January 31, 2011, 8:25 pm
![Image]( "Cowen seeks to dissolve parliament")
Irish Taoiseach Brian Cowen is to seek the dissolution of the Dail parliament as voters await formal confirmation of the general election date.
The Taoiseach, who remains in charge of the country until a new Government is formed, will make his farewell speech to the 30th Dail at 2.30pm.
Mr Cowen announced his retirement from frontline politics on Monday night.
Opposition leaders will be allowed a chance to respond to his valedictory address before the Ceann Comhairle invites other retiring MPs to speak.
Oireachtas officials expect the final session to last up to one and half hours. Immediately afterwards, Mr Cowen will be driven to Aras an Uachtarain where he will ask President Mary McAleese to formally dissolve the parliament.
The pair will sign the necessary warrant in the state reception room before posing for photographs.
Mr Cowen is then expected to travel to Tullamore for the Fianna Fail selection convention in his Laois/Offaly constituency.
Candidates will be officially announced after the party's final selection convention. Mr Cowen's brother Barry Cowen, a councillor, has been widely tipped to stand in his place for the seat formerly held by their father, Ber.
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February 1, 2011, 12:24 am
![Image]( "Trust apologises over patient death")
A hospital trust has apologised to a family after a "nil by mouth" patient developed pneumonia and died after he was given sponge pudding and custard.
Mark Ullyatt died after nursing staff at the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield fed him a small amount of food and fluids, which got into his lung and caused him to develop pneumonia.
Mr Ullyatt, from Sheffield, had been recovering from surgery and was strictly to be kept nil by mouth, meaning he should not have been given any food or fluids orally.
The 40-year-old was paralysed from the waist down after suffering spina bifida and traumatic paraplegia following a road accident when he was eight. He was admitted to the hospital for surgery on February 5, 2008 and had recovered well after a "routine" operation to remove his bladder and prostate gland.
Four days later he was given sponge pudding and custard and some fluids, possibly soup or water, by a nurse at the hospital, which got into his lung and caused him to vomit. He then developed aspiration pneumonia and died in the intensive care unit.
A law firm negotiated an out-of-court settlement from Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Mr Ullyatt's sister, Michelle Hilley, said: "The whole family was devastated by Mark's death. Throughout his life he always faced difficulties as a result of the road accident but he was a fighter and was really well spirited.
"We have been very patient and have waited for more than two years for the trust to acknowledge that it made mistakes while caring for Mark. We only hope that things change so that no-one else has to go through what Mark did and what our family has."
Professor Mike Richmond, medical director at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said a full review was carried out to "establish if lessons could be learned or changes made".
"I would like to offer our sincerest apologies to Mr Ullyatt's family although I know this in no way lessens the terrible loss they have suffered," he added.
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February 1, 2011, 12:24 am
![Image]( "Teenager sentenced over punch death")
A teenage woman who killed a father-of-two who was "in the wrong place at the wrong time" with a single punch has been locked up for more than six years.
Kayleigh Murray hit Paul Woods in a "senseless" attack as he tried to chase after her friend, who had stolen his alcohol.
Mr Woods, 29, fell backwards and hit his head on the ground, losing consciousness. He underwent surgery at Glasgow's Southern General Hospital but died the next day.
Murray, 20, admitted a charge of culpable homicide after the attack in Maryhill Road, Glasgow, on July 28 last year, while Chelsea Speirs, also 19, pleaded guilty to assault and robbing Mr Woods of a bag containing a bottle of alcohol.
Both teenagers have previous convictions for assault. Murray, who was intoxicated on a cocktail of Buckfast, cider and Valium when she killed Mr Woods, was on probation at the time of the offence.
At the High Court in Edinburgh, Judge Lord Pentland ordered Murray to be detained for six years and nine months. Imposing an extended sentence, he further ordered her to be supervised for three years and three months upon her release from custody on licence.
Speirs was sentenced to detention for two years and three months. The court heard she posed a high risk of reoffending and further ordered that she be placed under the watch of a supervising officer for a year after she was freed.
Passing sentence, Lord Pentland told Murray she must have delivered the fatal blow with "considerable force".
He said: "While you did not intend to kill Mr Woods, there is no doubt that drunken violence of the type in which you engaged can, all too often, result in tragic consequences of the type that ensued here.
"The terrible consequences for Mr Woods' immediate and wider family of your senseless violence are powerfully conveyed in a number of victim impact statements, to which I have given close consideration."
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February 1, 2011, 12:31 am
![Image]( "Egypt reshuffle disappoints No 10")
Egypt needs a "broad-based, representative government" including members of the opposition to President Hosni Mubarak, Downing Street has said.
Monday's cabinet appointments, which reshuffled familiar faces from Mr Mubarak's regime, was a "disappointing" response to the past week's demands for change, said Prime Minister David Cameron's official spokesman.
Britain has called for an "orderly transition" to free and fair elections in the north African country, where protesters on Tuesday called for a "march of a million people" to end Mr Mubarak's 30 years in power.
The crisis was discussed by the Cabinet at its regular weekly meeting in 10 Downing Street, as well as by a meeting of the National Security Council attended by Mr Cameron immediately afterwards.
Mr Cameron's spokesman said: "We have said that it is important for the Egyptian government to listen to the aspirations of its people. That means a transition to a broad-based government including opposition figures that will produce real political change.
"It is clear from yesterday's cabinet appointments that this is not yet happening and we consider that to be disappointing."
The spokesman insisted the UK was not seeking to "dictate" who should be in the Egyptian government. But he said opposition figurehead and Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei was the kind of figure whose inclusion should be considered.
The comments came as tens of thousands of people converged on the heart of Cairo, responding to a call for a million Egyptians to unite in the largest protest in a week of unceasing demands for Mr Mubarak to step down.
The Egyptian army has said it will not use force against protesters, but Britons yet to leave the crisis-stricken country were advised to stay away from public gatherings.
The Foreign Office said: "British nationals should observe instructions and advice by local security authorities and avoid public gatherings and disturbances."
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February 1, 2011, 12:31 am
![Image]( "Social work review targets red tape")
The head of an independent review into child protection in England has called for an end to a tick-box culture, saying paperwork was at risk of replacing proper social care.
Professor Eileen Munro also wants to strip Ofsted of the power to evaluate reports into the deaths of abused or neglected children.
The regulator should also scrap pre-planned checks on children's services in favour of unannounced visits, she said in her second interim report.
Prof Munro said: "The development of bureaucracy was done with very good intentions. It's a matter of when it gets too much, it gets out of balance. I think the anxiety around missing a case of child abuse has distorted things.
"People have got over-controlling all the way down the system. They think, 'If you can control it more, we can make children safer', whereas in fact it is doing the opposite."
The Munro Review of Child Protection was created after a number of high-profile cases in recent years which highlighted failings in the protection of young people.
Peter Connelly, known as Baby P, died aged 17 months in August 2007 having sustained more than 50 injuries at the hands of his abusive mother, her boyfriend and their lodger.
