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Jo murder accused to face court

Jo YeatesJo Yeates’s body was found on Christmas Day
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A 32-year-old Dutch national is due in court charged with murdering landscape architect Jo Yeates.

Engineer Vincent Tabak, who was arrested on Thursday, is due at Bristol Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

Miss Yeates, 25, was found dead on Christmas Day, eight days after going missing from her home in the Clifton area of Bristol.

Her body was found next to a country road in Failand, three miles from where she lived.

A post-mortem examination revealed she had been strangled.

Miss Yeates, who was originally from Ampfield in Hampshire, was reported missing by her 27-year-old boyfriend Greg Reardon on 19 December when he returned to their home after a weekend away visiting family in Sheffield.

She disappeared on 17 December after going for Christmas drinks with colleagues at her architectural firm.

Mr Tabak lived next door to Miss Yeates on Canynge Road.

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

Key to severe strokes ‘uncovered’

Image of a strokeHigh levels of sugar in the blood has been linked to more damage during a stroke.
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One reason why people with diabetes can suffer more damage during strokes has been discovered by US scientists.

The study on rats, published in Nature Medicine, found a protein which increased bleeding when blood sugar levels are high.

Elevated sugar levels have been linked to at least one in ten strokes.

Diabetes UK said the big test was whether the research would lead to clinical benefits for people with high sugar levels.

It is thought that 150,000 people in the UK have a stroke each year, more than a third die as a result.

There are two main types, 80% are caused by blood clots in the brain (ischaemic stroke) and 20% when blood vessels bleed into the brain (haemorrhagic stroke).

More than half of people with haemorrhagic strokes have high levels of sugar in the blood.

“Rapid control of blood sugar levels may provide an opportunity to reduce intracerebral haemorrhage”

Dr Edward Feener Joslin Diabetes Centre

The haemorrhages also seem to be more severe, forming over a larger area of the brain, causing more damage and increasing the risk of death.

Scientists at the Joslin Diabetes Centre injected blood into the brains of rats with and without diabetes.

The bleeding was ten times greater in those with diabetes than in healthy rats.

The group then studied the impact of a protein, plasma kallikrein, which had already been linked to sight problems in diabetics.

The researchers found that a combination of high blood sugar and plasma kallikrein resulted in increased bleeding.

They believe plasma kallikrein slows clotting when there is lots of sugar in the blood, although the exact mechanism remains unclear.

Dr Edward Feener, who led the study, said: “Given the prevalence of strokes and the damage they inflict, these findings are exciting because they suggest the possibility that rapid control of blood sugar levels may provide an opportunity to reduce intracerebral haemorrhage, which is a clinical situation that has very limited treatment options.

“This work could have broad implications since about half of patients with acute haemorrhagic stroke have hyperglycemia, whether or not that have pre-existing diabetes.”

Dr Sharlin Ahmed, research liaison officer at The Stroke Association, said: “Diabetes is known to increase a person’s risk of stroke, and research has shown that strokes caused by a bleed in the brain are more severe in people with diabetes as a result of poorly controlled blood sugar levels.

“Controlling glucose levels is vital if you have diabetes. This research not only provides further evidence that glucose control can reduce your risk of stroke, but it also suggests that it could reduce the severity of a stroke caused by a bleed in the brain.

“However, it is very early days and much more research needs to be carried out before human trials are undertaken.”

Dr Iain Frame, director of research at Diabetes UK, said: “This early research has made an interesting discovery into how high blood glucose levels interact with certain chemicals in the blood, and with the damage caused by stroke.

“As the authors admit, however, there are limitations in the animal model they used so their results do not reflect what happens to the human brain when it haemorrhages.

“Much more research is needed to test how we might be able to use this knowledge to limit this stroke damage and that will prove to be the big test as to whether this study will lead to any benefits for people with high glucose levels who have a stroke.”

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

UK’s recovery ‘unevenly spread’

Jobcentre Plus windowHull, Doncaster and Northampton have seen falls in the numbers claiming unemployment benefit

Economic recovery will be “unevenly spread” across the country with some cities needing extra government help to create jobs, a study has suggested.

Research group Centre for Cities said places such as Hull, Doncaster and Northampton were now “bouncing back”.

But Sunderland, Liverpool, Birkenhead, Swansea and Newport might not feel the full benefits for some time.

