Blancer.com Tutorials and projects – Page 58866 – Freelance Projects, Design and Programming Tutorials

LHC ‘has two years to find Higgs’

By Pallab Ghosh

CMS is one of two “multi-purpose” experiments housed at the LHC

Related Stories

Researchers working at the Large Hadron Collider have said they expect to discover the Higgs boson particle by the end of 2012.

If the LHC does not turn up evidence of the Higgs during this run, physicists say they may have to significantly alter their views of physical laws.

The Higgs boson particle explains why other particles have mass, but it has not yet been observed by physicists.

The LHC is housed in a 27km-long tunnel under the French-Swiss border.

It smashes together proton particles travelling at close to the speed of light in a bid to uncover secrets of the Universe.

According to Professor Tom LeCompte of the Argonne National Laboratory, US, who works at the LHC: “The most likely place for the Higgs to be is in a very good place for us to discover it in the next two years.”

The LHC has now restarted after its winter shut down – and is about to embark on a run of work that could make or break the current view of how the Universe was formed.

The most widely accepted theory of particle physics requires the existence of the Higgs – and the detection of this particle is one of the LHC’s main objectives.

If the collider does not detect the Higgs within two years, researchers say they will know that it does not exist – at least in the form they thought.

“The Higgs is one model of many,” according to Professor LeCompte.

“It’s a model that we like. It’s simple, its elegant, but it’s entirely possible that there is something else beyond the Higgs that does its job instead, and what we may discover is instead of the Higgs itself we may discover something much more interesting.

“There could be multiple Higgses or there could be something completely different doing the same job as the Higgs in a completely different way.”

But he adds that not finding the Higgs may be more exciting than finding it – because researchers may have to have to modify their current view of sub-atomic physics.

“If we don’t see it after this two year run it means that something is perhaps not the way that we think it is, either the Higgs search itself had to be amended in some way or some of its indirect evidence may be pointing us in the wrong direction,” said Professor LeCompte.

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

Berlusconi back on trial in Italy

Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi (26 Feb 2011)

The Italian leader faces four trials in the coming weeks

Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi has gone back on trial in Milan but, as expected, has not appeared in court.

The tax fraud case involving his Mediaset business empire is the first of four legal battles facing the Italian leader over the next few weeks.

The trial was suspended in April 2010 because of a law, now partially struck down, granting him temporary immunity.

Two related cases restart in March and he is in court for sex with an under-age prostitute and abuse of power.

Mr Berlusconi, 74, has denied all the allegations against him. He argues that he has been targeted as part of a left-wing campaign by Milan magistrates.

Monday’s trial involves allegations that Italy’s largest private broadcaster Mediaset inflated the price of rights to broadcast US movies bought via two offshore companies controlled by Mr Berlusconi.

Prosecutors say some of the money declared was skimmed off to create illegal slush funds.

The government’s immunity law was partially removed last month by Italy’s Constitutional Court. It ruled that individual judges should themselves decide whether Mr Berlusconi had a “legitimate impediment” as an elected official that prevented him from taking part in the hearings.

Although the prime minister did not turn up for Monday’s trial in Milan, his lawyers did not attempt to invoke any “legitimate impediment” for his absence from the courtroom, the Ansa news agency reported.

They said he would probably appear at the next hearing on 11 April, Ansa said.

The Italian leader is due to go on trial five days earlier on a charge of paying for sex with 17-year-old nightclub dancer Karima el Mahroug. Prostitution is legal in Italy, but sex with girls younger than 18 is not. He is also accused of trying to persuade police to release her from custody in an unrelated theft case.

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

Care homes ‘gold standard’ rating

There are more than 24,000 care homes in England

Care homes are to be invited to apply for a new excellence rating to allow residents to identify which are the best performers.

The Care Quality Commission scheme aims to reward homes which provide a gold standard of care beyond the norm.

There are more than 24,000 homes in England – the majority of which have been classed as providing good enough care.

The regulator hopes the new scheme will start in April 2012.

A consultation will be launched in May setting out the full details.

But the regulator is likely to be looking to reward those that provide top quality services and extra facilities.

This could include looking for qualifications staff have, the staff to resident ratio, the quality of food and range of activities provided.

