Category: news

The number of people claiming Jobseekers Allowance has risen

Unemployment in Scotland fell for a second time with a 5,000 drop between September to November to 225,000, the Office for National Statistics said.

However, the total is 23,000 higher than for the same period in 2009.

Scotland’s overall unemployment rate – which includes those who are jobless but not eligible for benefits – is 8.4%, higher than the UK rate of 7.9%.

Figures also showed a rise in the number of people out of work and claiming Jobseekers Allowance (JSA).

This increased by 2,200 to 138,300 in December – 2,400 higher than it was 12 months before.

In the UK as a whole, unemployment increased by 49,000 in the three months to November to 2.5 million.

In Scotland, employment increased by 18,000 to 2,470,000 over the period of September to November 2009. This was 38,000 lower than in the same period in 2009.

Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore said: “Any news of falling unemployment in Scotland is to be welcomed but these figures also show the scale of the challenge this government faces.”

He added: “The increase in the number of people claiming Jobseekers Allowance is an unwelcome reminder of the effects of the financial crisis we inherited.

“The government is doing everything it can to create the conditions that enable all businesses to be thrive and create more jobs.

“Tackling the deficit is unavoidable and is the steps we are taking are already helping keep long-term interest rates lower and encourage businesses to invest and grow.”

Scottish Finance Secretary John Swinney said: “For two consecutive monthly labour market statistics releases, the labour market figures show falling unemployment and rising employment in Scotland, compared to rising unemployment and falling employment across the UK.”

However Mr Swinney added: “While today’s figures are welcome, Scotland’s recovery remains at a crucial stage.”

Grahame Smith, Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) general secretary said: “Over a year since Scotland technically left recession, the labour market shows little sign of durable improvement.

“With public spending cuts only beginning to bite in terms of employment, the Scottish labour market faces a grim 2011.”

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Mr Berlusconi said the idea of him resigning was “mad”

Italy’s president has said the country is in “turmoil” over the under-age prostitution accusations against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Giorgio Napolitano said he hoped Mr Berlusconi would respond to Milan prosecutors as soon as possible.

The prosecutors have summoned him for questioning at the end of this week.

But lawyers for Mr Berlusconi, who denies paying for sex and has laughed off calls to resign, say they have not decided whether he will attend.

The tycoon, who may also face prosecution in three separate corruption trials, is under increasing pressure.

A front-page article in the newspaper of Italy’s Roman Catholic bishops called the investigation into Mr Berlusconi a “devastating tornado”.

Italy’s main opposition, the Democratic Party, said if Mr Berlusconi had any dignity, he would resign.

Mr Berlusconi, whose five-year term is due to run until 2013, narrowly survived a confidence vote in December.

Mr Napolitano said he hoped the prime minister would respond to the summons from Milan prosecutors as soon as possible.

“It is hoped that the conclusions of the investigations will be responded to at the foreseen judicial offices as soon as possible,” he said in a statement.

Italian media have been carrying transcripts of leaked phone conversations between some of the women who allegedly attended parties at Mr Berlusconi’s villa near Milan.

Karima El Mahroug denies having sex with Mr Berlusconi

The transcripts are taken from a 385-page dossier detailing the investigation into the 74-year-old billionaire, Reuters news agency reports.

The Milan inquiry focuses on Karima El Mahroug, an 18-year-old Moroccan belly-dancer who attended Mr Berlusconi’s parties when she was 17 and, prosecutors say, was paid to have sex with him.

Having sex with a prostitute aged under 18 is an offence in Italy.

Ms Mahroung, better known to the Italian media by her stage name Ruby, has denied having sex with the prime minister.

Transcripts leaked to Italian media quoted her as saying she had asked Mr Berlusconi for hush money and had been told by the prime minister she would receive “as much money as you want” if she kept quiet.

According to a tapped conversation between two other women which was quoted by Italy’s Ansa news agency, one allegedly said to the other: “The papers say much less than the truth, even when they massacre him [Berlusconi].”

The woman added: “Either you’re up for everything or else you can get a taxi and leave.”

Dario Francheschini, parliamentary leader of the Democratic Party, told parliament on Tuesday: “If the prime minister has a crumb of dignity he should resign and go before investigators to face the infamous charges.”

Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, said “the mere idea that a man who sits atop Italian institutions is implicated in stories of prostitution – worse yet, prostitution of a minor – is hurtful and upsetting”.

The Vatican has not commented on the “Rubygate” affair but Mr Berlusconi’s centre-right government is sensitive to losing Catholic support.

“If the Vatican… should ditch us, it would all be over,” a source close to the prime minister was quoted by Ansa as saying.

