themselves fully to the work," she says.

"There's no switching off and thinking about the shopping list. You have to be fully present."

The title, Fissure, can refer to a crack in a rock, the split between the two hemispheres of the brain and the separation of two people.

Sister's pride

Wilson's sister was diagnosed with a tumour at the age of 24, and died five years later.

"We were very, very close, and still are very close," she says.

"This was 10 years ago now and my sister always really liked the work I'd made. I'd made quite a lot of site specific work and my sister actually wasn't well during a lot of the period when I was making that work, but she came to see most of it and really liked it.

"She just really celebrated that work and she was quite proud of me doing it, I suppose."

Wilson stresses that Fissure is not simply the story of her sister, but that it is one of many layers.

She speaks touchingly about "trying to learn how to be here without her", and it is clear that, on one level, it is a personal reaction to her grief, and an attempt to interpret it through her art.

"Everybody has lost someone they love and the piece, I hope, will be universal," she says.

"There's a very personal starting place which has provided all of these quite complex layers.

"But eventually the piece that people come and experience will, I hope, be universal and will be about, yes, death and grief, but a celebration of life and celebration of place."

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Pakistan dismisses US raid fears

4 May 2011 Last updated at 05:31 GMT The BBC's Orla Guerin looks around the perimeter of Bin Laden's compound

Pakistan has hit back at US statements suggesting it could not be trusted with details of the operation which killed Osama Bin Laden.

CIA chief Leon Panetta has said no intelligence was shared with Pakistan for fear the raid would be jeopardised.

But Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir told the BBC this view was "disquietening" and his country had a "pivotal role" in tackling terrorism.

Bin Laden was shot dead by US special forces in Abbottabad on Sunday.

On Tuesday the White House clarified the details of how the raid took place, saying Bin Laden was unarmed when he was killed after resisting capture.

US officials have said they are considering when to make public their photographs of his corpse.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's Dawn News television channel has said a meeting of senior al-Qaeda figures is taking place to name Bin Laden's successor as head of the organisation.

Mr Bashir said Mr Panetta was entitled to his views but that his country had co-operated extensively with the US.

He said the compound in Abbottabad where Bin Laden was shot dead had been identified as suspicious some time ago by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

But it took the greater resources of the CIA to determine that it was the al-Qaeda leader's hiding place.

"Most of these things that have happened in terms of global anti-terror, Pakistan has played a pivotal role," said Mr Bashir.

"So it's a little disquieting when we have comments like this."

'Incompetent'

On Tuesday, Pakistan's foreign ministry defended the ISI and issued a lengthy statement in which it expressed "deep concerns and reservations" about the US action.

It insisted unilateral action should not become the norm and stressed that Pakistani intelligence had been sharing information with the US in recent years.

"As far as the target compound is concerned, ISI had been sharing information with CIA and other friendly intelligence agencies since 2009."

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney: Bin Laden not armed, but did resist

Bin Laden, aged 54, was the founder and leader of al-Qaeda.

He is believed to have ordered the attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September 2001, as well as a number of other deadly bombings and was American's most wanted man.

The compound in which he was killed is just a few hundred metres from the Pakistan Military Academy - the country's equivalent of Sandhurst or West Point.

The BBC's Aleem Maqbool in Abbottabad says that if Bin Laden had been there for as long as five years, it raises questions about the Pakistani authorities.

Either they were incredibly incompetent or were harbouring the al-Qaeda leader, our correspondent says.

Two couriers and one woman died in the assault, while one of Bin Laden's wives was injured.

The US has not commented on anyone it captured or had planned to capture, other than saying it had taken Bin Laden's body, which was buried at sea.

However, the Pakistani foreign ministry statement said that the rest of Bin Laden's family are now "in safe hands and being looked after in accordance with the law".

US officials are discussing how and when to release pictures of Bin Laden's body to counter conspiracy theories that he did not die.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said the "gruesome" image could inflame sensitivities, but Mr Panetta said there was no question it would at some point be shown to the public.

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Fatal blast traps Mexican miners

4 May 2011 Last updated at 06:46 GMT Families have gathered at the mine where fears are growing for the men trapped underground Four workers have been killed and 10 are trapped underground after a blast at a coal mine in northern Mexico.

Officials say the size of the gas blast means the chances of finding any survivors are slim.

They said the blast was so strong that a teenage boy working at the mine's surface lost an arm.

Rescue workers have been unable to make contact with the men because there are high levels of dangerous methane gas in the mine shaft.

As tearful family members gathered near the entrance of the mine, the authorities tried to extract the underground gas using machines.

Labour Secretary Javier Lozano confirmed that four bodies had been found and that "the outlook is very bad".

"The truth is that it does not allow us to hold out much hope," he said.

Mr Lozano said the teenager who lost his arm had apparently been employed at the site illegally, the Associated Press reports.

Jesus Montemayor, mayor of the nearby town of Sabinas, said the blast had been felt for miles around, Reuters reports.

President Felipe Calderon has called on Mexicans to "pray that they are still alive".

He said his government was helping the local authorities in their rescue efforts.

The small artisanal mine, close to the border with the US, had been operating for less than a month.

It was one of the many small mining operations which are vital to the local economy in poorer regions.

In 2006, more than 65 miners died in a similar accident in the same region in one of Mexico's worst mining disasters.

In a statement, the Mexican mine workers union criticised the "totally unsafe conditions" in the country's mines.

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UK house prices 'remain static'

4 May 2011 Last updated at 06:00 GMT Some areas have proved more popular with house buyers and sellers UK house prices fell by 0.2% in April compared with March but values are showing little momentum in either direction, according to the Nationwide.

The building society said property values had fallen in three of the last six months and risen in three, because prices were "static".

The average home cost 1.3% less in April than the same month a year ago.

A typical home cost £165,609, and the building society said a strong rebound in prices was "unlikely" in 2011.

Robert Gardner, Nationwide's chief economist, said it was not unusual to see a pattern of modest increases and decreases in house prices when the market was fairly static, as it had been since last summer.

"A strong rebound in the market remains unlikely as the recovery is still expected to remain modest by historic standards," Mr Gardner said.

