LONDON |
LONDON (Reuters) - Strikes by train drivers and passport officials threaten major disruptions to the London Olympics, prompting the government to warn unions on Thursday that they risked public anger if the industrial action went ahead.
The Aslef rail union announced on Thursday that 450 of its members in central England would walk out between August 6 and 8 in a dispute over pensions, affecting passengers travelling from cities such as Sheffield, Nottingham and Derby to the capital.
The decision coincided with a move by border officials to strike on July 26, the day before the start of the Games, potentially delaying thousands of visitors arriving for the showpiece event.
The threat of transport chaos added to pressure on the government, which has already had to call in thousands of extra soldiers to guard the Games after a failed private sector recruitment drive left an embarrassing hole in security.
Even the wet weather has conspired to dampen spirits ahead of the sporting showcase, which has earned the nickname the "Soggy Olympics" in the British media.
Perhaps it was no coincidence that Police lyrics "sending out an SOS", from the song "Message in a Bottle", were blaring before the daily press conference at the Olympic Park in east London.
Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt rejected accusations that the buildup to the Games had been a shambles, arguing that for an operation of such a scale the preparations had in fact been remarkably smooth.
"Actually I think it has been a very smooth process," he told reporters, after a barrage of questions on issues ranging from security shortfalls to sanitation on the main Olympic site. "I think it has been an encouraging first week.
"I think it is very important that people understand that of course you are going to have a few hitches on a project of this scale, but actually things have gone pretty smoothly, and the athletes are getting a fantastic welcome in the village, and I think morale is very high."
On the issue of the danger of strike action causing disruptions, he added: "It would be completely out of tune with the mood of the British public. This is a moment when Britain wants to show its best face to the world, and that is what the vast majority of the public wants as well.
"I would strongly counsel any unions thinking of disrupting this very important period, I think they would lose huge amounts of public support if they really tried to do this."
Prime Minister David Cameron, speaking during a visit to Afghanistan, said of the planned action by passport officials: "I do not believe it would be justified."
GUARD SHORTFALL
The security glitch came after G4S (GFS.L) said it could not provide a promised 10,400 security guards to staff Games venues, meaning the Defence Ministry had to call up an extra 3,500 troops to take the armed forces contribution to 17,000 personnel.
A further 2,000 troops may be required if security firm G4S fails to find a minimum requirement of 7,000 staff.
Hunt reiterated government assurances that the Games would be safe in a city where suicide bombers killed 52 people in attacks on the transport system in July 2005.
Further concerns could be raised by Wednesday's suicide bomb attack on a bus transporting Israeli tourists at Burgas airport in Bulgaria.
"Obviously we are monitoring the whole time what's happening with respect to the changing security situation, and we have extremely competent intelligence services who are giving us advice and we are responding to that on an ongoing basis," Hunt said when asked about the Burgas attack.
"The world can be absolutely certain that we will deliver a safe and secure Olympics. It has always been our number one priority."
OPENING CEREMONY
With the Games eight days away, British media has focused heavily on the opening ceremony amid reports of tensions between Oscar-winning film director Danny Boyle, who is overseeing the 27 million pound show, and the Olympic Broadcasting Services in charge of airing the Games.
According to the Guardian newspaper, quoting an unnamed source, the atmosphere between the two was "miserable" and rehearsals were behind.
The July 27 evening ceremony, to be watched by a global audience estimated at more than a billion people, has already been shortened to avoid a possible late-night rush for trains and buses home.
"I think I would expect there to be lots of negotiations going on behind the scenes, but I think the overall picture is very encouraging," Hunt said, explaining that he was not aware of the specific problems being reported.
"I think it is going to be a sensational opening ceremony. It will show the best of Britain - its history, its culture, our contribution to the world. But it will do it through the artistic vision of one our finest film directors."
The ceremony will feature more than 10,000 performers and include the recreation of an idyllic English rural scene complete with live animals. (Additional reporting by Mohammed Abbas in Kabul and Peter Griffiths and Michael Holden in London; Writing by Mike Collett-White; Editing by Alison Williams)
Source: uk.reuters.com
UPDATE 1-Nigeria's parliament receives landmark oil law - Reuters UK
* Parliament going on holiday until Sept. 17
* Oil law would restructure Nigeria's energy industry
* Debate, consultations likely to take months (Adds quote, details of bill, background)
By Joe Brock
ABUJA, July 19 (Reuters) - Nigeria's parliament has received the latest draft of a long-delayed oil law, which would restructure every aspect of Africa's largest energy industry, but it won't be debated until at least Sept. 17 due to lawmakers' annual holiday.
The Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) is potentially the most important piece of legislation in Nigeria's history.
It could unlock billions of dollars of delayed investment, help boost oil production and promote interest in the world's seventh largest gas reserves, which are largely untapped.
But industry experts have warned that recent drafts have watered down and delayed many of the original reforms, which could limit the impact of the PIB, although most stakeholders agree that any law is better than the current uncertainty.
"By the time we come back (on Sept. 17) we will do the first reading, second reading and public hearing on the bill," the Speaker of the House of Representatives Waziri Tambuwal said.
"Mr President had said this very important bill would be presented to the national assembly on or before the end of June. We have just received the bill ... please note that this delay was not caused by the national assembly," Tambuwal said on the floor of the house.
When parliament returns from recess various committees will analyse the bill and given the widespread nature of the law it could take several months of debate and consultations with experts, as well as a public hearing, before it can be passed.
The PIB has been in the making for more than five years but powerful vested interests blocked progress while lawmakers, oil companies and the federal government disagreed on terms.
The fact President Goodluck Jonathan has given this draft his backing raises the chance of it becoming law but by no means guarantees a quick passage because the legislature works independently and can be abrasive with the executive.
Other versions have stirred criticism from lawmakers, many of whom are concerned drafts were generous to foreign oil firms and gave too much power to the executive arm of government, primarily the oil minister and the president.
REGIONAL RIVALRIES
Many northern lawmakers will be unhappy with a provision which would give 10 percent of oil companies' net profits to a local community fund for the people of the oil-producing, southern Niger Delta.
Since the first draft of the PIB a northern-based Islamist sect has overtaken militancy in the Niger Delta as the biggest security risk in Africa's most populous nation and many northern politicians want funding to develop their communities.
There is already money allocated for the Niger Delta in the federal budget but communities there believe they should be given something for the oil beneath their feet.
Delays have caused uncertainty over the future framework of working in Nigeria, costing the industry billions of dollars of potential investment and the government much-needed revenues.
Without it, most analysts expect oil production in Nigeria to decline substantially over the next few years.
Nigeria exports more than 2 million barrels a day (bpd) of crude oil popular with U.S. buyers because it is light and easy to refine. China and India are also growing takers.
Foreign oil companies say Nigeria could produce 4 million bpd if the national oil company was better funded and insecurity and corruption were combated. (Additional reporting by Camillus Eboh; editing by James Jukwey)
Source: uk.reuters.com
Rajvinder Kaur jailed for murdering mother-in-law with rolling pin - The Independent
Rajvinder Kaur, 37, received a life sentence after she was found guilty yesterday of murdering 56-year-old grandmother Baljit Kaur Buttar in the brutal attack after six months of tension between the pair.
She had denied murder, but admitted manslaughter, claiming she had been provoked because Mrs Buttar, who had come over from India on holiday for six months, had been unkind and called her names constantly.
She had also claimed her relative had angrily lashed out with a broom handle when Kaur had walked into the bathroom as she had a shower and at that point she had grabbed the rolling pin from outside the door and attacked her.
Mr Justice Burnett told a weeping Kaur that 11 years would be the minimum she would serve until eligible for parole.
"You completely lost your self-control and the attack that followed was a frenzied one," he said.
He told Kaur that her attempts to cover up the crime at the family home in Southampton by washing her blood-spattered clothes and getting her son to discover his grandmother's body in what her own barrister described as a scene of "carnage" was "cruel and calculated and defies understanding".
But he said he accepted she had been provoked up to a point by her relative's insults and that the attack, which included 20 blows, was "quite out of character".
"You exploded in a rage," he said.
Kaur had initially said her mother-in-law had slipped in the bath and maintained the lie through 14 police interviews until her first trial.
Then halfway through she said she remembered killing Mrs Buttar, forcing the case to be halted and a retrial ordered.
Bill Mousley QC, prosecuting, told Winchester Crown Court during the nine-day trial that a paramedic, John Pike, was called to Kaur's home after receiving a report that a woman had suffered a heart attack.
But when Mr Pike arrived, he found Mrs Buttar, known as BB, naked and dead in the bath having suffered serious head injuries.
