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Officers from Lothian and Borders Police deny conducting a biased perjury inquiry into Tommy and Gail Sheridan.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Some analysts expect the ECB to announce more bond buying later Asian shares have risen strongly on expectations that the European Central Bank (ECB) will step up its purchase of European government bonds.
The move would help ease concerns about the high debt levels of a number of eurozone countries, and Japan’s main Nikkei index ended trading up 1.8%.
It followed Wall Street’s Dow Jones index closing up 2.3% overnight.
Some analysts expect the ECB to announce later that it is expanding its bond-buying programme.
They predict an announcement following the conclusion of the ECB’s latest rate-setting meeting.
So far it has spent 67bn euros (£56bn; $88bn) on purchasing government bonds.
Global investor sentiment has also been cheered by reports that the US government is prepared to see more International Monetary Fund money be used to help indebted eurozone countries.
The euro was steady at $1.3105 in early Thursday trading, following its biggest one-day rise in more than a month on Wednesday.
Following the Republic of Ireland’s bail-out, eurozone debt concerns have moved on to Portugal.
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Prime Minister Jose Socrates insisted on Wednesday that the country did not need bailing out. What the economy needed, he said, was “confidence”.
In a radio interview he added: “I do not see any reason to change the position of the Portuguese government which is very clear: we do not need any help, what we need is confidence in the Portuguese economy.”
However, BBC business editor Robert Peston said Portuguese officials had told him it was now “not a question of if there will be a bail-out, but when”.
Mr Socrates’ comments came on the same day as the Portuguese government carried out a successful bond auction.
Yet while the 500m euros sale was two and a half times over-subscribed, the yield Lisbon had to offer investors rose sharply, indicating declining confidence in country’s finances.
The yield rose to 5.3%, which our editor said was “hugely expensive” for one-year bonds.
Bonds are effectively loans, in this case made by investors to governments.
The higher the yield of a bond at auction, the riskier investors think that loan is, so the government has to offer them a higher rate of return to ensure it attracts enough buyers.
The previous release of one-year Portuguese bonds had a lower yield of 4.8%.
Our business editor also questioned how many of the government bonds were bought by Portuguese banks funded by the European Central Bank.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Sweden’s Supreme Court rejects an attempt by Wikileaks founder Julian Assange to appeal against a detention order issued over alleged sexual crimes.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
The MPs’ expenses scheme was overhauled after last year’s scandal MPs’ anger about their expenses system will be aired in the Commons later when they debate the body which runs it.
The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority was set up in the wake of the expenses scandal, to restore faith in the way MPs allowances were run.
But MPs regularly raise complaints about its complexity and effectiveness.
The debate, proposed by Conservative Adam Afriyie and backed by 40 MPs, comes as Ipsa publishes MPs’ claims made between May and August.
Ipsa will publish a breakdown of each claim, including the date, amount and a basic description.
Individual receipts will not be published due to cost, nor will rejected claims, as Ipsa agreed to give MPs a few months to get used to the new system.
But a Freedom of Information request by the Times revealed that more than 1,500 claims submitted between May and August were not paid for various reasons – either because of mistakes made by MPs, or by Ipsa itself. Rejected claims will be published in future.
Having an external, independent regulator for MPs’ expenses was a key recommendation of a seven-month inquiry into the system last year.
Previously the Commons’ own fees office had paid out claims – a system that was discredited during the expenses scandal in 2009 when lavish claims made under the second homes allowance came to light.
But while Ipsa is an external regulator, a committee of MPs, the Speaker’s Committee, proposes its members and signs off its cost estimate. It requested £6.46m for its administrative costs for 2010-11 but said that included set-up costs.
“Some MPs are trying to get rid of the independent system, threatening it with legislating it out of existence – it shows how clinging to the past is still a bit of a problem in Westminster”
John Mann Labour MP
Mr Afriyie’s motion “regrets” the “unnecessarily high costs and inadequacies” of the new expenses system.
The motion also calls for a simpler scheme for office expenses and calls for time to be made available for MPs to amend the legislation which set it up, if the system is not improved.
