Category: news

The man who stabbed 15-year-old schoolboy Thomas Devlin to death has been jailed for 30 years at Belfast Crown Court.

Gary Taylor, 23, Mountcollyer Avenue, Belfast was convicted of stabbing the teenager to death in August 2005.

His accomplice, Nigel Brown, 26, of Whitewell Road, was jailed for 22 years for his part in the killing.

At an earlier hearing in April, a judge had warned Taylor that he might never see freedom.

He told him that he would have "a long way to go" before convincing a parole board to release him.

Thomas Devlin and his friends were attacked as they walked home along the Somerton Road in the north of the city on a summer evening, having bought sweets in a local garage.

The schoolboy tried to run away from his attackers but was pulled off a wall and stabbed nine times with a knife.

Taylor was 18 years old at the time of the killing and his co-accused Nigel Brown was 22.

At the April hearing, the court was told that Taylor had deeply sectarian attitudes and a history of offending against members of the Catholic community

At an earlier hearing, the court was told that Taylor had carried the knife which is believed to have come from Brown’s kitchen.

During a lengthy trial, the question of whether the murder had been motivated by sectarianism was never introduced to the jury.

But on 30 April, Mr Justice McLaughlin referred to a pre-sentence report produced on Brown which indicated that sectarianism had in fact been the motive.

Taylor has 19 convictions, Brown has 72, for offences like assault, affray and riotous behaviour.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Scores of UK air passengers are facing further disruption from a volcanic ash cloud that has halted European flights.

Flights to and from parts of Spain, Portugal, Morocco and the Canary Islands have been affected after the countries closed their airspace.

British airports remain open, but both Ryanair and Easyjet said they had been forced to cancel dozens of flights.

Airlines and airports are urging passengers to check updated information before travelling to the airport.

London’s two main airports both reported a handful of cancellations – 14 arrivals and 10 departures at Gatwick, and seven arrivals and four departures at Heathrow.

A Gatwick spokesperson also said some transatlantic flights had been delayed by the ash.

Ryanair said it had cancelled flights to and from the Canary Islands, Faro and Madrid.

Flights to and from Granada, Jerez, Malaga, Seville and Tangier have also been cancelled.

Easyjet spokesman Andrew McConnell said the "vast majority" of its flights were operating normally.

Passengers travelling to and from Madrid, Faro, Funchal, Marrakesh and Tenerife should check their flight status before travelling, he said.

British airports operator BAA has also warned of delays to transatlantic services and cancellations by airlines.

British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are among the carriers whose passengers suffered long delays on Tuesday.

Last month, ash from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano shut down airspace across Europe for five days.

British tourism operator TUI Travel estimated the travel chaos caused by the volcanic ash cloud had cost the group £90m.

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Pope Benedict XVI has warned that the greatest threat to the Catholic Church comes from "sin within", rather than persecution from outside.

He made his comments in response to a question on the clerical child abuse scandal, while en route to Portugal.

Critics have previously accused the Vatican of attempting to blame the media and the Church’s opponents for the escalation of the scandal.

But the Pope made clear its origin came from within the Church itself.

"Today we see in a truly terrifying way that the greatest persecution of the Church does not come from outside enemies, but is born of sin within the Church," the pontiff told reporters on a plane bound for Portugal.

He later landed at Lisbon, the capital, despite fears that the volcanic ash cloud affecting flights in Iberia would disrupt his plans.

‘Spiritual crisis’

During the four-day trip he is due to celebrate open-air Masses in Lisbon, as well as at the Catholic shrine of Fatima, and in Oporto.

Church officials say he will address Europe’s spiritual and economic crisis.

Although nearly 90% of people in Portugal are reported to be Catholics, only about 20% attend Mass regularly, the BBC’s Vatican correspondent, David Willey, reports from Lisbon.

Pope Benedict intends to tell the Portuguese to seek solace in their faith to relieve the gloom of financial hardship, he says.

Carlos Azevedo, the auxiliary bishop of Lisbon and the co-ordinator of the papal visit, said on Monday that the pontiff will speak about "the joy of faith and hope".

"The moral values guiding the economy and politics show that there is a spiritual crisis," he said.

Portugal has been one of the countries worst affected by the economic problems troubling many European states.

Tens of thousands of people are expected at the Mass in Lisbon on Tuesday.

