![Image]( "Workers rejoice at Corus plant sale")
Steelworkers are celebrating following the news that a huge plant mothballed earlier this year with the loss of more than 1,000 jobs is to be sold in a multimillion-pound deal to a Thai company.
The Corus plant on Teesside was partially closed when a four-nation international consortium suddenly walked away from a long-term contract to buy its products. More than 1,000 workers at the Teesside Cast Products (TCP) site lost their jobs and there were fears of thousands more losses across the region in firms which supplied Corus with goods and services.
After months of behind-the-scenes talks, it was announced that plans were under way to sell the factory to SSI, the biggest steel producer in Thailand for £320 million, raising the prospect of a "significant" number of new jobs and returning the plant to full production.
The Government, unions and local politicians hailed the announced as "fantastic news" for the North East, which relies heavily on the steel industry for employment.
The site used to employ 2,200 before the consortium pulled out, with 700 still working at the plant and hundreds of others leaving voluntarily or switching to jobs at other Corus plants. Talks to finalise the deal will continue in the coming months and will include negotiations with unions and the Government over employment details as well as the prospect of financial aid.
Win Viriyaprapaikit, president of SSI, said: "We have great respect for the tradition of steel-making on Teesside and for the highly skilled Teesside workforce, having previously purchased slab from Teesside Cast Products. This transaction will enable SSI to fulfil its long-standing objective of becoming a fully integrated steel producer with both melting and rolling facilities."
He said it was too early to say how many jobs would be created, but believed it would be in the hundreds. He also declined to say if the Government would be asked for grants or other forms of aid. SSI plans to produce 3.5 million tonnes of slab steel from the plant - its full capacity - and export it all to Thailand, whereas previously around four fifths of the site's output was exported to Europe, South America and Korea.
Corus chief executive Kirby Adams said: "We are very pleased to announce this significant progress in our long-held objective to sell the TCP assets to a strategic industry investor. This is the first of several steps required to reach a definitive sale agreement in the coming months which, with the anticipated co-operation of Government, employee representatives and the North East community, should result in the restart of steel-making on Teesside in the first half of 2011."
Business Secretary Vince Cable said: "I warmly welcome this development which may see the restoration of steel-making on Teesside and a huge economic boost to this region. I have met with Ratan Tata twice since becoming Business Secretary. We have made both parties aware that the Government stands ready to help as discussions on a potential purchase continue."
Michael Leahy, general secretary of the Community union, said: "This long overdue announcement is great news for Teesside. The resumption of production on Teesside will rejuvenate the local area, get people back into work and ensures a strong future for the British steel industry."
Fears remain over a slowdown in the global recovery after a downgrade in US economic growth overshadowed a more upbeat set of figures in the UK.
The US Commerce Department said gross domestic product (GDP) rose at an annualised rate of 1.6% in April to June, down from an initial estimate of 2.4%.
The sluggish advance in the US economy, down from a 3.7% expansion in the first quarter, followed an upward revision to UK GDP growth by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), from 1.1% to 1.2% - a rate not seen in nine years.
But economists warned that US woes revealed a regression in the worldwide recovery, and further gains of such magnitude in UK growth are unlikely - particularly in the face of fierce austerity measures.
Samuel Tombs, economist with Capital Economics, said Friday's figures showed there was "increasing evidence that the global recovery is faltering".
The advance in UK growth - the strongest since the same figure was achieved in the first quarter of 2001 - was driven by record-breaking gains in the construction sector, which expanded by 8.5%, its best performance since the first quarter of 1982.
The strong growth was coupled with a promising 0.7% increase in consumer spending - compared with a fall of 0.1% in the first quarter - boosted by World Cup sales of food, drink and televisions.
But Friday's ONS figures also revealed a slight downward revision to growth in the services sector, which accounts for more than 70% of GDP, from 0.9% to 0.7%, while investment fell by 2.4% on the quarter.
Hours after the UK data was released, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) revealed its downward revision of US growth.
