Abbas Khan: Doctor's death in Syria 'in effect murder'

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British doctor Abbas Khan has been "in effect murdered" by the Syrian authorities just days before his expected release from jail, Foreign Office Minister Hugh Robertson said.

He said the death of the 32-year-old orthopaedic surgeon from south London was "at best extremely suspicious".

Mr Khan was arrested last year in Aleppo where he was helping civilians.

Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said Mr Khan committed suicide using his pyjamas to hang himself.

He said the results of an autopsy proved this, and Mr Khan's body would be released to his family so they could conduct their own inquiry.

One of Mr Khan's brothers, Shahnawaz Khan, said it was "a lie" and "pure fiction" that his brother committed suicide as he had written to his family saying he was looking forward to coming home and spending Christmas with them.

'No excuse'

The doctor's relatives had been told he would be freed on Friday following an order from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Mr Robertson said the government was seeking "urgent clarification" about what had happened to Mr Khan, originally from Streatham.

"There is no excuse whatsoever for the treatment that he has suffered by the Syrian authorities who have in effect murdered a British national who was in their country to help people who were injured during their civil war."He said: "We can't at the moment be absolutely certain about the circumstances in which Dr Khan met his death, but what is clear is that he went to Syria on a humanitarian mission, was imprisoned by the Syrian authorities and met his death while he was in prison in circumstances that are at best extremely suspicious.

'Summarily executed'

Respect MP George Galloway, who has liaised with the Syrian authorities and was due to collect Mr Khan on Friday, said the death was "murder most foul" and it was "inconceivable that he committed suicide".

The MP for Bradford West said he believed somebody within the regime had killed Mr Khan to defy President Assad's decision to release him.

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The former British Foreign Office minister, Alistair Burt, who handled Mr Khan's case up until two months ago, said he does not believe the Syrian government's version.

He said: "The chances of this poor man killing himself when there was a possibility of release seems very remote.

"Had he thought there was a chance of release and return to the United Kingdom, he would most certainly have wanted to do so. In some way he has been killed by the Syrian authorities and they bear the entire responsibility for his death."

BBC correspondent Paul Wood, reporting from Beirut, said Mr Khan could have been a casualty of a power struggle between the Syrian president and his own security services.

He said: "Only President Assad could have ordered the doctor's release. If he did so it may well have been a goodwill gesture in the run up to peace talks that Britain is helping to organise.

"Some in the regime perhaps do not want those talks to succeed."

Shahnawaz Khan said his mother was in a "state of shock and disbelief".

"She was readying herself to bring her son home in four days time after 13 months of a rollercoaster of emotions," he said.

"To be so close and then to be robbed of it is almost the cruellest way it could possibly happen."

Shahnawaz Khan said his brother was summarily executed

He rejected the Syrian government's claim of suicide, saying it was a "complete fiction" and "utter nonsense and I would ardently deny anything of that scenario".

"We have letters from [my brother] from last week, looking forward to coming home for Christmas, spending Christmas together and starting the new year fresh, he's been in the best spirits he's been in in the last 13 months and he is not a man to give in like that."

Extracts of a letter dated 4 December, shown to the BBC, which appear to be from Mr Khan to his six year old daughter Ruqquaya, reads: "To Ruqqa, thank you for your lovely drawing of everyone.

"Inshallah I will soon come home and give you a big hug and kiss."

He also wrote: "I think the decision to release me has been taken - just some formalities... Inshallah."

On claims that the doctor might have links to jihadi groups, Shahnawaz Khan said: "Again, this is pure fiction and it is an easy excuse to make about an individual who they have summarily executed in effect without due process".

Mr Khan accused the UK government of treating his brother's case "like he's been some wayward traveller in Dubai being caught drunk and contravened some sort of trivial law in Syria".

The family had received "very little assistance", he added.

Mr Khan was looking forward to spending Christmas with his family

Mr Khan, who worked at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore, north-west London, was detained 48 hours after entering Syria last November.