At the moment, the registration system assess care homes on quality and safety. It a home is found to be meeting the minimum requirements it is given a registration, but there is little indication of just how good the service is.

CQC chief executive Cynthia Bower said she hoped the new scheme would rectify this.

“We do firmly believe that care providers should aspire to deliver the best possible outcomes. An excellence award can recognise best practice, be a spur to improvement for providers who already meet CQC’s essential standards, and can help people who need longer-term care to make choices.”

Martin Green, chief executive of English Community Care Association, which represents care homes, said the move was a “welcome development”, but said he was concerned that care homes would have to fund it on top of the registration system, pointing out the fees being paid by the state to providers were being reduced.

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

Quake survivors

Peter Symms was crushed when the earthquake struck a cinema he and his wife were in

Related Stories

Christchurch is beginning to bury its dead but extraordinary stories of heroism and survival are still emerging in New Zealand’s earthquake-hit city.

For some the difference between life and death was measured in just a few centimetres.

At the main hospital, 73-year-old Peter Symms, a retired lecturer from the Scottish borders south of Edinburgh, bears the bloodied scars of a terrifying ordeal.

On a rainy lunchtime last Tuesday, Peter and his wife had settled in to watch Fair Game, a political thriller at the cinema, when the magnitude 6.3 quake tore through Christchurch.

“We got to about three quarters of the way through the film, and then there was this bloody great explosion and the whole building started shaking,” he told the BBC from his hospital bed.

“The lights went out. My wife and I grabbed each other, and I think I must have passed out, and when I came to I could see the sky above.

“There was a concrete beam which came down, which is probably what did the damage. The seats had collapsed and my leg was wedged underneath a row of seats and some timber.

“And two men came in, and eventually a third man who was the duty manager for the cinema and they managed to get me out, and that was incredibly brave because there were aftershocks going all the time.”

Mr Symms had been saved by the bravery of strangers. He had suffered a fractured skull, while parts of the left side of his body, including ribs and an arm, were crushed.

Speaking publicly for the first time, he was moved to tears as he recounted parts of his astonishing experience.

British search-and-rescue workers in Christchurch

British workers have been involved in the search-and-rescue operation in Christchurch

“One of the people that lifted me out was, I think, from Seattle. And he was a lightly built man, about 60,” he said.

“Quite incredible, he got completely covered in my blood. And then other people, when we got outside, which took about 15 minutes, they came up and they put their clothes over me and over my wife. So it was really quite amazing.”

While some have escaped death by the narrowest of margins – another few centimetres and Mr Symms would probably be dead – many others here have lost their homes.

They face the awful prospect of having to conquer their fears of more earthquakes if they are to stay and start again.

Siobhan Grimshaw, an occupational therapist from Newcastle in County Down, who migrated to New Zealand seven years ago, is not sure if her family will rebuild their shattered home that was a couple of kilometres from the quake’s epicenter.

“Initially all I could think of was that we had to get out of Christchurch. I thought we could go and live in Australia, but I thought no, floods [there],” she said.

“Nowhere is safe. I was telling my husband we have to get out of Christchurch and we can’t ever live here again. And he was saying ‘Yes we can, it’ll be alright, we can rebuild’.

“I’ve settled down and I can see that, yes, we can rebuild, maybe,” Mrs Grimshaw said with some hesitation moments after another aftershock had caused the ground to shake.

In this nervous city, the search for survivors continues but hopes are fading as each hour passes.

Only a handful of the dead have been formally identified and the British High Commissioner to New Zealand, Vicki Treadell, says UK specialists will soon arrive to help.

“We have seen in earlier disasters where identification has not been done properly, that the wrong bodies go to the wrong families, and that exacerbates grief and is deeply traumatic in itself,” she said.

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

France sends aid to Libya rebels

A man burns a picture of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi during a demonstration near the Libyan consulate in Paris on 25 February 2011

France has come under fire for its apparent links to authoritarian leaders

France is to send two planes of aid to opposition territory in Libya, Prime Minister Francois Fillon has said.

The announcement came hours after Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie quit amid controversy over her contacts with the former Tunisian regime.

Her decision to stand down was “political not moral”, Mr Fillon said.

