Exactly 2 weeks later, I received a letter from the Home Office acknowledging my application.
July 2nd I received a letter inviting me to a citizenship ceremony!
So, from start to end, the entire process took about 5 weeks (the invitation was actually dated June 23rd. No idea why it took a week to get to me). The actual ceremony is scheduled for July 29th.
In all my dealings with the Home Office, this was by far the least painful thing I've done. :-) As a side note, they didn't actually call my referees listed on the application. From what I've heard, its about a 50/50 chance they will contact them. Also, I applied on the basis of my spousal visa, so only had to present evidence for 3 years. For other visa types, its 5 years, which can be a pain in the ass as you have to list every single time you've entered/exited the UK during that time span.
• South Korea reports launch of seven ballistic missiles
• Tests on US Independence Day violate UN resolutions
The United States warned North Korea not to "aggravate tensions" today after South Korea said its neighbour had fired seven ballistic missiles in violation of UN resolutions.
The tests, seen as a message of defiance to the US on Independence Day, will further increase pressure in the region as America tries to gather support for tough enforcement of the UN resolution imposed on the communist regime for its May nuclear test.
US state department spokesman Karl Duckworth did not confirm the launches but described North Korea's behaviour as "not helpful".
"We are aware of possible missile launches by North Korea and are closely monitoring North Korea's activities and intentions," he said. "North Korea should refrain from actions that aggravate tensions and focus on denuclearisation talks. This type of North Korean behaviour is not helpful."
South Korea and Japan, which are within easy range of North Korean missiles, condemned the launches as a "provocative" act that violated the UN resolution.
Russia and China called for calm, with Moscow saying in a statement that all sides should refrain from any steps that could further destabilise the region. They called for a return to six-party talks.
South Korea's defence ministry said the missiles, which came two days after North Korea fired four short-range cruise missiles, were ballistic and were believed to have flown more than 250 miles.
"Our military is fully ready to counter any North Korean threats and provocations based on strong South Korea-US combined defence posture," South Korea's joint chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted military officials as saying the missiles appeared to be a type of Scud missile, which are considered short-range.
North Korea is not allowed to fire Scuds, medium-range, or long-range missiles under a resolution that bans any launch using ballistic missile technology. Thursday's launches, however, did not violate the resolution as they were cruise missiles rather than ballistic, according to South Korea's foreign ministry.
Ballistic missiles are guided during their ascent but fall freely when they descend. Cruise missiles are fired straight at a target.
The North has a record of timing missile tests around the US national holiday. During the Independence Day holiday in 2006, Pyongyang fired a barrage of missiles, including a long-range Taepodong-2 that broke apart and fell into the ocean less than a minute after liftoff. Those launches also came amid tensions with the US over North Korea's nuclear programme.
A senior official in South Korea's presidential office said today's missile launches were "part of military exercises, but North Korea also appeared to have sent a message to the US".
He said North Korea could fire more missiles in coming days, but there was little possibility it could fire an intercontinental ballistic missile, as it threatened to do in April.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
North Korea's state news agency carried no reports of the launches. But the North had warned ships to stay away from its east coast until 10 July for military exercises – an indication it was planning missile operations.
The chief of US naval operations, Admiral Gary Roughead, said the American military was ready for any North Korean missile tests.
"Our ships and forces here are prepared for the tracking of the missiles and observing the activities that are going on," Roughead said before the news of the launches.
The US said last month it had positioned more missile defences around Hawaii as a precaution against a potential long-range missile launch by North Korea. Such a test would further flout the UN sanctions resolution punishing Pyongyang for its 25 May nuclear test.
But spy satellites have apparently not detected any of the preparations that would normally precede such a launch.
Pyongyang wants to show Washington that it is not yielding to pressure, and the regime is likely to save a long-range launch for later, according to Kim Yong-hyun, a professor at Seoul's Dongguk University and an expert on the country.
A British embassy employee is to stand trial in Tehran for "acting against national security" — a dramatic escalation in Iran's campaign to blame Britain for protests against disputed election results.
The man, a 44-year-old Iranian who is the British embassy's chief political analyst, was arrested on Saturday and has been formally charged at Tehran's Evin Prison, his lawyer, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi, said. "Apparently he will be put on trial. We have prepared and submitted the defence documents and I have to see the judge next week."
It was is not clear whether any other embassy staff will face prosecution. A senior cleric claimed that some had "confessed" to playing a role in the protest movement. The staging of political trials is likely to lead to a breach in relations not only with Britain, but also with the European Union. Iranian ambassadors were summoned to foreign ministries in capitals across Europe in a coordinated rebuke .
The analyst is one of two Iranian staff of the British embassy still being held for allegedly playing a role in the protests that followed the official victory in last month's presidential elections of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Seven other staff members have been released from detention in recent days but warned they could face further legal proceedings. Earlier in the day Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, head of a highly influential body of clerics, the Guardian Council, claimed that some embassy employees had "confessed" to playing a role in post-election demonstrations, and would be prosecuted.
