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[JohnCenaFan28]

A 16-year-old boy has been arrested in connection with the murder of a man who was shot dead after a Christmas Eve shopping trip, police said.

Craig Brown, 20, was shot at 4.50pm on Loftus Road, Shepherd's Bush, Hammersmith, west London, and pronounced dead at the scene by the ambulance service.

Scotland Yard said officers have arrested a 16-year-old in connection with the murder.

He is being questioned at a west London police station.

A post-mortem examination at Fulham Mortuary confirmed the victim died of gunshot wounds.

Mr Brown had returned from a shopping trip and had parked his car in Loftus Road, police said.

He was approached by two men as he unloaded goods from the car.

He was shot before the men made off on foot towards Queens Park Rangers' football ground.

The shooting is being investigated by Operation Trident.

Anyone with information should contact police on 020 8733 4704 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

A teenager is under arrest on suspicion of hurling a glass bottle which killed a mother-of-three as she enjoyed a Christmas drink in a crowded pub.

The 19-year-old was arrested hours after Emma O'Kane was killed when the bottle shattered against a pillar and a shard of glass stuck in her neck, cutting her throat, according to a witness.

She had been standing with her sister and other friends enjoying a Boxing Day drink at the bar of the Queen Anne Hotel in Heywood, Greater Manchester.

Ms O'Kane, who has children aged aged six, two and one, collapsed in a pool of blood and was pronounced dead at Fairfield Hospital in Bury, shortly after the incident at 2am.

A post-mortem examination will take place later.

Police said a man had been refused entry by door staff, and threw a bottle inside the pub.

Ms O'Kane lived in Heywood with her partner and three children.

Detective Superintendent Peter Jackson, who is leading the murder investigation, said: "A man tried to get into the pub and was refused entry. He became involved in an altercation with the doormen and threw a bottle into the pub.

"A shard of glass then caused a serious injury to this woman who was nothing to do with the argument and was out enjoying a drink at the bar.

"This tragic incident has left this woman's family devastated."

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

Police looking for a man in connection with the disappearance of a nurse, who was found alive in the boot of her car after being missing for 11 days, said she knew the suspect.

Magdeline Makola was discovered restrained inside her own Vauxhall Astra car in Airdrie, north Lanarkshire, on Friday afternoon.

Speaking at a press conference, Lothian and Borders Police said they believed she was introduced to the suspect a number of years ago but they were not in a relationship.

They also said there had been activity on her bank cards while she was missing.

Ms Makola of Howden in Livingston, West Lothian, was discovered by police officers who heard noises from the boot of the car.

They smashed the windows to get access and discovered the nurse. She was wearing night-clothes, had been restrained and was hypothermic and dehydrated.

Chief Inspector Tommy Tague of Lothian and Borders Police said they believed Ms Makola could have been in the boot for up to 10 days.

They are now hunting a black man who they believe she met through a mutual friend five or six years ago.

"It has been an exceptionally traumatic period for Magdeline," Ch Insp Tague said. "We were absolutely delighted to find her."

Ms Makola had not been seen since she left work at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary on December 15.

-Nova

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[OMEN]

The body of a 24-year-old man has been found in Dundalk, Co Louth.

The body was found on a lane off Avenue Road in the town at about 11.50pm last night.

The emergency services were called by a member of the public.
The man was pronounced dead shortly after midnight.

The body remains at the scene pending the arrival of the State Pathologist and crime scene examiners from the Garda Technical Bureau.

A post mortem examination will be carried out to establish the exact cause of death.

A maroon-coloured car near the scene has been cordoned-off and is to be examined by the forensic team.

RTE

[OMEN]

A 28-year-old man has appeared in court charged with murder following a fatal stabbing in Nenagh, Co Tipperary on St Stephen's Day.

Egidijus Kiaulakis, with an address in Nenagh, was charged with the murder of a 29-year-old man at Summerhill in Nenagh on 26 December.

The married, father of a six-month-old baby, appeared at a special sitting of Nenagh District Court this morning.
Both Mr Kiaulakis and the victim are originally from Lithuania.

The victim, who has not yet been named by gardaí, died from multiple stab wounds following an attack at an apartment building in the Summerhill area of the town on Thursday.

Judge Elizabeth MacGrath granted legal aid to Mr Kiaulakis and remanded him to appear at Nenagh District Court on 2 January.

Another man, who is 27, was arrested last night in connection with the death. He is being held at Thurles Garda Station.

Two other men have been released without charge and a file is to be prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.

RTE

[JohnCenaFan28]

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[JohnCenaFan28]

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[JohnCenaFan28]

A British baby is thought to be the world's youngest patient to undergo a surgical procedure for treating brain tumours.

Madison Quartarone was just one week old when she was taken to Great Ormond Street Hospital, in London, with a large benign tumour.

The infant, now eight weeks, then underwent three embilisation procedures - a treatment in which arteries are injected with glue to cut off blood supply - to starve the growth of blood.

Scans after the operations showed the tumour had shrunk and doctors allowed the youngster home to Bedford with mother, Charlene Smith, in time for Christmas.

Grandfather Ian Chandler said: "What we are hoping for now is that the tumour continues to shrink. I think we would know by now if the tumour was still growing."

The baby's head swelled while the tumour was getting bigger because of the collection of fluid.

Mr Chandler added: "Madison has amazed absolutely everybody. She underwent seven operations in the first seven weeks of her life but now she is putting weight on and suffering all the problems that other babies have, like trapped wind and colic."

Madison will return to the hospital in the New Year for more scans to check on the tumour. Neuro-surgeon Dominic Thompson, who is part of the team looking after her, said Madison would have died within weeks without the operation.

He told Bedfordshire on Sunday: "Certainly, in my experience, I am not aware of anyone as young as Madison having this treatment and if successful it could be groundbreaking.

"To be born with such a large tumour is very unusual as only a small percentage of tumours present themselves in the first month of life. Madison is not out of the woods yet but she does look remarkably well - it has been a very hard time for the family."

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

A protest outside the Israeli Embassy in London descended into chaos as demonstrators clashed with police.

Dozens of campaigners were seen being handcuffed and dragged away by officers as events appear to boil out of control.

High Street Kensington was closed off with police vans blocking the street as the number of demonstrators swelled throughout the afternoon to about 2,000.

Several hours after the protest began violence flared as police attempted to physically remove people so they could reopen the road.

Protesters threw placards and screamed abuse as officers scrummaged to push campaigners back.

Some demonstrators were seen attempting to climb the gate towards the Embassy and also throwing red liquid - to symbolise blood - towards the gate.

One campaigner was seen throwing a bag and what appeared to be a book towards the building. Several protesters left the scene with bloodied faces.

Late in the afternoon police said there had been half a dozen arrests for a range of public order offences and 700 protesters remained at the scene.

Earlier in the day, confrontations began when a small group of protesters stormed a barrier which was penning them in.

Riot police were brought in to control the crowds.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

A teenager has been charged with the murder of a mother of three who died when a glass bottle was thrown into a crowded pub.

Neil McNulty, 19, is accused of killing Emma O'Kane, 27, who died while celebrating the birthday of her partner, Michael Shepherd, who she planned to marry.

McNulty is suspected of hurling the glass bottle into the pub after being refused entry to the Queen Anne Hotel in Heywood, Greater Manchester, shortly before 2am on Saturday.

The bottle shattered against a pillar and a shard of glass stuck in Ms O'Kane's neck, cutting her throat, according to a witness. She had been enjoying a night out with her sister and friends at the bar of the pub where she sometimes worked as a barmaid.

Ms O'Kane lived with Mr Shepherd and her three children - Reece, six, Jack, two, and one-year-old Ellie-Mai - in Heywood.

She collapsed in a pool of blood and was pronounced dead at Fairfield Hospital in Bury, shortly after.

A post-mortem examination concluded Ms O'Kane died as a result of a wound to the neck.

Mr Shepherd, 38, said: "Emma was really popular - everyone said she was the best barmaid and she was a brilliant mother to three gorgeous kids. She was the love of my life and kind-hearted.

"She really was an angel and now my soulmate's been taken away I wonder what we're all going to do without her."

McNulty, of Peel Lane, Heywood, is due to appear before Rochdale Magistrates' Court on Monday morning.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

A 35-year-old man has been arrested and charged in connection with the abduction of nurse Magdeline Makola, who was missing for more than a week, police said.

Nurse Makola, 38, of Livingston in West Lothian, is recovering in hospital after being found in the boot of her car, dehydrated and suffering from hypothermia.

A Lothian and Borders Police spokesman said: "A 35-year-old man has been arrested and charged in connection with the abduction of Magdeline Makola."

The man is due to appear at Linlithgow Sheriff Court on Monday.

Ms Makola had not been seen since she left work at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary on December 15.

Concerns were initially raised when the South African-born nurse failed to turn up for her shift on December 18 and she was reported missing.

An investigation was launched and Ms Makola was discovered by police in the red Vauxhall Astra in the town of Airdrie, Lanarkshire, on Boxing Day.

Police said Ms Makola had been left "severely traumatised". She is being treated at Monklands Hospital in Lanarkshire, where she is said to be in a stable condition.

Officers had issued a description of a man they wished to trace in relation to their investigation.

Lothian and Borders Police said it was not looking for anyone else in connection with the inquiry.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

Britain called for an "immediate halt to all violence" in Gaza as Israel's devastating airstrikes continued.

As fears of a ground offensive grew, Foreign Secretary David Miliband said an "urgent ceasefire" was needed to stop "massive loss of life" in the territory.

He insisted that Tel Aviv must abide by its "humanitarian obligations", and Prime Minister Gordon Brown shared his "grave concern" over the situation.

At least 280 people have now been killed since F-16 bombers started carrying out strikes on the highly populated Gaza Strip on Saturday, according to Palestinian emergency services. Hundreds more have been wounded.

Israel said key security sites operated by Hamas militants were being targeted in a bid to stop rockets attacks - which have escalated sharply since a six-month ceasefire agreement expired last week. However, many civilians and children have been caught up in the carnage.

Mr Miliband said: "The Prime Minister and I are following developments in Gaza with grave concern. The rise in rocket attacks on Israel since December 19, and yesterday's (Saturday) massive loss of life, make this a dangerous moment which should be of concern to the whole of the international community.

"The UK supports an urgent ceasefire and immediate halt to all violence."

After four hours of emergency talks, the UN Security Council upped the pressure on Tel Aviv on Sunday morning by delivering a plea for the bloodshed to stop.

A statement made no direct reference to actions by either side, but said: "The members of the Security Council expressed serious concern at the escalation of the situation in Gaza and called for an immediate halt to all violence. The members called on the parties to stop immediately all military activities."

However US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad stressed that Hamas held the key to restoring calm. "We believe the way forward from here is for rocket attacks against Israel to stop, for all violence to end," he said.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

A second teenager has been arrested over the murder of a man who was shot after a Christmas Eve shopping trip, police said.

Craig Brown, 20, was shot at 4.50pm on Loftus Road, Shepherd's Bush, Hammersmith, west London, and pronounced dead at the scene by the ambulance service.

Scotland Yard arrested two more suspects - a 15-year-old boy and a 24-year-old man - on Saturday night.

A 16-year-old boy who was arrested earlier on Saturday remains in police custody.

All three are being questioned at police stations in west London.

A post-mortem examination at Fulham Mortuary confirmed the victim died of gunshot wounds.

Mr Brown had returned from a shopping trip and had parked his car in Loftus Road, police said.

He was approached by two men as he unloaded goods from the car.

He was shot before the men made off on foot towards Queens Park Rangers' football ground.

The shooting is being investigated by Operation Trident. Anyone with information should contact police on 020 8733 4704 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

The Government was embroiled in another row with the Church of England after bishops condemned its policies as "morally corrupt".

Five senior Church figures delivered a scathing assessment of Labour's record in power, warning that the country was suffering from family breakdown, an addiction to debt and a growing gap between rich and poor.

The bishops of Durham, Winchester, Manchester, Carlisle and Hulme accused ministers of squandering their opportunity to transform society.

The interventions, in separate interviews with the Sunday Telegraph, came after the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams described Gordon Brown's plans to tackle recession by spending more as like an "addict returning to the drug".

The Rt Rev Tom Wright, the Bishop of Durham, berated ministers for not doing enough to help the poor since 1997.

"Labour made a lot of promises, but a lot of them have vanished into thin air," he said.

"We have not seen a raising of aspirations in the last 13 years, but instead there is a sense of hopelessness. While the rich have got richer, the poor have got poorer. When a big bank or car company goes bankrupt, it gets bailed out, but no one seems to be bailing out the ordinary people who are losing their jobs and seeing their savings diminished."

However the comments drew a furious response from senior Labour figures. The Chairman of the Commons Treasury Committee, John McFall, suggested the bishops may have had "too much mulled wine" over the festive season.

Cabinet Office minister Liam Byrne echoed the Prime Minister's response to Dr Williams, citing the Biblical exhortation not to "walk on by" when someone needed aid.

"We are determined not to walk on by. We want to put real help on the table for families and businesses now," he told the BBC. "We want to invest in our economy for the future because that is how we will get a fairer and richer country in the years to come."

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

The Tories are set to scrap at least one of Labour's tax rises if they win the next general election, according to George Osborne.

The shadow chancellor has signalled that reversing a hike in National Insurance planned for 2011 will be a "priority".

The Conservatives are also said to be looking at tax breaks for pensioners and savers hit by the downturn as they bid to shake off Gordon Brown's tag as the "do nothing" party.

In an interview for the Sunday Times, Mr Osborne insisted Labour's reckless spending was turning Britain into the "sick man of Europe". He promised that unlike the Government's fiscal stimulus, any Tory tax cuts would be funded through curbs on public spending or increases in other taxes.

"My priority is to try to reverse the increase in National insurance because it is a tax that affects the vast majority of people in Britain," Mr Osborne said. "It is a tax on jobs at a time of high unemployment. It is a tax on incomes at a time when people will be under severe strain."

Last month Chancellor Alistair Darling set out plans to increase NI payments by workers and employees by 0.5% from 2011, raising up to £5 billion to help pay down Government debt. However, the latest date for a general election is May 2010.

Tory insiders told the Sunday Times that another measure being considered was the abolition of income tax on savings, at an annual cost to the Treasury of around £2.4 billion. Savers have been hit hard as interest rates have been slashed to try and revive the economy. The threshold at which pensioners start paying tax could also be lifted.

Treasury Financial Secretary Angela Eagle accused Mr Osborne of making "empty promises".

"George Osborne is happy to try to grab headlines with vague talk about tax cuts, but as usual he can't say anything about how he would pay for them," she said. "The truth is these are just empty promises from the Tories.

"All that Osborne has confirmed is that the Conservatives still intend to do nothing to give real help now to families. It says something about their inability to move on from their 1980s ideology that they regard real help now - such as the £60 for pensioners, and the child benefit and child tax credit increases brought forward to January 1st - as state intervention to be opposed."

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

Power stations generating a tenth of the UK's electricity capacity could be forced to close more than two years earlier than expected - stoking fears of blackouts, it was reported.

Some coal power plants have been running at historically high rates that would put them out of action by 2013, provoking concern over an energy "generation gap", according to the Sunday Times.

Under EU rules companies operating old coal and oil-fired plants were given the option to upgrade them to comply with stringent emission limits.

Those plants for which it was uneconomic to upgrade were permitted to continue operating until 2016 and given 20,000 hours to run.

But the report, based on research from energy consultants Utilyx, said of the nine plants that opted out, five could be decommissioned by spring 2013 if they continue running at current rates.

Chris Bowden, chief executive of Utilyx, said when the plants made the decision not to upgrade they anticipated being "peaking plants", used only at a time of maximum consumption and power prices.

"Now they are running as base-load providers," he told the Sunday Times.

"The technology of some of these power stations would make them like classic cars, but now they are ready for the scrapheap."

The affected coal-fired plants are Kingsnorth in Kent, owned by Eon, Scottish Power's Cockenzie plant, Npower's stations at Tilbury and Didcot, and Scottish & Southern's Ferrybridge plant. It is understood the stations generate some 7.6 gigawatts of electricity - 10% of the UK's total capacity.

According to the Sunday Times, the plant at Cockenzie, which generates enough power for 1 million homes, will close as early as September 2010 based on current rates.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

The retail crisis looked set to claim another victim after it was confirmed childrenswear chain Adams had applied to appoint administrators.

The 75-year-old company - which makes clothes for Boots and has its own brand Adams kids stores - filed a notice of its intention to appoint PricewaterhouseCoopers as administrators on Christmas Eve.

Adams' woes come hard on the heels of the collapse of tea and coffee merchant, Whittard of Chelsea, music chain Zavvi and menswear retailer The Officers Club, which all fell into administration in the days before Christmas. Both The Officers Club and Whittard were subsequently sold.

Adams has around 260 stores among its 500 distribution outlets in the UK and is understood to employ around 2,000 people. It also has more than 100 international outlets in the Middle East and Europe.

Adams produces the Mini Mode range for Boots, which is sold in store as well as through its own website. The company is owned by Northern Ireland businessman John Shannon, who bought it out of administration in February last year, closing 42 of its shops.

Mr Shannon - a former chairman of footwear firm Stead & Simpson and clothing chain Country Casuals - has driven the company towards affordable kids fashion and launched its "kids love fashion" branding.

Adams - which sells babywear, school uniforms and clothes for children from two to 10 years - had appeared to be beginning to show signs of improvement under Mr Shannon. The company posted a 25% increase in like-for-like sales in both boys and girls fashion ranges in spring this year. But a sharp deterioration in trading, combined with competition from supermarket chains have reportedly hit its ability to service its debts.