Paris has been stung by accusations that it was too cosy with the authoritarian regimes overthrown in recent weeks, say analysts.

Ms Alliot-Marie was heavily criticised for initially offering French help to quell the uprising in Tunisia.

Subsequent revelations about her and her family’s links to the regime of former President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, and the fact that she had taken a Christmas holiday in Tunisia during the uprising made her position increasingly untenable.

“In a few hours two French planes will leave for Benghazi on behalf of the French government with doctors, nurses, medical equipment and medicine,” Prime Minister Fillon said in an interview with France’s RTL radio – referring to the eastern Libyan town that has been at the centre of the Libyan uprising and is now in opposition hands.

“This will be the start of a massive humanitarian aid operation to the populations of liberated areas,” he declared.

He said France had not ruled out backing a Nato-enforced “no-fly zone” over Libya – one way it has been suggested that foreign governments could help defend Libyan rebels against the remaining air power of Col Muammar Gaddafi.

Mr Fillon insisted Ms Alliot-Marie had done nothing wrong.

“She was not at fault,” Mr Fillon said.

“This was not a moral decision, but a political one.

“The voice of France was no longer audible, because Michele Alliot-Marie had become the object of an unjust campaign.”

Ms Alliot-Marie had defended her conduct in her resignation letter to President Nicolas Sarkozy, a copy of which was seen by the AFP news agency, saying she had been “the target of political attacks”.

She will be replaced by Defence Minister Alain Juppe, 65, who previously served as foreign minister and prime minister in the 1990s. In 2004, he was convicted of mishandling public funds.

Mr Juppe will be replaced by Gerard Longuet, leader of Mr Sarkozy’s UMP party in the Senate and the president’s long-time collaborator.

Mr Sarkozy’s chief of staff, Claude Gueant, will become interior minister in place of controversy-hit Brice Hortefeux.

Mr Gueant will be in charge of restoring the government’s reputation as tough on crime with a view to his Mr Sarkozy’s expected 2012 re-election bid, observers say.

Ms Alliot-Marie’s political career has become collateral damage from the wave of popular protest movements across the Arab world, says the BBC’s Hugh Schofield in Paris.

Michele Alliot-Marie in Brussels in January 2011

Former French Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie holidayed in Tunisia during the uprising

Back at the end of December, as the pro-democracy uprising in Tunisia got under way, but before its significance was apparent, Ms Alliot-Marie visited the country on holiday, and, it emerged later, twice flew on a private jet belonging to businessman Aziz Miled.

It also transpired that on the same trip, her parents signed a property deal with Mr Miled, a man with close links to the former Tunisian leader.

Then in a series of ill-advised semi-denials and retractions about the affair, she only managed to make a bad situation worse, our correspondent adds.

Mr Sarkozy was gravely embarrassed by the affair, which came to symbolise in some eyes an unhealthy personal proximity between French politicians and autocratic leaders in the Middle East and elsewhere, he adds.

By sending aid to rebels in Libya, Paris now appears to be taking steps to ensure it is seen as supporting democratic change in the region, say analysts.

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

UK product placement ban lifted

Advertisers in the US pay millions of dollars to place their products in films and TV programmes

Related Stories

A ban on product placement has been lifted, allowing advertisers to pay for their goods to be seen on British TV.

Paid-for references to products and services are now permitted for the first time in shows produced in the UK, including soaps and one-off dramas.

The first product will be a Nescafe coffee machine on ITV1’s This Morning.

The Church of England and doctors’ leaders have opposed the move, saying it could damage trust in broadcasters and promote unhealthy lifestyles.

Under Ofcom regulations, broadcasters must inform viewers by displaying the letter ‘P’ for three seconds at the start and end of a programme that contains product placement.

The telecoms regulator has said any placement must be editorially justified and not unduly prominent.

It will not be allowed in news, current affairs or children’s programmes – or for alcoholic drinks and foods high in salt, sugar and fat.

No paid product placements on BBC, children’s, news, current affairs, consumer affairs and religious programmesBanned products include gambling services; food and drink high in salt, fat and sugar; tobacco; medicines; alcohol; baby milk; weapons; and escort services

And it will continue to be banned for BBC shows.

In the United States, advertisers such as Coca-Cola and Apple pay millions of dollars to place their products in films and TV programmes.

