World News joined 0011

[JohnCenaFan28]

Royal Bank of Scotland shares plunged nearly 40% to a 15-year low as speculation mounted over an imminent taxpayer-funded rescue of Britain's banks.

RBS shares hit their lowest point since 1993 and eventually closed more than 39% lower - wiping around £10 billion off the value of the business.

Halifax Bank of Scotland - being bought by Lloyds TSB in a rescue takeover - tumbled 41% while Barclays slid 9% as investors bailed out in the uncertainty.

The falls came in another day of turmoil for bank shares after it emerged top executives had held crisis talks with Chancellor Alistair Darling.

The Government is considering a dramatic intervention to prop up banks' finances by using billions of pounds in public money to take stakes in the business.

The BBC reported RBS, Barclays and Lloyds TSB needed around £15 billion of extra capital each. The banks at the meeting called for the Chancellor to act quickly but Mr Darling did not have a fully-prepared rescue plan, the report said.

The banks' woes hampered a fightback by the FTSE 100 Index after Monday's 7.8% slump - the biggest since Black Monday in October 1987. The Footsie finished up just 16 points at 4605.2.

Meanwhile, savers with internet bank Icesave were warned that they are likely to have to claim their money from depositor compensation schemes.

The Financial Services Authority said it expected the Icelandic authorities to put the firm into insolvency proceedings, which would trigger payouts from the UK's and Iceland's saver protection schemes.

The warning came after Icesave stopped consumers withdrawing money from their internet accounts after its parent company Landsbanki was placed into receivership this morning.

-Ananova

[JohnCenaFan28]

Chancellor Alistair Darling is to announce a comprehensive rescue package for the embattled banks on Wednesday.

Following talks on Tuesday with Bank of England Governor Mervyn King and Financial Services Authority chairman Lord Turner, Mr Darling said he would full release full details before markets open on Wednesday morning.

"The Bank of England has been putting substantial sums into the market today (Tuesday) and it is ready to do more when that is needed," he said in a brief holding statement.

"We have been working closely with the Governor of the Bank of England, the Financial Services Authority and financial institutions to put banks on a longer term sound footing.

"I intend to make a statement before the markets open and I will be making a further statement to the House of Commons later in the day."

The Prime Minister earlier reaffirmed his determination to "take whatever action is necessary" to maintain the stability of the financial system in the face of the latest market turmoil.

Following a Cabinet meeting, Gordon Brown's spokesman said: "He reiterated that the Government is ready to take whatever action is necessary to get the country through this challenging period for the global economy."

Meanwhile, business leaders piled on the pressure for a deep rate cut as Bank of England policymakers prepare their response to the worst financial turmoil in living memory.

Virgin billionaire Sir Richard Branson called on the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to slash rates as much as 1% when it votes on Thursday.

The call came after both the British Chambers of Commerce - which warned that the UK is already in recession - and the CBI business group both pressed for 0.5% cuts. The MPC has held rates at 5% since April because of inflation fears but the unprecedented chaos in financial markets has sent shockwaves through the banking system and threatens to tip the UK into a deep recession.

-Ananova

[JohnCenaFan28]

The UK is "very concerned" about Iran's nuclear ambitions and human rights record, Foreign Secretary David Miliband said.

Tehran's uranium enrichment programme represents a serious threat to security in the Middle East and the wider world, he told MPs.

The Government was continuing to press for oil and gas sanctions against the regime in Tehran, he said.

Tory spokesman David Lidington said Prime Minister Gordon Brown had "repeatedly promised but has not yet seen delivered" restrictions on oil and gas and a ban on export credits.

Mr Miliband said: "That remains an important part of our agenda, both within the European Union and internationally."

The Foreign Secretary and his officials met Iranian deputy foreign minister Mehdi Safari last month to discuss the country's nuclear programme, its role in the Middle East, human rights record and Tehran's relationship with the UK.

"We remain very concerned by Iran's behaviour in all these areas and are working bilaterally and with our partners to address them," Mr Miliband said at Commons question time.

