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Barcelona produce a Champions League masterclass to thrash Shakhtar Donetsk and take a giant step towards the semi-finals.
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Manchester United take a firm grip on the Champions League quarter-final against Chelsea as Wayne Rooney’s winner gives them a crucial first-leg advantage at Stamford Bridge.
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Phil Mickelson will start as hot favourite to defend his title when the 75th Masters begins on Thursday.
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Pc Simon Harwood is giving evidence for a third day The police officer who pushed Ian Tomlinson at the G20 protests in London has been accused of making up “rubbish” and telling lies.
The Tomlinsons’ lawyer said Pc Simon Harwood was denying events clearly visible on video shown to the jury.
Pc Harwood told the inquest into the 47-year-old’s death Mr Tomlinson had not been moving away from the police line with his back turned towards him.
In his statement, he said Mr Tomlinson was “almost inviting” confrontation.
Pc Harwood, part of the Metropolitan Police’s specialist Territorial Support Group (TSG), was caught on film pushing the newspaper seller to the ground in Cornhill, central London, on 1 April 2009. Mr Tomlinson got back to his feet but collapsed and died minutes later.
The inquest jury, in London, watched the video again on Wednesday.
Matthew Ryder QC, for the Tomlinson family, asked Pc Harwood: “Do you agree he had his back to you? We’re all here in this room looking at the video.”
Mr Tomlinson was filmed moments before he died on 1 April 2009 Pc Harwood replied: “No.”
Mr Ryder said: “You’re lying Pc Harwood, I suggest, and you know it.”
To that, Pc Harwood said: “No. I’m just trying to help.”
The officer maintained that “from his angle” it had appeared Mr Tomlinson had not been moving away, which Mr Ryder said was “rubbish” and “absurd”.
Members of Mr Tomlinson’s family walked out in tears after hearing the policeman’s denials.
Pc Harwood who has been giving evidence for three days, has already apologised to the Tomlinson family for “any way” he may be responsible for the death.
He has admitted Mr Tomlinson was no threat to him or his colleagues before he hit him with a baton and pushed him.
Mr Tomlinson, who was not a demonstrator and had been selling newspapers in nearby Fish Street Hill, was on his way home when he encountered the protests.
On Wednesday, the officer was challenged over claims in his statement that the father-of-nine had been inviting the confrontation and his push had been just a “gesture”.
“He (Mr Tomlinson) just looked as if he was going to stay where he was whatever and was almost inviting physical confrontation in terms of being moved on,” the statement said.
Mr Ryder asked: “Is that true, Pc Harwood?”
The officer replied: “Yes”.
Pc Harwood has been told he will not face any criminal prosecutions over what happened – but he is still facing a Met Police misconduct hearing, due to take place after this inquest.
The inquest, which is sitting at the International Dispute Resolution Centre in Fleet Street, is examining the actions of police, the pathologist and independent investigators.
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The Conservatives say they would freeze the tolls on the Severn bridges for car drivers, in an assembly election pledge.
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Mrs Case was stabbed and her two daughters probably smothered, the inquest heard A man suspected of killing his wife and two daughters may have been taking anti-smoking medication with possible anger side effects, an inquest heard.
Andrew Case, 33, was found dead along with wife Vicki, 31, and their two girls Nereya, one, and Phoebe, two, at their home in Fordingbridge, Hampshire.
The inquest heard Mr Case had been prescribed 28 anti-smoking Champix tablets before the deaths last year.
It was told they could have possible depression and anger side effects.
Mr Case was dispensed a further 56 tablets by a chemist on 23 July last year, the day the family had returned from a week-long holiday to Weymouth, Dorset.
The inquest heard the original prescription packet was found empty in the house and only 28 of the extra tablets were found.
Three days after the family returned from the holiday, Mrs Case was found lying on her back on the living room floor with the two girls on either side of her.
She appeared to be embracing the two girls, who have been described by family members as “little angels”, the Southampton inquest heard.
