World News joined 0011

Children as young as three have been found abandoned at UK ports and airports.

Home Office figures show 3,525 unaccompanied children under 18 applied for asylum in 2007, a 2% increase on the previous year.

Many of these youngsters were from war-torn countries or those afflicted by desperate poverty.

Around a third arrived from Afghanistan, 10% from Iran and 9% from Iraq.

In Hampshire, children were found abandoned at Southampton docks, Southampton airport and at service stations in the last year.

Of the 68 unaccompanied children, Hampshire County Council said they had placed 43, while Southampton City Council took in 19 and a further six were looked after by Portsmouth City Council.

The youngest child found by the county council was just three years old.

A spokeswoman said unaccompanied asylum seeking children would be treated in exactly the same way as other children in the council's care.

A Border Agency spokesperson said they would never deport a child unless they had contacted their family or arranged care for them.

"We recognise that the subject of unaccompanied asylum seeking children is a very complex and emotive issue, and the welfare of children and young people is of paramount importance. That is why, even where an unaccompanied asylum seeking child has been found not to need international protection, we do not return children and young people to countries unless either the family has been satisfactorily traced or an acceptable level of reception and care arrangements have been established."

-Ananova

Labour maintained its bounce in the polls following the conference season, but is still trailing the Conservatives by a wide enough margin to hand David Cameron victory in the forthcoming election, according to two surveys.

A YouGov poll for Saturday's Daily Telegraph put Labour on 31%, up seven points on a similar survey last month. But Gordon Brown's party remains 14 points behind Mr Cameron's Tories on 45% (up one point) and seems to have made most of its gains from the Liberal Democrats, down five points on 15%.

Meanwhile, an ICM poll published on the Guardian's website indicated that the Tories enjoyed a modest bounce of their own from their conference.

Compared to a similar survey a week ago after Mr Brown's well-received speech in Manchester, the Conservatives are up one point on 42%, Labour down two on 30% and Liberal Democrats down one on 17%, giving Mr Cameron's party a comfortable 12-point advantage.

The two surveys were conducted after the end of the Conservative conference in Birmingham, and suggest that - despite being largely overshadowed by the international banking crisis - the gathering managed to halt, if not reverse, Labour's surge after its own conference.

As MPs return to Westminster on Monday, the message seems to be that the economic crisis and conference season have helped Mr Brown eat into the Tory poll lead, but the Prime Minister still has a long way to go to dent Mr Cameron's chances of replacing him in the election expected in 2010.

The Guardian survey found that 55% of voters think Mr Brown has handled the economic situation well, against only 39% who say he has performed badly.

And after months in which he has trailed Mr Cameron as best choice for leader of the country, the Telegraph poll put Mr Brown almost neck-and-neck on 39% to the Tory leader's 40%.

Some 34% of people told YouGov they would trust the Conservatives to get Britain out of the present financial crisis, against 27% who named Labour and 29% who were unconvinced by either.

YouGov elicited the opinions of 2,048 adults across Great Britain online between October 1 and 3. ICM interviewed a random sample of 1,008 adults by telephone between October 1 and 2.

-Ananova

Thousands of people have called on the Government to keep its promise to end child poverty by 2020.

More than 10,000 gathered in Trafalgar Square in London for the rally to highlight the plight of nearly four million children who live below the poverty line in the UK.

The rally was hosted by former EastEnders actor Chris Parker who led the crowd in shouting: "listen up Downing Street, keep the promise". Meanwhile, pop star Sophie Ellis-Bextor entertained supporters who marched from Millbank to Trafalgar Square.

Brendan Barber, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress addressed the crowd and also called on the Government to pledge £3 billion to end the suffering of the 3.9 million children who live in poverty.

"We stand here ... in the shadow of South Africa House which is inscribed with the words 'Good Hope'. We are here ... with good hope that the Government will eradicate child poverty by 2020."

He added: "This has got to be at the top of the agenda. At a time when the Government has been able to find tens and tens of millions to support the financial system and the bankers I think it is time we found the £3 billion to deliver on that commitment."

Mr Parker told the crowd: "This is the last chance the Government has to make that commitment in 2009. It's not much to ask, to keep that promise."

He said it was the biggest event to end child poverty held in the UK.

Jasmine Whitbread, chief executive of Save The Children, was joined on stage by Shameless actor David Threlfall. She said: "Children in poverty have a 10 year less life expectancy than anyone else. With your help we can keep the pressure on the Government to end child poverty."

Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Chris Grayling who joined the march and rally said: "Child poverty is an increasing worry in this country, particularly as the numbers involved are increasing year on year. (The) rally will be a big reminder to the Government and other politicians of how important the issue of child poverty is."

-Ananova

Prime Minister Gordon Brown will propose a £12 billion fund to help small businesses deal with the credit crunch when he meets fellow European leaders in Paris.

