World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk |
- MH370: Relatives of lost passengers protest against Malaysia – live updates
- Oscar Pistorius trial – Tuesday 25 March – live
- MH370: family member of missing passenger vents frustration - video
- Tony Abbott brings back knights and dames to honours system – as it happened
- Tony Abbott’s knights take us back to the dark ages
- Kim Dotcom plans £109m Mega listing on New Zealand stock exchange
- Israeli boycott case: Sydney academic's lawyers say claims are pumped up
- Risky cities: red equals danger in Bucharest, Europe's earthquake capital
- Bronwyn Bishop has always suggested she would paint the speaker’s chair blue | Gabrielle Chan
- MH370: how Inmarsat homed in on missing Malaysia Airlines' flight
- Quentin Bryce's official portrait: pedestrian art with no soul
- Ray-Ban maker to work with Google on Google Glass eyewear
- Morwell coalmine fire finally extinguished after 45 days
- MH370: search for debris suspended as families attack government
- George Brandis has given Australia's racists a free rein | Michael Danby
- Kenyan women demand justice over post-election sexual violence | Joan Nyanyuki
- Australian town in fear of emissions and coal dust from power plant
- MH370: airline concludes 'with prayers and condolences' that all hope is lost
- Mining tax repeal is blocked by Senate
- Knights and dames reinstated in change to Australia's honours system
- Poorer areas in England at greatest flooding risk, Oxfam says
- Knight and dame honours reintroduced by Australian prime minister - video
- Six out of ten die from cancer or cardiovascular disease, says ABS
- Fracking safety: report warns of 'significant unknowns'
- Who should be Australia's first knights and dames? – open thread
| MH370: Relatives of lost passengers protest against Malaysia – live updates Posted: 25 Mar 2014 01:25 AM PDT Follow live updates as relatives of the passengers lost on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 stage a protest outside the Malaysian embassy in the Beijing       |
| Oscar Pistorius trial – Tuesday 25 March – live Posted: 25 Mar 2014 01:22 AM PDT Live coverage of the trial of the South African athlete Oscar Pistorius for the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, at his home in Pretoria on Valentine's Day last year       |
| MH370: family member of missing passenger vents frustration - video Posted: 25 Mar 2014 01:21 AM PDT Steve Wang, who has a family member on flight MH370, vents his frustration at the handling of the incident by Malaysian authorities       |
| Tony Abbott brings back knights and dames to honours system – as it happened Posted: 25 Mar 2014 01:20 AM PDT Newspoll puts Labor in an election wining position as MPs pay tribute to Australia's first female Governor-General.       |
| Tony Abbott’s knights take us back to the dark ages Posted: 25 Mar 2014 01:19 AM PDT The public response was ridicule rather than outrage, showing that, while the prime minister hasn't moved on, the rest of us have  |
| Kim Dotcom plans £109m Mega listing on New Zealand stock exchange Posted: 25 Mar 2014 01:09 AM PDT  Takeover deal announced as Megaupload founder fights extradition by US authorities over online piracy charges A company founded by Kim Dotcom, one of the world's most wanted cyber fugitives, while on bail is set to be listed on the New Zealand stock exchange valued at NZ$210m (£109m). The Megaupload founder, who also goes by the name Kim Schmitz, is fighting a bid by US authorities to extradite him from New Zealand to face online piracy charges over the now-closed file-sharing site Megaupload. The New Zealand government arrested Dotcom in early 2012 at his mansion near Auckland in a Swat-style raid requested by the FBI. Dotcom is free on bail as he fights extradition although his movements are restricted. After a reverse takeover deal was announced between Mega Ltd, Dotcom's cloud storage firm, and local investment firm TRS, Dotcom tweeted: "Indicted. Raided. On Bail. All assets frozen without trial. But we don't cry ourselves to sleep. We built Mega from 0 into a $210m company." TRS said in a statement to the New Zealand stock exchange it had a conditional agreement to buy Mega through a share issue to Mega's shareholders. Mega, launched in 2013 by Dotcom and several other people involved in Megaupload, offers encrypted, cloud-based data storage and claims about 7 million registered users. New Zealand company records show Mega's shareholders include Dotcom's wife, through a trust, with a 26% stake. Dotcom is not listed as a shareholder nor a director, but on the Mega website he is named as principal strategist. The chief executive of Mega Ltd, Stephen Hall, said Mega had planned to list but had chosen the back-door route because it was cost-effective and efficient, adding there was no concern it would get embroiled in Dotcom's extradition battle. "We don't think so. This has nothing to do with Megaupload, it's a completely separate legal entity, it's not a worry," Hall told Reuters. Dotcom, a German national with New Zealand residency, could not be reached for comment. He and three colleagues from Megaupload were arrested in 2012 on US charges of online piracy, money-laundering and racketeering. The four men have been battling New Zealand and US federal authorities through the courts since over access to funds, admissibility and disclosure of evidence, and the legality of search warrants. An extradition hearing is scheduled for July. US authorities allege Megaupload cost film studios and record companies more than $500m and generated more than $175m by encouraging paying users to store and share copyrighted material, such as movies and TV shows. Dotcom claims Megaupload was merely an online warehouse and should not be held accountable if stored content was obtained illegally. theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
