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The Queen cancels this year’s Christmas party for her staff because of the “difficult financial circumstances” facing the country.
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Investigators blame mechanical failure for a passenger ferry striking a pier on the Kintyre Peninsula.
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West Ham midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger will be sidelined for four months because of a thigh injury.
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Huge crowds came out to welcome the Iranian leader to Beirut Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is due to make a visit to southern Lebanon, close to the Israeli border.
He is on the second day of a state visit that has been called provocative by Israel, the US and some Lebanese.
On Wednesday, Mr Ahmadinejad was greeted by large crowds and attended a rally organised by Hezbollah.
He praised Lebanon for “resistance to the world’s tyrants”. But he also said Iran supported a strong, unified Lebanon.
Iran contributed heavily to the cost of rebuilding villages destroyed in the south during the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.
The border area between Lebanon and Israel is rarely without tension. In August, two Lebanese soldiers, a Lebanese journalist and a senior Israeli army officer were killed in a clash sparked by the trimming of a tree on the Israeli side of the frontier.
Mr Ahmadinejad’s motorcade was showered with rice and flowers on its way from Beirut airport to the presidential palace on Wednesday.
The next stage of the Iranian leader’s controversial visit is to Hezbollah strongholds in southern Lebanon – an act described by Israel as a commander reviewing his troops and the transformation of Lebanon into an Iranian protectorate.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was earlier among friends at the huge rally of flag-waving Hezbollah supporters in Beirut’s southern suburbs – listening to patriotic music praising the Shia movement’s clashes over the years with its avowed enemy – Israel.
He had basked in similar scenes of adulation as he arrived at Beirut airport on this state visit – his image and that of Iranian religious leaders flanking the road to the city centre. But many inside Lebanon and outside see this trip as nothing short of inflammatory – upsetting Lebanon’s fragile political system and provoking another conflict with Israel. Calls from some to calm the rhetoric fell on deaf ears as Mr Ahmadinejad and Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah – appearing via video link for security reasons – addressed the crowd.
“We support a strong and unified Lebanon. We will always back the Lebanese government and its nation,” he said, standing beside President Michel Suleiman.
But he said Iran stood ready to help Beirut confront any Israeli aggression.
“We will surely help the Lebanese nation against animosities, mainly staged by the Zionist regime,” he said, in reference to Israel.
Many Lebanese are alarmed at the visit, as Iran backs Hezbollah, the powerful Shia Islamist group whose war with Israel left 1,200 Lebanese and 160 Israelis dead.
Speaking during a visit to Kosovo, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington rejected any efforts “to destabilise or inflame tensions” in Lebanon.
“We would hope that no visitor would do anything or say anything that would give cause to greater tension or instability in that country,” she said.
Members of Lebanon’s Western-backed parliamentary majority have called the visit a provocation, saying Mr Ahmadinejad was seeking to transform Lebanon into “an Iranian base on the Mediterranean”.
Israel accuses Iran of supplying Hezbollah with weapons, but officials close to the group stress instead the Islamic Republic’s support for reconstruction.
They say they have spent about $1bn (£0.6bn) of Iranian money since 2006 on aid and rebuilding.
“Ahmadinejad has done a lot for Lebanon, we are here to thank him,” 18-year-old engineering student Fatima Mazeh told the Associated Press.
“He’s not controlling Lebanon. Everyone has a mind and can think for himself. We are here to stand with him during the hardest times.”
But elsewhere in the country, Hezbollah and its patron are viewed with suspicion by some.
“I am disgusted by this visit,” Mona, a 23-year-old Christian, told the AFP news agency. “They refer to [Ahmadinejad] as a saviour, but all he has brought us is trouble.”
The state visit also comes amid tension over a UN inquiry into the 2005 assassination of the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
The UN tribunal is believed to be close to issuing indictments, including ones naming members of Hezbollah. Prime Minister Saad Hariri is under pressure from Hezbollah and Syria to denounce the inquiry into his father’s death.
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Saina Nehwal’s badminton victory hands India second place in the medals table at England’s expense as the Commonwealth Games end, with Scotland 10th, Northern Ireland 13th and Wales 15th.
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George Clooney, a UN messenger of peace, has just returned from Sudan
US actor George Clooney has called for the freezing of assets held by Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir.
The Sudanese leader is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Darfur – charges he denies.
Mr Clooney told the BBC that freezing his bank accounts would be a good way of putting pressure on Khartoum.
The Hollywood star has just returned from Sudan in his role as a UN messenger of peace ahead of January’s referendum on secession for the south.
