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WASHINGTON: A US man who spent 18 years in jail after being wrongly charged of killing six people has received $1.4 million in compensation. Anthony Graves received the money Thursday during a private meeting with Texas Comptroller Susan Combs. Graves was convicted of helping Robert Earl Carter kill a grandmother and five children in 1992. The two men were sentenced to death for the killings. However, Carter, who tied Graves to the case, admitted before his lethal injection in 1998 that Graves did not play a role in the killings. Graves said he's grateful for the compensation, but said that the money "doesn't even come close" to making up for the time he spent in prison. Graves spent two years waiting for the trial for the 1992 slayings, a dozen years on death row until an appeals court threw out his conviction, and four more years awaiting retrial that prosecutors decided they couldn't justify, according to media reports. The 5th US Circuit Court of App...

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez tells the nation he has had surgery to remove a cancerous tumour, in his first television address since flying to Cuba for treatment Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez, has finally returned to the public eye, admitting in a nationwide address that doctors had diagnosed him with cancer, following furious speculation about the true state of his health. In his first live appearance since undergoing emergency pelvic surgery in Cuba on 10 June, Chavez said doctors had removed "cancerous cells" from his body. "This [is] the new battle that life has placed before us," he said. Flanked by a Venezuelan flag and a portrait of Simon Bolivar, the South American liberator, Chavez said he had committed a "fundamental mistake" in not taking better care of his own health. "I neglected my health and I was reluctant to have medical check ups. It was a fundamental mistake for a revolutionary," he said, directing his speech ...

Iain McKenzie tells supporters 'Labour's fightback has started here' after winning majority of 5,838 Labour held on to the Westminster seat of Inverclyde in the party's first real test since its defeat in the Scottish parliamentary elections. Iain McKenzie was elected with 15,118 votes in the byelection, a majority of 5,838, with the Scottish National Party's Anne McLaughlin coming second with 9,280 votes. Although Labour's majority was down by around 9,000 from last year's general election, the result was welcomed with relief by the party as the SNP came within 500 votes of winning the equivalent Holyrood seat in Scottish elections in May. The Lib Dems' support collapsed. Their candidate Sophie Bridger won only 627 votes, down from 5,007 in the general election. The Conservative candidate David Wilson won 2,784, and Ukip's Mitch Sorbie took 288. The byelection was called after the sudden death of Labour MP and former minister David Cairns, shortly a...

Lack of artillery, mortars and tanks are frustrating efforts to expand pocket around enclave, rebels say Libyan rebels in Misrata said on Thursday night that they are in discussions with France to supply weapons and ammunition to fighters in the besieged coastal enclave. The frontlines have remained in stalemate for more than a month, with the city enduring nightly bombardments from rockets, and rebel fighters saying they lack the heavy weapons to break the ring of government forces around the city. "We are in discussion with France to supply us with the guns," said rebel military spokesman Ibrahim Betalmal. "We are trying to do our best to get ammunition and guns from France and inshallah [God willing] we are going to get those guns. These are negotiations with France, not with Nato." The news comes after reports from Paris said France airdropped weapons and ammunition to rebel forces battling pro-Gaddafi forces in the western mountains who are pushing towards Trip...

Forecast that cost of pensions will fall in the future leads to row over David Cameron's claim that system could 'go broke' One of the government's key arguments for reforming public sector pensions crumbled when it was made clear that they are projected to become more affordable in the future, not less, as teachers staged the biggest school strikes since the 1980s over the plans. The forecast that the cost of paying pensions to 6 million public sector workers will fall by 67bn over the next 50 years undermined David Cameron's claim earlier this week that the system could "go broke" if it is not reformed. More than 2 million pupils missed classes as a group of four breakaway unions staged the first mass strikes against the coalition's austerity plans. Thousands of parents were forced to take a day off work with nearly 6,000 schools closed and 5,000 partially closed. In total, half of schools were affected. "Today's action across the country ...

