Nightmares may be 'health warning'

28 February 2014 Last updated at 19:06 ET By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News

Regular nightmares in childhood may be an early warning sign of psychotic disorders, researchers in the UK warn.

The study, in the journal Sleep, said most children had nightmares, but persistent ones may be a sign of something more serious.

Having night terrors - screaming and thrashing limbs while asleep - also heightened the risk.

The charity YoungMinds said it was an important study which may help people detect early signs of mental illness.

Nearly 6,800 people were followed up to the age of 12.

Parents were regularly asked about any sleep problems in their children and at the end of the study the children were assessed for psychotic experiences such as hallucinations, delusions and thinking their thoughts were being controlled.

Continue reading the main story

Nightmares are relatively common, as are night terrors, it is quite normal, but if they persist then there may be something more serious about it""

End Quote Prof Dieter Wolke University of Warwick

The study showed that the majority of children had nightmares at some point, but in 37% of cases, parents reported problems with nightmares for several years in succession.

One in 10 of the children had night terrors, generally between the ages of three and seven.

Warning light

The team at the University of Warwick said a long-term problem with nightmares and terrors was linked to a higher risk of mental health problems later.

Around 47 in every 1,000 children has some form of psychotic experience.

However, those having nightmares aged 12 were three-and-a-half times more likely to have problems and the risk was nearly doubled by regular night terrors.

One of the researchers, Prof Dieter Wolke, told the BBC: "Nightmares are relatively common, as are night terrors, it is quite normal, but if they persist then there may be something more serious about it."

The relationship between sleep problems and psychosis is not clear.

One theory is that bullying or other traumatic events early in life can cause both symptoms.

Or the way some children's brains are wired means the boundaries between what is real and unreal, or sleeping and wakefulness, are less distinct.

It means treating the sleep issues may not prevent psychotic events.

However, nightmares may act as an early warning sign of future, more serious, problems.

Prof Wolke said a regular routine and quality sleep were key to tackling nightmares: "Sleep hygiene is very important, they should have more regular sleep, avoid anxiety-promoting films before bed and not have a computer at night."

Night terrors occur at specific points during sleep and can be managed by briefly waking the child.

Lucie Russell, the director of campaigns at YoungMinds, said: "This is a very important study because anything that we can do to promote early identification of signs of mental illness is vital to help the thousands of children that suffer.

"Early intervention is crucial to help avoid children suffering entrenched mental illness when they reach adulthood."

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Deadly attack on Pakistan polio team

1 March 2014 Last updated at 04:55 ET

A bomb attack on a polio vaccination team in north-west Pakistan has killed at least 11 people, officials say

A roadside bomb went off as the police-guarded convoy drove through a village in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the Afghan border.

The attack is the latest in a series targeting polio teams in the country.

No group has claimed responsibility, but the Taliban oppose the polio schemes, which they see as a cover for international espionage.

Initial reports said the convoy was struck by two separate bombs on Saturday.

The blasts were reportedly followed by a fierce gun battle between security forces and the militants.

Officials confirmed that people wounded in the attack were taken to a nearby hospital. Some of those injured are said to be in a critical condition.

Pakistan has witnessed a campaign of violence against health workers, who militants also accuse of being part of a Western plot to sterilise Muslims.

More than 40 people linked to the vaccination programme have been killed in Pakistan since December 2012.

Last month, unidentified gunmen shot dead three polio workers in the southern city of Karachi, a day after authorities began a new nationwide vaccination drive.

Pakistan is one of only three countries where polio remains endemic, along with Nigeria and Afghanistan.

According to the World Health Organization, Pakistan recorded 91 cases of polio last year, up from 58 in 2012.

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Half a million in negative equity

1 March 2014 Last updated at 06:07 ET By Brian Milligan Personal Finance Reporter, BBC News

Nearly half a million UK households are still in negative equity - meaning their homes are worth less than the mortgages on them, figures show.

There is wide regional variation, with 41% of borrowers in Northern Ireland - 68,000 homeowners - in negative equity at the end of 2013, the figures from mortgage group HML show,

In north-east England and Cumbria the figure is 16%.

But in London, where house prices have surged, only 1% are in negative equity.

That is actually worse than six months previously, when the figure was 14%, presumably tracking a further decline in house prices in the region.

Not far behind that is Scotland, where 13% of borrowers are in difficulties.

