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04 January, 2006 - Published 17:46 GMT

Caviar banCaviar is expensive because it is scarce, and it is scarce, at least in part, because it is so expensive. Prices as high as four hundred dollars for a small tin of the salty, black fish-eggs have encouraged massive overfishing of the sturgeon and widespread caviar smuggling. Add to this the fact that sturgeon are slow-growing and long-lived fish and take several years to reach maturity, and it is easy to see why populations have plummeted.

The legal export of caviar is already tightly regulated, with the countries which share the sturgeon fishing grounds having to agree export quotas each year in consultation with CITES. It is this process which has now broken down.

A CITES spokesman said that recent information indicated that the sturgeon species were in serious decline and the proposed quotas -- although lower than in previous years -- still didn't sufficiently reflect the lower stocks or allow for the amount lost to illegal fishing. He said countries wishing to export caviar had to demonstrate that their proposed catch and exports were sustainable in the long term, and without more information on this, CITES could not approve any quotas for 2006.

Since caviar has to be exported in the same calendar year in which the fish is caught, that effectively puts a ban on all international trade in caviar from wild fish until further notice.

25 April, 2005 - Published 12:25 GMT

Japan train crash

Hours after the accident rescue workers were still crawling over the appallingly mangled wreckage trying to cut free trapped passengers. Survivors say the train was travelling at speed and had started to shake before the front three carriages derailed and slammed into an apartment block.

The accident occurred towards the end of the morning rush hour in a suburb of Osaka, and the train was crowded with nearly 600 people on board. Japan's well rehearsed emergency services were called into action, erecting special medical tents alongside the crash site within minutes.

But the death toll rose quickly through the morning. Accident investigators are questioning passengers and the train's conductor to try to find out the cause of the crash. The driver who was badly injured remained inside the wreckage long afterwards.

It is the worst accident in more than four decades on Japan's railway network, which is among the world's safest and busiest, carrying an estimated 60 million people every day.

Jonathan Head, BBC News, Tokyo

11 April, 2005 - Published 13:00 GMT

UK visa delay for young Nigerians

The British High Commission in Nigeria say they cannot deal with the high number of visa applications which have nearly doubled in the last two years. Lagos is the busiest UK visa operation in the world and handles about seventeen thousand applications a month.

Eighty percent of young people who apply are turned down, some because they have forged documents. The High Commission insist this is a temporary measure and say they will lift the ban next year after reorganising their office.

However, Femi Fani-Kayode, special assistant to the Nigerian president on public affairs, described the decision as 'very unfair. We enjoy a close relationship with the United Kingdom,' he said, 'and I don't think this is the way to strengthen ties between the two countries.'

Anna Borzello, BBC News, Lagos

06 April, 2005 - Published 12:50

Indian police investigate Russian circus animal deaths

Animal rights activists say they're outraged by the incident. They have urged the court for an investigation into the deaths of the animals. According to a local firm, which did publicity for the circus, the Russian circus company officials quietly left the city and the country after they were unable to pay the loans. And the company says the officials abandoned the animals too. The Russian circus company, called Russian Circus on Ice, was not just making losses, but it was also allegedly duped of eight hundred thousand dollars by a north-east India-based events management company. It was this company that had invited the circus to perform in India.

During the three week-long performance in Mumbai, the company is believed to have suffered huge losses. Police say all the officials of the events management company are absconding. They have launched an investigation into the fire that killed the twenty-one animals on Monday evening. They say they can't rule out the possibility of sabotage, but they would not elaborate.

21 March, 2005 - Published 15:06

Bangladesh storms

The storm swept through northern Bangladesh after dark battering villages. Many people in rural areas live in huts made of corrugated iron or mud and straw. The flimsy buildings were unable to withstand winds powerful enough to uproot trees and knock down electricity pylons. Around three thousand homes were destroyed.

The police say the number of dead may rise. Rescue teams are yet to reach the worst affected areas because the roads are now blocked by debris. Nearly five hundred people are thought to have been injured.

Powerful storms are not uncommon in Bangladesh and hundreds of people are killed annually but most take place during the summer monsoon and few would have been prepared for a storm so early in the year.

Learning English - Words in the News

Learning English - Words in the News

06 January, 2006 - Published 16:15 GMT

Ariel Sharon's doctors are fighting to stop any further deterioration in his condition. He was

taken back into the operating theatre after a brain scan revealed a rise in pressure inside his cranium and more bleeding.

Doctors not involved with his treatment have told the BBC that surgery is not particularly effective for patients in Sharon's condition. Israelis have been stunned by what's happened in the last few days and that feeling will deepen if Ariel Sharon dies, but this country is very good at absorbing shocks and getting back to business.

