Syrian attack 'kills 10 children'

26 November 2012 Last updated at 07:00 ET

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Unverified video posted by opposition activists purportedly showed cluster bombs in Deir al-Asafir and rebels in Marj al-Sultan military base

Activists in Syria say a government jet has dropped a cluster bomb on a playground, leaving 10 children dead.

Video posted on the internet showed children's bodies on the ground with their mothers grieving over them.

The children were killed when a MiG fighter bombed a playground in the village of Deir al-Asafir, east of Damascus, opposition activists said.

Intensive fighting has continued around the capital. Rebel fighters captured at least part of an airbase on Sunday.

Further footage of the playground attack showed what appeared to be cluster bomblets on the ground.

In one video, two girls could be seen lying dead in a street while another showed a distraught mother standing, apparently inside a clinic, over her daughter's lifeless body.

In recent months there have been mounting allegations that the Syrian government has resorted to using cluster bombs as the conflict intensifies, although those claims have been denied, the BBC's Jim Muir in neighbouring Lebanon reports.

'Baseless'

Two cluster bombs were dropped on the village, activists said. One man told Reuters news agency that 70 bomblets had been found.

"None of those killed was older than 15 years old," Abu Kassem, an activist in Deir al-Asafir told Reuters.

He said 15 people had been wounded in the attack and denied that rebel fighters were inside the village. They had been operating on the outskirts, he said.

Last month, Human Rights Watch said there had been an increase in online video reports purporting to show evidence of cluster bombs being dropped in the conflict, especially around the town of Maarat al-Numan.

Continue reading the main story

So far, many of those fleeing the civil war have been invisibly absorbed into friends' and relatives' homes. Atma, while distressing enough to witness, is relatively small. But it will probably grow. "

End Quote

The Syrian government said the military did not have such weapons and dismissed the allegations as "baseless".

An unverified report by the Local Co-ordination Committees (LCC), an opposition activist network, put the number of casualties across Syria on Sunday at 117, including 14 children.

Activists believe 40,000 people have died since the start of protests against President Bashar al-Assad's rule in March 2011.

The UN refugee agency says the number of Syrians refugees in neighbouring countries either registered or awaiting registration has reached 442,000. Another 2.5 million are described as internally displaced.

Battle for military bases

Rebel fighters said on Sunday they had captured a military airbase at Marj al-Sultan, not far from Deir al-Asafir, although activists of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said they had later pulled out.

Amateur video showed a rebel standing beside a wrecked helicopter while a man speaking on the video said a warplane had been blown up.

Although the rebels control areas to the east and north-east of Damascus as well as on the edge of the city, government forces are widely seen as superior in the capital and the Free Syrian Army has been unable to take permanent control of military bases.

A similar rebel attack took place last week on an air defence battalion base at Hajar al-Aswad, south of Damascus, which fighters briefly controlled after a four-day siege.

The rebels have been more successful in holding on to bases in areas of Syria more firmly under their control. Last week opposition sources said they had seized a base at Mayadeen in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor.

They now appear to hold a swathe of territory in the Euphrates valley, from the Iraqi border to the provincial capital of Deir al-Zour.

Unverified videos posted on the internet on Monday showed fighters claiming to be in control of the Tishreen dam on the Euphrates river, further north in Aleppo province. There has been fierce fighting in the area around the dam for several days.

In a separate development, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has criticised a decision by France and the UK to recognise Syria's new opposition coalition as sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people.

"From the point of view of international law, this is absolutely unacceptable," he told French journalists ahead of a two-day visit to Paris, which was starting on Monday.

"A desire to change the political regime of another state by recognising a political force as the sole carrier of sovereignty seems to me to be not completely civilised."

The EU has stopped short of full recognition, describing the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces as "legitimate representatives of the aspirations of the Syrian people."

1. Cluster bombs are usually dropped from a plane and can fly several miles before releasing their load of bomblets.

2. The canister starts to spin and opens at an altitude between 1,000m and 100m, spraying the bomblets across a wide area.

