‘Race against time’ to rescue interpreter’s family

A Northern Ireland naval officer has said it is a “race against time” to save his Afghan interpreter’s family.

Tim McCullough served in Helmand province in 2012, where he worked with 18-year-old Bilal.

Bilal now lives in Australia but has been told he has one month to return to his home country or the Taliban will kill his family.

His siblings – five brothers and two sisters – are hiding underneath their mother’s house in Kabul.

Mr McCullough, from Bangor, County Down, told BBC News NI’s Good Morning Ulster programme that the Taliban were knocking on his family’s door every day.

image caption Tim McCullough said Bilal is considering returning to Afghanistan after he was told he had one month to return or his family would be killed

“He knows if he doesn’t go back then the remainder of his family are going to be executed. But he knows if he does back, he’s going to be executed.

“He’s got his wife and his two kids in Australia, but he’s considering about his brothers and his sisters and his mother.”

Mr McCullough added: “It (going back) is something he is considering. He would go back to protect his own family, he’s a genuinely great bloke and that he would rather have his own life taken then that of his family is testament to the man himself.”

According to Mr McCullough, a letter was delivered to Bilal’s elderly mother last week. Her other children have tunnelled under their home, building a safe zone.

Mr McCullough said it was not just those who worked directly with Allied forces who were in danger.

“Family members are considered targets because they are aligned to what the Taliban has described as British spies.

“It has been a pretty shocking revelation that they are going to murder innocent civilians based upon the history of family members.”

He said it was “horrific” to see what was happening in Afghanistan.

“I just find that immensely tough to watch and that these people who have been shown what a great life they could have are now going to go back to the really dark days under extreme Sharia law.”

North Down MP Stephen Farry has raised Bilal’s family’s case with the Home Office.

Government ‘needs to step up massively’

He said he is also dealing with the case of a high-ranking Afghan police officer who is now hiding in Kabul.

While the government has been operating a relocation scheme for Afghan workers and interpreters since April, a resettlement scheme for Afghan refugees has not yet opened.

Mr Farry said that scheme is the most likely route out for Bilal’s family.

“We had a hotline that went live over the weekend that people are struggling to get through on.

“The government need to step up massively in light of what is the huge reality of the threat beyond those people who most directly worked for the UK.”

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John Lydon has lost a High Court battle to stop the Sex Pistols

John Lydon has lost a High Court battle to stop the Sex Pistols music from being used in a new TV drama.

Former drummer Paul Cook and guitarist Steve Jones had sued Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, after he tried to veto the use of the punk group’s songs in a show directed by Danny Boyle.

The pair argued that the group had an agreement that such decisions could be taken on a “majority rule basis”.

In court, Lydon said he rejected that deal, likening it to “slave labour”.

The singer said the band member agreement (BMA) had never been adhered to and that requests for licenses had previously been subject to individual members’ vetoes.

However, a judge ruled on Monday that the contract was valid and active, and that the majority of the band could overrule any individual member’s veto.

The judge, Sir Anthony Mann, also noted that Mr Lydon “had actually signed away his power to control the use of music rights” to publishing and music companies such as Warner Chappell Music and BMG.

Lydon retained “only qualified rights of approval which could be overridden if he was being unreasonable”, the judge said.

“It may be that those companies, for their own reasons, chose to seek his permission from time to time, but ultimately they could act as they saw fit.”

In a joint statement after the ruling, Jones and Cook told the Press Association: “We welcome the court’s ruling in this case. It brings clarity to our decision-making and upholds the band members’ agreement on collective decision-making.

“It has not been a pleasant experience, but we believe it was necessary to allow us to move forward and hopefully work together in the future with better relations.”

image caption The Sex Pistols L-R: Steve Jones John Lydon, Glen Matlock and Paul Cook, pictured in 2002

The TV drama, simply called Pistol, began filming in March. It is described as a six-part series based on Jones’s 2016 memoir, Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol.

It is being directed by Slumdog Millionaire’s Danny Boyle who, according to court documents, previously persuaded Lydon to let him use the Sex Pistols’ music in the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics.

However, Lydon’s lawyer claimed the show, which is being made by Disney for its FX channel, would portray the singer in “a hostile and unflattering light”.

Addressing the court last month, Lydon said: “I care very much about this band and its reputation and its quality control and I will always have a say if I think anything is being done to harm or damage [it].”

