Saturday, February 8, 2014

West Ham fail with Carroll appeal

Andy Carroll: West Ham striker's three-match ban upheld by tribunal

An independent tribunal has upheld the Football Association's decision to reject West Ham's appeal against Andy Carroll's three-match ban.

The Premier League side threatened legal action against the FA after their initial attempt to overturn the ban was turned down.

Carroll will now miss the Hammers' matches against Aston Villa, Norwich and Southampton.

He was sent off during his side's 2-0 win against Swansea last Saturday.

An FA statement said: "An independent arbitration tribunal convened under FA Rule K has dismissed a legal challenge brought by West Ham United and Andy Carroll in relation to the red card received by Carroll in the match between West Ham United FC and Swansea on 1 February 2014.

"The independent tribunal resolved that there was no serious issue to be tried and also awarded The FA its costs."

West Ham released their own statement, which said: "Whilst West Ham United are obviously disappointed at the decision, as we have made clear throughout, we respect the rules of football and shall abide by them."

The Hammers, who lie 18th in the table, also suggested the FA-appointed panel "did not apply the correct test" under its rules when making the original decision.

The move to reconsider the upholding of the initial suspension with a further hearing is a highly unusual one, and is the last stage a dispute can reach under FA rules.

It is thought to be the first time in Premier League history that a rejected red-card appeal has then been referred to an independent arbitrator.

Carroll, 25, was dismissed after clashing with Swans defender Chico Flores at Upton Park.

According to the FA, West Ham failed to prove that referee Howard Webb had made "an obvious error" in dismissing the forward, whose arm hit Flores on the top of his head as he tried to untangle himself following an aerial challenge.

Flores went to ground clutching his face but West Ham felt he had over-reacted.

The Loop: Pip pip cheerio

7 February 2014 Last updated at 17:08

The Loop: Pip pip cheerio

You, the reader A weekly digest of your tweets and letters

Welcome to The Loop, the Magazine's letters column, including the best of your thoughts from Twitter and Facebook.

This week, the pips - the hourly sound marker broadcast on BBC stations - turned 90. Sam Judah looked back at a familiar sound. A number of readers contacted us regarding the delivery of the pips on digital and analogue.

"I would like to know which pips are right. We have a digital radio and an analogue radio," asked Nigel Hunt from South Wingfield. "The latter is about five seconds ahead of the former. What time is it?"

George Hubbard, from Ely in Cambridgeship, was equally puzzled: "Understand it's the final pip which signals the precise time but I hear the final pip twice, first on my analogue radio and then on my digital radio. Which one is correct?"

The Loop trundled off down the corridors of Broadcasting House to the boffins in the radio control room. Before we reveal the answer, here's a bit of history.

In the old days, accuracy was sacrosanct so the pips were sent ever so slightly ahead of time from the BBC in London to Scotland - which was a delay of "tens of milliseconds". When they reached Scotland, the time was accurate and the pips were broadcast.

Nowadays, the pips you hear on analogue radio - FM, MW, LW - are accurate (although they no longer go via Scotland). Digital broadcast - DAB on radio, or DTT, such as Freeview and Dsat - have "greater latency". To you and me, that's how much time it takes for a packet of data to get from one designated point to another. DAB has the greatest pip lag out of this log. But pips broadcast via the radio online are the least accurate, according to the boffins.

Graham Barrow, from Luton, who already knew the answer, asked "Should DAB take over and FM be taken off the air, will the pips be rescheduled to allow for the time difference?"

The Loop was told that a while ago the BBC did go down the path of trying to make DAB accurate regarding the pips. "But you cannot connect it to ultimate accuracy, so there was little point in continuing," came the explanation from the control room. "With people having such high accuracy clocks, the need for having a critically accurate time source, such as the pips, isn't needed anymore."

Meanwhile, in our News From Elsewhere blog, we brought to attention a story about how Italian police had seized about a million "cashmere" garments containing rat fur.

Shock and revulsion was the overriding consensus on social media, although that didn't stop people from probing further.

"Disgusting... what's next a rat weave, or better yet rat toupee?" asked GlamourGal on Twitter.

"Ratsmere?" suggested Rune Hertz.

Others like Ian Miles saw no problem: "If it is clean then apart from selling it as cashmere, what is the issue....?"

