Category: news

Nato aircraft have hit eight warships in the Libyan ports of Tripoli, Al Khums and Sirte, but despite the help from Nato the rebels’ progress remains slow, as Andrew Harding reports.

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Tata Steel is set to cut 1,500 jobs at a number of sites in the North of England, the BBC has learned.

It is understood the Indian steel giant will cut 1,200 jobs in Scunthorpe and 300 in Teesside from its Long Products division.

But the firm says it is investing £400m in the division over the next five years to help turn the business around.

Tata is one of the biggest steel makers in the world, with operations in 26 countries.

In 2010, the company, which employs more than 80,000 people worldwide, recorded a turnover of $22.8bn (£14bn).

A press conference is scheduled in Scunthorpe for 13:00, the BBC understands.

George Dunning, leader of Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council, said the job losses would represent a “bitter blow” for the local economy.

However, he said the council, along with Jobcentre Plus, would do all they could to support those affected.

“We have a strong track record of responding swiftly to precisely this kind of situation,” he said.

Tata has recently announced a number of investments in its Scottish and Welsh plants, including an £8m investment at its Clydebridge plant near Glasgow and a £53m investment at its Port Talbot plant.

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A girl from Norfolk has had half her brain “switched off” in a pioneering operation at Great Ormond Street.

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The barrister representing a woman who suffered permanent brain damage in a car crash when she was six has welcomed a compensation award of £4.25m.

Rhiannon Millett, of Tredegar, Blaenau Gwent, was injured in a crash involving a drunken driver in Blackwood, Caerphilly county, in 1996.

Simon Michael said Ms Millett, now 21, was unable to live independently.

“It’s impossible to predict how someone with a severe brain injury is going to progress,” he said.

Mr Michael told BBC Radio Wales that his client had been a passenger in a car driven by the partner of her mother Alison Kearney when the head-on crash happened in March 1996.

“It was Mother’s Day, and they’d just left her mother at home having breakfast in bed,” he said.

“They were faced with the defendant’s vehicle being driven on the wrong side of the road as it came round a bend, and his having drunk excess alcohol.”

The partner of Ms Millett’s mother was killed in the crash, and Rhiannon was thought at first to have escaped with relatively minor injuries.

“She had a broken leg, a cut above her eyebrow and what seemed to be some minor bleeding in the brain,” said Mr Michael.

“After she was discharged from hospital however she went home and then she deteriorated very quickly and fell into a coma.

“It was found she had suffered a serious brain injury and she was rushed back into hospital.”

The driver was convicted in 1997 of driving without due care and attention while being over the limit.

Although the convicted driver’s insurers admitted liability in 1998, Mr Michael said it was to the family’s advantage that the damages had only now been awarded several years later.

He said Ms Millett’s ability to live independently, complete her education or find a job could not have been assessed at the time.

“It’s impossible to predict how someone with a severe brain injury is going to progress,” he said.

“Rhiannon is sufficiently damaged that she doesn’t have capacity – she’s not able to make decisions for herself.

“It’s much better to allow matters to develop so you can get a better idea of the value of the claim.”

Mrs Justice Sharp at the High Court approved a settlement consisting of a £1m lump sum, plus index-linked and tax-free payments of £52,500-a-year to cover the costs of care for Ms Millett, who has a normal life expectancy.

Mr Michael said the award would make a significant difference to life for Ms Millett and her family.

“Her mother has been absolutely heroic – she has almost single-handedly brought up quite a badly damaged child.

“For the first time it will be possible for the family to obtain appropriate care so that Rhiannon will be able to have a support worker or buddy to spend the day with her, to help structure her life, and possibly help her get some voluntary work.”

“She will also have someone to sleep in overnight with her, because she isn’t able to be left alone overnight and until now that’s all had to be done by family members.”

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First Minister Alex Salmond has completed the make-up of Scotland’s first majority government, after announcing his ministerial team.

It includes Stewart Stevenson, who quit as transport minister after last year’s snow fiasco. He has been appointed environment minister.

There are several newcomers, including Falkirk West MSP Michael Matheson, who takes on public health.

Details of the SNP cabinet have already been announced.

All the senior ministers in the last parliament kept their jobs, with the addition of three more.

Unveiling his junior government team, Mr Salmond announced the appointment of Aileen Campbell as local government minister.

Western Isles MSP Alasdair Allan takes on learning and skills, with special responsibility for Gaelic.

Fergus Ewing has moved from community safety to energy, enterprise and tourism, with Roseanna Cunningham taking on his former job.

Adam Ingram has lost his job as children’s minister, with the role being taken on by Angela Constance.

SNP ministerial team in full:

Michael Matheson – public healthShona Robison – sport and Commonwealth GamesAileen Campbell – local government and planningAlasdair Allan – learning and skills with responsibility for Gaelic and ScotsAngela Constance – children and young peopleBrian Adam – chief whip and parliamentary business.Roseanna Cunningham – community safety and legal affairs, with specific responsibility for tackling sectarianismFergus Ewing – energy, enterprise and tourismStewart Stevenson – environment and climate changeKeith Brown – transport and housing

All ministers will see their salaries and MSP pay frozen at 2008 levels, in a bid to save more than £100,000.

