World News joined 0009

Some homeowners could be enjoying an interest-free mortgage next year if interest rates continue to fall steeply, it was disclosed today.

Cheltenham & Gloucester, which is part of Lloyds TSB, offered a two-year tracker mortgage of 1.01% below the Bank of England base rate in July and August 2007.

The deal means that if interest rates fall to 1%, as many economists are predicting, people who took out the loan will not have to pay any interest on their mortgage at all, and will only have to make capital repayments.

With the base rate at 3%, homeowners who took out one of the loans are currently paying interest of just 1.99% - the lowest rate members of the industry can remember.

Anyone who took out the loan on an interest-only basis will have monthly mortgage costs of just £165.83 on a £100,000 loan, while those with a repayment mortgage will be paying £423 a month.

But borrowers had to pay a fee of 2.5%, or £2,500 on a £100,000 mortgage, to take out the deal, and once this is taken into account the so-called pay rate is considerably higher, although still highly competitive, at the equivalent of base rate plus 0.24%.

It is not just borrowers with Cheltenham & Gloucester who could see their mortgage rate fall below 1% if interest rates continue to be cut.

In August 2007 the Co-operative Bank was offering a two-year tracker at 0.61% below base rate. Nationwide also had one of 0.27% below base rate, although the group will stop reducing the rate if interest rates fall below 3%.

But these deals only run for two years, meaning that borrowers who are currently on them will have to remortgage within the next 12 months on to considerably higher rates, or stay on their lender's standard variable rate.

However, people who took out lifetime tracker mortgages have the rate they pay in relation to base rate fixed for the life of the mortgage.

-Nova

David Cameron has promised tax changes to help firms avoid slashing their workforces in the economic downturn.

Insisting that the Conservatives would not allow joblessness to soar, the Tory leader's comments came after a speech to a Conservative women's conference in which he rejected the idea that mass unemployment was inevitable in a recession.

Challenged about prospective Tory tax cuts, he responded that measures to help businesses were imminent.

"Tomorrow we will be making a very clear announcement about some tax changes that actually will help to encourage businesses to take on workers and to keep workers," he said.

While people would have to "wait and see" for the details, he added: "We will help, we will put money back in people's pockets and we will say where it will come from."

It is thought that the proposals could involve scrapping National Insurance payments for new workers to make it easier for employers to take staff on.

The plans come as Gordon Brown is also hinting at tax cuts to help Britain out of recession.

With the latest figures showing numbers without work jumping by 164,000 to 1.79 million, Mr Cameron said redundancy fears were the biggest worry facing many households today.

Speaking to the Conservative Women's Organisation in Westminster, Mr Cameron rejected the argument that governments could do little to prevent unemployment in a recession.

"There's a certain approach to this which says that however painful this may be, large-scale unemployment is an unavoidable consequence of recession, that because it's the natural movement of the markets, all that Government can do is stand by and pick up the pieces," he said. "I am not one of those people. In fact, I wholly disagree. Today I want to say the Conservative Party will not stand aside and allow unemployment to claim livelihoods and ruin lives on a massive scale. We will not walk on by while people lose their jobs."

-Nova

Britain's biggest bank HSBC has added to the gloom in the battered banking sector with news of more credit crunch pain and spiralling bad debts.

The group said losses from US loans and mortgages had soared to 4.3 billion dollars (£2.73 billion) in the third quarter as the world's biggest economy slides into recession.

Fellow lender Nationwide Building Society also revealed more woes for the sector, with an 18% drop in underlying interim profits and warnings of two more years of house price falls.

And Abbey-owner Santander, which also owns Bradford & Bingley's branch and savings business, became the latest bank to appeal to shareholders for a balance sheet boost.

Pressure was meanwhile mounting on the HBOS and Lloyds merger from former bank chiefs looking to derail the deal.

The third quarter trading update from HSBC marked the last to come from the big five UK banks.

The group confirmed that third quarter profits were up on a year ago thanks to growth in Asia, but said its pre-tax profits in the nine months of the year so far had suffered.

HSBC also signalled that there may be less support to come from its key Asian market as it said growth was beginning to slow.

Its troubled US consumer finance business saw losses from defaults rise by 700 million dollars (£443 million) in the third quarter alone.

HSBC said it was braced for even higher impairment charges as credit trends worsened.

-Nova

A group of MPs has called for a ban on "happy hour" drink promotions.

Supermarkets should also be prevented by law from selling alcohol at a loss to encourage people into their stores, they said.

Citing research that showed the real price of alcohol has fallen dramatically, the Home Affairs Select Committee urged ministers to clamp down on irresponsible bars and pubs.