The cleric is close to Iran's Supreme Leader but he is not in charge of the judiciary, so British officials insist that trials were still not inevitable even though charges had been laid.
"Acting against national security" is a vague charge often brought against political activists and is not known to carry any fixed sentence. The charge was levelled against three US-Iranian academics detained in 2007 while visiting Iran. All three were subsequently released.
The foreign secretary, David Miliband, said: "We are confident that our staff have not engaged in any improper or illegal behaviour." Miliband added that Britain was "deeply concerned" about the fate of the two embassy staff. However, their plight presents British officials with a dilemma. If they provide too much overt help it will strengthen Tehran's depiction of them as "foreign agents".
Britain withdrew a request for European states to pull ambassadors from Tehran after the Iranian government released some embassy staff on Wednesday, but London is likely to look for stronger action if the trials proceed. European officials at meetings at Stockholm and Brussels said the option of withdrawing ambassadors remained on the table. The Europeans also discussed the possible penalty of blacklisting regime officials by temporarily blocking visa applications to travel to the EU.
"We view this not just as an attack on Britain, but as an attack on the entire European Union," said a European official.
Carl Bildt, the foreign minister of Sweden, which took over the EU presidency this week, said it was not acceptable to file charges against British embassy staff. But the threat of charges being pressed against embassy employees, followed by trials, looked calculated to call Europe's bluff and to gauge how the EU might respond.
"Our solidarity … is total. Now it is up to the British to tell us what they need," said the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy. "France has always wanted to strengthen the sanctions so that the Iranian leaders really understand that the path they have chosen will be a dead end."
France has taken a tough line on the nuclear dispute with Iran over the last six years, while Germany and Italy, with billions of euros in trade at stake with Iran, have been less keen on sanctions.
Today's meeting in Brussels agreed on a common protest to the ambassadors. Officials said the crisis could be taken to a summit of G8 leaders in Italy next week, although the Italians are seen as the least supportive of strong action against Iran.
Police say building in which six people, including a baby, died is being treated as crime scene
Police and fire officials are investigating the cause of a fire that ripped through a block of flats in south London killing six people, including three children.
The blaze at Lakanal flats in Sceaux Gardens, Camberwell, began on the fourth floor of the 12-storey block yesterday afternoon and was said by firefighters to have "spread rapidly" to the 11th floor. A three-week-old baby, a six-year-old and a seven-year-old were killed, along with three adults.
Five of the victims have been named. They are Helen Udoaka, 34, and her three-week-old daughter Michelle; Dayana Francisquini, 26, and Filipe Francisquini, 3, and Catherine Hickman, 31.
Speaking at the scene, the Southwark police chief superintendent, Wayne Chance, said the cause of the fire was still unknown and the tower block was being treated as a crime scene.
Fifteen people were taken to hospital, he said, adding that 11 had since been released. One man, a firefighter, remained in hospital although his condition is not thought to be serious.
Chance said officers were dealing with a "large and complex scene" and the investigation was likely to take "some time".
The Labour MP Harriet Harman, whose constituency includes the tower block, said there were questions about fire escape routes at the flats. "There will have to be a thorough investigation in to what caused this fire and whether the prevention was adequate," she said.
"There are many blocks with one central stairwell and questions will have to be asked about what happens when a fire breaks out."
Several residents said the complicated layout of the flats made the evacuation difficult while onlookers described seeing those trapped inside screaming for help.
The Southwark council leader, Nick Stanton, said it would be "days if not weeks" before tenants could return.
Of the 150 people left without accommodation, the vast majority were staying with friends or family and 20 were given accommodation by the council.
Today neighbours described the panic as those inside the building tried to flee.
"The people were in the windows, screaming out for help," said Lincent Johnson, 28, who lives across the street. "There was panic, there were a lot of people screaming."
He said he first smelled the fire from his nearby flat. "It wasn't that big at first but it started to spread so quickly."
Abenet Tsejage saw people screaming for help and said she saw one mother dangle a baby from a window as if she was about to drop the child. But she said the woman did not let go and she believed they had been rescued.
"Quite a few people were in shock and very upset," said Tsejage, who has lived in the area for 15 years. "It makes you really frightened. As a community you would like to give all those who live there a home but you just don't know how to help."
Charles Douglas, 56, was in his top-floor flat when the blaze broke out.
He said he did not want to rush down the stairway with everyone else so waited on his balcony until he saw he had a clear escape route.
This morning, with a towel wrapped around his neck, Mr Douglas said he was anxious to retrieve his clothes and possessions and had been told he may be allowed back into the tower block later this afternoon.
He said there were 96 flats in the block and the fire spread rapidly.
"A lot of people were panicking but I tried to stay calm and think clearly," he said.
He criticised the layout of the flats which he said made it difficult for everyone to escape quickly.
