Sarah Brown defends father Gordon opposite bullying claims

Sarah Brown stepped into the bullying row engulfing Downing Street yesterday in a sign that she will play a key role in the campaign to help her husband cling to power.

Making her most overtly political public remarks to date, Mrs Brown defended the Prime Minister against allegations that he has abused Downing Street staff and she attempted to depict his forceful personality as an asset.

"Gordon"s the man that I know and the man that I love," she declared in a TV interview.

Defence: SarahBrown joined her husband"s cheerleaders as she insisted he wasnot a bully and "what you see is what you get"

"People have heard me talk about him and they probably know everything that I would have to say about him. I know him as a strong, hardworking decent man and he isn"t anything else."

More...Gordon Brown"s "bullying" digitally recreated in spoof videoLegalising assisted suicide will put elderly and disabled under pressure to end their lives, says Gordon BrownAMANDA PLATELL: Samantha Cameron vs Sarah Brown: In this election battle, every frock, heel and cardi counts

In an apparent veiled swipe at Tory leader David Cameron"s carefully-cultivated public image, Mrs Brown said of her husband: "What you see is what you get with him."

Jibe: Minister Phil Woolas slammed National Bullying Helpline chief Christine Pratt as a "prat of a woman" as the row plumbed new depths

Labour strategists say Mrs Brown, a former PR executive, will beasked to follow in the footsteps of Michelle Obama and become herhusband"s election campaign "closer".

Mrs Obama was known as "thecloser" during the U.S. presidential campaign in 2008 for her abilityto win over undecided voters.

Allies of the Prime Minister are drawing up plans for MrsBrown to tour the country with him in the election campaign. She isalso expected to be asked to do solo events.

Mr Brown"s supporters hope she will help "soften the edges" of the Prime Minister"s dour public persona.

Her intervention in the increasingly poisonous row over claimsin a book by political commentator Andrew Rawnsley that the PrimeMinister bullied staff was seen as an indication of how seriously it isbeing taken in No. 10.

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"Gladys is coming on well. She"s a cleaner at 10 Downing Street"

Immigration Minister Phil Woolas blundered into the furorewith an attack on the chief executive of the National BullyingHelpline, Christine Pratt, who claimed to have received calls fromdistressed staff in Downing Street.

Playing on her name, and apparently insulting the town whereher charity is based, he said: "I think this attack on him (Brown) bythis prat of a woman down in - where"s she from, Swindon? - I thinkthat"s backfiring on her."

Heathrow pirate think Peter Blake hands himself in to military

Surrender: Peter Blake has handed himself in to police and will now face a landmark trial accused of the 2004 heist at a warehouse at Heathrow

A man who absconded from a landmark trial where he is accused of taking part in a 1.75million heist at Heathrow handed himself in to police today.

Peter Blake, 57, of Notting Hill, west London, surrendered to Flying Squad officers at the Royal Courts of Justice.

He is one of four alleged armed robbers accused of a February 2004 raid at Heathrow Airport who were put on trial without a jury.

Blake disappeared from court at lunchtime last Wednesday and police launched a nationwide manhunt for him.

The fugitive suspect, alongside his co-accused John Twomey, Barry Hibberd and Glen Cameron, are being tried by Mr Justice Treacy after being accused of taking part in a "professionally executed" robbery.

The court heard that an armed gang of six wearing high-visibility jackets escaped with 1.75million in various currencies.

It is alleged that the thieves had intended to steal more than 10million from the Menzies World Cargo warehouse, but made off with just a fraction of their intended haul. The money has yet to be recovered.

Guns were used to threaten 16 members of staff, who were then tied up. One of them was shot at as he tried to escape.

The Court of Appeal ruled last year that the case should be heard by a judge alone because of the danger of jury tampering.

It is the first major criminal trial in England and Wales to be held without a jury.

Blake"s escape had raised questions about the decision to grant himbail.

Shortly after the afternoon session resumed last Wednesday, he asked for permission toleave court to consult a member of his legal team.

But Blake, whohad been on court bail for up to three years, failed to return andpolice were called in.

He and the other three alleged robbers were given bail understrict conditions because it was the fourth trial they faced over thesame allegations.

All four men on trial deny a series of charges including robbery and firearm possession.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "Peter Blake, 57, has been arrested after he handed himself in at the Royal Courts of Justice today.

"He is currently in custody and will appear before the judge in due course."

BMW to offload UK grant liabilities to Deutsche

LONDON Sun Feb 21, 2010 8:00pm EST Related News CORRECTED-Assn formed to move longevity risk to capital marketsTue, Feb 2 2010BMW looks at insuring UK pension liabilitiesMon, Feb 1 2010UPDATE 1-BMW looks at insuring UK pension liabilitiesMon, Feb 1 2010BMW in talks to offload UK pension liabilities: reportSun, Jan 31 2010Association formed to transfer longevity risk to capital marketsSun, Jan 31 2010 Stocks & &

LONDON (Reuters) - German car maker BMW (BMWG.DE) is set to announce a deal on Monday to offload 3 billion pounds ($4.62 billion) of longevity risks from its UK pension scheme to Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE), the Financial Times reported.

Deals

The German bank"s insurance subsidiary Abbey Life will carry out the deal, which was structured with British pension insurer Paternoster, the paper said.

No one at Deutsche Bank or BMW could immediately be reached for comment.

BMW"s defined benefit pension fund had 4.4 billion pounds in liabilities and a 584 million deficit according to its last valuation report in April 2007.

(Reporting by Caroline Copley; Editing by Bernard Orr)

Deals

German primogenitor denies it plans to delist TUI Travel

LONDON Sun Feb 21, 2010 11:43am EST Related News TUI AG optimistic for 2009/10 after weak Q1Mon, Feb 15 2010PRESS DIGEST - British business - Feb 10Tue, Feb 9 2010 Stocks & &

All the sparkle of the Coca-Cola Football League: Brave Barnet show conform (non)sense

Brave Barnet show fashion (non)sense

Barnet"s players were visions in lilac at Port Vale when theysported an away kit (below) reminiscent of Italian club Fiorentina. Foronce, they even played with Serie A swagger, recording just their thirdaway win of the season. Now they"ll want to wear it every week.

Deep Purple: Barnet"s John O"Flynn

Remember the feeling, lads?

Part one: On Saturday, a hardy bandof Stockport County fans negotiated a 478-mile, nine-hour round trip toExeter. It was worth it, though, as they witnessed the League Onebottom club"s first win since October. Part two: October was also themonth in which Grimsby had last scored more than a single goal in amatch until a rip-snorting 2-2 Lincolnshire derby draw against LincolnCity. Now they just need a first win in 23 League matches.

Scouts Corner

Aswith every starlet at a major club, Charlie Adam has had to bide histime. The midfielder, 24, finally gave up on his dream to become aRangers regular when Blackpool signed him for a club record 500,000last summer. Twelve goals in 28 starts later including the second ina 2-0 win over Reading and his dreams are now tangerine. Sportsmail valuation: 1million

Theres a tractor (boy) parked in the goal . . .

Itwould not have been lost on the Carrow Road faithful that the man whostopped their side scoring for the first time in 26 League One games intheir 2-0 defeat Southampton keeper Kelvin Davis spent two seasonsacross the other side of the Norfolk-Suffolk divide at bitter rivalsIpswich.

Red mist: Gorka Pintado was sent off for this Savage tackle on the Derby skipper

Savage more sinned against than sinning?

Even whenhes innocent, Robbie Savage is always at the centre of things, itseems. The Derby midfielder, upended by the crudest of challenges fromSwanseas Gorka Pintado (above), ended up as part of an 18-man melee a customary happening at Pride Park of late which eventually sawPintado sent off.

Its the hope that hurts

Bottom of theentire Football League, 13 points from safety and playing at a hollowground in front of 2,209 fans, Darlington promised an unlikely win overpromotion-chasing Chesterfield when they led 2-0 with 10 minutes left.Three disasters later, 2-0 became 2-3 and despair hit home harder thanever.

Roys honesty policy

Ipswich Town boss Roy Keane

;Managersare paid to make decisions and Ive got a lot wrong this year. Maybe Igot one or two right today. The buck stops with me and I know Ive notdone well enough this season. But I know we have to get through thissticky patch as a team if I want to be a top manager. Ipswich boss RoyKeane (left), both relieved and candid after his side moved out of thedanger zone with a 1-0 win at Sheffield Wednesday.

Cards cost on the coast

With his second red card of thecampaign, defender Adam Virgo collected the ninth dismissal ofBrightons season. As on every other occasion, the loss of a man meantno victory, Virgos early bath helping Leeds to an injury-timeequaliser.