The report is the latest in a string of dismal updates from the US, which have included weak home sales and poor durable goods orders.
Steelworkers are celebrating following the news that a huge plant mothballed earlier this year with the loss of more than 1,000 jobs is to be sold in a multimillion-pound deal to a Thai company.
The Corus plant on Teesside was partially closed when a four-nation international consortium suddenly walked away from a long-term contract to buy its products. More than 1,000 workers at the Teesside Cast Products (TCP) site lost their jobs and there were fears of thousands more losses across the region in firms which supplied Corus with goods and services.
After months of behind-the-scenes talks, it was announced that plans were under way to sell the factory to SSI, the biggest steel producer in Thailand for £320 million, raising the prospect of a "significant" number of new jobs and returning the plant to full production.
The Government, unions and local politicians hailed the announced as "fantastic news" for the North East, which relies heavily on the steel industry for employment.
The site used to employ 2,200 before the consortium pulled out, with 700 still working at the plant and hundreds of others leaving voluntarily or switching to jobs at other Corus plants. Talks to finalise the deal will continue in the coming months and will include negotiations with unions and the Government over employment details as well as the prospect of financial aid.
Win Viriyaprapaikit, president of SSI, said: "We have great respect for the tradition of steel-making on Teesside and for the highly skilled Teesside workforce, having previously purchased slab from Teesside Cast Products. This transaction will enable SSI to fulfil its long-standing objective of becoming a fully integrated steel producer with both melting and rolling facilities."
He said it was too early to say how many jobs would be created, but believed it would be in the hundreds. He also declined to say if the Government would be asked for grants or other forms of aid. SSI plans to produce 3.5 million tonnes of slab steel from the plant - its full capacity - and export it all to Thailand, whereas previously around four fifths of the site's output was exported to Europe, South America and Korea.
Corus chief executive Kirby Adams said: "We are very pleased to announce this significant progress in our long-held objective to sell the TCP assets to a strategic industry investor. This is the first of several steps required to reach a definitive sale agreement in the coming months which, with the anticipated co-operation of Government, employee representatives and the North East community, should result in the restart of steel-making on Teesside in the first half of 2011."
Business Secretary Vince Cable said: "I warmly welcome this development which may see the restoration of steel-making on Teesside and a huge economic boost to this region. I have met with Ratan Tata twice since becoming Business Secretary. We have made both parties aware that the Government stands ready to help as discussions on a potential purchase continue."
Michael Leahy, general secretary of the Community union, said: "This long overdue announcement is great news for Teesside. The resumption of production on Teesside will rejuvenate the local area, get people back into work and ensures a strong future for the British steel industry."
David Cameron's wife Samantha evaded the cameras when she left hospital with her new baby.
Mrs Cameron had been at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro since giving birth to daughter Florence Rose Endellion by Caesarean section on Tuesday.
They left the hospital's maternity wing by a back door and were driven away in a people carrier with blacked-out windows about midday.
Waiting reporters, photographers and television crews failed to get a glimpse of the Prime Minister's wife and baby as they left the hospital's Princess Alexandra Wing in a convoy of three vehicles.
A hospital spokesman confirmed Mrs Cameron was discharged after a third night at the Royal Cornwall.
The baby, born weighing 6lb 1oz, was due next month, but caught the family by surprise while they were on holiday in Cornwall.
Her middle name, Endellion, refers to the village of St Endellion on the north Cornish coast, near where the Camerons were staying.
The couple's elder children, six-year-old Nancy and four-year-old Arthur Elwen, visited their sister while she was in hospital.
Mr and Mrs Cameron lost their other son, Ivan, who suffered from cerebral palsy and severe epilepsy, when he died aged six last year.
Downing Street said the family would resume their holiday.
Millions of people hoping to beat the bank-holiday hordes by setting off at the crack of dawn should perhaps think again - experts predict the roads will be at their worst on Saturday morning.