They found the "whole focus" of police resources was in targeting booze-fuelled and football violence, meaning officers were "hitting their targets but missing the point".

Chairman Keith Vaz said: "We cannot have on one hand a world of alcohol promotions for profit that fuels surges of crime and disorder, and on the other the police diverting all their resources to cope with it."

He also called for previously voluntary codes of conduct for the drinks industry to be legally enforceable. Last week a senior officer said police did not need new powers to tackle errant licensees.

Simon O'Brien, who speaks for the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) on pubs and clubs, said those selling drink irresponsibly were a "minority". Ministers are reportedly considering a compulsory code for pubs and bars that would outlaw discounts and happy hours.

Publicans have backed the call by MPs to ban "happy hour" drinks promotions but blamed supermarkets for fuelling binge drinking.

The British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) said the industry had taken action to end "dodgy promotions" but was hamstrung going further by competition law. Spokesman Mark Hastings said: "In contrast, the supermarkets have done nothing but increase their extreme discounting offers."

The BBPA's own code on how its members should deal with promotions was withdrawn this year after advice that it might break competition law.

-Nova

Radical cleric Abu Qatada is back behind bars after allegedly breaching his bail conditions.

The 47-year-old will appear before an immigration hearing on Wednesday and could be returned to prison permanently.

The Jordanian, who was once described by a judge as "Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe", is accused of trying to flee the country.

UK Border Agency officials allegedly discovered he was planning to escape to the Middle East - despite having his passport taken away.

They convened a hearing on Friday and a judge ruled bail should be cancelled. Qatada was arrested the following day.

Qatada was released in June after the courts ruled it would breach his human rights if he was deported back to Jordan.

Ministers are appealing against the decision but the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) ruled Qatada could be released on bail in the meantime.

He is required to wear an electronic tag, stay for 22 hours a day in his west London home, and barred from using the internet or mobile phones. His bail also bans him from associating with known terrorists including bin Laden.

SIAC first ruled Qatada could be deported because Britain had signed a "memorandum of understanding" with Amman guaranteeing he would not be tortured, but the Court of Appeal overturned the ruling.

Qatada was first arrested in 2001 by anti-terrorism police. He was carrying £170,000 in cash, including £805 in an envelope marked "For the mujahedin in Chechnya". He has been convicted of terrorism offences in Jordan in his absence.

-Nova

Police today appealed for help to find a woman who abandoned her baby daughter at a hospital.

The child, aged two to four months, is yet to be identified by detectives.

The baby, named Amy by nurses who are caring for her, was found abandoned in her pushchair on Saturday afternoon at the back of the emergency department of Grantham Hospital in Lincolnshire.

Officers say the child has been well-cared for and are now keen to find her mother.

A spokesman for Lincolnshire Police said: "It's more likely that (the mother) is a local woman and a woman who gave birth at Grantham Hospital, but we cannot rule out that she has come from further afield.

"We would appeal for information from anyone who was in the area at about 3pm on Saturday, and also to any taxi or bus drivers who may have given the baby's mother a lift.

"We would also appeal to the mother. We understand that she has been through an awful lot of emotional trauma and there is support available to her if she needs it.

"Our main priority at the moment is that we find out that the mother is safe and well and reunite her with her daughter."

Police say the child has fair-coloured hair and blue eyes and was wearing a pink baby-grow when she was found.

The baby is now being cared for by staff at the hospital and social services.

-Nova

A High Court judge accused by newspaper chiefs of bringing in a privacy law by the back door has been defended by Lord Falconer, the former constitutional affairs secretary.

Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre has accused Mr Justice Eady of using the Human Rights Act to curb the Press's freedom to expose the moral shortcomings of those in high places.

In a scathing attack, he said the "arrogant and amoral" judgments of the judge were "inexorably and insidiously" imposing a privacy law on British newspapers.

But Lord Falconer, one of the New Labour architects of human rights protections in the UK, said the judge was legitimately interpreting a law which had been passed by Parliament.

Mr Dacre, who is also editor-in-chief of Associated Newspapers, lambasted the "wretched" Human Rights Act in a speech to the Society of Editors annual conference in Bristol on Sunday night.

Mr Justice Eady has presided over a string of high-profile newspaper cases, including this year's High Court action by Formula One boss Max Mosley against the News of the World.

Mr Dacre said that in supporting Mr Mosley the judge had "effectively ruled that it was perfectly acceptable for the multi-millionaire head of a multi-billion sport that is followed by countless young people to pay five women £2,500 to take part in acts of unimaginable sexual depravity with him".

