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Irish defend corporation tax rate

Irish Deputy Prime Minister Mary CoughlanMary Coughlan said there would be no change to the tax rate

The Irish government has insisted it will not raise the country’s low corporation tax rate in return for a European Union-led bail-out.

Deputy Prime Minister Mary Coughlan said the 12.5% rate – much lower than the EU average – was “non-negotiable”.

Her comments come as speculation grows that France and Germany want the Irish Republic to raise the tax in return for aid.

The Irish government admitted on Thursday that it needed outside help.

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said he felt “no sense of shame” over the country’s economic record, but that it now needed outside help.

Previously the government had said it did not need any financial support from the European Union and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Republic’s low corporation tax has been criticised by other EU nations, who argue that it gives the country too much of an advantage in attracting overseas investment.

They now argue that the Republic should not be allowed to solely rely on a bail-out, and that it should instead raise the tax rate to help boost government funds.

The Financial Times on Friday reported a French official describing it as “almost predatory”.

However, the Republic’s European Minister Dick Roche, also insisted that the corporation tax rate was “certainly not up for negotiation”.

He told the BBC: “There has been some very unhelpful chatter in the background in the last few days about our corporation profit tax.

“Where would be the sense of destroying one of the great drivers of growth?”

EU, European Central Bank, and IMF officials arrived in Dublin on Thursday to discuss the country’s debt crisis, and what aid the country required.

The Republic’s Central Bank Governor, Patrick Honohan, said he expected a loan in the region of “tens of billions” of euros.

Mr Lenihan said the country’s problem were caused by its heavily indebted banks, which the government has had to bail-out to the cost of 45bn euros (£39bn; $60.1bn).

“The big difficulty of course is that the banks grew to such a size that they became too unmanageable for the state itself, that’s the big difficulty here,” he said.

“And that’s why we have to consider external assistance to stabilise our banking system.”

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Celebrity rehab firm fined £8,000

Causeway RetreatThe retreat’s secluded location made it popular with celebrities

A celebrity rehab centre, which once counted Amy Winehouse as a client, has been fined £8,000 and branded “scandalously negligent” by a judge.

The firm, 27 Management, admitted running an unregistered hospital, The Causeway Retreat, on Osea island in Essex, Chelmsford magistrates heard.

The company also admitted running an unregistered clinic in Colchester.

District Judge David Cooper said the firm’s standards “would really shame a third world country”.

The action against 27 Management was brought by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The CQC’s barrister, Paul Spencer, told the court that the company had “effectively duped” patients and “attempted to deceive” the Commission.

In addition to the fine, the judge ordered the firm to pay £30,000 in costs.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Namibia alert was ‘security test’

breaking news

A suspect package intercepted in Namibia checked on to a Munich-bound plane was a dummy used to test security, German officials have said.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said officials had established that it was a so-called “real-test suitcase”.

He said no explosives were found in it and “at no time was there any danger to passengers”.

The suitcase was found at Windhoek airport on Thursday, triggering an international alarm.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Government reveals top spending

Whitehall signThe government is encouraging ‘armchair auditors’ to look at its figures
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The details behind all Whitehall spending over £25,000 made since the election are being published later.

About £80bn of expenditure – 195,000 lines of data – are being published online as part of what ministers call their “transparency agenda”.

Early analysis by the BBC shows the private firm receiving the most public money is the outsourcing firm Capita, which received £3.3bn.

But critics warns that the numbers are almost meaningless without context.

The government says thousands of data entries will be published to allow developers, organisations and companies to “reuse and reinterpret” it.

People are being encouraged to pick through the enormous quantity of online data to spot waste and hold ministers to account.

Cheque for Charles

All spending of more than £25,000 made between May and September will be published – although some departments will also publish spending over £500.

Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude said: “When you open up the books, let people start to do some auditing of their own, I think there will be a great deal of pressure on government to use money, other people’s money, much more carefully and be prepared to answer questions more.”

“The data isn’t as good as it should be and not as good as it will be going forward”

Francis Maude Cabinet Office Minister

Early analysis of the data by the BBC shows Capita was the biggest private sector recipient of taxpayers’ money – and that Prince Charles got a cheque from the Ministry of Justice for £667,000 – rent for Dartmoor prison, which is on his land. He was also paid £677,000 by the Army for access to Dartmoor.

