Pistorius detective faces charges

THE lead investigator in the case against Oscar Pistorius faces attempted murder charges himself, South African police said this morning.

Police Brigadier Neville Malila said detective Hilton Botha is scheduled to appear in court in May on seven counts of attempted murder.

He said Botha and two other police officers fired shots while trying to stop a minibus in an incident in October 2011.

Spurs fans attacked in France

A GROUP of up to 50 masked thugs attacked a bar packed with English football fans in Lyon last night.

Tottenham Hotspur supporters were in the Smoking Dog pub before their team’s game in the French city tonight.

Witnesses said three Tottenham fans were taken to hospital, one with a head injury, and claimed the attack had an anti-Semitic motive.

PM defends NHS boss over Stafford

NHS chief executive Sir David Nicholson should not be made a scapegoat for the misdeeds uncovered by last week’s Francis Report into failings at Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, David Cameron said last night.

Mr Cameron has come under intense pressure from some of the relatives of those who died in Mid-Staffordshire to sack Sir David, who had direct responsibility for the trust as head of its regional health authority for part of the period when patients were neglected and mistreated.

But the Prime Minister said Sir David was doing a “very good job” as head of the NHS and had already acknowledged “mistakes” made by the RHA under his leadership and “properly” apologised for them.

PM hints at new use of aid budget

DAVID Cameron has indicated that he is ready to consider using money from the UK’s official aid budget to fund military operations to stabilise war-torn states.

The suggestion will alarm aid charities and non-governmental organisations who fear the UK’s achievement of the United Nations target to spend 0.7% of national income on overseas assistance will be undermined if any of that cash is diverted to defence activities.

As Whitehall departments fight it out for scarce resources in the upcoming Spending Review for 2015/16, Mr Cameron said it was right to look for ways in which the Department for International Development (DfID) can work more closely with the Foreign Office and Ministry of Defence.