Rise in child emotional abuse calls

30 May 2014 Last updated at 00:16

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

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".

16.50 | 0 komentar | Read More

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.

16.50 | 0 komentar | Read More

Google offers 'right to forget' form

30 May 2014 Last updated at 06:15

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

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.

Continue reading the main story

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.

16.50 | 0 komentar | Read More

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.

16.50 | 0 komentar | Read More

India outrage over hanged girls

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

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

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.

16.50 | 0 komentar | Read More

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.

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

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.

16.50 | 0 komentar | Read More

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.

16.50 | 0 komentar | Read More

Call to 'resist e-cigarette controls'

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

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

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.

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

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.

16.50 | 0 komentar | Read More

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.

16.50 | 0 komentar | Read More

'Police did nothing' to stop stoning

29 May 2014 Last updated at 09:27

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

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.

Read the terms and conditions

16.50 | 0 komentar | Read More