National / International News

The Federal Communications Commission will hold the first in a series of field hearings on phone outages during natural disasters on Tuesday. The hearing, in New York and New Jersey, will focus on the blow Hurricane Sandy inflicted on communications networks. 

Sandy knocked out about a quarter of the cellphone towers in the hardest-hit states. Andrew Adam Newman lives in New York’s Greenwich Village. He just had time to post a horrifying video and pictures of rising water on his Facebook page before his phone went dead. Most of his neighbors were in the same boat.  Newman says many of them wandered around like zombies, trying to get a signal.

“I saw people walking around the neighborhood just staring at their phones," he says. "They looked like people who get metal detectors out and walk all over a football field looking for a nickel.”

Harold Feld, senior vice president of Public Knowledge, a non profit in Washington, says it doesn’t have to be this way. He wants the FCC to force cellphone companies to sometimes share their networks.

“These providers are used to competing with each other," he explains. "So the answer in this case may be, OK, when an emergency comes down, you’re all going to have to work together whether you like it or not.”

The FCC is expected to consider that issue at the hearing. And also look at how well cellphone companies prepared for Hurricane Sandy.

The conviction of Robert and Lee Firkins for one of Cornwall's most notorious murders is cast into doubt by news a key witness is a convicted hitman.

UN, European and African officials meet in Brussels to discuss holding democratic elections in Mali in the summer, as well as security and aid issues.

A kidnapper in the US state of Alabama has died after police raided his bunker, saving a five-year-old boy held captive inside for six days.

A kidnapper in the US state of Alabama has died after police raided his bunker, saving a five-year-old boy held captive inside for six days.

Central government should scrutinise more closely how local authorities are investing in roads, light rail and buses, a committee of MPs says.

The country's attorney general said an electrical fault had caused a spark that detonated the leaking gas. He said an investigation found no evidence of explosives in the blast at PEMEX headquarters that killed 37 people.

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Boeing asks US aviation authorities to allow test flights of its 787 Dreamliner passenger plane, after battery problems forced the plane to be grounded.

The natural ability of sea urchins to absorb CO2 could be a model for an effective carbon capture and storage system, researchers say.

Living in a sunnier climate may reduce the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis, according to US researchers.

A tiny "genetic patch" can be used to prevent a form of deafness which runs in families, according to animal tests.

Saeed Mortazavi, the former prosecutor general of Tehran, is arrested on unspecified charges, Iranian news agencies say.

More than 20 parties have come forward with bids to either recycle or sink four Royal Navy frigates, the BBC learns.

The judge ruled that the state's so-called "Robin Hood" scheme, which requires schools with more resources to share with those in poorer districts, is unconstitutional, both because the money is insufficient and because it is not distributed fairly. The decision is expected to be appealed.

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Why France will battle to flush out Mali's militants

What's it like working with the UK's worst criminals?

Do we really hate it when MPs get rowdy at work?

Dame Helen Mirren on playing Alfred's wife

San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro on Tuesday may be one of the few to call for a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. Some worry that the House hearing signals Republicans' continued opposition to compromise.

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A Mexican couple travelling to the beach are injured when vigilantes manning a roadblock open fire after the pair sped though a roadblock.