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Andy Murray makes an unconvincing start to his Madrid Open campaign as he beats Gilles Simon 6-4 3-6 6-0 in the second round.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Mr Kouzaris and his university friend Mr Cooper were shot dead in a housing estate A 16-year-old boy has been charged with murdering two British tourists in Florida.
Shawn Tyson was arrested over the murders of James Cooper and James Kouzaris in Sarasota, in April.
He has been charged as an adult on two counts of first degree murder. The trial is expected within the next 18 months.
Mr Cooper, 25, of Warwick, and Mr Kouzaris, 24, of Northampton, were shot dead in in the Newtown area.
The authorities in Florida had previously admitted they were wrong to release Shawn Tyson after a previous offence, hours before he allegedly shot and killed the two friends, who were on holiday in the area.
He had been held after shots were fired at a car on 7 April and a judge said he was concerned the boy posed a danger to the public.
His warning was not passed on to a second judge who released him on 15 April.
Mr Cooper and Mr Kouzaris were killed a day later.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
The dispute is over the sacking of two drivers Union bosses have revealed details of a series of Tube strikes due to start in less than two weeks.
Tube drivers voted in favour of industrial action in a row over the sacking of two colleagues.
The Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) union said the first walkout was planned for 16 May, with another five before the end of June.
Transport for London (TfL) has previously denied the two drivers were unfairly dismissed.
The RMT has instructed drivers who are members of the union not to turn up for shifts on six periods in May and June.
The walkouts are planned for between nine and 24 hours from Monday 16 May to Friday 20 May and again from Monday 13 June to Friday 17 June.
RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said: “It is the abject failure of London Underground (LU) to recognise that their policy of victimisation of union activists has been well and truly rumbled… that has left us with no choice but to name these dates for strike action.”
He said LU should “accept they have been found out, get these drivers back to work doing the job that they are being paid to do and bring an end to the constant harassment of union activists whose only crime is fighting cuts to jobs and safety.”
The RMT said almost two-thirds of its members voted in favour of industrial action over claims Eamon Lynch and Arwyn Thomas were sacked because of their trade union activities.
Both men have taken a case of unfair dismissal to an employment tribunal.
TfL has described it as “absolute nonsense” to suggest the two men were dismissed unfairly due to their union activities.
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Mahmoud Abbas (R) will still have deep differences to resolve with Hamas The leaders of the two main Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas, are due to sign a reconciliation pact in Cairo aimed at ending their four-year rift.
Mahmoud Abbas and Khaled Meshaal have not met since the expulsion of Fatah from Gaza in 2007 following the shock Hamas election victory a year earlier.
The agreement paves the way for a joint interim government ahead of national elections next year.
The recent Arab uprisings have given fresh momentum to reconciliation.
Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had been wary of bolstering Hamas, but the new Cairo government has adopted a less hostile stance towards the Islamist group.
Correspondents say it is a first sign of how political changes in the Arab world could affect the dynamic of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
When the two rival Palestinian leaders appear in Cairo later today to sanction this agreement, they will carry with them the hopes of millions of Arabs for an end to the infighting that has so weakened the Palestinian cause, says the BBC’s Jonathan Head in Cairo.
The first step after the agreement goes into effect is to form an interim government of technocrats whose task will be to work on reconciliation and prepare for new elections.
Leading members of Hamas and Fatah will stay out of this government for now.
But there are deep differences yet to be resolved, over whether to recognise and negotiate with Israel, and over how to share security in Gaza and the West Bank, our correspondent says.
The move has angered Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has said the Palestinian Authority must choose either to make peace with Israel or with Hamas.
The Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, which runs parts of the West Bank, and Hamas, which governs Gaza, have been divided for more than four years.
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The jury in the insider trading trial of hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam will have to restart deliberations after a juror is dismissed.
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Ms Bow was found dead at a flat in Glasgow’s Thornwood area last October A man who admitted murdering his partner just weeks after he had been banned from going near her has been jailed for a minimum of 17 years.
Raymond Cartwright, 41, stabbed Alyson Bow to death, following a row at a flat in Thornwood, Glasgow, in October.