It was accepted for debate by the new backbench business committee – itself a result of reforms drawn up in the wake of the expenses scandal – which now controls the timetable for non-ministerial debates and motions.
The committee said it had been approached three times by Mr Afriyie about debating Ipsa – whose motion has the backing of more than 40 MPs.
However others are critical of the move. Labour’s John Mann told BBC Radio 5live: “Some MPs are trying to get rid of the independent system, threatening it with legislating it out of existence – it shows how clinging to the past is still a bit of a problem in Westminster.”
Ipsa is conducting an annual review of its rules and is consulting MPs and others about the way they work and has already introduced some “simplifications” to the way it administers them, including allowing direct payments to landlords for rental charges.
Before Mr Afriyie’s debate begins, a separate debate will be held on another expenses-related issue – the wider publication of fast-tracked expenses complaints which have been criticised in the press as “secret deals”.
The Parliamentary Standards Commissioner John Lyon wants permission to publish on his website details of expenses cases dealt with under the so-called “rectification” procedure – used to deal with cases where MPs are judged to have made “less serious” expenses mistakes.
The procedure allows MPs to apologise and repay the money, rather than face a full-blown standards investigation and widely published report, although the conclusions are passed to whoever made the complaint.
However a motion to allow Mr Lyon to publish the details more widely was delayed on 17 November when one MP cried “object”. He also objected to another motion aimed at giving Mr Lyon the power to initiate investigations into whether an MP had breached the code of conduct. Currently the standards commissioner has to wait for a formal complaint.
Both will be debated again 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.
A legal overhaul of Brazil’s oil sector is approved which could increase development of offshore oil fields.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Some analysts expect the ECB to announce more bond buying later Asian shares have risen strongly on expectations that the European Central Bank (ECB) will step up its purchase of European government bonds.
The move would help ease concerns about the high debt levels of a number of eurozone countries, and Japan’s main Nikkei index ended trading up 1.8%.
It followed Wall Street’s Dow Jones index closing up 2.3% overnight.
Some analysts expect the ECB to announce later that it is expanding its bond-buying programme.
They predict an announcement following the conclusion of the ECB’s latest rate-setting meeting.
So far it has spent 67bn euros (£56bn; $88bn) on purchasing government bonds.
Global investor sentiment has also been cheered by reports that the US government is prepared to see more International Monetary Fund money be used to help indebted eurozone countries.
The euro was steady at $1.3105 in early Thursday trading, following its biggest one-day rise in more than a month on Wednesday.
Following the Republic of Ireland’s bail-out, eurozone debt concerns have moved on to Portugal.
+
Prime Minister Jose Socrates insisted on Wednesday that the country did not need bailing out. What the economy needed, he said, was “confidence”.
In a radio interview he added: “I do not see any reason to change the position of the Portuguese government which is very clear: we do not need any help, what we need is confidence in the Portuguese economy.”
However, BBC business editor Robert Peston said Portuguese officials had told him it was now “not a question of if there will be a bail-out, but when”.
Mr Socrates’ comments came on the same day as the Portuguese government carried out a successful bond auction.
Yet while the 500m euros sale was two and a half times over-subscribed, the yield Lisbon had to offer investors rose sharply, indicating declining confidence in country’s finances.
The yield rose to 5.3%, which our editor said was “hugely expensive” for one-year bonds.
Bonds are effectively loans, in this case made by investors to governments.
The higher the yield of a bond at auction, the riskier investors think that loan is, so the government has to offer them a higher rate of return to ensure it attracts enough buyers.
The previous release of one-year Portuguese bonds had a lower yield of 4.8%.
Our business editor also questioned how many of the government bonds were bought by Portuguese banks funded by the European Central Bank.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Altnaharra in Scotland is UK’s coldest spot
Heavy snow and sub-zero temperatures are again taking their toll on schools, roads, rail and air travel.
More than 250,000 pupils across the country missed lessons on Wednesday and schools in many areas have already said they will remain closed until Monday.
