LORD SMITH TO VISIT SOMERSET LEVELS
The chairman of the Environment Agency will today visit the Somerset Levels for the first time since it was hit by floods, as more residents were urged to evacuate their homes overnight.
Royal Marines who had been in the region building sandbag defences were drafted in to assist with the evacuation of residents in the village of Moorland this morning.
Another night of heavy rain overwhelmed local flood defences and the water level began to rise.
PM URGES ALL TO ENCOURAGE UK UNION
Prime Minister David Cameron is calling on the people of England, Wales and Northern Ireland to send a message to Scotland as it prepares to vote in the independence referendum: “We want you to stay.”
In a speech at the Olympic Park in London, Mr Cameron will summon up the spirit of patriotism of the 2012 Games as he argues that the whole country will lose if Scotland votes to leave the UK.
While accepting that the decision on September 18 is a matter for Scots alone, Mr Cameron will urge the English, Welsh and Northern Irish to do whatever they can to influence the outcome, telling them: “You don’t have a vote, but you do have a voice.”
US BANS LIQUIDS ON RUSSIA FLIGHTS
The US Homeland Security Department is banning all liquids from hand luggage for non-stop flights from the United States to Russia.
The ban comes after the department warned airlines that terrorists might try to smuggle explosives on board hidden in toothpaste tubes. The warning said terrorists might try to assemble explosive device in flight or upon arrival at the Olympics.
Delta Airlines, the only US airline with regularly scheduled non-stop flights to Russia, posted a warning about the Transportation Security Administration policy yesterday.
OSBORNE TO VISIT AIRPORT RAIL BOOST
George Osborne will seek to highlight Government efforts to boost the economy in the north of England when he helps start work on a £20 million rail upgrade at Manchester Airport.
The Chancellor will insist growth will not be “concentrated in any one place” following a warning from cabinet colleague Vince Cable that London was “draining the life out of the rest of the country”.
His visit comes ahead of next week’s Wythenshawe and Sale East parliamentary by-election, where the Conservatives are battling not to be pushed into third place by the UK Independence Party.
DOZENS TAKEN ILL AT BELFAST CONCERT
Fourteen young concert-goers have been admitted to hospital and many more were treated at the scene during an incident in Belfast, health authorities said.
Doctors and ambulances were called to help up to 50 rave party goers outside the Odyssey Arena. But a spokeswoman for Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, which represents the city’s hospitals, said no major incident had yet been declared.
Odyssey general manager Adrian Doyle said they arrived at the venue already drunk.
US SEES RUSSIAN HAND IN BUGGED CALL
Two senior American diplomats, thinking their conversation about the Ukraine was secure and private, were caught disparaging the EU in a phone call that was apparently bugged.
United States officials say they strongly suspect Russia of leaking the conversation.
The suspicions were aired last night after audio of the call was posted to the Internet and amid continuing criticism of the US in Europe and elsewhere over National Security Agency (NSA) spying on foreign leaders.
700 MEDICS CALL FOR CAR SMOKING BAN
Around 700 medics and health experts are calling on the Government to ban smoking in cars carrying children ahead of a Commons vote on Monday.
In a letter to the British Medical Journal (BMJ), respiratory experts said secondhand smoke was a “major cause of ill health in children”, damaging the developing lungs, causing sudden infant death and leading to thousands of hospital trips every year.
Signatories to the letter are being co-ordinated by Dr Nicholas Hopkinson from Imperial College London and chairman of the British Thoracic Society’s chronic obstructive pulmonary disease specialist advisory group.
JUDGES RULE ON TRIBUNAL FEES ORDER
High Court judges who have been urged to quash an “unlawful” order which imposed fees for the first time on workers wanting to bring tribunal proceedings against their employers announce their decision today.
Lord Justice Moses and Mr Justice Irwin will rule on judicial review action brought by the union Unison over what it describes as “punitive” fees, which it says are “unfair and should be dropped”.
Under changes introduced last July workers in the UK are now charged a fee to bring a claim, a fee if the claim is heard and a further charge if they want to appeal against a decision.
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