Blancer.com Tutorials and projects
Freelance Projects, Design and Programming Tutorials
world news,online new,us news,uk news
Student Edward Woollard, 18, who admitted throwing a fire extinguisher from the roof of a building during the student fees protests, has been jailed for two years and eight months.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Twins Aaron and Todd Mock both suffered kidney damage after contracting E.coli A Surrey petting farm has admitted liability for an E.coli outbreak in which 93 people were infected, say lawyers for some of those affected.
A total of 76 children under the age of 10 became ill after they contracted the infection at Godstone Farm, Surrey, in the summer of 2009.
Some children suffered kidney failure and spent weeks in hospital. They may need kidney transplants in the future.
Law firm Field Fisher Waterhouse said the farm was not disputing liability.
Twins Aaron and Todd Furnell, from Paddock Wood, both suffered acute kidney failure after contracting E. coli following a trip to the open farm near Redhill.
Aaron needed a feeding tube for liquids for several months and both children may need kidney transplants in the future.
Their mother, Tracy Mock, said: “I am very pleased that we have been successful in this case.
“As a family we have suffered significant pain and distress and may still not know for many years to come the long-term consequences for the twins’ health.
“In the light of the farm’s decision, we can take comfort in the fact that Todd, Aaron and the other children affected by this will have the financial support they need to deal with their current health problems and any that arise later in their lives.”
Field Fisher Waterhouse personal injury lawyer Jill Greenfield said: “Godstone Farm’s confirmation that they will not contest the claim is a welcome decision for all families involved in the outbreak.
“To have toddlers seriously ill on dialysis, as many parents did, is simply horrific. Many of the children now have compromised kidney functioning.
“We will only know the long-term implications when the children get older. Only then will it become apparent whether or not their kidneys can continue to cope as they grow.”
Godstone Farm shut on 12 September 2009, four weeks after the first case of E. coli was reported.
Jackie Flaherty, owner of the farm, is expected to issue a statement later.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
150 more jobs are earmarked for closure in the Department of the Environment Staff at the Department of the Environment face a fresh round of job losses, with an additional 150 posts earmarked for closure in its draft budget.
This is in addition to the 150 posts still to be removed under an existing cuts programme.
Workforce reductions over the next four years will amount to 300 posts.
The department said most of the cuts will happen over the next 12 to 18 months.
Meanwhile, it has emerged the department will face financial pressures because of the length of time it will take to introduce legislation for a levy on plastic bags.
It is expected to raise £4m a year and that money is already being stripped from the department’s budget to fund the green new deal.
As well as a 6% cut in its current expenditure budget this year, the department will also have to absorb a continuing drop in its income from planning fees, estimated at £6m next year.
It also needs to identify savings of more than £1.5m annually to cover agreed increases in civil service pay.
BBC NI Rural Affairs Correspondent, Martin Cassidy, said it was clear that some of the department’s environmental goals “will be compromised”.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Michaela Harte married John McAreavey on 30 December Police have said the daughter of Tyrone GAA football manager Mickey Harte was strangled.
Michaela Harte was found dead at the Legends hotel in Mauritius where she was staying while on honeymoon.
The 27-year-old had married John McAreavey, a member of Down football panel, on 30 December. He has been questioned but is not a suspect.
Police have said they have a list of ten suspects who they intend to bring in for questioning later on Tuesday.
They said the hotel room was in disarray and that they are examining CCTV footage from the complex.
A post-mortem examination carried out on Tuesday found that there were marks on the dead woman’s neck.
Michaela taught Irish at St Patrick’s Girls Academy in Dungannon, County Tyrone and was a former contestant in the Rose of Tralee pageant.
She was very close to her father and was at his side on the three occasions his team won the all-Ireland championship at Croke Park, Dublin, in 2003, 2005 and 2008.
Broken heart
Fr Gerard McAleer, who managed the Tyrone team along with Mickey Harte, has been comforting the family.
He said: “Yesterday afternoon i got a phone call from Mark, Michaela’s older brother, and he told me he had bad news.
“When he said to me it was ‘Our Michaela, our Michaela is dead’, and his voice was breaking, my heart sank, and my heart was broken too.
