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Scots team heads to Delhi Games

Team Scotland Athletes. Pic by Duncan Kirkhope

Team Scotland athletes are flying out from Glasgow Airport

Hundreds of athletes and staff will begin to fly out from Scotland to the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

Concerns about security and unfinished facilities had raised doubts about the Scottish team’s involvement with the sporting event starting on 3 October.

But guarantees have since been given by the Delhi 2010 Organising Committee and the Commonwealth Games Federation that the problems have been solved.

The first of the athletes will fly from Glasgow Airport at about 1400 BST.

Those travelling on Saturday include competitors from archery, lawn bowls, shooting, tennis and weightlifting.

Team Scotland’s rugby players, boxers and wrestlers are due to head out on Tuesday.

Scottish team manager Vicky Strange, who is already in Delhi, told BBC Radio Scotland’s Sports Weekly: “Our accommodation for Team Scotland is actually very much ready.

Boat sent to retrieve protesters

Greenpeace say they plan to end their protest on board the drillship Stena Carron off Shetland on Saturday, following a court order.

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

Chancellor to hear security fears

Threat levels in Northern Ireland remain ‘severe’

The First and Deputy First Ministers are to discuss republican dissident activity with the Chancellor of the Exchequer next week.

Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness want to ensure that enough money is being made available for the fight against the dissidents.

Home Secretary Theresa May said on Friday that a dissident attack in the UK was now a “strong possibility”.

Richard English of QUB said the threat needed to be seen in context.

“Although it’s a much much lower threat than used to be from the Provisional IRA say, in the 70s, 80s and early 90s, it’s clear that there is an episodic and occasionally lethal threat from those who are still unreconciled to the current arrangement,” Professor English said.

“Over the last five years they have killed nine people, which is an awful thing but nothing like enough to derail the current option of political progress through peace rather than violence.”

The threat level to Britain from Irish-related terrorism has been raised from moderate to substantial.

Home Secretary Theresa May said the threat level to Britain from Irish-related terrorism has been raised from moderate to substantial.

She said this meant an attack was a “strong possibility”.

It was the first time this threat level had been published, the Home Office confirmed.

The head of security service MI5 warned last week that dissident republicans opposed to British rule in Northern Ireland could strike mainland Britain.

The threat from Irish-related terrorism to Britain is still lower than the overall threat from international terrorism, which remains unchanged at “severe”.

The new category of threat from Ireland applies to England, Wales and Scotland but not Northern Ireland, where the level also remains “severe”.

BBC Belfast correspondent Andy Martin said: “There is no indication that there is a specific target or indeed that there is capability of dissident republicans to mount an attack, but there is no doubt a desire to mount an attack on Britain.”

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

Wildlife booms in Uganda reserves

The number of wild animals in Ugandan national parks has surged over the past 10 years, the country’s wildlife authority says.

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

Taxman targets Swiss bank clients

A clampdown on offshore tax havens was ordered by the G20 last year

Hundreds of wealthy UK taxpayers have been sent letters by HM Revenue & Customs over possible large-scale tax evasion, the BBC has learned.

It is understood HMRC has acquired a list of high net-worth individuals with accounts at the Swiss division of HSBC.

The list was stolen by an employee and passed to the taxman by the French authorities. The bank is not accused of any wrongdoing.

The campaign comes after the government announced a crackdown on tax avoidance.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander told the Liberal Democrat conference in Liverpool it was hoped closing loopholes and ensuring wealthy people pay the full top rate of tax would generate an estimated £7bn a year by 2015 in additional income tax revenue.

Secrecy laws

Tax evasion and avoidance cost the Treasury an estimated £14bn a year and successive governments have vowed to take action against it.

The letters are known as a Code of Practice 9 and advise the individuals that they are suspected of committing illegal tax evasion which may lead to a criminal conviction.

A HMRC spokesman said: “The days of hiding money offshore to evade tax are now over.”

Due to its secrecy laws, Switzerland has long attracted the very wealthy as a place to save their money.

This is changing in light of a worldwide clampdown on “offshore” tax havens ordered by the G20 last year.

It also follows similar efforts by Germany in 2008 against wealthy residents suspected of using banks in neighbouring Liechtenstein, another tax haven.