He had been moved by the plight of refugees and worked in refugee camps in Turkey, his family said. He had not planned to go to Syria but travelled there to treat badly injured civilians.

Earlier this year, his mother - who has spent the last four months in Damascus - found him in a prison in the city weighing just five stone (32kg) and barely able to walk.

He claimed he had been tortured while being detained without charge, and had been held for much of the time on his own.

Mr Khan was one of seven brothers and sisters and is survived by his wife Hanna, his seven-year-old son Abdullah and daughter Ruqquaya, aged six.

Jesse Owen's 1936 gold medal races to Olympic auction record

WHEN it comes to Olympic memorabilia, it doesn’t get much bigger than one of the four gold medals awarded to Jesse Owens for his remarkable performances at the 1936 Munich Games.

The Jesse Owens Munich 1936 gold medal which sold for an Olympic record price at auction.

In winning the 100m, 200m, 4 x 100m and long jump he infuriated the watching Nazis who wanted the Games to be a showpiece of Aryan superiority.

The sale of his medal was always going to create massive worldwide interest and so it proved at SCP Auctions of California. At the end of an online auction on the morning of Sunday, December 8, it had been bought by Ron Burkle, US billionaire investor and co-owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins ice hockey club, for a whopping $1,222,145 (£745,210), plus 20% buyer’s premium.

Owens set three Olympic records in 1936 and 77 years later this medal sale proved to be a record-breaker, racing past the previous top sum for Olympic memorabilia sold at auction, set in April last year when the winner’s cup from the first Olympic marathon at the Athens 1896 Games was sold at Sotheby’s for a premium-inclusive £541,250.

Burkle also now owns a medal awarded to another great American: William Faulkner’s Nobel Prize for literature, which was offered at Sotheby’s New York in June in an online auction but was not sold in that sale. He is set to take both on an educational tour.

It is not known precisely which of the four events Owens’ gold was awarded for but the whereabouts of the three other original 1936 golds are not known, giving this even more rarity value and desirability. The Owens family confirmed it was an original. Owens had given the gold medal to his friend, the entertainer Bill ‘Bojangles’ Robinson, as thanks for trying to help him find work, and it came down to the vendor by family descent.

But Owens was not exactly heartily welcomed back to a USA where racial segregation was widespread and it took decades for his achievements to be officially recognised.

He said: “When I came back to my native country, after all the stories about Hitler, I couldn’t ride in the front of the bus. I had to go to the back door. I couldn’t live where I wanted. I wasn’t invited to shake hands with Hitler, but I wasn’t invited to the White House to shake hands with the president, either.”

John McAfee seeking asylum in Guatemala

The millionaire software tycoon John McAfee has fled Belize and is now in Guatemala, where he is attempting to seek political asylum, it wasrevealed last night.

Software company founder John McAfee, left, accompanied by his lawyer Telesforo Guerra, right, answers questions during an interview at a local restaurant in Guatemala City

Mr McAfee, who made his fortune designing anti-virus computer software, has hired Telesforo Guerra, the former attorney general of Guatemala, as his lawyer.

Mr Guerra told AFP that he met with Mr McAfee at a Guatemala City hotel on Tuesday. He said, "I have to manage his political asylum."

Mr McAfee, 67, has been on the run since his neighbour, the American businessman Gregory Viant Faull, was shot dead last month.

Police in Belize, where the murder took place, say he is not a suspect, but Mr McAfee believes he will be "summarily executed" if he hands himself in.

Belize's prime minister has denied the claim and called the 67-year-old paranoid and "bonkers".

But Mr McAfee insists he will not submit to police questioning. "They have killed many people who've turned themselves in," he said.

"The last one was a gentleman ... who turned himself in. They just wanted him for questioning. They handcuffed his hands behind his back and shot him 14 times."

Mr McAfee's arrival in Guatemala comes after days of confusion and secrecy about his whereabouts. His official blog initially claimed he had been captured at the border with Mexico, something the police denied.

