Portugal’s borrowing costs hit record levels after S&P cuts its credit rating to the brink of junk status Portugal’s financial woes deepened on Tuesday as its borrowing costs rose to record levels after the ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) cut its rating to the brink of “junk” status. Gary Jenkins, head of fixed income research at brokers Evolution, said the cut in the rating to BBB- “raised the probability” that the country would be forced to accept a bailout. “This is one false step from being junked,” said Jenkins. “It’s very unlikely the market will be prepared to fund Portugal anytime soon.” Portugal has a debt repayment due on 15 April and another in June. But the price the market is likely to demand from Portugal to raise fresh funds is expected to be too high for the country to finance itself without external assistance. Yields – interest rates – on two-year bond hit a new high of 7.69% on Tuesday, while yields on 10-year bonds were at a record, and edging closer to 8.2%. Any price above 7% is regarded as unsustainable by analysts. S&P said it was cutting the sovereign credit ratings on Portugal by one notch to BBB- and putting the country’s outlook on “negative” because of the problems it would face in financing itself. The BBB- rating is one notch above junk – and the further the country falls towards junk the higher its borrowing costs will be. S&P’s BBB- rating is much lower than Moody’s A3 and Fitch Ratings’ A-. S&P said that it felt likely that Portugal, whose prime minister José Sócrates resigned last week when the parliament failed to pass the austerity budget, would need assistance from the European financial stability facility (EFSF) and the European stability mechanism (ESM). “Given Portugal’s weakened capital market access and its likely considerable external financing needs in the next few years, it is our view that Portugal will likely access the EFSF and thereafter the ESM,” S&P said. “The negative outlook reflects our view that the macroeconomic environment could weaken beyond our current expectations and that a political impasse could undermine the effective implementation of Portugal’s adjustment programme, leading to non-negligible policy slippages,” the agency added. “[We] assume that a new government will be formed by the end of the second quarter of 2011. We expect the next government will agree to further fiscal and structural reforms as part of an EU/IMF program.” Ratings agencies Portugal European debt crisis Financial sector Economics Global economy Europe Europe Jill Treanor guardian.co.uk
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Fukushima meltdown fears rise after radioactive core melts through vessel – but ‘no danger of Chernobyl-style catastrophe’ The radioactive core in a reactor at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant appears to have melted through the bottom of its containment vessel and on to a concrete floor, experts say, raising fears of a major release of radiation at the site. The warning follows an analysis by a leading US expert of radiation levels at the plant. Readings from reactor two at the site have been made public by the Japanese authorities and Tepco, the utility that operates it. Richard Lahey, who was head of safety research for boiling-water reactors at General Electric when the company installed the units at Fukushima, told the Guardian workers at the site appeared to have “lost the race” to save the reactor, but said there was no danger of a Chernobyl-style catastrophe. Workers have been pumping water into three reactors at the stricken plant in a desperate bid to keep the fuel rods from melting down, but the fuel is at least partially exposed in all the reactors. At least part of the molten core, which includes melted fuel rods and zirconium alloy cladding, seemed to have sunk through the steel “lower head” of the pressure vessel around reactor two, Lahey said. “The indications we have, from the reactor to radiation readings and the materials they are seeing, suggest that the core has melted through the bottom of the pressure vessel in unit two, and at least some of it is down on the floor of the drywell,” Lahey said. “I hope I am wrong, but that is certainly what the evidence is pointing towards.” The major concern when molten fuel breaches a containment vessel is that it reacts with the concrete floor of the drywell underneath, releasing radioactive gases into the surrounding area. At Fukushima, the drywell has been flooded with seawater, which will cool any molten fuel that escapes from the reactor and reduce the amount of radioactive gas released. Lahey said: “It won’t come out as one big glob; it’ll come out like lava, and that is good because it’s easier to cool.” The drywell is surrounded by a secondary steel-and-concrete structure designed to keep radioactive material from escaping into the environment. But an earlier hydrogen explosion at the reactor may have damaged this. “The reason we are concerned is that they are detecting water outside the containment area that is highly radioactive and it can only have come from the reactor core,” Lahey added. “It’s not going to be anything like Chernobyl, where it went up with a big fire and steam explosion, but it’s not going to be good news for the environment.” The radiation level at a pool of water in the turbine room of reactor two was measured recently at 1,000 millisieverts per hour. At that level, workers could remain in the area for just 15 minutes, under current exposure guidelines. A less serious core meltdown happened at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania