Rise in child emotional abuse calls

30 May 2014 Last updated at 00:16

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Peter Wanless, NSPCC: Emotional abuse can be "hugely damaging"

The number of child emotional abuse cases referred to police and children's services by the NSPCC has risen by 47% in a year, the charity has said.

Its helpline received about 8,000 calls in 2013-14 about such non-physical cruelty, and 5,354 were thought serious enough to merit further inquires.

Ministers are seeking to update laws on emotional abuse in England and Wales.

In total, more than 60,000 people contacted the NSPCC helpline, an increase of 21% on 2012-13.

Emotional abuse is defined in the government guidance document Working Together to Safeguard Children as "the persistent emotional maltreatment of a child such as to cause severe and persistent adverse effects on the child's emotional development."

Cinderella law

The NSPCC said it had taken more emotional abuse calls than ever before, with the number of referrals from its helpline up from 3,629 in 2012-13.

It said the surge may have been triggered by high-profile cases such as that of the murder of four-year-old Daniel Pelka in Coventry in 2012.

He was found to have been starved and beaten at the hands of his mother and her partner.

The figures have been released as the government considers a potential change in the law to specifically target the emotional neglect and abuse of children.

The so-called Cinderella Law, if passed, would amend the Children and Young Persons Act of 1933, which currently states that a person should be punished for treating a child "in a manner likely to cause him unnecessary suffering or injury to health".

A proposed bill would add a further category of harm for which the perpetrator could be punished for impairment of "physical, intellectual, emotional, social or behavioural development".

Emotional abuse

• 'The persistent emotional maltreatment of a child such as to cause severe and persistent adverse effects on the child's emotional development'

• It may involve conveying to children that they are worthless or unloved, inadequate, or valued only insofar as they meet the needs of another person

• It may feature inappropriate expectations being imposed on children, including interactions that are beyond the child's developmental capability, as well as overprotection and limitation of exploration and learning, or preventing the child participating in normal social interaction

• It may involve seeing or hearing the ill-treatment of another

Source: Department for Education: 'Working Together to Safeguard Children'

The NSPCC's head of child protection operations, John Cameron, said if the government were to push through the law it would be a positive step forward.

He added: "We must ensure we support children's services and that the police are given better powers to prosecute those who subject children to emotional neglect and abuse...

"But a law alone is not enough. What we really need to do is work together to prevent this abuse happening in the first place."

His sentiments were echoed by Sir Tony Hawkhead, the chief executive of fellow charity Action for Children, who said the NSPCC's rise in calls and referrals showed the "scale and seriousness of emotional abuse".

The Ministry of Justice has previously confirmed it was "considering ways the law can support" protecting children from emotional abuse.

It said protecting children from harm was "fundamental" and that child cruelty was an "abhorrent crime which should be punished".

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Sharp rise in EU migrant numbers

30 May 2014 Last updated at 03:10 By Paul Adams BBC News

There has been a significant rise in the numbers of migrants reaching Europe in recent months, the BBC has learned.

The number of people attempting the dangerous sea crossing from North Africa to Italy has risen sharply, says Frontex, the EU border agency.

From January to April, 42,000 migrants were detected on these routes, with 25,650 of these crossing from Libya.

Combined with seven other less busy routes, the total figure for this year is probably now about 60,000.

On Wednesday, the Italian government said the number of migrants reaching its shores had soared to more than 39,000.

The total for 2014 so far is more than the equivalent period in 2011, the year of the Arab Spring, which eventually saw the arrival of 140,000 illegal migrants.

"If the current trends continue, and with the summer months approaching, there is a strong likelihood the numbers will increase further," says Gil Arias Fernandez, Frontex's Deputy Executive Director.

At least a third of the latest arrivals are Syrians, fleeing that country's civil war.

But other significant numbers are coming from Afghanistan and Eritrea.

In Calais, where the French authorities this week demolished two main squatter camps, the BBC found migrants from a host of countries, from West Africa to Bangladesh, with large groups from Iran and Pakistan's restive tribal areas.

Tracking one of the biggest migrations since World War Two

Almost three million people have fled Syria's bloody civil war. UN figures show the human tide began in earnest in early 2012.

Experts say the latest numbers are not surprising, after relatively low levels of migration in the early months of 2013.

"The main route through Libya was closed for so long that people in sub-Saharan countries have been waiting for a couple of years," says Franck Duvell, associate professor at the Centre on Migration, Policy, and Society at the University of Oxford.

"So the numbers have been building up and people were waiting for the very first opportunity to move," he says.

"I'm not sure this implies that we are going to see ever-more people arriving in the EU over the next couple of months. We've got to wait and see."

Much depends on the chaotic political and security situation in Libya, where a BBC team has recently seen evidence that large numbers of migrants are still waiting to cross. Some estimates put the figure as high as 300,000.

Italy complains that since last October, when it launched its "Mare Nostrum" [Our Sea] rescue operation, the cost of patrolling its patch of the Mediterranean has risen to 300,000 euros (£24,200: $408,000) a day.

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Google offers 'right to forget' form

30 May 2014 Last updated at 06:15

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Technology correspondent Dave Lee explains how the controversial system will work

Google has launched a service to allow Europeans to ask for personal data to be removed from online search results.

The move comes after a landmark European Union court ruling earlier this month, which gave people the "right to be forgotten".

Links to "irrelevant" and outdated data should be erased on request, it said.

Google said it would assess each request and balance "privacy rights of the individual with the public's right to know and distribute information".

"When evaluating your request, we will look at whether the results include outdated information about you, as well as whether there's a public interest in the information," Google says on the form which applicants must fill in.

Google said it would look at information about "financial scams, professional malpractice, criminal convictions, or public conduct of government officials" while deciding on the request.

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People keen to get data removed from Google's index must:

- provide weblinks to the relevant material

- name their home country

- explain why the links should be removed

In addition, applicants must supply photo ID to help Google guard against fraudulent applications.

Earlier this month, the BBC learned that more than half of requests sent to Google from UK individuals involved convicted criminals.

This included a man convicted of possessing child abuse images who had also asked for links to pages about his conviction to be wiped.

Google said information would start to be removed from mid-June and any results affected by the removal process would be flagged to searchers.

Decisions about data removal would be made by people rather than the algorithms that govern the workings of almost every other part of Google's search system. Disagreements about whether information should be removed or not will be overseen by national data protection agencies.

Information will only disappear from searches made in Europe, queries piped through its sites outside the region will still show the contested data.

'Fraudulent requests'

On 13 May, the EU's court of justice ruled that links to "irrelevant" and outdated data on search engines should be erased on request.

The case was brought by a Spanish man who complained that an auction notice of his repossessed home, which appeared on Google's search results, infringed his privacy.

On Friday, Google said that EU citizens who want their private details removed from the search engine will be able to do so by filling out an online form.

However, they will need to provide links to the material they want removed, their country of origin, and a reason for their request.

Individuals will also have to attach a valid photo identity.

