A teenager plotted "a spectacular show" of terrorism for months, saying he did not mind that children would die if he bombed a crowded Christmas tree lighting ceremony, court documents reveal.
Somali-born US citizen Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, was arrested on Friday in Portland, Oregon, after using a mobile phone to try to detonate what he thought were explosives in a van, prosecutors claim. But it was a dummy bomb put together by FBI agents and authorities said the public was never in danger.
Mohamud will appear in court on Monday, charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. He believed he was receiving help from a larger ring of jihadists as he communicated with undercover agents, a law enforcement source said.
The official said Mohamud was committed to the alleged plot and planned the details alone, including where to park the van in order to hurt the most people. "I want whoever is attending that event to leave, to leave dead or injured," Mohamud said, according to the affidavit.
Thousands had gathered on a cold, clear night for the annual Christmas tree lighting event at Pioneer Courthouse Square, a plaza often referred to as "Portland's living room" because of its popularity.
The ceremony began just 10 minutes before Mohamud's arrest. Babies sat on shoulders and children cheered at the first appearance of Santa Claus. The tree-lighting on the bricks of the plaza went off without a hitch just as the arrest was taking place.
Mohamud, who grew up in Beaverton, is a former Oregon State University student, and was enrolled in courses from late 2009 until October 6 before withdrawing, said Oregon State University spokesman Todd Simmons.
The law-enforcement source said agents began investigating Mohamud after receiving a tip from someone concerned about him. The FBI monitored Mohamud's email and found he was in contact with people overseas, asking how he could travel to Pakistan and join the fight for jihad, according to an FBI affidavit.
US president Barack Obama was aware of the FBI operation before Friday's arrest, White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said. He said Mr Obama was assured that the FBI was in full control of the operation and the public was not in danger. Authorities said Mohamud sent bomb components to undercover FBI agents who he believed were assembling the explosive device, but the agents supplied the fake bomb that Mohamud tried to detonate twice via his phone.
On November 4, the court documents say, Mohamud made a video in the presence of one of the undercover agents, putting on clothes he described as "Sheikh Osama style" - a white robe, red and white headdress, and camouflage jacket. He read a statement speaking of his dream of bringing "a dark day" on Americans and blaming his family for thwarting him, according to the court documents, saying: "To my parents who held me back from Jihad in the cause of Allah. I say to them ... if you - if you make allies with the enemy, then Allah's power ... will ask you about that on the day of judgment, and nothing that you do can hold me back ..."
A teenager plotted "a spectacular show" of terrorism for months, saying he did not mind that children would die if he bombed a crowded Christmas tree lighting ceremony, court documents reveal.
Somali-born US citizen Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, was arrested on Friday in Portland, Oregon, after using a mobile phone to try to detonate what he thought were explosives in a van, prosecutors claim. But it was a dummy bomb put together by FBI agents and authorities said the public was never in danger.
Mohamud will appear in court on Monday, charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. He believed he was receiving help from a larger ring of jihadists as he communicated with undercover agents, a law enforcement source said.
The official said Mohamud was committed to the alleged plot and planned the details alone, including where to park the van in order to hurt the most people. "I want whoever is attending that event to leave, to leave dead or injured," Mohamud said, according to the affidavit.
Thousands had gathered on a cold, clear night for the annual Christmas tree lighting event at Pioneer Courthouse Square, a plaza often referred to as "Portland's living room" because of its popularity.
The ceremony began just 10 minutes before Mohamud's arrest. Babies sat on shoulders and children cheered at the first appearance of Santa Claus. The tree-lighting on the bricks of the plaza went off without a hitch just as the arrest was taking place.
Mohamud, who grew up in Beaverton, is a former Oregon State University student, and was enrolled in courses from late 2009 until October 6 before withdrawing, said Oregon State University spokesman Todd Simmons.
The law-enforcement source said agents began investigating Mohamud after receiving a tip from someone concerned about him. The FBI monitored Mohamud's email and found he was in contact with people overseas, asking how he could travel to Pakistan and join the fight for jihad, according to an FBI affidavit.
