Flooding Fund: £2.3bn To Protect 300,000 Homes

Phillip Hughes: Funeral Held For Cricket Star

Written By Unknown on Rabu, 03 Desember 2014 | 18.25

A funeral service for Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes has taken place in his hometown of Macksville, New South Wales.

The 25-year-old batsman died in hospital in Sydney last week after he was hit on the back of the neck by a cricket ball during New South Wales' first-class match against South Australia.

He had scored 63 runs when he was hit by a short ball from bowler Sean Abbott and was wearing a helmet at the time.

Around 1,000 people, mostly locals, packed into his former Macksville High School for the service, with hundreds more watching on big screens outside.

The service was also broadcast live on national television and on big screens in Australia's major cities, including at the Sydney Cricket Ground where Hughes was fatally injured.

It began with the song Forever Young, and lasted around 75 minutes before finishing with Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me.

Hughes' siblings, Jason and Megan, paid tribute to their brother during the service on behalf of the family along with his cousin Nino Ramunno.

Megan said: "I'm sorry you cannot be here with us any longer, but I promise that all the dreams and thoughts we had about the future I will continue in your honour.

"There won't be a day that goes by that I won't think of you, I promise I will talk to you every day and keep you company up there."

An emotional Australian captain Michael Clarke struggled as he addressed the service.

He said: "He left a mark on our game that needs no embellishment. I don't know about you but I keep looking for him.

"Is this what we call the spirit? If so, then his spirit is still with me and I hope it never leaves.

"We must dig in... we must dig in and get through to tea. And we must play on. So rest in peace my little brother, I'll see you out in the middle."

The mourners included Prime Minister Tony Abbott, the Australia cricket team and Sean Abbott.

Former Australian players Shane Warne, Ricky Ponting, Glenn McGrath and the Waugh brothers all attended, alongside Richard Hadlee, Brian Lara and India batsman Virat Kohli.

Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland also addressed mourners. He said: "Cricket's heart has been pierced with pain, but it will never stop beating. Phillip Hughes... forever unconquered on 63."

Clarke acted as a pallbearer for his close friend following the service as a funeral procession made its way along the main street in the town.

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Gallery: Australia Says Goodbye To Batsman Phillip Hughes

The order of service for the funeral of Australia cricketer Phillip Hughes, who died on 27 November after being struck by a bouncer during a game

Australian captain Michael Clarke arrives for the funeral with his wife Kyly

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Osborne To Admit Missing Borrowing Target

By Darren McCaffrey, Sky Political Reporter

Around a billion pounds of investment for small and medium sized businesses, relief on petrol prices and changes to business rates to help the High Street are among measures to be announced later in the Autumn Statement.

Plans to make stamp duty more progressive, easing the bill for people buying at the bottom end of the market but with possible heavier charges on more expensive homes, could also be unveiled by George Osborne later in what has been described as the "Government's last big economic event".

The Chancellor will say: "Our long-term economic plan is working. I say: we stay the course. We stay the course to prosperity.

"We support people who want to work hard and get on. And it is for their sakes that we resolve to stay on course to prosperity."

But Labour will accuse him of breaking his promises on the economy, claiming his missed pledge to balance the books and policies favouring the rich have left working people £1,600-a-year worse off under the Coalition.

The Treasury and the Bank of England have agreed to extend the Funding For Lending (FLS) scheme by another year to January 2016 - underwriting loans specifically for smaller firms.

Mr Osborne is also allocating an extra £400m to expand the state-owned British Business Bank's venture capital programme.

And it will be handed funding to guarantee up to £500m of new lending in 2015-16.

The Chancellor is also expected to scrap the Fair Fuel Stabiliser, which would have seen petrol prices increase by 1p next March.

Air Passenger Duty on children's flights is also due to be abolished, which could reduce the cost of long haul flights by hundreds of pounds for families.

And there could be help for the High Street, with a review of business rates and how it is calculated due to be completed by early 2016. Rising rates have in part been blamed for hitting traditional town centre shops.

