Go for Luxury Watches, Fashion Watches, Discount Watches

India appeared to have narrowly escaped its Commonwealth Games crisis last night as a number of key nations took a leap of faith and committed themselves to flying to Delhi and participating in the competition.

While intense concerns remained both over security and the conditions inside the athletes' village – images released yesterday from inside the apartments showed filthy bathrooms and stained bedspreads – the English and Welsh teams announced they would be participating.

The Scottish squad said it had been heartened by developments in India over the past 48 hours and is this morning expected to announce it will travel to India. A reported 1,500 workers have been sent to the Games village to clean up the accommodation blocks that that the Scottish team had previously described as "unfit for human habitation".

An advance party of the English team was due to arrive in Delhi last night while Kenya announced its 240-strong squad would start arriving from tomorrow, having received security assurances from the Indian authorities. South African athletes are also coming to India as scheduled.

England's team organisers said in a statement last night that their concerns were being met, meaning that the athletes would travel: "Commonwealth Games England and its 17 member sports today unanimously agreed that they will go to the Delhi Games."

A spokesman for the Scottish team, Jon Doig said: "We are heartened that [Delhi chief minister] Sheila Dikshit has personally taken control of the situation and ensuring that the necessary additional resources are brought in, including support from the Delhi hoteliers association to address standards of cleanliness and hygiene and oversee quality control."

He added: "Things are looking much better. Therefore subject to a number of assurances from the organising committee being realised over the next 24 hours, we feel we will be in a position to confirm [on Friday] that our team will travel as scheduled on Saturday."

The Wales team said: "We are confident in the assurances that have been provided. The advance party will now be moving into our accommodation and we look forward to welcoming our athletes in the coming days."

Ten days before the games are due to start there is lots that could still go wrong. Another accident like the collapsing footbridge this week or an incident like the shooting of two foreign tourists last weekend, could yet persuade many individual athletes, or even entire teams, not to participate.

Security remains a major concern. Bob Nicholls, a South African security specialist who has worked with the Indian Premier League cricket tournament and who will be advising organisers of the cricket world cup in India next year, said the longer work took to complete the facilities the more difficult it was to secure them. "Security is one aspect of the Games that has been a concern all along. You can only create a sterile zone once all the building work is completed and the delays make it very, very difficult to do that.

"It is more difficult to keep it secure when you have large numbers of people coming in and out of the venues," he said. "Because of what the games represent, they are always going to be a potential target. Wherever it is held there will be a certain threat level." Asked about the scale of the security problem, he replied: "It will be a huge challenge."

A number of training areas and reception facilities also remain incomplete and so-called "beautification", the effort to smarten up those parts of Delhi most likely to be seen by visitors, is way off schedule. Yet the fear that the games themselves could be cancelled appears to have eased. Taken collectively, the individual threats raised by various countries that they might cancel their involvement appears to have kicked the very highest levels of the Indian establishment into action.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last night chaired an emergency meeting of his cabinet while Commonwealth Games Federation chairman, Mike Fennell, arrived in the city for meetings.

drive from www.independent.co.uk

The transition from school to university is a big step in any young person's life. Having been guided by the reassuring rules and routines of home and school, suddenly you are master of your own time. Whether it's knowing how to cook an egg, get a sensible amount of sleep or organise a study schedule, adapting to university life can be challenging.

So what's the best way to cope with this transition? It could be taking a year out, which might include opportunities to fend for oneself. Or it might be to attend a school such as Abbotsholme, in Staffordshire, which offers sixth-form pupils a taste of independence before they depart for university.

The school does this by housing sixth-form students in log cabins in the grounds of its 140-acre country estate. Instead of being forced to live in four- or six-bedded dorms, supervised by a houseparent, which can often be the norm, pupils at Abbotsholme have the option of living in small purpose-built cabins, each housing six. (Those pupils who don't fancy cabin living can stay in a traditional-style boarding house.)

Each cabin has a large open-plan living area with a television and a DVD player, a kitchen, two bathrooms and three twin-bedded bedrooms. Pupils can buy and cook their own meals if they choose, do their own washing and ironing, and, above all, learn to rub along with five other human beings.

