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Sri Lanka army help flood victims

Flooding in Batticaloa Much of Batticaloa is under water
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More than 30,000 army, navy, police and air force personnel have been deployed across Sri Lanka to provide urgent aid to people hit by heavy flooding.

A government spokesman told the BBC that more than 325,000 people had been displaced by the floods, which have killed at least 21 people.

The priority since the rains abated on Thursday is to deliver emergency food and medical supplies.

In the centre and east farmland has been flooded and rice fields destroyed.

Thousands of people who fled the flooding are now living in camps on higher ground, a spokesman from the disaster management centre told the BBC.

But officials say that in some cases those camps in turn have been flooded – it is estimated that 25 out of 200 have been inundated in the coastal area of Batticaloa.

“More than one million people have been affected by the floods,” UN children’s fund spokesman Mervyn Fletcher told the BBC from Colombo.

“That means they have either been forced from their homes or have seen their property flooded.

“Access to clean water is becoming a major problem and we and other agencies are distributing purification tablets.”

Mr Fletcher said that the floods were especially bad news for people in the east, who in recent years have also endured a civil war and a tsunami.

The floods have left some stretches of railway line under nearly a metre of water.

Officials in Ampara say the rainfall there since Saturday has been the highest ever recorded in such a short time.

Flood victims in Sri LankaOver a million people have seen their homes flooded

“There is a shortage of food for children,” a member of Sri Lanka’s minority Muslim community in Ampara told BBC Tamil on Wednesday.

“In the morning we were forced to divide a single breakfast food parcel into four and give it to our four children.

“We have not got any help from the government. But the local people – especially the rich – have come forward and helped us. We are only getting something to eat because of their generosity.”

A number of big reservoirs have burst their banks, destroying paddy fields in a major rice-growing area.

People in some remote areas on Wednesday told the BBC they had seen no sign of aid agencies or government relief, and that some people in makeshift camps had been missing out on meals.

In other developments:

People in the central districts of Matale and Badulla are being evacuated because of the landslide threat, authorities sayThe price of vegetables has risen sharply because there is no means of transportation to the wholesale marketsThe temperature in Colombo dropped to 18.8C on Wednesday – the lowest recorded for 61 years, the Met Department saidThe Indian government says it will dispatch relief material for the flood-affected people, with the first consignment arriving on Friday

People in Batticaloa district told the BBC Tamil service on Wednesday that they had done their best to stay in their villages, but had been forced to flee in the end.

The air force has helped evacuate people and drop food supplies to some cut-off communities.

The government has made an emergency appeal for ordinary people’s help in sending dry rations, mattresses and bottled water.

Deputy Disaster Management Minister Duleep Wijesekara said on Wednesday that some places, such as Muttur, had been difficult to reach.

“I boarded a high-speed navy boat to get there [to Muttur], but due to the huge waves we had to turn back after sailing for about 15km. After that we had to send food in by air,” he said.

The floods bring a risk of disease, including the mosquito-borne dengue fever, which even in normal times is a severe problem in the country.

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

Over 60 more flu deaths reported

woman having flu jabExperts say at-risk groups should still have the flu jab

Sixty-two people died with flu in the UK the last week, bringing the total to 112 since October, figures reveal.

However, the Health Protection Agency said the rise could be due to delayed reporting, with many of the deaths occurring before Christmas.

Most of those who died had swine flu. The majority were aged between 15 and 64, but nine children under 14 died.

Professor John Oxford, a virologist at Barts and the Royal London, suggested the outbreak might be “past the worst”.

But he told the BBC it was important for government and experts like himself to learn lessons.

“It was much bigger than we thought. We should think much more seriously about vaccinating the under-fours.”

Of the 81 deaths where data is available, 63 people were in risk groups for flu.

And of the 47 for vaccine status is known, 40 had not had this season’s flu jab.

Since October, 95 deaths have been linked to swine flu and 12 to the influenza B virus, with the rest unclassified.

The HPA said though that the figures only represented a proportion of those who had died from flu, or from complications such as pneumonia.

“Our latest flu report suggests levels of people seeing their doctor for flu-like illness is beginning to plateau ”

Professor John Watson, HPA Head of respiratory diseases

The number of people in critical care beds in England has fallen from 783 last week to 661.

Professor John Watson, head of respiratory diseases at the HPA, said: “Our latest flu report suggests levels of people seeing their doctor for flu-like illness is beginning to plateau but this may be skewed by the recent holiday period.

“Flu is still circulating in the community and the message remains that those people in an at-risk group should have their seasonal flu vaccine as soon as possible as this is the best way to protect themselves from flu this winter.”

