Johnson is set to quit Pompey for Anfield

Liverpool look to have won the race to sign England defender Glen Johnson after agreeing a fee in the region of £17m with Portsmouth.

Reds’ boss Rafael Benitez is confident he has beaten off interest from Chelsea in the 24-year-old and expects to make him his first summer signing.

Manchester City had also registered an interest in Johnson, but it is believed Anfield is his preferred destination.

Benitez is now likely to sell Andrea Dossena to help fund the deal.

Johnson, who joined Portsmouth from Chelsea in a £4m deal two years ago, emerged as Benitez’s prime target after having an outstanding season at Fratton Park last season.

Benitez is working within financial restrictions in the transfer market this summer, but it is understood Liverpool are still owed money from the deal that took Peter Crouch to Portsmouth last summer.

Spanish defender Alvaro Arbeloa could also be sacrificed to raise cash towards the Johnson deal, with Real Madrid being linked with an £8m move.

He has cemented a place as England’s first-choice right-back under coach Fabio Capello and played in the two recent World Cup qualifying victories against Kazakhstan and Andorra.

Johnson signed a new four-year deal at Portsmouth in January, but club officials accepted they could not stand in his way if he was offered the opportunity to move a club playing in the Champions League.

Ms Gibson disclosed the information after she resigned from her post

The Beckhams have received a High Court apology from their former nanny over her disclosure of private and confidential information about them.

Abbie Gibson has now agreed to give “permanent undertakings of confidentiality” to David and Victoria Beckham, Mr Justice Eady heard.

The court proceedings against Ms Gibson followed the publication of a newspaper article in April 2005.

She worked for the couple between May 2003 and March 2005.

After she resigned she gave an interview to the News of the World, in which she disclosed private and confidential information about the Beckhams and their family, the court heard.

The article was captioned “Beckhams behind closed doors”.

The Beckhams’ solicitor, Gerrard Tyrrell, said Ms Gibson “now accepts that she should not have breached her duties of confidence to David and Victoria Beckham and their children by speaking to the News of the World”.

‘Hate calls’

He said: “Ms Gibson has also agreed to the withdrawal of her claim for constructive dismissal that she made against the claimants which was issued in the Employment Tribunal in August 2005.”

Ms Gibson “has unconditionally apologised to David and Victoria Beckham and their family for breaching her duties of confidence,” he added.

Mr Justice Eady was also told that, on July 10, 2005, The People newspaper published an article entitled Exclusive: Beckham’s Hate Calls To Nanny, which falsely stated that David Beckham had made a number of insulting and threatening telephone calls to Ms Gibson.

Mr Tyrrell added: “The People have already publicly apologised for making this false and defamatory claim and have paid damages to David Beckham.

“Ms Gibson is happy to confirm that David Beckham did not at any stage make any such telephone calls to her. She apologises if anything she said to The People gave them a false impression that such calls had been made.”

Niri Shanmuganathan, solicitor for Ms Gibson, told the judge: “Ms Gibson wishes to use this opportunity to confirm that Mr Beckham has not made any rude or threatening telephone calls to her.”

She was “happy to give the undertakings of confidentiality” detailed in an order before the court.

The five men were arrested in the US in 1998

The US Supreme Court has refused to review the case of five Cubans who are serving long sentences in the US for spying for the Castro government.

The men, convicted in 2001, argue that they did not get a fair hearing at the original trial in Miami because of anti-Castro sentiment in the city.

But the Supreme Court justices, without elaborating, refused to hear an appeal.

In Cuba, where the men are regarded as heroes, the authorities denounced what they called “a monstrous injustice”.

The men, Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando Gonzalez and Rene Gonzalez, were found guilty of infiltrating US military bases and Cuban exile groups, and giving the information to Cuba.

Hernandez was also convicted of conspiracy to commit murder over the shooting-down in 1996 of two planes flown by a Cuban exile group, Brothers to the Rescue.

The five, who received terms ranging from 15 years to life, have made several appeals against their convictions and sentences.

They say that by being tried in Miami, the centre of anti-Castro Cuban exiles, they were victims of bias.

‘Arbitrary’

US prosecutors have insisted the men were found guilty on hard evidence, while Cuban exile groups say they were justly punished.

Last year, an appeals court upheld their convictions but ordered three of the men to be resentenced.

The men are considered national heroes in Cuba, where they figure prominently on billboards all over the country and are the subject of regular rallies and demonstrations.

A statement by the Cuban National Assembly said the Supreme Court’s decision showed the arbitrary and corrupt nature of American justice and that the judges had acted on the orders of President Barack Obama.

The Cuban government says the men were not in Miami to spy on the US but to prevent anti-Castro exile groups from launching what it calls terrorist attacks on Cuba.

The condition attacks the joints

A drug reserved for advanced rheumatoid arthritis (RA) could save thousands of people with early stage disease from disability, say researchers.

Trials show rituximab, marketed as MabThera, almost completely halts the deterioration of the joints in people showing the first signs of the disease.

