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Cuttings and links to other online information.
Budget fears spark spending freeze
A freeze on all non-essential expenditure has been imposed at a council to cap a potential budget overspend of more than £11 million.
The South London Press has obtained a leaked internal memo from Lambeth's director of finance to departmental heads instructing them to freeze all non-essential expenditure to reduce a forecast budget overspend of up to £11.5million. (South London Press, 31 Jan 2006)
MPs declare war on power of the supermarket giants
MPs will demand a series of Draconian curbs on the power of the supermarkets in a hard-hitting report into the future of the high street to be published next week. (Guardian, 29 Jan 2006)
Green fuel 'not enough' to cut transport pollution
Environmentally friendly vehicles using hydrogen-based fuels and hybrid power sources will have little impact in preventing "dangerous and irreversible pollution" within 15 years, according to a long-delayed government-funded study. (Guardian, 27 Jan 2005)
One-stop shops to offer services for over-50s
Services for older people will be reorganised along the lines developed for the Sure Start children's initiative under plans unveiled by the government's social exclusion unit. (Guardian, 27 Jan 2005)
You are now the pay tsar: speak out and embarrass cowardly politicians
An open letter to Paul Myners, chair of the Guardian Media Group, who has just been appointed as the new chair of the Low Pay Commission. (Guardian, 27 Jan 2005)
Museum to D-Day fails to mention the war
The museum set up by the French authorities to commemorate the D-Day landings is struggling under a mountain of debt amid a sharp decline in the number of visitors.
The Memorial Museum in Caen, Normandy, has been accused of mismanagement for turning its back on the Second World War to concentrate on subjects from feminism to Father Christmas. In recent months the museum has focused efforts on transforming itself into a “place of reflection on the contemporary world”. (Times, 27 Jan 2005)
Google bows to internet search curbs by Beijing
The internet company Google was facing renewed criticism yesterday after it launched a Chinese version of its search engine that helps the Beijing authorities to block access to pro-democracy websites. (Telegraph, 26 Jan 2006)
ITN journalist arrested over leak from Stockwell shooting inquiry
A television journalist who revealed police blunders leading up to the shooting dead of Jean Charles de Menezes, has been arrested on suspicion of theft by detectives investigating the leaking of statements from the official inquiry to the broadcaster, the Guardian has learned. (Guardian, 25 Jan 2006)
Millions 'have only low literacy'
A drive to boost adult literacy and numeracy is failing to offer improved teaching and doubts remain over the likely cost, a report by MPs says. (BBC, 23 Jan 2005)
Organic road to riches for China's first lady
She is something of a rarity, Karen Wang Qiong. The only woman chief executive of a major Chinese company, one of the few female multi-millionaires in the booming country, and a crusader for ecologically sound business in the great dust-bowl of pollution that is the Chinese economy. (Guardian, 22 Jan 2005)
Pressure grows to wipe DNA files on children
Ministers were coming under increasing pressure yesterday to erase the DNA records of 24,000 children and teenagers from a police database. (Times, 22 Jan 2006)
Police to file all offences for life
Records of all criminal convictions and cautions will remain on police files for 100 years after chief constables overturned the principle that offences can be “spent”, The Times has learnt. (Times, 21 Jan 2006)
Iran shifts billions from banks in Europe amid fears of UN sanctions
The Iranian government has started moving billions of pounds in assets from Britain and the rest of Europe in case international sanctions are imposed over the nuclear crisis. (Guardian, 21 Jan 2006)
Fears for Nigerian hostages as captors warn of fresh oil attacks
Concern over four oil workers held hostage in Nigeria grew last night after their captors warned that one was gravely ill and that fresh attacks on oil installations were imminent. (Guardian, 21 Jan 2006)
It's not just on the streets that the tide of prostitution must be turned back
Although you might not know it from the headlines about legalising brothels, the government announced a crackdown on prostitution this week. That is certainly welcome, as far as it goes: prostitution is booming and official Britain has now acknowledged that the buying of sex is not just a fact of life but an expression of men's power over women, which would not exist in a free and equal society.
(Guardian, 21 Jan 2006)
Land seizures threaten social stability, warns China's leader
The Chinese prime minister, Wen Jiabao, has warned that the rampant seizure of farmland for development is threatening social stability amid a rising wave of violent protests in the countryside. (Guardian, 21 Jan 2006)
Berlusconi plays the bambini card
Silvio Berlusconi has announced that he will write to 600,000 Italian babies welcoming them into the world and advising their parents how to claim a £650 state "baby bonus". (Telegraph, 21 Jan 2006)
Britain deeper in the red than expected
Britain sank deeper than expected into the red last month, indicating that Gordon Brown’s latest borrowing forecasts may already be proving too optimistic.
The public finances showed that the Government borrowed an extra £6.5 billion in December, well ahead of expectations and up from £6.2 billion the previous December. (Times, 21 Jan 2006)
Stevenson tales that were too revolting to publish
Two unknown comic stories by Robert Louis Stevenson have been discovered in the archive of an American library more than a century after his death.
