Prince Harry accuses UK royals of hiding phone hacking from him

LONDON - Britain's Prince Harry has accused his family of withholding information about phone hacking from him to avoid sitting in the witness box and opening "a can of worms", a witness statement released Tuesday said.

The Duke of Sussex made the claim in submissions for a privacy claim he and other celebrities have filed against the publisher of the Daily Mail, Associated Newspapers (ANL).

Lawyers for the group, which also includes pop superstar Elton John, claim ANL commissioned the breaking and entry into private property, illegally intercepted voicemail messages and obtained medical records.

The alleged wrongdoing dates from 1993-2011, but some went on as late as 2018, according to their lawyer David Sherborne.

In his partially redacted statement, Harry stated he "became aware that I had a claim that I could bring" only in 2018, in part due to the royal family -- which he refers to as "the Institution".

"The Institution was without a doubt withholding information from me for a long time about... phone hacking," he added.

"That has only become clear in recent years as I have pursued my own claim with different legal advice and representation."

The prince went on to state: "The Institution made it clear that we did not need to know anything about phone hacking and it was made clear to me that the Royal Family did not sit in the witness box because that could open up a can of worms."

The prince, who lives in California, made a surprise appearance at London's High Court on the first two of four days of hearings this week, on Monday alongside John and other figures involved.

'THE BUBBLE BURST'

ANL has described the allegations as "preposterous smears" and an attempt "to drag the Mail titles into the phone-hacking scandal".

It is trying to end the legal claims by arguing they are "stale" and "based on no credible evidence", so should not go to trial.

A spokesperson for ANL said that Harry "has become a serial litigant against Mail newspapers with whom he seems obsessed".

Britain's phone-hacking scandal, which first blew up in 2006, saw journalists at the Rupert Murdoch-owned News of the World hack into the voicemails of royals, celebrities and murder victims.

It triggered the closure of the mass-selling Sunday tabloid, a mammoth police investigation, a judge-led inquiry and criminal charges that gripped Britain for years.

Harry, the younger son of Britain's King Charles III, has long had a difficult relationship with the media.

In his statement, he said leaving the UK had proved pivotal in bringing the lawsuit.

"It is not an exaggeration to say that the bubble burst in terms of what I knew in 2020 when I moved out of the United Kingdom," the prince stated.

He concluded by arguing he was bringing the claim "because I love my country and I remain deeply concerned by the unchecked power, influence and criminality" of the publisher.

"The British public deserve to know the full extent of this cover up and I feel it is my duty to expose it," he added.

Buckingham Palace declined to comment.

Agence France-Presse

Britain's GDP grows 0.5 percent in October: statistics office

LONDON - Britain's economy grew 0.5 percent in October, official data showed Monday, after a sharp fall the previous month in part because of the national holiday for Queen Elizabeth II's funeral.

Gross domestic product fell 0.6 percent in September after businesses closed for the royal funeral, and Britain's economy shrank by 0.2 percent in the third quarter.

Agence France-Presse

Omicron coronavirus cases surge in UK, scientists see bigger wave

LONDON - Britain reported a surge in cases of the omicron coronavirus variant on Saturday which government advisors said could be just the tip of the iceberg, and London's mayor declared a "major incident" to help the city's hospitals cope.

The number of omicron cases recorded across the country hit almost 25,000 as of 1800 GMT on Friday, up by more than 10,000 cases from 24 hours earlier, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said.

Seven people believed to have had the omicron variant had died as of Thursday, up from one death in the UKHSA's previous data which ran up to Tuesday. Admissions to hospital of people thought to have the variant increased to 85 from 65.

The government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) said it was "almost certain" that hundreds of thousands of people were being infected with the variant every day and were not being picked up in the figures.

SAGE said without a further tightening of COVID-19 rules, "modelling indicates a peak of at least 3,000 hospital admissions per day in England," they said in minutes of a meeting on Dec. 16.

Last January, before Britain's vaccination campaign gathered speed, daily hospital admissions in the United Kingdom as a whole surged above 4,000.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has faced a rebellion in his governing Conservative Party over some of the measures he has taken so far to try to curb COVID-19's latest spread. A newspaper said on Saturday that Johnson's Brexit minister, David Frost, had resigned in part because of the new rules.

