Category: news

A man is charged with the murders of three Bradford women after body parts were found in a river.

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Harvey was found not guilty of attempted murder

A science teacher who attacked a 14-year-old pupil with a dumbbell has been sacked from his job, a union has said.

Peter Harvey, 50, was given a two-year community order on Monday at Nottingham Crown Court .

He had admitted attacking the boy at All Saints' Roman Catholic School in Mansfield.

He was provoked by pupils during a lesson in July 2009, who called him names including "psycho".

The court heard how Harvey lost control and hit the boy about the head with the 3kg weight while shouting "die, die, die".

The teacher, who was signed off with depression for several months, was found not guilty of attempted murder at a trial.

However, he had pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm without intent.

Following the sentencing, his union, the NASUWT, said it hoped the school's governors and Nottinghamshire County Council would allow the married father-of-two to retire on the grounds of ill health.

However, on Thursday the union said he was sacked.

In a statement, the union said: "It is with deep regret that the NASUWT has to announce that the governors of All Saints RC School in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, have today summarily dismissed Peter Harvey from his post at the school."

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World stock markets put in some strong rises on Thursday, boosted by supportive comments from China on the strength of the euro.

Continue reading the main storySee more market data

The agency that manages the country's huge foreign assets said it was not rethinking its holdings in euros.

That led to a positive day's trading and left shares in all key markets with good gains.

London's main FTSE index was up 3.1%, France's Cac was 3.4% higher and the German Dax was up 3.1%.

The euro also rose, to trade at $1.236, a rise of almost two cents on the day.

By lunchtime in New York, the Dow Jones was more than 2.2% higher.

Reports that China was reviewing its investments in the light of the weakness in the eurozone gave markets a fright late on Wednesday.

The make-up of China's estimated overseas assets of $2.5 trillion are a state secret.

Although most of them are in US dollars, a significant proportion – estimated at $630bn (£438bn) – are thought to be held in euros.

A sell-off from China would not only highlight the fragility of the eurozone, but also depress the market by increasing supply at a time of low demand.

Earlier on Thursday, Japan's main market also closed with a gain – of 1.2%.

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By Hannah RichardsonBBC News education reporter The QCDA was responsible for developing the curriculum and tests

Education Secretary Michael Gove has confirmed that he is closing down the qualifications and curriculum agency, the QCDA.

Mr Gove has written to the chairman of the quango to say he will bring forward legislation in the autumn to scrap it.

The agency's work on national tests and exam administration would continue until it could be transferred, he said.

But its qualifications and curriculum work would stop, resulting in an £8m budget cut.

The Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency had been created by the previous government to develop the curriculum and administer tests.

Both Prime Minister David Cameron and Mr Gove had pledged to scrap the QCDA before the general election as part of plans to cut public sector spending.

And an announcement on this was widely expected on Monday when Chancellor George Osborne set out his deficit reduction plans.

Statutory duty

But it emerged that legislation was needed to bring about its abolition and instead its budget was cut by £8m.

Mr Gove wants to lessen government involvement in the administration of exams, but it needs staff to continue until the agency's functions can be transferred.

In his letter to Chairman Christopher Trinick, Mr Gove said: "I appreciate that the news of closure will come as a disappointment to those working in the QCDA, as well as to you and your executive team.

"While the QCDA as an organisation does not have a place in the education system of the future, I know that the agency has many dedicated public servants who are committed to improving the quality of education."

He added: "In other areas – notably qualifications development and the curriculum – I would want QCDA to withdraw as soon and as far as is practicable, and continue with activities only where it is necessary in order to comply with a statutory duty or where I am clear that not to do so would jeopardise the interests of learners.

"That is the basis on which reductions to the budget were made this year."

The QCDA was created when the former Qualifications and Curriculum Authority had been split.

The other part of this break-up was the creation of Ofqual, launched in 2008, which remains as the watchdog for exam standards.

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As many as 14 hurricanes could hit the Atlantic basin this year, the US top climate agency says.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminstration (NOAA) forecasts 14 to 23 named storms. Eight to 14 of these could develop into hurricanes, it says.

The season could be one of the most active on record, with between three to seven major hurricanes, the NOAA said.

"In short, we urge everyone to be prepared," added a spokesperson for the NOAA.

