Blears fear over community tensions
Blears fear over community tensions
Increasingly hard times can give rise to "myths" about immigrants' entitlements which must be challenged if they are not to take hold, she said.
"It could go either way," the Communities Secretary told a newspaper.
"You either end up as a fragmented society, or you come out of it stronger."
She also voiced concern about the uphill task facing the Government in getting some people back into work.
"What worries me is that some people are no longer active participants in their own lives," she said. "We've done a lot of the physical regeneration, estates have changed, and things have improved, but it's the people bit.
"I just worry that that sense of ambition that people had...it's not there."
Ms Blears went on that there was a danger that community resentments could grow as the economic conditions got worse.
"The evidence is that where resources are scarce, then unless you make positive attempts to bring people together, to get information out, for people to understand entitlement and who gets what, then these myths can grow up and become received wisdom," she said.
"The far right use it to get divisions between people."
Israel is 'nearing Gaza goals'
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said Israel is nearing the goals of its military campaign in the Gaza Strip, as he signalled it would continue.
He urged more patience and effort, as Israel's troops reportedly engaged in fierce fighting in Gaza City.
The Israeli army said reserve units were in place in Gaza, but this did not signal a "new push" against militants.
Palestinian medics say 879 people have been killed during the 16-day conflict. Thirteen Israelis have died.
Palestinian sources said 29 people were killed across Gaza on Sunday - 17 in Gaza City.
Israeli officials said at least 12 rockets were fired by Palestinian militants into southern Israel.
Two Norwegian doctors, who have been working in the Gaza Strip, say the main hospital is close to collapse, and that patients are dying because of a lack of specialist doctors and basic medical equipment.
Doctors Mads Gilbert and Erik Fosse said half of their patients were civilians, some of them young children with shrapnel and blast wounds.
They also said 12 ambulance staff had been killed in shelling, despite their clearly-marked vehicles.
'Impressive gains'
As Israel's cabinet met in Jerusalem to consider its next move, Prime Minister Olmert said: "This is a time to translate our achievements into the goals we have set."
He praised the military's "impressive gains " in Gaza, adding: "Israel is nearing the goals which it set itself, but more patience, determination and effort is still demanded."
Referring to last week's UN Security Council call for an immediate ceasefire, Mr Olmert said "nobody should be allowed to decide for us if we are allowed to strike". Both Hamas and Israel have rejected the UN resolution.
In Cairo, Egypt's state news agency reported progress in talks between Egypt and Hamas, without providing details.
Talks between Hamas and Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman were described by an unnamed intelligence official as "positive".
Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, now Middle East envoy for the Quartet - the US, EU, UN and Russia - is due to meet Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo on Monday morning.
Confirmation that reservists have been deployed in Gaza came a day after Israel dropped leaflets and left phone messages warning Gazans to stay away from areas used by Hamas, saying that its operation would soon enter "phase three".
Late on Sunday, an Israeli army spokesman said: "More and more [reserve soldiers] have been incorporated into the operations. This is not to suggest that there is a big new push."
The Israeli army meanwhile denied deploying white phosphorus bombs in Gaza, after Palestinian medics said they had treated patients for burns caused by the munition.
Army spokesman Capt Guy Spigelman told the BBC that Israel "categorically denied" using white phosphorus in Gaza, saying other "smoke bombs and flares" were being deployed.
Israel began Operation Cast Lead as a six-month truce between it and Hamas unravelled. It comes weeks before a parliamentary election in Israel.
Israel hopes the scale of its operation will greatly reduce the number of missiles fired from Gaza onto Israeli towns, and also erode support for Hamas.
Humanitarian crisis
The Islamist movement won elections in Palestinian territories in 2006 before seizing control of Gaza a year later, ousting its secular Palestinian rival Fatah, which now holds sway in parts of the West Bank.
On Sunday militants fired a barrage of rockets from Gaza, two of which struck 42km (26 miles) inside southern Israel at the city of Beersheba, causing damage but no casualties.
In clashes in Gaza City, at least 10 Palestinians died in a gun battle involving Israeli forces, while at least five Palestinian civilians were killed by Israeli tank fire further north at Beit Lahiya, said medical officials.
The home of Ahmed Jabari, the head of Hamas's military wing, was destroyed in an air strike at Shujaia, a suburb of densely-populated Gaza City, according to the Israeli military.
Israel is preventing international journalists from entering the coastal strip, and none of the incidents can be independently confirmed.
Israel said its warplanes had also bombed sites on the Egypt-Gaza frontier near the town of Rafah, including a mosque allegedly used as a weapons storage depot and militant training camp.
