Teletext Recovery - 21/03/1991

P198 CEEFAX 198 Thu 21 Mar 21:02/37       1/15       TOP STORIES FROM BBC'S NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS TELETEXT SERVICE CEEFAX             A-Z Index News Menu Headlines Latest

P198 CEEFAX 198 Thu 21 Mar 22:10/07   POLL TAX TO  BE SCRAPPED 2/15 Environment Secretary Michael Heseltine has confirmed that the community charge is to be abolished. It would be replaced by a single bill for every household, he told MPs. The new tax would be based on the number of adults in the household and the value of the property. Mr Heseltine said the new tax should be in place by 1993-4; meanwhile, he would use his capping powers "rigorously". There were no plans to reform the uniform business rate, he added. 101 Headlines 102 Newswatch Next News Newswatch Headlines Newsreel

P198 CEEFAX 198 Thu 21 Mar 21:13/32   MORE SINGLE-TIER  COUNCILS "LIKELY" 3/15  Environment Secretary Michael Heseltine has announced the "interim" results of the Government's wide-ranging review of local government structures. He told MPs more single-tier local authorities seemed "likely". The Government did not wish to impose a uniform pattern across the country, so county councils would not be abolished wholesale, Mr Heseltine said. Instead a local government commission would take account of local views, before deciding on the best structure of local government for their area. 101 Headlines 102 Newswatch Next News Newswatch Headlines Latest

P198 CEEFAX 198 Thu 21 Mar 21:51/16   LABOUR ATTACKS "COMPLETE  CAPITULATION" 4/15 Neil Kinnock has tabled a no-confidence motion over the Government's failure to rectify damage caused by the poll tax. Environment spokesman Bryan Gould said the abolition of the tax amounted to "total capitulation" and the "most startling Umturn" in modern politics. The poll tax would not disappear until at least 1993 - meanwhile people were still faced with all the problems of the abandoned poll tax system, he said. The new tax combined existing problems with the untried and untested hybrid tax being offered, said Mr Gould. 101 Headlines 150 Latest Next News Newswatch Headlines Newsreel

P198 CEEFAX 198 Thu 21 Mar 21:57/31   TERTIARY COLLEGES TO BE  REMOVED FROM COUNCILS 5/15 Education Secretary Kenneth Clarke has announced that further education and sixth-form colleges are to be removed from local authority control. A new college funding council would run the new sector from April 1993, taking £2bn away from local council control. The new funding council would be accountable directly to him, he added. Labour spokesman Jack Straw said Mr Clarke's plans had "nothing to do with the needs of the education service" - it was the result of the Government's "blind poll tax panic", he said. 101 Headlines 102 Newswatch Next News Newswatch Headlines Latest

P198 CEEFAX 198 Thu 21 Mar 21:53/07   RESIGNATION OVER  POLL TAX CHANGES 6/15 Derek Conway, a parliamentary private secretary at the Welsh Office, is to resign in protest at the changes made to the community charge. The MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham announced that he was leaving the government in an interview on Sky TV. The axing of the poll tax by Michael Hesjltinj received a cool reception from the right-wing of the Conservative party. The Secretary of the Environment was questioned by one of his predecessor, Nicholas Ridley, among others. 102 Newswatch 198 Newsreel Next News Newswatch Headlines Newsreel

P198 CEEFAX 198 Thu 21 Mar 21:51/26   NHS BEDS SHORTAGE COSTS  300,000 OPERATIONS 7/15 Operations on more than 300,000 NHS patients were cancelled last year becausj of a shortage of beds, says the British Medical Association. The BMA survey found that 3,250 "desperately needed" hospital beds in England and Wales were kept empty by health authorities to save money. John Chawnjr, chairman of the BMA consultants' committee, said 340,000 more operations could have been performed had the beds been in use. He said the NHS "funding crisis" was no better than it was three years ago. 101 Headlines 102 Newswatch Next News Newswatch Headlines Latest

P198 CEEFAX 198 Thu 21 Mar 21:51/05   CONFLICTING FINDINGS FOR  LEUKAEMIA STUDIES 8/15 Two new studies investigating whether men exposed to radiation may pass leukaemia on to their children have reached differing conclusions. The results of a Leeds University study of 109 children who developed leukaemia supported the theory. This study has been referred to an independent body on envjronmental radiation. But a separate study of 14 children living near Scotland's Dounreay Nuclear Reprocessing Plant found that increased levels of childhood leukaemia could not be explained this way. 101 Headlines 150 Latest 102 Newswatch 198 Newsreel Next News Newswatch Headlines Newsreel

