IS Turns Ancient City Of Nimrud Into Dust

Right To Buy: What Is It And How Does It Work?

Written By Unknown on Selasa, 14 April 2015 | 18.25

David Cameron has announced a future Tory government would give 1.3 million housing association tenants the chance to buy their homes.

:: So what is Right to Buy?

The existing scheme allows council tenants to buy their home at a discount of up to 70% - a maximum of £102,700 in London and £77,000 across the rest of of the country.

:: Full Coverage Of General Election 2015

The Conservatives have made extending this to 1.3 million housing association tenants a centrepiece of their manifesto for the May election.

:: This all seems familiar?

It is indeed. The scheme was trailblazed by Margaret Thatcher on coming to power in 1979 with the Tories hailing it "the biggest step towards a home-owning democracy ever taken" in their 1983 manifesto.

And in extending the scheme to housing tenants, David Cameron is hoping to recapture that aspirational spirit in the face of criticism of the negative tone of the Tory campaign to date.

Unveiling the plan, the PM echoed the words of the Thatcher-era by talking of "building a property-owning democracy for generations".

:: So that's the background, how will it work?

It will be funded by requiring councils to sell off the most expensive properties when they become empty, and replacing them with more affordable social homes.

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Around 15,000 houses and flats are expected to become available in this way each year, but the Conservatives stress no one will be forced out of their home.

It has been claimed the sales would raise an estimated £4.5bn which could then be used to build between 80,000 to 170,000 new properties a year.

:: Do I hear a "but" coming here?

You do indeed. The move, unsurprisingly, is not without its critics and has been branded "deeply unfair" by housing associations.

The National Housing Federation warns it would mean using £5.8bn of taxpayers' cash to "gift" up to £100,000 to people already living in good secure homes, on some of the country's cheapest rents.

Meanwhile, the group argues it would do nothing to help the millions in private rented properties desperate to buy, or those forced to live at home with their parents because they cannot afford to rent or buy.

It points out the £5.8bn would be enough to finance 300,000 new shared ownership homes "open to everyone, not just the lucky few".

Political opponents have also waded in with Labour dismissing it as "yet another uncosted, unfunded and unbelievable announcement".

And the Tories' Lib Dem coalition partners claim the scheme would would result in longer waiting lists for homes and fewer social houses.

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Greens Vow To Roll Back NHS Privatisation

The Green Party has pledged to end privatisation in the NHS and re-nationalise the railways in its manifesto.

The party also vowed to ban fracking, stop airport expansion and halt major road schemes, while promising cash for energy efficiency measures and flood defences.

:: Full Coverage Of General Election 2015

Party leader Natalie Bennett told activists at the heart of the manifesto was "a vision for a fair economy".

She said: "That fair economy demands the end to austerity.

"It demands we restore and enhance the essential public services we all but particularly the most vulnerable."

"That fair economy is paid for by the rebalancing that we so desperately need, to see multinational companies and rich individuals paying their fair share in taxes as they are simply not paying now."

And a fair economy meant every worker should be paid a living wage.

"It is really not a radical statement to say that if you work full time you should earn enough money to live on," she said.

"And yet we are the only UK party who is saying the minimum wage should immediately be lifted to a living wage and should reach £10 an hour by 2020."

:: All You Need To Know About Party Manifestos

Ms Bennett also underlined the party's commitment to safeguarding the NHS, and pledged to remove all private operators from the service.

She said: "Behind that is an understanding of what privatisation has really meant for so many of our public services.

"It's meant the cutting of the pay and conditions of workers, it's meant the cutting of the quality of services and it has meant the shovelling of public money into private hands."

Also speaking at the manifesto launch was Caroline Lucas, the party's former leader and the only Green MP in the last parliament, who argued tackling climate change was not "some luxury that is only possible when there are good economic times".

The environment was not something that could be ditched during tough times "like that extra cappuccino on the way to work".

