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An iconic Michael Jackson glove, worn by the late pop star on stage in the 1980s, sells for $300,000 (£191,220) at an auction in California.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
A British soldier killed in Afghanistan may have died in a “friendly fire” incident, the Ministry of Defence says.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Less than half all Scotland’s schools opened last week About 90% of Scotland’s schools are hoping to reopen after being closed for a week due to snow.
A relatively dry weekend allowed local authorities to clear roads, though travel disruption was still expected.
Heavy snow is falling in Dundee, Perth, Stirling, Falkirk and parts of Fife.
There are blizzard conditions on the A9 between Perth and Dunblane. The road is down to one lane in places. The M80 is also badly affected through Stirling.
The M90 between Perth and Fife has a covering of snow and traffic is moving very slowly.
Scotrail are now running trains between Aberdeen and Inverness, and from Glasgow and Edinburgh to Aberdeen and Inverness.
Buses are replacing trains between Dundee and Edinburgh and Perth and Edinburgh.
There are no trains between Glasgow and Dunblane or on the far north line.
Edinburgh to Glasgow Queen Street services are reduced to half hourly.
Inverness and Wick airports are closed.
Grampian Police said drifting snow was affecting roads between Fochabers and Elgin; Inverurie and Huntly; Huntly and Banff; and MacDuff to New Pitsligo. Some higher routes were closed.
Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire councils said school transport would been affected, with some routes cancelled and others changed.
Education Secretary Michael Russell said: “We have experienced the worst snowfall at this time of year since 1965.
“Despite the best efforts of local authorities and school staff, road closures and hazardous conditions made school closures unavoidable in many parts of the country.”
At the height of last week’s disruption less than half of Scotland’s schools opened.
Mr Russell added: “We do not expect any blanket school closures and many local authorities which experienced significant disruption last week are hoping to open most, if not all, schools in their area.”
Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson said transport staff across the country were working round the clock to keep networks open.
“I am pleased our national roads network is almost entirely reopen again,” he said.
“We have adequate salt supplies to see us through further bad weather, currently four times more than at the worst time in the winter last year and more deliveries due in the next few weeks.
“We also have a contingency supply ready for use in an emergency.”
While schools are set to reopen and transport links have been restored, forecasters are warning of more bad weather to come.
Forecasters warned that the wintry weather would push into Dumfries and Galloway and the Borders during Monday afternoon.
During Monday night, wintry showers will become confined to the Northern Isles, Northwest Highlands and Galloway.
Elsewhere, it will be dry, clear and very cold with a widespread frost, severe in places.
There will be a risk of icy roads once again, and patches of freezing fog, as temperatures dip to -6C in the towns and cities, and as low as -15C in the Central Highlands.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
The remains of two balloonists who went missing in September in a race starting in Bristol are found in the Adriatic.
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Kenya police arrest about 400 people in an apparent crackdown on illegal immigration in a predominantly Somali area of Nairobi.
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Iran says it is getting around UN sanctions by producing uranium domestically Iran is set to meet six world powers in the Swiss capital Geneva to discuss its nuclear programme.
They are the first talks in over a year, but analysts say any breakthrough is unlikely.
On Sunday Iran announced that it had delivered its first domestically produced raw uranium to a plant that can make it ready for enrichment.
The US criticised the announcement but Tehran said as a result it would go to the talks with “strength and power”.
On state television, nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi said the talks were for the benefit of the other countries, not Iran.
“We want to create a graceful solution out of the political deadlock for those who have pressurised us,” he said, according to Reuters news agency.
The US and its allies believe Iran may be trying to produce nuclear weapons.
Tehran says its nuclear programme is for peaceful civilian purposes.
“The West had counted on the possibility of us being in trouble over raw material but today we had the first batch of yellowcake [raw uranium] from Gachin mine sent to Isfahan [conversion] facility,” Mr Salehi said on Sunday.
Enriched uranium can be used for fuel in reactors or made into nuclear bombs.
Iran was believed to be running low on its stock of yellowcake, originally imported from South Africa in the 1970s.
Producing it domestically would enable Iran to circumvent four rounds of increasingly harsh UN sanctions aimed at forcing it to comply with UN Security Council resolutions and freeze uranium enrichment.
White House National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer said the announcement was not unexpected, as Iran had been trying to develop its own uranium programme for years.
“However… this calls into further question Iran’s intentions and raises additional concerns at a time when Iran needs to address the concerns of the international community,” Mr Hammer said.
In Geneva, Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili will meet EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton and senior officials from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the US, Russia, China, France and Britain – and Germany.
The talks are scheduled to last for two days. But analysts say the best outcome that can be hoped for is simply the agreement of further meetings.