Internal emails seen by Guardian show PR campaign was launched to protect UK nuclear plans after tsunami in Japan British government officials approached nuclear companies to draw up a co-ordinated public relations strategy to play down the Fukushima nuclear accident just two days after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and before the extent of the radiation leak was known. Internal emails seen by the Guardian show how the business and energy departments worked closely behind the scenes with the multinational companies EDF Energy , Areva and Westinghouse to try to ensure the accident did not derail their plans for a new generation of nuclear stations in the UK. "This has the potential to set the nuclear industry back globally," wrote one official at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) , whose name has been redacted. "We need to ensure the anti-nuclear chaps and chapesses do not gain ground on this. We need to occupy the territory and hold it. We...

Members of several groups which were signed up to All-Russia People's Front did not approve entry, and some are livid Kickboxers, reindeer herders, composers and the inhabitants of a whole suburban street have been recruited not all of them willingly to shore up Vladimir Putin's crumbling United Russia party before December's parliamentary elections in Russia. The All-Russia People's Front, a nationwide coalition of public groups set up by Putin, also embraces trade unions, car-owners' clubs, a beekeepers' association and scores of other organisations. They have all rallied to the prime minister's flag and, this autumn, will help choose candidates for the parliamentary poll, which is a springboard to the presidential election in March next year. Putin has not said he will run for the presidency, but warned on Thursday that the campaign would be so dirty he would need to "wash, in the hygienic sense of the word but also in the political sense" as...

Forecast that cost of pensions will fall in the future leads to row over David Cameron's claim that system could 'go broke' One of the government's key arguments for reforming public sector pensions crumbled when it was made clear that they are projected to become more affordable in the future, not less, as teachers staged the biggest school strikes since the 1980s over the plans. The forecast that the cost of paying pensions to 6 million public sector workers will fall by 67bn over the next 50 years undermined David Cameron's claim earlier this week that the system could "go broke" if it is not reformed. More than 2 million pupils missed classes as a group of four breakaway unions staged the first mass strikes against the coalition's austerity plans. Thousands of parents were forced to take a day off work with nearly 6,000 schools closed and 5,000 partially closed. In total, half of schools were affected. "Today's action across the country ...

PCS leader says unions will keep up protests until reform plans are dropped as doctors back ballot on industrial action Thursday's 24-hour walkout by teachers, lecturers and civil servants over plans to overhaul public sector pensions should serve as a "wake-up call" for the government, said the leader of the Public and Commercial Services union. Mark Serwotka warned that the unions were determined to keep protesting until ministers change those plans as he claimed the strike was the "best we have seen for 10 years". He hailed the turnout as proof of the anger felt towards the government by public sector workers, but Downing Street insisted disruption to the public had been "minimal". The action by four unions came on the day that doctors overwhelmingly backed a ballot on industrial action over NHS pensions reform plans. The leader of the Royal College of Nursing, representing more than 400,000 members, warned that it may end up doing the same. The thr...

Family-owned company responds to downturn in sales by cutting half its workforce and selecting only women for redundancy An engineering firm in northern Italy has sparked controversy after making almost half its workforce redundant and selecting only women. A union official quoted the company as having reported to the small businesses association: "We are firing the women so they can stay at home and look after the children. In any case, what they bring in is a second income." No one at the company, Ma-Vib, which is based in Inzago near Milan, could be reached for comment. With Italy's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi , on trial for paying an underage prostitute, there is a continuing and lively debate over the status of Italian women, which some international surveys suggest is abnormally low in comparison with the rest of Europe. In February, there were demonstrations in more than 250 cities around the world in defence of the dignity of Italy's women. "In th...

Court questions whether 'combat immunity' is a valid defence where soldiers are sent into battle without the proper equipment The British military could be sued for failing to train and equip soldiers fighting in war zones properly following a high court ruling that has questioned whether ministers can rely on "combat immunity" to defend such cases. The high court said the Ministry of Defence was wrong to argue that civil claims brought against it because of "personal injury or death of members of the armed forces" had no merit "because the damage was incurred in combat". Mr Justice Owen refused a ministry application to throw out several claims of common law negligence and said the issue could be decided at trial. In the same ruling, however, the judge ruled against families seeking compensation after three soldiers were killed in Iraq when their Snatch Land Rovers were hit by hidden bombs. Lawyers for the families said that the vehicles were comp...