"In our view, the most likely outcome is that house prices will continue to move sideways or drift modestly lower through 2011."

The three-month on three-month comparison showed that prices rose by 0.6% in the three months to April compared with the previous quarter, Nationwide said.

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Self-harm rise among young people

4 May 2011 Last updated at 06:08 GMT The true scale of self-harming could be far greater, say experts A mental health charity says a rise in hospital admissions for young people in Wales who self-harm is alarming.

Paula Lavis of YoungMinds said the true scale of self-harming could be far greater.

The figures were revealed in a study monitoring young people's wellbeing, which also showed smoking and drinking among teenagers is declining steadily.

The assembly government said the research will inform future policy.

The wide-ranging 2011 Children and Young People's Wellbeing Monitor for Wales is an attempt to pull together information on all aspects of children's lives.

Examining existing data on issues such as education, health and tackling poverty, and conducting surveys, it covers the lives of Welsh children from birth until the age of 25.

'Tip of the iceberg'

Hospital admissions for self-harm in Wales have increased, particularly among 15-17-year-old girls, from approximately 650 incidents per 100,000 people in 2003-2005 to about 900 per 100,000 in 2006-2008.

Paula Lavis said: "These figures highlight how big an issue self-harming is among some young people.

Continue reading the main story Between 1995 and 2008 cases of chlamydia among 15 to 24-year-olds increased from 192 to 758 per 100,000 populationHospital admissions for self-harm increased among 15 to 17-year-old girls - from approximately 650 incidents per 100,000 people in 2003-2005 to around 900 per 100,000 in 2006-2008.The number of babies born with foetal alcohol syndrome in Wales rose by 10% in 2009The number of live births in Wales increased from 32,000 in 2006 to 34,900 in 2009.Death rates among 0-19 year olds in Wales continue to fallThe infant mortality rate continues to fall and in 2009 was 4.8 per 1,000 births.In 2010 the proportion of pupils achieving at least level two in the Core Subject Indicator in the National Curriculum was 81.6% - the highest for 10 years.The numbers of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) have remained at the same level for more than a decadeThe suicide rate for 15 to 24-year-olds has declined in recent years, particularly among malesFewer than one in three adolescents report eating fruit or vegetables daily, while less than half of older girls report eating breakfast dailyThe percentage of children living in absolute poverty rose to 21% in 2006-07 to 2008-09.

Source: 2011 Children and Young People's Wellbeing Monitor for Wales

"This may only be the tip of the iceberg as they only cover hospital admissions, so do not include the many young people who do not come to the attention of services."

The assembly government published its action plan to reduce suicide and self-harm in 2008 and Ms Lavis called for current data to show it is working.

Between 1995 and 2008, the number of reported cases of chlamydia among 15 to 24-year-olds in Wales also increased from 192 to 758 per 100,000 population.

Dr Jim Richardson, a former children's nurse with a background in adolescent sexual health research, said this was down to increased awareness.

The University of Glamorgan academic said: "The ways of protecting yourself are more varied and in general people are more knowledgeable about the side and after-effects.

"All the other indicators of sexual health are following positive trends and reflect the hard work which has gone on but more definitely needs to be done."

The study also found the number of babies born with foetal alcohol syndrome in Wales rose by 10% in 2009 - causing concern among experts, despite the numbers involved being small.

Between 2006 and 2009 the number of babies with the syndrome had been falling steadily.

Helen Rogers, head of the Royal College of Midwives in Wales, said more must be done to communicate the risks of drinking alcohol during pregnancy.

Continue reading the main story

Local authorities and the new Welsh government post-election must...use this data to develop and review services that will have positive, lasting impact on children and young people's lives”

End Quote Keith Towler Children's Commissioner for Wales She said: "This is very worrying and we are always concerned pregnant women who drink aren't taking this as seriously as they should and the real number is under-reported.

"It appears we are not doing enough to communicate the risks - I think this is a symptom of a much wider issue about our attitudes towards alcohol."

Wales already has the highest rates of women who drink and smoke before and during pregnancy in the UK.

Children's Commissioner for Wales Keith Towler welcomed the monitor as a "useful benchmark" and applauded the inclusion of surveys with children.

He said: "Local authorities and the new Welsh government post-election must show they have listened, taken their views seriously and use this data to develop and review services that will have positive, lasting impact on children and young people's lives."

Nearly one in three (32%) of children in Wales now live in poverty.

A consultation on maternity services in Wales ended in April but should see healthy lifestyle options promoted by all health professionals caring for expectant mothers.

In November the assembly government launched a five year plan to reduce teenage pregnancies and STIs.

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Spotify sets its sights on iTunes

4 May 2011 Last updated at 05:34 GMT Last month Spotify announced one million paying subscribers Online music service Spotify is turning up the heat on Apple as it aims to create an alternative to iTunes.

The company is extending many of its premium services, including an iPhone and iPod app, to non-paying members.

It is also encouraging customers to import their music collection into Spotify, rather than Apple's system.

However, analysts have questioned how much impact the service can have, given iTunes' dominance and its close integration with Apple devices.

Restrictions

At the heart of the update, which will be rolled out automatically from 4 May, is an attempt to make Spotify the sole music management platform used by its 10m members.

Currently, only those who pay a monthly fee of between £5 and £9.99 are allowed to import tracks bought through iTunes into their Spotify library.

That option will now be made available all Spotify customers, 90% of whom use the free, advertising-funded version.

The move will be widely seen as an attempt to placate fans who were angered by restrictions recently imposed on the service.

The limits saw the amount of music that free users can listen to halved. It also reduced the number of times an individual track can be played to to five.

Gustav Soderstrom, chief product officer at Spotify, confirmed that the company was aiming "to make iTunes redundant".

"We think it is a better experience. If it is not, people will go back to iTunes," he added.

He explained that customers had requested a greater tie-up between the music they owned and the service they used to create playlists.

"Users are juggling two products at the same time and they said they really wanted to synch their playlists with their iPods and iPhones," he said.

As well as allowing users to synch music with Apple products, Spotify is making its iPhone and Android apps available to non-subscribers.

New clothes

The company has also hammered out a deal with record labels which centres around the creation of bespoke playlists.