A houseparent lives in their own cabin nearby, hands-off, but there as and when needed.

"We believe that life skills are just as important as academic ones," says the headmaster, Steve Fairclough. "Captains of industry keep saying this is what they need – it's no good producing students who don't know how to boil an egg. We take a more holistic view of education. It's not just about getting good grades, it's about educating people for life."

Fairclough got the idea for the cabins after volunteering abroad for Bunac as a school-leaver. "If I'd had the experience of living in the cabins, I'd have got far more out of it and coped much better," he says.

"When I got to Abbotsholme, the boarding side was growing and we needed more bed spaces. We had the choice of building a traditional boarding house, or doing something really special, which is what we did. The cabins have been very popular: they're always full."

Fairclough believes that the lessons learnt in the cabins are just as important as those that are learnt in the classroom. "Pupils learn how to get along with others and how to handle their idiosyncrasies," he says.

"Life's not always easy in the cabins. There's nowhere to hide. They do fall out when the washing up isn't done or when people haven't cleared up after cooking. But each cabin finds its way of doing things.

"At the end of it, the students come out more confident and better prepared for life. They understand values like respect, courage and humility. Most of our pupils choose to live in houses rather than halls of residence when they get to university. They tend to be very independent and work hard, and don't waste time doing stupid things that many of their fellow students do."

Charlotte Hudson, 21, lived in a cabin while in the sixth form at Abbotsholme before studying for a degree in sports science at Bangor University, which she recently finished. She says: "When I got to university, I was already used to living with people of my own age, but some of the other students found it really hard to adjust.

"They didn't know how to do basic things like switching on a washing machine or cooking pasta. I met some guys who didn't even know how to use a can opener, so had to buy the cans that don't need an opener."

Having lived away from home and mucked in with others of her own age, university was less of a challenge than for those who had lived at home or gone to traditional boarding schools, says Hudson. "As I'd lived in the cabins, I was used to looking after my own space and rubbing along with others."

So, will other schools emulate the example of Abbotsholme? "We've had a number of schools who have come to have a look, but as far as I know no one has adopted our exact model," says Fairclough. "It's not an add-on, it has to be part of a school's ethos of education for life."

drive from www.independent.co.uk

It was a global compact aimed at saving the world: high-minded targets that would lift millions out of poverty for the new millennium. But as world leaders gather at a summit in New York tomorrow, figures suggest the chances of meeting any of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) by the target date of 2015 are remote.

The targets, set in 2005 – on poverty, education, women's rights, child mortality, maternal health, the spread of HIV, the environment and aid – were always ambitious.

Thanks to the global recession, and complacency from many of the 189 countries that signed up, the interim targets that were set are in many instances still far from being met, which means that progress may slip by as much as a decade.

Progress has been even slower for women, who continue to bear the brunt of poverty and its far-reaching effects, according to new research by Plan International and Africa Progress Panel. Girls are still much more likely to die before the age of five than boys – largely from preventable diseases such as malaria and TB. According to Plan, the MDG tracking system ignores the plight of girls, so the particular impact of poverty on them goes unrecorded.

Many rich nations that pledged aid are reneging on their promises, with a knock-on effect on the other seven targets. Overall donations in 2010 are estimated at $108bn, a shortfall of $18bn against commitments made in 2005.

Claire Godfrey, a senior policy adviser for Oxfam, said: "We're disappointed; it all seems a bit half-hearted now. There's been a lot of talk about this summit not being about money and more about attitudes, but the fact is that promises made in 2000 and 2005 on the financial side haven't been met."

Yasmin Ahmad, who manages data collection at the OECD, said: "It is disappointing to see promises not fulfilled. Some donors are not going to meet their promises. The EU made a promise of donating 0.51 per cent of GNI for 2010. Greece, Germany, Austria, France, Portugal and Italy will not meet that. Japan made a promise to give an extra $10bn by 2010, and they will have fallen short by $3.6bn."

Experts argue that lacklustre progress is not wholly due to economics. The seventh millennium goal, to ensure environmental stability, has failed so far as it requires fundamental social change.

