World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk

The rise of the far right is overplayed – but austerity increases the threat | Andrea Mammone
Lucy Mangan: why feminism doesn't need rebranding
This column will change your life: why are ethicists so unethical?
Undercover journalists publish asylum boat account
China's children may become the drivers of environmental change | Yuan Ren
This is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett – review
Experience: a stranger snatched my daughter
Tears and cheers as Sachin Tendulkar makes last walk to pavilion
Unreported World: The Jungle Midwife – TV review
Hail batters south-east Queensland
Serco guard on Christmas Island fired for sex with asylum-seeker
Home Office issues 'end of life plan' to hunger-striking asylum seeker
JP Morgan to pay £2.8bn to settle claims by investors
Doctors, nurses and managers to face five years in jail if they neglect patients
Cameron links typhoon Haiyan to climate change
Olympics brought Britain extra £11bn in business, claims government
Commonwealth: caught in the spotlight | Editorial
Tesco recalls ice-cream cones after painkiller find
Tamils hail David Cameron as 'god' but Sri Lankan president is not a believer
Libyan militiamen kill protesters in Tripoli
Albania rejects US request to host disposal of Syria's chemical weapons
Letters: Mega farms create mega problems
Play Rugby USA helps the Maori All Blacks take Manhattan – in pictures
Venezuelans muse on economic woes that make milk scarce but fridges a steal
Typhoon Haiyan: British man reportedly missing in the Philippines

The rise of the far right is overplayed – but austerity increases the threat | Andrea Mammone

Posted: 16 Nov 2013 01:01 AM PST

If the Wilders-Le Pen alliance succeeds in the European elections, it will partly be thanks to the harsh economic policies of political elites

The Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders has announced plans for a pan-European alliance with Marine Le Pen's Front National party in France ahead of the 2014 European elections. The alliance, which would include others from Italy, Sweden, and Belgium, would seek to disrupt the workings of the European parliament and destroy the EU from within its own institutions.

The development reflects a long-held desire by the far right in Europe to build its own brand of "Europeanism", a pan-European movement that is hostile to the integrationist aims of the EU. With Europe struggling economically and politically, the timing is significant and perhaps propitious for such a far-right alliance.

But is "fascism" back? The neo-fascist Golden Dawn party looks troubling in Greece, Norway went surprisingly rightward in its national elections, the Austrian Freedom party has also gained votes while in Britain, leaders of the English Defence League decided to embrace a more "mainstream" platform against Islam.

The apparent gains of populist and far-right movements have of course attracted the attention of journalists, experts and academics. And when this happens, there is a tendency towards sensationalist headlines which may give an exaggerated impression of the strength and power of far-right parties.

It is true that far-right movements have done relatively well electorally since the mid-1980s. Their gains are linked to multi-ethnic societies, European integration, rampant capitalism, globalisation the fall of communism, and more recently, by religious fundamentalism, economic upheaval and austerity. In such an economic, political and social context the existence of parties promoting the defence of national communities and citizens, rejecting almost all foreign interference in domestic life while electorally exploiting unemployment and financial instability, is almost guaranteed.

However, the far right is not on the rise everywhere, and with the same intensity. Specific national conditions, electoral systems and the role of the mainstream right need to be kept in mind. Yet while the idea of a fascist takeover may be fanciful, we should not totally downplay the risks.

Extremism should, for example, be closely monitored in Greece and in parts of central and eastern Europe. The far right is, in some ways, at the centre of Europe's life. Wilders and Le Pen establishing a new alliance in the European parliamentpresents an additional burden on the EU. Even fringe parties are already having an influence on attitudes and policy towards immigration, multiculturalism, citizenship, the public sector and the role of the state. The influence on other areas of public life, including football stadiums, is well known. In some countries, this has led to a legitimisation of an extremist discourse.

It seems that there is also a rather benevolent approach from some mainstream parties in Europe towards these developments, and a deafening silence from the entrepreneurial and financial world.

If the Wilders-Le Pen anti-EU alliance secures electoral success in 2014, it will partly be the result of how existing political elites are reacting, the continued drive to austerity and the perceived lack of democratic legitimacy that surrounds these harsh economic policies. We should be exploring the impact of all this on European societies and communities, and what can be done to use education to achieve a better, mutual understanding of different cultures. The European Union is, after all, not just about budgetary policies, trade and the free circulation of goods. It should be a beacon of enlightened values and tolerance.

Andrea Mammone

Lucy Mangan: why feminism doesn't need rebranding

Posted: 16 Nov 2013 01:01 AM PST

'I'm convinced women remain hamstrung all our lives by our readiness to dicker about at the edges of things instead of jumping in and getting something started'

When I watch children play – as I unfortunately have to do more and more often these days, as my son, unlike his parents, persists in gaining motor skills and developing social instincts – I am always struck by the same thing. While little boys tend to get on and just play, little girls seem unable to move until they have established all the rules, mapped out all the possibilities and defined everyone's role precisely. I don't know if it's social conditioning (but, if so, it's clearly of an intensity and potency that Kim Jong-un himself would envy), some strange quirk in the female psyche or DNA, or an unholy combination of the two that causes it, but I'm increasingly convinced that women remain hamstrung all our lives by our readiness to dicker about at the edges of things instead of jumping in and getting something started.

This week, for instance, I – along with many other people – have been invited to attend a debate about rebranding feminism. "Rebranding" – like all forms of marketing – is the ultimate in dickering about at the edges. It's so much easier than actually creating something whose worth people will come to recognise and start buying – or buying into it, in the case of intangible sociopolitical movements – as a natural result of its proven efficacy.

Feminism doesn't need rebranding. It just needs to overcome the people-pleasing instincts of its majority members and focus on a few core issues, and then beat the shit out of everything and everyone in its way until those issues are satisfactorily resolved. And, yes, ideally those core issues would be decided by a global referendum of women, so that the agenda isn't set primarily by those (generally white, middle class) who are already fortunate enough to have the time and energy to spare for organising social change. But until that becomes a practical possibility, everyone just needs to keep at the forefront of their minds the fact that "check your privilege" and "intersectionality" are revolting words but beautiful concepts, and proceed accordingly.

We keep our eyes on the prize of securing an equal share of power and choices for women – the true freedom, for example, of whether or not to have children, derived from free access to contraception, abortion, economic independence from men, sufficient parental leave, flexible, affordable childcare options and so on – not on defining what they should do with that freedom once they have it. (Have children? Not have children? Stay at home with them? Or go back to work? Call themselves "a mummy", "a mother" or "a parent"? Enough.)

No more burdening of any one woman, be she Nigella, Miley Cyrus or Jennifer Lawrence, with the task of representing anything other than herself, any more than we burden Sir Alan Sugar with speaking for all preternaturally hairy businessmen who have leveraged a mildly cantankerous mien into a showbiz career, or Mervyn King with speaking for all Mervyns.

Once you've got a good, successful product that does what it says on the tin ("Feminism: helping women not have their personal or professional lives or reproductive rights borked since approximately 1792"), people will seek it out.

Let the game begin.

Lucy Mangan

This column will change your life: why are ethicists so unethical?

Posted: 16 Nov 2013 01:00 AM PST

'Does an overdeveloped sense of morality make you less likely to act ethically in real life?'

Ethical philosophy isn't the most scintillating of subjects, but it has its moments. Take, for example, the work of the US philosopher Eric Schwitzgebel, who's spent a large chunk of his career confirming the entertaining finding that ethicists aren't very ethical. Ethics books, it turns out, are more likely to be stolen from libraries than other philosophy books. Ethics professors are more likely to believe that eating animals is wrong, but no less likely to eat meat. They're also more likely to say giving to charity is a moral obligation, but they were less likely than other philosophers to return a questionnaire when researchers promised to donate to charity if they did. Back when the American Philosophical Association charged for some meetings using an honesty system, ethicists were no less likely to freeload.

One take on this is that ethicists are terrible hypocrites. As Schwitzgebel points out, that's not necessarily as bad as it sounds: if philosophers were obliged to live by their findings, that might exert a "distortive pressure" on their work, tempting them to reach more self-indulgent conclusions about the moral life. (And there's a case to be made, after all, that it's better for people to preach the right thing but not practise it than to do neither.) But another possibility bears thinking about. It's plausible to suggest that ethicists have an unusually strong sense of what's right and wrong; that's what they spend their days pondering, after all. What if their overdeveloped sense of morality – their confidence that they know what's what, ethically speaking – makes them less likely to act ethically in real life?

This would be an intriguing twist on "moral licensing", the deep-seated human tendency that leaves us feeling entitled to do something bad because we've already done something good. It explains why people give up plastic bags, then feel justified in taking a long-haul flight, obliterating the carbon savings. It's also why, if you give people a chance to condemn sexist statements, they'll subsequently be more likely to favour hiring a man in a male-dominated profession. Could it be that merely doing the mental work of figuring out what's right ticks an internal "morality" box, so licensing "moral" people to act as badly as anyone else? (Or worse: remember those library books.) This is speculation, but if it's right, the implications would reach beyond philosophers. Smugness might not just be annoying to others; it could actively make smug people less moral.

