Ryanair in boarding pass threat

Ryanair chief executive Michael O'LearyRyanair has appealed against a ruling that found it is breaking international law

Ryanair has threatened to turn away passengers arriving at check in without their pre-printed boarding pass unless a ruling from a Spanish court is overturned.

Currently the airline charges £40 for a boarding pass for those who have not printed out their own.

A judge in Barcelona has ruled that the charge is illegal.

The airline said it might stop issuing boarding passes, hence passengers would not be allowed on the aircraft.

Two years ago, Ryanair abolished the traditional airport check-in.

At the time it announced that all passengers must check-in online and print out their own boarding passes – or face the £40 charge.

Judge Barbara Maria Cordoba Ardao ruled that the company was breaking international law by imposing the charge.

Ryanair has instructed its Spanish lawyers to appeal against the ruling, saying it is “bizarre and unlawful”.

Without the charge, the no frills airline said it would have to re-employ numerous handling agents to issue manual boarding cards for passengers who “forgot” to bring theirs with them.

Simon Calder, the Independent’s travel editor, told BBC Radio 4’s You and Yours that he thinks the airline means business.

“Judging from Ryanair’s previous record of robust reactions to unfavourable court decisions – abandoning airports such as Strasbourg in France and adding a “wheelchair” surcharge to fares after a case involving disabled passengers – it’s absolutely serious,” he said.

“It will dispense with the boarding card reissue fee altogether, and will turn away passengers who arrive at the airport without the agreed pre-printed boarding card.”

Ryanair says more than 99% of people do arrive with a boarding pass and the reissue charge will continue to apply pending the appeal.

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

Potter star attack brother jailed

Afshan AzadAshraf Azad admitted assaulting Afshan Azad
Related stories

The brother of a Harry Potter film actress who assaulted her because her boyfriend was not Muslim has been jailed for six months.

Ashraf Azad hurled abuse at his sister Afshan Azad, who played Padma Patil in the hit films, during a “prolonged and nasty” attack at their Manchester home.

She was punched repeatedly and dragged around by her hair after being overhead talking to her Hindu boyfriend.

Mr Azad, 28, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Manchester Crown Court previously heard how Miss Azad, 22, was branded a “prostitute” and “slag” and was told: “Marry a Muslim or you die.”

The actress fled the family home in Longsight, south Manchester, through a bedroom window after the attack on 21 May 2010.

The actress, who now lives in London, had pleaded with the court not to jail her older brother.

“This is a sentence that is designed to punish you for what you did and also to send out a clear message to others that domestic violence involving circumstances such as have arisen here cannot be tolerated”

Judge Roger Thomas Manchester Crown Court

But Judge Roger Thomas QC, sentencing, said there were no good or proper reasons to suspend his sentence of six months.

“This persistent attack was accompanied by serious and very hurtful abuse and threats,” he told the defendant.

“It must have been a miserable and frightening experience for your sister which, she suggested, lasted for about three hours or so.

“The background to this offence lies in the concern that you, and perhaps other family members, had about Afshan’s relationship with a young man who was not of the Islamic faith.”

He added: “This is a sentence that is designed to punish you for what you did and also to send out a clear message to others that domestic violence involving circumstances such as have arisen here cannot be tolerated.”

Miss Azad’s character, a witch in the same year as Harry Potter at Hogwarts, first appeared in Harry Potter and the Goblet Of Fire.

She also features in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final film of the saga, which is being released in two parts.

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

Iran nuclear talks ‘are positive’

Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant, file picTehran insists its nuclear programme is for peaceful civilian purposes

Iran and major world powers are gathering in Istanbul, Turkey, for a new round of talks on Tehran’s controversial nuclear programme.

Officials hope to establish a “constructive process” for talks with Iran, but are not expecting major breakthroughs on key issues.

The UN has imposed four rounds of sanctions on Iran in recent years for not fully disclosing its programme.

The West suspects Iran aims to build nuclear weapons, which Tehran denies.

Iran insists its uranium enrichment programme is peaceful and complies with international law.

Negotiators from China, France, Germany, Russia, the UK and US will meet their Iranian counterparts on Friday and Saturday in a restored Ottoman Palace on the edge of the Bosphorous.

The talks will be chaired by European Union foreign policy chief Baroness Catherine Ashton.

Ahead of the summit, US state department spokesman Mark Toner said Washington was “not expecting any big breakthroughs”.

