Centrica seems to benefit whether energy costs are high or low, says Consumer Focus The row over household energy prices was ignited again on Thursdaywhen Centrica, the parent group of British Gas, unveiled operating profits of £1.3bn in the first half of the year. These “adjusted” profits, achieved on revenues of £11.5bn, were 19% lower than 2010 – but they were enough for Centrica to unveil a 12% increase in the dividend payment for shareholders, to 4.29p per share. The company said that the residential arm of British Gas recorded a 54% slump in operating profits and argued that business would have been driven into loss in the second half of the year without the recently announced 18% increase in gas prices and 16% rise in electricity bills to some of the company’s 9 million UK consumers. Nick Luff, Centrica’s finance director, said that domestic energy prices were largely driven up by rising wholesale costs, while the group needed profits to invest in the future. He said: “We made operating profits of £1.3bn but we also invested £1.3bn and if we are not going to invest in future oil and gas projects then the country will only see even higher energy prices.” Luff added that British Gas’s profit margin fell to between 6% and 7% in the first six months of 2011, down from around 8% a year ago. It is expected to remain between 6% and 7% for the next six months, as the higher prices kick in. But Audrey Gallacher, director of energy at Consumer Focus, said energy companies such as British Gas always seemed to benefit when the British householder did not. “Centrica seem to win whether wholesale costs are high or low. Retail profits margins may have been reduced by recent increases in wholesale prices – but as they are also major gas and electricity wholesalers, they can still make healthy profits at the other end.” “Consumers will be more worried by their increasing bills than which part of an energy company makes the most money. Given that Centrica profits remain strong, consumers are bound to question whether recent large price hikes were necessary,” said Gallacher. The energy regulator, Ofgem, is currently undertaking a review into whether the dominance by the big six energy providers, including British Gas, EDF and E.ON, distorts the market and allows for profiteering . Luff denied this was the case, adding: “We have had 15 different reviews in the last 10 years and none have concluded Britain was anything other than a competitive market.” Centrica Utilities Gas Inflation Household bills Terry Macalister guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …The disappearance of an 11-year-old girl has left a small town in northern New Hampshire shaken and mystified. Celina Cass was last seen playing on a computer in her bedroom around Monday night. There’s no indication that she ran away or was kidnapped, and there are no signs of a…
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Norwegian police conclude search of waters around island where Anders Behring Breivik killed 68 of his 76 victims Police have ended the search for bodies in the waters surrounding the island where Anders Behring Breivik killed 68 of his 76 victims last week. “The search at Utøya has been completed, ” the police chief-of-staff, Johan Fredriksen, told a press conference on Thursday. The conclusion of the search came the same day as Georgian officials said the body of a young Georgian woman, who was at the youth camp on Utøya, had been found. Tamta Liparteliani’s parents travelled to Norway with Georgian foreign ministry officials to look for her in the hope they might find her alive. But the deputy Georgian foreign minister, Nino Kalandadze, announced on Thursday that Liparteliani’s body had been found on the bottom of the lake with gunshot wounds in the back. On Wednesday afternoon, police sources had suggested that only one person remained unaccounted for. Fredriksen said that the names of those who had died would be released by police at 6pm (5pm BST) each day as their identities were confirmed, with many names expected to be released on Thursday. Before the identification of Liparteliani, police had released the names of 13 people who died in last week’s twin atrocities. A police lawyer, Paal-Fredrik Hjort Kraby, told the news conference that police would interview Breivik again on Friday, but did not indicate what information they would be seeking from him. Breivik has confessed to the killings but claimed they were justified as part of a “war” and has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. He said he was trying to save the western world from Muslim colonisation, attempting to justify his actions in a 1,500-page anti-immigrant manifesto. Police have interviewed him once so far, in a seven-hour session the day after the attacks. Fredriksen said that Breivik, who is being held in solitary confinement, had had no contact with the outside world aside from meetings with his lawyer and the police. Norway was “getting back to normality” and it was time to end restrictions on security, he added. He said that there had