North Korea: We Can Prove Hacking Wasn't Us

Flood Victims Hit By Huge Insurance Quotes

Written By Unknown on Minggu, 21 Desember 2014 | 00.02

By Siobhan Robbins, West of England Correspondent

Flood victims in Somerset say they are facing insurance quotes of tens of thousands of pounds to protect their homes from future flooding.

Sky News has seen one renewal quote of almost £100,000 for one year. That falls to just under £500 for the year if flood cover is removed.

The owners did not want to speak on camera but told Sky their property in Moorland would only cost around £120,000 to rebuild from scratch.

Neighbour Sally Vize has been told she won't be able to move back into her home until March - 13 months after the winter storms caused £120,000 worth of damage.

She is due to renew her insurance in the next few months, but is extremely concerned she won't be able to afford the quote.

"I think someone said £12,000 if they want to insure for floods again, who can afford that? It's ridiculous, and I think it's morally wrong," she said.

One in six homes in England are at risk of flooding and the Association of British Insurers (ABI) estimates between 300,000 and 500,000 UK households could struggle to obtain affordably priced flood insurance.

From next summer, in conjunction with the Government, the ABI is hoping to launch its Flood Re scheme which will allow insurers to pass the flood risk element of a home insurance policy into a fund that will pay any subsequent flood claim.

Mark Shepherd, from the ABI, explained: "In certain parts of the country this is becoming a much bigger problem and that's why we are working with the Government to introduce Flood Re, which in the future will ensure those homes at the highest flood risk will still be able to get affordable flood insurance."

Since the flooding began last Christmas, a group called the Somerset Emergency Volunteers have been helping those in need of immediate help.

They have filled a warehouse with donations including food, clothes, furniture and household goods to allow people to begin replacing what they have lost.

They are also providing 400 homes with emergency boxes and sandbags so they are prepared for any repeat.

"Moorland and Fordgate were only given six sandbags by the council when it was flooded - three for the front door, three for the back," said assistant operations manager Sadie Forster.

"We're giving them 36 reusable sandbags."

The Environment Agency has now dredged 8km of river in Somerset, with the Government promising to spend £4.2m on flood defences in the county.

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Luxembourg Bows To EU Over Big Firm Tax Deals

Luxembourg has agreed to give European Commission officials a list of hundreds of companies with which it has tax deals.

The low-tax territory has done a U-turn over the data, after originally threatening to take the EU to court in a bid to keep the multinationals' names secret.

Prime Minister Xavier Bettel said his country would now comply with the commission's demands over the deals signed between 2010 and 2013, as part of a new EU-wide order.

"If the rules are the same for everyone, we are really not in opposition to them," Mr Bettel said.

The volte-face comes after leaked documents showed last month that the small country - which has the highest per capita GDP in the EU - had tax deals with 400 multinationals.

Revelations included effective tax rates of less than 1% for some firms, causing controversy in Brussels for newly elected commission president Jean-Claude Juncker.

Mr Juncker was Luxembourg's PM for 18 years until 2013, covering the period of interest for the commission.

Luxembourg's population is around 560,000, with the financial sector accounting for more than a third of GDP.

According to the CIA, most banks are foreign owned and 40% of its workers are cross-border or foreigners.

A number of well-known companies have set their financial hubs in the country, channelling revenue and intellectual property rights from other EU nations into it.

Luxembourg is also being investigated aver claims it offered state aid to online retail giant Amazon and the finance division of Fiat.

Similar inquires by the EU have been launched into the affairs of IT giant Apple in Ireland and global coffee chain Starbucks' in the Netherlands.

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Falling Oil Prices Could Spell Serious Trouble

Paul Kenworthy has been an oilman for more than two decades. He is the owner of 10 wells near Midland West Texas and has seen good times and bad come and go, several times over.

But the precipitous drop in oil prices on what they called Black Friday last month has been painful all the same. Like everyone else he has seen the value of the black gold his pumps pull out of the Texas dirt go down by 40%.

He blames OPEC and the Saudis who have refused to cut production despite falling demand in Asia and Europe. But he says he understands what they are doing.

"To use a line from The Godfather, 'It's business it's not personal'," he told Sky News. "They're trying to maintain market share and they're going to do what it takes to maintain that market share."

OPEC, he says, is responding to a massive increase in US oil production because of the revolution in fracking.

Hydraulic fracking has brought boom times to places like Midland not witnessed since the 1980s. The average income in the town is the fastest growing in the country, and currently stands at $82,000 a year.

It's not just the oil industry that has been booming.

Mark Payne is a homebuilder and says it's been impossible to keep up with demand from people flooding in to take advantage of the oil money.

'It's been really all you can get and nobody has been able to keep up. Early on, it was how much can you sell - now it's just how much can you build to meet demand?"

But fracking is expensive and not profitable if the price of oil goes below a certain level.

From cities like Dallas and Houston they are watching nervously, asking the multi-billion-dollar question: How low will the price go and for how long?

