Ebacc courses should be made compulsory, Tory politician argues on eve of GCSE results day Pupils should be required to sit GCSEs in five traditional academic subjects so that Britain can remain a competitive nation, a Conservative MP says. On the eve of the publication of GCSE results for 600,000 pupils in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, Elizabeth Truss has said all 16-year-olds – regardless of their ability – should take English, maths, at least two sciences, a foreign language and either history or geography. Michael Gove, the education secretary, has called this combination of subjects the English Baccalaureate , or Ebacc. For the first time this year, league tables measured schools by the proportion of their pupils achieving at least a C grade in Ebacc subjects. Truss, MP for south-west Norfolk, has warned that leading competitors such as Germany, France, Canada and Japan, have already made Ebacc subjects compulsory at 16 and that Britain is “quickly falling behind”. In the US, all these subjects are mandatory, apart from a foreign language. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, at present just English, maths and science are compulsory to GCSE. Truss, who is known for engaging in education debates in the Commons, says pupils get more out of each academic discipline by studying a combination of them. She says Ebacc subjects should become compulsory when ministers introduce a new national curriculum into schools in September 2013. There is already proof that the UK is losing its reputation for educational excellence, Truss says. Last year, the UK slipped down international league tables for reading, science and maths. Every four years, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development analyses the numeracy and literacy standards and scientific knowledge of 470,000 15-year-olds across the world. The latest study, published in December, showed the UK tumbled from 17th to 25th place in reading; from 24th to 28th position in maths and from 14th to 16th place in science. Figures published earlier this week following a parliamentary question by Charlotte Leslie, Conservative MP for Bristol north-west , show fewer than a quarter of pupils – 22% – sat GCSEs in Ebacc subjects last summer, compared to half in 1997. Anecdotal evidence indicates that, since the introduction of the Ebacc, more schools are encouraging pupils to take traditional, academic subjects. Pupils receiving their GCSE results on Thursday will have chosen their subjects two years ago, before the Ebacc was invented. However, some schools may have suggested pupils switch to traditional subjects half-way through their courses. The GCSE pass rate is expected to reach a record high of 70%, a leading education expert has predicted. Last summer, some 69.1% of entries achieved a C grade or higher. Professor Alan Smithers , of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at Buckingham University, anticipates that nearly one in four – 23% – of GCSE entries will be an A or A* and that one in 12 will be an A*. In 2010, 22.6% of exams got an A or A*, while 7.5% were awarded an A*. Ministers have said schools will be considered under-performing if fewer than 35% of pupils achieve at least five C grades, including in English and maths. The government intends to change GCSEs from next year so that pupils do not take exams throughout the year, but only at the end of their courses. GCSEs English baccalaureate Schools Secondary schools Education policy Conservatives Jessica Shepherd guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Facebook and Twitter to oppose calls for social media blocks during riots
August 24, 2011 No Comment
Ministers expected to row back from David Cameron’s demand that suspected rioters be barred from websites Blog: the questions social media giants need to answer Facebook and Twitter are preparing to stand firm against government ministers’ calls to ban people from social networks or shut their websites down in times of civil unrest. The major social networks are expected to offer no concessions when they meet the home secretary, Theresa May, at a Home Office summit on Thursday lunchtime. Ministers are expected to row back on David Cameron’s call for suspected rioters to be banned from social networks, such as Twitter and Facebook, following the riots and looting across England a fortnight ago. The home secretary will explore what measures the major social networks could take to help contain disorder – including how law enforcement can more effectively use the sites – rather than discuss powers to shut them down. The acting Metropolitan police commissioner, Tim Godwin, and the Tory MP Louise Mensch have separately explored the idea of shutting down websites during emergencies. The technology companies will strongly warn the government against introducing emergency measures that could usher in a new form of online censorship. Attacks on London landmarks, including the Olympics site and Westfield shopping centres, were thwarted earlier this month after police managed to intercept private BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) posts – suggesting that leaving networks running can provide a valuable source of intelligence and information. The summit is not expected to signal a dramatic shift in government policy, with only one hour slated for a discussion between more than a dozen social media executives, police officers and ministers. Executives from Facebook, Twitter and RIM will be joined by Lynn Owens, the assistant commissioner