Category: news

Prince Charles hosts eco-car show

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How the Pope has dealt with paedophile priests

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Children should learn first aid skills to help friends who become dangerously drunk, the British Red Cross has said.

Its survey of 2,500 11 to 16-year-olds found 10% had been left with a drunk friend who was sick, injured or unconscious and 14% said they had been in an alcohol-related emergency.

The Red Cross wants to promote a broad range of first aid skills, but says the effects of alcohol are a key concern.

The charity Drinkaware backed the call, but said parents needed to give advice.

Official figures show that there were more than 7,000 hospital admissions between 2006 and 2009 involving under-15s and alcohol.

Many youngsters told the survey that they drank – 23% of 11 to 16-year-olds said they have been drunk, while one in three 14 to 16-year-olds said they drank most weekends.

Many of those who said they had witnessed an alcohol-related emergency said they had panicked, or did not know what to do.

Almost half said they were worried about their friend choking on vomit or simply not waking up.

Joe Mulligan, from the British Red Cross, said: “We need to ensure that every young person, irrespective of whether they have been drinking, has the ability and confidence to cope in a crisis.”

The agency hopes new online training materials, including videos on YouTube, will reach children directly.

Its campaign, called Life – Live It, is also sending Red Cross trainers into schools and offering first aid packs to teachers.

Children can learn skills including the recovery position, to avoid someone choking on their own vomit, and resuscitation techniques.

Chris Sorek, from charity Drinkaware, said the findings reinforced the need for children of all ages to be educated about alcohol misuse.

“It’s not surprising that children under 16 don’t know how to deal with alcohol emergencies. Ideally they should enjoy an alcohol-free childhood, so we wouldn’t expect them to know what to do.

“But with the young people who drink alcohol drinking at very high levels, it’s important they are equipped with the tips they need to keep themselves and their friends safe.”

But he said that parents played a vital role in educating their children about the dangers of alcohol misuse.

First aid has been part of the school curriculum for two years, but the survey also found that only 5% of those surveyed had received first aid training at school.

As well as dealing with alcohol-related problems, the campaign aims to help teach children how to help people with asthma attacks, head injuries, choking and epileptic seizures.

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The commission set up by former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair to search for solutions to poverty in Africa has called for billions more dollars in aid for the continent.

The Commission for Africa says the world’s poorest continent has made “extraordinary progress” in the past five years.

But poverty reduction has also become more challenging in many parts of Africa, says a report published ahead of a global poverty summit in New York later this month.

Africa, this report argues, has changed a great deal in five years.

There has been what the commission calls “dramatic” economic growth and a surge in trade and investment, not least because of the demand for Africa’s natural resources from countries such as China and India.

But the commission also says the vast majority of people in the continent have yet to benefit from this economic success.

And climate change and rising food prices will make poverty reduction more challenging in many parts of Africa.

Against the success stories, such as more children than ever before going to primary school and more sleeping under bed nets to protect them from malaria, the report points out that the number of undernourished children has barely changed in 20 years.

The commission says calls for more aid may seem at odds with the focus on public spending cuts in donor countries – but it says the message of its landmark 2005 report that a strong and prosperous Africa is in everyone’s interest is just as relevant today.

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A government-backed register for providers of injectable cosmetic treatments such as botox and dermal fillers has been launched.

Those who meet the standards set down for the Independent Heathcare Advisory Services’ voluntary register, will receive a quality assurance mark.

The IHAS hopes people will be steered away from “botox parties” or treatments offered in inappropriate locations.

But cosmetic surgeons say such self regulation will not stop bad practice.

The introduction of the register comes amid a boom in demand for botox and dermal fillers.

According to the IHAS, there are currently about 5,000 providers of injectables in the UK, carrying out about 200,000 treatments each year.

Other estimates suggest far higher numbers of people in the UK are seeking out these treatments.

But there are growing concerns over people receiving treatments in inappropriate settings.

“We’ve heard stories of botox parties and people going to even garden sheds [to have treatment], ” IHAS director Sally Taber said.

“It’s just amazing that the general public think that they can have an injection into their face in a nail bar, a garden shed or at a botox party, because you are dealing with a prescription medicine.

“They can cause permanent damage. The patient will be reminded all their lives that they’ve gone to an inappropriate practitioner who wasn’t appropriately qualified,” she warns.

The new register of injectable cosmetic providers represents an attempt by the injectables industry to regulate itself.

It will be funded by the treatment providers who must pay registration and annual fees to join.

Those signing up to the register must promise that all prospective clients receive a face-face consultation before any treatment goes ahead.

