Syria Olympics chief 'refused visa'

The head of the Syrian Olympic Committee has been refused a visa to travel to London for the Games, it has been reported.

There had been suggestions for months that General Mowaffak Joumaa would be barred from entering the UK because of his connection to the Syrian military.

Due to his links to the regime of Syria's President Bashar Assad, the application has been refused, according to the BBC.

The Home Office said: "We are not commenting on individual cases."

A recent spike in violence by the forces of President Assad's regime has been seen in the troubled Middle East state.

The Home Office is responsible for carrying out background checks on behalf of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and advises the committee on whether an applicant is suitable for accreditation.

Exclusion decisions also have involvement from the Foreign Office. Particular interest would be shown in visitors from countries where there are human rights abuses. Officials are expected to keep a close eye on Syria.

Foreign Secretary William Hague has compared the recent massacres in Syria to those in Bosnia in the 1990s while Prime Minister David Cameron has condemned the killings as "brutal and sickening".

The Syrian charge d'affaires in London has already been expelled in the wake of mounting condemnation of the attacks. Britain has condemned the regime for its crackdown on opponents.

It is thought that Syrian athletes may receive visas because those of Olympic standard are not required to serve in the armed forces, but there is a question mark against General Joumaa and other officials.

©Press Association

Olympic ticket corruption claims probed

A probe is under way into claims of widespread corruption among foreign agents and officials supplying tickets to the London Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee is threatening a radical shake-up of the way Olympic tickets are distributed among its member countries after a Sunday Times investigation suggested officials were offering thousands of top tickets on the black market.

London Olympics chief Lord Coe was dragged into the row after the newspaper secretly filmed Greek national Olympic committee president Spyros Caprolos claiming he had successfully lobbied him for more premium Olympic tickets on Greece's behalf.

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (Locog) has denied the claims.

The revelations have prompted senior politician Sir Menzies Campbell - a member of the Olympic Board which helps oversee London 2012 - to call for offending countries to lose future allocations of tickets. He told the BBC: "The sanctions should be not just that the tickets get cancelled for this Olympic Games but that tickets are not awarded on future occasions."

The Sunday Times newspaper has presented a dossier of evidence on agents and officials controlling the tickets for 54 countries. Thousands of the best seats at the top events - including the 100m final - were up for sale after being siphoned off from official supplies held by overseas national Olympic committees (NOCs), the newspaper said.

National Olympic committees are forbidden to sell their tickets abroad or to anyone who plans to resell them. But The Sunday Times said undercover reporters posing as envoys of a Middle Eastern ticket tout found 27 officials and agents who were willing to do business.

According to the paper, these included one country's official ticket agency which The Sunday Times claimed offered category AA tickets, the best seats in the stadiums, to the fake Middle Eastern tout for up to £6,000 each. The IOC confirmed they were investigating the allegations and will consider a complete shake-up of how Olympic tickets are distributed among member countries.

Regarding the evidence against Mr Caprolos, Locog said in a statement: "Seb received a letter from the Greek Olympic Committee (HOC), as he did from other NOCs, and responded saying that tickets had been allocated in accordance with the IOC's ticketing policy. There was no further contact - either formal or informal - on this subject."

Locog added that rules and regulations for selling London 2012 tickets to international fans were "clear and unambiguous". A spokeswoman for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said it was awaiting the result of the IOC investigation before commenting.

©Press Association

Report: UK Basic Wage Lower Than In 2004

The national minimum wage for British workers is set to be lower for workers in real terms than it was nearly a decade ago, according to a new report by The Resolution Foundation .

The Report said that October's planned 11p an hour rise to £6.19 was the third successive below inflation increase.

 Professor Alan Manning of the London School of Economics

Written by Professor Alan Manning of the London School of Economics, said that while recent caution on increases was justified, the impact of the minimum wage had now "stalled".

Resolution Foundation senior analyst James Plunkett said: "After 13 years of detailed studies into its impact, the benefits of the national minimum wage are now beyond doubt.

"It has boosted wages for some of the poorest paid people in the country and helped to make sure work pays, without causing job losses.

"The question now is what role it can play in the future to raise living standards even further."

Professor Manning added: "The minimum wage is one of the most popular policies of modern times but in some sense it's been a victim of its own success.

"Given the scale of the challenge now facing living standards, it might be time to think about more radical options for reform.

"For example, we could consider introducing a higher minimum wage for workers aged over 30 who are more likely to have families to support, or for London and the South East.

James Plunkett

Secretary to the Commission on Living Standards

"We could also do more to show that big companies in some sectors could afford to pay more than the legal minimum."

A spokesman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said: "It is important that we have a national minimum wage that provides the necessary protection for the lowest paid workers, while at the same time not pricing people out of the labour market.

"The rates are recommended to Government each year by the independent Low Pay Commission (LPC) who base their analysis on extensive evidence and a thorough consultation process."

:: The LPC lists the 2004 minimum adult hourly rate as £4.85

Potential Olympic disease crisis has health officials on alert

©Reuters