| Israeli boycott case: Sydney academic's lawyers say claims are pumped up Posted: 25 Mar 2014 01:03 AM PDT University director Jake Lynch is accused by legal centre Shurat HaDin of unlawful discrimination       |
| Risky cities: red equals danger in Bucharest, Europe's earthquake capital Posted: 25 Mar 2014 01:00 AM PDT Bright red dots on buildings in the Romanian capital warn of the risk of collapse       |
| Bronwyn Bishop has always suggested she would paint the speaker’s chair blue | Gabrielle Chan Posted: 25 Mar 2014 12:48 AM PDT She could have cracked her whip to set new parliamentary standards but, alas, she looks to be failing her own brief  |
| MH370: how Inmarsat homed in on missing Malaysia Airlines' flight Posted: 25 Mar 2014 12:47 AM PDT  UK satellite firm and AAIB cited for 'groundbreaking maths' to narrow the flight corridor of missing passenger jet and help solve riddle Analysis by the British satellite company Inmarsat and the UK's Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) was cited on Monday by the Malaysian prime minister as the source of information that has narrowed the location where the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 may have crashed into the southern Indian Ocean to a corridor a couple of hundred miles wide. The analysis follows fresh examination of eight satellite "pings" sent by the aircraft between 1.11am and 8.11am Malaysian time on Saturday 8 March, when it vanished from radar screens. The prime minister, Najib Razak, said: "Based on their new analysis, Inmarsat and the AAIB have concluded that MH370 flew along the southern corridor, and that its last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth. "This is a remote location, far from any possible landing sites. It is therefore with deep sadness and regret that I must inform you that, according to this new data, flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean." He added that they had used a "type of analysis never before used in an investigation of this sort". The new method "gives the approximate direction of travel, plus or minus about 100 miles, to a track line", Chris McLaughlin, senior vice-president for external affairs at Inmarsat, told Sky News. "Unfortunately this is a 1990s satellite over the Indian Ocean that is not GPS-equipped. All we believe we can do is to say that we believe it is in this general location, but we cannot give you the final few feet and inches where it landed. It's not that sort of system." McLaughlin told CNN that there was no further analysis possible of the data. "Sadly this is the limit. There's no global decision even after the Air France loss [in June 2009, where it took two years to recover the plane from the sea] to make direction and distance reporting compulsory. Ships have to log in every six hours; with aircraft travelling at 500 knots they would have to log in every 15 minutes. That could be done tomorrow but the mandate is not there globally." Since the plane disappeared more than two weeks ago, many of the daily searches across vast tracts of the Indian Ocean for the aircraft have relied on Inmarsat information collated halfway across the world from a company that sits on London's "Silicon Roundabout", by Old Street tube station. Using the data from just eight satellite "pings" after the plane's other onboard Acars automatic tracking system went off at 1.07am, the team at Inmarsat was initially able to calculate that it had either headed north towards the Asian land mass or south, towards the emptiest stretches of the India Ocean. Inmarsat said that yesterday it had done new calculations on the limited data that it had received from the plane in order to come to its conclusion. McLaughlin told CNN that it was a "groundbreaking but traditional" piece of mathematics which was then checked by others in the space industry. The company's system of satellites provide voice contact with air traffic control when planes are out of range of radar, which only covers about 10% of the Earth's surface, and beyond the reach of standard radio over oceans. It also offers automatic reporting of positions via plane transponders. It is possible to send route instructions directly to the cockpit over a form of text message relayed through the satellite. Inmarsat was set up in 1979 by the International Maritime Organisation to help ships stay in touch with shore or call for emergency no matter where they were, has provided key satellite data about the last movements of MH370. Even as the plane went off Malaysian air traffic control's radar on 8 March, Inmarsat's satellites were "pinging" it. A team at the company began working on the directions