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Roads and transport links across Scotland are hit hard by more heavy snow and freezing temperatures.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Criticisms of British actions are included in a fresh leak of US State Department files, the Guardian claims.
The paper is one of several around the world carrying the claims from the US Wikileaks website.
It says the files include “devastating” criticism of UK operations in Afghanistan and serious political criticisms of David Cameron.
It also alleges the documents include claims of inappropriate behaviour by a member of the royal family.
There are also said to be requests for specific intelligence about individual MPs.
The files are among thousands leaked to the whistleblowers’ site.
Earlier, the BBC was told the leak would cause embarrassment to Prime Minister David Cameron and his predecessor Gordon Brown.
Guardian writer Simon Hoggart said they would show the PM was “not very highly regarded”.
The Foreign Office said the leaks could damage national security.
“It is going to give the candid American views of world leaders and indeed the reverse too”
Simon HoggartGuardian Wikileaks report
The leaks are expected to include documents covering US dealings and diplomats’ confidential views of countries including Australia, Canada, Israel, Russia, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
Speaking on BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show, Mr Hoggart confirmed the Guardian would be releasing extensive details of the files overnight.
He said: “It is going to give the candid American views of world leaders and indeed the reverse too.”
Earlier this week Wikileaks said release of files would be nearly seven times larger than the nearly 400,000 Pentagon documents related to the Iraq war it published in October.
The UK Ministry of Defence has urged newspaper editors to “bear in mind” the national security implications of publishing the information.
The US government has warned the leaks will threaten global counter-terrorism operations and jeopardise America’s relations with its allies.
But Wikileaks argues that its previous releases shed light on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. They included allegations of torture by Iraqi forces and reports that suggested 15,000 additional civilian deaths in Iraq.
A Foreign Office spokesman told the BBC: “We condemn any unauthorised release of this classified information, just as we condemn leaks of classified material in the UK.
“They can damage national security, are not in the national interest and, as the US have said, may put lives at risk.
“We have a very strong relationship with the US government. That will continue”.
The US ambassador to London, Louis Susman, said he did not believe the leaked diplomatic communications regarding British politicians would damage Anglo-American relations.
“Diplomatic cables inform the foreign policy decisions made by the US government but should not be seen as representing US policy on their own,” he said.
“They are a part of the extensive co-operation we have with other countries, which is based on relationships of trust, so that we can share perspectives on events in confidence.
“When this trust is betrayed, it is harmful to the United States and our interests.
“However, I am confident that our uniquely productive relationship with the United Kingdom will remain close and strong, focused on promoting our shared objectives and values.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Veteran comic actor Leslie Nielsen, star of Airplane! and The Naked Gun, has died at the age of 84, of complications from pneumonia.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak describes as an “inhumane” crime” the North’s deadly shelling of a Southern island last Tuesday.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Siberian winds are set to cause further disruption during the UK’s big freeze by blowing snow back into cleared areas, forecasters warn.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
A man died and another man was injured in a stabbing in a west London street.
Police said the 33-year-old man died after suffering multiple stab wounds to the abdomen in the attack in Brentford shortly before 0100 GMT on Saturday.
A 31-year-old man he was with was stabbed in the back but has since been discharged from hospital.
A Metropolitan Police (Met) spokesman said two men, aged 27 and 32, had been arrested on suspicion of murder. They remain in custody.
Police said it was thought the dead man and the 31-year-old had been drinking together in a pub before getting into an altercation at the junction of New Road and Hamilton Road with two men.
The 33-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene while the 31-year-old was taken to St George’s Hospital in Tooting, south London, for treatment.
Next of kin have been informed but the dead man has not yet been formally identified.
A post-mortem examination is due to be carried out on Monday at Fulham mortuary.
The Met said the arrested men were held after they attended separate police stations in west London.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Some parents felt their children did not want healthier food at school Four years on, the images are still shocking. Faced with healthier school dinner options because of Jamie Oliver’s TV series, some mothers began pushing junk food through the school gates.
