Category: news

Households in the UK may be facing the biggest drop in income for 30 years, a leading economic think tank has warned.

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A petrol bomb attack during a staff meeting at a bank in north-western China has caused “significant deaths and injuries”, state media reports.

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The Metropolitan Police are to “bring their expertise” to the search for Madeleine McCann, the Home Office says.

Madeleine went missing aged three on holiday in Portugal in May 2007.

Downing Street said David Cameron had written to the McCanns to tell them that Scotland Yard had been asked to “cast a fresh eye” over evidence.

Kate and Gerry McCann, of Rothley, Leicestershire, said they welcomed the news, which came after they asked Mr Cameron to launch a review of the case.

In a statement they said: “We welcome the government’s response. This is clearly a step in the right direction.

“The expertise of the Metropolitan Police is renowned and we are reassured by our government’s commitment to the search for Madeleine.”

The official Portuguese inquiry into Madeleine’s disappearance ended in July 2008 although private detectives hired by the McCanns have continued the search.

A Home Office spokesman said the government hoped the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) would be able to “bring a new perspective” to the case, adding that the Home Office would be providing “the necessary financial support”.

He went on to say that the government’s primary concern had always been the safe return of Madeleine.

“Although she disappeared in Portugal, and the Portuguese retain the lead responsibility in the case, law enforcement agencies here have continued to follow up leads and pass information to the Portuguese authorities as appropriate.

“The prime minister and the home secretary have today agreed with (Met Police commissioner) Sir Paul Stephenson that the Metropolitan Police will bring its particular expertise to this case.

“Clearly, the detail of what that will entail will be a matter of operational judgement and it would not be appropriate to discuss at this stage,” he said.

Earlier, in open letter published by the Sun, Madeleine McCann’s parents asked Mr Cameron to launch an “independent, transparent and comprehensive” review of all information relating to the disappearance of their daughter.

And speaking at the launch of Mrs McCann’s new book about their ordeal, they called on the PM to offer Portuguese caretaker prime minister Jose Socrates the services of the Metropolitan Police to review the investigation looking for unpursued lines of inquiry.

The McCanns also urged Mr Cameron to call his Portuguese counterpart to discuss launching a formal review of the police investigation.

The couple hope that Mrs McCann’s book, call Madeleine, will revive public support and boost their fund for private detectives to search for their daughter.

Apart from raising funds, Mrs McCann said she also wrote the book to provide a truthful account of events for their twins, who are now six.

Mr McCann, 42, disclosed his frustration at the lack of progress since he and his wife first asked for a full cold case review in 2009.

“We really have come to the end of our tether. We want to see action from the government, not rhetoric,” he said.

“When you’re in a position such as the prime minister, you have a responsibility. If you’re not willing to work for a child, you have to ask, ‘Who are you working for?'”

Former home secretary Alan Johnson commissioned a scoping exercise by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (Ceop) centre to look at the feasibility of carrying out a review of the case.

This was completed in March 2010, but Mr McCann said Mrs May refused to let him and his wife see it because it was “sensitive”.

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Japan’s government decides to help Tokyo Electric (Tepco) compensate victims of the disaster at the power company’s nuclear plant.

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The number of UK adults engaged in learning has fallen, a survey by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education suggests.

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By Pallab Ghosh

Deep funding cuts could put the UK’s prominence in astronomy and particle physics at risk, MPs have said.

The Science and Technology Committee says astronomy funding will fall by 20% over four years – the science budget’s average real-terms cut was 14.5%.

The MPs say some of the resulting cuts are likely to deter leading scientists from working in the UK.

The government says it has protected the science budget but cannot make individual funding decisions.

Committee chairman Labour MP Andrew Miller said: “If you don’t invest in big science at the level it needs, it’s going to have a big impact on our competitiveness and pre-eminence in areas that are important to the country.”

The UK has already had to withdraw from involvement in projects using ground-based telescopes in the Northern Hemisphere.

Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, who is president of the Institute of Physics, gave evidence to the MPs that these projects could be reinstated for a relatively small amount of money.

“It only takes £2-3m to keep several Northern Hemisphere telescopes operating,” she told BBC News. “The amount seems to me remarkably little and I observed when we met with the select committee that it would be no more than a banker’s bonus.”

The president of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), Professor Roger Davies, fears that this single decision may drive away many of the country’s best astronomers.

“The UK recruits in the global marketplace and there’s a great deal of competition for the posts we do have available. If people are no longer able to have access to global facilities then they will think twice about moving here.”

The body that funds astronomy and particle physics, the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) told the select committee that withdrawal from telescopes in the Northern Hemisphere was necessary to pay to have access to observatories in the Southern Hemisphere.

