Shameful phone hacking scandal forces change inside the Murdoch bunker

<p> </p><p><img alt="" height="348" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi1DDUbDzLKjTzbOPMBxw9XX-dhSSNytUOekSp2Qr3psuQ83LVnM1of_apP4o6idje0csOj3MJy3VT-iw5GQhQ5sD75EvSyAJEC0MGiRhOB_NcljLm5VLsSwIM1xxcbKK1wHU7lzj-cDI/" style="float: left;" width="620" />A community with a voracious appetite for scandal, it does appear we are experiencing Murdoch news fatigue. Like frogs in boiling water, we are losing sensitivity to the barrage of sensational News Corp instalments flowing from the phone hacking affair. On Tuesday, two former News International managers - head of legal affairs Tom Crone and News of the World editor Colin Myler - told a British parliamentary committee that James Murdoch had been made aware of widespread phone hacking despite his written statement to the contrary. The testimony was another milestone in the series of explosive revelations of systemic criminal phone hacking which had been going on for years but allegedly covered up by a corporate and police conspiracy. Advertisement: Story continues below Since the hacking affair was blown open, there has been a myriad of developments from the company, government and police - many of them astonishing. Much of this is highly significant to the Murdoch empire, and the ramifications have been difficult to digest. This shameful episode has changed the News Corp organisation and Rupert Murdoch's management style. In a corporate sense, the decision by Murdoch to undertake a $US5 billion ($4.7 billion) share buyback is, on its own, momentous. Aggressive expansion of the News Corp empire has been a hallmark of Murdoch's modus operandi. The decision to undertake a capital management program that allocated cash to shareholders rather than to acquisitions marks a major departure. The focus of News Corp's strategy in the past has been on raising funds and using available cash to expand, and avoiding the dilution of Murdoch family control. This was never more evident than in the creation of News Corp non-voting stock and the move to domicile the company in the lax regulatory jurisdiction of Delaware. The only other incidence of Rupert Murdoch bowing to outside pressure was in the early 1990s, when the Pittsburgh Bank famously forced News Corp to the brink of bankruptcy by threatening to block the rollover to a new debt package. News Corp has otherwise been run by Rupert Murdoch and in his way. The notion of appeasing minority shareholders is new to Murdoch, as is divorcing the hard-wired nepotism.</p>

Shameful phone hacking scandal forces change inside the Murdoch bunker

  A community with a voracious appetite for scandal, it does appear we are experiencing Murdoch news fatigue. Like frogs in boiling water, w...

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Amelia Hill was questioned under caution by police in an inquiry into alleged leaks of information from Operation Weeting

<p><span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; background-color: #ffffff;"><div id="main-content-picture" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; display: block; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px;"><img alt="amelia-hill-guardian-police" height="276" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2011/9/7/1315426433308/amelia-hill-guardian-poli-007.jpg" style="border-collapse: collapse; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" width="460" /><div class="caption" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #666666; display: block; font-size: 12px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;">. Photograph: Katherine Rose</div></div><div id="article-body-blocks" style="border-collapse: collapse; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px;">The National Union of Journalists and a respected media watchdog have criticised the questioning of a Guardian journalist in an inquiry into alleged leaks of information from Operation Weeting, the investigation into phone hacking at the News of the World.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px;">It emerged on Wednesday that Amelia Hill, a reporter involved in a number of the Guardian's key phone-hacking revelations over recent weeks, was questioned under caution several days ago in a case that raises concerns about attempts to criminalise contact between journalists and off-the-record sources.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px;">Last month a 51-year-old detective constable was arrested in connection with alleged leaks from the Scotland Yard phone-hacking investigation. At the time there were reports that the officer had passed information to the Guardian, but the newspaper said it had "no comment to make on the sources of our journalism".</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px;">Michelle Stanistreet, the general secretary of the National Union of Journalists, said that there was "a vital journalistic principle at stake here" and that "it is outrageous that an allegation of off-the-record briefings is being treated as a criminal matter".</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px;">She added: "There is a clear distinction between legitimate off-the-record interviews and the illegitimate payment of bribes."</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px;">Martin Moore, the director of the media watchdog the Media Standards Trust, said that in the light of the phone-hacking scandal it was becoming "increasingly important to sustain and defend journalism in the public interest". He said that it was "not the time to be threatening public interest journalism" by the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/police" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; text-decoration: none; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" title="More from guardian.co.uk on Police">police</a> moving to question reporters such as Hill.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px;">The Guardian said in a statement: "We can confirm Amelia Hill has been questioned in connection with an investigation into alleged leaks." The newspaper argued that the case could have lasting repercussions for the way journalists deal with police officers. The statement added: "On a broader point, journalists would no doubt be concerned if the police sought to criminalise conversations between off-record sources and reporters."</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px;">Although the paper said it would not comment on any specific confidential source, a spokesman said Hill had never paid a police officer for information.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px;">The police investigation into leaks from Operation Weeting has been going on for several weeks.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px;">Meanwhile, Raoul Simons, 35, the deputy football editor of the Times, became the 16th person to be arrested as part of the phone hacking enquiry.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px;">Simons, who had joined the Times from the Evening Standard in August 2009, is understood to have been arrested at 5.55am on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications. He was released on police bail until a date in October.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px;">He was not arrested by prior appointment. He was taken to a north London police station and questioned on suspicion of conspiracy to intercept voicemail messages, contrary to Section 1 (1) of the Criminal Law Act 1977.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px;">Hill's police interview comes amid growing pressure to clamp down on contacts between officers and journalists following the News of the World phone hacking scandal, which has spread out into wider allegations of police corruption.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px;">Emails from News International allegedly imply that journalists on the now closed Sunday tabloid bought copies of Buckingham Palace's private phone directory from a royal protection officer.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px;">Following those revelations, an inquiry by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary is examining "alleged corruption and abuse of power" in police relationships with the media, and Elizabeth Filkin, the former parliamentary commissioner for standards, heads a group drawing up a framework for how police officers handle their relationships with reporters. Both inquiries are considering whether communication between police officers should be officially monitored and recorded by a press officer.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px;">The questioning of Hill has similarities to a case police mounted against Sally Murrer, a reporter on the Milton Keynes Citizen, and a former Thames Valley police detective, Mark Kearney, which was thrown out. Kearney had been accused of leaking information to Murrer. The collapse of the case was widely seen as a victory for journalistic freedom.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px;">It was reported meanwhile that Andy Coulson, the former editor of the News of the World and the prime minister's former personal communications director, is refusing to appear before a Commons select committee that is investigating phone-hacking.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px;">His solicitors have written to the culture, media and sport committee declining an invitation to appear, citing "concerns" about "parallel inquiries and investigations and the publicity generated by them".</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px;">He has consistently denied knowing that phone hacking took place but last month a previously unseen letter from Goodman emerged that claimed phone hacking was "widely discussed" at editorial conferences until Coulson banned mentions of it. Goodman's letter also claimed that Coulson had offered to let him keep his job if he agreed not to implicate the paper in hacking when it came to court.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px;">Coulson resigned from the News International paper in 2007 after its former royal editor Clive Goodman was jailed on phone-hacking offences.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px;">It also emerged yesterday that MPs on another committee have been told that News International asked a technology firm, HCL, to delete emails and other documents 13 times since 2009.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px;">Technology company HCL, which provides services under contract to News International, informed the Commons home affairs committee in August that it was aware of the deletion of hundreds of thousands of emails on nine occasions between April 2010 and July 2011, but said it did not know of anything "untoward" behind the requests. Yesterday, HCL's solicitor, Stuart Benson, contacted the committee again to say that a further four requests had come to light - one of which related to the deletion of emails from an inbox of a user who had not accessed his account for eight years.</p></div></span></p>

Amelia Hill was questioned under caution by police in an inquiry into alleged leaks of information from Operation Weeting

. Photograph: Katherine Rose The National Union of Journalists and a respected media watchdog have criticised the questioning of a Guardian ...

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Film festival premieres announced

<p> </p><p>Madonna's latest directorial outing and George Clooney's new movie are to receive UK premieres at the BFI London Film Festival (LFF). Highly anticipated adaptations of Shakespeare's Coriolanus - directed by Ralph Fiennes - and Wuthering Heights, the first to feature a black actor as Heathcliff, will also be screened. The event next month will feature 204 films, including 13 world premieres - two more than last year. Hollywood star George, a regular visitor to the LFF, will be in London to support two of his films - The Descendants and The Ides Of March, which he also directs. Madonna's new film W.E. looks at the romance between Wallis Simpson and Edward VIII, which led to the monarch's abdication, as well as a parallel modern-day romance. It is not clear whether Madonna will attend the gala screening of the film, which was given its world premiere in Venice this week. Other highly anticipated films to be shown at the festival - which runs from October 12 to 27 - include Lynne Ramsay's adaptation of the novel We Need To Talk About Kevin, starring Tilda Swinton. Turner Prize-winning film-maker Steve McQueen will showcase his new film Shame, starring Carey Mulligan and Michael Fassbender. And Michael also features alongside Keira Knightley and Viggo Mortensen in David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method. Oscar-winning British director Andrea Arnold will present her version of the Emily Bronte classic Wuthering Heights, which features newcomer James Howson as Heathcliff. Roman Polanski's Carnage - starring Kate Winslet and Jodie Foster - is also among the films which will be screened.</p>

Film festival premieres announced

  Madonna's latest directorial outing and George Clooney's new movie are to receive UK premieres at the BFI London Film Festival (LF...