Congestion, which began to build up on major routes on Friday afternoon, is expected to increase steadily until about midday.
But those who left on Friday morning enjoyed relatively easy journeys as others chose to delay their departures owing to a gloomy weather forecast.
However, conditions are due to improve on Saturday, prompting many to head for coastal regions.
With showers set to relent, many thousands were flocking to music festivals, complete with wellies and waterproofs.
Graham Smith, of AA Roadwatch, said: "It's been a bit of a late start today (Friday) and it seems a lot of people were put off by the weather. But it now looks like they have made the decision to go and we have seen congestion build up quite rapidly on major routes.
"This will continue into tomorrow morning when it will be busy on most of the holiday roads."
He offered a gloomy picture to those aiming to avoid the worst of the traffic.
"To get a good run, you should have left this morning," he said. "If you haven't left already, you've probably left it too late."
This weekend is traditionally one of the busiest of the year with some 16 million cars expected on the roads.
Sports clubs for the disabled are missing out on a multimillion-pound tax boost in the run-up to the Paralympics, London 2012 sponsor Deloitte has said.
Thousands of disability clubs were urged to switch to Charity or Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASC) status in a bid to save themselves an average of £14,800 each per year in tax.
For smaller-level local clubs, the average CASC saving is around £3,700 annually, according to Deloitte, which provides London 2012 management consulting and financial support services. This is a missed opportunity as "relatively few" amateur clubs take this step despite cash being a "precious commodity, often in short supply," Heather Hancock, lead partner for London 2012 at Deloitte said.
British Paralympic Association chief executive Phil Lane said disability sports clubs need to be thinking about getting "in the best shape possible to make the most of the interest the Paralympic Games in London will generate".
Currently around 2,000 disability sports clubs are registered with Parasport, a website set up in 2006 by Deloitte and ParalympicsGB to provide information on disability sport facilities across the UK. It gets around 25,000 hits a month with half of those visitors using the "Find a Club" search. If just 10% more of these clubs registered as CASCs and a further 10% as charities, they could realise £7.5 million of tax savings between now and 2012.
Ms Hancock said: "Many clubs are not taking advantage of the financial reliefs currently available to them. The 2012 Paralympic Games in London represent a great opportunity to generate more support for disability sport and to boost participation at a local level.
"Disability sports clubs should ensure they're in the best financial position to take advantage of the increased interest. A significant revenue boost to disability sports clubs would help them increase participation levels by improving facilities, increasing the number of sports on offer and so on. More people with disability playing and getting competitive in sport is exactly the kind of long-term legacy benefit from hosting the Paralympic Games that we're all keen to see."
Mr Lane said: "I would urge clubs to see if being a CASC or charity would work for them, there is plenty of support and guidance available to make an informed decision and they can now access this through Deloitte Parasport."
The "vast majority" of amateur sports clubs would already meet the charity or CASC qualifying criteria but each club would have to consider which option is best for them. Extra administration work, such as preparing a trustees' annual report and accounts, will come with being a registered charity.
But Karen Potts, partner in the tax practice at Deloitte, said: "The administrative obligations for CASCs are less stringent, which means the scheme may be a preferable alternative to those clubs with a small organising committee or management. Whichever route is chosen by an individual club, the financial benefits of either charitable or CASC registration are clear and should be considered by all amateur sports clubs as a means of boosting available resources."
The Labour Party faces a downturn in union funding unless its next leader renounces the Blairite strategy of wooing right-of-centre voters, GMB general secretary Paul Kenny has claimed.
In what appeared to be a warning to David Miliband, the bookmakers' favourite, Mr Kenny said Gordon Brown's successor at the helm of the party must not offer "more of the same".
The GMB publicly endorsed the shadow foreign secretary's younger brother, Ed, who has made clear he will focus on re-engaging core supporters and those who have shifted their allegiance to the Liberal Democrats.
David Miliband is advancing a more centre-ground approach, insisting Labour should seek to appeal to the kind of broad coalition that Tony Blair attracted in 1997.