P198 CEEFAX 198 Thu 21 Mar 21:56/29   BAe TO SHED  4,700 JOBS 9/15 British Aerospace has announced that 4,700 jobs are to go in its commercial aircraft and dynamics divisions. The decision was announced at a meeting with union officials and follows last week's abandoning by the company of a plan to unite its missile manufacturing operations with Thomson-CSF of France. The company says it will seek voluntary redundancies but does not rule out compulsory job losses. BAe has shed 5,000 jobs since November, blaming the fall in defence orders. 101 Headlines 150 Latest 102 Newswatch 198 Newsreel Next News Newswatch Headlines Latest

P198 CEEFAX 198 Thu 21 Mar 21:02/55   US NAVY PLANES  COLLIDE 10/15 Two US Navy planes collided over the Pacific this morning and all 26 people on board were missing and feared dead, said the US Navy in San Diego. The two P-3 Orion anti-submarine aircraft, from a base in northern California, were taking part in a training exercise, said a spokesman. The collision occurred near San Clemente island, 60 miles north-west of San Diego. 101 Headlines 150 Latest 102 Newswatch 198 Newsreel Next News Newswatch Headlines Newsreel

P198 CEEFAX 198 Thu 21 Mar 21:07/25   SAUDI PLANE CRASH KILLS  99 PEOPLE 11/15 A Saudi plane carrying Senegalese troops has crashed in northern Saudi Arabia, killing at least 96 people. The Saudi Defence Ministry said the transport plane crashed in poor visibility caused by bad weather and smoke from burning Kuwaiti oil wells. The plane crashed trying to land near Khafji, on the Kuwait border, killing 90 Senegelese troops and a crew of six. Five of the Senagelese soldiers - part of a 500 strong contingent sent by the West African state to join the anti- Iraq coalition - are critically ill. 101 Headlines 102 Newswatch Next News Newswatch Headlines Latest

P198 CEEFAX 198 Thu 21 Mar 21:03/57   BR OUTLINES PLANS TO  COPE WITH SNOW 12/15 British Rail has announced a 10-point plan to overcome the problems caused last month when snow disrupted services Priorities include drawing up emergency timetables and improved communications to keep customers and staff informed. BR also plans to modify carriages, motors, track and engineering depots to ensure the equipment will be better adapted to cope with similar conditions BR chairman Sir Bob Reid said 450 motors failed, doors stuck, points froze and icicles smashed cab windows in the sub-zero temperatures and snow. 101 Headlines 102 Newswatch Next News Newswatch Headlines Newsreel

P198 CEEFAX 198 Thu 21 Mar 21:01/24   HURD AND SOVIETS DISCUSS  GULF AND MIDDLE EAST 13/15 Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd and Soviet President Gorbachev have discussed a post-war settlement for the Gulf and the whole Middle East region. Quoted by the Tass news agency, a Soviet spokesman said the talks in Moscow had revealed "considerable similarity in approaches to problems". Mr Hurd said he supported the continuation of Mr Gorbachev's reforms. He also met the President of the Russian federation, Boris Yeltsin, and announced that a British consulate will be opened in Kiev, in the Ukraine. 101 Headlines 102 Newswatch Next News Newswatch Headlines Latest

P198 CEEFAX 198 Thu 21 Mar 22:07/57   "THREE MILLION JOBLESS  BY NEXT SUMMER" 14/15 A leading economic forecaster says he believes the Treasury is now working on the assumption that there will be three million unemployed by next summer. Brian Pearce, chief economist of the Independent Treasury Economic Modelling club, announced his findings after analysing the Chancellor's predictions. His computer model is acknowledged to be closj to that used by the Treasury. Speaking on BBC Radio's Financial World Tonight, he said the only doubt was whether some of the jobless would appear in the official statistics. 101 Headlines 150 Latest Next News Newswatch Headlines Newsreel

P198 CEEFAX 198 Thu 21 Mar 21:02/27   IN BRIEF  15/15 CANNABIS Fivj men charged with the attempted smuggling of £1.3m worth of cannabis resin have been remanded in custody by Ramsgate magistrates court. SHOOTING A woman has been shot and injured in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Margaret Cooke was said to be the widow of an RUC sergeant murdered by the IRA four years ago. She is in hospital. Her condition is serious. BIRMINGHAM SIX Interim compensation payments are to be awarded to the Birmingham Six, the Home Office says. The payments are to help the men pending a final compensation figure. 102 Newswatch 198 Newsreel Latest Newswatch Headlines Latest

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