The figures are based on data from more than one million home loans.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

I am paying £250 a month extra, which is barely affordable - there's a lot of stress involved"

End Quote Shafiq Caan Homeowner

By contrast, only 1% of borrowers in London find themselves in negative equity, following the surge in the capital's property prices.

Overall just 8% of mortgage holders are now in that position, amounting to 463,000 homeowners, a big improvement on five years ago.

Stress

Negative equity occurs when the price of a property falls so dramatically that it is no longer worth as much as the loan that was taken out on it.

That becomes an issue for the bank or the building society, because they no longer have enough security to cover the loan.

And it becomes a real headache for an owner, because he or she cannot usually sell up without paying back the difference. Often that amounts to tens of thousands of pounds.

Shafiq Caan, for example, bought his house in West Yorkshire near the peak of the market in 2008.

He paid £115,000, with the help of a £95,000 mortgage.

But now that the house is only worth £75,000, he cannot sell it. Unless he pays back the difference of £20,000 to his lender.

So, like thousands of others, he decided to rent the property out.

But since his lender has increased his repayments, the rent he receives does not cover the mortgage.

"I am paying £250 a month extra, which is barely affordable," he told the BBC.

Continue reading the main story

Tips for those in negative equity

• Do not sell unless you have to
• Talk to your lender. They may help you "port" your mortgage
• Consider renting. But beware rules and regulations
• If you fall behind with your mortgage, your home can be repossessed
• Get professional advice, which can be free

"There's a lot of stress involved," he added.

Falling values

Renting a home out is often the only option for those who find themselves trapped by negative equity.

One lettings agent based on Tyneside has experienced something of a boom in the business, as homeowners become accidental landlords.

He estimates that up to 25% of landlords in the area are in that position, having been unable to sell their homes.

Many have been affected by divorce, and planned to sell their home when the value went back up.

"Unfortunately they are still waiting some six years on," says Ajay Jagota, whose KIS agency is based in South Shields.

"If you're in negative equity, I do feel sorry, because it may be a decision that's out of your control," he says.

Property values in north-east England have fallen by 6% since the summer, according to the Land Registry.

And there are many other areas of the country, on Merseyside or in Scotland for example, where prices have remained depressed.

Hometrack reports that homes in 80% of the UK's post code districts are still worth less than at the peak of the market in 2007.

Continue reading the main story

BBC housing calculator

• Let's you see where you can afford to live - and if it would it be cheaper to rent or buy
• Enter how many bedrooms, which end of the market and how much you want to pay each month
• As you move the payment slider, parts of the UK light up to show you where you can afford
• Based on pricing and rental data from residential property analysts Hometrack

Advice

"Negative equity is only a problem if you need to move," says Kate Faulkner, of Propertychecklists.co.uk.

But if you do need to move, some lenders will consider "porting" your mortgage to another property.

The Nationwide, for example, says it will do its best to help.

However, "eligible customers must be in permanent employment, and be able to afford any additional borrowing", it told the BBC.

But Kate Faulkner advises people not to be put off.

"It may well be that they will allow you to take the mortgage with you, and take that loan that you owe to the next property. So it's not disastrous if that happens. The trick is to talk to your lender as early as possible."

The housing charity Shelter also has advice for anyone thinking of selling a home which suffers from negative equity.

Renting your home out is not always an easy option either.

There are more than a hundred rules the property must conform to, and landlords will need electrical checks and gas safety certificates that can cost a few thousand pounds.

All of which will come as little cheer to those, especially in Northern Ireland and the north of England, who are still stuck in negative equity.

They are being told it could take another five years before their properties reach the value they paid for them.

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Moazzam Begg remanded in custody

1 March 2014 Last updated at 06:14 ET

Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg has been remanded in custody after appearing in court charged with terror offences related to Syria.

Mr Begg appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court and denied the charges of providing terrorist training and funding terrorism overseas.

The 45-year-old from Hall Green, Birmingham, will next appear at the Old Bailey on 14 March.

A woman arrested with him has also been remanded in custody.

Gerrie Tahari, 44, of Sparkbrook, Birmingham, is charged with facilitating terrorism overseas.

Both were arrested on Tuesday. Two other men arrested the same day remain in police custody.

They are a 36-year-old man from Shirley, Solihull, and a 20-year-old man from Sparkhill, Birmingham, who were held on suspicion of facilitating terrorism overseas.

