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Sudan will withdraw from peace talks with rebels in the western Darfur region if no deal is reached by Thursday, its president has said.

The talks would go back to Darfur and anyone bearing arms would be dealt with decisively, Omar al-Bashir said.

Mediators at the Qatar talks are currently in discussion with representatives of both sides.

Rebels in Darfur have been fighting government troops and Arab militias, said to be backed by Khartoum.

President Bashir told a rally in Darfur he had set a deadline of Thursday for the negotiations to be successful.

“But if there is no agreement, we will withdraw our negotiating team and the talks will then be held in Darfur,” he said.

“We will fight those who choose to take up arms, but we will sit next to those who want development.”

The most heavily-armed rebel movement, the Justice and Equality Movement (Jem), called Mr Bashir’s speech “a declaration of war”.

Khartoum has been seeking a comprehensive peace agreement with all the rebel groups at the Qatar talks.

It had hoped to secure a deal before the end of the year, as an independence referendum in southern Sudan is set to dominate the government’s agenda in January.

Mr Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court, accused of war crimes and genocide in Darfur, but he strongly denies the charges.

About 300,000 people have died since fighting began in Darfur in 2003, and some 2.7 million people have fled their homes as a result of the conflict, the UN says.

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

Nearly one in five people currently in the UK will live to see their 100th birthday, according to the government.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said its figures suggested 10 million people – 17% of the population – would become centenarians.

These are based on Office for National Statistics population projections and life expectancy estimates.

Pensions Minister Steve Webb said the “staggering” figures brought home the need for pension reforms.

“Many millions of us will be spending around a third of our lives or more in retirement in the future,” he said, adding the government was determined to reform the pensions system to make it “sustainable for the long-term”.

The DWP estimates there will be at least 507,000 people aged 100 or over by 2066, including 7,700 people aged 110 or over, so-called super centenarians.

Currently 11,800 people in the UK are aged 100 or over and fewer than 100 are over 110.

The government figures suggest that of the more than 10m who will go on to reach 100, 3m are currently aged under 16, 5.5m are aged between 16 and 50, and 1.3m are aged between 51 and 65.

About 875,000 are already aged over 65, it says.

The fear is that longer life spans will put an intolerable pressure on the pensions system and the NHS.

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

The jazz musician and composer Billy Taylor has died in New York of heart failure at the age of 89.

Taylor had been playing professionally since the 1940s, and later became a TV and radio personality, presenting several jazz programmes.

His most famous song, I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free, became the unofficial anthem of the US civil rights movement.

Taylor was considered to be one of the most ardent advocates of jazz music.

In the 1960s he set up the Jazzmobile movement, which promoted education through the arts and staged free concerts by high-profile jazz musicians in deprived areas of the US.

Taylor, who had a doctorate in music education as well as several honorary degrees, is survived by his wife, Theodora, and a daughter.

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

A major review of quangos in 1980 suggested the name should be changed because it had become a term of “ridicule and abuse”.

Newly-released National Archives files show Margaret Thatcher homed in on the Eggs Authority and wanted it axed.

But she saved the “ineffective” Women’s National Commission for political reasons.

The Duke of Edinburgh got involved in the review and wanted to know if there were any plans for a sport body.

The 1980 quango file released by the National Archives has deep resonance thirty years later.

Both the Thatcher government and the Cameron coalition came to power in difficult economic times, and a “bonfire of the quangos” was ignited amid a general culture of cuts.

In January 1980, a White Paper report recommended that 246 quangos should be abolished saving £11.6m and costing 3,700 jobs.

The current government announced in October that 192 public bodies, such as the Film Council and the Audit Commission, would be axed, while 118 will be merged.

Quangos – quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations – are arm’s-length bodies funded by Whitehall departments but not run by them.

Politicians – particularly when in opposition – have been complaining about quangos for decades and the name has become a byword for paper-pushing and waste.

This notion emerged during Mrs Thatcher’s quango review, which was carried out by former civil servant Sir Leo Pliatzky.

In notes accompanying his draft report, he said he did not want to be a “spoil-sport” but the shorthand term quango did “not really fit”.

“Moreover in some quarters it has become a term of ridicule or abuse,” he wrote.

“A number of Departments would have been unhappy about even listing their organisations in the report if that meant stigmatising them as quangos and causing offence to a lot of worthy people who give their services free.”

Sir Leo’s aim was a “rapid, significant reduction in quangos and their staff and costs”, but another instruction pointed to the Iron Lady’s softer side.

“The PM is aware that there are many Quangos which cost very little indeed and which keep particular interest groups happy, and she has said that there is no point in hurting people’s feelings unless there is a positive gain to be achieved from abolition which cannot be ignored.”

He was also tasked with personally looking into the details of the Eggs Authority, which had a budget of about £3m, most of which came from levies on producers.

