Category: news

Air Zimbabwe says pilots who defied a 24-hour deadline to abandon a strike and return to work should consider themselves fired.

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Sofia Coppola thanked her father, Francis Ford Coppola, for teaching her

Film director Sofia Coppola has taken the top prize at the Venice Film Festival, the Golden Lion, for her film Somewhere.

The film tells the story of an actor whose aimless life is transformed when his young daughter comes to stay.

The prize for best director went to Spain’s Alex de la Iglesia for his horror film, The Last Circus.

Vincent Gallo of France was named best actor for his role as an American Taliban in the film Essential Killing.

Coppola, 39, based Somewhere on her own upbringing as the daughter of film director Francis Ford Coppola.

“Thanks to my dad for teaching me,” she said in her acceptance speech.

“This film enchanted us from its first screening,” said Quentin Tarantino, chairman of the jury which unanimously chose Copppola’s film as the festival’s best.

Coppola’s last film, Marie Antoinette, was booed at its premiere during the Cannes Film Festival four years ago.

Somewhere stars Stephen Dorff and Ella Fanning

She is best known for her 2003 film, Lost in Translation, which starred Bill Murray and made her one of only a handful of women directors to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar.

Vincent Gallo, who won the prize for best actor, spent much of the Venice festival in a balaclava to escape the paparazzi. He did not appear on stage to accept his award.

The film Essential Killing, in which he plays an American Taliban captured in Afghanistan, was directed by Jerzy Skolimowski.

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The man who threw a shoe at the prime minister said he was not welcome in Salonica

Greek unions are planning mass protests in the city of Thessaloniki against the government’s austerity programme.

The demonstrations are expected before a speech on the economy by Prime Minister George Papandreou, who is attending the city’s trade fair.

On Friday, the government said there would be further austerity measures, in addition to the cuts and higher taxes that have already been announced.

Earlier, three people were held after a shoe was thrown at Mr Papandreou.

However, the projectile – launched by Dr Stergios Prapavezis, a respected local cancer specialist – landed wide of its target.

Before the incident, Dr Prapavezis told the BBC that the prime minister was not welcome in the northern region because he had surrendered Greece’s sovereignty and subjected ordinary people to poverty.

The police also detained his 15-year-old daughter and Stavros Vitalis, a farmer with whom he set up a protest movement called the Patriotic Front.

The BBC’s Malcolm Brabant in Thessaloniki says that with 3,000 police patrolling the city’s streets, the fact that a single shoe thrower got so close to the prime minister will be a source of major embarrassment.

Officials said the security forces had been deployed to maintain order during the three demonstrations on Saturday afternoon.

The country’s trade unions said they believed the government wanted to “overthrow” workers’ rights, on top of cutting public sector wages and pensions.

The centre-left government imposed a tough austerity programme in May in return for a 110bn-euro ($140bn; £91bn) bail-out from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Union that helped it stave off bankruptcy.

On Friday evening, Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said it was on track to reduce its budget deficit from 13.6% of GDP in 2009 to 8.1% this year, and pledged to maintain the pace.

“We will continue as we started,” he was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.

There have been widespread protests against the government’s austerity programme

“[However,] several more months must pass before we can convincingly show that what has been done was not a flash in the pan, and that we won’t fall to pieces at the first sign of hardship.”

Mr Papaconstantinou said he planned to overhaul several state-run corporations including the Greek Railway Company, which has 10.7bn euros of debts.

“As a society, we have shown that we understand the problem,” he said.

The government also wanted to introduce reforms in the tourism, education, agriculture and energy sectors in the coming year, he added.

Official figures published earlier this week showed the contraction of the Greek economy was accelerating. It is expected to shrink by 4% this year.

Inflation has also reached 5.5% – its highest level in more than a decade – and more than half a million people were officially out of work in June.

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A double murder investigation has started after the deaths of a 16-year-old girl and 48-year-old man in Essex.