3. Each bomblet is the size of a drink can and contains hundreds of metal pieces. When it explodes, it can cause deadly injuries up to 25m away.

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UBS fined £29.7m for Adoboli case

26 November 2012 Last updated at 06:09 ET

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined UBS £29.7m ($47.6m) for failings that led to trader Kweku Adoboli losing £1.4bn.

The fine, the third largest imposed by the FSA, was for "system and control failings" that allowed him to trade in London well beyond authorised limits.

The trader was last week convicted of two counts of fraud and sentenced to seven years in prison.

UBS said it was "pleased that the chapter has been concluded".

The FSA, which conducted the investigation into failings at the bank with its Swiss counterpart, Finma, said there were serious weaknesses at the Swiss bank.

It said in a statement: "UBS failed to take reasonable care to organise and control its affairs responsibly and effectively, with adequate risk management systems, and failed to conduct its business from the London Branch with due skill, care and diligence."

The FSA's director of enforcement and financial crime, Tracey McDermott, said faulty controls had allowed the losses to mount to what was the largest trading loss in the country.

"UBS's systems and controls were seriously defective," she said.

"As a result, Adoboli, a relatively junior trader, was allowed to take vast and risky market positions, and UBS failed to manage the risks around that properly."

'Gambler'

Adoboli, the 32-year-old Ghana-born son of a diplomat, joined UBS in 2003, becoming a trader in 2006.

He worked in UBS's global synthetic equities division (GSE), buying and selling exchange traded funds (ETFs), which track stocks, bonds and commodities.

He was arrested in September last year.

Southwark Crown Court was told that he was "a gamble or two away from destroying Switzerland's largest bank".

The judge said there was "a strong streak of the gambler" in him.

But, during evidence, Adoboli said everything he had done was aimed at benefiting the bank, where he viewed his colleagues as "family".

He said he had "lost control in the maelstrom of the financial crisis", but had been doing well until he changed from a conservative "bearish" position to an aggressive "bullish" stance under pressure from senior managers.

He told the jury that staff were encouraged to take risks until they got "a slap on the back of the wrist".

The fine was set at 15% of the revenue of the division where Adoboli worked and takes account of the revenue generated by the business area where the weak controls occurred.

'Serious deficiencies'

UBS said it had made a number of substantial changes since discovering the losses, including fixing the weakness in its financial reporting.

The bank added it was retraining staff on the importance of risk management and had changed the way it evaluated and compensated employees.

UBS is changing its own structure to make itself a simpler organisation.

The bank's chief executive, Oswald Gruebel, left the company in the aftermath of the scandal.

His successor, Sergio Ermotti, announced a major restructuring last month to run down the large, risky parts of the investment banking division.

UBS said it had fully co-operated with the regulators' investigations and that it accepted their findings and the penalties incurred.

UBS's fine was discounted from the original level of £42.4m for early settlement.

Switzerland's financial regulator Finma said in a statement that it would also check whether UBS had adequate capital backing for its operational risks.

Finma said it had identified "serious deficiencies in risk management controls" and that it would appoint a third party to make sure proper measures were introduced.

UBS has been banned by regulators from making new acquisitions and it also needs to get prior approval from Finma for any new business initiatives.

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Firms help tax evasion flourish

25 November 2012 Last updated at 15:24 ET

A flourishing industry which helps people evade UK tax has been uncovered following an investigation by the BBC's Panorama programme.

One company formation firm said the odds of getting caught by the UK tax authorities are roughly equivalent to winning the lottery.

The programme secretly filmed corporate service providers offering services that would break the law.

Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs says tackling tax evasion is a priority.

Tax evasion costs the UK taxpayer an estimated £4bn a year.

'Sham directors'

Secret filming by the BBC as part of a joint investigation with the Guardian newspaper and the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists identified a number of corporate service providers - firms that specialise in setting up companies both in the UK and abroad - willing to facilitate tax evasion and turn a blind eye to criminal activity.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

What I'm shocked by... is the apparent ease with which you've discovered these people"

End Quote Tristram Hicks Money laundering expert

In one instance, an undercover reporter posing as a businessman with £6m in undeclared income sitting in a Swiss bank account is advised to move his money into a complex structure involving an anonymous foundation in the tax haven of Belize, which he would control in secret.