They must also ensure that procedures takes place in a clean and safe clinical setting and registered premises may be inspected at random by an outside agency.

Those injecting must also have the right training, with only doctors, dentists and registered nurses eligible.

“Occasionally a patient could have an anaphylactic shock when the patient has a reaction to the medicine and collapses and may need a tube down their throat to ensure their airway is sufficient for them to breath again,” Ms Taber said.

“We don’t feel that it is appropriate for a beauty therapist to have that kind of responsibility.”

The new scheme has already come under heavy criticism from plastic surgeons. A recent poll among members of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons found only 4% would consider signing up.

The organisation’s outgoing president Nigel Mercer says the scheme is more about clinics marketing their services than protecting the consumer.

“Self-regulation hasn’t worked in the Houses of Parliament has it, and it hasn’t worked in the banking industry, so why would it work in cosmetic medicine?” he said.

“Self-regulation effectively means it’s a free for all.

“What we’ve been suggesting is something like ‘Ofcos’. Obviously quangos are not the order of the day at the moment, but there really is public harm being done.”

He also points to new European regulations that are currently under consideration, which he says, offer a more robust alternative.

Ms Taber believes such is the cost-cutting climate of the moment, that external regulation is off the agenda.

“All of the industry wanted regulation to begin with,” she said, “but it’s obvious from the previous government and now the coalition government, that has given this scheme its support, that we’re not going to get it.

“A set of professionally led standards at the moment is the correct way forward.”

Botox works by temporarily paralysing nerves in the upper face to reduce wrinkling when people smile or frown.

Dermal fillers, such as hyaluronic acid, are used largely on the lower face to fill in creases and wrinkles. They can also be used to pump up cheeks and produce a lip “pout”.

Some of these fillers offer temporary solutions, others are semi-permanent or permanent.

But while many are turning to these treatments, there are undoubted risks.

Michael Saul of Manchester-based solicitors TJL specialises in representing victims of substandard cosmetic surgery and injectable treatments.

“You find a whole raft of problems following these treatments. There’s asymmetry if they are not injected correctly, you can have lumps and nodules which look extremely unsightly in prominent areas of the face. There are problems with infection and terrible allergic reactions.”

He also has a case where the injected product migrated under the skin.

“The dermal filler has migrated from the nasolabial fold into the eye orbit and is causing problems with vision. It’s going to be very difficult and dangerous to remove it from the eye orbit and it carries a risk of blindness.”

He too favours external regulation. “This industry is very profitable for practitioners and inadequately regulated and that’s a very dangerous mix,” he said.

He believes those who speak out or seek out legal representation represent only “the tip of the iceberg”.

“A lot of people don’t know where to run if they have problems so don’t do anything. If something goes wrong after an aesthetic procedure, a common psychological reaction for people is to blame themselves. A lot of people want to lock themselves away.”

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A small seven-year-old girl in a purple dress is being quietly coaxed into speaking.

She looks up suspiciously at us, the new visitors to the Nowshera Girls’ Technical College in Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. But she is not a pupil.

Tajjula lives here with her family, along with hundreds of other families who have taken refuge from the floods, crammed into classrooms off a long concrete hall.

She speaks in barely a whisper; I have to bend right down to hear say her name and where she used to live.

“She’s much better than she was,” Zerena, a social worker explains.

“She didn’t speak when she came – we find that with a lot of children. Their parents tell us they are much more fearful of everything now, after the floods, and some don’t talk at all.”

Zerena and her colleagues work with hundreds of children here and even more again at six other camps in the area, with supplies from Unicef.

It is a huge workload for a team of three.

She says that a lot of children feel they have lost their identity.

“The experience of having to leave home quickly and leave their normal lives behind has made them feel lost.

“They leave their friends and everything they know behind and they don’t fit in anywhere in these busy camps.”

It is easy to see how a child could feel lost in a place like this. Small, humid classrooms line dusty corridors. Each room is home to three or four families, jostling for space. There is nowhere to escape, and the noise is constant.

In one of the classrooms, over 100 children squash in to play. It is the only activity there is, and so everyone is excited. Zerena can barely keep control.

They have four skipping ropes between them all, but they have developed a system – one skips and the others clap, sing and jostle to be next. The room is full of smiles.

It is a small window of relief from the long days in the camp, which are by turns monotonous and anxious.

Mohammed Saifullah, another local charity worker, has seen how the cramped living conditions are negatively affecting the 113 families here.

“Certainly we’ve seen an increase in violence against children” he says.

“Parents are tired and hungry, and under such pressure that they don’t have the patience, so they’re quicker to discipline their children with force,” he says.

