Category: news

Mr Delay, who was nicknamed ‘the Hammer’, says he never involved himself in corrupt politics

Opening statements have begun in the money laundering trial of former US House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who prosecutors say channelled money into Texas legislative races in 2002.

Mr DeLay, is accused of illegally funnelling corporate money into races to build his political influence.

The 63-year-old Republican, who was nicknamed “the Hammer” for his forceful style in Congress, denies wrongdoing.

Mr DeLay’s attorneys say he is guilty only of being a good politician.

Prosecutor Beverly Matthews said the former lawmaker had collected $190,000 (£118,000) through a group he had started and had piped the money into the Washington-based Republican National Committee to help Republican state legislative candidates.

The national committee then used money gathered from individual donations to send $190,000 to seven Republican candidates in Texas, she said.

It is illegal in Texas for corporate money to be directly used for political campaigns.

“The evidence will show you they took the corporate money they knew could not be given and came up with a scheme where that dirty money could be turned clean and given to candidates,” Ms Mathews said.

Mr DeLay, who is charged with money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering, has denied acting illegally.

He was forced to resign his leadership post because of the indictment and later stepped down as a congressman.

If convicted, he could face up to life in prison.

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

The two leaders will announce plans for French planes to use British refuelling aircraft

The UK and France are to sign a treaty agreeing to the joint development and testing of nuclear warheads.

The plans will see one centre set up in the UK to develop technology and another in France to carry out testing.

Prime Minister David Cameron and President Nicolas Sarkozy will also outline plans, at a London summit, for a joint army expeditionary force.

Downing Street called the measures “practical”, but Labour said they left “big questions” over the UK’s defences.

A Downing Street spokesman said: “This summit marks a deepening of the UK-France bilateral relationship. Ours is now a strategic partnership tackling together the biggest challenges facing our two countries.”

The summit comes two weeks after the UK government announced cuts to its armed forces, in the first strategic defence review since 1998, as part of savings aimed at reducing the country’s budget deficit.

Mr Cameron and Mr Sarkozy are to sign two treaties – one on greater general military co-operation and the other on nuclear weapons.

The latter will set up a centre in the UK to develop technology and another one in France to carry out the testing.

It is understood that each country will still control its own warheads, and that nuclear secrets will not be shared.

The other treaty will allow the setting up of a “combined joint expeditionary force”, thought to involve a brigade of about 5,000 soldiers from each side.

Each country will retain a veto for each operation, which will operate under one military commander to be chosen at the time.

The UK and France have also agreed to keep at least one aircraft carrier at sea between them at any one time.

Each will be able to use the other’s carrier in some form, certainly for training and possibly operations.

Meanwhile, France is to use British A400M fuelling aircraft when there is spare capacity, with plans in place for common maintenance and training.

Joint work on drones, mine counter-measures and satellite communications is also proposed.

Mr Cameron told MPs on Monday: “I do seriously believe that this link-up with the French over defence is in the long term interests of both our countries.

“And to those who worry that this might in some way lead to… European armies, that is not the point. The point is to enhance sovereign capability by two like-minded countries being able to work together.”

Shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy said: “I support the government’s emphasis on international co-operation, taking forward the good work of the last government.

“We share common threats with countries such as France, from terrorism to privacy to cyber-attack. Deepening military ties is an essential part of modern defence policy.

“Interdependence, however, is different from dependence, and binding legal treaties pose some big questions for the government.”

Mr Murphy also questioned whether the the UK was entering “an era where we are reliant on our allies to fill in the gaps in the government’s defence policy”.

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

The European Court ruling was made in 2005

Thousands of convicted UK prisoners are to get the right to vote after the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the present ban was unlawful.

Sources told the BBC the government had exhausted all legal avenues fighting the 2005 decision and an announcement is expected later this week.

Lawyers have said a failure to comply could cost hundreds of millions of pounds in legal costs and compensation.

Details of which category of prisoners will be eligible is yet to be decided.

