September 26, 2011, 5:00 pm
![UK ship sunk by U-boat discovered]()
Marine explorers have found the site of a British cargo ship sunk by a German U-boat during the Second World War.
The SS Gairsoppa was carrying seven million ounces of silver, worth £132 million at today's prices.
The 412 foot steel-hulled ship was torpedoed while in the service of the Ministry of War Transport.
Odyssey Marine Exploration said it had confirmed the identity and location of the shipwreck site, nearly 4,700 metres below the surface of the North Atlantic, about 300 miles off the coast of Ireland in international waters.
The company said in a statement: "Contemporary research and official documents indicate that the ship was carrying £600,000 (1941 value) or seven million total ounces of silver, including over three million ounces of private silver bullion insured by the UK government, which would make it the largest known precious metal cargo ever recovered from the sea."
He said that in 2010 the UK Department for Transport awarded the company, through a competitive tender process, the exclusive salvage contract for the cargo of the ship.
Under the agreement, Odyssey will retain 80% of the net value of the silver bullion recovered.
The Odyssey team carried out remotely operated vehicle operations from the ship Odyssey Explorer to inspect the site.
"The video and photographs acquired during the exploration of the shipwreck were reviewed and analysed at length to confirm the identity of the shipwreck as that of the SS Gairsoppa," the spokesman said.
Company president and chief operating officer Mark Gordon said: "The target was located with side-scan sonar and then visually inspected in less than two months from the start of the operation."
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September 26, 2011, 9:20 pm
!['Unprecedented' cuts threat to NHS]()
The NHS is facing an "unprecedented financial challenge" that may force cuts to services and numbers of hospital beds, the head of an organisation representing health service organisations has said.
Mike Farrar, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation said the need to make £20 billion of financial savings by 2015 "means our finances are under more strain than ever".
And he warned that few users of the NHS were prepared for the scale of the changes likely to be forced upon the service by financial pressures.
Mr Farrar told The Guardian: "I am deeply concerned that the gravity of this problem for the NHS is not widely understood by patients and the public.
"There is a real risk we will sleepwalk into a financial crisis that patients will feel the full force of.
"This could see the NHS forced to salami-slice its way out of financial trouble, cutting services and use of less effective treatments."
Mr Farrar, whose organisation represents most NHS hospitals, primary care trusts, ambulance services and mental health trusts in England, said the health service faced an uncertain future.
"There are three scenarios," he said. "The NHS maintains service standards but goes bust while doing so; it sees standards slip but maintains financial balance; or it keeps improving and stays in the black. Clearly, we all want the third option."
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September 26, 2011, 9:20 pm
![Hugh Grant joins media reforms push]()
Labour leader Ed Miliband will work with Hollywood star Hugh Grant on media reforms in the wake of the phone hacking scandal.
The actor, who has become a champion for the Hacked Off campaign that is pressing for tougher sanctions and restrictions on the Press, claims some newspapers will be "back to their old tricks" soon and questioned whether Labour MPs would still stand up to the media when the furore had died down.
Mr Grant met the Labour leader to press his case at the party's conference in Liverpool.
A senior Labour source said it was an "excellent meeting".
"Ed expressed his thanks for Hugh's work in the hacked off campaign and they said they would work together in future."
Addressing a Labour conference fringe event, organised by Hacked Off later, he conceded there were "people better qualified" to speak on the issue but went on to say he "humbly" wanted to make a few observations.
That included claiming many national newspapers operated on the same "business model" of "criminal appropriation" of private information as the now defunct News of the World.
He told delegates that as the Press was mainly right-leaning "the ball is in your court".
Referring to Lord Leveson's public inquiry into the scandal he said: "I suspect an awful lot of dirt will come out quite quickly and will continue to amaze the public."
He added that he hoped the "outrage will be kept alive for the duration" of the inquiry.
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September 26, 2011, 11:27 pm
![Miliband targets 'asset strippers']()
Bad businesses and bad neighbours are to be targeted by Labour leader Ed Miliband in his keynote speech to the party's conference in Liverpool.
Mr Miliband will say that councils should give priority in allocating scarce social housing to people who work and contribute to their communities over benefit claimants and trouble tenants.
And he will say that a Labour government would offer rewards and incentives to businesses which give something back to Britain, while penalising "asset strippers" who make money without contributing to the communities in which they operate.
Mr Miliband will set out the terms of a "new bargain" on both welfare and the economy which will offer "something for something" to individuals and business who do the right thing.
In a speech influenced by the experience of the banking crash, the phone-hacking scandal and riots in England's cities, Mr Miliband will say that the country is facing a "quiet crisis" caused by "an economy and a society too often rewarding not the right people with the right values, but the wrong people with the wrong values".
He is expected to say: "Labour will always stand as the voice of the people, our people. Their values will be heard. And we will challenge the vested interests that benefit when the wrong values are rewarded. Never again should they be able to take advantage of a system which doesn't work to the values and instincts of decent people in our country. We need a new bargain. Based on a different set of values."
Under his proposed shake-up of the welfare system, social housing would no longer be allocated purely on the basis of need. Precise details of schemes would be left to individual councils, which could give priority to factors such as voluntary work, good neighbourliness and responsibility in looking after property.
Meanwhile, Mr Miliband will reject Tory claims that Labour is an anti-business party, insisting that all political parties must be pro-business in the modern era. But he will accuse the Conservatives of failing to distinguish between businesses which genuinely create wealth for the nation and those which make money by asset-stripping without contributing to the communities within which they operate.
A Labour government would use tax breaks, regulation and the spending power of the state to favour companies which give something back to Britain, he will say. Companies which secure government contracts would be required to offer apprenticeships and tax incentives would encourage skills training and long-term investment.
While praising those who get rich by "hard graft", Mr Miliband will say: "The wealth of our nation is built by the hands not just of the elite few, but every man and woman who goes out and does a day's work."
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September 26, 2011, 11:27 pm
![Terraced homes 'saw largest gains']()
Terraced houses increased in value by more than any other type of home over the past decade after buyers were priced out of the top end of the market, according to new research.
The average price of a terraced property has increased 68.4% to £151,332 in the 10 years to the second quarter of 2011, said the Halifax.
This equates to a rise of £118 a week and outstrips a 52.8% rise in the cost of the average home to £177,740.
Demand for terraces has been strong because they are the most affordable type of property, while more expensive detached homes have seen their share of sales drop, the report revealed.
Despite recent price hikes, a terraced home is 45% cheaper than an average detached home, which costs £273,173.
Halifax housing economist Suren Thiru said: "Although all property types have recorded significant price increases overall during the past decade, terraced homes have seen the biggest growth.
"Demand for such properties is likely to have been supported by their relatively favourable levels of affordability over the period. The rapid house price rises during much of the 2000s priced many potential home movers out of the upper end of the UK housing market."
Terraced properties saw their share of all house sales rise by more than any other property over the decade, increasing to 34. Detached homes were the only type of property to see a drop in their share of sales, declining to 14, driven by a large drop in demand from home movers.
Bungalows saw the next biggest rise in value - by 67.9% to £187,167 - followed by semi-detached properties, with a 62.4% increase to £164,970. The value of detached homes increased 56%, but flats and maisonettes were the worst performer, with a 49% increase to £163,825 after the market was flooded with a glut of properties.