Camp transfer

Mr Begg was held in the US-run military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba for nearly three years. He was never charged with any offence.

He is a British citizen who moved to Afghanistan with his family in 2001, before moving again to Pakistan in 2002 when the Afghanistan War started.

He was detained in Islamabad in January 2002 and taken to Bagram internment centre in Afghanistan for about a year before being transferred to the Guantanamo camp.

He was released in January 2005 along with three other British citizens and returned to the UK.

Mr Begg, who is now a director of campaign group Cage which helps the families of people who have been detained, had never previously been charged with an offence.

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Bomb suspect 'homecoming' cancelled

1 March 2014 Last updated at 06:29 ET

A planned homecoming celebration for a man who police suspect was involved in the 1982 Hyde Park bomb has been cancelled.

John Downey has always denied killing four soldiers in the IRA attack.

The case against him collapsed when it emerged he was one of 187 people who received letters assuring them they did not face arrest and prosecution for IRA crimes.

His supporters had planned a "welcome home dance" in a County Donegal pub.

Mr Downey said he would never try to insult or add to the hurt of anyone who had been bereaved.

In a statement, released on Saturday, he said: "Some elements of the media are portraying the event planned for tonight as triumphalist and insulting to bereaved families. That was never what it was about.

Continue reading the main story

Anyone already convicted of paramilitary crimes became eligible for early release under the terms of the Northern Ireland Good Friday agreement of 1998.

The agreement did not cover:

• Anyone suspected of, but not charged with, paramilitary offences committed before the Good Friday Agreement.
• Those who had been charged with offences but who had escaped.
• Those who had been convicted of offences but who had escaped.

"I would never try to insult or add to the hurt of anybody who is bereaved as I am only too aware of their pain as there are many bereaved families also in the republican community.

"I refuse to allow what was planned as a simple get-together of family, friends and neighbours who supported me throughout my wrongful arrest and imprisonment in England to welcome me home and allow me to thank them, to be misrepresented and turned into a media circus.

"For this reason I have decided to cancel the homecoming get-together planned for tonight and I know that my friends and neighbours will understand."

The event had been condemned by both the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV).

Mr Downey, 62, who was convicted of IRA membership in the 1970s, had denied murdering the soldiers and conspiring to cause an explosion.

The case against him collapsed after it was revealed during private hearings that Mr Downey was one of 187 Irish republicans who had received letters of assurance from the British authorities that they did not face prosecution.

The letters were an attempt to resolve the long-running issue of On the Runs, escaped prisoners or those who feared arrest for paramilitary crimes committed in the UK before the Good Friday peace agreement of 1998.

Northern Ireland's First Minister Peter Robinson had threatened to resign over the revelations unless the government set up a judicial inquiry into the On the Runs scheme.

On Thursday, Mr Robinson confirmed he would stay in his post after Prime Minister David Cameron appointed a judge to lead a review of the scheme.

The judge is expected to complete a report by the end of May.

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Crimean leader appeals to Putin

1 March 2014 Last updated at 06:49 ET

The new pro-Moscow leader of Ukraine's autonomous Crimea region has asked Russian President Vladimir Putin for help to ensure peace.

A Kremlin source said it would "not leave unnoticed" the request from Sergiy Aksyonov.

Reports speak of a clash overnight in Crimea's capital and an attempt to seize a Ukrainian missile base.

Ukraine's interim Prime Minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, accused Russia of seeking to provoke an escalation.

Continue reading the main story

Analysis

There is still no official confirmation of who the armed men surrounding key areas in Crimea really are. They wear uniforms without insignia and drive unidentified vehicles.

Some say they are locals organising themselves into a self-defence unit against the Ukrainian uprising. But many carry heavy weapons and appear in control of armoured personnel carriers. They seem more organised than an impromptu militia.

And yet while Ukraine's government warns that Russia has carried out a "military occupation and invasion" of Crimea, it does not feel as though it has gone that far - yet. The cities are relatively calm and there is no sign of a mass armed uprising; just the ongoing control of key sites like airports and communications buildings.

But this peninsula appears to be sliding steadily out of Kiev's control: the newly-elected Crimean prime minister now says all security and military forces here are under his command and his call to President Putin for direct help will not, says the Kremlin, be ignored. As the new Ukrainian cabinet meets, how to extend its writ here will be the urgent priority.

