Earth 'not at risk' from collider
Our planet is not at risk from the world's most powerful particle physics experiment, a report has concluded.
The document addresses fears that the Large Hadron Collider is so energetic, it could have unforeseen consequences.
Critics are worried that mini-black holes made at the soon-to-open facility on the French-Swiss border might threaten the Earth's very existence.
But the report, issued the European Organization for Nuclear Research, says there is "no conceivable danger".
The organization - known better by its French acronym, Cern - will operate the collider underground in a 27km-long tunnel near Geneva.
This Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a powerful and complicated machine, which will smash together protons at super-fast speeds in a bid to unlock the secrets of the Universe.
Six "detectors" - individual experiments - will count, trace and analyse the particles that emerge from the collisions.
Most physicists believe the risk of a cataclysm lies in the realms of science fiction. But there have been fears about the possibility of a mini-black hole - produced in the collider - swelling so that it gobbles up the Earth.
Critics have previously raised concerns that the production of weird hypothetical particles called strangelets in the LHC could trigger the mass conversion of nuclei in ordinary atoms into more strange matter - transforming the Earth into a hot, dead lump.
New particles
The lay language summary of the report, which has been written by Cern's top theorists, states: "Over the past billions of years, nature has already generated on Earth as many collisions as about a million LHC experiments - and the planet still exists."
The report added: "There is no basis for any concerns about the consequences of new particles or forms of matter that could possibly be produced by the LHC."
The new document is an update of the analysis carried out in 2003 into the safety of the collider by an independent team of scientists.
The authors of the latest report, including theoretical physicist John Ellis, confirmed that black holes could be made by the collider. But they said: "If microscopic black holes were to be singly produced by colliding the quarks and gluons inside protons, they would also be able to decay into the same types of particles that produced them."
The report added: "The expected lifetime [of a mini-black hole] would be very short."
On the strangelet issue, the report says that these particles are even less likely to be produced at the LHC than in the lower-energy Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) in New York, which has been operating since 2000.
A previous battle over particle accelerator safety was fought over the US machine.
'Fundamental question'
The scientific consensus appears to be on the side of Cern's theorists.
But in 2003, Dr Adrian Kent, a theoretical physicist at the University of Cambridge, wrote a paper in which he argued that scientists had not adequately calculated the risks of a "killer strangelet" catastrophe scenario.
He also expressed concern that a fundamental question (how improbable does a cataclysm have to be to warrant proceeding with an experiment?) had never been seriously inspected.
The LHC was due to switch on in 26 November 2007. The start-up has been postponed several times, however, and is currently scheduled for later this summer.
The first delay was precipitated by an accident in March 2007 during stress testing of one of the LHC's "quadrupole" magnets.
A statement carried on the Cern website from the US laboratory that provided the magnet stated that the equipment had experienced a "failure" when supporting structures "broke".
It later emerged that the magnet had exploded in the tunnel, close to one of the LHC's most important detectors, prompting the facility to be evacuated.
In March, a complaint requesting an injunction against the LHC's switch-on was filed before the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii by seven plaintiffs.
One of the plaintiffs had previously attempted to bring a similar injunction against the RHIC over safety concerns.
Councils in England have been urged to review the way they use surveillance powers to investigate suspected crime.
Under laws brought in to help fight terrorism, councils can access phone and e-mail records and use surveillance to detect or stop a criminal offence.
But Local Government Association chairman Sir Simon Milton has written to councils warning overzealous use of the powers could alienate the public.
They should not be used for "trivial offences" such as dog fouling, he adds.
Concerns have been raised about the way some councils have used the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act.
LONDON (Reuters) - The number of young people entering the criminal justice system has soared in the last few years as police focus on minor crimes in order to meet government targets, a think-tank said on Monday.
The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) found that the number of offenders aged under 18 had risen by more than a quarter since 2002, two-and-a-half times faster than adults.
The number of under-15s being criminalised had also risen by a third, it said in a report, based on figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
The left-leaning IPPR argued that youngsters who commit less-serious offences should face "Community Justice Panels", made up of victims and local representatives, rather than sent to court.
