Afghan poll: Foreign reporters shot

4 April 2014 Last updated at 12:14

Two female journalists working for the Associated Press news agency have been shot by a police officer in eastern Afghanistan, officials say.

One of the women, Anja Niedringhaus, died in the attack. Her colleague, Kathy Gannon, is reported to be stable.

The attack took place in the town of Khost near the border with Pakistan.

It comes as Afghanistan intensifies security ahead of presidential elections on Saturday, in response to threats of violence by the Taliban.

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Two AP reporters

• Anja Niedringhaus, 48, was a German photojournalist
• She was part of the team that won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of Iraq
• She worked in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, the Gaza Strip, Israel, Kuwait and Turkey
• Canadian-born Kathy Gannon, 60, is Associated Press special correspondent for Pakistan and Afghanistan
• Gannon wrote the 2006 book I is for Infidel

The new president will succeed Hamid Karzai, who has been in power since the 2001 fall of the Taliban but is constitutionally barred from seeking a third consecutive term.

The BBC's Lyse Doucet in Kabul says the run-up to this historic poll has already been the bloodiest, and fears of electoral fraud are pronounced.

Security presence

Photojournalist Niedringhaus, 48, was killed instantly in the attack, the news agency confirmed.

Veteran reporter Gannon, 60, was said to be receiving medical treatment after she was wounded in the attack.

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Video of the scene of the attack shows bullet holes in the doors of the car

They had been travelling with election workers delivering ballots in the Tanay district of Khost province.

An eyewitness said a police unit commander had opened fire on the journalists as they were waiting for their convoy to move inside a security compound.

The police officer behind the attack was taken into custody after surrendering to other police.

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Twitter tributes

John-Thor Dahlburg, AP editor in Brussels, says: "Terrible day for AP and journalism overall"

Edward Wong, New York Times correspondent in China, describes the attack as "horrific". "Both brave journalists," he tweets.

Jon Williams, ABC foreign editor, says: "Devastated to learn of Khost attacks on two of best journalists covering #Afghanistan. Both at top of game. Thoughts with friends in Kabul."

A spokesperson for the interior ministry told the BBC there would be a full investigation into the incident.

Sidiq Siddiq suggested it could have been a case of mistaken identity or a miscalculation on the part of the police officer responsible for security in the area.

He said the police had not been aware of the journalists' movements in the area.

The district lies on the border with Pakistan's Waziristan region, with the Pakistan-based Haqqani network strong and influential in the area.

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Interior ministry spokesman Sidiq Siddiqi says it may have been a case of mistaken identity

A senior policeman told the BBC the road from the capital to the district was a dangerous one with the risk of roadside bombs and Haqqani network fighters.

The Taliban have stepped up their attacks in recent weeks, in a bid to disrupt preparations for the election

• A senior AFP reporter, Sardar Ahmad, was killed alongside eight other people when Taliban gunmen attacked a hotel popular with foreigners in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on 21 March

• A journalist with Swedish and British nationality, Nils Horner, was shot dead in Kabul by gunmen on 11 March

The BBC's Afghanistan correspondent, David Loyn, says the election is being protected by the biggest military operation since the fall of the Taliban.

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Key questions ahead of the vote

• What are the main issues? A final security agreement with the USA is the most pressing issue. All other matters, from trying to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table to fighting corruption and the drugs trade, depend on this
• Will the vote be free and fair? There is widespread concern about ballot stuffing and ghost polling stations - the kind of cheating that has marked every election since 2004
• Is security a major logistical problem? Yes. The Taliban have vowed to disrupt the vote and there were a string of attacks leading up to it. But security at this election will be tighter than in previous votes
• What happens if no-one wins in April? If no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote, the two top contenders will go to a run-off on 28 May. As there is no clear front-runner, in contrast to 2009, a run-off is likely, with final results for the first round not expected until mid-May

Nearly 200,000 troops have been deployed across the country to prevent attacks.

Rings of security have been set up around each polling centre, with the police at the centre and hundreds of troops on the outside.