in 1979. During that incident, engineers managed to cool the molten fuel before it penetrated the steel pressure vessel. The task is a race against time, because as the fuel melts it forms a blob that becomes increasingly difficult to cool. In the light of the Fukushima crisis, Lahey said all countries with nuclear power stations should have “Swat teams” of nuclear reactor safety experts on standby to give swift advice to the authorities in times of emergency, with international groups co-ordinated by the International Atomic Energy Authority. The warning came as the Japanese authorities were being urged to give clearer advice to the public about the safety of food and drinking water contaminated with radioactive substances from Fukushima. Robert Peter Gale, a US medical researcher who was brought in by Soviet authorities after the Chernobyl disaster, in 1986, has met Japanese cabinet ministers to discuss establishing an independent committee charged with taking radiation data from the site and translating it into clear public health advice. “What is fundamentally disturbing the public is reports of drinking water one day being above some limit, and then a day or two later it’s suddenly safe to drink. People don’t know if the first instance was alarmist or whether the second one was untrue,” said Gale. “My recommendation is they should consider establishing a small commission to independently convert the data into comprehensible units of risk for the public so people know what they are dealing with and can take sensible decisions,” he added. Japan disaster Japan Nuclear power Energy Ian Sample guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Fukushima meltdown fears rise after radioactive core melts through vessel – but ‘no danger of Chernobyl-style catastrophe’ The radioactive core in a reactor at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant appears to have melted through the bottom of its containment vessel and on to a concrete floor, experts say, raising fears of a major release of radiation at the site. The warning follows an analysis by a leading US expert of radiation levels at the plant. Readings from reactor two at the site have been made public by the Japanese authorities and Tepco, the utility that operates it. Richard Lahey, who was head of safety research for boiling-water reactors at General Electric when the company installed the units at Fukushima, told the Guardian workers at the site appeared to have “lost the race” to save the reactor, but said there was no danger of a Chernobyl-style catastrophe. Workers have been pumping water into three reactors at the stricken plant in a desperate bid to keep the fuel rods from melting down, but the fuel is at least partially exposed in all the reactors. At least part of the molten core, which includes melted fuel rods and zirconium alloy cladding, seemed to have sunk through the steel “lower head” of the pressure vessel around reactor two, Lahey said. “The indications we have, from the reactor to radiation readings and the materials they are seeing, suggest that the core has melted through the bottom of the pressure vessel in unit two, and at least some of it is down on the floor of the drywell,” Lahey said. “I hope I am wrong, but that is certainly what the evidence is pointing towards.” The major concern when molten fuel breaches a containment vessel is that it reacts with the concrete floor of the drywell underneath, releasing radioactive gases into the surrounding area. At Fukushima, the drywell has been flooded with seawater, which will cool any molten fuel that escapes from the reactor and reduce the amount of radioactive gas released. Lahey said: “It won’t come out as one big glob; it’ll come out like lava, and that is good because it’s easier to cool.” The drywell is surrounded by a secondary steel-and-concrete structure designed to keep radioactive material from escaping into the environment. But an earlier hydrogen explosion at the reactor may have damaged this. “The reason we are concerned is that they are detecting water outside the containment area that is highly radioactive and it can only have come from the reactor core,” Lahey added. “It’s not going to be anything like Chernobyl, where it went up with a big fire and steam explosion, but it’s not going to be good news for the environment.” The radiation level at a pool of water in the turbine room of reactor two was measured recently at 1,000 millisieverts per hour. At that level, workers could remain in the area for just 15 minutes, under current exposure guidelines. A less serious core meltdown happened at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania in 1979. During that incident, engineers managed to cool the molten fuel before it penetrated the steel pressure vessel. The task is a race against time, because as the fuel melts it forms a blob that becomes increasingly difficult to cool. In the light of the Fukushima crisis, Lahey said all countries with nuclear power stations should have “Swat teams” of nuclear reactor safety experts on standby to give swift advice to the authorities in times of emergency, with international groups co-ordinated by the International Atomic Energy Authority. The warning came as the Japanese authorities were being urged to give clearer advice to the public about the safety of food and drinking water contaminated with radioactive substances from Fukushima. Robert Peter Gale, a US medical researcher who was brought in by Soviet authorities after the Chernobyl disaster, in 1986, has met Japanese cabinet ministers to discuss