Speaking at a children's centre in Tower Hamlets, north-east London, Prof Munro said: "With the Peter Connelly case, the first reaction was, 'We did follow all the procedures'.
"As we know with hindsight, the judgment or decisions were not good. But it's about recognising how fallible the reasoning is, and how difficult it is."
She stressed the importance of increasing the expertise of social workers so they are better equipped to handle vital judgment calls in a system where there is less bureaucracy.
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February 1, 2011, 12:31 am
![Image]( "House prices dip by 0.1% in January")
The housing market has started the year on the back foot with prices edging 0.1% lower during January, new figures have shown.
It was the fifth time in seven months that property values had fallen, leaving the typical home costing £161,602 - 1.1% less than in January 2010, according to Nationwide.
The group warned that the outlook for the housing market was "highly uncertain", and the current pattern of low transaction levels, with prices moving sideways or modestly lower, was likely to continue during 2011.
Robert Gardner, Nationwide's chief economist, said: "January's data does little to alter the picture of a sluggish market that has been evident since the summer.
"Indeed, the three-month-on-three-month measure of house prices, which is a better measure of the underlying trend, showed a fall of 0.5%, consistent with the gradual moderation in prices that has been in place since the summer of 2010."
The group said demand for homes appeared to have stabilised, although it was running at much lower levels than those seen before the credit crunch struck.
At the same time, there were few signs of a glut of unsold properties building up on the market, which would lead to sharp house price falls, with some evidence suggesting that the number of homes being put up for sale was actually slowing.
But Nationwide warned that the continued uncertain economic outlook was likely to keep many potential buyers on the sidelines. Recent figures showing that inflation was higher than expected in December are also likely to hit buyers' confidence, as the data prompted speculation that interest rates may have to rise sooner than previously expected.
Meanwhile, the ongoing problems in the mortgage market, mean that those without large deposits and good credit records are struggling to raise the finance they need to buy a home or move up the property ladder.
The figures are the latest in a run of gloomy data on the property market, with the British Bankers' Association last week saying that net mortgage lending by the major banks had dived to an 11-and-a-half-year low, while the number of mortgages approved for house purchase fell to a near two-year low.
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February 1, 2011, 4:37 am
![Image]( "Users crash new crimes map website")
The Government's new crime-mapping website has attracted 300,000 hits a minute, leaving millions frustrated as the site crashed within hours of being launched.
Up to 18 million hits an hour froze the site, which was designed to give people the information they need to hold their local police to account.
The Home Office blamed "temporary" problems with the site at www.police.uk, adding it was delighted with the "extremely high demand".
Writing on Twitter, the Home Office said: "Most popular gov website ever? Demand for new crime maps at around 300k a minute, equivalent to 18m hits an hr. Working hard to make sure everyone can access."
Early glitches in the way the crime figures were collected also caused problems, with Sussex Police's main call handling centres ranking highly on the crime map and "quiet streets" next to large commercial centres being tarred with their crimes.
Bolnore Road in Haywards Heath, West Sussex - where the force HQ is based - showed abnormally high levels of anti-social behaviour.
A Sussex Police spokesman said the high figures related to hoax calls which were recorded on site because there was no alternative location.
The problem also raised questions about how other forces had collated their data.
And the inclusion of a "quiet street" as one of the most crime-ridden in the country was branded "crackers" by the local council.
Surrey Street in Portsmouth, Hampshire, was shown as having 136 crimes, including burglary, violence and anti-social behaviour in December. But the street, which is less than 100 metres long, is home only to a "respectable" pub used by postal workers, a car park and a block of flats.
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February 1, 2011, 4:48 am
![Image]( "BP 'looks to future' after losses")
BP's new chief executive has shifted focus at the oil giant to the "future rather than the legacy of the past" as the company revealed the Gulf of Mexico oil spill saw it sink to its first loss in nearly 20 years.
Bob Dudley unveiled a raft of strategic moves at the embattled firm, including a return to dividend payments of seven cents a share, increased spending on exploration and the proposed sale of two key US refineries.
The developments came as BP posted a loss of 4.9 billion US dollars (£3.1 billion) in the year to December 31, compared with profits of 13.9 billion US dollars (£8.7 billion) in 2009, after the financial impact of the fatal Deepwater Horizon explosion was deducted.
BP once again upped its estimate of the cost of the disaster to 40.9 billion US dollars (£25.5 billion) after it took an additional 1.04 billion US dollars (£647.8 million) hit in the fourth quarter.
But the company's decision to resume dividend payments is a signal that the firm is recovering and will be welcomed by pension holders and investors given the stock previously accounted for an estimated one in every six pension pounds. BP said the payment will grow over time, in line with the "improving circumstances of the company".
The disposals in North America - including a plant in Texas City, which was the site of a fatal fire and explosion in 2005 - will halve refining capacity in the US and signal a shift away from the country, where its credibility is tarnished.
Speaking at BP's head office in London, Mr Dudley said resuming the dividend, halving US refining capacity and investing in exploration were all part of a push to give BP shareholders greater value.
In a sign that BP was trying to move on from the events of 2010, he said: "It's about choices for the future rather than the legacy of the past."
Though he added: "We remain deeply sorry for what happened and its effects on the families and communities involved. Nothing can restore the loss of those 11 men."
Mr Dudley said plans to reshape its downstream business - the oil and gas operations which take place after the production phase - would involve concentrating on growth in developing and emerging markets.
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February 1, 2011, 4:48 am
![Image]( "Ofcom to review site block powers")
Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has asked media regulator Ofcom to review the practicalities of a planned clampdown on illegal file-sharing on the internet.
Powers to allow courts to block access to websites which infringe copyright on music, films and TV shows were included in the Digital Economy Act, which was passed by the previous Labour administration with the backing of creative industry bodies.
But campaigners for internet freedom argue that they could open the door to wider online censorship.
Mr Hunt said on Tuesday he had "no problem" with the principle of blocking access to sites which exist purely to allow illegal downloading.
But he said he wanted Ofcom to examine whether the planned powers were workable.
"The Government is committed to creating the right conditions for businesses to grow," he said. "That includes providing them with the right tools to protect the products of their hard work and investment.
"The Digital Economy Act seeks to protect our creative economy from online copyright infringement, which industry estimates costs them £400 million a year.
"I have no problem with the principle of blocking access to websites used exclusively for facilitating illegal downloading of content.
"But it is not clear whether the site-blocking provisions in the Act could work in practice so I have asked Ofcom to address this question.
"Before we consider introducing site-blocking we need to know whether these measures are possible."
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February 1, 2011, 4:48 am
![Image]( "Drug firm to close research plant")
US drug manufacturer Pfizer has announced plans to close its major UK research centre in a move affecting up to 2,400 jobs.
The pharmaceutical giant said redundancies at the site at Sandwich, Kent, would take place over the next 18 months to two years, but added it hoped to secure the transfer of several hundred jobs to other sites or partner companies.