US president Barack Obama was aware of the FBI operation before Friday's arrest, White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said. He said Mr Obama was assured that the FBI was in full control of the operation and the public was not in danger. Authorities said Mohamud sent bomb components to undercover FBI agents who he believed were assembling the explosive device, but the agents supplied the fake bomb that Mohamud tried to detonate twice via his phone.
On November 4, the court documents say, Mohamud made a video in the presence of one of the undercover agents, putting on clothes he described as "Sheikh Osama style" - a white robe, red and white headdress, and camouflage jacket. He read a statement speaking of his dream of bringing "a dark day" on Americans and blaming his family for thwarting him, according to the court documents, saying: "To my parents who held me back from Jihad in the cause of Allah. I say to them ... if you - if you make allies with the enemy, then Allah's power ... will ask you about that on the day of judgment, and nothing that you do can hold me back ..."
Hundreds of police and soldiers have surrounded one of Rio de Janeiro's most dangerous slums after the end of a sunset deadline to drug gang members trapped inside.
But a police battalion commander said there was "zero" chance of a night-time assault to take on the estimated 600 gang members.
In a week of widespread violence blamed on the drug gangs, authorities took control of Vila Cruzeiro, a slum once thought virtually impenetrable, on Thursday.
More than 200 armed gang members fled that offensive and ran to the nearby Alemao complex of a dozen slums that are home to at least 85,000 people, followed by security forces on Friday. Police and troops manned positions outside the complex, sheltering behind armoured vehicles and exchanging intermittent, heavy gunfire with the gang members at many of the 44 entrances to the slum, its shacks packed along steep hills.
Many residents of Alemao could be seen streaming down the narrow alleyways on Saturday carrying their belongings - chairs, washing machines, bags of clothing - hoping to avoid being caught in the crossfire of the looming invasion.
Police spokesman Henrique Lima Castro Saraiva said the deadline for the gang members to surrender was "when the sun sets".
"We want them to turn themselves in peacefully," he said. "We do not want a bloodbath, but if they call us to war we will respond with force."
He said the gunmen would be no match for security forces in a pitched battle, saying they were "exhausted, hungry, thirsty, stressed out" and had not been able to bring in more ammunition. He also said soldiers and police were trained and equipped to fight at night.
But police battalion commander Waldir Pires said of a night assault: "The probability of that being done is zero." He did not rule out, however, smaller night incursions into the slum.
It was not clear how many gang members turned themselves over to police, though by mid-afternoon yesterday 16 men had accepted the police offer, one of them allegedly the right-hand man to the leader of Alemao's drug traffickers, said Allan Turnowski, the chief of the police investigative branch. Two other men were shot and arrested as they tried to escape and six wives or girlfriends of traffickers also had been arrested.
European Union finance ministers are meeting to discuss an 85 billion euro (£72.1 billion) bailout for the Irish economy amid signs a deal could be in place by the time markets reopen on Monday.
Chancellor George Osborne will join fellow ministers in Brussels for the hastily-arranged meeting, the day after 50,000 people marched through the streets of Dublin to protest against the country's austerity budget.
Ireland's communication minister Eamon Ryan said it was likely an outline agreement for the rescue deal would be concluded by Sunday night.
It is understood the final figures will be approved at a conference call of the EU finance ministers and a meeting of the Irish cabinet. But Mr Ryan rejected reports that the interest rate for a loan from the EU and International Monetary Fund (IMF) could be as high as 6.7% for nine years.
"I think that figure was inaccurate and I think it was unfortunate it went out there because I'm sure it scared a hell of a lot of people," he said. "There are still negotiations going on on that sort of level of detail. It's not fixed yet and we'll have to wait and see until it's actually done. The overall figure has to make sense for us in that we are able to pay it back."
Transport minister Noel Dempsey said he would not speculate on how much interest would be paid for the bailout or when the deal will be finalised.
Public service workers, students and left-wing political groups marched through Dublin on Saturday under the banner of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) to demand a better and fairer way.
Thousands packed the capital's main thoroughfare, O'Connell Street, for a mass rally outside the historic GPO - where the Proclamation of Independence was read in 1916.
About 400 activists later picketed outside the Dail where a small group threw bottles, paint and bangers during a tense stand-off with police.