of central operations at the Met police, members of the association of chief police officers, and civil servants from both the foreign office and the department for culture, media and sport. The home secretary will lead the meeting, alongside James Brokenshire, the minister for security and a member of the National Security Council. May will urge the social networks, all of which are based in either the US or Canada, to take more responsibility for the messages posted on their websites. In response, Twitter and Facebook are expected to outline the steps that both social networks already take to remove messages that potentially incite violence. Facebook, which has 30 million users in the UK, said it had actively removed ” several credible threats of violence ” to stem the riots across England this month. Research in Motion, the Canada-based BlackBerry maker, will explain to the government which parts of its popular BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) service are private or encrypted. Unlike Facebook and Twitter, BBM is a pin-protected instant messaging system, and was claimed to be the most popular network among rioters. Each of the social networks are preparing to explain how current powers are proportionate for tackling provocative material. Current measures allow internet companies to identify users who may be worth further investigation without examining the content of their messages. RIM and other companies can be forced to disclose users’ private messages if served with a warrant by police. Godwin told MPs on the home affairs committee last week that police had explored the unprecedented step of switching off social networks , but discovered that they did not have the legal powers to do so. Under the current system, most websites take down material if served with “notice and takedown procedures” by authorities. Facebook also operates a self-policing method whereby its own users can flag inappropriate material. Two leading police forces told the Guardian earlier this month that it would be a mistake to introduce overzealous powers over the websites. Greater Manchester police and the Devon and Cornwall force both said social networks had an “overwhelmingly positive” role in dispelling rumours and reassuring residents during the riots. A spokeswoman for Facebook said: “We look forward to meeting with the home secretary to explain the measures we have been taking to ensure that Facebook is a safe and positive platform for people in the UK at this challenging time. “In recent days we have ensured any credible threats of violence are removed from Facebook and we have been pleased to see the very positive uses millions of people have been making of our service to let friends and family know they are safe and to strengthen their communities.” Twitter and RIM declined to comment. Four men from Lancashire appeared in court on Wednesday accused of using Facebook to encourage the looting. None of the four entered pleas to the charges, and all four were granted bail in the hearing at Preston crown court. •
Continue reading …Dominique Strauss-Kahn will fly home to a France divided over his reputation
August 24, 2011 No Comment
Supporters declare ex-IMF head blanchi – whitened – after sex assault charges dropped, while others believe him tarnished The spectacular collapse of the rape case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn has prompted a bout of soul-searching in France amid fresh debate over how clean the former presidential hopeful has emerged from his American “ordeal”. As Strauss-Kahn prepared to collect his passport from police in New York, friends and supporters declared him blanchi – literally whitened – cleared and vindicated after accusations that had blackened his name and stymied his attempt to become the next president of France in 2012. Others, even those from the traditional left, believe that the Socialists’ one-time “providential man” will fly home less blanchi and more a grubby shade of grey. Commentators veered between outrage at DSK being paraded in handcuffs after his arrest in May and admiration for the US justice system dealing with the case rapidly and letting him go. Philosopher Daniel Salvatore Schiffer, a Strauss-Kahn defender, described the court’s decision as “courageous and honest” and said it had allowed the emergence of “if not the truth, which we will probably never know … but at least impartiality.” But Le Monde pointed out that Strauss-Kahn, 62, who was forced to quit as head of the International Monetary Fund, had not been “totally whitened” as the case had been dropped because of a lack of witnesses or proof that the “hasty sexual relations” between Strauss-Kahn and chambermaid Nafissatou Diallo were forced or consensual. On the eve of the Socialist party’s summer conference in the seaside town of La Rochelle, where six rival candidates for the presidential nomination will gather this weekend, some felt the return of the left’s former champion was an unwelcome distraction. Most of his supporters are now backing other candidates, including frontrunners François Hollande and Martine Aubry. Hollande has spoken of Strauss-Kahn’s economic expertise being “useful to his country” but nobody is seriously suggesting the rules of the primary election be altered to allow him to stand. Le Monde believed events in New York had put paid to Strauss-Kahn’s 2012 presidential ambitions, having “lifted a veil on aspects of his personality, his relations with women and with money”. “Like most French male politicians he