Carol Cooper, 38, who lives on the seventh floor, said the firefighters took too long to evacuate people.
"Everyone was here. But it took too long for them to get in there and do something. It just seemed like it took too long. I think that's because it's just like a maze in there."
She said the tenants had called for the block to be demolished three years ago but had been told it was a listed building. She said it was one of the earliest council houses in south-east London and could not be knocked down.
Instead, the council fitted new windows and electrical cabling.
Kim Humphries, the council's executive member for housing, said £3m had been spent refurbishing the tower block two years ago.
He said the council would follow any recommendations made by the fire investigators, and confirmed there had been another blaze at the tower block 10 years ago.
• Staples Centre has a capacity for 20,000 at most
• 11,000 tickets to be distributed free
Los Angeles police and city officials will be scrambling through the weekend to prepare for a memorial for Michael Jackson on Tuesday in an attempt to prevent the scenes of chaos and confusion that have marked the eight days since his death.
With the family finally settled on a Tuesday morning event at the Staples Centre in downtown LA, the city now is now bracing itself for the gathering of what is expected to be an enormous crowd of Jackson fans. The Staples Centre has a capacity for up to 20,000 at most, which most involved in the organisation agree is wildly inadequate.
The event will be opened to the public, with 11,000 tickets distributed free and the remaining 9,000 seats presumably being offered to friends of the family and music industry representatives.
But that will still leave a massive over-spill. Dennis Zine, an LA city council representative, said: "If you can imagine 100,000 people show up and you have 20,000 capacity, there is not sufficient room. Now you have a crowd-control problem."
Jackson's brother, Jermaine, added to the apprehension when he told CNN: "There's no place even big enough. There are twenties of thousands just from the UK. We worked with the city authorities and they're trying their best with the time-frame we have and we're hoping that everybody's safe and that things are going to be locked down pretty much."
Much of the past week has been dominated by speculation over the memorial. A report that the singer's 2,500-acre ranch Neverland would be the site of a public viewing of Jackson's coffin sent thousands of fans scurrying north of LA; all hotels in the area of the ranch were booked within minutes.
Jermaine Jackson said it was still his preferred wish for his brother to be buried at Neverland, but in the end the funeral will almost certainly take place at the Forest Lawn cemetery in LA where the star's grandmother rests.
After a small private ceremony there, there will be a procession to the Staple's Centre where the memorial will take place. The venue is deemed appropriate, despite its limited capacity, because it is owned by AEG Live, the promoter of the London performances.
The auditorium was also where Jackson rehearsed his London comeback show This Is It! the night before he died.
A snippet of Jackson rehearsing on the Staple's stage was released yesterday. It shows him singing and dancing to a background soundtrack of Martin Luther King speaking.
The video gives little away about Jackson's condition. Though his singing sounds strong and he moves across the stage, his dancing lacks the technical wizardry that added to his fame in the 1980s.
Up to 100 hours of footage of rehearsals is thought to exist, and the promoters of the stricken London tour are confident that from that they can extract at least two albums'-worth of material with which they can help to make up some of their multi-million dollar losses.
The entertainment website, TMZ, which broke the original story about Jackson falling ill on June 25, reported yesterday that AEG Live had invested up to $30m in advance costs related to the London shows at the O2 Arena. Some of that money will be recouped, according to TMZ, through a $17.5m insurance policy with Lloyd's of London which included coverage in the event of a Jackson overdose.
Paradoxically, the insurance policy did not make any provision for the possibility of Jackson dying by natural causes, TMZ said.
Case causes fresh embarrassment for Equality and Human Rights Commission boss Trevor Phillips
The government's equality watchdog, set up to combat all forms of prejudice at work, faces a sex discrimination lawsuit this week from a female member of its own staff.
The case is a fresh embarrassment for Trevor Phillips, the chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, who is widely expected to be forced to step down when his contract ends in autumn following a string of internal disputes and allegations of financial irregularities. Several of his fellow commissioners have indicated they are likely to stand down if Phillips, who is close to several senior Labour politicians, including Lord Mandelson, is reappointed for another term.
The sex discrimination case brought by Brid Johal, an aide to Phillips's political adviser Faz Hakim, is scheduled to be heard at an employment tribunal in south London this week. It is understood her case centres on allegations that she was not told of a promotion that came up while she was on maternity leave and was therefore unfairly treated compared to other staff.
A spokesman for the commission declined to comment in advance of the tribunal case but another source said it was braced for public embarrassment.
Hakim is expected to give evidence on Johal's behalf and the case risks exposing broader questions about the recruitment policies adopted by the commission, which is supposed to police other private and public bodies in rooting out discrimination on the grounds of sex, race, religion, sexuality, age and disability.
"There is something oddly old-fashioned going on in terms of plum jobs at the higher level," added the commission source.
