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Would bankers get big payouts if Aristotle was the boss?

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

British engineers are planning to fly a mobile phone in space to test the capability and resilience of today’s consumer electronics.

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A new vaccine against pneumonia is being rolled out in Africa which, it is estimated, could eventually save more than half a million lives a year globally.

Children in Kenya have begun receiving the jab, which will also be used this year in Sierra Leone, Yemen, Honduras and Guyana.

Infants in Nicaragua started receiving the vaccine a few weeks ago.

The Gavi Alliance – a global health partnership of public and private sectors for immunisation – says 19 countries are set to receive the jab, but many more could benefit if the funding becomes available.

Gavi says it needs an extra £500m ($800m) annually for the next five years to meet a shortfall in immunisation for existing and new vaccines.

The pneumonia vaccine protects against pneumococcal disease, the leading cause of severe pneumonia in children. It also guards against a form of meningitis and blood poisoning.

Pneumonia kills more children than any other illness, claiming around 1.7 million lives every year.

At the Langata health centre in Nairobi, scores of mothers brought their babies along for the first of three injections.

Beatrice Aching’s son Wesley died from pneumonia in November. She brought her three-month-old daughter Tamara to be immunised. She said: “My son’s death happened very suddenly. Wesley got sick in the morning and by evening he had died in hospital – I don’t want that to happen to Tamara.”

Leah Otieno’s nine-month-old son Emmanuel got pneumonia before Christmas but recovered after antibiotic treatment – she says she is delighted to get him protected.

The charity Save the Children has launched a report, No Child Born to Die, which highlights the potential funding shortfall for global immunisation.

The report also says there is a critical shortage of 3.5 million health workers in poor countries, without whom millions of children will face illness and early death.

“Too many children are dying every day of vaccine-preventable illnesses and from the lack of basic healthcare,” said Catherine Fitzgibbon from Save the Children. “The money needed for basic immunisation is in doubt, let alone for this effective new vaccine against pneumonia.”

In June 2011, the UK government is hosting a meeting of Gavi in London which will be attended by world leaders. The UK provides a quarter of all Gavi’s funding – more than any other nation.

Save the Children says it will be campaigning for rich nations to increase support for global immunisation, and for the pharmaceutical industry to lower the price of vaccines.

The pneumococcal vaccine costs £2.20 ($3.50) in Africa compared to £38 in Europe as a result of a deal between Gavi and two manufacturers: Pfizer and GSK. The roll-out in the developing world comes just a year after the same vaccine was introduced in the United States.

GSK said the discounted price is only fractionally above the cost of production. A spokesman said the vaccine takes a year to produce and is the most technically sophisticated of all its vaccines.

A second vaccine against rotavirus – the main cause of serious diarrhoea – is also being ready to be rolled out. But this, too, is far more expensive than the basic childhood vaccines against diseases like measles, whooping cough and polio.

Pneumonia and diarrhoea account for a third of all deaths in young children in the developing world. Gavi and Save the Children say a comprehensive roll-out of the pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccines could potentially prevent more than one million deaths annually.

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

Tens of thousands of Belgians rally to demand a government and call for better relations between Flemish and French speakers.

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Singer and actor David Essex will join Albert Square this year, playing Eddie Moon, the charismatic father of Michael and uncle to Alfie.

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The latest Bank of Scotland’s job survey suggests the job market continues to improve on the back of faster vacancy growth.

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Scientists in Scotland say cooling the brain of patients who suffer a stroke could dramatically improve their recovery.

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More than 40 police officers in Scotland have been convicted of a criminal offence since January 2009, figures show.

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Sky Sports has said off-air remarks made by two football presenters about female assistant referee Sian Massey were “not acceptable”.

Host Richard Keys and pundit Andy Gray commented on Ms Massey’s appointment for the game between Wolves and Liverpool on Saturday.

The pair agreed female officials “don’t know the offside rule” when they believed their microphones were off.

In a statement, Sky said the two men had apologised for the comments.

The Football Association has given its support to Ms Massey, who made a correct borderline call in the build-up to Liverpool’s first goal at the Molineux stadium in Wolverhampton.

After Mr Keys said: “Somebody better get down there and explain offside to her”, Mr Gray remarked “women don’t know the offside rule”.

Mr Keys then said “of course they don’t”, before adding: “I can guarantee you there’ll be a big one today. [Liverpool manager] Kenny [Dalglish] will go potty.”

He then went on to remark on comments made by West Ham vice-chairman Karren Brady in the Sun newspaper on Saturday morning about the level of sexism in football.

“See charming Karren Brady this morning complaining about sexism? Yeah. Do me a favour, love,” he said.

Sky said: “The comments are not acceptable. They were not made on air but we have spoken to Richard and Andy and told them our views and they have apologised and expressed their regret.”

An FA statement said it had made “real strides in encouraging both male and female match officials to enter the game at every level, and will continue to offer every encouragement to all officials within the football family to progress to the highest levels possible”.

“We are proud to have some of the world’s best match officials, both male and female.

“Overall the number of female referees in England (Levels 1-8) stands at 853 and climbing, and all of our female match officials act as fantastic ambassadors for the game.

“They have our wholehearted and continuing support,” it said.

Referees body Professional Game Match Officials issued a statement from their general manager Mike Riley.

It said: “All PGMO referees and assistant referees are appointed on merit and ability. They are assessed on their performances only.”

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Andy Murray takes on Jurgen Melzer for a place in the quarter-finals on day eight of the Australian Open, while Rafael Nadal, Kim Clijsters and Robin Soderling are also in action on Monday.

