Shaun ! rest in peace. love from mum and richard

Shaun ! rest in peace. love from mum and richard

New UN climate head demands ambition and transparency

New UN climate head demands ambition and transparency
Page last updated at 14:28 GMT, Tuesday, 18 May 2010 15:28 UK
E-mail this to a friend Printable version By Steven Duke
Editor, One Planet, BBC World Service

Ms Figueres asked for "ambition, transparency and inclusiveness" The new head of the UN's climate convention has called for ambition and transparency in UN climate talks.

Christiana Figueres also told the BBC that the process used to hammer out a deal at December's Copenhagen summit was "not the most satisfactory".

The Costa Rican diplomat, who has been involved in UN climate negotiations since 1995, said she was "very honoured" to take up the post.

"It's time to make more effort, it's time to be more ambitious," she said.

Speaking to the BBC's One Planet programme, Ms Figueres added: "It is time to be more transparent and it's time to be more inclusive."

Little accord

The immediate challenge facing the new executive secretary will be to rebuild political and public support for UN negotiations, following the perceived failure to deliver a binding agreement at the Copenhagen summit.

A weaker deal - the Copenhagen Accord - was thrashed out by a select group of countries as the summit came to a stuttering end.

Admitting those accord talks were "not transparent and not inclusive enough," Ms Figueres denied that Copenhagen had been a failure, stressing climate change was now "at the top of every political agenda in every country".

The next big summit being organised by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will be held in Mexico at the end of the year.

Kim Carstensen, leader of the Global Climate Initiative with WWF, offered Ms Figueres the environment group's congratulations.

"She promises to be an inspiring leader who can keep a high level political dialogue going in order to secure the first critical elements of a climate treaty in Mexico," he said.

"Her background should allow her to foster trust between countries and to push for an ambitious climate deal."

Asked if it was time for the UN to look at ways to control the climate other than by enforcing tough cuts in carbon emissions, Ms Figueres re-iterated that emissions will remain the focus of her efforts.

But she did suggest it was wrong to devote all political attention to curbing harmful gases, saying efforts to help countries adapt to a changing climate had become "relegated to the side, and need to come to the centre and front".

She will take over from outgoing executive secretary Yvo de Boer in July, after the annual two weeks of negotiations between officials in Bonn.

You can hear the full interview with Ms Figueres in this week's edition of the One Planet show on the BBC World Service

gnaw through the nuts'

By Mark Kinver
Science and environment reporter, BBC News
Agoutis are said to the only rodent able to gnaw through the nuts' outer casing A study examining the natural dispersal of Brazil nuts has suggested that intensive harvesting could threaten future regeneration of the trees.

Researchers found that large rodents quickly ate the nuts, rather than caching them, when supplies were scarce.

When supplies were plentiful, almost twice as many nuts were buried, increasing the chance of successful germination, the team added.

The findings appear in the Journal of Tropical Ecology.

The scientists from Norway, Brazil and the UK said that very little was know about the fate of Brazil nuts under natural condition, despite it being one of the most economically important non-timber crops to come out of Amazonia.

Seasonal effect

In order to get a better understanding of how the seeds were dispersed, they tracked 900 marked seeds to see how seasonal food availability affected agoutis' and acouchis' - large scatter-hoarding rodents - caching rates, dispersal distances and how long the seeds were buried before being eaten.

BRAZIL NUT TREE FACTSContinue reading the main story Can grow to 50m (164ft) high
The trees live for about 500 years
The trees' fruit have a hard case, which contains 10-25 seeds (nuts)
The seeds remain trapped, unless the case is gnawed open by agoutis
Trees located in dense tropical forests can take up to 150 years to reach maturity
"We basically found that the seasons had a very strong effect on the dispersal distances and what happened to the seeds themselves," explained Torbjorn Haugaasen, an ecologist at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences.

"During the wet season (April) - when there are a lot of other fruits in the forest - more seeds were cached for later retrieval," he added.

"In the dry season (September), on the other hand, more seeds were eaten immediately because there was not that much food around and the rodents needed to draw on the food resource.

"Seeds were also taken further away during the dry season, which suggests that the rodents saw them as a more valuable resource than during the wet season," Dr Haugaasen told BBC News.

The field study, carried out during 2006, showed that 74.4% of seeds were buried during the wet season, compared with just 38.2% during the dry season.

The team suggested that collecting too many Brazil nuts from an area could replicate "dry season" conditions for the rodents.

"Reduced seed availability due to intensive harvesting could potentially create a dry-season scenario where most seeds succumb to pre-dispersal predation, thereby adversely affecting the natural regeneration of Brazil nut trees," they wrote.

Seeds of hope

The researchers said that populations of two large rodent species were responsible for the dispersal of the Brazil nut tree seeds: agoutis and acuchis.

Up to 25 seeds, what we call Brazil nuts, are contained in the trees' fruit However, they added, only the agoutis were capable of gnawing through the hard, thick outer casing of the fruit and releasing the seeds (Brazil nuts).

Agoutis, which can weigh up to 6kg, are found throughout the same range as the Brazil nut trees in South America.

"The (trees) therefore rely almost entirely on these large terrestrial rodents for the release of their well-protected seeds," the team explained.

"Those seeds not consumed within the germination period (12-18 months) may germinate, and seeds may remain viable for at least six years."

Scatter-hoarding also benefits plants in a number of ways, such as transporting seeds away from the parent plants and increasing the probability of reaching a site more suitable for germination.

Dr Haugaasen explained that the team decided to carry out the study in order to build on the findings of a 2003 paper published in Science, which first identified the link between intensive harvesting and the lack of young Brazil nut trees.

Writing in the 2003 paper, researchers said: "Persistently harvested stands were characterised by larger (and presumably older) trees and few or no juveniles.

But, they observed: "Juveniles were most common in unharvested and lightly harvested stands."

However, Dr Haugaasen said, the people harvesting the nuts could unknowingly be contributing to the regeneration of the trees, as some nuts were accidentally dropped as they were carried out of the forest.