James Turner of Turner Little in York, which specialises in forming companies, assured the undercover reporter that his company already had 10,000 of these structures up and running with secrecy guaranteed.

"We've had Inland Revenue investigations on clients that have used companies like this... and they haven't got to the money," Mr Turner said during secret filming.

The complicated structure proposed by Mr Turner also involved the use of nominee directors to help keep the undercover reporter's name off company paperwork.

Nominee directors can be legitimately appointed to run companies on behalf of others. But according to James Turner, his nominees would not be running anything at all.

In other words, they would be a sham.

"They won't even know that they are a director, they just get paid," he said, adding that the directors' signatures could be provided simply by using a stamp.

Continue reading the main story

Panorama: Find out more

• Darragh MacIntyre presents Undercover: How to Dodge Tax
• BBC One, Monday, 26 November at 20:30 GMT

Jonathan Fisher QC, one of the UK's leading barristers specialising in white collar crime cases, said that what was being proposed would break the law.

"If this proceeded and the company was set up and it was set up in the way in which it is being discussed, then plainly some very serious criminal offences would be committed."

Those potential offences would be helping to cheat the revenue and launder the proceeds of crime.

Mr Turner denied any allegations of criminal misconduct. Turner Little said it takes its statutory and regulatory obligations seriously but said that once an internal investigation has been completed, if appropriate, it will take action.

Panorama also discovered corporate service providers offering to appoint sham directors to UK companies. UK law states that directors are responsible for the companies they run and should know what those companies are doing.

'Sark Lark'

The use of sham directors was supposed to have been stamped out in the late 1990s after a scandal on the Channel Island of Sark.

In what became known as the "Sark Lark" one islander was discovered to be the director of more than 1,300 companies. Between them, the 600 inhabitants of the island held 15,000 directorships. New laws have reduced that to fewer than 50 posts today.

But the Panorama investigation found that the Sark Lark is not dead - rather it has moved and gone global.

One corporate service provider based in Dubai, Atlas Corporate Services, showed a list of its 19 nominee directors to one of Panorama's undercover reporters.

The programme discovered they had held more than 6,000 UK company directorships. The company involved said there is nothing unlawful in Dubai about the use of nominee professional directors.

'Tip of iceberg'

Panorama also approached other firms posing as the representative of corrupt Indian government figures who wanted to invest in the UK.

Russell Lebe, Managing Director of Readymade Companies Worldwide in Bushey Heath, Hertfordshire, told an undercover reporter that, if approached by the Indian authorities about tax evasion, "we wouldn't give a monkey's".

Despite being told that the fictional clients were earning "commissions" on government contracts that they wanted to move offshore, Mr Lebe said he would be content not to know their identities and even agreed that the undercover reporter could front for them by pretending to be the owner.

"There'll be no emails and nothing in writing to say that anyone else is the owner and it'll all go under your name. Absolutely fine," he told the reporter.

Readymade Companies Worldwide said they would not provide company formation services if they knew or suspected they would be used to launder the proceeds of crime or defraud tax authorities.

As a precautionary measure, they said they have asked a law firm to review their procedures and will provide staff with further training.

Former Metropolitan Police Detective Superintendent Tristram Hicks, a leading expert on money laundering, said: "What I'm shocked by, and concerned by, is the apparent ease with which you've discovered these people.

"It tells you that maybe it is the tip of the iceberg that you have discovered by scratching the surface and that our regulation regime is not catching enough people."

In a statement, HM Revenue and Customs, which regulates the 2,467 registered trust or company service providers in the UK, said most in the industry have nothing to do with criminal activity.

But it did confirm that it has never prosecuted a single corporate service provider for breaching money laundering regulations.

Panorama's Undercover: How to Dodge Tax

BBC One, Monday, 26 November at 20:30 GMT and then available in the UK on the BBC iPlayer via the link above.