"Google often receives fraudulent removal requests from people impersonating others, trying to harm competitors, or improperly seeking to suppress legal information," the firm said.

"To prevent this kind of abuse, we need to verify identity."

Less innovation?

However, in an interview given to the Financial Times, Google boss Larry Page said that although the firm would comply with the ruling, it could damage innovation.

He also said the regulation would give cheer to repressive regimes.

Mr Page said he regretted not being "more involved in a real debate" about privacy in Europe, and that the company would now try to "be more European".

But, he warned, "as we regulate the internet, I think we're not going to see the kind of innovation we've seen".

Mr Page added that the ruling would encourage "other governments that aren't as forward and progressive as Europe to do bad things".

A right to be forgotten?

• In 2012, the European Commission published plans for a "right to be forgotten" law, allowing people to request that data about themselves to be deleted
• Online service providers would have to comply unless they had "legitimate" reason to do otherwise
• The plans are part of a wide-ranging overhaul of the commission's 1995 Data Protection Directive
• UK's Ministry of Justice claims that the law "raises unrealistic and unfair expectations"
• Some tech firms have expressed concern about the reach of the bill

Would you consider using the service to remove personal data? Do you agree with the ruling? You can email your experiences to haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk using 'Google' in the subject.

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New NHS boss backs smaller hospitals

30 May 2014 Last updated at 10:43

Smaller community hospitals should play a bigger role especially in the care of older patients, the new head of the NHS in England has said.

In an interview in the Daily Telegraph, Simon Stevens signalled a marked change in policy by calling for a shift away from big centralised hospitals.

The health service chief executive said there needed to be new models of care built around smaller local hospitals.

The NHS said he was not suggesting the return of 50s-style cottage hospitals.

In recent years the health service has emphasised the benefits of centralised services.

This has paid dividends in areas such as stroke care and major trauma where significant benefits have been gained by concentrating specialist care.

But this has raised questions about the future of the many smaller district general hospitals across the NHS.

In the interview in Friday's paper, Mr Stevens said they should play an important part in providing care, especially for the growing number of older patents who could be treated closer to home.

He said: "A number of other countries have found it possible to run viable local hospitals serving smaller communities than sometimes we think are sustainable in the NHS.

"Most of western Europe has hospitals which are able to serve their local communities, without everything having to be centralised."

Hospital closures

Simon Stevens' support for smaller hospitals comes as, in some parts of England, such hospitals close.

On Tuesday the closure of Ashby District Hospital in Leicestershire was announced.

A commissioning group said the 16-bed hospital needed £900,000 of repairs and was underused, and said it wanted to provide "more services closer to people's homes".

Earlier this month a health trust said Poltair Hospital in Cornwall would close, saying the "cost of backlog maintenance work to meet current standards is too expensive".

But West Cornwall Health Watch said the decision was based on "dangerously unproven assumptions" and West Cornwall MP Andrew George called it a "backward step".

Lowestoft Hospital in Suffolk closed its 25-bed inpatient facility at the end of March and the main hospital building is due to close later this year.

The hospital's north wing is to be redeveloped to offer services including phlebotomy and outpatient clinics.

But Lowestoft Coalition Against the Cuts said many elderly people would suffer owing to the closure of such "excellent local hospitals".

Mr Stevens said elderly patients were increasingly ending up in hospital unnecessarily because they had not been given care which could have kept them at home.

Mr Stevens also told the Telegraph:

• The NHS needed to abandon a fixation with "mass centralisation" and instead invest in community services to care for the elderly
• Waiting targets introduced by Labour became "an impediment to care" in too many cases
• The European Working Time Directive damaged health care in the NHS, making it harder to keep small hospitals open
• Businesses should financially reward employees for losing weight and adopting healthy lifestyles

An NHS England source said Mr Stevens was saying that smaller hospitals had a part to play in shifting services into the community, not that there would be no closures of local hospitals in the future.

Helen Tucker, vice president of the Community Hospitals Association, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme Mr Stevens' comments were "great news", sending a "good, strong message that small is beautiful".

A "balance is needed" with centralised specialist hospitals, she said, but smaller institutions were "the hospitals that local communities really value," she said.

Mr Stevens, a former adviser on health to Tony Blair, will outline his vision for the NHS in a major speech at the NHS Confederation conference in Liverpool on Wednesday.

He took up the post of chief executive of the NHS in England after 11 years working for private health care firms in Europe, the US and South America.

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India outrage over hanged girls

30 May 2014 Last updated at 10:33 By Divya Arya BBC Hindi, Badaun

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Crowds gathered where the girls' bodies were found, as Joanna Jolly reports

There is outrage over police inaction in a village in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh where two teenage girls were gang raped and hanged from a tree.

The father of one victim said he was ridiculed by policemen when he sought help in finding his missing daughter.

He said when the policemen found out he was from a lower caste, they "refused to look for my girl".

At least three men, including one policeman, have been arrested in connection with the incident.

The victims' families have complained that police had refused to help find the missing girls, aged 14 and 16, who were cousins from a low caste.

"When I went to the police station, the first thing I was asked was my caste, when I told them what my caste was, they started abusing me," the father of one of the girls told the BBC.

India has numerous castes and divisions among them run deep. Violence is often used by upper castes to assert power and instil fear in lower castes.

Although both the victim and the accused belonged to a caste grouping known as 'Other Backward Classes', the victims were lower in that hierarchy.

Further suspects hunted

Police said two men had been arrested for the gang rape and murder of the girls.

A constable was also detained for conspiring with the suspects and for dereliction of duty, authorities said, adding they were looking for one more suspect and one constable.

Senior police official Atul Saxena said there would be a "thorough investigation" into the allegations of caste discrimination by the police.

People in Katra Shahadatganj, a village of 10,000 people in Badaun district where the incident took place, say caste "plays an important role in social affairs" in the community.

One villager, named only as Teerath, said: "If media hadn't come here the police wouldn't have done anything."

Rape cases that have shocked India

• 23 January 2014: Thirteen men held in West Bengal in connection with the gang rape of a woman, allegedly on orders of village elders who objected to her relationship with a man
• 4 April 2014: A court sentences three men to hang for raping a 23-year-old photojournalist in Mumbai last year
• 15 January 2014: A Danish woman is allegedly gang raped after losing her way near her hotel in Delhi
• 17 September 2013 : Five youths held in Assam for allegedly gang-raping a 10-year-old girl
• 4 June 2013: A 30-year-old American woman gang-raped in Himachal Pradesh
• 30 April 2013: A five-year-old girl dies two weeks after being raped in Madhya Pradesh
• 16 December 2012: Student gang raped on Delhi bus, sparking nationwide protests and outrage

A neighbour of one of the victims said the police "discriminated" against people from the lower castes in the village.

"Even though the police has suspended some constables, the ones who replace them would not be any better, they would discriminate too," he said.

But Mr Saxena denied that caste biases played any part in "influencing police behaviour" in the state.