Prime Minister David Cameron was said to have reluctantly accepted that there was no way of maintaining the 140-year-old ban on sentenced prisoners voting in general elections, according to BBC political correspondent Reeta Chakrabarti.

However, he will resist allowing to vote those prisoners who have committed the most serious offences, our correspondent adds.

‘Archaic punishment’

Prisoners on remand awaiting trial, fine defaulters and people jailed for contempt of court are already permitted to vote but more than 70,000 convicted prisoners currently in UK jails are prevented.

Prisoners were originally denied the right to vote while serving a sentence under the 1870 Forfeiture Act and the ban was retained in the Representation of the People Act of 1983.

Following a legal challenge brought by John Hirst, who was convicted of manslaughter, a final European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruling in 2005 said the blanket ban was discriminatory and breached the European Convention on Human Rights.

The former Labour administration then undertook a series of consultations on the voting rights of prisoners but did not legislate on the issue.

In June the Council of Europe, an inter-governmental organisation that oversees and enforces rulings made by the ECHR, urged the coalition to act.

Under the ECHR ruling, each country can decide which offences should carry restrictions to voting rights.

According to the Daily Telegraph, the ban could be retained for murderers and others serving life sentences and judges may be given responsibility for deciding which criminals should be allowed to vote when sentencing.

The newspaper also reports that one plan is to allow inmates a vote based on their last postal address to stop an entire prison coming under a single constituency.

Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said a “historic decision to enfranchise serving prisoners” would bring to an end the “archaic punishment of civic death”.

She said: “In a modern prison system you would expect prisoners to have rights and responsibilities and politicians to take an active interest in their constituency prisons. People are sent to prison to lose their liberty not their identity.”

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

Ban Ki-moon (left) has defended his low-key style during the talks with President Hu Jintao in Beijing

A human rights group has criticised UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for failing to raise human rights issues at talks with China’s President Hu Jintao.

The New-York based Human Rights Watch had urged Mr Ban to publicly express concern about the imprisonment of Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo.

It said Mr Ban’s silence was shocking and sent a chilling message to Chinese activists rights activists.

Mr Ban’s spokesman confirmed the matter was not discussed at Monday’s talks.

The spokesman said the question of human rights did not come up even in a private meeting with President Hu, because, he said, there were many other issues to discuss.

He said Mr Ban had asked Beijing to play a greater role in solving African conflicts such as those in Somalia and Sudan.

Liu Xiaobo: Jailed for 11 years in December 2009

Activists had already criticised the secretary-general for his cautious response when Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last month.

Mr Ban then offered only indirect praise for the jailed dissident then, and did not call for his release.

The UN chief has defended his low-key style by saying he likes to exercise quiet diplomacy.

But commentators say he has to tread carefully, since he needs China’s support to win a second term in office.

That is because it is one of the five powerful UN Security Council members which wields a veto.

HRW said if this was indeed the secretary-general’s calculation, he should remember that his relevance in the post depended on being a clear and courageous voice on human rights.

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

Cells from jellyfish can be used to help diagnose cancers, the scientists say

Luminous cells from jellyfish can be used to diagnose cancers deep inside the body, scientists have said.

The process uses the green fluorescent protein (GFP) enabling jellyfish to glow in the dark.

Researchers in North Yorkshire found it can be targeted at cancer cells allowing them to be spotted using a special camera.

A team from the Yorkshire Cancer Research Laboratory at York University has developed the procedure.

The team’s leader, Professor Norman Maitland, believes it will revolutionise the way some cancers are diagnosed.

He said: “Cancers deep within the body are difficult to spot at an early stage, and early diagnosis is critical for the successful treatment of any form of cancer.

“What we have developed is a process which involves inserting proteins derived from luminous jellyfish cells into human cancer cells.

“Then, when we illuminate the tissue, a special camera detects these proteins as they light up, indicating where the tumours are.”

