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Libya rebels to export first oil

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The first shipment of oil from Libya for almost three weeks is due to be exported from the country later.

Libya’s opposition groups are said to be making plans to load a tanker due to dock at a terminal near Tobruk.

Lloyd’s List, the shipping news and data provider, said that some 1 million barrels of oil are expected to be loaded and sent, possibly, to Qatar.

Libya is Africa’s third largest oil producer, but exports have dried up since the anti-Gaddafi uprising.

Lloyd’s markets editor, Michelle Wiese Bockmann, said the tanker was due to dock at the Marsa el-Hariga export terminal, in the rebel-held east of the country.

Libya had been exporting 1.6m barrels a day, so one shipment remains a fraction of the country’s potential.

But she told the BBC: “The significance is not only that this is the first shipment in 18 days, but it is also a signal that Libya is open to international trade and shipping. It will send a message to other tanker owners.”

Ms Bockmann believed that the destination for the high quality crude, worth about $100m at today’s prices, was Qatar.

She said oil would then most likely be marketed to countries such as Italy, which has been an important buyer of Libya’s output.

There were unconfirmed reports that the tanker en route to Libya was the Liberia-flagged Equator vessel, owned by Greece-based Dynacom Management.

On Monday, European Union officials clarified legal advice on sanctions, saying that the oil exports were allowed as long as revenues did not find their way to the Gaddafi regime or state oil company.

The collapse of exports from Libya has helped to drive up oil prices, which on Monday hit a two-and-a-half year high.

Brent crude rose $2.36 to $121.06, after earlier reaching $121.29. US light, sweet crude rose 53 cents $108.47, the highest close since September 2008.

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

Remains confirm suspicious death

Det Insp Phil Gachagan, of Lothian and Borders Police

Det Insp Phil Gachagan at the scene where the human remains were found

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The discovery of human remains in West Lothian is being treated as a suspicious death, police confirm.

Lothian and Borders Police officers found the remains at an embankment by the River Almond, in the Craigshill area of Livingston, on Monday.

They were looking for Mary Ferns, 88, also known as May, who has been missing for almost three years.

Mrs Ferns was last seen leaving her home in the Howden area of Livingston at about 0930 BST on 17 June 2008.

A police cordon is in place while inquiries are carried out.

Police had searched the River Almond when Mrs Ferns first disappeared but recent new leads caused them to search the specific embankment area where the human remains were found.

Det Insp Phil Gachagan, of Lothian and Borders Police, said: “The circumstances of the find and the inaccessibility of the area where the remains have been found make it a suspicious death.

“It is too early to identify who this is but our inquiries are ongoing and we found the remains as a result of new information we received in relation to Mrs Mary Ferns.”

Police were searching for Mary Ferns when they found the human remains

Mrs Ferns, who was deaf and partially blind, had told her husband Bill, who was her second husband of 16 years, that she was just popping out to buy some socks.

He thought she had had gone to shops in Livingston, but CCTV cameras in Edinburgh later showed her walking along Princes Street with her distinctive floral walking stick.

She was last seen wearing a brown three-quarter-length jacket, brown skirt, brown shoes and was carrying a brown handbag.

Police divers searched the Almond River in the months after she was reported missing, which drew a blank.

In March 2009 a fresh appeal for information about the missing pensioner was featured on BBC1’s “Missing Live”.

In July last year her step-daughter, Anne Foster, 46, made an appeal for help in finding Mrs Ferns.

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

Letwin in ‘Sheffield insult’ row

Millionaire cabinet officer Oliver Letwin has not made an apology over the alleged comments

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Cabinet officer minister Oliver Letwin has become embroiled in a row over alleged comments he made about not wanting Sheffield families to afford cheap holidays.

Mr Letwin made the alleged comments privately to Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has warned Mr Letwin to “tread with care” if he visits Sheffield.

Mr Letwin has neither denied, confirmed or apologised for the alleged comments.

Sheffield Hallam MP, Mr Clegg told Sky News Mr Letwin had “become the most controversial politician in Sheffield”.

Mr Clegg said: “I suggest to him that he probably wants to tread with care when he comes to visit a city that I love.”

However, Mr Letwin said: “I do not ever comment on things that are alleged to have been said in private conversations but I would never knowingly ever say anything offensive to anybody.”