The Security Council has said that until Iran’s peaceful intentions can be fully established, it should stop enrichment and other nuclear activities.
Iran says that as a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it has the right to enrich uranium for fuel for civil nuclear power.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Restrictions on lorry drivers’ working hours have been relaxed to ease the backlog of deliveries Drivers are being warned to take extra care as they head to work amid warnings of widespread ice across the whole of the UK.
The Met Office also has warnings in place for heavy snow in Northern Ireland and central Scotland on Monday.
Temperatures on Sunday night dropped to -18C (-1F) in Topcliffe, North Yorkshire, and much of England and Wales was blanketed in freezing fog.
But forecasters said milder air would begin to arrive on Thursday.
The most significant early snowfall since the early 1990s caused widespread disruption across the UK last week, with airports, roads and schools closed, and trains cancelled.
Over the weekend, some areas enjoyed a brief respite, with temperatures rising to a comparatively warm 7.7C (46F) in Chivenor, north Devon.
But BBC forecaster Daniel Corbett said that reprieve was now over.
“Very cold temperatures are back and we could see 5-10cm of snow in Scotland and Northern Ireland on Monday,” he said. “That will move into northern England by the end of the day, but we’re not expecting anything like the problems of last week.
“However, it will be very cold, particularly in areas like the West Midlands and eastern Wales where the freezing fog won’t lift and it’ll be sub-zero all day.”
Met Office warnings for ice and snow remain in place for Scotland, Northern Ireland, northern England and the Midlands, and north and west Wales until Wednesday.
Hundreds of schools were closed because of the snow last week.
In Scotland, fewer than half of schools stayed open for the whole week, but Education Secretary Michael Russell said 90% would be returning on Monday.
Train services in Scotland are gradually being restored, but there are still closures on many routes.
The East Coast line between London and Edinburgh is also still running a reduced service, and some Northern Rail services in Yorkshire and Humberside have been cancelled.
On Saturday, the government announced that it had relaxed restrictions on hauliers’ working hours in order to ease the backlog in deliveries caused by the snow.
At least seven people died in weather-related incidents, including two elderly people in Cumbria who died in their gardens in freezing conditions in separate incidents.
Many sporting fixtures were cancelled, including all but one fixture in the Scottish Football League.
The highest-profile casualty was Manchester United’s Premier League game at Blackpool.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Nick Clegg has faced strong criticism from students over the change of policy on fees Former Liberal Democrat leader Lord Ashdown has defended Nick Clegg ahead of Thursday’s Commons vote on whether university tuition fees should rise.
He said the deputy prime minister had shown “great wisdom and a good deal of courage” in his handling of the issue.
Mr Clegg has faced criticism for backing coalition plans to raise fees to as much as £9,000, despite pledging to fight any rise before the election.
But Lord Ashdown said the choice would deliver benefits “in the long term”.
Before the general election the Liberal Democrats pledged to oppose any increase in tuition fees.
But the policy changed when the party formed a coalition government with the Conservatives. Under the agreement, Lib Dem MPs can still abstain.
However, former party leaders Sir Menzies Campbell and Charles Kennedy are among those thought likely to vote against the change when it goes before the Commons.
Lord Ashdown told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “What we’re doing is going through a process and this is all out in the open, [and] being done without rancour, which is very important to hold the party together.
“I personally think that Nick has handled this with great wisdom and a good deal of courage. It’s not the first time when the Liberal Democrats have taken, in the short term, unpopular decision that they believe to be right which has delivered benefit in the long term.”
But Lib Dem MP Greg Mulholland said: “There are very, very few who will support this motion. There are a few considering whether to abstain or vote against. But there are already a notable number who have decided that they will vote against this if it comes to it.
“And they are also saying, as I am, that really we shouldn’t be going ahead with this because we’ve got ourselves into a mess and they only way out of this is to not have a vote on Thursday.”
The fees policy has been framed by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, which is led by Lib Dem Vince Cable. He has said he will vote in favour of it on Thursday.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Hazardous driving conditions are expected on Monday following sub-zero temperatures The big freeze continues in Wales with bitterly cold temperatures overnight and fresh warnings of ice on roads.
The Met Office said wintry showers falling on roads in sub-zero temperatures could lead to ice on untreated surfaces.
Police in north Wales are warning people to take precautions if going out in cold weather following an unexplained death on Anglesey.
Several school closures have been announced for Monday.
Some flights into Cardiff Airport were also delayed because of the weather.
A spokeswoman for the airport said in-bound flights from Newcastle, Glasgow and Edinburgh were affected due to de-icing issues.
