Miliband urges union links overhaul
By Anonymous on Jul 08, 2013 06:59 pm 8 July 2013 Last updated at 17:00 ET 
Ed Miliband will criticise union leaders for encouraging "machine politics"
Ed Miliband will promise to make politics more "open, transparent and trusted" by reforming Labour's relationship with trade unions.
The party leader will pledge to abolish the automatic "affiliation" fee paid by three million union members to Labour.
Mr Miliband will also say the selection of parliamentary candidates should be widened, with the general public helping to choose them.
It follows a row with the Unite union over picking a candidate in Falkirk.
Unite, one of the party's biggest donors, is accused of signing up its members to Labour in Falkirk - some without their knowledge - in an effort to get its preferred candidate selected.
The union's leader Len McCluskey denies people were recruited without knowing about it, and says Unite worked within the rules.
'Death throes' In his speech on Tuesday, Mr Miliband will call for a system which is "open, transparent and trusted - exactly the opposite of the politics we saw in Falkirk. That was a politics closed, a politics of the machine, a politics hated - and rightly so.
"What we saw in Falkirk is part of the death throes of the old politics. It is a symbol of what is wrong with politics. I want to build a better Labour Party - and build a better politics for Britain."
He will call for an end to affiliation fees - where members of supportive unions pay an automatic levy to Labour unless they opt out - and instead involve only those who "deliberately" choose to join the party.
The fees are worth about £8m a year to Labour. Insiders estimate making them non-automatic would cost the party about £5m.
Mr Miliband will say: "We need to do more, not less, to mobilise individual trade union members to be part of our party: the three million shop workers, nurses, engineers, bus drivers, construction workers, people from the public and private sector, that are affiliated to the Labour Party.
"The problem is not that these ordinary working men and women dominate the Labour Party. The problem is that they are not properly part of all that we do. They are not members of local parties; they are not active in our campaigns."
The Labour leader will argue that unions should have political funds "for all kinds of campaigns and activities as they choose" but individual members should not pay Labour any fees "unless they have deliberately chosen to do so".
He will add: "I believe we need people to be able to make a more active, individual, choice on whether they affiliate to the Labour Party.
"So we need to set a new direction in our relationship with trade union members in which they choose to join Labour through the affiliation fee: they would actively choose to be individually affiliated members of the Labour Party and they would no longer be automatically affiliated."
'Strict' This could raise the current Labour membership from the current 200,000 to a "far higher number", Mr Miliband will say.
He will also promise to look at the idea of holding open "primaries", where all adults, not just party members, can vote for the selection of a candidate in their constituency.
He will say such a system will be used to select Labour's runner for the London mayoralty in 2016.
Mr Miliband will argue the party should impose a code of conduct for those seeking selection and "strict" spending limits on them and organisations backing them.
There must also be "standard constituency agreements with trade unions so that no-one can be subjected to undue local pressure", he will say.
An internal party inquiry found evidence Unite officials had signed up new members without their knowledge, breaching party rules, to try and get their favoured candidate elected. Mr McCluskey has said he has "no trust" in the probe.
Labour has insisted the episode is a one-off but said it showed the need for wider reforms to candidate selection.
The Conservatives have said Labour must publish the Falkirk report and refuse to take any more money from the unions until an entirely new system of funding is agreed.
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Court to rule on Bamber life term
By Anonymous on Jul 09, 2013 03:28 am 8 July 2013 Last updated at 19:05 ET 
Jeremy Bamber's appeal is being heard with that of two other men
The European Court of Human Rights is due to rule on whether murderer Jeremy Bamber and two other killers should have their life sentences reviewed.
Bamber, along with serial killer Peter Moore and Douglas Vinter, argue that the whole life tariff is "inhuman".
The court has previously ruled that such sentences do not violate a prisoner's human rights, but the matter was referred to its grand chamber for the final say.
The ruling is expected at 09:30 BST.
The three men are among a group of 49 people in England and Wales who are serving whole life tariffs.