Already there's a lot of talk about what happens next, about the challenges facing the acting Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, and whether it will be possible for whoever leads the country after the elections in March to carry on with Sharon's policies.

Jeremy Bowen, BBC

Learning English - Words in the News

21 December, 2005 - Published 15:45 GMT

Education bill backs India's poor

The congress-led government wants to extend affirmative action for the lowest members of India's hierarchical caste system to private universities. It wants the many independent business, technical and medical colleges to reserve places for students from the traditionally discriminated against and impoverished tribal communities and low castes, also known as Dalits or Untouchables. Government colleges already admit more than a fifth of their students from these groups.

To change the law, the government needs to amend India's constitution, where protection of the so-called scheduled castes and tribes is enshrined. It needs a two-thirds majority to do so, but the main opposition BJP Party, says it won't support the bill unless colleges run by religious minorities like the Muslims, are also included. Some private colleges are also opposed, saying they fear a drop in standards if the law is changed.

Mark Dummett, BBC News, Delhi.

27 April, 2005 - Published 11:06 GMT

Paternity dispute in Egypt

The case has caused a stir in Egypt for months. Instead of doing what many young Egyptian women in her situation do, that is, have an abortion, Hind Al-Hinnawi, an upper middle class professional, had the baby, went public and took the alleged father to court.

The man, Ahmad Al-Fishawi, hosts a television programme about religion for young people. He's also the son of a film star and a famous actress.

The young mother says that she married Mr Al-Fishawi according to what is known in Islam as a Urfi marriage, an unregistered marriage contract. After initially denying he had anything to do with the mother, Mr Al-Fishawi relented, but refused to accept that he was the father of the baby girl, sparking an outcry among Egypt's feminists and liberals.

The mother's unconventional behaviour also raised many conservative eyebrows. In February, a court ruled that Mr Al-Fishawi should undergo a DNA test. The ruling was considered a landmark and regarded as a huge victory for the mother and her supporters. But equally significant is the debate about sexuality, freedom and responsibility that the case has generated.

The family's unstinting support of their daughter is also remarkable, in a society where many parents would have put the blame on the girl, and some - particularly in Egypt's rural communities - might even have killed her.

20 April, 2005 - Published 11:36 GMT
New pope elected

The Catholic cardinals did not after all choose an African or Latin American pope who would have spoken directly to the concerns of the developing world. They chose Joseph Ratzinger, a theologian who's spent many years at the Vatican in Rome, at a time when it faces strong attacks over church scandals, suffocating bureaucracy and claims that it's grown out of touch with the lives of people, both in the secular west and in the needy south.

The new pope, though respected for his intellect, may be seen by his critics both in and out of the church as a step backwards for its wider image; as a doctrinaire or even authoritarian figure. He has publicly pledged to "re-christianise" Europe; and in adversarial style he has denounced communism in all its forms, American leaders over the Iraq war, the European Union for turning away from its Christian roots, and leaders of the eastern orthodox and protestant Christian faiths for refusing to submit to the leadership of Rome.

Where John Paul opened up dialogue with Islam and with orthodox Christians, the man who is now pope has, up to now, preached that the church of Rome has all the answers. Bold diplomacy also needs human skills, and he has much to do to prove that he has them.

William Horsley, BBC News, Rome

18 April, 2005 - Published 11:03 GMT
UNICEF report on educatio

UNICEF says many countries in South Asia, Africa and the Middle East cannot meet the target of gender equality this year. UNICEF is especially concerned about the situation in west and central Africa, where, it says, emergency measures are now needed to promote primary education. Only five countries out of 24 are set to achieve gender equality there. Conflicts in Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo have done incalculable damage to children's education. In South Asia, UNICEF says, progress has been made but not enough. Forty-two million children across the region don't go to school. Afghanistan and Pakistan have the widest gender gaps. For Pakistan to have the same number of girls as boys in school by 2015, it would have to increase girls' school attendance by over 3 per cent each year.

And in eastern and central Europe there is cause for concern, too. The introduction of fees for tuition, schoolbooks and uniforms has led to rising dropout rates -- and girls drop out sooner than boys. Belarus and Tajikistan will not achieve gender equality, neither will Turkey. UNICEF says a quantum leap is now needed to achieve universal primary education by 2015, and insists the effort must be made. The UN's primary millennium development goal is the eradication of poverty, and education is fundamental to achieving that.

Imogen Foulkes, BBC News, Geneva

13 April, 2005 - Published 11:34 GMT
Labs told to destroy deadly virus

The strain of flu is known as H2N2 and if caught by one person, could spread very easily to cause a global pandemic, as no-one born after 1968 would have the antibodies. Samples of the strain were sent to the laboratories as part of a routine test to check their capabilities of accurately detecting different viruses.