Andy Atkins, a director of Friends of the Earth, said: "Goal seven is definitely the forgotten goal. But if you trash your environment, you trash your economy and you trash livelihoods."

Geoffrey Dennis, Care International's UK chief executive, said: "Of all the MDGs, the world has made the least progress in achieving the targets set for goals four and five: reducing maternal and child mortality and helping women access reproductive healthcare."

Richard Morgan, director of policy and planning at Unicef, said: "We need to strengthen our focus in some areas, particularly nutrition, maternal health and sanitation. It would be great to meet the MDGs statistically. What would be even better is if, as a result, we pull a large number of people out of poverty and misery, and save large numbers of lives in the process."

drive from www.independent.co.uk

Things may not be as bleak as they once seemed for one endangered sea turtle. A new survey finds that hawksbill turtles are more widespread in the eastern Pacific than earlier studies had suggested. Still, the "comparatively optimistic" findings still show that the turtle continues to be highly endangered and will need help to survive.

The hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricate) is found around the world in tropical seas, but is deemed "critically endangered" by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. In part, that's because the turtle has been heavily hunted for its elaborately colored shell, which is prized by jewelry and crafts makers. Whole turtles are also killed, stuffed, and sold as curios. By the 1980s, biologists feared the species was essentially extinct in the eastern Pacific, where it was once common from Mexico to Ecuador. It is now considered the rarest marine turtle in the region.

To get a better picture of how the hawksbill was faring, in June 2008 sea turtle experts gathered in El Salvador to share data and identify possible conservation strategies. Now, in the journal Oryx, the multinational team presents some encouraging news: Surveys conducted between January 2007 and May 2009 found hawksbills nesting on beaches in 6 nations in the eastern Pacific, and swimming in coastal waters off 7 nations. Overall, researchers spotted 540 nests, with nearly 80% in El Salvador. Mexico ranked first in swimming turtles, with about 60% of the 73 animals recorded, according to the study, which was published online on August 27.

The numbers are preliminary, in part because the surveys were limited and the animals tend to use remote beaches for nesting. Still, they suggest that El Salvador "hosts the largest known remaining hawksbill turtle rookeries in the eastern Pacific, highlighting the urgent need to consolidate protection, conservation and research for the species there." One continuing threat is "bomb fishing," or the use of explosives to kill or stun fish and force them to the surface. The number of turtles found off Mexico, meanwhile, underscores "the importance of the country's waters as a foraging and nursery area." But it also poses a puzzle, since the turtles don't seem to be nesting in Mexico. One possibility is that Mexican waters serve as "an important migratory pathway or developmental area."

Overall, the findings suggest just a few hundred turtles reproduce annually along more than 15,000 kilometers of coastline. Still, "the pervasiveness of the species in the region suggests potential for conservation and recovery," the authors conclude. So far, they add, the hawksbill has gotten relatively little attention from conservationists in the region, so even a modest increase in effort might bring significant gains.

drive from www.guardian.co.uk

A hi-tech weapon has been unveiled in the battle against sexual harassment in Egypt, where almost half the female population face unwanted attention from men every day.

HarassMap, a private venture that is set to launch later this year, allows women to instantly report incidents of sexual harassment by sending a text message to a centralised computer. Victims will immediately receive a reply offering support and practical advice, and the reports will be used to build up a detailed and publicly available map of harassment hotspots.

The project utilises an open-source mapping technology more commonly associated with humanitarian relief operations, and the activists behind it hope to transform social attitudes to the harassment of women and shame authorities into taking greater action to combat the problem.

"In the last couple of years there's been a debate in Egypt over whether harassment of women on the streets is a serious issue, or whether it's something women are making up," said Rebecca Chiao, one of the volunteers behind the project. "So HarassMap will have an impact on the ground by revealing the extent of this problem. It will also offer victims a practical way of responding, something to fight back with; as someone who has experienced sexual harassment personally on the streets of Cairo, I know that the most frustrating part of it was feeling like there was nothing I could do."

