News International executives should face possibility of jail, says MP
22.05.2012, 19:42:03
Labour frontbencher Chris Bryant makes call as Les Hinton, Tom Crone and Colin Myler referred to standards watchdog Parliament should be prepared to jail a series of former News International executives for some of the most "flagrant" examples of contempt of parliament, the Labour frontbencher Chris Bryant said on Tuesday. As MPs agreed to refer the executives to the Commons standards watchdog, Bryant said the House of Commons should consider whether to jail or fine the executives. Bryant, who has played a leading role in exposing illegal practices at News International, was speaking as MPs debated the recent report by the House of Commons culture select committee which accused three News International executives of giving misleading evidence. MPs decided without a vote and after a short debate to refer the committee report to the commons standards and privileges committee. Last month's report said: o Les Hinton, the former chief executive of News International chief executive, "misled the committee in 2009 in not telling the truth about payments to [the jailed former News of the World royal editor] Clive Goodman and his role in authorising them, including the payment of his legal fee". o Tom Crone, the company's former legal affairs manager, "misled the committee in 2009 by giving a counter-impression of the significance of confidentiality in the [Professional Footballers' Association chief executive] Gordon Taylor settlement ... and sought to mislead the committee about the commissioning of surveillance". o Crone and the former NoW editor Colin Myler "misled the committee by answering questions falsely about their knowledge of evidence that other News of the World employees had been involved in phone-hacking and other wrongdoing". o The News of the World and News International "corporately ... misled the committee about the true nature and extent of the internal investigations they professed to have carried out in relation to phone hacking". John Whittingdale, the Conservative chairman of the committee, told MPs on Tuesday: "We are under no illusion: these are serious matters. The conclusions we have reached bear profound consequences. I am not entirely clear what those consequences are, but there is no question but that these are very serious matters. "It was also brought to our attention that those individuals should have a right to rebut the charges and to respond to them. We respected that, and we therefore felt that the right procedure was to refer the matter to the standards and privileges committee, so that it had an opportunity to consider the evidence that led to our findings and to consider the responses that have already been given by two of the individuals named. On that basis, I ask the house to refer the committee's report and the evidence we received to the standards and privileges committee." Bryant believed the case would be seen as "one of the most flagrant examples of a contempt of parliament in parliament's history". He told MPs: "It is not just that it was one person at one time, it was not just that it was one organisation for a brief period of time, it's that a whole series of people systematically, repeatedly lied so as to protect themselves, to protect their commercial interests and to try and make sure they didn't end up going to prison - that they did fully knowing that they were telling lies to parliament. That, I believe, is a fundamental contempt." But many MPs have complained that rules governing parliamentary privileges are unclear. There have been suggestions that the Commons may not be able to impose sanctions if the standards and privileges committee endorse the findings of the culture secretary. Bryant said the sanctions should be clear. He said: "I believe that this house and the committee itself should consider in turn, firstly whether or not the three individuals mentioned, and corporately News International should be summoned to this house. I believe that it must still be an important power for this house. "Secondly, they should consider whether individuals should be fined, not least because there have been considerable expenses incurred by parliament and the prosecuting authorities by the process of lying to parliament, and thirdly, it has to be right whether or not to imprison. "If this had happened in the Scottish parliament, it would have gone on to imprisonment, if it had been a contempt of court it would have led to imprisonment, if it had been perjury of a court, it would have led to imprisonment." News International Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers Phone hacking News of the World Les Hinton Colin Myler Tom Crone Chris Bryant Labour House of Commons Nicholas Watt guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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Jobseekers who reject help for alcohol and drug addiction face benefits cut
22.05.2012, 19:00:38