He added that he was “passionately behind” social mobility and “devoted to people being able to make the most of their own lives.”

“If the reports are accurate then Mr Letwin should apologise and take up my invitation to come up to Sheffield”

Paul Scriven Leader, Sheffield City Council

In a letter to Mr Letwin, Denis MacShane, the Labour MP for Rotherham said: “This is pure snobbery that is unworthy of someone with your wealth and privileged upbringing.

“Can I say these remarks are profoundly offensive to all the people of South Yorkshire who have as much right to enjoy a holiday as the millionaires in the Cabinet.”

Paul Blomfield, Labour MP for Sheffield Central, said he would raise the issue with Mr Clegg in the Commons and would be “demanding that David Cameron gets Oliver Letwin to apologise.”

The Liberal Democrat leader of Sheffield City Council, Paul Scriven, has also written to Mr Letwin.

He said: “If the reports are accurate then Mr Letwin should apologise and take up my invitation to come up to Sheffield to explain himself.”

Mr Johnson who disclosed the remark said: “I was absolutely scandalised the other day to hear a Government minister tell me he did not want to see more families in Sheffield able to afford cheap holidays.”

Mr Johnson did not reveal who made the comment, but reports emerged suggesting it was Mr Letwin.

Prime Minister David Cameron suggested Mr Letwin had been misquoted.

He said: “I normally find, if you look at the full quotation of what Oliver Letwin has said, it is often different to what was reported in the newspapers.

“And I haven’t looked at the full quotation but I expect when I do I will probably find I am right.”

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

Toddler’s plug death ‘avoidable’

Liam died after plugging in leftover cabling at his home in Glasgow

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An inquiry into the death of a toddler who was electrocuted has found that he would be alive if a handyman working in his Glasgow home had tidied up.

Liam Boyle, died aged 21 months, after inserting leftover cabling into a wall socket in February 2009.

A fatal accident inquiry heard how Daniel Rough and assistant Simon Burns fitted an oven at the Hillington house.

Sheriff Ian Miller said Mr Rough ought to have recognised the potential danger of leaving cabling behind.

The inquiry heard how the toddler was believed to have picked up a severed plug and cable with bare wires in the kitchen.

It is thought he then placed the plug in a socket in his toy room and touched the exposed live and neutral wires.

Liam was discovered by his mother, Claire Hughes, 32, who tried to revive him through mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but he could not be saved.

The inquiry heard how it was likely that the toddler died within seconds of touching the live wires.

Sheriff Miller issued his written judgement following the fatal accident inquiry into Liam’s death at Glasgow Sheriff Court last month.

“It is a merciful grace to Liam that in all probability he died before he realised what was happening”

Sheriff Ian Miller

He wrote: “The primary responsibility for satisfying the reasonable precautions of keeping the new cable and plug in a place where Liam could not get at them while the work was being done, and for removing them as part of the necessary task of clearing up whatever tools and equipment he had brought to the house must rest with the person undertaking the job, Mr Rough.

“He knew that Liam, a small boy, was in the living room while he was carrying out the task of replacing the old oven in the next door room, the kitchen.

“He ought to have taken account of Liam’s presence and young age to the extent of recognising that his work equipment of whatever description, and that includes the new cable and plug, would be a source of interest if not fascination to Liam.

“By reason of his young age, this brought with it a significantly enhanced risk that the natural curiosity of a small boy had the potential to lead him into doing something that might injure himself even if his mother were also present in the same room.”

Sheriff Miller said he accepted the evidence of expert witness James Madden, a principal specialist inspector in electrical engineering with the Health and Safety Executive.

Mr Madden had concluded that little Liam had “grasped the bare wires of the live conductor in one hand and the bare wires of the neutral conductor in the other”.

Sheriff Miller added:” At that time the cable was energised. As a consequence alternating current at the strength of the national supply flowed through his hands, arms and across his chest.

“The effect of that current passing through his body caused a massive shock to his heart. His death followed almost instantaneously.

“It is a merciful grace to Liam that in all probability he died before he realised what was happening to him and before he had the opportunity to feel pain.”

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

Sian police name second woman

The scene at Eastleach where the body was found

Police discovered the woman’s body on 26 March

Police investigating the murder of Sian O’Callaghan have identified human remains found at a second site as Becky Godden from Swindon.