"We actually found seedlings along the path used by the collectors. However, this does not mean that they are all going to reach maturity because they are in (vulnerable) places."

But he warned that restricting nut collecting could prove to be counterproductive because the harvests were a key source of income for local communities.

"Alternative possibilities, such as managed planting of seedlings in natural gaps in the forest might be a better solution," he suggested.

Dr Haugaasen said that the next step for the researchers was to look at the "management implications" of their findings.

"We also need to know how the hunting of these rodents can effect the natural regeneration of these trees," he added.

"You can have a negative impact by reducing the number of these rodents.

"However, if you have a large number of seeds already buried by a rodent before it is shot, no-one else knows where those seeds are.

"So, you could arguably have a positive impact on regeneration."

Further studies on the ecology of Brazil nut trees are expected to be published in the coming 12 months

was the Euro the eternal answer

was the Euro the eternal answer
the finances of Greece illustrate the one size fits all has issues
German stereotype ?
Who kept the U.K out of the euro
Petrol bombs were thrown at police, who responded with pepper spray and tear gas

Greece is "on the brink of the abyss", President Karolos Papoulias has warned, after three people died during protests over planned austerity measures.

"We are all responsible so that it does not take the step into the void," the president said in a statement.

It followed a day of violence during which protesters set fire to a bank, killing three employees.

Greece's government has vowed to pursue the spending cuts - a condition of its 110bn euro ($142bn; £95bn) bail-out.

"We are prepared to pay the heavy political cost," Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou told parliament during Wednesday's debate on the bill.

"We will not take a single step backwards."

The euro hit a fresh 13-month low against the dollar and European stock markets were also hit, amid concerns over Greek bail-out plans.


ANALYSIS

By Malcolm Brabant, BBC News, Athens



The situation in Athens is very tense at the moment - people are pausing and reflecting on what has happened.
Some people think that the deaths of the bank workers will have the impact of dampening down the protests because people will think that losing human lives is not worth it. But there are others who believe that this is the start of a social explosion.

This is a very volatile country.

If the outside markets look at Greece and think it is about to collapse, it may become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

In video: Reporter overcome

There are also fears Greece's debt crisis could spread to other countries.

The austerity measures - which the Greek parliament is due to vote by the end of the week - include wage freezes, pension cuts and tax rises. They aim to achieve fresh budget cuts of 30bn euros over three years, with the goal of cutting Greece's public deficit to less than 3% of GDP by 2014. It currently stands at 13.6%.

The general strike is the third to hit Greece in as many months. The protest became violent, with petrol bombs thrown at police who responded with pepper spray and tear gas.

The bodies of two women - one pregnant - and a man were found inside the Marfin bank branch on Stadiou Avenue in central Athens. They were among 20 people working there when the petrol bomb was thrown.

Most of the employees managed to escape the fumes as the flames took hold, but the three found their way blocked as they tried to escape to the roof and they suffocated.

Prime Minister George Papandreou told MPs in parliament the killings were a "murderous act".


GREEK AUSTERITY MEASURES
Public sector pay frozen till 2014
Public sector allowances cut by 20%
State pensions frozen or cut
Average retirement age up from 61 to 63
VAT increased from 19% to 23%
Taxes on fuel, alcohol and tobacco up 10%
One-off tax on profits, plus new gambling, property and green taxes


In pictures: Greece protests
Angry Greeks 'left carrying the can'
Greek economy 'to shrink by 3%'
Hewitt: Europe's days of anxiety
"Nobody has the right to violence and particularly violence that leads to murder. Violence breeds violence."

But one of the protesters told the BBC it had been the fault of the police, whose "brutality" had led to the escalation.

"It's something tragic but I think that the responsibility in the last instance lies with the government because the government unleashed a tremendous amount of police violence against a huge demonstration," Panayotis Sotiris said.

Europe future 'at stake'

Meanwhile, the German parliament has begun considering the bail-out plan for Greece. Chancellor Angela Merkel urged MPs to back the emergency loan package agreed by European finance ministers at the weekend.


What went wrong in Greece?

Greece's economic reforms that led to it abandoning the drachma in favour of the euro in 2002 made it easier for the country to borrow money.

Greece went on a debt-funded spending spree, including high-profile projects such as the 2004 Athens Olympics, which went well over budget.

It was hit by the downturn, which meant it had to spend more on benefits and received less in taxes. There were also doubts about the accuracy of its economic statistics.

Greece's economic problems meant lenders started charging higher interest rates to lend it money and widespread tax evasion also hit the government's coffers.

There have been demonstrations against the government's austerity measures to deal with its 300bn euro (£267bn) debt, such as cuts to public sector pay.

Now the government has announced that it needs to access the 30bn euros (£26bn) in emergency loans it has been offered by other EU countries.
BACK 1 of 6 NEXT It requires Germany to pay the largest proportion of the loans.

"Quite simply, Europe's future is at stake," she said.

The EU has agreed to provide 80bn euros (£69bn) in funding - of which around 22bn euros would come from Germany.

Another 30bn euros will come from the International Monetary Fund and the remainder from other eurozone members.

European Council President Herman van Rompuy said the European Union was watching events in Greece.

"We are all concerned by the Greek economic and budgetary situation, but at this moment our thoughts are with the human victims in Athens," Mr van Rompuy said

"A major programme has just been finalised. This programme is ambitious and credible in efforts that it represents towards the budgetary plan and competitiveness."

The bail-out deal is designed to prevent Greece from defaulting on its massive debt.

However, it must first be approved by some parliaments in the 15 other eurozone countries.

Uganda's highest ice cap splits on Mt Margherita

Uganda's highest ice cap splits on Mt Margherita

Uganda's Rwenzori Mountains in 1987 on the left and in 2005 on the right
The ice cap on Uganda's highest peak has split because of global warming, Uganda's Wildlife Authority (UWA) says.

