Category: news

The Greenpeace flagship, the Rainbow Warrior II, has arrived in Hong Kong on its farewell tour to Asia.

It is the swansong of this former British fishing trawler on her farewell tour of Asia.

The ship was bought 22 years ago from compensation money received by the environmental group after the French secret service bombed the original Rainbow Warrior in New Zealand in 1985.

The tour also marks 40 years of Greenpeace actions.

The ship is being replaced by a modern and more environmentally friendly ship later this year. The Rainbow Warrior is III currently being built in Poland.

Lion dancers greeted the crew of the Rainbow Warrior docked at a public pier in Hong Kong’s business district.

Marine police had been closely watching the boat, crew members said, possibly nervous of what actions the crew have planned for their three-week stay in the city.

The ship’s captain, South African Mike Fincken, remarked on the air pollution he could see round the city’s skyscrapers as the ship entered Hong Kong waters.

“I did notice sailing into Hong Kong, there seems to be a continuous sort of haze around the buildings, which I’ve been told is air pollution,” he said.

“Hong Kong, being one of the most affluent cities of the world, really should be counted as a leader towards greener energy solutions.”

The group will be holding open days and tours aboard the Rainbow Warrior.

However, it was tight-lipped about actions planned to highlight climate change and what they call Hong Kong’s dirty energy policies involving both nuclear power and electricity from coal-fired power stations.

Greenpeace has previously embarrassed the city’s leader, Chief Executive Donald Tsang.

It hung a huge “Wanted” banner with his face on it on a finance building in Hong Kong, saying he was a climate change fugitive.

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The UK government is not doing enough to support and promote organic food and farming, a report says.

The Soil Association said sales continued to grow in other European nations during the recession, while UK sales fell by 13.6% in 2009.

A government spokeswoman said there was scope for UK organic producers to grow if they became more competitive.

The findings were published at the launch of the Association’s annual conference in Manchester.

Peter Melchett, policy director for the Soil Association – which operates the UK’s largest organic accreditation scheme – described the fall in sales, after years of continuous growth, as “really frustrating”.

“All of the other major European markets continued to grow, so this country’s farmers are losing a good business opportunity thanks to a sort of Neanderthal attitude,” he told BBC News.

“The government really haven’t been anything like as supportive in the UK as other governments have been in other European countries.”

He added that consumers in other EU nations had “better access to good information about the relative merits of different farming systems and food”.

The report, The Lazy Man of Europe, said that once consumers had accurate information about organic farming and food, then they increased their purchases of such goods.

“Governments have a big part to play in providing that sort of information,” suggested Mr Melchett.

The report recommended a number of actions for the government to take, including:

welcoming the organic market as an important growth area for the nation’s economy,introduction of a cross-departmental food strategy that recognises the role of organic farming,re-establishment of a dedicated research budget to address problems faced by the organic sector, andmatching industry funding to promote organic food and farming.

Mr Melchett added that the UK was more “ideologically opposed” to the nature-based farming system, adding that government agencies and scientific and farming bodies were also not supportive.

He was critical of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) which, he said, had “gone out of its way to knock organic food at the slightest opportunity”.

“The equivalent agency in Sweden is working with voluntary conservation bodies to encourage people to eat organic food because it is good for wildlife,” he observed.

In 2009, the FSA commissioned an independent review to examine whether there was any substance to claims that organic food was healthier than ordinary food.

Researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine concluded that there was little difference in nutritional value and no evidence of additional health benefits from eating organic produce.

The findings were based on a review of 50 years’ worth of relevant scientific literature.

At the time, the Soil Association was critical of the findings, saying the criteria of the review meant that a number of scientific studies that did show a difference were not considered.

A later review of the findings by the General Advisory Committee on Science (GACS) upheld the report’s conclusions, saying the researchers had followed “good practice” and had been subject to peer-review.

On its website, the FSA said it was “neither for nor against organic food”.

“There are many different reasons why consumers choose to buy organic food,” it stated.

“These can include, for example, concern for the environment and animal welfare. Eating organic food is one way to reduce consumption of pesticide residues and additives.”

An FSA spokeswoman told BBC News that a reorganisation of responsibilities in mid-2010 means that policy on nutrition is now handled by the Department of Health.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) oversees the production of organic foods and the administration of organic schemes.

