World News joined 0010

[JohnCenaFan28]

Britain may need to send troops to the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo if diplomatic efforts to find a solution to the crisis fail, a Foreign Office minister has warned.

Lord Malloch-Brown said that the UK and other European powers could not stand back if the fighting between government and rebel forces erupted again.

His comments came as Foreign Secretary David Miliband and his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner were embarking on a joint mission to the region to try to bring the warring parties together.

Lord Malloch-Brown said that while the priority was to find a diplomatic solution, contingency plans were being drawn up for the deployment of an EU force to bolster United Nations peacekeepers.

"We have certainly got to have it as an option which is developed and on the table if we need it," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"The first line of call on this should be the deployment of the UN's own troops from elsewhere in the country.

"But we have got to have plans. If everything else fails we cannot stand back and watch violence erupt.

"Britain is currently the so-called standby country which would indeed need to contribute."

Lord Malloch-Brown stressed that the deployment of EU troops was a last option if all else failed.

Nevertheless his comments are likely to alarm British commanders at time when the Army is stretched fighting on two fronts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

-Ananova

[JohnCenaFan28]

The BBC will lose public support if it pays enormous salaries like the £6 million earned by Jonathan Ross, the corporation's former director-general Greg Dyke has said.

He also said the suspension of star presenter Ross - who famously boasted his pay package was worth 1,000 BBC journalists - demonstrated "what goes around comes around".

But Mr Dyke said the resignation of Radio 2 controller Lesley Douglas was a "serious loss" and arguably "deeply unfair", and that the corporation lacked leadership "at the very top" during this week's lewd calls furore.

Writing in the Times, he said: "If the BBC is to pay enormous sums to artists, such as the £6 million a year it pays to Ross for, to be fair, an enormous amount of presenting work, then it must understand that it will lose public support.

"There is always a price that is too high for a publicly funded organisation to pay."

Mr Dyke - who led the BBC before current boss Mark Thompson - said Ross's pay package was prompted by a £4.5 million offer from Channel 4. "The BBC should have said, very reluctantly, goodbye."

He advised Ross: "Don't say you are worth more than a thousand journalists even if it is a joke. Journalists are not known for their ability to laugh at themselves and what goes around comes around."

Mr Dyke resigned in 2004 after the Hutton Report and the row caused by claims by Today journalist Andrew Gilligan.

He said the BBC had "probably" not been damaged as a result of the lewd phone call scandal.

"Over the years the there have been many weeks like this and the BBC has survived and prospered," he said.

-Ananova

[JohnCenaFan28]

Sir Michael Parkinson has slammed presenters Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand for their "silly, obscene, tasteless and unfunny" phone calls.

The veteran chat show host said the calls to Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs were "indefensible".

He said he had no sympathy for 33-year-old Brand who was "generously called a comedian".

But he said Ross, 47, was "very good at his job" and would bounce back.

Sir Michael told Eamonn Holmes on Radio 5 Live: "Jonathan should have more oil in his lamp frankly, more sense. Jonathan has been through a lot of television.

"He's very good at his job but he's given to fits of madness now and again and I think he had one on this occasion. As for the other guy, I don't have an opinion on the other guy."

He said when Brand arrived at the BBC there was a feeling that "sooner or later it would put them in a very embarrassing situation".

Sir Michael expressed some sympathy for Radio 2 controller Lesley Douglas, who resigned over the affair, but added that "she was the one who invited him in".

He questioned the judgment of hiring someone who was sacked from MTV for coming to work dressed as Osama bin Laden after the 9/11 attacks.

"The facts are he did something that was silly, obscene, tasteless and unfunny," said Sir Michael. "He's generously called a comedian. I can't feel much sympathy for him."

-Ananova

[JohnCenaFan28]

Gordon Brown is due to urge Gulf states to do more to stabilise oil prices as he kicks off a visit to the region.

The Prime Minister will stress that the countries must maintain production levels to avoid "spikes" in prices like those which contributed to the recent global financial turmoil.

He will also insist they have a duty to use some of their massive oil wealth to help ease the impact of the credit crunch on the world economy.

Mr Brown's four-day tour comes amid fears that the International Monetary Fund's £155 billion reserves may not be enough for future bail-outs of struggling states.

The fund has already allocated about £18.6 billion in emergency loans to Iceland, Hungary and Ukraine, and Pakistan has signalled it may request aid in the next fortnight.

While Europe and the US face recession, Opec members are estimated to have more than £311 billion in foreign exchange reserves stashed away.

The growing importance of Middle East capital was emphasised on Friday when it emerged that Barclays raised £7.3 billion from investors in the region to shore up its position.

Mr Brown will be joined for parts of his visit by Business Secretary Lord Mandelson, Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband and a delegation of senior executives from UK firms.

Downing Street said the PM would be emphasising the importance of "transparency and stability" in the oil price, and calling for "dialogue" between oil consumers and producers.

He will also urge Gulf states to invest in renewable energy sources "over the longer term", according to a spokesman.

-Ananova

[JohnCenaFan28]

Tests for the Clostridium difficile infection are missing up to 20% of cases and falsely diagnosing thousands of others, researchers have said.

A study by St George's, University of London, and St George's Healthcare NHS Trust found that the six most commonly used tests for the hospital bug gave inaccurate results in a number of cases.

As a result of the findings, researchers have recommended that patients are subjected to two-stage testing in order to avoid misdiagnosis.

The study, which will be published on The Lancet's Infectious Diseases website and in the December issue of the medical journal, reviewed 18 studies of the effectiveness of the current tests.

Scientists found that as many as 20% of positive results for C diff may be false - meaning that around 11,000 patients may have been falsely diagnosed with the infection in the last year. Tests were also found to be missing up to 20% of real C diff cases, leading to infected patients not receiving the right treatment and potentially passing the infection on to others.

