Care facing RFU disciplinary

Harlequins scrum-half Danny Care has been called in front of an RFU disciplinary commission after his yellow card for a dangerous tackle against Leeds earlier this month.

Care, who has already been given a one-match ban by his own club over the incident and missed last weekend's game against Sale in the Heineken Cup, will attend the hearing on Tuesday December 15th to find out if he is to be given an increased suspension.

The tackle itself on Leeds forward Rhys Oakley during Quins' 30-27 victory in Yorkshire on December 4th resulted in a ten-minute sin bin for the England international.

His existing suspension by his own club will likely be taken into consideration by the panel when they hand down their decision.

In more positive news for Quins, three players have been re-signed to contracts at the Twickenham Stoop.

Chris Robshaw and George Lowe, both products of the academy, and former Bristol player Ollie Kohn have all agreed deals with the London club.

Chief executive Mark Evans said: 'These are exactly the type of young English players that the club is built on and I am looking forward to announcing further signings in the near future.'

Fernandes out to beat Branson

Tony Fernandes, the boss of the new 1Malaysia Lotus formula one team, has vowed to beat Manor grand prix, which will rebranded as the Virgin Racing team.

Fernandes has confirmed he will lead Lotus’s return to F1 racing in 2010 and at the Motor Sport Business Forum in Monaco also stated that his number one intention is to beat Richard Branson’s Virgin team.

'I said that number one we have to be ahead of Branson, otherwise I will retire and kill myself,' said Fernandes.

'We think we are going to have a very reasonable car. We know we aren't going to be competing near the front in year one, but it takes time and we'll have a good basis for moving forward.'

Fernandes revealed that he will run Lotus on a budget of £55 million and he added that he couldn’t understand how some teams spend three times as much every year.

'Obviously at one stage we were ready to put a team out at £40 million because that's what we were told the cap was going to be,' said Fernandes.

'Obviously we're in favour of having less money to build a car but it's still exciting.

'I am still confused as to where all the extra money goes when you have a team with £150 million. I'm still trying to understand my £55 million.'

He continued: 'We have a licensing agreement with Lotus owner Proton and over time that relationship will grow.

'Lotus will probably buy into the team at some stage. More and more technology from our side will flow into Lotus cars and we will promote the Lotus brand.

'I see it in time being no different from how Ferrari works.'

Tories call benefit rise 'pre-election con'

The Conser

vatives have branded Alistair Darling's plan to increase benefits a 'pre-election con.'

They say the increased benefits will rise before a vote next year only to fall afterwards.

The chancellor defended his pre-Budget report saying that the benefits will in fact rise again the following year.

Critics say the 1.5 per cent increase in some benefits including child support, incapacity benefit and disability allowance which will come into effect in April 2010, potentially weeks before a general election, are only a temporary measure and will be reversed the following year.

It is just one of many aspects of yesterday's pre-Budget report which the Conservatives say make it more political than economic.

Alistair Darling defended the increase and denied it was politically motivated.

He told the BBC: 'I wanted to increase them [the benefits in question] by 1.5 per cent otherwise they would have been frozen. They'll go up again next year.'

Another area of Wednesday's report which came under fire from shadow chancellor George Osborne was the one per cent rise in national insurance.

The hike announced for 2011 will affect anyone earning over £20,000. The government predicts it will raise £2.9 billion in 2011-12.

Mr Osborne though called the rise 'nonsense' on GMTV this morning and claimed it would 'impose a £446 million bill on the NHS, eating into the very resources which the chancellor claimed to be protecting'.

Mr Darling claimed the money generated would in fact protect key public services. He said: 'It's a difficult decision but I think it was right both in terms of what I want to do to cut my borrowing but also, in terms of something like the NHS or schools, it is important we preserve those frontline services.'

The Conservatives have branded Alistair Darling’s plan to increase benefits a 'pre-election con.'

They say the increased benefits will rise before a vote next year only to fall afterwards.

The chancellor defended his pre-Budget report saying that the benefits will in fact rise again the following year.

Critics say the 1.5 per cent increase in some benefits including child support, incapacity benefit and disability allowance which will come into effect in April 2010, potentially weeks before a general election, are only a temporary measure and will be reversed the following year.

It is just one of many aspects of yesterday's pre-Budget report which the Conservatives say make it more political than economic.

American Muslims arrested in Pakistan

Five Ameri

can Muslims captured in Pakistan are being questioned by FBI agents for having possible links to terror groups.

Pakistani police said they have arrested five men aged between 19 and 25 after a raid on the house of a member of militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad, in the town of Sargodha in the eastern province of Punjab.

Although they have not been identified, officials say they are all US nationals, including three of Pakistani descent, one of Egyptian descent and one of Yemeni descent.

Relatives raised the alarm after the men, all students based in northern Virginia, left their families a chilling farewell video saying all Muslims must be defended, before disappearing in late November.

After the recent case of David C Headley, another American of Pakistani origin, who pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges, this will cause even greater concern among Americans who fear terror networks are recruiting within the US.