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Johnny Depp hands Keith Richards writer of the year gong

<p> </p><p>Hollywood star Johnny Depp presented a gong to Keith Richards, the rocker who famously inspired his Pirates of the Caribbean performance, at an awards ceremony tonight. The actor, Captain Jack Sparrow in the films, awarded Rolling Stone guitarist Richards, who recently wrote a warts-and-all account of his life as a hellraiser in his autobiography, writer of the year at the ceremony. The GQ Men of the Year awards, at London's Royal Opera House, also saw Chancellor George Osborne expected to attend to win politician of the year. Advertisement >> The BBC's political editor, Nick Robinson, was due to present the award at the ceremony, also attended by actresses Charlize Theron and Emma Watson, Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson, singer Kylie Minogue, and comedian and Britain's Got Talent judge Michael McIntyre. Doctor Who star Matt Smith wins the most stylish man award at the event, while Professor Brian Cox is getting TV personality of the year. Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch wins best actor, Tinie Tempah gets the solo artist gong, actor Bradley Cooper is named international man and Duran Duran get the lifetime achievement gong. Other winners at the event, hosted at London's Royal Opera House in Covent Garden by David Mitchell, include woman of the year for Lara Stone - whose husband David Walliams is currently swimming the Thames. Lord Sebastian Coe is getting the man of next year award, presented by Boris Johnson.</p>

Johnny Depp hands Keith Richards writer of the year gong

  Hollywood star Johnny Depp presented a gong to Keith Richards, the rocker who famously inspired his Pirates of the Caribbean performance, ...

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Phone hacking: Police bail sports writer Raoul Simons

<p> </p><p><img alt="" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVgvo2HHuswD07Ss2lBDS829zNAsr5V3YV5UjtOSoHv0lZRh7SrxPeCH_y-jiD3xpyLhd3z2SufA-iSwndeZuc2RzFY4CE5_gdTNwcWc0lPow2e1qdEeeztagHAC5-_Tl514v1ASuAaPY/" style="float: left;" width="299" />Police bail sports writer Raoul Simons A total of 16 people have now been arrested as part of the investigation into phone hacking Continue reading the main story Phone-hacking scandal Q&A: Phone-hacking scandal Key people and profiles Timeline Inquiries and legal challenges A 35-year-old man held by officers probing phone hacking at the News of the World has been bailed, police say. The BBC understands he is sports journalist Raoul Simons who used to work at London's Evening Standard before moving to the Times in 2009. The man was bailed on suspicion of conspiracy to intercept voicemails. Meanwhile, Guardian reporter Amelia Hill has been questioned under caution over alleged police leaks surrounding the hacking inquiry, the paper said. It followed the arrest of a Met Police detective constable last month who worked in the Operation Weeting team. Scotland Yard says the "investigation continues" and they are not giving a "running commentary" on events. Mr Simons was appointed deputy football editor at the Times in August 2009, having previously worked at the Evening Standard. In September 2010, he went on extended leave after material allegedly linking him to phone hacking emerged. He is still on the payroll but has not returned to work since. It is understood he has not been involved in any inappropriate behaviour while at the Times. The man has been bailed by police to a date in October pending further inquiries. A total of 16 people have now been arrested on suspicion of phone hacking - 15 of whom are still under investigation - since Operation Weeting was launched in January. Scotland Yard's fresh investigation was set up to examine the illegal interception of voicemails. Former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks and ex-Downing Street communications chief Andy Coulson are among those who have already been arrested as part of the inquiry. The scandal has led Met Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson and Assistant Commissioner John Yates to resign, and the News of the World to close down after 168 years.</p>

Phone hacking: Police bail sports writer Raoul Simons

  Police bail sports writer Raoul Simons A total of 16 people have now been arrested as part of the investigation into phone hacking Contin...

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Starting today, companies and celebrities will have a 50-day "sunrise" period allowing them to officially register under the .xxx domain and put down bids to set up shop in the Internet's red-light district.

<p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; background-color: #fefefe;"><div id="storyMediaBox" class="storyMediaBox" style="font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline; clear: both; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><div class="photoLarge" style="font-style: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-family: inherit; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline; color: #717171; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><img alt="" border="0" height="349" src="http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2011/09/07/xxx-registration_620x350.png" style="font-style: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-family: inherit; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;" width="620" /><p style="margin-top: 6px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-family: inherit; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline-block; color: #717171; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"> (Lance Whitney/CNET)</p></div></div><div class="storyText" style="font-style: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-family: inherit; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.4; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">(CBS News)  <p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-family: inherit; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Starting today, companies and celebrities will have a 50-day "sunrise" period allowing them to officially register under the .xxx domain and put down bids to set up shop in the Internet's red-light district.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-family: inherit; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"> </p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-family: inherit; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">The new .xxx top-level domain is open not just to porn sites but to nonporn sites that want to block the use of their names on the .xxx domain. Florida-based ICM Registry, which is administering the launch, will work with 50 individual registrars around the world to handle the actual registrations. After the expiration of the sunrise period, a 17 day "land rush" period will open, allowing adult sites to register for whatever .xxxx addresses are still available. After that, applications will be reviewed individually on a first come basis.</p></div></span></p>

Starting today, companies and celebrities will have a 50-day "sunrise" period allowing them to officially register under the .xxx domain and put down bids to set up shop in the Internet's red-light district.

 (Lance Whitney/CNET) (CBS News)   Starting today, companies and celebrities will have a 50-day "sunrise" period allowing them to ...

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Pop legend Lulu and Harry Judd from McFly are putting on their dancing shoes for this year's Strictly Come Dancing competition.

<p><span style="color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; background-color: #ffffff;"><div class="storyBodyTopParagraph" style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; clear: both; border-top-width: 1px; border-top-color: #cccccc; border-top-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-color: #cccccc; border-bottom-style: dotted; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; color: #333333; line-height: normal;"></div><div id="storyBodyImageGallery" class="storyBodyImageGallery" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 14px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; clear: both; float: left; width: 314px; position: relative; padding: 0px;"><div id="storyBodyImage1" class="storyBodyImage" style="display: block; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; border-top-color: #cccccc; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><span class="storyBodyImageGallery-number" style="background-image: url(http://www.rte.ie/ten/images/bg_black_transparent.png); text-align: center; color: #ffffff; font-size: 11px; width: 40px; position: absolute; right: 0px; display: block; visibility: hidden; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"> </span><img alt="Lulu is swapping singing for salsa " src="http://img.rasset.ie/0004f2e6-314.jpg" style="display: block; width: 314px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;" /><div class="storyBodyImageGallery-caption" style="padding-top: 6px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 6px; padding-left: 0px; display: block; width: 314px; text-align: center; color: #ffffff; background-color: #000000; position: relative; bottom: 0px; margin: 0px;"><a class="storyBodyImageGallery-left" style="color: #000000; text-decoration: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; background-image: url(http://www.rte.ie/ten/images/sprite_arrows_box_pager.png); display: block; height: 17px; width: 16px; visibility: hidden; cursor: pointer; position: absolute; left: 7px; top: 15%; background-position: 0px 0px;"></a><a class="storyBodyImageGallery-right" style="color: #000000; text-decoration: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; background-image: url(http://www.rte.ie/ten/images/sprite_arrows_box_pager.png); display: block; height: 17px; width: 16px; visibility: hidden; cursor: pointer; position: absolute; right: 7px; top: 15%; background-position: 16px 0px;"></a><span style="width: 240px; display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: auto; font-size: 11px;">Lulu is swapping singing for salsa</span></div></div></div><p style="margin-top: 12px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 14px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.4em; font-size: 14px; clear: none; color: #333333;">Ex-<em style="font-style: italic;">Neighbours</em> stars Jason Donovan and Holly Valance have also agreed to take part in the show, according to The Sun newspaper.</p><p style="margin-top: 12px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 14px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.4em; font-size: 14px; clear: none; color: #333333;">It has been confirmed by show producers that<em style="font-style: italic;">Daybreak's</em> sport presenter Dan Lobb,<em style="font-style: italic;">Waterloo Road</em> actress Chelsee Healey and impressionist Rory Bremner, will also be taking part in the hit TV show.</p><p style="margin-top: 12px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 14px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.4em; font-size: 14px; clear: none; color: #333333;">Sven-Goran Eriksson's ex Nancy Dell'Olio and ex- <em style="font-style: italic;">EastEnders</em> star Anita Dobson plus astrologer Russell Grant are also set to be swapping their day jobs for salsa dancing.</p><p style="margin-top: 12px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 14px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.4em; font-size: 14px; clear: none; color: #333333;">Speaking about the line-up, a source told The Sun newspaper, "Lulu is lots of fun and will bring in viewers who remember her from the Sixties - but also younger fans who know her from her duet with Take That on <em style="font-style: italic;">Relight My Fire</em>. Harry will tick the heartthrob box."</p><p style="margin-top: 12px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 14px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.4em; font-size: 14px; clear: none; color: #333333;">The BBC will officially confirm the <em style="font-style: italic;">Strictly Come Dancing</em> line-up on <em style="font-style: italic;">The One Show</em> on Tuesday.</p></span></p>

Pop legend Lulu and Harry Judd from McFly are putting on their dancing shoes for this year's Strictly Come Dancing competition.