establishing an independent committee charged with taking radiation data from the site and translating it into clear public health advice. “What is fundamentally disturbing the public is reports of drinking water one day being above some limit, and then a day or two later it’s suddenly safe to drink. People don’t know if the first instance was alarmist or whether the second one was untrue,” said Gale. “My recommendation is they should consider establishing a small commission to independently convert the data into comprehensible units of risk for the public so people know what they are dealing with and can take sensible decisions,” he added. Japan disaster Japan Nuclear power Energy Ian Sample guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …At an event hosted by Rep. Steve King in Iowa last weekend, the clown car of would-be Republican White House hopefuls quickly put to rest quickly any notion of a “truce” on social issues. And while Newt Gingrich seemed to question whether Islam was a “true religion,” former pizza mogul Herman Cain declared that as president he would not appoint a Muslim to his cabinet. But before you brush off Cain’s as the ranting of a fringe conservative, it’s worth remembering that GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney said pretty much the same thing. For Republicans now holding show trials into the loyalty of American Muslims and waging a crusade against the mythical threat of Sharia law in the United States, ignoring the Constitution’s prohibitions on religious tests for office is just the latest step on a slippery slope. On Saturday, Cain made the jump with both feet. Asked, “Would you be comfortable appointing a Muslim, either in your cabinet or as a federal judge?” Cain responded: No, I would not. And here’s why. There is this creeping attempt, there is this attempt to gradually ease Sharia law and the Muslim faith into our government. It does not belong in our government. This is what happened in Europe. And little by little, to try and be politically correct, they made this little change, they made this little change. And now they’ve got a social problem that they don’t know what to do with hardly. The question that was asked that “raised some questions” and, as my grandfather said, “I does not care, I feel the way I feel.” Apparently, Mitt Romney feels the same way. In November 2007 , the former Massachusetts Governor said as much to Mansoor Ijaz at a fundraiser in Las Vegas. As Ijaz recounted: I asked Mr. Romney whether he would consider including qualified Americans of the Islamic faith in his cabinet as advisers on national security matters, given his position that “jihadism” is the principal foreign policy threat facing America today. He answered, “…based on the numbers of American Muslims [as a percentage] in our population, I cannot see that a cabinet position would be justified. But of course, I would imagine that Muslims could serve at lower levels of my administration.” Despite Romney’s subsequent denials, Greg Sargent and Steve Benen documented other witnesses and other occasions during which Mitt repeated his No Muslims Need Apply policy. Given his own membership in a small religious minority, one might expect more openness and tolerance from the Mormon Romney. But the next month, Romney doubled-down on his religious test during his much-hyped “Faith in America” speech . The man who in 2006 declared , “People in this country want a person of faith to lead them as their president” in December 2007 added atheists to his list of those to be excluded from the American community: “I believe that every faith I have encountered draws its adherents closer to God. And in every faith I have come to know, there are features I wish were in my own: I love the profound ceremony of the Catholic Mass, the approachability of God in the prayers of the Evangelicals, the tenderness of spirit among the Pentecostals, the confident independence of the Lutherans, the ancient traditions of the Jews, unchanged through the ages, and the commitment to frequent prayer of the Muslims.” Just as long as those frequent prayers aren’t heard in President Romney’s or President Cain’s Cabinet Room. Fifty years after John F. Kennedy took the oath of the office as the nation’s first Catholic President, his would-be Republican successors seem determined to erase his message of tolerance delivered to the Southern ministers in 1960: “For while this year it may be a Catholic against whom the finger of suspicion is pointed, in other years it has been — and may someday be again — a Jew, or a Quaker, or a Unitarian, or a Baptist. It was Virginia’s harassment of Baptist preachers, for example, that led to Jefferson’s statute of religious freedom. Today, I may be the victim, but tomorrow it may be you — until the whole fabric of our harmonious society is ripped apart at a time of great national peril.” For his part, Rick Santorum welcomes that peril. Earlier this month, the Catholic ex-Senator told , who was not among Saturday’s speakers, said he was “frankly appalled” at JFK’s declaration that “I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute.” As the Boston Globe recorded: “That was a radical statement,” Santorum said, and it did “great damage.” Of course, if Republicans retake the White House in 2012, the real damage to American traditions of religious liberty and diversity will begin. UPDATE: On Monday, Cain like Romney before him tried to walk back his unconstitutional prohibition against Muslims serving in the highest appointed positions in the land. (This piece also appears at Perrspectives .)
