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[JohnCenaFan28]

An 81-year-old man charged with the murder of his elderly wife has died, police said.

John Sutton, of Hesketh Lane, Tarleton, was accused of killing Anne Sutton, 71, at their home in July and was due to stand trial early next year.

Lancashire Police said Mr Sutton died in his sleep on Friday night and his death was not being treated as suspicious.

A police spokeswoman said: "Police can confirm that John Sutton, aged 81, who was undergoing assessments at a secure mental health ward at Ormskirk Hospital after being charged with the murder of his wife, passed away in his sleep last night.

"There are no suspicious circumstances and family members have been informed."

Police were called to the couple's address on the morning of July 22, where they discovered the body of Mrs Sutton.

Mr Sutton was arrested at the scene on suspicion of murder and an investigation was carried out by the Major Force Investigation Team.

A post-mortem examination revealed the cause of death was strangulation.

Following his arrest Mr Sutton had been undergoing medical and mental health assessments at Ormskirk Hospital under the Mental Health Act 1983.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

A 19-year-old man has appeared in court in connection with a stash of heroin worth £20 million found at a London flat.

Kalvin Markall, of Menai Way, Cardiff, faced Stratford Magistrates Court charged with possession with intent to supply Class A drugs.

He was remanded in custody and the next hearing was set for Monday December 8.

Police raided a property in Meath Road, Forest Gate, east London at 7pm on Friday, after receiving a tip-off.

They found 150kg of high-grade heroin, packaged into envelopes and ready for distribution.

-Nova

[Black Widow]

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland has ordered the withdrawal and recall of all Irish pork products dating back to 1 September.

It follows the discovery of a contaminant in pig feed by a dioxin known as PCB at levels between 80 and 200 times the safe limits.

PCBs are highly dangerous man-made chemicals that were banned in 1979. They effect the immune and reproductive systems and can, in certain cases, cause cancers.

They can still be found in certain products made before the ban came into force.

The contamination first came to light last Monday, but the positive tests in the pork was only confirmed this afternoon.

The public have been advised to destroy all pork products
purchased since September.

Contaminated feed was used at a total of 47 farms.

Nine of these were pork producing farms. The remaining 38 were beef farms, with one of those also producing pork products.

But the FSAI has advised that it is not necessary at this time to have a similar withdrawal of beef products.

Alan O'Reilly of the FSAI said a whole range of products, including sausages, bacon, pizza toppings, should be destroyed.

He urged consumers to return Irish pork products to retailers if possible or simply put them in the bin.

The Taoiseach and Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith, have attended crisis talks at the Department of Agriculture following the discovery of the toxic substance in slaughtered pigs.

The discovery has provoked concern in the farming community.

The pork industry is the fourth biggest in the agriculture sector and is worth around €400 million per year.

The movement of animals at some 30 farms has been restricted.

A major investigation has been launched by the Department of Agriculture and the Food Safety Authority.

Restrictions on pig production units

Minister of State for Food Policy Trevor Sargent said the Government had acted swiftly to deal with the situation.

Mr Sargent said the affected animal feed had been banned and the pig production units using it had been restricted.

He said he would be working with An Bord Bia to ensure that quality pigmeat products - including those organically certified - can be brought back into the market as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, Labour's spokesperson on agriculture and food Sean Sherlock, has called for a full account of the extent of the risk to human health.

Fine Gael's spokesperson on agriculture, Michael Creed described the discovery as potentially the biggest threat to the agri-food sector since the outbreak Foot & Mouth disease.

Chief Medical Officer says move is precautionary

The state's Chief Medical Officer said there was no need for the public to worry and that the government had taken a precautionary approach to minimise the risk to public health.

Dr Tony Holohan said the public should simply destroy what pork products they have in their fridge and freezer.

He said the dioxin is only dangerous if a person is exposed to it over a long period of time. In such circumstances, he said, it can have a range of effects on organs such as the liver and nervous system.

But he stressed that the period in question here is much shorter, and such effects should not arise as the exposure has been identified at an early stage.

