The tram project is behind schedule and over budget
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First Minister Alex Salmond has given his backing to a public inquiry into the handling of the Edinburgh trams project.
His comments came after it was revealed that it would cost about £750m to cancel the project – more than £200m over the original budget of £545m.
Mr Salmond said some parties would have more to fear from an inquiry than others.
SNP MSPs have always opposed the controversial project.
An Edinburgh City Council report on the trams is due to be revealed on Thursday afternoon, but some of the figures were leaked a day early.
It is understood that the report estimates it would cost £700m to build the line from Edinburgh Airport to Haymarket, west of the city centre, and £770m to complete the route to St Andrew Square in the city centre.
Councillors will decide the fate of the project at a meeting next week.
The original budget of £545m had been the figure for running the line through the city centre and on to Newhaven in the north of the city.
A contractual dispute between the tram company Tie and contractors Bilfinger Berger pushed the project over budget and behind schedule.
Mediation talks are understood to still be under way after the initial meetings between Tie and Bilfinger Berger were held in Glasgow in March.
In May, a report published by Edinburgh City Council said work so far had cost £440m – about 80% of the original budget – with huge sections of the line still to be completed.
Edinburgh councillors ordered a report to be written by officials into the estimated costs of scrapping the tram project.
A full council meeting will be held on Thursday 30 June to decide the future of the scheme.
When the news was leaked on Wednesday, Andrew Burns, Edinburgh City Council’s Labour leader, also called for a public inquiry into the tram project.
An Edinburgh City Council spokeswoman said: “The costs associated with the various options for phase one of the tram project are still subject to commercial negotiations and legal scrutiny.
“In accordance with the outcomes of the mediation process in March, we cannot publicly divulge these figures until both parties have agreed to do so.
“Members are, therefore, being given this confidential information to help them make informed decisions at next week’s council meeting and we will ask them not to disclose this to ensure we comply with the mediation process.”
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The US is to release 30 million barrels of oil from its strategic petroleum reserve as part of a global effort to reduce disruption to oil supplies.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu said the release of oil was in response to supply disruptions caused by unrest in the Middle East and North Africa.
Officials said the US reserve was currently at a historically high level.
US fuel prices have risen steeply during 2011, increasing domestic pressure on President Barack Obama.
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Ministers have announced plans for the next generation of UK nuclear plants.
The government confirmed a list of eight sites deemed suitable for new power stations by 2025, all of which are adjacent to existing nuclear sites.
The sites are: Bradwell, Essex; Hartlepool; Heysham, Lancashire; Hinkley Point, Somerset; Oldbury, South Gloucestershire; Sellafield, Cumbria; Sizewell, Suffolk; and Wylfa, Anglesey.
The announcement comes three months after the Fukushima disaster in Japan.
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The man was taken to hospital but later died
A suspected burglar has been stabbed to death while apparently trying to break into a house in Greater Manchester.
It is understood the man was attempting to get into a house in Ethel Avenue, Salford, on Wednesday night when the householder tried to defend the house.
The man, 26, is believed to have been carried away by other members of a balaclava-clad gang as they fled.
Three people – the householder, his son and son’s girlfriend – have been arrested.
Police have put up a 100m cordon around the terrace house in Pendlebury, which backs on to open scrubland.
Greater Manchester Police said the investigation was still in its early stages and further details would be released later.
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Western diplomats say a blast that seriously injured Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh was caused by a bomb planted in his palace.
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Hundreds of Syrian refugees are fleeing across the border into Turkey to escape an assault by Syrian troops in the area, witnesses say.
Snipers and tanks have been spotted in the village of Khirbet al-Jouz, close to makeshift refugee camps.
Several hundred people broke through barbed wire to get into Turkish territory early on Thursday.
More than 1,300 people are estimated to have been killed in the government crackdown on the popular uprising.
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The consortium behind plans for a new nuclear power station on Anglesey welcomes a UK government approval of the site.
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McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh says Lewis Hamilton is determined to come back stronger in this weekend’s European Grand Prix following two disappointing races.
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The COI was behind memorable public information films such as “Charley says”
The government is to close its Central Office of Information (COI) with the loss of up to 400 jobs.
The agency – which commissions public information films and government advertising campaigns – was set up in 1946.
Trade union Prospect said there had been no consultation or warning to staff about the likely redundancies.
The COI’s London head office will bear the brunt of job cuts, the union has said.
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The European Space Agency is pressing ahead with its wedge-shaped re-entry demonstrator known as the IXV, which it expects to launch in 2013.
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Ashley Young signs for Manchester United from Aston Villa on a five-year deal.
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The lord advocate said offensive behaviour would include an aggravating factor
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Celtic and Rangers football clubs have called on the Scottish government not to rush into legislation to tackle sectarian behaviour.
MSPs are poised to pass the emergency law to increase jail terms for sectarian-related behaviour connected to football.
The Scottish government expects the bill to be law by the end of the month.
Rangers and Celtic both issued statements warning that the laws risked being flawed if rushed.
The Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications Bill is expected to be passed in time for the new season in July, despite only being introduced to parliament last week.
