Category: news

An 18-year-old hacker is sentenced in Germany for targetting pop stars including Lady Gaga, Kesha, and Justin Timberlake.

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Elgin businessman Nat Fraser has the conviction for the murder of his estranged wife Arlene overturned but will face a retrial.

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Fresh demonstrations against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime erupt in towns and cities across Syria, with casualties reported among protesters.

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The United States government is building its own ‘scale model’ of the internet to carry out cyber war games.

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The International Monetary Fund warns that the risks currently facing the world economy have increased.

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At least five paramilitary soldiers accused of killing an unarmed man in the Pakistani city of Karachi are set to appear in court.

The killing of Sarfaraz Shah was filmed by a TV cameraman and widely broadcast by Pakistani channels.

The soldiers are being held in police custody. Correspondents say police may present a formal charge sheet at court or apply for an extension of remand.

Prosecutors have said they will pursue murder charges against the men.

Another man was also arrested and remanded on suspicion of involvement in the killing of Mr Shah.

Video footage, which surfaced last week, showed Sarfaraz Shah, wearing a black T-shirt, being dragged by his hair in a public park by a man in plain clothes and pushed towards a group of Sindh Rangers who are in uniform and armed.

He pleads for his life as one of the Rangers points a gun at his neck and a little later a Ranger shoots him twice at close range, hitting him in the thigh. The young man is seen writhing on the ground, bleeding heavily and begging for help.

The paramilitaries do nothing to help him. He died from his injuries.

The Rangers say he was caught trying to rob someone. His family denies this.

The video prompted further widespread criticism of the Pakistani security establishment, which is already under fire for the recent killing of a journalist, Saleem Shahzad.

Journalists, politicians and rights activists have accused the army’s intelligence service, the ISI, of the murder, a charge which the ISI denies.

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A Conservative MP has suggested “vulnerable” jobseekers – including disabled people – should be allowed to work for less than the minimum wage.

Backbencher Philip Davies said firms were likely to favour someone without disabilities if they had to pay everyone the same basic salary.

He said politicians should “not stand in the way” of anyone willing to work for lower pay in such a situation.

But mental health charity Mind said it was a “preposterous suggestion”.

Mr Davies, the MP for Shipley, made the comments during a debate in the Commons over the minimum wage and employment opportunities.

The minimum wage is currently £5.93 an hour for those over 21, £4.92 for those aged between 18 and 20 and £3.64 for 16 and 17 year olds.

The MP claimed the most vulnerable, including those with learning disabilities and mental health problems, were disadvantaged in their search for work because they had to compete with candidates without disabilities and could not offer to accept lower pay.

They were desperate to work but continually found the “door was being closed in their face”, he argued.

He said he had talked to people with mental health problems during a visit to a surgery run by the charity Mind, and they had “accepted” that they would be passed over in favour of other jobseekers in such a situation.

“Given that some of those people with a learning disability clearly, by definition, cannot be as productive in their work as somebody who has not got a disability of that nature, then it was inevitable that given the employer was going to have to pay them both the same they were going to take on the person who was going to be more productive, less of a risk and that was doing those people a huge disservice,” he said.

He continued: “My view is that for some people, the national minimum wage may be more of a hindrance than a help.

“If those people who consider it is being a hindrance to them, and in my view that’s some of the most vulnerable people in society, if they feel that for a short period of time, taking a lower rate of pay to help them get on their first rung of the jobs ladder, if they judge that that is a good thing, I don’t see why we should be standing in their way.”

Mr Davies was immediately challenged over his remarks by fellow Tory MP Edward Leigh who told him: “Forget the fact there is a minimum wage for a moment. Why actually should a disabled person work for less than £5.93 an hour. It is not a lot of money, is it?”

He replied that, irrespective of whether it was “right or wrong”, that was “just the real world that we operate in”.

“If an employer is looking at two candidates, one who has got disabilities and one who hasn’t, and they have got to pay them both the same rate, I invite you to guess which one the employer is more likely to take on,” he added.

He added that he was concerned that obligations on employers to pay the minimum wage was preventing people from “being given the opportunity to get the first rung on the employment ladder”.