Scotland and Yorkshire and Humber accounted for the biggest price rises across all property types over the decade, while London saw the smallest gains.
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September 26, 2011, 11:27 pm
![World goes into 'ecological debt']()
The world has gone into "ecological debt", having used up more resources and produced more waste this year than the planet can cope with, campaigners have warned.
Humans have exhausted nature's supplies such as land, trees and fish for the year and its capacity to absorb waste products including carbon dioxide, and are now "eating into savings", the Global Footprint Network said.
As a result natural resources are shrinking and carbon dioxide is accumulating.
Global Footprint Network president Dr Mathis Wackernagel said the pressure humans are putting on the planet's resources is "like spending your annual salary three months before the year is over, and eating into savings year after year".
"Pretty soon you run out of savings," he warned.
Since 1961 the demands we are placing on the natural world have doubled and the amount of resources needed to sustain human activities each year would now require us to have between 1.2 and 1.5 Earths.
Despite the global economic crisis, humanity's demands on natural resources continue to rise, although more slowly than before the credit crunch, the campaigners said.
While this year's "ecological debt" day falls several weeks later than last year, the Global Footprint Network warned that it was not a sign that people were living more within their means.
Andrew Simms, from the network's partner organisation the New Economics Foundation (NEF), said: "At a time when the global economy is reeling due to the poor risk management and financial accounting of the banks, a potentially bigger crisis is growing due to our faulty accounting of the biosphere.
"Where finance is concerned, orderly bankruptcy is an option. But the consequences of ecological debt leading to failed ecosystems are likely to be beyond our control."
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September 26, 2011, 11:27 pm
![Libya 'will aid' Lockerbie probe]()
Libyan authorities have said they will co-operate with Scottish prosecutors and police investigating the Lockerbie bombing, the Foreign Office said.
The National Transitional Council (NTC) has reassured the UK Government after reports suggested Libya's interim justice minister had said the Lockerbie bombing case was "closed".
Mohammed al-Alagi was asked for his response at a press conference after Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland QC requested that Libyan authorities hand over any information that could lead to a second trial over the atrocity, which killed 270 people in December 1988.
Abdelbaset al-Megrahi is the only person to have been convicted of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded over Lockerbie.
According to reports, Libya's interim justice minister Mohammed al-Alagi, responding to news of the request, told a press conference in Tripoli: "The case is closed."
But later, a spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: "NTC Chairman Abdul Jalil has already assured the Prime Minister that the new Libyan authorities will co-operate with the UK in this and other ongoing investigations. Having spoken with the NTC ... we understand that this remains the case. The police investigation into the Lockerbie bombing remains open, and the Police should follow the evidence wherever it leads them."
Scottish prosecutors are seeking assistance from Libya's NTC to gain evidence that could lead to the conviction of others involved in the atrocity.
Earlier a Crown Office spokesman said that it accepts that Megrahi "did not act alone" and it is hopeful recent developments in Libya will mean the country will assist with the inquiry.
Megrahi was released on compassionate grounds from Greenock Prison in August 2009, when doctors advised he had around three months to live after he was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer.
Amin Khalifa Fhimah also stood trial with Megrahi, but was acquitted of any involvement.
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September 26, 2011, 11:27 pm
![Tories overtake Labour in new poll]()
Labour has fallen behind the Conservatives in an opinion poll published on the eve of Ed Miliband's high-profile speech to the party's annual conference in Liverpool.
And, in news which will make unpleasant reading for the Labour leader as he prepares to address delegates, the ComRes survey for The Independent found that fewer than one voter in four sees Mr Miliband as a credible future prime minister.
It is the first time since October 2010 that a ComRes poll has put Tories in the lead and one of only a handful of surveys this year to find Labour in second place.
Some 37% of the 1,000 voters questioned said they backed Tories - down one point since the most recent poll by the same company eight days ago - against 36% for Labour (down two) and 12% for the Liberal Democrats (up one).
Just 24% agreed that Mr Miliband was a credible PM-in-waiting, against 57% who said he was not.
And only 27% said Labour's shadow chancellor Ed Balls would make a better Chancellor than George Osborne, compared to 43% who said he would not.
Following Mr Balls's admission in his speech to conference that Labour had made "mistakes" during its time in power, the poll found that 40% of voters would be more likely to support the party if it apologised for its failings in office, against 52% who would not.
Almost half of those questioned (48%) thought the unions enjoy too much influence over Labour, but 37% said they do not.
The poll was carried out between Friday and Sunday, and Labour strategists will be hoping that the dip in support it records will be reversed by the "bounce" which parties generally benefit from thanks to the additional attention devoted to them during their conference.
ComRes interviewed 1,000 adults by phone between September 23 and 25.
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September 26, 2011, 11:27 pm
![UN sets date to consider Abbas bid]()
The United Nations Security Council is to meet to start the process of formally considering the Palestinian request for membership in the world body.
Lebanese ambassador Nawaf Salam, who holds this month's rotating security council presidency, made a brief appearance before reporters on Monday, issuing a statement in English and Arabic.
He said the council had met and decided to take up a decision on referring the issue for further consideration in two days. That will consist of forming a committee to study the Palestinian submission.
The United States has said it would use its security council veto to block Palestinian membership should the measure receive the necessary nine of 15 votes. That would keep the membership bid from moving forward to the 193-member General Assembly for the needed two-thirds vote. A vote in the security council was not expected for weeks at least.
US officials, speaking anonymously to describe confidential diplomacy, said they were telling fellow council members that there was no rush to act on the bid submitted on Friday by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, over US and Israeli objections.
The US is also seeking co-operation from other members in persuading the Palestinians not to push for a quick vote. The US hopes that going slow may allow Israeli-Palestinian peace talks to resume without a confrontation at the world body.
Earlier, secretary of state Hillary Clinton met Lebanese prime minister Najib Makati at the UN to make the US argument. Lebanon, the only Arab member of the 15-member security council, is expected to support the Palestinian bid.
Senior US officials said Mrs Clinton had made separate, similar calls to the foreign ministers of Colombia and China, both of which hold council seats.
The Palestinian envoy to the UN, Riyad Mansour, said he was grateful to secretary general Ban Ki-moon for quickly forwarding the request to the security council. "We hope it will lead to fast action in positively recognising that Palestine be admitted," Mr Mansour said.
But he admitted that several countries would be coming "under tremendous pressure" not to recognise Palestine as a state and said the Palestinians were sending high-level delegations in the coming days to Bosnia, Gabon and Nigeria - all council members - to elicit support.
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September 27, 2011, 9:19 am
![Riot case sentences 'excessive']()
Two men jailed for four years for setting up Facebook pages inciting others to riot have challenged their "manifestly excessive" custodial terms.
Lawyers for Jordan Blackshaw, 20, of Northwich, and Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan, 22, of Warrington, both Cheshire, told three Court of Appeal judges that what their clients had done was "monumentally foolish", "hugely stupid" and "hugely short-sighted".
But they urged the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, sitting in London with Lord Justice Thomas and Lord Justice Leveson, to rule that their sentences were too long.
The judges are hearing 10 Crown Court cases, the first sentence challenges by defendants jailed for their involvement in the August riots.
At the start of the hearing Lord Judge announced that the court would not be giving judgment on the appeals on Tuesday.
Chester Crown Court had heard that Blackshaw set up a Facebook event called Smash Down In Northwich Town but nobody turned up at the meeting point outside a McDonald's restaurant.