The bill – which faces its first vote in parliament later on Thursday – aims to stamp out abusive behaviour from football fans whether they are watching matches in a stadium, in the pub or commenting online.
It would raise the maximum jail term from six months to five years.
A spokesman for Celtic FC said the club had always stood against sectarian and racist behaviour.
Sectarian bill – key measures
Two new offences on football-related behaviour regarded as offensive and threatening.
One deals with disorder around football matches inside the ground, and extends to those travelling to and from stadiums – as well as fans watching games elsewhere, for example in pubs or on big screens outdoors.
The second offence deals with serious threats – including murder – made on the internet.
That would take in posts on sites like Facebook and Twitter, as well as specific websites.
Both offences would become indictable, with a maximum punishment of five years in jail.
The maximum jail term for sectarian hate crimes is currently six months.
Decisions on sentencing in each case are a matter for the courts.
Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications Bill
However, he added that the club had only four working days to consider the legislation.
“We have not, therefore, been given anything like sufficient opportunity to scrutinise the legal or practical effects of the proposed legislation or the questions and issues arising,” he said.
“Rushed legislation is rarely competent legislation. We believe it is better to have it right rather than rushed, and it is clear that this view is shared widely by many others.”
A Rangers spokesman said: “We are concerned that in the desire to see new laws on offensive behaviour in place in time for the new football season, there is a real risk being created that the legislation could be flawed and ultimately not achieve its objectives.”
He said it was important for fans to have their say on the bill.
The spokesman said the timescales were “extreme and may be counter-productive”.
“We hope as a club these concerns are taken on board and everyone can continue to work together to ensure legislation can be effective and durable,” he said.
On Wednesday, two Christian organisations decided to take legal action to try to force the Scottish government to take more time over the legislation.
The Christian Institute and Care for Scotland expressed concerned that the bill would curtail ordinary religious debate, and are hoping the courts will rule the legislation is unlawful.
The Scottish government said it did not regard the legal challenge from the Christian groups as being valid.
The new legislation comes in the wake of several high-profile football-related incidents.
These include trouble at Rangers/Celtic games and the sending of suspected bombs to Celtic manager Neil Lennon and two other high-profile supporters of the club.
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Two hundred people a day were permitted to make inquiries
Hundreds of people in Sri Lanka’s north who responded to a police announcement about relatives held in detention say they have been given no information.
Ten days ago police said they would give details about those detained in the war, which ended in May 2009.
BBC Sinhala has learned of only one man out of hundreds who went to the former war zone of Vavuniya and actually found out where his relative was.
Thousands of families are still seeking loved ones two years after the war.
Almost all of them are Tamils, living in the former war zone in desperation because of their missing husbands, sons or daughters, correspondents say. Some have been missing for many years.
Police say information will only be made available to “close relatives”.
Police spokesperson Prishantha Jayakody said three centres – in the north, south and in the capital, Colombo – which would provide details of people held by the police Terrorist Investigation Division (TID).
Many saw their loved ones forcibly conscripted by Tamil Tiger militants. Of these, correspondents say, many were thought to have come out of the war alive but were detained by the government and have not been seen since.
At the scene
They came in their hundreds in search of their loved ones. But almost all returned empty handed. Those who were unable to gather information of their missing relatives were desperate.
Journalists barred by the police were only able to talk to emotional relatives by the wayside.
One woman spoke of the search for her son. Despite contact with the Red Cross, the authorities and the president’s office, she had no news. She said she wishes she herself had died in the shelling in the war zone rather than escaping and living through this nightmare.
Many people cried as they told their story.
For many people the first worry was who could earn money for their family? Many of those missing were the sole breadwinners.
In Vavuniya, part of the former war zone, thousands went to find out the fate of their loved ones, our correspondent says. Because of the large numbers of people turning up, only 200 people a day were able to make inquiries.
“My 26-year-old son Pradeep was taken by the Criminal Investigation Department when he went to Colombo to get his passport. That’s all we know,” Mylu Shanmugathas from Tellipalai told BBC Sinhala’s Dinasena Ratugamage in Vavuniya.
He has been missing since 2008. Mr Shanmugathas has been to police stations, military camps and human rights offices in search of his son.
The man who was told where his son was immediately boarded the first train out of town to the southern city of Galle, where his son was being held, our correspondent says.
Others said they were looking for the sole breadwinner in their family.
Police said they would only disclose information to ‘close relatives’
“There is no one to provide for me. Who will look after me or care if I fall ill?” said one Tamil woman whose son had gone missing since being taken by police in 2007.
TID officials in Vavuniya say that they are unable to provide details of the “disappeared”.
Meanwhile in another northern town, Kilinochchi, people have tried to organise a demonstration asking where their missing relatives are.
The organisers told the BBC that the army obstructed the event, sending away more than half of the 150 parents who tried to attend before letting a smaller protest take place.
It was not immediately possible to reach the Sri Lankan military spokesman for comment.
The Committee for the Investigation of Disappearances Sri Lanka says that it has recorded details of more than 5,000 disappearances since 2006.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa says about the same number of people are being held in “rehabilitation centres” on suspicion of being former Tamil Tigers.
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