The jury was shown a video taken of the scene which showed the bathroom floor covered in blood with further blood found in the kitchen where the rolling pin was discovered.
Mr Mousley said that when Mr Pike arrived on February 25 last year, there was shouting between Kaur and her husband, Iqbal Singh.
He then found Kaur washing her mother-in-law's body with a handheld shower in the bath.
Kaur had initially claimed Ms Buttar had a bath and was putting some oil on, and she had heard a bang and gone into the bathroom.
Ms Buttar had been staying with the family in the Broadlands Road flat since August 2010.
She had been due to return to India on February 27 - two days after she had died.
PA
Source: www.independent.co.uk
London 2012 faces new threat as UK border staff vote for strike - insidethegames.biz
July 18 - London 2012 face a major new threat after United Kingdom border staff voted to go ahead with a one-day strike in a move that could see Heathrow Airport grind to a halt with the Olympics now just days away.
Thousands of members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union at the Home Office decided on the strike due to their anger over cuts to UK border staff, pay and other issues.
Although a date for the strike has not been set, it is of huge concern due to that fact that it could leave all of the main London 2012 transport hubs, including Heathrow, which is the Official Host Airport for Games, short of border staff in what is their busiest ever period with the Games looming.
"We believe Ministers have acted recklessly and irresponsibly in cutting so many jobs and, in the case of UK Border Agency, they have simply tried to paper over the cracks by deploying severely undertrained staff at our borders," said the PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka.
"If these issues are not resolved, they threaten to seriously undermine the Home Office's ability to provide vital public services and we cannot sit back and allow that to happen."
The PCS is one of the largest unions in the UK with around 250,000 public sector members but Immigration Minister Damian Green has slammed the move, calling it "completely unacceptable" and something the public would not tolerate with London 2012 just over a week away.
"Only about one in 10 PCS members voted for strike action," said Green.
"The union leadership has no authority to call disruptive strikes on that basis and should think again.
"The security of the UK border is of the utmost importance and we will use our trained pool of contingency staff to ensure we minimise any disruption caused by planned union action.
"Any action that disrupts the Olympics will be completely unacceptable and the public will not support it."
A Russian Olympic team official is given assistance at Heathrow Airport after arriving there earlier this week
The news could not come at a worse time for Heathrow, the third busiest airport in the world and the main point of entry for the Olympics and Paralympics, with an estimated 80 per cent of people travelling to the Games from outside the UK passing through the facility.
The biggest logistical challenge for Heathrow will come next month on August 13, the day after the Olympic Closing Ceremony, because it is set to be the busiest day in the airport's history and the number of bags expected to leave the airport will be more than 25 per cent higher than usual peak times.
Around 15 per cent of the bags are likely to consist of large sporting equipment such as canoes, pole vaults or bikes, which cannot be processed through normal baggage systems.
Businesses and airlines have long argued that Heathrow needs another runway to cope with rising demand, but the move has been consistently blocked by the Government because of environmental concerns.
The move will also provide further headache for London 2012 after Games security contractor G4S admitted they would not be able to train enough security guards in time for the Olympics.
This forced the Government to step in and deploy of 3,500 troops to make up the shortfall.
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Source: www.insidethegames.biz
Hello London! Coco Austin endears herself to British audiences as she shows off her assets at Art Of Rap premiere - Daily Mail
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She's endeared herself to American audiences with her va-va-voom curves and her devotion to her rapper husband Ice-T.
But Coco Austin launched herself with a bang in the UK tonight as she put her impressive assets on display.
No doubt helping her husband garner maximum publicity for his new documentary Something From Nothing: The Art Of Rap, the glamour model showed off her figure in a tight mint and orange dress.
Va-va-voom: Coco Austin shows off her fabulous figure in a tight mint and orange dress at the European premiere of Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap at the London Apollo
Solid: Coco and her husband Ice-T have been married for 11 years
The 33-year-old gave the European premire of Something From Nothing: The Art Of Rap at the London Apollo some much needed glamour as it was dominated by rappers is casual clothes.
The reality star showed her love for her husband as they proudly posed up together on the red carpet.
Ahead of the screening, she wrote on Twitter: 'On my way to London premier of #ArtofRap tonight at the Hammersmith Apollo..I got my red patent leather pumps on-FYI.'
All natural! Coco has denied speculation she has enlarged her bottom
The Art Of Rap is a documentary about the history of rap and is Ice-T's directional debut.