According to the Sunday Times, pressure from creditors in recent weeks pushed the company over the edge. Adams is reported to owe £10 million to Burdale, an arm of the Bank of Ireland, and just over £20 million to Mr Shannon.

A spokeswoman for PWC said it was not certain when the firm would be formally appointed as administrators for the business. "They put the thing into court on Christmas Eve but I cannot really say much more than that," she said.

Chains across the high street slashed prices in the Christmas season in a bid to tempt shoppers squeezed by the credit crunch, but analysts believe it is unlikely this will be enough to salvage the beleaguered sector. Insolvency experts Begbies Traynor have predicted that as many as 15 national retail chains could go bust by mid-January.

-Nova

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[John]

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development warns that by the time the recession ends, more than a million jobs could have been lost in the UK.

The gloomy forecast comes after the children's retailer Adams joined the growing list of well-known chains applying for administration.

The institute, which represents managers and personnel staff, forecasts that unemployment will stop short of three million, but it warns that the period between New Year and Easter will be the worst for redundancies since 1991.

Chief economist John Philpott says: "This time last year, in the face of some scepticism, the CIPD warned that 2008 would be the UK's worst year for jobs in a decade.

"It was, but in retrospect it will be seen as merely the slow motion prelude to what will be the worst year for jobs in almost two decades.

"Assuming the economy bottoms out in the second half of 2009, job losses are likely to continue into 2010, in all probability taking the final toll of lost jobs to around one million."

A survey of 2,600 workers by the CIPD showed that more than one in four did not expect a pay rise next year, a similar number believed any wage increase will be lower than in 2008, while some feared a wage cut.

The report warns that many workplaces will feel like TV dramas ER or Casualty next year, with managers facing traumatised or anxious workers affected by job and pay cuts.

-Yahoo.

[John]

Thai protests force PM to delay speech until Tuesday

Thai premier Abhisit Vejjajiva was forced to delay his maiden policy speech until Tuesday after thousands of protesters blockaded parliament in the latest twist to the kingdom's political crisis.

Red-shirted supporters of ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was toppled in a 2006 coup, sealed off the gates to parliament Monday and said they would stay until the newly installed Abhisit called fresh elections.

The siege brought a sense of deja vu for many Thais, with protesters copying the tactics of rival, yellow-clad activists who launched a street campaign that helped to bring down a government led by Thaksin's allies in December.

"The house speaker has decided to postpone the session until tomorrow (Tuesday)," British-born Abhisit told a press conference, adding that the speech could continue until Wednesday.

The speech was meant to start Monday morning but had already been delayed twice.

"We have negotiated all day and it was not successful, but we will continue our efforts. What has happened today will not affect the government's plans," he said.

The pro-Thaksin protesters earlier said they would allow the Oxford-educated Abhisit and his cabinet to walk into parliament but not come by car. Authorities said it was unsafe for legislators to do so.

Police said around 9,000 "red-shirts" descended on parliament overnight after at least 20,000 Thaksin supporters had gathered on Sunday night at a city centre parade ground several kilometres (miles) away.

"We call for the government to dissolve the house and return power to the people," said pro-Thaksin leader Chalerm Yoobamrung.

Oxford-educated Abhisit won a parliamentary vote two weeks ago to become Thailand's third premier in four months, after a court on December 2 dissolved the former ruling People Power Party (PPP) loyal to Thaksin.

That verdict followed months of protests by the royalist People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), an anti-Thaksin group that blockaded Bangkok's airports earlier this month, causing huge damage to the economy.

Supporters of Thaksin, who is living in self-imposed exile to avoid a jail sentence for corruption, said the verdict in a vote fraud case was a "disguised coup" against the former government.

Abhisit rose to become prime minister with the help of defectors from the PPP and coalition parties previously allied with it.

The policy address to the upper and lower houses of parliament is a constitutional requirement before the government can start work on a raft of economic and social challenges facing Thailand.

Abhisit, 44, has vowed a "grand plan of reconciliation" and a 300 billion baht (8.6 billion dollar) economic stimulus package, but caused controversy by appointing a vocal supporter of the PAD's airport blockade as his foreign minister.

Abhisit reiterated on Monday that he had ordered police to avoid a repeat of clashes at parliament on October 7, when the PAD tried to stop then-premier Somchai Wongsawat, Thaksin's brother-in-law, delivering his policy speech.

The violence left two people dead and around 500 injured.

He said he had no plans to declare a state of emergency around parliament, but said that he would call elections only "at the appropriate time" and wanted to build confidence in the government first.

Twice-elected Thaksin is still loathed by the Bangkok-based elite in the military, palace and bureaucracy, who backed the PAD and see Thaksin as corrupt, authoritarian and a threat to their traditional power base.

But his populist policies won him huge support among the urban and rural poor, especially in his native north and northeast, where many of Sunday's protesters hailed from.

"I don't want the Democrat Party to form the government, and I don't want Abhisit Vejjajiva to be prime minister," company worker Saeng Arun said at the protest.

-Yahoo.

[John]

Israel bombs Gaza in 'all-out war' on Hamas

Israel bombed Gaza for a third day on Monday in an "all-out war" on Hamas, as tanks massed on the border and the Islamists fired deadly rockets to retaliate for the blitz that has killed nearly 320.

Anger over the mammoth bombing campaign spiralled in the Muslim world as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon once again deplored the violence, and efforts to hold talks between Syria and Israel were suspended as a result of the bombardment.

With Israeli tanks idling along the border of the battered Palestinian enclave , the army declared the area a closed military zone -- a move that in the past has often been followed by ground operations.

Defence Minister Ehud Barak, who has warned of a possible ground offensive, declared that the Jewish state was in "an all-out war with Hamas and its proxies."

"We will avoid as much as possible hitting civilians while the people of Hamas and other terrorists deliberately hide and operate within the civilian population," he told a parliamentary session.

At least 51 civilians, including children, have died as a result of the Israeli bombardment, a spokesman for the UN Palestinian refugee agency said.

Among the latest deaths were four girls from the same family, aged from one to 12 years old, who were killed in an air raid that targetted a mosque near their home, medics said.

In all, the Israeli blitz, unleashed on Saturday in retaliation for ongoing rocket and mortar fire from Gaza, has killed at least 312 Palestinians and wounded more than 1,400 others, according to Gaza medics.

Hamas militants remained defiant on Monday, firing nearly 40 rockets into Israel.

One of the projectiles slammed into a construction site in the southern city of Ashkelon some 13 kilometres (eight miles) north of the Gaza border, killing an Israeli Arab and wounding eight other people.

Amid mounting international concern over the humanitarian situation in aid-dependent territory of 1.5 million that Israel has kept virtually sealed since Hamas violently seized power there in June 2007, the Jewish state on Monday allowed the passage of basic supplies.

Some 80 truckloads of medicine and food were expected to pass through the Kerem Shalom crossing in Gaza's south, a military spokesman told AFP.

In another development, Turkey, one of Israel's leading allies in the Muslim world, announced that it was ending efforts to organise peace talks between Israel and Syria.

"The continuation of the talks under these conditions is naturally impossible," Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan told reporters after discussions with Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Abul Gheit.

"To make war on the Israeli-Palestinian track and at the same time make peace on the Israeli-Syrian track -- these two cannot go together," he said.

Parliament in Jordan -- one of two Arab countries to have signed a peace treaty with Israel -- demanded that the government " reconsider " relations with the Jewish state.

Hamas, the Islamist Palestinian movement branded a terror group by Israel and the West, has lashed out at the world for not doing enough to end the blitz.

Israel is "committing a holocaust as the whole world watches and doesn't lift a finger to stop it," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum told reporters.

The Islamists have warned they could resume suicide attacks against Israel for the first time since January 2005 to retaliate for the blitz.

Since the start of the Israeli onslaught on Saturday, Gaza militants have fired more than 250 rockets and mortars into the Jewish state, killing two people and wounding nearly two dozen more.

The Israeli offensive has sparked protests across the world, with demonstrations held in European capitals, Turkey, Egypt and Syria.

At a rally in Tehran on Monday, thousands shouted "Down with Israel" and "Down with the USA" as they carried banners reading "We should all rise and destroy Israel."

Israel unleashed "Operation Cast Lead" against Hamas in the middle of Saturday morning, with some 60 warplanes bombing more than 50 targets in just a few minutes.

The Israeli blitz came after days of spiralling violence since the expiry of the Gaza truce. It comes less than two months before snap parliamentary elections in Israel called for February 10.

-Yahoo.

[John]

Bangladeshis flock to peaceful polls

Bangladeshis turned out in their droves Monday to vote in elections marking the end of two years of emergency rule, with a pair of rival former prime ministers vying to reclaim power in the impoverished nation.

Amid tight security, the first polls since 2001 saw a turnout as high as 70 percent, with none of the violence that forced the last scheduled vote to be cancelled and an army-backed interim government take control.

Long queues formed early outside voting stations as hundreds of thousands of police and troops stood ready to avert clashes between party activists or any attacks by Islamic extremists.

Despite efforts by the caretaker regime to shake up a political system long seen as deeply corrupt, the two leading candidates were former prime ministers who ruled alternately since 1991 and whose mutual hatred paralysed the country politically.

Sheikh Hasina Wajed of the Awami League, and Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), wooed voters with promises of cheaper food, action against Islamic militancy and curbs on corruption.

The women, who were themselves jailed on corruption charges by the current regime before being released to contest the elections , warned of voter fraud but said they would not challenge the result.

After voting in the capital Dhaka, Sheikh Hasina questioned how some ballot papers had been distributed but insisted, "I want the election to take place peacefully. Whatever the result is, we all should accept it."

Zia appeared confident of victory. "If a free and fair election takes place today, we will win with a landslide victory like 2001 election," she said.

Analysts say the result is far from certain with a third of the 81 million electorate voting for the first time, and there are concerns a smooth transfer of power could prove difficult if no clear winner emerges.

Election commission secretary Humayun Kabir said the turnout had been about 70 percent. Final results were due after midnight (1800 GMT Monday).

Some 50,000 armed troops were on alert nationwide, while 600,000 police officers were deployed to crack down on voter fraud or disruptions at the 35,000 polling booths.

But a UN-funded digital electoral roll, which has eliminated 12.7 million fake names, appeared to have resolved many of the problems that have hit previous Bangladesh elections.

At one polling station in Dhaka, voters lined up with their new photograph ID cards in hand.

"I'm a first-time voter and the atmosphere couldn't be any better," Mamun Howlader, a 21-year-old mechanic, told AFP.

"There's a festive atmosphere. It's fun."

Fakhruddin Ahmed, a former banker who has run Bangladesh under the interim administration, said the polls would "bring back power to an elected government and the country can prosper."

The vote was monitored by some 200,000 electoral observers, including 2,500 from abroad.

Police captured two dozen militants in recent days and seized explosives, grenades and bombs, but campaigning and voting was otherwise free of the widespread unrest witnessed previously.

In one of the few incidents reported Monday, 12 people were injured in a brawl between rival supporters outside a polling booth in the south.

Elsewhere, about 25 people were arrested early Monday for handing out cash bribes, and there were minor scuffles between Awami League and BNP supporters.

The army-backed government took power in January 2007 following months of political unrest in which at least 35 people were killed.

The deaths prompted President Iajuddin Ahmed to cancel elections and impose a state of emergency that was lifted only on December 17.

Bangladesh, a desperately poor nation of 144 million people, has a history of coups and counter-coups since winning independence from Pakistan in 1971.

The Awami League and the BNP have often been accused of anti-democratic tactics, with both crippling the country during their spells in opposition by boycotting parliament and staging national strikes.

The winner of Monday's election, either a single party or a coalition, needs a simple majority of the 300 seats in the National Assembly.

-Yahoo.

[John]

South Africa says Zimbabwe arrests should not delay unity

South Africa said on Monday that the arrest of a leading human rights campaigner should not delay the formation of a unity government, despite opposition threats to pull out of a power-sharing deal over the issue.

Jestina Mukoko, head of a local rights group, and eight other activists were last week charged with recruiting or attempting to recruit Zimbabweans to undergo military training to topple the government.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has said he will ask his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party to suspend negotiations with President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF if abductions of MDC members continue and if the arrested activists are not brought to court by Thursday.

"We think the most important step is to form a unity government," South African Presidential spokesman Thabo Masebe told Reuters. "There are many issues that need to be addressed by a unity government. This is one of them."

Influential South Africa is the continent's biggest economy and current chair of regional group of nations SADC.

Zimbabwe has appealed to its highest court against a High Court ruling ordering the release of Mukoko and her co-accused to a local hospital. The court also ordered 23 other mainly opposition activists to be freed from police custody because their detention was illegal.

The activists' lawyers said police were using delaying tactics to keep them in custody.

They appeared in court on Monday in green uniforms with their hands and feet shackled. The session was expected to start shortly.

South Africa has reversed an earlier decision to hold back $30 million in agricultural aid to Zimbabwe until a unity government is formed, said Masebe.

He said a humanitarian crisis made worse by a cholera epidemic that has killed over 1,500 people had become too serious and agricultural and other supplies were badly needed.

SADC has failed in mediation to pressure Zimbabwe's rival parties to implement the power-sharing deal seen as the best chance for easing an economic crisis marked by hyper-inflation and severe shortages of basic goods.

Tsvangirai won the first round of voting in March but fell short of the majority needed to become president, triggering a run-off which Mugabe won after the MDC leader pulled out citing violent attacks on his supporters.

-Yahoo.

[John]

Afghan suicide bomb kills at least two

A suicide bomber detonated a car packed with explosives outside a government office north of the Afghan capital Kabul on Monday, killing at least two people and injuring more than a dozen, an official said.

The attack happened as Afghan provincial authorities and U.S. forces held a weekly meeting inside the office of the governor of Parwan province in the local capital of Charikar, a politician from the province told Reuters.

A U.S. military vehicle was hit by the blast and was on fire, the politician said.

U.S. forces had blocked off the area in Charikar, 60 km (37 miles) north of Kabul, she added.

Interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary, in Kabul, said no provincial officials were killed in the attack, the latest in a spell of intensifying violence this year in Afghanistan.

"The suicide car bomber blow himself up outside the governor's office on the road," Bashary said.

"The car belonging to foreigners was his target and the attack has resulted in the deaths of two Afghan civilians and 18 more were wounded," he said.

"A translator for the foreigners and possibly some of them have been wounded too."

The incident came a day after 16 people, 14 of them children, were killed in a suicide attack outside a government building in southeastern Khost province, according to NATO-led forces.

Afghanistan is going through the bloodiest period of violence since U.S.-led troops overthrew the Taliban government in 2001, despite the deployment of more foreign troops.

Nearly 5,000 people, including more than 200 foreign troops, have been killed this year in the country, which some analysts say may slide back into anarchy.

The al Qaeda-backed Taliban, who have made a comeback since 2005, are largely active in southern and eastern areas, dominated by ethnic Pashtuns who form the bulk of the militants near the border with Pakistan.

Factors such as endemic corruption, lack of the rule of law, insecurity, slow economic development and civilian casualties caused by foreign troops while hunting militants have helped the Taliban gain public support and attract recruits.

U.S.-led troops overthrew the Taliban government after it refused to hand over al Qaeda leaders wanted by Washington for masterminding the September 11 attacks on the United States.

More than seven years on, several Taliban and al Qaeda leaders are still at large.

There are about 70,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, and the United States plans to send up to 30,000 more by the summer.

-Yahoo.

[John]

Stalin Is Given Surprise Honour

Mass-murdering tyrant Joseph Stalin has been voted the third greatest Russian ever in a national poll.

http://news.sky.com/sky-news/content/StaticFile/jpg/2008/Dec/Week4/15195002.jpg

The Name For Russia survey, run by the Rossiya TV station and inspired by 2002's Great Britons poll, received millions of votes.

The top place went to medieval Russian king Alexander Nevsky, who defeated invading Teutonic crusaders from Germany and Sweden in a battle on the frozen River Neva in the 1200s.

In second place was Piotr Stolypin, a prime minister under Tsar Nicholas II who tried to modernise Russia in the years before the 1917 revolutions but was assassinated.

Stalin, the Georgian-born Soviet leader responsible for the deaths of millions of Russians, received 519,000 votes from the public - just 5,000 fewer than Alexander Nevsky.

His popularity in the long-running survey, which at one point he was leading, has raised eyebrows.

-SkyNews.

[John]

Saddam loyalists face new charges

An Iraqi court has opened a new trial against two members of Saddam Hussein's regime on charges of persecuting political opponents while in power.

The two defendants are Saddam's foreign minister, Tariq Aziz and the dictator's cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid, also known as Chemical Ali.

Majid has already received two death sentences by Iraq's courts.

Some of the alleged crimes were against members of current prime minister Nouri al-Maliki's Dawa party.

The BBC's Caroline Wyatt in Baghdad says Aziz, Majid and more than 20 other defendants are charged with "crimes against humanity" over the alleged persecution of members of the Dawa party, founded in the 1950s.

Nouri al-Maliki, who became Iraq's prime minister in 2006, joined the Dawa party as a young man in 1970.

But he fled Iraq in 1979 and lived as an opposition leader abroad until 2003 and was himself sentenced to death in absentia by Saddam's Baath party government.

The other new charges put forward by the prosecutor in the Baghdad court centre on the arrest of up to 200,000 members of Iraq's political parties - many of whom were sent to jail or executed between 1981 and the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.

Majid, considered by many to be Saddam Hussein's right-hand during his years of power, is currently being tried on separate charges over a gas attack that killed some 5,000 Iraqi Kurds in 1988.

