Three UK soldiers die in Afghanistan
By Anonymous on May 01, 2013 03:27 am 1 May 2013 Last updated at 01:21 ET 
Three soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan after their vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device in Helmand, the Ministry of Defence says.
They were from the Royal Highland Fusiliers, the 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland. Their next of kin have been informed.
The soldiers, who died on Tuesday, were travelling in a mastiff vehicle.
The number of UK service personnel to have died since operations in Afghanistan began in 2001 is now 444.
The MoD says the three soldiers were evacuated by air to the military hospital at Camp Bastion but their lives could not be saved.
The spokesman for Task Force Helmand, Major Richard Morgan, says their deaths come as a great loss to all those serving in Task Force Helmand, and that their thoughts and prayers go out to the soldiers' family and friends at this difficult time.
An MoD spokesman says the incident underlines the threats faced by British personnel as they continue to hand over security operations to their Afghan counterparts, ahead of UK combat operations concluding by the end of next year.
It also says that security in Helmand is improving, with Afghan forces now responsible for the bulk of the province - but that the environment in which UK troops operate "remains risky and dangerous, including the threat of improvised explosive devices and insurgent attack".
The BBC's defence correspondent, Caroline Wyatt, says the mastiff has long been deemed one of the safest of all armoured vehicles.
This is the first time since last September that UK forces have had soldiers killed by improvised explosive devices, although members of the Afghan army and police, as well as civilians in Afghanistan, are often killed or maimed by roadside bombs.
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Rapid rise in global family disputes
By Anonymous on Apr 30, 2013 09:12 pm 30 April 2013 Last updated at 21:12 ET 
The biggest number of cases in 2012 involved European countries, the report said
The number of cross-border family legal disputes referred to a UK judge who offers global assistance in such cases has quadrupled in just four years.
The Head of International Family Justice for England and Wales handled 253 cases in 2012, up from 65 in 2008.
It says it is dealing with a wider range of issues - including child abduction, relocation, inter-country adoption and forced marriages.
Lord Justice Thorpe says it is because there are more international families.
The Office of the Head of International Family Justice describes itself as a "helpdesk", offering advice to judges and lawyers acting in international disputes, as well as negotiating with judges in other countries.
Continue reading the main story In the report - which Lord Justice Thorpe has co-written with Edward Bennett, the lawyer who supports him - he said the rise in requests for help was down to two factors.
Continue reading the main story 
Elsa - now 6 - was taken by her father, Tamer, from a holiday apartment in in Egypt in 2011.
Her mother Naomi Button says: "Tamer was against the divorce despite me asking for it for three years. Tamer wished me to give up all my parental rights and wanted he and Elsa to remain in Egypt.
"He said I could stay or go. I was distraught and felt powerless but I refused to sign the contract.
"From this point onwards, Tamer did not let Elsa and I out of his sight.
"At night, he locked us in the apartment and sat behind the bedroom door. He also had his brother guarding us.
"It was on 27 December that Tamer took Elsa from the apartment whilst I was on the balcony contacting family to alert them to what was happening.
"I was arranging for my brother to fly out to Egypt. I immediately tried to reach Tamer only to receive reassurance from him that he had taken Elsa to the local shops and that they would return to the apartment soon.
"I alerted the British Embassy although at this stage I expected them to return. I became increasingly anxious trying to contact by text and phone calls.
"Eventually Tamer had sent a text message to say that he had taken Elsa to a safe, undisclosed location and I would not see Elsa until I went to Cairo and signed an agreement giving up my parental responsibilities."
"The first is the ever increasing number of international family cases coming before the courts, necessitating assistance from an overseas judge or vice versa," he said.
"The second is the increasing awareness amongst judges and practitioners throughout the world of the service that the Office provides and the benefits it can bring."
Lord Justice Thorpe said co-operation between countries on family law was needed due to "globalisation, increasing movement of persons across borders, and the ever rising number of family units which are truly international".
In 2012, 127 cases involved European countries; 39 the Middle East and Asia; 35 the Caribbean, north, central and south America; 26 Africa and 15 Australia and New Zealand.
A total of 11 requests were not counted as they either did not relate to an international matter or just sought generic advice.
The country with the highest number of cases was Poland, with 14, followed by Pakistan (13) and Spain (12).