Mr Melchett said that if the coalition government wished to achieve its goal of becoming the “greenest government ever”, it had to recognise the role of organic farming.

“Other governments have recognised that organic food is not dependent on imported fossil fuels and phosphates, both of which are running out, in order to produce food,” he said.

“The sort of food production that the UK agricultural establishment, scientists and government support is crucially dependent upon oil to make artificial fertilisers, and on imported and mined phosphates.”

Responding to the Soil Association’s report, a Defra spokeswoman said: “Organic farming is one of the pioneering approaches to sustainable production and remains influential, but it’s not the only one and it would not be right to increase taxpayer support for one particular sector.

“Many consumers make some purchases of organic produce,” she added.

“It commands a premium price, but it represents less than 2% of the market. The opportunity is there for organic suppliers to build their market share by being competitive and customer-focused.”

Environment Secretary of State Caroline Spelman is scheduled to address the Association’s annual conference, Food and the Big Society, which is being held in Manchester until Thursday.

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Matches and white sugar are among the products made with sulphur hewn by hand from an active volcano in Indonesia. Is this one of the most dangerous jobs in the world?

The traditional sulphur miners of East Java bear the scars of their labour – poisoned lungs and skin criss-crossed with burns and scars.

Several hundred men work in the heart of Ijen volcano in East Java, Indonesia. Each day, they collect yellow lumps of sulphur that solidify beside its acidic crater lake. Once processed, the sulphur is used to bleach sugar, make matches and fertiliser, and vulcanise rubber in factories at home and abroad.

Filmed for the BBC’s Human Planet, the miners carry 90kg loads up 200 metres out of the crater and back down the volcano’s outer slopes to a weighing station – a journey they make several times a day.

“There are many big mountains but only one gives us the sulphur we need,” says Sulaiman, 31, who has mined the crater for 13 years.

The miners have little in the way of protective gear beyond a damp cloth to cover the nose and mouth. Gloves and gas masks are an unaffordable luxury for men paid $10 to $15 a day.

In the past 40 years, 74 miners have died after being overpowered by fumes that can suddenly swirl from fissures in the rock. The poisonous clouds are not steam, but hydrogen sulphide and sulphur dioxide gases so concentrated they burn the eyes and throat, and can eventually dissolve the miners’ teeth.

During filming, the BBC crew was enveloped in a toxic cloud 40 times the UK’s safe breathing level (no limits exist for the miners). Corrosive air-borne particles ate into the cameras, which promptly broke down.

It is a method of sulphur extraction that has all but died out, says volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer, of Cambridge University. “Until the late 19th Century, there were sulphur mines in volcanic countries such as Italy, New Zealand, Chile and Indonesia.”

But eruptions, and the advent of new processes, led to the closure of most mining operations.

“There are still volcanic sulphur mines in the Andes, but these are mechanised,” says Dr Oppenheimer.

An active vent close to the lake shore is used for the sulphur mining operation. The water in the crater – which is one of the world’s largest – is acidic enough to dissolves clothes, eat through metal, and cause breathing problems.

Pipes are driven into the fissures in the rock to extract sulphur from the bowels of the mountain. It is blood red when molten, and turns yellow as it cools and solidifies.

The miners break the cooled sulphur into chunks, and load up their wicker baskets for the 200 metre climb back up out of the crater.

Each man carries up to twice his body weight from the crater to the weighing station part way down the mountain.

The work takes a toll on their bodies. But their bodies have, in turn, adapted. Many can hold their breath for extended periods, and some have hyper-developed shoulder muscles from years of lugging heavy baskets up and down the mountain, says BBC researcher Dina Mufti.

“Our families worry when we come here. They say working here can shorten your life,” says Hartomo, 34, a sulphur miner for 12 years.

“I do it to feed my wife and kid. No other job pays this well,” adds Sulaiman.

Human Planet is broadcast on Thursday 10 February at 2000 GMT on BBC One, and will also be available on the BBC iPlayer.

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The NI draft budget is “too fragmented” and “unimaginative”, a study by a team of management consultants has said.

The analysis carried out for the NI Council for Voluntary Action said that the plan, intended to save £4bn by 2015, was a “patch and mend approach”.

It was also critical of departmental spending plans being published weeks after the budget announcement.