Dr Holohan said because there is no risk from the low exposure, people do not need to seek medical help.


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[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the news.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Commons Speaker Michael Martin is looking increasingly exposed amid deepening dismay among MPs over his failure to stop the police raid on the Westminster office of Tory frontbencher Damian Green.

On the eve of a crucial Commons debate on the whole episode, a BBC survey found that more than 30 backbench MPs - more than a third of those who responded - had now lost confidence in him.

The findings came as more senior figures voiced their misgivings at his handling of the affair, while one former deputy speaker said that he should now stand down "with a degree of dignity".

The survey, by Radio 4's The World This Weekend programme, approached 130 backbench MPs of whom 90 took part. Of those, 32 said that they had lost confidence in Mr Martin while 50 said he was "culpable" for what had happened.

Tory leader David Cameron said that he would like to have confidence in Mr Martin, but pointedly stopped short of saying that he actually had. "I want to have the confidence that we should all have in the Speaker's Office and in the Speaker and that needs to be put right," he told the BBC One Politics Show.

Children's Secretary Ed Balls complained that it was not "sensible" for senior politicians to make such comments. "In the end, drip, drip, drip is undermining the office of the Speaker and the office of Parliament," he told the programme.

However, he was drowned out by a chorus of senior backbenchers voicing dismay at the way Mr Martin had allowed police investigating leaks from the Home Office to search Mr Green's Commons office, even though they did not have a warrant.

Tory former foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind said that the concerns were widely shared across Parliament. "I don't think I am being controversial in saying I don't think that Speaker Martin will go down as one of the great Speakers of the House of Commons," he said.

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb said that it was "unfair" that the Serjeant at Arms Jill Pay had been left by Mr Martin to shoulder the responsibility for allowing the police in.

However, the most scathing comments came from the former deputy speaker Michael Morris, now Lord Naseby, who said that he was "amazed" that Mr Martin had not prevented the police entering. "Why the Speaker was not in lead role is something I find absolutely incomprehensible," he told The World This Weekend. "I don't think that it is for the members to necessarily put down a motion of no confidence, because that is a very drastic stage, but I think he needs to reflect on his position frankly. In my judgment he has let the House of Commons down."

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

The Department of Health is challenging a Freedom of Information ruling requiring it to publish the numbers of late abortions due to foetal abnormalities, it has been disclosed.

The department is resisting the ruling made by the Information Commissioner Richard Thomas last July requiring the details to be disclosed, reported The Sunday Telegraph.

A spokeswoman for the department said an appeal had been lodged with the Information Tribunal on the grounds that the very small numbers involved could lead to the women concerned being identified.

"The department believe this to be personal data and maintain that the release of the data could lead to the identification of individuals," she said.

A spokesman for the commissioner said that in making his ruling, Mr Thomas - who is also the Data Protection watchdog - would have been very aware of the issues raised by the department.

"The Information Commissioner would have looked very carefully at any privacy implications the Department of Health was raising," he said.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

British Airways is to axe more than 100 jobs at Gatwick and reduce the number of flights from the airport next summer, the airline announced.

Ground operations staff including those working at check-in desks are expected to be affected by the cuts.

The GMB union said it was surprised at the announcement, adding it feared up to 180 jobs could be lost.

GMB official Adrian Baker said: "We will be seeking an urgent meeting with the company to find out more information and we will do all we can to keep job losses to a minimum.

BA said in a statement: "We have briefed our staff and their trade unions that the number of departures at Gatwick will reduce by 15% next summer compared to this summer. We are also reducing the number of aircraft at Gatwick by four from 41 to 37.

"In light of this, we are looking to reduce our ground operations staff at the airport by more than 100 people. We are committed to doing this voluntarily and aim to have a voluntary severance programme in place by the end of this year."

Meanwhile, former British Airways boss Bob Ayling was reported to have joined one of the groups vying for control of the UK's second-largest airport.

Mr Ayling is among a number of high-profile industry executives recruited in recent weeks by parties interested in Gatwick, the Sunday Times reported.