been a number of bomb threats since the attacks but described them as “unspecific”, adding that it was “normal” that some people would seek to create more fear in the aftermath of such a tragedy. A senior EU counterterrorism official also said on Thursday that there was a risk “somebody may actually try to mount a similar attack as a copycat attack”. Fredriksen showed impatience at criticism of the police response to the attacks on Utøya, which has seen questions raised over the time it took officers to reach the island. Referring to the fact that the crew of the sole helicopter available to police was unavailable, he said the police had been asked questions about the helicopter “10 times” and that he did not wish to be asked them again. In response to a question about the police uniform Breivik was wearing, Fredriksen said the indications were that it was bought legally abroad. Although the search for bodies is now complete, police remain on Utøya as the investigation continues. Norway Europe Anders Behring Breivik Haroon Siddique guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …The International Space Station’s grave will be a watery one, not a cosmic one. The colossal orbiting outpost will be deliberately crashed into the Pacific ocean when it reaches the end of its working life some time after 2020, AP reports. “It cannot be left in orbit, it’s too complex,…
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Official figures by Commons defence committee also estimates cost of Libyan no-fly zone and bombing at £260m The cost of British military operations in Afghanistan is now officially estimated to amount to more than £18bn, figures released on Thursday show. The cost of imposing a no-fly zone and bombing targets in Libya is so far officially estimated at £260m. The figures are contained in a report by the Commons defence committee which makes it clear the sums are no more than estimates. “The total cost of operations in Afghanistan is not known”, it states. The Ministry of Defence told the committee: “It is too early accurately to forecast the cost of UK operations in Libya”. The defence committee reveals that the MoD estimates the cost of military operations in Afghanistan this year to be more than £4bn. It has said the cost until March this year amounted to about £14bn. However, the sums for Afghanistan , and the £260m – more than half spent on bombs and missiles – estimated for Libya, are described as “additional costs” of operations to be paid for by the Treasury out its reserves. The figures do not include what the defence committee describes as “additional costs in terms of training opportunities cancelled or deferred and equipment wear and tear that will eventually have to be met”. The committee adds that it is “disappointed” by the MoD’s inability to provide information it asked for about some £12bn worth of “write-offs” as a result of equipment, including a fleet of Nimrod maritime reconnaissance aircraft, and the navy’s type 22 frigates, scrapped as part of last year’s strategic defence and security review. Asked for a breakdown, it received a reply “which left us little the wiser”, the committee says. And it expresses concern that the armed forces voluntary redundancy programme is over-subscribed and that applications, and even resignations, have been received from individuals who might have achieved “high command”. More than 900 officers and men have applied for redundancy, though the army has asked for just 500 volunteers. The army is also likely to lost a significant number of experienced NCOs. The Commons defence committee has asked the MoD to show how it will ensure that the voluntary redundancy programme “does not impact on the future leadership capability and effectiveness of the armed services”. James Arbuthnot, the committee’s chairman, said: “In some instances the department appears to be unable or unwilling to provide the kind of detailed information we ask for, notably in respect of the total cost of military operations and the detail of savings proposed. This prevents proper parliamentary scrutiny. We expect these gaps to be filled.” British troops in Afghanistan are to be issued with waterproof “bacteria-zapping socks” designed to help keep their feet dry when they are wading through ditches and streams, the MoD announced on Thursday. And in a new addition to their “pelvic protection system”, troops will be equipped with “ballistic knee-length shorts” for troops operating lead metal detectors in search for improvised explosive devices. Foreign policy Military Libya Afghanistan House of Commons Ministry of Defence Middle East Africa Richard Norton-Taylor guardian.co.uk