A Garda spokesman said the protest passed peacefully, with just one man arrested and released.
The sound of new artillery fire from North Korea just hours after the US and South Korea launched a round of war games in Korean waters has sent residents and journalists on a front-line island scrambling for cover.
None of the rounds landed on Yeonpyeong Island, military officials said, but the incident showed how tense and uncertain the situation remained along the Koreas' disputed maritime border five days after a North Korean artillery attack decimated parts of the island and killed four South Koreans.
As the rhetoric from North Korea escalated, with new warnings of a "merciless" assault if further provoked, a top Chinese official made a last-minute visit to Seoul to confer with South Korean president Lee Myung-bak.
Mr Lee and state councillor Dai Bingguo, a senior foreign policy adviser, discussed the North Korean attack and how to ease the tensions, according to Mr Lee's office. Mr Dai also met South Korean foreign minister Kim Sung-hwan, the foreign ministry said.
Meanwhile, the chairman of North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly, Choe Thae Bok, was due to visit Beijing ong Tuesday, China's official Xinhua News Agency said. Washington and Seoul have urged China, North Korea's main ally and biggest benefactor, to step in to defuse the situation amid fears of all-out war.
The Korean peninsula remains in a technical state of war because the 1950-53 war ended in a truce, but not a peace treaty. Their border is one of the world's most heavily fortified, guarded by troops on both sides.
However, North Korea disputes the maritime border drawn by United Nations forces at the close of the war and considers the waters around Yeonpyeong Island - 50 miles from the South Korean port of Incheon but just seven miles from the North Korean mainland - its territory.
The Koreas have fought three bloody naval skirmishes in the waters since 1999, as recently as a year ago. And eight months ago, a South Korean warship, which had been involved in one of those skirmishes, went down in an explosion, killing 46 sailors.
An international team of investigators concluded that a North Korean torpedo sank the ship. The two Koreas have remained locked in a stand-off over that incident, with South Korea demanding a show of regret for the attack and North Korea denying any involvement.
This week's attack - on an island with a civilian population of 1,300 - marked a new level of hostility along the rivals' disputed sea border. Two marines and two civilians were killed when the North rained artillery on Yeonpyeong in one of the worst assaults on South Korean territory since the Korean War.
There will be no let up in the big freeze yet as forecasters warned the conditions could last well into next week.
Parts of the country have seen well over a foot of snow, with bitter winds and temperatures dipping below minus 10C.
Eastern parts will bear the brunt of more wintry weather and there is an added risk of drifting snow, thanks to the biting easterly winds. Temperatures will also struggle to get above freezing, even in the big cities.
Latest weather reports have shown that up to 4ins (10cm) of snow has fallen in parts of central England and Norfolk. But there is up to 16ins (40cm) in parts of Northumberland, and even more in northern and eastern Scotland.
Tom Tobler of MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said: "The cold weather will stay during the week with a brisk easterly wind developing which will make it feel even colder and which might bring more snow showers."
He said there could be a mix of rain, sleet and snow later in the week, adding: "People should be bracing themselves for more cold weather for the working week and beyond."
Motoring rescue service the AA said it dealt with around 15,000 breakdowns by the end of Saturday - up 80% on a normal November Saturday. Two people were injured in a four-vehicle pile-up on the M1 near Sheffield, where an inch of snow was lying on minor roads. The East of England Ambulance Service also recorded a spate of traffic collisions, with cars skidding into ditches, lampposts, fences and fields.
Flights at some airports were delayed and there were also runway closures at airports including Luton, Newcastle and Inverness. A number of sporting events were cancelled, including race meetings and FA Cup fixtures Hartlepool United vs Yeovil Town and Notts County vs Bournemouth.
But in Allenheads, Northumberland, skiers were praying for more snow on the village's 100m ski slope. However, an Allenheads ski spokesman said: "There is insufficient snow in Allenheads for skiing and the road conditions are bad so we are discouraging people from trying to get up to the slope."
In Scotland, skiers were also able to enjoy a day on the slopes on Saturday. The unusual weather has been caused by high pressure over Greenland and low pressure in the Baltic, forcing cold winds from the north east across Europe.
