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Scientists believe there might be more to choir boys’ and girls’ distinctive sound than meets the ear.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
The deputy chair of the BMA’s NI GPs committee expects a “significant rise” in the number of cases of swine flu when figures are released later.
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Severe weather warnings are issued by the Met Office for parts of northern Scotland overnight.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Officials in the Netherlands have been attending a fire at chemical plant in the southern city of Dordrecht.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Twenty-four school children in eastern China have been hospitalised with suspected lead poisoning from nearby battery factories.
The official Xinhua news agency said that at least 200 children in the area had elevated lead levels.
It said the authorities had shut two battery factories in Huaning county in the eastern province of Anhui.
China is the largest producer and consumer of lead for batteries, cars and electric bikes.
The children sent to hospital were aged between nine months and 16 years old.
Those affected came from homes close to battery factories, despite laws prohibiting factories from being located within 500m (1,600ft) of residential areas.
Xinhua reported that the Anhui Provincial Children’s Hospital had tested about 280 children from Gaohe Township in Huaning county for lead poisoning since late December.
Most had been diagnosed with high blood lead levels, said Cheng Bangning, deputy director of the hospital’s micro-elements testing laboratory.
“We can draw a clear conclusion that the lead poisoning was caused by the lead pollution of the battery plants,” said Zhang Gong, director of the hospital’s child healthcare department.
Excessive amounts of lead in the blood can cause damage to the digestive, nervous and reproductive systems, and also stomach aches, anaemia and convulsions.
“My son is now very cranky and restless. He yells a lot,” Xinhua quoted Huang Dazhai, the father of a five-year-old boy, as saying.
The boy was found to have 330.9 micrograms of lead per litre of blood.
A level of 100mg per litre is considered enough to impair brain development in children.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
The presidential panel said BP did not have “adequate controls” in place The companies involved in the BP oil spill had made decisions to cut costs and save time that contributed to the disaster, a US panel has found.
In a 48-page report, the presidential commission wrote that the failures were “systemic” and likely to recur without industry and government reform.
But it said BP did not have adequate controls in place to ensure safety.
The April blast aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig killed 11 people and caused one of the worst oil spills in history.
The Macondo well, about a mile under the sea’s surface, eventually leaked millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, damaging hundreds of miles of environmentally sensitive coastline.
The new report criticises BP, which owned the Macondo well, Halliburton, which managed the well sealing operation, and Transocean, which owned the Deepwater Horizon rig, and blames inadequate government oversight and regulation.
“This disaster likely would not have happened had the companies involved been guided by an unrelenting commitment to safety first”
Bob Graham Co-chairman of the commission
“Whether purposeful or not, many of the decisions that BP, Halliburton, and Transocean made that increased the risk of the Macondo blow-out clearly saved those companies significant time (and money),” the presidential panel wrote.
“BP did not have adequate controls in place to ensure that key decisions in the months leading up to the blow-out were safe or sound from an engineering perspective.”
The findings came in the final report of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, which President Barack Obama convened in May to investigate the root causes of the spill and recommend changes to industry and government policy.
Though it lacked subpoena power, the panel reviewed thousands of pages of documents, interviewed hundreds of witnesses, and in the autumn conducted a series of public hearings.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Bob Graham, former Florida governor and a co-chairman of the commission, said the findings showed the blow-out was avoidable.
“This disaster likely would not have happened had the companies involved been guided by an unrelenting commitment to safety first,” he said.
In a months-long investigation, the panel found that mistakes and “failures to appreciate risk” compromised safeguards “until the blow-out was inevitable and, at the very end, uncontrollable”.
BP’s “fundamental mistake”, the panel wrote, was failing to exercise proper caution over the job of sealing the well with cement.
“Based on evidence currently available, there is nothing to suggest that BP’s engineering team conducted a formal, disciplined analysis of the combined impact of these risk factors on the prospects for a successful cement job,” the report reads.
Specific risks the report identifies include a flawed design for the cement used to seal the bottom of the well; a test of that seal identified problems but was “incorrectly judged a success”; and the workers’ failure to recognise the first signs of the impending blow-out.
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Ceremonial tents are being set up outside some Coptic churches for the celebrations Coptic Christians are preparing to celebrate Christmas Eve amid tight security after a bomb attack on a church in Egypt in which 21 died.
Armed Egyptian police have been ordered to protect churches where Copts are expected to gather in large numbers.
There have been calls for Muslims to hold vigils outside Coptic churches in a gesture of solidarity.
But some radical Islamist websites have urged more attacks, publishing church addresses in Egypt and Europe.
