Defence company Raytheon reveals £500m ligitation suit after termination of its IT system contract by UK Border Agency The government is facing a £500m litigation suit from an American firm that was stripped of its contract to develop the country’s e-border system after ministers said it had failed to deliver. Defence company Raytheon was given a £742m contract to design and implement the IT system that would allow the UK Border Agency to count every person who arrives and leaves the country. The coalition terminated the deal last year, claiming the firm had missed deadlines and delivered substandard results. But in a letter to the home affairs committee, which has been investigating the problems with the deal, the chief executive of Raytheon UK, Robert Delorge, revealed it was claiming £500m in the courts, arguing that the delays were due to mismanagement by the Border Agency. The letter said: “The circumstances surrounding the home secretary’s decision to terminate Raytheon’s contract and engage a replacement service provider in its place are the heart of the arbitration. “Without going into the details, it is Raytheon’s position that the decision was unjustified and unlawful, not least because the delays and other problems on the e-borders programme were attributable to breaches of contract and serious mismanagement of the programme by the UKBA, and not to any fault on Raytheon’s part.” The e-border system was supposed to electronically record every person moving in and out of the country. The home affairs committee had previously concluded that they had “no confidence” in Raytheon to complete the project and the company was dismissed in July 2010. IBM was brought in during November to run the basic database, and Serco in April 2011 to provide the interface between carriers and the agency. Keith Vaz MP, the committee’s Labour chairman, said: “I am deeply disappointed that such a high-profile project such as this has ended with such costly litigation, with the possibility that the taxpayer will have to pay millions of pounds even though the programme has not been completed. “We need to know if and why this company was not given the clear targets and objectives it sought. The committee will continue to pursue this matter until we receive satisfactory answers. Why should the taxpayer foot the bill?” A separate letter also released by the committee today from Home Office minister Damian Green, responding to questions about the contract, said that only one of the four main parts of the contract had been concluded, with that one having “important capabilities missing”. A UK Border Agency spokesman said: “Last year we terminated Raytheon’s contract because it was unable to deliver on key elements of the e-borders programme. The contract has now been transferred to alternative suppliers. “E-borders continues to reduce the risk of terrorism, crime and immigration abuse.” No one from Raytheon was available to comment. Immigration and asylum Terrorism policy IBM Damian Green Keith Vaz Defence policy Polly Curtis guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …After safely piloting a Boeing 737 from Boston to Los Angeles, the captain walked off the plane onto a jet bridge—which collapsed under him. The pilot and a passenger were hospitalized after falling at least 10 feet to the ground from the walkway, reports the Los Angeles Times . Both…
Continue reading …Possibly the only conservative more outrageous than Rush Limbaugh is .. his brother. In a jolting new political dig, David Limbaugh ( Gawker call him the “less drug-addicted” Limbaugh) has tweeted photos of President Obama and Texas Gov. Rick Perry and snickers: “Boys will be boys.” Perry is decked out in…
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Police investigate mentally ill daughters’ claims that 80-year-old father sexually abused them during decades of captivity Austrian police are investigating claims that a man locked up his two mentally ill daughters in a small room in their home and sexually abused them for 41 years. Officers said the 80-year-old repeatedly raped the women between 1970 and May 2011 in St Peter am Hart, near the Bavarian border. The alleged victims are now aged 53 and 45. A police official did not name either the suspect or the alleged victims. Police confirmed they were investigating after a report in the Oberösterreichische Nachrichten newspaper. The newspaper said the women escaped when the father was unable to get off the floor after the older daughter pushed him over when he last tried to rape her. The police official said the 80-year-old suspect was free, pending an investigation and possible charges, because there was no danger of him fleeing. The state broadcaster, ORF, said the claims were only recently revealed because the two alleged victims did not tell anyone about them for weeks after their escape. It said the suspect was now in a care home. The allegations evoke the case of Josef Fritzl, an Austrian who imprisoned his daughter in a windowless cellar for 24
