Downing Street communications chief Andy Coulson happy to voluntarily discuss News of the World phone-hacking allegations

Downing Street communications chief Andy Coulson told police today that he would be happy to meet them voluntarily to discuss fresh phone-hacking allegations, as Scotland Yard said it was considering whether to reopen the investigation.

The assistant Metropolitan police commissioner John Yates said today that detectives are studying new allegations published by the New York Times last week.

David Cameron's PR chief, Andy Coulson, who has denied claims in the New York Times that he freely discussed the use of unlawful news-gathering techniques when he was editing the paper, responded today by telling the police he was happy to voluntarily meet them.

Friends of Coulson stressed that he had not been contacted by police. A spokesman for him said: "Andy Coulson has today told the Metropolitan police that he is happy to voluntarily meet with them following allegations made by [former News of the World reporter] Sean Hoare [in the New York Times].

"Mr Coulson emphatically denies these allegations. He has, however, offered to talk to officers if the need arises and would welcome the opportunity to give his view on Mr Hoare's claims."

The possible new criminal investigation comes as News International and Coulson, face the prospect of a fresh parliamentary inquiry after Labour MPs said they plan to press for the issue to be referred to the powerful standards and privileges committee of the House of Commons.

Yates insisted that there had already been a "very, very, thorough [criminal] inquiry" but conceded that there might be cause to revisit it.

"We've always said if any new material, any new evidence comes to light, we'll consider it and that's what we are going to do in this case," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

He said any decision would be taken in consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service.

"This was a very, very thorough inquiry," Yates said. "It resulted in the conviction of two people, it resulted in a very complex area of law being clarified and it sent an extremely strong deterrent to other people."

MPs indicated over the weekend that they would press the home secretary, Theresa May, over the apparent inadequacy of the Met's investigation of the issue during Home Office questions in the Commons today, and call on her to make an emergency statement.

A number of people whose names appeared on a list of public figures belonging to Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator jailed for stealing secrets from mobile phone voice messages, have been urging the police to reopen the investigation. They include the former deputy prime minister John Prescott, who has accused the police of failing to carry out a proper investigation and is threatening to bring a judicial review against the Met. He is demanding that the police tell him whether his phone was hacked by News of the World journalists and has asked for copies documents obtained by detectives during their investigation.

Yates said he had told Prescott last July, when there was a review of the initial police investigation, that his phone had not been hacked.

"The fact that his name is on a private investigator's invoice does not mean his phone has been hacked," said Yates. "I believe there is no evidence that his phone has been hacked."

He added: "We can't just supply willy nilly to people material we have gathered during a criminal investigation for another purpose."

The New York Times investigation featured allegations by Hoare that hacking was widespread at the tabloid and that the then-editor Coulson knew about the practice.

Defending the Met's failure to interview Hoare, Yates said: "He just did not appear in the inquiry. He has come from nowhere. We are surprised of that, that the New York Times didn't avail us of that fact [his evidence] earlier."

Yates dismissed the idea, also carried in the New York Times report, that detectives had not conducted a thorough investigation because of the close police relationship with the News of the World.

"To suggest it's improper [the relationship], you'd have to produce some evidence of that," he said.

He said the convictions of Mulcaire and the News of the World's royal editor Clive Goodman for phone-hacking had "sent an extremely strong deterrent message to people who might get involved in this in future".

The News of the World accused the New York Times today of being motivated by "commercial rivalry".

A spokesperson for the tabloid said in a statement: "The News of the World repeatedly asked the New York Times to provide evidence to support their allegations and they were unable to do so.

"Indeed, the story they published contained no new credible evidence and relied heavily on anonymous sources, contrary to the paper's own editorial guidelines.

"In so doing they have undermined their own reputation and confirmed our suspicion their story was motivated by commercial rivalry.

"We reject absolutely any suggestion there was a widespread culture of wrongdoing at the News of the World."

Today the Guardian publishes a detailed account of the police investigation into the original hacking claims that shows how detectives sought to limit the scope of the inquiry and failed to alert public figures who had been targeted by Mulcaire.