The US government has warned online whistleblower WikiLeaks that its expected imminent release of secret documents would put "countless" lives at risk, threaten anti-terror operations and jeopardise American relations with its allies.
In a letter sent to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, the State Department's top lawyer said publication of the documents could do massive harm to America's standing by exposing secret military operations and revealing dissidents' claims against foreign governments.
State Department legal adviser Harold Koh sent the message in response to a letter from Mr Assange and his lawyer in which they asked about the safety of people who might be named in the messages.
Mr Koh says the US would not co-operate or negotiate with WikiLeaks.
Thousands of London Underground workers are set to start a 24-hour strike, threatening travel disruption for commuters and other passengers.
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union and the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association will walk out at 6.30pm in protest at 800 ticket office job cuts. It will be the fourth stoppage in recent months in the bitter row which has been deadlocked for months.
Transport for London said it will run as many Tube services as possible, although it warned there will be disruption throughout the whole of Monday, with services returning to normal on Tuesday.
London Underground said it ran more than 40% of its normal services during the last strike and carried 50% of its normal passenger levels.
"Although there will be disruption and some planned station closures, trains are expected to run on nearly all Tube lines," said a spokesman.
Mike Brown, managing director of London Underground, said: "We will be doing everything we can to get as many Tube services as possible operating throughout Sunday evening and Monday, and to keep Londoners on the move with extra buses, river services, and other alternatives. Londoners will face some disruption, but we intend to run services on nearly all Tube lines, meaning that people will be able to get around".
RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: "It is incredible that LU management would not agree to a 12-week suspension of the cuts to allow a thorough safety evaluation on the impact on each station of their cuts plans. That shows complete and utter contempt for the safety of both their passengers and their staff. They have thrown back in our faces a chance to suspend the action and have collapsed the talks and as a result the strike goes ahead."
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "It should be remembered that tube staff are not striking over pay and conditions but over ticket office closures and the impact of cuts on passengers. They are sacrificing another day's pay in the interests of passenger safety.
"The unions have now taken a bold initiative in proposing independent binding arbitration on the issue at the heart of this dispute, staffing at ticket offices.
"The ball is now firmly in the Mayor's court, and Londoners will be hoping that he accepts the unions' fair and reasonable proposal to bring this dispute to an end."
Death rates at 19 NHS hospital trusts in England were alarmingly high last year, according to an influential report.
Two of these trusts - Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust and University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust - as well as two others also recorded a high number of deaths after surgery, the Dr Foster Hospital Guide found.
The measures are intended to act as a "smoke alarm" for where problems with care might exist.
Hospitals recorded 62,800 adverse medical events, with 30,500 patients developing avoidable blood clots, more than 13,000 mothers suffering obstetric tears during childbirth, nearly 10,000 accidental lacerations or puncture, about 6,000 patients with pressure sores, more than 2,000 post-operative haemorrhages and 1,300 cases of post-operative blood poisoning.
Trusts also reported 56 incidents of "wrong site" surgery and 150 "foreign objects" left inside patients after an operation.
Researchers said many trusts were not accurately recording incidents of harm to patients, making it harder to prevent similar occurrences in the future.
Roger Taylor, director of research at Dr Foster said: "It is concerning that no hospital in the country can accurately assess the level of adverse events compared with the best achievable rates.
"Blood clots kill more people than superbugs every year - and yet the reporting of blood clots is just not always sufficient to identify and address the problem.
"Dr Foster is asking the Department of Health to review the way this information is recorded and we hope to revisit this topic next year and be able to identify trusts and their rates."
The risk of patients developing a blood clot is increased by most surgical and some medical treatments and conditions. But hospitals can take measures to reduce the risk.
Scotland Yard bosses have admitted a goal to recruit 10,000 special constables to help police the 2012 Olympics is unattainable.
Senior officers were under pressure to treble the ranks of volunteers to help secure the sporting extravaganza.
But there have been concerns at the number of officers leaving their posts, as well as their professionalism and the cost of training them.
As a result, top Met officers have agreed to set their sights on signing up 6,667 officers by March 2012.