Miss Godden, who went missing eight years ago, would have turned 29 years old on Monday.

Officers had scoured national databases in a bid to work out who was buried at Eastleach in Gloucestershire.

Taxi driver Christopher Halliwell, 47, from Swindon, has been charged with 22-year-old Miss O’Callaghan’s murder.

Det Supt Steve Fulcher, of Wiltshire Police, said officers had developed a DNA profile from the bones that were recovered at Eastleach.

He said Miss Godden’s family and loved ones were trying to come to terms with the “devastating” news.

She was reported to the national Missing People’s Helpline in 2007 by her family when they became concerned by the lack of contact from her, he said.

“Inquiries are continuing to establish the circumstances surrounding Becky’s disappearance and subsequent death,” he said.

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

Pound up on service sector growth

The growth figure for the service sector surprised analysts

The pound has strengthened against the dollar after figures suggested the UK service sector grew at its fastest pace in more than a year in March.

The Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to 57.1, a “marked improvement” on February’s 52.6. A figure above 50 indicates expansion.

The market saw the rise as a sign of economic recovery, raising the prospect of an imminent interest rate rise.

The pound rose by more than a cent against the dollar to $1.6238.

“When you look at where the Bank of England has typically raised interest rates in the past, the average level of the PMI is not that much different to where it stands right now, so it is consistent with higher rates,” said Deutsche Bank economist George Buckley.

Markit and the Chartered Institute of Personnel Managers, which compile the index, said growth in new business was the sharpest in a year, while employment levels rose for the first for nine months.

“This is a big surprise, but it is possible that it is a blip”

Philip Shaw, Investec

However, they noted that input costs continued to rise at a “marked pace”, although companies were, so far, able to minimise their impact on customers by reducing margins rather than increasing prices.

“Services activity growth surprised well to the upside in March, and points to the strongest expansion of the sector since the economy was surging out of its recession early last year,” said Paul Smith, Markit’s senior economist.

Together with more positive recent data from the manufacturing sector, he said the latest PMI services data suggested overall economic growth of 0.8% in the first quarter of this year.

This compares with a contraction of 0.5% in the final three months of last year, and is slightly more upbeat than the British Chambers of Commerce’s forecast of 0.6%-0.7% growth, also released on Tuesday.

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Analysts were surprised by the strength of the jump in the PMI number.

“It’s extraordinarily strong,” said Ross Walker at RBS.

“The scale of the improvements suggest there is some genuine underlying recovery.”

However, others cautioned against reading too much into the March number given the volatile nature of the PMI services figures.

“This is a big surprise, but it is possible that it is a blip,” said Philip Shaw at Investec.

“Essentially most other indicators of service activity in the UK are softer, like the BCC survey, which is suggesting slow to modest growth in the sector.”

The PMI survey of the service sector is closely watched as services account for about three-quarters of the UK economy.

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

VIDEO: NOTW phone-hacking arrests made

Two men have been arrested by police investigating claims of phone-hacking at the News of the World newspaper

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

ISPs tussle over broadband access

BT says the price it has set for access to its ducts is in line with Europe

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Internet service providers have asked the government to intervene over the price being set to give them access to BT’s physical infrastructure.

Giving rivals access to BT ducts and poles is seen as a crucial element to get fast broadband to rural areas.

But ISPs argue that the prices set by BT are four to five times higher than their underlying costs.

BT said that its prices were reasonable and laid down the gauntlet to rivals.

“The fact is our proposed prices for duct access compare very well with European averages,” the telco said in a statement.

“BT is the only company who has installed broadband equipment in exchanges serving the last 10% of the UK and so we would question whether these companies are genuinely interested in serving rural Britain given their track record.

“It is highly ironic that we are being criticised by some companies who provide little or no wholesale access to their assets,” it added.

BT set the price for duct sharing in January. Prices vary but start at £0.95 per metre, per annum.

For the sharing of overhead poles, Openreach proposed a price of £21 per pole attachment.

But ISPs believe the prices are far too high.

In a joint letter to communications minister Ed Vaizey, ISPs warn that plans to open up BT’s ducts will not work if the price isn’t cut.

The letter, signed by Virgin Media and TalkTalk among others says the Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) trial, which is one of the current government’s key broadband policies, “will be a commercial and policy failure if Openreach does not revise its prices”.