  Lulu is swapping singing for salsa Ex- Neighbours  stars Jason Donovan and Holly Valance have also agreed to take part in the show, accord...

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London Fashion Week is approaching and there are hospitality packages on offer

<p><span style="color: #343536; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #ffffff;"><img alt="<title>London Fashion Week approaches</title>" border="0" id="_ctl0_phMainContent_imgNewsImage" src="http://pictures.directnews.co.uk/liveimages/x_2911_800719835_0_0_7014847_300.jpg" style="float: left; padding-top: 2px; padding-right: 8px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; margin: 4px; border: 0px none initial;" /><p style="padding: 2px; margin: 4px;"><span style="color: #0073ad;">London Fashion Week</span> is approaching and there are <span style="color: #0073ad;">hospitality packages</span> on offer for those keen to get a close-up look at the latest trends as the autumn and winter collections emerge.</p><p style="padding: 2px; margin: 4px;">The event runs from September 16th to 20th, with the majority of the venues being located in Somerset House.</p><p style="padding: 2px; margin: 4px;">Others include the Topshop Venue in the Royal Opera House, Fashion Scout in the Freemasons' Hall on Great Queen Street and the My Beautiful City, in the Old Sorting Office on the corner of Museum Street and New Oxford Street.</p><p style="padding: 2px; margin: 4px;">The event features collections from the likes of Paul Costelloe, Christopher Raeburn, Vivienne Westwood, Holly Fulton, Michael Van Der Ham, David Koma and Topman Design.</p><p style="padding: 2px; margin: 4px;">Speaking about the week, Caroline Reader, the event manager for London Fashion Weekend - which follows later in the month - said that she hopes to get away from her desk to see the collections by Christopher Kane and Richard Nicholl.</p></span></p>

London Fashion Week is approaching and there are hospitality packages on offer

London Fashion Week  is approaching and there are  hospitality packages  on offer for those keen to get a close-up look at the latest trends...

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Fashion week photographs of Kate Moss or Agyness Deyn sashaying down the catwalk in the latest season’s designs appear in magazines and on front pages around the world.

<p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; background-color: #ffffff;"><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-family: inherit; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Fashion week photographs of Kate Moss or Agyness Deyn sashaying down the catwalk in the latest season’s designs appear in magazines and on front pages around the world. Yet look more closely and it appears that few of these images are taken at London Fashion Week.</p><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-family: inherit; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Many of the most talked-about models of the moment — some household names, some the next big thing — will appear at fashion weeks in New York, Paris and Milan, but not London. Some fly in for a day or two, others skip London completely. Industry figures say London has a lot going for it: creativity, innovation, cool. But compared with the other capitals, it doesn’t have the financial clout to attract the “hottest” models.</p><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-family: inherit; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Is this damaging London’s fashion reputation?</p><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-family: inherit; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">“A lot of things have gone wrong with fashion weeks,” says Carole White, the founder of Premier models. “It’s causing a problem for the British fashion industry. London designers are not realistic about what they pay. Their rates have not moved on since 1983.” She says London offers models only a fraction of the fees they can command elsewhere.</p><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-family: inherit; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">White knows what she is talking about. The workaholic, outspoken star of Channel 4 TV’s fly-on-the-wall documentary The Model Agency is the woman Naomi Campbell called “mum” for years (until they had a big falling out). She has represented the likes of Claudia Schiffer and Christy Turlington as well as famously turning down Kate Moss for being “too short.”</p><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-family: inherit; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">The London “squeeze” has been debated since New York, due to start tomorrow, moved its position in the schedule. New York is traditionally seen as more powerful than London, which is how the change was pushed through two years ago. “Since New York got moved to the first slot, all the fashion weeks butt up against each other. It’s crazy.” White warns that some of the most in-demand models may struggle to make it to London, which opens on Sept. 16.</p><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-family: inherit; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">It makes more sense for them to jet straight from New York to Milan. “There is a lot of politics going on here. They seem to think it helps the buyers. But it doesn’t help the models.”</p><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-family: inherit; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Aidan Jean-Marie, creative director of Premier and one of White’s bookers, says: “Big names like Kate Moss or Stella Tennant, they make their guest appearances elsewhere. We don’t have the money in London any more.”</p><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-family: inherit; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Last season one of the most memorable photographs from the shows was Kate Moss swishing down the runway in a rare catwalk appearance. That was for Louis Vuitton in Paris. But this isn’t so much about household names (many of these models no longer do catwalk work anyway as advertising is so much more lucrative). It’s about the young women who suddenly become “the latest big thing” on the eve of these shows. The model bookers argue that these “hot girls” (as they call them) are what creates the noise around a collection.</p><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-family: inherit; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">“The buzz of London is the creativity,” White says. “And you want the best models to showcase that. They don’t have to be the most famous, but they have to be the coolest. If a girl is really tired and looks like she’s going to have a really good show season in Milan, the agents will say, ‘Let’s skip London.’ It tends to lessen us as a market.”</p><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-family: inherit; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">For the models, London is apparently not that appealing: “Most girls are not avaricious. They want to cover their costs and make a little profit. But in London they can leave with a debt and have to return the next season to clear it.”</p></span></p>

Fashion week photographs of Kate Moss or Agyness Deyn sashaying down the catwalk in the latest season’s designs appear in magazines and on front pages around the world.

Fashion week photographs of Kate Moss or Agyness Deyn sashaying down the catwalk in the latest season’s designs appear in magazines and on f...

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London Fashion Week Spring 2012 Preview

<p> </p><blockquote>The buzz around London is that this is going to be the season of the new-established designers. Labels such as Erdem, Christopher Kane, and Peter Pilotto have garnered widespread coverage with celebrities donning their wares on the red carpet and fashion editors flocking to feature them in magazines but they still lack the widespread recognition of other established designers. This will be their year to stand out and join the big leagues.  We shouldn't expect too many big-name models as it's been revealed that LFW designers pay much less than Paris or Milan and London is simply too short to make it worth their while. Scheduled September 16 - 20, The British Fashion Council petitioned to have London Fashion Week extended earlier in the year but an extension isn't in the cards this season. The Topshop Show Space has returned to the Old Eurostar Terminal from two seasons ago and will be equipped with the always popular cafe.  Pringle of Scotland's new Design Director Alisair Carr is looking to photographer Watanabe Katsumi to inspire his debut collection.  For 2012, Mulberry's Emma Hill was inspired by the British seaside. We should expect seventies silhouettes with floral fabrics and that signature Mulberry eccentricity.  Matthew Williamson will be showing his collection in the turbine hall at The Tate Modern. Designers with the British Fashion Council's NEWGEN sponsorship are Holly Fulton, Louise Gray, and Michael Van der Ham. It has also been revealed that Van der Ham will be showing a collaboration with Christian Louboutin.  Luxury hosiery brand Bebaroque is collaborating with PPQ for customized and jewel encrusted tights and bodysuits.  The Aldo Rise collaborations with designers J.W. Anderson and Preen will be revealed.  Tom Ford will be showing his collection to a very select group of buyers and press. It is by far the most hush-hush exclusive presentation of the week.   Rumor has it that there may be a few last minute show cancelations due to budgeting but we'll have to wait and see.</blockquote>

London Fashion Week Spring 2012 Preview

  The buzz around London is that this is going to be the season of the new-established designers. Labels such as Erdem, Christopher Kane, an...