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Reconstructing dinosaur behaviour – such as the hunting strategy of raptors – is fraught with difficulty, writes Brian Switek When I first saw Jurassic Park in the summer of 1993, I was stunned. The visions of sluggish, stupid reptiles in my elementary school’s library books were crushed in the jaws of hot-blooded, supercharged dinosaurs, including the fearsome Velociraptor. Small, agile and smart, these hunters relied on cooperation to stalk their human prey. “Clever girl” , indeed. Jurassic Park’s dinosaurs were not entirely accurate, of course. Tyrannosaurus probably could not have kept up with a speeding jeep and Dilophosaurus was not a frilled venom-spitter, but the pack-hunting behaviour of Velociraptor was not a Hollywood invention. In 1969, palaeontologist John Ostrom described a strange dinosaur from the 110m-year-old rock of Montana. Named Deinonychus, this roughly human-sized predator had grasping hands, a hyperextendable sickle claw on each foot, and a stiff tail that acted as a dynamic counterbalance. Presented as the antithesis of the reptilian dinosaur archetype, Ostrom concluded that Deinonychus “must have been a fleet-footed, highly predaceous, extremely agile and very active animal, sensitive to many stimuli and quick in its responses.” Ostrom also thought that Deinonychus was a pack hunter. At least three Deinonychus were found alongside the herbivorous dinosaur Tenontosaurus at a quarry excavated by Ostrom and his colleagues, and numerous Deinonychus teeth were discovered among the remains of the same prey at fourteen other sites. (Since dinosaurs replaced teeth throughout their lives, predators could occasionally afford to lose a tooth or two while feeding.) Where Tenontosaurus bones were found, traces of Deinonychus frequently turned up. Tackling a Tenontosaurus wasn’t easy. Despite lacking armour or spikes, an 8-metre adult Tenontosaurus would have been hefty enough to break the bones of an attacker. Killing such a large animal would have required cooperation, and this conjecture – along with the common association between the two species – fuelled the idea that packs of Deinonychus often pounced upon poor Tenontosaurus. The gory conflicts were immortalised in museum displays and palaeo-art ever after and, given a name change , Deinonychus used the same tactics in Jurassic Park. But not everyone has agreed that Deinonychus hunted in packs. In 2007 palaeontologists Brian Roach and Daniel Brinkman argued that the Tenontosaurus kill sites Ostrom cited represented bloody scrambles where individual Deinonychus scrapped over feeding rights. In Ostrom’s view, the three partial Deinonychus skeletons that inspired his hypothesis were individuals that were killed while bringing down the Tenontosaurus, but Roach and Brinkman argued that the three were slaughtered by other Deinonychus during competition for the carcass. The dinosaurs were more like komodo dragons than wolves. Extrapolating behaviour from scattered skeletons is tricky. As Ostrom himself noted, the associations between the Deinonychus and Tenontosaurus bones can be interpreted in different ways. Roach and Brinkman’s view is one alternative, but is it correct? The idea that Deinonychus hunted like komodo dragons rests on assumptions and circumstantial evidence, just as Ostrom’s pack-hunting hypothesis did, and, at the moment, the stories of the bones remain ambiguous. Nevertheless, exceptional trackways have shown that raptors were social at least some of the time. Deinonychus and its kin – called dromaeosaurs – only stood on two toes, with their wicked sickle claws held off the ground. Their distinctive tracks are rare, but in 2008 Rihui Li and co-authors described footprints of a Deinonychus-like dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Shandong, China. In a single bedding plane, the scientists found the footprints of at least six individuals that walked in close proximity to each other and in the same direction. Footprints are fossilised behaviour, and in this unique case the trackways recorded the movements of a raptor pack. The tracks from China are not the only evidence for gregarious raptors. Just last month palaeontologists Alexander Mudroch and colleagues reported over 120 impressions left by Deinonychus-sized dromaeosaurs in the Mid-Jurassic strata of Niger. There were five distinct trackways made at different times, but one pair of trackways was left by two dinosaurs moving together in the same direction. One of the trackways even shows how one dinosaur abruptly changed speed to avoid running into its companion. We don’t know for sure how raptors hunted. The footprints from China and Niger show that these dinosaurs were social at least some of the time – they didn’t bite each other’s heads off as soon as they saw each other – but we can’t assume that they would have cooperated just like wolves or lions. We need more evidence, and, rather than try to shoehorn them into this or that behavioural repertoire, perhaps we should do as Robert Bakker once suggested and “Let dinosaurs be dinosaurs,” as we search for clues about their lives. Brian Switek is the author of Written in Stone: Evolution, the Fossil Record, and Our Place in Nature . He regularly writes for the WIRED Science blog Laelaps and Smithsonian magazine’s Dinosaur Tracking References Bakker, R (1986) The Dinosaur Heresies. Kensington Publishing Corp: New York. p 462 Li, R et al (2008) Behavioral and faunal implications of Early Cretaceous deinonychosaur trackways from China. Naturwissenschaften. 