Others simply swapped the healthier hot dinners for packed lunches. Schools reacted by tightening the rules about what could be put in lunchboxes.
But when children, in turn, responded by spending more on junk food from local shops, stories started appearing about the prospect of bans on take-aways.
In many ways, the pattern perfectly illustrates the challenge facing the government over public health.
Changing behaviour is not easy.
It was a point made by Health Secretary Andrew Lansley at the start of the summer.
His remarks were widely reported as an attack on Mr Oliver and as such the wider message was lost as people reacted with outrage about what was perceived as a criticism of the popular TV chef.
But his underlying message was still valid.
Whether it is smoking, drinking, eating or exercise, most people are aware of what they need to do. And yet they do not.
Take smoking, for example. The link to lung cancer has been clear for decades, while evidence is mounting for a host of other conditions.
From the 1960s to 1990s the numbers fell dramatically. But progress has been much slower since then, with smoking rates hovering stubbornly above 20%.
“The major advances in public health, such as seat belts or clean air, have been because of regulation so I don’t think we should shut the door on that”
Angela Mawle, UK Public Health Association
Obesity rates have risen over the past decade too, with the country on course to have more obese adults than non-obese by 2050.
What is more, an increasing number of Britons are turning to drink. A third drink more than is recommended – with one in 10 classed as “hazardous” drinkers.
The public health white paper, due to be published this week, is unlikely to herald any major initiatives to compare with Labour’s big foray into the arena – the smoking ban.
Instead, it will focus on “nudging” people in the right direction by creating the right environment to allow them to make a healthy decision.
Central to this will be the return of public health to local government. Responsibility currently lies with the 151 primary care trusts, but these are being abolished under the reform of the NHS structure announced in the summer.
Instead, directors of public health will be transferred across to councils along with a ring-fenced budget. That in itself is causing some tensions as the rest of local government is facing funding cuts of a quarter over the next four years following October’s spending review.
But Dr Frank Atherton, president of the Association of Directors of Public Health, is optimistic.
From building sewers to the introduction of the smoking ban, governments have been trying to influence public health for the past century and a half.
The 1866 Sanitary Act forced local authorities to supply running water and dispose of sewage and waste in a bid to curb cholera outbreaks.
Milk pasteurisation dominated the debate between the wars.
Then it was the turn of air pollution.
Regulation was toughened in 1956 with the Clean Air Act following the death of 4,000 people in the London smog four years earlier.
The 1960s and 1970s saw a series of measures, including drink driving and seat-belt laws.
The most significant step since then was probably the smoking ban in 2007.
Since then, minimum alcohol pricing and food labelling have been debated.
However, the coalition government seems more likely to want to bring industry in as partners rather than force things through parliament.
It wants private companies to sign up to a “responsibility deal” compelling them to support people in making healthier choices.
“It feels like we are coming home. Most public health directors are comfortable with being back in local government. This is where the power is to influence all those environment factors, such as housing, leisure and transport, lie and so the potential to really make a difference is definitely there.”
He also believes the next few years could be a crucial period in the history of public health. “There is nothing more infuriating than to hear people say public health has failed. Yes health inequalities have not improved, but life expectancy is rising and survival for a host of diseases is getting better. But there is a big challenge now because of the recession.
“During economically tough times smoking and drinking rates tend to rise. Anxiety and stress will be problems as well. We need a good public health service more than ever.”
But the key question, as always, is over money. One of the government’s flagship public health projects, free swimming for children and pensioners, was scrapped soon after the coalition government was formed.
This has prompted fears there will be little money available to push for the local projects, from cycling lanes to cookery classes, that are the bedrock of public health.
While Mr Lansley has said the public health budget will be ring-fenced, what remains uncertain is how much will be handed over. Public health directors are pushing for 4% of the NHS budget – about £4bn in cash terms.
Extra money is also going to be allocated to the poorest areas under a system known as health premiums.
Angela Mawle, of the UK Public Health Association, which has members in both the NHS and local government, says: “It is clear money will be tight. But what is important is that directors of public health are given real power to influence things.
“In the past, there have been examples of good schemes at a local level, but there is no joined up working.