“But we want to see a constructive process emerge that… leads to Iran engaging with the international community in a credible process and engaging and addressing the international community’s concerns about its nuclear programme.”

In recent years these negotiations have achieved almost nothing, says the BBC’s Iran correspondent James Reynolds, in Istanbul.

Because of this, Western diplomats suggest that they have set only one immediate goal for this round of talks.

Nuclear Fuel CycleMined uranium ore is purified and reconstituted into solid form known as yellowcakeYellowcake is chemically processed and converted into uranium hexafluoride gasGas is fed through centrifuges, where its isotopes separate and process is repeated until uranium is enrichedLow-level enriched uranium is used for nuclear fuelHighly enriched uranium can be used in nuclear weaponsIn depth: Nuclear fuel cycle

They want to persuade Iran to start getting rid of its stockpile of low-enriched uranium – estimated to be about three tonnes, our correspondent says.

With further enrichment, this would be enough to make several nuclear weapons.

Iranian officials suggest that the country is willing to give up some of its stockpile, but for negotiators from the world powers “some” is not enough, our correspondent says.

They want Iran to get rid of most of its stockpile in order to make sure that there is not enough enriched uranium left inside Iran to build even a single bomb.

In an effort to achieve this there are reports that the negotiators are preparing to revive an old offer – a fuel swap.

Under such a deal Iran would give up an agreed amount of its low-enriched uranium. In return the world powers would provide fuel for a research reactor in Tehran.

However, Istanbul would be the third time in the last year-and-a-half that the idea of a uranium-for-fuel swap has been addressed.

A first version of this deal was agreed in October 2009, but collapsed shortly afterwards.

In May 2010, Brazil and Turkey brokered another version on their own with Iran – but the deal was rejected by the West.

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

Stampede death fireman not jailed

Farmer Harold Lee Mr Lee was killed when the cows he was herding stampeded
Related stories

A fireman who admitted causing the death of a farmer after his cattle were startled by the fire engine’s siren has been spared jail.

Julian Lawford, 49, pleaded guilty at Exeter Crown Court to causing the death of Harold Lee by careless driving at his trial in December.

Mr Lee, 75, was killed as he walked the cows along a country road near his home in Burtle, Somerset, in August 2009.

Lawford, from Glastonbury, was given a four-month suspended sentence.

He was also banned from driving for 12 months.

At his trial the judge, Mr Justice Roderick Evans, told the fireman he was not considering an immediate custodial sentence and released him on conditional bail.

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

Blair’s ‘regret’ over Iraq dead

Tony BlairTony Blair was prime minister when the invasion of Iraq took place
Related stories

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair is to be questioned for a second time by the Iraq inquiry about his role in the lead-up to the 2003 war.

He is expected to be asked about apparent discrepancies between his previous evidence and comments by former Attorney General Lord Goldsmith.

Lord Goldsmith told the inquiry he was “uncomfortable” about statements made by the then PM before the conflict.

Anti-war demonstrators are expected to protest outside the London inquiry.

The inquiry, led by former civil servant Sir John Chilcot, is looking at the UK’s role in the run-up to the invasion and the aftermath of the war.

When he first appeared before the panel in January 2010, Mr Blair said he had “no regrets” about having taken the UK to war and believed the world was a safer place after Saddam Hussein had been overthrown.

BBC correspondent Peter Hunt said the encounter between Mr Blair and the committee had the potential to be a “testing affair” for both sides.

“Tony Blair is unlikely to want to deviate from the main thrust of last year’s testimony,” he said.

“For their part, the inquiry team will want to prove their critics wrong by effectively cross-examining Mr Blair.”

Mr Blair’s evidence session at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre is to last more than four hours.

The questioning is expected to focus on apparent differences between Mr Blair’s previous evidence on the legality of the war and comments made to the inquiry subsequently by Lord Goldsmith.

Lord Goldsmith, who as Attorney General advised the government on legal matters, advised Mr Blair on 14 January 2003 that UN Security Council resolution 1441 was not enough on its own to justify force against Iraq.

But the next day Mr Blair told MPs that, while a second UN resolution was “preferable”, there were circumstances in which it was “not necessary” – in the event of the use of an “unreasonable veto” by a Security Council member.

According to fresh written evidence released by the inquiry this week, Lord Goldsmith said he was “uncomfortable” about this statement.

The invasion eventually went ahead without a second UN resolution.