Among other private companies that receive large amounts of public money are the property company Trillium and technology giant Hewlett Packard, which have each received about £285m since the election. Accountants KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers were each paid £22.5m for government contracts between May and September.

The government’s car service also received payments totalling almost £1.5m from departments, including £123,000 from the Department of Energy and Climate Change for “ministerial support”.

Among the smaller sums detailed by some departments are a payment of £1,000 from the Department of Business to a company that sells jewel encrusted dog collars and pet fashion accessories to help it expand into the US.

But BBC home editor Mark Easton said some data given to journalists before the public launch had later been removed from public view – pre-released figures seen by the BBC showed the Ministry of Justice paid eight people a total of £2.2m compensation for miscarriages of justice – among them two businessmen caught up in the Arms to Iraq scandal in the 1990s.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said the information had been removed for data protection reasons.

Mr Maude said: “The data isn’t as good as it should be and not as good as it will be going forward. Certainly, a lot of the systems in place don’t disclose, with anything like the precision that people are entitled to expect, what the money is being spent on.”

It is the latest in a series of online publications of data. Last month the government published the salaries of thousands of civil servants, naming individuals earning more than £82,900 for the first time. And in June it published the Coins database of public spending data.

Mark Easton said it was part of the government’s plan to abolish professional Whitehall scrutineers like the Audit Commission and replace them with an “army of armchair auditors”.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Lib Dems resign over leadership

Rochdale Town HallRochdale Council is currently led by a coalition of Liberal Democrats and Conservatives

Six Liberal Democrat councillors in Rochdale have resigned from the party in protest over its leadership nationally and locally.

Pat and Ted Flynn, Peter Davison, Doreen Brophy Lee, Barbara Todd and Naim Mahmood will sit as independents.

Councillor Pat Flynn said the party was “doing too many U-turns”.

Councillor Dale Mulgrew, deputy leader of Rochdale Lib Dems, said the resignations were part of a dispute over the party’s selection process.

Two of the councillors had been deselected by the party ahead of next year’s local elections.

Rochdale Council is led by a coalition of Liberal Democrats and Conservatives.

Mrs Flynn said she expected other councillors to resign in the coming days – which could strip the coalition of its majority.

“We don’t feel this is the party we were elected to – that is the bottom line”

Cllr Pat Flynn

She said: “We didn’t like the direction the leadership were taking us.

“There has been a lot of dissatisfaction for many months.”

She said she and her colleagues were equally dissatisfied with the local and national leadership.

Nationally, she was unhappy with Nick Clegg’s U-turn on tuition fees, she said.

“They are doing too many U-turns nationally,” she said.

“Locally we feel the wrong things are being cut within the council. It should be at the top rather than on old peoples’ homes, after schools clubs, etc.

“We don’t feel this is the party we were elected to – that is the bottom line.”

Mr Mulgrew said the councillors had given “many dedicated and loyal years of service” to the party.

“Unfortunately, there was a difference of opinion on the selection process that the party uses to select candidates, and, instead of exercising a right of appeal, a decision has been taken to leave the party,” he said.

“This was the only reason that has caused for this to occur.

“It is also unfortunate that all of this has happened whilst the leader of the party (Irene Davidson) is in hospital having a major operation.

“Clearly, it is always sad that in such difficult circumstances there could not have been a reconciliation, but we will continue to try and talk to the councillors.”

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Italy gets bill for Elton gig

Sir Elton John saluting the crowd at Piedigrotta festival in Naples, September 2009Sir Elton is one of the most successful artists in the history of pop music
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The organisers of an Elton John concert in Italy have been told to pay back the money they used to stage the event.

The 720,000 euros (£613,000) came from the European Union as part of a fund to enhance regional development in the Campania region.

Sir Elton was the headline act at a festival in Naples last year.

The European Commission only recently discovered that some of its funds had been used to stage the gig by one of the biggest names in music.

The affair was brought to light by Mario Borghezio, an Italian MEP from the Northern League party, who said using EU cash in this way was “shameful”.