Green Party plans for a free nationwide retro-fit insulation programme would tackle both the "scandal of cold homes" while creating more than 100,000 jobs, she said.

Ms Lucas told the audience the money was there but it came down to political choice.

"It's nonsense to say we can waste billions on new roads or on HS2 but we can't afford to keep people warm in their own homes," she said.

For every £1 spent on energy efficiency measures, £1.27 was returned to the economy, and Ms Lucas insisted it was the only way of reducing energy bills while also helping the environment.

The prospect of a hung parliament and a minority Labour government opened the way for the Greens to realise its manifesto goals.

She said: "That would give us a real opportunity to push Labour on the policies we know the public wants and which are at the heart of our manifesto - whether that's scrapping nuclear weapons or reversing the privatisation in our NHS, whether that's returning local schools to local control or bringing rail back into public ownership."

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Cameron Launches Manifesto For 'Working People'

David Cameron has claimed the Conservatives are the "party of the working people", with pledges on homeownership, £5,000 of free childcare and an income tax-free minimum wage.

As he launched the Tory manifesto, Mr Cameron repeatedly made offers to voters who worked hard and wanted to get on the "good life".

The manifesto set out measures for families from cradle to grave - identifying measures to help people over six stages of their lives.

Mr Cameron opened his speech by saying: "At the heart of this manifesto is a simple proposition. We are the party of working people, offering you security at every stage of your life."

He promised 30 hours of childcare for three and four-year-olds - five hours more than promised in Labour's manifesto yesterday - to help working parents.

He said if the party is returned to power, it will give 1.3m families the chance to buy their housing association home at least a 20% discount.

Speaking at a university technical college in Swindon, Mr Cameron laid out his vision for a "property-owning democracy" echoing the phrases used in Margaret Thatcher's 1983 manifesto.

And he said the Conservatives would introduce a tax-free minimum wage, linking the minimum wage to the income tax personal allowance so the lowest paid would never have to pay tax.

He urged voters not to "waste the last five years" and let "Labour drag us back" to the past, and asked to be allowed to "finish the job".

Mr Cameron promised: "This buccaneering, world-beating, can-do country - we can do it all over again."

:: Full Coverage Of General Election 2015

:: All You Need To Know About Party Manifestos

Among other measures included in the manifesto, which has the phrase "strong leadership, a clear economic plan, a better more secure future" on the cover, are:

:: Raising the personal allowance for tax to £12,500

:: Increasing the starting salary for the 40p rate to £50,000

:: No increase in income tax, VAT, National Insurance

:: Raising the inheritance tax threshold for family homes to £1m

:: Seven-day access to GP service

:: An annual £8bn boost for NHS funding

:: Repeal the Hunting Act

:: Increase state pension by at least 2.5% with a triple lock

:: 200,000 starter homes built

:: Committed to four-boat Trident nuclear deterrent

Mr Cameron's repeated pledges on a "good life" available to people in the UK prompted a question on whether the Prime Minister saw himself as the impoverished Tom and Barbara characters from the BBC sit com, played by Felicity Kendal and Richard Briers or the rich Margot and Jerry characters played by Penelope Keith and Paul Eddington.

To fund Right-to-Buy, the Conservatives would force councils to sell their most expensive properties when vacant – estimated to raise £4.5bn a year – and replace the properties sold.

However, the Housing Federation claims the cost to the taxpayer would be £5.8bn and 40 years of failure on house-building means the UK still doesn't have the homes needed.

Since Baroness Thatcher introduced Right-to-Buy in 1980 1.88m council properties have been sold – only 345,000 new social housing properties have been built.

As well as extending Right-to-Buy at a discount to housing association tenants, the party will promise a £1bn fund for building 400,000 new properties on brownfield sites.

Mr Cameron's claim that the Conservatives are the party for workers comes after Labour said it wanted to be seen as the fiscally responsible option for government.

