Alan Blinkhorn - Urgent News: Leveson Inquiry: Coogan says reporters rifled his bins

Alan Blinkhorn - Urgent News:
Leveson Inquiry: Coogan says reporters rifled his bins

Steve Coogan has told an inquiry into media ethics that reporters have been through his rubbish bins, looking for "lurid" details of his private life.

The comedian also denied a tabloid story from 2007 which claimed he took drugs with the US actor Owen Wilson.

He said some people entered a "Faustian pact" with the press but he had never sought fame and was a private person.

Lord Justice Leveson is hearing from alleged victims of media intrusion at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.
'Closet empty'
The star - best known for his character Alan Partridge - said photographers often sat outside his flat with cameras and he had seen reporters go through his rubbish bins looking for a story.

Read More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15842034

Alan Blinkhorn - Urgent News: Mobile phone companies warned over data tariff advice

Alan Blinkhorn - Urgent News: Mobile phone companies warned over data tariff advice

Mobile phone operators must do more to help people avoid getting unexpectedly large bills after going online, says the Communications Ombudsman.

The complaints watchdog says so-called data download bill shock is a serious and growing problem.

Chief Ombudsman Lewis Shand Smith says that is because it is becoming more common for people to download big files, like videos, onto mobiles.

He says that has led to a rise in the number of customers being affected.

Adam Barclay-Faulkner, who's 27, runs his own small business selling big, inflatable adverts in Staffordshire.

He says he makes the most of his mobile's unlimited data deal.

He said: "Mainly I use my mobile for Facebook to keep in touch with family and friends.

"I also send and receive a lot of work emails and watch the occasional video as well."

Big bills

Like many people Adam thought he was on an unlimited data deal with his mobile operator.

As can often be the case though, there was a limit which was in the small print of the contract.

Read More: www.bbc.co.uk

Alan Blinkhorn - Urgent News: Neutrino experiment repeat at Cern finds same result

Alan Blinkhorn - Urgent News: Neutrino experiment repeat at Cern finds same result

The team which found that neutrinos may travel faster than light has carried out an improved version of their experiment - and confirmed the result.

If confirmed by other experiments, the find could undermine one of the basic principles of modern physics.

Critics of the first report in September had said that the long bunches of neutrinos (tiny particles) used could introduce an error into the test.

The new work used much shorter bunches.

It has been posted to the Arxiv repositoryand submitted to the Journal of High Energy Physics, but has not yet been reviewed by the scientific community.

The experiments have been carried out by the Opera collaboration - short for Oscillation Project with Emulsion (T)racking Apparatus.

It hinges on sending bunches of neutrinos created at the Cern facility (actually produced as decays within a long bunch of protons produced at Cern) through 730km (454 miles) of rock to a giant detector at the Gran Sasso laboratory in Italy.

The initial series of experiments, comprising 15,000 separate measurements spread out over three years, found that the neutrinos arrived 60 billionths of a second faster than light would have, travelling unimpeded over the same distance.

The idea that nothing can exceed the speed of light in a vacuum forms a cornerstone in physics - first laid out by James Clerk Maxwell and later incorporated into Albert Einstein's theory of special relativity.

Timing is everything

Initial analysis of the work by the wider scientific community argued that the relatively long-lasting bunches of neutrinos could introduce a significant error into the measurement.

Those bunches lasted 10 millionths of a second - 160 times longer than the discrepancy the team initially reported in the neutrinos' travel time.

To address that, scientists at Cern adjusted the way in which the proton beams were produced, resulting in bunches just three billionths of a second long.

When the Opera team ran the improved experiment 20 times, they found almost exactly the same result.

"We didn't think they were, and now we have the proof," he told BBC News. "This is reassuring that it's not the end of the story.""This is reinforcing the previous finding and ruling out some possible systematic errors which could have in principle been affecting it," said Antonio Ereditato of the Opera collaboration.

Read More:  www.bbc.co.uk

Alan Blinkhorn - Urgent News: Sepp Blatter says sorry for comments on racism

Alan Blinkhorn - Urgent News: Sepp Blatter says sorry for comments on racism

Blatter: "It is part of my core values to respect all nations, all cultures"

Sepp Blatter has told the BBC he is sorry for causing offence with his controversial statements on racism.

The Fifa president appeared to suggest on Wednesday that racial discrimination could be settled with a handshake.

"It hurts and I am still hurting because I couldn't envisage such a reaction," said the 75-year-old Swiss.

"When you have done something which was not totally correct, I can only say I am sorry for all those people affected by my declarations."

Blatter insisted his "fight against racism and discrimination will go on" and said he would not resign, despite calls for him to quit by numerous British players, managers, administrators and politicians.



