Category: news

world news,online new,us news,uk news

Hatfield train crash remembered

Hatfield crash siteThe October 2000 crash left four people dead and 102 injured

The 10th anniversary of a train crash in which four people were killed and 70 were injured will be marked with services in Hertfordshire.

Survivors of the Hatfield rail crash will join relatives of those who died at the town’s St Etheldreda’s church.

Four passengers were killed when an express train from London to Leeds derailed on 17 October 2000.

After attending church the congregation will go to the accident site near Hatfield station for another service.

There will be a period of silence at the exact moment of the crash – 1223 BST.

Both services will be conducted by the Rector of Hatfield, the Rev Richard Pyke, who comforted survivors and the bereaved after the crash.

“North of the crash position, the rail had fractured into more than 300 pieces.”

Official inquiry

Mr Jones said: “I hope that the service will allow relatives and others a chance to know that their grief is not forgotten and also help them to receive comfort from the service.

“Those who lost their lives or whose lives were changed by the crash, as well as the rail staff who were deeply affected by the tragedy, are all in our prayers at present.”

The crash involved a Great North Eastern Railway (GNER) express train travelling at more than 100mph

It derailed after passing over a section of rail which then fractured, with 12 GNER staff and 170 passengers on board.

Related stories

Official inquiries into the derailment showed that, north of the crash position, the rail had fractured into more than 300 pieces.

A Health and Safety Executive inquiry report said the train had passed over a section of track which was in a poor condition and should have been replaced.

Railtrack and the maintenance company involved, Balfour Beatty, faced charges over the crash.

Manslaughter charges against the companies and also against six individuals were dropped but, in 2005, after an eight-month Old Bailey trial, Balfour Beatty was fined £10m for breaching health and safety regulations.

Network Rail, which took over from Railtrack in 2002, was fined £3.5m.

Mr Justice Mackay said in his 30 years in the legal profession he regarded Balfour Beatty’s failure as the “worst example of sustained industrial negligence in a high-risk industry he had ever seen”.

Rail Minister Theresa Villiers said: “The impact of the tragedy at Hatfield still resonates today and my thoughts are with the friends and relatives of those killed and injured as they mark the 10th anniversary.

“Rail travel has never been safer than it is today

“The memories of those who lost their lives will see us continue to prioritise the safety of passengers as we expand and improve our network in the future.”

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

Eurostar disruption set to begin

Eurostar trainServices between the UK, Lille, Paris and Disneyland are unaffected

Thousands of Eurostar passengers have had to change their travel plans because of industrial action due to hit Belgium’s rail network.

There will be almost no services between the UK and Brussels on Monday because of the strikes.

And Sunday’s last departure from London has been moved forward to avoid the dispute, which begins at 2100 BST.

Passengers were urged to postpone travel, but Eurostar services between the UK and Paris will operate normally.

The rail passenger operator said it would run a revised service between Lille and the UK, plus a “limited” coach service between Lille and Brussels.

The industrial action meant it was unlikely there would be any high-speed rail connections from Brussels to destinations in France, the Netherlands and Germany, Eurostar said.

The 24-hour strike will end at 2100 BST on Monday.

A Sunday service due to leave London to Brussels at 1934 has been brought forward to 1727 so that it arrives before the Belgian rail network closes.

And on Monday, the 1934 departure from London to Brussels is due to operate as scheduled.

Eurostar usually operates 20 trains each weekday on the route – each with the capacity to carry 750 passengers.

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

Salmond suggests police force cut

Alex SalmondMr Salmond will be addressing the final day of the SNP autumn conference

SNP leader Alex Salmond will set out his case for a second term in government by saying only his party can get Scotland through tough times.

The first minister will tell the SNP conference that Scotland needs independence to escape the “Westminster straitjacket” of cuts.

Mr Salmond’s speech in Perth comes ahead of Chancellor George Osborne’s spending review on Wednesday.

The SNP says that may result in £1bn of cuts from next year’s Scottish budget.

The party dropped its plan for an independence referendum bill because of a lack of political support and is now seeking to make it a central issue of next May’s Scottish parliament election.

Mr Salmond will tell delegates: “Either Scotland stays in the Westminster straitjacket of low growth, public sector cutbacks and blighted futures – or we take responsibility and change our circumstances for the better.”

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

Chile leader sees London sights

President Pinera (left) with rescued miner Franklin LobosPresident Pinera (left) is on the crest of a wave after the miners were rescued

Chile’s President Sebastian Pinera is due to arrive in the UK ahead of European tour, riding on the crest of a wave after the rescue of the 33 miners.