"Current targets to bring more offenders 'to justice' have resulted in the police concentrating on easier-to-solve, low level crimes committed by children and teenagers, often with complex problems," said report author Joe Farrington-Douglas.
"This has not resulted in crime reduction but serves to criminalise young people, increases re-offending and misdirects important resources away from dealing with severe offences and crime prevention."
The IPPR's findings echo a report last month by the right-wing think-tank Civitas which said police forces were putting government targets ahead of serving the public by criminalising law-abiding people for minor crimes.
Last month it was reported that four police forces had decided to abandon the Home Office's national targets and concentrate on "common sense" policing.
(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Steve Addison)
The Park Hotel in Wadsley, Sheffield, is the latest to be asked to impose the rule by senior police officers.
Mark Kelly, the landlord said: "Police asked us to ensure that everyone removes headgear.
"With pensioners, by the time they sit down their hats always come off anyway because they were brought up with manners so usually take their hats off indoors."
The measure, designed to prevent people from obscuring their faces from CCTV cameras, has been questioned by Barnsley's former Test umpire Dickie Bird, 75, well-known for his favoured white flat cap.
He said: "Asking a Yorkshireman to take off his flat cap -- whoever heard of anything so silly.
"It's a Yorkshire tradition, men wearing flat caps. Although youngsters don't bother these days, older men still wear them and should be allowed to continue.
"I still wear a flat cap when I go out shopping and often leave it on when I get home and end up sitting watching TV with my cap on They look smart and they keep your head nice and warm."
A South Yorkshire Police spokesman said bans on people wearing headgear in public premises had been operated in banks and post offices for years.
She added: "There have been incidents both in pubs and other establishments when it has not been possible to identify offenders captured on CCTV because hats were hiding their faces."
More than 100 Israeli fighter jets took part in manoeuvres over the eastern Mediterranean and over Greece in the first week of June, US officials said.
Iran insists its programme is peaceful, but Israel sees Iran's development of the technology as a serious threat.
Tehran is defying a demand from the UN that it stop the enrichment of uranium.
The UN Security Council approved a third round of sanctions against Iran over the issue in March 2008.
** Whilst thousands of British citizens put their own lives and safety on the line everyday for our country and while thousands selfishly tend to services that serve special sectors in our community such as Fireman, Nurses, Paramedics and the police. A cleaner to a greedy and corrupt man is given an M.B.E for services to him, not Britain, not the public, but just Mr Martin and his family.
Obviously lying to help the Martins get out of a situation where his wife's spending spree bill landing on the pocket of UK tax payers, which had landed them in hot water, had a good deal to do with this. Mr Martin, speaker of the house should be thrown out of his job. The guy has been caught with his hands in the publics tax purse too many times. No he should not be asked to step down, he should be thrown out and arrested by the police for fraud**
Clive
By Brendan Carlin
Last updated at 11:20 PM on 14th June 2008
Commons Speaker Michael Martin came under fresh fire last night after his cleaner – who was involved in a row over his wife's taxi expenses – was given an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours.
Gloria Hawkes, 64, a friend of Mary Martin, was caught up in the controversy earlier this year over a £4,139 taxi bill run up by Mrs Martin.
Mrs Hawkes's discretion and loyalty were singled out in an official citation accompanying the announcement of her honour for community service yesterday.
But the expenses row led to the resignation of the Speaker's spokesman Mike Granatt after he admitted he had misled The Mail on Sunday over the shopping trips.
He said the Speaker's office had failed to let him know the person accompanying Mrs Martin was not an 'official' – as originally claimed – but Mrs Hawkes.
Commons standards watchdogs have since cleared Mr Martin of misuse of public funds even though Mr Granatt was forced to clarify the trips were not to buy food for official receptions – but for informal occasions.
But yesterday Tory MP Douglas Carswell, who has already called on the Speaker to step down, asked: 'Why should his cleaner get an award when someone else who has made a contribution over many years to a community hospital or in some other area of public service may not?
