UK news

British Prime Minister David Cameron and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday discussed joint options for ending the crisis in Syria amid a new diplomatic push to resolve the two-year conflict.

Cameron's rare call on Putin at his summer vacation residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi came three days after top US and Russian diplomats agreed to make a joint effort in search of a solution.

The West and Russia have been repeatedly at odds over the Syria conflict, with the United States and Europe accusing Moscow of seeking to prop up President Bashar al-Assad and supplying it with military hardware.

Amid signs of growing international cooperation on ending the conflict, Putin said the two leaders discussed possible options and joint measures for finding peace. However there was no sign of an immediate breakthrough.

"At the initiative of the prime minister, we spoke about the possible options for a positive development of the situation and about practical steps in this regards," Putin said after the talks in comments carried by Russian news agencies.

"We have a joint interest in a swift halt to the violence and the creation of the process for a peaceful solution that keeps Syria's territorial integrity and sovereignty," said Putin.

Cameron for his part said Russia, Britain and the United States should facilitate the creation of a transitional government and expressed support for a new push by Moscow and Washington to try to end the bloodshed in Syria.

He said it was "no secret" that Russia and Britain had different positions on the Syria conflict but said they shared an ultimate aim of halting the conflict, allowing the Syrian people to elect a government and preventing a growth in extremism.

Cameron flew to Putin's palm-dotted residence before the British premier's planned meeting with US President Barack Obama at the White House on Monday.

The meeting also allowed Russia and Britain to coordinate positions ahead of the next Group of Eight summit which Cameron is hosting at Lough Erne in Northern Ireland on June 17-18.

The war in Syria has cost an estimated 70,000 lives and displaced millions of people, including hundreds of thousands who have fled to neighbouring countries.

The talks with Putin came amid concerns that Russia may be preparing to sell Syria sophisticated surface-to-air missiles which will significantly strengthen its defences and complicate any foreign intervention.

US Secretary of State John Kerry warned that any such sale would be "potentially destabilising" for the region.

But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, on a visit to Warsaw on Friday, refused to rule out supplies of weapons to Syria according to existing contracts.

 

Queen Elizabeth II will miss the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Sri Lanka in November, sending her son Prince Charles in her place, the palace announced on Tuesday.

It will be the first time the 87-year-old monarch has missed such a meeting since 1971, and comes as she hands over some of her duties to younger members of the royal family.

"The queen will be represented at this year's Commonwealth heads of government meeting by the Prince of Wales," Buckingham Palace said in a short statement.

A palace source said the decision was unrelated to the controversy over the human rights record of the host of this year's meeting, Sri Lanka.

Britain avoided falling back into recession after its economy grew by a better-than-expected 0.3 percent in the first quarter compared with the final three months of 2012, official data showed on Thursday.

Gross domestic product (GDP) "increased by 0.3 percent in Q1 2013 compared with Q4 2012" when the British economy had contracted, the Office for National Statistics said in a preliminary estimate.

A top Google executive on Monday insisted that the company's "key" role in developing Britain's electronic commerce sector should be taken into account in the row over its controversial tax arrangements.

According to figures cited by Conservative MP Charlie Elphicke, Google paid only £3.4 million ($5.4 million, 4.2 million euros) in British corporation tax in 2011 on revenues totalling about £2.5 billion, sparking fury in austerity-hit Britain.

But Google's executive chairman Eric Schmidt told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme the company had not acted illegally and had contributed significantly to Britain's economic growth.

Defending the company's tax bill, he said: "Of course that omits the fact that we also hire more than 2,000 employees and are investing heavily in Britain.

"We empower literally billions of pounds of start-ups through our advertising network and so forth. And we're a key part of the electronic commerce expansion of Britain which is driving a lot of economic growth for the country," he added.

Schmidt urged critics to consider the "totality" of the Internet giant's contribution to the economy.

Admirers of late British prime minister Margaret Thatcher are planning to create a new library and museum in London to celebrate her legacy and shape the future of conservative politics.

Backers revealed late on Saturday that they aim to raise £15 million ($23 million, 18 million euros) in private funding for the new institution, where visitors would be able to see artefacts including Thatcher's famous handbags and trademark blue skirt-suits.

Britain's only female prime minister, who was in power between 1979 and 1990, died at the Ritz Hotel in London on Monday after suffering a stroke. She was 87.

 

The planned library is based on the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library in California, which houses millions of documents, photographs and artefacts from the former US president's time in power.

"The centre will be a place for scholars, students and tourists alike to come and learn about the remarkable life, the unique achievements and the core values of Margaret Thatcher," said Ben Elliot, chairman of the project's trustees.

