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A tall ship with more than 35 teenagers on board is in difficulty in the Atlantic Ocean after losing a mast in gale force winds and heavy seas.

The Polish-registered sail training vessel Fryderyk Chopin lost its foremast about 100 miles (160km) south west of the Isles of Scilly.

There are concerns a second mast could also be lost, Falmouth Coastguard said.

There have been no injuries reported among the 47 crew, which includes 36 sailing trainees, all aged 14.

Coastguards said the master of the vessel requested assistance at about 0800 BST after the 180ft (55m) long vessel lost the 120ft (37m) mast in southerly force nine gales.

A container ship, a bulk carrier and a large fishing vessel have all responded to an appeal for assistance from coastguards and are en route to the stricken square rigger.

A Royal Navy rescue helicopter from RNAS Culdrose is on standby on the Isles of Scilly to fly out to the vessel.

It is hoped the vessel can be towed to sheltered waters.

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About 30 people are trapped in the air on a Legoland ride in Windsor after a power cut at the theme park.

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A factory in Wrexham is to close for two hours in protest at what the firm and its 600 staff say is the risk to jobs caused by “unfair subsidies”.

The Kronospan plant in Chirk will join a coordinated mass protest by wood panel plants across Europe.

The firm claims biomass subsidies encourage electricity generators to burn virgin wood rather old timber.

The UK government said electricity generators using waste wood avoided the cost of paying landfill tax.

Kronospan makes wood-based panels and associated products for furniture, construction, distribution and DIY industries.

In the UK, the Wood Panel Industries Federation is calling for a reversal of the “consequences” of the UK’s obligation to generate an increasing proportion of electricity from renewable sources.

Mike McKenna, director of Kronospan’s Chirk factory, said the subsidies for electricity generators which use biomass encouraged them to take “the easy option” of burning freshly felled timber.

He told BBC Radio Wales: “The easy option for them is cutting down trees and burning them for electricity generation.

“That’s because the subsidies are worth more than twice the value of the wood.

“If we pay £30 for a tonne of timber, the electricity generator will get a subsidy of about £70 for burning that timber to generate electricity.

“So you can see, he can price this industry out of the market.”

Clwyd South MP Susan Jones and North Wales AM Mark Isherwood are attending the symbolic shutdown at the plant from 1100 BST to 1300 BST.

A spokesman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said: “Support through the Renewables Obligation for electricity from wood is based on the costs of generation.

“In the case of waste wood, generators are avoiding paying for landfill and that is why support levels are lower.”

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Fifa president Sepp Blatter says that the vote to decide who will host the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments will still take place on 2 December.

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The US economy grew at an annualised rate of 2% in July-September, an acceleration on the previous quarter, official figures show.

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David Cameron says he has protected British taxpayers by putting the spotlight on reining in EU budget “excesses” at a Brussels summit.

He has been accused of “grandstanding” after saying he wanted the 2001 budget frozen, then agreeing to a 2.9% rise.

The UK PM secured agreement from 10 EU leaders that the rise should not exceed 2.9%, amid calls for a 5.9% rise.

He said the “crazy” 5.9% was “dead” and a separate opt-out had ensured the UK would not bail out EU states.

But Labour’s Yvette Cooper said it had been a “complete failure” and Eurosceptic Tory MEP Roger Helmer said he should simply have refused to pay.

In a press conference at the close of the summit, Mr Cameron said while he had wanted a freeze in the 2011 EU budget, he had been “looking down the barrel of a potential 6% increase” and his aim had been to stop it adding: “We have succeeded quite spectacularly, we put together a big alliance to stop that juggernaut of 6% in its tracks.”

“A few days ago the budget wasn’t even on the menu, we put it on the menu,” he said.

But Labour – and Eurosceptics in Mr Cameron’s own party – have questioned whether it was much of an achievement.

Conservative MEP Roger Helmer told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think we could have done better, I think we should have done better. Only two days ago we were talking about a freeze or even a cut and yet here we are rolling over – 2.9% is no great achievement, it’s the position that the Council held beforehand.”

And shadow foreign secretary Yvette Cooper said: “David Cameron’s grandstanding has been a complete failure. European governments decided on 2.9% in August so he has achieved absolutely nothing.

“He’s tried to swing his handbag but simply ended up clobbering himself in the face.”

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The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has told MPs it plans to hold a consultation on selling parts of Forestry Commission land in England.

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