• Ikea withdraws chocolate cake after tests find bacteria

    A public worker rides a bicycle in front of an Ikea shop on March 6 in Shanghai, China. Chinese authorities say they have destroyed nearly two tons of chocolate cake imported by Sweden's Ikea for violating food quality standards.

    By Peter Jeary, Senior Foreign Desk Editor, NBC News

    LONDON — Furniture chain Ikea has removed chocolate cake from store restaurants in 23 countries after authorities in China identified high levels of bacteria commonly found in human and animal feces in one batch of the treat.

    However, none of the contaminated batch had been shipped to stores in the U.S. and the food in question — an almond, chocolate and butterscotch cake — had not been sold as a take-home product.

    "This is not a product recall," Ikea spokeswoman Ylva Magnusson said. "There’s no risk that anyone has a contaminated cake at home in their freezer."

    The contamination came to light earlier this week when the Shanghai quarantine bureau revealed it had destroyed 4,100 pounds of imported Ikea chocolate cake that was found to contain excessive levels of coliform bacteria.

    The food, from a supplier based in Sweden, was destroyed in November and December, but Ikea’s head office only found out about it Monday.

    As a precaution, Ikea announced it had removed the cake from sale in 23 countries. Magnusson said there was no health risk. "None of the [affected] cakes made it to our restaurants," she said.

    Czech Republic officials say traces of horse meat were discovered in frozen packages of meatballs sent to their country for sale at furniture giant Ikea. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

    Some forms of coliform bacteria are commonly found in the environment and Ikea said the type found in Shanghai did not pose a health risk. However, it said its own quality controls required no coliform be present at all.

    This latest food scare came just days after Ikea's trademark meatballs were removed from sale in Europe after horse meat was found in some batches - part of a wider scandal over mislabeled meat there. The tainted batches were traced to a Sweden-based supplier. Meatballs sold in Ikea’s US stores contain only beef and pork from animals raised in the U.S. and Canada.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    Related:

    Horse meat in the US? Unlikely, but tests are rare

    'Fraud on a massive scale': Europe's horse meat scandal keeps on growing

    'Criminal conspiracy' blamed for European horse-in-burger scandal

     

  • Would you pay $160 to check out this view? London's The Shard skyscraper is banking on it

    —

    Luke Macgregor / Reuters

    The shadow of Western Europe's tallest building is cast across London's financial district as seen from The View from The Shard on Tuesday. Adult tickets to the gallery range from $40 to $160.

    By Peter Jeary, Foreign Desk Editor, NBC News

    LONDON —Towering 800 feet above the U.K. capital, The View from The Shard provides a unique panoramic perspective of the city and — when the weather is clear – up to 40 miles beyond.

    But getting a chance to witness the vista from The Shard, which last year became the tallest building in Western Europe, won't come cheap. When the public viewing gallery atop the London's newest landmark opens on Feb. 1, adult tickets will range from $40 to $160.

    So will anyone be prepared to pay that much for the privilege of looking down on Londoners?

    Andy Nyberg, The View's no-nonsense CEO, thinks so. He says visitors are in for an impressive sight — a "tapestry of history" far below. Its first two days have already sold out.

    "This is the only place you can see the whole of London at once and, as such, is a natural starting point for exploring the U.K.'s capital," he said. "If we've got the room and if you've got more money than sense – or time – for £100 ($160) you can turn up at the box office and go up immediately. But that's just a pressure valve for people who bang on the desk."

    When it is fully fitted-out, the building will include a luxury hotel, restaurants, offices and private apartments totaling more than 31 acres. The architect, Renzo Piano, has described it as a "vertical city."

    The Shard, Western Europe's tallest building will be officially dedicated. The glass paneling and tapered design have already made it one of London's most iconic landmarks. ITV's Lewis Vaughan Jones reports. 

    A pre-booked, timed-entry adult ticket costs £24.95 ($40), a price the operators believe compares favorably with other "fast-track" entrance fees around London.