A note of a case conference between police and the CPS records that detectives recommended that "the appropriate strategy is to ringfence the case to minimise the risk of extraneous matters being included".

In a briefing note for ministers produced earlier this year, Dean Haydon, Yates's staff officer acknowledged: "Minimal work was done on the vast personal data where no criminal offences were apparent."

The prospect of a further investigation by the standards and privileges committee emerged after MPs argued that a precedent may have been set by the decision to mount a privileges committee inquiry into the arrest of the Tory MP Damian Green in his Commons office in 2008 over the alleged leaking of documents from the office of the home secretary.

It would be for the Speaker to decide whether to grant an inquiry, but Labour MPs claimed there now appeared to have been a wholesale attempt to break into MPs' phone messages, and the response of the Met had been shown to be inadequate.

The specific allegation that No 10 communications director Andy Coulson had known about phone hacking when he was editor of the News of the World was "recycled", a senior cabinet minister, Michael Gove, said yesterday.

The education secretary and key Cameron ally said the police decided "there was no case to answer" over claims public figures had their phones tapped while Coulson was editor.

Pakistan batsman Yasir Hameed denies newspaper claims
that he said his teammates were corrupt

The first meeting between Pakistan and England since fixing allegations plunged cricket into crisis began under appropriately dark skies in Cardiff today, amid claims the International Cricket Council's fixing inquiry had been widened to include a fourth player.

After last week charging and suspending the three players at the centre of the alleged betting scam – Test captain Salman Butt, fast bowler Mohammad Asif, and highly regarded teenager Mohammad Amir – the ICC said it would not comment further on any ongoing investigation.

It is understood that the ICC has written to Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal in connection with a separate inquiry that does not relate to the current tour. However, there is no suggestion that he is the mystery fourth player claimed to be under investigation by reports tonight.

The three players are likely to appeal against the provisional suspension imposed last week under the ICC's code, which will see them unable to play for months while its investigation takes place.

But new claims by the News of the World that opening Test batsman Yasir Hameed had claimed fixing was rife among his teammates were immediately called into question by the player and Pakistan media outlets that said he had been asked leading questions and mistranslated.

Hameed, who did not play today and is not in the one day squad, said he had not given any interview – the exchange was filmed by an undercover reporter posing as a potential sponsor – and that he had not alleged any Pakistan player was guilty of match fixing.

"They were doing it in almost every match," Hameed was quoted as saying. "God knows what they were up to. Scotland Yard was after them for ages."

But Hameed said he was merely admitting that the players had discussed the allegations.

"I was approached by this guy about a deal for sticker sponsorship on my bat. It was a general discussion and I just repeated what had already been published in the News of the World," said Hameed.

"I was tricked into this interview, I never knew they were recording it, which is a serious offence and I am talking to the Pakistan team management about it."

The batsman was today summoned to see the Pakistan high commissioner and Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt and is believed to be considering the possibility of legal action.

The ICC could still investigate Hameed for his claim that he was approached by a middle man during the Champions Trophy in 2004, which under the commission's code should have been reported to anti-corruption investigators.

Police interviewed the three Pakistan players, alleged to have agreed to bowl no balls at specific moments of the fourth Test at Lord's, under caution on Friday before releasing them without condition or charge.

They are examining phone calls and text messages between the three and middle man Mazhar Majeed, as well as looking to link money found in their possession to £150,000 handed over by the News of the World. All three players maintain their innocence. Majeed was arrested and bailed a week ago.

Ministers rule out immediate talks with Basque separatist group, saying it is regrouping after arrests of senior members

Spain's socialist government today ruled out negotations with the armed Basque separatist group Eta, claiming the organisation had announced a ceasefire yesterday purely because it was too weak to carry out terrorist attacks.

"Eta kills in order to impose itself, so that means one cannot dialogue," the interior minister, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, said this morning. "Eta has stopped because it cannot do anything ... and also in order to rebuild itself."

