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Former Conservative Health Secretary Stephen Dorrell has downplayed apparent government confusion over the proposed scrapping of free milk for under-fives.

The coalition said on Sunday that the benefit would not go, after health minister Anne Milton suggested plans for such a move were in place.

Mr Dorrell, an ex-health secretary, said it had been judged the political risk "didn't merit the rewards".

He added that the proposal had been discussed only at a "junior level".

The Nursery Milk scheme allows children under five in approved day care to receive 189ml (1/3 pint) of milk each day free of charge.

It dates back to 1940, when milk was issued to pregnant women and young children to protect them against wartime food shortages.

'Difficult choices'

In a letter to the Scottish government, Mrs Milton had said the milk scheme was too expensive - costing almost £50m this year - and the coalition was considering increasing the value of Healthy Start vouchers for the poorest families instead.

She said there was no evidence the scheme improved health and that the government was looking at abolishing it by April 2011.

But Downing Street later ruled this out.

Mr Dorrell, who is chairman of the Commons health select committee, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "This was a proposal from Anne Milton suggesting that this money might be better used to deliver the same objective by different means.

"It was a proposal that was being discussed at a junior level in the government. Downing Street... clearly reached the conclusion... that the [political] risks didn't merit the reward.

"All life, not just politics, is about making sometimes difficult choices. This was a suggestion that there was £50m spent in providing free milk for under-five-year-olds.

"Could that be better spent to deliver the objective that we all share, which is to ensure that there is the best possible healthy start for all children, but perhaps particularly children from low-income backgrounds?

"If you read the correspondence it's absolutely clear that everybody was seeking to deliver that objective."

'On the hoof'

Former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was branded a "milk snatcher" by some when, as education secretary, she presided over the abolition of free school milk for children over the age of seven in 1971.

Mr Dorrell said of Mrs Milton's letter: "A change was proposed. When Downing Street found out about it, they recognised the historical context of it... and suggested this was not a change they wished to see proceeded with."

Shadow health secretary and Labour leadership contender Andy Burnham said there was "policy chaos within his government".

Leadership rival Ed Balls, the shadow education secretary, said: "This is a coalition in chaos, making policy on the hoof."

world hottest news: Yahoo targeted in China cyber attacks

The Yahoo e-mail accounts of foreign journalists based in China and Taiwan have been hacked, according to a Beijing-based press association.

Rival Google has been involved in a high-profile row with the Chinese government following similar cyber-attacks against Gmail accounts.

The Foreign Correspondents' Club of China (FCCC) has confirmed eight cases of Yahoo e-mail hacks in recent weeks.

Yahoo said it condemned such cyber-attacks.

But the FCCC accused Yahoo of failing to update users about the situation.

"Yahoo has not answered the FCCC's questions about the attacks, nor has it told individual mail users how the accounts were accessed," a spokesman told the news agency.

Yahoo said in a statement that it was "committed to protecting user security and privacy".

Clifford Coonan, a reporter for the Irish Times, told the AFP news agency that he had an error message when he logged into his Yahoo account this week.

"I don't know who's doing it, what happened. They (Yahoo) haven't given any information, but it seems to be happening to journalists and academics in China, so that's why it's a little suspicious," he said.

Great Firewall

China censorship has hit the headlines since the high profile cyber-attacks against the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists in January.

The hacks led the search giant to redirect its traffic to an uncensored site in Hong Kong earlier this month.

The Chinese government reacted with anger, saying it was "totally wrong" to blame the authorities for the attacks, the source code of which originated in China.

It does operate a tight control over internet content, including pornography and sensitive political material, in what is dubbed the Great Firewall of China.

Earlier in the week Google blamed the great firewall for blocking its search service, although it said it did not know if it was a technical glitch or a deliberate act.

The issue is now resolved, a Google spokesman said in a statement.

"Interestingly our search traffic in China is now back to normal - even though we have not made any changes at our end. We will continue to monitor what is going on", he said.

world hottest news: Poll tax riots - 20 years after violence shook London

Twenty years ago a protest against what had been dubbed the poll tax erupted in violence and led to rioting that could be heard in nearby Downing Street. Some of those who were there remember the day's events.

The rioting in central London on 31 March, 1990, was not the first demonstration against the so-called poll tax to end in violence. In the weeks beforehand a number of protests around the country had culminated in violent skirmishes.

But the riot that turned London's Trafalgar Square, a top tourism spot, into a battleground between police and protesters came to be seen by many as the fatal blow for the government's community charge.

A central policy of the Conservative Party's winning 1987 general election manifesto, the charge, which replaced the old rates system, was levied on individuals rather than properties. It was supposed to increase accountability. But its introduction met with fierce resistance among some sections of the public.

