Category: news

Two Nato soldiers are shot dead by a man dressed as an Afghan policeman in the latest of a spate of incidents involving gunmen in security uniforms targeting foreign forces.

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 Independence Party has taken control of its first council in the UK.

The party has won control of Ramsey Town Council in Cambridgeshire.

UKIP won nine out of 17 seats in an election in which all the seats were contested.

The party already held the Cambridgeshire County Council seat for Ramsey and two of the three Huntingdonshire District Council seats for the ward.

Ramsey Town Council has the same legal status as a parish council with a brief to represent the local community, deliver some local services and improve the quality of life.

Peter Reeve, the UKIP group leader on Huntingdonshire District Council, also won a seat on the town council in the election last week.

Previously the party had just one seat on the town council.

Mr Reeve, who is also the party’s Eastern region organiser, said: “Like all UKIP councillors, we believe in rolling up our sleeves and getting on with the work that needs to be achieved in our local community.

“The Conservatives talk about localism – we are actually practising it.

“We will be standing up for volunteers and the third sector and will be making grants to them to help the big society develop.”

He said under UKIP the council would be inclusive and would encourage people to take an interest in their town.

“We are a libertarian party in the centre ground of public opinion,” he added.

Mr Reeves’ partner Lisa Duffy, also a UKIP town councillor, has become Ramsey’s mayor.

She was UKIP’s agent in the Barnsley Central by-election in March where the party came second to Labour.

UKIP gained its first local councillors in Newcastle in 2007.

The party now has hundreds of town and parish councillors across the UK and has 23 district councillors, having gained four more in last week’s local elections.

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

Campaigners seek medal for serving Queen and country

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

Nicky Campbell chased the intruder from his garden

BBC presenter Nicky Campbell has revealed how he chased an intruder from his south London home while naked.

The Radio 5 live host was alerted by his dog on Friday morning and gave chase after he spotted a man in his garden trying to steal his bike.

Mr Campbell told listeners the man escaped empty-handed after he sped from his house.

The broadcaster said he was so “pumped up” by what was happening that he just wanted to “get him”.

Mr Campbell and his wife Tina were alerted by their dog Maxwell barking at 0510 BST.

At first, they assumed the pet had been disturbed by the noise of foxes, but he went to check.

Mr Campbell, 50, said: “I went and had a look and I got up on the loo and looked out of the window, and there was a bloke in the garden trying to steal my bike.

“So I bashed on the window – I was stark naked. He looked up – he was a white guy mid 20s – and I raced downstairs and adrenaline completely took over.

“I would have gone into that garden and jumped on top of him stark naked. He would have needed trauma counselling for a long time.

“I ran into the garden and he just disappeared over the fence with the dog following me. I was so pumped up.

“It just took over me, I just wanted to get him.”

By coincidence, Mr Campbell, who won a Sony Award this week for 5 live’s breakfast show, had yesterday been leading a phone-in about burglaries.

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

A man is charged with attempted murder after an attack on Robert Chalmers, the man convicted of killing Samantha Wright.

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

Petrol price rises slowed in April

Inflation in the US slowed in April, mainly due to smaller price rises in fuel and food.

Consumer prices rose 0.4% in April, having risen 0.5% in March, according to figures from the Labor Department.

Petrol prices rose 3.3%, down from March’s 5.6% increase, while food prices were up 0.4% compared with 0.8% the month before.

Core CPI, which excludes food and energy, rose 0.2%, following March’s 0.1% increase.

Rising prices of new vehicles and used trucks were responsible for the core rise.

“The real story is that core is edging up. There is a clear acceleration in the core number in recent months,” said James O’Sullivan, chief economist at MF Global in New York.

“Clearly the core number has moved away from the deflation zone in the last six months. It’s just a matter of time when the Fed will tighten.”

Consumer prices were up 3.2% compared with April 2010, following March’s corresponding figure of 2.7%.

Core CPI rose 1.3% on the year, up from an annual rate of 1.2% in March.

Rising fuel and food prices are squeezing consumers, whose wages are not keeping up with them.

Average weekly earnings adjusted for inflation fell 0.3% in April, having declined by 0.4% in March, the Labor Department said.

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

The costs of the government’s wine stocks have been the subject of cross-party criticism

The government has ruled out shutting down its wine cellar to cut costs.