Its jobs blow comes as part of an overhaul of its research and development (R&D) operations worldwide.
The Sandwich site is the European hub of Pfizer's global R&D division and responsible for major discoveries such as blockbuster drug Viagra.
The site also covers allergy and respiratory R&D - an area Pfizer plans to pull out of. It currently employs around 5,000 people across all operations in the UK, but is aiming to reduce this to 3,000.
Pfizer is slashing R&D spend across the group on top of targeted cost savings of up to 5 billion US dollars (£3.1 billion) by the end of 2012.
Dr Ruth McKernan, senior vice-president and site head at Sandwich, said: "It is with a deep sense of sadness that we announce our proposal to exit our site in Sandwich, Kent. It has played an important role in the discovery and development of medicines and has brought many life-saving treatments to patients."
She added: "This decision is no reflection on the site, the workforce or the operating environment in the UK. We recognise that this is a difficult time for colleagues and the community and our priority now, and over the coming weeks and months, is to support our people through this process."
The medical industry reacted with dismay at Pfizer's decision to close its Sandwich site, with Colin Blakemore, professor of neuroscience at the University of Oxford, calling the news a "shocking wake-up call".
Shadow business secretary John Denham said: "This is a huge personal snub for David Cameron. He telephoned Pfizer and the biggest pharmaceutical companies encouraging them in his own words to innovate, invest and employ people in the UK."
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February 1, 2011, 4:48 am
![Image]( "Imam guilty of raping boy at mosque")
A Muslim cleric has been convicted of raping a young boy as he attended Islamic education lessons at his mosque.
Mohammed Hanif Khan, 42, was also found guilty by a jury at Nottingham Crown Court of sexual activity with a child, as well as the two counts of rape.
The charges relate to two boys who attended the mosque in Capper Street, Stoke on Trent, where he was imam, in 2009.
Prosecutor Tariq Bin Shakoor told the jury part of Khan's job was to lead prayers and give Islamic education lessons to boys at evening classes.
He told the court one of the boys claimed in police interviews that he was singled out by Khan after evening prayer on several occasions. He was sexually assaulted in various areas of the mosque which were not covered by CCTV, Mr Shakoor told the court.
The other boy was assaulted when he was an overnight guest at Khan's house, the jury of six men and six women were told.
But in his evidence to the court Khan, of Owler Lane, Sheffield, said he had a close relationship with the youngsters because he tried to help them with their unruly behaviour, adding that he would often be more lenient on the boys if they were late or did not turn up for classes at the mosque because he was aware they had issues at home.
Khan's lawyer, Robert Woodcock QC, asked him who had invited him to get involved in the family's business and he said it was mainly the mothers of the two boys who asked for his help.
Khan, who told the court he travelled to Syria, Egypt, Pakistan, India and Cyprus to complete his imam training, showed no emotion as the jury delivered its verdicts.
A further five charges were dismissed by Mrs Justice Dobbs because the jury could not reach a decision, and she adjourned the trial for pre-sentence reports to a date yet to be fixed.
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February 1, 2011, 4:48 am
![Image]( "Tory 'free vote' on prisoner polls")
Conservative MPs look set to be given a free vote on a Commons motion opposing votes for prisoners.
The motion, tabled by Tory former shadow home secretary David Davis and Labour's former Justice Secretary Jack Straw, is due for debate next Thursday and is expected to receive support from MPs of all parties.
If he attempts to impose a whip on Tory backbenchers, David Cameron may face his biggest rebellion since becoming Prime Minister.
Asked whether the PM would instead allow backbenchers to vote according to their consciences, Mr Cameron's spokesman told reporters: "That would certainly be consistent with what we have been saying about the House expressing a view and us listening to that view. We will take that into account when we think about what we do next."
The Government is currently proposing to allow the vote to all inmates serving less than four years, in response to a European Court of Human Rights ruling which could otherwise open up the floodgates to compensation claims totalling millions of pounds.
But the move - which Mr Cameron said made him feel "physically ill" - has been met by stiff opposition from some MPs, and there have been indications that the vote may be restricted to those serving a year or less.
The Government insisted it would extend voting rights only to general elections and those for the European Parliament despite warnings from a senior lawyer that Scottish and Welsh devolved polls and May's voting reform referendum could also be covered by the ruling.
Prisoner rights expert barrister Aidan O'Neill QC told MPs the Government was open to legal challenge from convicts if it did not allow them to participate in May 5 votes for the devolved administrations.
In response, a Cabinet Office spokeswoman said: "The Government has proposed that the right to vote will be restricted to UK Westminster Parliamentary and European Parliament elections only as that is the minimum currently required by law."
She added: "Removing the blanket ban on prisoners voting is not a choice, but a legal obligation as a result of a court ruling."
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February 1, 2011, 4:48 am
![Image]( "Crackdown 'will help UK graduates'")
Students coming to the UK from outside the EU to study should be stopped from seamlessly moving into work in order to give British graduates the best chance of finding a job, Immigration minister Damian Green has said.
Plans to reform the current system that allows non-EU students to work in the UK for up to two years after completing their studies will be part of the Government's crackdown on student visas.
Graduate unemployment hit its highest level for more than a decade last week, with a fifth out of work.
"It seems to me that to allow unfettered access to the jobs market for two years to anyone with a student visa from abroad is putting an unnecessary extra strain on our own graduates," said Mr Green.
"That's clearly an area where the current system is too generous. We want to encourage people to stay in education for as long as possible.
"If they think they are going to incur the expense of a student course and then not have a job at the end of it, then that will discourage people from doing the best for themselves, which is to be as educated as possible. It's quite important that we have a proper fair playing field for British graduates in the jobs market."
Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) last week showed 20% of new graduates were unemployed in the third quarter of 2010. This was almost double the rate before the start of the recession, when it stood at 10.6%.
Graduate unemployment also increased faster than for the UK as a whole, the figures showed.
Prof Edward Acton, vice-chancellor of the University of East Anglia, said the Government's plans amounted to a "hostile act against Britain's universities".
Tony Milns, chief executive of language teaching association English UK, said "at least 60-70,000" students come to learn English and go on to take a university course every year.
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February 1, 2011, 4:48 am
![Image]( "Hague in call over Egypt government")
Egypt needs to have "broad-based government" that will allow an "orderly transition" in the country, William Hague has told MPs.
The Foreign Secretary said he would be speaking to the country's vice-president Omar Suleiman and would voice the Government's desire to see a "broad-based government".
At question time in the Commons Mr Hague was asked by Sharon Hodgson, Labour MP for Washington and Sunderland West, about the prospects for the Middle East peace process following the unfolding situation in Egypt.
Mr Hague told MPs Egypt had played a "positive and moderating role" in the region over 30 years. It was of "paramount importance" Egypt continued to play such a role.
He added: "We are engaging with politicians of many different views in Egypt at the moment.
