Category: news

British Airways plans to run at least half its flights from Heathrow Airport during next week’s cabin crew strike.

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Two British people were among those killed in a plane crash at Tripoli airport in Libya, according to the Foreign Office.

A Dutch boy is the sole survivor of the crash, which killed 103 people.

Mother-of-two Priscilla Savathree Collick, 52, from Waunarlwydd, in Wales, was one of the Britons killed.

The flight recorders have been recovered and handed over to analysts for clues as to what brought down the Afriqiyah Airways flight on Wednesday.

Police and rescue workers wearing surgical masks and gloves have been combing the wreckage of the plane near the runway.

Meanwhile, the sole survivor is undergoing treatment in hospital.

Dutch officials said 61 of their nationals were killed in the crash.

Other passengers included nationals from Libya, South Africa, Germany, the UK and France.

The plane had been carrying 93 passengers and 11 crew.

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The Thai military says security forces plan to surround a protest encampment in Bangkok with armoured vehicles.

A spokesman said that routes into the sprawling encampment would be closed at 1800 (1100 GMT). Protesters would be free to leave but not enter, he said.

The move comes a day after the government announced and then cancelled a plan to cut off water and power supplies to the protesters.

The group have been occupying key parts of the capital since 14 March.

They want Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to dissolve parliament and call fresh elections.

He had offered polls on 14 November – but the two sides failed to agree a deal because of divisions over who should be held accountable for a deadly crackdown on protests last month.

The BBC’s Rachel Harvey in Bangkok says the fear is that more blood may be spilled before this crisis is brought to an end.

‘Restore normalcy’

The military urged businesses around the protest camp to close by 1800 and stay shut.

"The authorities will seal off the protest area at all routes at 6 p.m. today with armoured personnel vehicles. No one would be allowed in," a spokesman, Colonel Sunsern Kaewkumnerd, said.

The camp stretches from Bangkok’s shopping hub south to the business district. Protesters have built large barricades from tyres and bamboo, behind which they have stockpiled food supplies and generators.

The military’s announcement comes as hopes of a political solution to the crisis fade.

Mr Abhisit told journalists that he had withdrawn his offer of early elections in November.

"I have cancelled the election date… because protesters refuse to disperse," he said. "I have told security officials to restore normalcy as soon as possible."

A few days ago a deal had appeared within reach. But protest leaders demanded that charges be laid against the deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban over the 10 April crackdown.

Mr Suthep oversaw the failed operation to clear protesters which left 19 protesters, one journalist and five soldiers dead.

Ahead of the military’s announcement red-shirt leaders appeared defiant.

"We urge that our supporters come and help us here because the more people we have, the harder it is for them to hurt us," Nattawut Saikua, a protest leader, told a cheering crowd.

"We are ready for any attempt to forcibly disperse us. Our guards are ready to protect the site."

The protesters are a loose coalition of left-wing activists, democracy campaigners and supporters of ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

They say the government is illegitimate because it came to power through a parliamentary deal rather than an election.

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David Cameron is preparing for his first cabinet meeting as prime minister as he puts the finishing touches to his historic coalition government.

The Tory leader will announce a string of junior government posts, which will include further Lib Dem appointments.

He began the business of government on Wednesday evening with a first meeting of the new National Security Council.

It followed a press conference in the No 10 garden with deputy prime minister and coalition partner Nick Clegg.

The two men joked together as they set out what they wanted to achieve with their unprecedented power sharing arrangement – which Mr Cameron said could mark a "seismic shift" in British politics.

In addition to Mr Clegg, four other Lib Dems will be sitting around the cabinet table when the ministers gather at 0900 BST.

They are Vince Cable, who is business secretary; Chief Secretary to the Treasury David Laws; Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne; and Scottish Secretary Danny Alexander.

ID cards

There are expected to be 20 Liberal Democrat ministers at all levels across many departments, meaning nearly half of the parliamentary party will be members of the government.

The majority of cabinet ministers carry on with the briefs they held in opposition but there was a return to frontline politics for former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, who becomes work and pensions secretary.

Theresa May was a surprise appointment as home secretary and she has already spoken of the challenges ahead as she tries to square the conflicting priorities of the coalition partners and deliver their jointly agreed programme.

She told BBC News: "We will be scrapping ID cards but also introducing an annual cap on the number of migrants coming into the UK from outside the European union."

