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[OMEN]

Millions of pensioners and vulnerable people around the UK have become eligible for cold weather payments.

The £25-a-week assistance is triggered when an area's average temperature falls or is forecast to fall to 0C or below for seven consecutive days.

Forecasts for the London area mean 600,000 people are eligible for fuel help for the first time in a decade.

As the Arctic snap continues to bite, the freeze has restricted water supplies in Rhondda Fach, South Wales.

Welsh Water apologised, saying the freezing conditions had "severely restricted" supplies feeding a local treatment works. There would be occasional loss of supply or discoloured water, but it was safe to drink, they said.

Tankers were bringing water in to the area, bowsers would be put in "key locations" and bottled water distributed to customers with special needs and mothers with young babies, added the firm.

Pensioner warning

Forecasters say temperatures will stay below zero in many parts of the UK.

Lows of -8C (17.6F) have been forecast for much of southern England and Wales, with temperatures dropping to -10C in rural Hampshire and Surrey overnight.

The mercury dropped to -11C in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, and in Shap, Cumbria, on Monday night.

The £15m for Londoners means weather payments have topped £100m this winter.

Charities have warned that the elderly and sick urgently need financial help with heating bills to prevent avoidable deaths.

Britain's biggest pensioner group - the National Pensioners Convention - said 12 pensioners could die every hour during the cold snap.

'Extra help'

On Tuesday, the Department for Work and Pensions said cold weather payments had now been triggered at 52 weather stations around the UK since the start of this winter.

With freezing conditions sweeping across the UK, payments are being made from Aviemore in Scotland to Bedford in southern England.
The payment, which goes to people in receipt of certain benefits - mainly pensioners, severely disabled people and families with a young or severely disabled child - rose this year from £8.50 to £25-a-week for each spell of cold weather.

It is paid automatically to those who qualify, including the estimated 2.7m households in receipt of pension credit.

Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell said: "We don't want people to worry about turning up their heating when it's cold.

"That is why we've trebled the cold weather payment to £25, to put money in the pockets of the people who need it most.

"Millions of vulnerable people and pensioners are now in line for this extra help after the recent cold snap."

Winter deaths

The increased cold weather payments are one part of a package of measures announced by the government this winter.

This year's Christmas bonus for pensioners and disabled people, which will be paid between January and March, has increased from £10 to £70.
And an extra £575m has been spent on winter fuel payments, with £250 for those in households with someone aged 60 or over, and £400 for those with someone aged 80 plus.

Meanwhile, Help the Aged has warned that the death rate rises by 1% to 2% for every temperature drop of 1C.

Older people and those weakened by illness are particularly susceptible to cold-related illness and death.

The Office for National Statistics said that from December 2007 to March 2008 there were an extra 25,300 deaths in England and Wales compared with the average for non-winter months - a 7% increase on the previous year's figure.

However, the figure was still some way short of the increase in deaths seen in the winters of the late 1990s when totals hit nearly 50,000 as flu swept Britain.

'Suffer needlessly'

The National Pensioners Convention has called on the government to double the winter fuel allowance.

NPC general secretary Joe Harris said: "Up to three million pensioner households are currently spending more than 10% of their income on fuel bills and are living in fuel poverty.

"Energy efficiency schemes won't help them pay their bills this month and neither will they prevent tens of thousands of pensioners dying from the cold this winter."

Macmillan Cancer Support is also calling on the government to extend the payments to those with cancer.

Chief executive Ciaran Devane said: "Cancer patients of all ages continue to suffer needlessly because of this dreadfully cold weather.

"They tell us they feel the cold more because of treatment and have to spend more time at home. And throughout this, their fuel bills soar whilst their household income has dropped."

BBC

[OMEN]

The new US Congress has opened, amid a row as the choice to fill President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat was blocked from the chamber's floor.