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Nurses, teachers and civil servants unhappy with planned contribution increases resulting from axing of final salary pension scheme Unions have condemned proposals that will see 2.5 million nurses, teachers and civil servants face pension contribution increases totalling more than £1bn next year if proposed changes to their occupational pension schemes are implemented. The Cabinet Office , Department for Education and the NHS have published consultations on pension contribution increases that will cost their pension scheme members £180m, £300m and £530m respectively in the financial year 2012-13. The increases represent just 40% of the average 3.2 percentage point increase in public sector pensions which the government said it would phase in from April 2012. This means that people working in these sectors face further hikes in their contributions in the following two years to make up the remaining 60% of the proposed increase. The Royal College of Nursing has reacted with anger. Dr Peter Carter, chief executive and general secretary of the RCN, said: “The government has clearly torn up the agreement that would have led to increasing affordability in public sector pensions. That agreement would have delivered long-term savings. It appears that nurses and other public servants are now bearing the brunt of a financial crisis caused by reckless risk-taking in the banking sector. “Hardworking nurses are in the middle of a two-year pay freeze, inflation is soaring and they now face the prospect of paying more money into their pension next year for no additional benefit. This latest development is not just about contributions in 2012. It is the start of a process that will increase contributions even further and make nurses work until they are dropping on their feet. All this is likely to have a devastating impact on the morale of dedicated nurses.” The National Union of Teachers (NUT) said starting a consultation during the parliamentary recess was a cynical move as there would be little chance for scrutiny. Christine Blower, the NUT general secretary, said: “There is no surprise in this announcement. It has been obvious from the start that the government has no intention of listening to reason and has been determined to implement changes to public sector pension schemes regardless of whether they are necessary or not.” The proposals, based on work by former work and pensions secretary Lord Hutton, exempt 750,000 people earning less that £15,000 from the increases. Above this level, next year’s increases will be tiered: 1 million public sector workers earning £15,000-21,000 will have their increase capped at 0.6 percentage points and the maximum increase of 2.4 percentage points will apply to another 1 million people. Even if the proposed increase in contributions goes ahead, public sector employees still face uncertainty about the level of income they will receive on retirement and the age at which they can draw their pension. The government wants to scrap the current final salary pension scheme, which bases pension income on the salary in the last year of employment and length of service, multiplied by an “accrual” rate (usually one 80th or in some cases, one 60th). Under the replacement – a career average revalued scheme (Care) – the pension benefit earned each year is based on the salary in that year rather than the final salary. The benefit is then “revalued” each year until the member retires or leaves by a prescribed amount. This revaluation rate is as crucial to the quality as the accrual rate. The government is still in discussions with unions about most details of the new schemes, including the accrual and revaluation rates. But the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), the main civil service union, said the announcement about increases to contributions “made a mockery of the ongoing negotiations and proves that the government is determined to make people pay more and work longer in return for smaller pensions”. The PCS general secretary, Mark Serwotka, said: “These highly detailed proposals show that the government has made its mind up and is not negotiating seriously. It makes a mockery of the ongoing talks. We’re committed to negotiation but these have to be serious, not limited to the government’s predetermined outcomes. “Already more trade unions have indicated they will take part in further strike action and today’s announcement will only increase that resolve. The government talks about the need to make changes to help reduce the deficit in four years. But these changes would be permanent – a life sentence for civil servants.” However, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) said the proposals were firm but fair. Charles Cotton, the CIPD reward and pensions adviser, said: “Government proposals to increase pension contributions for public sector workers are part of a necessary compromise to retain a great employee benefit at a fairer cost to hard pressed tax payers. “It is incorrect that most public sector pensions are ‘gold plated’, but they are still a great staff benefit and one that is almost impossible to find now in the private sector. Because of this it is important that both the government and unions communicate and educate public sector employees that their pension is still a great benefit and well worth paying to stay in. “With rising life expectancy, it is increasingly hard for the public purse to fund a