It will now offer bundles of tracks for discounted prices. Ten tracks will cost £7.99, 15 tracks £9.99, 40 tracks £25 and 100 tracks £50.

Spotify hopes the innovation will breathe new life into its download service, which it admits has "been a bad experience" for users.

However, Mark Mulligan, an analyst with Forrester Research, was underwhelmed by the changes.

"They don't sound like great discounts to me. All it is doing is applying album pricing to playlists. You might even be able to do that on iTunes already," he said.

"I can see what Spotify is trying to do, it wants to acquire the clothes of the more robust music services by offering ways of buying as well as listening to music and creating an alternative music management platform."

He suggested that Spotify would always lack the clout of Apple.

"iTunes is a very bloated music management service but people use it because it is tied to their devices. Apple offers access to the cloud, it has a billing relationship with users.

"Managing music from Spotify doesn't really do much. People will still have to go back to iTunes to buy new tracks. It is hard to see significant numbers of people using it," he said.

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South Park team dominates Tonys

3 May 2011 Last updated at 15:15 GMT The Book of Mormon star Andrew Rannells (centre) also picked up an acting nomination South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have landed 14 Tony nominations in the US for their Broaday musical The Book of Mormon.

The show about two missionaries who find more than they bargained for in Africa, is up for original score, best musical and lead actor in a musical.

Al Pacino is up for best actor in a play for The Merchant of Venice, as is UK actor Mark Rylance for Jerusalem.

The stage awards ceremony takes place in New York on 12 June.

The Scottsboro Boys, based on the 1930s case in which nine black men were unjustly accused of attacking two white women on an Alabama train, picked up 12 nominations.

It is up for best musical, book of a musical, original score as well as a leading actor and two featured actor nods.

Cole Porter's Anything Goes gained nine nominations, including best revival and best actress for Sutton Foster.

While How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying garnered eight, although its star - Harry Potter's Daniel Radcliffe - was not recognised.

Veteran actress Vanessa Redgrave earned a best actress in a play nod for her role in Driving Miss Daisy.

She will compete against Frances McDormand for Good People, Nina Arianda for Born Yesterday, Lily Rabe for The Merchant of Venice and Hannah Yelland for Brief Encounter.

There was also a nomination for Pirates of the Caribbean star Mackenzie Crook for his performance in Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem.

And Absolutely Fabulous star Joanna Lumley also received a best supporting actress in a featured role nod for her performance in La Bete.

Ocean's Thirteen star Ellen Barkin for The Normal Heart and Sopranos actress Edie Falco for The House of Blue Leaves are also on the shortlist.

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Getting compensated

3 May 2011 Last updated at 23:00 GMT Money Talk by Marc Gander Consumer Action Group Some people were sold payment protection insurance by their bank The payment protection insurance (PPI) mis-selling scandal is coming to a head.

The UK's banks are still deciding whether to apply to appeal against a High Court ruling that they must obey new rules on the sale of PPI.

The aspect they find most vexing is that they are being prompted to contact all past purchasers of this insurance to invite them to lodge a claim for mis-selling.

Millions of people have either paid large one-off lump sums, or monthly insurance premiums.

So what can you do in the meantime if you think you have been mis-sold this insurance?

Experience

Thousands of people have already received compensation because they were mis-sold PPI policies, which are supposed to repay people's loans if their income drops because they fall ill or lose their jobs.

Consumer websites such as the Consumer Action Group or Money Saving Expert are places to meet a large number of people with similar problems and huge expertise gained through their own real-life experience.

This is where you will learn the ropes and it is free.

Do not pay much attention to the story that you can only claim for the previous six years.

You are probably claiming for the return of money paid under a mistake.

For money paid by mistake, you usually have six years from the date you became aware of the mistake. So make your claim as far back as you want. You have nothing to lose.

Make a detailed note about how you took out your loan, how you think PPI became added to the package and why you did not react before.

Take several days to put this note together as many of the details of what happened will become clearer as you go over it in your mind.

This will be an important document because this will form the basis of your mis-selling allegation.

Assessing losses

Start putting together a very careful assessment of what your PPI policy has really cost you.

This will take time and a lot of thought and it will not be immediately obvious.

You have lost your PPI premiums. Claim them back. That bit is easy.

But hang on, if you had not had to pay, say, £5,000 in PPI premiums, then you might have been able to borrow £5,000 less than you did at, say, 15% interest.

It is only fair that you should claim back that unnecessary loan interest as well.

That is not the end of it.

What if the additional mis-sold PPI burden undermined your ability to repay the loan?

Did this lead to you defaulting on the loan and damaging your credit rating?

Did you have to pay more for credit than might otherwise have been the case, been unable to get a mortgage on a house, or even lost your home?

Getting data

If you are a hoarder, you may already have a complete set of records relating to your loan, especially the initial application.

Marc Gander says that a lot of thought is needed when making a claim

But for the rest of us, for a payment of £10 you can make your bank disclose the data they hold on you.

You need to send them a Data Protection Act demand for all data relating to your loan and the PPI, which they hold on you in any form. It is called a subject access request.

The consumer websites will generally advise you how to word these demands and may even provide you with templates.

The banks are obliged to comply within 40 days for a payment of £10.

If they are not co-operative, you should include this as part of your complaint.

Make the complaint

At this point you should send details of your complaint to the bank explaining why you want a refund.

Your bank will write back and tell you that they do not have to deal with your complaint before eight weeks have expired.

In fact this period is an industry agreed time-scale and is not legally binding on the bank or on you.

If you feel your lender's response amounts to fobbing you off then there are two courses of action you should consider - going to court or going to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

Where there is very clear evidence of mis-selling, then you should definitely consider the county court for a cheap, direct, rapid and effective no-nonsense DIY approach.

If you have decided your claim is suitable for the county court process then it will be better if you make it clear to the bank that they have a fairly short time-scale to deal with the matter, perhaps 14 days, before the court papers are issued.

If you have decided to use the ombudsman then you will have to accept the bank's eight-week delay because the FOS will not deal with your complaint until the bank's standard procedures are exhausted.

Going to court

The UK has a superb county court system, especially in England and Wales.

