Swine flu 'not stoppable,' World Health Organization says

(CNN) -- The World Health Organization raised the swine flu alert Thursday to its highest level, saying the H1N1 virus has spread to enough countries to be considered a global pandemic.

Kindergarten students, some wearing masks, attend school in a residential estate in Hong Kong on Thursday.

Increasing the alert to Phase 6 does not mean that the disease is deadlier or more dangerous than before, just that it has spread to more countries, the WHO said.

"This is an important and challenging day for all of us," WHO Director General Margaret Chan said in a briefing with reporters. "We are moving into the early days of the first flu pandemic of the 21st century."

The last previous pandemic occurred in 1968.

As of Thursday, the virus had spread to 74 countries, the health agency said. There were 28,774 confirmed cases and 144 deaths.

The United States had 13,217 cases and 27 deaths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said June 5 in its weekly update. Cases have been reported in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

The U.S. death toll is expected be higher when the CDC releases its latest figures Friday, said Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
New England -- particularly Massachusetts -- and the New York and New Jersey areas have been hit the hardest, Schuchat said Thursday at a CDC news conference.

The Phase 6 pandemic designation had been widely expected for weeks.

"Further spread is considered inevitable," Chan said at a news conference at WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. "The scientific criteria for an influenza pandemic have been met."

The announcement came after a meeting of the WHO's Emergency Committee, which has debated since April whether the spread of a novel H1N1 flu virus was fast and widespread enough to warrant a Phase 6 designation.

Phase 6, Chan said, is meant as a signal to countries to recalibrate their strategies to minimize the harm from swine flu. In countries where the virus and the response to it are already widespread, it is not likely to mean significant changes, but Chan urged countries that have not seen cases, or seen only limited cases, to get ready.

"The virus is not stoppable," she said. "I would advise them to maintain vigilance, enhance surveillance and be prepared for the arrival of the novel H1N1 in their country."

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Homeland Security said those agencies have been acting for weeks as if Phase 6 were already in effect and no additional measures would be put into effect.

The United States declared a public health emergency April 26.

"WHO continues to recommend no restriction on travel and on border closures," Chan said.

Discussions about shifting to Phase 6 have been under way for weeks. Chan indicated that a major factor in the decision was surveillance from countries in the Southern Hemisphere, where flu season is under way. In Chile and Australia, two countries with many flu cases, she said H1N1 appears to be the dominant strain, "crowding out" the seasonal influenza virus.

Chan said she would recommend that vaccine manufacturers proceed with mass production of an inoculation against the new swine flu strain as soon as they finish production of seasonal vaccine, which she estimated would be complete in about two weeks.

HHS spokesman Bill Hall said Thursday that no decision has been made on full-scale production because there is no need yet to make that decision.

It is a step-by-step process that is moving forward. "We're doing as much as we can now," he said.

The agency awarded a contract several weeks ago to five manufacturers to develop an H1N1 antigen. The companies are producing pilot lots. Clinical testing will take place over the summer, Hall said.

At the end of the summer, HHS will decide whether to go into production.
"There's no specific date on the calendar," Hall said.

If officials decide to produce a vaccine, the first doses would be ready early in the fall. Hall noted that even full-scale production doesn't mean there will be an immunization campaign. Federal officials may have a vaccine and decide not to use it, he said.

Also Thursday, authorities in Hong Kong ordered the closure of all elementary schools, kindergartens and day care centers in the city after 12 students were found to be infected with the virus.

Authorities have not determined the source of the infection, said Hong Kong's Chief Executive Donald Tsang. This makes it the first cluster of swine flu cases in the city without a link to someone who had traveled overseas.

The schools and day care centers were told to close for 14 days as investigators tried to identify the source of the infection, said Tsang, the chief executive.

The health department will decide after two weeks whether to continue the shutdown.

Also on Thursday, Israel's health ministry announced that the number of people diagnosed with swine flu there was 68.

Health officials use the virus' clinical name -- H1N1 -- to reflect that it's actually a combination of several different types of flu and to reduce confusion about whether eating pork can spread the virus. It cannot.

All About World Health Organization * Swine Flu

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Air France plane broke up over 'number of minutes'

New evidence suggests the Air France jet which crashed into the Atlantic with 228 on-board broke up over a number of minutes, rather than in one catastrophic incident.