Sutcliffe-Keenan's page, The Warrington Riots, invited people to riot on the evening of Wednesday August 10 between 7pm and 10pm.
Gareth Roberts, counsel for Blackshaw, told the appeal judges: "Four years goes well beyond what could be a properly deterrent sentence and could properly be deemed to be a fair sentence, even in the context of what was going on nationwide."
Solicitor-advocate Rebecca Tanner, representing Sutcliffe-Keenan, told the court that the four years imposed on him was manifestly excessive "in all the circumstances of the case and the offender".
His actions on that day were "hugely stupid and hugely short-sighted" but the sentence was "simply too long", she said.
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September 27, 2011, 9:31 am
![Integrity of media 'not for sale']()
Media organisations should consider barring from the trade journalists guilty of "gross malpractice", the Labour conference has been told.
The party would also produce stricter rules on media ownership and back independent regulation of the press, shadow culture secretary Ivan Lewis said.
In a message to Rupert Murdoch, Mr Lewis said: "The integrity of our media and our politics is not for sale."
Setting out his reforms Mr Lewis said: "Never again can one commercial organisation have so much power and control over our media.
"In the period ahead, Labour will bring forward proposals for new, tougher cross-media ownership laws."
While a free press was "non-negotiable", Mr Lewis said: "We need a new system of independent regulation, including proper, like-for-like redress which means that mistakes and falsehoods on the front page receive apologies and retraction on the front page.
Delegates at the gathering in Liverpool were asked to back a motion calling for Mr Murdoch's son James to stand down as chairman of BSkyB.
Labour MP Tom Watson, who has led the campaign against phone hacking in Parliament, said: "Let's tell Ofcom what we think about James Murdoch. I wouldn't put him on the board of an ornamental garden; he's certainly not a fit and proper person to chair a major broadcaster."
Unite general secretary Len McCluskey, who moved the motion delegates will vote on later in the conference, said: "For our party, there should also have been an element of shame because for years we were complicit in propping up Murdoch's power."
Rhondda MP Chris Bryant, a critic of News International, said Labour became too close to the company during the party's 13 years in government. He told the conference: "In future we should choose our bedfellows with a little more care."
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September 27, 2011, 9:31 am
![Call over 'futile' cancer treatment]()
Dying cancer patients should be spared "futile" and expensive treatment which can offer "false hope" in the last weeks of life, experts have said.
Warning of a tendency to "overdiagnose, overtreat, and overpromise", they said the medical profession had created a set of "unrealistic expectations" with regard to the disease.
Terminally ill patients could even be better off if they "forgo" certain treatments which would reduce spending and potentially improve end of life care, the academics said.
In an article in The Lancet Oncology journal, the group said burgeoning cancer costs were being driven up by an ageing population and the rapid development of new medicines and surgery.
Led by Professor Richard Sullivan, of King's College London, they said developed countries were now heading towards a "crisis in medical-care delivery" with cancer surgery becoming "unaffordable".
"Special consideration must be given to costs of cancer care at the end of life," they wrote. "Many forms of cancer are currently incurable and patients will eventually die from their disease.
"If we could accurately predict when further disease-directed therapy would be futile, we clearly would want to spare the patient the toxicity and false hope associated with such treatment, as well as the expense."
In their lengthy report the experts looked at a series of therapies but said that even the best interventions and tests, while valuable in one setting, were wasteful in others.
A Department of Health spokesman said: "The Cancer Drug Fund is helping more people get access to the drugs they need.
"Between October 2010 and April 2011, almost 2,500 benefited from the fund. Wherever you live, decisions on the use of the CDF are taken on a clinical basis. In the long term, we are changing the way drugs are priced to ensure value for the NHS and better access for patients."
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September 27, 2011, 9:31 am
![Struck-off nurses 'still on wards']()
British hospital wards could face a "ghastly national disaster" because of the growing number of unregulated healthcare assistants, the Nursing and Midwifery Council said.
Dickon Weir-Hughes, chief executive of the nursing regulator, has called for ministers to create standardised regulations for the hundreds of thousands of workers who are responsible for much of the basic care needed by NHS patients.
Professor Weir-Hughes told The Times that some nurses struck off for risking patient safety were still working on wards as healthcare assistants.
He told the newspaper: "We've struck people off as nurses who have then come back and worked as healthcare support workers. There's nothing to prevent them from doing that.
"If they've done something wrong that's very technical, that doesn't mean they couldn't give a bed bath, but I don't think any member of the public would expect a struck-off nurse or midwife to be looking after them as a healthcare support worker."
He added that even though hundreds of complaints are made about healthcare assistants each year, officials have no power to act. "All we can do is to say you either have to go to the person's employer, or if it's sufficiently serious call the police. There are no other mechanisms," he said.
He added: "This isn't just about waiting for some ghastly national disaster, it's about saying, 'How long do we leave this issue? How do we really value our elderly people in care homes? What value do we place on the care of vulnerable people in their own homes?'"
He told the newspaper that patients and their families needed to be able to distinguish between assistants and nurses - a step which could be taken by introducing separate uniforms.
"What's worrying is when we get complaints about a so-called nurse but they turn out not to be a nurse. In other words it's somebody who looks like a nurse, who is doing some things people associate with nursing, but is not a nurse," Prof Weir-Hughes said. "It's very hard for members of the public to tell who people are, so one of our calls would be for distinctive uniforms and clear name badges."
The council is drawing up guidelines for nurses who do not know when they need to perform tasks - such as feeding or washing patients - or when they can delegate to assistants.
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September 27, 2011, 9:31 am
![Death blaze 'caused by freezer']()
A house fire which killed five children and their mother is believed to have been caused by a freezer, the fire service has said.
Muna Elmufatish, 41, daughters Hanin Kua, 14, Basma, 13, Amal, nine, and sons Mustafa, five, and Yehya, two, died when their London home was engulfed in flames in the early hours of Saturday.
London Fire Brigade said the family's chest freezer, stored in the hallway at the bottom of the stairs, was most likely to have started the house fire which became the capital's worst in more than a decade.
An inquest into the deaths has now been opened and adjourned.
A spokesman for London Fire Brigade said: "Six people died and two people were seriously injured in a blaze that started in the early hours of Saturday morning in a two-storey semi-detached house on Sonia Gardens in Neasden.
"Fire investigators believe that a chest freezer, which was in the hallway at the bottom of the stairs, may have caused the fire. The make of the chest freezer is not known at this stage."
Post-mortem examinations found that the six victims died from inhalation of fumes. The children's father, Bassam Kua, 51, and their 16-year-old sister, Nur, escaped the flames but remain in hospital. The girl is critical but stable and her father is in a stable condition.
Investigations continue into what caused the devastating fire which police do not believe was suspicious.
London Fire Brigade is to launch a fire safety blitz across the capital in the wake of the deaths, supported by a Facebook campaign. This will begin with a pilot programme in secondary schools in Brent, the borough where the fire happened.
The inquest was adjourned to February 16.
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September 27, 2011, 9:31 am
![Killer Knox 'a cuddly cartoon girl']()
Convicted killer Amanda Knox is actually a loving young woman rather like the cartoon character Jessica Rabbit, a defence lawyer has claimed.
