Thames Water said one person got a second warning over hosepipe use but no-one was prosecuted
Three water companies are to lift their hosepipe bans after further heavy rain.
Seven firms put restrictions on water use in April to combat drought in southern and eastern England after two unusually dry winters.
But the restrictions were followed by record rainfall across England that month and more rain in May and June.
Anglian Water, Southern Water and Thames Water have confirmed that they are to remove the restrictions from midnight on Wednesday.
Last week, the Environment Agency said wet weather had significantly improved river levels and reservoir stocks and reduced the risk of drought and widespread water restrictions this summer.
South East Water, Sutton and East Surrey Water, Veolia Water Central and Veolia Water Southeast have confirmed their hosepipe bans remain in place.
Richard Aylard, sustainability director for Thames Water, which has 8.8m customers in London and the Thames Valley, said: "We don't need a ban, but we do need to ask everyone to keep on using water wisely."
Paul Valleley, Anglian Water's director of water services, which supplies customers in the east of England and Hartlepool, said three months-worth of winter rain in April had "made all the difference".
Southern Water's water quality and strategy manager Meyrick Gough said it was "right" to lift the restrictions.
Rain and floodingThe four companies where restrictions remain in place said groundwater levels were still too low to lift the ban. They said they would continue to monitor the situation and keep the restrictions under review.
Heavy rain since the weekend has caused flooding in Wales and some parts of southern England.
The Environment Agency has issued four flood warnings and 20 flood alerts, including 15 in the South East.
As yet, there are no severe flood warnings - the highest alert, meaning there is a danger to life.
The Met Office issued a severe weather warning for Wednesday for south-west England, parts of the West Midlands and Wales. The warning is at a "yellow" level which means "be aware".
BBC Weather forecaster Laura Gilchrist said the "warning zones" could see localised flooding.
She said parts of England, including the South East, were now seeing brighter weather but more wet weather is expected across many parts on Thursday.
Continue reading the main storyOn Saturday, about 1,000 people were moved to safety from flooding in mid-Wales, with an estimated 150 rescued.
Environment Agency Wales said river levels were not expected to rise much further, but also warned that "heavy showers could lead to localised flooding of roads from blocked drains or small streams".
David Cameron was asked to urge insurance companies to act with "renewed speed" to help flood-hit communities in Wales, at Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons on Wednesday.
Mr Cameron responded he would work towards making sure homeowners got swift action.
Rain and surface water flooding on Tuesday caused more disruption around the country. More than 20 people were rescued from flooded caravans at two holiday parks in West Sussex and the village of Elmer was evacuated.
Fire crews across West Sussex dealt with more than 650 emergency calls in 18 hours - the same number they usually receive in a month
The adverse weather has also affected roads in various parts of the country and the BBC's Travel Unit has full details of delays and incidents on its website.
The Environment Agency has urged people to remain vigilant and to check its website for the latest information.
It "strongly" advised the public to stay away from swollen rivers and not to drive through flood waters.
12 months of droughtSend your pictures and videos to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to 61124 (UK) or +44 7624 800 100 (International). If you have a large file you can upload here.
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Updates from Sainsbury's, JD Sports and Cairn Energy - money.aol.co.uk
The FTSE 100 climbed almost 42 points yesterday, finishing the day at 5,473, 0.76% up overall. Randgold Resources was the biggest climber, up +2.95% with ICAP just behind at +2.73%.Overnight, Japan's Nikkei climbed +0.3% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng and the Shanghai Composite Index traded flat.
We commence with a trading update from Sainsbury's. Despite close competition from all sides - increasingly too from players like Aldi and Lidl - Sainsbury's saw like-for-like sales growth of 1.4% for the three months up to 9 June with sales at smaller stores climbing 16%.
Some of this uptick is put down to a Jubilee boost, as some consumers decided to celebrate and stock up. The quarter was characterised by five bank holidays, a royal event and periods of bad weather. Consistent performance year-on-year puts two year like-for-like sales growth at 3.3 per cent, claims Sainsburys.
"We are gaining market share in our core general merchandise and clothing categories. Non-food continues to grow faster than food, and the quarter saw the strongest ever sales week on clothing," said chief exec Justin King. "In particular, the fourth collection of our Gok for TU womenswear looks set to be our most successful to date."
Next up, an interim from JD Sports. Cumulative like-for-like sales for the 19 weeks ended 9 June 2012 improved marginally to +1.5% (Sports Fascias +1.2%; Fashion Fascias +3.0%). Gross margins continue to be under pressure says JD Sports but trading is "in line with expectations".
"This margin pressure and the additional overhead within the group to support International Retail, Brands and Licensing and Multichannel Development will as previously reported impact core retail results, particularly in the first half."
As far as the Blacks acquisition goes, the company says the anticipated level of the operating loss in the current year is £10 million with the potential for a further up to £5 million charge for restructuring.
"It is difficult to be more precise on the short term outlook, but we remain of the view that Black's market position can be exploited profitably in the medium term. Our immediate priority is to significantly improve the customer proposition."
Finally, Scottish oil and gas player Cairn Energy has confirmed its takeover of North Sea oil producer Nautical Petroleum. Cairn offers 450p per share, a 51% premium on Nautical's price on the trading day before the bid announcement.
"The Cairn Directors believe that the acquisition of Nautical is an attractive opportunity to expand its existing portfolio in North-West Europe and to continue its strategy of balancing its transformational exploration portfolio with appraisal and development assets."
Source: money.aol.co.uk
Southern Water lifts Sussex hosepipe ban - thisissussex.co.uk
Southern Water has confirmed that they are to lift the hosepipe ban in Sussex after weeks of heavy rain.