Members of the Brazilian Air Force carry the body of a victim of Air France flight 447 Photo: REUTERS

The Brazilian Air Force said bodies from flight AF 447 had been picked up from locations more than 50 miles apart – supporting the theory that the plane did not simply plummet into the ocean.

A reanalysis of the plane's last automatic transmissions also indicates that many parts had malfunctioned before it disappeared, and that the first parts to show problems were those measuring air speed.

Four hours into the flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, the Airbus A330-200s three speed sensors, or pitot tubes started providing "incoherent" readings.

A faulty air speed indicator could mislead pilots into flying faster than the aircraft could withstand, or faster than it should be flown into turbulence two circumstances that could lead to the craft coming apart in flight.

Air France has promised to replace all first-generation Thales sensors on its 34 long-haul A330 and A340 planes "within days", but the airline's director general, Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, said today that he was "not convinced" that the sensors caused the crash.

"This (replacement) programme has been accelerated because we know that when the accident happened there were problems with the speed indicators," he said, before adding: "I am not convinced that the sensors were the cause." Air France launched a programme to replace its old probes on April 27, after recording several icing problems on the speed sensors in May 2008. "We did this because we thought it would reduce the number of non-catastrophic accidents," said Mr Gourgoeon.

It now transpires that the first batch of new probes arrived just three days before the crash of flight AF 447 on June 1.

Airbus today denied a French newspaper report that it was considering grounding its fleet of A330 and A340 planes in the wake of the disaster, reiterating a European Aviation Safety Agency statement that they were "safe to fly".

Meanwhile, two terror suspects who died alongside 226 other passengers on the stricken jet have been ruled out as a cause of the disaster.

The two individuals only "shared the same name" as known Islamic radicals, posthumous security checks found.

France's interior ministry confirmed that a "deep and wide-ranging investigation has allowed us to clear them", despite the fact that their bodies are yet to be recovered.

The announcement came as the race to locate the flight's black boxes was boosted by the arrival of a French nuclear attack submarine.

Emeraude, nicknamed "golden ears" due to its highly powerful sonar, will trawl 13 square miles a day, in an attempt to pick up the boxes' acoustic beacons – whose signal will fade in three weeks' time.

A tugboat fitted with underwater listening devices has also reached the crash site.

If they find a signal, a French mini-sub already used to search the Titanic will be deployed to recover the boxes with a robotic arm.

The voice and data recorders could provide vital information to help unravel the cause of the worst aviation accident since 2001.

Brazilian searchers in charge of recovering floating bodies and debris say strong ocean currents have led them to widen the surface search area into Senegalese waters.

The number of bodies recovered has reached 41.

Telegraph.co.uk

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Air France crash: What do we know?

By Kieran Daly

Editor, Air Transport Intelligence

Kieran Daly is Editor of Air Transport Intelligence and blogs on aviation at Unusual Attitude.

LONDON, England (CNN) -- In one way we know a huge amount about the loss of Air France flight 447 -- much more than is usual so soon after an accident. But in another, we know nothing at all.

This Airbus 330 crashed into the Atlantic on June 1 while flying from Rio de Janiero to Paris.

The simple fact is that the blizzard of airworthiness directives, company memos, weather reports, technical specifications and diverse other documents that have surfaced since last week constitute entirely circumstantial evidence.

Aviation history is replete with accidents with causes utterly unrelated to what first seemed the obvious explanation.

For the investigators, the challenge is to keep an open mind while simultaneously pursuing obvious leads before evidence is lost and memories become stale.

But all that said, there are real clues to what might have happened to this Airbus A330.

Two things we know for certain: The aircraft did penetrate a region of severe weather, and the pilots were eventually confronted with a rapid series of system failures.

Unfortunately without the "black box" flight data recorders -- which would detail what happened to the aircraft's complex systems and how the crew behaved -- the precise sequence of events will be difficult to pin down. And their deep-water location puts them at the very limits of what is possible in terms of recovery.

The key question is perhaps not why the aircraft finally went out of control, but how it came to be where it was in the first place.

Did the crew appreciate the full extent of the wide band of storms confronting them? If they did not, then why not? And if they did, then did they take appropriate action?

Map of Flight 447's flight path>>

This is not to imply that they made errors. Even with today's extremely sophisticated onboard weather radars, divining the true extent and power of a storm system remains an imperfect science, and some storm systems are simply not fully detectable by the radar.

Even if they did suspect trouble lay ahead, would any crew have felt comfortable taking the unusual decision to make a huge diversion around the system while out of radar range, or even to turn back?