"I spoke to the foreign minister on Sunday night and I hope to speak to the vice- president shortly after this question time to encourage Egypt to have the broad-based government and real and visible change that will allow an orderly transition in Egypt.
"This will then help not only the domestic aspirations of the Egyptian people, but it will help Egypt to play the role in foreign policy that it has played in recent decades."
Mr Hague said the Government welcomed Vice President Omar Suleiman's statement that he intended to contact opposition parties to discuss political reform.
"But the new cabinet appointed by President Mubarak this week is disappointing in that it does not constitute the broad-based representative government that the people of Egypt seem to be seeking and we continue to make this clear to the Egyptian authorities," he said.
Mr Hague told MPs that the Foreign Office will send a charter flight to Egypt on Wednesday to help stranded Britons, with further flights on standby if necessary.
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February 1, 2011, 6:41 am
![Image]( "BA worker 'conspired to bomb plane'")
An Islamic extremist who landed a job as a British Airways computer expert conspired with a radical preacher to blow up a plane bound for America, a court heard.
In secret email exchanges with radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, Bangladeshi Rajib Karim, 31, shared details of his BA contacts and access from his home in Brunton Lane, Newcastle, the court heard.
Karim, who came to the UK in 2006, worked for BA in the city and had access to the airliner's offices there and at Heathrow.
Woolwich Crown Court heard Karim established a deep cover, joining a gym, playing football and never airing extreme views.
All the the while, the prosecution allege, he was communicating with a terror cell and al-Awlaki who has never been caught and is believed to be hiding in the mountains of Yemen.
The defendant is accused of plotting to blow up a plane, sharing information of use to hate groups such as al-Qaida, offering to help financial or disruptive attacks on BA and gaining a UK job to "exploit terrorist purposes", which he denies.
The jury of seven men and five women were told that Karim has already pleaded guilty to three terror charges.
Jonathan Laidlaw QC, prosecuting, said the defendant's offences were preparing himself or others for terrorist attacks between December 2006 and his arrest in February last year.
He has admitted being involved in the production of a terrorist group's video, fundraising and volunteering for terror abroad.
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February 1, 2011, 8:25 am
![Image]( "Plane for stranded Britons in Egypt")
The Foreign Office is to charter its own flight to ensure Britons are not left stranded in crisis-stricken Egypt.
The move came as Cairo saw its largest protest yet as hundreds of thousands of demonstrators poured into its main square to demand an end to President Hosni Mubarak's rule.
The embattled 82-year-old has appeared on television and said he will not stand for re-election. He pledged to spend the rest of his term of office working for a "peaceful transfer of power".
The 200-seater Boeing 757 will fly out on Wednesday and could be followed by further flights if they are necessary. But the Government said the move was a "belt and braces" approach and insisted most people wanting to get out of the country could do so on commercial flights.
Earlier, Prime Minister David Cameron spoke to Egyptian prime minister Ahmed Shafiq, urging his government to "urgently listen to the aspirations of its people".
A Downing Street spokesman said: "In his calls, the Prime Minister welcomed the restraint the Egyptian army had shown today and emphasised the importance of allowing the protests to take place peacefully.
"The Prime Minister also made very clear that the Egyptian government must now urgently listen to the aspirations of its people. The Prime Minister called for an orderly transition to a broad-based Government, including opposition figures.
"The Prime Minister also said that bold steps were needed to produce real, visible and comprehensive change, with a clear path to free and fair elections."
The Foreign Office-chartered flight will cost passengers £300 each, about the same as a standard commercial single fare.
Foreign Secretary William Hague said British tourists in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez were advised to leave where possible.
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February 1, 2011, 1:05 pm
![Image]( "Egypt's president vows to step down")
The Egyptian president has announced he will step down later this year and promised to work towards a peaceful transition.
Amid intense domestic and international pressure to relinquish power, Hosni Mubarak said he would not be running for another term of office in the September elections.
In a speech broadcast on state television, and relayed to hundreds of thousands of protesters gathered in Cairo's main square, he said he would work during "the final months" of his term to ensure a "peaceful transfer of power".
It was not immediately clear whether his concession would be enough to defuse the crisis which has crippled Egypt over the past week. His critics have been demanding he go this week.
"In all sincerity, regardless of the current circumstances, I never intended to be a candidate for another term," Mr Mubarak.
An estimated 250,000 people flooded Tahrir Square in Cairo in the biggest demonstrations so far. Soldiers at checkpoints set up at the entrances of the square did nothing to stop the crowds from entering.
Earlier, Prime Minister David Cameron spoke to Egyptian prime minister Ahmed Shafiq, urging his government to "urgently listen to the aspirations of its people".
A Downing Street spokesman said: "The Prime Minister called for an orderly transition to a broad-based Government, including opposition figures. The Prime Minister also said that bold steps were needed to produce real, visible and comprehensive change, with a clear path to free and fair elections."
The Foreign Office is chartering its own flight on Wednesday to ensure Britons are not left stranded in crisis-stricken Egypt.
The 200-seater Boeing 757 could be followed by further flights if they are necessary but the Government said people who want to leave Egypt should be able to do so on commercial flights. British tourists in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez have been advised to leave where possible.
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February 1, 2011, 1:05 pm
![Image]( "TUC plans huge anti-cuts protest")
A demonstration against the Government's spending cuts is set to be the biggest union event in decades, the TUC has predicted.
The union organisation has started distributing thousands of leaflets detailing its arguments against the controversial austerity measures ahead of the national protest in central London on March 26.
Hundreds of coaches and trains have been booked to transport supporters from across the country.
The leaflets say that the UK's debt is lower than in most years of the last century and argue that the country has no problem servicing its debt.
The Cuts Are Not The Cure leaflet says: "The Government is therefore wrong to say that there is no alternative. The real job of closing the deficit will come from the increased tax raised by economic growth and getting people back to work.
"But this will require a longer timetable to close the deficit, as the deep rapid cuts imposed by the Government will choke off economic recovery."
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "As the cuts begin to bite, the Government has completely lost the argument that its cuts are fair. With the economy plunging back into negative growth, it is clear that the Government's economic gamble has failed.
"More and more people are therefore looking at arguments for an alternative and for ways of showing their opposition to the coalition's deep, rapid cuts. It's clear that the TUC's march has captured the mood of the country and looks set to be the biggest event in our recent history."
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February 1, 2011, 1:05 pm
![Image]( "Documents reveal more 9/11 suspects")
A gang of previously unknown men are wanted by the FBI for their alleged role in the September 11 terror attacks.
Secret documents obtained by the WikiLeaks website detailing the movements of the three men in the days leading up to the atrocities have been published by The Daily Telegraph.
The diplomatic cable sent between the American embassy in Doha, Qatar, and the Department for Homeland Security in Washington, reveals the trio entered the US on a British Airways flight from London on August 15 2001.
