![Image]( "Red Caps' families 'devastated'")
The families of six British military policemen killed in Iraq have been left "devastated" after charges were dropped against two men accused of their murders.
The Red Caps were killed when a mob of about 400 people attacked a police station in Majar al-Kabir, southern Iraq, in June 2003.
The families have fought a frustrating seven-year battle for justice and their hopes were dashed when murder charges against Hamza Hateer and Mussa Ismael al Fartusi were dropped by an Iraqi judge due to lack of evidence.
John Miller, 59, from Washington, Tyne and Wear, said his son Corporal Simon Miller, 21, had been "let down".
"I'm devastated, I just can't believe it," he said. "My son was let down so badly in life, now he has been let down so badly in death. I don't understand how this can happen. This is exactly why we wanted to be at the trial, we needed to be there. We were denied that, we were denied everything." Mr Miller said he felt let down by the Government over the case, adding that he had heard from the press before the British authorities.
Families were originally told they could travel to Iraq for court hearings but it was later deemed too dangerous. British officials then said efforts would be made to set up a videolink beaming live images from the court back to the UK but this did not prove possible. Instead the relatives were told they would be updated via email by the British Embassy in Baghdad and the Ministry of Defence.
Mike Aston, from Coton-in-the-Elms, Derbyshire, who lost his son Corporal Russell Aston, 30, from nearby Swadlincote, said he had been deprived of answers. "I have got to try to find some sort of closure. I was hoping to get it from this case, to find out exactly what happened to my son and also to see those who are guilty of his murder jailed. But it has been denied me, and there is nothing I can do," he told Sky News.
John Hyde, the father of Lance Corporal Benjamin Hyde, 23, from Northallerton, North Yorkshire, told the news channel: "Quite honestly these people just haven't been in court long enough to be able to prove their innocence, which obviously asks the question why did the judge decide to bring it to court then dismiss it so quickly?"
The British Government pledged to press for those responsible to be brought to justice. A Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said: "We know that the families of the six servicemen will be devastated by today's events and our thoughts remain with them. Seven further arrest warrants remain outstanding and are being actively pursued by the Iraqi authorities. We will continue to do all we can to press for the prosecution of those responsible."
The other victims were Sergeant Simon Hamilton-Jewell, 41, from Chessington, Surrey; Corporal Paul Long, 24, of South Shields, Tyne and Wear; and Lance Corporal Tom Keys, 20, from Bala, North Wales.
Charges against two Iraqis accused of the murders of six British military policemen more than seven years ago have been dropped by a judge in Baghdad today, the Associated Press reported.
The Red Caps were killed when a mob of about 400 people attacked a police station in Majar al-Kabir, southern Iraq, in June 2003.
Hamza Hateer and Mussa Ismael al Fartusi were due to stand trial at the central criminal court in Baghdad but the case was dropped at a hearing.
The press agency reported that Chief Justice Baleagh Hamdi Hikmat dropped the charges saying there was not enough evidence to prosecute.
The judge adjourned a hearing last month to give witnesses time to travel but no eyewitnesses were brought into court.
The three-judge panel questioned nine people - mostly Iraqi police - but none said they saw the killings of the Royal Military Police officers near Basra.
One of those questioned said he saw one defendant taking the weapon of a dead soldier.
The court said it will pursue charges on the theft but the murder charge was dropped.
The Red Caps had been training local Iraqi officers when the police station came under attack on June 24, 2003.
The victims were Sergeant Simon Hamilton-Jewell, 41, from Chessington, Surrey; Corporal Russell Aston, 30, from Swadlincote, Derbyshire; Corporal Paul Long, 24, of South Shields, Tyne and Wear; Lance Corporal Tom Keys, 20, from Bala, North Wales; Corporal Simon Miller, 21, from Washington, Tyne and Wear; and Lance Corporal Benjamin Hyde, 23, from Northallerton, North Yorkshire.
A prison officer has been revealed as the winner of Britain's largest Football Pools prize.
Michael Elliott, of Brechin in Angus, said it was a "dream come true" after he netted a record jackpot of £3,001,511.