Earlier, he was sentenced to death for his role in crushing a Shia uprising in 1991.

And in February, the former defence minister was condemned to hang for genocide over the killing of 100,000 people during the 1988 Anfal campaign against Iraq's Kurds.

-BBC.

[John]

'Youngest' baby has brain glue op

A UK baby has become one of the youngest in the world to undergo an operation using glue to reduce the size of a brain tumour.

Madison Quartarone was just a week old when the procedure was carried out at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital.

She was found to have a large, benign tumour, and glue was used to block the blood vessels supplying it, effectively starving it of nutrients.

The baby, from Bedford, is now said to be "doing well".

Neurosurgeon Dominic Thompson, who carried out the procedure, said he was not aware of any younger babies receiving it.

"If successful, it could be groundbreaking," he told the Bedfordshire on Sunday newspaper.

"Madison is not out of the woods yet but she does look remarkably well."

Madison, who is now eight weeks old, was born with an obviously swollen head, which meant that the tumour could be spotted quickly.

Mr Thompson said that it was "very unusual" for tumours to present themselves so early in life.

During the procedure, a tube was guided into the blood vessels connected to the tumour, and the glue passed through it to seal them.

Scans have suggested that the treatment was having an impact, starving the tumour of nutrients and oxygen, and causing it to shrink.

Madison's grandfather Ian Chandler told the paper that she was now putting weight on, and the family was hopeful that the tumour would continue to reduce in size.

-BBC.

[John]

Pound hits new low against euro

The pound has hit a new record low against the euro as the grim outlook for the UK economy continues to put downward pressure on the currency.

Weak house price data and figures showing that homeowners are choosing to repay their mortgages rather than spending, pushed the currency lower.

Low trading levels in the foreign exchange markets also helped to force sterling down to 1.029 euros.

Many analysts believe parity with the euro is now only a matter of time.

The rate for tourists buying their currency before they travel has almost reached parity, where one pound buys one euro. At one major High Street currency exchange, 100 euros currently costs £99.11.

Downward pressure

Property consultants Hometrack predicted a 12% fall in UK property prices in 2009, while figures from the Bank of England showed that households were more keen to pay off their mortgages than borrow money against the value of their homes for spending.

Towards the end of October, one pound bought 1.287 euros. But a string a bad news about the prospects for the UK economy caused sterling to fall.

This time last year, a pound would have bought almost 1.5 euros. At its peak in 2000, the pound was worth more than 1.7 euros.

There are two main factors putting downward pressure on the pound, analysts suggest.

First, interest rates in the UK are lower than those in the eurozone, which makes the pound less attractive to foreign investors.

Analysts believe the economic slowdown in the UK will be more severe than in the eurozone, which means the Bank of England could be forced to lower interest rates from their current level of 2%.

Interest rates in the eurozone currently stand at 2.5% and the European Central Bank has hinted that further rate cuts are unlikely early in the New Year.

Second, trading levels over the holiday period are low, which means that any moves in exchange rates are exaggerated.

"Actual liquidity levels are painfully thin," said Daniel Baker at Informa Global Markets.

He believes parity with the euro is almost inevitable.

"The path to parity is self-fulfilling," he said.

-BBC.

[John]

Home loan repayments 'a priority'

UK homeowners are no longer cashing in on the value of their properties to fund spending, official figures show.

Quarterly Bank of England figures on housing equity withdrawal showed a second successive negative reading between July and September.

Housing equity withdrawal is when owners take out bigger mortgages, extracting money to spend on major purchases such as cars.

But households put £5.7bn of equity back into homes in the third quarter.

This came after they put £2bn back into their homes in the second three months of the year as property prices started to fall sharply.

This is in stark contrast to £5.6bn housing equity withdrawn in the first three months of the year and £11.1bn withdrawn in July to September last year.

The latest data shows that people are concentrating on repaying their mortgage, rather than adding to their debts.

Changing trend

Billions of pounds were extracted during the housing market boom as people saw the value of their property surge.
It was highest in the last three months of 2003 at £17.1bn, and was consistently above £11bn in each quarter of 2006.

This funded consumer spending, as it is defined in the figures as money that is not invested back into property or home improvements.

In April to June this year, the figure turned negative for the first time since the second quarter of 1998.

The latest statistic shows this trend has continued as it is the biggest injection of equity since the figures were first compiled in 1970.

"Not so long ago, an Englishman's house wasn't just his castle, it was his cash machine, too. This, very clearly, is no longer the case," said Andrew Montlake, partner at independent mortgage broker Cobalt Capital.

"People are scared stiff of recession and rising unemployment and are now paying down their debts rather than adding to them."

Lending squeeze

He added that for many people equity withdrawal was no longer an option, owing to the rapid dip in house prices.

The latest data from the Halifax showed the annual rate of house price falls dropped to 14.9% in November.

For those who still had equity in their homes, lenders were becoming more stringent as to whether homeowners could access it by extending their home loan, Mr Montlake said.

Mortgage lending as a whole has shrunk in the UK with the number of approvals from the major banks for house purchases 60% lower than a year ago, according to November figures from the British Bankers' Association.

Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight, said that housing equity withdrawal had "been used significantly to support consumer spending in recent years".

He added that the latest figures were further evidence that consumers were reluctant to spend, leading to UK economic growth contracting sharply in 2009.

-BBC.

[John]

Cholera deaths soar in Zimbabwe

The latest figures from the UN and Zimbabwe's health ministry reveal that two-thirds of the victims of the cholera outbreak have died this month.

The death toll at the end of last week stood at 1,564, with 29,131 suspected cases since August, the UN said.

Figures from the health ministry on 1 December put cholera deaths at 484.

The UN has warned it could take six months to control the outbreak that has been fuelled by the collapse of the health, sanitation and water services.

No food

According to the World Health Organization, cases have been reported in all 10 of Zimbabwe's provinces.

The overall Case Fatality Rate (CFR) has risen to 5.7% - far above the 1% which is normal in large outbreaks - and in some rural areas it has reached as high as 50%," the WHO said in a statement.

Last Tuesday, Unicef put the number of cholera deaths at 1,174.

Aid agencies say so many clinics and hospitals have closed that large sections of the population have no access to medical care.

The suburb of Budiriro in Harare's capital, has been worst hit by the outbreak, followed by Beitbridge on the border with South Africa.

South Africa has recorded 1,279 cases and 12 deaths - the bulk of these in the border region, the WHO says.

Over the weekend, Save the Children said some five million people in Zimbabwe - or about 50% of the country's population - were now in need of food aid.

President Robert Mugabe has been facing intensified criticism over the dire economic and humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe.

He signed a power-sharing deal with his rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, in September, intended to rescue the collapsing economy but progress has since stalled over who should control key ministries.

Mr Tsvangirai has threatened to pull out of power-sharing talks unless abductions of his supporters stop.

According to his Movement for Democratic Change, about 40 human rights activists and opposition supporters have been abducted in the past two months.

Meanwhile, the US envoy to Africa, Jendayi Frazer, has warned that last week's military coup in Guinea should serve as a warning of what could happen in Zimbabwe, if Mr Mugabe is allowed to cling to power and die in office.

-BBc.

[John]

UK Tamils polarised but powerful

For one bitter-sweet moment when he wakes up each morning, Anand believes he is still in Sri Lanka.

When a ferocious war between the Sinhalese-dominated government and Tamil Tiger rebels fighting for a separate homeland arrived at his doorstep in 1993, he fled to Britain.

"In my dreams, I go to Sri Lanka. I see my mother who is dead now. I see my old job," he says.

As evening draws in he listens to the radio for news of war, a clue as to where his future lies. "I don't feel British. When the problem is solved I will return."

But exactly how this problem should be solved is where another set of problems for Britain's close-knit Sri Lankan Tamil community begins.

They are articulate and organised campaigners but fear of being criminalised as a community, internal divisions, and the effects of a far-away war are taking a toll on refugees like Anand.

Financial muscle

For many Tamils settled in Britain, the only feasible solution to the war is a separate state - a land they call Eelam.

This is what the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are fighting for. And for years, many Tamils who fled alleged discrimination and conflict threw their financial muscle behind the LTTE.

The LTTE is considered to be a devastatingly effective rebel force. It has land and sea forces, a rudimentary air force, a notorious suicide-bombing squad and has been blamed for attacks on civilian targets in Sri Lanka.

But the general climate of opinion in the West on such groups has undergone a fundamental shift. In 2001, the LTTE was banned in the UK, under the Terrorism Act, and the EU followed suit in 2006.

This has had an impact, according to International Institute for Strategic Studies Asia security expert Rahul Roy-Chowdhury.

"For the past year-and-a-half… governments have become much tougher on funding. It's been tough for the Tigers to get sufficient funding," he says.

Many Tamils say they have noticed the effects of the proscription because there have been fewer residential visits by LTTE representatives for donations.

"They are scared of the government and they don't ask for money as much as before," said one woman who wished to remain anonymous.

"People gave £50, £100, whatever they can. And now they hold regular fund-raising activities," she said, pointing to what is possibly now a greater emphasis on fund-raising events rather than house-to-house visits.

Businesses are still targeted for substantial amounts, according to one well-respected Tamil businessman who also wished to withhold his name.

Paul Sathianesan came to Britain as an asylum seeker in 1985 and watched as refugees arriving in London with nothing transformed East Ham into a cornucopia of shops selling everything to be found under a Jaffna sun.

-BBC.

[lɐuǝɯo⊥ǝɥԀ]

This isnt a suprise, with Woolworths Gone, and Many Banks Collapsing its left people without jobs, Woolworths had 29,000 Employees, and many more jobs will be lost I think with the looming "Recession"

[John]

Barak: Israel in 'all-out war' with Hamas

"We have stretched our hand in peace many times to the Palestinian people. We have nothing against the people of Gaza," Defense Minister Ehud Barak said. "But this is an all-out war against Hamas and its branches."

Barak's remarks to parliament came as Israeli warplanes carried out a third day of strikes against the Palestinian militant group that rules Gaza.

The Palestinian death toll from the campaign has topped 300, most of them Hamas militants, Palestinian medical sources said Monday. The attacks also have wounded about 650 people, the sources said.

Columns of smoke rose over Gaza City, while Israeli tanks cruised along the edges of Gaza.

Iyad Nasr, a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, said the streets of Gaza were largely empty while airstrikes continued Monday morning.

"Very little number of cars are going out," he said. "People who need to secure some basic food supplies are all to go out, or people looking for a family member who is missing or going to a hospital."

A U.N. spokeswoman in Gaza City described the scene as chaotic and said Palestinians were "running in all directions" and had begun fighting among themselves.

More than 40 rockets were fired Monday despite the raids, according to Israeli police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld. More than 150 rockets have been launched into Israeli territory since the campaign began, Israel Defense Forces said.

One of the strikes killed an Israeli at a construction site in Ashkelon, 6 miles (10 kilometers) north of Gaza, and wounded eight others, a hospital spokeswoman said. The Israeli fatality is the second since the airstrikes began Saturday.

The White House on Monday called on Hamas to halt its ongoing rocket fire on Israel so calm can be restored in Gaza.

"In order for the violence to stop, Hamas must stop firing rockets into Israel and agree to respect a sustainable and durable cease-fire," said a statement from White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

Israel has struck more than 300 Hamas targets since Saturday, its military said.

The raids have fueled demonstrations around the Middle East and Europe, and the U.N. Security Council has called for both sides to immediately end the violence. However, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday that the campaign could last "for some time," and his Cabinet voted to call up 7,000 reservists.

So far, about 2,000 reservists have been activated, according to the government.

Hamas pledges it will defend its land and people from what it calls continued Israeli aggression. Each side blames the other for violating an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire. The truce formally expired December 19, but it had been weakening for months. Read analysis of what may happen next

An Israeli strike early Monday hit the Jabalya refugee camp, leaving five children dead in a home that was damaged when a nearby mosque was hit, said Dr. Mu'awiya Hassanein. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.

There was no indication of a ground operation inside the territory, but Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Sunday that Israel has not ruled out a push into Gaza. Livni defended the airstrikes, saying the raids have been aimed at "only military targets and places in which we know Hamas members are."

"Unfortunately, in this kind of attack, there are some civilian casualties," she said. "But Israel took all the necessary actions to warn the civilians before the attacks to leave the places they know that Hamas stays."

Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian parliament member, flatly blamed the violence on the Israeli "occupation" of the Palestinian territories and dismissed Israeli claims that it is targeting only Hamas.

"This is not a war on Hamas; it is a war on the Palestinian people," he said. "The Israeli politicians are using this bloodbath, which is the worst since 1967, for their election campaigns. This is insane."

Both Livni and Barak will be vying in February for the prime minister's post against former prime minister and Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

On Sunday, Israel agreed to requests from the Red Cross and others to allow 30 trucks loaded with fuel, food and medical supplies to pass into Gaza.

But Nasr, the Red Cross spokesman, said Israeli sanctions had left Gaza's hospitals "almost incapable of functioning" even before the weekend's attacks, and those facilities are now "bleeding every resource available."

"These supplies will increase by a little bit the quality of the services available to the victims, but it's far from meeting the needs of such medical facilities," Nasr said.

In the West Bank, Saeb Erakat, adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, has urged Israeli and Hamas leaders to put another cease-fire in place.

The power base of Abbas' Fatah party is in the West Bank. The party is locked in a power struggle with Hamas, which won parliamentary elections in January 2006 and wrested Gaza from Fatah in violent clashes last year. Abbas, a U.S. ally, wields little influence in Gaza.

-CNN.

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Downing Street has said it was "appalled" at the deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip after a third day of Israeli air strikes against the Palestinian enclave.

As the death toll rose above 325 and Israel promised a "war to the bitter end", Number 10 stepped up demands for a halt to the violence from both sides.

And United Nations secretary general Ban Ki Moon has condemned Israel's actions as "excessive" and demanded an immediate ceasefire.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown held talks with his Israeli counterpart, Ehud Olmert, in which he urged access for humanitarian teams.

The devastation caused by the strikes have overwhelmed hospitals and exacerbated shortages of fuel, food and medicines in Gaza.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "We are appalled by the continuing violence in Gaza and reiterate our call to Israel and Hamas for an immediate ceasefire to prevent further loss of innocent life.

"In his discussions with Prime Minister Olmert and (Palestinian Authority) President (Mahmoud) Abbas, the Prime Minister has also pressed for full, unimpeded and urgent access for medical teams: a humanitarian breathing space. We must redouble the international effort to ensure that both Israel and Palestine have the land, rights and security to live in peace."

Israeli ministers insist their actions are designed to put an end to rocket attacks against their own territory, which have so far claimed two lives.

In a statement earlier, Foreign Secretary David Miliband expressed "grave concern" over the situation. "The rise in rocket attacks on Israel since December 19, and yesterday's massive loss of life, make this a dangerous moment which should be of concern to the whole of the international community," he said.

Campaigners throughout Britain organised emergency demonstrations, with many protesters gathering outside the Israeli embassy in west London. Members of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign also gathered in towns and cities including Cardiff, Birmingham, Halifax and Sheffield.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

Shadow foreign secretary William Hague has defended his work outside Parliament, claiming that political life was improved by MPs having interests outside politics.

Mr Hague dismissed reports that he led a revolt of shadow cabinet members against a demand from leader David Cameron for them to give up their outside interests, insisting that no such request had been made.

But he said he had given up some external work since returning to the Conservative front benches and would "run down" his non-political activities as the General Election gets nearer.

Mr Hague has long been one of the House of Commons' highest-earning MPs, in demand for speaking engagements bringing in £10,000 or more a time. The latest Register of MPs' Interests lists paid employment worth at least £230,000, including two directorships, advice to three companies and a string of speeches.

But he told BBC Radio 4's World at One: "I take what you might regard as an old-fashioned view but I think is still the correct view, that actually you can gain in your effectiveness as a politician from a wide acquaintance with the world and from a degree of independence that having some outside interests gives.

"That is my personal view, and I think it has made me a better politician having these interests than I was before."

Mr Hague, who has written books on Prime Minister William Pitt and anti-slavery campaigner William Wilberforce while serving as MP for Richmond, dismissed as "rubbish" accusations that he and other shadow cabinet ministers were less effective in their work for the party because they do not devote themselves to it 100% of the time.

"I have written books on history, on Pitt and Wilberforce. I think it is a net gain to politics for some of us to have interests of that kind and I think it has been a net gain to British politics over a very long period for politicians to have some of these sorts of interests."

He dismissed claims that Mr Cameron was facing a revolt from shadow cabinet members who do not want to give up outside interests as "complete nonsense".

"There has been no such revolt because there has been no such proposal," said Mr Hague. "I have never had any such discussion with him, because he knows that I work more than full-time on politics and so do my colleagues in the shadow cabinet."

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

The alleged victim of a nightclub brawl for which footballer Steven Gerrard was arrested is a DJ there, police sources have confirmed.

The Liverpool FC and England star remains in police custody after the 34-year-old Southport man was taken to hospital with facial injuries.

Sources confirmed the man was an employee of the Lounge Inn, in Southport, Merseyside, where the midfielder and five other men were arrested on suspicion of assault.

Gerrard, 28, was at the Bold Street restaurant and bar - which turns into a nightclub - with friends to celebrate Liverpool's 5-1 destruction of Newcastle United.

The sister of the Lounge Inn co-owner, Dario Curcillo, said the footballer was in the club to celebrate his team's win over Newcastle United earlier in the day.

She said: "As far as I know he comes here regularly and it was just a normal night at the bar. I don't know anything about what happened last night." She added that her brother was unavailable for comment.