It replaced the British Egg Marketing Board which was responsible for the “Go to Work on an Egg” campaign, and its main function was to provide generic egg advertising and market intelligence.

Mrs Thatcher’s private secretary sent a note to Sir Leo, saying: “Mrs Thatcher is herself sceptical about the value of this Authority.”

Sir Leo wrote several memos to Downing Street specifically about the Eggs Authority but he concluded it would be saved, for the time being. It was finally abolished in 1986 and replaced with the British Egg Industry Council.

Sir Leo’s attention was also drawn to the Sports Council after he received a letter from the Duke of Edinburgh about the unelected make-up of the body.

In a memo to No 10, Sir Leo wrote: “Apart from his general dislike of bureaucracy and his support for voluntary effort, his particular interest stems from his being President of the Central Council of Physical Recreation (CCPR), a capacity in which he conducts a running battle with the Sports Council…”

In a letter to Prince Philip, signed “Your Royal Highness’s most humble and obedient servant”, Sir Leo said ministers were responsible for looking at the quangos in their departments.

“I do not have the time or resources to involve myself personally in the details of each of the many hundreds of bodies covered by the review,” he said.

On the Women’s National Commission – set up in 1969 “to ensure by all possible means that the informed opinion of women is given its due weight in the deliberation of government” – Sir Leo concluded its terms of reference were “extraordinarily vague”.

But he said its chairman Baroness Young felt it was “politically out of the question” to abolish it, and Mrs Thatcher agreed, opting for a “leave well alone policy” and recommending it be given an extra half-secretary.

The Women’s National Commission may have been saved in 1980 but it is on the current government’s list of quangos to be axed.

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

The Foreign Office expected countries to ask for the loan of the SAS in a siege or hijack after the London Iranian Embassy rescue, documents show.

Documents from 1980 released by the National Archives reveal a discussion about a legal agreement to cover the use of the SAS by another country.

A memo says those countries would have to accept “prior responsibility for any claims for damage or injury”.

The documents also reveal the government’s pride in the SAS mission.

The special forces stormed the embassy on 5 May 1980, and within 15 minutes, the six-day siege by six Iranian Arab separatists was over. Five of the gunmen and two of the 26 hostages were killed during the siege.

The rescue operation by black-clad figures was watched by millions of people on television and it brought the SAS and its motto – Who Dares Wins – to the world’s attention.

An internal memo from the FCO’s Middle East department, dated 9 May, considers the “future use of SAS anti-terrorist squads”.

It suggests the successful outcome of the Iranian embassy siege will lead to “a fresh wave of requests for SAS training teams to visit well-disposed Middle Eastern countries”.

“… we may also get requests in the event of a future hi-jack (sic) or siege involving hostages, for the loan of an SAS team to resolve the problem. If British hostages are involved, ministers may be disposed to agree.”

It talks of the need for a “proforma agreement” covering such issues as immunity from prosecution and liability.

Another internal memo says such an agreement is already in place as part of the “Pulpit plans – military intervention in the event of a terrorist incident overseas”.

It said there was still an issue with compensation, which would not be a factor if the overseas operation was carried out for the UK’s benefit.

“If a Pulpit force was sent in at the request of a Government then we probably would insist on that Government accepting prior responsibility for any claims for damage or injury.

“If the operation was a success, there would be no problem about payment. But if things went badly it seems doubtful that the Government concerned would pay up willingly and unlikely that we would press them to do so.”

The newly-released documents show the extent of the government’s pride in the SAS operation or “military gymnastics”, as it is called in one memo.

“Mr Haydon Phillips mentioned at the Home Secretary’s party on 8 May that they were considering a grand tour by a joint team to brief friendly countries about the incident and to stress that command and control is as important as the actual military gymnastics. (Perhaps it is only because the SAS are so competent that we can afford to say this).”

The successful SAS mission came a month after a covert US military mission failed to free 52 American hostages held at the US embassy in Tehran. Eight soldiers died, and another four men suffered burns, when a helicopter crashed into a transport plane.

The hostage ordeal began in November 1979 when a group of radical Iranian students stormed the embassy and the hostages were not freed until January 1981.

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

Margaret Thatcher wanted the Church of England to change the enthronement of the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1980 so it did not clash with Budget Day.

Newly-released documents show the Conservatives were aware of the clash but still went for the 25 March.

The Church voiced its discontent but Mrs Thatcher wrote on a memo: “I also am very unhappy – is it possible to change the date of the enthronement?”

Bishop Runcie was enthroned on 25 March and the budget took place on 26 March.

The National Archives files show the original date of the budget was announced in the Commons on 17 January.

