Category: news

Thousands more faced overnight water restrictions

Water engineers are continuing to work around the clock in a bid to reconnect supplies to thousands of users in Northern Ireland.

Government-owned Northern Ireland Water, however, said it would be “at least three or four more days” before everyone was back on supply.

Some people have now been without a water supply for two weeks.

On Sunday evening, supplies to more than 55,000 households will be cut off in order to help replenish reservoirs.

However, NI Water has reported that the number of homes and businesses with no supply has dropped to 799.

Burst pipes are expected to cause disruption at some schools scheduled to re-open on Monday following the Christmas break.

Meanwhile Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond said he would not be charging Northern Ireland for the 500,000 litres of bottled water sent over during the crisis.

The areas affected include east Belfast, Dungannon and Aughnacloy.

Dunmurry, Castlewellan, Newry, and Ballygawley have also been placed on a rotating supply.

Parts of Belfast as well as customers in the Ballygawley/Aughnacloy area had their supply curtailed for a limited period on Saturday and Sunday.

As of 1000 GMT on Sunday, NI Water said the number of customers without any supply has been reduced to 2,497 properties.

However, the overnight switch-off added thousands more homes and businesses to those numbers.

A full list of areas where the water supply will be turned off is available on the NI Water website, along with a list of locations where temporary water supplies have been set up.

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There must be no repeat of the violence which broke out at an open prison in West Sussex over the New Year holiday, the prisons minister has said.

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A 42-year-old man has been the victim of an alleged kidnapping and assault in Craigavon early on Sunday.

Police said they believe the man was coming home from a party when he was attacked by a group of men who got out of a car in the Aghagallon area of Craigavon between 0300 and 0330 GMT.

The men allegedly hit him about the head and body with sticks and bats.

They then pulled him into the boot of the car and drove a short distance before throwing him out.

Police have appealed for anyone with information about the incident to contact them.

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The waters are still rising in the city of Rockhampton

A severe thunderstorm threatening flash floods has been forecast for the already badly inundated Australian state of Queensland.

More than 20 towns have already been cut off or flooded across an area larger than France and Germany, with more than 200,000 people affected.

Meanwhile, a woman swept from the road in her car has become the first victim of the widespread flooding.

At least two other people have been reported missing.

In some areas waters are receding, but in Rockhampton – a city of 77,000 – they have yet to reach their peak.

Floodwaters could reach nine metres (30 feet) on Monday and peak at 9.4 metres on Wednesday, it says.

The Bureau of Meteorology says a severe thunderstorm late on Sunday night will bring “damaging winds, very heavy rainfall, flash flooding and large hailstones” to areas including Charleville, Emerald and Blackwater.

This includes areas in the central Highlands which have been hit badly by the floods in recent weeks.

The 41-year-old woman who was killed had been trying to cross the Leichhardt River on a causeway with one other car when both vehicles were swept away.

Police rescued eight people from the cars, but were unable to reach the woman. Her body was recovered later.

Rescue workers have also been searching for a man whose small fishing boat was swamped by flood waters in the mouth of the Boyne River, and for a swimmer who disappeared in the Fitzroy river, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

There are fears that damage from the floods could cost billions of Australian dollars to repair.

Officials have warned that the mining, farming and tourism industries will all suffer.

Recovery efforts are beginning in some areas where flooding has subsided, including the severely affected towns of Emerald and Bundaberg.

Residents are preparing to return home, though the towns of Theodore and Condamine, which were completely evacuated, remain empty.

In some areas, helicopters have been used to deliver supplies and food to cut-off householders.

Residents in Rockhampton have been leaving their homes for days as water levels continue to rise.

The mayor there, Brad Carter, has warned that about 40% of the city could be affected.

The airport has been closed to commercial flights, and roads into the city from the south and the west have been cut off.

One Rockhampton resident told the BBC there had been panic buying in the city.

