Infozone Breaking World News

The Home Affairs Select Committee has recommend MPs to come down hard on irresponsible bars and pubs, as well as supermarkets who offer cheap alcohol.

After the Select Committee’s report, a number of MPs called for happy hours in pubs to be banned and for supermarkets to stop selling its alcohol at a huge loss to combat drunk and disorderly behaviour.

Their calls come after a report into the challenges facing police forces stated that, reckless and irresponsible drinking placed a heavy burden of police recourses, and added that the largest problem facing the police force was violence and disorderly conduct cause by excessive drinking.

Other recent figures on the cost of goods also show that alcohol has become more affordable to the majority of the population over the last 30 years. Mps said that one of the solutions to the problem would be a legislation that would set a minimum price for alcohol.

Alistair Darling has urged mortgage lenders to cut their rate after the Bank of England cut interest rates by 1.5% to 3%. The bank’s cut takes it to its lowest level since 1955 and the government is calling for banks to pass on the cut to its borrowers.

So far both Abbey and Lloyds TSB have said that they will be passing on the rate cut to its borrowers, but other banks may follow suit later today.

In a statement Alistair Darling said, “I think it’s essential that the banks do pass on the benefit of lower interest rates to people and to businesses.”

According to the Council of Mortgage Lenders, mortgage costs are not necessarily set by the Bank of England’s rate, rather it is the Libor rate (London Interbank Offered Rate); the rate at which banks lend to other banks. The latest Libor figures are set to be released this afternoon.

Barack Obama made history today by winning the presidential election, and will become the first African American to hold the highest position in the country’s office. Obama will now become the 44th American president when he is sworn in on the 20th of January next year.

Barack Obama led his rival John McCain by 349 Electoral College votes to 161, easily passing the ‘magical number’ of 270 that is needed to secure the presidency.

In a speech shortly after the election results, Barack Obama said “It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.” He also went on to say that his presidential win was the beginning of “our time to reclaim the American dream”.

In his speech, John McCain urged his supporters to “come together and bridge our differences to restore our prosperity, defend security and leave our children and grandchildren a better world than ours.”

Mr Obama will face a number of challenges when he takes over the presidency next year, including the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the ongoing global economic crisis as well as reforming the American health system.

One of the UK’s leading retailers, Marks and Spencer today announced that its profits had fallen by 34% as consumers cut back on spending during the credit crunch. Marks and Spencer’s latest figures show that their pre-tax profits stood at £291.8 million, down over a third from last year, which saw a pre-tax profit of £451.8 million.

Sales of both general merchandise and food were down, with general sales falling 6.2 percent and food sales down 5.3 percent. Marks and Spencer have stated that they will by “realigning” prices on over 530 of its grocery products and releasing new clothing ranges in the New Year.

The latest fall in profits were not as bad as predicted by some analysts; this boosted the price of Marks and Spencer’s shares by 6.8 percent up to 236.5p.