A nurse has been arrested on suspicion of murder after the deaths of three patients at a hospital in Stockport, Greater Manchester.

Rebecca Leighton, 27, of Heaviley, Stockport, was arrested at home and is being questioned after two men and a woman died at Stepping Hill Hospital.Police believe insulin was deliberately injected into saline containers.Sixty detectives have been involved in the inquiry and officers have questioned more than 50 people so far.Tracey Arden, 44, 71-year-old Arnold Lancaster, and George Keep, 84, have all died at the hospital in the past month.A fourth patient, a man in his 40s, remains critically ill.Greater Manchester Police believe the sabotaged saline containers were used by at least two wards, A1 and A3.Deaths 'unexplained'The force said they were working on the assumption the contamination had taken place on the site.The four patients are among a total of 14 whose treatment since 7 July is being examined by police.Dr Chris Burke, chief executive of Stockport NHS Foundation Trust, said: "We are aware that Greater Manchester Police have made an arrest this morning of a 26-year-old female.Security has been increased at the hospital"As the police are continuing with their enquiries, we are unable to provide any further details, but it is important to stress that no charges have been made at this stage."A hospital spokesperson said it hoped to return to full business by 0900 BST on Thursday, although security measures would remain in place.The Nursing and Midwifery Council, which regulates nurses in the UK, said: "We are aware that an individual is being questioned who may be a nurse. Fitness to practice proceedings will be commenced immediately, if appropriate."Detectives were called to the hospital after an experienced nurse reported a higher-than-normal number of patients on her ward with "unexplained" low blood sugar levels.Officers found insulin had contaminated a batch of 36 ampoules in a storeroom close to ward A1.Security has been increased on the hospital site and staff have been told to work in pairs when they check or administer drugs.Senior NHS bosses at the hospital are having daily meetings with police.Insulin is always stored in a fridge in a locked treatment room but saline has also been locked away as a result of the incidents.Contaminated bagSouth Manchester coroner John Pollard has opened and adjourned inquests into Ms Arden, Mr Lancaster and Mr Keep.Police have said a damaged bag containing saline solution was found in the maternity ward but it had not been contaminated.Assistant Chief Constable Ian Hopkins, leading the inquiry for Greater Manchester Police, said: "It is important to stress that this product has not been contaminated and, in fact, the damage could very well be accidental, as can happen quite easily in a busy hospital environment."Extra security measures are in place across the hospital and staff continue to be vigilant, which of course is to be expected."Due to heightened awareness, staff are alerting police to anything they feel might be suspicious or relevant to the investigation and to date there has been no further contamination of any product since the control measures were introduced."n arrested on suspicion of murder after the deaths of three patients at a hospital in Stockport, Greater Manchester.

Rebecca Leighton, 27, of Heaviley, Stockport, was arrested at home and is being questioned after two men and a woman died at Stepping Hill Hospital.

Police believe insulin was deliberately injected into saline containers.

Sixty detectives have been involved in the inquiry and officers have questioned more than 50 people so far.

Tracey Arden, 44, 71-year-old Arnold Lancaster, and George Keep, 84, have all died at the hospital in the past month.

A fourth patient, a man in his 40s, remains critically ill.

Greater Manchester Police believe the sabotaged saline containers were used by at least two wards, A1 and A3.

Deaths 'unexplained'
The force said they were working on the assumption the contamination had taken place on the site.

The four patients are among a total of 14 whose treatment since 7 July is being examined by police.

Dr Chris Burke, chief executive of Stockport NHS Foundation Trust, said: "We are aware that Greater Manchester Police have made an arrest this morning of a 26-year-old female.


Security has been increased at the hospital
"As the police are continuing with their enquiries, we are unable to provide any further details, but it is important to stress that no charges have been made at this stage."

A hospital spokesperson said it hoped to return to full business by 0900 BST on Thursday, although security measures would remain in place.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council, which regulates nurses in the UK, said: "We are aware that an individual is being questioned who may be a nurse. Fitness to practice proceedings will be commenced immediately, if appropriate."

Detectives were called to the hospital after an experienced nurse reported a higher-than-normal number of patients on her ward with "unexplained" low blood sugar levels.

Officers found insulin had contaminated a batch of 36 ampoules in a storeroom close to ward A1.

Security has been increased on the hospital site and staff have been told to work in pairs when they check or administer drugs.

Senior NHS bosses at the hospital are having daily meetings with police.

Insulin is always stored in a fridge in a locked treatment room but saline has also been locked away as a result of the incidents.

Contaminated bag
South Manchester coroner John Pollard has opened and adjourned inquests into Ms Arden, Mr Lancaster and Mr Keep.