She said there was a "process to be gone through" to decide the annual limit. The coalition government was committed to introducing elected police commissioners and cutting police paperwork to "give the police more time on the streets," she added.

On the DNA database, she said: "We are absolutely clear we need to make some changes in relation to the DNA database. For example one of the first things we will do is to ensure that all the people who have actually been convicted of a crime and are not present on it are actually on the DNA database.

"The last government did not do that. It focused on retaining the DNA data of people who were innocent. Let’s actually make sure that those who have been found guilty are actually on that database."

National Security

One junior government post was revealed on Wednesday evening, when Dame Pauline Neville-Jones took her seat as security minister at the first meeting of the National Security Council.

The body, made up of senior ministers, military chiefs and the heads of the security services, discussed the military situation in Afghanistan.

It was also briefed on the UK’s wider strategic and security position.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, Chancellor George Osborne and Foreign Secretary William Hague were among those who attended the Downing Street meeting.

The council was set up on Wednesday to co-ordinate the efforts of government departments and agencies to safeguard UK security.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "The prime minister this evening chaired the first meeting of the newly established National Security Council.

"The prime minister began the meeting by paying a full tribute to the UK’s armed forces and expressed his personal admiration and gratitude for their dedication and sacrifice.

"He then received briefings on the political and military situation in Afghanistan, including from his new National Security Adviser, Sir Peter Ricketts, and from the Chief of the Defence Staff [Sir Jock Stirrup]. The prime minister was then updated on the wider UK security situation."

The Labour Party has meanwhile started the process of choosing a new leader after the resignation of Gordon Brown, who stood down as prime minster on Tuesday when it became clear that the Lib Dems had decided to join the Tories in a coalition.

Former Foreign Secretary David Miliband became the first potential candidate to announce plans to stand, saying he hoped others would follow suit. He has the backing of heavyweight figures including former home secretary Alan Johnson and acting Labour leader Harriet Harman, both of whom have ruled themselves out of the running.

Backbench Labour MP John Cruddas, who came third in Labour’s 2007 deputy leadership contest, has also said he is thinking about standing.

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The UK’s trade gap with the rest of the world widened sharply to £3.7bn in March, according to official figures.

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The First Minister and the Deputy First Minister have spoken separately to the Prime Minister David Cameron.

Peter Robinson discussed a number of issues, including the Presbyterian Mutual Society.

The Deputy First Minister Martin McGuiness raised the issue of planned budget cuts and called for the swift publication of the Saville Report.

The new Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Owen Paterson will travel to NI on Thursday.

A Downing Street spokesman said the Prime Minister had spoken to Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness on Wednesday night.

"David Cameron praised the work of his predecessors, as well as the First Minister and Deputy First Minister in laying the foundations for peace in Northern Ireland.

"In both calls, he underlined his commitment to economic and political stability in Northern Ireland and made clear his strong support for devolution of policing and justice.

"The Prime Minister looks forward to working closely with both the First and Deputy First Minister in the weeks and months ahead".

The Secretary of State Owen Paterson will travel to Belfast after he attends the first Cabinet meeting.

Speaking ahead of his visit, Mr Paterson said Northern Ireland will have to play its part with the rest of the UK when it came to spending cuts.

"I have said consistently that NI does have very different circumstances in that over 70% of its GDP is spent on public spending and it would be irresponsible to do nothing about that but equally irresponsible to do anything too drastic and too rapid.

"What we want to do is grow the private sector. We want to rebalance the NI economy and I have said, that will take at least 25 years.

"I coined the phrase, "turn Northern Ireland into an enterprise" so I will be looking at measures where we can liaise closely with devolved ministers to see how we can really boost the private sector."

The SDLP Leader Margaret Ritchie hopes to meet the new Secretary of State shortly.

She said he may find himself having to build bridges given the Tories pact with the UUP in the election.

The Alliance leader David Ford also spoke to Owen Paterson. They discussed the relationships between the Northern Ireland Office and the Department of Justice.

Mr Paterson was appointed shadow Northern Ireland secretary in July 2007.

The 53-year-old was probably one of the most well travelled Conservative spokesman during the last three years, visiting Northern Ireland every week.

He becomes the first Conservative secretary of state since 1997 when Sir Patrick Mayhew held office in John Major’s administration.

The Prime Minister is expected to visit Northern Ireland next week as part of his tour of the UK.

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A fight broke out between two employees – in which one of them was stabbed repeatedly – in one of Manchester city centre’s busiest department stores.