The government declined to comment officially yesterday, but this morning was busily repeating the message that it did not believe in Eta's ceasefire.

"The Eta terrorist group is very weakened," said the transport minister, José Blanco. The government was only interested, he said, in "a definitive laying down of arms and end to violence".

The momentary excitement caused by yesterday's video message from Eta had almost entirely dissipated today — though some radical separatists in the Basque country welcomed what they called a "unilateral, unconditional and indefinite" ceasefire.

Analysts gave little credence to the idea that the ceasefire might mark the end of four decades of violence that have claimed more than 800 lives. They said the group had been forced to stop planning attacks six month ago after a series of arrests left it leaderless and disorganised.

"The statement aims to give political meaning to a strategic rest decreed by Eta's leaders six months ago in order to reorganise internally to cope with police pressure," wrote Florencio Domínguez, an Eta expert, in La Vanguardia newspaper.

Dominguez pointed to the arrest in February of Ibon Gojeaskoetxea, a senior Eta commander, as the key moment. That arrest was hailed as the fifth time in two years that police had detained the person directly in charge of Eta's handful of remaining armed units.

At the same time, police had prevented new units from being formed in several parts of Spain, and discovered Eta's latest bombmaking laboratory and had dismantled its new bases in Portugal — the country where it hoped to move the support infrastructure that had historically been based in France.

The killing in March of a French police officer, who discovered members of the gang trying to steal cars at a showroom near Paris, was the result of a panicked attempt to escape arrest and came despite the decision to stop carrying out attacks, according to Rogelio Alonso of Madrid's Rey Juan Carlos University.

"Eta is selling smoke," he said. "Even during their ceasefires, they continue to kill."

The immediate result of that killing , in any case, had been to increase the intensity of French police pressure on the group.

Observers saw the ceasefire statement – read out by a masked woman – as a response to pressure from former leaders of the banned Batasuna party, who have been urging Eta to call a permanent ceasefire so that the party can be legalised once more.

But the announcement fell short of meeting the demands of the Batasuna leaders, with Eta failing to indicate whether its ceasefire was permanent or temporary.

A group of spokesmen for the radical Basque separatist movement that is close to Eta nevertheless hailed the ceasefire as "a valuable contribution to the construction of peace and the consolidation of democratic process".

Attempts by radical separatists to guide Eta towards abandoning violence were being "sabotaged" by the government, columnist Ramón Sola claimed in the Basque language newspaper Gara.

"The announcement that there will be no attacks provides a secure zone where the socialist government can resolve an armed conflict that has outlasted two different regimes and dozens of governments," he said, referring to the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco and the democratic governments elected after his death in 1975.

Boris Johnson unveils plans for alternative travel as London Underground warns most journeys will be affected by walkout

Most journeys on London Underground will be disrupted in the next 48 hours, Transport for London warned today as a series of strikes over job losses were due to start.

Last night, around 200 maintenance staff on the Jubilee and Northern line walked out in a separate dispute about pay.

A more significant strike gets under way at 5pm today, when thousands of members of the Rail Maritime and Transport union (RMT) and the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) will walk out in protest at plans to axe 800 jobs at ticket offices.

Further action will begin at 9pm tonight, when drivers, signallers and station staff start another 24-hour walkout.

The unions say safety and security will be compromised by staff cuts and reductions in ticket office opening hours.

Transport for London warned that most journeys will be disrupted, with the biggest delays expected tomorrow.

But London Mayor Boris Johnson said he was "determined to keep London moving", and dismissed the strike as "pointless and politically motivated".

The mayor and TfL have laid on alternative modes of transport , in attempt to minimise the disruption. They include 100 extra buses, escorted bike rides, marshalled taxi ranks, and the capacity for 10,000 more journeys on the river Thames.

Volunteers will be also positioned at tube, bus and rail stations to help people with their journeys and provide maps and other information.

Johnson said: "Londoners are a hardy bunch and I am sure a tube strike will not deter us from getting around. I have asked TfL to pull out all the stops, but we must be clear that the RMT and TSSA plan to inconvenience Londoners for no good reason.