growing length of time spent in retirement, so these reforms are needed.” Tom McPhail, pensions expert with independent financial adviser Hargreaves Lansdown, said the uncertainty about future benefits made it “a bit like having a money purchase pension” but added that the schemes would still be generous compared to those built up by most people working in the private sector. The consultations apply to the NHS and teachers in England and Wales, and the Civil Service in England, Scotland and Wales. Older workers who are a couple of years from retirement will not be affected by the switch to a Care scheme or the later retirement age, but they will face an increase in contributions during the last few years of their career. The government has confirmed in the consultations that employees who have already contributed to a public sector scheme will retain all the benefits already earned and that all pension benefits earned up to the proposed point of change in April 2015 will continue to be calculated as before. Pensions Economic policy Occupational pensions Work & careers Family finances Trade unions Public sector careers Public sector pensions Jill Insley guardian.co.uk
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Between 2006 and 2009 carrier bag use was down by 40% but in 2010 the downward trend was reversed British consumers are packing away their green credentials along with their weekly shop, as last year an increasing number of us bundled our purchases into single-use plastic carrier bags instead of seeking out environmentally friendly alternatives. Plastic bag use plunged after 2006 , when the government, retailers and green campaigners spearheaded a push to cut down on the 11bn plastic carriers Britons used each year, most of which find their way into landfill or – much more damagingly – into waterways and the sea, where they are a hazard to marine life. By 2009, bag use was down by about 40% to under 6.5bn. But last year, that downward trend was reversed. Perhaps owing to recessionary worries, people forgot their hessian sacks and filled up on plastic again – more than 6.8bn were used, up about 5% on the previous year, according to the government’s Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap). The British Retail Consortium said part of the increase was likely to be down to shoppers making more short trips to stores, rather than a single big weekly shop. But the retail trade body said the small increase should be put in context of the “massive” progress made since 2006, and said plastic bags were only one of the many ways in which retailers were cutting their environmental impact. Bob Gordon, head of environment at the British Retail Consortium, said: “It’s encouraging to see the majority of consumers are continuing to reuse their carrier bags and are taking as few new bags as possible. We urge customers to keep that up, particularly when changing shopping habits, including more trips to stores, present a challenge to maintaining the progress made in recent years.” He rejected calls for a bag ban or charges, which could penalise shoppers at a time of financial hardship. “The overall numbers remain the sort of result other environmental campaigns can only dream of,” he said. “But it’s time to accept bags are not the be-all and end-all of environmental issues.” Plastic bag data is difficult to compare over the past five years, because of changes in the way the statistics are collected. Between 2008 and 2009, the data was collated on a mid-year basis, from June to May, but from last year Wrap decided to return to presenting it on a calendar year basis. In 2006, nearly 11bn single use carriers were used, but after campaigning this fell to 10bn the following year and was down to just over 7bn by 2008-09 before bottoming out at under 6.5bn by 2009-10. But for the full year of 2010, bag use rose again to 6.8bn. The campaign against disposable plastic bags , which green campaigners have pursued for years but which gained traction from 2006 when Wrap collated its first comprehensive statistics, enjoyed a high profile for several years. In 2007, it received a massive boost from the launch of Sainsbury’s stylish cotton shopping bag from designer Anya Hindmarch, emblazoned with the legend “I’m not a plastic bag”. The product – which sold for £5 in the supermarket – went on to have a lucrative after-life on eBay, reportedly changing hands for as much as £200 a time. But while retailers say they are continuing their efforts to reduce bag use, there is less publicity around the issue. However, in some parts of the UK, legislators are taking an interest. In Wales , shoppers will be charged 5p per bag from this October, and a consultation on charging for bags kicked off in Northern Ireland last week. Scotland shelved its proposals for a charge, but they could yet be revived. In Wales, the imminent charge may have helped to cut bag use – the total was down by 7% last year, compared with the rise in England and Scotland. John Griffiths, Welsh environment minister, said a charge was the best way to drive down carrier use, as voluntary agreements with retailers would not achieve enough. He said: “These figures show a real difference between carrier bag use in Wales and that in other parts of the UK where no mandatory charge is planned. This proves that the carrier bag charge, which is due to be introduced in Wales on 1 October, is the only way to ensure a real and lasting reduction in the use of carrier bags.” Plastic bags Waste Consumer affairs Fiona Harvey guardian.co.uk
