September 22, 2010, 7:41 pm
![Image]( "English team members fly to Games")
An advance party of English athletes are due to arrive in Delhi on Thursday despite safety and accommodation concerns that could see the team pull out of the crisis-hit Commonwealth Games.
Sir Andrew Foster, chairman of Commonwealth Games England, said on Wednesday night that a final decision over participation will be made in the coming days, but as it stands the team remains "intent on going".
And in a move that will come as a relief to tournament organisers, England announced on Wednesday that 22 athletes, including members of the men's hockey and bowls teams, will arrive in the host city on Thursday as planned.
But assurances will still be needed over the athletes' village and safety of all arenas, Sir Andrew added.
He said that the situation will be monitored and that "all options remain open".
The ultimate option would be pulling out of the tournament entirely but Sir Andrew said Team England was not at that point yet.
On Tuesday, 20 people were injured in Delhi when a footbridge at the Jawaharlal Nehru complex - the centrepiece of the games - collapsed. And on Wednesday, part of the ceiling at the weightlifting arena fell in.
In addition, a number of teams have complained about the state of the Games Village which will house the athletes.
Sir Andrew said: "We remain very concerned about the situation and we will monitor it on an absolutely regular day-by-day basis. The residential accommodation is still some way short of what we need and require.
Among the options being considered is a delay in sending athletes out. Team Scotland has already said it has pushed back departures due to accommodation in India that has been described as "unfit for human habitation".
↧
↧
September 22, 2010, 7:41 pm
![Image]( "Police marksmen to give evidence")
Some of the police officers who fired the fatal shots at gunman barrister Mark Saunders will speak publicly for the first time today.
Mr Saunders' family watched harrowing footage on Wednesday that showed the moment he died in a volley of police bullets.
His sister Charlotte wept as a dramatic two-and-a-half hour film was shown to the jury at the inquest into the 32-year-old's death.
His widow, Elizabeth, walked out of Westminster Coroner's Court as footage shot by a police helicopter and an audio recording of negotiations was played.
The material was a grim countdown to the death of Mr Saunders at the hands of marksmen surrounding his home in Markham Square, Chelsea, on May 6 2008.
It showed the drunken legal high-flyer waving a shotgun from the smashed kitchen window of his 2.2 million home before fatefully pointing it towards armed officers.
The inquest heard how police negotiators repeatedly told Mr Saunders he was "not going to die today" as they pleaded with him to put the gun down.
Mr Saunders sparked a five-hour siege when he fired his legally-held shotgun while on the phone to a friend at 4.40pm after a lonely afternoon drinking binge.
Highly-trained police negotiators started trying to open a dialogue with the drunken and irrational gunman by calling his mobile phone at about 7pm.
The inquest heard they were impeded by a power cut at their temporary operations base, a disconnected landline and the noise of the helicopter hovering overhead.
↧
September 22, 2010, 7:41 pm
![Image]( "Bramble denies rape allegations")
Premier League player Titus Bramble "strenuously denies any wrongdoing" after being arrested on suspicion of rape, Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn has said.
The defender was questioned at a Newcastle police station after he and his brother Tesfaye were held at a city centre hotel.
Quinn said in a club statement: "This has been a very difficult day for everyone at the football club, no one more so than Titus, who categorically refutes the allegations that have been made against him."
Quinn's statement added: "He strenuously denies any wrongdoing and will be doing everything within his power to clear his name.
"I as chairman, and the club as a whole, totally support Titus in his efforts and we all hope for a swift conclusion to this matter."
Bramble, 29, who used to play for Ipswich Town, Newcastle United and Wigan Athletic, was arrested with his brother Tesfaye, 30, who has played international football for Montserrat, a British island in the Caribbean, and is a striker for Eastern Counties League Premier Division club Leiston, in Suffolk.
They were detained after the rape of a young woman was reported to police in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
It is believed the alleged rape happened at the four-star Vermont Hotel, which has an entrance close to bars and nightclubs on Newcastle's quayside.
↧
September 22, 2010, 7:41 pm
![Image]( "Police 'failing on yob behaviour'")
More than 26 incidents of anti-social behaviour take place every minute, the chief inspector of constabulary has said.
Sir Denis O'Connor said tackling anti-social behaviour is often not seen as "real police work" and "does not have the same status as 'crime' for the police".
Police officers "retreating from the streets" since the 1970s "undermined their connection with the public, and allowed some of these things to gather momentum", he said.
But forces across the country need to recognise that in nine out of 10 cases, police are the first authority the public turn to when suffering anti-social behaviour and a new approach is needed "to restore civility to public spaces", he said.
"The public do not distinguish between anti-social behaviour and crime," he said.
"For them, it's just a sliding scale of grief."
Only a quarter of the incidents of anti-social behaviour, about 3.5 million, were reported and communities are "becoming used to things we should not have become used to", he said.
Speaking at a briefing at Beormund Community Centre in Bermondsey, south east London, Sir Denis said: "Some people don't think this is real policing.
"They have, in their own head, reinvented policing, which is policing that focuses around certain things that happen to be categorised in a piece of legislation somewhere as crime.
"This kind of area matters but it doesn't count very much in the current system, not in the way that crime does. We can do better than this."
↧
September 22, 2010, 7:43 pm
![Image]( "Israel flotilla raid 'broke law'")
Israeli forces violated international law when they raided a Gaza-bound aid flotilla killing nine activists earlier this year, a report by three UN-appointed human rights experts said.
The UN Human Rights Council's fact-finding mission concluded that Israel's naval blockade of the Palestinian territory was unlawful because of the humanitarian crisis there, and described the military raid on the flotilla as brutal and disproportionate.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry responded by saying the Human Rights Council, which commissioned the report, had a "biased, politicised and extremist approach".
The Islamic militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza, praised the report and called for those involved in the raid to be punished.
The 56-page document lists a series of alleged crimes committed by Israeli forces during and after the raid, including wilful killing and torture, and claims there is "clear evidence to support prosecutions".
"A series of violations of international law, including international humanitarian and human rights law, were committed by the Israeli forces during the interception of the flotilla and during the detention of passengers in Israel prior to deportation," the experts found.
Examining the circumstances of the raid, the panel concluded that a humanitarian crisis existed in Gaza on the day of the incident and "for this reason alone the blockade is unlawful and cannot be sustained in law".
Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza after Hamas militants violently seized control of the coastal territory from the moderate Palestinian Fatah party in 2007. Israel allows humanitarian aid and goods into Gaza via land crossings after inspection for weapons.
"The conduct of the Israeli military and other personnel toward the flotilla passengers was not only disproportionate to the occasion but demonstrated levels of totally unnecessary and incredible violence. It betrayed an unacceptable level of brutality," the report said.
It described the Israeli raid on May 31, in which eight Turkish activists and one Turkish-American aboard the Mavi Marmara were shot and killed, as "clearly unlawful".
↧
↧
September 22, 2010, 7:43 pm
![Image]( "Clegg set for White House trip")
Nick Clegg will hold talks with US Vice President Joe Biden as he makes his first trip to the White House as Deputy Prime Minister.
They are expected to discuss not only the conflict in Afghanistan but also efforts to improve social mobility in both the UK and America.