‘Wholesale’ cuts

Professor Davies acknowledges that there were plans to reduce the stake in some Northern Hemisphere observatories “but it’s not at all true to say that they would amount to the wholesale cuts we are seeing now”.

The science budget as a whole received a more generous settlement in last year’s spending review than many had expected. There were fears of cutbacks of between 20% and 30%.

Instead it received a freeze in funding and an assurance that it would be ring-fenced for four years, amounting to a real terms cut of 14.5% over that period.

The cut to particle physics and astronomy research is much worse, partly because because STFC inherited debts of £75m when it was created in 2007. The funding body said in a statement that it shared the committee’s belief that physics research should remain world class.

“Particle and nuclear physics and astronomy, with space science and the other disciplines we support, play a crucial role in inspiring younger people to become involved in science, technology, engineering and mathematics,” the statement said.

A spokesman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Bis), which ultimately funds the research, said: “Despite enormous pressure on public spending, the £4.6bn per annum funding for science and research programmes has been protected in cash terms and ring fenced against future pressures during the spending review period.

“The Haldane principle dictates that the government cannot intervene in individual funding decisions.”

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The deputy governor of a prison in Durango, in northern Mexico is found decapitated along with seven other headless bodies, three days after being abducted.

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Three virtuoso violinists were feted at this year’s Classic Brit Awards, held at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

Britain’s Tasmin Little received the Critics’ Award for her acclaimed album Elgar: Violin Concerto, while Norway’s Vilde Frang took home a newcomer prize.

Dutch violinist Andre Rieu, meanwhile, won the coveted album of the year award for Moonlight Serenade, recorded with the Johann Strauss Orchestra.

Elsewhere the British conductor Antonio Pappano was named best male artist.

Pappano, music director of the Royal Opera House, had also been shortlisted for the Critics’ Award, which he received at last year’s ceremony.

Estonia’s Arvo Part was named composer of the year at Thursday’s event, hosted by Myleene Klass, while Il Divo were crowned artists of the decade.

Mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins, German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and trumpeter Alison Balsom – recipient of the best female artist prize – were among the performers.

Late composer John Barry, best known for his contributions to the James Bond films, was honoured posthumously with an outstanding contribution to music award.

Lyricist Don Black collected the prize, which came ahead of a grand finale celebrating some of Barry’s finest scores.

This part of the show saw Dame Shirley Bassey take to the stage to perform Bond theme Goldfinger with the London Chamber Orchestra.

The event, to be televised on ITV1 on 29 May, also featured a performance from tenor Alfie Boe with the cast of Les Miserables.

Presenters included Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys, broadcaster Angela Rippon and cellist Julian Lloyd Webber.

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Kate Bush has gone on tour only once in her long career – in 1979. As she releases an album of re-worked songs, meet the acts who are keeping her music in the spotlight.

Bush was just 20 when she completed The Tour Of Life after topping the charts with Wuthering Heights the previous year. In a recent interview, the 52-year-old singer hinted that she might like to perform live again.

But for now it is a handful of dedicated singers and musicians who are performing her songs live on stage.

FAKE BUSH

Lucy Bundy is at pains to point out that her one-woman show is not a tribute act.

“It is an affectionate comic salute, much of the show is tongue-in-cheek but nothing is disrespectful because I am a huge Kate fan.”

Her act came about “as a result of a drunk experiment with a karaoke machine” in Bradford back in 2000.

Bundy’s rendition of Wuthering Heights led to victory in a sound-alike competition and a tour on the northern working men’s clubs circuit.

“I perform in other acts that are comic by nature, so there’s a good level of louche banter,” the Brighton-based performer explains.

“It’s very intimate and the audience is invited in to join me as I reflect on what bits of the song might mean.”

Audiences are promised “sparkly leg warmers, lashings of eye-liner, ballet shapes, catsuits and tutus, and startling falsetto…”

Like the real Kate Bush, Bundy is now reworking the songs in her repertoire to satisfy her “little cult following”.

Recent shows have included Fake Bush Unplugged – with a jazz pianist – and Fake Bush goes to Bollywood.

“It was Wuthering Heights with sitars!” says Bundy.

So what is it that she loves about Kate Bush?

“She writes from the heart, she writes with a simplicity and bravery.

“People say how funny there’s a song about a washing machine [Mrs Bartolozzi – from the album Aerial] but it’s so moving, what she she writes is profoundly beautiful and completely original.”

As well as her various stage personae, Bundy is an arts therapist and runs a business making made-to-measure dog coats.

Would Fake Kate ever want to meet the real Kate?

“I’d love to see her live,” says Bundy. “It would be very nice to talk to her, I suppose I’d be a bit nervous that she’d think I was some stalker.”

