Category: news

Military police are investigating claims that British soldiers may have trafficked heroin from Afghanistan.

The Ministry of Defence said they were aware of “unsubstantiated” claims that troops were using military aircraft to ship the drug out of the country.

The inquiry is focusing on British and Canadian service personnel at airports in Camp Bastion and Kandahar.

Security has been tightened, with additional sniffer dogs being used as part of the crackdown at the bases.

An MoD Spokeswoman said: “We are aware of these allegations. Although they are unsubstantiated, we take any such reports very seriously and we have already tightened our existing procedures both in Afghanistan and in the UK, including through increasing the use of trained sniffer dogs.

“We regret any inconvenience this causes to our service personnel. Any of our people found to be engaged in trafficking of illegal narcotics will feel the full weight of the law.”

Afghanistan is the source of 90% of the world’s opium.

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One of France’s best-known film directors, Claude Chabrol, has died at the age of 80, according to the AFP news agency.

Chabrol is best known for 1960s and 70s thrillers, such as The Unfaithful Wife, The Butcher and This Man Must Die.

He was a member of the French new wave movement, which included contemporaries such as Jean-Luc Godard, Eric Rohmer and Jaques Rivette.

Chabrol has averaged almost one film a year since 1958.

Paris deputy mayor, Christophe Girard, broke the news to AFP.

He described the director as “an immense French film director, free, impertinent, political and verbose.”

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Former boxing champion Ricky Hatton is “distraught and devastated” after newspaper allegations of cocaine use, his spokesman says.

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Several people have been injured during clashes between opposing political parties in Guinea’s capital, Conakry.

The fighting between supporters of former Prime Minister Cellou Dalein Diallo and the opposition leader, Alpha Conde, came a week before the second round of the presidential election.

On Saturday, at least 30 people were hurt when rival groups threw stones at each other following political rallies.

Meanwhile, electoral officials are to decide if the run-off vote can proceed.

Guinea’s electoral commission earlier condemned the one-year jail sentence given to its chairman and another senior official after they were found guilty of committing fraud in the election’s first round in June.

It had been hailed as the first democratic election in the mineral-rich West African state since independence from France in 1958.

In 2008, the military seized power after the death of the autocratic President, Lansana Conte, who had ruled the country for 24 years.

The BBC’s West Africa correspondent, Thomas Fessy, says Mr Diallo’s Union of Democratic Forces in Guinea (UDFG) and Mr Conde’s Rally for the People of Guinea (RPG) have both accused each other of provocation before the two men contest the election run-off in a week.

On Sunday, rival supporters threw stones at each other in the suburb of Hamdallaye, where both candidates’ parties have their headquarters, the AFP news agency said. Nearby cars were also reportedly attacked.

Saturday’s clashes, which left a number of people with serious injuries, happened near Mr Conde’s home in the Mafanco district, as well as in Hamdallaye and in Dixinn, where the electoral officials were tried.

Our correspondent says the politicians have called for calm, but tension is growing between ethnic Peul and Malinke – the two largest communities in the country.

Mr Diallo, a Peul, is seen as the favourite for the presidency after gaining 44% of the first round vote, compared to 18% for Mr Conde, a Malinke.

Despite being the largest ethnic group, a Peul has never been president. The Malinke are heavily represented in the ruling military junta.

Guinea is the world’s largest exporter of the aluminium ore bauxite. It also has important deposits of iron ore. But despite its mineral wealth, the country is one of the poorest in West Africa.

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Labour leadership contender Ed Miliband has said he thinks the race is “moving towards” him, as a poll suggests he will narrowly win.

Of his brother and rival, David, he told Sky News: “He is an excellent candidate but I think I’m the best candidate.”

But David Miliband told the BBC he was the leader “the Tories fear”.

The Milibands, Ed Balls, Andy Burnham and Diane Abbott are vying to succeed Gordon Brown as Labour Party leader.