Nicole Minetti is accused of recruiting young women for the prime minister

Prosecutors have asked parliament for permission to search properties linked to Mr Berlusconi.

They say that Nicole Minetti, a Lombardy regional official who was formerly Mr Berlusconi’s dental hygienist, recruited “a significant number of young women, who prostituted themselves with Silvio Berlusconi”.

Ms Minetti, who is also under investigation, denies the accusations.

The prime minister has accused the prosecutors of waging “political battles” and “illegitimately using their powers” to try to bring him down.

But Chief Prosecutor Edmondo Bruti Liberati responded by saying the investigation had been “obligatory” because of incriminating evidence taken last year, including Ms Mahroug’s phone records.

Mr Berlusconi sought to make light of the investigation on Tuesday.

“What, are you all mad?” he replied when asked if he would bow to calls from the opposition for his resignation.

“I’m absolutely calm, I’m enjoying myself,” Mr Berlusconi added.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Conor Murphy is appearing before the committee for the first time since the water crisis

The Regional Development Minister Conor Murphy is due to appear before the Stormont committee responsible for scrutinising his department.

The minister is expected to face questioning over his department’s handling of the recent water crisis.

More than 40,000 homes were off mains supply after an unprecedented period of cold weather.

Mr Murphy’s appearance also follows a draft report which was critical of his department over NI Water’s governance.

The report, commissioned by the Public Accounts Committee, described the department’s arrangements for overseeing NI Water as “the worst of all possible worlds.”

The review was prompted after another report found that millions of pounds of contracts were being awarded without proper competitive tendering.

The PAC probe has criticised DRD’s overall handling of NI Water, hitting out at how its governance arrangements were designed for a commercial company despite it effectively remaining in public hands.

It says the oversight of NIW, established in 2007, was looser than it was for other non-departmental public bodies.

Controversies

It is the latest in a string of controversies to hit NI Water.

Its chief executive Laurence MacKenzie resigned in the wake of the water crisis, with many people critical of the government-owned company’s failure to come to the aid of those in need.

A two-strand review which will examine the role of NI Water and the department separately is expected to be finished at the end of February.

The committee is likely to also quiz the minister on the draft PAC report which was leaked to the media on Tuesday evening.

On procurement procedure, the review says the “inexcusable” mistakes were part of a “deeply embedded culture” and called for root and branch reform of policy.

A previous review into procurement, which led to the sacking of NIW four directors, was curtailed by Mr Priestly too quickly, the PAC found.

It added that all those who were on the independent review team had potential conflicts of interest.

‘Utterly disgraceful’

It criticised evidence given to it by Mr Priestly, and said it was “utterly disgraceful” that he drafted a letter of complaint to it on behalf of one of the review team.

Mr MacKenzie’s evidence to the committee was also criticised.

Both NI Water and the Department of Regional Development said they would not comment on a leaked draft report.

The chairman of the PAC, Sinn Fein MLA Paul Maskey, said that he was disappointed the draft had been leaked and he would seek to get to the bottom of how it happened.

SDLP member of Stormont’s regional development committee Conall McDevitt said that the report raised “serious questions” and that Regional Development Minister Conor Murphy was responsible for the alleged failings detailed.

He added: “The only senior figure who has been in a leadership position throughout the period covered by the report is Conor Murphy.

“The buck stops at his desk. He is the head of the Department for Regional Development which has now been found to have fallen below the standard of good government.”

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Kurt Westergaard locked himself in a panic room and was unharmed in the attack

A Somali man has denied trying to murder Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, who was behind caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.

Prosecutors say Mohamed Geele, 29, broke into Mr Westergaard’s home carrying an axe.

Mr Geele admitted breaking in with an illegal weapon when he appeared in court in Aarhus on Wednesday.

But he denied charges of attempted murder and terrorism.

Kurt Westergaard’s cartoon of a turban bomb was one of 12 published in a Danish newspaper in 2005 that prompted protests among Muslims around the world.

Mr Westergaard first went into hiding but then decided to live openly in a heavily fortified house.

On New Year’s Day in 2010, he said his front door was broken down by an attacker while he was in the house with his five-year-old grand-daughter.

He rushed into a panic room and called the police who arrived minutes later and shot and wounded a man.

The cartoons still appear to be a source of anger. Last month Danish police arrested five suspected militants for planning an alleged attack on the newspaper that originally published them, Jyllands-Posten.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Eleventh seed Justine Henin ends Britain’s Elena Baltacha’s Australian Open campaign with a 6-1 6-3 second-round victory in Melbourne.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.