“Local authorities have all too often seen public health as the NHS’s business. Hopefully that will change.”
But Ms Mawle is concerned that the government may be missing a trick if it turns its back on regulation entirely.
Ministers have already indicated legislating for things such as a minimum price for alcohol is out of the question and instead are likely to promise a “responsibility deal” with the private sector to get them on board voluntarily.
Ms Mawle says: “The major advances in public health, such as seat belts or clean air, have been because of regulation so I don’t think we should shut the door on that.
“There is a case for alcohol pricing, but also in terms of the food industry. People can try to make the healthy choice, but that is not always possible when you see the amount of fat, sugar and salt already in some processed foods.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Barron says he “didn’t have to do a lot to cause a stir” in early 80s music videos Music video director Steve Barron made some of the most groundbreaking promos of the 1980s working with artists including Madonna, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Paul McCartney and David Bowie.
He first made videos for The Jam – including Going Underground, released in March 1980 – before working with The Nolans and on other “very middle-of-the-road stuff” before “the cooler stuff came along”.
Steve Barron went on to direct films including Coneheads and Mike Bassett: England Manager He says that, relatively speaking, video budgets are much smaller than in the 1980s when he would get up to £200,000 to make a promo.
“At the time, what we were doing was harder to do but you didn’t have to do a lot to cause a bit of a stir,” he says.
“Now, you can get there really quickly, really simply – the machinery is pretty amazing but everyone’s seen it in every movie and fantasy films.”
He adds: “It’s hard to innovate, it’s hard to push through so you’ve really got to come up with the idea.”
Barron, now 54, stopped making pop videos in 1991 and went on to direct films including Coneheads and Mike Bassett: England Manager.
Here he remembers the making of Antmusic by Adam and the Ants – released 30 years ago on Monday – Don’t You Want Me by the Human League, Billie Jean by Michael Jackson and Money for Nothing by Dire Straits.
Antmusic – Adam and the Ants (Dec 1980)
Antmusic – Adam and the Ants
This was his first video and it was also a turning point in my career.
The actual concept – one of the few times – came from the artist.
UK number two singleKept off top spot by Imagine, re-released after the death of John LennonSecond top five single from the London band’s second album Kings of the Wild Frontier – a UK number oneWent on to have number one singles with Stand and Deliver and Prince Charming, both in 1981As a solo artist, Adam Ant topped the singles chart in 1982 with Goody Two-Shoes
This was a guy who was out of art college and he had strong graphic ideas like the giant plug unplugging a jukebox.
We also shot down an alleyway on Arlington Road where all the bums live in Camden Town.
Some of them were transported to a different time seeing Adam and his band out there looking like they were from another era.
There was a fair amount of abuse came flying and, I think, a few empty bottles were hurled.
Adam really helped pull the image side of videos up a couple of notches.
After Adam, with new bands, record companies said: “Well, you’ve got to be handsome and extreme and out there and completely different.”
And Duran Duran and all that kind of thing came out of that.
I think he deserves a lot more credit as an artist for the shake-up he helped cause in the early 80s.
Don’t You Want Me – The Human League (Dec 1981)
Don’t You Want Me – Human League
That was the second song played when MTV began in America – it was played after Video Killed the Radio Star by Buggles.
It went to number one pretty quickly.
US number one (three weeks)UK number one (five weeks)Fourth single from third album, Dare – a UK number oneThe Sheffield band’s first and only UK number one singleThey had a further US number one single with 1986 hit Human, which reached number eight in the UK
We got a little more budget for this one so we wanted to do something really cinema.
It was a little bit of an homage to a Francois Truffaut film, Day For Night.
And so we wanted to do it the way that was made, a film within a film – you see the crew and the making of.
I remember meeting Phil Oakey for the first time and he said: “I don’t wanna be a pop star.”
And I said to him: “You’re too late for that because this is going to be such a big hit.”
The record company knew it was going to be a big number one.
The Human League had that dour Sheffield attitude – that slit-my-wrists vibe.