He was speaking at the first meeting of his cabinet, installed after the overthrow of President Viktor Yanukovych. New Defence Minister Ihor Tenyukh accused Russia of "recently" deploying 6,000 extra soldiers to Ukraine.

US President Barack Obama warned Moscow against any military intervention as unidentified soldiers, thought to be Russian, fanned out in the south of the peninsula, surrounding airports and communications centres.

According to Mr Aksyonov, soldiers from Russia's Black Sea Fleet based in Crimea are helping to guard strategic buildings.

Under the agreement governing the presence of the fleet in Crimea, the Russians must co-ordinate all troop movements outside the fleet's base areas with the Ukrainian authorities beforehand.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has said he is shocked by reports of the "violation of Ukraine's sovereignty".

Reports are coming in of a big pro-Russian rally in the east Ukrainian city of Donetsk.

'Only my orders'

Heavily armed soldiers took up position outside the regional parliament in the Crimean capital, Simferopol, on Saturday.

In a statement on its website, Russia's foreign ministry said several people had been hurt when "unidentified armed people sent from Kiev" tried to seize control of Crimea's interior ministry overnight.

The attempt was rebuffed by "self-defence units", the ministry said.

According to the Ukrainian news agency Unian, Russian soldiers have been trying to take control of a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile unit near Yevpatoria, in Crimea.

It quoted an unnamed Ukrainian military source as saying 15 Russian soldiers were trying to get into the command point, where personnel were sheltering behind a reinforced door. Guards at the installation had been "neutralised", the agency said.

Mr Aksyonov, who leads the main pro-Russian party in Crimea, was elected prime minister of Crimea by the region's parliament this week in an emergency session, replacing Anatoliy Mohylyov.

In the same vote, the parliament called a referendum on the status of Crimea, a region dominated by ethnic Russians.

The Crimean prime minister has brought forward the vote to 30 March, from 25 May - the date of Ukraine's early presidential election.

Continue reading the main story

Crimea

• Autonomous republic within Ukraine
• Transferred from Russia in 1954
• Ethnic Russians - 58.5%*
• Ethnic Ukrainians - 24.4%*
• Crimean Tatars - 12.1%*
• Source: Ukraine census 2001

Mr Aksyonov's election was not approved by the new authorities in Kiev, who traditionally appoint the prime minister of Crimea, in consultation with the regional parliament. Mr Aksyonov has refused to recognise Ukraine's new government.

"I appeal to the president of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, to provide assistance in ensuring peace and tranquillity on the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea," he said in a statement.

He went on to announce that he was taking control of security in Crimea "on a temporary basis".

"All commanders are to obey only my orders and instructions," Mr Aksyonov said. "I ask all those who refuse to do so to resign."

'Escalation'

The new government in Kiev was formed this week by opposition parties and street activists.

Mr Yatsenyuk said: "The presence of Russian soldiers is a provocation and we demand that Russian soldiers return to their permanent bases."

"We are taking no steps that could provoke a violent confrontation," he said. "All responsibility for the escalation of the conflict lies personally at the leadership of the Russian Federation."

Viktor Yanukovych, who was deposed after months of unrest degenerated into bloodshed this month, made his first appearance in Russia on Friday, insisting he was still the legitimate president of Ukraine.

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President Obama: "Any violation of Ukraine sovereignty would be deeply destabilising"

In his address late on Friday, Mr Obama warned Russia there would be "costs" for any military intervention and commended Ukraine's interim government for its "restraint".

"Any violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity would be deeply destabilising, which is not in the interests of Ukraine, Russia or Europe," he said.

The US president did not spell out what any US response might be but it could take the form of economic pressure by withholding the deeper trade ties that Moscow seeks.

A G8 summit that Russia is due to host in June might also be boycotted.

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Labour to vote on membership reforms

1 March 2014 Last updated at 07:12 ET

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Labour leader Ed Miliband says Labour needs "the courage to change"

Labour leader Ed Miliband has opened a special party conference hoping to approve plans to reform historic links between the party and trade unions.

Party members will vote on ending the automatic affiliation of trade union members and introducing "one member, one vote" in leadership elections.

Mr Miliband said the change, with union members able to opt-in to join the party, would transform politics.

