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San Francisco 24-16 Denver

The 49ers beat the Broncos as the NFL entertains its British fans at Wembley.

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

Baghdad church hostage drama ends

Our Lady of Salvation church in central Baghdad (file photo)

The attackers are holding worshippers and priests in the church

Gunmen have taken around 40 worshippers hostage in a central Baghdad church, Iraqi police say.

The gunmen first attacked the stock exchange in the Iraqi capital before moving to a nearby Assyrian Catholic church, where a Sunday evening service was being held.

At least six people were killed in the attacks, police said.

The gunmen are reportedly demanding the release of al-Qaeda members imprisoned in Iraq and Egypt.

According to the police, several other people were wounded.

The attackers are also holding two priests at the Our Lady of Salvation Church, the Chaldean Bishop Shlemon Warduni told the AFP agency.

“What we know is that a number of worshippers and two priests are being held hostage at the church by terrorists,” he said.

A local television station, al-Baghdadia, said it had been telephoned by the suspected attackers, who claimed they were from the organisation Islamic State of Iraq – an umbrella group embracing al-Qaeda and other militant groups.

The broadcaster said the men were demanding the release of al-Qaeda prisoners in Iraq and Egypt.

It reported that the men spoke in classical Arabic, which could imply that they are not from Iraq.

The BBC’s Jim Muir in Baghdad said the church in Karada district was surrounded by security forces and the area sealed off.

There were reports that the gunmen threatened to shoot the hostages if the church is stormed by security forces.

In 2008, the Chaldean Catholic archbishop of Mosul, Paulos Faraj Rahho, was kidnapped by unknown gunmen and found dead two weeks later.

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

Druids and witches mark Samhain festival

Druids, witches and other Pagans have been commemorating what they know as the festival of Samhain.

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

Cameron talks with German leader

The leaders discussed Europe, trade and security

David Cameron has held “substantive” talks with the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, about Europe, security and trade, Downing Street says.

A spokesman said “there was absolute agreement between the leaders that restraint needed to be shown in EU spending” at the Chequers talks.

Both leaders want the 2011 EU budget to increase by no more than 2.9%.

Mr Cameron updated Mrs Merkel on the cargo bomb plot; they agreed to go on co-operating against terrorism.

The pair also discussed the state of the global economy in advance of the Seoul G20 summit.

It was also agreed that Britain, Germany, Turkey and Indonesia would set up a working group to look into ways of boosting global trade.

They group has been tasked to report early in the New Year with recommondations on how to liberalise trade.

It will be led by Peter Sutherland, a former head of the World Trade Organisation, and Jagdish Bhagwati, a trade expert and professor at New York’s Columbia University.

Mr Cameron and Mrs Merkel also discussed foreign policy and in particular Afghanistan.

The Downing Street spokesman said they were both “steadfast” in their commitment to the Afghan mission.

The two leaders also called on Iran to return to the negotiating table on its nuclear programme and urged Israel and the Palestinians to commit to peace talks.

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

Failure to find bomb ‘a weakness’

The home secretary said action had been taken over freight from Yemen

Home Secretary Theresa May has pledged to review air freight security after bombs were found on two cargo jets in the UK and Dubai.

Prime Minister David Cameron said the device discovered in the UK was designed to go off on the aircraft.

Mrs May said: “Certainly, we have to look at our processes of searching and how we detect these devices.”

A female medical student has been arrested in Yemen on suspicion of posting the bombs bound for the US.

Referring to the bomb uncovered in the UK, Mrs May told BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show: “The crucial thing is we did find it and we were able to take action on it.

“What we have done is taken action in relation to future unaccompanied freight from the Yemen which would either be coming into the UK or through the UK, and banned that freight.”

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

Dubai bomb flew on passenger jets

The device had been placed in a cardboard box and posted to the US

One of the two bombs posted from Yemen last week was transported on two passenger planes before being seized in Dubai, Qatar Airways says.

The device was carried on a Qatar Airbus A320 from the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, to Doha, the company confirmed.

There it was transferred onto another Qatar Airways plane to Dubai, where it was seized by police.

The bomb used PETN explosive, which is difficult to detect using normal airport security screening.

A second device was found at East Midlands Airport in the UK. Both bombs were hidden inside printer toner cartridges.