The glacier is located at an altitude of 5,109m (16,763ft) in the Rwenzori mountain range, near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The authorities say a crevasse has blocked access to the Margherita summit - the third-highest peak in Africa, and a popular destination with climbers.

Scientists say glaciers in the Rwenzori range could disappear within 20 years.

UWA officials said a team had been sent to the mountain to assess the extent of damage on the route to Margherita.

According to researchers, the ice cap covered 6 sq km (2 sq miles) 50 years ago. It is now less than 1 sq km.

The mountain range, which is one of the few places near the equator to have glaciers, was declared a Unesco World Heritage site in 1994.

Election: Vote battle intensifies for final three days

Election: Vote battle intensifies for final three days

Cameron denies he is 'over-confident'
Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg are into the final three days of election campaigning.

The Tories are ahead in the polls but not by enough to get a majority - Mr Cameron says they will campaign through the night in a final push from Tuesday.

Mr Brown said he would fight "every inch" and said "judgement and wisdom" were needed after the financial crisis.

Mr Clegg told supporters in south-east London "the sky's the limit" and they had "three days to change Britain".

The three leaders are spending the bank holiday visiting numerous seats they hope to win on 6 May.

'No complacency'

Three days before the closest election since 1992, an ICM/Guardian poll puts the Conservatives on 33%, Labour and the Lib Dems on 28% while a YouGov poll for the Sun puts the Tories on 34%, Lib Dems on 29% and Labour on 28% - which continue to point to a hung parliament.

BBC News Channel chief political correspondent Laura Kuenssberg said despite the final TV debate and Mr Brown having to apologise after being overheard calling a pensioner "bigoted", the polls had not really shifted over the past week.

In Blackpool on Monday, Mr Cameron said there was not "one ounce of complacency" in his campaign and pledged a through-the-night campaign from Tuesday night to Wednesday night, in which he is expected to meet fishermen, bakers and florists who work in the early hours of the morning.


In this country you don't inherit power, you have to earn it

Nick Clegg


Clegg warns of Tory 'arrogance'
He said he was taking "no vote for granted" and recognised that millions of people were still making up their minds.

In a message to his parliamentary candidates he said: "This is the vital time. You need to go door to door, street to street, house to house. We have a huge amount of work to do, a lot of people left to convince."

"If we get out there we can... win it and win it for our country," he said.

On Sunday he said his party had the "momentum" - and was criticised by Labour's Lord Mandelson who said Mr Cameron was "desperate to give the impression that he is home and dry" but in fact voters were "firmly resisting his soft soap campaign".

'Sky's the limit'

Addressing supporters in Blackheath, south-east London, Mr Clegg accused Mr Cameron of "breathtaking arrogance" and of "measuring up the curtains" at 10 Downing Street before the election had taken place.

Urging activists to "campaign every minute of the day", he said: "Anything can happen. The sky's the limit."


I'm going to fight every inch of the way and every second of the day

Gordon Brown
Mr Clegg said: "We have got three days in this most exciting election campaign, three days to change Britain for good. Three days to deliver the fairness... for the families and communities of Great Britain."

He acknowledged a change in Lib Dem strategy - campaigning in seats like Streatham and Lewisham that the party would not have expected to win. Mr Clegg told the BBC: "We are reaching deeper into parts of Britain that have been let down by Labour in particular for so long."

The Lib Dems have also released a list of celebrity supporters - which includes actors Colin Firth and Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe, satirist Armando Ianucci and campaigner Bianca Jagger.

Meanwhile Mr Brown has been joined by his own celebrity supporter, Dragons' Den entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne, in visits to Basildon and Ipswich on Monday morning.

Equality plans

He acknowledged he was "fighting for my life" in what he described as "a post global-financial-crisis election".

He said the government needed to make the "right calls" and "judgement and wisdom" were needed while the Tories had been on the wrong side of the arguments during the economic crisis.

"It is a Labour majority government we need," he said.

"I'm going to fight every inch of the way and every second of the day to tell people in Britain that fight for the future must mean people look at our plan and what we're proposing."

The Conservatives have unveiled plans for a "contract for young people" - to guarantee them help with training and getting jobs and are setting out plans for new rules aimed at forcing listed companies to hire more female directors, proposals to close the gender pay gap and set up mentoring schemes for female and ethnic minority entrepreneurs.

Labour is concentrating on its "seasides manifesto" to boost resort towns and help them benefit from opportunities in low carbon businesses and economic regeneration.

The Lib Dems will turn their fire on the Conservatives arguing they would not reform the banks and rebuild the economy because they are "in hock to the City of London".

The three leaders will also address a CitizensUK election "assembly" of about 2,500 people in London. Each will speak for 10 minutes before taking questions from a panel about "civil society".

Australia shelves key emissions trading scheme

Mr Rudd has said climate change is "the moral challenge of our generation"

The Australian government has put plans for a flagship emissions trading scheme on hold until 2013 at the earliest.

The move comes after the scheme was rejected twice by the Senate, where Prime Minster Kevin Rudd's government does not have a majority.

Mr Rudd, who came to power promising tough climate action, blamed opposition obstruction and slow global progress on emissions cuts for the plan's delay.

Australia is one of the highest per capita carbon emitters in the world.

Australia has some of the highest per capita carbon emissions of developed nations.

HAVE YOUR SAY

Australia is right to question CPRS. Global warming is a myth

KarenZ

Send us your comments

Mr Rudd had hoped the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) would cut Australia's carbon emissions by up to 25% from 2000 levels by 2020, by requiring industrial polluters to buy licences to emit carbon.

The scheme had been scheduled to begin in July 2011, but Mr Rudd said the government would now delay plans until the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.

He said doing so would "provide the Australian government at the time with a better position to assess the level of global action on climate change".

The BBC's Nick Bryant in Sydney says the postponement is a major climbdown by the Rudd government, which reflects the changing politics of climate change in Australia.