When the European Union lifted its ban on such payments, there was heated debate over whether it should be allowed in productions made in the UK.

Commercial broadcasters and independent producers argued it would help pay for programmes.

But Church leaders were among those who said it could damage trust and promote unhealthy lifestyles.

The last Labour government eventually gave the go-ahead, but only after setting out strict limitations.

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

Belarus ‘breaks Ivorian embargo’

An Ivory Coast's soldier stands guard in Abidjan - February 2011

Ivory Coast has been subject to an international arms embargo since 2004

Belarus has seriously violated the international arms embargo on Ivory Coast, UN chief Ban Ki-moon says.

The former Soviet republic was delivering three attack helicopters and related material to forces led by Laurent Gbagbo, his spokesman said.

President Laurent Gbagbo is refusing to hand over to Alassane Ouattara, widely seen as the winner of November’s poll.

Clashes between the two sides has prompted the UN to warn the country is at risk of relapsing into civil war.

An armed rebellion in 2002 split the world’s largest cocoa producer between the north, held by New Forces rebels, and the government-controlled south.

Belarusian foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Savinykh rejected the accusations as “groundless”, AP news agency reports.

But Mr Ban’s spokesman said the first delivery had reportedly arrived on a flight which landed late on Sunday and additional flights were scheduled for Monday.

“This is a serious violation of the embargo… which has been in place since 2004,” the spokesman said.

“The violation has been immediately brought to the attention of the Security Council’s committee charged with the responsibility for sanctions,” he said.

UN peacekeepers are currently providing protection to Mr Ouattara, who has been holed up in a hotel in the main city of Abidjan since the election results were announced in early December.

Much of the recent fighting has centred on the main city of Abidjan between rival supporters.

However, skirmishes in the west of the country last week between the former rebels and pro-Gbagbo forces has seen the number of civilians fleeing to neighbouring Liberia surge.

It was the first time the ceasefire between the two armed sides had been broken in six years.

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

Thousands lose Vodafone service

Vodafone users have lost voice, text and internet service

Related Stories

Vodafone’s mobile network has been disrupted following a break-in at its exchange centre in Basingstoke.

The company said that several hundred thousand customers had lost voice, text and internet access.

Burglars hit the facility in the early hours of Monday morning, stealing computer equipment and network hardware.

Most of the users affected were in the M4 corridor area, to the west of London

In a statement, Vodafone said: “We had a break in last night at one of our technical facilities which resulted in damage done to some of our equipment.

“We are working quickly to restore these and will be back to normal as soon as we can.”

The company added that there had been no impact on the security of customers’ private information.

One Vodafone user, Leigh Elkins, from Reading, told BBC News that his service was disconnected at around 12.50am on Monday, while he was in the middle of a call.

Many angry customers turned to social networking sites to vent their frustration over the prolonged outage.

On Vodafone UK’s Facebook page, Keri Rampersad asked: “When will this be fixed since this is a massive inconvenience.”

Another user, Michael Tawroginski wrote: “Who cares about your issue? You should pay for every hour of this problem, or give some extras to all customers affected.”

Vodafone refused to speculate on whether the break-in could be linked to several high-profile controversies involving the company.

It was recently the subject of protests over claims that the firm was let off paying part of an outstanding UK tax bill.

Vodafone was also criticised for shutting down its phone network in Egypt during the recent pro-democracy protests, although the company said it was obliged to comply with local laws.

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

Iraq murders

Danny Fitzsimons served tours in Iraq, Kosovo, Bosnia and Afghanistan

Related Stories

The family of a British security guard jailed for 20 years in Iraq after he was convicted of killing two colleagues say he was traumatised by the horrors of war.

As a boy, Danny Fitzsimons wanted nothing more than to follow in his father Eric’s footsteps and join the armed forces.

In 1997 he enlisted in the Army, aged 16, and shortly after his 18th birthday headed off to Kosovo on his first tour with the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.

What happened next, say his family, laid the foundations for the mental health problems which led him to shoot dead two fellow security guards in Baghdad in August 2009.

Fitzsimons’ stepmother Liz said while in Kosovo he discovered the dismembered body of a boy who used to bring him food, with traumatic consequences.