A blanket had been placed over them.
Mrs Case had died of “catastrophic” bleeding caused by two large knife wounds to her neck and chest and the two girls had probably been smothered, the inquest heard.
Mr Case was found hanging on the staircase of the semi-detached house, which was neat with no signs of disturbance.
Their bodies were found by Mrs Case’s mother Linda Haskell, 57, who went around to the house when she had not been able to contact the family since the Saturday.
Mrs Haskell ran from the scene shouting “They’re all dead – my babies are dead”, alerting neighbours who contacted police.
The inquest continues.
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The two victims of the air strike have not yet been named The Sudanese government says Israel carried out an air strike on a car near the city of Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast which killed its two passengers.
Earlier, police said a missile had probably come from the direction of the Red Sea. Some sources suggest two helicopters could have been involved.
The car, said to be a Hyundai Sonata, was hit about 15km (nine miles) south of Port Sudan on Tuesday.
There was no immediate word on the identity of the two victims.
The accusation against Israel was made by Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ali Ahmad Karti on Wednesday.
“We have indications that the attack was carried out by Israel. We are absolutely sure of this,” Mr Karti told reporters in the capital Khartoum. He was quoted by the AFP news agency.
So far no-one has claimed to have carried out the attack.
Reports of the incident are contradictory and much remains speculation.
Nonetheless it looks as though this attack could be one more reminder of the shadowy war that is being waged along Sudan’s Red Sea coast. The intelligence-gathering is constant. Engagements though are few and far between.
The struggle pits the Israeli military against well-organised arms smugglers seeking to get weaponry into the Gaza Strip.
Of course Israel is not the only country potentially responsible for the missile attack. The US too on occasion has fired missiles at alleged terror targets in Sudan.
But this attack against individuals who were clearly considered specific targets suggests a complex intelligence-driven operation. It could well have countering arms-smuggling as its goal.
“We heard three loud explosions,” a source at Port Sudan airport told Reuters news agency.
“Eyewitnesses told us they saw two helicopters which looked like Apaches flying past.”
The car had been travelling into the city from the airport, one Sudanese official said.
In 2009 the Sudanese authorities said a convoy of arms smugglers was hit by unidentified aircraft in Sudan’s eastern Red Sea state.
There was speculation at the time that the strike may have been carried out by Israel to stop weapons bound for Gaza.
The then Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, appeared to give credence to an Israeli hand in that attack, saying “we operate everywhere where we can hit terror infrastructure – in close places and in places further away”.
Israel has not commented on the latest incident.
The BBC’s James Copnall in Sudan says Hamas, the group which controls the Gaza Strip, is on good terms with Khartoum.
There has been an uneasy peace in eastern Sudan for several years, following one of Sudan’s many civil wars.
But the region is very underdeveloped, even by Sudanese standards, and there are fears about increased illegal activity there, our correspondent says.
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President Obama met with House Speaker John Boehner on Tuesday to discuss the budget Talks are intensifying on Capitol Hill as congressional negotiators attempt to reach an agreement over federal spending cuts in order to avoid a looming government shutdown.
Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer said on Wednesday “a glimmer of hope” existed following late-night talks.
But without a budget deal, parts of the US government will shut down on Friday.
The White House said President Barack Obama could hold a second meeting with lawmakers on Wednesday.
House Speaker John Boehner and Mr Obama met on Tuesday in an effort to craft a budget deal that could cut $33bn (£20bn) from this year’s budget against last year’s spending levels and ensure the government does not shut down when the most recent stop-gap measure expires at midnight on Friday.
In remarks after that meeting, Mr Obama said his administration and House Republicans were closer than they had ever been to coming to an agreement.
The White House was said on Wednesday morning to be assessing any progress lawmakers made during late-night talks between Senate Democrats and House Republicans before holding a second meeting on Wednesday.
