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A combination of severe winter weather and the Christmas break has led to a backlog of rubbish waiting to be collected in parts of the country.

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Councils will now be able to set their own town-centre parking charges

Two measures to “make life easier” for motorists in England have been announced by the government.

It is lifting a restriction, introduced in 2001, on the number of parking spaces allowed in developments of new homes.

And it will no longer instruct councils to set high parking charges to encourage the use of other transport.

Ministers said they were “ending the war on the motorist” and that the rules “unfairly penalised drivers”.

The Department of Communities and Local Government said the new measures would mean councils and communities would be free to set parking policies that are “right for their areas”.

This will include “proportionate parking enforcement”, taking into account the effect of parking charges on the “vitality of their local economy and local shops”.

The government now believes councils should be free to set charges to attract shoppers to town centres, without interference from Whitehall.

The restrictions also led to more aggressive parking enforcement and increased on-street parking congestion, ministers said.

To deflect criticism that the announcements are environmentally unfriendly, ministers have also said charging points for electric cars on the street and in car parks will now be allowed without the need for planning permission.

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The body of Jo Yeates was found near Bristol on Christmas Day

Police investigating the murder of landscape architect Jo Yeates have said they want to trace a light-coloured 4×4 possibly seen where her body was found.

Avon and Somerset Police said they now believed Miss Yeates returned to her Bristol home safely on 17 December but it is still not known where she died.

The 25-year-old’s snow-covered body was found in Longwood Lane in Failand, near Bristol, on Christmas Day.

Ch Supt John Stratford said officers would “leave no stone unturned”.

Miss Yeates’ landlord, Chris Jefferies, 65, who was arrested on suspicion of her murder, has been released on police bail.

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Jack Lewis, 80, collects bottled water supplied by the Scottish government

NI Water’s director of engineering procurement, Trevor Haslett, has said that the company has been “on top of” finding, fixing and repairing leaks during the water crisis.

Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster, Mr Haslett defended NI Water’s decision not to seek help from Water UK sooner.

Water UK supports water companies and can give help and equipment in crises.

Mr Haslett said that NI Water had “deployed sufficient resources on the ground” since the water crisis began.

“We brought in our own contracting staff and engineers locally,” he said.

“Any additional resources that we required were certainly brought in. We have numerous contractors working for us around the clock.”

The comments come as NI Water is facing mounting criticism over its handling of the water crisis and UUP leader Tom Elliott has said the minister responsible for NI Water, Conor Murphy, should resign.

Thousands of homes and businesses have experienced water shortages since a period of intensely cold weather in late December ended and pipes began to leak as the ice inside them melted.

The water supply to thousands of homes in Northern Ireland was again disrupted overnight as about 40,000 properties in NI Water’s eastern region had their mains water supplies temporarily cut off.

Service was due to be restored at 0800GMT, although NI Water said it could take up to three hours for it to reach all customers.

The company said on Sunday night that the number of homes without running water had fallen to just under 1,000.

When asked why NI Water had not asked for equipment or engineers from Water UK, Mr Haslett said that “there was no requirement” to do so.

“At peak we had 26 local tankers and we still have some tankers operating, filling the smaller reservoirs.”

He said that requesting extra help from outside Northern Ireland was considered by the incident team and any help needed had been asked for.

“We are still putting 250m litres a day into the system, which was reduced to about 20m a day over the weekend,” he said.

“It’s a process that takes time from Boxing Day until last Friday when the situation improved significantly and we got the number without water down to under 1,000 customers.”

The NI Water director explained the company gets about 50% of its water from Lough Neagh and said that “in fact all of our raw water sources are actually intact”.

“It’s the service reservoirs, basically large concrete tanks, we probably have about 1,200 of these around the country and we have some very large ones around Belfast and it’s the Belfast ones which have been causing us difficulty,” he said.

“Normally at this time of year they would be about four metres full of water, over the last week some of them have been down to half a metre. In fact last Thursday the large service reservoir at Breda actually ran out of water.”

Mr Haslett said that where the company did need help, was “obviously” in answering phone calls from customers.

On New Year’s Eve, Northern Ireland Secretary of State Owen Paterson announced that NI Water had accepted an offer of 70 call handlers to help manage the 600 to 700 calls per hour the company was receiving.

NI Secretary of State Owen Paterson announced that NI Water had accepted an offer of 70 call handlers

The help was made available in accordance with the mutual aid arrangements overseen by Water UK in partnership with Defra.

Speaking on Friday, Mr Paterson said he had had several meetings with the first, deputy first and other ministers and “made it clear that the UK Government was ready to provide practical assistance to help deal with the dreadful circumstances that thousands of people in Northern Ireland have found themselves in”.