Payback . . . sort of

It has taken two yearsbut Barnsley have finally laid the ghost of Wembley past. Their 2-0 winat Cardiff sealed a season double over the club which denied them an FACup final in 2008. Theyd still swap it in an instant, though.

Gate of the day

;AccringtonStanley? Who are they? went the old Milk Marketing Board advert. Itseems fewer people are asking that question after Stanley attracted3,396 to the Crown Ground to witness a 2-0 win over Bradford, theclubs highest crowd of the season and 243 more than League Two leadersand neighbours Rochdale.

More...Nottingham Forest 1 Middlesbrough 0: West Ham reject Chris Cohen deals Hammer blow to BoroBristol City 2 West Brom 1: No boing for the Baggies as promotion chase hits bump in the roadQPR 2 Doncaster 1: German efficiency gives Rangers renewed optimismBlackpool 2 Reading 0: Campbell and Adam put Royals in troubleCrystal Palace 0 Coventry 1: Bell tolls as Warnock"s Eagles fall into drop zone

UPDATE 3-Brazil statute celebration claimant vows smoothness

Sat Feb 20, 2010 1:20pm EST Related News Brazil"s ruling party endorses Rousseff candidacySat, Feb 20 2010FACTBOX-Positions of Brazil"s ruling party candidateFri, Feb 19 2010CHRONOLOGY-Key dates in Brazil"s presidential raceFri, Feb 19 2010Brazil"s Lula plans no 2014 election bid - reportFri, Feb 19 2010Serra holds lead in Brazil presidential race-pollThu, Feb 18 2010

* Ruling party endorses chief of staff Rousseff"s candidacy

Stocks&&&&Currencies&&&&Bonds

* Rousseff to step down from current job by April 3

* Party proposes continuation of Lula policies

(Adds detail, Lula, delegates, changes byline)

By Ana Nicolaci da Costa and Fernando Exman

BRASILIA, Feb 20 (Reuters) - President Luiz Inacio Lula daSilva"s chief of staff on Saturday vowed to continue Brazil"sinvestor-friendly economic policies if she won the Oct. 3presidential race as the ruling Workers" Party candidate.

Speaking to the party"s national convention in Brasiliaafter it formally endorsed her candidacy, Dilma Rousseff, 62,said she would maintain fiscal discipline, a free-floatingexchange rate, and inflation targets -- the pillars of Lula"seconomic strategy.

"We will ensure macro-economic stability," Rousseff, atrained economist, told the party"s delegates in the capitalBrasilia. She added that she felt "totally prepared" to governthe country.

She would become the country"s first female president,though two opinion polls released this month show her trailingconservative Sao Paulo state Governor Jose Serra of theopposition PSDB party by between 5 percent and 11 percent.

Lula, the most popular president in Brazil"s recent historybut prevented by law from running for a third consecutive term,said Rousseff"s candidacy was not designed to hold his placefor a possible return in 2014.

"I want her to win a second mandate," said Lula, a formerunion leader who virtually imposed Rousseff"s candidacy on theWorkers" Party that he founded 30 years ago. He said he chose herfor her rigor, ethics and determination.

Brazil has during Lula"s rule consolidated its position as oneof the world"s leading economies. It bounced back quickly from abrief recession last year and its economy is expected to grow bymore than 5 percent this year.

The Workers" Party on Friday approved a campaign platform thatproposes extending Lula"s economic policies. But it also includedproposals to expand the role of state enterprises, tax big wealthand expand social welfare programs.

Rousseff told chanting supporters that, as president, shewould continue to expand the civil service despite warnings byopposition parties of the rising costs of maintaining a bloatedand inefficient state bureaucracy.

WOMEN VOTE

Lula, a union leader who rose from humble, working-class rootsto the presidency, urged Brazilian women to support Rousseff inthe election in an effort to battle deep-seated gender inequalityin a country where few women have risen to high political office.

"Women are still treated like second-class citizens," Lulasaid.

His appeal resonated with some of the 3,000 delegates andothers in attendance at the convention.

"It"s high time for a woman president," said CibeleFiguereido, a 50-year old teacher and Rousseff supporter.

While an all-female percussion group gyrated its way throughthe flag-waving audience after Rousseff"s speech, a small group oftattooed natives in traditional headdress protested against thegovernment"s Indian policy.

Rousseff must step down from her current post by April 3 incompliance with electoral law and will then have to negotiate withas many as 10 potential allied parties to forge a common campaignplatform.

She said she wanted to continue working with Lula"s currentcoalition, a group of 11 parties ranging from the far left to thepolitical center.

"I want to form a government coalition," said Rousseff, whowas a left-wing guerrilla militant during the country"s 1964-85military dictatorship.

Some analysts, however, say she lacks Lula"s political savvyto manage often volatile party interests.

Unlike the folksy Lula, Rousseff is generally seen asuncharismatic and prone to technocratic speech, which pollsterssay could lose her votes in a country where a candidate"spersonality may outweigh campaign issues. [ID:nN19203137]

"I think the biggest obstacle Dilma will face is that shelacks the ability to communicate with the people," said RomuloCarneiro, town mayor in the northeastern Ceara state.

(Additional reporting by Carmen Munari and Maria CarolinaMarcello; Writing by Raymond Colitt; Editing by Paul Simao andVicki Allen)

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Genome investigate shows what cancers have in usual

Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO Wed Feb 17, 2010 4:08pm EST Related News Aspirin cuts death risk after breast cancer: U.S. studyTue, Feb 16 2010Five percent of lung cancers in men are job related: studyMon, Feb 15 2010Occupation a key factor in men"s lung cancer riskMon, Feb 15 2010Researchers find sex-specific lung cancer genesTue, Feb 9 2010Few high-risk women in U.S. take breast cancer drugMon, Feb 8 2010

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Genetic abnormalities -- missing DNA or duplicate DNA -- that fuel the growth of one type of cancer may actually be at work in several others, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.

Science&&&&Health

The finding, based on a large-scale study of the genetic make-up of 26 different types of cancers, suggests cancer has less to do with where in the body it occurs, and more to do with the genetic changes that cause it to grow.

"A lot of the events that cause cancer are common between cancers of different tissue types," said Matthew Meyerson of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute of Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, whose study appears in the journal Nature.

"You have breast cancer, lung cancer, cancer of the kidney -- many of the events that cause these cancers are going to be the same," Meyerson said in a telephone interview.

"What that means for treatment is that many treatments may be used across many different kinds of cancers."

The finding is based on an effort started in 2004 to systematically map the genetic changes across different types of cancers.

The team focused on specific aberrations in the genetic code known as somatic copy-number alterations, in which segments of a tumor"s genome contain extra copies of a piece of DNA or lack the segment altogether.

For the study, the team collected more than 2,500 cancer specimens representing more than 24 cancer types, including lung, prostate, breast, ovarian, colon, esophageal, liver, brain and blood cancers.

They combined this with publicly available data from another 600 tumor samples.

"What we"re seeing here is that the copy number events that are happening in some of one cancer type are happening in some of another cancer type," Meyerson said.

Out of 17 different types of cancer, they found that most copy number changes -- either extra or missing DNA -- were present in more than one type.

For drug companies, Meyerson said the finding suggests that rather than developing drugs to treat a specific type of cancer, companies may need to focus on drugs that target genetic changes that drive cancer growth.

"In principle, there could be broader drugs that could be effective against many cancers," he said.

(Editing by Eric Walsh)

Science Health

Digital Britain faces communications relapse as farming businesses are left in broadband passed section

Getting through a bitter winter has been tough enough for farmer Steve Roberts, but as he prepares for the lambing season he has been hit by a problem that is plaguing many rural businesses - the failure to establish a fast and efficient broadband internet connection.

It is vital to Steve, 26, because by law, every one of the cattle on his Shropshire farm needs a "passport" if it is moved to an abattoir - and applications have to be made online.

Isolated: Steve Roberts and his father George are about to lose an internet service which is vital for managing livestock

As a business owner he will soon have to file VAT returns online and as chairman of the local Young Farmers" Club he relies on his computer to send countless documents.

"We may be farmers but we do a lot of our work online," says Steve, who runs the 250-acre farm with his father, George, 61.

"Applying for cattle passports for every single animal will take forever with a dial-up connection and there"s no way I"ll be able to do my work with the Young Farmers without broadband. I"ll probably have to step down."

More...Compare broadband deals (thisismoney.co.uk)Find the best mobile broadband dongle (thisismoney.co.uk)

In this part of Shropshire, the broadband connection used by hundreds of homes and businesses for the past three years is about to be unplugged. QI Comm, the company that provides the service, says it is not economically viable and is pulling out at the end of March.

The local residents are outraged. Polly Smith, 62, lives in Clun Forest, Shropshire, and has worked as a parish clerk for 17 years, most recently from home. She has now reluctantly decided to retire when the broadband service is axed.