The broader peril here – that we might fail to do what we ought to do because we know we ought to do it – threatens to undermine personal happiness, too. Consider this extreme example: about a decade ago, the multimillionaire banker Rajat Gupta gave a speech about the dangers of becoming super-rich. "You have to watch out for it," he said. "Because the more you have, the more you get used to comforts [and] big houses and vacation homes, and going and doing whatever you want. So it is very seductive." He knew the unrestrained pursuit of material wealth wasn't the path to happiness. But last year Gupta was convicted of conspiracy and fraud in the Galleon hedge fund case, the biggest insider trading scandal in US history. You can't really say he should have known better: clearly he did. Was it his confidence in his knowledge that caused him to forget himself? Was knowing better the problem?

oliver.burkeman@theguardian.com

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Oliver Burkeman

Undercover journalists publish asylum boat account

Posted: 16 Nov 2013 12:25 AM PST

Luke Mogelson and Joel van Houdtm give harrowing description in New York Times Magazine of journey to Christmas Island

Two journalists who went undercover on an asylum-seeker boat bound for Australia have published a harrowing description of their voyage.

In an extensive report accompanied by images and footage, published by the New York Times Magazine, the US writer Luke Mogelson recounted the cramped three-day trip of more than 320km he took in September aboard a nine-metre timber boat that was "clearly not designed for passengers".

Posing as Georgians who fled their home country with sensitive information about the government, Mogelson and a Dutch photographer colleague, Joel van Houdtm paid US$4,000 (A$4,300) each to be taken from Indonesia to Christmas Island.

The Afghanistan-based reporters arranged the transfer before arriving in Jakarta.

"It's surprisingly simple, from Kabul, to enlist the services of the smugglers Australian authorities are so keen to apprehend," Mogelson wrote.

They shared the boat with two Indonesian crew, an Afghan man and 54 Iranians including nine children and more than a dozen women, one of whom was seven months pregnant.
"The Indonesians distributed life vests: ridiculous things made from thin fabric and a bit of foam," Mogelson wrote.

Within hours of setting off most aboard were vomiting, he wrote.

Would-be travellers had not been put off by Australia's deterrence measures, including billboard advertisements in their home countries that Australia was not settling asylum seekers.

"It's a lie to scare people so that they don't come," one man told Mogelson.

"How can they turn you away?" asked another. "You put yourself in danger, you take your life in your hand? They can't."

The boat travelled no faster than five knots. "At times we seemed to make no headway whatsoever against the strong south-easterly trade winds, which whipped up white caps on the waves and kept us all alert with stinging gusts of spray."

Conditions on board were sickening. "There was no toilet and absent any railing to hold on to, going over the side was too risky. The men urinated on the hull, the women in their pants," Mogelson wrote.

Upon nearing Christmas Island a crew member used a satellite phone to call Australian authorities for help before passengers destroyed passports and identity documents and threw mobile phones overboard.

Australian sailors subsequently arrived, distributing new life vests, fresh water, bags of frozen tortillas, jars of honey and a tub of strawberry jam. They instructed the crew to restart the boat's engines and continue the voyage under escort.

Arriving one day after Tony Abbott's election as prime minister, Mogelson said he and Van Houdt revealed themselves as journalists and were treated well by Australian authorities who said they had been lucky with the weather. "If we had left a few days earlier the boat would have capsized."

As the two men were taken to "a surprisingly luxurious hotel" their travel companions were interned and the boat was towed out to sea to be destroyed.

China's children may become the drivers of environmental change | Yuan Ren

Posted: 16 Nov 2013 12:00 AM PST

Chinese parents are increasingly worried about what high pollution levels in cities like Beijing are doing to their families

Last week, an eight-year-old girl from China's Jiangsu province was diagnosed with lung cancer, which was caused, according to doctors, by the tiny particle PM2.5 in air pollution that is most dangerous to health. This case highlighted the reality of exposure to high levels of pollution for vulnerable groups such as children.

Such headlines about the dangers of PM2.5 have become daily occurrences in China after pollution in cities such as Beijing reached unprecedented levels this year, prompting intense media pressure and public outcry that forced the government to introduce a flurry of contingency plans and bold targets to reduce PM2.5 levels by 25% by 2017.

For those living in Beijing, like myself, the grey shroud that often engulfs the city has become a fact of life, often dictating the freedom to perform daily rituals, from deciding if it's safe to go for a run, to opting to take a taxi over cycling through the smog. But the majority of the public pay little heed to its dangers because it's simply too impractical to fight on a daily basis.

While domestic dissatisfaction with air quality has been prevalent for many years, it was external pressures that forced the government to pay attention to the issue, after the US embassy in Beijing first publicised PM2.5 readings taken from its rooftop in 2011. The media frenzy that followed triggered a more widespread awareness of the dangers of PM2.5, leading to officials to disclose levels in major cities across the country. This was a pivotal turning point for China's fight against pollution, as it unnerved a government that wants nothing less than to "lose face" internationally.

With growing media coverage of the harmful effects of PM2.5, personal attitudes to its impact are also rapidly changing, and many are taking the necessary precautions. Well-to-do families, young white-collar workers and those who are internationally minded are becoming increasingly unsettled about the long-term effects of living in such an unhealthy environment, and at the heart of these concerns is often the lasting damage to children's health. Many are questioning how viable it is to raise a family in heavily polluted cities, and people speak of "hatching plans to escape Beijing" by emigrating abroad for the sake of their offspring.

For the very rich, relocation abroad has already begun. Professionals are also taking advantage of skills-based immigration systems in countries such as Australia and Canada. Children are, not surprisingly, the key factor behind the trend, for a country where the one-child policy of the last 30 years has spawned generations of "little emperors" that form the energy-intensive nucleuses of families. According to the Chinese International Migration Annual Report 2012, "a better education [for offspring]" was the number one reason given for Chinese citizens adopting new nationalities.

For those who are less privileged, many are hopeful that the government's strategy to invest $227bn (£142bn) to curb pollution by 2017 will be effective, given that they are state-driven objectives with clout. But many experts have cast doubt on how China's continued reliance on a coal-driven economy and the demand in public energy consumption of large cities could rein in pollution so quickly, given that such targets normally take developed countries decades to reach.

For the growing contingent of middle-class families, they may be unwilling to wait that long. There is a widespread saying in China that everything a parent does is "for the sake of his children", and while money will buy access to prime healthcare, foreign brand names, untainted infant milk formula and even a foreign education, it can't buy clean air for a baby born in Beijing today. In five to 10 years' time, if there is still no sign of clearer skies, and as growing cases of PM2.5-related health complications from having grown up in China's smog-laden cities emerge, the middle class will be less willing to tolerate it in silence.

The world's eyes on China's pollution will continue to act as a key force in influencing how bold government policies to cut pollution are in the future, but internal discontent will ring louder and resonate more. As the wealthy come down from the dizzying highs of luxury brands and newfound material culture, and focus on the rights for their children to grow up in a safe environment, China's "little emperors" may become the real drivers of change.

Yuan Ren

This is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett – review

Posted: 16 Nov 2013 12:00 AM PST

The novelist shows herself to be a consummate 'go-to girl' in this collection of her non-fiction, but she's at her best when uncomfortable

Ann Patchett is the consummate pro: that's the chief impression delivered by her first book-length collection of non-fiction. A celebrated American novelist (her best-known works are Bel Canto and State of Wonder), Patchett knew from early childhood that she wanted to be a writer, and later – after attempting and abandoning poetry at college – she settled on becoming a writer of fiction. But, even in her youth, she knew she wasn't going to get rich and probably wasn't even going to pay the rent from her art. "I did not dream of royalty cheques, movie deals or foreign rights," she explains in this book's introduction. "I was drawing from the Kafka model: obscurity during life with the chance of being discovered after death."

So, in her early 20s, with an MFA and a failed first marriage under her belt, Patchett tried teaching and then waitressing at a chain restaurant in Nashville before she hit on magazine freelance work. She acquired her chops at Seventeen, and then onward to Vogue, Gourmet, Outside, the New York Times and such high-brow outlets as the Atlantic Monthly and Harper's. She wrote book reviews, features and personal essays, the best of which are assembled here, along with two longer commissioned pieces that owe their existence to the internet age: "The Getaway Car: A Practical Memoir about Writing and Life", for Byliner, a digital publisher of works too long for magazines but too short to be books, and the title essay about her second marriage, written for the downloadable-audiobook retailer, Audible.

There seems to be an inexhaustible interest in accounts of "the writer's life", with their inside take on the creative process and their tips and advice for the aspirant. Patchett's version is as enlightening as these things ever are (given that they are all pretty much the same), and certainly a lot less affected than many. She makes the usual swipes, albeit good-natured ones, at those idiotic people who are forever approaching professional writers with purportedly can't-miss ideas that they just don't happen to have the time to write down themselves. In their generosity, and in exchange for the writer handling the yeoman's work of getting it all down on paper, these wheeler-dealers offer a cut of the proceeds – "usually fifty-fifty", Patchett notes drily, "though sometimes it's less". Of course, what they fail to understand is that "writing the ideas down, it turns out, is the real trick."

Patchett studied fiction writing with several noted authors – Grace Paley, Allan Gurganus and Russell Banks among them. It was Banks who told the young Patchett that she needed to be "vigilant": her early fiction was deft and polished, but "shallow … I skated along the surface, being clever." He told her that only she could push herself to dig deeper. "'You have to ask yourself … if you want to write great literature or great television.'"

That was decades ago, before we understood just how great TV can be, but Banks had a point; facility lapses all too readily into formula. This hasn't been a problem in Patchett's fiction; she describes that consultation with Banks as "a single conversation that changed everything I did from that day on". But not quite everything she writes abides by his dictum to try harder; her short non-fiction – done mostly for the money and often subjected to the demented, too-many-cooks editing process of American glossy magazines – takes few risks and, consequently, pays fewer dividends than her wonderful novels.