"The police follows its rule book and considers all criminals equal before the law. There might be one or two cases like this one and we will make sure that the culprit doesn't go scot-free," he said.

Scrutiny of sexual violence in India has grown since the 2012 gang rape and murder of a student on a Delhi bus.

The government tightened laws on sexual violence last year after widespread protests following the attack.

Fast-track courts were brought to the fore to deal with rape and the death penalty was also brought in for the most extreme cases.

Some women's rights groups argue that the low conviction rate for rape should be challenged with more effective policing rather than stiffer sentences.

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Major backs Cameron over EU deal

30 May 2014 Last updated at 10:30

Former Prime Minister Sir John Major has said he believes David Cameron will succeed in reclaiming powers from the European Union before holding a referendum on the UK's membership.

Sir John said the political climate following the European elections would give Mr Cameron "allies" in any talks.

He suggested the free movement of people around Europe could be "qualified in some way".

But he warned that an exit from the EU would leave the UK isolated.

Mr Cameron has promised to hold a referendum on EU membership in 2017, if the Tories win the next general election, so people can decide if they are satisfied with the concessions his government will have negotiated in the meantime.

'Positive reform'

Rows over Europe dogged Sir John's Conservative government, which faced a confidence vote in the House of Commons in 1993 over its decision to sign the Maastricht Treaty.

But speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Sir John said Mr Cameron's position was not "remotely" like the situation he faced as prime minister.

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On Mr Cameron's bid to win back powers ahead of a referendum, he said: "It can be done and I think this prime minister can do it".

UKIP, which wants the UK to withdraw from the EU, came top in the European elections in the UK, and Eurosceptic parties also made gains in other countries.

The results have led to calls for a rethink of the role of Brussels, while European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said the vote had "sent a strong message".

Sir John said the elections had made it "apparent" that reform was necessary.

He said: "I think that gives a great deal of power to the British determination to renegotiate, because they will have allies today, which in the 1990s they did not have".

And he said changes could be made to the fundamental freedoms of the union, including the movement of people, saying: "You can't have an absolute restriction but you can qualify it in some ways".

'Exploiting grievances'

There are a "whole range of things quite apart from freedom of movement where positive reform can be made", he added, saying the principle of subsidiarity - that decisions should be taken at national level if possible - had been overlooked in recent years.

A "reaffirmation" of the UK's membership would remove the political "bitterness" that had built up on the issue, he said.

And he played down the threat to the Conservatives from UKIP, who he said were "good at exploiting grievances" but were "not frankly a very tolerant party". He said their appeal was not likely to continue for a very long time, but they were "an impediment for the moment".

Those arguing for a UK exit from the EU were wrong as it was in the country's economic self interest to stay in, he added.

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Ukraine vows to bring peace to east

30 May 2014 Last updated at 10:32

Ukrainian forces will continue their offensive against rebels until peace and order are restored in the east, the interim defence minister has said.

Fighting has intensified around Sloviansk and 12 Ukrainian troops were killed on Thursday when pro-Russian rebels shot down an army helicopter.

Dozens of separatists died on Monday in a battle at Donetsk airport.

Russia has again called for Ukraine to stop its military campaign against the pro-Moscow rebels.

Interim Defence Minister Mykhailo Koval told reporters Ukrainian forces would continue operations in border areas "until these regions begin to live normally, until there is peace," the Reuters news agency reported.

And he again accused Russia of backing the rebels - a claim Moscow denies.

President-elect Petro Poroshenko has said Ukraine will punish the "bandits" who shot down the helicopter. Among those killed was Maj Gen Serhiy Kulchytskiy, head of combat and special training in Ukraine's National Guard.

The leader of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic, Alexander Borodai, told Russia's TV Rain that the only condition for negotiations with Kiev was the withdrawal of its troops from the territories of Donetsk and Luhansk.

And he denied any knowledge of the whereabouts of a team of monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), held by separatists. The self-proclaimed mayor of Sloviansk has said they will be freed soon but nothing has been heard of them since Monday.

However, separatists in the neighbouring region of Luhansk told the Interfax-Ukraine news agency they had released a second team of OSCE monitors captured on Thursday.

Pro-Russian separatists in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk declared independence after referendums on 11 May, which were not recognised by Kiev or its Western allies.

The rebels took their cue from a disputed referendum in Crimea, which led to Russia's annexation of Ukraine's southern peninsula.

Up to 33 Russian nationals were among the dozens of rebels killed in fighting around Donetsk airport on Monday.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said there was "evidence" of Chechens trained in Russia who had come to "stir things up".

Chechnya's president has denied sending troops to Ukraine.

Separately, US officials said Russia had now withdrawn most of its forces from the border with Ukraine, but thousands remained.

Ukraine is also under pressure from Russia over its unpaid gas bill, which runs into billions of dollars.

Russia's state gas company Gazprom has threatened to cut off supplies to Ukraine if it fails to pay in advance for its June supplies.

A new round of talks between Ukraine, Russia and the EU is due to take place in Berlin later on Friday.

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Call to 'resist e-cigarette controls'

29 May 2014 Last updated at 09:34 By Jane Dreaper Health correspondent, BBC News

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Some doctors argue it is too early to know whether benefits outweigh potential risks, as Jane Dreaper reports

A letter signed by more than 50 researchers and public health specialists is urging the World Health Organization (WHO) to "resist the urge to control and suppress e-cigarettes".

The letter says the devices - which deliver nicotine in a vapour - could be a "significant health innovation".

But the UK's Faculty of Public Health says it is too early to know whether benefits outweigh potential risks.

The WHO said it was still deciding what recommendations to make to governments.

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The open letter has been organised in the run-up to significant international negotiations on tobacco policy this year.

Supporters of e-cigarettes, who argue the products are a low-risk substitute for smoking, fear they might become subject to reduction targets and advertising bans.

There has been a big growth in the market for e-cigarettes, but the Department of Health says they are not risk-free.

Critics say not enough is known about their long-term health effects. A recent report commissioned by Public Health England said e-cigarettes required "appropriate regulation, careful monitoring and risk management" if their benefits were to be maximised.

The letter has been signed by 53 researchers - including specialists in public health policy and experts such as Prof Robert West, who published research last week suggesting that e-cigarettes are more likely to help people give up smoking than some conventional methods.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

We are deeply concerned that classifying these products as tobacco will do more harm than good"

End Quote Open letter to the WHO

Some of the signatories work on research into tobacco science and smoking cessation. Three were involved in advising the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) on its guidelines about reducing the harm from tobacco.

'Perverse effect'

The letter says: "These products could be among the most significant health innovations of the 21st Century - perhaps saving hundreds of millions of lives.

"If regulators treat low-risk nicotine products as traditional tobacco products... they are improperly defining them as part of the problem.

"Regulators should avoid support for measures that could have the perverse effect of prolonging cigarette consumption.

"We are deeply concerned that the classification of these products as tobacco will do more harm than good.

