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At least seven people taking part in a minority Shia Muslim procession in the Pakistani city of Lahore have been killed by a suicide bomber, 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.
The Met said the officers were covertly deployed to identify potential criminals A senior Metropolitan Police commander has apologised for giving false information to MPs over the 2009 G20 protests in London.
A month after the protest Commander Bob Broadhurst claimed no plain clothes officers were deployed in the crowd.
Scotland Yard has now admitted covert officers were used.
Mr Broadhurst told an MPs’ Home Affairs Select Committee the information was “true to the best of my knowledge at the time”.
“If you are running a huge operation like that you can’t know everything all the time”
Tim Godwin Acting Met commissioner
In 2009 he told a parliamentary committee: “We had no plain clothes officers in the crowd.
“It would have been dangerous to have plain clothes officers in the crowd like that.”
Commander Broadhurst was so-called ‘gold commander’ of the police operation on the day.
He told the latest hearing: “I first of all apologise. When I appeared before you I gave you information that appears to be inaccurate.
“At the time it was true to the best of my knowledge.”
He was supported at the hearing by acting Met commissioner Tim Godwin, who said: “If you are running a huge operation like that you can’t know everything all the time.
“In intelligence you don’t always know the source.”
Commander Broadhurst’s 2009 claim came under scrutiny after the unmasking of former undercover officer Mark Kennedy.
Mr Kennedy spent seven years posing as a green activist and reporting back to police.
He caused the trial of six men accused of conspiring to shut down Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in Nottinghamshire to collapse after he said he would testify for the defence.
Police were heavily criticised after clashing with protesters at the 2009 G20 demonstrations.
Newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson died after being pushed over by a police officer, but no prosecution was brought.
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A 37-year-old man has been charged with making a bomb hoax following an incident on board an aircraft which was diverted to Stansted Airport in Essex.
The Etihad Airways plane left Abu Dhabi and was due to land at Heathrow before its destination was changed.
Two RAF Typhoon fighter jets were scrambled during the incident on Monday morning.
James Glen, of High Street, Chard, Somerset, is due before Harlow magistrates later.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Palestinian officials are searching for the source who leaked confidential papers from the Mid-East peace process.
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A Rwandan rebel leader is being transferred to The Hague, French prosecutors say, as his group is accused of attacking a Congolese wildlife park.
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The rodent made its move during a broadcast by the BBC’s political correspondent Gary O’Donoghue
The government says it is not planning to bring in a cat to deal with a rat spotted running around Downing Street.
The prime minister’s spokesman said there would not be a replacement for Humphrey, nicknamed “Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office”, who died in 2006.
A rat has been seen scuttling outside the door of Number 10 on two TV news bulletins.
The number of the creatures living across the UK is estimated to be more than 50 million.
The Downing Street rat was recently spotted during a BBC News broadcast by political correspondent Gary O’Donoghue.
It passed behind the railings outside Number 10 during a live report last week.
Asked about the rat during a lobby briefing, the prime minister’s official spokesman said there were “no plans” to bring in a cat to deal with it.
Humphrey was adopted by Number 10 after wandering into the building as a stray while Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister in 1989.
He moved out six months after Labour’s 1997 general election win, with Tony Blair’s wife Cherie denying reports her dislike for the animal was to blame.
Humphrey died in March 2006 at the home of a civil servant who cared for him during his “retirement”.
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Conwy council’s chief executive, who is accused of raping a 26-year-old woman, was first approached by her for help to change her job, a court hears.
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Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger says signing a defender on loan may be his best option as he looks to cover for the injured Thomas Vermaelen.
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Why do we over-eat? As concerns grow about the nation’s obesity problem, BBC science presenter Michael Mosley explains the science behind pleasure-seeking urges such as eating and having sex.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
This is the Met’s economic and specialist crime command’s first major scam mail seizure Scotland Yard detectives are to seize thousands of items of scam mail aimed at people in the UK.
It will be the first seizure of such post by the Metropolitan Police’s economic and specialist crime command.
The letters are sent by professional fraudsters and encourage people to invest in schemes like fake lotteries.
Police say an estimated £3.5bn is scammed from UK citizens each year and about £2.4bn of this is believed to be as a result of mail scams.
The police operation – which is being run in partnership with Royal Mail and international mail service provider Spring Global Mail – is part of a long-running police investigation into the organised criminal networks behind such scams.