Developed countries with highest CO2 emissions

Tonnes of C02 per capita, 2006
Luxembourg	25.81
USA	20.12
Australia	19.06
Canada	17.10
Finland	12.94
Czech Republic	12.57
Estonia	12.34
Ireland	11.63
Belgium	11.47
Russia	11.14
Denmark	10.77
Germany	10.52
Netherlands	10.46
Greece	10.26
Iceland	10.15
Japan	9.96
Austria	9.47
Norway	9.40
UK	9.15
Spain	8.87

SOURCE: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research

Ahead of the Copenhagen climate change conference, the prime minister looked set to fight - and win - this year's Australian election on the emissions trading issue, says our correspondent, but polls have pointed to an erosion of public support.

Mr Rudd had hoped to enact the CPRS into law before last year's Copenhagen climate summit.

But in December, shortly before the summit opened, the proposed scheme was rejected by the Senate for a second time.

The move came after the opposition Liberal party ousted its leader Malcolm Turnbull - who had pledged his backing for the measure - and replaced him with climate sceptic Tony Abbott.

Mr Rudd said the Liberal Party's decision to "backflip on its historical commitment to bring in a CPRS", coupled with a lack of global action on climate change, meant it was inevitable that the scheme would be delayed in Australia.

"It's very plain that the correct course of action is to extend the implementation date," he said.

'Moral challenge'

Despite the decision, the prime minister said his government remained committed to reducing greenhouse gases.

"Climate change remains a fundamental economic and environmental and moral challenge for all Australians, and for all peoples of the world. That just doesn't go away," he said.

Mr Rudd's critics will say that this exposes a familiar characteristic of his leadership: his reluctance to fight for causes when the polls suggest he might be in danger Read more from Nick Bryant

But Mr Abbott accused Mr Rudd of a lack of credibility over the policy reversal.

"It seems the government has dropped its policy to deal with climate change because it is frightened the public think that this really is just a great big new tax on everything," ABC News quoted him as saying.

"He's running away from it because he seems scared."

Mr Abbott has previously said it would be premature for Australia to adopt such a scheme ahead of other countries.

Some lawmakers had questioned the scientific case for global warming and said that the emissions trading scheme would damage Australia's economy.

'Pick the right veg' for health

Papaya is a fruit rich in beta-cryptoxanthin

Obvious choices of fruit and vegetables are not necessarily the healthiest, say researchers.

According to US experts, making simple swaps like eating sweet potatoes instead of carrots and papaya rather than oranges could make a difference.

Foods, like raspberries, watercress and kale, are richer in phytonutrients which may help prevent disease, they told a US meeting.

UK nutritionists said a balanced diet is essential to good health.

The British Nutrition Foundation warned that relying on eating a few select food types to boost health was ill-advised and said there was no such thing as a "superfood".

No one food can give you everything you need Dr Emma Williams of the British Nutrition Foundation

Experts recommend five portions a day of fruit and veg in a healthy diet.

Plant foods are known to contain "phytonutrient" chemicals that can protect the heart and arteries and prevent cancers.

But the most popular varieties may not be the best, according to US researchers.

They analysed data from US health surveys of people's dietary habits to look at the most common sources of phytonutrients.

They found that for 10 of the 14 phytonutrients studied, a single food type accounted for two-thirds or more of an individual's consumption, regardless of how much fruit and veg they ate overall.

Carrots were the most common source of beta-carotene, oranges and orange juice the most common source of beta-cryptoxanthin, spinach the most common source of lutein/zeaxanthin, strawberries the most common source of ellagic acid and mustard the biggest provider of isothiocyanates.

However, for each of these phytonutrients there was a richer food source available.

Richer foods

Switching from carrots to sweet potatoes would nearly double beta-carotene intake, say the researchers.

Similarly papaya contains 15 times more beta-cryptoxanthin than oranges, while kale has three times more lutein/zeaxanthin than spinach.

Raspberries have three times more ellagic acid than strawberries and one cup of watercress contains as much isothiocyanate as four teaspoonfuls of mustard.

Study leader Keith Randolph, who is a technology strategist for the supplement company Nutrilite, said: "These data highlight the importance of not only the quantity but also the significant impact the quality and variety of the fruits and vegetables you eat can have on your health."

Dr Emma Williams of the British Nutrition Foundation said: "They are right that some foods are richer sources of phytonutrients.

"But at the end of the day, to be healthy you need to make sure you have a varied and balanced diet.

"No one food can give you everything you need."

The findings were presented at the 2010 Experimental Biology conference in Anaheim, California.

She's been rearing a small group of apes as if they are people, to see what happens.

Chimps 'are people, too'

By Dick Taylor BBC Horizon

Danny Wallace investigates for Horizon

In a private facility just outside Des Moine, Iowa , primatologist Sue Savage-Rumbaugh is conducting an experiment that has lasted 26 years.

She's been rearing a small group of apes as if they are people, to see what happens.

Her results appear to be spectacular, at least to writer Danny Wallace: "Kanzi asked me for a present. I gave him the free toothbrush kit from my flight over. He brushed his teeth. We bonded."

Danny is a seasoned television campaigner: he showed us How To Start Your Own Country on BBC Two last year.

You could say that an adult chimp has more of the characteristics of a person than a new born baby Julian Baggini, philosopher

As a non-scientist, he's a useful man to investigate the extent to which our closest relatives, the chimpanzees, could indeed be people, too. Because, at the heart of primate research, there is a conundrum.

Many primatologists are devising experiments that show chimps are ever more people-like than was thought just a few years ago; and yet, as scientists, they will not countenance that chimps could ever be people.

Yes and no

At the Yerkes Primate Centre in Atlanta, Danny finds out from researcher Victoria Horner that chimps have culture...

Victoria: "This experiment is the first definite evidence that chimpanzees can pass on ideas to each other. That is the basis of culture."

Danny: "So, are they people then?"

Victoria: "No."

In Budongo National Park, Uganda. Katie Slocombe from St Andrews University is studying vocalisations with wild chimps...

Katie: "Chimps produce an incredibly wide range of sounds. It appears that they may have a rudimentary language."

Danny: "So, are they people then?