He shows us some games he plays with the children. Having structured play is particularly useful with boys, he says, as they tend not to talk about their experiences for fear of seeming weak.

As well as having to be “brave”, very young boys are also expected to be the head of the family in the absence of their fathers, who may have stayed behind to guard what little is left of the family home.

Solveig Routiers, a specialist in child protection in emergency situations with the charity Plan International, says that often a field worker has to take boys aside and work with them individually to try to “break through” the very tough exterior of the ones who are hiding their distress after a very difficult experience.

“It’s tough to get through, but even with the toughest children you can eventually find a point where they open up. It takes time, but they are all children at the end of the day,” she says.

In such a huge disaster, she adds, resources are inevitably stretched. This sadly means that not all children can receive this kind of attention.

Ten minutes’ drive from the school is Azakhel, an Afghan refugee camp set up 30 years ago which had solidified into a village of brick houses lining dirt streets, a market, and a mosque. The waters here reached 5.5m (18ft). You can still see the water mark on the mosque wall.

When the waters receded, the houses were little more than piles of bricks and kindling.

Eight-year-old Syed Gul has come back to the camp with his father, who wants to see what they will have to do to rebuild. He is a shy and serious child, with big dark circles under his eyes.

Syed’s father Samar shudders as he remembers the night the floodwaters rushed in.

“Even the adults were crying when the floods came,” he says.

“Now my daughters cry all the time. They are still upset and don’t want to come back.”

He puts a heavy, rough hand on Syed’s head. “Not this one, though – he’s brave.”

Samar is a dignified man, and describes his neighbourhood slowly and deliberately to illustrate what used to be here. He wants to make it clear to us that they were not living in a camp, or slums.

It takes some time before he admits that his son has recurring nightmares about the water. “He has bad dreams, and can’t sleep properly,” he says.

“I dream about the water,” Syed says quietly, and then will not say any more.

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Scotland’s performance in export markets and attracting inward investment is increasingly patchy, according to a parliamentary report.

The Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee also said not enough firms were seeking advice from public bodies.

It called for more focus on increasing the number of firms, especially smaller ones, which are prepared to grow their business in export markets.

HMRC figures show only 5% of UK exporters were based in Scotland.

This is despite the fact that about 8% of all VAT-registered firms in the UK are located north of the border.

Statistics from Ernst and Young also suggested the volume of manufactured exports from Scotland had fallen by 30% in the last decade.

The committee’s report has called on the Scottish government’s export agency, Scottish Development International (SDI), to update its strategy and services to focus more on increasing the number of firms that saw exports as a route to success.

Iain Smith MSP, committee convener, said: “Scotland is slowly coming out of recession, but is lagging behind some other economies, such as Asia, so now is a good time to tap into growing overseas markets.

“Our report is particularly timely given the increasing constraints on public finances.

“While Scotland has a good track record in export markets across a number of sectors, such as oil and gas and whisky, overall performance is inconsistent.

“We have to make a step change in our performance and increase the number of firms that see exports as a route to future growth.”

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Art historians are one step closer to discovering the identity of a royal painter thanks to scientific research.

Analysis by the National Portrait Gallery of two renowned portraits of Elizabeth I has shown they were painted on wood from the same two trees.

The 16th century paintings have been associated with artist Nicholas Hilliard for many years.

Curator Tarnya Cooper said the research meant the work is probably that of Hilliard or someone working with him.

The two paintings will be shown for the first time together in 25 years for one week only when they go on display at the National Portrait Gallery in London between 13 and 19 September.

Researchers spent about nine weeks studying the portraits and concluded they must have come from the same studio, as the wooden panels they are painted on derive from the same two oak trees.

The two portraits were painted when Elizabeth I was in her early forties, almost halfway through her reign.

The titles of the two works – Pelican and Phoenix – stem from the jewels worn by the queen in each portrait.

Researchers also found that a tracing of the pattern of the Phoenix portrait matches the Pelican portrait in reverse, making it even more likely they were painted around the same time.

The Phoenix belongs to the National Portrait Gallery but has been on loan to Tate Britain since 1965.

The Pelican belongs to the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool.

The portraits were last seen together in an exhibition in 1983 at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

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The UK is heading for a 50% increase in the number of new colon cancer cases over the next 30 years, says an international team of scientists.

The forecast, in the European Journal of Cancer, is for 35,000 new cases a year by 2040, compared with 23,000 now.

Rising obesity is one reason – and if the UK reached US levels that could add another 2,000 to the total, they say.