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Gallery: See How The UK's Economy Is Doing

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Search For Missing Mother And Baby In Bristol

Police are urgently hunting for a mother and her newborn baby daughter who have gone missing from a maternity hospital.

Charlotte Bevan left Bristol Maternity Hospital between 8.30pm and 9pm last night with her four-day-old baby girl, Zarnee Teanna.

The 30-year-old did not have a coat or shoes, and is believed to have been wearing hospital slippers.

Her baby was wrapped only in blankets.

A friend has described her disappearance as "out of character". Writing on Avon and Somerset Police's Facebook page, Isaac Jack McCardle described searching for them in the night.

"I know her and her partner. This is out of character," he wrote.

"I was out on the streets with a friend for over three hours and searched almost every road, park, alleyway etc in the area as well as high streets and found nothing."

He added: "I really hope they are both safe and are all reunited soon. I do feel out of respect people should stop jumping to conclusions. They are a happy couple."

On her Facebook profile Ms Bevan describes herself as a "free spirit".

It says: "i am free open minded individual i love music, art, dancing and making clothes. I'm a free spirit open minded and individual I appriciate (sic) people for who they are kind or nasty they all need love."

The baby's father, Pascal Malbrouck, has written on Facebook: "My daughter has gone missing with her mum Charlotte Bevan please if any one has got any info or has seen her please contact me."

Ms Bevan is described as white, around 5ft 8in tall and of average build with dark wavy hair.

An Avon and Somerset Police spokesman has appealed for anyone who sees them to call 999 immediately.

"We are concerned for both Charlotte's welfare and that of her baby, and are urging Charlotte to let us know that she and her baby are alright," the spokesman said.

"Officers have been searching the city centre throughout the night and appeals have been put out to bus drivers and taxi drivers and those travelling into work on early shifts this morning to lookout for Charlotte and her daughter."

It is believed Ms Bevan was wearing a long black top and black trousers when she disappeared from the hospital on Southwell Street.

The spokesman added Ms Bevan "may appear confused and worried".

"Her baby is inappropriately wrapped for the cold weather in blue and white striped and coloured blankets," he said.

Police have confirmed they have received several reports of sightings of Ms Bevan, including around the hospital, where an area has been cordoned off.

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Islamic State Leader's Wife Held, Reports Say

Written By Unknown on Selasa, 02 Desember 2014 | 18.25

The wife of the Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi and one of his children have been arrested at the Syrian border, according to Lebanese officials.

They were detained by Lebanese troops in co-ordination with "foreign intelligence apparatus" about 10 days ago, according to local media.

His wife is said to have been travelling with a fake passport and is being questioned at the headquarters of the Lebanese defence ministry.

Her name was not released but she is understood to be a Syrian citizen. Islamist social media websites have previously reported that Baghdadi is married but it is unclear whether he has more than one wife.

The country's security forces have launched a crackdown on IS sympathisers in Lebanon and the intelligence services have been extra vigilant at border crossings.

Over the past few months they have arrested a number of Islamic militants suspected of staging attacks to expand IS in the country neighbouring Syria.

Since taking the reins of the terror group in 2010, Baghdadi has transformed it from a local branch of al Qaeda into an independent transnational military force.

He has succeeded in exploiting the turmoil in Syria and Iraq's weak central authority after the US military withdrawal to seize control of vast areas of land.

In doing so he has positioned himself as a leading figure in the global jihadi community.

Baghdadi, who has a $10m (£5.9m) US bounty on his head, has called for "volcanoes of jihad" around the world.

According to the reward notice, he was born in the Iraqi town of Samarra in 1971.

A US-led coalition has been seeking to roll back IS territorial gains in Iraq and Syria by launching airstrikes.

President Barack Obama has pledged to "degrade and ultimately destroy" the group.

The strikes are part of an effort to give Iraqi forces the time and space to mount a more effective offensive.