Ministers are due to announce later this month whether Phillips will serve a second term and the controversy over the commission's appointments and staff management are thought to have counted against him.
Phillips faces a report by the National Audit Office (NAO) within the next few weeks which is expected to qualify its accounts, which the Observer recently disclosed they had refused to sign off.
The irregularities identified by the NAO are understood to centre on a handful of staff made redundant and paid off when the former race watchdog – the Commission for Racial Equality, which Phillips ran – was wound up, but then rehired by the successor body. Senior figures, including Phillips, are likely to face questioning in parliament over what happened.
Sources close to Phillips, however, said he did not want to quit the commission, adding: "This is a decision for government. But frankly Trevor is doing the job until someone tells him to stop doing it. There is no change as far as we are aware."
Ministers are now understood to be seeking a face-saving exit for Phillips which could see him transferred to another quango. The recent departure of Neil Kinnock from the British Council after his wife, Glenys, was made a minister, opened a possible vacancy but would mean a significant drop in salary for Phillips.
• Serena collects third Wimbledon title with 7–6, 6–2 victory
• 'I have no complaints. She was just so good,' says Venus
Serena Williams added strength to her contention that she is the true world No1 when she regained the Wimbledon title after an interval of six years by beating Venus Williams 7–6, 6–2 in a final of explosive, noisy power-hitting which should have quashed any lingering questions as to how completely the sisters compete against each other.
Although Serena has partially retracted her opinion about the rankings, she launched another barb at the system: "I think if you hold three grand slam titles, you should be world No1, but not with the WTA Tour obviously."
"Dinara [Safina] is No1. She did a great job – she won Rome and Madrid," Serena added with mischievous irony, joining in with the general laughter which followed her remark.
But when asked if the ranking system needed tweaking, Serena tried to emphasis that she was happy for Safina and respected her fitness. "Honestly, I'm not picking on anybody. I don't know what to do to be No1 – I'm just happy to be here."
Either way, it was again evident that Serena regained much of the appetite and focus she lost during the years which followed her knee operation and her sister Yetunde's death.
Serena served better than Venus, and looked stronger in self-belief during a final which hinged on the first set tie-break and changed character at 2–2 in the second set, after which Venus's standard fell away.
"I feel I shouldn't be holding the trophy. It's named after Venus and she always wins it," said the new champion, joining in the joke about renaming it the Serena Rosewater dish.
But there was no doubt about Serena's desire to win it. She had shown great resilience and courage to save a match point against Elena Dementieva in the semi-finals and now showed hints of similar resolve while saving two break points in the eighth game and taking early command in the tie-break.
She made the two mini-breaks with thumping forehand drives – which, she said "had gone to Hawaii" in the semi-final, and which now returned – and in the second set she was solidly aggressive throughout.
Venus by contrast began having trouble with her service toss during breezy moments, and the double fault she delivered in the sixth game of the second set brought the first break of serve of the match and signalled the beginning of the end.
Venus started her next service game with a double fault as well, and although she fought hard to save two match points, she could not stem the tide which was running against her. When she lost that service game too, Serena celebrated by sinking to the ground, smiling at the heavens and holding her face.
Although father Richard Williams had said earlier in the tournament that Venus's strapped knee had been giving her problems, the five-times Wimbledon champion refused to make it an excuse. "I have no complaints about that," she said. "Serena was just so good."
Critics say emphasis of Gay Pride march on fun ignores liberation movement's fight against injustice
When the gay clientele of a New York bar staged a revolt against police harassment in June 1969 it sparked the awakening of the homosexual liberation movement. But 40 years on from the Stonewall rebellion, Britain's gay community is riven by a dispute over which should come first: politics or partying.
As thousands take to the streets of the British capital today for Gay Pride, which traditionally commemorates the US riots, critics hit out at Pride London for "depoliticising" the event and failing to feature its history in its literature or website.
Peter Tatchell, of the lesbian gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) human rights group, OutRage, and a patron of Pride London, condemned this year's slogan "Come and Play" as "totally anodyne" and accused the LGBT community of "huge apathy and complacency".
He said: "I'm shocked that Pride London has hardly mentioned the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots on its website or in its magazine. Most of the content is about entertainment and partying. To ignore and downplay this important anniversary is an insult to the veterans who began our momentous fight for freedom."
Citing police statistics showing a 63% rise in homophobic hate crimes in Manchester last year and a recent report from the Association of Teachers and Lecturers showing the term gay is still the most frequently used insult in schools, he said: "Lots of people assume that we've won equality and everything is hunky dory. But the battle for LGBT equality is still far from being won. Same-sex marriage is banned and there is a ban on gay and bisexual blood donors. LGBT refugees are often sent back to renewed persecution to violently homophobic countries like Uganda and Nigeria. Police refuse to prosecute fundamentalist clerics and reggae singers who openly advocate the murder of LGBT people. The government's current equality bill gives protection against harassment on all grounds except sexual orientation."