Centre for Cities said areas more reliant on public sector jobs would have the most difficulties.

Milton Keynes, Reading, Aberdeen, Leeds and Bristol were regarded as being better insulated from the effects of the government spending cuts, with the potential to create private sector jobs.

Hull, Doncaster and Northampton – some of the cities hardest hit by job losses – all saw falls of 1.2% in the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance in the past year. That was more than twice the UK average, the report said.

The study found that more than one in three jobs in private companies were provided in 11 cities – London, Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield.

However, the cities “vulnerable” to spending cuts would need extra financial support and a “realistic” local plan of action, the group said.

Centre for Cities chief executive Alexandra Jones said: “Buoyant cities like Leeds and Bristol, which have been fast-growing and have lots of private sector jobs, are best placed to lead the UK’s recovery.

“It’s time these places had new financial freedoms such as full control over the local business rate, and new powers to raise money. They could also benefit from having London-style mayors.

“During 2011, the UK cities most dependent on the public sector, and which have seen slower economic growth over the last decade, will find it more difficult to rebalance towards the private sector.

“These cities will need realistic plans of action to ride out the spending cuts and create jobs – but they will also need additional financial support from central government.”

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

Communities ‘threatened’ by cuts

House rooftopsUnison said cuts were blighting lives and wrecking the country’s chances of recovery

Government spending cuts threaten local communities and economic recovery, a public service union has warned.

Unison said 100,000 jobs would be lost in council, health, police, fire and education services after announcements in the past six weeks alone.

General secretary Dave Prentis said his union’s document detailing the cuts made “very grim reading”.

The government said it had taken steps ensure the most vulnerable communities were protected from the cuts.

Unison said services provided by those who were losing their positions were being put under threat.

The union said recent announcements included reductions of 1,600 jobs at Heart of England NHS Trust, and 1,200 council posts in Hampshire, 1,000 in Norfolk and 400 in East Sussex.

Some 8,000 jobs in the careers service were set to go before April, it added.

Mr Prentis said: “This dossier makes very grim reading. Behind every statistic there are families desperate to keep a roof over their heads, food on the table and the dignity of a decent job.

“With unemployment up to 2.5 million, the coalition cuts are blighting lives and wrecking the country’s chances of recovery. Sacking workers and closing down essential services will not put the economy back on its feet.”

A government spokesman said: “In order to tackle the deficit and promote growth we have had to take a number of tough decisions to restore economic confidence and support the recovery.

“Every part of the public sector needs to do its bit, but we have made sure that extra powers and funding freedoms are available to protect front line services and ensure that the most vulnerable communities are protected.”

Meanwhile, housing association body the National Housing Federation (HNF) has said local councils in England are planning cut funding for services for vulnerable people by more than the amount suggested by the government.

A survey by the federation of more than 130 housing associations, charities and community groups found that 73% of them had been told by their local authority to expect cuts of more than 12%.

The NHF said Chancellor George Osborne announced in his Spending Review in October that such funds would be broadly maintained, meaning a 12% cut over four years in real terms.

NHF chief executive David Orr said: “Local authorities are facing significant cuts to their budgets and face the inevitable task of deciding where savings can be made. But what we are beginning to see is that services which provide a lifeline to thousands of vulnerable people are being hit disproportionately by councils.

“Raiding these budgets to pay for other spending priorities runs contrary to what ministers want, what the public wants and most importantly what the vulnerable who rely upon them want to see happen.”

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

Execution drug sold by UK company

Reprieve handout photo of the Elgone Driving Academy in Horn Lane, ActonDream Pharma in Acton, west London, is based at a driving school
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Drugs supplied by a UK pharmaceutical company are to be used to execute a convicted murderer in Georgia on Tuesday, the BBC has learned.

Emmanuel Hammond will be executed with anaesthetic sodium thiopental, which Reprieve UK says was supplied by Dream Pharma, based in Acton, west London.

The firm’s sole shareholder, wholesaler Mehdi Alavi, 50, declined to comment.

Business Secretary Vince Cable introduced a ban on the export of sodium thiopental in December.

Documents obtained by Reprieve UK, which campaigns on behalf of death row prisoners, show that Georgia received a shipment of the anaesthetic sodium thiopental used in executions from Dream Pharma – which is based at a west London driving school – late last year.

