US rescuers comb tornado-hit area
By Anonymous on May 22, 2013 02:45 am 21 May 2013 Last updated at 18:39 ET 
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The BBC's Alastair Leithead reports on the landscape left behind
Emergency crews' search in the ruins left by the gigantic tornado that killed two dozen people in Oklahoma on Monday is almost over, say officials.
Fire chief Gary Bird said he was "98% sure" there were no more survivors or bodies to recover under the rubble.
Government meteorologists have meanwhile upgraded the tornado to the most powerful level of twister.
Packing winds of at least 200mph (320km/h), the tornado razed a swathe of the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore.
Nine children were among the 24 dead, says the state's chief medical examiner.
Officials mistakenly said earlier that 51 people had been killed, but that figure was apparently the result of casualties being double-reported in the storm's aftermath.
Continue reading the main story Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin said it was too early to confirm the total number of dead as some bodies had been taken directly to funeral homes.
According to the local fire chief, no survivors or bodies have been found since Monday night.
He said their goal was to conduct three searches of each location just to be sure. The work is expected to be finished by nightfall, although heavy rain has hampered the emergency effort.
The National Weather Service (NWS) has upgraded the power of the tornado to EF-5, the most powerful type on the Fujita scale. It uses the word "incredible'' to describe the power of such a storm.
Continue reading the main story At the scene
Regan Morris BBC News, Moore
It was striking to drive through the town of Moore with streets in pitch blackness as flashes of lighting lit up the horrific destruction from the tornado. Homes on one street were reasonably intact and then one block away was a scene of homes and trees ripped to shreds, rescuers searching under flood lights through what used to be a primary school.
Children's toys and bicycles litter the streets. Massive hunks of metal dangle from shredded trees. The smell of a gas leak filled the air. The hospital with its roof ripped off stands as a lone structure next to what used to be a bowling alley - bowling balls and arcade games entombed in rubble.
There are reports on the ground that the kindergarten class was the hardest hit at the destroyed school but that many of the older children were able to escape with the help of their teachers.
The NWS said the twister's path was 17 miles long and 1.3 miles wide.
The storm struck Moore, a city of about 55,000 people, on Monday afternoon, for about 45 minutes.
Emergency workers pulled more than 100 survivors from the rubble of homes, schools and a hospital, while 237 people were known to have been injured.
Seven of the nine children killed in the tornado died at Plaza Towers Elementary, where the storm ripped off the roof and knocked down walls as students and teachers cowered in hallways and bathrooms.
That primary school and one other hit by the storm, Briarwood Elementary, did not have safe rooms that protect against tornadoes, said Albert Ashwood, of the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.
More than 100 schools in Oklahoma had been provided with state-funded safe rooms, he said, but not those two.
Authorities advised residents of Moore 16 minutes before the tornado touched down - officials said this was more than the average eight-to-10-minute warning.
Oklahoma's insurance commissioner told Reuters news agency the cost of the storm would exceed that of the 2011 tornado in Joplin, Missouri, that killed 158 people. He said the Joplin twister had caused $3bn (£2bn) in damage.
Continue reading the main story 
The huge tornado ripped through a suburb of Oklahoma City, flattening entire neighbourhoods.
The tornado - said to be at least a mile-wide (1.6km) - destroyed a school in Moore, just south of the city.
Rescuers pulled a number of children alive from the wreckage of Plaza Towers Elementary School.
But across the city at least nine children have been killed.
Some pupils were carried away by their distraught parents and others.
President Barack Obama ordered federal authorities to join in the search efforts which continued throughout the night.
It was at least the third tornado to strike Moore since 1999, when more than 40 people were killed.
The Moore Medical Center was destroyed by the tornado.
Rescue workers helped free at least 15 people trapped in the debris from the building.
Meteorologists said the twister generated winds of up to 200mph (321km/h) which reduced some districts to rubble.
Teachers evacuated pupils from another school - Briarwood Elementary - which was also hit by the twister.
Residents returned to their homes in Moore, a suburb of about 55,000 people, to assess the damage.
Here Dana Ulepich searches inside a room left standing at the back of her house.
Resident Rachel Hilton holds stray kittens she found in the debris of her parents' home.
Continue reading the main story US President Barack Obama has declared a major disaster in Oklahoma and ordered federal authorities to join in the search efforts.
"The people of Moore should know that their country will remain on the ground there for them, beside them as long as it takes for their homes and schools to rebuild," he said in televised remarks from the White House.
Heavy-lifting equipment was deployed under bright floodlights as the operation continued overnight and throughout Tuesday.
Rescuers braved the danger of electrocution and fire from downed power lines, as well as ruptured natural gas lines.