Labour, which is in financial dire straits following the general election campaign, is largely reliant on the unions to keep it afloat. The GMB gave almost £1.5 million in the first half of this year.
In an interview with The Times, Mr Kenny also suggested Ed Balls, the shadow education secretary who is also running, would need to adapt his platform to win union favour.
Asked whether the GMB would withdraw funding for Labour if shadow energy secretary Ed Miliband did not win, he replied: "If the new leader offers us more of the same, many unions - including our own - would have to consider where we are at.
"Ed Balls and David Miliband represent where we've been. They are not without talent. I would not rubbish them. But if the direction of the party went off chasing right-of-centre ground..."
He added: "Ed Miliband is not ashamed of Labour's core values. It's not about a big society. It's about a fair society."
With ballot papers set to go out next week, Ed Miliband appears to be the closest challenger to his elder brother. As the stakes have risen, the differences between them have grown in recent days.
Students need to be able to show their "originality and creativity" in A-level exams, a leading headmistress has warned.
Pupils now have access to online model answers, mark schemes and other information, which has taken the "mystique" out of what markers are looking for, according to Cynthia Hall, headmistress of Wycombe Abbey.
The girls' boarding school in Buckinghamshire has topped an A-level league table of private schools for the third year in a row.
More than 50% of the school's exam entries were awarded one of the new A* grades, and the girls notched up 247 A*-A grades between them.
Mrs Hall insisted A-levels are a good qualification, and prove the work done by a student.
But she said: "There's so much available now about what a student is able to do to score the marks."
If you have effective students with well-qualified teachers, there should be "very little excuse, you ought to be able to get good grades", Mrs Hall said.
She added: "There's nothing wrong with demonstrating that a student has studied and done a good job of work. The problem is that we need to have ways of demonstrating originality and creativity. I don't think that's something that's available, it does not provide that."
Students know the kinds of questions they are likely to be asked, and whereas in the past there was a "mystique" about what examiners were looking for, now students can look online for model answers.
Ten years ago, students thought they would have to be "brilliant and inventive and ready for anything", Mrs Hall said.
British code-breaker Gareth Williams was last seen alive eight days before his corpse was found stuffed in a bag at his flat, police have revealed.
A confirmed sighting of the 30-year-old was made on August 15 in London, officers said as they continued to probe his suspicious death.
Meanwhile Mr Williams' family last night hit out at rumours that suggested the dead man was involved in risky sexual practices.
In a statement they said speculation linking the secret service employee to a male escort and bondage equipment had been "very distressing". The mathematics genius, who was on secondment to MI6, was found dead in a sports holdall in the bath of his Government flat on Monday.
As police continued to investigate whether the GCHQ codes expert lived a secret double life, his family paid tribute to the murdered spy.
They said: "Gareth was a generous, loving son, brother, and friend, and he was a very private person. He was a great athlete, and loved cycling and music. His loss has devastated us and we would ask that anyone with information to come forward and assist the police inquiry."
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "We can confirm that Mr Williams was in London from Wednesday August 11, and what officers believe is the last confirmed sighting of him still alive in London was on Sunday August 15."
Police turned their focus to Mr Williams' private life as they attempt to account for his death.
The mystery over his final hours deepened after a post-mortem examination failed to identify a cause of death. Further tests will determine if the cycling fanatic was asphyxiated or poisoned, as well as if drugs or alcohol were present in his system. A pathologist found Mr Williams was not stabbed or shot and there were no obvious signs of strangulation. Police refused to categorise the death as a murder, despite the bizarre circumstances and say he may have died innocently.
They were considering whether he became the victim of a sex game that went wrong. Officers are examining his mobile phone and financial records. They suspect he may have known his killer as there was no sign of forced entry at his top-floor flat in smart Alderney Street, Pimlico.
