Category: news

US President Barack Obama will extend a moratorium on deep water offshore drilling for six months, the White House says.

The decision comes as a preliminary report on lessons from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is set for release.

Mr Obama is also expected to order tighter industry safeguards.

BP says its operation to pump mud into a breached Gulf of Mexico oil well to try and stem the flow of oil caused by a rig explosion is going to plan.

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Police in NI have said it was "inappropriate" for an officer to play "ice-cream van" music in an attempt to calm youths attacking a vehicle.

Young people were throwing bottles at a Land Rover vehicle in Lisburn last Saturday when the officer used the tannoy to play the tunes.

A police spokesperson said an officer had used humour to defuse the situation and the trouble had stopped.

However, senior officers are believed to have spoken to the officer involved.

Police were called to Glasvey Drive in Twinbrook on 22 May where they passed a group of about 15 youths who began throwing bottles at their vehicle.

A spokesperson for the Police Service of Northern Ireland said: "An officer used the vehicle's tannoy system to play music to the youths in an effort to use humour to defuse the situation.

"The youths stopped throwing the bottles. However police accept that this was not an appropriate action.

"The officer has been spoken to by a senior officer in order to establish the circumstances of the incident."

Sinn Fein councillor Angela Nelson told the Andersonstown News that the officer's actions "beggared belief".

"The PSNI are put on the streets to do a serious job and that is to keep order on the streets and face down anti-social elements. This is like a sick joke.

"It goes against everything we are trying to solve and eradicate in the area".

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The health committee will outline its views on the alcohol bill

Holyrood's health committee will publish its long-awaited report on the Scottish government's alcohol bill.

But it is thought the findings will show MSPs divided over the key measure of minimum pricing.

Doctors, the police and the licensed trade back the government's plans to set a minimum price per unit of alcohol, but opposition parties are worried about the measure.

They have said it would also punish responsible drinkers.

The health secretary, Nicola Sturgeon, believes minimum pricing will help to reduce consumption, especially among problem drinkers.

She has said in the past that the government needed to take "radical action" to cut the £2.25bn cost of alcohol misuse to Scotland.

The report, due to be published on Thursday morning, is set to recommend support for the general principles of the bill.

Tonic wine

However, committee members are likely to urge the government to publish its preferred cost per unit of alcohol before MSPs decide on how to go forward.

The report comes the day after Scottish Labour published the findings of its Alcohol Commission.

The recommendations included a legal limit on the caffeine content of alcoholic drinks – which would effectively ban the tonic wine Buckfast.

The party hopes to amend the forthcoming alcohol bill to stop drinks firms using more than 150 milligrams of caffeine per litre of alcohol.

Buckfast currently contains two-and-a-half times that amount.

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Business Secretary Vince Cable has insisted the coalition government is not split over planned increases to non-business capital gains tax.

The move could see second home sales taxed at a rate of 40% or 50%.

Senior Tory MPs have attacked it as a tax on the middle classes and a betrayal of Conservative values.

But Mr Cable told BBC News it was a crucial part of the coalition deal and there was no disagreement over it between the Lib Dem and Tory partners.

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David Cameron and his family are moving into Downing Street on Thursday, the new prime minister has told the BBC.

Mr Cameron, his pregnant wife Samantha and two children have had their "last breakfast" at their west London home, he told Radio 4’s Today programme.

They are moving into the flat above 11 Downing Street, which was the home for the Blair family until 2007.

The Cameron family’s move to Downing Street comes two weeks after he took over from Gordon Brown as PM.

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Mr Rochester died of internal bleeding at Andreas Papandreou hospital

More charges may be brought over the death of a County Durham man who fell from a balcony on the Greek island of Rhodes 10 years ago.

When the body of Christopher Rochester, from Chester-le-Street, was returned to the UK a kidney was missing.

A Greek doctor was later convicted of neglecting the 24-year-old during his treatment in hospital.

Now the Greek authorities have told the UK Government the kidney mix-up is to be investigated further.