Mr Pinera will be bringing fragments of rock from the San Jose mine as presents for Prime Minister David Cameron and the Queen.

The billionaire president is due to visit Churchill’s War Rooms in London and have talks with Mr Cameron.

The rescue of the miners after 69 days has made headlines worldwide.

Thirty-one of the miners have now been released from hospital, with the remaining two being transferred to other hospitals.

One is suffering from a dental infection and the second is suffering from the symptoms of vertigo.

Mr Pinera, 60, said Churchill’s “blood, toil, tears and sweat” speech had provided inspiration to him during the battle to save the miners.

He also said he ignored political advice to steer clear of the rescue effort: “Many people thought the rescue was impossible and advised me not to get involved, to keep my distance.

“I decided to take full responsibility without any political consideration… We made a commitment to look for the miners as if they were our sons.”

Like Mr Cameron, Mr Pinera was only elected this year, and his visit to London is thought to have been planned many months ago.

He is thought to be hoping to persuade more British companies, including mining corporations, to invest in Chile.

Mr Pinera, who greeted the miners with a hug after their rescue, told The Times: “Chile will now be remembered and recognised not for Pinochet but as an example of unity, leadership, courage, faith and success.”

He also told the newspaper he had a “very strong admiration” for Mr Cameron.

Mr Pinera will arrive at London’s Heathrow Airport later and, after sightseeing in London on Sunday, he will meet Mr Cameron and have an audience with the Queen, who has extended an invitation at the last minute following the mine rescue.

He is visiting France and Germany later this week.

Mr Pinera revealed that his father-in-law died only hours before the miners were rescued and he had told the president: “Don’t give up. Keep working to rescue the miners.”

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

Heart charities call for changes

Heart modelAtrial Fibrillation affects 50,138 people in Wales and can lead to heart disease or death

A new report claims better care for those with irregular heartbeats could save the NHS in Wales millions each year.

New statistics reveal patients with palpitations or arrhythmia like Atrial Fibrillation (AF) cost the NHS more than £100m in 2008 alone.

Now two leading heart disease charities say more needs to be done to improve detection rates.

They say AF affects 50,138 people in Wales.

Related stories

If it is not detected and treated early enough it carries the risk of heart disease, stroke or even death.

The report Keeping Our Finger on the Pulse is authored by the Atrial Fibrillation Association and the Stroke Association in Wales.

It calls on health chiefs within Wales to address the personal, clinical and economic impact of AF and highlights the true economic burden the disorder carries with it.

AF is the most common heart rhythm disorder (arrhythmia) seen in clinical practice in Wales.

Last month the new MP for Montgomeryshire, Glyn Davies announced he would be receiving electric shock therapy in hospital for the complaint.

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair also received hospital treatment for an irregular heartbeat in 2003 and 2004.

According to new research from the Office of Health Economics, patients with primary or secondary AF occupied almost 308,000 bed days in 2008, at a cost to NHS Wales of more than £100 million.

On top of that, caring for outpatients with AF cost an additional £11.9million and other in-patient costs contributed a further £6.61million.

The statistics also show AF patients in Wales are five times more likely to experience a stroke, with a quarter of strokes caused directly by AF.

Trudie Lobban MBE, founder and chief executive of the Atrial Fibrillation Association, said: “Failure to diagnose and treat AF causes untold misery for thousands of people in Wales and costs NHS Wales millions of pounds every year.

“This is a bleak picture but it doesn’t need to be this way. Some relatively straightforward measures could transform the situation socially, medically and financially.”

Ana Palazón, director of The Stroke Association in Wales, added: “Too often AF passes as an unrecognised condition, yet its potential to undermine an individual’s ability to lead an ordinary life is significant.

“We want to see patients receive reliable information, to have appropriate access to services and that the condition is recognised early so that appropriate treatment can be offered in the pursuit of maintaining good health alongside a good quality of life.”

The report also calls for improvements in several key areas, with the recommendation AF become a priority for NHS Wales and raising awareness among healthcare staff and patients an aim.

The charities also want to encourage early identification and treatment of AF and see a specialist nurse appointed to champion the cause in every health board.

Another aim is to encourage research and new treatments.

The report also calls on the NHS to recognise the Welsh Assembly Government’s stroke risk reduction action plan, which has the overall aim of reducing the number of cases of stroke and stroke-related deaths in Wales.

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

Merkel: Multicultural society has failed

Angela Merkel (centre) among delegates at the congress of the youth wing of the CDU in PotsdamAngela Merkel said Germany had “kidded itself” multiculturalism was working

Attempts to build a multicultural society in Germany have “utterly failed”, Chancellor Angela Merkel says.