More than 200 Oklahoma National Guardsmen together with personnel from other states were called in to help the search-and-rescue effort.
The storm left a tangle of ruined buildings, piles of broken wood, overturned and crushed cars.
Many houses in the area are built on hard ground without basements, so many residents had struggled to find shelter.
Oklahoma City lies inside the so-called Tornado Alley stretching from South Dakota to central Texas, an area particularly vulnerable to storms.
On Sunday, another tornado killed two people near Shawnee, Oklahoma.
The town of Moore was hit by a severe tornado in May 1999, which had the highest winds ever recorded on Earth, over 310mph.
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Afghan interpreters to get UK visas
By Anonymous on May 21, 2013 08:47 pm 21 May 2013 Last updated at 19:21 ET 
Up to 600 Afghan interpreters who worked alongside British troops are to be given the right to live in the UK, government sources have confirmed.
The plan marks a climbdown from ministers who had decided they should not get the same UK resettlement rights as interpreters in the Iraq conflict.
Afghan interpreters who worked on the front line for a year or more will initially be offered a five-year visa.
The move covers about half of Afghan interpreters who helped the UK.
A Downing Street source said the proposals would give interpreters a choice - "the opportunity to go on working in Afghanistan, learning new skills and to go on rebuilding their country or to come and make a new start in Britain".
The source said Prime Minister David Cameron had been "very clear that we should not turn our backs on those who have trod the same path as our soldiers in Helmand, consistently putting their lives at risk to help our troops achieve their mission".
"We should recognise the service given by those who have regularly put themselves in real danger while working for us," they added.
Read in browser » 10% of UK wildlife 'endangered'
By Anonymous on May 22, 2013 03:23 am 22 May 2013 Last updated at 04:00 By Ella Davies Reporter, BBC Nature 
A "stocktake" of UK nature suggests 60% of animal and plant species have declined in the past 50 years - and one in 10 could end up disappearing.
For the first time, 25 wildlife organisations - from the RSPB to the British Lichen Society - have collated assessments of 3,148 species.
The State of Nature report offers clues to the fate of the UK's 59,000 species.
Among those seeing the largest falls in numbers are turtle doves, water voles, red squirrels and hedgehogs.
The reasons for the decline are said to be "many and varied" but include rising temperatures and habitat degradation.
Species requiring specific habitats have fared particularly poorly compared to the generalists able to adapt to the country's changing environment.
"This report shows that our species are in trouble, with many declining at a worrying rate," said naturalist Sir David Attenborough who launched the report.
"However, we have in this country a network of passionate conservation groups supported by millions of people who love wildlife. The experts have come together today to highlight the amazing nature we have around us and to ensure that it remains here for generations to come."
Individual reports published in recent years that chart the fortunes of our bees, birds, moths and mammals have been assembled and analysed alongside ongoing studies of bats, beetles and more.
The data - collected by dedicated volunteer enthusiasts through myriad surveys - are staggering, but the report still only covers 5% of the UK's estimated 59,000 native species.
There are noticeable gaps, particularly for invertebrates, fungi and marine species, but the coalition of expertise from mosses to marine conservation is groundbreaking and Dr Fiona Burns, a lead author of the report, hopes future editions will include even more groups.
The charity Plantlife contributed data on the UK's flora, including rare corn cleavers
"By including those people and including their expertise, even though we've not got as much information about fungi or other groups, we can promote the importance of these groups in UK flora and fauna," she said.
"[The knowledge gaps] highlight that there are big biases in what we study, what we monitor. If we want to get an idea of the health of the eco-systems and our biodiversity we need to redress that balance."
In the past, threatened animals and plants considered "priority species" have been included on government Biodiversity Action Plans to formalise and target conservation actions to halt and reverse declines.
The State of Nature report outlines a new "watchlist indicator" which charts how populations of these species have fared in the last 50 years and the overall trend is a 77% decline, despite successes for some including bitterns and adonis blue butterflies.
Conservationists say that a definitive list of the UK's most endangered species is hard to provide because of the difficulties involved in comparing such different species - each with particular needs and issues.