Iain Duncan Smith to signal measures allowing Jobcentre Plus staff to dock allowances for claimants who refuse treatment Unemployed people suspected of suffering from alcoholism or drug addiction will have their benefits cut if they refuse treatment for their condition, the work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, will signal on Wednesday. In a sign of the government's new benefits regime, which lies at the heart of Duncan Smith's cost-cutting welfare changes, staff in Jobcentre Plus offices will be encouraged to cut the jobseeker's allowance of claimants who reject treatment for addiction. The new rules will come into place in October 2013 when the universal credit, which is designed to wrap benefits into one payment, is introduced. A new claimant contract lies at the heart of the universal credit reforms. Claimants will have to sign a contract in which they agree to look for work in exchange for an undertaking from the government to support them while they do so. Government sources said the contract would allow Jobcentre Plus staff to say that a suspected addict is in breach of their commitments if they refuse help for alcoholism or drug addiction. Duncan Smith will give a flavour of the new rules when he addresses an event in parliament organised by Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). He will say: "The outdated benefits system fails to get people off drugs and put their lives on track. We have started changing how addicts are supported, but we must go further to actively take on the devastation that drugs and alcohol can cause. "Under universal credit we want to do more to encourage and support claimants into rehabilitation for addiction and starting them on the road to recovery and eventually work. Getting people into work and encouraging independence is our ultimate goal. Universal credit will put people on a journey towards a sustainable recovery so they are better placed to look for work in future and we will be outlining our plans shortly." It is understood that the work and pensions secretary will not make a formal announcement on Wednesday of the powers that will be handed to Jobcentre Plus staff. Duncan Smith wants to use the event to focus on what he regards as the positive work AA does in helping to treat alcoholism. A government source said: "Iain wants to focus on the brilliant work Alcoholics Anonymous does in changing people's lives. He really wants to encourage people who have drink problems to go to AA for treatment. It will transform their lives and will help them into work." The source said Duncan Smith believes it is right to give jobcentre staff powers to cut benefits if an addict refuses treatment because they can detect signs of trouble. The source said: "The universal credit will allow staff in Jobcentre Plus offices to say: this person has been unemployed for some time. The staff know if people are addicted to alcohol. They know the people they are dealing with. "But we want this to be positive and to be about signposting people to superb organisations that can help them. This is about changing their lives. It is very important to support addicts into the workplace." But if claimants refuse they will have their benefits docked. "There will be sanctions," the source said, citing cuts to the jobseeker's allowance as an example. Ministers believe that one indicator Jobcentre Plus staff can use to see whether a claimant is an addict is the amount of times they apply for a crisis loan. "If you are applying for that up to 10 times a year then that is a sign of a chaotic life," one source said. Analysis by the Department of Work and Pensions shows that almost 40,000 people claim incapacity benefit with alcoholism declared as their "primary diagnosis". Of these, 13,500 have been claiming for a decade or more. There are about 160,000 "dependent drinkers" in England who receive one or more of the main benefits. There are 1m violent crimes a year that are related to alcoholism and 1.2m admissions to hospitals a year related to alcoholism. Universal credit is the most important element of Duncan Smith's welfare reforms, developed during his years in opposition through his Centre for Social Justice, which is designed to achieve his central goal of encouraging people into work. It will integrate tax credits and out-of-work benefits into one payment, with the aim of smoothing the transition to work. Labour has given the universal credit a cautious welcome, though it has taken issue with the scale of benefit cuts. Lord Low of Dalston, the vice-president of the Royal National Institute of Blind People who sits as a crossbencher, told peers this year: "Though it has some very sensible and progressive things at its core, in the shape of the universal credit, nevertheless it goes too far to most people's consciences in the way in which it takes vital support away from some of the most needy in our society." Benefits Iain Duncan Smith Welfare Alcohol Drugs policy Drugs Health Health policy Public services policy Nicholas Watt guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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Clegg rails against British class snobbery
22.05.2012, 12:17:01
'We need an open society, in which people choose their place,' says Liberal Democrat deputy prime minister Class snobbery is holding Britain back by creating a society divided between those born with a sense of entitlement to succeed and others who are "permanently excluded", the deputy prime minister has warned. Nick Clegg quoted the historian Frank Harris saying 80 years ago that "snobbery is the religion of England", adding: "I think that statement still has more than a ring of truth today." He said: "We end up with entitlement at one end and exclusion at the other. A closed society, in which people know their place. We need an open society, in which people choose their place. As a nation we have to shake off the outdated, snobbish attitudes of class that are cramping our society and hobbling our economy." Clegg was speaking on the second day of a conference in London on social mobility, organised by the Sutton Trust foundation, an event which has already heard speeches from Ed Miliband, and the education secretary, Michael Gove. The Sutton Trust also published international research on Tuesday showing children from poorer families in Australia and Canada have a "much greater" chance of doing well at school, getting into university and earning more in later life than their peers in the UK and the US. This was despite similar income gaps in all four countries, and higher