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Voters head to the polls in Portugal for presidential elections, as the country faces a mounting debt crisis.

Incumbent President Anibal Cavaco Silva of the centre-right Social Democrats faces a challenge from the Socialists’ Manuel Alegre.

Latest opinion polls suggest Mr Cavaco Silva will be re-elected.

Although the president’s role is largely ceremonial, Mr Cavaco Silva has backed the austerity plan put forward by the Socialist government.

The plan aims to cut Portugal’s deficit and avoid it having to take a bailout like Ireland and Greece.

In his last campaign rally on Friday, Mr Cavaco Silva repeated an appeal for voters to turn out, citing the grave financial crisis Portugal was facing.

The tone of the campaign sharpened in the last few days of campaigning, in part because of fears many voters might abstain.

Two recent polls showed Mr Cavaco Silva was backed by more than half of those who expressed a preference, but as having lost support in recent days.

Earlier this week, the former prime minister said “serious damage” would result if no candidate cleared the 50% hurdle on Sunday, triggering a second round of voting.

The uncertainty would push up interest rates and thus also mortgage payments, he said.

His main rival in the polls, veteran Socialist Manuel Alegre, accused him of blackmailing voters and undermining democracy.

Portugal’s president is a mainly ceremonial figure but has one key power: to dissolve parliament without having to justify the decision.

With the Socialist government lacking an outright majority, there is speculation that a right-of-centre president with a renewed mandate might be likely to use this weapon, says the BBC’s Alison Roberts in Lisbon.

Early on in the campaign Mr Cavaco Silva stressed its importance, but he later said he would be reluctant to wield it.

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Leaked documents released by Al Jazeera TV suggest Palestinian leaders made private offers on previously non-negotiable issues in the peace process.

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The US woman who brought up high-profile child-kidnap victim Carlina White, who went on to solve her own abduction, has been taken into custody.

Ann Pettway, 44, surrendered to FBI agents in Connecticut.

An arrest warrant had been issued in North Carolina, where Ms Pettway lives, as officials believed she had violated a probation requirement.

Ms White was taken from hospital in New York in 1987 at just 19 days old and has been reunited with her true mother.

Ms White said she had always had a sense she did not belong to the family that raised her and began her own inquiries.

DNA tests this week confirmed Carlina as the daughter of Joy White and Carl Tyson in a case that has made headline news in the US and internationally.

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent William Reiner said Ms Pettway was required not to leave North Carolina as part of her probation following a conviction for attempted embezzlement. She is on parole until 2012.

North Carolina officials believed Ms Pettway, who lives in Raleigh, was on the run.

Investigators in the Carlina White case had been unable to contact Ms Pettway to discuss the abduction.

Because the statute of limitations on the case has expired in New York, it may be transferred to federal officials, as there is no statute on missing children in federal law.

Carlina’s grandmother, Elizabeth White, said: “The FBI is trying to get to the bottom of this. They’re wondering who in the Pettway family is involved and who is not involved.”

Carlina White’s biological father, Carl Tyson, told People magazine the arrest of Ms Pettway was “emotional”.

He said: “However they prosecute her, that’s up to them. I would just like to ask her, ‘Why?'”

Carlina White was abducted from hospital after being taken there with a fever by her mother.

There were reports of a woman wearing nurse’s clothing who had consoled the mother but who later picked up the baby and walked out of the building.

Although the abduction made headlines, investigators could not find a breakthrough and the case went cold.

Carlina was then raised as Nejdra Nance in Connecticut and later moved to Georgia.

But Carlina had long held misgivings as she did not resemble any of her family and suspected the woman who raised her used fake social security ID.

After starting her own investigations, Carlina finally contacted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and discovered a photo of a baby on its website she believed to be her.

The centre helped Ms White, who called her biological mother on 4 January.

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The Republic of Ireland’s Green Party is pulling out of the ruling coalition, a move expected to bring forward the general election from 11 March.

The party’s announcement, after a meeting in Dublin, follows a decision on Saturday by PM Brian Cowen to quit as leader of his Fianna Fail party.

Mr Cowen had said he would stay on as PM until the election, a move opponents had described as “farcical”.

The Greens’ decision removes the ruling coalition’s two-seat majority.

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Officials in Brazil say more than 800 people are now known to have died in floods and landslides in the south-east of the country this month.

More than 400 people are still missing after torrential rain caused whole hillsides to collapse.

The Brazilian government has said it will set up an early warning system to alert communities of impending danger.

The flooding is considered the worst natural disaster Brazil has ever experienced.

According to figures compiled by the newspaper O Globo, a third of all victims were under age.

The youngest fatality was a five-day-old baby buried in a mudslide in Nova Friburgo, the worst affected town with 324 dead.

Continuing danger

The number of missing has been declining as forensic experts identify more bodies, but rescue workers fear the full extent of the disaster is not yet known, with some remote communities still only reachable by helicopter.

Emergency workers say their priority is to make sure no new deaths occur.

They are warning of the risks of contaminated water.

Three people are known to have contracted leptospirosis, an infectious bacterial disease, which is caused by exposure to water contaminated with rats’ urine.

In Teresopolis, doctors have been administering thousands of tetanus vaccines.

In Sao Jose do Vale, workers were erecting more than a hundred tents sent from the UK to house those whose homes were swept away or flooded.

Volunteers in Rio de Janeiro held an adoption fair in the hope of re-homing some of the 5,000 animals left without owners as a result of the disaster.

The government has allocated $240m (£150m) in emergency reconstruction money for the area.

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