the plane could have gone in, based on the responses. One pointed north; the other, south. But it took three days for the data to be officially passed on to the Malaysian authorities; apparently to prevent any more such delays, Inmarsat was officially made "technical adviser" to the AAIB in its investigation into MH370's disappearance. Inmarsat's control room in London, like some of its other 60 locations worldwide, looks like a miniature version of Nasa: a huge screen displays the positions of its 11 geostationary satellites, and dozens of monitors control and correct their positions. A press on a key can cause the puff of a rocket on a communications satellite 22,236 miles away, nudging its orbit by a few inches this way or that. More prosaically, Inmarsat's systems enable passengers to make calls from their seats and also to use Wi-Fi and connect to the internet while flying. If the plane has its own "picocell" essentially a tiny mobile phone tower set up inside the plane then that can be linked to the satellite communications system and enable passengers to use their own mobile phones to make calls, which are routed through the satellite and back to earth. After its creation, Inmarsat's maritime role rapidly expanded to providing connectivity for airlines, the media, oil and gas companies, mining and construction in remote areas, and governments. Privatised at the end of the 1990s, it was floated on the stock market in 2004, and now focuses on providing services to four main areas: maritime, enterprise (focused on businesses including aviation), civil and military work for the US government, and civil and military work for other governments. The US is the largest government client, generating up to a fifth of its revenues of about £1bn annually. The firm employs about 1,600 staff. theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
| Quentin Bryce's official portrait: pedestrian art with no soul Posted: 25 Mar 2014 12:39 AM PDT A good likeness by Ralph Heimans but there's no insight in this shambles of hokey symbolism and compositional trickiness  |
| Ray-Ban maker to work with Google on Google Glass eyewear Posted: 25 Mar 2014 12:25 AM PDT Italy's Luxottica to design, develop and distribute eyewear as part of strategic partnership  |
| Morwell coalmine fire finally extinguished after 45 days Posted: 25 Mar 2014 12:16 AM PDT Firefighters keep watch for hot spots as inquiry sought into emergency response at Morwell facility       |
| MH370: search for debris suspended as families attack government Posted: 25 Mar 2014 12:15 AM PDT The families of the missing MH370 passengers have accused the Malaysian government, the military, and Malaysia Airlines of attempting to deceive people during the search for missing flight, now believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean       |
| George Brandis has given Australia's racists a free rein | Michael Danby Posted: 25 Mar 2014 12:04 AM PDT Michael Danby: The repeal of "Bolt law" 18c betrays a misunderstanding of its purpose – to bring people together to discuss their grievances       |
| Kenyan women demand justice over post-election sexual violence | Joan Nyanyuki Posted: 25 Mar 2014 12:00 AM PDT  Rape survivors sue Kenya's director of public prosecutions for failing to investigate atrocities after the 2007-08 polls Six years after being gang-raped and beaten in front of her husband and four-year-old child during a wave of post-election violence in Kenya, Nancy is still awaiting justice. If it were left to the country's director of public prosecutions, Keriako Tobiko, she would never see it. Last month, Tobiko announced that his office would bring no cases related to the 2007-08 atrocities before a new international crimes division (ICD) within the high court. Nancy refuses to take no for an answer. On Tuesday she and other survivors of sexual and gender-based violence will be in a Nairobi courtroom, suing Tobiko and other senior government officials on numerous counts, including the failure to investigate and prosecute their cases and those of thousands of others. Tobiko, along with the attorney general, Githu Muigai, another respondent in the case, was happy to promote the ICD to the Rome statute of the international criminal court (ICC) at a meeting of state parties in The Hague in November. Why there? The Kenyan president and deputy president, Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto, face charges at the ICC related to the post-election violence, so the country's two top prosecutors were eager to leave a good impression with foreign diplomats that Kenya is willing and able to deal with the atrocities domestically. Indeed, last month Tobiko claimed a special taskforce had reviewed 5,000 cases related to the period, and 1,000 of these had been prosecuted, with 500 convictions. Yet the government will not provide any information to substantiate this claim, which is contradicted by the record of impunity and prior statements about the nature and extent of investigations and prosecutions made by Tobiko's office. What we do know is that there have never been prosecutions of mid- and senior-level offenders, including many police officers, and that for most survivors, the Kenyan justice system has been unresponsive, at best. After her