Senate Democrats had vowed to prevent Roland Burris taking the Illinois seat because he was picked by scandal-hit Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

Mr Burris said officials turned him away when he arrived to be sworn in.

The Democrats are in charge of both chambers and about to welcome one of their own into the White House.

But correspondents say Democratic celebrations are likely to be muted amid the scale of the economic challenges facing the US.

Mr Obama, who takes office on 20 January, is pressing Congress to pass a stimulus package said to be worth $800bn (£550bn).

Snubbed

Unresolved wrangling over two Senate seats cast a shadow over the first day of the new Congress.

In his speech opening the session, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid stated that Mr Burris was "not in possession of the necessary credentials from the state of Illinois".

Illinois's secretary of state has so far refused to co-sign the letter of appointment from Mr Blagojevich, as required by Senate rules.

Speaking to reporters outside the Capitol earlier on Tuesday, Mr Burris said: "I presented my credentials to the secretary of the Senate, and was advised that my credentials were not in order."

Mr Burris, a former attorney-general for Illinois, said he was not seeking a confrontation but was looking at options for taking the seat. He would now consult his lawyers, he said.
Timothy Wright, a lawyer acting for Mr Burris, said his client had been prevented from proceeding to the floor of the Senate to take the oath of office, a move they believed was illegal.

On Tuesday morning, Mr Burris told CBS TV that there was no substance to arguments that his appointment was invalid or inappropriate.

Mr Blagojevich is facing calls for his impeachment over allegations he tried to "sell" Mr Obama's vacant Senate seat. He denies any wrongdoing.

The BBC's Justin Webb in Washington says the row over Mr Burris's appointment is a messy situation which will probably not be resolved for months.

Some people would like there to be a special election for the vacant Senate seat, our correspondent says, but it would be expensive and some Democrats fear the Republicans could win it.

The other seat at issue involves Minnesota, which has still not completely resolved the Senate election it held on 4 November.

On Monday officials certified that after a recount Democrat Al Franken had won by 225 votes, but his Republican opponent Norm Coleman has seven days to challenge the result in the courts.

No-one will be declared a winner until Mr Coleman's legal fight is complete.

After November's congressional elections, the Democrats have 56 seats in the Senate, not counting Minnesota, plus two independents who vote with them. The Republicans have 41 seats.

Sixty votes are needed to override procedural moves to block legislation, known as a filibuster.

In the House of Representatives, the Democrats have 256 members to the Republicans' 178, with one seat vacant, expanding the Democrats' control.

'Bold action'

Tuesday's session, the opening of the two-year session of the 111th Congress, will see new members sworn in. Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Representative for California, will be elected for a second term as speaker of the House.

Congress often goes into recess until a new president takes office or after the State of the Union policy address at the end of January.

But, with economic problems mounting, the Democrats have said they will move quickly to try to pass a fiscal rescue package.

They had hoped to have it ready for Mr Obama to sign into law when he takes office but now admit it will not be ready until mid-February.

Mr Obama met congressional leaders on Monday, calling for quick and bold action.

"The economy is very sick," he said. "We have to act and act now to break the momentum of this recession."

US media reports say the president-elect is planning a package of some $800bn, including $300bn in tax cuts.

BBC

[OMEN]

German billionaire Adolf Merckle, who was in talks with banks to save his troubled industrial empire, has died from suicide.

The 74-year-old was hit by a train near his home town of Blaubeuren, southeast of Stuttgart, yesterday evening.

His family confirmed today that the tycoon had taken his own life.
Mr Merckle was listed as the world's 36th richest man three years ago, with assets estimated then at over €8bn, but that had more recently fallen to about €6.8bn.

However, he also suffered major losses on Volkswagen shares last year, forcing him into talks with banks to save his industrial empire.

Mr Merckle developed his Bohemian grandfather's chemical wholesale company into Germany's largest pharmaceutical wholesaler, Phoenix Pharmahandel AG, in which the Merckle Group held a 57% stake.

