Strictly Come Dancing Venue Hit By Theft

Police are investigating the theft of items from a dressing room being used by Strictly Come Dancing stars.

Detectives say jewellery, an iPad and phone were taken from the female dressing room of Blackpool Tower Ballroom, where the show was filmed on Saturday night.

Lancashire police would not say who owned the stolen items, but they said the large room was being shared by dancers and contestants.

"We are investigating a theft that has occurred this evening at the Tower Ballroom at Blackpool," police said.

"It was reported to us at around 9.45pm that some items had been taken from a dressing room within the building.

"Officers are investigating the theft and are making a number of enquiries to trace the person or people responsible."

Cohen took part in Saturday night's show

Police said it was not clear how the thieves managed to gain entry to the room.

Detectives are appealing to anyone who may have seen anything suspicious around the building to contact them.

The BBC programme is usually filmed Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, but was hosted in Blackpool this weekend.

The contestants on this year's show include model Abbey Clancey, actress Natalie Gumede, singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor, BBC presenter Susanna Reid and rugby player Ben Cohen.

Gumede, who recently had back problems and missed the previous week's show, scored the joint top score of the programme.

The former Coronation Street actress and Reid were both awarded 39 out of a possible 40 points.

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Antibiotics Warning: Resistance 'Growing'

By Enda Brady, Sky News Reporter

The world faces "unimaginable setbacks" unless it tackles the growing threat of resistance to antibiotics, according to an international group of experts.

The latest research by the 26-strong group predicts major problems unless governments work together immediately.

Antibiotic resistance happens when bacteria evolve mechanisms to withstand the drugs which are used to fight infection.

Lead author Professor Otto Cars, of Uppsala University in Sweden, said: "The causes of antibiotic resistance are complex and include human behaviour at many levels of society.

"The consequences affect everybody in the world.

"Within just a few years, we might be faced with unimaginable setbacks - medically, socially, and economically - unless real and unprecedented global co-ordinated actions to transform the way antibiotics are regulated and developed are taken immediately."

In the UK, research is focusing on how plant chemicals keep insects at bay

In September, the UK Government announced plans for a five-year strategy to tackle the problem, setting aside £4.5m.

Recent decades have seen vast increases in the use of antibiotics across medicine and agriculture, but the scientists argue that without adequate regulatory controls and better patient awareness, the huge global surge in antibiotic resistance will continue.

They say the problem is compounded by a desperate shortage of new drugs to treat multi-drug resistant bacterial infections.

Prof Cars added: "Antibiotic resistance is a complex ecological problem which doesn't just affect people, but is also intimately connected with agriculture and the environment.

"We need to move on from 'blaming and shaming' among the many stakeholders who have all contributed to the problem, towards concrete political action and commitment to address this threat.

Prof Laura Piddick says more funding is needed to develop new treatments

"Consumers and providers of antibiotics alike need to be empowered to tackle antibiotic resistance, as well as ensuring that those in need benefit from affordable, effective antibiotics."

One of the British scientists who helped compile the report said that alarm bells have been ringing - and ignored - for many years.

"For a long time there has been a sense of crying wolf over this," said Professor Laura Piddock, from the University of Birmingham.

"Science has been telling us about this problem for years. We need more academic research and funding. New treatments have been hampered by a lack of funding. It has always been viewed that this is something that the pharmaceutical industry should do."

At the John Innes Centre in Norwich scientists are going back to nature for the answers, studying how plants like eucalyptus trees produce chemicals to keep insects at bay.

"Plants have a distinct disadvantage in that they can't move out of the way of predators," Tony Maxwell, the centre's head of biological chemistry, told Sky News.

"And they have no end of predators, large and small animals, insects and bacteria. They have to produce a whole array of chemicals to defend themselves. What we are trying to work out is how we can use those chemicals for our own usage in antibiotics."

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Age Of Consent: No 10 Rejects Calls To Change

Downing Street has rejected a call from a leading public health expert to consider lowering the age of consent for sex to 15.

Professor John Ashton, president of the Faculty of Public Health, said society sends "confused" signals about when sex is permitted.

But a No 10 spokesman said: "We reject the call to lower the age of consent.

"The current age is in place to protect children and there are no plans to change it."

Prof Ashton's intervention comes against a backdrop of official figures which suggest that up to a third of teenagers have sex before the present age of consent of 16.