"I find my job very interesting but I deal with so many planning documents and consultation materials that I just wouldn"t able to do it without broadband," she said. "Many people around here will be lost without broadband and it must devalue your property being in an area without it."

Philip Dunne, Conservative MP for nearby Ludlow, is chairman of the All-Party Group on Rural Services and has been inundated with complaints.

"Broadband has enabled remote areas to generate business activity," he said. "This is devastating for businesses who rely on broadband and we are trying to help people cope with this."

Robert Humphreys, who lives in Chapel Lawn and is secretary of the influential All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group, which scrutinises the Licensing Act, said: "It"s been a complete shambles.

"Millions of pounds have been dished out by the regional development agency to private contractors to build the network, but there was no thought for how running costs were to be met."

Advantage West Midlands (AWM), the development agency for the area, invested 869,000 in the QI Comm project out of a total 2.3 million that it has spent on rural broadband.

Humphreys is seeking a meeting with Dunne to ask if the National Audit Office could look into the deal. "This is public money that has been spent here and it certainly hasn"t met its objectives."

Charles Grant, operations director of QI Comm, told Financial Mail that the service was being withdrawn because "it hasn"t been economically viable". He said: "We"ve lost 150,000 a year for the five years we"ve had the contract.

"BT can"t provide traditional broadband in this area because some areas have poor quality lines or are too far away from the exchange, so we built the network using radio waves. But the amount of potential subscribers means that it just didn"t work financially."

QI Comm has offered to leave its equipment for the residents to set up their own non-profit group to run the broadband network, but many are reluctant, not least because this will involve renegotiating rents with the farmers on whose land the phone masts stand and recruiting volunteers to help run the service.

Mark Pearce, the corporate director of economic regeneration for AWM, has a different view about the failure of the service. "We saw the importance of broadband very early on," he said.

"Of the five projects we set up, just one - with QI Comm - hasn"t worked. It"s deeply unfortunate for those individuals affected and we are trying to find out how we can help them."

Shropshire"s problems are reflected across Britain, either in rural communities or where the existing phone lines are of poor quality.

A report detailing exactly where the "dead zones" exist in the broadband network will be released in the next few weeks by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, but Government figures say that one in ten households - about two million homes - are not able to access broadband.

However, the Government"s own "universal service commitment" made in its Digital Britain report last year promised that by 2012, every British household would be able to access broadband of speeds up to 2Mbps.

"It is a tight deadline," said Dunne. "I am extremely sceptical that they are going to achieve that."

The Government admits there have been delays but promises action soon. Regional development authorities have in the meantime been developing services ad hoc, with varying degrees of success.

Cumbria is one of the most rural areas but 99 per cent of the population have broadband access thanks to a 20 million investment by the Northwest Regional Development Agency.

In Yorkshire there are several schemes funded by European and local and central government grants aiming to connect as many as possible to broadband.

However, a 1.35 million scheme by Norfolk County Council to provide free wireless broadband in both rural and urban areas ended in 2008 after two years.

As Dunne put it: "We are in the midst of a technical revolution, but there is an anxiety that people on the fringes are going to be left behind."

Many people living in Britain"s rural communities will be fearful that he is right.

Additional reporting by Kathryn Snowdon

UPDATE 1-IMM dollar prolonged bets top given Sept 2008-CFTC

Fri Feb 19, 2010 4:40pm EST Related News IMM speculators dollar long bets highest since "08: CFTCFri, Feb 12 2010UPDATE 1-IMM speculators dollar long bets highest since "08-CFTCFri, Feb 12 2010IMM speculators increase long bets on US dollar-CFTCFri, Feb 5 2010IMM speculators go long US dollar-CFTCFri, Jan 29 2010IMM speculators increase short bets on US dollar-CFTCFri, Jan 22 2010

(Updates with details) NEW YORK, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Currency speculators increasedbets the U.S. dollar will rise to the highest level since theweek of Sept. 23, 2008, according to Commodity Futures TradingCommission data released on Friday. The value of the dollar"s net long position rose to $9.69billion in the week ended Feb. 16, from $9.41 billion in theprior week. The Reuters calculation for the aggregate U.S. dollarposition is derived from the net positions of InternationalMonetary Market speculators in the yen, euro, British pound,Swiss franc, Canadian and Australian dollars. The net short euro position at 59,422 contracts hit a freshrecord. Speculators boosted their short bets against sterling andreduced their long positions on the yen. The CFTC data also showed speculators sharply increasedtheir bets on the Canadian dollar, with long positions at23,455 contracts, up from 8,863 in the previous week. To be short a currency is to bet it will decrease in value,while being long a currency is a bet that its value will rise. JAPANESE YEN (Contracts of 12,500,000 yen) 2/16/10 week 2/09/10 weekLong 35,691 41,352Short 21,779 18,956Net 13,912 22,396 EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros) 2/16/10 week 2/09/10 weekLong 34,459 34,867Short 93,881 92,019Net -59,422 -57,152 POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling) 2/16/10 week 2/09/10 weekLong 13,922 14,012Short 70,001 66,768Net -56,079 -52,756 SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs) 2/16/10 week 2/09/10 weekLong 10,763 9,219Short 15,430 16,115Net -4,667 -6,896 CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars) 2/16/10 week 2/09/10 weekLong 35,026 24,285Short 11,571 15,422Net 23,455 8,863 AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars) 2/16/10 week 2/09/10 weekLong 43,315 44,346Short 16,312 16,740Net 27,003 27,606 MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos)-1,342,317,429.41 2/16/10 week 2/09/10 weekLong 43,429 42,328Short 8,965 10,054Net 34,464 32,274 NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 New Zealanddollars) -525,728,850.00 2/16/10 week 2/09/10 weekLong 14,523 14,359Short 7,088 9,636Net 7,435 4,723 (Reporting by Wanfeng Zhou; Editing by Kenneth Barry)

Currencies

Currencies

Obama signs healthcare Bill as Republicans proceed authorised quarrel for repeal

Giles Whittell, Washington & , : {}

The US health reform Bill was signed into law by President Obama yesterday in a momentous and momentarily profane White House ceremony that few imagined possible two months ago.

The law brings immediate changes to the rules governing American health insurers and injects new urgency into Republican efforts to repeal the Bill or defeat it in the courts.

Using a rack of 22 pens that will each become cherished souvenirs, Mr Obama signed a measure that ends Americas longstanding distinction as the only advanced economy to lack basic healthcare coverage for all.

He welcomed a new season in America after a century of trying and a year of debate and said that he looked forward to a political season when the heated rhetoric of that debate would confront the reality of reform.

Related LinksJoe Biden: healthcare "is a big f***ing deal"Obama and healthcare: the downsideThis debate is far from over

Moments earlier, after Joe Biden, the Vice President, had introduced Mr Obama in the East Room of the White House, Mr Biden leaned in to give his boss a hug and was caught by microphone saying in the Presidents ear: This is a big f***ing deal.

Yesterday a Republican contender for the presidency accused Mr Obama of betraying the nation. Mr Obama had succumbed to the lowest denominator of incumbent power, justifying the means by extolling the ends, said Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts Governor. The Bill would raise taxes and create new entitlements that the US can ill afford, he added.

The new laws immediate effects include a ban on withholding health insurance from children on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions, and a provision for young adults to stay on their parents policies until the age of 26. A raucous invited audience in the East Room of the White House applauded each ingredient of the Bill as Mr Obama listed them, and gave standing ovations as he paid tribute to Senator Kennedy and to his own mother, who he said argued with insurance companies even as she battled cancer.

On Capitol Hill, conservative senators are attempting to derail a package of amendments to the Bill signed yesterday, using points of order and amendments of their own. In 13 states Republican attorneys-general have announced lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the reform Bill, while Mr Romney and others are campaigning to repeal it at the federal level.

Repeal efforts cannot succeed as long as Mr Obama is President, since he would be able to veto any repeal Bill. Under a Republican administration a simple majority in both houses of Congress would be enough, but the history of big US welfare programmes suggests that, once granted, they quickly become too popular for politicians to retract.

The legal challenges are based on claims that under the so-called commerce clause of the US Constitution, government cannot force citizens to buy insurance.

In principle the Supreme Court might look kindly on such arguments, since it has a 5-4 conservative majority, but experts doubted that the court would relish the role of arbiter. Its nothing but trouble for the courts when they gainsay big acts of the legislative branch. It would make Bush v Gore look like a Sunday afternoon picnic if the Supreme Court invalidated this healthcare Bill, said Professor Larry Sabato, of the University of Virginia, referring to the presidential election recount of 2000.

And they dont want to go back to that. They went through Hell.

