Missing US women found after decade
By Anonymous on May 07, 2013 02:55 am 6 May 2013 Last updated at 22:14 ET 
Photos of Berry (left) and DeJesus were distributed widely after they went missing
Three young women who vanished about a decade ago in the US state of Ohio have been found and are in hospital in fair condition, officials have said.
Amanda Berry disappeared aged 16 in 2003, while Gina DeJesus went missing at the age of 14 a year later.
They and Michele Knight, 32, who vanished in 2002 at the age of 20, were found in a house in the city of Cleveland, police confirmed.
A 52-year-old suspect has been arrested in connection with the case.
"This isn't the ending we usually hear to these stories," said Dr Gerald Maloney in a brief news conference outside Metrohealth hospital in Cleveland. "We're very happy."
Amid cheers from spectators, he added the women were able to speak to hospital staff but he declined to give further details.
The BBC's Jane Little says it was assumed the girls were dead, and the mother of one victim said she believed her daughter had been sold into slavery.
At least one of the women is reported to have a baby.
'Here a long time' In a frantic call to police released to the news media, Ms Berry identified her captor as Ariel Castro. She said she had escaped after he had left the house.
Local news stations say Mr Castro is the man in police custody.
"I am thankful that Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight have been found alive," Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson said.
"We have many unanswered questions regarding this case and the investigation will be ongoing."
A witness told local news stations that he had seen a woman holding a baby run out of a house, screaming for help.
"I heard screaming… And I see this girl going nuts trying to get outside," the neighbour, identified only as Charles, told NewsNet5.
"I go on the porch and she said, 'Help me get out. I've been here a long time.' I figure it was domestic violence dispute."
Crowds have reportedly gathered at the house where the women were being held.
Ms Berry was last heard from when she called her sister to say she would get a lift home from work at a Burger King restaurant.
In 2004, Ms DeJesus was said to be on her way home from school when she went missing.
Their cases were re-opened last year when a prison inmate tipped authorities that Ms Berry may have been buried in Cleveland. He received a four-and-a-half years in prison for the false information.
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Queen to miss Commonwealth meeting
By Anonymous on May 07, 2013 03:28 am 7 May 2013 Last updated at 03:20 ET 
The Queen will not be attending this year's Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Sri Lanka, Buckingham Palace has said.
She will be represented by Prince Charles at the gathering in November.
The BBC's royal correspondent Peter Hunt says the reason is the Queen's age and the need to limit overseas travel.
The Queen, 87, is the head of the Commonwealth and every two years leaders meet for a few days to discuss global and Commonwealth issues.
Read in browser » Lord Lawson calls for UK to exit EU
By Anonymous on May 07, 2013 03:20 am 6 May 2013 Last updated at 18:22 ET 
Lord Lawson was former PM Margaret Thatcher's chancellor for six years
The former chancellor of the exchequer, Lord Lawson, has called for the UK to leave the European Union.
Writing in the Times, he said British economic gains from an exit "would substantially outweigh the costs".
He describes the EU as "a bureaucratic monstrosity" and added that after an association with Brussels of 40 years "the case for exit is clear".
Prime Minister David Cameron is facing calls to bring forward a promised referendum on the UK's EU membership.
He says he will hold a vote early in the next parliament, should the Conservatives win the next general election.
Lord Lawson believes that leaving the EU would prove to be a wake-up call for business leaders.
He said that too many of them were content to be in "the warm embrace of the European single market" when the great export opportunities lay in the developing world, particularly Asia.
"The heart of the matter is that the relevant economic context nowadays is not Europe but globalisation. I strongly suspect that there would be a positive economic advantage to the UK in leaving the single market."
Voting 'out' He added that severing UK membership would save the City of London from a "frenzy of regulatory activism".
"The heart of the matter is that the very nature of the European Union, and of this country's relationship with it, has fundamentally changed after the coming into being of the European monetary union and the creation of the eurozone, of which - quite rightly - we are not a part."
For these reasons, Lord Lawson says, having voted to stay in the European Common Market, as the EU was known in 1975, "I shall be voting "out" in 2017".
"Not only do our interests increasingly differ from those of the eurozone members but, while never "at the heart of Europe" (as our political leaders have from time to time foolishly claimed), we are now becoming increasingly marginalised as we are doomed to being consistently outvoted by the eurozone bloc."
The peer - who was Margaret Thatcher's chancellor for six years - said the loss of the advantages of being within the single market were "marginal".
"You do not need to be within the single market to be able to export to the European Union, as we see from the wide range of goods on our shelves every day. The statistics are eloquent.
"Over the past decade, UK exports to the EU have risen in cash terms by some 40%. Over the same period, exports to the EU from those outside it have risen by 75%.
"The heart of the matter is that the relevant economic context nowadays is not Europe but globalisation, including global free trade, with the World Trade Organisation as its monitor."
He went on to say that he "strongly" suspects that there would be a "positive economic advantage to the UK in leaving the single market".
Read in browser » Bangladesh collapse toll passes 700
By Anonymous on May 07, 2013 03:17 am 7 May 2013 Last updated at 03:06 ET
The death toll from the collapse of an eight-storey factory building near the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, has passed 700, officials say.
The announcement came after workers pulled dozens more bodies from the rubble. Many people are still missing.
Nine people, including the building's owner, have been arrested.
The collapse of the Rana Plaza on 24 April stands as Bangladesh's worst industrial disaster and it sparked outrage among workers in the country.
