French terror suspects: Theme park and police among targets

A theme park was among the targets listed by terror suspects arrested in France at the weekend, according to French media.

An area described as having a high number of police officers was also mentioned, iTele reported.

The seven suspects - of French, Moroccan and Afghan origin and aged between 29 and 38 - were detained in the southern port city of Marseilles and the eastern city of Strasbourg overnight on Saturday and Sunday.

The raids followed an eight-month investigation by French security services.

On Monday, interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve told reporters that the arrests prevented "a terrorist act that had been envisaged for a long time on our soil".

Image Caption:Bernard Cazeneuve said the arrests had prevented a terrorist attack

Two handguns, an automatic pistol, a machine pistol and jihadist propaganda were found during the raids.

One of the suspects arrested in Strasbourg, named as Yasin B, 38, was an official at a school who went to Syria via Cyprus in 2015, possibly using school holidays to avoid arousing suspicion, iTele said.

During his stay, he and an accomplice, who was also arrested, were taught combat techniques and the art of concealment, the news outlet reported.

:: US warns of terrorism risk at Christmas markets in Europe

Meanwhile, two of those arrested in Marseilles were released on Tuesday.

They had been suspected of helping to shelter a Moroccan identified as Hicham E, who is thought to have financed the group and is still being held by police.

A total of 418 people have been arrested in France for suspected links to terror networks since the start of the year, including 43 people this month alone.

The country remains in a state of emergency a year after Islamic State jihadists killed 130 people in Paris in co-ordinated attacks.

French terror suspects: Theme park and police among targets

A theme park was among the targets listed by terror suspects arrested in France at the weekend, according to French media.

An area described as having a high number of police officers was also mentioned, iTele reported.

The seven suspects - of French, Moroccan and Afghan origin and aged between 29 and 38 - were detained in the southern port city of Marseilles and the eastern city of Strasbourg overnight on Saturday and Sunday.

The raids followed an eight-month investigation by French security services.

On Monday, interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve told reporters that the arrests prevented "a terrorist act that had been envisaged for a long time on our soil".

Image Caption:Bernard Cazeneuve said the arrests had prevented a terrorist attack

Two handguns, an automatic pistol, a machine pistol and jihadist propaganda were found during the raids.

One of the suspects arrested in Strasbourg, named as Yasin B, 38, was an official at a school who went to Syria via Cyprus in 2015, possibly using school holidays to avoid arousing suspicion, iTele said.

During his stay, he and an accomplice, who was also arrested, were taught combat techniques and the art of concealment, the news outlet reported.

:: US warns of terrorism risk at Christmas markets in Europe

Meanwhile, two of those arrested in Marseilles were released on Tuesday.

They had been suspected of helping to shelter a Moroccan identified as Hicham E, who is thought to have financed the group and is still being held by police.

A total of 418 people have been arrested in France for suspected links to terror networks since the start of the year, including 43 people this month alone.

The country remains in a state of emergency a year after Islamic State jihadists killed 130 people in Paris in co-ordinated attacks.

Heinz Beanz TV advert canned over tin drumming safety fears

An advert in which Heinz fans drum out a song on a tin has been banned on health and safety grounds.

The advert showed children, teenagers and adults using empty or full Heinz Baked Beanz tins to drum out the rhythm of the song, with the catchline "Learn the #CanSong".

But nine viewers complained, saying the ad encouraged "unsafe practice", with some suggesting the behaviour shown might be dangerous if children copied it.

Heinz disagreed, claiming people were shown tapping the sealed tin so they could not put hands or fingers inside it, and always with the can placed on "safe" surfaces.

The company said the fact that consumers had uploaded their own versions of the song on to social media sites showed it was "evidence that copying the ad was not prejudicial to their health or safety".

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said that consumers were "unlikely to be as proficient as the actors" at flipping and twirling the can around.

It said: "In any case, particularly given the manoeuvres required, it might still be possible that mistakes could be made with an empty can, which might include a hand or fingers being inserted into an open tin, with the associated risk of cuts."

It pointed out the ad did not tell consumers to make sure the tin can was safe before trying to learn the song.

It concluded: "For the reasons given and because the ad did not include information on how to ensure consumer safety when recreating the song, we concluded that the ad condoned and encouraged behaviour that prejudiced health or safety."

The ASA ruled the advert should not be broadcast again in its present form, adding: "We told Heinz to ensure that future ads did not condone or encourage behaviour that prejudiced health and safety, including behaviour that could be dangerous for children to emulate, for example by featuring open tin cans being used to play music."

