No bonuses will be paid out until Irish Water is ‘operational’
SAYS TÁNAISTE JOAN BURTON
JOAN BURTON SAYS SYSTEM DESIGNED TO ‘ACTUALLY SAVE MONEY’ WITH NO SALARY INCREMENTS
Tánaiste Joan Burton told the Dáil today that the timeline for Irish Water was ‘too ambitious’.
Tánaiste Joan Burton has told the Dáil she does not “anticipate” any bonus payments in Irish Water until the company is “operational”.
During heated exchanges over the ongoing water charges controversy, Fianna Fail environment spokesman Barry Cowen pressed the Labour Party leader about her views on the bonus payment system operating within the newly established authority.
M/s Burton said “I don’t anticipate any bonus payment in the context of a set-up period”.
She told the House that the bonus system was “designed to actually save money”. She said it was a “structured payment in relation to salaries that actually foregoes increment”.
M/s Burton said the timeline for Irish Water was “too ambitious”, echoing comments by Minister for Environment Alan Kelly during a debate on the authority earlier this week.
She told Mr Cowen that Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin had asked the cost of going back to the 34 local authorities. “To take the company out and put it back to the taxpayer would cost €2.5 billion.”
Mr. Cowen asked her again about the bonuses. “Do you agree with them when they’re set up and in place and robbing Peter?”
M/s Burton said “bonuses will be dealt with by the board of Eirvia”.
“I do not anticipate any bonus payments until such time or any enhancement payments or whatever other kind of management speak title is used on the payments – I do not anticipate anything like that at all being paid until such time as the company is operational.”
Asked this afternoon in Brussels whether he was minded to extend the period in which fixed water charges will apply, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said the Government considered the matter at its meeting on Tuesday.
“What we did say was that there are legitimate concerns and problems that people have both with Irish Water and the general regime and we’re looking at those and working between Ervia and Irish Water to see that people have confidence in the system,” Mr. Kenny said at the start of the EU summit.
“This is a massive utility for the next 50 years to create investment for infrastructure for high quality drinking water, for water for business and for industry and for persons alike. We want to see that it’s fair, that it’s affordable and that people can have absolute confidence in the system and we’re happy we can achieve that.”
Asked when the Government would provide clarity on the matter, the Taoiseach said: “I would say in the next few weeks.”
In a separate development the Dáil unanimously agreed to adjourn next week for Halloween and return on Tuesday November 4th at 2pm.
I’m delighted people are filming Irish Water protests says Joan Burton
“BECAUSE I AM A KEEN PHOTOGRAPHER”
The Tánaiste JOAN BURTON has again moved to clarify her comments about Irish Water protesters with expensive phones and cameras, also saying that she was never disparaging about them.
The Labour leader said it was good to see so much footage from protests being uploaded to social media, and said she was “delighted” that that was case.
She was responding to a comment from Joan Collins TD during Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil this morning, after Collins said that many people had found Minister Burton’s previous comments “very patronising”.
The Tánaiste said that everything that happens at Irish Water protests is being filmed, adding:
I’m actually delighted that that’s the case, and if I gave any other impression, I’m very happy to correct it.
Minister Burton said that she is “a keen photographer” and that “it’s great to see that people have that kind of equipment”.
She said that everything that happens at protests is being uploaded to social media, and that she was glad to see this “because it’s very clear what’s happening”.
Separately, the Tánaiste also said that she believed the timeline for the setting up of Irish Water was “too ambitious”.
“I understand the frustrations of people,” she told the Dáil.
She said that the company is still in the setting-up period, and says she doesn’t anticipate any bonuses being paid for this time.
Overseas visitor numbers to Ireland up by 9.3% since January 2014
RECORD YEAR FOR NORTH AMERICAN VISITORS, SAYS TOURISM IRELAND
The numbers of American visitors to Ireland between July and September increased by 7.9%, with a total of 2,440,400 visiting the State during the summer period.
The number of overseas visitors to the Republic in the first nine months of 2014 was over 9% higher than the same period last year, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has said.
Over 5.9 million people visited the State between January and September, an increase of 9.3% on last year.
The CSO also reported an increase in the number of Irish people taking holidays abroad, with over 4.5 million Irish residents taking trips overseas between July and September, an increase of 6% on the same period last year.
The number of visitors to Ireland between July and September increased by 7.9%, with a total of 2,440,400 visiting the State during the summer period.
The number of summer visitors from North America increased by 18.1% to 490,000, while visits from Britain increased by 2% to 922,600.
There was a rise of 9.5% in the number of European visitors, excluding Britain, to 861,100.
The number of tourists visiting between July and September from other countries around the world, outside Europe and North America, increased by 7.7% to 166,700.
The number of visitors from Britain in the first nine months increased by 8.8% since 2013, while numbers from North America have risen by 13.9%.
Tourism Ireland chief executive Niall Gibbons said the growing number of overseas visitors would help boost employment around the country.
“Given that overseas tourism business accounts for almost 60 per cent of all tourism revenue, this is good news indeed, with the increase in visitor numbers from overseas helping to boost employment around the country,” he said.