“I have known Michaela all her life, from the day she came into the world and I had seen her over the years emerge as a very beautiful well-adjusted young woman.
“I was at her wedding, concelebrated the wedding mass, and then just like everyone else I’m bewildered.
“To hear that news this morning about the circumstances, it’s beyond words.”
NI Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said: “Michaela was always close to her father’s side during many great days for Tyrone football.
“Her enthusiasm for her native county, for which she was an excellent ambassador, knew no bounds.”
The First Minister Peter Robinson and the SDLP leader Margaret Ritchie have also sent their condolences to the Harte family.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
For the first time in nearly two decades, two giant pandas will be brought from China to the UK, to live in Edinburgh Zoo. The project represents the culmination of five years of political and diplomatic negotiation at a high level. But why does the panda – unlike any other animal – have the power to involve and engage so much? And what is the key to its enduring popularity?
They remind us of ourselves
The panda’s eating technique reminds us of our own One of the main reasons we love pandas is that they remind us of ourselves, says Ron Swaisgood, Director of Applied Animal Ecology, San Diego Zoo Institue for Conservation Research.
“They eat sitting up using their hands and their special pseudo thumb, which is actually a modified wrist bone,” he told the BBC News website.
Zoo visitors love to watch Pandas eating and are often amazed by the way they handle their food with considerable dexterity – thanks partly to that “pseudo thumb”, which functions as a sixth digit.
The classic pose for a panda eating is one that resembles the way humans sit on the floor.
It’s all in the eyes
According to Mr Swaisgood, we also love pandas because of their distinctive eyes. Their eye patches make their eyes look bigger.
“People love big eyes because it reminds them of children,” he says. “This is called neoteny in scientific terms.”
Neoteny basically means keeping a juvenile appearance into adulthood.
According to the San Diego Zoo’s website: “Our own young have characteristics that we humans respond to such as a big, round head, large eyes, a high forehead, and a roly-poly body. We are programmed to respond to these babyish looks. Babies just make us like them and want to care for them. It is part of our human makeup.”
In the human world, panda eyes can take on a less appealing connotation, often being associated with badly applied make-up, or lack of sleep.
They make us laugh
We just find pandas funny. But, according to Henry Nicholls, author of The Way of the Panda, they are undeserving of mockery. Indeed, pandas were not seen as figures of fun until humans failed to get them to reproduce in captivity.
Out of their natural habitat more than 60% of male pandas exhibit no sexual desire at all. In a bid to encourage them to mate, the Chinese have experimented with everything from what has been dubbed “panda porn” – explicit video of pandas mating – to traditional herbs.
After Chi Chi, people began to find pandas funny In the 1960s, attempts to get Chi Chi, a famous panda bought by London Zoo, to breed failed spectacularly.
“At the height of the Cold War, she was even flown to Russia to mate with a giant panda there. It was a very high-profile failure, sparking a rash of cartoons about the case and an explosion of humour that has never gone away,” Mr Nicholls told the BBC News website.
But in fact, pandas’ mating habits are only funny by human standards, Mr Nicholls points out, and the species is very effective at breeding in the wild. The female panda may only be fertile for a few days each year but during this period she will mate dozens of times, with multiple males.
They are shy
The giant panda’s enigmatic nature is in stark contrast to its sheer bulk and striking appearance. The few that remain in the wild are mainly scattered across six isolated mountain ranges across south-central China. For researchers, it is a real challenge to find this extraordinarily elusive beast which moves away higher and deeper into the forest before long before humans can get anywhere near.
“There is some rather heartening that, in a very developed world, this species can still evade us and manage to carve out a space for itself,” Mr Nicholls says.
They are cultural symbols
The panda has been relentlessly made into a symbol since the 1960s. It’s been used by the WWF to convince us about the importance of conservation.
According to San Diego Zoo’s Ron Swaisgood, the fact that they are an icon of conservation helps boosts their appeal.
“People love to rally around an underdog,” he says. “Good news is, it’s working. China has now established more than 60 reserves protecting the remaining pandas and researchers have accumulated enough knowledge about their biology and behaviour to have a self-sustaining captive population and begin to adaptively manage the wild population toward recovery.”