'The Queen's honours system is meant to acknowledge the contribution people make to their cities and our country. It is not to be used by those presiding over a 19th Century club called Parliament to look after their own interests. Who recommended her?'
The extraordinarily glowing citation, which appeared to have been drawn up with the help of Mr and Mrs Martin, says the cleaner is 'utterly discreet'.
President George W Bush has enlisted British special forces in a final attempt to capture Osama Bin Laden before he leaves the White House.
Defence and intelligence sources in Washington and London confirmed that a renewed hunt was on for the leader of the September 11 attacks. "If he [Bush] can say he has killed Saddam Hussein and captured Bin Laden, he can claim to have left the world a safer place," said a US intelligence source.
Bush arrives in Britain today on the final leg of his eight-day farewell tour of Europe. He will have tea with the Queen and dinner with Gordon Brown and his wife Sarah before holding a private meeting with Brown at No 10 tomorrow and flying on to Northern Ireland.
Homeowners who want to build extensions on their houses are being charged £1,000 per room by council planners.
The 'bedroom tax' has been brought in under laws which allow councils to ask for money from developers such as supermarkets in return for granting them planning permission.
**Of course "no-one has been arrested" they ain't looking to arrest of the attackers. Now had it been Palestinians attacking Jewish settlers the Jews would be baying for blood in revenge**
Footage from a video camera handed out by an Israeli human rights group appears to show Jewish settlers beating up Palestinians in the West Bank.
An elderly shepherd, his wife and a nephew said they were attacked by four masked men for allowing their animals to graze near the settlement of Susia.
The rights group, B'Tselem, said the cameras were provided to enable Palestinians to get proof of attacks.
A spokesman for the Israeli police said that an investigation was under way.
So far, no-one has been arrested.
The Home Office has been criticised by a group of MPs for spending £29m on an asylum accommodation centre which was never even built.
Over £6m was paid to consultants for work on the proposed site at Bicester, in Oxfordshire, a report has revealed. A termination fee of almost £8m was also paid to the contractor when the scheme was cancelled.
It said there had been a "startling absence of common sense" in the Home Office's preparation for the project. The report said a pair of consultants were paid more than £1.1m between them for less than three years' work.
BILDERBERG MEETING
"Chantilly, Virginia, USA"
5-8 June 2008
CURRENT LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
Honorary Chairman
BEL "Davignon, Etienne" "Vice Chairman, Suez-Tractebel"
DEU "Ackermann, Josef" "Chairman of the Management Board and the Group Executive Committee, Deutsche Bank AG"
CAN "Adams, John" Associate Deputy Minister of National Defence and Chief of the Communications Security Establishment Canada
USA "Ajami, Fouad" "Director, Middle East Studies Program, The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, The Johns Hopkins University"
USA "Alexander, Keith B." "Director, National Security Agency"
INT "Almunia, Joaquín " "Commissioner, European Commission"
GRC "Alogoskoufis, George" Minister of Economy and Finance
USA "Altman, Roger C." "Chairman, Evercore Partners Inc."