C diff is a hospital-acquired infection which can lead to diarrhoea and severe inflammation of the bowel and can be fatal. Patients on antibiotics and the elderly are most at risk, with over 80% of those infected with C diff being over 65.

Currently, patients across the NHS are diagnosed with a single test, based on the level of a toxin produced by the bacteria in stool samples, but St George's Hospital has been piloting a two-stage testing process over the past six months.

Researchers said the first test in this two-stage process would be a quick test to weed out negative results. Patients who tested positive in the first test would then be given a second test in order to identify any false-positive results.

Dr Timothy Planche, lead author of the study and consultant in medical microbiology at St George's Healthcare NHS Trust, said: "A false negative result could mean that infected patients don't get the right treatment and could pass the infection on to others.

"Conversely, patients receiving a false positive result may receive inappropriate treatment and be placed in wards along with infected patients, putting them at risk of contracting the infection."

-Ananova

[JohnCenaFan28]

The SAS commander in Afghanistan has resigned it has been disclosed, amid fresh controversy over the equipment available to British troops fighting the Taliban.

The Daily Telegraph reported that Major Sebastian Morley was quitting in disgust over the deaths of four of his soldiers who were killed when their lightly armoured Snatch Land Rover hit a landmine in Helmand province earlier this year.

Defence sources insisted that his departure was for "purely personal reasons".

However, it is understood that he was unhappy at the continued use of the Snatch, despite its obvious vulnerability.

According to The Daily Telegraph, he believed that Corporal Sarah Bryant - the first female soldier to die in Afghanistan - and three male colleagues, the SAS soldiers, Corporal Sean Reeve, Lance Corporal Richard Larkin and Paul Stout, all died needlessly.

Shadow defence secretary Liam Fox said that it was the responsibility of the Government to minimise the risks to troops on the frontline.

"Gordon Brown's unwillingness to fund Tony Blair's war in Iraq has led to chronic misalignment between resources and commitments," he said.

"It is our brave fighting men and women who are having to bear the cost of Brown's lack of commitment. That we should be losing talented and experienced officers is a tragedy."

Liberal Democrat defence spokesman Nick Harvey said that the latest announcement of new armoured vehicles had come "tragically late".

"It's an admirable stand for Major Morley to take, but it might have had more effect if he'd taken it earlier," he said. "Many voices have been warning about the inadequacy of our vehicles in Afghanistan. The Government should have acted very much sooner."

-Ananova

[JohnCenaFan28]

Two men have been remanded in custody charged with the murder of a father-of-one who was shot dead at a nightclub.

Alfred Thompson, 26, of Oak Lane, in Whitefield, Manchester, and Silvino Salmon, 20, of Crondall Street, in the Moss Side area of Manchester, appeared at Bradford Magistrates' Court accused of murdering Damian Gordon.

Mr Gordon, 30, also known as Mikey, collapsed on the pavement outside Club Icon, on Westgate, in Bradford, after he was shot in the chest on August 3 this year.

He was pronounced dead a short time later in hospital.

Mr Gordon lived in the Swain House area of Bradford with his wife, Brenda, and their four-year-old son, Colbey.

Thompson and Salmon sat in the dock flanked by two security guards, with a further two guards sat between them.

The two defendants spoke only to confirm their names, addresses, dates of birth and ages during the hour-and-a-half hearing.

Friends and family sat in the public gallery of the court to listen as details of the charges were outlined to the magistrates.

Applications for bail were refused and the pair were remanded in custody to appear before Bradford Crown Court on November 7.

Owen Bell, 32, of Marlborough Road, in Salford, Greater Manchester, was charged with Mr Gordon's murder in August this year. He is currently remanded in custody awaiting trial.

-Ananova

[JohnCenaFan28]

After years of criticism and computer glitches the Child Support Agency is handing over its powers - and responsibility for billions of pounds in unpaid child support - to a new government agency.

The Child Maintenance Enforcement Commission takes over responsibility for recovering £3.8 billion in missed maintenance payments.

The Commission has pledged to recover £2 billion but has said that the remainder will probably never be paid.

A spokesman said: "Around half of the historic debt, about £2 billion, is collectable, along with the new and tougher enforcement powers the Commission will be taking on. The Commission will use its powers to the full to ensure that parents do not evade their responsibilities."

Child support payments are claimed directly from the absent mother or father, so lone parents lose out if they are not made.

The CSA currently collects £36 million in payment arrears per month, an increase of 40% in the past year. In total, around 68% of the money claimed is successfully paid.

Some parents make themselves untraceable to avoid paying out, the Commission spokesman said.

He said the Commission has no intention of asking the Government for permission to write off the debt.

The Commission will have new powers which will mean staff do not have to go to court to take action against parents who have failed to make payments.

It replaces the CSA, which was thrown into meltdown by a disastrous computer system change in 2003.

-Ananova

[JohnCenaFan28]

A woman charged with a terror offence is due to appear before magistrates in London.

Houria Chahed Chentouf is charged with possessing a computer memory stick, allegedly for terror-related purposes.

The 40-year-old, of Reynell Drive, Longsight, Manchester, was arrested on October 17 by Greater Manchester Police's Counter Terrorism Unit.

Her arrest came after police searched addresses in Manchester and Holland.

Police said she possessed documents which had prompted an investigation by British and Dutch authorities.

She was charged under the Terrorism Act 2000 with possessing an article which gave rise to suspicions that "the possession was for a purpose connected with the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism".

She will appear before City of Westminster Magistrates Court in London.

-Ananova

[DUKE NUKEM]

good thing they found her