Mr Clegg is keen to learn from the Vice President about his work on the issue when they meet for lunch at the White House.
While it is outside of his direct remit, Mr Clegg told reporters he will be raising the matter alongside obvious topics for discussion such as Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The meeting comes after Mr Clegg bumped into US President Barack Obama during an unscheduled encounter at the United Nations.
Mr Clegg spoke briefly to President Obama backstage of the UN general assembly hall as they prepared to address the chamber at the Millennium Development Goals summit on Wednesday night.
Today's is the Deputy Prime Minister's first face-to-face meeting with Mr Biden, although they have had a series of discussions via video-calls since May.
Prime Minister David Cameron visited President Obama at the White House in July.
Mr Clegg will be seeking to cement relations between the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition and the Obama administration.
The lunch will be the highlight of his visit to Washington, which comes on his first round of high-level international diplomacy since taking up the position.
↧
September 23, 2010, 12:06 am
![Image]( "English athletes fly to Delhi Games")
An advance party of English athletes is due to arrive in Delhi despite safety and accommodation concerns that could see the team pull out of the crisis-hit Commonwealth Games.
Sir Andrew Foster, chairman of Commonwealth Games England, said that a final decision over participation will be made in the coming days, but as it stands the team remains "intent on going", but assurances will still be needed over the athletes' village and safety of all arenas, he added.
He said that the situation will be monitored and that "all options remain open". The ultimate option would be pulling out of the tournament entirely but Sir Andrew said Team England was not at that point yet.
On Tuesday, 20 people were injured in Delhi when a footbridge at the Jawaharlal Nehru complex - the centrepiece of the games - collapsed. And on Wednesday, part of the ceiling at the weightlifting arena fell in. In addition, a number of teams have complained about the state of the Games Village which will house the athletes.
Sir Andrew said: "We remain very concerned about the situation and we will monitor it on an absolutely regular day-by-day basis. The residential accommodation is still some way short of what we need and require.
Among the options being considered is a delay in sending athletes out. Team Scotland has already said it has pushed back departures due to accommodation in India that has been described as "unfit for human habitation".
Retired decathlete Dean Macey, who won gold at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, said that though he understood why some athletes had pulled out, he was also supportive of those who were still going.
He told ITV's Daybreak programme: "If I was in their position, I probably would literally stick the Marigolds on and get over there and do the business. But at the same token, you have to ask questions how it's got to this issue, this state of affairs, with two weeks left." He added: "India is a proud country, they certainly won't be enjoying this publicity, but it gives them a global TV screen to turn it around and to show everyone that they can deliver - it's pretty tight, mind you."
Sir Andrew said he thought "massive resources" would have to be deployed if the games were to go ahead.
"We believe it's probably just about do-able if they throw massive resources at it and are very,very focused. We will be monitoring it on an hour-by-hour, day-by-day basis. I think they could do it, if they were really focused."
↧
September 23, 2010, 12:06 am
![Image]( "Funding cuts 'lead to brain-drain'")
Government cuts to science funding could lead to a brain-drain of talent from Britain, the chairman of the Lords science and technology committee warned.
Lord Krebs said there are already signs that researchers are going overseas or choosing not to come to the UK, even before the planned cuts have been imposed.
Business Secretary Vince Cable has said the Government will cut its research budget and strip out mediocrity, with only top-flight work attracting funding.
Lord Krebs told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that six leading universities were warning of an exodus of talent and he agreed with them.
"What they said was that the global market for scientific talent is highly mobile and people go where the resources are.
"There are already warning signs that, even with talk of cuts, leading talent is haemorrhaging, going overseas, or we are failing to attract that talent.
"This is not special pleading by the scientific community. The future of the science base is also about the future of jobs and the economy.
"We rely on our ability to attract talent from all over the world. That talent can equally well go elsewhere and there are already warning signs that it will."
↧
September 23, 2010, 12:09 am
![Image]( "26 yob crimes happen 'every minute'")
More than 26 incidents of anti-social behaviour take place every minute, the chief inspector of constabulary has said.
Sir Denis O'Connor said tackling anti-social behaviour is often not seen as "real police work" and "does not have the same status as 'crime' for the police".
Police officers "retreating from the streets" since the 1970s have "undermined their connection with the public, and allowed some of these things to gather momentum", he said.
But forces across the country need to recognise that in nine out of 10 cases, police are the first authority the public turn to when suffering anti-social behaviour and a new approach is needed "to restore civility to public spaces", he said. "The public do not distinguish between anti-social behaviour and crime. For them, it's just a sliding scale of grief."
Only a quarter of the incidents of anti-social behaviour, about 3.5 million, were reported and communities are "becoming used to things we should not have become used to", he said.
Speaking at a briefing at Beormund Community Centre in Bermondsey, south east London, Sir Denis said: "Some people don't think this is real policing. They have, in their own head, reinvented policing, which is policing that focuses around certain things that happen to be categorised in a piece of legislation somewhere as crime. This kind of area matters but it doesn't count very much in the current system, not in the way that crime does. We can do better than this."
Sir Denis said he was concerned that spending cuts could further reduce frontline police manpower.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Over time, this has been cut back. The first thing that's gone is the front end on the streets and I think it's been a big error. I don't think this (anti-social) behaviour is going to reduce because we are going through an austerity period. I'm concerned that the police availability, which is already low, if it is reduced further, I do not see much hope for people. As far as the police officers are concerned, it's not just about presence, it's the presence of control. We have to reclaim some neighbourhoods."
He questioned the past focus on statistics and the millions spent on local partnerships to little visible effect. Mr McKeever told the programme: "This is very much a commonsense report. He's put in black and white what we have been saying for some time."
He said police were bringing those responsible for anti-social behaviour into contact with the criminal justice system but tough sanctions were not being imposed.
↧
↧
September 23, 2010, 7:42 am
![Image]( "Officer tells of barrister shooting")
A police firearms officer has told an inquest how he exchanged fire with a barrister who was shooting from a window at his home.
Mark Saunders, 32, was shot dead by police marksmen surrounding his £2.2 million property in Markham Square, Chelsea, on May 6, 2008, at the end of a five-hour siege.
The officer, known only as AZ 15, to preserve his anonymity, told Westminster Coroner's Court of the exchange of gunfire early in the stand-off.
He and colleagues had gone to the scene after receiving reports that an incident was developing. The officer, who was armed with a Glock 17 self-loading pistol, went to a house in neighbouring Bywater Street and climbed up to a bedroom.
"Upon entering the room, I noticed straight away that the window had damage, and it appeared to be either birdshot or pellets from a shotgun," he said.
"I made it clear to the occupants of the address to stay in the hallway and positioned myself to the left-hand side of the window."
At first he thought that the gunman was in the garden but then saw him standing at a window - well within the range of his Glock. "I could see he was carrying a long-barrelled weapon. Initially it was facing towards the ground.
"At the point where I noticed he was carrying the weapon, it was levelled in the direction of the area I was in and a shot was discharged towards my direction."
AZ 15 said he became aware that one of the occupants of the house had come into the room so he fired two shots back at the gunman. "I feared for the safety of the person in the room, so until I could assess where that person was, I discharged two shots from my weapon."