Phoenix has sales of about €16bn annually.

The family also owns generic drug maker Ratiopharm Group.

He and his family had more recently become big investors in Heidelberg Cement, one of the world's leading cement producers, and have stakes in companies that make all-terrain vehicles, software systems, textiles and cane sugar.

Late last month, Mr Merckle had taken a first step out of a financial crisis triggered by losses in speculative share trading.

His VEM holding company said he had reached a deal with 40 banks giving him a short reprieve from repaying loans which were due at Christmas.

Talks on a new bridging loan and 'sustainable' refinancing were due to close in January.

But it appeared likely that Mr Merckle would have to pledge as collateral some or all of his assets, which included 80% of Heidelberger Cement, all of Ratiopharm and Phoenix.

RTE

[scorpionf]

A pair of teenage lovers have suffocated after leaving the engine running during a late-night sex session in the back of their car.

Austrian couple Reinhard Wallecker, 18, and Stefanie Tanzer, 17, reportedly snuck into the garage at the young man's family home to find some privacy from his parents.

But with temperatures reaching a freezing -15 degrees, the teenage lovers are believed to have started the engine of his Mazda 323 in order to turn on the heater.

They weren't discovered until the following morning when Stefanie's concerned father broke into the garage after his daughter failed to return home.

Both were dead from carbon-monoxide poisoning.

Stefanie's father and paramedics failed in their efforts to revive the teen couple.

"It is just so tragic. Everyone here knew how in love they were," the Daily Mail reported a neighbour as saying.

"They were always being seen around town kissing and cuddling.

"No one can believe this has happened."

A similar incident occured at a German ski resort last year.

A 21-year-old Austrian waitress was found dead in the arms of a work colleague parked at the hotel where they both worked.


- ninemsn

[OMEN]

Temperatures plunged to -12C (10.4F) overnight, on the coldest night so far of Britain's big freeze.

The low was at Benson, in Oxfordshire, as the cold snap of the last eight days is forecast to last into the weekend.

The water supply to about 6,000 homes in the Rhondda valley, south Wales, continues to be affected after pipes feeding a treatment works froze.

The Met Office has issued warnings of icy roads in eastern Northern Ireland, north-west England and Kent.

The BBC Weather Centre said snow and freezing rain were set to spread from northern England and Northern Ireland to the Midlands and south-east England.

BBC forecaster Chris Fawkes said: "The thing we're most worried about this morning is icy roads in these areas."

During the day temperatures will rise to 2C (35.6F) to 3C (37.4F) across the UK and there will be more cloud.

Freezing conditions

About 30 schools are closed in Cumbria because of snow and 15 remain shut in parts of north, west and south Wales.
Meanwhile, the National Pensioner Convention warned that 12 pensioners could die every hour during the cold snap.

It called on the government to double the winter fuel allowance to £500 for every household and introduce an industry-wide tariff for older customers.

The current freezing conditions have been caused by Arctic air sweeping across Scandinavia and over the North Sea.

But temperatures are still a long way off the record low of -27C (-16.6F) in northern Scotland 14 years ago.

Weather pay-outs

Millions of pensioners and vulnerable people around the UK have become eligible for cold weather payments.
The Department for Work and Pensions said cold weather payments had now been triggered at 52 weather stations around the UK since the start of this winter.

The payment, which goes to people in receipt of certain benefits - mainly pensioners, severely disabled people and families with a young or severely disabled child - rose this year from £8.50 to £25-a-week for each spell of cold weather.

It is paid automatically to those who qualify, including the estimated 2.7m households in receipt of pension credit.

BBC

[OMEN]

The terrorist threat to the UK has been reduced after a series of successful prosecutions, MI5's chief has said.

Jonathan Evans said the 86 prosecutions in the last two years had a "chilling effect on the enthusiasm of terror networks" who planned major attacks.

But he said al-Qaeda remains determined to carry out attacks in the UK.

