Category: news

Andy Murray will decide on Tuesday whether he is fit to play in Barcelona this week following a scan on his injured elbow.

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Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny has promised a “brand new relationship” with the UK ahead of Downing Street meeting with David Cameron.

He said he would not “waste time” and would work with his UK counterpart to sort out Ireland’s economic problems.

Mr Kenny, who has been in power for five weeks, added it would “be nice” to get a lower rate of interest on the UK’s £3.25bn loan to his country.

And he said most Irish people were looking forward to the Queen’s visit.

She will be the first reigning British monarch to go to Ireland since George V in 1911, when her four-day state visit starts on 17 May.

Mr Kenny said this would “symbolise an end to division” and be the “start of a brand new relationship between our two countries”.

Mr Kenny’s centre-right Fine Gael party came first in February’s general election, three months after the previous government accepted an 85bn euro (£75bn) bail-out from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

It later formed a coalition with the second-placed Labour Party in an effort to deal with the country’s crippling economic crisis.

The UK has also loaned Ireland £3.25bn, with Chancellor George Osborne saying that helping a “friend in need” was in both countries’ interests.

Mr Kenny told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Obviously we are very grateful to our colleagues here in Britain for the bilateral loan that they have made available.”

The Taoiseach is pushing for the 5.8% rate currently being charged by the IMF and EU to be cut.

Asked whether a reduction on the British loan was also being sought, he replied: “That would be nice.”

However, questioned over whether the government could default on its commitments, he said: “We want to make it clear that Ireland wants to pay its way and that Ireland is central to the progress of the European Union.”

Mr Kenny added that he intended to use his UK visit to show that “Ireland is open for business”.

He said: “We are not here to waste time. We are here to explain the British prime minister and our colleagues here in Britain that we want the links that have been developed here for a long time to be strengthened.”

The Queen’s visit will include a ceremony in Dublin’s Garden of Remembrance and a visit to the Taoiseach at Government Buildings.

Amid reports that protests could mar events, Mr Kenny: “We welcome the British Queen and the vast majority of people feel like that.”

Mr Kenny and Mr Cameron will also discuss the murder of Constable Ronan Kerr in Northern Ireland, who was killed by a booby trap car bomb attack outside his home in Omagh, County Tyrone, two weeks ago.

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A woolpacker from Porthmadog has been sentenced to life in jail and must serve a minimum 25 years before parole for the murder of Ffion Wyn Roberts.

Iestyn Davies, 54, was convicted by a 10 to 2 majority verdict after he denied killing the 22-year-old care worker.

The judge at Caernarfon Crown Court described Davies as “very dangerous” and “calculating and devious”.

Ms Roberts’ body was found in a drainage ditch on 10 April last year.

The jury deliberated for 21 and a half hours before reaching a verdict.

Mr Justice Lloyd-Jones told Davies: “I’m sure this murder has a sexual motive which must have increased Ffion’s ordeal.

“You have been found guilty on the clearest and the most compelling evidence”.

“This is a foul crime which involved the wicked taking of a young life”.

The trial heard case against Davies was that he was in Porthmadog town centre early on the morning Ms Roberts was killed.

He was seen on CCTV around 0400 BST, but disappeared from view shortly before Ms Roberts was last seen.

Items of clothing from the dead woman were then linked to him by DNA evidence.

The court heard tracksuit bottoms, a training shoe and Ms Roberts’ handbag were found because they got lodged in the mechanism of sluice gates not far from where her body was found.

Describing Ffion as easy prey because she was drunk, the judge added: “It was a terrible mischance that your paths crossed, on an impulse you saw your chance and you took it.”

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Children at a Lurgan school are being offered screening for tuberculosis after confirmation that a pupil is being treated for the disease.

About 50 pupils who attend St Michael’s Grammar School are being offered the screening on Wednesday.

The Public Health Agency and Southern Health Trust have said the move is “a precautionary measure in line with standard guidance”.

Information has been sent to parents of all the children who attend the school.

Dr Michael Devine, consultant in communicable disease at the PHA, said: “I would like to reassure parents and those who attend the school that children with TB are rarely infectious to others and the risk to pupils and staff at the school is low.

