‘Top hat’ dome at oil spill site

The "top hat" dome waits to be shipped to the spill site from Port Fourchon, Louisiana, 11 May

A new steel dome has been placed beside the damaged oil well that has been polluting the Gulf of Mexico since last month’s drilling rig disaster, BP says.

Dubbed the "top hat", it is smaller than a first container dome which had to be set aside after becoming blocked by crystallised gas hydrates.

It is on the seabed but is being kept away from the well for now, BP said.

The cost of tackling the spill is being put at $118m (£80m), much of which the Obama administration expects BP to pay.

The figure is contained in legislation being sent to Congress, which also calls for oil companies to pay a 1% per barrel tax increase to the existing Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, senior administration official Jeff Liebman said in Washington.

Eleven people died when an explosion – thought to have occurred after a surge of methane gas from deep within the well – destroyed the Deepwater Horizon rig on 20 April.

Some 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons) of oil a day have been leaking into the sea from the damaged well.

US federal wildlife officials are treating the deaths of six dolphins on the Gulf Coast as oil-related even though other factors may be to blame.

Samples from the carcasses found in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama since 2 May have been sent for testing.

A National Marine Fisheries Service official said none of them had obvious signs of oil and it was common for dead dolphins to wash up at this time of year, when they are in shallow waters to calve.

‘Faulty blowout preventer’

The dome is meant to funnel some of the escaping oil to a waiting tanker on the surface.

A dead dolphin on Horn Island, Mississippi, 11 May

"The ‘top hat’ was lowered to the seabed floor last night and is presently… in the immediate area of the leak and the plan is to have that positioned over the leak and functioning by the end of the week," BP’s Bryan Ferguson told AFP news agency.

Containment chambers like this have been used to tackle well and pipeline leaks in the past but not at such a depth – 5,000ft (1,525m).

At 4ft (1.2m) in diameter and 5ft (1.5m) in height, it is much smaller than the first, 40ft dome.

US House of Representatives investigators say they have uncovered significant problems with the crucial blowout preventer (BOP) on the well, which may have contributed to the explosion, Reuters news agency reports.

The BOP had a leak in its hydraulic system and lacked the power to cut through joints to seal the drill pipe, Representative Henry Waxman told a hearing on the spill.

The hearing was also told that the BOP had been modified, which made it difficult to operate after the accident, and its emergency back-up controls may have failed because the explosion that destroyed the rig also disabled communications preventing workers from sending signals underwater.

On Tuesday, BP and other oil industry executives traded blame in Congress.

The British oil giant told a Senate hearing that the BOP, made by drilling contractor Transocean, had failed.

Senators heard Transocean argue in turn that BP had been in charge and that a third firm, a BP contractor, did not plug the exploratory well properly.

How the oil has spread
Approximate oil locations 22 April – 12 May

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A&E units go from two hospitals

Whiteabbey Hospital

Accident and emergency services are to be removed from Whiteabbey and Mid-Ulster hospitals in a fortnight.

The Northern Health Trust said the units would be replaced by minor injuries units.

Inpatient cardiology services are also being moved from Whiteabbey to Antrim Area Hospital.

Over the next few months, the remaining acute medical beds from Whiteabbey and high dependency beds from Mid Ulster will also be transferred.

The remaining medical beds will move from Mid Ulster by mid 2011.

Emergency ambulances will be redirected to the nearest accident and emergency department once the units in Whiteabbey and Mid-Ulster close on 24 May.

The Northern Health Trust’s Colm Donaghy said the changes had been planned for some time and were approved by the health minister in September 2009 after a 16-week period of consultation.

"Members of the senior management team – including myself – will be meeting with staff groups over the next two or three days to advise them of the service changes," Mr Donaghy said.

"I want to reassure staff that the trust will work to ensure that changes will not lead to any compulsory redundancies for those who work at the two local hospital sites.

"We are currently engaging with trades unions to ensure the safe transfer of services and to support staff affected."

The health union Unison said it would be raising the moves with the health minister.

"The high-handed manner in which the trust has behaved has caused deep distress," it said.

"We now face a massive challenge to protect the services, the patients and the staff."

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Girl, eight, ‘raped by boys, 10’

An eight-year-old girl was raped by two 10-year-old boys while out playing with her younger sister near her home in west London, the Old Bailey has heard.

The girl, who was allegedly raped in a field, later told her mother what had happened, jurors heard.

The boys, who cannot be identified because of their age, each deny two charges of rape and two charges of attempted rape of a child under 13.

The offences are alleged to have happened in October 2009.

The alleged rape happened near to where all the children – who knew each other – lived, the court heard.

The boys, who are now aged 10 and 11, are among the youngest to be charged with rape in the UK.

