Woman cleared of bonfire murder

David Langdon David Langdon was found dead in August 2008

A woman from Herefordshire has been cleared of murdering her ex-boyfriend and trying to dispose of his body on a garden bonfire.

Kirsti Windsor, 38, from Saddleton Springs, pleaded not guilty to murder and perverting the course of justice at Worcester Crown Court.

The remains of 40-year-old David Langdon, from Wormelow, were found in August 2008 at their home.

Ms Windsor was also cleared of an alternative charge of manslaughter.

The prosecution said Ms Windsor had drunk wine with a friend, Katie Brown, as the body of Mr Langdon lay smouldering on the fire.

Ms Brown, 31, of Wilkes Road, Alcop, Herefordshire, was charged with perverting the course of justice by attempting to dispose of the body.

But the jury also accepted her not guilty plea at the end of the six-week trial.

Ms Windsor told the jury herself and Mr Langdon had split up and she assumed the fire was garden rubbish he had promised to sort out before he left.

The defence argued that Mr Langdon had either fallen on the fire accidentally or taken his own life.

A post-mortem examination proved inconclusive on the cause of his death.

A spokesman for West Mercia Police said: “We note the decision of the court. We are not looking for anyone else in connection with the death of Mr Langdon.

“Our thoughts and sympathies remain with Mr Langdon’s family and friends.”

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

Libya analysis

James LandaleBy James Landale

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David Cameron may be spending his days shaking hands and signing deals as his “defence and democracy” tour hurtles around the Gulf but increasingly his every spare moment is spent focused on events in Tripoli and Benghazi.

He has had a long time on the phone talking to both William Hague and Liam Fox, making sure that the government is, as he says it is, doing everything it can to get the remaining British nationals out of Libya.

Talking to officials and others travelling with the prime minister and you come away with a sense of just how worried they are. The unspoken fear – and you are cut short if you raise it – is that hostages may be taken.

Who can forget that searing sight of a little English boy sitting embarrassed and confused on the lap of Saddam Hussein shortly after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait?

This is why Mr Cameron has tempered his words when he talks of Libya, erring on the side of caution for fear of inflaming the situation.

Whenever we have asked him about Libya, he has of course condemned the violence. But he has also added that it is open to Col Muammar Gaddafi to end the repression.

In other words, he offers an exit strategy.

David Cameron with Sheikh Hamad bin JassimMr Cameron has been in Qatar but much of his attention has been on Libya

Nor has he gone down the same route as President Nicolas Sarkozy in calling for more EU sanctions. And he does so not just because sanctions are pointless in this situation. If they work, they change behaviour over the long term, they don’t stop shooting on the streets today.

But Mr Cameron also holds back on pushing the sanctions button because he does not wish to make the situation worse by allowing his rhetoric to endanger lives. “This could get very messy,” one diplomat said.

Mr Cameron’s limit was to call for a formal UN resolution condemning Libya. But he can say that safe in the knowledge that it is not a realistic runner. The Russians and the Chinese would never wear it.

So how, in these extraordinary circumstances, can the government put pressure on Gaddafi?

The answer is not clear. Officials point at the Libyan leader’s televised address and ask if that is someone who is amenable to normal diplomatic enticements. Offered the suggestion that perhaps Tony Blair could hold some sway over his old ally in the war on terror, and the same diplomatic shoulders are shrugged.

So for now, British policy is clear. The first priority is to get British nationals out of Libya and do and say nothing that could make that task harder.

As for what happens next, well my sense is that once the planes and ships are home and everyone is accounted for, then David Cameron is prepared to step up another diplomatic gear or two. But we are not there yet.

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

Khan ‘suspected before 7/7 bombs’

Khan7/7 ringleader Mohammad Siddique Khan was linked with terrorism by an MI5 desk officer

An MI5 desk officer suspected one of the 7/7 bombers was a trained terrorist two months before the attacks.

The inquests into the 2005 suicide bombings heard how the officer made an “intuitive” link between fragments of intelligence about suspects.

The connection was made while Mohammad Siddique Khan was preparing for the attacks.

