Top Stories:
Sky – Indian police have released the names and pictures of nine men thought to be the gunmen in the Mumbai terror attacks – and said they were all from Pakistan. Chief police investigator Rakesh Maria gave the names and aliases used by the Islamic militants in the attacks, which killed 171 people when they took place 10 days ago. He also showed photographs of eight of the men – some taken from identity cards, while others were gruesome shots of their dead bodies. The names given next to the photographs were: Bada Abdul Rehaman; Abu Ali; Abu Soheb Abdul; Rehaman Chota; Fahad Ullah; Isamal Khan; Nasir/Abu Umar and Babar Imaran/Abu Akasha.
Times – David Cameron came out fighting today in the face of falling opinion poll ratings over the recession, demanding an early election to let the public have their say. Faced with a poll in The Times showing that Labour has a nine-point lead as the party most trusted to deal with the economic crisis, the Conservative leader launched a bullish attack on the Prime Minister’s policies of borrowing to finance a fiscal stimulus. Today’s poll found that Mr Brown and Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, are favoured over Mr Cameron and George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, by 40 per cent to 31 per cent in terms of dealing with the recession – a six-point jump in their lead since the Pre-Budget Report was presented on November 24. The boost leaves the overall Conservative poll lead narrowing to just four points and the number of Labour voters who are considering switching to the Tories dropping markedly.
Guardian – The governor of the US state of Illinois was arrested today and charged with soliciting bribes from candidates seeking his approval to replace President-elect Obama in the Senate. Rod Blagojevich, 51, has been plagued by reports of corruption investigations since 2005, two years after he won the governorship by promising to reform Illinois’s political culture. Polls show his public approval below 10%, the lowest in America. But according to a 76-page indictment unsealed in court today, the governor’s unpopularity did not prevent him from seeking favours from those hoping to replace Obama – whom law enforcement officials reported to be unaware of Blagojevich’s machinations. When seats in Congress come open between elections, replacements generally are named by sitting governors of the US states in question.
Herald – The wife of the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing today makes a direct and emotional appeal to Scottish ministers for compassion. In her first full interview with any media organisation since Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer in September, Aisha Megrahi says: “Please release him so he can spend what few days he has left at home with his family.” Last month, appeal court judges ruled that her husband should not be let out on bail while his lengthy appeal continues, provoking fears that Megrahi will die in jail before his case can be heard. Lawyers are now expected to seek his release from Greenock prison on compassionate grounds.
Business:
BBC – Total UK retail sales have fallen in consecutive months for the first time in at least 13 years, a closely-watched survey has said. Sales in November were down 0.4% from a year earlier, said the latest British Retail Consortium-KPMG retail survey. Following a 0.1% decline in October, it was the first drop in overall sales for two months in a row since the survey was first released in January 1995. Separately, figures on Tuesday showed manufacturing fell sharply in October.
STV – Sterling hit a record low versus the euro on Tuesday, pressured by another batch of bleak UK economic data, while comments from a Bank of England policymaker kept speculation high for more big interest rate cuts. The pound also matched a recent low hit against a basket of currencies, as figures showed a steeper-than-expected decline in manufacturing and industrial production in October, while another hefty monthly trade gap showed that UK exporters aren’t benefiting from sterling’s sharp depreciation.
Also In The News:
Independent – President-elect Barack Obama faces many difficult tasks when he enters the White House, and now people who want to face similar challenges can give the U.S. presidency a try, too, in a video game. Game maker Eversim will start selling “Commander in Chief” on January 20, when Obama is sworn in as president, the company said on Monday. “Commander in Chief” is played on a three-dimensional world map, and contestants must pick a cabinet then tackle problems ranging from terrorism to economic woes. The game is also available in several countries around the world, including Spain where it is called “Yo Presidente.”
Metro – The credit crunch has taken down its last victim – rapper Diddy. The music mogul says he is scaling back on, wait for it…wearing so much of his bling because he doesn’t want to rub his wealth in our poor faces! The rapper, 39, said: ‘Out of respect, I’ve been trying to dress less flashy. It’s one thing to be stylish; it’s another to be over-the-top.’
Telegraph – Microsoft boss Bill Gates and millionaire British businessman Sir Alan Sugar have made two of the worst technology predictions of all time. They are both included in a list that highlights how even the brightest and the best have got it spectacularly wrong. The list of the ten worst predictions is published by T3, the gadget magazine. Bill Gates back in 1981 allegedly said that nobody would ever need more than 640 kilobytes of memory on their personal computer. Most machines now are not sold with at least 2 gigabytes of memory – 3,500 times the amount Mr Gates supposedly predicted. Perhaps the prediction that was proved wrong almost instantaneously was the one made by Sir Alan in an interview with the Daily Telegraph in February 2005. The founder of Amstrad said: “Next Christmas the iPod will be dead, finished, gone, kaput.” Since he shared this prediction, iPod, the digital music player from Apple has gone from strength to strength, becoming one of the must-have gadgets of the last decade. There have now been 174 million of the players sold since launch.
Star – Movie actress Liz Hurley has sparked outrage over a picture of her modelling a real fur wrap. The Brit actress, 43, has signed a new contract with Blackglama Furs. And it is believed she could pick up as much as £300,000 from the American firm. But a spokesman for the animal campaign group PETA, stormed: “Her wardrobe is now as dead as her film career.”
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