Czech president's pen-pocketing act becomes web hit

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The footage was broadcast on Czech TV with the pen circled in red

A video of the Czech president pocketing a ceremonial pen on a state visit to Chile has become an YouTube hit, attracting 1.5 million views.

The clip shows Vaclav Klaus admiring the jewel-encrusted pen at a news conference with the Chilean president, before discreetly stashing it away.

Chilean officials say that their visitors are free to take the pens after official signing ceremonies.

However the clip has caused an embarrassing media stir for the leader.

Czech TV broadcast the video with red circles and arrows highlighting the pen, which was then posted online with a "crime scene" soundtrack.

'Usual'

The video shows Mr Klaus picking up and looking at the pen - encrusted with semiprecious Chilean lapiz lazuli stone - as Chilean President Sebastian Pinera makes a welcoming address for the Czech leader.

Mr Klaus then takes the pen under the table where he appears to put it in his pocket, before doing up his jacket, closing the case on the table, and grinning.

A spokesman for Mr Klaus said it was "a common pen with a logo of the state or office, which presidents and members of their delegation receive during state visits".

Mr Klaus was quoted by the Novinky.cz news site as saying it was "standard to take a pen from an event".

He also remarked that it was a ballpoint pen, rather than a fountain pen.

The clip has also inspired a Facebook collection for Mr Klaus.

Readers are encouraged to send pens to his office on 2 May "as the president obviously has nothing to write with", according to the Facebook group.

Beer could be fresher for longer, says chemistry study

Molecules like this one (tricyclocohumol) are largely responsible for the taste of stale beer

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Scientists have identified the chemicals that lead to the bitter aftertaste of stale bottled beer.

Chemicals present in beer's hops break down over time, forming other compounds that result in the unpleasant taste.

Researchers reporting in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry say the trick to avoiding the taste is to avoid that breakdown.

That can be done by adjusting beers' acidity when it is produced, and by always keeping it cool.

The idea that the naturally-present, slightly bitter-tasting compounds are the source of the more bitter, more long-lasting flavours of "aged" beer is not new.

But the exact catalogue of compounds that are responsible and how they develop over time has remained a mystery until now.

Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have been looking into the particulars of beer chemistry for a number of years.

For the recent study, they stored a number of commercially available, pilsner-style beers for as much as 10 years in order to compare the chemistry of aged beers with that of freshly-obtained samples.

The primary offenders are what are known as trans-iso-alpha acids, which over time degrade into a number of chemicals that lead to bad taste - and it is these that the TUM researchers hope to address.

Recent studies have shown that the level of acidity, or pH, has a strong effect on the degradation of trans-iso-alpha acids, but the new study indicated that pH in ageing beer was incredibly stable - so the researchers asked a commercial brewer to make batches of beer with slightly varying pH levels.

They found that by making beer that was incrementally less acidic, the trans-iso-alpha acid degradation process could be much reduced.

However, the reactions that transform the acids into the ingredients of a stale-tasting beer are accelerated at higher temperatures, so the simplest route to keeping beer tasting fresh is to keep it cool.

Yellowstone supervolcano fed by bigger plume

By Paul RinconScience reporter, BBC News

Yellowstone's geysers are driven by a hot plume beneath the surface

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The underground volcanic plume at Yellowstone in the US may be bigger than previously thought, according to a new study by geologists.

The volcanic hotspot below Yellowstone feeds the hot springs, mud pots and geysers that bring millions of visitors to the US national park each year.

But the Yellowstone "supervolcano" has erupted violently in the distant past and could do so again at some point.

The new study is set to be published in Geophysical Research Letters journal.

In 2009, researchers used seismic waves from earthquakes to build up an image of the hotspot beneath Yellowstone, which straddles the US states of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.

The authors of the latest work used variations in the electrical conductivity of rocks to produce a new picture of the plume.

This conductivity is a property of the molten silicate rocks and the hot briny water that is naturally present in them.

"It's like comparing ultrasound and MRI in the human body; they are different imaging technologies," says co-author Michael Zhdanov, a professor of geophysics at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

Hot envelope

The 2009 images, using seismic waves, showed the plume of hot and molten rock dipping downward from Yellowstone at an angle of 60 degrees. This plume extended 240km (150mi) west-northwest to a point at least 660km (410mi) under the Montana-Idaho border.

This was as far as the seismic imaging could "see".

The new study, using electrical conductivity, can only see about 320km (200mi) below ground.