"The extra measures we have put in call for a team effort and people will need to consider buses, boats or bikes as an alternative to their usual journeys. This planned action will cause disruption for millions of Londoners and I call on the unions to get round the table and show common sense."

The RMT said the use of volunteers during the strike was a further example of TfL playing "fast and loose" with safety. RMT's general secretary, Bob Crow, said: "There do not appear to be any corners that London Underground are not prepared to cut in order to bulldoze through their lethal cocktail of job and safety cuts.

"Sending out a few volunteers without the necessary operational licences and training to try and run a few trains is a disaster waiting to happen."

Crow added: "Instead of meaningless PR gimmicks from the mayor, he should start telling his officials to take this dispute seriously and he should also start putting tube safety before the dash to slash budgets."

TfL denied the RMT's allegations and said it would never do anything to compromise safety on the underground.

More staff cuts are feared as TfL completes a cash-strapped revamp of the tube network. The unions plan further stoppages in October and November.

The transport commissioner, Peter Hendy, said: "We continue to make every effort to avoid a dispute. There is no need for any action as the changes we are introducing come with no compulsory redundancies, and mean that stations will remain staffed at all times and every station with a ticket office will continue to have one."

He added: "Due to the success of Oyster, just one journey in 20 now involves a ticket office, and some ticket offices sell fewer than 10 tickets an hour."

Gerry Doherty, general secretary of the TSSA, said the mayor was behind the proposed job cuts, adding: "His plans to slash ticket office opening hours go considerably further than those he opposed in 2008 when trying to get elected as mayor, and our members rightly see them as the forerunner for additional cuts in October when the government delivers its dreaded spending review."

The transport secretary, Philip Hammond, said: "A tube strike will be bad for passengers, bad for business and bad for London.

"At a time when public finances are under pressure, any strike by tube workers will be seriously damaging — undermining the case we are making within the spending review for continued investment in the tube."

Seventeen killed, including officers and schoolchildren, as militants target law enforcement centre in Lakki Marwat

A suicide car-bomber today attacked a police station in north-west Pakistan, killing at least 17 police and civilians.

About 40 people were wounded in the attack in Lakki Marwat, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on the main road and rail link between Punjab province, Pakistan's largest and most prosperous region, and the North and South Waziristan tribal regions.

A Pakistani army offensive drove militants out of South Waziristan in October but militants still control much of North Waziristan, where US drone aircraft have been conducting a campaign of targeted killings.

Rescue workers and police officials were digging through rubble searching for survivors, according to a police official, Ghulam Mohammad Khan. Nine police officers, four adult civilians and four children on their way to school were killed in the attack.

Another police official, Liaquat Ali, said 45 police officers were in the building when the bomber struck.

Local TV footage showed emergency workers using heavy machinery to move the rubble of the mostly destroyed police station. Books and a schoolbag could be seen in the wreckage alongside the twisted frames of a motorcycle and a car. A neighbourhood shop and mosque were also partly destroyed.

The police chief of Lakki Marwat was killed in a suicide bombing several months ago and militants have carried out a string of attacks in the area since then.

In recent days, militants have launched attacks aimed at destabilising the country and weakening a civilian government already struggling with a flooding crisis that has displaced millions and caused widespread destruction.

David Miliband expected to win first round of ballot but brother's campaign team say they will take bulk of second preferences

Ed Miliband's campaign for the Labour leadership claimed that vital second preference votes were heading to their man by a proportion of three to one, greatly increasing his chances of victory.

On the basis of its telephone canvassing Ed Miliband's team expect his older brother David to win the first round of ballot, due at the end of the month, but then for Ed to scoop up the bulk of the second preference votes of supporters of Diane Abbott, Ed Balls and Andy Burnham as they drop out.

At the end of probably the most important weekend of the leadership contest, Ed Miliband's team claimed his brother's campaign was rattled. The votes of members in the constituencies represent a third of the electoral college.