Echoing Tatchell's call for a stronger political message, Anisa de Jong, the director of the UK Lesbian and Gay Immigration Group, said: "Gay Pride should be providing more of a political space in line with its history which is about visibility being a political statement in itself. The whole Pride issue is not just about celebrating our identity but about making a political statement about our identity and addressing injustices."
Joseph Galliano, the outgoing editor of GT magazine (formerly Gay Times), welcomed the celebratory aspects of the march but warned against the loss of its heritage.
He said: "I don't want to be po-faced about it but that celebration is standing on the shoulders of people who made great sacrifices and they should be remembered."
Paul Birrell, of Pride London, defended the decision not to feature the Stonewall riots on the website, but said it would be mentioned in the rally at Trafalgar Square after the march today.
"We decided that the Stonewall anniversary would get a lot of mainstream press interest and, short of being a commemoration event of the Stonewall riots, there's not much Pride can do. We will talk about it on stage on the day."
He stressed that London was one of the few Pride UK marches to retain a campaigning element, but admitted that its focus had changed in recent years to attract more people.
"There's no point in having a march just for already politicised LGBT group members – you would be preaching to the converted," said Birrell. "If you want to campaign, you have to have an audience, so you need to make it fun. When we took over in 2004, only 10,000 people attended, but last year we had 823,000. Our predecessor, mardi gras, was run on a more militant basis, but no one was interested. It collapsed in 2003."
Birrell said the campaign behind the march this year was to protest against the ban on gay men donating blood, but there would be "important but boring" speeches from, among others, Harriet Harmen, the deputy leader of the Labour party, on anti-discrimination issues such as the Single Equality Act.
When asked if sponsorship was a factor in deciding the march's message, Birrell replied: "To a degree. If we were heavily politicised, there's no way we would be in Oxford Street and Regents Street. The traders wouldn't want it and they have a lot of clout with the council, but when they can see it attracts people into the city, they're happy."
Soho Pride cancelled its event this year due to a lack of sponsorship, while the recently elected mayor of Doncaster, Peter Davies, has threatened to cut funding to the town's Gay Pride event as part of his pledge to fight political correctness.
Latin American nation tops index ranking countries by ecological footprint and happiness of their citizens
Costa Rica is the greenest and happiest country in the world, according to a new list that ranks nations by combining measures of their ecological footprint with the happiness of their citizens.
Britain is only halfway up the Happy Planet Index (HPI), calculated by the New Economics Foundation (NEF), in 74th place of 143 nations surveyed. The United States features in the 114th slot in the table. The top 10 is dominated by countries from Latin America, while African countries bulk out the bottom of the table.
The HPI measures how much of the Earth's resources nations use and how long and happy a life their citizens enjoy as a result. First calculated in 2006, the second edition adds data on almost all the world's countries and now covers 99% of the world's population.
NEF says the HPI is a much better way of looking the success of countries than through standard measures of economic growth. The HPI shows, for example, that fast-growing economies such as the US, China and India were all greener and happier 20 years ago than they are today.
"The HPI suggests that the path we have been following is, without exception, unable to deliver all three goals: high life satisfaction, high life expectancy and 'one-planet living'," says Saamah Abdallah, NEF researcher and the report's lead author. "Instead we need a new development model that delivers good lives that don't cost the Earth for all."
Costa Ricans top the list because they report the highest life satisfaction in the world, they live slightly longer than Americans, yet have an ecological footprint that is less than a quarter the size. The country only narrowly fails to achieve the goal of what NEF calls "one-planet living": consuming its fair share of the Earth's natural resources.
The report says the differences between nations show that it is possible to live long, happy lives with much smaller ecological footprints than the highest-consuming nations.
The new HPI also provides the first ever analysis of trends over time for what are supposedly the world's most developed nations, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
OECD nations' HPI scores plummeted between 1960 and the late 1970s. Although there have been some gains since then, HPI scores were still higher in 1961 than in 2005.
Life satisfaction and life expectancy combined have increased 15% over the 45-year period for those living in the rich nations, but it has come at the cost of a 72% rise in their ecological footprint. And the three largest countries in the world – China, India and the US, which are aggressively pursuing growth-based development models – have all seen their HPI scores drop in that time.
The highest placed western nation is the Netherlands. People there live on average over a year longer than people in the US, and have similar levels of life satisfaction – yet their per capita ecological footprint is less than half the size. The Netherlands is therefore over twice as environmentally efficient at achieving good lives as the US, Nef says.
The report sets out a "Happy Planet Charter" calling for an unprecedented collective global effort to develop a "new narrative" of human progress, encourage good lives that don't cost the earth, and to reduce consumption in the highest-consuming nations – which it says is the biggest barrier to sustainable wellbeing.
• Rivals believe she wants a shot at the White House
• Republican opinion split on timing of move
Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice-presidential candidate who electrified her party's campaign last year, has resigned as Alaska's governor in a decision that has fuelled speculation she is positioning herself to run for president.
