Paignton Zoo's four tonne African elephant Duchess became the first in the UK to undergo the operation.Duchess had been plagued by pain after glaucoma and cataracts had left her virtually blind.Animal experts decided the operation would be the best treatment after using eye-drops and pain relief for some time.Ghislaine Sayers, head of veterinary services for Paignton Zoo, said pressure in Duchess's right eye had increased to the point where it could "no longer be controlled by drugs".
Tense procedure'
Ms Sayers said: "The drops worked short term but became less effective and long-term pain relief can have side effects.Paignton Zoo spokesman Phil Knowling said the operation - which took place earlier this month - went smoothly but "everyone wanted to see her come round from the anaesthetic"."The only solution to keep her pain free was to remove the eye," she added.Zoo keeper Jim Dicks, who has been with Duchess for 20 years, called her name and shouted encouragement as she came around.
Mr Dicks said it was "always tense during major procedures" and there was a "spontaneous cheer and a round of applause when she got to her feet".
Ms Sayers said a "fairly large team of people" had been drafted in for the operation so Duchess could go on to live a happy and healthy life.
"The procedure certainly seems to have gone well," she said.
"She was up on her feet within minutes of coming round and is eating and looking well.
"She will be a little groggy for a while but we're confident the procedure was a success."
The hen, named Liberty, is being re-housed in time for the EU-wide ban on small, cramped cages.
From 1 January, cages will have to provide enough space for birds to spread their wings, perch and be able to move around.
But the British Hen Welfare Trust said not all EU countries would adhere to the ban.
The ban was brought about after animal welfare campaigners fought for four decades to outlaw battery cages.
Jane Howarth, from the British Hen Welfare Trust, said over December volunteers had re-housed 6,000 battery hens, with just one more to be rehomed.
She said: "She will be sitting in her cage very unaware that we're going to arrive and bring her out. We are looking forward to getting her. She will be living with me."
While she is confident the UK will adhere to the ban, Mrs Howarth and her members have concerns about other countries.
She said: "The British egg industry has really stepped up to the mark and they are ready. But at the moment we're looking at a situation where there could be 80 million hens still in illegal cages in Europe."
The British Hen Welfare Trust said the new cages can hold up to 90 birds, which will have space to spread their wings, perch and be able to go from one end of the cage to the other. The cage will now have to provide 750 square centimetres of space for each bird
The cage must also contain litter, perches and claw-shortening devices.
'Profit from flouting law'
Old-style cages only had 550 square centimetres of space for each bird - which is less than a sheet of A4 paper.
Agriculture Minister Jim Paice said: "It is unacceptable that after the ban on battery cages comes into effect, millions of hens across Europe will still remain in poor conditions.
"We have all had plenty of time to make these changes, but 13 EU nations have not done so. The UK egg industry alone has spent £400million ensuring hens live in better conditions.
"It would be unthinkable if countries continuing to house hens in poor conditions were to profit from flouting the law."
Tuesday 20 December 2011
About 80 firefighters worked through the night to tackle a blaze which destroyed a derelict four-storey hotel in Torquay
A derelict hotel in the Devon resort of Torquay has been destroyed by fire.
About 80 firefighters tackled the blaze at the derelict Conway Court Hotel in Warren Road which started about 21:15 GMT on Monday. No-one was hurt.
Nearby buildings were evacuated and Torquay seafront closed after part of the four-storey hotel collapsed.
Meanwhile, crews from north Devon have been dealing with a big fire at the empty four-storey Southcliffe Hotel in Ilfracombe.
Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service said the alarm was raised just before 06:30 GMT.
The fire caused severe damage to the derelict four-storey hotel in Ilfracombe
Appliances were sent from Ilfracombe, Barnstaple, Combe Martin, Lynton and Woolacombe, including an aerial ladder platform from Barnstaple.
No-one was injured, but the fire caused severe damage to the building which has been empty for a number of years.
There are concerns that the structural integrity of the hotel may have been compromised.
Investigations into the cause of both hotel fires will be carried out.
To put that in context there are currently just over 100 - so that would mean a threefold increase.Senior figures in the renewable energy industry are calling for nearly 200 more onshore wind turbines in the South West.
Here's Robert Norris from Renewable UK (the trade and professional body for the UK wind and marine renewables industries) setting out his stall:
The cue for this was the government's recently published Carbon Plan, which aims to generate 30% of the country's electricity from renewable sources by 2020.
This envisages a combination of onshore and offshore wind helping in the push to meet the target.
At the moment three quarters of Britain's wind power is generated onshore.
According to Mr Norris, though, offshore will be the dominant partner within the next 10 years.
But he insists this still leaves a large gap to be filled by onshore turbines - "the cheapest form of renewable technology which can be deployed on a mass scale in the time frame that we need".