Germany’s finance ministry paid an informant a reported 5 million euros (£4.2m) for a stolen computer disc containing the names of hundreds of clients at a wealth management firm.

In the HMRC case, a former staff member at HSBC’s Swiss division stole highly sensitive data belonging to 15,000 high net-worth account holders earlier this year and fled to France.

The list was passed it to the French authorities, who in turn handed the relevant details to HMRC.

HSBC fired the employee and the Swiss authorities are pursuing criminal action against him but cannot extradite him from France for legal reasons.

No more than 10% of the list of suspected tax evaders pertained to any one country.

HSBC said it had no comment to make on the matter.

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

Nine saved as rowing boat splits

The rescue was in the Menai Strait, between Anglesey and the north Wales mainland

Nine students have been rescued from the water after their rowing boat split in two in a motor cruiser’s wake.

The RNLI said the boat snapped in the Menai Strait between Anglesey and the north Wales mainland.

The nine, from Bangor University, were recovered by a safety boat at about 1230 BST, and none was injured.

When the volunteer crew from Beaumaris Lifeboat Station arrived, they retrieved half the broken boat, which was floating under Britannia Bridge.

Holyhead Coastguard said none of the nine was injured.

It is thought they were getting into the half-aground rowing boat when it split.

The motor cruiser was described as about 50ft (15m) long.

As the lifeboat headed back to the boathouse, it was diverted to help another boat with one person on board which had broken down.

That boat, which was near Puffin Island, was towed to Menai Bridge.

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

Successful Soyuz landing after delays

The delayed Soyuz capsule carrying a US astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts has landed safely back on earth after six months on the International Space Station.

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

Man held after Sweden plane alert

A plane en route to Pakistan has landed in Stockholm because of a bomb threat, Swedish authorities say.

A spokesman at Arlanda airport said the Boeing 777 plane was carrying 273 people from Toronto in Canada and was bound for Karachi.

A Stockholm police spokeswoman said Canadian police had received a tip-off that a passenger was carrying explosives.

“We are going to apprehend this person,” she said, according to AP.

The pilot was said to have requested permission to land at Arlanda and the plane was now at the end of the landing strip.

The airport said it was still open to air traffic.

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

MS home protest challenge fails

The centres offer round-the-clock nursing care

Protesters have gathered outside the AGM of a multiple sclerosis (MS) charity to protest over the closure of respite care centres.

The residential centres in York, Surrey, Warwickshire and East Lothian face closure if they are not taken over by other organisations.

The MS Society says its reviews aims to give patients and carers “more choice and control”.

A vote of no confidence in its board has been tabled at the AGM.

The centres offer day-care and holidays for MS sufferers.

Guests can take part in group activities and outings, while carers are reassured by the presence of round-the-clock nursing.

The MS Society says 1,385 people stayed at the centres in 2008/9 – but it estimates about 30,000 people need respite care.

It says more than 20 organisations have expressed an interest in taking over the centres.

But campaigners fear closure is more likely, because the centres have equipment – such as ceiling-mounted hoists – which is highly specialised for MS patients.

Sue Tilley, who has had MS for 36 years, and is a former MS Society Trustee, said the homes were worth the money.

“It really is extremely important. For many it’s the specialised care that they get. Our homes only cater for people with MS so they’re with staff that understand exactly what their problems are, they don’t have to explain what the problems are to any of the other guests,” she said.

“They are expensive. It costs the society £2.7m a year in the subsidy, but we’ve known this for years. Respite homes are different to long-stay homes and they do cost money, but that’s what people give money to the society for.”

The MS Society has praised the professionalism and dedication of staff and volunteers at the centres.

But it says a more flexible approach is needed as the current service only helps around 4% of members. It wants to offer more personalised forms of treatment and give money to members to arrange their own holidays.

It also says because the locations of the centre, they’re hardly ever accessed by patients from Wales and Northern Ireland.

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

Manchester City 1-0 Chelsea

Carlos Tevez’s superb breakaway strike gives Manchester City victory over Chelsea and ends the Premier League leaders’ 100% start to the season.

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

Leaders bid to stop deportation

Campaigners are continuing to put pressure on officials to stop the family’s removal

Political leaders in Manchester have written to the immigration minister in a bid to halt the deportation of a 10-year-old boy to Iran.