The answer is important for people far beyond America. Its economy is the only one that's showing signs of a sustainable recovery currently. Much of that recovery has been driven by the oil boom.

Lower oil prices can help that further. They give people more money in their pocket - between $500 to $1,000 a year, according to current estimates. That should drive consumption and lower fuel prices make production cheaper too.

But if the price stays too low, the oil industry could be in serious trouble. That would threaten the wider economic recovery here and because what happens in America spreads to Europe, including the UK.

Bruce Bullock, director of the Maguire Energy Institute in Dallas, says it's a Goldilocks question. The oil price cannot be allowed to get too high or two low.

"If it were to rebound up to $65 or $70 a barrel, I think on balance it will help the economic recovery. If it were to drop further I think it will harm the recovery. There's a lot at stake here for America and for the rest of the world."

Something worth bearing in mind before getting too excited by plunging prices at the pump.

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Can Putin Survive Sustained Economic Pain?

When Vladimir Putin came to power in 1999, oil cost around $10 a barrel.

During his first two terms the global oil price rocketed - it gave the impression of an economy that was booming, and a real increase in the standard of living for some.

A small elite got very, very rich, and a new middle class got used to owning the latest iPhone and taking the family on holidays abroad.

After the chaos of the 1990s under Boris Yeltsin, culminating in the default of 1998, Putin's rule seemed to be delivering stability and order.

Pensions and salaries were being paid on time, and the new strongman president was reasserting Russia's place in the world.

The oil wealth helped pay off the national debt, and build up vast reserves - what it didn't do was develop Russia's economy.

Russia was, and remains, heavily dependent on sales of oil and gas - they make up two thirds of the country's exports, around half the national budget.

The president says the current situation (he refuses to call it a crisis) will help diversify the economy, but that is the opposite of what has happened under his leadership thus far.

Under Mr Putin, much of the nation's wealth and natural resources have been concentrated in the hands of large, state-controlled companies, and a select group of billionaires.

But personal fortunes and wealth here can disappear.

The billionaire owner of telecoms company Sistema was recently held under house arrest for several months, and his company's holdings in Bashneft (one of Russia's largest oil companies) were seized by the Russian state.

Vladimir Yevtushenkov was released shortly before Mr Putin's annual press conference this week, but his treatment is unlikely to reassure would-be investors in Russia that their money is safe.

The case evoked memories of Yukos - once one of the world's largest oil companies, it was broken up and its assets acquired by state oil giant Rosneft in 2003. Its owner Mikhail Khodorkovsky spent a decade in a Russian prison camp.

Capital flight over the last 12 months is expected to top $125bn - hardly a vote of confidence in the Russian economy.

And then there are the international sanctions imposed over the crisis in Ukraine.

Mr Putin estimates they are responsible for 25-30% of the current economic damage.

By themselves they might not have been earth-shattering, but combined with the falling oil price they are having an effect - cutting off some of Russia's biggest companies from access to credit on foreign markets, forcing them to appeal to the state to finance their foreign debt.

Russia has large foreign exchange reserves, but they are not endless - it has already spent at least $80bn of an estimated $360bn fund defending the currency so far this year.

These policies - both foreign and domestic - all lead back to Mr Putin's Kremlin. But with almost complete control of the country's main media outlets, that is not the story that is being told here.

The president blames "external factors" and the nefarious forces that, to use his analogy, are trying to chain and de-fang the Russian bear.

The question is whether his popularity can withstand a sustained period of economic pain.

And whether a weaker Russia, in the manner Mr Putin's cornered bear, might not be a much more dangerous animal.

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New EBA Rules To Crackdown On Card Fraud

New rules aimed at cracking down on card payment fraud have been revealed.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published the more stringent guidelines, making payment service providers toughen up on customer identification before proceeding with payments.

In the last four years alone, the annual cost of card fraud in the UK has risen from £365 million, to over £450 million.

Almost two thirds of that came from the tactic known as skimming.

That is where small amounts of cash are removed from victims' accounts without them noticing, rather than large withdrawals that may be automatically flagged by software.

There has also been a rise in digital attacks using malware, usually downloaded after victims unwittingly open contaminated emails, according to the EBA.

Lost or stolen cards account for just over a quarter of the annual fraud.

UK card fraud hit a record of £610m in 2008 before dropping each year to a low of £341m in 2011.

Since then it has risen again, to £388m in 2012 and jumping 16% on that figure to £450m last year, according to Financial Fraud Action.

It said over the past decade there has been a significant shift in tactics used by fraudsters, amid the rise of online shopping and improved PIN and chip security.

In 2003, 29% of fraud was by so-called remote purchase - where a card is not shown to a retailer - but that figure jumped to 67% last year.

Use of stolen cards over the same period dropped from 27% to 13% and card usage taken from mail delivery plunged from 11% to 2%.

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BlackBerry Stems Loss To Just Over $1m A Day

Struggling smartphone maker BlackBerry has seen its share price plunge almost 10%, after revealing losses of more than $1m a day.

