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Car parts manufacturer Bosch said 250 jobs were at risk at one of its plants.

The German company said it has started a 90 day consultation with staff at its Miskin plant in South Wales because of a "sharp decline in customer orders."

The plant, which makes alternators for the automotive industry, has already seen the number of agency workers slashed and announced an extended Christmas shutdown because of the downturn.

A Bosch spokesman said: "Due to the current difficult market environment, Bosch has experienced a sharp decline of customer orders in the last quarter of 2008."

She added: "We were hoping that 2009 would see a return in stability, but unfortunately our customer order reductions continue. As a result we will not have sufficient work to retain our entire existing Bosch workforce in full-time employment.

"As of now we expect that 250 jobs spread across all areas and functions within the plant are now at risk. From today we will enter into a 90 day period of consultation with our plant council. It is with great regret that we have had to make this decision and we will continue to keep all employees fully informed during this difficult process."

The news is the second blow for the South Wales economy in as many days following the announcement that 337 manufacturing jobs are at risk at Hoover in Merthyr Tydfil.

South Wales Central AM Chris Franks said his thoughts were with the Bosch workers and their families.

"I have spoken to the Economy Minister, Ieuan Wyn Jones, and he has given me his assurance that he and the One Wales government will be offering the company all possible support to try and keep these jobs at the plant," said Mr Franks.

"This area has already suffered significantly with the 200 job losses announced at L'Oreal last month. With that in mind the One Wales government ministers will be doing all they can to alleviate the combined effects on this community. I will now be writing to the management at the Bosch plant and looking to meet with them at the soonest opportunity."

-Nova

Anti-war activists are set to urge the Government to bring the "occupation" of Afghanistan to an end and bring UK troops home.

Leaders of the Stop The War Coalition will hand in a letter to 10 Downing Street stating that the conflict has been a "disaster" for the Afghan people.

The letter, signed by MPs including Jeremy Corbyn (Labour, Islington North) and George Galloway (Respect, Bethnal Green and Bow), Lord Ahmed and writer Michael Rosen, said the lives of British troops were being "wasted" in a war without purpose or popular support.

The protest was being held on the seventh anniversary of the "liberation" of Afghanistan.

-Nova

The recession would last until "doomsday if David Cameron was Prime Minister", the joint leader of the country's biggest trade union will say.

Derek Simpson of Unite will tell a conference he believed there would be no stimulus for the economy if the Conservatives were in power.

He will tell a meeting in Harrogate of community health workers: "There would be cuts in public spending, public servants would lose their jobs and vulnerable families would lose the support they desperately need.

"The current generation of parents are Thatcher's children. They had badly funded schools and a social services network bled dry by Tory cost cutting. Among this generation is an army of the poorly educated and economically deprived.

"All that stands between them and disaster is the support of social and health services."

Mr Simpson will pledge to urge the Prime Minister to increase training places for community health workers as a recession begins to bite, adding: "I have feeling that Gordon's ready to listen.

"Throughout the recession your client list will grow and you need support, support which the Conservatives have dismissed out of hand."

-Nova

A 56-year-old man was arrested after the body of a baby girl was found at a house, police said.

Officers attended an address in Warrington, Cheshire, following the hospital admission of a woman who complained of abdominal pains and blood loss.

It is understood she had recently given birth.

The man was later bailed pending further inquiries, police said.

A Cheshire Police spokesman said: "At 3pm on Tuesday a 35-year-old woman was admitted to Warrington General Hospital suffering from abdominal pains and significant blood loss.

"Initial medical assessment indicated she may recently have given birth.

"Cheshire Police were notified and inquiries took them to an address in Warrington where the body of a baby girl was discovered.

"A 56-year-old man from Warrington was arrested in connection with this matter and has been bailed pending further medical and police inquiries."

-Nova

Lloyds TSB shareholders overwhelmingly backed the bank's rescue takeover of ailing rival Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS).

They voted 96% in favour of the controversial deal at the Lloyds TSB Group general meeting in Glasgow. They also backed plans to raise a total of £5.5 billion through the issue of new shares and special preference shares to strengthen Lloyds' balance sheet.

Both Lloyds and HBOS - whose shareholders will vote on the proposed merger next month - said the vote was a "milestone" for the deal.

But concerns over thousands of possible job cuts if the takeover goes ahead led to a protest by unions outside the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre and some shareholders' voicing their opposition.

Competition rules have been waived to allow the merger, which is expected to be completed by January 2009. If it gets the go-ahead, it will create a banking giant with around 145,000 staff and 3,000 branches across the UK.

The majority of the 372 shareholders at the meeting cast their vote electronically, while the remainder cast a paper vote. These were added to the thousands of those who cast their vote by proxy.

Speaking after the vote, Lloyds TSB chairman Sir Victor Blank said it was an "important milestone".

"This is overwhelming endorsement for the logic of this transaction," he added.

An HBOS spokesman said: "We welcome today's overwhelming vote by Lloyds TSB shareholders in favour of the acquisition. The vote represents another very important milestone for the deal."

During the meeting, which lasted just under three hours, Sir Victor told shareholders: "We do appreciate that many of our employees may feel apprehensive at this time but, in creating what we believe will be the UK's leading financial services company, we believe the combination will generally provide enhanced opportunities for those who work in our group."

-Nova

The family of two boys killed by ex-Plymouth goalkeeper Luke McCormick in a crash on the M6 said measures to crack down on speeding motorists and drink-and-drug drivers were too little, too late.

