Historic Bible pages put online
A fragment of the manuscript
There are new opportunities for scholars, experts say
About 800 pages of the earliest surviving Christian Bible have been recovered and put on the internet.
Visitors to the website www.codexsinaiticus.org can now see images of more than half the 1,600-year-old Codex Sinaiticus manuscript.
Fragments of the 4th Century document - written in Greek on parchment leaves - have been worked on by institutions in the UK, Germany, Egypt and Russia.
Experts say it is "a window into the development of early Christianity".
Preservation secrets
Historic Bible pages put online
Full Story Source : BBC
Monday, July 6, 2009
MG Rover in fraud investigation
MG Rover in fraud investigation
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is to investigate the circumstances surrounding the demise of Birmingham-based carmaker MG Rover in 2005.
Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said in a statement that the SFO must see if there are "grounds for prosecution".
It follows a four-year inquiry into the collapse, which led to 6,000 job cuts.
The four executives in control of MG Rover at the time said there was "no suggestion of improper conduct", calling an investigation "ridiculous".
Lord Mandelson said: "There has been a comprehensive and thorough investigation into the events which led to the company failing, workers losing their jobs and creditors not getting paid. The SFO must now see if there are grounds for prosecution."
A spokesman for the MG Rover directors said: "The directors have at all times willingly accounted for their actions, which kept MG Rover alive for five years."
When the MG plant at Longbridge, Birmingham, closed the government announced a £150m support package for those losing their jobs and for the estimated 12,500 people affected in subsidiary firms.
Report delayed
The new investigation comes after the completion of a four-year inquiry under section 432 of the Companies Act by inspectors appointed by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
Ramsay Smith, speaking for the Phoenix Group: 'There is no basis whatsoever for an investigation'
Part of that investigation was supposed to find out what had happened to the more than £400m left to Phoenix Ventures when it took over MG Rover from BMW in 2000.
The publication of the report by the business department's inspectors will now be delayed pending a decision on whether there will be criminal prosecutions.
But Professor David Bailey, director of Coventry University Business School, said he didn't want to see the report stalled any further.
"I'd like to see that [report] in the public domain because workers, suppliers and communities affected by this do deserve some answers."
He added that while it was right that the SFO was brought in if there was "inappropriate behaviour or the suspicion of it", he was surprised that it had taken four years.
Phoenix Four
MG Rover went into administration under insolvency procedures in April 2005, with debts of more than £1bn. Its assets were sold in 2006 to China's Nanjing Automobile, which revived the MG sports car brand.
A quartet of executives known as the Phoenix Four had taken control of the company in May 2000 after originally buying MG Rover for a nominal £10.
The business came with an interest-free loan of £427m from BMW, the previous owner.
There are likely to be questions raised about why the case has been referred to the SFO only after completion of the inspectors' inquiry
BBC business editor Robert Peston
Read more from Robert here
"John Towers, Nick Stephenson, Peter Beale and John Edwards are estimated to have taken out more than £40m in pay and pensions in the years before the business went down," said our correspondent.
The Commons public accounts committee criticised the government in 2006 for being too distant from Phoenix Ventures and not sufficiently prepared for its demise.
Professor Bailey said that the inspectors' inquiry that has yet to come out should be critical of the government and its industrial policy as well as the company.
'Heart of the matter'
A spokesman for the directors said that "time and again they asked for government help and didn't get it".
"Four years and £16m of taxpayers' money has been swallowed up on this [Department for Business] inquiry and the directors' major concern that it will fail to get to the heart of the matter, which is why the government withdrew its offer of a loan to the company at the eleventh hour, allowing 6,000 workers to lose their jobs," they said.
Their statement added: "Four years on, any suggestion of another further investigation is frankly ridiculous and smacks of kicking this issue into the long grass."
They also said the government had refused more than 30 requests under the Freedom of Information Act which would have revealed correspondence and documents.
They said these would have "shed some light on the government's role in the affair".