In early trades on Friday the share price dropped 8.5%, after it reported its financial results for the fiscal third quarter. The price later eased.

The Canadian company said it lost $148m (£94m) in the three months, compared to $4.4bn (£2.7bn) in the same period last year.

Revenue declined to $793m in the period from $1.19bn, some 14% below analysts' expectations.

The company was once an industry leader with mobile keyboard devices, allowing email access wirelessly in 1999.

As recently as 2009 it commanded 50% of the US smartphone market.

But it failed to adapt amid the rise of innovative alternatives and cheaper devices.

In September BlackBerry launched a square smartphone aimed at business users - its traditional core market.

The company has sold off swathes of property, downsized its workforce and outsourced upstream logistic supply in an effort to cut costs.

Earlier this year the company revealed a revenue drop of 60%.

On Wednesday, Blackberry launched the Classic, a new phone that reverted to a traditional keyboard at a time when rival Apple and Android phones - and most smartphone customers - have embraced touch screens.

Blackberry said that it continues to target sustainable profitability, but admits it will not likely reach that target until some time in the 2016 financial year.

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Pump Prices: Cheap Petrol Comes With A Warning

Tumbling oil prices are resulting in lower petrol costs, but there are warnings the good news for drivers may not last.

With prices falling by more than 40% since June's high of $111 a barrel, there have been an increasing number of reports suggesting petrol prices across the UK could soon fall below £1 per litre - the lowest level since the end of May 2009.

Experts at the RAC believe petrol could fall to 99p a litre next year, while economists at Goldman Sachs also believe petrol could fall close to £1.

But AA president Edmund King insists this possibility remains "remote".

He said: "A 6.6p-a-litre drop in the price of petrol releases a potential £3m-a-day switch of consumer spending from fuel forecourts to other businesses.

"It will also lower the cost of transporting goods, hopefully also to be passed on to customers."

Mr King went on: "However, the parallels with the 2008 crash, albeit that was a market in freefall while this one has been engineered by OPEC and could be stopped any time, carry a warning from the ghost of Christmas past.

"In 2009, a new year brought a new assessment of the market and pump prices started to rise again on January 5."

Analysis by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) also suggests petrol prices are unlikely to fall below £1-a-litre in the coming months.

But while the ONS said the price consumers pay at the pumps for petrol and diesel were "strongly related to the price of crude oil", it highlighted that price changes were "less volatile and the effect of changes in crude oil prices are delayed".

Ian Taylor, chief executive and president of Vitol, the world's largest oil trading company, told Sky News' Ian King Live that although the future was difficult to predict he believes the market "will steady up".

He said: "As you know oil traders are pretty useless at predicting price, but we sort of feel that inevitably at these price levels that several areas of the world will begin to cut back on capex (capital expenditure) and we'll see some reductions in supply and a big transfer of income to the consumers - hopefully lower petrol prices in the UK etc - and that will increase demand.

"We feel at the current prices and with Brent at $60 a barrel we should begin to see some stability, but oil has been a lot lower than this and a lot higher so it's difficult to predict just at this moment - but I do begin to believe the market will begin to steady up."

He added: "It's a pretty big tax cut for every single consumer in the world and it's a huge transfer of income from oil producers to world consumers. It's pretty positive for the UK, Europe and other big consuming countries around the globe."

Petrol pump prices have plunged in the last month with the mid-November to mid-December fall the third biggest in 25 years, according to the AA.

The motoring group said that between mid-November and mid-December UK average petrol prices fell 6.6p to 116.32p a litre.

Only the October-November 2008 fall of 11.5p a litre and the August-September 2006 dip of 7.9p have been greater than the most recent decline.

The AA also said that average diesel prices have fallen 5.27p a litre to 122.16p over the mid-November to mid-December 2014 period.

And the fall does not include the very latest 2p-a-litre petrol reduction by the four biggest supermarkets which took effect on Wednesday.

Currently, south west England has the cheapest petrol, at an average of 116.1p a litre, while East Anglia has the dearest, at 117.1p.

The cheapest diesel is to be found in Northern Ireland, at 121.8p a litre, with the most-expensive in Scotland, at 122.7p a litre.

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Push To Get More Women Into The Cockpit

By Charlotte Lomas, Sky News Reporter

More than four decades after the first British female pilot took to the skies in a commercial airliner, there are still few women choosing flying as a career. But why are there so few female pilots?

Of the 3,500 pilots employed by British Airways, just 200 are women and this is more than any other UK airline.

Globally, 4,000 of the 130,000 airline pilots are female and fewer still are captains - worldwide there are around 450.

Helen Macnamara has been a British Airways pilot for 14 years after enrolling on a sponsorship scheme once she left university.

"I like to see the world and different places and I enjoy the magic of flying itself," she said.

"Once you have the passion for it, then that's it really".

Helen, 38, believes the reason so few women go into flying may stem from a lack of opportunities in the past.

She said: "I think historically there were less women involved in aviation and that has been changing throughout my career.

"I think it's important females see this as an option and that there are role models in our industry."