Openreach is the BT spin-off responsible for maintaining the telco’s network.

Virgin Media told the BBC: “It would be more cost effective to build an entirely separate duct and pole network in parallel with BT’s existing network”.

So far one one company has signed up to the duct-sharing scheme.

BT said that it was “disappointing that this letter was shared with the media several hours before ourselves”.

“It’s a shame that some of the companies involved seem keener to spend more time talking about this process than actually working on it.

The news comes as BT cranks up the speed on its copper network, to deliver up to 20Mbps (megabits per second) to 80% of UK homes by the end of the year.

Few households are likely to get top speeds because of the limitations of the ADSL technology.

Ofcom estimates that the average speed for an “up to 20Mbps” package is 6.2Mbps.

The telco has also revealed that its Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) technology now reaches four million homes.

Some 30 ISPs are offering customers FTTC, buying it wholesale from BT.

It offers speeds of up to 40Mbps and is now available to more than 4 million homes and businesses.

By 2015, BT has pledged to offer some form of fibre broadband to two-thirds of homes in the UK.

To ensure the final third does not miss out, the government has set aside a £530m fund, drawn from the BBC licence fee that was originally earmarked to help the transition to digital switchover.

Four pilots areas intended as testbeds for rural broadband are due to be allocated at the end of April.

The government has also invited councils to bid for some of the money.

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

Whole life term for canal killer

Sweeney, 54, had denied murdering Paula Fields and Melissa Halstead

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A man found guilty of murdering two women whose bodies were found mutilated and dumped in canals in London and the Netherlands, is due to be sentenced.

John Sweeney, 54, of no fixed address, had denied murdering Paula Fields, 31, and 33-year-old Melissa Halstead.

The body of Ms Halstead was found in a Rotterdam canal in 1990 while Ms Fields’ body was found in Regent’s Canal in 2001.

Officers are trying to trace three other women associated with Sweeney.

The two murders were linked in February 2010 and Liverpool-born Sweeney was arrested at Gartree Prison in Leicestershire, where he was serving life for an axe attack on another former girlfriend.

In a statement read out following the verdict at the Old Bailey on Monday, Ms Halstead’s family said they hoped that Sweeney would “never be allowed free to carry out such crimes again.”

A statement read by a sister of Ms Fields said: “For 29 years Paula was a normal girl, a loving mother, daughter, sister and an aunt. We know she is never coming back and we never said goodbye.”

Melissa Halstead (left) and Paula Fields

The bodies of Melissa Halstead and Paula Fields were found in canals in London and the Netherlands

The killer was described in court as a “hateful, controlling and possessive man”.

Detectives had found several weapons and 300 pieces of gruesome artwork and poems in his north London house.

Several other artworks were also found in his prison cell in Gartree Prison when he was arrested for the two murders in 2010.

Det Ch Insp Howard Groves, who led the investigation, said: “As he contemplates a life behind bars, I can assure him that this investigation will continue as we seek to identify and trace other potential victims in the UK, Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, who may have suffered a similar fate to that of Melissa and Paula.”

A picture by Sweeney of Melissa Halstead found in Sweeney’s cell

The Metropolitan Police said the force was still trying to trace three unidentified women, who have not been seen for years. Detectives believe they may have been ex-girlfriends of Sweeney.

One of them was a Brazilian, called Irani, who frequented pubs and restaurants in Highbury and Holloway Road in north London in 1996 or 1997. Officers believe she worked in kitchens as a cleaner.

The second woman is thought to be a Colombian, called Maria, who was living and working in, or just frequenting, pubs and restaurants in the Finsbury Park and Holloway Road in 1997 and 1998.

The third woman officers are trying to trace is a British woman, called Sue from Derby or Derbyshire, who was believed to be aged in her late-20s or early-30s in the late 1970s or early 1980s.

She was also seen frequenting the Holloway Road and Seven Sisters area. Officers believe she was attending a nursing college and went to Switzerland to work.

Dutch police are also believed to be investigating claims that Sweeney killed two German men who he caught having affairs with Ms Halstead.

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

VIDEO: Sian police identify second woman

Detectives investigating the murder of Sian O’Callaghan identify human remains found at a second site as Becky Godden-Edwards from Swindon.

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

Porter’s ‘shock’ at poison claim

Maxwell Cook denies trying to poison pupils and staff at the school

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A kitchen porter at a top public school has told a court he was stunned to hear accusations that he poured drain unblocker into the pupils’ carrot soup.