'Giant' turbines
And Mr Norris isn't a lone voice.
Johnny Gowdy, director at Regen South West, agreed that 200 more onshore turbines was "about right" when he joined me on the Politics Show this week.
Cornwall Council is also talking about adding more onshore turbines to the county's sizable existing stock - though "not thousands", according to Cllr Julian German, Cabinet Member for Climate Change.
Everybody agrees that new wind farms are likely to be much smaller clusters of just two or three turbines.
The turbines themselves, though, will be much bigger - like the giants inaugurated by Energy Secretary Chris Huhne at Delabole this spring.
Needless to say, the prospect of the region's wind turbine population tripling - and the turbines themselves doubling in height - is a nightmarish vision to some.
Folly or solution?
Steve Bazeley, chairman of Residents against Turbines, which campaigned unsuccessfully against the installation of a new generation at Carland Cross near Truro, dismisses wind turbines as "inefficient, unreliable and expensive".
eyesores
"Wind turbine generation", he says, "is going to prove to be, in the long term, the biggest folly that this generation has ever had to stump up for".
And before you even get on to arguments about efficiency, reliability and cost effectiveness, many people voice the more fundamental objection that turbines are unacceptable eyesores.
It's now clear, though, that onshore turbines won't be standing aside or slipping quietly into retirement to make way for their offshore cousins any time soon.
But getting 200 giant windmills through the planning system will be interesting and eventful to say the least.
Artefacts from a ship that sank off the Cornish coast in the 18th century will be on show at a country park when £41,000 has been secured.
The Metta Catharina sank in 1786 off south east Cornwall. Its cargo, including calf hides and glassware will be on display at Mount Edgcumbe House.
For 32 years divers have retrieved the artefacts which will be on show alongside an exhibition in 2013.
A lottery grant has provided the money to help fund the project.
Items found on the Metta Catharina von Flensburg included Russian calf hides, wine carriers, clay tobacco pipes and shoe buckles, a spokesperson from Plymouth City Council said.
'Fitting location'
Ian Skelton, chairman of the Metta Catharina Trust, said: "It is wonderful news that after 32 years of diving and research, the story of it can be told.
"Mount Edgcumbe is a fitting location for the artefacts to be displayed."
The total cost of the project will be £60,500 with additional funding coming from the Friends of Mount Edgcumbe, the Metta Catharina Trust and Mount Edgcumbe, the council spokesperson added.
Divers found the Metta Catharina in 1973
The Metta Catharina lay almost completely buried in deep silt off Mount Edgcumbe and was discovered by divers in 1973.
Some of the leather recovered from the wreck was "extremely well preserved", the council spokesperson added.
The exhibition will include interactive displays and an introductory film about the ship.
Mount Edgcumbe House & Country Park is jointly owned and managed by Plymouth City Council and Cornwall Council.
Tax raised from the sales of a hit single should be donated to armed forces' charities, a Devon MP has said.
Wherever You Are was written for Gareth Malone's Military Wives Choir whose husbands served in Afghanistan.
The song is tipped to knock X Factor's Little Mix off the top of the charts and become the Christmas number one.
Oliver Colvile, Conservative MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, is to ask the Treasury to donate the VAT to the choir's chosen charities.
The song was performed by the women from Chivenor and Plymouth at the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall in November.
Live aid 'precedent'
Proceeds from the sale of the single will go to the Royal British Legion and the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen Families Association (SSAFA).
Mr Colville said allowing the charities to benefit from the VAT would not only help them continue to deliver good mental health services for military personnel, but would also be a fitting way to thank their families.
"I think its very, very important that we thank the families and wives who have put up with an enormous amount during the course of the past nine or 10 years," he told BBC News.
The Military Wives Choir, featured in the BBC Two television programme The Choir, is made up of about 100 wives and girlfriends from RMB Chivenor in north Devon and Plymouth.
Their husbands and partners spent six months earlier this year in Afghanistan as part of 3 Commando Brigade and the song is based on letters sent and received during the deployment.
Prime Minister David Cameron praised the choir after it performed at 10 Downing Street during a reception for troops involved in operations in Libya.
Mr Colville said, although he was not confident the government would agree, a precedent had been set in 2004 when VAT raised by sales from a new version of Do They Know It's Christmas was given to Bob Geldof's Live Aid charity.
Mr Colvile will make his request to the Secretary of State for Defence in the House of Commons later.
"If you don't bother to ask the question, nobody's going to take any notice," he added.
The Official Singles Chart will announce the Christmas number one on Christmas Day.
A military officer overseeing the hearing of the US Army analyst accused of leaking government secrets has rejected a request to recuse himself.
The request was made by a defence lawyer for Private Bradley Manning, 23, as he appeared at a military court.