The advisors said it was too early to assess the severity of disease caused by omicron but if there was a modest reduction compared to the Delta variant, "very high numbers of infections would still lead to significant pressure on hospitals".

London Mayor Sadiq Khan declared a "major incident" - which allows for closer coordination between public agencies and possibly more central government support - as COVID-19 hospital admissions in the city rose by nearly 30% this week.

He said health worker absences had also increased.

"This is a statement of how serious things are," he said.

Khan, from the opposition Labour Party, also declared a major incident in January, when rising COVID-19 cases threatened to overwhelm hospitals.

The omicron variant is estimated to account for more than 80% of new COVID-19 cases in London, officials said on Friday.

Emergency meeting

Johnson was due to chair an emergency committee meeting over the weekend with the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which have their own powers over public health.

A report in The Times newspaper said officials were preparing draft rules which, if introduced, would ban indoor mixing in England -- except for work -- for two weeks after Christmas when pubs and restaurants would be limited to outdoor table service.

People would be able to meet in groups of up to six outdoors, the newspaper said, adding that ministers were yet to formally consider the plans.

Johnson said on Friday "we are not closing things down".

A government spokesperson said the government would continue to "look closely at all the emerging data and we'll keep our measures under review as we learn more about this variant".

The number of all new COVID-19 cases reported in official data fell to 90,418 from a record high of more than 93,000 on Friday, but that was still the country's second-highest daily toll. Figures typically dip at the weekend.

Cases were up 44.4% over the seven days to Dec. 18 compared with the previous week.

Police clashed with a group of protesters opposed to the latest COVID-19 restrictions near Johnson's Downing Street office and residence on Saturday. A number of officers were injured but so far no arrests had been made, police said. (Editing by Helen Popper, Timothy Heritage and Catherine Evans)

-reuters

UK confirms first 2 cases of new Omicron coronavirus strain

Britain on Saturday confirmed its first two cases of the new Omicron strain of coronavirus, both linked to travel from southern Africa, and expanded travel restrictions on the region.

"After overnight genome sequencing, the UK Health Security Agency has confirmed that two cases of COVID-19 with mutations consistent with B.1.1.529 (Omicron) have been identified in the UK," a government statement said.

"The two cases are linked and there is a link to travel to southern Africa," it said.

One case was detected in the central English city of Nottingham, and the other in Chelmsford east of London, officials said.

"We have moved rapidly and the individuals are self-isolating while contact tracing is ongoing," Health Secretary Sajid Javid said.

He added that the government was placing another four African countries on its travel "red list" -- Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Angola -- effective from 4 a.m. (0400 GMT) on Sunday.

Britain has already said it is banning travel from six southern African nations because of the emergence of Omicron: South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Botswana.

The government was widely criticized for its travel and quarantine policy earlier in the pandemic, when it kept borders open to foreign travelers even as infection rates spiraled.

"This is a stark reminder that we are not yet out of this pandemic," Javid said, urging the public to get follow-up booster jabs of vaccines. "We will not hesitate to take further action if required."

Agence France-Presse

COVID conspiracies fuel anti-Semitic incidents in UK - report

LONDON - The number of anti-Semitic incidents recorded in Britain has fallen from record levels but still remains high, with conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic playing a role, a Jewish advisory body said on Thursday.

The Community Security Trust (CST), which advises Britain’s estimated 280,000 Jews on security matters, said there had been 1,668 incidents in 2020, a fall of 8% from the previous year which had been the highest on record.

Despite the decrease, the CST said it was still the third-highest number they had reported since the data was first collected in 1984.

"The COVID-19 outbreak has not merely given rise to a new medium through which offenders express anti-Semitic sentiment; it has provided them with new strands of anti-Semitic discourse as well," the report said.

The CST said there had been 41 incidents connected to the pandemic, from conspiracy theories of Jewish involvement in spreading the disease for malevolent and financial purposes, to expressions of hope that Jews would catch the virus and die.