Reporting restrictions are in place, limiting what can be broadcast about the candidates.

If nobody wins more than 50% of the vote, a run-off election will be necessary.

There are eight candidates for president, including former foreign ministers Abdullah Abdullah and Zalmai Rassoul, and former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai.

Correspondents say the election may give the US a new chance to repair relations with Kabul, which are moribund after more than 12 years of war and repeated rows between the White House and President Karzai.

Relations between the president and Washington plunged to new lows late last year when the Afghan leader refused to sign a bilateral security agreement that would allow up to 10,000 troops to stay in his country after the Nato combat mission ends this year.

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Underwater search begins for MH370

4 April 2014 Last updated at 09:18

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Richard Westcott reports on the use of a pinger locator to find a black box

Search teams have begun using a towed pinger locator to hunt for the black box of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

Two ships with locator capabilities are searching a 240km (150 mile) underwater path, in the hope of recovering the plane's data recorder.

Up to 14 planes and nine ships were due to take part in Friday's search.

The plane disappeared on 8 March en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. It was carrying 239 people.

It is believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean, although no confirmed debris has been found from the plane.

The search is being co-ordinated from the city of Perth in Western Australia.

The battery-powered pingers on the plane's black box stop transmitting about 30 days after a crash, giving the searchers now perhaps only a few days to locate it.

'Highest probability'

Angus Houston, head of the Joint Agencies Coordination Centre (JACC) leading the search, said that two ships had "commenced the sub-surface search for emissions from [the] black box pinger".

Australia naval vessel Ocean Shield was using a towed pinger locator from the US Navy, while HMS Echo, which had similar capabilities, was also searching.

"The two ships will search a single 240km track converging on each other," Air Chief Marshal Houston, who is retired, said.

ACM Houston said that the area had been picked on the basis of analysis of the satellite data.

Continue reading the main story

• 8 March: Malaysia Airlines Kuala Lumpur-Beijing flight carrying 239 people disappears
• Plane's transponder, which communicates with ground radar, was switched off as it left Malaysian airspace
• Satellite 'pings' indicate plane was still flying seven hours after satellite contact was lost
• 24 March: Based on new calculations, Malaysian PM says "beyond reasonable doubt" that plane crashed in southern Indian Ocean with no survivors

It was based on work regarding "how the aircraft might have performed and how it might have been flown", to choose the "area of highest probability as to where it might have entered the water".

He pointed out that this data was continuing to be refined, but the current search was based on the "best data that is available".

Given the progress in data evaluation and calculation, "there is some hope we will find the aircraft in the area we are searching", he added.

The two ships will be moving at reduced speeds, of around three knots, in their attempt to detect any signal from the pinger.

Commodore Peter Leavy, Commander of Joint Task Force 658, said that search operations generally preferred to use "physical evidence" and "drift modelling" to locate a plane.

However, "no hard evidence has been found to date so we have made the decision to search a sub-surface area on which the analysis has predicted MH370 is likely to have flown," he said.

In a statement, JACC said up to 10 military planes, four civilian planes and nine ships would be deployed in Friday's search efforts.

The focus is on a search area of about 217,000 sq km (84,000 sq miles), 1,700 km (1,000 miles) north west of Perth.

Fair weather was forecast for Friday, with visibility of around 10km (six miles), JACC said.

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Malaysia Airlines ex-steward Patrick Chow says the cabin crew he knew could not be responsible for the plane's disappearance

Meeting staff involved in the search on Friday, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said: "It is probably the most difficult search that's ever been mounted."

"A large aircraft seems like something that would be easy enough to locate - but a large aircraft that all but disappeared and disappeared into inaccessible oceans is an extraordinary, extraordinary challenge that you're faced with."

ACM Houston said there was still a "great possibility of finding something on the surface [of the ocean]".

"There's lots of things in aircraft that float," he said, citing previous searches where life jackets from planes were found.

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Storm-damaged rail line reopens

4 April 2014 Last updated at 10:47

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Two months of Dawlish railway repairs in two minutes

The main railway line through Dawlish in Devon has reopened after part of the track was destroyed during winter storms.