But the highlight of the trip is a visit to Fatima on Wednesday and Thursday, where a giant outdoor Mass has been planned for as many as 500,000 people.

Fatima is one of the main sites of Christian pilgrimage in Europe.

The Pope will be marking the anniversary of the day in 1917 when three Portuguese shepherd children reported having visions of the Virgin Mary in Fatima.

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Stock markets fall after global shares surged on Monday in the wake of a deal to tackle Europe’s debt crisis.

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Television presenter Jeremy Clarkson has been ordered to reopen a footpath through his property after a public inquiry on the Isle of Man.

The BBC Top Gear presenter sparked protests from ramblers when he diverted a walkway on land at his holiday home, a lighthouse on the Langness peninsula.

A pressure group called Prowl (Public Rights of Way Langness) has since campaigned for access to the path.

Mr Clarkson now has 28 days to appeal against the ruling.

Transport Minister David Anderson MHK said anyone was able to object to the report’s findings.

He said: "Anyone may object to the amendments. If any objections are received, and are not subsequently withdrawn, the matter has to be brought to the High Court for resolution."

Mr Anderson said the inquiry inspector, Roy Hickey, said "strong and persuasive evidence" had been put forward by members of the public that they had the right to use the paths on Langness.

He said that all of the paths on Langness, apart from five, should be dedicated as public rights of way.

The five paths that may remain private include three leading from the lighthouse to the shore south and south east of the lighthouse, a fourth running across the peninsula and a fifth crossing the golf course.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

The Tory and Lib Dem negotiators are reaching the final stages of policy negotiations.

Any agreement on ministerial jobs will come later.

This is what I’ve learned would be some important elements in their joint economic and business policy:

1) The £6bn of additional spending cuts promised by the Tories will stand, unless the economy were to dramatically weaken. A well-placed source said to me that the £6bn wasn’t economically important enough to be a stumbling block for the Lib Dems.

2) The Tories will adopt the Lib Dem plan to increase the tax-free allowance on income tax to £10,000. A meaningful initial rise in the allowance would come quickly, with a clear timetable announced to get to the full £10,000.

3) We are not likely to see any meaningful increase in the inheritance tax threshold while the Lib Dems are part of the government. That Tory manifesto pledge would be kicked into the long grass.

To be clear, the ink is not yet even on the de facto contract between the two parties. And there are senior Tories and Lib Dems who fear that if a contract is eventually written, the coalition government may not last long, such is the mistrust between those at the top of the parties.

But my strong sense is that both sides are up for giving it a go – in the “national interest”, according to my sources, and not simply to taste the elixir of elected office.

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Firms in the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster are set to present conflicting claims at the first US Senate hearing, US media say, citing leaked testimony.

BP intends to tell the Senate that the spill was due to the failure of safety equipment owned by drilling company Transocean, the reports say.

Transocean is expected to blame the spill on the failure of a cement wall built by a firm contracted by BP.

Meanwhile BP says it will try to place a new dome over the blown-out well.

An attempt to drop a huge dome on the gushing well failed at the weekend, and BP is now working on lowering a smaller device known as a "top-hat" dome on to the well.

The BBC’s Rajesh Mirchandani in Alabama says there are also reports it is exploring plugging the well with debris, including every day rubbish like tyres and golf balls.

The growing slick is threatening an environmental disaster along the US coast.

Following rules?

As executives prepared for the Senate hearing, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs reiterated the US government’s views on responsibility for the slick.

"BP will be paying for all costs of stopping the spill and cleaning it up, and we will aggressively pursue full compensation for damages," he said in a statement.

US media, including the Associated Press and Wall Street Journal, quoted leaked statements they said senior executives would be giving in testimony to the Senate later.

According to the reports, Lamar McKay, head of BP America, will blame the spill on the failure of Transocean’s "blowout preventer" – a series of valves designed to stop oil from escaping.

But Transocean’s chief executive Steven Newman is expected to point the finger at BP.

"All offshore oil and gas production projects begin and end with the operator, in this case BP," the Associated Press quoted a leaked statement of his testimony as saying.

He will say BP’s contractor Halliburton was responsible for encasing the well in cement and ensuring the cement’s integrity.

Halliburton executive Tim Probert is expected to argue that his firm followed all rules and guidelines.