Heinz said: "We believe this popular ad did not pose any safety risk and many fans were inspired to create their own video versions.

"Of course safety is our number one priority and our online tutorials also included taping the can end as an extra precaution.

"Although we acknowledge the ASA decision, the TV campaign is over and we have no plans to run it again."

Iran: More than 1,000 soldiers die in Syria since 2011

More than 1,000 soldiers deployed by Iran to Syria to back government forces in the civil war have been killed, an Iranian official said on Tuesday

The death toll was a major increase from one reported just four months ago when Iran announced 400 of its soldiers had died on Syria's battlefields.

Iran has been sending fighters to Syria since the early stages of the more than five-year-old war to support its ally, President Bashar al-Assad, against armed groups trying to topple him.

Although many of the soldiers Iran sends are its own nationals, it is casting its recruitment net wide, training and deploying predominantly Shia-Muslim fighters from neighbouring Afghanistan and Pakistan as well. Afghan citizens represented half the death toll reported in August.

Autumn Statement targets wages, homes and letting fees

A triple boost for working class families will be pledged by Philip Hammond as he unveils his first Autumn Statement as Chancellor and the first since the UK voted to leave the EU.

Mr Hammond will announce a £1.4bn cash injection for housing, changes to Universal Credit to help those on low incomes keep more of their pay packet and an increase in the National Living Wage to £7.50 an hour.

The Government claims the extra money for housing will help build 40,000 new homes and, in a move to help tenants renting from private landlords, they will no longer have to pay upfront letting fees.

The changes to Universal Credit will mean the low paid will be able to keep an extra 2p of every extra £1 they earn, a move also aimed at improving incentives to work for three million families.

And the increase in the National Living Wage, a 4% rise for over-25s from April 2017, will be backed up by new rules of enforcement to prevent rogue employers failing to pay the legal minimum.

:: Five things to look out for in the Autumn Statement

The Treasury says Mr Hammond's package is designed to "improve the living standards of ordinary working class people and their families", in line with goals set out by Theresa May in her Tory conference speech last month.

The Prime Minister has spoken of wanting to help people "just about managing", who have become known as "JAMS" in Whitehall jargon and are identified as those working hard on relatively low incomes to provide for their families. 

With the Government now making housing a priority, it is estimated that the ban on letting agency fees, which was Labour policy under Ed Miliband, will benefit 4.3 million households and save them an average of £337.

:: Boost for Hammond as public finances in better shape than expected

Other measures to be announced by the Chancellor will include:

:: A crackdown on whiplash claims, designed to allow insurers to reduce premiums by £40 a year.

:: Relaxation of restrictions on schemes like affordable rent, shared ownership and rent-to-buy, to help people in different housing circumstances, including renters struggling to save for a deposit.

Mr Hammond will also confirm investments of £1.3bn on roads and £1bn on broadband, as well as committing billions more to research and development projects designed to support high-skill jobs.

:: Hammond plans to spend £1.3bn on road improvement

But Labour has already attacked the Chancellor's proposals as inadequate. Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said Mr Hammond had failed to provide support for people on low and middle incomes.

On Universal Credit, he said: "If as reported, all the Chancellor is offering is a 2% change in the taper rate, then it will be too little, too late for those working families who have had to bear the brunt of six wasted years of failed Tory economic policies."

"Despite all their rhetoric last month, and before the ink is even dry on the Autumn Statement, it looks like it will be jam tomorrow for working people under Theresa May and Philip Hammond."

And on the housing proposals, Labour spokesman John Healey said: "Six years of Conservative housing policy have led to the lowest level of new affordable housebuilding in 24 years. Today's announcement is too little and too late. 
 
"Too little to make good the huge cuts in housing investment from 2010, with investment still only half the level left by Labour. 

"The reality is Ministers' deep cuts have left a funding shortfall of over £17bn compared to the plans I left as Labour's last Housing Minister. Today's announcement doesn't even make up a tenth of that."

But welcoming the scrapping of letting fees, he said: "Labour has long backed ending sky-high letting fees for renters, while Conservative MPs including the Prime Minister have repeatedly voted against it, so any change of heart is welcome.

"However, the reality is this is too little, too late for hard-pressed renters when government housing policies are making the problems of high costs and poor conditions for renters much worse. 
 
"Since 2010, Ministers have opposed Labour's plans for longer term tenancies and brake on rent rises, voted against Labour's proposals to make all rented homes 'fit for human habitation', banned Labour councils from cracking down on rogue landlords, and slashed investment in genuinely affordable rented homes."

