The RAF’s largest ever aircraft was officially named Voyager yesterday at a ceremony attended by the Defence Secretary.
The dual role air-to-air tanker and transport plane has a 60-metre wingspan and is nearly 60 metres long.
Voyager, which is able to carry almost 300 troops more than 6,000 miles, will replace the long-serving VC-10 and Tristar. The RAF has bought 14 of the aircraft under a 27-year £10.5 billion private finance initiative contract with the AirTanker consortium.
The plane can carry out air-to-air refuelling of another aircraft with 100,000 litres of fuel – greater than two large petrol tankers.
The Ministry of Defence added it can refuel aircraft at a rate of 5,000 litres per minute compared with a garage forecourt petrol pump that delivers fuel at 40 litres per minute. (PA)
Dope-free guide
Athletes at the world aquatics championships in Shanghai have been warned only to visit certain restaurants if they want to avoid food tainted with banned drugs.
Chinese officials handed out a list of safe restaurants and hotels in the giant city after team leaders raised concerns about the risk of eating food containing clenbuterol, a performance-enhancing drug, the Shanghai Daily said.
A recent study found that 22 of 28 travellers returning from China tested positive for low levels of fat-burning clen-buterol, which Chinese farmers sometimes feed to pigs and cattle to produce lean meat.
Athletes face long bans if they test positive for clenbuterol, with Tour de France champion Alberto Contador one of many found to have traces in his system. The Spaniard blames contaminated meat for the result. (AFP)
Wrongdoing?
Former Belgian police chief Fernand Koekelberg faces charges of raping and harassing his ex-girlfriend, months after resigning amid claims of wrongdoing.
Mr Koekelberg in March resigned as general commissioner of the federal police amid criticism of the cost of a trip he had made to Qatar in lobbying for the post of Interpol vice-president. Yesterday, the daily Le Soir reported that a woman has accused Mr Koekelberg of raping her after she broke off their relationship in June.
“He would not accept it,” the complainant told the newspaper, adding that on Sunday, July 12, “he subjected me to forced relations.”
Mr Koekelberg’s attorney, Marc Uyttendaele, said the rape and harassment claims were “inventions” and full of inconsistencies, adding that a defamation claim was being compiled against the woman and an application made for her to be subjected to psychiatric evaluation. Mr Koekelberg was recently nominated the liaison agent between the federal and regional police in Belgium. (AFP)
Mouse beheading
An Australian woman was sentenced to 180 hours of community service yesterday after filming herself decapitating a mouse with a steak knife and posting the video online.
Naomi Anderson, 23, pleaded guilty to animal cruelty over the video, posted on social networking site Facebook under an alias earlier this month, which showed her hacking off the creature’s head.
Animal welfare officers described the video as “extremely graphic”, with the mouse taking 40 seconds to die.
Queensland magistrate Peter Hasted said acts of animal cruelty could not be tolerated. Ms Anderson was banned from owning an animal for two years and put on an 18-month good behaviour bond in addition to her community service. (AFP)
Pot record
The Mexican army says its soldiers have found the largest marijuana plantation ever detected in Mexico.
The marijuana fields cover almost 300 acres (120 hectares) in Baja California state.
Soldiers destroy such fields by cutting down and burning the plants. (PA)
Clutch boy
A one-legged delivery truck driver was stopped at a Cape Town roadblock yesterday, when police found him using his 11-year-old son to operate the clutch.
The 39-year-old driver had his left leg amputated in 1996 after a gunshot injury, leaving him unable to press the clutch to change gears.
To keep driving, he sat his son next to him in the driver’s seat, telling the boy when to press the clutch for gear changes. The driver had an expired learner’s permit, but only to drive automatic vehicles. The truck’s licence had expired two years ago, and it had a broken parking brake and a broken seat belt.
He was fined 1,000 rand (€102). (AFP)