Also involved were Lancashire Police and council trading standards offices in Westminster, Kent, East Sussex and Hampshire.
The mail being seized on Tuesday is being taken from the Spring Global Mail centre, which is passing suspect letters on to police.
People from abroad are able to post their mail to the UK and Spring Global Mail will re-post it, making it look as though it was posted in UK, a legal practice which criminals are taking advantage of.
The Met say Spring Global Mail have done nothing wrong, and many other companies use similar services to make mail originating abroad appear as if it was posted in the UK.
The police also say they analysed some 3,000 scam letters and only one fifth were sent using this service, know as “local look”.
As well as the mail seizure, five return addresses or “virtual offices” in London identified as part of the scam process are being shut down and searched for criminal evidence.
These addresses consist of privately rented mail boxes.
The fraudsters, who send letters from several overseas countries, try to persuade people to part with money on false promises of holidays or luxury items.
After replying to one of these so-called “tempter letters” a victim’s name is put on what is called a “suckers list” and sold to criminals all over the world.
“We don’t want any of our postmen or women handling or delivering mail that causes harm or is criminal in intent”
Gary Simpson Royal Mail
These lists comprise many vulnerable people, including the elderly, who will be bombarded with mail.
Some have ended up in desperate financial straits, and some with health problems. According to the Metropolitan Police, there have been at least five suicides involving postal scam victims.
Detective Superintendent Mark Ponting, of the Met, said once people reply to one letter they are targeted by dozens more every week, and can find it hard not to reply to others.
“I’ve met quite a few now, several dozen individuals, who find it difficult if not often impossible, once they’re hooked, to stop responding to the mailings,” he said.
“So you can give them all the consumer education in the world and actually, once they’re hooked, they’re not going to stop.”
Gary Simpson, international director at Royal Mail, said: “We don’t want any of our postmen or women handling or delivering mail that causes harm or is criminal in intent.
“Royal Mail is working hard with the police to clamp down on this type of distressing activity.”
Meanwhile, Conservative MP Caroline Nokes is putting a Bill through Parliament that would enable police and customs to be able to seize some of the scam mail which enters the country.
But although it could raise awareness of the issue, her Bill has little chance of becoming law because of a lack of parliamentary time.
Ms Nokes said some victims received more than 100 letters a day after being targeted by fraudsters, and that criminals also used the telephone and e-mails.
However, police were aware of how and where some scam mail entered the country but were unable to stop it, the MP said.
She said trading standards officers were keen for the police, customs officers, and the National Fraud Authority to intercept scam mail, and for Royal Mail to disclose the details of potential victims to the local trading standards service.
“I do not suggest for one moment that there should be a blanket power to intercept mail without a warrant, but such mail is easy to identify, the same victims are being targeted hundreds and hundreds of times over and it ought not to be impossible to introduce appropriate safeguards against breaches of human rights,” she said.
Ms Nokes also accepted that current data protection and human rights legislation could prevent interceptions.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
British actor Colin Firth is expected to receive an Oscar nod later when the nominees for this year’s Academy Awards are announced.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Four young children have died in a house fire in Derbyshire.
Emergency crews were called to the semi-detached property in Highfield Road, Hulland Ward, near Ashbourne, at about 2330 GMT on Monday.
About 20 firefighters from Ashbourne, Wirksworth and Belper stations brought the blaze under control.
Two boys, aged nine and four, and two girls, aged six and two, died. An investigation is being carried out to find out the cause of the fire.
A woman, believed to be in her 40s, was taken to Royal Derby Hospital where she is currently being treated for effects of smoke inhalation, police said.
Fire crews remained at the scene overnight and will be returning on Tuesday to continue with their examination of the property.
Gavin Tomlinson, from Derbyshire Fire and Rescue, said: “We were met with a very well developed fire. We had to work hard to get access to the property.
“We knew there were people in the house. We didn’t ascertain who they were or what they were initially, and unfortunately that became clear as the accident progressed.
“We have no view on the investigation at the moment. We have to bear in mind the sensitivity of this.
“It’s a very tragic and very distressing time for anybody who’s concerned or connected to both the fire service and the family in particular.
“We started an investigation last night and investigations will be ongoing for several days at least.”
He said the blaze caused significant damage to the house but did not reveal where the fire started.
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Up to 900 staff at Aberdeen City Council are facing compulsory redundancy, it has been confirmed.