PPI is supposed to repay people's loans if their income drops because they fall ill or lose their jobs

A county court judge is much more likely than the ombudsman to make a real attempt to make sure that the complainant does not lose out and that the wrongdoer does not benefit.

You do not need a lawyer. The steps are fairly simple and your compensation level is likely to be much greater than it would be if you complained to the FOS.

Clear evidence of mis-selling tends to mean those cases when you were not covered by your policy anyway. That might be because you were self-employed, or unemployed or already retired.

It might even be where the handwriting on your loan application form was not your own.

With small-claims limits soon likely to be raised to £15,000, the county court is a better route than ever.

The bank may try to settle out of court, but my advice is to stay resolute until you get the settlement you want.

The Ombudsman

If the mis-selling is less clear then the FOS may be a better route.

Its website says that it attempts to reach fair solutions as opposed to solutions based upon hard law.

This is probably correct, but the procedure takes a long time - up to two years or more.

It is never very clear what is happening or what stage the complaint has reached.

Most frustrating of all is that FOS remedies do not normally seem to reflect all the losses a customer may have suffered.

If you want to use the FOS, then go to its website, read the guidelines and begin their process. As before, a well-prepared case will always be an advantage.

Fight your corner

Your bank may try to offer a compromise after a year or so.

The chances are that it will not explain the basis of its compensation calculation.

The ombudsman may even go along with it and recommend that you accept the offer.

If it is merely your word against the banks, then you may have no other choice.

But I would say to stick to your guns because it seems that the vast majority of complaints that are rejected by banks and then pursued to the ombudsman are then upheld.

The opinions expressed are those of the author and are not held by the BBC unless specifically stated. The material is for general information only and does not constitute investment, tax, legal or other form of advice. You should not rely on this information to make (or refrain from making) any decisions. Links to external sites are for information only and do not constitute endorsement. Always obtain independent, professional advice for your own particular situation.

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Ant and trek - fossils show giant ants crossed globe

3 May 2011 Last updated at 23:57 GMT By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News The fossil is of similar size to a hummingbird A giant ant growing over 5cm (2in) long crossed the Arctic during hot periods in the Earth's history, scientists say, using land bridges between continents.

The ant, named Titanomyrma lubei, lived about 50 million years ago and is one of the largest ant species ever found.

Fossils were unearthed in ancient lake sediments in Wyoming, US.

Writing in the Royal Society journal Proceedings B, a Canadian-US team shows that giant ants, now and then, almost always live in hot climates.

The new species appears very similar to fossils found in Germany and in the Isle of Wight in southern England dating from the same period.

"We don't have any [fossils of] workers from this new species, we only have a queen," said Bruce Archibald from Simon Fraser University in British Columbia.

"It would have been very impressive - the one in Germany was estimated to have a body weighing as much as a wren, and this would have been of similar size," he told BBC News.

Little is known about how these ants lived or what they ate - but wings are present on the fossils.

They are found, in Europe and now in Wyoming, close to plants known to thrive only in temperatures around 20C (70F).

Road much travelled

The Eocene, 56-34 million years ago, was punctuated by periods when the Earth's temperature rose higher than it is today, probably because of the release of greenhouse gases such as methane into the atmosphere.

And the researchers believe that the giant ants must have made a journey from Europe to North America - or vice versa - during one of these "hyperthermals".

During the Eocene, continents were in different locations from those they occupy today

"There was plenty of life transferring between Europe and North America at that time - mammals, trees - all sorts of things," said Dr Archibald.

"And plenty of insects are similar between British Columbia and Denmark - but they could have lived in a cooler climate and crossed at any time.

"This is the first example we have of something that would have needed warmth in order to make the crossing."

The land bridges across the Arctic would have seen a temperate climate for most of the Eocene, rising during the hyperthermals.

During the course of the research, the team mapped the locations of all ant species, extinct or contemporary, growing longer than 3cm (1.2in).

They found that virtually all are associated with tropical temperatures, although the reason why remains a mystery.

The biggest extant equivalents are the driver ants of the Dorylus genus, found in Central and East Africa, which can also grow to 5cm long.

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Canada Liberal quits after defeat

3 May 2011 Last updated at 20:14 GMT Mr Ignatieff's Liberal Party saw its seats in the House of Commons drop from 77 to 34 Former Harvard professor Michael Ignatieff says he is resigning as the leader of Canada's Liberal Party, after a crushing defeat in the country's general election.

PM Stephen Harper's Conservative Party took 167 seats to win a majority government in Monday's election.

The New Democratic Party (NDP) became the official opposition by claiming 102 seats, while the Liberals took 34.

The election marks the worst defeat in the history of the Liberal Party.

Mr Ignatieff said on Tuesday that Conservative attack ads, which made use of the more than 30 years Mr Ignatieff lived in Europe and the US, had a large impact on the outcome of the election.

"My attachment to the country, my patriotism were questioned, my motivations were questioned and that had a political effect, there's no doubt about that, but I have to also take my responsibilities," Mr Ignatieff said.

Continue reading the main story Conservatives: 167 (+24 from previous parliament)New Democrats: 102 (+66)Liberals: 34 (-43)Bloc Quebecois: 4 (-43)Greens: 1 (+1)Independent: 0 (-2)The Liberal Party dropped from 77 seats to 34 in the House of Commons, with Mr Ignatieff even losing his own seat in a suburb of the city of Toronto.

The election marks the first time in Canadian history the Liberal Party did not finish either first or second.

Mr Harper, meanwhile, pledged he would not shift his party to the right in light of it having won its first parliamentary majority.

"We got that mandate because the way we have governed and Canadians expect us to continue to move forward in the same way," he said.

Conservatives won 167 of the 308 electoral districts, earning 40% of the vote and 54% of the seats in parliament, Elections Canada reported.

US President Barack Obama called Mr Harper to congratulate him on the victory, the White House said.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper: "Canadians chose hope"

"The president said he looked forward to continuing his close cooperation with the prime minister," the White House said in a statement.

Mr Obama renewed his commitment to cross-border co-operation on trade, customs enforcement and security, the White House said.

Mr Harper, who took office in 2006, has previously won two elections but never before led a majority government.

Monday's vote was Canada's fourth general election in seven years.