Patchett writes of her early determin magazine contributor: "flexible and fast, the go-to girl". She is clearly an editor's dream; her style smooth and charming, her voice companionable and mildly self-deprecating, but not without a certain bite, when it's called for. You can tell that she filed on time and that editors looked forward to the 15 minutes or so of chatting when they phoned her with an assignment.

She can turn out an amusing, colourful piece on travelling the American west in a Winnebago for a week or checking into Hollywood's Bel-Air hotel to get away from the demands of everyday life. She can complain ruefully of the indignities of book tours, without sounding spoiled. Whatever she writes will feature a novelist's eye for detail: the roadside diner where "pancakes are two for $1.05", and the swans in the Bel-Air's gardens looking like "enormous floating ottomans with slender white necks". She can suggest an entire, untold story by observing a few interactions between a couple she briefly describes. The piece will roll itself up after 2,000 breezy words with a modest and not-too-sappy takeaway about the perfection of a dog's love or how the best vacations make you appreciate home anew. It will be exactly the sort of article someone wants to read while nervously killing time in a doctor's waiting room or aeroplane seat – which is to say it will inevitably be rather pat.

You can't fault Patchett for this. The tidy little bow of insight or life lesson that typically tops off the contemporary magazine essay is, after all, what she was hired to provide. The pieces collected in This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage have exactly the tone of a good story told at a convivial dinner party, by someone who has told it often enough to have the timing down cold and who happily caters to her audience's desire to know that in the restaurant of the Bel-Air "men have breakfast meetings and women have lunch meetings and everyone talks about the Golden Globes, Ray Romano and episodes of Lost and CSI". Such a story may be delightful in company around the table, but it loses its effervescence when committed to the pages of a book.

There are exceptions. Patchett writes gracefully about caring for her grandmother during the late stages of dementia, and responds with bemused humour and an exceptional lack of self‑righteousness when her memoir about her friendship with the late writer Lucy Grealy became the target of a bizarre censorship campaign organised by a failed local politician in South Carolina. The best piece in the book, "The Wall", describes Patchett's application, aged 30, for admittance to the Police Academy in Los Angeles during the aftermath of the Rodney King beating in 1992. Patchett's father, a retired police captain, is thrilled by the prospect, no matter how many times she reminds him that she only wants to write a book about the experience, not actually become a cop. She has to reconcile her admiration for her father and his work with ugly revelations about the LAPD, and at the same time train herself to, among other things, jump over a 6ft wall.

The story works because the material makes Patchett uncomfortable, and, while she tries to reach a resolution with it, she can't quite get there (though she does manage to scale the wall). She concludes that she could never have written the book because her loyalties – to her father and to the truth – were in conflict. This, of course, is exactly the sort of scenario that produces a great work of non-fiction, and if the book were a novel she would surely have risen to the challenge.

Laura Miller

Experience: a stranger snatched my daughter

Posted: 16 Nov 2013 12:00 AM PST

'I'd explained to the girls that if someone did try to hurt them, they should shout, "I don't know you. What are you doing?" as loud as they could. But he had his hand over her mouth'

It was 4pm at the end of February, a perfect hot summer afternoon in Sydney. Our nanny, Zara, was looking after our daughters. She had just dropped the eldest off for Girl Guides at a community hall five minutes from our house. It was the first time I'd asked her to do the Girl Guides pick-up, but I was busy working at home and she was happy to help. The community hall was next to some netball courts, where Zara and six-year-old Erica played until her sister finished.

Erica suggested a game she liked to play: scootering around the toilet block and getting me to time her. The first two "laps" went well – her best was 30 seconds – then she set off for a third time. Zara watched her disappear around the back of the block but, 45 seconds later, there was still no Erica on the other side.

Seconds ticked by and just as Zara was getting anxious, she heard two women screaming, "He's got her! He's got her!" They were on a nearby court and could see more.

One minute Erica was there, the next she'd been taken. In those brief seconds, a man had carried her away towards the bushland that stretched beyond the courts.

As Zara ran towards the women to find out what had happened, another mother, Louisa, was chasing the man. She'd arrived early for netball training that afternoon and had seen the girls walking to the courts. She'd also spotted a car following them and parking nearby, and a man inside watching them. She wasn't suspicious at first – the man looked pretty respectable in his suit – but she was uneasy enough to mention him to friends when they arrived, at which point he drove away.

Chatting to her friends on court, Louisa noticed the man again. He'd moved nearer. He was now lurking in the trees near a path by the toilet block, apparently chatting on his phone. As she turned to tell her friends, she heard a high scream and saw Erica being carried off towards dense bushes.

She shouted at the man as she ran towards him, demanding that he put Erica down – he was already about 400m away. Quite calmly, the man let Erica go and continued to walk into the undergrowth, as if nothing had happened. Lousia chased him a little way into the bush but, once she was out of sight of the courts, felt anxious and ran back.

Of course, I was oblivious to all this, and by the time Zara called me, she had Erica safely back in her arms. The whole ordeal had lasted less than 10 minutes. I was stunned and confused, and rushed to the courts. I asked my daughter, who was quiet and in shock, if she was OK and what the man had done to her.

Apparently he had lifted her up off her scooter, squeezed her neck and said, "Be quiet or I'll hurt you." Then he'd gagged her mouth with his hand. Erica was limp with fear, but she did manage to let out that little scream which, thankfully, Louisa heard.

I had always assumed she would kick and protest if something like this happened; I'd explained to the girls that if someone did try to hurt them, they should shout, "I don't know you. What are you doing?" as loud as they could. But he had his hand over her mouth. Part of me wanted just to hold her so tightly; part of me wanted to find this man who had tried to take my daughter.

The police found DNA on Erica's clothing and scooter, and a photofit was circulated. Two months later, I saw a TV news report about a 14-year-old who had been grabbed and dragged away at knifepoint on her way home from school, about 10km from our house. Police told us later that there was a DNA match.

With the help of CCTV footage from the second assault and the DNA evidence, they made an arrest. The man pleaded guilty and was sentenced to seven years.

Erica still wakes in fear, saying she has spotted him in a crowd. I have felt bad that I wasn't there to look after her that afternoon, though I believe it would have happened on my watch, too. Zara was more vigilant than I'd have been; I'd have probably laid back on a bench to enjoy the sun.

Yet there is rarely an hour in the day when I don't think about how lucky we are; I'm haunted by the what-ifs. Louisa's vigilance, bravery and intuition saved our family.

• All names have been changed.

As told to Sarah Smith

Do you have an experience to share? Email experience@theguardian.com

Anonymous

Tears and cheers as Sachin Tendulkar makes last walk to pavilion

Posted: 16 Nov 2013 12:00 AM PST

Little Master goes into retirement after 24 years with final innings of 74 and brief bowling stint against West Indies

Sachin Tendulkar walked off the ground with tears in his eyes as his glittering 24-year-career came to an end on Saturday at his home ground of Wankhede Stadium.

Tendulkar embraced teammates, who tried to give him a guard of honour on his way out, but the most prolific batsman in international cricket history went quickly into the pavilion wiping away tears.

Tendulkar bowled a couple of overs on the final day of his career amid roaring applause, bowling both leg-spin and googly on the third day of the second test against the West Indies, which he declared last month would be his last game.

Tendulkar, who has already retired from limited overs internationals, had earlier in the game struck a neat 74 with 12 fours which comprised several of his trademark shots like the straight drive, cover drive and paddle-sweep.

That proved to be his last innings, as India wrapped up a comfortable win without the need for a second innings.

Tendulkar's wife Anjali was among those watching the "Little Master" in action.

"It's been an emotional one month for us starting from the day he announced his retirement," Anjali told the channel beaming the match live. "Sachin is very good at hiding his emotions so we don't really know what's going on in his mind."

Anjali said the retirement had not been planned for long.

"He had always said he would retire the day he felt he could not give his best and he just came up to me one day and said that the time had come for him to retire," she said.

Unreported World: The Jungle Midwife – TV review

Posted: 15 Nov 2013 11:00 PM PST

Britain's shortage of midwives is put into stark perspective by this powerful glimpse of life in the Central African Republic

There was a news story about the shortage of midwives in the UK this week. Only one area has the required number – one for every 28 births taking place in a year. While you don't expect health standards in very poor countries to be comparable, this Unreported World: The Jungle Midwife (Channel 4) puts figure that into stark perspective.

Seyi Rhodes's powerful film takes us to the Central African Republic, where Olga Yetikoua is one of "only a few midwives" in a country the size of France. There may be only a little over 4 million inhabitants, but it's very hard to get around; years of civil war have left the infrastructure in tatters and malaria is rampant. Not to mention that Joseph's Kony's violent cult, the Lord's Resistance Army, operates there, abducting men and boys (The film Kony 2012 made a lot of noise but failed to bring Kony to account.). Most women give birth with no medical help, and one in 27 die while doing so.

So here's this poor woman Véronique, who's having trouble giving birth to twins: the head of one has appeared at the same time as the feet of the other. She's lucky, though. Olga's there, and rushes Véronique to hospital in Bria. You might not recognise it as a hospital: there is no electricity, or clean water. Just the one doctor, too. Then, halfway through, the army, who were the rebels until the coup, rock up with a man they've beaten and who has a hole in his head.

Never mind him, what about the twins? He's fine. He? And the other? There is no other, it was just one, he was coming out in the pike position. Ow! This other woman thought she had one, but in fact there are two. Without scans, there's no way of knowing. One isn't breathing. He is now! But he wouldn't be, would never have taken a single breath, if Olga hadn't been around.

