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Sunday June 29, 2008

Todays Headlines

Cameron: no comment on Tories who invest in Zimbabwe

David Cameron has refused to comment on the revelation that six Tory MPs, three of whom are in the shadow cabinet, have shares in companies which trade in Zimbabwe. Mr Cameron told the Commons last week that individuals should not "prop up the regime". Meanwhile, in Zimbabwe an 11-month-old baby has had both legs broken for being the child of an opposition councillor. (Independent on Sunday, Sunday Times)
Zimbabwe Today: Mugabe to be sworn in today More
It's time to go in More
The failure of Nelson Mandela More

Labour party hit by two resignations

The Labour party has been hit by two resignations. Wendy Alexander, the party's leader in Scotland, announced she was stepping down in an emotional statement yesterday after a row over improperly-declared donations to her leadership campaign last year. And Glasgow East MP David Marshall will trigger a by-election after he quit for stress-related health reasons. (Sunday Telegraph)

Smith caught in police race row

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, is at the centre of a serious race row after she was asked to intervene and compel police forces to co-operate with an audit of the treatment of black and Muslim officers. Only half of the 43 police forces in England took part in the survey run by the Association of Muslim Police and think-tank Demos, despite an extended deadline. (Observer)

Designer baby in cancer first

A 27-year-old woman has become the first Briton to conceive a baby guaranteed to be free from hereditary breast cancer. The mother had her embryos screened for a gene which would have left her baby with a 50 to 85 per cent chance of developing cancer. Her husband's sister, mother, grandmother and cousin had all suffered from the disease, and he tested positive for the gene. (Sunday Times)

Anti-gay C of E church ‘not schism’

Traditionalists have created a new church, which they insist is not a schism, within the Anglican Communion in protest at the consecration of homosexual clergy, and blessing of gay marriages in the United States. The organisation, called the Gafcon movement, will include at least two Church of England bishops, and represent almost half the world's 80m Anglicans. (Sunday Telegraph)

Also in the News

Gordon Brown has demanded a U-turn on tax increases for older cars. Planned rises in vehicle excise duty for cars bought before 2001 will be dropped from Alistair Darling's pre-Budget report this autumn. More than 40 Labour backbenchers had threatened to rebel against the measure. (Independent on Sunday)
The Mole: Henley humiliation makes early reshuffle likely More

Professor Dinesh Bhugra, Britain's most eminent psychiatrist, has sharply criticised the state of the country's acute psychiatric care system, saying many in-patient units are unsafe, overcrowded and uninhabitable. He said he would not let his relatives be treated in them. (Observer)

The MoD is set to scrap the controversial 'Snatch' Land Rover, originally designed for use in Northern Ireland, in favour of another vehicle better equipped to cope with the threat of landmines and IEDs. Cpl Sarah Bryant and three SAS officers were killed in a Snatch two weeks ago. (Sunday Telegraph)
Robert Fox on how to modernise the British Army More

Prince Charles joined the families of 102 servicemen and women killed on duty last year for a commemoration which is set to become an annual fixture. The names were added to the £6m new Armed Forces Memorial in Staffordshire, opened last year by the Queen. (Sunday Times)

The ban on smoking in public buildings in England has led to a 22 per cent rise in the number of people successfully quitting the habit, research shows. Almost 235,000 people managed to stop smoking with NHS support between April and December of last year. (Observer)
Smoking was good for you More

Foreign drivers get away without paying 180,000 speeding and parking fines every year in the UK - a total of around £10m - figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show. Police, councils and speed camera authorities are not able to obtain their details. (Sunday Telegraph)
Motoring review: Bentley Flying Spur More

Arts

Jay-Z last night became the first hip-hop artist to top the bill at Glastonbury with a triumphant set despite objections from rock-music traditionalists. He started his show by playing a video of Oasis songwriter Noel Gallagher saying it was wrong to have hip-hop at the festival, and then performed Gallagher's Wonderwall. (Observer)

A prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson's classic adventure Treasure Island is to be published next week. Flint & Silver, by former biochemist and TV producer John Drake, is aimed at adults and sets out to answer some questions posed by the original novel, including what happened to Long John Silver's leg. (Independent on Sunday)

American soprano Deborah Voigt has returned to the stage at Covent Garden to sing the role she was famously fired from four years ago for being too fat to fit into her costume. The singer, who weighed 25 stones at her heaviest, underwent gastric bypass surgery and lost nine stones. (Sunday Times)
People: Slimmed down Voigt returns to play Ariadne More