After a sometimes rambling speech in which she compared herself to American soldiers wounded in battle in Kosovo, and said only dead fish go with the flow, Palin's critics accused her of a "flaky" decision and walking away from her post.
Palin, who built strong support among conservative Republicans as John McCain's running mate last year, said she will step down in three weeks because she can contribute more away from politics.
"We know we can effect positive change outside government at this moment in time on another scale and actually make a difference for our priorities," she said.
But Palin also hinted at continuing political ambitions when she repeated a quote she attributed to General Douglas MacArthur: "We are not retreating, we are advancing in another direction."
For someone who is supposedly stepping back from politics, Palin's resignation speech was weighty with policy specifics which prompted speculation that she is positioning herself for a 2012 presidential bid or seeking another office which would move her from distant Alaska to the heart of Washington politics.
But coming during Independence Day, the move raised questions among some Republicans who accused her of attempting to escape falling poll numbers in Alaska as a series of economic problems and ethics investigations take their toll. A prominent Republican strategist, Ed Rollins, who directed Ronald Reagan's election campaign, said Palin had made a serious mistake. "She was a shooting star who dimmed in recent months and now she's crashed," he said.
Another Republican strategist, Tony Blankley, disagreed and said Palin appeared to have made a smart move to position herself for a run for president.
"It looks like she's moving down a path toward it," he said. "It frees her up. The normal rules don't seem to apply to her. She's a fascinating character who seems to do things her own way."
Blankley said that it makes sense for Palin to resign as governor if she is seeking higher office.
"This is going to be a pretty tough time for incumbents the next couple of years in America with everything going to hell, and this may be a pretty good time not to be in office," he said.
Blankley also said that Palin faced particular difficulties trying to juggle a national campaign with being governor of Alaska, several time zones from Washington. Palin will need to spend time in the capital developing relationships with key Republican strategists.
Palin remains a frontrunner among Republicans nationwide as a potential presidential candidate.
But other Republicans were more critical, including John Weaver, a long time confidant of McCain.
"We've seen a lot of nutty behaviour from governors and Republican leaders in the last three months, but this one is at the top of that," Weaver told the Washington Post. Palin's resignation was swiftly criticised as "flaky" by her Democratic opponents who said it was part of a pattern of "bizarre" behaviour. The Democratic National Committee said she is "leaving the people of Alaska high and dry ... or she simply can't handle the job now".
The timing of the announcement led some critics to accuse her of trying to bury the news of her resignation. But given that almost nothing else was going on, it might have been a move to dominate the news bulletins, as it forced Michael Jackson's death from the top slot.
Palin addressed the ethics investigations launched to examine her alleged misuse of office by saying that taxpayer money was being wasted and deriding them as part of the "superficial political blood sport" against her since she shot to prominence as McCain's running mate.
Palin will hand power to her deputy, lieutenant governor Sean Parnell.
Republican favourite
Sarah Palin's rise through politics was rapid after her election as a member of the council of the small Alaskan city of Wasilla in 1992. Four years later she was Wassilla's mayor before going on to chair Alaska's oil and gas conservation commission and then becoming the youngest elected governor of the state in 2006.
Two years later she was spotted by John McCain's presidential campaign team as he searched for a running mate who could bring on board conservative Republicans who were suspicious of his more moderate views.
While Palin reinvigorated a lacklustre campaign, there were growing tensions with McCain as she was seen as positioning herself to advance her own ambitions at his expense, particularly as it became apparent that Barack Obama was likely to win the election.
Since the campaign, Palin has remained a favourite of Republican conservatives at a time when their party is largely leaderless and lacking a strategy to win back voters.
A 19-year-old man has become the fourth person in the UK to die of swine flu and the first in London.
The teenager, from south London, who has not been identified, had serious underlying health problems, as had all those who have died in the UK so far. He tested positive for the H1N1 virus after his death at Lewisham hospital on Wednesday.
So far there have been four deaths among the nearly 7,500 lab-confirmed cases. On Thursday the health secretary Andy Burnham said projections showed that if cases continued to rise at the current rate there would be 100,000 new cases a day by the end of August.
The number of deaths will inevitably also rise, but extrapolation from the four deaths so far would not be statistically valid because the numbers are too few. A Department of Health spokesman said suggestions that there could be 40 deaths a day by the end of the summer were wrong.
"Scientific and clinical experts can use sophisticated modelling techniques to help us understand how the virus may behave, but that is all they can do – be a guide, not a prediction," he said.
Those whose immune systems are compromised, for instance through cancer treatment, or who have breathing problems, like asthmatics, or who are otherwise frail are at greatest risk from the virus. The south London teenager is the second youngest victim, after nine year-old Sameerah Ahmad, who was born with a rare life-threatening disease. The first victim was 38-year-old Jacqui Fleming, who died in hospital in Glasgow where she had been in intensive care since giving birth three months prematurely. The baby also later died, but not from swine flu.