And they have warned the goal of amassing a 10,000-strong workforce may not even be reached three years later.
Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson has been told the higher target, set by London Mayor Boris Johnson, was an "aspiration" and is "probably unachievable".
He has agreed to draw £1.4 million from reserves to pay for the recruitment of specials after the Home Office cut funding.
The decision will be seen as a blow to Government plans for a revolution in volunteering across many parts of the public sector.
Ministers have said they want to "unlock the potential" of specials, and want to consider creating ranks of police reservists based on the Armed Forces model.
There are around 3,350 specials working in London on patrol and in some specialist units. They carry warrant cards and have the same powers as full-time colleagues.
The Queen has said goodbye to Oman and immediately received an invitation to return from the country's Sultan.
The two heads of state are old friends and as they parted company at the end of the British monarch's two-day state visit, the Middle East ruler asked her to "come and visit us".
They have known each other for many years and despite the fact the sovereign last visited Oman in 1979 it is thought they have kept in touch during his frequent private visits to the UK.
The Arab ruler staged an equestrian extravaganza in the Queen's honour o that featured displays of horsemanship, riding stunts, races and even two goats who bowed for the Queen.
And she was presented with two fabulous gifts before a state banquet held in her honour on Friday - a 21-carat gold engraved vase and a Faberge-style egg containing a musical carousel. The monarch also joined the Sultan at an exhibition of paintings from the Tate on loan to Oman which included works by Constable, Turner and Gainsborough.
The Oman trip was the second leg of the Queen's five-day visit to the Gulf with the Duke of Edinburgh. The first stop was Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, where she unveiled plans by the architects Foster and Partners for the state's first national museum.
At Muscat International airport's royal terminal the two heads of state parted like friends making the kind of small talk heard whenever people say goodbye.
They walked along a red carpet flanked by Oman's Royal Guard chatting and at the foot of steps leading up to the chartered British Airways jet the Sultan turned to the Queen and said: "come and visit us," while the Queen smiled warmly and said: "I've had a lovely time."
The Arab ruler then told the Sovereign, who wore a floral patterned pink and green pastel dress, "safe journey back," before she walked up the steps with Philip then paused at the top to turn and wave at the Sultan. They were followed by the Foreign Secretary William Hague and his wife Ffion who had joined the Queen for her Gulf visit.
The Sultan waited patiently in the bright sunshine for a few minutes for a stewardess to close the aircraft door flanked by his Royal Guard. As the plane, flying the Royal Standard from a window in the cockpit, slowly taxied away it was watched by the ruler and Omani officials before the banner was lowered and it finally took off heading for London.
The UK is right to be bailing out Ireland but the likes of Spain and Portugal should turn to fellow eurozone countries if they need financial help, shadow chancellor Alan Johnson said.
As European Union finance ministers met in Brussels to discuss an 85 billion euro (£72.1 billion) package for the Irish economy - with the UK believed to be offering around £7 billion, including through a bilateral loan - Mr Johnson said the deal was in Britain's financial interests.
But as he expressed "concern" about the spread of problems to Spain and Portugal, he said eurozone countries should be the "first point of call" if they required a bailout.
Asked on BBC1's Andrew Marr show whether Chancellor George Osborne was right to be offering financial help, Mr Johnson said: "I think he is right to give assistance to Ireland. There are a number of questions beneath that - what is this level of assistance; if we are paying through the IMF, because we are big contributors to it, and we are paying through the European stabilisation mechanism, why are we contributing through a bilateral loan as well? Or are they different things?
"We don't know the exact money yet and we don't know the detail, we don't know the rate of interest, we don't know what conditions are going to be set.
"But I think we are right to help a friend in need, and I think it would damage this country - they are our fifth-biggest export market - it would damage our country if we didn't help Ireland to resolve their problems."
Mr Johnson said Britain should "certainly not" be hoping that the euro collapsed as a currency but said he was "worried" about the eurozone.
"I am concerned about contagion, about what's happening with Spain and Portugal," he said, before pointing out that Labour former chancellor Alistair Darling had been involved in the talks which resulted in a bailout for Greece earlier this year which the UK did not contribute to.