The 56-year-old father secured the payout by predicting eight 2-2 draws in the Scottish, English and Spanish leagues.
Officials said it is the first time in the 87-year history of the Pools that a single winner has scooped a record payout in excess of £3 million.
Mr Elliott said: "I cannot believe it. It is a dream come true. To say this is a life-changing experience would be the understatement of the year. I have played the Pools for many years and have won three times before, although my biggest previous win was £32. We are still in a state of shock and it's going to take a little time before everything finally sinks in."
Mr Elliott's win was sealed by Clitheroe's draw with Fylde in England's Evo Stik Premier League.
Originally from Canterbury, Kent, he has spent more than 20 years of his life serving in the Forces, including spells in Northern Ireland and the Gulf.
It is understood he has now quit his job as a warder after 13 years working at Noranside open prison, near Forfar.
His 34-year-old partner, Kirstina Fairweather, told the Scottish News of the World: "The mortgage payments on our home were so high that we feared we might have to sell it. Now our money worries are over - and I am going to be planning a wedding.
"During the summer I asked Michael if we could really afford the £2 a week cost of playing the Pools. I'm glad he kept playing it - that's why I love him."
Labour leader Ed Miliband has insisted that even millionaires should be entitled to child benefit.
The benefit is to be withdrawn from higher-rate taxpayers - those earning more than £44,000 a year - as part of the Government's public spending cuts to tackle the deficit.
Mr Miliband criticised the move, saying there are families on £45,000 who need the cash they will now lose.
But, defending the principle that child benefit should be universal, he said that it should not even be taken away from millionaires.
"I'm in favour of that yes, and I'm in favour of it because it's a cornerstone of our system to have universal benefits, and frankly there aren't that many millionaires in this country," he told BBC1's The Politics Show.
"Families on £45,000 need child benefit in my view and it's a way that society recognises the costs of having kids."
Mr Miliband said he wants to consider the coalition's plan to cap welfare payments at the level of average earnings, or about £26,000.
But he suggested the level is "arbitrary" and criticised Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt's assertion that the state should not be expected to finance every child in large families.
On Mr Hunt's remarks, he added: "I don't think people want politicians telling them how many kids they can have.
"Of course parents have the primary responsibility for kids, but instead of Jeremy Hunt lecturing people we have got to look actually at what is a fair benefit system."
Stephen Fry enjoyed VIP treatment when he became the first guest to check-in to a newly-restored luxury hotel.
The actor and broadcaster arrived at The Savoy in London's Strand in the hotel's chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce at 10.10am on the 10/10/10.
Greeted by general manager Kiaran MacDonald and head doorman Tony Cortegaca, staff lined up to applaud him as he went inside to his suite overlooking the River Thames.
The Savoy was closed for almost three years from December 2007 while it underwent a major facelift, involving £220 million worth of structural upgrades and behind-the-scenes work, as well as plush interiors in the Edwardian and Art Deco styles of the 121-year-old hotel.
Originally scheduled to be finished in early 2009, the project ended up being delayed by 18 months and costing more than double its estimated £100 million budget.
But Twitter fan Fry, who will stay the night as part of his role as the hotel's "blogger-in-residence", said he was "impressed" by the results which showed a sensitivity to its heritage.
"They have just made sure everything is absolutely of the highest pitch of quality and solidity but without making it a new hotel, without modernising it in a bad way," he said.
"The point about The Savoy is that has been a very particular place in the category of great hotels of London.
"It had a very great connection to showbusiness and culture and art and so on. I think they are aware of that. We have missed it for the last three years. I think it's marvellous that it's back again."
Fry, who said he was "very lucky" to have spent six months staying at the hotel in the 1980s, highlighted its importance as a venue for events, not just as a place for "rich businessmen and film stars" to stay.
Public spending cuts will not be scaled back to protect the economy from short-term shocks, Cabinet minister Philip Hammond has insisted.
Amid uncertainty about whether the coalition would revise its plans in the event of a double-dip recession, the Transport Secretary made clear Whitehall departments would have to work within "firm and clear" four-year budgets.
He said any further stimulus to the economy would have to come from the Bank of England - probably in the form of quantitative easing, or printing money - rather than a loosening of fiscal policy.