The cellar – containing about £2m worth of wine and spirits – is the most “cost effective” way to supply wine for state banquets and other events, it says.

But the purchase of wines will become “self-financing” – paid for by selling off some of the most expensive bottles.

The cost has been criticised by MPs from different parties – since the general election about £45,000 has been spent on new wine.

The future of the wine cellar, which is run by the Foreign Office, has been under review for almost 11 months, to ensure it was “appropriate to the contemporary environment” – by providing value for money.

The review concluded that keeping the wine cellar was the cheapest way to supply wine for hospitality events, but that “substantial reform” was needed.

Foreign Office Minister Henry Bellingham told BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme: “Don’t forget this is a resource that’s used by government for government hospitality, for business hospitality, for visiting heads of state.

“If we sold the cellar, we’d have to go out there and buy wine and ultimately that would be much, much more costly.

“We are going to be selling some of the fine valuable wines, we’re going to be getting about £50,000 in a year and the purchase of wine is going to be completely self-financing.”

The government also says there will be an annual statement on the use of the wine cellar – including what has been bought, what has been drunk and its value for money.

The Hospitality Advisory Committee for the Purchase of Wine was abolished last year – one of 192 quangos to be axed by the government. But its members have agreed to provide “expertise… on an ad hoc basis”, the government says.

Labour’s Tom Watson has previously complained that his attempts to find out what vintages were held had been blocked on commercial grounds by the “arcane organisation” which ran it.

But through a series of parliamentary questions and Freedom of Information requests, he established that the cellar featured high-profile wines from the likes of Chateau Latour, Chateau Lafite, Chateau Margaux and Chateau Mouton Rothschild.

In opposition Lib Dem MP Don Foster suggested the previous government was “living way beyond their means” after it was revealed the cellar contained 39,500 bottles of wine, spirits and liqueurs worth around £792,000.

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

The 50ft ship will be constructed in early July

Pirates – once a familiar sight in Bristol – are set to make a return to the city this summer, complete with a ship.

The Old Vic is to site the 50ft galleon outside the 18th Century theatre building as an open-air stage for a production of Treasure Island.

The theatre has been undergoing major refurbishment for the past four years

The show, staged by the Bristol Ferment company, will run from 7 July to 26 August.

King Street will be closed to traffic during show times.

The harbourside area has many historic connections with piracy, with one pub in the street serving as inspiration for the fictional Admiral Benbow inn in Robert Louis Stevenson’s original novel.

Old Vic artistic director Tom Morris said: “While the theatre itself is being refurbished, we thought we’d build our own ‘New Theatre in King Street’ to stage Treasure Island.

“It will be huge. It will seat 500 people.

“It will be as if a ship had been dragged up the street from the Welsh Back and docked at the front of the building.”

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

Police are investigating reports of a shooting in Bangor, County Down.

It is understood to have taken place in the Clandeboye Road area and is not thought to have involved any members of the security forces.

There are reports that ambulances are at the scene.

There are no further details.

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

The strength of the eurozone economic figures surprised some analysts

The government and Labour have clashed over data showing that the eurozone is growing faster than the UK economy.

The 17-nation eurozone bloc grew 0.8% in the first three months of 2011, with Germany expanding 1.5% and France 1%.

Labour’s shadow chancellor Ed Balls seized on the figures as proof that the UK was now in the economic “slow lane” with growth of 0.5% in the same period.

But a spokesman for the Prime Minister said it was “good news” that Britain’s big export partners were growing.

The strength of the economic data for the 17 countries that use the euro surprised some economists and included a strong 0.8% growth rate from debt-laden Greece.

Mr Balls said: “These figures expose how, since George Osborne’s spending review and VAT rise, Britain’s economy has gone from the economic fast lane to the slow lane.

“As our economy has flatlined with zero growth over the last six months countries like France, Belgium, the Netherlands and even Spain have overtaken us while Germany is powering ahead.”

He said that, like the UK, all these major economies were hit by the global financial crisis and must reduce their deficits.

“But while they are now growing strongly, our recovery has been choked off,” Mr Balls said.

But the Prime Minister’s spokesman said the UK had the largest deficit in the EU with unprecedented public and personal debt, and a banking crisis.