He also fired a third shot, because he anticipated a second shot from the gunman, he added. Within seconds of another officer known as AZ 14 taking over his position with a Heckler & Koch MP5 carbine, which has a longer range, the gunman fired a second time.
↧
September 23, 2010, 7:42 am
![Image]( "Fresh assurances over Delhi Games")
Prospects for the chaos-struck Commonwealth Games have taken an upswing as assurances from organisers in Delhi soothed the concerns of participating nations.
As an advance party of English athletes prepared to fly to the city, Team Wales was given a series of guarantees about safety at the tournament's stadiums and improvements to the athletes' village.
It comes after a collapsed footbridge at the main arena, a falling ceiling at the weightlifting venue and accommodation described as "unfit for human habitation" threatened to derail the event. At least eight nations, including England, Wales and Scotland, have expressed reservations over the haphazard preparations for the Games, which are due to begin in 10 days.
Individual athletes, including reigning Commonwealth triple jump champion Phillips Idowu, have decided not to attend over safety fears.
But ongoing concerns over the structure of venues and accommodation conditions had risked the far more damaging prospect of entire teams pulling out of the event.
Sir Andrew Foster, chairman of Commonwealth Games England, said a final decision over participation will be made in the coming days, but as it stands the team remained "intent on going". England will send an advance party of 22 athletes, including members of the men's hockey and bowls teams, to the host city as planned. But he held out the possibility that athletes may be pulled out of the games if progress was not made on the ground.
Team England said that it had not yet received assurances directly from the organisers. But the chances of a pull-out materialising appeared to diminish with the news that a series of guarantees had been given to other participating nations.
These assurances include accommodation maintenance, plus proof that all structural safety certificates for both the village and the venues are in place, backed with full insurance cover through the Delhi 2010 Organising Committee. In addition, top hoteliers in the region have been brought in to oversee the cleanliness of the athletes' village.
Lalit Bhanot, the secretary general of the organising committee, further reassured participating nations that everything was being done to improve the buildings. Mr Bhanot, who had previously caused controversy by claiming that the problem was in part down to different standards of hygiene between the host nation and other countries, said he was confident the Games would be a success.
The guarantees, alongside frenzied work to improve stadium safety and accommodation conditions, appear to have brought the Games back from the brink, with a series of countries nodding their approval. Team Wales said in a statement that it was "confident in the assurances that have been provided". Likewise, Scottish athletes appear to be on track to arrive over the weekend.
↧
September 23, 2010, 7:42 am
![Image]( "Cuts 'star chamber' pair appointed")
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles and Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman have been appointed to the Government's "Star Chamber" after reaching settlements with Chancellor George Osborne on cuts at their departments, the Treasury has announced.
The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs were among five Whitehall departments - also including the Foreign Office, the Cabinet Office and the Treasury itself - to agree settlements.
With the exception of Health and International Development, whose budgets are protected, all Whitehall departments are facing cuts averaging 25% over the coming four years as part of Mr Osborne's plans to eradicate Britain's structural deficit by 2015.
No details were released of the settlements, but with Education and Defence expected to suffer less harsh cuts of between 10%-20%, it is thought the five departments involved are likely to lose as much as 33% of their budgets.
Mr Pickles and Ms Spelman join Mr Osborne, Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander, Foreign Secretary William Hague, and Cabinet Office ministers Francis Maude and Oliver Letwin on the Star Chamber, which will sit in judgment on other ministers' financial plans.
The panel - officially known as the public expenditure committee - will subject secretaries of state to tough examination on their spending proposals before ruling on how much of the pain each department should bear.
The process is designed to prevent departmental ministers trying to play the Chancellor and Prime Minister off against one another in the hope of preserving their budgets.
Details of the settlements across government will be announced to MPs in Mr Osborne's Spending Review on October 20.
The settlements do not cover capital spending, which will be dealt with nearer the Spending Review date, and in the DCLG's case spending on local government is being looked at separately.
↧
September 23, 2010, 7:42 am
![Image]( "UK-US relationship 'built to last'")
Nick Clegg has described the UK-US relationship as "built to last" as he prepared for White House talks with Vice President Joe Biden.
On his first visit to the US as Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Clegg also had a chance encounter with President Barack Obama at the United Nations in New York on Wednesday night.
He said they had discussed the UN Millennium Development Goals summit as they were preparing to address the General Assembly.
On Thursday he will be having lunch with Mr Biden after taking the train to Washington late on Wednesday night.
"It's all part of this terrifically important relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States," he told the BBC.
"It ebbs and flows over time but it is hugely important and it is built to last."
Mr Clegg said they would be discussing progress in Afghanistan and what needed to be done to achieve a "political solution" there over the next few years.
He dismissed suggestions that the US government was concerned about the coalition's deficit reduction strategy, saying each country had to respond to its own circumstances.
↧
↧
September 23, 2010, 7:42 am
![Image]( "May blames yob crime rise on Labour")
Home Secretary Theresa May has said police retreating from the streets as more than 26 incidents of anti-social behaviour take place every minute is a "damning indictment" of Labour's failure to get to grips with the issue.
Mrs May spoke out after the chief inspector of constabulary said one such incident was reported to police every 10 seconds, but tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) was often not seen as "real police work" and "does not have the same status as 'crime' for the police".
Sir Denis O'Connor said that by "retreating from the streets" since the 1970s, the police "undermined their connection with the public and allowed some of these things to gather momentum", he said.
"It was a mistake, a strategic error as they might say in military terms."
Mrs May, who signalled the end of the anti-social behaviour order (Asbo) and more emphasis on community involvement earlier this year, told Sky News: "This report is a damning indictment of Labour's failure to get to grips with anti-social behaviour.
"They spent record amounts of money but achieved nothing," she said.
"What we have seen over the past years is a Labour government talking about dealing with anti-social behaviour, spending a lot of money on it, but actually failing to get to grips with it.
"And we didn't see police out on the streets. Sir Denis's report makes clear that too much money has been spent on people sitting behind desks in meetings and not actually out there on the streets, doing the job that people want them to do be doing - which is dealing with anti-social behaviour alongside dealing with other sorts of crime."
Mrs May said plans for elected police and crime commissioners "will put communities at the heart of the solution", but the report cast doubt upon the future willingness of individuals to confront anti-social behaviour.
A poll showed 32% of those who confronted such behaviour experienced intimidation afterwards, with the figure rising to 61% in deprived areas.
↧
September 23, 2010, 7:42 am
![Image]( "Huhne pledge as wind farm opens")
The UK is determined to get out of the "dunce corner" on renewables, Energy Secretary Chris Huhne said as he officially opened the world's largest offshore wind farm off the UK coast.
The 100-turbine Thanet wind farm off the coast of Kent will produce enough electricity to supply the equivalent of more than 200,000 homes a year, and brings the UK's total power from onshore and offshore wind to more than 5GW - enough to power all the homes in Scotland.
At a ceremony at sea to mark the launch of the new site, Mr Huhne said offshore wind was a key part of meeting the country's commitments to boost renewables, and the Government was focused on moving from the "frankly atrocious record" on green energy it had inherited.
Currently the UK sources just 3% of all its energy from renewables, against a target of 15% by 2020, and is 25th in the league table of 27 EU countries on action on green power.