Although Ice-T is a veteran of the hip-hop world, he had opened himself to a different audience with his and Coco's reality show.
The second series of Ice Love Coco was broadcast in February and March earlier this year.
Check out my husband's booty: Coco tries to draw attention to her husband's assets instead
Having modelled lingerie and swimwear since she was 18, Coco has embraced her curves, but staunchly denied speculation she has had butt implants.
She told Playboy: 'My butt of course is a hundred percent au naturel.
'We'll do tests; Ice will let women touch my butt, feel it, grab it, whatever they want to do, to prove that there's nothing in there.
Red carpet arrivals: Singer Pixie Lott and former Page 3 girl Jackie St Clair
Musical offspring: Robin Gibb's son Robin-John Gibb and his girlfriend
'I've always had a big butt ever since I was young. But now I guess that's in style now.'
While her bottom is natural, Coco is open about her breast augmentation.
She explained: 'Yes, my breasts have been enhanced since I was 18. I wanted breasts that fit my shape.'
Coco has been married to rapper/actor Ice-T - real name Tracy Marrow - for 11 years.
Protect Ya Neck: The Wu-Tang Clan also made an appearance
Source: www.dailymail.co.uk
Scotch Whisky Association challenges Scotland's minimum alcohol price law - BBC News
The Scottish Whisky Association lodges a formal complaint with the European Commission
The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) has said it will challenge legislation on a minimum price for alcohol.
The law, which was overwhelmingly backed by MSPs earlier this year, would increase the price of some cheaper drink brands in Scotland.
The SWA said it had lodged a formal complaint to the European Commission over the legislation.
It will also seek a judicial review of minimum unit pricing for alcohol in the Court of Session in Edinburgh.
But the Scottish government believes its reforms, which will set a 50p minimum price for a unit of alcohol, are lawful, and has urged the alcohol industry to respect the will of the Scottish parliament.
Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said the policy "has the strong backing of those who work daily with the effects of alcohol misuse - our doctors, nurses, the police and public health experts".
“Start Quote
End Quote Nicola Sturgeon Health secretaryWe firmly believe that minimum pricing meets the legal tests required and we will vigorously defend this legal challenge”
She added: "It is a policy that also has growing support across the UK and internationally. Therefore, while we acknowledge their right to do so, we regret the decision of the SWA to challenge minimum pricing in the courts.
"The Scottish government believes that minimum pricing will save lives and reduce the harm caused by alcohol misuse. It is a targeted policy and will not penalise those who drink responsibly."
Ms Sturgeon pointed out that a sunset clause was inserted into the legislation, which she said "allows the policy to be tested in practice and for parliament to take a longer term decision based on actual experience."
She said: "We firmly believe that minimum pricing meets the legal tests required and we will vigorously defend this legal challenge, just as we did on asbestos and are doing on tobacco.
"Notwithstanding our difference of opinion on minimum pricing, we will continue to work constructively with the SWA in support of the whisky industry, which is both important and valuable for Scotland."
A recent survey of Scottish hospital intensive care departments found a quarter of admissions were alcohol-related.
'Harmful use'The SWA claimed minimum pricing was not the way to tackle alcohol problems, and called for more targeted measures to be introduced instead.
It also said it believed the legislation breached EU trade rules by distorting the drinks market, and that the key legal test on alcohol minimum pricing at EU level is if it is a proportionate measure - which it said the 50p rate is not.
The trade association has been joined in its opposition by other UK and European Union wine, beer and spirits organisations and companies.
And it said it feared that other countries following Scotland's lead in introducing a minimum price could cost the Scotch whisky industry some £500m in exports.
Gavin Hewitt, chief executive of the Scotch Whisky Association, said the legislation was "un-targeted, misguided and illegal".
He added: "We agree that Scotland must address the harmful use of alcohol, but policy needs to be targeted on the problem.
"Some 30% of those who drink, consume 80% of the alcohol sold. Despite warnings that minimum pricing of alcohol would be illegal, the Scottish government has pressed ahead with its ill-targeted policy and misguided legislation.
"Scottish Ministers repeatedly claimed during the Parliamentary process that as a premium product Scotch Whisky would not be affected by minimum pricing. The truth is now out.
"The Scottish government's own final impact assessment reveals 85% of Blended Scotch Whisky will be increased in price as a result of a minimum unit price of 50p."
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
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