Phil and Amanda Peak lost their sons Arron, 10, and Ben, eight, after McCormick's Range Rover hit their people carrier on the motorway near Stoke-on-Trent in June. McCormick is serving a seven-year sentence after admitting causing death by dangerous driving and drink-driving.

Mrs Peak questioned why the Government had not brought in a lower drink-drive level earlier, while Mr Peak said motorists who exceed the speed limit by large amounts should be banned straight away. Mrs Peak also urged the UK to come into line with countries such as Sweden and Poland, which have an extremely low legal blood-alcohol limit.

The British Medical Association (BMA) backed the call, saying a lower legal blood alcohol limit was needed to cut road deaths. Dr Vivienne Nathanson, the BMA's head of science and ethics, said: "The science is clear: a 50mg limit would lower the number of road crashes, deaths and serious injuries on our roads.

"The introduction of the current limit, backed up by police enforcement and a hard-hitting media campaign, led to a dramatic fall in the number of deaths on the road, but the position has been stagnant since 1993. We need a new impetus, with a lower limit, to reduce the 2,946 deaths and around 30,000 injuries that occurred on Britain's roads last year."

The BMA would continue to lobby the Government to lower the limit, she added.

The Government proposals were announced by Road Safety Minister Jim Fitzpatrick. Ministers are to provide £2 million to fund the introduction of digital breath-testing equipment to free up police resources, as well as helping forces to introduce targeted drink-drive checkpoints to strengthen deterrence.

The Government will also consult on the question of reducing the legal alcohol limit of 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood. Mr Fitzpatrick said there would be a "very serious discussion" about whether to lower the limit during the consultation on the new proposals.

He also said the Government was planning to remove an outdated option for drivers caught moderately above the drink-drive limit to request a second test by a doctor and potentially fall back under the limit while waiting for them to arrive.

Other proposals made include the possible creation of a new offence to bring drug-driving more into line with drink-driving, which would make it illegal to drive after taking a drug "which is both illegal and impairing". The Government is also proposing to introduce a higher tariff of six penalty points on a licence for drivers who exceed the speed limit by a dangerous and very large margin - for example by more than 20mph. This would mean motorists could lose their licence for two serious speeding offences.

-Nova

The Government has refused to release a detailed report into the mistakes made by authorities in the Baby P case.

A serious case review was carried out after the little boy died in a blood-splattered cot in Haringey, north London, in August last year.

He had suffered more than 50 injuries at the hands of his abusive mother, her boyfriend and a lodger despite repeated visits by the authorities.

A 15-page summary of the serious case review was published at the end of an Old Bailey trial last week.

But the Information Commissioner has ruled that the full report cannot be made available to opposition MPs because of the risk of identifying the professionals involved, the House of Commons has heard.

There are fears that releasing reports might lead to professionals who make mistakes in child welfare refusing to co-operate with serious case reviews, MPs were told.

Shadow children's secretary Michael Gove acknowledged that Children's Secretary Ed Balls had his hands tied and called for a change to the law.

He asked Mr Balls: "Does he not agree with me that it is quite wrong to put the interests of a bureaucracy which has failed ahead of proper scrutiny?"

The Children's Secretary replied: "I endeavoured to see yesterday whether I was able to release the full confidential serious case review to Parliamentarians.

"But the clear professional advice to me was that would be the wrong thing to do, both given the ruling of the Information Commissioner but also the importance of making sure that in future serious case reviews are done properly."

-Nova

Top UK firms joined the growing list of companies cutting jobs as hundreds of losses were announced and fears were expressed of further redundancies.

Almost 600 cuts were announced in the defence, aerospace and drug industries, some as part of wider global job losses running into thousands.

Aerospace giant Rolls-Royce, defence firm BAE Systems and Anglo-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca were the latest firms to unveil job cuts, with union leaders fearing fresh waves of redundancies. Meanwhile an historic paper mill in Dartford, Kent could shut with the loss of 127 jobs.

Rolls-Royce said it would axe up to 2,000 jobs worldwide, including 140 in the UK, after reviewing the impact of the current economic "uncertainties". Consultations started with unions about the proposed job losses at the assembly and test facility in Derby, part of the group's civil aerospace business.

Rolls-Royce, which employs 39,000 workers globally, 60% of whom are based in the UK, said the announcement was the first stage in a more general programme aimed at matching the group's capacity more closely with the expected load in its facilities.

Unite national officer Bernie Hamilton said the news was "bitterly disappointing", adding: "Rolls-Royce must take a measured approach to this temporary downturn in the airline industry. In the past the company has cut too many jobs and Rolls-Royce struggled to meet the upturn in the market. If there are to be redundancies in the UK, they must be voluntary. Unite will not accept any compulsory redundancies."

Anglo-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca said it planned to cut 1,400 jobs and close three plants in Europe as part of a programme to improve efficiency, hitting 250 jobs at its Macclesfield site.

"These moves are a continuation of AstraZeneca's programme to improve the organisation's productivity and efficiency," said executive vice president David Smith. "I realise these changes are difficult for our affected employees, with whom we will be consulting in the coming months. We believe these changes are necessary for the long-term strength of the business."

BAE Systems announced the loss of up to 200 jobs in its land systems business in the UK, hitting factories in Newcastle, Leeds, Leicester, Barrow and Telford. The firm blamed the cuts on a decline in workload on the UK Ministry of Defence's Armoured Fighting Vehicle programmes.

Bosses at ArjoWiggins began a three-month consultation with workers to discuss the closure of Dartford Paper Mill in Kent. The company said plans to restructure its manufacturing, concentrating operations in Belgium, was necessary due to declining market conditions in Europe.

-Nova