Category: news

The volunteers were planning to head to Gaza when the dispute happened.

British aid workers, who were allegedly taken captive on-board a ship on Thursday, say they are being held at gunpoint by Greek commandos.

The captain of Strofades IV took the volunteers, who were on the Road to Hope convey, to his native Greece after leaving Derna Harbour in Libya.

Tauqir Sharif, from London, who is on-board the ship said soldiers in Greece were treating the group like “terrorists”.

The Foreign Office is investigating.

The British Embassy in Athens has also told the BBC it was in contact with the ship’s owners and the Greek authorities and was trying to ensure a safe resolution.

Mr Sharif, from Walthamstow, told the BBC the ship’s captain, who has not been identified, had accused the charity workers of being terrorists.

Ellie Merton, the London liaison for the group also told the BBC: “The guys have just arrived at Piraeus Harbour – the main port in Athens.

“They are being treated like terror suspects by the Greek commandos and we are extremely concerned.

“I have been sent text messages from those on-board and I am trying to get hold of the Foreign Office about this situation.”

The other British nationals on-board include Mustapha El-Guerbouzi Raheal Parveez, Yunus Malik, Nagib Elgarib Elbarrami, all from London, and Kieran Turner, from Liverpool.

Khalid Mohamed Omar Ali, whose hometown has not yet been reported, is also from the UK.

Algerian Aziz Mekkati, and David Callender and Kenneth O’Keefe from Ireland are also on-board.

There are also seven Libyans on the boat. They are said to include customs inspectors, border police and the harbour manager for Derna Port in Libya.

Members of the group were also reported to be updating their Facebook profiles with updates, revealing that the group had been bodysearched at around 0900 GMT.

Mr Sharif, who is also known as Tox, was also on the Gaza-bound aid ship Mavi Marmara which tried to breach an Israeli naval blockade in May this year.

In a statement, the Foreign Office said it was aware of the incident and had been in close contact with the convoy organisers.

It said its embassy in Tripoli had been in contact with the Libyan authorities and had urged them to resolve the situation.

It added: “Our embassy in Athens has spoken to the shipping company and is also in close contact with the Greek authorities.

“Our priority remains that there be a safe resolution to this incident.”

Ms Merton said the captain became irritable in the port area over payments but the group had given the money in cash to a shipping agent.

The volunteers say they have been searched by Greek commandos

She said the captain appeared to fear that the agent would not pay him the £56,000 ($90,000) fee for the trip to Gaza.

Text messages sent from the group to Ms Merton on Thursday as they were taken to Greece suggest that the volunteers were kept in one small cabin.

In one message, Mr Turner said: “Initially we were stopped from moving around the ship and had to stay in the bottom of the lower deck.

“Eventually we just walked through to the crew quarters, and they’ve let us occupy their small smoking room.

“At least we are safe and in the dry, and it has a couch so we can try to sleep. We’ve been given one meal, of sorts, since the ship left Derna. We’ve got access to water, but it’s not drinking water.”

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Drivers working for Arriva Trains Wales have voted in favour of strike action in a dispute over pay.

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A woman jailed for repeatedly making and then dropping rape charges against her husband is denied leave to appeal her conviction.

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Save the Children said children would suffer if the ‘safety net’ was withdrawn

New sanctions against those who refuse work could leave some families in “extreme hardship,” charities warn.

The sanctions are part of a wholesale shake-up of the benefit system aimed at making work pay.

Those judged fit to work but who refuse jobs could lose benefits for three years in the most “extreme” cases.

Oxfam said leaving people with no income could expose them to the risk of destitution. Save the Children said it would create a “climate of fear”.

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith published a white paper on Thursday detailing what he claimed was the biggest shake-up in benefits since the welfare state was founded in the 1940s.

The main thrust of the reforms, which will be introduced over the next 10 years, starting in 2013, is to tackle the culture of worklessness Mr Duncan Smith says has taken root in some parts of the country and which he said was a “national crisis”.

The plans have received the broad backing of Labour, although shadow ministers have questioned whether there are enough jobs for it to work.

Mr Duncan Smith says the country could not afford to have five million people of working age on out-of-work benefits – with 1.4 million of them have been claiming them for nine of the last ten years. Almost two million children in the UK are growing up in homes where no-one works, he said.

He believes his new Universal Credit, which groups together a series of benefits into a single payment, will simplify claims and reduce fraud and error – while a new Work Programme will help get people back into work.

Under the plans, the low paid will be able to keep more of the money they earn – but there will be “tougher penalties” for those who repeatedly fail to look for work.

In the most “extreme” cases, people could lose Jobseekers’ Allowance for three years if they have “serially and deliberately breached conditions” and other sanctions have not worked.

Sally Copley, of Save the Children, said it was “hard to see how Britain’s poorest children are going to be helped using sanctions creating a climate of fear”.

“It is children who will suffer when a single mum is told to take a job, but there is not suitable childcare available. It is the children who will suffer when the safety net is withdrawn for three months.”

And Oxfam’s UK Poverty director Kate Wareing said the changes proposed would “expose people to the risk of destitution”.

“Removing benefits and leaving people with no income will result in extreme hardship for them and their families,” she said.

She said even after the changes were made, the lowest paid would still keep less of their pay than high earners.

However Deputy PM Nick Clegg said on Thursday sanctions were “not seeking out people to clobber” but were meant as a deterrent. “I suspect the top level will be used for a tiny, tiny number of people who really are systematically abusing the system.”