‘Body pieces’

“Danny made friends with a young boy who used to bring him bread, and they gave him chocolate in return,” she told the BBC.

“The Serbs saw this boy as a collaborator and cut his body up. They put the body pieces in the drinking water of the armed forces.

Liz and Eric Fitzsimons say Eric’s son should never have been hired as a contractor in Iraq

“When you’re only 18 yourself, it’s so hard to envisage anything like that. Danny used to go on about it all the time to his dad.

“The last time his dad saw him was on Christmas Day 2008. Danny had a drink and a row and we thought, ‘that’s typical Danny being difficult’. We now know it was Danny with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).”

Speaking earlier this year, she said the atrocities he witnessed had played a “huge part” in the mental illness he now suffered.

As a soldier, his unit uncovered mass graves in Kosovo, and later as a security guard in Iraq, he was forced to watch while his friend burnt to death in a truck screaming for his help.

The vehicle in front of him in his convoy was hit by a bomb, which sealed the plastic doors shut in the heat. Fitzsimons was unable to break the window of the truck as it was bulletproof glass.

Fitzsimonds also served tours in Bosnia, and later as a paratrooper in Northern Ireland, Macedonia and Afghanistan.

“I gave birth to Paul’s daughter without him by my side. A beautiful baby girl who will never see her daddy”

Nicola Prestage

Fitzsimons, 30, left the Army in 2005 after eight years’ service, and was hired by British private security firm ArmorGroup in 2009 and sent out to Iraq.

Within 36 hours of arriving in the capital, he would kill Paul McGuigan, from Peebles in the Scottish Borders, and Australian Darren Hoare, both 37, after a drunken row.

Mr McGuigan, a former Royal Marines commando, had a son and was about to become a father for a second time.

Father-of-three Mr Hoare, from Queensland, had served in Iraq in the Royal Australian Air Force before becoming a private security contractor.

At the centre of the murder trial was Fitzsimons’ account that he acted in self-defence after being pinned down and beaten up.

The claim has been fiercely denied by Mr McGuigan’s family.

They say a post-mortem examination of the two dead men showed they had been shot at close range with no signs of injuries caused by a fight.

Mr McGuigan’s mother, Corinne Boyd-Russell, said her son’s killer had shown no remorse.

In a written statement, she said: “Everybody is responsible for their own actions and even if Danny Fitzsimons did have PTSD, it should not be used as an excuse.”

Mr McGuigan’s fiancee, Nicola Prestage – who was pregnant with his baby Elsie-Mai at the time of his death – described the attack as “uprovoked”.

Their daughter was born in October 2009, five weeks early.

Mr McGuigan and Ms Prestage were due to wed last year

In the same, joint statement, she said: “I gave birth to Paul’s daughter without him by my side. A beautiful baby girl who will never see her daddy, or receive a cuddle from him.

“Two weeks after her birth, I had to take her to her daddy’s funeral.”

Ms Prestage had been talking to Mr McGuigan on an internet telephony service just an hour before he was killed.

Liz and Eric Fitzsimons, from Whitworth in Rochdale, say Eric’s son should not have been working as a contractor in Iraq without a proper medical assessment.

ArmorGroup has admitted his screening was not completed in line with company procedures but also claimed Fitzsimons falsified information during the recruitment process.

Clive Stafford Smith, director of the human rights legal charity Reprieve, said: “Nothing I can say can take away the tragedy of the victims.

“But it is also very important to recognise that Danny Fitzsimons was a huge victim himself.”

Bob Paxman, a former SAS soldier who founded the PTSD charity Talking 2 Minds, said people reacted in different ways to trauma and Fitzsimons’ case was an extreme one.

He said: “As well as more former soldiers, we are seeing increasing numbers of people working in the security sector, where the pressures are higher because they have less back-up.”

Fitzsimons was the first Westerner to be tried by an Iraqi court since the war began in 2003.

It followed the lifting of an immunity deal in 2009 preventing foreign nationals being charged with criminal offences.

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

India economy to sustain growth

Pranab Mukherjee says Indian economy is expected to grow at 9%

Related Stories

India’s government is unveiling its annual budget, saying that the economy is expected to grow at 9% in 2012.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the growth rate for the current fiscal year was projected at 8.5%.