Lawyers for Mr Cook and Mr Jones argued there should not be any dispute about whether the agreement allows licensing decisions to be made “by a majority” and said Mr Lydon was in breach of the BMA by refusing to provide his consent.

‘Difficult relationships’

The Sex Pistols formed 1975, releasing singles such as Anarchy In The UK and Pretty Vacant, before splitting up in 1978. But they have performed live shows together a number of times since then, most recently in 2008.

In his written judgement, handed down remotely on Monday, Mr Justice Mann noted that: “Relationships between band members have always been strained, even going back to the days when the band was performing.

“Mr Lydon has not shrunk from describing his difficult relationships with the other members… and that has persisted even through their comeback tours in the 1990s and 2000s. It persists today.”

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UK cannot stay alone – minister says

The mission to evacuate people from Afghanistan to the UK “has to come to an end” when US troops withdraw, the armed forces minister has said.

James Heappey said the UK was working to a deadline of 31 August, when the US is set to leave – though the prime minister is expected to ask President Joe Biden for more time.

Evacuations are also dependent on Taliban co-operation, Mr Heappey added.

But he added the UK was “taking nothing for granted” with the militants.

Boris Johnson will ask Mr Biden to extend the deadline for withdrawing US troops at an emergency gathering of world leaders from the G7 countries on Tuesday, in order to allow evacuation flights to continue.

Thousands of people are said to be waiting to board flights at Kabul’s international airport, just over a week after the Taliban seized the capital.

Mr Heappey told BBC Breakfast that 6,631 people had been evacuated to the UK in the past week, and there would be nine flights over the next 24 hours.

He said this would not be possible without the US, which “has effectively taken over the full operation” at the airport.

“If there is no opportunity to extend [the deadline] – either because there’s not the international appetite to do so, or perhaps more likely the Taliban are unwilling to allow us to – then we need to continue with our plans to be out by 31 August,” he said.

“If that is to be the case, every minute counts to get as many people out in the meantime.”

Later, on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said “the period of time it would take to get in place a replacement force is not realistic”.

He added that the Taliban also “gets a vote” on whether evacuations continue after August, and that “apparently they’ve indicated that they wouldn’t be” supportive of an extension.

The Foreign Office said it had sent five additional members of staff to Kabul to help with the evacuation, bringing the total number of its staff there to 19.

Gogglebox star Mary Cook dies aged 92

Gogglebox star Mary Cook, known for her appearances with friend Marina Wingrove, has died at the age of 92, Channel 4 has said.

The cheeky Bristolian pair were among the most popular members of the TV review show’s line-up.

A statement issued by Channel 4 and producers Studio Lambert on behalf of her family said they were “extremely saddened” to share the news.

She died in hospital at the weekend with her family by her side, it said.

“Beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and dear friend to many, Mary, who worked in the hospitality trade, had been married and widowed twice.”

The pair “became instant fan favourites due to their brilliantly witty and often cheeky moments”, the statement added.

“Mary will be sorely missed by the entire Gogglebox family, cast and crew.

“Our love and thoughts are with Mary’s family, friends, and Marina. The family have asked for privacy at this sad time.”

‘Having a laugh’

Cook and Wingrove joined the show, which features members of the public reacting the week’s TV highlights, in 2016 after Wingrove was approached by a researcher outside an Asda supermarket.

“Then she said, ‘Have you got a friend?’ And like that, Mary came round the corner on her scooter.”

Cook added: “They came up to Marina’s flat, held cards up of different famous people and we had to talk about them.”

In an interview posted on the website of their retirement home the year after their made their debuts, Cook said: “We’re just talking to each other and having a laugh, aren’t we?

“We do say some cheeky things, but they don’t always put them on the show.”

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COVID-19: LUANDA REMAINS UNDER CORDON SANITAIRE

Luanda - The government on Friday announced the maintenance of the sanitary fence over the province of Luanda, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, during the whole month of August.

The fact was announced by the Minister of State and Head of the Security House of the President of the Republic, Francisco Pereira Furtado, at the press conference for the presentation of the new Presidential Decree, which updates the measures on the Public Calamity Situation.

The hospital of the country has been under a sanitary regime since March 2020, when the first cases of Covid-19 were detected in the country.

Markets are now open every day of the week, while gyms, indoors, open Sunday at 50 per cent capacity.