Wales Floods: St Asaph Counts The Cost

By Frazer Maude, Sky News Reporter

Four days after floodwater swept through St Asaph in North Wales residents are beginning to see the full extent of the damage it caused.

The tiny city, in Denbighshire, was submerged on Tuesday when the River Elwy burst over flood defences following days of persistent rain.

Insurance assessors have told the people in the worst affected properties that it could be nine months before they can expect to return to their homes.

Some are moving in with friends or family, but most will need to move into rented accommodation.

Isla Jones, who lives on Roe Parc in St Asaph, is one of them.

"My mother-in-law's house is just round the corner and she has been flooded too. So we, along with the other 499 people, will be trying to find somewhere to rent," she said.

Wayne Jones, who lives near Isla, says he has already started work on repairs before his insurance company can assess the damage.

"They just said 'it's your house, go ahead'," he said. "Otherwise I'd just get depressed looking at the damage."

Hundreds of properties were affected by the flood water

Neighbour Mark Stanley is an electrician. He has lost around £14,000 worth of tools, and faces losing his earnings until they can be replaced.

He says more should have been done to prevent the flooding.

He said: "We've all got A-levels in hindsight, but 12 years ago the river came within a few inches of bursting its banks and nothing's been done about it."

One positive thing to have come out of this event is the show of community spirit. Something Prince Charles will be able to see for himself when he visits St Asaph on Monday.

A spokeswoman for Clarence House said: "Following the terrible floods across areas of the United Kingdom in the past few days, The Prince of Wales is keen to thank emergency services and lend his support to some of the residents affected.

"The Prince decided to visit St Asaph because the city has been particularly badly hit by the flooding with over 180 homes in St Asaph affected."

Prince Charles has asked one of his charities, Business in the Community (BITC), to form a Business Emergency Recovery Group (BERG) to assist the recovery operation in St Asaph.

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Millions Of Households 'Feel Squeezed'

More than 10 million households are feeling financially squeezed and almost one in 10 have defaulted on a loan, bill or housing costs, a consumer group has said.

Releasing its findings ahead of Chancellor George Osborne's Autumn Statement this week, Which? urged the Government to ensure spiralling energy and food costs are kept under control.

The group's "squeezometer" found almost one in four people are feeling financially squeezed, equating to 10.2 million households.

Researchers found 9% of households have defaulted on a loan, bill or housing costs.

Some 6% of households have gone into an unauthorised overdraft or used a payday loan to tide themselves over.

Researchers highlighted consumers' top worries as the price of fuel, energy and food.

A string of energy firms have recently announced bill hikes, putting further pressure on families this winter.

Food costs are also on the increase, and last week the Office of Fair Trading said eight  supermarkets have agreed to a set of principles following concerns over special offers and promotions for food and drink.

The supermarkets have agreed not to artificially inflate prices to make a later "discount" look more attractive.

Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said: "With 10 million households feeling the squeeze and consumer confidence remaining low, the government has a job on its hands to convince people that everything possible is being done to keep unavoidable costs like energy and food bills under control.

"We're looking for further progress in reforming the energy market, an end to misleading food price promotions, and more competition in banking to take some of the pressure off hard-pressed consumers."

The research asked 2,100 UK adults in October if they had experienced a range of financial difficulties in the previous month.

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Open Prison Fugitive Arrested By Police

Fugitive Ivan Leach, who absconded from an open prison, has been found by police in Camden, north London.

The 47-year-old had been on the run from North Sea Camp open prison in Boston, Lincolnshire since October 9.

Police arrested him on suspicion of a number of offences this morning in the Camden area, Scotland Yard said.

Leach, also known as Lee Cyril, was wanted for questioning about a rape in Scotland committed while police hunted for him.

On October 15, a woman was woken and raped by an intruder in her home in Perth, and the following day a mattress was stolen from her home.

Leach, from Preston, was jailed in 2005 for robbing a 90-year-old woman in her home in the city.

He was given a life sentence with a minimum tariff of five years.

Leach is currently in custody in a north London police station.

Police had warned people not to approach the fugitive under any circumstances.

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First Text Was Sent To A Mobile 20 Years Ago

By Richard Suchet, Sky News Reporter

Monday marks 20 years since the first text message was sent to a mobile phone.

The first SMS was sent on December 3, 1992, when a 22-year-old British engineer called Neil Papworth - an employee of the technology company Sema - used his computer to send the message "Merry Christmas" to an Orbitel 901 mobile phone.

Texting has now surpassed the traditional phone call as the most common method of staying in touch.

Speaking to Sky News, Mr Papworth said he never envisaged that texting would be so popular.

"Back then I had no idea - I was just doing a day's testing. It wasn't until the 10th anniversary that I realised and thought 'Wow, that was a big thing'.