In the London poll tax riots, up to 3,000 of the 70,000 demonstrators turned on police, attacking them with bricks, bottles and scaffolding poles, and 340 were arrested. Of 113 people injured, 45 were police.

By the end of the year, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had been forced to step down. She was replaced by John Major who scrapped the charge in favour of the council tax that continues today.

Insp Tanner was in charge of the 20-strong team of mounted officers whose charge across Trafalgar Square under a hail of missiles became one of the most replayed incidents of the riot.

The officer, now retired, recalls following a mass of demonstrators into the square:

"There was an angry noise. You could sense the tension. A building was on fire and officers on the ground were trying to sort out scuffles, linking arms and looking frightened.

"It was not a good situation."

The order came to clear the Northumberland Avenue side of the square to allow fire crews access to the burning building.

"We weren't cantering all-out, we were trying to push the crowd away," says the 54-year-old, now a web manager from Ashford, Kent.

However, one horse turned sideways and knocked over a demonstrator. TV footage showed her being picked up by fellow protesters and reports suggested she was shocked but not badly harmed.

"We tried to trace her afterwards but never managed," says Mr Tanner.

As the officers advanced, they were pelted with bricks. One injured Mr Tanner's hand, another tore a chunk from the flank of his horse, Keswick.

"I couldn't shake hands for about six months," he recalls, adding that other officers suffered psychologically afterwards.

For six hours after the crowds had dispersed from Trafalgar Square, mounted police "chased incidents" around central London.

"We were exhausted by the end. None of us had ever seen or experienced anything like it," he adds.

June Havoc, the Hollywood actress whose childhood partly inspired the musical Gypsy, has died in Connecticut at the age of 97, it has been announced.

Havoc, younger sister of famed stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, died of natural causes on Sunday at her home in Stamford, her publicist said on Monday.

Born June Hovick in 1912, Havoc had leading roles in more than 20 films, among them Gentleman's Agreement.

Yet she mostly worked on the stage, appearing in numerous Broadway shows.

These included Pal Joey, in which she appeared with Gene Kelly and Van Johnson, and Cole Porter show Mexican Hayride.

Her last Broadway appearance came in the early 1980s when she took on the role of Miss Hannigan in Annie.

However, it is for Gypsy - filmed in 1962 with Rosalind Russell and Natalie Wood - for which she is perhaps best known.

Havoc inspired the role of Baby June in the musical, the archetypal stage daughter pushed to stardom by her overbearing mother.

The play was based on a memoir of her older sibling Louise, who grew up to be the burlesque star Gypsy Rose Lee.

"I loved my sister but I loathed her life," said Havoc in 1998, saying there was nothing wrong with her mother Rose's "drive and ambition".

Havoc also wrote four plays, one of which - 1963's Marathon '33 - won her a Tony nomination as best director.

Toyota has said it will listen more carefully to customers and respond faster to complaints after the recall of millions of cars over safety fears.

The beleaguered carmaker made the pledge following the first meeting of its global safety committee, which was set up following the recalls.

It also said it would enlist the help of outside experts across the world.

Toyota was forced to recall more than 8 million cars globally after faulty brakes and accelerator pedals.

"Listening carefully to the voice of the customer is crucial to regaining credibility from our customers," said Toyota president Akio Toyoda.

"We are setting up a system to respond more quickly to complaints."

Executives and workers from around the world met for the inaugural meeting of Toyota's safety committee at the carmaker's headquarters in Japan.

The carmaker said it would bring in independent experts to help evaluate what went wrong with its quality control measures.

The committee will publish its first report in June, it added.

Toyota also said it would be incorporating a brake override system on new cars to resolve braking issues reported by drivers.

world hottest news: RBS fined £28.6m for breaking competition law

Royal Bank of Scotland has been fined £28.6m by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) after breaking competition law.

The fine was reduced from £33.6m to reflect RBS's admission and agreement to co-operate over the breaches, the OFT said in a statement.

The OFT began its probe after a tip-off from Barclays Bank that RBS had passed it confidential information about the pricing of loans.

RBS broke the rules between October 2007 and February or March 2008.

The OFT found that individuals in RBS's Professional Practices Coverage Team gave counterparts at Barclays details of the pricing of loans to large professional services firms, such as solicitors, accountancy, and property companies.

Barclays used the information to set its own prices, but escaped a fine because it reported the matter to the OFT.

Under OFT rules, Barclays' tip-off to the OFT means it will get immunity from prosecution. The OFT said that provided Barclays continues to co-operate it "is not expected to pay a fine in this case".

Substantial penalty

Ali Nikpay, OFT senior director of cartels and criminal enforcement, said: "Any company that discloses confidential future pricing information to its competitors risks a substantial penalty.

"It is important that companies operating in the UK understand the seriousness of such conduct and ensure effective competition compliance throughout their organisation," he said.

