London, Nov. 9 : British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is planning urgent tax cuts in a 15-billion-pound package of measures to combat the economic slump in the country.
According to The Mirror, Brown is considering extending tax credits to help more low-paid families as Britain teeters on the brink of recession. He is also looking at extending the stamp-duty "holiday" on more modestly-priced homes to help first-time buyers and revive the crisis-hit property market.
Other possible measures include a "significant" increase in winter fuel allowances and a further delay to rises in petrol duty.
London, Nov. 9 : The execution of three Indonesian militants for the serial bomb blasts in the tourist resort of Bali that claimed the lives of 202 people, including 88 Australians, has not satisfied their relatives.
They do not believe justice has been fully achieved.
Imam Samudra, 38, Amrozi Nurhasyim, 47, and Ali Ghufron, 48, were executed yesterday on the island prison of Nusakambangan by a firing squad after they were found guilty of planning attacks on two nightclubs in the resort of Kuta.
London, November 9 : While Melanie Brown renewed her wedding vows with hubby Stephen Belafonte in Egypt, his ex-girlfriend Nicole Contreras has given out details of her violent and abusive past with the film producer.
Nicole laid bare the trauma she had suffered whilst she was with Belafonte who had continued to sleep with her several times while still dating the Spice girl.
She further added how Belafonte had almost gone on his knees pleading to take him back after traumatising her with drunken violence, extreme possessiveness, and even trying to strangle her.
Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt - An international meeting on Middle East peace opened Sunday in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh amid hopes that a Barack Obama administration in the United States will accord adequate attention to settling Arab-Israeli differences.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon were present at the meeting of the so-called Middle East Quartet.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni were to brief participants on negotiations over 12 months that failed to reach a final status agreement, or a framework for one.
Nairobi/Goma - The head of the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC), Alan Doss, has condemned militias fighting in the east of the country, accusing them of committing "war crimes."
Doss said that the UN did not yet have a clear idea of a massacre that occurred in the town of Kinwanja, which was first taken by Mai Mai militias loyal to the government, then by the forces of rebel general Laurent Nkunda.
UN aid workers had found the bodies of dozens of civilians in the town some 80 kilometres north of the provincial capital of Goma.
African leaders attending an emergency summit in Nairobi Friday on the conflict urged an immediate ceasefire and the extension of UN peacekeeping powers in the country.
Islamabad - Pakistani security forces killed at least 43 militants and lost three soldiers in overnight clashes and airstrikes in the conflict-ridden north-western districts near the Afghan border, officials and media reports said on Sunday.
Up to a dozen insurgents were killed on Sunday when Pakistani aircraft pounded militant hideouts in the restive Bajaur tribal district, a known hub of al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters.
"Jets targeted the positions in Khar and Mamoond areas, killing at least 12 militants and leaving many more injured," a security officials said on condition of anonymity.
Successive explosions were reported from the bombed locations, suggesting ammunition caches were also hit, the official added.