In a speech in Potsdam, she said the so-called “multikulti” concept – where people would “live side-by-side” happily – did not work.

Mrs Merkel’s comments come amid recent outpourings of strong anti-immigrant feeling from mainstream politicians.

A recent survey showed that more than 30% of Germans believed Germany was “overrun by foreigners”.

Related stories

The study – by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation think-tank – also showed that roughly the same number thought that some 16 million of Germany’s immigrants or people with foreign origins had come to the country for the social benefits.

Mrs Merkel told a gathering of younger members of her conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party on Saturday that at “the beginning of the 60s our country called the foreign workers to come to Germany and now they live in our country… We kidded ourselves a while, we said: ‘They won’t stay, sometime they will be gone’, but this isn’t reality.

“And of course, the approach [to build] a multicultural [society] and to live side-by-side and to enjoy each other… has failed, utterly failed.”

In her speech, the chancellor specifically referred to recent comments by German President Christian Wulff who said that Islam was “part of Germany” like Christianity and Judaism.

Muslims read Koran in Hamburg, file picMrs Merkel says Islam is part of Germany but more must be done on integration

While acknowledging that this was the case, Mrs Merkel stressed that immigrants living in Germany needed to do more to integrate, including learning to speak German.

“Anyone who does not immediately speak German”, she said, “is not welcome”.

Her comments come a week after she held talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in which the two leaders pledged to do more to improve the often poor integration record of Germany’s estimated 2.5 million-strong Turkish community.

Earlier this week, Horst Seehofer, the leader of the CDU’s Bavarian sister party, CSU, said about integration that it was “obvious that immigrants from different cultures like Turkey and Arab countries, all in all, find it harder”.

“‘Multikulti’ is dead,” Mr Seehofer said.

In August, Thilo Sarrazin, a senior official at Germany’s central bank, said that “no immigrant group other than Muslims is so strongly connected with claims on the welfare state and crime”. Mr Sarrazin has since resigned.

Such recent strong anti-immigrant feelings from mainstream politicians come amid an anger in Germany about high unemployment, even if the economy is growing faster than those of its rivals, the BBC’s Stephen Evans in Berlin says.

Our correspondent adds that there also seems to be a new strident tone in the country, perhaps leading to less reticence about no-go-areas of the past.

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

Deadly China mine blast traps 11

Map

An explosion at a coal mine in central China has killed 20 miners and trapped another 17 underground.

State media said the pit in Yuzhou, Henan province, was hit by a “sudden coal and gas outburst”.

China’s mining industry is the most dangerous in the world, with more than 2,600 workers killed in accidents last year alone.

More than 1,000 small, illegal coal mines were shut down this year as part of efforts to improve safety standards.

Related stories

The blast happened in the early morning at the Yuzhou pit, which is owned by Pingyu Coal & Electric Co Ltd, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The national work safety agency said 239 miners had managed to reach the surface but that 20 had been found dead and a further 17 were still missing.

It was not clear how far underground the trapped men were, an official surnamed Li told the Associated Press news agency.

China is heavily reliant on its mining industry, with coal supplying some 70% of its energy needs.

The central government has made improving conditions in the country’s 25,000 coal mines a priority, and the number of deaths has fallen from nearly 7,000 in 2002 to 2,631 last year.

But rules have often been ignored in favour of profit, as the economy has boomed.

Earlier this month, new regulations came into force requiring the managers of coal mines to accompany workers underground, as an incentive to improve the conditions.

At no time should you endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or infringe any laws. In most cases a selection of your comments will be published, displaying your name as you provide it and location unless you state otherwise. But your contact details will never be published.

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

Call to stop EU maternity plans

Pregnant womanCurrently women taking maternity leave are entitled to six weeks on 90% pay

UK employers are urging MEPs to vote against proposals to raise the amount of full paid maternity leave from 14 to 20 weeks.

The Federation of Small Businesses says the plans are unaffordable and that it could cost their members £2.5bn a year.

The coalition government says the amendments would double its costs.

Supporters say it is wrong to allow policy to be influenced by temporary economic downturns and that a price cannot be put on a contented workforce.

Women in the UK are currently entitled to 12 months off, with the first six weeks on 90% pay followed by 33 weeks on Statutory Maternity Pay of just under £125 a week.

Businesses can claim back all or most of the money from the government, but say it would put more pressure on them at a time when they are struggling.

Kieran O’Keefe from the British Chambers of Commerce says the proposal would particularly hit businesses with only a few staff.

He said: “Smaller operators are always the ones that seem to suffer the most from this.

“Any change like this will be extremely hard for them to absorb – having to cope with the legal changes, having to cover for somebody while they’re out the workplace for an extended period of time – I think is the last thing you want to be doing in the current economic conditions.”