    In comparison, entry to the main observation deck of the Empire State Building, 1,050 feet up on the 86th floor, costs $25. Going to the top of the Eiffel Tower feels like a bargain at less than $18.50 — and its third level observation desk sits 905 feet above Paris.

    But unlike the New York or Paris icons, The View from The Shard's operators say the "visitor experience" is more about the city than the building.

    'Quirky'
    In the entrance hall there was a humorous and irreverent montage of famous faces placed in London landmarks, as well as some of the city's less well-known neighborhoods. The lobby for the high-speed elevators, which whisk visitors skywards at nearly 20 feet per second, was awash with maps and quotations about the city.

    "We've been allowed to be quirky by mixing fact and entertainment, but kept plenty of open space for people to enjoy, " Kevin Murphy, development director at Event Communications — the company responsible for bringing the concept to life — said as he looked around the vast viewing gallery on Level 69.

    The Shard towers 1,016 feet over London's South Bank and will be officially opened in February. The top floor will provide stunning 45-mile views and will be the tallest building in western Europe. NBC's Michelle Kosinksi checks out the tower inspired by old church spires.

    Apart from high-tech interactive telescopes dotted around its edge, the gallery is sparsely decorated, enabling the view to speak for itself.

    "We could have three million people a year through here," Murphy added. "But we're not about treating visitors like animals and herding them through."

    But although there was space to roam, the novelty of the viewpoint soon wore thin — at least on a cloudy January morning, with visibility limited to around four miles.

    The London landmarks nearby, such as St Paul's Cathedral and Tower Bridge, were distinctive enough, and following the course of the River Thames as it weaved its way eastwards to the sea was intriguing. But after playing "Can I see your house from here?" and counting buses, there was little to hold the attention.

    Even climbing up to Level 72, the partially open-air gallery at 800 feet, the narrowness of the city's streets kept many landmarks out of view. And when standing so close to the jagged pinnacle at the top of The Shard, the impression gained at a distance of broken glass simply disappeared.

    There were two novelties that caught the eye at the summit: The highest — and probably smallest — gift shop in London; and the view from the restroom.

    After all, who needs bathroom curtains 800 feet up?

    Peter Jeary / NBC News

    A restroom at The View from the Shard.

    Related stories:

    Europe's new tallest building: An 'iceberg' in heart of London or titanic $2.35B folly

    PhotoBlog: Check out images from The Shard's official opening

    Slideshow: The world's tallest skyscrapers

  • 150 years old and still running late: London's Tube celebrates landmark anniversary

    London's Tube network was established 150 years ago this week. From its debut in 1863 to providing protection from Nazi bombs and now Oyster cards, ITV's Ria Chatterjee reports on how the world's first subway system has evolved.

    By Peter Jeary, Foreign Desk Editor, NBC News

    LONDON -- Unexplained delays, equipment failures and chronic rush-hour overcrowding are among the reasons Londoners have a love-hate relationship with their remarkable subway system, dubbed the Tube.

    But it was day of gratitude for commuters - and tourists - on Wednesday as the creaking London Underground celebrated its 150th birthday.

    It is a remarkable milestone for the network, carved from the hot clay beneath London’s streets and which survived the bombs of World War Two.

    Abraham Lincoln was President when the world’s first subterranean passenger service opened between Paddington and Farringdon on Jan. 9, 1863.

    Most of the original station building is still in use at Farringdon, where passengers on Wednesday reflected on the history of the Tube.

    Science & Society Picture Librar / via Getty Images

    Construction of the first section of London's Tube began in the 1860s.

    “The old Circle Line carriages could do with being pensioned-off,”  Dave Rodgers, 54, told NBC News. “Some of them look like they are 150 years old. Perhaps they are originals.”

    Owen Blake, a 50-year-old printer, was waiting for his train home after a night shift. “I’ve used the Underground all my life,” he said. “As a teenager, it was wonderful to be able to travel from Islington to other places across London. You felt connected, you could go anywhere.”

    Peter Jeary, NBC News

    Commuters on Wednesday at Farringdon, one of the original London Underground stations.