The track was swept away with part of the sea wall in early February, cutting off the service linking Cornwall and much of Devon with the rest of the UK.

A 300-strong Network Rail team has rebuilt the track at a cost of £35m.

At London's Paddington station, sticks of rock were given out to celebrate the line reopening.

They were labelled: "Welcome back Dawlish. The orange army has rebuilt the railway."

The first passenger train on the line was the 05:34 BST from Exeter to Paignton.

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Dawlish line rebuild in numbers

• 6,000 tonnes of concrete
• 150 tonnes of steel
• 25,000 tonnes of collapsed cliff removed at Teignmouth
• Hundreds of tonnes of debris removed
• 600m of parapet wall repaired
• More than 13 miles of new cable installed
• More than 700m of track and ballast replaced

Source: Network Rail

Prime Minister David Cameron, who travelled to Dawlish to mark the reopening, hailed it as "a great day" and said the south-west of England was "open once again".

He also praised the "Herculean effort" of those involved in the repairs who had become known as the "orange army" because of their safety wear.

The sea wall of the coast-hugging line at Dawlish was breached on 5 February, leaving tracks dangling in mid-air.

Repair work was under way before being hampered by another severe storm on the night of February 14 when huge waves damaged a line of shipping containers forming a breakwater and punched a new hole in the sea wall.

Then, on 4 March, engineers discovered 25,000 tonnes of a cliff face near Teignmouth just south of Dawlish had sheared away above the line.

It resulted in water jets being used to pummel the cliff face to create a controlled landslide.

Contractors created new 3.5m (11.5ft) deep concrete foundations into the breach in the sea wall before the track was re-laid.

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'Very solid'

In total, £15m was spent repairing the area outside Dawlish station where track had been left dangling.

It cost an additional £20m to repair tracks either side of the town.

Andy Crowley, from contractor Amco, said: "The amount of concrete that's gone in there, that will be there for at least 200 years, beyond a shadow of a doubt."

Julian Burnell, from Network Rail, said the repair of the breach was "very, very solid".

Network Rail chief executive Mark Carne said: "Our army of engineers has done an amazing job of putting back together a railway that was ravaged by the elements.

"They have overcome every obstacle thrown at them, winning many battles along the way to restore this critical piece of the network, ahead of schedule, and in time for the Easter holidays."

He thanked "hugely supportive and patient" local communities and businesses.

Network Rail is now looking at creating a new inland route as a back-up to the Dawlish line.

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Analysis

Suddenly, this small Devon railway town has come back to life.

After eight long weeks of silence, the tracks are once again carrying trains along this iconic stretch of Brunel's coastal line. The station master's whistle is finally being heard.

There is an enormous sense of relief here. Many local people feared the repair-work would take much longer - which would have damaged the South West's tourism industry yet further.

There is much praise for the so-called "Orange Army" of fluorescent-clad engineers who have worked around the clock for two months in often-appalling weather conditions to rebuild the line.

I've spoken to dozens of relieved commuters who no longer face long diverted journeys to work involving a bus-replacement service. The bunting is out and a local brass band is entertaining the crowds on the platform at Dawlish station.

There are still important questions to be asked about the long-term resilience and viability of this line, but, for people here, those questions are for another day.

Sir Tim Smit, founder of Cornwall's Eden Project, said the closure demonstrated the need for south-west England to have better infrastructure.

He said: "One of the problems I think we face down here is a sort of political inertia.

"Because we don't have, if you like, the levers of power to make us seem important enough, we get viewed by the capital as if it's still at the old days of the Cornish Riviera, with a few nice things to do for people who've got wealth to come down and have holidays.

"But actually it's a really thriving place. I mean, it's one of the hubs of the creative industries in Britain. Yet you wouldn't know that the way we're talked about".

Mr Cameron said he knew "how cut off people felt here in the south-west after that terrible storm and it was so important to get this work done".

He said: "People talk about the south-west as a great tourist destination, and of course it is and I'll be back here this summer, I can guarantee you.