NICVA chief executive Seamus McAleavey said the report had confirmed its worst fears about the budget.

The PWC analysis said it was encouraging that the Executive had agreed a budget and that it was for a four-year period.

However, it said it believed the budget was unbalanced and “while some revenue raising is proposed, much more imagination could have been used”.

It had particular criticism for the Department of Health and the Department of Employment and Learning, which it said were “unwilling or unable to show how they will balance the books”.

‘Unity of purpose’

It added that the budget did not give any clarity on whether the Executive had a strategy for dealing with unemployment or increasing environmental sustainability.

Mr McAleavey said the report showed the need for “unity of purpose” across government departments.

He added: “In our view the most important message is the need for the NI Executive to develop a compact or contract with civic society and agree a four year plan to make fair and proportionate decisions.

“The settlement from the Treasury has put the Executive in a tough place and we have to recognise that.

“Public anger should be targeted at Westminster not at the NI Executive who have to cope with the fallout and should be commended for agreeing a four year budget.”

NICVA, an umbrella group for voluntary groups, has been holding a series of consultations with ministers, organisations and members of the public.

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Seamer Chris Tremlett will join England’s World Cup squad as a travelling reserve as cover for their injury-hit bowling attack.

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Arsenal’s Nicklas Bendtner believes England should learn from Theo Walcott’s England career when handling the progress of Jack Wilshere ahead of his full debut against Denmark.

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Police in Lancashire believe they may have solved a 35-year-old murder case thanks to advances in DNA evidence.

The murder of mother-of-two Joan Harrison in Preston in 1975 was thought at one stage, due to a hoax, to have been committed by the Yorkshire Ripper.

But detectives said DNA found at the scene matched that of Christopher Smith from Leeds, who died three years ago aged 60.

They said the evidence could have led to his prosecution.

Miss Harrison, who had worked as a prostitute, was found dead in a derelict garage in Berwick Road, in the Avenham area of Preston, on 20 November 1975, aged 26.

Investigations into Mr Smith’s life have revealed he had criminal convictions ranging from assault and theft to sex attacks.

Det Ch Supt Graham Gardner, head of crime for Lancashire Constabulary, said it had been a “long-running and complex” murder inquiry for the force.

He said: “Joan lost her life in a most brutal way and despite the enormous efforts of all those originally involved, no charges were ever brought.”

Mr Gardner added: “It is with some regret that Smith is not still alive to stand trial for his crime.

“One can only try to imagine the sadness endured by Joan’s family over the years and I truly hope this development will finally bring some closure surrounding their tragic loss.”

At one point in the murder investigation, police were distracted by hoaxer John Humble, who had tried to convince officers that Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, had killed Miss Harrison.

It was Humble’s letters in 1978 to West Yorkshire Police that first mentioned Miss Harrison’s murder, which had not been formally linked to the seven Ripper murders.

Because saliva from the letters was linked to the same blood group as her killer’s, police connected this death with the Ripper murders.

Humble’s hoax, including his so-called “I’m Jack tape”, clouded the investigation.

Internal police documents revealed that because Humble had a North East accent, this led officers investigating Miss Harrison’s murder to focus on men who came from that region.

By the time Sutcliffe was caught and convicted in 1981, a total of 13 women had been murdered.

Humble was caught in a cold case operation in 2006 and jailed for eight years after admitting perverting the course of justice.

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It was 50 years ago today that The Beatles played their first gig at the Cavern Club in Liverpool – the venue where the band built their reputation and where Beatlemania was born.

Alex McKechnie, then 16, was in the crowd for that first show and went on to be a regular at the club:

“I saw The Beatles a few times in the north end of Liverpool and was working in Liverpool city centre as a messenger boy in a printing works when I heard that they were on at the Cavern in a lunchtime session.

“The Cavern was in the basement of a three or four storey warehouse. The public went down one flight of stone stairs and then there were three long arches.

“At the end of one of the long arches was a little tiny stage. That’s where the Beatles performed 292 times.

“I remember it being very highly charged with excitement. The music sounded even more exciting [than the previous gigs] because The Cavern was this little squashed space so the music sounded a bit louder, a bit more exciting and a bit more vital. About 20 to 30 people were there.