Katie: "No"

Alicia Melis of the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig conducts experiments to see if chimps have a quintessential human character, one that was thought to be absent till now: co-operation...

Alicia: "Chimps can co-operate, they can even chose the best co-operator to help them when presented with a range of their mates."

Danny: "...they co-operate, they're people?

Alicia: "Sort of!"

Researchers continue to find more and more human-like behaviours

Now, Danny's bluff character and native wit carry him through these encounters, but there is a good reason why he persists in asking these seemingly crazy questions.

According to philosopher Julian Baggini, it is possible that non-human animals like chimps could be people.

"You could say that an adult chimp has more of the characteristics of a person than a new born baby," he says.

After all, though humans and chimps are different species, they share up to 99.4% of their most crucial DNA (the figure is difficult to calculate exactly and depends on the scientist you speak to). And to prove how similar we are to chimps, Danny takes part in a potentially humiliating experiment.

The scent of male sweat is controlled by their genes, in both chimps and men. In a blind test, three women were asked to sniff the sweat of Danny and Cody the chimp, to see which one they fancied most.

When they found out afterwards that one of the odours was from a chimp, there was laughter. When they realised that two out of three had preferred the chimp, there was nervous laughter.

'Learning key'

When Danny finally reaches Des Moines, the issue comes into focus.

The chimp and human genomes are very, very close

The apes Sue Savage Rumbaugh works with - and lives with - are bonobos. They are a kind of chimpanzee that is less aggressive than that found in most zoos.

Having brushed his teeth Kanzi, a 26-year-old bonobo, built like a heavyweight boxer and who is five times stronger than an average man, looks into Danny's eyes and asks him to play "Chase".

So they hang out together for a while, because that's what Kanzi has learned to do. And for Sue Savage Rumbaugh, learning is the key.

"Take a human child. If you lock him into a cage, never take him to the mall, never give him ice-cream, never teach him to communicate - how could he become a person?" asks Sue.

Chimps are human? Never. Chimps are people? You decide.

Horizon: Chimps Are People Too is on BBC Two at 2100 BST on Tuesday 10 October. Watch video highlights at Horizon's website.

Transport Secretary Lord Adonis has denied that the decision to lift UK flight restrictions was the result of pressure from the airline industry.

Ash cloud: Lord Adonis denies pressure to lift ban

Transport Secretary Lord Adonis: "We have done our best"

Transport Secretary Lord Adonis has denied that the decision to lift UK flight restrictions was the result of pressure from the airline industry.

The ban on flights due to the volcanic ash cloud from Iceland over the UK was removed at 2200 BST on Tuesday.

Lord Adonis said the move had been made after an assessment of how much ash in the atmosphere was safe for aircraft.

The Conservatives questioned why this had not been established earlier, and urged an inquiry into the "fiasco".

'Urgent issue'

Airlines and airports had been keen for the restrictions to be lifted, with several carriers - including British Airways - conducting test flights that they said demonstrated it was safe to fly.

On Monday, British Airways asked the European Union and the UK government for financial compensation for the disruption, saying the shutdown was costing it £15m-£20m a day.

UK airports operator BAA said the ban was costing it £5m-£6m a day.

Asked by presenter Jeremy Paxman on BBC Two's Newsnight programme about how much pressure the government had come under from the airlines, Lord Adonis said: "They have obviously wanted to be able to fly their planes - of course they have - but that has not been the issue at stake here.

"The issue at stake here has been the assessment of the safety authorities as to what is the safe way in which planes can fly when there is a presence of ash.

"The fact which has changed in the last week is we have had a volcanic eruption and having to assess safe levels of ash content in the atmosphere within which planes can fly has been an urgent issue which the safety authorities have had to deal with.

"That's been what's changed over the last five days - it's not been pressure from the industry."

'Let down'

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: "This solution has been reached as a result of the close working between the government, the Civil Aviation Authority, airlines and the manufacturers, and will allow the thousands of UK citizens stranded abroad to return home to their families."

He added: "We will of course continue to monitor the situation closely. As we have said throughout safety is our primary concern."

But shadow transport secretary Theresa Villiers said Labour's "misjudgement and mismanagement" had "badly let down" the travelling public and urged the prime minister to immediately announce a full inquiry into the "fiasco".

She added: "Six days into the crisis, we're suddenly told that there are actually levels of ash which are compatible with safe flying.

"The question angry passengers and airlines are already asking is why the government hadn't worked this out before the crisis occurred."

But Lord Adonis said: "The government has taken every measure we can, and at every stage. We have done everything we reasonably can to protect the travelling public."

Tolerance levels

Dame Deirdre Hutton, of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), said there had been detailed consultation with experts to reassess the tolerance of planes to the ash cloud.

The CAA said it was a "situation without precedent" and that decisions had been made based on "thorough gathering of data and analysis".

"The major barrier to resuming flights has been understanding tolerance levels of aircraft to ash," the CAA said.

"Manufacturers have now agreed increased tolerance levels in low ash density areas."

After the lifting of the restrictions, the first British Airways flight to touch down from Heathrow was a service already in the air from Vancouver, which landed shortly before 2200 BST.

The airline's chief executive Willie Walsh said he was pleased with the decision, but said it would take weeks to get back to normal levels of operation.

He said: "We're now at British Airways going to start the difficult task of getting our stranded customers back home. I think this is an airlift that is unprecedented but we will make every effort to get our people back home."

Mr Walsh said "lessons can be learned" and added: "There will be plenty of time for a post-mortem of what has happened over the last few days." He said parts of UK airspace could have been opened several days ago.

"My personal belief is that we could have safely continued operating for a period of time. I think there were occasions when the decision to close airspace could have been justified," he said.

Flights have been grounded across the UK and much of Europe since Thursday following the eruption of Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull.

UK water use 'worsening global crisis'

By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News

Climatic change will increase water stress in many places, the report says

The amount of water used to produce food and goods imported by developed countries is worsening water shortages in the developing world, a report says.

