Infozone Breaking World News

The UK’s first sporting venue for the 2012 Olympics has been completed ahead of schedule and under budget. The state of the art Weymouth & Portland Sailing Academy is due to be unveiled today by Ralph Luck, senior representative of the Olympic Delivery Authority and sailing gold medallist Paul Goodison.

The £15 million world-class facility will host over 400 athletes bidding for medals in 10 Olympic sailing categories, as well as Paralympics events at the London 2012 Olympics.

The early completion of the Weymouth & Portland Sailing Academy, gives Britain’s athletes a chance to train well ahead of the 2012 Olympics.

Paul Goodison, who will be opening the facility and won gold in the laser class at Beijing said, “We save a lot of time travelling around the world when we can get out of bed and it is here on our doorstep”.

He went on to say, “It is a fantastic opportunity, not just for myself, but some of the youngsters to see us in 2012 and aspire to 2016.”

Woolworths Group PLC has announced that it is going into administration, after talks of a potential sale of its 815 stores ended yesterday. Woolworths has appointed Deloitte as their administrator, which stated that there were “expressions of interest” for the huge UK retail and distribution business.

Woolworths has been trading for nearly 100 years, but fell foul as competition grew with the boom in internet buying and the current economic climate, spiralled debts to £385 million. Over the past few months Woolworths was also forced to pay in cash to its suppliers, as trade credit insures weren’t prepared to insure against the struggling firm.

Deloitte has reassured staff that the company will stay open past Christmas, and that the 30,000 strong workforce will be paid. All of Woolworths 815 store are open as normal, but it is unsure for how long.

Yesterday Alistair Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer released the government’s pre-Budget report cutting VAT and taking UK borrowing to its highest level ever. It is hoped the move will help the UK during the current economic climate and save it from a long and drawn out recession.

VAT is to be lowered to 15% from 17.5% from December the 1st, with the duty paid for Tobacco, alcohol and fuel set to rise to offset the tax cut. Top earners will lose out as well, with tax and national insurance contributions rising.

Mr Darling stated that “exceptional measures” were needed to stabilise the economy, with the Conservative shadow chancellor George Osborne accusing Alistair Darling of “bringing this country to the verge of bankruptcy” by nearly doubling the national debt.

Mr Osborne went on to say that the government was creating “a huge unexploded tax bombshell timed to go off at the time of the next economic recovery”.

The Liberal Democrats also argued that a cut in VAT would not boost consumer spending, with treasury spokesman Vince Cable saying “it would be much more sensible to put money directly in the pockets of low paid workers by cutting their income tax”.

Top internet safety group Get Safe Online have released a report that says that internet fraudsters are selling complete financial information for British citizens for just £80 online. The data that is sold includes names and addresses as well as confidential data such as passport numbers and bank and credit card details.

The report, which is part of a week giving details of how to protect your identity online, comes as figures suggest that up to 6 out of 10 people now use the internet to manage their finances. Get Safe Online, which is backed by the government, banks and police, said that identity theft is now a serious problem and that the public needed to do more to prevent so called ‘e-crime’.

Get Safe Online has estimated that half of the UK’s computer users are at risk of id theft, because they do not use any defensive measures like firewalls or software to identify malicious programs. Experts have also warned that many users have the same password for their login details, which makes it easier for their data to be collected by data fraudsters.

Stock markets in both Europe and Asia fell dramatically today, as investors fear that the global economy is heading for a prolonged slump. The news comes after the US stock market (Dow Jones) fell 5% on Wednesday to its lowest level in over 5 years.

Amongst the biggest affected areas were mining shares, as investors expect the demand for raw materials such as steel will fall as the global economy slows.

London’s FTSE100 index fell by 1.6% in the early trading session, with the German Dax Index falling 3.4% and the French Cac40 index slumping by 2.8%. Asian stocks also fell, with Japan’s Nikkei Index finishing the day 6.8% lower, and Hong Kong’s Index down over 4%.

Recent data figures suggest that Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore are already in a recession, while fears that the US is also heading for a recession was enough to send share prices tumbling.