"I cannot resign," he told BBC sports editor David Bond in an exclusive interview. "Why should I?

"When you are faced with a problem you have to face the problem. To leave would be totally unfair and not compatible with my fighting spirit, my character, my energy."

Blatter admitted his comments had caused a "serious incident" and that he had used "unfortunate words" which he "deeply regretted".

He also said any players found guilty of racism on the pitch should be thrown out of the game.

"Zero tolerance," he said. "This was a good lesson for me as well."

Blatter's comments about racism, made earlier in the week, caused consternation in England.

Manchester United defender and former England captain Rio Ferdinandaccused the Fifa president of "ignorance", while David Beckham described Blatter's remarks as "appalling".

Beckham added: "I don't think the comments were very good for this game. [Racism] can't be swept under the carpet and it can't be sorted out with just a handshake."

Blatter tried to clarify his stance when speaking to Fox Soccer on Thursday but his interview with the BBC is the clearest acknowledgement yet that his comments caused offence.

Tokyo Sexwale, the South African minister included in a photo with Blatter when Fifa put out a statement on Wednesday night saying the Swiss's comments had been misunderstood, commented: "It is important that such conduct [racism on the pitch] is rooted out from the field of play without any equivocation.


Read More: www.bbc.co.uk

Alan Blinkhorn - Urgent News: Why is unity so important to Europe?

Alan Blinkhorn - Urgent News:

Why is unity so important to Europe?

London (CNN) -- Europe's leaders are battling to keep the eurozone and the wider European Union together in the face of a financial crisis that threatens to split partnerships forged over more than half a century.

So why are they putting so much effort into preserving unity? And can they prevent today's debts and differences from dividing the continent for decades to come?


Why is unity so important to Europe?

The answer lies in Europe's history: The continent has historically been split by long-running conflicts that pitted neighboring countries against each other.

But despite this, the nations of Europe also share much in common, as Professor John Loughlin, of the University of Cambridge's department of politics and international studies explained.

"In the 19th century there was an idea that Europe had a natural unity, that its constituent parts shared an identity, a culture, a history," he told CNN.

Read More: www.CNN.com

Alan Blinkhorn - Urgent News: Judge Turns Down Norway Killer's Request to Address Survivors, Victims' Relatives

Alan Blinkhorn - Urgent News:

Judge Turns Down Norway Killer's Request to Address Survivors, Victims' Relatives

This photograph of Anders Behring Breivik, who confessed to killing at least 77 people, is broadcast by Norwegian television.

OSLO, Norway – A Norwegian court has decided to extend by 12 weeks the custody of the anti-Muslim extremist who confessed to the bomb and shooting attacks that killed 77 people in July.

The Oslo District Court prolonged Anders Behring Breivik's custody to Feb. 6 but decided to gradually lift the restrictions on media access, visitors and mail for the 32-year-old Norwegian.

The Norwegian right-wing extremist who confessed to a bombing and shooting massacre that killed 77 people tried to declare himself a resistance leader Monday at his first public court hearing but was quickly cut off by the judge.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com

Alan Blinkhorn - Urgent News: Italy crisis: Senate to vote on austerity measures

Alan Blinkhorn - Urgent News:

Italy crisis: Senate to vote on austerity measures
The Italian senate has begun a debate - to be followed by a vote - on austerity measures designed to avoid a bailout of the eurozone's third largest economy.
The measures are likely to be approved, with the lower house voting at the weekend and paving the way for Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to resign.
A technocrat government possibly led by former EU commissioner Mario Monti is being debated.
On Thursday, Italy raised 5bn euros (£4.3bn) from new government bonds.
But this was at an interest rate of 6.087% to borrow the money for one year.
A vote in the upper house is expected on Friday afternoon or evening.
Mr Berlusconi, who lost his parliamentary majority in a vote on Tuesday, has promised to resign after the austerity measures are passed by both houses of parliament.
Nervous markets
Italy's leaders are desperate to signal that they can bring the country's finances under control, says the BBC's Alan Johnston in Rome, and they are moving fast.
Mr Monti, a well respected economist, is exactly the sort of man that the money markets would like to see take charge at this time of crisis, our correspondent says.
The austerity package foresees 59.8bn euros in savings from a mixture of spending cuts and tax rises, with the aim of balancing the budget by 2014. Measures include:

• An increase in VAT, from 20% to 21%

• A freeze on public-sector salaries until 2014

• The retirement age for women in the private sector will gradually rise, from 60 in 2014 until it reaches 65 in 2026, the same age as for men

• Measures to fight tax evasion will be strengthened, including a limit of 2,500 euros on cash transactions

• There will be a special tax on the energy sector

Read more on this story at: www.bbc.co.uk