Mr Gibbons said he was “particularly pleased” to see the numbers from Britain, the State’s largest market, increasing by almost 9 per cent for the first nine months of 2014, with an additional 194,000 visitors.
He said 2014 was set to be another record year for tourism from North America.
The retention of the special 9 per cent tourism VAT rate in the latest Budget was welcomed earlier this month by the restaurant and hotels sectors, who described it as vital to sustaining jobs.
The Irish Hotels Federation said the measure was “one of the most successful job creation initiatives in modern times” having supported the creation of more than 33,000 new jobs since it was introduced in 2011.
It said tourism supports some 200,000 jobs – equivalent to one in every nine jobs in the country – representing some 54,000 jobs in 812 hotels and 235 guesthouses.
The total revenue generated across all tourism-related businesses annually stands at approximately €6 billion and accounts for 4 per cent of GNP.
Dramatic and great results for drug that kills cancer cells
A DRUG THAT KILLS CANCER CELLS AS THEY TRY TO DIVIDE HAS SHOWN “DRAMATIC” RESULTS IN EARLY RESEARCH, PAVING THE WAY TO POTENTIALLY CURATIVE TREATMENTS.
In the laboratory, the drug, OTS964, eradicated aggressive human lung cancers transplanted into mice while producing few side-effects.
The findings raise hopes of developing a revolutionary pill or injection that is effective against a wide range of diseases, including breast, brain, liver and bladder cancer, as well as some types of leukemia.
HUMAN TRIALS OF OTS964 ARE EXPECTED TO START BY AUTUMN NEXT YEAR.
US lead scientist Professor Ysuke Nakamura, from the University of Chicago, said: “We identified the molecular target for this drug 10 years ago, but it took us nearly a decade to find an effective way to inhibit it.
“We initially screened 300,000 compounds and then synthesised more than 1,000 of them, and found a few that were likely to work in humans. We focused on the most effective. We think we now have something very promising,” he said.
The drug works in a unique way by blocking the action of a protein, TOPK, that is essential for successful cell division and is over-produced in many types of cancer.
“Without TOPK the cells can’t seem to divide; they can’t make the break,” said Prof Nakamura.
“They can’t complete the process. Instead they remain tethered by a tiny bridge. When that finally breaks apart, they can’t close the membrane.
“Everything within the cells spills out; they suffer and then die.”
Initial studies of an earlier version of the treatment found it effectively killed cancer cells — but at an unacceptable price. It also disrupted the generation of new red and white blood cells, causing anemia and damaging the immune system. It also increased the risk of blood clots by boosting numbers of platelets.
These hurdles were overcome by encapsulating the drug in microscopic bubbles called liposomes, which suppressed blood toxicity.
In the mouse tests, aggressive human lung tumours were allowed to grow until they reached 150 cubic millimetres, about the size of a raisin.
Injections of OTS964 twice a week for three weeks caused the tumours to shrink rapidly and continue shrinking even after treatment stopped. The cancer completely disappeared in five of the six mice, with no detectable side effects.
Larger doses of the drug taken by mouth also proved effective in another group of mice. In all six animals, the tumors vanished.
Although these mice had low white blood cell counts after treatment, they recovered within two weeks.
Prof Nakamura described the results, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, as “dramatic”.
He added: “It is rare to see complete regression of tumours in a mouse model. Many drugs can repress the growth, but it is uncommon to see them eradicated. This has rarely been reported.”
In studies of the drug’s effect on cells growing outside the body, the scientists videoed its cancer-killing ability in action.
The TOPK target protein appears to play a central role in cytokinesis, the final stage in cell division, the scientists reported. They pointed out that the protein’s gene was frequently “upregulated” — extra-active — in breast, brain, liver, and bladder cancers as well as other solid tumors and certain types of leukemia blood cancer.
This raised the exciting possibility of the drug being effective across multiple cancer types.
Professor Peter Parker, an expert in cell signalling at Cancer Research UK, said: “The findings of this early stage study are interesting, and the profound effect on tumour growth in mice shows that switching off TOPK could be a promising approach for treating some cancers in the future. But so far the results have only been shown in cells grown in the lab and in mice, leaving a number of questions unanswered.
“Piecing together the finer details of how TOPK controls cell division, and the consequences of switching it off, will be crucial before this potential new drug can be taken further into clinical trials.”
Tesco accounting black hole deepens, As chairman is to step down
The chairman of Britain’s biggest grocery chain, Tesco, announced his resignation on Thursday after the company reported a bigger than expected hole in its finances and said accounting transgressions went back further than initially thought.
Tesco, Britain’s biggest private employer and once the juggernaut of its retail sector, has lost half its market value this year after the accounting errors compounded a succession of profit warnings.
New chief executive Dave Lewis, just seven weeks into the job, said he could no longer provide a full-year profit forecast because he did not know the full scale of Tesco’s problems or how much it would cost to rebuild the firm.
With net debt rising, the pension deficit expanding and business in its home market deteriorating rapidly, the 95-year-old group, the third largest grocery chain in the world, said it was looking at all options to raise cash.
Lewis, 49, told investors there were no easy answers and they should not expect the presentation of a single new over-arching strategy but rather a series of incremental improvements that would be felt over time.