His comments came after Cabinet colleague Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrat Energy Secretary, suggested that the Government's massive cuts programme may have to be reined in if the economy entered another downturn.
But Mr Hammond, a close ally of George Osborne, said: "The plans that the Chancellor will set out in his spending review statement on October 20 will set out a pattern of reduction for departments over the four years of the spending review, so departments will have clear and firm budgets.
"And our view has always been that fiscal policy should be set for the medium term, and monetary policy should be used to deal with any short-term shocks."
Speaking to BBC1's Andrew Marr Show, he went on: "The Bank of England has got monetary policy to deal with any short-term shocks to the economy, while our fiscal policy - which is about getting the structural deficit eliminated by the end of this parliament - should stay on track, because that's the key message that markets have received that's restored confidence, that's got British interest rates down, that's got the IMF giving us a clean bill of health and frankly that's got our economy starting to get back on track for future sustainable growth."
Labour leader Ed Miliband accused Prime Minister David Cameron and Mr Osborne of being "incredibly cavalier" with the economy, suggesting that it was still susceptible to a double-dip.
"There are lots of people saying now there are warning signals in our economy and if they confine our economy to low growth and unemployment, I think people will rightly be very angry, because they have been warned about the scale of cuts they are undertaking," Mr Miliband said.
Mr Osborne is set to announce £83 billion of cuts in his comprehensive spending review as he sets about eliminating the structural deficit by 2015. Whitehall departments will be hit by cuts averaging 25% over the next four years.
Labour leader Ed Miliband has reached out to disaffected Liberal Democrats upset at Government plans for university funding.
After Lib Dem Business Secretary Vince Cable put himself on a collision course with his party by ruling out a graduate tax to replace university tuition fees, Mr Miliband said he would work with "anybody in the House of Commons who wants a progressive system of student finance".
He conceded that students had to "contribute" to their education but said he wanted to see a system which was fair and promoted equal opportunity.
It came after Mr Cable, who has previously promoted the idea of a graduate tax, wrote to Coalition MPs saying it was "not the answer".
His letter came amid heightened speculation about the Government's plans ahead of Lord Browne of Madingley's report into university funding and student finance on Tuesday.
Mr Cable said the Government would shortly be able to announce a new system featuring a "progressive system of graduate contributions".
That is expected to mean introducing variable interest rates on student loans so that higher-earning graduates pay more towards the cost of borrowing their way through university.
An increase in the cap on tuition fees, possibly to as high a threshold as £10,000, now also seems likely - though such a move would be deeply unpopular with the Lib Dems, who campaigned during the general election to scrap tuition fees altogether.
A report in The Sunday Times even suggested Lord Browne would recommend removing the cap on tuition fees altogether, creating a free-for-all with costs determined by the market.
Mr Miliband told BBC1's Politics Show the leaks were "very worrying" because the suggestions were "just a prescription for higher and higher fees" that move away from fairness.
The wall of a reservoir filled with caustic red sludge will inevitably collapse and unleash a new deluge that could flow about a half-mile to the north, a Hungarian official has said.
That would flood parts of the town already hit by the industrial waste on Monday but stop short of the next town to the north.
Environmental State Secretary Zoltan Illes said recently discovered cracks on the northern wall of the reservoir at the alumina plant have temporarily stopped widening because of favourable weather conditions but will continue to expand, especially at night.
Disaster agency spokesman Tibor Dobson said engineers didn't detect any new cracks overnight, and the older cracks were being repaired, but that it was too soon to consider lowering the current state of alert. Protective walls were being built around the reservoir's damaged area to hold back any further spills.
"I would describe the situation as hopeful, but nothing has really changed," Mr Dobson said.
"The wall to protect Kolontar is planned to be finished by tonight, but it will likely be several days before residents may be able to move back."
Nearly all of Kolontar's 800 residents were evacuated on Saturday, when Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the north wall of the massive storage pool was expected to "very likely" collapse after cracks were detected at several points along the dam.
The roughly 6,000 residents of neighbouring Devecser, just north of Kolontar, were told by police to pack a single bag and get ready to leave at a moment's notice.