The organisation responsible for sending out the samples, the College of American Pathologists, didn't break any rules because the deadly virus was classified as "Biological Safety Level 2", meaning that it wasn't particularly dangerous. The US government agency responsible for classifying viruses, the Centre for Disease Control, says it was in the process of deciding whether to change the strain's classification when it was informed that it had been widely circulated.

The World Health Organisation says there is no guarantee that every sample of the virus can be traced and destroyed because some of the laboratories may have sent derivatives of the sample elsewhere. But it says that the fact there have been no reports so far of anyone handling the virus becoming ill is reassuring and that the risk of a pandemic is very low. The WHO says safety procedures will have to be revised.

Yousef Anani, BBC

Rover deal with Shanghai Automotive collapses

08 April, 2005 - Published 10:18

Speculation about MG Rover's future has been going on for months. In the past weeks, it reached critical levels as senior DTI officials arrived in China for crisis talks with the Shanghai Automotive car group. A partnership with the Chinese company was Rover's last hope. They'd agreed in principle to work together on new models, with Rover swapping information on technology for much needed cash. But as the talks went on, it became clear that the Chinese were deeply concerned about the state of Rover's finances. They didn't want to take on responsibility for hundreds of millions of pounds owed to Rover's former owners, BMW, and to the pension fund. By the end, even a government offer of a one hundred million pound bridging loan wasn't enough to keep them interested. The government has always said the loan was dependent on the deal going ahead. Without Shanghai Automotive's commitment, it would have been tantamount to, throwing good money after bad.

As well as six thousand people employed directly by MG Rover, some fifteen thousand employees of component suppliers in the West Midlands will also be affected. Earlier today, some of those companies said Rover hadn’t been able to pay them, so they'd been forced to stop supplying parts. Production at Longbridge was halted as a result.

The government is acutely aware of the impact this could have on a number of marginal West Midlands constituencies. Tony Blair spent twenty five minutes on the phone to the president of China last night trying to persuade him to rescue the deal. But with both sides blaming the other for failing to commit, it was only a matter of time before the whole thing began to unravel.

30 March, 2005 - Published 11:36

International action on Sudan

The United States has been pressing hard for international action on Sudan where government-sponsored militia have been fighting with rebels in Darfur. Washington has described the situation in Darfur, where tens of thousands have been killed, as genocide - a word the UN itself has avoided. On Tuesday night, the US successfully sponsored a Security Council resolution that will impose a travel ban and a freeze of assets on those individuals who violate the ceasefire or who commit atrocities. The resolution would also forbid the Khartoum government from carrying out offensive military flights into Darfur.

But the US is still locked in a dispute with other nations over how to deal with those accused of committing war crimes in Sudan. On Wednesday, France is expected to push for a Security Council vote that would open the way for the International Criminal Court in The Hague to oversee trials. The US has opposed such a move. Washington does not back the ICC out of a fear that the court could be used to prosecute US citizens for political reasons. But if France pushes ahead with the vote, it could force the US into a difficult position. America will not want to be accused of blocking international action aimed at bringing war criminals to justice.

28 March, 2005 - Published 11:10

Giant pandas in danger

China's giant pandas have long been threatened with extinction, suffering from low birth rates and human encroachment on their habitat. Now they are facing a new threat - starvation. China's state-run media says their favourite food, arrow bamboo, is beginning to die off. It is part of a cycle that happens every sixty years and the new crop will take around ten years to mature. Last time the bamboo bloomed was in the 1980s and then around two hundred and fifty giant pandas died of starvation.

Now at least one nature reserve is trying to move those animals at risk into new habitats or find them new sources of food. In another blow for the giant panda, it is being reported that the endangered Tibetan antelope is being tipped as China's Olympic mascot, ahead of the panda. One official was even quoted as lobbying for the antelope because it is more sporty than the other contenders. But panda supporters are holding out hope that Beijing's Olympic emblem could be composed of more than one animal.

