Fiona has an unassuming air; acutely aware that being a bully does not makes you a success.  A broad smile spreads across her face when I ask if she fits into the “City” image. 

“No, I don’t fit the profile and I love it.  I was recently nominated for a ‘Women in the City’ award.  At the ceremony I was so different to everyone there, it made me giggle.  I think TM Lewin offered a suit as one of the prizes but they probably would’ve put in an objection if I’d won because of how much material they’d have to use.”

There is no easy way to question someone’s past especially a difficult one, but Fiona is happily receptive.  At 17 she married her husband of 10 years and experienced very brutal domestic violence.

“He chose me because I was timid and couldn’t fight back, the violence got worse when I started to challenge him. 

“At one point I was going to throw myself in front of a train. At the last moment I thought there must be more to life than this.”

But like the 32% of all women who have experianced domestic violence, she went back.

“The last time he beat me was the worse, I was in the Serious Head Injuries Unit for five days.  That is when my boss came to see me.” 

“If my employer had not intervened, I would be dead.  That is why it is so important for empolyers to get involved and help their employees.” 

Fiona refused to remain a statistic and now campaigns to make sure that the two women who die, on average, every week from abuse become zero.

Fiona Bowman is Senior Facilities manager for Addleshaw Goddard and executive board member of the UK Corporate Alliance against Domestic Violence.

The UKCA works with companies to help employees get out of abusive relationships and create a safe environment where employees can seek practical support and ultimately take positive action to end the abuse.

Hazelann Williams

A CDC spokeswoman says the severity of the poisonings, the number of deaths and illnesses and the extent of environmental damage is unheard of. Meanwhile, an emergency coordinator for aid group Doctors Without Borders says they have treated children exposed to so much lead that it has left them deaf, blind and unable to walk.

More than 160 people have already died from lead poisoning after residents tried to dig illegally for gold in areas with high lead concentration in Nigeria’s Zamfara state, near the nation’s border with Niger.

The CBI said workers took a total of 180 million sick days last year, at an average of 6.4 days each — the lowest since the survey began in 1987. However, those absences cost business 16.8 billion pounds.

Some 15 percent of those sick days probably weren’t genuine and bigger companies had the highest absence rates, the CBI said.

“Unfortunately, bogus sick days remain a problem, and are unfair on hard-working colleagues and employers alike,” said Katja Hall, CBI Director of Employment Policy.

“If absence levels across the board could be reduced by 10 percent, the economy would see annual savings of just under 1.7 billion pounds.”

Workers in the public sector took an average of 8.3 days off sick last year, compared to an average of 5.8 days in the private sector.

To read more go to:http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/inquiry-into-sale-of-fake-bomb-detectors-expanded-1994769.html

The porky kookaburra weighed in at 565 grams (1.2 pounds), nearly 40 percent heavier than a normal adult bird, rendering her so unfit she couldn’t fly.

“Out in the wild she’d eat a whole small animal such as a mouse or skink, but butcher’s sausages are just too much of a good thing,” said Gemma Watkinson, Sydney’s Taronga Zoo wildlife hospital nurse.

A Sydney resident brought the bird to the zoo after spotting dogs chasing her along the ground.

“The kookaburra’s been down at the rehabilitation aviary for a couple of weeks on a special ‘lite n’easy’ diet designed by our bird keeper,” said Watkinson.

Following a rigorous exercise regime up to three times a day with a personal trainer, the kookaburra is winning her battle of the bulge, but still a little more weight to shed before being ready to be returned to her native habitat.

“We’ve fitted the temporary home out like a ‘bird gym’,” said Watkinson

The semi-wild chicken had dodged intersection traffic for months, but was lured across the road to her death by a trail of breadcrumbs laid out by a friendly traffic-light newspaper seller. But it was trap!

The newspaper seller was being held at knifepoint by two hungry crooks intent on a chicken meal.

“The streetwise chicken met her match. She died a Jozi death,” said The Star.

Officials on Tuesday launched a campaign urging Venetians to buy or build “bat boxes” and install them high in trees or on the side of exterior walls of homes.