In Britain alone nearly 18,000 people are diagnosed with RA each year.

The findings presented at the EULAR conference could lead to a shift in recommended treatment, experts said.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence currently says rituximab should be used only if other arthritis drugs called TNF treatments have failed.

At the moment we are not allowed to use this at early stage disease when patients would benefit the most and instead have to wait until they are sicker Ailsa Bosworth, chief executive of the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society

But the latest study on 755 patients shows the drug, when used with the gold standard treatment for early RA methotrexate for a year, not only reduces symptoms but slows joint damage to almost a complete stop if used early enough.

About 70% of patients treated within six months of their first symptoms developed no joint damage over the first 12 months of therapy, and after only six months of treatment joint damaged stopped almost completely.

Cost-effective

In comparison, many patients on methotrexate alone will develop continuous joint damage.

Although expensive, a course of rituximab treatment costs nearly £3,500, the therapy could ultimately save the NHS money, say campaigners.

The direct and indirect costs of RA in the UK are estimated to be £3.8-£4.75 billion every year, much of this is due to people becoming too debilitated to work.

And a course of anti-TNF therapy costs around £12,000.

Leading rheumatologist Professor John Isaacs, of the Institute of Cellular Medicine at Newcastle University, said: “The emphasis should be on the early stage of disease. When patients first develop the disease there is no joint damage and the aim is to prevent that happening. That’s essentially what this combination is doing.

“There are many trials going on around the world now looking at these sorts of drugs very early…and the results do look very good.”

RA TREATMENTS Most patients with early disease are started on anti-inflammatory pain killers like ibuprofen The next step is disease-modifying drugs like methotrexate to slow down progression and delay joint damage Newer biologics like anti-TNF drugs are tried When anti-TNF therapy fails - about 40% of cases - drugs like rituximab can be offered

He said ultimately it would be up to NICE to decide if rituximab should now be used earlier. However, the drug is not yet licensed for use in early RA.

Rituximab works by targeting the immune system which causes the damage in RA.

Ailsa Bosworth, chief executive of the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society, said: “The findings are very exciting.

“Hopefully this can form part of the evidence base we need to convince NICE that these drugs should be used earlier in RA.

“At the moment we are not allowed to use this at early stage disease when patients would benefit the most and instead have to wait until they are sicker.

“These drugs are expensive and we understand that they have to be used judiciously. But we could look at targeting therapy to patients with the most aggressive disease.”

This would equate to about 10% of the half a million people with RA, she said.

A spokeswoman from NICE said rituximab would need to get its licence and then be referred to them by the Department of Health before they could consider it for use in early RA.

One in 10 children in the UK has asthma

Scientists believe they have discovered a key component in the development of chronic asthma, pointing the way to new treatments.

As asthma progresses, the airways are changed or remodelled and become more muscular and reactive to allergens.

Critical to this process is a cellular pump in the muscles called SERCA2, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports.

Ultimately drugs acting on SERCA2 might stop lung damage, the UK experts hope.

Professor Tak Lee, of King’s College London, who led the research, said: “It is widely believed that this remodelling in asthma is in large part responsible for the chronicity of the disease.

“There are many features responsible for remodelling but a key component of this process involves an increased amount of smooth muscle in the airways.”

His team, working with colleagues at Imperial College London, discovered that in people with moderate asthma SERCA2 levels within the airway muscle cells were reduced.

This research into the causes of asthma provides us with vital clues as to how such symptoms could be stopped. Dr Elaine Vickers of Asthma UK

It is SERCA2’s job to pump calcium out of the muscle cells to enable the muscles to relax.

The researchers believe the relative lack of SERCA2 plays an important role in causing asthma symptoms.

Indeed, they found that if they removed SERCA2 from the cells of healthy people who did not have asthma these cells started to behave more like asthma cells.

Professor Lee suggests that replacing SERCA2 in the airway muscle cells might be an effective way of creating new asthma treatments to reduce asthma symptoms and prevent the irreversible long term lung changes which can make some people’s asthma almost impossible to control.

Dr Elaine Vickers, of Asthma UK, said: “This research into the causes of asthma provides us with vital clues as to how such symptoms could be stopped and it has uncovered important information, which we hope will lead to the creation of effective new treatments for the millions of people in the UK affected by asthma symptoms.”

Letterman said it was his fault the joke had been misunderstood

US talk show host David Letterman has apologised for making a joke about one of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s teenage daughters.

Mrs Palin complained after he joked on his show that a baseball player had “knocked up” one of her daughters.

Critics thought the joke was targeted at her 14-year-old daughter, Willow, but Letterman has now said it was about her sister Bristol, 18.

“I’m sorry about it and I’ll try to do better in the future,” he said.

Letterman made the joke last week after the governor took her family to watch a New York Yankees game.

Mrs Palin’s husband, Todd, issued a statement describing the joke as “despicable” while the governor charged Letterman with “sexually perverted comments”.