It comes after unions rejected plans to ask workers earning more than £21,000 to take a voluntary 5% pay cut.
The council hoped the 5% pay cut would fund voluntary severance packages for hundreds of workers. Staff will be briefed on the redundancies next week.
Aberdeen City Council has approved plans to cut £120m from its budget over the next five years.
In a letter, staff representatives were told that after the proposed 5% pay cut was rejected by the unions the proposal would be withdrawn.
The council spokesman added: “In accordance with the decision at council this means that voluntary severance/early retirement in terms of the council’s discretionary scheme will not be applied and all redundancies will be compulsory.
“Where the option is a stop or closure all employed in an establishment/unit or defined service will be those selected for redundancy.
“The staff in the selection pools will be briefed on the process, as will be the managers.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Bad weather in December is expected to have affected pre-Christmas economic spending Figures for the UK’s economic growth over the last three months of 2010 are expected to remain weak, economists have warned.
The GDP figures, due to be released at 0930 GMT, are expected to show growth of between 0.2% and 0.6% in the three months up to December.
There was 0.7% growth in the previous three months and 1.1% in the second quarter of 2010.
The government says the figures show that Britain on the road to recovery.
Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight, said there was considerable uncertainty over how much December’s severe weather hit overall activity.
As a result, the range of forecasts is wide, from 0.2% to 0.6%.
The National Institute of Economic and Social Research has projected that output grew 0.5% in the period under review, and the British Chambers of Commerce has forecast a figure of 0.6%.
The “consensus figure”, drawn from a range of forecasters, is that the Office of National Statistics (ONS) will announce a 0.4% increase in growth in Q4 of 2010.
Business Secretary Vince Cable said a “key driver” of government policy in the last year had been sorting out the public finances.
“We had to do that, and it’s been done. Confidence has been restored and we can now set in process the long-term policies that we need to get economic growth,” he added.
“And that is about focusing on building up manufacturing, supporting apprenticeships, supporting technological innovation – those are all things we are now doing.
“To bring the public finances back to full health, they will have to be accompanied by increased output and employment – which bring with them higher tax revenues”
Sir Richard Lambert Outgoing CBI head
“But it’s a long term project, you know the British economy’s been badly distorted for many years, with too much growth focused on the south-east, focused on property, not enough on manufacturing and not enough on exports, and getting that right is a big long-term project”.
The Office for Budget Responsibility – set up by the government to make independent forecasts – says the economy will grow by 2.1% this year, slightly more than in 2010.
The ONS will also release public borrowing figures for December, which are expected to reveal the nations fell further into debt by the sum of £21bn, meaning a total for the financial year to date of about £125bn of debt.
Sir Richard Lambert, the outgoing boss of the business body CBI, had earlier accused the coalition of failing to come up with policies that support economic growth.
“It’s failed to articulate in big picture terms its vision of what the UK economy might become under its stewardship,” he said in a speech.
Sir Richard said business supported the government’s spending cuts, but some politically motivated initiatives were damaging, he said.
The government has “taken a series of policy initiatives for political reasons, apparently careless of the damage they might do to business and to job creation”, Sir Richard said in his last major speech before his departure on Friday.
Spending cuts and initiatives such as this month’s VAT increase from 17.5% to 20% would help fix the UK’s structural deficit over time, Sir Richard said.
“But to bring the public finances back to full health, they will have to be accompanied by increased output and employment – which bring with them higher tax revenues,” he stressed.
“Public spending cuts and private sector growth are two sides of the same coin.”
Sir Richard Lambert: “We have to have growth in employment”
Hence, without initiatives supporting private sector growth, the spending cuts would not only be futile; they would be actively detrimental, he reasoned.
Ed Balls, Labour’s shadow chancellor, urged the government to heed the warning from Sir Richard.
“These are damning criticisms from such a respected figure in the business world,” he said.
Len McCluskey, Unite general secretary-elect, also agreed with Sir Richard’s assessment.
“It’s not often that Unite and the CBI find common ground in criticising the government,” he said.
“Sir Richard’s views are a major wake-up call for David Cameron and George Osborne; the medicine they’re feeding the patient will kill, not cure.”
Bank of England governor Mervyn King is expected to mention his concerns over inflation in a speech in Newcastle on Tuesday evening.
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Fresh protests are reported in the Lebanese city of Tripoli on a “day of rage” declared against Hezbollah’s attempts to form a new government.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.