However, don't get your hopes up that you can begin to use hosepipes again straight away. It depends on who supplies your domestic water services.In the Lewes area for instance, South East Water supply domestic water services and Southern Water supply waste water. This means the ban still applies as South East Water has yet to lift its restrictions.
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Southern Water have lifted the hosepipe ban in Sussex
The ban was put in place early in April following an extremely dry winter but after heavy rain in both May and June so far, the water company has confirmed that the restrictions are to be lifted.
However, Southern Water supplies many homes with waste water services not domestic water services. Waste water services do not relate too many of the activities restricted.
Southern Water is more reliant on rivers and reservoirs for their water. These have filled up with the recent rain.
South East Water relies on underground supplies that have yet to be replenished.
A spokesman for Southern Water said: "Southern Water is lifting water restrictions in its Sussex and Kent water supply areas.
"The temporary use ban that was brought in on April 5 following two exceptionally dry years will end on Thursday 14 June. Anglian Water and Thames Water will lift their restrictions at the same time."
Southern Water's ban will be lifted from midnight on Wednesday.
The heavy rain in May lifted reservoir water levels to close to the normal levels seen for this time of year and the extra rain in recent days – parts of Sussex received the normal amount for June in just 24 hours – has allowed the water restrictions to be lifted.
Heavy rain in the last few days has caused flooding in Sussex and chaos on the roads with many roads being shut as drains have been overflowing and rivers swollen.
Parts of Littlehampton and Bognor in West Sussex were badly affected and Worthing Hospital's basement was flooded. Fire crews in West Sussex dealt with more than 650 emergency calls in 18 hours, the same amount they normally deal with in one month.
The Environment Agency has issued four flood warnings and 21 flood alerts, including 16 in the South East.
Source: www.thisissussex.co.uk
Dementia diagnosis rates to rise in West Sussex - Chichester Observer
DRAMATIC increases in the diagnosis rate for West Sussex people suffering from dementia were predicted at a County Hall meeting on Thursday.
The West Sussex joint commissioning board was told there was now a commitment from NHS Sussex to provide the cash for establishing a memory assessment service from August, 2012 - £2.3m a year.
Tom Insley, principal manager, mental health and substance misuse, said he was really pleased with this development.
The impact of the service on the dementia diagnosis rate in West Sussex would be to increase it from 32 per cent in 2011 to 60 per cent by March, 2015.
A report presented at the meeting said the service would be publicised widely, and in a way that specifically included younger people developing dementia, people with a learning disability, and under-represented groups such as people from minority ethnic groups.
The roll-out of the service would be synchronised with co-ordinated GP training and awareness of how to access the service.
But there was a warning from one member that people should not assume an early diagnosis automatically meant the condition could be cured.
Responding, Dr Mike Sadler, the county council’s executive director of health and social care, told the board: “With many conditions, like cancer, early diagnosis means a cure - that isn’t the case here.”
To the best of his knowledge, there was no clearly demonstrated evidence that dementia could be prevented for the majority of cases.
As far as the most common form was concerned, it was not believed there was any obvious prevention.
Board chairman Cllr Michael Brown said they were still suggesting that 40 per cent of people with dementia might still be undiagnosed in 2015.
“How long will it take for every adult suffering from this condition to be diagnosed in a timely fashion?” he asked.
Mr Insley said further investment would be needed to achieve a bigger increase. The highest diagnosis rate in the country was at present about 58 per cent.
The board was told that new services which had come on stream over the last two years included a dementia crisis service, a care home in-reach service, and enhanced mental health liaison services.
The investment had resulted in improvements including fewer people being admitted to dementia psychiatric in-patient beds, and stays in these beds shortening; a shorter average length of stay for people with dementia in acute hospitals; and an improvement in the quality of life for people in care homes.
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Print this pageSource: www.chichester.co.uk
German police release photo of mystery 'forest boy' - The Guardian
Berlin police have released a photograph of a mystery boy who claims to have spent five years living in a German forest, in the hope of establishing his identity.
The teenager, who has been nicknamed the "forest boy", was discovered nine months ago when he turned up at Berlin's town hall carrying a rucksack and tent and saying he had walked for five days to get to Berlin. Calling himself Ray, he said both his parents were dead. The youth said his mother, Doreen, had been killed in a car accident, and that he had lived wild with his father, Ryan, in a German forest until his death last August.
Speaking English, Ray, who it is believed is 17, told authorities that he had buried his father before following his instructions to "walk north until you reach civilisation and then ask for help". He does not know where his father died. He says he was born on 20 June 1994, but otherwise knows nothing about his identity. He wears an amulet bearing the initials D and R – believed to be those of his parents – around his neck. While he speaks English, experts who have heard his voice do not think it is his mother tongue.
Police are now hoping their international appeal for information will help to identity him, saying they have doubts about many aspects of his story.
"We have considerable doubts about his version of events," the Berlin police spokesman Thomas Neuendorfer told German media. "Almost a year after he turned up the whole thing is still a complete mystery." Investigators say they find it odd that the boy was so clean when he turned up in Berlin, and the two-man tent he had with him was in relatively good shape. He recalls details such as seeing his father get money "out of a wall" and going shopping in the supermarket Lidl, but very little else.
Investigators immediately alerted Interpol to the boy's case last year. They carried out a DNA profile, which showed Ray most likely comes from Europe, and compared his fingerprints with databases worldwide, but to no avail. Releasing a photo – which was done only after in-depth discussions with the boy – is being seen as something of a last resort. Ray is described as being 1.8 metres (5ft 11in) tall with mousy brown hair and blue eyes. He has three scars on his forehead, three on his chin, and a scar on his right arm.
Ray is living in a care home for young people and can now speak German. But when questioned about further aspects of his life story, the boy simply replies that he cannot remember anything.
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
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