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Libya aid ship comes under fire

Migrants in Misrata

The BBC’s Rupert Wingfield-Hayes on the latest evacuation of residents from Mistrata

An international aid ship helping to evacuate people from the besieged Libyan port of Misrata has come under rocket attack from government forces.

Witnesses said at least five people died and there was widespread panic among those trying to board the ferry, the Red Star One.

Amid the chaos about 200 people were left behind when the ship sailed for Benghazi, rebel sources said.

The forces of Col Gaddafi have been pounding Misrata for several weeks.

In that time the port has become a lifeline, allowing in vital supplies and evacuating wounded people and migrant workers fleeing the fighting.

The Red Star One, chartered by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), had to wait offshore for several days because of the continuing fighting.

It arrived in Misrata on Wednesday carrying 180 tonnes of supplies.

IOM official Othman Belbeisi said rockets started falling just minutes after he and others disembarked.

“The whole place was shaking and people started running in different directions,” he said.

Witnesses said that, when panicking evacuees threatened to swamp the ship, the captain raised the gangplank and pulled away from the dock, separating some families.

But the ship briefly returned a few minutes later when a wounded patient’s condition worsened. There were further chaotic scenes before the ship finally left for Benghazi.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo

ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo: “The victims who were shot were unarmed civilians”

Gemal Salem, a rebel spokesman, told Reuters: “The bombing has caused so many casualties among Libyans and people of other nationalities waiting for evacuation. So far we have five killed and ambulances are rushing to the scene.”

Another rebel spokesman, named as Abdelsalem, said the five killed were African migrant workers, but this was not independently confirmed.

Nato, which is enforcing a UN mandate to protect civilians in Libya, recently prevented pro-Gaddafi forces from sowing sea mines outside the harbour.

On Tuesday, a senior Libyan official warned that the army would do everything it could to block sea access to Misrata.

Misrata is the rebel’s main stronghold in the west of the country, which remains largely under Col Gaddafi’s control.

Earlier on Wednesday, International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said he was seeking three arrest warrants in his investigation into crimes against humanity in Libya.

He did not give any names but told the UN Security Council that crimes were continuing.

In his report to the UN Security Council, Mr Moreno-Ocampo said that between 500 and 700 people were believed to have been killed in Libya in February alone.

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

Hague warning on al-Qaeda threat

William Hague

Foreign Secretary William Hague: “Death of Bin Laden a devastating but not terminal blow to al-Qaeda”

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The death of Osama Bin Laden is “a devastating blow” to al-Qaeda but its terrorist threat remains, Foreign Secretary William Hague has said.

While the al-Qaeda’s leader’s killing was a major boost, it may not be “terminal” for the group, he warned.

In a speech in London, he also said the international community must do all it could to help pro-democracy movements survive in the Middle East.

He warned Libya and Syria that opposing change was “doomed to failure”.

Mr Hague was speaking after US President Barack Obama stated that images of Osama Bin Laden, killed by US special forces during a raid on his compound in Pakistan, will not be released.

He said “graphic” photos taken of Osama Bin Laden shortly after his death could be used as a “propaganda tool” to incite violence and threaten US national security.

In a keynote foreign policy speech, Mr Hague said the killing was a “devastating but not terminal blow” to al-Qaeda and he urged the international community not to let up in its fight against terrorism.

“We will need to continue to fight against terrorism, wherever it rears its head, with renewed determination,” he said.

Now “was the time” for the Taliban to “break with” al-Qaeda and engage in a political dialogue in Afghanistan, he added.

“The true expression of what the people of the Muslim world want was seen in Tahrir Square in 2011, not at Ground Zero in 2001”

William Hague

In the long run, he said, it would be the Muslim people of the world who would “inflict the greatest defeat” on the ideology of Islamist extremism.

“Some wrongly thought that 9/11 was the expression of Muslim grievances. It was not,” he said. “The true expression of what the people of the Muslim world want was seen in Tahrir Square in 2011, not at Ground Zero in 2001.”

Addressing the situation in North Africa and the Middle East, Mr Hague called on the international community to do more to help ensure the wave of the pro-democracy uprisings there are sustained and have a lasting legacy.