"The potential for tobacco harm reduction products to reduce the burden of smoking-related disease is very large."

The organisers of the letter quote a leaked WHO document that refers to e-cigarettes as a "threat... which could result in a new wave of the tobacco epidemic".

The WHO treaty on tobacco control currently covers 178 countries and 90% of the world's population.

E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that mimic the experience of smoking. Users inhale a vapour from a heated liquid that contains a concentration of nicotine.

Prof West, of University College London told the BBC e-cigarettes should be "regulated appropriate to what they are" and that they are "orders of magnitude safer" than tobacco cigarettes.

He called for "bespoke regulation", including banning sales for under-18s and having marketing directed at those who already smoke.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

We need to weigh up the benefits of fewer people smoking against the risk of electronic cigarettes leading to more people starting to smoke"

End Quote Prof John Ashton Faculty of Public Health

A WHO spokesman said: "WHO is currently working on recommendations for governments on the regulation and marketing of e-cigarettes and similar devices.

"This is part of a paper that will be submitted to the parties of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control later this year.

"We are also working with national regulatory bodies to look at regulatory options, as well as toxicology experts, to understand more about the possible impact of e-cigarettes and similar devices on health."

The British Medical Association (BMA) has called for stronger regulation of the devices in the UK.

Dr Vivienne Nathanson, the BMA's director of professional activities, told BBC Breakfast there was evidence that children who had never smoked were starting to use e-cigarettes, having been influenced by marketing campaigns.

"Rather like cigarettes in the 50s and 60s, we really need to look at that and, I believe, ban it (advertising), to stop them advertising in a way that attracts children," she added.

Prof John Ashton, president of the Faculty of Public Health, said he was also concerned about children using e-cigarettes.

'No uniformity'

"We need to weigh up the benefits of fewer people smoking against the risk of electronic cigarettes leading to more people starting to smoke, particularly children," he said.

Prof Martin McKee, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: "The health community is completely divided on the subject of whether electronic cigarettes are safer than real cigarettes.

"While the signatories to this letter are clearly supportive, the World Health Organization, correctly, bases its decisions on the best available evidence."

He said it would be "premature" to advocate the use of e-cigarettes until their safety had been established.

The Welsh government wants to restrict the use of e-cigarettes in enclosed public places, because of concerns that they normalise smoking.

Richard Evans, vice-chairman of the Welsh Pharmacy Board, which is part of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society in Wales, believes they should be regulated in the same way as traditional cigarettes.

He said: "At the moment the products that are on the market - we don't know what standard they are. They can vary from product to product - there is no uniformity at all.

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Missing plane 'not in ping zone'

29 May 2014 Last updated at 09:32

The area where acoustic signals thought linked to the missing Malaysian plane were detected can now be ruled out as the final resting place of flight MH370, Australian officials say.

The Bluefin-21 submersible robot had finished its search of the area and found nothing, they said.

Efforts would now focus on reviewing search data, surveying the sea floor and bringing in specialist equipment.

Flight MH370 went missing on 8 March as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Using satellite data, officials have concluded that the airliner, which had 239 people on board, ended its journey in the Indian Ocean, north-west of the Australian city of Perth.

No trace of the plane has been found and there is no explanation for its disappearance.

'Discounted'

Four pings that officials believed could be from the missing plane's "black box" flight recorders were heard by search teams using a towed pinger locator device.

These pings were used to define the area for the sea-floor search, conducted by the Bluefin-21. It had scoured over 850 sq km of the ocean floor, JACC said.

"Yesterday afternoon, Bluefin-21 completed its last mission searching the remaining areas in the vicinity of the acoustic signals detected in early April by the towed pinger locator," a statement from the Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre (JACC) said.

"The data collected on yesterday's mission has been analysed. As a result, the JACC can advise that no signs of aircraft debris have been found by the autonomous underwater vehicle since it joined the search effort.

"The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has advised that the search in the vicinity of the acoustic detections can now be considered complete and in its professional judgement, the area can now be discounted as the final resting place of MH370."

The statement came hours after a US Navy official told CNN that the acoustic signals probably came from some other man-made source.

Jonathan Amos, BBC News science correspondent

The failure of the autonomous sub Bluefin-21 to find any wreckage in the ping search zone is a hammer blow to the families. It's also a sharp reminder to everyone of just how difficult this whole exercise will be.

Were the pings real or were they simply spurious, a misinterpretation of sound in what is already a very noisy environment? The investigating teams will review again all their data. They will not jump to immediate conclusions. The water column can do strange things with sound, sending it in unexpected directions. The teams will be mindful also that the Bluefin-21 was at times operating beyond its qualified limits.

The authorities have now recognised the need to make a proper bathymetric (depth) survey of the wider search zone - some 60,000 sq km in area.

It will take at least three months, but once they know precisely the shape and depth of the sea bed they can then better choose the most appropriate vehicles to continue the underwater sweep. Wreckage could be in a ravine, covered by shifted sediment. Without the right tools, the job of finding MH370 will be that much harder.

"Our best theory at this point is that [the pings were] likely some sound produced by the ship... or within the electronics of the towed pinger locator," Michael Dean, the US Navy's deputy director of ocean engineering, told the US broadcaster.

"Always your fear any time you put electronic equipment in the water is that if any water gets in and grounds or shorts something out, that you could start producing sound," Mr Dean said.

A US Navy spokesmen subsequently described his comments as "speculative and premature".

In its statement, JACC said an expert working group would continue to review and refine existing data to better define a search area for the missing plane.

A Chinese ship had already begun mapping an area of ocean floor in a survey process that was expected to take three months.

Meanwhile, the ATSB would soon seek bids from commercial contractors for the specialist equipment needed for the underwater search - a process expected to begin in August, JACC said.

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'Police did nothing' to stop stoning

29 May 2014 Last updated at 09:27

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Muhammad Iqbal said police did nothing to stop the stoning

The husband of a Pakistani woman stoned to death by her own family in broad daylight outside a Lahore court says police just stood by during the attack.

Farzana Parveen, who was three months pregnant, was pelted with bricks and bludgeoned by relatives furious because she married against their wishes.

"They watched Farzana being killed and did nothing," her husband, Muhammad Iqbal, told the BBC.

There are hundreds of so-called "honour killings" in Pakistan each year.

UN human rights chief Navi Pillay said she was "deeply shocked" and urged Pakistan's government to take "urgent and strong measures".

"I do not even wish to use the phrase 'honour killing': there is not the faintest vestige of honour in killing a woman in this way."

Mr Iqbal described the police as "shameful" and "inhuman" for their failure to stop the attack.

"We were shouting for help, but nobody listened. One of my relatives took off his clothes to capture police attention but they didn't intervene.

Arranged marriages are the norm in Pakistan and to marry against the wishes of the family is unthinkable in many deeply conservative communities.

