Royal Mail fined for missing post

S Korea cloning expert suspended

The disgraced South Korean cloning expert, Hwang Woo-Suk, has been suspended from his university post. He and six members of his team have been temporarily barred from teaching or research work, Seoul National University said.

The university apologised last month after Dr Hwang was found to have faked some of his famous stem cell research. At the time University President Chung Un-chan called for "heavy punishment" for Dr Hwang and his colleagues. The suspension is temporary, but the university's disciplinary committee is still considering whether to implement further measures, which could include formal dismissal. "The disciplinary committee is still following procedures to punish them. It is looking into their misconduct in research and their breach of ethical standards," said Byun Chang-ku, dean of academic affairs at Seoul National University. Dr Hwang and the six others also face criminal charges of fraud and embezzlement.

The disgraced scientist caused Shockwaves late last year, when he admitted flaws in his research, but has insisted most of the fabrications were carried out without his knowledge. A final report from experts at Seoul National University, published last month, said that Dr Hwang had faked his most famous work, the production of a stem cell line taken from cloned embryos. The panel had previously rejected another of his landmark claims - to have produced individually tailored stem cells. But it did conclude that Dr Hwang produced the world's first cloned dog, an Afghan hound called Snuppy. Dr Hwang has already apologised for the mistakes. However, he has insisted that most of the fabrications were carried out without his knowledge, by collaborators on the project.

THE MIRROR, 16.05.06.

Royal Mail fined for missing post

Royal Mail is facing a record £11.4m fine for failing to adequately prevent mail being lost, damaged or stolen. Regulator Postcomm said Royal Mail was guilty of "serious breaches" of its licence in relation to mail security measures and staff vetting. Postcomm launched an investigation in 2004 after media reports claimed that some staff were tampering with mail. Royal Mail said it would appeal against the fine-the largest ever proposed by the regulator-calling it "unfair". Royal Mail could also be fined £270,000 for poor delivery performance in London during 2004-5. Royal Mail has admitted that more than 14 million letters and parcels were lost, stolen, damaged or tampered with last year. However, it insists that its service is one of the safest in the world. In its investigation, Postcomm found that many Royal Mail agency staff were not properly vetted before being employed and that this had compromised the safety of deliveries. It also concluded that co-ordination of measures to prevent theft and damage were "ineffective" and that Royal Mail had failed to adequately monitor the effectiveness of its own procedures. "Customers are entitled to expect that when they post mail it will reach its destination," said Nigel Stapleton, Postcomm's chairman. "A Postcomm review uncovered serious shortcomings in Royal Mail's application of its procedures for properly protecting the mail."

Postcomm said Royal Mail had made significant efforts to tackle the problem over the past nine months. However, it said the proposed fine of £11.3m reflected the "extent and seriousness" of the identified shortcomings, most of which could be put down to "management failings". Royal Mail said the fine was "unreasonable", stressing that it had significantly tightened up its security procedures since 2004. The amount of lost mail had halved over the last three years, it said, while stolen mail accounted for just 0.001% of the 22 billion items handled every year. "Clearly we have substantially improved," chief executive Adam Crozier told the BBC. "But clearly it is very important we continue to improve our service. We are aware of that." Royal Mail was fined £7.5m in 2003 after it was found to have missed performance standards for delivering business mail.

THE DAILY NEWS, 22.04.06.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 883