LONDON: Conservative MP Patrick Mercer resigned from the party yesterday as a result of allegations, due to be aired in a television documentary, that he had broken government rules over the sensitive issue of lobbying. The BBC, which is due to show the documentary “as soon as possible”, said it had been investigating lobbying and the conduct of politicians. Mercer said he was taking legal advice about the allegations and had brought them to the attention of a parliamentary body that deals with breaches of conduct by elected officials. Mercer, a former army officer and shadow homeland security minister, had been an MP since 2001 and took a keen interest in defence affairs. A Conservative spokesman said Prime Minister David Cameron was aware of the situation and that Mercer had “done the right thing” by resigning.
BA emergency landing ‘due to unlatched engine doors’
LONDON: Doors on both engines of a British Airways plane which made an emergency landing at London’s Heathrow Airport last week had been left unlatched during maintenance, an investigation report said. Remnants of the fan cowl doors from the Oslo-bound Airbus A319 were found on the runway following the incident on May 24, according to the Air Accidents Investigation Branch. The 75 passengers on board had to evacuate the plane by emergency slides and Heathrow was temporarily forced to close both its runways while crews put out a fire in one of the engines. “The fan cowl doors from both engines detached, puncturing a fuel pipe on the right engine and damaging the airframe, and some aircraft systems,” the AAIB report said.
France to ban electronic cigarettes
PARIS: France will ban electronic cigarette smoking in public places by imposing the same curbs enforced since 2007 to combat tobacco smoking, Health Minister Marisol Touraine said. Amid mounting global concern over the public health implications of so-called e-cigarettes, Touraine said they faced the same fate as traditional ones: a ban on smoking in public spaces and sales to minors and a blackout on media advertising. The near-odourless electronic alternative — battery-driven devices that allow users inhale odourless nicotine-laced vapour rather than smoke — are gaining ground in no-go zones such as bars, cafes, trains, waiting rooms and offices. A government-commissioned report said this week that around 500,000 people in France had turned to e-cigarettes.
Zimbabwe court orders vote by July 31
HARARE: Zimbabwe’s Constitutional Court yesterday ordered President Robert Mugabe to set a date for crucial elections, which will end an uneasy power-sharing government, before the end of July. Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku ordered the 89-year-old Mugabe to “proclaim as soon as possible a date for the holding of presidential elections, general elections and elections of members of governing bodies of local authorities”. He added that the vote should take place “no later than the 31st of July 2013”. Agencies