ordeal, Nancy, aided by other women, went to Nairobi Women's Hospital, where several tests were carried out. Armed with the results, she went to the local police station, where she was given a report number. Many women did not even get that far; their attempts to report crimes were often met with laughter and derision by officers. Detectives contacted Nancy months later. She showed them where the assault happened and identified her attackers. But the matter was never pursued. She and thousands of other women – and some men – who experienced sexual violence feel abandoned by the government. Kenya's constitution grants Tobiko the authority to order fresh investigations, but he has not done so. The case being heard on Tuesday is being brought by eight survivors and four civil-society organisations. This is not the first such constitutional case. Last year, a judge in central Kenya ruled that by failing to investigate 160 rapes of girls aged three to 17, Tobiko and the police had "contributed to the development of tolerance for pervasive sexual violence", and that their failures violated multiple provisions of national and international law. He ordered detectives to investigate the cases of the 11 petitioners concerned, and to implement an article of the constitution that requires the police to implement standards of professionalism, integrity and respect for human rights. Kenya's 2010 constitution has many progressive elements, and legislators have proposed or approved numerous laws, which, if implemented, would make significant contributions to ending the climate of impunity for sexual violence. They would also strengthen women's rights in such areas as administrative law and democratic representation. But for now, women must continue to fight for a Kenya in which sexual violence is no longer tolerated. Dr Joan Nyanyuki is executive director of the Nairobi-based Coalition On Violence Against Women, one of the petitioners in Tuesday's case theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds       |
| Australian town in fear of emissions and coal dust from power plant Posted: 25 Mar 2014 12:00 AM PDT  Residents of the Australian town of Anglesea are worried about the effect of sulphur dioxide and coal dust on their children The coal mine and adjoining power station in the small Australian town of Anglesea suffers from not one, but two incongruities. Anglesea, in Victoria, unlike its windswept Welsh namesake, is a bucolic surf location that sees a huge influx of visitors as temperatures soar in the summer months. It's not your archetypal mining town, even to its residents. "People who visit here, or people who haven't lived here long don't know the mine is here," says local doctor Jacinta Morahan. "It's well hidden". The second, and more glaring, unease is the power station's location. Situated just minutes from the heart of the small township, the plant, owned by Alcoa, the world's third largest producer of aluminum, is less than 1km from Anglesea's sole primary school. Concern about the health impacts of the emissions and coal dust that spew from the power station and open-cut mine has divided the town, which has only 3,000 permanent residents. Alcoa has operated the Anglesea plant since the 1960s. The 160MW station provides the power for an energy-hungry aluminium smelter in nearby Point Henry which, in turn, churns out aluminium for various Asian markets, as well as for most of Australia's drinks cans. The Age says that the aluminium smelter is soon-to-close, but the power plant could still find a buyer and stay open. The Anglesea power station is fed brown coal from its nearby mine. Brown coal, which is used to power most of the state of Victoria, is an extremely carbon intensive fuel and also heavily water-laden, making its use highly energy-intensive. The Anglesea plant emits 1.2m tonnes of CO2 a year – around double the entire annual emissions of the African nation of Liberia. But the more immediate worry for some residents is its other emissions, namely sulphur dioxide (SO2) and coal dust particles. Both have been linked to respiratory problems and complications in people with existing health issues, such as heart disease. While Victoria bans the building of any wind farm within 2km of a residential building, no such restriction exists for coal mines, despite a recent senate inquiry recommending "buffer zones" be set up to lessen health impacts. Anglesea's power plant is just 200 metres from the nearest house, but it is its proximity to the primary school that raises most attention. "The main problems is the lack of information – we just don't know if it's safe," says Tabitha Lowdan, a café owner who has two children at the school and a third due to join. "There's been a meeting with the principal and the overriding feeling was anxiety and unease. People are really worried about it." Lowdan is concerned that children play outdoors at times when there are high levels of SO2 in the air, claiming that Alcoa doesn't provide enough information on its emissions. Some parents – but by no means a stampede – have removed children from the school. "I believe in being local and it's a long way to the next school," says Lowdan. "People have been accepting of Alcoa but it's slowly changing as people learn more. Alcoa