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The number of homes that were repossessed during the three months to the end of June have soared by 71% compared with a year earlier.

The Financial Services Authority said 11,054 homes were repossessed in the three months to the end of June, compared with just 6,476 during the same three months of 2007.

The regulator said the number of repossessions has been growing "significantly" since the third quarter of last year, as increasing numbers of homeowners struggled to clear arrears they had built up.

Meanwhile, the annual rate at which house prices in England and Wales are falling nearly doubled during September to hit a record of 8%.

The average value of a home dropped by a further 2.2% during the month to £168,814, according to the Land Registry.

The fall left the annual rate of decline for the year to the end of September at 8%, nearly double the 4.6% slide announced in August, which at the time was the biggest annual drop recorded since the series began in 2001.

September was the 13th month in a row that the annual rate of house price growth declined, as the credit crunch continued to squeeze the property market.

All regions of England and Wales recorded price falls on both a monthly and an annual basis.

Wales saw the biggest slide, with prices diving by 5.5% during the month, making it the only region to have seen double digit annual falls of 10.7%. The South West, South East, North East and East Midlands all recorded house price drops of more than 2% in September.

Yorkshire and the Humber saw the smallest reduction, but even here properties still lost 1.2% of their value during the month.

-Ananova

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called for a "substantial" increase in the resources available to the International Monetary Fund to shore up countries struggling due to the financial crisis.

Mr Brown said an immediate increase in the 250 billion US dollar fund available to the IMF would lessen the risk of "contagion" from Eastern European countries like Hungary spreading around the world.

Speaking at 10 Downing Street before his departure for Paris for talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Mr Brown did not rule out a British contribution to the enhanced fund, but made clear he believed the bulk of any additional money should come from China and the oil rich states of the Gulf.

The Prime Minister said: "It is in every nation's interest and in the interests of hard-working families in our country and every country that financial contagion does not spread."

Mr Brown said that in recent days he has spoken with IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, President Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel about his proposals, and added that they were also looking at similar ideas. He has also spoken with Hungarian PM Ferenc Gyurcsany.

Following the talks with Mr Sarkozy, the current president of the EU, he will meet Ms Merkel in London on Thursday.

Mr Brown said: "We have seen in recent days the financial crisis spreading to other countries - middle income countries, Eastern European countries.

"Capital flight has made a number of countries potential victims of this crisis.

"So in the last few days I have discussed the risk of contagion and the need to stabilise economies right across Eastern Europe."

The IMF has an arrangement known as the general agreement to borrow, under which countries with large reserves of cash make sums available to lend to states in financial difficulties, and the Fund has recently said it has 250 billion US dollars available for use, Mr Brown said.

-Ananova

Oil giant BP has sparked anger after posting its biggest ever quarterly profits haul of 10 billion US dollars (£6.4bn).

The company's mammoth earnings for the July to September period is equivalent to around £70 million a day and a whopping 148% above the same period last year.

BP's record performance came on the back of crude oil prices which hit a new peak above 147 US dollars a barrel in mid-July.

The results shattered City expectations but drew fire from union leaders and politicians - prompting fresh calls for a windfall tax.

Labour MP John McDonnell (Hayes and Harlington) accused BP of "profiteering" and added: "I will be calling in Parliament for price controls and profit windfall taxes."

Tony Woodley, joint leader of Unite, said oil companies were "banking money faster than they can count it".

"A windfall tax on the oil giants would help six million people heat their homes this winter and would send the clear message that profiteering from the basics of life is not just immoral but will not be tolerated by our Government," he said.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged energy companies to pass on falls in the price of oil to consumers through reduced prices for petrol at the pump and fuel to heat homes.

Speaking at 10 Downing Street, Mr Brown did not directly address the issue of BP's profits, but told reporters: "I notice that some companies have brought their prices down and I encourage others to do so to reflect the fact that the price of oil is now below 60 dollars when it used to be, for a few weeks, nearly 150 dollars.

"There has been more than a halving in the price of oil and, just as when the price goes up people see it immediately reflected in the petrol pump prices, we want to see the falling price reflected in the petrol pump prices, and we are determined to see that happens."

