Pakistan is facing a "second massive wave of death" unless the relief effort for earthquake survivors is stepped up drastically, the United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, said. The UN's senior relief coordinator called yesterday for an operation on the scale of the 1940s Berlin airlift to get aid into affected areas and evacuate tens of thousands of stranded victims before winter sets in.. Joanne Lees, the girlfriend of the missing backpacker Peter Falconio, was ordered to demonstrate how she escaped her alleged attacker during a day in court where her testimony was repeatedly questioned. Ms Lees showed jurors yesterday how she moved her hands, which were tied behind her back by her attacker, to her front in a bid to escape.
She sat on the floor of the Northern Territory Supreme Court in Darwin, with her back to the man accused of killing her boyfriend, and demonstrated the move in under two seconds. The lawyer for Bradley Murdoch, who is accused of killing the backpacker near Alice Springs four years ago, made a sustained attempt to undermine Ms Lees's evidence, suggesting she had been prompted to identify him by an image she saw on a website.Ms Lees dismissed this suggestion as well as a claim that she bumped into Mr Murdoch as she shared a last meal with her boyfriend, Mr Falconio, at the Red Rooster restaurant in Alice Springs on 14 July 2001, hours before the attack.She denied suggestions made by Grant Algie, for the defence, that Mr Murdoch was not the attacker. "Whatever did or did not happen north of Barrow Creek, Mr Murdoch wasn't the man you described as doing these things Might I be right about that?" he asked. "No," she replied.Ms Lees was also asked if she had any recollection of seeing Mr Murdoch at 1pm that day, or whether he passed near her. She replied "No" to both questions.Asked if she thought a picture she saw on the BBC News website on 10 October 2002 of a suspect influenced her identification of Mr Murdoch as the attacker, she said: "No. I would recognise him anywhere."At the end of the day I was there, I know what happened and I don't need to read it from the press." Staring at Mr Murdoch, in the dock, she said: "The pictures I have seen, he is the man who attacked me north of Barrow Creek."The court also heard from the road train driver who rescued Ms Lees.Vince Millar told the court: "I was just driving along as you do, and this sheila jumped out in front of my truck Her hands were together above her head. As she sort of jumped out, it was all very quick."He said he had been looking forward to a rest at Barrow Creek, north of Alice Springs, when she jumped out, about 20 metres in front of his truck.
In August Mervyn King, the Governor, said: "Inward migration has been important in easing labour shortages, helping to prevent what would otherwise have been a pick-up in wages."Bank officials have repeatedly said the removal of borders with key Eastern European nations such as Poland and Lithuania would attract skilled and unskilled workers to fill gaps in the labour market.Danny Sriskandarajah, at the Institute for Public Policy Research in London, said: "This not a system out of control or an issue of a 'soft touch'. Humfrey Malins, the Conservative immigration spokesman, said: "This is an indictment of the absolute shambles that is the immigration system under Labour. Net immigration levels are five times what they were when Labour took power." But a Home Office spokesman said: "New immigrants bring considerable benefit to the UK, whether contributing to our wealth, our culture or our diversity."This week the Bank of England cited higher inflows of migrant workers as a possible reason for forecasting lower inflation rates. The number of people coming to the UK last year jumped by 70,000 to 582,000, while the number leaving was unchanged at 360,000 - a record net influx of 223,000 people. Meanwhile, the number of British citizens leaving these shores also hit a record as 208,000 quit the UK for a new life abroad. The biggest increase was an estimated 52,600 immigrants from the 10 mainly Eastern European countries that joined the EU in May that year.Immigration from the "new" Commonwealth that includes former colonies in Asia and Africa rose by 40,000 to 143,000 last year, marking another record.The figures reopened the politically controversial debate over the volume of immigration into the UK.