OFT investigators found that RBS staff passed the information to Barclays during social and industry meetings, and through telephone conversations.

It is understood that the OFT will not launch criminal proceedings against any individuals.

The OFT bases the size of its fines on a company's turnover. The biggest fine so far handed out by the OFT was a £121.5m penalty to British Airways in 2007 for price fixing over fuel surcharges.

The UK taxpayer owns 84% of RBS after the government bailed out the bank at the end of 2008.

world hottest news: Wylfa in Anglesey 'could house next UK nuclear plant'

The UK's next nuclear power plant could be constructed on the island of Anglesey by 2020.

Now Horizon, a joint venture by energy firms RWE and E.on, says it will apply for planning consent in 2012 to build a reactor with up to 3,300MW capacity.

Wylfa, the existing island nuclear plant, will stop producing electricity in December.

Anglesey AM Ieuan Wyn Jones welcomed the proposals and said construction of the plant would be an "economic boost".

County council leader Clive McGregor said the move would have a "positive impact" on the community and deliver "high quality jobs".

He said: "We have suffered tremendous job losses over the last few years.

"This will bring a degree of hope for the people of Anglesey in terms of secure employment both during the construction phase and during the 60 years or so of the life of a new reactor at Wylfa."

He added the development on Anglesey was similar to "a little village winning the right to hold the Olympics", and said the council would need to look at road and communication links, and housing.

Electricity production

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is conducting a 15-week consultation about the proposals.

The current Wylfa power station has permission to continue electricity production until December 2010.

According to a report in the Times newspaper, Wylfa was chosen over another site in Oldbury-on-Severn, South Gloucestershire, which Horizon hopes to develop later.

The island's council estimates that the development could bring £8bn into the local economy.

New Horizon said a new nuclear station at Wylfa could deliver up to 800 high quality permanent jobs, rising to 1,000 during maintenance and up to 5,000 jobs during construction.

The Welsh Assembly Government remains opposed to new nuclear plants in Wales despite the approval of Wylfa as a potential site.

However, Ieuan Wyn Jones, deputy first minister and minister for economy and transport, said "all efforts" would be made to ensure that the economic benefits the project would bring to Anglesey were maximised.

He said: "It would be essential to ensure that local businesses benefit from contracts on the site and from supply chain opportunities, and this will need to be built into any consents.

"Given the job losses that we have had on the island during the last 18 months this economic boost would be very welcome."

Anglesey Aluminium ended smelting operations on the island last year, with the loss of almost 400 jobs.

The land at Wylfa, near Cemaes Bay, was acquired by Horizon from the Nuclear Decommission Authority in May 2008.

'Vital contribution'

Alan Smith, Horizon's Wylfa Project Manager, said the plant "would make a vital contribution to meeting the country's energy needs and tackling the challenge of climate change".

Dylan Morgan, from campaign group People Against Wylfa B, said nuclear power was a "failed 20th Century technology".

He told BBC Radio Wales that the proposed plant would create nuclear waste that was "twice as radioactive" as materials created by current nuclear energy sites.

He said: "The [UK] government has no idea what to with nuclear waste generated over the last 50 years, let alone waste from any new reactor."

He said the government had admitted that waste from a plant like Wylfa B would have to be kept in "so-called interim storage" on the site where it was produced.

A protest will be held on Wednesday to demonstrate the traffic problems the island already faces, and highlight the impact this would have if people had to be evacuated because of an accident at the proposed reactor.

world hottest news: EPPICard: The loaded and unsecure drawing near to access your payments

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world hottest news: Somalis in rare march against al-Shabab militants

Hundreds of Somalis have marched through the streets of Mogadishu, protesting against al-Shabab militants.

The protesters, mostly women and children and wearing traditional white clothes, chanted slogans denouncing the al-Qaeda-inspired group.

The BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan says this is only the second public demonstration against al-Shabab, which controls much of southern Somalia.

The protesters shouted their support for the UN-backed government.

Mohyadin Hassan Afrah, who helped organise the protest in one of Mogadishu's few government-controlled districts, says people were upset at a move by al-Shabab to destroy the tombs of revered Sufi clerics.

Al-Shabab follows the strict Saudi Arabian-inspired Wahhabi interpretation of Islam, rather than the Sufi Islam of many Somalis.

"We call for a holy war against them," said Sheikh Somow, from the Sufi Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jama group, which recently stuck a deal with the government.

Mr Afrah also said he was marching to protest at al-Shabab's use of foreign fighters.

Our reporter says fighters from Pakistan, Yemen and North Africa have travelled to Somalia to join al-Shabab.

Dozens of government troops watched the march and fired shots into the sky.

Some of the demonstrators carried posters with slogan such as "Down with al-Shabab" and carried "Support Peace and Government".