Police were called to a house in Prayors Hill, Sible Hedingham, near Braintree and found two people seriously injured.

The ambulance service and Essex Police gave emergency medical assistance.

The 48-year-old man died at the scene. The 16-year-old was airlifted to hospital where she later died from her injuries.

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A cheese show in Somerset is hoping to set the record for the world’s most expensive cheese sandwich.

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Dave Hartnett told the BBC there had been no blunders.

The UK’s top tax official has apologised to the 1.4 million people facing an unexpected tax bill.

HM Revenue and Customs Permanent Secretary Dave Hartnett said he was “deeply sorry” and everyone in his department was “working hard to make this as painless as possible”.

Earlier Mr Hartnett had told the BBC he “saw no need” to apologise as tax reconciliation was a routine measure.

But his remarks drew criticism from MPs and coalition government sources.

In a statement, Mr Hartnett said: “I apologise if my remarks came across as insensitive.

“I am working flat out with my colleagues to ensure everyone’s tax is correct and the new computer system will help us do this.

“It was this new system that revealed the extent and size of reconciliations required and will help us be more accurate in future but we do not underestimate the distress caused to taxpayers and once again I apologise.”

Earlier, in an interview with the BBC’s Money Box programme, Mr Hartnett had said he was “not sure” he saw a need to apologise.

He added: “I’ve read the papers, listened to the media and heard stories of HMRC blunder and IT failure. Neither of those are true.

“Every country that I know of that has deduction of tax from wages in salaries has to do a reconciliation at the end of each year and we’re doing one.”

Asked if the numbers involved were extraordinary – with 4.3 million people having paid too much tax and 1.4 million having to pay money back after paying too little, he said: “I don’t think they are extraordinary. There is a need for reconciliation every year.

“Once or twice in the past the numbers have been very large, sometimes they’re less. It depends on how the system has been operating and what issues there have been.”

Following Mr Hartnett’s comments a coalition government source told the BBC Mr Hartnett could and should have explained himself more clearly when pointing out that tax reconciliation happens every year.

The source said ministers have made it clear in Parliament that the HMRC has been told to treat cases of hardship sympathetically and give people more time to repay arrears – up to three years.

It is estimated 2.3 million people underpaid income tax during the past two tax years due to errors in their Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax code.

The mistakes were made because of miscalculations made by HMRC tax officials.

About 900,000 taxpayers will not have to pay anything after the government raised the write-off threshold from £50 to £300, leaving 1.4 million people owing about £2bn, or £1,428 each on average.

Mr Hartnett’s comments also drew fire from Conservative MP and chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Taxation Group, Ian Liddell-Grainger, who said the HMRC was “one of these organisations that’s grown and grown. They aren’t actually up to it.

“You get this built-in arrogance we’re hearing, where ‘I don’t need to apologise because I’ve not done anything wrong’.”

And John Andrews, chairman of the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group, said: “The £2,000 procedure gives me concern.

“There are circumstances in which over a two year period, for example on a bereavement where a widow suddenly inherits part of her late husband’s pension, it is quite easy to run up this amount.

“I hope that HMRC would live up to the Your Charter expectations and look at individuals.”

BBC News Website readers also voiced their anger, one writing: “HMRC should apologise – it is HMRC who calculate our taxes and who deduct them from our wages, so if a mistake has been made who is to blame?”

Mr Hartnett had earlier defended himself against criticism that those owing more than £2,000 would have to repay the money more quickly.

People owing less than £2,000 will be able to pay the money in monthly instalments taken from their salary over one to three years. Those owing more money will have three months to return it, once a self-assessment form has been issued.

Mr Hartnett had said for those owing the most it “may actually mean they’re earning the most”.

Mr Hartnett said the 5.7 million letters going out to taxpayers before Christmas were the result of a normal process of matching the tax deducted from each taxpayer with their circumstances.

His comments come amid reports of difficulties at HMRC.