After looking into the allegations, the commission this week sent a letter to the Italian government and the Campania regional authorities asking them to reimburse the money.

Commission spokesman Ton Van Lierop said this concert fell outside the remit of the funding programme.

“Cultural events, culture in general, can fall under the scope of operational programmes, but they have to be aimed at structural long-term investments,” he said.

The pop star appeared at the Piedigrotta festival in September 2009, performing in Naples’ Piazza del Plebiscito in a concert that drew an audience of 100,000 and was broadcast live on state TV.

Dario Scalabrini, the festival’s artistic director, told Associated Press the event was meant to promote the Naples area and the concert had done just that.

The rest of the EU fund, thought to total around 2.25m euros ($3m; £2m), is not at stake, although the investigation is part of a broader audit of EU-funded projects in Campania.

Sir Elton is not accused of doing anything wrong.

Sir Elton John performing at the Piedigrotta festival in Naples, September 2009Organisers said the Elton John concert helped promote the Naples area

Our Europe Correspondent Matthew Price says it is the local Italian officials who decided to use the funding in this way who find themselves in hot water.

Mr Van Lierop said the money would be repaid “by deducting from the next (EU) payments.”

Development funding for the EU’s poorest regions is the second largest item in the EU budget after farm spending.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Gaza hit by Israeli air strikes

Trails of rockets fired from Gaza – January 2009Rocket fire from Gaza has decreased sharply since Israel’s 22-day offensive in December 2008

A long-range rocket has been fired from Gaza into Israel, the Israeli military has said. It struck near the town of Ofakim without causing any casualties.

The attack with a Grad-type rocket was the first of its kind in several months, an official said.

Reports also say that a Qassam and four mortars were fired from Gaza yesterday.

An Israeli air strike on Wednesday killed two members of the Army of Islam, a Palestinian militant group.

Grad-type rockets, from a Soviet design, have a range of up to 40km (25 miles), about twice the distance of the Qassam rockets made in Gaza and usually used by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.

Rocket fire from Gaza has dropped sharply since Israel’s devastating 22-day offensive in December 2008.

In the past 18 months one Thai farm worker in Israel has been killed by a rocket fired from Gaza.

According to Israeli Defence Force figures, 180 rockets and mortars have been fired into Israel by militants in 2010.

The United Nations says that in 2010, 55 Palestinians, including 22 civilians, have been killed by Israeli military action in Gaza.

The UN says over 200 Palestinians have been injured in the same period.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Tributes to ‘helium death’ teen

Jordan McDowellJordan McDowell, who was found dead at her home on Sunday
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Tributes have been paid to a Newtownabbey teenager who died in what is believed to have been a tragic accident involving inhaling gas from a helium balloon.

Jordan McDowell, 13, a Monkstown Community School pupil, was found dead on Sunday.

A funeral service was held at the Glenvarna Christian Centre in Newtownabbey on Friday.

Acting principal of the school, Raymond Leeman, paid tribute to Jordan.

“A number of the pupils have been collecting their thoughts and memories of Jordan and a number of them are very touching in what they say,” he said.

“It is very sad that she had just turned 13. ‘Jordan was always smiling and very nice to everyone’ is what one child had written down.

“Our hearts as a school go out very much to the whole family circle, particularly today which is the day of the funeral.”

It is understood the school has collected about 200 pieces of writing and art in tribute to Jordan who was from the Monkstown area.

Mr Leeman said pupils and staff had called with the McDowell family to offer their condolences.

He said Jordan’s grandmother is a caretaker at the school and her mother was a former pupil.

“The response within the school has been extremely dignified,” he added.

“We have provided pupils with time and space to collect their thoughts and to write down their thoughts.

“Some have written letters to Jordan, some have written notes to her grandmother who is a caretaker at the school.

“All of the children have been able to do that and these have all been colected together and they will go to the family.

“Hopefully they will be of some help and consolation to them in the days ahead.”

Mr Leeman said counselling services had been available for both staff and pupils this week.

Jordan’s death is the second tragedy to hit the school this year following the death of former pupil Neil McFerran, 18, following a suspected carbon monoxide leak at a flat in Castlerock, County Londonderry, in August.