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Higher education is facing cuts

The Business Secretary Vince Cable has called on university bosses to show restraint over their own pay.

Mr Cable said he was "taken aback" to discover that the pay of university vice chancellors had risen by more than 10% last year.

The average salary for university vice-chancellors is more than £200,000 per year.

University leaders say most vice chancellors have agreed to pay freezes.

But Mr Cable told the Daily Telegraph the university sector needed to show "realism and self-sacrifice", as managers in the private sector had.

Mr Cable's department is responsible for England's universities.

On Monday it was announced that £200 million was being cut from university funding in England, on top of a reduction of £449m already set for next year.

In an interview with the Telegraph, Mr Cable said: "There is some gap between reality and expectations in some of those institutions and although it is not our job to control pay – it is an independent mechanism – we want to signal to them that there has got to be some restraint," he said.

Self-sacrifice

Mr Cable had been referring to the last official published figures – for 2008-09.

He contrasted the attitude of the university heads with that of managers in the private sector where some were taking pay cuts to help keep their firms going.

"I just get absolutely no sense in the university sector that there is the same degree of realism and of self-sacrifice which is going to have to happen if we are going to preserve the quality of university education," he said.

"There is clearly salary escalation at the top level that bears no relation to the underlying economics of the country."

But university leaders said vice chancellors were showing restraint and that recent data suggested most had agreed to a pay freeze.

Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of Universities UK, said: "Salaries of university heads in the UK are comparable with those in competitor countries and are also in line with remuneration packages for directors and chief executives of public and private organisations of a similar size.

"We are now in quite a different funding climate and our own data on vice chancellors and principals' salaries for this year (2009-10) show the majority of them agreeing to pay freezes.

"For this year, the average increase is 0.5% with 70% of vice chancellors and principals receiving uplifts of 0% or 0.5%."

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BP has stopped the flow of oil and gas into the Gulf of Mexico from a ruptured oil well, US media reports say.

The company's "top kill" effort has plugged the leak and "stabilised the wellhead", Coast Guard commander Thad Allen was quoted as saying by AFP.

This is the first step, using mud, in BP's plan to seal the well for good with cement.

Eleven workers were killed in the initial explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig five weeks ago.

Since then millions of gallons of oil have poured into the sea.

Adm Allen told US media the "top kill" procedure, which began on Wednesday, has pumped enough drilling fluid to block all oil and gas escaping from the well.

But he said there was still pressure from the well, although at very low levels.

Once engineers have reduced the pressure to zero, they will begin pumping cement into the hole to seal the well, he added.

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The government is to lay out its plans for what it calls a "root and branch reform" of Britain’s welfare system.

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith will argue the coalition’s main priority is to get people on long-term benefits back into employment.

He told the Guardian the government had a "once-in-a-generation" opportunity to reform the welfare system.

Ministers plan to create one welfare to work programme and make benefits more conditional on willingness to work.

Mr Duncan Smith, brought back into frontline politics by Prime Minister David Cameron, has spent several years in opposition preparing a blueprint for the future of the welfare state.

The former Conservative Party leader is now responsible for pushing the government’s Welfare Reform Bill – announced in Tuesday’s Queen’s Speech – through Parliament over the next few months.

Of most concern to the new government is the rise in the number of inactive people of working age claiming benefits.

The BBC’s Home Affairs Correspondent Tom Symonds said its proposals will include forcing the unemployed to sign up for welfare-to-work training schemes sooner than is currently required.

Incapacity benefit

Ministers want the long-term unemployed facing "the most serious barriers to work" to sign up to work and training programmes immediately and for those under 25 to get support within six months.

They also want to speed up the assessment of all those on incapacity benefit – paid to those unable to work due to health problems. All those deemed able to work are likely to be moved onto jobseeker’s allowance.

Mr Duncan Smith told the Guardian that the welfare system discouraged many of the five million people who are on benefits from working.

"What I have come to do is look root and branch at how we deliver welfare which is aimed at groups at the bottom end of society who need help and support, either because they can’t work or because they can but they are unable to get back to work, or because they are disabled."

He said those moved off incapacity benefit would be offered "intensive" support to find work and that all of the changes would be enacted "carefully and sensitively".

Labour sought to increase incentives to work and introduce penalties for those unwilling to do so but the Conservatives said reforms must go further and faster to tackle the problem of long-term unemployment, which they say underpins many of the country’s most deep-seated social problems.