But an MI5 witness said that at the time they had no proof who Khan was and whether he was a danger to the UK.

The bomb plot ringleader, Khan killed himself and six others when he detonated his homemade rucksack bomb on a westbound Circle line train at Edgware Road station.

The inquest has been hearing from Witness G, a senior MI5 officer who is chief of staff to MI5 Director General Jonathan Evans.

Questioned by a counsel for the families, Witness G told the inquests that in the spring of 2005 officers were trying to establish the real identities of a pair of men who had attended a terrorist training camp in Pakistan two years previously.

MI5 had been told that the UK men had used the names “Ibrahim” and “Zubair” and that they had come from West Yorkshire. In May 2005, three Leeds men were flagged up by a desk officer at MI5’s headquarters as “possible candidates” for the mystery pair.

Shehzad Tanweer and Mohammad Siddique Khan photographed by MI5, 20042004 surveillance photo: Khan (right) was cut out of image shown to a supergrass

They had appeared on “the periphery” of Operation Crevice, the 2004 fertiliser bomb plot which was successfully foiled by the police and security services.

The three men pointed out by the officer included Mohammad Siddique Khan – although his complete identity and terrorist credentials were not established until after the attacks.

Witness G said: “That was an intuition by the desk officer at the time who remembered the northern figures.”

Patrick O’Connor QC said: “That was an accurate intuition and a tribute to him.”

“Yes it was indeed,” said Witness G.

Mr O’Connor suggested that if the officer’s guess had been followed up they would have “reached the jackpot”. The crucial mistake, he argued, was a failure to check the passenger list for an important flight that had taken British men to Pakistan for the 2003 camp. Had that list been checked, Khan’s name could have been seen alongside a known plotter.

Witness G said: “If it had been worked in that way, yes. It would have been unusual to work further on that intuition because of the strong contra-indicators.”

wreckageWreckage of the underground train at Aldgate station

Witness G said that two key informants, both of whom would have known the true identities of Ibrahim, had not identified any of the Leeds men from surveillance photographs.

But earlier in the week, the inquests heard that MI5 had “obliterated” any useful information from the photos shown to the detainees in an effort to disguise how they had been taken.

He was also questioned by the coroner about why the security service had allowed the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) to report that Khan and Shehzad Tanweer had been categorised as “desirable” rather than “essential” targets, even though it has now emerged that the terms were not used by investigators.

“I think it’s a reflection of an attempt by the ISC and us to write in a way that would be seen as helpful and accurate,” said Witness G.

Lady Justice Hallett said: “I think we all proceeded on the basis that somehow these had been categories used operationally and it is a shame perhaps that the impression was left to lie.”

Last month, the coroner Lady Justice Hallett granted a request from Home Secretary Theresa May for Witness G to give evidence anonymously.

But she refused to rule that the witness should be screened from the families of those who died.

Four suicide bombers detonated their devices on London’s transport network on 7 July 2005.

Siddique Khan, 30, Shehzad Tanweer, 22, Hasib Hussain, 18, and Germaine Lindsay, 19, targeted Tube trains at Aldgate, Edgware Road and Russell Square, and a bus in Tavistock Square.

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

Blind man tackles house burglars

Keith JonesWhen Keith Jones grabbed a phone to alert police the burglar wriggled free

A blind man has taken on two burglars who broke into his home.

Keith Jones, 48, from Ebbw Vale, Blaenau Gwent, says he sensed where the pair were standing and tackled them.

But the raiders fled without stealing anything when Mr Jones, who has been blind since he was three, grabbed the phone to alert police.

Gwent Police, who are hunting for the two men, said: “Keith did a great job. He was incredibly brave to tackle two men he couldn’t see.”

Mr Jones, a voluntary worker, uses a white cane to get about in the adapted home he shares with wife Blessing, 37.

He said he put one of the raiders in a bear hug and tried to pin the other one down at the same time. One managed to escape while he kept wrestling the other by wrapping his arms around him.

“I’m sure they singled me out because they thought I’d be an easy touch but they were wrong”

Keith Jones

But the burglar freed himself when Mr Jones grabbed the phone, and the pair got away with only an empty satellite navigation box.