Unite boss Len McCluskey said the union now has "difficult choices" to make.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

Today, we won't just be voting to open our doors. We'll be voting for the biggest transfer of power in the history of our party to our members and supporters. "

End Quote Ed Miliband Labour Party leader

The union was at the heart of controversy surrounding the selection of a Labour candidate in Falkirk last year, which prompted Mr Miliband to propose the changes.

Mr Miliband won the last leadership election largely thanks to support from unions, but Mr McCluskey said he suspected only 10% of its one million members affiliated to Labour would opt to stay in if they were asked now.

An estimated 400,000 Unite members do not vote Labour - a situation Mr McCluskey said was untenable.

He said: "We want to get more of our members engaged with Labour at grassroots level. We see this as an opportunity and a challenge to actively talk to our members and try to persuade them to give a commitment to Labour."

Union members who "opt-in" to join the party will be asked to pay a £3 fee.

The BBC's Brian Wheeler, who is at the conference, says the mood in the queues for voting cards has been so far upbeat.

"But inside the hall, the feeling is these changes are long overdue and they are there merely to 'rubber stamp' them," he says.

A Labour Party veteran told him: "It's been coming for as long as I remember, and that's an awful long time."

Continue reading the main story

The key changes

A new method of electing Labour's leader - the electoral college, which gives unions, party members and MPs/MEPs a third of the votes each, abolished in favour of one member, one vote

MPs have sole nomination rights for leadership candidates and those candidates will need a higher level of support than at present - possibly 15% of MPs

All union members will have to 'double opt-in' if they want to take part in a leadership contest. They have to say that they are content to give money to Labour AND that they want to become 'an affiliated supporter'

Only full party members - not trade union 'affiliated supporters' - will choose parliamentary and council candidates

Changes to London mayoral selection - Labour's candidate to be selected in the same way as the party leader

New leadership rules will be put in place this year - but changes to the party's funding will be phased in over five years

Members from the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, which is not affiliated with Labour, have been holding a demonstration against the changes outside the centre.

At the moment, Labour leadership elections are decided by a complex electoral college system, with equal weight given to the votes of three groups - one third to MPs and MEPs, one third to ordinary party members and one third to trade unionists.

Mr Miliband wants a "one-member, one-vote" system - something Labour leaders since John Smith in the early 1990s have tried and failed to bring about.

'Party of equality'

Addressing Labour activists at the conference, the party leader pointed out that in leadership elections, an MP's vote was worth 1,000 times more than each party member's.

"Let's make ourselves the party of equality. Not just in the policies we propose. But in the politics we practice," he said.

He said he wanted to hear the voices of working people "louder than ever before", but added: "In the 21st century, not everyone wants to be a member of a political party. And you shouldn't have to pay £45 to have a voice in the Labour Party."

Mr Miliband's proposals have already led to the GMB union reducing its affiliation funding. Unite, Labour's biggest backer, is to discuss its funding arrangements next week.

But, with Labour ministers, the party's ruling National Executive Committee and the big trade unions already signed up to them, Mr Miliband is expected to win the vote.

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair is among those supporting the proposed reforms.

He said Mr Miliband had shown "real courage" on the issue, which was "long overdue" and a reform he should have made himself.

The party leader said: "Today, we won't just be voting to open our doors. We'll be voting for the biggest transfer of power in the history of our party to our members and supporters.

"Today if you vote for these reforms you will be voting for Labour to be a movement again. Arguing our case house by house, village by village, town by town. But movements are only as strong as the people within them. The depth, the diversity, the reach of a movement is the true measure of its strength and its ability to make change.

"That's why we have to change, that's why we have to bring people in."

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

It's the same old Labour - union bosses still pick the leader, buy the policies and rig the selections"

End Quote Grant Shapps Conservative Party chairman

Mr Miliband has argued that if even a fraction of union members sign up to be affiliated supporters it could more than double the number of activists the party can draw on and open politics up to a wider cross-section of people.

But Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps dismissed the proposals as a "white flag" to union bosses, that allows them to tighten their "stranglehold" of the party.

"It's the same old Labour - union bosses still pick the leader, buy the policies and rig the selections," Mr Shapps said.

"Ed Miliband has shown he is too weak to stand up to the union bosses, and too weak to stand up for hardworking people."

Meanwhile, John Smith's widow, Baroness Elizabeth Smith, writing in the Guardian, said her husband would have backed Mr Miliband's plan for one member, one vote.