The boy, known as Child M, faces removal along with his family after losing a bid for a judicial review.

His mother Farah Ghaemi, 45, is accused by Iranian authorities of making copies of The Satanic Verses and claims she faces imprisonment and torture.

Damian Green is being urged to grant them leave to remain in the city.

Sir Richard Leese, leader of the Labour-controlled Manchester City Council, and his Liberal Democrat opponent Simon Ashley have written a joint letter to Mr Green.

In it, they said returning the Ghaemi family to Iran would place them in an “intolerably vulnerable and dangerous situation”.

“The Ghaemi family are well regarded in the area that they live and over 5,000 members of the community have signed petitions asking for the family not to be deported,” the letter said.

Council leader Sir Richard Leese has added his voice to the campaign

“With these concerns in mind, we strongly believe that the fairest decision would be to keep the family together here in England and ask you to consider granting them leave to remain for their benefit, the benefit of the local community, for wider efforts towards community cohesion.”

The family, who live in Gorton, also have the support of their local constituency MP, Sir Gerald Kaufman, who last week raised their case in the Commons.

Child M’s supporters say he has attended counselling sessions since January 2010, partially as a result of trauma from twice being detained at Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centre.

His lawyers’ latest bid for a judicial review was rejected by a judge at the High Court in Manchester on Wednesday.

Campaign spokeswoman Katy Rosario said: “The situation for Child M and his family is now desperate. We are deeply worried about the physical and mental health of the family.”

No-one from the Home Office could be reached for comment on Saturday.

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

Trio cleared of Islamabad bombing

Danish embassy bombing in Islamabad, June 2008

The al-Qaeda network claimed responsibility for the attack

A Pakistani court has acquitted three men accused of involvement in the bombing of the Danish embassy in Islamabad, a public prosecutor says.

The men were arrested several months after the suicide car bomb attack that killed six people, including a Dane, in June 2008.

Prosecutor Mohammad Tayyab said the judge had ruled there was insufficient evidence against the men.

He added that prosecutors would challenge this in the high court.

“We believe our case is very strong and the high court will analyse our evidence again and decide the case in our favour.”

The al-Qaeda network claimed responsibility for the attack, which came amid anger in the Muslim world over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammed printed in Danish newspapers.

Militants linked to al-Qaeda and the Taliban have killed thousands of people in attacks in Pakistan in recent years.

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

Goalkeeper puts ‘toilet artwork’ on eBay

The artwork had included an inflatable sex doll

A championship footballer is auctioning an art installation which prompted complaints from his neighbours in a Derbyshire village.

Derby County goalkeeper Stephen Bywater has a decorated portable toilet and horse box in his garden.

The artwork once included an inflatable sex doll, which has since been removed.

He announced the eBay auction on his Twitter page, saying all the proceeds would be donated to the Teen Pride charity.

The goalkeeper tweeted: “Putting my artwork on eBay and giving the money to the teen pride charity.”

Mr Bywater has covered up the artwork following complaints

He added: “Hope people bid as teen pride needs all the help.”

The auction will not include the inflatable doll, which Mr Bywater said he had “binned”.

As well as the portable toilet and horse box, the auction’s inventory includes a high-visibility jacket, a traffic cone and three mattresses.

By midday on Saturday, the highest of three bids was £56.

Last week, following complaints from neighbours, Mr Bywater covered the artwork with a tarpaulin and issued an apology through the football club.

He said: “Although I consider this a private issue, I would like to apologise to any supporters and local residents in Derbyshire who have been offended.”

In a statement, Derby County said the club “completely disassociated itself with this type of behaviour”.

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

‘Security breach’ at city airport

An investigation has begun into a suspected security breach at Edinburgh Airport.

It follows an evacuation of the terminal building at about 1300 BST on Saturday.

A spokesman for the airport said a few hundred people had been caught up in the evacuation.

He added that some passengers had been re-screened for security reasons but that the incident was not having an impact on flight schedules.

The nature of the security breach has not been made public.

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

Live – Saturday’s Scottish football

There are five top-flight games kicking off at 1500 BST, with Celtic at home to Hibernian.

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