And he said the worldwide economic downturn could bring new threats to national security - as it would bring a "new alignment" in global affairs.

'Watershed moments'

He said there had been 86 successful prosecutions in terror trials since January 2007, and more than half of the accused had pleaded guilty.

"That has had a chilling effect. We have probably seen fewer 'late-stage' attack plans over the last 18 months," he said.

But he added: "There is enough intelligence to show they [the terror networks] have the intention to mount an attack here.

"There is a significant number of individuals in active sympathy. They are doing things like fund-raising, helping people to travel to Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia."

Speaking on the centenary of the creation of MI5, Mr Evans said the security service would be looking at the global economic crisis.

"Where there have been watershed moments, there have often been national security implications from that - a new alignment," he said.

"We have to maintain flexibility and respond to threats. The world will not stay the same."

BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera said it was "unusual and unprecedented" for a director general of MI5 to give an interview.

Our correspondent added Mr Evans had said there was no single path to extremism, but foreign policy remained a factor.

"Mr Evans predicted the Israeli incursion into Gaza, as well as the conflict in Afghanistan would be used by extremists to try and radicalise indiciduals," he said.

BBC

[OMEN]

Rail passengers are facing long delays after a power failure halted all trains in and out of London Euston.

London Midland and Virgin services to and from Euston have been suspended after cables came down in north-west London as a train was passing through.

Travel to Birmingham and north-west England is affected, as are regular commuter lines in and out of London.

Engineers are working to fix the lines and Network Rail said it hoped to have a limited service restored soon.

When lines reopen Virgin is expecting to operate a reduced service of two trains per hour from Euston to Birmingham and Manchester and one an hour to Chester, Liverpool and Glasgow.

London Midland will also run a reduced service.

A spokesman said a string of problems on the West Coast Main Line in recent days appeared to be unrelated and "unfortunate coincidences", but added that they were being investigated.

The affected stretch of line is between North Wembley and Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, following the incident at Kenton on Tuesday evening.
Passengers have been urged to delay their journeys until later in the day where possible.

Virgin Trains, which runs services from London to Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow, said trains were not expected to be up and running at Euston until the afternoon.

It said: "All services in and out of London Euston remain suspended due to damage to the overhead power lines in the Wembley/Watford areas.

"Network Rail is working to carry out repairs on site and while this is happening no train services are able to operate.

"Passengers are strongly advised to delay their journeys until later in the day, wherever possible."

BBC transport correspondent Tom Symonds said Virgin Trains had described the situation as a mess.

The train firm told him problems on the west coast line meant 70% of trains had been running late since the start of the new year.
Virgin Trains services are stopping furthest south at Milton Keynes with bus replacements laid on to get people into London, Network Rail said.

London Midland services are stopping between Northampton and Hemel Hempstead.

Samantha Buckley, 21, had returned from a skiing holiday in France and expected to catch the 0820 GMT Manchester Piccadilly service home to Wilmslow, Cheshire.

"I don't really know what's going on. I don't know what I'll do now," she said.

Twins Alastair and Rory Mitchell, 23, from Fulham, south west London, had been due to catch the 0830 GMT Virgin service to Glasgow to visit a friend.
The brothers said they now planned to go to King's Cross station to catch a different service to Scotland.

Joanne Brown, 40, from Beckenham, south east London, was booked on the 0903 GMT Virgin service to Birmingham New Street for a morning business meeting.

"I'm fed up. We pay a lot of money to travel. If I'd known yesterday, I would have driven up there."

The latest power failure comes after travellers were disrupted on Monday as engineers worked through the night to repair damaged power lines which had stopped trains running on the West Coast Main Line.

And on Saturday the West Coast Main Line was closed when a plane ploughed into it in Little Haywood, near Stafford, at noon on Friday.

The crash claimed three lives and left thousands of rail passengers stranded as services were brought to a halt.

BBC