:: Right-To-Buy: Your Questions Answered

:: Labour's Manifesto At A Glance

Conservative activists gathered for the manifesto launch were shown a video called The Note, which focused on the missive left for the coalition by the outgoing Labour Treasury Minister Liam Byrne. It said: "There is no money."

Labour has claimed the Conservatives have failed to explain properly how the measures will be funded.

The Tories say some £1.4bn a year of the funding will come from reducing the tax relief on pensions for those earning more than £150,000. Mr Cameron said their track record showed they could deliver on their pledges.

Labour leader Ed Miliband said the Conservatives were "trying to fund Right-to-Buy on a bounced cheque".

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Hotter Than Spain! UK Set For Deckchair Weather

Written By Unknown on Senin, 13 April 2015 | 18.25

Britain is set to enjoy the hottest weather of the year so far this week - with expected highs of up to 26C making it hotter than parts of Spain.

The highs are likely to be 10C above average for the time of year.

And the good news is set to keep coming for sun seekers.

The Met Office has confirmed that hotter-than-average temperatures are more than twice as likely than below-average conditions until June.

The unusual highs come after snow was recorded in parts of the Pennines on Sunday.

Sky weather presenter Isobel lang said: "We will be wearing shorts and sunscreen this week, with temperatures set to reach around 23C on Tuesday across the South East and perhaps 25C or 26C on Wednesday.

"The warm and strong sunshine will mainly affect England and Wales, with the Midlands, East Anglia and southern England recording the highest temperatures.

"However a front will continue to affect the North West, bringing persistent rain and cooler conditions to much of Scotland and at times Northern Ireland and Cumbria."

Wednesday is likely to be the warmest day of the year so far for much of Britain, with the mercury reaching up to 26C in London and the South East - higher than Alicante (22C) and Madrid (18C).

The same front affecting the North will bring some showers and cooler temperatures to the South later in the week, with drier, warmer weather replacing the gloom elsewhere.

Lang said: "The outlook is for plenty more fine weather although the South may see some patchy rain for a time over the weekend.

"Into next week, high pressure should bring more warmth and sunshine but it may not last all week long with signs of more unsettled conditions spreading in from the West."

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Chess Grandmaster Used Phone In Toilet To Cheat

A chess grandmaster has been thrown out of an international tournament after he made repeated trips to the toilet to allegedly check tactics on a mobile phone he had hidden inside a cubicle.

Gaioz Nigalidze, the current Georgian champion, was expelled from the Dubai Open for using his smartphone in a match against Armenian grandmaster Tigran L Petrosian.

He faces a ban of up to 15 years.

British former world title contender Nigel Short said Nigalidze "should be stripped of his GM (grandmaster) title and banned immediately".

He called for the World Chess Federation (FIDE) to tighten up rules, and questioned on Twitter whether it should introduce "mandatory two-year bans for computer cheats".

Two-time national champion Nigalidze was exposed when Petrosian grew suspicious about his frequent trips to the lavatory during Saturday's sixth-round match.

Tournament officials found Nigalidze had hidden a mobile phone in a cubicle, covered in toilet paper.

The Dubai Chess and Culture Club announced its decision to expel Nigalidze on Sunday morning.

It issued a statement on its Facebook page, along with a picture of Nigalidze's phone and an official game sheet of moves.

"When confronted, Nigalidze denied he owned the device," it said.

"But officials opened the smartphone and found it was logged into a social networking site under Nigalidze's account. They also found his game being analysed in one of the chess applications."

Petrosian told the Daily Telegraph: "Nigalidze would promptly reply to my moves and then literally run to the toilet.

"I noticed that he would always visit the same toilet partition, which was strange, since two other partitions weren't occupied.

"I informed the chief arbiter about my growing suspicions and asked him to keep an eye on Gaioz.

"After my opponent left the very toilet partition yet another time, the arbiters entered it.

"What they found was the mobile phone with headphones; the device was hidden behind the pan and covered with toilet paper."

When questioned about the offence, Nigalidze said: "Not everything is true in what Petrosian said."

