Infozone Breaking World News

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has announced that the governments rescue plan for the UK biggest banks could push national debt up by as much as £1.5 trillion. The ONS also said that because the Royal Bank of Scotland and the Lloyds Banking Group are partly controlled by the state, they should be treated as public companies.

The statistics office said it would take time to analyse the damage done to public sector debt, but estimated that in the current climate it could be between £1 trillion and £1.5 trillion, comparable to around 100% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The Office for National Statistics figures also show that public sector net debt reached a record 47.8% of GDP. These figures also showed that the government’s finances worsened in January; typically a strong month when bonuses and corporation tax receipts boost government finances.

BMW has announced that it will be cutting 850 jobs at the Mini factory in Oxford. The giant car manufacturer also confirmed that weekend working has been stopped, with all agency workers that did weekend shifts losing their jobs.

The 850 job losses will affect the Cowley Plant in Oxford, but BMW have also said that it will be cutting 150 jobs at their Mini plant in Swindon. The Cowley Plant will be shut this week, as the demand for cars drops during the recession; the plant will reopen on the 23rd of February, with the new shift changes and job losses taking effect on the 2nd of March.

A statement released by BMW said: “Mini plant Oxford will be bringing in a new shift pattern in response to continuing volatile market conditions,”

And went on to say that, “As of Monday 2 March, the plant will go from a three-shift to a two-shift pattern, operating five days per week instead of the current seven.”

The economic downturn has affected the majority of car manufacturers, with BMW seeing a fall in sales of 4.3% in 2008. BMW is the latest car manufacturer to announce redundancies and factory closures; last month Honda announced in would be closing its Swindon plant for 4 months between February and May.

US First Lady Michelle Obama is the March cover girl for the hugely popular fashion magazine Vogue. The fashion magazine has photographed every US First Lady, apart from Bess Truman, since 1929 when President Hoover’s wife Lou Henry Hoover was featured.

More importantly, it is only the second time that a President’s wife has been placed on the front cover of the magazine; the first was Hilary Clinton in December 1998.

Mrs Obama, who chose all of the outfits she was pictured in for the magazine, realises that her wardrobe will be under scrutiny. She told Vogue: “I’m not going to pretend that I don’t care about it. But I also have to be practical”.

During the interview, Mrs Obama also talks about her role as the White House hostess saying, “We want entertaining in the White House to feel like America, that we are reminded of all the many facets of our culture.”

A new US survey has found that people who smoke are more likely to quit for their pets health than for their own. The report, which surveyed more than 3,300 pet owners, found that a staggering 28% of them that smoked would consider giving up when told about the harmful effects it was doing to their pets.

Few smokers realised the effects of passive smoking on their pets, which has been linked to cancer and other health problems in both dogs and cats. Separate studies have shown that cats from smoking households are more likely to get lymphoma and oral cancer, and dogs are more likely to suffer respiratory problems and lung cancer.

Heading up the study, Dr Sharon Milberger said: “Two out of three people in the US have pets and pet owners love their pets so it could be an interesting way of reaching out to people.”

She went on to say that further research would be done to see if people actually stopped smoking as a result of being told about the harmful effects smoking has on their pets.

A classic Bugatti, which had been locked away in a rundown garage for over 48 years, has sold at auction for a staggering €3.4 million (just under £3 million). The Bugatti Type57S Atalante was found by relatives of Newcastle doctor Harold Carr, after he died.

The car was originally built in 1937 and was one of only 17 made. Dr Harold Carr bought the car in 1955 for the hefty sum of £895 and stored it in his garage after the tax disc ran out in 1960, only to be found be relatives in 2007 after he died.

The Bugatti was originally owned by Earl Howe, the first president of the British Racing Drivers Club, before changing hands a couple of time, before Dr Harold Car purchased it.

The auction held by Bonhams Retromobile in Paris, eventually sold the Bugatti, which only had 26,000 miles on the clock for €3.4 million; it is not known who bought it.

BSkyB has retained its Premier League rights and will continue to show four out of the six live packages. Officials from the Premier League announced yesterday that BSkyB had retained its rights and that the remaining two packages will go to a second round of bidding.

The other two packages, which contain a total of 46 Premier League games, are currently screened by Setanta and will be sold to the highest bidder. Under European regulations, BSkyB can bid for one of the remaining packages, but faces stiff competition from both Setanta and US sporting network ESPN, who are also interested in owning the other two packages.

Sky currently has the rights to four packages until 2010, and the new deal ensures that 92 of the 138 Premier League games will still be shown on the network.

Last week, the BBC also retained its rights to show Premier League highlights until 2013.

Disruptions are set to continue after parts of the UK saw the worst snowfall for 18 years. Southern England was worst hit yesterday, with many delays on the roads and public transport cancellations of both trains and flights.

The snow is now forecast to head north, with the North-East and Scottish borders set to bear the brunt. The Met Office has also issued an ice warning for areas already hit by the storm.

Snow fall up to 8 inches are possible over the next couple of days, with the snow moving up to northern Scotland by Wednesday.

It has been estimated that the disruption caused yesterday in the south will cost the economy in the region of £1.2 billion, as it is thought that around 6.4 million people (20% of the UK workforce) did not go into work yesterday because of the weather.

More than 3,000 schools were also closed yesterday, with a large proportion of them expected to remain closed today.