He said: “I’m sure they singled me out because they thought I’d be an easy touch but they were wrong.

“It’s a shame really but I couldn’t hang on to him and call the police at the same time so he got away.”

He said: “It was quite scary because I couldn’t see the burglars but I wasn’t going to let them get away with anything.

“I hope the embarrassment gets them to give up their life of crime and try something new. They could be the shame of the criminal community.”

Mr Jones was able to give police a description of the burglars despite his blindness.

He said: “I could tell from their voices they were in their 30s and they had local accents.

“The guy I tackled was a little bit taller than me and he was quite fat. Hopefully police will catch them soon.”

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

Youths held over airgun incident

Auchinleck Academy. Photo by Bob ForrestThe incident happened near Auchinleck Academy in East Ayrshire

Two teenagers have been detained in connection with an incident involving pupils from a school in East Ayrshire.

Strathclyde Police said that up to 11 Auchinleck Academy pupils, aged between 12 and 16, were injured – none of them seriously.

The incident happened in the town’s Church Street, just after 1330 GMT.

A police spokesman said an 18-year-old boy and a 15-year-old boy were being questioned.

The affected children were treated for minor injuries at Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock.

One pupil is understood to have been kept in for further treatment.

Firearms officers were at the scene and East Ayrshire Council informed parents of those pupils injured.

One 13-year-old pupil, from Drongan, told the BBC Scotland news website he and two of his friends were shot at as they walked back to school after their lunch break.

“We decided to take a wee shortcut,” he said. “I saw two people behind a hedge but didn’t think anything about it.

“We carried on walking when we heard a bang, like a small explosion, and all these pellets came out from behind the hedge. Luckily they missed.

“I wasn’t really frightened at first but I’m quite shaken now as I know what damage has been done.”

East Ayrshire Council said it had responded immediately by informing police and parents of the children involved and seeking medical attention.

It said the council was ensuring that support was available.

In a statement it said: “The council is working closely with the school to ensure that the school, the children and their families are appropriately supported.”

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

I’m left to rot – tumour patient

Two women reading a letterSamantha began having neurological problems at 15

A woman with a benign brain tumour has said she feels as if she has been “left to rot” after a number of her hospital appointments were cancelled.

Samantha McKee, who attends the neurology department at the Royal Victoria Hospital, has not been able to see her consultant in 14 months.

Over 9,000 people in NI are waiting on a review appointment at the department.

Ms McKee is one of thousands of people who have received a cancellation letter from the Belfast Health Trust.

The letter informed them that their appointment with their neurology consultant has been cancelled.

From her home in Loughbrickland, she told the BBC, that she feels people have “given up on her”.

“I feel some people have given up trying to help me. It’s not the consultants, they are excellent – when you get to see them. The problem is I can’t get to see my doctor. I feel I have been left to rot,” she said.

Samantha is 36 and first began having neurological problems when she was 15 years old.

Doctors diagnosed her as having a benign tumour on her brain. While it is not cancerous, because of where it is, it is inoperable and its increasing size is causing her condition to deteriorate.

In the past two years, her vision has become affected, some days she is unable to walk and generally she lives from day to day.

“When I wake in the morning, I never know what way I am going to be,” she said.

“There are good days and bad days, but despite what my condition is like I always feel frustrated about the system and the way the health service feels it can treat people.”

A professional artist, Samantha is now unable to pursue her career. While she accepts that her condition will not improve, she says medication can give her a better quality of life.

However, over the past year, the Belfast Health Trust has written cancelling two review appointments.

letter

“Both the clinicians and management team find this very frustrating and disappointing. I would acknowledge that this is an unacceptable situation”

Excerpt from letter to Samantha from Belfast Health Trust

A letter from the trust said that the clinicians and management team found the situation “very frustrating and disappointing”. The letter acknowledged that it was an “unacceptable situation”.

Samantha’s sister Annita is her main carer. Annita said the disappointment of cancelled appointments is frustrating.