95 (3): 185-191. Maxwell, W and Ostrom, J (1995) Taphonomy and paleobiological implications of Tenontosaurus-Deinonychus associations. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 15 (4): 707-712. Mudroch, A et al (2011) Didactyl tracks of paravian theropods (Maniraptora) from the ?Middle Jurassic of Africa. PLoS ONE 6 (2): e14642. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0014642 Ostrom, J (1969) Osteology of Deinonychus antirrhopus, an unusual theropod from the Lower Cretaceous of Montana. Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History. 30: 1-165 Roach, B and Brinkman, D (2007) A reevaluation of cooperative pack hunting and gregariousness in Deinonychus antirrhopus and other nonavian theropod dinosaurs. Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History. 48 (1): 103-138 Dinosaurs Fossils Zoology guardian.co.uk
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BP executives, including ex-chief executive Tony Hayward, may be charged by US authorities over Deepwater Horizon explosion The US authorities are considering charging BP managers with manslaughter after decisions they made before the Deepwater Horizon oil well explosion last year killed 11 workers and caused the biggest offshore spill in US history. Sources close to the process told Bloomberg that investigators were also examining whether BP’s executives, including former chief executive Tony Hayward, made statements that were at odds with what they knew during congressional hearings last year. The US justice department opened criminal and civil investigations into the spill last June . The department filed a civil lawsuit against BP in December and has not filed criminal charges. According to Bloomberg, authorities are investigating BP managers who worked both on the rig and onshore to determine whether they should be charged in connection with the workers’ deaths. The investigation aims to determine whether decisions by BP managers to cut costs and increase speed on the project led to fatal safety sacrifices. As well as the testimony of Hayward and others before congress, investigators are reviewing emails and other documents to determine what BP officials and its partners in Deepwater Horizon knew when they testified last June. In January, a presidentially appointed national commission filed its report on the Deepwater Horizon spill and concluded that the “explosive loss” could well have been prevented. In a final report Fred Bartlit, chief counsel of commission, laid considerable blame on BP. Bartlit said BP had been aware of problems with lab tests of Halliburton cement used to seal the well for three years. He said BP decided not to install a safety device known as a lockdown sleeve in order to save 51/2 days and $2m (£1.2m) in costs. He also said BP’s well-site leader missed a critical test known as a negative pressure test that indicated something was wrong, a test he should have supervised. Last June US attorney general Eric Holder promised to “prosecute to the full extent any violations of the law” his investigations uncovered relating to the spill. Holder declined to name specific charges but said that the justice department would be reviewing the Clean Water Act, the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, the Endangered Species Act, and “other traditional criminal statutes”, a statement interpreted to refer to possible manslaughter charges. BP has committed $20bn to settle claims by businesses and individuals who were hurt by the oil spill and has already paid out more than $4bn. BP declined to comment. BP BP oil spill Oil Oil Oil and gas companies Oil spills United States Tony Hayward Dominic Rushe guardian.co.uk
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Domestic food production hit by bad weather and disease leave more than 6 million people in urgent need of aid Aid agencies working in North Korea have issued a rare joint appeal for increased food donations, warning that millions of vulnerable citizens are living on a knife edge. The groups, which include Save the Children and the Swiss government’s relief agency, say bad weather and livestock disease have hampered domestic production, while high global food and fuel prices are making it harder to import supplies. They fear that unless aid is increased now, it will be too late to support people who are already chronically malnourished through the lean season that begins in May. Their warning comes days after a United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) assessment found the country was ” highly vulnerable to a food crisis “, with more than 6 million people in urgent need of international food aid. Today’s joint statement highlighted the needs of children and mothers, the elderly, disabled and sickand pointed to a need for healthcare, water and sanitation as well as food. “We fear there is donor fatigue with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” said Katharina Zellweger, country director for the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. “So much with the DPRK boils down to political issues and then you forget the humanitarian principles,” she said. The North has been beset by chronic food problems since the famine that killed hundreds of thousands of its citizens in the 1990s, leaving it heavily reliant on aid. However, a change of government in the South saw an end to Seoul’s “sunshine policy” of freeflowing aid and other countries have