First drone strike in Somalia reported to have wounded senior al-Shabab militants The US has conducted its first drone strike on Islamist militants in Somalia, marking the expansion of the pilotless war campaign to a sixth country. The missile strike on a vehicle in the southern town of Kismayo, reported last week as a helicopter assault, wounded two senior militants with al-Shabab and several foreign fighters according to the Washington Post . Armed Predator and Reaper drones already operate in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen and Libya, where they are controlled by the US military or the CIA. The CIA-run programmes are controversial. Although they provide the Obama administration with a low-risk weapon against Islamist militants, they stir intense anti-American hostility among the local population. Opposition is most vociferous in Pakistan, where the government said on Wednesday it was shutting down a big CIA drone base, and had ordered US personnel based there to leave. The closur...

Hit F5 for the latest or select the auto-refresh button below And email your thoughts to katy.murrells@guardian.co.uk First set: *Sharapova 2-3 Lisicki Sharapova finds her range on her forehand, as she unleashes a couple of missiles. 30-40. Her first break point . Lisicki nets and we're back on serve. Most of the Centre Court patrons have now returned to their seats, by the way. Cue Gary Naylor. "Re the empty seats, I don't think they let the crowd back in until the second changeover and not all of them if there's too many queuing in the corridors. Not sure they bother at Flushing Meadows, where Joe Sixpack seems to be allowed to come and go, eat hot dogs and scratch and fart as he pleases, without the players being unduly disconcerted. If there's enough time between points for endless towelling down, there should be enough time for the paying public to get to their seats." First set: Sharapova 1-3 Lisicki* Sharapova opens up with, yes, you've guessed it...

Fourth largest industrial nation set to replace nuclear with renewable energy German MPs have overwhelmingly approved plans to shut down the country's nuclear plants by 2022, putting Europe's biggest economy on the road to an ambitious build-up of renewable energy. The lower house of parliament voted 513-79 for the shutdown plan drawn up by Angela Merkel's government after Japan's post-tsunami nuclear disaster . Most of the opposition voted in favour. MPs sealed the shutdown of eight of the older reactors, which have been off the grid since March. Germany's remaining nine reactors will be shut down in stages by the end of 2022. By 2020, Germany wants to double the share of energy stemming from water, wind, sun or biogas to at least 35%. Until this year, nuclear energy accounted for a little less than a quarter of Germany's power. "Some people abroad ask: will Germany manage this? Can it be done? It is the first time that a major industrial country has decla...

Japanese government and the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) agreed Thursday on social security and tax reform plans that would lead to consumption tax hikes in upcoming years, local media reported. The agreement came after the government made some concessions to the DPJ related to wording concerning the timing of tax increases. The compromise plan says Japan will double the sales tax rate in stages to 10 percent by the mid-2010s, Kyodo News said. The news agency quoted economy and fiscal policy minister Kaoru Yosano as saying that the sensitive consumption tax hike to 10 percent from the current 5 percent will be realized between 2014 and 2016. The doubling of the consumption tax will help secure funds to cover swelling welfare costs amid the country's aging population. Some DPJ members had been opposed to specifying when to raise the sales tax, apparently taking into account a negative impact on voters. The situation has also been complicated by Kan's recent announcemen...

As voters go the polls, officials and senior figures in the SNP and Labour believe the gap between the parties is very small Alex Salmond is close to landing another wounding blow on the Labour party as voters head to the polling stations in the Inverclyde byelection. Officials and senior figures in both the Scottish National party and Labour believe that the battle to win Inverclyde , a once rock-solid Labour constituency west of Glasgow, has gone to the wire with the SNP on the brink of snatching the seat. The byelection was called after the sudden death of its popular Labour MP and former minister David Cairns, 44, shortly after the SNP's landslide victory in May's Scottish parliament elections . Despite holding the Westminster seat and its near equivalents for some 80 years, Labour has been struggling to defend its 14,416 vote majority against the SNP, which came within 500 votes of winning the equivalent Holyrood seat in May. Labour admits the result could come down to a...

Slow-moving turtles interrupt airport's flight schedule as they cross runway to reach seasonal breeding grounds Air traffic at the busiest airport in the United States has been disrupted after a group of turtles wandered on to the runway in search of a sandy beach to lay their eggs. The turtles began their stately passage across Kennedy airport in New York on Wednesday morning, undeterred by the potentially lethal obstacles which stand in the way of them and their seasonal breeding grounds. The creatures caused chaos at the airport delaying flights, shutting down a runway and forcing staff outside to hurry the slow-moving animals to safer ground. Runway 4L was shut down for an hour as Port Authority teams worked to move the animals, the New York Post reported . "We may have a few delays, but nothing significant," said FAA spokeswoman Arlene Salac. Several pilots had to deal with the unexpected obstacles, just as rush hour was starting at JFK, a radio recording on LiveATC....