It is not the first time a player has been caught cheating at a chess tournament.

In July 2013, Bulgarian player Borislav Ivanov was suspended for four months after officials found most of his moves matched those of the top computer chess programmes.

In 2008, at the Dubai Open, an Iranian player was banned after he was found receiving help via text messages.

Computers became powerful enough to outwit the world's top chess players nearly 20 years ago.

In 1997, Garry Kasparov became the first reigning world chess champion to be beaten by a computer under tournament conditions.

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Miliband: 'I Am Ready' To Lead Better Britain

Ed Miliband has attempted to convince voters he can be trusted with the economy pledging to cut the deficit year on year and saying: "I am ready" to lead the country.

The Labour leader promised to get the Budget back into surplus "as soon as possible" and said that every thing listed in the party's manifesto could be paid for.

The manifesto, launched by Mr Miliband on the set of Coronation Street and titled Britain Can Be Better, promised to "secure the family finances of the working people of Britain".

:: Full Coverage Of General Election 2015

:: All You Need To Know About Party Manifestos

Mr Miliband said the manifesto was not a "shopping list of proposals" as he sought to persuade a sceptical public he could be trusted with the nation's finances by introducing a "triple lock" of responsibility.

He said a Labour Government would: cut the deficit every year, that every measure contained in the manifesto was fully funded and Labour would meet fiscal rules with the national debt falling.

Mr Miliband attempted to capitalise on the Conservatives' refusal to spell out how they would find the extra £8bn of funding for the NHS and said David Cameron's party had proposed £20bn of unfunded commitments.

He said: "Nothing is more dangerous to our NHS than pretending you'll be able to protect it without being able to say where the money's coming from. You can't fund the NHS with an IOU and the Conservative Party need to learn that."

But Mr Miliband made some eye-catching pledges in the 84-page Labour Party Manifesto 2015 including:

:: Wrap around childcare - primary schools forced to provide care from 8am-6pm

:: Raising the minimum wage to £8 an hour

:: Abolishing non-dom rules, abolishing zero-hour contracts

:: £2.5bn Time to Care fund for NHS off back of mansion tax and tobacco firm levy

:: Increase income tax for those earning more than £150,000

:: No increase in income tax, VAT, National Insurance for others

:: Scrap winter fuel allowance for pensioners with an income of more than £42,000 a year

:: Freeze energy prices

:: Tighten tax avoidance rules to yield £7.5bn a year

:: Cut tuition fees to £6,000

:: More powers for the Welsh and Scottish Parliament

:: Extend the vote to 16-year-olds

Mr Miliband said: "The reason we can make these commitments is because we will make sure those with the broadest shoulders bear the greatest burden.

"So we'll reverse David Cameron's tax cut for millionaires to help pay down the deficit, we'll crack down on hedge funds who avoid paying their fair share, we'll stop HMRC operating double standards and we'll do something that no government has done for over 200 years, we'll say enough is enough to the people who live here, work here, send their kids to school here but don't want to pay taxes here and we will abolish the non-dom rule."

Polls show that voters trust Labour less with the economy than the Conservatives and Mr Miliband has struggled to play down forgetting to mention the deficit in his conference speech.

Labour says it will have the current Budget in surplus by the end of the next parliament, however, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have said they will do so by 2017/18.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies has said that Labour's plans would leave the deficit at £30bn - it currently stands at £90bn - by 2020.

In an answer to recent criticism that Labour is against big business and wealth-creators, Mr Miliband said Labour was "pro business but not pro business as usual".

He said Labour would champion small and medium sized businesses with a cut in business rates to help them create the jobs, wealth and profits of the future.

And he pledged to keep Britain in the European Union - admitting it did need change but stressing Labour would work to stay within it.

:: Ed Miliband Profile

:: Live Blog: General Election 2015

Mr Miliband also said he would champion the little man against the giant energy firms and painted himself as the man who would stand up for the little people against the powerful interests.