Pope John Paul II lying in state in the Vatican

04 April, 2005 - Published 14:50

Pope John Paul lies propped up slightly on a silk-covered dais in one of the most beautiful-frescoed audience halls in the Apostolic Palace, one floor down from his private apartment. Two Swiss guards in full dress uniform wearing red-plumed Renaissance-style helmets flank the Pope's body. He is dressed in his papal vestments, a red cape around his shoulders, a white bishop's mitre on his head, his hands clasped around a rosary and his silver papal crucifix tucked under one arm. Correspondents accredited to the Vatican were taken to the VIP entrance to the Apostolic Palace. We walked up two flights of marble stairs together with a crowd of Vatican employees and groups of bishops, priests and Catholics with special contacts inside the Vatican. We queued for an hour and as we drew near to the lying in state, some sang hymns, others recited the rosary prayer. As we crossed the polished-marble floor of the hall, bishops and priests prayed aloud as they knelt beside the Pope. From a wall painting, one of the Pope's predecessors, Pope Clement the Eighth, who built this part of the palace, looked benignly down upon us. We were only allowed to pause for a moment in recollection in front of the dead Pope before leaving. There was sufficient time, however, to see how, the Pope, whom I have seen so many times in life, blessing enormous crowds in every continent, is now himself being ceaselessly blessed by people from every walk of life. The crowd of Vatican insiders filling the Apostolic Palace to say farewell to their Pope gave me a foretaste of the vast throng of ordinary pilgrims now waiting here in Rome for their chance to see him lying in stat

Learning English - Words in the News

28 December, 2005 - Published 12:00 GMT

Kangaroos 'scared by own noise'

Kangaroos have long been an annoyance to many Australian farmers. Keeping these fleet-footed marsupials away from their crops and water supplies has become a constant battle. A traditional deterrent has been a series of high pitched squeals emitted from loudspeakers. Researchers have found that kangaroos often become accustomed to these artificial sounds and took little notice of them.

However, a recording of a 'roo thumping its foot appears to have been quite a breakthrough. This is the noise these macropods make when they sense danger before taking flight. Using the animal's own alarm system could be what irate farmers have been looking for. They often complain that kangaroo numbers have reached plague-like proportions. Several million are shot dead every year as part of an official cull.

Animal rights campaigners have insisted that many of these pouched mammals die a painful death at the hands of unlicensed or inexperienced marksmen. A large number of marsupials are killed or injured on Australian roads by cars and trucks. Researchers, who are hoping to develop their foot thumping technology, believe it could also be used to guide kangaroos away from busy highways.

Phil Mercer, BBC, Sydney

22 April, 2005 - Published 10:58 GMT

Managing pension funds

Some of the world's biggest financial firms make a substantial share of their own money by managing other people's. For many, the most important saving they have is for a pension for their retirement. Throughout the developed world, many companies provide a fund, which they and their staff contribute to, which is then invested in shares, bonds and other assets. Many do manage the investments themselves, with the help of advisers. But an increasing number are hiring specialists to do it. This well established trend in North America and Britain is affecting other parts of Europe too, as the decision by Phillips of the Netherlands indicates.

The benefits include the fact that big financial firms should be more expert in managing assets, and the running costs should be lower because they manage such large amounts of money. In principle, it could mean better returns and so better pensions than if the work were done by less expert in house people. There are risks however. There can be conflicts of interest - if a fund manager company is doing other business with a company whose shares the pension fund owns, for example. And analysts say it is important that the assets handed over are protected from any legal action if the fund management company gets into difficulty.

Andrew Walker, BBC News

15 April, 2005 - Published 12:32 GMT

Nike openness

Nike lists a hundred-and-twenty-four plants making its goods in China, among seven-hundred around the world, many of them in dirt poor countries. It also documents inspections of five-hundred-and-sixty-nine factories working for it, in some of which it found evidence of physical and verbal abuse.

The company follows the Gap clothing chain in deciding that rather than washing its hands of conditions in its supplier factories, it will monitor them. Campaigners against sweatshops hope the change by a market leader by Nike will now persuade others to do the same.

A dilemma exists for companies though. Third World costs and standards make profitable First World sales. Nike and Gap discovered though the hard way that bad publicity also has a cost.

Steve Evans, BBC, New York

01 April, 2005 - Published 11:33

Japan and Mexico free trade agreement

From today, Japan's nine thousand pig farmers will experience something entirely new - competition. Under the terms of a landmark free trade agreement with Mexico, pork will be subject to much lower tariffs along with a range of other products. In fact, more than ninety percent of Mexican products will have their tariffs cut altogether. This is the first time Japan has made such an agreement with a major trading partner. The only other free trade pact it has is with Singapore which produces none of the sensitive agricultural commodities Japan has always protected in the past.

At the moment, Japan exports far more to Mexico than it imports. Mexican officials believe trade will be far more balanced now that the agreement is in place. It took more than two years of difficult negotiations to conclude. Many politicians in the governing liberal democratic party have their power base in rural areas and their reluctance to lift the tariffs protecting Japanese pig farmers nearly killed the deal. But the government believes it has no choice but to start opening Japan's agricultural sector to foreign competition. China has proved far more open to reaching free trade agreements helping it rival or even eclipse Japan's influence in the Asia Pacific region.