The men, named as Qataris Meshal Alhajri, Fahad Abdulla and Ali Alfehaid allegedly visited the World Trade Centre and Statue of Liberty in New York and travelled to Washington DC and other locations in Virginia.
Several days later on August 24 2001, they flew to Los Angeles where they stayed before checking out of their hotel on September 10.
The cables said hotel staff become alarmed after seeing pilot uniforms and a smashed mobile phone in their room. It said: "Hotel staff grew suspicious of the men because they noticed pilot type uniforms, several laptops, and several cardboard boxes addressed to Syria, Jerusalem, Afghanistan and Jordan in the room on previous cleaning visits."
On September 10 they were booked on to an American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Washington, but the men failed to board, the cable said. The same Boeing 757 plane was hijacked by five terrorists and crashed into the Pentagon the next day, according to American Airlines records.
The trio left LA, flying to England on September 10, before returning to Qatar on a flight from London.
A subsequent FBI investigation revealed the men's plane tickets were paid for and their LA hotel reservation made by a convicted terrorist.
The FBI are also trying to trace a man named as Mohamed Ali Mohamed Al Mansoori from the United Arab Emirates for his alleged support of the trio during their visit.
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February 1, 2011, 2:58 pm
![Image]( "Plea over WikiLeaks jail 'Briton'")
The Government has been urged to intervene in the case of a soldier held in a US jail on suspicion of passing state secrets to WikiLeaks - on the grounds that he is part-British.
Bradley Manning, a private in the US Army, went to school in Haverfordwest, Wales, where his mother still lives.
He has been accused of passing hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables to the whistleblowing website.
Amnesty International argued that his Welsh parentage meant that the British government should step in in the wake of reports about the harsh conditions of his detention.
The human rights charity's director Kate Allen said: "Bradley Manning's Welsh parentage means that the UK government should be demanding that the conditions of his detention are in line with international standards and that his 'maximum custody' status does not impair his ability to defend himself. We would also like to see Foreign Office officials visiting him just as they would any other British person detained overseas and potentially facing trial on very serious charges."
Clive Stafford Smith, director of human rights charity Reprieve, echoed Amnesty's call.
"I don't care whether he's British or not, human beings have rights wherever they are. (But) the fact that he is a British national does give the Government standing to be involved," he said.
But the Government said it could not comment on Pte Manning's nationality.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "We can't release any information on an individual's nationality unless we have their consent."
Pte Manning has been praised by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as "an unparalleled hero".
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Irish Taoiseach Brian Cowen is to seek the dissolution of the Dail parliament as voters await formal confirmation of the general election date.
The Taoiseach, who remains in charge of the country until a new Government is formed, will make his farewell speech to the 30th Dail at 2.30pm.
Mr Cowen announced his retirement from frontline politics on Monday night.
Opposition leaders will be allowed a chance to respond to his valedictory address before the Ceann Comhairle invites other retiring MPs to speak.
Oireachtas officials expect the final session to last up to one and half hours. Immediately afterwards, Mr Cowen will be driven to Aras an Uachtarain where he will ask President Mary McAleese to formally dissolve the parliament.
The pair will sign the necessary warrant in the state reception room before posing for photographs.
Mr Cowen is then expected to travel to Tullamore for the Fianna Fail selection convention in his Laois/Offaly constituency.
Candidates will be officially announced after the party's final selection convention. Mr Cowen's brother Barry Cowen, a councillor, has been widely tipped to stand in his place for the seat formerly held by their father, Ber.
A hospital trust has apologised to a family after a "nil by mouth" patient developed pneumonia and died after he was given sponge pudding and custard.
Mark Ullyatt died after nursing staff at the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield fed him a small amount of food and fluids, which got into his lung and caused him to develop pneumonia.
Mr Ullyatt, from Sheffield, had been recovering from surgery and was strictly to be kept nil by mouth, meaning he should not have been given any food or fluids orally.
The 40-year-old was paralysed from the waist down after suffering spina bifida and traumatic paraplegia following a road accident when he was eight. He was admitted to the hospital for surgery on February 5, 2008 and had recovered well after a "routine" operation to remove his bladder and prostate gland.
Four days later he was given sponge pudding and custard and some fluids, possibly soup or water, by a nurse at the hospital, which got into his lung and caused him to vomit. He then developed aspiration pneumonia and died in the intensive care unit.
A law firm negotiated an out-of-court settlement from Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Mr Ullyatt's sister, Michelle Hilley, said: "The whole family was devastated by Mark's death. Throughout his life he always faced difficulties as a result of the road accident but he was a fighter and was really well spirited.
"We have been very patient and have waited for more than two years for the trust to acknowledge that it made mistakes while caring for Mark. We only hope that things change so that no-one else has to go through what Mark did and what our family has."
Professor Mike Richmond, medical director at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said a full review was carried out to "establish if lessons could be learned or changes made".
"I would like to offer our sincerest apologies to Mr Ullyatt's family although I know this in no way lessens the terrible loss they have suffered," he added.
A teenage woman who killed a father-of-two who was "in the wrong place at the wrong time" with a single punch has been locked up for more than six years.
Kayleigh Murray hit Paul Woods in a "senseless" attack as he tried to chase after her friend, who had stolen his alcohol.
Mr Woods, 29, fell backwards and hit his head on the ground, losing consciousness. He underwent surgery at Glasgow's Southern General Hospital but died the next day.
Murray, 20, admitted a charge of culpable homicide after the attack in Maryhill Road, Glasgow, on July 28 last year, while Chelsea Speirs, also 19, pleaded guilty to assault and robbing Mr Woods of a bag containing a bottle of alcohol.
Both teenagers have previous convictions for assault. Murray, who was intoxicated on a cocktail of Buckfast, cider and Valium when she killed Mr Woods, was on probation at the time of the offence.
At the High Court in Edinburgh, Judge Lord Pentland ordered Murray to be detained for six years and nine months. Imposing an extended sentence, he further ordered her to be supervised for three years and three months upon her release from custody on licence.
Speirs was sentenced to detention for two years and three months. The court heard she posed a high risk of reoffending and further ordered that she be placed under the watch of a supervising officer for a year after she was freed.
Passing sentence, Lord Pentland told Murray she must have delivered the fatal blow with "considerable force".
He said: "While you did not intend to kill Mr Woods, there is no doubt that drunken violence of the type in which you engaged can, all too often, result in tragic consequences of the type that ensued here.
"The terrible consequences for Mr Woods' immediate and wider family of your senseless violence are powerfully conveyed in a number of victim impact statements, to which I have given close consideration."
Egypt needs a "broad-based, representative government" including members of the opposition to President Hosni Mubarak, Downing Street has said.
Monday's cabinet appointments, which reshuffled familiar faces from Mr Mubarak's regime, was a "disappointing" response to the past week's demands for change, said Prime Minister David Cameron's official spokesman.
Britain has called for an "orderly transition" to free and fair elections in the north African country, where protesters on Tuesday called for a "march of a million people" to end Mr Mubarak's 30 years in power.