More than three million people – including approximately 270 MPs and MEPs, 160,000 party members and more than two million affiliated members – are entitled to vote in the contest.

A YouGov poll in the Sunday Times of more than 1,000 party members and 718 members of affiliated unions put David Miliband ahead on first-preference votes.

But it suggested his younger brother could nudge ahead when second preferences were taken into account – as they will be if no candidate gets more than 50% of votes.

The poll predicted if MPs who supported the other three candidates spread their second preferences equally, Ed Miliband could win on 51% with his brother on 49%.

It suggested that David Miliband’s support was strong among MPs and MEPS while his brother was ahead among trade union members.

Shadow Energy Secretary Ed Miliband told Sky News’ Sunday Live he believed the party was “turning to me” as voting continues ahead of the winner being announced on 25 September.

“My sense is that it’s moving towards me in every section of the electoral college, including the Parliamentary Labour Party, and it does depend on people’s second and sometimes third preferences.”

He said his message was getting through that “we need to understand that New Labour was great for its time and we’ve got to keep some parts of it” but also “move on, change, admit some of the things we got wrong”.

But he said he would be working up to the end for every available vote.

Of his brother – the shadow foreign secretary – he said he was a “massive asset to the Labour Party”.

“He is an excellent candidate but I think I’m the best candidate and the reason I think I’m the best candidate is that I think I have got the better understanding… of the scale of change our party needs.”

But David Miliband told BBC One’s Politics Show: “I am the candidate who can lead Labour to take on David Cameron. That is the issue for Labour Party members. They are watching this programme, they have their ballot papers sitting on their kitchen table or their mantelpiece.

“I am saying to them: Vote for a leader who can speak to the public as well as the party, vote for a leader who unites the party from [veteran left wing MP] Dennis Skinner to [former chancellor] Alistair Darling. Vote for a leader who the Tories fear.”

But he said his brother was a “lovely guy” and nothing would damage their relationship.

Acting Labour leader Harriet Harman told the BBC it was wrong to claim the contest between the Milibands was a battle between the left and the right of the party.

She said: “They are different people and they have got different approaches but I think if it’s being characterised as a left/right division I think it’s much more subtle, much more complicated than that.

“They have both got different strengths, all the candidates have got different strengths.

“And I think the party knows that when the leader is chosen everybody will unite behind them.”

She also said the party’s leadership contest had been “vigorous” and 32,000 people had joined Labour since 6 May – a third of them former Lib Dem supporters “dismayed” about the coalition.

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A 31-year-old man has died following a road crash in County Armagh in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Only one vehicle was involved in the crash at Killough Gardens in Lurgan which happened shortly before 0200 BST.

Police have arrested a 19-year-old man.

Motorists have been advised that Killough Gardens remains closed to traffic on Sunday morning.

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Fernando Alonso beats McLaren’s Jenson Button to win the Italian Grand Prix for Ferrari.

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Rafael Nadal will seek to become only the seventh man to win all four Grand Slam tennis tournaments when he takes on Novak Djokovic in Sunday’s US Open final.

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Post-mortem tests are due to be held on the bodies of a father and his 16-year-old daughter found fatally hurt at a house in Essex, detectives said.

The pair – named locally as Margaret Pierides and Costas Pierides – were discovered at a house in Prayors Hill, Sible Hedingham, on Saturday morning.

Mr Pierides, 48, died at the scene. His daughter was flown to hospital where she later died from her injuries.

Essex police have begun a murder investigation following the discovery.

The results of the post-mortem tests could be revealed later.

Prayers will be said for the family during a service at St Peter’s Church in the morning – just yards from the Pierides’ family home.

A neighbour, who did not want to be named, said the family was popular in the village.

He said Mr Pierides and his wife Bernadette had recently become godparents in a christening held at the local church.

“I had dinner with them recently and Costas and Margaret seemed to be getting on very well,” he said.

“Costas and his wife are good parents – a very nice family.”

