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Show of strength for Kim Jong-un

Chris Hogg: “Kim Jong-il knows that he needs to get the military on side if he is to secure the succession” for Kim Jong-un

State television in North Korea has shown live pictures of the leader, Kim Jong-il, reviewing a military parade accompanied by his youngest son, Kim Jong-un.

The younger Mr Kim is thought to be in line to succeed his father as leader of the highly secretive state.

He was suddenly promoted to senior leadership roles last month.

The parade in the capital Pyongyang marked the 65th anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party.

Officials say the anniversary celebrations will be biggest of their kind in the nation’s history.

On Saturday, father and son appeared at a festival in the capital.

Members of the international media were also invited in to witness the event.

As a spotlight shone on the two men, the massive crowd at the Arirang gymnastics and dance festival rose to their feet and burst into applause.

Last month, Kim Jong-un was made a four-star general and given senior positions in the government and the Workers’ Party, at a rare party conference.

Many analysts say this means he is in line to succeed his father, who took over the leadership of North Korea in 1997.

Kim Jong-il is thought to be in poor health and is widely believed to have suffered a stroke two years ago.

Our correspondent Michael Bristow, who is in Pyongyang for the anniversary, says the younger Mr Kim’s appearances in front of an invited group of foreign journalists seem to suggest that he will be the country’s next leader.

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

Kyrgyzstan votes in landmark poll

A woman sorts ballot papers in the city of Osh

Poll organisers are hoping the vote goes without a hitch

Voters in Kyrgyzstan are to head to the polls for a landmark parliamentary election, the first since 400 people died in inter-ethnic violence.

Twenty-nine parties fielding over 3,000 candidates will compete for 120 seats.

Six or seven parties are expected to dominate, although none is expected to easily win a majority of seats.

Authorities have vowed that the elections will take place without a renewal of the violence that hit the south of the country in June.

The BBC’s Rayhan Demetrie, in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, says the level of participation and the unpredictability of the outcome make Sunday’s election significantly different from every other election that has ever taken place in Central Asia.

The vote is the first to be held under a new constitution adopted in a June referendum that changed the form of government from a presidential system to a parliamentary democracy.

The country’s former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was ousted following a popular uprising in April.

Many of those who served in Mr Bakiyev’s government are now in opposition, with strong support in the country’s south – the former president’s stronghold.

Population: 5.5 million (UN, 2009)Major languages: Kyrgyz, RussianMajor religions: Islam, ChristianityMain exports: Fruit, vegetables, gold, tobacco

Much of the attention throughout the poll will be on the southern cities of Osh and Jalalabad, where a major ethnic conflict took place in June.

Hundreds of people, mostly ethnic Uzbeks, died when violence flared in the south.

The authorities have promised to provide security for all its citizens to ensure peaceful election, our correspondent says.

However, there are fears of protests and violence if political groups do not get the results they are expecting.

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

Leading N Korea defector ‘dies’

Hwang Jang-yop reportedly tutored current North Korean leader Kim Jong-il

The most senior official ever to defect from North Korea, Hwang Jang-yop, has died, media reports say.

South Korea’s YTN television says Mr Hwang, 87, died after an apparent heart attack at his home in Seoul.

It says that officials are also investigating the possibility that he may have been killed.

He was once a close confidant of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il but fled to the South in 1997. He had reportedly received several death threats.

In April, Seoul said it had arrested two men on suspicion of being on a mission to kill Mr Hwang.

Pyongyang later responded by saying that the accusation was a “ridiculous fabrication”.

Mr Hwang lived at an undisclosed location and remained a harsh critic of Pyongyang.

His defection was a very big blow for North Korea at the time, the BBC’s John Sudworth in Seoul says.

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

Live – Commonwealth Games Day Seven

Alison Williamson wins archery silver while Nicole Cooke is going for cycling gold before Mark Cavendish competes in the men’s road race on day seven of the Games in Delhi.

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

Thirteen held in Leicester demos

Street lights on Gallowtree Gate will glow green to highlight peace events across the city

Part of Leicester is being cordoned off ahead of two protests expected to take place in the city centre.

The English Defence League (EDL) is due to hold a demonstration and Unite Against Fascism (UAF) will stage a counter-protest.

Several roads around the eastern part of the city will be closed from 0900 until 1800 BST.

The groups are banned from marching but will be escorted to hold static protests in Humberstone Gate East.

Officers from 13 forces will be on hand to maintain order. It is expected to be the largest police operation in Leicester for several decades.

Some bus routes will also be disrupted, so temporary stops have been set up in Belgrave Gate and Abbey Street.

A map showing details of road closures and other public information is available on the council’s website.