The High Court in Glasgow heard the father-of-three had been ordered to keep away from the 45-year-old former nurse after allegedly threatening her.
Judge Lord Brodie imposed a mandatory life sentence on Cartwright.
He said the murder was “particularly grave” given claims by Cartwright’s QC that he was besotted with Ms Bow and had planned to marry her.
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A policeman is killed during an attack in northern Turkey, staged within hours of a visit by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish media say.
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Mr Murwanashyaka, 47, has lived in Germany for 20 years, having studied in the western city of Bonn Two Rwandan Hutu leaders face trial in Stuttgart accused of masterminding atrocities in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) from Germany, in the first trial of its kind.
Ignace Murwanashyaka, head of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), and his deputy Straton Musoni, face 26 counts of crimes against humanity and 39 of war crimes.
They are accused of ordering militias to commit mass murder and rape between January 2008 and the date of their arrest in Germany in November 2009.
The case is the first to be brought under a new German law that allows the prosecution of foreigners for crimes allegedly committed outside Germany.
A third suspect, Callixte Mbarushimana, who had been living in France, has been extradited to face trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The UN has hailed the trial as a breakthrough after repeated calls by the Security Council to bring FDLR commanders living abroad to justice.
“This cooperative burden-sharing in prosecuting individuals for serious international crimes will greatly advance the fight against impunity,” said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in January.
April-June 1994: Genocide of Tutsis in RwandaJune 1994: Paul Kagame’s Tutsi rebels take power in Rwanda, Hutus flee into Zaire (DR Congo)Rwanda’s army enters eastern Zaire to pursue Hutu fighters1997: Laurent Kabila’s AFDL, backed by Rwanda, takes power in KinshasaTimeline: DR Congo UN urges action over Congo rapes
“Legal action against FDLR leaders also reinforces efforts to demobilise and repatriate FDLR fighters, which would significantly contribute to stabilising the eastern DRC.”
Mr Murwanashyaka, 47, has lived in Germany for 20 years, having studied in the western city of Bonn before being offered asylum and settling in Mannheim in the southwest. He is married to a German woman.
Mr Musoni, 49, has lived in Germany since 1994, and has been Mr Murwanashyaka’s deputy since 2004.
The FDLR was established by men accused of taking part in the Rwandan genocide of 1994 who later set up in DRC.
It is now one of the most powerful rebel forces operating in eastern DR Congo, where it is believed to make millions of dollars a year by controlling mines rich in gold and other minerals and extorting money from local people.
An unusual group, the stated aim of the ethnic Hutu rebels is to overthrow the ethnic Tutsi-dominated government in the Rwandan capital Kigali, says the BBC’s International Development correspondent, Mark Doyle.
But in practice the rebels have only rarely infiltrated Rwanda since the Hutu army that organised the 1994 genocide of Tutsis was defeated and chased into DRC.
Callixte Mbarushimana is accused of ordering atrocities from exile in Paris The Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front came to power in Rwanda after the 1994 genocide, when many FDLR members fled across the border, sparking years of unrest in the region.
The FDLR’s top leadership was based in Germany and France but maintained control in DRC through an organised hierarchy of military officers and men.
ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said earlier this year that the prosecution of FDLR leaders “will provide the opportunity to demobilise this armed group”.
A 1998-2003 conflict in DR Congo is estimated to have caused the deaths of five million people.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
West Midlands Police officers who have been forcibly retired due to budget cuts have been invited to return to policing and work for free.
Officers made redundant by West Midlands Police have been sent letters inviting them to apply to be Special Constables – volunteer police officers.
The officers left under regulation A19 through which police with 30 years service can be forced to retire.
A spokesman for the force said the idea had come from a retired officer.
He said: “West Midlands Police were approached by an officer who was retiring under A19 and rejoining as a Special Constable.
“He wished to write to his colleagues to ask them to consider remaining as a Special Constable on retirement.
“Retiring officers can offer unique skills and experience which could benefit our communities if they are interested in volunteering as a Special Constable.
“It was a bit of a kick in the teeth really.”