Offshore wind power was part of ensuring secure, cheap energy supplies in the future, as well as providing jobs, Mr Huhne said.
But concerns were raised about the proportion of jobs created by the offshore wind industry going to British workers, and whether incentives such as £60 million promised for ports development to support the supply chain would survive the forthcoming Government spending review.
About 30% of the 3,500 jobs generated by the manufacture, construction and installation of the wind farm owned by Swedish company Vattenfall went to UK employees.
Mr Huhne said the ports funding was subject to the comprehensive spending review but said it would be foolish not to encourage in every way possible investment in the supply chain, to ensure as much as possible of the manufacture and skills for offshore wind were based in the UK.
"We need to make sure we have both the supply chain and the skills, and we will do what we can to make sure we are as attractive as we can be to investors," he said. "We do have an awful lot of wind and wave and tidal power and we are determined to have a supply chain to match."
While he said the opening of the Thanet wind farm and the reaching of the 5GW was a landmark for the UK, Mr Huhne said the country had a long way to go, and could easily encourage the industry to deliver 10 times as much wind energy by 2020.
↧
September 23, 2010, 7:42 am
![Image]( "Diabetes drug too risky: regulator")
A widely used diabetes drug should not be issued to new patients after fears it increases the likelihood of heart attacks and strokes, a regulator has said.
The European Medicines Agency's (EMA) committee on medicinal products for human use decided Avandia's benefits no longer outweighed its risks.
The EMA committee said marketing of the product should be suspended and no further prescriptions issued while the suspension is in place.
Professor Kent Woods, chief executive of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), said: "Patient safety is the top priority for the MHRA and we have been constantly monitoring the situation regarding rosiglitazone."
He said patients currently receiving the drug should have their treatment plans reviewed and changed where appropriate.
In a separate ruling, the US Food and Drug Administration said access to the pill should also be restricted.
It ruled new patients would only get a prescription for Avandia if they could not control their diabetes with other medications. The drug was once the top-selling diabetes pill in the world but use plummeted after a 2007 analysis linked it to heart attack risks.
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), which produces the drug, said the company continued to believe it was an important treatment.
Dr Ellen Strahlman, GSK's chief medical officer, said: "Our primary concern continues to be patients with type 2 diabetes and we are making every effort to ensure that physicians in Europe and the US have all the information they need to help them understand how these regulatory decisions affect them and their patients."
The MHRA said tests had taken place on Avandia, which contains rosiglitazone, and advice had also been sought from the UK's Commission on Human Medicines (CHM). In July, the CHM said the risks of rosiglitazone "outweighed its benefits and that it no longer had a place on the UK market".
↧
September 23, 2010, 7:42 am
![Image]( "Politician's widow in killer plea")
The widow of a murdered Pakistani politician collapsed with emotion as she appealed for help to catch his killer.
Dr Imran Farooq, 50, died from stab wounds and head injuries after he was attacked outside his home in Edgware, north London, last Friday.
Police fear the killing could be politically motivated as he was a prominent member of the MQM (Muttahida Quami Movement) party.
His widow Shumaila Imran, 42, said the death of the "dedicated family man" had left her and others in "shock and disbelief". Speaking at New Scotland Yard, she said "someone, somewhere" holds important information about the murder.
Choked with tears, she added: "I want to make my own personal appeal for help in catching the people who killed my husband Dr Imran Farooq. Dr Imran Farooq was a dedicated family man, a loving father and a loving husband. His murder a week ago has devastated me and left our family in a state of shock and disbelief.
"My husband was on his way home from work when he was set upon and attacked. I want to appeal today for anyone who has any information about the attack on Imran to come forward and tell the police what they know. Someone, somewhere knows something about my husband's murder."
Mrs Imran, who has two young sons, was supported by a relative as she spoke to media from Britain and Pakistan.
She said: "It does not matter how insignificant this information may seem to you - it could be absolutely vital to the police investigation. I would like to thank everyone who has supported me and my family and sent us their best wishes and condolences. I would also like to thank the police for their help and support during this very difficult time."
Dr Farooq was found with fatal injuries outside his home in Green Lane, Edgware, shortly before 5pm last Thursday. He was on his way home from work when he was attacked. Witnesses said they saw two men of Asian origin fighting.
Dr Farooq was living in exile after fleeing his homeland 11 years ago following death threats. His murder sparked violence in Karachi, where vehicles and shops were set alight despite a call for 10 days of peaceful mourning.
↧
↧
September 23, 2010, 7:42 am
![Image]( "1% in UK are gay, survey finds")
Just one in 100 people in the UK say they are gay or lesbian, according to statistics on sexuality published for the first time.
A further one in every 200 people are bisexual, according to the data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The information collected as part of the new Integrated Household Survey (IHS) means that nearly three-quarters of a million UK adults say they are gay, lesbian or bisexual.
More than 480,000 consider themselves to be gay or lesbian and a further 245,000 say they are bisexual.
The IHS is the largest social survey ever produced by the ONS and contains information provided by nearly 450,000 people - the biggest pool of UK social data after the Census.
Respondents were asked whether they would describe themselves as heterosexual/straight, gay/lesbian, bisexual or other.
Nearly all replied, with the vast majority (95%) saying they were heterosexual.
One in every 200 chose "other" and just under 3% said "don't know" or refused to answer.
The ONS said the highest proportion of adults who said they were gay, lesbian or bisexual was in London and the lowest in Northern Ireland.
The question about sexual identity was added to the survey last year to provide a fuller picture of British society and to help public sector organisations to monitor their responsibility to provide equal opportunities.
↧
September 23, 2010, 7:42 am
![Image]( "Facebook ban plan for stalkers")
Stalkers could be barred from targeting their victims on Facebook and other social networking sites in a crackdown on harassment, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said.
Prosecutors should issue restraining orders that "meet the particular risks presented in each case" and there "should not be a repetition of routine clauses", the new CPS guidance said.
Restrictions could include orders "not to display any material relating to the victim on social networking sites including YouTube, Facebook and Twitter".
Nazir Afzal, the CPS community liaison director responsible for stalking and harassment crimes, said: "Stalking is pernicious and can affect anyone regardless of their walk of life. It has a devastating impact on the lives of those who become victims."
He said the guidance "gives prosecutors a better understanding of what stalking is".
"It provides them with a framework to build stronger cases and to apply for more effective restraining orders," he said. "Prosecutors must now look at the bigger picture when dealing with these cases because we know that treating incidents of stalking as isolated belies the full impact on the victim and the criminal behaviour of the perpetrator.
"What we now understand more fully is that victims of stalking, just like victims of domestic violence, continue to live in fear of their stalkers despite the fact that they may have been prosecuted and imprisoned or subject to other sanctions."
Mr Afzal added: "We know that we should have done better at this in the past. We need those affected by this crime to know that we have listened carefully to concerns raised by victims and stalking support groups, and we recognise how serious and how distressing this behaviour can be."
Alexis Bowater, chief executive for the Network for Surviving Stalking, described the guidance as a "comprehensive response to a real need". She said: "We hope the inclusion of cyber-stalking for the first time will encourage everyone involved to take this crime more seriously."