"This hasn't changed," Mr Dobson said. "We are still on guard in case of any more spills."
Red sludge is a by-product of the refining of bauxite into alumina, the basic material for manufacturing aluminium. Treated sludge is often stored in ponds where the water eventually evaporates, leaving behind a largely safe red clay. Industry experts say the sludge in Hungary appears to have been insufficiently treated, if at all, meaning it remained highly caustic.
Ten people have been charged with offences during Saturday's demonstrations by the English Defence League and Unite Against Fascism, police said.
A total of 17 people were arrested, five from Leicestershire, after the protests in Leicester City Centre.
The groups were allowed to hold static protests in Leicester's Humberstone Gate East after Home Secretary Theresa May authorised a ban on marches in the city.
Violence was largely kept at bay as more than 2,000 officers policed roughly 1,700 protesters - 1,000 from the EDL and 700 from the UAF.
The force said it was its largest policing operation for 25 years, with help drafted in from 12 other forces.
Leicestershire Police confirmed that a total of 17 people were arrested, five from Leicestershire, and 10 people have been charged.
A 39-year-old man from Leicester, a 27-year-old man from Stoke-on-Trent, a 42-year-old man from Holland, a 27-year-old man from Long Eaton, Nottinghamshire, and a 38-year-old man from Gateshead, all arrested on suspicion of public order offences, are due to appear in court on November 19.
A 30-year-old man from Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer, a 30-year-old man from Wales, arrested on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon and public order offences, and a 23-year-old man from Wigston, Leicestershire, arrested on suspicion of public order offences and assaulting a police officer, are also due to appear on the same date.
A 21-year-old man from Alvaston, Derby, will also appear charged with public order offences. All nine were granted bail.
A 37-year-old man of no fixed abode, arrested for possession of a controlled substance and possession of an offensive weapon, was remanded into custody to appear in court on Monday.
A 19-year-old man has been charged with raping the same woman twice in the space of three months, police said.
Onile Huggins, of Mawbey Street, Lambeth, south London, was arrested on Friday, a Metropolitan Police spokesman said.
He will appear at Camberwell Green Magistrates' Court on Monday charged with two counts of rape on a woman aged 22 in Stockwell on April 12 and July 14.
The woman did not know her attacker, according to the Met.
Britain's most senior police officer has appealed to Home Secretary Theresa May to help curb the number of lawsuits against his force.
In a letter obtained by The Guardian, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson complained about the cost and bureaucracy of civil cases brought by members of the public and of employment tribunals initiated by staff.
He also urged the introduction of a fee for requests for documents and data under the Freedom of Information Act, which is supposed to increase the transparency of public bodies.
The letter, apparently written and sent in June, little more than a month after Ms May took over at the Home Office, was marked "confidential".
In it, Sir Paul said that the legal costs of civil actions, which he said often concerned "technical" breaches rather than issues of wide public concern, were a drain on police resources.
"We believe there needs to be a radical shakeup of the system; currently for every pound paid out in compensation, up to £10 or sometimes more has to be paid out in legal costs to the claimants' lawyers," he said.
"One of the key aspects is that the average settlements are well under £10,000 and most under £5,000, in other words these are not major areas of police misconduct with long-lasting consequences but often technical breaches."
On employment tribunals, he wrote that staff were able to lodge "speculative" claims and then drop them after "considerable" resources have already been spent responding.
"We propose that a fee for issuing claims could be introduced and the grounds upon which costs can be made widened to meet these concerns," he said.
Turning to the Freedom of Information Act, the Commissioner encouraged the Home Secretary to "consider introducing a fee (as there is for Data Protection Act requests) to bring it into line with the Data Protection Act".
A review of Government efficiency by a leading businessman has uncovered a "staggering" waste of money, it has been revealed.
Sir Philip Green, the owner of Topshop and Bhs, will tell ministers they can cut swathes of waste from public services.
His report, to be published later today, will say that the Government has consistently failed to make the most of its scale, buying power and credit rating.
Sir Philip was appointed by the Prime Minister in August to review Government efficiency, focusing on the procurement of goods and services such as IT, travel, print and office supplies, and the management of the Government's property portfolio.