"But it's not just that. This is also a hub of creativity, an area of vital industry, an area of important manufacturing and, of course, with Plymouth and all that entails, a vital area for the defence of our country."

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What the line at Dawlish looked like after the storms - and what it looks like now

Send your pictures and videos to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to 61124 (UK) or +44 7624 800 100 (International). If you have a large file you can upload here.

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Schumacher has 'conscious moments'

4 April 2014 Last updated at 11:57

F1 champion Michael Schumacher is showing "moments of consciousness" after months in a coma, his agent has said.

Sabine Kehm said in a statement to the media that he was "making progress", adding that they remain "confident".

Doctors in France have been working to bring the seven-time champion out of a medically induced coma.

The 45-year-old German suffered a severe head injury in a skiing accident in the French Alps on 29 December.

"We are on his side during his long and difficult fight, together with the team of the hospital in Grenoble," Ms Kehm said in the statement.

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• Can be induced by powerful anaesthetics and is broadly similar to the sedation and artificial ventilation used during surgery
• Used to shut down many brain functions, lowering blood flow and pressure
• Taking a patient out of an induced coma is a delicate process, especially after a prolonged period of sedation
• Doctors and relatives are looking for any signs of returning consciousness and recovery

"We would like to thank you all for the continuous sympathies. At the same time we again ask for understanding that we do not intend to disclose details."

Last month Schumacher's relatives said in a statement that he had been showing "small, encouraging signs".

Investigators probing the accident said Schumacher had been going at the speed of "a very good skier" at the time of his crash in the resort of Meribel.

He had been skiing off-piste when he fell and hit a rock, investigators said.

Experts reconstructed events leading up to the crash after examining Schumacher's skiing equipment and viewing footage filmed on a camera attached to his helmet.

Schumacher retired from racing in 2012 after a 19-year career.

He won two titles with Benetton, in 1994 and 1995, before switching to Ferrari in 1996 and going on to win five straight titles from 2000.

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No 10 rejects expenses threat claim

4 April 2014 Last updated at 12:59

The prime minister's official spokesman has denied threatening the Daily Telegraph with tougher press regulation if it continued to investigate Culture Secretary Maria Miller's expenses.

Craig Oliver said ex-editor Tony Gallagher's claim was "utterly false".

He said he had intervened in December 2012 because reporters on the story were putting "inappropriate" pressure on Mrs Miller's father.

But Mr Gallagher claimed it had been "menacing" and he felt "threatened".

He had been editor of the newspaper when it published a story about the culture secretary's expenses at the end of 2012.

The Telegraph reported that she had claimed £90,000 in expenses towards the mortgage on a "large detached property in south London" where her parents lived, while designating her main home as a rented property in her constituency of Basingstoke.

Mr Gallagher suggested that the newspaper had been pressurised over the story - which came to light at a time when the press was in a fierce dispute with the government over plans for an overhaul of regulation following the Leveson inquiry into press standards.

'Great favour'

He said a reporter working on the story had been contacted by Mrs Miller's special adviser, and that Mr Oliver had implied that the report was "badly timed".

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

Letting Maria Miller off the hook speaks volumes about David Cameron's leadership"

End Quote Chi Onwurah Shadow Cabinet Office Minister

"I got a call from Craig Oliver pointing out that she [Maria Miller] is looking at Leveson," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"These seem to be examples of an attempt to lean on a newspaper and prevent it going about its legitimate business," Mr Gallagher said.

"She has done the free press a great favour," he said.

"Maria Miller provides a cast-iron example of why politicians should have no power over the press.

"Bear in mind this story came to light just after the Leveson inquiry was published, and bear in mind the menacing way the minister, her special advisor and Downing Street reacted to that story, and threatened me, the newspaper and the reporter in question.

"It's actually a clear example of why MPs and politicians in general should have no locus over a free press. Ironically you would know nothing about this story were it not for a free press."

But Mr Oliver, a former BBC executive who became No 10 director of communications in 2011, said: "It is utterly false for Tony Gallagher to suggest he was threatened over Leveson by me in any way.

