Mother and son kidnapped then dumped across border while man working for security firm was sent to collect cash Police on both sides of the Irish border are investigating the theft of more than £200,000 from the money courier firm Brinks-Mat after a west Belfast family were kidnapped and held hostage. Details were emerging this morning of how a woman and teenage boy were taken at gunpoint from their home while a man was forced to go to work at the security firm around 10pm on Wednesday. The employee was then made to hand over the money to the kidnap gang. His wife and son were taken to Castleblaney in the Irish Republic by the thieves and were freed by gardaí on Thursday. Paul Reynolds, RTÉ’s crime correspondent, said the man was held at gunpoint from Wednesday night to Thursday morning when he was forced to go to work by the gang. He made cash pickups throughout Thursday before handing over more than £200,000 to the gang. The woman and teenage boy were taken from Belfast to Mullyash, near Castleblayney, in the back of a van. They were then locked in a shed. The kidnappers then set the van set alight. The fire was spotted by someone in the area who contacted gardaí. The man at the centre of the raid works as a driver for Brinks-Mat, a company that collects and delivers money to banks and other financial institutions. The family were not injured but are said to have been severely traumatised. There has been a series of so-called “Tiger kidnappings” carried out in Ireland over the last decade. In some cases the kidnap-robberies have been the work of republican paramilitaries, although in recent years non-political criminal gangs have adopted the same tactics for heists in the Irish republic. Crime Ireland Henry McDonald guardian.co.uk
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Unionists compare decision to free IRA bomber Brendan Lillis on compassionate grounds to Scotland releasing Lockerbie bomber A row has erupted within Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government over the release of gravely ill republican prisoner Brendan Lillis, with unionists comparing the case to Scotland freeing the Lockerbie bomber. Democratic Unionist assemblyman Edwin Poots said today that freeing Lillis could mark an “al-Megrahi moment” for the justice minister, David Ford, who made the decision to release Lillis early. Poots was referring to last year’s controversial decision by the Scottish government to free the only man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing on the grounds that the Libyan agent was dying, even though al-Megrahi is still alive two years later. Ford rejected the comparison and pointed out that Lillis, a convicted IRA bomber, could, unlike Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, be re-arrested at any time. Lillis is still only out on licence, the Alliance minister said. Earlier this year it was decided that Lillis was too ill to stand trial because he has a debilitating form of arthritis that affects his spine. In July the Northern Ireland Prison Service said there were insufficient compassionate grounds to justify Lillis’s release. The case was passed for consideration by the Parole Commissioners. They also ruled he should not be released. This stance changed last week when the Prison Service confirmed a doctor had recommended Lillis be moved to the City Hospital. He was then transferred, but remained under police guard until his release from custody on Thursday evening. Unionists have so far been critical of the decision to release him but Sinn Féin and the SDLP have said it was a victory for “common sense”. Lillis’s release follows a determined campaign by his partner Roisin Lynch and supporters to have him freed from the top security Maghaberry prison. Speaking this morning about his release, Lynch said Lillis would have died in jail unless he was freed on humanitarian grounds. She said it brought to an end an “horrific” two years. “Being able to walk into that room tonight and see my partner without having guards sit there, being able to visit without people watching me, to kiss him without being watched on camera, I feel vindicated, absolutely vindicated,” she said. She added: “I have told the truth all along about Brendan’s medical condition and the paperwork backs up what I have said. “You have to show compassion on some level. I would be just as compassionate if it was someone from the other side of the fence that was in the same situation. Bringing him back into jail, lying in a bed, the only place he can go is down.” Northern Ireland IRA Sinn Féin Henry McDonald guardian.co.uk
