Cabinet to meet at Olympic park

8 January 2012 Last updated at 20:26 ET

The main stadium for the 2012 games will have a capacity of 80,000

The cabinet are due to meet later at the London Olympics site, to mark 200 days until the start of the Games.

It is the first get-together this year for David Cameron's senior ministers.

Several cabinet meetings have been held outside Downing Street in recent years including in Bradford and Glasgow.

The PM says the Games are set to provide a "lasting legacy". It comes as future operators for three more venues - the Aquatics Centre, handball arena and observation tower - are announced.

The future operators of six venues have now been secured and organisers say they are confident deals for the remaining two, the stadium and the media centre, will be signed ahead of the opening ceremony.

The Olympics will run from 27 July to 12 August and the Paralympics from 29 August to 9 September.

In his New Year message, the prime minister said 2012 would be "the year Britain sees the world and the world sees Britain", with the Queen's Diamond Jubliee celebrations also taking place.

At the Olympic site, senior ministers and officials will discuss ways to ensure that the Games bring lasting benefits for the UK.

Security force

The cabinet meeting comes after it was reported that police carrying out security tests ahead of the Olympics had managed to smuggle a fake bomb on to the main site in Stratford, east London.

Last month the Ministry of Defence confirmed that 13,500 military personnel - more than the 10,000 that were deployed to Afghanistan - will be part of the 23,700 security force for the Games.

The Olympic Park will be home to venues for sports including athletics, water polo, cycling, basketball and hockey.

The main stadium will hold up to 80,000 people.

Details of the new contracts for the three venues are to be set out by the Olympic Park Legacy Company.

It said the new operator of the Aquatics Centre hopes 800,000 people a year will make use of its facilities after the games. The handball arena will become London's third largest site for concerts, shows, exhibitions and sport events. The observation tower, the 115m (377ft) AccelorMittal Orbit, expects to attract up to a million visitors a year.

Meanwhile, the Olympic ticket resale website remains suspended after problems caused London 2012 chiefs to close it on Friday afternoon.

Games organiser Locog said it would reopen once the issues had been fixed - but could not say when that would be.

The main problem appeared to be that the site, run by Ticketmaster, was slow to update sessions which had sold out.

The process was designed to allow people to try to resell their unwanted London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic tickets to others willing to buy them.

Earlier last week it emerged that 10,000 extra tickets - which did not exist - were mistakenly sold for synchronised swimming events.

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Cabinet to discuss Scottish vote

8 January 2012 Last updated at 22:22 ET

There is a debate surrounding when a referendum over Scottish independence should be held

The Cabinet is set to discuss proposals to give the Scottish government the legal power to hold a binding referendum on independence.

It is understood Downing Street may lay down a time limit specifying when the vote should take place, possibly within the next 18 months.

Any vote would be between leaving or staying in the UK and there would be no option for greater devolved powers.

The Scottish government says it should decide the referendum timing and form.

The Scottish National Party has pledged a referendum in the latter half of its term, with 2014 thought to be the preferred date.

But Downing Street is expected to confirm that without the backing of Westminster, any result would only formally have advisory status.

David Cameron has said uncertainty was damaging Scotland's economy.

The prime minister told Andrew Marr, in a BBC interview on Sunday: "I think it's very unfair on the Scottish people themselves who don't really know when this question is going to be asked, what the question is going to be, who's responsible for asking it.

"And I think we owe the Scottish people something that is fair, legal and decisive."

BBC political editor Nick Robinson says privately ministers speak of turning the screw on First Minister Alex Salmond, who has yet to spell out when or how he intends to fulfil his life-long ambition of independence.

Continue Reading... Labels: cabinet, discuss, Scottish

Egypt cabinet offers resignation

21 November 2011 Last updated at 17:45 ET

BBC's Lyse Doucet in Tahrir Square: "The anger that has been mounting for many months has now boiled over"

Egypt's cabinet has offered to resign after three days of protests against the country's military rulers, state media have reported.