He said inflation would decrease over the next fiscal year – the current rate is 8.4%. But food price inflation, at 17%, “remains a concern”.

India’s prime minister has already warned that India’s rapid growth is under serious threat from inflation.

The finance minister announced a 17% increase in funds for social spending, including programmes to tackle malnutrition.

“The country has carried for long enough the burden of hunger and malnutrition,” he said.

He also announced substantial increases in funds for health ($5.9 billion, a rise of 20%) and education (520.5 billion rupees).

Mr Mukherjee said a food security bill, which will guarantee cheap food to the poor, would be introduced into parliament soon.

He said the government’s performance in handling the economy was mixed.

“While we succeeded in making good progress in addressing many areas of our concern, we could have done better in some others,” Mr Mukherjee said.

“Fiscal consolidation has been impressive. This year has also seen significant progress in those critical institutional reforms that will pave the way for double digit growth in the near future.”

Mr Mukherjee said the economy had shown “remarkable resilience” despite the food inflation and a current account deficit.

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

NZ buries Christchurch quake dead

Cars crushed by rubble in a Christchurch suburb, 28 February 2011

It is now nearly a week after the quake hit

Related Stories

The New Zealand city of Christchurch has begun to bury its dead following last week’s devastating earthquake.

The first service was for the youngest victim so far – Baxtor Gowland was born just after last September’s quake.

The death toll from 22 February is now 148 people; only eight bodies have been released for burial so far.

Rescue teams continue to search for survivors but aftershocks have hampered their efforts and a forecast windstorm could add to the hazards they face.

No survivors have been rescued since mid-afternoon on Wednesday.

The opening of new cracks in a cliff overlooking some outer suburbs and continuing after-shocks have kept residents nervous.

People are still trying to leave the city following the magnitude 6.3 earthquake that wrecked the centre of the city.

Young Baxter Gowland was one of two infants named as casualties in the quake; at a chapel attended by family and friends, his short life was shown in a slideshow to a sound track of the Sarah MacLachlan song “Angel”.

It is the first of several services to come, as many scores of people remain missing.

Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said the country had “suffered a tragedy of monumental proportions”.

“The building damage I’ve seen compared with Haiti,” she told Radio New Zealand, in a reference to the massive quake that killed at least 220,000 there in January last year.

“It’s going to require every ounce of recovery in this country to push through from this,” she added, after a visit to Christchurch on Sunday.

Rev Philip Robinson, top right, holds a service outside St Barnabas Church in Christchurch, New Zealand, 27 February 2011

Earthquake victims were remembered at churches in Christchurch and across New Zealand on Sunday

For New Zealand Police Association president Greg O’Connor, the emotion and collapse was similar to that in parts of Britain that had been bombed during World War II.

“This is our, probably our equivalent of the Blitz in New Zealand,” he told Australia’s ABC.

Prime Minister John Key is presenting an initial plan for covering the cost of necessary reconstruction to parliament in Wellington.

He said there was still a glimmer of hope survivors could be found.

But rescuers working for a sixth day are only finding bodies and engineers say at least a third of the buildings in the centre of Christchurch will need to be demolished.

Hundreds of damaged suburban homes may also have to be pulled down.

Mr Key said the disaster “may be New Zealand’s single most tragic event”, outstripping a 1931 quake in Napier which killed 256.

For many residents, it is all too much, and there is an exodus from Christchurch, says the BBC’s Phil Mercer in the city.

Officials believe up to 22 bodies may lie beneath the rubble of Christchurch Cathedral; as many as 120 are thought to have been killed inside the collapsed CTV office block, including Japanese, Chinese and Philippine nationals; many others are presumed dead inside the destroyed Pyne Gould Guinness building.

Power has been restored to most of the city but water supply remains a problem, with residents being urged to boil water for drinking or cooking due to contamination fears.

The quake struck at a shallow depth of 5km (3.1 miles) last Tuesday lunchtime, when the South Island city was at its busiest.

CLICKABLE Select the images for more details.

Bexley

Streets in the north-eastern suburb of Bexley were flooded as the quake caused water mains to burst, which coincided with heavy rain.