The charity says other documents show Mr Alavi also supplied California with enough drugs for 85 executions, and that he has supplied at least four other states with execution drugs.

Earlier this year Mr Alavi said he had “no idea” why one US prison had ordered the sodium thiopental and two other drugs from him.

Clive Stafford Smith, director of Reprieve UK, said there were issues about whether the drug was fit for purpose.

“If you use an anaesthetic that for example someone has an allergic reaction to, it causes them immense pain instead of anaesthetising them.

“Also if these drugs weren’t kept properly, so therefore weren’t stored, the same can happen.

“There is a great deal we can do if we can move quickly on it. We can save lives – including the life of Emmanuel Hammond,” he said.

Reprieve has called on the UK government to intervene and appeal to the US, to prevent the execution of Hammond, who was convicted of murder 23 years ago.

Mr Cable is considering bringing in a ban to prevent UK firms exporting two other drugs used in lethal injections.

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

High hopes for new pneumonia jab

Beatrice Achang with daughter Tamara (January 2011)Beatrice Achang wants to prevent daughter Tamara dying of pneumonia as her son Wesley did
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A new vaccine against pneumonia is being rolled out in Africa which, it is estimated, could eventually save more than half a million lives a year globally.

Children in Kenya have begun receiving the jab, which will also be used this year in Sierra Leone, Yemen, Honduras and Guyana.

Infants in Nicaragua started receiving the vaccine a few weeks ago.

The Gavi Alliance – a global health partnership of public and private sectors for immunisation – says 19 countries are set to receive the jab, but many more could benefit if the funding becomes available.

Gavi says it needs an extra £500m ($800m) annually for the next five years to meet a shortfall in immunisation for existing and new vaccines.

The pneumonia vaccine protects against pneumococcal disease, the leading cause of severe pneumonia in children. It also guards against a form of meningitis and blood poisoning.

Pneumonia kills more children than any other illness, claiming around 1.7 million lives every year.

“The money needed for basic immunisation is in doubt, let alone for this effective new vaccine against pneumonia”

Catherine Fitzgibbon Save the Children

At the Langata health centre in Nairobi, scores of mothers brought their babies along for the first of three injections.

Beatrice Aching’s son Wesley died from pneumonia in November. She brought her three-month-old daughter Tamara to be immunised. She said: “My son’s death happened very suddenly. Wesley got sick in the morning and by evening he had died in hospital – I don’t want that to happen to Tamara.”

Leah Otieno’s nine-month-old son Emmanuel got pneumonia before Christmas but recovered after antibiotic treatment – she says she is delighted to get him protected.

The charity Save the Children has launched a report, No Child Born to Die, which highlights the potential funding shortfall for global immunisation.

The report also says there is a critical shortage of 3.5 million health workers in poor countries, without whom millions of children will face illness and early death.

“Too many children are dying every day of vaccine-preventable illnesses and from the lack of basic healthcare,” said Catherine Fitzgibbon from Save the Children. “The money needed for basic immunisation is in doubt, let alone for this effective new vaccine against pneumonia.”

Nurse in Langata health centre, Nairobi, Kenya (January 2011)The pneumonia vaccine is given as a series of three injections

In June 2011, the UK government is hosting a meeting of Gavi in London which will be attended by world leaders. The UK provides a quarter of all Gavi’s funding – more than any other nation.

Save the Children says it will be campaigning for rich nations to increase support for global immunisation, and for the pharmaceutical industry to lower the price of vaccines.

The pneumococcal vaccine costs £2.20 ($3.50) in Africa compared to £38 in Europe as a result of a deal between Gavi and two manufacturers: Pfizer and GSK. The roll-out in the developing world comes just a year after the same vaccine was introduced in the United States.

GSK said the discounted price is only fractionally above the cost of production. A spokesman said the vaccine takes a year to produce and is the most technically sophisticated of all its vaccines.

A second vaccine against rotavirus – the main cause of serious diarrhoea – is also being ready to be rolled out. But this, too, is far more expensive than the basic childhood vaccines against diseases like measles, whooping cough and polio.

Pneumonia and diarrhoea account for a third of all deaths in young children in the developing world. Gavi and Save the Children say a comprehensive roll-out of the pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccines could potentially prevent more than one million deaths annually.

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