A series of “green-themed peace events”, including a performance by musician Billy Bragg, were held in Leicester on Friday and more are expected to take place on Sunday.

Some street lights will glow green, and the city council has urged people to wear green ribbons and attend the peace events as an alternative to taking part in any demonstrations.

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

New crew arrive at space station

The crew is set to spend 159 days on the space station

A Soyuz capsule carrying two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut has docked successfully with the International Space Station (ISS).

The men will complete a five-month tour of duty aboard the laboratory, joining three crew members already on board.

The capsule lifted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in southern Kazakhstan.

Alexander Kaleri, Oleg Skripochka and Scott Kelly reached the orbiting platform on Saturday.

Assuming the February flight of the US shuttle Endeavour is not delayed, Scott Kelly will be joined in orbit by his brother, Mark – the first time that siblings have been in space together.

Scott Kelly will act as a flight engineer on Expedition 25 to the ISS, before assuming command of the orbiting platform with the Expedition 26 team.

The rest of the 26 team, due to launch in December, includes Paulo Nespoli, Europe’s next long-duration ISS resident.

The next shuttle mission will be undertaken by Discovery next month. It will carry a storeroom to the station.

Endeavour’s task will be to deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, a particle physics experiment.

US legislators want the US space agency, Nasa, to add one further flight to the shuttle manifest next year before the orbiters are put in museums.

If this goes ahead, the mission, to loft spare parts for the ISS, would most probably be completed by the Atlantis ship.

Once the shuttles are retired, the only way of getting people to the station in the next few years will be by Russian Soyuz craft.

Expedition 25: Nasa astronauts Commander Doug Wheelock, Scott Kelly and Shannon Walker; Russian cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka, Alexander Kaleri and Fyodor Yurchikhin.

Expedition 26: Nasa astronauts Commander Scott Kelly and Catherine Coleman; Russian cosmonauts Alexander Kaleri, Oleg Skripochka and Dmitry Kondratyev; and Esa astronaut Paolo Nespoli.

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

Miners’ rescue to start Wednesday

The evacuation of 33 miners trapped underground in Chile is likely to start on Wednesday, the country’s mining minister says.

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

Salt in hospital meals ‘too high’

Salt and saturated fat levels in food should be kept low to guard against the risk of diseases, campaigners say

There is too much salt and fat in the food served to children in hospital, a survey suggests.

Research from Consensus Action on Salt and Health (Cash) found 85 of the 189 child hospital meals tested would be too unhealthy to be served in schools.

The meals exceeded salt and fat limits for school lunches introduced in 2008.

Campaigners want ministers to bring in nutritional guidelines for hospital food. The Department of Health said it was concerned about the findings.

The research also found that one in three of all 451 meals surveyed would be classified as “red” for saturated fat or salt, according to the Food Standards Agency’s traffic light labelling scheme.

A chicken tikka masala and rice served in a hospital, for example, was found to contain 14 times more salt (2.2g) and 8.5 times more saturated fat (6g) than a chicken and vegetable balti with rice, served in a school.

“When such great progress has been made on what pupils are eating in school it is shocking that children in hospitals are being ignored”

Professor Graham McGregor Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine

A hospital lasagne contained nearly six times more salt than a lasagne served in schools – 3.2g compared with 0.57g.

The survey found that pizza in hospital contained nearly double the amount of salt of a school version (2.43g compared with 1.35g per portion).

A sticky toffee sponge pudding with butterscotch was also 6 times higher in saturated fat than a similar pudding served in a school (19g compared with 3g per portion).

The findings came from a survey carried out by Cash and campaign group Sustain, which looked at the nutritional content of meals which were provided by leading hospital food suppliers across the UK.

They then compared them with the nutritional standards set out for schools – which set out limits for particular meals.

Professor Graham McGregor, from the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine and chairman of Cash, said: “With everything we know about the risk of children developing high blood pressure and diet-related diseases such as obesity, it is vital to keep their consumption of salt and saturated fat as low as possible, while still being appetising.”

“When such great progress has been made on what pupils are eating in school it is shocking that children in hospitals are being ignored.”

The government introduced mandatory school nutritional guidelines in 2008 to try to make sure that children were given the right mix of energy and nutrients in their school lunches.

A survey by the School Food Trust this year shows that 41% of primary school pupils now eat school lunches, an increase of 2.1% on 2008-09.

MP Joan Walley believes there should be legal nutritional standards for food served in all public sector institutions, like hospitals, care homes, universities and in the armed forces – not just schools.

She said: “It is really important that children are served food in hospital which they like, but we must also make sure that it is nourishing and healthy for them to eat.”