"We have been forced out of our houses because of the violence instigated by al-Shabab. We are here to support the government and make our voices against them heard," said one of the marchers, Hawo Abdulle Aden.

About half of Mogadishu's population have fled their homes.

The country has been torn by conflict since 1991.

Rescuers are trying to reach more than 150 coal miners trapped after a pit flooded in China's northern Shanxi province, state media says.

Some 261 people were in the mine when water rushed in and 108 managed to escape, the Xinhua news agency reports.

China's mines are the most deadly in the world - thousands of workers are killed in them every year.

Most accidents are blamed on failures to follow safety rules, compromising ventilation or fire-control equipment.

Initial reports from the Wangjialing mine said more than 150 people were trapped in the pit but officials later revised that number down, only to revise it back up to 153.

President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao ordered local authorities to spare no effort to save the trapped, Xinhua said.

The mine covers 180 sq km (70 sq miles).

Most of those trapped in the shaft are migrant workers from Shanxi, Hebei, Hunan and Guizhou provinces, a rescuer said, quoted by Xinhua.

Earlier this month, rescue efforts for 31 miners trapped when a coal mine flooded in the Inner Mongolia region of China were halted after two weeks when no sign of life was found.

According to official figures, 2,631 coal miners died in 1,616 mine accidents in China in 2009, down 18% from the previous year.

world hottest news: Turkey's EU bid overshadows Angela Merkel visit

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is due to arrive in Turkey for an official visit overshadowed by disagreements over Ankara's plans to join the EU.

Mrs Merkel opposes full EU membership for Turkey, which began negotiations to become a member in 2005.

There are also disagreements over the education of Turkish children in Germany in the Turkish language.

Germany is Turkey's biggest trading partner, and nearly three million Turks live in Germany.

Turkey's sometimes fraught relationship with the European Union won't be helped by this visit.

After months of avoiding the subject, Chancellor Merkel has chosen this moment to revive her idea of offering Turkey what she calls a privileged partnership with the EU, rather than full membership.

Mrs Merkel has stressed that she does see integration as possible in up to 28 of the 35 so-called chapters of EU law with which Turkey has to comply before it can become a full member of the union.

But her proposal has been firmly rejected by the Turkish government as a breach of the terms agreed when membership negotiations began five years ago.

'Insulted'

"Such a thing as privileged partnership does not exist," said Egemen Bagis, Turkey's minister for European affairs.

"So we do not take that option seriously because there is no legal foundation of it. At times I feel insulted for being offered something which does not exist."

The chancellor does have plenty of other topics to discuss here, including Iran's nuclear programme.

Turkey has recently strengthened its relations with Iran and opposes the tougher sanctions threatened by Western governments.

But their differences over EU membership will cast a shadow over any common ground they do find during this visit.

world hottest news: Japanese pair in Pritzker architecture prize win

A duo of Japanese architects, Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, have won the most coveted award in architecture, the Pritzker Prize, the has jury announced.

The 2010 winners were praised for using everyday building materials to create ethereal structures that shelter flowing, dreamlike spaces.

Their art museums, university buildings and designer-label fashion boutiques span Japan, the US and Europe.

The prize will be awarded formally in May in New York.

Sejima and Nishizawa, who are partners in the architectural firm Sanaa, said they did not see themselves as working within any sort of distinct Japanese architectural tradition.

But they acknowledged being influenced by the austere construction methods, lightweight materials and porous boundaries between inside and outside space that characterise traditional Japanese buildings.

"If you see Japanese temples made of wood, you can see how the architecture is made up," Nishizawa said.

"They have a clear construction and transparency and they are quite simple. I think this is one of the big things that we are influenced by."

Among the projects mentioned by the Pritzker jury were the Christian Dior Building in Tokyo's Omotesando shopping district and the Toledo Museum of Art's Glass Pavilion.

The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology's newly opened Rolex Learning Centre was also cited; it is a single-storey slab-like concrete and glass structure that undulates over a four-acre site, punctured in places to let light enter the massive open space that makes up its interior.

world hottest news: Farc rebels poised to free Colombian soldier

Relatives of a kidnapped Colombian soldier have arrived in the city of Villavicencio ahead of his planned release.

Colombia's main leftist rebel group, the Farc, said it would proceed with its plans to unilaterally free Private Josue Daniel Calvo, 22, on Sunday.

A negotiating team will fly by helicopter to a set of co-ordinates given by the rebels for the handover.

Pte Calvo was seized in April 2009 and is reported to be in poor health.

Opposition Senator Piedad Cordoba said plans were also on schedule for the release on Tuesday of Sgt Pablo Emilio Moncayo, who has been in captivity for 12 years.

The negotiating team, made up of representatives of the Catholic Church, the International Red Cross and Senator Cordoba, will leave Villavicencio's Vanguardia airport by helicopter for a location chosen by the rebels.