Honour killings in Pakistan

• In 2013, 869 women murdered in so called "honour killings"

• Campaigners say real number is likely to be much higher

• Of these, 359 were so called "Karo Kari" cases, whereby family members consider themselves authorised to kill offending relatives to restore honour

• Rights groups say conviction rate in cases of sexual and other violence against women is "critically low"

Source: Human Rights Commission of Pakistan annual report 2013

Ms Parveen's father later surrendered to police but other relatives who took part in the attack are still free.

Mr Iqbal said they were threatening him and his family.

"Yesterday [on Tuesday] they said they would snatch the dead body," he said. "We came here with a police escort."

"We arrested a few of them and others are currently being investigated," local police chief Mujahid Hussain said.

Dragged to floor

Ms Parveen comes from a small town outside the city of Lahore. According to reports, her family were furious because she decided to marry Mr Iqbal instead of a man they had chosen.

Her relatives then filed a case for abduction against Mr Iqbal at the High Court.

The newlyweds were only at the Lahore court to contest this case. Ms Parveen had already testified to police that she had married of her own free will.

Mr Iqbal told the BBC that when the couple arrived at the court on Tuesday to contest the case, his wife's relatives were waiting and tried to take her away.

As she struggled to free herself they dragged her to the floor, pelted her with bricks and then smashed her head. She died on the pavement.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan says 869 women were murdered in "honour killings" in the country last year, although it is believed that the real figure could be higher.

Are you in Pakistan? Did you witness what happened? What is your reaction to the stoning in Lahore? Email us at haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk adding 'Stoning' in the heading, and including your contact details.

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

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Syal not Steinbeck in English GCSE

29 May 2014 Last updated at 10:22 By Sean Coughlan BBC News education correspondent

Wolverhampton-born Meera Syal and Indian-born George Orwell rub shoulders with Shakespeare and Dickens in a new GCSE English literature book list.

But the AQA exam board's proposed set texts for England's schools do not include any American novels or plays.

There have been protests and online petitions over the OCR exam board's dropping of US authors such as John Steinbeck or Arthur Miller.

Education Secretary Michael Gove rejected claims of any "ban".

Sherlock Holmes also makes an appearance in the AQA's draft list, in The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle, Alan Bennett's History Boys is a drama option and Tennyson's Charge of the Light Brigade thunders in as a set text for poetry.

Mockingbird row

Earlier this week, Mr Gove wrote in the Daily Telegraph that the reforms to GCSEs had been intended to widen the range of literature taught in secondary schools.

Continue reading the main story

AQA GCSE English literature

Shakespeare plays:

• Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, Julius Caesar, The Merchant of Venice, The Tempest

19th Century novel:

• Charles Dickens - Great Expectations
• Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol
• Robert Louis Stevenson - The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
• Mary Shelley - Frankenstein
• Jane Austen - Pride and Prejudice
• Charlotte Bronte - Jane Eyre
• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - The Sign of Four

Post-1914 drama and prose

• JB Priestley - An Inspector Calls
• Alan Bennett - The History Boys
• Willy Russell - Blood Brothers
• Dennis Kelly - DNA
• Shelagh Delaney - A Taste of Honey
• Simon Stephens - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time
• William Golding - The Lord of the Flies
• George Orwell - Animal Farm
• Kazuo Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go
• Meera Syal - Anita and Me
• Stephen Kelman - Pigeon English

Beyond a set of core requirements, Mr Gove said exam boards had no restrictions on their choice of authors and suggestions of a book ban for works such as To Kill a Mockingbird were "rooted in fiction".

But there have been protests that the requirements set out for exam boards - "fiction or drama from the British Isles from 1914 onwards" - effectively exclude American modern classics from writers such as Arthur Miller, F Scott Fitzgerald or Tennessee Williams.

But a Department for Education spokesman said the requirements represent "only the minimum pupils will be expected to learn" and that exam boards could still include modern writers from outside the British Isles.

"It doesn't ban any authors, books or genres," said the DfE spokesman.

In response, the AQA said "technically it would not be impossible to add additional texts beyond the essential requirements, to do so would place an unacceptable assessment burden on teachers and students".

The titles on the AQA's list for prose and drama are from British-born or British-based writers, including Willy Russell, Alan Bennett and Kazuo Ishiguro.

The reforms to the English literature GCSE exam aim to ensure that pupils read a wider range of literary work, across a range of eras, and to prevent an over-emphasis on a handful of over-used texts.

It also now specifies that pupils study "whole texts in detail" because of concerns that novels were being studied in disconnected chunks, chasing marks rather than comprehension of a full work.

The set texts from the AQA exam board are divided into the categories required by the revamped GCSE.

As well as post-1914, there are selections of Shakespeare plays and 19th Century novels. These include hardy perennials from Charles Dickens, Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte, alongside Frankenstein and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

The exam board visited over 250 schools to test the views of teachers on what should be included - and the inclusion of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein reflected the preference of teachers.

Teachers back inspector

Among modern works, teachers' favourites included Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies and An Inspector Calls.

The poetry selection from AQA, with a requirement to include the Romantics, has a strong emphasis on British and Irish writers.

Heaney, Hardy, Hughes and Owen are included. But there is no Dylan Thomas or WB Yeats and there are no American poets such as TS Eliot, Robert Lowell, Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson or Sylvia Plath.

With both the AQA and OCR exam boards having revealed their selections, the authors of the new classic exam texts for teenagers are emerging.

Continue reading the main story

AQA GCSE English literature poetry

• Byron, Shelley, Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Thomas Hardy, Maura Dooley, Charlotte Mew, C Day Lewis, Charles Causley, Seamus Heaney, Simon Armitage, Carol Ann Duffy, Owen Sheers, Daljit Nagra, Andrew Waterhouse, Percy Bysshe Shelley, William Blake, William Wordsworth, Tennyson, Wilfred Owen, Ted Hughes, Simon Armitage, Jane Weir, Carol Ann Duffy, Imtiaz Dharker, Carol Rumens, Beatrice Garland, John Agard

It won't be Thomas Hardy, Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh or JD Salinger, but instead Meera Syal's Anita and Me appears on both lists, along with George Orwell's Animal Farm, Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go and Dennis Kelly's DNA.

Andrew Hall, AQA's chief executive, said: "We know that everyone will have an opinion about which texts should be studied and that we can't please everyone.

"However, the combination and choice we have included on our set text lists has been guided by the feedback we have had from English teachers, whose job it is to bring literature to life."

"We want to make sure that we include a combination of titles that will engage and appeal to students of all abilities at the same time as allowing us to create stimulating exam papers."

The proposals from AQA have now been submitted to the regulator Ofqual for accreditation.

A spokesman for the Department for Education said: "In the past, English literature GCSEs were not rigorous enough and their content was often far too narrow."

The revised qualification will "ensure pupils will learn about a wide range of literature".

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Help to Buy supports 7,313 sales

29 May 2014 Last updated at 10:25

Some 7,313 homes have been sold so far under the Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme, the Treasury says.

The figures are the first comprehensive measure of the scheme since it was launched late last year.