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Domestic helps’ accomplices prime suspects:

<p> </p><p>The two accomplices of the two domestic helps arrested for the murders of Juhu resident Kavita Suchak and her manager Prakash Bagwe on August 30 were the masterminds behind the murders said investigators, a day after arresting all four, two from Navi Mumbai and two from Nanded. Based on the investigations, police said the two domestic helps identified as Ram Singh Badaila and Tek Singh Badaila, also have a past crime record. According to Vishwas Nangre-Patil, Additional Commissioner (West region), the police are now compiling a database of domestic helps working in each society in the western region and their backgrounds would be checked. However, the victim had not verified the backgrounds of the two before hiring them, which made it difficult to trace them, said Nangre- Patil. The police arrested the Badailas and their accomplices from Navi Mumbai on Saturday. Nangre- Patil further said that the two Nepali nationals had been working for the Suchaks for the past five years. They had come in contact with two of their friends, Prem Bahadur Badaila and Bhim Bahadur Beek over the years. “The Suchaks owned a traditional safe in the house, apart from an electronic vault. The domestic helps hoped to find a large sum of money in the traditional safe. But the safe was empty as it was only maintained as a showpiece and as a object of faith. The gang bludgeoned Kavita with a crowbar when she returned home after dropping her kids to school a few minutes earlier than her usual schedule on August 30. Bagwe was strangled and gagged by the accused, as he had witnessed Kavita's murder and raised an alarm," Nangre-Patil added. The gang stole a laptop, three cellphones, jewellery and cash, collectively worth Rs 1.24 lakh. After leaving Kavita's house, the gang split up. Prem headed to Nerul in Navi Mumbai while the other three went to Pune. From Pune, they went to the house of a relative, Dev Bahadur, in Nanded. The police tracked down Prem first, by tracing the location of the stolen cellphones. “One of our teams went to Nepal and with the help of BSF kept a watch on the border to stop the accused from leaving the country. Another team went to Nanded with Prem,” said Pratap Dighavkar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (zone IX). Dressed in plainclothes, the policemen accompanied Prem to Dev Bahadur's house. “We did not want to reveal that Prem had been arrested, so we let him walk alone towards the house. Dev Bahadur came out of the house and Prem signaled to us that he was not a part of the gang. Prem then led us to Bhim who had sat in an autorickshaw and to Ram and Tek who were hiding in a water pipeline,” an official said. Bhim was arrested in the past for two cases of theft while Prem was booked for assaulting a government servant at MIDC. “The robbery at Suchak's residence was planned in detail. Bhim purchased a rope, crowbar, screwdriver and tape from Andheri. Tek who had keys to the vault was assigned the job of cleaning up the house while Ram kept watch. Prem and Bhim hid inside the house and struck after Kavita left for dropping her kids to school around 8.15 am,” an official said. So far, Rs 80,000 in cash has been recovered, besides some ornaments. The laptop was destroyed by the gang. “We are now trying to ascertain whether the Rs 80,000 is from the Suchak residence or elsewhere,” said Nangre-Patil.</p>

Domestic helps’ accomplices prime suspects:

  The two accomplices of the two domestic helps arrested for the murders of Juhu resident Kavita Suchak and her manager Prakash Bagwe on Aug...

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70 stabbings in public view! Gruesome gang murders man in Ahmedabad

<p> </p><p>Yafizuddin Sheikh, a resident of Juhapura, was brutally killed when some people repeatedly ran a car over him and then stabbed him over 70 times on Friday night in Amraiwadi. Sheikh's assailants continued to stab him till he succumbed to his wounds on the spot. A murder complaint has been filed with the Amraiwadi police against members of the Daddu gang for the gruesome murder. Yafizuddin and another man Mohammad had gone to Bal Bhavan in Khokhra to meet his friend, one Harish Darbar alias Harry in their Maruti Esteem car.While the victim waited there to meet his friend, a group of people, in a Santro car, rammed into Yafizuddin. They then reversed the car and ran it over him again repeating the process thrice. They then came out and stabbed Yafizuddin so much so that he had around 70-odd stab wounds on his body when he died. The victim cried for help but a crowd that had gathered to make arrangements for the ongoing Ganesh Chaturthi did not bother to intervene. The people were allegedly afraid of the Daddu gang that is very notorious in the area for its anti-social activities. The attackers were identified as Daddu Vaghela, his nephew Divyaraj aka Montu along with Naresh Thakor alias Jigo, Rahul aka Chako, Suresh Thakor and Rakesh Bihola. Two more men on a motorcycle also accompanied them. They were identified as Prakash aka Kaaniyo and Rahul aka Kalu Bhil. Two others, who were also involved in the incident, remained unidentified. Daddu Vaghela is a notorious bootlegger of the city and along with his gang has around 21 cases registered against him. Vaghela is wanted by the cops in at least 11 cases from the same area. According to the complaint, the gang attacked the already injured Yafizuddin with their weapons and inflicted 70-odd wounds all over his body. The victim lay in a pool of blood before breathing his last. Police said that the incident was a fall out of a scuffle between Daddu gang and Harry. The victim had come to his friend Harry's rescue during the scuffle.Teams of detection of crime branch reached the scene to investigate the matter following direct orders from the city police commissioner.</p>

70 stabbings in public view! Gruesome gang murders man in Ahmedabad

  Yafizuddin Sheikh, a resident of Juhapura, was brutally killed when some people repeatedly ran a car over him and then stabbed him over 70...

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The new Libya won't trust Britain so easily now | News

<p> </p><p><img alt="" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTioavb-LP17qAhi6OZmxc__SNR-jQ1BI0kNdTV_gForoHYWRfpQgI_xfyryMIMFBk2b_gUiq96AAduXhb2krLmhDE-SZzR-rE2OuqaetxwYVVIq2thipFijiKBj-XM7YsszS87ShYdlcp/" style="float: left;" width="276" />The documents revealing the cosy relationship between top British and Libyan intelligence officials are embarrassing not just because they confirm Britain's rendition of Islamist terror suspects, including Abdel Hakim Belhadj, the Transitional National Council's new security commander in Tripoli, but also because they lend credence to Britain's reputation as a slippery operator in the Middle East. David Cameron's support for the TNC was meant to gain souk cred by tying Britain's banner to the spirit of the Arab Spring. Cameron has said the new documents should be examined by the independent Detainee Inquiry, chaired by Sir Peter Gibson. They show how keen Tony Blair was to bring Gaddafi into the fold following Saddam Hussein's fall in April 2003 and to trade an end to Libya's pariah status in return for help in the war against terrorism. There was little wrong with that. What is sickening is the extent to which Britain sought to ingratiate itself by delivering up Gaddafi's opponents. No less disturbing is the manner in which Britain's cosying up to Gaddafi has been represented as a mistake by misguided individuals, for which institutions such as the London School of Economics have suffered. Perhaps the most fascinating new document was sent on March 18, 2004 to Musa Kusa, head of Libyan intelligence, by Mark Allen, MI6's director of counter-terrorism, who crowed about Belhadj's rendition while arranging a forthcoming visit by Blair to Libya. A week later Gaddafi welcomed the British PM in his Tripoli tent (as requested by Allen for publicity reasons). It is difficult to say who was the greater showman: the unctuous Blair or Gaddafi joking how his Third Universal Theory, the basis of his Green Book, paved the way for Blair's Third Way politics. Within two months, Allen was pipped as the next MI6 head by John Scarlett, who, two years earlier, as chief of the Joint Intelligence Committee, had backed Blair's argument that Saddam had dangerous weapons of mass destruction. Allen left the SIS shortly afterwards. For Middle East watchers, an interesting outcome has been these glimpses of intelligence machinations in this most secretive of regions. A Le Carré of the al Qaeda conflict will surely follow. It is Cameron who now has to deal with the practical consequences. The ultimate fate of Gaddafi and his family is out of his hands. But Britain has tough decisions to make about other players, including Musa Kusa, who defected from Libya in March, came to Britain, and was last heard of in a Qatar hotel. In 1980 he was expelled from Britain for advocating the murder of Libyan dissidents. For this and his wider role in Libyan terrorism, many powerful voices argue that he should be tried in Britain. But, even at this stage, it may be that he has too much to reveal. More immediately, the Prime Minister needs to assess the role of former Islamists such as Belhadj in the new regime and take appropriate measures. It will not be enough to kick the rendition issue into the long grass by referring it to the Gibson inquiry, which has yet to begin its work. If David Cameron hoped for an easy ride in post-Gaddafi Libya, these papers have disabused him of that notion.</p>

The new Libya won't trust Britain so easily now | News

  The documents revealing the cosy relationship between top British and Libyan intelligence officials are embarrassing not just because they...

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former MP Margaret Moran, who is to face 21 charges in relation to claims she made for parliamentary expenses.

<p><span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; background-color: #ffffff;"><div id="main-content-picture" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; display: block; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px;"><img alt="File photo of former MP Margaret Moran " height="276" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Politics/Pix/pictures/2011/9/6/1315305303567/File-photo-of-former-MP-M-007.jpg" style="border-collapse: collapse; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" width="460" /><div class="caption" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #666666; display: block; font-size: 12px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;">File photo of former MP Margaret Moran, who is to face 21 charges in relation to claims she made for parliamentary expenses. Photograph: Michael Stephens/PA</div></div><div id="article-body-blocks" style="border-collapse: collapse; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px;">The former Labour MP who claimed for dry rot treatment on a home more than 100 miles from her constituency will be charged with fiddling her expenses by more than £60,000, prosecutors said today.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #005689;"><span style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">Margaret Moran</span></span>, one of the last politicians investigated over the scandal, will appear before magistrates facing 21 charges relating to her parliamentary claims.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px;">Moran, former MP for Luton South, will appear before City of Westminster magistrates' court on 19 September, the Crown Prosecution Service said.</p></div></span></p>

former MP Margaret Moran, who is to face 21 charges in relation to claims she made for parliamentary expenses.

File photo of former MP Margaret Moran, who is to face 21 charges in relation to claims she made for parliamentary expenses. Photograph: Mic...