One such role model is TV presenter and now fully trained pilot, Carol Vorderman.

She is planning to embark on a solo round-the-world flying trip and is supporting a recruitment drive by British Airways to get more women in the cockpit.

Carol said: "I always wanted to be a pilot since I was very young.

"It was the reason I read Engineering at Cambridge, and ideally would have joined the RAF or a commercial airline after graduating, but sadly this was not an option then.

"I think the reason so few women enter the profession can be traced back to schools, home and the media. Girls need to be encouraged more to pursue sciences, maths and technology at school and realise different paths are open to them."

Although many women work in the aviation industry as a whole - piloting is still very much a male-dominated profession.

Jim McAuslan, the general secretary of BALPA, the British Airline Pilots Association, is hoping this will change.

He said: "Women make great pilots, unfortunately only five percent of our members and British pilots are women, and that's disappointing.

"So we're reaching out to women to find why they're not coming forward. Perhaps it's because of their choice of careers at an earlier age. Engineering is a great way to get into flying, so perhaps people should look at their careers early on.

"But our big message would be: have the dream."

Some critics argue that women face prejudice when considering a career in flying.

In 2009 a Virgin Airlines advert featuring glamorous female flight attendants flanking a male pilot received complaints it was sexist.

So too did an Air New Zealand in-flight safety video where women were dressed bikinis.

But Helen says that she has never experienced any negativity. Most passengers are simply surprised to have a female pilot, she said.

"Actually when members of the public come to our flight simulator where we train, it is usually the women who fare better than the men.

"They are softer with the manoeuvres and males can be more heavy handed."

In an industry where fewer than 5% of pilots are women it's hoped more will be landing safely on the tarmac in future.

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North Korea: We Can Prove Hacking Wasn't Us

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North Korea says it can prove it had nothing to do with the cyber-attack on Sony and proposes a joint investigation with the US.

The North Korean news agency KCNA warned there would be "grave consequences" if the White House declined the offer.

State media called the FBI's claim that North Korea was behind the attack on the entertainment giant a "slander".

The North's foreign ministry, quoted by KCNA, said: "As the United States is spreading groundless allegations and slandering us, we propose a joint investigation with it into this incident.

"Without resorting to such tortures as were used by the US CIA, we have means to prove that this incident has nothing to do with us."

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Gallery: Kim Jong Un Seen Amid US Tensions

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un smiles as a huge crowd surrounds him while he gives field guidance at the Kim Jong Suk Pyongyang Textile Mill

North Korea stated it can prove it had nothing to do with the recent cyber-attack on Sony and proposed a joint investigation with the US

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The North Korean news agency KCNA warned there would be "grave consequences" if the White House declined the offer. Continue through for more images

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President Barack Obama said on Friday that the US would "respond proportionally at a time and manner that we choose" against North Korea after the FBI said a "significant overlap" existed between the infrastructure used in the Hollywood studio hack and previous malicious cyber-activity linked to North Korea.

The hack prompted Sony Pictures on Wednesday to cancel the release of the comedy The Interview, which depicts a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.

The decision to pull the film was made after the group claiming responsibility for the cyber-attack made terrorist threats against US cinemas that showed the movie.

The FBI said technical analysis of data deletion malware used in the data breach provided links to malicious programs previously developed by North Korea.

"North Korea's actions were intended to inflict significant harm on a US business and suppress the right of American citizens to express themselves," the bureau said in a statement.

"Such acts of intimidation fall outside the bounds of acceptable state behaviour."

Sky's Asia Correspondent Mark Stone said: "Korea-watchers are split on whether the FBI and US government have got this right or not because so many bits don't add up.

"After all, if Kim Jong-Un's people did somehow manage to hack Sony he wouldn't be admitting it, and if he didn't do it and everyone's accusing him of doing it surely he and his government would keep quiet because then it would look as though they were more powerful and capable than they are.

"The other thing I find interesting is this suggestion of terrorist attacks on US cinemas if they ran the film.

"Well, North Korea is accused of some pretty bad things but one thing it has never done is threaten terrorist attacks - certainly not on American soil. And the FBI still haven't given us any proof that North Korea was behind this."

The hackers, who call themselves Guardians of Peace, praised the decision to cancel the film's release in a statement provided to CNN on Friday.

The group also said it would keep Sony's data secure if the company continued to comply.

Lt Col Chris Parker, former Chief of Staff of the Desert Rats and a cyber security expert, told Sky News: "We probably have to wonder whether the FBI's allegations are there to create waves - have they got evidence? No one perhaps knows at this stage.

"The North Koreans would learn an awful lot about what is known by the FBI and the Americans by conduction a joint investigation. If they were to get away with that they would have a win-win."

:: North Korea on Saturday vowed to bolster its nuclear capacity in the face of a United Nations resolution calling for it to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) over its human rights record.

The UN General Assembly on Thursday adopted a resolution by a strong majority that asks the Security Council to refer North Korea to the ICC and to consider targeted sanctions against the Pyongyang leadership for the repression of its citizens.