The numbers from the Treasury also show that 80% of the properties sold went to first-time buyers.

The majority of sales were outside London, which will help the government to argue that Help to Buy has not had a major effect on house prices.

Just 5% of sales under the mortgage guarantee scheme were in the capital, where prices have soared, and 14% in the South East.

Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable is among those who have argued that Help to Buy may be stoking house price inflation.

Prices across the UK are rising by 8% a year, according to the Office for National Statistics, and by 17% a year in London.

The Help to Buy figures officially cover the first three months of 2014, but include all applications since October 2013, when homebuyers were first able to register for the mortgage guarantee scheme.

Region	Percentage of total completions
Scotland	13%
Wales	5%
Northern Ireland	1%
England	81%
South East	14%
London	5%
North West	14%
South West	8%
Yorkshire + Humber	9%
West Midlands	8%
East Midlands	9%
North East	4%
East	9%
source: HM Treasury

Guarantees

At the same time, new figures on the first part of Help to Buy - the equity loan scheme- show that 20,548 new homes have been sold through the scheme in the 13 months since it began.

In total, 27,861 homes have now been sold under the two parts of Help to Buy.

That is a small proportion of the total number of homes sold over the same period.

Under the equity loan scheme, buyers are able to buy a new-build home with a deposit of just 5%, and can borrow up to 15% of the property's value from the government.

Under the mortgage guarantee scheme, buyers can purchase any home up to the value of £600,000, and part of their loan is underwritten by the Treasury.

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Ukraine helicopter 'shot down'

29 May 2014 Last updated at 10:48

Pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine have shot down a military helicopter near the flashpoint city of Sloviansk, reports say.

The aircraft was reportedly hit after offloading soldiers at a military base.

Sloviansk has seen fierce fighting between separatists and government forces in recent weeks.

President-elect Petro Poroshenko has vowed to tackle the uprising in eastern Ukraine, saying he would deal firmly with "bandits" and "murderers".

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Cable: I'm supporting party leader

29 May 2014 Last updated at 10:42

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Vince Cable: "I was not given any information about these polls"

Vince Cable has denied acting disloyally after one of his closest allies attempted to get Nick Clegg sacked as Liberal Democrat leader.

Lord Oakeshott commissioned polls suggesting the party would do better without Mr Clegg at the helm.

Mr Cable admits knowing about some of the polling, but denied knowing about ones in Mr Clegg's own constituency.

He denied wanting Mr Clegg's job before the next election telling BBC News: "I am supporting the party leader."

The business secretary, who is on a trade mission in China, said he wanted the "in-fighting" in the party to end, saying: "There is absolutely no leadership issue. We have a united team."

Asked about the polls suggesting the party would do better under his leadership, Mr Cable said he was not going to "speculate" about "abstract possibilities".

BBC Political Editor Nick Robinson said that despite Mr Cable's pledge of loyalty "lingering" questions remained because the business secretary knew that the polls had asked about whether a change of leader would improve the party's fortunes but appears not to have told Mr Clegg.

The polls, which suggested the party would lose fewer seats at the next election if Mr Cable or, to a lesser extent Treasury Secretary Danny Alexander, was the leader instead of Mr Clegg were leaked to The Guardian in the wake of disastrous local and European election results for the party.

The man who paid for them, Lord Oakeshott, has been agitating for the removal of Mr Clegg for some time. He has now quit the party, claiming it is "heading for disaster" under Mr Clegg.

In his resignation statement he said Mr Cable knew about the polls - including the one in Mr Clegg's Sheffield Hallam constituency - some weeks ago.

That Sheffield Hallam poll

The ICM poll commissioned by Lord Oakeshott in Nick Clegg's Sheffield Hallam constituency, which Mr Cable insists he knew nothing about, was carried out between 29 April and 4 May. It asks 500 of Mr Clegg's constituents: "I would like you to think again about a General Election to the Westminster Parliament being held in your area tomorrow. Suppose for a moment that Nick Clegg stepped down as Liberal Democrat leader, and the business secretary Vince Cable moved into the job. If Vince Cable were leader of the Liberal Democrats and there were a General Election tomorrow, which party do you think you would vote for?" Some 22% said they would vote for the Lib Dems - just 1% more than said they would vote Lib Dem if Mr Clegg was the leader at the next election. The Lib Dems would retain the seat, however, beating the Conservatives, on 21%, into second place. With Mr Clegg as leader Labour, on 22%, would win the seat, according to the survey. Mr Clegg retained Sheffield Hallam in 2010 with 53.4% of the vote and a majority of 15,284.

The business secretary has repeatedly denied this, insisting he knew about Lord Oakeshott's polling in his Twickenham constituency and some other areas, but not in Mr Clegg's constituency or fellow minister Danny Alexander's Inverness constituency.

Mr Cable said there was "no disloyalty whatever" and he had made clear that the polling carried out in Mr Clegg's constituency and Inverness was "quite wrong".

Speaking to BBC Radio Sheffield, Mr Clegg said of Mr Cable: "He clearly didn't know at all about a poll being conducted in Sheffield."

He added that Mr Cable had been "very critical" about the poll having taken place.

Mr Clegg admitted the party had lost support since joining the coalition in 2010, but that to leave now - as Lord Oakeshott wants - "would harm the Liberal Democrats for a generation".

He added: "Clearly, we had some really, really bad election results last week. That, of course, quite rightly means there's a lot of questions and soul searching about what we do as a party over the next year."

Although Mr Cable admitted he had discussed some polls with Lord Oakeshott, senior party sources have said there is no question about Mr Cable's loyalty.

And while they know continued turmoil could threaten to destabilise the party, sources close to Mr Clegg said Lord Oakeshott's departure had put an end to what they called a "ham-fisted coup attempt".

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Nick Clegg: "Vince Cable clearly didn't know a thing about the poll being conducted"

Mr Clegg has faced calls to step down from 300 activists while a number of constituency associations, including Liverpool and Cambridge, are to hold meetings to discuss their leader's future.

He has said it was "wholly unacceptable" that a senior member of the party "rather than trying to go out and win votes was spending money and time trying to undermine the fortunes of the party".

It emerged on Tuesday that Lord Oakeshott had paid for an ICM poll into Mr Clegg's electoral appeal, with results suggesting the Lib Dems would pick up votes in four seats, including Mr Clegg's, if Mr Cable or other figures replaced Mr Clegg as leader.

The poll suggested the party was on course to lose Sheffield Hallam and three other seats - Cambridge, Redcar and Wells - next year unless there was a change at the top.

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'Lose a little' advice on obesity

28 May 2014 Last updated at 01:52 By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News

New weight loss guidelines for the NHS in England will advise people to "lose a little and keep it off" for life.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) wants overweight people sent to slimming classes with the aim of a 3% weight loss.

NICE said even such a small loss - probably of just a few pounds - would cut blood pressure and reduce the risk of type-2 diabetes and some cancers.

Two in three adults in England are overweight - with a BMI higher than 25.