"And here we are another 10 years later and text messaging has gone on to even bigger and better things now."

According to figures released by Ofcom, more than 150 billion texts were sent in the UK last year, almost triple the amount sent five years ago.

Its most prolific users are 12 to 15-year-olds, who send an average of 193 texts every week, almost four times as much as the UK average.

In fact, most of us are now more likely to text a friend than to pick up the phone or have a face-to-face conversation with them.

But the first half of 2012 saw two quarterly declines in the volume of SMS messages sent in the UK.

The drop is being put down to the meteoric rise in web-based communications - many of which are freely available on smartphones and tablets - like WhatsApp, Blackberry Messenger (BBM), iMessenger, Google Talk and MSN Messenger.

An increase in communication through social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook is also thought to be having an impact.

SMS stands for Short Messaging Service and a message is traditionally under 160 characters in length.

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Weather: Snow Continues As Mercury Plunges

Weather forecasters are warning of more snowfall in parts of England and Scotland, as Britons continue to shiver in below-freezing temperatures.

Overnight temperatures dropped to -6C in many parts of the country, from central Scotland through to Cumbria and Buckinghamshire.

Many areas will see up to 3cm of snow, while 15cm is predicted to fall in the Scottish mountains.

Sky News weather producer Jo Wheeler said there would be "significant snowfall" in the Scottish mountains and the Pennines later.

She said: "There is also the possibility of seeing between 1cm and 3cm of rain, even at lower levels for parts of the East and North East."

Many areas are likely to see about 3cm of snow

Edinburgh, the Pennines, the Peak District, County Durham, Yorkshire, Norfolk and East Anglia are all expected to be affected.

The Met Office has issued a low-level severe weather warning across most of Scotland, north and east England, and north Wales, because of the freezing temperatures and snowfall.

"Following showers of rain, sleet and snow on Saturday, ice is expected to form on untreated surfaces on Saturday evening and persist well into Sunday morning. Further wintry showers are likely to affect eastern coastal counties through the night.

"The public should be aware of possible disruption to travel."

The Met Office believes the freezing temperatures will last into next week, possibly followed by more snow.

The white start to the month has been enough to prompt record numbers of punters to place bets on snow falling on Christmas Day.

According to bookmakers Ladbrokes, more money had been staked on a white Christmas on Saturday than by any other December 1 in its history.

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David Beckham Plays Last LA Galaxy Match

David Beckham's Career Timeline

Updated: 10:55am UK, Sunday 02 December 2012

David Beckham was born in Leytonstone in east London on May 2, 1975. Sixteen years later he joined Manchester United as a trainee.

1992: Makes debut against Brighton in the League Cup on September 23. Wins FA Youth Cup.

1993: Signs professional contract at Old Trafford.

1996: Helps United to Premier League and FA Cup double.

Scores goal of the season on opening day at Wimbledon, lobbing Neil Sullivan from the halfway line.
Makes his England debut in the 3-0 win in Moldova.

1997: Collects another championship winners' medal, voted PFA Young Player of the Year.

1998: Scores first England goal, a free-kick against Colombia in Lens on June26. Sent off in second-round penalty shoot-out defeat against Argentina.

1999: Helps United win the Premier League, FA Cup and European Cup after comingfrom behind to beat Bayern Munich with two late goals.Runner-up in World Player of the Year awards, behind Rivaldo.

2000: May - Collects fourth championship winner's medal as United win title by a record 18 points.

November - Named England captain for the November friendly with Italy in Turin by stand-in boss Peter Taylor.

2001: May - Collects another Premier League title with United.

October - Curls in a 25-yard last-minute free-kick against Greece at Old Trafford to earn England a 2-2 draw and send them into World Cup finals.

2002: May 11 - Signs new three-year contract reported to be worth between £90,000 and £100,000 a week.

2003: February - Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson accidentally kicks a boot into Beckham's face in frustration at United's FA Cup defeat to Arsenal.

June 14 - Awarded an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours for services to football.

June 17 - United announce they have accepted a £25m bid from Real Madrid for Beckham, who agrees personal terms.

2004: June 24 - Misses a penalty as England lose to Portugal in a shoot-out in the Euro 2004 quarter-finals in Lisbon.

2005: November: Captains England for 50th time in friendly against Argentina in Geneva.

July 2 - Stands down as England captain.

August 11 - Dropped from squad for friendly against Greece, Steve McClaren's first match as manager.

2007: January 11 - Beckham announces he will leave Real Madrid and join Major League Soccer club Los Angeles Galaxy on a five-year contract in August.

January 13 - Real Madrid coach Fabio Capello says Beckham will never play for the club again.

May 26 - McClaren hands Beckham a shock England recall for matches against Brazil and Estonia.

June - Wins the La Liga title with Madrid, having won back his place in the team.