The study used cancer data from seven countries to predict how cancer rates might change with an ageing population.

Each year there are 38,000 cases of bowel cancer, which can split into those in the colon and those lower down in the rectum. This latest study looked just at those in the colon itself.

Two of the biggest risk factors for colon cancer are physical inactivity and being overweight or obese.

Dr Andrew Renehan, from the University of Manchester, and one of the authors of the research, said that the computer models allowed researchers to predict what would happen to cancer rates in a variety of scenarios.

If UK trends in obesity and activity stayed as they are now, the predicted figure of approximately 35,000 cases a year is reached by 2040.

If obesity gets worse, following trends set in the US, where the problem has spiralled in recent years, then the annual figure is close to 37,000.

But if that does not happen, and there is a modest increase in activity, then that rise turns into a similar-sized fall.

And if the UK managed to match levels of physical exercise in The Netherlands – the best among the countries studied, that would prevent approximately 2,000 cases.

Dr Renehan said: “The predictive modelling is beginning to tease out the independent relevance of each of these factors in the prevention of colon cancer.

“We know that large numbers of colon cancer cases could be avoided by reducing exposure to risk factors.”

Another researcher, Professor Jan-Willem Coebergh, from Erasmus University in The Netherlands, said: “We can safely say increasingly physical activity across Europe to the level already achieved in The Netherlands, where everybody cycles, would be of substantial benefit.”

And a second study published at the same time appeared to show a small additional risk not just for obese people, but anyone carrying excess fat around their middle – even if their overall weight appears near-normal.

In the group studied, every additional inch of waistline from the slimmest to the biggest-waisted meant an extra 2% risk of bowel cancer, even when the BMI of the person was accounted for in the calculations.

The research, carried out by Imperial College London for the World Cancer Research Fund, combined the results of previous studies into the issue to produce more reliable evidence of the link.

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Homeopaths are offering “alternative vaccinations” which doctors say could leave patients vulnerable to potentially fatal diseases, a BBC investigation has found.

Three practitioners admitted giving patients a homeopathic medicine designed to replace the MMR vaccine.

Inverness-based Katie Jarvis said she only offered “Homeopathic Prophylaxis” to patients who expressed an interest.

But the discovery has prompted a shocked reaction from doctors.

When asked about the practice, Ms Jarvis said: “The alternative that I would offer would be a homeopathic remedy made from diseased tissue, that comes from someone with that disease, and then made into potentised form so that is given in a homeopathic remedy.

“It can be given instead of, or as well as, the vaccination.

“I’m not advocating that they do not take the vaccination, I am providing support for those who choose not to by giving them an alternative.”

When asked if the homeopathic remedy offered the same protection as the MMR, she replied: “I’d like to say that they were safer, but I can’t prove that.”

However, the BMA’s director of science and ethics, Dr Vivienne Nathanson, said: “Replacing proven vaccines, tested vaccines, vaccines that are used globally and we know are effective with homeopathic alternatives where there is no evidence of efficacy, no evidence of effectiveness, is extremely worrying because it could persuade families that their children are safe and protected when they’re not.

“And some of those children will go on to get the illness, and some of those children may go on to get permanent life-threatening sequelae, or even to die, and that’s a tragedy when the family think they’ve protected their children.”

Sequelae is a pathological condition resulting from a previous disease or injury.

The practice of replacing conventional vaccines with homeopathic alternatives has been condemned by the Faculty of Homeopaths.

It said there was no evidence for homeopathic treatments being able to protect against diseases, and said patients should stick to conventional medicines.

Replacements for vaccines were also dismissed by the UK and Scottish governments but many homeopaths believe that remedies can help lessen the side effects of conventional vaccination.

The BBC Scotland programme examined claims that members of a small organisation, the Homeopathic Medical Association – which has about 300 members across the UK – were offering replacement vaccines.

It approached the association’s six members in Scotland. Three of them admitted to providing the MMR remedies to patients and said they would be happy to do so again.

Katie Jarvis also claimed she can protect patients against other diseases, like polio, tetanus and diphtheria. She also claimed she has protected herself against flu with homeopathic treatments.

Magic or Medicine – Homeopathy and the NHS which will be shown on BBC One Scotland on Monday, 13 September at 1930 BST.

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Scottish ministers and opposition parties are meeting to discuss concerns that defence cuts could have a devastating effect on the economy.

The Ministry of Defence’s strategic review has led to fears two aircraft carrier contracts worth £5bn could be cancelled and RAF bases closed.

Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is holding joint talks with senior Labour, Lib Dem, Tory and Green MSPs.