The bombing of the church in Alexandria on New Year’s Day was the worst act of sectarian violence in Egypt in a decade.
It triggered days of protests and riots by Christians blaming the government for encouraging discrimination and not doing enough to protect them.
In response, Egyptian authorities have stepped up security around many churches, with explosives experts on hand.
Armoured vehicles have also been stationed in key areas.
Egyptian activists have called for Muslims to form human shields around churches during Thursday’s Christmas Eve celebrations as a gesture of solidarity with Christians.
However, radical Islamist websites have been circulating lists of Coptic churches in Egypt and Europe with instructions on how to attack them.
“Blow up the churches while they are celebrating Christmas or any other time when the churches are packed,” the statement read.
Copts celebrate Christmas on 7 January, according to the Julian calendar. Some European governments have also announced security measures at churches.
The BBC’s Jon Leyne in Cairo says suspicion and fear between Christians and Muslims has been growing in Egypt for some time, made worse by tough economic conditions and a discredited political system.
It was during Coptic Christmas Eve celebrations in southern Egypt in 2009 that six Christians and a Muslim security guard were killed in a drive-by shooting.
The country’s Coptic Christian minority makes up 10% of Egypt’s 80 million people.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Most of Sudan’s oil is produced in the south, but exported through the north Sudan needs to have greater transparency over its oil revenues to help preserve peace in the region, according to a new report.
Campaign organisation Global Witness says suspicions over how revenues have been shared have added greatly to mistrust between north and south.
The report comes ahead of Sunday’s referendum on southern independence.
Most of Sudan’s oil comes from wells in the south but the infrastructure remains in the north.
The current oil-sharing accord between the two shares the revenues roughly 50:50.
In its report, Global Witness says the two sides need to agree a more transparent deal to replace the existing one, which is due to expire at the end of the month.
“There has been much mistrust over whether the current revenue distribution system has been implemented fairly,” the report says.
“Mistrust over revenue sharing was one of the primary reasons for the south’s temporary pullout from the power-sharing arrangement in 2007. Evidence suggests that such concerns are not unfounded.”
The report also says the Sudanese government and the region’s main oil company – China National Petroleum Corporation – have not adequately accounted for discrepancies in published production figures.
It adds: “Under the current circumstances Sudanese citizens cannot be sure how much oil their country produces and therefore cannot be sure that the oil wealth-sharing agreement is being implemented fairly.
“It is critical that these issues are addressed. A new oil deal between north and south is essential to prevent a return to full-scale war.”
The week-long referendum that begins on Sunday is part of the 2005 deal that ended a two-decades-long war.
More than 95% of registered voters are in Southern Sudan while the rest are Southern Sudanese living in the north or in one of eight foreign countries.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Violent protests have taken place in Andhra Pradesh The Indian government is due to hold a meeting with major political parties to share the contents of an official report on whether it should create the new southern state of Telangana.
The government is expected to make the report public after the talks.
Three parties, including the one leading the statehood demand, are boycotting the talks.
Andhra Pradesh, from which Telangana would be created, saw protests for and against the new state this year.
The final decision on a new state lies with the Indian parliament.
But the state assembly must also pass a resolution approving its creation.
In February, the government decided to set up a committee headed by an ex-chief justice of the Supreme Court of India, BN Srikrishna, to examine the demands for the new state.
Mr Srikrishna handed over his report to federal Home Minister P Chidambaram last week.
Correspondents say there are deep divisions within political parties over the Telangana issue.
Apart from the regional Telangana Rashtra Samiti party, which is leading calls to create the new state, the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Telugu Desam party are staying away from Thursday’s key meeting.
Reports in the Indian media say Mr Srikrishna’s report is likely to offer a number of options, including keeping Andhra Pradesh intact and forming a separate Telangana state.
In December last year, India’s Congress party-led government promised that the new state would be formed but later said more talks were needed.
Parties are split on the issue.
Congress is also in power in Andhra Pradesh.
The announcement prompted widespread protests in the state, and a student committed suicide in support of the formation of Telangana.
Opponents of the move are unhappy that Hyderabad, home to many major information technology and pharmaceutical companies, would become Telangana’s new capital.
Fearing fresh violence in the state after the publication of the report, the government has appealed to the people of Andhra Pradesh to stay calm.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
A bodyguard to Michael Jackson testifies that the singer’s doctor ordered him to clean up medical paraphernalia in the moments after he died.
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Drugs were hidden in yams, which were then sealed up again Drugs hidden inside vegetables, paintings, ornaments and bottles of liquor have been discovered over the past year, the UK Border Agency says.