But Mind spokesman Sophie Corlett said: “It is a preposterous suggestion that someone who has a mental health problem should be prepared to accept less than minimum wage to get their foot in the door with an employer.

“People with mental health problems should not be considered a source of cheap labour and should be paid appropriately for the jobs they do.”

She said employers should be educated about mental health problems, adding that more than 50% of people with mental health problems lived on weekly household income of less than £200.

The minimum wage will increase to £6.08 for workers aged 21 and over from October and to £4.98 and £3.68 respectively for younger workers.

Mr Davies, who is on the right of the Conservative Party, has a history of defying his party leadership on a range of issues issues including Europe, foreign aid and sentencing.

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Head teachers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are to be balloted on strike action over changes to their pensions.

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The suspended chief executive of Conwy council who was found guilty of misconduct is resigning from his post, it has been announced.

Byron Davies, 52, was found guilty of misconduct by the council.

In January Mr Davies, from Yelverton, Devon, was cleared of raping a 26-year-old woman at his flat.

Conwy council confirmed on Friday that Mr Davies was leaving immediately by mutual agreement.

Mr Davies had denied the charge of rape, and the judge in the case said he left the court with his good character “very much intact”.

Temporary management arrangements

Mr Davies was suspended from his post in March 2010 after he was arrested by police investigating the alleged rape.

He was suspended for a further period while the council looked into other matters.

In March it emerged that Mr Davies has been found guilty of misconduct for being overly aggressive towards staff.

Minutes published by the council showed it had passed a resolution which found him guilty of misconduct, including claims he was rude and abrasive.

The council statement on Friday said: “Conwy County Borough Council Chief Executive Byron Davies will by mutual agreement resign from his post with effect from 17 June 2011.

“Temporary management arrangements were put in place during his absence and these will continue until his successor is appointed.

“Neither Mr Davies nor the council will make any further comment on this matter.”

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The High Court is due to make a ruling later on the legality of a school’s ban of the cornrows hairstyle.

A former pupil took St Gregory’s Catholic Science College in Harrow, north London, to court after it banned him for wearing braids.

At a two-day hearing in May, the school insisted its uniform and hair policy plays a “critical role” in tackling gang culture.

The boy’s family claim the style is of importance to his cultural identity.

He was refused entry to St Gregory’s as an 11-year-old because he wears the popular African-Caribbean style with hair braided close along the scalp.

The boy, identified in court as G, but who cannot be named for legal reasons, was banned on the first day at St Gregory’s in September 2009 and forced to attend another school.

The school was described in court as “a highly successful, hugely oversubscribed” voluntary-aided Catholic school which had recently achieved excellent academic results, with black African and African-Caribbean pupils performing well.

Headteacher Andrew Prindiville defended the school’s decision to adopt “a traditional schoolboy haircut or a ‘short back and sides’.”

The court heard the school was serving an area where there was gun and knife crime, much of it gang related, and haircuts were often “badges” of gang culture.

To allow cornrows, which were not necessarily gang-related, would lead to huge pressure to allow other styles which might be related.

The headteacher said in a court statement the school’s policy on uniform and hair “plays a critical role in ensuring that the culture associated with gangs of boys in particular – eg haircuts, bandanas, jewellery, hats, hoodies, etc – has no place in our school”.

The “pop culture” associated with gangs was also not part of the school’s Catholic ethos, he said.

David Wolfe, representing the family, said the school’s hair policy was so inflexible that it breached race discrimination laws.

He argued it also violated sex discrimination legislation as black African and African Caribbean girls were allowed braids.

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Germany and France say they want a new bail-out for debt-ridden Greece to be agreed as soon as possible.

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Emergency crews are dealing with a large fire at a dockyard in Cornwall where there have been reports of explosions involving gas cylinders.

Plumes of black smoke have been seen rising from Falmouth Docks, during what has been described by firefighters as a “major incident”.

Police are putting an exclusion zone in place. There have been no reports of any injuries.

More to follow.

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Birmingham City are to pursue their claim for compensation after Alex McLeish is named Aston Villa manager.

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Cambridge House in Ballymena becomes the first grammar school to fail an inspection and is now in “formal intervention”.

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The High Court is due to make a ruling on the legality of a London school’s blanket ban of the cornrows hairstyle.

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