Although there were fewer incidents at schools or synagogues because of strict pandemic lockdowns, there was a rise in cases at people’s homes, the report said.

Of the total incidents, 100 were rated as violent, a 39% fall from the year before, although three were classified as "Extreme Violence", meaning they involved potential grievous bodily harm or a threat to life.

"It is shameful that in the 21st century, the Jewish community still faces racist abuse and the desecration of their synagogues and other religious and community sites," Home Secretary (interior minister) Priti Patel said.

The record incidents of 2019 were fueled in part by accusations of anti-Semitism in the opposition Labour Party.

In October, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said Labour was responsible for unlawful harassment and discrimination in its handling of allegations of anti-Semitism, leading to the party suspending its former leader Jeremy Corbyn.

The CST said there had been 175 incidents in 2020 connected to Labour, a decline from previous years, although there was a spike at the time of the EHRC report and after the decision to keep Corbyn out of the parliamentary party. 

-reuters

Britain to help other countries track down coronavirus variants

LONDON - Britain will share its genomic sequencing capabilities with other countries to help quicker identify new variants of the coronavirus in places with less ability to do so, its health ministry said on Tuesday.

New variants of the coronavirus have alarmed scientists, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned the prospect of a "vaccine-busting" variant could mean that lockdown measures are needed for longer and new travel restrictions are introduced.

Britain said it had carried out more than half the SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences submitted to a global database, and would launch a New Variant Assessment Platform which could be used for coronavirus variants and also future pandemics.

"Our New Variant Assessment Platform will help us better understand this virus and how it spreads, and will also boost global capacity to understand coronavirus, so we're all better prepared for whatever lies ahead," Health Minister Matt Hancock will say in a speech at Chatham House, according to advance extracts released by the health ministry.

The three major variants of concern identified so far were discovered in Britain, South Africa and Brazil. All three variants are thought to be more transmissible.

The variant discovered in Britain could also be associated with higher mortality, although the evidence around that is uncertain.

Scientist have also highlighted particular concern that vaccines might not work as well against the variants found in South Africa and Brazil.

Moderna said on Monday it believe its COVID-19 vaccine protects against the British and South African variants, although it will test a new booster shot aimed at the South Africa variant after concluding the antibody response could be diminished.

Britain's health minister and health officials have said they believe the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines being rolled out in the country work against the UK variant. 

-reuters

Beatles photographer Astrid Kirchherr dies aged 81

BERLIN — German photographer Astrid Kirchherr, whose striking images of The Beatles in the early 1960s helped turn them into cultural icons, has died aged 81, German media reported Saturday.

Kirchherr passed away in Hamburg following a serious illness, those close to her told several media outlets, including the weekly Die Zeit and NDR public television.


She met and befriended The Beatles in 1960 during a tour in Hamburg before they achieved worldwide fame.

At the time, the group was made up of five members: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison, as well as bassist Stuart Sutcliffe and drummer Pete Best, who was later replaced by Ringo Starr.

Sutcliffe fell in love with Kirchherr and stayed on in Hamburg but died from a brain hemorrhage in 1962.

Kirchherr took numerous photos of the group, showing them both as rebels and romantics. She later lived mainly off the reproduction rights of the pictures, NDR said.


She was also behind the group’s so-called mop-top hairstyles of the early 1960s.

The photographer later kept in touch with The Beatles, Harrison in particular.

Agence France-Presse

Royals Harry and Meghan go barefoot on Bondi

SYDNEY – British royals Harry and Meghan kicked off their shoes and donned tropical garlands on Friday as they hit Sydney’s famed Bondi beach for the latest stop on their Australian tour.

Expectant Meghan put on a summer dress and set aside her high heels, while Harry ditched his usual suit for chinos as the couple lapped up cheers from Australian fans and enjoyed Bondi’s surf.


Despite morning fog, the pair met local surfers enjoying winter swells and sat down on the sand for a long chat with leaders of the OneWave group, which focuses on helping people improve mental health by getting outdoors.

Signs screaming “G’day Harry and Meghan” greeted the royal couple, who have received a warm welcome from fans throughout the start of their 16-day Pacific tour.