    But Leanne McCabe, a 24-year-old healthcare worker, spoke for many when she said: “I only travel once a month on the Tube, but they always seem to be doing engineering work on the line.”

    Upgrading a system whose core infrastructure is more than a century old is a tough task for planners and engineers.

    At its start, steam trains ferried carriages between the affluent suburbs of Victorian west London and the money-making heart of the City financial district.

    Despite early hazards for passengers such as asphyxiation from smoke and petty crime, it proved a tremendous success, with 26,000 daily users within six months of opening.

    The privately funded network grew rapidly, adding new lines and stations as railway entrepreneurs – and tunneling engineers - found there were profits to be made by digging deep under London.

    By the time the New York subway opened in 1904, London had six underground lines and was on track to be powered entirely by electricity.

    Peter Jeary, NBC News

    Steam locomotives and carriages were replaced by electric trains on London's Underground at the turn of the 20th century.

    By opening up London’s suburbs to fast, efficient mass transit, the Underground helped shape the way the city grew. New communities grew up around areas connected by the Tube -- as it became known by 1890 in honor of its increasingly deep and narrow tunnels. The network’s expansion at the turn of the 20th century linked the capital’s population with new opportunities for work and leisure.

    A record 1.171 billion passenger journeys were made during the 2011-12 financial year, across a city-run network that now covers 249 miles and connects 270 stations on 12 lines – arteries through which London’s lifeblood flows.

    A tourist attraction in its own right, it is frequently featured in popular culture, such as the James Bond movie "Skyfall," the Sherlock Holmes tales and songs by The Jam and Duffy – a legacy the pioneers could have never imagined.

    “Today of all days, learn to love the Tube,” implored railway historian Christian Wolmar in Wednesday’s London Evening Standard newspaper. “Marvel at the diversity of people from all classes and of all ages who rely on it, day in, day out.”

     

     

     

  • Warm glow of Berlin's 'beautiful' gas streetlights set to fade

    Most of Berlin's gaslights, those distinctive street jewels that have spread a gentle golden glow for more than a century-and-a-half, are set to be removed. NBC's Andy Eckardt reports

    By Peter Jeary, NBC News

    BERLIN — As a capital city, Berlin has endured more than its fair share of division over the years. Now new battle lines are being drawn over what some see as a fight for the city's character.

    The conflict began when City Hall announced its intention to phase out the vast majority of Berlin's historic gas lamps as part of an ambitious project to make the city carbon-neutral by 2050.

    With nearly 43,000 gas-powered streetlights, Berlin has more than any other city in the world. In fact, more than one in six in the city are gas.

    Some date back to the 19th century; others were erected immediately after World War II as the occupying Soviet forces made restoring light to the devastated city a priority.

    In recent years, guided tours have been run to picturesque areas, with sightseers attracted by the distinctive warm, yellowish glow of gas lamps.

    Pollution, expense
    Think Beacon Hill in Boston or San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter — but on a much larger scale — and cue the outrage.

    But with annual running costs for fuel and maintenance as much as $700 for some lamp models, and carbon dioxide emissions almost ten times that of an equivalent electric light, there are now strong financial and environmental incentives to replace gas with electric alternatives.

    Pete Jeary/NBC News

    With nearly 43,000 gas-powered street lamps, Berlin has more than any other town or city in the world.

    The city's current modernization program (link in German) will see 8,000 highway lamps, mostly dating from the early 1950s, replaced with new electric lights.

    City authorities say the figures speak for themselves.

     The energy used by those 8,000 gas lamps could power 100,000 electric lights. And replacing them would cut energy costs by 90 percent, reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 9,200 tons per year and save a chunk of the $1.6 million spent each year just on replacement gas mantles.

    Petra Rohland, spokeswoman for Berlin's Department of Urban Development, said the current refit would be complete by end of 2016 — and would recoup the cost within nine years.

    All but a few of the city's gas-powered lamps will eventually go.

    "Five percent of the historic gas lights, especially the candelabra, will be kept as originals in the future," Rohland said.