The airport has been put up for sale by Ferrovial, the Spanish infrastructure group, ahead of a Competition Commission ruling expected to force its disposal.

It is thought the airport could command bids of about £2 billion. Interest has already been registered by Manchester Airport, which also owns East Midlands, Bournemouth and Humberside airports, and Hochtief, the German construction group and airports operator. Mr Ayling, who was group managing director and chief executive of BA from 1992 to 2000, has reportedly joined a Citigroup-led consortium.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

A father who had to tell a surgeon to let his conjoined twin daughter die has described it as "the most difficult choice of my life".

Aled Williams, 28, from Shrewsbury, Shropshire, said he thought his daughter Hope had suffered enough.

"They were still trying to resuscitate Hope and I thought it's not fair on her. Her body just couldn't take it," he told The Mail on Sunday.

Hope's sister Faith, who survived surgery to separate the twins, is still fighting for her life at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, but doctors said on Thursday she remained "a very sick little girl".

Mr Williams said: "She must really want to be in this world because she's really fighting."

He described how the hospital had been wrapping her in clingfilm to keep her warm because she was so cold. He and his 18-year-old wife, Laura, said that even though they had just lost one of their daughters, they had to stay strong for Faith.

They plan to give Faith the middle name Hope, in memory of her dead sister.

Mrs Williams became Britain's youngest mother to give birth to conjoined twins last Wednesday. Hope failed to survive after the operation on Tuesday because her lungs were too small to support breathing, doctors said.

Her mother found it too difficult to say goodbye to her dead daughter, but her father held her in his arms after telling the hospital to turn off the medical equipment keeping her alive.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

The boss of a UK energy firm has said suppliers will not pass on all of the savings they make on cheaper wholesale gas and electricity to consumers.

In the week oil tumbled to just above 40 US dollars a barrel, EON UK chief executive Paul Golby said the industry needed to protect profit margins. This was in order to invest an estimated £100 billion in new wind farms and power plants and to meet environmental targets, he told the Observer newspaper.

"If wholesale gas prices have fallen by a third, it does not mean retail prices will go down by the same amount," Mr Golby said.

In the last year, energy companies have increased bills by about a third on average, blaming the doubling in the cost of wholesale gas and electricity. Wholesale prices have fallen back in recent months, but suppliers have yet to cut bills across the board.

EON profits in the UK fell by 25% to £650 million in the first nine months of the year, reflecting its decision not to pass on the full cost of wholesale price rises earlier in the year.

Mr Golby said profits needed to be higher in order to invest in new plant: "Profits are not high enough to match the cost of capital needed for investment, for example in new plants. I accept that the group profit figures we report look large, but we need capital to invest."

He added: "It's difficult to finance (the investment needed) in the current financial environment if the Government makes us reduce already lower-than-needed profits. Where will the investment come from? The Government won't build nuclear plants or wind farms."

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell issued a warning that virtually all welfare claimants will have to do some form of work or prepare for a job if they are to carry on receiving state benefits.

Mr Purnell is due to set out his plans for reform of the welfare state in white paper to be published this week.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, he said: "Virtually everyone will be doing something in return for their benefits."

The measures in the white paper, which builds on last summer's green paper, include proposals to reform housing benefit to prevent jobless claimants living in large houses at the taxpayer's expense.

Single mothers of children as young as one will be required compelled to go on training courses and work experience or face a cut in benefits while incapacity benefit claimants will have to undergo medical tests.

Companies will be allowed to bid for contracts to place the long-term unemployed in work and US-style "workfare" schemes will be introduced forcing claimants who turn down jobs to work in return for benefits.

Mr Purnell said the measures were part of building a "welfare state which is based on something for something".

He told BBC1's The Andrew Marr Show that people should be expected to take up a "reasonable job offer" and if they didn't they could lose their benefits.

"For people who are unemployed for more than a year, we're going to ask them to do four weeks of full-time work," he said.

"That's not about stigmatising anybody, it's about helping people develop the skills, about turning up on time, being reliable, being a good team worker, being presentable."

-Nova