Just a day after another lawyer told her appeal hearing in Italy that Knox was a "a lying, sex-loving she-devil" Giulia Bongiorno said Knox, the American student found guilty of killing British room mate Meredith Kercher, was not a bad person.
He said she was not the "femme fatale" her accusers describe and compared her to Jessica Rabbit, saying she was faithful like the "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" character.
Knox was convicted of murdering Miss Kercher, a fellow student in Perugia, and sentenced to 26 years in prison, while co-defendant Raffaele Sollecito was sentenced to 25 years.
Mr Bongiorno, Sollecito's lawyer, paraphrased a famous line from the movie saying Knox "is not bad, she's just drawn that way."
Knox and Sollecito deny killing Miss Kercher. A verdict in the appeals case is expected by next week.
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September 27, 2011, 9:31 am
![BAE confirms 3,000 jobs to be cut]()
Defence giant BAE Systems has confirmed that it is cutting almost 3,000 jobs at sites across the country, mainly in its military aircraft division.
The firm ended days of speculation by giving details of a huge redundancy programme, saying it needed to maintain competitiveness.
The biggest job cuts will be at sites in Warton, Preston and Samlesbury in Lancashire and at Brough in East Yorkshire, although jobs will also be lost at the firm's head office in Hampshire.
Ian King, chief executive of BAE Systems, said: "Our customers are facing huge pressures on their defence budgets and affordability has become an increasing priority. Our business needs to rise to this challenge to maintain its competitiveness and ensure its long-term future."
BAE said the potential job losses included 899 at Brough, 565 at Samlesbury and 843 at Warton and Preston. The firm announced that it had started a consultation about ending manufacturing at the Brough site, which currently employs 1,300 workers.
Unite union national officer Ian Waddell said: "After days of speculation and rumours, our worst fears have been confirmed. It's a dark day for thousands of skilled men and women across the country and it is a dark day for British manufacturing."
GMB general secretary Paul Kenny said: "Business Secretary Vince Cable has to intervene to help create new businesses in places like Brough and Lancashire to prevent the high skills of these workers being lost to the economy.
In Brough, local GMB officer Dave Oglesby said workers at the plant had been left "absolutely shocked" by the news.
One worker, maintenance technician Edward Potter, said he was "off to go home to look for a job". The 29-year-old, who has worked at the plant for 14 years, added: "It is the end of manufacturing at Brough. There's not really much else to say."
Mr Cable said: "This news from BAE Systems will be a serious knock to the individuals and communities affected. My officials and the BIS (Department for Business, Innovation and Skills) local teams are already in touch with the company, local authorities and local enterprise partnerships to make sure that everything possible is done to help those affected at Brough, Warton, Samlesbury and other sites."
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September 27, 2011, 12:59 pm
![Top sitcom writer David Croft dies]()
David Croft, who wrote hit sitcoms including Dad's Army and Are You Being Served?, has died aged 89.
His agent Tim Hancock said he died at his holiday home in Portugal.
Among his other hit shows were 'Allo 'Allo, It Ain't Half Hot Mum and Hi-De-Hi!
A statement released by his family said Croft "died peacefully in his sleep at his house in Portugal earlier today".
It went on: "He was a truly great man, who will be missed by all who had the great fortune of knowing and loving him. We know that he would of been proud that you had all been watching."
Croft was born into showbusiness. His parents were both actors and he appeared in a cinema advert as a child, before landing a small part in a 1939 film of Goodbye, Mr Chips.
But the war intervened and a cinema career was put on hold while he served in the Royal Artillery, eventually rising to the rank of Major. He wrote scripts for pantomimes before working in television as a producer, director and writer.
His partnership with Jimmy Perry proved to be one of British television's most successful. Together they wrote Dad's Army, It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Hi-De-Hi and You Rang, M'Lord?
He also worked with Jeremy Lloyd on shows including Are You Being Served? 'Allo 'Allo and Grace and Favour.
Croft, who was awarded the OBE in 1978, is survived by his wife, children and grandchildren.
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September 27, 2011, 12:59 pm
!['Dark day' as BAE axes 3,000 jobs]()
Defence giant BAE Systems has confirmed that almost 3,000 posts are to be axed on a "dark day" for British manufacturing.
Sites across the country will suffer cutbacks, while the firm signalled the end of production at its factory in Brough, Yorkshire, which currently employs 1,300 workers.
Unions and politicians attacked the firm for the way the grim news had leaked out over the past three days, saying workers had been treated "appallingly".
Ian King, chief executive of BAE Systems, said: "Our customers are facing huge pressures on their defence budgets and affordability has become an increasing priority. Our business needs to rise to this challenge to maintain its competitiveness and ensure its long-term future."
The biggest job cuts will be at sites in Warton and Samlesbury in Lancashire and at Brough, although staff will also be hit at the firm's head office in Hampshire.
Labour leader Ed Miliband told his party's annual conference that BAE Systems had been "sold down the river" by the Government, which is cutting back on defence spending.
The Government said everything would be done to help those affected by the announcement, but unions warned that so many job cuts threatened the UK's skills base.
Unite union national officer Ian Waddell said: "It's a dark day for thousands of skilled men and women across the country and it is a dark day for British manufacturing."
Business Secretary Vince Cable said: "This news from BAE Systems will be a serious knock to the individuals and communities affected.
"My officials and the BIS (Department for Business, Innovation and Skills) local teams are already in touch with the company, local authorities and local enterprise partnerships to make sure that everything possible is done to help those affected at Brough, Warton, Samlesbury and other sites."
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September 27, 2011, 12:59 pm
![Miliband makes 'new bargain' pledge]()
Labour will offer a "new bargain" to the people of Britain to end the "fast buck" culture of the last 30 years and reshape society so that hard work and responsibility are rewarded, the party's leader Ed Miliband has said.
In his keynote speech to Labour's conference in Liverpool, Mr Miliband said he wanted to become Prime Minister so he can "write a new chapter in our country's history".
Launching a scathing attack on "unjustified rewards" at the top of companies, asset-stripping "predators" in business and bankers who profited even as their mistakes caused economic meltdown, Mr Miliband said that a Labour government would use tax breaks, regulation and contracts to reward firms which contribute to their community.
And he said he was determined to reform the welfare system to ensure that it pays to work, to end "cosy cartels" which set top pay, break up the "rigged market" which allows energy companies to charge high prices and rebalance Britain's economy away from the reliance on financial services and towards production and manufacturing.
Against the backdrop of opinion polls suggesting voters do not see him as a potential prime minister, Mr Miliband sought to shake off the legacy of the last two Labour leaders to hold power, telling the conference: "I'm not Tony Blair. I'm not Gordon Brown either... I'm my own man and I'm going to do things my own way."
And he declared that he was ready to take risks to break away from the "something for nothing" culture which has taken root in Britain over the past three decades and created a "quiet crisis" where those who do the right thing no longer believe they will be rewarded for it.
After the banking crash, MPs' expenses scandal, phone-hacking and the summer riots in England's cities, it was now a once-in-a-generation "moment when we need to change the way we do things", he said.
The "fill-your-boots" approach of bankers and high finance, the "something for nothing" promises of celebrity culture and the "take-what-you-can" mentality of inner-city gangs do not represent the true values of the British people, said Mr Miliband.
"It will be a tough fight to change Britain. But I'm up for the fight: The fight for a new bargain.