North Korea's foreign ministry said in a statement carried on the official Korean Central News Agency that it would increase "efforts to bolster up in every way its capability for self-defence including nuclear force".

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Written By Unknown on Minggu, 14 Desember 2014 | 00.02

Two City watchdog executives criticised following a probe into the insurance industry are to give evidence on the crisis to a powerful panel of MPs, it has been confirmed.

Clive Adamson, the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) director of supervision, and Zitah McMillan, its communications chief, will appear before the Treasury Select Committee next Tuesday, 16 December, as reported by Sky's City Editor Mark Kleinman.

A further session with Martin Wheatley, the FCA's chief executive, is expected to be held in the new year.

It follows a critical report over the bungled handling of an FCA investigation, which saw share prices tumble.

It centred on an interview given to a national newspaper on the regulator's probe into 30 million financial policies sold between the 1970s and the turn of the millennium.

An independent inquiry by Simon Davis, a leading City lawyer, said the FCA's approach was "high risk, poorly supervised and inadequately controlled".

The £3.8m report revealed errors in the way the interview was handled and delays in a response when it became clear that it was sending insurance company shares into free-fall.

Mr Adamson, Mr Wheatley and Ms McMillan were all criticised in Mr Davis' report, alongside David Lawton, the FCA director of markets.

All four were stripped of their bonuses.

The FCA has also announced Mr Adamson and Ms McMillan are leaving, but insist it is unconnected to the inquiry.

FCA chairman John Griffith-Jones said of Mr Davis' report: "We apologise for the mistakes that were made and the shortcomings in systems and controls which his report has revealed.

"I am determined the FCA will learn the lessons and will do our utmost to ensure that a situation like this will never happen again."

Andrew Tyrie, the chairman of the Treasury Select Committee, said on Wednesday the report's findings illustrated a regulator "pursuing the wrong strategy in the wrong way".

He accused the FCA of falling "well below the standards it requires of the firms it regulates" and said further investigation was required.

Mr Tyrie said: "The Committee will, among many other things, examine whether these errors were a one-off or whether they reveal something amiss, perhaps seriously amiss, with the standards and culture of the FCA.

"We will also examine remedies, both those proposed or already announced, and others."

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Treasury To Unveil 'Landmark' Bank Agreement

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

Ministers will next week hail a "landmark" deal with Britain's nine biggest lenders to offer millions of consumers a new fee-free basic bank account.

Sky News has learnt that the Treasury will announce on Monday that the banks will establish accounts which end charges - whcih can be as high as £35 per item - for failed direct debit or standing order payments.

The new product will be provided by institutions which between them have more than 90% of the current account market, and will be available to people who are not eligible for a bank's standard current account and either have no bank account, or cannot use their existing accounts because of financial problems.

The participating lenders - which have agreed to launch the accounts by the end of next year - are Barclays, the Co-operative Bank, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, National Australia Bank (which owns the Clydesdale and Yorkshire), Nationwide, Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander UK and TSB.

Andrea Leadsom, the economic secretary to the Treasury, is expected to hail the development as a "landmark" agreement, saying that it should bring to an end the problem of consumers being locked out of their accounts when payments fail.

Sky News had previously revealed that some banks had expressed concerns during negotiations with the Government about the terms of the deal.

The provision of basic bank accounts, of which there are estimated to be more than 9m in the UK, is estimated to cost the industry more than £300m annually, with the new accounts likely to add substantially to that bill.

Earlier this year, a European Union Directive ordered member states to supervise the introduction of basic accounts which must charge fees described as "fair".

Ministers are understood to be pleased that they have secured an agreement to launch accounts with no fees, with customers offered services on the same terms as other personal current accounts provided by each participating lender.

This will involve customers having access to all standard over-the-counter services in bank and Post Office branches, as well as access to the entire national ATM network.

Some bank executives have warned that the structure agreed with the Treasury will mean that the new accounts are ultimately subsidised by consumers elsewhere in the banking system.

A further concern was raised that the new account could attract demand from large numbers of consumers who are not benefit claimants, but this is likely to have been alleviated by the eligibility restrictions agreed between the lenders and the Treasury.

The Government estimates that up to 7m people will participate in the Universal Credit welfare programme by 2019, with the new basic account expected to be restricted to that population.

The British Bankers' Association (BBA) has been leading the negotiations with the Treasury about the framework of the plans.

Neither the BBA nor the Treasury would comment on Friday.

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UK Flights Chaos After Traffic Control Glitch

More than 100 flights have been cancelled and many others delayed after a major computer failure grounded planes in London and the South.

A glitch at the state-of-the-art UK air traffic control centre headquarters in Swanwick, Hampshire, caused severe disruption.

For a time no aircraft were able to take off at some of the UK's major airports. Some flights were allowed to land.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said the disruption was "simply unacceptable" and revealed the Government had asked NATS for a full explanation.

It was reported airspace over London had been closed but air traffic control company NATS denied this, saying airspace capacity was "restricted in order to manage the situation".

