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Cameron criticises G8 aid record

David CameronMr Cameron said the UK would be keeping its promises on foreign aid
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Some of the world’s leading nations have not kept their promises on foreign aid, David Cameron has said.

Speaking at the G8 summit in France, the UK prime minister said there was a $19bn gap between what had been pledged and what had been delivered.

He vowed to be “tough” on world leaders on the issue and to continue to make the argument to the British people.

He was speaking after the UK pledged £110m in additional support for Egypt and Tunisia as part of a £20bn package.

Some Conservative MPs have questioned why the government is increasing foreign aid spending when most domestic budgets are being cut.

The prime minister acknowledged this was “controversial” but said he believed it was a “moral principle” to help the world’s poorest and was also in the UK’s interest as it helped prevent wider instability.

“Britain will keep its promises and I was tough in urging my counterparts to do the same,” he said. “The reality is that as a whole the G8 has not.”

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

Gen Mladic ‘fit to be extradited’

Ratko Mladic with security officers

Ratko Mladic appears in court in Belgrade

Belgrade doctors are to decide whether Ratko Mladic is fit to resume attending a hearing aimed at extraditing him to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

The hearing against the 69-year-old former Bosnian Serb army chief was halted when his lawyer said he was in “poor physical state”.

Gen Mladic – who was arrested on Thursday after 16 years on the run – faces genocide charges over the 1992-95 Bosnian war.

The extradition could take a week.

Gen Mladic was indicted by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague in 1995 for genocide over the killings about 7,500 Bosnian Muslim men and boys that July at Srebrenica – the worst single atrocity in Europe since World War II – and other crimes.

Having lived freely in the Serbian capital, Belgrade, he disappeared after the arrest of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in 2001.

Following the arrest of former Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic in 2008, Gen Mladic became the most prominent Bosnian war crimes suspect at large.

The arrest was hailed internationally.

The extradition hearing at a Belgrade court was abruptly stopped on Thursday, when Gen Mladic’s lawyer, Milos Saljic, said his client was unable to communicate.

Analysis

It is hard to overstate the importance of this arrest here in Serbia. Many people feel the destiny of their country was held hostage by Ratko Mladic. Their hopes of joining the EU were ruled out by Brussels while Mladic was at large.

I asked President Tadic if it was a coincidence that he was arrested while the EU was considering Serbia’s bid to join the bloc. He said the country had never calculated its search for Mladic – it was always determined to catch him.

There is still an ultra-nationalist fringe here who see Mladic as a hero – they say he only ever defended Serb interests. But the new, emerging generation in Serbia seem to be tired of the past and its wars – they want to leave that behind and move forward to the future.

Extraordinary day for Serbia

Mr Saljic said Gen Mladic needed medical care and “should not be moved in such a state”.

Reports in Serbian media suggested that one of Gen Mladic’s arms was paralysed, which was probably the result of a stroke.

Mr Saljic said: “He is aware that he is under arrest, he knows where he is, and he said he does not recognise The Hague tribunal.”

War crimes prosecutor Bruno Vekaric acknowledged that Gen Mladic was taking a lot of medicine, but added that he “responds very rationally to everything that is going on”.

Court officials believe he will fight the extradition.

Serbia had been under intense international pressure to arrest Gen Mladic and send him to the UN International Criminal Tribunal to the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.

The house where Ratko Mladic was arrestedGen Mladic had reportedly been under surveillance for the past two weeks

After the arrest, the government banned public gatherings in an effort to prevent any pro-Mladic demonstrations.

But hundreds of ultra-nationalists clashed with police in the northern city of Novi Sad, and there was a smaller demonstration involving several dozen protesters in the centre of Belgrade.

President Boris Tadic’s government is now keen for a speedy extradition of Gen Mladic, whom Serb nationalists still regard as a hero, the BBC’s Mark Lowen in Belgrade reports.

On Thursday, Serbian TV showed footage of the former general wearing a baseball cap and walking slowly as he appeared in court in Belgrade.