“These are appointments that her consultant says she needs – it is just soul destroying watching her deteriorate,” she said.

The family believe that a cancelled appointment in November last year led to Samantha being on the wrong medication. She collapsed in January 2011 and was rushed to hospital.

Annita said the Belfast Health Trust told the family that an emergency appointment with a neurologist could take up to three months.

The family instead spent £140 and within three days got a private appointment with her own consultant.

“Of course I don’t mind spending the money, but that is not the point. Clearly there is something wrong with the system and there is no real evidence that trust management are addressing the problem,” she said.

At that private appointment Samantha’s medication was changed.

“We were told then, that she needed to be seen again in April, that appointment has since been cancelled.

“It’s just not good enough, it is a horrendous situation. You write a letter, several letters of complaint and the least you expect back is an appointment. That doesn’t happen. Meanwhile her condition is deteriorating, it is just sheer neglect.”

Sources within the Belfast Health Trust have told the BBC that staff are becoming increasingly frustrated with a new booking appointment system that appears to be causing more problems than it solves.

Woman looking at letterThe sisters continue to wait on an available appointment for Samantha

While the official line from the Belfast Health Trust is that the new system means there is a backlog of up to six weeks, the reality is many outpatients are having to wait almost a year for a review appointment.

The Regional Neurology Service at the Royal provides approximately 16,000 outpatient appointments every year.

Almost half of those appointments are for patients who need to have their case reviewed. For example to check if their condition has deteriorated or perhaps that their medication needs to be changed.

The BBC has learned that within the Belfast Health Trust 6,335 people are waiting to see their consultant for a review appointment. Within the Western Health trust 1,521 people are waiting

In the Northern Health Trust there are over 816 cases. Within the South Eastern Trust 318 and in the Southern area 224.

In a statement to the BBC, a spokesperson for the Belfast Health Trust said they could not be specific about the length of time people were having to wait.

However, sources within the trust have told the BBC that the majority of patients are having to wait for between nine and 12 months.

Dr Paul Darragh from the British Medical Association said these figures were “worrying”.

“As doctors what we want to do is deliver the best possible care to our patients, delivered according to sound clinical principles and according to patient need,” he said.

“We recognise that there is an outstanding backlog of review patients to be seen in neurology”

Aidan Dawson Acute Services Belfast Health Trust

“It’s obviously of concern to all clinicians if they feel they are unable to develop and give the service that they think their patients require and need.”

Aidan Dawson from Acute Services at the Belfast Health Trust said he was “always disappointed” when a patient felt that they were not cared for properly.

“We recognise that there is an outstanding backlog of review patients to be seen in neurology. We’ve had discussions with the commissioner and we have agreed that we will appoint a new neurologist,” he said.

“For this individual lady and her case, I would be quite happy to meet with her and respond to that. I will ring her tomorrow.”

Meanwhile, in Loughbrickland, Annita and her sister said they continue to wait on a call or letter instructing them of an available appointment for Samantha.

“But even when that comes we are not confident that it will actually happen,” Annita said.

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

India Commonwealth Games men held

Commonwealth Games opening ceremony in October 2010The Games were a success for India, despite the corruption allegations
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India’s top investigating agency has arrested two senior Commonwealth Games officials suspected of corruption.

Organising committee Secretary General Lalit Bhanot and another top official, VK Verma, are accused of financial irregularities linked to the Games.

These are the most high-profile arrests in the ongoing investigation into allegations of corruption over last year’s showpiece event in Delhi.

Both men deny the allegations. They will appear in court on Thursday.

The row over corruption at the Games is one of a series of graft scandals that has rocked India in recent months.

Former Telecoms Minister Andimuthu Raja resigned at the end of last year amid allegations that he had undersold mobile phone licences.

Lalit Bhanot was second-in-command to the Game’s chief, Suresh Kalmadi, who is also being investigated.

A spokesman for India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said that Mr Bhanot and Mr Verma are accused of inflating costs while procuring timers and scoring equipment from a Swiss manufacturer, Swiss Timing, allegedly costing the government nearly $24m (£15m).