The report includes the case of a mother who had taken her children to France to prevent them from being taken into care.
They were found living on a waterlogged caravan site, were not attending school, were not registered with a doctor and the mother had no income.
In another case, the Office obtained the assurances of the Cypriot attorney general that a woman agreeing to return from Britain to Cyprus with her child would not be prosecuted by the Cypriot authorities.
Lord Justice Thorpe said: "We acknowledge, as would all individuals concerned or involved with family justice, the additional emotional distress that is caused to any family by the inclusion of an international dimension.
"It is incumbent upon anyone who works in such a sensitive area to try and find ways of mitigating such stress, to the extent that it is possible to do so."
Read in browser » British man dies on Greenland trek
By Anonymous on May 01, 2013 03:46 am 1 May 2013 Last updated at 02:01 ET
A British man has died during a trek across Greenland's ice sheet, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office has said.
Philip Goodeve-Docker was taking part in the expedition with two other British men, when it is believed they were engulfed in a severe snowstorm on Sunday.
The FCO said the other men were recovering in hospital.
Greenland is home to the second largest icecap in world.
On a fundraising webpage before setting out, Mr Goodeve-Docker said he and his fellow travellers would be conducting the expedition unsupported across what he described as one of the most dazzling, beautiful, yet barren and deadly landscapes in the world.
Read in browser » Independence 'risk' to UK reputation
By Anonymous on Apr 30, 2013 07:50 pm 30 April 2013 Last updated at 19:50 ET 
MPs urged the Foreign Office to highlight the consensual approach to the referendum
An independent Scotland would leave the rest of the UK's international reputation damaged, a committee of MPs has said.
A report by the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee also said the UK's influence in the EU may decline if there is a yes vote in the 2014 referendum.
MPs have urged the Foreign Office to act to limit the potential impact.
The Scottish government said the committee had been "selective" in its quoting of the evidence.
Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon pointed to the fact the report was compiled by politicians who all opposed independence.
The Foreign Affairs Committee has been looking into the potential implications of Scottish independence. Its report concluded there were risks for the rest of the UK, particularly on the international stage.
It stated: "It is difficult to measure the impact on the rUK's (rest of UK's) international standing and influence in the event of Scotland becoming an independent country but we conclude that some degree of reputational damage is inevitable."
Trident removal The committee urged the Foreign Office to take action ahead of the referendum to highlight to other countries and international organisations, the consensual approach to the referendum, "with a view to minimising the risk of damage to the UK's reputation".
It added: "Witnesses did agree that the way in which the rUK handled 'the business of the break-up' would significantly influence how much reputational damage and loss of prestige the rUK suffered internationally."
The committee also highlighted the SNP's commitment to removing the Trident nuclear missile system from Scotland and said this could have significant consequences for both an independent Scotland and the rest of the UK.
It said pressure from international partners and post-independence negotiations over Scotland's share of the UK's assets and liabilities could limit the SNP's ambition for a speedy removal of Trident and "could mean that Scotland might not be nuclear-free for another generation".
While UK ministers have said they are committed to maintaining Trident, committee witnesses said the costs may be so prohibitive that a nuclear-free Scotland could precipitate full UK disarmament.
The report said: "Any resulting disarmament by the rUK would be received badly by the UK's key allies and could create problems for Scotland with other Nato and EU members as it forged a path as a new state."
In their report, the MPs also called for "more candour" from the Scottish government about what people in Scotland would lose and what it could realistically deliver, in foreign policy terms.
'Constructive aspects' Committee chairman Richard Ottaway, Conservative MP for Croydon South, said: "At the moment, there are some quite worrying gaps in the Scottish government's foreign policy vision and certain assumptions are being made which don't seem to be based on concrete evidence.
"No-one is doubting that Scotland could be a fully-fledged member of the international community but there is a real and urgent need for more information about the risks and costs involved.
The committee has been looking at the impact of a yes vote in the independence referendum
"A full and candid debate on the international implications of Scottish independence is now needed so that Scottish voters have the full facts before them when they vote in the referendum."
Ms Sturgeon said the report had "some constructive aspects", including a suggestion that UN membership is likely to be "swift and unproblematic", that Scotland "could play a valuable role in Europe", and that it could in principle set up a "successful diplomatic service".