The panda has also been used by China to represent the potency of a nation.
Giant panda cubs start off very small indeed Our love of pandas has also been used as a marketing ploy – their black and white folds used to sell everything from sweets and fizzy pop to Western consumer to cigarettes in China.
The giant panda is so linked to the idea of China that, unlike any other animal, it has become a political symbol. Decisions to lend and loan pandas take years of negotiations. Edinburgh Zoo was reportedly in talks with the Chinese for half a decade before the deal to house Tian Tian and Yangguang was sealed. And, unlike the exchange of any other animal, these deals often involve political negotiations at the very highest levels.
They are rare
Giant Pandas are officially listed on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s list of endangered species, which assumes there are fewer than 2,500 giant pandas in the world. The official figure is 1,596.
But, suggests Mr Nicholls, it is almost impossible to effectively document the actual number of pandas in existence, the animal is so elusive.
He says that such is the cultural and political power of the animal for China that is highly unlikely the number would ever be simply scientific.
“It has been suggested that with an animal this emblematic, politics gets in the way of the actual scientific decisions. A census which took place in the 1970s was highly massaged to get a sense of a species on the edge.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Mitchell had denied all the charges A Northumbria Police officer has been jailed for life for carrying out sex attacks on vulnerable women he met while on duty in Newcastle.
Pc Stephen Mitchell had earlier been convicted of two charges of rape, three indecent assaults and six counts of misconduct in public office.
The 42-year-old, from Glasgow, who had denied all charges, was given two life sentences at Newcastle Crown Court.
He was told he will not be eligible for parole for at least seven years.
During a five-week trial it emerged Mitchell targeted vulnerable women, including heroin addicts and shoplifters, by offering to help them while they were in custody at Newcastle’s Pilgrim Street police station and then asking for sexual favours.
He denied all the charges and claimed the 16 women who made complaints about his behaviour were liars.
Mitchell was cleared of nine counts of misconduct in public office, three of indecent assault and three of rape.
During the trial, the court heard Northumbria Police had disciplined Mitchell when it was discovered he had sex with a woman he had met as part of his duties, but he was not dismissed for the offence.
It also emerged he was accused of a serious sexual offence while he was still in the Army, but this was not revealed when he applied to join Northumbria Police.
Some of Mitchell’s victims are now pursuing civil claims for sexual assault, false imprisonment and breach of human rights.
A spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said all of Mitchell’s victims received support from Northumbria Police once his crimes were known.
Sentencing, trial judge Mr Justice Wilkie said Mitchell presented such a danger to women that he might never be released from prison.
He said the officer had broken the bond of trust that existed between the public and the police. Mitchell was a sexual predator who “ruthlessly exploited” his victims for his own pleasure and “degraded them repeatedly”.
“You succeeded so well you were able to treat them as sex objects over a period of months, and in some cases, years,” he said.
“So cowed and downtrodden by their experiences of life and by your influence were those seven women that they did not report what you had done until they were given the opportunity to do so by the police investigation into your activities years later.”
He said Mitchell would serve at least seven-and-a-half years in jail before being considered for parole.
“Thereafter, you will only be released, if at all, if the parole board has concluded it is safe and in the public interest for you to be released on public licence,” he added.
“That may not be for many years, if for ever.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Miriam O’Reilly said she was “devastated” to lose her job on Countryfile Ex-Countryfile host Miriam O’Reilly has won an employment tribunal against the BBC on the grounds of ageism and victimisation – but not sexism.
The 53-year-old claimed she had been unfairly dropped from the rural affairs show when it moved to a primetime Sunday evening slot in 2009.
O’Reilly, who was seeking compensation for alleged sex and age discrimination, said the outcome had “implications for all broadcasters, not just the BBC”.
The BBC said it accepted the findings.
In a statement, it added it would “be looking at the full details”.
O’Reilly said she had endured “an incredibly stressful 14 months”.
“I did this because it was the right thing to do – I couldn’t have lived with myself if I’d just walked away.
“I’m so pleased the judges have agreed with me.”
O’Reilly, along with Juliet Morris and Michaela Strachan, lost her job on Countryfile ahead of its move to Sunday evenings.
