Category: news

Award-winning author Jeanette Winterson, best known for Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, is to turn to horror writing.

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The spill, which damaged bridges and houses, swept cars from roads

Hungary says it will cost tens of millions of dollars and take at least a year to clean up the damage caused by a spill of industrial toxic red sludge.

Emergency workers are trying to stop the spill, from an alumina plant, from flowing into major waterways, including the River Danube

A state of emergency has been declared in three western counties after the chemical waste burst from a reservoir.

Four people are known to have died, and 120 were injured. Six more are missing.

At least seven villages and towns are affected including Devecser, where the torrent was 2m (6.5ft) deep.

The flood swept cars from roads and damaged bridges and houses, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of residents.

The sludge – a mixture of water and mining waste containing heavy metals – is considered hazardous, according to Hungary’s National Directorate General for Disaster Management (NDGDM).

While the cause of the deaths has not yet been officially established, the victims are thought to have drowned.

Some 600,000-700,000 cubic metres (21m-24m cubic feet) of sludge escaped from the plant, 160km (100 miles) from the capital, Budapest, affecting an area of 40 sq km (15.4 sq miles).

Environment Minister Zoltan Illes told the BBC the clean-up would take at least one year and probably require technical and financial assistance from the European Union.

He described the spill as Hungary’s worst chemical accident.

The spill flooded homes, roads and fields with toxic waste

“The area is very big, very heavy contamination, lots of human resources are needed, definitely machinery is needed,” he said.

Mr Illes said a layer of soil 2cm deep (0.8 inches) would need to be removed from the whole of the contaminated region.

With 7,000 people affected directly by the disaster, a state of emergency was declared in the county of Veszprem where the spill occurred, and Gyor-Moson-Sopron and Vas, where the sludge appeared to be heading.

At least 390 residents have been relocated and 110 rescued from flooded areas, the NDGDM said.

Nearly 500 police officers and soldiers, including six emergency detection teams, have been deployed. Plaster has been poured into the Marcal river in a bid to bind the sludge and stop further flooding.

An alert has been declared for the Marcal and Torna rivers, and Mr Illes said workers were “desperately” trying to stop contamination of the Raba and Danube rivers.

Dr Attila Nyikos, of the NDGDM, told the BBC News website that a police investigation had been opened and tests were still being carried out to determine the environmental impact of the leak.

The sludge escaped from a reservoir at the Ajkai Timfoldgyar plant in the town of Ajka. Police say they have confiscated documents from the company’s headquarters.

The plant produces alumina, a synthetically produced aluminium oxide. It is a white or nearly colourless crystalline substance that is used as a starting material for the smelting of aluminium metal.

Weeks of heavy rain are likely to have played a role in the accident, the BBC’s Nick Thorpe reports from Budapest.

MAL Rt, the Hungarian company which owns the plant, earlier said that by EU standards the sludge had not been considered hazardous.

There had been no sign of the impending disaster and the last examination of the reservoir pond on Monday had shown nothing untoward, it added.

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Sainsbury’s said its results showed the firm was continuing to perform well

Sainsbury’s has reported an increase in half-year sales, saying it is continuing to perform strongly despite “challenging” trading conditions.

For the six months to 2 October, its like-for-like sales excluding fuel – which strips out the impact of new store openings – increased by 2%.

For the most recent three months, its sales under the same measure rose 2.9%.

The trading update comes a day after Tesco said its half-year, like-for-like non-petrol UK sales rose by 1.2%.

Sainsbury’s said its smaller convenience stores had continued to perform well, and were now achieving annual sales of £1bn.

It added that its online sales were also still rising strongly.

The supermarket group is also continuing to add new stores, while extending a number of its existing outlets.

Chief executive Justin King said Sainsbury’s had delivered “another strong performance”.

Sainsbury’s total sales were up 7% for the half-year, and by 6.6% for the second quarter.

Tesco’s total sales for its half-year added 8.3%.

Tesco also reported a 12.5% increase in six-month pre-tax profits. Sainsbury’s has not released any profit figures in its latest trading update.

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The report found 62% of over 65s are worried about paying their winter fuel bills

The number of people paying off debt as they enter retirement is rising, says a report from a campaigning group.

Consumer Focus Wales found people are deferring retirement to make ends meet.

It is calling on the Welsh Assembly Government to do more to avert what they call a “debt crisis previously unseen in retired people”.

A Welsh Assembly Government spokesman said it was already “working hard” to tackle pensioner poverty in Wales.

“This report is a wake-up call to the generation thinking of retiring from work – and anyone who hopes to retire in the future,” says Maria Battle, director of Consumer Focus Wales.

“If younger people take the attitudes to debt into old age with them, we are likely to see levels of deprivation among older people soar.”

The report, Financing the Future, found many people in the 50 to 65 plus age group, who took part in the research, defined themselves as “managing on a day-to-day basis”.

They told researchers they expect the situation to become worse over the next few years due to the economic downturn, coupled with rising costs.

Some have put their retirement plans on hold and others say their planned pension pots have failed to live up to expectations.

To cope, the report found some are cutting back on grocery bills while others are using doorstep lenders.

Megan 59, from Carmarthenshire, said she has been finding it increasing hard to cope over the last few years.

She gave up work to care for her husband after an accident 25 years ago, but rising costs have made the last few years more difficult to cope on £200 a month in benefits.