The injured 40-year-old was attacked in the menswear department of the House of Fraser store on Deansgate on Wednesday afternoon.

He suffered knife wounds to his back, neck and chest and is in hospital.

A man was arrested at the scene on suspicion of wounding with intent. He remains in police custody.

The 40-year-old’s injuries are not believed to be life-threatening, police said.

Greater Manchester Police received reports of the knife attack at 1530 BST.

"Officers attended the scene and found that a man had wounds to his back, neck and chest," said a spokesman.

"He has been taken to hospital for treatment."

The popular store is located in one of the busiest shopping areas in the city.

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Many hospital doctors are too scared to raise concerns about patient care or staff behaviour in case it affects their career, according to a survey.

The study by BMA Scotland found 40% of doctors do not report issues of concern.

The organisation called for doctors to be given more protection from managers.

It said it had "concerns" about the culture within the NHS, and insisted doctors should not be afraid to blow the whistle.

Dr Charles Saunders, chairman of the BMA’s Scottish Consultants Committee, said doctors had a "duty" to speak out when they are worried about hospital practices.

"However, as the results of this survey bear out, this is not always possible or effective", he added.

"We have concerns around the culture of many NHS organisations. Doctors tell us they fear their careers can be affected by speaking out – this is completely wrong.

"We must move to a culture where every individual in a health organisation can raise concerns that are looked at and acted upon appropriately."

Of the 384 doctors who took part in the Standing up For Doctors; Speaking Out For Patients survey, some 80% were not aware of the whistle-blowing policy for employees at the NHS board under which they worked.

About six in every 10 doctors said they had experienced occasions when they have had important concerns about working practices or the behaviour of staff – but only 60% of those reported it.

Worries that reporting it would make no difference or fear of the consequences of doing so were raised as the doctors who said they did not raise concerns.

‘Clear message’

One in 10 doctors who did raise concerns said they were given indications that speaking out could have a negative impact on their employment.

Almost half of concerns – 44% – were over standards of care, while 37% were about the behaviour of fellow staff.

Around one in five cases related to targets or strategies of NHS boards.

"A culture-change needs to come from the very top," Dr Saunders said.

"Ministers and NHS board members need to send a clear message that they want to hear about things they can do better."

The BMA said it wanted the government and the NHS to do more to publicise health boards’ whistle-blowing policies and to protect the right of doctors to speak out without risking their jobs.

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Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has named Kaduna state governor Namadi Sambo as his new vice-president, an official has told the BBC.

Mr Sambo, 57, must now be approved by both houses of parliament.

The move follows the death of President Umaru Yar’Adua and the swearing-in of his successor Mr Jonathan last week.

Whoever is named as vice-president is seen as a strong contender for the 2011 presidential elections in Africa’s most populous nation, analysts say.

It remains unclear whether Mr Jonathan will seek to contest the elections on behalf of the governing People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

Mr Jonathan is a southerner and the PDP has said its candidate will be a northerner – continuing its practice of alternating power between north and south.

Mr Sambo is from the north but there have been strong suggestions that Mr Jonathan may try to overturn the PDP tradition.

Kaduna state spokesman Saidu Adamu told the BBC’s Network Africa programme that reports in local newspapers that Mr Sambo had been chosen were correct.

However, the president’s office has not yet officially confirmed these reports.

The BBC’s Caroline Duffield in Lagos says Mr Sambo is not a prominent politician, does not have a big power base and his name did not figure in public speculation about likely vice-presidents.

But she says he is likely to be confirmed by the Senate, which is expected to meet later on Thursday.

Married with six children, he is a qualified architect who became governor in 2007.

He is an ally of former military ruler Ibrahim Babangida, who recently said he would seek to contest the elections, our correspondent says.

She says he has taken security very seriously since becoming Kaduna governor.

Some analysts say he may have been chosen because he would not pose a threat to President Jonathan.

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A Swansea woman was among 103 people killed in a plane crash at Tripoli airport in Libya, it has emerged.

Priscilla Savathree Collick, 52, from Waunarlwydd, was on board the Afriqiyah Airways jet that crashed on Wednesday.

A mother of two who worked at an Asda store in Llanelli, she was reportedly visiting family in South Africa.

The Foreign Office has confirmed that two British nationals died when the Airbus 330 crashed as it arrived from Johannesburg, South Africa.

Only one person, a Dutch boy, survived the crash.