"We didn't put a penny into the bailout of Greece, it was for eurozone countries to do that, and I believe that's where the fundamental first point of call needs to be."
Mr Johnson also criticised Foreign Secretary William Hague for having said "who knows" whether the euro would survive.
Police have urged the occupants of a car involved in a crash which left a two-month-old baby dead to come forward.
West Midlands Police said at least four people who were travelling in a Mitsubishi Evolution left the scene of the collision before officers arrived.
The silver Mitsubishi, which has no registered owner, crashed with a Toyota Corolla on Grove Lane in Smethwick, West Midlands, shortly after 6pm on Saturdaay.
The baby boy, a passenger in the Toyota, was taken to Birmingham Children's Hospital but could not be saved and was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.
A 24-year-old woman travelling in the same car received multiple injuries and remains in hospital in a critical but stable condition.
Three more passengers from the Toyota - two men, aged 27 and 69, and a 26-year-old woman - were also injured in the crash, police said.
A spokeswoman said: "It is believed at this stage that there were at least four people travelling in the Mitsubishi. All left the scene following the collision and prior to police attendance."
Inspector Mark Watkins, from the force traffic department, said: "I would again appeal to anyone who can provide any information regarding the Mitsubishi, registration number R54 RMW, or its occupants and I would like to make a personal appeal specifically to those occupants to contact police."
West Midlands Ambulance Service said five ambulances, a rapid response vehicle, a doctor and an incident support officer attended the scene of the collision.
Anyone with information is urged to contact West Midlands Police on 0345 113 5000 or to call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
China has tried to defuse tension over a recent North Korean attack on South Korea by proposing an emergency meeting in Beijing, hours after the US and South Korea launched naval war games in a united show of force.
Beijing's top nuclear envoy called for the meeting among the six nations involved in the stalled North Korean nuclear disarmament talks to calm tempers over North Korea's artillery barrage last Tuesday that killed four people on South Korea's front-line island of Yeonpyeong.
Nuclear envoy Wu Dawei said in a statement issued in Beijing that the international community, particularly members of the six-party talks - the two Koreas, Japan, the US, China and Russia - were deeply concerned about recent developments. He called for an emergency meeting of chief nuclear negotiations in China in early December.
However, it was unclear whether the proposal would be accepted. Seoul and Washington have resisted restarting the disarmament-for-aid talks until Pyongyang shows concrete commitment to the process.
South Korea responded cautiously. The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the proposal should be "reviewed very carefully" and noted that North Korea's recent revelation of a new uranium-enrichment facility has a "negative effect" on efforts to resume the talks.
The facility, shown to a visiting Western scientists earlier this month, could signal an expansion of the North's nuclear weapons programme.
Japan will closely coordinate with Seoul and Washington in its response to China's proposal, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Tetsuro Fukuyama told reporters in Tokyo.
The troubled relations between the two Koreas, which fought a three-year war in the 1950s, have steadily deteriorated since a conservative government took power in 2008 with a tough new policy toward nuclear-armed North Korea.
Eight months after the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship, North Korean troops showered artillery on Yeonpyeong, a South Korean-held island that houses military bases as well as a civilian population of 1,300, in an attack Tuesday that marked a new level of hostility.
Two South Korean marines and two civilians were killed and 18 others wounded when the North rained artillery on Yeonpyeong in one of the worst assaults since the 1950-53 Korean War. The attack sent residents fleeing into bunkers and reduced dozens of homes on the island to charred rubble.
The coalition Government is planning "radical" action to curb teenage smoking, ban cheap alcohol and to encourage mothers to breastfeed at work, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has said.
Mr Lansley, who is due to publish a public health white paper this week, confirmed that the Government was preparing a range of interventions intended to reduce health inequalities.
But he came under fire from the Tory right for attempting to "micro-manage" people's lives.
Mr Lansley confirmed that the Government would be consulting on the introduction of plain packaging for cigarettes, banning low cost alcohol sales and piloting the introduction of workplace breastfeeding areas by private employers.
Mr Lansley defended the Government's approach, insisting that while it wanted to avoid over-regulation, sometimes it was appropriate for the state to intervene in people's lives for the sake of their health.