Mr Schumer, the Senate’s number three Democrat, told US media on Wednesday morning that “some progress was made” in negotiations with House Republicans on Tuesday.
“We’ve met the other side more than half way” at $33bn (£20bn) in proposed cuts, he added.
Negotiations have stalled over legislation to fund the day-to-day operations of US federal agencies to the end of the fiscal year on 30 September.
Republicans, urged on by the anti-government Tea Party movement, are calling for far greater spending cuts than Democrats are willing to concede.
Meanwhile, Democrats have accused Republicans of linking social policy agendas to the bill, and say the size of the cuts Republicans demand would hinder the nascent US economic recovery.
Mr Obama is scheduled to head to the state of Pennsylvania for a town hall meeting on energy security on Wednesday at 1230 local time (1730GMT).
But a meeting with “Congressional leaders on the budget is still possible,” White House spokesman Dan Pfeiffer said in a message on the micro-blogging website Twitter.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Police in Northern Ireland investigating the murder of Constable Ronan Kerr have arrested a man in Scotland over a significant arms find.
Mr Kerr, 25, was killed when a car bomb exploded in Omagh on Saturday.
Police have said the arrest is linked to a “very significant arms” find in the Coalisland area of east Tyrone.
The weapons included four rifles, detonators, component parts for rocket launchers and explosives including what may be the plastic explosive Semtex.
Speaking at a press conference at police head quarters in Belfast Assistant Chief Constable Drew Nelson said the man was arrested in West Dunbartonshire and brought back to Northern Ireland.
He said the weapons were found inside stolen cars in a garage at Mountjoy Road in Coalisand.
ACC Nelson said the find was “the most significant in recent years”.
Police said the items were being “fast-tracked for forensic examination” and formed one line of inquiry in the Ronan Kerr murder investigation.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Troops loyal to Alassane Ouattara have surrounded the presidential residence Forces opposed to Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo have launched a final assault on the presidential residence where he is holed up.
Mr Gbagbo has been in negotiations with the UN over the terms of his departure, after being besieged by troops loyal to his rival Alassane Ouattara.
A French government source said gunfire had erupted at Mr Gbagbo’s residence in Abidjan.
Mr Gbagbo insists he won last November’s run-off vote.
But the Ivorian election commission found that Mr Ouattara was the winner – a result certified by the UN.
Mr Gbagbo and his family are believed to be sheltering in the bunker of the presidential residence, which was controlled by his troops.
Two days of heavy fighting stopped late on Tuesday and negotiations with Mr Gbagbo carried on throughout the night.
But by Wednesday morning it appeared the patience of pro-Ouattara forces had run out.
“We are going to get Laurent Gbagbo out of his hole and hand him over to the president of the Republic,” said Sidiki Konate, spokesman of Mr Ouattara’s prime minister, Guillaume Soro.
Laurent Gbagbo, cornered in a presidential bunker and faced with the defection of his generals, had been trying to negotiate his way out of trouble.
His surrender seemed imminent. “I want to live,” he told French television.
But over the past few hours we have heard the boom of heavy artillery in the city and confirmation that Mr Gbagbo’s residence is being stormed.
A negotiated ending might have helped ease tensions in this bitterly divided country. Now there is the risk of greater instability.
Civilians still trapped in Abidjan say there has been sporadic gunfire across the city with pro-Gbagbo militias still on the streets and growing fears of revenge killings.
Affousy Bamba, a spokeswoman for troops backing Mr Ouattara, told Reuters news agency: “Yes they [Ouattara forces] are in the process of entering the residence to seize Gbagbo.
“They have not taken him yet, but they are in the process, they are in the building.”
A spokesman for Mr Ouattara said fighters had been given strict instructions not to harm Mr Gbagbo.
The BBC’s Andrew Harding near Abidjan says the UN wants Mr Gbagbo to leave unharmed in order not to destabilise the country further. Mr Gbagbo still has strong support, having won 46% of the vote in the election, he adds.