has funded community groups – the football club, the surf club and so on. The groups who get funding from them tend to not be so critical of them." Alcoa points out that it is in compliance with the law, which demands that it doesn't exceed 200 parts per billion of SO2 in its emissions. It hasn't breached this standard since 2009. The company has six air monitors dotted around Anglesea, including the school, and has staff watching screens to determine if the weather conditions and emissions levels demand a reduction in power load. "It's hard to know how many people don't like how we do things, but we try very hard to talk to the community and engage with them," says Chris Rolland, the site manager. "Some listen, some don't. We have a community forum every two months and publish the minutes of that. "'Scare' is a good term to use. Where there are perceptions of risk, people become unnecessarily scared. We are more and more confident about the health risks and monitoring. There is no need to be scared." To try to allay these fears, Alcoa has its own doctor, Michael Donoghue, and is more open and accommodating than most fossil fuel companies. Despite some studies suggesting that long-term exposure to coal dust and SO2, even at very low levels, Donoghue says there is no cause for alarm. "When you're in compliance with these standards, the risks are really low," he says. "Can you say there's zero risk? No, you can't. But the risks are very small when you compare to cities, which put out a lot of emissions through vehicles and so on. The critical part is the exposure. If it's low, the risk is accordingly very low." Alcoa has conducted a health risk assessment as part of its plan to deepen the mine to reach more coal (the option to expand the site outwards further into Anglesea's bio diverse heathland – a bone of contention in itself – was shelved owing to worry that it would create an eyesore for holiday home owners on the beachfront). But this report, like the air monitoring, is conducted and paid for entirely by Alcoa itself, leaving it open to mutterings of poachers and gamekeepers. "Someone has to pay for it and we do," Donoghue shrugs. "The companies that do the reports for us have their own professional reputations to uphold." For some residents, the price of cheap power to create aluminium is too high. No adverse effects in Anglesea have been proven but critics of the power station claim that studies in the US and Europe show the emissions are a health time bomb, especially for children. "It would be great if they immediately put in scrubber technology to reduce emissions, because at the moment they are putting a price on the health of kids," says Lowdan. "It's a dirty, dirty power plant. Alcoa keep talking about going renewable, but let's just get on with it for health reasons and for the climate too. Who knows when we'll get to a tipping point for either? It's scary." Join the community of sustainability professionals and experts. Become a GSB member to get more stories like this direct to your inbox theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds       |
| MH370: airline concludes 'with prayers and condolences' that all hope is lost Posted: 24 Mar 2014 11:57 PM PDT Malaysian embassy in Beijing picketed after officials announce plane crashed in remote Indian Ocean with no chance of survival       |
| Mining tax repeal is blocked by Senate Posted: 24 Mar 2014 11:37 PM PDT West Australian voters will exact their revenge at Senate re-run poll, politician warns       |
| Knights and dames reinstated in change to Australia's honours system Posted: 24 Mar 2014 11:30 PM PDT Guardian Australia Tony Abbott reveals the outgoing governor general, Quentin Bryce, and her successor, Peter Cosgrove, will be the first to receive the titles       |
| Poorer areas in England at greatest flooding risk, Oxfam says Posted: 24 Mar 2014 11:25 PM PDT Charity claims that although this winter's floods hit well-off areas, deprived places have been three times more likely to flood than rich ones  |
| Knight and dame honours reintroduced by Australian prime minister - video Posted: 24 Mar 2014 11:18 PM PDT Tony Abbott has announced that his government will reintroduce the honours of knight and dame to the Order of Australia to celebrate pre-eminent Australians  |
| Six out of ten die from cancer or cardiovascular disease, says ABS Posted: 24 Mar 2014 11:11 PM PDT Dementia and Alzheimer's disease are taking an increasing toll, but heart disease remains the leading killer in Australia       |