felt protected by our tradition of respect for private matters,” it wrote, adding that he was the “victim of his own carelessness”. An editorial by essayist Pascal Bruckner in Le Monde, headlined “The DSK affair reveals a sad image of America”, highlights the cultural chasm spanning French views of sex and relationships and those of “Les Anglo-Saxons”. Bruckner recounts a sheriff on a Florida beach ordering him to cover his naked two-year-old daughter, as an example of the US’s “problem with sex”, which he describes as “twisted puritanism” resulting from the alliance of “feminism and the Republican right”. “We have lots of things to learn from our American friends, but certainly not the art of love,” he concludes, without explaining what a “precipitated sexual relationship” in a hotel suite – consensual or not – has to do with the Gallic view of sex as a genteel, graceful and private game. France’s national philosopher, Bernard-Henri Levy, who outraged many with a string of outbursts in which he described the treatment of his friend in America as “utterly grotesque” because he was “not some commoner”, was equally outspoken. In an extraordinary interview with Nice Matin newspaper he described the chambermaid’s defence as “a masquerade” and said her lawyer had “reached the summits of obscenity”. French headlines – including DSK – Whitened; Nafissatou’s Lies; and Strauss-Kahn: His Nightmare Summer – have contrived to portray Strauss-Kahn as the victim of a mendacious, money-grabbing woman and a foreign legal system. A front page cartoon in Le Monde after Diallo’s lawyer’s launched a civil suit against Strauss-Kahn showed her vacuuming bank notes from DSK’s pockets. The affair also led to qualms about Strauss-Kahn and his heiress wife Anne Sinclair’s “gauche caviar” lifestyle. That they were paying more than £30,000 a month for a Manhattan townhouse, £170,000 a month for detectives and lawyers and had produced more than £3.5m in bail guarantees sat uneasily with some Socialists. Another stain yet to be blanchi is the attempted rape investigation Strauss-Kahn faces in France. Journalist and writer Tristane Banon claims he assaulted her when she went to interview him in 2003 accusing him of behaving like a “rutting chimpanzee” , allegations his lawyers have dismissed as “fantasy”. “Sex, lies and a case dismissal,” wrote the tabloid France Soir. “But DSK hasn’t yet completely finished with the justice system.” Only two people know what happened in the Sofitel suite in May and the lives of both have been sullied. Dominique Strauss-Kahn France Le Monde New York United States Kim Willsher guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Andy Coulson ‘broke’ Commons pass rules by failing to declare NI payments
August 24, 2011 No Comment
· Cameron sponsored pass for ex-head of communications · NI ‘considering ending payment of Coulson’s legal fees’ Andy Coulson appears to have broken House of Commons rules by failing to declare payments and benefits he received from News International while holding a parliamentary pass sponsored by David Cameron. Registers held in the Commons archive, seen by the Guardian, reveal that in September 2007 – three months after Coulson was employed by Cameron’s office – the former News of the World editor failed to declare the health insurance, company car and severance payments he was receiving from his old employers. The records also show that for at least two months after he resigned from his position as No 10′s head of communications in January this year, Coulson continued to hold a parliamentary pass, sponsored by Downing Street, which allowed him access to parliament as a No 10 employee. That will raise new questions about whether Coulson – who Cameron has admitted seeing on a social basis since his resignation – continued to perform an unofficial role for the Tories after he had left. The Labour MP Tom Watson called for the parliamentary commissioner for standards to investigate. Commons rules say all holders of parliamentary passes sponsored by MPs, which allow unfettered access to most of the parliamentary estate, must register any paid employment, gifts or benefits worth more than £329 they receive within that calender year from sources that could “in any way” relate to their work in parliament. The Guardian also understands that News International continued to pay Coulson’s legal bills after he stepped down as the editor of the News of the World in January 2007. The company is considering ending the arrangement after this week’s revelations that Coulson had continued to receive payments after becoming Cameron’s director of communications. Coulson is understood to have consulted lawyers frequently since leaving News International after several public figures brought civil cases against the News of the World, alleging that their voicemail messages had been hacked. News International paid his legal bills last December when he was a witness in the perjury trial of the former Scottish MP Tommy Sheridan. The company declined to comment. Cameron and George Osborne first employed Coulson when the Conservatives were in opposition in July 2007. He appeared on the next register for MP-sponsored passes, published in September, declaring no other employment, gifts or benefits in that calendar year. It is now known that he received hundreds of thousands of pounds in “several” instalments from News International after leaving the company. He also failed to register the health insurance and company car he received from the company under gifts or