Abu Qatada deported from Britain
By Anonymous on Jul 07, 2013 03:16 am 6 July 2013 Last updated at 12:25 ET 
Abu Qatada indicated he would not fight his deportation after the treaty was ratified
Radical cleric Abu Qatada is expected to be deported to Jordan overnight to stand trial on terrorism charges.
He is due to board a military plane in the UK, which will take him back to his home country, in the early hours.
His deportation was approved after the UK and Jordan signed a treaty agreeing that evidence obtained through torture would not be used against him.
The legal battle to deport Qatada has lasted almost 10 years and has cost the UK more than £1.7m ($2.5m).
The 53-year-old cleric will be driven out of London's Belmarsh Prison on Saturday evening and taken to a waiting plane at RAF Northolt, in west London, the BBC understands.
He has not returned to Jordan since he fled to the UK 20 years ago.
The Palestinian-Jordanian, whose real name is Omar Othman, lost his appeal against deportation at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) in February 2007.
But he then appealed to higher courts on the grounds that evidence extracted through torture would be used against him in Jordan, where he faces a retrial for plotting bomb attacks.
That legal battle continued until May this year, when the cleric accepted that his right to a fair trial there was protected by the new treaty between Jordan and the UK.
He agreed to drop his legal challenge, paving the way for his deportation.
The final administrative procedures needed to ratify the treaty - which included an exchange of diplomatic letters between the UK and Jordan and the publication of the treaty in the Jordanian government's Official Gazette - have now been completed.
Qatada is being held at Belmarsh after breaching a bail condition in March which restricted his use of mobile phones and other communication devices.
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Murray prepares for second Wimbledon final
By Anonymous on Jul 06, 2013 09:37 am 
By Piers Newbery BBC Sport at Wimbledon
WIMBLEDON 2013 MEN'S FINAL
- Venue: All England Club, London
- Date: Sunday, 7 July
- Time: 14:00 BST
Coverage: Live on BBC TV, 3D, BBC HD Channel, Red Button, BBC Radio 5 live, plus the BBC Sport website, tablet, mobile and connected TV.
Andy Murray will have to beat world number one Novak Djokovic if he is to win his first Wimbledon title and end Britain's 77-year-wait for a men's champion on Sunday.
The top two seeds will meet on Centre Court at 14:00 BST, and Murray will hope to go one better than losing to Roger Federer in last year's final.
"I think I'll be probably in a better place mentally," said the Scot.
Head-to-head
| Murray | | Djokovic |
|---|
| 2 | Ranking | 1 |
| Runner-up 2012 | Best at Wimbledon | Winner 2011 |
| 1 | Grand Slam titles | 6 |
| £18,341,481 | Career earnings | £33,692,379 |
| 112-28 | Career Grand Slam record | 152-28 |
| 72-14 | Career record on grass | 53-14 |
| 33-5 | 2013 record | 39-5 |
| 14-6 | 2013 tie-break record | 15-5 |
"I would hope so just because I've been there before."
He added: "I've won a Grand Slam - I would hope I would be a little bit calmer going into Sunday."
All 15,000 tickets for Centre Court have already been sold, but spectators began queuing in the early hours of Saturday morning just to get inside the All England Club and grab a place in front of the big screen.
The television audience peaked at 13.2 million for Murray's semi-final win - the highest BBC figures of 2013 - but those heading out to watch the final can at least be fairly certain that rain will not be a factor, with the temperature forecast to push 30C during the match.
Murray, 26, practised for an hour at the nearby Aorangi Park courts on Saturday morning, running through drills with his coaching team of Ivan Lendl and Dani Vallverdu.
On Sunday he will join Fred Perry and Bunny Austin as the only British men to reach multiple Wimbledon finals since the knockout format was introduced in 1922 - but it is Perry's 1936 victory he is desperate to emulate.
The final will be the third in the last four Grand Slams involving Murray and Djokovic, with the Briton winning his first major title at last year's US Open and the Serb winning his sixth at the Australian Open in January.
Djokovic, a week younger than Murray, has an 11-7 record in previous matches between the pair, but was extended over nearly five hours in his semi-final win against Juan Martin Del Potro, while the Scot needed under three hours to beat Jerzy Janowicz.
Murray v Djokovic
- Djokovic has won 11 of 18 matches.
- Murray won the only meeting on grass, beating the Serb in last year's Olympic semi-final.
- Djokovic has won three of four Grand Slam encounters against the Briton.
- All three of Djokovic's Grand Slam wins over Murray were at the Australian Open (2011, 2012, 2013)
"I favour Murray," three-time champion John McEnroe told BBC Sport.
"I think that the physical aspect of Djokovic's semi-final is going to have some impact. Novak is a truly, truly great player - both of these guys are - but I think the crowd is going to give Andy that extra 5-10%.
"When you toss all that into the mix, it's going to be a fantastic final, but at the end of the day I think Murray is ready. He's ready to finally do it."
Murray can take confidence from a 17-match winning streak on grass that includes his only meeting with Djokovic on the surface, a straight-sets win in last year's Olympic semi-final.
However, he has won just one of his five previous Grand Slam finals compared to Djokovic's six wins in 10 major finals, which include victory at Wimbledon two years ago.
"It's the biggest final in tennis that you can be a part of, so I'm very honoured to be playing in that match again," said Djokovic.
"You know, the 2011 experience and winning that trophy can maybe help me."
If any player can recover from the longest semi-final in Wimbledon history, it is the Serb, and he is not concerned about having most of the crowd against him.
"I know what to expect," said Djokovic. "He's a local hero. He has a big chance to win Wimbledon after a long time for this nation. People will be supporting him.