The trial of Maxwell Cook, 58, of Northamptonshire, has heard he was seen putting the substance into the soup at Stowe School in Buckinghamshire.

He told Aylesbury Crown Court when he heard the allegation: “I was in so much of a shock I went and sat in my car.”

Mr Cook denies trying to administer poison with intent to injure or annoy.

He had been drinking when police arrived at his home on 12 March last year, the day after the alleged poisoning bid, the court heard.

Mr Cook, who is from Syresham, admitted he had walked past the soup with a container of sanitising destainer in his hand but had merely looked at the food “to take an interest”.

In his police interview, read out on the second day of his trial, Mr Cook said: “I walked past the stoves where there were two pots, with a container of bleach in my hand, and glanced down to see what was on the menu that night.”

He said there was “no way” his hand could have been raised above the pot and “no way” he could have tipped in the cleaning product by mistake.

Mr Cook denied pouring the toxic liquid into the carrot and coriander soup and insisted he had nothing against the school where pupil fees are £27,000 a year.

He told police: “It’s a nice school, I enjoyed working there.”

About 100 pupils and staff could have eaten the soup if it had been served, the court has been told.

But the presence of the noxious substance was detected during a routine tasting.

The cleaning agent is usually used to unblock drains and if ingested can cause irritation, vomiting and swelling of the throat.

Mr Cook was suspended in the wake of the allegations.

Past pupils at Stowe include business tycoon Sir Richard Branson and jazz great George Melly.

The trial continues.

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

London statue celebrates Gagarin

A statue is to be erected in London to mark the achievements of Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space.

The zinc-alloy figure will sit just off The Mall, next to Admiralty Arch.

Gagarin made history on 12 April 1961 when he circled the Earth in 108 minutes in his Vostok capsule.

He subsequently went on a world tour, which included the UK.

Admiralty Arch was where he met the then Prime Minister Harold MacMillan.

It is also very near to a statue that celebrates one of Britain’s greatest explorers and circumnavigator of the globe – Captain James Cook.

The 3.5m (12ft) statue is a gift from the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos) to the British Council, the organisation which represents the UK culturally abroad.

At the moment, Westminster City Council has granted a 12-month licence for the statue and its Portland stone plinth.

The British Council had originally sought to borrow an existing Gagarin sculpture from Russia.

But many were simply too big to ship to Britain. One statue did fit the bill: this was sited in the town of Lubertsy, just outside Moscow, where Gagarin trained as a foundry worker in his teenage years.

However, the town was reluctant to let the original go to London, and instead made moulds available to cast a copy.

“The original was made in 1984 to celebrate what would have been Gagarin’s 50th birthday – he died in a plane crash aged 34,” explained Andrea Rose, director of visual arts at the British Council.

“It will be patinated, but it will be quite silvery. We wanted it to look just like the original.

“It shows Gagarin in a very typical mode: he’s wearing a spacesuit; his profession is on show. He’s also standing on a globe and the trajectory of his orbit is around him.”

It was the National Union of Foundrymen who invited Gagarin to London after his historic flight.

Harold MacMillan with Yuri Gagarin – 13 July 1961

Recently released documents from the national archive show the British government was unsure how to respond to the visit.

It is said the meeting between the cosmonaut and Macmillan was hastily arranged only after politicians saw that the public reaction was overwhelmingly supportive.

Andrea Rose said: “You have to remember that he is not just the most celebrated man on Earth when he comes down from space, he is the only famous figure who was actually neither a movie star nor a king or a queen – he was an icon from popular roots.”

The statue will be formally unveiled in London on 14 July by the cosmonaut’s daughter, Elena Gagarina, who is the director of the Kremlin Museums.

The statue is part of a series of cultural events to mark the Gagarin 50th anniversary. These events will include an exhibition at the Council’s headquarters on the life of the cosmonaut and the early Soviet space programme.

The BBC will be playing its part by showing the First Orbit film on 17 big screens around the UK.

Shot on the International Space Station and including archive material, the movie tries to recreate what Yuri Gagarin might have seen on his flight around the Earth.

The showings will start exactly 50 years on from the moment of launch – 0707 BST (0607 GMT). It will then be repeated at lunchtime.