Mr Miliband was speaking inside the building used in the long-running soap as Weatherfield Police Station.

Sky's Political Correspondent Sophy Ridge said the decision to use the set could be seen as a metaphor for "hard-working, or ordinary, families" or could even be a knowing nod to the idea of a "political soap opera".

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British Boy Killed In Alps Ski Fall 'Was Lost'

Written By Unknown on Minggu, 12 April 2015 | 18.25

A British boy who died in a skiing accident while on a family holiday in the French Alps was skiing alone at his own request, according to reports.

The seven-year-old, who has been named in reports as Carwyn Scott-Howell from Brecon in Mid Wales, fell around 160ft from a cliff to his death in the alpine resort of Flaine on Friday.

He had been skiing with his mother, brother and sister but is understood to have asked to ski the day's final descent on his own.

His family became worried after he failed to reach the bottom of the slopes, prompting a search which ended when his body was discovered around three-and-a-half hours later.

The circumstances around the incident are still being investigated by the authorities, with some reports suggesting the boy was instead somehow separated from his family.

There have been reports that the boy was not skiing on his own, and had instead gotten lost from the group he was with.

Michel Ollagnon, an officer with the Bonneville mountain rescue service, said the boy's body was spotted off his expected course by rescuers in a helicopter on Friday evening.

Police chief Patrick Poirot, the head of the mountain rescue division in the nearby town of Annecy, was quoted in the Daily Mirror saying: "Specialists are at the scene to try and determine exactly what happened and understand every element that led to this tragedy.

"Hypothetically we think that, after losing his parents, the little boy didn't know where to go and skied in the wrong direction.

"He's just seven-years-old.

"He left the marked ski slope and probably skied to the top of a cliff.

"He then stopped, removed his skis, walked a little way and then fell.

"He fell 50 metres."

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said they were aware of the death and are providing consular assistance.

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IS Turns Ancient City Of Nimrud Into Dust

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Islamic State militants have continued their spree of destroying ancient cities and treasures across Iraq, this time targeting Nimrud.

The video posted online appears to show the terror group's fighters smashing artefacts in the ancient Assyrian city before blowing up the site.

Militants can be seen ripping large barrels filled with powder in a room where the walls are lined with gypsum slabs, beautifully carved with representations of Assyrian figures.

Nimrud was founded in the 13th century BC and contains one of the most famous archaeological sites in the history of a country often described as the cradle of civilisation.

It was such a special city, in fact, that it was on Unesco's tentative list of world heritage sites.

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Gallery: Images Of The 3,000-Year-Old Assyrian Site

The 3,000-year-old site on the banks of the Tigris river was once the capital of the world's most powerful empire, the Assyrians. European archeologists first excavated the site in the 1840s

Statues, sections of palaces and gold items were unearthed at the site. Some of its best-known monuments include these winged bulls with human faces, known as lamassus

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Many of its artefacts were on display in the Baghdad Museum, but disappeared during the Gulf War in the 1990s. It was presumed they had been looted

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However, after the 2003 Iraq invasion by allied forces, the items were found safe. They had been locked away in a secret vault in the city, submerged in sewage water

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The collection includes hundreds of gold and gem-studded jewellery items

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The explosion sends a huge mushroom into the sky and turns yet another important part of the region's history to dust.

The fighters hack away at statues with sledgehammers and carve them up with angle grinders, claiming that God had "honoured" them by "removing and destroying everything that was held to be equal to him and worshipped without him".

In the jihadists' view, statues, idols and shrines amount to recognising objects of worships other than God and must be destroyed.

A militant speaking at the end of the destruction said: "Whenever we are able in a piece of land to remove the signs of idolatry and spread monotheism, we will do it."

The attacks, which follow similar destruction by IS in Iraq and Syria earlier this year and last year, will be widely criticised.

Abdulamir Hamdani, an archaeologist from Stony Brook University in New York, said of Nimrud: "It's really a very important site in the history of Mesopotamia.