A Liverpool FC spokesman said the club would not be commenting on their captain's arrest.

A police spokesman said: "Merseyside Police are investigating an assault that took place in the early hours of Monday December 29 on Bold Street in Southport. At around 2.30am this morning officers attended a disturbance at a licensed premises on Bold Street.

"Six men were arrested on suspicion of section 20 assault on Lord Street. The men, four aged 33, 31, 29 and 19, who all come from the Huyton area, a 28-year-old man from Formby and an 18-year-old man from Litherland remain in police custody.

"A 34-year-old man from Southport was taken to hospital with facial injuries which are not believed to be life-threatening."

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

Retailers will continue to slash prices in 2009, shoppers have been told, as another high street chain went into administration.

Fashion vendor USC became the latest casualty of the decline in consumer spending, following childrenswear chain Adams which has confirmed it had called in administrators.

The huge crowds which gathered for pre and post-Christmas sales made the high street look healthy but shoppers have only spent cautiously, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), and the last minute boost will not compensate for a bleak period for retailers.

Richard Dodd from the BRC said: "It's been a very busy few days, many of the sales started earlier this year than they have done before. We have seen sustained interest since Boxing Day.

"It's good news that lots of shoppers are out there, and that the sales and promotions that retailers are using are creating valid interest. But it will still prove to be the case when the figures are in that as a whole it has been a poor December."

This year's Christmas spending is expected to be lower than the same period in 2007 when figures are released next month.

As shoppers continue to worry about worsening economic conditions, retailers will be forced to continue to slash prices to maintain sufficient interest, Mr Dodd said.

He added: "People are going to go on being worried about the housing market and about jobs and personal finances. They will be reluctant to spend so retailers will have to go on reducing prices substantially."

Supermarket giant Asda has launched a £19 suit for the second year running to lure in cash strapped shoppers. After the recent reduction in VAT, the black, single-breasted men's suit will come in at £18.60 at the till.

But the high street's woes continued as Adams and USC joined a string of firms which have collapsed recently including Woolworths, MFI and Zavvi. Whittard of Chelsea and The Officers Club also called in administrators, but were sold on.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

A man appeared in court accused of attempting to murder a nurse who was found locked in the boot of her own car.

Justice Ngema, 35, appeared in private at Linlithgow Sheriff Court charged with attempting to murder Magdeline Makola.

The 38-year-old nurse, of Livingston in West Lothian, is recovering in hospital after being found on Boxing Day, 11 days after she went missing.

Ngema, originally from South Africa but living in Airdrie, Lanarkshire, made no plea or declaration during the brief hearing, and was remanded in custody.

Ms Makola had not been seen since she left work at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary on December 15.

Concerns were initially raised when the South African-born nurse failed to turn up for her shift on December 18 and she was reported missing.

An investigation was launched and Ms Makola was discovered by police in the red Vauxhall Astra in Airdrie on December 26.

Lothian and Borders Police said Ms Makola had been left "severely traumatised" and could have been locked in the boot for up to 10 days.

She is being treated in Monklands Hospital in Lanarkshire, where she is said to be in a stable condition.

Ngema is due to appear in court again on Tuesday, January 6.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

Fatal stabbings have reached a record high of five every week, preliminary police figures have shown.

Statistics obtained by Tory spokesman James Brokenshire from police forces in England and Wales revealed there were 277 knife murders between April 2007 and April 2008.

If confirmed, the number will be the highest since records began 30 years ago and represent a rise of 38% since 1999.

The previous highest stabbing total was 265 in 2002-2003 and the death toll for 2006-2007 was 258.

The figures were released under the Freedom of Information Act from all but one force, Bedfordshire. Stabbing murders in London rose by a quarter, up from 68 in 2006-7 to 86 last year, the figures showed.

In both West Yorkshire and Northumbria fatal stabbings rose from ten to 15 and in Lancashire they more than trebled from four in 2006-7 to 13 last year.

The figures may change before their official release in the New Year if the police or the courts decide some homicides should be reclassified.

But the raw data is likely to reignite the debate about Government efforts to crack down on knife crime.

Shadow home affairs minister Mr Brokenshire said: "Knife crime is a scourge which claims too many lives and ruins countless others. Yet under Labour it has soared.

"The Government's only response is short term, ad-hoc police operations, the results of which they spin and manipulate anyway to try and get a good story. 2009 must herald a new approach."

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

Three children have been held captive at gunpoint while their father was forced to take money from his workplace shop.

The children, one aged 15 and the other two aged eight, were put in their bedroom after two assailants, one carrying a handgun, entered their house in Lisburn, Co Down, Northern Ireland.

The father and mother were held in another part of the house and the father was forced to go to his work at Next in Belfast and hand over cash, totalling "less than £50,000", to the gang.

A police spokesman said the family had been freed.

"While they were not physically harmed, they were very upset by their ordeal," he said.

Police are appealing for information on a car which was used in the robbery. The silver Mitsubishi Charisma, registration number NCZ 7782, was taken from the family's home.

Anyone who saw suspicious activity in the Lagmore area of Lisburn, or saw the Mitsubishi Charisma in the area of Donegall Place and Royal Avenue, is asked to contact detectives.

Police are advising all businesses to ensure they have proper safety measures in place for their staff and premises.

A Next spokeswoman said: "The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) are investigating an incident that occurred in our Belfast Donegall Place store this morning.

"Next is cooperating fully with the ongoing police investigation. At this point in time, our main concern is the welfare and support of the individuals affected by the incident."

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

A National Health Service Trust spent almost £9,000 sending three members of staff to a conference in Australia, it was disclosed.

Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust sent three delegates to the International Conference on Early Psychosis held in Melbourne between October 20 and 22.

A spokeswoman said three members of the Trust's early intervention service attended the event.

She said: "Staff flew out on economy flights and stayed in standard rooms in the Holiday Inn.

"The total cost for each member of staff, which includes flights, visas, accommodation, meals, travel to and from the airport and attending the conference was £2,885.

"The conference provided an opportunity for staff to hear about the latest research into early intervention services and bring back best practice examples which can be brought into Lancashire Care's service, ultimately improving the service for patients and their carers.

"This is in line with Lancashire Care's commitment to research and evidence-based practice."

She said three consultant psychiatrists also attended the conference to present research papers but this was not funded by the Trust.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

A British businessman convicted of having sex on a Dubai beach has said he was just "in the wrong place at the wrong time".

Vince Acors, 34, admitted being "extremely naive" but insisted heavy drinking and public shows of affection between unmarried couples were common in the Arab emirate.

He and publishing executive Michelle Palmer, 36, received three-month jail terms from a Dubai court in October for unmarried sex and public indecency. The sentences were suspended on appeal last month and the pair were allowed to return to the UK before Christmas.

Acors, of Bromley, south east London, denied he had sexual intercourse with Palmer, of Oakham, Rutland.

But he admitted "physical contact" took place on Dubai's Jumeirah Beach, where they were arrested in the early hours of July 5.

The businessman said many reports about the case were exaggerated and some were "complete lies".

"Because of the worldwide publicity, I feel that the Dubai authorities had no real choice other than to find us guilty in this situation," he added.

"In the bars and clubs people are affectionate. You see local guys with Western girls, you see ex-pats, you see holidaymakers. All these people are involved in relationships with people of the opposite sex that they're not married to. This is something that goes on openly in Dubai. We just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Acors went to Dubai in July on a three-day business trip hoping to drum up work for his telecoms company, which specialises in text message services, when he met Palmer, who was then working in Dubai.

He added: "The definition of sex in this country is different to the definition of sex in the Middle East. There would have been some physical contact, but intercourse did not take place."

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

A father who accidentally killed his daughter by dropping a television on her head has paid tribute to his "bright, clever girl".

Emily May Hughes, four, died on Christmas Day after a freak accident at her home the day before.

Her father Robert, a design engineer, did not know the little girl was beneath his feet as he struggled downstairs with a "heavy, deep, bulky," widescreen television. He stumbled into her and dropped the set, pinning her down.

Emily was treated at hospital but died from a "catastrophic brain injury" that stopped her pulse and blood pressure, an inquest at Liverpool Coroner's Court heard.

Issuing a statement from the family home in Coedpoeth, Wrexham, Mr Hughes and his wife, Louise, said: "Emily is part of a large, well-known local family here in Coedpoeth, her mother Louise has worked as a youth worker here for 10 years.

"We'd like to thank everyone for their support, including phone calls from round the world, flowers and cards. The funeral, on a date to be arranged, will be a celebration of her life. Emily was a bright, clever girl, well liked by everybody, caring and kind.

"She had a real talent for singing, and had done solos in the school concert just before Christmas. We will miss her, and will never forget her."

Coroner Andre Rebello recorded a verdict of accidental death.

Mr Rebello said: "This was a tragic accident and this will always be a difficult time in the future with every Christmas. It is every parent's worst nightmare for their child's funeral to take place before their own.

"I hope the family can recover from this tragedy and celebrate the joy of Emily's life. Emily will not have suffered and not have known about this injury. I pass on my sincere condolences to the family."

-Nova

[Will]

I knew this was going to be about England when I saw the headline. When you take away peoples guns, you have two opposite reactions. Innocent people cant defend themselves, and murderer's get a little stabby.

[John]

Celeb BB house gets bling treatment

Channel 4 has released pictures of the new Celebrity Big Brother house, showing carousel horses in the garden and a glamorous bathroom fit for the stars.

The pictures reveal the bathroom area decked out with bling including gold statues.

A regal-looking chaise longue in red and gold also adorns the house.

The bedroom has a red and brown theme, with large red stars running through the carpet.

A couple of exercise bikes also feature in the swanky pad, helping the contestants to keep in shape.

The garden, with its walls painted ice blue, features three white carousel horses as well as an enclosed area behind bars.

This year's non-celebrity version of the show had featured a "jail" in the garden, for housemates needing to be punished.

The celebrities entering the house will be officially revealed on Friday - the day the show starts, although unconfirmed rumours of who will take part have already been rife. Names appearing in reports of those tipped to be poised to enter the house have included presenter Ulrika Jonsson, Liberty X's Michelle Heaton and former Sugababe Mutya Buena.

Excited bookies have already started offering odds on the winner, despite the official list not being released yet, in anticipation of a million pound turnover.

William Hill placed Jonsson at 6/1 to win the new series and 12/1 to be the first to be voted off. The bookmaker is offering 1/2 that one of the celebrities throws a strop and walks out of the house. William Hill is also offering odds of 10/1 that Channel 4 will take the show off air before the scheduled end to the run, and 5/6 that the producer decides that this series will be the last.

-Yahoo.

[John]

Taiwan's ex-president back behind bars pending corruption trial

A Taiwanese court Tuesday ordered ex-president Chen Shui-bian to be locked up pending his trial on corruption charges that the former leader has dismissed as a witch hunt by the China-friendly government.

The Taipei District Court's decision reversed an earlier ruling and saw the former pro-independence leader sent back to the Tucheng detention centre outside the capital after spending just over two weeks free pending trial.

The judges said in their ruling they feared Chen could collude with other suspects, destroy evidence or flee the island unless he was detained.

The ruling is the latest twist in a long-running saga involving the former leader, who was arrested in November and charged with embezzlement and money laundering only to be released on December 13.

Since then, Chen and his lawyers had been battling state prosecutors' attempts to have him put back in custody.

Chen, who left office in May after serving a maximum two terms as president, is the island's first former leader to be detained on criminal charges and faces life in prison if convicted.

One of the former president's lawyers, Cheng Wen-lung, described the ruling as "unfair" and vowed to appeal.

"The ruling is not a surprise, because apparently it is the result of politics intervening in justice," the lawyer said. "My client... said he would keep striving to prove his innocence," he said.

Shortly before the court session opened, Chen's lawyers had asked the three judges not to review an earlier decision made by a different panel of judges in the same court.

The change of the judges "indicated that [President] Ma Ying-jeou has been trying everything he can to put the former president into jail", said parliamentarian Lai Ching-teh of the pro-independence opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which Chen once led.

Another DPP parliamentarian, Kao Chih-peng, threatened to take supporters on to Taipei's streets to protest against what he said was political persecution, an allegation denied by Ma's ruling Kuomintang.

Chen, 58, has repeatedly insisted that the charges against him are politically motivated, accusing Ma's Beijing-friendly government of leading a witch hunt.

The former president and his wife, Wu Shu-chen, are accused of embezzling 104 million Taiwan dollars (3.15 million US) in public funds and accepting a bribe of about 12 million US dollars in a land purchase deal.

Prosecutors also allege that Wu took a kickback of 2.7 million US dollars in a construction project.

Their son and daughter-in-law were also charged with money laundering.

Chen, who came to power eight years ago pledging to fight corruption, has admitted his wife wired 20 million US dollars abroad but said the money was from past campaign funds and she did so without his knowledge.

His family has agreed to turn over 21 million US dollars found in their Swiss bank accounts to the Taipei government.

No date for Chen's trial or his next court appearance had yet been set, a court official said.

-Yahoo.

[John]

Sarah Palin becomes a Grandma

Sarah Palin's 18-year-old daughter Bristol has reportedly given birth to a son.

Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston was born on Sunday and weighed 7lb 4oz (3.3 kilogram).

"The baby is fine and Bristol is doing well. Everyone is excited," Sarah Palin's aunt Colleen Jones told a magazine.

Shortly after being chosen as Republican presidential candidate John McCain's vice presidential running mate last summer, Sarah Palin revealed that her 18-year-old daughter was pregnant.

The announcement won big headlines on the first day of the Republican National Convention in September.

Mrs Palin said Bristol, who was 17 at the time, intended to marry the father, Levi Johnston a former high school classmate.

Mr McCain's Democratic opponent Barack Obama, who went on to win the election, told supporters to respect the Palin family's privacy. Conservatives praised Bristol Palin's decision to have the baby rather than seeking an abortion.

Mr Johnston's mother, Sherry, was arrested on drug charges earlier this month after an undercover narcotics investigation.

Mrs Palin and husband Todd have five children Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper and Trig.

-Yahoo.

[John]

Death toll rises in Canada avalanche

Rescue workers have recovered the bodies of six of the eight snowmobilers caught in avalanches in Canada's Rocky Mountains. Skip related content
Two men are still unaccounted for and are believed to be buried in the snow, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

The accident happened on Sunday about 40 km (25 miles) south of Fernie, British Columbia.

"There are six bodies recovered, and we're still looking for two more," said RCMP Corporal Chris Faulkner, who acknowledged it was very unlikely the missing men were still alive.

Eleven snowmobilers were caught in two slides in Harvey Pass, a backcountry recreation area popular with local residents in southeast British Columbia. Three people dug themselves out and suffered minor injuries.

The snowmobilers were residents of the nearby coal mining community of Sparwood, British Columbia.

They were experienced in winter travel in the rugged area, but ignored warnings of a high danger of avalanches in the region, which has received more than 70 cm (28 inches) of snow in recent days.

The threat of new slides slowed rescue efforts and technicians used explosives to stabilize the mountain snow before ground crews could safely begin searching the site on Monday morning.

It took two of the men who survived about 20 minutes to dig themselves free. They then rescued a third man, but the danger of additional avalanches forced them to leave the area on foot before they could dig for anyone else.

Radio beacons carried by the victims help search crews locate their bodies in the snow, police said.

-Yahoo.

[John]

Israel presses on with Gaza attacks

Israel rejected any truce with Hamas Islamists on Tuesday and said it was ready for "long weeks of action" on a fourth day of the fiercest air offensive in the Gaza Strip in decades.

As Israeli armoured vehicles and troops were massed along the border for a possible invasion, Israeli warplanes pressed on with strikes, killing 12 Palestinians, including a pair of sisters, aged 10 and 12, in attacks on Hamas targets.

Medical officials put the total Palestinian death toll since Israel launched its offensive on Saturday as Gaza gunmen stepped up rocket fire, at 348 and more than 800 wounded. A United Nations agency said at least 62 of the dead were civilians.

The latest Israeli attacks came hours after rockets fired by Gazan militants killed an Israeli soldier near the border with Gaza and a civilian in the city of Ashdod.

With six weeks to go to an election that polls suggest the hawkish right-wing Likud party will win, Israel's centrist government says the offensive aims to put a stop to the rockets.

Israeli Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit said "there is no room for a cease-fire" with Hamas before the threat of rocket fire has been removed. "The Israeli army must not stop the operation before breaking the will of the Palestinians, of Hamas, to continue to fire at Israel," he told Israel Radio.

The Israeli military "has made preparations for long weeks of action," added Matan Vilnai, a deputy defence minister, in separate broadcast remarks.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum has urged Palestinian groups to respond using "all available means" against Israel, including "martyrdom operations," meaning suicide bombings.

Israeli missiles flattened five ministerial buildings and a structure belonging to the Islamic University in Gaza City on Tuesday, witnesses said.

Another strike in northern Gaza's Beit Hanoun, killed two young girls taking out the trash near their home, medical workers and witnesses said. Later a security man was killed in a strike on a headquarters in Khan Yunis, medics and Hamas said.

-Yahoo.

[John]

Thai PM dodges protesters to give first speech

Thailand's new prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva gave his inaugural policy speech Tuesday, but only after protesters blockaded parliament for a second day and forced him to switch the venue.

The British-born leader, who was elected in a parliamentary vote about two weeks ago, instead addressed lawmakers at the foreign ministry as supporters of ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra showed no sign of budging.

Hundreds of riot police armed with shields made repeated efforts to create a path for MPs to enter parliament but more than 2,000 red-shirted demonstrators calling for new elections refused to back down.