What is also certain is that once they penetrated the storm, they were in a situation in which we know for a fact other A330s had suffered serious difficulties.

The A330's Pitot tube -- which in simple terms measures its speed through the air -- has proved unusually susceptible to icing and an improved model has been gradually fitted to the fleet, though not to the aircraft in question.

An iced-up Pitot tube deprives the pilots and the aircraft's automatic systems of airspeed information, making the aircraft much harder to fly and preventing numerous onboard functions from working properly -- a highly plausible explanation for the string of error messages sent by the aircraft shortly before the crash.

As it happens, an unusually detailed account of what happens in those circumstances has turned up in the form of an internal memo written in French last December by the safety office of the small airline Air Caraibes Atlantique, which suffered the phenomenon twice in quick succession.

They called a meeting with Airbus in which the airline's flight managers pointed out not only what had happened, but also the difficulty of understanding the immediate actions that Airbus recommended pilots should take. I've read it, and it is decidedly confusing.

Now picture the crew of AF447 struggling with that unfamiliar checklist at night, in a cockpit hammered by severe turbulence, possibly lightning, with no airspeed information and numerous warning lights and alarms sounding.

It is difficult to imagine many bigger challenges for a pilot, and anything short of near-perfect execution would have the potential for loss of control.

But the fact remains that this is today speculation.

About Air France-KLM Group

CNN

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Swine flu outbreak now a pandemic - World Health Organisation

The swine flu outbreak has become a pandemic, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced.

The move means the world is in the grip of a flu outbreak on a scale not seen for more than 40 years.

It does not mean the swine flu has become more deadly, just that its geographical spread is now truly global.

Professor Steve Field, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, who worked on the UK's pandemic flu plans, said: "This is a historic time because we have not had a flu pandemic in more than 40 years.

"I believe we have been at this point for a couple of weeks or so, so this declaration doesn't come as a surprise.

"For the UK it doesn't mean any real change to what we've been doing in the last few weeks."

The news comes as another 25 cases of swine flu were confirmed in England, taking the UK total to 822.

Prof Field said: "As a practising GP in Birmingham, we have seen an increase in cases. We are still in a case of containment but if it becomes more widespread in the community, then it means we move towards mitigation."

He said this would mean working out how best to minimise the impact of swine flu.

The College, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) and the British Medical Association (BMA) would examine how best to use the anitiviral drug Tamiflu, he said.

"We will probably use Tamiflu on at-risk groups," he said. "Who they are has not been formally signed off yet by the HPA and the Department of Health.

"They will look at who has been attacked by the virus around the world and in the UK.

"Some older people seem to have immunity and it seems to be targeting younger adults.

"The reason why we should try to contain the flu virus is that the more people who have got it, the more likely it is to mutate and produce something more serious.

"As we get more cases, we will inevitably get more serious ones who will clog up the system and put pressure on intensive care beds.

"People who are ill for other reasons may therefore be disadvantaged."

Steve Barnett, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: "The confirmation of a level 6 global pandemic reinforces the need for the NHS to ensure all the flu plans already in place at local level are as comprehensive as possible and thoroughly tested.

"We need to avoid complacency in dealing with a virus that is an unknown and seems to be spreading quickly.

"Today, health service leaders meeting at the NHS Confederation conference in Liverpool have been briefed by the Department of Health on the scale of the challenge facing them and they understand they have a window of opportunity before winter, when the spread of H1N1 is expected to accelerate.

"The challenge facing all parts of the health service should not be underestimated and hospitals, PCTs and ambulance services will all need to use the next few weeks to ensure that they are prepared for a major flu outbreak.

"Everything needs to be in place, from the establishment of anti-viral collection points in the community to planning for larger numbers of hospitalised children to deal with a situation that few working in the service have ever experienced."

The Government's Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, said the Health Protection Agency was planning to focus the use of anti-viral drugs on close contacts of people carrying the virus, rather than the wider circle of contacts who have been treated so far.

Sir Liam told BBC Radio 4's World At One earlier: "The declaration of a pandemic per se doesn't make a big difference to the way we are handling the outbreaks we have.

"We are going to continue to investigate every case that occurs and treat their contacts with anti-virals even though they may not be ill.

