World News joined 1

[Black Widow]

The Queen has stripped President Robert Mugabe of his knighthood following the violence and election crisis in Zimbabwe.

The Foreign Office said it was a mark of "revulsion" over the human rights record in the country.

Mr Mugabe is under growing international pressure over violence and abuses ahead of Friday's presidential run-off election.

He was awarded the knighthood in 1994 by John Major's Conservative Government.

Five years ago there were calls for the knighthood to be removed, and then Prime Minister Tony Blair said he would look into the matter, but no action was taken.

Sky's Glen Oglaza said Mr Mugabe "won't really care one way or the other" but it sends a strong signal of the UK government's attitude towards the man.

Earlier, Gordon Brown revealed he was seeking to block a Zimbabwe cricket tour of England planned for next year.

The Queen approved the annulment of Mr Mugabe's knighthood on the recommendation of Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "This action has been taken as a mark of revulsion at the abuse of human rights and abject disregard for the democratic process in Zimbabwe over which President Mugabe has presided."

In Zimbabwe, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has taken refuge again in the Dutch embassy in Harare after briefly leaving to give a news conference.

Mr Tsvangirai first entered the embassy on Sunday after withdrawing from the presidential run-off.

He has urged the UN to isolate Mr Mugabe and says a peacekeeping force is needed in Zimbabwe.

Mr Mugabe has shrugged off the unprecedented and unanimous decision by the UN Security Council to condemn violence against the opposition and declare that a free and fair presidential election on Friday was impossible.

South African leaders are holding an emergency summit over the growing political crisis.

Jacob Zuma, leader of South Africa's ruling party, has called for the UN to intervene, saying the situation is now "out of control".

Mr Mugabe, 84, in power since independence in 1980, has vowed never to hand over to the opposition, branding MDC officials as puppets of the West.

He has presided over a slide into economic chaos, including 80% unemployment and the world's highest inflation rate of at least 165,000%.


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[Kenpachi Zaraki]

Very much expected

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the news.

[Black Widow]

A mother who left her two-year-old son home alone so she could spend a weekend partying has been jailed for at least nine months.

Kelly Tollerton's son was caged in the kitchen by a baby gate and had to rummage in rubbish bags for food "like a dog".

He was discovered three days later when water from an overflowing sink filled with pots poured into a neighbour's flat below.

Police broke in and found the boy sobbing and standing in several inches of water wearing a filthy Babygro surrounded by dirty nappies and broken crockery. He was shivering with cold and had been using a pile of dirty washing as a bed.

Sentencing her at Lincoln Crown Court, Recorder William Harbage QC said: "It defies belief that any mother can treat her child in that way. In my opinion, you are not a fit mother."

She was sentenced to 18 months in prison but told she should expect to serve at least nine months.

The court had heard that Tollerton's actions were a "deliberate act of abandonment so that she could go out and party".

Tollerton, 22, said she and her 40-year-old boyfriend partied all weekend but their babysitter had let them down.

There was also criticism of the social services and health visitors and an investigation launched after it emerged the boy was placed on an at-risk register at the age of two months because he was seriously underweight.

But social services ended contact with him when he started to attend nursery.

The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was put up for adoption and now, aged four, has started school.


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[JohnCenaFan28]

What the hell was that woman thinking?

[JohnCenaFan28]

Martian soil appears to contain sufficient nutrients to support life - or, at least, asparagus - Nasa scientists believe.



Preliminary analysis by the $420m (£210m) Phoenix Mars Lander mission on the planet's soil found it to be much more alkaline than expected.

Scientists working on the spacecraft project said they were "flabbergasted" by the discovery.

The find has raised hopes conditions on Mars may be favourable for life.

"We basically have found what appears to be the requirements, the nutrients, to support life, whether past, present or future," said Sam Kounaves, the project's lead chemist, from the University of Arizona.

Exciting data

Although he said further tests would have to be conducted, Mr Kounaves said the soil seemed "very friendly… there is nothing about it that is toxic," he said.

"It is the type of soil you would probably have in your back yard - you know, alkaline. You might be able to grow asparagus in it really well."

As well as being far less acidic than anticipated, the soil was also found to contain traces of magnesium, sodium, potassium and other elements.

"We were all flabbergasted at the data we got back," said Mr Kounaves. "It is very exciting for us."

The analysis is based on a cubic centimetre of soil scooped from 2.5cm (one inch) below Mars' surface by the lander's robotic arm.

The sample was then tested using the "wet chemistry" technique, which involves mixing the soil with water brought from Earth and heating the sample in one of the lander's eight ovens.

Ice stores

After a 10-month flight from Earth, Phoenix touched down successfully on Mars' northern plains on 25 May, to undertake a three-month study of the planet's geological history.

The Arctic location where Phoenix touched down is thought to hold large stores of water-ice just below the surface.

Last week, scientists said they were positive there was ice on the planet after eight dice-sized chunks were seen melting away in a series of photographs.

But Phoenix has so far not detected organic carbon - considered an essential building block of life.

BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

The operation to recover hundreds of bodies inside a sunken Philippine ferry has been suspended after a highly toxic pesticide was found to be on board.



Ten tonnes of endosulfan were illegally in the cargo, destined for a Del Monte pineapple plantation, officials said.

Whether the ferry operator, Sulpicio Lines, knew of the toxic cargo is unclear, though a senior official warned it could face prosecution.

Only 56 of more than 850 passengers are known to have survived the disaster.