You'd definitely be much better off in the East End of London in the 1950s, on Call the Midwife. As for everyone on One Born Every Minute, just be very thankful you're in Leeds General Infirmary, not the Central African Republic.

Sam Wollaston

Hail batters south-east Queensland

Posted: 15 Nov 2013 10:35 PM PST

Severe storms drop hailstones the size of golf and tennis balls along coast and hinterland, damaging cars and houses

Hailstones the size of tennis balls have pelted parts of south-east Queensland as severe thunderstorms swept through the area.

A Bureau of Meteorology severe weather warning was issued for Redland, North Stradbroke Island, parts of the Gold Coast, Logan, Gympie and the Sunshine Coast.

The storms, which battered other parts of the region earlier on Saturday, were travelling in a east-north-east. The bureau said Double Island Point, Rainbow Beach, the Wide Bay, Mount Cotton, Macleay Island and Victoria Point were in the path of the "very dangerous" thunderstorms with the potential for destructive winds and large hailstones.

Tennis ball sized hail was reported at Buderim on the Sunshine Coast and there were reports of large hail across the Mooloolah Valley, Maroochydore and Greenbank.

Ian Masterman, who runs the Attic Cafe on the Sunshine Coast, said hailstones the size of golf balls hit the area early on Saturday afternoon.

"I've never seen anything like this before," said the 51-year-old, who has lived on the Sunshine Coast since 2000.

"They were bouncing off the ground and we were worried they were going to smash the windows.
"You could hear windows on the cars smashing outside … we brought the garden pots inside."

The community safety department said about 100 storm-related calls had been made to the State Emergency Service by 3pm on Saturday.

Most of the calls related to damage to homes from hail or heavy rain.

Emergency Management Queensland advised residents to move cars under cover and secure loose outdoor items.

Serco guard on Christmas Island fired for sex with asylum-seeker

Posted: 15 Nov 2013 06:36 PM PST

Company that runs Australian immigration detention centre says ban on such relationships has been emphasised to other staff

Staff at Australia's immigration detention centres have undergone retraining after a guard provided by the private company Serco was sacked for having a sexual relationship with a detainee.

Serco, the British contractor that manages the Christmas Island centre, confirmed that a male employee was dismissed in October following an investigation.

"We take a zero tolerance approach to inappropriate relationships and any sexual contact is completely unacceptable," said Serco spokesman Paul Shaw.

The matter had been reported to police and the immigration department, Serco said.

A spokesman for Scott Morrison, the immigration minister, told ABC TV the conduct was "appalling and completely unacceptable" and that the department would seek further information from Serco.

The company revealed that three other Christmas Island staff, members of an emergency response team, were reassigned after breaking protocol by drinking alcohol.

"During the periods when they are not at work but on call, they must remain ready for duty at all times," Shaw said. "This means that they are not permitted to consume any alcohol."

News of dissent among staff at the Christmas Island facility comes as the Australian government faces criticism for operations in its detention centre network, including the separation of an asylum-seeker woman and her newborn baby.

The refugee advocate Pamela Curr condemned the latest misconduct. "A sexual relationship between a guard and a detainee is like a relationship between a student and a teacher, between a doctor and a patient. The power relationship is such an imbalance it can never be acceptable, it is exploitative," she told the ABC.

Serco said it had addressed the problems. "After our investigation concluded in this matter, we held formal refresher training sessions for our staff across the immigration detention network, reinforcing the importance of professional boundaries and respect for the people in our care," Shaw said.

Home Office issues 'end of life plan' to hunger-striking asylum seeker

Posted: 15 Nov 2013 06:00 PM PST

Decision to keep mentally ill Nigerian man in immigration detention centre seen as part of hardline approach by ministers

The Home Office has issued an 'end of life plan' to a detained failed asylum seeker who has been on hunger strike for more than 80 days and is said to be near death.

The man, who suffers mental health problems, was deemed medically unfit to be detained in October but remains in custody, with a judge due to rule next week on whether he will be released.

The Nigerian man claims his life is in danger from an Islamist group, Boko Haram – named on Thursday as a terrorist organisation by the US.

The move to keep him in custody is seen as part of a hardline approach by ministers, following the release in June of four asylum detainees who were on hunger strike in protest at their detention.

A source at the immigration detention centre said staff have been warned to "expect a hunger striker to die".

Ifa Muaza, 45, sleeps on a mattress on the floor at Harmondsworth immigration removal centre near Heathrow.

Staff are afraid he would fall out of a normal bed. He speaks in a whisper and takes long pauses between words.

He arrived in Britain seven years ago from Maiduguri in the northeast of Nigeria.

He claims he left his home because members of Boko Haram, a hardline Islamist group, threatened to kill him unless he joined them. He claims two members of his family have been killed by the group.

He travelled to the UK on a valid visitor's visa, but overstayed his time limit and went underground in southeast London, where he found work using a false name.

In May 2011, he applied for leave to remain in the UK but was refused. In July this year he applied for asylum on the grounds his life would be in danger if he returned to Nigeria.

He was then detained in Harmondsworth. He began his hunger strike almost immediately, on the grounds his dietary and medical needs could not be met in detention.

He suffers from hepatitis B, kidney problems and stomach ulcers and had been on a special diet.

He has been diagnosed as psychotic and suffering severe depression.

Medical staff at Harmondsworth on 26 October informed the Home Office that Muaza was not fit to be detained because of his deteriorating medical state.

Two days later his lawyers went to the high court arguing that his medical needs could not be managed in detention.

Mr Justice Collins refused to release him but said: "This is a worrying case, but it is important to appreciate that those who use a hunger strike to manipulate their position will not succeed in doing so provided they have mental capacity."

The judge ordered a full hearing to be expedited. The case went before Mr Justice Ouseley on Thursday and judgment was deferred until early next week.

Speaking to the Guardian from Harmondsworth on Thursday, Muaza said he began the hunger strike in protest at his detention in prison. He said he had never in his life been in a jail and had never committed a crime.

He said he knew the members of the fundamentalist group, as many of them had grown up with him.

He said they called him a traitor for refusing to join them said they would kill him if he refused. He said the group killed police and soldiers, so he knew they would kill him.

Asked if he was prepared to die, he said: "I was afraid, but now I am a skeleton and almost dead.

"There is so little of me left and I am not afraid. But they – the authorities – have not treated me as a human being and that is wrong."

In June, four hunger-striking detainees were released from Harmondsworth after doctors declared them medically unfit for detention.

At that time, 17 other men were believed to have been refusing food at the centre.

A source at Harmondsworth told the Guardian staff there have been warned to expect a death as ministers have taken a decision not to release detainees who refuse food.

The charity Medical Justice said it had been in contact with 32 detainees on food and/or fluid refusal in immigration detention.

A spokesman for Detention Action, a charity supporting asylum detainees, said it was deeply concerned that a highly vulnerable person with mental health issues is now close to death.

"He has been considered unfit for detention since October, but remains in custody against expert medical advice," he said.

Muaza's solicitor is Sue Willman from Deighton Pierce Glynn. She said the home secretary has decided immigration control is more important than her client's life.

"I am concerned my client will not survive to know the court's decision as to whether or not he should be released," she said.

A Home Office spokesman said the department did not comment on individual cases.

Eric Allison

JP Morgan to pay £2.8bn to settle claims by investors

Posted: 15 Nov 2013 04:58 PM PST

The bank has reached agreement with 21 institutional investors in 330 residential mortgage-backed securities trusts

JP Morgan said on Friday it has agreed to pay $4.5bn (£2.8bn) to settle claims by investors who lost money on mortgage-backed securities before the collapse of the US housing market.

The bank reached the agreement with 21 institutional investors in 330 residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) trusts issued by JP Morgan and Bear Stearns, which it took over during the financial crisis, according to the bank and lawyers for the investors.

The deal still has to be accepted by seven trustees overseeing the securities holdings, the parties said.

The settlement does not include trusts issued by Washington Mutual, which JP Morgan also acquired.

The deal is separate from the preliminary $13bn settlement JP Morgan has reached with the US government that would resolve a raft of actions over mortgage-backed securities.

"This settlement is another important step in JP Morgan's efforts to resolve legacy related RMBS matters," the bank said in a statement.

The bank said it believes reserves it has built will cover the expense of "this and any remaining" mortgage securities litigation.

The 21 investors include BlackRock, Metlife, Allianz SE's Pacific investment management company , the TCW Group and Bayerische Landesbank.

Under the agreement, trustees have until 15 January to accept the offer, which may be extended for another 60 days, according to JP Morgan and Gibbs & Bruns, the Houston law firm that represented the institutional investors.

Kathy Patrick of Gibbs & Bruns called the deal "an important milestone" in a three-year effort by the group of 21 bondholders.

The seven trustees over the bonds include Bank of New York Mellon. Kevin Heine, a spokesman for the Bank of New York Mellon, said the bank would "evaluate the proposed settlement along with the other trustees".

If accepted, the deal would resolve claims that JP Morgan and Bear Stearns misrepresented the mortgages underlying the securities, JP Morgan said.

The settlement also would resolve servicing claims on all trusts issued by the bank and Bear Stearns between 2005 and 2008.

JP Morgan is the third bank to strike a deal with investors over shoddy mortgage-backed securities issued in the runup to the financial crisis.

Bank of America struck an $8.5bn settlement in June 2011 with 22 institutional investors. That deal is still awaiting court approval.