Assistant chief constable Garry Shewan, the lead for stalking and harassment for the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), said: "The introduction of this guidance is a positive step forward in the prosecution of those responsible for stalking. Not only will it help bring offenders to justice, but it will also help to recognise the importance of quality support and communication with the victims whose lives are so negatively impacted by this terrible crime."
↧
September 23, 2010, 6:01 pm
![Image]( "Council tax revaluation ruled out")
There will be no revaluation of council tax bands in England during the current Parliament, Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles has said.
Mr Pickles also announced an independent review of council tax inspections, which he said would "rein in intrusive snooping" by limiting the data gathered and stored about people's homes.
The Communities Secretary said families in England could save up to £320 a year in local tax hikes from his decision not to go ahead with a revaluation being planned by Labour, but Labour denounced his claims as "cynical and misleading", pointing to a pledge in this year's election manifesto which promised: "We will not hold a council tax revaluation in the next Parliament."
Council tax bands in England are based on valuations of property carried out in 1991. Plans for a revaluation of 22 million homes in 2007 were postponed by the former Labour government in 2005, amid anger over a previous exercise in Wales which led to tax hikes for many households.
Mr Pickles said the Welsh revaluation led to one third of homes moving up one or more bands - four times as many as moved down. The less well-off were hit the hardest, with two-thirds of the hikes in homes that were originally in the lowest three bands, he said.
If the experience of Wales were repeated in England, families in homes moved up one band from D to E would face a tax hike averaging around £320 a year, said Mr Pickles. Meanwhile, the taxpayer will save up to £180 million on the cost of administering a revaluation exercise, he said.
But consumer guru Martin Lewis, of moneysavingexpert.com, said: "I remember sitting opposite Eric Pickles on TV when he decried Labour for covering up that 400,000 people were in the wrong council tax band. Yet this means those people will remain in the wrong band - still based on valuations done by estate agents driving past homes in 1991. The system is flawed, and was never meant to last this long."
An independent data audit of the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) will protect privacy and civil liberties as part of the Government's agenda of dismantling the "database state", said Mr Pickles.
The VOA's inspectors assess properties' value for council tax purposes, and there was previously controversy over their collection of data on features of homes such as the number of bedrooms or bathrooms, whether it has a patio and whether it enjoys a nice view or is in a good neighbourhood.
Alex Deane, director of Big Brother Watch, said: "For too long, tax inspectors have been able to intrude into people's private homes and place their property details on an insecure state database, all in the name of generating extra revenue for the Government coffers." But a spokeswoman for the VOA said it was "absolutely not the case" that its inspectors' work amounted to "snooping" on householders. The agency has never exercised its legal right to enter a home since it was introduced by legislation in the early 1990s, she said.
↧
An advance party of English athletes are due to arrive in Delhi on Thursday despite safety and accommodation concerns that could see the team pull out of the crisis-hit Commonwealth Games.
Sir Andrew Foster, chairman of Commonwealth Games England, said on Wednesday night that a final decision over participation will be made in the coming days, but as it stands the team remains "intent on going".
And in a move that will come as a relief to tournament organisers, England announced on Wednesday that 22 athletes, including members of the men's hockey and bowls teams, will arrive in the host city on Thursday as planned.
But assurances will still be needed over the athletes' village and safety of all arenas, Sir Andrew added.
He said that the situation will be monitored and that "all options remain open".
The ultimate option would be pulling out of the tournament entirely but Sir Andrew said Team England was not at that point yet.
On Tuesday, 20 people were injured in Delhi when a footbridge at the Jawaharlal Nehru complex - the centrepiece of the games - collapsed. And on Wednesday, part of the ceiling at the weightlifting arena fell in.
In addition, a number of teams have complained about the state of the Games Village which will house the athletes.
Sir Andrew said: "We remain very concerned about the situation and we will monitor it on an absolutely regular day-by-day basis. The residential accommodation is still some way short of what we need and require.
Among the options being considered is a delay in sending athletes out. Team Scotland has already said it has pushed back departures due to accommodation in India that has been described as "unfit for human habitation".
Some of the police officers who fired the fatal shots at gunman barrister Mark Saunders will speak publicly for the first time today.
Mr Saunders' family watched harrowing footage on Wednesday that showed the moment he died in a volley of police bullets.
His sister Charlotte wept as a dramatic two-and-a-half hour film was shown to the jury at the inquest into the 32-year-old's death.
His widow, Elizabeth, walked out of Westminster Coroner's Court as footage shot by a police helicopter and an audio recording of negotiations was played.
The material was a grim countdown to the death of Mr Saunders at the hands of marksmen surrounding his home in Markham Square, Chelsea, on May 6 2008.
It showed the drunken legal high-flyer waving a shotgun from the smashed kitchen window of his 2.2 million home before fatefully pointing it towards armed officers.
The inquest heard how police negotiators repeatedly told Mr Saunders he was "not going to die today" as they pleaded with him to put the gun down.
Mr Saunders sparked a five-hour siege when he fired his legally-held shotgun while on the phone to a friend at 4.40pm after a lonely afternoon drinking binge.
Highly-trained police negotiators started trying to open a dialogue with the drunken and irrational gunman by calling his mobile phone at about 7pm.
The inquest heard they were impeded by a power cut at their temporary operations base, a disconnected landline and the noise of the helicopter hovering overhead.
Premier League player Titus Bramble "strenuously denies any wrongdoing" after being arrested on suspicion of rape, Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn has said.
The defender was questioned at a Newcastle police station after he and his brother Tesfaye were held at a city centre hotel.
Quinn said in a club statement: "This has been a very difficult day for everyone at the football club, no one more so than Titus, who categorically refutes the allegations that have been made against him."
Quinn's statement added: "He strenuously denies any wrongdoing and will be doing everything within his power to clear his name.
"I as chairman, and the club as a whole, totally support Titus in his efforts and we all hope for a swift conclusion to this matter."
Bramble, 29, who used to play for Ipswich Town, Newcastle United and Wigan Athletic, was arrested with his brother Tesfaye, 30, who has played international football for Montserrat, a British island in the Caribbean, and is a striker for Eastern Counties League Premier Division club Leiston, in Suffolk.
They were detained after the rape of a young woman was reported to police in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
It is believed the alleged rape happened at the four-star Vermont Hotel, which has an entrance close to bars and nightclubs on Newcastle's quayside.
More than 26 incidents of anti-social behaviour take place every minute, the chief inspector of constabulary has said.
Sir Denis O'Connor said tackling anti-social behaviour is often not seen as "real police work" and "does not have the same status as 'crime' for the police".
Police officers "retreating from the streets" since the 1970s "undermined their connection with the public, and allowed some of these things to gather momentum", he said.
But forces across the country need to recognise that in nine out of 10 cases, police are the first authority the public turn to when suffering anti-social behaviour and a new approach is needed "to restore civility to public spaces", he said.
"The public do not distinguish between anti-social behaviour and crime," he said.
"For them, it's just a sliding scale of grief."
Only a quarter of the incidents of anti-social behaviour, about 3.5 million, were reported and communities are "becoming used to things we should not have become used to", he said.