She has introduced a bill to Parliament and says the onus is now on the government to accept it.

A Department of Health spokesman said they were concerned about the survey’s findings.

“We recognise the importance of good quality food for patients of all ages, both in terms of improving their health and in relation to their overall experience of services.

“Tools are available to support caterers in assessing the nutritional content of meals.”

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

Johnson warns of ‘damaging’ cuts

Alan Johnson said the spending cuts could fundamentally alter Britain’s community

Government plans to cut public spending could inflict more damage than Margaret Thatcher’s 1980s cuts, new shadow chancellor Alan Johnson has said.

Mr Johnson, appointed on Friday, told the Observer the spending reductions due to be outlined on 20 October could “fundamentally alter our community”.

They risked sending the UK back into recession, he said.

On Saturday, Energy Secretary Chris Huhne said cut plans could be amended to match changing economic conditions.

The proposals to help reduce the UK deficit were not “lashed to the mast” and could be scaled back if economic conditions deteriorated or improved, the Lib Dem minister said.

However, later, in what appeared to be mixed messages from the coalition, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander told the Scottish Liberal Democrat conference the planned cuts were “unavoidable”.

Most Whitehall departments face cuts of up to 25% over four years.

In the interview in the Observer, Mr Johnson said cuts being made “too quickly and deeply”, coupled with complex reorganisations of the NHS and police services, would cause “huge harm” to the country.

Pointing to the Irish Republic’s descent back towards recession, he said: “We don’t have to look far to see what the effect can be of cutting too deep too soon.

“Even if double dip doesn’t happen, the way this coalition is implementing these changes will fundamentally alter our community and lead to a situation where we spend years trying to repair the damage.

“If you think of Thatcher in the 80s, the most she cut was 10%, and we are still feeling the effect of that in Hull, the city I represent.”

“You don’t need to be a professor of economics to be a Treasury minister”

Alan Johnson Shadow chancellorHuhne hints at public cuts shift

Speaking about his former department, Mr Johnson, who was home secretary until the May election, said there was “no way” the Home Office could slash its budget by 25% and keep the network of neighbourhood policing.

He cited the fact that reports say Chancellor George Osborne has given permission to the Bank of England to pump more money into the economy in another round of quantitative easing – coupled with gloomy employment figures from the US – as evidence of how fragile the economy is.

The shadow chancellor told the paper he fully backed the existing Labour policy, which struck a balance between bringing the deficit down and supporting growth.

“I am a realist about this. If you are cranking up lots of interest on debt, you need to bring the deficit down as fast as you can, consistent with jobs and growth, and I think that is where the Conservatives have fallen down.”

He also rejected suggestions he lacked the economic expertise and knowledge for one of the most important jobs in the shadow cabinet.

“You don’t need to be a professor of economics to be a Treasury minister. It is about getting up to speed very quickly and it is about listening to people,” 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.

Plea to home secretary over Gamu

Gamu is a former pupil of Alva Academy

The home secretary has been urged to take a “personal interest” in the case of X Factor singer Gamu Nhengu, who faces deportation to Zimbabwe.

The 18-year-old has been told she must return to her homeland after her mother Nokuthula Ngazana’s visa application was turned down.

Scotland’s Culture Minister Fiona Hyslop has expressed her concerns in a letter to Home Secretary Theresa May.

She has asked for all options to be fully explored.

X Factor judge Simon Cowell has put his weight behind the fight to allow the family to stay at their home in Tillcoultry, Clackmannanshire, where they have lived for eight years and where Gamu attended Alva Academy.

Basket case

Photos of how Zimbabweans are weaving their way out of poverty

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

All eyes on Browne

Scotland considers student charging options

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

Two men shot and injured in alley

Two men have been shot and injured in an alley in Spennymoor, County Durham.

A 59-year-old man is being treated in hospital but his injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.

A second man, aged 40, was released after treatment following the shootings which happened just after 1700 BST on Saturday.

Police believe the men were shot at the rear of Clyde Terrace, Spennymoor. Two men are in custody in connection with the incident.

Acting Chief Inspector Tony Avery said he believed the victims had been deliberately targeted and that the wider community was not at risk.

“Incidents of this nature are very unusual and there is nothing to suggest people in the wider community are in danger,” he said.

“Our inquiries are continuing,” Mr Avery added.

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

Live – Japanese GP qualifying

Qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix is under way after rain washes out Saturday’s schedule at Suzuka.

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

Points loss could block Reds sale

Liverpool’s proposed takeover by New England Sports Ventures could be jeopardised if the club is docked nine points by the Premier League, BBC Sport understands.

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