Mr Harper went into the election having headed two successive minority Conservative governments since 2006. His party held 143 seats in the House of Commons prior to the dissolution of the last government.

Continue reading the main story Lee Carter BBC News, Toronto

Although the opinion polls predicted that the Conservatives would regain power, the scale of victory came as a surprise.

PM Stephen Harper ran a tightly-focused campaign, concentrating largely on his government's record in managing the economy, which has emerged from a recession as one of the strongest among the G7 group of countries.

The NDP had its best-ever showing, taking 102 seats. But it has been a disastrous night for the Liberal Party - it dominated Canadian politics in the 20th Century but has suffered its worst-ever result.

The Quebec separatist party, Bloc Quebecois, which has dominated politics in the French-speaking province for the past 20 years, has been almost wiped out, winning just four seats, too few to qualify for party status in the parliament in Ottawa.

The realignment of opposition parties could change the landscape for Canadian politics. There will certainly be calls for the Liberals and NDP to merge in an effort to unite the left-of-centre vote. And by choosing the federalist NDP over the separatists, Quebec may have triggered a renewed debate over its place in Canada's federation.

Analysts say the prime minister has slowly nudged the country further to the right during his five-year tenure.

He has lowered sales and corporate taxes, avoided signing climate change legislation and become a stark advocate of Arctic sovereignty.

He has also increased military spending and extended Canada's military mission in Afghanistan.

New Democratic gains

NDP leader Jack Layton jubilantly greeted his supporters in Toronto on Monday evening.

"Spring is here, my friends, and a new chapter begins," Mr Layton said.

The NDP went into the election with 36 seats, compared with 77 for the Liberals and 143 for the Conservatives.

The separatist Bloc Quebecois, which seeks independence for the predominantly French-speaking Canadian province of Quebec, suffered heavy losses, retaining only four seats out of the 47 seats it previously held.

Its leader, Giles Duceppe, lost his own seat and resigned as party head.

In a historic first, Green Party leader Elizabeth May won her seat in British Columbia, becoming the first Green to be elected to the House of Commons.

Mr Harper's government was forced into an election after a no-confidence vote in parliament.

It was found to be in contempt of parliament because of its failure to disclose the full costs of anti-crime programmes, corporate tax cuts and plans to purchase stealth fighter jets from the US.

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Why Geronimo?

3 May 2011 Last updated at 14:52 GMT By Kathryn Westcott BBC News The code name for the operation to capture Osama Bin Laden was Geronimo. Why was it named after one of the best-known Native Americans?

Geronimo. The Apache warrior's name conjures up an image of the American Wild West, the world over.

In the best-known photograph of him - taken in 1887 - he glares defiantly into the camera, gripping a rifle. It was this fearless warrior that led the last band of Apache resistance to the white Americans.

The fact that Bin Laden had been killed by US special forces was reported to President Barack Obama on Sunday with the words "Geronimo EKIA" - Enemy Killed In Action.

But US officials have not commented on why the name Geronimo was chosen - and may never do so.

Old West reincarnated

It was back in 2001 that the narrative for America's hunt for the al-Qaeda leader became strewn with Wild West imagery.

George W Bush's call for Bin Laden to be caught "dead or alive" mimicked the posters of the old Hollywood westerns, while borderland Pakistan became the Old West reincarnated in the minds of many commentators.

Bin Laden was referred to by one as a "21st-Century Geronimo, trying to elude the US military somewhere in a dry mountain range that could easily pass for the American West".

Afghanistan's cave-laced mountains, were easy to imagine using the template of the Sierra Madre mountain range thousands of miles away, where the original Geronimo managed to elude US troops for so long in the late 19th Century.

Referring to US military possibilities in the tribal areas of Afghanistan's mountainous regions, Allan R Millet, a retired Marine Corps colonel and Ohio State University professor, said in 2001: "It's like shooting missiles at Geronimo... you might get a couple of Apaches, but what difference does that make?"

Continue reading the main story

Geronimo was actually given the name Goyahkla at birth. One theory is that he acquired the name Geronimo from the Mexicans he fought to avenge the death of members of his family.

According to one story the Mexicans would shout: "Cuidado! (Watch out!) Geronimo!". It could be because they mispronounced his name or, as some historians have suggested, they were calling for the protection of St Jerome.

The real Geronimo was born in 1829 in what is modern day New Mexico. As one of the Apache leaders, he inherited a tradition of resisting colonisation by both Spaniards and North Americans.

According to Ron Jackson writing in The Oklahoman newspaper in 2009, Geronimo's "legend is rooted in real deeds of bravery and bloodshed."

Eluding capture

He gained early notoriety for his fearless raids against Mexican soldiers. Mexican troops had killed members of his family after storming his village, and his revenge was to kill as many of them as possible.

"By 1872, US government officials were keenly aware of Geronimo's fighting exploits when they corralled him and hundreds of his fellow Chiricahua Apache people onto an Arizona Territory reservation," writes Mr Jackson.

"Four years later, Geronimo led a large band of Apache dissidents off the reservation and into the Sierra Madre mountains of Old Mexico, where they staged raids on anyone unlucky enough to cross their paths.

"Military officials soon branded Geronimo a renegade. During the next decade, Geronimo repeatedly returned to reservation life in peace only to bolt with others for the refuge of the Sierra Madres. They often left a trail of blood. Hidden in the myriad mountain passes and caves, Geronimo and his followers embarrassed military officers by eluding them time and again, at one point with as many as 5,000 US soldiers on their heels."

It was Apache scouts that helped track Geronimo down in 1886.

The hunt for Bin Laden was often portrayed with Wild West imagery

His struggle to resist the white Americans has led to him being depicted in a sympathetic light by many cultural historians.

Ironically, it is thanks to the Native American's legendary bravery that two of the US army's elite units have the regimental nickname "Geronimo".

The link to the parachute divisions' monikers and the tradition of shouting "Geronimo" while bailing out of a plane can be traced to Fort Benning in the state of Georgia.

G-E-R-O-N-I-M-O

According to reports, in 1940 soldiers from the parachute division were preparing to test a daring new manoeuvre, in which men jumped from the plane in rapid succession.