NATS later said the system had been restored and it was in the process of returning services to normal.

The glitch lasted from 3.27pm to 4.03pm and Sky sources said a flight planning server had failed.

Airports affected by the disruption included Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and London City.

Aberdeen and Edinburgh were also hit by the computer problem. Other airports that reported delays included Birmingham, Manchester, Luton and Bristol.

Heathrow said at least 75 flights have been cancelled and up to 400 delayed.

It said the problem was likely to have a knock-on effect for flights on Saturday because aircraft and crew will not be in the correct positions.

Gatwick saw 15 cancellations and London City between 10 and 15.

British Airways said: "We are working hard to look after our customers who have been affected by the air traffic control failure experienced by all airlines at Heathrow, Gatwick and London City airports.

"We anticipate disruption to both departing and arriving aircraft but will do all we can to minimise any impact."

Speaking to Sky News, NATS managing director of operations Martin Rolfe defended his organisation's handling of the chaos.

"It was a technical failure at our Swanwick centre which handles 6,500 flights a day," he said.

"We went through our backup systems and restored things relatively quickly but not without delays to passengers, which we hugely regret.

"These things are relatively rare. We are a very busy island for air traffic control, so we're always going to be operating near capacity.

"What we've seen today is a very quick response. We didn't close any airports, we didn't close any airspace. We reduced the flow to make sure everything could be handled safely."

East Midlands and Birmingham airports said they were virtually unaffected.

One passenger caught up in the travel chaos was Matt Warren. He tweeted: "Stuck on the tarmac at Heathrow airport. Air traffic control failures. No flights in or out."

David Fitzgerald, who was stuck in a plane on the tarmac at Gatwick, should have been going to Dublin for a 3pm departure.

"We were boarding but then we were told the news there was a major failure at air-traffic control," he said.

"The good news is that some aircraft are being allowed to leave using a lower flight level - it's only the higher flight level that's affected."

Nick Adderley, a police chief superintendent, was also stuck on the tarmac at Gatwick after trying to fly home to Manchester.

He told Sky News: "This is a business flight for me… [I am] trying to get home after a business meeting in London.

"There are a number of people on board trying to get connecting flights to go on holiday. The spirits are pretty high. The mood is pretty good at the moment."

The centre at Swanwick has been subject to a number of computer glitches since NATS moved there from its old headquarters in West Drayton in west London in the early part of the last decade.

One of the worst problems was a year ago - on Saturday 7 December 2013 - when thousands of passengers were left stranded when hundreds of flights were grounded following a technical fault at the Hampshire centre.

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Water Bills To Fall By Â£20 Over Next 5 Years

Household water bills should fall by around £20 over the next five years, the industry watchdog has ruled.

The 5% real-terms drop, excluding inflation, would see average bills come down from £396 to £376 by the end of the decade, according to Ofwat.

The pricing decision by the regulator confirms a provisional decision in August.

When the process for setting bills began last year, water companies had submitted plans which would on average have cut bills by 2% in real terms.

Ofwat rejected a request by the UK's biggest water company, Thames Water, to increase household charges by 3% over the period 2015-20 to help pay for the £4.2bn super-sewer project.

The firm, which serves around 14 million customers in and around London, has been told it must instead cut them by 5%.

It also said utility firms must improve efforts to tackle water leakage, supply interruptions, sewerage water flooding of properties and see cleaner water at beaches.

Ofwat chief executive Cathryn Ross said: "With bills held down by 5% and service driven up over the next five years, customers will get more and pay less.

"Where companies stepped up to do the best they could for their customers we did not need to intervene, but where companies fell short we stepped in to make sure customers get a good deal.

"Now the hard work begins. Companies will only build trust and confidence with their customers if they deliver.

"Those who do can look forward to fair returns, while those that don't will be hit in the pocket and face a tough five years ahead."

All 18 companies were told to cut bills in real terms, 10 of which which supply both water and sewerage services.

United, which had asked last December to keep bills flat in real terms, was told to cut them by 3%.

Bristol Water - which is a water supplier only - had asked to put bills up by 1% but was instead told to cut them by 21%.

Anglian was told to cut bills by 10%, Welsh Water Dwr Cymru by 5%, Northumbrian (including Essex and Suffolk) by 1%, Severn Trent by 5%, Southern by 8%, South West by 7%, Wessex by 9% and Yorkshire by 3%.

New charges will come into effect in April 2015.

Ofwat said companies have two months in which to accept its final determination or seek a referral to the Competition and Markets Authority.

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Energy Firms Fined For Missing Green Targets

The energy regulator says it has secured £4.6m in fines from three power suppliers for failing to meet obligations to low-income households.

Ofgem said Scottish Power would pay £2.4m for missing targets under the Government's Community Energy Saving Programme while SSE would pay £1.75m and GDF Suez £450,000.

The programme was set up by the Government to help people living in low-income areas with loft and wall insulation and new boilers.

The regulator said the failure by the companies to meet the targets meant thousands of households faced higher heating bills as they "missed out on measures like insulation during the early months of 2013, where consumers experienced a particularly cold winter".