Mr Gbagbo had earlier denied he was surrendering, saying he was only negotiating a truce.
“I won the election and I’m not negotiating my departure,” he said.
“I find it absolutely incredible that the entire world is playing this… game of poker.”
The BBC’s John James outside Abidjan says with most of Mr Gbagbo’s forces having laid down their arms it is not clear how much resistance pro-Ouattara forces will face.
It feels like it is the “endgame” for Mr Gbagbo, he says.
French armed forces chief Adm Edouard Guillaud told Europe 1 radio that Mr Gbagbo had twice been on the point of stepping down – on 1 April and 4 April – before pulling back.
He said Mr Gbagbo had “no other choice” than surrender.
On Monday pro-Ouattara fighters launched a “final assault” and UN and French helicopters attacked Mr Gbagbo’s military installations in Abidjan saying its aim was to protect civilians.
Following Tuesday’s ceasefire, the city passed a largely quiet night, apart from shootings blamed on gangs, but its population of four million remained indoors.
Civilians told the BBC they were very scared. Small groups have been walking out of the city with their hands raised in the air.
In other developments, the EU imposed fresh sanctions on Mr Gbagbo on Wednesday, banning the purchase of bonds from his “illegitimate government”.
Last November’s election was intended to reunite Ivory Coast which split in two following a northern rebellion in 2002.
The electoral commission pronounced Mr Ouattara the victor, but Ivory Coast’s Constitutional Council said Mr Gbagbo had won.
The US, the UN and the EU recognised Mr Ouattara as the winner, but both candidates had themselves sworn in as president and a stand-off ensued.
Skirmishes and battles between the rival forces have since taken place across Ivory Coast culminating in Mr Ouattara’s troops sweeping into Abidjan at the end of March.
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Maxwell Cook denies trying to poison pupils and staff at the school A jury has retired to consider its verdict in the trial of a kitchen porter accused of pouring drain unblocker into soup at a public school.
Maxwell Cook, 58, of Northamptonshire, denies trying to administer poison with intent to injure or annoy at Stowe School in Buckinghamshire.
A trainee chef told Aylesbury Crown Court she had seen him put the substance in on 11 March last year.
Mr Cook said he had walked past the soup but merely looked at the food.
About 100 pupils and staff could have eaten the soup if it had been served, the court has been told.
But the presence of the noxious substance was detected during a routine tasting, the jury heard.
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Honda has just resumed manufacturing at its Japanese plants Honda is to halve production at its factory in Swindon from Monday because of a shortage of parts coming from Japan.
Honda said that the 3,000 workers would remain on full pay.
It was confident that the 22,500 fewer cars that would be built as a result could be made up by the year end.
Many carmakers have struggled because of shutdowns to plants affected by the earthquake and tsunami in north east Japan.
Honda has just resumed manufacturing at its Japanese plants, but has now said that production of component parts and vehicles would only be at 50% of the planned level.
It announced last month that it would resume production and shipment of component parts in Japan on 4 April and resume car production at its plants at Suzuka and Sayama on 11 April.
The company said that the vast majority of the parts used in Swindon are made in Europe.
“Dwindling supplies of components will inflict huge damage everywhere.”
It added that its flexible working policy would allow it to make up for the lost production later in the year using “banked hours”.
“Thanks to a working-time agreement Unite negotiated in 2009, there will be no loss of earnings for the workforce while the company cuts production,” said Jim D’Avila, regional officer for the Unite union.
The Swindon plant has the capacity to make 250,000 vehicles a year.
Other carmakers, such as Toyota and Nissan, are understood to be facing similar parts shortages to Honda.
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Liverpool are hit by a double injury blow to defenders Daniel Agger and Glen Johnson.
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The show will continue to be made by production company Endemol Reality TV show Big Brother will return to TV screens later this year after Channel 5 signed a two-year deal with its creator, Endemol.
The series will begin with a celebrity version in the summer followed immediately by another featuring members of the public.