The east of the country is again experiencing the worst of the snowfall, with police in Tayside urging motorists not to drive unless it is vital.
Edinburgh Airport will remain closed until at least 0600 GMT.
Temperatures overnight were expected to plummet to -22C in Altnaharra in the Scottish Highlands.
Across most other cities and towns the temperature fell to nearer -6C.
Heavy snow in parts of Aberdeenshire, Tayside, Lothians and Borders will again make travel conditions extremely hazardous.
Some school pupils have already had three days off classes this week.
Midlothian Council said its 37 schools would be shut for the rest of the week due to the weather.
All state schools in West Lothian, East Lothian and Scottish Borders will also be closed until Monday.
All schools in Falkirk and the Dundee will be closed on Thursday.
A spokesman for Edinburgh Airport, which has been closed for most of the past two days, said they hoped to re-open runways at 0600 GMT.
Dundee airport was also closed on Wednesday.
Train passengers also faced delays and cancellations.
The East Coast mainline service has been cancelled north of Edinburgh.
On Wednesday, Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said: “Scotland is experiencing its worst snowfall at this time of year since 1965, but we are seeing the country pulling together to help overcome the extreme conditions.”
Edinburgh City Council said Scotland’s capital had seen the “worst snowfall since 1963” and staff have been out in “all weather conditions” to help clear snow from pavements and roads.
Tayside Police today urged people in the region not to venture out onto the roads unless their journeys are “absolutely necessary”.
The force said the roads situation had again deteriorated with “white out” conditions on the A9, M90 and A90 and snow posing difficulties for all types of vehicles.
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Heavy snow warnings have been issued for much of England Rail, road and air passengers in England face another day of disruption as the government begins a review of how transport operators have coped with the heavy snow.
Gatwick Airport had hoped to open on Thursday but will now remain closed until at least 0600 GMT on Friday.
Disruption continues on many bus and train services as the Met Office issues further heavy snow warnings.
Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said Britain needed to “keep moving”.
Met Office heavy snow warnings are in place for Yorkshire and Humber, north-east and south-west England, the East, East Midlands, London and South East.
Ice is causing problems for motorists on roads all over England.
More than 100 drivers have spent a second night stranded in part of South Yorkshire.
Many drivers, stranded on the A57 since Tuesday evening because of the wintry weather, have taken refuge at a nearby Methodist church.
On the trains, Southeastern is running an emergency timetable and Southern trains is running no services until 1000 GMT.
WEATHER AND TRAVEL INFO
Latest on school closures BBC Weather forecasts BBC Travel News Highways Agency website for safe driving tips Met Office severe weather warnings NHS Winter Health website
Many trains serving London Victoria, Charing Cross and Canon Street have been cancelled or delayed and Eurostar is delayed by up to 90 minutes.
There is also disruption on First Hull Trains, CrossCountry and East Midlands train services.
Passengers on one Wednesday evening train service to Brighton had to sleep in carriages overnight.
The Association of Train Operating Companies said rail operators and Network Rail were “doing all they can to keep trains moving and get people to where they need to be”.
Announcing an urgent review into transport, Mr Hammond said complacency was “not an option”.
“We took urgent action during the summer which means we’re better prepared for severe weather than last year – a national strategic salt reserve exists for the first time,” he said.
“But I share the frustration of the travelling public and we need to be sure that we are doing everything possible to keep Britain moving.”
Gatwick is not the only airport experiencing problems.
Many people have had to dig their cars out of the snow There are delays and cancellations to flights at Heathrow Airport and London City Airport is closed until 1200 GMT.
Durham Tees Valley Airport in the North East is also closed.
A Gatwick Airport spokesman said: “We are doing everything we can to resume operations, however conditions have deteriorated considerably.
“Our teams are working around the clock to make the runway safe for aircraft to use and get our airlines and passengers flying again.”