    'Knock down the Brandenburg Gate'
    It's a future that fills some Berliners like Paul Harrison with dread.

    Harrison is a member of a growing band of preservation societies who oppose the wholesale replacement of gas lights.

    He challenges the environmental and financial arguments put forward by the city to justify the changes.

    Futuristic highway glows in the dark, reports the weather 

    "If we're just talking about saving money, we could knock down the Brandenburg Gate," he said ironically. "After all, that costs a lot to keep going, to keep clean."

    Harrison's group, Gaslight Culture, is calling for the dismantling to be suspended - and for talks between all interested parties.

    Pete Jeary/NBC News

    Annual running costs for a gas-powered lamp can be as much as $700, and CO2 emissions almost ten times that of an equivalent electric light.

    "We haven't started to explore the possibilities, such as different forms of financing or even sponsorship of streets or districts," he said.

    Harrison deplored what he described as “the rejection of a working system.” And the replacement LEDs would be “prohibitively expensive” and “far from convincing” as alternatives.

    'A living light'
    Such rejection of new technology would be a disappointment to Andre Braun, who has spent years developing LED illumination that mimics the color of gas light (in German).

    For Braun, whose workshop is on the same site as the former Berlin gas plant where his father once worked, the search for the perfect replacement is nothing short of a crusade.

    Glowing plastic lets you make light bulbs in any shape

    The way he talks about working with gas is reminiscent of how a fisherman might talk of the sea.

    "It's so very difficult to work with," Braun said. "The extremes of temperature make it a constant battle ... unlike electricity, which is a dead light, gas gives a living light. But that's tough to recreate in an LED."

    "Some people think I'm crazy to spend all this time trying to replicate the look of the gas lamp," he said. "But they are beautiful; gas lights have no glare, you can look right into them."

    More world stories from NBC News:

    Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

     

  • Too much democracy? Apathy triumphs as UK voters shun latest election

    Suzanne Plunkett / Reuters

    A voter enters a polling station in Hambleden, southern England, on Thursday as the public elected 41 police and crime commissioners.

    By Peter Jeary, NBC News

    LONDON -- Democracy is a valuable commodity; revolutions are fought to win it, lives are lost defending it, constitutions are written to enshrine it and billions of dollars are spent making it mean something. However, an initiative in Britain to extend the scope of democracy has met with an emphatic thumbs-down by the electorate, raising questions about how the nation has its say in who-runs-what.

    On Thursday, voters in England and Wales, with the exception of London, had the opportunity to elect the first-ever Police and Crime Commissioners (PCC). These new regional officials, paid upwards of $150,000 a year, have the power to set policing budgets, fix priorities and hire and fire chief constables -- the most senior officers in the force.

    But in the end, most people didn’t bother to vote.

    Fewer than one-in-six eligible voters cast their ballots, with none of the regions achieving even a 20 per cent turn-out, according to data compiled by the Electoral Reform Society. One polling station in Wales failed to have even a single voter cross its threshold. Among those who did vote, the proportion of invalid ballots was three-times higher than normally seen at a parliamentary election. 

    The turnout was so low that the Electoral Commission, the independent watchdog responsible for monitoring British elections, announced an inquiry into just what went wrong, describing voter apathy as “a concern for anyone who cares about democracy."

    The PCC was the coalition government's latest policy to enable the public to become more closely involved in decision-making. Unlike the United States, Britain has no tradition of voting for positions such as sheriffs and school board officials. In recent years, successive U.K. governments have extended the reach of local democracy, first through national assemblies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and more recently by instigating directly elected mayors in major cities.

    Perhaps the most noteworthy defeat was handed to John Prescott, who served as Tony Blair's deputy prime minister. He lost in his bid to become a police and crime commissioner for the Humberside Police in northeast England.

    Before the vote, the government stressed the importance of making the 41 new commissioners directly accountable to the public. But as a result of widespread voter apathy, questions have now been raised about the mandate for the PCCs to carry out their duties.