In 2012, bondholders in trusts issued by Ally Financial's bankrupt former mortgage lending arm, Residential Capital, won an agreement to bring an $8.7bn claim, although that was later reduced to $7.3bn.

Doctors, nurses and managers to face five years in jail if they neglect patients

Posted: 15 Nov 2013 04:01 PM PST

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt to announce new offence of wilful mistreatment in wake of Mid Staffs scandal

Doctors, nurses and NHS managers will face up to five years in jail if they are found to have wilfully neglected or mistreated patients under a new law aimed at stopping a repeat of the Mid Staffordshire hospital scandal.

The threat of criminal sanctions for NHS staff will be announced next week by Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, following a series of reviews into patient safety.

In a move likely to alarm medical groups, the government will create a new offence of "wilful neglect or mistreatment" for hospital workers whose standards of care have fallen short in the most extreme cases.

Hunt, who has been very critical of the NHS, is expected to set out a range of measures to improve standards of care on Tuesday, which could include moves to boost transparency and the complaints processes.

However, he is likely to come under most pressure from Labour to say how the coalition will increase staffing, amid concerns about falling nursing levels and an impending crisis in A&E this winter.

Speaking from Sri Lanka at the Commonwealth summit, David Cameron said the new law was not about punishing those who have made mistakes but "specific cases where a patient has been neglected or ill-treated".

The new law was recommended earlier this summer by Professor Don Berwick, a former adviser to Barack Obama. His report also stressed that there are very few examples of wilful neglect in the NHS and called for an end to the "blame game" towards medical staff.

Medical defence organisations have said there are already enough sanctions to use against staff.

Berwick recommended new criminal penalties for "leaders who have acted wilfully, recklessly, or with a 'couldn't care less' attitude and whose behaviour causes avoidable death or serious harm".

The academic was commissioned to look into patient safety after the Francis inquiry into the Mid Staffordshire NHS scandal, where patients were left thirsty and in dirty conditions causing "appalling and unnecessary suffering of hundreds of people".

In that report, Robert Francis suggested wilfully causing death or harm to a patient should be a criminal offence but made it clear no one at Mid Staffordshire should be scapegoated. Since then, police successfully prosecuted the trust over health and safety laws relating to the death of 66-year-old Gillian Astbury, a diabetic patient who was not given insulin.

The trust pleaded guilty last month to failing to ensure the safety of Astbury, who lapsed into a fatal coma while being treated at Stafford hospital in April 2007.

It is understood exact details of the new sanctions are yet to be worked out and will be put out to consultation. However, they are expected to be similar to those under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 in relation to wilful neglect or ill-treatment of adults who lack capacity, which carries a fine, or imprisonment for a maximum of five years.

Downing Street sources said prosecutions under the current laws to protect vulnerable groups were rare but ministers believe the new crime will act as a deterrent to mistreatment.

Lawyers have said that the 2005 act had seen prosecutions of individuals working on the front line but said senior managers and organisations had been largely untouched by the law.

A number of social care organisations had been prosecuted, said lawyers, but most had been acquitted.

Cameron, who also warned that there is growing evidence climate change is causing more extreme weather disasters like the Philippines typhoon, said: "The NHS is full of brilliant doctors, nurses and other health workers who dedicate their lives to caring for our loved ones but Mid Staffordshire hospital showed that sometimes the standard of care is not good enough.

"That is why we have taken a number of different steps that will improve patient care and improve how we spot bad practice. Never again will we allow sub-standard care, cruelty or neglect to go unnoticed and unpunished.

"This is not about a hospital worker who makes a mistake, but specific cases where a patient has been neglected or ill-treated. This offence will make clear that neglect is unacceptable and those who do so will feel the full force of the law."

Shortly after Berwick's report, Dr Mark Porter, chair of council at the British Medical Association, told a fringe event at the Lib Dem party conference in September that he was worried about criminalising medics.

"That is no way to encourage openness, as was so powerfully shown by Professor Berwick in his recent report, with reference to the rich body of research into organisational psychology," he said.

"There is an answer to this, and that is to act against the bully, not the bullied. It is to build on the professional duty to speak out by placing a duty on healthcare organisations to listen. Active listening, as often happens, not hands over the ears, as sometimes, appallingly, happens."

There has also been unease about the possibility of criminal sanctions from Dr Christine Tomkins of the Medical Defence Union, who has said there were already sufficient penalties against doctors.

"Doctors who are accused of wilfully neglecting patients can already be reported to the General Medical Council and face having their licence revoked if found guilty," she said after the Berwick review.

"We believe this is adequate for the protection of the public and doubt the additional threat of potential police investigation is necessary or likely to lead to successful prosecutions. If the government decides to take this forward, we will need to look carefully at what it proposes."

The criminal offence comes after Hunt negotiated a new contract with GPs forcing them to reveal their pay and making sure everyone over 75 has a specific family doctor who knows their medical history.

Speaking from Sri Lanka, Cameron said he had no problem with GPs earning more than him but wanted their salaries to be more transparent. "Some GPs are very well paid. Some of them are running very large practices, are working extremely hard. You should be able to get to the top of your profession and I don't believe in artificial limits in these things," he said.

Rowena Mason

Cameron links typhoon Haiyan to climate change

Posted: 15 Nov 2013 04:01 PM PST

Prime minister seemingly endorses stance that global warming is creating more extreme weather patterns

There is growing evidence that climate change is causing more extreme weather disasters such as the Philippines typhoon, David Cameron said.

In remarks likely to infuriate the green sceptics in his party, the prime minister gave his first acknowledgement that global warming may be linked to increasingly intense storms across the world.

The remarks are Cameron's strongest defence of climate change science for a while, after repeated accusations that he has retreated from his pre-election pledge to run the greenest government ever.

Despite urging people to "vote blue, go green" in 2010, he has not given a full speech on the issue nor attended a UN environment summit since becoming prime minister.

Under pressure from many backbenchers, he has tightened planning controls on windfarms and pledged to "roll back" green subsidies on bills, leading to fears of dwindling support for the renewables industry.

However, Cameron spoke out on the need to tackle global warming at the Commonwealth summit in Colombo, Sri Lanka, after typhoon Haiyan killed at least 4,000 people and caused devastation across the Philippines.

Asked on Fridaywhether climate change was linked to the Philippines disaster, Cameron said: "I'll leave the scientists to speak for themselves about the link between severe weather events and climate change. But the evidence seems to me to be growing. As a practical politician, I think the sensible thing is to say let's take preventative and mitigating steps given the chances this might be the case."

He added: "Scientists are giving us a very certain message. Even if you're less certain than the scientists, it makes sense to act both in terms of trying to prevent and mitigate."

His comments also coincide with the United Nations talks on climate change in Warsaw, which has seen Japan slash its commitment to reducing CO2 emissions and Australia fail to send a minister to the conference for the first time in 16 years.

The Philippines has made an impassioned plea at the talks for nations to cut their emissions and redouble their efforts to reach an international agreement on stopping temperatures rising.

Yeb Sano, the country's lead negotiator, said Haiyan "was like nothing we have ever experienced before, or perhaps nothing that any country has ever experienced before".

He told the conference how his brother "gathered bodies of the dead with his own two hands", adding: "To anyone who continues to deny the reality that is climate change, I dare you to get off your ivory tower and away from the comfort of your armchair."

Cameron's comments come after Ed Davey, energy secretary, said it was possible that rising sea levels caused by global warming may have made some islands more vulnerable and made storms more intense.

However, Lord Lawson, a former Tory chancellor and leading figure in the party's climate sceptic lobby, claimed on Thursday that there was absolutely no link between Haiyan and global warming.

"Typhoon Haiyan is terrible but I'm afraid these things happen in the tropics," he said on BBC1's Question Time.

In comments appeared designed to appeal to sceptics in his party, Cameron made the case that Britain should tackle climate change as an "insurance policy".

"There is no doubt there have been an increasing number of severe weather events in recent years," he said. "And I'm not a scientist but it's always seemed to me one of the strongest arguments about climate change is, even if you're only 90% certain or 80% certain or 70% certain, if I said to you there's a 60% chance your house might burn down, do you want to take out some insurance – you take out some insurance. I think we should think about climate change like that."

Scientists have said it is too soon to say whether Haiyan is linked to climate change, but many have pointed to evidence that rising sea temperatures can increase the intensity of storms.

Prof Myles Allen, of Oxford University, has said: "The current consensus is that climate change is not making the risk of hurricanes any greater, but there are physical arguments and evidence that there is a risk of more intense hurricanes."

A Nature Geoscience research paper from 2010 found that global warming will increase the average intensity of the storms, while the total number of storms will fall, meaning fewer but more severe cyclones. It also found that rainfall in the heart of the storms will increase by 20%.

Earlier this year, a study by Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Prof Kerry Emmanuel agreed that the most intense cyclones – category 3 to 5 – would increase, but the work suggested smaller cyclones would also increase. It also found that "increases in tropical cyclones are most prominent in the western north Pacific".

And in 2011, a synthesis report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that the average wind speeds in cyclones were likely to increase, as was the frequency of heavy rainfall, but it noted the difficulty of linking changes in complex events such as cyclones to climate change.

Rowena Mason

Damian Carrington

Olympics brought Britain extra £11bn in business, claims government

Posted: 15 Nov 2013 04:01 PM PST

Government's trade and investment arm says it has hit four-year target three years ahead of schedule

Britain has beaten the target set for winning extra business and investment as a result of hosting the London Olympics in 2012, the coalition claims.

