Category: news

A man and a woman escaped serious injury when their plane flipped upside down during an emergency landing in Leicestershire.

The light aircraft came down in a farmer’s field near Kilby at about 1500 BST.

A man in his 20s, believed to be the pilot, was slightly hurt and a female passenger, in her 60s, was unharmed.

Leicestershire Police said the incident had been referred to the Air Accidents Investigation Branch.

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Justice Secretary Ken Clarke will face more questions over his comments on rape on BBC’s Question Time later, which comes from inside a prison.

In a BBC radio interview about sentencing he referred to “serious rape” – suggesting some rapes were less serious than others.

Mr Clarke later he had used the “wrong choice of words”.

Question Time will be broadcast from Wormwood Scrubs in west London, with inmates included in the audience.

Mr Clarke was confronted on the radio phone-in show by sex attack victim Gabrielle Browne.

Mrs Browne, who has waived her right to anonymity, told the Daily Telegraph: “Ken Clarke didn’t listen. His comment about not all rapes really being rape was disgraceful for a man in his position, a man of previous ministerial experience and previous experience as a barrister.

“He did not show empathy or understanding. If he can’t open his eyes and ears and listen and see life from a victim’s perspective then he should resign.”

Mr Clarke has not apologised for his remarks in general, but he has written to Mrs Browne saying: “I have always believed that all rape is extremely serious, and must be treated as such.

“I am sorry if my comments gave you any other impression or upset you.”

Labour leader Ed Miliband had said Mr Clarke should quit for effectively suggesting there were “other categories of rape”.

David Cameron told MPs rape was “one of the most serious crimes that there is and it should be met with proper punishment” and the “real disgrace” was that only 6% of reported rape cases ended in a conviction.

The prime minister’s spokesman said it was “clearly regrettable” if anybody had been offended by Mr Clarke’s comments but said the PM had confidence in him.

The row began on Wednesday morning with remarks Mr Clarke gave in an interview on BBC Radio 5 live about proposals under consultation to halve jail terms for people who plead guilty early, including rapists.

Mr Clarke seemed to make a distinction between sentencing for different kinds of rape crimes.

In later interviews Mr Clarke said the “most extraordinary spin” had been put on his comments and he had been responding to average sentence figures that were put to him.

The Question Time audience will include 10 inmates and 10 prison staff as well as 100 members of the public.

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WBO light-heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly faces yet another change of opponent after Tony Bellew fails to make the weight at a check weigh-in.

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The British Museum in London is one of four cultural establishments that have been shortlisted for this year’s £100,000 Art Fund Prize.

The list also includes the Polar Museum in Cambridge, The new Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Scotland and The Roman Baths Museum in Bath.

Chair of the judges Michael Portillo said the venues all “exhibit remarkable innovation and flair”.

The prize will be presented at Tate Britain on 15 June.

The British Museum was singled out for its project A History of the World.

The exhibition was held in tandem with BBC Radio 4’s series A History of the World in a 100 Objects – a narrative of global history using the museum’s collection of artefacts from two million years ago to the present day.

The Roman Baths Museum in Bath was shortlisted for its £5.5m restoration project. Built around Britain’s only hot spring, the museum and archaeological site contributed towards Bath’s inclusion on the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites.

The prize longlist, which was made up of 10 museums and galleries, was announced on 2 February.

Since then the panel of judges have visited each venue to decide on which institutions would be suitable for the shortlist.

Mr Portillo said it had been “stimulating” travelling across the country to visit establishments “so varied in size and scope”.

“Choosing a short list was not easy but we are agreed that these four museums and galleries exhibit remarkable innovation and flair, which excited us and clearly draws in the general public too,” he added.

The purpose of the prize is to recognise originality and excellence in museums and galleries in the UK.

Last year the prize went to the Ulster Museum in Belfast.

Separate to the main prize, a shortlist for the inaugural Clore Award for Museum Learning has also been announced.

The £10,000 award recognises quality and innovation in using museums and galleries for learning activities.

The list includes Museums Sheffield: Weston Park; the National Museum of the Royal Navy; South London Gallery; The Pitt Rivers Museum and the Oxford University Museum of Natural History; and Tyne & Wear Archives and Museums.

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US President Barack Obama is to deliver a major speech setting out his vision of a new Middle East, after months of pro-democracy unrest in the region.

He is expected to announce aid packages to Egypt and Tunisia – countries that are embracing democratic reforms.

But Mr Obama is widely expected to defend new sanctions on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad over Damascus’s crackdown on protesters.

He is also due to touch on the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

However, the BBC’s Kim Ghattas in Washington says that after two years of failing to restart talks, no-one expects Mr Obama to announce a new push for negotiations.

President Obama is scheduled to deliver his long-awaited speech at the state department in Washington at 1540 GMT.

It will be his first comprehensive response to the upheavals that have swept many Arabic countries this year.