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police have released images of 28 suspects they want to question about serious street disorder that “wreaked havoc” across Northern Ireland

<p><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 12px; background-color: #ffffff;"><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The police have released images of 28 suspects they want to question about serious street disorder that “wreaked havoc” across Northern Ireland.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Detectives from a specialist public order inquiry team are hoping the public will help them identify the men in these images as part of their investigations into rioting in east Belfast and Ballyclare during June and July.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Three people were shot during three nights of sustained sectarian violence at an interface on the Lower Newtownards Road in Belfast in June.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">In Ballyclare six officers sustained whiplash when a hijacked bus rammed a police vehicle during riots that erupted after Union and paramilitary flags were removed from lampposts in July.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><img alt="" src="http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00621/riots_621316a.jpg" style="border: initial none initial;" /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Assistant Chief Constable Alistair Finlay said the response from the public appeals to date had been “positive”.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A second tranche of photographs will be released on Thursday showing suspects police want to speak to in connection with rioting in north and west Belfast during July.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Last month all of Northern Ireland’s main news organisations wrote to the PSNI Chief Constable to protest at having to hand over riot footage of trouble in east Belfast.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The letter highlighted to Matt Baggott the “genuine fear that terrorists and rioters will target the media whom they perceive to be evidence gatherers for the State” if the PSNI continues to demand the disclosure of material gathered for news purposes.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;">The PSNI has declined to comment on the source of these latest images.</span></p><span><br /><br /><br /></span></span></p>

police have released images of 28 suspects they want to question about serious street disorder that “wreaked havoc” across Northern Ireland

The police have released images of 28 suspects they want to question about serious street disorder that “wreaked havoc” across Northern Irel...

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TV cameras to be allowed into criminal trials

<p> </p><p>David Cameron is expected to pave the way for the historic move in a long-awaited speech on crime planned for later this month. However, the televised coverage is expected to be limited and will not allow cameras to record witnesses giving evidence as occurs in America. Television cameras are currently banned from most courts in England and Wales although the proceedings of the new Supreme Court - the top court of appeal which replaced the law lords - can be broadcast. Some Scottish court cases are also televised, including proceedings involving Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber. The decision to allow limited broadcasting in other criminal cases is set to spark debate.</p>

TV cameras to be allowed into criminal trials

  David Cameron is expected to pave the way for the historic move in a long-awaited speech on crime planned for later this month. However, t...

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MPs will test James Murdoch's assertion he knew nothing about a crucial email in the phone-hacking scandal when they quiz former News Of The World executives today.

<p> </p><blockquote><img alt="" height="141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqieJ6wfkiB2A8vPWONHE52QRM-SYDYO81UEeN9G3XKSIantI1mx2iNWIAmHpJgDIDnmRHKQb9kr-ODxTmpO4fFZy3z-LEBwZNOT42XfMMwKdxf9tYbeuZ73jfNTbpIbDhxFmCAPVvFkQ/" style="float: left;" width="358" />The News International chairman has reportedly cancelled a trip to Asia to monitor first-hand what is said at the select committee hearing. When James Murdoch appeared with his father Rupert before the Culture, Media and Sport committee in July, he was asked if he knew about a document known as the "for Neville" email. This email has been seen as critical to the hacking inquiry. It indicates that the practice of hacking was more widespread than News International originally admitted. James Murdoch said he was unaware of the document at the time he sanctioned a payout to the Professional Footballers' Association chief Gordon Taylor, whose phone was hacked by the News of The World. His denial of knowledge of the email was subsequently contradicted by Colin Myler, the NOTW's last editor, and the paper's former lawyer Tom Crone, both of whom will give their side of the story to the committee. Daniel Cloke, ex-HR director at NI, and Jon Chapman, NI's former head of corporate and legal affairs, are also due to appear. Mark Lewis, who represented Mr Taylor when he won his payout from the NOTW, said if today's evidence finds James Murdoch knew about the email it could be the end of him.</blockquote>

MPs will test James Murdoch's assertion he knew nothing about a crucial email in the phone-hacking scandal when they quiz former News Of The World executives today.

  The News International chairman has reportedly cancelled a trip to Asia to monitor first-hand what is said at the select committee hearing...

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Google will rock you: 'Doodle' celebrates Queen's late frontman

<p> </p><p>Google users around the world were rocking out to Queen on Monday -- except for in the U.S., where search engines will remain quiet until Tuesday. Monday would have been the 65th birthday of Queen singer Freddie Mercury, the flamboyant, four-octave frontman who penned such enduring hits as "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "We Are the Champions." To commemorate the day, Google added an animated doodle to its search page -- an appropriately over-the-top video clip set to Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now" that shows Mercury morphing into a space traveler, a bicyclist and a king on a throne flanked by lions and mustachioed bears. As a nod to Queen's '70s-and-early-'80s-heyday, parts of the video have a retro, arcade-game style. The doodle was showcased on Google's homepages around the world -- except for in the U.S., where, out of respect to the Labor Day holiday, the page remained unadorned. Google planned to display the doodle in the U.S. Tuesday. "Freddie was fully focused, never allowing anything or anyone to get in the way of his vision for the future," writes Queen guitarist Brian May in a guest Google blog post accompanying the doodle. "He was truly a free spirit. There are not many of these in the world. To achieve this, you have to be, like Freddie, fearless -- unafraid of upsetting anyone's apple cart." Mercury was born September 5, 1946, in Zanzibar, which is now part of Tanzania, and moved to Britain as a teen-ager before joining Queen in 1971. He led the band through its 15-year run of radio smashes ("We Will Rock You," "Another One Bites the Dust") and operatic live shows. He died in 1991 at age 45 of an AIDS-related illness. Earlier this year readers of Rolling Stone voted Mercury their second-favorite lead singer of all time, behind Robert Plant. Google has been increasingly brightening its plain-wrapper homepage in recent years with colorful doodles, including animated clips honoring the birthday of silent-screen star Charlie Chaplin and a playable game to mark the 30th anniversary of the Pac-Man arcade classic.</p>

Google will rock you: 'Doodle' celebrates Queen's late frontman

  Google users around the world were rocking out to Queen on Monday -- except for in the U.S., where search engines will remain quiet until ...

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Google, Mozilla and Microsoft have banned the DigiNotar Certificate Authority in their browsers.

<p><span style="color: #252525; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; background-color: #ffffff;"><p class="space-2 content fancy s-7" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px !important; margin-left: 0px; font-style: italic; font-size: 1.17em; font-family: Georgia, serif; vertical-align: baseline; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"> </p><div class="content-1 entry space-1 clear" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px !important; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: block; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><span style="color: #005399; font-family: inherit;"><span style="cursor: pointer; font-style: inherit; border: initial initial initial;"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-9338 aligncenter" height="355" src="http://i.zdnet.com/blogs/diginotar.jpg" style="font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: initial none initial;" width="376" /></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">With the <strong style="font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: #005399; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">DigiNotar saga</strong><span style="color: #005399; font-family: inherit;"><span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: inherit; cursor: pointer;"> </span></span>continuing, it’s time to summarize some of the current events surrounding it.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">According to multiple blog posts, <strong style="font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: #005399; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Google</strong><span style="color: #005399; font-family: inherit;"><span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: inherit; cursor: pointer;">,</span></span> <strong style="font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: #005399; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Mozilla</strong><span style="color: #005399; font-family: inherit;"><span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: inherit; cursor: pointer;"> </span></span>and <strong style="font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: #005399; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Microsoft</strong><span style="color: #005399; font-family: inherit;"><span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: inherit; cursor: pointer;"> </span></span>have already banned the DigiNotar Certificate Authority in their browsers. This preemptive move comes as a direct response to the mess that DigiNotar created by issuing over 200 rogue certificates for legitimate web sites and services — see <strong style="font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: #005399; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">a complete list of the affected sites and services</strong><span style="color: #005399; font-family: inherit;"><span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: inherit; cursor: pointer;">.</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Earlier this week, Google reported of <strong style="font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: #005399; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">attempted man-in-the-middle attacks</strong><span style="color: #005399; font-family: inherit;"><span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: inherit; cursor: pointer;"> </span></span>executed against Google users, and most recently, TrendMicro offered insights into <strong style="font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: #005399; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">a large scale spying operation launched against Iranian web users</strong><span style="color: #005399; font-family: inherit;"><span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: inherit; cursor: pointer;">.</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><span style="color: #005399; font-family: inherit;"><span style="cursor: pointer; font-style: inherit; border: initial initial initial;"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-9339 aligncenter" height="320" src="http://i.zdnet.com/blogs/diginotar1.jpg" style="font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: initial none initial;" width="471" /></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">According to TrendMicro:</p><blockquote style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; quotes: ''; color: #68737f; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">From analysis of Smart Protection Network data, we see that a significant part of Internet users who loaded the SSL certificate verification URL of Diginotar were from Iran on August 28, 2011. On August 30, 2011 most traffic from Iran disappeared and on September 2, 2011 about all of the Iranian traffic was gone and Diginotar received mostly Dutch Internet users, as expected.</p></blockquote><blockquote style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; quotes: ''; color: #68737f; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">These aggregated statistics from Trend Micro Smart Protection Network clearly indicates that Iranian Internet users were exposed to a large scale man-in-the-middle attack, where SSL encrypted traffic can be decrypted by a third party. For example: a third party probably was able to read all e-mail communication an Iranian Internet user has sent with his Gmail account.</p></blockquote><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Meanwhile, the <strong style="font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: #005399; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Dutch government issued a statement</strong><span style="color: #005399; font-family: inherit;"><span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: inherit; cursor: pointer;"> </span></span>saying that it “cannot guarantee the security of its own websites” and is “taking over the company’s (DigiNotar) operations.”</p><blockquote style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; quotes: ''; color: #68737f; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">“the user of government sites no longer has the guarantee … that he is on the site where he wanted to be,” Interior Minister Piet Hein Donner said at a pre-dawn press conference.</p></blockquote><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Moreover, Illinois-based VASCO, which owns the Dutch-based DigiNotar <strong style="font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: #005399; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">issued the following statement</strong><span style="color: #005399; font-family: inherit;"><span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: inherit; cursor: pointer;">:</span></span></p><blockquote style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; quotes: ''; color: #68737f; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">DigiNotar detected an intrusion into its Certificate Authority (CA) infrastructure, which resulted in the fraudulent issuance of public key certificate requests for a number of domains, including Google.com. Once it detected the intrusion, DigiNotar has acted in accordance with all relevant rules and procedures. At that time, an external security audit concluded that all fraudulently issued certificates were revoked. Recently, it was discovered that at least one fraudulent certificate had not been revoked at the time.  After being notified by Dutch government organization Govcert, DigiNotar took immediate action and revoked the fraudulent certificate.</p></blockquote><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Who’s behind the attacks? According to the <strong style="font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: #005399; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Tor Project</strong><span style="color: #005399; font-family: inherit;"><span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: inherit; cursor: pointer;">, clues were found in one of the certificates, including messages in Farsi:</span></span></p></div></span></p>

