Gay marriage bill returns to Commons
By Anonymous on May 20, 2013 02:49 am 19 May 2013 Last updated at 23:31 ET 
The bill is set to be debated over two days
Plans to legalise same-sex marriage in England and Wales return to the Commons later, amid continuing opposition from some Conservative activists and MPs.
The Marriage Bill was approved by a 225-vote majority when it was last debated by MPs in February, but nearly half of all Tories voted against it.
On Sunday, a letter signed by more than 30 past and present local Tory Party chairmen urged the PM to drop the bill.
David Cameron has said it would help build a stronger and fairer society.
The return of the controversial plans to the Commons comes amid other divisions within the Conservative Party on Europe and attitudes towards the party's grassroots.
'Un-Conservative' On Sunday, 34 current and former local party chairmen delivered a letter to Downing Street opposing the gay marriage policy as "flawed, un-Conservative, divisive and costing us dearly in votes and membership".
They complained of a "crisis of conservatism" and said three issues were currently "destroying the party" - Europe, same-sex marriage and the "contempt" for party membership from the leadership.
However, a separate letter, signed by more than 100 Tory activists, called on the party's MPs to back same-sex marriage legislation.
They praised Mr Cameron for his stance, saying it was an issue of particular importance to younger voters and MPs risked appearing out of touch if they pandered to a vocal minority.
A group of MPs has been taking detailed evidence on the same-sex marriage proposals in a public committee since February, hearing from witnesses including equalities ministers, backbench MPs, church groups and gay rights campaigners.
MPs get a free vote on the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill as it is considered an issue of conscience. Two of those opposing it at its second reading in February were cabinet ministers - Environment Secretary Owen Paterson and Welsh Secretary David Jones.
Last week, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said too much time had been spent on a policy which had angered many.
'Clear inequality' The bill's supporters, who include Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Labour Leader Ed Miliband, say allowing gay couples to marry rather than just enter civil partnerships is an important step towards full equality and a stronger society.
However, Labour, whose support has guaranteed the bill's progress so far, accused the Tories of exaggerating the impact of changes to civil partnerships, but said it would not allow the Tories to use this as an excuse to drop the bill.
Among the Conservatives supporting the bill is the former Tory minister Nick Herbert, who is in a civil partnership.
He told the BBC that churches would be protected from having to hold same-sex weddings and the bill's "time has come" as attitudes had changed.
"No political party, I think, can survive unless it's in touch with the prevailing attitudes of the day," he said.
MP Tim Loughton is among a group of Tories who will try to amend the bill, with a plan to extend civil partnerships to heterosexual couples.
He said the amendment would address a "very clear inequality" of the bill that would mean heterosexual couples would "only have the choice of a marriage".
Government sources suggested to the BBC the move would delay the bill by years and would be expensive for the taxpayer, as millions could gain new pension rights.
Religious exemptions During the remaining stages - report stage and third reading - MPs will consider amendments made at committee stage and get a final opportunity to review the contents of the bill.
If approved, it will go to the House of Lords on Wednesday, where it is expected to face further opposition.
Under the bill, the Church of England and the Church in Wales would be banned from offering same-sex marriages because of their strongly stated opposition, unless they changed canon law. Other religious organisations would be able to "opt in" to holding ceremonies.
There are currently no plans for similar legislation in Northern Ireland, but there are already plans for a bill to allow same-sex marriage in Scotland.
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House explosion search suspended
By Anonymous on May 20, 2013 02:27 am 20 May 2013 Last updated at 02:27 ET 
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An eyewitness describes how the building exploded as he was walking past with his family
The search for a man missing after an explosion at a Nottinghamshire house in which a man was found dead and four others injured is to resume later.
A man, a woman and two children were taken to hospital after the suspected gas explosion at the house in Wright Street, Newark, at 17:10 BST on Sunday.
The search for the sixth victim has had to be postponed while the building is made safe.
About 100 people living near the site had to leave their homes overnight.
Many spent the night at the nearby Grove Leisure Centre.
Police said the woman and two children were treated for the effects of breathing in smoke and subsequently discharged from Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre.
The man was taken to hospital with serious injuries and smoke inhalation and is still being treated.
Cormac Fleming, from Newark, witnessed the blast and helped with the rescue effort, plucking a newborn baby from the neighbour's damaged house.
"I live just a couple of streets away and was first on the scene, with my wife and two kids. We were walking our dog and got within 8ft of the house, when it exploded right in front of us," he said.
"The sheer force of the blast knocked my son off his bike. I rang 999 straight away.
"One house was completely destroyed and the house next to it was half-blown up.
"I then noticed a curtain moving in the house next door. I, and another man, smashed the window and next thing I was being handed a newborn baby."
He said a five-year-old and his mother, who was cut and in shock, followed the baby out.
Continue reading the main story 
Neighbours helped rescue a man from the rubble after the explosion
The blast destroyed one house and damaged the neighbouring property
Witnesses said the explosion sounded like a bomb
Neighbours in Newark have been told to stay in doors and keep windows closed
Continue reading the main story They were led away from the rubble before Mr Fleming and the man returned to the house to try and help.