The new development was revealed in the House of Commons by Foreign Office minister David Lidington, in a debate on the case brought by North Durham MP Kevan Jones.

Mr Rochester's mother and step-father, Pam and George Cummings, have long called for further criminal action over the kidney mix-up.

Mr Lidington said: "Very recently the Home Office received confirmation from the Greek Ministry of Justice that a request had been made in order to assist with a criminal investigation.

"I have been advised that the Home Office is now in discussions with the Ministry of Justice as to how this request can be taken forward.

Mr Jones told the Commons he considered the action of medical staff and the Greek authorities to be "unacceptable".

He said: "Answers need to be given to Christopher's family.

Christopher Rochester fell 30ft from a balcony

"One gets the impression that the Greek authorities feel that if they delay and put enough obstacles in the way that somehow the family will go away.

"But they are not going to go away and I as a member of Parliament am not going to go away."

When it was discovered Mr Rochester's kidney was missing, the Greek authorities sent another, which failed a DNA match in the UK.

Greek officials disputed the DNA findings and agreed to an independent inquiry which has yet to take place.

Tests on the kidney were carried out by Professor John Burn, head of Newcastle University's Institute of Human Genetics.

Prof Burn said he established with 99% certainty that the organ was not Mr Rochester's by comparing it with DNA material taken from a biopsy he underwent before he died.

Mr Rochester bled to death after being left unattended for three hours on a hospital trolley.

His parents fought a lengthy campaign to convict a doctor of manslaughter by neglect over his death.

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Protesters have objected to plans to close some primary schools

Plans by Cardiff council to expand Welsh-medium education in the west of the city have been rejected by the Welsh Assembly Government.

It means a plan to remove surplus English-medium places in Canton to meet increased demand for Welsh-medium schools cannot go ahead.

Council leader Rodney Berman said: "This is going to send shockwaves among the schools community in Cardiff."

An assembly government spokesman said they were unable to comment currently.

The decison to reject the plan was taken by First Minister Carwyn Jones, and is likely to prove highly controversial.

The council said it was "dismayed at receiving a decision from the Welsh Assembly Government that it has rejected the proposal to close Lansdowne Primary School and relocate Ysgol Treganna onto the Lansdowne site as a two-form entry primary school with nursery".

The local authority had wanted to make the change as part of a shake-up of schools following public consultation.

The council said it would have meant Radnor Primary School "becoming established as a two-form entry English-medium primary school with nursery on the site it currently shares with Ysgol Treganna".

In April last year, the council's executive backed a plan to close Lansdowne Primary to make way for the expansion of Welsh-medium school Ysgol Treganna, which is short of space.

Parents mounted a strong campaign to save the school, claiming the closure would simply move the problem elsewhere, leaving English-medium schools in Canton without enough room.

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A fleet of "Little Ships" which rescued Allied troops from Dunkirk in 1940 are to set sail from the South Coast to mark the 70th anniversary of the event.

The flotilla of around 60 vessels will sail to France to commemorate Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of some 338,000 soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk.

The troops had been driven back to the coast by the German army.

The phrase "Dunkirk spirit" has become emblematic of British determination and courage in the face of adversity.

The evacuation took place between 26 May and 4 June 1940, and involved 900 naval and civilian craft which were sent across the Channel under RAF protection.

Among them were the "Little Boats" – including fishing vessels, pleasure crafts, paddle steamers and lifeboats.

During the evacuation – described by Winston Churchill as a "miracle of deliverance" – the Luftwaffe attacked whenever the weather allowed and at least 5,000 soldiers were killed.

‘No better spirit’

Seventy years on, some 60 craft have gathered in Ramsgate, in Kent, and are due to set sail for Dunkirk, in north-east France, at 0700 BST, weather permitting.

They will be escorted by the Royal Navy frigate HMS Monmouth.

Ramsgate’s Royal Harbour Marina was the reception centre for returning troops and after a weekend of commemorative events in France, the Little Ships are due to return there on Monday.

