Supermarkets alert for mass turkey recall
The government's chief scientist said yesterday that packaged turkey meat might have to be removed from supermarket shelves in a mass product recall, as the official inquiry into a bird flu outbreak at a Suffolk farm widened.
The frank admission by Sir David King came as the government's Food Standards Agency confirmed it is looking at the possibility that bird flu has entered the human food chain. The FSA is examining how the disease infected turkeys at the Bernard Matthews plant in Holton, Suffolk. It also emerged last night that two loads of meat had arrived at the plant this week from Hungary, where the strain of H5N1 involved is believed to have originated.
The front page of the Mail puts it a little more directly
Bird flu 'could be in our shops'
Turkey products could be taken off store shelves after the Government's chief scientist said raw meat infected with bird flu might have gone on sale.
Sir David King said contaminated meat from a Bernard Matthews factory in Suffolk might have reached supermarkets before the deadly virus was identified there last week.
He suggested raw turkey meat could now be recalled as a precaution to halt the spread of the disease.
The Times reports on the court appearances yesterday following the Birmingham arrests
Five in court over kidnap plot
Stringent security was in force around a Central London court-house yesterday as five men charged over an alleged plot to kidnap and behead a British soldier appeared before a judge.
The suspected terrorists were driven from Birmingham, where they were arrested last week, in a convoy of police vehicles.
Last night a sixth man was charged following the raids in Birmingham. West Midlands Police said that Basiru Gassama, 29, from Birmingham, will appear before Westminster magistrates today.
Yesterday armed police stood guard around the City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court during the brief appearance of the five before District Judge Daphne Wickham.
In the dock, the men were flanked by eight security guards. A bail application on behalf of one was refused and all the defendants were remanded in custody. They were taken at high speed to Belmarsh high-security prison in southeast London.
They are scheduled to appear again at the Old Bailey on February 23.
Its lead though claims
A million motorists embarrass road price ministers
The Government is to press ahead with preparations for nationwide congestion charging despite the millionth signature on a petition opposing the idea.
An experiment in internet democracy, in which people were invited to place petitions on the No 10 website and vote for them by e-mail, has embarrassed ministers.
The petition calling on the Government “to scrap the vehicle tracking and road-pricing policy” was due to gain its millionth signature last night, less than three months after it was posted on the website.
It received 92,000 signatures on Wednesday alone, thought to be a record for a single day.
Douglas Alexander, the Transport Secretary, said last night that the signatures showed the strength of feeling among motorists but would not deter him from commissioning large-scale road-pricing trials.
The Telegraph also bucks the trend with its lead story
Families face £120 a year tax on their rubbish
Families could be forced to pay a rubbish tax of up to £120 a year under proposals being considered at the highest levels of Government.
Plans to let councils impose a levy on household waste are set out in a restricted policy review document drawn up by the Prime Minister's strategy unit.
The paper continues to report
Downing Street advisers believe the prospect of a weekly charge will encourage people to reduce the amount of rubbish they throw out and recycle more.
Several schemes have been introduced on the Continent, with people paying between 25p and 50p for each kilo of waste. If similar charges were introduced in Britain, the average family could end up paying up to £10 a month or £120 a year to have their rubbish collected. The cost would be on top of their existing council tax bills.
The same paper reflects on the battle to run the next lottery franchise
Camelot puts its money on £250m world lotto
" a world lottery draw" with a possible £250 million jackpot could be available within five years.
The proposed game forms the centrepiece of Camelot's submission for the next lottery licence, while its rival bidder is pledging better terms for corner shops and other retailers.
Dianne Thompson, Camelot's chief executive, unveiled plans yesterday for the "biggest lottery on earth" as she pitched for a third successive licence. So far 48 countries have expressed an interest.
Under the proposal, "up to 100 millionaires" will be created every month, with one annual game that could bag a winner up to £250 million.
