The Olympic flame will be lit in the ruins of the home of the ancient Games in Greece before starting its journey to London, organisers said Wednesday.

A ceremony amid the ruins of the Temple of Hera in Olympia on May 10 will see the flame lit by the rays of the early morning sun.

It will then travel through Greece on an eight-day relay before being handed over in Athens on May 17 to a London 2012 representative.

The flame's first port of call in Britain will be at a naval base in Cornwall, south-west England.

From there, it will go on a 70-day nationwide tour culminating with the lighting of the cauldron at the Olympic Stadium in Stratford, east London on July 27.

Sebastian Coe, the London 2012 chairman, said Wednesday: "It gives me great pleasure to confirm 10 May as the flame lighting date and Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose as the Olympic Flame's arrival point into the UK

"My team is looking forward to working with the Hellenic Olympic Committee, the Ministry of Defence and our commercial partners to create exciting events to mark the flame's Greek provenance and its arrival to our shores," added Coe, the Olympic 1500 metres champion in both 1980 (Moscow) and 1984 (Los Angeles).

The flame will be transported from Greece to Britain on board a gold-liveried Airbus 319, flight number BA2012, for what will be the third Games staged in London following those of 1908 and 1948.

It will travel in a ceremonial lantern that is designed so the flame can burn safely for up to 30 hours.

LONDON (Reuters) - Newspaper publisher Trinity Mirror said it will cut almost a fifth of its editorial staff as part of a plan to overhaul the newsroom behind its popular tabloids Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and The People.

The company said in a statement on Wednesday that up to 75 jobs would go from a total editorial staff of 400, under plans to enable its national titles to "meet the economic challenges facing the industry."

The outlook for newspaper groups is tough and many have seen advertising revenues decline in recent times in the face of online competition and declining print circulation.

Trinity Mirror said in November that advertising revenues fell at both its national and 160 regional titles, hurt by the weakness of the British economy.

The company has, however, benefited from higher Sunday circulations following the closure of News of the World, a rival paper owned by Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper arm News International, part of News Corp.

As part of its restructuring plan, Trinity Mirror said it would create a centralised reporting and production hub and increase the number of pages it outsources for sub-editing.

The firm also said it would recruit additional reporters to cover Britain's regional markets.

Shares in Trinity Mirror closed up 1 percent at 46.75 pence, valuing the firm at about 119 million pounds.

(Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's manufacturing sector unexpectedly returned to growth in January as orders rose for the first time in six months, indicating the UK could skirt recession if the sector continues to recover in coming months.

The Markit/CIPS Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to 52.1 - the highest level since May - from an upwardly revised 49.7 in December, data compiler Markit said on Wednesday.

That was the first reading above the 50 mark that separates growth from contraction since September and beat analysts' forecasts that the sector would stagnate.

"This surprising rebound in January means a return to recession is by no means a certainty," said Markit economist Rob Dobson.

Output expanded at the fastest pace since March, helped by the first rise in new orders in more than half a year and clearance of backlogs of work.

Firms said some British clients were now more willing to spend, while export orders grew for a second month in a row, with firms reporting better demand from clients in Brazil, China, the Middle East and the United States, Markit said.

The economy shrank in the final quarter of 2011, as manufacturers and construction companies scaled back production. That suggested the UK was heading for recession - defined as two consecutive quarters of contraction - and boosted expectations the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) would soon give it another cash injection.

However, the rebound in manufacturing in January may put a question mark over the need for additional asset purchases although more months' data is needed to see if recession can actually be avoided.

"The upturn in the PMI may cause some members of the MPC to wonder if further stimulus is still warranted," Markit's Dobson said.

Economists polled by Reuters have forecast the central bank will announce a 50 billion pound expansion to its quantitative easing programme next week.

The PMI showed that manufacturers' input costs fell last month at the fastest pace since mid-2009 and that could still encourage the central bank to announce more asset purchases in order to support economic growth.

Factory-gate prices continued to rise, albeit at the weakest rate in the current 27-month period of inflation, Markit said. Some manufacturers noted that lower raw material costs and the need to lure cash-strapped clients kept price rises in check.

Employment in the sector was broadly unchanged in January. Overall, small and medium-sized firms expanded their workforce to handle increased production, but large companies cut jobs to control costs and in response to economic uncertainty.

(Reporting by Olesya Dmitracova; Editing by Susan Fenton)

VIENNA (AP) — A senior U.N. nuclear inspector spoke Wednesday of a "good trip" to Tehran and the agency said his team will return to Iran's capital in late February, indicating progress on attempts to investigate suspicions that Iran is secretly working on nuclear weapons.

The International Atomic Energy Agency's announcement of a renewed mission to Tehran Feb. 21 came just hours after the return of a senior team and word from the team leader that a new trip was planned "in the very near future."