spending on education in the US and UK, said the report. One important link identified in the UK was between similar education success - or lack of it - from one generation to the next, said the trust. Quoting similar statistics to the report, Clegg said the lack of social mobility was shown by facts such as: one in five pupils were on free school meals but only one in 100 Oxbridge entrants were, and 7% of children attend independent schools, but public schools provide more than half the chief executives of Britain's top companies and 70% of high court judges. "This is a legacy we cannot afford. Morally, economically, socially, whatever your justification, the price is simply too high to pay," said Clegg. "We must create a more dynamic society. One where what matters most is the person you become, not the person you were born." He continued: "For liberals, this is core stuff. It gets to the very heart of our politics. We are a party and a creed that is defined by our belief in a fairer, more open society. For me, it's the reason I do this job." Miliband's speech on Monday addressed what he said was an often overlooked issue: the snobbery attached to university education, and called for changes to the education system and culture to give more respect to vocational qualifications as a route to improvement. Clegg said class was another issue too often "in the shadows" and "the ghost in the machine", because politicians - especially those from privileged backgrounds, among whom he included himself - were reluctant to discuss it. "I was lucky, but it should not be a question of luck," he said. He also attacked claims that making allowances for social background, for example when deciding university admissions, was "dumbing down" as one of what he called the "pernicious myths" of the debate. "At one end of the spectrum, there's almost a sense of entitlement," he said. "Entitlement to the best schools, universities and professions. Advantages are handed down almost automatically, generation to generation. The most fortunate see the horizons of their opportunities stretched far in all directions. And so from day one, they hear a clear, self-confident message. One that says: 'The world is yours. Go for it.' "I think everyone should hear that message. But too many children from less advantaged homes look at certain qualifications, educational institutions, or jobs and think: 'That's not for people like me.' Because all too often, that's the message they've heard, over and over again." Clegg also announced the publication of a Cabinet Office strategy for social mobility, updating progress in the last year on 17 different indicators from the birth weight of babies born into poor families to how far low earners progress in the labour market. For many measures it was too soon to publish statistics, but three appeared to show progress. The report also set out policies aimed at encouraging more equality of opportunity, including free nursery places for 40% of two-year-olds and £1.25bn for the pupil premium fund to help children from poorer families. In a heartfelt speech Miliband had said: "The foundation for my politics is the equal worth of every citizen. From that flows the idea that everyone should have equal chances to get on and make a better life." Nick Clegg Liberal Democrats Private schools Schools Social mobility Social exclusion Juliette Jowit guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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From the archive, 23 May 1861: 'War to the knife' in American civil war
23.05.2012, 06:30:00
As the American civil war begins, an editorial in the Manchester Guardian questions whether the Union can survive in its present form War to the knife must now be understood to be the resolution adopted, on second thoughts, by the government of the United States. We say on second thoughts, because it will be remembered that Mr. Lincoln, at the time of his inauguration, allowed no sign of a desire to push matters to this extremity. He was going, he said, to hold the property belonging to the Union in the seceded states, and to insist upon the collection of the federal revenue, but he disclaimed all intention of making war upon the self-styled Confederation of the South. May we not think that the creditable and unexpected manifestation of loyalty in the North has had more even than the aggressive movement made by the rebels at Fort Sumter to do with the change for the fiercer which has come over the spirit of the President? The effect of that change is most forcibly expressed in the first letter of instructions sent by Mr. Secretary Seward to the new American Minister at Paris, which, with the curious taste observed in American public manners, is given to the world at large before it can have been received by the foreign government to which it is virtually addressed. Hereby we are given to understand that there is to be no further parley with the rebels, who, on the contrary, are to be reduced to submission with an uncompromising sternness of resolution which even imperialism may well envy. 