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Train and bus operator announces payouts – including £88m to founder Sir Brian Souter and his sister – just days after rail passengers learned they face record fare increases of up to 13% Stagecoach, owner of the South West Trains and East Midlands Trains franchises, has risked the ire of passengers, green campaigners and trade unions with plans to return £340m to shareholders – including an £88m windfall for the brother and sister who founded the group. Under the shareholder payout, Stagecoach’s chief executive, Sir Brian Souter, will take away £51m and his sister, Ann Gloag, will earn just under £37m. The announcement comes just days after commuters learnt they face the highest rises in rail fares since the industry was privatised in the mid-1990s. Regulated fares, such as season tickets, are based on last month’s inflation figure, which was announced on Tuesday. Under the system, prices will rise in January by the rate of the retail price index – 5% in July – plus a further three percentage points. That equates to an average rise of 8% for season ticket holders, compared with 5.8% last year. However, some fares could rise by as much a 13% under the “flex” system that allows train operators to add a further 5% to fares on certain routes provided the average increase across a basket of fares is no greater than the government cap. Gerry Doherty, leader of the TSSA rail union, said: “It is a scandal that Sir Brian Souter is awarding himself a payment of £50m in the same week as rail passengers are told they will have to pay an extra 25% in fares over the next three years.” Doherty, whose union is in merger talks with the RMT, also announced his early retirement, triggering a leadership contest. Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT trade union, said: “If anyone wanted concrete evidence that transport franchising in the UK is a licence to print money, then here it is. This is a third of a billion pounds stripped out of transport services and dumped straight into the pockets of shareholders rather than reinvested in services.” Stagecoach, however, argues that it is a consistent investor in public transport in the UK, led by multimillion-pound funding of the bus industry – including a £7m investment in electric buses in Newcastle two months ago. Stagecoach said that revenues at its rail business had grown by 8.4% over the past three months while turnover at Virgin Trains, which it co-owns with Sir Richard Branson, had increased by 11.1%. This week Virgin announced annual pre-tax profits of £55.7m, although its results included a premium payment of £110m to the government. Last year Stagecoach’s rail division, comprised of its two wholly owned franchises, made an operating profit of £48.4m. However, its buses are Stagecoach’s biggest profit driver, delivering an operating profit of £153.1m. Stephen Joseph, chief executive of the Campaign for Better Transport, said the payouts were the inevitable consequence of private companies operating public transport in the UK, but added that Stagecoach had demonstrated a commitment to investing in services. “As long as trains and buses are part of the private sector then of course companies will make payouts on their profits, and that’s the way it is. But Stagecoach does invest in its bus fleets and in many cases runs good services on the ground.” Joseph added that CBT’s main issue was with government policy on fares, which is set irrespective of shareholder payouts. Rail industry sources also believe that train operators will not shower commuters with 13% fare increases next January and are more likely to stick with the 8% average. “The market just won’t be able to take that kind of increase,” said one source. Stagecoach Rail transport Transport Travel & leisure Dan Milmo guardian.co.uk
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Rockets fired into Israeli city following overnight Israeli air strikes on targets in Gaza More than 10 rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel following a series of overnight Israeli air strikes on targets in the north and south of the strip in which a teenage boy was killed and more than a dozen people injured. The action followed an audacious three-pronged assault near Israel’s border with Egypt on Thursday, in which eight Israelis and at least five militants were killed in the deadliest attack in Israel for several years. The Israeli military said two of the rockets fired by militants in Gaza on Friday caused damage and injuries at a synagogue and school in the southern Israeli city of Ashdod. S Israel deployed its Iron Dome mobile air defence system and intercepted at least one of the Grad and Qassam rockets. Most landed on open ground. The Israeli air force struck seven targets in Gaza in the early hours of Friday, which it said included a weapons storage unit, two tunnels used for smuggling arms and militant training sites. Thirteen-year-old Mahmoud Abu Samra was killed and up to 18 others wounded in an air strike on a home near the former intelligence service headquarters in Gaza City, according to medics quoted by the Palestinian news agency Ma’an. Israeli officials said the Gaza-based Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) was responsible for the attacks near the Red Sea resort of Eilat. A large squad of militants crossed through tunnels from Gaza into Egypt, and then travelled 125 miles (200km) south through the lawless Sinai peninsula before crossing into Egypt north of Eilat, according to officials. Although Israel has begun building a security fence along two