Neil was at Monkstown for five years, before transferring to Glengormley High School for his A-levels. He died along with his friend Aaron Davidson, also 18, in the incident.

“This week we were planning to run a concert, part of which would have been a tribute to Neil,” Mr Leeman said.

“With the sad circumstances surrounding Jordan, we had to cancel that this week.”

The acting principal said Jordan’s death was also an “immense loss”.

“Even within school this morning some of her teachers have been saying to me ‘she should have been there’, and they are finding that very difficult,” he added.

“If it is difficult for staff, I just cannot begin to comprehend how difficult it must be for her family.”

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Miners missing after NZ explosion

Map

As many as 30 workers are missing after an explosion at a New Zealand coal mine, local media say.

The blast reportedly hit the Pike River Coal mine, some 50km (31 miles) northeast of Greymouth on the country’s South Island.

Police had received reports of a “big explosion” at the mine, the Greymouth mayor Tony Kokshoorn told Radio New Zealand.

Emergency services were rushing to the scene.

“It’s not good news at all,” said Mr Kokshoorn.

He said between 25 and 30 miners remained unaccounted for.

Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee told the New Zealand Herald mine that officials did not yet know what had caused the blast, nor the condition of those trapped.

“Any assistance the government can provide, the government will be there,” he said.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Internet ‘could kill jury system’

Someone using TwitterSocial networking is seen as increasingly undermining jury trials
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The jury system may not survive if it is undermined by social networking sites, England’s top judge has said.

In a lecture published on Friday the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, raised major concerns about the use of the internet by jurors.

He said: “If the jury system is to survive as the system for a fair trial… the misuse of the internet by jurors must stop.”

Lord Judge said some jurors had used the internet to research a rape case.

Earlier this year a judge in Manchester had to dismiss a jury and restart a trial, The Sun reported, after a juror went onto her Facebook page, gave details of a trial and asked friends: “Did he do it?”

Lord Judge, who is the most senior judge in England and Wales, said it was too easy for campaigners to bombard Twitter with messages in a bid to put pressure on jurors who might be looking at it.

“We cannot accept that the use of the internet, or rather its misuse, should be acknowledged and treated as an ineradicable fact of life, or that a Nelsonian blind eye should be turned to it or the possibility that it is happening”

Lord Judge Lord Chief Justice

He said: “We cannot stop people tweeting, but if jurors look at such material, the risks to the fairness of the trial will be very serious, and ultimately the openness of the trial process on which we all rely, would be damaged.”

Lord Judge added: “We cannot accept that the use of the internet, or rather its misuse, should be acknowledged and treated as an ineradicable fact of life, or that a Nelsonian blind eye should be turned to it or the possibility that it is happening.

“If it is not addressed, the misuse of the internet represents a threat to the jury system which depends, and rightly depends, on evidence provided in court which the defendant can hear and if necessary challenge.”

He said judges need to warn jurors in the strongest terms not to use the internet to research cases or to give details of cases they are deliberating on.

He wants the notice in jury rooms to be amended to include a warning that such research could amount to a contempt of court. He raised the prospect of sentencing jurors who use the internet for research.

Lord Judge even suggested sending text messages from court buildings should be banned.

The BBC’s Legal Affairs Analyst, Clive Coleman, said: “This is the strongest and most detailed judicial consideration of the threat to the criminal justice system posed by jurors using modern technology. It raises major questions of how to police and stop internet use.”

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Fingertip search at blast scene

Police at the sceneOfficers have sealed off the area where the explosion took place

Police are continuing to investigate possible terrorist activity after an explosion in a Scottish woodland.

Anti-terrorism officers and bomb disposal units have sealed off an area in Garadhban Forest, near Gartocharn, at the south of Loch Lomond.

Officers were called to reports of an explosion on Wednesday and discovered a blast zone in an area of trees.

There are reports other devices may have been found and that MI5 are involved in the investigation.

Strathclyde Police are investigating damage to trees in the woodland area about 300 to 400 yards from Ross Priory, a secluded 19th Century building to the south east of the loch.

Analysis

The area is being guarded by police in fluorescent jackets and the narrow lanes which wind through a series of villages are busy with police cars, vans and motorbikes.