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Two suicide bombers kill at least 15 people and injure 30 in an attack on a local bank in Saddam’s home town Two suicide bombers have killed at least 15 people and wounded more than 30 in the Iraqi city of Tikrit as police and soldiers were collecting their salaries at a local bank. The attacks were the latest to target local Iraqi security forces as the last US troops prepare to pull out of the country more than eight years after the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. One suicide bomber detonated his explosives among officers who were gathered outside the Rafidain bank in the centre of Tikrit, 150 km (95 miles) north of Baghdad, and moments later another blew up a car when emergency workers arrived, police said. “Just a few minutes after I entered I heard a huge explosion. We ran outside to see what was happening, I saw bodies and the wounded all over the place,” said Assam Dhiyab, a policeman who was collecting his unit’s wages. A Tikrit hospital official said at least 15 people were killed and more than 30 wounded in the blasts. Most of the casualties were Iraqi soldiers. Television footage showed a column of black smoke rising from the blast site. “Initial indications are that the first explosion was a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest with a large amount of explosive,” said police lieutenant Mohammed Naif. “According to witnesses the bomber was targeting a group of soldiers and officers of the Iraqi army.” Tikrit, Saddam’s hometown, is dominated by Sunni Muslims and suspected Sunni Islamists tied to al-Qaida have carried out frequent attacks in the town, including two of the deadliest in the country this year. On 18 January a suicide bomber attacked a police recruiting centre, killing 60 people and wounding more than 100. On 29 March militants took hostages at the provincial council headquarters and fought gunbattles with the security forces. At least 53 people were killed and scores wounded. On 3 June, two blasts in the city, one targeting worshippers in a mosque, killed 21 people and wounded 70. Three days later a suicide bomberblew up a car at the entrance to a complex of palaces once used by Saddam, killing 13 people. Violence in Iraq has dropped sharply from the height of sectarian killing in 2006 and 2007, but insurgents and militias still carry out daily attacks and assassinations in an attempt to undermine the government. Local police and soldiers have been increasingly targeted both by Sunni and Shia armed groups. Insurgents often set off one blast and then detonate another when emergency forces arrive. The remaining 46,000 US troops in Iraq are due to leave by the end of this year. Iraqi forces say they can contain internal threats but acknowledge that they need more training to plug capability gaps. Iraq Middle East guardian.co.uk
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Win for Hollywood studios as UK high court rules BT must block access to Newzbin2 Hollywood film studios won a landmark UK high court ruling on Thursday forcing BT to block access to an illegal file-sharing website accused of operating “on a grand scale”. The Motion Picture Association, the trade body whose members include Warner Bros, Fox, Disney and Paramount Pictures, has been granted an order requiring BT — the UK’s biggest internet service provider — to block its customers’ access to the website Newzbin2. Thursday’s verdict will be viewed by the creative industries as a landmark that could set a precedent for the widespread blocking of illegal filesharing websites by ISPs, helping to stem the flow of digital piracy in the UK. “In my judgment it follows that BT has actual knowledge of other persons using its service to infringe copyright: it knows that the users and operators of Newzbin2 infringe copyright on a large scale, and in particular infringe the copyrights of the studios in large numbers of their films and television programmes,” said Justice Arnold in his ruling at the high court in London. “[BT] knows that the users of Newzbin2 include BT subscribers, and it knows those users use its service to receive infringing copies of copyright works made available to them by Newzbin2,” Arnold added. BT had argued that forcing it to ban its 6 million UK customers from accessing a website would usher in a new wave of online censorship. However, the creative industries claim website blocking could save them hundreds of millions of pounds in illegal downloads. The MPA said that Newzbin2 makes unlawful copies of television programmes and films, and receives