HIS NIBS

When President Obama signed the health reform Bill, many may have been surprised that he inscribed his name using 22 ceremonial pens.

It is part of a tradition that dates back many decades by which US presidents have often used multiple pens to sign important legislation so that they can give them as tokens of gratitude to people who worked for the Bills passage. With only 18 letters in Barack Hussein Obama and 22 pens, however, the President had to be creative with his pen strokes.

Arriva shares soar on ultimate takeover offer

Robert Lea Industrial Editor & , : {}

Shares in Arriva soared by scarcely a fifth currently after the train and trains organisation reliable that it had perceived the second takeover proceed in as most months.

Although Arriva refused to name the bidder, it is accepted that the proceed has come from Deutsche Bahn. The German ride organisation declined to comment.

The headlines sent Arriva shares up 101.5p to 681p. The batch has leapt 50 per cent in the 7 weeks given it perceived a takeover proceed from SNCF, Deutsche Bahn"s good French rival, that had programmed to combine Arriva with the Keolis subsidiary.

Talks in between the companies unsuccessful this month.

Related LinksArriva shares burst as partnership rumours returnArriva calls off talks over French mergerArriva will hold on to CrossCountry authorization

Arriva owns the CrossCountry intercity rail user in the UK, runs trains in Wales and is a personality in the London train market.

In a statment to the London Stock Exchange, the association said: "Arriva confirms that it has perceived an unsolicited proceed from a third celebration about a probable suggest for the company. There can be no faith that any suggest will be forthcoming."

hair wig

Red Knights lift 1.5bn for plan to buy Manchester United from Glazer family Manchester United

Kevin Eason, Sports News Correspondent, Helen Power, Business Correspondent & , : {}

Sixty super-rich investors have affianced up to 1.5 billion in their bid to seize carry out of Manchester United, The Times can reveal.

Although the Glazer family have insisted that the champions are not for sale, the leaders of the Red Knights, the organisation of heading City financiers at the at the back of of the move, will lay at their turn list currently to differentiate by a abounding list of field ready to at the back of a buyout.

We thought we had 40 investors well, it is already 60, one of the Knights pronounced last night.

It might meant that a bid for Britains greatest bar could shortly be a picturesque awaiting and that the Knights will be in a on all sides to have an suggest that cannot be refused.

Related LinksGill casts disbelief on Knights takeover plansRed Knights bid for United gains credenceFerguson offers assistance to US prior to World Cup

The strength of the bid will turn transparent currently when Jim ONeill, head of tellurian mercantile investigate at Goldman Sachs and a lifelong United supporter, and his organisation break down into parts the offers on the list at the City domicile of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, the tip law firm.

With him will be Mark Rawlinson, a comparison partner at Freshfields, and Paul Marshall, the multimillionaire owner of the Marshall Wace sidestep fund.

The Red Knights hold that the bar is value about 1 billion, whilst the Glazers gratefulness that they demand does not proportion to an asking cost is we estimate 1.2 billion.

David Gill, the United arch executive, discharged the Red Knights out of palm this week, describing their takeover plan as unworkable.

But annoy at the large debts run up by the Glazers that has rippled by the Old Trafford stands is right away creation waves in boardrooms as it appears that heading investors as well as fans, who have been strike by big increases in sheet prices, are rallying at the at the back of of the Red Knights.

The Manchester United Supporters Trust (MUST), that is campaigning to reject the Glazers, pronounced last night that membership was on aim for 110,000 some-more than doubling in a day since the Red Knights plan emerged on Tuesday.

Duncan Drasdo, the arch senior manager of MUST, said: The expansion rate is positively phenomenal. MUST right away has some-more debate members than the central Manchester United membership scheme.

There is still a prolonged approach to go, though. According to Gill, the Glazers are austere they will not sell one of the majority cherished resources in universe sport, whilst ONeill, who has been since management by Goldman Sachs to aspire to the bid, and his organisation still have to infer that they have the money to wring carry out from Uniteds argumentative American owners though they might be means to do so by the finish of Friday.

hair wig

eBay golf bar conman Gary Bellchambers locked up for 4 years

Adam Fresco, Crime Correspondent & , : {}

The head of a tellurian crime network that hoodwinked eBay business in to shopping feign branded golf clubs was locked up yesterday.

Gary Bellchambers, 46, oversaw a network offered golfing accessories, wardrobe and passes for an airline loll on a scale that, it is believed, has never been seen before, Snaresbrook Crown Court was told. Over 4 years the squad was obliged for the sale and placement of hundreds of thousands, may be millions of pounds value of tawdry products both in the UK and abroad, utilizing the auction website. Investigators found that scarcely all the tip brands together with TaylorMade, Odyssey and Callaway were copied in the singular largest counterfeiting swindling nonetheless unclosed on eBay.

The phoney clubs were constructed in Shenzen, China, and Bellchamberss bank statements suggested that he had done a money withdrawal from an ATM in the southern Chinese city.

Adam Davis, for the prosecution, pronounced that the swindling was of a indeed tellurian nature. Conspirators are thought to have been formed in Thailand, Australia, Germany, Singapore, the US, Hong Kong, China and products have been distributed from, or to, all those countries and more, he said. Conspirators were found in Wales, the Republic of Ireland, Aberdeen, Dorset and Birmingham.

Related LinksGolf bar fraud "cost eBay business millions"Identity squad found guilty of eBay fraud

Bellchambers was locked up for 4 years and 3 months; Keith Thomas, 49, his UK-based book-keeper, for sixteen months; and Roy Cottee, 66, a pensioner, for twelve months. Other members of the squad were since dangling sentences.

Judge Jacqueline Beech said: This was a rarely worldly and essential operation. When a golfer purchases a bar temperament a code name or trademark, they are profitable for years of investigate and growth and for a golf bar that represents the slicing corner of sports apparatus technology. The expectancy is that the clubs will assistance them urge their diversion and positively not have it worse.

Bellchambers outlayed time in Thailand, and between expats was seen as a successful general businessman, owning houses there, a piece share in a yacht, a grill in Australia and shares in most companies.

At home in Rainham, Essex, he lived in an ex-council residence and gathering an old Ford Escort, to equivocate the courtesy of the authorities. They were alerted when a lady complained to trade standards officers after perplexing to get a reinstate on dual golf clubs and carrying her letters ignored.

Cottees wife, Kay, 46, Bellchamberss sister Sharon Williams, 49, Helen Wilson, 29, a childminder, and Chris Moughton, 56, unemployed, were all since dangling sentences for their purposes in the conspiracy.

Williams, Wilson and the Cottees were all convicted of impasse after an 11-week trial. Bellchambers, Thomas and Moughton all confessed their guilt.

Expressing compensation that the squad had got what they deserved, Bill Adams, Havering councils principal trade standards officer, said: Ive been an questioner for 35 years and never listened of such a large counterfeiting operation.A mouthpiece pronounced that eBay were gratified with the sentences; the squad used a network of criminals to open and say eBay accounts utilizing fake documentation, bank, credit label and hit details.

hair wig

Adventurers plan to jetski from London to Auckland

Sophie Tedmanson in Sydney & , : {}

A organisation of adventurers formulation a universe jot down jetski float from England to New Zealand to lift income for cancer investigate have strike a stumbling retard with the Port of London Authority.

Organisers of the 20,000-mile (32,000km) universe jot down attempt, dubbed The Ultimate Ride, plan to set off from London on the Thames River in Aug prior to streamer opposite the North Sea to Holland. They will afterwards float their personal watercraft by fifteen cities prior to reaching Auckland on New Zealands North Island an estimated 120 days later.

The group will be led by Jeremy Burfoot, a Qantas commander from Auckland who was the initial to detour New Zealand on a jet-ski in 2006.

Mr Burfoot, 50, pronounced the group of 6 had programmed to begin their 18,000 nautical mile tour on the Thames to one side Big Ben and the Palace of Westminster to benefit limit bearing for their cause, but they have not been since permission.

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The London Port Authority have pronounced that jetskis are not authorised on the Thames, Mr Burfoot told The Times. So weve got someone in London seeking in to it, but if they contend no well only have to begin serve down the river.

Mr Burfoot, who was diagnosed with a cancer in 2005, pronounced he wants to finish The Ultimate Ride to foster cancer awareness. He came up with the thought whilst he was piloting a jet and motionless the march should follow the London-Sydney airline route, but on H2O and with an additional leg to Auckland thrown in.

Three jetskis will follow the route, with a catamaran roving at the back of as a await boat. The group will hang especially to the coastlines as they transport some-more than median around the creation on jetskis, for up to eight hours a day.

"We"re rebellious one of the world"s majority iconic routes; the London-to-Sydney tour has been done important by all kinds of courageous travellers, though nothing have attempted it on a personal watercraft," Mr Burfoot said.