The death of the Iron Lady, the longest-ruling British premier of the 20th century, has sparked fierce debate about her legacy.

Admirers say she helped to end the Cold War and rescued the British economy after years of decline.

But critics accuse her of wrecking communities and putting millions out of work with her radical free-market reforms.

On Saturday night hundreds of her opponents filled London's Trafalgar Square to celebrate her death.

The library is believed to have the support of at least three cabinet ministers in the current Conservative-led government of Prime Minister David Cameron, as well as key political figures from the 1980s.

The campaign is being led by the right-wing group Conservative Way Forward (CWF), which was set up by Thatcher's supporters in 1991 after she was dramatically forced out of office by her own party.

Eurozone unemployment ran at a record 12 percent in February, with more than 19 million people on the dole as the debt crisis continued to sap the economy, official data showed on Tuesday.

Queen singer Freddie Mercury disguised the late Princess Diana as a male model and smuggled her into a notorious gay bar, according to a memoir serialised in Britain's Sunday Times.

Comedian Cleo Rocos describes in her book "The Power of Positive Drinking" how she, Mercury and fellow comedian Kenny Everett dressed Diana in an army jacket, cap and sunglasses for a night out at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, south London, in the late 1980s.

"When we walked in... we felt she was obviously Princess Diana and would be discovered at any minute. But people just seemed to blank her. She sort of disappeared. But she loved it," said Rocos, who co-starred in Everett's television show.

She said she did not know whether Diana was propositioned in the bar in her guise as a male model, but added: "She did look like a beautiful young man."

Disgraced former MP Chris Huhne has been moved to a comfortable open prison after spending seven days in a tough London jail, it has been reported.

The ex-Liberal Democrat Cabinet minister was jailed earlier this month after pleading guilty to perverting the course of justice for asking his wife to take speeding points for him in 2003.

The 58-year-old served his first week at HMP Wandsworth, in south London, but has now been moved to HMP Leyhill in Gloucestershire for the remainder of his eight month term, The Sun has reported.

The Category D jail is described on the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) website as somewhere that prisoners can "assume more responsibility and benefit from opportunities to make decisions for themselves before returning to the outside community".

HMP Leyhill, which has farms and gardens in its grounds, offers a number of courses and employment opportunities for prisoners, such as making door and window frames and prison furniture.

On March 15 Huhne's ex-wife was moved to a "pleasant" open jail after spending only four nights in Holloway prison, according to reports.

 

Many children would start school hungry without breakfast clubs, teachers have claimed.

A new survey suggests these clubs are the only way many youngsters can get a meal before lessons.

More than half (54%) of the 552 school staff questioned by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) said their school or college provides a breakfast club for pupils.

The overwhelming reason for children to attend these clubs is because their parent or carer goes to work early, cited by 76.8% of those questioned. But other factors, such as lack of money, also play a part. More than two-fifths (44.7%) said they believe the main reason pupils attend a breakfast club is because it is the only way the youngster will get a meal in the morning.

Around a fifth (22.6%) said children attended due to lack of money at home because parents or carers are unemployed and 15.2% cited lack of money at home due to changes or cuts to benefits. Around one in six (17.6%) said pupils mainly attend breakfast clubs to socialise.

The survey found that teachers believe that offering breakfast to pupils often helps improve their concentration and ability to learn. One primary school teacher from Kent told the survey: "Although there is a charge for our breakfast club, we have accessed funding for those pupils on free school meals and the breakfast club had an effect on their attendance, concentration and being in school for the start of lessons."

ATL general secretary Dr Mary Bousted said a nutritious meal at the start of the day has a "huge impact" on pupils' ability to learn.

The written ramblings of one of two men accused of plotting to kill international music star Joss Stone have been shown to a jury.

Kevin Liverpool, 35, wrote down in a diary his thoughts about the Devon-based soul singer. Entries talked of the need to buy a semi-automatic gun, a gun holder, a silencer and infrared equipment, as well as a "ninja sword".

Liverpool had also written a reminder to buy a hooded top, car insurance, a safe and open a bank account, Exeter Crown Court heard. He wrote of "war", "warlord #1" and of "missions" to "rob" and "discipline".

Liverpool and co-accused Junior Bradshaw, 32, are charged with plotting to rob and kill Miss Stone before dumping her body in a river in June 2011.

The defendants, both of St Stephen's Close, Manchester, deny charges of conspiracy to murder, conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm and conspiracy to rob.

The diary was seized by police when they raided Liverpool's one-bedroom flat in Longsight, Manchester, after he had been arrested in Devon.

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