“It was clear that a major failing was the difficulty people had in getting information from a system that was overwhelmed by the volume of calls to the extent that only 40% of between 600 and 700 calls per hour were being answered,” he said.

Mr Haslett said that NI Water had not asked for the call handlers earlier because it “had a clear understanding that the mutual agreement did not include access to call handlers”.

He said that the company would be looking at any other assistance it might require, but “with the number of customers reducing significantly, we certainly have enough resources locally” to handle the situation.

Meanwhile, dozens of schools may be unable to re-open due to water damage.

The Department of Education said it would consult with the education boards on Monday and publish a list of those schools affected.

Even customers not affected by burst pipes had their water supplies cut off overnight to allow reservoirs to be replenished.

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

The main affected areas are parts of Cookstown, Dungannon, Newry and Warrenpoint, and some 500 NI Water staff are dealing with those properties.

State-owned NI Water, which is the sole provider of water and sewerage services in Northern Ireland, said it would be “at least three or four more days” before everyone was reconnected.

While NI Water has responsibility for leaking pipes in the main system, its responsibility ends when the supply enters properties.

However, many of the leaks are understood to be within unoccupied homes and businesses, and the company has urged customers to check their properties and have the pipes repaired as soon as possible.

Bill Gowdy, from the water company, said: “We do urge owners of properties, of vacant properties, of outbuildings, please go and check to see if there’s any leaks because there’s a significant number of leaks on private property.”

NI Water has again warned that bogus callers are taking advantage of the crisis.

The company is urging householders approached by people wanting to examine their property for leaks to thoroughly check their identity.

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About 80 African migrants are feared to have drowned off the south coast of Yemen after their boats capsized, Yemeni officials say.

The migrants, mostly from Ethiopia, were travelling in two boats which were hit by strong wind and waves, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Three Somali migrants were reportedly found alive while the coastguard were searching for any other survivors.

Hundreds of Africans drown each year, trying to reach Yemen in crowded boats.

The ministry quoted coastguards in Aden as saying the first boat went down off the coast of Taez province with 46 people on board.

All those on board had drowned apart from the three Somalis, it said.

The second boat capsized off Lahij province.

It was carrying “between 35 to 40 people, all of them Ethiopians and among them women and children,” said the report.

It was not clear from the report when the incidents took place, but it said a search was being carried out “in hope of finding survivors”.

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The Rolling Stone has been ordered to pay compensation and legal costs

A Ugandan High Court judge has ruled that media companies in the country should not publish the identities of people they say are homosexuals.

The decision was described as a “landmark ruling” by gay rights activists.

The case was brought against The Rolling Stone newspaper which last year published several lists of people its editor said were gay.

Many said they were attacked after their names and photos were printed.

Homosexual acts are illegal in Uganda and activists say the gay community still lives in fear.

“The judge granted a permanent injunction against Rolling Stone from publishing these names,” lawyer John Francis Onyango, who represented the three gay rights campaigners who brought the case, told AFP.

“But the ruling went beyond these applicants and extended to all media,” he added.

‘Principled step’

The newspaper argued that as the three people who brought the case were known gay rights leaders, it could not be punished for saying they were homosexuals.

But Judge Vincent Musoke-Kibuuke ruled that their lives had been threatened as they risked being attacked by vigilantes, Mr Onyango said.

One of the articles published had the headline: “Hang them” above a list of names and photos.

The three were also awarded 1.5m Ugandan shillings ($650; 500 euros) in compensation and the newspaper was ordered to pay all associated legal costs.

A coalition grouping together human rights campaigners said they were pleased the High Court had taken this “principled step”.

“This ruling is a landmark not only for sexual and other minorities living in Uganda, but also an important precedent for other countries facing similar issues,” the Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law in Uganda said in a statement.

Last year, a local MP called for the death penalty for some homosexual acts.

The proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill sparked an international outcry and a year later has not been formally debated by parliament.

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A couple from Scarborough say their £1m Christmas lottery win will prevent them from losing their home.

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

The trial begins in France of eight men accused of carrying out armed robberies and other crimes to finance militant Islamist movements.

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

The BBC’s Nick Bryant: ‘People are worried about looters’

Devastating flood waters across the Australian state of Queensland may not recede for weeks, the state’s Premier Anna Bligh has warned.

More than 20 towns in Queensland have been cut off or flooded, with more than 200,000 people affected.

Military aircraft are flying supplies into Rockhampton, which has been isolated by the still-rising waters.