The MV Princess of the Stars controversially left Manila harbour on 21 June despite the approaching Typhoon Fengshen.

Additional danger

It ran aground off Sibuyan island in the central Philippines, and is thought to have sunk in under 30 minutes, leaving hundreds of passengers trapped inside.

The divers who have been working in dark and dangerous conditions all week to remove the dead from the upturned ferry are now faced with a new threat, says the BBC's Michael Barker in Manila.

Exposure to endosulfan, an insecticide, has been blamed for mental and genetic disorders, skin diseases and nervous disorders, and even death.

Vice-President Noli de Castro said the consignment aboard the ferry had been bound for pineapple plantations of Del Monte Philippines.

He said the ferry operator had "a lot to answer for", AFP news agency reported, and warned it could face legal action over the breach.

Del Monte Philippines said in a statement: "While this cargo is owned by Del Monte Philippines, it was still enroute for delivery to Del Monte and was therefore outside its control at the time of the accident."

The firm said that, unknown to Del Monte Philippines, the endosulfan cargo had been loaded by Sulpicio Lines on to the wrong vessel.

The statement continued: "Upon learning that our cargo was loaded in the ill-fated MV Princess of the Stars, we immediately informed the Fertiliser and Pesticide Authority."

Challenging operation

Officials have imposed a fishing ban in the waters around the stricken vessel, but said tests so far had shown no sign of the chemical.

The suspension of dive operations means the recovery of bodies, which had been expected to take a month, is now likely to take even longer, with more agony for relatives of those lost.

Special chemical-resistant diving suits have been ordered from Singapore to help trace the chemical cargo.

But the operation will be difficult - only the tip of the seven-storey ship's bow is above the water line, with the stern resting on the edge of a reef. At least 100,000 litres of fuel are also thought to be on board.

The sinking is one of the country's worst maritime disasters, and a marine inquiry is underway into the cause of the tragedy.

Sulpicio Lines has figured in three other previous sea disasters, including a collision between a ferry and an oil tanker in 1987 that killed over 4,000 people.

BBC News

[Black Widow]

A British man who put his "entire life" up for sale online after his marriage ended has sold all his belongings for £200,000.

Ian Usher, who emigrated to Australia six years ago, decided to sell his house, car, job and friends to the highest bidder as he tries to make a fresh start.

The 44-year-old's possessions were estimated to be worth $420,000Aus.

But the lot only attracted a peak offer of $399,300Aus when bids closed on eBay.

Speaking after agreeing the fee, Mr Usher insisted he did not regret making an apparent loss.

He said: "I am relatively pleased but I thought it would go a bit higher, if I'm honest.

"But I've no regrets. What's done is done and I'm looking forward to sorting this all out."

Offers on the 'life lot' rocketed to over $2mAus within hours of the sale's start last Sunday.

However, Mr Usher and eBay had to introduce a registration system to weed out the flurry of hoax bidders, many of which were teenage pranksters from the UK.

Up for auction was his three-bedroom home in the western Australian city of Perth and everything inside it, including his Mazda car, motorcycle, jet ski and parachuting gear.

He also sold an introduction to his friends and a trial run at his sales assistant job at rug shop, Jenny Jones Rugs.

Mr Usher said he would not reveal the identity of the buyer before he had made a private telephone call to him.

On the future, he added: "I've got some ideas. I'd like to do some travelling. I'd like to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower, it's one of a huge list of things I want to achieve."


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[JohnCenaFan28]

Those people who do those things are really stupid lol.

[Black Widow]

Portuguese detectives are dropping the Madeleine McCann case due to lack of evidence, according to media reports in the country.

Two Portuguese newspapers said the Public Prosecutor's office intended to call off their search for the girl before July 14, when the customary official secrecy period covering the investigation ends.

Police could re-open the case if new evidence emerges, the papers said.

Both papers - Correio da Manha and Jornal de Noticias - cited unidentified police sources.

Madeleine disappeared on May 3, 2007, days before her fourth birthday.

She had been left sleeping in a holiday apartment as her parents Kate and Gerry dined with friends in a nearby tapas bar in the resort of Praia da Luz in southern Portugal.

Her parents were made formal suspects on September 7 last year in one of the many dramatic twists in the case. They insist Madeleine was abducted.

Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns' spokesman, told Sky News: "As usual, these are non-attributed sources and we have not heard this officially. But if it is true it's not before time - Kate and Gerry have suffered enough.

"Police should lift their arguido (suspect) status and should pass their information over to our investigators who continue to work on the case.

"We still need to find Madeleine."

Sky News' crime correspondent Martin Brunt said: "Don't expect any confirmation from the Portuguese police any time soon - but it does signal that they are coming to the end of the investigation.

"If the police stop treating the McCanns as suspects the couple would hope that more effort would be put into finding their little girl."

Another Briton, Robert Murat, was also declared a suspect in the case.

Portuguese journalist Rui Pinto de Almeida told Sky News: "This is a formal legal requirement in Portugal and there remains the possibility of re-opening the case."

The Expresso newspaper says on its website that, according to a police source, the report on the investigation has not reached any conclusions and does not say whether it is a case of abduction, homicide, or concealing of a body.

Another source told the newspaper: "In normal circumstances, with this sort of
a report, the decision would have to be to shelve it in the hope of getting better evidence in the future."

The final report is to go the Ministerio Publico in Portimao, where a decision will be taken in the coming days, according to the newspaper.


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