Neither the IAEA's formal statement nor mission Head Herman Nackaerts gave details on what the agency's experts had achieved. But any headway would be significant after more than three years of Iranian stonewalling on attempts to investigate the allegations.

Nackaerts spoke of "three days of intensive discussions," telling reporters at Vienna airport that — while "there still is a lot of work to be done" — the IAEA is "committed to resolve all the outstanding issues, and the Iranians said they are committed too."

Asked how the visit was, he replied, "we had a good trip."

Like Nackaerts, the IAEA statement also suggested some progress by indicating that the Iranian side did not reject the agency's requests out of hand, as it has in the past on the issue of weapons work. It said the agency team "explained its concerns and identified its priorities, which focus on the clarification of possible military dimensions to Iran's nuclear program."

"The IAEA also discussed with Iran the topics and initial steps to be taken, as well as associated modalities," said the statement, citing IAEA chief Yukiya Amano as saying "it remains essential to make progress."

The visit, it said, will last for two days.

Diplomats familiar with IAEA strategy told The Associated Press before the trip that the agency delegation was unlikely to settle for vague promises or complicated plans that could further stall their probe.

Any progress on the issue would be significant, at a time of growing tensions over fears that Iran might be using the cover of a peaceful nuclear program to move to the point where it can break out into making a bomb — and growing concerns that Israel could be planning a pre-emptive attack.

Alluding to such fears, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday told Israel that the international standoff over Iran's suspect nuclear program must be resolved peacefully.

At a news conference with Israel's prime minister in Jerusalem, Ban urged the Iranians to prove their nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. When asked whether he fears an Israeli attack, he said "there is no alternative to a peaceful resolution of these issues."

While Iran has publicly belittled efforts to force it to compromise on its nuclear programs, sanctions and other international pressure appear to have left their mark, as reflected by the indications that the IAEA mission made some progress.

Beyond that, Tehran has in recent weeks repeatedly said it is willing to enter new talks with the six world powers that have taken the lead in attempts to nudge Iran into nuclear concessions.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi repeated such readiness Wednesday, saying Tehran hopes such "upcoming talks ... will be held in the not too distant future."

Iran has refused to discuss the alleged weapons experiments for more than three years, saying they are based on "fabricated documents" provided by a "few arrogant countries" — a phrase authorities in Iran often use to refer to the U.S. and its allies.

Faced with Iranian stonewalling, the IAEA summarized its body of information in November in a 13-page document drawing on 1,000 pages of intelligence. It stated then for the first time that some of the alleged experiments can have no other purpose than developing nuclear weapons.

The IAEA team was seeking progress on its efforts to talk to key Iranian scientists suspected of working on a weapons program. They also hoped to break down opposition to their plans to inspect documents related to nuclear work and secure commitments from Iranian authorities to allow future visits.

Beyond concerns about the purported weapons work, Washington and its allies want Iran to halt uranium enrichment, which they believe could eventually lead to weapons-grade material and the production of nuclear weapons. Iran says its program is for peaceful purposes — generating electricity and producing medical radioisotopes to treat cancer patients.

Since the discovery in 2002 that Iran was secretly working on uranium enrichment, the nation has expanded that operation to the point where it has thousands of centrifuges churning out enriched material — the potential source of both nuclear fuel and fissile warhead material.

Iran also has started producing uranium at a higher level than its main stockpile — a move that would jump start the creation of highly enriched, weapons grade uranium, should it chose to go that route. And it is moving its higher-enriched operation into an underground bunker that it says is safe from attack.

Tehran is under four sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions because of its refusal to heed international concerns about its nuclear programs, as well as penalties imposed by the United States and Western nations meant to force it into dialogue.

The European Union last week imposed an oil embargo on Iran and froze the assets of its central bank. In December, the U.S. said it would bar financial institutions from the U.S. market if they do business with Iran's central bank.

___

Philipp Jenne in Vienna and Mark Lavie in Cairo contributed to this report.

The family of singer Amy Winehouse said Wednesday they were "taking advice" over revelations that the inquest into her death could be declared invalid after the coroner resigned.

Suzanne Greenaway, who ruled in October that the "Back to Black" star had died after drinking heavily following a period of abstinence, has quit because she was not qualified to practise in Britain.

She had been appointed to her job by Andrew Reid, the coroner for inner north London, who is also her husband.

The Office for Judicial Complaints has now launched an investigation into Reid's conduct.

In a statement, the singer's relatives said: "The Winehouse family is taking advice on the implications of this and will decide if any further discussion with the authorities is needed."

In October, Greenaway recorded a verdict of misadventure after Winehouse, 27, died of alcohol poisoning in her flat in north London.