The BBC "will lose established stars" as it goes through a series of massive cuts, Director General Mark Thompson has warned - while the corporation's top brass will not be exempt from the axe either.
Speaking in Edinburgh, Mr Thompson said "top talent" pay will be reduced, adding: "Sometimes we will lose established stars as a result. When we do, we will replace them with new talent".
The corporation recently lost two of its most high-profile stars, Christine Bleakley and Adrian Chiles, when they moved to ITV.
He also said the number of senior managers would be reduced by at least a fifth by the end of 2011 and the senior management payroll will fall by at least a quarter. He added: "If we can go further, we will and we will look for reductions at every level in the organisation up to and including the Executive Board."
The audience at the James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture were warned to expect "significant movement" on executive pay and told the next round of discussions with the Government about the licence fee "will be a moment for realism".
A large part of the speech at the Edinburgh International Television Festival was made up of a robust defence of the corporation and broadcasting in general, with Mr Thompson hitting back at what he called "exaggerated claims about waste and inefficiency" aimed at the BBC.
The BBC has come under fire from both inside and outside the corporation in recent years. It has been widely criticised for the large sums of licence fee money paid to its stars and top managers. Staff are currently being balloted on whether to take strike action over plans to reform its pension scheme and its rivals accuse it of being overly-powerful.
Last year, News Corporation director James Murdoch used the lecture to deliver a withering attack on the BBC, saying the size of the corporation was a "threat" to independent journalism.
Mr Thompson called for increased collaboration between broadcasters to ensure the future success of the industry. He said: "I don't believe that decline - creative, financial, institutional decline, above all, a decline in the quality of British television - is inevitable." He also warned that every pound taken out of the corporation's commissioning budget is a pound taken out of the country's "creative economy".
In the lecture, called The Battle for Quality, he cited public support for the BBC and referred to the 17 million people who tuned into BBC1 after the general election. He said: "There is still a very strong instinct in this country to come together through broadcasting to share great national moments".
Unicef has trebled its appeal for funds to help women and children in flood-stricken Pakistan.
The charity is calling for £90 million in donations, a dramatic increase from its request for £30 million issued previously.
The new figure reflects the fact that the scale of the disaster is placing unprecedented strain on supplies and the need remains vast, the organisation said.
Among the needs it identified were: access to sanitation and safe drinking water to lower the risk from water-borne diseases for six million women and children; five million aqua tabs for water cleaning, one million plastic buckets, one million jerry cans and one million soap bars; three million sachets of oral rehydration salts and 1.5 million doses of zinc for two million children under five suffering from diarrhoea in the south of the country; vaccinations against preventable diseases such as measles and polio, which can spread quickly in cramped dirty conditions, for 1.5 million children under the age of five.
The call for help came as actor Ewan McGregor filmed an appeal for Pakistan's children with the charity.
Launching the appeal, McGregor said: "We've all seen the shocking pictures on the news about the floods in Pakistan. These floods have affected more people than the Haiti earthquake and 2004 tsunami combined and, as in all disasters, it's the children who have been hardest hit - an estimated 3.5 million children in Pakistan are now in need of urgent help."
Jemima Khan, Robbie Williams, David Beckham, Sir Roger Moore and TV host Cat Deeley are also supporting the campaign, Unicef said.
Meanwhile, the head of another aid appeal for the country praised the "extraordinary" generosity of the British public after donations topped £40 million.
Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) chief executive Brendan Gormley said the response was "unprecedented" after week-on-week donations soared by more than 70%.
:: Donations can be made to Unicef online at www.unicef.org.uk or by calling 0800 316 5353. The public can also donate by texting FLOOD or FLOODS to 70099 to make a £3 contribution to the appeal. The public can donate to the DEC by calling the 24-hour hotline on 0370 60 60 900, visiting www.dec.org.uk or donating over the counter at any post office or high street bank, or sending a cheque. They can also donate £5 by texting the word GIVE to 70707.
Government plans to lock up fewer criminals will fail to cut costs or re-offending, a former Home Office criminologist said.