Someone weighing 15st 10lb would need to lose just over six pounds to cut their weight by 3%.

If they were 5ft 7in, their BMI would drop from 35 to 33. Anyone with a BMI of more than 30 is classed as obese.

'Difficult'

Prof Mike Kelly, the director of the centre for public health at NICE, said the guidelines were about lifelong change rather than yo-yo dieting, when the weight is piled back on after initial success.

He said that required achievable goals: "We would like to offer an instant solution and a quick win, a much greater ambition if you like, but realistically it's important to bear in mind this is difficult.

"It is not just a question of 'for goodness' sake pull yourself together and lose a stone' - it doesn't work like that.

"People find it difficult to do - it's not something you can just wake up one morning and decide I'm going to lose 10 pounds, it takes resolve, it takes encouragement."

Obesity statistics

• One in four adults in England are obese
• A further 42% of men are classed as overweight
• The figure for women in 32%
• A BMI of 30-35 cuts life expectancy by up to four years
• A BMI of 40 or more cuts life expectancy by up to 10 years
• Obesity costs the NHS £5.1bn every year

Source: National Institute of Health and Care Excellence

BBC News: Where are you on the global fat scale?

Gill Fine, a public health nutritionist who led the team devising the guidelines, said a sustained 3% drop in weight would alter the trajectory of ever-expanding waistlines.

She commented: "If people think they've got to lose over a stone, they don't lose a stone and they get disheartened and they go back up - that isn't going to help them.

"But if they can just lose a little bit, keep that weight off then that is going to give them a health benefit."

The guidance for the NHS in England said weight-management programmes should:

• Tackle diet, physical activity and change behaviour
• Be focused on lifelong change not short-term gains
• Last at least three months, but set target weights for the end of the programme and after one year
• Plan to reduce calorie intake, but not ban specific foods or food groups
• Introduce physical activity into daily life such as walking
• Be respectful and non-judgemental

This would include some established NHS programmes as well as private businesses including Rosemary Conley, Slimming World and Weight Watchers.

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Dr Tony Goldstone, an obesity expert at London's Hammersmith Hospital, explains what fat is

Tam Fry, from the National Obesity Forum, told the BBC the guidelines did not go far enough and looked like a "brave attempt to close the stable door whilst the horse is still bolting".

He commented: "A 3% reduction may well have some health benefit - every little helps - but if the patient is obese at the beginning of the course he or she will probably still be obese by its end.

"At least a 5% weight loss, and preferably one of 10%, have been weight reduction targets in past years and they still should be today.

"NICE should be going for the clinical excellence that it's proud of and not the compromise it has suggested."

Analysis

By James Gallagher, BBC health and science reporter

If you are looking for a solution to the obesity epidemic, this is not it. At least not on its own.

Obesity is an area of public health where there are no quick fixes.

During interviews, Prof Mike Kelly from NICE made repeated comparisons with smoking.

Weight-loss programmes are akin to smoking-cessation services, but they don't stop people smoking or getting fat in the first place.

Prof Kelly said there was a need to "get a grip on the obesogenic environment".

"You can walk down a High Street anywhere in England and you are surrounded by cheap, energy- dense calories and that is obviously part of the problem."

Prof John Ashton, the president of the Faculty of Public Health, said obesity was a major health issue.

He added: "These are just the first steps. If tackling obesity were as simple as telling people they should eat less and move more, we would not have a problem now.

"Individuals need to play their part, but this guidance acts as a reminder that we also need bold action now from government to reduce the huge costs of treating obesity.

"Stronger more effective policy interventions are also needed, which is why we support piloting a sugar duty, to see how successful it will be."

Sir Richard Thompson, the president of the Royal College of Physicians, said: "The majority of Britain is expected to be obese by 2050.

"NICE's new guidance will help encourage greater co-ordination of services and provide the support that medical professionals need to deliver high-quality prevention and obesity management services."

Have you succeeded or struggled in losing body weight? Has your body weight gone up and down regularly following dieting? Has medical guidance helped you? You can email your experiences to haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk using the subject line 'Weight loss'.

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Google to build self-driving cars

28 May 2014 Last updated at 03:00 By Jack Stewart BBC World Service Radio, Los Angeles

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Google exhibits its new self-driving cars

Google is to start building its own self-driving cars, rather than modifying vehicles built by other manufacturers.

The car will have a stop-go button but no controls, steering wheel or pedals.

Pictures of the Google vehicle show it looks like a city car with a "friendly" face, designed to make it seem non-threatening and help people accept self-driving technology.

Co-founder Sergey Brin revealed the plans at a conference in California.

"We're really excited about this vehicle - it's something that will allow us to really push the capabilities of self driving technology, and understand the limitations," said Chris Urmson, director of the company's self-driving project.

He added that the cars had the ability to "improve people's lives by transforming mobility".

But some researchers working in this field are investigating potential downsides to driverless car technology.

They believe they could make traffic and urban sprawl worse, as people accept longer commutes as they do not have to drive themselves.

Flexible windscreen

The BBC was given access to the Google team to talk about the secret project, and see early renderings of the car.

It looks almost cartoon-like, it has no traditional bonnet at the front, and the wheels are pushed to the corners.

It will seat two people, propulsion will be electric, and at the start it will be limited to 25mph (40km/h) to help ensure safety.

The most significant thing about the design is that it does not have any controls, apart from a stop/go button.

For early testing, extra controls will be fitted so one of Google's test drivers can take over if there is a problem.

The controls will simply plug in, and Mr Urmson believes that over time, as confidence in the technology grows, they will be removed entirely.

The front end of the vehicle is designed to be safer for pedestrians, with a soft foam-like material where a traditional bumper would be, and a more flexible windscreen, which may help reduce injuries.

The vehicle will use a combination of laser and radar sensors along with camera data to drive autonomously.

It will depend on Google's road maps, built specifically for the programme, and tested on the company's current fleet of vehicles.

Ready in a year

Google recently announced that its self driving cars had covered 700,000 miles of public roads in autonomous mode, and that they were now tackling the tricky problem of busy city streets.

The company plans to build a fleet of around 200 of the cars in Detroit, with the hope of using them as an autonomous technology test bed.

"We'll see these vehicles on the road within the year," says Mr Urmson.

Advocates claim that autonomous cars have the potential to revolutionise transport, by making roads safer, eliminating crashes, and decreasing congestion and pollution. In the year to June 2013, more than 23,500 people were killed or seriously injured in road traffic accidents in the UK, according to government figures.

Ron Medford, previously the deputy director of the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and now the safety director for the self-driving car team at Google, believes that number could be drastically reduced by removing the chance of driver error.

"I think it has the potential to be the most important safety technology that the auto industry has ever seen," he said.

But Sven Beiker, executive director of the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford, cautions that driverless cars may still require human input in extreme circumstances and that people may forget how to operate their vehicles if they do not do it regularly.