“You hear people that met the Queen when she came here (in 1954)” said 26-year-old fan Christopher Cundle, “and they are still talking about it now.”

“I can easily see that that is one of the things I will be talking to my grandkids and future generations about. It was awesome,” he added.

While half of Australians oppose having British monarchs as head of state, and the vast majority of citizens have carried on with business as usual during the visit, there has been sizable support for the celebrity couple at every stop.

News that the Duchess of Sussex is pregnant has only made the crowds swell.

She is the favorite royal of 11-year-old schoolgirl Mya.

“I actually think it is amazing that she actually got to meet Harry and fall in love with him,” Mya said.

Amid a torrent of fawning press coverage declaring Meghan the “Queen of hugs” and the prince receiving “buckets of love,” the Australian Republican Movement is putting on a brave face.


"The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very welcome visitors” the group said at the start of the trip, pointedly adding that “Australians of all ages know the difference between this wonderful event and the questions of our nation’s identity and future.”

In a 1999 referendum, 55 percent of Australians voted against replacing Queen Elizabeth II as head of state, although polls indicate support for republicanism has grown since then.

The opposition Labor party has promised a plebiscite on the issue if it wins a general election expected in 2019.

Later on Friday, Prince Harry strapped on a harness and scaled the Sydney Harbor Bridge to hoist a flag of the Invictus Games, a sports championship for wounded military personnel.

On Monday, the pair will go to Queensland’s Fraser Island, the world’s largest sand island, before jetting off to Fiji, Tonga, and New Zealand.  /kga

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Human form of ‘mad cow’ disease detectable in skin – study

Abnormal proteins involved in the brain-destroying Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) – a human form of “mad cow” disease – are detectable in the skin, raising new concerns about the virus’ transmission, researchers said on Wednesday.

According to the report in the journal Science Translational Medicine, while it is highly unlikely that the fast-moving and fatal disease could be spread by casual contact, since the prions in the skin are at levels 1,000-100,000 times lower than in the brain, the discovery means CJD could be spread through common surgeries that do not involve the brain.


“It is well known that CJD is transmissible via surgical or medical procedures involving prion-infected brain tissue,” said lead author Wen-Quan Zou, associate professor of pathology and neurology at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine.

“Our finding of infectious prions in skin is important since it not only raises concerns about the potential for disease transmission via common surgeries not involving the brain, but also suggests that skin biopsies and autopsies may enhance pre-mortem and post-mortem CJD diagnosis,” he added.

Only biopsies, spinal taps or autopsies can tell for sure if a patient is stricken with the rare, degenerative brain disorder which affects one in a million people per year worldwide.

Patients develop tiny sponge-like holes in their brains, and experience sudden memory and vision problems, behavioral changes, and poor coordination.

There is no cure for CJD and most people who are diagnosed rapidly deteriorate, and die within a year.

The study was based on skin samples from 38 patients, who died from the disease.

Prion levels were measured using a new, highly sensitive test.

Research using lab mice showed that these skin prions are indeed infectious, and capable of causing disease.

But more research is needed to better understand the risks.

“The level of prion infectivity detected in CJD skin was surprisingly significant, but still much lower than that in CJD brains,” said co-author Qingzhong Kong, associate professor of pathology and neurology at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine.

“Prion transmission risk from surgical instruments contaminated by skin prions should be much lower than that of instruments contaminated by brain tissue,” he also said.

The findings may also assist in diagnosing the condition less invasively, whether before or after death.

“Using the skin instead of brain tissue for post-mortem diagnosis could be particularly helpful in cultures that discourage brain autopsy, such as China and India,” Zou said.

“These countries have the largest populations with the greatest number of patients, but brain autopsy is often not performed,” he added.

The disease leapt into public awareness decades ago when people in Britain were diagnosed with a type of CJD after eating meat from diseased cattle.

The European Union ordered a worldwide embargo on British beef and its derivatives in 1996, then lifted it three years later.

The World Health Organization said there have been 224 cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease from October 1996 to March 2011, mainly in Britain.             /kga

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

British PM Theresa May loses majority, faces pressure to resign

LONDON—British Prime Minister Theresa May faced pressure to resign on Friday after losing her parliamentary majority, plunging the country into uncertainty as Brexit talks loom.