The commander of Colombia's armed forces, Gen Freddy Padilla, had earlier announced a 36-hour halt to military operations in the southern part of the country where Pte Calvo is being held.

Pte Calvo is expected to be taken to Villavicencio, in Meta province, where he will be reunited with his family before being flown to a military hospital.

According to the rebels, he is suffering from a leg wound which has made it hard for him to walk and forced the guerrillas to carry him.

Pte Calvo is the youngest member of the Colombian security forces to be held by the Farc (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia).

Negotiations for the release of Pte Calvo and Sgt Moncayo have gone on for almost a year.

'Horrible conditions'

Colombian peace commissioner Frank Pearl said he hoped Sgt Moncayo - who after 12 years in captivity is one of the longest held hostages - would be released on Monday night or early Tuesday.

Mr Pearl told the BBC News website that the conditions Sgt Moncayo has had to endure during his time with the Farc were "horrible".

"He has been kidnapped for 12 years. Think of what we've done for the last 12 years. He has lost a very important part of his life. He has been chained to a tree," he said.

Asked if the planned release of the two soldiers would lead to more such steps or negotiations with the rebels, he said the government did not want to tackle more than one issue at a time for fear of endangering the handover.

"After Tuesday, we'll have a new agenda," he said.

Sgt Moncayo's father, Gustavo, has walked almost the length of the country to raise awareness of his son's captivity, often carrying chains around his neck and wrists to highlight his plight.

Alan Jara, the former governor of Meta province, has also been a vocal supporter of the campaign to free the two soldiers.

He was himself kidnapped by the Farc and held for more than seven years before the group voluntarily released him last year.

'Critical moment'

He told the BBC News website that news of the planned release of the two men evoked strong feelings in him.

"It was only a year ago that I was in those same helicopters being taken from the jungle to Vanguardia airport in Villavicencio. It makes me relive the moment of my liberation second by second."

He said he believed that at this moment, just hours away from possible freedom, the two soldiers would be very stressed.

"It's a critical moment", he said.

He recalled how last-minute hitches prompted the Farc to tell him he would not be freed and would be taken back to the jungle hideout.

In the end, Mr Jara's release proceeded as planned, but not until he had endured another anxious 24-hour wait in the jungle for the arrival of the helicopters carrying the negotiating team.

"I was in this clearing, like a football field in the middle of the jungle, and when I saw the helicopters, it was a very strong moment. I wanted to cry, I wanted to smile, I didn't know what to do."

'Moment of shock'

Mr Jara was then shown a picture of his wife and his 15-year-old son, whom he had not seen since the boy was seven years old.

"It was a shock to me, he looked like another person, not my small child," Mr Jara remembered.

He said adjusting to life back home had been easy with the support of his family and friends.

Negotiations are still continuing for the handover of the remains of a police officer who died in captivity.

Major Julian Ernesto Guevara's body was originally to be returned as part of the release of the two soldiers, but Senator Cordoba said the timeline for that handover seemed to have slipped.

world hottest news: Israel's Netanyahu downplays tensions with US

Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu has moved to ease tensions with the US, describing the two countries' relations as those of "allies and friends".

Mr Netanyahu also dismissed reports one of his confidants called US President Barack Obama a "disaster" for Israel.

The US has criticised the building of Jewish homes in East Jerusalem, which prompted the Palestinians to pull out of US-brokered indirect peace talks.

The row has caused one of the worst crises in US-Israeli ties for decades.

In the wake of a controversial visit to the US, Mr Netanyahu said on Friday that his policy on East Jerusalem would not change, despite US pressure on Israel to announce a freeze on building Jewish homes there.

A best-selling Israeli newspaper then quoted an unidentified aide as saying: "You could say that Obama is the greatest disaster for Israel - a strategic disaster."

But the prime minister, speaking before he briefed the cabinet on his US trip, condemned these comments as "unacceptable".

"They do not come from anyone representing me. The relations between Israel and the United States are those of allies and friends, and are based on tradition spanning many years."

Re-occupy Gaza?

Tension has also been mounting in Gaza in recent days, with two Israeli soldiers and two Palestinian militants reportedly killed in the worst clashes for more than a year.

At the cabinet meeting, Mr Netanyahu stressed that Israel would provide a "firm and decisive" response to any attack from the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Israel pulled out in 2009 after an offensive which left hundreds of people dead.

Israel insists that Jerusalem will remain its undivided capital.

Nearly half a million Jews live in more than 100 settlements built since Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

They are considered illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.

The Middle East quartet - the US, EU, UN and Russia - has called for final status negotiations to reach a comprehensive peace deal within two years.

Pennsylvania police have charged a man with public drunkenness after reports that he tried to resuscitate a long-dead opossum on a highway.