Mr Brown will join the leaders of the four EU nations belonging to the G8 group of industrialised countries - France, Germany, the UK and Italy, as well as the head of the European Central Bank and the President of the European Commission.

Speaking at 10 Downing Street before his departure for Paris, Mr Brown said: "We are seeing, in addition to the national action we are taking, that these global problems about oil, about the credit crunch, need global solutions.

"So I will be proposing to the leaders I meet in Paris today that we work together to clean up the system, both in America and Europe where there have been problems, that we call a timetable for international meetings to agree the changes that will open up those areas which have been far too often closed and not transparent.

"And I will also be proposing a £12 billion small business fund, so that small businesses in our country and the rest of Europe can get money immediately so that they can continue to employ staff and continue to provide services.

"I think in the next few weeks we have got to show how we can do more in Britain and across Europe to help small businesses, as well as households, through what is a difficult economic time but where I believe Britain can lead the way out of the difficulties."

The scheduled four hour meeting has been called by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who holds the EU's presidency.

The meeting is intended to show solidarity between Europe's "big four" - but divisions are growing over how far to go in regulating the money markets and bailing out failing banks and finance houses.

The meeting will welcome Washington's approval of a massive 700 billion dollar (£397 billion) rescue package to restore confidence in Wall Street.

But suggestions of a similar central pot of cash to be set up for the 27-nation EU bloc have received such a poor response that French ministers are denying it was their idea.

-Ananova

Britain's biggest mortgage lender has become the latest mortgage lender to hike its mortgage rates.

Halifax said it was raising its rates by up to 0.25%, following last week's increase of up to 0.45%.

The group blamed the move on continued increases in the cost of wholesale funding.

The move leaves a two-year fixed rate deal for someone with a 25% deposit who pays a £999 arrangement fee at 6.05%.

Several major lenders, including Nationwide, Cheltenham & Gloucester and HSBC have announced rate hikes in the past couple of weeks, as the money markets responded to the recent financial turmoil.

Swap rates, upon which fixed-rate mortgages are based, soared by 0.4%, although they have since fallen back to their previous level, while the key inter-bank lending rate three-month Libor rose from a recent low of 5.7% to 6.27% .

The rate increases by lenders brings to an end the most prolonged period of falling mortgage rates since the credit crunch first struck.

Rates had been steadily falling since July, helping push the average cost of a two-year fixed-rate mortgage down to its pre-credit crunch level, as lenders once again competed for business.

The Bank of England's Credit Conditions Survey this week warned that banks and building societies plan to further cut back on lending during the coming three months in the face of the worsening economic outlook.

Lenders said they had reduced the amount they advanced by more than expected during the three months to mid-September.

-Ananova

The British courts should refuse to act on a European arrest warrant requesting the extradition to Germany of a man accused of Holocaust denial, a senior politician said.

Australian citizen Frederick Toben was arrested on Wednesday at Heathrow, en route from the United States to Dubai, and has been remanded in custody awaiting an extradition hearing on October 17.

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said that individuals should not be handed over to courts abroad for Holocaust denial, which is not a crime in the UK and raised issues of freedom of speech.

The former MEP said that countries could "pick and choose" the cases in which they would apply warrants issued by fellow EU member states, citing the case of Belgium, which has said it would not send suspects to Poland on murder charges which related to abortion.

Mr Huhne told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "There is a clear precedent for doing this and I think we should in this case."

Dr Toben was detained under an EU arrest warrant issued by the District Court in Mannheim, Germany, which accuses him of publishing material on the internet "of an anti-semitic and/or revisionist nature".

While stressing that he was completely opposed to anti-semitism, Mr Huhne said: "We don't in this country tend to prosecute people for issues that we regard as issues of freedom of speech.

"I don't think the European arrest warrant was designed to be used in this sort of case and there are good legal grounds under Article 4 of the European arrest warrant whereby we could actually refuse to participate in this.

"I think it is a pretty dodgy case that the Germans are bringing, both in terms of German law and in terms of the reach of it, because in fact Dr Toben didn't actually commit this offence in Germany.

"If somebody goes too far and incites violence or causes an attack on somebody else, then it is absolutely right they should be prosecuted, but there is a very clear distinction from something you hold as an opinion - it may be wrong and you may completely disagree with it, and I do in this case... I think we have to hold that fundamental belief in freedom of speech."

-Ananova

Two men have been arrested on suspicion of murder following the discovery of a man's body at his burned-out flat, police said.

David Hughes, 44, was found dead at his home in Easton, Bristol on Wednesday, following the blaze.

Mr Hughes was found on the second floor of the flat, in Stapleton Road.

A post-mortem examination on Friday confirmed that his death was 'due to assault', and detectives confirmed two men in their 30s were being held.

The pair continue to be questioned after their arrests on suspicion of murder.

A 10-strong forensic team remains at the scene of the fire carrying out what police describe as "detailed investigation and examination".