Variations in electrical conductivity reveal the volcanic plume of partly molten rock

But it shows the conductive part of the plume dipping more gently, at an angle of perhaps 40 degrees to the west, and extending perhaps 640 km (400 miles) from east to west.

They may look different because the two techniques image slightly different things.

Seismic images highlight materials such as molten or partly molten rock that slow seismic waves, while the geoelectric technique displays briny fluids that conduct electricity.

Co-author Robert B Smith, who is also at University of Utah, said the plume was bigger in the geoelectric picture. He said it could be inferred that there were more fluids than shown by the seismic images.

Despite differences, he says, "this body that conducts electricity is in about the same location with similar geometry as the seismically imaged Yellowstone plume."

The more gentle tilt of the geoelectric plume could suggest that the hot region imaged by the seismic wave technique may be enveloped by a broader, underground envelope of partly molten rock and liquids, the researchers say.

There have been three huge eruptions of the Yellowstone supervolcano: 2.1 million years ago, 1.3 million years ago and 640,000 years ago. Two of these eruptions blanketed a large area of North America with volcanic ash.

The most recent full-scale eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano ejected some 1,000 cubic km (240 cubic miles) of hot ash and rock into the atmosphere. There have been smaller eruptions in between the largest outpourings; the most recent of these occurred 70,000 years ago.

Paul.Rincon-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

FBI to assist search for bodies near Long Island beach

Police divers searched the waters north of Ocean Parkway for more victims on Wednesday

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The FBI will supply high-tech surveillance aircraft to authorities investigating a possible serial killer on Long Island in New York later this week, a police official has said.

Police have discovered 10 sets of human remains since December near a highway leading to Jones Beach State Park.

Helicopters and aircraft equipped with special cameras will reportedly be used in the hunt for further human remains.

The police search is being hampered by the density of the seaside brush.

Searching for victims

Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer said on Wednesday that federal investigators would supply both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft equipped with advanced cameras to search more than 15 miles (24km) of thick brush along Ocean Parkway, just east of the New York City border.

Volunteer firefighters with ladders and mounted police units have been employed in recent days to assist in the search for more victims.

Police divers scoured the waters north of the parkway on Wednesday morning.

The bodies of four women who worked as escorts were found in the region in December.

Those remains, which were identified using DNA and dental records, were discovered while authorities were following up on the disappearance of a woman from New Jersey seen working as a escort in the Long Island area.

Investigators continue to search for the remains of Shannan Gilbert, a New Jersey woman who was last seen in May at nearby Oak Beach, where she had arranged to meet a client she had met through Craigslist.

Six more sets of remains were found in the past two weeks along the same parkway.

Police have not officially linked the remains discovered in the last several weeks with those found in December.

"The indications we have right now is that there is no connection," Mr Dormer said.

He added that officials wre awaiting the results of forensic testing before discussing the identities of the most recent sets of remains.

BP: Angry protests expected at annual meeting

The rig exploded last April and sank off the coast of Louisiana, killing 11 workers

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US Oil Spill

• 'Bad management' led to BP spill
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BP could face a wave of protesters and angry shareholders at its first annual general meeting since a disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

It is almost one year since 11 workers were killed when a drilling rig leased by BP exploded, unleashing millions of barrels of oil.

Fishermen from the US are set to be among protesters at the AGM in London.

Meanwhile, BP is trying to save a £10bn alliance with the Russian state-owned oil company, Rosneft, from collapse.

The share swap deal would have resulted in both companies jointly exploiting potential vast new energy reserves in the Russian Arctic Circle.

It was a key part of BP's turnaround strategy and aimed at delivering future growth.

But it was put on hold after Russian partners in its current Russian joint venture won an injunction.

BP had until Thursday to complete the deal. If it is to be saved, they will need to secure more time.

The handling of the deal with the Russian oil company is likely to stir up anger at the AGM, already set to be a noisy, angry affair.

On top of shareholder ire over boardroom bonuses, some fishermen and women, whose livelihoods were affected by the oil spill on 20 April 2010, will be at the meeting as shareholders.

They will be joined by indigenous communities angry at BP's involvement in extracting tar sands - a heavily polluting form of oil - in Canada.

Outside, a protest is set to be staged by environmentalists, with more planned over the next week across London.

And workers involved in a dispute at a BP-owned biofuels plant near Hull will also demonstrate, some dressed as an oil slick, linking their row with the firm's behaviour in the Gulf.

They say they have been "locked out" of the contract to build the new plant at Saltend, near Hull, after the project fell behind schedule.