“A number of people who have been in close contact with the patient have been identified and are being offered preliminary screening as a standard precautionary measure.

“This will involve a skin test (Mantoux test) which will be carried out by healthcare professionals from the trust.”

TB is a serious but curable infectious disease which normally affects the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body.

It is usually spread through the air when a patient coughs or sneezes. TB is a difficult infection to catch and usually requires prolonged close contact.

The most common symptoms include:

a persistent cough that gets progressively worse over several weeks;loss of weight for no obvious reason;fever and heavy night sweats;a general and unusual sense of tiredness and being unwell;coughing up blood.

Gerard Adams, principal of St Michael’s, said: “Our first concern is for our student who is currently being treated for TB.

“On behalf of all staff and pupils at the school I would like to send our very best wishes for a speedy recovery.

“We must also look to ensuring the health and wellbeing of all our other pupils and so we have screening taking place as a standard precautionary measure.”

He said the school would make every effort to ensure the screening takes place as quickly as possible with minimal disruption to the school.

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Vietnam is setting up a nature reserve to protect one of the world’s rarest animals – an antelope-like creature called the saola.

It intends to create a 160sq/km (61 sq/mile) area in the central province of Quang Nam for the animal, which is also known as the Asian unicorn.

The existence of the saola was confirmed only two decades ago and sightings are very rare.

Wildlife experts say the reserve could be vital to its survival.

“This decision has brought new hope for the survival of the saola, an animal that is on the brink of extinction in the world,” said Vu Ngoc Tram of conservation group WWF.

There are no saola in captivity and no scientist has ever reported seeing one in the wild. Photographs that do exist have been captured by local villagers and automatic cameras.

In August 2010, villagers across the border in the Laos province of Bolikhamxay caught an adult saola, but it died shortly afterwards.

Pham Thanh Lam, director of Quang Nam’s forest bureau, said the reserve area was home to an estimated 50-60 of the animals.

He said that education campaigns would be carried out to prevent villagers hunting them. Jobs would also be created for local people in the reserve, he said.

“For ethnic minority people, hunting is a way of earning their living,” he told the Associated Press news agency.

“They would not spare the saola, so it’s necessary to create conditions for them to earn their living to minimise hunting for wild animals including saola.”

The reserve is in the Annamite mountains along the Laos border.

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A controversial law firm that tried to get money from computer users by accusing them of illegal file sharing could be hit with massive legal fees.

ACS:Law and its one solicitor, Andrew Crossley, sent thousands of letters threatening recipients with court action if they did not pay out.

Now a judge has ruled that the company may be responsible for wasted costs in the case and ordered a full hearing.

Mr Crossley’s lawyers declined to comment.

The proceedings represent something of a role reversal. Originally the Patents County Court had been asked to hear the cases brought by Mr Crossley’s firm.

After those collapsed, it was decided that he might be liable for costs.

Those could run into thousands of pounds, although that money is likely to be covered by solicitors’ insurance.

ACS:Law had originally teamed-up with a company called MediaCAT, which purported to represent copyright owners, such as film and music producers.

Together they sent letters to around 10,000 people in the UK, alleging that the IP addresses of their computers had been linked to illegal file sharing.

Individuals were given the option of paying £500 or facing court action.

Many of those contacted said they had never engaged in such activity and accused ACS:Law of carrying out a speculative “fishing” exercise.

Mr Crossley eventually brought 26 cases to court, but soon after hearings began he tried to have them dismissed, claiming he had been attacked and received death threats.

Judge Colin Birss QC refused to allow proceedings to stop and accused Mr Crossley of trying to “to avoid judicial scrutiny”.

Soon after, both ACS:Law and MediaCAT were wound-up.

It emerged in court that the two companies had agreed on a profit-sharing model, with ACS:Law receiving 65% of any money recovered.

In his most recent ruling, Mr Birss said that arrangement had “brought the legal profession into disrepute”.

He also branded the now-defunct firm “amateurish and slipshod”.

The court’s decision to press ahead with a hearing on wasted costs was welcomed by lawyers representing those people who received ACS:Law letters.