Professor Ken Pease said "community sentences as currently delivered have no evident effect on rates of reconviction".
Using them to replace short prison sentences simply "freed the group most likely to reoffend to do so sooner, with no evidence of a current treatment benefit from community sanctions to offset that", he said.
In his report, Prison, Community Sentencing and Crime, released on Friday by the think-tank Civitas, Prof Pease said it was important for any move away from the use of custody "to be based on something more than short-term political exigency".
His comments come after one of Britain's most senior police officers spoke out against Government proposals to lock up fewer criminals.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson said he was "rather fond of villains going to prison" - including for crimes such as burglary which can carry sentences of less than 12 months.
Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke questioned the link between rising imprisonment and falling crime earlier this year, saying it was "virtually impossible" to rehabilitate offenders on short sentences.
"Banging up more and more people for longer without actively seeking to change them is what you would expect of Victorian England," he said.
The Government launched a full review of sentencing policy, with Mr Clarke seeming to favour a greater emphasis on community sentences rather than putting more criminals behind bars.
He called for a "rehabilitation revolution", with sentencing policy focused on targeting the causes of reoffending. But his comments on the criminal justice system provoked anger among some Tory backbenchers.
The UK's medicines regulator is examining a possible link between a swine flu vaccine given to millions of Britons and the sleeping disorder narcolepsy.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said it is "evaluating" case reports in Europe of patients developing narcolepsy after taking the drug Pandemrix.
Made by GlaxoSmithKline, the vaccine was the most widely used in the UK at the height of last year's flu pandemic.
On Friday, the European Medicines Agency said it was looking into Pandemrix after a number of cases of narcolepsy were reported, mostly in Sweden and Finland.
The vaccine was given to millions of people in high-risk groups, including children and those with conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and asthma. Overall, it was given to at least 30.8 million Europeans.
Narcolepsy is a rare sleep disorder which causes a person to fall asleep suddenly and unexpectedly.
In a statement, the European Agency said: "Although the cases of narcolepsy have been reported in temporal association with the use of Pandemrix, it is at present not known if the vaccine caused the disorder. The Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) will look carefully at all of the available data to determine whether there is evidence for a causal association."
On Tuesday, Finland's National Institute for Health and Welfare recommended that vaccination with Pandemrix be stopped until the suspected link with narcolepsy had been thoroughly evaluated.
A spokesman for the MHRA said it was "aware of the case reports of narcolepsy" and was "evaluating these in collaboration with other EU authorities".
"Narcolepsy is a rare, natural illness, with around 10 new cases per million people every year and at present no link with the vaccine has been established," he added. "After use of more than six million doses of swine flu vaccine in the UK, no cases of narcolepsy have been reported following vaccination in the UK. Pandemrix vaccine remains available for use as recommended."
A city is braced for a demonstration which could see clashes between a far-right group and its opponents.
Static demonstrations are expected to be held by the English Defence League (EDL) and Unite Against Fascism in the centre of Bradford, West Yorkshire.
Concerns were raised that the event could give rise to a possible repeat of the devastating 2001 riots following an attempted march by the National Front and police forces in the region were this week preparing for possible trouble between the two groups.
Home Secretary Theresa May authorised a blanket ban on marches in the city, but the two groups are still expected to hold the static demonstrations.
Locations have now been confirmed, with the EDL demonstration taking place in the city's Urban Gardens, while Unite Against Fascism/We Are Bradford will hold a protest at the Crown Court Plaza.
A community celebration event called Be Bradford - Peaceful Together is also taking place at Infirmary Fields.
A police spokesman said: "There will be a significant, high-profile policing operation in place in order to ensure public safety.
"West Yorkshire Police's role is to facilitate peaceful protest. If anyone commits a criminal offence they will be dealt with fairly but firmly.
"The police will not tolerate damage to the city or acts of violence."
Medical helpline NHS Direct is to be scrapped as the new non-emergency phone number 111 is rolled out.
Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham criticised the move and the manner of its announcement - apparently via a slip of the tongue by Health Secretary Andrew Lansley during a hospital visit this week.
The Department of Health confirmed that NHS Direct, which is used by 27,000 people a day, would be replaced by 111 when the new non-emergency number is introduced nationally.
NHS Direct provides expert health advice and information to callers, as well as out of hours support for GPs and dental services, telephone support for patients with long-term conditions, pre- and post-operative support for patients.
A spokeswoman said "many" of the services offered by NHS Direct "may be subsumed" by the 111 service.
Providing health advice and information about out-of-hours GPs, walk-in centres, emergency dentists and 24-hour chemists, 111 is currently being trialled in the North-East.
Mr Burnham said: "NHS Direct is a valued service that helps tens of thousands of people every day and takes pressure off A&E. Over the last decade, it has played an important role in the improvements in patient care in the NHS.
"The Health Secretary's statement will stun people across the NHS. It is yet more evidence that Andrew Lansley is on a vindictive mission to break up the NHS, ruthlessly dismantling services before alternatives are in place.
"The manner in which this announcement has been made is quite simply appalling. It shows a total disregard for patients and the thousands of staff it will affect across the NHS. That the Health Secretary feels he can let slip such a major announcement smacks of the arrogance of a Government who believe they are above public consultation."
The Department of Health spokeswoman said: "When NHS 111 is rolled out nationally, it will replace the NHS Direct 0845 4647 telephone number. While NHS Direct will no longer exist as a separate phone number, many of the services provided by NHS Direct may be subsumed by the new NHS 111 service. 111 will give patients one easy to remember number to access non-emergency NHS healthcare wherever they are, 24 hours a day."
Rates of food pipe cancer in men spiked by 50% over the last 25 years, figures reveal.
Cancer Research UK said the annual number of men diagnosed with oesophageal (food pipe) cancer rose from 2,600 in 1983 to 5,100 in the last year for which data was available.
The charity said poor diet and higher levels of obesity could be behind the increase.
Food pipe cancer is the ninth most common cancer in the UK. In 2007, around 8,000 people were diagnosed with the disease.
It is seen as one of the trickier cancers to detect and treat, with only 8% of sufferers living for more than five years.
In 1983 rates of food pipe cancer in men stood at 9.6 in every 100,000. This has now jumped by 50% to 14.4 per 100,000 men.
The most dramatic rise was seen in men in their 50s. Over the last quarter century, rates increased by 67% for the age and sex group.
Rates in woman also rose, but by a slower rate, figures show.
Professor Janusz Jankowski, cancer specialist at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, said: "We don't know exactly why we're seeing this steep rise in oesophageal cancer rates, and why it's having such a dramatic effect on men.
"But we think the obesity epidemic may be a big reason behind the increase."
Investigators are still days away from finding out the exact cause of death of British code-breaker Gareth Williams, police said.
The complicated nature of the tests currently being carried out mean it could be well into next week before police are able to piece together how the maths genius died.
A post mortem examination undertaken earlier this week proved inconclusive and officers are still days away from determining if he was asphyxiated, poisoned or if drugs or alcohol were present in his system.
He was last seen alive eight days before his corpse was found stuffed in a bag at his flat.
A confirmed sighting of Mr Williams, 30, was made on August 15 in London, officers said.
But police would not say whether the sighting was made on CCTV or came from another source.
The investigation is being led by the Met's Homicide Command with the security-vetted Counter Terror Command (SO15) also playing a lesser role in proceedings.
Scotland Yard played down reports that thousands of pounds had passed through Mr Williams' bank account shortly before his death as "pure speculation".
It was reported that three sums of £2,000 were paid into his account on consecutive days and then withdrawn on consecutive days.
Meanwhile, Mr Williams' family hit out at rumours that suggested the dead man was involved in risky sexual practices. In a statement they said speculation linking the secret service employee to a male escort and bondage equipment had been "very distressing".