Google, Mozilla and Microsoft have banned the DigiNotar Certificate Authority in their browsers.

  With the  DigiNotar saga   continuing, it’s time to summarize some of the current events surrounding it. According to multiple blog posts,...

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Google closes 10 services in 'spring clean'

<p> </p><p>The services being closed by Google include Aardvark, a social network-powered question-and-answer search tool, Fast Flip, an experiment in displaying news content online, and Notebook, a note-taking and URL-clipping service. In a post on Google’s blog, Alan Eustace, senior vice president, said: “Over the next few months we’ll be shutting down a number of products and merging others into existing products as features. [...] This will make things much simpler for our users, improving the overall Google experience. It will also mean we can devote more resources to high impact products—the ones that improve the lives of billions of people.” He added: “We’ll continue to take risks on interesting new technologies with a lot of potential. But by targeting our resources more effectively, we can focus on building world-changing products with a truly beautiful user experience.” Other services being discontinued by Google include Desktop, which the company says has been superseded by cloud computing, Google Pack, the company’s bundle of downloadable software, and Sidewiki, a collaborative approach to annotating websites. Google Maps API for Flash, Google Web Security, Image Labeler and Subscribed Links are the other services to be closed. Aardvark founders Max Ventilla and Damon Horowitz said that Google+ had taken on some of the role performed by their service. In a blogpost, they wrote: “We’ve been excited to share these lessons within Google over the past year, especially as part of the effort behind Google+. “It has been gratifying to see how well this project is doing — even in these early stages, Google+ has already become a great place to share knowledge online, eclipsing the original vark.com! — and there is much more to come very soon.”</p>

Google closes 10 services in 'spring clean'

  The services being closed by Google include Aardvark, a social network-powered question-and-answer search tool, Fast Flip, an experiment i...

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Giant saltwater crocodile weighing more than a tonne was captured in a remote Philippine village following a spate of attacks on humans

<p><p> Giant saltwater crocodile weighing more than a tonne was captured in a remote Philippine village following a spate of attacks on humans and livestock, officials said Tuesday.</p><p>The 21-foot (6.4-metre), 1,075-kilogramme (2,370-pound) reptile may have eaten a farmer who went missing in July, along with several water buffaloes in the southern town of Bunawan, crocodile hunter Rollie Sumiller said.</p><p>A crocodile also bit off the head of a 12-year-old girl in Bunawan in 2009, according to the environment ministry.</p><p>Josefina de Leon, wildlife division chief of the environment ministry's protected areas and wildlife bureau, said it was likely the biggest crocodile ever captured.</p><p>"Based on existing records the largest that had been captured previously was 5.48 metres long," she told AFP.</p><p>"This is the biggest animal that I've handled in 20 years of trapping,"</p><p>Sumiller added, estimating the male to be more than 50 years old.</p><p>"The community was relieved," he told AFP, but added: "We're not really sure if this is the man-eater, because there have been other sightings of other crocodiles in the area."</p><p>The team, employed by a government-run crocodile breeding farm, began laying bait using chicken, pork and dog meat on August 15, but the reptile simply bit off both meat and line the it was skewered on.</p><p>An eight milimetre (0.31-inch) metal cable finally proved beyond the power of its jaws and the beast was subdued at a creek on Saturday with the help of about 30 local men.</p><p>The local government decided against putting down the reptile and will instead use him as the main attraction at a planned nature park in the area.</p><p>"He's a problem crocodile that needs to be taken from the wildlife so that it can be used for eco-tourism," Sumiller said.</p><p>Crocodylus porosus or estuarine crocodile is the world's largest reptile that usually grows to five or six metres long and can live up to 100 years.</p><p>While not considered an endangered species globally, it is "critically endangered" in the Philippines, where it is hunted for its hide to feed the fashion industry, de Leon said.</p></p>

Giant saltwater crocodile weighing more than a tonne was captured in a remote Philippine village following a spate of attacks on humans

 Giant saltwater crocodile weighing more than a tonne was captured in a remote Philippine village following a spate of attacks on humans and...

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Grilling for phone hack witnesses

<p> </p><p><img alt="" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqA6deetV9y-u1ILrVe3x5FTHAsEOWYWVpksj07QPk-Hd5Mw007XEorghTF0H99-aDd_Y_AHrqBxgREiOzvVBqSziOB9lcwyEkQVg5B7PU6NQcy815m01SY_Zi2YscZ6b7ookpaESSNPo/" style="float: left;" width="460" />Four former News International executives will face a fresh round of questioning from MPs over the phone-hacking scandal. The Commons Culture, Media and Sport committee will quiz the News of the World's former editor Colin Myler and ex-legal manager Tom Crone after the pair publicly challenged evidence given by James Murdoch over his knowledge of the illegal practice. News International's former director of legal affairs Jonathan Chapman and Daniel Cloke, former group HR director, will also appear before the committee as the probe into the scandal is resumed following the summer recess. Mr Myler and Mr Crone have been summoned before MPs for the second time after publicly disputing claims made by Mr Murdoch earlier in the Parliamentary inquiry. The News International chairman told the committee he was not made aware of an email in 2008 indicating that the practice of illegally intercepting voicemails was not confined to a single "rogue" reporter. But the two former Sunday tabloid executives insist that they told him about the message in June of that year. The panel of MPs could now recall Mr Murdoch "depending on their evidence under questioning". Committee chairman John Whittingdale said the latest round of questioning was an attempt to uncover the truth in the "continuing difference in the accounts of James Murdoch and Tom Crone and Colin Myler about whether or not James Murdoch was aware of the so-called 'for Neville' email". The 2005 email contained transcripts of hacked phone messages and was headed "for Neville", in an apparent reference to the News of the World's then-chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck. Its existence came to light in April 2008 when Professional Footballers' Association chief executive Gordon Taylor brought a damages claim against the paper over the interception of his voicemail.</p>

Grilling for phone hack witnesses

  Four former News International executives will face a fresh round of questioning from MPs over the phone-hacking scandal. The Commons Cult...

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Eurozone woe fuels fresh market chaos as banks bear the brunt of a global stock rout

<p> </p><p>Britain's banks bore the brunt of a global stock market rout amid escalating concerns over the eurozone debt crisis and further signs of strain in wholesale money markets. More than £10bn was wiped off the value of Britain’s five biggest lenders as key inter-bank borrowing costs climbed to levels not seen since the height of the 2008 crash. Royal Bank of Scotland lost an eighth of its value, tumbling 3.06p to 21.78p, amid fears that it could be facing a bill of as much as £3.7bn from US sub-prime mortgage lawsuits. Plunge: More than £10bn was wiped off the value of Britain’s five big banks Lloyds slumped 2.47p or 7.5pc to 30.65p while Barclays tumbled 11.05p to 154.15p. Following yesterday’s bloodbath, taxpayers are now sitting on a £37.6bn paper loss from their 83pc and 40pc stakes in RBS and Lloyds. Josef Ackermann, the chief executive of Deutsche Bank, warned that the current turmoil was reminiscent of the panic triggered by the collapse of Wall Street giant Lehman Brothers.</p>

Eurozone woe fuels fresh market chaos as banks bear the brunt of a global stock rout

  Britain's banks bore the brunt of a global stock market rout amid escalating concerns over the eurozone debt crisis and further signs ...