State police said several witnesses had seen Donald Wolfe, 55, tending to the roadkill about 65 miles (105 km) north-east of the city of Pittsburgh.

One reported seeing Mr Wolfe kneeling before the animal and gesturing as though he were conducting a seance.

Another reported seeing him give mouth to mouth resuscitation to the carcass.

State police Trooper Jamie Levier said the animal had been dead a while, the Associated Press news agency reports.

The opossum, colloquially known as a possum, is about the size of a domestic cat.

Such animals are known to feign death when threatened, giving rise to the phrase "playing possum".

A Hamas commander who was killed in his Dubai hotel room was drugged and then suffocated, according to results of forensic tests released by police.

Mahmoud al-Mabhouh's killers used a quick-acting muscle relaxant to help make the death seem "natural", a senior Dubai police officer said.

Israel's secret service has been widely blamed for the killing.

However Israel has said there is no evidence it was behind the death on 20 January.

It has accused Mabhouh of smuggling arms into Gaza and killing two Israeli soldiers.

'Rapid onset'

"The killers used the drug succinylcholine to sedate Mabhouh before they suffocated him," Maj Gen Khamis Mattar al-Mazeina, deputy commander of Dubai's police, said.

"The assassins used this method so that it would seem that his death was natural," AFP news agency quoted him as saying.

The agency said succinylcholine is favoured by anaesthetists and emergency doctors because of its rapid onset.

Some previous reports on Mabhouh's death have suggested he was electrocuted and suffocated.

Passport row

Dubai has identified 26 suspects in the murder and said they used British, Irish, French and Australian passports.

The use of the European and Australian passports in the assassination has sparked a diplomatic row between those countries and Israel.

The countries say the passports used by the murder suspects were forged.

British police officers are in Israel to investigate the use of fake British passports by some of the suspects.

Israeli officials have refused to either confirm or deny their country's involvement in the killing but have hailed it.

Trade Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said on Sunday he did not know who had carried it out, but it showed Hamas that "none of their people are untouchable".

Israeli police have clashed with Palestinian protesters at the Jerusalem compound housing one of the Islam's holiest sites, the al-Aqsa mosque.

Police say they went into the compound to disperse some 20 masked protesters throwing stones at foreign tourists.

The Islamic body which oversees administration of the area disputes the police account of events.

This is the latest in a series of clashes amid high tensions over religious sites in the past week.

The Jerusalem compound also contains the Western Wall, a sacred site for Jews.

Clashes broke out in the West Bank town of Hebron on Friday over Israel's decision to list two disputed shrines as heritage sites.

Contested site

A Palestinian official said a group of youths had spent the night in the al-Aqsa mosque to prevent what they believed to be Jewish extremists from praying at the sensitive site.

Palestinians and Israelis were injured and several Palestinians were arrested in the brief confrontation on Sunday, police say.

An Israeli police spokesman said calm had been restored to the compound and visits resumed.

The spokesman, Micky Rosenfeld, said Muslim men under the age of 50 had been barred from the site, while older men, women of all ages and children had been permitted to enter.

The Jerusalem complex, known to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif and to Jews as Temple Mount, has long been contested.

Clashes erupted at the site last September after Muslims threw stones at people they believed to be Jewish extremists trying to pray at the al-Aqsa mosque.

A visit to the compound in 2000 by then-opposition leader Ariel Sharon, later prime minister, led to clashes that escalated into years of violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

The compound containing the mosque lies in Jerusalem's Old City, which has been controlled by Israel since they captured it in the 1967 war.

Muslims believe the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven from the spot in the complex marked by the Dome of the Rock.

The site is holy to Jews because it is where the First and Second Temples were built according to the Old Testament, with the Western Wall still remaining.

At least eight people have been killed in floods triggered by heavy rain in Haiti, officials have said.

The deaths occurred in or near the southeastern port city of Les Cayes which was swamped by more than 1.5m (5ft) of water.

Officials said buildings affected included a hospital and a prison where more than 400 inmates were evacuated.

About a million Haitians are still homeless following January's earthquake which killed up to 230,000 people.

The floods have come several weeks ahead of Haiti's traditional rainy season.

"The situation is grave... whole areas are completely flooded. People have climbed on to the roofs of their homes," local senator Francky Exius told AFP news agency.

Witnesses said some homes had collapsed and people were fleeing for safer areas.

At least two people are reported missing in the floods. One report puts the death toll at 11.

Staff at the flooded hospital in Les Cayes moved patients to the safety of higher floors, reports say, while UN peacekeepers helped police to evacuate the jail.

Les Cayes lies on a peninsula 160km (100 miles) west of the capital Port-au-Prince.

It was unaffected by the earthquake, but its 70,000 population has been swollen by survivors fleeing from earthquake-hit areas.

Movie-goers should have more information about how many calories are in cinema snacks, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) said.