MG Rover in fraud investigation
Source : BBC
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is to investigate the circumstances surrounding the demise of Birmingham-based carmaker MG Rover in 2005.
Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said in a statement that the SFO must see if there are "grounds for prosecution".
It follows a four-year inquiry into the collapse, which led to 6,000 job cuts.
The four executives in control of MG Rover at the time said there was "no suggestion of improper conduct", calling an investigation "ridiculous".
Lord Mandelson said: "There has been a comprehensive and thorough investigation into the events which led to the company failing, workers losing their jobs and creditors not getting paid. The SFO must now see if there are grounds for prosecution."
A spokesman for the MG Rover directors said: "The directors have at all times willingly accounted for their actions, which kept MG Rover alive for five years."
When the MG plant at Longbridge, Birmingham, closed the government announced a £150m support package for those losing their jobs and for the estimated 12,500 people affected in subsidiary firms.
Report delayed
The new investigation comes after the completion of a four-year inquiry under section 432 of the Companies Act by inspectors appointed by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
Ramsay Smith, speaking for the Phoenix Group: 'There is no basis whatsoever for an investigation'
Part of that investigation was supposed to find out what had happened to the more than £400m left to Phoenix Ventures when it took over MG Rover from BMW in 2000.
The publication of the report by the business department's inspectors will now be delayed pending a decision on whether there will be criminal prosecutions.
But Professor David Bailey, director of Coventry University Business School, said he didn't want to see the report stalled any further.
"I'd like to see that [report] in the public domain because workers, suppliers and communities affected by this do deserve some answers."
He added that while it was right that the SFO was brought in if there was "inappropriate behaviour or the suspicion of it", he was surprised that it had taken four years.
Phoenix Four
MG Rover went into administration under insolvency procedures in April 2005, with debts of more than £1bn. Its assets were sold in 2006 to China's Nanjing Automobile, which revived the MG sports car brand.
A quartet of executives known as the Phoenix Four had taken control of the company in May 2000 after originally buying MG Rover for a nominal £10.
The business came with an interest-free loan of £427m from BMW, the previous owner.
There are likely to be questions raised about why the case has been referred to the SFO only after completion of the inspectors' inquiry
BBC business editor Robert Peston
Read more from Robert here
"John Towers, Nick Stephenson, Peter Beale and John Edwards are estimated to have taken out more than £40m in pay and pensions in the years before the business went down," said our correspondent.
The Commons public accounts committee criticised the government in 2006 for being too distant from Phoenix Ventures and not sufficiently prepared for its demise.
Professor Bailey said that the inspectors' inquiry that has yet to come out should be critical of the government and its industrial policy as well as the company.
'Heart of the matter'
A spokesman for the directors said that "time and again they asked for government help and didn't get it".
"Four years and £16m of taxpayers' money has been swallowed up on this [Department for Business] inquiry and the directors' major concern that it will fail to get to the heart of the matter, which is why the government withdrew its offer of a loan to the company at the eleventh hour, allowing 6,000 workers to lose their jobs," they said.
Their statement added: "Four years on, any suggestion of another further investigation is frankly ridiculous and smacks of kicking this issue into the long grass."
They also said the government had refused more than 30 requests under the Freedom of Information Act which would have revealed correspondence and documents.
They said these would have "shed some light on the government's role in the affair".
MG Rover in fraud investigation
Source : BBC
Honour given to 'UK astronauts'
Honour given to 'UK astronauts'
The five UK-born individuals who have flown in space are being honoured with a commemorative pin.
The British Interplanetary Society is making the award to recognise the astronauts' achievements but also to further the case for human spaceflight.
It is extremely hard for UK citizens to get into orbit because the government does not fund manned space activity.
The first recipients of the pin - Helen Sharman and Richard Garriott - had private funds backing their missions.
The other three - Michael Foale, Nicholas Patrick and Piers Sellers - all became US citizens to fly with the American space agency (Nasa).