Cabinet spokesman Mohammed Hegazy said the resignation had not yet been accepted by the military council.

As he spoke, thousands of people swelled crowds of protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square.

More than 20 people have been killed and nearly 1,800 injured in three days of violence in the Egyptian capital.

A tense stand-off was taking shape in Tahrir Square, where tens of thousands of protesters remained in the square late into the night, and ambulances with sirens wailing ferried the injured to hospital.

Egyptian activist groups have been demanding the military council hand power to a civilian government.

"The government of Prime Minister Essam Sharaf has handed its resignation to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces," cabinet spokesman Mohammed Hegazy said in a statement carried by the official Mena news agency.

"Owing to the difficult circumstances the country is going through, the government will continue working (until the resignation is accepted)."

A military source has told the BBC that the council is meeting now to discuss the cabinet's offer, but there is still no consensus on whether to accept it. The same source said that the council was also consulting other political groups.

The BBC's Yolande Knell in Cairo says the crowds in Tahrir Square cheered and shouted "God is great" when they heard news that the cabinet had submitted its resignation.

However they soon resumed an earlier chant "the people want the removal of the marshal" - a reference to Field Marshal Mohamed Tantawi, who heads the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.

The ruling generals are the real focus of demonstrators' anger, she adds. The interim cabinet is seen as having little power.

Our correspondent says several thousand people remain in Tahrir Square and many plan to spend the night.

Protests are also being reported in other Egyptian cities, including in Alexandria where police are said to have fired tear gar to protect the offices of the security forces.

US 'concern'

As night fell in Cairo, thousands more flocked to the symbolic square - the focal point of protests that overthrew Hosni Mubarak in February.

Medics told the BBC they were seeing people injured by tear gas and rubber bullets.

Field Marshal Tantawi has the task of overseeing the country's transition to democracy after three decades of autocratic rule under ousted President Hosni Mubarak.

Elections are due to begin across Egypt next week but many Egyptians fear the military plans to hold on to the reins of power, whatever the outcome.

Late on Monday, a coalition of political groups - including followers of opposition figure Mohamed El Baradei - accused the military council of leading a "counter-revolution".

They called for a mass demonstration in Tahrir Square on Tuesday.

In a Facebook page for the rally, the groups called for the resignation of Prime Minister Essam Sharaf's cabinet and the formation of a "national salvation" government.

They also demanded a presidential election be held by April 2012.

As the violence and tension escalated the US called for restraint on all sides. "We're deeply concerned about the violence," said White House spokesman Jay Carney.

Earlier on Monday protesters set up burning barricades in and around the square and threw stones at riot police and troops.

Security forces responded with batons, tear gas and birdshot.

Officials confirmed on Monday that more than 20 people had been killed and about 1,800 injured since Saturday.

One of the protesters in Cairo, Ahmed Imam, 33, said handing power to the military after the overthrow of Mr Mubarak had been a mistake.

Protesters fought running street battles with riot police and troops

"We should not have left the streets. We handed power to the military on a silver platter," he said.

"The revolutionaries went home too soon. We collected the spoils and left before the battle was over."

In other developments

• Culture minister Emad Abu Ghazi resigned in protest at the government response and 25 Egyptian political parties called for the ministers of information and the interior to be sacked over the violence

• A group of senior Egyptian diplomats condemned the way the protests had been handled and demanded an immediate halt to attacks on protesters

• Amr Moussa, former secretary-general of the Arab League and now a presidential candidate in Egypt, said the use of force against the protesters could not be justified

Trouble started on Saturday after demonstrations against proposed constitutional changes unveiled by the interim government.

The military council produced a draft document setting out principles for a new constitution, under which the military and its budget could be exempted from civilian oversight.

A proposal by the military to delay the presidential election until late 2012 or early 2013 has further angered the opposition.

Protesters want the presidential vote to take place after parliamentary elections, which begin on 28 November and will be staggered over the next three months.

Continue Reading... Labels: cabinet, Egypt, offers, resignation