During the campaign, the Tories called for a sliding scale of sanctions for those on benefits who turned down work.

As in all policy areas, the government’s welfare agenda is having to reflect compromises reached between the Conservatives and the Lib Dems in their coalition agreement.

‘Bills of failure’

The proposals are also likely to include paying welfare-to-work providers on a results-basis, loans to help unemployed people set up their own businesses and local work clubs where people out of work can share skills and make contacts.

The government may also say how it intends to end what it claims is a system that penalises those on benefits should they try to get a low-paid job.

As part of the changes, a new cabinet committee will be set up to co-ordinate the strategy between different government departments.

In his interview, Mr Duncan-Smith hinted that he was prepared to reach out to sympathetic figures in the Labour Party to try and build a consensus over the reforms.

"Lots of different hard-headed politicians have come into this job saying they’re going to do something different and walked out with the bills of social failure still rising," he said.

"I’m determined that we take this once-in-a-generation chance to tie two parties together, and possibly elements of the third, to get the job done."

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By James CopnallBBC News, KhartoumAt least five presidents are attending Omar al-Bashir’s inauguration

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is to be sworn into office again, following his controversial win in last month's elections.

President Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes in Darfur.

His inauguration will be a further clue to how isolated he is internationally.

President Bashir's supporters say at least five presidents, essentially from neighbouring states, will attend.

The heads of the two United Nations peacekeeping missions in the country will also be there.

That gives a sheen of respectability to the event.

President Bashir is a wanted man internationally, after the ICC indicted him for war crimes allegedly committed in Darfur.

The international rights organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW) said governments committed to justice in Darfur should stay away from President Bashir's inauguration.

But Ibrahim Ghandour, a senior figure in the president's party, said HRW was wrong.

"The Sudanese people can see that Human Rights Watch is unfair to the Sudanese issues in general," he said.

"I think that the first defeat is the fact that at least five presidents are attending the inauguration. And the second defeat came when the UN declared that it would be present at the inauguration of the new presidency term."

Southern vote

Last month's elections, which have been recognised internationally, despite their flaws, may have boosted President Bashir's legitimacy somewhat.

But the president is still clearly not to everyone's taste.

He faces a momentous few months.

In January, Southerners will vote on possible independence, the consequence of a peace deal that ended a long civil war.

President Bashir is calling for unity, but there is little doubt the South will split away if there is a free vote.

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Apologies will be sent out soon, the Revenue says

The private financial details of up to 50,000 people who claim tax credits have been mistakenly sent out in the post by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

Claimants were sent their annual tax credit award notice, along with personal details of other claimants.

One woman from Hyde in Greater Manchester has told the BBC her letter included her neighbour's earnings.

She also got the bank sort code and the last four digits of the bank account number of another claimant.

The HMRC has said the mistake was caused by a printing error and it will be apologising to all the people affected.

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Paul Igoe attempted to cover up sister Caroline’s crime

A woman has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 20 years for murdering her boyfriend by shooting him in the head.

Caroline Igoe, 32, killed Martyn Barclay, 26, near their home in The Inch area of Edinburgh in January 2009.

Passing sentence at the High Court in Glasgow, judge Lord Bracadale told Igoe she had left Mr Barclay's family "bereft".

Her brother Paul Igoe was jailed for six years for his part in the crime.

He had been cleared of murder but was convicted of attempting to cover up the murder.

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Human remains found in a West Yorkshire river are those of missing Bradford woman Suzanne Blamires, police say.

They were recovered from the River Aire, Shipley, on Tuesday after being found by a member of the public.

A man thought to be PhD criminology student Stephen Griffiths, 40, is being questioned on suspicion of murdering Ms Blamires, 36, a prostitute.

He is also suspected of killing two other Bradford sex workers, Shelley Armitage, 31, and Susan Rushworth, 43.

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said: "Examination of human remains recovered from the River Aire have confirmed a positive match to Suzanne Blamires.

"Inquiries into the incident remain ongoing."

CCTV footage is understood to be playing a major part in the investigation.

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The postponement of plans to reduce the number of Northern Ireland's councils from 26 to 11 will be formally announced later, the BBC understands.