But as an overview of the problems, Dr Burns highlights the following species from across 10 of the UK's diverse groups:
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|---|
| Turtle doves have declined by 93% since 1970 and their plight is echoed by many other farmland birds. Agri-environment schemes to restore seed-rich habitats have been introduced to try to halt declines. |
| Hedgehogs have declined by around a third since the millennium. Intensive agriculture and urban development have fragmented habitats and gardeners are now being encouraged to make space for the mammals. |
| The small tortoiseshell butterfly, a once-common species found in gardens, has declined in abundance by 77% in the last ten years. Recent cold, wet summers and a lack of habitat are thought to be to blame. |
| Despite intensive conservation efforts natterjack toad numbers have changed little since 1990, with less than 50 breeding populations in mainland Britain. |
| Losses of European eel have been so great that it is considered at extremely high risk of extinction globally. Conservation projects, such as the one in the River Thames, aim to reverse the damage done by pollution, over-fishing and habitat loss. |
| Both the early bumblebee (Bombus pratorum) and the tormentil mining bee (Andrena tarsata) have shown strong declines in range since 1970. Both have suffered from a loss of wildflowers, the latter dependent on heathland which is recognised as a nationally vulnerable habitat. |
| The population size of the V-moth is estimated to be less than 1% of what it was in the 1960s due to habitat loss and degradation. The moths' caterpillars feed on currant and gooseberry leaves, leading to speculation that our move away from growing our own fruit could be contributing to the crash. |
| Corn cleavers, a flower found in arable fields, has undergone one of the most dramatic declines of any plant species and now only survives at the Rothamsted research station. |
| Common or harbour seals have declined by 31% in Scottish waters since 1996. The reasons for the drop in numbers are described as "mysterious" because their close cousins grey seals have not been affected in the same way. |
| There is only a single bastard gumwood tree left in the whole world located on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean: a UK Overseas Territory. Efforts are currently being made to cultivate seedlings in order to restore the population. |
Read in browser » Cameron to warn EU summit over tax
By Anonymous on May 22, 2013 12:15 am 22 May 2013 Last updated at 00:15 ET 
Mr Cameron has written to EU leaders urging a US-style cross-border tax information exchange
David Cameron is to urge EU leaders to back global action against tax evasion and "aggressive" tax avoidance that is causing nations "staggering" losses.
The prime minister will meet his European counterparts in Brussels later to discuss ways of cracking down on those who do not pay their fair share.
He will also raise the issue at June's G8 summit in Northern Ireland.
Meanwhile, Labour leader Ed Miliband will criticise Google tax arrangements at an event organised by the firm.
The taxation issue is on the agenda of the latest EU summit - which will also discuss energy policy - at the request of the UK, France and Germany.
Mr Cameron has written to EU leaders ahead of the meeting urging a US-style cross-border tax information exchange.
The UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy are currently testing such a system and want to launch it by the end of the year.
Mr Cameron also wants G8 and EU meetings to include country-by-country reporting of where companies pay their tax.
'Extraordinary lengths' After the four-hour summit, Mr Cameron will travel to Paris to meet French President Francois Hollande at the Elysee Palace where co-operation on tax evasion and avoidance as well as tackling corporate secrecy will again be on the agenda.
The meetings come two days after Mr Cameron wrote to 10 British overseas territories and crown dependencies, including the Cayman Islands and the Isle of Man, urging them to "get their house in order" and sign up to international treaties on tax.
Critics claim such places, which operate low-tax regimes, are used by companies for tax avoidance or evasion.
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.
In the US, Apple chief executive Tim Cook has been defending the technology giant to a US Senate committee against accusations that it has avoided paying tax on tens of billions of dollars in profits.
Ed Miliband, meanwhile, is expected to accuse Google later of going to "extraordinary lengths" to avoid making payments to the Treasury.
The company's UK sales are worth £3.2bn, but most are routed through Ireland, meaning it paid £6m in corporation tax in 2011.
The company's executive chairman Eric Schmidt has insisted the company "has always aspired to do the right thing", adding that "international tax law could almost certainly benefit from reform".
Mr Miliband, speaking at the Google Big Tent event in Hertfordshire, will say: "I can't be the only person here who feels disappointed that such a great company as Google, with such great founding principles, would be reduced to arguing that when it employs thousands of people in Britain, makes billions of pounds of revenue in Britain, but pays just a fraction of that in tax.
"So when Google does great things for the world, as it does, I applaud you. And when Google goes to extraordinary lengths to avoid paying its taxes, I think it's wrong."
Mr Miliband's speech and the EU summit come on the same day that an Oxfam report is published suggesting people using tax havens are depriving the world of more than £100bn in lost revenue - enough to end extreme poverty twice over.
Oxfam said that figure only included tax dodged by individuals and not companies.
And more than a third of the £12tn held in tax havens around the globe was believed to be held in British overseas territories and crown dependencies, the charity estimated.
"Talking tough on tax whilst continuing to usher a third of the world's wealth into UK tax havens, risks making a mockery of David Cameron's leadership at the G8 Summit in June," Oxfam head of development finance and public services Emma Seery said.