The UK government is to make an announcement at the end of October.

It has stressed no decisions have yet been made, but has made clear the need to tackle the public spending deficit in a package of cuts likely to impact across many government departments.

The MoD is under pressure to cut its £36.9bn annual budget by up to 20%.

Ms Sturgeon, along with the Scottish Labour, Conservative and Green leaders – Iain Gray, Annabel Goldie and Patrick Harvie – are convening in Edinburgh to discuss a joint submission to the defence review.

Jeremy Purvis is representing the Liberal Democrats at the meeting, and all those taking part have already been sent a draft submission by the SNP government.

It has emerged that more than 100 contracts totalling about £1.25bn have already been awarded towards the construction of the two new aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, being built at Rosyth in Fife and on the Clyde and due to launch in 2016 and 2018 respectively.

Fears over their future were sparked after BAE systems chief executive Sir Ian King told the Commons Defence Select Committee on Wednesday that the company was asked to consider a number of options ranging from “one carrier to no carriers”.

Scottish ministers say cancellation could cost up to 10,000 jobs.

A spokesman for First Minister Alex Salmond, said: “This is a significant step forward in building a united campaign to protect jobs and skills in Scotland, and we look forward to the meeting on Monday morning to discuss a joint submission to UK strategic defence and security review.”

The future of Scottish RAF bases at Lossiemouth and Kinloss, in Moray, could also be in doubt.

Mr Salmond is not attending the joint meeting due to his visit to Bilbao, where he is aiming to strengthen Scotland’s economic links with Spain’s Basque region.

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A British man is among tens of thousands of people imprisoned without charge in Iraq, according to an Amnesty International report.

The human rights group said 30,000 detainees were being held without trial in Iraq, and criticised the Iraqis and the US for violating prisoners’ rights.

Ramzi Shihab Ahmed, 68, a dual UK-Iraqi national, has been detained in Iraq since December.

His wife claims he has been tortured in prisons in Baghdad.

Rabiha al-Qassab said her husband had suffered electric shocks to his genitals and suffocation by plastic bag, and called on the government to increase its efforts to secure his release or push for a fair trial.

“What my husband has suffered at the hands of his interrogators is inhumane and sickening.

“I’m desperately worried about him. He already had health problems before all this,” she said.

Mr Shihab Ahmed, a dual Iraqi-UK national, was arrested after travelling to Iraq in an attempt to free his detained son Omar.

His whereabouts were unknown until March when he was able to make a short phone call to his wife in London.

Amnesty said the use of torture to extract confessions in Iraq was routine – and the confessions were frequently used as evidence in court.

The group also claimed several detainees had died while in prison, apparently as the result of torture or ill-treatment.

Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International’s Middle East and north Africa director, said the Iraqi authorities had “signally failed to take effective action to stop torture and punish the perpetrators, despite overwhelming evidence to its use”.

“They have a duty to investigate, to hold perpetrators accountable and bring them to justice, and to provide reparations to the victims.

“The Iraqi authorities’ failure to take such concrete steps sends a message that such violations are tolerated and can be repeated,” he said.

The group said about 10,000 of the 30,000 detainees being held without trial in Iraq had been recently transferred from US custody, following the end of US combat operations in the country.

The US handed over control of the last remaining military-run detention facility to the Iraqi authorities in July.

Amnesty said it did so without proper assurances that prisoners’ rights would be respected.

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Robbie Williams and Gary Barlow have performed live together for the first time in 15 years at the Help For Heroes concert in London.

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The United States win the World Basketball Championship for the first time since 1994 with a win over home favourites Turkey.

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Turkish voters have given strong backing to constitutional changes, early results suggest.

With 91% of votes counted, 59% voted “Yes” to amending the constitution, reported Turkish broadcaster NTV.

The opposition argues that the governing party, which has its roots in political Islam, is seeking dangerous levels of control over the judiciary.

The government says it wants to bring the constitution more in line with European Union standards.

Early opinion polls had predicted a close result. If confirmed, the strong “Yes” vote would boost the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

His Justice and Development Party (AKP) has clashed repeatedly with Turkey’s highest courts, which see themselves as guardians of the country’s secular values.

The opposition say two amendments would give the government excessive influence over the judiciary.

They accuse the AKP of trying to seize control of the judiciary as part of a back-door Islamist coup.

The 26 amendments, many of them backed by the European Union, were presented to the voters as improvements to the 1982 constitution, says the BBC’s Jonathan Head in Istanbul.

That constitution was drawn up by a military junta which seized power in a coup exactly 30 years ago, on 12 September 1980.

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