Author: xaurav

Television presenter Jeremy Clarkson has been ordered to reopen a footpath through his property after a public inquiry on the Isle of Man.

The BBC Top Gear presenter sparked protests from ramblers when he diverted a walkway on land at his holiday home, a lighthouse on the Langness peninsula.

A pressure group called Prowl (Public Rights of Way Langness) has since campaigned for access to the path.

Mr Clarkson now has 28 days to appeal against the ruling.

Transport Minister David Anderson MHK said anyone was able to object to the report’s findings.

He said: "Anyone may object to the amendments. If any objections are received, and are not subsequently withdrawn, the matter has to be brought to the High Court for resolution."

Mr Anderson said the inquiry inspector, Roy Hickey, said "strong and persuasive evidence" had been put forward by members of the public that they had the right to use the paths on Langness.

He said that all of the paths on Langness, apart from five, should be dedicated as public rights of way.

The five paths that may remain private include three leading from the lighthouse to the shore south and south east of the lighthouse, a fourth running across the peninsula and a fifth crossing the golf course.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

The Tory and Lib Dem negotiators are reaching the final stages of policy negotiations.

Any agreement on ministerial jobs will come later.

This is what I’ve learned would be some important elements in their joint economic and business policy:

1) The £6bn of additional spending cuts promised by the Tories will stand, unless the economy were to dramatically weaken. A well-placed source said to me that the £6bn wasn’t economically important enough to be a stumbling block for the Lib Dems.

2) The Tories will adopt the Lib Dem plan to increase the tax-free allowance on income tax to £10,000. A meaningful initial rise in the allowance would come quickly, with a clear timetable announced to get to the full £10,000.

3) We are not likely to see any meaningful increase in the inheritance tax threshold while the Lib Dems are part of the government. That Tory manifesto pledge would be kicked into the long grass.

To be clear, the ink is not yet even on the de facto contract between the two parties. And there are senior Tories and Lib Dems who fear that if a contract is eventually written, the coalition government may not last long, such is the mistrust between those at the top of the parties.

But my strong sense is that both sides are up for giving it a go – in the “national interest”, according to my sources, and not simply to taste the elixir of elected office.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Firms in the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster are set to present conflicting claims at the first US Senate hearing, US media say, citing leaked testimony.

BP intends to tell the Senate that the spill was due to the failure of safety equipment owned by drilling company Transocean, the reports say.

Transocean is expected to blame the spill on the failure of a cement wall built by a firm contracted by BP.

Meanwhile BP says it will try to place a new dome over the blown-out well.

An attempt to drop a huge dome on the gushing well failed at the weekend, and BP is now working on lowering a smaller device known as a "top-hat" dome on to the well.

The BBC’s Rajesh Mirchandani in Alabama says there are also reports it is exploring plugging the well with debris, including every day rubbish like tyres and golf balls.

The growing slick is threatening an environmental disaster along the US coast.

Following rules?

As executives prepared for the Senate hearing, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs reiterated the US government’s views on responsibility for the slick.

"BP will be paying for all costs of stopping the spill and cleaning it up, and we will aggressively pursue full compensation for damages," he said in a statement.

US media, including the Associated Press and Wall Street Journal, quoted leaked statements they said senior executives would be giving in testimony to the Senate later.

According to the reports, Lamar McKay, head of BP America, will blame the spill on the failure of Transocean’s "blowout preventer" – a series of valves designed to stop oil from escaping.

But Transocean’s chief executive Steven Newman is expected to point the finger at BP.

"All offshore oil and gas production projects begin and end with the operator, in this case BP," the Associated Press quoted a leaked statement of his testimony as saying.

He will say BP’s contractor Halliburton was responsible for encasing the well in cement and ensuring the cement’s integrity.

Halliburton executive Tim Probert is expected to argue that his firm followed all rules and guidelines.

Dow Jones Newswires said it had received testimony from an oil-drilling expert that will tell the Senate that human error may have created the conditions for the disaster, despite the safety measures.

Nature reserves

Some 5,000 barrels of oil have been flowing into the sea every day since the leak began late last month.

BP and US officials have been combating the slick on several fronts – spraying chemical dispersants on the oil and manufacturing huge contraptions to drop on to the leaking well.

Booms and bundles of absorbent material have been laid along shorelines to try to protect them.

But the broken pipe is almost one mile (1.6km) below the ocean’s surface, with little visibility for engineers using remote-controlled vehicles.

And the slick has so far thwarted all efforts to bring it under control.

A sheen from the edge of the slick is surrounding island nature reserves off Louisiana and tar balls have reached as far as the Alabama coast.

The low-lying region contains vital spawning grounds for fish, shrimp and crabs and is an important migratory stop for many species of rare birds.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

The UK economy grew by 0.5% between February and April, the National Institute of Social and Economic Research says.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

One of the main rebel groups in Sudan’s Darfur region has threatened "all-out war" if its leader is arrested.

Sudanese officials have asked Interpol to arrest Justice and Equality Movement (Jem) leader Khalil Ibrahim for planning an attack in Omdurman in 2008.

Jem signed a ceasefire with the government in February but left peace talks earlier this month, claiming the government had launched new raids.

Mr Khalil is currently thought to be in Egypt, which is an ally of Khartoum.

Eltahir Adam Elfaki, chairman of Jem’s Legislative Council, told the BBC that "if any attempt is made to arrest Dr Khalil then it is all-out war."

"Even as we speak, the Sudanese government is bombarding areas of North Darfur and West Darfur," he said.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Bashir over alleged war crimes committed in Darfur – charges he strongly denies.

"Bashir is an indicted criminal – indicted by the ICC – and has no right to ask for anyone to be indicted by Interpol," said Mr Elfaki.

After the ceasefire was signed with Jem, Mr Bashir declared that the war in Darfur was "over".

Another Darfur rebel group, the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM), also signed a ceasefire with the government before the elections.

However a faction of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) led by Abdul Wahid is still holding out against the government and has refused to take part in the peace talks.

Darfur was relatively peaceful during Sudan’s landmark April elections, which saw Mr Bashir re-elected.

But voting did not take place in much of the area because of the insecurity.

Since the conflict in Darfur began in 2003, some 2.7 million people have fled their homes and the UN says about 300,000 more have died.

The government says such figures are a massive exaggeration and denies claims that it backed Arab militias accused of ethnic cleansing against black African groups in Darfur.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.