Speaking at a briefing at Beormund Community Centre in Bermondsey, south east London, Sir Denis said: "Some people don't think this is real policing.
"They have, in their own head, reinvented policing, which is policing that focuses around certain things that happen to be categorised in a piece of legislation somewhere as crime.
"This kind of area matters but it doesn't count very much in the current system, not in the way that crime does. We can do better than this."
Israeli forces violated international law when they raided a Gaza-bound aid flotilla killing nine activists earlier this year, a report by three UN-appointed human rights experts said.
The UN Human Rights Council's fact-finding mission concluded that Israel's naval blockade of the Palestinian territory was unlawful because of the humanitarian crisis there, and described the military raid on the flotilla as brutal and disproportionate.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry responded by saying the Human Rights Council, which commissioned the report, had a "biased, politicised and extremist approach".
The Islamic militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza, praised the report and called for those involved in the raid to be punished.
The 56-page document lists a series of alleged crimes committed by Israeli forces during and after the raid, including wilful killing and torture, and claims there is "clear evidence to support prosecutions".
"A series of violations of international law, including international humanitarian and human rights law, were committed by the Israeli forces during the interception of the flotilla and during the detention of passengers in Israel prior to deportation," the experts found.
Examining the circumstances of the raid, the panel concluded that a humanitarian crisis existed in Gaza on the day of the incident and "for this reason alone the blockade is unlawful and cannot be sustained in law".
Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza after Hamas militants violently seized control of the coastal territory from the moderate Palestinian Fatah party in 2007. Israel allows humanitarian aid and goods into Gaza via land crossings after inspection for weapons.
"The conduct of the Israeli military and other personnel toward the flotilla passengers was not only disproportionate to the occasion but demonstrated levels of totally unnecessary and incredible violence. It betrayed an unacceptable level of brutality," the report said.
It described the Israeli raid on May 31, in which eight Turkish activists and one Turkish-American aboard the Mavi Marmara were shot and killed, as "clearly unlawful".
Nick Clegg will hold talks with US Vice President Joe Biden as he makes his first trip to the White House as Deputy Prime Minister.
They are expected to discuss not only the conflict in Afghanistan but also efforts to improve social mobility in both the UK and America.
Mr Clegg is keen to learn from the Vice President about his work on the issue when they meet for lunch at the White House.
While it is outside of his direct remit, Mr Clegg told reporters he will be raising the matter alongside obvious topics for discussion such as Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The meeting comes after Mr Clegg bumped into US President Barack Obama during an unscheduled encounter at the United Nations.
Mr Clegg spoke briefly to President Obama backstage of the UN general assembly hall as they prepared to address the chamber at the Millennium Development Goals summit on Wednesday night.
Today's is the Deputy Prime Minister's first face-to-face meeting with Mr Biden, although they have had a series of discussions via video-calls since May.
Prime Minister David Cameron visited President Obama at the White House in July.
Mr Clegg will be seeking to cement relations between the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition and the Obama administration.
The lunch will be the highlight of his visit to Washington, which comes on his first round of high-level international diplomacy since taking up the position.
Government cuts to science funding could lead to a brain-drain of talent from Britain, the chairman of the Lords science and technology committee warned.
Lord Krebs said there are already signs that researchers are going overseas or choosing not to come to the UK, even before the planned cuts have been imposed.
Business Secretary Vince Cable has said the Government will cut its research budget and strip out mediocrity, with only top-flight work attracting funding.
Lord Krebs told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that six leading universities were warning of an exodus of talent and he agreed with them.
"What they said was that the global market for scientific talent is highly mobile and people go where the resources are.
"There are already warning signs that, even with talk of cuts, leading talent is haemorrhaging, going overseas, or we are failing to attract that talent.
"This is not special pleading by the scientific community. The future of the science base is also about the future of jobs and the economy.
"We rely on our ability to attract talent from all over the world. That talent can equally well go elsewhere and there are already warning signs that it will."
More than 26 incidents of anti-social behaviour take place every minute, the chief inspector of constabulary has said.
Sir Denis O'Connor said tackling anti-social behaviour is often not seen as "real police work" and "does not have the same status as 'crime' for the police".
Police officers "retreating from the streets" since the 1970s have "undermined their connection with the public, and allowed some of these things to gather momentum", he said.
But forces across the country need to recognise that in nine out of 10 cases, police are the first authority the public turn to when suffering anti-social behaviour and a new approach is needed "to restore civility to public spaces", he said. "The public do not distinguish between anti-social behaviour and crime. For them, it's just a sliding scale of grief."
Only a quarter of the incidents of anti-social behaviour, about 3.5 million, were reported and communities are "becoming used to things we should not have become used to", he said.
Speaking at a briefing at Beormund Community Centre in Bermondsey, south east London, Sir Denis said: "Some people don't think this is real policing. They have, in their own head, reinvented policing, which is policing that focuses around certain things that happen to be categorised in a piece of legislation somewhere as crime. This kind of area matters but it doesn't count very much in the current system, not in the way that crime does. We can do better than this."
Sir Denis said he was concerned that spending cuts could further reduce frontline police manpower.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Over time, this has been cut back. The first thing that's gone is the front end on the streets and I think it's been a big error. I don't think this (anti-social) behaviour is going to reduce because we are going through an austerity period. I'm concerned that the police availability, which is already low, if it is reduced further, I do not see much hope for people. As far as the police officers are concerned, it's not just about presence, it's the presence of control. We have to reclaim some neighbourhoods."
He questioned the past focus on statistics and the millions spent on local partnerships to little visible effect. Mr McKeever told the programme: "This is very much a commonsense report. He's put in black and white what we have been saying for some time."
He said police were bringing those responsible for anti-social behaviour into contact with the criminal justice system but tough sanctions were not being imposed.
Prospects for the chaos-struck Commonwealth Games have taken an upswing as assurances from organisers in Delhi soothed the concerns of participating nations.
As an advance party of English athletes prepared to fly to the city, Team Wales was given a series of guarantees about safety at the tournament's stadiums and improvements to the athletes' village.
It comes after a collapsed footbridge at the main arena, a falling ceiling at the weightlifting venue and accommodation described as "unfit for human habitation" threatened to derail the event. At least eight nations, including England, Wales and Scotland, have expressed reservations over the haphazard preparations for the Games, which are due to begin in 10 days.
Individual athletes, including reigning Commonwealth triple jump champion Phillips Idowu, have decided not to attend over safety fears.
But ongoing concerns over the structure of venues and accommodation conditions had risked the far more damaging prospect of entire teams pulling out of the event.
Sir Andrew Foster, chairman of Commonwealth Games England, said a final decision over participation will be made in the coming days, but as it stands the team remained "intent on going". England will send an advance party of 22 athletes, including members of the men's hockey and bowls teams, to the host city as planned. But he held out the possibility that athletes may be pulled out of the games if progress was not made on the ground.
Team England said that it had not yet received assurances directly from the organisers. But the chances of a pull-out materialising appeared to diminish with the news that a series of guarantees had been given to other participating nations.
These assurances include accommodation maintenance, plus proof that all structural safety certificates for both the village and the venues are in place, backed with full insurance cover through the Delhi 2010 Organising Committee. In addition, top hoteliers in the region have been brought in to oversee the cleanliness of the athletes' village.