It said the companies would have received larger fines if they had not taken steps to make up their shortfalls.

Referring to the fine for SSE, Ofgem's senior partner in charge of enforcement, Sarah Harrison, said: "Our action today is a clear signal that failure to deliver environmental obligations on time is not acceptable."

However, the fines are smaller than the £28m penalty for North Yorkshire-based Drax and £11.1m fine for British Gas handed down for similar failings earlier in the year.

Ofgem said the money will go to charities and funds that benefit vulnerable customers.

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US Shutdown Averted With $1.1tn Budget Deal

The US House of Representatives has passed a $1.1tn (£700bn) budget bill, averting a government shutdown with just hours to spare.

The Republican bill was passed by 219 votes to 206, after the White House urged Democrats to back it.

The legislation will fund most of the government until the end of September 2015, although some departments will only receive short-term funding.

Homeland Security is one of those - giving Republicans an opportunity to try to block President Obama's immigration reforms in two months' time.

The President faced a revolt from dozens of Democrats over a clause which rolls back key financial regulations on Wall Street.

Among them was the House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who described the pro-banking measures as "blackmail".

Democrats fear it could lead to a repeat of the conditions which contributed to the financial crisis seven years ago.

Although the House Speaker, Republican John Boehner, had been confident before the vote, he too struggled to secure enough votes.

On Thursday he was forced to delay proceedings in the House to shore up support for the bill.

The legislation still needs to be passed by the Senate before it can be signed into law.

A government shutdown in October 2013 saw hundreds of thousands of federal employees sent home and many services, national parks and tourist sites closed for as much as two weeks.

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Prices At The Pump To Hit Four-Year Low

Petrol prices are set to fall to a four-year low as a leading supermarket prepares to shave another 2p off a litre.

Asda said it will bring its price for unleaded down to 112.7p a litre on Saturday, which will mean it is at its cheapest since October 2010 and down 14p since September this year.

It will also be reducing the cost of diesel by 1p to 118.7p a litre.

The move comes after other supermarkets introduced a number of fuel reductions over the last few weeks amid falling oil prices.

Crude oil is trading at around $63 a barrel - a fall of 40% since June - as increased US shale production and a refusal by the oil cartel OPEC to cut production adds to oversupply.

The world's top energy watchdog, the International Energy Agency (IEA), has put further downward pressure on the price as it slashed its oil demand forecast for next year.

The IEA said world demand will grow by 900,000 barrels per day, down 230,000 from its previous estimate.

It said that the cheap oil was not leading to more consumption and in rich countries "a tepid economic recovery, weak wage growth and ... deflationary pressures will further blunt the stimulus of lower prices".

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FTSE 100 Suffers Worst Week In Three Years

More than £110bn has been wiped off the value of Britain's leading companies as the FTSE 100 suffered its worst week in three years.

The index closed down 161.07 points on Friday, a loss of 2.49%, making an overall drop of 6.6% since Monday - the largest weekly fall since August 2011.

The slide reflected a new five-year low for the price of Brent crude and worries about the global outlook, particularly after more disappointing economic figures from China.

The FTSE 100 is dominated by business with an interest in the energy and commodity sectors, meaning it has taken a bigger hit from weak oil prices.

Oil stocks have taken a hit as weakening demand and the prospect of oversupply sparked a fall in the price of oil by 10% this week to around $62 (£39.50) a barrel.

The International Energy Agency on Friday cut its forecast for global demand for the fourth time in five months.

BP shares have fallen by 9% since the start of the week and are a fifth cheaper in the year to date.

In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the week down 677.96 points or 3.8%, while markets in France and Germany were down by nearly 3%.

Traders were reacting negatively to the plunge in the oil price despite the likelihood that it could represent a $4bn (£2.5bn) stimulus to the world economy.

Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown stockbrokers, said markets are mulling the question of whether a lower oil price is a "symptom or a cure" for weak global demand.

He said: "The answer is it is probably both, but the restorative qualities of a lower oil price are going to take some time to feed through, and in the meantime markets are focusing on the negatives."

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Yodel Suspends Collections Hitting Deliveries

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A courier firm handling a large number of Christmas online shopping deliveries has suspended new collections for up to two days.

Yodel, whose clients include Amazon and Marks and Spencer, has put on hold handling new parcels while it deals with a backlog from Black Friday.

While the company stresses it is continuing to make deliveries, the temporary freeze on collecting further parcels for distribution will lead to delays of up to three days for goods to arrive.

Recent retail promotions such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday have led to a surge in online orders for goods, especially in the run-up to Christmas.

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Gallery: Black Friday: Madness In The Shops

Yes, really. Shoppers have wrestled over a television. It has come that, people. "Black Friday" is in full swing in Britain and the stiff upper lip Brits are famous for has well and truly left the building. This photo was taken at an Asda in Wembley, north London

Britain's high streets, shopping centres and websites have been awash with discounts as more retailers than ever embraced US-style promotions, seeking to kickstart trading in the key Christmas period

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The police had to be called in at several supermarkets around the country overnight as thousands of customers hunted for bargains

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The rush to grab a deal soon descended into chaos as fights broke out at stores and websites of leading chains buckled under the strain. Continue through for more pictures

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Websites of leading retailers have been crippling under the weight of clicks

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Yodel has apologised to customers, and said it expects to resume normal service by Monday.