UKTI, the government's trade and investment arm, was given the task of notching up £11bn-worth of economic benefits from the Games within four years, but is announcing that it has hit the target already.

The total includes £130m-worth of contracts won by British firms to supply goods and services to the Brazil football World Cup next year, and the Rio Olympics in 2016, as well as large-scale foreign investments, and extra sales generated through a series of events that were tied to the Olympics, including the so-called British Business Embassy, at Lancaster House in London.

Trade minister Lord Stephen Green, who will step down shortly, said: "The delivery of London 2012 on time and on budget led to hosting nations turning to the UK to help deliver their own events with supply opportunities running into the billions."

UKTI is central to achieving George Osborne's target of doubling exports to £1tn by 2020.

Green said: "the UK's future prosperity will not come from relying on domestic markets alone and we have seen a major push to encourage firms across the UK to sell overseas during our biggest Export Week yet."

Heather Stewart

Commonwealth: caught in the spotlight | Editorial

Posted: 15 Nov 2013 03:29 PM PST

Sri Lanka has effectively turned the Commonwealth into an instrument of its own rehabilitation and legitimisation

The Commonwealth is a jumble of nations of various sizes and colours which happen to have passed through a period of British rule.

Its modern purpose is unclear, its importance hard to gauge, and its anomalous nature has always made it hard for any country or group of countries to push it in a particular direction. Yet that is just what Sri Lanka, one of its more middling members, has just achieved.

The Sri Lankan government has effectively turned the Commonwealth into an instrument of its own rehabilitation and legitimisation, in spite of Colombo's deplorable record on human rights, press freedom and the independence of the judiciary, and in spite of the still unanswered questions about the behaviour of the Sri Lankan security forces during the closing phase of the civil war.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, hosting the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in the Sri Lankan capital this week, has every reason to feel pleased with himself, and with the astute diplomats who paved the way for this triumph.

It is perhaps going too far to say that under other circumstances Sri Lanka, given its recent record, would be under discussion at such a meeting as a candidate for suspension or reprimand, as other members have been in the past.

But that it should actually be in the chair, not only for the meeting itself but as the so-called "chair in office" for the two years until the next summit, is quite extraordinary. How did this come to pass?

The Sri Lankans worked hard to get the job, and Commonwealth members were disinterested and dilatory. Commonwealth ministers had three opportunities to reconsider the decision. Each time they kicked the can down the road. Finally, of course, they ran out of road.

At that point heads of government who felt stirrings of conscience had two options. They could, like Stephen Harper of Canada and, at the last moment, Manmohan Singh of India, choose not to attend.

Or, like David Cameron, they could go, but insist on raising human rights issues. Best to attend, Mr Cameron has said, and put a "spotlight" on these matters, than to stay at home.

This was undoubtedly a difficult decision for Britain. The Queen had passed the torch to Prince Charles and he was down to go, so how could the prime minister have pulled out at that stage?

And the spotlight argument has some merit. But it will have more if that light is kept trained on Sri Lanka for the next two years rather than just the next two days.

And it will have more still if work really begins on turning the Commonwealth charter, the worthy statement of values issued earlier this year, from a rhetorical pipe dream into a basis for policy.

Editorial

Tesco recalls ice-cream cones after painkiller find

Posted: 15 Nov 2013 03:14 PM PST

Supermarket takes measure in UK and Ireland after tablets are discovered in two cones supplied by R&R Ice Cream

Tesco has recalled its own-brand chocolate ice-cream cones after painkillers were found in them. The supermarket said it has launched an "urgent investigation".

The product has been taken off shelves and removed from sale online, and customers who bought it have been asked to return it to the store.

The Food Standards Agency said Tesco took the measure after tablets were found in two individual Tesco chocolate and nut ice-cream cones.

Tesco said the products were being recalled in the UK and Ireland. A spokesman could not say how many products were affected, but hinted that it would be a significant number.

The products are supplied by R&R Ice Cream, which was formed in 2007. It also makes a range of Nestlé products, including Fab lollies, and ranges for Ribena, Thorntons and others.

Tesco recently reported half year profits fell by nearly a quarter, with sales falling in every country it operates in. Overall profits dropped 24.5% to £1.38bn. This contrasted with a better performance for rival Sainsbury, against which Tesco has vowed to fight back in the UK market.

Tesco's profits also fell 70% on the European mainland and it has largely failed in the USA.

A Tesco spokesman said: "As a precautionary measure, we have issued a product recall on a Tesco chocolate and nut ice-cream cone product after two individual cones were found to contain a tablet for pain relief. We are urgently investigating this incident with our supplier and ask customers to return this product to their local store."

The recall affects all best-before dates up to and including July 2014. No other Tesco or R&R products are known to be affected. There was no comment from R&R on Friday night.

Kevin Rawlinson

Tamils hail David Cameron as 'god' but Sri Lankan president is not a believer

Posted: 15 Nov 2013 02:12 PM PST

British prime minister meets refugees in first visit by a world leader to Tamil-dominated north since independence in 1948

The refugees of Sabapathy Pillai believed David Cameron had been sent by God to help them get their land back. A swarm of Jaffna women stormed through a line of military police to plead for his help in finding their missing loved ones.

Yet only a few hours later, the prime minister left a meeting with Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa no closer to securing an investigation into alleged war crimes, or an admission that many Tamils continue to be persecuted.

The prime minister arrived at the Commonwealth summit in Colombo on Thursday night, promising to use his trip to highlight human rights abuses in the host country, following fierce criticism of his decision to attend.

But as world leaders and royalty, including the Prince of Wales, gathered in the capital for their biennial meeting, Cameron first headed to meet victims of Sri Lanka's 25-year civil war and those suffering continuing violence.

An extraordinary 12 hours followed, as the prime minister became the first world leader to travel to the Tamil-dominated north since independence in 1948, before returning to the capital for a planned showdown with Rajapaksa.

According to the UN, as many as 40,000 civilians are estimated to have died in the final months of the regime's conflict with Tamil Tiger separatists. In the four years since then, the Sri Lankan government stands accused of allowing kidnappings, torture and intimidation, leading Canada and India to boycott the summit in protest.

Despite fears within Downing Street that Sri Lanka would find a reason to prevent his trip to the north, a red carpet was rolled out for Cameron as his private plane, operated by a commercial arm of the military, arrived in Jaffna.

The official welcome was shortlived, however, amid a heavy army presence and pro-government protesters bearing placards calling for an inquiry into Britain's colonial crimes.

His first stop was a meeting with CV Vigneswaran, the new Tamil first minister of the northern province, at Jaffna's symbolic library, which was torn down and rebuilt after the civil war.

As he left the building, his car was surrounded by hundreds of Tamil protesters, held back by the military, as they tried to hand him pictures of their missing loved ones. Several were thrown to the ground as they broke through a security cordon to reach him.

The prime minister then travelled to the offices of the newspaper Uthayan, to meet journalists who blame the deaths of six of their colleagues on masked paramilitary gangs sent by the government. One is still missing.

The paper's editor has lived in his office for seven years after attempts on his life, and there have been six attacks on his premises and staff this year.

Cameron toured a printing press destroyed by an arson attack which has left the office with bullet holes in the walls.

He saw the desk where a staff member was murdered in 2006, and was given a copy of a fake propaganda newspaper distributed during recent elections.

Anuraj Sivarajah, online editor of the newspaper, said he was very clear who was to blame for the attacks and arson that has brought the newspaper near financial ruin.

"Those responsible are the government," he said. "It's the paramilitary. The military is still ruling here. The Tamil chief minister has no powers, no land, no control of the police."

He supported Cameron's visit, saying it had helped highlight intimidation of the media, and said the biggest issue for journalists was covert surveillance by the military, often in civilian clothes.

"It's a very big gift for us, his coming," he said. "There are two sides of it. After that they will be afraid to touch us.

"Or the other way around – they just will think, 'We'll show who we are.' Maybe tomorrow they will come."

The prime minister also visited the Sabapathy Pillai refugee camp, described by the government as a "welfare village", where around 150 families have lived in makeshift accommodation since they were displaced in 1990.

Members of the military police were present outside the newspaper and throughout the village, hovering in the background.

Inside the camp, residents were optimistic that Cameron's visit could improve their chances of returning to the fishing settlements they left behind 20 years ago, which have been turned into a military zone.

Suharsha Uthayaswriyan, deputy leader of the site, repeatedly said his people were not angry with the government, but they lived in "bad conditions" and "just want to go back to their lands".

"We do not want to live in a welfare centre, we want to live in our own lands," the 30-year-old said.

"For the past 23 years, people have come to see us but have not taken any action.

"We believe in David Cameron as a god coming down to this part of the land so we believe he can make a difference. He is God and sent by God to us."

However, such high expectations are likely to be disappointed. Downing Street sources conceded that Cameron made little headway with Rajapaksa during an hour-long meeting on Friday evening.

They described the exchange as robust and animated, with Rajapaksa acknowledging problems in his country but arguing that they needed time to be sorted out.

During the encounter, Cameron quoted Winston Churchill, urging the president to show "in victory, magnanimity", and compared the path of reconciliation to the Northern Ireland peace process.

He brought up attacks on Christians and Muslims, the murder of British national Khuram Shaikh, the killing of journalists and seizure of land.

Cameron also mentioned a Channel 4 documentary about atrocities allegedly committed by state forces in the last months of the war, containing images verified by the UN.

However, the president batted away the allegations and suggested that Cameron was using the visit to win favour with the Tamil community in the UK.