-Ananova

Two former lovers suspected of killing Leeds University student Meredith Kercher are due to find out if they are to face trial.

Judge Paolo Micheli will decide whether Amanda Knox, 21, and Raffaele Sollecito, 24, should be formally charged for the murder of the 21-year-old exchange student on her year abroad in Perugia, Italy, last November.

The body of Miss Kercher, from Coulsdon, Surrey, was found on November 2 in her room in the house she was sharing with Knox and others.

She was semi-naked and her throat had been slit.

American Knox and Italian Sollecito have been accused of killing her in a bungled sex game, alongside third suspect Rudy Hermann Guede, 21.

Guede blames the couple, with his lawyers claiming the murder weapon was found at Sollecito's house and had Knox's DNA on the handle.

The Ivorian immigrant has undergone a fast-track trial, the verdict of which will also be announced.

Lawyers for all three suspects are confident their clients will be cleared, they told reporters outside court on Monday night.

But Knox's lawyer Carlo Dalla Vedova said in the case of a trial, he had requested Knox be placed under house arrest at San Fatucchio - a supervised community and farm for recovering drug addicts and young offenders in rural Umbria, run by Catholic charity Caritas. Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini advised against placing Knox and Sollecito under house arrest before a trial, raising fears they may flee.

Prosecutors allege Knox stabbed Kercher in the throat, while Sollecito held her down and Guede tried to sexually assault her.

-Ananova

A high-flying civil servant has been fined £2,500 after leaving top-secret documents on a train.

Richard Jackson, 37, a deputy director of a department in the Cabinet Office, admitted breaching the Official Secrets Act by failing to take proper care of the documents when he appeared at City of Westminster magistrates' court.

An investigation was launched in June after Jackson lost the intelligence files relating to al Qaida and Iraq.

Jackson is a Ministry of Defence employee who was on secondment to the Cabinet Office.

The documents were passed to BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner by a member of the public who discovered them in an orange cardboard envelope left on a Waterloo to Surrey train.

The court heard Jackson accepted his mistake but "there was never any risk to any lives whatsoever".

Neil Saunders, defending, said Jackson entered the civil service as a graduate and was talked about "in the most glowing of terms".

"He was obviously destined for a notable career in public service," he said. "He accepts that he has made a terrible mistake, error of judgment, or was negligent."

Jackson was suspended after the incident but has since returned to work, in a position described as at least three grades lower than before.

He spent much of the hearing with his head in his hands and made no comment as he left the court.

-Ananova

Preachers of hate will face tougher legal obstacles to entering the UK in future, Jacqui Smith said as she announced plans to publish names of radicals banned from the country.

The Home Secretary said extremists will have to prove their innocence under new rules which are aimed at tackling radical Islamists, neo-Nazis and violent animal rights activists.

Currently the burden of proof rests with the Government, which has banned 230 individuals since 2005, including firebrand cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed who ran the radical group Al-Muhajiroun.

Ms Smith said: "Through these tough new measures I will stop those who want to spread extremism, hatred and violent messages in our communities from coming to our country.

"Coming to the UK is a privilege and I refuse to extend that privilege to individuals who abuse our standards and values to undermine our way of life. "

Changes to the rules, which will not require new legislation, would make it more difficult for extremists to get in to Britain, she said.

Bans could apply to individuals and their families and there would be a "presumption" that those banned would be named.

Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve said: "This announcement is more spin than substance.

"The real issue is preventing extremists from coming here, not advertising it after the event.

"If the Home Secretary is at last committed to applying the powers she has, robustly and consistently, then we welcome it, but why has it taken this government so long?"

-Ananova

Four men accused of terror offences after a series of raids in Birmingham have been remanded in custody.

Three of the men, Shahid Ali, Mohammed Nadim and Shabir Mohammed, appeared at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court charged with engaging in conduct with the intention of assisting in the commission of acts of terrorism.

The court heard the charge related to the supply of equipment overseas for use in fighting coalition forces.

The men were remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey on November 7 for a preliminary hearing.

