World News joined 0009

A youth serving life for the alcohol-fuelled murder of father-of-three Garry Newlove, who was kicked to death after confronting vandals outside his home, has lost an appeal against conviction and sentence.

Gang ringleader Adam Swellings, now 20, of Crewe, Cheshire, was present in the dock at the Court of Appeal in London to hear three judges reject his argument that his conviction was unsafe and his 17-year minimum term "manifestly excessive".

Co-accused Stephen Sorton, now 18, of Warrington, waived his right to attend the court for his appeal against his 15-year minimum term.

Reducing the period to one of 13 years Lord Justice Moore-Bick emphasised that even when Sorton has served that term he will not be released until the parole board was satisfied he "no longer presents a danger to the public".

Mr Newlove's widow Helen sat in the public gallery of the packed courtroom for the proceedings. Her husband, a 47-year-old salesman who had overcome stomach cancer, was murdered outside his Warrington home in August last year.

Mr Newlove was attacked after he left his home to confront the gang in Station Road North and was kicked "like a football" by the youths, a jury at Chester Crown Court heard.

Mr Newlove's daughters, Zoe, 18, Danielle, 16, and Amy, 13, witnessed the horrific attack on their father. He suffered massive head injuries and died two days later in hospital.

It emerged after the pair and another teenager were found guilty in January that Swellings had been released from custody for an assault just hours before the attack. Swellings was freed on bail on condition that he stayed away from Warrington but he remained in the town despite the court order.

The unsuccessful conviction appeal by Swellings centred on a claim that the trial judge wrongly admitted "bad character" evidence before the jury relating to other incidents involving the gang earlier on the day Mr Newlove was attacked.

Mrs Newlove has launched a campaign for more to be done to stop youth gangs going on violent, drink-fuelled rampages against law-abiding people.

-Nova

Thousands more job cuts have been announced as unemployment levels continued to soar.

Telecoms giant BT dealt the biggest blow of all, revealing that it was axing 10,000 jobs, mainly among workers and sub-contractors.

The company said it had already cut 4,000 jobs as part of an ongoing efficiency programme which will mainly affect BT's indirect labour force such as agency workers, contractors and offshore staff. A further 6,000 jobs will go between now and March.

BT chief executive Ian Livingston said 7,000 workers left the firm every year so he did not envisage any compulsory redundancies in the latest round of cuts, which will affect head office functions, support staff and customer services.

Asked how long he thought the current economic downturn would last, Mr Livingston replied: "It will get worse before it gets better."

Financial services group Friends Provident announced it was axing 280 posts. Workers' union United claimed the cuts would come at the business's Manchester office and would result in the closure of the firm's main building in the city.

Truck-maker Leyland plans to axe almost 250 jobs and have an extended shutdown at its factory over Christmas because of "severe decline" in demand.

And there was a further blow to the economy after construction equipment firm JCB announced it was to shed almost 400 jobs.

The announcement comes after thousands of JCB workers last month voted to accept a £50-a-week pay cut in a bid to ward off job cuts.

Newspaper group Trinity Mirror also confirmed that it had axed 28 local titles so far this year and "could not rule out" more staff cuts as it upped 2008 cost-cutting plans by £5million.

-Nova

Gordon Brown has called for "urgent" international action to prevent the world economy sliding deeper into crisis.

Arriving in New York ahead of this weekend's G20 summit of the leading global economies in Washington, the Prime Minister warned that "the cost of inaction will be far greater than the cost of any action".

Mr Brown signalled that he intends to press the world leaders meeting in the US capital to produce their own "fiscal stimulus" packages of tax cuts and spending increases along the lines of those currently being drawn up by Chancellor Alistair Darling. Mr Darling will announce his proposals in the Pre-Budget Report on November 24.

However Mr Brown is concerned that their impact in stimulating economic activity will be diluted unless such measures are taken up around the world.

"It is now becoming increasingly accepted around the world that a temporary and affordable fiscal stimulus is necessary," he said.

"This will have most impact if it is co-ordinated internationally. By acting now we can stimulate growth in our economies. There is a need for urgency. The cost of inaction will be far greater than the cost of any action."

China, Germany and Japan have already announced their proposals to get their economies going and US-president elect Barack Obama has said that he will be bring forward his own measures when he takes office in January.

There has already been a co-ordinated 0.5% cut in interest rates by central banks around the world - including the Bank of England - to try to inject new life into the world economy. But even after last week's unprecedented 1.5% cut by the Bank of England - with indications of more to follow - there are fears that such measures on their own will not be sufficient.

Mr Brown said that he would be using Saturday's meeting to press for a reopening of the Doha round of world trade talks following their collapse in Geneva last July.