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French and other foreign languages continue to decline in popularity Nearly one in four GCSE entries has been awarded an A or an A* grade in results published on Thursday, which show a further decline in the number of pupils taking French and other foreign languages. Entries for French have fallen since languages were made optional at GCSE seven years ago. This year, they were down to just over 154,000 from around 170,000 last year, and compared with more than 300,000 in 2004. French fell out of the top 10 most popular subjects last year, with more pupils choosing to study geography or art for GCSE. Religious studies has grown in popularity for the 13th year running, with nearly 222,000 entries, up from 188,704 last year. About 650,000 children receive their GCSE results today in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, a smaller group than in 2010. The number of 16-year-olds in the population has been declining since 2004. The overall pass rate at grades A* to C has increased to 69.8%, while the percentage getting an A or A* has risen from 22.6% last year to 23.2% this summer. The decline in French has been accompanied by falls in popularity for other languages, in a pattern that appears likely to cement Britain’s reputation as a monolingual country. Entries for German are down to below 70,000 while Spanish has dipped to around 66,000. Geography has also waned in popularity. This year’s A-level results showed year-on-year rises in entries for maths, biology, chemistry and physics. And this year’s GCSE results also show an increase in entries for physics, chemistry and biology. Physics is up 16.4%, chemistry 16.2% and biology 14.2%. The number of pupils taking single sciences at GCSE surged in the previous year. Entries for chemistry and physics GCSEs rose by 32%, while those for biology were up 28%. Biology was the most popular of the three in last summer’s results, with 129,000 taking the subject. This year there were nearly 148,000 entries for biology. In last summer’s results, Spanish appeared poised to overtake German at GCSE, with the numbers taking it rising to more than 67,000, while German entries fell to around 70,000 in 2010. The numbers taking Mandarin, Portuguese and Polish also rose last year, with the last of these thought to be fuelled by an increase in the number of pupils who are children of recent Polish migrants. Last year’s results showed that private school pupils were disproportionately likely to do languages and single sciences. The independent sector accounted for just 7.7% of all GCSE entries, but 15.4% of chemistry, 15.1% of biology and 14.8% of physics entries. Last year’s GCSE results showed that thousands more teenagers were sitting the exams at least one year early. Last summer, 11% of maths GCSE entries were taken early and 9.5% of English GCSE entries. In 2010, boys beat girls at GCSE maths for the second year in a row, following a decision to drop coursework in the subject. The proportion of boys getting grades A* to C in maths has risen again this year from 57.6% to 58.6%. The proportion of girls passing has also risen, from 56.8% to 58.3%. Boys have also done better than girls in biology, where the male pass rate is 93% compared with 92.7% for girls, and in physics, where 93.9% of boys have passed compared with 93.4% of girls. In last year’s results, economics saw a higher pass rate for boys, though only around 3,000 candidates of either sex entered. Ministers have announced plans to overhaul GCSEs in the future. From September 2012, pupils will sit all their exams at the end of the two-year courses, rather than throughout the course. Pupils will also be marked on their spelling, punctuation and grammar in subjects that have a high “written English” element, such as history, geography, religious studies and English literature. Further reforms to GCSEs are expected to be announced after the review of the national curriculum is published. GCSEs Schools Secondary schools Languages Jeevan Vasagar guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Two Arizona cousins who allegedly left a campfire unattended have been charged with starting the biggest wildfire in the state’s history . The Wallow fire, which burned more than 800 square miles of wilderness in June, began after Caleb and David Wayne Malboeuf left their fire—which they believed to be…
Continue reading …Further inspection has revealed even more cracks in the top portion of the Washington Monument, which was damaged by this week’s 5.8 magnitude earthquake . Engineers discovered the cracks during a daylong inspection of the interior of the monument, AP reports. A 4-inch crack was discovered during an inspection of…
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One of the country’s best-known celebrities announces his retirement after admitting ties to Japan’s equivalent of the mafia It is almost impossible for evening TV viewers in Japan to avoid the gravelly voiced and impressively coiffured figure of Shinsuke Shimada. Now, though, millions of viewers will have to find a new primetime companion after Shimada, one of the country’s best-known celebrities, was forced to resign over links to organised crime. The 55-year-old sobbed, but showed little remorse as he announced his retirement at a late-night press conference, called just two days before a popular weekly magazine was due to run an exposé of his alleged links with the yakuza, Japan’s answer to the mafia. Shimada conceded he had exchanged text messages with the leader of an Osaka-based gang affiliated to the Yamaguchi-gumi , Japan’s biggest underworld organisation. “We have met in person just four or five times as we were aware