Mr Blair’s spokesman has said he will deal with the former attorney general’s comments during his appearance on Friday.

The ex-prime minister is also expected to be asked about private conversations he had with President Bush over Iraq and about intelligence on the threat posed by Iraq.

Sir John said earlier this week the inquiry panel was “disappointed” the government would not allow the public release of details of these talks.

Mr Blair’s previous appearance prompted demonstrations at Westminster, although the former prime minister arrived hours before the start and avoided any confrontation.

Similar protests are expected later.

Chris Nineham, from Stop the War, said: “Evidence has now emerged at Chilcot showing Blair lied to public and Parliament about the legality of an attack on Iraq.

“Finally it has been confirmed that the war in Iraq was criminal as well as catastrophic.

“There is no more excuse for Blair to escape justice, and certainly no possible argument for him to continue as UN Peace Envoy in the Middle East.”

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

Health trust to cut 1,600 posts

Heart of England NHS Trust chief executive Mark NewboldChief executive Mark Newbold said the cuts were manageable without enforced redundancies

Up to 1,600 jobs are to go at an NHS trust in the West Midlands.

The Heart of England NHS Trust, which covers East Birmingham, Solihull and south Staffordshire is to shed the jobs over the next four years.

Chief executive Mark Newbold said the trust was used to making savings of up to 5% per year.

He said 400 staff equated to 4% of the trust’s staff base and he anticipated the cuts could be made without enforced redundancies.

“We are used to making savings of between 3 to 5% a year,” he said.

“So 400 staff is roughly 4% of our staff base.

“We turnover about 600 staff a year so its very manageable without, for instance, enforced redundancies.”

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

We are united on deficit – Balls

Ed Balls

Mr Balls said the most important thing is pulling the country out of the economic crisis

Related stories

Ed Miliband has said there will be no change in Labour’s economic policy, after Ed Balls replaced Alan Johnson as shadow chancellor.

Mr Johnson resigned on Thursday for personal reasons.

Mr Balls, who ran against Mr Miliband for the party leadership, has argued that Labour’s pledge to halve the deficit in four years was a “mistake”.

Mr Miliband said he would bring great expertise to the role adding: “Actually Ed and I have similar views.”

It comes as a policeman who protected Mr Johnson when he was home secretary is referred to Scotland Yard’s standards directorate, following newspaper allegations he had an affair with Mr Johnson’s wife.

Mr Johnson said on Thursday he was resigning for “personal reasons to do with my family”. His appointment to the shadow cabinet just three months ago came as a surprise.

Mr Balls, who was Gordon Brown’s chief economics adviser at the Treasury for years – and his wife Yvette Cooper, a former chief secretary to the Treasury – had been seen as front runners for the job.

BBC political editor Nick Robinson said the reason was partly because Ed Balls and Ed Miliband had worked together for years, with Mr Balls always the senior partner, and because he was known as a combative politician who was closely associated with Gordon Brown.

Mr Balls has argued against deep spending cuts to tackle the deficit and has criticised the approach set out by former Labour chancellor Alistair Darling to halve the deficit within four years.

In an interview with the BBC during the Labour leadership contest last July, Mr Balls said: “Halving the deficit in four years by cutting public spending… I think was a mistake.

“In government at the time in 2009 I always accepted collective responsibility, but at the time in 2009 I thought the pace of deficit reduction through spending cuts was not deliverable, I didn’t think it could have been done.”

“Actually Ed and I have similar views”

Ed Miliband Labour leader

He also said on a previous occasion it “made no sense” for Labour not to rule out raising VAT ahead of the election.

On Thursday, Ed Miliband said: “Ed brings great expertise to this role and I look forward to working with him on the direction Alan and I have set out.

“Economic policy is unchanged. Actually Ed and I have similar views.”

Mr Balls has also said he plans to “carry on” the work started by Mr Johnson.

Asked about his relationship with Mr Miliband and comparisons to that between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, Mr Balls said he had worked closely with Mr Miliband for 17 years and were a “partnership”.

He added: “Also we have lived very directly through difficult periods when personalities didn’t get on and I think both of us have learned the right lesson from that period, which is stick together, do it together.

“There is a bigger purpose than Ed Miliband or me. The bigger purpose is what’s good for the country, what’s good for our party but in particular taking this argument that the Tory-led coalition are getting it wrong.

“It’s not about ego, it’s about us together doing the job and I am totally 100% confident together we will do that really really well.”