The report, focusing on the UK, says two-thirds of the water used to make UK imports is used outside its borders.

The Engineering the Future alliance of professional engineering bodies says this is unsustainable, given population growth and climate change.

It says countries such as the UK must help poorer nations curb water use.

"We must take account of how our water footprint is impacting on the rest of the world," said Professor Roger Falconer, director of the Hydro-Environmental Research Centre at Cardiff University and a member of the report's steering committee.

If the water crisis becomes critical, it will pose a serious threat to the UK's future development Professor Peter Guthrie

"If we are to prevent the 'perfect storm', urgent action is necessary."

The term perfect storm was used last year by the UK government's chief scientist, Professor John Beddington, to describe future shortages of energy, food and water.

Forecasts suggest that when the world's population soars beyond 8bn in 20 years time, the global demand for food and energy will jump by 50%, with the need for fresh water rising by 30%.

But developing countries are already using significant proportions of their water to grow food and produce goods for consumption in the West, the report says.

"The burgeoning demand from developed countries is putting severe pressure on areas that are already short of water," said Professor Peter Guthrie, head of the Centre for Sustainable Development at Cambridge University, who chaired the steering group.

WATER TRENDS How availability, use and needs are changing across the world In graphics

"If the water crisis becomes critical, it will pose a serious threat to the UK's future development because of the impact it would have on our access to vital resources."

Key to the report is the concept of "embedded water" - the water used to grow food and make things.

Embedded in a pint of beer, for example, is about 130 pints (74 litres) of water - the total amount needed to grow the ingredients and run all the processes that make the pint of beer.

A cup of coffee embeds about 140 litres (246 pints) of water, a cotton T-shirt about 2,000 litres, and a kilogram of steak 15,000 litres.

Using this methodology, UK consumers see only about 3% of the water usage they are responsible for.

The average UK consumer uses about 150 litres per day, the size of a large bath.

Ten times as much is embedded in the British-made goods bought by the average UK consumer; but that represents only about one-third of the total water embedded in all the average consumer's food and goods, with the remainder coming from imports.

The UK is not unique in this - the same pattern is seen in most developed countries.

FUTURE WATER STRESS Interactive map: Rising water stress in a changing world

The engineering institutions say it means nations such as the UK have a duty to help curb water use in the developing world, where about one billion people already do not have sufficient access to clean drinking water.

UK-funded aid projects should have water conservation as a central tenet, the report recommends, while companies should examine their supply chains and reduce the water used in them.

This could lead to difficult questions being asked, such as whether it is right for the UK to import beans and flowers from water-stressed countries such as Kenya.

While growing crops such as these uses water, selling them brings foreign exchange into poor nations.

In the West, the report suggests, concerns over water could eventually lead to goods carrying a label denoting their embedded water content, in the same way as electrical goods now sport information about their energy consumption.

The Engineering the Future alliance includes the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE) and the Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM).

The Icelandic eruption

Icelandic volcanic ash alert grounds UK flights

The Icelandic eruption - airport officials say the ash represents a very serious risk to aircraft

Airline passengers are facing massive disruption across the UK after an ash cloud from a volcanic eruption in Iceland grounded planes.

In Scotland, all airports are shut and there is disruption at many others including Manchester, Liverpool, Stansted, Newcastle and Birmingham.

The Air Traffic Control Service (Nats) imposed restrictions after the Met Office warned ash could damage engines.

Passengers are being advised to contact their airlines prior to travel.

Experts have warned that the tiny particles of rock, glass and sand contained in the ash cloud would be sufficient to jam aircraft engines.

'Significant disruption'

Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow airports were shut as Nats said it was restricting flights "in accordance with international civil aviation policy".

The ash cloud disrupted all flights to and from Manchester with a similar picture at Newcastle airport where all arrivals were cancelled and all outbound flights either cancelled or subject to indefinite delay.

Liverpool's John Lennon airport suspended all flights until at least 1300BST.

Airports in Scotland were the first to suspend flights overnight

British Airways said it had cancelled all domestic flights for the whole of Thursday, which affected flights at London's Gatwick, Heathrow and City airports.

Birmingham airport warned of severe disruption with about 90% of flights cancelled, and there were problems reported at East Midlands, Leeds Bradford, Cardiff and Bristol.

Most flights were suspended at Belfast International Airport and George Best Belfast City Airport, with some in and out of Dublin airport also hit.

A Nats spokesman said: "The Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre has issued a forecast that the ash cloud from the volcanic eruption in Iceland will track over Europe tonight.

"Nats is working with Eurocontrol and our colleagues in Europe's other air navigation service providers to take the appropriate action to ensure safety in accordance with international aviation policy."

Engines shut

The European air safety body, Eurocontrol, said the cloud of ash had reached 55,000ft and was expected to move through northern UK and Scotland by 1300BST.

Brian Flynn, assistant head of operations of its central flow management unit, told the BBC: "As it moves toward the Netherlands and Belgium it will dissipate and lose intensity, like any weather phenomenon. But we don't know what the extent of it will be."

VOLCANIC ASH CLOUD The eruption in the Eyjafjallajoekull area is the second to occur in a month This eruption has released ash to significantly greater heights Volcanic ash contains tiny particles of rock and even glass, which can wreak havoc with machinery A 1982 BA flight unknowingly flew into an ash cloud, shutting down all four engines Animated guide: Volcanoes

Further south, five easyJet flights due to depart from Stansted airport in Essex were cancelled, along with all northbound flights from Southampton and Newquay airports.

Bournemouth airport grounded a flight to Dublin but said all other departures were on schedule.

Met Office forecaster Philip Avery said the ash could take several days to clear.

He said: "It is showing up on imagery at the moment, extending down as far as the Faroes but it looks as though the wind will drag it a good deal further south.

"Nats has good cause to be very cautious about this because in about 1982 a British Airways jumbo had the unnerving experience of having all four engines shut down as it flew through a plume of volcanic ash."