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Heroin Misery Of The Trainspotting Generation

By Nick Martin, Sky News Correspondent

The number of adults seeking treatment for heroin and crack cocaine addiction in England has more than doubled in 10 years, new figures have revealed.

While the total number of heroin and crack cocaine addicts has fallen below 300,000 for the first time since estimates began, there is a generation still hooked - the so-called Trainspotting Generation.

The disaffected, heroin-addicted young people immortalised in Irvine Welsh's bestselling novel are getting older.

More than a third of the total population of adults in treatment centres are aged 40 or over, according to Public Health England.

Many started using heroin in the epidemics of the 1980s and 1990s when good-quality, cheap opiate flooded the inner cities.

But as they enter old age there are warnings that dwindling health and dependence on heroin could place an increased burden on the National Health Service.

Meanwhile, new figures show the number of heroin-related deaths in England have risen sharply.

The number of people dying through heroin and morphine abuse increased by a around a third (32%) between 2012 and 13 from 579 to 765.

And the number of people admitted to hospital with drug poising has soared by 76% over the last decade.

On the ageing generation of addicts, Louise Ford, deputy manager at the Smithfield Detox Centre in Manchester, told Sky News: "For many people of this age group there is a sense of 'now or never' in finally getting the treatment they need.

"For the over-40s it could be redundancy, bereavement or failing health that finally prompts them to come in for help. The treatment is not easy and many relapse."

For those who have not sought treatment, life is a cycle of "scoring" heroin and finding the money to pay for it.

Homeless Paul, 42, has been taking heroin since he was 17-years-old.

His partner Jill, 39, was introduced to the drug at the age of 14. They take heroin in the back streets of Manchester's city centre.

He said: "I had a good life, what you'd call an average life, a car, a flat. I got laid off last year. I had never been out of work before.

"Now I wake up, go and score, go and take it, go and find a pitch and start raising money again to score again and that goes on and on.

"If I don't get help now I'll still be doing this into my 50s and 60s and I don't want that. Heroin just makes you feel bad when you don't have it. It doesn't make you feel good anymore."

But there is hope in the form of recovered addicts like Steve Cundell, who first dabbled in heroin so that he could come down from ecstasy fuelled raves in the 1980s.

He went from experimenting to dealing in a matter of weeks.

He said: "I thought it wouldn't grip me but it did and very, very fast.

"I decided the best way to get my supply was to start dealing in it. My every waking hour was consumed by heroin.

"It used to play on my mind so much that I was getting older and older and I had not achieved anything - that I was going to wake up one day 65 or 70-years-old still on heroin."

Mr Cundell is now a peer mentor on a rehabilitation course run by Turning Point and tries to help others.

He added: "I like to think I have something to give back and it helps my recovery - because I'm not out of the woods yet."

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Flooding Fund: Â£2.3bn To Protect 300,000 Homes

Flooding Fund: £2.3bn To Protect 300,000 Homes

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More than 1,400 projects will receive a share of £2.3bn to protect against flooding for 300,000 homes.

But environmental group Friends of the Earth has suggested that figure is not high enough and there is still a £500m shortfall in the flood defences budget in the next parliament.

The spending includes major investment in areas including the Humber Estuary, with £80m set to be spent, and £196m for the Thames Estuary.

Ministers will also commit to spending £15.5m on flood defences in Somerset in the next six years - including £4.2m on the Somerset Levels which were hit badly by flooding last winter.

The Government has come under fire over funding for flood defences.

Danny Alexander, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said: "We all saw the destruction and heartache caused by flooding last year and that is why this investment is vital to build up Britain's defences for the future.

"The projects we are announcing today will protect some of the country's most at risk locations ensuring that we will be as prepared as possible for future severe weather."

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Gallery: Somerset Flooding - Before & After

Before: a farm in West Yeo, near Bridgewater on the Somerset Levels. Pic: Bing maps

After: The flooded farmland in West Yeo

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Before: The village of Moorland near Bridgewater on the Somerset Levels. Pic: Bing maps

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After: Flooded properties in Moorland

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Before: Walton-On-Thames, Surrey

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But he admitted it was not new money, telling Sky News: "This is an Autumn Statement that's not a giveaway, where everything that we are doing is paid for.

