Reduction in maintenance bill for royal residences helps to reduce monarch’s annual costs The Queen cost the taxpayer £32.1m in the last year – a drop of more than 5%. Her keeper of the privy purse, Sir Alan Reid , said that it was partly achieved by a pay freeze across all the royal staff, which will be continued this year, and by deferring spending on property maintenance – but warned that it will be difficult to cut spending any further. The Queen’s accounts – released as the attention of royal watchers is on the positive publicity being generated by her grandson and his new wife on their Canadian tour – show that spending has been cut by 19% in real terms over the past five years. They contrast strikingly with the accounts released last week for the Prince of Wales , which show that his income increased by 4% or £1m including money from the taxpayer, and his spending particularly on overseas travel also increased. The Queen’s travel spending was also significantly higher – reflecting many overseas events including her historic first state visit to Ireland – up from £3.9m to £6m, but her income from the civil list was down from £14.2m to £13.7m, and grants for property maintenance were down from £15.4m to £11.9m. In a statement Sir Alan said: “The Queen is very keen that the royal household should continue to reduce its expenditure in line with public expenditure reductions.” “The decrease in expenditure is due mainly to increased income generation, the deferral of property maintenance expenditure and the implementation of a pay freeze. This pay freeze will continue onto this year. However he warned the palace can not continue cutting at the same rate: “Over the past five years The Queen’s official expenditure has reduced by 19% in real terms and while the royal household will continue to identify efficiencies it will be very difficult for overall expenditure to reduce very much further without impacting on the royal household’s activities in support of the Queen and the long-term health of the estate.” Legislation is currently before parliament to change funding the Queen’s official spending to a new system called the sovereign grant, the biggest shakeup since the creation of the civil list – when the crown surrendered revenues from estates and assets in return for an annual grant – in the mid 18th century. Announcing the change in October, the chancellor, George Osborne, announced that the taxpayer’s funding of the Queen would remain frozen for a further year, and that royal spending would be expected to reduce by 14% by 2012-13. The Queen Monarchy Maev Kennedy guardian.co.uk
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Reduction in maintenance bill for royal residences helps to reduce monarch’s annual costs The Queen cost the taxpayer £32.1m in the last year – a drop of more than 5%. Her keeper of the privy purse, Sir Alan Reid , said that it was partly achieved by a pay freeze across all the royal staff, which will be continued this year, and by deferring spending on property maintenance – but warned that it will be difficult to cut spending any further. The Queen’s accounts – released as the attention of royal watchers is on the positive publicity being generated by her grandson and his new wife on their Canadian tour – show that spending has been cut by 19% in real terms over the past five years. They contrast strikingly with the accounts released last week for the Prince of Wales , which show that his income increased by 4% or £1m including money from the taxpayer, and his spending particularly on overseas travel also increased. The Queen’s travel spending was also significantly higher – reflecting many overseas events including her historic first state visit to Ireland – up from £3.9m to £6m, but her income from the civil list was down from £14.2m to £13.7m, and grants for property maintenance were down from £15.4m to £11.9m. In a statement Sir Alan said: “The Queen is very keen that the royal household should continue to reduce its expenditure in line with public expenditure reductions.” “The decrease in expenditure is due mainly to increased income generation, the deferral of property maintenance expenditure and the implementation of a pay freeze. This pay freeze will continue onto this year. However he warned the palace can not continue cutting at the same rate: “Over the past five years The Queen’s official expenditure has reduced by 19% in real terms and while the royal household will continue to identify efficiencies it will be very difficult for overall expenditure to reduce very much further without impacting on the royal household’s activities in support of the Queen and the long-term health of the estate.” Legislation is currently before parliament to change funding the Queen’s official spending to a new system called the sovereign grant, the biggest shakeup since the creation of the civil list – when the crown surrendered revenues from estates and assets in return for an annual grant – in the mid 18th century. Announcing the change in October, the chancellor, George Osborne, announced that the taxpayer’s funding of the Queen would remain frozen for a further year, and that royal spending would be expected to reduce by 14% by 2012-13. The Queen Monarchy Maev Kennedy guardian.co.uk