Martin Heard Former police officer
“West Midlands Police will support officers retiring under A19 who wish to consider this option.”
The police authority has previously said it expects to lose 649 officers over the next four years through forced retirement under regulation A19 of the Police Pensions Regulations 1987 where their retention would “not be in the general interests of efficiency”.
Former police officers who have received the letters have expressed shock at the suggestion they should consider returning to work for free.
Martin Heard, who was forced to retire at the end of March after 32 years with the force, said he received a letter two weeks after leaving.
“I had a letter through the post asking me if I’d consider coming back and doing the same role as a special constable, as a volunteer,” he said.
He added: “I was shocked. On the one hand they’re saying they don’t need me, and then they’re asking me to come back in the same role.”
Mr Heard, whose work in the All Saints area of Wolverhampton earned him the “Copper’s Copper” award last October, now plans to start work as a delivery driver for a catering company in his home town of Bromsgrove.
He said he was “devastated” at being forced to leave the force.
“It was a bit of a kick in the teeth really,” he said.
Tony Fisher, who was forced to retire as a detective specialising in tackling robbery, said the cost-cutting move was a “slap in the face” after 33 years in the force.
The former detective constable is among hundreds affected by the plan as part of efforts to save tens of millions of pounds in the wake of government spending cuts.
“I was a detective for 26 years and I just don’t see how that role fits in any way as a special constable,” he said.
“It’s a bit of a slap in the face to get rid of you and then say ‘do you want to come back for nothing’. It was adding salt to the wounds.”
But he added that the force was “between a rock and a hard place”.
At least 13 police authorities have so far chosen to implement regulation A19.
But Britain’s most senior police officer, Scotland Yard commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson, has described the provision as a “horribly blunt tool” which he “hopes” not to use.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
A court in Bangladesh sentences 11 people to life imprisonment for gang raping a female school student during post-election violence in 2001.
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Mr Ocampo says there is reason to believe 500-700 Libyan protesters were killed in February alone The chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court has said there are reasonable grounds to charge forces loyal to Libya’s Col Muammar Gaddafi with crimes against humanity.
In a report, Luis Moreno-Ocampo said charges could include murder, unlawful detention, torture and persecution.
Mr Ocampo said shooting at peaceful protesters by security forces had been systematic.
Col Gaddafi has been fighting an anti-government uprising for two months.
The prosecutor, who was authorised by the UN Security Council to investigate alleged abuses in Libya, noted there were credible estimates of between 500 and 700 people killed in February alone.
He said he plans to submit his first application for arrest warrants in the next few weeks.
The warrants will apparently focus on the initial clampdown against protesters, but it does not reveal who he plans to indict.
The report noted that these alleged crimes are said to be committed on the instructions of only a few people at the top, raising the prospect that Col Gaddafi and members of his inner circle may be charged.
Mr Ocampo said there is also relevant information that war crimes were committed once the situation developed into armed conflict, such as intentional attacks against non-combatants and the apparent use of cluster bombs.
The prosecutor’s office is also continuing investigations into serious allegations of rape, and reports that angry mobs in the rebel-held Libyan city of Benghazi killed dozens of Africans thought to be mercenaries.
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Activists say security forces are conducting mass arrests in Deraa Tanks are heading for the central Syrian city of Homs, local activists say, after anti-government protests were held there last night.
Some 1,000 people chanted slogans in support of the southern city of Deraa, where troops are rounding up hundreds of men in house-to-house raids.
Around the country, 2,843 people are confirmed as detained. Campaigners say the total could be 8,000 and that some have been subjected to torture.
The US calls the crackdown “barbaric”.
Rights groups say about 560 people have been killed across the country in protests against the repressive rule of President Bashar al-Assad.
The government says that the demonstrators are militant criminals and not – as evidence from the ground suggests – ordinary civilians calling for political reform.
The protests, which began on 15 March, pose the most serious challenge to four decades of rule by the Assad family in one of the Arab world’s most repressive and tightly controlled countries.
Foreign journalists are barred from Syria, and reports cannot be verified.