"My conversation with him was about the inappropriate door-stepping of an elderly man."

'Utterly condemnatory'

On Thursday, the Commons Standards Committee ordered Mrs Miller to apologise to MPs for breaching the parliamentary code of conduct with her "attitude" towards an inquiry into the culture secretary's expenses claims.

She had supplied the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, whose role it is to investigate allegations of abuses of the rules on expenses, with "incomplete documentation and fragmentary information," it said.

The commissioner concluded that she had over-claimed by £45,000 for expenses towards mortgage interest payments and council tax.

But the committee, which comprises five Conservative MPs, four Labour MPs, one Lib Dem MP and three members of the public, decided that she needed to pay back just £5,800.

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Maria Miller thanked the committee "for bringing this matter to an end"

In a short statement to the House of Commons on Thursday, Mrs Miller said she "fully" accepted the committee's conclusions and apologised "unreservedly".

But Mr Gallagher said: "Reading the 113-page report it's very hard to see why she has been cleared.

"The commissioner in fact concluded that she had made a very substantial gain and recommended that she should be paying north of £40,000, and the language throughout the report is utterly condemnatory of the minister.

Continue reading the main story

Analysis

Ed Lowther Political reporter, BBC News

---

Should Maria Miller have repaid £45,000 or £5,800?

The standards commissioner believed she had over-claimed by the larger sum, but the MP claimed it was the latter. The committee, which ultimately decides, agreed with Mrs Miller.

The discrepancy springs from the difference between the size of her mortgage and the purchase price of the five-bedroom property.

The commissioner believed she should only have been able to claim expenses for interest payments on the original mortgage of £215,000 - taken out in 1996, nine years before she was elected - and based her calculations on that.

But the committee thought this reasoning could have perverse consequences: Why should an MP who had bought a property on the cheap and did it up before entering politics receive less than an MP from a wealthier background who had simply bought a pricier home to begin with?

It said "a strict interpretation of the rule would not be appropriate" and she was entitled to claim expenses for interest on the much larger £525,000 mortgage she had on entering the Commons.

Mrs Miller acknowledged she had over-claimed by £5,800 when her tracker mortgage fell but her claims remained the same, and offered to pay this back. This had been "inadvertent", she told the inquiry.

"The fact that the MPs have then marked their own homework and decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and suggested that she should only be made to repay a mere £5,000 is neither here nor there - the language of the report is shocking in its tone, and I think Maria Miller stands condemned by her own actions."

'Double standards'

Prime Minister David Cameron - speaking on a visit to Dawlish, in Devon - stood by the minister.

"What happened yesterday (Thursday) is that Maria Miller was actually cleared of the original charge made against her.

"It was found she had made mistakes, she accepted that, repaid the money, she apologised unreservedly to the House of Commons, so I think we should leave it there."

But Labour seized on the row to launch an attack on the prime minister.

Shadow Cabinet Office minister Chi Onwurah said: "Letting Maria Miller off the hook speaks volumes about David Cameron's leadership.

"His weakness and double standards on the issue of Maria Miller's expenses are totally unacceptable and completely out of touch.

"We had a contemptuous 32-second response from a cabinet minister followed by a pat on the back from the prime minister.

"It is yet another example of how Cameron only looks after one of his own and always stands up for the wrong people.

"We must have the very highest standards in public office. There can be no going back to the bad old days of expenses."

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999 calls up as pollution continues

3 April 2014 Last updated at 13:12

High levels of air pollution are continuing to affect parts of the UK, as a rise in emergency calls over related health problems is reported.

London Ambulance Service reported a 14% rise on Wednesday in 999 calls related to breathing difficulties.

Air quality data from Defra shows London and the South East experiencing pollution on Thursday at the maximum level of 10 - meaning "very high".

The prime minister admitted the capital's atmosphere was "unpleasant".

Levels in eastern England have reached nine - meaning high - with north-west England, Yorkshire and Humberside, the Midlands and south Wales also affected.

The smog-like conditions, which are expected to clear on Friday, are caused by a mixture of local and continental pollution, and dust from the Sahara.