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Secret NHS death reports released

25 November 2012 Last updated at 19:04 ET

Hundreds of previously secret NHS reports into serious incidents, including 105 deaths, have been published by BBC Scotland.

More than 300 reports into the most serious incidents in Scotland's hospitals last year have been released.

The reports include a person being blown up while on oxygen therapy after lighting a cigarette.

They also detail deaths from fatal doses of medicine and missing equipment during a cardiac arrest.

Other reports show procedural problems in hospitals meaning patients died before they could be transferred and supplies of drugs or emergency equipment not being available.

The reports were released after a Freedom of Information request.

BBC Scotland has now published all the incident reports, which can be read by clicking through from the dropdown box below.

Continue reading the main story

Find your area

Former NHS staff have accused health boards of covering up mistakes rather than learning from them.

Scottish Public Services ombudsman Jim Martin said the bureaucracy in the NHS seemed to be more important than learning when things go wrong.

The Scottish government is conducting an urgent review of incident reporting and said there was no evidence that the system was putting patients at risk.

Research suggests about one in ten hospital admissions result in an "adverse event".

Health boards decide how they should be investigated and what lessons can be learned from any mistakes.

Huge variation

But the BBC Scotland Investigation, How Safe is Your Hospital? found a huge variation between NHS boards in the numbers of incidents reported and what sorts of investigations are conducted.

It was given access to 345 reports which demonstrate a big discrepancy surrounding what boards consider to be serious.

These range from a nurse injured while hanging up Christmas decorations and a toaster used in an inappropriate area to a baby that died during labour and a surgeon removing a healthy organ.

Continue reading the main story

I think if we had a simple national system it would be far easier to ask a simple question of the health service "

End Quote Jim Martin Scottish Public Services Ombudsman

There is also a huge disparity in the way incidents are reported and investigated.

The biggest health board, Greater Glasgow, reported relatively few incidents (95) despite serving the largest population.

Meanwhile Shetland recorded 138 serious incidents in a year and Tayside's reports all listed almost identical learning points.

The public services ombudsman said it was "a confusing picture".

Mr Martin said: "I think if we had a simple national system it would be far easier to ask a simple question of the health service and get a clear statistical answer."

Dr Alastair Ross, a specialist in risk management at the King's Patient Safety and Service Quality Research Centre, said: "In the NHS we are very conscious that process and medical treatment has to be evidence-based.

"You wouldn't implement a drug or a treatment protocol without feeling that the evidence was very reliable and that it was going to make a real difference to patient safety and I don't think we should be doing that with the organisational side of things either."

International research suggests one in 10 hospital admissions can result in some kind of adverse event, whether that is a patient fall or an unexpected death, so learning from these mistakes can save lives.

Earlier this year, the health secretary ordered an investigation into NHS Ayrshire and Arran after the health board was severely criticised for withholding more than 50 reports on serious incidents at its hospitals and clinics.

Over a period of five years, NHS Ayrshire and Arran refused to release the critical incident and adverse event reports to staff.

National picture

A mental health nurse employed by the health board became concerned when he was involved in a critical incident, but never received a copy of the findings.

Rab Wilson was told he was not entitled to read the report, and would have to apply under FOI legislation.

Mr Wilson said he felt bullied by the NHS when he tried to raise his concerns.

Another nurse had to leave her job when she repeatedly asked for concerns about patient care to be addressed.

She said NHS Ayrshire and Arran tried to cover up mistakes rather than learn from them.

Having exposed serious weaknesses at NHS Ayrshire and Arran, Healthcare Improvement Scotland said it did not know the situation for other health boards in Scotland.

Robbie Pearson, from HIS, admitted they have no idea of the national picture.

He said: "At present we don't know. That's why we're going out to all the NHS boards. We're starting this month and we'll be around all the boards by the end of next year."

BBC Scotland Investigates: How Safe is Your Hospital is on BBC One Scotland at 22:35 on Monday 26 November.