The authorities have now confirmed three deaths caused by flood waters in the past few days.

Ms Bligh has recalled ministers from holidays for crisis talks to plan the response to the flooding.

“Given the scale and size of this disaster, and the prospect that we will see waters sitting potentially for a couple of weeks, we will continue to have major issues to deal with throughout January,” she said.

Her concern was echoed earlier by Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, saying: “This is a major natural disaster and recovery will take a significant amount of time.

“The extent of flooding being experienced by Queensland is unprecedented and requires a national and united response.”

Approximately 850,000 sq km have been affected, an area equivalent in size to France and Germany.

Australian Red Cross executive director Greg Goebel said there were seven evacuation centres currently operating, generally in town halls, gymnasiums or schools, and the army were flying in supplies.

“It is a major disaster, it’s a heartbreak for many, many thousands of people and will certainly take an enormous amount of time to get their communities back to normality,” he told the BBC.

The comments come as the city of Rockhampton became cut off by waters spilling from the still-swelling Fitzroy River, leading many of its inhabitants to flee.

“Rockhampton is now completely stranded – a town of 75,000 people – no airport, rail or road,” Ms Bligh told ABC radio late on Monday.

With the last route into Rockhampton cut, three Australian Defence Force helicopters will provide the city’s only lifeline for food and medical supplies.

“The worst [is] still to come in communities like Rockhampton. Supplying them with food, ensuring that we keep them safe during this flood is absolutely critical,” Ms Bligh said.

The water level in the Fitzroy River is expected to peak at 9.4m late on Tuesday or early Wednesday.

Mr Goebel said that police were enforcing evacuations in a number of suburbs, and a mobile hospital had been set up on dry ground.

Rockhampton Mayor Brad Carter said about 40% of the city could be affected, and residents may have to wait at least two weeks before being able to return home.

Kay Becker, chief executive of Capricorn Helicopter Rescue, said most people were behaving sensibly in the floods.

“People are seeing water in places that they’ve never ever seen it before, it’s very high water, the water’s running very fast, and you know, if you play with water the water will win and you will come off second best, and thankfully most people have, it seems, have heeded that warning,” she said.

One Rockhampton resident told the BBC that she had stocked up on fuel and food at petrol stations as she drove back early from holiday.

“We are going to stay in, we are fully prepared, have plenty of food and have been boiling the water – but if the water gets higher than 9.4m we will have to turn the power off and might have to leave,” said Trudi Reed.

Alex Finlayson who lives in Emerald, Queensland, filmed inside his flooded home

“The water is coming very quickly and we are watching it rise.”

Another resident said there had been panic-buying in the city.

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

The intense rains have also had an impact on coal and sugar production.

The Queensland premier said 75% of operations at the state’s coal fields had been halted, which supply half of the world’s coking coal needed in steel manufacturing.

The state is also responsible for almost all the country’s sugar production, and with cane fields drenched, Australia, usually a net exporter, will be forced to import.

Prime Minister Gillard has announced that grants and low-interest loans would be made available to help local businesses recover from the flooding.

On Monday, two more deaths from the flooding were confirmed.

One was a 38-year-old man whose boat was swamped near the mouth of the Boyne River, and the other was a woman whose car was washed off the road west of Emerald.

On Sunday, another woman swept from the road while trying to cross the Leichhardt River became the first confirmed death since the flooding was declared a disaster.

Forecasters cancelled a severe storm warning on Monday, saying the immediate threat had passed.

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

Hundreds of homes in Northern Ireland are still without running water as the water-crisis enters its second week

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

Sergio Marchionne has his sights set on Chrysler now that Fiat’s demerger is complete

Fiat could take a majority stake in US carmaker Chrysler, according to the Italian company’s chief executive.

Fiat already owns 20% of Chrysler, and Sergio Marchionne said strengthening the alliance was a priority.

His comments came as Fiat demerged its cars from its trucks and tractors business, with both units on Monday starting trading on the stock market.

He told reporters that if Chrysler lists on the stock market this year, Fiat could take its stake above 50%.

“I think it is possible,” Mr Marchionne said. “I don’t know whether it is likely, but it is possible that we go over 50% if Chrysler decides to go to the market in 2011.”

Fiat bought into Chrysler in 2009 when the US car company received US government funds to stave off collapse.

Any further investment in Chrysler is likely to involve Fiat paying back some of the US state aid.

Mr Marchionne has been restructuring Italy’s largest industrial group, and announced the demerger of Fiat and Fiat Industrial in April.

On the first day of share trading in the companies, the combined market value was slightly above the old Fiat group’s capitalisation of 19bn euros (£16bn).

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