Venice officials say each bat could devour some 3,000 mosquitoes a night and could combat the insects especially on the Lido, where accumulations of rainwater in gardens and other greenery serve as breeding grounds.

Although Venice is crisscrossed by canals, mosquitoes aren’t attracted to the lagoon’s brackish waters.

Tiger mosquito bites can leave itchy, swollen welts, and the insects can spread diseases such as chikungunya fever.

U.N. climate chief Yvo de Boer and activists from groups including Oxfam, Greenpeace, and WWF pressured industrial nations to live up to their promises of financial aid to poor countries as about 4,500 participants from 182 countries gathered in Bonn.

Concrete financial contributions must “show that developed countries are ready to deliver what they promised five months ago in Copenhagen,” de Boer told reporters, referring to the disappointing climate summit in the Danish capital in December.

Industrial nations at Copenhagen pledged $30 billion in aid in 2010-2012 to help poorer nations start environment friendly development programs and adapt to the worst consequences of climate change.

However, de Boer and non-governmental organizations say developing nations remain skeptical if the money will come through and if it is additional or simply relabeled funds already pledged for other purposes.

“The finance part has not been solved,” Greenpeace expert Wendel Trio told The Associated Press.

Oxfam said it is becoming clear that rich nations want to hand out much of the money as loans instead of grants, thereby saddling developing nations with new debts for a problem largely caused by industrial countries.

“It’s like crashing your neighbor’s car and then offering a loan to cover the damages,” Oxfam’s Antonio Hill said in a statement.

To read more go to:http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_15865/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=YzagTI2S

 Detective Inspector Glen Boulton, of West Midlands Police, is accused of offences involving two girls aged under 16, which were allegedly committed when he was aged between 12 and 17.

Det Insp Boulton, 45, from Solihull, appeared at Wolverhampton magistrates’ court on 11 May charged with four counts of indecent assault and two counts of indecency with a child. He is due to reappear at the same court on 22 June. The alleged offences date back to between 1977 and 1982.

Det Insp Boulton has been a policeman for more than 20 years. He led the community safety bureau in Solihull until 2003. After that he joined Solihull’s public protection unit, a specialised department dedicated to tackling sexual and violent crimes. He was promoted to manager of Solihull’s child abuse investigation unit, a post he has held for several years.

A spokesman for West Midlands Police confirmed a man had been charged, saying yesterday: “The individual is a police officer with West Midlands Police and has been suspended from his role. Given that criminal proceedings are now live we will not comment further at this stage.”

Angela Stones, the committee chairwoman, said the Sunderland teacher’s postings contained offensive terms and demonstrated views or an attitude that might be considered racist.

However, Mrs Stones added: “The committee does not accept that references to ‘immigrants’ are of themselves suggestive of any particular views on race.

“The committee accepts that immigrants to this country come all over the world. A negative comment about immigration to the UK of itself need not be indicative of racist views or racial intolerance since the race of immigrants is extremely varied.”

She added: “The committee’s view is that, to be suggestive of intolerance, the postings would need to deny or refuse to others the right to dissent.”

The panel heard that Mr Walker, a technology teacher at Houghton Kepier Sports College in Houghton-le-Spring, made the postings on a forum addressing the popularity of the BNP on Teessideonline in February and March 2007.

Using the pseudonym Corporal Fox, the former soldier claimed that the BNP had risen in popularity because “they are the only party who are making a stand and are prepared to protect the rights of citizens against the savage animals New Labour and Bliar (sic) are filling our communities with”.

In another posting on the same day, Mr Walker wrote: “By following recent media coverage of illegal animals and how they are allowed to stay here despite committing heinous crimes, I am, to say the very least, disgusted.”

The teacher’s trade union representative, Patrick Harrington, told the disciplinary hearing that Mr Walker did not accept his postings were racist, claiming that assumptions had been made about the teacher’s views because of his membership of the BNP.

In a statement read to the Birmingham hearing, Mr Walker stressed that he had not communicated his political thoughts and beliefs to staff or pupils.

“I have never condemned all immigrants or asylum seekers,” he said. “My comments relate to those I perceive as coming to our country and committing criminal offences or otherwise behaving badly.”