August 16 - Beckham scores his first goal for Galaxy on his full debut in the SuperLiga semi-final meeting with DC United with a trademark free-kick.

2008: March 26 - Wins 100th cap in the friendly against France.

October 30 - Milan announce Beckham will join them on loan on January 7, 2009.

2009: January 11 - Makes shock first start for Milan in 2-2 Serie A draw at Roma.

March 9 - AC Milan announce that under a unique "timeshare" agreement, Beckham will stay with them in Italy until the end of the season, return to the Galaxy from July to October and then rejoin the Serie A club for the rest of the 2009-10 campaign.

March 28 - Comes on as a half-time substitute against Slovakia at Wembley towin his 109th cap and break Bobby Moore's record for an outfield player.

July 20, 27 - Twice confronts fans who gave him a hostile reception in his first home games after returning to the Galaxy.

2010: March 14 - Tears his Achilles tendon in AC Milan's 1-0 win over Chievo - an injury that rules him out of the World Cup.

August 11 - England career appears to be at an end when Capello tells ITV: "Probably he is a little bit old."

2011: November 20  - Wins the MLS Cup as the Galaxy beat Houston Dynamo 1-0 in the final.

December 31 - Five-year deal at the Galaxy expires.

2012: January 19 - Re-signs with the Galaxy.

June 28 - Announces he has not been included in Team GB's squad for the Olympic Games.

November 20 - Confirms he is to leave the Galaxy after MLS Cup on December 1.

December 1 - LA Galaxy wins 3-1 over Houston Dynamo in Beckham's final game in Major League Soccer. It is the team's second successive MLS Cup.

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Leveson: Editors 'Will Sign Up To New Deal'

Editors will agree to a stronger code of conduct without the need for statutory legislation, David Hunt, the chairman of the soon-to-be-scrapped Press Complaints Commission has told Sky News.

Lord Justice Leveson was wrong to say such a move was needed to persuade editors to join a new system, Lord Hunt said.

"He doesn't think they will sign; I do. I have spoken to 120 publishers speaking on behalf of 2,000 editors. They have all told me they will sign up," he said on the Murnaghan show.

Shami Chakrabarti has concerns about human rights implications

He wanted five-year rolling contracts to ensure publications could not "walk away" from a new regime, he added.

Earlier, a key aide to Lord Justice Leveson claimed the press reform laws he had called for would be illegal and might breach the Human Rights Act.

 Shami Chakrabarti, one of six advisers who worked with the judge on the inquiry, told the Mail On Sunday she could not support legislation because it would "coerce" newspapers into holding higher standards than anyone else, which would be unlawful.

Ms Chakrabarti,the director of civil rights group Liberty, warned that Lord Justice Leveson's proposal for an independent regulatory body backed up in law could have "serious unintended consequences".

"In a democracy, regulation of the press and imposing standards on it must be voluntary. A compulsory statute to regulate media ethics in the way the report suggests would violate the Act, and I cannot support it," she said.

Hugh Grant wants a law passed to ensure editors comply

In contrast, actor and Hacked Off member Hugh Grant, said the findings of the report should be implemented, arguing that Lord Justice Leveson's recommendations were "mild" and said Mr Cameron's position was "very close to disgraceful".

"We thought the report was intelligent and clever but at the mild end of what everyone hoped for," Grant told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show.

"We thought the upside of it being mild was that there was no way the Prime Minister can't endorse this, this is something that can get through."

The PM has serious concerns about legislative action

He spoke of his "astonishment" at Mr Cameron's "betrayal" by declaring there was no need for statutory underpinning. Reforms "simply won't work without it", he said.

David Cameron has said he has "serious concerns and misgivings" about legislative action, but the PM is facing continuing pressure from victims of press intrusion, the public and other party leaders to implement the findings.

More than 100,000 members of the public have signed a petition organised by Hacked Off, calling for the recommendations to be implemented in full.

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George Osborne Takes On The Tax Avoiders

Little Christmas Cheer From Osborne

Updated: 3:29pm UK, Sunday 02 December 2012

By Peter Spencer, Political Correspondent

Borrowing costs up, growth forecasts down. Little wonder, then, that George Osborne's Autumn Statement will look more like January's credit card bills than Santa's stocking.

And there's a rare degree of unanimity across Fleet Street about what form the nasty fiscal news will take.

This seems to point to behind-the-scenes briefings of a kind Lord Leveson would like to outlaw.

But for now it's everywhere.

The expectation is that George Osborne will announce tax rises on the pension pots of the wealthiest AND a freeze on many benefits.

It's also predicted there'll be a lowering of the annual limit of tax relief on pension contributions from £50,000 to £30,000. Alongside this, it seems, we can expect a freeze on out-of-work benefits.