"My government will restore normalcy to the country and make Thailand victorious," the 44-year-old Abhisit said in his speech, which was shown live on national television.

Abhisit said he wanted to heal Thailand's economic, social and political wounds after months of protests against the previous pro-Thaksin government, including the crippling occupation of Bangkok's airports earlier this month.

"The urgent measures in the first year are restoring confidence and stimulating the economy," he added.

The opposition boycotted the speech, while about 1,000 flag-waving demonstrators moved from parliament to block the gates of the foreign ministry to stop lawmakers from leaving, before organisers called them off.

"We are going back to parliament to plot out decisive action. This government lacks legitimacy and is unconstitutional," core organiser Suporn Atthawong told the crowd at the ministry.

Loyalists of Thaksin, who was ousted in a 2006 coup, say Abhisit's government is not legitimate as he came to power after the Thaksin-linked former ruling party was dissolved by a court this month in a vote fraud case.

The election of the Oxford-educated Abhisit ended six months of increasingly disruptive protests by anti-Thaksin group the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which peaked with the airport blockade.

The yellow-clad PAD said the ruling People Power Party (PPP) was simply a puppet for twice-elected Thaksin, who lives abroad to avoid being jailed on a corruption conviction.

The week-long closure of the airports in November and early December caused massive economic damage and hurt the country's vital tourism industry.

Under the constitution, a new prime minister must give a speech outlining policy before his government can start work, and Abhisit said he would try to win back tourists put off by the airport chaos, which drew worldwide attention.

"The government will restore the confidence of foreign tourists and speed measures to stimulate tourism and investment," he said, as well as promising stimulus measures for exports, agriculture and industry.

Abhisit's own foreign minister played a leading role in the airport blockade, further angering Thaksin supporters and causing concern in diplomatic circles.

Thailand remains deeply divided between supporters of Thaksin and elements of the old power cliques in the military, palace and bureaucracy who felt threatened by his immense popularity with the rural poor.

Supporters of Thaksin said the dissolution of the PPP on December 2 was a "disguised coup" and want parliament dissolved. Elections are not due until 2011.

The protesters began gathering Sunday and about 9,000 of them sealed off parliament on Monday, forcing repeated delays of Abhisit's policy statement. Police said the numbers had dwindled to about 2,000 by Tuesday morning.

Authorities are keen to prevent a repeat of clashes outside parliament on October 7, when two people were killed and nearly 500 injured as the PAD tried to prevent then-premier Somchai Wongsawat from giving his first policy speech.

Abhisit, who is Thailand's third premier in four months, rose to the position with the help of defectors from the PPP and coalition parties previously allied with it.

-Yahoo.

[John]

Pakistan says India should stand down troops

Pakistan called on India on Tuesday to deactivate its air bases, return troops to "peacetime" positions and resume a dialogue suspended after last month's militant attacks in Mumbai.

Tension between the nuclear-armed neighbours has been running high since gunmen killed 179 people in the attacks on India's financial hub. India says the attackers were trained in Pakistan.

"I believe if India deactivates its forward air bases and similarly, relocates its troops to peacetime positions, that will be a positive step," Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said in a televised address.

"I believe by this, the existing tension in the region will be reduced," he said.

Pakistan has condemned the Mumbai attacks and has denied any role, blaming "non-state actors."

India, the United States and Britain have blamed the attacks on Pakistan-based Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), set up by Pakistani security agencies in the late 1980s to fight Indian rule in the disputed Kashmir region.

The group was banned in Pakistan in 2002.

India is demanding Pakistan dismantle what it calls the infrastructure of terrorism and has put a "pause" on a five-year peace process that had brought better ties between the old rivals.

ARMY LEAVE CANCELLED

The South Asian neighbours both tested nuclear weapons in 1998. They have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947 and came to the brink of a fourth after gunmen attacked the Indian parliament in December 2001.

As tension rose after the Mumbai attacks Pakistan cancelled army leave and moved a "limited number" of soldiers off the Afghan border "for defensive measures," military officials said.

The military has officially denied any build-up of forces on the Indian border, though a security official said some troops had been moved there.

India has said its troops were on stand-by, although it said it had made no new deployments since the Mumbai attacks.

Qureshi, who was in India on a visit aimed at boosting ties when the gunmen struck Mumbai, said the peace process was in the interests of both countries.

"We should not ignore the importance of dialogue. It's our point of view that pressure and coercion do not improve relations between friends but make them complicated. That should be avoided," he said.

"That will not benefit the two countries but those forces which tried to create tension and unease by this incident and put the peace of this region at stake."

-Yahoo.

[John]

Community reels after grisly 'Santa' massacre kills 9

A gunman dressed as Santa Claus who opened fire on a Christmas Eve party at the home of his ex-wife's family was planning to flee to Canada, police said, as a ninth body was recovered from the charred wreckage of the massacre.

Police said Bruce Pardo, 45, was found with 17,000 dollars taped to his body and a plane ticket to Canada after he killed himself following his murderous assault on the home of his former in-laws in the Los Angeles suburb of Covina.

The unemployed aerospace engineer burst into the property armed with four pistols shortly before midnight Wednesday and sprayed guests with bullets before the house erupted in flames.

The house was owned by James and Alicia Ortega, an elderly couple who were retired from their spray-painting business and who often invited their extended family to celebrate Christmas.

An eight-year-old girl who had opened the door to Pardo was shot in the face but survived. Later Friday, police released harrowing 9/11 calls apparently made by the girl's mother immediately after the incident.

"We need someone immediately. My daughter's been shot. She was shot in the face," the woman said, with the anguished high-pitched wailing of a child clearly audible in the background.

Pardo had recently gone through a bitter divorce with his wife -- who was reported to be among the dead -- but there were no further clues as to what may have triggered the murderous rampage.

The six-foot-three-inch, 250 pound (1.9 meter, 113 kilogram) Pardo had no criminal record and nothing in his personal history to suggest a predisposition to violence, police said. Friends from a church Pardo attended regularly expressed disbelief.

"He was just the nicest guy," said Jan Detanna, who worked with Pardo as an usher at the Holy Redeemer Catholic Church.

Covina police chief Kim Raney told reporters Pardo had apparently intended to flee to Canada following the attack, revealing thousands of dollars in cash had been found strapped to his body after he shot himself early Thursday.

He had also bought a ticket to Canada leaving early Christmas morning but scrapped plans to go on the run after suffering third degree burns in the house blaze that melted parts of his Santa Claus costume to his body, Raney said.

"All indications are he intended to commit the crime, flee the country, and it appears, he didn't anticipate injuring himself to the point where obviously he took his own life," Raney said.

Police said Pardo had arrived at the house with what appeared to be a homemade flamethrower comprised of two canisters, one containing oxygen or carbon dioxide, the other a high-octane racing fuel.

However police believe the device exploded sooner than Pardo intended, leaving him with serious burn injuries.

Pardo killed himself with a single shot to the head hours after the rampage at his brother's home in Sylmar, approximately 25 miles (40 kilometers) away.

Police revealed that the car used by Pardo in the attack, found outside his brother's home, had been rigged with a booby trap which would be triggered when officers attempted to move his discarded Santa Claus suit.

"He basically wired the Santa Claus suit with a device to explode," Raney said. The car burst into flames as bomb disposal experts attempted to deactivate the advice. No officers were hurt in the explosion.

Authorities have yet to publicly identify those killed by Pardo, but local media reported the victim's ex-wife and in-laws were among the dead.

Los Angeles County Coroner's Office assistant chief Ed Winter said none of the nine bodies recovered from the crime scene were identifiable.

"The bodies were burned and are charred to the point that are not recognizable," Winter said. "We're going to need both medical X-rays and dental X-rays before we can make positive identification."

Meanwhile the Los Angeles Times reported that Pardo's marriage had foundered after his ex-wife discovered he had a "secret" son from a previous relationship.

-Yahoo.

[John]

US offers Viagra to win over Afghan warlords: report

CIA agents are offering the potency drug Viagra and other gifts to win over Afghan warlords in the US-led war against Taliban insurgents, the Washington Post reported.

Paying for information is nothing new for the Central Intelligence Agency, but officers have started employing unusual incentives to persuade Afghan local leaders to share intelligence about the Taliban's movements, the Post wrote, citing unnamed sources in the spy service.

"Whatever it takes to make friends and influence people -- whether it's building a school or handing out Viagra," one CIA operative who has worked in Afghanistan was quoted as saying.

CIA agents have offered pocket knives and tools, toys and school equipment, travel visas, medical services including surgeries and sometimes the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra for Afghan chieftains, the paper said.

The aging chieftains often have up to four wives and are open to the Viagra pill as a way to "put them back in an authoritative position," said another official.

More customary bribes such as cash and weapons can create problems, because guns fan fall into the wrong hands and a sudden influx of cash can draw too much attention, agents told the paper.

Four Viagra pills transformed the attitude of one influential 60-year-old warlord who had been wary of the United States.

"He came up to us beaming," one official told the Post.

"And after that we could do whatever we wanted in his area."

-Yahoo.

[John]

Police sift wreckage of gun-toting Santa's killing spree

A ninth body was recovered from the charred rubble of a Christmas Eve massacre on Friday as sketchy details emerged about the gunman responsible for the deadly killing spree.

Los Angeles County Coroner's office confirmed a ninth body had been found in the wreckage of a home in the eastern suburb of Covina, where a man dressed as Santa Claus opened fire on revellers late Wednesday.

The gunman, Bruce Pardo, 45, burst into the party at his former in-laws home and sprayed guests with bullets before setting fire to the house and later taking his own life.

Pardo had recently gone through a bitter divorce with his wife -- who was reported to be among the victims -- but there were no further clues as to what may have triggered the murderous rampage.

The unemployed aerospace engineer had no criminal record and nothing in his personal history to suggest a predisposition to violence, police said. Friends from a church Pardo attended regularly expressed disbelief.

"He was just the nicest guy," said Jan Detanna, who worked with Pardo as an usher at the Holy Redeemer Catholic Church.

"He always had a smile. It's a shock. A shock for anybody who knew him at the church," Detanna told the Whittier Daily News.

Grief-stricken friends of the victims on Thursday described Pardo as a "coward."

"To know that one individual, one coward, could bring so much devastation and heartache to a family," said family friend Rosa Ordaz.

Police said Pardo knocked on the door of his ex-wife's parents' home just before midnight, where 25 people were gathered to celebrate Christmas Eve.

An eight-year-old girl who answered the door was shot in the face before Pardo stormed into the home and began gunning down revellers with bullets fired from a semi-automatic handgun.

After party-goers fled, Pardo torched the house with a bizarre home-made incendiary device before making his getaway.

Pardo's body was found with self-inflicted gunshot wounds early Thursday, a few hours after the rampage, police said. He had been killed by a single shot to the head at his brother's home in Sylmar, approximately 25 miles away.

Late Thursday, a rented car parked outside the property was discovered to be loaded with 300 rounds of ammunition and a pipe bomb. The car burst into flames as bomb disposal experts moved in, reports said.

Police had received a series of emergency calls alerting them to the initial incident, and when they arrived, the house was engulfed in flames and guests were running out, Buchanan said.

Neighbors reported hearing a loud explosion before the blaze erupted.

Two girls, including the girl who answered the door, were hospitalized with gunshot wounds and a 13-year-old girl was treated for injuries that were not life-threatening.

Authorities have yet to publicly identify those killed by Pardo, but local media reported the victim's ex-wife and in-laws were among the dead.

It was not clear if three people at the party who were missing on Thursday had been accounted for.
-Yahoo.

[John]

'Worrying' numbers of teachers off sick

Around 15,000 teachers across England call in sick every day, the Tories have claimed.

More than 311,000 full and part time teachers took sick leave in 2007, according to official Government figures.

This is a loss of almost three million working days last year within the 195 school days.

Shadow children's secretary Michael Gove said the rise in the number of teachers taking sick leave was "very worrying".

The figures, taken from the Government's school workforce statistics, show that the average number of days sick per teacher has risen from 5.1 days in 1999 to 5.4 days in 2007.

The number of days lost through sickness has risen to 2.9 million from 2.5 million in 1999.

The highest sickness rate was in London, where 50,840 full and part time teachers took leave.

The lowest was in the North East, with 13,360 teachers taking sickness absence.

Mr Gove said: "It's very worrying that the number of sick days has risen so dramatically. The Government needs to investigate the reasons so we can make sure there is as much stability as possible in every child's education."

The Tories said sick leave was impacting on school funds, and that at a conservative estimate, the cost of teacher absence runs into millions of pounds.

Schools have to pay a minimum of £103 a day for supply teachers according to rates for the academic year 2007/08 listed in a guidance note from the National Union of Teachers (NUT), the Tories said.

This can rise to £210 for a senior supply teacher at an inner London school.

NUT acting general secretary Christine Blower said: "Given the enormous pressures teachers are under, it is remarkable that they have so little sick leave on average.

"The vast majority of teachers, sometimes unwisely, go into school even though they may be ill because of their commitment to the children they teach.

"Unfortunately, too much stress is endemic to the job and it is the responsibility of not only the Government but the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats to explore ways of reducing the excessive numbers of initiatives faced weekly by schools."

-Yahoo.

[lɐuǝɯo⊥ǝɥԀ]

Thanks For This, though admittedly the Tories will do anything to make Labour look bad lmao

[OMEN]

Gardaí in Co Kilkenny are investigating the death of a 22-year-old man.

The man, who is from Castlecomer, died after he was stabbed.

The victim's body was found in a house in Castlecomer at about 4am this morning after gardaí and the emergency services were called.
The body is still at the scene. The State Pathologist and members of the Garda Technical Bureau have been called.

RTE

[OMEN]

The bombardment of Hamas targets in Gaza is 'the first of several stages' approved by Israel's security cabinet, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told President Shimon Peres in a briefing today.

Israel unleashed its deadly bombardment of Hamas targets in Gaza on Saturday in retaliation for persistent rocket fire from the territory.

Tanks, armoured vehicles and infantry forces are massing along Israel's border with Gaza today as the military said it was ready to launch a ground offensive in the densely populated territory if ordered to do so.
'The government is giving the military its full backing and the room for manoeuvre to achieve the goal set out by the government,' Mr Olmert was quoted as saying.

Mr Peres said that 'Israel is not fighting the Palestinian population but a terror organisation that is determined to continue the violence and destabilise the region.'

UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged world leaders to work urgently to end the 'unacceptable' violence
Palestinian militants responded to Israeli air strikes with deadly rocket and mortar fire that has so far killed four Israelis.

Defence Minister Ehud Barak said Israel is in 'an all-out war with Hamas and its proxies.'

Deputy Prime Minister Haim Ramon said the offensive's goal 'is to topple Hamas.'

Mr Barak said that if militant rocket attacks do not stop, 'Israel will have recourse to every means and all legal actions at its disposal to see to it that the enemy halts its illegal aggression.'

Israeli aircraft carried out dozens of air strikes under the cover of darkness early this morning, targeting Hamas ministry and security buildings, according to reports.

In all, the Israeli campaign has killed at least 360 Palestinians and wounded more than 1,690, the director of Gaza's emergency services, Moawiya Abu Hassanein has said.

Since the onslaught began, Gaza militants have fired more than 250 rockets and mortar rounds into Israel, killing four people and wounding two dozen more.

Yesterday, one projectile killed an Israeli at a construction site in the southern city of Ashkelon some 13km north of the Gaza border.

A missile that hit a rail yard in Ashdod killed a woman and wounded four more people while a rocket blast at the Nahal Oz kibbutz north of Gaza killed one person and seriously wounded another.

A mortar shell killed an Israeli soldier in his camp near Gaza yesterday evening, a military spokesman said.

Boat not allowed to dock

Meanwhile, an Israeli naval ship clashed with a small boat carrying international activists with emergency aid destined for Gaza.

There were no reports of casualties on board the cabin cruiser, Dignity, which sailed from Cyprus yesterday evening.

Israel said the boat, operated by the Free Gaza Movement, would not be permitted to dock in Gaza.

One of those on board is Derek Graham from Co Mayo. He said the vessel was rammed despite carrying a number of dignitaries on board.

No one was injured in the collision between the patrol boat and the Dignity which was trying to take three tonnes of medical supplies into Gaza.

An Israeli spokesman accused the activists of 'seeking provocation more than ever.'

EU foreign ministers are to meet in Paris to discuss how they can work to help ease the Gaza crisis, the French foreign ministry said.

There was also growing concern about the humanitarian situation in the aid-dependent territory of 1.5m which Israel has virtually sealed off since Hamas seized power in June 2007.

RTE

[OMEN]

The US Treasury has unveiled a $6bn (£4.1bn) rescue package for GMAC - General Motors' troubled car loan arm, co-owned by Chrysler's owner, Cerberus.

The move - to encourage GMAC to offer funding to would-be vehicle buyers - is the latest aimed at easing the severity of the economic downturn.

Earlier this month the White House agreed a $17.4bn bail-out GM, Chrysler and Ford to help stave off collapse.

GMAC recently gained approval to become a bank holding company.

This gave it access to emergency government funds offered to other financial institutions.

Fewer loans

Under the terms of the rescue, the US Treasury will buy $5bn in shares in GMAC, and will increase a loan to one of GMAC's co-owners, GM, by an extra $1bn.

This increased loan will help fund GM's purchase of shares as part of GMAC's reorganization as a bank holding company, and comes on top of the bail-out for the car industry.
The Treasury said it was dipping into the $700bn financial bail-out fund which was approved by Congress in early October to fund this rescue.

GMAC's solvency is considered crucial to GM's own survival.

The car loans firm has lost $7.9bn over the last five quarters as the credit crisis has raised its borrowing costs sharply and the value of many of its assets plunged.