TUR "Babacan, Ali " Minister of Foreign Affairs
NLD "Balkenende, Jan Peter" Prime Minister
PRT "Balsemão, Francisco Pinto" "Chairman and CEO, IMPRESA, S.G.P.S.; Former Prime Minister"
FRA "Baverez, Nicolas" "Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP"
ITA "Bernabè, Franco" "CEO, Telecom Italia Spa"
USA "Bernanke, Ben S." "Chairman, Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System"
SWE "Bildt, Carl" Minister of Foreign Affairs
FIN "Blåfield, Antti " "Senior Editorial Writer, Helsingin Sanomat"
DNK "Bosse, Stine" "CEO, TrygVesta"
CAN "Brodie, Ian " "Chief of Staff, Prime Minister's Office"
AUT "Bronner, Oscar" "Publisher and Editor, Der Standard"
FRA "Castries, Henri de " "Chairman of the Management Board and CEO, AXA"
ESP "Cebrián, Juan Luis" "CEO, PRISA"
CAN "Clark, Edmund" "President and CEO, TD Bank Financial Group"
GBR "Clarke, Kenneth" Member of Parliament
NOR "Clemet, Kristin" "Managing Director, Civita"
USA "Collins, Timothy C." "Senior Managing Director and CEO, Ripplewood Holdings, LLC"
FRA "Collomb, Bertrand" "Honorary Chairman, Lafarge"
PRT "Costa, António" Mayor of Lisbon
USA "Crocker, Chester A." James R. Schlesinger Professor of Strategic Studies
USA "Daschle, Thomas A." Former US Senator and Senate Majority Leader
CAN "Desmarais, Jr., Paul " "Chairman and co-CEO, Power Corporation of Canada"
GRC "Diamantopoulou, Anna" Member of Parliament
USA "Donilon, Thomas E." "Partner, O'Melveny & Myers"
ITA "Draghi, Mario" "Governor, Banca d'Italia"
AUT "Ederer, Brigitte" "CEO, Siemens AG Österreich"
CAN "Edwards, N. Murray " "Vice Chairman, Candian Natural Resources Limited"
DNK "Eldrup, Anders " "President, DONG A/S"
ITA "Elkann, John" "Vice Chairman, Fiat S.p.A."
USA "Farah, Martha J." "Director, Center for Cognitive Neuroscience; Walter H. Annenberg Professor in the Natural Sciences, University of Pennsylvania"
USA "Feldstein, Martin S." "President and CEO, National Bureau of Economic Research"
DEU "Fischer, Joschka" Former Minister of Foreign Affairs
USA "Ford, Jr., Harold E." "Vice Chairman, Merill Lynch & Co., Inc."
CHE "Forstmoser, Peter" "Professor for Civil, Corporation and Capital Markets Law, University of Zürich"
IRL "Gallagher, Paul " Attorney General
USA "Geithner, Timothy F. " "President and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of New York"
USA "Gigot, Paul " "Editorial Page Editor, The Wall Street Journal"
IRL "Gleeson, Dermot " "Chairman, AIB Group"
NLD "Goddijn, Harold" "CEO, TomTom"
TUR "Gögüs, Zeynep " "Journalist; Founder, EurActiv.com.
USA "Graham, Donald E." "Chairman and CEO, The Washington Post Company"
NLD "Halberstadt, Victor" "Professor of Economics, Leiden University; Former Honorary Secretary General of Bilderberg Meetings"
USA "Holbrooke, Richard C. " "Vice Chairman, Perseus, LLC"
FIN "Honkapohja, Seppo" "Member of the Board, Bank of Finland"
INT "Hoop Scheffer, Jaap G. de" "Secretary General, NATO"
USA "Hubbard, Allan B." "Chairman, E & A Industries, Inc."
BEL "Huyghebaert, Jan" "Chairman of the Board of Directors, KBC Group"
DEU "Ischinger, Wolfgang" Former Ambassador to the UK and US
USA "Jacobs, Kenneth" "Deputy Chairman, Head of Lazard U.S., Lazard Frères & Co. LLC"
USA "Johnson, James A." "Vice Chairman, Perseus, LLC" (Obama's man tasked with selecting his running mate)
SWE "Johnstone, Tom " "President and CEO, AB SKF"
USA "Jordan, Jr., Vernon E." "Senior Managing Director, Lazard Frères & Co. LLC"
FRA "Jouyet, Jean-Pierre " Minister of European Affairs
GBR "Kerr, John " "Member, House of Lords; Deputy Chairman, Royal Dutch Shell plc."
USA "Kissinger, Henry A." "Chairman, Kissinger Associates, Inc."
DEU "Klaeden, Eckart von" "Foreign Policy Spokesman, CDU/CSU"
USA "Kleinfeld, Klaus" "President and COO, Alcoa"
TUR "Koç, Mustafa " "Chairman, Koç Holding A.S."
FRA "Kodmani, Bassma" "Director, Arab Reform Initiative"
USA "Kravis, Henry R." "Founding Partner, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co."