However, any form of mansion tax - or splitting council tax bands - is likely to be ruled out. That's a battle the Lib Dems have lost.

A battle that Tory backbenchers appear to have won, by contrast, is agreement to delay the 3p per litre rise in fuel duty planned for January.

While that last one will come as some comfort for many, the overall picture is bleak.

No surprise there, given that economic experts from the independent Office for Budget Responsibility to the Governor of the Bank of England agree that unless the Chancellor's prepared to let his debt reduction target slip further into the future, he has no choice but to make himself deeply unpopular.

Though he knows this as well as anyone, he's sticking doggedly to his script.

Speaking to The Sun On Sunday, he said: "We are still all in this together. Everyone must make a contribution to dealing with our debts, from the richest in our society to those living a life on benefits.

"The road ahead may be longer than we thought, but it leads to a better future. Let's have the courage to stay the course."

Labour say that course is made that desperately more uphill and potholed by HIS actions. Trying to cut the deficit too far and too fast.

But they know that if THEY'D won the election there'd still have had to be deeply unpopular austerity measures following the economic meltdown of 2008.

Governments across Europe have been falling like dominoes for precisely that reason.

But, in the short term at least, Mr Osborne's offering will be judged on the basis of fairness. Or otherwise.

Research by the consumer group Which? suggests that almost one in four UK households are already feeling "financially squeezed".

For them at least, any talk from the Treasury of discomfort (that favourite doctor's euphemism) will mean what it really means. Pain.

Which is why, for the Chancellor, the political stakes this week could hardly be higher.

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Starbucks Tax Backlash: Firm Pledges Action

Starbucks has announced it is reviewing its tax affairs after a public backlash over the low amount of tax the US company pays in the UK.

The Seattle-based company reportedly paid just £8.6m in corporation tax in 14 years of trading in Britain.

It recently revealed it paid no corporation tax for the past three years, despite sales of £1.2bn in the UK.

Now, the coffee chain has revealed it is in talks with Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the Treasury over its tax affairs as part of a bid to "build public trust".

"Starbucks is committed to the UK for the long term and we have invested more than £200m in our UK business over the past 12 years," the statement said.

"Starbucks has complied with all the tax laws in this country but has regretfully not been as profitable as we would have liked.

"We have listened to feedback from our customers and employees, and understand that to maintain and further build public trust we need to do more.

"As part of this we are looking at our tax approach in the UK.

"The company has been in discussions with HMRC for some time and is also in talks with the Treasury."

The firm is one of many multinationals to have the amount of tax they pay in the UK put under the spotlight.

Starbucks operates more than 700 stores in the UK

Chancellor George Osborne is set to address the issue in his Autumn Statement on December 5.

On Sunday Mr Osborne announced extra investment to help clamp down on the multinational companies' tax avoidance.

Last month, the Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which is charged with monitoring government financial affairs, questioned senior executives from Starbucks, Google and Amazon on why they pay so little tax in the UK while racking up millions of pounds' worth of sales.

"I assure you we are not making money," Troy Alstead, the chief financial officer of Starbucks, told the committee.

"It's very unfortunate. We're not at all pleased about our financial performance here. It's fundamentally true everything we are saying and everything we have said historically."

His comments came despite operating more than 700 UK stores and employing nearly 8,500 people, along with plans to employ another 6,000 staff and open 300 outlets.

Companies are able to sidestep the taxman legally by conducting different operations in different countries, and constructing complex global frameworks that allow them to move money through offshore subsidiaries and locations.

The three leading US companies and their corporate tax rates

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Dorries: 'Tories Will Welcome Me Back'

Nadine Dorries has told Sky News she enjoys being an independent politician after having the Conservative whip suspended.

Ms Dorries upset her party when she left her Mid Bedfordshire constituency to spend three weeks in Australia while taking part in I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here!

The outspoken politician insisted she would be allowed back into the Tory Party, but she also claimed she was revelling in her new-found freedom.

The 55-year-old said: "It's quite nice being independent at the moment, actually."

Ms Dorries, a fierce critic of Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne, had a Commons showdown with Conservative Chief Whip Sir George Young last week over her decision to abandon her constituents.

Their talks were adjourned and a decision on her future is expected to be announced later this month.

Soap star Charlie Brooks ended up being crowned Queen Of The Jungle

There had been speculation that Ms Dorries could leave the party and stand for UKIP at the next General Election.

But she told Sky News' Murnaghan show: "I am quite sure, confident, that I should get the whip back very shortly."

When she was asked what would happen if Sir George refused to reinstate the whip, she replied: "We will cross that bridge when come to it."

Ms Dorries faced a barrage of criticism when she flew to Australia to join the ITV1 reality show.

She chewed on a lamb's testicle and an ostrich's anus in the notorious Bushtucker Trials before she was evicted in a public vote.

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