Peru Drugs: Melissa Reid Reunited With Father

The father of a British woman being held on suspicion of drug-smuggling in Peru has had an emotional reunion with his daughter.

William Reid told Melissa Reid, who turns 20 today, to "be strong" and vowed to bring her home after flying to the capital Lima.

Ms Reid, from Kirkintilloch in East Dunbartonshire, and Michaella McCollum Connolly, 20, from Dungannon, Co Tyrone, are suspected of trying to leave the country with £1.5m worth of cocaine in their luggage.

They were detained while trying to board a flight from the Peruvian capital to Spain last week.

The pair both deny the accusations, and say they are victims of a violent gang who coerced them into carrying the drugs.

Lawyer Peter Madden, who is representing Ms McCollum Connolly, is expected to arrive in Peru later on Friday.

As he left Belfast for Lima he said she would deny any allegations if charged, but warned that legal proceedings could be lengthy.

He said: "She is saying she has done nothing wrong, that she is innocent and that as far as any offences are concerned, if she is charged she will be denying it."

According to the Daily Mail, during their meeting at the Dirando police station,  Ms Reid told her father: "They made me do it."

She told him that while she worked on the Mediterranean island of Ibiza she was introduced to a British man who eventually forced her into meeting a gang of Colombian gangsters, who put a gun to her head.

She told her father the gang forced her to fly to Peru, saying: "I wanted to tell the air hostesses or anyone in the airports, but the men said they would know if we had spoken to anyone, that they were watching all the time.

"It was a choice between doing what I was told and getting it over and done with and hopefully getting back to Spain or trying to escape and being killed."

Ms Reid said she fears evidence in Peru has been contaminated by police because they did not wear gloves as they handled the food bags in which the drugs are said to have been stored, according the newspaper.

When she was told to return to her cell, her father told her: "We will do everything we can to get you out of here. We will work something out."

Police are waiting for a translator before officially questioning the two women, which is expected to happen in the next few days.

They may be held pre-charge for up to 30 days and could then spend up to three years in prison before a trial.

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Tailgaters Facing Instant Roadside Justice

By Frazer Maude, Sky News Reporter

Tailgaters and middle lane hoggers could be hit with on-the-spot fines of £100 and three points on their licence from today.

The idea is to make it easier for the police to tackle problem drivers without being tied up with the bureaucracy of taking offenders to court.

Solicitor Neil Davies, who specialises in motoring offences, says policing the new laws will require officers to make a subjective judgement on whether a particular manoeuvre is illegal or not.

"One of the ways in which a court would assess that question is has the person driving departed from the Highway Code - how well is that person driving?

"Now in issuing the fixed penalty notices of course one would hope that police officers do exercise a degree of discretion, a degree of common sense and that they only issue these notices in appropriate circumstances."

Few motorists would admit to flaunting the Highway Code themselves but for most tailgating and lane hogging are pet hates, so the new laws are being welcomed.

Officers will make a subjective judgement on driving standards

Under the new legislation fines for other offences, from using hand-held mobile phones or not wearing a seatbelt, to driving without insurance, have also been increased - from £60 to £100 and from £200 to £300 respectively.

Although fines have gone up, penalty points will remain unchanged, as will fixed penalty notices for parking, waiting and obstruction offences.

The Department of Transport said: "The changes will give the police the power to issue fixed penalty notices for careless driving and allow them greater flexibility when dealing with less serious careless driving offences - such as tailgating or middle lane hogging - as well as freeing them from resource intensive court processes.

"The police will also be able to offer educational training as an alternative to licence endorsement, and drivers will still be able to appeal any decision in court."

Most motoring groups support the changes, although some road safety campaigners think the punishments should be more severe.

One concern is who will police the new laws, with only half as many traffic officers on Britain's roads as there were in the 1990's.

But senior officers insist they will be enforced and that more serious cases will still be taken to court where the offenders may face higher penalties.

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Cycling 'Revolution' Shifts Into Top Gear

A big cash injection for cycling and a nationwide drive to promote cycling in cities and national parks is being announced by the Prime Minister.

The initiative includes plans to make roads safer for those on two wheels and means a number of English cities will get Government money for cycling schemes.