Police have said a damaged bag containing saline solution was found in the maternity ward but it had not been contaminated.

Assistant Chief Constable Ian Hopkins, leading the inquiry for Greater Manchester Police, said: "It is important to stress that this product has not been contaminated and, in fact, the damage could very well be accidental, as can happen quite easily in a busy hospital environment.

"Extra security measures are in place across the hospital and staff continue to be vigilant, which of course is to be expected.

"Due to heightened awareness, staff are alerting police to anything they feel might be suspicious or relevant to the investigation and to date there has been no further contamination of any product since the control measures were introduced."

Corrupt police officers must face full weight of law

Police officers found guilty of taking money from News International should face the full weight of the law, Cambridge’s MP insists.
Julian Huppert was among 11 MPs listening to the evidence of senior Met officers Sir Paul Stephenson and John Yates when they appeared before the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee yesterday.
Answering questions at the committee, Sir Paul, who resigned as Commissioner of the force on Sunday, revealed that nearly a quarter of the Met’s communications team previously worked for the News International.
And Mr Yates, who quit as assistant commissioner on Monday, said it was time for the newspaper company to face up to its responsibilities – “confidently” predicting officers would be jailed.
Dr Huppert, the only Liberal Democrat on the committee, said: “Their evidence raised a whole series of concerns for me about what has being going on in the Met.
“The general attitude seemed to be that officers did not know who was in charge of what, and there seem to have been constant links with News International.
“If officers have broken the law, then there must be action. Corruption in the police must lead to prosecutions.”
The committee hearing took place in a room close to where Rupert Murdoch and his son James were facing their intensely-awaited grilling by the Culture, Media and Sport Committee about the News of the World phone hacking scandal.
Rupert Murdoch told MPs he could not be held responsible for hacking, saying he was let down by “people I trusted”, but adding he was “humbled” by what had happened.
There was drama when a man threw a paper plate covered in shaving foam over him as he gave evidence. The media tycoon’s wife Wendi leapt to his defence, first pushing him away and then smacking the plate over the demonstrator as he was led away by police.
Dr Huppert said: “I heard the noise next door when the incident happened.”
The MP said he was doubtful about the Murdochs’ claims that they were unaware of the extent of the wrongdoing at News International.
Dr Huppert said: “Senior executives should know what is going on in the organisations they’re in charge of.”

 

The Metropolitan police assistant commissioner John Yates has become the second high-profile Scotland Yard officer to resign over the phone-hacking scandal.

The resignation of Yates – the country's top counter-terrorism officer – comes a day after his boss, the Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, stepped down.

In a statement, Scotland Yard said: "Assistant commissioner John Yates has this afternoon indicated his intention to resign to the chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA). This has been accepted. AC Yates will make a statement later this afternoon."

His decision to quit came as the Metropolitan Police Authority's professional standards cases subcommittee held a meeting to consider a slew of complaints against him.

The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said the resignations of Yates and Stephenson were "regrettable but right". He said: "Whatever mistakes have been made at any level in the police service, now is the time to clear them up."

The MPA disciplinary committee, which met on Monday morning, announced that it had decided to suspend Yates pending an inquiry into allegations following the phone-hacking scandal.

Cressida Dick would replace Yates in the interim, Johnson said.

Green party MPA member Jenny Jones said the resignation should have happened earlier and left Johnson with a lot to explain.

"I think it's a real pity Yates did not go before his boss," she said. "It just shows who the most honourable person is. Boris has mishandled this from the start and he obviously has lots of questions to answer."

Earlier on Monday it emerged that Yates had been recalled to give evidence before the Commons home affairs select committee on Tuesday.

Keith Vaz, the Labour chairman of the committee, said: "The committee has recalled Mr Yates to give evidence tomorrow to clarify aspects of his evidence that he gave to the committee last week and following the statement of Sir Paul Stephenson."

When he appeared before the select committee last Tuesday, Yates expressed regret at his 2009 decision not to reopen the phone-hacking investigation. He insisted he had always told the truth to MPs investigating the issue and suggested that the News of the World "failed to co-operate" with police until the start of this year.

He told the committee: "I can assure you all that I have never lied and all the information that I've provided to this committee has been given in good faith.

"It is a matter of great concern that, for whatever reason, the News of the World appears to have failed to co-operate in the way that we now know they should have with the relevant police inquiries up until January of this year.

"They have only recently supplied information and evidence that would clearly have had a significant impact on the decisions that I took in 2009 had it been provided to us."

Vaz told Yates that his evidence was unconvincing and warned him it was "not the end of the matter".