Environment Minister Edwin Poots is expected to say the transition will now happen in 2015.

Nine million pounds has so far been spent preparing for the changes.

The plan would create four nationalist-dominated councils in the west and south, and six predominantly unionist councils in the north, east and centre.

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By Emma WilkinsonHealth reporter, BBC NewsCertain long-term conditions are already excluded

Proposals to give free prescriptions to people in England with long-term conditions have been put on hold due to financial pressures on the NHS.

Health minister Simon Burns said a decision on prescription charges and exemptions cannot be made before the spending review due in the autumn.

Plans for expanding eligibility for free prescriptions were first announced by Gordon Brown in 2008.

All charges have been scrapped in Wales and are being phased out in Scotland.

In England, prescription charges for cancer patients have already been dropped.

Current medical exemptionsContinue reading the main storyA permanent fistula, such as colostomySome patients with hypoadrenalismDiabetes insipidus or other forms of hypopituitarismDiabetes mellitus, except where treatment is by diet aloneHypoparathyroidismMyasthenia gravisMyxoedemaEpilepsy requiring continuous therapyContinuing physical disability which means the person can't go out without the help of another person

Professor Ian Gilmore, president of the Royal College of Physicians, was tasked with considering which patient groups should be exempt from charges and how the changes should be implemented.

In a report first presented to ministers in November 2009, he said patients should be exempt if they have a long-term health condition that will persist for a period of at least six months.

It means the three-year exemption would include people with common conditions, such as asthma, arthritis and high blood pressure, and eligibility would be determined by doctors.

Professor Gilmore estimated the move would cost £430m a year.

But he proposes phasing in the changes over a three-year period, to help spread the cost.

His review concluded that the cost of the annual prescription pre‑payment certificate, which patients with chronic conditions can buy to help them manage the cost of prescriptions, should slowly be reduced.

‘Outdated’

The current list of exemptions is "outdated and arbitrary", said Professor Gilmore.

He added that it was disappointing that his review was not published or commented on by the previous government when the financial climate was more favourable.

"I believe it still represents a useful way forward for exempting patients with long-term conditions from prescription charges.

"Furthermore, the report outlines a way in which exemptions could be phased in the fairest way possible when the financial landscape allows it."

A Department of Health spokesperson said they want people with long-term conditions to have more control over their health needs.

"This is why we are focusing on prevention and the reform of long-term care as a whole to give patients better access to treatments that are personalised and effective for them as individuals."

He added: "We know the NHS faces many challenges and therefore any decisions on future changes to the system of prescription charges and exemptions will be dependent on our future financial settlements."

Neil Churchill, Chair of the Prescription Charges Coalition and Chief Executive of Asthma UK, urged the government to outline how they intend to act on Professor Gilmore'sreport.

"People with long-term conditions, such as arthritis, asthma, depression, heart disease, motor neurone disease, Parkinson's and Spina Bifida will obviously be very disappointed to hear that a timetable to abolish prescription charges has not yet been set."

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Refusal to approve the package would have been a blow to Prime Minister Zapatero

The Spanish parliament has backed a 15bn-euro ($18.4bn; £13bn) austerity package by one vote as the country strives to cut its budget deficit.

The vote saw 169 in favour of the Socialist government's austerity plan and 168 against, with 13 abstentions.

Spain announced the austerity package earlier this month. It includes wage cuts of 5% or more for civil servants and slashes public investment plans.

Spain hopes to rein in its deficit and ease fears of a Greek-style crisis.

A parliamentary defeat would have been a blow to the Socialist government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

Spain's programme is intended to reduce a deficit of 11% of GDP to 6% by 2011.

‘Painful but inevitable’

Many Spaniards fear the effect the cuts will have on the economy, where the unemployment rate exceeds 20% – twice the eurozone average.

SPANISH COST-CUTTING PLANContinue reading the main story5% average pay cut for public workers in 2010Payout scrapped to parents for birth of childrenAutomatic inflation-adjustments for pensions suspendedFunding to regions cut by 1.2bn euros

The country moved out of recession in the first quarter of this year, with growth of 0.1%.

The European Union has been anxious to see more fragile European economies, including Spain, Portugal and Greece, impose tougher austerity measures.

Before the vote, finance minister Elena Salgado had asked politicians to vote in favour, saying the measures were "painful but inevitable".

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