"The difference is that the... Health Protection Agency has learnt a lot about approaching this question of anti-viral prophylaxis and they are going to be treating the closer contacts of the cases, rather than the more far-flung contacts, because they feel that that is supported by what they know so far about how the disease is transmitting.

"It is a minor modification to the approach that is being taken and, whilst the numbers of cases in this country remain relatively small and the increase is a steady increase rather than a big surge in cases, we are still able to do this individual case management approach."

Sir Liam said that, so far, most UK swine flu patients had experienced a relatively mild illness, but he acknowledged that serious symptoms and deaths were more likely during the surge of cases which experts expect in the autumn and winter.

"So far, the disease doesn't seem to be a severe illness," he said. "A small number of people have developed serious symptoms, but the majority of people have had an illness from which they recover very quickly.

"These flu viruses can change their pattern of attack, so when we come into the flu season in the autumn and winter in this country, when we expect a big surge of cases, we need to watch very carefully to see if the character of the virus is changing."

Telegraph.co.uk

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WHO declares swine flu pandemic

GENEVA : The World Health Organisation told its member nations it was declaring a swine flu pandemic Thursday - the first global flu epidemic in 41 years - as infections climbed in the United States, Europe, Australia, South America and elsewhere.

In a statement sent to member countries, WHO said it decided to raise the pandemic warning level from phase 5 to 6 - its highest alert - after holding an emergency meeting on swine flu with its experts.

The long-awaited pandemic decision is scientific confirmation that a new flu virus has emerged and is quickly circling the globe. It will trigger drugmakers to speed up production of a swine flu vaccine and prompt governments to devote more money toward efforts to contain the virus.

“At this early stage, the pandemic can be characterised globally as being moderate in severity,” WHO said in the statement, urging nations not to close borders or restrict travel and trade. “(We) remain in close dialogue with influenza vaccine manufacturers.”

WHO also told countries it was in “close dialogue” with flu vaccine makers and it believed the firms would work “to ensure the largest possible supply of pandemic vaccine in the months to come.”

Flu vaccine makers like GlaxoSmithKline PLC and Sanofi-Aventis have been working since last month on a swine flu vaccine.

GlaxoSmithKline spokesman Stephen Rea said the company was ready to start making swine flu vaccine in large quantities once it finished its regular flu vaccine production in July.

On Wednesday, WHO said 74 countries had reported nearly 27,737 cases of swine flu, including 141 deaths.

The agency has stressed that most cases are mild and require no treatment, but the fear is that a rash of new infections could overwhelm hospitals and health authorities - especially in poorer countries.

Still, about half of the people who have died from swine flu were previously young and healthy - people who are not usually susceptible to flu.

Swine flu is also continuing to spread during the start of summer in the northern hemisphere. Normally, flu viruses disappear with warm weather, but swine flu is proving to be resilient.

The last pandemic - the Hong Kong flu of 1968 - killed about 1 million people. Ordinary flu kills about 250,000 to 500,000 people each year.

Many health experts say WHO’s pandemic declaration could have come weeks earlier but the agency became bogged down by politics. In May, several countries urged WHO not to declare a pandemic, fearing it would cause social and economic turmoil.

“This is WHO finally catching up with the facts,” said Michael Osterholm, a flu expert at the University of Minnesota who has advised the U.S. government on pandemic preparations.

Despite WHO’s hopes, raising the epidemic alert to the highest level will almost certainly spark some panic about spread of swine flu.

Fear has already gripped Argentina, where thousands of people worried about swine flu flooded into hospitals this week, bringing emergency health services in the capital of Buenos Aires to the brink of collapse. Last month, a bus arriving in Argentina from Chile was stoned by people who thought a passenger on it had swine flu. Chile has the most swine flu cases in South America.

In Hong Kong on Thursday, the government ordered all kindergartens and primary schools closed for two weeks after a dozen students tested positive for swine flu - a move that some flu experts would consider an overreaction.

In the United States, where there have been more than 13,000 cases and at least 27 deaths from swine flu, officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the move would not change how the U.S. tackled swine flu.

“Our actions in the past month have been as if there was a pandemic in this country,” Glen Nowak, a CDC spokesman, said Thursday.

The U.S. government has already taken steps like increasing availability of flu-fighting medicines and authorising US$1bil for the development of a new vaccine against the novel virus. In addition, new cases seem to be declining in many parts of the country, U.S. health officials say, as North America moves out of its traditional winter flu season.

Still, Osterholm said the declaration was a wake-up call for the world.