"We are very keen to ensure that we don't over-regulate, that we minimise regulation," he told BBC1's The Andrew Marr Show.
"We have tried a lot of things and we do need occasionally to intervene. But more than that we need to support people. Especially some of the poorest in our society need to have the greatest support because health inequalities are too wide. We need to deliver improvements in the health of the poorest in this country the fastest."
Reports suggested supermarkets will be banned from selling wine, beer and spirits below a national minimum price, which would be determined by adding together VAT and the cost of duty on the product.
Licences could be removed from outlets that breach the rules, and ministers were also said to be considering reviewing the duty paid on beer with a view to hiking the rate for super-strength drinks - possibly as part of a forthcoming Police and Social Responsibility Bill.
Policing Minister Nick Herbert told Sky News Sunday Live the Government was looking at "toughening up" licensing laws, making it easier to close down problem premises and giving greater involvement to communities.
The US administration's unflattering assessment of David Cameron is set to be made public with the release of thousands of leaked State Department files by the WikiLeaks whistleblowers website.
Simon Hoggart, a journalist on The Guardian - one of the newspapers that has been working with WikiLeaks on the release of the material - said that the publication would be an "embarrassment" for the Prime Minister.
He confirmed that the paper would be releasing extensive details of the files on Monday.
"It is going to give the candid American views of world leaders and indeed the reverse too," he told BBC1's The Andrew Marr Show.
"There is going to be some embarrassment certainly for Gordon Brown but even more so for David Cameron who was not very highly regarded by the Obama administration or by the US ambassador here."
The US administration has warned that the release of the files would put "countless" lives at risk, threaten global counter-terrorism operations and jeopardise America's relations with its allies.
The State Department's senior lawyer Harold Koh has written to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, warning that the publication could do massive harm to America's standing by exposing secret military operations.
Mr Koh sent the message in response to a letter from Mr Assange and his lawyer in which they asked about the safety of people who might be named in the files. Mr Koh said that the US would not co-operate or negotiate with WikiLeaks.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) could lower projections for public sector job cuts by nearly a fifth in revised forecasts for the economy, analysts have said.
The OBR - formed in May to make an independent assessment of the public finances ahead of each budget - is also expected to upgrade its economic growth forecasts for 2010 and reveal an overshoot in tax revenues, according to forecast group the Ernst & Young ITEM Club.
The ITEM Club report, released ahead of the OBR's autumn forecast, said the department could revise its estimates of public sector job losses - set out by Chancellor George Osborne in last month's Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) - down from 490,000 to 400,000.
Bigger-than-expected welfare cuts announced in the CSR, which did not feature in the emergency budget in June, mean 90,000 jobs could be saved, the ITEM Club said.
The OBR is likely to increase its GDP growth estimate for the whole year from the 1.2% forecast in June to nearer 1.7%, the ITEM Club said, while tax revenues are also expected to overshoot forecasts by £10 billion. Economic growth in the UK has slowed down over the year, although the most recent quarterly figure for GDP output was better than expected.
The Office for National Statistics said the British economy grew 0.8% between July and September, compared with 1.2% in the previous three months. The third quarter GDP growth eased fears of a double dip recession and reinforced Government hopes that the private sector will pick up the slack created in the economy by mammoth public spending cuts.
The OBR forecasts will provide the fiscal framework for the Government's next budget in March. The Chancellor will respond to the revised figures in his autumn statement on Monday.
Peter Spencer, chief economic advisor to the Ernst & Young ITEM Club, said the OBR forecast will provide further joy for the Coalition. He said: "Since the OBR's forecast in June, we've seen an impressive recovery in the economy and a particularly impressive recovery in tax revenues, which will undoubtedly be reflected in a more optimistic outlook in the OBR's forecast."
The Chancellor announced in the CSR that additional welfare reforms would enable savings of £11 billion by 2014/15.
Mr Spencer said: "Buffering departmental budgets with an additional 3% of current spending will have saved some public sector jobs, assuming that there will be a similar balance between staffing and procurement costs, and a similar rate of public sector wage growth."But he warned additional savings made to welfare reform will lead to a drop in household incomes.
Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable is "personally committed" to plans to raise university tuition fees, a coalition minister has said.
David Willetts, the Conservative Universities Minister in Mr Cable's Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, said he was "confident" Mr Cable would vote for the measure when it comes before the Commons next month.
However, he refused to be drawn on whether he expected Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and other Lib Dem ministers to follow suit.
Mr Clegg has said the Lib Dems are considering abstaining on the measure, in line with the terms of coalition agreement.
The party pledged during the general election campaign to oppose any increase in tuition fees and Mr Clegg has been the target of much of the student anger over the coalition's decision to put them up.
Nevertheless, Mr Willetts said he expected Mr Cable would back the measure - which will see maximum fees treble to £9,000-a-year - in the Commons vote.
"Vince as the Secretary of State is personally committed to these proposals," he told Sky News.
"Indeed, he has played a crucial role in shaping them, in making them as progressive as they are. So I am confident that Vince would be voting for these proposals."
But pressed on whether Mr Clegg would also vote for them, Mr Willetts would not be drawn. "I think we must allow this decision to the Liberal Democrats and they are clearly having their own discussions, as they are absolutely entitled to do," he said.
However, he stressed the Lib Dems had won important concessions, designed to make the system more progressive. "I think there are many Liberal Democrats who will recognise that these are proposals that have been shaped to be as progressive as possible," he said.
Britain's bank bosses are planning to accept their bonuses for the first time in two years, taking home a combined payout of up to £15 million, it has been reported.
The chief executives of Barclays, HSBC, part-nationalised banks Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland, and Standard Chartered have previously waived their payments or donated them to charity, but this year are said to be minded to keep the money, according to The Sunday Times.
The controversial move comes as the same chief executives are understood to be in discussions over a joint plan to cut the bonus pool and boost lending to small businesses in a bid to temper public anger.
Bankers' pay packets are continuing to recover to pre-credit crunch levels. A study by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) - which took into account all City workers including fund managers and staff working with equities and bonds - forecast the total bonus pot to hit £7 billion this year alone.
Pressure on the banking sector to lower the pooled bonus pot is mounting from politicians and business ahead of January's bonus round.
Chancellor George Osborne was recently accused of u-turning over plans to force banks to reveal the number of staff paid more than £1 million, while Business Secretary Vince Cable renewed his attack on City bonuses on Friday. Mr Cable said he was "not persuaded" banks realised they needed to limit bonuses, and added excessive payouts remained a "major irritant".
City bonuses are expected to be down sharply this year because of a steep drop in profits at most investment banks. But the bonuses paid to the chief executives are linked to a broader set of targets. Stephen Hester, chief executive of RBS is in line for a bonus of up to £2.4 million, while Eric Daniels, the outgoing chief executive of Lloyds, could receive up to £2.3 million.
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The British Bankers' Association, the industry trade body, claims Britain already has the toughest bonus regime in the world. In a recent statement it said: "Outside the UK, the concern on bonuses is either much more limited or hardly exists at all."
British soldiers who flew into a Taliban stronghold hailed a "very successful operation" after insurgents fled with little resistance.
The soldiers, from from D Company of The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 5th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland, were joined by Afghan National Police officers as they launched operation Zamary Kargha, or Lion Falcon, to re-establish government control in the area of Hoorzai in Helmand province.
After arriving in two Chinook Helicopters just north of the Kosh Kawa River the patrol approached the nearby village of Koshk Abeh where they held a shura, or meeting, with locals.
As the men were heading back to their patrol base they came under long-range attack.
A spokesman for Task Force Helmand said: "Not only did the insurgent fire prove ineffective, but it served to demonstrate to the locals that the insurgents were scared of the ANP and their ability to provide security."
Major Nick Wight-Boycott, Officer Commanding D Company, 5 SCOTS, said: "This was a very successful operation.
"We used minimal force but achieved maximum effect, and the local population were impressed with the professionalism of the Afghan National Police.
"The ANP were vital for this mission as they are the face of the government and must be seen by the people as a force to protect them.
"It was quite clear, not only to us but also to the local people, that the insurgents considered the Afghan National Police as a force to be reckoned with and would rather flee than try to fight them."