Fake Bush performs as part of the Brighton Festival Fringe at The Brunswick on 15 May.

HOUNDS OF LOVE

Named after Kate Bush’s acclaimed fifth album, the Hounds of Love were formed about three years ago by Richard Ames, the original tour manager of Kate Bush’s Tour of Life in 1979.

“I set it up because of the amazing amount of great music that has been produced by Kate that people have never been able to experience live,” Ames tells the BBC.

“Having been a tour manager all my life, I love live music and it was a project that got under my skin. I noticed there really wasn’t anything similar out there – no-one had been mad enough to try it.”

The Hounds are a six-piece band fronted by Rhiannon Bradbury, who took over vocal duties in 2010 from previous singer Josie Mills. The band members live around the country but rehearsals take place in London – at the appropriately-named Bush Studios in Shepherd’s Bush.

The focus is on musicianship, says Ames.

“We’ve gone down the musical route – the girls haven’t tried to copy Kate’s voice but they can hit those high notes. It’s a musical performance, an interpretation of what is highly-worked studio music.”

The Hounds’ set includes songs from Bush’s whole career. “Even obtuse ones like Mrs Bartolozzi which keeps the audience fairly quiet for a while.” The band even has its own musical director.

“It’s fairly complex music,” explains Ames. “So for musicians it’s a joy to get involved, it isn’t three-chords Status Quo.”

How much call is there for a Kate Bush band?

“We’ve done about 30 gigs, but it’s hard getting shows where the players can walk away with a few quid in their pockets. The audience is mainly hardcore Kate Bush fans from the 70s and early 80s – and their kids!”

Ames points out that Kate Bush has kept her fanbase over two generations.

“Time and time again you hear young female artists naming her as an influence. Kate was one of the first female artists to be more than just a singer. She was a performer, a dancer.

“On the Tour of Life in 1979 Kate was the first singer to use a headset microphone. She was way ahead of her time. Nowadays they are all doing it.”

NEVER FOR EVER

“People call me Kate occasionally which is quite strange,” says Penny Murison – singer with the Chesire-based Never For Ever.

The four-piece band has been gigging for about two years, starting off on pub stages with a recent move towards bigger auditoriums.

“It’s a very theatrical show,” says Murison, a trained dancer. “I’ve taken a lot of movement from the videos, and some from The Tour of Life. I love waving the sword around during Babooshka.”

She names The Red Shoes as another highlight: “Because I’ve done dance training I can dance en pointe in a pair of red ballet shoes when I’m singing. That one always goes down well, but it leaves me out of breath so we have to do it just before the interval!”

The singer, who lives in Northwich, cites The Hounds of Love as the first Kate Bush album she remembers. “My sister owned it and I used to listen through the wall. It had quite impact on me.”

The Never For Ever set includes songs from the album’s conceptual latter half – The Ninth Wave – including Under Ice and Hello Earth.

It’s that kind of originality, says Murison, that makes Kate Bush such an interesting and challenging musical project.

“The vocal range is enormous,” she says, “Hammer Horror goes right up to a B flat which would be high for an opera singer. It’s nice to have something to to get your teeth into.”

She adds: “One of the hardest things was trying to get the voice right so it didn’t sound comic, especially on Wuthering Heights where the voice is really quite squeaky. It’s very easy to go over the top.”

The band plays about one gig a month, with an appearance at East Yorkshire’s Tribfest lined up for August.

“It’s not your run-of the mill tribute,” says Murison. “It’s the nearest you can get to seeing Kate Bush live.

“I was worried that people would say, ‘How dare you do do this?’ but most fans appreciate it for what it is – a live performance in the way that Kate, hopefully, intended the songs to be performed. It is a fantastic feeling.”

Kate Bush’s Directors Cut is out on Monday.

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Egypt’s authorities order a 15-day detention of ousted President Hosni Mubarak on charges of profiteering, media reports say.

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How 3D glasses helped defeat Adolf Hitler

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The grandchildren of the founder of the French car company Renault are seeking compensation for the nationalisation of the firm after the war.

The French state took the company in 1945 after the death of Louis Renault, who had been jailed without trial for alleged collaboration with the Nazis.

Renault’s ancestors previously tried to obtain redress in 1959.

The French government still owns a 15% stake in the company, which Renault founded with his brothers in 1898.

During the Nazi occupation the firm was placed under German control and used to make equipment for German forces.

Seven of Renault’s grandchildren argue that he was never brought to trial over the allegations and say there has been no other case of a firm being nationalised without a ruling or compensation.

Their lawyer, Thierry Levy, told Reuters news agency: “No other company was subject to such treatment, not even companies’ whose executives were found guilty in court of collaborating” with the enemy.

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