Egypt: Mubarak and sons detained amid corruption probe

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Protesters gathering outside the hospital in Sharm el-Sheikh have demanded Mr Mubarak be tried

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Egypt's Revolution

• Little sympathy for Mubarak family
• In pictures: Cairo crackdown
• Second chance?
• Dismantling state security

Egypt's prosecutor general has ordered the detention of former President Hosni Mubarak, ahead of an investigation into corruption and abuse allegations.

He is said to be in an "unstable condition" in hospital with heart problems. He has been ordered to be detained for 15 days.

His sons Alaa and Gamal have also been detained amid allegations of corruption and violence, police say.

Mr Mubarak stood down in February after a popular uprising against his rule.

Suspicion

Since then, tens of thousands of protesters have staged weekly Friday protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square.

They want the ousted president to be put on trial for the deaths of protesters and alleged abuse of power during his 30-year rule.

Official records show that 360 people were killed during the protests, but rights groups put the figure at about 800 dead and hundreds more wounded.

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Analysis

Mark GregoryBBC World Service business correspondent

It is hard to separate facts from myths in the debate about the Mubarak family's wealth and how it was obtained.

It is not even clear how rich they are - estimates range from $1bn (£0.6bn) all the way up to $70bn. US intelligence puts the figure at the lower end of spectrum, at not more than $5bn.

Opponents of the Mubaraks within Egypt say much of this wealth was acquired through corrupt property deals. In the last 30 years, large tracts of empty, sometimes desert, land around major cities has been converted into valuable real estate.

It is claimed the Mubarak family were given kickbacks in return for using their influence so that property developers acquired what become vast sites for free or almost free of charge. There are similar claims about land used for building hotels and resorts in the Sinai and along the Red Sea.

Other allegations centre on claims that the two Mubarak sons, Gamal and Alaa, pressured Egyptian firms into giving them shares without paying the market price. But its also clear that the brothers had many quite legitimate business interests. The family denies any wrongdoing.

The Revolution Youth Coalition, an umbrella group of organisations involved in the protests that led to Mr Mubarak's downfall, said it welcomed the steps to bring Mr Mubarak and his family to justice.

The coalition called off mass protest planned for Friday in Cairo, saying one of its long-standing demands had been met.

The detention of Mr Mubarak is an exceptional turn of events for a leader in the Arab world, says the BBC's Yolande Knell in the Egyptian capital.

But the general public is suspicious at the timing of Mr Mubarak's heart problems and worried that ill-health, combined with old age, could prevent him from being tried, our correspondent says.

A post on the prosecutor general's Facebook page on Wednesday said: "The prosecutor general orders the detention of former President Hosni Mubarak and his sons Gamal and Alaa for 15 days pending investigation after the prosecutor general presented them with the current state of its ongoing investigations."

Reports at first indicated he was well enough to undergo questioning, but later his health was said to be "unstable", according to medical sources in the Sharm el-Sheikh hospital where he was admitted on Tuesday.

Later on Wednesday, state TV announced Mr Mubarak and his sons were to be questioned in a Cairo court on 19 April, Reuters news agency said.

The former Egyptian leader had been keeping a low profile in Sharm el-Sheikh, a Red Sea resort, after fleeing to his holiday villa there when he was overthrown.

Late on Tuesday, a crowd of about 2,000 people had gathered outside the hospital, demanding that the sons be arrested.

Sons pelted

As a police van with drawn curtains took away the two brothers for questioning, the crowd pelted it with water bottles, stones and their flip-flops, the AP news agency reported.

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Crackdown on Mubarak-era officials

On trial:

• Habib al-Adly, interior minister

Referred to trial:

• Ahmed al-Maghrabi, housing minister
• Ahmed Ezz, businessman and NDP official
• Rachid Mohamed Rachid, trade and industry minister

Detained pending investigation:

• Hosni Mubarak and sons Alaa and Gamal
• Ahmed Nazif, former prime minister
• Safwat Sherif, head of the upper house of parliament
• Fathi Sorour, parliament speaker

On Wednesday morning the pair were transferred to Tora prison complex in Cairo, home to other fallen officials and some of the country's most notorious political prisoners.

Speculation that the younger son, Gamal, was being groomed to take over from his father helped to galvanise Egypt's protest movement.

Gamal, an investment banker, was a high-ranking member of President Mubarak's ruling party. His close associates were billionaires and held top positions in the ruling party and the government.

Mr Mubarak, along with his sons and their wives, have been banned from leaving the country. The family's assets have been frozen.

In a pre-recorded audio message on Sunday, he broke his silence of the last two months to say his reputation and that of his sons had been damaged and he would work to clear their names.