But the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats said Mr Balls’s appointment marked a return to strength for Gordon Brown’s old guard.

Conservative Party deputy chairman Michael Fallon said: “It beggars belief that Ed Balls has been appointed as shadow chancellor of the Exchequer.

“The man who is responsible for Britain’s economic mess has returned. The Labour Party has learnt nothing and is now led entirely by Gordon Brown’s old team.”

And Lib Dem deputy leader Simon Hughes said Mr Balls was “the man who can be pinned with the responsibility for the mega-debt that we are all having to pay off”.

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

Funeral held for Gerry Rafferty

Gerry RaffertyRafferty was reputed to have earned £80,000 a year from the royalties on Baker Street
Related stories

The funeral of Scottish singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty is due to take place in his home town of Paisley.

Rafferty – best known for his hit single Baker Street – died two weeks ago at the age of 63.

First minister Alex Salmond and The Proclaimers are expected to join a requiem mass at St Mirin’s Cathedral on Friday morning.

Rafferty died at his home in Dorset on 4 January after suffering a long illness.

He had battled a drink problem and spent time in hospital in Bournemouth with liver failure.

His career high came in the 1970s and included Baker Street and Stuck in the Middle with You, recorded with his band Stealers Wheel.

Baker Street charted in the UK and US in 1978 after Rafferty began his solo career and is still played on radio stations around the world.

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

Tarantino to be given Cesar award

Quentin TarantinoQuentin Tarantino’s film credits include Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction
Related stories

US director Quentin Tarantino will receive a special prize next month at the Cesar Awards in Paris.

Awards president Alain Terzian said Tarantino, best known for films such as Kill Bill, is being honoured as “a great international artist.”

Algerian film Of Gods and Men has been nominated for 11 awards, including best movie of the year.

It will compete against Roman Polanski’s The Ghost, which has received eight nods.

Johann Sfar’s biopic Gainsbourg, about the famed French singer, was also nominated in eight categories including best film, best first film and best actor for Eric Elmosnino.

Bertrand Tavernier’s The Princess of Montpensier and Mathieu Amalric’s On Tour received seven nominations.

English actress Kristin Scott Thomas received a nod in the best actress category for her role in Sarah’s Key.

She will compete against Isabelle Carre, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Sara Forestier and Catherine Deneuve.

The Social Network will compete in the best foreign film category alongside Invictus, Inception, Illegal, Bright Star, Heartbeats and The Secret in their Eyes.

Jodie Foster will preside over the annual awards – dubbed the French equivalent of the Oscars – in Paris on 25 February.

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

Bangladesh suspends trading firms

Dhaka Stock ExchangeAngry investors threw stones at police and damaged vehicles
Related stories

Bangladesh has suspended six trading houses on the main Dhaka Stock Exchange.

The move came after a fall on the index of 8.5%, or 587 points, which forced regulators to suspend trading. This was the second such plunge this month.

Angry investors threw stones at police and smashed vehicles in protest at the suspension of trade.

The Commission has placed a six month ban on the six companies over charges of market manipulation.

“We have found that these brokers have sold huge shares at abnormally low prices just after the market opened,” Securities and Exchange Commission member Muhammad Yasin Ali told the Associated Press.

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

German star dies after breast op

Carolin "Sexy Cora" Berger posing before a beach soccer match in Berlin, 12 June 2010Carolin Berger died in Hamburg
Related stories

German tabloids have been mourning reality TV star Carolin “Sexy Cora” Berger, who died in a coma after her sixth breast operation, aged 23.

Ms Berger, a sex film celebrity, had joined the German version of Big Brother last year, where she behaved more and more outrageously.

She embarked on a series of breast enlargements in a bid to keep her publicity going.

Hamburg prosecutors are investigating her doctors for negligence.

Ms Berger was put in an artificial coma on 11 January because of serious complications after her sixth operation, which took place at a clinic in the north German city.

It is believed she suffered two cardiac arrests after the procedure to enlarge her breasts from a 70F to a 70G (UK: 34F to 34G).

“Big Brother star Cora is dead,” said the headline in Bild newspaper.

“[Her] frail, 48kg [106 lb] body struggled against death for 224 hours. She lost. Cora is dead!”

Hamburg tabloid Morgenpost, which had a special section called simply “Cora”, said Ms Berger had recently come back from a cruise to Dubai with her husband.