"A new bargain in our economy so reward is linked to effort; A new bargain based on your values so we can pay our way in the world; A new bargain to ensure responsibility from top to bottom," he added.
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September 27, 2011, 12:59 pm
![Travellers protest at council HQ]()
Two people have scaled the front of council offices to protest at the planned clearance of the UK's largest illegal travellers' site.
The pair climbed above the doorway of Basildon Council's Basildon Centre building at midday on Tuesday. They were questioned by police and arrested at about 1.30pm.
During the protest they unfurled a banner reading "Tony Ball RESIGN", referring to the leader of the council.
Ali Saunders, a spokeswoman for Dale Farm Solidarity, was at the protest. She said around 50 people also gathered outside the entrance to the offices during the protest.
She said: "It's becoming clear that this eviction is a lost cause. Dale Farm has got to stay, Tony Ball has got to go."
A spokesman for Basildon Council said: "As Dale Farm protesters climbed on top of the revolving entrance door to the Basildon Centre, police were called to monitor the situation and the health and safety of both protesters and members of the public."
The clearance of Dale Farm was due to begin last week but an injunction preventing bailiffs moving in is in place while legal appeals are heard at the High Court.
Mary Sheridan, a Dale Farm resident, said: "Instead of wasting money on destroying a community, Tony Ball should be putting money into Basildon and supporting local people. This shouldn't be about travellers but about what's good for Basildon.
"We are living in fear of the bailiffs. If Tony Ball had his way we'd be forcefully thrown out of our community with no place to go.
"Tony Ball is failing travellers and the people of Basildon. We don't want to be taking homes off others who need them and we don't want to live at the side of the road."
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Marine explorers have found the site of a British cargo ship sunk by a German U-boat during the Second World War.
The SS Gairsoppa was carrying seven million ounces of silver, worth £132 million at today's prices.
The 412 foot steel-hulled ship was torpedoed while in the service of the Ministry of War Transport.
Odyssey Marine Exploration said it had confirmed the identity and location of the shipwreck site, nearly 4,700 metres below the surface of the North Atlantic, about 300 miles off the coast of Ireland in international waters.
The company said in a statement: "Contemporary research and official documents indicate that the ship was carrying £600,000 (1941 value) or seven million total ounces of silver, including over three million ounces of private silver bullion insured by the UK government, which would make it the largest known precious metal cargo ever recovered from the sea."
He said that in 2010 the UK Department for Transport awarded the company, through a competitive tender process, the exclusive salvage contract for the cargo of the ship.
Under the agreement, Odyssey will retain 80% of the net value of the silver bullion recovered.
The Odyssey team carried out remotely operated vehicle operations from the ship Odyssey Explorer to inspect the site.
"The video and photographs acquired during the exploration of the shipwreck were reviewed and analysed at length to confirm the identity of the shipwreck as that of the SS Gairsoppa," the spokesman said.
Company president and chief operating officer Mark Gordon said: "The target was located with side-scan sonar and then visually inspected in less than two months from the start of the operation."
The NHS is facing an "unprecedented financial challenge" that may force cuts to services and numbers of hospital beds, the head of an organisation representing health service organisations has said.
Mike Farrar, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation said the need to make £20 billion of financial savings by 2015 "means our finances are under more strain than ever".
And he warned that few users of the NHS were prepared for the scale of the changes likely to be forced upon the service by financial pressures.
Mr Farrar told The Guardian: "I am deeply concerned that the gravity of this problem for the NHS is not widely understood by patients and the public.
"There is a real risk we will sleepwalk into a financial crisis that patients will feel the full force of.
"This could see the NHS forced to salami-slice its way out of financial trouble, cutting services and use of less effective treatments."
Mr Farrar, whose organisation represents most NHS hospitals, primary care trusts, ambulance services and mental health trusts in England, said the health service faced an uncertain future.
"There are three scenarios," he said. "The NHS maintains service standards but goes bust while doing so; it sees standards slip but maintains financial balance; or it keeps improving and stays in the black. Clearly, we all want the third option."
Labour leader Ed Miliband will work with Hollywood star Hugh Grant on media reforms in the wake of the phone hacking scandal.
The actor, who has become a champion for the Hacked Off campaign that is pressing for tougher sanctions and restrictions on the Press, claims some newspapers will be "back to their old tricks" soon and questioned whether Labour MPs would still stand up to the media when the furore had died down.
Mr Grant met the Labour leader to press his case at the party's conference in Liverpool.
A senior Labour source said it was an "excellent meeting".
"Ed expressed his thanks for Hugh's work in the hacked off campaign and they said they would work together in future."
Addressing a Labour conference fringe event, organised by Hacked Off later, he conceded there were "people better qualified" to speak on the issue but went on to say he "humbly" wanted to make a few observations.
That included claiming many national newspapers operated on the same "business model" of "criminal appropriation" of private information as the now defunct News of the World.
He told delegates that as the Press was mainly right-leaning "the ball is in your court".
Referring to Lord Leveson's public inquiry into the scandal he said: "I suspect an awful lot of dirt will come out quite quickly and will continue to amaze the public."
He added that he hoped the "outrage will be kept alive for the duration" of the inquiry.
Bad businesses and bad neighbours are to be targeted by Labour leader Ed Miliband in his keynote speech to the party's conference in Liverpool.
Mr Miliband will say that councils should give priority in allocating scarce social housing to people who work and contribute to their communities over benefit claimants and trouble tenants.
And he will say that a Labour government would offer rewards and incentives to businesses which give something back to Britain, while penalising "asset strippers" who make money without contributing to the communities in which they operate.
Mr Miliband will set out the terms of a "new bargain" on both welfare and the economy which will offer "something for something" to individuals and business who do the right thing.
In a speech influenced by the experience of the banking crash, the phone-hacking scandal and riots in England's cities, Mr Miliband will say that the country is facing a "quiet crisis" caused by "an economy and a society too often rewarding not the right people with the right values, but the wrong people with the wrong values".
He is expected to say: "Labour will always stand as the voice of the people, our people. Their values will be heard. And we will challenge the vested interests that benefit when the wrong values are rewarded. Never again should they be able to take advantage of a system which doesn't work to the values and instincts of decent people in our country. We need a new bargain. Based on a different set of values."
Under his proposed shake-up of the welfare system, social housing would no longer be allocated purely on the basis of need. Precise details of schemes would be left to individual councils, which could give priority to factors such as voluntary work, good neighbourliness and responsibility in looking after property.
Meanwhile, Mr Miliband will reject Tory claims that Labour is an anti-business party, insisting that all political parties must be pro-business in the modern era. But he will accuse the Conservatives of failing to distinguish between businesses which genuinely create wealth for the nation and those which make money by asset-stripping without contributing to the communities within which they operate.
A Labour government would use tax breaks, regulation and the spending power of the state to favour companies which give something back to Britain, he will say. Companies which secure government contracts would be required to offer apprenticeships and tax incentives would encourage skills training and long-term investment.
While praising those who get rich by "hard graft", Mr Miliband will say: "The wealth of our nation is built by the hands not just of the elite few, but every man and woman who goes out and does a day's work."
Terraced houses increased in value by more than any other type of home over the past decade after buyers were priced out of the top end of the market, according to new research.
The average price of a terraced property has increased 68.4% to £151,332 in the 10 years to the second quarter of 2011, said the Halifax.