President Tadic said Gen Mladic’s arrest had brought Serbia and the region closer to reconciliation, and opened the doors to European Union membership.

Mr Tadic rejected criticism that Serbia had been reluctant to seize Gen Mladic.

A spokeswoman for families of Srebrenica victims, Hajra Catic, told AFP news agency: “After 16 years of waiting, for us, the victims’ families, this is a relief.”

Milos Saljic

Mladic’s lawyer Milos Saljic describes his client’s condition

Gen Mladic was seized in the province of Vojvodina in the early hours of Thursday.

He had two guns with him, but put up no resistance, officials said.

Serbian security sources told AFP news agency that three special units had descended on a house in the village of Lazarevo, about 80km (50 miles) north of Belgrade.

The single-storey house was owned by a relative of Gen Mladic and had been under surveillance for the past two weeks, one of the sources added.

Graph

Local resident Zora Prodariovic told the BBC: “I’m really surprised. My mother lives four doors down from here and I’ve never seen him.”

Reports that Gen Mladic had been living under the assumed name Milorad Komodic have been denied by Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic.

Serbian media say he was not in disguise – unlike Mr Karadzic, who had a long beard and a ponytail when he was captured in Belgrade three years ago.

In a message from his UN cell in the Hague, Mr Karadzic said he was sorry Gen Mladic has been arrested.

The wartime Bosnian Serb leader added that he wanted to work with him “to bring out the truth” about the Bosnian war, in a message relayed to the Associated Press news agency by his lawyer.

Map

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

Man, 19, admits child sex charges

LetterLetters were sent out to parents who had school age children in the Torbay area during the investigation
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A 19-year-old man has admitted 13 sex offences linked to an investigation into the exploitation and abuse of up to 20 children in south Devon.

Jake Ormerod, of Babbacombe Road, Torquay, admitted the charges at Exeter Crown Court relating to eight girls as young as 13.

The abused girls came from the Torbay and Teignbridge areas.

Ormerod, who met his victims on Facebook, was arrested in February by police investigating a paedophile ring.

Members of the ring had been grooming and abusing girls in the Devon area.

Ormerod was also believed to be part of a gang who targeted homeless youngsters and also picked up children outside schools, police said.

Thousands of parents at local schools were sent letters in February informing them that a major child abuse investigation, Operation Mansfield, was being carried out by Devon and Cornwall Police.

Victims who had been identified were being supported by multi-agency professionals – including police, Torbay Council’s children’s services and the NHS – police said at the time the letters were sent.

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

Tory AM’s pub ban after ‘banter’

Nags Head, UskNick Ramsay said he was ‘intrigued’ why the story had come out two months after the quiz at the Nags Head
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A contender for the leadership of the Welsh Conservatives has apologised after being barred from a pub following a charity pub quiz.

Nick Ramsay’s behaviour was criticised by the Tory-supporting landlord of the Nags Head in Usk, Monmouthshire.

Simon Key, who now says he will not renew his party membership, said Mr Ramsay was rude to the quizmaster.

Monmouth AM Mr Ramsay said he had only engaged in “banter” but apologised for any offence he had caused.

He is one of two candidates for the leadership of the party in the Welsh assembly along with Andrew RT Davies.

“My recollection of it was I was part of a pub quiz team and there was banter,” said Mr Ramsay.

“I thought the quizmaster’s questions were terrible, obviously my team were probably losing at the time!

“I’ve been a quizmaster myself and people are often rude to me.

“I’m very sorry for it and I certainly didn’t mean to give offence, that wasn’t the intention.”

Nick RamsayMr Ramsay is standing for the leadership of the Conservatives in the Welsh assembly

He said the incident took place a couple of months ago and he was “intrigued that this has arisen now during the leadership campaign”.

“I hope the campaign is kept as clean as possible,” he added.

Mr Ramsay added that although he had heard he had now been barred from the pub, he had been in there “three or four days” after the quiz without any problems.

Mr Key, a Conservative member “off and on” for 10 years, confirmed to the BBC he had written to his local Conservative Association saying he will not now renew his party membership.