The jury was told that the court’s sitting hours had been shortened and other steps would be taken because the defendants were so young.

The judge, Mr Justice Saunders, sat where the court clerk normally sits so he was on the same level as the boys.

Rosina Cottage, prosecuting, told the court the mother went looking for the girl after her younger sister, who she had been playing with, returned home without her.

‘Secluded spot’

Miss Cottage told the court: "This case concerns rape by two boys still at primary school of a girl even younger than them.

"Together they took her to different locations near where they lived in order to find a sufficiently secluded spot to assault her.

"The events leading to the alleged rapes all took place in and around a block of flats and they ended in a field."

Miss Cottage said when the victim’s mother and younger sister went to fetch her, they bumped into the mother of the younger defendant and a five-year-old playmate.

When the boy’s mother asked the little boy where her son was "he said that he was in a nearby field and that he was with (the girl) and that he was hurting her", said Miss Cottage.

He pointed over to the field and the women went to find the children. The girl’s mother went into the field but could not locate her.

When she did find her, the woman "could see things were not right with her daughter", Miss Cottage said.

She told the court the mother later asked the girl what was wrong and the girl told her mother that the boys had taken her to the block of flats where they had moved the bins in a bin shed so that she could not get out.

Miss Cottage added: "When a car pulled up the boys had taken her out of the bin shed and taken her to the fields.

"She told them to leave her alone."

The boys then assaulted her, the court heard.

Miss Cottage said the girl’s mother spotted the older boy and asked what happened but he replied "nothing".

The younger boy joined them and, before anything was asked, allegedly said: "I didn’t touch her."

The court was told the older boy then added: "It wasn’t me. It was (the other boy)."

The girl was then taken to hospital because she was complaining of pains in her stomach, the court heard.

She gave evidence via videolink from another room of the court and told how she was taken to the bin shed before being taken to the field.

In a second video interview, the girl said one of the boys had thrown her scooter into a bush and told her she would not get it back unless she did what they said.

The trial continues.

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Will the new coalition work?

The new PM David Cameron and Deputy PM Nick Clegg have unveiled details of their plans for government. Is this an historic opportunity for the UK?

The main priority will be to tackle the country’s budget deficit, which will include £6bn of spending reductions this year. An emergency budget will take place within 50 days.

There will also be a referendum on the Alternative Vote system for general elections. Fixed-term parliaments will be introduced meaning that the next election will be in May 2015.

The new government has also pledged to hold a referendum on any further transfer of powers to the EU as well as a commitment not to adopt the Euro for the lifetime of the next Parliament.

Can the Conservative-led coalition rebuild trust in politics and create a stronger society? Or will the differences between the parties create problems for the new coalition? What did you think of the first press conference by David Cameron and Nick Clegg?

At-a-glance: Cameron coalition’s policy plans

Cameron’s cabinet: A guide to who’s who

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Weapons found by Egypt customs

Map

Police in Egypt have arrested an Egyptian-American academic discovered to have several weapons in his luggage as he arrived on a flight from the US.

Officials said they saw the man, named as Mohammed Ibrahim Marei, a professor of botany, "behaving nervously" as he waited to pass through customs.

In his bags they found two handguns, 250 bullets, several swords, daggers and knives.

He had arrived on an Egyptair flight from New York to Cairo.

The authorities said they had launched an investigation, it was reported.

It was not immediately clear how the man was able to get through security in New York and board the plane.

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Animal cruelty horse man absconds

James Gray

A horse trader found guilty of the "worst case" of animal cruelty seen by the RSPCA, has absconded as he was awaiting his appeal against sentence.

James Gray, 46, neglected more than 100 animals on his farm in Amersham, Bucks, with many found ankle-deep in faeces.

Gray attended Aylesbury Crown Court to appeal against his 26-week prison sentence having lost an appeal against his convictions last week.

But when the court resumed, Gray had gone. An arrest warrant was issued.

Commenting on the state of the animals found in the care of Gray, Rob Skinner, chief RSPCA inspector for Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, said: "It was the worst case of neglect I have ever seen."

It is thought Gray walked past security guards and into the town centre, despite being told by Judge Christopher Tyrer not to leave the court building for the hour-long break.

Whereabouts unknown

Michael Fullerton, representing Gray, was asked by the judge where his client was, and replied: "I have no idea. I haven’t seen him from the time the court rose."

Gray, who was convicted along with his wife and three of his children following the neglect at Spindle Farm was sentenced in his absence to 26 weeks in prison.

Sentencing him to the maximum possible, Judge Tyrer said: "What the court has been listening to is an horrendous case of animal cruelty.

"It is the worst case ever experienced by the RSPCA. In our judgment, this was animal cruelty on a scale that beggars belief.