Mr Burfoot, who has been roving jetskis for ten years, pronounced that the group had started training.

The group will pass by fifteen cities on their approach to Auckland, together with Frankfurt, Belgrade, Istanbul, Cairo and Mumbai. They will additionally transport along twelve waterways, together with the Rhine River, the Black Sea, the Suez Canal and the Great Barrier Reef.

Their track takes them by Europe to Turkey, past Greece, along the west seashore of the Red Sea and in to the Gulf of Aden at Yemen. The group will afterwards be since a naval chaperon as they transport by bandit hotspots off Somalia.

They plan to reach Auckland by November.

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G�rard Depardieu sparks injustice row over purpose as mixed-race Dumas

Charles Bremner in Paris & , : {}

A row over injustice has soured the recover of the ultimate movie in that Grard Depardieu takes on one of the giants of French history.

Black actors and campaigners are dissapoint that the white movie star was expel as Alexandre Dumas, a French inhabitant favourite with churned African blood.

The blond, blue-eyed Depardieu sports curly hair and darker skin to fool around the bard of The Three Musketeers in LAutre Dumas.

Dumas, the worlds most-read French bard and an exuberant, high-living celebrity, was the grandson of a former Haitian slave. His father, nonetheless a Napoleonic-era general, was referred to as a Caribbean negro.

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In his lifetime the bard was mocked for his African facilities and he called himself un nègre.

The film, that non-stop to commend last week, is a illusory story about Dumas family in the mid-19th century with Auguste Maquet, the bashful partner who is credited with plotting and drafting majority of the Count of Monte Cristo and the Three Musketeers trilogy.

Non-white celebrities, a little Dumas experts and black organisations are indignant since they contend that the producers longed for a possibility to applaud racial farrago in France and remind the universe of the writers origins. There is a resource of permanent taste by silence, Jacques Martial, a black actor, said.

Patrick Lozès, the boss of the Council of Black Associations of France, said: In 150 years time could the purpose of Barack Obama be played in a movie by a white actress with a hairy wig? Can Martin Luther King be played by a white?

In an online make a difference the legislature pronounced that the cast of characters of Depardieu was justification of Frances disaster to foster non-white stars in the motion picture and media.

Very couple of of the compatriots know that Alexandre Dumas was churned competition and deliberate to be a black in his lifetime, it said.

The movie commits a stand in sin in the eyes of the legislature since the tract discredits Dumas might by depicting his white partner as the loyal bard of his works. Possibly for blurb reasons they are whitewashing Dumas in sequence to grow dark him further, it said.

That evidence is all the some-more spicy in French since nègre stays the customary word in the denunciation for spook writer, or well read collaborator. In the movie Maquet is played by Benoît Poelvoorde, a Belgian star.

The drive-in theatre makers pronounced that Depardieu was the preferred compare for the novelist, whose functions have been incited in to 200 films. Not usually has the actress played majority of Dumas heroes, but additionally his larger-than-life celebrity resembles that of the novelist. The vividness of Depardieu is the undiluted essence of Dumas, Frank Le Wita, the producer, said. The theme is not le nègre, but la nègritude [ghost writing] in literature.

Safy Nebbou, the executive and of churned competition himself, remarkable that Dumas had been one-quarter black. It would have been an ancestral blunder to have selected a mixed-blood actress ... He had blue eyes similar to Depardieu.

However, Mr Nebbou, 41, conceded that France is enormously at the back of the Anglo-Saxons in the make a difference of actors from alternative racial backgrounds.

As well as stirring debate over the cast of characters the movie is irritating Dumas fans with the graduation of the topic that Maquet and Dumas alternative assistants should embrace some-more credit for the adventures that have perplexed so majority readers.

Lifetime of books

Alexandre Dumas was innate in 1802 in Villers-Cotterêts, northeast of Paris

He changed to Paris when he was twenty and worked at the Palais Royal in the bureau of Duc dOrlans Louis Philippe, who, after the Revolution, became the Citizen King

His initial piece for one person play, Henry III and His Court, constructed in 1829 was well received, enabling him to turn a full-time bard

Dumas tied together Ida Ferrier, an actress, in 1840 and fathered at slightest 4 young kids with 4 alternative women. One daughter and a son, additionally called Alexandre Dumas, became successful writers

His dual majority important functions The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo were published in 1844 and 1845 respectively

The Last Cavalier, created in 1869, was left unpublished and lay undiscovered in an repository in Paris for some-more than 130 years

Dumas worked with dozens of collaborators, together with Auguste Jules Maquet

Maquet waived all tenure rights until 1859 when the span fell out over money. Maquet afterwards took Dumas to justice 3 times

Source: Times database

Ex-Fatah members "may have led Mossad assassins to their victim"

Sheera Frenkel in Jerusalem, Catherine Philp, Diplomatic Correspondent, and Sean O"Neill & , : {}

Two Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel could yield the initial petrify justification joining Tel Aviv to the gangland slaying of a comparison Hamas leader.

The murdering has stirred an general row over the burglary of identities from European adults to yield fake passports for the assassins during their mission to kill Mahmoud alMabhouh at his Dubai hotel.

Britain, France, Germany and Ireland have all demanded an comment of Israels purpose in the fraud, believed to be the work of the Mossad view agency. The Dubai operation would be the initial time that it had been suggested to have used the unfamiliar passports of Israeli citizens.

A former Mossad representative reliable to The Times that Israel has on a series of occasions used the European passports of Israelis with twin citizenship of that there are many.

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There are times where such passports are useful, of European adults or elsewhere, he said. We have, in my experience, used the passports of British adults here.

Israel refuses to endorse or repudiate the involvement. Israeli officials have additionally played down fears of a lasting tactful rift, observant the deficiency of plain justification joining Mossad to the killing.

That could all shift if the suspicions of the Dubai troops are confirmed: that twin Palestinians with purported links to al-Mabhouh helped to lead the Israeli assassins to their target.

Anwar Sheibar and Ahmad Hassanain, who were extradited from Jordan to Dubai this week, are former members of the security use for Fatah, the main Palestinian opposition of Hamas. The twin lived in Gaza until the Hamas takeover of the domain in 2006, when they fled a purge.

One of the men reportedly headed to Dubai after being condemned to genocide by a Palestinian Authority justice in Ramallah a usual low mark for partnership with Israel and met the other, a close relations who had left there from Gaza.

A comparison Palestinian comprehension central told The Times that it was rarely expected that both men had well known alMabhouh privately during their time in troops comprehension in the Gaza Strip.

Their sworn statement could infer explosive. The twin men were taken to Dubai this week at the ask of the troops there, who pronounced that the span had fled the Gulf emirate around the time of the killing.

Dahi Khalfan Tamim, the Dubai troops chief, pronounced that one of the men had been noticed assembly one of the declared suspects in a questionable place and manner. His relations was hold so that no one would come and govern him here as well, and to find what was his attribute with the first, Mr Tamim added.

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Great white shark outnumbered by the tiger, sea scientists warn

Mark Henderson, Science Editor, in San Diego & , : {}

The good white shark has turn so in jeopardy that it is right afar outnumbered by the tiger, a heading sea scientist claimed yesterday.

New investigate has referred to that race numbers for the oceans majority feared predator have been overestimated since most good whites have been double-counted, according to Ronald ODor, of Dalhousie University, in Halifax, Canada, the comparison scientist at the Census of Marine Life project.

He told the American Association for the Advancement of Science discussion in San Diego that electronic tagging of good white sharks had finished researchers some-more desperate about the survival.

I not long ago listened a inform from the group thats been tagging good white sharks, he said. The estimated sum race of good white sharks in the worlds oceans is essentially less than the array of tigers.

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We listen to an horrible lot about how involved tigers are but, apparently, good white sharks are flattering close to the same level. Some people say, I dont care, they eat people, but I think we have to give them a small space to live in.

The World Wildlife Fund right away estimates that fewer than 3,200 tigers sojourn in the wild and all 6 of the superfluous subspecies are personal as involved or critically involved on the International Union for the Conservation of Natures Red List of Threatened Species.

The good white shark is personal as exposed on the Red List, denoting a less serious difficulty of concern.

Dr ODor pronounced that the revised guess of race numbers was formed on unpublished investigate led by Barbara Block, of Stanford University.

There was a array of writings published by Barbara Block at Stanford on good whites that had tagged, Dr ODor said. The writings showed there is a apart race in between Hawaii and the California seashore that is genetically graphic from the one in Australia. Based on their bargain on populations, they have finished a little estimates of how most sharks there are.

People see a good white shark on the South California coast, and an additional hundreds of miles away. We are right afar bargain that they are some-more mobile than we thought and, actually, the the same shark looming in opposite places.