Mr Dacre said that the "greatest scandal" was that Mr Justice Eady was given a "virtual monopoly of all cases against the media enabling him to bring in a privacy law by the back door".

Lord Falconer, who left the Cabinet when Gordon Brown took over as Prime Minister, said: "I think society now puts a value on privacy. There are certain things in life that should be private," he told Today.

Lord Falconer stressed that the Human Rights Act had been introduced by elected MPs and pointed out that any decisions could be taken to the Court of Appeal.

-Nova

NINE youths face being locked up for years for gang-raping a girl of 14.

The teenagers, some as young as 13, took it in turns to assault the victim and threatened to kill her over an insult.

A judge said they had committed “a terrible series of crimes” and warned them they must expect custody when they appear for sentencing next month.

Six of the youths were convicted of a total of 13 charges of rape, kidnap and false imprisonment after a six-week trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court, East London.

The three others had already pleaded guilty to the same charges.

Following the verdicts, which the jury returned after 14 hours and 51 minutes, three of the defendants leaped up in the dock and several parents sobbed in the public gallery.

Judge Wendy Joseph, QC, said the youths may not have set out to commit the mass rape but that it had involved “sticking with your mates”.

She said: “It is a tragedy not only for your victim, who will never get over it, it is a tragedy for you too.”

The girl, who bravely gave evidence in court, was grabbed off the street and dragged between three flats in Hackney.

The attack was launched in retaliation for an alleged slur on the gang leader’s girlfriend.


After the case Detective Constable Jonathan Burks praised the victim’s courage and said the youths had acted with a “pack mentality”.

The nine, who are now aged between 14 and 17, were remanded in custody until December 5.


The Sun

A MAN says he could have died after an operation left him bleeding heavily and turned his penis black.

Michael Eglington, 53, went to Royal Darwin Hospital last Tuesday to have a wart removed from the base of his penis, The Northern Territory News reports.

He said he collapsed from blood loss as he rushed back to the hospital less than an hour after being discharged.

"Why did they let me go?" he said. "I could have passed out while I was driving."

The internal bleeding caused his penis and testicles to turn black - and his testicles swelled to more than three times their normal size.

The Northern Territory News reports it has seen photographs to prove it.

He was treated under local anaesthetic but said he was sent home straight away.

"Next thing I started feeling a bit warm about the groin," he said.

He said he looked down to see that he was sitting in "an inch of blood" in the chair. He used a nappy to soak up the blood as he drove back to hospital where he collapsed against the emergency counter.

"My shorts, my shirt, everything was covered in blood," he said.

Royal Darwin spokeswoman Michelle Foster said the hospital would not comment until an investigation into the incident was complete.


news.com.au

Campaigners have demanded a public inquiry into the harrowing death of a baby under the noses of social services in a tragic echo of the Victoria Climbie case.

The 17-month-old boy died in a blood-spattered cot in August last year after spending much of his short life being used as a punchbag.

Social workers, police and health professionals failed to save him despite 60 visits over eight months during which he suffered more than 50 injuries. Two days before the baby died, a doctor failed to spot that his back and ribs were broken, later claiming the child was "miserable and cranky".

The tragedy happened under the watch of Haringey council, the same local authority heavily criticised in the wake of the Climbie case eight years ago.

But the council's Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) has defended its handling of the latest case and said no one would lose their job.

Lord Laming, who called for a series of reforms in the wake of Victoria Climbie's death, said the similarities were "dispiriting". Beverley Hughes, the children's minister, asked him to prepare an independent report into the implementation of the reforms across the country.

Mor Dioum, director of the Victoria Climbie foundation, which campaigns to improve child protection, called for a public inquiry, saying: "This case is worse than Climbie. The signs were there and not followed." There were "systematic and operational failures that led to the tragic and sad death of such a beautiful child", he said.

The 32-year-old partner of the baby's mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was found guilty of causing or allowing the death of a child. House guest Jason Owen, 36, of Bromley, Kent was also convicted of the charge at the Old Bailey. Neither showed any emotion

The baby's mother had already pleaded guilty to the same allegation, which carries a maximum 14-year jail term. All three have been remanded in custody and will be sentenced on December 15.

Described by an officer in the case as a "slob, completely divorced from reality", the baby's mother spent hours in internet chatrooms or watching television. Her boyfriend, who kept knives and Nazi memorabilia in the house, was "sadistic - fascinated with pain", the detective said. Owen was living in the house after splitting with his wife and going on the run with his 15-year-old girlfriend.

-Nova