Two lawsuits in a New York court accuse the company of colluding with the then Nigerian government in the execution of several leading campaigners in the oil industry, including Ken Saro-Wiwa.

The family of Mr Saro-Wiwa, who was 54 when he was hanged by the Nigerian government in 1995, have brought the lawsuit, filed by the Centre for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and co-counsel from EarthRights International, against Royal Dutch Shell, its subsidiary Shell Nigeria and the subsidiary’s then chief executive, Brian Anderson.

If the action is successful, the trial will be a landmark case on how global companies can be held accountable for human rights abuses in countries in which they operate. It is a test for the Alien Torts Statute, which allows non-US citizens to file suits in US courts for alleged international human rights violations.

The climate of political unrest in Nigeria, one of Africa’s most oil-rich nations, is still a problem for companies operating in the country. Yesterday, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, the rebel group, said that it had destroyed pipes run by Chevron, which caused the company to shut down operations totalling 100,000 barrels per day. This morning, the price of Brent crude oil fell 21 cents to $60 a barrel.

Mr Saro-Wiwa, the writer of Sozaboy, a novel in patois describing the effects of war on a simple Nigerian village boy, was one of eight activists executed on charges of murdering four political rivals.

He led campaigns against exploitation of oil in the homeland of the Ogoni, his tribe.

At the time of his execution, Sir John Major, then Prime Minister, described the death as “judicial murder”.

Commenting on the case, the novelist’s son, Ken Saro-Wiwa Jr said: “In a sense we already have a victory, because one of the things my father said was that Shell would one day have its day in court.

“We felt they had ducked their responsibility for what happened in Nigeria, so we wanted to fulfil that prediction.”

Jan Nessel, of the Centre for Constitutional Rights, said: “Today will see Ken Saro-Wiwa’s prophesy fulfilled that Shell would one day be on trial for what it did to the Ogoni people.”

Shell vigorously denies all charges.

The company said today: “The allegations made in the complaints against Royal Dutch Shell concerning the 1995 executions of Ken Saro-Wiwa and his eight fellow Ogonis are false and without merit. Shell in no way encouraged or advocated any act of violence against them or their fellow Ogonis. We believe that the evidence will show clearly that Shell was not responsible for these tragic events.”

It added: “The executions in 1995 of Ken Saro-Wiwa and his eight fellow Ogonis were tragic events that were carried out by the Nigerian government in power at the time.

“Shell attempted to persuade that government to grant clemency; to our deep regret, that appeal – and the appeals of many others – went unheard, and we were shocked and saddened when we heard the news. Shell remains committed to reconciliation, peace and return to normality in Ogoni land.”

In contrast to anecdotal evidence from commuters left stranded on platforms up and down Britain, figures for the year ending in March showed that 90.6 per cent of trains ran on time.

It is the first time annual train punctuality has risen above 90 per cent.

Robin Gisby, Network Rail’s operations director, said: “Passengers are today experiencing the most punctual train service ever provided on Britain’s railways.”

Recent research shows that passengers are paying dearly for the improvements.

British commuters pay twice as much as those in all other major European countries to travel the same distance. Annual season tickets for journeys of between 11 to 25 miles cost an average of £1,860 in Britain compared with £990 in France, £944 in Germany and £788 in Spain. Italy has the cheapestat £444.

Britain also has the most expensive day return fares. The average unrestricted fare for a trip of three to 10 miles is £6.92, compared with £5.08 in Germany, £2.52 in Spain and £1.85 in France. For a journey of between 26 and 50 miles, a day return is £24.45 in Britain, £15.20 in Germany, £8.26 in Spain and £7 in France.

When Network Rail took over responsibility for rail infrastructure from Railtrack in 2002, punctuality was less than 79 per cent. It dipped sharply at the beginning of the decade after speed restrictions were brought in after the Hatfield rail crash in October 2000.