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Sir Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, says reforms ‘run risk of compromising safety of citizens for reasons of expediency’ One of Britain’s top police officers has warned that the government’s police reform programme, combined with spending cuts, risks compromising public safety. Sir Hugh Orde, the president of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), warned that if the introduction of elected police commissioners, the creation of a national crime agency and other changes were mismanaged they risked undermining the historic British tradition of policing. Orde told the Acpo summer conference meeting in Harrogate, North Yorkshire on Monday that the “service of last resort” faced a period of “changes to accountability, changes to central structures and changes to pay and conditions, which, if mismanaged, could threaten the impartial model of policing that has existed for 180 years and is revered around the world”. He said: “We understand the government’s determination to deliver a substantial programme of reforms across the public sector, but we cannot afford to get policing wrong and, unless greater clarity emerges in the very near future, I fear we run the risk of compromising the safety of citizens for reasons of expediency.” He said the public sector was facing its most challenging times in living memory: “In short, we have a change programme that, at one end, will produce some of the most radical changes to police governance since 1829 and, at the other, will without question reduce police and staff numbers and pay.” Orde earlier told the BBC that concerns centred on the “loose ends where we lack clarity”. He explained that at the same time that police pay reforms were being negotiated, the national police improvement agency, which delivers all the IT and police training, was being dismantled and a national crime agency was being proposed but not even draft legislation had yet been produced. “So bring that all together and add a new accountability structure currently making its way through the House of Lords and what you see is a very confused policing landscape that needs to be cleared up before we can move on.” The home secretary, Theresa May, is due to address the Acpo conference later and is expected to defend the government’s police reform programme and drive to find savings in the police service. The £11bn annual Whitehall grant to police forces is due to be cut by 20% by 2014-15. However, Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said May would be deeply unwise not to heed such a serious warning from one of Britain’s top police officers. She said: “David Cameron and Theresa May are taking big risks on law and order. Hugh Orde is right to point out that the home secretary is reducing police numbers and police powers but increasing the risk of politicisation. “This endangers the centuries-old tradition of impartiality as well as the effectiveness of the police and it is communities that will pay the price.” Police Public services policy Alan Travis guardian.co.uk
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Sir Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, says reforms ‘run risk of compromising safety of citizens for reasons of expediency’ One of Britain’s top police officers has warned that the government’s police reform programme, combined with spending cuts, risks compromising public safety. Sir Hugh Orde, the president of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), warned that if the introduction of elected police commissioners, the creation of a national crime agency and other changes were mismanaged they risked undermining the historic British tradition of policing. Orde told the Acpo summer conference meeting in Harrogate, North Yorkshire on Monday that the “service of last resort” faced a period of “changes to accountability, changes to central structures and changes to pay and conditions, which, if mismanaged, could threaten the impartial model of policing that has existed for 180 years and is revered around the world”. He said: “We understand the government’s determination to deliver a substantial programme of reforms across the public sector, but we cannot afford to get policing wrong and, unless greater clarity emerges in the very near future, I fear we run the risk of compromising the safety of citizens for reasons of expediency.” He said the public sector was facing its most challenging times in living memory: “In short, we have a change programme that, at one end, will produce some of the most radical changes to police governance since 1829 and, at the other, will without question reduce police and staff numbers and pay.” Orde earlier told the BBC that concerns centred on the “loose ends where we lack clarity”. He explained that at the same time that police pay reforms were being negotiated, the national police improvement agency, which delivers all the IT and police training, was being dismantled and a national crime agency was being proposed but not even draft legislation had yet been produced. “So bring that all together and add a new accountability structure currently making its way through the House of Lords and what you see is a very confused policing landscape that needs to be cleared up before we can move on.” The home secretary, Theresa May, is due to address the Acpo conference later and is expected to defend the government’s police reform programme and drive to find savings in the police service. The £11bn annual Whitehall grant to police forces is due to be cut by 20% by 2014-15. However, Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said May would be deeply unwise not to heed such a serious warning from one of Britain’s top police officers. She said: “David Cameron and Theresa May are taking big risks on law and order. Hugh Orde is right to point out that the home secretary is reducing police numbers and police powers but increasing the risk of politicisation. “This endangers the centuries-old tradition of impartiality as well as the effectiveness of the police and it is communities that will pay the price.” Police Public services policy Alan Travis guardian.co.uk