Under-fire police chief John Yates said he had done "nothing wrong" today

Under-fire police chief John Yates said he had done "nothing wrong" today amid speculation he will be suspended over the phone hacking scandal.

The assistant commissioner said "give me a break" to reporters after a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority claimed his position had become untenable in the wake of Sir Paul Stephenson's resignation as commissioner.

John Yates to be suspended, say reports

One top figure at the Metropolitan police has already been sacrificed to the phone hacking scandal, with commisioner Sir Paul Stephenson's resignation. Now, it looks like the future of assistant commissioner John Yates is hanging in the balance, too.

The Metropolitan Police Authority's (MPA) professional standards is currently meeting to discuss Yates's handling of the phone hacking crisis. Also under discussion will be his links with Neil Wallis, the former News of the World executive whose employment with the Metropolitan Police ledStephenson to resign yesterday.

The committee does not have the power to dismiss Yates, but it can call for further investigation.

Boris Johnson has called an emergency press conference for 2pm. According to the Daily Telegraph, the mayor will announce that Yates is to be suspended, pending an investigation over his role in phone hacking and his relationship with Wallis. The newspaper quotes a source as saying: "If an investigation is ongoing he cannot stay in his job."

This follows increasing pressure on Yates to step down. Several people have now called for his resignation, including John Prescott, an independent member of the MPA, and a London Assembly member. However, the signs are that Yates, who twice decided not to reopen the inquiry into telephone hacking, will not resign of his own accord. Last week, when Keith Vaz asked if he was considering his position, he said:

No, I haven't. And if you're suggesting that I should resign for what News of the World has done and my very small part in it, I think that's probably unfair.

The last week has not shaken this, clearly, as he told Sky News this morning: "I've done nothing wrong". Sources say that he does not plan to step down unless the judge-led inquiry finds him guilty of wrong-doing.

 

China arrests 36 for fraud on Alibaba

Chinese police have arrested 36 people connected with operating an online fraud on Alibaba.com and other websites, the company has said.

Those arrested stand accused of duping overseas buyers of more than $6bn (£3.7bn) by posing as suppliers on the Chinese e-commerce websites.

The fraud resulted in the chief executive and chief operating officer of Alibaba quitting earlier this year.

Alibaba is China's largest e-commerce group.

"The arrest of the suspects hits online scammers hard," said Alibaba.com boss Jonathan Lu.

The company said the arrests were made following a 40-day investigation earlier this year.

Reduced complaints
Alibaba said it had introduced strict procedures in an attempt to prevent a repeat of such cases.

As a result, the number of fraud complaints received monthly by the website declined by 70% between February and June, Alibaba officials said.

The company said it would keep up its efforts to ensure the safety of its consumers.

"We will continue to co-operate with defrauded buyers and police to pursue the investigation, arrest and sentencing of those who commit crimes using our platform," said Linda Kozlowski of Alibaba.com.

"If scammers think they can hide on the internet and that no-one will go after them, they are wrong," she added.

 

Despite warrants, arrests not likely in Lebanese prime minister’s death

Warrants issued for the arrest of four men wanted for the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri have the potential to tear Lebanon apart – but don’t expect the men to stand trial or even be arrested any time soon.

Mr. Hariri and 22 others were killed on Valentine’s Day 2005 from the blast of a massive truck bomb on the corniche in downtown Beirut. More than six years later, the warrants were given to Lebanon’s Prosecutor-General, with the demand his officials arrest the four Lebanese citizens.


The names of the four people have not officially been revealed, but Lebanese media report that all four are members of Hezbollah, the militant Shia political movement that now controls the government of Lebanon.

The men reportedly include Mustafa Badreddine, said to have been Hezbollah’s deputy military commander, and brother-in-law of the late Hezbollah military commander Imad Mughniyeh. The others – Salim Ayyash, also known as Abu Salim; Assad Sabra and Hassan Anise, who changed his name to Hassan Issa – are relative unknowns.

Hezbollah has denounced the tribunal as a U.S.-Israeli front and says it will never allow its people to be tried. It toppled the previous government of Saad Hariri over the pending tribunal actions, and the whole country lives in fear of a return to the kind of civil war that plagued the country from 1975-90.

Saad Hariri, son of the late Rafik Hariri, hailed the tribunal’s act as “historic.”


Maybe so, but “nothing’s going to happen,” said Karim Makdisi, deputy director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, “and Hariri knows it.”

“If they try to serve the warrants they’ll be blocked,” Mr. Makdisi said. And if they ever should actually arrest someone, all hell will break loose.