The Department of Health said that it was possible to catch swine flu in hospital, where many people might be at risk because of their poor state of health. "Like any other place where there are lots of people, you could get it in hospital," said a spokesman. "But we're making sure that people with swine flu are isolated away from other patients and staff are very meticulous in their cleanliness."
Another death is likely to add to the alarm created by the soaring numbers of cases, but chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson warned that people should not attempt to buy antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu over the internet.
Donaldson pointed out that the UK has one of the biggest stockpiles of the drug in the world and certainly enough to treat all cases of the disease here. He warned on Thursday against buying antiviral drugs on the internet.
All those who fall ill will receive Tamiflu, even though some experts think treatment is warranted only for those with other health problems. However, some of those who have become seriously ill and at least one who died elsewhere were apparently healthy before their infection.
The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, faced a barrage of criticism tonight for apparently praising the Burmese junta without winning any concessions over human rights or a move towards democracy.
Ban was under pressure to produce concrete results from his two-day mission to Burma, which was criticised as providing an endorsement to the Burmese leadership just as it is staging a trial of the opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.
The high-stakes visit to Burma comes at a critical time for Ban, whose low-key approach to his job has been criticised as ineffectual. He came under further fire on arrival in Naypyidaw, the regime's headquarters, when he told the head of the junta, General Than Shwe: "I appreciate your commitment to moving your country forward."
"That is absolute nonsense," said Brad Adams, a Burma specialist at Human Rights Watch. "It's just what we implored him not to say, to make these diplomatic gaffes. Than Shwe has steadily moved his country backwards."
British officials were also furious at the remarks. They had urged Ban not to visit Burma, and risk handing the junta a propaganda prize with his visit, without first ensuring he would gain concessions in the form of the release of political prisoners and steps towards genuine democracy.
"Only agreement to release all political prisoners [and] start a genuine dialogue with the opposition and ethnic groups will give any credibility to the elections in 2010," Gordon Brown said in an article in the US online magazine The Huffington Post. According to No 10, Brown calls Ban at least twice a week to discuss Burma.
"I hope that Ban Ki-moon can convince the generals to take the first steps," Brown said. "A serious offer is on the table: the international community will work with Burma if the generals are prepared to embark on a genuine transition to democracy. But if the Burmese regime refuses to engage, the international community must be prepared to respond robustly."
However, Than Shwe said little at his meeting with Ban, and did not grant the secretary general's request to meet Suu Kyi in prison. Ban expressed hope that a meeting could still be permitted.
"I am leaving tomorrow, so logically speaking I am waiting for a reply before my departure," he said. The secretary general added that he had called for the release of all political prisoners before the elections, but got no response. He said Than Shwe had assured him, however, that the vote had been "fair, free and transparent".
However, Adams said: "The benchmark for success can't be what it was in the past. A meeting with Than Shwe is not a success. Even a meeting with Suu Kyi shouldn't be counted as a success, if all it means is she goes from being in jail back to being under house arrest.
"We have cautioned against this trip because it seems to be a trip for its own sake without any prospect of success."
Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate, is on trial because an American supporter entered her compound, breaking the terms of her house arrest. Suu Kyi's lawyers said the man swam to the compound without her permission and had been urged to leave. The trial was adjourned yesterday until 10 July.
• Minister praises diplomats for supporting rights
• Issue could be addressed at Commonwealth talks
The Foreign Office is to risk the wrath of homophobic regimes worldwide by encouraging British ambassadors to do more to support gay communities.
Chris Bryant, the new Foreign Office minister, who is gay, has started writing personal letters of congratulations to British diplomats who show public support for gay rights. He is praising them for such support even if it draws anger from national governments or local homophobic groups.
On the eve of today's Gay Pride March in London, Bryant sent handwritten letters of personal congratulations to three British ambassadors in eastern Europe after they were angrily accused by national governments of promoting gay rights.
He has also decided to ask British high commissioners in the Commonwealth to promote the rights of gay people, even though this will run contrary to the teachings of some local churches and governments.
Bryant would like to see gay rights addressed at the Commonwealth summit in November in Trinidad, due to be attended by the Queen and Gordon Brown.
In a letter to the British ambassador in Poland, Ric Todd, Bryant wrote: "I wanted to congratulate you on your flying of the Rainbow flag next to the Union flag last year, and your guide to lesbian gay and bisexual and transgender rights translated in Polish this year. I know you had some flak, but frankly more power to your elbow. Britain is not just a tolerant country. We fully respect the rights of everyone, regardless of their sexuality."
Todd was criticised for exceeding his authority by Janusz Kochanowski, the Polish civil rights ombudsman.