Shop and hotel owners in at least one village were contacted by police who urgently wanted to view their CCTV footage.

Specialist officers from the Metropolitan Police and explosives experts have been drafted in to help Strathclyde Police and the man in charge of the operation has refused to rule out the involvement of terrorism.

They are being assisted by a small team of counter-terrorism officers in an attempt to establish the full circumstances surrounding the incident.

The Northern Diving Group – the Royal Navy’s equivalent of the bomb disposal squad – was also called to the scene.

Ch Supt Calum Murray, of Strathclyde Police, said: “As you would expect, when we are dealing with a situation where we suspect that explosives may be involved, it is our immediate priority to assess the situation and to call on expertise where we think it is appropriate.

“By its very nature, this type of assessment and investigation is complex and does take time. I can confirm that we are currently being assisted by agencies from across the UK.

“I would stress that the site is secure and that there is no risk to public safety.”

Ch Supt Murray also said the damage in the woodland was “not an expansive area”.

Ch Supt Calum Murray

Ch Supt Calum Murray said investigations were at an early stage

Officers are also collecting CCTV footage from local businesses within the general area of the explosion.

Hotel manager Stuart King told the BBC: “I got a phone call from CID asking if I could meet them here as a matter of urgency and that they wanted to access our CCTV system.”

Mr King said the officers gave him no details about why they were scrutinising the footage.

He added: “We heard rumours that there had been an explosion and then saw it on the news website.”

A Scottish government spokeswoman said: “Strathclyde Police are currently investigating this incident and are keeping ministers informed of their progress – they have reassured us that there is no threat to public safety.”

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Indonesian maid ‘killed in Saudi’

A member of Migrant Care Indonesia wears a picture of Sumiati Binti Salan Mustapa on her hat during a protest at the Saudi Arabian embassy in Jakarta Sumiati Binti Salan Mustapa’s injuries included cuts to her lips allegedly made with scissors
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Indonesia has demanded an inquiry into reports that a maid working in Saudi Arabia was killed by her employers and her body dumped in a bin.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said a team had been sent to the Saudi town of Abha to investigate reports of the murder of 36-year-old Kikim Komalasari.

It comes as officials arrived in Saudi to follow up claims of torture against a second Indonesian maid.

Sumiati Binti Salan Mustapa is recovering in hospital in Medina.

Her injuries include gashes to her face and cuts to her lips, allegedly inflicted by her employers using scissors. She was also burned with an iron, officials say.

Indonesia’s president has demanded justice for the “extraordinary torture”.

Indonesian media reported on Thursday that the Saudi Arabian government had arrested the female employer of Sumiati, and apologised for her treatment.

Reports of the murder of a second maid came on Friday.

Analysis

Several countries across the Middle East and Asia host millions of migrant domestic workers, ranging from 196,000 in Singapore to approximately 1.5 million in Saudi Arabia.

Whether or not they are well treated is a matter of luck rather than legislation.

Employers have huge control over them and the workers have few rights. Most have their passports taken away.

It is hard to document their treatment as they are “hidden” in people’s homes, but abuse is systemic, according to Human Rights Watch.

Traditionally, the Philippines has been a stronger advocate for its workers than the other “sender” countries, but the protest by the Indonesian president is unusually high-level – especially as it occurred during the Muslim Eid celebrations.

There has been growing tension between Indonesia and Saudi Arabia over rising fees charged by private Indonesian recruiting agencies. Saudi Arabia was even considering banning Indonesian domestic workers.

Indonesia’s labour minister Muhaimin Iskandar said Ms Komalasari’s neck had been slashed and she had severe cuts to the rest of her body.

Indonesia’s president described it as “beyond inhumane”.

He said he was encouraged by the Saudi government’s quick response.

“I’m hopeful the perpetrators will be punished according to law,” he said.

He was speaking to reporters following a cabinet meeting on the need to give greater protection to the country’s migrant workers in the Middle East – estimated to be close to one million.

Rights organisations say many foreign domestic maids in Saudi Arabia work in harsh circumstances and often suffer abuse from their employers.

The Saudi Labour Ministry has in the past acknowledged some problems, but the government also says foreign workers’ rights are protected under Islamic law.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.