"I like my rat socks," said a clearly concurring Ibrahim Muhammed on Facebook.

Candace Sleeman on Facebook began her how-to Guide by citing Blackadder: "As Baldrick would say: 'Well, you take the freshly shaved rat...'"

And if others weren't impressed by her pop culture knowledge, she rounded off with a reference to the 1932 film Taxi! - "A James Cagney inspired line of jumpers perhaps?" - referring to the film star's famous rat line. (On the other hand, did she realise that Cagney never actually said "You dirty rat!" in the film?)

Sticking with the animal world, The Magazine's Jon Kelly did some gonzo journalism as he "became the story" and tasted one of the latest arrivals to reach UK shores - camel milk coffee.

Unfortunately the scope for social media pun-play was stunted by the camel milk company themselves, naming their drinks "Camelatte" and "Camelccino", which are of course "camelicious".

Not to be deterred, Sprigov Parsley welcomed the new "dromedairy product", while Adrian Bamforth clearly needed to get something off his chest before he could continue with his day: "One hump or two? There, I've said it."

Follow @BBCNewsMagazine on Twitter and on Facebook

VIDEO: Why Europe spends billions on space

Media playback is unsupported on your device

European Space Agency: billions spent on high tech jobs

7 February 2014 Last updated at 14:34 GMT

European countries invest billions of euros into the European Space Agency, despite the financial problems of the eurozone.

Adam Fleming reports from the Netherlands, where the UK spent £250m on the project last year, and hears about the investment in research and development and the jobs that it creates.

More from the Daily and Sunday Politics: Watch full programmes from the last seven days via BBC iPlayer; 'like' us on Facebook page or 'follow' us on Twitter

Israel removes Jordan Valley protest

7 February 2014 Last updated at 16:53

Israel removes Palestinians' Jordan Valley protest camp

By Yolande Knell BBC News, West Bank

Palestinian activists spent a week at the abandoned village of Ein Hijleh, near the Jordan border

The Israeli military has removed Palestinian activists protesting at a deserted village in the West Bank.

Dozens of demonstrators had spent a week camping at Ein Hijleh in the Jordan Valley.

The final status of the area is a key point of contention in US-brokered peace talks with Israel.

The raid took place as aid agencies expressed alarm at a rise in Israeli demolitions of Palestinian property, particularly in the Jordan Valley.

Israel wants to keep an army presence in the West Bank along the eastern border with Jordan, after any peace deal is reached, citing security concerns.

Palestinians reject the idea, but say they would accept a temporary international force.

Planting trees

Early on Friday, Palestine TV showed live pictures of Israeli soldiers using tear gas to clear activists at Ein Hijleh, close to Jericho.

The Palestinian village was abandoned after Israel captured the land from Jordan in the 1967 war.

Activists moved in to show their opposition to Israel's continuing occupation of the vast stretch of land. They had begun to repair buildings and plant trees.

"We're here to demand a Palestinian existence on Palestinian land. We've seen political negotiations have led nowhere," one organiser, Diana al-Zeer told the BBC before the site was cleared.

"There are Israeli plans to annex the Jordan Valley, one of the most fertile areas of land for Palestinians. Palestinian houses here are being demolished, Palestinians are being thrown off their land and we're here to say 'no' to all of this."

Palestinian parliamentarian, Mustafa Barghouti, who was staying in the village, said that many people were beaten after military vehicles broke in.

"Despite the aggression of the occupation, we will come back to Ein Hijleh," he wrote on his Facebook page. "This will not break our will."

The Israeli military said troops had called on the activists to leave the area voluntarily and "once they failed to comply, an initiated evacuation took place."

Its statement said: "The agitators were evacuated due to rock hurling earlier this week at the main Jordan Valley route, and other legal considerations."

Demolition concerns

The Israeli rights group, B'Tselem says that in January, Israeli authorities demolished 27 homes in the Jordan Valley, leaving 147 people homeless.

Throughout 2013, a total of 124 residences were demolished there, leaving 339 people homeless, according to the group.

In an unusual step this week, the International Red Cross said that it was suspending the provision of emergency tents and shelters to displaced Palestinians in the area in protest at what it described as Israeli "obstacles and confiscations" of aid material.