Bryant also wrote to the British ambassador in Bulgaria, Stuart Williams, who sent a message of support to the Rainbow friendship rally in Sofia earlier this year. Bryant wrote: "I fully support what you have done. I am sure that your coverage will have given confidence to many."
He is also to write to the British ambassador to Bucharest, Robin Barnett, to thank him for attending the gay rights march in the Romanian capital last month.
The purpose of the Bryant letters is to spell out that the British Foreign Office policy of support for gay and lesbian rights is not just a formality, but instead a central part of the government's drive for human rights that diplomats are to champion as part of British foreign policy.
Bryant's determination to take this campaign within the Commonwealth will be hugely controversial if he pushes the message and diplomatic pressure hard. Many Commonwealth states maintain laws criminalising homosexuality—including most of the countries of the Caribbean and more than two-thirds of African nations. In four African countries, including Nigeria, consensual homosexual acts are still punishable by death.
Case against father for drug dealing collapses after performers and production members challenge official story as witnesses
A black family wrongly prosecuted for assault after the father was falsely accused of drug dealing by police outside a London theatre has won "substantial" damages and an apology from Scotland Yard, four years after the case collapsed.
The Met commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, has agreed a payout to O'Neil Crooks, 45, his son Divanio, 25, his wife Patricia and a family friend, Yasmin Adbi. The only independent police witness failed to show up during the case, and the Crown Prosecution Service identified one of the four officers involved as an "incredible" or unreliable witness.
The Met said one officer subsequently received "words of advice" about failing to tell a senior officer of complaints from Crooks. The department of professional standards investigated the CPS allegation that the other officer had been deemed an "unreliable" witness but "concluded that this claim was unfounded".
The officer claimed she was assaulted by Adbi outside the Apollo theatre in the West End, but witnesses accused her of striking out with her baton. Mrs Crooks, who is partially disabled, was injured.
The encounter, which led to Crooks, his son and Abdi facing charges of threatening behaviour and assault, occurred in 2005 in front of performers and production members of the musical Big Life. Six witness accounts, including three from cast members, challenged the officer's version of events.
Bill Kenwright, the musical's backer, paid for the family's legal fees. Today he hailed the Met's decision to settle.
While the amount of compensation is not disclosed, the case is noteworthy because the Independent Police Complaints Commission investigation into the arrests initially found "no criminal or misconduct offences for officers to answer".
All fingerprints, DNA evidence and photographs taken at the time will be destroyed. Crooks, a builder from south London, has been asked to speak about his experience to police recruits at Hendon.
"It has been a horrific experience," he said. "It has devastated me, my family and Miss Abdi. I am not going to label every police officer, but the way we were dealt with was terrible."
Louis Charalambous, the solicitor who represented the Crooks and Miss Abdi, added: "Despite an IPCC report into this incident that ruled overwhelmingly in favour of the police, the Crooks family and Miss Abdi have at last received vindication. After four years of seeking redress, they can finally move on with their lives."The Big Life, about a group of West Indians who came to Britain on the SS Windrush, was nominated for an Olivier award and was the first black British musical to transfer to the West End.
Kenwright said: "I am pleased the Met has looked into it properly. The incident marred what should have been a joyous end to a joyous production.The West End is for everyone."
In a statement, Scotland Yard said it has apologised to the Crooks family and Miss Abdi and "regrets the upset and distress that this must have caused to all concerned."
• 'I never really had it in my wildest dreams,' says Owen
• 'You think winners, think trophies, think the massive fan base'
Michael Owen has admitted to being as surprised by his move to Manchester United as many onlookers were after putting pen to paper on a two-year deal at Old Trafford, but believes he is joining a team of 'winners'.
At 29, Owen realises his best days are behind him but still thinks he can prove his doubters wrong by playing a part in helping Manchester United to continue their success next season.
"Manchester United, you automatically think winners, you think trophies, you think the stadium, the massive fan base, but until you sign you don't really let yourself get carried away," said Owen. "There's so many top players here, obviously it's a very exciting time for me.
"Right throughout the squad they are obviously a fantastic team with fantastic players, that's why they've all won so much throughout their careers, and hopefully I can jump on the bandwagon, score a few goals, and help us to further success."
And even he - scorer of 40 goals in 89 England internationals - admits he is excited about playing in the same team as the likes of Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov and Ryan Giggs.
"A few days ago I never really had it in my wildest dreams," said Owen, who seemed set to be fought over by Hull and Stoke before Ferguson made his move. "I probably won't sleep at night thinking about all the top players I'm going to be playing alongside, so there's a lot to think about and a lot to get excited about."
Owen will also benefit from the full backing of Ferguson, having known for some time his new manager was an admirer of his talents. "In the last few years I had an idea that the manager obviously thought I had something, so I always clung to that hope that he would ask me to come and play for him one day," he added.
"I'm not silly, I know there will be some people saying maybe the manager shouldn't have signed me. That gradually goes in time and as soon as the first game kicks off, I can do my talking on the pitch."
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