Our correspondent says that following the death of al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden, President Obama wants a new start with the Muslim world, although polls show opinions of the US are low.

Some details of the speech have been revealed in advance by senior administration officials.

Mr Obama will stress that Washington stands ready to help nations across the Middle East and North Africa to launch democratic reforms, modernise and provide job opportunities to millions of disenchanted young people.

He will argue that such measures will help democracy take hold and thrive and deliver the regional stability that is in the interests of the US government.

Egypt and Tunisia – where popular revolts overthrew long-standing rulers – are due to figure largely in the address.

Mr Obama is expected to write off part of Egypt’s huge debt to the US to boost job-creation efforts. He is also expected to unveil an economic incentive package aimed at Tunisia.

In sharp contrast, Mr Obama is due to justify slapping sanctions on Syria’s Mr Assad on Wednesday.

A US state department official said it was time for the Syrian president “to lead a political transition or to leave”.

It was the first time Washington had personally penalised the Syrian leader over the actions of his security forces. More than 850 people have died since the uprising began in March.

On the faltering Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Mr Obama is expected to warn both sides that they face great risks by not coming together on a peace deal.

Mr Obama is set to meet visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday.

Analysts say Mr Obama will try in his speech to convince his US audience that the fate of countries in the Middle East and North Africa is worth the money and effort even during difficult economic times at home.

To his wider audience, Mr Obama wants to underline that Washington stands behind those seeking greater human rights.

The BBC’s North American editor Mark Mardell says Mr Obama faces the challenge of trying to set out a coherent US strategy for the region.

This is because Washington’s reaction has varied wildly from place to place – from military action against Libya to a ticking off for Bahrain.

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A badger cull to prevent the spread of bovine tuberculosis (TB) in cattle may not happen, the farming minister has told the BBC.

Badgers are blamed by many farmers for spreading the disease, resulting in thousands of cows being destroyed.

The government was set to approve badger culling in England soon.

However, in an interview for the Politics Show South West, minister Jim Paice said there was a “question-mark at this moment” over a cull.

The South West, west of England and Wales are among the areas worst-affected by TB in Britain.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said 6,863 cattle with TB were slaughtered in Devon in 2009, while in Cornwall the figure was 3,545.

The government was expected to announce in May whether a cull of badgers would go ahead, but it has been delayed.

Conservative Mr Paice said: “We will be making our announcements about it in the not-too-distant future once we’re certain that, if we were to go ahead, we could resist the inevitable judicial review that would come.”

When asked if he meant “if” as opposed to “when”, Mr Paice replied: “There has to be a question-mark at this moment in time until we make a final decision and an announcement.”

The National Farmers’ Union approves of a cull, saying it was needed to help farming.

However, animal rights activists have criticised the proposals.

See the full interview with Jim Paice on the Politics Show South West, BBC One South West, Sunday 22 May, 1100 BST.

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The London School of Economics is investigating a blog post by one of its lecturers, which sparked anger by discussing “why black women are less physically attractive”.

Satoshi Kanazawa cited the findings of a University of North Carolina survey in which he said interviewers rated the “physical attractiveness” of subjects.

The post was removed from Psychology Today as critics accused him of causing offence and demanded his sacking.

The LSE said his views were his own.

Dr Kanazawa, a reader in the management department at the LSE, could not be reached for comment.

He is on sabbatical, but normally lectures on evolutionary psychology and management science.

Although the posting was removed, cached versions are available elsewhere on the internet.

According to those, the blog said that in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), black women were, on average, rated to be less attractive than women of other races, while black men were not rated less attractive than men of other races.

Dr Kanazawa suggested, but then rejected, that this may be because of higher body mass index or increased genetic mutations, but said that it might be because of higher testosterone levels.

He did not detail the social or ethnic backgrounds of the interviewers, or the criteria on which they had based their judgements of “physical attractiveness”.

The Add Health survey he cited is carried out by the Carolina Population Center at the University of North Carolina.

The centre’s website says that Add Health has followed a sample of adolescent students over more than a decade, questioning them on social, economic, psychological and physical well-being.

Psychology Today did not respond to requests for comment from the BBC, but its editor-in-chief, Kaja Perina, told the US radio station NPR that its bloggers were “credential[ed] social scientists and for this reason they are invited to post to the site on topics of their choosing”.

“We in turn reserve the right to remove posts for any number of reasons. Because the post was not commissioned or solicited by PT, there was no editorial intent to address questions of race and physical attractiveness.”

Other postings critical of the academic have since appeared on the Psychology Today website, including some by other academics.

Dr Mikhail Lyubansky, a lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of Illinois, said the posting failed to consider possible “anti-black bias” in the perceptions of the respondents and interviewers.

“Without this kind of methodological analysis, Kanazawa’s entire premise – that there is such a thing as a single objective standard of attractiveness – is fatally (and tragically) flawed,” he wrote.

The London School of Economics said the views expressed by Dr Kanazawa were “his own and do not in any way represent those of LSE as an institution”.