Swiss Timing has rejected all accusations against it. Its director general, Christophe Berthaud, said that they were “absolutely wrong”.

The BBC’s Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi says that the Commonwealth Games were a huge success for India but were marred by allegations of financial mismanagement and cost overruns.

Last month several international companies claimed they were owed millions of dollars in unpaid bills and threatened to take legal action.

Mr Bhanot was in the news last October, when concerns prior to the start of the Games were raised about filthy, unfinished housing at the athletes’ village.

“Everyone has a different standard of cleanliness,” he told reporters, adding that the rooms at the village “are clean according to you and me, but they [foreigners] have some other standard of cleanliness”.

Last month the sports ministry sacked Mr Bhanot and Mr Kalmadi from the organising committee to enable police to conduct “impartial and unhindered investigations”.

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

Howell ‘was my biggest mistake’

Hazel Stewart denies the murders of her husband Trevor Buchanan and Lesley Howell in 1991Hazel Stewart denies the murders of her husband Trevor Buchanan and Lesley Howell in 1991

A woman accused of a double murder said meeting killer Colin Howell was “the biggest mistake” of her life.

Hazel Stewart, 47, denies murdering her husband, Trevor Buchanan, 32, and her former lover Howell’s wife, Leslie, 31, in May 1991.

At her trial in Coleraine on Wednesday, police interview tapes were played in which she wept bitterly.

“The biggest mistake of my life was ever meeting Colin Howell and I have paid the price,” she said.

“Since that happened I lost so much of my life, I lost like a joy, a peace, contentment.

“It was like having a black hole every day I got up, every night I went to bed it was there, I thought about it 24-7. It never ever left me.”

The jury of nine men and three women in Coleraine Crown Court listened as Mrs Stewart cried: “I would like to say sorry to Trevor’s family. I can’t imagine what it would be like to lose a son.

“I have a son and I love him very much. To David, my husband I love so much. Lisa and Andrew. They are my life and I have lost it.”

In the final of a series of taped interviews played at her trial, Mrs Stewart was asked if there was anything else she would like to say.

“Just, that I’m so sorry,” she said.

“The biggest mistake of my life was ever meeting Colin Howell and I have paid the price for the past 17, 18 years.”

Hazel Stewart

Earlier, Mrs Stewart admitted in police interview tapes that she was part of a plan to kill her husband but insisted she wanted no part in it.

The court heard Mrs Stewart tell police how she got rid of evidence.

They also heard how she encouraged her husband to take a sleeping tablet on the night of the murders.

She denied giving him the drug, but admitted that sedating him was also part of Howell’s plan.

The jury also heard how Mrs Stewart destroyed a garden hosepipe which was used to gas the victims while they slept.

As well as cutting up and burning the hose on an open fire, she washed and replaced bed covers in the room where her husband was poisoned.

She also opened the window to get rid of carbon monoxide fumes and got clothes which Howell used to dress her husband before driving him off in a car with his dead wife.

On the police tapes, the court heard Mrs Stewart insist she had tried to stop Howell at the house on the night of the murders.

“I didn’t want him to do it. I said I was scared. I didn’t want it and when I saw the bag it was terrible. It was horrible and I knew what he was coming to do.

“And I didn’t want him to do it. But Colin is a strong person,” she said.

Mrs Stewart said Howell was on a mission and she did not get him stopped.

Police originally thought Mr Buchanan and Mrs Howell died in a suicide pact. The investigation was re-opened in January 2009 after Howell admitted that he gassed them and then fooled police into believing they had taken their own lives.

Howell is serving a 21-year jail sentence after he admitted his guilt last year.

The trial continues.

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

US ‘may try pirates over deaths’

Jean and Scott Adam, in a photo provided by a family friendJean and Scott Adam were described as adventurers who also distributed bibles at ports of call
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A group of 15 suspected pirates captured after the killing of four Americans on a hijacked yacht off Somalia could be sent to the US to face trial, the US military says.

The group is being held aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise.

In the past year, at least six accused Somali pirates have been convicted in US courts.

US agencies are investigating the killings on Tuesday of Phyllis Macay, Bob Riggle, Jean and Scott Adam.