Officers in Kent found £500,000 worth of cocaine packed into yams, which had been cut open and glued back together again, for example.
Drugs seizures fell last year, after rising steadily during the last decade.
This is partly because the police are now seizing more cannabis on the streets.
Brodie Clark, head of the agency’s Border Force, said the concealed drugs were all found during searches at ports, airports and postal sorting depots last year.
He said: “These smuggling attempts show the lengths that organised criminals will go to in a bid to get drugs into the UK.
“Criminals are prepared to invest large sums of money to come up with ever better concealment methods because they know the potential profits from the awful trade in harmful drugs are considerable.”
Recent drug smuggling attempts include:
In August, 10 kilos of cocaine were found hidden in yams sent on a freight flight at Kent International Airport. The vegetables, from Ghana, had been cut open to conceal the Class A drugs and glued back together.About one kilo of cocaine – worth some £70,000 – discovered within air pockets inside glass ornaments at Coventry international postal hub in AugustA package of cocaine weighing about 110g and worth up to £40,000 was found inside a birthday card destined for an address in Belfast in NovemberA 45-year-old self-employed mechanic from Trinidad and Tobago arrested shortly after he arrived at Gatwick Airport in December when one kilo of liquid cocaine was found inside two bottles of Baileys he was carryingIn December, a British man and woman arrived in Britain from Amsterdam after swallowing and stuffing about 500g of heroin. The woman required surgery to remove the drugs after eight days.
Smugglers also tried to conceal cannabis worth almost £3,000 in a painting of Manchester City footballer Emmanuel Adebayor.
The wooden framed picture was seized by border officials as it passed through the international postal hub in Coventry, having been sent from the footballer’s native Togo.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Alberto Alvarez, left, testified that Dr Murray had said the singer “had a bad reaction” A bodyguard to Michael Jackson has testified the singer’s doctor ordered him to clean up medical paraphernalia in the moments after he died.
And a paramedic said Dr Conrad Murray did not mention he had given Jackson propofol, an anaesthetic found to have caused the singer’s death.
The testimony came at a preliminary hearing for Dr Murray, who has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter.
Prosecutors say his negligence led to Jackson’s death aged 50 in June 2009.
At the preliminary hearing in a Los Angeles courtroom, a judge is to decide whether prosecutors have enough evidence to try Dr Murray, a cardiologist. It is expected to last several days.
Dr Murray faces up to four years in prison if convicted.
Prosecutors contend Dr Murray’s treatment of the singer – including administering several doses of sedatives and a dose of propofol in the hours before he died – deviated from medical practice sufficiently to constitute a crime.
They also say Dr Murray improperly concealed his use of propofol, a surgical anaesthetic typically used in a clinical setting.
On Wednesday, bodyguard Alberto Alvarez testified that Dr Murray had summoned him to the singer’s bedroom, telling him something had gone wrong and ordering him to clean up medicine vials and intravenous bags, then afterward to call paramedics.
Mr Alvarez said Jackson lay on the bed, his eyes and mouth open, connected to an IV tube and a urinary catheter.
“I said, ‘Dr Murray, what happened?’ And he said, ‘He had a reaction. He had a bad reaction,”‘ Mr Alvarez recalled.
Also on Wednesday, paramedic Richard Senneff said Dr Murray did not mention he had administered propofol, but said he was treating the singer for dehydration.
He said Jackson had looked so pale and gaunt he mistook him for a hospice patient, and did not initially recognise him as the world famous pop music star.
The Los Angeles County coroner’s office has ruled the singer died from an overdose of the surgical anaesthetic propofol, found in his body along with a cocktail of other sedatives.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
A committee of MPs raises “serious doubts” about the UK’s ability to combat oil spills and warns taxpayers could pay for a spill.
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Most UK workers face the prospect of real declining incomes this year, the research suggests Private sector pay could rise by more this year than in 2010, but is still likely to trail inflation, research by Incomes Data Services has suggested.
The data suggests typical pay awards were running at 2.2% in November, up from the 2% rises that characterised most of the past year.
However, this is less than half the rate of retail price inflation.
The public sector in the UK faces pay freezes in most areas as a result of the government’s spending cuts.
While the number of explicit pay freezes has been dropping sharply, IDS expects public sector pay rises to fall from a typical 0.75 per cent in 2010.
In the private sector, pay rises may average three per cent this year, it predicted.
But as many analysts expect retail price inflation to remain above four per cent this year, the report suggests that another year of declining real incomes is in prospect for most UK workers, as the rate of pay increases fails to keep pace with inflation.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
A series of decisions to cut costs contributed to the BP oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, a US presidential panel has found.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.