sections of its border with Egypt, only about a tenth of it is completed and officials acknowledge the border is porous. According to reports in the Israeli media, the IDF believe the purpose of the attack was to kidnap a civilian or a soldier. An Israeli official told the Guardian: “We knew they were out there,” suggesting intelligence had picked up the possibility of an attack. Within hours of the attack, Israeli warplanes struck a house in Rafah, a town in Gaza close to the Egyptian border and site of hundreds of illegal tunnels. Five members of the PRC were killed, including its military commander, Abu Awad Nayrab, and his two-year-old son Malek. A PRC spokesman, Abu Mujahed, said Israel would be held responsible for “all the consequences of its crimes” in Rafah. Ismail Radwan, a senior Hamas leader, condemned the “massacre in Rafah” and told the Palestinian news agency Ma’an that “this crime won’t stop the resistance and won’t stop all Palestinians”. Hamas denied it had any connection to Thursday’s attacks. An Israeli government official said it held Hamas responsible for “terrorism emanating from their territory”. The PRC, formed in 2000, is an umbrella group of militants, some of whom are disaffected former members of Fatah and Hamas, the dominant factions in Palestinian politics. It was one of three groups claiming to have abducted the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who has been held captive for the past five years. Thursday’s attacks appear to be the result of careful planning and co-ordination. Six Israeli civilians and two soldiers were killed in attacks on two buses, a private car and a military vehicle involving gunfire, mortars and a roadside bomb. Israel Gaza Palestinian territories Middle East Harriet Sherwood guardian.co.uk
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• Eight Afghan police and one foreigner dead • New Zealand special forces and British troops join fighting At least eight Afghan police and one foreigner are believed to have been killed after the Taliban marked the anniversary of Afghanistan’s independence from Britain with an elaborate, multi-phased attack on the British Council building in Kabul. The assault on the compound in the west of the city began when a suicide car bomber detonated a vehicle at the front gate of the compound. Witnesses in nearby shops said several heavily armed insurgents then rushed out of a side street shouting, firing in the air and racing towards to the open gate. Afghan officials believed the number of attackers was between two and four. All British nationals affected by the attack on the British Council in Kabul are now safe, said the Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt. Jumadin, a worker at a nearby petrol station, said the force of the initial blast was enough to throw him across the ground. “I thought I was going to die,” he said. “When the policemen rushed to the area from the police district at least three were shot dead near the building.” At midday the relatively upscale Kabul neighbourhood resembled a war zone. Six hours after the beginning of the attack, fighting continued between the attackers and security forces, including British troops. Loud explosions and long bursts of gunfire could be heard from within the building, circling helicopters released counter-missile flares and a medical evacuation helicopter briefly landed and then departed again just 50m from the site. After an initial period when the fighting appeared to have ended, a volley of machine-gun fire sent British soldiers ducking behind their armoured vehicles. Afghan officials said at least one attacker was still at large in the compound. With the injured rushed to a variety of different hospitals and the building still not cleared, estimates of the number killed and wounded varied wildly. The interior minister said it thought 12 people had been injured and eight killed, all of whom were either police or private security guards. The heavily fortified compound is usually protected by a mixed force of Afghan and Nepali guards. “It is a sad fact that once again an attack aimed at the international community has killed Afghans,” Burt said. “This attack, against people working to help build a better future for Afghanistan, will not lessen the UK’s resolve to support the Afghan people.” British soldiers rushed to the UK government’s cultural and educational mission in the country, joining Afghan police, soldiers and the New Zealand SAS. The area hosts not only the British Council, but also two of the country’s top politicians – the leader of the opposition and one of Hamid Karzai’s vice-presidents. Despite the assistance of the Afghan and international forces an insurgent was still at large in the compound more than six hours after the attack. Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman reached by phone, said the target was both the British Council and a guesthouse that he claimed, it would appear incorrectly, was located in the same compound. “We attacked the buildings because we want to remind the British that we won our independence from them before and we will do it again,” he said. Although Afghanistan was not a formal colony of Britain at the time, the country celebrates the end of the Third Anglo-Afghan war in 1919, a small-scale affair compared with the preceding conflicts, when the country won the right to pursue a foreign policy independent of the British Raj. The Afghan government, which has in the past tried to restrict the live coverage of terrorist attacks, appeared to put restraints on at least one television channel called Afghan News, which abruptly dropped its reporting to switch to patriotic songs. Journalists were also ordered to stop taking photos when what appeared to be a seriously wounded New Zealand special forces soldier was stretchered out of the building and loaded on to the medevac helicopter. New Zealand’s SAS, which runs a quick reaction force for Kabul, also suffered casualties during June’s siege of the Intercontinental Hotel. One soldier suffered a chest would while the other broke his jaw in the fighting. New Zealand special forces also insisted photographers stop taking photos. They said it was to protect the identities of the wounded being removed from the building, although special forces also try to avoid being photographed. Even as fighting continued President Karzai, senior officials and some diplomats marked the anniversary with a small ceremony inside the walls of his massively fortified palace compound on the other side of Kabul. Taliban Afghanistan Jon Boone guardian.co.uk
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Rents in England and Wales – averaging £705 a month – make saving a deposit for a new home almost impossible Rents in England and Wales rose for the sixth month in a row in July to a record high of £705 a month, plunging struggling first-time buyers into a “vicious circle” with spiralling rents making it impossible for them to save the deposit to buy a home. Despite annual rent inflation reaching 4.2%, the latest LSL Property Services buy-to-let index shows the rate of increase is slowing, with July’s figure just 0.6% higher than June’s average rent of £701 and only £29 a month more than the July 2010 average. In the year to July rental prices rose the fastest in London, increasing by 7.1% to a record high of £1,009 a month, followed by the north-east (an annual increase of 5.5%), and the east and West Midlands (both rising by 4.8%). The only region not to experience a rise in the past year was Wales, where monthly prices were static at £547. Month-on-month, the sharpest rental increases were found in the south-east (1.7% in July), Wales (1.4%), the east Midlands (1.4%), and the south-west (1.2%). Prices fell in the West Midlands (-0.6% to £551), Yorkshire & the Humber (-0.2% to £525), and the north-west (-0.1% to £569). But landlords are seeing a squeeze on profits as returns from property investing fell in July. The total annual return on a rental property fell to 1.2% during the month, as annual declines in rental property prices took their toll. LSL said if property values continue on their current trend, a property investor could expect to make a total annual return of 2.5% over the next 12 months. LSL, which surveys 18,000 properties in England and Wales for its index, said demand from thousands of frustrated buyers was underpinning buoyant competition for rental homes, enabling landlords to increase prices. Spokesman David Newnes said it was “unlikely tenants will gain any respite soon”. “This is the peak summer season, and with more renters on the move the market will continue to heat up. Such strong demand and high rental incomes has forced lenders to take notice, and more are returning to the sector,” he said. “As a result of the competition in the buy-to-let market, the range of affordable products is expanding – and lending to investors rose by 21% in the last quarter. Nevertheless, even with the squeeze on landlord finance abating, the new supply will not be enough to meet demand from tenants.” But Newnes said the increasing cost of rental accommodation – alongside the soaring cost of living – was eroding first-time buyers’ ability to save deposits. He added: “First-time renters are also keenly feeling the pinch. As rents climb, so does the size of the average deposit a new renter must find. Thousands of new buyers each year rely on the bank of mum and dad to help fund a deposit. “However, now it is becoming increasingly commonplace for renters to get parental help to fund their first deposit on a rental home, with the typical one-month deposit on a property in London more than £1,000.” Renters turn to flatshare Jonathan Moore, director of Easyroommate.co.uk , said the present situation is difficult for those looking to get on the property ladder: “First-time buyers can’t get mortgages, so demand for rented homes soars. Rents shoot up, tenants find it even harder to save a deposit to buy, and rental demand strengthens further. It’s a vicious circle. “But many renters are cutting costs by turning to flatshare, and this sector of the market is growing. Demand is now so strong that four tenants compete for each