They were great, the way they went creatively, the haircuts. The whole thing – and the vibe of the song – was really good and tongue-in-cheek.
It was just a great period, I felt, for music.
Things were being reinvented and melody was clashing with style and anarchy without losing the melody. That was so powerful.
Billie Jean – Michael Jackson (Jan 1983)
Billie Jean – Michael Jackson
He’d seen the Don’t You Want Me video – that’s why I got the job.
And he wanted something cinematic, as well, and his management said he was really into Peter Pan and could we do something that was a little magical?
I’d had an idea the previous year to do a Midas touch video with everything lighting up so the paving stone idea came from that.
US number one (seven weeks)UK number one (one week)Jackson’s second solo UK number one after 1981’s One Day In Your LifeSecond single – after Paul McCartney duet The Girl Is Mine – from his sixth solo studio album ThrillerThriller is the best-selling album of all time and has sold more than 100 million copies worldwide
The process was pretty straightforward really; we sent the idea to him and went out to LA and shot the video.
Before we shot it, he had a really nice idea for another little scene within it where mannequins come to life and dance behind him and I thought it was a great idea.
We made the video before the album, Thriller, had come out. It was like five weeks before Billie Jean was going to come out and they wouldn’t pay for the extra tailor’s dummies and the dancers so we had to can that idea.
Obviously, one month later he got anything he wanted for the rest of his life, but right then he wasn’t quite in a position yet to demand what he wanted.
He was a really soft-spoken, sweet guy.
Obviously, he was very curious about everything, he wanted to know what was going on with this and that and how that worked.
Then suddenly… I was operating the camera for it as well and the moment he started to dance in that little chorus, it was just so dynamic, it was breathtaking.
I remember the camera steaming up because it was pretty stunning.
You knew that something special was going to arrive on the scene.
This was one of the first videos by a black artist on MTV.
Money for Nothing – Dire Straits (July 1985)
Money For Nothing – Dire Straits
Knopfler wasn’t into videos at all, he was into the purity of music and felt that somebody going and putting visuals to it was like drawing all over it.
He felt it would disfigure and distort his music, giving it different emotions and different atmospheres.
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US number one (three weeks)UK number fourSecond single – after So Far Away – from fifth studio album Brothers In ArmsThe album, which was number one in the US for nine weeks, was the first album to sell more then one millions copies on CDBrothers In Arms also sold more than 30 million copies worldwide
As a result, we were in Budapest kind of pretending we were doing a live shoot with him at a gig.
But then we did the computer-generated Money For Nothing man.
CGI animation was new at the time and it was being used just for corporate logos – the letters and things – so it was just borrowed from that and we got the CG guy to create characters out of it.
We then felt that, if we didn’t do something with the live footage, the coarseness of how it was put together with the character and the computer animation would be too rough.
I was keeping an eye on new technology and this machine had just come out called Paintbox – you could paint on the frames or manipulate the frames, literally frame by frame.
Me and a couple of friends bought one. That’s how the effect with the blacked-out background and Knopfler’s illuminated blazer, guitar and headband came about.
We painted on the live footage to weave it together. We just had some people working with Paintbox day and night because we only had a month on that.
But you make things fit the schedule, you make them fit the budget.
Sometimes you get lucky. You take shortcuts and sometimes those shortcuts are more interesting.
It’s woven with naivety because we weren’t really coming off of anything else because, with those videos, we were doing stuff that we really hadn’t seen before.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
The two-hour target was originally set in 2004 The Scottish government is still failing to meet a target to ensure all school children get two hours of physical education a week.
Children at 55% of primaries and S1 to S4 pupils at 23% of secondaries are getting their quota, new figures show.
Education Secretary Mike Russell said steady progress was being made.
The 2007 SNP manifesto pledged to “ensure that every pupil has two hours of quality PE each week, delivered by specialist PE teachers”.
Drawing on figures released by the HMIE schools inspectorate, ministers said councils were delivering the entitlement to just 5% of primaries in 2004-05.
The two-hour target was originally set in 2004 by the last Labour-Lib Dem government, and should have been achieved by 2008.