“I think a lot of people think we’re done with swine flu, but you can’t fall asleep at the wheel,” he said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen in the next 6 to 12 months.” - AP

The Star

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Diversity can't escape Susan Boyle, despite victory in Britain's Got Talent

Smiling, self-conscious and doing their best to hide the fact that they had scarcely gone to bed since their victory on Britain’s Got Talent, the boys from Diversity shuffled out to face the world’s press yesterday — and had a lesson in the difference between winning and coming first.

Diversity, the winners of Britain's Got Talent (Daniel Deme/EPA)

The 11-strong dance troupe from Essex, whose ages range from 13 to 25, caused a memorable upset in the final of the ITV talent contest on Saturday night when they beat Susan Boyle into second place, winning nearly a quarter of the public vote.

But if they thought that the record company headquarters was filled yesterday with the international media because Good Morning America had developed a sudden and inexplicable interest in Essex street-dance, they were in for a letdown.

The first question, naturally enough, was about them — even in the brutal world of showbusiness, the proprieties have to be observed — but the second was about Susan Boyle, and what they had said to each other after the show. On the international stage, this competition has produced only one truly global star; and, talented though they may be, it is not Ashley Banjo, his brother and their friends, but a 48-year-old woman from Lothian who looks like a dinner lady and sings like a miracle.

Glancing round a room full of foreign television crews jostling for space with the home-grown media, the man from Entertainment Tonight — another US network show — whispered: “None of us would be here today if it wasn’t for her.”

When Ant and Dec announced that Diversity were the winners, Susan Boyle said: “The best people won.” Anyone can do nice on stage, though; but despite reports of her volatile temper, their post-victory encounter with the woman the tabloids have cruelly dubbed The Hairy Angel passed off better than anyone could have hoped.

“She was probably more gracious off stage than on stage,” said Banjo, 20. “She gave us big hugs and she had a bit of a dance with us. She was really cool about it.” Such happy endings are, however, a useful way of avoiding the unease many feel over what they consider cynical exploitation.

A shy woman with learning difficulties, Boyle has struggled to cope with being in the spotlight, and by the time of the final was close to breaking point.

Until last week she had been odds-on favourite. However, her behaviour under stress, said to have included a four-letter outburst against a couple who mocked her, is thought to have undermined her support.

Those who might be feeling guilty about the way she was treated show no regret. “She has got all the support she needs,” said a spokeswoman for production company Talkback Thames. And the ratings were fabulous.

Diversity, meanwhile, are as happy as sandboys. The prize for winning, which will have to be split 11 ways, is £100,000; until this weekend the most they had ever earned was £150 — between them, not each — for dancing at a fashion show at an Essex shopping centre.

“I didn’t expect it, really didn’t expect to win at all,” said Banjo, the choreographer, a science student at Queen Mary, University of London. “I don’t think a street-dance group, especially from the UK, has come as far as we have. We can almost create our own path.” Perhaps, he said, they could get their own television show.

As for Susan Boyle, she may find defeat rather easier to handle. Piers Morgan, one of the three judges, wrote in his blog: “To me, she has been the greatest discovery the show’s ever found.

“And I’m only sorry that the extraordinary tidal wave of publicity she attracted meant so many people got either bored or irritated by Boyle mania and decided not to vote for her.

“The good news for Susan is that we also have a tendency to feel sorry (and slightly guilty) for people after the ‘backlash’, and they usually end up even more popular than they were before.” And then no one has to feel guilty about anything, do they?

TimesOnline 

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Susan Boyle in Priory Clinic

BRITAIN'S Got Talent sensation Susan Boyle was in the Priory clinic last night suffering from exhaustion.

The singer, dubbed SuBo, had an "emotional breakdown" following Saturday's final in which she was runner-up.

But the talent show favourite was still eyeing a mega United States tour.

The 48-year-old virgin, tipped to earn £8MILLION, survived tears and a tantrum to finish second in Saturday's gripping final of telly's Britain's Got Talent.

But the pressure finally told late yesterday as the Scots singer - dubbed SuBo by fans - was rushed to the private clinic suffering from exhaustion.

Show aides had contacted police to say she was acting strangely at her London hotel.

Paramedics helped the "spaced-out" star through the lobby and into an ambulance just after 6pm.

A Met Police Inspector and a police doctor were called to assist. The ambulance, tailed by a police car, then took her to the Priory in Southgate, North London.