room available, and room rents have risen by 1.4% in the last month alone – more than twice the rate of the wider rental market.” LSL’s monthly figure is broadly in line with the Office for National Statistics’s latest consumer prices index , which shows rents in July increasing by 0.7%. However the ONS, which includes rent from social housing in its inflation report, said rents increased by only 3% over the year to July – lower than LSL’s annual estimate. Meanwhile, Halifax has teamed up with credit reference agency Experian to make sure applicants who do not get approved for a mortgage because of their credit score will have access to a CreditExpert membership, offering unlimited access to credit experts. The Halifax CreditExpert service, part of the bank’s first-time buyer pledge, offers customers support and advice on what is affecting their credit score, as well as personalised advice on steps to improve their credit profile. However, they will only get the service free for 30 days – after which they will pay a discounted rate of £9.99 a month compared to Experian’s usual charge of £14.99. Renting property Buying to let First-time buyers Property Housing market Mark King guardian.co.uk
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Boys aged 14 and 15 held in connection with fatal knife attack on 14-year-old Leroy James Police have arrested two teenagers after a 14-year-old boy was stabbed to death in a north London park. The boys aged 14 and 15 were held in connection with the death of Leroy James, Scotland Yard said. Police and an air ambulance were called to Ponders End recreation ground in Enfield at about 5.30pm on Wednesday. They arrived to find Leroy fatally injured in the centre of the park. Attempts to resuscitate him failed and he was pronounced dead at the scene. Officers said there was no evidence that his death was gang-related. They believed he had been in an altercation with at least one other youth. The teenager’s father, also called Leroy, visited the scene on Thursday to pay tribute to “a pretty quiet boy” and football enthusiast who would be remembered. The 41-year-old scrap metal dealer, from nearby Edmonton Green, said he found out about the attack when one of his son’s friends called him. “I was at home,” he said. “[Leroy's friend] just said to me if I heard what happened. He said Leroy has been stabbed and had been taken to the Royal Free hospital. But actually he was still in the park until 2am.” Detective Chief Inspector Caroline Goode of the Metropolitan police appealed for more witnesses to come forward. “We know from what witnesses have told us so far that Leroy was in an altercation with at least one other boy,” she said. “I’m completely open-minded as to the motive at this stage. “There’s certainly no evidence or any intelligence at this time that this is a gang-related murder.” Goode described Leroy as “a 14-year-old young man who didn’t deserve to lose his life”, adding: “People who were there will know who has done this. We want to hear from anyone who was in the park at 5.30pm and can help us … there will be a lot of people who were in the park and a lot of talk in the community. We plead with people to come forward.” Darren Griffiths, who lives in a flat backing on to the scene, said he had seen police taping off the area at 5.30pm. “I knew it was something fatal,” the 39-year-old said. “It’s normally peaceful around here. They’ve just built an outside gym here which is where the kids hang out and where it’s taken place. “Last week we had the kids walking through the park from the riots but apart from that it’s quiet.” The 10th fatal stabbing of a teenager in London this year sparked both sadness and anger. One resident said he was not surprised: “Things happen in that park at night.” Many in the area complained that the local police station had recently closed. It is 50 metres from the entrance to the park where Leroy was killed. Hazel Nelson-Williams, the founder of anti-youth crime group the Nelson Williams Foundation, said it had been a mistake to close the station. “If that young man had had the opportunity to run away, where would he have run to?” she asked. “In light of what’s happened, cutting police numbers is not the right thing to do.” Enfield has significant areas of deprivation alongside streets of comfortable suburban homes. It experienced a night of riots and looting on 7 August. The disturbances spread from the town centre east towards Ponders End. According to Scotland Yard figures knife crime involving young people in London has risen by almost 10% over the past year, with a bigger increase in the number of youths injured in knife attacks in the past few years. Knife crime Crime London Sam Jones Peter Walker guardian.co.uk