Dow Jones Newswires said it had received testimony from an oil-drilling expert that will tell the Senate that human error may have created the conditions for the disaster, despite the safety measures.

Nature reserves

Some 5,000 barrels of oil have been flowing into the sea every day since the leak began late last month.

BP and US officials have been combating the slick on several fronts – spraying chemical dispersants on the oil and manufacturing huge contraptions to drop on to the leaking well.

Booms and bundles of absorbent material have been laid along shorelines to try to protect them.

But the broken pipe is almost one mile (1.6km) below the ocean’s surface, with little visibility for engineers using remote-controlled vehicles.

And the slick has so far thwarted all efforts to bring it under control.

A sheen from the edge of the slick is surrounding island nature reserves off Louisiana and tar balls have reached as far as the Alabama coast.

The low-lying region contains vital spawning grounds for fish, shrimp and crabs and is an important migratory stop for many species of rare birds.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

The UK economy grew by 0.5% between February and April, the National Institute of Social and Economic Research says.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

One of the main rebel groups in Sudan’s Darfur region has threatened "all-out war" if its leader is arrested.

Sudanese officials have asked Interpol to arrest Justice and Equality Movement (Jem) leader Khalil Ibrahim for planning an attack in Omdurman in 2008.

Jem signed a ceasefire with the government in February but left peace talks earlier this month, claiming the government had launched new raids.

Mr Khalil is currently thought to be in Egypt, which is an ally of Khartoum.

Eltahir Adam Elfaki, chairman of Jem’s Legislative Council, told the BBC that "if any attempt is made to arrest Dr Khalil then it is all-out war."

"Even as we speak, the Sudanese government is bombarding areas of North Darfur and West Darfur," he said.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Bashir over alleged war crimes committed in Darfur – charges he strongly denies.

"Bashir is an indicted criminal – indicted by the ICC – and has no right to ask for anyone to be indicted by Interpol," said Mr Elfaki.

After the ceasefire was signed with Jem, Mr Bashir declared that the war in Darfur was "over".

Another Darfur rebel group, the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM), also signed a ceasefire with the government before the elections.

However a faction of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) led by Abdul Wahid is still holding out against the government and has refused to take part in the peace talks.

Darfur was relatively peaceful during Sudan’s landmark April elections, which saw Mr Bashir re-elected.

But voting did not take place in much of the area because of the insecurity.

Since the conflict in Darfur began in 2003, some 2.7 million people have fled their homes and the UN says about 300,000 more have died.

The government says such figures are a massive exaggeration and denies claims that it backed Arab militias accused of ethnic cleansing against black African groups in Darfur.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino’s victory in the Philippine presidential election has moved closer, with an early front-runner conceding defeat.

Manny Villar congratulated Mr Aquino on his victory, but no official word has yet emerged from Joseph Estrada’s team.

The Commission on Elections said Mr Aquino, son of two democracy icons, had about 40% of the vote, and Mr Estrada about 25%, with most districts counted.

A high turnout was recorded despite big delays caused by new voting machines.

Millions of Filipinos have been voting for a president, vice-president and more than 17,000 other official posts.

Voting has been marred by the deaths of at least 12 people in political violence, after a bloody campaign period in which more than 30 people died. Another 57 died in a mass killing in November.

In the latest reported violence, the AFP news agency said communist insurgents had ambushed an election convoy in the south of the country, killing six people and wounding 12.

Congratulations

Fears of widespread chaos resulting from the use of new automated voting machines failed to materialise.

The new machines did cause massive delays but voters waited patiently for hours in the heat to vote.

Vote counting appeared to be proceeding more smoothly than in past polls.

Mr Estrada had about 25.76% of the vote, said Comelec chair Jose Melo, with Mr Villar, a property trycoon, trailing in third with just under 14%.

"The Filipino people have decided," Mr Villar told a news conference.

"I congratulate Senator Noynoy Aquino for his victory."

Local television quoted a lawyer for Mr Estrada as saying that his team would probably seek to contest the results.

Mr Melo said that about 75% of the more than 50 million registered voters in the country had cast a ballot.

Commission spokesman James Jimenez told the BBC: "It’s been really, really crazy.

"You know early in the morning there were a lot of problems being reported, but as the day wore on we were getting all sorts of good reports about problems being solved, and problems not being as bad as they were initially reported, and now this, transmission going as fast, twice as fast as we expected, it makes for a roller coaster ride," he said.