USA "Kravis, Marie-Josée" "Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute, Inc."
INT "Kroes, Neelie " "Commissioner, European Commission"
POL "Kwasniewski, Aleksander " Former President
AUT "Leitner, Wolfgang" "CEO, Andritz AG"
ESP "León Gross, Bernardino" "Secretary General, Office of the Prime Minister"
INT "Mandelson, Peter" "Commissioner, European Commission"
FRA "Margerie, Christophe de" "CEO, Total"
CAN "Martin, Roger" "Dean, Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto"
HUN "Martonyi, János" "Professor of International Trade Law; Partner, Baker & McKenzie; Former Minister of Foreign Affairs"
USA "Mathews, Jessica T. " "President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace"
INT "McCreevy, Charlie " "Commissioner, European Commission"
USA "McDonough, William J." "Vice Chairman and Special Advisor to the Chairman, Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc."
CAN "McKenna, Frank" "Deputy Chair, TD Bank Financial Group"
GBR "McKillop, Tom " "Chairman, The Royal Bank of Scotland Group"
FRA "Montbrial, Thierry de" "President, French Institute for International Relations"
ITA "Monti, Mario" "President, Universita Commerciale Luigi Bocconi"
USA "Mundie, Craig J. " "Chief Research and Strategy Officer, Microsoft Corporation"
NOR "Myklebust, Egil" "Former Chairman of the Board of Directors SAS, Norsk Hydro ASA"
DEU "Nass, Matthias" "Deputy Editor, Die Zeit"
NLD "Netherlands, H.M. the Queen of the"
FRA "Ockrent, Christine" "CEO, French television and radio world service"
FIN "Ollila, Jorma" "Chairman, Royal Dutch Shell plc"
SWE "Olofsson, Maud " Minister of Enterprise and Energy; Deputy Prime Minister
NLD "Orange, H.R.H. the Prince of"
GBR "Osborne, George" Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
TUR "Öztrak, Faik" Member of Parliament
ITA "Padoa-Schioppa, Tommaso " Former Minister of Finance; President of Notre Europe
GRC "Papahelas, Alexis" "Journalist, Kathimerini"
GRC "Papalexopoulos, Dimitris" "CEO, Titan Cement Co. S.A."
USA "Paulson, Jr., Henry M." Secretary of the Treasury
USA "Pearl, Frank H." "Chairman and CEO, Perseus, LLC"
USA "Perle, Richard N." "Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research"
FRA "Pérol, François" Deputy General Secretary in charge of Economic Affairs
DEU "Perthes, Volker" "Director, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik"
BEL "Philippe, H.R.H. Prince"
CAN "Prichard, J. Robert S." "President and CEO, Torstar Corporation"
CAN "Reisman, Heather M." "Chair and CEO, Indigo Books & Music Inc."
USA "Rice, Condoleezza" Secretary of State
PRT "Rio, Rui " Mayor of Porto
USA "Rockefeller, David " "Former Chairman, Chase Manhattan Bank"
ESP "Rodriguez Inciarte, Matias" "Executive Vice Chairman, Grupo Santander"
USA "Rose, Charlie" "Producer, Rose Communications"
DNK "Rose, Flemming" "Editor, Jyllands Posten"
USA "Ross, Dennis B." "Counselor and Ziegler Distinguished Fellow, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy"
USA "Rubin, Barnett R." "Director of Studies and Senior Fellow, Center for International Cooperation, New York University"
TUR "Sahenk, Ferit " "Chairman, Dogus Holding A.S."