Urging the EU to offer “the hand of friendship” – and economic support – to countries embracing political reforms, he warned greater engagement could help prevent a “collapse back into more authoritarian regimes, conflict and increased terrorism”.

And he suggested the Libyan and Syria authorities that governments which seek to repress the “legitimate grievances” of their people could not ultimately survive.

“Governments that set their face against reform altogether, as Libya has done and Syria is beginning to do, are doomed to failure,” he added.

“Simply refusing to address legitimate grievances or attempting to stamp them out will fail. The idea of freedom cannot be confined behind bars, however strong the lock.”

Earlier Prime Minister David Cameron said he believed Osama Bin Laden’s death would give added momentum to global efforts to fight terrorism and build a lasting peace in the Middle East.

“With the end of Bin Laden, with the Arab Spring, with all that is happening in the world, we think this is a moment of opportunity to continue the work, to defeat terrorism in our world, to continue the expansion of democracy, civil rights and freedom across the Middle East and North Africa,” he said ahead of talks with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in London.

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

VIDEO: Russian plane in test-flight probe

Russian aviation authorities have launched an investigation after amateur footage circulated showing a Tupolev aircraft belonging to the military veering through the sky near Moscow on a test flight.

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Dunkin’ Donuts plans share sale

Dunkin' Donuts coffeeDunkin’ Brands has more than 16,000 outlets worldwide

Dunkin’ Brands Group, owner of Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin Robbins ice cream, is to sell shares on Nasdaq to raise up to $400m (£240m).

But the regulatory filing did not say how many shares it would offer or how much they would cost.

Dunkin’ Brands was part of Allied Domecq until 2005, when the parent company was taken over by Pernod Ricard.

Pernod sold Dunkin’ Brands to a group of private equity firms for $2.4bn.

The owners include Bain Capital, Carlyle Group and Thomas H. Lee Partners.

Dunkin’ Brands has more than 16,000 outlets in 57 countries.

The company said it sees a “significant opportunity” to expand further into foreign markets and parts of the US outside the north-east where it is currently concentrated.

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

Met boss’s bin Laden death fears

Osama bin LadenSir Paul warned that bin Laden’s death would not spell the end of radical Islamist terrorism
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London’s top police officer has warned there can be “no let up” in the fight against terrorism after the death of Osama bin Laden.

The al-Qaeda founder was killed by US special forces in a raid on Monday, with his body buried at sea.

But, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson said in a speech in London that his death did not mark the end of an ideology.

“An attack is highly likely and could occur without warning,” Sir Paul said.

Delivering the John Creaney memorial lecture at the Policy Exchange think-tank, in London, he warned people must remain alert to the threat from al-Qaeda.

“As government, the police and the security service assess the impact and consequences of the death of Osama bin Laden, it is clear that there can be no let up in our vigilance,” he continued.

“One man’s death does not mark the end of an ideology and we must remain alert to the continuing threat from al Qaeda, its affiliates and those acting alone.

“The police and security services will continue to work locally, nationally and with our international partners to do everything possible to counter the terrorist threat.

“But we cannot do this alone, we need the help of the public to protect the country from the threat of terrorism.”

The commissioner also expressed concerns about plans to move key anti-terrorist functions into the proposed new National Crime Agency.

He said there were “potential resourcing tensions” of linking counter-terrorism with organised crime.

Sir Paul added that discussions about institutional change must not lead to “unnecessary distractions” in the preparations for policing the Olympics.

The London 2012 Games are widely viewed as a potential terrorist target.

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

Turner Prize hopefuls announced

Karla Black and her 2010 piece, Not a Person in the World

Karla Black is one of the four artists up for the £25,000 prize

In pictures: Turner Prize shortlist

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An artist who uses make-up and soil to create sculptures is one of four up for this year’s prestigious Turner Prize.

Glasgow-based Karla Black’s unorthodox materials include lipstick, Vaseline, nail varnish and eye shadow.

Martin Boyce, whose installations are inspired by concrete trees, is also shortlisted, as is George Shaw, who only uses enamel paint in his work.

Hilary Lloyd, who portrays construction sites using video screens, is the final contender for the £25,000 prize.

Artworks by each artist will be exhibited in Gateshead from October, with the winner to be announced on 5 December.