He told Sky News: "The problem we have got is we have got this massive sexualisation and pornographication of childhood and early adolescence.

Lowering the age would make it easier for 15-year-olds to get contraception

"Huge commercial interests - pop music, fashion, internet pornography everywhere, social media.

"There doesn't seem to be any real appetite among politicians and leaders to address this.

"In the meantime, our young people are becoming sexually active at younger and younger ages.

"If we are not going to create an environment where they are not sexualised, then we need to address their needs."

He added: "What we know from other European countries that have lower ages of sexual consent, I am thinking here particularly about the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark, is that very often what that leads to is where there's an atmosphere of discussion within the family, within the school, within the social environment, they actually defer putting off sex, even though the age of consent is lower, and that they have lower teenage pregnancy rates.

"It also means if they are not indulging in what's illegal activity, they won't be frightened to come forward for help if they are getting involved in a dangerous situation with an older male who's grooming them or what have you.

"We have got this conundrum. Where you have got illegal activity which large numbers of people are engaging in, you are creating an environment of risk, potential abuse, potential exploitation.

"We need to do something about the sexualisation of childhood, and we need to do something about responding properly to the needs of young people who are becoming sexually active, perhaps with somebody of a similar age where it is part of a normal maturing process into adult life, but also so that we can begin to tackle this problem of girls particularly, being exploited by older males."

The Faculty of Public Health, part of the Royal Colleges of Physicians, gives advice to ministers and civil servants although it is independent of government.

David Tucker, head of policy at the NSPCC, said he would be happy to have a debate on the issue but said he would want to see the evidence for Prof Ashton's claims.

He said: "Has there really been a significant change in the amount of young people having sex over the past 20 or 30 years?

"If it has changed, then is reducing the age of consent the most sensible way to deal with it?"

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Body In Well: Seven Bailed In Murder Inquiry

Seven men arrested over the discovery of a body in a well in Surrey have been bailed by police.

The body was recovered by specialist police officers on Saturday.

Two workmen made the discovery as they were doing clearing work in the front garden of a large house in Audley Drive, Warlingham, Surrey, which stands in an acre of grounds in an affluent area.

The seven held on suspicion of murder are aged between 21 and 27. They have been bailed to a date in late December, pending further investigation, a Scotland Yard spokesman said.

A post-mortem examination is due to take place today at East Surrey Hospital mortuary.

Detective Chief Inspector Cliff Lyons said on Saturday: "It is a murder investigation. As far as I am concerned, when a body is found in a well it either fell in there or was placed in there, and the evidence is apparent that the body was placed in there."

He said the body presented a number of logistical challenges, requiring a police marine diving team with breathing apparatus to recover it intact to preserve forensic evidence.

"The well is two feet in diameter, it is seven feet deep to the water line, and the water is approximately four feet deep," he said.

He said it was not possible to be sure of the body's gender, but judging by the size it was most likely to be an adult. The person was white.

Mr Lyons told reporters at the scene: "It's not been there for an extended period of time; it will be a matter of weeks at the most."

He was not prepared to discuss who lived in the house or a suggestion that the body was wrapped in carpet. He could not confirm whether the body was intact.

Asked about claims by local residents that there had been quite a bit of trouble in the past couple of years with the people who lived in the house, and that police had been called many times, he said: "The residents have expressed concern, there is intelligence to support that notion, yes."

He appealed for anyone who had concerns about a person who has gone missing, especially if they had connections to that area, to come forward.

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Breast Cancer Surgery Scandal: £3m Payout

By Adele Robinson, Midlands Correspondent

Sky News has learned that more than £3m in damages has been paid by the NHS to patients involved in a breast cancer surgery scandal.

Ian Paterson carried out hundreds of unnecessary and unregulated procedures on women while working for the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust.

He performed so called "cleavage sparing" mastectomies when carrying out breast removal, which left a small amount of tissue behind for cosmetic reasons.

£3.2m has been paid out in damages to patients so far by the Trust regarding Mr Paterson's surgery.

In total there are 503 claims, of which 135 are continuing claims and 285 relate to private sector treatment.

More than 1,000 women may have been affected by his surgery in both the private sector and the NHS.

Admissions have been made in many other NHS cases and negotiations are ongoing.

There's been concern from patients over the potential for cancer to return in the residual breast tissue Mr Paterson left behind.