    For example, the new commissioner for Essex, Nick Alston, was elected by just 4.7 percent of those eligible to vote. At one Essex voting booth on polling day, election officials confessed that "just a handful" of voters had turned up in the first three hours.

    'Waste of money'
    One of those who did not vote for Alston – or for anyone - was former Essex police officer, Bob Miller.

    Miller, 65, said he had purposefully spoiled his vote-by-mail as a protest against what he described as, “an undemocratic, unnecessary, waste of money.”

    “The whole thing’s a joke,” he said, “It’s not been properly thought through.”

    Miller’s sentiments featured among a number of reasons put forward to explain the low turn-out: the weather was bad (which is why British elections rarely take place in November); candidates had not been funded by the government to provide mail-shots; there had been little national publicity about either the reforms or the election.

    More UK coverage from NBC News

    The organization of the poll was sharply criticized by pressure groups working for democratic reform.

    Katie Ghose, chief executive of the Electoral Reform Society, deplored what she called the "inaction and incompetence" of the preparation amid the government's "piecemeal" approach to democratic reform.

    “Democracy doesn't work on the basis of 'if you build it, they will come',” Ghose said.

    Campaign group Unlock Democracy called for a mass petition of the government minister responsible, demanding she “never allow public elections like this to go ahead on the cheap, at the wrong time of the year and with so little help for the electorate to make an informed decision.”

    But some argue the main reason could be traced to failings at the heart of British democracy.

    Political commentator Peter Kellner deplored the "chipping away" of the foundations of Britain's representative democracy, whereby voters elect politicians, at national and local level, to take decisions for them.

    What Kellner perceived as a "patchwork arrangement" of new democratic initiatives, such as mayors and referendums, had eroded traditional British democracy over the past 40 years.

    “The people seem to have understood far better than the politicians how unattractive that patchwork is,” he said.

    More world stories from NBC News:

    Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

     

  • Jimmy Savile abuse scandal stuns Britain: a who's who primer

    R. Poplowski / Fox Photos via Getty Images

    Jimmy Savile, seen here in 1973, was later knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to charity and entertainment and received a papal knighthood from Pope John Paul II.

    By Peter Jeary, NBC News

    For decades, Jimmy Savile was one of the biggest personalities on Britain’s airwaves. 

    With his trademark fat cigar and garish tracksuits, he was the larger-than-life character who combined popular appeal, eccentricity and a reputation for charity work.

    For 40 years, he dominated the British Broadcasting Corporation’s programming both on radio and TV.  He was the original host of BBC TV’s iconic music show “Top of the Pops,” which aired from 1964 until 2006, and his family-oriented primetime show “Jim'll Fix It” was a regular ratings-topper for the network.

    Savile also championed a host of good causes and was often pictured on sponsored runs. His efforts raised millions and helped establish a national spinal injuries center at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, one of the largest specialist spinal units in the world.  He worked as a volunteer porter at a number of hospitals, including Leeds General Infirmary in his home city, and the high-security psychiatric facility at Broadmoor Hospital, southwest of London. 

    'A steep fall' for BBC as child sex abuse scandal rocks the UK

    He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1990 for services to charity and entertainment, and in the same year received a papal knighthood from Pope John Paul II.

    But soon after his death in October 2011, just two days before his 85th birthday, allegations emerged that Savile had used his notoriety and good works to fuel his life as a pedophile.

    He was accused of using his fame to coerce teens into having sex with him in his car, his camper and even his BBC dressing rooms.

    More coverage of the Jimmy Savile scandal from NBC News' British partner ITV News 

    It was also alleged he chose to work for charities caring for troubled youths to enable him to prey on those already in a vulnerable position -- and whose credibility would be questioned if they ever accused him of sexual abuse.

    In some of the most disturbing accusations, Savile was described abusing young people in their hospital beds. 

    For 20 years, Jimmy Savile's children's show was a highlight of Saturday night family TV on the BBC. But now, British police say 300 people have come forward with claims that Savile abused them during his 60-year broadcasting career. NBC's Annabel Roberts reports.