The US military, FBI and Justice Department are working on the next steps for their suspected killers, said Bob Prucha, a spokesman for US Central Command in Florida.

The four Americans were aboard the S/V Quest, the Adams’ 58-foot ship, when they were hijacked on Friday in the waters off Oman.

A convoy of Navy ships, including the Enterprise, sped to their rescue.

According to the US military, two pirates came aboard a US Navy ship to negotiate the release of the hostages. A rocket-propelled grenade later launched toward the US Navy ships, missing, and the Navy sailors heard gunfire from the Quest.

A team of Navy Seal special forces sailors then boarded the Quest and found the four Americans dying from gunshot wounds.

They regained control of the yacht, killing two pirates in the process and capturing an additional 13 pirates, and found the bodies of two pirates who were already dead, the US Navy said.

But the BBC’s Will Ross in Nairobi says the pirates’ telling of the encounter differs from the US Navy’s. The pirates report the US warship attacked first, killing two pirates, and the hostages were killed in retaliation.

In November, five young Somali men were convicted of piracy in an April attack on a US Navy ship they mistook for a merchant vessel. One has been sentenced to 30 years in prison and the others face a possible life sentence.

And last week, a Somali man who pleaded guilty to the April 2009 pirate attack on a US-flagged merchant ship was sentenced to more than 33 years in prison.

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

Cyber criminals find new targets

Teenager using a PCVisiting reputable websites can still result in malware being downloaded on to users’ computers
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The proportion of websites secretly harbouring malware has reached one in 3,000 according to security firm Kaspersky.

It found a surge in the number of web-based attacks in 2010, with more than 580 million incidents detected.

Risk was no longer focused on sites with illegal content, such as pirate films and music, the report said.

Instead, criminals were increasingly using legitimate websites, such as shopping and online gaming.

The malware writers target vulnerable web servers, with owners often unaware of the attack, said Ram Herkanaidu, senior security research at Kaspersky Lab.

“They will put a piece of Java code, for example, onto a website and scramble it so it is hard to notice.

“The Java code runs when you visit the site and redirects the user to malware,” he said.

“Previously you could avoid these attacks by not visiting dodgy websites.

“Today the malware writers are targeting legitimate ones,” added Mr Herkanaidu.

Kaspersky’s figures are based on reports from customers who have joined its security network.

The rise in incidents of web-based attacks far outstripped the number of new members in 2010, indicating the increasing threat, said Mr Herkanaidu.

“It has become the cyber crooks’ attack of choice,” he said.

The threat from cyber crime is being taken increasingly seriously by government officials.

Last week, the UK government published figures estimating that cyber crime costs the economy £27 billion a year.

Earlier this month, European Union researchers said almost a third of computer users had been infected by malware in the past year.

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

Student protest over Gaddafi cash

LSE entranceThe London School of Economics and Political Science says it is reconsidering its links with Libya
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Students at the London School of Economics are staging a sit-in in protest at the university’s association with the Libyan regime.

About 12 have taken over the offices of LSE director, Sir Howard Davies.

The LSE has already issued a statement saying it is reconsidering its links with Libya “as a matter of urgency”.

But the students are demanding the university pays back the £300,000 it accepted of a £1.5m grant from a charity wing of the regime.

The grant was pledged in 2009 by the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation.

The funds have so far been used to develop a research programme on North Africa, focused on politics, economics and society.

The student demonstrators are calling on the LSE management to “repay” the £300,000 already spent by creating a scholarship fund for underprivileged Libyan students.

“ It’s reprehensible that the university continues to benefit from money that was stolen from the Libyan people ”

Ashok Kumar LSE student

The students also want the university to revoke the LSE alumni status of Libyan leader Col Gaddafi’s second son Saif al-Islam, who studied at the university from 2003 to 2008, gaining both a Master of Science degree and a doctorate.

They are calling for a public commitment that no grants from officials “of such oppressive regimes” will be accepted in the future, as well as a public statement denouncing the recent “gross violations of human rights” by the Gaddafi regime.