"A successful conclusion of the Doha round will inject much-needed confidence into the world economy," Mr Brown said.

-Nova

Investigations are under way after the deaths of two young boys intensified the scrutiny on child protection in Britain.

Manchester City Council is reviewing how troubled young mother Jael Mullings, 21, who is feared to have stabbed her children to death, no longer had a social worker to help her family although they were known to social services.

And police involvement was also being examined after it was revealed that officers had called at the house just hours before the brothers were killed.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission said that it was launching an investigation hours after Manchester City Council announced that it was also reviewing social services' involvement in the tragedy.

Ms Mullings was arrested on suspicion of killing her boys, Romario Mullings-Sewell, two, and his three-month-old brother Delayno, on Wednesday afternoon.

Both boys, described as "gorgeous" and "beautiful", were stabbed in the stomach and found dead at the family home in Cheetham Hill, Manchester. Their mother has been sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

The boys' deaths come in the aftermath of a child protection scandal in London involving Baby P, prompting another investigation ordered by Children's Minister Ed Balls and Haringey Council issuing an apology.

The Mullings family did previously have a social worker. But this arrangement ended at some point before the children died, according to a spokeswoman for social services at Manchester City Council.

The council said that, as an investigation had begun, it was "not appropriate" to explain why and when contact was ended with social workers or say when the family were last seen by social services.

The council declined to answer further questions, but the local authority confirmed the family were not currently on the "at risk" child protection register and released a statement saying that, while they were known to the council's children's services, they were not "currently involved" with them.

-Nova

The Government delivered some first-class news to the Post Office by awarding it a contract to continue with a card account used by millions of people to receive benefits and pensions, ending the threat of closure to thousands of branches.

Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell told MPs the organisation would retain the business under a new contract running for five years from 2010, with the possibility of an extension beyond that, raising hopes of a brighter future for the service.

Around 2,500 post offices will have shut by the end of the year under a closure programme and there had been warnings that a further 6,000 would be under threat if the Post Office Card Account (Poca) went to a rival bidder such as PayPoint.

Mr Purnell said that in order to support a viable post office network, the competitive tendering process had been cancelled.

"I firmly believe that this is the right decision for our customers, the Post Office and sub-postmasters. The Post Office is a cherished national institution at the heart of many communities. The card account is an important source of income, and brings customers through the doors of post offices across the country."

Around 4.3 million people hold a Poca to obtain pensions and benefit payments including jobseeker's allowance and child benefit.

Around £80 million is paid out every day to account holders, with many of them spending some of the money in post offices or shops run by subpostmasters. The card accounts for one in four visits to post offices, rising to one in two in rural areas.

Alan Cook, managing director of the Post Office, said: "We very much welcome this decision, which enables us to achieve our goal of maintaining a branch network of around 11,500 outlets for the foreseeable future.

"We will, of course, also be working with other Government departments to drive a wide range of services through the network, while at the same time building on our existing range of financial and other products."

Billy Hayes, general secretary of the Communication Workers Union, said the announcement was "a victory for common sense", adding: "We hope that (the) decision represents a further indication that the Government is now willing to adopt a more positive approach towards the future of this vital public service."

-Nova

The British military death toll in Afghanistan and Iraq reached the grim milestone of 300 when two Royal Marines were killed in Helmand province.

The pair, who were serving with the UK Landing Force Command Support Group, died on Wednesday afternoon when their vehicle was struck by an explosive device in the Garmsir district of southern Helmand.

Their deaths brought the total killed in Afghanistan to 124, while 176 have died on active service in Iraq since operations began.

The news came as Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Afghan President Hamid Karzai met in London to discuss the strategic situation in the region, with economic problems and unrest growing in neighbouring Pakistan.

Downing Street said Mr Karzai had praised the work of British troops and expressed "condolences" over the deaths when he met Mr Brown.

US president-elect Barack Obama is planning to send two more combat brigades to Afghanistan and is expected to call on other Nato allies to beef up their own deployments when he takes office in January.

But Number 10 stressed that the talks had focused on how the UK's support operations in Afghanistan could be enhanced rather than the possibility of more troops being sent.

When it was put to the Prime Minister's spokesman that extra forces were set to be deployed, he responded: "I don't agree with the assertion that we now look like we are sending more troops."

A recent ICM poll for BBC Radio 4 found more than two-thirds of the public believe all British troops should be withdrawn from the troubled country in the next year.

But the spokesman rejected suggestions the UK public was not behind the campaign. He said research carried out by Mori for the MoD had indicated more than half the population supported the military presence in Afghanistan.