“The Beatles were the complete package – they didn’t just have a great singer, they had two great singers. They always did harmonies right from the very first time I saw them.

“They could probably only afford two microphones, and so when one was doing the lead singing the other two were facing each other on the mic, and it was quite charismatic, it was nice to look at. They had a camaraderie about them.

“I never heard them singing one of their own songs because they were just a straight covers band at that time, as was everybody else in Liverpool.

“The standard songs that they sang – them and the other bands in Liverpool – were [by] Chuck Berry, Little Richard, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly. The sound that I very clearly remember the Beatles playing in the Cavern was a Chuck Berry riff.

“As well as doing the stock standards, the Beatles were a bit different because they were better at playing complicated chords. The Beatles were a bit more adventurous.

“It wasn’t just the music and the singing, it was their lack of respect for the audience. At the Cavern for those first few gigs, they were quite irreverent to the audience and other people. They were sort of the first punk band. The Beatles were a law unto themselves on the stage.

“They were still doing that when they went to America – if someone asked them a question they didn’t give a serious answer, and that’s how they behaved on stage in the Cavern, and that’s why I think they liked it in the Cavern.

“They were the epitome of rebellion in Liverpool because they weren’t trying to imitate Cliff Richard and the Shadows doing little in time steps. They would dance out of step on purpose.

“That was their purpose in life – to upset the apple cart. They were so cheeky and so entertaining all around. They were a little bit of a voice for us against authority. I think they were rebels. We were mini rebels supporting them.

“Of course when I went back to work I used to stand gazing out of the window thinking about the Beatles and the girls at the Cavern. I couldn’t really concentrate on doing any work.

“Just in a few weeks they’d gained a bigger following. When word went around, the crowd grew and people kept coming back. Once you’d seen them, not many people didn’t go to see them again.

“They had big long queues, right down the length of the street and even round the corner at the bottom. But at that stage I’d dumped them.

“They started talking about going to London and making records and things like that. Betrayal.

“I wasn’t the only one. I think the ones who thought that they’d discovered them were a little clique and really did give up on them when the masses found them. It was only when I heard Love Me Do on the radio that I started getting interested in them again. My wife subsequently bought all the LPs but that first era of The Beatles was over for me.”

Alex McKechnie was speaking to BBC News entertainment reporter Ian Youngs.

The Cavern is celebrating the anniversary with a series of tribute events on Wednesday. A documentary about the first gig will be broadcast on ITV1 at 2240 GMT on Wednesday.

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The London Stock Exchange (LSE) has said it is in “advanced” talks with TMX Group, which operates the Toronto Stock Exchange, over a possible merger.

The merged group would be co-headquartered in London and Toronto and would become the world’s largest exchange for mining companies.

The group would have a combined value of about £5.5bn, reports suggest.

A number of leading exchanges have merged in recent years.

The New York Stock Exchange has bought Euronext, while Deutsche Borse has taken over the International Securities Exchange in the US. The LSE, which has successfully fought off a number of take over approaches, has itself bought Borsa Italiana.

“The LSE confirms that it is in advanced talks with TMX Group regarding a possible merger of equals to create an international exchange leader,” the exchange said.

Management of the newly merged group would be “drawn from a balance of leaders from both organisations”, it added.

Reports suggest the talks could be concluded this week.

As well as the Borsa Italiana, the LSE also operates MTS, a European bond market, and the Turquoise trading platform. TMX also operates the Montreal Exchange and the Boston Options Exchange, among others.

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A new spy camera will watch for people ignoring safety signals and barriers at level crossings.

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The Ministry of Defence should ensure veterans’ service histories are logged in their medical records, claims an all-party report.

The assembly’ health committee said it would mean the quick diagnosis of ex-services personnel with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Chair Jonathan Morgan said those needing help were falling through the gaps in current services.

The MoD said it is exploring improving the transfer of information to GPs.

Figures show that in Wales 15-25 men and women leave the police and armed forces suffering from PTSD each year.

The AMs’ review follows a long investigation into the services available to former soldiers suffering from PTSD.

It concludes there are gaps in medical notes because the MoD does not disclose “crucial” information about the combat veterans have seen.

Many with PTSD are then misdiagnosed, the report finds.

It suggests that even though defence organisations consider operational details to be confidential, they could significantly speed up diagnosis.

