Category: news

A woman in her 20s is seriously injured after jumping from a first floor flat window in Newtownards to escape a fire.

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Hollywood star Ewan McGregor has backed a campaign aimed at securing the future of RAF Lossiemouth in Moray.

The Star Wars actor said closing it would “devastate” the local community. It is feared the base’s Tornados may move to RAF Marham in Norfolk.

First Minister Alex Salmond is expected to join thousands in a march and rally through Lossiemouth town.

The Ministry of Defence says no decision has been reached about RAF Lossiemouth’s future.

The campaign comes amid fears for Moray’s other RAF base at Kinloss, after the UK government announced it was cancelling the next generation of Nimrod reconaissance aircraft, which would have been stationed there.

The leaders of the three main Holyrood opposition parties are also due to attend the rally.

Crieff-born McGregor said the closure of both bases would devastate Moray’s close-knit community and have far-reaching effects.

“I was shocked to hear the recent news that RAF Lossiemouth is under threat due to the possible relocation of Tornados to RAF Marham,” he said.

‘National importance’

“I had the privilege to fly from RAF Lossiemouth in the back of a Tornado piloted by my brother Colin.

“It was evident to me that Lossiemouth and the Highlands offer the very best training environment for Tornado crews who continue to be the RAF’s front line in Afghanistan.

“The closure of both Kinloss and Lossiemouth would be devastating to this close-knit community and the effects would be far-reaching.”

First Minister Alex Salmond said he intended to make the UK government “sit up and listen” to the people of Moray and Scotland.

“It is obvious that the Westminster government must do more to support the most defence dependent community in the UK in its hour of need,” he said.

“This goes far beyond Moray. It is a national issue of national importance to Scotland.”

Highlands and Islands Enterprise said RAF Kinloss supported 2,341 jobs on the base and in the wider community, and contributed £68m a year to the local economy

The base at Lossiemouth supports a further 3,370 jobs and contributes £90.3m annually. It is home to four squadrons flying the Tornado, which is the UK’s primary ground attack aircraft.

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Mario Balotelli’s two goals inspire Manchester City to a much-needed win but the fiery Italian is sent off as both sides finished with 10 men.

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Andy Carroll’s first-half header gives Newcastle their first league win at Arsenal since December 2001.

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Malaysia moves to airlift hundreds of its nationals from Indonesia as Mount Merapi volcano continues its massive eruption.

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Ministers have defended their plans to force the long-term unemployed to do manual work or lose benefits.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander told the BBC the idea was not to “punish or humiliate” but to get people back into the habit of working.

But the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said the changes could drive people “into a downward spiral of uncertainty, even despair”.

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith is to unveil the plans this week.

Under the plan, claimants thought to need “experience of the habits and routines of working life” could be put on 30-hour-a-week placements.

Anyone refusing to take part or failing to turn up on time could have their £65 Jobseekers’ Allowance stopped for at least three months.

The Work Activity scheme is said to be designed to flush out claimants who have opted for a life on benefits or are doing undeclared jobs on the side.

Job advisers would be given powers to require tens of thousands of claimants to take part in community work for charities or local councils.

Mr Duncan Smith said his plans were designed to reduce welfare dependency and make work pay.

He said: “One thing we can do is pull people in to do one or two weeks’ manual work – turn up at 9am and leave at 5pm, to give people a sense of work, but also when we think they’re doing other work.

“The message will go across; play ball or it’s going to be difficult.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, expressed his concern, telling the BBC: “People who are struggling to find work and struggling to find a secure future are – I think – driven further into a downward spiral of uncertainty, even despair, when the pressure is on in that way.

“People often are in this starting place, not because they’re wicked, stupid or lazy, but because their circumstances are against them, they’ve failed to break through into something and to drive that spiral deeper – as I say – does feel a great problem.”

Deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman told the Andrew Marr Show she would wait to see the full details of the proposals on Thursday before giving her verdict.

But she said the government needed to understand that to get people back into work, there had to be jobs for them to go to – and at the moment there were five people chasing each vacancy.

Mr Alexander denied the plans were treating the long-term unemployed in the same way as criminals doing community service, telling the BBC’s Politics Show the “purpose is emphatically not to punish and it’s not to humiliate”.

It was intended to “support and encourage” and to get people back into the habit of getting up and going out to work. It also meant those who did it could demonstrate their employability to prospective employers.

This meant that “more people can do what they want to do which is get a job and go out to work because that is the best thing for the country, but it is also the best thing for those individuals and it is by far the best route for anybody out of poverty”.

Foreign Secretary William Hague told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show tackling the welfare budget was “one of the big political challenges”.

“What we are talking about here is people who have not been used to working having both the opportunity and perhaps a bit more of a push as well, to experience the workplace from time to time and again the vast majority of people in Britain will think that’s the right thing to do.”

The UK has 5m people on out-of-work benefits and one of the highest rates of workless households in Europe, with 1.9m children living in homes where no-one has a job.

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A post-mortem examination has been carried out on the body of a woman believed to be missing millionairess Joanna Brown.

Detectives investigating the disappearance of the 46-year-old, from Ascot, Berkshire found the body in Windsor Great Park.

It has not yet been formally identified.

Details of the cause of death have not been released.

Mrs Brown’s husband, Robert appeared at Slough Magistrates’ Court on Friday, charged with her murder. He was remanded in custody until Monday when he will appear at Reading Crown Court for a bail hearing.

He is also charged with preventing a coroner from holding an inquest by disposing of her body in an unknown place.

A Thames Valley Police spokesman said: “Although a formal identification has not yet taken place, Joanna’s family have been kept fully updated and continue to be supported by specially trained family liaison officers.”