‘My fault’

Letterman told viewers on Monday night: “I told a joke that was beyond flawed, and my intent is completely meaningless compared to the perception.

“I would like to apologise especially to the two daughters involved, Bristol and Willow, and also to the governor and her family and everybody else who was outraged by the joke.

“But I never thought it was [about] anybody other than the older daughter, and before the show I checked to make sure, in fact, that she is of legal age, 18.

“It’s not your fault that it was misunderstood, it’s my fault that it was misunderstood,” he added.

A group of Palin supporters, calling themselves Fire David Letterman, is planning a protest outside the show’s studio at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York’s Times Square on Tuesday.

Mrs Palin has accepted Letterman’s apology, saying she hopes it will help change attitudes about men who joke about the sexual exploitation of young girls.

Last year Jolie and Pitt donated money to children in Iraq

Hollywood actor Brad Pitt and his siblings have donated $1m (£612,000) to help open a new paediatric cancer centre in the US.

The ward will be named after their mother in honour of her passion for children’s issues.

The money was given to St John’s Hospital in Springfield, Missouri - the town where Pitt and his brother and sister grew up.

The Jane Pitt Pediatric Cancer Center is expected to open this summer.

The donation will pay to hire the only paediatric oncologist and haematologist in the south-west Missouri region.

Dr Sami Khoshyomn said: “This certainly is a significant milestone in the history of children’s healthcare services in our region.”

Pitt, star of Benjamin Button, is well known for his charitable work and has helped to rehouse some of the people affected by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

Last year, the actor and his partner Angelina Jolie donated $1m to help children affected by the war in Iraq.

Captain America was apparently shot dead in 2007

Superhero alter-ego Steve Rogers - the original Captain America - is to come back from the dead in a new five-part Marvel Comic series.

The first part of Captain America Reborn will be out in the US on 1 July, but its makers will not say how Rogers will come back to life.

Rogers was apparently shot and killed in 2007 on the steps of a courthouse.

Since then, the 68-year-old series has continued with Rogers’ sidekick Bucky Barnes taking on the superhero mantle.

The superhero was first thought up to help encourage patriotic feeling during World War II.

Executive editor Tom Brevoort said: “He hasn’t just been lying in a cold grave for these many months.”

He revealed that there are some fans who are not keen to see the return of Rogers.

“Right this second, it’s kind of a split,” he said.

“When Steve was first killed, there was great outcry. But then as Bucky has taken over as Cap - and has sort of struggled to fill those big shoes - a lot of our readers have really taken to him as a character.”

The Captain America magazine is sold in 75 countries.

Housing starts were still well down from last year’s level

The number of new houses started in the US rebounded in May from April’s record low, the Commerce Department has said.

Housing starts jumped 17.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 532,000 units in May, up from April’s figure of 454,000.

However, the rate was still down 45.2% from May 2008.

Also on Tuesday, the Federal Reserve said industrial production fell 1.1% in May from April, which was worse than had been expected.

Speaking on the housing figures, Zach Pandl at Nomura Securities in New York said: “This starts report is actually very encouraging. Single-family housing starts, where the core of the inventory problem is in the housing market, are really coming back at a good pace.

“I would emphasise though that housing activity does remain at extraordinarily low levels, we really need to come back strongly from here.”

Saab filed for reorganisation in Sweden in February

General Motors has reached a tentative agreement to sell Saab to the Swedish sports car manufacturer Koenigsegg.

GM said that as part of the deal there would be $600m (£367m) of funding from the European Investment Bank (EIB), guaranteed by the Swedish government.

It is the latest part of GM’s reorganisation, which is also set to see the Opel and Vauxhall brands going to Canada’s Magna.

Saab filed for reorganisation under Swedish law on 20 February.

Koenigsegg produces 18 cars a year and employs 45 people, and there has been some doubt as to whether it has the expertise to run Saab, which sold 93,000 cars in 2008.

Saab employs about 3,400 people in Sweden and about 12,000 other jobs in the country are dependent on Saab and its suppliers.

But GM Europe’s president Carl-Peter Forster said: “Koenigsegg Group’s unique combination of innovation, entrepreneurial spirit and financial strength… made it the right choice for Saab as well as for General Motors”.

GM revamp

The statement from GM did not say how much is being paid for the unit, but the sale is expected to be completed by the end of September.

Koenigsegg specialises in the luxury end of the car market

GM said it would continue to provide technology to Saab “during a defined time period”.

GM currently has bankruptcy protection in the US and is slimming down its range of brands as it tries to regain profitability.

The Swedish government has been keen to avoid bailing out its carmakers as long as they are owned by US parent companies.

Joran Hagglund, state secretary for Sweden’s industry ministry, said the financing had not yet been finalised.

“We do not yet know if Koenigsegg Group will need loan guarantees or not,” he said.

GM bought half of Saab in 1989 and the rest of it in 2000.

Koenigsegg was founded 16 years ago by Christian Koenigsegg, and its principal backer is the Norwegian industrial designer Baard Eker. Its cars sell for about £900,000 each.