    As the revelations unfolded, it emerged that rumors and allegations of Savile’s predatory lifestyle had first surfaced years before.  

    Police said an allegation was made in 2003 dating back to the 1970s of his "inappropriate touching" but the information had been treated as "intelligence" rather than the basis for a prosecution, because the accuser did not want to take legal action.

    A number of investigations are now taking place into how Savile could, in the words of police, "have hidden in plain sight" for so long.

    Carole Wells

    In 1973, Carole Wells was a 14-year-old student of Duncroft Approved School for Girls (a special facility for young people, much like a reform school) on the outskirts of London.

    In an interview with the Guardian newspaper, she said Savile would regularly visit Duncroft, offering girls candy, clothes, tickets to BBC shows and to take them for a ride in his car.

    Wells described to the newspaper how on one such excursion, Savile sexually abused her, fondling her and saying 'I can tell you are a virgin.’

    When she reported the incident to school authorities, she said she was told: "Don't be stupid. Don't say things like that."

    Wells is one of the few victims to waive anonymity, and she was involved in the original "Newsnight" investigation. 

    BBC

    The broadcaster found itself at the heart of the Savile scandal on two specific charges. Firstly, that it was not sufficiently rigorous in investigating rumors of his abuse when they first circulated around the corporation decades ago. Secondly, that a news item into allegations of Savile’s behavior, which was being prepared by its "Newsnight" TV program in November 2011, had been axed without good cause -- possibly because it compromised a tribute to Savile the network had planned for its Christmas schedule.

    The BBC announced two independent inquiries in the immediate wake of the allegations. One, the Pollard Review, would look into the circumstances surrounding the "Newsnight" item. The other, chaired by a former judge Dame Janet Smith, would review "the culture and practices of the BBC during the years that Jimmy Savile worked at the BBC."

    The BBC is overseen by the BBC Trust but operational management is governed by a separate body, the Executive Board, led by the Director-General.

    Lefteris Pitarakis / AP

    George Entwistle, the BBC's director-general, speaks to reporters on Oct. 23.

    George Entwistle

    The current BBC director-general, Entwistle appeared before a committee of parliamentarians on October 23, where he was quizzed over what he knew – and when – about the decision to pull the "Newsnight" segment.

    His performance was roundly condemned by the British press and committee members commented on his "extraordinary lack of curiosity." 

    At the hearing, Entwistle revealed further allegations of harassment at the BBC had been made.  In a statement, the BBC said that nine former and current BBC staff and contributors, including Jimmy Savile, had been named by alleged victims.

    Peter Rippon

    On October 22 it was announced Rippon, the editor of BBC "Newsnight," had "stepped aside" from his duties after errors were identified in his account of why the Savile item had been shelved. In his blog Rippon had written, “We had no evidence that anyone from the Duncroft home could or should have known about the allegations. We had no evidence against the BBC.”

    In a correction published October 22 the BBC said neither assertion was correct.

    Gonzalo Fuentes

    Mark Thompson was director-general of the BBC from 2004 until September.

    Mark Thompson

    The former BBC director-general and incoming CEO of The New York Times received robust support from the newspaper’s chairman and publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr., who said he was satisfied that Thompson had no role in the decision to scrap the BBC "Newsnight" item.

    Thompson, who was director-general from 2004 until September, told Britain's Times newspaper he had “formed the impression” in December 2011 that "Newsnight" was investigating allegations of sex abuse against Savile.

    According to The New York Times, Thompson said he didn't know about the investigative segment until after it was canceled and had no role in canceling it.

    Operation Yewtree

    By October 25, 2012, Scotland Yard’s criminal inquiry into the Savile scandal had heard from 300 alleged victims. Detectives had interviewed 130 people; all but two of those claiming to have been abused had been female.

    The officer in charge, Cmdr. Peter Spindler, acknowledged his team of detectives had been stunned by the volume of abuse allegations.

    Spindler said the allegations they had received divided into three categories: “There's Savile on his own...there's Savile and others. Then there is a third category which is 'others,'" Spindler said.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.