In Today's Papers

By Shirley Kumar, Maria Ahmed and Derren Hayes

Harsher penalties for drug offences

The government is to force drug addicts into treatment as well as introducing tougher sentences to punish dealers as part of the new drugs bill.

Under the proposals, police will be able to test suspects for Class A drugs such as heroin and cocaine before they have been charged.

Source:- The Financial Times Saturday December 18 2004 page 5

Mother jailed over ‘home-alone’ children

A mother was jailed for six months after admitting she left her two children, aged 12 and six, at home on their own in Birmingham while she went on holiday with her boyfriend.

Source:- The Independent Saturday 18 December 2004 page 6

Teenage vandals stab man to death

A man was stabbed to death after an argument with a gang of youths who vandalised his front door.

The man, who has not been named, was attacked while chasing the vandals from his home on a Brixton estate in south London.

Source:- The Independent Saturday 18 December 2004 page 6

Latvian father of four critically ill after raciest stabbing by gang of 20 teenagers

A Latvian father of four is on a life support machine after being attacked by a gang of up to 20 teenagers.

Sergejs Pacejs was stabbed in the head with a screwdriver two weeks ago in Manchester. Police believe he was targeted because he was overheard speaking Russian.

Source:- The Independent Saturday 18 December 2004 page 15

Couple deny killing ‘zombie’ adoptee

A husband admitted calling a three-year-old boy whom he and his wife had hoped to adopt a “vegetable” and a “zombie,” when he could not cope with the child’s behaviour.

Ian Gray and his wife Angela of Halesowen in the West Midlands are accused of murdering Christian Blewitt because he failed to meet their expectations.

The couple deny the charges of murder or manslaughter and child cruelty. The case continues at Worcester Crown Court.

Source:- The Guardian Saturday 18 December 2004 page 5

Inquiry lifts lid on racism at Feltham

Prison officers showed high levels of racist abuse and discrimination following the racist murder of Zahid Mubarek at Feltham young offender institution.

Previously confidential documents, released to Mubarek’s inquiry in central London, revealed ethnic minorities were stereotyped as “violent and aggressive,” and made up nearly 80 per cent of those in the segregation unit despite only accounting for half the population.

Source:- The Guardian Saturday 18 December 2004 page 8

Maxine Carr to seek lifetime anonymity

The former girlfriend of Soham murderer Ian Huntley is to apply for an order next year banning all reporting of her new life.

High Court judge Justice Eady will decide whether Maxine Carr should be given complete anonymity, in a two-day hearing in February.

Source:- The Times Saturday 18 December 2004 page 7

Millions face cut in winter fuel payouts

The government has refused to rule out major cutbacks to winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners after the election.

On current spending plans, it is believed, the winter fuel budget will drop by nearly £1 billion in the first full year after the general election expected in May.

This means payments as high as £300 for the oldest pensioners would collapse to a flat rate of £150 in two years.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Saturday 18 December 2004 page 1

Gipsy site plans rejected

A gipsy family has had an application for planning permission on a site turned down after they had already built septic tanks and a temporary road.

The group appeared overnight in North Curry, Somerset, but Taunton Deane Council has served notices requiring them to restore the land to its former state.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Saturday 18 December 2004 page 10

Boy accused of trying to murder nine-month-old baby with a knife

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An 11-year-old boy has appeared before magistrates court in Grimsby to face a count of attempted murder. The baby was found bleeding from an abdominal injury caused by a kitchen knife at a house in Immingham, north east Lincolnshire, last Wednesday evening.

The boy was remanded into local authority care to face a youth court this week.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 19 December 2004 page 5

Severely disabled, mentally ill: little by little, the truth about Broadmoor ‘terrorist’ emerges

A north African man known as ‘P’ is in a mental ward in Broadmoor secure hospital, one of four men arrested as suspect terrorists since September 11 who have suffered a severe mental collapse.

Source:- The Independent on Sunday Sunday 19 December 2004 page 4

Sikhs storm theatre to demand closure of play that ‘violates’ their sacred place

More than 400 Sikhs from all over Britain held demonstrations outside Birmingham Repertory Theatre protesting against the play Behzti that depicts sexual abuse and murder in a Sikh temple.

The author of the play, Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, a Sikh woman, has condemned the protests and warned against “blatant censorship.”

Source:- The Independent Monday 20 December 2004 page 3

Scottish news

Volunteering in crisis over new safety checks

Volunteers with groups working with children are leaving the field because tougher new background checks are overly bureacratic and draconian, experts say.

People are leaving because under new anti-paedophile legislation which comes in from January they will have to send off personal documents to facilitate checks.

Source:- Sunday Herald Sunday 19 December

Europe’s changing…but does the face of Islam fit?

Angus Roxburgh examines whether the continent is open to all after Turkey was given the go-ahead to negotiate joining the EU. It has led to some to argue that soon Europe will have a Muslim majority, with a large number of asylum seekers being Muslim.

Source:- Scotland on Sunday Sunday 19 December

Festive pressure threatens to overload NHS 24

NHS 24 has admitted it will be relying on hospitals and GPs to help handle its workload if the telephone health advice service comes under too much pressure at Christmas.

NHS24’s associate medical director said if the network was overloaded it would route calls to doctors’ surgeries and hospitals, even though that will add to the burden on medical professionals it was set up to assist.

Source:- Scotland on Sunday Sunday 19 December

Community health staff 'failed by bill'

The Emergency Workers Bill is failing to protect healthcare staff adequately from attacks, doctors, nurses and midwives’ representatives said this week. The groups are calling for an amendment to the bill to address its "significant anomalies".

Source:- The Scotsman Monday 20 December

Fish fights dementia

Scottish researchers have discovered that people who eat more oily fish or fish oil supplements are less likely to suffer from dementia or early signs of Alzheimer’s disease.

The researchers from Aberdeen and Edinburgh universities found omega three oils slow the brain’s aging process by two years.

Source:- Daily Record Monday 20 December