Tory Andrew Robathan (Blaby) warned that "bellicose" comments directed against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's regime could rally support behind him.

Mr Miliband said: "I hope you won't find bellicosity in statements from the Government."

But, he added, Mr Ahmadinejad's statement to the United Nations last month - in which he described Israel as being a "cesspool of Zionism" - was "completely abhorrent".

-Ananova

[JohnCenaFan28]

A senior policewoman was accused of giving "reckless" orders as events spiralled out of her control and ended in Jean Charles de Menezes being shot.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick told the inquest into the Brazilian electrician's death the ongoing terror threat meant police could kill another innocent person in the future.

But she rejected suggestions she was "sprinting to catch up" on the day of his death because the operation she led had not been properly organised.

Emotions ran high at the inquest as the jury was shown a crude police sketch of a stickman representing where Mr de Menezes fell in a Tube carriage after being killed.

A handwritten caption below the drawing read: "Challenged, shot 9-10 head".

Several jurors left the court in tears after watching CCTV footage of the Brazilian as he descended into Stockwell Underground station, where he was confronted by police marksmen.

Ms Dick was in charge of the Scotland Yard control room overseeing the pursuit of the Brazilian electrician by surveillance and firearms officers who feared he was failed suicide bomber Hussain Osman.

Michael Mansfield QC, counsel for the Menezes family, grilled her for more than five hours on alleged Metropolitan Police failings on July 22 2005. The senior officer, who remained standing in the witness box throughout her evidence, was visibly uncomfortable at times but firmly stood her ground as she defended her decisions that day.

Mr Mansfield put it to her: "What happened on this day under your authority and responsibility was a chain of events that spiralled out of your control. Essentially from the beginning you were sprinting to catch up with something that had not been properly organised that morning."

Ms Dick answered: "I follow it, I do not accept it."

-Ananova

[Bazzinator]

yea well i dont use it often especially strewth but g'day is fairly common and thats round to stay

[Embrace The Experience]

Tell that to the tradesmen of Australia; G'day mates here to stay.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Treasury officials are in Iceland for urgent talks after the collapse of the country's banking sector left councils and charities in Britain facing losses of up to £1 billion.

The crisis sparked a furious war of words between London and Reykjavik, with Prime Minister Gordon Brown denouncing the "totally unacceptable" failure of the Icelandic authorities to guarantee UK depositors would get their money back.

Icelandic Prime Minister Geir Haarde in turn blamed Britain for the collapse of his country's third largest bank, Kaupthing, after the Government used anti-terrorism laws to freeze Icelandic assets in the UK.

Downing Street confirmed that the Treasury delegation - which included officials from the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority - was in Reykjavik.

Mr Brown's spokesman said they hoped now to work "constructively and co-operatively" with the Icelandic authorities. However, he strongly defended the Government's action in freezing the Icelandic assets.

Despite another turbulent day on the markets, with the FTSE suffering more heavy losses, Mr Brown was carrying on with a visit to the South West, including a meeting with pensioners in Swindon, Wilts.

The Government has promised individual savers with deposits in Icelandic accounts that it will reimburse any losses they suffer, but it has been resisting calls to extend the guarantee to local authorities and the charitable sector.

More than 100 councils, as well as police forces, fire services and transport authorities, have deposits running into millions of pounds each in the crisis-hit institutions.

Private companies are thought to have in excess of £10 billion in Icelandic accounts they are unable to access. Charities, too, have tens of millions of pounds on the line.

Following talks on Thursday between the Government and the Local Government Association, ministers said only that those councils facing the most severe difficulties would receive "appropriate" support.

-Ananova

[JohnCenaFan28]

Stock markets worldwide were gripped by fear as London's FTSE 100 Index endured its worst week since the Black Monday crash of 1987.

Recession panic and concerns over fragile banks sent investors stampeding for the exits as the Footsie tumbled 8.9% - surpassing even Monday's record sell-off.

The Footsie has plummeted 21% over the week - wiping more than £250 billion off the value of top-flight stocks in the process.