Since the mid-1990s the number of rail journeys has grown by 50 per cent and income from passengers has doubled.Since privatisation in 1992 there has also been a consistent increase in the proportion of rail costs funded by the taxpayer, rising from a 25 to 35 per cent in the second half of the 1990s to 40 to 50 per cent since 2000. In 2005/06 taxpayers paid for more of the railway than passengers did.

Today, the best performing company in the 12 months to March was the Southend operator c2c, with 95.3 per cent of its trains arriving and departing on time. Chiltern and Merseyrail also reached the 95 per cent mark.

Two companies — Virgin Trains and London Midland — recorded significantly worse punctuality figures after their networks suffered major disruption from the £9 billion West Coast main line upgrade, which was completed in December. Only 80 percent of Virgin trains were on time, down from 86.2 percent last year. London Midland slipped from 88.9 percent last year to 86.5 percent in the latest results.

The biggest year-on-year improvement was made by First Great Western, whose punctuality rose from 83.1 per cent in 2007/08 to 90.5 per cent in 2008/09.

Mr Gisby said: “We are far from complacent and realise that passengers still experience some delays, albeit less often than in times past. Our focus in the years ahead will be to drive performance to even higher levels, with particular attention given to reducing the number of very late services.”

Alec McTavish, director of policy and operations at the Association of Train Operating Companies, said: “Delivering the best-ever level of punctuality is a significant achievement by all parts of the rail industry, particularly as we ran an additional one million more timetabled trains last year than British Rail did just before privatisation.

“Our priority must now be to narrow the differences in performance across different services and achieve a more consistent delivery across the whole network.”

A total of 47 new cases of the H1N1 flu strain were announced bringing the UK total to 184, health officials said.

Of the newly-confirmed cases, 44 were linked to an ongoing investigation into the outbreak at Welford Primary School in Handsworth, Birmingham.

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) said last week that three cases of swine flu were linked to the school, which is closed for the half-term holidays.

The remaining three cases announced today, from London and the East of England, were either returning travellers or people linked to previous infections, the Agency said.

Earlier, it was announced a two-year-old boy from Oxford was among four cases confirmed on Tuesday morning.

The boy, was a “close household contact” of a 29-year-old woman already diagnosed with the virus, Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust said.

So far, nearly 13,000 people in 46 countries have reported laboratory-confirmed cases of the virus. About half of all infected people are in the United States.

In Britain, 170 cases of the H1N1 virus have been confirmed in England, with 13 in Scotland and one in Northern Ireland.

Another 113 possible cases are being investigated.

A Department of Health spokesman said: “The localised cases of swine flu found in the UK have so far been mild, and our strategy of containing the spread with anti-virals appears to have been effective in reducing symptoms and preventing further spread of infection.

“But we must not be complacent – it is right to prepare for the possibility of a global pandemic.

“The UK’s arrangements are continuing to ensure that we are well-placed to deal with this new infection.”

The Tory leader included the introduction of fixed-term parliaments in a range of Conservative measures to repair trust in politics after the MPs expenses scandal.

He rejected a referendum on electoral reform — an idea mooted by Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, in The Times — saying that proportional representation strengthened political elites.

In a keynote speech to the Open University in Milton Keynes today Mr Cameron sought to wrest back the initiative from Mr Johnson.

Voters’ anger at the expenses scandal exposed their frustration at politicians and bureaucrats who failed to address their needs and denied them the opportunity to help themselves, Mr Cameron said.

“When it comes to the things we ask from politics, government and the State, there is a sense of power and control draining away — having to take what you’re given, with someone else pulling the strings,” Mr Cameron said

“A growing culture of rule-following, box-ticking and central prescription robs people of the chance to use their judgment or to take responsibility for making the right decisions,” he added.

He condemned the “increasingly Orwellian surveillance state — symbolised by the simultaneously ineffective and intrusive ID cards scheme — reminds people that the powers-that-be don’t really trust them”.

By contrast a Conservative government would “reverse our society’s infantilisation by inviting people to look to themselves, their communities and wider society for answers, instead of just the state.”

