Archive for September 2008
Melamine vats seized in China
29/09/2008
Chinese authorities have seized 222.5kg of melamine as the country's milk contamination scandal deepens.
Twenty-two people were arrested in the raids in northern China's Hebei province.
State media said police had broken a network connected with the manufacture and sale of toxic chemical melamine and tainted milk.
Hundreds of thousands of litres of milk and dairy products have been pulled from Chinese supermarket shelves over the contamination crisis, which has killed ...
Council tax freeze pledge from Tories
29/09/2008
The Conservative party has pledged to freeze council taxes for two years if they reach government.
The promise constituted the most important part of shadow chancellor George Osborne's speech at the party conference, in which he tried to peg the country's current economic woes on to 11 years of Labour government.
The Tories plan to operate the freeze by using the consultancy and advertising budget in Whitehall. They will use that money to offer additional resources to local cou...
Petraeus diplomatic over UK troop levels
29/09/2008
Senior US soldier General David Petraeus refused to be drawn outside Downing Street this afternoon about whether he wants more British forces in Afghanistan.
Gen Petraeus heads the US central command, which deals with the wider Middle Eastern region including both Iraq and Afghanistan, after overseeing the successful troop surge in Iraq during 2007.
Following talks with Gordon Brown in Downing Street he told reporters it was up to the coalition how to "source the forces&qu...
Official charged over 'classified docs at Waterloo'
29/09/2008
The civil servant who reportedly left highly-sensitive counterterrorism documents on a train at Waterloo is said to be facing police charges.
The unnamed Cabinet Office official was on secondment with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) when he removed the files from Whitehall and left them in a marked envelope on a Surrey-bound train at the London station.
A crown prosecution service (CPS) was only able to say it had given its decision as to whether to charge the man to the Metropol...
No action against 'Crete balcony plunge father'
29/09/2008
A father who killed his son by jumping off a Crete hotel balcony with the six-year-old in his arms will not face criminal action in the UK.
Prosecutors said on Monday there were no grounds to seek charges against John Hogan, who has already been acquitted of the murder of his son Liam by a Greek court.
Liam died on August 15th 2006 when his father leapt from a hotel balcony. His daughter Mia, who was six months old at the time, narrowly escaped death after also being in her fat...
Ordeal over for released European hostages
29/09/2008
Eleven western tourists and eight Egyptians held hostage in Egypt have been released.
The group had been touring the Gilf al-Kebir plateau, some 500 miles southwest of Cairo and a region famed for its cave paintings, when they were kidnapped more than a week ago.
Egypt's state television reported the freed hostages were travelling back to Egypt's capital and were all reported to be in good health.
It follows a shootout yesterday in which all but two of the kidnappers w...
Firefighters injured in Great Ormond Street blaze
29/09/2008
A fire has broken out at Great Ormond Street children's hospital, forcing the evacuation of 23 patients.
No patients, family members or staff are believed to have been injured in the fire, which is understood to have been caused by a faulty gas cylinder.
The London fire brigade said it had been called to the west London hospital at 08:35 BST after a "small explosion".
A spokesman told inthenews.co.uk that four firefighters had sustained minor injuries ...
Damascus car bomber 'from neighbouring country'
29/09/2008
The suicide bomber who killed 17 people in Damascus this weekend entered Syria from a neighbouring Arab country, state media claimed on Monday.
But the Sana news agency did not specify which of Lebanon, Iraq or Jordan investigators were referring to.
Counterterrorism officers believe the bomber, who detonated a car bomb laden with 200kg of explosives on Saturday, belonged to extremist Sunni Muslim organisation Takfir.
"Investigations showed that a terrorist was dr...
Officer charged over fatal teen crash
29/09/2008
A police officer has been charged with death by dangerous driving after hitting a teenage pedestrian in Newcastle earlier this year.
Hayley Adamson, 16, died after being hit by a marked police car driven by PC John Dougal of Northumbria police while crossing Denton Road.
Following an investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), the crown prosecution service (CPS) has opted to suspend PC Dougal, who is suspended pending the outcome of the court case.
Tap water safety tests ordered by Defra
29/09/2008
Tap water is safe to drink, the government has insisted, after it emerged a new study is planned to assess whether drugs are contaminating supplies.
A Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) spokesperson said "there is no question about its safety" following a report in today's Independent newspaper revealing the new tests.
Concerns are growing because of the number of drugs which are finding their way into Britain's waterways after being flushe...
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