Edwin Brown, who was among those rescued in 1940, told the BBC: "They made a hell of a difference because they got us out to the bigger boats where we could get some help from the sailors who couldn’t get in because of the depth of the water."

Of that famous British pluck, Mr Brown said: "There isn’t a better spirit anywhere because everyone was looking after each other.

"If you were in trouble and you needed help, it was there. That was the Dunkirk spirit."

A commemorative ceremony will be held at the Allied memorial on Dunkirk beach on Saturday. There will be a minute’s silence, followed by the national anthems of Britain, the Czech Republic, France and Belgium.

The evacuation was a big boost to British morale.

World War II historian Nick Hewitt said it "bought time" for the Allies, allowing them to regroup and fight another day.

"Without Dunkirk, Britain doesn’t have an army and it’s extremely questionable whether Britain could have fought the war," he said.

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The women’s disappearances are being treated as murder

A 40-year-old man, thought to be a Phd criminology student, is being questioned about the murders of three women sex workers in Bradford.

Stephen Griffiths was arrested on suspicion of killing Suzanne Blamires, 36, who was last seen on Friday.

He is also suspected of killing Shelley Armitage, 31, and Susan Rushworth, 43.

CCTV footage is understood to be playing a major part in the investigation by West Yorkshire Police.

Detectives have been granted extra time, until Thursday evening, to question the suspect who was arrested at an address in Bradford on Monday.

Officers, accompanied by specially trained sniffer dog teams, have been searching a number of buildings, some of them in the Chain Street area of Bradford's red light district.

Police are expected later to formally name the woman whose body parts were found at about 1400 BST on Tuesday in the River Aire in Shipley.

Two sex workers tell BBC News they feel “nervous and frightened”

She is expected to be confirmed as Ms Blamires who lived on Barkston Walk, Allerton in Bradford.

Ms Armitage, also from Allerton, has been missing since 26 April and Ms Rushworth, from the Manningham area of the city, has not been seen since June 2009.

Police are also investigating possible links to the case of Rebecca Hall, a 19-year-old who worked as a prostitute in the city and was killed in 2001.

Her body was found in the Allerton area not far from the homes of Ms Blamires and Ms Armitage.

Assistant Chief Constable Jawaid Akhtar confirmed the remains found on Tuesday belonged to one person.

He described the investigation as a "thorough and painstaking inquiry into three missing people who are sex workers, with all the necessary resources and expertise devoted to it".

He added: "The families of Suzanne, Shelley and Susan are all being supported by our family liaison officers as the inquiry progresses."

Earlier this month West Yorkshire Police started a poster appeal to try to trace Ms Armitage who was last seen in Rebecca Street in Bradford city centre.

Police underwater search teams have been scouring the river

At the time detectives described her as "a much-loved daughter and sister" and said her family were growing increasingly concerned for her welfare.

Ms Rushworth, a mother-of-three who is known as Sue or Susie, was last seen near her flat at Oak Villas, Manningham.

At the time of her disappearance police said she suffered from epilepsy, had never been missing before and had been getting help for her heroin addiction.

Ms Rushworth's son James, 23, appealed for information, saying: "We are all very worried about her.

"We're a close family and we're not coping very well with her disappearance.

"There is no reason that she would have just left. She's only recently started seeing her grandchildren and was getting to know them."

Mario Demski who works at a residential home on Oak Villas, said Ms Rushworth had visited several residents at the home.

"She lived just over the road. Residents have recognised her face in the paper and been very concerned."

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Mr Emanuel extended the invitation tothe Israeli PM

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted an invitation to visit Washington next week to meet US President Barack Obama.

The invitation was made by White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel on a trip to Jerusalem.

The meeting will be the first time President Obama and Mr Netanyahu have met since March when relations were strained between the US and Israel.

The meeting is regarded as an attempt to push stalled peace talks forward.

A recent round of indirect "proximity talks", mediated by US senator George Mitchell ended without apparent progress.