Health warnings have been issued for people with lung and heart conditions.

'Risk of attack'

The London Ambulance Service said it had received 227 emergency calls for patients with breathing problems on Wednesday, up from an average of 200.

Deputy medical director Fenella Wrigley described it as a "busy time" and urged Londoners to call only in an emergency.

She said: "More people are calling us with breathing difficulties, asthma and heart problems."

Defra (the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs) has a 10-point scale for measuring air quality - with level one implying a "low" risk of air pollution and 10 for "very high" levels.

Levels in eastern England had reached level nine - meaning high - by Thursday morning.

"Moderate" levels are expected in parts of Northern Ireland and "many other parts of England and Wales" on Thursday, Defra added.

On Wednesday, levels were recorded at eight in parts of south-east England and East Anglia, with level seven in Greater London.

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How high are pollution levels in London?

Levels are determined by the concentration of five pollutants in the air - ozone, sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and two types of particulate matter.

High levels of air pollution are usually reached about five times a year.

BBC weather presenter Tomasz Schafernaker said: "We have to wait until the end of week before we see Atlantic winds coming in which will help to improve the quality of the air across the UK."

David Cameron described the pollution as "extraordinary" and urged people to seek advice from the Met Office and Public Health England.

He said: "I didn't go for my morning run this morning, I chose to do some work instead but you can feel it."

Continue reading the main story

• Those with existing lung and heart conditions may find symptoms worsen
• They should avoid doing too much, especially outdoors
• Healthy people may experience minor symptoms such as a sore throat or a tickly cough
• They should avoid strenuous activity in order to reduce such symptoms

In Wales, health officials have warned air pollution is predicted to be very high.

Parts of the north east of the country are expected to reach level eight - meaning high - around the Dee estuary.

People with lung and heart problems are advised to avoid strenuous activity outdoors, while those suffering symptoms of pollution - including sore eyes, coughs and sore throats - should cut down the amount they do outside, Defra said.

And Kay Boycott, chief executive of Asthma UK, said "the two-thirds of people with asthma who find that air pollution makes their asthma worse will be at an increased risk of an attack".

"Asthma UK warns the 3.6 million people at increased risk to be sure they always have a working blue reliever inhaler on them and take their preventer inhalers as prescribed," she said.

In February, the European Commission launched legal proceedings against the UK for failing to reduce levels of NO2 air pollution.

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Minister backs plain cigarette packs

3 April 2014 Last updated at 12:23

The government is moving forward with plans to ban branding on cigarette packs in England, Public Health Minister Jane Ellison told MPs.

She said an independent report found it was "very likely to have a positive impact" on public health and stop children from starting to smoke.

Ms Ellison said she was publishing draft regulations for a final, "short consultation".

Labour accused Ms Ellison of kicking the issue "into the long grass".

Shadow Health Secretary Luciana Berger called for immediate legislation to ban branding, telling MPs: "There is an overwhelming body of evidence in favour of standardised packaging and there can be no excuse for a further delay."

'Vested interests'

She added: "How many more children are going to take up smoking before this government makes a decision?"

She accused the government of "caving in to vested interests" on the issue.

Labour claims the Conservative Party favours the tobacco lobby after a series of delays in a decision on whether to move ahead with a branding ban.

The tobacco industry argues standardised packaging would lead to a rise in illegally smuggled cigarettes in Britain and argues that evidence from Australia, which became the first country to bring in standardised packaging in 2011, shows little impact on smoking rates.

Ms Ellison told MPs the latest independent report, by paediatrician Sir Cyril Chantler, has found evidence that the Australian legislation has had a positive impact.

She said about 200,000 children aged between 11 and 15 start smoking in the UK every year - about 600 a day.

She told MPs: "If this rate of smoking by children was reduced even by 2%, for example, it would mean that 4,000 fewer children take up smoking each year.

"Sir Cyril's report makes a compelling case that if standardised packaging were introduced it would be very likely to have a positive impact on public health and that these health benefits would include health benefits for children."