The process is an extension of the work done by American chemist Dr Roger Y Tsien, who won a Nobel Prize in 2008 for taking luminous cells from the crystal jelly species of jellyfish and isolating the GFP.

Prof Maitland said: “When we heard about Dr Tsien’s work, we realised how that advance might be useful in the diagnosis of cancer.

“X-rays, for example, struggle to penetrate well deeply into tissues and bone, so diagnosing dangerous microscopic bone cancer is difficult.

“Our process should allow earlier diagnosis to take place.”

The York team’s process uses an altered form of the protein so that it shows up as red or blue, rather than its original green.

Viruses containing the proteins are targeted to home in on tiny bundles of cancer cells scattered throughout the body which are too small to be seen by conventional scanning techniques.

But the viruses grow and, while doing so, make more and more of the fluorescent proteins.

“When a specially-developed camera is switched on, the proteins just flare up and you can see where the cancer cells are.” said Prof Maitland.

“We call the process ‘Virimaging’.”

The team expects the procedure to be ready for clinical trials within five years, if the research continues to go to plan.

Prof Maitland said one problem, however, may be the availability of the specialised cameras needed for the process.

A United States company is the only one which has so far designed and built a camera system which allows the jellyfish proteins to be seen with the desired resolution so deep in the body.

This kit costs about £500,000 and Prof Maitland said he was currently raising the funds to buy one.

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

The Shetland islanders are described as “a fiercely independent and self-reliant bunch”

The Shetland Islands have been included in a list of the world’s top 10 tourist sites by travel guide Lonely Planet.

The archipelago is described as possibly “the last untamed corner of the UK” in the Best In Travel 2011.

Edinburgh was listed alongside London as one of the top cities for artistic inspiration, while Glasgow was named in the top 10 comeback cities.

The publication also ranked the Isle of Man TT motorbike race as one of the 10 best things to do in world tourism.

Ascents of the Old Man of Hoy can be recorded in a book on the summit

It said: “A haven for tax dodgers and outdoorsy types most of the year, the remote oddball Isle of Man transforms itself in May and June for the Tourist Trophy.”

Another Scottish set of islands, the Orkneys, featured in the 10 best things to climb section, with the Old Man of Hoy’s iconic 450ft sea stack an invitation to “gather your grappling hooks”.

Islanders on Shetland are described by the guide as “a fiercely independent and self-reliant bunch” living in an area where it is easy to spot whales, otters, seals and puffins.

Lerwick, the main town, is a “must-include port of call for cruise ships” and visitors are urged to try local delicacies including seawater oatcakes, Shetland black potatoes and rhubarb with mackerel or herring.

Lonely Planet also rated Edinburgh as one of the 10 best places for dance fever. The Scottish capital has “dance classes and ceilidhs for all levels of experience”, it said.

The city is also listed as one of the top 10 for artistic inspiration, with mention of such literary legends as Robert Louis Stevenson, Sir Walter Scott and Robert Burns.

“Scotland’s literary output is phenomenal and most of its notable writers have been influenced by the capital,” the guide said.

Also in the artistic inspiration top 10 is London, with the guide saying: “You could plot a long, long literary pilgrimage around London, a city immortalised by writers from Charles Dickens to John Betjeman.”

The Marylebone branch of Daunt Books of London is highlighted in the Lonely Planet guide

The 10 world’s greatest bookshops’ list includes Daunt Books of London, with its Marylebone branch “the original and best”.

Whitby in Yorkshire and London also feature in the top 10 vampire-spotting places in the world.

London makes the top 10 thanks to its Dracula tour, which includes a trip to Highgate Cemetery in north London.

The guide said Whitby had become a popular spot for vampire fanciers inspired by Bram Stoker’s Dracula novel, which describes how the most famous vampire of all came ashore at Whitby following a shipwreck.

The Battle of Hastings and the International Living History Fair in Leamington Spa in Warwickshire are in the top 10 historical re-enactments.