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Athens, Rome Hold Europe to Ransom

<p> </p><p>Europe is engaged in a high-stakes game of brinkmanship that poses grave risks to the global economy. At last weekend's Villa d'Este Forum in Italy, European policy makers didn't hide their fury at Greece's back-sliding over promised structural reforms and spending cuts. At the same time, Italian ministers undermined the remaining credibility of Silvio Berlusconi's government with a series of complacent speeches. Given such a dangerous breakdown in trust within Europe, investors are right to fear the worst. Germany and its Northern European allies believe only intense market pressure can force weak economies to cut spending and improve competitiveness. But Greece has learned that whenever the crisis in Europe's periphery threatens to overwhelm the core, Europe will ignore previous broken promises and step up with a fresh bailout. Italy now appears to be making the same calculation. The government insists it will fulfill its commitment to balance the budget by 2013, but ministers show no appreciation of the urgent need for structural reforms to address the chronic weakness of an economy that grew on average 0.3% between 2001 and 2010 and experienced a 25% increase in unit labor costs relative to Germany over the same period. Instead, they talk incessantly of euro-zone bonds as a solution to misfortunes they blame largely on external forces. But Italy's dream of euro-zone bonds is likely to remain a fantasy until trust between member states is restored. This no longer depends simply on implementing austerity budgets. Structural reforms have now taken center stage because they are a test of whether the euro zone is worth saving at all: If countries refuse to improve competitiveness, then any attempted solutions to the immediate sovereign-debt crisis will prove short-lived. So what can be done about Greece and Italy? Athens rejects accusations it is dragging its feet but has promised to use a 10-day hiatus in talks with the European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund over progress toward its bailout targets to speed up reforms. If it fails to deliver again, European policy makers now talk darkly of a total loss of fiscal sovereignty. How this might work in practice isn't clear. As for Italy, some now believe its best hope lies with the ECB, which last month threw Rome a life line by agreeing to buy its bonds. If the ECB were to stop buying bonds, the subsequent rise in yields might bring down Mr. Berlusconi's administration, paving the way for President Giorgio Napolitano to appoint a technical government with the constitutional authority to make tough decisions. Then, at least, the long process of rebuilding the credibility of the euro zone's third-biggest economy could begin in earnest.</p>

Athens, Rome Hold Europe to Ransom

  Europe is engaged in a high-stakes game of brinkmanship that poses grave risks to the global economy. At last weekend's Villa d'Es...

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US recession fears savage world financial markets

<p> </p><p>World stock markets took a beating Monday over fears that the U.S. economy was heading back into a recession just as the European debt crisis was heating up and the eurozone's economic indicators were slumping. A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, Sept. 2, 2011 in New York. The jobs report was the weakest in almost a year. It renewed fears that the U.S. might slip back into recession. (AP Photo/Jin Lee) A man looks at an electronic stock board of a securities firm in Tokyo, Monday, Sept. 5, 2011. Asia-Pacific stocks took a beating early Monday after jobs data out of the U.S. last week revived fears of a recession in the world's largest economy. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara) More business news In tough economy, multi-job holders grateful for balancing act Delta at center of FAA debate Turkish hackers hit UPS Recession over, jobs still elusive New owner for Atlanta Dream Delta Air Lines news, links Coca-Cola Co. news Health Care Reform coverage Read Henry Unger's Biz Beat blog Any troubles in the world's largest economy cast a long shadow over the markets, and a report Friday that the U.S. economy failed to add any new jobs in August caused European and Asian stock markets to sink sharply Monday. But the news from Europe was also discouraging. Wall Street, which was closed Monday due to the Labor Day holiday, braced for losses Tuesday after the yields in so-called peripheral eurozone countries — Greece, Italy and Spain — rose sharply against those of Germany, whose bonds are widely considered a safe haven. Although retail sales in the 17-nation eurozone rose unexpectedly in July, a survey of the services sector Monday showed a slowdown across the continent for the fifth consecutive month. The purchasing managers' index for the eurozone showed the services sector was still growing — unlike the manufacturing sector — but only barely. That will add pressure on the European Central Bank to keep interest rates on hold when it meets this week. "There's so much uncertainty, so much fear, that investors don't know what to do," said David Kotok, chairman and chief investment officer at Cumberland Advisors. "I don't remember the last time stocks were so cheap and nobody wanted them." Investors were also shaken by signs that the Italian government's commitment to its austerity program is wavering. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government has backtracked on some deficit-cutting measures, prompting EU officials to urge Italy to stick to its promised plan. The difference in interest rates between the Greek and benchmark German 10-year bonds, known as the spread, spiraled to new records on Monday, topping 17.3 percentage points. Yields on the Greek bonds were above 18 percent. Mario Draghi, the incoming chief of the European Central Bank, told a conference in Paris that among the common currency's problems was a lack of coordinated fiscal policies and that the solution was more integration. He dismissed the idea of eurobonds — debt issued jointly by the eurozone countries. Some have argued this would help weaker countries borrow more easily because they wouldn't have to pay such high interest rates. But stable countries like Germany would likely see their rates rise. Instead, Draghi suggested the eurozone should adopt rules that would require more budget discipline. Renewed jitters over the eurozone debt crisis also contributed to the slump in financial stocks amid concerns the banks would need to raise new capital. Deutsche bank closed down 8.9 percent in Frankfurt, while Societe Generale in Paris shed 8.6 percent. The U.S. unemployment crisis has prompted President Barack Obama to schedule a major speech Thursday night to propose steps to stimulate hiring. Until then, however, traders coming back from the U.S. holiday weekend will have little to hold onto. The August jobs figure was far below economists' already tepid expectations for 93,000 new U.S. jobs and renewed concerns that the U.S. recovery is not only slowing but actually unwinding. U.S. hiring figures for June and July were also revised lower, only adding to the gloom. Many traders have already pulled out of any risky investments — such as stocks, particularly financial ones, the euro and emerging market currencies — and pile into safe havens: U.S. Treasuries, the dollar, the Japanese yen and gold. With Wall Street closed, investors focused their selling in Asia and Europe, where the equity losses Monday were some of the heaviest this year. "We've got some rough riding ahead," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in Chicago, adding he was "concerned that we could see a second wave of selling when most traders are back at their desks." Dow futures were down 1.8 percent at 11,010 points while the broader S&P 500 futures were 2.0 lower at 1,145.70. After Asian indexes closed lower, with the Japan's Nikkei 225 shedding 1.9 percent, European shares booked sharp losses. Britain's FTSE 100 closed the day down 3.6 percent to 5,102.58. Germany's DAX slumped a massive 5.3 percent to 5,246.18, and France's CAC-40 tumbled 4.7 percent to 2,999.54. The health of the U.S. economy is crucial for the wider world because consumer spending there accounts for a fifth of global economic activity. The U.S. imports huge amounts from Japan and China and is closely linked at all levels with the European market. The U.S. has seen a slump in consumer and business sentiments. Traders were hoping for signs that the Federal Reserve might take action at its September meeting to support the economy — perhaps a third round of bond purchases, dubbed quantitative easing III or QE3, analysts said. "Right now the possibility has increased," said Linus Yip, a strategist at First Shanghai Securities in Hong Kong. "I think they have to do something. The markets are expecting QE3." Banking stocks were among the hardest hit Monday, partly because the U.S. government on Friday sued 17 financial firms for selling Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac billions of dollars worth of mortgage-backed securities that turned toxic when the housing market collapsed. Among those targeted by the lawsuits were Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., JP Morgan Chase & Co., and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Large European banks including The Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays Bank and Credit Suisse were also sued. In Asia, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 followed the broaden trend to close down 2.4 percent and South Korea's Kospi slid 4.4 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng slid 3 percent. Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan, New Zealand and the Philippines also were down. Shanghai's benchmark Composite Index down 2 percent to 2,478.74, its lowest close in 13 months. The Shenzhen Composite Index lost 2.4 percent. In currencies, the euro weakened to $1.4100 from $1.4187 in New York late Friday. The dollar was roughly flat at 76.87 yen. Last month, the dollar fell under 76 yen, which was a new post-World War II high for the Japanese currency. Benchmark oil for October delivery was down $2.12 to $84.33 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude fell $2.48 to settle at $86.45 on Friday. In London, Brent crude for October delivery was down $1.63 at $110.70 on the ICE Futures exchange.</p>

US recession fears savage world financial markets

  World stock markets took a beating Monday over fears that the U.S. economy was heading back into a recession just as the European debt cri...

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In the last year 16 libel claimants cited material published on the internet in their legal actions.