'You cannot,' he says, 'be too decided or explicit in making known to the French government that there is not now, nor has there been, nor will there be any, the least, idea existing in this government of suffering a dissolution of this Union to take place in any way whatever. There will be here only one nation, and one government; and there will be the same Republic and the same constitutional Union that have already survived a dozen national changes of government in almost every other country. These will stand, hereafter, as they are now, objects of human wonder and human affection.' Whatever may be the course or duration of the civil struggle, that 'the same Republic and the same constitution' which we have hitherto known should be evolved from it is not, on any hypothesis, a conceiveable issue. To predict such results with the precision and emphasis which he employs, may possibly seem to Mr. Seward's countrymen an inspiriting example of courage in the face of difficulties; but we regret to say that our own experience does not induce us to associate such vain affectations with clearness of purpose or consciousness of strength. We shall, perhaps, be reminded that opinions and intentions declared by an American Secretary of State ought not to be judged so literally as avowals of a corresponding kind given to the world under the hands of English Ministers. It may be that Mr. Seward means to say not exactly what his government is bent on doing or thinks itself capable of accomplishing, but what it knows that, theoretically it ought to aim at, and what, to the fullest extent of its intellectual power, it will try to approach. The American Minister does not seem to be at all disturbed by having to promise that the Republic and its constitutional Union, 'shall stand hereafter, as they are now, objects of human wonder and human affection.' Had these words been written twelve months earlier, they would by this time have been pathetic. As it is, they narrowly escape being ridiculous. What are the Union and Republic now, when more than a third part of the community have not only repudiated the federal compact, but are in open war against the remainder? American civil war US politics United States US military Republicans Democrats Slavery guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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Health agency says hospital staff must be trained to combat pneumonia
23.05.2012, 05:00:01
All hospitals recommended to publish their data on the use of antibiotic and anti-fungal medicines so as to cut unecessary use Hospitals in England have been warned they must sharpen their training of ward staff on reducing pneumonia and lower respiratory tract infections in patients. Less sedation, more physiotherapy, more careful use of antacids and appropriate mouth hygiene should be encouraged to minimise the risks of the infection in severely ill patients, including those intubated for fluids or air, says the government's Health Protection Agency. Many are in intensive care units. The agency also recommend all hospitals should publish data on their use of antibiotic and antifungal medicines, an attempt to ensure that moves to cut their unnecessary use are not forgotten as the incidence of MRSA and C difficile infections tumble. The prevalence of MRSA soared until recently because of the development of antibiotic resistance. Similar problems emerged with C difficile, which can also develop because antibiotics have destroyed too many 'good' bacteria. Antacids used to prevent or treat mouth ulcers can also have the same effect, meaning 'bad' bacteria are more likely to transfer from the gut , via the stomach, to the respiratory system. Experts warn that it is important to target infections with the right antibiotics, rather than using so-called 'broad spectrum' drugs. Staff should remove catheters to drain or administer fluids as soon as possible since they too are liable to cause infections. The key messages, which Department of Health policy advisers will now consider how to take further, emerge from a 2011 snapshot survey of infections linked to people's healthcare before and during hospital and covering almost 52,500 patients. Although direct comparisons cannot be made with previous surveys, such infections dropped from 8.2% in 2006 to 6.4%. More than one in five (22.8%) were respiratory, with urinary tract infections (17.1%) and on parts of the body where there has been surgery (15.7%) the next most prevalent. Since the 2006 check, there has been an 18-fold reduction in MRSA bloodstream infections (1.3% to less than 0.1%) and a five-fold reduction in C difficile(2% to 0.4%). Professor Anthony Kessel, director of public health strategy and medical director at the HPA, said: "There have been great results achieved in reducing the levels of MRSA and C difficile over the last five years in the NHS and these can be seen in the figures reported today. These have been accomplished through national policies and guidelines and changes to infection control. There are now new challenges to meet and I am sure that hospitals will be equally as vigilant in addressing these." Hygiene Infectious diseases Health policy James Meikle guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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Vince Cable accused of being a socialist by Tory donor
23.05.2012, 00:34:35
Adrian Beecroft, a venture capitalist, calls business secretary 'a socialist who found a home in the Lib Dems' Vince Cable is a "socialist" who has blocked action to liberalise employment laws that could give a £50bn boost to the economy, according to a Tory donor who wrote a controversial report on cutting red tape. In a sign of some Tories' deep frustrations with the coalition, Adrian Beecroft also accused the Liberal Democrat leader and deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, of blocking reforms by issuing a "hollow threat" to "go nuclear" and bring down the government. Beecroft, a venture capitalist, who also comes close to accusing the prime minister of withdrawing support for his departing policy guru Steve Hilton, hit out in interviews with the Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph. His intervention came after Clegg said he had never supported Beecroft's proposal to allow no-fault dismissals, to boost business. Government sources indicated that David Cameron would quietly shelve the plans which Beecroft said would promote economic growth by encouraging