The report will reveal the "poor quality" of much of the data relating to where and how the Government spends its money, as well as a lack of a centralised approach to buying goods and services which Sir Philip believes has allowed departments to pay hugely different prices for the same items.
Sir Philip said: "There is no reason why Government should not be as efficient as any good business. Any large organisation would want to use its credit rating and scale to buy efficiently. The conclusion of this review is clear - credit rating and scale in virtually every department has not been used to make Government spending efficient."
It is expected the Prime Minister David Cameron will be asked about Sir Philip's findings at a press conference today.
Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude said: "The scale of the waste uncovered by Sir Philip and his team is staggering. His review shows that for too long there has been no coherent strategy to make Government operate more efficiently.
"We know that Government is very different to business, but that does not mean that it should not act in a more business-like manner. Every pound that we can take out of the cost of government is a pound we can protect on the front line.
"Our over-riding aim is to protect the quality of front line services and to protect the jobs of dedicated public sector workers."
Centrally-held electronic records of core patient information could save lives and should be available in emergency situations, a Department of Health review has found.
A study of Summary Care Records (SCRs) concluded that storing information such as medications, allergies and demographic details would be valuable in ensuring safe treatment.
The opt-out system was introduced earlier this year, but was suspended in April after the British Medical Association warned that it was being brought in too quickly.
A second review found that additional safeguards should be introduced to make sure patients are sufficiently informed about what information is being held on them.
As well as the initial opt-out, people will be contacted by letter to tell them that a record will be created. A opt-out form and pre-paid envelope will be included.
An awareness campaign will be rolled out to notify those contacted during SCR's initial introduction that a record is being created for them.
The review, led by Professor Sir Bruce Keogh and involving leading patient groups, agreed that doctors should have access to essential medical information in emergency situations and that it should be clearly defined what is kept on a central database.
A second study into how patients are informed of their choices concluded that it would be a waste of money to write again to the 30 million people already contacted.
Instead efforts should be made at local, regional and national level to reiterate that they have a choice not to be included in the scheme.
Health Minister Simon Burns said: "I am pleased that a consensus has emerged about the importance of the SCR in supporting safe patient care, as long as the core information contained in it is restricted to medication, allergies and adverse reactions."
Moves towards achieving equal pay for men and women appear to be "grinding to a halt" because of long-standing inequalities which remain in Britain, a report has said.
A "landmark" study by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) found that some equality gaps had closed over the past generation, but other problems remain and there are fears that racial and religious prejudice is on the increase.
One of the main findings was that the gender pay gap had fallen for the past 30 years, but progress seemed to have "halted", with full-time women workers earning 16.4% less than men.
The gender pay gap was lowest for the under-30s, rising more than five-fold by the time workers reached 40, with a "pernicious earnings penalty" affecting some ethnic minority and disabled people.
Women with no qualifications faced a 58% loss in earnings over their lifetime if they had children, while all women aged 40 earned 27% less than men of the same age, said the commission.
Disabled men earned 11% less than other male workers, while the gap was 22% for women. Black graduates faced a pay penalty of up to 24%, the study suggested. "Evidence suggests that the workplace remains a stressful and difficult place for some groups, specifically transgender people and irregular migrant workers," said the report.
An analysis of living standards showed that income poverty still affected some groups of women, ethnic minority groups and families with disabled members.
Total household wealth of the top 10% in society was almost 100 times higher than for the poorest 10%, while one in five people lived in a household with less than 60% of average income.
EHRC chairman Trevor Phillips said: "This review holds up the mirror to fairness in Britain. It is the most complete picture of its kind ever compiled. It shows that we are a people who have moved light years in our attitudes to all kinds of human difference, and in our desire to be a truly fair society, but that we are still a country where our achievements haven't yet caught up with our aspirations.
"But in the 21st century we face a fresh challenge - the danger of a society divided by the barriers of inequality and injustice. For some, the gateways to opportunity appear permanently closed, no matter how hard they try; whilst others seems to have been issued with an 'access all areas' pass at birth."
The first phase of the Government's "radical" welfare reform programme is starting with benefit claimants being reassessed for their ability to work.