The runners-up will receive £5,000 at the ceremony, to take place – like the exhibition – at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art.

Set up in 1984, the award is given to a British artist under 50 for “an outstanding exhibition or other presentation of their work in the 12 months preceding”.

Previous Turner winners include Grayson Perry, Damien Hirst, Anish Kapoor and Rachel Whiteread.

Black, 38, has been shortlisted for work shown at Berlin’s Galerie Capitain Petzel, while Boyce – also a Scot – has been singled out for his solo exhibition at the Garleie Eva Presenhuber in Zurich.

Shaw’s paintings, which depict the Coventry area he grew up in, were displayed at the Baltic, while Lloyd earned her nomination with a solo show at London’s Raven Row gallery.

Last year’s prize went to sound artist Susan Philipsz, for an installation that featured her singing three versions of a Scottish lament.

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

Age can predict heart problems

A daily pill containerThe study says preventive treatments like cholesterol and blood pressure lowering drugs could be given to all people over 55
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A person’s age can be used as effectively as medical tests to predict the risk of heart disease or stroke, according to a new study.

The report says offering treatment to all those over 55 would achieve the same results as screening through tests like blood pressure or cholesterol.

The authors, from Barts and the London Medical School, said it could save over 100,000 lives in England and Wales.

They said it would also be a simpler and more cost effective system.

The authors, writing in the open access journal PLoS ONE, said age was by far the biggest factor in assessing someone’s risk of cardiovascular disease such as heart attack or stroke.

They compared the effects of two screening programmes on a theoretical population of 500,000 people.

The first approach used screening just by age, where, at the age of 55, people would be offered preventive treatment, regardless of whether they were at risk.

“The policy of selecting people above a certain age is, in effect, selecting people at high risk. It recognises that age is by far the most important determinant of that risk with other factors adding little extra prognostic information”

Professor Sir Nicholas Wald Director of the Wolfson Institute

The second approach used existing screening methods, based on age and sex, and whether someone was a smoker or has high blood pressure or cholesterol.

They found that both approaches had an 84% detection rate, but that offering everyone preventive treatment at 55 would be more cost effective.

The two methods also had a broadly similar false-positive rate – in other words, using age alone would diagnose 24% of people as being at risk, when in fact they would not go on to develop heart problems.

Existing methods of screening identified 21% of false-positives.

Professor Sir Nicholas Wald is the lead author of the report and Director of the Wolfson Institute at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry.

He said: “This study shows that age screening for future cardiovascular disease is simpler than current assessments, with a similar screening performance and cost effectiveness. It also avoids the need for blood tests and medical examinations.

“With age screening, all individuals above a specified age would be offered preventive treatment. Everyone would benefit because, for blood pressure and cholesterol, the lower the better.

“The policy of selecting people above a certain age is, in effect, selecting people at high risk. It recognises that age is by far the most important determinant of that risk with other factors adding little extra prognostic information.

“Prevention is better than measurement. Identifying people at high risk of cardiovascular disease needs to be greatly simplified, enabling people to obtain easy access to preventive treatment from nurses and pharmacists as well as from doctors.”

But the British Heart Foundation said other risk factors in addition to age needed to be taken into account when it came to assessing the future risk of heart and circulatory problems.

Natasha Stewart, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said the research showed similar results to other more detailed risk assessments in an older population.

“But vitally it would miss younger people in higher risk groups such as those with a family history of heart disease, people of South Asian origin and people with diabetes.

“Because this model is cheaper it may be useful for a widespread screening programme. But it’s essential that we continue full risk assessments for younger people who may be at significant risk of getting heart and circulatory disease.

“Recognising and treating other risk factors such as high cholesterol and high blood pressure in people aged 40 to 55 could prevent them from developing heart and circulatory disease in the first place, which is the best outcome for them and makes economic sense for the NHS too.”

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

Jack the three-legged sheepdog wins top award

Ellis Rees, 10, with Jack, his three-legged sheepdog Jack the three-legged sheepdog works on the farm owned by the Rees family

A sheepdog who is still working despite losing a leg has rounded up an award as farm dog of the year.

Jack lost his rear right leg in an accident last year but still pulls his weight on Ian and Ruth Rees’s Powys farm.