This could be particularly dangerous in an emergency situation where the computer does not know how to react, and asks for input from a human who may not have been paying attention, he warned.

"You will not be able to fiddle around looking for the instruction manual in the glove box that you've never looked at before," he said.

He equates it to people who drive automatics forgetting how to easily drive a car with a manual gearbox.

Listeners in the UK can hear more on the potential of driverless cars on Frontiers on BBC Radio 4 on Wed 4 June.

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Leaders agree to review EU policies

28 May 2014 Last updated at 10:49

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Herman Van Rompuy: "The European Council... must give clear guidance"

EU leaders have agreed to re-evaluate the bloc's agenda after voters "sent a strong message", European Council President Herman Van Rompuy has said.

Mr Van Rompuy said leaders of the 28 member states had asked him to launch consultations on future policies.

He was speaking after a meeting in Brussels to discuss big election gains by populist and far-right parties.

The results of the European Parliament election led to calls for an EU rethink by those leaders who suffered defeats.

But despite gains by anti-EU groups, pro-European parties still won most votes overall.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

The election result has sapped confidence. That was apparent when they met for Tuesday's informal dinner. They were men and women who had lost some of their certainty. "

End Quote

Tuesday's summit was the first opportunity for leaders of all member states to discuss the way forward after last week's polls.

The BBC's Chris Morris says reforms could include less regulation and less focus on economic austerity policies, while measures to boost growth and create jobs could address voter discontent.

Mr Van Rompuy said the results of the European elections had shown "a mix of continuity and change" and that the Eurosceptic message from voters was "at the heart" of discussions between leaders.

He said the meeting in Brussels had been a "useful first discussion" and that EU leaders had agreed on putting the economy at the heart of the group's agenda.

"As the union emerges from the financial crisis it needs a positive agenda of growth," he said, repeating a common refrain of what is needed to reverse growing anti-EU sentiment.

'France cannot live isolated'

President Francois Hollande asked Europe to "pay attention" to France after describing his Socialist party's defeat to the far-right National Front as "painful."

The National Front - which Germany's finance minister described as "fascist" - stormed to victory with a preliminary 25% of the vote, pushing Mr Hollande's Socialists into third place.

European media reaction to summit

Gregor Peter Schmitz on Spiegel Online:

"[German Chancellor Angela] Merkel's tone was that of a woman ending a relationship over her mobile. What we saw in Brussels was no longer the party politician Merkel who wants to push through a decision on Christian Democrat Juncker... getting Europe's most powerful post at any cost. What we saw was Chancellor Merkel, one of the 28 members of the European Council, an assembly of heads of state and government that is powerful, too."

Jean Quatremer blog on French daily Liberation :

"[UK Prime Minister] David Cameron finds the EU 'too bossy'... but he firmly rejects the idea that the European Parliament should choose the president of the Commission... The most astonishing thing is that he has the support of Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands - three countries which like to think of themselves as paragons of democracy. It just doesn't make any sense."

Claudi Perez on Spanish daily El Pais:

"The gains made by radicals in the 25 May elections and the fall of the two-party system has prompted anxiety in Europe's institutions, which are now engaged in what promises to be a long battle for the presidency of the European Commission."

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David Cameron: "The EU cannot shrug off these results"

National Front President Marine Le Pen said she would use her electoral mandate to "defend France" and fight "crazy measures like votes for immigrants."

Speaking after EU leaders met in Brussels, Mr Hollande said the National Front victory was "traumatic for France and Europe."

"France cannot live isolated and frightened. Its destiny is in Europe," he added.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said her country had the "utmost interest in France being successful", adding that she would do all she could to help growth and competitiveness in the French economy.

Mr Van Rompuy also told reporters that he would hold talks with the political groups to be formed in the European Parliament on who will be named to head the next Commission, the EU's executive arm.

On the latest projections, the centre-right European People's Party (EPP) will be the biggest political group and its candidate is former Luxembourg premier Jean-Claude Juncker.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

The Eurosceptic voices are being heard by the electorate - it's an indication that citizens are not very happy with the way Europe is being governed"

End Quote Juergen Gevaert Belgian journalist

The German chancellor, whose Christian Democrat party is part of the EPP, indicated Mr Juncker may not end up leading the Commission, after some member states expressed reservations about him.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron, who sees Mr Juncker as too much of an EU federalist, is among those opposed to his nomination.

EU leaders have traditionally named the Commission head on their own, but under new rules they now have "to take account" of the European election results.

Our correspondent says the process for choosing the president of the Commission could produce fireworks amid rumblings over interpretations of the Lisbon Treaty.

But Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny said that while there would be no time limit on Mr Van Rompuy, he would be expected to report back within two or three weeks.

"It should not be dragged out too long," Mr Kenny said.

Vote 2014 Continue reading the main story

Full coverage of results

You can follow full coverage with all the latest updates at bbc.co.uk/vote2014.

Did you vote in the recent elections? What is your reaction to the election results? You can send us your comments by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk using the subject line "EU".

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One third 'admit racial prejudice'

28 May 2014 Last updated at 09:11

Nearly a third of people in Britain admit being racially prejudiced, research has suggested.

The British Social Attitudes survey found the proportion had increased since the start of the century, returning to the level of 30 years ago.

According to the survey, by social research company NatCen, 30% of those polled described themselves as either "very" or "a little" race prejudiced.

Penny Young, chief executive of NatCen, said the findings were "troubling".

The survey of more than 2,000 people revealed that prejudice had risen since an all-time low of 25% of people in 2001.

It also found wide variations currently across the country: 16% of people in inner London admitted to prejudice but the figure was 35% in the West Midlands.

Older men in manual jobs were the most likely to say they were prejudiced, but the group recording the biggest rise was educated male professionals.

Levels of racial prejudice increased with age, at 25% for 17 to 34-year-olds compared with 36% for over-55s.

Education had an impact with 19% of those with a degree and 38% of those with no qualifications reporting racial prejudice.

'National psyche'

The social attitudes survey has been carried out every year since 1983.

People were asked whether they would describe themselves as prejudiced "against people of other races".

Ms Young told BBC Radio 4's Today programme self-reported prejudice was "very difficult" to study in detail.

It appeared to be in "inexorable decline" in 2001 as part of "increasingly socially liberal Britain" - but has since gone back up.

The effect of the 9/11 attacks and an increase in concern about immigration were two possible reasons for the turnaround, she said.

The strongest message to politicians from the survey concerned immigration.

More than 90% of those who admitted some level of racial prejudice wanted to see a reduction in the number of people entering the UK.

But so did 73% of those who said they were not racially prejudiced.

Ms Young added: "Levels of racial prejudice declined steadily throughout the 90s, but have been on the rise again during the first decade of this century.

"This bucks the trend of a more socially liberal and tolerant Britain. Our local and national leaders need to understand and respond to increased levels of racial prejudice if we are to build strong local communities."

Alison Park, co-director of the survey, said: "Racial prejudice, in whatever guise, is undoubtedly still part of the national psyche."

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