Gang targets €4.6 million gin rummy game

Allan Hall, Berlin & , : {}

A squad armed with machineguns, grenades and machetes done off with an estimated €250,000 (225,000) after attack a gin rummy contest in Berlin.

Their transport was piece of a €4.6 million last pot for the label players receiving piece in the European Poker Tour general tournament, that had captivated the tennis hold up Boris Becker and the British-born writer Charlotte Roche. Becker had been in between the players but was separated prior to the raid. Several players and road house guest were bleeding when members of the masked squad of 6 men stormed the Grand Hyatt Hotel nearby the Brandenburg Gate usually after 2pm on Saturday.

We thought it was a little kind of militant electrocute in the making, pronounced one guest. One of the men screamed: Dont move we have bombs.

The men headed to a room on the initial building of the five-star road house where the 945 entrants to the gin rummy tournanent spin over income for chips.

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A road house bellboy became the favourite of the day when, after income was pressed in to one of dual bags, he managed to run off with the lions share of the income whilst the squad were creation their getaway.

Police guess that the bag they unsuccessful to take had roughly ¤560,000 stashed inside. There is right away a dragnet opposite Europe for the men, who took in between €240,000 and €250,000, according to media reports.

CCTV cameras at the road house and the adjoining selling centre have supposing transparent images of the balaclava-clad gang. A security ensure wrestled one of the men to the belligerent but an additional of the squad strike his eye with a machete.

Two of the thieves stood ensure outward the road house and the sixth was the motorist of a black getaway car. Police arrived as well late to catch them and the spoliation lasted usually a couple of minutes.

The last gambling sessions of the contest were behind on yesterday but this time underneath armed military guard.

Robbers" jackpot

• Rolando Ramos, a man spooky with the movie Oceans Eleven, stole $1.5m (1m) from a Californian casino armed with a cosmetic gun and peppers mist in 2007

• Jose Vigoa and his squad stole millions of dollars from five Las Vegas casinos, in a 16-month duration commencement in 1999

• Raiders stole €500,000 (450,000) at gunpoint from a casino in Malta in Feb and transient in a speedboat

Source: Times database

Budget 2010: �1m home sales to account stamp-duty cut

By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent 129PM GMT twenty-four March 2010

The Chancellor, Alistair Darling, presenting the 2009 Budget in the House of Commons Photo PA

Stamp avocation on the majority costly houses will right away be levied at 5 per cent. New buyers will compensate no stamp avocation on homes up to 250,000.

• Follow the Budget 2010 on the live blog

Budget 2010 full coverage

Delivering his pre-election Budget, the Chancellor was cheered by Labour MPs as he voiced that buyers of the majority costly homes.

"The housing marketplace is right away stabilised but majority initial time buyers still find it tough to get a mortgage. I wish to assistance them," Mr Darling said. "I wish to do it in a approach that is scrupulously funded."

"I will stand in the stamp avocation stipend for initial time buyers to 250,000 from midnight tonight," he said.

"This service will be saved in an enlarge in the stamp avocation on residential skill over 1 million."

Before the changes stamp avocation was levied on skill values on top of 125,000. It starts at 1 per cent. Previously, it rose to a limit of 4 per cent for the majority costly homes.

The Labour move to enlarge stamp avocation thresholds is certain to lead to accusations that ministers are hidden Conservative policies.

General Election 2010 More on the Budget 2010

The Conservatives in 2007 voiced a oath to enlarge the starting point to 250,000 for initial time buyers. They pronounced the move would have it simpler for immature people to get their feet on the skill ladder for the initial time.

The Tories have estimated that their stamp avocation oath would cost 250 million a year, income they pronounced they would lift by levying a special annual assign on "non-domiciled" rich people.

Mr Darling sought to measure a domestic point opposite the Tories with a anxiety to the party"s Belize-based emissary authority Lord Ashcroft, who has non-dom taxation status.

The Chancellor pronounced measures in his Budget would move in one some-more taxation value half a billion pounds each year.

He told MPs, to Labour cheers "I can additionally right away discuss it the House that we are ready to pointer taxation report sell agreements with 3 one some-more countries - Dominica, Grenada and Belize."

Other measures enclosed

Guarantee that everybody will have entrance to a bank account, formulating a million some-more bank customers. Work or precision for all under-24s out of work for 6 months. Six some-more months of debt await for the unemployed. ISAs Limit to climb from 7,200 to 10,200 and will enlarge afterward annually in line with inflation. Duty on beer, booze and intoxicating beverage to climb 2%. Tax on cider increasing by 10% on top of acceleration from midnight on Sunday. Tobacco avocation increases currently by 1% on top of acceleration this year, afterwards 2%. Inheritance taxation starting point solidified for 4 years. RBS and Lloyds to yield 94 billion of new commercial operation loans, half of them to small and middle businesses. New expansion collateral account to yield collateral for fast flourishing firms. Business rates cut for a year from Oct - definition 345,000 will compensate no rates at all. Tax allowances for entrepreneurs and no enlarge in collateral gains tax. 100 million to correct internal roads after winter repairs and 285 million for motorways. 2 billion immature investment bank to yield equity to clear in isolation zone appetite investment. Motor industry upheld to rise electric cars. Help for beautiful zone together with computer games and movie industries to be offered. Universities contingency have potency savings. 35 million for University Enterprise Capital Fund for innovation. 270 million one-off remuneration for university modernisation. 4 enlarge in kid taxation credit for immature young kids from 2012.

Mr Darling sat down at the end of his Budget at 1.30pm.

Jim Telfer lays in to genuine England Six Nations Rugby

Mark Palmer & , : {}

JIM TELFER has dismissed the initial written bombardment prior to Saturdays Calcutta Cup clash, job Englands strategy naive, doubt the merits of captain Steve Borthwick and fly-half Jonny Wilkinson, and lambasting Martin Johnsons behind three. Telfer corroborated Scotland to win at Murrayfield since they are a improved group than England. England are poor, and we [Scotland] have some-more grown up rugby ideas, pronounced Telfer, who turns 70th this month. Englands strategy are so naive, theyll never measure most tries. I listened Danny Care contend they would have been on a hurl if they had knocked about Ireland but if he unequivocally thinks theyve been personification well, the frightening. England have absolute forwards and a great behind row, but theyve got problems with Borthwick and Wilkinson. Telfer believes the Toulon event is personification the diversion as it was played 10 years ago and that he has turn easy to urge against.

He additionally indicted Delon Armitage and Ugo Monye of carrying a bad work-rate. Armitage only stands at the back, grinning. Monye is a lost essence half the time. He done a poetic mangle opposite Ireland, but it was an collision as far as I could see. I similar to [Mark] Cueto and the behind 3 could be an item for Johnson, but the alternative dual arent sedulous enough.

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Easter special: ask Tom - your transport dilemmas answered Travel

Easter shun ... Holy Week (Semana Santa) in Seville, Spain. Photograph: Eduardo Abad/EPA

We"ve left it late to book an Easter mangle and are right afar deliberation not going at all unless you can come up with something. We"d similar to to be in Europe with a bit of sunshine, a possibility to see a little Easter celebrations and drifting from a London airport. We can customarily be afar over the week end itself. Help!Justin Moira Stephens, by emailThere isn"t a complaint with accessibility this Easter. There are still flights and hotels around. However, at this rise time bargains are scarce. You can travel, but if you wish to go to renouned places it won"t indispensably be cheap. You should additionally book as shortly as possible.

For a dash of prime colour and one of the world"s good Easter celebrations target for Seville. The consummate of Semana Santa (Holy Week) will be busy, but it"s unbeatable for an Easter event. Current temperatures are around 21ºc and sunny. For this reason hotels come at a bit of a premium, in all on Good Friday, but prices begin entrance down for Saturday and Sunday nights. Expedia is charity 3 nights at the four-star Silken Al-Andalus Palace for �358.82 not together with breakfast. Ryanair flights are still accessible drifting out early on Friday and behind in on Monday for �129.95. For some-more moody options see skycanner.net and cheapflights.co.uk.

You competence cruise receiving a day outing out of the city as it will be chaotic whilst the celebrations are receiving place. For a lowdown of what to expect, see andalucia.com. The small locale of Santiponce is home to a little glorious Roman ruins. Or Osuna, a poetic old locale that is home to a little pleasing mansions and a 16th-century monastery, is a 90-minute train float on the highway towards Granada.