benefits. Coulson’s pass was personally sponsored by Cameron, not the Conservative party. His register entry noted only that he was director of communications and planning for the Conservative party, making no mention of any other income. From October, his pass switched to a journalist’s pass, sponsored by the Conservatives, which operated with a separate declaration register. Declarations are only required of an “occupation or employment”, earning more than £657 in that calendar year, that could be benefited from access to parliament. For his entire period working for Cameron at Conservative campaign headquarters, and subsequently in Downing Street, Coulson declared nothing on the registers. A Conservative spokesman said: “It is the individual’s responsibility to declare relevant financial interests to the parliamentary pass office. “We were not aware until Monday night of allegations that Andy Coulson’s severance package, agreed with News International before he was employed by the Conservative party, was paid in instalments that continued into the time he was employed by the Conservative party.” Watson, a member of the culture select committee who has campaigned on the phone hacking debate, is writing to the parliamentary commission for standards to complain about the apparent breach. “We now know that, in September 2007, Andy Coulson was receiving staggered payments, free private healthcare and apparently a motor car from News International,” Watson said. “When he applied for his House of Commons pass, Mr Coulson was expected to declare these hidden payments under parliament’s transparency rules. He failed to do so. “Moreover, instead of being allocated a political party press pass, he was placed on David Cameron’s personal allocation of passes. This meant David Cameron had to personally vouch for his application, so presumably they had a discussion about it. I’m writing to the standards commissioner to request he investigates the matter.” Commons officials confirmed that it could take up to a month for people who hand their passes in to be removed from the register of journalists’ interests. Coulson resigned on 21 January and appears on the next two registers, published in March and April, but not from June. That suggests he could have continued to hold his Downing Street-sponsored pass up until May, four months after his resignation. He resigned from News International after the jailing of two private investigators who worked for the News of the World, during his time as the paper’s editor, for phone hacking. Andy Coulson News International News of the World David Cameron Conservatives Tom Watson Labour Polly Curtis James Robinson guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …India charges four politicians in bribery investigation into parliamentary vote
August 24, 2011 No Comment
Arrests made as Anna Hazare continues fasting campaign that has mobilised thousands to root out political corruption Four Indian MPs have been charged over an alleged cash for votes scandal during a crucial confidence vote faced by the ruling Congress party in 2008, a police official has said. The four men charged were Amar Singh, Ashok Argal, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahavir Bhagora, the senior official, who declined to be named, said. The Socialist party MP Amar Singh has been accused of bribing three legislators from the opposition Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) to vote in favour of the government. The police official did not give any more details about the charges. Wednesday’s news came as a scandal-plagued government struggled to find a solution to end an eight-day hunger strike by a popular activist demanding strict anti-corruption legislation. Anna Hazare’s fast has drawn tens of thousands of Indians to his protest, in the heart of the capital, and inspired smaller anti-corruption rallies across India. The alleged bribery scandal in parliament first surfaced in March, when a leaked US diplomatic cable, obtained by WikiLeaks, said the Congress party bribed MPs before the vote over a nuclear deal with Washington . The cable, from a US embassy official, said a Congress party functionary showed him two cases full of cash meant to bribe MPs to vote with the party. An Indian newspaper report alleged the MPs were paid $2.5m each to buy their support. Days after the cable’s contents were reported, the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, told parliament no one from the government or the ruling party had bribed MPs during the vote. The government has been hit by a series of corruption scandals in recent months, related to the selling of a mobile phone spectrum and the conduct of last year’s Commonwealth Games. India Anna Hazare guardian.co.uk