"These capital allocations on the flood defences the roads...we set that out last year and that's a choice we have made within the amount of money we have available."

Officials said the six-year programme, announced ahead of the Autumn Statement on Wednesday, would help prevent more than £30bn of economic damage.

Other projects which stand to benefit include more than £17m going to Tonbridge, Yalding and surrounding communities in Kent; £73m for a barrier at Boston, Lincolnshire; £42m for the Oxford western conveyance scheme and £47m for coastal defences in Rossall, Lancashire.

Friends of the Earth (FOE) said documents from regional flood and coastal committees showed there were £1.6bn of viable projects that were not getting the go-ahead.

FOE Campaigner Guy Shrubsole said: "A year after Britain's wettest winter ever, the Chancellor's leaked flood defence plans simply don't hold water.

"Faced with rising sea levels, the Government needs to be investing far more in flood defences to protect households and prevent climate change from the outset."

Shadow environment secretary Maria Eagle said: "Communities at risk of flooding won't buy Government spin on what is simply a re-announcement of capital funding confirmed a year ago.

"This is not new money - at the beginning of this Parliament David Cameron cut the flood protection budget by over £100m a year. As a result we are playing catch up on flood defences."

:: Watch Sky News for the Chancellor's Autumn Statement live on Wednesday, 3 December, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 132 and Freesat channel 202.

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Written By Unknown on Senin, 01 Desember 2014 | 18.25

Britain is slowly getting back on its feet, but the recovery is still doing little to heal the public finances.

In the space of a year, the jobless rate in the UK has reduced rapidly, from 7.6% a year ago, to just 6% now.

Unemployment is back to pre-crisis levels and more people in work should mean more taxes and national insurance flowing to the Exchequer.

The Chancellor had certainly been counting on that cash to reduce shortfall between its resources, and its spending commitments.

Even the Government's accountants had predicted a 7% rise in income tax receipts for this year.

Yet the current tally shows they are only up about 0.4%.

Still, the tax year isn't over yet and the Office For Budget Responsibility expects tax receipts to be what they call "end-loaded" in 2014-15.

That is partly due to the shifting tax band brackets and a glut of self-assessment payments they expect to pour in after the deadline in January.

However, over the past year alone, factors such as weaker-than-expected wage growth, lower-than-expected residential property transactions and lower oil and gas revenues make it unlikely that either the Chancellor's or his accountants' expectations will be met.

Especially if you then factor in the lasting effects of the past six years.

Over the course of the financial crisis many highly paid jobs, like banking, have been lost and not yet replaced.

Meanwhile, the newly created jobs have been low paid and more workers are classed as "self-employed" - with both these groups paying less tax.

You will have noticed your tax free allowance has risen - to £10,500.

And with wage growth virtually stagnant, fewer workers are moving into higher tax brackets.

That all eats into the Chancellor's take.

This leaves the Treasury with far less revenue than predicted - and forced to make cuts and borrow more.

That's just what we expect George Osborne to do in the Autumn Statement on 3 December.

:: Watch Sky News for the Chancellor's Autumn Statement live on Wednesday, 3 December, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 132 and Freesat channel 202.

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England's Road Network To Get Â£15bn Investment

More than 80 new road schemes have been unveiled as part of a £15bn Government drive on English motorway and trunk routes in the next five years.

The schemes include a tunnel at the notorious bottleneck on the A303 at Stonehenge, as well as £1.5bn on extra lanes on some motorways.

Improvements to M25 junctions, the A27 in Sussex, approaches to Liverpool and the A1 in the North East are also part of the Road Investment Strategy, which was revealed ahead of the Autumn Statement on Wednesday.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said the schemes were "the biggest, boldest and most far-reaching roads programme for decades".