He said: “We have a lot of work to do to rebalance our economy and get it going again, we should welcome the growth in France and Germany.”

France and Germany had broader economic bases and were less reliant on a single sector of the economy, he said.

A Treasury spokesman added: “The government is having to deal with a deficit four times bigger than Germany’s. Our banking bust was matched only by [the Republic of] Ireland. Our housing bust second only to Spain’s.

“But despite this, UK homeowners and small businesses are benefiting from the same low interest rates as in Germany and France.”

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

Three new faces in the Welsh Government cabinet – Lesley Griffiths, John Griffiths and Huw Lewis

Carwyn Jones has announced his team of ministers in the new Welsh Government, including three new cabinet faces.

Wrexham AM Lesley Griffiths is promoted from a deputy minister to health minister, replacing Edwina Hart, who goes to enterprise.

Also promoted to the cabinet are Huw Lewis, who takes over housing, regeneration and heritage, and John Griffiths to environment.

The Welsh Assembly Government has also been renamed the Welsh Government.

The old title had been criticised for blurring the distinction between the assembly as a legislature and the executive.

Leighton Andrews stays on as education minister, Carl Sargeant keeps his job at local government and Jane Hutt remains finance minister.

Mr Jones was re-instated as first minister after leading Labour to victory at last week’s assembly election.

But the party fell one seat short of the outright majority it wanted. Mr Jones has said he will continue talks with opposition parties in a bid to avoid defeats in the Senedd.

A spokesman said the name change would be an “evolutionary process” and the government was conscious of costs.

Three deputy ministers have been appointed: Gwenda Thomas is re-appointed deputy minister for children and social services, Jeff Cuthbert takes responsibility for skills and Alun Davies has been appointed deputy minister for agriculture, food, fisheries and European programmes.

It means the minister in charge of rural affairs and agriculture is not in the cabinet.

Responsibility for policy on the Welsh language will sit with the education minister.

The first minister said: “I am delighted to have appointed such a talented and able team to deliver on our commitments to the people of Wales.

“We will work tirelessly to improve the delivery of public services in Wales and create opportunities for everyone as we fight to protect Wales from the challenging financial and economic situation we are in.

“At the heart of all we do will be our determination to fight for jobs and grow the Welsh economy.”

He added: “Ours is an ambitious, positive vision of the nation we can become. In everything we do we will stand up for Wales and lead our country forward with ambition.”

The counsel general, the government’s chief legal officer, will be announced next week and will be an external appointment, not an AM.

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

Suzanne Mubarak, wife of the ousted Egyptian president, is detained for 15 days pending further investigations into corruption allegations.

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

The ban on cigarette vending machines is now expected to go ahead in October

A legal challenge to a ban on tobacco vending machines in Scotland has been rejected by the Court of Session.

Sinclair Collis Ltd, a firm owned by Imperial Tobacco, had argued that the legislation, passed by MSPs but not yet in force, was against the European Convention on Human Rights.

Lord Doherty rejected that and said enforcing a ban was the competence of the Scottish Parliament.

Tobacco vending machines are now likely to be outlawed from October.

The Scottish Government welcomed the court’s decision and said the new law was a key part of a drive to improve health.

A spokeswoman added: “We robustly defended our proposals to ban cigarette vending machines and are pleased that the Court of Session has today ruled in our favour and that we were successful on the aspects of the case which were before the court.

“Each year in Scotland 15,000 children and young people start smoking and a child who starts smoking at 15 or younger is three times more likely to die of cancer as a result than someone who starts smoking in their mid-20s.

“Evidence shows that many young people obtain cigarettes from vending machines, which is why the Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2010 introduced the ban on cigarette sales from vending machines.”

The Act is also being challenged by Imperial Tobacco over a ban on cigarette displays in shops.

The government announced in January that the display ban for “large retailers” was being delayed beyond October because of the ongoing legal dispute. Small retailers have until 2013.

MSPs backed the proposals in January last year, despite an attempt to block them by the Conservatives.

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

Voters in Zurich will decide in a referendum on Sunday, whether to limit assisted suicide to residents of Zurich and whether to ban the practice altogether.

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

A twin bomb attack targeting a paramilitary force academy in north-western Pakistan has killed at least 69 people, police say.

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