But angry shoppers have been venting their frustration on Twitter over delivery delays.

Nick Fowler tweeted: "Hi, ordered over 2 weeks ago still nothing and Yodel tracking just says awaiting collection."

One exasperated post by James & Courtney said: "Never use Yodel. Been waiting a week and a half for a parcel on 24hr service."

Marke branded Yodel "the absolute worst", while Naomi Dolby said her experience over a delayed parcel had been "absolutely shocking".

She wrote: "I can't get hold of a real person at Yodel to track it down."

And in reply to one customer's delivery query the bookseller Waterstones tweeted: "Yodel are currently handling more parcels than they expected, so some deliveries are taking longer than we would like."

Yodel said retail promotions such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday had led to "unexpectedly high parcel volumes across the carrier industry".

In response there had been a "deferment" on some new parcels coming into its sorting centres.

It said in a statement: "By Monday we expect to resume our normal service. We would like to apologise for any inconvenience this may cause to our clients and their customers.

"We are working closely with our clients on their forecasted parcel volumes for the coming weeks, based on this we are confident that the action we are taking will ensure that normal service is resumed after the weekend."

In a Q&A for concerned customers on its website, Yodel said: "We spent months planning for Christmas, but even with our experience and those of our clients we underestimated how massive the spikes would be. (We were not alone!)

"The whole of the retail supply chain has felt the impact. Retailer websites have been crashing, there have been backlogs in distribution centres and all parcel delivery companies have felt the strain."

Posing the question of "Who came up with the idea of Black Friday?", the firm joked: "We don't know but if you find out please can you let us know as we would like a chat with them!"

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Written By Unknown on Minggu, 07 Desember 2014 | 00.02

The latest leak from the Sony Pictures Entertainment hack reveals the media giant saved thousands of internal passwords in a folder called... "Passwords".

Documents posted online since the cyber-attack last month include personal details of 47,000 employees and actors associated with the company.

The files list the home addresses and pay information of current and past employees, in one case dating back to 1955. It even contains the social security numbers of Hollywood stars Sylvester Stallone and Judd Apatow.

Information in the "passwords" folder also included the log-in details for Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts for Sony films such as Ghostbusters and The Social Network.

Department passwords for Amazon and thousands of passwords to the company's internal computers were also in the leaked files.

The apparent lack of security around sensitive data will further embarrass Sony, which has been battling the fallout from the attack by a group called the Guardians of Peace.

Forthcoming Sony films including Fury, starring Brad Pitt, and the remake of Annie have been posted online since the breach.

After the hack, Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton and co-chairman Amy Pascal said in an internal memo that it was a "brazen attack on our company, our employees and our business partners".

Rumours continue that the attack originated in North Korea as revenge for the upcoming Sony film The Interview about an attempt to assassinate leader Kim Jong-Un. The salaries received by the film's stars Seth Rogen and James Franco are among the information leaked by the hackers.

North Korea denies it was involved in the cyber-attack but previously called the film "an act of war that we will never tolerate" in a letter to the United Nations.

Some cybersecurity experts say they have found similarities between the code used in the Sony hack and attacks on South Korean corporate and government systems blamed on the North last year.

The FBI has not said whether North Korea or any other country is responsible for the Sony hack but has warned American businesses to contact them if they identify malware similar to that used in the attack.

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US Jobless Rate Steady Despite Massive Hiring

US job creation smashed estimates last month with 321,000 new positions, although the jobless rate remained static.

The Labor Department said it was the strongest monthly performance in almost three years and wages also increased - a development which may bring the Federal Reserve closer to raising interest rates.

But the unemployment rate held steady at a six-year low of 5.8% despite the big increase in employment.

November marked the tenth-straight month that job growth has exceeded 200,000, the longest stretch since 1994 and further
confirmed the economy is weathering slowdowns in China and the eurozone.

Average hourly earnings rose 2.1% in the year to November - still below the increase of 3% or more that economists say would make the Fed comfortable lifting rates, but an improvement.

There was also positive news in terms of fresh four-year lows in the numbers giving up looking for work and in long-term unemployment figures.

Job gains were also broad-based across the economy, with retail payrolls rising strongly ahead of the holiday shopping season.

Separate figures showed the US trade deficit fell slightly in October as exports rebounded while oil imports dipped to the lowest level in five years amid the rush for US shale oil.

The Commerce Department says the deficit edged down 0.4% to $43.4bn (£27.7bn).

Exports climbed 1.2%.

The figures sparked a rally in world stocks, with the FTSE 100's gains hitting 1% on the day shortly after the announcements.

US futures pointed to a slightly higher openings on Wall Street.

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