The Independent champions the cause of Barack Obama on its front page
The Great Black Hope: Obama sets out on his mission to excite and unite a divided nation
This morning, at an open air rally in wintry Springfield, the capital of Illinois where he spent eight years as a state senator, Mr Obama formally launches his campaign. The site of the announcement is laden with symbolism. This first major black candidate of the 21st century will throw his hat into the presidential ring at the old State Capitol building, in which an earlier Illinois legislator named Abraham Lincoln cut his political teeth before himself moving on to the White House, where he issued in January 1863 the Proclamation of Emancipation freeing black slaves. This will be a patented "Only in America" moment, a testament to the country's astonishing mobility, its endless flux, and its capacity to reinvent itself.
Whether Mr Obama can follow the path of America's 16th and arguably greatest president is not clear. If he becomes the 44th, he will face challenges more subtle but in some respects as daunting as the Civil War: a country whose international reputation has never been lower, struggling to extricate itself from a disastrous foreign war, and whose global dominance is threatened by the ascent of China and India.
The power of hope
Headlines the Guardian with its reporter Gary Younge refelcting on 4 years ago
In the autumn of 2003, Barack Obama gathered his supporters together in Chicago to announce his decision to run for the Illinois senate seat. The consensus in the room was that he didn't stand a chance. At that time Obama was a local politician with a small base of support seeking not only to win the Democratic nomination, but then to unseat an incumbent Republican. Three years earlier, he had stood for the Democratic nomination for a local congressional seat and been soundly trounced. Around 50 friends showed up, more out of personal loyalty than political devotion, according to one.
And the Times reports on the election that we may have this year in the Uk
Blairites urge Miliband to enter the race for Labour leadership
David Miliband has been urged privately by senior Blairites, including ministers, to stand for the Labour leadership despite his repeated declarations that he will back Gordon Brown, The Times has learnt.
The Environment Secretary, who stunned colleagues by predicting on the BBC Question Time programme that Mr Brown would suffer a swift downturn in popularity, is still supported by ministers and MPs who doubt the Chancellor’s reforming zeal.
Some of them are deliberately trying to keep the prospect of a challenge to Mr Brown alive to maintain pressure on the Chancellor to spell out his ideas for the premiership.
The Tabloids are in a frenzy following yesterday headlines on the death of model Anna Nichol
BATTLE OF THE 274M BABY
EXCLUSIVE: 3 'DADS' IN ANNA NICOLE FIGHT says the Mirror on its front page
AN astonishing £274million paternity battle over Anna Nicole Smith's baby daughter erupted yesterday.
Anna's husband Howard K Stern, former lover Larry Birkhead and even Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband all claim to be the father of five-month-old Dannielynn.
Whoever is ruled to be the biological dad could take over the estate of the dead model. At the time of her death the former Playboy centrefold was still battling to claim £274million from the estate of billionaire former husband J Howard Marshall, 89.
The Sun asks
WHO'S THE £240M DADDY
THE paternity row over tragic Anna Nicole Smith’s daughter took a bizarre twist last night — as the husband of actress Zsa Zsa Gabor claimed HE is the tot’s dad.
Prince Frederick von Anhalt, 64, maintained he had a decade-long affair with busty blonde Anna, who died in Florida on Thursday.
He spoke as the vicious battle broke out over who takes custody of five-month-old Dannielynn.
Whilst also revealing
Anna died like her idol Monroe
TRAGIC Anna Nicole Smith told her ex-boyfriend years ago she would die like her movie idol Marilyn Monroe, it emerged yesterday.
She fulfilled the chilling prophecy when she collapsed from a suspected drug overdose.
Peter Nygard said: “She always said she’d die like Monroe.
“She knew her own death would be just as tragic.”
The Express leads with the story of
NHS LETS WAR HERO GO BLIND
A WAR hero is being allowed to go blind because health bosses refuse to give him a new sight-saving drug.Former RAF pilot Patrick Reyre, 84, has been denied the vital £4,000 NHS treatment simply because he lives in the wrong part of Britain.