"Many of Assyria's greatest artistic treasures came from this site."

Nimrud is the later Arab name given to a settlement which was originally called Kalhu and was first described in 1820, being plundered by Western explorers and officials over decades.

It was also looted and damaged during the 2003 US invasion.

Most of Nimrud's most valuable artefacts were moved long ago to museums in Mosul, Baghdad, Paris, London and elsewhere but giant "lamassu" statues - winged bulls with human heads - and reliefs were still on site.

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Written By Unknown on Sabtu, 11 April 2015 | 18.25

David Cameron has pledged to protect the NHS by meeting its funding needs "in full" and Labour is to announce plans to provide an extra 3,000 midwives to guarantee one-to-one maternity care.

While the countdown to the too close-to-call general election continues, the main parties are trying to win over crucial undecided voters for whom the NHS is a key issue.

:: Full Coverage Of General Election 2015

The Prime Minister has promised to fund the five-year reform plan put forward by NHS chief executive Simon Stevens by pumping at least an extra £8bn a year into the health service by 2020.

This will mean that over-75s will be guaranteed same-day access to GPs, patients will be able to see doctors out of regular office hours and the NHS will provide a full range of services seven days a week, according to Mr Cameron.

Mr Stevens predicted in a report in October that, if health spending rose only at the rate of inflation, growing demand for care would leave the NHS in England with a £30bn funding gap by 2020.

He said around £22bn of that could be met through "efficiencies", but the remainder would have to come from government funds.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt told Sky News: "This is a very big moment for the NHS. By the end of the next parliament, we'll have a million more over-70s, and we want to make sure that every one of them is treated with dignity and respect.

"We will need more doctors, more nurses and more healthcare assistants. For people who have worked hard all their lives, we want to make sure they have the security of knowing the NHS is going to be there when they need it.

"Because we will deliver a strong economy, we are able to make this very important financial commitment today."

Up to now only the Liberal Democrats had committed to finding the extra money.

Mr Cameron said his track record showed he could be trusted to protect the NHS, with annual spending up £7.3bn in real terms but he did not say where the extra funding needed would come from.

Speaking about his severely disabled son Ivan, who died in 2009, Mr Cameron added: "As someone who's been supported by the NHS at the most difficult time in my life, I'm utterly committed to ensuring it is there for everyone when they need it too.

"That's why I'm backing the NHS's own plan with the cash required to ensure it can continue to deliver an amazing service to patients and their families in the future."

But a Labour Party spokesman said: "The Tories are briefing the same story they've done five times before. There is still no firm commitment, still no idea where the money coming from - and they still can't be trusted on NHS."

And a Lib Dem spokesman said: "The Conservative ideological obsession with cutting the size of the state means they cannot afford this unfunded spending commitment.

"The Liberal Democrats are the only party who has committed to giving the NHS the £8bn it needs and have set out how we will pay for it.

"Tory spending plans will not help the NHS but rather destroy vital public service and decimate basic entitlements."

Labour will publish a mini-manifesto later including a new right to a dedicated midwife before and after childbirth.

Joining Mr Cameron in seeking to highlight his own personal experience of the NHS, Labour leader Ed Miliband told of the "brilliant care" he and wife Justine received when their sons Samuel and Daniel were born.

Evoking the popular 1950s-set TV programme, he said: "Call The Midwife shouldn't just be a TV programme from the past but part of our NHS future too.

"We need to ensure the NHS can offer every woman the personalised one-to-one care we expect from a modern and thriving health service.

"Our fully-funded plan will provide the extra staff including midwives needed to give them the time to care. Because it is time to care for our NHS."

Commenting on the Tory pledge, Ukip leader Nigel Farage said: "Mr Cameron's spending plans are unfunded, but he'll know this already.

"He knows he needs to make these promises, because he's planning for an immigration bombshell in to this country over the next five years, and under his plans, our NHS will become an international health service."

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