The vote was part of a 2005 peace deal to end the two-decade north-south civil war – separate from the ongoing conflict in Darfur in the west of Sudan.
There has been growing international concern that the referendum could be delayed, sparking renewed violence.
The aim of Mr Clooney’s trip was to push the US government to take measures to prevent a new cycle of violence in Sudan.
After meeting US President Barack Obama this week on his return from Sudan, Mr Clooney said the international community had been inconsistent in its dealings with the Sudanese leadership.
“Real diplomacy, robust real diplomacy means you get the British, the French, everybody together,” he told BBC Arabic.
He also said other Arab states should get more involved.
“It would be nice to have as much involvement as we could from an Arab state. It would make a very big difference in the negotiating and Egypt is certainly a huge player in this.”
“Bashir isn’t saving his money in Sudanese pounds you know”
George Clooney US actor
Mr Clooney, who spent several years trying to raise awareness on the situation in Darfur, urged all countries to close ranks.
“Bashir isn’t saving his money in Sudanese pounds, you know. They are in euros or they are in English pounds or they are in dollars. They are somewhere,” he said.
“We should be freezing those assets, if you really want to deal with it, if you really want to put pressure on them.”
An estimated 1.5 million people died in the civil war between the mainly Muslim north and Christian and Animist south.
The UN estimates the six-year conflict in Darfur has cost the lives of 300,000 people and driven a further 2.7m from their homes.
The government puts the death toll at 10,000 and has said the problems in Darfur have been exaggerated for political reasons.
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The investigation has been a long-running affair The Office of Fair Trading will rule later on its reopened investigation into so-called “beer ties” between pub companies and their tenant landlords.
It follows after the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) asked the OFT to study if the arrangement hurt landlords who had to buy their beer from the pub owners.
The OFT initially ruled in October last year that there was no evidence the arrangement damaged competition.
Yet it reopened the investigation in February after Camra lodged an appeal.
Camra did this by taking the case to the Competition Appeal Tribunal. The beer pressure group then put its application to the tribunal on hold when the OFT said it would look again at the matter.
The OFT said in February that it would reopen its investigations to focus on whether effective competition in the pub industry was delivering choice and value for customers.
The big pub companies have always denied any wrongdoing.
Since Camra first went to the OFT in July of last year, pub industry body British Beer and Pub Association has brought in a new code of practice that sets out information that must be given to prospective pub tenants by breweries.
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Loans were made to local authority finance vehicles to help stimulate the economy More than one quarter of loans to Chinese local government are at risk of default, according to a report.
About two trillion yuan ($300bn; £187bn), or 26% of the 7.66tn in loans to local authority financing vehicles, is at risk says state media.
The figures, published in the official China Securities Journal (CSJ), were slightly higher than prior estimates which put 23% of these loans at risk.
In 2009, banks lent heavily to regional financing vehicles for construction.
It came after Beijing called for nationwide efforts to boost the economy.
But the government has now promised deal with the chaos left by that surge of stimulus spending, introduced last year to counter the global financial crisis.
Local governments are banned from borrowing, so to get round this thousands of hybrid local government-company bodies were founded.
These financing vehicles were able to contravene the regulations and used the funding they obtained for infrastructure projects.
‘Serious risk’
However, the CSJ, citing a government investigation, says adequate repayments are being made on only 24% of the debt owed by these local government financing vehicles.
And about half of the total loans went to projects run by local authority investment vehicles that are now unable to fully meet their repayments.
These must now be covered by the local governments or with collateral.
And the final 26% of cash may never be repaid.
This is where money went to projects that failed to meet official regulations, faced “serious default risk”, or was embezzled, the CSJ report said.
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Tourists have not been able to get into the monuments at the Acropolis Greek police have fired tear gas and charged at workers who had occupied the Acropolis in Athens in a protest over unpaid wages and lay-offs.
TV images showed police chasing the culture ministry workers around the ancient monument.
Dozens of workers had shut down the Acropolis on Wednesday morning, demanding two years of back pay.
They had barricaded themselves inside, padlocked the entrance gates and refused to allow in tourists.
The protesters said they intended to blockade the Acropolis, Greece’s most famous tourist attraction, until 31 October.
Greece has seen waves of strikes and protests over austerity measures agreed by the government to in order to secure a huge bail-out from eurozone countries.
As well as the back-pay issue, the workers are angry that about 320 temporary staff will lose their jobs when their contracts expire at the end of the month.