| Fracking safety: report warns of 'significant unknowns' Posted: 24 Mar 2014 11:00 PM PDT  Sparse public data on onshore oil and gas drilling makes full extent of failures in hydrocarbon wells unknown, experts say The lack of publicly available data on the UK's onshore oil and gas drilling means there are significant "unknowns" about the safety of future fracking wells, according to a new study. The research also found that public data from the US showed that hundreds of recent shale gas wells in Pennsylvania have suffered failures that could cause water or air pollution. "The research confirms that well failure in hydrocarbon wells is an issue and that publicly available data in Europe on this seems to be sparse," said Professor Richard Davies of Durham University, and who led the team of academics who undertook the work. "In the UK, wells are monitored by well inspectors but there is no information in the public domain, so we don't really know the full extent of well failures. There were unknowns we couldn't get to the bottom of." The research analysed every reliable dataset on the 4m onshore hydrocarbon wells that have been drilled around the world since the industry began a century ago, in order to assess the implications for unconventional oil and gas exploitation, including shale gas. The study focused on well failures, in which the cement, steel casing or valves failed to contain the oil, gas and drilling fluids. It noted the difference between internal failures, where gas, oil or other chemicals did not leak into the wider environment and external failures, where leaks did enter rocks, water acquifers or the air. While a lot of well data is made public in the US, it was not detailed enough for the researchers to distinguish serious and minor well failures. "But in the UK we don't even have that," said Davies. The study, published on Tuesday in the journal Marine and Petroleum Geology, reported that 2,152 wells have been drilled onshore in the UK since 1902. But no producing shale gas wells exist yet in the UK and, for a comparison, Davies said: "It is sensible to look at the data from Pennsylvania." One dataset highlighed found that 8,030 fracking wells targetting the Marcellus shale in Pennsylvania were inspected between 2005-2013 and 6.3% (506 wells) were reported for internal or external well barrier failures. Analysis of another Pennsylvania dataset of 3,533 wells between 2008-2011 found that one-third were issued with environmental violation notices. These were mostly for surface water contamination, land spills or problems with site restoration. But 2.6% (91 wells) suffered some internal or external well barrier failures, including four blowouts. "Measurable concentrations of gas we present at the surface for most wells with casing or cementing violations," the researchers wrote. In the UK, data provided to the researchers by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc), the Environment Agency and operating companies showed 143 onshore oil and gas wells were producing in 2000. Of nine recorded oil spills, two (at the same site) were linked to well barrier problems. "But that may be an underestimate," said Davies. "The intuition is that it is not a problem, but intuition is not good enough." The study also noted that the ownership of over half the wells drilled in the UK since 1902 was now unclear and that no monitoring was now taking place for at least two-thirds of the wells ever drilled. Davies said: "The data from the monitoring of active wells and the carrying out of periodic surveys of abandoned wells would help assess the impact of shale exploitation and it is important that the public should have access to this information." The study was funded by the UK taxpayers via the Natural Environment Research Council and by Total, Shell and Chevron and was commissioned by an independent academic board. A Decc spokesman said: "The report highlights just how important well construction is as part of safe and environmentally sound exploration. Decc and the industry are working together to put in place a robust scheme that would cover monitoring and liabilities even in the event that the relevant operator is no longer in business. Experts will also consider all aspects of the design and construction of wells, including how they will be made safe after they are no longer in use." But Tony Bosworth, energy campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: "Going after these risky sources of energy threatens our natural world as regulation can only go so far in protecting people, our water supplies and the wider environment. This report highlights that oil and gas well failure is widespread and the best way to avoid the risk this brings is not to frack or go after other hard to reach and polluting fossil fuels." Previously, the Guardian revealed that fracking company Cuadrilla was chastised in 2012 by ministers for "failing to recognise the significance" of deformation of a well casing at its Preese Hall drill site in Lancashire. The "failure" exposed "weaknesses in Cuadrilla's performance as a licensee" but the integrity of the well was not compromised and there were no leaks. The UK Onshore Operators Group (UKOOG), the trade body for the onshore oil and gas industry, said its guidelines state that monitoring data should be publicly available and it welcomed the recommendation to monitor abandoned wells. Ken Cronin, UKOOG chief executive, said: "It is important to note that the research focuses on historical records and studies. The industry and its practices are constantly improving with experience and technology as required by regulation." theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
| Who should be Australia's first knights and dames? – open thread Posted: 24 Mar 2014 10:36 PM PDT Open thread: Tony Abbott has announced a ramping up of Australia's honours system, with four knights and dames to be made a year. So who would you like to see arise?  |
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