Eleventh hour change in programme 
saved David Cameron in Afghanistan
LONDON: Prime Minister David Cameron must be thankful to a miracle that saved his life during his recent visit to Afghanistan as the Taliban had planned to shoot his helicopter. A Taliban spokesman told the BBC the attack would have been launched from a base in Washir, north-west Helmand during his first visit to Afghanistan in June.
David Cameron's plans were changed at the last minute when intercepts of Taliban radio messages showed that they knew which helicopter he was flying in.
Upon contacting, the Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi added one piece of information to what was already known - the location of the team planning to shoot the helicopter down. 
He said that the Taliban attack was to be launched from their base at Washir, in the north-west of the main conflict zone in Helmand. 
He would not reveal the source of the Taliban's information about the flight, nor the weapons they were planning to use. 
Mr Cameron's location was known because, unusually, he had visited Kabul first, holding a media conference with Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai, before going on to Helmand.
He was forced to abandon a visit to British troops serving at the front-line patrol base at Shahzad because of the fears of a Taliban attack. The RAF Chinook carrying the prime minister and his entourage was instead diverted to the main operating base in the capital of Helmand, Lashkar Gah, at the last minute.
A former British commander in Afghanistan, Colonel Richard Kemp, told the Today programme on BBC Radio 4: "We sometimes underestimate the Taliban's sophistication (and) intelligence-collection capability, and they are very, very good at it."
The Taliban had "sources in many places", he said, including within the Afghan security forces and "even in military bases".
"There's no official comment from Downing Street, but it's clear they are taking the security warnings seriously and rethinking the scheduling and media arrangements for future visits to take far greater account of the risks involved," BBC political correspondent Carole Walker said.
Downing Street said it did not comment on the prime minister's security plans. Number 10 is reported to be rethinking scheduling and media plans for future visits to take the risks into account.
Earlier this year, police concerns about Mr Cameron's security were reported over the prime minister's insistence on walking around Whitehall and refusing motorcycle escorts.
 

Nick Clegg says Afghan 
mission 'turning a corner'
LONDON: Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has insisted the military campaign in Afghanistan is "turning the corner", during a surprise visit to the country. But he said he "had no idea exactly how and when we will succeed".
He repeated the promise made by the government that UK combat troops would leave Afghanistan by 2015. Mr Clegg also praised the "bravery and professionalism" of UK troops and insisted spending cuts would not hit those on the front line.
The deputy prime minister spoke at Camp Bastion base on Tuesday after spending the day and previous night in southern Helmand province.
He travelled to the front-line operating base of Shawqat, in Nad Ali district, and was shown around a school, a clinic and a police station being constructed with British funding.
Mr Clegg's trip was shrouded in secrecy after it emerged that the Taliban had planned to attack Prime Minister David Cameron during a visit in June. The deputy PM said: "We hear so much bad news... But what I have seen today is a complete transformation of the military effort that I first saw when I visited two years ago. "[Then] there were arguments about equipment, there were doubts about whether we had sufficient people and resources. There was real concern over whether we had the right strategy.
Mr Clegg insisted that all UK combat troops would leave Afghanistan by 2015, saying the government had "put a full stop at the end of our engagement". He said decisions were still being made on the future of defence spending, but added: "We are not going to suddenly withdraw support from one day to the next to our brave troops who are out here on the front line in Afghanistan."
 

Police foil EDL demo in Bradford 
Cost of policing Bradford protest in six figures, 
Home Secretary authorised a blanket ban on marches
BRADFORD: The cost of policing two rival demonstrations in Bradford on Saturday is expected to be "several hundred thousand pounds". The right-wing English Defence League (EDL) and its Unite Against Fascism (UAF) opponents held separate protests.
Hundreds of officers from West Yorkshire Police were supported by colleagues from 13 other forces during the operation to keep the groups apart. Thirteen protesters were arrested after several skirmishes broke out. 
According to a BBC report, police contained several hundred EDL supporters behind a temporary barricade in the city's Urban Gardens as about 300 people gathered for an event hosted by UAF about half a mile away at the Crown Court Plaza. 
During the protests, nearly 100 EDL supporters climbed over the 8ft (2.4m) barricade to get on to neighbouring waste ground from where they threw missiles at police. However, only one protester and one police officer suffered minor injuries and no property was damaged during the entire operation.
The EDL had originally planned to march through Bradford, prompting fears that its presence could spark unrest like the riots which hit the city in 2001.
Home Secretary Theresa May authorised a blanket ban on marches in Bradford, but this did not prevent Saturday's "static" demonstrations.
West Yorkshire's Chief Constable Sir Norman Bettison said: "The ban of the march seems to have worked. 
In the build-up to the EDL demonstration, 10,000 Bradford residents signed a petition opposing it and hundreds attended peace events in the city.
Ishtiaq Ahmed, a spokesman for the Bradford Council for Mosques, said: "It was impressive to see young people taking on the leadership role to keep things calm and peaceful. "The police response was courageous and appropriate."
Bottles, stones and a smoke bomb were thrown during the protests. Trouble flared at the city's Urban Gardens where a large crowd of English Defence League (EDL) supporters had gathered.
They were penned in by hundreds of police as a separate group of 300 people from Unite Against Fascism (UAF) assembled for a rival protest. Thirteen men were arrested. An EDL supporter suffered leg injuries.
 