The nutrition watchdog is concerned about the portion sizes of cinema snacks which are often high in fat, sugar or salt.

The FSA said that cinemas sell "pretty large portions" and do not offer a smaller choice to customers.

FSA chief executive Tim Smith told The Times cinema food was "a concern".

Mr Smith said there seemed to be increasingly large snacks on sale. "Who would ever have thought of the idea of a family needing a wheelbarrow to go into a cinema?" he said.

"There is a myth that popcorn is calorie-free but that is not the case."

A spokesman for the FSA also said the watchdog did recognise how trips to the cinema were "occasional treats" for people, and that food eaten there "only represents a small amount of the nation's calories".

Smaller portions

"However, the food on offer at cinemas is food that is often high in fat, sugar and salt," they said.

"It is also served in pretty large portions and people don't have a choice to choose something smaller, for example the smallest soft drink on offer can be as big as a pint and popcorn tends to come in large buckets.

"The FSA thinks it's a good idea that people should have more choice. If they want to order a smaller popcorn box or soft drink then it should be available."

The FSA is currently consulting on a calorie labelling scheme for some food businesses and will publish its final recommendations in the summer.

The Times said a large sweet popcorn from a central London cinema weighed 375g (13oz) and was likely to contain around 1,800 calories.

On a visit to Helmand, the head of the armed forces has said that British troops have performed superbly in Operation Moshtarak, and that the initial phase has gone well.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup was speaking as he flew in to Showal, formerly the heartland of the Taliban's shadow government.

He said there were still pockets of resistance further south in Marjah, where the Americans have been fighting, and some resistance in Nad Ali, but that levels had eased considerably over the last few days.

Security was tight for Sir Jock's visit.

In the skies, an Apache attack helicopter was visible as it circled above, while soldiers from the 1st Battalion the Royal Welsh kept watch as the head of the armed forces came to talk to British and Afghan forces involved in Operation Moshtarak.

Speaking at a patrol base in the town, which appeared relatively quiet, he thanked British and Afghan forces for their work.

"Op Moshtarak is just the initial phase, and the clear phase went extraordinarily well, and it was a professionally-executed operation that went very smoothly. Our forces performed superbly."

However, he told the BBC that the coalition was not complacent.

"This is a tough fight, and it is a hard campaign, and you have got some pretty determined and quite clever opponents. They have a vote in this, and we have to be able to react to that, to enable us to keep them on the back foot," he said.

'Test the ground'

Just two weeks ago, the Taliban flag flew over this town; as the coalition moved in, it was replaced with the Afghan national flag that now flies from a tall white crane, visible from the low reinforced mud walled compounds that surround it.

However, soldiers here say that although many of the insurgents melted away after 4,000 coalition and Afghan troops launched the overall operation - 1,200 of them dropped in by air on D-Day - many insurgents remained to watch and test the ground.

Three British soldiers died during the "clear" phase of the operation.

Outside the military compound in Showal, young men from the town sit on the riverbank.

Some covered their faces as we passed; a few of the younger children smiled.

But the impression was of people waiting warily, wondering which side it will prove safest to support.

Last week, insurgents managed to place an IED makeshift bomb beneath a British truck, 20 yards from the crane. Nobody was hurt; only part of the charge went off.

"The Taliban haven't left - they're always looking for weaknesses, and they'll come back when they get the manpower again. But we're prepared for that," says Fusilier Dave Rollings, 24, from Cardiff, of the 1st Battalion the Royal Welsh.

Cpl Spiros Parry, 28, from Penygoves in Wales, agrees.

"It wasn't as heavy as we thought it would be, but it's still been eventful. Everyone's aware of the threat from IEDs, but the boys are doing well finding them, and the teams have cleared the routes for the convoys. So far, so good."

'Cautious'

More than 2,000 Afghans in the area covered by Operation Moshtarak have signed up for "cash for work" schemes.

They represent one method that the coalition and the Afghan government hope will wean some of the younger and less ideologically-driven Taliban fighters to lay down their arms.

An Afghan National Army colonel was cautious today about signs of Taliban fighters being "reconciled" with the Afghan government, but many hope the momentum generated by this operation will speed that possibility.

At the patrol base, Maj Shon Hackney, of the 1st Battalion the Royal Welsh, is optimistic.

"It's been very positive so far, and local people were keen to see us, although wary about where the Taliban were. Slowly, they are beginning to trust us and the Afghan National Army."

He admits that the threat from roadside bombs remains high.

"We have found three IED factories in Showal, and we've witnessed attempts by the Taliban to attack us and intimidate the locals. But there are visible signs of normality returning."

In the two weeks of this operation, the British counter-IED task force led by Col Gareth Bex has dealt with and recovered 40 roadside bombs in situ, and destroyed more than 80 items of unexploded ordnance.