Harassment of women is believed to be on the rise in Egypt. The only significant recent study on the phenomenon was a survey by the Egyptian Centre for Women's Rights in 2008, which revealed that 83% of Egyptian women and 98% of foreign women have been exposed to some form of sexual harassment, including groping, verbal abuse, stalking and indecent exposure.

Contrary to popular opinion, incidents do not appear to be linked to the woman's style of dress, with three-quarters of victims having been veiled at the time. But efforts to curb the problem have met with resistance.

Although a number of draft laws dealing with sexual harassment are under consideration by parliament, there is still nothing on Egypt's statute books that specifically prohibits harassment – blame for which is often placed on the victim rather than male perpetrators. Just weeks after a series of sexual assaults marred a public holiday two years ago, Egypt's first lady, Suzanne Mubarak, accused the media of exaggerating the threat posed by sexual harassment, and concerns about tarnishing the country's image have continued to stifle debate on the subject.

"We have to transform the social acceptability of sexual harassment and open up a discussion about solutions," said Chiao. "Egypt is our home. When you have a problem in your home then you fix it because you're proud of it.

"You don't cover it up and hope it goes away. We're not trying to ruin Egypt's reputation, we're just trying to address this problem in a constructive and progressive way."

drive from www.guardian.co.uk

After decades of drug-running, extortion and prostitution, the Mafia appears to have found a rather more ecological way of laundering their money: green power.

And if the assets of the Italian police's latest target are any indication, the Mafia is embracing the renewable energy business with an enthusiasm that would make Al Gore look like a dilettante. The surprising revelation of organised crime's new green streak came as Italian police said yesterday they had made the largest recorded seizure of mob assets – worth €1.5bn (£1.25bn) – from the Mafia-linked Sicilian businessman Vito Nicastri, who had vast holdings in alternative energy concerns, including wind farms.

Organised crime in Italy has previously been notorious for trading in environmental destruction – principally earning billions of euros by illegally dumping toxic waste. But most of the newly seized assets are in the form of land, property and bank accounts in Sicily, the home of Cosa Nostra, and in the neighbouring region of Calabria, the base of the rival 'Ndrangheta crime syndicate.

Police said the operation was based on a 2,400-page investigative report and followed 54-year-old Mr Nicastri's arrest last year. He has since been released without charge, and has denied wrongdoing. But General Antonio Girone, the head of the national anti-Mafia agency DIA, said that Mr Nicastri, known as "lord of the winds", was linked to Matteo Messina Denaro, the fugitive believed to be the Sicilian Mafia's "boss of bosses".

Senator Costantino Garraffa, of the parliamentary anti-Mafia committee, said the Mafia was trying to break into the "new economy" of alternative energy as it sought to launder money earned from crime. The seizure of Mr Nicastri's assets "confirms the interest that organised crime has in renewable energy, which several annual reports on environmental issues have already stressed," added Beppe Ruggiero, an official with the anti-Mafia association Libera.

Generous subsidies have led to rapid growth in wind power in Italy in recent years. Mr Ruggiero said: "It is very important for this sector to stay far from Mafia activities." However, he stressed the need for renewable energy to develop in Italy's poorer South. "Investment in renewable energy should not be discouraged," he said, adding that the nuclear alternative would be "a losing choice".

Recent estimates suggest the total annual turnover of Italy's main organised crime groups is around €100bn (£83bn), or 7 per cent of GDP. Officials, including the Bank of Italy governor, Mario Draghi, have argued that organised crime has perpetuated poverty in the south of the country.

drive from www.independent.co.uk

A team of scientists working in a Kenyan rainforest has discovered what is thought to be a new species of elephant shrew. Weighing in at a hefty 600g, the two-foot long creature is unusually large compared to other species.

The mammal, which is more closely related to elephants than to shrews, was caught on motion sensor cameras set up by the Zoological Society of London's Edge of Existence programme in the threatened Boni-Dodori rainforest, which sits on Kenya's north-eastern coast next to Somalia.

"It's really rare to discover a new species of mammal, and it's particularly remarkable that we've found a new species of elephant shrew just five years after the last one was discovered in Tanzania's Udzungwa mountains," says Raj Amin, who led the team. This brings the total number of elephant shrew (Macroscelidea) known to science to 18 species - all found in Africa.

