Other News In Brief

Motorbikers Killed

Three British motorcyclists have been killed and another is fighting for her life after they crashed on a touring holiday in northern Italy. The accident happened around 300 metres from a tunnel exit at Trento. The two couples, who have not been named, collided head on with a lorry carrying building material as they came out of a tunnel and are thought to have been on the wrong side of the road. Two men and a woman were killed instantly. Another woman was helicoptered to hospital and was in a critical condition.

Tragic Soldier Laid To rest

The funeral of a soldier who died in a British hospital 10 days after he was wounded in an explosion in Afghanistan is taking place today. Fusilier Shaun Bush, 24, from Coventry, was injured while trying to rescue a comrade during a foot patrol in the Sangin district of Helmand province. Hundreds are expected to gather at Coventry Cathedral for the service. Fusilier Bush, a member of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, died in hospital at Selly Oak, Birmingham, on 25 August.

Asbestos Ruling 'Disappointment'

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) today expressed its deep disappointment at a decision by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to uphold a complaint about its 'Asbestos: The hidden killer' awareness campaign. The ASA has upheld one complaint from a single source challenging HSE on the numbers of workers it quoted as dying as a result of exposure to asbestos fibres. The ASA agreed that the use of numbers of asbestos-related deaths was an effective and appropriate tactic to bring home to tradesmen the serious risks they face in disturbing asbestos, but decided that HSE should have made clear in its radio advertisements that the figures were based partly on estimates.

Housing Equality Underlined

The Chartered Institute of Housing Scotland has launched a new web-based practice briefing, on equality, diversity and housing. This free publication is aimed at providing good practice guidance for housing organisations on the impact of equality and diversity issues in the communities that they serve. The briefing comes at a time when equalities is back on the political agenda with the introduction of a new Equality Bill which is certain to pose new challenges for social landlords and public bodies across the UK.

Construction Firms Bid-Rigging

The Local Government Association (LGA) has slammed construction firms and said there are "simply no excuses for bid rigging or cover pricing". The call follows the announcement that fines totalling £129.5 million have been imposed on 103 construction firms by the Office of Fair Trading. The LGA believes the fines should be given back to councils and other public bodies which have been victims of the unlawful practices.

(BMcC/KMcA)