“When you take out £120 for council tax and rent, you’ve got about £70-£80 to run the car, food, electric, gas, heating, everything,” she said.

Finding money in an emergency can be a real problem, without any savings.

When her cooker broke, she tried to manage without one, but in the end borrowed money from a doorstep lender to buy a new one.

“I’d been without it for a couple of months and I couldn’t cope anymore,” she said.

“You have to pay back so much – if I had to use it again I would, but you borrow £200 and paying back £30 a week, you just can’t do it, then you fall behind.”

The report highlights three areas which older people say cause them the greatest problems – fuel bills, food and council tax.

Consumer Focus Wales wants the assembly government, energy providers and lenders to offer financial advice and education to help people plan and budget better in later life.

‘Committed’

A spokesperson for the assembly government said they are determined to tackle pensioner poverty in Wales.

The spokesperson said they are working hard so that people can access affordable credit through investment in credit unions and registered social landlords.

“We have provided funding to councils to help increase the take up of council tax and housing benefits to ease the financial pressure on older people.

“We’ve worked with the Financial Services Authority to develop guides to help them plan for retirement. In addition to direct support, we also remain committed to free bus passes in Wales which help older people stay independent.”

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Papers keep up pressure on child benefit

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Royal Marines from 40 Commando are to return home later after a six month deployment to Afghanistan.

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Late repairs ensure the Commonwealth Games stadium in Delhi is ready for the athletics which starts on Wednesday.

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David Cameron is expected to strongly criticise dissident republicans in his first speech as prime minister to the Conservative Party conference.

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Quang Binh province has been one of the worst-flooded areas

At least 15 people have been killed in flooding that has swamped parts of central Vietnam.

More than 34,000 people in the worst-hit provinces of Ha Tinh and Quang Binh have evacuated their homes after days of torrential rain.

The army has been using boats and helicopters to move people to safety and deliver food to the affected area.

Vietnam is frequently hit at this time of year by tropical storms and heavy flooding.

On Tuesday, officials said 130cm (51 inches) of rain had fallen in the region since Friday.

“This is the second time since 1985 that the water level went up too fast,” said Phan Trietn in Quang Binh province.

“I just escaped from the water and all my belongings were swept away.”

Landslides and floods have cut off several highways, including highways 1 and 9 and the Ho Chi Minh highway, officials said.

Thousands of hectares of rice fields have been flooded.

Water levels on rivers were dropping in Quang Binh province while rivers from Quang Tri to Thua Thien-Hue provinces were continuing to rise, said the national meteorology centre.

More rain was forecast for the central coast of Vietnam.

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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.

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There have been up to six ambushes on Nato supply convoys in the past week

Gunmen in Pakistan have torched at least eight oil tankers carrying fuel for Nato vehicles in Afghanistan in the latest such attack in the country.

The attack occurred near a hotel near the south western Quetta city.

There have been several ambushes on tankers in the past week since one of the main border routes into Afghanistan was shut by the Pakistani authorities.

The Torkham crossing was closed after three Pakistani soldiers were killed in a Nato helicopter strike in Pakistan.

Islamabad has not yet said when the border post will be reopened.

Wednesday’s attack happened in the parking area of a roadside hotel on the outskirts of Quetta, police official Shah Nawaz Khan told the AP news agency.

Reports say that the tankers were believed to be he heading for a smaller border crossing into Afghanistan that still remains open.

On Friday, at least 27 lorries carrying supplies for Nato troops were set on fire in the southern Sindh province.

Nato has been playing down the logistical impact of the attacks, but analysts say if such ambushes continue, they will begin to have an impact.

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Mr Cameron is expected to speak about fairness in his conference address

David Cameron will use his first conference speech as prime minister to warn that spending cuts will “not be easy”.

He will tell the Conservative Party faithful in Birmingham that jobs will be lost and programmes cut.

But he will also give his backing to wealth creators and pledge protection for the vulnerable, sick and elderly.

Ahead of the speech he apologised for not including changes to child benefit in his election manifesto.

Speaking to ITV News political editor Tom Bradby, Mr Cameron said the party had made clear during the election campaign that there were going to be “difficult cuts”.

He said: “We did not outline all of those cuts, we did not know exactly the situation we were going to inherit. But, yes, I acknowledge, this was not in our manifesto.”

When questioned, he said: “Of course I’m sorry about that but I think we need to be clear about why we’re doing what we’re doing.”

In his speech, Mr Cameron will try to defuse the situation by stressing plans for a tax break for married couples.

The government has denied plans for the tax break by 2015 has been announced in response to the backlash over proposals to end child benefit for high rate tax payers in 2013.

Mr Cameron is expected to acknowledge the row in his speech, as a sign of how difficult reducing the deficit will be.

He will warn that jobs will be lost and programmes cut following the government’s long-awaited spending review on 20 October.

He will vow to protect the vulnerable – but he will also call for a debate on what fairness means in the new age of austerity, saying it should not just be about how much money is spent of welfare.

“You can’t measure fairness just by how much money we spend on welfare – as though the poor are products with a price tag; the more we spend on them the more we value them.

“Fairness means supporting people out of poverty, not trapping them in dependency.

Recognise marriage

“So we will make a bold choice. For too long, we have measured success in tackling poverty by the size of the cheque we give people. We say: let’s measure our success by the chance we give.”