<p><br />This compares to just seven cases the year before, according to statistics complied by legal information firm Sweet and Maxwell<br />The rise has been disclosed as social networking websites become the new front line in the debate over Britain’s libel laws.<br />In March, Colin Elsbury, a Caerphilly county councillor, was ordered to pay £3,000 damages and costs to a political rival over false claims of wrongdoing he made on Twitter.<br />And in May it was revealed that South Tyneside Council went to court in the United States to force the website to reveal the identities of an anonymous user it claimed had libelled officials.<br />Korieh Duodu, a media barrister at Addleshaw Goddard, said libellous claims could spread on Facebook and Twitter quickly without being checked by professional journalists.<br />“Such is the speed at which information travels through social networks that one unchecked comment can spread into the mainstream media within minutes, which can cause irreparable damage to the subject who has been wronged,” he said.<br />Despite the rise in online defamation claims, the figures also show that celebrities are using libel laws less. Instead, they are attempting to suppress stories using human rights legislation.<br />Sweet and Maxwell said only nine celebrities claimed for libel in the year to 31 May, compared to 22 in the previous 12 months.<br />“The increased use of anonymity orders in privacy claims has enabled well-known individuals to prevent anything being published at all,” said Mr Duodu.<br />“This will in some cases prevent the need for the individual to sue for libel after the event."<br />Social networking websites are also challenging privacy laws, however.<br />In May more than 75,000 Twitter users broke a High Court gagging order obtained by the footballer Ryan Giggs to suppress details of his alleged affair with a glamour model. John Hemming, the Lib Dem MP for Birmingham Yardley, then disclosed details of the affair under parliamentary privilege, saying it was “obviously impractical” to imprison everyone who breached the super-injunction.<br />In response to calls for tighter regulation of social networks, Twitter has stated a bias towards free speech, saying that “the tweets must flow”.<br />“We strive not to remove Tweets on the basis of their content,” it said.<br />The fall in celebrity libel claims in the year was counterbalanced by a sharp rise in claims by businesses which more than trebled. Some 16 sued for defamation, compared to five in the previous 12 months.<br />It meant the total number of defamation claims rose slightly, from 83 to 86.<br />A new Defamation Bill, designed to make it more difficult for foreign claimants to pursue claims in British courts and offer defendants a stronger public interest defence, is due before Parliament. Mr Duodu said it should have also taken the impact of the web into greater account.<br /><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/8725859/Facebook-and-Twitter-drive-rise-in-online-libel-claims.html"><br /></a></p>

In the last year 16 libel claimants cited material published on the internet in their legal actions.

This compares to just seven cases the year before, according to statistics complied by legal information firm Sweet and Maxwell The rise has...

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SOCIAL networking media such as Twitter and BlackBerry Messenger could be shut down if rioters use them to orchestrate violence,

<p>SOCIAL networking media such as Twitter and BlackBerry Messenger could be shut down if rioters use them to orchestrate violence, David Cameron has warned.<br /><br />The Prime Minister also raised the prospect of new police powers to track offenders through the websites as he said it could be necessary to “close them down”.<br /><br />Disabling the Twittersphere is just one of a raft of controversial measures being considered as the Coalition Government attempts to prevent further violent outbreaks.</p>

SOCIAL networking media such as Twitter and BlackBerry Messenger could be shut down if rioters use them to orchestrate violence,

SOCIAL networking media such as Twitter and BlackBerry Messenger could be shut down if rioters use them to orchestrate violence, David Camer...

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Hitler, bin Laden and Milat baby clothes on sale in Melbourne

<p>Australian company has sparked international outrage by selling baby clothes with pictures of Hitler, Osama bin Laden and serial killers Ivan Milat, Ted Bundy and Charles Manson.<br /><br />The range of garments is in sizes from 000 rompers for three-month-old babies to T-shirts for children up to 12, News Ltd says.<br /><br />The Ivan Milat baby romper has a picture of his face and the slogan: "Australians Just Love Backpackers". T-shirts bear the words "Free Ted Bundy" and "Ted Bundy is Innocent", and "Serial Killer in Training" alongside graphic images.<br /><br />Other clothes feature images of a syringe and a spoon high-fiving each other with the slogan "Team work" and Julia Gillard with the slogan "Deliberately barren".<br /><br />The founder and CEO of international artists website redbubble.com said offending garments were removed once complaints had been received.<br /><br />But on Friday night there were still dozens for sale on the website, a forum for aspiring and established artists, News Ltd says.<br /><br />The site is run from Flinders St, Melbourne and San Francisco.</p><p> </p>

Hitler, bin Laden and Milat baby clothes on sale in Melbourne

Australian company has sparked international outrage by selling baby clothes with pictures of Hitler, Osama bin Laden and serial killers Iva...

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air and sea search is underway for a man in his 60s who is missing after a tugboat that was towing a barge capsized in Gladstone Harbour.

<p><br />Three other crewmen have been rescued, emergency services say.<br /><br />Police were alerted that a boat had turned over in the Gladstone Harbour near to the mouth of the Calliope river around 1pm (AEST).<br /><br />There were four men on board the stricken vessel and three were rescued - however the skipper of the boat is still missing.<br /><br />Police, volunteer marine rescuers, coastguard and the CQ rescue helicopter are scouring the area for the missing man.<br /><br />Maritime Safety Queensland general manager Patrick Quirk says a search for the missing man is under way.<br /><br />He said the tug was towing a barge in Gladstone Harbour on Saturday afternoon when it sank near a coal terminal.<br /><br />The barge did not sink.<br /><br /><br /><br /> <br />Mr Quirk said it was not known what caused the tugboat to sink and a full investigation would be launched but for now the focus is the search for the missing crewman.<br /><br />All four were onboard the 23-metre tugboat when it capsized about 1pm.<br /><br />Gladstone water police rescued three of the men and continue to search for the fourth.<br /><br />A rescue helicopter has also joined the search and a 100m exclusion zone has been set up around the sunken vessel.</p>

air and sea search is underway for a man in his 60s who is missing after a tugboat that was towing a barge capsized in Gladstone Harbour.

Three other crewmen have been rescued, emergency services say. Police were alerted that a boat had turned over in the Gladstone Harbour near...

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New plan to transform Liverpool's docks and Manchester Ship Canal

<p>The Port of Liverpool could revive proposals to link the city's docks complex with a train link that takes it to the centre of industrial Europe.<br /><br />Before Peel Holdings took control of the city's ports six years ago, plans had been mooted to establish a direct train link from the Mersey to Milan.<br /><br />Now, new plans by Peel Ports to transform Liverpool's docks and the Manchester Ship Canal into a 44-mile "logistics platform" could see the European rail link being on the agenda once again.<br /><br />Peel unveiled a 20-year development strategy which outlined plans for expansion that it said will establish the port and the canal as an "integral part of the supply chain".<br /><br />As part of the strategy, it proposes plans to increase the handling capacity of Mersey Ports and the Manchester Ship Canal by 70% over the next two decades.<br /><br />A 13-week public consultation period has begun to consider proposals for new inland ports along the 44-mile route.<br /><br />The masterplan also includes utilising biomass energy, offshore wind and recycled waste energy.<br /><br />A series of public information events is being staged at locations between Liverpool and Salford to gauge reaction from residents.<br /><br />The masterplan takes in the planned expansion of the Seaforth River Terminal at the mouth of the Mersey and adds new ports along the Manchester Ship Canal at Wirral, Bridgewater, Ince, Warrington and Salford.<br /><br />Shifting more freight from the roads onto rail is a key element, and Mersey Ports managing director Gary Hodgson, who told Liverpool Daily Post's Business section that the group was once again seriously looking at a direct rail link to Europe.<br /><br />It is estimated that transporting containers by rail from Liverpool to Milan would take a mere 18 hours, as opposed to three days by sea.<br /><br />Hodgson told the LDP: "Ninety-five per cent of cargo goes out of the port by road and we want to shift that to 70-75%. Whether we get a direct link, time will tell, but there are different options for the development of rail, for sure."<br /><br />He said Milan is not on their "wish list" at the moment, but added: "A rail link to the heart of Europe, why not?<br /><br />"We have the rail links to Liverpool. It is a question of how we link that up to Europe.<br /><br />"For example, it could be more attractive for a vessel from America to dump everything here and rail it to Europe, but we haven't had that discussion yet."<br /><br />A major step to opening up direct rail links was taken three years ago when the government approved plans to re-open the Olive Mount chord connecting the port to the West Coast mainline.<br /><br />The 300-metre stretch of track between Olive Mount Junction and Edge Lane Junction was closed following a signal box fire in the late 1980s. But its re-establishment will improve freight links to the UK's main rail network, removing the need for trains reversing at Edge Hill and crossing lines in and out of the city's busy Lime Street main station.<br /><br />Currently, 30% of all international trade is by containerisation, and that is expected to grow by 50% in the next 20 years.<br /><br />Peel revealed plans to increase capacity on the River Mersey with a £250m investment in a Seaforth river berth handling bigger container ships following the widening of the Panama Canal in 2014.<br /><br />Hodgson said hundreds of wind turbines will be located in the Irish Sea, providing new opportunities for the wind farm supply chain: "There will be a demand," he insisted. Another area ripe for development is biomass energy and the port wants to build a biomass power plant, valued at between £200m to £300m, funded by a third party.<br /><br />He is urging the government to invest in the north west and says unless they develop "everything is going to be crammed down in the south east."<br /><br />The Mersey Ports strategy will be finalised in December following a period of public consultation.<br /><br />Liverpool still ranks among Britain's and Northern Europe's major container ports and handles nearly 700,000 teus (20ft container units) a year.<br /><br />The port maintains its traditional prominence with North America while expanding its global routes and now serves more than 100 non-EU destinations from China to India, Africa, Australia and the Middle East.</p><p> </p>

New plan to transform Liverpool's docks and Manchester Ship Canal

The Port of Liverpool could revive proposals to link the city's docks complex with a train link that takes it to the centre of industria...

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