Police are investigating after a woman’s body was found outside in Gwalchmai, Anglesey over the weekend. Police say they are treating the death as unexplained.
Over the weekend, an ice climber suffered serious back injuries after a 60ft (18m) fall from a frozen waterfall in the Brecon Beacons.
The climber, from Cardiff, lost his footing when the ice beneath his feet gave way.
On Monday morning, road conditions were once again treacherous after temperatures as low as -8C (18F) or -9C (16F) were reported in Wales.
Freezing temperatures meant concern over ice, particularly on untreated roads, and there was also fog reported in parts of north-east Wales.
First Cymru said there were some disruptions to services because of conditions. In Bridgend county, service 30 is unable to serve Caerau Parc; Further west, service 129 is unable to operate via Penygarn; while services 400/404 are unable to operate via Penyrheol.
There were also school closures confirmed in several counties including Powys, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wrexham and Caerphilly county.
Sunny spells are expected on Monday but there are warnings of freezing fog.
BBC Wales weather presenter Sue Charles said: “The snow began to thaw over the weekend but after another bitter night, things are about to get colder again, with ice and fog patches a problem on Monday morning.
“So it starts frosty – ice on untreated surfaces, freezing fog patches, especially along the Marches – but through the afternoon most of us should see some sunshine although temperatures will struggle to get above freezing nearer the border.
“Where we’ve got onshore wind, it might be more like 2 or 3C, such as Anglesey and Gwynedd.
“Overnight into Tuesday, there will be a widespread frost and further snow – it’s more likely across parts of north and mid Wales and it’s hard to say exactly how far south it will come. It will be colder than Monday.
“So raw northerly winds keeping temperatures down and brighter and breezy on Wednesday. There are signs that things will turn slightly less cold by the end of the week.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
The rate of shop closures is slowing down, the research found The number of empty shops in Britain is still rising, but High Streets are adapting to changing trends, research commissioned by the BBC has found.
Overall shop vacancies now stand at 14%, up from 10.5% a year ago, say retail analysts the Local Data Company.
But while certain businesses are declining, new ones are springing up offering services not easily available on the internet, such as beauty salons.
The LDC visited 500 towns and cities for the BBC’s Inside Out programmes.
It found that businesses such as off-licences and travel agents were facing high closure rates.
Overall, the number of empty stores was going up, although at a slower rate than in 2009.
But as vulnerable businesses were disappearing, they were slowly being replaced by service-based retailers offering something that could not be provided online.
In the towns surveyed across England, Scotland and Wales, a total of 2,633 restaurants, cafes and fast-food outlets opened in the first six months of 2010.
Over the same period, 2,145 hairdressing and beauty salons were opened.
“The ‘death of the High Street’ is a frequently reported tragedy. But, to quote Oscar Wilde, its death has been rather exaggerated”
Dave Harvey BBC’s West of England business correspondentRead Dave’s blog; West Country cash
“This survey has shown that a significant part of the High Street’s issues are not related to the recession,” said the LDC’s Matthew Hopkinson.
“It is more a reflection of our changing shopping habits. The internet was widely heralded as the death knell for the High Street, but the data shows that shopping in person is still a key pastime for many.”
At the same time, however, the growth of discount stores and charity shops suggests that the economic downturn is still having an effect.
The survey found that in the West Midlands, the number of cut-price stores had gone up by 30%, but every region had seen some kind of increase in such shops except for the Yorkshire and Humberside region and Scotland.
Similarly, the Yorkshire and Humber region was the only area that did not report an increase in the number of charity shops on the High Street.
Yorkshire and Humber, which accounted for 26 of the towns surveyed, had the highest percentage of vacant shops at 18.1%, while the North East, with 18 towns surveyed, had a vacancy rate of 17.9%.
The worst-hit individual town was Altrincham in Cheshire, where 29.6% of shops were empty, with Stockton-on-Tees and Rotherham not far behind.
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Police are searching for a man with a knife who approached three fishermen on a beach during the night.
The fishermen were at Coney Beach, Porthcawl, at 0130 GMT on Saturday when they were approached by a “suspicious” man who then ran off.
No-one was hurt but police want to find the man, said to be 25-30, about 6ft (1.83m) tall, and of Asian appearance.
They warned the man, who was in a white hoodie, black jogging bottoms, and dark trainers, should not be approached.
The man ran off in the direction of the fairground, said police.
Insp Mark Kavanagh said: “No-one was hurt during this incident but my officers are continuing to look for this male.
“I would urge anyone with information about the incident, or who may have seen him in the area, to come forward.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Rio may face rival bidders for Riversdale Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto has made an initial £2.2bn (A$3.5bn) bid for Sydney-based Riversdale Mining.