Former Watchdog host Julia Bradbury and Matt Baker were among new presenters who joined the revamped programme while John Craven, then 68, was kept on.
O’Reilly told the tribunal she was not given a reason for her departure and was told only that Countryfile was being “refreshed”.
“It is not an exaggeration to say that I was devastated by this news,” she said.
“Being dropped from the programme, I believe because of my age and sex, really affected my confidence.”
But former BBC One controller Jay Hunt told the tribunal the claims were “entirely and categorically untrue” as well as “profoundly distressing and utterly offensive”.
“I am a 43-year-old woman,” she went on. “I have had my own difficulties surviving this industry.
“For that reason, the last thing I would ever do is ever discriminate against anyone on the basis of gender or age. Nothing could be further from my mind.”
Hunt argued that the only reason for O’Reilly’s departure was because she was not recognisable to a peaktime audience.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Barclays boss: Banks should be allowed to fail instead of being bailed out
Barclays boss Bob Diamond has said that taxpayers should not bail out banks, and that those banks that get into trouble should be allowed to fail.
“It is not OK for taxpayers to bail out banks,” Mr Diamond told a Treasury Committee hearing.
On bonuses, he said that Barclays “paid for performance, not for failure”.
The government has called on banks to pay smaller bonuses, with Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg urging them to be “sensitive to the public mood”.
Mr Diamond said that Barclays had yet to decide on bonus payments to its staff for this year.
He added that the “majority” of the amount paid in bonuses went to investment bankers, rather than staff in the retail banking arm.
“We are sensitive, we are listening [to calls for restraint], and there is no lack of effort in recognising the importance of this issue and being responsible [over bonuses],” he said.
He said that Barclays had “no intention of paying more in bonuses than is necessary”.
However, he said the bank had to balance these responsibilities with “the environment we operate in”, referring to the fact that if Barclays were to unilaterally reduce bonuses, top staff could leave to join competitors.
He said he had waived his bonus for the past two years but would wait until he was offered one this year before deciding whether to accept it.
While he said he was grateful for the support given to the banking sector from central banks and governments, he stressed that Barclays had not taken any direct support from the taxpayer.
The UK government has pumped billions of pounds into the banking sector and has bailed out both Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group, while the Bank of England has also injected billions into the economy through its quantitative easing programme.
“No bank should be a burden on the taxpayer – we have to make the system safer,” he said.
Mr Diamond also said that his bank was committed to lending more to help the economic recovery in the UK, and that it was time to move on from widespread bank-bashing.
“There was a period of remorse and apology for banks – I think that period needs to be over,” he said.
“We need our banks willing to take risks, be confident and work with the private sector in the UK, so that we can create jobs to improve economic growth.”
However, when pressed he would not give an idea of how much Barclays intended to lend this year.
“In 2009, we lent £35bn more [than the previous year] and in 2010 we lent £35bn more again in the first nine months alone,” he said.
“Lending is what we do. We like to lend.”
But he said the bank needed to lend responsibly, with proper risk management in place. Lending too freely had contributed to the financial crisis, he added.
Banks are under pressure from the coalition government to lend more to businesses to help them through the downturn.
Mr Diamond said the major banks were in discussions with the government about lending targets for next year.
He also reiterated Barclays’ intention to remain based in London. He said the city had numerous benefits, including the time zone, a good pool of talent and the fact that English was the native language.
There has been speculation that some banks may move abroad if the government clamps down on bonus payments.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Richard Tremelling was sacked from his job at Cefn Hengoed Community School A teacher was sacked after bringing a sledge into school and allowing two pupils to ride on it, a disciplinary hearing has heard.
Design teacher Richard Tremelling said he took it to Cefn Hengoed Community School, Swansea, in February 2009 as an example of “classic design”.
He was dismissed for failing to follow the school’s health and safety policy.
The General Teaching Council (GTC) committee found him guilty of unacceptable professional conduct.
He was reprimanded by the professional conduct committee, who found four charges proven.
These included allowing the pupils to go sledging and ignoring cautionary words of warning from colleagues.
The hearing heard that two boys on Mr Tremelling’s GCSE design and technology course asked to try out the sledge at the end of the lesson, and he took them sledging on the snow-covered school grounds.