become more reluctant to give because of the North’s nuclear and missile tests, the shelling of a southern island and the sinking of a southern warship. The North denies attacking the vessel. Andy Featherstone, the region’s director of strategy for Save the Children, said: “We would hope [donors] would review decisions they have taken and be more generous in meeting the appeal [following the WFP assessment].” Ireland’s Concern Worldwide, Belgium’s Handicap International and France’s Triangle Generation Humanitaire also signed the statement. The existing WFP scheme has only a third of the funding it needs, and groups say it must be scaled up in any case. The assessment issued last week said heavy rains during last autumn’s harvest, a bitter and prolonged winter and a foot and mouth outbreak had damaged food supplies. Other experts say botched currency and economic reforms have exacerbated the problems. Some critics have also suggested the country could be stockpiling food for next year, because Pyongyang has vowed the North will be fully established as a strong and prosperous nation in 2012. North Korea Aid United Nations Tania Branigan guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Domestic food production hit by bad weather and disease leave more than 6 million people in urgent need of aid Aid agencies working in North Korea have issued a rare joint appeal for increased food donations, warning that millions of vulnerable citizens are living on a knife edge. The groups, which include Save the Children and the Swiss government’s relief agency, say bad weather and livestock disease have hampered domestic production, while high global food and fuel prices are making it harder to import supplies. They fear that unless aid is increased now, it will be too late to support people who are already chronically malnourished through the lean season that begins in May. Their warning comes days after a United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) assessment found the country was ” highly vulnerable to a food crisis “, with more than 6 million people in urgent need of international food aid. Today’s joint statement highlighted the needs of children and mothers, the elderly, disabled and sickand pointed to a need for healthcare, water and sanitation as well as food. “We fear there is donor fatigue with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” said Katharina Zellweger, country director for the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. “So much with the DPRK boils down to political issues and then you forget the humanitarian principles,” she said. The North has been beset by chronic food problems since the famine that killed hundreds of thousands of its citizens in the 1990s, leaving it heavily reliant on aid. However, a change of government in the South saw an end to Seoul’s “sunshine policy” of freeflowing aid and other countries have become more reluctant to give because of the North’s nuclear and missile tests, the shelling of a southern island and the sinking of a southern warship. The North denies attacking the vessel. Andy Featherstone, the region’s director of strategy for Save the Children, said: “We would hope [donors] would review decisions they have taken and be more generous in meeting the appeal [following the WFP assessment].” Ireland’s Concern Worldwide, Belgium’s Handicap International and France’s Triangle Generation Humanitaire also signed the statement. The existing WFP scheme has only a third of the funding it needs, and groups say it must be scaled up in any case. The assessment issued last week said heavy rains during last autumn’s harvest, a bitter and prolonged winter and a foot and mouth outbreak had damaged food supplies. Other experts say botched currency and economic reforms have exacerbated the problems. Some critics have also suggested the country could be stockpiling food for next year, because Pyongyang has vowed the North will be fully established as a strong and prosperous nation in 2012. North Korea Aid United Nations Tania Branigan guardian.co.uk
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Labour survey claims the government’s demand for 20% spending reduction will mean the loss of many of the most experienced officers in England and Wales More than 2,000 of the most experienced police officers will be made to retire by 2015 as forces across England and Wales try to find 20% budget cuts, a Labour survey has claimed. A series of Freedom of Information Act requests by the shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, has disclosed that over the next four years 13 of the 43 forces intend to use an obscure regulation to compulsorily retire 1,138 officers who have more than 30 years of service. Labour estimates that a further 986 officers could be affected if some of the remaining 30 forces also decide to use the same regulation to find budget savings. Cooper said that it was “deeply worrying” that 13 forces had already decided to use the A19 regulation to compulsorily retire some of the most experienced officers in the force. “Some of these officers are experts in their fields and internationally respected for what they do in the fight against crime,” she said. “The home secretary must realise that you cannot make 20% front-loaded cuts to the police without losing the very crime fighters we need. The home secretary is taking unacceptable risks with public safety and the continued fight against crime.” As fully sworn officers of the crown rather than