“Lots of people have been stocking up on fuel. I also heard about one woman who brought 20 loaves of bread from a supermarket,” Petros Khalesirad said.

And he also claimed the floods had swept snakes downstream.

“Snakes have been swimming at people’s feet as they make their way through the waters,” he said. “I know one guy who killed four snakes this morning, one of which was a taipan – the more it bites, the more it injects venom that could easily kill.”

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Sixty-six people died in the Ibrox Stadium disaster

A one minute silence will be held to mark the 40th anniversary of the Ibrox disaster in which 66 people died.

At the end of 1971’s New Year old firm derby on 3 January, dozens were crushed to death on a concrete stairway leading from the Copland Road end of ground.

The minute’s silence will take place before Rangers and Celtic play at the Ibrox stadium at 1230 GMT.

Rangers have also unveiled a new memorial to the disaster and will hold a remembrance ceremony on 3 January.

As well as the 66 who perished, 200 others were injured in the crush.

At first, it was believed that fans, leaving the stadium before the final whistle, had turned back when Rangers’ centre-forward Colin Stein scored an equalising goal in the 89th minute.

But a fatal accident inquiry which heard evidence of the position in which the bodies were found, determined all of the victims had been leaving the ground.

Virtually none of the bodies showed any sign of significant injury. They had died, the inquiry decided, from asphyxiation or suffocation in the crush which left steel safety barriers buckled and broken.

Four decades later, one of the survivors, Ian Loch, recalled the horror of Stairway 13.

He said as they headed for the exits, fans were delighted with Rangers’ equaliser, which came just a minute after Jimmy Johnstone had put Celtic into the lead.

Players represented the club at the funerals of all the victims

But the crush was immense in the passageway and on the stairway which took fans out of the ground beyond the top of the terracing.

“It was like a pack of cards where someone had fallen. Everyone was just going on top of each other and, really, you were just trying to fight for your own life then,” he told BBC Scotland.

“The air was just getting squeezed out of you. At first everybody could shout: ‘Get back, get back.’

“But that soon fell silent because there was no air left in your lungs. You just felt it was like a vice in your body getting tighter and tighter.”

He said he feared for his own safety as he felt his legs wrapped around the person behind him.

Mr Loch said he believes he was saved by his father’s advice to ensure, if he was in a crush, his arms were free. He managed to pull himself up and crawl to safety over bodies.

John Greig was Rangers captain at the time of the disaster.

He had received treatment for an injury after the final whistle and was one of the last players out of the showers when officials started to bring bodies into the dressing room.

“I’ll never forget that sight as long as I live,” he said.

“Probably I was complaining about a wee sore ankle, and there’s people who had lost their lives. It was a shocking end to a football match. An accident like that, you never expect to happen.”

The Rangers manager, Willie Waddell, announced the next day the club would be represented by players at the funerals of all 66 victims.

One of the most poignant was in Markinch, in Fife, from where five teenage boys had set off from a street called Park View to go to the game – and never returned.

Gisela Easton, 86, still remembers the day her son Peter went down the street with his pals to catch the bus to Ibrox.

Gisela Easton said she blamed herself for her son’s death

“I said I’ll wave to you from the window,” she recalled.

“And they all went along the street, the five of them, and swung their scarves and sang Rangers songs. That’s the last I saw of him.”

Four decades after the tragedy she blames herself for allowing Peter, who was 15, to go to Glasgow.

His father was concerned about it, but Peter had pleaded with her.

She had relented as a reward because he was doing so well at school.

“I couldn’t deny him, and I persuaded my husband to let him go,” Mrs Easton said.

“And I remember we stood in the kitchen, and Peter said to me ‘Thanks Mum’. And it was my fault that he was killed.”

Rangers have unveiled a new memorial to the disaster, and will hold a remembrance ceremony close to the site where it happened on 3 January, a day after they meet Celtic again in an Old Firm clash at Ibrox.