"We tried to see if anyone was in it from the back but it soon caught fire, so we pulled back and waited for the fire service to arrive."
'Like a bomb' Isla McDonald, who lives opposite the damaged house, said: "We saw this smoke. A man was crawling through the debris and he was bleeding. The whole house had come down.
"We got him out and carried him up the path away from the smoke. The whole of the house was on fire this side. It was so frightening.
"We put something on his head, he said 'My wife's upstairs and my granddad is in the cellar'," she added.
Eduart Pergjejji also helped pull the man out of the rubble.
"The whole house was all down. It was insane," he said. "I've never seen anything like it. It's all down, the bricks have fallen on the street.
Police officers wearing face masks were helping the fire service crews
"It was really like a huge bomb exploding."
A visibly shaking Jane Henson said the house had been completely destroyed. She was the first to call 999 and provided the operator with a running commentary.
She said: "I felt the house shake. I looked out of the window and there was thick, black smoke.
"There were just people running everywhere shouting 'There's a bomb gone off' and just panic. It's awful, terrible."
Pirita Suomela, who lives nearby and was on the scene within minutes, said: "From where I was standing it looked like complete destruction."
She said she heard a loud bang and went outside to see "huge clouds of smoke coming up behind the trees".
A man was lying disorientated in the street with blood on his face.
"Within a minute of this I saw what can only be described as a tornado of smoke rising up, with violent flames blasting a long way over the footpath, immediately in front of the house," she added.
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Read in browser » UK astronaut Peake to go into orbit
By Anonymous on May 19, 2013 05:51 pm 19 May 2013 Last updated at 13:02 ET 
Tim Peake was accepted into the European Astronaut Corps in 2009
The UK astronaut Tim Peake has been given a date to fly to the International Space Station (ISS).
The European Space Agency (Esa) says it will release details of his mission on Monday. It will not be before 2015.
Peake, who was a major and a helicopter pilot in the British Army Air Corps, has been in training for an expedition to the ISS since 2009.
To get there, he will have to ride a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur in Kazakhstan.
Tasks once in orbit will include helping to maintain the 27,000km/h platform and carrying out science experiments in Esa's Columbus laboratory module, which is attached to the front of the 400-tonne complex.
Forty-one-year-old Peake hails from Chichester, and is so far the only Briton ever to be accepted into the European Astronaut Corps.
His mission will make him the first UK national to live and work in space, and to fly the Union flag, on a British-government-funded programme (the UK is Esa's third largest contributor).
All previous UK-born astronauts that have gone into orbit have done so either through the US space agency (Nasa) as American citizens or on private ventures organised with the assistance of the Russian space agency.
"Major Tim" Peake has a degree in flight dynamics and is a qualified test pilot.
When he was selected for astronaut training he was working with the Anglo-Italian helicopter company AgustaWestland.
Helen Sharman was the first Briton to go into space in 1991 on Project Juno, a cooperative project between a number of UK companies and the Soviet government. She spent a week at the Mir space station.
Tim Peake getting some advice from Michael Foale - the most experienced "UK spaceman"
The most experienced British-born astronaut is Nasa's Michael Foale. He has accumulated 374 days in orbit, completing long-duration missions to both the ISS and Mir.
Major Tim's assignment is made as British space activity is experiencing a big renaissance.
The space industry in the UK is growing fast, employing tens of thousands of workers and contributing some £9bn in value to the national economy.
The government has also lifted substantially its subscription to Esa, and the agency has responded by opening its first technical base in the country.
Ecsat (European Centre for Space Applications and Telecoms) is sited on the Harwell science campus in Oxfordshire.
There is sure to be huge interest in Major Tim's adventure.
The recently returned ISS commander, Canadian Chris Hadfield, attracted a big following for his tweets, videos and songs from the platform. His rendition of David Bowie's A Space Oddity has become a YouTube hit.
It would be hoped that Major Tim could achieve something of the same impact.
Tim Peake will be the first "official UK astronaut" to go into orbit
He was selected by Esa with five other individuals in the class of 2009
His background is in the forces. He still flies with the Territorial Army
Training has involved learning Russian and using Russian equipment found on the ISS
He has also had to become proficient in the robotic systems used on the station
Major Tim has completed survival training, living underground for a period of days
Last year, he also lived under water as preparation for a mission to an asteroid
A key part of the training has been learning the flight controls of a Soyuz capsule
Most UK-born astronauts have flown under the Star and Stripes. Major Tim will fly the Union Flag
Read in browser » Briton facing child death charges
By Anonymous on May 19, 2013 11:47 pm 19 May 2013 Last updated at 23:47 ET 
The children's mother is reported to have raised the alarm when she arrived at the flat
A 48-year-old Briton living in France is expected to be formally charged later with killing his two children.
He was arrested after the bodies of the girl, five, and her brother, 10, were found on Saturday in a flat in Lyon.
The man had been looking after them unsupervised for the first time since divorcing their French mother, the BBC's Paris correspondent said.