There was a nearly identical incident on 15 December 1989 when KLM Flight 867, a B747-400 from Amsterdam to Anchorage, Alaska, flew into the plume of the erupting Mount Redoubt, causing all four engines to fail.

Once the flight cleared the ash cloud, the crew was able to restart each engine and then make a safe landing at Anchorage, but the aircraft was substantially damaged.

The volcanic ash cloud reached about 55,000ft, Eurocontrol says

A BAA spokesman said: "Passengers intending to fly today are asked to contact their airline for further information and should expect disruption in the coming hours.

The Royal Air Force has confirmed it will maintain its search and rescue operations.

A spokesman said: "We will continue to provide full search and rescue cover, however we will consider all requests we get on a case by case basis.

"The ash is mainly affecting the air traffic control radar but we can fly in cloud and reduced visibility.

The eruption under a glacier in the Eyjafjallajoekull area of Iceland is the second in the country in less than a month.

A Nats spokesperson said the volcano was still erupting.

Japan annual whale hunt 'halved by activists'

By Roland Buerk BBC News, Tokyo

Anti-whaling activists aim to prevent the hunt from going ahead

Japan's whaling fleet has revealed how much anti-whaling activists disrupted the annual hunt off Antarctica.

The ships have returned to port with just over half as many whales - 507 - as they had set out to catch.

Whalers said they were angry, and blamed what they described as "violent interference" from the anti-whaling Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

Clashes at sea between Sea Shepherd and the whaling ships paralysed the hunt for 31 days.

The last ship of the whaling fleet to return home sailed into Tokyo bay, with much of the hunt's catch in her hold.

The whalers had set out late last year to kill nearly 1,000 whales in the waters off Antarctica, but they caught 506 minke whales and one fin whale.

It is the smallest catch for years.

One of the Sea Shepherd activists, Peter Bethune, is awaiting trial in Japan after boarding a harpoon ship and trying to perform a citizen's arrest on her captain.

Prosecutors have charged him with five crimes. If convicted he could go to prison.

Commercial whaling has been banned worldwide since 1986 but Japan justifies its annual hunt as scientific research.

Meat not used for study ends up in restaurants and shops

NHS left with 34m stockpile of swine flu jabs

By Nick Triggle Health reporter, BBC News

Priority groups and health workers have been offered the vaccine

The NHS has more than 34 million unused doses of swine flu vaccine despite agreeing deals to break its contracts.

The UK government had signed deals with two firms - Baxter and GlaxoSmithKline - for more than 120m doses of the jabs.

But just 44m will now be bought as cases have petered out since December. Of these, 6m have already been used and 3.8m is being sent to help Africa.

Ministers said the renegotiated deal was good value, but the Tories said millions of pounds had been wasted.

This is a careless waste of precious NHS money Andrew Lansley, shadow health secretary

Of the nearly 44m vaccines that the UK has agreed to pay for, 6m have already been used on priority groups and health workers, while 3.8m are being handed to the World Health Organization for Africa.

Of the rest, 10.6m is already with GPs who will be ready to act if more people entitled to the jab come forward. But the remaining 23.6m will be held in reserve.

Estimates have put the value of the stockpile at between £100m to £150m, although the government has refused to confirm cost saying it was commercially confidential.

Health Secretary Andy Burnham said: "I am pleased we have reached an agreement that is good value for the taxpayer and means that the department has retained a strategic stockpile to protect the UK population without incurring a cancellation fee."

It is also possible the vaccine could be used to combat seasonal flu this winter as it is thought the swine flu virus will become the dominant strain.

Under the terms of the deal with GSK, the government is also purchasing anti-flu drugs as well as bird flu vaccine. These will be held in reserve in case a completely different pandemic emerges.

Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley said: "This is a careless waste of precious NHS money. Labour failed to ensure there were proper break clauses in the contracts which means that British taxpayers have got an extremely bad deal."

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb added: "Today's announcement underscores the need for a thorough independent examination of how the NHS responded to the swine flu pandemic."

Does red meat give you bowel cancer?

By Clare Murphy Health reporter, BBC News

Everyone agrees you can still enjoy a steak

A bitter row has broken out between members of the British meat industry and the World Cancer Research Fund over whether red meat increases the risk of bowel cancer. What do we know about this link?

The WCRF says the evidence that red and processed meats increase the risk of colorectal cancer is "convincing", and since 2007 - when it published a major report on lifestyle and cancer - has urged the public to limit their consumption of steak and sausages.

These conclusions, claim an array of organisations representing meat producers, are flawed. They point to a number of independent scientists who have questioned the conviction with which the link between red meat and cancer was presented in the report.

The WCRF has published a list of "minor errors" with the report - some relating to the findings on red meat and bowel cancer - but says it has no intention of altering the conclusions based on an expert panel's review of the scientific literature.

According to the recommendations, red meat should be consumed in modest amounts, and salami and ham should almost always be avoided.

Veggies' risk

This latest spat is driven by the fact that the government's Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition cited the WCRF report in draft conclusions on the impact of cutting red meat on the nation's iron levels.

The WCRF findings, argues the lobby group for the English beef and lamb industry - EBLEX, should not be used as a "point of reference".

It's an enigma - nobody knows the truth Professor Tim Key Oxford University

But there have already been clashes within the pages of the leading scientific journal on diet and disease.

In a letter last year to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Professor Stewart Truswell of the University of Sydney questioned why several large studies which found no link had been discarded by the panel, and also pinpointed errors in the reporting of data.

In response, the WCRF explained that a series of studies on meat had been omitted because they did not report on red meat specifically, but it did accept some mistakes in the reporting of the data. This did not however "change the overall picture", it stressed.

Many in the scientific community were however taken aback by the findings of a large study into the relationship between diet and cancer, published in the same nutrition journal last year.

Looking at all the research, the evidence linking red and processed meat and bowel cancer is overwhelming Professor Martin Wiseman WCRF

The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition-Oxford (EPIC-Oxford), which followed 65,000 people during the 1990s, found that far from being protected from bowel cancer as anticipated, vegetarians in fact displayed a slightly higher incidence of this form of the disease.

