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[JohnCenaFan28]

Britain's anti-terror chief has made an unreserved apology to the Conservative Party for accusing it of trying to undermine a Whitehall leaks inquiry.

Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick retracted his remarks hours after Tory leader David Cameron demanded he withdraw the "completely baseless" allegations.

Mr Quick said: I have now reflected on the comments I made yesterday at a difficult time for me and my family. I wish to make clear that it was not my intention to make any allegations and retract my comments. I apologise unreservedly for any offence or embarrassment that I have caused."

But although the Tories accepted the apology and said it "drew a line" under the controversy, shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve called on Mr Quick to ask colleagues whether he should hand over the case.

Mr Grieve told the BBC: "It seems to me that the proper course of action is for Mr Quick to reflect on whether he has maintained the necessary objectivity to continue with this investigation.

"That is doubtless a matter which, as a professional police officer, he can discuss professionally with his colleagues and I don't think it is for me to say one way or another."

Mr Cameron earlier told London's LBC Radio: "I can absolutely guarantee that the Conservative Party had nothing to do with the publication of this story.

"So I think Bob Quick really does have to withdraw what is a completely baseless allegation.I am sure he will want to do that because in life, if you make a mistake, the best thing to do is to correct it as quickly as you can. So that's what he ought to do."

Acting Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson voiced his support for Mr Quick and indicated that, as far as Scotland Yard was concerned, the matter was now at an end.

"Now that Bob Quick has clarified his comments and there is an acceptance of his apology, I am pleased that a line has now been drawn under this matter," he said in a statement.

-Nova

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Shoppers will enjoy unprecedented reductions from Christmas Eve as retailers face up to the prospect of a gloomy 2009, analysts said.

Stores are launching their traditional Boxing Day sales up to 48 hours early in a bonanza for shoppers already enjoying a heavily discounted high street.

A growing list of major stores have announced discounts of 50% or more in sales to start as early as 7am on Christmas Eve.

DIY chain B&Q will offer 50% off all its kitchens and bathrooms from 7am on Wednesday in stores and online, with discounts of up to 75% on some other items.

John Lewis will start its clearance sale online at 6pm on Christmas Eve - the earliest it has ever held the sale - while chemist chain Superdrug will also start an online sale a few hours later at midnight on December 24 with discounts of up to 90%.

Matthew Sherwood, senior economist at analysts Experian, said: "The state of the market is not good, needless to say. We're looking at one of the worst retail environments in terms of the Christmas shopping season in probably somewhere around 17 years, certainly since the last recession.

"If you look at footfall numbers they are well down on last year, somewhere in the double digit ranges. Certainly consumers are staying at home. We already know that there are going to be some massive reductions on Boxing Day, certainly at retailers that specialise in housewares, bulky electrical goods, sectors tied to the housing market."

Mr Sherwood said retailers' prospects for next year looked similarly poor. "In terms of 2009 I don't see too much hope. I think it's going to be a very bad year for retailers and we're likely to see more announcements like we've seen with Woolworths and MFI," he said.

With three days of business left before the big day, stores are hoping for a busy time at the tills amid claims up to 15 major retailers could be in danger of going under.

Nick Hood, partner at corporate rescue and recovery specialists Begbies Traynor, said: "I would not be surprised if between 10 and 15 national and regional chains collapsed before the end of January."

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

A paedophile royal butler was jailed for a minimum of six years after he admitted committing a string of historic sexual offences against young boys.

Described by police as a "brilliant groomer", Paul Kidd, 55, of Stalybridge, Greater Manchester, even took one of his victims for tea with the Queen Mother.

Kidd started grooming one of the boys when he was aged 12 as he met him as a patient on a hospital ward where he worked as a trainee nurse. Another was 14 years old when he first spoke to Kidd on the CB radio airwave, Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court heard.

The defendant was senior footman to the Queen Mother from 1979 to 1984 and previously worked as a royal butler to The Queen from 1977.

The former candidate for the UK Independence Party was caught after one of his three abuse victims read a newspaper interview which he gave on the 10th anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.

His boasts about his royal connections, coming from a man who also had his own website, www.royalbutler.co.uk, led the complainant to contact police. The victim, now aged in his 40s, reported he had been indecently assaulted by Kidd at the butler's home in the early 1980s when he was as young as 13.

An investigation was launched and evidence of further abuse was uncovered during a search of his home in Castlehall View. Among items found on his computer were 18,019 images of unknown children and a video recording of him abusing another youngster as recently as 2006. Many of the images recovered were encrypted in computer files with the password "Pickles" - thought to be a reference to a royal corgi.

His third victim, who was treated to the royal tea party, came forward after reading publicity on the case when Kidd was charged by police.

Kidd pleaded guilty to nine counts of indecent assault, six counts of sexual activity with a child and one count of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. He also admitted 11 counts of making indecent images of a child and two counts of possessing indecent images of children.

The offences were committed between 1974 and 1977, 1981 and 1983 - when he was in the employ of the Queen Mother - and 2005 to 2008.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

A British man convicted of having sex on a Dubai beach has been re-arrested as he prepared to board a flight back to the UK, his lawyer said.

Vince Acors, 34, of Bromley, south-east London, was due arrive at Heathrow on Tuesday morning following his deportation from the Gulf state.

But he was detained at Dubai Airport and returned to jail as his flight confirmation was allegedly "not in order".

Acors and Michelle Palmer, 36, of Oakham, Rutland, were initially given three-month jail terms for unmarried sex and public indecency, but these were suspended on appeal.

He had been due to return last Friday but a hold up in the deportation process meant he was unable to board a Heathrow-bound plane and spent the weekend in jail.