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Ruthless England wrap up victory

By Sam Sheringham BBC Sport

Second Test, Mumbai, day four:

England 413 & 58-0 beat India India 327 & 142 by 10 wickets

Match scorecard

England ruthlessly completed a memorable 10-wicket victory over India in the second Test in Mumbai to level the four-match series.

"After watching England so ruthlessly tear up the script, India will be asking themselves several serious questions about how they managed to lose that Test match"

Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann shared the last three India second-innings wickets in 45 minutes on the fourth morning to bowl the hosts out for 142.

England openers Alastair Cook and Nick Compton then knocked off a target of 57 with ease before lunch.

It is only England's second Test win in India in 14 matches since 1985.

England's spectacular all-round performance was the perfect antidote to their meek showing in the first Test and ignites the series with two matches to play.

The recalled Panesar made a mockery of the decision to leave him out in Ahmedabad with a Test-best 11 wickets in the match as 19 of the 20 India wickets fell to spin, while Cook and Kevin Pietersen scored brilliant hundreds to secure a crucial first-innings lead of 86.

1984-85: India 1-2 England (5 Tests)

1992-93: India 3-0 England (3 Tests)

2001-02: India 1-0 England (3 Tests)

2005-06: India 1-1 England (3 Tests)

2008-09: India 1-0 England (2 Tests)

Man of the match Pietersen's assault on the India bowling on his way to 186 on Sunday afternoon was particularly important, demoralising the hosts and filling England with confidence.

Panesar and Swann, who outbowled India's three spinners throughout, followed up with seven wickets on the third evening to ensure it was always likely to be a matter of when, rather than if, England would finish the job on Monday.

Leading by 31 with only three wickets in hand, India took 10 off the first over of the day but Harbhajan Singh fell in the next when he gloved Swann to Jonathan Trott at slip.

Zaheer Khan top-edged a slog-sweep and was easily taken by Matt Prior to give Panesar figures of 6-81, before opener Gautam Gambhir was trapped lbw for 65 by Swann, who finished with 4-43 - and 8-113 in the match.

"The match was a wonderful advert for Test cricket. It had so many good things in it: superb batting, different styles and wonderful bowling by the two England spinners, who proved they are better than India's. A terrific Test match."

Fears of a scenario reminiscent of Abu Dhabi in January when England collapsed to 72 all out chasing a modest 145 to beat Pakistan were quickly dispelled as Cook and Compton set about their task with relish.

Compton, playing his second Test, cracked four fours and a six in making 30 not out from 28 balls and Cook posted an unbeaten 18 as the tourists cantered home.

England's first win in six Tests leaves the series tantalisingly poised going into the third match in Kolkata starting on 5 December, with the finale in Nagpur to follow.

England have not won a series in India since David Gower's side came from behind to seal a 2-1 triumph in 1985.

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Top Tory urges UKIP election pact

26 November 2012 Last updated at 05:28 ET

David Cameron should consider a pact with UKIP, his elections adviser says.

Michael Fabricant suggests offering an in/out referendum on UK membership of the EU if UKIP promises not to stand against Tory candidates in 2015.

But No 10 said Mr Fabricant "did not speak for the party on this issue.... the safest way to protect Britain's interest is to vote Conservative".

UKIP leader Nigel Farage also appeared to reject the suggestion, tweeting: "No deals with the Tories: it's war."

In an internal report to the prime minister the senior MP, who oversees campaigns on the ground, details the threat that UKIP now poses and says the party is costing the Tories votes in crucial marginal constituencies.

'Open debate'

He says an electoral pact with UKIP - in which the Conservatives would promise a referendum after 2015 and in return UKIP would not stand against Tory candidates - could help the Conservatives win an extra 20-40 seats at the next election.

He told the BBC he wanted "an open debate" about the issue and no decision would have to be taken before 2014 at the earliest.

"There is clear evidence that some Conservative votes are to going to UKIP," he told the BBC. "That is not very logical because the best deal, if you want a good deal in Europe, is to vote Conservative.

"The trouble is some people are not doing that. They think that they can get a better deal by voting UKIP."