Two Egyptian policemen were injured on Sunday by shrapnel flying through the fence from Israeli rockets landing on the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing.
Its ground forces were involved in a "number of incidents" as they pushed into the south of Gaza City and reached a key junction to its north, the Israeli military said.
Reports quoted Hamas and the smaller militant group Islamic Jihad as saying they had ambushed the Israelis, engaging them in heavy fighting.
Many Gaza City civilians have reportedly fled their homes. Aid agencies say Gaza's 1.5 million residents are in urgent need of food and medical aid.
On Sunday pro-Palestine demonstrations continued across Europe and the Middle East.
BBC
Woman dies following childbirth
A woman has died following the birth of her baby at Kerry General Hospital in Tralee.
The HSE has confirmed that the woman, who was in her 30s, died in the hospital this morning.
The HSE say a full review of the circumstances surrounding the woman's death will be carried out.
The Coroner's Office has been contacted and a post mortem examination will be carried out on the woman's body tomorrow to determine the cause of death.
The baby is in a serious condition in the hospital.
The family are not from the Tralee area.
RTE
HSE report recommends A&E cuts
A HSE report into hospital services in the Mid-West has recommended that 24-hour A&E services be provided by only one hospital in the region.
The report recommends that full A&E services in the region be retained only at the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Limerick.
It says that 24-hour A&E services at Ennis and Nenagh Hospitals are to be replaced by Local Emergency Centres and Medical Assessment units.
The report says many patients attending A&E units to date could have been more appropriately dealt with by a GP out-of-hours service.
In a statement, the HSE says the existing hospital structure was poorly configured.
However, Labour has criticised the Executive for not publishing the report earlier to facilitate public debate on the changes.
RTE
Gilmore wants early election over economy
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore has called for a General Election as part of efforts to battle the economic recession.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio's This Week, Mr Gilmore said the start of the recovery would be to get rid of a Government that he said was incompetent.
He said Government spending cuts would have to be made to help the economy but only as part of a package that would stimulate the economy, safeguard employment and get unemployed people back to work.
Also on the programme, the General Secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, David Begg, has said he has been alarmed at some of the recent public discussions on the issue of severe public service cuts.
He said such wage cuts would take money out of the economy, and run the danger of creating deflation.
Mr Begg said if the private sector then followed any such pay cuts, this could deepen any deflationary spiral.
He said ICTU recognised that the growth in the cost of public expenditure has to be looked at extremely seriously.
He said Congress had suggested to the Taoiseach yesterday that he consider a social solidarity pact that would deal how the country would position itself in the medium term in order to survive what he said would be 'a rocky road ahead'.
RTE
Women-only gene link to dementia
Scientists have found a genetic risk factor for late onset Alzheimer's disease which is carried only by women.
The discovery is the first evidence to suggest that genetics may partly explain why more women than men tend to develop the disease.
The key variant was found in a gene on the X chromosome, of which females have two copies, but males only one.
The study, by the US-based Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, features in the journal Nature Genetics.
The Mayo team carried out a detailed genetic analysis of patients with Alzheimer's diease.
They identified a particular variant of a gene called PCDH11X which appeared to be closely linked to a higher risk of the disease.
However, further analysis showed that the association was almost entirely restricted to women.
The raised risk of Alzheimer's was not statistically significant in men who carried one copy of the rogue gene variant, and only marginally so in women with just one copy.
But the raised risk was much more significant in women who carried two copies - one inherited from each parent.
Cell communication
PCDH11X controls production of a protein called a protocadherin, part of a family of molecules that help cells in the central nervous system to communicate with each other.
Some evidence has suggested that protocadherins may be broken down by an enzyme which has been linked to some forms of Alzheimer's disease.
Lead researcher Dr Steven Younkin said it was likely that many genes contributed to the overall risk of Alzheimer's, and that age was probably a more significant factor.
He said: "It is exciting to find a new gene for Alzheimer's, particularly the first that has a gender-specific effect, but we have a lot more work to do to resolve the complex genetics of the disease."
Rebecca Wood, of the Alzheimer's Research Trust, described the research as "important".
She said: "Finding genes associated with Alzheimer's will tell researchers about the biology of the disease, which could lead to new treatments being developed.
"At present, the cause of Alzheimer's is unknown, but it is likely that a mixture of environmental and genetic factors is involved.
"Two thirds of people with dementia are women, but this is partly because women live longer and risk of developing dementia increases with age."