His lawyer Andrew Crossley said: "The return of Vince Acors has been delayed yet again and he will not be returning to the UK. The situation is close to becoming farcical and Vince is severely disappointed.

"After having booked and confirmed his return flight on three separate occasions through the course of the day Vince was re-arrested at Dubai Airport, as his flight confirmation was allegedly not in order. He has been returned to jail, his precise return is now unknown."

Acors and Palmer were seen having sex on Jumeirah Beach in the early hours of July 5 after meeting at a champagne brunch in a five-star hotel.

They had denied having unmarried sex and public indecency but admitted being drunk.

Palmer, who was working in Dubai as a publishing executive, was sacked after the allegations emerged. Acors had been visiting the country at the time.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

Npower is to be fined £1.8 million after it failed to take sufficient action to prevent mis-selling of contracts to customers.

Energy regulator Ofgem found that npower breached conditions of its supply licence by failing to take adequate steps following complaints from customers about visits by the company's doorstep salespeople.

Although npower had procedures in place to follow up complaints, company managers had not done enough to apply and improve them, allowing incidents of mis-selling to proceed unchecked, Ofgem ruled.

As a result, Ofgem concluded that Npower had failed in its duty to ensure that it had taken all reasonable steps to fix the matter.

Ofgem's managing director of corporate affairs, Sarah Harrison, said: "This decision sends a clear message to energy suppliers that failing customers and falling short of the licence standards will lead to Ofgem action, as well as associated reputational damage.

"Mis-selling undermines consumer confidence, but getting it right on the doorstep can help customers make effective choices in the energy market. This is why Ofgem's energy supply market probe committed to strengthening the doorstep selling rules."

The regulator said the penalty "could have been much higher", but reflected the nature of the licence breach and the prompt action taken by Npower.

Ofgem said it would put forward tougher rules next year to help tackle mis-selling.

Its recent probe into the energy supply market found that rules governing suppliers' sales and marketing activities needed to be strengthened to help customers make well-informed decisions in response to direct sales.

New measures could include an obligation for salespeople to give written quotations comparing their offer with a customer's current energy bills, Ofgem said.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

The Bank of England failed to spot the seriousness of the looming economic crisis despite rocketing house prices and credit levels, its Deputy Governor said.

Sir John Gieve said the Bank had spotted "some crazy borrowing" and unsustainable asset prices and predicted a correction was on its way.

But he said the Bank "didn't think it was going to be anything like as severe as it turned out to be".

"Why didn't we see that it was so serious? I think that's because we, perhaps, we hadn't kept pace with the extent of globalisation," he told the BBC.

He said the period of growth before this year's crash did not resemble previous boom and bust cycles because it lacked the typical big increases in earnings, consumption and activity.

"We saw the credit, we saw the house prices, but we did see a fairly stable pattern of earnings, prices and output," he said.

Sir John is a member of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), whose job it is to set interest rates to keep official inflation rates at 2%.

He also has specific responsibility for financial stability and is a member of the board of the Financial Services Authority.

The Bank of England has slashed rates this year in an attempt to control inflation which was still more than double the 2% target in November.

But inflation is set to plunge below 1% next year as the UK economy slides into recession.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

Another high-street retail chain was on the brink of administration after a period of poor sales left it struggling.

Whittard of Chelsea, the tea and coffee retailer, has lined up Ernst and Young as administrators, a source close to the company confirmed.

The source added: "Whittard is still trading and it has not filed for administration yet. It's still talking to potential buyers.

"Ernst and Young have been appointed as administrators though should it go into administration."

"Whittard is struggling at the moment just like everyone else," a source confirmed.

If the high street chain does go into administration "buyers could potentially still buy it, as a whole or part of the business".

Whittard, which has 135 stores in the UK, was bought by the investment company Baugur in 2005 for approximately £21 million.

It was originally founded by Walter Whittard in 1886, trading in Fleet Street.

Ernst and Young declined to comment.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

A five-year-old autistic boy on a dream Christmas trip to Disneyland Paris died after falling in the hotel swimming pool, it was revealed.

Staff at the Thomas Cook-owned three-star Explorers Hotel close to the resort confirmed there had been no lifeguard on duty when Colum Canning from Londonderry, Northern Ireland, fell into the water after disappearing from his mother's view.

Colum was quickly discovered in the water by another guest who jumped in and dragged him out but he had already lost consciousness.

On Saturday he died in hospital after his parents David and Karen took the decision to switch his life-support machine off. They agreed to donate their son's organs.

The Canning family, Colum, twin brother Kieran, seven-year-old sister Caitlin and parents had just checked in at the hotel when the accident happened. They had left their home in Londonderry to spend Christmas in Disneyland as a special treat for the brothers' Boxing Day birthday.

Neighbours around the Hawthorne Grove family home off the Springtown Road in the Creggan area of the city were stunned.

At the family home a single bouquet of flowers bearing the simple message "God Bless" was left against the front wall of the neat three-year-old semi-detached house.

Next door neighbour Fionnulia O'Kane said: "It's awful, I don't know what Karen is going to do when she gets back. It's heart-breaking. He was a lovely, lovely little boy."

The twins started school in September at St Eithne's Primary School a few hundred yards from their home. But a few weeks ago the brothers, who were both autistic, were switched to the special needs unit at a nearby school.

The headmaster of St Eithne's, Gerry Cosgrave said: "It's such a terrible tragedy, especially coming so close to Christmas. It's terrible for the family. The staff are totally and utterly shocked and everybody feels for the wee boy and his parents."

-Nova