He rejected suggestions that talk of a pact was a sign of Conservative weakness or an attempt to put pressure on the prime minister over an EU referendum. "I am coming from a position of strength. I am not talking losing votes but about gaining votes and gaining seats."

He acknowledged such a deal would be "unpopular" with the Lib Dems - who are governing in coalition with the Conservatives until 2015 and oppose an in-out referendum - and therefore "the timing of any such declaration would be critical".

Mr Fabricant, who was a whip until leaving the government in September's reshuffle, believes the move could help secure the Conservatives a majority after the next election.

'Written in blood'

Earlier this year, UKIP leader Nigel Farage said he was open to the idea of a pact but demanded a referendum pledge "written in blood".

Continue reading the main story

With great respect to the "in-outers", I don't think it does boil down to such a simple question"

End Quote Boris Johnson Mayor of London

He said any future "deal" with the Conservatives would be difficult, because he claimed Mr Cameron opposed a "full, free and fair" vote.

But on Sunday, Mr Farage said the party would abandon its pledge not to stand against Eurosceptic Tory MPs after Mr Cameron refused to retract comments describing UKIP members as mostly "closet racists".

This followed the revelation that Rotherham council had removed three children from a foster couple because they belonged to UKIP.

Later Mr Farage appeared to reject the idea of a pact outright when he said on Twitter: "No deals with the Tories: it's war."

And in response to a message from Mr Fabricant he said: "Cameron's comments over the Rotherham case mean a deal's simply not possible."

Mr Fabricant replied: "Nothing can happen for at least 24 months. I'm a great believer in never saying never."

'Fresh consent'

A Downing Street source said: "Michael Fabricant does a great job campaigning in by-elections but he doesn't speak for the party on this issue.

"The safest way to protect Britain's interests is to vote Conservative. That's why we'll have Tory candidates in every seat at the next election."

The prime minister has committed to seeking what he called "fresh consent" in a national vote but he has so far resisted the idea of an in/out referendum.

Mr Cameron has received backing for his position from Mayor of London Boris Johnson.

Mr Johnson previously suggested he was in favour of an in/out referendum at the "right moment" but he told the BBC on Sunday he now believed the issue was not as "simple" as that.

"I don't think it is as simple as 'yes/no' now," he told Radio 5 Live's Pienaar's Politics. "Suppose Britain voted tomorrow to come out, what would actually happen.

"We would still have huge numbers of staff trying to monitor what is going on (in the EU), only we would not be able to sit in the Council of Ministers and we would not have any vote at all. Now I don't think that is actually a prospect that is likely to appeal.

"With great respect to the "in-outers", I don't think it does boil down to such a simple question."

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Flood fears as storm heads north

26 November 2012 Last updated at 06:49 ET

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Many parts of the UK are already under water

North-east England and north Wales are braced for possible flooding as the weather front which brought heavy rain to southern England moves north.

There are about 210 flood warnings and 300 flood alerts in England and Wales, and two flood alerts in Scotland.

This weekend 816 homes were flooded, mainly in south-west England.

Two people have died in the storms - a woman killed by a falling tree in Exeter and a man whose car crashed into a swollen river in Cambridgeshire.

Devon and Cornwall were particularly badly hit, along with Malmesbury in Wiltshire and Kempsey in Worcestershire.

Continue reading the main story

Weather information

From the BBC:

Elsewhere:

Chris Fawkes from the BBC Weather Centre said there had been about 60mm (2.5in) of rain in south-west England over the weekend.

He said: "A weather front will slowly move across north England and north Wales on Monday, and it's here that we are likely to see some further serious flooding."

County Durham, Teesside, North Yorkshire and the Conwy area of north Wales are expected to be worst affected.

The Met Office has issued amber "be prepared" weather warnings for 50-70mm (2-3in) of rain in north-east England and Yorkshire and Humber regions. A further amber alert for north Wales warned there could be more than 90mm (3.5in) of rain on high ground.

The Environment Agency has issued 212 flood warnings across England and Wales, which mean people should take action because flooding is expected. There are also 293 less severe flood alerts - indicating people should prepare for possible flooding.