The crisis was discussed by the Cabinet at its regular weekly meeting in 10 Downing Street, as well as by a meeting of the National Security Council attended by Mr Cameron immediately afterwards.
Mr Cameron's spokesman said: "We have said that it is important for the Egyptian government to listen to the aspirations of its people. That means a transition to a broad-based government including opposition figures that will produce real political change.
"It is clear from yesterday's cabinet appointments that this is not yet happening and we consider that to be disappointing."
The spokesman insisted the UK was not seeking to "dictate" who should be in the Egyptian government. But he said opposition figurehead and Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei was the kind of figure whose inclusion should be considered.
The comments came as tens of thousands of people converged on the heart of Cairo, responding to a call for a million Egyptians to unite in the largest protest in a week of unceasing demands for Mr Mubarak to step down.
The Egyptian army has said it will not use force against protesters, but Britons yet to leave the crisis-stricken country were advised to stay away from public gatherings.
The Foreign Office said: "British nationals should observe instructions and advice by local security authorities and avoid public gatherings and disturbances."
The head of an independent review into child protection in England has called for an end to a tick-box culture, saying paperwork was at risk of replacing proper social care.
Professor Eileen Munro also wants to strip Ofsted of the power to evaluate reports into the deaths of abused or neglected children.
The regulator should also scrap pre-planned checks on children's services in favour of unannounced visits, she said in her second interim report.
Prof Munro said: "The development of bureaucracy was done with very good intentions. It's a matter of when it gets too much, it gets out of balance. I think the anxiety around missing a case of child abuse has distorted things.
"People have got over-controlling all the way down the system. They think, 'If you can control it more, we can make children safer', whereas in fact it is doing the opposite."
The Munro Review of Child Protection was created after a number of high-profile cases in recent years which highlighted failings in the protection of young people.
Peter Connelly, known as Baby P, died aged 17 months in August 2007 having sustained more than 50 injuries at the hands of his abusive mother, her boyfriend and their lodger.
Speaking at a children's centre in Tower Hamlets, north-east London, Prof Munro said: "With the Peter Connelly case, the first reaction was, 'We did follow all the procedures'.
"As we know with hindsight, the judgment or decisions were not good. But it's about recognising how fallible the reasoning is, and how difficult it is."
She stressed the importance of increasing the expertise of social workers so they are better equipped to handle vital judgment calls in a system where there is less bureaucracy.
The housing market has started the year on the back foot with prices edging 0.1% lower during January, new figures have shown.
It was the fifth time in seven months that property values had fallen, leaving the typical home costing £161,602 - 1.1% less than in January 2010, according to Nationwide.
The group warned that the outlook for the housing market was "highly uncertain", and the current pattern of low transaction levels, with prices moving sideways or modestly lower, was likely to continue during 2011.
Robert Gardner, Nationwide's chief economist, said: "January's data does little to alter the picture of a sluggish market that has been evident since the summer.
"Indeed, the three-month-on-three-month measure of house prices, which is a better measure of the underlying trend, showed a fall of 0.5%, consistent with the gradual moderation in prices that has been in place since the summer of 2010."
The group said demand for homes appeared to have stabilised, although it was running at much lower levels than those seen before the credit crunch struck.
At the same time, there were few signs of a glut of unsold properties building up on the market, which would lead to sharp house price falls, with some evidence suggesting that the number of homes being put up for sale was actually slowing.
But Nationwide warned that the continued uncertain economic outlook was likely to keep many potential buyers on the sidelines. Recent figures showing that inflation was higher than expected in December are also likely to hit buyers' confidence, as the data prompted speculation that interest rates may have to rise sooner than previously expected.
Meanwhile, the ongoing problems in the mortgage market, mean that those without large deposits and good credit records are struggling to raise the finance they need to buy a home or move up the property ladder.
The figures are the latest in a run of gloomy data on the property market, with the British Bankers' Association last week saying that net mortgage lending by the major banks had dived to an 11-and-a-half-year low, while the number of mortgages approved for house purchase fell to a near two-year low.
The Government's new crime-mapping website has attracted 300,000 hits a minute, leaving millions frustrated as the site crashed within hours of being launched.
Up to 18 million hits an hour froze the site, which was designed to give people the information they need to hold their local police to account.
The Home Office blamed "temporary" problems with the site at www.police.uk, adding it was delighted with the "extremely high demand".
Writing on Twitter, the Home Office said: "Most popular gov website ever? Demand for new crime maps at around 300k a minute, equivalent to 18m hits an hr. Working hard to make sure everyone can access."
Early glitches in the way the crime figures were collected also caused problems, with Sussex Police's main call handling centres ranking highly on the crime map and "quiet streets" next to large commercial centres being tarred with their crimes.
Bolnore Road in Haywards Heath, West Sussex - where the force HQ is based - showed abnormally high levels of anti-social behaviour.
A Sussex Police spokesman said the high figures related to hoax calls which were recorded on site because there was no alternative location.
The problem also raised questions about how other forces had collated their data.
And the inclusion of a "quiet street" as one of the most crime-ridden in the country was branded "crackers" by the local council.
Surrey Street in Portsmouth, Hampshire, was shown as having 136 crimes, including burglary, violence and anti-social behaviour in December. But the street, which is less than 100 metres long, is home only to a "respectable" pub used by postal workers, a car park and a block of flats.
BP's new chief executive has shifted focus at the oil giant to the "future rather than the legacy of the past" as the company revealed the Gulf of Mexico oil spill saw it sink to its first loss in nearly 20 years.
Bob Dudley unveiled a raft of strategic moves at the embattled firm, including a return to dividend payments of seven cents a share, increased spending on exploration and the proposed sale of two key US refineries.
The developments came as BP posted a loss of 4.9 billion US dollars (£3.1 billion) in the year to December 31, compared with profits of 13.9 billion US dollars (£8.7 billion) in 2009, after the financial impact of the fatal Deepwater Horizon explosion was deducted.
BP once again upped its estimate of the cost of the disaster to 40.9 billion US dollars (£25.5 billion) after it took an additional 1.04 billion US dollars (£647.8 million) hit in the fourth quarter.
But the company's decision to resume dividend payments is a signal that the firm is recovering and will be welcomed by pension holders and investors given the stock previously accounted for an estimated one in every six pension pounds. BP said the payment will grow over time, in line with the "improving circumstances of the company".
The disposals in North America - including a plant in Texas City, which was the site of a fatal fire and explosion in 2005 - will halve refining capacity in the US and signal a shift away from the country, where its credibility is tarnished.
Speaking at BP's head office in London, Mr Dudley said resuming the dividend, halving US refining capacity and investing in exploration were all part of a push to give BP shareholders greater value.
In a sign that BP was trying to move on from the events of 2010, he said: "It's about choices for the future rather than the legacy of the past."
Though he added: "We remain deeply sorry for what happened and its effects on the families and communities involved. Nothing can restore the loss of those 11 men."