The pound fell sharply amid fears the Conservative leader will be unable to form a government and could even be forced out of office after a troubled campaign overshadowed by two terror attacks.

After being re-elected with an increased majority in the London commuter seat of Maidenhead, May said Britain “needs a period of stability” as it prepares for the complicated process of withdrawing from the European Union.

She said that while the full results had yet to emerge, her party seemed to have won the most seats and “it would be incumbent on us to ensure we have that period of stability”.

But Leftist opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn, whose Labour party surged from 20 points behind, urged May to quit, saying she had “lost votes, lost support and lost confidence”.

Former Conservative minister Anna Soubry, who just held onto her seat, said May was “in a very difficult place” following a “dreadful campaign”.

With a handful of seats still to be declared, the Conservatives were predicted to win 319 seats, down from 331 in 2015 — yet another upset in a turbulent year since the EU referendum in June 2016.

They were mathematically unable to reach the 326 mark that would give them a majority, meaning they will have to form an informal or formal alliance to forward their agenda.

Labour are expected to increase their share from 229 to 260 seats, resulting in a hung parliament.

May, a 60-year-old vicar’s daughter, is now facing questions over her judgement in calling the election three years early and risking her party’s slim but stable majority of 17.

“It is exactly the opposite of why she held the election and she then has to go and negotiate Brexit in that weakened position,” said Professor Tony Travers of the London School of Economics.

Sterling fell nearly two percent against the dollar on the back of the exit poll, as investors questioned who was now going to control the Brexit process.

Early newspaper editions reflected the drama, with headlines such as “Britain on a knife edge”, “Mayhem” and “Hanging by a thread”.

In a night that threatened to redraw the political landscape once again, the UK Independence Party (UKIP), which won 12.5 percent of the vote two years ago and was a driving force behind the Brexit vote, was all but wiped out, hovering around two percent.

The pro-European Liberal Democrats, who have campaigned for a second EU referendum, increased their number of seats from nine, but their former leader Nick Clegg lost his seat.

Meanwhile the Scottish National Party of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, which has dominated politics north of the border for a decade and called for a new independence vote after Brexit, was tipped to lose around 21 of its 54 seats.

Deputy leader Angus Robertson, one of the strongest SNP performers in the House of Commons, was an early casualty.

‘Pressure to resign’

May, who took over after last year’s Brexit referendum, began the formal two-year process of leaving the EU on March 29, promising to take Britain out of the single market and cut immigration.

Seeking to capitalize on sky-high popularity ratings, she called the election a few weeks later, urging voters to give her a stronger mandate to go into Brexit talks that are expected to begin as early as June 19.

Officials in Brussels were hopeful the election would allow her to make compromises, but this has been thrown into question by the prospect of a hung parliament.

“It creates another layer of uncertainty ahead of the Brexit negotiations,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA currency traders.

Despite campaigning against Brexit, Labour has accepted the result but promised to avoid a “hard Brexit”, focusing on maintaining economic ties with the bloc.

Barely a month ago, the center-left party seemed doomed to lose the election, plagued by internal divisions over its direction under veteran socialist Corbyn.

But May’s botched announcement of a reform in funding for elderly care, a strong grassroots campaign by Corbyn and the terror attacks, which increased scrutiny of her time as interior minister, changed the game.

“Even if she manages to get just enough seats it will be seen as a failure and she may indeed be under pressure to resign as leader quite quickly,” said Paula Surridge, senior lecturer at the University of Bristol.

Terror in the campaign

Britain has been hit with three terror attacks since March, and campaigning was twice suspended.

A suicide bomber blew himself up outside a pop concert in Manchester on May 22, killing 22 people.

Last Saturday, three assailants wearing fake suicide vests mowed down pedestrians and launched a stabbing rampage around London Bridge, killing eight people before being shot dead by police.

The attacks led to scrutiny over May’s time as interior minister from 2010 to 2016, particularly since it emerged that some of the attackers had been known to police and security services.