companies to hire more staff. Beecroft claimed that Cable, the business secretary, who described Beecroft's plans as "bonkers", objected to his proposals on "ideological not economic" grounds. He told the Telegraph: "I think he is a socialist who found a home in the Lib Dems, so he's one of the left. I think people find it very odd that he's in charge of business and yet appears to do very little to support business." Clegg said on Tuesday that he had always opposed no-fault dismissals because it would be wrong to create "industrial-level insecurity". "Nick Clegg is always threatening to go nuclear and dissolve the whole thing if he doesn't get his way with this, that and the other," Beecroft said. "Which you'd think actually must be a hollow threat. Therefore, why can't the government be more robust? I don't know what the answer is. But it is disappointing." Beecroft criticised Cameron for having "given up" on his proposals after senior Tory sources indicated that the prime minister hoped to shelve the plans quietly. "I do think it is disappointing that they appear to have given up on unfair dismissal," he told the Daily Mail. He told the Mail employers experience "endless frustration" in dealing with underperforming employees, and indicated that Cameron has let down his policy guru who is embarking on a year long sabbatical to the US. He said some Tories have been very supportive of his plans. Beecroft, who said a failure to introduce his plans could hold back economic growth by £50bn, told the Telegraph: "I'm talking about Steve Hilton, that group and they assured me that David Cameron wanted to do the whole thing. Whether that's right or not I'm not sure but that was the strong impression I got. I've been in meetings with Oliver Letwin and Ed Davey, where Oliver Letwin was all for and Ed Davey was totally against." He added that his plans prompted a row at the highest levels of the coalition. "There was a large argument which I'm told ended up in the 'quad' [the group composed of Cameron, George Osborne, Nick Clegg and Danny Alexander] when they're sort of trading off one policy against the other." Clegg also found himself accused of being leftwing when public school headteacher Tim Hands accused him of adopting "old-style communist" tactics in his drive to improve social mobility. Tim Hands, master of the private Magdalen College School in Oxford and chair elect of the Headmasters and Headmistresses's Conference, which represents elite private schools, accused the deputy prime minister of an "old-style communist creation of a closed market, to try to deal with the problem after the event". Vince Cable Party funding Liberal-Conservative coalition Conservatives Liberal Democrats Nicholas Watt Juliette Jowit guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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Welfare-to-work fraud whistleblowers gagged by Tory MPs, Labour claims
22.05.2012, 23:45:54
Insiders linked to A4e and Working Links were only allowed to speak to parliament in private Whistleblowers due to give public evidence of widespread fraud in welfare to work companies were gagged following the intervention of Tory MPs, it was claimed on Tuesday. Former insiders who worked with or for the companies A4e and Working Links were told they could only speak to parliament in private, following confrontational scenes between Labour and Conservative MPs. The disclosure comes as pressure mounts on Chris Grayling, the employment minister, to clean up the £5bn sector. The public accounts committee was supposed to hear accounts of four people in public, allowing the proceedings to be publicised and televised. A Labour source said Conservative MPs led by Matthew Hancock decided to call for the session to be held in private. "This meeting was supposed to give insiders from the industry an opportunity to describe for the committee and the public the way in which fraud is being committed. Instead, it was turned into an ambush, and it was done to stop the government from being embarrassed. It was a shame because this committee has been very effective in chasing down public money - until now," the source said. One of the whistleblowers said: "It has taken a lot for us to come and speak in public about what we see as fraud. We have been silenced." Hancock insisted the committee had reached a consensus about how the evidence would be taken. "We didn't know what was going to be in the evidence. The evidence had not been presented to the Department for Work and Pensions," he said. During the public session held later, Labour MP Austin Mitchell called for an investigation into the claims made in private. He said: "We have just sat through a long closed session which produced some fairly damning indictments of the structures and the practices in A4e and in Working Links and gave several indications of possible fraud." The department's top civil servant, Robert Devereux, said he would look into the claims if they were put before him. Earlier this month, ministers were accused of leaving glaring holes in fraud controls on A4e. The National Audit Office said vital evidence was missed in risk assessments of the company, which holds government contracts worth more than £70m a year. The department did not request internal audit reports. The Guardian disclosed on Monday that one witness due to give evidence before the committee was the head of a forensic services department in an accountancy firm. He alleges that he was asked in 2008 by Working Links to investigate allegations by whistleblowers and employees who were concerned about fraud. A spokesman for Working Links said the company took allegations of impropriety seriously and would examine them as a matter of urgency once they had appeared before the committee. Another witness, a senior figure in A4e's risk and audit department in 2011, claims there was evidence of fraudulent activity in many of the firm's offices. A4e denies any fraudulent activity. Welfare Unemployment Public services policy Rajeev Syal guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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Yemen food crisis reaching 'catastrophic proportions'