“The important principle of academic freedom means that authors have the right to publish their views – but it also gives others the freedom to disagree. We are conducting internal investigations into this matter,” the university said in a statement.

The University of London students’ union called for Dr Kanazawa’s dismissal.

Community and Welfare Officer-elect Lukas Slothuus said: “Students stand united against his disgraceful conclusions and will not let this negatively impact good campus relations.”

And Sherelle Davids, anti-racism officer-elect of the LSE Students’ Union, said: “As a black woman I feel his conclusions are a direct attack on black women everywhere who are not included in social ideas of beauty.”

Dr Kanazawa’s previous controversial postings include blog entries entitled “Are All Women Essentially Prostitutes?” and “What’s wrong with Muslims?”.

The London School of Economics faced criticism earlier this year for its dealings with the regime of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Its director, Sir Howard Davies, resigned, saying he had made “errors of judgement” in advising the LSE to accept the donation from a foundation run by Col Gaddafi’s son Saif, and visiting Libya to advise a government body about financial reforms, for which the university was paid $50,000.

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

A woman who was attacked and mutilated in her home would not have put up any real struggle, jurors have heard.

Heather Barnett was found dead by her children on the bathroom floor of her Bournemouth flat when they returned from school in November 2002.

Forensic scientist Geoffrey Robinson, who visited the scene, said it appeared likely that the seamstress had been “very quickly subdued”.

Danilo Restivo, 39, of Chatsworth Road, Bournemouth, denies murder.

The court heard Ms Barnett’s body had been dragged through the ground floor flat to the bathroom where it was found by her son and daughter with a lock of someone else’s hair in her hand.

Mr Robinson, who gave a full description of where the 48-year-old was killed, said: “Indications are that very quickly Miss Barnett was subdued and could not put up any real struggle.”

Mr Robinson told Winchester Crown Court a sewing machine had been found upturned and on the floor.

A fabric strand, said possibly to be from the assailant’s gloves, was found on some of Ms Barnett’s blood-stained clothes.

Mr Restivo, who lived opposite the family, is alleged to have entered the flat and bludgeoned Ms Barnett with a hammer before cutting her throat.

The prosecution says Mr Restivo has a hair fetish and left a clump of someone else’s hair in Ms Barnett’s right hand and some of her hair under her left hand.

Prosecutors say the manner in which Ms Barnett was murdered can be considered Mr Restivo’s “hallmark” and have linked the killing to the murder of a teenager, 16-year-old Elisa Claps, in Potenza, Italy, in 1993.

The trial continues.

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Birmingham City Council acted unlawfully over a decision to reduce its provision of care for disabled people, High Court judges have said.

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High Court judges are to make a ruling on council care cuts that will have implications for all local authorities in England and Wales.

In April they made an interim judgement that Birmingham City Council had acted unlawfully when it tried to cut social care funding for some disabled adults.

The Conservative-Liberal Democrat run council said it had to save £212m from its 2011-12 budget due to funding cuts.

A full judgement is expected at the High Court in London later.

Deafblind charity Sense said the ruling should be a warning to all authorities.

Its head of legal services Kari Gerstheimer said other councils in England and Wales may be considering making similar cuts to social care.

“We hope that this judgement sends a very strong message to those councils, that we are in a climate of cuts.

“But even in a climate of cuts there are choices to be made and a civilised society does not choose to cut services to people with the greatest need – that’s disabled people,” he added.

The families of four severely disabled people fought Birmingham City Council’s spending cuts decision and took their case to the High Court.

The council said it planned to reduce funding for care services for up to 4,000 people in the next three years.

It said it had identified £118m worth of cuts by 2014-15 from its adult and communities directorate and needed to save £308m in total in the next four years due to the central government cuts outlined in the Spending Review.

It said only people whose needs were judged to be “critical” would qualify for council-funded care.

The judges said the plan was unlawful as it failed to comply with Section 49a of the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 (c. 13) which relates to a public authority’s duties towards disabled people.

The full ruling will be explained by the High Court judges later.

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

Initial forensic tests do not support claims by Indian MP Rahul Gandhi that farmers were murdered in recent land protests, a senior official says.

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A peer has used Parliamentary rules to reveal more details of the super-injunction relating to former Royal Bank of Scotland boss Sir Fred Goodwin.

MPs and peers are protected from prosecution, even if they break the law, by speaking in the Commons or Lords’ chambers.

Lib Dem Lord Stoneham acted ahead of a report on super-injunctions from the Master of the Rolls.

Ministers have indicated unhappiness with how courts are using injunctions.

There has been huge controversy about celebrities using the courts to hide details of their personal lives.

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Thais are to hold commemorations and new protests in Bangkok on the anniversary of a deadly crackdown against red-shirt protesters.

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Singapore raises its economic growth forecast after a manufacturing boost in the first three months of the year.

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Current extinction rate projections may be overestimating the role of habitat loss on species, a study suggest.

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