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News In BriefThe government is to hold a public inquiry into a proposal to burn the controversial fuel, Orimulsion, at a power station in west Wales. National Power want to use the bitumen-based fuel at the disused Pembroke power station, but there've been claims that it's linked to health problems.
The Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam has pledged "one last attempt" to include Sinn Fein in peace talks. But she also warned that unless there was a lasting commitment to a ceasefire then talks would go ahead without them. "If Sinn Fein are serious, I'm going to make one last attempt to get them into talks," she said.
A bizarre plan to make Europe's leaders cycle from the Amsterdam summit meetings to the hotel where they are to have their lunches has been scrapped, on health and safety grounds. The Dutch Government, which is hosting the event, has decided that while the environmental message would have been politically correct, a clutch of pedalling premiers would have been too easy a target for terrorists. Although no-one is prepared to say so publicly, there was also concern about the prospects of getting a certain substantial German Chancellor on to two wheels.
Jill Saward, the victim in what became known as the Ealing Vicarage Rape, has urged the Government to listen to MPs who want an overhaul of the rape laws. More than 64 MPs have now signed a Commons motion, tabled by Labour MP for Stourbridge Debra Shipley, calling for an end to the right of an accused rapist to cross-examine the victim, although his lawyer could still do so. The MPs also want a restriction on multiple cross-examination in cases where there is more than one defendant. In addition, they say, identity parades should be conducted behind mirror glass and British people raped by Britons abroad should be able to turn to the UK legal system for justice.
A Tory has admitted throwing a bucket of water over a former colleague in an election day bust up. Mike Keith-Smith, who campaigned for the UK Independence Party, brought the private prosecution after Conservative councillor Frank Worley threw a large bucket of water through his car window. At the time Mr Keith-Smith was shouting four-letter insults against Tory leader John Major through a hand-held megaphone, Portsmouth magistrates court heard. Mr Worley's defence lawyer said the councillor had faced "enormous provocation". This is the latest turn in a series of incidents involving the Conservative Association which saw Keith-Smith, a former member of the Association, campaign under the banner of 'Tory Sleazebusters' during the general election. The UKIP supporter's car had already driven once past Worley's home in Portsmouth, which was being used as a local committee room by the Conservatives, with Keith-Smith using four-letter words over the megaphone in references to Mr Major and Tory candidate David Martin. Worley, a councillor on Portsmouth City Council, pleaded guilty to the assault. The Chairman of the bench said it was a "foolish incident" and gave Worley a conditional discharge for six months.
The Prime Minister has unveiled plans for a powerful watchdog aimed at putting green issues at the heart of Government. Mr Blair's initiative was given a guarded welcome by environmental groups and Opposition MPs, who warned that Ministers must not "backtrack" on election promises to curb global warming at the forthcoming Earth Summit Two in New York. The move came after Mr Blair earlier invited members of Britain's leading environmental and countryside campaign groups to Downing Street for a 30-minute discussion on the direction of Government policy.
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Diana, Princess of Wales, 1961-1997
Conference 97
Devolution
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