One of the striking workers, Nikos Hasomeris, had earlier warned the authorities not to attempt to break the blockade by force.
“All our colleagues stand beside us, so the monument will not operate today no matter what happens,” he told Greek TV in comments carried by the AFP news agency .
But police in riot gear arrived on Thursday morning after a court order said the protesters were hindering access to an ancient site.
TV footage showed the police entering the site using a side entrance.
They used tear gas to clear protesters and a group of journalists who had gathered at the main gate.
The Associated Press reported that dozens of bemused tourists hoping to visit ancient site watched the police operation unfold, some of them taking pictures of the officers.
“We know the workers have a right to protest, but it is not fair that people who come from all over the world to see the Acropolis should be prevented from getting in,” Spanish tourist Ainhoa Garcia told AP.
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Bird’s home now has a guide price of between £30,000 and £40,000 Only a “handful” of people have shown an interest in buying the home of Cumbria gunman Derrick Bird, prompting auctioneers to drop its guide price.
The taxi driver killed 12 people and wounded 11 others in west Cumbria on 2 June before shooting himself.
His home in the village of Rowrah is going under the hammer at Carlisle Racecourse later.
Initially, the guide price was listed as between £35,000 and £45,000, but this has now been lowered by £5,000.
Colin West, from Auction House Cumbria, said that due to its “associated history” it was hard to put a price on the property and described the sale as “difficult”.
“It has to be handled professionally and sensitively,” he said.
“We are part of the community as well as a business and the staff know some of the bereaved and injured as well as the Bird family.
“My advice was that the swiftest way to bring it to a conclusion was to put it [the property] in an auction.
“There has not been a great deal of interest, only a handful of viewings.”
The mid-terraced property, described as being “in need of modernisation”, is now listed as between £30,000 and £40,000.
Similar houses in the village are on sale at about £70,000.
Mr West added: “We hope a home owner will buy it, improve it, put their own stamp on it and turn it back into a home.
“But my feeling is that the buyer will be an out-of-town investor.”
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A number of families had to spend the night in Ligoniel Community Centre A security alert which caused families to spend the night in a community centre in north Belfast is over.
The army investigated a suspicious car found at Weavershill Court at about 2300 BST on Wednesday. There were at least two controlled explosions on it.
Eighty homes have been evacuated and two ambulances assisted elderly residents. Ligoniel community centre was opened to accommodate people.
The Ligoniel Road has now reopened, but an inner cordon remains around the car.
St Vincent de Paul Primary School has been closed.
Bernie Kelly from the Belfast Trust emergency response team said she was contacted about the incident just before midnight.
“It’s been a long night for the families, they have been very good about it.
“It’s not very nice to have to leave your home in the middle of the night.
“This is following a pattern recently and people across the city have been in the same position.”
Ms Kelly said so far there has been at least one controlled explosion.
“The police can’t give us an estimation of when we can go back in, so we have no idea.”
Carmel Brown lives nearby and has spent the night in Ligoniel community centre.
“We got the call at about 0140 there was a policeman at the door who said there might be a bomb in a car
Roads have been closed due to the alert “I think its awful – my children were hysterical, but the people in the community centre have been great.”
Kathleen Kelly also had to leave her family home.
“I am absolutely disgusted this has happened, we have people here who are disabled, sick and need to get their medication and get them back home
“The people who have done this have disrupted the whole community. We don’t know how long we were going to be here.”
The MP for the area, Nigel Dodds, said it was “deeply regrettable that so many people have been put out of their homes in this way.”
St Patrick’s College Ligoniel school remains open and the headmaster said he “would like pupils to still come to school even if they are late”.
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The US dollar has reached another fresh 15-year low against the Japanese yen at the end of trading in Tokyo.
The dollar was worth as little as 81.12 yen at one stage, just above the post World War II low of 79.75 yen.
The dollar’s continued fall reflects speculation that the US Federal Reserve will expand its quantitative easing programme.
But Japan’s central bankers have also repeatedly threatened further action to curb the recent rises in the yen.
A strong yen is hurting Japanese export companies, which are relied upon to spearhead a recovery in Japan’s struggling economy.
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A total of 73 people have charged in connection with the allegedly massive fraud US officials have charged 73 people over what is thought to be the largest ever attempt to defraud the country’s medical insurance system.
Prosecutors say a network of Armenian gangsters and their associates set up fake clinics using stolen identities to make false claims for treatment.
Investigators said more than $35m (£22m) was paid out.
A US Attorney said the scheme’s scope and sophistication put the traditional mafia to shame.