Labour seized on steep cuts in police numbers implemented as part of a Conservative austerity program, although May insisted she had protected funding for counter-terrorism.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Britain to trial driverless cars from 2015

LONDON–Driverless cars will be allowed on British roads from January 2015 as part of a pilot initiative in three cities, the government announced Wednesday.

Cities nationwide are being invited to bid to host one of a series of trials that will last between 18 and 36 months, and to receive a share of the £10 million ($17 million, 12.5 million euros) of government funding for the scheme.

Driverless vehicles, guided by a system of sensors and cameras, have already been tested in several countries, including the United States and Japan, with Sweden set to follow.

Business Secretary Vince Cable, outlining the plans, said British scientists and engineers were “pioneers” in the development of driverless vehicles.

“Today’s announcement will see driverless cars take to our streets in less than six months, putting us at the forefront of this transformational technology and opening up new opportunities for our economy and society,” he said at the headquarters of motor industry research organisation MIRA in Nuneaton, central England.

However, motoring organizations warned that road users were skeptical of the technology.

The Automobile Association said a recent survey of more than 23,000 of its members showed that 43 percent did not agree that the law should be changed to allow trials of the technology.

AA president Edmund King said drivers were “still resistant to change” and that many people “enjoy driving too much to ever want the vehicle to take over from them.”

Another motoring association, the RAC, said it would be difficult for drivers to give up control of their vehicles.

RAC technical director David Bizley said: “Many vehicles already have features such as automatic braking and it is claimed that driverless technology is able to identify hazards more effectively than a person can.

“But many motorists will be concerned about not being able to control the speed of their vehicle for the conditions or layout of the road in front of them,” he added.

source: technology.inquirer.net

Worst storm in decade lashes Britain, France

LONDON — Britain faced travel chaos on Monday and some 75,000 homes were without electricity in northern France as one of the worst storms in years battered the region, sweeping at least one person out to sea.

Britain’s national weather center the Met Office warned of falling trees, damage to buildings and disruption to power supplies and transport as the storm hit England’s southwest coast late Sunday.

Between 20 and 40 millimeters of rain were predicted to fall within six to nine hours as the storm tracked eastwards across Britain, with a chance of localized flooding.

Wind gusts of up to 99 miles per hour whipped across southern England and south Wales on Monday, forecasters said.

The Met Office issued an “amber” wind warning for the region, the third highest in a four-level scale, and urged people to delay their Monday morning journeys to work to avoid the worst of the bad weather.

In northern France the storm left some 75,000 homes without power early Monday, according to the ERDF distribution network, after wind gusts reached 139 kilometers in some areas knocking down power lines.

The rough conditions led to rescuers suspending the search for a 14-year-old boy who was washed out to sea from a beach in East Sussex on England’s south coast.

London looked set for a chaotic rush-hour after train companies First Capital Connect, C2C, Greater Anglia, Southern and Gatwick Express services all said they would not run services on Monday until it was safe to do so. That is unlikely to be before 9:00 am (0900 GMT), according to forecasts.

Robin Gisby from line operator Network Rail warned commuters to expect severe disruption.

“If we get through this in the morning, restore the service during the afternoon and are able to start up a good service on Tuesday morning, in the circumstances I’ll be pretty pleased,” he added.

Major airports also warned of disruption to flights with London hub Heathrow expecting approximately 30 cancellations.

Cross-channel train service Eurostar said it would not be running trains on Monday until 7:00 am, meaning delays to early services.

Several ferry operators said they had cancelled some cross-Channel services and Irish Sea crossings.

Forecaster Helen Chivers told AFP the expected damage was likely to be comparable with a storm seen in October 2002.

Prime Minister David Cameron received an update from officials on contingency planning in a conference call on Sunday, amid fears of similar damage wrought by the “Great Storm” of October 1987.

That left 18 people dead in Britain and four in France, felled 15 million trees and caused damages worth more than £1 billion ($1.6 billion or 1.2 billion euros at current exchange rates) as winds blew up to 115 miles an hour.

Martin Young, chief forecaster at the Met Office, said: “While this is a major storm for the UK, we don’t currently expect winds to be as strong as those seen in the ‘Great Storm’ of 1987 or the ‘Burns Day storm’ of 1990.