Currently someone on Jobseekers’ Allowance who refuses a job can lose their benefits for up to six months.

Those who are fired, refuse a job or quit one without good reason are subject to a “varied length sanction” of between one and 26 weeks. Unemployed people who refuse to attend employment programmes can face “fixed length sanctions”.

Between April 2009 and March 2010 about 97,000 fixed-length about 59,000 sanctions of variable lengths were imposed.

Under the new system, claimants who refuse to apply for jobs, accept jobs or take part in “mandatory work activity” will first see their Jobseekers’ Allowance stopped for three months, a second failure would lead to a six-month freeze and a third failure would see all Jobseekers’ Allowance payments stopped for three years.

Questioned on BBC’s Newsnight, Welfare Minister Lord Freud said the new sanctions would only be imposed in a small minority of cases, saying: “I would be incredibly surprised if we really talk about people going through to the third strike. In reality the numbers will be very few indeed.”

The government says it is also considering turning hardship payments into loans but insists it is committed to “protecting vulnerable people and their dependants”.

Tim Nichols, of the Child Poverty Action Group, expressed concern about such a move and also stressed the need for benefit payments to continue going to the “main carer”.

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The hospital has begun a full investigation into the deaths

An independent investigation has been launched into the deaths of baby twins at a scandal-hit NHS trust.

Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust chief executive Antony Sumara said everyone was “absolutely devastated” and a staff member had been suspended.

The Guardian reports that twin boys died at Stafford Hospital 11 days ago.

The hospital is the subject of a public inquiry into its “appalling” care after 400 more people died there between 2005 and 2008 than would be expected.

Mr Sumara said: “We are all absolutely devastated that the twins have passed away.

“Our deepest sympathy and our thoughts are with the parents and their loved ones at this most difficult time.

“We have commissioned a full external investigation into the events while the twins were at our hospital.

“This is under way and is being led by an independent paediatric doctor.

“At present we have suspended one member of staff.”

A spokeswoman for the hospital would not comment on the exact circumstances surrounding the boys’ deaths.

Peter Walsh, chief executive of patient safety charity Action Against Medical Accidents, said: “This is one of those awful, awful tragedies.

“It is impossible to say whether it has got anything to do with systemic problems at the trust or whether it is a tragic one-off.”

He added: “It is a dreadful, unimaginable tragedy for the family and it is yet another blow for morale at the trust at a time when it is already vulnerable.”

The public inquiry into the hospital’s failings got under way on Monday, following a long campaign by relatives of those who died.

The last government ordered a private investigation, but refused a wider public inquiry.

However the new coalition government said in June the families of those who died deserved to know what went wrong.

A 2009 Healthcare Commission report listed several failings including receptionists assessing patients arriving at A&E, a shortage of nurses and senior doctors and pressure on staff to meet targets.

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The UN appeals for nearly $164m in aid to help fight a cholera outbreak in Haiti which has now claimed 724 lives.

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Chelsea are likely to replace sacked coach Ray Wilkins with an internal appointment, BBC Sport understands.

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Palaeontologists have identified the oldest known dinosaur embryos, belonging to a species that lived some 190 million years ago.

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The radical Muslim cleric, Omar Bakri Mohammad, has been sentenced to life in prison by a military court in Lebanon.

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Battle with drugs cartels puts Mexico’s army under pressure

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Thousands of southern Sudanese flee the north as tension grows in the build-up to January’s referendum on possible southern independence.

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Friendster puts its faith in gaming as it hits the comeback trail

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Gail and Tommy Sheridan deny the charges against them

A former News of the World Scotland editor has told a court he stripped to his underwear to view a secret video tape allegedly showing Tommy Sheridan.

Bob Bird told a court he thought Mr Sheridan was going to burst in on his meeting with the politician’s best man, George McNeilage.

Mr Bird was giving evidence at the High Court in Glasgow, where Mr Sheridan and his wife Gail are accused of perjury.

They deny lying during his defamation victory against the newspaper in 2006.

The former Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) leader won £200,000 in damages after the News of the World printed allegations about his private life, claiming he was an adulterer who had visited a swingers club.

Following a police investigation, Mr Sheridan and his wife, both 46, were charged with perjury.

The trial called again on Friday after a three-day adjournment because Mr Sheridan was ill.

Mr Bird told the court about a “cloak-and-dagger” meeting with Mr Sheridan’s best man, and former friend, George McNeilage.

The trial had previously heard how Mr McNeilage sold a video tape to the News of the World in which Mr Sheridan is alleged to have confessed to visiting a swingers club.

Mr Bird told the court that he had to undress down to his underwear for the meeting.

At that point, he said, his blood ran cold as he thought Mr Sheridan was going to burst into the room with a video camera.

Mr Bird said that, to his relief, Mr McNeilage said he was going to show him a video tape.

It is alleged that Mr Sheridan made false statements as a witness in his defamation action against the News of the World on 21 July 2006.

He also denies another charge of attempting to persuade a witness to commit perjury shortly before the 23-day legal action got under way.

Mrs Sheridan denies making false statements on 31 July 2006, after being sworn in as a witness in the civil jury trial at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.

The trial, before Lord Bracadale, continues.

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EU prosecutors accuse seven people including doctors and a health official of trafficking kidneys through a Kosovo clinic.

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A County Tyrone man whose son died in a lorry crash on Wednesday has told of the pain of losing the last of his four children.

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