Mr Aquino had been the pre-election favourite.

Correspondents say the 50-year-old’s political pedigree – as the son of the beloved former president – has been the secret of his success.

He is considered honest and well-intentioned despite his less than luminary career as a legislator.

A key task ahead, analysts say, is for him to take action against the corruption which is seen as endemic in the highest institutions of state and business.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

The Unite union urges British Airways to hold more talks in a bid to avoid 20 days of planned cabin crew strikes.

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The process of forming a new government may be resolved in the next 24 hours, according to a senior Liberal Democrat source who said it was "crunch time".

The Lib Dems have held talks with the Tories and Labour in a bid to form an alliance which could run the country.

Gordon Brown, whose presence in Downing Street was seen as harming Labour’s chance of a deal, has announced he will step down as party leader by September.

No party won a Commons overall majority at Thursday’s general election.

Labour and the Tories are both trying to woo the Lib Dems with promises on electoral reform as the battle form a new government reaches its critical phase.

A meeting of Lib Dem MPs continued beyond midnight and ended with no firm decisions taken, the BBC understands.

Following Mr Brown’s announcement that he was standing down as Labour leader, the party’s deputy leader Harriet Harman became the first senior figure to say she had no plans to stand in a leadership contest.

The Tories, who won the most seats and votes in the election, reacted to Mr Brown’s decision by making a "final offer" to the Lib Dems of a referendum on changing the voting method to the Alternative Vote (AV) system.

Labour are offering to put the AV system into law and then hold a referendum asking voters to approve it.

BBC political editor Nick Robinson said Mr Brown’s resignation was an audacious bid to keep Labour in power – and the prime minister himself in power for a limited period – and that Tory MPs would be furious.

In his statement, Mr Brown said Britain had a "parliamentary and not presidential system" and said there was a "progressive majority" of voters.

He said if the national interest could be best served by a coalition between the Lib Dems and Labour he would "discharge that duty to form that government".

Mr Brown said no party had won an overall majority in the UK general election and, as Labour leader, he had to accept that as a judgement on him, before adding that he hoped a new leader would be in place in time for the Labour Party conference in September.

He has urged potential candidates, such as Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Schools Secretary Ed Balls, not to launch their campaigns yet.

Mr Brown said Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg had requested formal negotiations with Labour and it was "sensible and in the national interest" to respond positively to the request.

It emerged earlier that the Lib Dem negotiating team, who have held days of talks with the Conservatives, had also met senior Labour figures in private.

But it was understood that one of the stumbling blocks to any Labour-Lib Dem deal was Mr Brown himself.

Mr Clegg said he was "very grateful to David Cameron and his negotiation team" and they had had "very constructive talks" and made a "great deal of progress".

But he said they had not "reached a comprehensive partnership agreement for a full Parliament" so far and it was the "responsible thing to do" to open negotiations with the Labour Party on the same basis, while continuing talks with the Tories.

"Gordon Brown has taken a difficult personal decision in the national interest," he said.

"And I think without prejudice to the talks that will now happen between Labour and the Liberal Democrats, Gordon Brown’s decision is an important element which could help ensure a smooth transition to the stable government that everyone deserves."

The Lib Dems have long campaigned for a change to the voting system – something which the Conservatives have strongly opposed.

But speaking after a meeting of Conservative MPs, following Mr Brown’s statement, shadow foreign secretary William Hague said they were prepared to "go the extra mile" on electoral reform – and offer a referendum on switching to AV in return for a coalition government.

He said the Lib Dems had to choose whether to back them or a government that would not be stable – because it would have to rely on the votes of other minor parties – and would have an "unelected prime minister" for the second time in a row.

He also said the Labour offer was for a switch to the AV system, without a referendum, which he believed was undemocratic. The BBC understands, from Lib Dem sources, that the Labour offer is legislation to introduce AV, followed by a referendum on proportional representation.

Under AV no candidate is elected without at least 50% of the vote, after second preferences are taken into account, but it is not considered full proportional representation.

Meanwhile, BBC political correspondent Iain Watson said he understood some cabinet members were sceptical about the idea of a "progressive alliance" with the Lib Dems and were concerned it would look bad.