“We could see some uprooted trees or other damage from the winds and there’s a chance of some surface water flooding from the rainfall — all of which could lead to some disruption.”

Veteran weather forecaster Michael Fish also said Sunday’s storm was unlikely to be as severe as 26 years ago, although his comments will be taken with a pinch of salt in Britain.

Fish was the BBC’s main television weatherman in 1987 but famously denied that a major storm was on its way just hours before it hit.

This year’s storm has been named St. Jude after the patron saint of lost causes, whose feast day is on Monday.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Where’s that royal baby? Is Kate overdue?

LONDON — By the time you’re reading this, the Duchess of Cambridge could be in labor. Or it could be a matter of hours. Or days. Or weeks.

As Britain’s Prince William and his wife, Kate, await the birth of their first child — and the future heir to the English throne — some are convinced the royal due date has already passed, even though Buckingham Palace has not given an exact date. Many in the British media predicted the baby would be born last week and the prince himself is now on official leave.

Dozens of reporters have already staked out the central London hospital where Kate is expected to give birth. The palace has said only that the Duchess is due to deliver the baby in “mid-July.”

But experts say there’s no reason to think that the baby is actually overdue; due dates are at best an educated guess and come with a margin of error of two to three weeks.

“The baby will come when he or she is ready,” said Janet Fyle, a midwife and professional policy adviser at Britain’s Royal College of Midwives. She said the due date is calculated from the first day of the woman’s last period. Then add seven days, plus nine months. “But nature is the primary determinant (of the due date) and we can’t do anything to change that,” Fyle said.

An ultrasound done around weeks 11 to 12 of the pregnancy can also give women a better idea of when exactly to get the nursery ready, she said. A head measurement at that point is a better indicator of age than later in pregnancy.

For healthy pregnant women, as the Duchess of Cambridge appears to be, Fyle said they shouldn’t worry if they haven’t given birth by their predicted due date. Many things can delay birth, including the baby’s head being in the wrong spot. “It may just take the baby awhile to get into the right position before he or she is ready to come out,” she said.

Normal pregnancies last about 40 weeks, though 3 to 12 percent of women in the U.K. go beyond that term. After 41 to 42 weeks, doctors may consider inducing labor. Doctors or midwives typically induce labor with medications or other methods; it may still take one to two days for contractions to start.

“There is a risk as the pregnancy goes on that the placenta may not work as well,” said Dr. Daghni Rajasingam, a spokeswoman for Britain’s Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. She said that could compromise the baby’s growth and oxygen supply. For women who don’t want to have an induced labor, even if they are beyond 40 weeks, Rajasingam said extra scans to monitor the baby’s heartbeat and movement would be necessary.

In Britain, about 25 percent of all births are cesarean sections, versus 30 percent in the U.S. In 2011, Britain’s health watchdog decided women should be able to get a C-section on demand under the free health care service, though there is no indication whether the Duchess of Cambridge has requested one in the private wing of the hospital where she is expected to deliver.

Although the Duchess of Cambridge was hospitalized last December for severe morning sickness, Rajasingam said there’s no reason to think she might have a more difficult labor.

Pregnant women are also advised to keep as active as possible even after their due date passes.

Rajasingam also said women having their first baby, as in the case of the Duchess, typically have a longer pregnancy than with subsequent children, though scientists aren’t exactly sure why. “It’s like a racehorse on a track,” she said. “For a horse that hasn’t run the race before, it can take a little bit longer if you’re not used to it,” she said.

source: lifestyle.inquirer.net

UK will cut top income tax rate

Britain's finance minister has cut the rate of income tax for the country's wealthiest citizens but insisted the rich will pay more through a raft of measures to prevent tax avoidance and a hefty new charge on expensive property sales.

In his annual budget statement on Wednesday, George Osborne said he was cutting the top rate from 50 per cent to 45 per cent by April next year on incomes over STG150,000 ($A228,000)a year. He argued that the original higher rate did not yield as much as expected, partly because the rich were able to avoid the tax.