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Helicopter carrying pilot, reporter and cameraman crashes near Lake Eyre in the outback, with no survivors Three members of an Australian television news team are feared dead after a helicopter crash in southern Australia. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation said three staff – veteran journalist Paul Lockyer, cameraman John Bean and pilot Gary Ticehurst – were in the aircraft, which crashed on Thursday in a remote part of South Australia state. Lockyer, Bean and Ticehurst were working on a story about Lake Eyre, a massive lake in the outback, the ABC said. South Australia police said three people were killed in the accident and said they were investigating the cause. A tour guide who spoke to the men before they took off saw a large fireball in the distance soon after the helicopter departed, said police assistant commissioner Neil Smith. The crash site was surrounded by water and boggy land, hampering access, Smith said. Its remoteness was also making it difficult to get in touch with investigators on the scene. “We are not expecting to have any positive news, any positive identification or the full extent of the detail for some time,” Smith said. Lockyer was an award-winning journalist whose career spanned more than 40 years and included assignments in Washington and Asia. Ticehurst, a well-known media pilot, had worked for the ABC for more than 25 years. Bean, a Brisbane-based cameraman, had worked throughout Australia, the Pacific and in Washington in a 20-year career at the broadcaster. The ABC’s managing director, Mark Scott said: “This has been the longest of nights and we fear it will be the saddest of days.” Australia Journalist safety TV news Television industry guardian.co.uk
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Stock markets are braced for further losses today after yesterday’s meltdown – with sharp falls in Asia overnight 8.44am: Things are clearly taking a turn for the worse again. Germany’s Dax has hit its lowest level since February 2010, falling 2.2%, while the Cac in Paris is down 2.5%. The euro has fallen 1% against the Swiss franc to 1.1259 francs. 8.40am: The FTSE has dropped below the 5,000 mark. It’s now 114 points lower at 4978, a fall of 2.2%. There are only two risers now: Autonomy and ARM, which makes chips for iPhones. Shares in Spain, Italy and Portugal are now down between 2.4% and 3%. 8.30am: The picture isn’t quite as bleak as yesterday, when there wasn’t a single riser on the FTSE for most of the day. Eight stocks are currently up, led by Autonomy, which soared 76% to 2514p after Hewlett-Packard pounced on it with an $11bn (£6.7bn) bid . However, UK banks including Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays are among the biggest fallers again, as are energy stocks – as crude oil prices slipped on expectations of weaker demand. Lloyds is down 7.6% while RBS lost 4.7% and Barclays 5%. Lothar Mentel, chief investment officer at Octopus Investments, told Reuters: The market is discounting a recession, but I would say they’re wrong. Some stocks have been driven down to ridiculous levels. There has been a panic about European banks. European governments are guaranteeing European banks, but if the governments are not stable themselves, that means the banks aren’t stable. 8.17am: Before heading off on a well-deserved break (“Of all the regulation that has been introduced over the last few years my favourite is that which states that market participants must take a minimum of 10 consecutive days away from the office every year”), Gary Jenkins, head of fixed income at Evolution Securities, opines: At one stage yesterday I couldn’t stop myself singing The Wanted’s debut single. 10 year Bunds and Treasuries, Canadian 10 year and gilt yields all hit an all time low. It has been a heck of a week and yesterday’s risk-off trades could be attributed to any one of a number of different concerns. Economic data and the European sovereign / banking crisis will probably continue to dominate market action. This week has seen a continuation of the trend of weaker than expected data and political reaction to the European problems which pretty much amounts to “let’s have a get together a couple of times a year”. To be fair Mr Sarkozy did mention common European bond issuance as a last resort which is in line with our view that such action would only be taken over a weekend when the market was about to collapse. The one bit of good news through all this volatility is that Italian 10 year bond yields have been stable throughout the last couple of weeks. As there still seems to be disagreements about the second Greek bail out package the resolve of the ECB and then EFSF to stabilise Italian and Spanish bond yields could be tested quite soon. If we do see a significant move higher in yield from these two sovereigns then we will soon be in last resort territory. Meanwhile in the UK the executive director for financial stability, Andrew Haldane, has suggested that bank regulation regarding capital requirements should be softened in order to encourage the banks to lend. Whilst this might be a very good idea in the short term I guess his idea might not find favour in a world where regulators are generally looking for higher levels of capital and the leading politicians in France and Germany are asking for a financial transactions tax. Incidentally was that not the most amazing part of the Sarkozy / Merkel meeting. That at a time when one of the leading French banks was experiencing significant pressure in the equity market, with all kinds of rumour and speculation, that they should revisit an idea which would put more pressure on the banking sector. SocGen’s shares closed yesterday at €21.60, a level they last hit in 1998 around the time of the Russian crisis. Meanwhile in the US the economic data of late might ordinarily have led to speculation regarding QE3, although the data has been so bad that I am surprised they don’t just move straight to QE4…. 