Mr Netanyahu's last visit to Washington in March was overshadowed by the collapse of US efforts to launch the proximity talks.

An Israeli announcement that it would build new homes for settlers in an area of occupied East Jerusalem, during the visit to the country of US Vice-President Joe Biden, led to the Palestinians withdrawing from the talks.

Angry criticism of Israel by US officials followed. The spat was described at the time as the most serious crisis in US-Israeli relations in decades.

The Whitehouse has also announced Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will visit in June.

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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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By NickDavisBBC News, KingstonMany Jamaicans are embarrassed by the picture being painted of their nation

Conflicted is probably the best way to describe my feelings in regards to Jamaica.

Reporting the violence that has rocked this Caribbean nation to the world is my job, but yet as the child of Jamaican migrants to the United Kingdom I know all too well the damage it does to the nation's reputation.

This island is dependent on tourism to keep its economic head above water, but every headline of "Carnage in the capital" and "Chaos in Kingston" may cause another potential visitor, faced with a choice of tropical paradises, to give the one with bullets a miss.

The reality is – without meaning to sound like an advert for the Jamaica Tourist Board – that the sun, sea and sand of the resorts are on the other side of the island from the trouble, a good three-and-a-half hours drive in the case of the second city, Montego Bay.

Regardless of the distance, the Jamaican government is desperate to end the violence and separate the tough inner city from the tourist hotspots in people's minds.

Crime against holidaymakers is low because protecting them is a priority and the nation's international image is all-important, but most Jamaicans now want to see an end to the murders that have become an everyday crime in parts of the capital, acts of violence that don't make the front page or even sometimes the crime section in the newspapers.

The fact that people loyal to Christopher "Dudus" Coke – an alleged drug smuggler and gun runner also known as "president" – felt safer under his protection than that of their member of parliament, the prime minister, is a stinging indictment of how bad things have got.

Disputed death toll

In the couple of years I've been here, there have been three ministers of national security and three commissioners of police – the top jobs for tackling crime the least wanted positions in the country. But many now hope that this extraordinary situation will mobilise change, even if the price is in blood and Jamaica's reputation.

The official death toll of civilians in Tivoli and its neighbouring communities at the time of writing is said to be 44, a figure that's disputed by people who live in the communities that have been under curfew since Sunday.

They've rung into local radio stations with reports of unarmed men and women being shot in the street by the security forces, that bombs have been dropped from the military helicopters providing air support, and that bodies have been burnt to get rid of the evidence of human rights abuses.

After the conflicting reports, an independent assessment was requested by Prime Minister Bruce Golding. Accompanied by members of the security forces, Public Defender Earle Witter and the Political Ombudsman, Bishop Herro Blair, met people living in parts of Tivoli considered safe.

In a burnt-out building, they found two charred bodiesapparently missed by the security forces in their search, if anything an indication that death toll will likely rise.

Residents haven't been allowed out of their homes since the operation began on Monday.

"They are running low on food, water and medications and nappies, there are lots of women with small children there who haven't been able to get anything," said Mr Witter. As public defender, it's his job to find out if there have been any human rights violations in the operation he described as military.

The government is aware that despite having a well-trained army and a police force that is trying to become more professional and dump corrupt officers who are also linked to the gangs, there may have been innocents killed.

Fear of reprisals

In Trench Town, made famous by its former resident Bob Marley in the 1970s, fresh bullet holes can be seen in the concrete block walls.

"They just started firing lots of shots," said one man as he showed us an empty bullet casing. "The soldiers fired a lot of shots and there were no gunmen here."

With his face hidden, another man told of how his girlfriend was shot dead in the yard. "I can't tell you what happened – she got shot in the face in the crossfire, I don't know if it was gunmen or police."

The government had asked law-abiding citizens to leave the community before they moved in. Few, if any, took the opportunity out of fear of reprisals or out of support for Dudus, so their testimony may be biased, but the government is aware there could be issues.