The night before the jump, a small group of soldiers left the base to watch film at the local cinema - a western featuring the fearless Geronimo. As the men later revealed their apprehension about the next day's jump, Pt Aubrey Eberhardt announced that he was going to shout "Geronimo" as he leapt from the plane to demonstrate his courage.

The story goes that as he jumped, "G-E-R-O-N-I-M-O" was clearly heard from the ground. The motivational yell was adopted other servicemen and quickly became standard practice for US army paratroopers - and the favoured cry for little boys performing a daring leap.

The word "Geronimo" was eventually discontinued by the army in favour of a parachute opening count - "one-thousand, two-thousand" - but by this stage it was already the name of the the army's first parachute battalion, the 501st Parachute Infantry Battalion.

The nickname Geronimo has also adopted by the 1st Battalion (Airborne), 509th Infantry Regiment, which has been operational in Iraq and Afghanistan. By adopting the tactics and techniques of al-Qaeda and the Taleban, they help to train other units to defend themselves.

The original Geronimo is buried at Fort Sill in Oklahoma - but one branch of his descendants argue that he should be laid to rest in his tribal homeland of the Gila Mountains of New Mexico. Until the correct sacred burial rite is carried out there, they say, his spirit is still wandering.

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SA lesbian killing 'hate crime'

3 May 2011 Last updated at 15:16 GMT Gay rights activist Eudy Simelane was raped and killed in KwaThema three years ago The brutal killing of a South African lesbian activist has been condemned as a hate crime by Human Rights Watch.

The US-based group has urged the police to do more to find those responsible for the recent murder and rape of Noxolo Nogwaza.

She was stoned and stabbed on 24 April after a row in a bar in KwaThema township, east of Johannesburg.

Activists say gay South African women are targeted for what some call "corrective rape".

Unlike in many African countries, homosexual acts are legal in South Africa and the constitution outlaws discrimination based on sexual orientation.

But activists say gay and lesbian people are often attacked in townships.

"Nogwaza's death is the latest in a long series of sadistic crimes against lesbians, gay men, and transgender people in South Africa," said Human Rights Watch researcher Dipika Nath.

'Murder is murder'

South African police ministry spokesman Zweli Mnisi says that the police prioritise violence against women and children but do not look at sexual orientation when carrying out their investigations.

"To us, murder is murder, whether somebody is Zulu, English, male or female - we don't see colour, we don't see gender," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.

Prayers were held for Ms Nogwaza outside her home on Saturday and some activists report hearing threatening comments from young men in the crowd.

They fear some of the killers may have mingled with the mourners.

In 2008, female footballer and gay rights activist Eudy Simelane was also killed in KwaThema, some 80km (50 miles) east of Johannesburg.

Two people were given long prison terms for her murder and rape, although prosecutors denied that her sexuality had been a motive.

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Mississippi flood levee breached

3 May 2011 Last updated at 22:59 GMT An official said it could take until late summer or early autumn for the submerged farmland to drain As many as 200 sq miles of farmland were under water on Tuesday after the US blew a hole in a Mississippi River levee to relieve a flood threat.

The Army Corps of Engineers breached the levee in an effort to save the town of Cairo, Illinois, sacrificing farmland across the river in Missouri.

A group of farmers whose land was flooded has sued the federal government over the move.

The US says farmers who had crop insurance will be reimbursed.

By blowing a hole in the levee on Monday night, the Corps of Engineers hoped to reduce the river level at Cairo, lessen the pressure on the flood wall over the town, and relieve the flood risk further down the Mississippi River.

At Cairo, a town of about 3,000 at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, the measure seemed to work, with the river level declining.

The move makes use of floodways - vast basins of land surrounded by levees that can be opened to divert flooding elsewhere.

As many as 100 homes were damaged or destroyed, and the water washed away crop prospects for the year.

"Making this decision is not easy or hard," said Maj Gen Michael Walsh, who made the call to breach the levee, according to the St Louis Post Dispatch.

"It's simply grave - because the decision leads to loss of property and livelihood, either in a floodway or in an area that was not designed to flood."

Maj Gen Walsh said it could be late summer or early autumn before the submerged land fully drains.

The National Weather Service expects record flooding further down in the Mississippi River valley in the next few weeks.

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Parties make final plea to voters

4 May 2011 Last updated at 05:47 GMT The parties will make a last appeal to the voters Party leaders in Wales are making their final appeals to voters on the eve of the Welsh assembly election.

Deputy Liberal Democrat leader Simon Hughes will join campaigners in mid Wales, whilst Plaid Cymru launch a last-push advertising campaign.

Labour's Carwyn Jones will make his last speech of the campaign at the marginal seat of Aberconwy.

Welsh Conservative leader Nick Bourne is to be joined by Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan.

Welsh Lib Dem leader Kirsty Williams is to resume her attack on Labour and Plaid, accusing them of avoiding responsibility for "the failures" of the last assembly government.

"Labour's Mr Jones blames Westminster," she said. "Plaid Cymru's Mr Jones blames Labour's Mr Jones."

"Labour and Plaid, together in government, have left us with a weak economy, under-funded schools and an NHS that costs more but delivers less."

Ms Williams said Wales needed a government that would "get on with the job" of improving things not just blaming everyone else.

Meanwhile, Carwyn Jones has chosen Aberconwy, a three-way marginal, to make his last speech of the campaign.

The Welsh Labour leader will say that his party can provide an alternative to Westminster government cuts which are "too far and too fast".

Health and employment

Claiming that the Con-Lib coalition plans were "hurting but not working", Mr Jones will say that with a Labour government "Wales can show the way" in keeping fairness at the heart of government.

Plaid Cymru will be launching their final advertising push with leader Ieuan Wyn Jones stating Wales needed "innovative ways to defy the [public spending] crisis".

Criticising other parties as "uninspiring and devoid of real ideas", he will warn that "Labour cannot be allowed to take the support of the people of Wales for granted".

Emphasising his party's plans to improve employment, education and skills, Mr Jones asked people to vote for Plaid's "fresh ideas and new ways of working" that "offer a beacon of hope that Wales can rise to the challenges we face".