Proposed Israel law “gives green light to theft of Palestinian land” – UN expert

A proposed Israeli law enabling the confiscation of privately owned Palestinian land would deal another severe blow to hopes of a lasting peace, a United Nations human rights expert has warned.

Special Rapporteur Michael Lynk said he was deeply concerned at the proposal to legalize more than 100 illegal outposts in the occupied West Bank, which passed its first reading in the Knesset on 16 November.

“Unauthorized outposts, most of which have been established on private Palestinian land and are located deep within the occupied West Bank are considered illegal under Israeli domestic law. Their retroactive ‘legalization’ will be another nail in the coffin for the two-state solution,” said Mr. Lynk.

“These outposts undermine the Palestinian right to self-determination, violate their rights to property, freedom of movement and development, and continue to confine the Palestinians into smaller and smaller cantons of non-contiguous lands within their own territory.”

The Special Rapporteur noted that the draft legislation, if adopted, allows the Israeli state to appropriate private Palestinian lands on which the outposts have been built, thereby regularising them for use by Israeli settlers. Lynk emphasized that international law prohibits the occupying power from confiscating private property. Even the Israeli Supreme Court has ruled on a number of occasions that the confiscation of private Palestinian lands for settlement purposes was illegal under Israeli law.

“The Knesset should not be giving the green light to theft by changing the law,” he said.

Mr. Lynk also noted that the violation of international law was not lessened or mitigated by the bill’s proposed measures to compensate Palestinians whose land had been unlawfully taken.

The tabling of the draft law follows a recent Israeli Supreme Court ruling that the Amona outpost must be evacuated by 25 December, rejecting a request by the Israeli Government for it to be delayed. “Among the purposes of this legislation is to regularize the legal status of Amona,” said the Special Rapporteur.

Mr. Lynk noted with alarm that some senior Israeli cabinet ministers had not only supported the bill, but were openly calling for the annexation of large parts of the West Bank.

“The international community must be very clear with the Government of Israel,” he said.  “The annexation of occupied territory likewise would be a profound breach of international law. If Israel proceeds with either step, the international community must be prepared not only to condemn the action, but also to adopt appropriate measures to reverse these violations.”  

Mr. Lynk, whose mandate as a Special Rapporteur covers the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, stressed that all Israeli settlements and outposts in occupied land were illegal under international law.

“An occupying power is expressly prohibited from transferring its civilian population into an occupied territory. This violates the 4th Geneva Convention of 1949, and is contrary to numerous United Nations Security Council and General Assembly resolutions, as well as a major advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice in 2004,” he said.

Weak pound 'to push up price of electrical goods'

Washing machines and fridges will start to become more expensive next year thanks to the fall in the pound, online electrical retailer AO World has warned.

It said that it was facing "pricing pressure" because of the collapse in sterling since the Brexit vote  in June - as well as economic uncertainty.

AO is one of a number of companies counting the cost of the UK currency's slump - though some are also setting out how it benefits them.

John Roberts, AO's chief executive, said this week's Black Friday sales looked set to be "bigger than ever" ahead of prices going up at the start of next year.

AO reported a 23% rise in revenues to £325m for the six months to the end of September, with growth in the UK and Europe.

Pre-tax profit swung into the black at £2.3m, compared to an £8m loss last year.

Mr Roberts said prices for electrical appliances would rise after the 14% fall in the value of the pound against the US dollar since the EU referendum.

"We do know there are going to be price increases," he said.

"In a category like electricals, where the margins are as tight as they are, there is no way the significant changes in currency we have seen are not going to flow into the market."

Separately, bar and restaurant owner Mitchells and Butlers warned that weaker sterling would squeeze its profits.

The group, whose brands include All Bar One and O'Neills, said this was because it buys food and drink in foreign currency.

Pre-tax profits for the year to 24 September fell 25% to £94m as sales declined - though there have been signs of a turnaround in recent weeks.

Elsewhere, global catering giant Compass saw a boost from the fall in sterling - which makes income in foreign currencies more valuable in pound terms.

Pre-tax profits for the year to the end of September were up 14% to £1.3bn, with nearly half the rise attributed to the pound's decline.

Meanwhile, banknote printer De La Rue, which makes 80% of its revenues outside the UK, said it "would benefit from a sustained weakness of sterling".

It made the comments as it reported a 31% fall in pre-tax profits to £17.2m for the six months to 24 September, with the fall attributed to one-off costs.