Kashmir Uppal, from Thompsons solicitors in Birmingham which is representing nearly 400 patients, says on the basis of their medical expert evidence there is a link.

"We've had lots of clients who have had the cleavage sparing mastectomy originally and a few years later they've had a recurrence within the residual breast tissue so those facts speak for themselves.

"Some of these women are really struggling to cope with it all. They put their Trust in him and the NHS and have been very badly let down."

Mr Paterson worked at Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield from 1993 to 1998 and at Solihull Hospital from 1998 to 2011, when he was suspended.

He also worked privately for Spire Healthcare at Spire Little Aston Hospital from 1993 and Spire Parkway hospital from 1996.

In 2004 an internal report at Solihull hospital highlighted the potential risk of "cleavage sparing" procedures but it wasn't until 2007 that a review was carried out.

In December 2007 Mr Paterson was told to stop performing the unregulated operations however there is evidence he carried on until at least 2010.

An independent review carried out by Sir Ian Kennedy into Mr Pateron's surgery for the NHS at is due to be published in the next few weeks.

Chief executive of the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, Dr Mark Newbold, said in statement: "I would like to re-emphasise that, on behalf of the Trust, I very much regret what has happened to so many women, and our thoughts are with them and their families."

He promised to respond swiftly to Sir Ian Kennedy's findings and recommendations.

The police are investigating and Mr Paterson is currently suspended from practicing by the General Medical Council.

He declined to speak to Sky News due to patient confidentiality and the ongoing investigations.

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Antibiotics Warning: Resistance 'Growing'

By Enda Brady, Sky News Reporter

The world faces "unimaginable setbacks" unless it tackles the growing threat of resistance to antibiotics, according to an international group of experts.

The latest research by the 26-strong group predicts major problems unless governments work together immediately.

Antibiotic resistance happens when bacteria evolve mechanisms to withstand the drugs which are used to fight infection.

Lead author Professor Otto Cars, of Uppsala University in Sweden, said: "The causes of antibiotic resistance are complex and include human behaviour at many levels of society.

"The consequences affect everybody in the world.

"Within just a few years, we might be faced with unimaginable setbacks - medically, socially, and economically - unless real and unprecedented global co-ordinated actions to transform the way antibiotics are regulated and developed are taken immediately."

In the UK, research is focusing on how plant chemicals keep insects at bay

In September, the UK Government announced plans for a five-year strategy to tackle the problem, setting aside £4.5m.

Recent decades have seen vast increases in the use of antibiotics across medicine and agriculture, but the scientists argue that without adequate regulatory controls and better patient awareness, the huge global surge in antibiotic resistance will continue.

They say the problem is compounded by a desperate shortage of new drugs to treat multi-drug resistant bacterial infections.

Prof Cars added: "Antibiotic resistance is a complex ecological problem which doesn't just affect people, but is also intimately connected with agriculture and the environment.

"We need to move on from 'blaming and shaming' among the many stakeholders who have all contributed to the problem, towards concrete political action and commitment to address this threat.

Prof Laura Piddick says more funding is needed to develop new treatments

"Consumers and providers of antibiotics alike need to be empowered to tackle antibiotic resistance, as well as ensuring that those in need benefit from affordable, effective antibiotics."

One of the British scientists who helped compile the report said that alarm bells have been ringing - and ignored - for many years.

"For a long time there has been a sense of crying wolf over this," said Professor Laura Piddock, from the University of Birmingham.

"Science has been telling us about this problem for years. We need more academic research and funding. New treatments have been hampered by a lack of funding. It has always been viewed that this is something that the pharmaceutical industry should do."

At the John Innes Centre in Norwich scientists are going back to nature for the answers, studying how plants like eucalyptus trees produce chemicals to keep insects at bay.

"Plants have a distinct disadvantage in that they can't move out of the way of predators," Tony Maxwell, the centre's head of biological chemistry, told Sky News.

"And they have no end of predators, large and small animals, insects and bacteria. They have to produce a whole array of chemicals to defend themselves. What we are trying to work out is how we can use those chemicals for our own usage in antibiotics."

22.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

Unions Probe: Review Into Intimidation Claims

David Cameron has set himself on a collision course with the unions by announcing an independent review into allegations of intimidation and bullying.

The move follows claims of sabotage and harassment related to the bitter industrial dispute which almost led to the closure of the petrochemical plant at the Grangemouth oil refinery in Scotland.