Lalit Bhanot, the secretary general of the organising committee, further reassured participating nations that everything was being done to improve the buildings. Mr Bhanot, who had previously caused controversy by claiming that the problem was in part down to different standards of hygiene between the host nation and other countries, said he was confident the Games would be a success.
The guarantees, alongside frenzied work to improve stadium safety and accommodation conditions, appear to have brought the Games back from the brink, with a series of countries nodding their approval. Team Wales said in a statement that it was "confident in the assurances that have been provided". Likewise, Scottish athletes appear to be on track to arrive over the weekend.
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles and Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman have been appointed to the Government's "Star Chamber" after reaching settlements with Chancellor George Osborne on cuts at their departments, the Treasury has announced.
The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs were among five Whitehall departments - also including the Foreign Office, the Cabinet Office and the Treasury itself - to agree settlements.
With the exception of Health and International Development, whose budgets are protected, all Whitehall departments are facing cuts averaging 25% over the coming four years as part of Mr Osborne's plans to eradicate Britain's structural deficit by 2015.
No details were released of the settlements, but with Education and Defence expected to suffer less harsh cuts of between 10%-20%, it is thought the five departments involved are likely to lose as much as 33% of their budgets.
Mr Pickles and Ms Spelman join Mr Osborne, Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander, Foreign Secretary William Hague, and Cabinet Office ministers Francis Maude and Oliver Letwin on the Star Chamber, which will sit in judgment on other ministers' financial plans.
The panel - officially known as the public expenditure committee - will subject secretaries of state to tough examination on their spending proposals before ruling on how much of the pain each department should bear.
The process is designed to prevent departmental ministers trying to play the Chancellor and Prime Minister off against one another in the hope of preserving their budgets.
Details of the settlements across government will be announced to MPs in Mr Osborne's Spending Review on October 20.
The settlements do not cover capital spending, which will be dealt with nearer the Spending Review date, and in the DCLG's case spending on local government is being looked at separately.
Nick Clegg has described the UK-US relationship as "built to last" as he prepared for White House talks with Vice President Joe Biden.
On his first visit to the US as Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Clegg also had a chance encounter with President Barack Obama at the United Nations in New York on Wednesday night.
He said they had discussed the UN Millennium Development Goals summit as they were preparing to address the General Assembly.
On Thursday he will be having lunch with Mr Biden after taking the train to Washington late on Wednesday night.
"It's all part of this terrifically important relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States," he told the BBC.
"It ebbs and flows over time but it is hugely important and it is built to last."
Mr Clegg said they would be discussing progress in Afghanistan and what needed to be done to achieve a "political solution" there over the next few years.
He dismissed suggestions that the US government was concerned about the coalition's deficit reduction strategy, saying each country had to respond to its own circumstances.
Home Secretary Theresa May has said police retreating from the streets as more than 26 incidents of anti-social behaviour take place every minute is a "damning indictment" of Labour's failure to get to grips with the issue.
Mrs May spoke out after the chief inspector of constabulary said one such incident was reported to police every 10 seconds, but tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) was often not seen as "real police work" and "does not have the same status as 'crime' for the police".
Sir Denis O'Connor said that by "retreating from the streets" since the 1970s, the police "undermined their connection with the public and allowed some of these things to gather momentum", he said.
"It was a mistake, a strategic error as they might say in military terms."
Mrs May, who signalled the end of the anti-social behaviour order (Asbo) and more emphasis on community involvement earlier this year, told Sky News: "This report is a damning indictment of Labour's failure to get to grips with anti-social behaviour.
"They spent record amounts of money but achieved nothing," she said.
"What we have seen over the past years is a Labour government talking about dealing with anti-social behaviour, spending a lot of money on it, but actually failing to get to grips with it.
"And we didn't see police out on the streets. Sir Denis's report makes clear that too much money has been spent on people sitting behind desks in meetings and not actually out there on the streets, doing the job that people want them to do be doing - which is dealing with anti-social behaviour alongside dealing with other sorts of crime."
Mrs May said plans for elected police and crime commissioners "will put communities at the heart of the solution", but the report cast doubt upon the future willingness of individuals to confront anti-social behaviour.
A poll showed 32% of those who confronted such behaviour experienced intimidation afterwards, with the figure rising to 61% in deprived areas.
The UK is determined to get out of the "dunce corner" on renewables, Energy Secretary Chris Huhne said as he officially opened the world's largest offshore wind farm off the UK coast.
The 100-turbine Thanet wind farm off the coast of Kent will produce enough electricity to supply the equivalent of more than 200,000 homes a year, and brings the UK's total power from onshore and offshore wind to more than 5GW - enough to power all the homes in Scotland.
At a ceremony at sea to mark the launch of the new site, Mr Huhne said offshore wind was a key part of meeting the country's commitments to boost renewables, and the Government was focused on moving from the "frankly atrocious record" on green energy it had inherited.
Currently the UK sources just 3% of all its energy from renewables, against a target of 15% by 2020, and is 25th in the league table of 27 EU countries on action on green power.
Offshore wind power was part of ensuring secure, cheap energy supplies in the future, as well as providing jobs, Mr Huhne said.
But concerns were raised about the proportion of jobs created by the offshore wind industry going to British workers, and whether incentives such as £60 million promised for ports development to support the supply chain would survive the forthcoming Government spending review.
About 30% of the 3,500 jobs generated by the manufacture, construction and installation of the wind farm owned by Swedish company Vattenfall went to UK employees.
Mr Huhne said the ports funding was subject to the comprehensive spending review but said it would be foolish not to encourage in every way possible investment in the supply chain, to ensure as much as possible of the manufacture and skills for offshore wind were based in the UK.
"We need to make sure we have both the supply chain and the skills, and we will do what we can to make sure we are as attractive as we can be to investors," he said. "We do have an awful lot of wind and wave and tidal power and we are determined to have a supply chain to match."
While he said the opening of the Thanet wind farm and the reaching of the 5GW was a landmark for the UK, Mr Huhne said the country had a long way to go, and could easily encourage the industry to deliver 10 times as much wind energy by 2020.
A widely used diabetes drug should not be issued to new patients after fears it increases the likelihood of heart attacks and strokes, a regulator has said.
The European Medicines Agency's (EMA) committee on medicinal products for human use decided Avandia's benefits no longer outweighed its risks.
The EMA committee said marketing of the product should be suspended and no further prescriptions issued while the suspension is in place.
Professor Kent Woods, chief executive of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), said: "Patient safety is the top priority for the MHRA and we have been constantly monitoring the situation regarding rosiglitazone."
He said patients currently receiving the drug should have their treatment plans reviewed and changed where appropriate.
In a separate ruling, the US Food and Drug Administration said access to the pill should also be restricted.
It ruled new patients would only get a prescription for Avandia if they could not control their diabetes with other medications. The drug was once the top-selling diabetes pill in the world but use plummeted after a 2007 analysis linked it to heart attack risks.
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), which produces the drug, said the company continued to believe it was an important treatment.
Dr Ellen Strahlman, GSK's chief medical officer, said: "Our primary concern continues to be patients with type 2 diabetes and we are making every effort to ensure that physicians in Europe and the US have all the information they need to help them understand how these regulatory decisions affect them and their patients."