Riversdale, whose largest shareholder is India’s Tata Steel, has huge coking-coal projects in Mozambique.
Shares in Riversdale soared more than 16% as investors speculated that a bidding war could break out for the company.
Brazil’s Vale, which has coal mines in Mozambique, and Tata are seen as potential rival bidders for Riversdale.
Coking coal, used in steelmaking, is in strong demand from China and India.
Rio’s A$15-a-share offer is only about a 6% premium to Riversdale’s closing price last week, and analysts said shareholders would demand a higher bid.
In a statement Riversdale admitted discussions with Rio, but hinted that it might be talking to other parties.
“While discussions with Rio Tinto are ongoing, there is no certainty that Rio Tinto or any other party will proceed with any proposal for the acquisition of Riversdale,” the statement said.
A takeover of Riversdale would be Rio’s first major acquisition since its $38bn purchase of Alcan in 2007, a deal widely seen as mistimed because it was made at the height of the commodities boom.
Rio repaired its balance sheet last year with a $15bn rights issue after scrapping a $19.5bn investment by its biggest shareholder, China’s Chinalco.
Rio declined to comment.
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The two countries are likely to sign an agreement on nuclear reactors French President Nicolas Sarkozy is holding key talks on civil nuclear co-operation with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The two parties are expected to sign an agreement for the construction of two French nuclear reactors in India, during the meeting in Delhi.
France is a leading world exporter of civilian nuclear technology.
Mr Sarkozy is on a four-day official visit to India. On Saturday, he visited a space research facility in Bangalore.
The president has backed India’s bid for a permanent seat at the UN Security Council and supported India’s membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), a gathering of countries which export civil nuclear technology.
Reports say that the two countries are likely to sign an agreement paving the way for two French reactors worth nearly £6.3bn ($10bn) to be constructed in the western Indian state of Maharashtra.
Correspondents say that the deal will be good news for India – which is desperately short of energy to fuel its booming economy.
France is the world’s second largest producer of nuclear energy after the United States.
It hopes to be at the forefront of an international revival of the industry which analysts say will benefit from worries about global warming and soaring energy prices.
India has 22 nuclear reactors and is seeking to expand its nuclear energy sector, opening up a market estimated at £90bn ($142bn) over 15 years.
The country – now seen as a strategic partner for both the European Union and the US – has a population of 1.1 billion.
It gets only a tiny fraction of its electricity from nuclear power.
Supporters of the deal say that having more nuclear plants in India could help reduce global demand for oil and gas while at the same time significantly reducing the country’s pollution levels.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
De La Rue said that a further statement would be made ‘as and when appropriate’ UK bank note printer De La Rue has confirmed that it has received a takeover approach, but has not named the interested party.
It follows reports that French rival Oberthur had offered £750m ($1.2bn) in cash for the troubled company.
The firm said there is no certainty the “highly preliminary and opportunistic” approach will lead to an offer.
Shares in De La Rue have fallen more than 30% since it revealed production problems at one of its plants in July.
If media reports are correct, the Oberthur offer would value the UK-listed company some 17% above its £640m stock market valuation as of Friday’s close of trading.
De La Rue said in its statement that it would make a further announcement “as and when appropriate”. The company had been expected to announce its rejection of the offer.
De La Rue has been thrown into turmoil since identifying a production fault at its Overton factory in July, prompting its chief executive to quit.
The errors are thought to have cost the company its business with the Reserve Bank of India, one of its biggest clients.
The company has been without a head since the resignation of James Hussey in August, after the firm admitting that 2010-11 paper production and sales would be “materially lower” as a result of the production errors.
Mr Hussey’s replacement is expected to be Tim Cobbold, previously the head of business power company Chloride Group.
The problems came to light shortly after De La Rue signed a five-year extension to its exclusive contract to print the UK’s banknotes for the Bank of England.
Two weeks ago, the company confirmed that pre-tax profits before exceptional items had more than halved to £23.8m, while sales fell 17% to £209.2m, in the last six months.
De La Rue, founded in 1813, prints notes for the Bank of England and 150 other countries.
Oberthur Technologies was formed in 1984 by its majority-owner and chief executive, Jean-Pierre Savare, when he took over the secure printing activity of the Oberthur printing works, which was originally founded in 1842.
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A 33-year-old man has died following an accident in Newtownabbey, County Antrim.
The accident happened on the Doagh Road at about 2250 GMT on Sunday night.
The man killed was a pedestrian.
A second male pedestrian, also aged 33, sustained injuries and was taken to hospital for treatment.
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