Osborne sought to deflect criticism that any largesse was confined to the wealthy by announcing a big hike in the level Britons start paying tax to STG9,205. There are doubts, however, as to whether the poorest in British society will reap the full reward, given they may lose some benefits.

'Together, the British people will share in the effort and share the rewards,' Osborne said at the conclusion of his hour-long statement. 'This country borrowed its way into trouble, now we're going to earn our way out.'

The 50 per cent tax rate was introduced by the previous Labour government in response to the sharp deterioration in public finances in the wake of a banking crisis that led to the country's deepest recession since World War II.

The leader of the Labour opposition Ed Miliband pounced on Osborne's decision to cut the top rate of tax, mocking him for his oft-repeated mantra that 'we're all in this together.'

'After today's budget, millions will be paying more while millionaires pay less,' Miliband said.

Osborne insisted that the rich should pay a bigger proportion of their income than the poor and said he was offsetting the cut in the top rate by other taxes on wealth, including a new seven per cent charge on the sale of houses valued over STG2 million, up from five per cent.

Most of those residences are located in London, which has become a second home of choice for many of the world's super-rich - Russian oligarchs and hedge fund managers have all converged on the capital, driving up the cost of homes to levels that are unaffordable to the vast majority of Londoners.

Tony Ryland, a senior tax partner at London Chartered Accountants Blick Rothenberg, said the changes will have 'a major effect on the London housing market, potentially driving away overseas buyers.'

Overall, the budget measures were broadly neutral. Osborne has little room for manoeuvre, given the government's primary plan to dramatically reduce borrowing and recent warnings from credit ratings agencies that they could cut the country's cherished triple-A rating if public finances don't improve.

The government's debt-reduction program has been rewarded in the money markets to an extent, even though the economy has flatlined and unemployment stands at a near 17-year high. Unlike other big borrowers in Europe, such as Greece and even Italy, Britain - the biggest European economy that does not use the euro - has enjoyed super-low borrowing rates, making the deficit easy to finance.

Osborne said he was asking the Treasury to examine whether it would be wise for Britain to start issuing bonds of duration longer than 50 years to lock in the current historic low interest rates. The yield on Britain's ten-year bond is around 2.3 per cent, in line with the equivalent US rate.

Economic growth this year will be 0.8 per cent, up from a previous forecast for 0.7 per cent, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility, an independent agency tasked by the government to compile projections.

Osborne said Britain was likely to avoid a technical recession, officially defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth. In the last three months of 2011, Britain contracted by a quarterly rate of 0.2 per cent.

In 2013, Osborne said Britain's economy would likely grow two per cent, slightly lower than the previous forecast of 2.1 per cent. The projected growth rates remain below the long-run average of 2.5 per cent.

Meanwhile, the budget deficit in the current fiscal year, which ends March 31, will be STG126 billion, STG1 billion less than expected. As a percentage of GDP, debt will peak at 76.3 per cent in 2014-15, lower than previously thought.

source: http://www.skynews.com.au/world/article.aspx?id=731491&vId=3139065&cId=World

Oil prices up in Asia as US-British crude pact denied

Singapore - Oil prices rose in Asian trade Friday after the US and Britain denied reports that the two countries had agreed to release strategic reserves of crude, analysts said.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April up 36 cents to $105.47 while Brent North Sea crude for May delivery gained 37 cents to $122.97 on its first trading day.

The White House confirmed the issue was discussed by US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron, but denied that there was a pact.

"I can tell you that among the many topics of discussion that the British prime minister and the president had were energy issues. And the situation globally with the rise in the price of oil," said White House spokesman Jay Carney.

"But I can say very clearly that the report suggesting that any kind of an agreement was reached on a course of action with regard to those energy issues, that any agreement was reached with a timetable associated with it, that report is false. It is not accurate."

Victor Shum, senior principal of Purvin and Gertz energy consultants in Singapore, told AFP: "Oil has been rebounding since that denial."

Crude prices -- which have risen in recent month amid concerns over a stand-off between the West and Iran -- had fallen by more than $2 in New York and more than $4 in London before the denial. — AFP

source: gmanetwork.com