This means they cannot be released other than at the discretion of the secretary of state on compassionate grounds - for example, if they are terminally ill or seriously incapacitated.
They claim that being denied any prospect of release amounts to "inhuman and degrading" treatment and this is a violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
They say they should be entitled to have their tariffs reviewed.
Continue reading the main story What is a whole life tariff?
- Offenders who receive a whole life tariff cannot be released other than at the discretion of the secretary of state on compassionate grounds - for example, if they are terminally ill or seriously incapacitated
- They are not eligible for a parole review or release
- However, prisoners can have their sentence reduced on appeal
- The sentence is reserved for offenders judged to be the most dangerous to society
- 49 people are currently serving whole life tariffs
- These include the Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe and Moors Murderer Ian Brady
- Serial killer Rosemary West is the only women currently serving a whole life sentence
- The most recent murderers to receive the sentence are Mark Bridger, who killed five-year-old April Jones, and Dale Cregan who murdered two police officers
The case was referred to the grand chamber after the men narrowly lost their first European Court hearing in 2012: three of the seven judges ruled in their favour.
The court's first ruling concluded that the men's sentences were not "grossly disproportionate".
Bamber was jailed for murdering five members of his family in Essex in 1985.
He has always protested his innocence and claims his schizophrenic sister Sheila Caffell shot her family before turning the gun on herself.
Moore killed four gay men for his sexual gratification in north Wales in 1995.
In 2008, Vintner admitted killing his wife Anne White. He had been released from prison in 2005 after serving nine years for murdering a colleague.
Last year, the Court of Appeal in London upheld the principle of whole life sentences for the most dangerous of offenders, saying it did not breach human rights.
At the time, the Lord Chief Justice said jail without the possibility of release should be "reserved for the few exceptionally serious offences".
He said judges must be convinced those sentenced to whole life need to be held forever for punishment and retribution.
Read in browser » Egypt interim leader sets poll plan
By Anonymous on Jul 08, 2013 07:43 pm 8 July 2013 Last updated at 17:52 ET 
Mohammad Morsi's supporters accuse the army of staging a coup
Egypt's interim leader has outlined his timetable for new elections, amid continuing unrest in the country.
Adly Mansour's decree says a panel to amend the constitution must be formed within 15 days and general elections could then be held by February.
This comes as at least 51 people were killed in the capital Cairo.
The Muslim Brotherhood says its members were fired on at a sit-in for ousted President Mohammad Morsi. The army says it responded to an armed provocation.
Mr Morsi, an Islamist and Egypt's first freely elected leader, was removed from office by the army last week after mass protests.
His supporters accuse the military of staging a coup, but his opponents say the move is the continuation of the revolution that ousted President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
Read in browser » Pakistan 'incompetent' on Bin Laden
By Anonymous on Jul 09, 2013 02:56 am 8 July 2013 Last updated at 19:18 ET 
Some believed the failure to capture or kill Bin Laden was the result of collusion by Pakistani officials
Incompetence and negligence allowed Osama Bin Laden to live in Pakistan undetected for almost a decade, a leaked government report suggests.
A version of the report leaked to al-Jazeera says the killing of Bin Laden by US forces was a "criminal act of murder" ordered by the US president.
It also reveals details of the al-Qaeda leader's whereabouts and day-to-today life after fleeing Afghanistan in 2001.
Bin Laden was killed by US forces in north-west Pakistan in May 2011.
US suspicions about Bin Laden's location had previously been dismissed by Pakistan. However, his discovery in a compound in Abbottabad and subsequent killing in a US Navy Seal operation put a strain on US-Pakistan relations.
'Humiliation' Shortly after the raid, the Pakistan parliament called for an independent enquiry - the Abbottabad Commission - to establish whether the failures of the government were due to incompetency or colluding with al-Qaeda.
It was also commissioned to investigate the Pakistani intelligence services' failure to detect CIA activity on its soil in the run up to the raid "that culminated in the avoidable humiliation of the people of Pakistan".