A source at the hotel said last night: "She'd been at the hotel for a few days, but since Saturday's final had been acting strangely, causing a bit of a stir.

"The staff were concerned - something wasn't right.

"When the paramedics and police arrived she agreed to go voluntarily. She didn't make a fuss. The paramedics calmly took her out through the main lobby and into the waiting ambulance.

"It was all done very calmly. They didn't want to stress or upset her. She didn't look well - she looked lost, not all there."

A source at the clinic said last night: "I was having a cigarette break when a whole load of ambulances arrived.

"Everyone was saying, 'Who's that'? Then I saw her and it was Susan Boyle. I was gobsmacked."

The singer, from Blackburn in West Lothian, has learning difficulties. The specialist clinic has 52 bedrooms and specialises in the treatment of mental health.

A Britain's Got Talent spokeswoman said last night: "Following Saturday's show, Susan is exhausted and emotionally drained.

"She has been seen by her private GP, who supports her decision to take a few days out for rest and recovery. We offer her our ongoing support and wish her a speedy recovery."

A show source said: "It's very tough, Susan is emotionally drained - she gave it her all and is absolutely shattered.

"Simon Cowell spoke to her backstage on Saturday night and told her she had everything going for her - a record deal, an American tour. But it's up to her, she has to see what she wants.

"We do realise that we have a care of duty to look after her."

Favourite Susan, beaten by dance act Diversity, faced a backlash last week when she was ushered from her previous hotel by worried show bosses after a rant in a bar.

She was also spoken to by cops after arguing with her sister.

And The Sun can reveal the brave singer fled the final stage in tears after belting out I Dreamed A Dream from Les Miserables, the song that made her famous.

She had been booed by sections of the audience after show judge Piers Morgan made her his tip to win.

After leaving the spotlight, Susan sank into the arms of producers and buried her head in her hands before starting to cry.

Earlier, she had launched into a furious four-letter outburst when told her glittering stage costume had failed to arrive just 15 minutes before she was due to appear on stage.

The singer was made a floor-length silver gown for the event, but a source said: "I was in the dressing room when she came in with some production staff. She looked like she was about to explode and was swearing.

"Susan was wearing a red robe, and a girl from production was trying to calm her down by saying, 'Your dress will be here any moment'.

"That was what set her off. It was 15 minutes before the show, and she didn't have her dress. I guess that could push anyone over the edge. They ushered her into a room, but we could still hear her swearing like a trooper."

Yet Chiefs at SyCo - Cowell's division of Sony BMG - have big plans for Susan.

They are this week set to take her to America, where she is already a huge star and is due to score a Sony record deal.

Offers have been coming in thick and fast for the BGT phenomenon. A string of US shows have been trying to lure SuBo as a guest and to get her to sing.

Experts reckon she could make up to £8million after selling the rights to her fairytale life story, as well as a book deal, record cash and further millions from image rights, product endorsements and TV appearances.

A Sony source said: "Susan is going to be huge - it doesn't matter in the slightest that she didn't win.

"We're going to look after her. Never mind the States, she's had offers from round the world." TV Simon said: "We've never had a runner-up like Susan before. She won over a lot of fans - not just with her voice, but with her graciousness. She's got a massive future."

Proud neighbours in Susan's Scottish home town were last night preparing to give her a hero's welcome - unaware of her admission to the Priory.

Brian Smith, 51, said: "I thought she was a certainty to win.

"She has put Blackburn on the map and is a winner to us.

"We are keeping up all the bunting and banners up until she gets back.

"I think we will throw her a massive party - she deserves it."

Michelle McCabe, 34, said: "I thought she would win hands down. She can come back with her head held high."

The Sun

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Susan Boyle set to make millions after Britain's Got Talent

Susan Boyle, the undisputed star of Britain's Got Talent, is on course to make more than £5 million from television, advertising and record deals.

The singer from West Lothian has become an international household name thanks to her show stopping turns on the ITV show and an internet clip of her debut performance is now one of the most watched in history, with more than 100 million hits. 

Entertainment experts are convinced the public demand for the star will not diminish with the end of the current series of the show, which finished last night. 

Paul Potts, who won the first series of Britain's Got Talent, in 2007, is reported to have made almost £5 million from the show and experts say Boyle, 48, will surpass that. 