GMAC has traditionally provided the bulk of financing for car buyers at GM dealerships and the loans that dealers rely on for their inventories of GM cars and trucks.

But its ability to provide both kinds of financing has been sharply limited over the past several months because of the broader credit crisis and as GMAC's ability to borrow has lessened.

'Act quickly'

GM's US sales plunged 41% in November and the carmaker said the squeeze on GMAC's own financing was one reason for the downward spiral in sales.
GM said earlier this month, that while GMAC had been able to provide financing to nearly half of GM car buyers just a year ago, that share had dropped to 6% now.

In a statement, GMAC said it intended "to act quickly to resume automotive lending to a broader spectrum of customers".

GMAC agreed to restrictions on dividend payments and executive pay as part of the equity injection.

The bonus pool available to its top 25 executives has been cut by 40% from 2007 levels.

GM currently owns 49% of GMAC, while Chrysler's owner Cerberus owns 51%. Cerberus bought its stake from GM for $14bn in 2006.

GM and Cerberus will both see their holdings in GMAC reduced as a result of the firm becoming a bank holding company.

GM will end up with 10% stake, while Cerberus will have a 30% share in GMAC.

BBC

[John]

Thankyou for the news.

[Black Widow]

FURIOUS wife Charris Bowers was arrested for attacking her husband – by biting his manhood.

The 27-year-old was charged with assault for chomping on her fella’s willy after the couple had been drinking.

Bowers told cops that she bit her husband because she did not want to have sex.

The alleged attack happened on Saturday night when Bowers and her hubby Delou Bowers returned to their home in Deltona, Florida.

They began having oral sex but Mr Bowers was left writhing in pain as his wife clamped down on his penis, according to a police report.

Mr Bowers pleaded with his wife to stop and then PUNCHED her in the face until she finally let go.

But Bowers then hit back landing blows on her husband before he escaped from the room.

However Bowers told cops she did not want to have sex.

The local sheriff's report said: “She then bit it to get him away from her”.

When police saw Mr Bowers' injuries – they concluded charges were warranted.

Bowers was taken to the Volusia County Branch Jail on Sunday morning and released a few hours later after appearing in court, jail officials said today.


The Sun

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[JohnCenaFan28]

Premiership footballer Steven Gerrard has been publicly backed by his club after being charged over a nightclub brawl.

Liverpool Football Club issued a statement offering him "all the support he needs" in the wake of charges of affray and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

The club said: "Steven has been an outstanding servant to Liverpool for the last 10 years and the club will give him all the support he needs at this time."

The England midfielder was charged by Merseyside Police in the early hours of Tuesday.

The criminal charges stem from a fight in the Lounge Inn, Southport, Merseyside, where the Liverpool captain was toasting his club's 5-1 demolition of Newcastle United.

Two other men, John Doran, 29, and Ian Gerard Smith, 19, both of Huyton where Gerrard grew up, were also charged with assaulting part-time DJ and businessman Marcus McGee, 34.

Mr McGee allegedly lost a tooth in the nightclub fight and needed several stitches to a face wound.

Gerrard and his wife Alex Curran left their home in a black Range Rover shortly after 1.15pm on Tuesday.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

A couple who took their baby son with them on a seven-hour drinking session have narrowly escaped a jail sentence.

Alcoholics Mark and Petra Tyler, who were arrested in September after being refused entry to a pub, were each given a two-year probation order by magistrates in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.

The defendants, both of Reindeer Street, Mansfield, were also ordered to pay £60 costs after pleading guilty at a previous hearing to being drunk in charge of a child.

The Tylers, who both left court without comment, were detained after a publican called CCTV operators to check on their four-month-old son, Callum.

Mr Tyler, 47, and his 24-year-old wife planned to have a couple of drinks, but "one thing led to another" and they ended up drinking for seven hours, the court heard.

Sentencing the defendants, chairman of the bench Paul Richardson appeared to suggest that the couple may have been imprisoned if the maximum sentence for being drunk in charge of a child was longer than 30 days.

The magistrate said: "In this case we would have sent both of you to prison for what we feel is an extremely serious offence, where a young child was placed in danger.

"We accept, however, that the effect of that sentence would be to punish you for a very short time that would have no long-term benefit in terms of stopping your offending."

Imposing a 24-month community order with requirements for supervision and alcohol treatment on both parents, Mr Richardson warned them that they could "realistically expect" a custodial sentence if they breached it or committed further offences.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

The struggling housing market has been dealt another blow as figures revealed the annual rate at which house prices in England and Wales are falling continued to accelerate in November to hit a fresh record of 12.2%.

The average home lost 1.9% of its value during the month to stand at £161,883, according to the Land Registry.

It is the 15th consecutive month that the annual rate has declined and the average house price is now similar to February 2006 levels.

The number of homes changing hands also continued to slide, with an average of just 48,599 property sales each month between June and September, less than half the average 115,697 transactions a month in the same period in 2007.

In September, the last month for which figures are available, sales totalled 38,508, down 61% from the same month in 2007.

The year-on-year drop in sales stabilised slightly from the previous month's 63% fall, although the number of properties sold was down on August's 46,534 figure.

Only 354 homes were sold for over £1 million in September, less than half the 762 properties which changed hands for over seven figures in that month in 2007.

Every region in England showed an annual and monthly decrease in property values.

The South East saw the most significant monthly fall in prices at 3.2%. Homes in the region losing 13.7% of their value year-on-year and the average property now stands at £197,760.

Annual price falls in the East and East Midlands were the most dramatic, as homes lost 14.1% and 14.2% of their value respectively.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

Two British missionaries have been sentenced to one year in prison with hard labour after pleading guilty to sedition charges in a Gambian court, a Foreign Office spokesman said.

David and Fiona Fulton were arrested last month in the West African country after allegedly sending a letter to individuals and groups criticising Gambia's government.

The pair pleaded guilty on Wednesday and were sentenced and also fined £6,250 each.

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said: "We are seeking clarity as to what hard labour means in this context. It is a decision for the Fultons with their legal representative as to whether they appeal this judgment or not.

"Mr and Mrs Fulton have not raised any concerns over their welfare with us. Consular staff in the Gambia will continue to visit Mr and Mrs Fulton whilst they are being detained.

"If Mr or Mrs Fulton raise concerns over their treatment, we can take these up with the relevant authorities."

Mr Fulton, 60, a former British Army major originally from Troon, Scotland, and Mrs Fulton, 46, originally from Torquay, Devon, were arrested on November 29. The pair were held separately following their arrests and were not granted bail.

Mr Fulton was detained at high-security Mile Two prison outside the capital Banjul. It is described as a "tough" former colonial jail built during the days of the British Empire.

Mrs Fulton was held with their two-year-old adopted daughter Elizabeth at a police station in the capital.

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said consular staff in Gambia checked the welfare of the Fultons' daughter. He said: "At no point was she under arrest. She was being kept with Mrs Fulton at Mrs Fulton's request. Mrs Fulton made alternative arrangements for her and she is being cared for by a family friend in the family home."

-Nova

[John]

:laugh: What a Story.

[JohnCenaFan28]

David Cameron has called for 2009 to be "the year when change comes to Britain", arguing that the economic crisis will get worse the longer the Labour Government remains in power.

In a New Year message urging his party to offer hope to hard-pressed voters, the Conservative leader blasted Prime Minister Gordon Brown for calling on the British people to show the spirit of the Blitz and "rise to the challenge" of the downturn.

And he echoed the recent criticisms of a group of Church of England bishops by questioning the morality of the Government's decision to increase borrowing in the hope of stimulating the economy.

Ministers' "arrogance" has blinded them to the mistakes they have made and left them incapable of solving problems of "Labour's Debt Crisis", he said.

The coming year will offer voters with a "choice between the future and the past", as Labour returns to the "big government knows best" ideas of the 1970s, while Tories offer a "modern" vision based on a strong society led by a responsible government.

Accusing Mr Brown of presiding over an "age of irresponsibility", Mr Cameron said: "It has to end - and the sooner the better. The longer Labour are in, the worse it gets.

"So let's make sure we're ready for an election at any time, and let's do all we can to make sure that 2009 is the year when change comes to Britain too."

Mr Cameron said it was clear that Labour had been "in power too long" and had been "corrupted by power".

Borrowing one of Mr Brown's favourite phrases, he accused the Government of losing its "moral compass" in its decision to use borrowing to stimulate the economy.

Mr Cameron accused Labour of making the debt crisis worse by borrowing more money and wasting billions on "useless" schemes like Chancellor Alistair Darling's temporary cut in VAT.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

The price of petrol has reached a three-year low, the AA has announced.

The average cost of petrol at the beginning of this week was 87.79p a litre compared with 88.27p at the end of December 2005. Diesel is now averaging 99.72p a litre - the lowest price since November 2007.

With petrol hitting a record high of 119.7p a litre in July this year, a UK driver is on average now paying nearly £16 less to fill up a typical 50-litre tank than during this last summer. A family with two petrol cars is now spending £68.39 less a month on fuel.

The AA said new retail fuel sales figures released by the Government showed that petrol sales in July-September 2008 - the period of peak prices - fell by 8.2% cent compared to the same time last year.

Retail sales of diesel rose 1.8% in the same period, reflecting the desperate attempts of hard-pressed UK drivers to switch to more fuel-efficient vehicles and reduce their costs.

The AA added that the figures appeared to show that many drivers drifted away from supermarkets to buy their petrol elsewhere during the period of peak fuel prices this summer. Localised price-matching strategies produced uniform pump prices across many towns, reducing the incentive for drivers to go to traditionally cheaper supermarkets.

AA public affairs head Paul Watters said: "Families are making substantial savings from the fall in pump prices in recent months, although AA/Populus research shows that many are still cutting back - some even more deeply through fear or the impact of the economic slowdown.

"Next year could see some intriguing changes to fuel-buying habits as more small independent petrol stations match or undercut supermarket prices to draw customers to more profitable small shop sales.

"Retail sales figures during the late summer seem to indicate that drivers will desert supermarket filling stations in significant numbers if there is no price difference to lure them in."

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

Fitting speed-limiting devices in cars could prevent up to 29% of injury accidents on the roads, a report by a Government advisory body has said.

The Commission for Integrated Transport (CfIT) said there would be real benefits in the voluntary introduction of intelligent speed adaptation (ISA).

This is a driver-assistance system that brings local speed-limit information into the vehicle.

The report was also prepared by the Motorists' Forum, a sub-group of CfIT which ensures motoring interests and car users' views are fully reflected in road policy.

The report has also looked at the impacts on fuel consumption, emissions, noise and road network efficiency. It concluded that on 70mph roads, adherence to the speed limit could lead to savings of up to 6% in CO2 emissions.

Neither CfIT nor the Motorists' Forum is recommending the compulsory fitting or usage of ISA.

Instead, both organisations are calling for the Department for Transport to work with the relevant authorities, organisations and vehicle manufacturers to consider what steps should be taken to support and encourage the future availability of the technology and to promote its take-up.

CfIT vice-chairman David Leeder said on Tuesday: "This important report shows the very real benefits to motorists from the introduction and use of an ISA system - not just in road safety but also in terms of fuel and money saved."

Sir Trevor Chinn, chairman of the Motorists' Forum, said: "The UK has an enviable record on road safety but we still kill nearly 3,000 people on our roads each year.

"This report shows the potential substantial savings in injury accidents that could be achieved through the introduction of ISA. The fact that the report is backed by our members, who represent interests across the motoring spectrum, is testimony to the desire of the motoring world to work with government to make our roads even safer."

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

Israel has warned it would step up its assault on Gaza until it had smashed the militants of Hamas.

The security Cabinet is due to meet to consider various plans for a ground invasion, a defence official said.

And there were reports Israel was considering a temporary "humanitarian" truce to allow vital aid supplies into the area.

But Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the current, aerial phase of the operation was just "the first of several" that have been approved.

Palestinian militants, meanwhile, kept up their rocket assaults on Israeli border communities, despite a fourth day of Israeli air attacks and a refusal by Egypt to bail them out.

Israeli warplanes smashed a Hamas government complex, the largest one hit so far, dumping the biggest single load of bombs on the buildings, which had been evacuated since the bombardment began on Saturday. Israel also hit security installations and the home of a top militant commander.

More than 370 Palestinians have now been killed since Saturday. Most were members of Hamas security forces, and at least 64 civilians also died. Among them were two sisters, aged four and 11, killed in an airstrike on a rocket squad in northern Gaza on Tuesday.

During brief lulls between airstrikes, Gazans ventured into the streets to buy goods and collect belongings from homes they had abandoned after the attacks started.

The campaign has brought a new reality to southern Israel, too. Militants, battered but unbowed, pressed on with their rocket and mortar assaults, killing three Israeli civilians and a soldier and bringing a widening circle of targets into their sights with an arsenal of mightier weapons.

The military estimated that one-tenth of Israel's population of seven million people are now within rocket range, with the battles shifting closer to Israel's heartland. Of the four Israelis killed since the operation began on Saturday, all but one were in areas that had not suffered fatalities before.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

The family of a 14-year-old Afghan rape victim face prosecution after her foetus was removed without anaesthetic.

The mother and brother of the girl are accused of cutting her open with a razor blade to perform an abortion.

Doctors say the girl is in a critical condition. A man accused of raping her is under arrest, officials say.

Rape victims and their families in Afghanistan often feel ashamed to report what has happened because people may think the victim consented to sex.

Sex outside marriage is illegal in Afghanistan.

'Dog bite'

The governor of Bamiyan Province, Habiba Sarabi, says that action is being taken.

When the girl was five months pregnant it is alleged her mother and brother took her to a stables and cut her open with a razor blade.

They removed the foetus, which they buried, before stitching up her wound, Governor Sarabi said.

The father eventually took the girl to get medical treatment.

Dr Ghulam Mohammad Nader, head of Bamiyan hospital, said the girl is in a critical condition, but that she had been able to explain what had happened to her.

"The girl stayed at home for three or four days in her condition until her father took her to hospital," Dr Nader said.

"He said a dog had bitten her so that people in the area wouldn't know what had really happened."

The provincial governor says the man accused of raping the girl has been arrested and that police are trying to arrest her mother and brother.

The victims of rape and their families in Afghanistan are often afraid to admit what has happened to them because of the stigma and shame attached to the issue.

Sometimes the victims are murdered by their own families.

Critics accuse the authorities of not taking accusations of rape seriously, especially those made by children.

But President Karzai recently called for rapists to be brought to justice and the Afghan Supreme Court suspended three judges who acquitted people accused of rape.

-BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

Interest rates were slashed to their lowest level ever as the Bank of England threw another lifeline to the UK's ailing economy.

Borrowing costs fell by 0.5% to 1.5% - the lowest since the Bank was founded in 1694 - although some business leaders had wanted an even bigger cut as the prospect of a lengthy recession grows.

The move will immediately benefit more than four million households with tracker mortgages but spells more misery for savers hit by the Bank's drastic rate cuts since October.

The Bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) warned UK output was set to nose-dive further in early 2009 as the world economy suffered an "unusually sharp and synchronised" downturn.

Despite rates falling to a record low, businesses and homeowners are struggling as banks rein in lending to shore up their finances, hitting house prices and consumer confidence. Experts said borrowing costs would fall further still to near zero in the coming months with the Bank forced to turn to other methods such as "quantitative easing" - boosting the money supply - to help the economy.

Ben Read, managing economist at the Centre for Economics and Business Research, said: "We expect to see base rates at around 0.5% by the summer ... the logical next step would appear to be quantitative easing, which has not been ruled out by the Treasury or the Bank of England."

Chancellor Alistair Darling denied that the Government was going to "print money" but said he was looking at a "range of measures" to support the economic and business.

Despite the gloom, the Bank gave a glimmer of hope as it said deep rate cuts, Government spending plans, sterling's tumble and lower inflation would give a "considerable stimulus" as the year progressed.

But manufacturers said the MPC should have gone further by cutting rates another full percentage point as the recession deepens at home and abroad. Steve Radley, chief economist at the EEF manufacturers' organisation, said: "Whilst the Bank has indicated it wanted to take a measured approach to cutting rates, this is too timid to deal with the current situation."

David Kern, chief economist at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), added: "We believe it is an inadequate reaction to the rapid worsening in economic circumstances ... The outlook is dire, and the MPC must act forcefully."

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

British campaigners stepped up protests against the Gaza conflict amid growing concerns about the impact of the fighting on civilians.

Amnesty International claimed Israeli soldiers were using Palestinians as human shields, while the United Nations halted aid shipments to Gaza after its staff and buildings were hit in attacks.

For a second day Israel temporarily suspended military action for three hours to allow Gazans to stock up on supplies, but aid agencies said only a full ceasefire would allow them to tackle the massive humanitarian crisis.

Meanwhile, police were preparing for further demonstrations by supporters of both Palestine and Israel in the coming days as tensions rose in Britain as a result of the bloody violence.

On Wednesday night nine men were arrested when two rival groups of protesters clashed in the streets outside the Israeli Embassy in Kensington, west London.

Acting Assistant Commissioner Chris Allison, who is responsible for Scotland Yard's central operations branch, said the demonstrations required at least 200 officers every night and had already cost the Metropolitan Police £300,000.

Veteran peace campaigners Tony Benn and Brian Haw joined the launch of a non-stop vigil opposite the Houses of Parliament in protest at Israel's attacks. Activists plan to maintain a presence in Parliament Square around the clock until the Israeli military withdraws and the violence ends.

