Category: news

House prices fell for the second month in a row in August, according to the Nationwide building society.

Prices fell 0.9% last month, following a 0.5% decline in July, Nationwide said, adding that it was the first time that prices had fallen for two consecutive months since February 2009.

The average house price now stands at just over £166,500.

Nationwide said house prices had “essentially stagnated over the summer”.

The quarter-on-quarter rate of change – generally seen as a smoother indicator of recent price trends – fell from 1.2% in July to 0% in August.

“As more sellers have returned to the market, buyers have a greater selection of properties to choose from and more bargaining power with which to bid down asking prices,” said Martin Gahbauer, Nationwide’s chief economist.

But he added: “Given that the price increases of the last year had gotten ahead of the recovery in the wider economy, the current correction is not an unhealthy development.”

The annual rate of house price inflation fell sharply from 6.6% in July to 3.9% in August.

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One of four key independent lawmakers has pledged support for Prime Minister Julia Gillard, leaving her just two seats short of the majority needed to form the next Australian government.

Andrew Wilkie, who represents Denison in Tasmania, said Ms Gillard’s Labor party was most likely to deliver stable government.

Three other independents have yet to decide who to back.

They have been in talks with both Ms Gillard and her rival, Tony Abbott.

Almost two weeks after the 21 August elections, neither the ruling Labor party or the Liberal-led coalition have managed to form a government.

After Mr Wilkie’s decision Labor can now count on support from 74 of the 76 seats needed, with the coalition narrowly behind on 73.

“I have judged that it is the Australian Labor Party that best meets my criteria that the next government must be stable, must be competent and must be ethical,” Mr Wilkie told journalists.

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A rare male pygmy hippopotamus born in a Polish zoo two weeks ago has appeared in public for the first time.

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Images have been unveiled of new properties which will replace derelict flats on an “eyesore” housing estate.

Rundown homes at Penarth Heights, known as the Billybanks, are being demolished after a deal between Vale of Glamorgan council and developer Crest Nicholson.

Construction of 377 houses and apartments starts next month, with completion due by 2017.

It was recently ranked Wales’ ugliest eyesore and Britain’s eighth worst in a magazine survey.

Plans of the development are on display at the town’s Oriel Washington Gallery.

They include information about the site, from the initial construction of the Billybanks estate right through to the completion of Penarth Heights, and include a scale model of the new development.

The site had remained derelict for years and had become a target for vandals, thieves and squatters.

However, the estate is in a prime location overlooking Cardiff Bay, the Millennium Stadium and the Bristol Channel.

While most residents were relocated from the 17-acre site years ago, four families refused to leave as plans stalled.

A public inquiry was called over compulsory purchase orders to move the residents, delaying plans that were then further held up by the economic recession.

But Crest Nicholson is now pushing ahead with its redevelopment of the site.

The new homes are described as a mix of contemporary homes with between one and five bedrooms, 20% of them “affordable”.

It is hoped the the first residents will be able to move in from next spring.

Sandra Dixon, sales and marketing director for Crest Nicholson, said Penarth Heights was “on one of the most prestigious and picturesque development sites in Wales”.

Gordon Kemp, leader of the Vale of Glamorgan council, said the plans on display would give local people the opportunity to see how the site would look when completed.

He said: “I recently visited the site with the secretary of state for Wales and I was pleased to see the site nearly cleared and ready for construction work to start.

“We are looking forward to seeing the first residents move into the development next year.”

The Vale of Glamorgan council previously said the agreement with Crest Nicholson would bring a series of improvements to the area including the construction of open spaces, highways, footways and cycleways and investment in local schools.

Plans of the development will be on show at Oriel Washington Gallery, Penarth, between 1600 and 1900 BST on Thursday .

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Five police officers have been killed and three injured by a roadside bomb in the Colombian state of Caqueta, acting Governor Edilberto Endo said.

The policemen were driving along a highway when a bomb exploded and set their car on fire.

Mr Endo blamed the attack on the Farc rebel group.

If confirmed as having been carried out by the rebels it would be the worst Farc attack since President Juan Manuel Santos came to power last month.

The Farc, Colombia’s largest left-wing rebel group, has been putting up fierce resistance against an offensive by government troops in Caqueta.

Farc leaders issued a call for dialogue before Mr Santos was inaugurated.

However, Mr Santos has said that he is only prepared to talk to the rebels if they lay down arms and release all of the hostages that they hold.

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Typhoon Kompasu has struck the South Korean capital, downing power lines and causing transport chaos.

At least three people were killed and dozens more injured in the storm – the strongest to hit Seoul in 15 years.

More than 120 flights were cancelled and power cuts hit major parts of the subway network.

