Snowmail: Grangemouth may cost £50m a day

It is a crucial piece of Britain's infrastructure, bringing in more than a third of the country's crude oil supply; and it's being brought to a halt because of Sunday's strike over pensions at Grangemouth oil refinery in Scotland.

The Forties pipeline shut down will begin tomorrow morning, because it relies on steam and power from Grangemouth. It'll take days to start up again and 70 North Sea production rigs will potentially have to shut down too.

The government is asking management and unions to get back into talks.

Our correspondents will be explaining how the shut down will work, and the contingency plans to ship in refined supplies from Rotterdam, though industrial action could block the local port.

The big unknown is how the public will behave. Tonight we hope to hear from unions, the energy firms affected and a former head of civil contingencies (who dealt with the panic buying during the hauliers' fuel blockade in 2000) about what might happen in the next 48 hours.

Chinese to meet Dalai Lama aide

Have the international protests over Tibet forced the Chinese to make concessions?

Beijing's blamed the Dalai Llama for fermenting the violence in Tibet but in a major change of tack, Chinese officials have offered to meet representatives of the Tibetan spiritual leader.

The decision follows weeks of pressure from world leaders to open a dialogue since last month's unrest swept across the region.

Chinese officials have met the Dalai Lama's representatives before, but they've always insisted on numerous preconditions before they would consider direct talks.

Our Beijing correspondent Lindsey Hilsum reports.

Raid on Zimbabwe's MDC offices

Significant developments in Zimbabwe, with riot police raiding the opposition MDC party's headquarters and the independent election monitors' office in Harare.

The police arrested several MDC activists in the raids.

And at least 17 people have been killed and at least 50 wounded in a bomb blast targeting a crowded bus on the outskirts of the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo.

The tax on tobacco may far out weigh the product cost these days, but the Office of Fair Trading has launched an investigation alleging that a group of 13 companies colluded to link the price of some cigarette brands to rival products.

It's also alleged that some of those named arranged to swap information on future pricing.

Darshna Soni reports on the police investigation into the murder of 22-year-old James Hughes, the severely disabled man whose body was finally found in a suitcase in a shed reportedly in the family garden, in Redditch, Worcestershire.

Mr Hughes' mother, Heather Wardle, was found dead earlier. Police have just released two men without charge who were being questioned over Mr Hughes' death.

See you at seven.



Samira

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