The Conservatives will focus on health, and Mr Bourne said: "In the final hours of the campaign we will be promoting our commitment to reverse Labour's £1bn cuts to the Welsh NHS.

"Welsh Conservatives are the only party committed to protecting the NHS budget and increasing it in line with inflation.

"Protecting the NHS budget will allow us to invest in a £10million cancer drugs fund, to improve ambulance response times and address the under funding of Welsh hospices."

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Rice crops 'have single origin'

3 May 2011 Last updated at 11:56 GMT Rice is one of the world's most important staple foods Scientists have shed new light on the origins of rice, one of the most important staple foods today.

A study of the rice genome suggests that the crop was domesticated only once, rather than at multiple times in different places.

Tens of thousands of varieties of rice are known, but these are represented by two distinct sub-species.

The work published in PNAS journal proposes that rice was first cultivated in China some 9,000 years ago.

Another theory proposes that the two major sub-species of rice - Oryza sativa japonica and O. sativa indica - were domesticated separately and in different parts of Asia.

This view has gained strong support from observations of large genetic differences between the two sub-species, as well as from several efforts to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the crop.

The japonica type is sticky and short-grained, while indica rice is non-sticky and long-grained.

In the latest research, an international team re-examined this evolutionary history, by using genetic data.

Using computer algorithms, the researchers came to the conclusion that japonica and indica had a single origin because they had a closer genetic relationship to one other than to any wild rice species found in China or India.

They then used a so-called "molecular clock" technique to put dates on the evolutionary story of rice.

Depending on how the researchers calibrated their clock, the data point to an origin of domesticated rice around 8,200 years ago. The study indicates that the japonica and indica sub-species split apart from each other about 3,900 years ago.

The team says this is consistent with archaeological evidence for rice domestication in China's Yangtze Valley about 8,000 to 9,000 years ago and the domestication of rice in India's Ganges region about 4,000 years ago.

"As rice was brought in from China to India by traders and migrant farmers, it likely hybridised extensively with local wild rice," said co-author Michael Purugganan, from New York University (NYU).

"So domesticated rice that we may have once thought originated in India actually has its beginnings in China."

The single-origin model suggests that indica and japonica were both domesticated from the wild rice O. rufipogon.

Several years ago, researchers said they had found evidence for 15,000-year-old burnt rice grains at a site in South Korea, challenging the idea that rice was first cultivated in China. However, the evidence remains controversial in the academic community.

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Sony enlists cyber-security firms

4 May 2011 Last updated at 04:09 GMT The Playstation Network lets game console owners downloads games and play against friends. Sony has hired investigators after a breach of security, in which the personal data of more than 100 million online game users was compromised.

Cyber-security detectives from Guidance Software and Data Forte, among others, have been brought on board, said Sony.

The Playstation Network and Sony Online Entertainment have been taken offline.

Information including names, addresses and potentially even credit card numbers was stolen in the attack.

Officials from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said they were looking into the breach of data, which might include some credit card numbers.

'Outdated database'

Last week, Sony said the personal details of 77 million Playstation users may have been stolen by hackers.

On Tuesday, it said a further 25 million gamers had their personal details stolen because of a security breach.

The company said credit card details and other personal information had been taken from an "outdated database".

The new attack went beyond users of Playstation hardware, affecting PC and Facebook gamers.

Sony said direct debit information for about 10,700 customers in Austria, Spain, the Netherlands and Germany was stolen.

It also said credit or debit card details of some 12,700 non-US customers were compromised.

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Prosecutor reviews G20 evidence

4 May 2011 Last updated at 02:45 GMT Ian Tomlinson collapsed minutes after being pushed to the ground Evidence that emerged during the inquest into the death of the newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson is to be reviewed by the Director of Public Prosecutions.

DPP Keir Starmer will decide if the policeman who pushed the 47-year-old to the ground at London's G20 protests should be charged with manslaughter.

The inquest jury concluded Mr Tomlinson had been unlawfully killed.

Pc Simon Harwood has reiterated that he did "did not intend, or foresee" that his actions would cause the fall.

The officer faces a misconduct tribunal but, as a result of the inquest verdict, the case is set to be reviewed by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the Met Police.

Last year the Director of Public Prosecutions ruled out manslaughter charges saying that it could not be proved beyond reasonable doubt that Mr Tomlinson's death was caused by Pc Harwood pushing him to the ground.

Mr Starmer said at the time that there was an "irreconcilable conflict" between medical experts.

His review will now consider whether enough additional evidence has emerged since then to support a manslaughter prosecution.

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Pc Harwood did not intend, or foresee at the time, that his push would cause Mr Tomlinson to fall over, let alone that it would result in any injury”

End Quote Pc Simon Harwood's solicitor At the inquest six doctors said Mr Tomlinson died from internal bleeding and in the words of the coroner, they all found to a "greater or lesser degree" a "direct link" between the push and the newspaper seller's collapse.

Mr Tomlinson collapsed and died after he was hit by a baton and pushed to the ground by Pc Harwood at the protests in the City of London on 1 April 2009.

The jury decided Pc Harwood acted illegally, recklessly and dangerously, and used "excessive and unreasonable" force in striking Mr Tomlinson.

Jurors added that the newspaper seller, who was not taking part in the protests, posed no threat.

After the verdict, Pc Harwood reiterated "how sorry" he was that Mr Tomlinson died but went on to dispute the jury's conclusion.

A statement released by his lawyers Reynolds Dawson said: "The mass of video and other evidence gathered by the IPCC [Independent Police Complaints Commission] now presents a picture very different from the one which Pc Harwood had on the day.

"In particular, he wishes that he had known then all that he now knows about Mr Tomlinson's movements and fragile state of health.

"Pc Harwood did not intend, or foresee at the time, that his push would cause Mr Tomlinson to fall over, let alone that it would result in any injury."