The group, most of whom are of Armenian origin, are accused of setting up some 118 clinics across the US, most of which existed only on paper or were “nothing more than shams, shells, and storefronts”, said US Attorney Preet Bharar.
They allegedly stole the identities of real doctors and beneficiaries of Medicare – the US federal insurance programme for the elderly – and “submitted bill after bill for treatment that no doctor ever performed and that no patient ever received,” he added.
In addition, the gang were accused of carrying out “a raft of rackets, extortion, credit card fraud, identity theft, immigration fraud, and even the distribution of contraband cigarettes and stolen Viagra”.
“This emerging international organised crime syndicate would be the envy of any traditional mafia family”
Preet Bharar US Attorney
Investigations began after the personal details of 2,900 Medicare patients in New York were reported stolen, the Associated Press news agency reports.
Much of the paperwork involved also raised suspicion by showing inconsistences such as doctors specialising in dermatology giving heart examinations and ear, nose and throat specialists performing pregnancy ultrasounds, said AP.
Most of the accused were arrested during raids in New York City and Los Angeles on Wednesday morning, but there also were arrests in New Mexico, Georgia and Ohio. The 73 people charged are accused of racketeering and related offences.
Officials say some of the proceeds from the operation were couriered back to Armenia in cash.
The alleged leader of the gang, Armen Kazarian, is now in jail in Los Angeles. He was described by officials as equivalent to a mafia godfather.
“When it comes to making money illegally, this Armenian-American group puts the traditional mafia to shame,” said Mr Bharar.
“The reach of this organisation stretches clear across the country and well beyond our shores.
“So in terms of profitability, geographic scope, and sheer ambition, this emerging international organised crime syndicate would be the envy of any traditional mafia family,” he said.
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Garfield (centre) was recently cast as the new Spider-Man British actresses Keira Knightley and Carey Mulligan have helped launch this year’s London Film Festival with the European premiere of their latest film.
The pair joined co-star Andrew Garfield on the red carpet at a gala screening of dystopian drama Never Let Me Go.
“It means a huge amount to all of us that we are opening the festival,” said Knightley, who previously worked with Mulligan on 2005’s Pride and Prejudice.
The 54th BFI London Film Festival runs until 28 October.
Based on Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel, Never Let Me Go tells of friends who grow up at boarding school, unaware of a dark secret that looms over their future.
Directed by US film-maker Mark Romanek, it will be released in the UK in January.
X-Files star Anderson was among the other guests at the premiere Knightley, 25, described the chance to work with “close mate” Mulligan, also 25, as “a wonderful opportunity”.
The Pirates of the Caribbean star said she was “excited” to be launching the festival, despite it being “freezing” in London’s Leicester Square.
“Keira and I have been friends for a long time,” said Mulligan, Oscar-nominated earlier this year for her role in An Education.
“It’s always nice to do a film where you’ve got a young cast.”
“It’s very rare that you find a script that is so full of what it is to be alive – to be human and the struggles that we collectively go through,” said Garfield.
“There are terrible scripts, there are good scripts, and then there are scripts and stories like this one.”
Recently cast as the new Spider-Man, the 27-year-old can be seen in cinemas this week in The Social Network, a film about the creation of Facebook.
X-Files star Gillian Anderson, actor Sir Ben Kingsley and novelist Salman Rushdie were among the other guests at Wednesday’s launch.
The London Film Festival continues on Thursday with screenings of Let Me In, a US remake of Swedish vampire thriller Let the Right One In.
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TI is due in court on Friday for a parole hearing US rapper TI helped to talk a suicidal man down from the top of a 22-storey building in Atlanta, Georgia.
Police say TI joined an assembled crowd of people below the skyscraper before asking officers if he could help.
The man agreed to come down in exchange for a few minutes with the rapper, police said.
“I told him it ain’t that bad. It’ll get better, to put the time and effort into making it better,” said TI, whose real name is Clifford Harris.
“It looks bad right now but it can turn around”
Rapper TI’s advice to the man
He told the Associated Press news agency the man seemed “beat up by life”.
“I just reminded him, know that I know. It looks bad right now but it can turn around.”
TI said he drove to the building after hearing about the incident on the radio.
The musician recorded a video of himself on a mobile phone which was shown to the man to prove that he was really there.
The man, who has not been named, was later taken to hospital.
TI is due in court on Friday for a parole hearing after he was arrested last month on suspicion of possessing ecstasy.
He is on probation following his release from prison in December after serving several months for possessing illegal weapons.
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