8.10am: Good morning. It looks like another tumultuous day on financial markets. The FTSE has opened nearly 60 points lower at 5033, down 1.15%. Germany’s Dax and France’s Cac are both down 0.4%. Spain’s Ibex has dropped 0.5% while Italy’s FTSE MIB is 0.3% lower. Gold scaled a new high this morning – it went through $1,853 an ounce – while US crude oil futures dropped $2 to $80.38 a barrel. Financial markets went into meltdown yesterday amid fears that the world economy is sliding back into recession. Growing disarray in the eurozone over the Greek bailout, poor US manufacturing figures and a warning from Wall Street bank Morgan Stanley that the US and Europe are “hovering dangerously close to recession” triggered sell-offs on both sides of the Atlantic. Austria, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Slovakia joined Finland in demanding that Greece puts up assets as security before they sign off on the €109bn (£95bn) emergency package agreed in July. And the US authorities are becoming increasingly alarmed that the eurozone debt crisis could spill over into America and trigger another global credit squeeze: it emerged yesterday that US regulators are examining whether the US arms of European banks have enough funding in place. To recap: • The FTSE 100 closed down 239 points, or 4.5%, at 5092 yesterday, wiping more than £62bn off the value of Britain’s bluechip companies • In the US, the Dow Jones closed 419 points, or 3.7%, lower at 10,991. • The yield on 10-year US Treasury bonds slipped below 2% as investors piled into safe haven investments • The yield on 10-year UK government bonds, or gilts, plunged to their lowest since the 1890s Markets are braced for further losses today, with Asia bathed in red overnight. Japan’s Nikkei closed down 2.5% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 2.8% and the Seoul Composite lost 6.2%. Market turmoil Financial crisis Stock markets Global recession Global economy Julia Kollewe guardian.co.uk
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Suicide bombers have hit the British council offices in Kabul in the early hours of Afghan Independence day Two suicide bombers attacked a British compound in the Afghan capital on Friday, killing at least three people and wounding two, police and eyewitnesses said. An official from the British Embassy confirmed that there had been an attack against the British Council building on the west side of Kabul. He said the British Embassy was in contact with Afghan authorities at the scene. A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabiullah Mujahid, claimed responsibility for the attack. The two blasts occurred in the early hours of Afghan Independence Day, marking Afghanistan’s full independence from Britain in 1919. It was unclear whether the attack was related to the anniversary. Kabul police official Farooq Asas said a suicide bomber detonated a car laden with explosives outside the compound. At least one insurgent attacked the compound on foot, Asas said. Two Afghan policemen and a municipal worker were killed, he said. The explosions shattered glass in buildings a third of a mile from the site. There were reports of gunfire at the scene and smoke rising from the area. Afghan police said at least one other attacker got inside the compound and was exchanging gunfire with Afghan troops two hours after the initial blast. Afghan and British troops were dispatched to the scene early Friday morning and made preparations to assault the compound. The British Council focuses on education and building civil society internationally. While violence continues to rage in many parts of Afghanistan, attacks in the capital are relatively uncommon. In June, 21 people were killed at a Kabul hotel, including nine insurgents, with militants fighting Nato and Afghan troops for five hours with rocket-propelled grenades and suicide bombs. In western Afghanistan on Thursday, a roadside bomb killed at least 21 passengers travelling on a minibus. Meanwhile, in the country’s east, a suicide car bomber attacked a coalition base on Thursday, killing two Afghan security guards, officials said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. A recent report by the United Nations said the number of Afghan civilians killed in war-related violence rose 15% in the first half of this year. The UN said 1,462 Afghan civilians lost their lives in the first six months of the year compared with 1,271 in the same period of 2010. Afghanistan guardian.co.uk
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