He told the Western Mail: “Nick Ramsay came into the pub on an evening when we were fundraising for Help for Heroes, the charity that helps service veterans.

“He heckled the quizmaster repeatedly, telling him that his questions were rubbish. He challenged the quizmaster, a local antiques dealer, to bid £100 for a rugby jersey in an auction we held on the same evening for the charity.

“He was quite rude and objectionable and his comments didn’t go down well – I think he’d had a few beers.”

Mr Ramsay agreed he had had a few pints but was only “engaging in the atmosphere” of the quiz.

“I don’t think people want politicians to have a glass of water then walk home,” he said.

The quizmaster has also been contacted to comment.

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

Couple kept pony in home cellar

A couple already banned from keeping animals for life were found in a RSPCA raid to have a pony, geese and goats in a “stinking” cellar at their home.

Eric and Doreen Buckley had nine geese, two goats, a pony, as well as 11 dogs and a cat in a converted Rhondda pub, Pontypriddd magistrates heard.

Both were bailed after admitting five charges of causing unecessary suffering and two for breaching banning orders.

A RSPCA inspector said it was “beyond anything” she had seen before.

The Buckleys were warned they could be jailed.

The court heard how police and the RSPCA raided the Buckley’s “stinking” home in June 2010 only to find they had left over night.

The property, in High Street, Gilfach Goch, was in such a putrid condition, it was regarded as proof of breaching animal welfare rules alone.

“I have never seen anything like it before in my life”

Nicola Johnston RSPCA inspector

At one point up to 13 retired racing greyhounds had the run of the properly in which they used it as a toilet.

Most though were kept in a unlit cellar which was almost an inch deep in animal waste.

“I have never seen anything like it before in my life,” said inspector Nicola Johnston.

“Even before going inside the house you could sniff the air outside and realise something was wrong.

“Inside, it was beyond anything I have ever seen, or hope ever to see again.”

‘Squishing and squashing’

Ms Johnston described how she found a worse situation when she tried to explore the empty unlit cellar.

“You stood there in complete blackness squishing and squashing underfoot as you walked,” she added. The air was stagnant and stinking.

“To think that somebody thought it was a fit place to keep animals was incredible.”

Ms Johnston said three dogs in particular had to receive comprehensive dental surgery as a result of their condition.

“The vet actually said in the case of one dog that it had the worst dental condition he had ever seen in his career,” she added.

“He was horrified.

“It was so bad when the dog’s mouth opened the teeth moved about individually. To keep animals like that is completely unnecessary.”

She said that when Buckley was approached about the conditions and asked why he kept so many animals, he answered: “Why not?”

Buckley, 56, admitted all the charges against him on Friday on the eve of a trial.

His wife, 46, failed to attend but had previously made full admissions of all charges through her lawyer.

The charges they faced related in particular to four dogs which were found to be suffering flea infestations, ear infections and oral disease.

“This is a serious case aggravated by the fact that there was an order from a magistrates’ court which you breached and which led to the suffering of these animals,” said district judge Jill Watkins.

They were warned the offences merited a custodial sentence, with the case adjourned until 17 June.

The couple had already been banned from keeping dogs for 10 years due to animal welfare breaches in 1993.

After more series breaches in 1995 both were banned from keeping all animals for life.

They couple appeared before magistrates in Kingston upon Thames, where they were living at the time, on both occasions.

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

Mars ‘remains in embryonic state’

Mars, Earth, Venus and Mercury (Image: Science Photo Library)Mars collided with relatively few rocky masses, hence its “embryonic” state, says researchers
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Mars formed in record time, growing to its present size in a mere three million years, much quicker than scientists previously thought.

Its rapid formation could explain why the Red Planet is about one tenth the mass of Earth.

The study supports a 20-year-old theory that Mars remained small because it avoided collisions with planetary building material.

The new finding is published in the journal Nature.

In our early Solar System, well before planets had formed, a frisbee-shaped cloud of gas and dust encircled the Sun.

Scientists believe that the planets grew from material pulled together by electrostatic charges – the same force that’s behind the “dust bunnies” under your bed.