Michael Forrester, from Ralli Solicitors, said his firm was also planning to pursue claims for harassment against Mr Crossley and urged anyone who was affected to join the action.

“It can be incredibly upsetting for people to receive these letters and they may well have a claim in harassment, so I am urging them to come forward.”

Mr Crossley’s application for permission to appeal was refused. He is also being investigated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

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Sir Ian McKellen has challenged Tate to give its LS Lowry paintings away, saying it rarely hangs them in London.

Sir Ian said it was “a shame verging on the iniquitous” that foreign visitors to the capital should not see them.

Tate owns seven Lowry paintings. It also owns 16 drawings and prints that can be viewed, by appointment, at London’s Tate Britain.

It said it planned to include Lowry paintings as part of Tate Britain’s revamp, due to finish in 2013.

The artist, who died in 1976, is known for his crowd scenes depicting industrial life in the towns of north-west England.

Writing on his website, Sir Ian – who has made a TV programme about the artist – asked: “Why should it matter that the Tate Gallery in London (with its 23 Lowrys) has chosen not to display any of them for many years?

“His popularity needs no official endorsement from the Tate but it is a shame verging on the iniquitous that foreign visitors to London shouldn’t have access to the painter English people like more than most others.”

He said that, in the past, “silly lies have been thrown around – that Lowry was only a Sunday painter, an amateur, untrained, naive.”

“If the Tate feels no responsibility to give the art-viewing public their favourite painters to view, perhaps they could let their stash go elsewhere, pass them on to a gallery like The Lowry, who share their visitors’ tastes,” he added.

The Lowry theatre and gallery complex in Salford is home to about 400 works by the artist.

Sir Ian also suggested that Lowry’s home in Pendlebury, Salford – “still standing, empty, boarded-up and unmarked by a long-overdue blue plaque” – could house the Tate’s collection making “a unique addition” to its “brand of museums”.

Alternatively, he said, Tate could create an international “touring retrospective, with a twist – the exhibits would be for sale”.

Noel Gallagher, meanwhile, who is also featured on Looking for Lowry – to be aired on ITV1 on Sunday – said of the paintings in the collection: “They’re not considered Tateworthy. Or is it just because he is a northerner?”

A spokeswoman for Tate said the last time one of its Lowry paintings had been displayed was in 2005 when Industrial Landscape, 1955, was featured in the Picture of Britain exhibition at Tate Britain.

The same painting had been shown in BP British Art Displays at Tate Britain, from 2000 to 2004.

The work was lent to Nottingham Castle Museum in 1999 and had been displayed at Tate Liverpool before that, the spokeswoman said.

“Tate regularly lends Lowry paintings and is about to lend two paintings, Coming Out of School, 1927, and The Pond, 1950, to an exhibition in the regions,” she said.

The Pond had been lent to The Lowry in 2004 for exhibition The Impossible View and had been shown at Tate Liverpool a year earlier, she added.

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A former soldier has been sentenced to 70 days in prison for setting fire to a copy of Muslim holy book the Koran in the centre of Carlisle.

Andrew Ryan had previously admitted religiously aggravated harassment and theft of a Koran from a library.

The 32-year-old, of Summerhill, said he had been “shocked” watching a Muslim burning a poppy on Remembrance Day.

Shoppers and schoolchildren witnessed the burning, outside the old Town Hall, on 19 January.

Sitting at Carlisle Magistrates’ Court, District Judge Gerald Chalk described it as a case of “theatrical bigotry”.

He said: “It was pre-planned by you as you stole the book deliberately.

“You went out to cause maximum publicity and to cause distress.”

Ryan struggled with security guards in court after the sentence was passed.

While being handcuffed he shouted: “What about my country? What about burning poppies?”

About 10 people were in court to support Ryan, and as they left the court they shouted “do you call this justice?”.

After sentencing, Insp Paul Marshall, of Cumbria Police, said: “This incident was highly unusual for Cumbria as we have such low levels of hate crime in the county.”

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France acted within its rights when it halted trains carrying North African migrants crossing its border from Italy, the European Commission says.

Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem said French officials had cited “public order reasons”.

An EU spokesman also said France was not obliged to grant entry to people with the temporary residency permits given to some migrants by Italy.

Italy complained that the move violated EU rules on the free right to travel.

For those legally living in the 25 countries in the Schengen Area – to which France and Italy belong – no travel documents are required.

Earlier on Monday, the French interior ministry said the rail link between Menton, France and Ventimiglia, Italy, was operating normally.

It said there had been an “isolated problem” caused by hundreds of activists on one train planning an “undeclared demonstration” in France, and posing a problem to public order that was temporary in nature.

“At no time was there a… closing of the border between France and Italy,” spokesman Pierre-Henri Brandet said.

He estimated that up to 10 trains may have been affected by the disruption, five on each side of the France-Italy border.

The statement came after the Italian ambassador in Paris was instructed by Foreign Minister Franco Frattini to lodge a “strong protest” of the blocking of the trains. The ambassador called the move “illegitimate and in clear violation of general European principles”.

While Mr Frattini acknowledged that the activists might have given them a cause of concern, he insisted it was not a “sufficient reason to justify sealing one of the most heavily used and sensitive European borders”.

The migrants had the proper paperwork to enter France, he added.

Italy has been giving temporary residence permits to many of the 26,000 Tunisians who have entered the country illegally to escape the unrest in the region in recent weeks, overwhelming refugee centres. Many have ties to France, and Italy says they should be able to travel there.

France has said it will grant entry to migrants holding the permits only if they can demonstrate that they can support themselves financially.

At a news conference on Monday afternoon, Ms Malmstroem said she had received a letter from France explaining the “temporary” disruption was the result of “public order reasons”.

“It may be that this is not covered by the Schengen border code rules. But it would seem that they had the right to do this,” she said.

EU spokesman Michele Cercone also said the residence permits were not visas, and France was under no obligation to admit people having neither EU visas nor EU passports.

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Norwich and Peterborough building society has been fined £1.4m for mis-selling investments to 3,200 customers.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA), which imposed the fine, said the society had failed to give them suitable advice.

The building society sold high-risk policies provided by the now insolvent Keydata investment firm, which the FSA says were inappropriate.

N&P apologised for the “hardship and anxiety” suffered by its customers.

The society has already agreed to make compensation payments totalling £51m.

“N&P failed in its basic duty to provide suitable advice to its customers, despite an internal compliance report pointing out that there were problems as early as 2007,” said Tracey McDermott, the FSA’s acting enforcement director.

“Firms cannot treat customers fairly unless they pay attention to their financial circumstances and attitude to risk when they make recommendations,” she added.

The problem for N&P customers, and thousands of other people who were sold Keydata polices by independent financial advisers, became evident when Keydata was closed down by the FSA in 2009.

The policies it sold had been based on second-hand life insurance policies bought from elderly people in the US.

The investors would earn a return when those people died and the life insurance policies paid out.

After Keydata’s closure it swiftly emerged that £103m invested by 5,500 people in one set of policies, packaged for Keydata by a Luxembourg firm called SLS, had in fact been stolen in a fraud.

About £350m had been invested by another 23,000 people in another set of Keydata policies.

These polices were packaged for Keydata by another Luxembourg firm called Lifemark.

They stopped paying their expected monthly income and are still at risk while an administrator in Luxembourg tries to rescue Lifemark.

The FSA said the Keydata policies, sold by N&P over a period of three years, were unsuitable for N&P’s customers.

The regulator also revealed for the first time that N&P knew as far back as 2007 that the polices might be unsuitable for its customers but took no action and continued to sell them vigorously.

“N&P failed properly to assess the financial circumstances of many of its customers, designating them as having a higher tolerance of risk than was appropriate,” the FSA said.

“Some customers were moved out of low risk products such as deposit accounts into Keydata investments, putting their income and capital at risk.

“Many of these customers were approaching or already in retirement, and could not afford to lose their money,” the regulator added.

The N&P is now in talks to be taken over by the Yorkshire Building Society and Matthew Bullock, its long-standing chief executive, retired at the end of March.