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Blast at EDF’s Tricastin power station in Drôme comes days after nuclear authorities found 32 safety concerns at plant An explosion sparked a fire at a French nuclear power station on Saturday just two days after the authorities found 32 safety concerns at the plant. The blaze at the Tricastin plant in Drôme in the Rhône valley sent a thick cloud of black smoke into the sky. A mistral wind sent it south over a nearby motorway on one of the busiest travel days of the year as the French left for their summer holidays. EDF, which runs the power station, said the incident had happened in an electric transformer situated in the non-nuclear part of the plant and had not resulted in any radiation leak or any other contamination. A statement issued by the energy giant raised more concerns as it omitted to mention the explosion – only a fire – and did not give the cause of the blaze. “This event happened in the non-nuclear part of the installation and had no radiological consequence on the environment and the population. The fire brigade was immediately called and the fire was rapidly brought under control. Nobody was hurt,” it said. It added that the plant’s number one reactor was not in operation at the time of the fire having been “closed for it’s annual maintenance”. Police confirmed there was no environmental contamination. On Thursday France’s nuclear safety authority the Autorité de sûreté nucléaire (ASN) demanded 32 safety measures at the Tricastin number one reactor, a 900 MW water pressurised reactor built in 1974 and put into operation in 1980. In 2007 an ASN report had concluded: “the site must make improvements in management and training” and criticised the plant’s procedure for dealing with fires as “taking too long”. The following year uranium leaked from the number two reactor at Tricastin during a cleaning operation and contaminated local rivers. Swimming and fishing were banned as a precaution. Although one of the oldest reactors in use in France, the ASN agreed last year that its working life could be extended for another decade. The safety measures revealed last week include greater protection against fire, flooding and earthquakes including improvements to the methods of cooling of the nuclear fuel rods in order to lessen the risk of an explosion of hydrogen at the heart of the reactor. The ASN said the faults in the reactor were “known and under surveillance” and ordered that the new safety measures should be completed before December 2014. A week ago the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, bucked the anti-nuclear trend sweeping Europe since the Fukushima disaster by pledging €1bn of investment in atomic power as well as “substantial resources” to strengthen research into nuclear safety. France has 58 nuclear reactors, 34 of which are reactors of the type at Tricastin and have an average age of 28 years. About 74% of the country’s electricity comes from nuclear sources and it is the world’s largest net exporter of nuclear energy. Sarkozy said France was known to be “considerably ahead” of other countries in terms of atomic power technology and safety. “Our power stations are more expensive because they are safer,” he said last week. After the Fukushima nuclear accidents in March, caused by a combination of earthquake and tsunami, the French prime minister, François Fillon, asked the ASN to carry out an “open and transparent” audit of the country’s nuclear installations, examining the risks of flood and earthquake damage, loss of power and cooling, and emergency accident procedure, to examine if any improvements could be made. Its conclusions are expected in September. Corinne Morel-Darleux, local member of the Parti de Gauche (Left party) said: “It was not a nuclear accident but it’s an incident that was seen and raises questions about the security of this plant.” France Nuclear power Energy EDF Energy Europe Kim Willsher guardian.co.uk
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Former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic appeared in court at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal Monday. Mladic was ejected after he continually interrupted his arraignment. (July 4)
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LOS ANGELES, Calif. (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — While ‘mantra-rock’ may not yet be a recognized music genre, it springs to life with the delightful onslaught of sound from Larisa Stow and Shakti Tribe on their new album, ‘Rock on Sat Nam!’ (Prema Shakti Music). The vocals are impassioned and the music soothes one minute and urges you into aural ecstasy the next. Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Send2Press Newswire Discovery Date : 04/07/2011 10:59 Number of articles : 3