USA "Sanford, Mark" Governor of South Carolina
USA "Schmidt, Eric" "Chairman of the Executive Committee and CEO, Google"
AUT "Scholten, Rudolf " "Member of the Board of Executive Directors, Oesterreichische Kontrollbank AG"
DNK "Schur, Fritz H. " Fritz Schur Gruppen
CZE "Schwarzenberg, Karel " Minister of Foreign Affairs
USA "Sebelius, Kathleen" Governor of Kansas
USA "Shultz, George P." "Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Distinguished Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University"
ESP "Spain, H.M. the Queen of"
CHE "Spillmann, Markus" "Editor-in-Chief and Head Managing Board, Neue Zürcher Zeitung AG"
USA "Summers, Lawrence H." "Charles W. Eliot Professor, Harvard University"
GBR "Taylor, J. Martin" "Chairman, Syngenta International AG"
USA "Thiel, Peter A." "President, Clarium Capital Management, LLC"
NLD "Timmermans, Frans " Minister of European Affairs
RUS "Trenin, Dmitri V." "Deputy Director and Senior Associate, Carnegie Moscow Center"
INT "Trichet, Jean-Claude" "President, European Central Bank"
USA "Vakil, Sanam" "Assistant Professor of Middle East Studies, The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University"
FRA "Valls, Manuel " Member of Parliament
GRC "Varvitsiotis, Thomas" "Co-Founder and President, V + O Communication"
CHE "Vasella, Daniel L." "Chairman and CEO, Novartis AG"
FIN "Väyrynen, Raimo" "Director, The Finnish Institute of International Affairs"
FRA "Védrine, Hubert" Hubert Védrine Conseil
NOR "Vollebaek, Knut" "High Commissioner on National Minorities, OSCE"
SWE "Wallenberg, Jacob" "Chairman, Investor AB"
USA "Weber, J. Vin" "CEO, Clark & Weinstock"
USA "Wolfensohn, James D. " "Chairman, Wolfensohn & Company, LLC"
USA "Wolfowitz, Paul " "Visiting Scholar, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research"
INT "Zoellick, Robert B. " "President, The World Bank Group"
Rapporteurs
GBR "Bredow, Vendeline von" "Business Correspondent, The Economist"
GBR "Wooldridge, Adrian D." "Foreign Correspondent, The Economist"
AUT Austria HUN Hungary
BEL Belgium INT International
CHE Switzerland IRL Ireland
CAN Canada ITA Italy
CZE Czech Republic NOR Norway
DEU Germany NLD Netherlands
DNK Denmark PRT Portugal
ESP Spain POL Poland
FRA France RUS Russia
FIN Finland SWE Sweden
GBR Great Britain TUR Turkey
GRC Greece USA United States of America
The European Union is bracing itself for a fresh bout of doom and gloom as the Irish look increasingly likely to reject the new Lisbon treaty, wrecking years of efforts to reshape the way the community is run.
The latest opinion poll shows those intending to vote against the EU's reform treaty doubling in strength in recent weeks, soaring to a five-point lead over the Yes camp.
A vote against the treaty would sink the ambitions of Berlin, Brussels and Paris to reshape the EU by giving it a sitting president, foreign minister, a diplomatic service, a new voting system and decision-making powers, and streamlining the European commission.
The North Sea is not running out at all, industry, analysts say.
The full extent of reserves in the sea has never been known - and it has always been a commonly-held perception that supplies will soon dry up.
But latest analysis suggests there may be enough in reserve to equal all the oil recovered from under the sea since the Seventies.
Some experts believe that up to 30billion barrels are still in the ground.
And following evidence that 300 fields off the coast of Britain are still to be explored and tapped properly, reserves could be even greater, it is thought.
The details have led to calls for a windfall tax on the oil industry, which is sitting on estimated £4.3billion of excess profits caused by spiralling prices.
Yesterday, Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond, wrote to the Prime Minister asking for a North Sea oil tax to benefit Scots.
Explaining the size of reserves in the North Sea, Alex Kemp, professor of petroleum economics at Aberdeen University, said: 'There is still a substantial amount left. The remaining reserves on central estimates could be 20-22billion barrels equivalent, and on optimistic estimates could be over 30billion.'
Professor Peter O'Dell, of the Erasmus University in the Netherlands, agreed.
He believes there are 44 years of oil left. '
There are at least 20, 25, even 30billion barrels of the stuff left and that's quite a lot. It's not quite as much as we've used already but it's not far short.
