Top Stories:
Telegraph – The United Nations has called for Israel to be investigated for war crimes over the shelling of a house full of Palestinian civilians which left dozens dead. Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the attack, first revealed in The Telegraph, on members of the extended Samouni family in the Gazan town of Zeitoun “appears to have all the elements of war crimes.” Her remarks came after the International Committee of the Red Cross accused Israel of breaking the rules of war by failing to help the wounded in the incident.
Guardian – More than half a million jobs were lost in the US last month, taking the unemployment rate to its highest in 16 years. Job losses over the whole of last year totalled 2.6 million, the biggest annual loss since 1945 when 2.75m jobs were shed, the US labour department said. The bulk of the year’s job losses came in the last four months when 1.9m people were laid off. In December alone, US employers cut 524,000 jobs. The original numbers for October and November were also revised higher.
Times – A leading young Tory has been kicked out of the party after boasting about dressing up as Madeleine McCann at a New Year’s Eve bash. Matthew Lewis, a member of Conservative Future (CF) who has campaigned alongside David Cameron, wrote on his Facebook page that his costume would include a blonde wig, “pink pyjamas, a teddy bear and a vial of fake blood”. Other figures from the organisation joined in the joke about the missing five-year-old, with one responding: “Is this a cunning (Baldrick style) plan to obtain the reward money?” Caroline Spelman, the party chair, today branded Mr Lewis’s behaviour “totally unacceptable” and confirmed that he had been expelled. “This offensive behaviour is not only shocking but intolerable and completely unacceptable,” she said. “There is no place for this sort of person in the party.”
Independent – Moscow has agreed to the deployment of international monitors to oversee the transit of Russian gas to EU countries via Ukraine, clearing the way for the resumption of European gas supplies, the Czech EU presidency announced last night. Earlier, a senior Czech official said Russia’s gas exporting monopoly, Gazprom, had baulked at a deal, insisting that Russian monitors be allowed inside Ukraine, which it claims is stealing gas piped to EU markets across its territory. The breakthrough came after talks between the Czech Prime Minister, Mirek Topolanek, and German and Russian leaders. “This deployment should lead to the Russian supplies of gas to EU member states being restored,” the EU said. There was no mention of any timeframe for deploying monitoring teams, nor did it say when supplies might be restored.
Business:
BBC – UK manufacturing output fell at its fastest pace since 1981 in November, official figures showed, underlining the fragile state of the economy. Output fell 7.4% from a year earlier – the biggest drop since June 1981. On a monthly basis, the fall was 2.9%, the Office for National Statistics said. The news is likely to reinforce expectations that policymakers need to do more to stave off a deep recession.
Sky – Three of the UK’s most successful cities could lose more than 50,000 jobs over the next three years in the forthcoming recession. A new report predicts Leeds, Brighton and Bristol will lose up to 5% of their total workforce if the economic crisis worsens as feared. “This report shows that no city is going to be immune from the recession that we’re now in,” said Dermot Finch, from Centre of Cities, the authors of the report.
Also In The News:
ITN – Prince Edward will not be prosecuted over claims he beat his dog, the RSPCA has said. The Earl of Wessex was alleged to have mistreated the animal while out shooting at the Queen’s Sandringham estate in Norfolk. The RSPCA launched an investigation after receiving complaints following the publication of pictures that appeared to show Edward striking his black Labrador with a walking stick. But the RSPCA said there was insufficient evidence of wrongdoing to bring charges against the Prince, saying in a statement. Buckingham Palace said Edward waved his stick to break up a fight between his two dogs over a dead pheasant at Sandringham.
Metro – The creator of Barbie and Ken dolls was a kinky swinger with ‘a manic need for sexual gratification’, according to a new book. Jack Ryan – whose wives included Zsa Zsa Gabor – staged orgies at his BelAir mansion and surrounded himself with busty Barbie clones, according to author Jerry Oppenheimer. ‘When Jack talked about creating Barbie, it was like listening to somebody talk about a sexual episode, almost like listening to a sexual pervert,’ a friend is quoted as saying in Toy Monster: The Big, Bad World Of Mattel. Mr Ryan died in 1991.
Independent – Irked by cheese and onion? Dispirited by prawn cocktail? Bored with ready-salted? Well, why not reach for a bag of Cajun squirrel-flavoured crisps? Or perhaps you’d like to try chilli and chocolate. From today, jaded snackers will be able to choose from six wacky new crisp flavours – which also include crispy duck, onion bhaji, fish and chips and builder’s breakfast – following a competition the snack giant Walkers organised to find a 21st century rival to our old favourites. The most popular pack will go into full-time production after a public vote ends in May. About 1.2 million would-be food technologists submitted entries to the competition that consisted of a flavour and a picture that best summed it up.
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