Some of Britain's biggest music stars are already lining up to work with her. Elaine Paige, Boyle's hero, has hinted at possibly singing a duet with her, while Andrew Lloyd Webber has also discussed a collaboration. 

There is even speculation that Boyle could land a role in a major West End show. 

Music industry insiders, however, say her first priority will be an album of songs for Syco, the record label owned by Simon Cowell, the producer of Britain's Got Talent and one of the show's three judges. 

Paul Gambaccini, the broadcaster and writer, said the album would be a huge hit because Boyle had become the biggest star in the history of reality television. 

"I think the album for Syco is a definite. It is going to sell well. We are not just talking national any more we are talking international. 

"Susan has gone well beyond the level of fame enjoyed by Paul Potts who previously won the show. 

"The entire planet is watching her and if only a small fraction of those people buy the album than you are still going to have a huge hit. 

"I think it has to be a musical theatre album. She should stick with what she does best. She obviously idolises Elaine Paige so she clearly isn't a fan of rap." 

Boyle's appearance has attracted almost as much comment as her singing, and she has been dubbed the "hairy angel". 

Mr Gambaccini added: "As far as her looks are concerned, if she looks like she did on her first appearance on Britain's Got Talent than she will be fine. 

"If she tries to look like Madonna on the cover of the Like A Virgin album she might find herself in difficulties." 

Don Black, the Oscar and Tony winning lyricist, said Boyle would continue to enjoy major success. 

"Song choices are going to be crucial here. When I saw her sing I Dreamed a Dream in her first appearance I thought she was marvellous. Who cares if she isn't a looker. Ella Fitzgerald wasn't a looker but she had a great career." 

Boyle's debut on the show, singing "I Dreamed A Dream", from Les Miserables, won her the support of the Hollywood actress Demi Moore, and her husband Ashton Kutcher. 

After watching the clip on the internet, Moore wrote on her Twitter page: "It made me teary!" 

Boyle has since appeared on Oprah Winfrey's chat show via satellite and made an appearance on CNN. America's biggest networks are believed to be battling it out to secure her first in depth television interview. 

There have been suggestions of a backlash against the singer in recent weeks and critics said her performance of the song Memory in the semi final of the show was not up to the high standards of her debut. 

There have also been reports, strenuously denied, that she has been in verbal clashes with members of the public and is not coping well with the pressure of her new found fame. 

Other stars have also cast doubt on her singing ability. Craig Revel Horwood, the choreographer, said she had "mauled" Memory and said the version of the song was "absolutely awful". 

"If Elaine Paige or Andrew Lloyd Webber, had seen that performance, if they had been dead, they'd be spinning in their graves." 

Lilly Allen, the pop singer has described Boyle has "over rated". 

But the handful of sceptics have failed to calm any of the hype which continues to surround Boyle. 

Telegraph.co.uk

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Diversity wins Britain’s Got Talent

Diversity, a street dance group, have won the final of reality TV competition Britain’s Got Talent in a surprise victory over favourite Susan Boyle. 

Dance Group Diversity

The group, from east London and Essex, will receive £100,000 and perform at the Royal Variety Show after beating Ms Boyle and saxophonist Julian Smith into second and third place respectively. 

The dancers all do normal day-to-day jobs, ranging from an IT systems engineer, a bathroom installer and to a telesales worker. 

But they are now likely to give up their careers and are set to make hundreds of thousands of pounds as promoters rush to book them for performances. 

The group, whose ages range from 12 to 20 and which includes three sets of brothers, only formed in 2007 and won a national dance competition the same year. 

After their dance in the final, judge Simon Cowell said: "If I had to give marks on that, that is the only performance tonight I would want to give a 10 to. 

"There was not a step out of place, it was sheer and utter perfection what you just did there." Amanda Holden said they had blown fellow dance troupe Flawless "out of the water", 

As the result was announced Ms Boyle, an unemployed church volunteer, congratulated them, saying: "The best people won", and wished them "all the best". 

The 48-year-old is still on course to make more than £5 million from television, advertising and record deals. 

Paul Potts, who won the first series of Britain’s Got Talent, in 2007, is reported to have made almost £5 million from the show and experts say Ms Boyle, 48, will surpass that. 

Some of Britain’s biggest music stars are already lining up to work with her. Elaine Paige, Boyle’s hero, has hinted at possibly singing a duet with her, while Andrew Lloyd Webber has also discussed a collaboration. 

There is even speculation that Ms Boyle could land a role in a major West End show. 

