What do the unemployed do all day? At a time of record-level long-term unemployment, the question matters — and not just for the jobless themselves. For one thing, if the unemployed aren’t seen as using their time productively, it’s harder to maintain political support for jobless benefits, which some have argued lately are too costly.
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CPS asked Essex officers to carry out further inquiries into allegations that energy secretary tried to dodge speeding penalty in 2003 The results of further investigations into claims that the cabinet minister Chris Huhne tried to dodge a speeding penalty have been given to prosecutors, Essex police have confirmed. The Crown Prosecution Service asked officers to carry out further inquiries into the allegations and handed back the files last Thursday, a spokesman for the force said. It is now up to the CPS to decided whether to pursue the case. Huhne is alleged to have asked his ex-wife, Vicky Pryce, to accept penalty points on his behalf after breaking the speed limit in 2003. At the time, the Liberal Democrat was an MEP and was said to be driving home from Stansted airport after returning to the UK from the European parliament. In a newspaper interview in May, Pryce claimed Huhne, the energy secretary, had tried to pass on his points to her to avoid losing his driving licence. Huhne has denied the allegations. Chris Huhne Police guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Yoshihiko Noda is Japan’s new prime minister and he has some tough challenges ahead of him, not least of which is unifying his own bickering party. Noda, formerly the country’s finance minister, was elected as leader today by the country’s parliament, winning majorities both in the lower house, controlled by…
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Burglars suspected of using sleeping gas to ensure they are not disturbed during break-ins on Sardinia’s Costa Smeralda Police in the billionaires’ retreat of Porto Cervo on Sardinia’s Costa Smeralda believe thieves who made off with €315,000 (£280,000) in cash and jewels used sleeping gas on their victims to ensure they were not disturbed during the break-in. Similar robberies have been reported this summer in France and Spain. The burglaries in Porto Cervo, which took place last week, were only disclosed by police on Tuesday. The thieves sneaked into the rented holiday villa of a Milanese pharmaceuticals tycoon and left with a haul worth around €300,000. The businessman’s 42-year-old wife, her mother and their daughter were all in the house, along with a servant, but no one heard the burglars, even though they took the windows off their hinges to get in. At the villa next door, two holidaymakers found a watch and €15,000 in cash missing. They told police they had woken up feeling weak and dazed. In July, “gassing gangs” were reported to be targeting caravans and camper vans in France. Thieves sprayed sleeping gas in through air vents before breaking in. Earlier this month, at least six houses on an estate at Rincón de la Victoria on Spain’s Costa del Sol were burgled by thieves thought to have used sleeping gas. One of the residents, José Luis Gómez, was quoted as saying the victims had woken “dizzy, with headaches, vomiting and stinging throats”. Porto Cervo was built in the 1960s by Prince Karim Aga Khan and it has long been a playground for the super-rich. Earlier this month,the sign at the entrance to the Costa Smeralda was altered, apparently by an insufficiently prosperous holidaymaker armed with a spray can. The “Smeralda” was deleted and replaced with the word “troppo”, so it now reads in Italian: “Costs too much.” Italy Europe John Hooper guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …As the Arab Spring swept around the Middle East in February, Moammar Gadhafi’s regime stepped up its online spying of Libyan citizens thanks to a lot of technical support from Western companies, reports the Wall Street Journal . On February 15, the day uprisings started in Benghazi, Libyan officials met in…
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International development secretary Andrew Mitchell leaves No 10 with briefing papers on display The international development secretary, Andrew Mitchell, has been caught leaving Downing Street with “protected” government documents on display. The documents revealed government concern that funding to Afghanistan must resume or the country could be destabilised. After expressing about the banking sector in Afghanistan wasting funding from the international community, Mitchell’s briefing document reads: “The world bank have told us that the suspension of UK and other donor funds to the Afghan government will soon begin to destabilise activities essential for transition.” Falling victim to an indiscretion that has caught out a number of public figures before – to career-ending effect in the case of counter-terrorism officer Bob Quick – Mitchell left No 10 on Tuesday with his briefing papers on display. Mitchell is unlikely to suffer Quick’s fate because he is well regarded by David Cameron. The dossier – marked “Protect” – makes clear government policy on British attitudes towards the impending departure of the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, and towards criticism of the Afghan banking system by the IMF. Confirming the government is pleased Karzai is intending to stand down after two terms in office in 2014, the document reads: “This is very important. It improves Afghanistan’s political prospects very significantly. We should welcome Karzai’s announcement in public and in private.” The document also details government concerns – highlighted repeatedly by international organisations in recent months – that foreign aid to Afghanistan is sent to a finance ministry and banking sector of questionable standing. Funds have been suspended, but the document says the IMF will send a new inspection team in the autumn. Mitchell’s document reads: “We are hopeful that the government will have demonstrated sufficient progress towards credible reforms of the financial sector, and actions to address the Kabul bank fraud so that a new programme can be agreed over the autumn.” Afghanistan Hamid Karzai Allegra Stratton guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …With 66 American troops killed in Afghanistan so far in August, this month has been the deadliest for US forces since the war began in 2001, reports the AP . Before this August, the deadliest month had been July 2010, when 65 US soldiers died. Nearly half of those deaths come…
Continue reading …Mexico has arrested five alleged members of the Zetas cartel for the attack that killed 52 people in a Monterrey casino last week. Authorities say all five have confessed to involvement in the attack, one of the deadliest against ordinary Mexicans in the country’s 5-year-old war on drug cartels, the…
Continue reading …Are the chances increasing that the Federal Reserve will take action next month to jolt the struggling economy? Federal Reserve official Charles Evans told CNBC this morning that he favors “strong accommodation” –that is, policies designed to spur lending–to bolster an economy that is presently moving “sideways.” Evans, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank
Continue reading …Are the chances increasing that the Federal Reserve will take action next month to jolt the struggling economy? Federal Reserve official Charles Evans told CNBC this morning that he favors “strong accommodation” –that is, policies designed to spur lending–to bolster an economy that is presently moving “sideways.” Evans, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank
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