Friends pray for British Hostage
Friends and the congregation at Harrow Baptist Church, northwest London, prayed for Norman Kember, the peace campaigner held hostage in Iraq, after his kidnappers released a video showing that he was still alive.
Professor Kember, 74, worshipped at the church for 40 years and edited its magazine. He was kidnapped with two Canadians and an American on November 26.
Scientist’s murder
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Police applied for an extra 24 hours to question a 42-year-old building worker from Faringdon, Oxfordshire, who was held in connection with the murder of Barbara Johnston, 55, a cot death research scientist, who was found strangled and with 49 stab wounds at her flat in Oxford.
Drug ring arrests
A retired British policeman and two ex-servicemen have been arrested by Spanish police for allegedly using their skills to help a drug-smuggling ring. According to Spanish investigators, the three advised the gang on how to bring tonnes of cannabis to Britain from North Africa through Spain.
Elderly abused
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Half a million older people in Britain suffer abuse, neglect, cruelty and humiliation, often at the hands of a relative or carer, according to a report from Help the Aged. The charity is supporting a free helpline operated by Action on Elder Abuse on weekdays between 9am and 5pm: 0808-808 8141.
Oil heir charged
The American heir to a £6.6 billion banking and oil fortune faces trial after an investigation into alleged phone-tapping and computer- hacking. Matthew Mellon, 41, of Belgravia, Central London, is one of 18 people charged with providing clients with confidential information about wealthy people and businesses.
Graffiti attack
Animal rights activists have vandalised the home of Simon Bicknell, a senior executive at the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline. Threatening graffiti was daubed on Mr Bicknell’s garage by the members of the Animal Liberation Front, which claimed responsibility on a website.
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Royal memorial
Twenty artists from around the world, most of them sculptors, have applied to create a memorial in The Mall to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, who died in 2002 at the age of 101. The memorial, funded by sales of a £5 coin marking the Queen’s 80th birthday, is expected to be completed next year.
Report rejects Bart’s break-up
A review of the proposed £1.15 billion redevelopment of St Bart’s and the Royal London hospitals funded by a Private Finance Initiative says that they should not be broken up, The Times has learnt. The report by the North East London Strategic Health Authority, ordered by ministers amid financial concerns, indicates that cancer and cardiac services will be essential to a fast-growing East London population.
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Police seize bus
Police flagged down a bus and commandeered it to take a gang of 25 men into custody after an 18-year-old man was stabbed to death in a mass street brawl near Camden Tube station, North London. They seized a number of weapons at the scene of the fight, which happened on Saturday night.
Heart appeal
A lack of specialist nurses to care for people with heart disease in the UK is being highlighted in a campaign by the British Heart Foundation (BHF). Its Valentine Appeal aims to raise £1 million to fund 30 new BHF heart nurses to help the growing number of patients with heart problems.
Avalanche death
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A ski instructor from Colchester, Essex, has died after being buried by an avalanche. Robin Cane, 48, a former music teacher, was skiing off-piste in a small group with a local guide in the Le Menuires region of the French Alps when another skier loosened the snow above, causing the avalanche.
Lost in translation
Michael Moore and Diane Bell from West Yorkshire, booked a holiday to Tenerife but ended up in Tel Aviv. They went to Thailand but did not like it and went to a local travel agent, who misheard them. “I’d never seen Tel Aviv spelt before,” Ms Bell said. “I thought it was what people in Thailand called Tenerife.”
Pint-sized battle
A campaign to stop pints of milk being phased out has been started by the British Retail Consortium, which says EU legislation could lead to the pint being replaced by half litres and litres. It is calling for food packaging variations among EU member states to remain unchanged to avoid confusion for UK shoppers.
Monkey talk
Keepers at a wildlife park in Kent have had to learn French to communicate with a family of monkeys. The 19 baboons were transferred to Port Lympne Wild Animal Park near Hythe because the French zoo had too many. But keepers found that the animals would respond only to French words.
ID cards ‘would not stop terror’
Lord Carlile of Berriew, QC, a Liberal Democrat peer who is also the Government’s independent reviewer of anti-terrorism powers, has said that he no longer believes that identity cards are necessary to combat terrorism.
He said that any security benefits they would give must be offset against a loss of individual freedom. “I cannot think of a terrorist incident in which ID cards could have brought the incident to an earlier end,” he told GMTV.
Council tax cap will cut services
Nearly a third of local authorities are proposing to cut frontline services or jobs to keep council tax rises below 5 per cent. The cuts will include closing libraries and residential homes, reducing adult home care and children’s services, postponing road repairs and making thousands of staff redundant, according to a survey of 50 councils by the Local Government Assocation.
Union backs nuclear power
Amicus, Britain’s biggest private sector union, is backing the use of nuclear power, pressing the Government to speed up its energy review and support new nuclear plants urgently.
The union says that nuclear power is essential to combat soaring energy costs, in part caused by deregulation, which are threatening thousands of jobs because parts of industry are cutting back production.