Outlining existing Conservative policy on devolving power over schools, policing, planning and housing, Mr Cameron said that officials and politicians would be required to undergo a “massive culture change”.

He promised to set the tone if elected to No 10 by ensuring that a Cameron government would seek to strengthen the powers of those holding it to account.

He said that MPs should be more independent with select committee members elected by backbenchers, not appointed by whips. He also suggested a Conservative government would allow MPs much more freedom to amend government legislation.

“We’ll put limits on the number of political advisers, strengthen the Ministerial Code, protect the independence of the Civil Service, and ensure that more decisions are made by the Cabinet as a whole,” Mr Cameron said, pledging to end “sofa government”.

Mr Cameron’s most radical suggestion — that he would seriously consider the introduction of a fixed parliament — included the caveat that the term would only be set if the Conservatives had an overall majority.

The Tory leader also acknowledged that such an arrangement would undermine calls to hold a poll where one party leader was replaced by another.

Nevertheless, he said: “We also need to look seriously at the immense power prime ministers wield through their ability to call an election whenever they want.”

But Mr Cameron rejected the suggestion of referendum on electoral reform be held at the same time as the next election, arguing that scrapping the first-past-the-post voting system would lead to governments formed in “backroom deals”.

“The principle underlying all the political reforms a new Conservative government would make is the progressive principle of redistributing power and control — from the powerful to the powerless,” he said.

“Proportional representation takes power away from the man and woman in the street and hands it to the political elites. Instead of voters choosing their government on the basis of the manifestos and leadership put before them in an election campaign party managers would choose a government on the basis of secret backroom deals.”

Johannesburg: Youngsters gaining experience in handling pressure, emergence of match-winning part-timers and valuable practice are the positives Indians have taken from the IPL as they gear up to defend their Twenty20 World Championship crown next month, says skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

“Well, the good thing if you see in this tournament that will really help us in ICC World Twenty20 will be the emergence of part-timers who have done really well.

“Especially in the field restrictions, you have Yusuf Pathan bowling at that point, Harbhajan (Singh) has bowled and (Pragyan) Ojha also has bowled,” Dhoni, who captained Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, said after the semi-final loss to Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Most of the spinners are part-timers who are a part of the side, they have bowled in that particular time when you as a bowler are under pressure. Not much of spin, maybe the ball holds on a bit over here. But overall the experience will really count, this tournament in the 55-60 games that took place, most of them went really close.

“Most of the Indian batsmen who were part of that winning side or maybe the bowlers who were part of that winning moment, they were under pressure. They will handle the pressure well when it comes to an international T20 game also. Loads of positives that will help the players who were part of the side,” he elaborated.

Dhoni said he was impressed with the domestic talent that came into limelight during the Indian Premier League.

..We have seen new domestic players also coming up and performing at this level. Overall you can say, a good tournament for us, last year’s IPL did help the Indian team to perform better when it comes to T20 and even one-day format. Hopefully this year’s tournament will take us to the next level,” he said.

Chennai were the runners-up last year but crashed out in semis this season. Dhoni said the team was done in by injuries to some key bowlers, which made their attack fragile. The wicketkeeper-batsman was also not too happy with the fielding of his team.

“Well of course, it’s a batsman’s game, people say it’s a batsman’s game but bowlers are important because they definitely contribute in the team’s win. Our bowling department was very fragile from the very start. Injuries never really help,” he said.

“Sudeep Tyagi going out with an injury, Albie Morkel having injury, Manpreet Singh Gony also suffered injury. That was a problem you can say. But overall I am quite happy with the performance of the side.

“Definitely we need to field better. We are a better fielding side than whatever we have done in this tournament. Hopefully next year we will be a better fielding side,” he added.

Johannesburg: Deccan Chargers completed an extraordinary journey from being at the bottom of the table last year to win the second edition of the Indian Premier League, defeating Royal Challengers Bangalore by six runs in a pulsating final at the New Wanderers here on Sunday.

There was no lack of excitement and heartbreak in the title clash as the 37-day, 59 match tournament ended with a fitting finale between last year’s bottom two sides.