Aviation officials in Libya are investigating the cause.

The flight recorders have been recovered and handed over to analysts.

Police and rescue workers wearing surgical masks and gloves have been combing the wreckage of the plane near the runway.

The boy who was the sole survivor is being treated in hospital.

Dutch officials said 61 of their nationals were killed in the crash.

Other passengers included nationals from Libya, South Africa, Germany, the UK and France.

The plane was carrying 93 passengers and 11 crew.

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Members of David Cameron’s new cabinet have been banned from having their mobile phones and Blackberrys with them during meetings.

The prime minister told them the rule at their first gathering on Thursday.

There was laughter in the room when Mr Cameron had to call Justice Secretary Ken Clarke to attention, as he was still engaged in another conversation.

Mr Cameron said he would continue the Labour tradition of holding cabinet meetings in different parts of the UK.

The prime minister said the Cabinet would normally meet every Tuesday morning at 0900 for "an hour or an hour and a half".

The BBC News channel’s chief political correspondent Laura Kuenssberg said he told members they could not have their mobile phones and Blackberrys with them during those meetings.

He also said he thought the previous government’s idea of holding meetings in different parts of the country was "a good thing, and I think we should try to continue that to recognise we’re the government for the whole United Kingdom and it’s an opportunity to get out and see it".

The full team of junior ministers will be announced later on Thursday and Mr Cameron told his senior staff: "Everything you can do to welcome them and build strong teams in your department is obviously hugely important."

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The father of the Chelsea and former England captain John Terry has pleaded guilty to dealing cocaine.

Edward Terry, 56, from Chafford Hundred, Essex, appeared before Basildon magistrates and admitted a charge of supplying the Class A drug.

The court was told he supplied it to an undercover newspaper reporter in a winebar in Chafford Hundred, in 2009.

Terry’s solicitor Neil Saunders said he had been "targeted" by journalists because he was John Terry’s father.

Mr Saunders said his client was "embarrassed" because of the upset the incident, in November, had caused to his son.

Prosecutor Ricky Khagram said Terry had supplied drugs to a News of the World reporter called Dan Sanderson and been paid a total of £160.

Chairman of the bench John Toplis said sentencing should be decided by a Crown Court judge and not by magistrates.

Terry spoke only to confirm his personal details and to enter his guilty plea.

He will be sentenced at Basildon Crown Court on 1 June and was released on bail.

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Supporters of the ousted President of Kyrgyzstan, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, have taken over local government offices in the southern city of Osh, reports say.

They entered the building after gathering in Osh, Kyrgyzstan’s second biggest city, eyewitnesses report.

The interim government has vowed to restore order in Osh.

A violent uprising last month left more than 80 people dead and swept President Bakiyev from power. He has now fled to Belarus.

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Aviation officials in Libya are investigating the plane crash that killed 103 people at Tripoli airport.

The flight recorders have been recovered and handed over to analysts for clues on what brought down the Afriqiyah Airways flight on Wednesday.

Police and rescue workers wearing surgical masks and gloves have been combing the wreckage of the Airbus A330 near the runway.

The sole survivor, a child reported to be Dutch, is being treated in hospital.

Dutch officials say 61 of their nationals were killed in the crash.

Other passengers included nationals from Libya, South Africa, Germany, Britain and France.

The plane – carrying 93 passengers and 11 crew – crashed as it arrived from Johannesburg, South Africa.

Eyewitnesses said the plane started to break up as it came in to land in clear weather.

"It exploded on landing and totally disintegrated," one security official told the AFP news agency.

The plane’s tailfin bearing the airline’s colourful insignia was the only sizeable piece of wreckage to be seen.

The cause of the crash is not known. The Libyan Transport Minister Mohammed Ali Zidan has ruled out terrorism.

‘A miracle’

The child was taken to hospital and underwent surgery for multiple fractures to both legs.

Libyan TV showed the child in a hospital bed with a bandaged head and wearing an oxygen mask.

Little is known about the boy. Libyan officials and the Dutch tourism board said he was aged 10 and from the Netherlands, but the Dutch foreign ministry said its diplomats were trying to see the boy to confirm his nationality.

Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said the boy had muttered "Holland, Holland" to his doctor when asked where he came from.

The head of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, called the boy’s survival "truly a miracle".

Flags across the Netherlands were flying at half mast for the victims on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said a crisis team had been set up in the foreign ministry.