Foreign News

Robert Mugabe is expected to be sworn in as President of Zimbabwe again today after a controversial and bloody election. Officials say Mugabe has won the run-off election by a landslide, while the US called the vote a sham and Gordon Brown referred to it as a "sickening chapter" in Zimbabwe's history. (Observer)
Zimbabwe Today: Mugabe to be sworn in today More
It's time to go in More
The failure of Nelson Mandela More

dgh

Shabtai Shavit, a former head of Mossad, has warned that Israel has 12 months in which to destroy Iran's nuclear programme, or risk coming under nuclear attack. The influential adviser to Israel's defence and foreign affairs committee also said Israel may have to act sooner if Barack Obama becomes US president. (Sunday Telegraph)

Hollywood stars are divided along union lines as America's two most powerful actors' groups argue ahead of a mooted strike. The row, over contract negotiations with the owners of the major studios, has pitted Jack Nicholson against Tom Hanks and is causing a 'virtual strike' under the threat of industrial action. (Independent on Sunday)

Business

Britain's second-biggest housebuilder, Taylor Wimpey, is close to announcing a cash injection rescue package. The company hopes to reveal on Wednesday that it will receive £500m from existing top institutional shareholders, as well as from external investors including Och Ziff. (Sunday Telegraph)

The Treasury Select Committee is to start an inquiry this week into the role played by tax havens in setting the conditions for the global financial crisis. MPs will interview bankers and campaigners and ask whether offshore practices caused the implosion of mortgage bank Northern Rock. (Observer)

British Airways has made a U-turn and abandoned its call for the break up of BAA. In a letter to the Competition Commission, the airline says: "We are concerned that ownership separation may prove counterproductive in so far as it diverts BAA management attention away from expansion." (Independent on Sunday)

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People SP

Painter Lucian Freud (pictured) has revealed he rejected a knighthood on the grounds that his younger brother Clement has one. The pair have not spoken for 50 years. (Sunday Telegraph)
People: Lucian Freud will not forgive Clement More

Roman Abramovich was outbid for the Monet painting which sold for a record £40.9m last week at Christie's. (Sunday Times)
People: Tribunal gets glimpse into Abramovich world More

Former speaker Betty Boothroyd sang My Old Man Said Follow the Van at a birthday party at the National Liberal Club on Friday. (Independent on Sunday)

Government minister Lord Rooker has claimed £3,361.31 in expenses for a holiday he had pre-booked and was forced to cancel to help deal with the foot and mouth outbreak last summer. (Observer)

Journalist Andrew Marr is spending the weekend at the Glastonbury festival with his 17-year-old daughter. After a muddy camping experience last year, he has insisted on a B&B. (Mail on Sunday)

A bronze statue of Ronald Reagan has been turned down by Westminster council for a spot in Grosvenor Square because it lacked gravitas and would have caused "clutter". (Sunday Telegraph)

A spokesman for David Cameron says the Tory leader was not invited to Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday party, attended by Gordon Brown and Bill Clinton. (Independent on Sunday)

Scottish chanteuse KT Tunstall told journalists last week she had been invited to meet the Dalai Lama. But now his office has denied the story saying he "wouldn't know who KT Tinstall [sic] is". (Observer)

Author Nikita Lalwani, who won the Desmond Elliott Prize for a first novel last week, has given the £10,000 prize money to charity. (Independent on Sunday)

Prince and Princess Michael of Kent will be forced to leave their Kensington Palace apartment by next year as the Queen has only agreed to pay the rent until then. (Sunday Telegraph)

Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton has been involved in another crash before a race. This time though, he was aboard a yacht and was not to blame. (Observer)

Architect Lord Foster has bought a £2m timeshare on the first of a fleet of luxury yachts he has designed. (Sunday Times)

Richard Rogers, chosen by Boris Johnson as his architecture 'tsar', is calling for the preservation of a 1960s estate in East London whose residents want it demolished. (Independent on Sunday)

Veteran actor William Daniels has provided the voice for a new in-car satnav system. Now 81, Daniels voiced the intelligent car in 1980s TV show Knight Rider. (Observer)

red top world

Film director Guy Ritchie has pleaded with his wife Madonna to stay with him for the sake of the couple's son Rocco, but divorce looks increasingly likely for the pair. (Sunday Mirror)

Amy Winehouse elbowed and punched a member of the audience at her Glastonbury Festival show. The singer left hospital for the show, flying down to Somerset. (News of the World)

Actor Chris Simmons, who plays DC Mickey Webb in TV soap The Bill, enjoyed a wild orgy with a pair of £500-an-hour escort girls who are identical twins. (People)

Girls Aloud singer Sarah Harding has crushed rumours that she had split from her DJ and part-time market trader boyfriend Tom Crane, enjoying a boozy night out with him. (People)

Royal aides considered a premium-rate phone line to a recorded message of the Queen as a way to plug a shortfall in palace expenses and pay for the upkeep of Windsor Castle. (News of the World)

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