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Mr Szeto was a well-known critic of the Chinese regime

One of Hong Kong’s most influential campaigners for democracy and human rights, Szeto Wah, has died after a long battle with cancer, aged 79.

He was a leading campaigner for the victims of Beijing’s 1989 crackdown on protesters at Tiananmen Square.

Known as Uncle Wah, he was also a voice for mainland dissidents jailed by the Chinese government.

Originally a teacher, he started his political career as a leader of one Hong Kong’s largest teachers’ unions.

Along with others, he organised the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Democratic Movements in China, which he headed until his death, and which routinely criticised Beijing for human-rights abuses.

A core member of the leading Democratic Party, he served as a legislator for almost 20 years.

The chief executive of Hong Kong, Donald Tsang, said Mr Szeto would be “dearly missed”.

“Passionate about China and Hong Kong, Mr Szeto Wah was devoted in promoting democracy. Upright, industrious and unwavering in the pursuit of his ideals, Mr Szeto earned great respect from across the community,” he said.

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Defending champions Chelsea host struggling Aston Villa, looking for a win to close the gap on the leading pack at the top of the Premier League, before Wigan host Newcastle later.

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Steven Naismith misses Sunday’s Old Firm derby, with Jamie Ness earning a first start in Rangers’ midfield, along with new Celtic signing Freddie Ljungberg.

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Setting New Year single alarms was to no avail

A glitch on Apple’s iPhone has stopped its built-in alarm clock going off, leaving many people oversleeping on the first two days of the New Year.

Angry bloggers and tweeters complained that they had been late for work, and were risking missing planes and trains.

Apple has acknowledged the problem and says it will be fixed by 3 January.

The reason has not been given but the glitch appears to affect single alarm settings on the iPhone 4 and earlier models with software updates.

A similar problem hit the iPhone alarm when the clocks went back in November, again causing many users to be late for work or for transport arrangements.

“We’re aware of an issue related to non-repeating alarms set for January 1 or 2,” Apple spokeswoman Natalie Harrison said in a statement quoted by Macworld.

“Customers can set recurring alarms for those dates and all alarms will work properly beginning January 3.”

More than 1.7m people around the world had bought iPhone 4 handsets by June 2010, in what was the company’s most successful product launch.

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Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson believes he still has the support of his players and the club’s owners after Saturday’s dramatic 2-1 victory over Bolton at Anfield.

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Two people were treated by paramedics following a collision between two cars close to the Powys-Monmouthshire border.

The crash took place on Sunday morning on the A40 at Glangrwyney between Crickhowell and Abergavenny.

Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service personnel released two people from the vehicles using cutting equipment.

Both were treated at the scene by paramedics.

The fire service was alerted by police just after 1000 GMT.

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Rangers host Celtic in the Old Firm derby at Ibrox before St Johnstone face Inverness CT in Sunday’s Scottish Premier League action.

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Ashtiani told reporters the two Germans had “embarrassed” her

More than 100 prominent Germans have signed an open letter to the Iranian government, calling for the release of two German journalists.

The two were arrested in October while interviewing the son of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, 43, sentenced to death by stoning for adultery.

German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle and footballer Franz Beckenbauer were among the signatories.

On Saturday, Ashtiani said she planned to sue the German journalists.

She told reporters at a news conference in the north-western city of Tabriz that the journalists had “embarrassed” her, but did not elaborate.

Also on the list of those appealing for the release of the two journalists from the Bild am Sonntag newspaper were film director Volker Schlondorff and the head of the Islamic Council of Germany, Ali Kizilkaya.

Mr Schlondorff, who has officiated at Iranian film festivals as a jury president, said he loved Tehran but no longer wanted to travel there because of the imprisonment of the two journalists and other cases.

Finance minister Wolfgang Schauble, defence minister Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg, tennis player Boris Becker and a winner of the Nobel Prize for literature, Herta Muller, also signed the letter.