The interior of the Cathedral of SS Peter and Paul. Photograph: Yadid Levy/Robert Harding World Imagery

We"re travelling to St Petersburg over the Easter duration - can you discuss it us if we"re going to onslaught to get in to the big sights? Any alternative tips for the city?Alex Hughes, LeicesterThe Orthodox Church, and thus Russia, in all celebrates Easter on the same dates as alternative Christian churches this year and subsequent year. There are marked down opening hours on open holidays at state museums. But Easter is not a open legal holiday in Russia so big-hitters should be open as usual. The Hermitage is sealed each Monday. If there"s one you in all have designs on you can check opening hours online. Services will be receiving place at churches and cathedrals, but you should be means to revisit in between, and there"s zero to stop you watching these customarily extensive affairs. The customarily alternative thing to bear in mind is that temperatures are still hovering around frozen during the day, and dropping subsequent frozen at night. The sure side of this is that the big thaw, that turns streets to slush, has nonetheless to entirely set in.

Our family (us dual and an eleven and thirteen year old) need a little regard after this winter. Where is object on trial at this time of year that doesn"t obligate a long-haul flight? We"d similar to a bit of fad too.Chris Barry Simpson, LondonIt depends what you meant by long-haul. You mount a good possibility of anticipating comfortable fever as far north as Andalucia - see on tip of - but to flattering majority pledge it north Africa is the majority appropriate place to begin looking. Adventure Company (0845 609 1137) have a accumulation of small organisation tours to Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt with varying accessibility over the Easter propagandize holidays period. As you competence expect, things are some-more liquid the week after the prolonged week end but for departures subsequent week they still have space on their seven-day Ancient Egypt Explorer that visits Cairo and Luxor with an discretionary prolongation to the seashore at Hurghada costing from �1,029 for adults and �1,059 for children. They additionally have space on their Saharan Sands outing that entails on vacation oases, camel movement and exploring Marrakesh. This outing leaves on twenty-eight Mar and costs �819 for adults and �739 for children. Land customarily options can cut the cost of these trips further. The company"s customarily note of counsel is that moody accessibility might be singular and a little supplements might be payable. Other places where you will find fever embody the Canary Islands, Dubai and, usually, Cyprus. Lastminute.com have a preference of Easter breaks still accessible to all these destinations.

We"re on vacation Rome over the prolonged Easter weekend. What are the chances of removing in to see Rome fool around Internazionale on the Saturday? Any tips for removing a ticket?Stuart Stephens, by emailIt"s not seeking overly carefree for this one. For majority Roma matches at the 72,000 genius Stadio Olimpico it"s probable to buy tickets on the days heading up to the diversion from club shops and the track box office. Roma normal less than 40,000 fans per game. For a big diversion similar to this however, with both teams roving high in the table, some-more club members wish to take up their tickets so there aren"t most spares available. Listicket (+39 06 3700106) sell sure sections of the stadium, but one of their beneficial English-speaking call centre staff explained that their grant was sole out and that the total belligerent was approaching to go the same approach in the subsequent integrate of hours. You do still have a integrate of options open to you. First, verbalise to your hotel. They might be means to secure you some. Though this will be at a mark-up, it"s less unsure than the second option, shopping a sheet off the touts who cling to around outward the track - infrequently even on non-match days. Friends who have paid for tickets in this approach have finished up in receive of children"s tickets that destroy to benefit them access, so ensue with caution. Tickets can additionally be brought at a reward and with a large commission and smoothness price from seatwave.com. Rather than compensate the big prices, you might have some-more fun anticipating a club and shower up a little internal atmosphere. Suggestions from readers are welcome.

Feedback

Just review your ultimate Ask Tom covering New Zealand. Before recommending Rangitoto Island, I would contend that Waiheke Island has some-more to suggest for a day out from Auckland; illusory beaches, good restaurants, vineyards and cafes. You can get the same perspective that you have referred to in your essay from the tip of Mt Eden in the heart of Auckland. Waiheke Island is a 35-minute packet outing from Auckland, ferries each hour from 5.30am-Midnight.

Lloyd Canham

Read full essay 1 2 · Next page

Purple is the shade du jour

By Jane Cullen 639PM GMT twenty-three March 2010

Lilac lipgloss, 6.26, by Revlon from boots.co.uk. Nail shimmer in Lilac, 2.50, from marksandspencer.com. Eyeshadow in Purple Show, 19.50 by Dior from houseoffraser.co.uk. Blusher in Azalea, 19.50 from maccosmetics.co.uk. Lilac shimmer by Revlon

If I told you that this time subsequent week you would be on foot around with dual glossy purple eyelids, you would consternation possibly I had proposed wearing a spangley turban and was foretelling a small detrimental accident. Or if I had simply left mad.

But tatter not. I divulge zero some-more sinister than that the make-up direction this open is the colour purple.

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Of late, spring/summer hues have tended to be confidant and punchy neons, fuchsias and corals but this year the flattering delicate colour palette is in vogue. Purple stays the shade du jour, but instead of medieval dim plum shades suggesting clamp and Twilight movies, a lighter and some-more wearable lilac is the colour to plump for.

When any shade is "hot," do not even think about dousing yourself in it from head to toe. Purple and lilac are wily sufficient to wear at the majority appropriate of times. It is a matter shade, so speak up usually a small mauve in to your common see to have it uninformed and stream for this springtime.

Brown eyes see generally flattering embedded with a lilac shade. Although it is one of my majority hated phrases it unequivocally does have peepers "pop". When selecting a shade, majority people fit a cool light lilac with blue undertones. A rich, fuller mauve with a red undertow can fit olive skins, but beware,as it can have eyes see red and sleepy as against to striking.

For those who select to fondle with a lilac eyeshadow, or even usually a purple eyeliner, for a minimalist see it functions majority appropriate when underdone. Just a light sharp of black eyeliner and mascara to supplement clarification should be enough; this was how it was ragged at the Versace Spring/Summer 2010 show. So positively no matchy-matchy violet lipsticks. You will usually see as if you slept in a mortuary the prior night.

At the Dior Spring/Summer show they suited iris eyelids with extreme red lips a confidant look, usually for the brave. Think instead of light bare or beige shimmer to contrariety the stand-out eyes. For a really pared down look, a sharp of relief would work usually as well.

Avoid pinkish blusher. The coming will be as well young, as well cutesy. Pink and purple are close on the colour spectrum so the multiple will be de trop think glorious indication rather than catwalk model. Instead, see for possibly a pointed coral glow or usually a hold of bronzer on the cheeks to carve and comfortable up a see that can simply crop up as well cold.

If youd rather say your common neutral eye make-up, afterwards try incorporating a lilac shade mouth gloss; it will fast refurbish and debonair up your look. Lavender and lilac mouth shades are identical to dark pinks the colours can see utterly heated in the blood vessel but they leave usually a spirit of a stain on the mouth. Purples additionally have the profitable outcome of giving the teeth an ever-so-slightly whiter appearance.

For those who wish to put up with in the direction but feel as well old or cowardly, there is the spike polish option. Everywhere you see you will see a candy-coloured spike or toe. A flattering lilac shade is not a matter nail. Its looks similar to a quirky take on a beige bare or easy-to-wear pinkish (my lucky look) and shows a curtsy to conform but being as well try-hard.

So give purple a go, you competence usually lilac it.

The most appropriate and misfortune of dot-com mania

Murad Ahmed & , : {}

In 2000, 63 dotcom millionaires appeared on the Sunday Times Rich List. A year after there were only 26. Here are a little of the infancy appropriate -- and worst:

Amazon.com: Founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos, Amazon proposed as an online bookstore. Although others were chasing the internet bullion rush, Amazon followed a delayed set up strategy. The association told unfortunate shareholders that by the 1990s, it did not design to have a profit.

But those strategy meant that, when the dotcom burble burst, Amazon was clever sufficient to tarry and in the future incited a distinction in 2001.Today it is one of the worlds heading e-retailers - winning the marketplace in online book sales. It has incited to construction the own products, rising the insubordinate Kindle electronic book reader in 2007.

Venda: Dan Wagner had experience with construction successful start-ups. In 1994, he brought Maid, a monetary report company, to market. In 2000, he began a new commercial operation that would energy websites. He longed for to call the organisation Venda, but the owners of the domain name asked for 5 million to buy it. After the dotcom burble burst, he paid for the Venda name for 12,000. Then for 250,000 he paid for the jot down height at the back of Boo.com, the online conform store that was an additional dotcom victim. Now Venda powers Tescos conform site and has companies such as Panasonic and TK Maxx as customers.

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Hotmail: Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith founded Hotmail in 1996. The web-based e-mail complement allows users to entrance their inbox from anywhere in the world. Millions proposed receiving up the service. On Mr Bathias 29th birthday, the association was sole to Microsoft for $400 million, creation him a 1,333 per cent distinction on a product that he was giving to his commercial operation for nothing. Safely in Microsofts stable, Hotmail was trustworthy to the US group"s Windows software, that runs the infancy of the worlds computers. Hotmail has left on to be the worlds infancy renouned webmail service.