A total of £77m will be divided between Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Newcastle, Bristol, Cambridge, Oxford and Norwich.

The New Forest, Peak District, South Downs and Dartmoor areas will also each share another £17m funding for national parks.

With local contributions, the total new funding for cycling is £148m between now and 2015.

The announcement includes a commitment to cut red tape that can stifle cycle-friendly road design and to encourage changes to the way roads are built or altered.

Councils will be expected to up their game to deliver infrastructure that takes cycling into account from the design stage.

Mr Cameron said: "Following our success in the Olympics, the Paralympics and the Tour de France, British cycling is riding high - now we want to see cycling soar.

"Our athletes have shown they are among the best in the world and we want to build on that, taking our cycling success beyond the arena and onto the roads, starting a cycling revolution which will remove the barriers for a new generation of cyclists."

Bradley Wiggins has inspired a generation of Britons to cycle

He went on: "This Government wants to make it easier and safer for people who already cycle as well as encouraging far more people to take it up and business, local government, developers, road users and the transport sector all have a role to play in helping to achieve this."

New trunk road schemes, such as junction improvements or road-widening, will be 'cycle-proofed' so they can be navigated confidently by the average cyclist.

Significant junction upgrades will help cyclists at 14 locations on the trunk road network where major roads can prove an obstacle for journeys by bike.

A total of £5m will be invested in upgrades this year and a further £15m will be invested in 2015/16, with plans in place for many more similar schemes.

The boost is intended to put Britain on a level-footing with countries like Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: "We have seen a significant growth in the number of cyclists in London over the last few years. But cycling shouldn't be confined to the capital.

"Today's announcement shows we are absolutely committed to boosting cycling in cities and the countryside across the whole of England."

However, shadow transport secretary Maria Eagle said: "No amount of cynical spin from David Cameron will make up for the fact that, immediately on taking office, he axed Cycle England, the Cycle Demonstration Towns scheme and the annual £60m budget to support cycling that he inherited.

"Since then he has axed targets to reduce deaths and serious injuries on our roads, reduced traffic enforcement, cut the THINK! awareness campaign and allowed longer HGVs."

But Professor David Cox, chairman of national cycling charity CTC, said: "David Cameron has today shown the leadership that CTC and other cycling groups have long called for.

Thousands of cyclists took part in an event in London recently

"We now urge MPs of all parties to speak up for cycling in Parliament in September, calling for the funding needed to transform Britain's streets into a continental-style 'Cycletopia'.

"With growing political support for cycling, this really might now be possible."

A feasibility study to look into creating a new national cycleway was also announced as part of the scheme.

The route would broadly follow the route of the HS2 rail line from London to Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester.

It would link communities and rail stations to work, schools and shops as well as countryside and tourist attractions along the way.

In addition, a new national School Awards Scheme  will be created to recognise schools that have demonstrated excellence in supporting cycling and walking.

The UK cycle industry, led by the Bicycle Association, has volunteered to work with the Government to sponsor this award.

It was also announced that the Government is extending its commitment to support Bikeability cycle training into 2015/16.

All of the cities receiving funding have either already implemented, or are looking to expand, the network of 20mph zones, with Norfolk and Cambridge looking to introduce extensive area-wide 20mph schemes.

Similar work has been done to make it easier to introduce 40mph limits in rural areas.

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CCTV Code Of Practice Comes Into Force

A new code of practice for the use of surveillance cameras in England and Wales has come into force.

The new rules - introduced by the Home Office - state that CCTV cameras should be used to protect and support people, not to spy on them.

The code states that: "The purpose … will be to ensure that individuals and wider communities have confidence that surveillance cameras are deployed to protect and support them, rather than spy on them.

"The Government considers that wherever overt surveillance in public places is in pursuit of a legitimate aim and meets a pressing need, any such surveillance should be characterised as surveillance by consent."

But campaigners say the code does not go far enough in ensuring CCTV systems are not misused.

Despite fears over CCTV seeming quite antiquated in the age of alleged state hacking of emails, Emma Carr, from civil liberties group Big Brother Watch, said it remains a vital issue.