Hastings, fought in 1066 and now restaged each year, is seen as the “most-remembered armed conflict in British history”, while those attending the fair at Leamington Spa will be “amazed at the breadth of the products on sale”, the guide said.

And among the 10 greatest “comeback cities” is Glasgow, where “the once-grim River Clyde, heart of the city’s post-World War Two slump, has morphed into its cultural focal point with museums replacing derelict docklands”.

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

The red kite trail was set up after the birds were re-introduced to the south west of Scotland

A new report has claimed visitors to a wildlife project in south west Scotland have put at least £21m into the local economy in the past six years.

The Galloway Kite Trail was created by a partnership led by RSPB Scotland.

It has also been estimated that the project has supported about 13 full-time jobs each year since it started.

An RSPB Scotland spokesman said the study showed “tangible benefits” were being delivered to Dumfries and Galloway by the red kite scheme.

The findings come from a survey carried out among hundreds of visitors to the trail which is a self-guided tour circling Loch Ken near Castle Douglas.

It promotes a set of destinations for visitors, including red kite viewing sites, activities and local businesses.

One of those businesses is the CatStrand arts and visitor centre in New Galloway.

Manager Rachel Thompson said: “We’ve been open for three years, and we’ve had links with the Galloway Kite Trail that whole time.

“I think it’s quite a unique thing, and we definitely get visitors coming in to use our facilities from the trail, which helps us and the village.

“It’s certainly had an impact, and I think it’s brought the businesses on the trail together. Everyone involved knows that the link is a positive one.”

The Galloway Kite Trail was set up following the successful re-introduction of red kites into Galloway after an absence of 130 years.

The birds were persecuted to extinction in Scotland in the 19th Century but have now made a comeback, with the estimated local population standing at over 270.

Environment Minister Roseanna Cunningham said: “I’m delighted to hear about the success of the Galloway Kite Trail and I’m sure that everyone who takes the tour is impressed by the beautiful birds and landscape.

“This is another example of the valuable contribution that wildlife-based tourism makes to the Scottish economy and it underlines the importance of looking after and enhancing our natural environment.”

Chris Rollie, RSPB Scotland area manager for Dumfries and Galloway, said the community had “really embraced” the red kites since their re-introduction started in 2001.

“Now, as well as being able to enjoy seeing the kites in their day-to-day lives, people here know that the wildlife tourism being generated is bringing a tangible benefit to local businesses,” he said.

“It’s a success story, both for the birds and for the people of Galloway, and it’s very satisfying to see the hard work of so many people really paying off.”

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

Has defence cooperation between London and Paris ever been closer?

Britain and France are being forced by budget cut-backs and the lack of their own strategic capability to cooperate more closely on defence.

They both want to be global players but increasingly lack the resources to remain so.

A series of measures have therefore been agreed and are being announced at a summit in London on Tuesday between Prime Minister David Cameron and President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The Chief of the British Defence Staff General Sir David Richards said they would develop an “expeditionary joint force” in which there would be cooperation at brigade level “but not within the same brigade”.

A lot of it is on the technical side because that is where cash can be saved. They will share air-to-air refuelling and work on transport aircraft, and jointly develop a drone and hold joint exercises.

Interoperability problems

A plan to allow each other’s aircraft to use each other’s carriers is an example of how money is driving this change.

Originally Britain wanted the short take-off and landing version of the new Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) for its planned new carriers. Now, however, it has to cut back. So a cheaper catapult-assisted JSF version is being chosen and the philosophy of interoperability has been developed to help justify this.

How some of this will work in practice also remains to be seen. Interoperability on carriers requires both countries to be committed to the same conflict for it to have any major practical use.

French Defence Minister Herve Morin has already indicated that partners would “disengage” in “a conflict where our respective interests diverge”.

It is being stressed on the British side that all this is being done outside the European Union and is not designed to undermine Nato.

