| Second strike hits Tube services Commuters facing severe disruption on London's Tube network because of a strike are warned problems will continue until Tuesday morning. bbc.co.uk |
Rescue attempt blast killed UK aid worker Reports suggest British aid worker's captors detonated a grenade or a suicide vest when US forces stormed compoundThe parents of Linda Norgrove are waiting to be told how the kidnapped Scottish aid worker died when US special forces stormed a mud-walled compound in eastern Afghanistan.According to conflicting reports her captors either threw a grenade into the room where the 36-year-old was being held, or detonated a suicide vest.The unsuccessful rescue mission came three weeks after Norgrove was seized by insurgents in the mountainous province of Kunar, near the Pakistan border, on her way to view an irrigation project she had overseen.She had been working with the US aid organisation Development Alternatives Inc (DAI) and had been based in Jalalabad. An intrepid traveller, she had risked the journey into one of Afghanistan's most dangerous areas in the company of three trusted workers.After her Afghan staff companions escaped their captors, the security forces became fearful that Norgrove was about to be taken over the border in Pakistan. Tribal leaders were reported to have been trying to negotiate her release from the village of Dineshgal, where she was being held.Her parents, John and Lorna Norgrove, and sister Sofie were at the family home on the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides, when they were told the news of her death yesterday.Prayers were said for the family at a service in Uig church on the island this morning. The Church of Scotland minister Hugh Stewart said: "Sadly this has ended tragically and the whole community is feeling this very badly and deeply. It is a very close-knit community. We will continue to remember the family in our prayers."Norgrove's former teacher at Uig school paid tribute to a "bright" girl. Margaret Macleod said: "She was a truly lovely girl. Something that marked her out even at her then young age was her caring towards others."She was always concerned about the welfare of her friends and classmates. She was a bright, caring and calm girl and I hoped those qualities would help her in the situation she faced. The whole community is devastated and deeply upset – heartbroken by her death. Her parents are really wonderful and caring people."Norgrove's parents manage a croft and keep cattle in Uig. Her father was a civil engineer and her mother a charity worker.The Foreign Office and the Department for International Development said they had no plans to alter official advice to aid workers in Afghanistan. Norgrove was the third British aid worker killed there since the summer.In July, Shaun Sexton, 29, from Northumberland, a former member of the Parachute Regiment, died during an attack on DAI offices in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan. He had been working as a security guard.A month later the British doctor Karen Woo and nine other aid workers and translators were killed by gunmen in the north-eastern province of Badakhshan in what police said was a robbery. She had been with Christian International Assistance Mission, a charity providing eye care in remote villages.AfghanistanUS militaryUnited StatesOwen Bowcottguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Equitable Life pay-out '£1.5bn' The BBC understands that the government is to pay customers of Equitable Life compensation totalling £1.5bn - but campaigners and policy holders say it is still not enough. bbc.co.uk |
Public divided over coalition spending cuts, poll reveals YouGov survey reports 41% believe government moves are good for economy, with same amount saying they are badThe public is split over the coalition government's plans for drastic cuts, according to the first poll conducted since Wednesday's comprehensive spending review.The YouGov survey for the Sun reports 41% saying that the government's moves are good for the economy, 41% saying they are bad, and 18% saying they don't know.But, asked if the cuts were too harsh or too cautious, 44% said too harsh, only 6% too cautious and 38% just right.And asked if the spending reduction was being managed fairly or unfairly, 50% said unfairly while only 36% said fairly. In addition, 49% said the government was cutting too fast, against 4% who said it was too slow and 35% said about right.A majority, 55%, said they agreed that "the government's plans to cut public spending amount to a desperate gamble with people's livelihoods" – one of Labour's key lines of attack.However, the coalition government seems to have won the argument that cutting the deficit in this way is the only reasonable option available. The poll reports 58% saying the cuts are unavoidable, against 29% saying they are avoidable, something the shadow chancellor, Alan Johnson, has argued. In addition 47% blame the last Labour government for the cuts, against only 17% blaming the coalition.Yesterday the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) thinktank contradicted key claims made by George Osborne, the chancellor, and other government ministers, about the fairness of the £81bn austerity programme. The IFS said poor people would be hit harder than the rich, the four-year plan would see spending for most secondary school pupils cut, and Whitehall departments would face deeper cuts than under Labour's plans.Nick Clegg responded by calling the report "distorted and a complete nonsense". Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, said today: "Instead of trashing the Institute of [sic] Fiscal Studies, the deputy prime minister should be owning up to the truth. This was a spending review driven by ideology, hitting lower and middle income families the hardest. We have consistently warned about the consequences of cutting too far and too fast."The unedifying spectacle of Mr Clegg rubbishing the IFS will convince nobody of the government's case."Today's YouGov figures for the state of the parties will make worrying reading for the Clegg and his party. While their coalition partners the Tories are on 41%, the Liberal Democrats are languishing on 10%, a fall of 13 points since the general election in May. Labour is snapping at the Conservatives' heels on 40%. Other parties were on 9%.The poll found 40% approve of the coalition government, while 45% disapprove. Both of these figures had risen by one point since the spending review.Other questions threw up some interesting answers. Asked whether the three party leaders were prepared to "take tough and unpopular decisions", 62% said this applied most to the Tories, with Labour and the Lib Dems managing only 10% and 5% respectively.The Conservatives were most trusted to reduce the country's deficit (Con: 50%, Lab: 18%, Lib Dems: 3%), encourage economic growth (37:27:4), and, by a small margin, to cut spending in a fair and equal way (28:27:9).YouGov also asked about specific policies. The proposal to remove child benefit from high-rate taxpayers – which caused fury in sections of the press and Tory party when it was announced at the Conservative conference – commands the support of 74% of those polled.More people oppose (44%) than support (39%) the idea of cutting 490,000 public sector jobs.Justice secretary Kenneth Clarke's policy of using community sentences instead of jail for some crimes is opposed by 60%, while allowing rail fares to rise faster than inflation is opposed by 80%.Asked if the NHS, state schools, police forces and the BBC will get worse or better over the next few years, in every case more people said each service would get worse.Spending review 2010Liberal-Conservative coalitionTax and spendingWelfarePublic sector cutsPaul Owenguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
BBC to break ranks on public sector pay The BBC has ignored pleas for public sector pay restraint with a multimillion-pound offer to boost the salaries of more than 13,000 workers. timesonline.co.uk |