Floodwaters have made another break in the levees protecting a southern Pakistani city, as thousands of residents fled for high ground and left the city nearly empty.
Both sides of the main road were crowded with people from Thatta and nearby flooded villages fleeing the floodwaters. Many had spent the night sleeping out in the open.
Hadi Baksh Kalhoro, a Thatta disaster management official, said more than 175,000 people had left the city, leaving few behind.
Some are heading for nearby towns or cities, he said, with thousands also headed for the high ground of an ancient graveyard for Muslim saints.
He said the latest levee breach could leave the outskirts of Thatta flooded later over the weekend. The city is about 75 miles south east of the major coastal city of Karachi.
The floods began in the mountainous north west about a month ago with the onset of monsoon rains and have moved slowly down the country toward the coast in the south, inundating vast swaths of prime agricultural land and damaging or destroying more than one million homes.
More than eight million people are in need of emergency assistance across the country.
The United Nations, the Pakistani army and a host of local and international relief groups have been rushing aid workers, medicine, food and water to the affected regions, but are unable to reach many people.
Flood victims blocked a road in Thatta to protest the shortage of aid, most of which is randomly thrown from trucks into crowds of needy people.
"The people who come here to give us food treat us like beggars. They just throw the food. It is humiliating," said 80-year-old Karima, who uses only one name. She was living in the graveyard with more than two dozen relatives.
James Bond star Daniel Craig became the two millionth supporter of England's bid to hold the 2018 World Cup.
The "Back the Bid" campaign, which was launched by former England captains David Beckham and Gary Lineker at Wembley last year, has seen a plethora of stars lend their support to bring the competition back to the UK for the first time since 1966.
McLaren duo Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton were two of the first celebrities to register their support and were quickly followed by the likes of funnyman James Corden, musicians Sting, Noel Gallagher and Robbie Williams and entertainers Ant and Dec.
Football fans from more than 100 countries have also registered their support over the past 15 months.
England most unusual bid backer was revealed last week as Weymouth-born Paul the Octopus, the international star of the South Africa 2010 World Cup, became an official ambassador.
The passing of the two million mark was reached almost 100 days ahead of schedule and the milestone represents a significant landmark for the Bid.
Supermarket chain Morrisons has secured more than one and a half million signatures thanks to a campaign led by former England captain Alan Shearer while BT has created a virtual England 2018 flag with photos and signatures of thousands of fans.
The World Cup Bid was officially launched in May last year with support from all three major political parties.
England is one of five competitors bidding to host the 2018 tournament and one of eight bidding to host the 2022 tournament. The decision for both tournaments will be announced in Zurich in December.
Cuts at the BBC will lead to the loss of "established stars" and a cull in senior management, the corporation's Director General warned.
Mark Thompson will face industry insiders and journalists after he used a speech to lay bare the scope of future job losses.
He said "top talent" pay will be reduced, adding: "Sometimes we will lose established stars as a result. When we do, we will replace them with new talent."
The corporation recently lost two of its most high-profile names, Christine Bleakley and Adrian Chiles, to ITV.
He also said the number of senior managers would be reduced by at least a fifth by the end of 2011 and the senior management payroll will fall by at least a quarter.
He said: "If we can go further, we will and we will look for reductions at every level in the organisation up to and including the Executive Board."
The audience at his James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture in Edinburgh was warned to expect "significant movement" on executive pay and told the next round of discussions with the Government about the licence fee "will be a moment for realism".
A large part of the speech was made up of a robust defence of the corporation and broadcasting in general, with Mr Thompson hitting back at what he called "exaggerated claims about waste and inefficiency" aimed at the BBC.
It came under fire from both inside and outside the corporation in recent years and was widely criticised for the large sums of licence fee money paid to its stars and top managers.
Staff are being balloted on whether to take strike action over plans to reform its pension scheme and its rivals accuse it of being overly powerful.