employees, policemen and women cannot be made redundant under existing rules. However, the A19 regulation can forcibly retire officers with more than 30 years’ service on not less than two-thirds pension on the grounds of the efficiency of the force. The experienced officers who have already left or are leaving the police this week include: • An inspector with 33 years’ service who is the longest serving specialist in crime reduction and crime prevention in England and Wales. He advises architects and builders on “designing out” crime in new buildings, especially on council estates. • A neighbourhood sergeant who, at 48, is one of the youngest to be forcibly retired. He manages a team of officers and liaises with the local community on anti-social behaviour. • A 55-year-old frontline roads policing officer who has spent the last 20 years responding to motorway incidents. The latest Labour survey of police authority current plans shows that the jobs of 12,500 officers are to be lost over the next four years in addition to a further 15,000 police staff jobs, confirming the estimate of 28,000 jobs made by the Association of Chief Police Officers. The Home Office estimated in November that 3,200 officers in England and Wales could be affected if all the 43 forces decided to enforce the compulsorily retirement rule. The Labour survey suggests that a total of 2,200 are likely to be forced out through this route by 2015, indicating that deeper cuts in police staff numbers or other measures may be required. Police forces froze their recruitment last year, which saw 2,500 jobs go through natural wastage. Home Office minsters say that forces should be able to identify sufficient savings to ensure that the budget cuts have no effect on the level of service the public receive. The police minister, Nick Herbert, said there were currently “immense opportunities” to make savings without hitting the frontline. Police Budget Budget 2011 Spending review 2010 Labour Yvette Cooper Alan Travis guardian.co.uk
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Labour survey claims the government’s demand for 20% spending reduction will mean the loss of many of the most experienced officers in England and Wales More than 2,000 of the most experienced police officers will be made to retire by 2015 as forces across England and Wales try to find 20% budget cuts, a Labour survey has claimed. A series of Freedom of Information Act requests by the shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, has disclosed that over the next four years 13 of the 43 forces intend to use an obscure regulation to compulsorily retire 1,138 officers who have more than 30 years of service. Labour estimates that a further 986 officers could be affected if some of the remaining 30 forces also decide to use the same regulation to find budget savings. Cooper said that it was “deeply worrying” that 13 forces had already decided to use the A19 regulation to compulsorily retire some of the most experienced officers in the force. “Some of these officers are experts in their fields and internationally respected for what they do in the fight against crime,” she said. “The home secretary must realise that you cannot make 20% front-loaded cuts to the police without losing the very crime fighters we need. The home secretary is taking unacceptable risks with public safety and the continued fight against crime.” As fully sworn officers of the crown rather than employees, policemen and women cannot be made redundant under existing rules. However, the A19 regulation can forcibly retire officers with more than 30 years’ service on not less than two-thirds pension on the grounds of the efficiency of the force. The experienced officers who have already left or are leaving the police this week include: • An inspector with 33 years’ service who is the longest serving specialist in crime reduction and crime prevention in England and Wales. He advises architects and builders on “designing out” crime in new buildings, especially on council estates. • A neighbourhood sergeant who, at 48, is one of the youngest to be forcibly retired. He manages a team of officers and liaises with the local community on anti-social behaviour. • A 55-year-old frontline roads policing officer who has spent the last 20 years responding to motorway incidents. The latest Labour survey of police authority current plans shows that the jobs of 12,500 officers are to be lost over the next four years in addition to a further 15,000 police staff jobs, confirming the estimate of 28,000 jobs made by the Association of Chief Police Officers. The Home Office estimated in November that 3,200 officers in England and Wales could be affected if all the 43 forces decided to enforce the compulsorily retirement rule. The Labour survey suggests that a total of 2,200 are likely to be forced out through this route by 2015, indicating that deeper cuts in police staff numbers or other measures may be required. Police forces froze their recruitment last year, which saw 2,500 jobs go through natural wastage. Home Office minsters say that forces should be able to identify sufficient savings to ensure that the budget cuts have no effect on the level of service the public receive. The police minister, Nick Herbert, said there were currently “immense opportunities” to make savings without hitting the frontline. Police Budget Budget 2011 Spending review 2010 Labour Yvette Cooper Alan Travis guardian.co.uk
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