It ran counter to the the findings of a previous arm of the EPIC study which suggested that very high levels of red and processed meat consumption - more than two pork chops every day - was associated with a 35% higher risk of bowel cancer when compared with those who rarely ate red meat.

"Our findings did come as something of a surprise. At the simplest level if meat causes colorectal cancer you would expect to see lower rates in the vegetarians, and we didn't," says Professor Tim Key, the epidemiologist who led the Oxford study.

"It's definitely a really tricky area. It's an enigma - nobody knows the truth. We can be much clearer on the relationship between obesity and cancer, or alcohol and cancer, because it's relatively easy to measure these things. Understanding the exact role specific foods play is much harder to quantify.

"There is a lot of evidence for meat, but it's not completely compelling."

It's not no

The WCRF says the Oxford findings on vegetarians could be explained by chance, noting there were only 28,000 non-meat eaters in the study. Vegetarians, it said, may consume fewer dairy products - "and our report found that milk probably reduces risk of bowel cancer".

RED MEAT CONTENT Medium steak: 145g Pork chop: 75g Spaghetti bolognese with beef: 140g Serving of roast beef: 90g

"We are in the process of reviewing the evidence on meat and bowel cancer and that is expected to be published later this year," says Professor Martin Wiseman, the project director. "But no research has been published since our report to make us question the finding that there is convincing evidence red and processed meat increase risk of bowel cancer."

"It is easy for anyone to find an individual study to support almost any view they wish to hold. But looking at all the research, the evidence linking red and processed meat and bowel cancer is overwhelming."

The WRCF does not in any event advocate a vegetarian diet, or a complete abstention from red meat. In fact its recommendations that people keep within 500g a week - the equivalent of a fair serving of roast beef on five of those days - is not far off average consumption.

Nell Barrie, Cancer Research UK's science information officer, said: "Two of the world's largest studies on diet and cancer have found that people are more likely to develop some cancers, such as bowel cancer, if they eat too much red or processed meat.

"Cutting down on these foods can help to reduce the risk of developing cancer."

But cancer specialist Professor Karol Sikora said those who enjoyed eating red meat should continue to do so.

"We have created a nightmare situation of confusing messages based on very little evidence. Eating red meat in the context of a balanced diet should really not be viewed as a problem.

"Yes, avoid a high calorie, high fat diet - but by all means enjoy that steak."

a study into the link between diet and disease has found.

Five-a-day has little impact on cancer, study finds

By Clare Murphy Health reporter, BBC News

Researchers are trying to harness key chemicals like lycopene in tomatoes

Eating more fruit and vegetables has only a modest effect on protecting against cancer, a study into the link between diet and disease has found.

The study of 500,000 Europeans joins a growing body of evidence undermining the high hopes that pushing "five-a-day" might slash Western cancer rates.

The international team of researchers estimates only around 2.5% of cancers could be averted by increasing intake.

But experts stress eating fruit and vegetables is still key to good health.

In 1990, the World Health Organization recommended that everyone consume at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day to prevent cancer and other chronic diseases.

The advice has formed a central plank of public health campaigns in many developed countries. It has been promoted in the UK since 2003 and in the US for nearly two decades.

But research has failed to substantiate the suggestion that as many as 50% of cancers could be prevented by boosting the public's consumption of fruit and vegetables.

It's still a good idea to eat your five-a-day but remember that fruits and vegetables are pieces in a much larger lifestyle jigsaw Yinka Ebo Cancer Research UK

This latest study, which analysed recruits from 10 countries to the highly-regarded European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition, confirms that the association between fruit and vegetable intake and reduced cancer risk is indeed weak.

The team, led by researchers from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, in New York, took into account lifestyle factors such as smoking and exercise when drawing their conclusions.

But writing in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, they said they could not rule out that even the small reduction in cancer risk seen was down to the fact that the kind of people who ate more fruit and vegetables lived healthier lives in many other respects too.

Broccoli not biscuits

In the best case scenario, an extra two portions of fruit and vegetables each day could prevent 2.6% of cancers in men and 2.3% of cases in women, the study concluded.

Research should focus more sharply on specific fruits and vegetables and their constitutents Walter Willett Harvard School of Public Health

Vegetables, which tend to be richer in nutrients, appeared to be more beneficial than fruits, while heavy drinkers seemed to gain the most from a higher intake of both when it came to protection from cancers caused by alcohol and smoking.

In an accompanying editorial, Professor Walter Willet of Harvard University said the research strongly confirmed the findings of other studies, showing "that any association of intake and fruits and vegetables with risk of cancer is weak at best".

But he stressed specific substances contained in certain fruit and vegetables, if harnessed, could still have an important, protective effect.

Substantial evidence suggests lycopene from tomatoes, for instance, may reduce the risk of prostate cancer, while chemicals in broccoli are thought to stimulate a gene which protects against bowel cancer.

And data still suggests fruit and vegetables may provide protection against cardiovascular disease, one of the major killers in the developed world - although this too has yet to be proven categorically.

Prof Sikora: 'Eating five-a-day still has health benefits'

Keeping lean

But while the links between diet and cancer remain unclear, obesity is now seen as an established risk factor.

Fruit and vegetables could therefore be beneficial just by virtue of taking the place of more calorific fare, health experts say.

In any event, a reduced risk of 2.5% should not be dismissed out of hand, the World Cancer Research Fund argues.

"For the UK, this works out as about 7,000 cases a year, which is a significant number," says Dr Rachel Thompson from the charity, which in a major 1997 report said there was "convincing evidence" of the protective effect of fruit and vegetables.

Yinka Ebo of Cancer Research UK said: "It's still a good idea to eat your five-a-day but remember that fruits and vegetables are pieces in a much larger lifestyle jigsaw.

"There are many things we can do to lower our chances of developing cancer such as not smoking, keeping a healthy weight, cutting down on alcohol, eating a healthy balanced diet, being physically active and staying safe in the sun."