'Moreover, there are still parts of UK Continental Shelf that have never been examined at all in any great depth. So that could be the low end of a range that could take us into a period when we have access to as much oil again as we've already used.'
Advances in technology and the rising price of oil mean it is both possible and economically viable to recover more oil from the North Sea.
The Scottish National Party believes oil companies such as BP and Shell have covered up the extent of reserves for fear of being hit with new taxes.
They have raked in multi-billion pound windfalls in the last few years as oil has risen in price.
Mr Salmond, a former oil economist, said: 'If oil companies said,'Look, we've got lots of reserves in the future', the immediate response of Government would be to stick taxation up. So there was a kind of incentive for the big companies to underplay the significance.'
His plan for a tax on North Sea oil to be diverted to the Scottish people would mirror schemes in Norway and Canada.
He added: 'In the case of Norway, the most recent estimate places the value of their fund at around £186billion, and by 2010 this could stand at a minimum of £250billion. The build-up of such funds reinforces the compelling case for such a fund to be developed for Scotland.'
However, the idea has already been rejected by Chancellor Alistair Darling, who said tax revenues need to be viewed 'in the round'.
The North Sea's potential was disclosed by a BBC Scotland documentary called Truth, Lies, Oil And Scotland, shown last night.
It told how the Forties Field, one of the biggest in the North Sea, is still producing oil 33 years after the first supplies were pumped ashore.
BP sold the field five years ago to the Texas-based company Apache, which has invested £1billion in facilities, exploration and recovery. Its chief executive, Jim House, told the BBC oil flow rates have increased.
'Forties was definitely showing her age when Apache took it. At the time when it was sold, predeveloped reserved were in the region of 150million barrels. We ended last year with 200million barrels on our books.'
Shell has also sold off platforms in the North Sea to more aggressive companies such as Fairfield Energy and Talisman Energy
Firms such as these are extending the life of North Sea oil fields through new exploration and wells.
John Forrest, of Talisman, said the company is drilling wells to reserves that could not be reached five or ten years ago. 'We're bringing on fields that we've known were there for quite a long time but they just weren't economic or we didn't have the technologies.
'We recently brought on a field without drilling any more wells. We just had better technology. We foresee an economic life at that installation until the late 2030s and that's with the ideas we currently have. We think other innovations will come along that will almost certainly extend that.'
More than 70,000 households are paying hundreds of pounds extra in council tax after Labour revalued their homes by stealth, the Liberal Democrats have claimed.
The party claims that those who bought homes that had been improved by the previous occupants have seen their bills rise by an average of £195 a year.
Council tax 'snoopers' have placed the properties in a higher band because of changes such as new conservatories, porches, extra bedrooms and parking spaces.
Inspectors from the Government's Valuation Office Agency have moved 70,010 homes into a higher band since 1997 when Labour came to power.
Statistics published by the Department for Communities and Local Government showed that nearly 391,000 properties had been revalued in the past decade.
Of these, about one in five were moved to a higher band after being studied by officials - forcing residents to pay out more.
Energy prices are rising faster in Britain than almost anywhere in Western Europe because foreign suppliers are rationing our own gas.
As major users told MPs that European power monopolies were effectively holding Britain to ransom, the extent of the UK's suffering was spelled out by the respected Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
It said UK energy prices have jumped 13.6 per cent in the past year, adding hundreds of pounds to domestic bills. This compares with 9.5 per cent in Germany, 12 per cent in France and just 2.8 per cent in the Netherlands.
And there are warnings that UK household bills could rise by a further 25 per cent this autumn.
The problem stems from the fact the country is no longer self-sufficient in gas from the North Sea and has become reliant on imports during the winter.
The strain of H7 bird flu found in chickens at a farm in Oxfordshire is the highly pathogenic type, officials said.
The avian flu virus was found on Tuesday in laying hens at the farm in Banbury, and all birds on the site were slaughtered.
Further tests are in progress to identify the exact type of the virus, while an investigation is under way to find where the disease came from.