Officials in the newly formed government of Najid Mikati have 30 days to report to the tribunal “on the measures they have taken to arrest the accused.” It doesn’t mean they have to serve the warrants within that first month.

“Lawyers will spin things out,” Mr. Makdisi said, suggesting they’ll comply with the technical reporting requirements but make absolutely no real move to arrest anyone.

“It’ll be a case of ‘don’t call us, we’ll call you,’ ” he said.

Of course, it helps in protecting Hezbollah that Lebanon’s new Justice Minister, Shakib Qortbawi, is a member of the Free Patriotic Movement, a Maronite Christian party led by General Michel Aoun, a close ally of Hezbollah. The Justice Ministry was the one post Gen. Aoun insisted his party be given during deliberations to form the coalition. His allegiance to Hezbollah won him their support, and gave him the largest number of seats in cabinet.

For his part, Mr. Mikati said his government “will act responsibly” in dealing with the tribunal’s request.

A statement from his office read: “The government confirms that it will follow the progress of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which was set up in principle to see justice served in a manner that is neither politicized nor vengeful, and as long as it does not negatively affect Lebanon’s stability and civil peace.”

In other words, the government will put stability and civil peace ahead of the arrest warrants, and the situation will remain as it is for a long time to come.

“Lebanon may be the safest place for the four wanted guys to be,” Mr. Makdisi said. “They don’t even have to hide out.”

Saad Hariri understands this, and if the Mikati government does nothing, as expected, Mr. Hariri figures to use that as leverage against the prime minister in the lead up to elections less than two years away.

In much the same way Mr. Hariri’s March 14 political movement came to power in the wake of his father’s assassination, Mr. Hariri hopes that a backlash against the Mikati government will make the people see that Mr. Hariri is the better Sunni leader to run the country.

The only complication in all of this is if Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad should fall from power. Indeed, the warrants may not be the last ones the tribunal issues.

Detlev Mehlis, the first head of the international inquiry, stated publicly that Hezbollah acted as the sub-contractor of the Syrians. Ominously, General Ghazi Kanaan, Syria’s Interior Minister, was reported to have “committed suicide” in October 2005, after allegations surfaced in Lebanon that he was behind the Hariri assassination.

With all the uproar currently in Syria, an indictment against Syria’s leaders could help propel Mr. al-Assad from office.

In that event, Hezbollah will become very concerned. The Assad regime is a close ally and the principal conduit to Hezbollah’s main benefactor, Iran.

“The worse things get for Assad, the more nervous Hezbollah becomes,” Mr. Makdisi said.

The question is, says Joseph Bahout, a lecturer in Syria-Lebanese studies at Sciences Po in Paris, “If the Syrian regime gets weaker, will Hezbollah gradually become more flexible … or, on the contrary, will it increasingly pursue a radical position and bitterly defend its share [of power]?”

 

Lawyers in China are increasingly being attacked, harassed and ‘disappeared’

In the past year, the Communist party has tightened its grip on China’s legal system and reminded lawyers that the party controls the country’s courts.
The tiny number of Chinese lawyers who try to use the legal system to highlight abuses of power or defend activists and religious groups have found themselves increasingly targeted in the past year, according to Amnesty International.
“Intimidation, harassment, violence, arbitrary detention were all increasingly used against lawyers and their families in 2010. Such acts are carried out in more and more blatant ways, with officials abandoning even the pretence of obeying the law,” said the Amnesty report.
The report came on the eve of the 90th anniversary of the Communist party, ahead of which cadres have tightly censored any dissent.
Amnesty also said the government had suspended or revoked lawyers’ licences to stop them from taking on sensitive cases. Amnesty has counted 30 lawyers who have had their right to practice stripped from them since 2008.

The pressure intensified in February with one of the broadest campaigns of repression in years. Dozens of lawyers were rounded up and questioned as the Communist party worried whether the so-called Arab Spring democracy movement would spread to China.
Among them were Teng Biao, a law professor at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing, who disappeared halfway through February and did not surface for more than two months. Jiang Tianyong, a lawyer who represented victims who had been infected with AIDS by botched blood transfusions, also disappeared for two months.
All the lawyers who were “disappeared” have kept a low profile since their re-emergence, suggesting they had been intimidated. Meanwhile, one of China’s most famous lawyers, Gao Zhisheng, has now been missing for over a year, despite a brief re-emergence during which he left behind an interview accusing the authorities of torturing him.
The Communist party’s determination to exert total control over China’s courts contradicts a pledge this week in London by Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier that the “future China” would be one that “fully achieves democracy, the rule of law, fairness and justice”.