The crew are yet to see one of the species alive, having caught one on camera and found a dead elephant shrew in one of their nets. Members of the Boni tribe also brought them two more dead specimens of the new species.

DNA from the samples is currently being analysed to confirm that the animal is a new species, but Amin remains confident: "You can distinguish elephant shrews based on their colour, and this one looks completely different from all the others."

"It doesn't have a golden rump, or a rufous-coloured face, or spots, but it does have grizzled yellow-brown sides and shoulders, a black rump and thighs and what appears to be a dark mane," says Amin. Because the animal was captured on camera during the day, it is also likely to be diurnal.

Until 2005, security was too tight for scientists to enter the Boni-Dodori forest but in 2008, Amin's team got permission to survey the area. They were amazed at how intact it was, as neighbouring regions have largely been logged and converted into biofuel farms.

"As it turns out, the Boni-Dodori forest is infested with sleeping sickness, a parasite transmitted by the tsetse fly, so herders and other people have left it well alone for the most part," says Amin.

After the inevitable buzz around finding a new species dies down, Amin hopes that the discovery will draw attention to the plight of the roughly 2,216 sq km patch of forest, which may not be protected by sleeping sickness for much longer.

"China wants to rebuild a nearby port in order to ship out minerals, and there are also plans for an oil pipeline," says Amin. "In addition, biofuel companies are growing crops on freshly deforested land that's less degraded, just to make a quick profit."

In January, WWF set up the first conservation project in the forest. The project will last for three years and produce an inventory of the forest's biodiversity.

drive from www.guardian.co.uk

The trucks were parked up, bumper-to-bumper and mile upon mile of them. No one is going anywhere fast in what has been dubbed the world longest-lasting traffic jam, in China's Hebei province.

The motorway, part of the Beijing to Tibet expressway, resembles a giant car park – and has done so for the past 10 days. Normally one of the busiest – and noisiest – trunk roads in China, now the only sound that can be heard is the chirrup of the crickets in the nearby wheatfields.

The Chinese authorities are struggling to clear the congestion, now entering its eleventh day and which, at its peak, stretched for more than 60 miles (100km). But the drivers still joining it are not optimistic about reaching their destinations swiftly.

"I have not moved for five hours," said Zhang Xingping, 27, standing outside his cab near a road traffic sign mockingly warning him to obey the 100km per hour speed limit.

A combination of road works and the huge volume of coal trucks that daily rumble along this main route is said to have caused the problem.

Stalled traffic has stretched for days between Jining in Inner Mongolia, and Huai'an in Hebei province, north west of Beijing.

The roadworks are necessary to repair damage caused by an increase in cargo lorries using the highway after large coalfields were discovered in Inner Mongolia.

This highway is often congested, as local drivers can attest, shrugging their shoulders at the monotony of hour after hour spent with their gearbox in neutral. Many of them think this is well on its way to being the world's busiest road.

This particular and spectacular jam began on 14 August. At one point vehicles were moving half-a-mile a day with some drivers taking five days to clear it. Now it is slowly easing, said Zhang. He should know. He has been through it once already in the past 10 days. "It took me three days last time," he said. "I am prepared. I have plenty of water."

Local villagers come on motorbikes to take advantage. They are selling simple boxed meals of rice, vegetables and pork for 10 yuan (£1) each. "It's not cheap. It's not filling. But we have no choice," said Zhang, of the food on offer.

The stranded drivers, who spend their time sleeping, walking around, or playing cards and chess, are a captive market, and the local entrepreneurs are keen to take advantage. A bottle of water, normally 1 yuan, sells for 10 yuan, while the price of a 3 yuan cup of instant noodles had tripled. "It's more expensive than eating in a restaurant," complained one driver who gave his surname as Lu.

Zhang had set off this morning from the coal mining area in Inner Mongolia. As the moon rose and time ticked into the early hours, he still had no idea when he would make Tangshan, in Shandong province, the coastal industrial town to which he and his cargo were headed. Others were following the same route. Instead of celebrating Zhong Yuan festival, China's equivalent of Halloween, with their families, they were on the highway, smoking cigarettes. Another driver, who gave his name as Li, blamed the high toll fees on the roads in neighbouring Shanxi province – as well as the volume of traffic that has become a big problem in China.