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Gallery: Road Map: Project Locations

Some 84 new road projects have been revealed. Blue arrows indicate motorways, yellow show A-roads. Pic: Department of Transport

A map showing some of the main routes that will be improved

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The projects include:

:: South West - £2bn dual carriageway for entire A303 and A358, including a tunnel at Stonehenge.

:: North East - £290m dual carriageway on A1 to Ellingham.

:: North West and Yorkshire - M62 from Manchester to Leeds will have lanes increased, and increased capacity on trans-Pennine routes between Manchester and Sheffield.

:: North West - links to Port of Liverpool improved.

:: South East - £350m improvement to A27 to tackle congestion at Arundel, Worthing and Lewes.

:: East - £300m to put in dual carriageway sections on A47 and improved connections to A1 and A11.

:: London and South East - A third of junctions on M25 to be improved.

:: Midlands - Improvements to M42 east of Birmingham, and improved connections to Birmingham airport, National Exhibition Centre, Enterprise Zone and High Speed 2 interchange station.

There would also be £100m of funding to improve cycling provision at 200 key locations, and a £300m environmental fund to combat carbon emission and reduce noise pollution.

Mr McLoughlin said: "Roads are key to our nation's prosperity. For too long they have suffered from under-investment.

"Better roads allow us to travel freely, creating jobs and opportunities, benefiting hardworking families across the country."

Labour dismissed the plan as a "re-announcement".

"The Government has 'announced' plans for road investment at least three times since 2013 and no additional money has been announced," said shadow transport secretary Michael Dugher.

"Ministers will be judged not on what they promise to deliver in the next Parliament, but on what they have actually delivered in this one - and the truth is barely a shovel has been used in anger on our nation's highways over the last four-and-a-half years."

There has also been an accusation that two-thirds of the improvements will come in Tory or Lib Dem areas.

However, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg denied the locations had been selected for "short-term political reasons" and pointed to plans across Labour strongholds in the Pennines.

He told Sky News: "You don't make decisions like this based on a political map, you make these decisions based on the economic map and the geographic layout of our county to make sure that all parts of our country are properly linked.

"Many of these projects have been spoken about for years."

Motoring groups welcomed the proposals.

AA president Edmund King said: "We can no longer ignore the inadequate resources going into the mainstay of the UK transport system - our roads - which carry 86% of passenger journeys and more than 90% of freight.

"At long last the Government has recognised that we need a long-term coherent plan for our roads."

While welcoming the road plans, the RAC said the number of road users would leap from 36 million to 43 million over the next 20 years if current trends persist.

Its director, Professor Stephen Glaister, said the country faced "massive challenges in unclogging our urban areas".

Meanwhile, Mr Clegg reiterated a Government pledge not to increase fuel duty ahead of the Autumn Statement.

"We've been clear we're not going to put up fuel duty because we know filling up your car or van with fuel is one of the most expensive parts of a household budget," he said.

:: Watch Sky News for the Chancellor's Autumn Statement live on Wednesday, 3 December, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 132 and Freesat channel 202.

18.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Cancer Doctor Jailed For Child Sex Attacks

A children's doctor who sexually abused 18 boys in his care has been sentenced to 22 years in prison.

Dr Myles Bradbury carried out examinations on children "purely for his own sexual gratification" and with no medical justification, Cambridge Crown Court heard.

The cancer specialist admitted 25 offences in September involving 18 boys aged 10 to 16 whom he had treated while working as a paediatric haematologist at Addenbrooke's Hospital in the city.

The abuse included seven counts of sexual assault and 12 of engaging in sexual activity with a child.

Sentencing him, Judge Gareth Hawkesworth said: "For a doctor to attack children in this way is one of the worst forms of sexual abuse imaginable."

"These boys were all vulnerable and gravely ill. In all my years on the bench, I have never come across such a grotesque betrayal of your Hippocratic oath."

The judge said Bradbury's sentence would be reduced because of his early guilty pleas, although "some might observe" that the weight of evidence meant he had little option but to admit the offences.