A total of three out of Scotland’s 32 councils – Dundee, East Renfrewshire and Perth and Kinross – are delivering two hours of PE in all primary schools, according to the figures.
Mr Russell said: “I am delighted to see our local authorities and schools making so much progress towards ensuring Scotland’s school children can benefit from two hours of PE each week.
“Little progress had been made towards the target when this information was last collected in 2005, so to see 55% of primary schools delivering two hours is a huge improvement.”
He added: “Secondary schools are also moving in the right direction, with 60% of secondaries now offering two full periods of PE.”
The latest figures show an improvement from July 2010, when 35% of primary schools were hitting the target.
The whole issue of PE targets was branded a “lamentable failure” by the Scottish Parliament’s health committee last year.
And in 2008, the SNP government was forced to clarify its approach to the pledge after the then schools minister Maureen Watt, who was later sacked, said two hours’ activity per week could include non-curricular activities, such as walking to school.
Labour, the Tories and the Liberal Democrats accused the Scottish government of failing to treat the target seriously.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
The hospital at Karora town resembles a trailer that has lost wheels on one side Nature has been unkind to Tahir Khan and his family twice in five years.
First, it was the October 2005 earthquake that mauled large parts of northern Pakistan, including their district of Shangla.
Then came the floods this summer, washing away whatever recovery they had made in the past five years.
Tahir Khan breaks into tears while narrating his string of misfortunes.
“We had always lived in an extended family – the wives, sons and daughters of my father and his four brothers, and the wives and children of their children,” he says.
“We were a 45-member family living in a 25-room compound down by the river, with a sprawling orchard, a trout hatchery and our own hydroelectric-power generator.”
The earthquake destroyed 10 rooms of the compound and damaged several others.
At the height of the floods, swirling rivers washed away or severely damaged numerous buildings The family had to move temporarily to rented accommodation in the town of Mingora, in the neighbouring Swat district.
“It took us two years to make our place liveable again, but some parts could not be restored so the family had to split,” he says.
The floods last August have again washed away large parts of the house, displacing and further splitting up the family.
And the tragedy is not confined to individual suffering alone.
“They had designed the structure to resist earthquakes, but God sent the floods”
Qutb-e-Alam Karora hospital official
The earthquake caused landslides to block Shangla’s deep and narrow valleys, destroying its roads and other infrastructure and killing hundreds of people.
The Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (Erra), formed to channel the massive international aid Pakistan received following the disaster, poured hundreds of millions of dollars into more than 700 projects in Shangla.
Much of the effort it made to rehabilitate local people has now been wiped out by the floods.
One economically crucial project was the Alpurai-Besham road, which cut through the district and provided the shortest route for goods transported from the Chinese border to the Peshawar valley region in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
After parts of it were destroyed in the earthquake, the government decided to upgrade it to a national highway and allocated large funds for its reconstruction.
Mountainsides were cut to widen the 30km (18-mile) road, and large patches were fully restored.
During the government’s major offensive against militants in the Swat valley in 2009, the road served as the main supply route for the army.
It was to be competed in November 2010, but that was not to be.
Today, it presents a pathetic sight.
Torrential rains in July washed down large quantities of mud and rock onto the road, and a surge in the river below washed away its foundations in many places.
What was close to becoming a broad, two-lane highway is now little more than a bumpy jeep track, in places perching precariously above a noisy mountain stream.
Some 15km (9 miles) down the road from Shangla’s administrative centre, Alpurai, what was once a beautifully built two-storey hospital building now leans precariously over the riverbed, like a trailer that has lost wheels on one side.
After the hospital at the town of Karora was destroyed by the earthquake, Erra spent $590,000 rebuilding it.
But the floods in July washed away its foundations and the building sank to one side – yet it did not break apart.
Flood-damaged roads have left much of northern Pakistan inaccessible “They had designed the structure to resist earthquakes, but God sent the floods,” says Qutb-e-Alam, a senior official at the hospital.
Mr Alam was posted to this hospital in August 2005, about two months before the earthquake. As such, he has seen the place destroyed twice.