"This is a large group of Dutch nationals, so it’s a deeply sad message we have this day," he said on Wednesday.

The plane’s 11 crew were reported to have been Libyan.

The British Foreign Office confirmed that at least one British national was on board and Irish Foreign Minister Michael Martin later confirmed that an Irish woman was among the dead.

Mr Zidan said victims also included nationals from Germany, Finland, Zimbabwe, the Philippines, South Africa and France, although he had no exact numbers.

According to Airbus, the aircraft was delivered from the production line in September 2009 and had accumulated about 1,600 flight hours in some 420 flights.

Afriqiyah Airways is a low-cost Libyan airline founded nine years ago and operates a relatively new fleet of Airbus aircraft, the BBC’s Wyre Davies in Cairo reports.

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Commentators consider the dynamic between David Cameron and Nick Clegg.

Quentin Letts says in the Daily Mail the announcement of the coalition was lacking in policy but revealed an interesting aspect of their relationship:

“The power posing was a whole sub-plot in itself. Mr Clegg stood away from his lectern, perhaps to look independent. He snaked an arm round Mr Cameron as they concluded the event.

“This is an old trick, a way of projecting yourself as the senior partner. But Mr Cameron did most of the talking and, being a little chunkier, probably won the gravitas contest. He is the PM, after all, and three months older. Mr Clegg’s yellow tie needs to go. It makes him look washed-out. Mr Cameron tans more easily and his voice is smokier.”

In the Guardian Polly Toynbee is not alone in comparing the coalition to a civil partnership:

“In the spring garden the Clegg-Cameron civil partnership looked magnificent, the two men perfectly cloned in face, age, education, accent and style. Naturally the audience of cynical hacks from all sides of the political spectrum came away shaking their heads. Bets were laid, jokes made, the wedding gifts would soon be on eBay and it would all end in tears.

“But there was too much wishful thinking in the air from ill-wishers yesterday. The right will hiss and spit from David Cameron’s back row – and with good cause. Look hard at the agreement and the bitter truth Labour must swallow is that much here is more radical than their own manifesto.”

Christina Patterson says in the Independent that David Cameron and Nick Clegg came across as consensual and civilised – which she finds depressing:

“This is pretty much what we voted for. It’s consensual. It’s civilised. It’s grown-up. So why do I feel so depressed? It’s not just because the Tories, though shackled, are back. And it’s not just because the ‘new politics’ is beginning to look an awful lot like the old politics, just politer, posher and younger. And it’s not just because the only non-male member of the cabinet is most famous for her leopard-print shoes. It’s because I still have no idea at all why most of them are there.”

Conservative political blogger Iain Dale blames the media for his feeling of boredom about the Cameron-Clegg relationship:

“Cameron and Clegg seem totally at ease with each other. Their body language is very good and yet the hacks still ask the same tired old questions. Boring, boring, boring. If all journalists want to do is ask smart arse questions about some apparent disagreement on policy which took place five years ago, Cameron and Clegg may well decide such press conferences are a complete and utter waste of their time.”

The Telegraph editorial expresses optimism about the relationship:

“It is obvious that, so far, Messrs Cameron and Clegg are getting on famously, and it also seems that the Tory and Liberal Democrat negotiating teams found their talks surprisingly friendly. Whether that warmth will percolate downwards to the lower ranks of both parties remains to be seen. There is certainly no reason why the chemistry should not work on a personal level – not least because of the old political saw that while your opponents are in the other parties, your enemies are in your own. The Blair/Brown feud proved how debilitating that can be.”

Former Tory MP Gyles Brandreth tells the BBC News channel that “this is the day of the wedding and I’m still celebrating the marriage”:

“The confetti is flying everywhere as far as I’m concerned. Having a lot of gay friends, I’ve been to quite a number of gay weddings and this afternoon’s press conference was to me a dead ringer for an open-air civil partnership.
 
“To see the two handsome boys there, side by side, was really rather touching. But I’m not going to be cynical about it. I think they’ve gone into this committed to make it work. What happens down the road is quite another matter. The new government chief whip is Patrick McLoughlin [and] I suppose he’s going to be like the Relate counsellor in this relationship…
 
“There may well be some very tense moments, and those whips are going to have to do some pretty serious counselling. But for today, I’m feeling celebratory. I can just picture them upstairs in No 10, in the flat, in the Morecambe and Wise bed. There they’re going to be, Dave and Nick, sitting side by side. It’s an pretty picture.”

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