Officers from the Avon and Somerset force are conducting house-to-house enquiries.

A community contact vehicle is parked in the area so that residents can volunteer intelligence and seek advice and reassurance.

Anyone with information is asked to call the incident room on 0845 4567000 or Crimestoppers anonymously 0800 555111.

-Ananova

The public should not expect "a decisive military victory" in Afghanistan, Britain's most senior military commander in the country has warned.

Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith said the aim was to reduce the uprising to a level at which it could be managed by the Afghan army - and made clear that this could involve talking to the Taliban.

It was necessary to "lower our expectations" and accept that it would be unrealistic to expect that multinational forces can entirely rid Afghanistan of armed bands, he suggested.

Brig Carleton-Smith, the commander of 16 Air Assault Brigade, which has just completed its second tour of Afghanistan, told the Sunday Times that his forces had "taken the sting out of the Taliban for 2008".

But he added: "We're not going to win this war. It's about reducing it to a manageable level of insurgency that's not a strategic threat and can be managed by the Afghan army.

"We may well leave with there still being a low but steady ebb of rural insurgency."

Brig Carleton-Smith said the aim should be to change the nature of the debate in Afghanistan so that disputes were settled by negotiation and not violence.

"If the Taliban were prepared to sit on the other side of the table and talk about a political settlement, then that's precisely the sort of progress that concludes insurgencies like this," he said.

"That shouldn't make people uncomfortable."

-Ananova

Campaigners for a "balanced migration" policy welcomed hints from the Government's new immigration minister that he may seek limits on the number of migrants coming into Britain.

Phil Woolas said Government policy must reflect the need for an upper limit on the size of Britain's population, in order to provide confidence to the native population that migration is "under control".

His comments follow a recent European Commission report predicting that unless trends change immigration will drive a surge in UK population from 61 million to 77 million by 2060, making Britain the EU's most crowded state.

The co-chairs of a cross-party parliamentary group calling for balanced migration are to meet Home Secretary Jacqui Smith on Wednesday to discuss their call to stabilise UK population over time by limiting the flow of people into the country to match the numbers leaving each year.

Mr Woolas told the Sunday Times that it was vital "to provide confidence to the indigenous population that migration is under control".

And he added: "On a common sense level there has to be a limit to the population. You have to have a policy that thinks about the population implication as well as the immigration implication."

The minister's remarks appear to suggest a possible shift in Government thinking towards the possibility of a cap on migrant numbers, after years in which ministers have focused on ensuring that those entering the country are able to contribute to the economy. The Government's points-based system is intended to ensure that non-EU nationals without useful job skills are barred from entry to the UK, while high-skilled migrants are welcomed.

But Mr Woolas said: "On the one hand is the rationale that we have got to strengthen our economy. But we have got to provide reassurance to communities that the numbers coming in are not bad for us. Community cohesion is crucial. After the economy, this is probably the biggest concern facing the population."

The co-chairs of the All-Party Group on Balanced Migration, Labour's Frank Field and Conservative Nicholas Soames, said in a joint statement: "We welcome the remarks by the new minister for immigration in which he acknowledged the importance of limiting the growth in our population, much of which is due to immigration. We look forward to working with him to give these ideas practical form and we will be discussing them with the Home Secretary when we met her this week."

Shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve said: "We cautiously welcome the sentiment but we have had plenty of tough talk from New Labour before, which was only followed by zero action. A great deal of damage has been done by Labour's refusal to face up to this issue."

-Ananova

Chancellor Alistair Darling said he was ready to offer further assistance to individual banks which get into difficulties.

Mr Darling said that the Government was providing generalised support to stabilise the banking sector as a whole, but was also prepared to take action where specific banks are at risk of collapse, as it did with Bradford & Bingley and Northern Rock.

He told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show that the Government was ready to take "pretty big steps that we wouldn't take in ordinary times" in order to ensure that Britain gets through the current crisis.

But the Chancellor said he would resist pressure to scrap the Bank of England's inflation target to allow for cuts in interest rates, insisting that it was vital to maintain economic discipline even in bad times.

And he indicated that he was ready to let state borrowing rise higher rather than increase taxes, arguing that now was not the time to take money out of the economy.

Setting out his approach to emerging difficulties in the financial world, Mr Darling told Andrew Marr: "It's important that we take action across the piece. That's why, through the Bank of England, we have put billions of pounds into the system to help the whole banking sector.

"But also you do need to be ready to take specific action - as we did with Bradford & Bingley last weekend, as we did with Northern Rock.

"The point I'm making is, it's important to take generalised action as well as being ready to take particular action if you get a particular problem with an individual bank."

Shadow chancellor George Osborne told the Andrew Marr Show the practice of helping banks on a case-by-case basis was "running out of road".

He called for a "much bigger solution" - possibly including the Government taking stakes in several banks as happened in Sweden in the early 1990s.

-Ananova