Downing Street said the wide-ranging review, headed by Bruce Carr QC, will investigate allegations of the use of so-called "leverage" tactics by the unions as well as the impact of such disputes on the critical national infrastructure.

However, in a sign of renewed coalition tensions, the Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable made clear he had only agreed to the inquiry on the basis that it would also examine the practices of employers.

The Unite union dismissed the review as a "Tory election stunt" and warned that no trade union would be prepared to "collaborate" with it.

The review follows claims that Unite sought to intimidate executives from Ineos, the refinery's owners, including sending "mobs" of demonstrators to protest outside their homes and premises associated with Ineos chairman, Jim Ratcliffe.

In recent weeks the Prime Minister has repeatedly attacked the union in the Commons, challenging Labour leader Ed Miliband to hold an inquiry into claims of vote-rigging in the Falkirk constituency party in an attempt to secure the selection of Unite's favoured candidate for parliament.

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey has always denied any intimidation or bullying on the part of the union, insisting that it was acting within the law.

As part of his remit, Mr Carr will consider whether existing laws are sufficient to prevent what Government sources described as "inappropriate or intimidatory actions" in trade disputes as well as the response of the police to complaints.

Unite claimed Grangemouth employees had been bullied during the dispute

More generally, the review will look at the underlying causes of industrial relations difficulties in affected industries, the potential impact on the UK's critical national infrastructure and the consequences for investor confidence in key sectors.

It will also make recommendations on the respective roles of government, employers and employee representatives in ensuring effective workforce relationships.

Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude, a Conservative, said: "Allegations about trade union industrial intimidation tactics, including attempts to sabotage businesses supply chains and harass employers' families are deeply concerning.

"That's why we need an independent review to get to the bottom of these activities, as well as to look at the role played by government, employers and employees in industrial disputes.

"This forms part of our long-term plan to ensure Britain remains competitive and to secure an economic recovery for hard-working people."

Mr Cable, in contrast emphasised that Britain had generally enjoyed good industrial relations for the past two decades while strikes were at a historically low level.

"There were clearly some very serious matters going on in Grangemouth," he said.

"That is why I have agreed to a proportionate and rational review of industrial disputes, including leverage and other tactics used by both unions and employers.

"There are rogue unions but there are also rogue employers, some of whom have in the past engaged in illegal tactics like blacklisting. This Government will tolerate neither."

A Unite spokesman said: "This review is a sorry attempt by the coalition to divert attention from the cost of living crisis.

"Vince Cable may not have noticed but the Grangemouth dispute has been settled.

"This review is nothing more than a Tory election stunt which no trade unionist will collaborate with."

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Prince Charles' Bid To Curb Gang Violence

The Prince of Wales is launching a campaign aimed at increasing the number of young people doing voluntary work in a bid to tackle gang violence.

Charles believes that street murders can happen due to the lack of organised activities for youngsters.

In an article in the Mail On Sunday, he says he often reflects on the courage shown by Barry and Margaret Mizen, whose teenage son Jimmy was murdered in 2008.

"The Mizens are convinced - as I have been for the past 40 years - that part of the solution is in providing more structured activities for young people.

"In my opinion, tragedies such as the murder of Barry and Margaret's son are the extreme result of too many young people no longer guided through a rite of passage; young people who would benefit from the guidance and help of organisations such as the Guides, Scouts, cadets and other youth organisations.

"However, these are all groups which are hampered in their growth by a lack of adult volunteers."

Speaking with the Mizens and members of Families United - a group for parents whose children have been killed by gang violence - made him even more determined to start a long-term leadership campaign.

"This kind of initiative can help to provide a constructive team-based substitute for destructive gang violence, so that no more families like the Mizens should have to suffer such untold misery in the future."

The Prince was determined to act after speaking to Jimmy Mizen's parents

Charles said that this week at Buckingham Palace he would join other influential figures including the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition, plus 50 young people, to launch a pledge campaign called #iwill, through a collaborative youth initiative called Step Up 2 Serve.

Those taking part will pledge to support young people take every opportunity to help others.

"At present, just 29% volunteer regularly, although more may do so informally," the Prince wrote.

"The campaign proposes that we should support and inspire 50% of all those aged between 10 and 20 to take part in practical action in the service of others by 2020.

"Young people have an immense contribution to make to society, but we are failing to do enough to unlock their talent to help tackle all sorts of challenges.