Earlier, a Sri Lankan media minister had warned the prime minister he could not treat the country like a colony.

Following his visits, Cameron told television reporters he believed the visit had been worthwhile to highlight the plight of many people suffering in Jaffna.

"The pictures of journalists, shot and killed, on the walls, and hearing stories of journalists who have disappeared long after the war has ended – that will stay with me," he said.

"And the image, in this camp, of talking to a young woman who came here when she was very young – a child in this camp – and wants nothing more than to go to her own home."

Cameron also argued that the Commonwealth had helped bring about elections in the provinces and suggested that he would raise concerns about the situation in Sri Lanka in international forums including the G20 and EU.

This could include pushing for an international investigation into human rights abuses, amid few signs the government will agree to hold an inquiry of its own that would satisfy observers as credible.

He added: "These issues aren't settled in one day or one visit."

Rowena Mason

Libyan militiamen kill protesters in Tripoli

Posted: 15 Nov 2013 01:19 PM PST

People demonstrating against militia shot at while approaching headquarters of group in country's capital

Libyan militia attacked white-flag-carrying protesters demanding the disbanding of the country's rampant armed groups on Friday, killing at least 31 people as they opened fire on the march with heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

Libyan prime minister Ali Zeidan blamed the protesters and the militia alike for the violence, though witnesses said they saw no protesters carrying weapons before the shooting on Friday afternoon. By Friday night, however, some protesters joined by other militias had armed themselves and heavy gunfire rang out in the Tripoli neighbourhood where the attack happened.

The march in the capital by thousands of protesters was the biggest show of public anger at militias in months. Since the 2011 fall of Muammar Gaddafi, hundreds of militias – many of them on government payroll – have run out of control in Libya, carving out zones of power, defying state authority and launching violent attacks.

The protesters marched from a central mosque to the headquarters of a militia originally from the city of Misrata that has a powerful presence in Tripoli. They waved Libyan and white flags and chanted, "We want an army, we want police," referring to demands that the country's weak security forces take the place of militias.

When they neared the building, militiamen in civilian clothes and military uniforms came out of the headquarters, opening fire at the protesters with automatic weapons, RPGs and anti-aircraft guns. Protesters ran from gunfire while carrying others covered in blood.

Libya's state television put the death toll at 31, with 235 people wounded.

Witnesses all said the protesters carried no weapons. Al-Taher Basha Agha, commander of Misrata-based militia, told Libya's private al-Ahrar television station that the protesters were armed and opened fire first.

Asked if he would leave Tripoli, the commander said that his men will leave only "dead bodies".

"Tripoli has not seen a war yet, it will see it soon," he said.

Zeidan also blamed both protesters and the militiamen for the violence in a televised news conference.

"You can't open fire at people who are exchanging fire," Zeidan said.

Protesters said they were shocked by the prime minister's comments, pointing to an image of a bleeding elderly man shared on social media.

"This is delusional," protester Abdel-Karim al-Beriki said. "The first martyr was a man in his seventies. How could he be carrying a weapon?"

Libya's militias grew out of the informally created local brigades of rebels who battled Gaddafi's military. Since his fall and death, the militias have mushroomed in number, size and power. With the army and police still weak, the government has turned to militias to keep security, giving them tasks guarding facilities or districts. But the government pay has not put them under state control, and the armed groups – some of which include Islamic militants – act on their own agendas. Many of them were engaged in kidnappings, torture, assassinations and taking the law into their own hands.

The government has put a December deadline on groups to join state security forces or face losing their government paychecks though it is not clear if the government will carry out the threat, since it could spark a powerful backlash. It has made similar threats in the past.

Many militias have turned villas and residential compounds of former Gaddafi-era officials into camps where they stash weapons and impose control over certain areas. Eastern militias also have seized control of oil exporting terminals, sending production plunging from 1.4m barrels a day to around few hundred thousand, robbing the country of its main revenue source.

Friday's march was prompted by a string of incidents involving militias most recently, street clashes between the Misrata militia and one from Tripoli. The fight was sparked by the killing of one of the Misrata group's commanders, and the gun battles in the street panicked residents.

Al-Sadat al-Badri, the head of Tripoli's city council, called for three-day mourning in the capital while urging residents for "self-restraint."

The reaction was reminiscent of a similar scene last year in the eastern city of Benghazi, where thousands of protesters besieged headquarters of Islamic militias, forcing them to flee and clashed with others where dozens were killed. The protests came days after the killing of US ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans in a deadly attack on an American mission in Benghazi.

On Friday, the US state department said it had been quietly offering rewards since January of up to $10m for information leading to the arrest or conviction of any person involved in the Benghazi attack.

Albania rejects US request to host disposal of Syria's chemical weapons

Posted: 15 Nov 2013 01:05 PM PST

Apologetic prime minister Edi Rama says stockpile cannot be destroyed on Albanian territory, to cheers from 2,000 protesters

Albania, one of the staunchest supporters of the US, has firmly rejected a request by Washington for it to host the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons stockpile.

The surprising refusal on Friday was a major blow to international efforts to destroy Syria's chemical arsenal by mid-2014. It left the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons without a country to host the destruction of Syria's estimated 1,000-tonne arsenal, which includes mustard gas and the deadly nerve agent sarin. Syria says it wants the weapons destroyed outside the country, which has been devastated by the ongoing civil war, and the OPCW has described that as the "most viable" option.

In a televised address from the capital, Tirana, the Albanian prime minister, Edi Rama, said it was "impossible for Albania to take part in this operation".

The announcement was greeted by a loud cheer from some 2,000 protesters camped outside Rama's office to show their strong opposition to the plan, fearing it would be an environmental and health hazard.

Albania had been considered the OPCW's strongest hope, as few diplomats had expected the Mediterranean nation of 2.8 million people to reject what Rama said had been a direct request from the United States. A meeting on Friday morning of the OPCW's executive council in The Hague had been adjourned to work on the wording of the plan.

Albania, a member of Nato, is one of only three nations worldwide that have declared a chemical weapons stockpile to the OPCW and destroyed it. Nations including the US and Russia also have declared stockpiles, but have not yet completed their destruction.

In Washington, a US state department spokeswoman, Jan Psaki, told reporters that the decision would not hurt US-Albanian relations.

"We appreciate Albania looking seriously at hosting the destruction of chemical weapons," she said. "The international community continues to discuss the most effective and expeditious means for eliminating Syria's chemical weapons program in the safest manner possible."

Tirana has been an avid supporter of Washington since the US and Nato intervened with airstrikes in 1999 to stop a crackdown by Serb forces on rebel ethnic Albanians in neighbouring Kosovo.

"Without the United States, Albanians would never have been free and independent in two countries that they are today," Rama said in an apologetic speech. "Without the United States, today there would surely be no demonstrations about chemical weapons."

But the plan was unpopular at home.

"We don't have the infrastructure here to deal with the chemical weapons. We can't deal with our own stuff, let alone Syrian weapons," said Maria Pesha, a 19-year-old architecture student, among the protesters camped out overnight outside Rama's office. "We have no duty to obey anyone on this, Nato or the US"

Albania has had problems with ammunition storage in the past. In March 2008, an explosion at an ammunition dump at Gerdec near Tirana killed 26 people, wounded 300 others and destroyed or damaged 5,500 houses. Investigators said it was caused by a burning cigarette in a factory where some 1,400 tons of explosives, mostly obsolete artillery shells, were stored for disposal.

Rama said he decided to reject the request because other countries, which he did not name, were not prepared to be part of the operation.

"If some other countries would have moved in time to be part of this operation I would have been ready to tell you: this is our plan, here is the agreement with our partners, here is how little we will risk and how much we will gain morally as a nation and physically as a country," Rama said.

"Unfortunately this element, [as] important for me as it is for you, is today absent," he said.

Wherever and whenever it happens, the destruction of Syria's weapons will be overseen by experts from the Hague-based OPCW, which won the Nobel peace prize this year for its efforts to eradicate poison gas and nerve agents around the world.

The Syrian chemical disarmament mission stems from a deadly attack in August on rebel-held suburbs of Damascus in which the United Nations concluded that sarin was used. Hundreds of people were killed. The US and western allies accuse Syria's government of being responsible, while Damascus blames the rebels.

The Obama administration threatened to launch punitive missile strikes against Syria, prompting frantic diplomatic efforts to forestall an attack. Those efforts concluded with September's unanimous UN security council resolution endorsing the elimination of Syria's chemical weapons.

Since then, international inspectors have visited 22 of the 23 chemical weapons sites declared by Syria and have confirmed that Damascus met a 1 November deadline to destroy or "render inoperable" all chemical weapon production facilities.

Letters: Mega farms create mega problems

Posted: 15 Nov 2013 12:59 PM PST

Toby Mottram is wrong to claim that we should intensify farming to keep prices down (UK needs 'mega farms' to keep food prices down, say experts, 13 November). This ignores the scientific evidence from the US, where large-scale intensive farming systems have become the norm, showing there are real risks to human health from mega farms because of their routine use of antibiotics. There is also new evidence from the Netherlands, where a strain of MRSA was found more frequently and in higher concentrations in the air within 1km of intensive pig and poultry farms. The UK's chief medical officer recently stated that the problems of antibiotic resistance in humans means we are facing a human health crisis, and that this is linked in part to antibiotic use in intensive livestock farming. This was raised at the recent G8 meeting.