in excess of £1m a year from its 700,000 users. “This ruling from Justice Arnold is a victory for millions of people working in the UK creative industries and demonstrates that the law of the land must apply online,” said Chris Marcich, MPA managing director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. “This court action was never an attack on ISPs, but we do need their cooperation to deal with the Newzbin site, which continually tries to evade the law and judicial sanction.” The film industry’s fight to block Newzbin stretches back to March last year, when the high court ordered the site to take down all of its pirated material and pay damages to the studios. The three men behind Newzbin Ltd – Chris Elsworth, Thomas Hurst and Lee Skillen – sold all of their shares in the company to David Harris shortly before the trial. Newzbin Ltd went into administration soon after the ruling and avoided the huge payouts. Months later a clone site appeared operating anonymously from Sweden. Rights holders said they had no choice but to force BT to block UK users’ access to the website, saying all other legal avenues had been exhausted. Simon Milner, director of group industry policy at BT, said the latest judgment means rights holders will now have to prove in court that a website infringes copyright before it is blocked. Milner added that the judgment puts the Digital Economy Act voluntary blocking scheme, drawn up at industry roundtable meetings earlier this year with Ed Vaizey, the culture minister, in an uncertain position. “[The judgment] is actually helpful and we welcome it because it clarifies a complex area of law and shows that rights holders can use the copyright laws in this country. It means they have to prove a site is infringing before [a] court and get a court order,” he said. Milner did not reveal how much it will cost ISPs such as BT to block infringing websites. Other internet providers, including TalkTalk and Virgin Media, declined to join BT’s battle against the film studios, the court was told in June. Speaking after Thursday’s judgment, a spokeswoman for TalkTalk said the ruling had “no direct or immediate” impact on the ISP, the second largest in the UK, but that it would consider any similar court orders brought by film studios against it. The Internet Service Providers’ association, which represents Britain’s ISPs, said: “Concerns about over-blocking, ease of circumvention and increased encryption are widely recognised which means that blocking is not a silver bullet to stop online copyright infringement.” Filesharing Internet Computing Piracy Piracy Digital media BT Telecommunications industry Online TV Josh Halliday Mark Sweney guardian.co.uk
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Former legal high used by 4.4% of all people aged between 16 and 24, as use of illegal drugs in decline long-term Mephedrone, the former legal high known as “meow meow”, is as popular as cocaine among teenagers and young adults, despite being banned last year. according to official figures published today. Home Office figures drawn from the authoritative British Crime Survey estimate that around 300,000 16 to 24-year-olds, or 4.4% of their age group, used mephedrone in the past 12 months. This is a similar level of popularity to the use of powder cocaine by teenagers and young adults. The BCS survey, drug misuse declared 2010/2011, say that mephedrone and cocaine rank joint second in popularity behind cannabis for this age group. Mephedrone ranks alongside ecstasy in popularity among all drug users aged between 16 and 59, with 1.4% of all adults reporting they had used them in the past year. The results of the annual survey of drug use in England and Wales show that almost 3 million people (8.8% of adults) used illicit drugs in the past year. They also show that one million of them – or 3% – used class-A drugs, with a fall in the use of cocaine accompanied by a rise in the use of methadone. Around 2.2 million people aged 16 to 59 used cannabis last year and the survey also indicates a rise in popularity in ketamine in recent years. The use of illegal drugs among the younger age group of 16 to 24 has, however, undergone a long-term decline, from 29% of the age group reporting they had used an illicit drug in 1996 to 20% in 2010/2011. Home Office minister, James Brokenshire, denied that the alarming figures for the use of mephedrone, which was made illegal in April 2010, demonstrated that the ban had been ineffective. He said the BCS figures covered patterns of use before and after the ban had come into force. He stressed that just because a drug had been sold as a legal high it did not mean it was harmless. But the interviews undertaken by the BCS for this year’s report would have took place between April 2010 and March this year. Respondents were however asked about their illicit drug use in the previous 12 months, and so could have related to the period when mephedrone was a legal high. Mephedrone Drugs policy Drugs Alan Travis guardian.co.uk
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