Of Mr Miliband, she said: "He has a capacity to bring people together and a determination to change our party so that we can change Britain."

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Northern Lights illuminate the UK

28 February 2014 Last updated at 04:13 ET

The Aurora Borealis - better known as the Northern Lights - has been giving rare and spectacular displays over parts of the UK, from the north of Scotland to as far south as Essex and Gloucestershire.

The lights have also been clearly visible in places such as Orkney, Norfolk and south Wales.

The display, which is caused by electrically charged particles from the Sun entering the Earth's atmosphere, led to scenes such as this one at the Stonehaven war memorial, Aberdeenshire.

Mark Thompson, presenter of the BBC's Stargazing Live, said he had not been expecting a display as spectacular as it was in places such as Wick, in Caithness.

Mr Thompson said the display, which was also seen in Corbridge, Northumberland, happens when solar wind - electrically charged particles - is ejected from the Sun. He said: "They take two or three days to get here and when they do get here they cause the gas atoms in the sky to glow. It is as simple as that."

The astronomer said: "Three or four days ago the Sun will have thrown a lot of this stuff out in an event called a coronal mass ejection, and they would have been travelling towards the Earth since. It all depends how active the Sun has been." This photograph was taken in Boulmer, Northumberland.

Mr Thompson said the particles were usually pulled towards the North Pole but if there were enough of them "they will travel further down towards the equator and cause the lights to go further south". Unusually, this time they were seen as far south as Gloucestershire.

"It is just good luck," Mr Thompson said. "The last time I have seen it this spectacular was probably 20 years ago." The lights were seen in many locations across the UK, including Shap in Cumbria.

Lucie Green, of the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, said: "At the moment we are at the height of the Sun's activity cycle, and it's ultimately energy from the Sun that creates the Northern Lights." The lights were seen from many parts of the UK, including here at Bow Fiddle Rock in Portknockie, Moray.

Ms Green said: "When we were watching the Sun on 25 February we saw that a particularly large and fast eruption leapt off from the Sun's atmosphere, and the models predicted that we would probably get a glancing blow from this eruption, and they were right." This picture was taken at Embleton Bay in Northumberland.

The Aurora Borealis was also visible from Foxley, Norfolk.

Many people took photographs of the illuminated skies. This one shows St Mary's Island, Tyne and Wear.

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Badger culls were 'ineffective'

28 February 2014 Last updated at 05:17 ET By Pallab Ghosh Science correspondent, BBC News

An independent scientific assessment of last year's pilot badger culls in parts of Gloucestershire and Somerset has concluded that they were not effective.

Analysis commissioned by the government found the number of badgers killed fell well short of the target deemed necessary, the BBC understands.

And up to 18% of culled badgers took longer than five minutes to die, failing the test for humaneness.

The pilot culls were intended to limit the spread of TB in cattle.

They were carried out to demonstrate the ability to combat bovine TB though a controlled reduction in the population of local badgers.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

We have always stated that if the pilots were to fail on humaneness then BVA could not support the wider roll out of the method of controlled shooting"

End Quote Robin Hargreaves, President, British Veterinary Association

Contracted marksmen, paid for by farming groups, were employed to shoot the animals at night.

The Independent Expert Panel was appointed by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to help ministers evaluate the effectiveness, humaneness and safety of the Gloucestershire and Somerset pilots.

Prof Rosie Woodroffe, a scientist at the Zoological Society of London, said that the panel's "findings show unequivocally that the culls were not effective and that they failed to meet the humaneness criteria.

"I hope this will lead to the Secretary of State (Owen Paterson) to focus on other ways of eradicating TB in cattle," she told BBC News.

Robin Hargreaves, president of the British Veterinary Association (BVA), said it was the BVA that had taken a lead in calling for the controlled shooting to be tested and critically evaluated before it was rolled out.

"We are unable to comment in detail on the findings of the IEP until we have seen the report," he told the BBC. "But if these figures are true then they would certainly raise concerns about both the humaneness and efficacy of controlled shooting.

"We have always stated that if the pilots were to fail on humaneness then BVA could not support the wider roll out of the method of controlled shooting."

Continue reading the main story

• 6.4% - 18% badgers took longer than five minutes to die

• 1,771 number of badgers culled*

• £7.29m estimated cost of badger cull, according to animal welfare charity*

PA

The pilots were authorised by Defra and licensed by Natural England.