"We're getting an increasing amount of phone calls and letters from people who are concerned about their neighbours putting up CCTV cameras in their gardens, which cover their own private areas and sometimes look into their houses," she told Sky News.

"And then there's also the technological development in terms of CCTV. Facial recognition and HD CCTV cameras. These are all available online to pretty much anybody."

Britain's first town centre CCTV system was installed in King's Lynn in 1987.

Since that time the use of CCTV and Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) in England and Wales has grown rapidly.

Some 51,600 CCTV cameras are controlled by local authorities, while 2,107 schools operate a further 47,806 cameras.

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Wages: UK Workers In Europe's Bottom Four

Warning Over High Charity Wages

Updated: 10:36am UK, Tuesday 06 August 2013

Six figure salaries for staff at Britain's taxpayer-funded foreign aid charities risk bringing the industry into disrepute, the Charity Commission's chairman William Shawcross has warned.

Some 30 people working at the 14 leading UK charities that make up the 50-year old Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) are paid more than £100,000 a year, according to new figures. 

A Daily Telegraph investigation into charity industry salaries showed British Red Cross CEO Sir Nick Young earns £184,000 a year. 

James Forsyth, chief executive of Save the Children, earns £163,000, while the charity's chief operating officer Anabel Hoult earns £168,653.

Mr Shawcross told the Daily Telegraph: "It is not for the commission to tell charities how much they should pay their executives. That is a matter for their trustees.

"However, in these difficult times, when many charities are experiencing shortfalls, trustees should consider whether very high salaries are really appropriate, and fair to both the donors and the taxpayers who fund charities.

"Disproportionate salaries risk bringing organisations and the wider charitable world into disrepute."

Three years ago, 19 staff members at the DEC charities, which are mandated to raise funds quickly for crisis-struck parts of the world, earned more than £100,000.

DEC says it has run 62 appeals and raised more than £1.1bn since launching in 1963.

The charities involved with DEC include Action Aid, Age International, British Red Cross, CAFOD, Care International, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide, Islamic Relief, Merlin, Oxfam, Plan UK, Save the Children, Tearfund and World Vision.

Sir Stephen Bubb, chief executive of charity leaders organisation Acevo, said the intervention by Mr Shawcross was "deeply unhelpful".

The average salary for a charity chief executive was £58,000, he said and added: "The big national and international charities are very demanding jobs and we need to attract the best talent to those jobs and that's what we do."

Sir Stephen denied that the high salaries could put off donors.

He said: "This simply isn't an issue for donors. Donors are more concerned about the outcomes, the performance and the efficiency of these organisations.

"To keep talent, really strong people, at the top of these organisations they need to be paid properly. These are still not excessive salaries when you compare them to the public and private sectors."

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HIV Home-Testing Kits: Law Change Proposed

HIV Mother Case Study

Updated: 10:29pm UK, Monday 04 March 2013

Sky News talks to a mother with HIV in the wake of the apparent cure of an HIV-infected baby in Mississippi.

Following a routine sexual health check-up in January 2010, Amanda Mammadova discovered that she was HIV Positive.

She had no reason to believe that she had contracted the disease and merely thought it was time to get checked out.

When she was told she was positive, she was convinced she would never have children again. So when she fell pregnant she said that whilst she was overjoyed, she was also filled with fear.

"As a mother the last thing you ever want to do is pass HIV onto your child or cause your child any harm," she said.

But after doctors advised her how to minimise the risk to the baby, and told her that the chances of the child being positive were minimal, she felt more comfortable.

However, Ms Mammadova thinks the latest news from America could potentially have a huge impact on those diagnosed as HIV positive and their attitudes to having a family.

"It's going to make a huge difference to people, the fact that this baby has come back as negative, as potentially cured. It means that you can still have a family, that you can still have a happy life have children … it's a huge thing," she said.

Ms Mammadova and her husband, who is HIV negative, hope that results from the US case will not only change the outlook of those who are HIV positive, but also go some way to address the social stigma that she says surrounds the disease.

"I see so many people who think their life is over … they're young and they can't have children because of their HIV. So this story will go some way to show them they can have children and they can have whatever they want."

The couple now face an agonising wait until April, when their daughter Saabira will be tested to see whether she is HIV positive or not. 

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