Other finds have included 300 components for making IEDs, recovered from caches or bomb factories, including pressure plates and main charges that could be used to kill and maim.

'Hearts and minds'

The sheer scale of the threat remains hard to tackle, even with sophisticated surveillance in the skies above and troops with metal detectors on the ground.

Overall, though, British forces are quietly pleased with the way the operation has gone so far.

Brigadier James Cowan, the overall commander of Task Force Helmand, accompanied the Chief of the Defence Staff as he visited British forces across Helmand.

"What we were after was an operation that was not about fighting the enemy, but about winning the people.

"And in some ways, I suppose it's been a bit of an anti-climax, but that is exactly what we planned for: for it to be anti-climactic, so that we could come in with enough troops to make sure there wasn't a fight at all," he says. "I think that is what we've achieved."

Both sides, though, know that the real battle will be less for the physical territory than the hearts and minds of the people of Showal and the surrounding areas.

The Afghan government and its local representatives will have to deliver on their promises of better governance and less corruption.

While reconstruction will need to be faster than it has been in the past if local people are to be persuaded to throw in their lot with Kabul - and resist the Taliban's return.

The iTunes online store sold its 10 billionth track this week, with Black Eyed Peas' I Gotta Feeling officially the site's most downloaded track.

Their single Boom Boom Pow is the third biggest seller with Lady Gaga taking the number two slot with Poker Face.

Gaga's Just Dance and Bad Romance also feature in the top 25 most downloaded songs, according to Billboard.

The person who bought the 10 billionth track won a $10,000 (£6,500) iTunes gift card.

The buyers details have not been released.

Flo Rida, Katy Perry and Rihanna are all credited with two tracks apiece in the top 25 most downloaded chart, with British artists Coldplay and Leona Lewis featuring in the top 10.

All 25 songs were released in the past five years, with the exception of the Journey's Don't Stop Believin', which has gained popularity after featuring in the hit TV show Glee.

French national rail operator SNCF has apologised for a note that singled out Romanians over baggage thefts and triggered accusations of xenophobia.

The note asked employees to bring "all activities of Romanians" to the attention of rail security services.

The note was distributed at the end of January in the Midi-Pyrenees region.

SNCF said the note was a "regrettable individual initiative" and had been recalled as soon as regional train officials learnt about it.

An SNCF spokesperson told the BBC that the official responsible for the note had been summoned along with their superiors, and had been reminded of the "obligations and culture of the SNCF".

She said the matter was being dealt with internally.

'Racist'

The note was published on the French news site Rue89 after one of their contributors noticed it on a local train on 1 February.

It read: "In the last few weeks concerns have arisen about Romanians. Indeed, numerous baggage thefts have been noticed.

"We ask you to redouble your vigilance. In addition, all the activities of Romanians should be brought to the attention of the PCNS [rail security services]."

The Sud-Rail trade union was quoted by local media as denouncing the note as "racist".

"These ideas, in a general context in which xenophobia and the stigmatisation of immigrants is becoming more intolerable each day, have to be condemned in the strongest manner," the union said.

SNCF issued a statement on Tuesday saying the note had been intended to draw attention to "an increase in thefts committed on certain trains".

It apologised for the note, saying it had been drawn up in a way that the company "neither endorsed nor supported", adding that the duty of SNCF staff was to protect goods and persons "without distinction of origin, social class or nationality".

A British Eurosceptic MEP has unleashed a volley of insults against EU President Herman van Rompuy.

Nigel Farage, of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), said Mr Van Rompuy had "the charisma of a damp rag".

His comments were made before a shocked chamber in Brussels as the newly appointed EU president made his first appearance before the parliament.

He compared the former Belgian prime minister to a "low-grade bank clerk" and said he came from a "non-country".

"Who are you? I'd never heard of you, nobody in Europe had ever heard of you," Mr Farage thundered as noisy disapproval at his intervention in the chamber rose.

"Oh, I know democracy is not popular with you lot," he said, addressing the members of parliament as they voiced their surprise.

Mr Farage - known for his outspoken interventions - did, however, admit that he thought Mr Van Rompuy was "competent and capable", adding that this made him "dangerous".

"I have no doubt that your intention is to be the quiet assassin of European democracy and of European nation states," he said.

Mr Farage's party, UKIP, campaigns for the withdrawal of Britain from the European Union.

"You seem to have a loathing for the very concept of the existence of nation states," he continued, adding: "Perhaps that's because you come from Belgium, which is pretty much a non-country."

Mr Van Rompuy, 62, was chosen unanimously by the governments of the EU's 27 member states to take on the role of the first permanent European Council president.

Described as camera-shy and sometimes given the nickname the "grey mouse", he is seen as a coalition builder, credited for steering linguistically divided Belgium out of crisis.