‘No EU army’

British Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox said: “This is not a push for an EU army which we oppose… It has always been my view that defence must be a sovereign and therefore an inter-governmental issue.”

Britain is therefore not taking advantage of the mechanism offered by the Lisbon Treaty. The treaty allows for what is called “permanent structured cooperation in defence”.

This is in effect an EU “opt-in” arrangement. It allows member states to get approval from the European Council (the heads of state and government) to organise combat units capable of operating on missions up to at least 120 days.

Such EU-led cooperation was envisaged in 1998 when Tony Blair and President Chirac agreed at St Malo that “The [European] Union must have the capacity for autonomous action, backed up by credible military forces”.

That has not happened. Instead, France has re-joined the military structures of Nato and, although the French would probably have wanted to go down the EU route this time, Britain is saying no and France is saying OK.

The question remains, though, as to whether in time this creeping co-operation might not lead to the “progressive framing of a common Union defence policy” agreed to in the Lisbon Treaty.

In the meantime Dr Fox declares that the new Franco-British defence relationship will be “the closest it has ever been”.

‘Conversations’

This is debatable. It might be true in the sense of sharing facilities but hardly true in the sense of sharing commitments. Just think back to the First World War, when Marshal Foch ended up by commanding all French and British armies and a respectful Britain put up a statue of him outside Victoria Station.

And before that there was a secret military arrangement, simply called “conversations”, which shows how what starts out as a theoretical contingency plan can develop into a major commitment.

The British cabinet as a whole was not told but the military staffs were given permission to develop plans under which Britain would come to France’s help in the event of a German attack.

The talks were formalised in 1912 in an agreement to divide naval forces – if there was a war and if Britain joined in, Britain would take care of the Channel and France the Mediterranean.

Even though the British government kept on stressing that the plans did not commit it to a war in support of France, the practical and moral basis was being developed upon which Britain did commit itself to France and to a war with Germany.

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A Fife company wins a £12m contract to build two substations for one of the largest offshore wind farms in the world.

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Very sick babies need one-to-one care

Standards for the care of sick babies have not improved in England despite government action, says a charity.

Bliss found services in special care baby units are still being stretched to the limit and not meeting minimum standards.

Fewer than a third of neonatal units have enough nurses to meet minimum standards set by ministers and the NHS.

Its report suggests little has changed since it last carried out an audit of services in 2008.

Bliss says there is still a shortage of 1,150 nurses to care for the 70,000 babies in need of specialist hospital care each year in England, which is no real improvement on the 1,215 figure seen in 2008.

For the whole of the UK the shortfall is believed to be nearly 3,000 nurses.

In England, three quarters of units had to close to new admissions at some point in 2009, most commonly because of a shortage of nurses and doctors, Bliss found.

The charity says the shortages are due to insufficient funding for neonatal nurse posts and problems recruiting and retaining nurses in the speciality.

To improve the situation, the Department of Health last year published minimum standards for neonatal care in England, outlining acceptable staffing levels and the facilities and support that should be available to families.

It said the most ill babies should have one-to-one nursing care, and parents with a baby in intensive care should be offered accommodation close by.

Bliss says there is a serious lack of accommodation for parents to stay near their baby, based on its survey of 116 of England’s 177 neonatal units.

It also polled more than 300 parents who had recently been through neonatal care about their experiences.

Bliss found 60% of mothers did not have accommodation available for them in or next to the unit.

It estimates an extra 250 parent rooms are needed to meet minimum standards.

Cathy Warwick, general secretary of the Royal College of Midwives, said she was concerned that services for the sickest babies were being “stretched to breaking point”.

“Midwives and neonatal nurses provide a vital service supporting mothers and babies, and more money needs to be invested in neonatal services and staffing to give the most vulnerable babies the best start in life,” she said.

Health Minister for England Anne Milton said: “It’s clear from this report that there are big challenges to overcome.

“We are determined that people and their babies get the high-quality, safe neonatal services they need.