Neil Hunt, of the Alzheimer's Society, said research by his organisation showed that twice as many women than men over 65 have dementia.
"It is likely that a combination of factors cause Alzheimer's disease. Genetics play a part, but whilst dementia isn't a natural part of ageing, age is the biggest risk factor."
It is estimated that 700,000 people in the UK have dementia.
BBC
Israeli reservists sent to Gaza
Israel has confirmed that reserve units have been sent to the Gaza Strip, as its campaign there enters a 17th day.
But military officials denied this heralded a new phase in Israel's offensive against Hamas militants.
Earlier, PM Ehud Olmert said Israel was nearing its military goals and operations would go on.
Israel says it carried out 12 overnight airstrikes. One rocket attack was reported from Gaza on Monday morning but there were none overnight.
Previous nights have seen as many as 60 pre-dawn Israeli strikes.
Reports suggest diplomatic efforts between Egypt and Hamas in Cairo are progressing, as envoy Tony Blair heads to the city for talks on Monday.
Nearly 900 Gazans have been killed during the conflict, Palestinian medics say. Israel says 13 Israelis have died.
Nearly 40 people were killed across Gaza on Sunday, Palestinian sources said - 17 in Gaza City, as Israel's troops reportedly engaged in fierce fighting there.
Israel is preventing international journalists from entering the coastal strip, making it impossible to independently confirm such figures.
Israel hopes the scale of its operation will greatly reduce the number of missiles fired from Gaza into southern Israel, while eroding support for Hamas.
Militants fired more than 20 rockets on Sunday, slightly injuring three people, but no more rockets were fired overnight.
'No panic'
Confirming the deployment of reserve soldiers, Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev told the BBC reservists had been called up "a few days back" to augment its forces.
"We're keeping the military pressure up on Hamas, we think our pressure has been effective and continues to be effective in taking apart their military machine," he said.
The Israeli military said some reservists were being used to refresh troops currently in action in Gaza, but that this did not yet constitute an escalation of the campaign.
Brig Gen Avi Benayahu, Israel's chief military spokesman, said thousands more - who are to comprise a new, expanded phase in the ground operation - were still in training and had not been deployed.
On Sunday Israel dropped new leaflets into Gaza and left phone messages warning Gazans to stay away from areas used by Hamas, saying its operation would soon enter "phase three", the Associated Press reported.
In Cairo, talks between Hamas and Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman were described by an unnamed intelligence official as "positive", the state news agency reported, without providing details.
Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, now Middle East envoy for the Quartet - the US, EU, UN and Russia - is due to meet Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo on Monday morning.
On Sunday, after an Israeli cabinet meeting in Jerusalem to consider the country's next move, Mr Olmert praised the military's "impressive gains" in Gaza and said it was time to "translate our achievements into the goals we have set".
"Israel is nearing the goals which it set itself, but more patience, determination and effort is still demanded."
Referring to last week's UN Security Council call for an immediate ceasefire, Mr Olmert said "nobody should be allowed to decide for us if we are allowed to strike".
Both Hamas and Israel have rejected the UN resolution.
Civilian patients
In Gaza the main hospital is close to collapse, according to two Norwegian doctors who have been working there during the conflict.
They said patients at al-Shifa hospital are dying because of a lack of specialist doctors and basic medical equipment.
Doctors Mads Gilbert and Erik Fosse said half of their patients were civilians, some of them young children with shrapnel and blast wounds.
They told the BBC that 12 ambulance staff had been killed in shelling, despite their clearly-marked vehicles.
Frequent power cuts mean surgeons are having to perform some operations by torchlight, they said.
"I think we could sum it by saying that it's been a living hell for the Palestinians," said Dr Gilbert.
Aid agencies say Gaza's 1.5 million residents are in urgent need of food and medical aid.
Meanwhile, Israel's army denied deploying white phosphorus bombs in Gaza, after Palestinian medics said they had treated patients for burns caused by the munitions.
Israel began Operation Cast Lead just weeks before parliamentary elections in the country, as a six-month truce with Hamas unravelled.
The Islamist movement won elections in the Palestinian territories in 2006 before seizing control of Gaza a year later, ousting its secular Palestinian rival Fatah, which now holds sway in parts of the West Bank.
On Sunday, Israel said its warplanes bombed sites on the Egypt-Gaza frontier near the town of Rafah, including a mosque allegedly used as a weapons storage depot.
Two Egyptian policemen were injured by shrapnel flying through the fence from Israeli rockets landing on the Gaza side of the border crossing.
BBC