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The last time the Ifo index fell so sharply was in November 2008, just after the collapse of Lehman Brothers German business confidence made its steepest drop this month since the aftermath of the Lehman Brothers collapse in late 2008, raising fresh doubts about the broader European economy as it grapples with a crippling debt crisis. The Munich-based Ifo thinktank said on Wednesday its business climate index, based on a monthly survey of some 7,000 firms, fell to 108.7 in August from 112.9 in July, well below a consensus forecast in a Reuters poll of 42 economists for a 111.0 reading. The last time the index fell so sharply was in November 2008, just after the collapse of Lehman Brothers when the German economy was in its deepest postwar recession. It was the lowest reading for the index since June of last year. Ifo economist Klaus Abberger told Reuters that the slowdown of the US economy and twin debt problems in the US and Europe were the main reasons for the worsening outlook. “The German economy has been infected,” Abberger said. “I wouldn’t speak of a recession at this moment. The companies still have a cushion of orders. And not every cooling results in a recession, but the recovery is slowing very significantly.” The German economy has been a pillar of strength since the debt crisis in the eurozone first broke out in Greece at the end of 2009. But data last week showed gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed to a meagre 0.1% in the second quarter of the year, pushed down by weakening private consumption and declines in the construction sector. The Ifo index suggests the slowdown could be more precipitous than many economists had thought, removing a key crutch for the eurozone, whose vulnerable peripheral economies are depending on strong demand from their northern partners to help them out of their debt holes. A weakening economy could make Germans more reluctant to splash out money to help countries like Greece, for whom a second rescue package was agreed by European leaders last month. That deal, which must be approved by national parliaments to go into force, has run into trouble over Finnish demands that Greece put up collateral to offset the loans it receives. Serious warning Carsten Brzeski, an economist at ING, described the sharp decline in the Ifo’s expectations index as a “serious warning”. That sub-index tumbled to 100.1, its lowest in almost two years, from 105.0 in the prior month. On Tuesday, a separate gauge of analyst and investor sentiment published by the Mannheim-based ZEW institute fell by its largest amount in five years. Data this week also showed growth in German business activity was its weakest in 25 months in August as new orders fell. Germany’s blue-chip DAX index has shed almost a quarter of its value since the start of the month amid fears a global slowdown will dampen demand for the country’s exports. In addition to economic weakness in the US, the Chinese economy is also slowing. China has emerged as a key export market for German firms over the past decade. Some leading companies, such as steelmaker ThyssenKrupp , have warned recently about increased uncertainty in US markets. Although a recession in Germany does not seem inevitable at this point, some economists said the worst was yet to come. “We definitely have not seen the low point with expectations yet and they will certainly fall further in coming months,” said Joerg Lueschow at WestLB. Europe Global economy Economics Germany Europe Recession Lehman Brothers guardian.co.uk
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Spokesman cites ‘mistake’ over two day-release prisoners meant to ‘help the whole community’ at former home secretary’s house An investigation has been launched into how two prisoners on day-release were allowed to do some painting work for the former home secretary Jacqui Smith. Smith made a contribution to charity after the offenders spent a few hours decorating a room at her home in Redditch while they were on release from jail working in the community. The former MP said in a statement that she thought the offenders were supposed to be gaining work experience. But the prison service said on Wednesday that the two inmates, from HMP Hewell in Redditch, were supposed to be doing work that would benefit the community as a whole. A spokesman for the prison service said the offenders were meant to be doing work to “help the whole community” as part of a scheme run by a local charity, the Batchley support group. He said: “The decision to provide prisoners for this work was taken without consultation with HMP Hewell or the Ministry of Justice and was a mistake. “Offenders should work on projects which help the whole community. The scheme has been suspended while a full internal investigation is undertaken.” In a statement to the Sun, which broke the story, Smith said that the prisoners were only working at her home for three hours. “I understand that prisoners go to Batchley support group to gain work experience and do a range of jobs in the Batchley area where our house is,” she said. “As part of this project, two people did about three hours’ work in our house on one day for which we made a donation to the Batchley support group.” She did not say how much she donated. Smith, who resigned as home secretary after her parliamentary expense claims became controversial, lost her seat at the 2010 election. Prisons and probation UK criminal justice Jacqui Smith House of Commons Communities Andrew Sparrow guardian.co.uk
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Latest Live updates In pictures Frontlines map Media war Gaddafi compound map Rebels and residents of Libya's capital Tripoli have been celebrating through the night the capture of Col Muammar Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound on Tuesday. Crowds unveiled a huge pre-Gaddafi…