The couple, who were going through divorce proceedings when Mrs Brown went missing, have two children, an 11-year-old boy and a nine-year-old girl.

Mrs Brown’s family has described her as a “very special person (who was) loved and admired by everyone”.

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Two people are being questioned about the kidnapping of a man in County Antrim on Thursday.

A 33-year-old man and a 31-year-old woman have been arrested after a man was taken from his home in Randalstown by a gang.

They put him in his own BMW car and drove off, demanding a ransom from his family. It’s not clear whether money was handed over.

The man was released at about 0100 GMT on Friday near Armoy.

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Animal plight embarrassment as South Korea hosts G20

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Police have clashed with activists trying to halt a train carrying nuclear waste from France to Germany.

Officers used batons, pepper spray, tear gas and water cannon to disperse about 250 activists who were trying to sabotage railway tracks.

The activists hurled fireworks at officers and set a police vehicle on fire, police said.

Earlier, the train was halted after activists lowered themselves on ropes from a bridge over the tracks.

The clashes near Dannenberg, northern Germany, followed peaceful protests against the train on Saturday by tens of thousands of people.

About a dozen protesters were injured on Sunday, demonstrators were quoted as saying by local media reports. Police gave no reports of injuries on their side.

The train, made up of 14 wagons containing 123 tonnes of nuclear waste in glass and steel containers, is heading to a storage site in Gorleben, northern Germany.

Activists maintain that neither the waste containers nor the site are safe.

The BBC’s Berlin correspondent Stephen Evans says that the plan is to transfer the waste to lorries for the final part of the journey but the police and protesters are now trying to outmanoeuvre each other in the countryside along the route.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to extend the lifespan of Germany’s 17 nuclear power plants despite strong public opposition has highlighted the issue of the waste trains.

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Armed attackers have targeted British Formula One driver Jenson Button in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo, his McLaren racing team have confirmed.

His car was attacked, but Button was unhurt, McLaren said.

Button had been in practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos, and will start 11th on the grid.

Brazil’s major cities have a bad record for serious crimes of violence, which have caused concern ahead of major events like the 2014 World Cup.

“Would-be assailants made an attempt to approach the car that was carrying Jenson Button” on Saturday, said the statement from McLaren.

Button, 33, was quickly driven away by an armed policemen in the reinforced armoured vehicle provided by McLaren.

Button’s manager Richard Goddard and trainer Mike Collier were also in the vehicle.

“The police driver of Jenson’s vehicle reacted swiftly and, using avoidance techniques, rapidly forced his way through the traffic, taking Jenson and the other occupants of the car immediately away from any danger and back to their hotel,” McLaren said.

The team added “the Sao Paulo authorities have also acted efficiently and will be providing additional security” on for Button and other team members on Sunday.

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Pope Benedict XVI is to visit the Spanish city of Barcelona to consecrate Antoni Gaudi’s unfinished cathedral, the Sagrada Familia, as a basilica.

Gaudi’s greatest work has been under construction for more than a century, and will not be finished before 2026.

But the Pope will dedicate its altar and celebrate its first mass on Sunday.

In Santiago de Compostela on Saturday, he warned of an “aggressive anti-clericalism” in Spain which was akin to that experienced during the 1930s.

The comments were a reference to the civil war era, during which Republicans killed thousands of priests and nuns, and burned churches.

Despite opposition from the Roman Catholic Church, Spain’s Socialist-led government has introduced laws allowing gay marriage, fast-track divorce and easier access to abortions.

Work began on Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia (Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family) in 1882, based on a design by Francesc de Paula Villar, who envisioned a simple church in a traditional neo-Gothic style.

But after he resigned in 1883, Gaudi was appointed the lead architect and redesigned the church entirely. His imaginative plans included 18 spires and five naves, rich with decorated organic detailing.

He once said it was an expression of “the divine history of the salvation of man through Christ incarnate, given to the world by the Virgin Mary”.

In 1911, the devout Catholic devoted himself entirely to the project, and spent the next 15 years living and working on site as a virtual recluse, supervising work. He died in 1926, after being run over by a tram.

Already a Unesco world heritage site visited by millions, it will become the world’s tallest church when the 170m (560ft) central tower is erected.

Although work is not scheduled to finish for many more years, enough work has been done to welcome Pope Benedict, including covering the central nave and installing stained-glass windows there.

Jordi Bonet Armengol, the current chief architect, said he hoped the Pope’s visit would provide the boost needed to finish the construction, which is funded by private donations and visitors’ fees.

“He will bring a message of spirituality and it’s a stimulus to finish the work,” he told the Reuters news agency. “The building shows that through art we can achieve spirituality that people need so much.”

Gay activists have meanwhile said they will stage a “kiss-in” outside the Sagrada Familia when the Pope arrives to consecrate it.

“Our main goal is to perform a symbolic act through love to show other forms of love,” the organisers said in a statement.

This is Pope Benedict’s second visit to Spain since his election, and a third visit is planned next year for World Youth Day, a sign of how important the Vatican considers the health of the Church in the country.

Only 14.4% of Spaniards regularly attend mass, and legal changes to allow divorce, gay marriage and abortion have caused concern to the Church. But 73% of Spaniards still define themselves as Catholic.

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A police officer goes on a shooting rampage in bars in a Kenyan town, leaving at least 10 people dead, officials say.

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A mass grave discovered in Mexico contained the bodies of 18 kidnapped holiday-makers, it is confirmed.

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The Queen will be on Facebook from Sunday, with a page on the social networking site providing photographs, videos and her speeches.

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