And Mr Stevenson will pay back the resettlement grant, less than £7,000, which he received when he quit as transport minister.

Mr Salmond said: “This is an excellent team to take Scotland forward.

“While the overall number of ministers is unchanged, it blends the tried and trusted team which received such strong public endorsement at the election with significant new talent.”

The first minister said Ms Campbell, Mr Matheson and Dr Allan represented a “new generation who will bring fresh perspective”.

He said of Mr Ingram: “Adam understands the need within a significantly expanded group to create new opportunities for others to show what they can do for Scotland, and I wish him extremely well for the future as a new constituency member.”

Mr Salmond added: “Stewart Stevenson steered Scotland’s world-leading climate change legislation through the last parliament, securing consensus right across the chamber, and I am delighted to welcome him back to government in that same role as we turn these ambitious targets into reality.”

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Two men who picked a 15-year-old girl up from outside Manchester care home and raped her have been jailed.

Hussnain Ahmed, and Omar Ali, both from Longsight, were found guilty of rape and jailed for 11 years each at Manchester Crown Court.

The 24-year-olds, seeing the girl was drunk, persuaded her to get into their car on 28 June last year.

They drove her to a spot in Alderley Edge and raped her, before dropping her off some distance from the home.

She walked back and told staff she felt unwell and the home called police.

Before she was attacked, Ahmed, of Duncan Road, and Ali, of Sunnybank Road, took her mobile phone from her.

Several days later, the girl saw Ali and he gave her the phone back. His and Ahmed’s numbers were stored in it.

She gave it to the investigating officer Det Sgt Adam Cronshaw, who called the pair and told them to come to Longsight Police Station, where they were arrested.

Forensic tests showed DNA evidence consistent with both of them raping her.

They claimed she consented to having sex.

Det Sgt Cronshaw said: “Not only did Ali and Ahmed rape a defenceless young girl, but it is clear they exploited the fact she was from a care home, intoxicated and vulnerable.

“I hope this case demonstrates that Greater Manchester Police takes the issues of rape and sexual exploitation of children extremely seriously.

“Just because a child does not live with their parents, it does not mean no-one cares and it does not mean they should be subject to the sort of sexual exploitation by the likes of Ali and Ahmed just for their own gratification.

“I am absolutely delighted that the jury saw through the lies they spun and convicted them of rape.”

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A man has admitted attacking another man with a power drill after running a car off the road in North Lanarkshire.

Robert Kirkwood, 25, pleaded guilty to assaulting James Hanlon with the DIY tool in Stepps last August.

The High Court in Glasgow heard Mr Hanlon, 26, was dragged from a car then Kirkwood repeatedly hit him over the head and body with the drill.

Two co-accused, Charles McCormack, 28, and Michael McCormick, 22, had pleas of not guilty accepted.

They had originally been charged with assaulting Mr Hanlon to the danger of his life.

Kirkwood, who faced a similar charge, pleaded guilty to the reduced charge of assaulting Mr Hanlon to his severe injury and permanent disfigurement.

The court heard that the Vauxhall Vectra, in which Mr Hanlon was a passenger, was hit head-on by an Audi A4 that swerved onto the wrong side of the road and was then shunted from the rear by a Ford Focus.

A man ran from the Audi and dragged Mr Hanlon out the Vectra and then was joined by Kirkwood who jumped out the Focus armed with a red-coloured power drill.

Prosecutor Andrew Miller told the court that eye witness reports and medical evidence suggested the tool was used as a blunt weapon.

The court heard that Mr Hanlon, who was unarmed, lay dazed and bleeding as the beating continued.

Christopher Milligan, 26, who had been driving the Vectra, ran off when the attack began.

Kirkwood was caught on the CCTV camera of a pub in nearby Cardowan Road as he fled on foot after the attack with the man who had pulled Hanlon from his car and the driver of the Ford Focus.

Detectives who viewed the footage recognised Kirkwood and his clothing was the same as that described by eye witnesses.

Forensic analysis of the Audi revealed Hanlon’s DNA and one of his fingerprints.

Mr Miller added: “When paramedics attended the scene they found James Hanlon lying on the ground. He had obvious bleeding injuries to his head.”

The court was told Mr Hanlon will be permanently scarred, but has suffered no lasting physical problems.

Mr Miller added: “The doctor who treated Mr Hanlon has confirmed that his scalp injuries were consistent with having been struck using the drill bit of a power tool as a blunt weapon.

“Neither Mr Hanlon nor Mr Milligan has ever named those involved in this incident to the police.”

He added: “A number of potential weapons – namely four golf clubs, a claw hammer and a crow bar – were recovered from the front passenger foot well of the Vectra in which Mr Hanlon and Mr Milligan had been travelling.”

Kirkwood was later arrested while travelling to Kent from France via the Channel tunnel in September last year.

He is currently serving a sentence of three years and eight months, imposed last November for a drug offence.

Judge Lady Dorrian deferred sentence on Kirkwood until next month.