Reid said he appointed his wife -- who previously worked as a lawyer in Australia -- in the belief that her previous experience "satisfied the requirements of the post".

"In November of last year it became apparent that I had made an error in the appointment process and I accepted her resignation," he added.

"While I am confident that all of the inquests handled were done so correctly, I apologise if this matter causes distress to the families and friends of the deceased.

"I will be writing to the families affected to personally apologise and offer for their cases to reheard if requested."

PARIS (AP) — A woman who claims she is being watched by police and that her life has been threatened dumped flour on the leading candidate in France's presidential elections during a campaign appearance Wednesday.

The woman — who later identified herself to TV cameras as 45-year-old Claire Seguin — ran up to the podium where Socialist Francois Hollande stood to sign a "social contract" in favor of housing for all.

Hollande, who has consistently led polls, well ahead of President Nicolas Sarkozy, remained calm throughout the incident, though his glasses, hair and suit were covered in white.

He was hustled off the stage, and when he spoke to reporters afterward, he stayed on point, discussing the importance of housing reform.

Body guards who jumped in to protect Hollande also took a dusting.

The guards also immobilized Seguin and then carried her off the stage by her hands and feet.

A police official later confirmed that she was carrying a kilogram of flour at the time and is in police custody. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, citing policy.

The guards who carried her off the stage later let her speak briefly to a few journalists before taking her away. She shouted into their cameras that she had been the victim of an unspecified injustice and that the Socialists were trying to kill her. She directed them to her blog.

On the blog, which includes an open letter to Sarkozy, Seguin describes being harassed by superiors when she was a teacher and claims that she is the victim of a concerted campaign to defame her and that her life has been threatened and her privacy violated. She says she has filed numerous legal complaints, but none has been acted on.

Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, a spokeswoman for Hollande, told French television channel BFM that the incident was isolated and committed by a woman who appeared unstable.

She said Hollande's security would be gradually increased as the campaign progressed, as it would for all candidates. The election will be held in two rounds in April and May.

___

Associated Press writer Cecile Brisson contributed to this report.

Outspoken British MEP Nigel Farage stormed out of the European Parliament on Wednesday after its German chairman cut him off in mid-flight for comparing Berlin's ideas for Greece to Nazi control.

During a post-EU summit debate featuring top bloc leaders, Farage criticised a leaked German plan for EU control of Greek public spending, saying bailed out Athens was already practically an EU "colony, a terrible huge mistake."

Farage, a former City banker in London who is now a popular television political pundit, described the German finance ministry proposals as installing "a gauleiter," a Nazi party regional official under Adolf Hitler.

Darling of the English right, Farage said of the Berlin proposal: "Suggesting an EU commissioner and his staff occupy a big building in Athens and take over the running of the country, a 'gauleiter' some may say, I thought it must be a joke."

The comment provoked uproar, especially among German MEPs, with Greens lawmaker Reinhard Buetikofer accusing the UK Independence Party (UKIP) chief of spreading "hatred in the European Parliament, hatred between European peoples".

Newly-installed parliament speaker Martin Schulz also intervened with a comment about nationalism, before Farage came back: "We have German newspapers slagging off the Greeks for being lazy and useless, slagging off the Italians for being cowards and we have Italian and Greek newspapers depicting leading figures in Germany wearing Nazi uniforms."

Farage was called to order from the speaker's chair, before Schulz turned off his microphone, Schulz's spokesman Armin Machmer said.

Farage finally had no option but to "walk out of the chamber in disgust," his spokesman Hermann Kelly said.

Farage, who said he was only repeating a word used in British media at the weekend, later lodged a formal complaint saying Schulz -- long a sparring partner before the German became speaker last month -- stepped beyond the boundaries of his authorised role as moderator.

"His only answer was to threaten me with removal from the chamber by the ushers," Farage told AFP.

Machmer had told AFP that Farage could face a fine of up to 10 days' parliamentary allowances, should Schulz, a Socialist on the opposite side of the political fence from Germany's ruling coaltion, decide to take action.

Once seen as a maverick, Farage is now widely viewed as a standard-bearer for a growing rump of mainly English voters who want a referendum on ending European Union membership.

He secured a million votes at the last general election, surviving a helicopter crash on polling day and a series of operations on his back to boost his popularity.

His party's advances have ensured that pressure remains high on Prime Minister David Cameron over Europe -- as again seen in the wake of Monday night's summit in Brussels.

Farage and fellow eurosceptics in Cameron's Conservatives are also eyeing Scotland's upcoming vote on full political independence from the rest of the United Kingdom as a key opportunity in their quest.

The incident can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4eLJEWZ7Kk&feature=youtu.be