At-risk groups who are advised to have the jab include pregnant women, the elderly and those with other underlying conditions such as heart problems, diabetes, lung, liver or renal diseases and those who have weakened immune systems.

The HPA added that it had seen a “modest” increase in bacterial infections such as pneumococcal and meningococcal disease, which might be linked to flu, and that it was advising doctors to remain vigilant for them.

Professor Watson added: “The severity of these conditions means that prompt identification and treatment are essential.”

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

Cadet crash warning system call

Cousins Katie-Jo Davies and Nikkita Marie Walters (right)Cousins Katie-Jo Davies and Nikkita Marie Walters [R] were on RAF “air experience flights”
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The coroner at an inquest into a mid-air collision in which four people died said it was “highly unlikely” it would have happened had a warning system been in place.

Cousins Katie-Jo Davies, 14 and Nikkita Walters, 13, from Evanstown, Rhondda Cynon Taf, died in the Bridgend crash.

Instructors Hylton Price, from Bridgend, and Andrew Marsh, from Penarth, were also killed.

The coroner at Aberdare recorded a narrative verdict.

The inquest heard the planes did not see each other in time and collided in mid air during a training flight over the Kenfig Nature Reserve near Porthcawl on 11 February, 2009.

The Air Training Corps cadets were on different RAF “air experience flights” and the planes had flown from their base about 20 miles (32km) away at RAF St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan on what was supposed to be a routine 20-minute sortie.

L-R: Air crash victims Hylton Price and Andrew MarshHylton Price [L] and Andrew Marsh would not have seen each other until it was too late, the report said

Recording his verdict, Powys coroner Peter Maddox said in his view the RAF had done everything it could to ensure the safety of its pilots and cadets in its training flights.

He referred to recommendations made by the MoD during an investigation into the crash that a collision warning system should be installed on RAF tutor aircraft.

He said it was “highly unlikely” the accident would ever have happened had such a system been in place.

The accident has already been subject to an RAF and Air Accident Investigations Board (AAIB) inquiries.

“All I ever wanted from this inquest was to make sure that no other family would have to suffer a tragedy like ours.”

Michael Walters Nikkita’s uncle

The latter’s report said the two light aircraft were difficult to see and the fact they were painted white meant the two pilots did not spot one another in time.

An earlier MoD investigation had made nearly 30 recommendations, which included the introduction of a collision warning system on RAF tutor aircraft.

Speaking after the inquest, Nikkita’s uncle, Michael Walters, said he did not blame the RAF and that he thought the UK regulations made flying the “safest form of transport”.

He added: “All I ever wanted from this inquest was to make sure that no other family would have to suffer a tragedy like ours.

“The RAF recommendations now being put in place will hopefully achieve that goal”

Eyewitnesses reported seeing the two Tutor planes collide and an explosion, before both aircraft crashed to the ground.

Instructors Flying Officer Hylton Price, 63, and Flight Lieutenant Andrew Marsh, 24, were both “experienced in cadet flying”.

The AAIB report added: “The physical size of the Tutor, together with its all-white colour scheme, would have made it difficult to acquire visually [be seen] in the prevailing conditions.

“It is likely that each aircraft was physically obscured from the other pilot’s view at various times leading up to the collision, thus opportunities to acquire [see] the other aircraft were limited to both pilots.”

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

Test looms for net address scheme

Internet addressNet growth could be slowed if the net does not move quickly to the new addressing scheme
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A global trial of the net’s new addressing system is being planned for 8 June.

The test is being held to raise awareness about the imminent change from version 4 of the addressing scheme to version 6.

Net giants Google, Facebook, Akamai and Yahoo have committed to taking part in the “test flight” of IPv6.

Net firms are being encouraged to switch to IPv6 as addresses in the old scheme will run out by November 2011.

“The good news is that internet users don’t need to do anything special to prepare for World IPv6 Day,” said Lorenzo Colitti, a network engineer at Google in a blog post.

“Our current measurements suggest that the vast majority (99.95%) of users will be unaffected. However, in rare cases, users may experience connectivity problems, often due to misconfigured or misbehaving home network devices.”

The World IPv6 Day is being co-ordinated by the Internet Society, a non-profit group which educates people and companies about net issues. It has provided a webpage through which people can test their Ipv6 readiness.

On 8 June, those who sign up will make their pages available via IPv6 for 24 hours to help show up and iron out problems created by the switch to the new addressing scheme.

“By providing an opportunity for the internet industry to collaborate to test IPv6 readiness we expect to lay the groundwork for large-scale IPv6 adoption and help make IPv6 ready for prime time,” said Leslie Daigle, chief internet technology officer at the Internet Society in a statement.