This version is hotly contested by the other camps, and David Miliband, appearing on a 90-minute Sky News debate between the five leadership contestants repeatedly offered himself as the unity candidate, a clear appeal for the second preference votes.

David Miliband emerged as the man grassroots Tories most fear in a poll of Tory activists conducted by Conservative Home website and also won the endorsement of the Observer newspaper.

Summing up his appeal to voters at the end of the Sky News debate, David Miliband said he stood for "a moral economy, with responsibility from top to bottom; the redistribution of power in Britain; an assault on inequality of life chances; and a different kind of Labour party".

He was praised afterwards by Lord Prescott for being the man most willing to defend the government's record.

Ed Miliband by contrast repeatedly emphasised the need for change from New Labour, and said the most difficult decision of his political life had been to stand against his brother. "I am the candidate who can best turn the page for Labour. I am not the candidate of the New Labour establishment, I am the candidate who can change Labour, win back trust from people and win back power for our party," he said.

The two men clashed most openly over tuition fees in higher education with Ed Miliband, in common with Ed Balls, calling for a graduate tax, and David Miliband refusing to endorse one at this stage, arguing there was a danger that students on a two-year course would end up subsidising those on a four-year course. He pointed out upfront tuition fees had already been abolished, and a graduate tax might add 2p to income tax. But his brother suggested continuing with tuition fees would lead to more prestigious universities charging more than their less prestigious rivals.

Ed Balls, the former education secretary, said he had done most to challenge the Tory media orthodoxy that cutting the budget deficit is the only priority arguing he was "the candidate who has set out a credible, but also a radical, plan on jobs and housing".

In an apparent side swipe at David Miliband, Ed Balls said Labour would lose the next election if it chose a leader on the basis that he or she was attractive to the rightwing press. All five candidates said they were happy to describe themselves as socialists. Abbott failed to answer correctly any of the five questions put to test the candidates' knowledge of everyday life, including the price of a litre of petrol and a lottery ticket.

Musician's van collided with bale that tumbled down hill

A former member of the rock group Electric Light Orchestra has been killed by a giant hay bale that crashed into his van while he was driving.

Cellist Mike Edwards died instantly when the 300kg bale landed on the front of the white van after it tumbled down a steep hill in Devon, then smashed through a hedge and on to the road.

Police are now investigating whether the fatal accident on Friday afternoon happened after the bale fell from a tractor working on farmland next to the A381 in Halwell, near Totnes.

The musician, 62, is understood to have swerved into another vehicle as his van was struck at around 12.30pm. The second driver was unhurt in the collision.

Sergeant Steve Walker, of the Devon and Cornwall police traffic unit, said: "This was a tragic accident and we have now identified the victim as Michael Edwards, a founder member of ELO.

"We have used photographs and YouTube footage to identify him but we now need help contacting his family for formal identification. We don't believe he was ever married and we have identified an ex-girlfriend, but she is currently abroad."

Officers were hoping to contact a man named David in the Yorkshire area who is believed to be Edward's brother. The musician is understood to have no immediate family, but may have taught cello in Devon.

The police, who are liaising with the Heath and Safety Executive, have asked his students to contact them if they have any further information about his relations.

From 1972 to 1986, ELO enjoyed a string of top 20 hit singles on both sides of the Atlantic, and sold more than 50 million albums worldwide. Edwards left the band after their fourth studio album, Eldorado, which was released in 1974.

Former PM considers pulling out of event, citing concern about 'hassle and cost' to police following skirmishes at previous signing in Dublin

Tony Blair is considering cancelling a book signing in London after eggs and shoes were thrown at him at a similar event in Dublin.

Blair said he did not want to incur extra policing costs, and that his memoirs, entitled A Journey, were selling well enough not to need further promotion.

The former prime minister also hinted that, despite his unpopularity, he was eager to return to British political life if "the right job came up".

Four men were arrested and charged with public order offences after eggs and shoes were thrown at the Dublin signing.