Mr Tremelling was initially suspended pending an inquiry, accused of failing to consult the head teacher, or writing to the school governors, before setting off.
“Given that it was not over hard ground but grass, I did not deem that head gear was necessary”
Richard Tremelling
While he maintained he risk-assessed the activity before it began, he was told he should have done it in writing.
Mr Tremelling is accused of nine separate breaches, amounting to an alleged failure in his duty of care to pupils.
Appearing before a professional conduct committee on Monday, he argued that the sledging session was a logical extension of a lesson.
Mr Tremelling said his own risk assessment had been sufficient and that a written assessment had been unnecessary.
“I did not go sledding on a cheap Asda £10 sledge,” Mr Tremelling told the committee. “I went on a Scandinavian classic design sledge which has built-in safety features, and also a brake.”
He agreed that neither of the pupils involved had worn protective masks but said he did not believe they were necessary.
The sledge in question was a Scandinavian “snow racer” which was an “exceedingly stable sledge”, Mr Tremelling told the hearing.
“Given that it was not over hard ground but grass, I did not deem that head gear was necessary.”
Because riders sit upright on the sledge he did not think knee or elbow pads were necessary either.
The hearing heard that school policy stated that written permission was needed for any outside activity or visit.
But Mr Tremelling said that did not regard the sledging as either an official activity because it was within school, or a visit out of school.
An independent assessment had later been made of the sledging which concluded “no significant risk” was presented by Mr Tremelling’s actions.
Mr Tremelling said the sledge, while appropriate for the weather, was also made of wood, metal and plastic, which was rare in itself and useful for teaching purposes.
The GTC’s professional conduct committee hearing in Cardiff found him guilty of four out of nine charges: That he allowed pupils to go sledging, didn’t have head teacher’s permission, ignored cautionary words of warning from colleagues and denied the allegation when questioned by the head.
He was cleared of five charges, including that there was no risk assement, there was no parental consent and health and safety guidelines were not followed.
Mr Tremelling does not work currently as a teacher but is an officer in the Territorial Army.
The committee ruled he can remain a teacher and his reprimand will be removed after two years.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Angry investors vented their anger on Monday outside the Dhaka Stock Exchange Shares on the Dhaka Stock Exchange in Bangladesh recovered strongly on Tuesday after weeks of heavy falls.
Stocks ended the day up by more than 15% following government pressure on the country’s financial authorities to stabilise the market.
However, some analysts warned that the rebound might be short-lived.
On Monday police used tear gas and baton charged investors who had attacked government buildings in protest at collapsing share prices.
Trading on the Dhaka Stock Exchange index was halted after it fell by 660 points, or 9.25%, in less than an hour.
It was the biggest one-day fall in its 55-year history.
It is estimated that more than three million people – many of them small-scale individual investors – lost money because of the plunging share prices.
The rising value of stocks in recent years has attracted millions of investors in Bangladesh.
Shares have become a popular investment for ordinary people, often providing higher returns than bank deposits and savings.
The BBC’s Mark Dummett says that Bangladesh might be one of Asia’s poorest countries, but its two stock markets have soared in recent years on the rising value of its mobile telephone companies and other firms.
But over the past few weeks more and more investors have been selling up, amid rumours that large institutional investors had pulled their money out after making large profits.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Undercover police work got the Hollywood treatment in Donnie Brasco For seven years, a police officer posed as an environmental activist and then sparked the collapse of a prosecution case against six other activists when he switched sides and offered to give evidence against the Crown. So what is it like living this kind of double life?
David Corbett has been in the loneliest place in the world – the place inhabited by undercover police officers.
For weeks at a time, he would leave his home, wife and family and turn himself into someone completely different. His own clothes, the pictures in the wallet and the favourite CDs in the family car would be left behind.
He would take to the criminal underworld as someone completely different: new hair, new clothes, jewellery and cars. David Corbett the policeman, the family man, would die – and Mr X, the hardened career drug dealer from Glasgow would be born.
That’s the world now under scrutiny after undercover police officer Mark Kennedy spent seven years infiltrating green campaigners only to then offer to give evidence in their defence at trial.