At least 25 people were living in the Abbottabad compound, north-west Pakistan
In its findings, the report described the lack of intelligence as "government implosion syndrome".
The leaked documents fiercely criticized the Pakistani government and military, describing "culpable negligence and incompetence at almost all levels of government".
While the commission said it found nothing to support allegations of complicity, it said it could not rule out "the possibility of some degree of connivance inside or outside the government".
The report also voiced harsh criticism of the Navy Seal raid on Abbottabad, describing it as an "American act of war" and Pakistan's "greatest humiliation" since East Pakistan seceded in 1971.
It quotes officials as saying that Pakistan air force jets were scrambled to shoot down the US helicopters, but too late.
The 336-page document was the result of interviews with over 200 witnesses, including senior civilian and military officials, as well as with Bin Laden's three widows prior to their deportation to Saudi Arabia.
The report has been in the hands of the government for more than six years, the BBC's Richard Galpin says, but it had been kept under wraps.
Cowboy hat In the version leaked to al-Jazeera, the daily life of Bin Laden after fleeing the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 is documented.
The report details the frugal lifestyle of Bin Ladin and his family, with "minimum security" at his compound
He was reported to have arrived in Pakistan in the spring or summer of 2002, staying in parts of South Waziristan, Bajaur, Peshawar, Swat and Haripur before settling in Abbottabad in 2005.
Referring to Bin Laden and his entourage, the report said: "They kept a very low profile and lived extremely frugally. They never exposed themselves to public view."
Testimony from his widows said he wore a cowboy hat whilst moving around the compound to avoid detection.
However, over a period of six years the unusual nature of the compound failed to the draw the attention of the intelligence services, the report goes on.
"How the entire neighbourhood, local officials, police and security and intelligence officials all missed the size, the strange shape, the barbed wire, the lack of cars and visitors etc over a period of nearly six years beggars belief."
Commenting on the leak, the head of the commission, Javed Iqbal, told Pakistani Dunya TV that it was "based on assumptions" and did not include even one out of more than 100 recommendations the commission had made in its findings.
Read in browser » April Jones killer attacked in jail
By Anonymous on Jul 08, 2013 11:55 pm 8 July 2013 Last updated at 23:55 ET 
Mark Bridger was given a whole life sentence
Mark Bridger, the man found guilty of abducting and murdering five-year-old April Jones, has been slashed in the throat by a fellow inmate.
The 47-year-old was attacked with a makeshift blade as he walked along a gangway at Wakefield Prison in West Yorkshire on Sunday.
Bridger was treated in hospital, where he required stitches.
The Ministry of Justice confirmed a prisoner was taken to hospital and that police were investigating.
April disappeared while playing near her home in Machynlleth, Powys, last October, sparking the biggest missing person search in UK police history.
But despite the fact that search experts, officers from 46 police forces and hundreds of members of the public scoured 650 areas near her home town, her body has never been found.
Bridger will spend his whole life in prison after he was found guilty of killing April in a sexually motivated attack.
He claimed he had accidentally run over April and could not recall where he had disposed of her body.
But a jury unanimously convicted him in a case lasting four-and-a-half weeks.
Read in browser » M&S clothing sales continue to fall
By Anonymous on Jul 09, 2013 03:17 am 9 July 2013 Last updated at 02:17 ET 
M&S holds its annual meeting on Tuesday
Marks and Spencer has reported a 0.3% rise in underlying sales for the latest quarter, as strong food sales offset a fall in clothing sales.
UK like-for-like sales rose 1.8% at its food business, but general merchandise - which includes clothing, footwear and homewares - fell 1.6%.
Chief executive Mark Bolland said that food had "delivered another excellent performance".
M&S said it remained cautious about the outlook.
International sales rose 8.7%, although the problems in the eurozone affected sales in some areas.
The company holds its annual meeting later on Tuesday.
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