Blair faces the prospect of further disruption, with anti-war protesters planning to disrupt the London launch of his book at the Waterstones store in Piccadilly on Wednesday.

Commenting on the protest, Blair told ITV's new breakfast programme, Daybreak, it was "sad" that people wanted to disrupt such events. He indicated that he could call the London signing off amid evidence that other groups protesting against him were set to join in with the demonstration.

"To be frank about it, I am concerned," he told Daybreak. "I do not want to put everyone through a lot of cost and hassle on this Wednesday's signing, so I am thinking about that."

Blair said the Metropolitan police were "fabulous, and they will do whatever we ask them to do" but added that the force should not be asked to commit resources unnecessarily.

"The book is selling fantastically, the BNP apparently are now saying they want to get in on the action, and you end up causing a lot of hassle for people – and cost – when there are better things for the police to do," he said. "It's not as if we need to do it."

In a round of interviews, Blair hinted he was seeking to make a return to British political life, but admitted it would be "very difficult" for him to do so.

His comments followed an interview published in the Sunday Times magazine yesterday, in which he said: "I feel a great urge to participate in my country's political life."

Blair, who was PM for ten years before quitting in May 2007, conceded today that he would "love to" be involved in some way.

Asked on ITV about his apparent hints at a comeback, he said: "What did I have in mind when I said that?

"I don't know, actually, because I am sure it would be very difficult for me to play a part here. But what I really wanted to say was that I remain deeply committed to the country. I love this country and I want to see it do well."

His "new life" outside domestic politics had shown him that Britain had "a lot that we need to do to prepare for the future", he said. "Frankly, I doubt there is a way I can play a part – but if I can, I would love to."

Blair admitted in another interview with Sky News that he feared British politics had probably "finished with me", rather than the other way around.

"I don't know. You never know, but don't take that as a great sign that I've got some great plan in mind, because I don't really," he said.

He underlined his commitment to domestic policy in an interview in today's Telegraph, in which he said he saw himself as "basically a public service guy" and "if the right job came up, I'd definitely do it".

Blair used the newspaper interview to mount his first direct policy attack on the coalition as he criticised the liberal prison policies being pursued by David Cameron's government.

The former prime minister, who once promised to be "tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime", said he "profoundly disagrees" with the approach of Ken Clarke, the justice secretary, who has rejected the "prison works" mantra of previous administrations.

Clarke has challenged the trend towards larger prison populations and questioned the need for short sentences, suggesting the government could save money by locking up fewer offenders and focusing more on rehabilitation.

But Blair called for "a far tougher, more targeted way" of tackling crime. "You've got to put in prison those who deserve to be there", he said.

He said "dysfunctional families who produce 14-year-old kids stabbing one another to death" are "making people's lives hell", and suggested Britain could learn from developing countries which "just don't accept" criminality.

Ed Miliband, a front runner in the Labour leadership race, who warned it was time to "move on" from the Blair era following the publication of the former prime minister's memoirs last week, concurred that his mantra of being "tough" on crime was still true today.

Miliband said: "I'm proud of so much of what we achieved in government, including getting down the rate of crime. But as Tony once said you have to be tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime, and I still think that's true today. We know prison works for serious offenders. But there are far too many people on short sentences, who will come out unreformed and almost three quarters will reoffend within a year."

He called for a change of approach to prisons as well as tougher community sentences.

" As Britain's former top policeman, Sir Ian Blair, has said this week, too many young people leave prison without new skills other than those they have been taught by fellow criminals, without drug therapy and then get back into gangs and back into drugs. Changing our approach to prison and having more tough community sentences is how we will tackle the causes of crime."

Day 32: Family members say the men are 'very angry' that government has been censoring mail

The Chilean miners trapped in a collapsed mine shaft are starting to rebel against restrictions imposed by their government as they enter their second month below ground.

Family members said the 33 men had protested that the government was censoring letters and restricting information to them during a video conference at the weekend.

The miners have also shown increasing independence in recent days as they rejected one food delivery of peaches and continued to drive vehicles around the mine tunnels 700m below ground, disregarding explicit orders not to do so. They are also increasingly vehement in their demands for wine and cigarettes.