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Pressure grows on government after police asked to investigate claims Labor politician used union credit card to pay prostitutes A political scandal involving alleged payments to prostitutes by an MP, which threatens Australia’s minority government, deepened on Wednesday when the politician’s former union asked police to investigate his union credit card bills. The move by the Health Services Union (HSU) increases the likelihood that police will launch a criminal investigation into the union’s former boss Craig Thomson over alleged payments using credit cards to a Sydney brothel. Thomson, who is now an government MP, has denied any wrongdoing. But if he is charged with a criminal offence and then found guilty, he would be forced to leave parliament, prompting a by-election that could bring down Julia Gillard’s government, which has a one-seat majority. The union had previously not complained about Thomson’s credit card bills, which meant police had limited scope to investigate the payments . But on Wednesday, the union’s new national secretary, Kathy Jackson, said the union had referred Thomson’s credit card use to police in the New South Wales state. “The HSU first became aware of questionable financial transactions in May of 2008 as a result of an exit audit following Craig Thomson’s departure as national secretary,” Jackson told reporters in Sydney. Gillard repeated her support for Thomson on Wednesday, but then shut down parliamentary question time 45 minutes early after a heated debate about the issue. “I have made many statements about that in this house and I stand by every one of them,” Gillard said when asked if she still had full confidence in Thomson as a Labor lawmaker. Thomson on Tuesday stood aside from his role as the chairman of parliament’s influential economics committee, before a scheduled hearing with the governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia on Friday. The scandal has dominated political debate and added to Gillard’s woes as she struggles to overturn record low poll ratings, and to find parliamentary support for key reforms such as a carbon tax and a new mining tax over the coming months. Gillard won national elections a year ago this week with a one-seat majority, thanks to the support of one Green and three independent politicians. Polls suggest she would be convincingly thrown from office if an election were held today. The independents have maintained their support for Gillard’s government despite the heated attacks on her and on Thomson, led by opposition leader Tony Abbott, who has been demanding the government call an early election. The next election is not due until the second half of 2013, but if Thomson were to be convicted of a crime before then, Labor would likely lose his seat in a byelection, which could force an early election. Were the opposition to win a byelection in Thomson’s seat, the government and opposition would control 75 seats each in the 150 seat parliament. But the government must provide parliament’s speaker, who does not normally vote on bills. That would in all probability leave neither side of the house able to control a majority, which could force the governor-general to intervene and call an early election. The allegations against Thomson stem from 2005, when he was national secretary of the Health Services Union, and revolve around a payment of A$2,475 (£1,570) to a Sydney brothel on his union credit card. Abbott condemned the government’s ongoing support for Thomson on Wednesday, saying the issue had distracted the government from working to protect jobs and manage the economy. “As long as they are defending the indefensible and justifying the unjustifiable to protect their own position in government, they won’t be protecting the interests of the Australian people,” Abbott said. Australia Julia Gillard guardian.co.uk
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Carolinas brace for direct hit from possible Category 3 storm after Hurricane Irene pounds Caribbean East coast US residents are bracing for a direct hit from Hurricane Irene as the storm gathers pace and strength after roaring through the Caribbean. Irene regained force as a Category 2 storm, with top winds of 100 mph, the US National Hurricane Center said. “Irene could become a major hurricane within the next day or so,” it said. Even as the first hurricane of the 2011 Atlantic season pounded the Turks and Caicos Islands and the south-east Bahamas with winds, rain and a dangerous storm surge, people in the Carolinas on the south-eastern US coast were readying for its approach. At 2am local time, Irene was about 400 miles south-east of Nassau and about 975 miles south of Cape Hatteras in North Carolina. Irene, the ninth named storm of the June-through-November season, looks set to be the first hurricane to hit the US since Hurricane Ike pounded the Texas coast in 2008. But forecasts showed it posing no threat to oil and gas installations in the Gulf of Mexico. Irene had weakened on Tuesday to a Category 1 hurricane but could strengthen into a Category 3 storm with winds over 111mph. The storm is forecast to approach the coast of the Carolinas on Saturday morning. After that, the already saturated New England region could be at risk from torrential rains, high winds and flooding. Major eastern cities such as Washington and New York could be affected. In North Carolina, Governor Bev Perdue urged residents to ensure they had three days worth of food, water and supplies. Voluntary evacuations were to begin on Wednesday for parts of North Carolina’s Outer Banks, a stretch of barrier islands and beaches that are popular summer holiday spots. The first death from the storm was reported on Tuesday in Puerto Rico, where a woman was swept away. Natural disasters and extreme weather United States North Carolina South Carolina guardian.co.uk
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