A joint statement from 25 international aid organisations, including Oxfam and Christian Aid, said that the Israeli demolition of Palestinian homes and property in the West Bank and East Jerusalem reached a five-year high last year.

It said that during the period when peace talks resumed, there was a rise of 43% in demolitions and a 74% increase in displacement compared to the same period in 2012.

"Such demolition of civilian property violates international humanitarian law, which prohibits demolitions unless rendered absolutely necessary by military operations" the statement said.

The aid organisations call for "an immediate halt to the demolitions of Palestinian homes, and for Israel to facilitate immediate, full and unimpeded humanitarian access so that aid can reach people in need."

Figures from the UN humanitarian agency OCHA indicate that the total number of structures destroyed in 2013, stood at 390, up from 172 a year earlier.

Israel regularly issues demolition orders for fragile houses and animal pens erected by the Palestinian Bedouin community in the Jordan Valley, saying their construction is unlicensed. In some cases its Supreme Court has rejected petitions against the orders.

Human rights groups claim that discriminatory practices make it almost impossible for Palestinians to get building permits in the strategically important Jordan Valley, which is dotted with Jewish settlements. Israel strongly denies the charge.

'Armed' police search village house

7 February 2014 Last updated at 17:36

Man arrested in firearms search in Clynnogfawr

Armed response vehicles were seen in the village

A man has been arrested after police carried out a search for unlawfully-held firearms in a Gwynedd village.

Witnesses said an armed response vehicle and the police helicopter were at Clynnogfawr on Friday afternoon.

North Wales Police said a 43-year-old man had been taken to a local police station for questioning.

A spokesperson said the incident was managed by local officers "supported by specialists".

Chief inspector Simon Barrasford, who led the operation, said: "Resources were deployed to the scene and our objective of recovering the firearms, protecting the public and officers and detaining the man safely has been achieved.

"I am grateful to local residents for their understanding and cooperation and we hope to return the area to normality as soon as practical."

Police said local officers had been "supported by specialists"

Treasury spending chart criticised

7 February 2014 Last updated at 16:33

Treasury spending chart criticised by statistics body

Prime Minister David Cameron with residents and emergency workers in Yalding, Kent

The chart appeared to show a much larger investment in flood defences

The UK Statistics Authority has criticised the Treasury over a chart it produced showing the scale of investment in infrastructure.

The authority said the chart could give a "false impression" of the relative size of investment in areas such as flood defences.

The chart, released alongside the Autumn Statement, appeared to show a more even spread across sectors.

The government has denied attempting to mislead the public.

The chart, which was included in the National Infrastructure Plan, displayed investment in a range of areas, from waste and intellectual capital, to transport and floods.

It used a logarithmic scale, where gaps between £1m, £10m, £100m, £1bn, £10bn and £100bn were each represented by increments of the same size.

Chart from the National Infrastructure Plan 2013

The UK Statistics Authority said the logarithmic scale gave a "false impression"

UK Statistics Authority chairman, Sir Andrew Dilnot, was concerned that the relative sizes of the bars on the chart gave the wrong impression of the scale of spending.

The chart showed transport and energy projects had the most money spent on them, and the scaling appeared to show flood defences getting at least half as much funding as those two sectors.

However, the raw data shows flood projects are due to receive less than 2% of the amount being spent on energy infrastructure.

There was a written explanation in the text that accompanied the chart. But in a letter to Labour's Treasury spokesman Chris Leslie, who first raised concerns, Sir Andrew said: "My view is that the chart could leave readers with a false impression of the relative size of investment between sectors."

The alternative chart from the UK Statistics Authority

An alternative representation of the figures, from the UK Statistics Authority

In the letter, Sir Andrew enclosed an alternative representation of the figures, prepared by the statistics authority, showing a much starker contrast between the different investment levels.

Mr Leslie said the case was the latest in the government's "track record of trying to pull the wool over people's eyes".

In 2012, the statistics watchdog corrected David Cameron over a claim that NHS spending had risen in real terms, while last year it said the Prime Minister was wrong to say the government was paying down Britain's debts.

A spokesman for the Prime Minister denied the chart was an attempt to mislead the public, adding: "The figures and charts set out in that plan are the right ones."