But a later blog post by Mr McAfee claimed that the man arrested in Mexico was his 'double' who had deliberately been arrested in an attempt to fool the authorities into thinking they had arrested Mr McAfee and thus aiding his escape.

Mr McAfee's new location was inadvertently revealed by journalists from Vice magazine who have spent five days with him. They posted a photograph of him online but failed to remove data which revealed he was in Guatemala.

Initially Mr McAfee claimed that he had doctored the information, again to fool the authorities, but later admitted he was in Guatemala.

Mitt Romney rides new wave of popularity as poll numbers surge

Mitt Romney was riding a surge in US presidential opinion polls sowing panic through the Democratic ranks by overtaking Barack Obama in several surveys a month before Election Day.

The Republican challenger, who had trailed Mr Obama for months, won sharp swings in support thanks to his victory last week in the contest's first televised debate, according to three nationwide polls.

He led the President by four percentage points nationwide, according to Pew, a non-partisan organisation, which had Mr Obama leading by eight points in mid-September. PPP, a Left-leaning pollster, found the Republican's national lead was three points, while Gallup put it at two points.

Rasmussen, a Right-leaning group, said Mr Romney also led by two points across the 11 battleground states likely to decide the election,having overtaken Mr Obama for the first time in three weeks.

Aides to Mr Romney said swing voters were giving him "another look" after months of attacks from Mr Obama. "Governor Romney offered voters a choice between someone with a plan to turn our economy around and a President who is offering four more years of the last four years," said a spokesman.

However, detailed breakdowns of the results indicated that the former Massachusetts governor faced a challenge to maintain his bounce in support, according to several pollsters.

PPP said that while he led by five points among voters surveyed last Friday, by the weekend his advantage had fallen to half a point. Two daily tracker polls found the candidates were tied.

Supporters of Mr Obama none the less claimed his campaign was in crisis after a disastrous showing in the debate in Denver, where he was widely judged to have failed to lay a glove on his opponent.

Andrew Sullivan, a prominent British-born commentator and vocal Obama supporter, spearheaded the doom-mongering with an article asking: "Did Obama just throw the entire election away?"

"On every single issue, Obama has instantly plummeted into near-oblivion," he wrote. "I've never seen a candidate self-destruct for no external reason this late in a campaign before".

The President's re-election team also invited ridicule by focusing on Mr Romney's pledge to cut public funding for PBS, the television network behind Sesame Street, the popular children's programme.

An Obama campaign video mocking Mr Romney for viewing the Sesame Street character Big Bird as a "big, yellow menace to our economy" was sharply criticised by the candidate during a rally in Iowa.

"These are tough times," Mr Romney told supporters. "So you have to scratch your head when the president spends the last week talking about saving Big Bird."

The Obama campaign later received a legal demand from the programme to take down their clip.

Mr Romney's team is hoping that Paul Ryan, his running mate, can extend their advantage with a commanding performance over Vice President Joe Biden in their sole debate on Thursday evening.

The turnaround in the Republican's fortunes has coincided with his abrupt tack to the centre on several political issues, and a move to telling personal anecdotes on the campaign trail.

It has been credited to three members of his inner circle. His eldest son Taggart is said to have jostled his way to a position of influence over paid advisers who wanted a relentless focus on the economy.

Known as "Tagg", the 42-year-old financier was said by Politico to have urged his father to relax, be himself and shut out the contradictory advice being thrown at him before his campaign events.

Introducing their father in Iowa yesterday, Josh, the 36-year-old middle son, risked angering the Obama campaign by saying that as boys the brothers had shown him "how to debate an obstinate child."

Tagg's efforts are believed to have been reinforced by Mr Romney's wife, Ann, who has tirelessly worked to publicise the human side of a candidate frequently criticised for his awkward robotic manner.

Hailing Mr Romney as a "man of character whose heart is in the right place," Mrs Romney yesterday described her pain at the Obama campaign's portrayal of him as a ruthless corporate raider.

"When you love someone, know so deeply that they are a good person and are doing the right things, it's tough to watch them get unfairly attacked," she wrote in a post on blogher, a women's website. "But it is tougher to see how many families in our country have struggled in the last four years".