President Barack Obama did not wish to comment on the situation but did say: 'What has been remarkable over the course of the last eight or nine years since 9/11 is the degree to which America has reaffirmed the extraordinary contributions of the Muslim American community and how they have been woven into the fabric of our nation in a seamless fashion.'

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which was contacted by the families, declined to give the men's names, ages or nationalities but one of the men was identified as a dental student at Howard University in Washington.

Nihad Awad, CAIR's executive director, said: 'One person appeared in that video and they made references to the ongoing conflict in the world, and that young Muslims have to do something.'

'The video's about 11 minutes and it's like a farewell. And they did not specify what they would be doing, 'he added.

In a statement, the FBI said: 'We are working with Pakistan authorities to determine their identities and the nature of their business there, if indeed these are the students who had gone missing.

'Because this is an ongoing investigation, we will not be able to provide further details at this time.'

An FBI team is currently Pakistan and India, principally gathering evidence for the case of Mr Headly, 49, who is charged with plotting terror attacks in India and Denmark.

Obama becomes Nobel peace prize laureate

Barack Obama has accepted his Nobel peace prize in Oslo, with the US president insisting he was 'at the beginning and not the end' of his labours on the world stage.

He formally received the award at a ceremony in the Norwegian capital's City Hall this afternoon, nine days after he announced a decision to send a further 30,000 troops to Afghanistan and just ten months into his presidency.

'I receive this honour with deep gratitude and great humility; it speaks to our greatest aspirations,' President Obama said in his acceptance speech.

'We are not prisoners of fate, our actions matter.'

Obama was named as the winner of this year's peace prize several months ago, with many criticising the decision to award it based on his potential and commitments rather than achievements.

'I cannot argue with those who claim others are far more deserving of this honour than I,' he said.

The White House had already said President Obama's speech would attempt to justify the Nobel committee bestowing the honour upon the leader of a country engaged in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

'I am the commander-in-chief of nation in the midst of two wars,' Mr Obama accepted.

'We are at war, I am responsible for the deployment of thousands to a distant land, some will kill, some will be killed. So I come with an acute sense of the cost of armed conflict.'

On the coalition in Afghanistan the president commented: 'America's commitment to world security will never waver but we can not act alone, America alone can not secure peace.

'We must acknowledge the hard truth,' Mr Obama continued. 'That there will be times when nations will find the use of force necessary and morally justified.

'Those who break the rules must be held accountable. The world must stand as one.'

Mr Obama said diplomacy was his preferred route of engagement but that in areas where it broke down, 'there must be consequences when those things fail'.

He said free speech was a direct route to peace and that religious intolerance only led to conflict.

Burma, Iran and Darfur were all referenced directly by the president, who failed to criticise more powerful nations such as China, Russia and Saudi Arabia on their poor human rights records.

'Oppression will always be with us but we can still strive for justice, we can acknowledge there will be war but we can strive for peace.'

Much had previously been made about President Obama's decision to stay in Oslo for less than 24 hours, meaning he will miss out certain traditional elements of the ceremony. He flew in this morning and will leaving tomorrow morning. The official ceremony is usually spread over three days.

He has declined the traditional lunch with the King of Norway and will not attend a concert in his honour nor hold a press conference. In Norway his fleeting visit has been seen by many as a snub but public relations experts say it is a deliberate tactic to keep a low profile.

Speaking at a press conference with President Obama earlier today, Norwegian prime minister Jens Stoltenberg said his Nobel prize was 'well deserved and an important award'.

'I can not think of anyone else who has done more for peace,' he said, adding it represented a 'bold and important decision'.

When the Nobel committee announced President Obama as this year's laureate it praised 'his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples' and cited his push for nuclear disarmament and his outreach to the Muslim world.

The award comes with prize money of ten million Swedish crowns, about £860,000, which the White House has said will be donated to charity.

Gunmen kidnap 75 in southern Philippines

At least 75 civilians, including children, have been kidnapped in a region in the southern Philippines, local reports have claimed.

Fifteen people are believed to have been freed so far, and according to army captain Enrico Illeto, negotiations are continuing to secure the release of the rest of the group.

Gunmen, believed to be former government militiamen, carried out the abductions in the remote village of San Marin in Agusan del Sur and the local school, the Associated Press news agency reports.

The region has been plagued by banditry in recent years with Muslim and communist insurgents continuing to fight government forces.

Last month 57 people travelling in an election convoy were killed in the southern province of Maguindanao.

It is unclear how many children remain in the 60 still being held hostage.

Boy on trial over Harry Potter bleach attack

The trial of a teenage boy accused of attacking a woman with bleach after she asked a group of youths to be quiet in the cinema has begun today.

The 46-year-old woman was attacked at a restaurant in Leeds after watching the new Harry Potter film during the summer.

The 16-year-old boy was arrested following the incident and has been charged with grievous bodily harm with intent.

It is alleged the attack occurred in July after the woman asked a group of teenagers to be quiet during a screening of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince she was watching with her family.

She was taken to a local hospital afterwards suffering from burns to her skin.

The trial is taking place at Leeds crown court.