Rescued horse

"In January 2008, the RSPCA were faced with a calamity of huge proportions. One hundred-plus horses had to be removed. Others were so ill that they had to be euthanised.

"Carcasses in various stages of decomposition were found. Some of them were in full view of the farmhouse, where young children lived and had access to the adjacent garden.

"The animals were dead and dying. There was neglect, starvation, emaciation and squalor. The animals that the RSPCA found were hungry and thirsty, dejected, miserable and depressed.

"After removal, nearly all of them recovered and have thrived.

"The business, of which all of you were party, was concerned only with profit. Animal welfare did not figure at all."

Gray and his teenage son, James Gray Jnr, were found guilty of 11 charges each under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 after a trial last year.

Two of the charges were dropped when they launched an appeal following sentencing last June.

James Gray Jnr, 17, was acquitted on two further charges following the appeal, but all other convictions against him, and his relatives, were upheld.

Gray’s wife, Julie, 42, and daughters, Jodie, 27, and Cordelia, 21, had each been found guilty of two animal welfare offences.

All of the Grays were banned from keeping horses, ponies and donkeys following the neglect. Gray was banned for life, with his wife, son and daughters each banned for 10 years.

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No jail over abandoned blind girl

Kate Harper

A woman who admitted leaving a disabled six-year-old girl outside overnight in freezing temperatures has been told she will not face a prison sentence.

Kate Harper, 26, left the child, who is blind and deaf, strapped in her pram in Kingspark, Glasgow, last November.

Glasgow Sheriff Court heard the girl suffered hypothermia and almost died.

Sheriff Kenneth Mitchell said Harper’s behaviour was an isolated crime and deferred sentence for three months to allow her to show good behaviour.

The court was told that Harper attended a party on Bonfire night (5 November) which turned into a late-night drinking session.

When she took the youngster back to her house she realised she had forgotten her keys and abandoned the girl outside.

She headed back to collect the keys but instead of returning with them went to sleep in her sister’s house.

The court heard that the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was discovered just before 0830 GMT on 6 November.

A bus driver and classroom assistant arrived to take her to school, where she receives supported learning.

They saw the pram, which had tipped over, and noticed that the child was in it with her face pressed against the stone stairs outside the house. She was shivering and her lips were blue.

As paramedics later treated the girl, Harper was spotted walking down the street from her sister’s house.

Police officers spoke to her, and she told them she had very little recollection of what had happened the night before.

She was taken to Aikenhead Road police office and later admitted to abandoning the girl.

‘Reckless conduct’

The youngster was taken to Yorkhill Hospital where doctors treated her for hypothermia and bruising from the straps of the pram.

At an earlier hearing, Harper admitted culpable and reckless conduct by abandoning the girl outside her home.

Appearing for sentencing, Sheriff Mitchell told Harper that her conduct was "wholly unacceptable and reprehensible".

The sheriff said: "It is accepted that the accused’s culpable and reckless conduct on this occasion caused this very disabled child distress, injury, hypothermia and endangered her life.

"Miss Harper drank far too much and, as a result, she was culpably reckless in regard to her responsibilities towards this child.

"But I am satisfied that this very serious crime can be properly regarded as an isolated one.

"I therefore consider that the proper course is to defer sentence for a short period of three months to enable the accused to demonstrate her continued good behaviour."

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S Lanka general denies incitement

Sarath Fonseka

Defeated Sri Lankan presidential candidate Gen Sarath Fonseka has for the first time appeared before a civilian court to deny inciting unrest.

He is alleged to have said in a newspaper interview last year that the defence secretary ordered the killing of surrendering Tamil rebels.

The general appeared before Colombo magistrates to protest his innocence.

He said he had been misquoted by the newspaper and that the case was part of an attempt to silence him.

He is accused of saying that Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa – who is the brother of President Mahinda Rajapaksa – ordered the killings of Tamil rebels who surrendered during last year’s military offensive against the group.

‘Frivolous case’

Gen Fonseka is in military custody and faces separate court martial charges of engaging in politics while in uniform and overseeing corrupt arms procurements.

Gen Fonseka has filed several petitions in higher courts challenging his arrest in February, 12 days after he failed to unseat President Rajapaksa in elections.

The general led the military offensive which resulted in the elimination of the separatist Tamil Tiger leadership in May last year.

It effectively ended 37 years of ethnic conflict which had claimed up to 100,000 lives.

But Gen Fonseka fell out with the president and his brother over who should take the most credit for the victory.

"It is ironic that the man who was hailed a national hero for crushing Tamil Tigers is being brought before court exactly a year later," said Gen Fonseka’s lawyer, Nalin Laduwahetty. "This is a frivolous case."

The judge adjourned the hearing until 26 May.

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