Shares in the group fell 5.7% to an 11-year low, wiping 800 million pounds off its market capitalisation.
“Our business is operating in challenging times,” said Lewis, who joined Tesco from one of its main suppliers, Unilever. “Trading conditions are tough and our underlying profitability is under pressure.”
“The UK, the balance sheet, trust and transparency and the brand of the business will be the priorities for now.”
Chairman Richard Broadbent, accused by many investors of poor corporate governance during his three-year tenure, said he planned to step down once the new management and business plan were in place.
Tesco said the overall impact from the incorrect booking of income was 263 million pounds, up from an original estimate of 250 million pounds. When adding one-off costs such as the accounting hole and an impairment charge, its first-half profit was down 91%.
Of the 263 million pounds, around 145 million came from prior years, Tesco said. A spokesman said the figure was not big enough to require those previous results to be restated. The accounting mistakes will affect Tesco’s second half, however.
“PRETTY HORRIBLE”
Tesco, founded by Jack Cohen on a market stall in east London in 1919, grew rapidly through the 1990s to dominate the British high street under the stewardship of Ian MacLaurin and Terry Leahy.
But it lost its way in the late 2000s as it cut back on investment at home to expand abroad. It then further damaged its appeal by favouring investors over shoppers with price hikes during the economic downturn in an attempt to shield profits.
To compound matters, a group once renowned for its ability to gauge the needs of the British shopper failed to adapt quickly enough to changing habits.
Tesco now finds itself squeezed by fierce competition from discounters Aldi and Lidl at the lower end of the market, and by rivals such as Waitrose and Marks & Spencer at the top.
The big out-of-town stores it long championed are now also out of fashion, with more people preferring to shop little and often at local stores or online, meaning the group is set to report its third straight year of decline in trading profit.
Billionaire Warren Buffett recently cut his stake in Tesco to less than 3 percent from 4 percent after calling the purchase a “huge mistake”.
“Tesco doesn’t need to be the big sprawling business that it is,” another large shareholder told Reuters on condition of anonymity. “They should be in contraction mode.
“(The accounting issue) is still pretty horrible … and it’s not closed off yet.”
The results showed the scale of the crisis.
Second-quarter organic sales in Tesco’s home market, excluding fuel and VAT sales tax, fell 5.5 percent. That compared with a 3.8 percent drop in the first quarter, which was described at the time as the worst performance in 40 years.
Net debt rose to 7.5 billion pounds from 7 billion pounds a year earlier, and compared with an equity value of 14 billion pounds. The pension deficit ballooned by 800 million pounds in six months to 3.4 billion pounds.
“Tesco has had quite a few years of challenge and disappointment,” said Shore Capital analyst Clive Black. “However, we can never recall a period so damaging to the reputation of the company as the first half, 2015.”
TOUGH DECISIONS
Asked if he would need to turn to shareholders for cash, Lewis said the group was reviewing all options, but that it believed it could raise significant funds by saving costs and selling assets, before a capital raise would be considered.
That is likely to be popular with investors who have told Reuters they would rather the group sold or floated assets, such as its operations in Asia and central and eastern Europe, before they would consider a rights issue.
Lewis said he had been visiting his British stores to get an idea of how shoppers view the retailer, but that the accounting probe had left him with no time to visit stores abroad, which he planned to do next week.
Tesco Asia, one of the assets that could be sold or spun off, saw trading profit fall 9.2%. The Europe business was up 42%, but that was from a low base, and it is thought to have fewer potential buyers.
DNA reveals Neanderthals and humans first mated some 50,000 years ago
Researchers have used the DNA extracted from the 45,000-year-old bone of a man from Siberia to find the time when the interbreeding between modern humans and Neanderthals took place.
It is to be noted that Neanderthals, who once lived in Europe and Asia until they went extinct about 40,000 years ago, are the closest extinct relatives of modern humans.
The researchers claimed that the new study revealed that interbreeding took place between Neanderthals and modern humans when the latter started spreading out of Africa. According to researchers, around 1.5 to 2.1 percent of the DNA of anyone living outside Africa today is Neanderthal in origin.
The researchers were yet to confirm when interbreeding between modern humans and Neanderthals occurred. Previous estimates of these events ranged from 37,000 to 86,000 years ago.
This mystery was solved by analyzing the shaft of a thighbone found by an artist and mammoth ivory collector, Nikolai Peristov, on the left bank of the river Irtysh near the settlement of Ust’-Ishim in western Siberia in 2008. The researchers calculated the bone of the man was about 45,000 years old.
“This is the earliest directly dated modern human outside of Africa and the Middle East, and the oldest modern human [genome] to have been sequenced,” study co-author Janet Kelso, a computational biologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, told Live Science.
Earlier, it was suggested by researchers that Asia was first colonized by humans as they traveled using a more southern, coastal route that gave rise to the present-day people of Oceania.
The fact the researchers find direct evidence for the presence of a modern human in Siberia 45,000 years ago “indicates that early modern human migrations into Eurasia were not solely via a southern route as has been previously suggested,” Kelso said.