The index eventually finished below the 4,000 mark at 3932.1 - its lowest close for more than five years.

-Ananova

[JohnCenaFan28]

An Islamic terrorist who launched a suicide car bomb attack on Glasgow Airport left a will addressed to Osama bin Laden, a court has heard.

NHS doctor Bilal Abdulla, 29, wrote he was planning to kill in revenge for injustices against Muslims by British and American soldiers, Woolwich Crown Court was told.

A draft of the will was found on a badly-burned laptop in the remains of a Jeep Cherokee that ploughed into the airport's main terminal building. The computer also contained videos of attacks on coalition forces in Iraq, coffins of American soldiers and clips of speeches by Osama bin Laden.

Jonathan Laidlaw QC, prosecuting, said Abdulla wrote the document because he expected to die in the attack alongside a second man, Kafeel Ahmed, 28. He said: "This document is addressed to, amongst others, the leaders of jihad in Iraq to bin Laden and to the brothers or soldiers of jihad in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Palestine and other areas of the world.

"The terms in which it is written, we submit, expose that the defendant's position in his trial before you is a lie. The attacks he was planning were intended to kill. They were in revenge for the injustices as the defendant sees them that the British and American people and their armies visit on the Muslim communities."

Abdulla, who is on trial with a third man, Mohammed Asha, 28, was arrested at the airport despite attempting to fight off police officers and members of the public. His accomplice Ahmed, who drove the vehicle and helped fill it with gas canisters and petrol, died in hospital several weeks later from burns.

Abdulla, of Houston, near Glasgow, and Asha, of Newcastle-under-Lyme, worked as doctors at NHS hospitals in Scotland and Staffordshire. They deny conspiring to murder and cause explosions.

Abdulla and Ahmed launched the desperate suicide attack after attempts to detonate car bombs in London's West End in the early hours of the previous day failed, the court was told.

Mobile phone detonators in two Mercedes cars failed to ignite a potentially deadly cocktail of incendiary chemicals, including liquid petroleum gas and petrol.

Mr Laidlaw said CCTV footage captured the two men catching rickshaws to escape the scene after parking the vehicles - one outside the Tiger Tiger nightclub in Haymarket and the other in adjoining Cockspur Street. Ahmed was seen dumping an umbrella, which he had apparently been carrying to shield his face from security cameras, in a bin before the men met in Edgware Road.

-Ananova

[JohnCenaFan28]

A bicycle used by the alleged gunman to flee the scene where schoolboy Rhys Jones was shot dead had the DNA of a teenager accused of his murder on it, a court has heard.

The satin silver Specialized Hardrock mountain bike, which was found dumped six months after the killing and handed to police following an appeal, was linked directly to Sean Mercer, 18, prosecutor Neil Flewitt QC said.

Football-mad Rhys, 11, was gunned down in the car park of the Fir Tree pub in Croxteth Park, Liverpool, on August 22 last year.

He was hit by one of three bullets blasted at members of north Liverpool gang the Nogga Dogz by opposing Crocky Crew gang member Mercer, of Good Shepherd Close, Croxteth, Liverpool Crown Court has heard.

Mr Flewitt told the jury that Mercer got the Specialized Hardrock mountain bike in April last year after his previous bike was stolen.

The jury heard that Leslie Shimmin saw the bike on the news and in the local paper and realised he had found the frame of the bike the day after Rhys's murder while cycling with his sons very close to an industrial unit used by co-accused Melvin Coy, 25, in Kirkby, north Liverpool.

The bicycle had been hidden less than 250 yards from the unit that Mercer and several of his co-accused allegedly visited hours after Rhys's murder.

Mr Flewitt said: "It will, perhaps, come as no surprise to you to learn that the serial number of the silver Specialized Hardrock mountain bike found by Mr Shimmin in Kirkby is the same as the serial number of the Specialized Hardrock mountain bike supplied to Sean Mercer in April 2007."

Furthermore, he said, DNA swabs taken from the alleged murderer matched DNA on the discovered bicycle.

The trial continues.

-Ananova