"Young people are the solution to so much and yet, too frequently, they are seen as the problem.

"If you think that all over our country there are thousands of lonely old people who need company, younger children who need alternatives to hanging about on street corners, crucial  environmental work that needs doing, and local causes that need espousing, it is not difficult to see how any small voluntary contribution can help."

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Age Of Consent: No 10 Rejects Calls To Change

Downing Street has rejected a call from a leading public health expert to consider lowering the age of consent for sex to 15.

Professor John Ashton, president of the Faculty of Public Health, said society sends "confused" signals about when sex is permitted.

But a No 10 spokesman said: "We reject the call to lower the age of consent.

"The current age is in place to protect children and there are no plans to change it."

Prof Ashton's intervention comes against a backdrop of official figures which suggest that up to a third of teenagers have sex before the present age of consent of 16.

He told Sky News: "The problem we have got is we have got this massive sexualisation and pornographication of childhood and early adolescence.

Lowering the age would make it easier for 15-year-olds to get contraception

"Huge commercial interests - pop music, fashion, internet pornography everywhere, social media.

"There doesn't seem to be any real appetite among politicians and leaders to address this.

"In the meantime, our young people are becoming sexually active at younger and younger ages.

"If we are not going to create an environment where they are not sexualised, then we need to address their needs."

He added: "What we know from other European countries that have lower ages of sexual consent, I am thinking here particularly about the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark, is that very often what that leads to is where there's an atmosphere of discussion within the family, within the school, within the social environment, they actually defer putting off sex, even though the age of consent is lower, and that they have lower teenage pregnancy rates.

"It also means if they are not indulging in what's illegal activity, they won't be frightened to come forward for help if they are getting involved in a dangerous situation with an older male who's grooming them or what have you.

"We have got this conundrum. Where you have got illegal activity which large numbers of people are engaging in, you are creating an environment of risk, potential abuse, potential exploitation.

"We need to do something about the sexualisation of childhood, and we need to do something about responding properly to the needs of young people who are becoming sexually active, perhaps with somebody of a similar age where it is part of a normal maturing process into adult life, but also so that we can begin to tackle this problem of girls particularly, being exploited by older males."

The Faculty of Public Health, part of the Royal Colleges of Physicians, gives advice to ministers and civil servants although it is independent of government.

David Tucker, head of policy at the NSPCC, said he would be happy to have a debate on the issue but said he would want to see the evidence for Prof Ashton's claims.

He said: "Has there really been a significant change in the amount of young people having sex over the past 20 or 30 years?

"If it has changed, then is reducing the age of consent the most sensible way to deal with it?"

22.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

Body In Well: Seven Bailed In Murder Inquiry

Seven men arrested over the discovery of a body in a well in Surrey have been bailed by police.

The body was recovered by specialist police officers on Saturday.

Two workmen made the discovery as they were doing clearing work in the front garden of a large house in Audley Drive, Warlingham, Surrey, which stands in an acre of grounds in an affluent area.

The seven held on suspicion of murder are aged between 21 and 27. They have been bailed to a date in late December, pending further investigation, a Scotland Yard spokesman said.

A post-mortem examination is due to take place today at East Surrey Hospital mortuary.

Detective Chief Inspector Cliff Lyons said on Saturday: "It is a murder investigation. As far as I am concerned, when a body is found in a well it either fell in there or was placed in there, and the evidence is apparent that the body was placed in there."

He said the body presented a number of logistical challenges, requiring a police marine diving team with breathing apparatus to recover it intact to preserve forensic evidence.

"The well is two feet in diameter, it is seven feet deep to the water line, and the water is approximately four feet deep," he said.

He said it was not possible to be sure of the body's gender, but judging by the size it was most likely to be an adult. The person was white.

Mr Lyons told reporters at the scene: "It's not been there for an extended period of time; it will be a matter of weeks at the most."

He was not prepared to discuss who lived in the house or a suggestion that the body was wrapped in carpet. He could not confirm whether the body was intact.

Asked about claims by local residents that there had been quite a bit of trouble in the past couple of years with the people who lived in the house, and that police had been called many times, he said: "The residents have expressed concern, there is intelligence to support that notion, yes."

He appealed for anyone who had concerns about a person who has gone missing, especially if they had connections to that area, to come forward.

22.11 | 0 komentar | Read More