Mr Benn, 83, who retired from a long Parliamentary career in 2001, condemned the "massive humanitarian crisis" in Gaza. But he praised the thousands of people in Britain who have joined demonstrations for peace.

Further protests in London are planned this weekend, with the Stop the War Coalition organising a march from Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park to the Israeli Embassy on Saturday. The Board of Deputies of British Jews is planning a rally to call for peace in Israel and Gaza, which will take place in Trafalgar Square at 11am on Sunday.

British aid agencies Islamic Relief and Cafod warned the humanitarian crisis was deepening hour by hour.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling pledged fresh measures to bolster the economy as the grim toll of job losses continued to mount.

Despite another interest rate cut, taking the cost of central borrowing to its lowest ever level, the Prime Minister and his Chancellor acknowledged they would have to do more to ensure the banks made more credit available.

That was the message delivered to a gathering of about 200 people invited to a "listening" event with ministers in Liverpool, ahead of a full Cabinet meeting in the city.

The event, designed to demonstrate that ministers are in touch with the country as families and businesses struggle with the recession, was overshadowed by the announcement that 1,200 jobs were being axed by Nissan in Sunderland.

Mr Brown, speaking before news of the latest job losses broke, said: "In the next few weeks we are looking at the measures we can take to take the next step, and take it with effect, and that is to get the banks to resume the lending that is necessary.

"We know now how important banks are to the system, but if they can't supply finance, and if they don't keep the money moving in the economy, and if they are not able to fund new business loans or fund mortgages, then we have lost an important function that is vital to every part of the country.

"So we want to move from the capitalisation of the banks to securing the funding that is necessary, for business projects, for home ownership and for the everyday business concerns that people have in the banking system."

His comments came as the Bank of England was announcing the latest interest cut, taking the base rate to 1.5%, and amid mounting concern about when the economy will begin to recover.

Mr Darling told the same gathering that banks should respond to the interest rate cut with improved lending facilities. "We have to ensure that having ensured the banking system is there, that it starts to lend, to businesses and to people," he said.

"We've announced a number of measures to do that and as I've made clear over the next week or so further measures will be necessary. The Bank of England has again cut interest rates this lunchtime to 1.5%, the lowest they've ever been. We need to make sure that that lending is passed on and the availability of credit is available for businesses."

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

A jury trying a cage fighter alleged to have been "at the heart" of Britain's biggest cash robbery was discharged after failing to reach a verdict.

Paul Allen, 30, was accused of involvement in the £53 million robbery at the Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent.

Depot manager Colin Dixon and his family were kidnapped and members of staff tied up during the armed raid in February 2006.

Jurors have been told that it was masterminded by Allen's best friend and fellow fighter, Lee Murray, who is now in Morocco. But father-of-three Allen, of Chatham, Kent, told the Old Bailey he knew nothing about it, and denied charges of conspiracy to kidnap, rob and possess firearms.

Jurors began deliberating in December before the Christmas break and spent more than 27 hours considering their verdicts. They were given a majority direction, meaning the court would accept a decision on which 10 were agreed, earlier this week.

But after hearing that they were still unable to reach agreement, trial judge Mr Justice Penry-Davey dismissed the jurors. He told them: "With regret I have to discharge you from further deliberations and from returning verdicts in this case."

A hearing is set to take place next Tuesday to fix a date for a re-trial and Allen was remanded in custody. Jurors were excused from serving again for life.

Allen had been in the dock alongside Michael Demetris, a hairdresser who unwittingly prepared disguises for the robbery gang and was cleared by the jury of all charges.

In January, five men were convicted of involvement in the heist. Kick boxer Lea Rusha, car salesman Stuart Royle, unemployed Albanian Jetmir Bucpapa, and garage owner Roger Coutts were all jailed indefinitely with minimum terms of 15 years.

Inside man Emir Hysenaj, an Albanian, who filmed inside the depot using a miniature camera, was given a determinate sentence of 20 years. Police have only found £21 million of the stolen haul.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

Car giant Nissan sent shockwaves through British industry by axing 1,200 jobs at the country's biggest and most productive motor plant, worsening the economic gloom and heightening fears that the looming recession will cut deep into employment.

The jobs - almost one in four - will go at the firm's plant in Sunderland, which employs around 5,000 workers and is one of the most long-established and biggest employers in the North East.

The cuts, including 400 staff on temporary contracts, follow increasing pleas from the motor industry for Government action to boost the availability of credit for consumers as well as firms.

Union officials said the surprise announcement was "devastating" news for the workers and their families while business leaders described the cuts as the "harsh realities" of the global slowdown.

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said: "I appreciate that this will be a tough time for workers." He pledged that the Government would work with the local regional development agency to help workers find new jobs as quickly as possible.

Nissan workers only returned to the production line on Monday after an extended Christmas shutdown in response to the slowdown in sales.

Nissan said the outlook for the car market this year remained "extremely challenging", adding that it was committed to taking the right action now to safeguard the plant's long-term sustainability.

The company announced that one shift will be cut from the plant's two production lines until March, with one being reinstated in April.

Trevor Mann, Nissan's senior vice president for manufacturing, Europe, said: "Like all manufacturers, Sunderland plant is currently operating in extraordinary circumstances not of our making. It is essential we take the right action now to ensure we are in a strong and viable position once business conditions return to normal.

"Unavoidably, this means we have had to make some very tough decisions in recent weeks. However by doing so, we are helping to safeguard our long term future which I believe is extremely positive."

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

Overhead power failures on a key rail route that has been hit by nearly a week of delays were each caused by different faults, Network Rail said.

The key Scotland to London route has been hit by six days of delays after repeated breakdowns and problems on the line. There has not been a day since Christmas when services have run normally.

Initial investigations have found different reasons for three incidents, said Network Rail (NR). Only one of the breakdowns was related to the contact between the train and the overhead power line, said a spokesman.

NR has come under fire this week from frustrated train companies and commuter groups, facing suggestions that the failures stem from a "rushed" £9 billion upgrade of the line.

But a spokesman said: "It is clear that none of the failures have been caused by 'rushed completion of the West Coast project'. All installations have been in place for many years, the newest was installed in mid 2006. Increased traffic and speed of trains on the route are not connected to these failures.

"However, as a responsible infrastructure owner, we have set up a special investigation team who, as well as reconfirming these initial conclusions, will also be looking into the pantograph/contact wire interaction in some more detail to ensure that nothing is overlooked."

Passengers were hit by the latest breakdown on Thursday. An overheard wire problem in Atherstone, Warwickshire that happened at about 9.30am meant passengers on Virgin Trains and London Midland had to endure long delays.

The line between Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire and Rugby in the West Midlands was also shut for part of the morning after a lorry hit a railway bridge at Blisworth in Northamptonshire.

Trains were diverted via Northampton, causing minor delays.

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has estimated the disruption on the line cost business around £38 million over the last three days.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

An investigation has been launched into the British activities of alleged multi-billion-pound fraudster Bernard Madoff.

Officials will focus on investors who lost huge sums when Madoff's financial business collapsed, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said.

Prosecutors in the United States said a bogus business run by the former Nasdaq stock market chairman lost at least £33 billion.

Investigators are approaching former employees as they work to trace those hit in Britain, the SFO said.

They appealed for investors or other financiers involved with Madoff's operations in the City of London and elsewhere to come forward.

The move follows an interim report by Grant Thornton, a company brought in to liquidate Madoff's British assets.

Richard Alderman, director of the SFO, said: "This is a good example of the SFO's new, faster, approach to tackling fraud.

"The public say they want us to take early action and this is what we are doing. We will work closely with other law enforcement agencies to discover the truth behind the collapse of these huge financial structures.

"And we again ask for help from ex-employees and others."

Anyone involved with Madoff's businesses can contact the SFO online or by calling a hotline 020 7239 7272.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

The mysterious severance of a wind turbine blade may have been caused by a mechanical failure, an expert said.

The 213ft turbine at Conisholme in Lincolnshire was left wrecked by the incident, which saw one blade completely severed and another one damaged.

Local residents reported seeing a bright light on the morning it happened, prompting speculation that a UFO had caused the damage.

But Fraser McLachlan, chief executive of GCube, which insures more than 25,000 wind turbines worldwide, said that although it is unusual, this type of incident happens about five or six times a year.

"It does happen that a blade will sometimes just come off a machine for one reason or another," he said. "The main reason is the blade may shear.

"We don't normally see things like aircraft - or UFOs - hitting them. It's usually a mechanical failure that causes the blade to separate from the main hub."

The freezing weather was another possible cause of the breakage, he said, adding that it could cost up to £250,000 to repair.

Others believed there could be more to the incident than a technical fault.

Robert Palmer, 66, leader of East Lindsey District Council and member of Lincolnshire County Council, wants both authorities to investigate what happened. The turkey farmer from North Somercotes said he saw a bright white light with an orange edge as he drove close to the turbine on Sunday morning.

He said: "I would be very interested to find out what it was. If we are being looked at by other people, by other planets, it would be interesting to find out why they have chosen this part of the country. "I am not counting it out that it was a UFO."

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

A strong earthquake has struck Costa Rica, the US Geological Survey has said.

It says the magnitude 6.2 tremor was centred some 35km (22 miles) north-west of the capital San Jose at a depth of 28km (17 miles).

Reports say the quake - which hit at 1321 local time (1921 GMT) - cut off electricity in parts of the capital.

Frightened city residents rushed into the streets, but so far there have been no reports of any injuries.

Witnesses say they have not seen such a strong earthquake in 30 years, the AFP news agency reports.

Costa Rica is located on the Pacific Ring, which forms a belt of seismic activity along the edge of the Pacific Ocean.

-BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

University leavers who fail to find work at the end of their courses could be offered modestly-paid internships under a new Government scheme, it has emerged.

Ministers have already signed up four top firms, including Barclays and Microsoft, to take on graduates who would instead swell the growing ranks of the unemployed.

John Denham, the Innovation, Universities and Skills Secretary, revealed the proposals in an interview with Daily Telegraph.

Plans for the national internship scheme come amid a worsening jobs market and increasingly challenging employment prospects for those leaving education.

In the same interview, Mr Denham declined to comment on suggestions that the Government could bring forward plans to raise the school-leaving age to 18.

It is intended that internships will at least improve participants' skills and experience and may in some cases lead to full-time work.

Lasting for up to three months, they will be paid at a rate only slightly higher than undergraduates' income from grants and loans, according to the Telegraph.

Mr Denham told the paper: "At the end, they will be more employable, and some of them will get jobs. Employers won't want to let good people go.

"These are the children of the baby-boomers. They will be a very big group. What do we do with them? We can't just leave people to fend for themselves."

A new requirement for youngsters to remain in education or training until they are 18 only currently applies to those aged 11 or under this year.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

A manhunt involving more than 100 police officers is under way for a group of four "dangerous" masked men who shot dead the son of a village postmaster during a robbery.

Three men, armed with a handgun and a sledgehammer, blasted 29-year-old Craig Hodson-Walker in the chest during the raid at his parents' business in Fairfield, north Worcestershire. A fourth man drove the getaway vehicle.

His father Ken was shot in the leg as the men burst into Fairfield Post Office and Stores on Stourbridge Road. He is in a stable condition in hospital following surgery, police said.

More than 100 officers will continue searching the area to catch Mr Hodson-Walker's killers. The men, who were wearing balaclavas, escaped from the scene in a silver VW Golf which was found abandoned in a nearby road.

West Mercia Constabulary said the car was stolen from Solihull on New Year's Eve and had false number plates. Detectives said it was likely that the car had been caught in rush-hour traffic near the post office and urged anyone who saw the vehicle to contact them.

Detective Superintendent Jon Groves said the robbers should not be approached. He said: "I can assure you that we are determined to bring these offenders to justice as soon as possible."

Detectives are investigating whether the incident is linked to three or four robberies that have occurred in the Bromsgrove area over the past several months.

Neighbours revealed that Mr Hodson-Walker and his father Ken had fought off burglars who raided the shop more than a year ago. The pair's brave actions meant the robbers, who were not armed, escaped empty-handed, said villager Horace Lynton.

Mr Hodson-Walker's mother, Judy, 56, said the family was "devastated" by the loss of Craig Hodson-Walker. In a statement released by police, Mrs Hodson-Walker said: "We are devastated at the death of our beautiful boy who died protecting the people that he loved.

"We would like to thank people for their kind wishes and we ask that we are left alone to grieve in peace at this difficult time."

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

Two British crewmen held hostage by pirates on a hijacked oil tanker have been freed after a £2 million ransom was reported to have been paid by the ship's owners.

The Sirius Star had been held by pirates for two months after being captured 420 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia last November. Saudi owners Vela International confirmed that the vessel and crew had been released.

Chief Engineer Peter French, from County Durham, and James Grady, from Renfrewshire, were among 25 people being held on the vessel near the coastal town of Haradhere

Vela President Saleh K'aki said: "We are very relieved to know that all the crew members are safe and I am glad to say that they are all in good health and high spirits. This has been a very trying time for them and certainly for their families. We are very happy to report to their families that they will be on their way home soon.

"Throughout this ordeal, our sole objective was the safe and timely release of the crew. That has been achieved today."

No-one at Vela International was available to confirm reports that the pirates released the ship after a canister containing the cash ransom was parachuted on to the deck of the vessel.

The pirates were reported to have originally demanded £16 million.

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said that the ship was now being escorted out to sea by helicopter. "We will be providing consular assistance to the two British men on board once they reach land."

Earlier a foreign news agency reported that five of the pirates drowned with their share of the ransom after leaving the supertanker.

A Somalian pirate said that a small boat carrying eight pirates capsized taking their share of the ransom with it. Only three people survived by swimming for several hours to the shore, he said.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

A 51-year-old man has been charged with murder after a burning body was found by the side of a motorway, police said.

Irshad Wali, of Crofton Road, Plaistow, east London, was due to appear at Stratford Magistrates' Court.

The Metropolitan Police took over the investigation from Warwickshire Police following the grisly discovery of the corpse on an embankment beside the M45 near Dunchurch, Rugby, Warwickshire, on December 30.

The victim's identity will not be released until all next of kin have been informed, police said.

Warwickshire Police launched an inquiry after the body was found at 1.30pm on December 30.

The investigation transferred to the Met Police on Thursday and an incident room has opened under DCI Simon Moring.

Detectives believe the victim was from east London and he was murdered there, before his body was taken to Warwickshire by car.

The body was then dumped on the eastbound embankment of the M45 and set on fire, the Met said. A post-mortem examination found he died of head and neck injuries.

Five other men were arrested in connection with the murder at a number of addresses in east London on Thursday.

Police said a 46-year-old man has been bailed to return to an east London police station on Tuesday. The remaining four were released without charge.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

Activists were planning Britain's biggest ever pro-Palestine demonstration as attacks continued in Gaza in defiance of a United Nations resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.

Organisers predict more than 100,000 people will join a massive march through central London on Saturday in protest at Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip.

Celebrities including musician Brian Eno and film star Juliet Stevenson are expected to join in the procession from Hyde Park to the Israeli embassy in Kensington.

Friday's air strikes by Israel's military hit more than 30 targets in Gaza, killing at least one child, while Hamas launched a barrage of rocket attacks on two cities in the Jewish state. The fresh waves of violence came as the UN called for an independent war crimes investigation into reports that Israeli soldiers shelled a house that they knew contained more than 100 Palestinians.

Fourteen of the 15 members of the UN's security council backed a resolution to stop the conflict, with the US abstaining.

After the vote Foreign Secretary David Miliband urged the international community to "turn the words into changes on the ground".

But there was little sign of this happening as official death tolls since the conflict started on December 27 reached 777 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.

Saturday's march will include rallies at the start and end addressed by speakers including Eno, Stevenson, former London mayor Ken Livingstone and Cherie Blair's half-sister Lauren Booth.

The organisers - principally Stop the War Coalition, the British Muslim Initiative and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign - said they hoped there would be no repeat of the ugly clashes with police that marred a demonstration in London last Saturday.

More than 100 people took part in a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Newcastle. Demonstrators carried placards reading "Stop Israel's War Crimes" and "The real terrorists - The British Labour Government" gathered at Grey's Monument in the city centre to call for an end to the fighting in Gaza.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

Israeli jets and ground troops continued to hammer Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip and Islamic militants fired barrages of rockets at southern Israeli cities, defying a United Nations resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.

Gaza residents said warplanes attacked a disused Hamas security compound in the southern town of Khan Younis, a market in Beit Lahiya, near the strip's northern border with Israel and several buildings in and around Gaza City.

Flames and smoke could be seen rising into the sky but none of the sites was in use at the time and there were no reports of casualties. By dawn, ground troops were reported seen in Gaza City's outlying neighbourhoods, a little over a mile from the seafront Shati refugee camp, but still not entering built-up areas.

The Israeli prime minister's office said that the UN call was not practical and senior Cabinet ministers decided to press on with the offensive. Israel would stop only when it succeeded in ending rocket fire from the Hamas-ruled territory, the government said. Hopes that Friday's UN Security Council resolution would end Gaza's worst fighting in decades were further tempered by dismissive remarks from Hamas, angry that it was not consulted during exhaustive diplomatic efforts at the world body.

The foreign minister in the Western-backed government of President Mahmoud Abbas, which was driven out of Gaza by the rival Hamas in 2007, accused both Israel and Hamas of "total disrespect" regarding the UN resolution. Speaking at the UN headquarters in New York, Riad Malki said the security council should perhaps levy sanctions.

Israel launched a heavy air bombardment on December 27 in response to intensified rocket fire that has disrupted life in southern Israel. A week later, ground troops moved in, with artillery and tank fire that has contributed to a surge in civilian casualties that continued yesterday on Gaza's ruined streets.