The MHRA said tests had taken place on Avandia, which contains rosiglitazone, and advice had also been sought from the UK's Commission on Human Medicines (CHM). In July, the CHM said the risks of rosiglitazone "outweighed its benefits and that it no longer had a place on the UK market".
The widow of a murdered Pakistani politician collapsed with emotion as she appealed for help to catch his killer.
Dr Imran Farooq, 50, died from stab wounds and head injuries after he was attacked outside his home in Edgware, north London, last Friday.
Police fear the killing could be politically motivated as he was a prominent member of the MQM (Muttahida Quami Movement) party.
His widow Shumaila Imran, 42, said the death of the "dedicated family man" had left her and others in "shock and disbelief". Speaking at New Scotland Yard, she said "someone, somewhere" holds important information about the murder.
Choked with tears, she added: "I want to make my own personal appeal for help in catching the people who killed my husband Dr Imran Farooq. Dr Imran Farooq was a dedicated family man, a loving father and a loving husband. His murder a week ago has devastated me and left our family in a state of shock and disbelief.
"My husband was on his way home from work when he was set upon and attacked. I want to appeal today for anyone who has any information about the attack on Imran to come forward and tell the police what they know. Someone, somewhere knows something about my husband's murder."
Mrs Imran, who has two young sons, was supported by a relative as she spoke to media from Britain and Pakistan.
She said: "It does not matter how insignificant this information may seem to you - it could be absolutely vital to the police investigation. I would like to thank everyone who has supported me and my family and sent us their best wishes and condolences. I would also like to thank the police for their help and support during this very difficult time."
Dr Farooq was found with fatal injuries outside his home in Green Lane, Edgware, shortly before 5pm last Thursday. He was on his way home from work when he was attacked. Witnesses said they saw two men of Asian origin fighting.
Dr Farooq was living in exile after fleeing his homeland 11 years ago following death threats. His murder sparked violence in Karachi, where vehicles and shops were set alight despite a call for 10 days of peaceful mourning.
Just one in 100 people in the UK say they are gay or lesbian, according to statistics on sexuality published for the first time.
A further one in every 200 people are bisexual, according to the data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The information collected as part of the new Integrated Household Survey (IHS) means that nearly three-quarters of a million UK adults say they are gay, lesbian or bisexual.
More than 480,000 consider themselves to be gay or lesbian and a further 245,000 say they are bisexual.
The IHS is the largest social survey ever produced by the ONS and contains information provided by nearly 450,000 people - the biggest pool of UK social data after the Census.
Respondents were asked whether they would describe themselves as heterosexual/straight, gay/lesbian, bisexual or other.
Nearly all replied, with the vast majority (95%) saying they were heterosexual.
One in every 200 chose "other" and just under 3% said "don't know" or refused to answer.
The ONS said the highest proportion of adults who said they were gay, lesbian or bisexual was in London and the lowest in Northern Ireland.
The question about sexual identity was added to the survey last year to provide a fuller picture of British society and to help public sector organisations to monitor their responsibility to provide equal opportunities.
Stalkers could be barred from targeting their victims on Facebook and other social networking sites in a crackdown on harassment, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said.
Prosecutors should issue restraining orders that "meet the particular risks presented in each case" and there "should not be a repetition of routine clauses", the new CPS guidance said.
Restrictions could include orders "not to display any material relating to the victim on social networking sites including YouTube, Facebook and Twitter".
Nazir Afzal, the CPS community liaison director responsible for stalking and harassment crimes, said: "Stalking is pernicious and can affect anyone regardless of their walk of life. It has a devastating impact on the lives of those who become victims."
He said the guidance "gives prosecutors a better understanding of what stalking is".
"It provides them with a framework to build stronger cases and to apply for more effective restraining orders," he said. "Prosecutors must now look at the bigger picture when dealing with these cases because we know that treating incidents of stalking as isolated belies the full impact on the victim and the criminal behaviour of the perpetrator.
"What we now understand more fully is that victims of stalking, just like victims of domestic violence, continue to live in fear of their stalkers despite the fact that they may have been prosecuted and imprisoned or subject to other sanctions."
Mr Afzal added: "We know that we should have done better at this in the past. We need those affected by this crime to know that we have listened carefully to concerns raised by victims and stalking support groups, and we recognise how serious and how distressing this behaviour can be."
Alexis Bowater, chief executive for the Network for Surviving Stalking, described the guidance as a "comprehensive response to a real need". She said: "We hope the inclusion of cyber-stalking for the first time will encourage everyone involved to take this crime more seriously."
Assistant chief constable Garry Shewan, the lead for stalking and harassment for the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), said: "The introduction of this guidance is a positive step forward in the prosecution of those responsible for stalking. Not only will it help bring offenders to justice, but it will also help to recognise the importance of quality support and communication with the victims whose lives are so negatively impacted by this terrible crime."
There will be no revaluation of council tax bands in England during the current Parliament, Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles has said.
Mr Pickles also announced an independent review of council tax inspections, which he said would "rein in intrusive snooping" by limiting the data gathered and stored about people's homes.
The Communities Secretary said families in England could save up to £320 a year in local tax hikes from his decision not to go ahead with a revaluation being planned by Labour, but Labour denounced his claims as "cynical and misleading", pointing to a pledge in this year's election manifesto which promised: "We will not hold a council tax revaluation in the next Parliament."
Council tax bands in England are based on valuations of property carried out in 1991. Plans for a revaluation of 22 million homes in 2007 were postponed by the former Labour government in 2005, amid anger over a previous exercise in Wales which led to tax hikes for many households.
Mr Pickles said the Welsh revaluation led to one third of homes moving up one or more bands - four times as many as moved down. The less well-off were hit the hardest, with two-thirds of the hikes in homes that were originally in the lowest three bands, he said.
If the experience of Wales were repeated in England, families in homes moved up one band from D to E would face a tax hike averaging around £320 a year, said Mr Pickles. Meanwhile, the taxpayer will save up to £180 million on the cost of administering a revaluation exercise, he said.
But consumer guru Martin Lewis, of moneysavingexpert.com, said: "I remember sitting opposite Eric Pickles on TV when he decried Labour for covering up that 400,000 people were in the wrong council tax band. Yet this means those people will remain in the wrong band - still based on valuations done by estate agents driving past homes in 1991. The system is flawed, and was never meant to last this long."
An independent data audit of the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) will protect privacy and civil liberties as part of the Government's agenda of dismantling the "database state", said Mr Pickles.
The VOA's inspectors assess properties' value for council tax purposes, and there was previously controversy over their collection of data on features of homes such as the number of bedrooms or bathrooms, whether it has a patio and whether it enjoys a nice view or is in a good neighbourhood.
Alex Deane, director of Big Brother Watch, said: "For too long, tax inspectors have been able to intrude into people's private homes and place their property details on an insecure state database, all in the name of generating extra revenue for the Government coffers." But a spokeswoman for the VOA said it was "absolutely not the case" that its inspectors' work amounted to "snooping" on householders. The agency has never exercised its legal right to enter a home since it was introduced by legislation in the early 1990s, she said.