PTSD is the psychological response to an event of an intensely traumatic nature and often does not surface until after many years.

Mr Morgan said he wants the assembly government to work with the MoD to ensure that this information is transferred, with an opt-out system available.

The committee also wants campaigns to raise public awareness of PTSD, and its effect on veterans and families.

He said: “I believe very strongly that we have a moral duty to do all we can to make things a bit easier for veterans when they re-enter civilian life than they are now.

“Otherwise we will end up with higher numbers of veterans who are homeless, suffering with mental and physical ill health whose families, as a consequence, also suffer.

“The British Medical Association told the committee that if the MoD had provided the information of injuries, treatments, backgrounds and experiences, it would help GPs to give a more accurate diagnosis more quickly.”

The committee was also surprised to find a “lack of connection” between the people who are supposed to be delivering services to veterans.

“As a result of that people are falling through the gaps and not getting the help they need” Mr Morgan said.

The report also highlights how many veterans turn to substance misuse, and how addiction and depression is also often a problem.

Chris O’Neill ,a former Royal Military Policeman who now runs a charity Forces for Good, in north Wales, to help veterans rejoin civilian life.

He told BBC Wales: “Nobody goes into the doctors and says they have PTSD but meanwhile lots of these veterans are being lost to the community because of drug or alcohol addiction or because they enter the criminal justice system.

“I think it is vital the MoD make these records available.”

Falklands War veteran Simon Weston, said: “The big problem is that (PTSD) has become a stigma for the guys.

Independent study

“The guys would not present before, because there was nobody to present to. Then, after 1987, they would not present because it was a stigma and it would ruin your career.”

An MOD spokesperson said the UK Government is committed to improving the mental health of its serving personnel and veterans. It will be implementing some changes in 2011.

“We are already looking at ways to improve the transfer of medical information to GPs and are running a pilot programme with some medical centres in England.

“We are planning to consult with NHS Wales and incorporate them into this process,” the spokesperson said.

Prime Minister David Cameron asked Dr Andrew Murrison MP to undertake an independent study into the health of serving and ex-service personnel and the MoD said it was working in line with his recommendations.

The assembly government said it had received the committee’s report and would consider its findings before responding.

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Experts believe they can develop a genetic screening test that can tell doctors which men with prostate cancer need aggressive treatment.

Early trial results for Cancer Research UK suggest men with high levels of cell cycle progression (CCP) genes have the most deadly tumours.

The CCP test could potentially save men with milder forms of the disease from unnecessary treatment.

Large-scale studies are now needed, the Lancet Oncology journal reports.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK, with new cases diagnosed in around 37,000 men every year.

At present, doctors can struggle to predict how aggressive tumours are and rely on tests and examinations that can be less than reliable.

For example, one of the tests currently used – the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) test – can give a worrying result even if a cancer is not present.

Cancer Research UK estimates that about two-thirds of men with an elevated PSA level (measured as > 4ng/ml) will not have prostate cancer but will suffer the anxiety, discomfort and risk of follow-up investigations.

It’s for this very reason that UK experts have recommended against a screening programme for prostate cancer.

But experts from Queen Mary, University of London, hope their new CCP test – alongside existing tests like PSA – could be used routinely in the clinic to overcome this problem.

Professor Jack Cuzick, who led the research, said: “Our findings have great potential. CCP genes are expressed at higher levels in actively growing cells, so we could be indirectly measuring the growth rate and inherent aggressiveness of the tumour through our test.

“We already know that CCP levels can predict survival for breast and, more recently, brain and lung cancers.

“It’s really encouraging that this could also be applied to prostate cancer, where we desperately need a way to predict how aggressive the disease will be.”

His study, which included 703 men with prostate cancer, found CCP could predict likely disease outcomes.

In the study, men with the highest levels of CCP genes were three times more likely than those with the lowest levels to have a fatal form of prostate cancer.

And for patients who have had surgery to remove their prostate, those with the highest CCP levels were 70% more likely to have a recurrence of the disease.

Dr Helen Rippon, head of research management at the Prostate Cancer Charity, said the findings were promising but needed replicating in larger trials before the test could be considered for routine use.

“It will therefore be some time before men diagnosed with prostate cancer will see any direct benefit from this research,” she said.

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