The solution is not to create huge-scale, intensive, indoor livestock operations that threaten our landscape, farming and rural communities. Large-scale industrial farms may be able to produce food a little more cheaply in the short term, but we risk ending up paying a high price in terms of the loss of antibiotics that save millions of lives, to say nothing of the cost to the animals themselves. We need to eat less but better-quality meat, from farming systems that respect animals and allow them to enjoy natural behaviours.
Emma Hockridge
Head of policy, Soil Association

• Despite high levels of support from the public purse, our current food system is leaving growing numbers in food poverty and is leading to widening inequalities in health. It is also exerting a heavy toll on the environment and preventing many farmers from receiving a fair price for their produce. Rather than further intensification of livestock farming, we need a resilient, diverse approach to food and farming. We need an approach that will halt and reverse the decline in all the things that people love about our countryside: plentiful wildlife; a varied landscape; farm animals enjoying life out of doors; and fresh, seasonal, local food which can be bought at fair prices, while providing a reasonable livelihood for the people who produce it. Farming and food are not just issues for academics and vested interests – we all have a stake in getting this right. The first step is moving food, farming and the countryside right up the political agenda, and reconnecting people with where their food comes from, and how it is produced.
Sue Armstrong-Brown RSPB, Dan Crossley Food Ethics Council, Sue Dibb Eating Better, Vicki Hird Friends of the Earth, Tim Lang Centre for Food Policy, Jeanette Longfield Sustain, Paul Wilkinson The Wildlife Trusts

• Your article states "only 2% of dairy farms keep their cattle indoors all year round, compared with as many as 90% in the US". Having seen first-hand the terrible impact of mega dairies in California on the environment and on farmers trying to make ends meet, I can say that following the US down the road of intensification and ever-larger indoor only dairy farms would be a huge error. In the debate around feeding our growing population, we should be very clear that the consumer only picks up part of the bill. Someone, or something, has to pay the price for cheap meat and dairy products and all too often the unsustainable burden falls on the environment and the animals that provide them. We must be more effective at putting food in people's mouths by reducing food losses and wastes; by getting farm animals off human-edible grain and fishmeal and feeding them on grass, forage and food wastes; by returning to mixed farming which restores soils and by avoiding the over-consumption of meat and dairy.
Philip Lymbery
CEO, Compassion in World Farming

• Last week the headlines were about Brits and our wanton wastage of food (Report, 7 November). We slaughter approx 1bn animals each year – most are farmed in fetid sheds. Animals suffer and die for us to eat yet each day we trash 1m eggs, 1.5m sausages and 6m glasses of milk and the equivalent of 86m chickens are trashed each year too. This week we have "influential farming experts" telling us we need even more intensive livestock farming to "keep food prices down". No doubt so we can trash even more animals without a financial care.
Sara Starkey
Tonbridge, Kent

Play Rugby USA helps the Maori All Blacks take Manhattan – in pictures

Posted: 15 Nov 2013 12:54 PM PST

Martin Pengelly: The Maori All Blacks stopped off in New York to meet the students of Play Rugby USA

Martin Pengelly

Venezuelans muse on economic woes that make milk scarce but fridges a steal

Posted: 15 Nov 2013 12:21 PM PST

Only high oil prices keep currency and price controls going but black market and corruption are raising pressure on Maduro

On the long commute home, Andrea Becerra often gets held up. Long tailbacks in the Venezuelan capital can quickly be aggravated by protesters angry about pensions or security. But this week there was a different kind of delay: dozens of illegally parked cars jammed the traffic outside an electronics shop. Inside, people were buying knockdown goods as if their lives depended on it.

"Living here is like a cartoon," Becerra says. "Most of us can't find milk to drink, let alone to produce, and the president's best plan is to lower the prices of TVs."

She was referring to president Nicolás Maduro's recent moves to get shopkeepers to slash their prices. Maduro has spoken of jailing retailers, criticising the "speculation and usury" that he blames for Venezuela's economic woes.

But concerns are mounting that his actions are just treating the symptoms, not the causes of Venezuela's sudden financial lurch, and that although it might give his citizens a nice cheap early Christmas, the new year hangover threatens to be painful.

"It's a slap in the face to be told this is socialism and to see the government hand out electronics while most of us struggle to find food. There is no long-term plan," said Becerra.

Venezuela's economic wobble stems from strict currency and price controls imposed by the former president Hugo Chávez. Despite years of high oil prices, the distortions that these have caused in the economy have led to shortages, difficulties for local industries that are not oil-related and a flourishing black market laced with corruption.

The tell-tale signs of distress are multiplying. Queues outside grocery stores proliferate. Absurdly, the shops lack local staples – sugar, milk, flour – but are well stocked with subsidised imports such as single-malt whisky and Italian panettone. The black market rate for dollars has soared to 10 times the official rate. Inflation has rocketed to 54%, an all-time high. Capital continues to flee the country. More and more Venezuelans are watching their salary and life savings eroded. The head of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, warned last month that Venezuela was undergoing economic stress and would have to make some difficult policy decisions soon because it was running down its currency reserves.

"This is a balance-of-payments crisis in slow motion," said Alejandro Grisanti, a Barclays economist. "It's impossible for hard currency to flow to the productive sector of the economy. He added that most went on dummy companies and state-subsidised imports.

President Maduro has blamed the country's economic disaster on "economic warfare" waged by an opposition seeking to destabilise his government. For now, his populist move to bring prices down has found favour. For many people, buying a refrigerator or a wide-screen TV was a distant dream that Maduro has now made possible.

"This was long overdue," said Ivonne Mendoza, 37, a teacher. "Importers get cheap dollars but charge as if they didn't. I don't get it, but I also don't get why after 10 years of abuse the government kept giving them money."

For Maduro, the decision to increase controls, which comes a month before municipal elections that could amount to a referendum on his presidency, is a counter-offensive to his enemies' attempts to oust him. Maduro has insisted he will remain in power despite the efforts of a "parasitic bourgeoisie" to bleed the country dry.

According to some analysts, these price-busting efforts might help Maduro politically but will do little to solve the economy's structural problems.

"These have been politically motivated moves. [Among supporters] the common perception has been that Maduro is finally governing. That somehow, he is punishing the evil speculators and accompanying the people in their plight," said Luís Vicente León, a pollster and director of Datanalisis. "But the effects for the economy, come January, will be dire. No one will restock inventories."

One liquor-shop owner who preferred to be named simply as David explained the problem for businesspeople, retailers, importers – anyone who is uncertain whether they will be able to get dollars at the cheap official rate from the state Cadivi agency, or the prohibitively costly black market rate.

"If you bring in a bottle of Grey Goose vodka at the official rate you can sell the cheapest vodka in the world, but if you are having to pay black market rate you get the most expensive," David said.

"I buy from distributors who haven't gotten [central bank] dollars in four years. They are in debt with their providers and have logically lost their line of credit." A bottle of high-end vodka in his shop sells for approximately $222 (£134) at the official rate, or $21 on the black market. The same bottle sells for $28 in the US.

Maduro has acknowledged that there is corruption behind the currency controls. He has declared war on the parallel market, which includes shutting down 70 web pages that report the daily rates, but has failed to outline any plan to lift the controls.

On Thursday, Maduro announced the arrest of more than 100 "bourgeois" businessmen in the crackdown on alleged price-gouging. "They are barbaric, these capitalist parasites!" Maduro said in a televised speech. "We have more than 100 of the bourgeoisie behind bars at the moment."

"It's time to deepen the offensive, go to the bone in this economic war," he said.

Maduro said the forced price cuts should lead to negative inflation of 15% in November and 50% in December – forecasts that brought immediate mockery from critics on Twitter.

A decade of ever-increasing margins between the two currencies has meant that those with access to state dollars have made large fortunes. For many this has discouraged local production and has bred rampant corruption, from importers who overprice, to government officials getting a cut of the approved quota, and even one unnamed motorcar racer who got more than $60m for "sports activities" abroad.

"Cadivi is the best business in town. I have made up to $35,000 a month on a $250,000 transaction", says a small-time black market dealer of the margins in his line of work. "People – and companies – here make a lot of money but they want to take it out [to offshore accounts].If the government doesn't approve your quota, you go to the black market. You lose some money but at least you got it out."

For the pollster Luís Vicente León, a terminal crisis or a social explosion is unlikely as long as oil prices remain high, but the hard-hit economy will continue to keep Becerra and many more up at night. "We might see an economy of war with few shops opened and more people buying food off trucks instead of stores."

Virginia López

Typhoon Haiyan: British man reportedly missing in the Philippines

Posted: 15 Nov 2013 12:20 PM PST

Colin Bembridge was staying with Filipina partner and their daughter near Tacloban when typhoon struck

A British man is among those missing in the Philippines in the wake of typhoon Haiyan, according to reports.

Colin Bembridge, 61, was staying with his Filipina partner Maybelle, 35, and their three-year-old daughter Victoria near Tacloban when the devastating storm struck.

Channel 4 News said the pharmacist, who lives in Grimbsy, had been visiting his girlfriend's relatives and had hired a beach house in Baybay, one of the ravaged coastal villages.

Typhoon Haiyan has left thousands dead and many more homeless, and large numbers of survivors are struggling without food, water and shelter.

The mother of Bembridge's partner, 79-year-old Lydia, showed Channel 4 News the wreckage of the beach house where her daughter and granddaughter had been staying.

"I just want to know whether they are dead or whether they were blown by the winds," she told the programme.

While searching the wreckage she found a dress belonging to Maybelle – the youngest of her eight children – and a games console belonging to Victoria.

She added: "Now that I am here I cannot see them. I am at a loss of where they are. My heart, it's hurting."