The move comes as new figures show that almost £135 billion has been spent over the past 10 years keeping two million people "on the sick".
Long-term incapacity benefit claimants in Burnley and Aberdeen will be the first across the country to undergo a new test - the Work Capability Assessment - to see if they are fit for work.
Ministers said the reassessment is designed to end the one-size-fits-all approach to those with health conditions and disabilities which has led to 2.1 million people being "trapped" on benefits.
They said the most severely disabled and people who are terminally ill will not be expected to look for work and will get extra help through Employment and Support Allowance. But those people who are reassessed and found fit for work will move on to Jobseekers Allowance and will be expected to look for work.
Employment minister Chris Grayling said: "It's nothing short of a scandal that so many people were simply cast aside to a lifetime on benefits, wasting their talents and potential and costing the taxpayer almost £135 billion. While some of these people will be genuinely too sick to work, there will be others who through no fault of their own were told by the state that they were better off on the sick and then left behind - this stops now."
Mental health charity Mind called for a revision of the test before it is rolled out to over 1.5 million claimants nationwide. Sophie Corlett, Mind's director of external relations, said: "The benefit test being used in the pilots starting today has a fundamental problem when it comes to people with mental health problems - it does not do what it's set up for, which is to distinguish accurately which people can work and which people can't."
She added: "The Government wants to toughen up on benefit claimants while supporting those in genuine need - this system doesn't identify those in genuine need."
Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, Mr Grayling denied there was a "target" to declare 23% of incapacity claimants well enough to get jobs.
He also said the test could be changed if it was not giving an accurate picture of individuals' conditions, saying: "If we need to make modifications to the test to get this right then we will do it."
The 33 Chilean miners trapped more than 2,000ft below ground for 68 days are entering the tense final hours before their extraction gets under way.
With the eyes of the world on Chile's no-expense-spared effort to ensure all the men emerge unharmed, the miners' physical and mental health is being fastidiously monitored, with precautions taken against all manner of potential complications.
Officials said the men were so giddy with confidence that when the drill broke through to them on Saturday they were squabbling over who would get to be the last to take the 20-minute ride to freedom.
A tentative but secret list was drafted of which miners should come out first when the extraction begins, probably on Wednesday, but health minister Jaime Manalich said the otherwise cooperative miners were so sure of the exit plan that they were arguing about sequence.
"They were fighting with us because everyone wanted to be at the end of the line, not the beginning," he told reporters.
Manalich said that a few had volunteered in conversations among themselves to go up first, but none had volunteered publicly.
Brandon Fisher, president of Center Rock, the company that made the hammer-style drill heads that created the opening for the rescue, said: "I think they're more excited than scared or nervous. That first guy up might be a little nervous, though."
The final order will probably be determined by two paramedics, one from the Navy and one from the Codelco state mining company, who will be lowered into the mine to prepare the men for their journey in a rescue capsule built by Chilean naval engineers.
Manalich said all the miners had undergone tests to assess their health, but officials were concerned about acute hypertension in some of the miners as well as the opposite - sudden drops in blood pressure - in others because of the speed of the ascent to the surface.
To counteract blood clotting, the miners are taking 100mg each of aspirin and will also wear compression socks and a special girdle. They will be on a special high-calorie liquid prepared and donated by Nasa for the final six hours before being removed to prevent them from becoming nauseated. The rescue capsule is expected to rotate 350 degrees some 10 to 12 times through curves in the 28-inch-diameter escape hole on its way up.
The families of six Red Caps killed in Iraq have received Government assurances that the fight for justice will continue despite a devastating legal blow.
Charges against two men accused of the murders were dropped on Sunday in Baghdad after a judge ruled there was insufficient evidence.
Relatives in the UK reacted with disappointment and hit out at the British Government for perceived failings in the case, but the Ministry of Defence said it would continue to push to see those responsible brought to trial.
The six British military policemen were killed in 2003 when a mob of about 400 people attacked a police station in Majar al-Kabir, southern Iraq.
Relatives have fought a frustrating seven-year battle for justice over the deaths, but hopes of a conviction against Hamza Hateer and Mussa Ismael al Fartusi were dashed when it was ruled that there was insufficient evidence to continue the prosecution.
