Category: news

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.

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US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has pressed China to let the value of the yuan rise against other currencies.

Speaking at IMF talks in Washington, Mr Geithner said nations relying too much on exports must change their policies, or global economic growth would slow.

He said major emerging economies should move towards “a more flexible, market-oriented currency policy”.

In response, China blamed rich nations for problems in the currency markets that have hit many developing nations.

The tension over between the US and China over currency policy surfaced once again at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) talks.

Mr Geithner renewed the pressure on China to allow its currency to rise. He named no names, but he was talking mainly about China.

The US has a long-standing grievance over China’s currency policy, which limits the movement of the yuan against the dollar. The American complaint is that it gives Chinese exporters an unfair competitive advantage.

There was a vigorous response from Shou Xiaochuan, governor of China’s central bank (The People’s Bank of China), who blamed the rich countries for problems in the currency markets.

Mr Zgou said extremely low interest rates in rich countries had created “stark challenges for emerging market countries”.

More recently, many developing countries have had to contend with their own currencies rising and undermining their competitiveness.

The problem is that those low interest rates in the developed world have led investors to seek higher returns elsewhere, in emerging markets.

To invest in those markets, they need to buy the currency and that pushes its value up. That in turn makes those countries’ goods more expensive for foreign buyers and the overseas investment money creates a danger of unsustainable bubbles in their property and financial markets.

China has stopped its currency rising much by buying foreign currency. If it were to refrain from that and allow the yuan to rise, it would probably help other developing countries that compete with China, as well as the US which is protesting the most.

But there is another force behind the rising developing world currencies. Their economies are growing robustly, while the rich countries are not.

That uneven global economic recovery is a problem that cannot be quickly fixed.

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The head of a drug treatment centre has claimed the facility has been prevented from treating Scots addicts.

Peter McCann, from Castle Craig in Peebleshire, said NHS referrals were at a “pitiful level” and patients faced obstacles to get in-patient treatment.

In a letter to the Scottish Tory leader, Mr McCann said the issue needed to be raised with Scottish ministers.

The Scottish government said it had achieved “significant success” in cutting treatment waiting times.

In his letter to Annabel Goldie, Mr McCann said it was “bizarre” to say that the Scottish government did not promote one form of treatment over another when the amount reportedly spent on methadone was considered.

He wrote: “NHS referrals are at a pitiful level and every obstacle is put in a patient’s way from receiving in-patient or residential treatment.

“We hear time and again reports that nurses of drug workers tell their patients that they cannot have this kind of treatment and GPs are given the same message. So they give up.”

He added: “Our foreign income amounts to about £5m per year. However, our primary business is to treat Scots and this is what we are prevented from doing.”

On its website, Castle Craig Hospital describes itself as one of Europe’s top rehab clinics, providing in-patient treatment for those suffering from alcohol and drug addiction.

Ms Goldie said the letter provided further evidence that Scotland’s drug strategy appeared to be in a “real mess”.

She said: “This week I asked the first minister to set up an independent review to investigate why the new national drugs strategy, which Scottish Conservatives fought so hard for, is still not a reality on the ground.

“He declined to do this, yet this letter is further evidence that the policy appears to be in a real mess.

“Methadone can play a role for some addicts on their road to recovery, but we know many addicts never wanted to go on methadone in the first place and many addicts on it want off.

“We cannot switch people from an illegal drug and park them on a prescribed one.”

The Scottish government established the Drugs Strategy Delivery Commission (DSDC) in December last year to assess independently the government’s progress in delivering Scotland’s drugs strategy, The Road to Recovery.

A government spokesman said: “Our record increased funding for drug treatment services and significant success in dramatically bringing down treatment waiting times are making the Road to Recovery a reality; now and for the future.

“It is heartening to see that more people are accessing treatment and support to help them recover from their drug problems, and it is wrong to infer that a decline in referrals to residential services by the NHS is as a result of people being ‘parked’ on methadone.”

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UN climate talks in China have ended without a major breakthrough and with angry words about the US from Beijing.

At the talks in Tianjin, China blamed the US for failing to meet its responsibilities to cut emissions and for trying to overturn UN principles.

The US accused China of refusing to have its voluntary energy savings verified internationally.

But there was some progress toward the next round of climate talks in Mexico in November.

There are hopes that the meeting in Cancun could agree details of a fund to transfer $100bn (£63bn) a year from rich countries to help poor nations cope with the projected consequences of climate change.

That sum is described by developing nations as substantial but inadequate.

It has been the old deadlock in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin during the week-long talks.

China feels unfairly criticised by the US.

On Saturday, one of the Chinese climate negotiators reportedly accused the US of behaving like a preening pig, complaining about Beijing when Washington had done so little itself.

The head of the US delegation, Jonathan Pershing, was more diplomatic.

But he said that there could be no US signature on any binding deal that did not also bind China – America’s superpower rival.

Despite general frustration at the superpower stand-off, there was some progress in Tianjin.

If the $100bn fund can be agreed in Cancun, it will prove that these talks are not dead.

If even this part of the package falls, diplomats in Tianjin are warning it will threaten the future of multilateral action between nations of the world on anything.

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Friends and relatives of the Chilean miners trapped deep underground have been celebrating after rescuers finally drilled through to the chamber where they have been trapped for more than two months.

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A sculpture in honour of John Lennon has been unveiled in Liverpool, on what would have been his 70th birthday.

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A UN Security Council delegation ends a visit to Sudan by urging it to ensure a referendum on southern independence is held on time.

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

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A British soldier killed in an explosion in southern Afghanistan has been named by the Ministry of Defence.

Sergeant Peter Rayner, 34, from Bradford, west Yorkshire, of 2nd Battalion The Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, was killed on Friday.

The soldier was carrying out a patrol in in the Nahr-e Saraj area of Helmand Province.

The number of British military personnel killed in operations in Afghanistan since 2001 is now 340.

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Firefighters are tackling a blaze on a Baltic Sea ferry near the German island of Fehmarn.

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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.

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One of the world’s leading tea-producing nations, Sri Lanka, becomes the scene for a new world record – the largest cup of tea.

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A teenage boy who died after being stabbed near Pollok Park in Glasgow was the brother of a Strathclyde police officer, it emerges.

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A 13-month-old baby girl is seriously ill in hospital after falling from a window of a flat in west London.

The toddler suffered head injuries when she fell up to 30ft (9m) from the Grosvenor Court Mansions block in Edgware Road on Friday night.

A London Ambulance crew was sent to the scene and took the girl to hospital where she is being treated in a specialist unit.

An investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident has begun.

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