Activists in Homs have told the BBC that security forces had fanned out inside the city, and that army tanks were heading towards it.
The deployment in Homs comes a day after Syrian tanks and troops reportedly surrounded the nearby coastal city of Baniyas.
Deraa, the southern city where the protests kicked off in mid-March, has been under siege since the weekend.
On Wednesday, there were fresh reports of gunfire and more arrests of men aged between 15 and 40. More than 800 protesters have so far been rounded up in Deraa alone.
The army is still not allowing anyone into the city, and supplies of food and medicine are running low, residents say. Communication lines are still down, but electricity has been restored in most areas, they add.
On Tuesday, US state department spokesman Mark Toner said the use of tanks, arbitrary arrests and power cuts in Deraa was “quite barbaric and amounts to the collective punishment of innocent civilians”.
The authorities say they have found rebel arms caches in Deraa. But the protesters insist their movement is entirely peaceful.
Despite the government crackdown, Syrians are continuing to protest in several cities and towns.
In the capital, students at Damascus University staged a sit-in at the faculty of economics.
They have issued a statement condemning “the massacres, killings and the arrests committed against peaceful demonstrators.”
On Tuesday, a late-night demonstration by 1,000 students at Aleppo University – in Syria’s second city – was broken up by security forces using tear gas and firing live bullets, reliable sources say.
No injuries were reported, but dozens of students are being arrested, their mobile phones and laptops confiscated, the sources say.
Syrian men carry bread loaves during a protest in Baniyas on Tuesday More vigils and protests are planned in the coming days.
Amnesty International, and many of the protesters themselves, say the detainees are subjected to beatings and torture.
“The use of unwarranted lethal force, arbitrary detention and torture appear to be the desperate actions of a government that is intolerant of dissent and must be halted immediately,” Amnesty official Philip Luther said.
Last week hundreds of members of Mr Assad’s ruling Baath Party resigned in protest at the crackdown.
European nations have called for sanctions against the regime of President Assad. Washington has already tightened its sanctions against senior Syrian officials.
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Britain’s Andy Murray takes on Frenchman Gilles Simon in the second round of the Madrid Open.
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A group of “cornerstone investors” will take a 31% stake in Glencore Commodities trading giant Glencore has priced its public offering at between 480p and 580p per share, giving it a mid-point valuation of $61bn (£36.5bn).
The flotation will be London’s largest and make paper billionaires of some Glencore executives.
A group of key investors, reportedly to include the emirate of Abu Dhabi, are taking a 31% stake in the firm.
Glencore, the world’s largest commodities trader, has been a private firm since its creation 37 years ago.
The Swiss-based company, which will also list its shares in Hong Kong, said in a statement that it would raise gross proceeds of approximately $10bn from the share flotation.
This will boost the company’s firepower for deals at a time when commodities prices are booming on the back of strong demand.
A group of cornerstone investors have agreed to take a combined 31% stake in the business.
The Financial Times newspaper reported that Abu Dhabi’s Aabar, part of the emirate’s International Petroleum Investment Company, was set to become the biggest investor after Glencore executives.
BlackRock and Fidelity were also said to be taking large stakes.
Ivan Glasenberg, Glencore’s chief executive, is the firm’s largest shareholder.
John Meyer, an analyst at Fairfax, said Glencore and its advisers appeared to have reduced the value of the float to ensure that its shares got off to good start when trading began.
“We expect it to be a successful float. It’s well-backed by some very high-profile cornerstone investors,” he said.
But he added: “It’s difficult to have expectations with a group that is as secretive as Glencore, although they are revealing more.”
Last month, Glencore announced the appointment of Simon Murray as chairman.
Former BP boss Lord Browne had pulled out of the job at the eleventh hour.
Glencore employs about 57,500 people across more than 40 countries, and had net income of $3.8bn on revenues of $145bn last year.
It trades metals and minerals, as well as energy and agricultural products, and has benefited from the recent growth in demand for commodities, especially from China.
The final pricing of the shares is expected to be announced on or around 19 May.
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Police investigating the killing of Cardiff teenager Aamir Siddiqi a year ago arrest a man on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder.
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