Mr Garriott and Dr Sharman were given their pins in a ceremony at the BIS headquarters in London.
"The government has to understand that the costs of human spaceflight are far outweighed by the benefits - the benefits of inspiration and of exploration," said Nick Spall, a BIS fellow and co-ordinator of the UK Human Spaceflight Campaign.
Honour given to 'UK astronauts'
Source : BBC
The five UK-born individuals who have flown in space are being honoured with a commemorative pin.
The British Interplanetary Society is making the award to recognise the astronauts' achievements but also to further the case for human spaceflight.
It is extremely hard for UK citizens to get into orbit because the government does not fund manned space activity.
The first recipients of the pin - Helen Sharman and Richard Garriott - had private funds backing their missions.
The other three - Michael Foale, Nicholas Patrick and Piers Sellers - all became US citizens to fly with the American space agency (Nasa).
Mr Garriott and Dr Sharman were given their pins in a ceremony at the BIS headquarters in London.
"The government has to understand that the costs of human spaceflight are far outweighed by the benefits - the benefits of inspiration and of exploration," said Nick Spall, a BIS fellow and co-ordinator of the UK Human Spaceflight Campaign.
Honour given to 'UK astronauts'
Source : BBC
Scores killed in China protests
Scores killed in China protests
Violence in China's restive western region of Xinjiang has left at least 140 people dead and more than 800 people injured, state media say.
Several hundred people have also been arrested after the violence erupted in the city of Urumqi on Sunday.
Xinhua news agency said police restored order after demonstrators attacked passers-by and set fire to vehicles.
The protest was reportedly prompted by a deadly fight between Uighurs and Han Chinese in southern China last month.
The BBC's Chris Hogg in Shanghai says that if the numbers of dead are to be believed - and state media say they may rise - this looks like the bloodiest suppression of protest in China since Tiananmen Square 20 years ago.
Scores killed in China protests
Full Story & Source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8135203.stm
Violence in China's restive western region of Xinjiang has left at least 140 people dead and more than 800 people injured, state media say.
Several hundred people have also been arrested after the violence erupted in the city of Urumqi on Sunday.
Xinhua news agency said police restored order after demonstrators attacked passers-by and set fire to vehicles.
The protest was reportedly prompted by a deadly fight between Uighurs and Han Chinese in southern China last month.
The BBC's Chris Hogg in Shanghai says that if the numbers of dead are to be believed - and state media say they may rise - this looks like the bloodiest suppression of protest in China since Tiananmen Square 20 years ago.
Scores killed in China protests
Full Story & Source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8135203.stm
Oops: Teacher Accidentally Gave Self-Made Sex Tape
Oops: Teacher Accidentally Gave Self-Made Sex Tape to 5th Graders
ELK GROVE, Calif - A class of fifth graders in California got a shocking crash course on the birds and the bees courtesy of their teacher and an x-rated home video she accidently included in a DVD of classroom memories.
The error was not caught until after the DVDs were distributed to the students and their families. Parents tell CBS 13 Sacramento that the woman is a good teacher that made an honest but embarrassing mistake.
Full Story : http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/07/02/crimesider/entry5129869.shtml
Courtesy Source : http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/crimesider/main504083.shtml?keyword=Sex+Tape
Oops: Teacher Accidentally Gave Self-Made Sex Tape to 5th Graders
ELK GROVE, Calif - A class of fifth graders in California got a shocking crash course on the birds and the bees courtesy of their teacher and an x-rated home video she accidently included in a DVD of classroom memories.
The error was not caught until after the DVDs were distributed to the students and their families. Parents tell CBS 13 Sacramento that the woman is a good teacher that made an honest but embarrassing mistake.
Full Story : http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/07/02/crimesider/entry5129869.shtml
Courtesy Source : http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/crimesider/main504083.shtml?keyword=Sex+Tape
Oops: Teacher Accidentally Gave Self-Made Sex Tape to 5th Graders
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