General News
WWF: The decision by Italian voters to comprehensively reject Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s plans to revive the nuclear power industry was welcomed recently by WWF-UK. Partial results show that an overwhelming majority of Italians have voted to throw out a law reviving nuclear energy.
Voter turnout topped 57% - safely above the 50% needed to validate the vote. It is the first time since 1995 that a quorum has been reached. Italy's nuclear power plants were shut down after a similar, 1987, referendum.
Voter turnout topped 57% - safely above the 50% needed to validate the vote. It is the first time since 1995 that a quorum has been reached. Italy's nuclear power plants were shut down after a similar, 1987, referendum.
HA: Traffic access arrangements for the 2011 Formula 1 Santander British Grand Prix at Silverstone in Northamptonshire have been announced. The tried & tested arrangements for the Grand Prix on the 8, 9 & 10 July 2011 will be very similar to previous years.
HMRC: HM Revenue & Customs is alerting taxpayers to a surge of fake ‘phishing’ emails sent out by fraudsters in the run-up to the tax credits renewal deadline. The email informs the recipient they are due a tax rebate and provides a click-through link to a cloned replica of the HMRC website.
The recipient is asked to provide their credit or debit card details. Fraudsters then try to take money from the account using the details provided. Victims risk having their bank accounts emptied and their personal details sold on to other organised criminal gangs. Since the beginning of April, when the first tax credits renewals forms were sent out to claimants, more than 46,000 phishing emails have been reported by customers.
MoD: Thousands of sick & injured soldiers leave the Army every year and Exercise Roebuck is helping to ease what can be a difficult transition back into civilian life. If getting sick or injured in the Army is an occupational hazard, a question most troops ask is ‘what happens next’?
The Army knows that many still struggle to adapt to life away from their unit as they recover at home and get frustrated with the lack of support, so they set up regional Personnel Recovery Units (PRUs) to manage every step of the road back to health. The Army set up the PRUs on regional lines (there are 11 across Britain), into which sick and ill soldiers are posted
The Army offers leavers a resettlement package to help them start a new life, and, in Malta Barracks, a one-stop-shop invited speakers from SSAFA (Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association), the Royal British Legion and Citizens Advice, as well as financial experts and Army Welfare Officers, to talk on topics ranging from stretching your Army pension & healthy eating, to new careers & CV writing.
MoD: Royal Navy personnel recently joined 2,000 sailors from 13 nations for the world's largest submarine rescue exercise, off the south-eastern tip of Spain. The 10 days of NATO Exercise Bold Monarch witnessed an international effort to bring trapped submariners from 4 boats to the surface.
The exercise is run every 3 years to test the ability of allied teams - including the UK-based NATO Submarine Rescue System (NSRS) - to react to the two most terrifying words in a submariner's vocabulary: submiss and subsunk.
The participation of the Russian Kilo Class boat 'Alrosa' particularly excited organisers and saw some historic link-ups, including the NATO & US rescue vehicles docking with the submarine 114 metres below the surface of the Mediterranean. Planning is already underway for the Bold Monarch (2014), scheduled for Polish waters.
MoD: Staff from the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) have joined forces with military colleagues & industry partners to unearth & record centuries-old ancient trees on Defence sites across the country. The enthusiastic Defence estate managers have already hit their 2011 target of recording 1,000 such specimens on Ministry of Defence (MOD) land, as they contribute to the Woodland Trust’s Ancient Tree Hunt (ATH).
EC: Jenny Watson, Chair of the Electoral Commission and Chief Counting Officer at the recent referendums on the Parliamentary Voting System, and the powers of the Welsh Assembly, has proposed that consideration should be given to introducing greater central coordination of elections, learning from the structure that was in place at those referendums.
The Commission is currently collecting information from voters, campaigners, parties & electoral administrators on the lessons from the 5 May polls and will publish a full report in October 2011.
The Commission is currently collecting information from voters, campaigners, parties & electoral administrators on the lessons from the 5 May polls and will publish a full report in October 2011.
DfE: The Teaching Agency is a new executive agency that will be responsible for ensuring the supply of high quality teachers & training, and for teacher regulation. It will open in April 2012 and take on some key functions currently carried out by the Training and Development Agency for Schools, General Teaching Council for England, Children’s Workforce Development Council and the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency subject to the necessary parliamentary approvals.