Labour backbencher Graham Stringer said he did not believe a coalition with the Lib Dems would work and could damage the party: "I don’t think it makes sense in the arithmetic – the numbers don’t add up."

The Tories secured 306 of the 649 constituencies contested on 6 May. It leaves the party short of the 326 MPs needed for an outright majority, with the Thirsk and Malton seat – where the election was postponed after the death of a candidate – still to vote.

Labour finished with 258 MPs, down 91, the Lib Dems 57, down five, and other parties 28.

If Labour and the Lib Dems joined forces, they would still not have an overall majority.

With the support of the Northern Irish SDLP, one Alliance MP, and nationalists from Scotland and Wales they would reach 328, rising to 338 if the DUP, the independent unionist and the new Green MP joined them.

Coalition scenarios

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At least four suspected militants have been killed by an unmanned US drone in Pakistan’s tribal region of North Waziristan, local officials say.

The plane fired missiles at an alleged hideout some 30km (20 miles) from the region’s main town, Miranshah.

The US has stepped up pressure on Pakistan’s government since linking a failed car bombing in New York to the Pakistani Taliban.

North Waziristan has been the focus of dozens of drone attacks since 2008.

The strikes have proved controversial, with hundreds of people including civilians being killed.

An unnamed Pakistani security official told the AFP news agency that five US drones had fired into the compound early on Tuesday.

"They targeted a compound and vehicles parked outside the house," the official said.

The US has recently stepped up drone attacks in North and South Waziristan, where they believe many al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters find shelter.

Over the past 18 months, Pakistan has publicly criticised drone attacks saying they fuel support for militants.

But observers say the authorities privately condone the strikes.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

A new study of a 150 million year old fossil of an Archaeopteryx has shown that remnants of its feathers have been preserved.

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Firms in the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster are set to present conflicting claims at the first US Senate hearing, US media say, citing leaked testimony.

BP intends to tell the Senate that the spill was due to the failure of safety equipment owned by drilling company Transocean, the reports say.

Transocean is expected to blame the spill on the failure of a cement wall built by a firm contracted by BP.

Meanwhile BP says it will try to place a new dome over the blown-out well.

An attempt to drop a huge dome on the gushing well failed at the weekend, and BP is now working on lowering a smaller device known as a "top-hat" dome on to the well.

The BBC’s Rajesh Mirchandani in Alabama says there are also reports it is exploring plugging the well with debris, including every day rubbish like tyres and golf balls.

The growing slick is threatening an environmental disaster along the US coast.

Following rules?

As executives prepared for the Senate hearing, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs reiterated the US government’s views on responsibility for the slick.

"BP will be paying for all costs of stopping the spill and cleaning it up, and we will aggressively pursue full compensation for damages," he said in a statement.

US media, including the Associated Press and Wall Street Journal, quoted leaked statements they said senior executives would be giving in testimony to the Senate later.

According to the reports, Lamar McKay, head of BP America, will blame the spill on the failure of Transocean’s "blowout preventer" – a series of valves designed to stop oil from escaping.

But Transocean’s chief executive Steven Newman is expected to point the finger at BP.

"All offshore oil and gas production projects begin and end with the operator, in this case BP," the Associated Press quoted a leaked statement of his testimony as saying.

He will say BP’s contractor Halliburton was responsible for encasing the well in cement and ensuring the cement’s integrity.

Halliburton executive Tim Probert is expected to argue that his firm followed all rules and guidelines.

Dow Jones Newswires said it had received testimony from an oil-drilling expert that will tell the Senate that human error may have created the conditions for the disaster, despite the safety measures.

Nature reserves

Some 5,000 barrels of oil have been flowing into the sea every day since the leak began late last month.

BP and US officials have been combating the slick on several fronts – spraying chemical dispersants on the oil and manufacturing huge contraptions to drop on to the leaking well.

Booms and bundles of absorbent material have been laid along shorelines to try to protect them.

But the broken pipe is almost one mile (1.6km) below the ocean’s surface, with little visibility for engineers using remote-controlled vehicles.

And the slick has so far thwarted all efforts to bring it under control.

A sheen from the edge of the slick is surrounding island nature reserves off Louisiana and tar balls have reached as far as the Alabama coast.

The low-lying region contains vital spawning grounds for fish, shrimp and crabs and is an important migratory stop for many species of rare birds.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.