The Croatian Government has put a ban on both Christmas and New Year celebrations for state run companies as the credit crunch continues to hit countries worldwide. The Prime Minister of Croatia, Ivo Sanader said that there was no need to panic, but in the midst of a global financial crisis, the country had to become serious.

He went on to say, “For that goal we forbid buying of Christmas and New Year’s gifts as well as organising of Christmas and New Year’s receptions.”

The news comes as the government proposes to freeze all public sector salaries in 2009. Mr Sanader added “I believe that with the proposed measures we can avoid a deeper crisis within the next year.”

The Croatian government is adamant that it will balance their budget next year, and if successful, will be the first time since the country’s independence from Yugoslavia in 1991.

The country’s main income is from its tourist industry, and fear that there will be a sharp drop in visitor numbers due to the ongoing financial crisis.

A convict in a West German jail has sparked a major manhunt after he escaped the institution in a cardboard box. The 42 year old man, who was serving a seven year sentence for drug dealing, had been making stationery with other inmates, which were destined for German shops.

It is thought that at the end of the shift, the man climbed into a cardboard box, before being picked up by a courier. Once the courier had left the prison grounds, the inmate cut a hole in the Lorries tarpaulin and made a run for it. The courier driver alerted the authorities when he noticed the tarpaulin flapping in the wind.

The whereabouts of the inmate are still unknown, but the prisons warden, Beate Peters has stated that the man must have had accomplices outside of the prison. She said “As soon as the prisoner jumped off the back of the lorry his friends would have picked him up.”

Ms Peters when on to say, “We have no idea where the fugitive is hiding. We assume that he is still in the county and is lying low before making his move.”

Security at the prison in Willich, near Düsseldorf has been stepped up since the escape.

UK Telecommunications giant British Telecom has said that it expects to cut up to 10,000 jobs by March 2009. The cuts will affect BT’s agency and contract staff, as well as offshore workers. BT stated that it had already cut 4,000 of its 160,000 workforce worldwide, with another 6,000 jobs cuts expected before the end of March.

BT went on to say that the job cuts were not due to the economic downturn, and that “We need to do it in good times and bad.”

The job cuts come as the company announced a per-tax fall in profits by 11% for Q3 of this year, whilst revenue was up 4% to £5.3 billion.

BT’s latest job cuts did little to wavier investors, as its share prices rose by 12%, up 13.5p to 126p in the early trading session in London.

The Historic QE2 was late for its final voyage as it ran aground on a sandbank off the cost of the Isle of Wight on its way to Southampton. The 70,000 ton vessel was heading to Southampton for the start of its last voyage, when strong winds beached it on the sandbank.

The QE2 was eventually refloated with a combination of the tide rising and numerous tug boats, and arrived at Southampton around an hour late. After an inspection, the vessel was given the all clear, with Cunard bosses stating that there was no damage to the hull and that the QE2 would set off on time.

The QE2’s last cruise voyage to Dubai got under way with 1700 passengers and 1000 crew on board, waving from the decks as thousands of spectators waved the huge vessel off. Fireworks and a speech by Master Captain Ian McNaught in which he said, the QE2 had been “a symbol of British excellence for 40 years” preceded the launch.

The QE2 will now travel to Dubai, where it will be permanently docked and become a luxury floating hotel and visitor attraction.

As the major parties fight over how to help individuals and especially companies through what is likely to become a recession, David Cameron and the Conservative party announced its plans to cut business taxes.

In the plan set out by the Conservative Party, they will call for a cut in National Insurance that a company pays if they hire staff that have been out of work for over three months. David Cameron, when on to say that the plan would create around 350,000 jobs, and cut the tax burden faced by companies by £2.6 billion and that the scheme would finance itself.

Mr Cameron went on to say that it costs the taxpayer in the region of £8,000 when someone goes onto benefits and that the new Conservative plan would see around £2,500 go to funding a National Insurance cut.

Prime Minister, Gordon Brown also hinted at a possible tax cut in his pre-budget report, which is expected to be announced in the next few weeks. Also joining the debate was the Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg who gave more details of his parties tax breaks for the lower and middle classes.