22.05.2012, 23:06:11
With nearly 500,000 people displaced, aid agencies warn that Yemen's instability will worsen unless donors increase funding Yemen is facing a food crisis of "catastrophic proportions", with almost half the population going hungry and a third of children in some areas severely malnourished, aid agencies have warned. A coalition of six humanitarian organisations - Care International , International Medical Corps , Islamic Relief , Mercy Corps , Merlin , Oxfam and Save the Children - is urging the international community to step up aid before Yemen slides further into poverty and political instability. The Middle Eastern country's already precarious state was highlighted on Monday when a suicide bomber attacked a military parade, killing more than 90 people and wounding at least 220. The bombing, one of the deadliest in recent years, was a setback in Yemen's battle against al-Qaida-affiliated Islamists and has heightened concerns over a country in the frontline of the US global war on militants. The aid agencies - which point out that the UN's humanitarian appeal has received only 43% of the funding it needs - are urging delegates at Wednesday'sinternational Friends of Yemen conference to do more to tackle the food crisis. The agencies say hunger in Yemen has doubled since 2009 and was exacerbated by last year's political upheaval, which saw the dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh ousted from power after 33 years and replaced by President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Penny Lawrence, Oxfam's international director, said that although donors were concentrating on politics and security, they had to focus on more basic and pressing issues. "Yemeni families are at the brink and have exhausted their ways of coping with the crisis," she said. "Failure to respond adequately to the humanitarian needs now will put more lives at risk, further entrench poverty and could undermine political transition in the country." Her fears were echoed by Jerry Farrell, Save the Children's director in Yemen. "Political instability, conflict and high prices have left families across the country going hungry," he said. "We know that children always suffer the most when food is in short supply, and unless urgent humanitarian action is taken, Yemen will be plunged into a hunger crisis of catastrophic proportions." Fighting in the north and south of the country has forced nearly 95,000 people to leave their homes over the last two months, bringing the total number of those displaced in the country to close to half a million. UN estimates, meanwhile, put the number of children facing life-threatening levels of malnutrition at 267,000. Oxfam has also reported an increase in early marriage as families marry off their daughters young in order to ease the burden of the crisis. Although the UN has so far asked for $447m [£283m] of aid, it is thought it will increase its appeal substantially next month as the situation in Yemen worsens. "The hungry of Yemen cannot wait," said Hashem Awnallah, country director of Islamic Relief Yemen. "Donors need to heed the lessons of the Horn of Africa and respond now before the crisis further deepens." Britain, which will co-chair the Friends of Yemen conference in Riyadh, has promised £28m of aid to the country, but warned that Monday's suicide bombing underlined the severity of the situation in Yemen. The international development minister, Alan Duncan , said the aid - which will be delivered through agencies - would provide both immediate help and a "foundation for progress".But Duncan, who will be among those at the meeting, said that Yemen was still in a very fragile state. "The new government of Yemen has been in place for a matter of months and has already taken important steps," he said. "But yesterday's terrible suicide bombing reminds us that the country still faces huge challenges. "If progress is to be maintained then the international community must back the government. Without that support, the alternative is a slide towards state failure and an increased threat from international terrorism." Dfid officials said the aid could mean emergency food for up to a quarter of a million people as well as safe water sources, shelter and healthcare for those fleeing the violence. It could also help fund education for 60,000 children in conflict zones and pay for goods and labour to support 35,000 adults. Speaking at the Nato summit in Chicago on Monday, Barack Obama also expressed concern over extremist activity in Yemen and pledged more aid to counter it. "That's important for US safety," he said. "It's also important for the stability of Yemen and the region." Obama's counter-terrorism adviser, John Brennan, telephoned Hadi to offer US help in the investigation into Monday's bombing, adding that it "would stand by Yemen's side at this difficult time". Washington is increasing its support for Hadi's government but the US military's drone attacks targeting militants in Yemen have frequently killed civilians and are deeply resented by Yemenis, even the many who abhor al-Qaida. Yemen Food security Middle East and North Africa Arab and Middle East unrest Aid al-Qaida Global terrorism Alan Duncan Conflict and development Nutrition and development Sam Jones guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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