Only Kennedy, known to his protest movement friends as Stone, knows how he got to that place.
But Corbett, who wrote a memoir of his experiences under his assumed name, says that it is all too easy to lose sight of the exit signs when you’re deep inside the mind of a fictional person.
He became an undercover officer after a highly fulfilling career investigating organised crime in Scotland. He was picked out for the job and went through three days of special psychological testing in London to see if he was capable of living a lie without losing his mind.
He passed and became one of the northern undercover officers working on organised crime investigations co-ordinated by Scotland Yard.
“I disappeared into the shadows, never to be seen again”
His first weeks undercover, tasked with bringing down heroin dealers, gave him a high almost as powerful as the hit from the drug itself, he recalls with black humour.
“It was like starting out in the police service again,” he says, now in his 50s. “I was cutting my teeth again – I wanted to be exceptional in what I was doing but I had to start small and work my way up.”
His first proper undercover job involved buying a “parcel” – street drugs – from a dealer in Newcastle Upon Tyne.
“It was a two-week operation and the target was very suspicious of being caught,” he says.
“But it was textbook. I got the parcel, I handed it over to my colleagues from the regional crime squad and then I disappeared into the shadows, never to be seen again. They moved in and made the arrest. The target would never know who I was or my role.”
From there he moved to bigger and more complex operations, eventually creating a believable Scottish crime figure who won the respect and time of major criminals.
But he was only able to do this, he says, because he kept to the rules. Undercover police work, he says, must be tightly focused on gathering specific evidence of a crime. It doesn’t work as well as if the officer doesn’t know what he is there to do. There has to be a reason for entering the world – and a planned point of exit.
On drugs operations, Corbett would need to gather evidence proving that a major criminal was not only willingly selling drugs – but also willing to secure large quantities of them. He needed specific instructions – but also Home Office-backed guidelines on what he should do in various scenarios.
He had to approach each target with a reasonable suspicion that they were up to no good, rather than go fishing or act as an agent provocateur. He had to become part of the target’s world and witness things unfold.
He would never offer to drive a targeted criminal to a meeting with other contacts. But if asked, he would be the driver because refusing to do so would look odd.
“You have to maintain that line between the job and the real person”
Critically, he says, clear instructions and guidelines provide an officer with security and certainty in a world where they are being asked to behave ambiguously.
At the end of an operation, he would return to his handler, usually a former undercover officer, and run through what he had experienced. He would do the paperwork including detailing any laws he may have broken. And most importantly, he would ditch the physical trappings of being undercover – the haircut, the clothes, and return to his normal world.
“The most important thing that I learned was that first and foremost, whatever I was doing, I had to always remember that I was a police officer,” he says.
“Don’t allow yourself to get psychologically mixed up in what you are doing and who you are.
“During my time, I came across people who, I have to be honest, I felt sympathetic towards. There was one young kid [who was part of an investigation] who was on drugs and selling heroin. I felt sorry for his life. But you have to remind yourself that it was his decision to put the needle in his arm.”
Sometimes breaking the law maintains cover The biggest challenge faced by an undercover officer is whether they can break the law. Corbett recalls situations where gang bosses are hosting parties with lines of cocaine ready for guests.
In some cases officers talk their way out of it, claiming a pre-existing medical condition, such as heart palpitations. Others would align themselves with the criminals who stick to the hard drinking. Some officers, fearing for their own lives, take the drug.
“If you have taken the drug, you have got to come out [of the personality] as soon as possible and say on tape [hidden on your body] or to the handler what has happened and why it was a life-threatening situation. You have to maintain that line between the job and the real person.”
That line is essential when it comes to enjoying the trappings of criminal wealth. Corbett regularly drove flashy sports cars – his character demanded it.
But if officers start to look on those props as possessions, rather than tools, they can find themselves sucked into their self-created world.
And after five years deep undercover, he knew he had to get out. He went to see the force’s doctor for professional psychological help.
“He was not aware that I existed – only three people in the force knew that I existed. That was enough and so I decided I had to stop.”