Until now it had been thought that both devices had been transported using cargo planes.

The firms UPS and FedEx had been used to post the devices, which were addressed to synagogues in the US.

The British authorities says the bomb seized in the UK was believed to have been designed to go off during the flight.

The Yemeni authorities are questioning a student who is believed to have posted the devices.

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

London fire strike will go ahead

Strikes are planned for Monday 1 November and Friday 5 November

Talks aimed at averting strikes by London’s firefighters were being held on Sunday.

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) and London Fire Brigade (LFB) were meeting in a bid to avert an eight-hour strike on Monday and a two-day strike starting on Bonfire Night.

The FBU walked out of talks earlier in the week, saying nothing new had been offered in the row over contracts.

But the brigade said compromise was achievable.

Union members are due to walk out from 1000 GMT until 1800 GMT on 1 November and from 1000 GMT on 5 November until 0900 GMT on 7 November.

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

Cheryl Cole returns to pole in singles chart

Cheryl Cole’s second solo album Messy Little Raindrops is out on Monday

Cheryl Cole’s new single Promise This has leapt into pole position in the singles chart and become the biggest-selling first week non-charity single of the year.

Promise has sold 157,000 copies since its release at the start of week.

It followed Cole’s debut performance of the track on the X Factor.

Promise This is Cole’s second solo number one single. Her debut Fight For This Love had one of the biggest first week single sales of 2009.

The track sold more than 290,000 copies.

Cole’s first solo album 3 Words achieved triple-platinum status, selling more than 900,000 copies.

Cole’s second solo album Messy Little Raindrops is released on Monday. Fellow Girls Aloud singer Nadine Coyle releases her debut solo album next month.

Promise This knocked Bruno Mars’s Just the Way You Are from the number one spot.

Also doing well in the singles chart is Rihanna, whose new single Only Girl (In The World) went straight in at number two, giving her a 14th UK top 10 hit. Her track also broke the non-charity single record, with 126,000 copies shifted.

McElderry debut

US rapper Nelly was the only other new entry in the singles top 10 as his track Just A Dream moved up from 11th to eighth place.

Meanwhile in the album chart, The Kings of Leon held on to the number one position for the second week with Come Around Sundown.

Last year’s X Factor winner Joe McElderry did not enjoy the same success as his former mentor Cole. His debut album Wide Awake entered the album charts at number three.

Michael Buble took the second spot with Crazy Love, which moved up from last week’s number seven.

Boy band The Wanted entered the album chart at number four with their self-titled album.

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

Inquiry into patient drug deaths

Two patients have died from suspected drug overdoses at a psychiatric unit on Merseyside.

Paramedics were called to Taylor ward at the Peasley Cross unit, in St Helens, at 0500 BST on Friday.

The men, aged 25 and 36, were pronounced dead. A third man, 30, is being examined as a precaution.

Merseyside Police and the Five Boroughs Partnership NHS Foundation Trust are investigating. Neither would comment on the nature of the drugs.

Nick Rowe, a director at the trust, said the patients were found in their rooms by members of staff carrying out routine observations.

Staff tried to resuscitate the men and called paramedics but they were pronounced dead, he said.

Mr Rowe added: “Police have been informed and we are working with them to assist them with their investigations.

“We have also initiated an internal investigation within the trust.

“We would like to express our condolences to the families of the two men who have been offered our support during this distressing time.”

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

Bolton 0-1 Liverpool

Maxi Rodriguez toe-pokes an 86th-minute winner as Liverpool win at Bolton to move out of the relegation zone.

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

Benefit cap ‘may change London’

Housing benefit payments will be capped at £290 a week for a two-bedroom property

The majority of two-bedroom properties in London will be beyond the reach of housing benefit claimants once new limits on payments are introduced, according to charity Shelter.

It says a study, done by Cambridge University, shows that much of the capital, including many of the suburbs, will become “largely unaffordable”.

The government has accused critics of its reforms of “scaremongering”.

But Labour say they will force a vote in Parliament on the plans.

Under the proposals, housing benefit payments would be capped at a maximum of £400 a week, with an upper limit of £290 per week for a two-bedroom flat.