The neighbour said the family had about six acres of land surrounding their property.

Mr Pierides was a director of independent ambulance company Door 2 Door – which is based in Tottenham, north London.

On Saturday a police spokesman said: “Police attended a house and found two people with serious injuries.

“The ambulance service and Essex Police gave emergency medical assistance to a 48-year-old man and a 16-year-old young woman at the address.”

Police cordoned off the area surrounding the detached house in the village where they were discovered.

Initial searches have now been completed, police added.

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Rhythm and blues pioneer King Coleman, best known for singing (Do The) Mashed Potatoes, dies at the age of 78.

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An 11-year-old girl has died after being seriously injured at a watersports centre in west London.

The girl is thought to have been on an inflatable craft being towed by a boat when she was hurt at the Princes Club, Bedfont, near Feltham.

Emergency services were called following the incident at about 1700 BST on Saturday and she was taken to West Middlesex Hospital but later died.

A 22-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the incident.

In a statement, the club said: “Due to a tragic accident on [Saturday] the 11th September, the club will be closed while a thorough investigation is conducted.

“All activities during this time will be postponed and rescheduled or refunded.”

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Almost 70% of British Catholics expect the Pope’s visit to help the Catholic Church in the UK, a BBC poll suggests.

But the survey suggests they are less keen about some of his teaching.

Half of those questioned felt priests should no longer have to be celibate, and almost two-thirds thought women should have more authority and status.

And 52% of the 500 Catholics surveyed ahead of the Pope’s visit on Thursday said the sex abuse scandal had shaken their faith in the Church’s leadership.

The poll conducted by ComRes – a member of the British Polling Council – surveyed a random sample of 500 Roman Catholics across the UK between 6 and 9 September 2010.

Commenting on the results, Andrew Hawkins, ComRes chairman, said: “Overall there is a sense of strong support for the Pope’s visit but disquiet both about some aspects of Papal teaching and the perception of the Catholic Church in wider society having been harmed.”

In response to the question, “Do you feel your Catholic faith is generally valued by British society today, or not?” 57% answered that it was “not valued” compared with 30% who said it was, and 13% who said they did not know.

The poll results also suggest that a large number of Catholics think that the Pope should drop his insistence on clerical celibacy. Just under a half of those polled, 49%, said the celibacy rule should be relaxed, compared to 35%. A further 17% were uncommitted.

And 62% of those questioned say women should have more authority and status in the Catholic Church.

“Interestingly, the scores for men and women are exactly identical although older generations are least inclined to agree,” Mr Hawkins said.

The BBC’s religious affairs correspondent Robert Pigott said the findings seemed to reveal some of the tensions between a Church anxious to preserve ancient traditions, and a secular society that finds them increasingly hard to understand.

Pope Benedict XVI is due to arrive on 16 September for a four-day visit, which has already sparked controversy over its cost and relevance.

On this first visit by a pope to the UK since John Paul II in 1982, the pontiff will go to Edinburgh, Glasgow, London and Birmingham.

A series of sex abuse scandals have rocked the Catholic Church around the world in recent years, with the Church further accused of maintaining a culture of secrecy.

Pope Benedict’s supporters say he has been the most proactive Pope yet in confronting abuse.

Earlier this year he apologised to victims of child sex abuse by Catholic priests in Ireland, and later went on to promise “action” over child abuse by priests.

But some survivors say they still carry the psychological scars and that the Church should do more to fulfil its duty to them.

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Police have started an investigation after a glass bottle was thrown as players were leaving the pitch after the Manchester City and Blackburn game.

The teams met at the City of Manchester stadium on Saturday afternoon. The game ended in a 1-1 draw.

Greater Manchester Police said no players or members of the crowd were injured in the incident.

The bottle was seized by police and an investigation is under way, the police spokesman said.

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Have immigrants saved UK Catholicism?

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Fernando Alonso beats McLaren’s Jenson Button to win the Italian Grand Prix for Ferrari.

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