"I'm going to play against one of the biggest tennis players in the world in last five years. I'm ready for it."
Read in browser » Jet crash-lands at San Francisco
By Anonymous on Jul 07, 2013 03:38 am 6 July 2013 Last updated at 15:17 ET 
A Boeing 777 aircraft has crash landed at San Francisco international airport.
Reports say the jet performed an emergency landing following a fire on board. There is no word so far on casualties,
TV pictures are showing plumes of smoke rising from the aircraft - operated by the South Korean airline Asiana. Firefighters are at the scene.
Read in browser » At least one dead in train explosion
By Anonymous on Jul 06, 2013 10:04 pm 6 July 2013 Last updated at 11:32 ET 
A train carrying petrochemicals has exploded in a Canadian town, forcing the evacuation of up to 1,000 people.
The blast sent a fireball and black smoke into the air, destroying dozens of buildings in Lac-Megantic, some 155 miles (250 km) east of Montreal.
The train derailed early on Saturday; emergency services who worked through the night said they could not tell if there were any casualties.
Firefighters from across the border in the US are helping tackle the blaze.
"When you see the centre of your town almost destroyed, you'll understand that we're asking ourselves how we are going to get through this event," an emotional Mayor Colette Roy-Laroche told a televised news briefing.
The train had 70 cars filled with petroleum products, some of which exploded, prompting fires in nearby homes.
It is not clear what caused the explosion.
Some of the train's cargo spilled into the nearby Chaudiere river, said Environment Quebec spokesman Christian Blanchette.
The train was reportedly destined for Maine.
Lac-Megantic, a lakeside town close to the border with Maine and Vermont, is home to some 6,000 people.
Read in browser » Doubts over Egypt PM appointment
By Anonymous on Jul 06, 2013 06:32 pm 6 July 2013 Last updated at 12:59 ET
Leading liberal Egyptian politician Mohamed ElBaradei is to be named prime minister, presidential sources say.
The reports on Mena state news agency come three days after the army removed Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, following widespread protests.
The move in turn triggered mass unrest by supporters of Mr Morsi in which more than 30 people died on Friday.
Mr ElBaradei, a former head of the UN nuclear watchdog, leads an alliance of liberal and left-wing parties.
Read in browser » Miliband vow to 'mend' union link
By Anonymous on Jul 06, 2013 10:27 pm 6 July 2013 Last updated at 18:08 ET 
Mr McCluskey urged the Labour leader to stop his "attack on Unite"
Labour leader Ed Miliband should "step back from the brink of a ruinous division", the Unite union's general secretary Len McCluskey has said.
In an article for the Sunday Mirror, Mr McCluskey accused Mr Miliband of playing into the hands of the Tories by prolonging a row with his union.
Labour has asked the police to look at alleged irregularities in a candidate selection race in Falkirk.
Mr McCluskey said in the article that no "criminal wrongdoing" had occurred.
According to an internal Labour report, Unite members were being signed up to the local party without their knowledge in a bid to rig the contest.
But Mr McCluskey complained that the union had been "smeared by the usual suspects - the Tories and the right-wing media, who want to see both trade unions and Labour weakened.
"Shamefully, some in Labour's own ranks have joined in."
The party's investigation into events at Falkirk was a "shoddy fraud", he said.
"For the record, Unite has worked entirely within the rules in Falkirk," Mr McCluskey added.
"Let me be clear, we are happy to cooperate with the police, but we reject the idea that any criminal wrongdoing has occurred."
'Hubristic and irresponsible' Mr McCluskey said: "Unite is proud that it is trying to reclaim Labour from the people that bought in to the free-market myth wholesale, who bet the country's future on the City of London - and who sometimes fiddled their expenses while they were at it."
Parliament had become "increasingly the preserve of an out-of-touch elite - Oxbridge-educated special advisers who glide from university to think tank to the green benches [of the House of Commons] without ever sniffing the air of the real world", he said.
"That is what Unite is trying to change. We want to give our democracy back to ordinary working people."
The row began after Falkirk MP Eric Joyce was convicted of assault in a Commons bar and announced he would not stand for election again in 2015.
After alleged irregularities in the selection process to find the next Labour candidate for Falkirk, Labour HQ intervened but, after taking legal advice, has decided not to say why it has involved police.
Meanwhile, Mr Joyce accused Unite union officials of acting arrogantly and irresponsibly.
"The amateur, hubristic and irresponsible actions of a small number of Unite officials at the top of the organisation will require some rules to be changed to prevent another Falkirk," he wrote in an article for the Guardian.
Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps said if wrongdoing had taken place in Falkirk then selection procedures should be suspended "in all the other seats that Unite have been trying to rig".
Mr Shapps said: "This is serious because it goes right to the heart of the way Labour selects potential MPs. The police are involved, because what has happened represents a fundamental attack on our democracy.
"People are shocked by the turmoil in the Labour party but Miliband's response isn't now just weak, it's also two-faced."
Falkirk selection row: Who's who? 
Ed Miliband: In 2011, the Labour leader made Tom Watson deputy chairman of the Labour Party and 2015 general election co-ordinator, to oversee the selection of Labour parliamentary candidates.
Tom Watson MP: The former union official resigned as election co-ordinator over the Falkirk selection inquiry. He told Mr Miliband he was also tired of the shadow cabinet "merry-go-round". He has close ties to Unite's Len McCluskey.
Karie Murphy: Tom Watson's office manager and Unite's preferred candidate for Falkirk. She has been suspended by the party along with Falkirk party chairman Stephen Deans.
Len McCluskey: Unite general secretary and Mr Watson's former flat mate. He denies that Unite tried to sway the selection by filling the local party with members. Unions had been able to sign up members to the party and pay their fees.
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