On the roads:
Motorists in Kent, Essex, Surrey and Sussex advised to travel only if necessary.In Kent, the M20 slip roads on junctions 8, 9 and 10 of the coastbound carriageway are closed due to blizzard conditionsIn Surrey, the A3, M25, A22, A217 and A31 are “dangerously” affected by blizzards.Lorry drivers in Hampshire warned to avoid the A3 and the M3 is closed northbound at junction 9 because of a jack-knifed lorry. There are also delays on the M27Heavy delays on the M25 in Kent and Surrey
The Port of Dover and the Channel Tunnel are open but motorists are being asked to contact operators to avoid delays.
Hundreds of schools are closed again.
In Sheffield, city council leader Paul Scriven has asked teachers to get to their nearest open school, even if it is not the one they usually teach at.
Met Office forecaster David Price said: “It will continue to be very cold for most of the country today and in terms of snow it will be a very similar picture to yesterday.
“A band of snow will continue to affect south-east England, with the Home Counties, Kent, Surrey and London all experiencing between 2cm and 5cm of snowfall.
“Southern counties and Devon will also have snow.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
An office of Ivory Coast opposition leader Alassane Ouattara is attacked in Abidjan, with reports of several dead, as election results are again delayed.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Large parts of the UK have been brought to a standstill by the early freeze
Travellers across parts of the UK face further misery as airports, roads and rail continue to be badly hit by snow.
Gatwick Airport – expected to reopen on Thursday morning – will remain closed until at least 0600 GMT Friday, with another 15cm of snow falling overnight.
Southern trains has suspended its services and Southeastern is running an emergency timetable.
Severe snow warnings have been issued for Scotland and north-east, eastern and south-east and south-west England.
In England, Met Office has issued heavy snow warnings for the North East, Yorkshire and Humber, East, London and the South East, and South West England.
In Scotland the warnings apply to Grampian, Strathclyde, Central, Tayside and Fife, and South West, Lothian and Borders.
Snow has been particularly heavy around Gatwick, with some 25cm of snow recorded at Chorleywood in Surrey – 15cm of this falling overnight.
A Gatwick spokesman said: “We are doing everything we can to resume operations, however conditions have deteriorated considerably. Our teams are working around the clock to make the runway safe for aircraft to use and get our airlines and passengers flying again.”
Edinburgh airport is hoping to re-open at 1000 GMT on Thursday, but Robin Hood Airport near Doncaster will not be open until midday at the earliest.
There will be no Southern services running south of East Croydon until further notice, while a limited service will begin in the “London Metro” area at 1000 GMT.
Southeastern trains, which runs out of London Victoria and Charing Cross, is operating an emergency timetable.
National Rail Enquiries has set up a hotline for information about snow-related disruption on 08453 017 641, and also has updates at @nationalrailenq on Twitter.
On the trains, passengers on one early evening service to Brighton had to sleep in carriages overnight.
Half of Eurostar’s services between London and Brussels on Thursday have been cancelled, as have seven out of 17 services each way between London and Paris.
The Association of Train Operating Companies said rail operators and Network Rail were “doing all they can to keep trains moving and get people to where they need to be”.
About 100 motorists spent the night at South Anston methodist chapel near Sheffield, after being stranded on the A57 since Tuesday evening.
Police were advising people not to travel unless absolutely necessary – especially in the worst-hit areas of Scotland, Yorkshire, Derbyshire and south-east England.
WEATHER AND TRAVEL INFO
Get the latest on school closures and travel problems via your local website Check if snow is forecast in your area at BBC Weather Details of motorway and local road closures and public transport disruption are available at BBC Travel News For advice on handling difficult driving conditions, see the Highways Agency website For information about severe weather warnings, see the Met Office website For information about staying healthy in the cold weather, see the NHS Winter Health website
Supt Chris Moon, of Surrey Police, said the county’s conditions were the worst he had ever seen and were likely to deteriorate further.
He added: “I have put out several severe weather warnings in my career, but this one I really must stress.”
Police in Kent advised freight traffic not to enter the county unless absolutely necessary as gale force winds are forecast. Some roads in the west and north of the county were impassable due to snow and ice.
Police say they are increasingly concerned about fell walker Gwenda Merriot, 60, from Wiltshire, who was last seen in Ambleside in the Lake District on Wednesday morning. Heavy snowfall was forecast for the area overnight.