The Department of Work and Pensions says nearly two-thirds of housing benefit tenants will be no worse off, or will face a gap of £10 or less a week between their rent and their benefits.

However, official figures also suggest that one in 10 households will face shortfall of £30 or more a week.

HOUSING BENEFIT CAP£250 for a one-bedroom property£290 for a two-bedroom property£340 for a three-bedroom property£400 for a four-bedroom property

Campbell Robb, chief executive of Shelter, said the study showed how reforms would “change the make-up of London” and would affect outer boroughs as well as those in the inner city.

“We are concerned this could mean tens of thousands of households forced from the centre, creating concentrations of poverty and inequality,” he added.

This week, London Mayor Boris Johnson was criticised after he told a radio station he would “not accept any kind of Kosovo-style social cleansing of London” as a result of the reforms.

“I’ll emphatically resist any attempt to recreate a London where the rich and poor cannot live together,” he said.

Mr Johnson said he had been quoted out of context, but Business Secretary Vince Cable accused him of using “inflammatory language”.

Prime Minister David Cameron said the government would still be “prepared to pay up to £20,000 a year” in housing benefit to families, adding: “I don’t think it will be necessary for anybody to go without a home.”

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

Protest at search and rescue cuts

A protest is planned on the south Wales coast later over proposals to downgrade the search and rescue service at Chivenor in Devon.

Organisers are hoping for a big turnout at the demonstration at Rest Bay, Porthcawl at 1500 BST.

The Ministry of Defence [MoD] had planned to halve the 24-hour cover at Chivenor, but those proposals were suspended in the Spending Review.

The MoD has been asked to respond.

Ivorians vote in ‘healing’ poll

If the elections succeed they should signal the end of a difficult decade

Voters in Ivory Coast are due to cast their ballots in presidential elections which have been delayed six times.

Incumbent Laurent Gbagbo is running against 13 candidates, including veteran politicians Alassane Ouattara and Henri Konan Bedie.

There are concerns about security if the results of the poll are contested.

The vote is seen a key step in helping the nation heal its deep ethnic rifts, which came close to splitting the country during civil war in 2002.

A deal signed in 2007 led to an uneasy peace in Ivory Coast – seen as one of West Africa’s most successful countries until the outbreak of the hostilities.

Almost six million people are eligible to cast their ballots when the polling stations open at 0700 GMT on Sunday. The voting will end at 1700 GMT.

Election front-runners

An Ivorian holds out form of how the ballot will look

Laurent Gbagbo (LMP)Henri Konan Bedie (PDCI-RDA)Alassane Ouattara (RDR)Ivorian election tour Country profile: Ivory Coast

This will be Ivory Coast’s first presidential election in 10 years and is likely to be an extremely close race, which will almost certainly go to a second round, the BBC’s John James in Abidjan reports.

The main candidate from the north, former IMF economist Alassane Ouattara – who was banned from previous races – is one of the favourites, our correspondent says.

His main rivals are President Gbagbo and Mr Bedie, a former leader ousted in a coup in 1999.

Many of the contenders for the top job have similar policies: relaunching the economy, reducing youth unemployment and stopping further conflict.

The delay in organising elections since the 2007 agreement has put investments on hold, as well as postponing reforms of the cocoa industry which produces nearly 40% of the world’s supply, our correspondent says.

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

Newcastle 5-1 Sunderland

Kevin Nolan scores a hat-trick as Newcastle thrashed Sunderland in the Tyne-Wear derby at St James’ Park.

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Explosive device found at airport

The security alert is at Belfast International Airport

There is a security alert at Belfast International Airport.

Police and army bomb experts are examining a suspicious vehicle which was discovered in the airport’s long-stay car park at about 1430 BST on Saturday.

Flights are not affected at this stage, however travellers are advised to check with their airlines for more information.

It is believed the alert is not linked to bombs left on US-bound cargo planes.

Home Secretary Theresa May confirmed on Saturday that a device found in a package sent from Yemen and found on a US-bound cargo plane could have exploded on board the jet.

The device, intercepted at East Midlands Airport on Friday, was viable and could have exploded on board, she said.

Dubai police earlier confirmed that a second device, also on a US-bound cargo plane, contained explosives.

Washington suspects the devices were part of an al-Qaeda plot.

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