Singer turned actor Justin Timberlake takes a stake in $35m purchase of Myspace from News Corp Justin Timberlake is to take a "major role" in the new direction of Myspace after he emerged as one of those behind a $35m deal for the ailing social network . The singer turned actor, who starred as Facebook investor Sean Parker in the Hollywood hit The Social Network, took a stake in Myspace along with the online advertising company, Specific Media. The unlikely entrepreneur will "lead the business strategy" for the fallen social network, the Specific Media chief executive Tim Vangerhook, said on announcing the $35m deal on Wednesday evening. Myspace has shed billions of dollars from its price tag since it was dethroned as the dominant social network in 2008. Ruper Murdoch's News Corporation agreed on Wednesday to sell Myspace for a fraction of the $100m it was seeking a sign of the site's dramatic fall from greatness. In an interview with AdAge , Vanderhook sai...

Culture secretary says News Corp's proposal for Sky News to be spun-off from Sky should go ahead to allay plurality fears Jeremy Hunt has confirmed that he plans to give News Corporation's BSkyB takeover the green light, after more than three months of negotiations between the culture secretary, Rupert Murdoch's media company and regulators over spinning off Sky News. The culture secretary said on Thursday that News Corp's proposal for Sky News to be spun-off from Sky into an independent listed company should go ahead to allay plurality fears. Hunt added that since he gave the News Corp/Sky deal the provisional go ahead in March, a "more robust set of undertakings" had been agreed for the Sky News spin-off. These extra undertakings will now be put out to further consultation, with a deadline of midday on Friday 8 July for interested parties to make submissions to Hunt. The extra measures include having an independent director with senior journalism expertise p...

BANGKOK: UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Thursday called for the upcoming crucial election in Thailand to be conducted peacefully and in a "fair, credible and transparent" way. UN Secretary General Ban urged all parties to refrain from violence before, during and after the July 3 poll and "to accept and respect the will of the people as expressed at the ballot box," his spokesman said in a statement. Amid fears the vote could bring unrest, more than 430 candidates have sought protection, according to police, and more than 170,000 police officers are due to be deployed to protect polling stations on voting day. The ruling Democrat party, led by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, is locked in a tough battle with the main opposition party Puea Thai, led by the sister of Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a coup in 2006. The country has since suffered from deep political divisions and a series of street protests by rival groups. Ban "expects the elections will ...

MALABO: An international arrest warrant for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi complicates efforts to end the conflict, the African Union head has said, also warning of a greater conflict and spread of weapons. "It complicates the situation," African Union Commission chairman Jean Ping told reporters when asked about the warrant. "I am not the only one to say it. Western countries also say it," he said. "Everyone knows that the ICC always acts at a moment that is not convenient, to put oil on the fire, we are used to that." The warrant was issued for the long-time Libyan leader, his son Seif al-Islam, and intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi. Asked if African leaders would act on the warrant, Ping said he could not speak for them. Several have been criticised for acting on an ICC warrant for Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir, wanted on genocide charges. Meanwhile France said it had air dropped arms to rebels fighting Gaddafi, for whom the International...

Venezuelan president has yet to return to Venezuela after reportedly undergoing emergency surgery in Cuba A meeting of Latin American leaders in Venezuela planned for next month has been cancelled, raising further doubts over the health of the country's convalescing president, Hugo Chvez. Chvez has yet to return home after reportedly undergoing emergency surgery in Cuba on 10 June. But the president had been tipped for a triumphant homecoming at the summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) on 5 July. The summit was to be held on Margarita Island, and would have coincided with the 200th anniversary of Venezuela's independence from Spain. Heads of state, including Brazil's Dilma Rousseff, Ecuador's Rafael Correa and Chile's Sebastin Piera, had planned to attend. On Thursday, however, officials in Venezuela and Brazil confirmed that the meeting would no longer take place. Authorities in the Venzuelan capital Caracas said the meeting had be...