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Jewels piled in sacks and tonnes of gold at Thiruvananthapuram temple worth more than India education budget Investigators plan to pry open the final vault hidden deep beneath an old Hindu temple where treasure worth more than India’s entire education budget has been found. A seven-member team of experts has so far entered five of the six secret subterranean vaults piled high with an estimated £12.5bn-worth of jewels, which have lain untouched for hundreds of years. The temple has been placed under round-the-clock police guard as onlookers and devotees thronged the shrine in the centre of Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of southern Kerala state. Sacks filled with diamonds were found next to tonnes of gold coins and jewellery, reports claimed, in the vaults of the 16th-century Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple, the royal chapel of the former rulers of Travancore, now part of Kerala. “The current market value of the articles found so far by the committee members would be roughly 900bn rupees[£12.5bn],” one temple official who was not authorised to speak to the media said. Investigators searched the vaults to draw up an inventory of the riches amid deep security fears. They said they had no idea of the amount of treasure they would find. Estimates of the haul’s worth range across billions of pounds, with investigators unwilling to disclose the official amount given the ambiguity involved in valuing priceless jewels and gold coins by weight. Police set up a dedicated control room close to the temple on Monday, as Kerala’s chief minister, Oommen Chandy, pledged full state security for the hoard and promised it would remain the property of the temple after an inventory was made. “We are ready to protect the temple wealth. We will chart out measures for the permanent security in consultation with the Travancore royal family, which administers the temple now, and the chief priest of the temple,” Chandy said. Historians supported the estimates of the treasure’s value, noting the lucrative trade routes that passed through the region for many centuries. “Traders, who used to come from other parts of the country and abroad for buying spices and other commodities, used to make handsome offerings to the deity for not only his blessings but also to please the then rulers,” said PJ Cherian, director of Kerala Council for Historic Research. As estimates of the treasure’s worth rise, a fierce debate is growing regarding what to do with the hoard, in a country where 450 million people live in poverty. Leaders of the Hindu community want the wealth to be invested in the temple, while many intellectuals, including former supreme court judge VR Krishna Iyer, have suggested it should be used for the public good. The government has said it would adhere to the supreme court’s ruling on ownership of the treasure found in the temple, which is still controlled by the royal family – unlike other temples in Kerala managed by the government. The vaults were searched after a lawyer petitioned the country’s top court to order the government to take over the temple as it did not have adequate security. Several temples in India have billions of dollars worth of wealth as devotees donate gold and other precious objects as gifts to spiritual or religious institutions that run hospitals, schools and colleges. The Tirumala temple in eastern Andhra Pradesh state is reported to have three tonnes of gold, a third of which it deposited with the State Bank of India last year, while spiritual guru Sai Baba, who died in April, left behind an $9bn estate. India Hinduism Religion guardian.co.uk
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By PHISANU PHROMCHANYA BANGKOK—Thailand’s prime minister-elect, Yingluck Shinawatra, said Monday her For Thais Party will form a coalition government with four smaller parties. Thailand could have its first woman prime minister following an election victory for the younger sister of ousted Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra. Will this mark a turning point for a historically unstable government, and how will investors react? WSJ’s Jake Lee and Peter Stein discuss. Thailand’s opposition, led by Yingluck Shinawatra, the sister of a former prime minister, wins the country’s general election. Video courtesy Reuters. She told reporters that the coalition will hold a combined 299 of the 500 seats…
Continue reading …PlayStation Store, Qriocity returning to Japan this week, completing global PSN restoration
July 4, 2011 No Comment
Sony’s ‘ Welcome Back ‘ campaign may have drawn to a close a bit early , but the PlayStation Network won’t make its full return to Japan until later this week. As of July 6th, Japanese gamers will once again be able to access the PlayStation Store and Qriocity, bringing an end to a nearly three-month suspension enacted after April’s widespread data breach . These services have already been reintroduced across other parts of the globe, but Sony encountered notably stiffer resistance in its homeland, where authorities demanded assurance of the PSN’s security before allowing it to relaunch within their borders. The PlayStation Store remained down throughout Sony’s negotiations with government officials, but company spokesman Satoshi Fukuoka says those discussions have advanced far enough for full services to resume. The PSN’s long-awaited return to Japan will also signal its full global restoration, meaning that Sony may finally be able to put the saga to rest — and try to forget about that $170 million it lost in the process. PlayStation Store, Qriocity returning to Japan this week, completing global PSN restoration originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Jul 2011 05:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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