One of the protesters, Ashok Kumar, who is also education officer for the LSE students’ union, said they would not vacate Sir Howard Davies’ offices until their demands were met.

“I think it’s reprehensible that the university continues to benefit from money that was stolen from the Libyan people and it’s only right to return it to the people who are now being murdered in the streets fighting for their freedom,” he told the BBC News website.

He said the students would stay there “until we get our demands”.

The money should be returned either as scholarships to underprivileged students, or “to the families of those who have been murdered and who continue to be murdered”, he said.

In a statement, the university said the LSE Director “noted the message” from the students.

“He shares the students’ revulsion at the recent violence and gross violations of human rights in Libya, and much regrets the association of the School’s name with Saif Gaddafi and the actions of the Libyan regime.

“The School’s statement of 21 February made clear that School engagement with the present Libyan authorities, covering a number of programmes, has already finished or has been stopped following the events of the weekend of 19-20 February.”

The university said no more of the £1.5m donation from the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation would be accepted.

It said about half of the £300,000 already accepted had been spent and its council would now consider what to do with the remaining funds, taking into account the views of LSE students.

The LSE’s review of its links with Libya follows a speech made by Saif al-Islam Gaddafi on Sunday, in which he said the regime in Libya would stand firm.

He warned of civil war, talked of “rivers of blood” and rejected foreign intervention.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi wrote his doctoral dissertation on the role of civil society in the democratisation of global governance institutions.

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

Map gives German harbour to Dutch

Emden as shown on Google Maps - grabThe grey border hugs the German coast – but Germans do not see it that way
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Emden is a town in north-west Germany but its harbour now belongs to the Netherlands – at least according to the internet map service Google Maps.

Emden officials complained about the error, but Google Maps still shows the Dutch border winding into the harbour.

A Google spokesman quoted by Deutsche Welle news said a continuing border dispute may be to blame.

Both countries agree that the border runs through the Ems-Dollart estuary, but its exact location is disputed.

Germany says the border runs close to the dykes on the Dutch side, while the Netherlands puts it further out from the Dutch shore.

The dispute has not disrupted peaceful shipping traffic through the estuary.

Last year Google Maps was embroiled in a fierce border dispute between Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Costa Rica complained that the website had fuelled the row by showing an island to be on the Nicaraguan side of the border.

Google admitted making an error and revised its map.

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

Saudi king announces new benefits

Still from TV footage of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah being greeted at Riyadh airport on his return, 23 February 2011The king was greeted by hundreds of well-wishers on his arrival at Riyadh airport
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Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah has announced increased benefits for his citizens, as he returned after months abroad getting medical treatment.

There will be extra funds for housing, studying abroad and social security, according to state television.

King Abdullah has been away from the country for three months, during which time mass protests have changed the political landscape of the Middle East.

There have been few demonstrations in Saudi Arabia.

Hundreds of men in white robes performed a traditional sword dance at Riyadh airport as the king’s plane touched down.

He disembarked and queues of people waited to personally greet him.

The streets of the city had already been decorated with welcome banners and national flags.

The 86-year-old left for New York on 22 November and had two operations in New York to repair spinal vertebrae and a herniated disc.

After a period of convalescence at his New York home, the king flew to Morocco on 22 January and had been recuperating there since.

By that time, Tunisia’s president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali had become the first leader in the region to be ousted after weeks of mass protests – and he had fled to Saudi Arabia.

Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak was the next to go.

King Abdullah’s health has been the subject of intense speculation, especially since the men tipped to succeed him are also elderly.

His half-brother Crown Prince Sultan – who is in his eighties and has been in poor health – has been in charge in his absence.

The monarch’s imminent return was welcomed by the Saudi media.

“The king is the only pillar of stability in the region now,” read the editorial in the English-language daily Arab News. “He is the assurance of orderly progress… in the Arab world as a whole.”

Saudi television reported that Bahrain’s King Hamad was also flying into Riyadh on Wednesday.

The small state on Saudi Arabia’s eastern border has seen more than a week of protests and the Bahraini authorities were criticised internationally for their initial crackdown on demonstrators.

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