He faces 22 charges of obtaining and distributing government secrets - which he allegedly leaked to anti-secrecy site Wikileaks.
The Article 32 hearing will determine whether Pte Manning is to stand trial.
During the hearing, expected to last several days, prosecution and defence lawyers will each make their initial cases and are permitted to cross-examine witnesses.
The hearing offers the first opportunity for Pte Manning's defence team to present their case since he was arrested in Iraq in May 2010 and placed in military custody.
It is taking place under tight security at an army base at Fort Meade, Maryland.
Pte Manning sat in the courtroom dressed in military khaki and wearing black-rimmed glasses.
But his defence team quickly switched focus by asking for the investigating officer - equivalent to a judge in a civilian court - to withdraw from the case.
Defence lawyer David Coombs said Lt Col Paul Almanza, the investigating officer, was "biased".
For almost everyone present, this is our first glimpse of the man accused of the biggest leak of confidential material in American history. Private Manning sat in uniform, wearing thick-rimmed glasses, hands clasped before him. In his only remarks so far, he said he understood his rights and confirmed the identities of the one civilian and two military officers representing him.
But the focus of attention was the investigating officer. Manning's civilian lawyer demanded he recuse himself, arguing that as prosecutor for the Department of Justice, Lt Col Paul Almanza works for an organisation actively pursuing a separate case against Wikileaks.
Mr Coombs said Lt Col Almanza's decision to reject defence witnesses, as well as the government's alleged reluctance to put forward witnesses to explain the damage done by the leaks suggested Almanza was biased.
"Where's the damage? Where's the harm?" Mr Coombs demanded, in an early indication of part of his defence strategy. Lt Col Almanza announced a recess to consider the defence plea. It could last some time.
Lt Col Almanza is a former military judge who now works for the Department of Justice, which has its own investigation into Wikileaks. His refusal to accept all but two of 38 defence witnesses meant the defence could not adequately make their case, Mr Coombs said.
Following two recesses and arguments by the prosecution and the defence, the investigating officer refused to recuse himself and the hearing continued.
Proceedings are expected to last around five days, according to Mr Coombs.
Afterwards, recommendations will be made to a military general, who will decide whether to proceed to a full trial.
The BBC's Paul Adams says the soldier's defence team is likely to argue that little harm came of the leaks, and that their release was in the greater public interest.
Assange link?
Pte Manning has also been charged with "aiding the enemy", a charge that could carry the death penalty. However, reports say prosecutors will only seek a prison sentence.
He is accused of the unauthorised possession and distribution of more than 720,000 secret diplomatic and military documents.
"If it is the case that Bradley Manning is indeed the source of this and other Wikileaks materials, Manning would have single-handedly changed hundreds of thousands of people's lives for the better," Wikileaks said in a statement.
"This material has contributed to ending dictatorships in the Middle East, it has exposed torture and wrongdoing in all the corners of the world and it has held diplomatic bodies and politicians accountable for the words, deals and pacts held behind close doors," Wikileaks said.
One of the key questions is expected to be whether Pte Manning had any kind of relationship with Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, our correspondent at Fort Meade says.
Mr Assange is also embroiled in a legal battle, facing extradition to Sweden from the UK to face sexual assault charges. As Pte Manning was preparing for his own court appearance on Friday, the UK Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal from Mr Assange against his extradition ruling.
Detention conditions
Pte Manning was arrested after a computer hacker went to US authorities with details of an online exchange he had had with Pte Manning in which he allegedly confessed to the data theft.
The conditions of Pte Manning's confinement since his arrest have been denounced in the US and abroad.
PJ Crowley: "I think it is a necessary prosecution"
State department spokesman PJ Crowley resigned after publicly criticising the detention conditions of Pte Manning, and British politicians and members of the European Parliament have also spoken out on the subject.
Pte Manning was brought to the maximum security prison at Quantico in July 2010, where he was held in isolation and was reported to have had his clothing removed at night as a suicide-prevention measure.
But in April 2011 Pte Manning was moved to a lower-security prison at Fort Leavenworth, where his lawyers say conditions are better.
Scattered showers, locally wintry over the Moors, continuing through the first partof the night, particularly across Cornwall. Largely dry and clear after midnight,
Skip to content; Skip to local navigation; Skip to bbc.co.uk navigation; Skip to ....Scattered showers, locally wintry over the Moors, continuing through the first partof the ...Largely dry and clear after midnight, although showers continuing across some western areas, with a widespread frost and some icy stretches forming. ...
Skip to content; Skip to local navigation; Skip to bbc.co.uk navigation; Skip to ....Evening...Moors, continuing through the first part of the night, particularly across Cornwall. Largely dry and clear after midnight, although showers continuing across some western areas, with a widespread frost and some icy stretches forming. ...