“Expert guidance from NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) and a valuable Toolkit are available for all those working in this vital area and will help drive improvements and make a real difference to the lives of sick and premature babies who need neonatal care.”

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

A high salt diet is bad for health

Forcing food manufacturers to cut salt levels in processed food could help cut heart disease rates, claim Australian researchers.

A theoretical study suggests mandatory salt limits could help reduce heart disease rates by 18% – far more than by using existing voluntary measures.

High-salt diets are linked to high blood pressure, which can lead to heart attacks or strokes.

Adults are advised to consume a maximum of 6g of salt a day – about a teaspoon.

The study looked at the effectiveness of different strategies around the world for reducing salt in processed foods.

Many countries, including Finland, the US, the UK, Canada, France, Australia and New Zealand, have adopted salt reduction programmes based on food labelling and voluntary cuts.

Australia uses a “Tick” programme, where food manufacturers can use a health promotion logo on packaging if they volunteer to cut salt content.

The team calculated that voluntary use of the logo could reduce heart disease rates in Australia by almost 1% – more than twice that of dietary advice alone.

But if all manufacturers were made to use the logo, the health benefits could be 20 times greater, they predict.

“If corporate responsibility fails, maybe there is an ethical justification for government to step in and legislate,” the authors, led by Linda Cobiac, of the University of Queensland, write in the journal Heart.

A UK heart charity said voluntary measures placed on food companies in the UK had made a difference but more could be done.

Victoria Taylor, senior heart health dietician at the British Heart Foundation, said: “We’re making progress without the need for compulsory limits and as a result we’ve seen a reduction in salt intake.

“But as three quarters of the salt we eat is already in the food we buy, we need to build on this work and watch carefully to make sure the food industry doesn’t slip back into old habits.”

Katharine Jenner of Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH) said the UK had pioneered a voluntary approach where all food sectors reduce the amount of salt they put in food.

“This cost-effective approach has been very successful and has already led to population average salt intakes falling by 10%,” she said.

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Common cold viruses are spread via large particles expelled at close range by coughs and sneezes

People who exercise regularly are less likely to get a cold, research shows.

Staying active nearly halves the odds of catching cold viruses and, failing that, can make the infection less severe, a study of 1,000 found.

Experts told the British Journal of Sports Medicine that this could be because exercise helps bolster the immune system to fight off bugs.

But you may not have to actually do much exercise – those who merely think they are fit enjoy the same lower risk.

Adults can expect to suffer two to five colds per year. This latest research suggests there are lifestyle choices you can make to improve your odds of either avoiding them, or suffering too badly from them.

For their study, US researchers asked the healthy volunteers to keep a record of any coughs and sniffles they experienced over a three-month period during the autumn and winter.

The volunteers were also asked to say how frequently in any given week they would do exercise lasting at least 20 minutes and intensive enough to break a sweat.

And they were questioned about lifestyle, diet and recent stressful events, as these can all affect a person’s immune system.

Being older, male and married seemed to reduce the frequency of colds, as did eating plenty of fruit.

But the most significant factors that cut colds was how much exercise a person did and how fit they perceived themselves to be.

Feeling fit and being active cut the risk of having a cold by nearly 50%.

People who were physically active on five or more days of the week were unwell with a cold for about five days of the three-month period, compared to nine days for those who did little or no exercise.

And even when they were ill, they suffered less with their symptoms.

The severity of symptoms fell by 41% among those who felt the fittest and by 31% among those who were the most active.

Lead researcher Dr David Nieman and his team, from Appalachian State University in North Carolina, say bouts of exercise spark a temporary rise in immune system cells circulating around the body that can attack foreign invaders.

Although these levels fall back within a few hours, each session is likely to provide an immune boost to fight off infections like the common cold.

Professor Steve Field, chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said: “This is yet more evidence for doing exercise. It reflects what we have believed for some time.

“Exercise makes us feel better and now here’s more evidence that it is good for us.”