The show was axed in 2009 by Channel 4, which broadcast the final series last August.
Channel 5 said it was “hugely excited” to have secured the deal.
The new series will be continue to be filmed at its original home of Elstree Film Studios in Hertfordshire.
Channel 5 said Big Brother would form “a key part” of its TV schedule.
“The series has previously captivated a decade of television viewers and we aim to bring Channel 5’s energy, optimism and vibrancy to the series,” said Jeff Ford, Channel 5’s director of programmes.
Presenter Davina McCall has previously ruled out returning to host the show.
Speaking at the National Television Awards in January, she said: “I think Big Brother has got legs and any channel that picks it up would be a very lucky channel but I don’t think I’ll go back to it. I think I’ve said goodbye.”
The show, which had been broadcast by Channel 4 since it began in the UK in 2000, was dropped after director of television Kevin Lygo said the show “had reached a natural end point”.
Big Brother had suffered from falling ratings in recent years – the final of the last series, which also featured the launch of Ultimate Big Brother, was watched by an average of 4.1 million people, compared with an audience high of eight million in 2002.
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The new peace plan would see a two-state solution and address the issue of Palestinian refugees. A group of former Israeli security chiefs and politicians have presented a proposal to restart stalled peace talks with the Palestinians.
They are hoping it will put pressure on the Israeli prime minister to act.
More than 50 prominent Israelis back the informal plan, which they say is based on a 2002 Arab initiative.
They include former heads of the national intelligence agency, Mossad, the Shin Bet domestic security agency, and the military.
Other signatories are academics and business leaders.
The proposal would see Israel agree to a Palestinian state in almost all of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem with border adjustments so it could keep key settlements.
It would give possible financial compensation to Palestinian refugees. A small number might be allowed to return to their former family homes in Israel.
A similar formula has been offered in formal and informal frameworks before, without leading to an agreement.
At a news conference in Tel Aviv, Yacov Peri, a former head of Shin Bet, told the BBC he and the other signatories felt the Israeli government needed to be pushed to break the deadlock.
Former Shin Bet chief Yacov Peri and other backers of the plan want to put pressure on Mr Netanyahu “We are considered peace refuseniks, frozen, without initiative,” he said. “Israel is strong and talented and it’s time to talk to take our future in our hands.”
Mr Peri said the current upheaval in the Arab world and a plan to ask the United Nations General Assembly to recognise an independent Palestinian state within 1967 borders required an Israeli response.
The Palestinians want a state covering all the West Bank and Gaza, with Arab East Jerusalem as their capital as well as a settlement of the refugee issue.
Their officials have broadly welcomed the new initiative, but say they want to examine the complete text.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been shown a copy of the plan but his spokesman, Ofir Gendelman, gave a cautious response.
“We welcome all offers by Israelis to end the conflict. However the guidelines of a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians are known,” Mr Gendelman said.
The US and Israeli presidents discussed the implications of Arab uprisings. “A future Palestinian state would be based in Gaza and the West Bank. A deal should result from negotiations and not dictations as the 2002 Arab initiative was.”
Mr Netanyahu has agreed to the principle of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. However US-brokered talks collapsed in September in a dispute over continued settlement building in the occupied West Bank.
This week the US and the European Union criticised an Israeli plan to build more than 900 homes in the settlement of Gilo in East Jerusalem.
On Tuesday US President Barack Obama spoke of the need to end the deadlock in peace talks when he met Israeli President Shimon Peres at the White House.
“With the winds of change blowing through the Arab world, it’s more urgent than ever that we try to seize the opportunity to create a peaceful solution between Palestinians and Israelis,” Mr Obama said.
However he did not suggest any new initiative to bring the two sides together.
There is also pressure from the Israeli opposition.
“The current government has wasted the last two years,” Shaul Mofaz, a leading parliamentarian from the Kadima party told reporters. “The ‘do-nothing policy’ is very dangerous.”
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