The two journalists were arrested in Tabriz after reportedly interviewing Ashtiani’s son, Sajjad Ghaderzadeh.

Iran says the Germans entered the country illegally, on tourist visas and did not obtain the accreditation required for journalists.

At her news conference on Saturday, Ashtiani said she had told her son to sue the Germans, as well as her former lawyer and the man convicted of her husband’s murder.

Ashtiani was convicted in 2006 of adultery and sentenced to death by stoning.

Her sentence was commuted last year but she could still be hanged for her husband’s murder.

Last month, Ashtiani was filmed confessing to her part in the murder and taking part in a re-enactment, which was shown on Iranian TV.

However, campaigners have cast doubt on the validity of her confession.

Ashtiani told reporters that she was not tortured while in prison, saying: “These are all rumours”.

She also criticised Mina Ahadi, an anti-stoning activist based in Germany who has campaigned for her release.

Ms Ahadi responded by saying she believed Ashtiani was being subjected to “enormous pressure by the Islamic regime”, according to the AFP news agency.

The deputy editor of the Bild am Sonntag, Michael Backhaus, said he found it “strange that a woman who has been condemned to death in Iran, is allowed to leave prison for a few hours to tell Western media that she wants to denounce the journalists who want to report on her case”.

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Water bowsers were deployed last week in Carmarthenshire

About 200 homes in Powys are still without water as engineers continue to try to restore supplies.

Welsh Water had hoped to restore supplies to the properties in St Harmon and Abbeycwmhir, near Rhayader, on Saturday.

It now aims to have fixed the problem by Sunday evening.

A spokesman said “99.99%” of customers now had water and its emergency response level was the same as it would be on a “normal working day”.

Welsh Water has apologised to anyone affected.

Peter Perry, Welsh Water’s operations director, said fewer than 40 properties in south Carmarthenshire may be experiencing low pressure or intermittent supply due to its systems returning to normal operating pressure.

Bottled water is being distributed to those affected.

Mr Perry said there were also “isolated incidents” affecting single properties or small numbers of customers across the region.

He said fixing bursts throughout the system and restoring reservoir levels back to normal was now a priority.

He added: “I would again thank customers who have suffered a loss of service or a poor service for bearing with us during this very challenging period.”

He said work would continue over the Bank Holiday period to try to restore supplies.

He added: “Finally I would like to thank all our own staff who have shown fantastic commitment and resolve during what has been said is the coldest December on record.”

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A Palestinian man has been shot dead after trying to attack Israeli troops at a checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus, the Israeli army and Palestinian officials say.

The man, in his 20s, tried to attack troops with a bottle when he was refused permission to pass through the checkpoint, they said.

The incident happened early on Sunday.

On Friday, a Palestinian woman died after inhaling gas fired by Israeli troops at a protest in Bilin.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said the contents of the glass bottle were not known.

“The soldiers apparently felt threatened,” she added.

The lawyer of the woman who died on Friday has accused the military of a cover-up.

“Once again the army is covering up the actions of its men, instead of apologising and conducting a serious inquiry,” Michael Sfard told Israel’s army radio after the military announced an investigation into the death of Jawaher Abu Rahmeh.

It is not clear how Ms Abu Rahmeh died as tear gas is not meant to be lethal.

Doctors say the gas can kill on rare occasions if a victim has a pre-existing condition.

Although some reports said Ms Abu Rahmeh had suffered from asthma since childhood, her parents are reported to have said she was healthy and did not have the respiratory condition.

Rateb Abu Rahmeh, a doctor and a spokesman for the Bilin protesters, said she had a “weak immune system”, the Associated Press news agency reports.

Dr Mohammed Eideh, who treated Ms Abu Rahmeh in the Palestinian city of Ramallah, said she died of “respiratory failure and then cardiac arrest” caused by tear gas inhalation. He said he did not know if she had a pre-existing condition.

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