This equates to a rise of £118 a week and outstrips a 52.8% rise in the cost of the average home to £177,740.
Demand for terraces has been strong because they are the most affordable type of property, while more expensive detached homes have seen their share of sales drop, the report revealed.
Despite recent price hikes, a terraced home is 45% cheaper than an average detached home, which costs £273,173.
Halifax housing economist Suren Thiru said: "Although all property types have recorded significant price increases overall during the past decade, terraced homes have seen the biggest growth.
"Demand for such properties is likely to have been supported by their relatively favourable levels of affordability over the period. The rapid house price rises during much of the 2000s priced many potential home movers out of the upper end of the UK housing market."
Terraced properties saw their share of all house sales rise by more than any other property over the decade, increasing to 34. Detached homes were the only type of property to see a drop in their share of sales, declining to 14, driven by a large drop in demand from home movers.
Bungalows saw the next biggest rise in value - by 67.9% to £187,167 - followed by semi-detached properties, with a 62.4% increase to £164,970. The value of detached homes increased 56%, but flats and maisonettes were the worst performer, with a 49% increase to £163,825 after the market was flooded with a glut of properties.
Scotland and Yorkshire and Humber accounted for the biggest price rises across all property types over the decade, while London saw the smallest gains.
The world has gone into "ecological debt", having used up more resources and produced more waste this year than the planet can cope with, campaigners have warned.
Humans have exhausted nature's supplies such as land, trees and fish for the year and its capacity to absorb waste products including carbon dioxide, and are now "eating into savings", the Global Footprint Network said.
As a result natural resources are shrinking and carbon dioxide is accumulating.
Global Footprint Network president Dr Mathis Wackernagel said the pressure humans are putting on the planet's resources is "like spending your annual salary three months before the year is over, and eating into savings year after year".
"Pretty soon you run out of savings," he warned.
Since 1961 the demands we are placing on the natural world have doubled and the amount of resources needed to sustain human activities each year would now require us to have between 1.2 and 1.5 Earths.
Despite the global economic crisis, humanity's demands on natural resources continue to rise, although more slowly than before the credit crunch, the campaigners said.
While this year's "ecological debt" day falls several weeks later than last year, the Global Footprint Network warned that it was not a sign that people were living more within their means.
Andrew Simms, from the network's partner organisation the New Economics Foundation (NEF), said: "At a time when the global economy is reeling due to the poor risk management and financial accounting of the banks, a potentially bigger crisis is growing due to our faulty accounting of the biosphere.
"Where finance is concerned, orderly bankruptcy is an option. But the consequences of ecological debt leading to failed ecosystems are likely to be beyond our control."
Libyan authorities have said they will co-operate with Scottish prosecutors and police investigating the Lockerbie bombing, the Foreign Office said.
The National Transitional Council (NTC) has reassured the UK Government after reports suggested Libya's interim justice minister had said the Lockerbie bombing case was "closed".
Mohammed al-Alagi was asked for his response at a press conference after Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland QC requested that Libyan authorities hand over any information that could lead to a second trial over the atrocity, which killed 270 people in December 1988.
Abdelbaset al-Megrahi is the only person to have been convicted of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded over Lockerbie.
According to reports, Libya's interim justice minister Mohammed al-Alagi, responding to news of the request, told a press conference in Tripoli: "The case is closed."
But later, a spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: "NTC Chairman Abdul Jalil has already assured the Prime Minister that the new Libyan authorities will co-operate with the UK in this and other ongoing investigations. Having spoken with the NTC ... we understand that this remains the case. The police investigation into the Lockerbie bombing remains open, and the Police should follow the evidence wherever it leads them."
Scottish prosecutors are seeking assistance from Libya's NTC to gain evidence that could lead to the conviction of others involved in the atrocity.
Earlier a Crown Office spokesman said that it accepts that Megrahi "did not act alone" and it is hopeful recent developments in Libya will mean the country will assist with the inquiry.
Megrahi was released on compassionate grounds from Greenock Prison in August 2009, when doctors advised he had around three months to live after he was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer.
Amin Khalifa Fhimah also stood trial with Megrahi, but was acquitted of any involvement.
Labour has fallen behind the Conservatives in an opinion poll published on the eve of Ed Miliband's high-profile speech to the party's annual conference in Liverpool.
And, in news which will make unpleasant reading for the Labour leader as he prepares to address delegates, the ComRes survey for The Independent found that fewer than one voter in four sees Mr Miliband as a credible future prime minister.
It is the first time since October 2010 that a ComRes poll has put Tories in the lead and one of only a handful of surveys this year to find Labour in second place.
Some 37% of the 1,000 voters questioned said they backed Tories - down one point since the most recent poll by the same company eight days ago - against 36% for Labour (down two) and 12% for the Liberal Democrats (up one).
Just 24% agreed that Mr Miliband was a credible PM-in-waiting, against 57% who said he was not.
And only 27% said Labour's shadow chancellor Ed Balls would make a better Chancellor than George Osborne, compared to 43% who said he would not.
Following Mr Balls's admission in his speech to conference that Labour had made "mistakes" during its time in power, the poll found that 40% of voters would be more likely to support the party if it apologised for its failings in office, against 52% who would not.
Almost half of those questioned (48%) thought the unions enjoy too much influence over Labour, but 37% said they do not.
The poll was carried out between Friday and Sunday, and Labour strategists will be hoping that the dip in support it records will be reversed by the "bounce" which parties generally benefit from thanks to the additional attention devoted to them during their conference.
ComRes interviewed 1,000 adults by phone between September 23 and 25.
The United Nations Security Council is to meet to start the process of formally considering the Palestinian request for membership in the world body.
Lebanese ambassador Nawaf Salam, who holds this month's rotating security council presidency, made a brief appearance before reporters on Monday, issuing a statement in English and Arabic.
He said the council had met and decided to take up a decision on referring the issue for further consideration in two days. That will consist of forming a committee to study the Palestinian submission.
The United States has said it would use its security council veto to block Palestinian membership should the measure receive the necessary nine of 15 votes. That would keep the membership bid from moving forward to the 193-member General Assembly for the needed two-thirds vote. A vote in the security council was not expected for weeks at least.
US officials, speaking anonymously to describe confidential diplomacy, said they were telling fellow council members that there was no rush to act on the bid submitted on Friday by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, over US and Israeli objections.
The US is also seeking co-operation from other members in persuading the Palestinians not to push for a quick vote. The US hopes that going slow may allow Israeli-Palestinian peace talks to resume without a confrontation at the world body.
Earlier, secretary of state Hillary Clinton met Lebanese prime minister Najib Makati at the UN to make the US argument. Lebanon, the only Arab member of the 15-member security council, is expected to support the Palestinian bid.
Senior US officials said Mrs Clinton had made separate, similar calls to the foreign ministers of Colombia and China, both of which hold council seats.
The Palestinian envoy to the UN, Riyad Mansour, said he was grateful to secretary general Ban Ki-moon for quickly forwarding the request to the security council. "We hope it will lead to fast action in positively recognising that Palestine be admitted," Mr Mansour said.
But he admitted that several countries would be coming "under tremendous pressure" not to recognise Palestine as a state and said the Palestinians were sending high-level delegations in the coming days to Bosnia, Gabon and Nigeria - all council members - to elicit support.
