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A Royal Navy sailor who was part of an anti-piracy task force has been killed in a road accident in Dubai.

The Ministry of Defence said the accident happened in the early hours of Sunday 27 February.

The sailor’s next of kin have been informed. He had been on leave when he was hit by a car.

The sailor was serving with HMS Cornwall which has been deployed to the Gulf as part of an international anti-piracy taskforce.

Earlier this month, the frigate helped to free the Yemeni crew of a shipping vessel which had been captured by Somali pirates.

According to reports, the accident is believed to have involved more than one car.

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

Six people have been killed in an attack on a residence of the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

An “unidentified group of armed men” attacked the residence of President Joseph Kabila in the capital, Kinshasa, a government spokesman said, describing the raid as an attempted coup.

Mr Kabila’s guards killed six of the men, the spokesman said.

Joseph Kabila took power in 2001 after his father, President Laurent Kabila, was assassinated.

He was later elected in his own right.

In 1998, DR Congo was plunged into a war in which more than five million people died – the deadliest conflict since World War II.

The conflict formally came to an end through a peace deal in 2003, but the east of the country is still plagued by army and militia violence.

“We have witnessed a coup attempt,” said Information Minister Lambert Mende, according to Reuters news agency.

“A group of heavily armed people attacked the presidential palace. They were stopped at the first roadblock.”

President Kabila was not in the building at the time of the attack at 1330 local time (1230GMT), Mr Mende said.

In addition to the six men killed, several others were detained, he added.

On 15 January, parliament backed a proposal by Mr Kabila to reduce presidential elections from two rounds to one.

The change means the winner can claim victory with less than 50% of the vote.

Presidential and parliamentary elections are scheduled to take place in November 2011.

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

An independent doctor is to review the treatment of US soul legend Etta James, after her son raised fears over the care given by her live-in doctor.

The attorney for James’s son Donto told the judge Dr Elaine James had carried out a procedure to insert feeding tubes that should only be done in hospital.

Mr James has alleged his mother could be in “very serious danger”.

James, 72, known for her hit At Last, has dementia and is being treated for leukaemia and associated problems.

Dr James, who is not related to the family, told the Associated Press new agency she welcomed the independent review.

“He can have 10 examiners, he can have 20 physicians to come in that house to perform the duties I do,” she said.

“I have a list of 23 medical sub-specialties that I have had to treat her for. She is not an easy patient.”

In January the singer’s husband, Artis Mills, was given permission by the judge to use some of her savings to pay for her health care.

Mr Mills claimed she had become too sick to manage her own money.

Mr Mills has also challenged a claim by Donto James that his mother gave him power of attorney.

The singer has been out of the public eye since January last year when she was admitted to hospital after suffering from various ailments, including a blood infection.

She became ill while in a clinic for treatment to an addiction to painkillers and other medicines.

James is the winner of four Grammy awards and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.

In the 2008 film Cadillac Records, she was portrayed by the singer Beyonce Knowles.

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

Scott Parker inspires West Ham to a win over Liverpool at Upton Park that lifts the east London side off the bottom of the Premier League table.

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

At least four Britons are now understood to have been killed in the New Zealand earthquake, the Foreign Office has said.

Two more British people are injured and one remains missing, a spokesman added.

One of those killed was previously named as Gregory Tobin, a 25-year-old chef, from Tadcaster, North Yorkshire.

Tuesday’s magnitude 6.3 earthquake in Christchurch killed at least 147 people and about 50 are still missing. A UK rescue team is still working there.

A helpline on 020 7008 8765 has been set up for concerned friends and relatives in the UK.

British nationals in New Zealand are advised to call 049 242 898 for advice and assistance. The Foreign Office website has more information about the consular assistance being provided.

Victims of the quake that devastated the centre of Christchurch have been honoured at church services across New Zealand on Sunday.

The country’s Prime Minister John Key said there was still a glimmer of hope survivors could be found.

But no-one has been found alive since Wednesday, and rescuers working for a fifth day are only finding bodies.

The British High Commission had earlier said two UK victims had “got on a certain bus, which was crushed by falling masonry”.

Mr Tobin had been on a round-the-world trip and had been working at a restaurant in Christchurch.

One of the tributes to him on Facebook read: “Such a nice guy and at such a young age.”

Jo Morley, 44, whose brother Phil Coppeard from Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk was reported as missing, told the BBC on Saturday the family still had hope he would be found alive.

She said: “Of course you still hope, as anybody would do. That’s what we have to think.”

Chartered accountant Mr Coppeard, 41, emigrated to the country in November with his wife Suzanne Craig and was doing a masters in economics at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch.

He was travelling into the city centre on a bus when the earthquake struck.

British High Commission spokesman Chris Harrington said the two injured Britons were a man and a woman, both aged over 50. Their injuries were serious, but not life threatening.

The man is still in hospital but the woman, who lives in Christchurch, has been discharged.

A British team of experts in identifying disaster victims is due to arrive in the city tomorrow.

Meanwhile, tributes have been paid to Irishman Owen McKenna, originally from Emyvale in County Monaghan, who died in the quake when his car was crushed by falling debris.