Chief Justice Baleagh Hamdi Hikmat dropped the charges after a two hour hearing inside the central criminal court in Baghdad. Having earlier adjourned proceedings to allow witnesses time to travel, no eyewitnesses were brought to Sunday's session.
Instead the three-judge panel questioned nine people - mostly Iraqi police - none of whom said they saw the defendants in the crowd which killed the Royal Military Police officers.
The Ministry of Defence has vowed to press on with bringing those responsible to trial despite the latest disappointment, and a spokeswoman said: "Seven further arrest warrants remain outstanding and are being actively pursued by the Iraqi authorities. We will continue to do all we can to press for the prosecution of those responsible."
But family members criticised the British Government as well as the Iraqi judicial system over failings relating to the case.
John Miller, 59, from Washington, Tyne and Wear, father of 21-year-old Corporal Simon Miller, said: "I'm devastated, I just can't believe it. My son was let down so badly in life, now he has been let down so badly in death. I don't understand how this can happen. This is exactly why we wanted to be at the trial, we needed to be there. We were denied that, we were denied everything."
The inquests into the deaths of the 52 innocent people killed in the 7/7 bombings are to begin today.
More than five years after the attacks brought terror to London, bereaved families will finally have the chance to ask officials questions about whether their loved ones could have been saved.
The inquests have a wide-ranging remit to examine whether the emergency services' response was adequate and whether MI5 and the police could have prevented the 2005 atrocities, but concerns have already been expressed about the Security Service's apparent reluctance to assist the coroner's investigation.
Graham Foulkes, whose 22-year-old son David was killed in the Edgware Road bombing, said MI5's attempts to keep details of its alleged failings secret were "really distressing" to the families.
The Security Service this week angered families by proposing that the coroner, Lady Justice Hallett, should be allowed to sit in closed session to hear highly classified evidence.
Mr Foulkes said: "By every kind of moral standard that you're brought up with, that's wrong. You're told, if you make a mistake, you hold up your hands.
"Here they are, drawing a salary to do a job which they clearly have not done. And they're employing every legal twist they possibly can not to be accountable. It really adds to the anguish that we're all feeling. It's very clear that they just waved two fingers at the coroner. They're deliberately frustrating the process."
He added: "Whilst they're playing games, this is my life they're talking about. My view is that their incompetence allowed (7/7 ringleader) Mohammed Sidique Khan to get through."
Mr Foulkes, from Oldham, Greater Manchester, plans to come to London for the opening of the inquests and will attend as many other days of evidence as he can. He said the start of the hearings is an emotional time for the bereaved relatives but added: "We are hoping we might get some answers now."
Four suicide bombers armed with homemade explosives packed into rucksacks launched co-ordinated attacks on three Tube trains and a bus on July 7, 2005 in Britain's worst terrorist atrocity since the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.
The son of a businesswoman is being questioned on suspicion of murdering her after she was allegedly stabbed to death following rumours of an affair.
Assia Shahzad, 40, was found with fatal injuries at the £600,000 family home in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.
Her son, Usman, is being held in custody after being arrested at the scene along with a 16-year-old boy.
Neighbours told reporters that Mrs Shahzad's husband, Rashad, 45, moved out earlier this year after claims she had been seeing other men.
Police investigating possible motives for the alleged murder dismissed suggestions that it was an "honour killing" but said it related to a "domestic dispute".
Raj Khan, a local councillor who grew up with Mrs Shahzad, said: "It's a horrific, nightmare event. The community is drowned with upset. We are horrified at what has happened.
"This has been a great loss for the family, for her friends, for everybody. It's a scenario which one always reads or hears about on the news but you never expect it on your doorstep."
He said Mrs Shahzad, who has lived at the address for around six years, was the director of a travel firm.
Mrs Shahzad was discovered on Saturday night at the detached six-bedroom property in Wendover Road, Aylesbury.
Detective Chief Inspector Vince Grey, from Thames Valley Police, said: "Our investigation is still in its early stages. However, we believe this was not a random attack and that both the suspects and victims are known to one another."