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Gordon Brown has told the BBC he is not in South Africa to “pitch for a job” at the International Monetary Fund.

There is mounting speculation the former UK PM wants to become the next IMF chief – following the resignation of Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

Mr Brown, who is due to make a speech on aid in South Africa, said: “Any candidate to head the IMF needs to be appointed on merit”.

Mr Strauss-Kahn denies charges of trying to rape a hotel maid in the US.

He resigned on Thursday saying he wanted to devote his attention to “proving my innocence”.

There have been reports Mr Brown, who was chancellor for 10 years before becoming prime minister in 2007, is mounting a bid for the top job at the IMF.

He is in South Africa to launch a report warning of an “education emergency” in the developing world – and has called on richer countries to donate billions of pounds a year to a new Global Education Fund. The Guardian newspaper reported the speech would help stake his claim to be the next IMF chief.

Mr Brown, who remained MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath after Labour lost power in last year’s general election, took on an advisory role at the World Economic Forum last month.

His global profile rose during efforts to alleviate the effects of the financial crisis while in Downing Street.

But David Cameron appeared to kill off Mr Brown’s chances of succeeding Mr Strauss-Kahn in April, when he said the former PM “might not be the best person” for the job.

Backing from a candidate’s national government is seen as prerequisite for selection – the final decision is made by the IMF’s executive board.

On Thursday Mr Brown’s former City minister Lord Myners told the BBC the time was not right for him to take the job, and a “non-European” should be chosen.

One of the priorities for the next IMF managing director will be to deal with Greece’s debt crisis and the wider problems within the eurozone.

Business Secretary Vince Cable told the BBC that “somebody who understands the internal problems of the eurozone” would probably get the job.

He said he did not want to comment on Mr Brown’s strengths and weaknesses, but that “promoting national champions, whoever they are, probably isn’t the best way of dealing with this”.

Acting IMF chief John Lipsky said on Friday that French finance minister Christine Lagarde would be an “excellent choice” to replace Mr Strauss-Kahn.

Other names thought to be in the frame for the IMF job include Singapore’s finance minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, former South African finance minister Trevor Manuel and Kemal Dervis, Turkey’s former minister of economic affairs.

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HMV has agreed to sell its Waterstone’s book chain to a fund controlled by Russian billionaire Alexander Mamut for £53m.

Mr Mamut already owns 6% of HMV, which has issued a string of profits warnings this year.

The sale to A&NN Capital Fund Management still needs shareholder approval, but HMV said the deal should be finalised by the end of June.

Mr Mamut has been linked with a deal to buy Waterstone’s for a number of weeks.

HMV announced in March that it was exploring options to sell the business.

The troubled retailer has been struggling to cope with declining sales in the face of increasingly fierce competition from supermarkets and online retailers such as Amazon and iTunes.

It announced on Friday that like-for-like sales, which strip out the impact of sales from stores open less than a year, for the 12 months to the end of April slumped by 13.7%. Like-for-like sales at Waterstone’s fell by 3.8% over the same period.

It has estimated debts of £130m and is under pressure from its bankers to raise cash. Only last month it said it expected annual profits to be about 25% lower than it had hoped.

HMV said it had little choice but to sell the book chain.

“It has become clear that the group needs to reduce its borrowing requirements in the short term in order to achieve a satisfactory refinancing,” the company said in a statement.

“The board has concluded that the most timely and effective way to achieve this is through the disposal of Waterstone’s.”

Simon Fox, chief executive of HMV Group, said the sale to Mr Mamut “provides a good new home for the business”.

Mr Mamut said he was “extremely pleased to have reached an agreement to acquire Waterstone’s and its great heritage”.

“I believe our investment and strategy will secure a dynamic future for the UK’s largest bookshop chain.”

In the UK and Ireland, the group owns about 285 HMV stores, but is in process of closing 60 of these as part of its cost-cutting plans.

It owns 296 Waterstone’s bookstores, employing about 4,500 people.

The group’s international business comprises 125 stores in Canada, five in Hong Kong and two in Singapore.

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Marine experts have arrived in South Uist in the Western Isles amid concerns for a group of up to 100 pilot whales spotted in Loch Carnan.

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A former police inspector has been told he must serve 18 years in jail for murdering an elderly widow in Belfast.

Kenneth Mark McConnell, 59, from Prospect Downs, Carrickfergus, who was a gambling addict, killed Annabella Symington in a botched robbery in 1989.

Mrs Symington, 77, was killed when McConnell forced a cardigan sleeve into her mouth to stop her screaming.

McConnell was having an affair with one of Mrs Symington’s nieces. He went to the house for money to pay his debts.

After killing the pensioner by suffocating her with the sleeve of her cardigan, he stole £200 before fleeing.

He was caught last year due to advances in forensic science which meant investigating officers were able to match his DNA with that found under the fingernails of the dead pensioner.

Mrs Symington’s body was discovered by a neighbour at her Willesden Park home in the Stranmillis area of the city on 31 October 1989.

Mr Justice Hart said McConnell had carried out a “brutal murder of an elderly lady who had quite properly refused to provide him with the means to continue to fund his addiction”.

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