New passport to be available from next month
LONDON: The redesigned UK passport, now featuring strengthened security features and iconic images from across the nation, has been unveiled by Chief Executive of the Identity and Passport Service Sarah Rapson.
The new 10-year passport will be issued from October, with pages of the passport containing well-known UK scenes, including the White Cliffs of Dover, the Gower Peninsula, Ben Nevis and the Giant's Causeway.
The use of these images, recreated through special printing techniques, is just one of a number of enhanced security features contained in the passport, which will give UK citizens added protection from identity theft and fraud and ensure speedier travel across borders.
Sarah Rapson said: "The new passport features a host of scenes from across the UK.
 Through its combination of physical and electronic security features, the UK passport remains one of the most secure and trusted documents in the world, meeting rigorous international standards. The new design is part of our strategy to stay ahead of criminals who look to fraudulently alter or copy passports."
The new passport will replace the current UK ePassport, which was upgraded in 2006 with the addition of an electronic chip to hold the owner's details, and to comply with the US Visa Waiver Programme.
The personal details page of the passport will be moved to the second page in the passport booklet, in common with other passports in Europe and around the world, to help speed up travellers' passage through border controls.
An adult passport costs £77.50 for standard service and £112.50 for the one week Fast Track service. A child passport costs £49 for standard service and £96.50 for the one-week Fast Track service.
 

Tory councillor arrested 
for assault in Manchester
MANCHESTER: A councillor has been suspended from the Conservative Party after he was arrested on suspicion of threatening to kill his wife.
Manchester City Council's Faraz Bhatti, 34, was arrested after his 43-year-old wife, a police community support officer, rang police from their Withington home on Sunday.
He defected from the Lib Dems in 2008, saying they were too "inward looking". Mr Bhatti was held on suspicion of assault and threats to kill. He was later released on bail.
A Tory party spokesman: "I can confirm that Faraz Bhatti was arrested and has been released on police bail. 
"As a result, his membership has been suspended pending further investigation."
Recently married 
A Manchester council spokesman said it would not be commenting due to the ongoing police investigation.
Mr Bhatti's solicitor, Raj Chopra, told the BBC that his client had co-operated fully with the police and that he was innocent.
"He has not done anything wrong," he said, "He loves his wife dearly. He was very upset to hear the Tory party had suspended him as he knows he has not said or done anything to harm her."
The couple have recently married after being together for five years. Mr Bhatti is currently living with his father in Manchester while she remains at their Withington home.
 

Hasina Patel loses legal aid challenge
LONDON: The widow of a 7/7 suicide bomber has lost her High Court bid to overturn a decision refusing her legal aid. Hasina Patel had wanted legal aid for representation at the forthcoming inquest into the deaths of 52 people in the attacks in London.
She was married to suicide bomber Mohammad Sidique Khan. But Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Silber said the decision by the Lord Chancellor "cannot be described as unreasonable or irrational".
A hearing held earlier this week had heard an argument on her behalf that the decision to deny her legal aid was "unfair, irrational and unlawful".
Khan was one of the four men who carried out the suicide bombings on London's transport network in July 2005.
Lord Justice Thomas said the court heard how Ms Patel "was interested to understand why her late husband and the other bombers acted as they did" and sought "an opportunity to ask questions of witnesses at the inquest which bore on their knowledge and experience of her husband and others".
The judge said: "Far from providing any information that might assist the wider public interest, she has flatly and unequivocally declined the opportunity to do so.
"Although requested by this court to show how she could help establish why her late husband and the others, whom she knew acted to murder fellow citizens, she has provided not an iota of evidence to us which could show how in some way she could bring a wider benefit, let alone a significant benefit to the inquests or to the understanding of the victims of the bombing."
 

Blair describes Brown as 
'difficult' at times maddening
LONDON: Tony Blair has described Gordon Brown as "difficult, at times maddening" in his long-awaited memoirs, which were published on Wednesday. The former prime minister added it would have been "well nigh impossible" to stop Mr Brown taking over when he resigned in 2007. Mr Blair also said he was "sorry for the lives cut short" by the Iraq War, but did not regret the 2003 invasion.
The book, entitled A Journey, has taken three years to write. It will focus on his time in Downing Street, also touching on issues such as the Iraq war.
In the book, Mr Blair also described Mr Brown as a "strong, capable and brilliant" man who possessed a significant power base within the party and media, a position which would have made it difficult to move him on from the Treasury.
Mr Blair said: "Was he difficult, at times maddening? Yes. But he was also strong, capable and brilliant, and those were qualities for which I never lost respect.
"When it's said that I should have sacked him, or demoted him, this takes no account of the fact that had I done so, the party and the government would have been severely and immediately destabilised and his ascent to the office of prime minister would probably have been even faster."
Mr Blair said he decided that "having him inside and constrained was better than outside and let loose or, worse, becoming the figurehead of a far more damaging force well to the left".
Tony Blair also said he could not prevent his chancellor moving from No 11 to No 10 Downing Street. "It is easy to say now, in the light of his tenure as prime minister, that I should have stopped it; at the time that would have been well nigh impossible.
"It was because I believed, despite it all, despite my own feelings at times, that he was the best chancellor for the country."