Read in browser » Jimmy Tarbuck held in abuse inquiry
By Anonymous on May 06, 2013 06:38 pm 6 May 2013 Last updated at 18:38 ET 
The complaint relates to an alleged incident in the late 1970s
Comedian Jimmy Tarbuck has been arrested in connection with a historical child sex abuse investigation in Harrogate, the BBC understands.
North Yorkshire Police confirmed that a 73-year-old man was arrested in Kingston upon Thames on 26 April.
The entertainer and quiz show host was released on police bail pending further enquiries.
The complaint relates to an alleged incident in the late 1970s.
North Yorkshire Police says Mr Tarbuck's arrest came after information was passed on by Metropolitan Police officers working on Operation Yewtree.
The force stressed that this arrest "is not part of Yewtree, but a separate investigation" by North Yorkshire Police.
Operation Yewtree was set up following the death of Jimmy Savile in 2011, when hundreds of sex abuse allegations came to light about the former DJ.
Read in browser » 55,000 free nursery places needed
By Anonymous on May 06, 2013 08:16 pm 6 May 2013 Last updated at 20:16 ET By Hannah Richardson BBC News education reporter 
Hundreds of thousands of three- and four-year-olds already use free nursery places
A flagship government scheme to offer free nursery places to disadvantaged two-year-olds could be hit by shortages and delays, it is feared.
Nursery providers and local councils say some areas may not be ready for the national roll-out to 130,000 toddlers across England in September this year.
Some 75,000 places have been found. The government is working with councils and providers to find the remaining 55,000.
South-east England, Birmingham and Manchester are struggling the most.
The scheme to provide 20% of disadvantaged two-year-olds with free part-time early education places was announced by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg in the autumn of 2010 as part of a package of measures to boost the educational achievement of children from poorer homes.
It was an extension of a Labour scheme, and is due to be expanded again to 260,000 children in September next year.
But only 75,000 places have been secured just four months before the September roll-out, of which 70,000 are on existing pilot schemes.
'Geographical mismatch' James Hempsall, who is overseeing the delivery of the Achieving Two-Year-Olds programme, shrugged off concerns, saying local authorities, who now have a duty to ensure sufficient places, were reporting a "high level of confidence for delivery in September 2013".
He said work was focusing on vacant places and creating more flexibility, such as asking nurseries to provide a third session on top of the traditional morning and afternoon sessions.
Continue reading the main story TWO-YEAR-OLDS WHO QUALIFY
- Toddlers from first term after second birthday
- Parents on certain means-tested benefits
- Those in local authority care
But Dr Jill Rutter, research manager at the Family and Childcare Trust, said it was a real struggle in poorer areas where the places are needed but where there tends to be less nursery provision.
"Local authorities are doing their best but there will be gaps in September 2013 and very possibly in 2014."
She added: "There is a geographical mismatch and so new places have to be created from scratch."
This was backed up by the chairman of the Local Government Association, David Simmonds, who acknowledged a mixed picture nationally.
He said areas of south-east England, Birmingham, Manchester and Bradford were struggling, despite their best efforts to make enough places available in the right areas.
'Bureaucratic shuffle' Mr Simmonds said: "We are determined to get there but at the moment there is some uncertainty, and some providers are saying we are not sure we can recruit the staff, we are not sure we can get the buildings we need built in time. Uncertainty is not what mums and dads want. They need to know where their children will be going."
He said the process was being complicated because money for the scheme was being fed through a grant made specifically for schools, which was causing a "bureaucratic shuffle".
The Department for Education is expecting to pass to councils early this month a list of names and addresses of which children have been earmarked for the places.
But Mr Simmonds said: "It doesn't leave much time if there is going to be a big discrepancy between need and availability."
Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Pre-School Learning Alliance, which represents 14,000 nurseries, said: "I don't know how they are going to deliver the remaining balance in such a short period. Nurseries will have to train staff and they will have to increase the size of their buildings."
Cross-subsidy fears Dr Rutter highlighted the problems faced by London, which she had recently researched. She said space was limited, with many nurseries already operating at full capacity, but that an extra 24,100 places were needed by September next year.
She added: "Traditionally with the three and four-year-old places, private providers have been able to finance it by relying on working parents buying extra hours for their children at a higher cost than the subsidised rate.
"But this group of children is the 20% of the poorest and this isn't going to happen because their parents are not working. So the cross-subsidy system won't work.
"As a result, a lot of the private and voluntary providers are refusing to offer places for two-year-olds."
Nurseries are being offered at £5.08 an hour per child by the Department for Education (DfE) through the direct schools grant.
'Plenty of time' Mr Hempsall said the vast majority of children would make use of places made from capacity released within the sector, but he acknowledged that it was a "challenge" to deliver the programme and that there was "a lot more work to be done".
Once local authorities had the details of which children were to benefit from the free places, he said, they would be able to map their supply to where the disadvantaged children lived.
But he stressed that there was "plenty of time" for nurseries to carry out any of the simple building adaptations likely to be required.
And he said that transport arrangements might have to be put in place for children who could have to travel across local authority boundaries to take up their place.
A DfE spokesman said: "Through the Achieving Two-Year-Olds programme we are giving councils and providers support to make sure they have enough capacity for early learning for two-year-olds, encouraging parental demand, and improving the quality of provision.
"Already some 70,000 children are benefiting from this investment in early learning for two-year-olds."
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