"Based on the reports that have come out of there, there is definitely a cause for great concern. I wouldn't want to pre-empt it, but if 10% is true then we will have some issues to address from a humanitarian standpoint," said Information Minister Darryl Vaz.

Meanwhile the search continues for Christopher Dudus Coke, and sporadic gunfire can still be heard in other parts of Kingston – some allegedly linked to Mr Coke and the ruling Jamaica Labour Party he supports, but also in areas that are loyal to the opposition party as other criminals use the opportunity of fewer police in there areas to settle scores.

Since the state of emergency was declared, few details of the ongoing operation have been released to the media by official sources. In the vacuum, rumour has been spreading as fact via social networking, with the government belatedly realising the lack of information was adding to the fear many people felt.

Many Jamaicans here and in the diaspora are frankly embarrassed by the coverage and the picture it paints of their nation. This is a patriotic country, but civil society and the general public now want an end to the violence that plagues its inner city – and now more than ever expect their leaders in government and in opposition to try and finally separate themselves from the criminals that they have been linked to for so long.

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A British marine has been killed in Afghanistan, according to the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

It said an explosion in Helmand province killed the marine, from 40 Commando Royal Marines, while on foot patrol on Wednesday.

The marine’s next of kin have been informed, the MoD said.

The latest death means the number of British military personnel killed on operations in Afghanistan since 2001 stands at 288.

The marine had been serving as part of Combined Forces Sangin, Helmand.

Lt Col James Carr-Smith, a spokesman for Task Force Helmand, said the marine had been conducting a reassurance foot patrol in the Green Zone around Sangin when he was struck by an explosion.

"His boldness and commitment to the mission will not be forgotten. He died a marine. He will be sorely missed and we will remember him," said Col Carr-Smith.

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North Korea scraps an agreement on preventing accidental armed clashes with the South, as tensions rise over the sinking of a warship.

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BT sent Beverley McCartney a quote for broadband connection

A Carmarthenshire pensioner says BT has quoted her more than £150,000 to install broadband to her home.

Beverley McCartney, who lives in Salem, near Llandeilo, has wanted a broadband connection for years.

BT had previously told her they were not able to connect broadband but sent a letter last week saying they could.

The company said in very rare cases exceptional charges are needed. It will contribute £8,000 to the costs but only if £129,613.54 plus VAT is paid.

Mrs McCartney said: "I just laughed, I thought it was ludicrous in view of their profits.

"I phoned BT and said surely this is a typing error and the girl said 'No, there's been no mistake, other people have had bills for much more than this.'"

Mrs McCartney said that BT had told her on separate occasions that there would be no charge for the connection and also that one could not be made.

The letter quoted a price of over £150,000 once VAT is included

She said: "Clearly the departments don't speak to each other and don't consult each other over the engineering cost.

"It's outrageous. I can only laugh otherwise I'd probably burst into tears."

Chris Orum, BT press officer for Wales, said: "There can be very rare cases where additional charges need to be applied because of an exceptional amount of work required to the network in order to provide service.

"These charges reflect the additional line plant and equipment needed to provide broadband to a particular location.

"BT is making a multi billion pound investment in its UK network and is continuing to work with the Welsh Assembly Government to find solutions for the relatively few areas in Wales still unable to access a broadband service."

BT are working with the assembly government on the Regional Innovative Broadband Support Scheme (RIBS) to enable broadband connection in 'not-spots' – more remote areas of Wales broadband.

Continue reading the main story

I’m not on top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere – it’s rural but not a wildnerness

Beverley McCartneyPensioner

Chris Orum said: "We've been working on broadband 'notspots' but it requires huge amounts of engineering work.

"If it's just one individual person and it requires upgrading the network for one person, no company would cover that."

However, he said Salem, the village where Mrs McCartney lives, is not a 'not-spot'.

Mrs McCartney said: "I live three miles out of Llandeilo but there's 50 odd houses in Salem and I'm quite sure they'd like broadband too."

"I'm not on top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere. It's rural but not a wildnerness.

"I couldn't afford £2,000 let alone £150,000," she said.

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