Last week an unnamed tax officer told the BBC the department had not been fit for purpose for a very long time and had reached “melting point” without the staff or resources needed and subject to an “atrocious” computer system.

HMRC responded by saying the introduction of a new computer system would help reduce tax errors in future.

A spokesman said help was available to all people ordered to pay back tax, including those owing more than £2,000.

Payments could be spread over a longer period with Revenue agreement but interest would still be due on the outstanding balance.

Three quarters of those sent a letter will receive a rebate averaging £400.

The rest will be told they have to pay extra tax. Up to 250,000 could be asked for £2,000 or more.

BBC Radio 4’s Money Box is broadcast on Saturdays at 1200 BST, and repeated on Sundays at 2100 BST.

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Bells will toll in New York at the time the Twin Towers were struck

The US is preparing to mark the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on New York amid controversy over the pastor who has threatened to burn the Koran.

US President Barack Obama has appealed for calm as the city prepares.

The pastor, Terry Jones of Gainesville, Florida, has arrived in New York where he hopes to meet a leading imam.

His plan to burn the Muslim holy book has caused international outrage, but Mr Jones says his plans have been put on hold.

Mr Jones has instead travelled to New York where he wants to meet the imam at the head of a project to build an Islamic community centre and mosque near Ground Zero.

During the official commemoration ceremony at Ground Zero the names of all the people who died when hijacked aeroplanes crashed into the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon on 11 September 2001will be read out.

The US Vice President, Joe Biden, will attend the anniversary ceremony in Lower Manhattan.

Houses of worship across the city have been asked to toll their bells at 0846 (1336 GMT), the moment the first hijacked plane struck the North Tower of the World Trade Centre.

Meanwhile, protests have are scheduled for when the commemoration ends.

Rallies for and against a proposed Islamic community centre near Ground Zero will be held.

Some of the families of people who died in the attacks say that it is insensitive to build a mosque so close to the site.

Pastor Jones has placed himself at the centre of the drama, after claiming he would call off his plan to burn the Koran if the planned mosque and community centre was moved.

He says he received assurances delivered by a local Florida imam that this would be the case.

But then the New York planners of the Islamic community centre said they had not spoken to the Florida imam and would not be moving their project.

Mr Jones now says he wants to clarify the issue.

Mr Jones is the pastor of the tiny and previously little-known Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida and the author of a book entitled Islam is of the Devil.

He planned to stage an International Burn a Koran Day on Saturday, the anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks on New York, saying the book was “evil”.

On Thursday, he said he was calling off the protest after the group behind a controversial Islamic cultural centre due to be built near Ground Zero agreed to relocate it.

The group has denied making such a deal with Mr Jones, who later said he was only putting the burning on hold until he had met the centre’s organisers.

Feisal Abdul Rauf, the imam behind the centre, said on Friday that he was “prepared to consider meeting with anyone who is seriously committed to pursuing peace” but added that he had no current plans to meet Mr Jones.

In his remarks, Mr Obama denied that his administration’s intervention in the affair had elevated it to greater prominence.

The FBI had visited Mr Jones to urge him to reconsider his plans and he was telephoned by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates.

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Rafael Nadal takes on Mikhail Youzhny before Roger Federer meets Novak Djokovic in the US Open semi-finals, with the women’s final to follow on Super Saturday.

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Abuse survivors want to pass their testimonies to the Pope

Men and women who say they were sexually abused by Catholic priests as children are to gather at a conference in London, ahead of the Pope’s visit to Scotland and England.

They plan to offer messages to the Pope and compile them in a book for him.

Pope Benedict XVI is due to arrive on 16 September for a four-day visit.

Meanwhile, in a BBC poll of 500 Catholics, 52% said the scale of abuse, and the way it was handled, had “shaken their faith” in the Church leadership.

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

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.

The London conference will be hosted by support group Minister and Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors (MACSAS) on Saturday.

The group was set up to support survivors of sexual abuse by clergy from all Christian denominations, whether abused as children or as adults.