Continue reading the main story

Latest local news, travel and weather

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Sepa, has two flood alerts in place in the Borders and Edinburgh and Lothians regions. There are none in Northern Ireland.

Heavy rain and the related risk of flooding are forecast to continue until late on Tuesday.

'Shocking scenes'

In developments around the country:

• Insurance companies are warning that a lack of progress in talks with the government could leave 200,000 homes without cover against flood damage
• Closures of many roads because of flooding, particularly across the South West of England and the Midlands, are detailed at BBC Travel News
• Various rail routes in south-west England are continuing to suffer considerable disruption on Monday morning, while a landslip near Dorking, Surrey, has caused disruption to services between London and Horsham, West Sussex
• In Malmesbury, town residents have started a clear-up after what the mayor called the worst flooding there in 70 years
• Residents of Kempsey, Worcestershire, have criticised the village's new £1.5m flood defences which they say has made the flooding worse than in 2007
• The National Memorial Arboretum, near Alrewas, Staffordshire, is closed because of flooded roads in the surrounding area, and people planning visits later in the week are advised to check the official website

Devon and Cornwall Police said a woman was hit by a falling tree in Western Way at about 23:50 GMT on Saturday. She suffered serious injures, from which she died after being taken to hospital in Exeter. Two other people were treated for minor injuries.

But Cambridgeshire Police said that the death of the 70-year-old man, whose car plunged into a river near Earith on Saturday night, was not weather-related.

On Twitter, the prime minister has talked of "shocking scenes of flooding".

David Cameron also said the government "will help ensure everything is being done to help".

Environment minister Richard Benyon has said he is "impressed with how the emergency services and Environment Agency have responded" to wet weather.

"What we learned from the floods in 2007 has been invaluable and what local authorities are doing ... working with the Environment Agency, with the emergency services, is certainly improving the situation - but if your house is flooded it feels pretty bleak," he said.

The minister added: "We are better prepared, but no-one is taking away from the misery that these floods have caused or the threat of further floods. You can only feel sorry for those people.

Continue reading the main story

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"Our estimate is that about 20,000 homes have been protected by flood defences that have built in the past few years."

But Stephen Gilbert, the Liberal Democrat MP for St Austell and Newquay, said the events of the last two days "should be a wake-up call for a government that needs to grip this issue and do so quickly".

"We know that flash flooding is increasing because of climate change and there's now little we can do to stop it, but the government must act to make sure people aren't left without insurance when the worst does happen," he said.

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Law to tackle stalking introduced

24 November 2012 Last updated at 19:53 ET

Stalking has become a specific criminal offence in England and Wales in a move to improve victims' safety.

The government has introduced two offences, stalking and stalking involving a fear of violence.

Campaigners had long claimed dealing with stalking under existing harassment laws was inadequate. In Scotland stalking was made an offence in 2010.

A parliamentary inquiry earlier this year found that about 120,000 victims, mostly women, were stalked every year.

However only 53,000 incidents are recorded as crimes by police - and only one in 50 of these reports leads to an offender being jailed.

'Abhorrent crime'

The inquiry called for a new offence to be introduced at once, saying harassment and intimidation could often turn into murder.

After meeting victims and campaigners at Downing Street earlier this year, the prime minister described stalking as "an abhorrent crime" which "makes life a living hell for the victims".

The new law of stalking carries a maximum six-month sentence and stalking involving a fear of violence or serious distress carries a maximum five years in prison.

BBC legal correspondent Clive Coleman said the government hoped that adding specific offences of stalking would provide greater clarity around the offence for the police and others looking to improve the safety of victims and bring perpetrators to justice.

The calls for reform came after a series of cases involving stalkers who went on to kill, including Clifford Mills, 49, who stalked his ex-girlfriend Lorna Smith on Facebook before stabbing her to death at his flat in Brixton, south London, in February last year.

He was jailed in February for life, with a minimum term of 21 years, after being found guilty of murder.

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BAE boss says shipyard may close

24 November 2012 Last updated at 23:01 ET

One of BAE Systems' major shipyards could be closed, the company's UK chief executive Nigel Whitehead has said.

