Big Brother: UK to scan all emails, phone calls
The UK government will spend up to £12 billion to create a database to monitor and store internet browsing, emails and phone calls of every Briton, the Sunday Times reported.
The government has already allocated its communications headquarters (GCHQ) one billion pounds to finance the first stage of the project, being launched, it said, to fight terrorism and rising crime.
The Home Office said no formal decision had been taken but sources confirmed there was a general agreement on the programme. Hundreds of clandestine probes will be installed to monitor internet browsing, emails and telephone calls live on two of the country’s biggest internet and mobile phone providers — British Telephone (BT) and Vodafone. BT has nearly five million internet customers.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
UK electricity price four times more than France
British companies are being forced to pay over four times more for their electricity this winter than competitors in France and in excess of 70 per cent more than in Germany.
The discrepancy will increase concerns that Britain's crumbling power infrastructure is a growing threat to the country's competitiveness and comes as Ofgem today announces its report into competition in the energy market.
Wholesale power prices in the UK have soared because of a squeeze in generating capacity, which is expected to leave an unusually thin margin of spare supply next month.
The high UK prices are the result of the closure of a number of ageing nuclear and coal-fired plants for repairs, which has reduced generating capacity. Prices are expected to fall towards the end of the year as nuclear plants at Dungeness, Heysham and Hartlepool return to service.
Source: http://business.timesonline.co.uk
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75% of UK adults 'overweight
Three out of four UK adults are overweight or obese - more than previously thought, an expert said.
At least 75% are carrying too much fat even though official estimates put the figure at 66%, he said.
Dr Francisco Lopez-Jimenez, associate professor of medicine at the well-known Mayo Clinic in the US, said the way overweight and obesity is currently calculated is wrong.
He argued that body mass index (BMI) fails to distinguish between lean mass and body fat and so people in the "normal" range may still be carrying too much fat.
Dr Lopez-Jimenez said: "I believe that the UK's obesity problem is significantly worse than we thought.
"Our research has proved that one out of every five subjects with normal BMI has excess body fat and that these people are at risk from metabolic abnormalities that lead to diabetes and, eventually, to heart disease.
"Therefore it is important to correctly identify these patients from a public health standpoint and be more precise about the changing conceptualisation of obesity. It is currently reported that 66% of UK adults are either overweight or obese but, based on our research, it is more likely to be at least 75%."
Source: http://ukpress.google.com/
U.K. Stocks Fall to Lowest Since 2004
U.K. stocks plummeted, heading for their lowest close in almost four years, led by banks and mining companies on concern the credit-crisis is deepening and as metals prices plunged. HBOS Plc and Antofagasta Plc fell.
The FTSE 100 Index dropped 335.55, or 6.7 percent, to 4,644.70 as of 3:23 p.m. in London. The index is headed for its worst day since Oct. 26, 1987. The FTSE All-Share Index lost 6.6 percent and Ireland's ISEQ Index fell 9.3 percent.
The FTSE 100 has lost 27 percent this year as the cost of borrowing money for banks surged, two lenders were nationalized, and consumer demand weakened.
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The British benchmark slumped 13 percent in the third quarter, a fifth consecutive quarterly decline and its poorest showing since the same period in 2002.
"Another Monday, another banking crisis," Manoj Ladwa, senior trader at ETX Capital in London, said. "Black Mondays used to be a once-a-decade event. Now they're coming along more regularly than a London bus."
Source: http://www.bloomberg.com
'We're not going to win,' British commander says
Britain's top commander in Afghanistan says the war will not end in victory, the latest indication of soul-searching as Canada's allies grapple with how to handle the rising power of the Taliban insurgency.
The blunt statement from Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith - "We're not going to win this war" - came just days after a leaked diplomatic cable hinted that the British ambassador in Kabul has a similarly dark forecast. The brigadier suggested that a negotiated settlement will be necessary.
That places Britain, with at least 3,500 troops standing alongside Canada's forces in southern Afghanistan, in direct conflict with U.S. leaders, who continue to argue strenuously that the war can only be won by substantially defeating the Taliban. Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his ministers have endorsed that view, although most other NATO nations have favoured negotiations.
Source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com
Britain unveiled its new biometric identity card The government says it will be vital in fighting illegal immigration and terrorism, while critics call it an expensive attack on civil liberties.
The controversial multi-billion pound scheme, which involves one of the world's most ambitious biometric projects, will see ID cards used in Britain for the first time since they were abolished after World War Two.
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