Two men jailed for four years for setting up Facebook pages inciting others to riot have challenged their "manifestly excessive" custodial terms.
Lawyers for Jordan Blackshaw, 20, of Northwich, and Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan, 22, of Warrington, both Cheshire, told three Court of Appeal judges that what their clients had done was "monumentally foolish", "hugely stupid" and "hugely short-sighted".
But they urged the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, sitting in London with Lord Justice Thomas and Lord Justice Leveson, to rule that their sentences were too long.
The judges are hearing 10 Crown Court cases, the first sentence challenges by defendants jailed for their involvement in the August riots.
At the start of the hearing Lord Judge announced that the court would not be giving judgment on the appeals on Tuesday.
Chester Crown Court had heard that Blackshaw set up a Facebook event called Smash Down In Northwich Town but nobody turned up at the meeting point outside a McDonald's restaurant.
Sutcliffe-Keenan's page, The Warrington Riots, invited people to riot on the evening of Wednesday August 10 between 7pm and 10pm.
Gareth Roberts, counsel for Blackshaw, told the appeal judges: "Four years goes well beyond what could be a properly deterrent sentence and could properly be deemed to be a fair sentence, even in the context of what was going on nationwide."
Solicitor-advocate Rebecca Tanner, representing Sutcliffe-Keenan, told the court that the four years imposed on him was manifestly excessive "in all the circumstances of the case and the offender".
His actions on that day were "hugely stupid and hugely short-sighted" but the sentence was "simply too long", she said.
Media organisations should consider barring from the trade journalists guilty of "gross malpractice", the Labour conference has been told.
The party would also produce stricter rules on media ownership and back independent regulation of the press, shadow culture secretary Ivan Lewis said.
In a message to Rupert Murdoch, Mr Lewis said: "The integrity of our media and our politics is not for sale."
Setting out his reforms Mr Lewis said: "Never again can one commercial organisation have so much power and control over our media.
"In the period ahead, Labour will bring forward proposals for new, tougher cross-media ownership laws."
While a free press was "non-negotiable", Mr Lewis said: "We need a new system of independent regulation, including proper, like-for-like redress which means that mistakes and falsehoods on the front page receive apologies and retraction on the front page.
Delegates at the gathering in Liverpool were asked to back a motion calling for Mr Murdoch's son James to stand down as chairman of BSkyB.
Labour MP Tom Watson, who has led the campaign against phone hacking in Parliament, said: "Let's tell Ofcom what we think about James Murdoch. I wouldn't put him on the board of an ornamental garden; he's certainly not a fit and proper person to chair a major broadcaster."
Unite general secretary Len McCluskey, who moved the motion delegates will vote on later in the conference, said: "For our party, there should also have been an element of shame because for years we were complicit in propping up Murdoch's power."
Rhondda MP Chris Bryant, a critic of News International, said Labour became too close to the company during the party's 13 years in government. He told the conference: "In future we should choose our bedfellows with a little more care."
Dying cancer patients should be spared "futile" and expensive treatment which can offer "false hope" in the last weeks of life, experts have said.
Warning of a tendency to "overdiagnose, overtreat, and overpromise", they said the medical profession had created a set of "unrealistic expectations" with regard to the disease.
Terminally ill patients could even be better off if they "forgo" certain treatments which would reduce spending and potentially improve end of life care, the academics said.
In an article in The Lancet Oncology journal, the group said burgeoning cancer costs were being driven up by an ageing population and the rapid development of new medicines and surgery.
Led by Professor Richard Sullivan, of King's College London, they said developed countries were now heading towards a "crisis in medical-care delivery" with cancer surgery becoming "unaffordable".
"Special consideration must be given to costs of cancer care at the end of life," they wrote. "Many forms of cancer are currently incurable and patients will eventually die from their disease.
"If we could accurately predict when further disease-directed therapy would be futile, we clearly would want to spare the patient the toxicity and false hope associated with such treatment, as well as the expense."
In their lengthy report the experts looked at a series of therapies but said that even the best interventions and tests, while valuable in one setting, were wasteful in others.
A Department of Health spokesman said: "The Cancer Drug Fund is helping more people get access to the drugs they need.
"Between October 2010 and April 2011, almost 2,500 benefited from the fund. Wherever you live, decisions on the use of the CDF are taken on a clinical basis. In the long term, we are changing the way drugs are priced to ensure value for the NHS and better access for patients."
British hospital wards could face a "ghastly national disaster" because of the growing number of unregulated healthcare assistants, the Nursing and Midwifery Council said.
Dickon Weir-Hughes, chief executive of the nursing regulator, has called for ministers to create standardised regulations for the hundreds of thousands of workers who are responsible for much of the basic care needed by NHS patients.
Professor Weir-Hughes told The Times that some nurses struck off for risking patient safety were still working on wards as healthcare assistants.
He told the newspaper: "We've struck people off as nurses who have then come back and worked as healthcare support workers. There's nothing to prevent them from doing that.
"If they've done something wrong that's very technical, that doesn't mean they couldn't give a bed bath, but I don't think any member of the public would expect a struck-off nurse or midwife to be looking after them as a healthcare support worker."
He added that even though hundreds of complaints are made about healthcare assistants each year, officials have no power to act. "All we can do is to say you either have to go to the person's employer, or if it's sufficiently serious call the police. There are no other mechanisms," he said.
He added: "This isn't just about waiting for some ghastly national disaster, it's about saying, 'How long do we leave this issue? How do we really value our elderly people in care homes? What value do we place on the care of vulnerable people in their own homes?'"
He told the newspaper that patients and their families needed to be able to distinguish between assistants and nurses - a step which could be taken by introducing separate uniforms.
"What's worrying is when we get complaints about a so-called nurse but they turn out not to be a nurse. In other words it's somebody who looks like a nurse, who is doing some things people associate with nursing, but is not a nurse," Prof Weir-Hughes said. "It's very hard for members of the public to tell who people are, so one of our calls would be for distinctive uniforms and clear name badges."
The council is drawing up guidelines for nurses who do not know when they need to perform tasks - such as feeding or washing patients - or when they can delegate to assistants.
A house fire which killed five children and their mother is believed to have been caused by a freezer, the fire service has said.
Muna Elmufatish, 41, daughters Hanin Kua, 14, Basma, 13, Amal, nine, and sons Mustafa, five, and Yehya, two, died when their London home was engulfed in flames in the early hours of Saturday.
London Fire Brigade said the family's chest freezer, stored in the hallway at the bottom of the stairs, was most likely to have started the house fire which became the capital's worst in more than a decade.
An inquest into the deaths has now been opened and adjourned.
A spokesman for London Fire Brigade said: "Six people died and two people were seriously injured in a blaze that started in the early hours of Saturday morning in a two-storey semi-detached house on Sonia Gardens in Neasden.
"Fire investigators believe that a chest freezer, which was in the hallway at the bottom of the stairs, may have caused the fire. The make of the chest freezer is not known at this stage."
Post-mortem examinations found that the six victims died from inhalation of fumes. The children's father, Bassam Kua, 51, and their 16-year-old sister, Nur, escaped the flames but remain in hospital. The girl is critical but stable and her father is in a stable condition.
Investigations continue into what caused the devastating fire which police do not believe was suspicious.
London Fire Brigade is to launch a fire safety blitz across the capital in the wake of the deaths, supported by a Facebook campaign. This will begin with a pilot programme in secondary schools in Brent, the borough where the fire happened.