These proto-planetary dust balls grew and grew until they formed what scientists term “embryo” planets.

These rocky masses were large enough to exert a considerable gravitational force on surrounding material, including other nascent planets.

Nudging each other with their gravitational fields, the embryos were often thrown from their regular orbits, sometimes into the path of another large rocky mass.

If collisions occurred, these nascent planets were either expelled from the Solar System or shattered into pieces. These pieces were often combined to form a larger planet. In fact, the Earth’s Moon is thought to be the result of an embryo planet colliding with our own planet.

By modelling this process, astro-physicists can determine the size of planets they expect to form at a given distance from the Sun. Mars is an outlier; it should have grown to around the size of the Earth, but remains about one-tenth its size.

Because of Mars’ small size, many scientists have long suspected that the Red Planet avoided the collisions that allowed other neighbouring planets to increase their girth.

Red Runt

By studying the chemical composition of meteorites, geochemist Dr Nicholas Dauphas of the University of Chicago in Illinois and Dr Ali Pourmand of the University of Miami in Florida joined forces to try to confirm this.

Using the ratio of hafnium-176 to hafnium-177, both radioactive elements, in these space-rocks, Dr Pourmand and Dauphas have come up with the most precise estimate of the time it took Mars to form.

Between 2 and 3 million years they suspect; short compared to the Earth, which is thought to have taken tens of millions of years to grow to its current size.

“We were pleasantly surprised because now we have precise evidence in support of the idea… that Mars is a stranded planetary embryo”, Dr Pourmand told BBC News.

He thinks that Mars was around more or less in its current size when the Earth was beginning to form.

Given this, Mars could not have experienced the same type of growth as the Earth and Venus, says Dr Pourmand.

It’s likely that Mars remains small because it deftly avoided colliding with other planets.

“The fact that Mars appears to have been left unscathed could just be down to luck,” says astrophysicist Dr Duncan Forgan of the University of Edinburgh, UK.

He explains that while it is unlikely that a planet could escape collisions for such long periods, statistically one expects it to happen from time to time.

When modelling planetary dynamics, researchers find it easier to predict what happens in general, he says, but it is much more difficult to determine what happens in specific solar systems, or in specific cases like Mars.

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

Baby P boss wins sacking appeal

Sharon ShoesmithSharon Shoesmith was sacked three years ago
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An ex-children’s services director says she is “thrilled” to have won an appeal against a ruling that her sacking after Baby Peter’s death was lawful.

Court of Appeal judges allowed Sharon Shoesmith’s challenge against a High Court ruling that cleared former children’s secretary Ed Balls and Haringey Council of acting unlawfully.

Her appeal against watchdog Ofsted was dismissed.

Baby Peter Connelly was found dead in August 2007 with more than 50 injuries.

A subsequent Ofsted report exposed failings in her department.

In December 2008, Ms Shoesmith was sacked, bringing her 35-year career to an abrupt end.

She first heard of her dismissal when then children’s secretary Ed Balls announced she would be removed from her post with immediate effect in a live press conference on television.

She said after the hearing: “I’m over the moon. Absolutely thrilled.

“I am very relieved to have won my appeal and for recognition I was treated unfairly and unlawfully.”

She said the sorrow of Peter’s death would “stay with me for the rest of my life”.

Ms Shoesmith had asked Lord Neuberger, Master of the Rolls, sitting with Lord Justice Maurice Kay and Lord Justice Stanley Burnton, to rule that her sacking without compensation was so legally flawed as to be null and void.

Her lawyers had argued that she was the victim of “a flagrant breach of natural justice” after she lost her £133,000-a-year post amid a media storm.

Ms Shoesmith also argued she was entitled to her full salary and pension from Haringey up to the present day.

‘Tainted by unfairness’

The judges said they were allowing Ms Shoesmith’s appeal against Mr Balls because “the secretary of state did not afford Ms Shoesmith the opportunity to put her case”.

In the case of Haringey, the judges said: “We were unanimously of the view that Haringey’s procedures were tainted by unfairness.”

