The discovery was made in a Greek-registered articulated lorry when it was opened up for the cargo of fresh

The discovery was made in a Greek-registered articulated lorry when it was opened up for the cargo of fresh produce, mainly potatoes, to be unloaded at Harwich, Essex. An Essex Police spokeswoman said: "There is no danger to the public but it is believed that these beetles may be dangerous to crops." She said the beetles were the size of a thumbnail and had distinctive black and white stripes. The lorry arrived at Dover on Saturday and was then driven to Harwich, where it remained in the lorry park overnight. The Ministry of Agriculture was dealing with the incident, police said.. Three people were killed and a man critically injured yesterday, when a light aircraft crashed into a field in north Herefordshire. The 30-year-old injured man was taken by air ambulance to Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham, with serious head and internal injuries. A spokesman for Hereford and Worcester Ambulance Service described his condition as critical. The plane - believed to be a Cessna - crashed into a field near the hamlet of Marston, near Pembridge, about 4.25pm.The ambulance spokesman said: "Our crews at the scene have spoken to a witness who has reported the plane making a spluttering noise before it came down." He could not confirm reports that the plane caught fire after the crash..

Hundreds of British Airways passengers were left without their bags after problems in the baggage system at Heathrow airport during one of the busiest weekends of the year. The airline yesterday apologised to customers and said they should have their luggage back by tonight at the latest. The problems started on Saturday and affected passengers - both incoming and outgoing - who transferred between domestic flights at Terminal 1 and long-haul flights at Terminal 4.A BA spokeswoman said: "The situation has arisen due to especially high volumes of people travelling and operational baggage difficulties.". The Prime Minister and senior Labour Party figures were last night standing by Robin Cook, the Foreign Secretary,following the disclosure that he was leaving his wife, Margaret, after 28 years, to live with his secretary. There was no question of the Foreign Secretary being forced to resign. The Tories accused the Government of operating "double standards" but Peter Mandelson, Minister Without Portfolio, denied this, and defended Mr Cook. Mr Mandelson said Tony Blair had never tried to preach to ministers about their private lives. "He made it absolutely clear that he had no desire to pry into ministers' personal lives and he said he had no desire to return to the age of Victorian hypocrisy about sex or preaching to people about their private lives."But last night the Tories returned to the attack.

They produced leaflet issued by Labour during the final days of the Uxbridge by-election attacking the Tory party chairman, Lord Parkinson, for the "indescretion" of his affair with his secretary, which led to his sacking from Lady Thatcher's government.Friends of Mr Cook said the breakdown in his marriage was "another casualty of Westminster". One senior Labour backbencher told The Independent that a number of MPs in the new intake were finding difficulty in the degree of separation from their families, and there could be a move to ease the demands on MPs voting every night.Mrs Cook knew about her husband's relationship with his secretary, and had been fighting to save the marriage, but Mr Cook told her on Friday, after being confronted by journalists about the affair, that he had decided to leave. He said in a statement: "I want to make it clear that the responsibility for this is entirely mine."Government sources said there was no comparison with ministerial resignations from the former Tory government. Labour had then accused ministers of hypocrisy because John Major had launched the "back to basics" campaign for family values.There is a tradition at Westminster of MPs marrying their secretaries These include Douglas Hurd, and Lord Hailsham Colin Brown. Adrian Noble, the artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, signalled a public rift in the arts establishment yesterday, when he claimed that recent "antics" at the Royal Opera House had harmed the nation's cultural institutions for years to come. Referring to the row over funding of the ROH, including the use of lottery cash for its rebuilding work, Mr Noble (right) said such a public furore had soured the climate in which the issue of money and the arts was discussed. He said: "I think the antics of the Royal Opera House, to be honest, have set back the cause of arts and the lottery in this country for years.

It's meant that most otherbona fide projects are being scrutinised in a really sort of unnecessary way, I think."Interviewed on GMTV, he added: "It means the man in the Clapham omnibus is hostile now towards the arts, and especially towards lottery money going towards the building of the arts ... it seems to me that they've dug their own grave."He agreed the ROH had been "complacent" and suggested it should have been going on the road or on tour during its period of closure, to provide opera for the people.Last Wednesday the chairman of the ROH, Lord Chadlington, admitted to MPs that the organisation had nearly gone bankrupt days before and that day-by-day trading "remains very precarious".Lord Chadlington was also questioned over the resignationof chief executive Genista McIntosh in May and her replacement, without the job being advertised.Michael Streeter. The investigation, by the Chief Whip, Nick Brown, follows newspaper claims that Mr McMaster left a letter in which he accused two senior Labour colleagues of conducting a whispering campaign against him which may have been a factor in his death. Reports said the letter named Tommy Graham, Labour MP for Renfrewshire West and Lord (Don) Dixon, the former Labour deputy chief whip. Mr McMaster was said to have asked that the letter be published.. Mr Stark had been missing since he was charged last Wednesday with three counts of possessing indecent material and released on police bail. It is believed a large collection of pornography was found at his flat in the school grounds.Mr Stark, who was single, had joined St John's in 1995 after spending about six years at another public school, Hurstpierpoint College, where the chaplain and a teacher were cautioned by police last year for possessing pornography.Rev Brian Boucher, 57, and junior science teacher Trevor Jones, 44, were both suspended after police arrested them during an investigation into claims of an international paedophile ring Both later left the school.