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One Welsh police force say they are dealing with the largest number of cases of forced marriage and honour based-violence they have ever seen.

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

At least seven people have been killed and many injured in a blast at a gas station in the Pakistani city of Faisalabad, officials say.

It is not yet clear if the blast was an accident or the result of a militant attack.

Television footage showed extensive damage in the area, with buildings collapsed and burnt-out vehicles.

Officials said casualties could rise as some people were still trapped in the debris.

Some unconfirmed reports said the explosion took place near the offices of Pakistan’s intelligence agency, ISI.

“We heard the explosion from the gas station, the earth moved as in an earthquake, and there was thick smoke all around,” a security guard at the office of Pakistan International Airlines said.

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A female barrister has received a £70,000 settlement after taking a sexual discrimination case against the PSNI.

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Papers track ‘blame game’ faced by William Hague over Libya

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The judge hearing sodomy charges against the Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, rejects key prosecution evidence.

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

Authorities in India have arrested a stud farm owner accused of illegally stashing more than $8bn in Swiss banks.

Hasan Ali Khan was detained in Pune in the western state of Maharashtra. He was later taken to Mumbai.

Officials from India’s Enforcement Directorate carried out multi-city searches at his home and offices.

Last week, the Supreme Court criticised the government for not having the “will power” to act against those illegally funnelling wealth overseas.

The court said the practice was a “pure and simple theft of national money”.

It also asked what the government was doing to retrieve the “black money” being held in foreign banks.

“I am innocent. I haven’t done anything wrong,” Mr Khan told reporters after his arrest on Monday night.

The arrest followed an angry outburst by the Supreme Court last week asking the government why Mr Khan and others were not being taken into custody and questioned.

“What the hell is going on in this country?” the judges asked using unusually strong language for court.

The court set a deadline of 8 March for the government to inform it how it proposed to tackle “black money”.

US-based group Global Financial Integrity estimates that India has lost more than $460bn in such illegal flight of capital since Independence.

It says the illicit outflows have increased after economic reforms began in 1991.

The report says that almost three-quarters of the illegal money that comprises India’s underground economy ends up outside the country.

India’s underground economy has been estimated to account for 50% of the country’s GDP – $640bn at the end of 2008.

Authorities say the government is taking measures to bring back the illegal money, but say there are difficulties in sharing the information because of confidentiality treaties between countries.

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

At least 18 people are killed in gunbattles between rival gangs in the north-eastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas, officials say.

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

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is proposing to reduce unannounced workplace inspections by a third, the BBC has learned.

A leaked letter from the HSE outlines plans to withdraw inspections from entire sectors of industry, including some where “significant risk” remains.

The organisation is facing a 35% cut in its government grant, leading to concerns for workplace safety.

The HSE said no final decision had been made.

HSE inspectors and their counterparts in local authority environmental health departments carry out thousands of visits to business premises each year.

The unannounced “knock on the door” has traditionally formed a key aspect of the HSE’s approach to regulation, and is credited with helping to prevent accidents and reduce the number of workplace deaths, which currently stand at an all-time low.

But in February, chief executive Geoffrey Podger proposed a reduction in what the HSE calls “proactive inspections”. In a letter obtained by the BBC’s File on 4 programme, he outlines plans to reduce HSE inspections by a third.

The letter is a blueprint of proposed wide-ranging changes to HSE operations in the light of a 35% cut to its government grant. It recommends a departure from face-to-face contact in favour of web-based and other initiatives.

The letter identifies three high hazard sectors including the nuclear, offshore and chemical industries which will be ring-fenced from the proposed cuts.

It also states that some other industries will still remain subject to unannounced visits, but these are not identified. But the letter also outlines two categories where proactive inspections will be entirely withdrawn from future HSE operations.

In one case this is put down to the “relative cost-effectivenes” of the procedure.

For another, inspections are deemed not “necessary or useful” despite the HSE acknowledging the “significant risk'” posed by the industries under consideration.

The move has caused concern among health and safety campaigners.

Professor Rory O’Neill, editor of the safety magazine Hazards, believes it signals a fundamental departure from the HSE’s role as safety watchdog.

“The HSE’s job is to make the workplace safe, but now it’s being explicitly instructed not to do that job right,” he said.

“The implication for health and safety is that workplaces will become deregulated.”

Dr Courtney Davis of Sussex University reviewed the worldwide evidence for the value of proactive inspections, and believes any reduction is likely to have a detrimental impact on worker safety.

“The most robust studies show that inspection plus enforcement are associated with a decline in injury rates of 22% for the following three years,” she said.

“The evidence relating to new, soft interventions is much weaker, and almost non-existent.

“It doesn’t appear to be the case that these alternatives are effective in improving compliance with health and safety law or injury rates.”

An HSE spokesperson said: “We regularly consult with partner organisations on future ways of working. Discussions do not constitute a final decision so it would be inappropriate for us to comment further at this time.

“The emphasis should be on outcomes – the incidence of accidents and ill-health – rather than the number of particular types of inputs by the regulator.

“The estimated number of working days lost due to workplace injuries and ill-health is now the lowest it has ever been in Britain.”

File on 4 is on BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday 8 March at 2000 GMT and Sunday 13 March at 1700 GMT. Listen again via the BBC iPlayer or download the podcast.