Further south, Tropical Storm Lionrock made landfall in the Chinese province of Fujian, bringing strong winds and torrential rain.

Forecasters warned that the storm could trigger landslides, Xinhua news agency said.

Typhoon Kompasu made landfall in South Korea early on Thursday at Ganghwa Island, before passing to the north-east of Seoul.

One man was killed after being hit by a flying roof tile and another died after a tree branch fell and hit him.

A man in his 70s was electrocuted, the National Emergency Management Agency said.

Utility poles and trees were knocked down in the capital and hospitals were full of people injured after being hit by flying glass, Yonhap news agency said.

The typhoon is now heading into North Korea, meteorologists say.

On Wednesday state media there broadcast a typhoon warning, telling people to prepare for heavy rain.

North Korea has already been hit hard by floods during 2010.

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An island off Peru is making money from selling bird poo to use as organic fertiliser

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The Electoral Commission will give its verdict later on the proposed question for the referendum on further powers for the Welsh assembly.

The Commission has spent the past 10 weeks trying out the question with members of the public.

It will reveal if it believes the wording is suitable, or if it needs rewriting.

Only when the question has been formally agreed can legal moves begin to call the referendum vote.

It is understood that the rest of the process for calling the referendum is close to completion, so this is seen as a major hurdle to be overcome before the vote goes ahead next year.

The question being proposed by the Wales Office, which is leading the process of drawing up the referendum order, has a preamble explaining the kind of areas which are currently devolved, such as health and education.

Below is the proposed question:

“At present, the National Assembly for Wales (the assembly) has powers to make laws for Wales on some subjects within devolved areas. Devolved areas include health, education, social services, local government and environment. The assembly can gain further powers to make laws in devolved areas with the agreement of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Parliament) on a subject by subject basis.

“If most people vote Yes in this referendum, the assembly will gain powers to pass laws on all subjects in the devolved areas.

“If most people vote No, then the present arrangements, which transfer that law-making power bit by bit, with the agreement of Parliament each time, will continue.

“Do you agree that the assembly should now have powers to pass laws on all subjects in the devolved areas without needing the agreement of Parliament first?”

The Electoral Commission has a legal duty to ensure that any question asked in a referendum is accurate and intelligible to voters, and has been “road-testing” the Wales Office’s suggested question with focus groups and experts around the country.

The issue of the question to be asked led to a bitter political row earlier this year, with the new Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan suggesting that her predecessor, Labour’s Peter Hain had deliberately dragged his feet over its drafting in order to delay a vote until next year.

He vehemently denied the claim, and said in fact it was Ms Gillan who was holding back the process and that sufficient work had been done while he was in office.

The referendum is currently expected to be held sometime in March 2011, ahead of the assembly election in May, although the exact timing will be discussed between First Minister Carwyn Jones and Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan.

However, the date will need to be decided before the referendum order is voted on in London and Cardiff Bay.

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The chairman of the NI Policing Board is to seek its members’ support to remain in the role at a meeting later.

Last month, Barry Gilligan went voluntarily to a police station to be interviewed about a land deal involving a company, of which he is a director.

It followed a police search of Mr Gilligan’s home and the headquarters of the Policing Board.

The land in question at Nelson Street in north Belfast had been designated for social housing.

The controversy began when it emerged that Mr Gilligan had been asked to offer advice to a community group which wanted to build social housing on the site.

But, within weeks, Big Picture Developments, of which Mr Gilligan is a director, acquired the site, collapsing the community group’s plans.

Mr Gilligan, who is on leave from his Policing Board post because of health problems, denies any wrongdoing.

In March, the Housing Executive asked police to investigate its involvement with the Nelson Street site.

For years, the Housing Executive opposed the commercial scheme, insisting the land was designated for social housing.

However, an investigation by the BBC Newsline programme showed that the Housing Executive subsequently appeared to change its mind, with one official writing to planners telling them that it was “withdrawing the request for social housing at the scheme”.

It is believed this letter is the focus of the police investigation.

After it was discovered, senior staff at the Housing Executive ensured the letter was withdrawn and its original position of opposition to the development was reinstated.

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The Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast and Altnagelvin Hospital in Londonderry have scored badly in a nationwide survey on treatment of hip fractures.

Only one in five patients at the Royal had surgery within 36 hours compared to a nationwide average of 57%. The figure was 33% in Derry.

Nationally 81% have surgery in the first 48 hours. The Belfast figure was 63% while in Derry it was 69%.

By the latter criterion, the Royal finished second last in the UK.

The Royal fared better in how long it takes to transfer a patient from A&E to an orthopaedic ward.