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Plan to expand badger cull abandoned

3 April 2014 Last updated at 12:25

The government has abandoned its planned expansion of badger culling to reduce TB in cattle.

The environment department's original plan was to announce up to 10 new cull areas in South West England each year.

Defra's own independent assessment shows that culls in two pilot areas were not effective, and raised questions about their humaneness.

These pilot culls will continue, though there will be no independent oversight to assess their future performance.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

The need for the field trials and required legislative changes mean that a useable cattle vaccine is still many years away"

End Quote Owen Paterson Environment Secretary

In a Commons statement, the Environment Secretary Owen Paterson proposed a programme of vaccination around the edges of the most badly affected parts of the country.

This, he said, would create a buffer zone of immunity that would stop the disease from spreading.

"We have always been clear that there would be lessons to be learnt from the first year of these four-year culls," Mr Paterson said.

"If we do not control TB, the bill will rise to £1bn over the next decade. It is vital that farmers, vets, non-government organisations and politicians work together to free England of TB."

'Open season'

The Shadow Environment Secretary Maria Eagle called the pilot culls "disastrous" and said Mr Paterson had put "prejudice before science".

She also said the environment secretary had ignored calls in the House of Commons to seek alternatives to culling.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

I'm disappointed that this year's culls will lack the independent oversight needed to provide confidence"

End Quote Prof Rose Woodroffe Institute of Zoology

"What he's announced now is simply open season on the badgers in the culling areas," she said.

Prof Rosie Woodroffe, from the Institute of Zoology, told BBC News: "I think it's excellent news that Defra ministers have decided not to extend badger culling to new areas, when the poor performance of last year's pilot culls raises very serious questions about whether this approach will make a bad situation worse.

"Continued culling in the Somerset and Gloucestershire area needs to be much more humane, and much more effective, than last year's pilots, and so I'm disappointed that this year's culls will lack the independent oversight needed to provide confidence in those key measures."

Responding to accusations he had ignored scientific advice, Mr Paterson said England's chief vet, Nigel Gibbens, had warned against stopping the cull now in the Somerset and Gloucestershire pilot areas.

He added that some £24.6m would be invested over the course of this parliament in the development of effective TB vaccines for both cattle and badgers.

"In 2013, I agreed with the European Commissioner the work needed to develop a viable cattle vaccine. We are designing the large scale field trials necessary to take this forward," said Mr Paterson.

"The need for the field trials and required legislative changes mean that a useable cattle vaccine is still many years away."

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Disaster 'robbed children of father'

3 April 2014 Last updated at 12:44

The widow of one of the Hillsborough disaster victims has told an inquest jury in Warrington it "robbed" her five children of their father.

Kathleen Thompson's husband Patrick John was one of the 96 people who died following overcrowding at the FA Cup semi-final in April 1989.

Mrs Thompson was one of the first of the victims' relatives to give a background statement to the court.

The remaining families will give their "pen portraits" later.

Coroner Lord Justice Goldring has called the disaster "the worst-ever at a British sports stadium".

It unfolded on 15 April 1989 during Liverpool's match against Nottingham Forest at Sheffield Wednesday's ground.

The inquests, set to last a year, were ordered after new evidence revealed by the Hillsborough Independent Panel led to the original inquest verdicts being quashed.

The background statements are the first time the court has heard how the disaster impacted on individual families.

Weeping as she spoke, Mrs Thompson said her 35-year-old husband "was not a hooligan, but a hard-working family man".

She said he had been "a loving and generous man who treated me with love and respect, a larger-than-life character... and a smashing dad" to five children aged under six.

Opening proceedings, 41-year-old victim Arthur Horrocks' son Jon read out a statement from his mother Susan, in which she said Mr Horrocks had been "a wonderful husband and best friend... devoted and much loved".

The hearing was told Mr Horrocks loved music and had regularly visited the Cavern Club in Liverpool. He had attended every Liverpool home match.

'Effervescent and lively'

Stephen Jones, whose wife Christine Anne was one of seven women who died, said she had been an avid fan who organised coach trips to away matches and loved the atmosphere of the games.