And its boss steps in to help
Last night Daily Express proprietor Richard Desmond stepped in after discovering the veteran's desperate plight.Mr Desmond, who has suffered a serious eye complaint himself and has donated £2.5million to London's Moorfields Eye Hospital, said: "This is no way to treat a hero. He fought to save his country and it is the least we can do to save his sight."
The Times reports on the latest British casualty in Iraq
Twin attacks reduce odds of early return
Two attacks against British troops in Basra left one soldier dead and ten wounded yesterday, dealing a serious blow to hopes of bringing home thousands of troops within the next few months.
Two of the wounded were in a serious condition and one was in critical.
Although ministers have refrained from giving a withdrawal timetable, expectations have been raised that several thousand could be pulled out by the spring or early summer.
Senior defence sources said that the two attacks, on what was a “bad and tough day” for the British military, would not change the Government’s strategy. A cutback in numbers, they said, depended entirely on conditions on the ground and the ability of the Iraqi forces to take charge of Basra’s security.
The Guardian carries the story that
Target Iran: US able to strike in the spring
US preparations for an air strike against Iran are at an advanced stage, in spite of repeated public denials by the Bush administration, according to informed sources in Washington.
The present military build-up in the Gulf would allow the US to mount an attack by the spring. But the sources said that if there was an attack, it was more likely next year, just before Mr Bush leaves office.
Neo-conservatives, particularly at the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute, are urging Mr Bush to open a new front against Iran. So too is the vice-president, Dick Cheney. The state department and the Pentagon are opposed, as are Democratic congressmen and the overwhelming majority of Republicans. The sources said Mr Bush had not yet made a decision. The Bush administration insists the military build-up is not offensive but aimed at containing Iran and forcing it to make diplomatic concessions. The aim is to persuade Tehran to curb its suspect nuclear weapons programme and abandon ambitions for regional expansion.
The Sun picks up on a story widely reported
iPods could land you in court
iPOD fans face being hauled into court and FINED if they are caught crossing the road while listening to their favourite tracks.
Britain could be set to follow New York, where safety-conscious senator Carl Kruger is tabling a bill to outlaw so-called “distracted walking”.
Offenders would be fined £50 — and be forced to appear in court in person to pay their penalty, rather than simply posting it.
Kruger’s new law would also prosecute anyone caught crossing the road while using mobile phones, video games or other hand-held accessories.
It aims to cut the number of accidents involving pedestrians, joggers and cyclists who step out in the road without paying attention to traffic.
The Mail finding another strange ruling
Children banned from playing tag in school playground
In an age when childhood innocence is under threat from every direction, the traditional game of tag would seem an unlikely offender.
But headmistress Susan Tuck doesn't think so. She has banned it – along with all other games which involve physical contact – as "inappropriate behaviour".
Youngsters aged five to 11 at Bracebridge Heath Primary School near Lincoln have been told there will be no kiss-chase, and even linking arms with each other will not be allowed.
The only time any of the 400 pupils can touch each other is if they need to help a classmate who has fallen over.
Gillian Reynolds in the Telegraph attacks another British institution Radio 4,in a article she claims
I think Radio 4 is a duller place these days, more predictable, less thoughtful, with too many infuriating trailers, its news programmes crammed with BBC promotions, too London-centric, its attempts to introduce new voices clumsy. I tune away more often than I used to. There are more programmes I deliberately avoid.
Finally the Independent reports that
George Davis is still innocent, OK: after 30 years, ex-con back in court to clear name
Sham 69 wrote a song about him, and Roger Daltrey once wore a T-shirt proclaiming his innocence. During the late 1970s, his name was daubed across railway and road bridges and became part of criminal folklore.
Now, 33 years after he was imprisoned for an armed robbery he insists he did not commit, George Davis is preparing to return to court in an attempt to finally establish the innocence proclaimed by those iconic slogans.
In an audacious legal bid to have his case reconsidered by the Court of Appeal, Davis and his legal team have uncovered fresh evidence which they are to submit to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC).
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