-Nova

The council criticised over Baby P's death has apologised for failing to do more to protect him.

The 17-month-old boy died in a blood-spattered cot in August last year despite 60 visits from the authorities over eight months, during which time he suffered more than 50 injuries.

Children's Secretary Ed Balls has ordered an urgent inquiry into child welfare services provided by Haringey Council in north London, the same local authority heavily criticised over the death of Victoria Climbie eight years ago.

Liz Santry, the council's cabinet member for children and young people, said staff had gone through a "huge amount of anguish" since Baby P's death 15 months ago. She told Sky News: "We are truly sorry that we did not do more to protect him."

The Government-ordered review will be carried out by Ofsted, for the Healthcare Commission and the Chief Inspector of Constabulary.

Mr Balls said the investigation, which started on Thursday and is due to make an initial report by December 1, would involve a "thorough inspection" of all services responsible for safeguarding children in Haringey.

The director of children's services in Hampshire, John Coughlan, has been drafted in to work alongside his counterpart in Haringey to ensure proper procedures for safeguarding children are applied while the inquiry takes place.

Ms Santry welcomed the review and said the council was commissioning an independent expert to lead a cross-party review of child protection in the borough.

She said: "This was a really tragic occurrence and the circumstances of his death are really dreadful. As you will know, he died over 15 months ago. For the past 15 months in Haringey there has been a huge amount of anguish and endless discussion about what more we might have done to save this little boy."

She added: "Our duty is to protect our children and we did not do so in this instance, and I would like to say how truly sorry we are."

-Nova

The Government has faced heavy criticism after announcing proposals to make schools with satisfactory exam results raise their game.

Schools Secretary Ed Balls outlined plans to push secondaries deemed to be "coasting" to improve their performance.

In such schools, there are pupils who are not fulfilling their potential and should be making more progress, he said.

But teachers warned the Government against putting schools into "crude categories" and said they must focus on providing help rather than castigating them.

Mr Balls said local authorities had been asked to draw up a list of "coasting" schools in their area by January, adding he thought hundreds of schools would be identified.

Last year, the school's watchdog Ofsted warned in their annual report that up to half of England's secondary schools do not give pupils a good education.

Mr Balls said: "We're looking at schools that are often above average, at first sight you would say were good schools or at least satisfactory, but are not making progress in a way we would like.

"Either average pupils are not making enough progress when they arrived at age 11 to taking exams at age 16, or gifted and talented pupils are not being given the support they need, or support is not being given to pupils with special educational needs."

He said local authorities will be given powers to intervene if schools refuse to take steps to improve, such as placing additional governors on the school's board, or issuing a warning notice.

However, Christine Blower, acting general secretary of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), said categorising schools was an unhelpful Government "fixation". She said: "Each school is unique. Their definition into crude categories is a continuing obsession of the Government. I'd like to see Ed Balls go beyond criticism of schools by category and map out, in conjunction with the profession, a positive and pro-active way as to how the in-depth expertise of teachers and schools can be harnessed for their mutual benefit."

-Nova

The man accused of murdering 17-year-old Hannah Foster told a jury that he was framed by a gang of men who kidnapped, bound and blindfolded him before forcing him to have sex with her.

Maninder Pal Singh Kohli claimed he was bundled into a car by three men on the night the teenager disappeared.

He said he was taken to a van, where he was forced to have sexual intercourse with a girl, who he now believed to be Hannah.

He told the jury at Winchester Crown Court he believed he had been kidnapped out of "revenge" because he owed £16,000 to a work colleague.

Kohli told the court that his "kidnappers" threatened to kill him and he fled the country to his native India a few days later to "save himself".

The 41-year-old father of two told the court that he repeatedly borrowed sums of money from his colleague, James Dennis, with whose wife he claimed he was having an affair.

But when Mr Dennis asked for the money to be returned, including a statutory demand from a solicitor, Kohli said he threatened to reveal the secret affair. Mr Dennis and his wife, Carole, deny that she had an affair with the defendant, the trial has heard.

He told the jury that he did not know who the girl in question was but he now suspected it was Hannah Foster because his DNA was found in semen discovered by police on her dead body. He said he believed she had also been forced to have sex with him.

Kohli told the trial that on March 13, 2003, the day before Hannah disappeared, Mr Dennis's brother Jonathan threatened him, demanding that he pay his brother back.

Kohli denies the murder, rape and false imprisonment of Hannah Foster. The body of the bright A-level student was found in a bramble-filled ditch at the side of Allington Lane, West End, Southampton, on March 16 2003, two days after she disappeared near to her home.

-Nova

wow thats just sad