Victims' lawyer Renu Daly said the families were "relieved" that Bradbury had been given a lengthy jail term as it meant he would be unable to harm more children.

His victims included children with haemophilia, leukaemia and other serious illnesses, some of whom have since died.

Bradbury, a married 41-year-old father-of-one from Herringswell, Suffolk, would abuse the boys on occasions when "the parent was a curtain away".

He would also secretly film them using a camera pen, and more than 16,000 images were found on a disc at his home.

Bradbury was described as "a man of great charm and persuasiveness" whom everybody trusted.

When one victim raised concerns with his mother, she said: "He's a doctor, it must be necessary."

Prosecutor John Farmer said Bradbury had a "longstanding, unlawful, sexual interest in boys" and abused them "for his own personal gratification".

The Crown Prosecution Service in the East of England said it was "one of the worst" cases of a breach of trust it had ever prosecuted.

Bradbury's barrister, Angela Rafferty, said in mitigation that his guilty pleas had spared his victims the ordeal of having to give evidence.

Bradbury accepts that what he did was "repugnant", Ms Rafferty told the court.

The offences were carried out over four-and-a-half years from 2008.

Bradbury's crimes came to light in November 2013 after an 11-year-old told his grandmother about what had happened during a visit and how he had been told to keep it a secret.

Bradbury was suspended by Addenbrooke's before being arrested the following month.

Dr Keith McNeil, chief executive of Cambridge University hospitals, said in a statement last week: "The actions taken by the Trust since Dr Bradbury's abuse came to light have been thorough and very time-consuming, involving staff at all levels.

"The impact of Dr Bradbury's abuse and deceit has been widespread and significant for our patients, their families and our staff and will resonate for years to come."

18.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Village In Shock Over 'Cannibal' Death Claim

Written By Unknown on Jumat, 07 November 2014 | 18.25

A woman murdered in a South Wales village was found with substantial facial injuries, sources have said, after unconfirmed reports described it as a cannibalistic attack.

The 22-year-old died from her injuries at a bed and breakfast in Argoed, in the Valleys, in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Police fired a 50,000 volt Taser at her attacker to stop him and 34-year-old man Matthew Williams was restrained and arrested.

He later died in custody.

Gwent Police said they were not looking for any other suspects in the murder investigation.

The victim has not yet been named and officers have refused to comment on her injuries or reports they were in a relationship.

The attack happened at around 1.30am at the Sirhowy Arms Hotel, used by Caerphilly Council to house homeless people while they wait for permanent accommodation.

Neighbour Susan Gibbs told Sky News: "We have had a lot of problems up there.

"Every other week, well every other day sometimes, there are police up there."

Leon Gardiner, deputy mayor of the village, 20 miles north of Cardiff, said: "This has hit the community for six."

He told Sky News: "This is the sort of thing you don't ever expect... We've just got to live with it and hope that the hurt goes away - but it will take a long time."

The Independent Police Complaints Commission has started its own probe into the suspect's death.

A Gwent Police statement confirmed "a Taser was discharged and a 34-year-old local man was arrested".

It added: "Whilst under arrest, the man became unresponsive. Officers and paramedics administered first aid but he was also pronounced dead at the scene."

18.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

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Phillip Hughes: Funeral Held For Cricket Star

Written By Unknown on Rabu, 03 Desember 2014 | 18.25

Osborne To Admit Missing Borrowing Target

Search For Missing Mother And Baby In Bristol

Islamic State Leader's Wife Held, Reports Say

Written By Unknown on Selasa, 02 Desember 2014 | 18.25

Heroin Misery Of The Trainspotting Generation

Flooding Fund: Â£2.3bn To Protect 300,000 Homes

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Weak Growth Will Force More Cuts From Osborne

Written By Unknown on Senin, 01 Desember 2014 | 18.25

England's Road Network To Get Â£15bn Investment

Cancer Doctor Jailed For Child Sex Attacks

Village In Shock Over 'Cannibal' Death Claim

Written By Unknown on Jumat, 07 November 2014 | 18.25

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