Mr Dudley said plans to reshape its downstream business - the oil and gas operations which take place after the production phase - would involve concentrating on growth in developing and emerging markets.
Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has asked media regulator Ofcom to review the practicalities of a planned clampdown on illegal file-sharing on the internet.
Powers to allow courts to block access to websites which infringe copyright on music, films and TV shows were included in the Digital Economy Act, which was passed by the previous Labour administration with the backing of creative industry bodies.
But campaigners for internet freedom argue that they could open the door to wider online censorship.
Mr Hunt said on Tuesday he had "no problem" with the principle of blocking access to sites which exist purely to allow illegal downloading.
But he said he wanted Ofcom to examine whether the planned powers were workable.
"The Government is committed to creating the right conditions for businesses to grow," he said. "That includes providing them with the right tools to protect the products of their hard work and investment.
"The Digital Economy Act seeks to protect our creative economy from online copyright infringement, which industry estimates costs them £400 million a year.
"I have no problem with the principle of blocking access to websites used exclusively for facilitating illegal downloading of content.
"But it is not clear whether the site-blocking provisions in the Act could work in practice so I have asked Ofcom to address this question.
"Before we consider introducing site-blocking we need to know whether these measures are possible."
US drug manufacturer Pfizer has announced plans to close its major UK research centre in a move affecting up to 2,400 jobs.
The pharmaceutical giant said redundancies at the site at Sandwich, Kent, would take place over the next 18 months to two years, but added it hoped to secure the transfer of several hundred jobs to other sites or partner companies.
Its jobs blow comes as part of an overhaul of its research and development (R&D) operations worldwide.
The Sandwich site is the European hub of Pfizer's global R&D division and responsible for major discoveries such as blockbuster drug Viagra.
The site also covers allergy and respiratory R&D - an area Pfizer plans to pull out of. It currently employs around 5,000 people across all operations in the UK, but is aiming to reduce this to 3,000.
Pfizer is slashing R&D spend across the group on top of targeted cost savings of up to 5 billion US dollars (£3.1 billion) by the end of 2012.
Dr Ruth McKernan, senior vice-president and site head at Sandwich, said: "It is with a deep sense of sadness that we announce our proposal to exit our site in Sandwich, Kent. It has played an important role in the discovery and development of medicines and has brought many life-saving treatments to patients."
She added: "This decision is no reflection on the site, the workforce or the operating environment in the UK. We recognise that this is a difficult time for colleagues and the community and our priority now, and over the coming weeks and months, is to support our people through this process."
The medical industry reacted with dismay at Pfizer's decision to close its Sandwich site, with Colin Blakemore, professor of neuroscience at the University of Oxford, calling the news a "shocking wake-up call".
Shadow business secretary John Denham said: "This is a huge personal snub for David Cameron. He telephoned Pfizer and the biggest pharmaceutical companies encouraging them in his own words to innovate, invest and employ people in the UK."
A Muslim cleric has been convicted of raping a young boy as he attended Islamic education lessons at his mosque.
Mohammed Hanif Khan, 42, was also found guilty by a jury at Nottingham Crown Court of sexual activity with a child, as well as the two counts of rape.
The charges relate to two boys who attended the mosque in Capper Street, Stoke on Trent, where he was imam, in 2009.
Prosecutor Tariq Bin Shakoor told the jury part of Khan's job was to lead prayers and give Islamic education lessons to boys at evening classes.
He told the court one of the boys claimed in police interviews that he was singled out by Khan after evening prayer on several occasions. He was sexually assaulted in various areas of the mosque which were not covered by CCTV, Mr Shakoor told the court.
The other boy was assaulted when he was an overnight guest at Khan's house, the jury of six men and six women were told.
But in his evidence to the court Khan, of Owler Lane, Sheffield, said he had a close relationship with the youngsters because he tried to help them with their unruly behaviour, adding that he would often be more lenient on the boys if they were late or did not turn up for classes at the mosque because he was aware they had issues at home.
Khan's lawyer, Robert Woodcock QC, asked him who had invited him to get involved in the family's business and he said it was mainly the mothers of the two boys who asked for his help.
Khan, who told the court he travelled to Syria, Egypt, Pakistan, India and Cyprus to complete his imam training, showed no emotion as the jury delivered its verdicts.
A further five charges were dismissed by Mrs Justice Dobbs because the jury could not reach a decision, and she adjourned the trial for pre-sentence reports to a date yet to be fixed.
Conservative MPs look set to be given a free vote on a Commons motion opposing votes for prisoners.
The motion, tabled by Tory former shadow home secretary David Davis and Labour's former Justice Secretary Jack Straw, is due for debate next Thursday and is expected to receive support from MPs of all parties.
If he attempts to impose a whip on Tory backbenchers, David Cameron may face his biggest rebellion since becoming Prime Minister.
Asked whether the PM would instead allow backbenchers to vote according to their consciences, Mr Cameron's spokesman told reporters: "That would certainly be consistent with what we have been saying about the House expressing a view and us listening to that view. We will take that into account when we think about what we do next."
The Government is currently proposing to allow the vote to all inmates serving less than four years, in response to a European Court of Human Rights ruling which could otherwise open up the floodgates to compensation claims totalling millions of pounds.
But the move - which Mr Cameron said made him feel "physically ill" - has been met by stiff opposition from some MPs, and there have been indications that the vote may be restricted to those serving a year or less.
The Government insisted it would extend voting rights only to general elections and those for the European Parliament despite warnings from a senior lawyer that Scottish and Welsh devolved polls and May's voting reform referendum could also be covered by the ruling.
Prisoner rights expert barrister Aidan O'Neill QC told MPs the Government was open to legal challenge from convicts if it did not allow them to participate in May 5 votes for the devolved administrations.
In response, a Cabinet Office spokeswoman said: "The Government has proposed that the right to vote will be restricted to UK Westminster Parliamentary and European Parliament elections only as that is the minimum currently required by law."
She added: "Removing the blanket ban on prisoners voting is not a choice, but a legal obligation as a result of a court ruling."
Students coming to the UK from outside the EU to study should be stopped from seamlessly moving into work in order to give British graduates the best chance of finding a job, Immigration minister Damian Green has said.
Plans to reform the current system that allows non-EU students to work in the UK for up to two years after completing their studies will be part of the Government's crackdown on student visas.
Graduate unemployment hit its highest level for more than a decade last week, with a fifth out of work.
"It seems to me that to allow unfettered access to the jobs market for two years to anyone with a student visa from abroad is putting an unnecessary extra strain on our own graduates," said Mr Green.
"That's clearly an area where the current system is too generous. We want to encourage people to stay in education for as long as possible.
"If they think they are going to incur the expense of a student course and then not have a job at the end of it, then that will discourage people from doing the best for themselves, which is to be as educated as possible. It's quite important that we have a proper fair playing field for British graduates in the jobs market."
Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) last week showed 20% of new graduates were unemployed in the third quarter of 2010. This was almost double the rate before the start of the recession, when it stood at 10.6%.
Graduate unemployment also increased faster than for the UK as a whole, the figures showed.
Prof Edward Acton, vice-chancellor of the University of East Anglia, said the Government's plans amounted to a "hostile act against Britain's universities".
Tony Milns, chief executive of language teaching association English UK, said "at least 60-70,000" students come to learn English and go on to take a university course every year.
An Islamic extremist who landed a job as a British Airways computer expert conspired with a radical preacher to blow up a plane bound for America, a court heard.
In secret email exchanges with radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, Bangladeshi Rajib Karim, 31, shared details of his BA contacts and access from his home in Brunton Lane, Newcastle, the court heard.
Karim, who came to the UK in 2006, worked for BA in the city and had access to the airliner's offices there and at Heathrow.
Woolwich Crown Court heard Karim established a deep cover, joining a gym, playing football and never airing extreme views.
All the the while, the prosecution allege, he was communicating with a terror cell and al-Awlaki who has never been caught and is believed to be hiding in the mountains of Yemen.
The defendant is accused of plotting to blow up a plane, sharing information of use to hate groups such as al-Qaida, offering to help financial or disruptive attacks on BA and gaining a UK job to "exploit terrorist purposes", which he denies.
The jury of seven men and five women were told that Karim has already pleaded guilty to three terror charges.
Jonathan Laidlaw QC, prosecuting, said the defendant's offences were preparing himself or others for terrorist attacks between December 2006 and his arrest in February last year.
He has admitted being involved in the production of a terrorist group's video, fundraising and volunteering for terror abroad.
The Egyptian president has announced he will step down later this year and promised to work towards a peaceful transition.
Amid intense domestic and international pressure to relinquish power, Hosni Mubarak said he would not be running for another term of office in the September elections.
In a speech broadcast on state television, and relayed to hundreds of thousands of protesters gathered in Cairo's main square, he said he would work during "the final months" of his term to ensure a "peaceful transfer of power".
It was not immediately clear whether his concession would be enough to defuse the crisis which has crippled Egypt over the past week. His critics have been demanding he go this week.
"In all sincerity, regardless of the current circumstances, I never intended to be a candidate for another term," Mr Mubarak.
An estimated 250,000 people flooded Tahrir Square in Cairo in the biggest demonstrations so far. Soldiers at checkpoints set up at the entrances of the square did nothing to stop the crowds from entering.
Earlier, Prime Minister David Cameron spoke to Egyptian prime minister Ahmed Shafiq, urging his government to "urgently listen to the aspirations of its people".
A Downing Street spokesman said: "The Prime Minister called for an orderly transition to a broad-based Government, including opposition figures. The Prime Minister also said that bold steps were needed to produce real, visible and comprehensive change, with a clear path to free and fair elections."
The Foreign Office is chartering its own flight on Wednesday to ensure Britons are not left stranded in crisis-stricken Egypt.
The 200-seater Boeing 757 could be followed by further flights if they are necessary but the Government said people who want to leave Egypt should be able to do so on commercial flights. British tourists in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez have been advised to leave where possible.
A demonstration against the Government's spending cuts is set to be the biggest union event in decades, the TUC has predicted.
The union organisation has started distributing thousands of leaflets detailing its arguments against the controversial austerity measures ahead of the national protest in central London on March 26.
Hundreds of coaches and trains have been booked to transport supporters from across the country.
The leaflets say that the UK's debt is lower than in most years of the last century and argue that the country has no problem servicing its debt.
The Cuts Are Not The Cure leaflet says: "The Government is therefore wrong to say that there is no alternative. The real job of closing the deficit will come from the increased tax raised by economic growth and getting people back to work.
"But this will require a longer timetable to close the deficit, as the deep rapid cuts imposed by the Government will choke off economic recovery."
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "As the cuts begin to bite, the Government has completely lost the argument that its cuts are fair. With the economy plunging back into negative growth, it is clear that the Government's economic gamble has failed.
"More and more people are therefore looking at arguments for an alternative and for ways of showing their opposition to the coalition's deep, rapid cuts. It's clear that the TUC's march has captured the mood of the country and looks set to be the biggest event in our recent history."
A gang of previously unknown men are wanted by the FBI for their alleged role in the September 11 terror attacks.
Secret documents obtained by the WikiLeaks website detailing the movements of the three men in the days leading up to the atrocities have been published by The Daily Telegraph.
The diplomatic cable sent between the American embassy in Doha, Qatar, and the Department for Homeland Security in Washington, reveals the trio entered the US on a British Airways flight from London on August 15 2001.
The men, named as Qataris Meshal Alhajri, Fahad Abdulla and Ali Alfehaid allegedly visited the World Trade Centre and Statue of Liberty in New York and travelled to Washington DC and other locations in Virginia.
Several days later on August 24 2001, they flew to Los Angeles where they stayed before checking out of their hotel on September 10.
The cables said hotel staff become alarmed after seeing pilot uniforms and a smashed mobile phone in their room. It said: "Hotel staff grew suspicious of the men because they noticed pilot type uniforms, several laptops, and several cardboard boxes addressed to Syria, Jerusalem, Afghanistan and Jordan in the room on previous cleaning visits."
On September 10 they were booked on to an American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Washington, but the men failed to board, the cable said. The same Boeing 757 plane was hijacked by five terrorists and crashed into the Pentagon the next day, according to American Airlines records.
The trio left LA, flying to England on September 10, before returning to Qatar on a flight from London.
A subsequent FBI investigation revealed the men's plane tickets were paid for and their LA hotel reservation made by a convicted terrorist.
The FBI are also trying to trace a man named as Mohamed Ali Mohamed Al Mansoori from the United Arab Emirates for his alleged support of the trio during their visit.
The Government has been urged to intervene in the case of a soldier held in a US jail on suspicion of passing state secrets to WikiLeaks - on the grounds that he is part-British.
Bradley Manning, a private in the US Army, went to school in Haverfordwest, Wales, where his mother still lives.
He has been accused of passing hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables to the whistleblowing website.
Amnesty International argued that his Welsh parentage meant that the British government should step in in the wake of reports about the harsh conditions of his detention.
The human rights charity's director Kate Allen said: "Bradley Manning's Welsh parentage means that the UK government should be demanding that the conditions of his detention are in line with international standards and that his 'maximum custody' status does not impair his ability to defend himself. We would also like to see Foreign Office officials visiting him just as they would any other British person detained overseas and potentially facing trial on very serious charges."
Clive Stafford Smith, director of human rights charity Reprieve, echoed Amnesty's call.
"I don't care whether he's British or not, human beings have rights wherever they are. (But) the fact that he is a British national does give the Government standing to be involved," he said.
But the Government said it could not comment on Pte Manning's nationality.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "We can't release any information on an individual's nationality unless we have their consent."
Pte Manning has been praised by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as "an unparalleled hero".