Just before the operation, the Berlin-born TV star tweeted her fans a cute photo of her dog sleeping in a laundry basket, it added.

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

Bank of America sees $1.2bn loss

Bank of America flag and buildingAnalysts said the bank’s numbers disappointed

Bank of America has reported a second straight quarterly loss, driven by a $2bn (£1.25bn) writedown of its mortgage business.

The Wall Street bank announced a net loss of $1.2bn for the last three months of 2010, compared with a loss of $5.2bn a year earlier.

However, last year’s results included a $4bn charge related to the government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (Tarp).

Bank of America shares fell 2.8% in electronic pre-market trading.

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

Just how much coffee can you actually drink?

The TrentaThe Trenta will be offered only for three drinks

Starbucks is launching a huge new measure for its coffee shops. The Trenta will contain 916ml of iced coffee but is it bad for you to drink that much in a sitting?

In a nation fighting obesity, the arrival of a giant new cup in the outlets of the US coffee shop giant Starbucks might leave some people scratching their heads.

The 31-US fluid ounce (916ml) Trenta dwarfs their previous largest measure – the Venti cup at a paltry 20 US fluid ounces (591ml).

Scaling up a 591ml coffee to a 916ml coffee, you soon see there might be health implications.

Taking a Starbucks Venti whole milk caffe latte and making it a Trenta, you would be left with a drink that contained 447 calories, including 23.2g of fat with 13.3g of that saturated fat.

You also end up with an alarming-sounding proposition if you scale up an iced hazelnut mocha made with semi-skimmed milk and whipped cream (from Starbucks’ UK offering). As a Trenta this would add up to 929.2 calories, 24.3g of saturated fat, and 122g of sugar.

THE ANSWERStarbucks is only offering the Trenta measure for iced coffee and two type of iced teaThe iced coffee will have only 195mg of caffeine but 42g of sugar

“Consuming nearly half your RDA for calories in one sitting would not make it easy for consumers to follow healthy eating guidelines,” says Emma Williams, a nutrition scientist at the British Nutrition Foundation.

But these drinks remain fictional, because Starbucks says it is only using the new measure for a very limited range of drinks – two types of iced tea and plain iced coffee. There will also be a significant proportion of ice in the drinks.

For its Trenta iced coffee, Starbucks advertises total fat of 4.5g, of which 2.5g and a mere 230 calories is saturated. The sugar clocks in at 42g and the caffeine content is 195mg, equivalent to 2.6 of the firm’s espresso measures.

Only the sugar content might cause concern, with Williams suggesting an RDA of 90g a day for women and 120g a day for men. The Starbucks Trenta iced tea lemonade contains considerably more sugar with 59g.

As far as the caffeine goes, two Trenta iced coffee cups a day would be fine as 400mg of caffeine a day is widely considered safe.

WHO, WHAT, WHY?

Question mark

A part of BBC News Magazine, Who, What, Why? aims to answer questions behind the headlines

“If somebody only drinks one or two cups of coffee throughout the day and spaces them out with water they should be fine,” says Dr Sarah Schenker, a registered dietician.

“But as adults we don’t get enough calcium so if coffee is the way we can up our calcium intake then that is the way to do it.”

She admits the new 916ml Starbucks Trenta would go through a drinker very quickly. But the 195mg of caffeine within the drink would not have a huge effect on a person who drinks coffee regularly.

“The safest intake of caffeine through the course of the day is about 400mg. The average mug of instant coffee is around 80-90mg.”

She admits that coffee can have its positives as it is a rich source of antioxidants, but pregnant women should not consume more than 200mg of caffeine a day.

And of course for most people, the problems with a 916ml iced coffee will be purely logistical – where do you put it and how quickly can you drink it?

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

South Sudan ‘heading for split’

People queue to vote (09/01/11)There was a huge turnout for the week-long referendum

With most votes counted in Southern Sudan’s referendum, 99% of people have opted for independence from the north, officials say.

Official results are due next month but correspondents say the result is not in doubt.

However, the former rebels now running Southern Sudan have urged people not to celebrate yet.

President Omar al-Bashir has said he will accept the result of the vote, which was held after years of war.

The mainly Arabic-speaking, Muslim north has fought the south, where most are Christian or follow traditional religions, for most of Sudan’s post-independence history.

In order for the referendum to be valid, more than 50% of voters must back secession and at least 60% of registered voters must take part.

Election officials have previously said that the 60% threshold had been passed.

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