1. 1855: Mr Tomlinson leaves Monument station to head home

2. 1859: He walks north along King William Street, but is turned back by police

3. 1902: The newspaper seller sits on a wall before cutting through onto Lombard Street

4. 1906: A few minutes later, he comes into contact with police again on Lombard Street

5. 1915: Mr Tomlinson then passes through Change Alley and is diverted again by more police officers

6. 1918: He crosses Cornhill towards Royal Exchange Buildings

7. 1920: As police sweep down Royal Exchange, Mr Tomlinson is hit by a baton and pushed to the ground. A bystander helps him to his feet

8. 1921: The newspaper vendor walks along Cornhill before collapsing and dying

Source: Inquest into the death of Ian Tomlinson. Note: Parts of route and some timings are approximate

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VIDEO: The team that killed Bin Laden

4 May 2011 Last updated at 02:49 GMT Help

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Sugar set for Apprentice shake-up

3 May 2011 Last updated at 16:42 GMT By Fiona Bailey Entertainment reporter, BBC News The latest batch of hopefuls who are aiming to impress Lord Sugar Lord Alan Sugar returns for the seventh series of The Apprentice next week, which will be a departure from previous outings.

The entrepreneur's berating bark and cutting quips are also back, along with 16 more candidates who are all hoping to impress the 64-year-old.

This year, more is at stake than before.

"It's no longer a job, it's now a partnership in a business of their own choice," Lord Sugar explains.

The entrepreneur, a screen star thanks to the show, has promised a cash injection of £250,000 into the winning candidate's chosen business, instead of a role at one of his companies.

'Moaning culture'

Lord Sugar says he wanted to shake up the format to show viewers at home that it is "easy" to start a business.

"We've got to stop all this moaning about banks not lending money," he explains.

"I wanted to show the general public that you can start businesses from scratch. And this moaning culture that I refer to is something that needs to be disbanded."

For someone who began his career selling car aerials out the back of a van he bought for just £50, making a profit with little capital is something that he finds very easy.

"That's the message really, that on a Monday morning you go out with £250 and you can come back with £700," says the business mogul.

Now, more than 40 years on, he has an estimated wealth of some £730 million and was ranked 85th in the Sunday Times Rich List last year.

And he is keen to give someone else that invaluable kick start.

However, the business guru has already warned the candidates that he plans to take a back seat in the winning venture.

"Don't expect me to be doing all the work because I'm not looking for a sleeping partner," he says in the first episode.

"I'm not Saint Alan, the patron saint of bloody losers - you can look at it as a bit of an uncivil partnership, so to speak."

'Limp handshake'

This year the list of candidates are the usual mix of overly confident and highly ambitious people.

They include a former estate agent, an accountant and an inventor, who created the world's first ever curved nail file.

Melody Hossaini, 26, speaks five languages and claims she has worked with Al Gore and Dalai Lama.

Introducing herself to the audience in the first show, she says: "Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon."

Lord Sugar will be assisted by Nick Hewer (l) and Karren Brady (second right)

Edna Agbarha, a business psychologist, believes "a limp handshake is unforgivable" and Vincent Disneur claims his "very good looks" make him stand out.

But Lord Sugar does not find the candidates' over-zealous attitude to business off-putting.

"They're very opinionated, as you know, but I was like that when I was younger," he smiles.

But wannabe TV presenters need not apply for the show, as Lord Sugar readily admits he has felt let down by some former contestants.

"In the seven years that I've been doing this, I've had people - whose names I won't mention - who have sworn on a stack of bibles that they are here for the job.

"But TV is a powerful instrument and they get a taste for it. The bottom line is that some slip through the net eventually, but they haven't slipped through the net as far as the winners are concerned."

Karren Brady and Nick Hewer join Lord Sugar again this year to oversee the candidates and watch how they tackle each task.

Brady, who replaced Margaret Mountford in 2009, says this year there is "even more determination" among the contestants.

And Hewer, whose sour facial expressions have become as important as the boardroom showdown, adds: "They are even more deadly serious - because this is a huge prize, when it's almost impossible to raise capital to start a business, here is a God send.

"It's a life changing experience and I think they recognise that."

The Apprentice returns on 10 May at 2100 BST on BBC One

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Warning over replacement for EMA

3 May 2011 Last updated at 17:42 GMT By Ross Hawkins Political correspondent, BBC News The scrapping of EMA became part of the wave of student protests during the winter Plans to replace the Education Maintenance Allowance could lead to unintended discrimination, according to a government equalities assessment.

It says discrimination could occur because schools and colleges will decide which students get bursaries.

Sixteen to 19-year-olds in full-time education or training will be able to apply for the money for the coming academic year.

The assessment says the government is considering "some central arbitration".

The Equality Impact Assessment says the process is open to unintended discrimination on the basis of disability, gender or ethnicity.

'Flexibility'

The Department for Education is to set up bursaries totalling £180m a year to replace the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA), which was worth £500m a year.

They are designed to help young people who face financial difficulties stay on in education.

Announcing the plans to the House of Commons in March, Education Secretary Michael Gove said schools and colleges would have the freedom to allocate the bursaries because they were best placed to know the specific needs of their students.

He added then: "We will give professionals full flexibility over allocating support."

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He has taken a successful scheme that was good value for the taxpayer and turned it into a complete shambles”

End Quote Andy Burnham Shadow education secretary The Impact Assessment says : "We will consider whether there should be some central arbitration of the discretionary administration of funding or at least ensure transparency of administration to evaluate the impact achieved by providers, including value for public money."

A Department for Education spokesman said: "As we have always said schools and college will have freedom in how they allocate the bursaries to their students. We want to work with colleges to make sure that money is fairly allocated.

"The fact is consultation has not yet finished but we will consider what mechanism might help support colleges and students in making sure the money gets to those who need it."

The government's consultation on how the bursary scheme will work comes to an end this month.

The assessment goes on to say the new scheme will deliver better value for money. It says while some young people will get less money there is no evidence the changes in financial support will have a disproportionate effect on those with disabilities, learning difficulties, or on either gender or those of different ethnicities.

The shadow education secretary Andy Burnham said: "Michael Gove promised a better scheme for the poorest young people but now his own department says it is open to discrimination.

"He has taken a successful scheme that was good value for the taxpayer and turned it into a complete shambles."

James Mills, from the campaign to keep the EMA, said: "We have been saying since day one that there would be grave equality issues brought up by removing EMA and the government has finally admitted this by whispering it out in their own Equality Impact Assessment hoping no one would notice."

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