They entered him in the canine competition run by the National Farmers Union (NFU).

NFU Cymru president Ed Bailey said the judges were impressed by Jack’s tenacity and battle against adversity.

The Rees family sent in a photo of Jack and explained in 150 words why Jack should be named top dog in the competition.

They told how Jack has suffered a serious leg injury last year resulting in the amputation but had recovered well enough to carry on working.

Mr Bailey said: “The competition was open to all shapes, sizes and breeds of dog and we were absolutely inundated with entries.

“They included runner-up Kim the collie from Essex and Reg who, at 22 years old, is something of a legend in the village near Exeter where he still works.

“But it was Jack who overwhelmingly won over the panel of judges.

“This is a dog who has certainly seen his fair share of adversity following his accident last year but who has bounced back to his hard-working, irreplaceable best.”

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

US woman refuses Iran spy trial

Sarah ShourdSarah Shourd was released from Iran after months of pressure by the US
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US woman Sarah Shourd, who was released by Iran after being detained with two fellow US hikers in 2009, has said she will not return there to stand trial.

Ms Shourd was to stand trial next week for espionage alongside her friends, who are still being held in Iran.

She told AP news agency she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and returning would be “far too traumatic”.

She and the other hikers have said they unknowingly crossed into the country while hiking in July 2009.

Ms Shourd was released on bail in September 2010 and returned to the US. Her fiance Shane Bauer and their friend Josh Fattal remain in prison in Tehran.

“There is a part of me that would like to go back and stand by Shane and Josh at this most difficult time,” she told another news agency, AFP.

“But really I’m afraid it would be too traumatic for me to go back after what I’ve been through in Iran,” she added.

Ms Shourd, who was released after months of pressure by the US, has said the trio were hiking in Iraqi Kurdistan and did not intentionally stray over the border with Iran, where they were arrested by soldiers.

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

Youths arrested over forest fire

Swinley Forest

Anthony Cornfield filmed one of the fires in Swinley Forest

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Two youths have been arrested on suspicion of arson after fires broke out in woodland in Berkshire.

Flames have swept through an area of about 300 hectares of Swinley Forest, near Ascot, since Monday.

About 100 firefighters tackled a series of fires for the third day as it continued to burn close to the Devil’s Highway near Bracknell.

Thames Valley Police have not released any further information about the arrested pair.

Their arrests came after firefighters said they saw a group of teenagers running away after setting fire to woodland on Tuesday evening.

The A3095 Crowthorne Road is closed in both directions because of the fire, which has also affected the B3430 Nine Mile Ride between Crowthorne and the Coral Reef roundabout.

At the scene

Walking along the Devil’s Highway in Bracknell’s Swinley Forest, the air is thick with smoke and lined with firefighters and engines.

The road is just 500ft away from the Berkshire forest fire which has been burning since Monday.

The dry peat floor of the forest burns underground, while the sun and strong winds whip up flames which can spread through the forest canopy.

Nicole Targett, from Berkshire Fire and Rescue, tells me they are “fighting nature”.

“The slightest wind or spark is enough to send the fire racing through the canopy,” she explains.

Nearby, next to Bracknell Road, the woods are filled with black leafless trees.

In pictures: Swinley Forest fire

It is not known how the earlier fires started and people have been warned to take care when discarding cigarettes.

Nicole Targett, spokeswoman for Berkshire Fire and Rescue, said despite urging people to avoid the area, firefighters had surprised walkers in the forest close to the fire.

She said: “We can’t keep them out. We can only warn them of the dangers.”

Calm winds overnight stopped the fire from spreading, which allowed crews time to dampen down.

High-security Broadmoor Hospital is on the edge of the forest.

Station manager Paul Jones said: “We have to make sure that we don’t push the fire in one direction where we could push it on to one of the houses, or the pub or the hospital or the main roads.

Swinley Forest fireConservationists said they were concerned about the impact of the fire on wildlife and plants

“The problem we have (is) there is still a lot of undergrowth which is still burning and there is still a lot which hasn’t been burnt, so even if we don’t extinguish it today, over the coming weeks and months if it carries on like this then we could find ourselves being called back.”

