The Japanese Embassy in Ulan Bator identified the Japanese journalists who died as Takahiro Kato 33 and

The Japanese Embassy in Ulan Bator identified the Japanese journalists who died as Takahiro Kato, 33, and Minoru Masaki, 35, both of Japan’s national broadcaster, NHK.. A fruit picker accused of starting an inferno that trapped and killed 15 young travellers was this morning ordered to stand trial on arson and murder charges. A fruit picker accused of starting an inferno that trapped and killed 15 young travellers was this morning ordered to stand trial on arson and murder charges.
The decision to try Robert Paul Long, 37, came seven months after a fire prosecutors claim was deliberately lit reduced the timber-framed Palace Backpackers Hostel to a charred shell.Police had to use DNA testing and dental records to identify some of the bodies recovered from the hostel wreckage in Childers, a close-knit farming community 190 miles north of Brisbane.Long faces life imprisonment if convicted of setting fire to the hostel and the murder of two of the victims, Australian twins, Kelly and Stacey Slarke.The 22-year-old twins were among six backpackers from Britain, four from Australia, two from the Netherlands and one each from Ireland, South Korea and Japan who died in the fire.Long pleaded innocent to the charges last Friday He will be tried at Brisbane Supreme Court. No date was immediately set for the trial.Police have said they will wait until the two murder charges have been dealt with in court before deciding whether to charge him with the other 13 killings.Monday’s decision by magistrate Michael Halliday to send Long to trial followed two weeks of hearings at which prosecutors outlined their evidence.Witnesses who testified at the hearing included survivors who clambered out of windows to escape the inferno and police officers who arrested Long and claimed that he confessed to starting the fire.Some British witnesses gave evidence by telephone.Long allegedly said: “I am dying anyway, I started that fire,” according to an officer, who was not named for security reasons.Police shot Long when he resisted arrest when captured near Childers five days after the blaze.One backpacker staying at the Palace hostel on the night of the fire said he saw Long standing over a flaming trash can.

Others said Long had discussed burning down the hostel in the days leading up to the fire.Prisoners who have been jailed with Long since his arrest also told the court he had admitted to them starting the blaze.Long sat calmly throughout the sometimes-harrowing evidence, barely saying a word until entering his plea last Friday.. The government came under renewed pressure last night to amend its controversial Climate Change Levy following new research suggesting it would cost industry almost £100m and hit 2,300 firms employing more than 1.3 million workers. The government came under renewed pressure last night to amend its controversial Climate Change Levy following new research suggesting it would cost industry almost £100m and hit 2,300 firms employing more than 1.3 million workers.
The report from the Engineering Employers’ Federation warned that the energy tax, due to take effect in April, would increase many companies’ fuel bills, damage their international competitiveness and prevent them from investing in energy efficiency schemes.Alternative proposals put forward by the EEF could cut emissions of the main greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, by more than 1.5 million tonnes if only half the 2,300 affected companies signed up to energy efficiency targets in return for rebates under the levy.The EEF said that the Treasury had accepted the method used to calculate the EEF’s figures, which are based on an independent study carried out by Ernst & Young.Martin Temple, the EEF’s director general, said: “We have never opposed the need for action on climate change but believe the levy to be one of the most badly designed economic instruments in recent times. We fail to understand why the Treasury, having accepted the reliability of our data, will not accept alternative proposals which would be of greater benefit to the environment whilst supporting the competitiveness of manufacturing companies.”The Confederation of British Industry, which has been a long-standing critic of the levy, joined the attack, saying the Government needed to make more firms eligible for the 80 per cent discount available.Michael Roberts, the CBI’s director of business environment, said: “Many companies will find these costs hard to take when manufacturing is under so much pressure and there are fears of a slowdown in the global economy.”Both the EEF and the CBI point to anomolies in the levy which allow some firms in an industrial sector to qualify for the rebate but others not. Qualification is based on the amount of pollution firms emit, not the amount of energy they use, meaning that in some cases, companies have an incentive to increase their pollution levels in order to be eligible for the rebate..

More lay-offs in dot land. The latest to wield the axe is idealab , the internet incubator that pulled its stock market float in October. It has shed 30 out of its 120 staff in Pasadena, California after a restructuring. Idealab had a stake in eToys, the stricken toy e-tailer which closed its European operations just after Christmas and sacked 700 US staff the following day

More lay-offs in dot land. The latest to wield the axe is idealab , the internet incubator that pulled its stock market float in October. It has shed 30 out of its 120 staff in Pasadena, California after a restructuring.

Idealab had a stake in eToys, the stricken toy e-tailer which closed its European operations just after Christmas and sacked 700 US staff the following day.
There were initial reports that idealab had closed its London office which employs 17 staff However, a spokesman said there had been no UK redundancies. Idealab’s London office has stakes in companies such as scan, a mobile-commerce company, and peoplelink, an online community site. It also bought the rights to the suffix which was awarded to the South Pacific island of Tuvalu. Intriguing to see that online prices actually rose this Christmas despite the doom and gloom which was threatening to engulf e-tailers.