Royal Challengers captain Anil Kumble used his guile and experience to claim four wickets and restrict the formidable Chargers to 143 after winning the toss. Herschelle Gibbs top-scored for Chargers with an unbeaten 53 while Andrew Symonds contributed 33.

The Challengers, who were coming on the back of five successive wins, were never on the top of the chase and lost wickets at regular intervals. They lost five wickets in the last six overs and finished at 137-9.

Andrew Symonds (3-18), Pragyan Ojha (3-28) and Harmeet Singh (2-23) all chipped in with the ball.

Ross Taylor (27) held the Bangalore innings together at a difficult time, but two successive blows by Symonds tilted the scales in the Chargers favour. Challengers needed 45 off 36 balls at that stage.

Taylor holed out to Venugopal Rao in the deep and Virat Kohli was out to a brilliant piece of stumping by Gilchrist.

Harmeet Singh Singh, in the next over took out Mark Boucher, who gave a straight catch to Gibbs at point.

Robin Uthappa (17) kept the team in the hunt and Challengers needed 27 off the last two overs.

Uthappa and Vinay Kumar took 12 runs off the first five balls of Ryan Harris, before the latter was out to a brilliant catch by Harmeet at long leg.

RP Singh kept his nerve in the last over and Uthappa could hit only one four off the fifth ball, but it was all over for Chargers by then.

Earlier, Challengers’ in-form opening pair of Manish Pandey (4) and Jacques Kallis (16) were out cheaply.

Kallis hit Ryan Harris for two fours befire dragging a R.P. Singh delivery onto the stumps.

Van der Merwe (32) meant business straightway, hitting Harris for two sixes but Ojha, who has been in impressive form through out the tournament, then dismissed Pandey and Merwe.

Taylor and Dravid looked to build a partnership by adding 22 runs, but Dravid went for a paddle shot and was bolwed by Harmeet Singh.

Earlier, Challengers were off to a great start as Kumble, opening the attack, bowled for a duck the dangerous Andrew Gilchrist, who had single-handedly crushed Delhi Daredevils in the semifinals.

Tirumalsetti Suman fell to a good running catch by Pandey off Vinay Kumar in the fourth over.

Symonds was dropped on five by Rahul Dravid in the slips, but could not do much and became Kumble’s second victim.

Gibbs smashed three boundaries and two sixes in 48 balls while Symonds faced 21 balls and cracked four boundaries and a six. The pair shared a third wicket stand of 40 runs to bring the Chargers back on track.

Kumble removed Rohit Sharma for 24 and Venugopal Rao for a duck in the 17th over.

This particular style of martial arts can be traced fourteen hundred years ago to the Shaolin Temple in the Hunan Province of China. There monks taught Shaolin kung fu to many students who then traveled to other countries spreading this fighting system. Shaolin kung fu was based on the movements of five animals; dragon, tiger, snake, leopard, and the crane.

As Shaolin kung-fu spread to other countries it naturally was assimilated into other fighting systems. It is believed that monks brought Shaolin kung fu to Japan during the sixteenth century. Moreover, it was the Mitose family of Japan that added Shaolin kung fu to it’s family fighting system and developed a style known as kosho ryu {old pine tree style} kempo.

In 1936, James Mitose, the twenty first generation grandmaster of Kosho ryu Kempo returned to his birthplace of Hawaii to teach self-defense techniques. It was in Hawaii where Mitose met William Chow. Chow, like Mitose, inherited his family knowledge of Shaolin kung fu. Mitose and Chow trained together and exchanged fighting techniques for three years.

Chow left Mitose and began teaching a new style of martial arts known as Chinese kenpo karate. Kenpo karate is a style of Japanese karate combined with Chinese Shaolin kung fu. A student of kung fu moves in flowing circular motions utilizing both soft and hard strikes. Where as the student of karate moves in a linear manner responding with hard strikes. Both styles have been blended into a unique self-defense style which is now being studied.