A day later, Colin Peterson, No 10 Secretary for Appointments, sent a memo to the PM: “Lambeth Place have told me that there is some unhappiness in the Church, apparently very much shared by the Free Churches, that Budget Day and Bishop Runcie’s enthronement at Canterbury coincide on 25 March.

“People are quicker than they should be to feel that this is something of a slight by the government to Bishop Runcie.”

The Chancellor, Sir Geoffrey Howe, wrote to Dr Robert Runcie to explain the reasoning behind the choice of date.

He assured him there was no “dark conspiracy to distract attention from the Canterbury installation”.

Sir Geoffrey said the “sheer mechanics” of Budget Day made Tuesday the best day of the week, as “successive chancellors have found”, and he had to chose that particular Tuesday for religious reasons.

“Ironically enough my choice has been very much influenced by the dictates of the ecclesiastical calendar,” he wrote.

“With the Tuesday before Easter, and the two succeeding Tuesdays more or less ruled out, 25th March was in effect our only option.”

Mrs Thatcher, who made her famous speech “The lady’s not for turning” speech in 1980, clearly did a U-turn in this case and the government changed the date of the budget to Wednesday 26 March.

In a letter to Dr Runcie, who was then Bishop of St Albans, she wrote: “You will know how glad I am that we have been able to change the Budget date, and I am deeply grateful to you for the spirit in which you have spoken about this.”

She wrote to the outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury, Frederick Coggan, apologising for the “distress” caused. She also sent a similar letter to Cardinal Basil Hume, head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales at the time.

Dr Runcie was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1980 to 1991. His reformist tenure saw a breakdown in relations with the Tory party and he had several more run-ins with Mrs Thatcher.

His criticism of government policies on unemployment and inner cities incurred the wrath of the prime minister who accused him of failing to provide moral leadership.

And he angered her in 1982 when he asked a congregation to pray for the relatives of Argentine soldiers killed in the Falklands War.

Dr Runcie died in 2000 aged 78 after a long battle with cancer.

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

Ministers in Northern Ireland are to hold an emergency meeting to discuss how to help the 36,000 people who have been without running water for days.

Eighty villages and towns have been affected as pipes burst in the thaw.

As the first of 160,000 litres of bottled water arrive from Scotland, the Stormont Executive will discuss what further measures can be taken.

Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness has said he feels “absolutely let down” by Northern Ireland Water’s response.

The state-owned company, which is the sole provider of water and sewerage services in Northern Ireland, said an unprecedented number of leaks caused by the thaw following the long period of freezing weather had been putting “big pressure” on its systems.

The thaw followed the worst snow in Northern Ireland in 25 years and record cold temperatures.

As temperatures rose, burst pipes drained reservoirs, forcing NI Water to turn off the tap to the 80 locations.

The BBC’s Northern Ireland political editor Mark Devenport said there was recognition that NI Water’s engineers were struggling to deal with an unprecedented number of call-outs, but there was also general condemnation of the company’s inability to communicate better with its increasingly angry consumers.

The Stormont Executive has accepted help from Scotland and sent civil service staff to help out at NI Water’s call centre.

Ministers will want to discuss what further measures can be taken to resolve an emergency which has raised fresh questions about historic under-investment in Northern Ireland’s outdated water network, our editor adds.

Local councils are working to supply water and offer free showers to people without a mains supply and information is being provided on the NI Water website on when supplies will be turned on or cut off.

The interim chairman of NI Water, Padraic White, admitted its response had been unsatisfactory.

He said: “The organisation has to improve its performance, has to improve its communication and I believe will improve its communication over the next two days or so.

“I empathise as interim chairman with those people who haven’t had water for the last two or three days – that’s an awful situation to be in.”

NI Water’s head of customer services, Liam Mulholland, said Northern Ireland had suffered from years of under-investment.

“We had the Troubles and that has led to a level of under-investment in the network which is now manifesting some problems for us which we’re trying to deal with as fast as we can,” he said.

The Scottish government is providing 160,000 litres of bottled water, the first of which were loaded on to the ferry to Larne on Wednesday evening.

Mr McGuinness said people had not been given enough information as to when water would be restored.

“My focus is on how NI Water can do things better over the course of the next number of days,” he said.

Dame Joan Harbison, who speaks on behalf of older people, said many pensioners were struggling to cope.

“There are many older people throughout Northern Ireland who haven’t access to water, who can’t go to where the water is and certainly can’t stand in long queues for long periods of time to actually get water,” she said.

Peter Maguire, a doctor from Newry, has been living for eight days without water.

“This is really now a public health emergency. NI Water has been shambolic. Young families have been left without drinking water and not able to flush toilets. This is unacceptable.”

Emergency centres have been set up across Northern Ireland to supply water. Leisure centres are also open to offer free bathing facilities.

Details are available from the NI Water website, or telephone hotline: 08457 440088, on Ceefax 169 and BBC News Online.

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