The collapse of the investment firm has become the biggest problem yet for the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) which has offered compensation to both sets of Keydata investors – SLS and Lifemark.

The management of Keydata is still being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).

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Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye has been arrested near his home after planning to join a fresh protest against rising living costs.

Dr Besigye was also detained last week over a mass “walk to work” against fuel hikes.

He was shot in the hand amid violent clashes between police and supporters of his Forum for Democratic Change.

Dr Besigye lost to President Yoweri Museveni in February’s election but says the poll was rigged.

He has been defeated by Mr Museveni in three presidential elections, gaining 26% to the president’s 68% in February.

On Monday, party and police officials said Dr Besigye had been detained as he set out on his walk to work protest.

He was taken to the Kasangati police station on the outskirts of the capital, Kampala, they said.

The BBC’s Joshua Mmali reports from Kampala that the police station was surrounded by military officers and a small crowd of people.

Dr Besigye has pledged to hold protests every Monday and Thursday, our correspondent says.

But at a press conference on Saturday, President Museveni warned against further demonstrations.

“We made it clear to Besigye that you are not going to demonstrate or to walk,” he said, according to AFP news agency.

“If you want to walk, go somewhere and take a walk.”

Before February’s election, Dr Besigye had called for Egypt-style uprisings in the event of fraud.

The police responded by banning public demonstrations.

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A cat who vanished from his home in New Zealand has been returned – after being found stowed away in a container in Australia.

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Director of Public Prosecutions Kier Starmer QC has told 20 people to appeal against convictions over a protest at a Nottinghamshire power station.

His letter comes after revelations that the protesters had been infiltrated by an undercover police officer.

Mr Starmer said the CPS had reviewed the safety of the convictions in 2010 amid allegations about former Pc Mark Kennedy, the undercover officer.

He said the Court of Appeal should look at the cases as soon as possible.

The 20 protesters contacted by Mr Starmer were convicted in December 2010 of conspiracy to commit aggravated trespass at the massive Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in Nottinghamshire.

The protesters were given community service orders and conditional discharges -and the judge accepted they were “decent men and women” motivated by their fear for the environment.

But a month later, the prosecution of a further six people collapsed when the CPS said that “previously unavailable material” had emerged that undermined the case.

The decision to drop the case came as it emerged that Pc Mark Kennedy, who had infiltrated environmental groups, had offered to help the six.

Following the collapse of the six cases, Mr Starmer asked senior barrister Clare Montgomery QC to review the prosecutions of the 20 who had already been convicted.

In a statement on Monday, Mr Starmer said: “I instructed Ms Montgomery to review the safety of the convictions of the individuals convicted at Nottingham Crown Court on 14 December 2010 in light of non-disclosure of material relating to the activities of an undercover police officer.

“Ms Montgomery has now completed her review and, having carefully considered her conclusions, I believe that the safety of the convictions should be considered by the Court of Appeal as soon as possible.

“The prosecution cannot lodge an appeal to the Court of Appeal save in very limited circumstances, which are not met here, and in my letter I have invited the defence to lodge an appeal and to include the issue of non-disclosure of material relating to the activities of an undercover police officer in any grounds of appeal.

“I have also indicated that the CPS will assist in any steps necessary to expedite the appeal.”

There are two separate reviews into the affair. The first, by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, is looking at the allged failure of Nottinghamshire Police to discose material to the defence. The second, by the Inspectorate of Constabulary, is looking at the wider question of how undercover officers operate.

But Mr Starmer said that despite these reviews, the only proper course of action would be to invite appeals now.

He said: “It would be wrong if, having reached this conclusion [about the convictions], I waited until the reviews were completed before contacting the defence about a possible appeal.”

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UK companies need to start spending some of their spare cash in order to ensure a durable economic recovery, a report says.

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A British man has been killed in Florida, the Foreign Office has said.

The man, who has not been named, apparently received fatal injuries in a shooting in Miami.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We can confirm the death of a British national in Florida on April 16. Next of kin have been informed.”

It is not known if the man was a tourist or an expat living in the southern US state.

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