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The UK is to stop direct aid to 16 countries, including Russia, China and Iraq, papers seen by the BBC suggest.

A draft copy of the government’s review of its overseas aid budget – due to be published this week – also reveals aid to India will be frozen.

But overall, the international development budget will rise by a third in this Parliament as a new approach focuses on value for money, it says.

The report states that aid spending is good for Britain’s economy and safety.

The draft document outlines plans for greater transparency and accountability, with an emphasis on funding programmes that deliver greater results and which, specifically, help girls and women.

Resources will be focused on the 27 countries that account for three-quarters of the world’s maternal mortality and malaria deaths, such as Ghana and Afghanistan.

By 2014, 30% of UK aid is expected to go to war-torn and unstable countries.

The report confirms that direct aid to countries including Iraq and Kosovo will stop, whilst aid to India will be frozen.

India is currently one of the biggest recipients of UK development aid, and there have been media campaigns in the UK suggesting an economy growing at nearly 10% a year simply does not need British assistance.

But others point out that nearly half a billion people in India are still desperately poor, and efforts to reduce global poverty will not progress without significant aid.

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

There have been clashes on the streets of Tunis as protesters call for the resignation of Tunisia’s interim prime minister.

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

The story of England and India’s thrilling tied clash

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The wife of former Barnsley Central MP Eric Illsley has said her husband is “coping” in prison after being jailed for a year for expenses fraud.

Illsley was sentenced earlier this month after admitting falsely claiming £14,000 for his second home.

The 55-year-old is the second former MP to be jailed for expenses offences.

His wife Dawn said he was “keeping his head down” at HMP Wandsworth, in south London, and was “paying dearly” for what he had done.

Mrs Illsley said: “The first few phone calls were slightly emotional obviously because it was a shock but he’s keeping his head down and getting on with it.

“He seems chirpier now than the first few days.

“He’ll cope. He’s not always been an MP.

“Eric didn’t come from the playing fields of Eden, he comes from the playing fields of Kendry [in Barnsley]… so he’s quite resilient, he’ll handle it well.”

Illsley pleaded guilty to three charges of false accounting by dishonestly claiming payments for insurance, repairs, utility bills and council tax at his second home between 2005 and 2008.

Southwark Crown Court heard he received £100 more a week on average than he was entitled to over a three-year period.

Mrs Illsley said she had no idea her husband was over-claiming.

“I never saw his claim sheets, I never asked. Eric did that and that was that,” she said.

She said he was now “paying dearly” for what he had done.

“He’s very sorry. As soon as he realised he wasn’t entitled to the money he paid it back.”

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

Plans to cut up to 1,000 jobs at an NHS trust in Greater Manchester will have an impact on patients, the British Medical Association (BMA) has said.

The Pennine Acute Trust, which runs hospitals in Oldham, Bury, Rochdale and north Manchester, expects to have to save at least £45m by April 2012.

Its chief executive John Saxby said the savings could mean losing 10% of jobs.

Dr JS Bamrah, of the BMA, said: “You simply cannot provide the same level of service with 10% fewer staff.”

Mr Saxby said he estimated the trust would have to save £45m, as part of the wider NHS having to find efficiency savings of £20bn.

This could rise once the trust knows what services GPs want to commission, Mr Saxby believes.

He said the savings could not be met by cutting waste or reducing non-pay expenditure and all areas of the trust needed to be looked at to “reduce costs and work more efficiently”.

As 70% of the trust’s budget is spent on wages, up to 1,000 jobs from a total of 10,000 may have to be cut, he said.

Dr JS Bamrah, chairman of the BMA’s North West regional council, said: “We don’t yet know the detail of which posts will go, but there will undoubtedly be an impact on patients.

“You simply cannot provide the same level of service with 10% fewer staff, even if they are in non-clinical roles.”

Labour MP Simon Danczuk, whose Rochdale constituency is served by Pennine Acute Trust, said the job cuts would affect both patients and the local economy.

“It is going to have an adverse affect on services people have in hospital, and on the wider community.

“Public sector jobs are very important in Rochdale. These cuts will inevitably have an effect on the local economy.

He added: “The Conservatives said in the run up to the general election they were going to cut the deficit but not the NHS.

“This latest reduction in the number of jobs in the NHS is more proof they are cutting the NHS.”

A Department of Health spokeswoman said: “The government promised to reduce NHS bureaucracy and plough this money straight back into patient care, and that is exactly what we are delivering.

“Since May 2010, we have thousands more doctors, nurses and midwives – and 2,000 fewer managers.

“Labour oppose these cuts in bureaucracy, just as they oppose our investment in the NHS and our modernisation plans. They would spend less and do nothing.”

The Pennine Acute Trust, which serves a population of 800,000, said it hoped compulsory redundancies would not be necessary.

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

Turkey’s first Islamist prime minister, Necmettin Erbakan, has died at the age of 85, one of his aides has said.

Mr Erbakan served only a year as prime minister before he was forced to stand down in 1997 by Turkey’s staunchly secular military.

His Islamist Welfare Party was banned in 1998, while Mr Erbakan was barred from politics for five years for violating the constitution.

The governing AK Party, which has Islamist roots, grew out of Welfare.

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