“The floods washed through the entire building, destroying everything – the laboratory equipment, the X-ray plant, ultrasound equipment, the operating theatre, computers and the furniture,” he adds.
In a remote district like Shangla, there are few medical facilities that are as well equipped as this one was.
“This was a 24-bed hospital, and was located at a central spot. On an average, we handled between 100 to 150 patients a day. People in need of treatment must now travel to Mingora or Peshawar,” he says.
Inside the district government’s offices in Alpurai, officials are still counting the losses.
“It was easier after the earthquake. We had lost just the buildings. This time, everything is gone”
Tahir Khan
At least 160 people died during the floods in Shangla, hundreds of houses were washed away, scores of kilometres of roads were destroyed, and dozens of school buildings and clinics were rendered useless.
For Mohammad Ayaz, the head of administration, it has been a tough time.
“We had achieved a lot following the earthquake, making good use of the money that had poured into the country. Now we are back to square one,” he says.
The nearby offices of Erra appear deserted.
The agency’s funds were already drying up before the floods, even though they had completed barely half of the earthquake rehabilitation work they were supposed to do.
It has now trimmed its staff; those who remain are preparing to pack up.
Meanwhile, the challenge ahead is more daunting than before.
“It was easier after the earthquake,” says Tahir Khan.
“We had lost just the buildings. This time, everything is gone – the buildings, the fixtures, the generators, the roads and the land on which it was all built.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
The heavy snow has caused problems for motorists across Scotland Scotland was hit by more heavy snow and freezing temperatures overnight, bringing chaos to roads and transport links across the country.
White-out conditions affected several main roads, including the A9 between Perth and Dunblane, while many bus and rail services were suspended.
The Met office issued a severe weather warning for areas across Scotland with snowfalls of five to 15cm expected.
Police forces warned drivers to take extreme care in the severe conditions.
The M8 is down to one lane in both directions.
In the Highlands the following roads have been closed: B9007 Ferness to Carrbridge, A939 Grantown-in-Spey to Tomintoul and the A95 Badenoch (Aviemore) area.
The A939 Tomintoul to Cockbridge is closed. Other roads forced to shut due to snow include: A93 Spittal of Glenshee, A9 Dunblane to Perth, M9 J10 Craigforth – J11 Keir, A68 at Carter Bar, and the A68 (s) at Jedburgh.
WEATHER AND TRAVEL INFO
Get the latest on school closures and travel problems via your local website Check if snow is forecast in your area at BBC Weather Details of motorway and local road closures and public transport disruption are available at BBC Travel News For advice on handling difficult driving conditions, see the Highways Agency website For information about severe weather warnings, see the Met Office website For information about staying healthy in the cold weather, see the NHS Winter Health website
Bear Scotland said it had five gritters on the A9 and hoped to open it as soon as possible.
It added that other roads were passable with care but urged people not to venture out on the roads unless absolutely necessary.
For the latest traffic updates visit www.trafficscotland.org.
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said councils had stocked up on salt and grit, with enough in store to handle “two month’s of heavy duty” needs.
ScotRail said many rail services were affected by the weather. Services to and from Glasgow Central were disrupted, and many other routes were experiencing short notice delays and cancellations.
A spokesman said due to the road conditions, rail replacement buses were unlikely to be available.
A worker at Edinburgh Airport helps prepare a plane for flight The main airports were open but most were experiencing delays in flights. A spokesman for Edinburgh Airport said flights were continuing but there were delays of up to an hour.
A spokesman for Glasgow Airport said there were some minor delays of up to 15 to 30 minutes and it had received some diversions from Edinburgh Airport.
At Aberdeen Airport, several flights were cancelled. The runway had to be closed for an hour for snow clearing, which resulted in flight delays.
Prestwick was operating as normal but had handled some diversions.
Calmac said it was not aware of any disruptions to ferry services.
Weather warnings
Sports fixtures were also hit by the freezing conditions, which forced the postponement of the matches between Dundee United and Rangers at Tannadice and Motherwell against Hearts at Fir Park.