Napster: This was launched in 1999, the brainchild of Shawn Fanning, a tyro at Northeastern University in Boston. The use gave users an easy approach to share their music, undermining the commercial operation indication for song companies who formerly sole copies of these songs exclusively. The use was sealed by a justice sequence in 2001, after authorised battles with jot down labels and song copyright holders. The Naptser code and trademark was paid for alone and right afar operates as a authorised paid-for song service. It might appear similar to a failure, but Mr Fannings invention kick-started the file-sharing series and pushed the song commercial operation in to the digital world.

Google: The worlds infancy renouned poke engine was founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Users desired the service, but it was a good thought but a commercial operation model. This was until Google motionless to sell promotion to one side poke results. It waited prior to rising the IPO in Aug 2004.Today, the revenues surpass $6.5 billion (4.3 billion) and it is deliberate the worlds infancy successful internet company. Although it has interests in publishing, online video and telecommunications, 99 per cent of the revenues are still the outcome of poke advertising.

Lastminute.com: When the online transport group arrived in 1998, co-founder Martha Lane Fox became the print lady for the e-boom. Lastminute only got in underneath the wire; the 2000 batch marketplace levity coincided with the ripping of the bubble. The shares jumped 40 per cent the day it floated but had lost scarcely half the worth inside of 3 weeks. A survivor, the commercial operation was sole for 577 million in 2006 and is still around today.

Pseudo.com: In 2000, Josh Harris, arch comparison manager of pseudo.com was being described as the Warhol of webcasting. The association was attempting to emanate an online TV network. Shows such as Launder My Head, a computer animation, were gaining a cult following. It grew to have 175 employees. Mr Harris pronounced at the time: The new child is in town; the new child is receiving over as aristocrat of media... Im in a competition to take CBS out of business. A couple of months later, the association filed for bankruptcy. A comparison senior manager was forced to discuss it the staff: We ran out of money, it was that simple."

Moonfruit: Wendy Tan and Eirik Pettersen helped to set up Egg, Britains initial internet bank and had eager backers for their new project. In Jan 2000 they launched Moonfruit, a association that would assistance people to have their own websites. They lifted 5.4 million from investors - the infancy entrance from Bernard Arnault, the oppulance products tycoon. Moonfruits plan was to sell promotion whilst giving afar the program packages free. But not sufficient firms longed for to advertise, and Moonfruit did not have sufficient users to have it worthwhile.Next year at slightest 60 staff were dismissed. It still exists today, offered free and subscription-based models of the software.

Jewishnet: Set up at age sixteen by Benjamin Cohen, who became the Internets youngest and UKs initial paper millionaire the subsequent year when the amicable site was valued at 5 million. Cohen in the future sole his shares for a small 40,000. He is right afar a publisher at Channel 4.

Boo.com: If Lane Fox, was the print girl, Kajsa Leander, along with Ernst Malmsten one of dual photogenic Swedes who set up this conform site, was the antithesis. Boo.com typified the excesses of the era. It collapsed in May 2000, 6 months after it launched after investors refused to put up uninformed funds. Their hostility was understandable; the site had burnt by $135 million among speak of intemperate vital and flights on Concorde.

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Dont be a income muggle. You cant means it Janice Turner

Janice Turner & , : {}

In Reykjavik the air was rebate 3C; inside the prohibited pot, the H2O a bum-boiling 42C. Postponing the cold skitter to the becoming different rooms, I got articulate to the lady next to me, and, as regularly on this holiday, couldnt dispute asking how she was finding, yknow, the tellurian monetary meltdown.

Call me an mercantile rubbernecker or usually a penetrate but whilst Id regularly longed to revisit Iceland given it is the planets geology pop-up book and doubtful sequence of cool, Id come in conclusion given it was bankrupt. What does a wrecked Western economy see like? I had to see. Would there be dereliction, panic, working unrest, identical to the demonstrations outward the countrys council construction a year behind when Icelanders pelted ministers with skyrr (the glorious local yoghurt)?

None of that now. Enormo 4x4s slip by the city; we reserve for the nicer restaurants; people are well-clad and appear purposeful, not desperate. Then my father went in to a bank to repel € 400 to compensate the landlady. Is it for an Icelander? asked the cashier, identical to a little Soviet functionary. Why does she wish euros? He was forced to take krona instead. And you realise, whatever the coming of removing by, these people are no longer free, but tethered by their dry banking to their black, volcanic moonbase.

At the swimming pool, however, my next door neighbour was sanguine. Oh, Ive stopped celebration of the mass the papers, she pronounced when I asked about the Icesave referendum, in that this week end her republic will opinion on either to pay off British savers fleeced by Icelandic bankers. We were all so dissapoint at the time [August 2008]; people thought theyd lost everything. But weve got a bit wearied with it now, and, well, hold up goes on. There will regularly be . . . she gestured at the bubbling H2O and laughed . . . prohibited pots!

Britons and Icelanders are presumably sealed in mortal conflict. They hatred us, were told, for misusing anti-terrorism legislation to freeze their resources when Landsbanki crashed, and given we are a big beast republic commanding punitive seductiveness rates on debts due by a race the distance of York/Croydon/Basingstoke (insert comedically provincial place here). Except that I enjoyed zero but liberality and kindness, and anyway, rather than being enemies, we are firm by a identical fate.

Both the countries are slow in an eery stasis, watchful for the bad to happen. When it comes, what it will bring, we are not nonetheless sure. Icelanders wouldnt know even after this referendum what turn of personal want their inhabitant debts will entail. Meanwhile, Britons step water, being told this necessity rebate commercial operation will be grim, but not how grave given the domestic leaders wouldnt pattern the courage to yield sum until safely elected.

In watchful we have lost focus, lost the means of the predicament and, given annoy is burdensome to sustain, grown sleepy of flinging yoghurt. In Iceland, the pick press quips that the republic could lapse to solvency by flourishing high-grade skunk in the geothermal greenhouses. And notwithstanding frightful levels of disastrous equity on their often spanking new flats, Icelanders shopped ferociously this Christmas. And so whilst the adults they destitute are smoking or spending or joking, the Icelandic try capitalists who on purpose targeted the assets of typical British family groups by Icesave are still not in jail. Here in Britain we have grown some-more disposed to fury when MPs get an additional 1,000 a year than when the destitute state bank RBS awards itself bonuses totalling 1 billion.

At root, the complaint is the own monetary illiteracy. I verbalise for myself here, and for each alternative business-page-binning dope who thinks it cool, catchy and kinda grand to contend you dont get money. Because how can we take to charge the bankers when, identical to muggles preoccupied to the workings of the sorceress world, we cant even sense what they do?

A crony of mine, a smart, well-educated woman, invested in Icesave. Well, since not, given it gave 5.2 per cent seductiveness and kick all the alternative deals on those online best-buy lists? Yet she had no opinion of the initial element of monetary seductiveness is higher given risk is greater. And conjunction did I. But I do now.

Ive usually review a conspicuous book, Whoops! by John Lanchester, that in superb phrases and smart analogies, explains the predicament to the economically dyslexic in a approach that essentially sticks. So, to my amazement, I eventually sense things such as leverage, credit default swaps, derivatives and am indignant with my ditsy former self who discharged these as the domain of the tedious City sorts you get lumbered with at parties.

Now I have a craving to assimilate more; to my amazement, I am cast of characters in reserve Heat repository and reaching for The Economist. And I am not the usually one to whom it has dawned as well late that we are vital in critical times and that it is the avocation to understand. Lanchesters book is high up in Amazon rankings, and when I saw David Hares new fool around The Power of Yes principally, a two-hour, no-interval economics harangue there was an intense, complicated silence. The assembly was packaged with liberal, middle-class people who, identical to Hare himself, would not mental condition of unwell to sense the domestic measure of a fight or a unfamiliar calamity, nonetheless who let the bankers run amok given they regarded their traffic as someway over and underneath them.

Strangely, what I have learnt from my baby stairs in to monetary waters is aha! I was right all along. My instincts, my healthy guess of something for nothing, meant that Id have speckled this would all go tits-up. Dubais new income regularly looked droll to me, as did Irelands. I was prolonged endangered about immature people maxing out credit cards; indeed, when invited to Downing Street 3 years ago, I ranted about personal debt to a dismayed Gordon Brown.

So we econo-idiots, those of us who have to ask someone each Budget day to insist seductiveness rates to me again, should not give up. In Iceland and Britain, zero has altered yet. This is as well critical a time to disengage. We contingency sense and make use of believe to stoke the anger. The wizards are counting on the ennui: they plan to fly afar prior to we lame their spells.