Read in browser » Iodine lack 'may lower UK baby IQs'
By Anonymous on May 22, 2013 02:53 am 21 May 2013 Last updated at 20:23 ET By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News 
Is diet in pregnancy affecting school ability?
Mild iodine deficiency during pregnancy could be dimming the intellect of some babies born in the UK, say researchers.
Their study of 1,000 families, published in the Lancet, showed lower IQs and reading scores in primary school pupils whose mother had had too little iodine while pregnant.
Academics advise women of child-bearing age to maintain iodine in their diets by eating dairy products and fish.
Women were warned not to take seaweed pills, as they contain too much iodine.
Iodine is essential for the development of the brain as it is needed to build some of the body's hormones. A severe deficiency is the leading cause of preventable brain damage in the world.
It was mainly thought of as a problem in developing countries, yet previous studies have also suggested that some women in the UK are mildly deficient. The impact of low-level deficiency was, however, previously unknown.
Common Researchers at Surrey and Bristol Universities looked at iodine levels in urine samples taken from pregnant women in south-west England.
It showed that iodine deficiency was common - affecting two-thirds of women.
Their children went on to have slightly lower IQs at the age of eight and worse reading ability aged nine.
Dr Sarah Bath told the BBC: "We saw a three-point IQ difference between children who were born to mothers with low iodine in early pregnancy and children who were born to mothers above the cut-off."
The researchers said this "may prevent a child reaching their full potential" and was an "important public health issue".
They have published advice on iodine on the British Dietetic Association website.
Prof Margaret Rayman said: "Our advice is to make sure they have enough iodine intake, and take additional iodine in safely, probably from food - dairy products, fish."
Dr Bath warned against using kelp or seaweed supplements, as they are packed with so much iodine it could cause problems.
A large number of pregnancies are unplanned, so the advice is to all women of child-bearing age.
Salt It had been thought that the UK had dealt with its iodine problem decades ago by "lucky accident". Changes to dairy farming meant cows' milk contained more iodine and at the same time the government was encouraging people to drink more milk.
Other countries - including the US, Denmark and the Netherlands - added iodine to salt so that bread and processed foods became a major source of iodine.
However, the researchers argue it is too soon for the UK to consider a similar measure, as iodine deficiency across the country has yet to be assessed.
Dr Mark Vanderpump, a consultant physician at the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust, argues in favour of adding iodine to salt.
However, he said this would provoke fierce debate similar to arguments about adding fluoride to water in order to protect teeth.
In the meantime, he warned pregnant women against suddenly starting to take supplements.
"If you take a supplement during pregnancy, the thyroid gets stunned and goes down. Taking a supplement during pregnancy may not be the best thing to do."
A Department of Health representative said a healthy balanced diet should be enough for women but: "We keep track of emerging research, such as today's report.
"The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition is currently considering the issue of iodine deficiency in the UK. There are currently no plans for fortification of salt with iodine."
Read in browser » Clegg 'won't pull plug' on coalition
By Anonymous on May 21, 2013 09:29 pm 21 May 2013 Last updated at 21:29 ET 
Nick Clegg says the Lib Dems will tell the public they are a proper party of government
Nick Clegg is to insist the Liberal Democrats will not "pull the plug" on the coalition government ahead of the next general election.
In a speech at Westminster, the deputy prime minister will say he and David Cameron remain "absolutely committed" to maintaining their partnership.
But Mr Clegg will accuse some Tory MPs of "game playing" over issues such as Europe and same-sex marriage.
The election is scheduled to take place in May 2015.
In an interview with Total Politics magazine, published at the weekend, Mr Cameron said maintaining the coalition remained the best course of action over the next two years, but added that "if that wasn't the case then we'd have to face the new circumstances in whatever way we should".
'Distinct vision' Delivering his speech, Mr Clegg is expected to criticise the "rather creative coverage" of those comments, saying: "He echoed exactly what both of us have always believed. This coalition has been remarkably radical; it still has work to do; and the best way for us to serve and improve Britain is by finishing what we started.
"I am absolutely committed to this coalition lasting until 2015 - as is the prime minister."
He will suggest that claims it would be in either or both parties' interests to "prematurely pull the plug" are wrong.
Voters "will not forgive either party if we call time ahead of the election that has been legislated for in 2015 - destabilising the nation in the vague hope of short-term political gain", Mr Clegg will say.
It would not work for the Lib Dems to try to "pull the wool over people's eyes" and win back critics of the coalition deal by quitting six months early.
"And, frankly, that isn't what we want. The Liberal Democrats look forward to fighting the next election as a party of government, on our record in government, and with a distinct vision of our own for the next government - having seen this one through until the end."
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