A fourth man, Abdul Raheem, was charged with failure to disclose information which may have assisted in preventing acts of terrorism, namely the supply of equipment to assist terrorists fighting abroad.

Raheem was remanded in custody to appear at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court on November 21.

All the men were arrested in a series of dawn raids on October 21 when officers from the counter-terrorism unit at West Midlands Police raided six homes and two commercial properties early in the morning.

-Ananova

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The 96-year-old mother of Republican presidential candidate John McCain says her son is the only answer to America's problems.



Roberta Wright McCain insists her son is the only candidate with the knowledge and credibility to "fix" America.

In a rare interview with celebrity interviewer Daphne Barak she said: "We are talking about the future of America.

"We are talking about a very important time in America and only John can have the knowledge and credibility to try to fix it.

"Johnny resembles his father so much...his only mission is to serve America."

When asked about her son as young boy she says: "He was always a leader, my Johnny."

Mrs McCain eloped with her son's father John when she was 20 and he was a 22-year-old starting out in the Navy.

Her toughest challenge as a mother came in 1967 when her son's plane was shot down in Vietnam.

She remembers: "My husband was in a shower and the emergency phone rang.

"What I heard was 'Roberta two planes were shot down'. It didn't look good."

The couple were later told their son was dead and then that he had been taken as a Prisoner of War.

She said: "We never communicated with him during the five years while he was a POW. But I didn't even know that Johnny was coming home....nobody told me."

However, Mrs McCain is not unimpressed by the family history of Barack Obama.

She criticises his father for getting both Mr Obama's mother and another young girl pregnant at an early age and leaving his wife and child for another woman.

She also describes Senator Obama's background as "white".

"Come on," she says, "he went to Harvard University paid for by people like me and your family while my daughter couldn't go to Harvard, couldn't think about it.

"He is more white than you and I and my son are!"

She also criticises Mr Obama's treatment of Hillary Clinton: "She was not treated nicely at all by Obama and it bothers me a lot.

"I don't think my son would treat anybody that way because I didn't bring him up that way."


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I hope she's right.

Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand have been suspended by the BBC over the furore surrounding their lewd calls to Fawlty Towers star Andrew Sachs.

The BBC's director-general Mark Thompson also said he will announce what action is to be taken within "days".

The Corporation, which has received more than 18,000 complaints, has been accused of being too slow to react to the row. It pulled the plug on the recording of Friday Night With Jonathan Ross just hours before it was due to go ahead. The presenters' BBC radio shows are also being taken off the air, to be replaced by other programmes to be confirmed.

The BBC would not say whether or not the high-profile stars are continuing to be paid.

The offensive prank, which is being investigated by Ofcom, was broadcast 11 days ago on Brand's Radio 2 show. In a message left on his voicemail, the pair claimed Brand had slept with Sachs' granddaughter Georgina Baillie, 23. The presenters, in the pre-recorded show which was cleared to air despite Sachs being upset by it, also joked the actor might kill himself.

Ross, 47, Brand, 33, the BBC and Mr Thompson have all apologised. Ross issued a public apology, saying in a statement: "I am deeply sorry and greatly regret the upset and distress that my juvenile and thoughtless remarks on the Russell Brand show have caused."

Russell Brand later resigned from his Radio 2 show. In a statement, Brand said: "I got a bit caught up in the moment and forgot that at the core of the rude comments and silly songs were the real feelings of a beloved and brilliant comic actor and a very sweet and big hearted young woman."

Gordon Brown and David Cameron have joined politicians from across the spectrum in condemning the messages left for the 78 year old.

Mr Thompson said it was "not appropriate for either Russell Brand or Jonathan Ross to continue broadcasting on the BBC until I have seen the full report of the actions of all concerned. "This gross lapse of taste by the performers and the production team has angered licence payers. I am determined that we satisfy them that any lessons will be learnt and appropriate action taken."

Sachs said he was "not surprised" at the suspensions, but confirmed he was not planning to take the matter up with the police. He said the pair had got it "badly wrong" but he was not seeking revenge.

-Ananova