He told the Sunday Telegraph a decision would be made by the end of the year.

The firm was working with ministers to explore all options for maintaining the UK's shipbuilding capability, he said.

The future of its three main shipyards - in Portsmouth, and Govan and Scotstoun on the River Clyde - after two new aircraft carriers are completed has been in doubt for some time.

There are fears there will be insufficient work available to keep all three busy and profitable as cuts in defence spending take their toll.

"The issue is how to consolidate... but make sure that we've preserved the capability to design and manufacture complex warships," Mr Whitehead told the newspaper.

"We anticipate that there will be a reduction in footprint and we anticipate... that part of that might actually be the cessation of manufacturing at one of the sites."

Merger thwarted

Earlier this year the company appointed consultants to carry out a review of the business. The firm's yard in Portsmouth is widely believed to be the most vulnerable, with 1,500 jobs at risk.

However, two bases on the River Clyde, at Govan and Scotstoun are also under scrutiny.

BAE Systems says it is working closely with the government to explore all options for maintaining the UK's shipbuilding capability.

The Ministry of Defence says that it is up to the company itself to decide how best to deliver the naval vessels it has already agreed to produce.

In October, BAE Systems and Franco-German firm EADS cancelled their planned merger, after talks were thwarted by political deadlock.

The UK had wanted its counterparts to agree to limit their influence in the merged firm in order to maintain BAE's strong working relations with the US Pentagon.

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Egypt NGOs denounce Mursi decree

25 November 2012 Last updated at 01:06 ET

More than 20 Egyptian rights groups have called on President Mohammed Mursi to withdraw the decree granting himself extensive new powers.

The 22 groups signed an open letter saying the president "has dealt a lethal blow to the Egyptian judiciary".

Opposition politician Mohamed ElBaradei has said there can be no dialogue with Mr Mursi while the decree, announced on Thursday, is in force.

There have been big rallies for and against Mr Mursi's move.

The Muslim Brotherhood, which backs Mr Mursi's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) party, has called for demonstrations across Egypt after sunset, in support of his decree.

The Islamist movement has called for a one-million-man march to be held at Abdin Square on Tuesday, the Egyptian news agency MENA reported.

Opponents of the decree have also called for demonstrations on Tuesday.

According to the decree, no authority can revoke presidential decisions.

It includes a bar on dissolving the assembly drawing up a new constitution.

"These actions undermine the rule of law and the pillars of justice and exploit presidential powers to protect the interests of a particular political group," said signatories to the letter posted on the Cairo Institute for Human Rights website.

"The president, who now possesses authorities beyond those enjoyed by any president or monarch in Egypt's modern history, has dealt a lethal blow to the Egyptian judiciary, thereby declaring the beginning of a new dictatorship in which it is not permitted to oppose the president, criticize his policies, or challenge his decisions."

The announcement of the decree sparked angry demonstrations and attacks on FJP offices.

International concerns

On Saturday, Egypt's judges denounced the decree as an "unprecedented attack" on the judiciary.

Continue reading the main story

This could turn into a battle between Islamists on the one side, and, on the other, secularists, liberals, and Christians - so there is even a fear of this turning into a sectarian struggle"

End Quote

After an emergency meeting, the Judges' Club - the union which represents judges throughout the country - called for "the suspension of work in all courts and prosecution administrations".

Police fired tear gas to disperse crowds as supporters of the judges faced off against pro-Mursi demonstrators who tried to disrupt the meeting.

There had been reports that the Supreme Judicial Council was about to disband the constituent assembly for a second time, says the BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo, a move that could seriously derail the transition to democracy and further delay new parliamentary elections.

This, in turn, could deter Egypt's political leaders from taking tough decisions while they wait for the vote, our correspondent says.

Work on the constitution has been plagued by legal complaints questioning the make-up of the assembly.

Mohammed Mursi became the fifth president of Egypt in June - more than a year after protests that overthrew President Hosni Mubarak.

The US and Germany have expressed concerns about Mr Mursi's decree.

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