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Leading food manufacturers are changing their packaging because of health concerns about boxes made from recycled cardboard, the BBC has learned.

Researchers found toxic chemicals from recycled newspapers have been contaminating food sold in many cardboard cartons.

The chemicals, known as mineral oils, come from printing inks.

Jordans, the breakfast cereal company, told the BBC it has now stopped using recycled cardboard in its packs.

And Kellogg’s and Weetabix said they were taking steps to reduce the amount of mineral oil in their packaging.

Exposure to mineral oils has been linked to inflammation of internal organs and cancer.

Government scientists in Switzerland found quantities of mineral oils between 10 and 100 times above the agreed limit in foods like pasta, rice and cereals sold in cartons made from recycled cardboard.

‘Frightening’ potential

In one scientific paper they describe the potential for mineral oils to migrate into foodstuffs as “frightening”.

However, the Swiss food safety authorities have concluded that consumers who eat a balanced and varied diet have no need to worry.

In a statement Jordans said that, as an environmentally responsible company which had previously used largely recycled packaging, it had taken the decision to abandon it reluctantly, but felt it was sensible.

The BBC investigation found other food companies are aware of the issue – but none have so far followed Jordans’ lead.

More than half the cardboard used in Europe is made from recycled materials.

So-called “virgin board” from newly-harvested trees is more expensive and there is not enough of it to replace recycled card completely.

The research has been led by Dr Koni Grob at the government-run food safety laboratory of the Canton of Zurich.

In one study for the German food ministry last year he and his colleagues tested a sample of 119 products bought from German supermarkets.

They found mineral oils passed easily through the many of the inner bags used to keep food dry and fresh.

The longer a product stood on the shelves, the more mineral oil it was likely to absorb.

Dr Grob told the BBC: “Roughly 30 products from these 119 were free of mineral oil.

“For the others they all exceeded the limit, and most exceeded it more than 10 times, and we calculated that in the long run they would probably exceed the limit 50 times on average and many will exceed it several hundred times.”

The agreed safe limit for mineral oil saturated hydrocarbons, outlined in European legislation covering plastic packaging, is a concentration of 0.6mg per kilogram.

Two effects

Studies on rats have highlighted the dangers to health of mineral oils.

Dr Grob said: “Toxicologists talk about two effects. One is the chronic inflammation of various internal organs and the other one is cancer.”

But he stressed consumers would have to be exposed to contaminated foods over many years for their health to be at risk.

The Food and Drink Federation, which represents Britain’s food companies, said the Swiss study was “a good starting point for further investigations” – but not enough in itself to justify discontinuing the use of recycled card.

Manufacturers’ reactions

Nonetheless, some of the individual members of the FDF are taking steps to change their packaging.

Kelloggs said it was working with its suppliers on new packaging “which allows us to meet our environmental commitments but will also contain significantly lower levels of mineral oil.”

The company is also looking at alternative inner liners for its packets.

Dr Grob’s studies suggest only aluminium-coated bags or those made of certain types of thick plastic are an effective barrier to the migration of mineral oils.

Weetabix said it uses 100% recycled board because it is better for the environment, but is also looking at recycled packaging that does not contain recycled newspaper.

Like several other companies, it said: “Our data… does indicate that none of our products pose a risk to consumer health”.

In Germany the government has told the food and packaging industries to take immediate steps to reduce the risk from mineral oils, and is considering introducing mandatory rules.

In the UK the Food Standards Agency is doing research of its own: but so far it is only looking at how much mineral oil there is in recycled packaging, not how much gets into the food inside.

Terry Donohoe, the acting head of the FSA’s chemical safety division, said: “Should there be any evidence from our study – and we will carry out a risk assessment – we will take immediate action to protect the public.”

Dr Grob and his colleagues say that even switching to virgin cardboard would not eliminate the risk from mineral oils entirely.

This is because food cartons are themselves stored and transported in larger corrugated cardboard boxes which are also made from recycled newspapers, and are also a source of contamination.

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

Serbia and Kosovo are due to hold their first high-level talks since Pristina declared independence three years ago.

Kosovo’s declaration of independence is rejected by Serbia, but both sides have agreed to the EU-sponsored talks.

The meeting in Brussels is due to focus on issues vital to Kosovo’s daily life, including telecoms and airspace.

Correspondents say progress is likely to determine whether Belgrade or Pristina can move towards eventual EU membership.

“The objective of the talks is to improve the lives of people in the region, to improve co-operation within the Balkans as a whole and bring (them) more in line with European standards,” a senior EU official said, quoted by Reuters.

Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian majority fought an insurgency against Serbia in the 1990s, a conflict in which more than 10,000 people were killed and hundreds of thousands driven from their homes.

Kosovo was placed under UN administration and unilaterally declared independence three years ago.

So far it has been recognised by 75 countries, including the US and most of the EU.

Serbia continues to block Kosovo’s trade and routinely stops passengers with Kosovo passports or car registrations.

Among other issues, Kosovo also cannot get its own telephone country code or join many international economic bodies because of Belgrade’s opposition.

The BBC’s Mark Lowen in Belgrade says that while neither side will back down from their fundamental position on Kosovo’s status, the goal of eventual EU membership might just persuade them to reach a compromise solution.

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