AFP news agency reported that he would be presented to a prosecutor on Monday when he is expected to be charged.
According to witnesses, the mother had raised the alarm after passing her former husband on the stairs of his flat in Saint-Priest.
He was arrested later in the centre of Lyon.
The UK Foreign Office said it understood a British national had been arrested.
A spokesman said: "We are in touch with the French authorities and await the outcome of their investigation. We stand ready to provide consular assistance."
The British man is reported to have been living in France for some time and was unemployed.
Read in browser » Pupils 'need early porn warnings'
By Anonymous on May 19, 2013 09:52 pm 19 May 2013 Last updated at 21:52 ET By Hannah Richardson BBC News education reporter 
The new generation of devices makes it harder for parents to know what their child is viewing online
Young children should hear about the dangers of pornography as soon as they have access to the internet, leading head teachers say.
The ready availability of explicit material online has prompted serious concerns from the National Association of Head Teachers.
General secretary Russell Hobby said "the conversation should start" when children started going online.
But he stressed this was not about showing pornography in class.
He told reporters at his association's annual conference in Birmingham: "There isn't an easy answer, but as soon as children are getting access to this, it's time to begin the conversation."
Stephen Watkins, head teacher of Millfield School in Leeds, said: "Children as young as three - nursery age children - access computers. If they see something that shouldn't be there, they should know to go and tell an adult."
He recalled having to respond to a boy in class who had turned up some explicit images when researching the North Pole on the internet. And he said an approach which responded to issues when they arose in a low-key way was the option he favoured.
Mr Watkins added that many parents were concerned about the easy access of such material on other people's portable devices and smart phones, which they could not block in the same way as their home computers.
He also warned that parents were setting up under-age Facebook accounts for their children which potentially left them able to access inappropriate material. Youngsters under the age of 14 are not permitted to have their own accounts.
He said of 33 10-and 11-year-old children in his own school's top year, he had discovered 24 were already on Facebook.
Mr Watkins said he had written to their parents to warn them they were going against the social network's own rules and that they were potentially exposing their children to inappropriate material.
Self-image An independent survey of 1,009 parents for the NAHT suggested 83% felt pupils should learn about the dangers of pornography in sex education lessons.
Four out of 10 thought this should happen in the early primary school years, while 51% believed it was more appropriate to tackle the subject in the teenage years.
The NAHT said the issue was increasingly troubling to teachers and heads as they grapple with the impact of pornography on pupils' self-image and their perceptions of sexuality.
Mr Hobby said his association had been working with a number of agencies for some time to address these concerns.
He added that his association had said repeatedly that young people must be protected from pornography and children should receive appropriate guidance as part of relationship and sex education.
"We would also like to see improved advice for schools to help them manage these issues most effectively.
"There is no place for explicit materials in the classroom or school, even in the course of teaching about their dangers, but many young people are exposed to such materials on the internet and phones.
"In the face of this, young people need to know how to cope with and avoid these distorted views of relationships."
The vast majority of parents, 83%, had sufficient confidence in schools' ability to help their children understand the issues, the survey suggested, while 13% felt the subject should be left to parents alone.
Nine out of 10 felt all equipment allowing internet access should have a default block on pornographic websites.
Read in browser » PM warns overseas territories on tax
By Anonymous on May 19, 2013 09:41 pm 19 May 2013 Last updated at 21:41 ET 
Territories like the Cayman Islands have a reputation for low taxes and light touch regulation
Prime Minister David Cameron has urged British overseas territories to "get their house in order" and sign up to international treaties on tax.
He wrote to 10 territories and crown dependencies, including the Cayman Islands and the Isle of Man, which operate low-tax regimes.
Critics claim such places are used by companies for tax avoidance or evasion.
The plea came ahead of a G8 summit in June, when the UK is expected to push for tighter tax measures.
"With one month to go, this is the crucial moment to get our own houses in order," Mr Cameron wrote in the letter.
"I respect your right to be lower tax jurisdictions... but lower taxes are only sustainable if what is owed is actually paid."
'Complex arrangements The 10 territories that received the letter are Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, Anguilla, Montserrat, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man.
Some have been described by the UK government as having "complex tax arrangements".
Low taxes and light touch regulation have seen some of them become major centres for international business.
But the lack of transparency in their banking systems has left them open to accusations that they are being used to avoid paying taxes.
Mr Cameron urged them to sign international protocols designed to allow tax information to be shared more easily between countries, and also to take measures to improve their own transparency.
"Put simply, that means we need to know who really owns and controls each and every company," he said.
Tax avoidance, where companies operate within the rules to avoid paying taxes, and tax evasion, which is outside the law, have risen high on the political agenda in recent months.
High-profile companies like Google, Amazon and Starbucks have faced criticism in the UK for the low levels of tax they appear to pay compared with the size of their businesses.
On Sunday, Google's executive chairman Eric Schmidt defended the company's tax affairs.
He said search engine giant "has always aspired to do the right thing", but added that "international tax law could almost certainly benefit from reform".
Writing in the Observer, he said he wanted "to move the debate forward".
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