Music industry insiders, however, say her first priority will be an album of songs for Syco, the record label owned by Simon Cowell, the producer of Britain’s Got Talent and one of the show’s three judges. 

Monday’s semi-final became the most-watched episode in the current series with 15.4million viewers, and it is thought the final was watched by as many as 20million people. 

Telegraph.co.uk 

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Susan Boyle 'considered quitting' Britain's Got Talent

Susan Boyle has considered quitting Britain's Got Talent altogether due to the pressures of fame, show judge Piers Morgan said. 

Susan Boyle during the first semi-final of Britain's Got Talent

Morgan launched a defence of the 48-year-old, dubbed the 'Hairy Angel', who is the favourite to win, saying that she has been in "floods of tears" this week and suffering from almost crippling nerves. 

Writing on his internet blog, Morgan said that "frightened rabbit" Boyle had fleetingly felt like throwing in the towel to escape all the attention. 

He said that reading bitchy comments about her had made him feel "very, very angry". 

He wrote: "Susan is finding it very, very difficult to cope, and to stay calm. 

"She has been in tears many times during the last few days, and even, fleetingly, felt like quitting the show altogether at one point and fleeing all the attention. 

"She's had to read stories and columns, and listen to radio and TV phone-ins, calling her arrogant, insincere, spoiled, fake, mad and so on. 

"Now, I have been called all that and worse in my career, but I spent 20 years in Fleet Street and know how to deal with it. 

"Susan Boyle has never experienced anything like this and is like a frightened rabbit in headlights." 

The finalist lost her temper in the lobby of the Wembley Plaza Hotel in north London after being "wound up" by two strangers. 

Police stationed at the hotel intervened in the situation. 

Boyle was photographed talking to two police officers in the car park following the incident. 

A spokesman for Boyle said: "The police were escorting a journalist from the premises who had been winding Susan up. Susan and her sister were talking to the police telling them what had happened." 

Speaking to Nick Ferrari on LBC 97.3 radio, Morgan described the church volunteer as "an incredibly sweet, nice, gentle person who has been propelled through this show. 

"Suddenly, a month later, she's the biggest star on the planet and I don't say that lightly... 

"Anybody who has gone through that incredible transformation is going to be feeling the most unbelievable pressure, not least of which because the final is on Saturday and she knows that everything may rest on that one performance and you could see the nerves almost crippling her on the semi-final show and I just think it's time that everyone slightly backed off... 

"Knowing her as I do, she's been incredibly upset this week. She's been in floods of tears." 

Boyle, from Blackburn, West Lothian, was propelled into the spotlight following her audition for the ITV talent show, singing I Dreamed A Dream from the musical Les Miserables. 

She went on to become a global internet sensation, scoring millions of hits on video site YouTube and gaining celebrity support including that of Hollywood star Demi Moore. 

Morgan told the radio station that talk of Boyle's hotel outburst had been "massively exaggerated... 

"She is getting this ferocious attention and my heart does go out to her a bit. 

"She is really upset about all this and apparently she's really upset that she may have offended me. 

"You know what, Susan, all you have to concentrate on now is doing an amazing performance on Saturday. 

"You're the red-hot favourite. There are people who want you to fail. 

"There are people who want to snipe at you, who want to kick you because now suddenly you're so popular. 

"All she has to do is do a great performance." 

Boyle will compete for the chance to perform at the Royal Variety Show. 

The semi-final stages continue today, with sax sensation Julian Smith tipped to make it through to the final showdown. 

The 39-year-old from Birmingham will be joined on stage by grandfather and granddaughter singing duo Two Grand aka John Neill and Sallie Lax, aged, 76 and 12 respectively, from Doncaster and punk pop act Brit Chix from Boston, Lincolnshire. 

Breakdancing OAP Fred Bowers, dancing dog act Jackie Prescott and Tippy Toes, from Oxford, and dance troupe Sugarfree, from Essex, will also take part. 

Singer Callum Francis, 12, from Hertfordshire, and burlesque act Fabia Cerra, 35, from Oxford, are also hoping to get to the final. 

William Hill said it has started to see a possible Boyle backlash and eased her price today from 4/7 to 4/6, with Shaheen Jafargholi cut from 6/1 to 5/1. 

The bookies is also offering 10/1 that Boyle swears during the live final and 100/1 that she proposes to Morgan following her victory. 

Telegraph.co.uk

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