Tayside Police said its non-emergency telephone lines were out of order, possibly due to a lightning strike on the telephone network in the Dundee area.
Loch Glascarnoch, between Ullapool and Inverness, saw temperatures fall to -15C (4F), a record low for November in Scotland.
The Met office issued a severe weather warning for Aberdeenshire, Angus, Fife, Dundee, Perth and Kinross and Stirling. And later issued further warnings for: Argyll and Bute, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverclyde, Midlothian, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire and the Borders.
It said snow showers would be heavy and prolonged at times throughout the day giving falls of five to 15cm, with up to 25cm on higher ground.
Have you been badly affected by snow? Send us your pictures to [email protected]. If you submit an image, you do so in accordance with the BBC’s terms and conditions.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Housing benefit reforms will be delayed for existing claimants for nine months Millions of people who currently claim housing benefit are to be given more time before cuts are introduced.
Ministers had planned to introduce a cap from next April on how much housing benefit could be claimed.
But the BBC understands that existing claimants will now have until January 2012 to adjust their circumstances if needed before the caps are brought in.
The Department for Work and Pensions would not confirm the move, which it said was “speculation”.
The new limits are £250 a week for a one bedroom home, £290 for a two bed, £340 for a three bed and £400 for a four bed.
A second change, to reduce housing benefit rates from average local rents to the value of the lowest third of rents, was due to come into force next October.
This will also be delayed for existing claimants until January 2012.
The aim is to streamline the benefit changes and give claimants more time to find a new home if they can no longer afford their existing property.
BBC deputy political editor James Landale says ministers hope to avoid controversial changes being introduced so close to next May’s local and devolved elections.
The caps have given rise to fears that some claimants will no longer be able to cover their rents and would have to move out of central London.
The delay in introducing the cuts will cost the government a substantial amount of money.
But officials say the money will largely be raised by bringing forward the cut in housing benefit rates for new claimants from October 2011 to next April.
The caps would apply to new claimants from next April as planned.
A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman said: “This is speculation. The truth is the housing benefit system is unfair for those who receive it and the taxpayer that funds it, and we have to put fairness back at the heart of the system.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
The blaze was extinguished within 10 minutes, officials in Corvallis say A fire at an Islamic centre in the western US state of Oregon was started intentionally, US police say.
They say the blaze gutted one room of the Salman Alfarisi Islamic Center in Corvallis. No-one was injured.
The centre had been attended by Somali-born teenager Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, who was held on Friday for plotting to detonate a bomb at a Christmas tree-lighting ceremony in nearby Portland.
The bomb was a fake supplied by agents in a sting operation.
“We eliminated other causes of the fire, and we do have evidence that it was arson,” Carla Pusateri of Corvallis’ Fire Department said on Sunday.
Officials said the fire started shortly after 0200 local time (1000 GMT) and was put out about 10 minutes later.
Local police said they did not know who started the blaze, but they suggested the centre was targeted because Mr Mohamud had occasionally worshipped there.
Mr Mohamud is a naturalised US citizen However, they warned they would tolerate no attack in retribution for Mr Mohamud’s foiled attempt.
On Friday, Mr Mohamud, who lives in Corvallis, had driven a van to the ceremony in Portland and was arrested at around 1740 local time, about 20 minutes before the tree lighting was to occur.
He was detained after reportedly making a telephone call he thought would set off the bomb in the centre of Portland.
Prosecutors said Mr Mohamud had shouted “Allahu Akbar!” (God is great!) and tried to kick agents as they closed in.
Mr Mohamud allegedly told the FBI agent that he had been thinking of carrying out a jihad, or holy war, against infidels since the age of 15.
He is a naturalised US citizen who had reportedly been in contact with an associate in north-west Pakistan.
Mr Mohamud has been charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and is due to appear in court on Monday.
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Alastair Cook hits an unbeaten double century and Jonathan Trott a hundred as England build a massive lead over a demoralised Australia.
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Controversial whistle-blowing website Wikileaks releases a new set of classified US documents – despite a US warning it could put lives at risk.
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