It finished 98th out of 129 UK hospitals surveyed while Altnagelvin finished 107th.

Around 76,000 people fracture their hips every year in the UK, with 92% of cases among people aged 70 and over.

The audit was carried out for the Royal College of Surgeons.

Reasons for delay include waiting for space on an operating theatre list, not enough staff, waiting for beds and patients not being medically fit for surgery.

The Western Trust said that more than 90% of those who were medically fit for surgery had their operation within 48 hours.

Its statement continued: “The period covered includes the winter 2009/10 period when the trust dealt with an unprecedented level of patients requiring surgery for complex fracture injuries sustained as a result of slips and falls during the adverse weather conditions.”

BBC Northern Ireland health correspondent Marie-Louise Connolly said that improving the figures could prove difficult in the face of impending cuts to health budgets.

“It’s feared the situation may get worse before getting any better,” our correspondent said.

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The southern Brazilian city of Dourados has been left with a power vacuum by the arrests of all local top officials, police say.

Mayor Ari Artuzi, his wife, deputy, and 25 other people have been arrested on suspicion of fraud and corruption.

Prosecutors accuse the mayor of heading a complex corruption racket. Mr Artuzi’s allies reject the charges.

A judge has been appointed to run the city of 200,000 people in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul.

Prosecutors say Mr Artuzi and his collaborators took a 10% cut of all public works contracts and used the money for election campaigns and to bribe other local politicians.

Among those arrested are the city’s councillors for finance and administration and a hospital director.

A spokesman for the council said Dourados had been left in limbo by the arrests.

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On the day of his wife’s funeral, Bruce Bovill pays tribute to the woman he lost over many years to dementia.

Jan Bovill died in a nursing home in Hampshire 11 days ago, at the age of 69.

She developed dementia in middle age – with her husband first noticing possible symptoms 25 years ago.

Bruce, 63, has worked with the Alzheimer’s Society to highlight the challenges of being a carer.

He said: “Jan was always stunning. She had a vivacious personality, great dress sense – and she was just fun to be with.”

The couple met at the University of London in the 1960s – and were initially drawn together by their shared Welsh backgrounds.

Bruce and Jan became engaged after a whirlwind romance. Their wedding was in Neath, Glamorgan, in September 1968.

They later settled in Essex, and then Hampshire. The Bovills developed their careers – Bruce worked in the computer industry, while Jan was in the accounting department at a big cosmetics company.

For many people, the daily train journey back home from London would be regarded as a chore.

But Bruce always experienced a magical moment when he glimpsed Jan across the station concourse.

He said: “I would approach the platform in Waterloo from one direction and Jan would approach from the other one, because we worked in different parts of London.

“When I saw her across the concourse, I would always think: ‘My God – what a woman!’

“So much of our life was lost to this horrible condition – although we always made sure we enjoyed what we had.”

Sitting in the conservatory at his home in a London suburb, Bruce paused for a moment to gather his emotions.

He said: “The first time that anything really weird happened was in 1985. We’d just returned from a holiday in the Caribbean.

“Jan was in a semi-doze. Then she looked at me with complete horror – and said: ‘Who are you?’

“Then she said: ‘Who am I?’ And then she said: ‘Where am I?’

“Slowly Jan came back to herself again. We discussed it as being the worst jet lag ever – and forgot about it.”

In 1988, Jan became increasingly anxious about the daily journey to London. She gave up her job.

Bruce reflected: “I think she was uptight because the dementia was coming in, and she was unable to cope with too many things at once.

“The first consultant we saw suggested Jan needed a pacemaker. It scared the pants off us, because it seemed such a major thing.

“Now I look back and think – if only it had been that.”

Jan wasn’t diagnosed with dementia until 1998. At that point, Bruce asked the doctor not to tell Jan.

He explained: “She was too far on then, for the diagnosis to help her, and I felt she might not cope well.

“It was a hugely dark time. Jan would have major ranting sessions. The person they go for is the person nearest to them.

“She didn’t always know that I was trying my best, which makes it difficult.

“People with dementia are so busy fighting it, they haven’t got space for the niceties of dealing with even their loved ones. It’s such a huge fight.”

By 2001, Bruce was struggling to cope with caring for Jan. He moved her to Homefield House nursing home in Hampshire.

I first met the Bovills there three years ago. Jan’s ravaged mental state – and Bruce’s unquestioning devotion – were obvious.

Seven of the home’s staff will be attending Jan’s funeral today.

Bruce said: “The NHS gets a lot of stick, and so do care homes. We were so incredibly lucky to get Jan into such a good home, and to have her care funded by the NHS.