Praise has also gone to Rob Portman, a US Senator for Ohio, who plays Mr Obama in Mr Romney's debate rehearsals. Mr Portman tests the candidate with such stinging Obama-style attacks that Mr Romney jokes to supporters that he has been reduced to tears.

Clint Eastwood endorses Mitt Romney for president

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A Superbowl ad featuring Clint Eastwood was thought by some to endorse Barack Obama

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US Presidential Election 2012

• Who will be Romney's VP?
• Battlegrounds 2012
• Election glossary
• Romney's English roots

Oscar-winning actor and director Clint Eastwood has endorsed Republican Mitt Romney in the race for the White House.

Eastwood attended a Romney fundraiser in Sun Valley, Idaho, said to have raised over $2m (£1.29m).

The Dirty Harry star said he was endorsing the Republican because "the country needs a boost somewhere".

In February Eastwood starred in a Chrysler Superbowl advert, Halftime in America, sparking debate over whether he backed President Barack Obama.

At the time, Eastwood had said he was not endorsing either candidate and, speaking to Fox News, said he was "certainly not politically affiliated with Mr Obama".

"It was meant to be a message about just about job growth and the spirit of America," Eastwood said in February of the Super Bowl advert.

"I think all politicians will agree with it. I thought the spirit was OK. I am not supporting any candidate at this time."

'Handsome enough for president'?

On Friday Mr Romney said of Eastwood's endorsement: "He just made my day. What a guy."

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“

After an introduction from Mr Romney, Eastwood spoke to about 325 guests gathered for the Idaho fundraiser.

Eastwood said he first saw Mr Romney when he was running for governor of Massachusetts, and Eastwood was directing the film Mystic River in Boston.

Eastwood said he thought: "God, this guy, he's too handsome to be governor. But it does look like he could be president."

Backing Mr Romney, Eastwood added that Mr Romney would "restore a decent tax system... so there's a fairness and people are not pitted against each other," according to reports from Idaho.

Mr Romney is challenging Mr Obama for the White House in November's presidential elections.

Also on Friday figures showed that the US added 163,000 jobs in the month of July, but national unemployment rose to 8.3% from 8.2%.

Correspondents say the health of the US economy is likely to become a decisive factor in the outcome of the election.

Francois Hollande falls into 'trap' to look like 'dwarf' alongside Coldstream Guards

Francois Hollande has been ridiculed in France for allowing himself to look like a "dwarf" alongside the Coldstream Guards – the battalion that won battle honours at Waterloo and then occupied Paris.

During an official visit to London on Tuesday, the French president inspected a Guard of Honour from the 1st Battalion of the Coldstream Guards at the Foreign Office.

He then appeared in photographs alongside Major General George Norton, who looked around two feet taller than the Gallic head of state.

Comments alongside the image on a website of pictures taken by AFP, France's national news agency, suggested Hollande had fallen into a "trap" made to make him look ridiculous.

"Poor France," wrote Jean-Marc Rameau, from Paris, while Dmitri Kovaley mocked Mr Hollande, who is 5ft 7 ins, with the words "Dwarfs rule the world".

There were also references to Gulliver's Travels, while others noted how the 5ft 5 ins Nicolas Sarkozy, Mr Hollande's predecessor, made huge efforts to disguise his small stature.

These included everything from standing on tiptoe and wooden boxes, as well as wearing stacked heels.

"I find it ridiculous, not because of (Mr Hollande's) size, but because he falls easily into the traps that Sarkozy knew how to avoid," wrote another poster under the name 'Councillor De Mist'.

Sebastien Esteve of Marseilles, meanwhile, suggested that Mr Hollande appeared "smaller than Nicolas Sarkozy" alongside the guardsmen, adding the President wore a "badly cut" suit.

Arguably the greatest military achievement of the Coldstreams was the part they played in the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte's army at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

The Coldstreams were part of the 2nd Guards Brigade which famously defended the Hougoumont farmhouse – a key part of the Duke of Wellington's strategy.