Pyne Gould Guinness

The multi-storey Pyne Gould Guinness Building, which normally houses around 200 workers, collapsed. A number of people were thought to be trapped inside.

Cathedral

The 63m spire of the city’s Anglican cathedral was toppled by the earthquake. A New Zealand TV reporter took a look inside the damaged building.

CTV building CTV building, Christchurch, New Zealand

Part of Christchurch’s Canterbury Television [CTV] building completely collapsed in the earthquake. Some 24 people have been rescued from the building, but police said there might be between 60 and 120 bodies trapped underneath.

Oxford Terrace

In the aftermath of the earthquake, Rhys Taylor took this video on Oxford Terrace, 50 metres away from the city’s main hospital. He said: “Cars were being used as ambulances to transport the injured.”

Send your pictures and videos to [email protected] or text them to 61124 (UK) or +44 7725 100 100 (International). If you have a large file you can upload here.

Read the terms and conditions

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

AUDIO: Colin Firth on winning ‘the little gold man’

Oscar winner Colin Firth: “It feels odd to be congratulated on something you enjoy doing so much.”

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

King’s Speech crowned at Oscars

Geoffrey Rush, left, and Colin Firth are hoping for Oscars glory

The Academy Awards ceremony has begun in the US, where The King’s Speech and The Social Network are going head to head for the best picture prize.

The former, which has taken more than $230m (£142m) around the world, has the most nominations – 12 – including a best actor nod for Colin Firth.

True Grit, Inception and Black Swan are also among the best picture contenders.

James Franco and Anne Hathaway are hosting the 83rd Academy Awards, at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles.

Voting by the Academy’s 5,755 members ended earlier this week.

The King’s Speech has been tipped by The Hollywood Reporter to win the top honour.

According to the industry paper, Academy voters – who have an average age of 57 – are more likely to identify with its middle-aged heroes than The Social Network’s youthful, fast-talking cast.

Oscars in numbers5,755 – number of Oscar voters50 – number of Oscar statuettes created for this year’s winners248 – number of films eligible for best picture this year700 – number of bleacher seats for fans on red carpet10 – number of shows held at the Kodak theatre3,300 – number of seats inside500 – length (in feet) of red carpet

The latter film – about the creation of Facebook – has eight nominations in all, as does Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi spectacular Inception. The Coen brothers’ western True Grit has 10 nods.

The best picture category nowadays contains 10 nominees, and this year’s other contenders are The Fighter, The Kids Are All Right, 127 Hours, Toy Story 3 and Winter’s Bone.

The King’s Speech is riding high on a wave of success, having won seven awards at the Baftas and a slew of other prizes.

In the best actor category Firth is up against Jeff Bridges for True Grit, Javier Bardem for Biutiful and Franco for 127 Hours.

Jesse Eisenberg is also nominated for his portrayal of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network.

Twenty-eight-year-old Anne Hathaway is the youngest host in Oscars history

Golden Globe and Bafta winner Natalie Portman is the hot tip to receive the best actress prize for Black Swan.

Yet she faces competition from Annette Bening, for The Kids Are All Right, and Nicole Kidman, for Rabbit Hole.

Jennifer Lawrence is also nominated for Winter’s Bone, while Michelle Williams is up for romantic drama Blue Valentine.

Yet it is the battle for the supporting actress Oscar that looks set to be one of the closest races.

The Fighter’s Melissa Leo is considered to be favourite, though some have wondered if her decision to self-finance an advertising campaign promoting herself to voters might damage her chances.

She will also face a strong challenge from her Fighter co-star Amy Adams and from Helena Bonham Carter, who plays the future Queen Mother in The King’s Speech.

Nor should one should rule out a surprise win for 14-year-old newcomer Hailee Steinfeld for her assured performance in True Grit.

There is a lot of admiration too for Jacki Weaver, whose role in crime drama Animal Kingdom has made her the first Australian actress to be Oscar-nominated for an Australian film.

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

VIDEO: The Sky At Night’s Sir Patrick Moore

The BBC’s The Sky At Night programme was first broadcast on 24 April 1957 – making Sir Patrick Moore the longest-running presenter of the same television show in the world.

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

VIDEO: Large solar flare captured on camera

A large solar flare has been captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamic Observatory.

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