This year’s conference – called We Speak, You Listen – will focus on Catholic survivors, offering the chance for them to relay messages about their “stories, hopes and dreams” to Pope Benedict.

Their testimonies will be compiled into a book, with the title ‘The testament we give you, hear us’, which they hope to present to him.

Catholic survivors of clergy abuse who could not attend were asked to send their stories and comments ahead of the conference.

Celibacy ‘safe haven’

Peter Saunders was abused by two priests when he was a child and now runs a charity for child abuse survivors, the National Association for People Abused in Childhood.

He told the BBC’s Allan Little: “Because abusers pass some of the responsibility to their victims, you’re left thinking, ‘I can’t really say anything because maybe I did something, maybe in some way it was my fault, I deserved it’.

He added that the Catholic Church seemed to have done “a phenomenal job of covering up, moving on abusing priests and denigrating their victims”.

The Church has said child abuse is no more prevalent among its clergy than in society in general, but some argue that the celibacy required of the priesthood has played a role.

Psychologist and Jesuit priest Brendan Callaghan told the BBC the commitment to celibacy appeared to “offer a safe haven for people”.

But he added: “Eventually those currents in a person’s personality are going to surface. And when they do emerge, it’s problematic.”

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.

Many campaigners accept that the Catholic Church in England and Wales and in Scotland has done much to acknowledge the problem and to try to eradicate it, said our correspondent.

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

Campaigner Dr Margaret Kennedy, of MACSAS, said: “They have abandoned the victims. They talk about this historical abuse quite extensively. Well it’s not historic to the victims. It’s now.”

Further results from the BBC poll will be revealed on BBC News on Sunday morning, and on Radio 4’s Sunday programme at 0710 BST.

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The Red Arrows performing at last year’s Leuchars Airshow

Up to 50,000 people are expected to attend this year’s airshow at RAF Leuchars in Fife, which celebrates the past, present and future of Britain’s air defence.

This year’s show is taking place 70 years after the Battle of Britain.

It is being held as concern increases over the future of local air bases including Leuchars, Lossiemouth and Kinloss.

Last year thousands of drivers were caught in huge traffic jams.

To avoid similar problems this year Fife Council has introduced temporary traffic restrictions and set up three park and ride sites.

There are also temporary one-way systems and speed limits imposed in the surrounding area.

More than 100 aircraft will be on display at the event – Scotland’s biggest military airshow, which was first held in 1945.

It is taking place as fears rise over cuts expected in the UK government’s forthcoming defence review.

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Two men have been taken to hospital following a paramilitary-style shooting in north Belfast.

The incident happened at Etna Drive in the Ardoyne area at about 2300 BST on Friday.

Police said two men, aged 23 and 25, were taken to hospital with gunshot wounds to their left legs.

Their conditions are not believed to be life-threatening. Police have appealed for information.

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Chelsea keep up their impeccable start to the season, hardly breaking sweat as they brush aside a West Ham side who remain rock bottom of the table.

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Three people have been held after a man threw a shoe at Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou attending a trade fair in the city of Thessaloniki .

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A chef at a show in Somerset attempts to set the record for the world’s most expensive cheese sandwich.

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A former Teesside soldier has been extradited from Afghanistan to the UK to face charges of kidnap, false imprisonment and grievous bodily harm.

Anthony Malone, a 38-year-old ex-paratrooper from Billingham, was arrested in January 2008.

The charges relate to an incident in April, 2007 at Wilmer Place, Stoke Newington, north London.

He is due before Thames Magistrates’ Court later. It is understood he was brought back to the UK overnight.

A Home Office spokesman said: “We can confirm that Anthony Malone has been extradited from Afghanistan to the UK.

“He is wanted in the UK to face charges of kidnapping, false imprisonment and causing grievous bodily harm.”

“The UK does not have extradition relations with Afghanistan, but the extradition request has been dealt with according to Afghan law.”

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