While the H7 strain has been found in Britain on several occasions before now, this is the first time it has been identified in the highly pathogenic, or deadly, form.
Following the discovery of bird flu, a temporary control zone consisting of a 1.9-mile (3km) inner zone and a 6.2-mile (10km) outer zone was established around the infected premises.
In the inner zone, poultry must be housed and kept isolated from wild birds, and across the whole zone movement of birds and bird gatherings are banned.
Following confirmation that H7 bird flu had been found, Chief Veterinary Officer Nigel Gibbens said: "I would stress the need for poultry keepers to be extremely vigilant, practise the highest levels of biosecurity and report any suspicions of disease to their local Animal Health Office immediately."
The Health Protection Agency said the risk to public health remained low, while the Food Standards Agency said there were no implications for humans eating poultry products.
Dr Colin Butter, of the Institute of Animal Health, said highly pathogenic H7, like the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain which has been found on several occasions in the UK, would cause "rapid and very high mortality" among poultry.
Neither type spreads easily to humans, requiring close contact with infected birds. But while H5N1 causes high death rates in humans when they do catch it, H7 does not pose a serious health threat, he said.
LONDON – Prime Minister Gordon Brown's move to toughen Britain's terrorism laws came under attack on Thursday from an influential parliamentary committee, less than a week before a vital vote on the issue.
Brown wants to extend the maximum time limit that terrorism suspects can be held without charge to 42 days, from 28 days, but opposition parties and sections of his ruling Labor Party oppose the move on civil liberties grounds.
Defeat at a vote on Wednesday would seriously undermine Brown's leadership at a time when his popularity has plummeted so far that some Labor lawmakers are questioning his position.
Brown aides privately think the government has done enough to win over critics after it offered new human rights safeguards although publicly they say the vote is by no means won.
In a boost to Labor rebels, parliament's joint committee on human rights on Thursday said the proposed amendments to the bill were negligible and that the move would still violate the European Convention on Human Rights.
'While of course I welcome any new safeguards, no matter how minor, they do not answer the main point that we have seen nothing that would justify the extension beyond 28-days maximum detention,' said Labor parliamentarian Andrew Dismore, chair of the committee.
'The proposed extension to 42 days would almost certainly not be lawful,' he added in a statement published alongside the committee's report.
The two main opposition parties oppose the 42-day pre-charge detention plan.
Even if Brown wins the vote in parliament's lower house, the bill is expected to run into opposition in the House of Lords.
Brown aides argue the legislation does not violate human rights laws.
'We are very confident of the strength of our argument but any suggestion that the votes are already in, already won, are wide of the mark. We're not at that point yet,' Brown's spokesman said on Wednesday.
In one of its amendments, the government said the 42-day detention powers would only be used against a 'grave exceptional' threat – envisaged as something on the scale of suicide bombings in London that killed 52 commuters in 2005.
The human rights committee argued that having a government minister declare that such a threat existed to parliament 'is not, in reality, much of a safeguard, at least without some meaningful opportunity for that assertion to be tested by independent scrutineers, whether in parliament of the courts.'
Brown has sought to play down suggestions that he would have to resign if he lost Wednesday's vote, although defeat would prompt fresh speculation about his leadership and his ability to lead Labor to victory in the next election, due by 2010.
Steve Watson
Infowars.net
Monday, June 2, 2008
A dangerous new terrorist group has been identified by the governments of the Western world who fear it already has operatives all over the globe and is an imminent threat to security.
Gordon Brown is scooping a £1.7billion windfall from soaring oil prices and energy bills, research has shown.
The revelation will embarrass the Prime Minister, coming at a time when food and fuel bills are crippling millions of families.
Two reports, from accountants Grant Thornton and from the charity Age Concern, accuse the Government of making a fortune from hard-pressed taxpayers.
The biggest windfall is the extra £1.1billion made on petrol in only 81 days since the Budget on March 12, according to Grant Thornton. It claims the Treasury is benefiting as a result of record oil prices.
Of that, an extra £900million comes from North Sea oil taxes paid by companies.
