Top Stories:
Times – The US Treasury today pledged to clamp down on “excessive” executive pay as part a $250 billion banking package aimed at rescuing the country’s financial system. America’s scheme, where it will invest in nine US banks in exchange for preferred shares, echoes a package unveiled by Gordon Brown yesterday, which also detailed proposals to buy stakes in leading lenders as well as curbing “fat cat” pay deals.
Sky – British house prices down by 40%. Some houses in the UK have nearly halved in value as markets plummet amid the global financial crisis. One flat in Folkestone, Kent, went on the market on January 28 this year at £125,000, and has now been reduced to £75,000.
Telegraph – China will transform itself into a working democracy in just over a decade, according to one of the country’s most influential reformers Zhou Tianyong.
Mail – Cellar monster Josef Fritzl has been declared clinically sane, according to the psychiatric report prepared by prosecutors. If unchallenged by the defence, the medical ruling means Fritzl, 73, will face the full force of the law when he comes to trial accused of the 24-year rape and imprisonment of his daughter, Elisabeth.
BBC – A fast food shop owner was found by police to be preparing kebabs while an employee’s corpse lay nearby.
Business:
ITN – Taxpayer cash lent to stricken banks is making its way back into Treasury coffers after Northern Rock announced it has paid back more than half the £26 billion owed. This leaves a £11.4 billion bill outstanding as at September 30.
Sky – The inflation rate has gone up to 5.2%, the highest level since 1992, after gas and electricity price hikes. September’s figure for the Consumer Prices Index compares with a rate of 4.7% in August. The latest figure is well above the Government’s target of 2% – but some analysts have predicted that the cost of living may have now peaked.
Also In The News:
Independent – Is the party over for Playboy ? His Playboy empire is losing money – and his favourite Playmates are jumping ship. Times are hard for Hugh Hefner.
London Paper – Pictured: Festival goers in Thailand have their tongues and bodies pierced. Devotees to the Chinese shrine of Bang Neow had their tongues and bodies pierced during a street parade of the annual Vegetarian Festival in Phuket island, Thailand. Some of the implements they pushed through their tongues were huge and look very painful !
Telegraph – Lazy dog walker earns Great North Bum title. Kevin Pyle, 35, gets his son to drive him slowly around the block and, with his arm stretched out of the window, holds a lead attached to his bull mastiff Bruce, who walks alongside. He claims to cover around four miles a week but never does any walking himself.
Sun – Video shows the moment a crazy stunt goes horrifically wrong. Recorded in Malaysia, a man is seen sliding down a huge concrete plinth underneath a bridge, until he slips off falling to his believed death.
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Tags: News