Family members said the miners were angry because they had not received much mail. "He totally cursed me out, they are not sending the letters to him," said the son of trapped miner Victor Zamora. "He is going to blow up down there."

"It is a big problem that they are not getting the letters," said the nephew of miner José Ojeda. "They are very angry."

Luis Urzua, the leader of the miners, on Saturday told rescue officials that failure to deliver the letters was a major item of discontent among the trapped men.

Government officials at the rescue site have repeatedly explained to family members that only letters with positive messages will be delivered. But rescue officials also promised to streamline the postal service and create a central log for letters sent and letters received.

"They say they are not sick," said one rescue leader, who asked not to be named. "They want to go back to their regular life. This is what we have been hearing over and over again from Nasa."

Nasa officials who have gone to Chile to help support the trapped men said their behaviour was not unusual. Briefing the rescue leaders at the weekend, Nasa consultants said that during one space mission, the astronauts simply refused to speak to Mission Control and switched the communications system off.

"This [anger and stress] is common in groups under isolation. They [the miners] have nowhere to go for support," said Professor Nick Kanas, professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, and long time consultant to Nasa. "After six weeks the situation turns sterile and confining. What was once quirky and fun – like the jokes of a colleague – become irritable and tiresome."

Despite the concerns about censorship of written communications, many families were elated at the new video system. "You saw daddy, you saw daddy," said Veronica Quispe, 20, wife of Bolivian miner Carlos Mamani, the only non-Chilean among the trapped men. With her one year old daughter Yemily, who was breastfeeding, Quispe danced around the rocky mountainside.

Carolina Lobos, 26, daughter of Franklin Lobos, the football star cum miner trapped in the San José mine, said her father was looking very well. "We told him that when he gets out, we are going to have a huge party, a blowout!" she said. "He looks great." She thanked the technicians for installing the fiber optic video connection: "It was like he was in the living room, right here."

Her sister Claudia Lobos, 20, said: "I tried to be strong, but I cried at once. We were so excited we didn't let him talk."

Cases of incorrect tax payments pre-date March 2008

More than 10 million people may be in line for a tax rebate due to errors in the HM Revenue and Customs tax code system.

The Treasury has already announced that 4.3 million people are set to receive a rebate because they have paid too much tax over the past two years. But historic errors may have resulted in a further 5.8 million people overpaying income tax before March 2008.

Tax officials have identified £3bn in overpaid tax from the years before then, in addition to the £1.8bn of overpayments in the past two years, according to the Daily Telegraph. It said the HMRC has 18.2  million "open" cases of incorrect tax payments pre-dating March 2008.

HMRC hopes to repay at least some of that money over the next four years, the paper said. On Saturday, the Treasury said nearly 6 million people in the UK are to be told they have paid the wrong amount of tax in the past two years, with some facing bills of up to £5,000. The further errors identified since then could add a further 7.7 million people to the total number affected.

Around 1.4 million people are due to be told they owe an average of £1,400 because of errors in HMRC's calculations of the pay as you earn (PAYE) tax system over the past two years. They will have their tax code altered next year to retrieve the money, which on average should be £1,428. The errors were identified by a new computer system that found widespread underpayments by employers through the PAYE system, which total about £2bn.

Employees who moved jobs or accepted company cars or cash benefits from their employer were the most likely to be caught by the system. The 4.3 million people set to receive a rebate because they have paid too much tax in the past two years are expected to receive an average of £418.

The first letters from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) are expected to arrive on doormats tomorrow.

It is believed that in some cases individuals may have both underpaid and overpaid, and the amounts could cancel one another out. In some cases, HMRC will consider writing off demands where taxpayers can demonstrate that they provided all the information necessary to calculate their tax correctly.

The problems arose because at the end of each year HMRC manually checked that the amounts deducted in tax and national insurance by employers using the PAYE system match up with the information held on their records. Those checks have now been computerised.