The target for marksmen was to kill at least 70% of badgers in the cull areas within a six-week period.

Extensive research carried out by Prof Woodroffe in earlier trials in the 1990s had shown that a failure to kill this percentage of badgers in a narrow window of time could actually worsen matters as disturbed and diseased animals took the TB into new areas.

When both trials duly failed to kill sufficient badgers within the specified period, they were extended on the advice of the Chief Vet, Nigel Gibbens. The panel in its report, though, concerns itself only with the initial six weeks.

First assessments had suggested that, in those six weeks, 58% of badgers had been killed in the Somerset cull and 30% in the Gloucestershire pilot.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

We knew there'd be lessons to be learned from the first year of the pilot culls which is why we're looking forward to receiving the panel's recommendations for improving the way they are carried out."

End Quote Defra spokesman

However, BBC News understands the independent panel's analysis, which used more precise methodology, found that less than half of badgers were killed in both areas over the six-week period.

Defra had also agreed a criterion with the expert group for how the trials could be deemed humane.

The standard set was for no more than 5% of the shot badgers to take more than five minutes to die.

But the expert group found the time limit was exceeded by between 6.4% and 18% of shot animals, depending on the assumptions made.

The expert group, however, held back from describing the trial as "inhumane" on the grounds that there may be some circumstances in which greater suffering of badgers might be justified. An example would be if the spread of TB was causing more problems than otherwise anticipated.

Prof Woodroffe was among 32 scientists who wrote to Mr Patterson in 2012 expressing fears that the culls risked increasing TB in cattle rather than reducing it.

"Our predictions have been borne out," she told the BBC. "It has cost a fortune and probably contributed nothing in terms of disease control, which is really unfortunate."

The assessment also found a wide variation in the effectiveness and humaneness of the contractors brought in by farming groups to kill the badgers.

The expert panel said that if culling was to be extended to other parts of the country, the marksmen recruited would need to be closely monitored.

On the issue of public safety, the panel found no problems.

Andy Robertson, director general of the National Farmers' Union, said he could not comment on the contents of the IEP report until it was officially published. However, he stressed the threat TB in cattle posed to his members.

"More than 30,000 cattle were killed in the first 11 months of 2013 because of the disease. It is vital that we do everything we can to tackle the disease. Badgers play a key role in spreading bovine TB and so it's essential that any TB eradication policy must include a targeted cull of badgers in those areas where TB is rife."

Defra said that it did not know when the report would be submitted by the IEP or when it would be published, stating only that "no deadline had been set". A spokesperson added: "We knew there'd be lessons to be learned from the first year of the pilot culls which is why we're looking forward to receiving the panel's recommendations for improving the way they are carried out, because we need to do all we can to tackle this devastating disease."

More than 1,700 badgers were culled in total in the two counties, according to Defra.

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MtGox files for bankruptcy

28 February 2014 Last updated at 06:08 ET

The MtGox bitcoin exchange has filed for bankruptcy protection, reports say.

The application was made in Japan by lawyers acting on behalf of the exchange and comes only days after MtGox went offline.

On Tuesday, the exchange's boss said he was working hard to find a "solution to our recent issues".

Before going offline, technical troubles meant it prevented customers transferring digital cash to other exchanges on 7 February.

Details of the bankruptcy are scant but the application for protection has been accepted by a district court in Tokyo, reported AFP. At the court hearing, the company said it had outstanding debts of about 6.5bn yen (£38m).

MtGox's lawyers are believed to have decided to apply to the court for protection after US regulators filed a subpoena against the company.

Reports suggested the site shut down after it discovered that an estimated 744,000 bitcoins - about $350m (£210m) - had been stolen due to a loophole in its security.

MtGox's troubles have put pressure on the price bitcoin owners can get for their holdings. Currently one bitcoin is worth about $561 (£334), a price far lower than the high of $1,000 per coin it hit in November 2013.

Meanwhile, Vietnam has banned its banks from from handling the crypto-currency saying the virtual cash is not legal tender. The country's state bank said trading in bitcoins carried "potential risks" for users.

At the same time, Japan's deputy finance minister said any regulation of bitcoin would have to involve international cooperation to avoid opening up loopholes that traders could exploit.

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