Lawyers for Ms Shoesmith said the ruling meant she could now launch appeals against Ed Balls and Haringey Council.

The BBC’s education correspondent Reeta Chakrabarti said the Court of Appeal had indicated there was no question of Ms Shoesmith returning to her position at Haringey Council.

The matter of compensation or lost earnings would need to be considered by another court, she added.

Seventeen-month-old Baby P, subsequently named as Peter Connelly, was found to have suffered fractured ribs and a broken back after months of abuse at home. His mother, her partner and a lodger were all jailed for causing or allowing his death.

Peter had been seen by health and social services professionals from Haringey council 60 times in the eight months before he died.

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

Train passengers stuck for hours

A First Capital Connect trainThe ambulance service attended passengers at Kentish town
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Hundreds of rush-hour passengers were stuck on a train for nearly three hours following electrical supply problems.

First Capital Connect said the service stopped just outside Kentish Town station in north London at 1830 BST after trouble with overhead lines.

The company said the train which had come from St Pancras was towed back into Kentish Town at about 2115 BST.

National Rail are warning that limited services are running and severe delays will continue into the early hours.

A First Capital Connect (FCC) spokesman could not confirm how many passengers had been on board but said it was a “busy rush-hour train”.

He said the ambulance services attended the trapped passengers at Kentish Town.

Passengers later claimed on Twitter that they had been left in a tunnel with little air, no water and no communication.

Martin Errington, 53, a chartered accountant, told BBC London: “We heard some sort of banging sound and the train just ground to a halt.

“After a while people just had enough and decided to walk down the tracks”

Martin Errington Stuck passenger

“The train driver spoke to us after 10 minutes but then we had nothing, no communication or updates, for something like 90 minutes.

“It was a packed train, people were standing and we had no air conditioning because of the power failure so it was getting very stuffy.

“After a while people just had enough and decided to walk down the tracks – which caused its own problems.”

He said when they did get off at Kentish Town there were hundreds of passengers but no-one from First Capital Connect to provide any information.

“At one point a train pulled in without notice and as the hundreds people tried to make their way to that platform, it pulled away after only two or three minutes – and people were really angry about that,” he said.

The FCC spokesman said: “We have launched a full investigation and will make every effort to ensure this does not happen again.”

The problem was due to an overhead electrical supply issue at Farringdon.

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

Japan inflation up 0.6% in April

Japanese supermarketJapan has been fighting falling prices for more than a decade.
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Japan’s consumer prices have risen by 0.6% in April, from a year earlier, according to the statistics bureau.

It is the first sign of inflation in Japan in more than two years, as the country imports large amounts of fuel after twin natural disasters.

The rise in the core consumer price index, which excludes food prices, was largely in line with expectations.

Including food, consumer prices rose by 0.3% in April, compared with a year earlier.

Japan has been battling deflation, or falling prices, for more than a decade.

“Although I expect consumer spending will recover in May and the months ahead in the wake of the disaster, wages and salaries haven’t risen.”

Hiromichi Shirakawa Chief economist, Credit Suisse

While potentially positive for bargain-hungry shoppers, deflation actually leads to companies and most consumers putting off purchases, in hopes that prices will continue to fall.

The April data is unlikely to reverse that trend, because the gains come largely from higher fuel prices.

The 11 March earthquake and tsunami left more than 24,000 people dead or missing.

It also destroyed some of Japan’s ability to generate electricity.

The country has been importing large amounts of fuel in order to make up the difference.

“The commodities and crude oil prices are pushing the inflation figures up,” said Credit Suisse chief economist Hiromichi Shirakawa.

“Although I expect consumer spending will recover in May and the months ahead in the wake of the disaster, wages and salaries haven’t risen.”

He added: “I’m concerned about consumer spending towards the summer”.

Japan’s economy, the world’s third largest, has slid back into recession after the devastation caused by the earthquake and tsunami.

Gross domestic product shrank 0.9% in the first three months of the year.

Japan’s economy has now contracted for two quarters in a row, the generally accepted definition of a recession.

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