She said: "These are rare examples of balance in a report that is clearly written from the partisan perspective of a group inherently opposed to the concept of independence and primarily concerned with protecting the interests, what it sees as the status, the prestige and crucially the pro-Trident position of the UK."
Ms Sturgeon agreed with the committee's call for the UK government to engage more proactively with the referendum debate.
Read in browser » S Africa criticises UK aid decision
By Anonymous on May 01, 2013 03:29 am 29 April 2013 Last updated at 23:26 ET 
Justine Greening will make the announcement about South African funding at a conference in London
International Development Secretary Justine Greening is to announce that the UK will stop giving direct aid to South Africa in 2015.
The government's aid programme to South Africa is currently worth £19m a year.
This funding has focused on reducing the mortality rate among women giving birth, as well as supporting businesses.
The UK's relationship with South Africa should now be based on trade and not development, Ms Greening will say.
At its peak, the UK's aid for South Africa was more than £40m in 2003.
Ms Greening will make the announcement at a conference of African ministers and business leaders in London on Tuesday.
"South Africa has made enormous progress over the past two decades, to the extent that it is now the region's economic powerhouse and Britain's biggest trading partner in Africa," she will say.
"We are proud of the work the UK has done in partnership with the South African government, helping the country's transition from apartheid to a flourishing, growing democracy.
"I have agreed with my South African counterparts that South Africa is now in a position to fund its own development.
"It is right that our relationship changes to one of mutual co-operation and trade, one that is focused on delivering benefits for the people of Britain and South Africa as well as for Africa as a whole."
Read in browser » Cable wants RBS prosecution decision
By Anonymous on May 01, 2013 03:20 am 30 April 2013 Last updated at 19:04 ET 
Vince Cable said public interest in the banking sector had not dissipated
Business Secretary Vince Cable has written to the Scottish legal authorities urging a rapid decision on whether to prosecute former directors of Royal Bank of Scotland.
Mr Cable said the matter had been referred to them in January last year.
He said he was very keen for a decision to be reached as quickly as possible to maintain public confidence.
RBS, which has its headquarters in Edinburgh, needed a £45.5bn taxpayer-funded bailout in October 2008.
In December 2011, a report by banking regulator the Financial Services Authority (FSA) said RBS, which owns Nat West and Ulster Bank, was brought to its knees by "multiple poor decisions" and a £50bn "gamble" on buying Dutch bank ABN Amro.
The report shone a light on the poor relations between the FSA and RBS and said chief executive Fred Goodwin's "assertive and robust" management style was flagged as a potential risk as early as 2003, four years before the disastrous ABN Amro deal.
The Royal Bank of Scotland is now largely owned by the taxpayer
In January 2012, a month after the FSA report, Mr Goodwin was stripped of the knighthood he was awarded for services to banking.
Months later, the Crown Office in Scotland confirmed an investigation had been under way for some time because of "the degree of public concern about recently reported issues in the banking sector".
In a letter to Westminster's top Scottish law officer - Advocate General for Scotland, Lord Wallace - Mr Cable asked for an update on the progress of the case but insisted he was "not seeking to influence the outcome" of the legal process.
The business secretary told his fellow Liberal Democrat: "There is, as you will know, considerable public concern about the actions of the directors of RBS prior to its insolvency.
"Following the release of the FSA's report into the failure of RBS I sought legal advice on what if any enforcement action was appropriate and was advised that the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) should consider a possible prosecution.
"Given that this matter was referred to them in January 2012, I am very keen for a decision to be reached as quickly as possible in order to maintain public confidence in the efficiency of the decision-making process."
Mr Goodwin was in charge of RBS in the run-up to its near collapse in 2008
Mr Cable added that "public and media interest in the banking sector and RBS have not dissipated".
Earlier this month more than 12,000 private shareholders and 100 institutional investors raised a class action against the bank.
It relates to a £12bn rights issue by RBS in 2008 to shore up its balance sheet after its disastrous acquisition of ABN Amro.
Mr Goodwin is among those named in the action, along with ex-chairman Sir Tom McKillop and senior figures Johnny Cameron and Guy Whittaker.
Mr Cable has already instructed officials at his own department to look at the downfall of HBOS and whether there are grounds for banning former directors from holding boardroom positions.
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