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Nepalese peacekeepers have been blamed from the outbreak, allegations they deny

US health authorities have said that the cholera strain which has killed more than 330 people in Haiti most closely resembles a South Asian strain.

The US Centers for Disease Control found that Haitian cholera patients had all been infected with the same strain.

Haiti’s health minister said the outbreak was unlikely to have originated in the country.

The UN is investigating allegations that excrement from Nepalese peacekeepers caused the epidemic.

But Health Minister Dr Alex Larsen said it was unlikely the outbreak’s origin would ever be known.

“Although these results indicate that the strain is non-Haitian, cholera strains may move between different areas due to global travel and trade,” he said, according to Agence France-Presse.

He added that the strain was probably transmitted by contaminated food or water, or an infected person.

The Nepalese camp had become the object of local suspicion partly because cholera is very rare in Haiti but endemic in Nepal.

The UN had said last week that tests taken from the peacekeepers’ camp and adjacent waters were found to be negative but, following the announcement, a spokesman said the agency was looking into the matter.

The US federal health agency said that cholera does not normally spread widely within a country if drinking water and sewage treatment are adequate.

Poor sanitary conditions make the camps and slums where many are living after the country’s January earthquake vulnerable to cholera, which is caused by bacteria transmitted through contaminated water or food.

Some 1.3 million survivors of the devastating quake are living in tent camps in and around the capital.

Health experts say they expect the outbreak will soon lessen but the disease will eventually join malaria and tuberculosis in becoming endemic in Haiti.

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The 1993 “Don’t ask, don’t tell” measure has opponents and supporters

A federal appeals court has ordered the US military’s ban on openly gay troops to remain in place indefinitely while a legal battle is fought over the policy.

The court had last month issued a temporary injunction blocking a judge’s ruling that overturned the 17-year-old “don’t ask, don’t tell” law.

The government argues that it should stay in place until the military has devised a new policy.

The ruling means troops can still be discharged for being openly gay.

The Obama administration has voiced support for ending “Don’t ask, don’t tell” but argues that any repeal of the policy should be undertaken by Congress, not the courts.

The Pentagon is currently assessing the impact that allowing openly gay servicemen and women may have on military readiness and effectiveness, and is due to release a report on 1 December.

Over the past few weeks, the defence department has been bounced between legal rulings first allowing, then denying, homosexual men and women the right to enlist.

Ten days ago, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates issued a new mandate that only five senior officials, all civilian, could expel someone from the military for being gay.

Prior to this change, a large number of less senior officials, both civilian and military, could decide to discharge gay servicemen and women.

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Mr Brown addressed the Labour Party conference in September

Former PM Gordon Brown will make his first speech in the Commons since April on Monday – in a bid to save shipyard jobs near his constituency.

He is due to speak on a Labour MP’s motion examining options for the maintenance of the two aircraft carriers spared by the defence review.

There are concerns 50-year maintenance contracts on HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales could go to France.

Mr Brown will argue they should stay in Rosyth, which borders his constituency.

The Kircaldy and Cowdenbeath MP has not addressed the Commons since before Labour’s general election defeat – prompting some swipes from the Conservatives.

He has been working on a book about the financial crisis and did make a speech at the Labour Party conference, as his successor was unveiled.

The £5.4bn aircraft carriers deal has proved controversial. The government says it could not cancel one of the carriers, as it made cuts to spending, because it would have cost more than going ahead with both.

Mr Brown’s spokeswoman confirmed he was due to speak on Thomas Docherty’s motion on Monday night.

Conservative MP Bernard Jenkin said the former PM should apologise for the aircraft carriers deal: “His appearance in this debate shows that his decision to order the aircraft carriers was always about protecting his own interests rather than the national interest.”

But the former head of the armed forces, Sir Jock Stirrup, told the BBC on Sunday the aircraft carriers deal had been done for “entirely sensible” reasons – to persuade the UK’s shipbuilding industry to scale down and invest in rationalisation.

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