Home news in brief
Tributes for two-year-old girl who died after car river plunge
The father of Kiara Moore paid tribute to his two-year-old daughter who died after the car she was in plunged into a river in Wales. Police say they are not looking for anyone else in connection with the death of the “happy” and “smiley” little girl who was initially rescued from the car but later died in hospital. Kiara was recovered from a silver Mini in the River Teifi in Cardigan on Monday. Initially the two-yearold’s family feared the car had been stolen with her inside and posted pleas on Facebook appealing to help locate it. But a search revealed the car was in the river a short distance from where it had last been seen. Police, who were alerted to the missing vehicle at around 3.30pm, said it was last seen outside the old Scout Hall, where Kiara’s father Jet Moore runs an outdoor adventure company, Adventure Beyond. Officers indicated on Twitter that the vehicle had been found, in an update posted at 5.11pm.
Mr Moore suggested his daughter’s death was an accident after the car had rolled into the river, and Dyfed-Powys Police confirmed that after “extensive inquiries” the force was not looking for anyone else in
connection with the “tragic incident”. Paying tribute to Kiara, who would have celebrated her third birthday next Tuesday, Mr Moore wrote: “She was an incredible happy young girl who lived I hope a great adventurous fun life. And may have done more than most. Had a loving family and made us all happy. She always wanted to be called RAR RAR which was our nickname for her. Love her so much.” Flowers and cards were left near the old Scout Hall on the Strand. PA
Minecraft feud blamed for bomb hoax that evacuated schools
A disgruntled Minecraft gamer is believed to be behind a bomb hoax email sent to more than 400 schools and colleges. Some students were evacuated from schools and colleges across the country on Monday after an email threatening to detonate a bomb if they refused to hand over cash was sent out. The email appeared to come from gaming network VeltPvP – a server which allows users to compete in the game Minecraft – but the US company said that the account had been “spoofed”. Carson Kallen, the US firm’s 17-year-old CEO, told the BBC he suspected the hoax emails had been sent by a disgruntled Minecraft player in a bid to damage VeltPvP’s reputation. He said: “Everyone who plays it is between the ages of eight and 18 years old – it’s all kids playing. Every now and then we have a little rebel who will try to do something bad like this. We’ve had stuff like this happen before but nothing this extreme. He was probably a player who got banned from our server and got mad. This is his way of trying to make us look bad.”
The sender requested payment to an email address that used the domain veltpvp.com but the website posted messages on Twitter denying any involvement. In London, parents of pupils at Cardinal Road School in Feltham were asked to collect their children “as soon as possible” following the incident. And students were temporarily evacuated from Kantor King Solomon High School in Ilford, east London, during the ”national threat”. In a statement, VeltPvP said: ”We’ve been being harassed by a group of cybercriminals that are trying to harass us in any way possible. We’re extremely sorry for anyone who had to deal with this, but just know it’s fake.”
Ex-Scottish Labour leader reveals death threat amid Twitter abuse
Former Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale has revealed she received three death threats in six years, as she backed a campaign urging Twitter to do more to stop online abuse. Ms Dugdale joined Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson to reveal the extent of the hatefilled invective hurled at female politicians using the platform. The three politicians are supporting Amnesty’s Toxic Twitter campaign challenging the social media giant to take steps to address the problem. A YouGov survey of 1,110 British women commissioned by the charity found only 9 per cent thought Twitter was doing enough to stop violence and abuse against women.
Ms Dugdale revealed she had gone to the police a few years ago after one user suggested she should be bayoneted. She said: “If I were to show you my Twitter reply column just now, 90 per cent of it would be abuse. Now I have to look at that every time to scroll through the good stuff trying to find those people who are genuinely trying to engage.” Ms Davidson said the volume of abuse sometimes made her feel “hunted” online. She said: “Because I’m openly gay ... particularly when I started there was a lot of homophobic abuse and I have a lot of young gay followers on my Twitter platform, and for me it’s always been quite important to call that out.” Ms Sturgeon said that while social media was “by and large a real force for good”, she was “deeply worried” about the impact of online abuse on prospective female politicians. PA
Plastic pollution in sea could treble in a decade
The amount of plastic ending up in the ocean is set to treble in a decade without action to curb the problem, a major report has warned. Plastics is one of a number of environmental issues facing the world’s seas, along with rising sea levels and warming oceans, and metal and chemical pollution, the Foresight Future of the Sea Report for the Government said. But there are also opportunities for the UK to cash in
the global “ocean economy” – which is set to double to three trillion US dollars (two trillion pounds) by 2030 – in areas where the country is a world leader, such as offshore wind. The scientists behind the report warned of the danger of the oceans being “out of sight, out of mind”, with more known about the surface of Mars and the Moon than the deep sea bed. But it is hugely important to the UK, with 95 per cent of the country’s international trade travelling by sea, the internet carried by subsea cables, and oceans storing carbon dioxide and heat and producing oxygen and food.
Work is also beginning on the impacts of plastic in the ocean, as experts are not sure what threats it poses, Professor Ian Boyd, chief scientific adviser for the Environment Department, said. “Even in absence of research, there is a precautionary principle to take here, which is we should minimise the amount of plastic, both macro-plastic and micro-plastic, going into the marine environment, in order to make sure that if there are toxic effects, those are being dealt with,” he added. PA