This year it overtook the US as the largest car market in the world, and has embarked on a huge expansion of its national road system in recent years.

drive from www.guardian.co.uk

Tottenham look set for a rollercoaster first season of Champions League football after surviving another topsy-turvy night on the continent.

In what was almost a mirror image of their play-off round first leg at Young Boys, Spurs romped into a two-goal lead at Werder Bremen this evening and could easily have been three or four up before half-time.

But a suicidal four-minute spell either side of the restart turned their Group A clash on its head and they could have easily returned to London empty-handed.

In the end, a draw was just about what both sides deserved as Spurs learnt another valuable lesson about the harsh realities of Champions League football.

A straightforward win had looked on the cards for the opening 43 minutes as a Petri Pasanen own goal and a superb Peter Crouch header saw the visitors take a stranglehold on proceedings.

But Hugo Almeida halved the deficit completely against the run of play and Marko Marin levelled before both sides missed glorious chances to win it.

Redknapp stuck with the 4-5-1 formation which he experimented with in Saturday's 1-1 draw at West Brom.

He had vowed to be more cautious away from home in Europe following last month's game at Young Boys, who had raced to a 3-0 lead inside half an hour.

Avoiding that kind of start tonight was vital against a side who were anything but Champions League rookies, Bremen returning to Europe's top table after their five-year run in the competition was ended last season.

But it was the Germans who were slow out of the blocks tonight, allowing Tom Huddlestone and surprise starter Jermaine Jenas early long-range efforts.

Bremen were struggling to contain Tottenham's new talisman Gareth Bale and after two early warnings he made them pay in the 12th minute.

Benoit Assou-Ekotto's brilliant ball released him down the left and his low cross was turned in by Pasanen under pressure from Crouch.

Marko Arnautovic glanced a tough header wide as Bremen tried to respond but it got better for the visitors in the 18th minute.

Jenas played a sensational volleyed pass to Rafael van der Vaart on the left and the new man produced a pinpoint cross for Crouch to power a header back across Tim Wiese and into the net.

The home side were living dangerously and the outstanding Bale almost made it 3-0 when he robbed Clemens Fritz and raced clear.

His shot was parried by Wiese and Jenas was narrowly beaten to the rebound.

Bale saw another effort beaten away by Wiese nine minutes before the break as Bremen's injury-hit defence continued to buckle.

Home boss Thomas Schaaf immediately responded by throwing on Hunt for Philipp Bargfrede and it appeared to have the desired effect two minutes from the break when Almeida got between recalled Spurs captain Ledley King and Assou-Ekotto to nod in Wesley's superb inswinging cross.

drive from www.independent.co.uk

Ricky Hatton plans to enter a rehabilitation clinic today following reports this weekend of cocaine use, and will await advice over how his recovery can proceed from there.

Asked whether Hatton would be heading into rehab, his publicist Max Clifford said: "That's the plan. It's a case of going there, talking to them, seeing what they're going to suggest and then hopefully by this afternoon we'll have a better idea.

"I spoke to him yesterday and he's very, very flat. He just feels he's let everybody down."

Clifford, who was on Saturday night called by a representative of Hatton and asked to speak on his behalf, would not be drawn on what the episode may mean for the 31-year-old's future plans. Hatton renewed his boxing licence in July and has never ruled out a return to the ring, a stance he reinforced last week in a column for the Manchester Evening News.

Clifford said: "It's too early. I don't know exactly what happened, all I know, like you, is what I read in the News of the World. He obviously was very, very drunk at the time.

"We'll find out more over the next two or three days. The most important thing is that he now faces up to [the fact] that he has got a problem and that he sorts himself out."

The newspaper states the video footage was captured over several hours at a Manchester hotel two weeks ago while Hatton was on a night out with friend Emma Bowe, 29, the Irish national senior women's boxing champion.

drive from www.independent.co.uk