The bodies of seven members of the Salha family, said by militants to have been killed earlier in an Israeli air strike on their house were displayed, wrapped in funeral shrouds and flags. Crowds in neat rows bowed in prayer in front of their bodies.

In a hospital in Beit Lahiya, which has been hit particularly hard, doctors treated a young girl whose left arm was torn off at the shoulder. She lay on a stretcher with a terrified expression on her face. Such scenes have triggered anger throughout the Islamic world and elsewhere. There have been daily protests in the Middle East and in Europe, where there also has been a rise in anti-Semitic attacks.

In Geneva, the top UN human rights official called for an independent investigation of possible war crimes in Gaza for an incident in which Palestinians said Israeli forces shelled a house, killing 30 people. Israel's military said it was not aware of the specific incident but would not have deliberately targeted the building.

More than 20 Palestinians had been reported to have been killed on Friday, pushing the death toll for the two-week conflict to around 780, according to Gaza health officials. They said at least half of those killed were civilians. Thirteen Israelis have been killed - four of them by militant rockets, the rest in battle in Gaza.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

Gordon Brown is ready to give the go-ahead to a third runway at Heathrow Airport, according to reports.

A decision on the controversial scheme, backed by business but opposed by environmentalists and many people living in west London, is expected within the coming days.

An announcement is tipped for the middle of next week, as long as it is approved by the Cabinet on Tuesday.

It follows months of speculation about whether the expansion of Heathrow would be approved.

More than 50 Labour MPs are opposed to it and Environment Secretary Hilary Benn has voiced reservations about the impact of the development.

The Conservatives are also opposed to the third runway, preferring an improvement to rail links instead.

But there is now growing media expectations that the Prime Minister is behind the scheme, backed by Business Secretary Lord Mandelson.

According to a newspaper report, the scheme will be approved, but with legally-binding commitments on pollution and noise.

The promise of a new high-speed rail link is also possible, to placate opponents.

A Downing Street spokeswoman referred inquiries to the Department for Transport (DfT) and a DfT spokeswoman said: "There isn't a date and neither has a decision been made."

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

A man shot by police in response to a domestic disturbance is in a stable condition in hospital, doctors said.

The 44-year-old West Yorkshire man, named locally as Bartholomew "Baz" Buckley, was fired at with four live rounds and a Taser, investigators said.

He was hit in the arm and body and taken to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary before being transferred to Leeds General Infirmary, where he remains in the High Dependency Unit following surgery.

An Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) investigation into the incident has begun.

A spokesman for the IPCC said West Yorkshire Police received a 999 call at 12.09am on Friday from a woman who said a man was threatening her.

Firearms officers were deployed and five entered the house. A Taser was used by the officers before they fired their guns.

Police said a sword was recovered from the property, in Whinney Hill Park, Brighouse.

IPCC Commissioner for Yorkshire and Humberside Nicholas Long said: "Our investigation will examine all aspects of this incident from the decision to deploy firearms officers to the events in the house that resulted in the man receiving his injuries. Over the weekend our investigators and other experts will continue their work to build as full a picture as possible about the incident."

Friend Lee Wharfe, 42, said he had known Mr Buckley since the 1990s. "He was very placid, very calm, and very articulate and polite as well. He wanted to turn his life around, he had lost a lot of weight; both my girlfriend and I said he was looking better than he had done in years," he said.

He and his girlfriend watched as police surrounded Mr Buckley's home in the early hours of Friday morning.He said: "We heard a lot of banging and the sound of dogs barking so we went upstairs to look. There were three or four marked police cars, two or three unmarked ones, and two police vans. I found it very strange that there were so many there over a domestic call-out."

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

Lloyds TSB has agreed to pay out £230 million after helping customers skirt US sanctions on business transactions with Sudan and Iran.

The bank admitted responsibility for criminal conduct based on court documents filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.

The Justice Department said as early as 1995, Lloyds falsified wire transfers involving countries or individuals on the US sanctions list.

The bank was accused of deliberately removing customer information so wire transfers would pass undetected through filters at US financial institutions.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

A suspected violent criminal is on the run after he was sprung from a prison van by two accomplices armed with a shotgun.

Wayne Connor, 20, was snatched as he travelled to court from Feltham Young Offenders' Institution in west London.

Police said Connor escaped when two men wearing balaclavas smashed the driver's side window and threatened the officer with the gun.

They demanded the driver, who was accompanied by a second member of staff, release Connor from the rear of the six-cell van.

Connor was due to appear at Woolwich Crown Court alongside co-defendant Jason McInerney, 21, who also escaped from custody last year, and a third man.

The trio were due to face charges of racially-aggravated assault during a burglary in West Drayton, on August 4 last year. McInerney was recaptured several days later. He is not believed to have been in the van with Connor.

The Metropolitan Police have launched a huge manhunt involving a police helicopter, specialist search teams and dog handlers. Investigators sealed off several roads and removed the prisoner van on the back of a low-loader lorry for further forensic examination.

Witnesses said Connor was driven off in a dark blue car after the ambush in Bedfont Road, near Bedfont Lake, Feltham, at about 7.30am.

Speaking at the scene, Detective Inspector Alan Holford warned the public not to approach Connor or his accomplices. He said Connor, a traveller with connections in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, has a history of violence.

Mr Holford said: "Mr Connor and the men with him are known to use aliases and false documents. They used violence today and have access to weapons. We also know that Mr Connor and the men with him use hotels so we are appealing to staff in hotels to keep an eye out for him."

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

Opposition MPs have warned that Britain's most vulnerable children are still being failed after the Government ordered an investigation following the deaths of seven youngsters.

Ministers launched a review of Doncaster Council's children's services department in response to "very serious" issues raised by an Ofsted inspection last month.

There are also concerns that seven children have died in the area since late 2004 in cases involving abuse or neglect.

Serious case reviews have been commissioned to find out what mistakes were made in each instance, although so far only three have been completed.

Children's Minister Beverley Hughes wrote to Doncaster Council to express concerns about the Ofsted report's finding that its provision for children was "inadequate".

She said she had instructed her officials to carry out a "thorough diagnostic review" of the local authority's children's services department.

The investigation will also look at "broader corporate issues" within the council.

Ms Hughes said in her letter: "It is crucial that the root causes of these failings are fully explored and that the capacity and capability of the council and its key partners to drive improvement in these areas is fully assessed."

The Ofsted inspectors criticised the high number of child protection cases in Doncaster not allocated to social workers. They also noted there had been a "sharp fall" in the number of looked-after children assigned to a social worker.

Doncaster Mayor Martin Winter insisted that nothing was more important to him than ensuring the protection of vulnerable people in his borough. But he admitted there was "still a long way to go" and said he was fully supportive of the Government-led review.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thousands of fresh redundancies have been announced as the Prime Minister hosted a jobs summit aimed at helping the growing army of unemployed.

Gordon Brown pledged that people thrown out of work would not be "abandoned" by the Government.

He announced a series of measures, including a so-called "golden hello" of £2,500 for firms recruiting people unemployed for more than six months, extra apprenticeships and "intensive" support aimed at helping up to 500,000 people over the next two years.

But the relentless toll of redundancies, which is cutting deeper into British industry by the day, continued with almost 700 job cuts at heavy machinery giant JCB, almost 1,000 at logistics firm Wincanton and almost 400 at troubled china and crystal maker Waterford Wedgwood.

A further 420 jobs were under threat at Findus frozen food firm Newcastle Productions after the firm went into administration, while there were fears for the future of 1,000 jobs at furniture retailer Land of Leather after the company suspended its shares.

Hull-based Honda dealership deVries, which employs 130 workers, said it had appointed receivers after being hit by a fall in sales. Meanwhile, leading auction house Christie's, which employs 2,100 staff around the world, announced a reorganisation expected to lead to job cuts.

However, supermarket Morrisons gave a boost to Gordon Brown's jobs summit by flagging up plans to create 5,000 jobs this year.

Rival Sainsbury's also said at its Christmas trading update last week that the group would create 4,000 jobs this year. And Iceland bought 51 stores from the administrators of collapsed retailer Woolworths last Friday with plans to create 2,500 jobs.

The Prime Minister told an audience of 150 business, union and voluntary sector leaders at the jobs summit that the Government aimed to help 500,000 people into work or work-focused training over the next two years.

"We will do everything we can to prevent the global recession turning into a global depression, prevent short-term unemployment turning into long-term unemployment, and to prevent losing your job meaning losing your home. My message is simple - we won't give up on you, but in turn you must not give up on work, on skills and on training."

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

Opponents to the creation of a third runway at Heathrow are fighting a furious war of words with supporters of expansion at the west London airport.

The Government is expected to give the go-ahead to the £9 billion expansion package later this week despite opposition from some Labour MPs.

The pro-runway lobby brought out the heavy artillery in the form of leaders of airlines, big business and unions who said that expansion was vital for the future of the UK economy. Opponents including the Conservatives, Tory London Mayor Boris Johnson and "green" groups countered by saying there was no environmental or economic case for a new runway.

While the business leaders, members of the Future Heathrow group, stressed at a media conference in London that a new runway could create 65,000 new jobs, Mr Johnson said he would challenge in the courts any decision to give expansion the green light.

Baroness Valentine, chief executive of business group London First, admitted the Government had a difficult decision to make but that a third runway was essential.

British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh said the new runway would probably not be completed until around 2019/20, by which time new aircraft would emit 55% less CO2 than planes in the year 2000.

The Unite and GMB unions both expressed their support for Heathrow expansion, with Unite assistant general secretary Paul Talbot saying the runway work could create 50,000 new jobs and there could be another 15,000 positions once the project was completed.

Mr Johnson claimed that a legal challenge to expansion would be "supported by the overwhelming majority". He added that the extra runway faced "all kinds of quite insuperable battles" - including emissions, congestion and noise pollution - which the Government had no answer to.

Shadow transport secretary Theresa Villiers said it was time Labour dropped "their misguided and unpopular plans for a third runway at Heathrow" while Liberal Democrat MP Susan Kramer said Heathrow expansion would be "a disaster for west London and a disaster for the climate".

The Society of British Aerospace Companies said Heathrow expansion was "the right decision to take for the benefit of the country", but Friends of the Earth countered by claiming the economic case for expansion was "biased and fundamentally flawed".

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

One of the four remaining British First World War veterans has died at the age of 108, friends said.

Bill Stone, who joined the Royal Navy in Plymouth as a stoker at 18 before progressing to the battleship HMS Hood, died at a nursing home.

Dennis Goodwin, secretary of the World War One Veterans Association, said he had endured an ongoing battle with chest problems.

"He was always a battler," Mr Goodwin said.

Mr Stone took part in the evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940 on the minesweeper HMS Salamander.

Mr Stone's daughter and son-in-law were with him at his residential home near Wokingham, Berkshire, when he died, Mr Goodwin said.

Mr Stone was born the 10th of 14 children in Kingsbridge, Devon, at the turn of the last century. Yet he was still rattling a tin for the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal as recently as five years ago.

Speaking in recent years, Mr Stone said: "I've had a wonderful life. I've always worked hard, never stopped for a minute and it's kept me going all right."

Mr Stone travelled to Cape Town, Tasmania, Jakarta, Newfoundland, Buenos Aires and Malta during a career which saw him work as a barrow boy, steam engine driver, barber, tobacconist and farm hand.

"War is terrible," he once said. "I saw Plymouth flattened and at the end of the war I went to Germany and all their buildings were flattened too. We were guarding an island there but there was no trouble because the Germans were as glad, as we were, that it was all over. They didn't want war just as we didn't."

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

Prince Harry's controversial "Paki" comment was branded unacceptable by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, as Defence Secretary John Hutton confirmed the young royal would be interviewed by his commanding officer.

But the premier also declared he thought the prince would be given the benefit of the doubt by a public conscious of his combat service and charity work.

Mr Hutton confirmed Prince Harry would be interviewed in the next few days by his Household Cavalry commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Harry Fullerton, about the incident captured on video and disclosed by the News of the World.

Harry was caught on film three years ago referring to Pakistani platoon member Ahmed Raza Khan as "our little Paki friend".

Palace officials said the 24-year-old Prince was "extremely sorry" for the comment and stressed that Harry had been speaking to a friend without malice.

But the soldier's father, Muhammad Yaqoob Khan Abbasi, accused Harry - who is third in line to the throne - of using a "hate word" against his son.

Mr Brown, asked about Harry's comments, told GMTV: "I think the sincerity of his apology cannot be doubted.

"It was a mistake, he has made the admission of that and, once he has made his apology, I think the British people are good enough to give someone who has actually been a role model for young people and has done well fighting for our country, gone into very difficult situations with bravery, I think they will give him the benefit of the doubt."

Mr Hutton told MPs at Commons defence question time: "I think we would all accept that the use of that kind of language has no place at all. Prince Harry has made a very genuine apology and I also believe that no individual offence was intended by his remarks. Harry himself, I understand, will be interviewed by his commanding officer in the next few days."

Colonel Paul Farrar, the Army's deputy head of recruiting, said the use of words that could cause offence was "unacceptable".

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

An ice-skating coach who collapsed and died from a brain haemorrhage gave birth to a baby girl two days later.

Jayne Soliman, 41, was declared brain-dead at Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital but doctors managed to keep her heart beating long enough to deliver her little girl, Aya Jayne, by caesarean section.

Members of her club expressed their "immense sadness" and "great regret" for what happened but said Mrs Soliman's daughter was "doing well".

A statement on the Bracknell Ice Skating Club website read: "It is with great regret and immense sadness that we have to inform you that coach Jayne Soliman died suddenly on Wednesday afternoon as a result of a brain haemorrhage."

The statement continued: "The baby is very small but doing well. Our prayers are with her."

Mrs Soliman, a professional skater who had competed in international galas, was only 25 weeks pregnant when she collapsed in her bedroom, having gone to bed complaining of a headache.

She was airlifted to the John Radcliffe Hospital but was pronounced dead at 8pm.

Doctors said the skater had suffered from a haemorrhage caused by an aggressive tumour which had struck a major blood vessel.

But they were still hopeful her baby could be saved.

Mrs Soliman was given large doses of steroids to help the child's lungs develop and within 48 hours, she gave birth to a baby girl weighing two pounds one and a half ounces.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

The former children's services chief who lost her job over the Baby P tragedy lost an appeal against her sacking.

Sharon Shoesmith, 55, was dismissed without compensation from her senior position at Haringey Council in north London last month after a damning report into her department's failings.

She launched an attempt to overturn the decision to sack her but a panel of councillors rejected her appeal.

Children's Secretary Ed Balls sent inspectors into Haringey Council after the trial of those responsible for 17-month-old Baby P's death.

The inspectors identified a string of "serious concerns" about the local authority's child protection services, which they described as "inadequate".

Mr Balls removed Ms Shoesmith from her post on December 1 but she remained suspended on full pay until Haringey councillors decided to dismiss her a week later.

Ms Shoesmith's appeal hearing before a panel of three Haringey councillors began on Wednesday last week and lasted three days.

A Haringey Council spokesman said: "A panel of councillors has rejected an appeal by Sharon Shoesmith against her dismissal on December 8 2008.

"The decision was taken today by a different panel of councillors from the ones who made the original decision. Ms Shoesmith will not be returning to work in Haringey. She will not receive any compensation package. She will not receive any payment in lieu of notice."

Baby P, who cannot be named for legal reasons, died in a blood-splattered cot in August 2007. He had suffered more than 50 injuries at the hands of his mother, her boyfriend and their lodger despite being on the child protection register and receiving 60 contacts with the authorities over eight months.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

The formation of a UK "super bank" has been rubber-stamped with a court giving its approval for Lloyds TSB's takeover of HBOS.

The Court of Session in Edinburgh gave the green light to the deal after a legal hearing lasting all day.

The move came after shareholders of the two banking giants voted before Christmas in favour of the tie-up.

Meanwhile, both banks confirmed that taxpayers are set to own almost half of the new bank created from the takeover.

The court hearing was a largely procedural process examining the legal preparations involved in the deal. The deal is being conducted as a Scheme of Arrangement, which required court approval.

Judge Lord Glennie said he was prepared to grant the orders approving the scheme.

Wednesday is set to be the last day for trading in HBOS shares.

The new enlarged Lloyds Banking Group should begin trading on the London Stock Exchange from next Monday.

The takeover, brokered as HBOS became increasingly vulnerable in last autumn's financial crisis, will be one of the sector's biggest ever deals.

The "super bank" that will be created will boast around 145,000 staff and 3,000 branches.

-Nova

[JohnCenaFan28]

Two Britons who have been held hostage for four months are "alive and well" but will not be released until the leader of Nigeria's main militant group is freed, the organisation said

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta released the first pictures of Robin Barry Hughes and Matthew John Maguire, who are believed to have been among 27 oil workers, including five expatriates, kidnapped by militants when their vessel was hijacked on September 9. The other hostages were later released.

In an e-mail sent to reporters, the group said the two Britons, who were pictured wearing shorts and flip-flops in what appeared to be a thick forest, would not be released until the Nigerian government frees the group's leader, Henry Okah, who is currently being tried on charges of arms trafficking.

The statement said: "We intend to hold on to them for as long as a very sick and dying Henry Okah is held hostage by the Nigerian state.

"Since their fate is now tied to his, God forbid that Henry Okah should die in detention."

It added they were "alive and well" and that the militants would continue to kidnap "high value oil workers from Western Europe and North America" in 2009 to keep pressure on the government to empower the inhabitants of Nigeria's oil-rich states.

In the pictures, the pair look dishevelled but did not appear to have been injured.

-Nova