‘Inestimable pleasure’

The FSB is urging the European Parliament to reject these proposals and is calling for maternity and paternity to be reformed by introducing a “flexible leave” system to allow parents to choose their leave arrangements.

Lynette Burrows, an author on children’s rights and a family campaigner, said the proposals could mean businesses would employ men rather than women.

She said: “I think women will just have to take on the chin the fact that there are sacrifices to be made if you want the inestimable pleasure and treasure of having a family that you won’t be able to compete on an equal footing with men.”

Employment Relations Minister Edward Davey said: “This is a substantial increase at a time when economies across the EU can least afford it.

“In addition to the cost of these proposals – which will double the £2 billion we currently spend on maternity pay – they will be regressive as most of the additional money will go to the highest paid women.”

But Belinda Phipps, the chief executive of the National Childbirth Trust, said the objections to the proposed new law were invalid.

She said families should be able to choose how long they should be at home to be able to bond with their baby and that the “temporary financial crisis” should not impact policy.

One mother said it was “not fair that only well off people are able to choose how long they can spend off work while poorer people have to go back to work”.

Euro-MPs will vote on the measure later this week.

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

Maths visionary Mandelbrot dies

Benoit Mandelbrot, who discovered mathematical shapes known as fractals, has died of cancer at the age of 85.

Mandelbrot, who had joint French and US nationality, developed fractals as a mathematical way of understanding the infinite complexity of nature.

The concept has been used to measure coastlines, clouds and other natural phenomena and had far-reaching effects in physics, biology and astronomy.

Mandelbrot’s family said he had died in a hospice in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The visionary mathematician was born into a Jewish family in Poland but moved to Paris at the age of 11 to escape the Nazis.

He spent most of his life in the US, working for IBM computers and eventually became a professor of mathematical science at Yale University.

His seminal work, The Fractal Geometry of Nature, was published in 1982. In it, he argued that seemingly random mathematical shapes in fact followed a pattern if broken down into a single repeating shape.

The concept enabled scientists to measure previously immeasurable objects, including the coastline of the British Isles, the geometry of a lung or a cauliflower.

“If you cut one of the florets of a cauliflower, you see the whole cauliflower but smaller,” he explained at the influential Technology Entertainment and Design (TED) conference earlier this year.

“Then you cut again, again again, and you still get small cauliflowers. So there are some shapes which have this peculiar property, where each part is like the whole, but smaller.”

Fractal mathematics also led to technological developments in the fields of digital music and image compression.

It has also been influential in pop culture, with the patterns being used to create beautiful and intricate pieces of art. One such design is named in his honour.

Mandelbrot was also highly critical of the world banking system, arguing the economic model it used was unable to cope with its own complexity.

In a statement, French President Nicolas Sarkozy praised Mandelbrot for his “powerful, original mind that never shied away from innovation and battering preconceived ideas”.

“His work, which was entirely developed outside the main research channels, led to a modern information theory,” he said.

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

Newspaper review

Sunday newspapers

The Observer focuses on the death of Lance Corporal Michael Pritchard, of the Royal Military Police, who was shot dead in southern Afghanistan in December.

The paper says that L/Cpl Pritchard’s mother Helen Perry was not told until five months later that he had been killed by a British army sniper.

The Observer is angered by the delay in reporting what happened, as well as what it sees as a lack of transparency.

It calls for “wholesale reform” of the way such incidents are investigated.

The Sunday Telegraph and Mail on Sunday both reveal that three peers who have been investigated over their expenses could face suspension from the Lords.

The papers say Labour peers Lady Uddin and Lord Paul and cross-bencher Lord Bhatia will pay back the money.

The financial crisis could be driving families apart, the People reports.

It says that in a survey of 10,000 homes, more than two-thirds of parents said money problems were creating strain on their relationships.

Ahead of the Spending Review on Wednesday, the Observer advises Chancellor George Osborne to “think globally before you cut”.

The paper argues that the Treasury is underestimating the role of what it calls a “crisis in globalisation” in bringing about the UK’s financial woes.

The Sunday Telegraph is more upbeat about Mr Osborne’s approach.

Its leader expresses support for what it describes as “the coalition’s determination to be tough but fair”.

The Sunday Mirror claims to have more information about who won the record-breaking £113m EuroMillions lottery prize earlier this month.

The paper says the winning ticket was bought in Coventry.

Camelot has apparently decided to release the information earlier than normal following hoax claims.

And the News of the World reports that a 65-year-old Surrey man has finished a seven-year pub crawl – after drinking at the county’s 900 real ale pubs.

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