that entertainers and crime syndicate members should not mix,” he said. He said the gangster had helped solve an unspecified “personal problem” more than a decade ago, but denied he had paid him for his troubles. “I felt indebted to him. I didn’t feel like I was doing anything wrong. To me the relationship was safe, but I learned the day before yesterday that it wasn’t.” His management agency, Yoshimoto Kogyo, insisted the disgraced star had not been involved in any illegal activity. But it added: “Regardless of the reason, it is not permissible for a performer who exerts such a strong social influence on mainstream TV to have these ties.” Shimada began his career as a standup comic in Osaka in the late 1970s before going on to present variety shows, as well as political discussion programmes, for commercial networks. He has been a fixture on Japanese television for 25 years; just before his resignation he fronted several weekly shows that gave him almost 50 hours of airtime a month. Fortunately for his detractors, who bristle at his brash TV persona and penchant for bullying guests, Shimada conceded his TV career was at an end: “From tomorrow I will become just another regular person. I want to live a quiet life.” Many have questioned why Shimada was not sacked in 2004, when he was suspended from work and fined 300,000 yen (£2,400) for punching a female colleague. Shimada’s resignation comes amid a police campaign to weaken the yakuza’s influence in mainstream Japanese society. His managers may also have had an eye on forthcoming changes to anti-yakuza laws that will make any activity deemed to benefit organised crime a criminal offence. “It’s no longer acceptable to have yakuza links, especially now that companies risk being prosecuted,” said Jake Adelstein, a yakuza expert and author of Tokyo Vice. “The police have already cracked down on links between organised crime and sumo . Now they’re trying to do the same with the yakuza and the entertainment industry.” Shimada’s profile was sufficiently high for his resignation to elicit comment from the chief government spokesman, Yukio Edano. “[The resignation] was unavoidable given the government’s efforts to eliminate organised crime,” he told reporters. “People loved Shimada for his genius. It’s unfortunate that such talent has been cut down in this way.” Japan Television Justin McCurry guardian.co.uk
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RAF says operations will resume after initial inquiry into crash that killed Flight Lieutenant Jon Egging at air show The Red Arrows have been cleared to resume flying after the air show crash that killed one of their pilots. Flight Lieutenant Jon Egging, 33, from Rutland, died when his aircraft plunged to the ground near Bournemouth airport in Dorset on Saturday, after completing a formation display over the town’s seafront. The RAF grounded all 126 of its Hawk T1 training jets while preliminary investigations were carried out into the cause of the tragedy. But the Ministry of Defence confirmed on Thursday that there were no wider safety concerns about the aircraft, meaning the Red Arrows can begin flying again. A spokeswoman said: “Having been assured of the airworthiness of the Hawk T1 fleet, the precautionary suspension of flying activity has been lifted and flying operations have been resumed.” It is not known when the Red Arrows will begin performing at air shows again. The aerobatics team’s aircraft, which have undergone routine maintenance at Bournemouth airport while they were grounded, will return to their base at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire in the coming days. Egging’s wife, Dr Emma Egging, watched her husband perform with the Red Arrows just minutes before he crashed to his death. Witnesses described seeing the aircraft flying low before smashing into a field and coming to a standstill with its nose in the river Stour near the village of Throop. The full service inquiry into the crash is expected to last months. Investigators have released no details about their initial findings. The Red Arrows have used the dual control BAE Systems Hawk T1, which has a top speed of Mach 1.2, since 1979. Hawk T1s are also used for training fast-jet pilots at RAF Valley in Anglesey, North Wales, and RAF Leeming, near Northallerton, North Yorkshire. Military guardian.co.uk
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David Rathband, who was shot last year by Raoul Moat as he sat in his police car, has been arrested on suspicion of assault The police officer blinded by gunman Raoul Moat has been arrested on suspicion of assault. Father-of-two PC David Rathband was held by officers on Tuesday over an incident at his home in Northumberland, sources said. The 43-year-old was shot twice on 4 July last year as he sat unarmed in his patrol car. Officers were called to reports of an assault at his address in Cramlington just before midnight. A Northumbria police spokeswoman said: “Officers attended and a 43-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of assault. Inquiries are ongoing.” Rathband has been praised for his charity work in the wake of his injuries sustained last year. He set up the Blue Lamp Foundation, an organisation offering help to injured members of the emergency services, last year. Raoul Moat guardian.co.uk
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