Google already offers an IPv6 version of its search site as does Facebook.

The addressing scheme used by most sites now is defined in version 4 of the Internet Protocol. This has an address space of about four billion entries.

While this figure was considered to be enough in the late 1970s when IPv4 was being developed it has proved to be wanting as the net has grown in popularity and more and more people and devices use it.

At current estimates the pool of IPv4 addresses will run entirely dry in early November 2011.

Many net authorities and organisations have been calling for net firms to switch to IPv6 which has an effectively unlimited address space, but progress has been slow.

In November 2010 Vint Cerf, one of the fathers of the internet, warned that the net faced “turbulent times” if it did not move quickly to adopt IPv6.

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

Al-Qaeda claims Niger kidnappings

Antoine de Leocour (L) and Vincent Delory France has said it believes the two hostages were murdered by the captors
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The North African branch of al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of two Frenchmen in Niger.

The two men were found dead on Saturday after a failed attempt to rescue them on the Niger-Mali border.

A statement by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) did not make it clear how the men died.

France had already said it believed al-Qaeda was responsible, and had suggested that the men were murdered by their captors.

An audio message attributed to AQIM was sent to Reuters news agency and broadcast on the television channel al-Jazeera.

“A group of mujahideen carried out on Friday 7 January a brave operation in the heart of the Niger capital Niamey, where they broke into the secured diplomatic neighbourhood and succeeded in kidnapping two Frenchmen,” it said.

“Two battles took place between the mujahideen and French-Niger forces, resulting in a major failure in the attempt to rescue the hostages.”

The bodies of the two men, Antoine de Leocour and Vincent Delory – both 25 – were flown back to France on Wednesday.

An autopsy has shown that one was shot in the face but the other died from burns, the French news agency AFP reported, quoting police sources in Paris.

On Monday French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said he believed the kidnappers had killed the hostages in cold blood as the attempted rescue took place.

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

UK interest rates remain at 0.5%

Bank of England buildingThe Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee has kept rates at 0.5% since March 2009

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has kept UK interest rates on hold at 0.5%, and unveiled no new quantitative easing (QE) measures.

Both decisions were expected, but it will not be clear whether they were unanimous until the minutes of the meeting are released.

At the MPC’s December, November and October meetings, there was a three-way split among its nine members.

In those meetings, one member voted for a rate rise, another for more QE.

However, most MPC members continue to favour keeping rates on hold to aid the UK’s economic recovery.

The most recent figures showed that Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation rose to 3.3% in November, well above the target rate of 2%, led by food and furniture prices.

The Bank’s key interest rates has been at 0.5% since March 2009.

In each of the last three monthly MPC meetings, Andrew Sentance has called for rates to rise in order to cool inflation, while his colleague Adam Posen has voted for QE to be expanded.

The CPI inflation rate has now remained above the government’s 2% target by one percentage point or more for 12 months.

QE is the Bank’s policy of putting new money into the financial system to try to stimulate the economy.

Mr Posen wants an extra £50bn to be added to QE programme.

Economists have warned that while putting up interest rates may help reduce inflation, it would also restrict the spending power of homeowners with tracker mortgages and people repaying other debts – further endangering the recovery.

Consumers’ spending power is already being squeezed, because pay packets are not keeping up with inflation – with a report by Vocalink on Thursday suggesting that the growth of take-home pay had fallen sharply in the past three months

Consumers have also been faced with record petrol prices in recent weeks, and VAT rose from 17.5% to 20% on 4 January pushing up the cost of many goods and services.

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said the bank should resist a rates rise until the economy had been given sufficient time to react to spending cuts and other austerity measures.

“Premature interest rate increases, while fiscal policy is still being tightened, risk derailing the recovery and could make it harder to implement deficit-cutting measures,” said the BCC’s chief economist David Kern.

He added that so long as wage increases remained modest, and disposable incomes continued to be squeezed, it was “highly likely” that there would be fall in inflation by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, business group the CBI said the Bank of England would come under pressure to increase rates later this year “as its anti-inflation credibility comes under greater pressure”.

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

Amazon to create 950 Scots jobs

The online retail giant Amazon is to create hundreds of new jobs in Scotland, the BBC understands.

It is thought the majority of the posts will be located in Fife which already has a plant in Glenrothes.

The company also has warehouses in Gourock, Inverclyde, and a development centre in South Queensferry.

Further details will be announced later by the First Minister Alex Salmond and Amazon Europe vice president Allan Lyall.

Established in 1998, Amazon offers a wide variety of products over the internet, including books, movies, music, PC and video games, software and electronics.

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