Some nearby homes, which are made from wood, were evacuated as it was feared they could be caught up in the fire but residents have been allowed back to collect belongings.

Schools in nearby Bracknell and Crowthorne were closed on Tuesday but have since reopened.

Conservationists said they were concerned about the impact of the fire on wildlife and plants.

The 2,600-acre (1,052-hectare) forest contains conifer pine trees that are managed as timber crop and the woodland is also part of a Special Protection Area (SPA) for three rare birds – Dartford warblers, woodlarks and nightjars.

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Probe confirms Einstein effects

Gravity Probe BGravity Probe B was launched in 2004
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Nasa’s Gravity Probe B has produced remarkable new confirmation of some key predictions of Albert Einstein.

The satellite’s observations show the massive body of the Earth is very subtly warping space and time, and even dragging it around with it.

Scientists were able to see these effects by studying the behaviour of four perfectly engineered spinning balls carried inside the probe.

The results are published online in the journal Physical Review Letters.

“We’ve completed this landmark experiment, testing Einstein’s Universe – and Einstein survives,” said Francis Everitt, the mission’s principal investigator at Stanford University.

Gravity Probe B was launched in 2004, but it has taken seven years for researchers to assess the data and to be sure of their observations.

Part of their difficulty has been in showing that some fantastically small deviations are real and not biases introduced by flaws in the experimental set-up.

Gravity Probe B was looking to confirm two important consequences stemming from Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity that describe the way space and time are distorted by the presence of huge objects such as planets and stars.

One, known as the geodetic effect, is the amount by which the Earth will warp the local space-time in which it resides.

The other, which physicists refer to as frame-dragging, is the phenomenon that sees the Earth drag local space-time around with it as it rotates.

Gravity Probe B sought to observe both these effects by measuring tiny drifts in the spin axes of four gyroscopes relative to the position of a star called IM Pegasi (HR 8703).

To ensure accuracy, the balls had to be chilled to near absolute zero and flown inside a vacuum flask to isolate them from any disturbance.

BallsThe quartz gyros (left) were coated with niobium (right). They were described as the most perfect spheres ever engineered

Over the course of a year, the anticipated drift in the spin axes of the balls due to the geodetic effect was expected to reveal itself on the scale of a few thousand milliarcseconds. The frame-dragging effect was predicted to be even smaller.

“A milliarcsecond is the width of human hair seen at a distance of 10 miles. It really is a rather small angle, and this is the accuracy Gravity Probe B had to achieve,” explained Professor Everitt.

“For the geodetic effect, the predicted relativity effect is 6,606.1 of these milliarcseconds, and the measured result is a little over a quarter of a percent of that. The frame-dragging we’ve measured to a little better than 20%.”

The idea of the mission was first proposed in 1959, but the project had to wait until the technologies to carry it through could be invented.

“GP-B, while conceptually simple, is technologically an extremely complex experiment,” said Rex Geveden, the president of Teledyne Brown Engineering from Huntsville, Alabama.

“The idea came about three to four decades before the technology was available to test it. Thirteen novel technologies were created for GP-B. The quartz balls were thought to be the roundest objects ever manufactured. The diametric variation across the spheres is about two-tenths of a millionth of an inch.”

Some 100 students achieved their PhDs by working on some aspect of the mission during the many years it took to develop, build and then fly the probe. Most of these PhDs were earned at Stanford, and at the universities in Huntsville; and in Aberdeen, UK.

More than 350 undergraduate students also worked on GP-B including one who later became the first female American astronaut in space, Sally Ride. Another was Eric Cornell, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2001.

Infographic, BBC

1. The spin axes of the gyroscopes were initially aligned with a guide star. The gyroscopes were then monitored for changes in their angle of spin caused by general relativity effects2. The disturbance due to frame-dragging was expected to cause the spin axes of the super-smooth gyroscopic spheres to change by an angle of just 0.041 arcseconds per year3. For the geodetic effect, the spacecraft expected to see a bigger signal – for the gyroscopes’ spin axes to change by an angle of 6.6 arcseconds over a year of observations4. Gravity Probe B’s gyroscopes were held inside a vacuum container5. The US space agency (Nasa) satellite was launched on 20 April, 2004

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