WHAT HAPPENED ON 3th February 2001?

29th January 2001

BRITAIN SENDS RELIEF SUPPLIES TO INDIA

Three flights bound for the earthquake hit area of Gujurat in India are due to leave Britain carrying relief supplies including hundreds of large tents. The International Development Secretary has said £10m of Government funds is being used to support the relief effort Clare Short said the 69 UK rescuers now in India are from Greater Manchester Lancashire Lincolnshire & Chester. She told MPs they had already rescued four survivors from the quake rubble.

3th February 2001

TEAMS TELL OF EARTHQUAKE RESCUE ELATION

Rescue workers arriving back in the UK from India's earthquake zone have been speaking of the "elation" of helping to rescue people from beneath the rubble. Among those to fly back from Gujarat was the Rapid UK team which freed a 10- year-old boy in a nine-hour operation. "It was fantastic that is what it is all about " member Nick Spence said. Meanwhile another two planes have left Britain carrying 50 tonnes of aid to the earthquake's victims.

3th February 2001

REFUGEES "STARVE UNDER VOUCHER SYSTEM"

Asylum seekers are starving while they wait to learn whether they can stay in Britain the Refugee Council has said. Problems in issuing vouchers to asylum seekers in place of benefits means they are going "days or weeks" without food council chief Nick Hardwick said. His staff found it "impossible" to get through to the Home Office to take up " grievances he told BBC Radio Four. The voucher system was "under siege" and had broken down he said.

29th January 2001

INDIA SEEKS CASH TO REBUILD AFTER QUAKE

India is appealing for international aid to help in reconstruction work after Friday's earthquake in the western state of Gujarat. Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha is to ask for £650m from the World Bank & #325m from the Asian Development Bank. He warns that the damage done by the quake will badly hit India's economy. A BBC correspondent says India's public finances were not prepared for an event such as this.

3th February 2001

TEAMS TELL OF EARTHQUAKE RESCUE ELATION

Rescue workers arriving back in the UK from India's earthquake zone have been speaking of the "elation" of helping to rescue people from beneath the rubble. Among those to fly back from Gujarat was the Rapid UK team which freed a 10- year-old boy in a nine-hour operation. "It was fantastic that is what it is all about " member Nick Spence said. Meanwhile another two planes have left Britain carrying 50 tonnes of aid to the earthquake's victims.

3th February 2001

INDIA CREATES QUAKE RELIEF COMMITTEE

India has set up a national all-party committee to co-ordinate relief for survivors of last week's earthquake. The committee was set up after a meeting of party leaders called by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. The government has been criticised for its role in the relief effort. Private and religious organisations have taken the lead a BBC correspondent says. It is believed up to 30 000 people may have died after the tremor hit Gujarat.

29th January 2001

What People were saying on

"I am savouring every single minute of the current exposure of the sanctimonious hypocrites & barefaced liars who made so much political capital from so-called Tory sleaze in the last parliament."

Former Tory MP Neil Hamilton.

"I am highly pretentious. A complete snob in fact. I'm not keen on Hollywood films & I hate soaps."

Top architect Piers Gough.

"I am not designed to be famous. My personality is completely wrong for it."

Actress Sarah Polley.

3th February 2001

TEAMS TELL OF EARTHQUAKE RESCUE ELATION

Rescue workers arriving back in the UK from India's earthquake zone have been speaking of the "elation" of helping to rescue people from beneath the rubble. Among those to fly back from Gujarat was the Rapid UK team which freed a 10- year-old boy in a nine-hour operation. "It was fantastic that is what it is all about " member Nick Spence said. Meanwhile another two planes have left Britain carrying 50 tonnes of aid to the earthquake's victims.

3th February 2001

INDIA CREATES QUAKE RELIEF COMMITTEE

India has set up a national all-party committee to co-ordinate relief for survivors of last week's earthquake. The committee was set up after a meeting of party leaders called by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. The government has been criticised for its role in the relief effort. Private and religious organisations have taken the lead a BBC correspondent says. It is believed up to 30 000 people may have died after the tremor hit Gujarat.

29th January 2001

SHARE PRICES

3th February 2001

TEAMS TELL OF EARTHQUAKE RESCUE ELATION

Rescue workers arriving back in the UK from India's earthquake zone have been speaking of the "elation" of helping to rescue people from beneath the rubble. Among those to fly back from Gujarat was the Rapid UK team which freed a 10- year-old boy in a nine-hour operation. "It was fantastic that is what it is all about " member Nick Spence said. Meanwhile another two planes have left Britain carrying 50 tonnes of aid to the earthquake's victims.

3th February 2001

"CAN'T TALK NOW I'M BEING LASHED"

A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced a man to 70 lashes for using a mobile telephone on a domestic flight. The man an army captain ignored repeated warnings from the crew as the flight prepared for take-off a Saudi while security staff at the airport in the town of Tabuk removed him. His punishment follows a case last year in which another army officer was given a jail sentence for the same offence.

29th January 2001

THAI POLICE PROBE MURDER OF BRITISH MAN

Police in Thailand are investigating the murder of a British man whose body was discovered in a hotel in the country the Foreign Office has said. The victim was found in the Kanchanaburi province on Saturday after flying into the country last week. The Sun newspaper said a couple were in custody after admitting to the murder. A Foreign Office official said the man's name would not be released until relatives had been informed.

3th February 2001

TEAMS TELL OF EARTHQUAKE RESCUE ELATION

Rescue workers arriving back in the UK from India's earthquake zone have been speaking of the "elation" of helping to rescue people from beneath the rubble. Among those to fly back from Gujarat was the Rapid UK team which freed a 10- year-old boy in a nine-hour operation. "It was fantastic that is what it is all about " member Nick Spence said. Meanwhile another two planes have left Britain carrying 50 tonnes of aid to the earthquake's victims.

3th February 2001

RAPE CASES REOPENED AS MULCAHY JAILED

Police are re-examining hundreds of unsolved rapes & murders after yesterday's conviction of serial killer and rapist 41-year-old David Mulcahy. They have appealed to women who may have been victims of David Mulcahy & his friend John Duffy serving life terms for sex crimes to come forward. Mulcahy of north London received three life terms for killing three women. Duffy testified the pair went hunting for women to rape & kill in the 1980s

29th January 2001

WORKERS TELL OF SHOCK EXPLOSION ORDEAL

Lucky-to-be-alive staff who walked to safety after a blast ripped through a factory have been speaking of their horrifying ordeal. One worker at the Clydebank plant told reporters: "We just heard a massive bang. Everybody's a bit shaken up at the moment." She added: "At least nobody was killed and that's the main think." Frank Logan who lives near the works remarked: "How nobody was killed I don't know. I heard a huge explosion."

3th February 2001

TEAMS TELL OF EARTHQUAKE RESCUE ELATION

Rescue workers arriving back in the UK from India's earthquake zone have been speaking of the "elation" of helping to rescue people from beneath the rubble. Among those to fly back from Gujarat was the Rapid UK team which freed a 10- year-old boy in a nine-hour operation. "It was fantastic that is what it is all about " member Nick Spence said. Meanwhile another two planes have left Britain carrying 50 tonnes of aid to the earthquake's victims.

3th February 2001

INCAPACITY BENEFITS TO BE CUT IN APRIL

Social security experts say people who plan to retire early due to ill health could lose up to £70 a week if they do not stop working before April. Incapacity benefit is paid to more than 600 000 people under 65. But the Government is cutting payments to people who also get company or personal pensions over £85 a week Radio 4's Money Box reports. Advice workers are urging people to claim benefit before April 9.