More than 250,000 Scottish children had a day off on Wednesday – about 40% of all those of school age – many for the third consecutive day, with a third of councils closing all their schools.
Some local authorities have told parents that schools will remain closed for the rest of the week. In total, more than 1,500 of 2,722 schools were shut.
An avalanche warning was issued in the Cairngorms, near Aviemore, a popular location for skiers.
One of the worst affected areas of England is South Yorkshire, where snowfall of up to 30cm (12in) brought parts of the county to a standstill.
Overnight, temperatures hit lows of -11 in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, and -14 in the north western Highlands.
BBC weather forecaster Tomasz Schafernaker said there was 1m (3ft) of snow across parts of north-east England.
There could be up to 30cm of snow in southern England by the end of Thursday. There will also be more snow showers in north-east England.
On Thursday night, temperatures of up to -25C (-13F) to -30C (-22F) in some parts of Scotland are forecast.
The AA motoring organisation said there had been a failure to deal with jams on motorways and major roads, and breakdown service Green Flag said local authorities had not spread enough grit on minor roads.
Mr Hammond said: “Decisions about closing the motorway would be decisions for the Highways Agency and enforcement of traffic regulations are of course, a matter for the police,” he told the BBC.
“We will work together with all the agencies concerned to look at what has happened, to look at how best, and how most effectively, to tackle the problems that we have seen in order to get the motorways working, to get the railways working, and to get Britain back to normal as quickly as we possibly can.”
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This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
A secret ballot of 22 members of football’s governing body Fifa on Thursday will decide the hosts of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Thousands of schools have been closed by heavy snow, some for a third day.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Delhi has one of the highest rates of crime against women in India Two men have been arrested in connection with the abduction and gang rape of a call centre worker last week in the Indian capital, Delhi.
A third accused has handed himself in at a court in neighbouring Haryana state, a senior police official said.
The victim was attacked in the early hours after an office cab dropped her off near her home in south Delhi.
The 30-year-old told police she had been abducted by men in a pick-up truck who took turns to rape her.
A female colleague who was walking with her managed to escape.
Both women were from the north-eastern state of Mizoram.
Delhi and its satellite cities of Gurgaon and Noida are a hub of the information technology industry and have hundreds of call centres where a large number of women are employed.
Delhi is said to have one of the highest rates of crime against women in India and some want the death penalty to be handed out to rapists.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Snow shut Geneva airport, while eight homeless people died in Poland
Heavy snow and sub-zero temperatures are set to cause another day of disruption on road and rail networks, and at airports across northern Europe.
Temperatures dropped to as low as -26C (-14.8F) in Poland, where eight people died of exposure. Five others died in central Europe and two in the UK.
Geneva airport and London’s Gatwick remain closed, while many flights have been cancelled in France and Germany.
Eurostar has meanwhile had to cancel half of its services on Thursday.
The freezing conditions will continue for days as the low-pressure front centred over Western Europe moves slowly eastward.
“We’ve got unusually cold air over large parts of the eastern Atlantic, and where that meets warm air coming for example from the Mediterranean you have a lot of snow,” said Heinz Maurer of Meteosuisse, the Swiss national weather service.
He predicted that snowfall would ease in central Europe by Thursday.
Widespread snowfall forced several airports, including Gatwick and Durham Tees Valley in England, Edinburgh and Dundee in Scotland, Geneva in Switzerland, and Lyon-Bron in France to close on Wednesday.
Geneva airport was still shut until 0600 (0500 GMT), while Gatwick will be closed until at least 1000 GMT as staff work to clear the runways, further stranding about 600 flights that were scheduled to leave on Wednesday.
The French civil aviation authority has asked airlines to cancel 25% of the flights due to depart from Paris Charles de Gaulle and 10% of the flights out of Paris Orly on Thursday in anticipation of further problems.
Europe’s busiest airport, Heathrow, is also warning of disruption. Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna and Prague airports were affected on Wednesday.