Following victory, the regiment then transferred to the French capital, where they humiliated locals further by taking part in the Occupation of the city.

The regiment, the oldest in the regular British Army in continuous active service, defeated the French throughout the Napoleonic Wars, notably in Egypt in the early 19th Century.

Waterloo, which ended Napoleon's reign, is viewed by the French as one their most shameful defeats.

The French dictator became a prisoner of the British on the South Atlantic island of Saint Helena, before dying in captivity in 1821, but he is still glorified all over France as a national hero.

Mr Hollande, a 57-year-old Socialist, has suffered numerous picture disasters since replacing Mr Sarkozy as president last May.

Images include Mr Hollande being soaked to the skin by heavy rain during his official inauguration in Paris.

Mr Hollande spent a short period as an officer in the French Army during a period of national service.

Bashar al-Assad warns Turkey to stop 'interfering' in Syria

Bashar al-Assad has accused Turkey of trying to provoke a sectarian war in Syria by arming “terrorists” intent on overthrowing his regime, marking a new low in relations between the two states.

The Syrian president rounded on Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, calling him “two-faced” and claiming that he was was responsible for many of the estimated 16,000 deaths reported since the uprising began.

“With his desire from the beginning to interfere in our internal affairs he has made Turkey a party to all the bloody acts in Syria,” Mr Assad told Cumhuriyet, a Turkish newspaper.

“Turkey has given all kinds of logistical support to the terrorists killing our people.”

The two states are already engaged in a military stand-off along their 550-mile border after Syria shot down a Turkish reconnaissance jet last month.

Turkey has scrambled its air force three times in recent days after Syrian helicopters flew close to the frontier and has also deployed two armoured brigades and anti-aircraft batteries in the border zone.

Though Mr Assad however was careful to express his regret for the downing of the Turkish fighter, his most vehement denunciation of Turkey since the crisis began heightened tensions and is sure to infuriate Ankara, which has already provided sanctuary to Syrian rebels and allowed smuggled arms to cross its border.

The dispute between the two neighbours has given added urgency to Western efforts to end the crisis by forcing Mr Assad to stand down.

Ratcheting up the pressure on Damascus, William Hague yesterday committed the Government to seeking a Chapter 7 United Nations resolution against Syria, the same type used to remove Col Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, if a new plan for a national unity government failed.

Britain and its allies would however add a sub-clause, article 41, to Chapter 7 that rules out the use of armed force. The resolution would threaten the “complete or partial interruption of economic relations and of rail, sea, air, postal, telegraphic, radio, and other means of communication”.

The Foreign Secretary warned that Britain and its allies would move quickly to seek stronger action at the UN if the plan agreed by world powers at the weekend for Mr Assad to hand over power came to nought.

In that event, “countries like United Kingdom will be seeking a Chapter 7 resolution at the UN Security Council to mandate the implementation of the Annan plan and threaten consequences for those who do not implement it” he told CNN.

“What I’m talking about in the immediate future or near future that should be in such a resolution is sanctions or the threat of sanctions on those not cooperating,” he said, adding that military force could not be ruled out.

The Annan plan did not name Mr Assad, but called for a national unity government formed “by mutual consent” between regime and opposition figures.

Amid a flurry of diplomatic activitiy, Mr Hague met the French foreign minister Laurent Fabius yesterday. They warned Moscow that its support for Mr Assad was futile and was damaging Russian influence in the Middle East.

“Russia must understand that the situation in Syria is heading toward collapse,” said Mr Hague. “There is no point in anyone standing by the Assad regime.”

Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov meanwhile denied speculation that it would offer the beleaguered Syrian leader a home. “The situation with the future of the president of the Syrian Arab Republic is not being discussed with the United States,” he said.

Western diplomats admitted the Russians had been adamant during the Geneva talks that they wouldn’t play host to Mr Assad.

Last month, rumours circulated that American and British officials might be willing to offer Mr Assad clemency and protection from prosecution by the International Criminal Court if he left his post.