He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder – but counts himself lucky that he got out in time to rebuild his health.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Saudi Arabia has one of the world’s most effective anti-terrorism agencies, analysts say Interpol has issued international alerts for 47 Saudi men, accused by Saudi Arabia of links with al-Qaeda.
The international police agency quoted the Saudi authorities as saying the suspects were “a potentially serious public threat at home and abroad”.
The “red notices” are not arrest warrants but give member countries details to help identify the suspects.
The latest group of alerts is one of the largest ever issued by Interpol at one time.
The largest, in March 2009, also came from the agency’s Riyadh office, and included 85 suspects wanted for links to al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Afghanistan.
A red notice can be requested by any of Interpol’s 188 member countries and remains in effect until the wanted person is extradited to that country.
The Saudis have pursued aggressive anti-terror policies since 2003, and analysts say Riyadh has one of the most effective anti-terrorism agencies in the world.
“By asking for Interpol’s assistance, Saudi Arabia and the Interpol bureau in Riyadh have ensured that all Interpol member countries have been made aware that these men and their activities represent a security concern not only for Saudi Arabia and the region but also worldwide,” Interpol secretary general Ronald Noble said in a statement.
It is not clear whether any of the men are wanted in connection with any specific attacks or plots.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
The demonstrations have been going on for more than three weeks At least 35 people are said to have died in violent unrest in Tunisia, according to the International Federation of Human Rights Leagues, based in Paris.
The authorities have said only 14 people were killed in protests over unemployment at the weekend.
Unconfirmed reports suggest at least 50 were killed in Kasserine in three days.
On Monday, the government ordered all schools and universities to be indefinitely closed over the protests.
The head of the International Federation of Human Rights Leagues (IFHRL), Souhayr Belhassen, has said she had a list of 35 names, but the real number could be higher.
The IFHRL believes the death toll could be as many as 50, as does a Tunisian trade unionist, citing tolls issued by medical staff in a regional hospital in Kasserine.
“The number killed has passed 50,” Sadok Mahmoudi, a member of the regional branch of the Tunisian workers’ union UGTT, has told the AFP news agency.
Human rights campaigners say the violence has also spread from inland to several coastal towns important for Tunisia’s big tourism industry.
A trade unionist in the town of Thala told the BBC that police were warning residents not to gather in groups – even of two.
He said there was a desperate shortage of food and heating oil in the town.
The Tunisian government’s response has been criticised by the EU and the US, which has called on the country to respect freedom of expression.
Demonstrations are rare in Tunisia, where there are tight controls aimed at preventing dissent.
The closure of schools is an indication of how seriously authorities are taking the demonstrations, which have been going on for more than three weeks, observers say.
President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali has defended his government’s record in the face of the protests, and promised to create more jobs.
He says an extremist minority has been misleading the young, blaming gangs who were carrying out “terrorist acts”.
Mr Ben Ali is only Tunisia’s second president since the country gained independence from France in 1956.
He came to power in 1987 and was last re-elected to a five-year term in 2009.
Send your pictures and videos to [email protected] or text them to 61124 (UK) or +44 7725 100 100 (International). If you have a large file you can upload here.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
The English Football Association is in talks with other home nations to play a one-off tournament in 2013 but does not want to hold it on a regular basis.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Police cordoned off the scene at Gelli Road, Llanelli The family of a 38-year-old woman who died after a house fire in Llanelli have paid tribute to a “loving mother and wonderful daughter.”
Rebekah Lewis was rescued by fire crews from the blaze in Gelli Road early on Friday but died later in hospital.
Police said the fire started accidentally and she died of smoke inhalation.
Her sister Kath Harries said her family was devastated and her death left a big gap in their lives.
Firefighters were called to the house at 0154 GMT.
In a statement, released through Dyfed-Powys Police, Ms Harries said: “Rebekah was always full of life, always smiling and bubbly, and that’s how we’ll all remember her.
“We are all devastated at losing her. She was a loving mother, a wonderful daughter and sister and a great friend, and she leaves a very big gap behind.
“We’ve been overwhelmed by the kind thoughts and wishes passed on to us by so many people, and it just goes to show how highly Rebekah was thought of.
“We all love her and miss her so much.”
An inquest into the death has been opened and adjourned.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.