It is also expected to be another day of delays and cancellations on rail services across Europe, and of widespread problems on roads.
WEATHER AND TRAVEL INFO
In France, 12 regions in the frozen east and centre banned the use of lorries, forcing more than 7,000 of them to park overnight, while the weather has caused hundreds of accidents on German roads.
Polish police have been carrying out patrols to find homeless people and get them into shelters. Eight homeless men died of exposure on Tuesday night after temperatures fell to about -20C (-4F). Most had been drinking.
In northern Austria, a 69-year-old pensioner froze to death overnight after slipping on a snow-covered bridge on his way home from a funeral.
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Britain leases the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia to the US The UK kept quiet about a loophole allowing the US to continue storing cluster bombs on its territory despite an international ban on the weapons, a leaked US diplomatic cable suggests.
A senior Foreign Office official is quoted in the message sent in May 2009.
Dropped from the air or fired from the ground, cluster munitions release small bomblets over a wide area.
Critics say they have a devastating humanitarian impact – most victims are civilians; a third are children.
Britain was among more than 90 countries which signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) in December 2008. The treaty bans the use of cluster bombs and prohibits signatories from assisting other countries to use, stockpile or transfer them.
The then Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, hailed the treaty as a “major breakthrough”.
But the US – along with other major military powers such as Russia, China, India and Pakistan – was not a signatory. And that clearly put the UK in an awkward position with a key ally.
“If any ‘authorisations’ are contemplated by the secretary of state, they should be subject to strict parliamentary scrutiny”
Thomas Nash Cluster Munition CoalitionNations sign cluster bomb treatyQ&A: Cluster bomb treaty
Britain leases the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia to the US, where the Americans have a major base in which cluster bombs are stored. Britain’s public stance is that the US military has until 2013 to remove them.
In April this year, the then Minister for International Defence and Security, Baroness Taylor of Bolton, assured Parliament: “I can confirm that the US has identified its cluster munitions on UK territory as exceeding its worldwide operational planning requirements. Therefore, these cluster munitions will be removed from sites in the UK in 2010 and from all UK territories by 2013.”
But one of the cables released by the whistle-blowing website, Wikileaks, shows the Foreign Office suggested a loophole to allow the US to keep cluster bombs on British soil should be kept from Parliament.
The cable reveals that the UK offered the Americans “temporary storage exception for specific missions”. No details are given, but it is clear that this was something the government was keen to keep quiet.
The cable quotes a senior Foreign Office official as noting: “It would be better for the USG [US government] and HMG [Her Majesty’s Government] not to reach final agreement on this temporary agreement understanding until after the CCM ratification process is completed in Parliament, so that they can tell parliamentarians that they have requested the USG to remove its cluster munitions by 2013, without complicating/muddying the debate by having to indicate that this request is open to exceptions.”
The cable also reveals that most of the US cluster munitions are being stored on US vessels off Diego Garcia, apparently to circumvent the ban on the weapons remaining on British soil after 2013.
“We reject any allegation that the FCO deliberately misled or failed in our obligation to inform Parliament”
UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office
It states that the head of the Foreign Office’s Security Policy Group, Nicolas Pickard, “reconfirmed that off-shore storage on US ships would still be permitted”.
Responding to the leaked cable, Thomas Nash from the campaign group, Cluster Munition Coalition, told the BBC: “The UK has banned cluster bombs entirely and is bound never to assist with use of cluster munitions by any country ever again. Along with 107 other countries, the UK condemned the use of cluster bombs in the final declaration of the first meeting of state parties to the cluster bomb ban in Lao PDR [People’s Democratic Republic] last month.
“The cable also raises concern about respect for Parliament and for democratic practices on the part of the UK government. The so-called exceptions in the UK law should never be used and cluster bombs should never be anywhere near Diego Garcia again,” he added.
“If any ‘authorisations’ are contemplated by the secretary of state, they should be subject to strict parliamentary scrutiny.”
The Foreign Office responded to the publication of the cable by saying: “We reject any allegation that the FCO deliberately misled or failed in our obligation to inform Parliament.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