“I’m eternally grateful for that, because it left me able to be my strongest for Jan, and to give the best of myself to her.”

Bruce said his wife of almost 42 years seemed “really calm” in her final days.

He said: “The doctor who certified her death actually wrote the cause as dementia. I was really pleased the doctor put that down.

“That doesn’t often happen. Usually they give the secondary cause – pneumonia or heart failure.”

In his study, Bruce showed me a 450-page computer document. It’s his catalogue of the decades of his wife’s deterioration. The title is “Notes from Hell”.

Bruce will help carry Jan’s casket into the funeral today, and he intends to speak words of tribute too.

He’s designed and printed the order of service, to make sure that every detail is exactly as they both would have wanted it.

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The press maintains its interest in Tony Blair’s memoirs, which were published on Wednesday.

The Independent calls them “the political memoirs of the decade”.

It says Mr Blair’s book is the fastest selling autobiography ever, shifting hundreds of thousands of copies in its first 24 hours.

The Guardian says Mr Blair shook the Labour Party by backing the coalition government’s economic strategy to cut the deficit and raise VAT.

The Daily Telegraph pictures Foreign Secretary William Hague with his now former aide Christopher Myers.

Mr Myers has resigned his position because of rumours about their relationship, dismissed by Mr Hague as “untrue and malicious”.

The Daily Mail says it is “startled” by the intimate details disclosed about the foreign secretary’s marriage.

It says his admission that they shared a room several times has led fellow Tories to question his judgement.

The Daily Express and Daily Star report that British special forces have been killing Taliban leaders in Afghanistan in droves in recent months.

Removing the enemy’s commanders is said to have brought about a dramatic fall in the number of British casualties.

The Star says at least 65 Taliban leaders and bomb-makers have been killed since spring.

Those already killed by special forces soldiers are on an overall hit list of 240 names, the paper says.

Under a headline: “God did not create Universe”, the Times says Professor Stephen Hawking has concluded modern physics leaves no place for a creator.

The Telegraph has the story of a pound shop in York which sells Polo mints produced in Indonesia, more than 7,000 miles away.

This is even though the mints are also made in a factory that is only one mile up the road.

The discount store says the arrangement offers better value for money.

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A senior Pakistani diplomat has called for an inquiry into allegations that rich landowners diverted water into unprotected villages during the floods to save their own crops.

UN ambassador Abdullah Hussain Haroon said there was evidence that landowners had allowed embankments to burst.

This led to waters flowing away from their land, he said.

More than 1,600 people have died in the floods, which have affected about 17 million people.

“Over the years, one has seen with the lack of floods, those areas normally set aside for floods have come under irrigation of the powerful and rich,” Mr Haroon told the BBC’s HardTalk programme.

“It is suggested in some areas, those to be protected were allowed, had allowed, levies to be burst on opposite sides to take the water away. If that is happening the government should be enquiring.”

At the height of the floods, it is estimated that one-fifth of the country – an area the size of Italy – was underwater.

The flood waters are beginning to drain away to the Arabian Sea but inundations continue in parts of Sindh province.

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Holloway Prison is “extremely difficult to run safely”, with about 60% of inmates feeling unsafe at some point, inspectors have said.

One inmate described the UK’s largest women’s jail in north London as “a very scary place for a first-time prisoner”.

Intimidation is rife and staff are hampered by the poor design of the prison.

There were also reports of inappropriate behaviour by male prison officers, the inspectors found.

The prison’s design, which was intended to produce an atmosphere more like a hospital than a prison, was recognised as a failure in the 1980s as its lack of traditional wings or landings, and a maze of corridors, means warders have difficulty monitoring inmates’.

Nigel Newcomen, deputy chief inspector of prisons, said: “Holloway remains an extremely difficult prison to run safely and effectively.”

Managers and staff were hampered by the “unsafe and unsatisfactory design of the prison” and “the lack of strategic direction and effective operational management within the women’s prison system in general”, he said.

“Unless both are confronted and dealt with, Holloway will continue to drain its managers and struggle to meet the needs of the women it holds.”

Inspectors found 57% of women said they had felt unsafe in the prison, with bullying consistently raised as a concern, limited intervention by staff, and inmates having little confidence that these issues would be dealt with effectively if reported.

Some inmates “reported unwanted attention from male staff”, including concerns about “male night staff observing them through hatches”, the inspectors said.

Michael Spurr, Chief Executive Officer of the National Offender Management Service (Noms), said: “Holloway presents a challenging physical environment, but staff work extremely hard to provide as extensive a regime as possible.”

A total of 220 recommendations for improvement were made after the full unannounced inspection of the prison, which holds about 450 women, in April.

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