General News
MCA: The latest video Podcast produced by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency features true life experiences from Jane Dolby from Essex (a widow who lost her husband to the sea), Tom Smith from Fife (a fisherman who survived his boat sinking) and Neil Murray (a fisherman from Looe in Cornwall).
112 fishermen have been lost at sea since the year 2000, and if they had been wearing a lifejacket their chances of survival would have been far greater. In 2009 alone there has been a further 9 fatalities involving fishermen and several of these may have been prevented had they been wearing lifejackets.
MoD: The Ministry of Defence will give a major boost to the military helicopter fleet with 22 new Chinook helicopters, the Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth has announced. However, the first 10 new Chinooks will not start to roll off the production line until 2012 and be completed in 2013, only then increasing air support on the front-line in Afghanistan.
This announcement is part of a new Future Helicopter Strategy that is promised to deliver a 40% increase in the number of lift helicopters available for use on operations in extreme conditions, such as those in Afghanistan. The RAF will fly the new Chinook alongside the Merlins which arrived in Afghanistan last month.
The new strategy will see the ageing Sea Kings, which the Royal Navy & RAF currently use, being taken out of service early. The Navy’s future helicopter requirements would be met by a combination of the Merlin fleet and new Wildcat. The Army will also operate Wildcat alongside the successful Apache. It will mean that following the retirement of Puma from 2022, the UK’s Armed Forces will operate 4 core helicopter fleets of Chinook, Apache, Wildcat and Merlin – each of around 65-75 aircraft.
DCMS: Culture Minister Margaret Hodge has announced the final list of bidders vying to become the UK’s first City of Culture in 2013. The full line-up of the judging panel that will make the final recommendation on which bid will win has also been announced. Bids have come in from 14 places, made up from single cities or towns, closely linked cities and, in one case, a whole county.
Press release ~ Formal bidding process information ~ Liverpool ’08 – By Numbers ~ DCMS - UK City of Culture
FSA: Asda is withdrawing its own-brand ready-to-eat Southern Fried Popcorn Chicken with a 'use by' date of 18 December 2009, because the product contains wheat (gluten), which is not mentioned on the product label. The Food Standards Agency has issued an Allergy Alert advising anyone with an allergy or intolerance to wheat or gluten not to eat this product.
Press release ~ Asda withdraws its own-brand ready-to-eat Southern Fried Popcorn Chicken due to the presence of undeclared gluten ~ Allergy UK ~ Anaphylaxis Campaign ~ Asda ~ Food allergy and intolerance
DFID: Some of the world’s poorest nations will be ‘thrust to the forefront of the global green energy revolution’ with the help of a £50m commitment from the UK Government. The funding, part of the UK commitment to provide ‘fast start’ climate finance before 2012, will see the UK become the largest contributor to a £160m global initiative to help boost the renewable energy sector in at least 5 low-income countries.
The new programme - Scaling-up Renewable Energy Programme (SREP) - which has become operational this week, will not only help countries lower their carbon emissions but also bring new sources of energy to populations with little access to electricity. In Africa just 23% of people have access to regular electricity, and in many countries the figure is below 10%.