The inquest was adjourned to February 16.
Convicted killer Amanda Knox is actually a loving young woman rather like the cartoon character Jessica Rabbit, a defence lawyer has claimed.
Just a day after another lawyer told her appeal hearing in Italy that Knox was a "a lying, sex-loving she-devil" Giulia Bongiorno said Knox, the American student found guilty of killing British room mate Meredith Kercher, was not a bad person.
He said she was not the "femme fatale" her accusers describe and compared her to Jessica Rabbit, saying she was faithful like the "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" character.
Knox was convicted of murdering Miss Kercher, a fellow student in Perugia, and sentenced to 26 years in prison, while co-defendant Raffaele Sollecito was sentenced to 25 years.
Mr Bongiorno, Sollecito's lawyer, paraphrased a famous line from the movie saying Knox "is not bad, she's just drawn that way."
Knox and Sollecito deny killing Miss Kercher. A verdict in the appeals case is expected by next week.
Defence giant BAE Systems has confirmed that it is cutting almost 3,000 jobs at sites across the country, mainly in its military aircraft division.
The firm ended days of speculation by giving details of a huge redundancy programme, saying it needed to maintain competitiveness.
The biggest job cuts will be at sites in Warton, Preston and Samlesbury in Lancashire and at Brough in East Yorkshire, although jobs will also be lost at the firm's head office in Hampshire.
Ian King, chief executive of BAE Systems, said: "Our customers are facing huge pressures on their defence budgets and affordability has become an increasing priority. Our business needs to rise to this challenge to maintain its competitiveness and ensure its long-term future."
BAE said the potential job losses included 899 at Brough, 565 at Samlesbury and 843 at Warton and Preston. The firm announced that it had started a consultation about ending manufacturing at the Brough site, which currently employs 1,300 workers.
Unite union national officer Ian Waddell said: "After days of speculation and rumours, our worst fears have been confirmed. It's a dark day for thousands of skilled men and women across the country and it is a dark day for British manufacturing."
GMB general secretary Paul Kenny said: "Business Secretary Vince Cable has to intervene to help create new businesses in places like Brough and Lancashire to prevent the high skills of these workers being lost to the economy.
In Brough, local GMB officer Dave Oglesby said workers at the plant had been left "absolutely shocked" by the news.
One worker, maintenance technician Edward Potter, said he was "off to go home to look for a job". The 29-year-old, who has worked at the plant for 14 years, added: "It is the end of manufacturing at Brough. There's not really much else to say."
Mr Cable said: "This news from BAE Systems will be a serious knock to the individuals and communities affected. My officials and the BIS (Department for Business, Innovation and Skills) local teams are already in touch with the company, local authorities and local enterprise partnerships to make sure that everything possible is done to help those affected at Brough, Warton, Samlesbury and other sites."
David Croft, who wrote hit sitcoms including Dad's Army and Are You Being Served?, has died aged 89.
His agent Tim Hancock said he died at his holiday home in Portugal.
Among his other hit shows were 'Allo 'Allo, It Ain't Half Hot Mum and Hi-De-Hi!
A statement released by his family said Croft "died peacefully in his sleep at his house in Portugal earlier today".
It went on: "He was a truly great man, who will be missed by all who had the great fortune of knowing and loving him. We know that he would of been proud that you had all been watching."
Croft was born into showbusiness. His parents were both actors and he appeared in a cinema advert as a child, before landing a small part in a 1939 film of Goodbye, Mr Chips.
But the war intervened and a cinema career was put on hold while he served in the Royal Artillery, eventually rising to the rank of Major. He wrote scripts for pantomimes before working in television as a producer, director and writer.
His partnership with Jimmy Perry proved to be one of British television's most successful. Together they wrote Dad's Army, It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Hi-De-Hi and You Rang, M'Lord?
He also worked with Jeremy Lloyd on shows including Are You Being Served? 'Allo 'Allo and Grace and Favour.
Croft, who was awarded the OBE in 1978, is survived by his wife, children and grandchildren.
Labour will offer a "new bargain" to the people of Britain to end the "fast buck" culture of the last 30 years and reshape society so that hard work and responsibility are rewarded, the party's leader Ed Miliband has said.
In his keynote speech to Labour's conference in Liverpool, Mr Miliband said he wanted to become Prime Minister so he can "write a new chapter in our country's history".
Launching a scathing attack on "unjustified rewards" at the top of companies, asset-stripping "predators" in business and bankers who profited even as their mistakes caused economic meltdown, Mr Miliband said that a Labour government would use tax breaks, regulation and contracts to reward firms which contribute to their community.
And he said he was determined to reform the welfare system to ensure that it pays to work, to end "cosy cartels" which set top pay, break up the "rigged market" which allows energy companies to charge high prices and rebalance Britain's economy away from the reliance on financial services and towards production and manufacturing.
Against the backdrop of opinion polls suggesting voters do not see him as a potential prime minister, Mr Miliband sought to shake off the legacy of the last two Labour leaders to hold power, telling the conference: "I'm not Tony Blair. I'm not Gordon Brown either... I'm my own man and I'm going to do things my own way."
And he declared that he was ready to take risks to break away from the "something for nothing" culture which has taken root in Britain over the past three decades and created a "quiet crisis" where those who do the right thing no longer believe they will be rewarded for it.
After the banking crash, MPs' expenses scandal, phone-hacking and the summer riots in England's cities, it was now a once-in-a-generation "moment when we need to change the way we do things", he said.
The "fill-your-boots" approach of bankers and high finance, the "something for nothing" promises of celebrity culture and the "take-what-you-can" mentality of inner-city gangs do not represent the true values of the British people, said Mr Miliband.
"It will be a tough fight to change Britain. But I'm up for the fight: The fight for a new bargain.
"A new bargain in our economy so reward is linked to effort; A new bargain based on your values so we can pay our way in the world; A new bargain to ensure responsibility from top to bottom," he added.
Two people have scaled the front of council offices to protest at the planned clearance of the UK's largest illegal travellers' site.
The pair climbed above the doorway of Basildon Council's Basildon Centre building at midday on Tuesday. They were questioned by police and arrested at about 1.30pm.
During the protest they unfurled a banner reading "Tony Ball RESIGN", referring to the leader of the council.
Ali Saunders, a spokeswoman for Dale Farm Solidarity, was at the protest. She said around 50 people also gathered outside the entrance to the offices during the protest.
She said: "It's becoming clear that this eviction is a lost cause. Dale Farm has got to stay, Tony Ball has got to go."
A spokesman for Basildon Council said: "As Dale Farm protesters climbed on top of the revolving entrance door to the Basildon Centre, police were called to monitor the situation and the health and safety of both protesters and members of the public."
The clearance of Dale Farm was due to begin last week but an injunction preventing bailiffs moving in is in place while legal appeals are heard at the High Court.
Mary Sheridan, a Dale Farm resident, said: "Instead of wasting money on destroying a community, Tony Ball should be putting money into Basildon and supporting local people. This shouldn't be about travellers but about what's good for Basildon.
"We are living in fear of the bailiffs. If Tony Ball had his way we'd be forcefully thrown out of our community with no place to go.
"Tony Ball is failing travellers and the people of Basildon. We don't want to be taking homes off others who need them and we don't want to live at the side of the road."