He said the senior radiographer and Sunday school teacher had been "an amazing wife", who "dominated a room".

"She was effervescent, candid and lively," he said.

Wilf Whelan told the hearing about his son Ian, who was nicknamed "Ronnie" after his football hero, Liverpool midfielder Ronnie Whelan.

He said the 19-year-old "wasn't a football hooligan" but a music lover, who had left two red roses on the doorstep of his girlfriend on the day of the semi-final.

"Our family feel they've had to defend his good name for 25 years," he said.

Paying tribute to her brother, William Roy Pemberton, Shirley Riley said her family had been "left thinking about what he would have achieved".

"A successful career, a family and many more dreams... we will never know," she said.

She said her parents "never truly got over the loss" of their son, who had been "extremely precious and the apple of their eye".

'Good and generous'

Paula Ann Smith's brother Walter said they both attended Liverpool games, but as they only had one ticket for the semi-final he had let his sister have it.

"I often think if I had been there with her, she would still be alive today," he said.

Christine McEvoy cried as she told the jury about her daughter, Basildon factory worker Marian Hazel McCabe.

She said the 21-year-old had been a "good and generous" woman who worked overtime to pay for tickets and who missed Mrs McEvoy's wedding to go to a game as "her greatest love was Liverpool Football Club".

Relatives of Tracey Elizabeth Cox and Richard Jones are also expected to speak at the hearing.

In his opening statement on Tuesday, the coroner said the disaster was "seared into the memories" of everyone affected by it.

He added that the inquests would "investigate the disaster as a whole and consider the experiences of each of the 96".

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Minister Miller ordered to apologise

3 April 2014 Last updated at 12:52

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Maria Miller: "I fully accept the recommendations of the committee and thank them for bringing this matter to an end"

The Commons Committee on Standards has ordered Culture Secretary Maria Miller to repay £5,800 and apologise to MPs.

It cleared her of the central charge of deliberately submitting expenses claims to which she was not entitled, but said her attitude to the inquiry breached MPs' code of conduct.

The £5,800 is to cover over-claiming of mortgage expenses after she failed to cut her claims as interest rates fell.

In a 32 second statement, Mrs Miller told MPs she apologised "unreservedly".

The committee suggested that she had tried to argue her case before the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards in a "legalistic" way.

She should "apologise by personal statement on the floor of the House for her attitude to the Commissioner's inquiries", it concluded.

'Dismissed'

"If the Commissioner had been able swiftly to establish the facts relating to Mrs Miller's mortgages, and had been able to gather the documentation which would have allowed her (and has allowed us) to judge the relationship between the changes in bank base rate and the interest charged to Mrs Miller, this might have been a relatively minor matter," the committee said.

Instead, it said, the investigation had been mired in "delay and difficulty", arising from "incomplete documentation and fragmentary information".

"Mrs Miller has to carry significant responsibility for that."

"Officials would press her for information and the information that was provided appears to have been the minimum necessary," it explained.

The investigation was prompted by a formal complaint in December 2012 from Labour MP John Mann.

This followed reports she had allowed her parents to live in a property on which she claimed £90,718 in second home allowances between 2005 and 2009.

The committee rejected the charge that she or her parents had benefited financially from the arrangements.

"There can be no criticism of [Mrs Miller] in relation to her personal, caring responsibilities and her desire to combine these with the role of an elected representative," it said.

Mrs Miller told the Commons: "The report resulted from an allegation made by the member for Bassetlaw [Mr Mann]. The committee has dismissed his allegation.

"The committee has recommended that I apologise to the House for my attitude to the commissioner's inquiries, and I of course unreservedly apologise.

"I fully accept the recommendations of the committee and thank them for bringing this matter to an end."

PM David Cameron said: "Maria Miller is doing an excellent job as culture secretary and will continue to do that.

"If we look at this report, yes of course these issues do matter - but she was cleared of the original allegation made against her.

"An over-payment was found which she is going to pay back. She'll make a full apology, and I think people should leave it at that."

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