...The Scientific Ape, which satirises colonialism as well as the scientific community, tells the story of a collection of apes who discuss the benefits of experimenting on humans. (Times, 21 Jan 2006)
Activists' tug of war over dead whale
Greenpeace activists hauled the cadaver of an endangered finback whale out of the Baltic yesterday, transported it to Berlin and laid it at the door of the Japanese Embassy. (Times, 19 Jan 2006)
Unfinished business for Namibia's Herero
On a dry, windswept slope overlooking the Namibian town of Okahandja, a makeshift bell summons the local Herero community. (BBC, 19 Jan 2006)
Straw urged to come clean on torture flights
Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, is under pressure to reveal what the Government knew about the use of British airspace and airports for American "extraordinary rendition" flights. (Telegraph, 19 Jan 2006)
British troops may face suicide bombers in Afghan deployment
Thousands of British troops will be exposed to fresh dangers, including a growing threat from suicide bombers, when they are deployed in southern Afghanistan over the coming months, Ministry of Defence officials said yesterday. (Guardian, 18 Jan 2005)
Lords defeats will not halt ID cards, says No 10
The Government has promised to press on with its identity card scheme despite a series of defeats in the House of Lords that is likely to encourage a further rebellion by Labour MPs. (Telegraph, 18 Jan 2005)
Iran lifts CNN ban after apology
Iran has reversed a ban on CNN, a day after the US network was banned for mistranslating a presidential speech.
...CNN wrongly translated President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying Iran had a right to use nuclear "weapons", rather than nuclear "technology". (BBC, 17 Jan 2005)
Nigerian oil fuels Delta conflict
Nigeria's Delta region is home to vast oil reserves, which make the country one of the world's biggest oil exporters. (BBC, 16 Jan 2005)
Last memorial for New Cross Fire
The final annual memorial for the 14 black youngsters killed in the New Cross fire has been held - 25 years after the tragedy. (BBC, 15 Jan 2005)
SNP dismisses Brown's flag call
Chancellor Gordon Brown has been accused of "waving the wrong flag at Scotland" after calling for Britain's national identity to be celebrated. (BBC, 14 Jan 2005)
Brown gets EU borrowing reprimand
Chancellor Gordon Brown has been reprimanded by the European Commission for breaking targets on borrowing. (BBC, 12 Jan 2005)
Energy deals behind Chinese visit
The Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing is beginning a week-long visit to Africa during which energy deals will be high on the agenda. (BBC, 11 Jan 2005)
500 detainees at Guantánamo four years on
The human rights group Amnesty International marked the "fourth anniversary" of the first detainees arriving at Guantánamo Bay today by publishing more allegations of torture at the US detention centre.
(Guardian, 11 Jan 2006)
Eviction threat in 'respect' plan
People could be banned from their homes for three months for being nuisance neighbours under "respect agenda" proposals announced by Tony Blair. (BBC, 10 Jan 2006)
Internet companies 'must respect free speech'
Reporters without Borders has called on companies such as Microsoft and Yahoo to respect human rights, even if the countries they are operating in don't. (ZDNet, 10 Jan 2005)
Former general calls for Blair impeachment
A former senior soldier is to call for Tony Blair to be impeached over the war in Iraq, insisting that he should not be allowed to "walk away" from his actions.
Sir Michael Rose, a former general who commanded United Nations forces in Bosnia, will call for Mr Blair's impeachment during a TV documentary later this week. (Telegraph, 9 Jan 2005)
India 'loses 10m female births'
More than 10m female births in India may have been lost to abortion and sex selection in the past 20 years, according to medical research. (BBC, 9 Jan 2005)
Moral maze
Industries such as oil or tobacco may seem ethically dubious - but if the money was right, would you work for them? (Guardian, 7 Jan 2005)
General bungle and major disaster
Lewis Page raises important questions with his quickfire account of military procurement blunders, Lions, Donkeys and Dinosaurs, says Richard Norton-Taylor. (Guardian, 7 Jan 2005)
130 Iraqis and seven US soldiers die in one of Iraq's worst days
More than 130 Iraqis and seven US soldiers were killed yesterday in one of the deadliest days of insurgent attacks since the fall of Saddam Hussein. (Guardian, 6 Jan 2006)
Population size 'green priority'
Solving the Earth's environmental problems means addressing the size of its human population, says the head of the UK's Antarctic research agency. (Guardian, 6 Jan 2006)
'Thousands' dying in DR Congo war
Conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo is killing 38,000 people each month, says the Lancet medical journal. (BBC, 6 Jan 2006)
Microsoft pulls plug on China protest blog
Microsoft has been accused of co-operating with Chinese censorship by deleting the blog of a journalist who protested at the sacking of an editor.
The computer giant yesterday issued a statement justifying its decision to remove the web diary of the writer, known as Michael Anti, from its MSN Spaces server. (Telegraph, 6 Jan 2006)
After-school clubs 'like school'
After-school clubs should not become an extension of the classroom, a childcare expert has warned. (BBC, 5 Jan 2005)
DNA of 37% of black men held by police
The DNA profiles of nearly four in 10 black men in the UK are on the police's national database - compared with fewer than one in 10 white men, according to figures compiled by the Guardian. (Guardian, 5 Jan 2006)
DNA of 37% of black men held by police
The DNA profiles of nearly four in 10 black men in the UK are on the police's national database - compared with fewer than one in 10 white men, according to figures compiled by the Guardian. (Guardian, 5 Jan 2006)
Suicide attack at Iraqi funeral kills 36, wounds 40
A suicide bomber caused carnage at a Shia funeral and gunmen ambushed a vital fuel convoy outside Baghdad in a series of attacks that killed more than 50 people yesterday, the deadliest day in Iraq for weeks. (Guardian, 5 Jan 2006)
Battle for council housing
The victimisation of anti-council housing privatisation campaigner Eileen Short by Tower Hamlets council (Listen to the residents, January 3) shows how desperate many councils - egged on by ministers and civil servants - have got. (Guardian reader's letter, 4 Jan 2006)
Wasteful London runs risk of food crisis
The Soil Association will mark its 60th anniversary by holding its annual conference in London to draw attention to what it calls the 'crisis' of feeding cities, which use up 75 per cent of the planet's environmental resources. (Guardian, 1 Jan 2006)
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