5 May 2012 Last updated at 16:07 gmt

Grangemouth biomass protesters arrested

Seven people have been arrested in a protest against a proposed biomass power station at Grangemouth docks.

Twenty protesters from Action Against Agrofuels blocked both the access roads to the port, but police said they had now been reopened.

The group claimed the wood-burning power station would threaten forests and worsen climate change.

Forth Energy said the plant would use sustainably sourced fuel and produce low carbon electricity and heat.

The partnership with Forth Ports and Scottish and Southern Energy wants to create four plants in Scotland, at Dundee, Rosyth, Grangemouth and Leith.

Central Scotland Police said four activists had been arrested for causing an obstruction at South Shore Road. Three were arrested for the same offence at the Central Dock Road protest.

Road blocks

All seven are in custody and are expected to appear at Falkirk Sheriff Court on Tuesday.

Supt Robbie McGregor, Falkirk Area Commander, said: "Every effort was made to resolve this peacefully.

"The protesters were given every opportunity to end their demonstration and having failed to do so were arrested for causing an obstruction.

"We sought to minimize the impact of the protesters' activity for business in and around Grangemouth, and in particular the port, with a view to restoring normality as soon as possible."

Some of the demonstrators locked themselves to scaffolding tripods in the road to block the entrances to the port.

'Minimal impact'

Protester Johnny Agnew, from Glasgow, said: "Vast renewable energy subsidies, paid through all our fuel bills, are being offered for big biomass, which causes more climate change, more deforestation and more pollution. We are effectively subsidising ecocide."

The group said there was "nothing sustainable" about creating new demand for wood and that the plant would lead to health problems because of air pollution.

Calum Wilson, managing director of Forth Energy, said the action "clearly consisted" of people from outside the local area.

He added: "Whilst the impact on shipping operations in the port itself was minimised, their actions today disrupted the local community and the livelihoods of members of the haulage industry across Scotland.

"They sought to bypass the proper planning consultation process and could have compromised safety had there been an emergency at the port."

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5 May 2012 Last updated at 09:42 gmt

BP to continue Rosneft talks after deadline expires

BP has said that it will continue talking with Russian oil giant Rosneft over a share swap, after a deadline for the deal expired at midnight.

Together with its existing Russian partner AAR, BP said it would continue to try to find a way for the three parties to reach agreement.

AAR, which owns half of Russian joint venture TNK-BP, has blocked BP's proposed share swap with Rosneft.

However, it said it saw "significant benefit" of co-operation with Rosneft.

The proposed deal between BP and state-owned Rosneft would give the UK oil giant access to the potentially lucrative oil reserves in the Russian arctic.

"In recent months, BP has conducted detailed negotiations with AAR and Rosneft to seek a reasonable and businesslike solution that would allow the agreements to proceed to the satisfaction of all parties," BP said.

"Such a solution has not been found at this time, although talks will continue."

Mikhail Fridman, chairman of Alfa Group, the group of billionaires behind AAR, said: "AAR also sees significant benefit to developing co-operation with Rosneft within the framework of the TNK-BP shareholder agreement, and we plan to continue discussions about any potential collaboration among BP, Rosneft and AAR."

Exclusivity agreement

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The fundamental problem was that the billionaires and Rosneft, which is an arm of the Russian state, don't trust each other”

The BP-Rosneft deal, signed in January, included the Russian state-owned company taking 5% of BP's shares in exchange for approximately 9.5% of Rosneft's shares.

But AAR said that the deal broke an existing exclusivity agreement between it and BP.

The AAR consortium won a High Court injunction in London in February.

It put the deal on hold until the dispute could be resolved by arbitration, and in March an arbitration panel upheld AAR's complaint.

Last week, arbitrators ruled that BP and Rosneft would be allowed to swap shares if the Arctic operations were carried out under TNK-BP, instead of BP itself.

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4 May 2012 Last updated at 09:11 GMT

Kercher killer Amanda Knox tried for slandering police

Amanda Knox, the US student convicted of murdering her British housemate in Italy, faces a fresh trial, charged with slandering police officers.

The claims stem from the inquiries into the death of Meredith Kercher in 2007.

At her murder trial, Knox, 23, claimed police hit her on the head during her interrogation. The police denied this.

Knox, who is currently appealing against her murder conviction, told an earlier hearing she never intended slander and was just defending herself.

If the American - who was due to appear in court on Tuesday - is found guilty, any additional jail term would be added to her existing 26-year sentence.

Parents on trial

Raffaele Sollecito, Knox's former boyfriend, is also appealing against his conviction for Miss Kercher's murder.

Both Sollecito and Knox are awaiting the outcome of an independent examination of the forensic evidence in the case, which they say will prove their innocence.

Knox's parents are also due to stand trial separately in July for claiming their daughter was abused by police during the murder investigation.

Curt Knox and Edda Mellas made their claims in an interview with the British newspaper, the Sunday Times.

Meredith Kercher, who was 21 and came from London, died in November 2007 in the house she shared with Knox in the Umbrian town of Perugia.

Prosecutors said Miss Kercher died during a sex game which went wrong. Her semi-naked body was found partially covered by a duvet in her bedroom.

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