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Prince Harry Inspects Warships In Sydney

Written By Unknown on Sabtu, 05 Oktober 2013 | 12.27

Prince Harry has carried out an inspection of a fleet of Australian and international warships in Sydney Harbour.

Thousands of spectators lined the harbour shore as the Prince joined the Queen's representative in Australia, Governor-General Quentin Bryce, in touring the fleet.

He was greeted by a large crowd as he embarked on the survey ship HMAS Leeuwin at Sydney's Garden Island naval base.

Harry wore a white British Army tropical dress uniform with the sky blue beret of the Army Air Corps as he took the salute.

The Prince arrived in Sydney on Friday as the city prepared to celebrate the centenary of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). The trip is Harry's first official visit to Australia.

Prince Harry In Sydney The trip is Prince Harry's first official visit to Australia

Seven cruisers and destroyers sailed into the harbour accompanied by warships from 17 nations - including the United States and China - as part of the celebrations.

The event involves some 8,000 naval personnel and Royal Australian Air Force aircraft, and will finish with a firework display over Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Britain has sent one of its latest and most advanced ships, Type 45 destroyer HMS Daring, to represent the Royal Navy.

RAN spokesman Commodore Paul Kingshorne said the force was pleased Harry had come to mark the event.

"It is his first official visit here representing the Queen. The fact he is here on such a significant day for the navy and for Australia is fantastic for us," he said.

Harry is in Australia's largest city for just one day as part of a quick trip Down Under. He flies to the Perth, in Western Australia, on Sunday before leaving the country.


12.27 | 0 komentar | Read More

Help To Buy: Doubts Over Success Of Scheme

By Poppy Trowbridge, Business and Economics Correspondent

The second phase of the government mortgage guarantee scheme, Help to Buy, is due to launch next week, three months earlier than expected - but experts are sceptical the initiative will help buyers.

Lack of capacity in the housing market and claims by banks which say they are not ready because they haven't received essential information from the Government - threaten to leave many would-be buyers empty handed.

Exclusive research by Sky News shows interest from potential buyers has sky rocketed since the Government surprised the market.

Property website Rightmove says clicks on its Help to Buy pages numbered 14,807 on Saturday, the day before last Sunday's surprise announcement.

When David Cameron revealed, on the eve of the Conservative party conference, that the launch date had been brought forward from January - clicks, measuring potential buyer interest, spiked to 59,571.

Now, almost a week later, they remain far above average at 23,660.

But there is concern that pent-up demand, cannot be met by existing market services.

Sky News has learned that the two taxpayer backed banks, Lloyds Banking Group and RBS, are not able to guarantee a launch date. Sky News understands both are waiting for further details from the Government.

Barclays has issued a statement saying it too is undecided.

"Whilst we cannot take a decision over participation in the new scheme before the terms are set, we are encouraged by the tone of the discussions so far," the bank said.

Estate agents are also worried that capacity to deal with a surge in interest is lacking.

Robert Ellice, of Clarke Hillyer, told Sky News: "At the moment we've got big delays in the whole process anyway, mortgages are still taking a long time to be offered, and taking a long time to be verified on values."

Does that mean hopeful homebuyers will have to wait for Westminster to work out the finer details before others can catch up?

Mortgage manager Ray Boulger said: "The first details of mortgage rates under this scheme we are expecting on Tuesday from Halifax, but they are likely to be the only lender offering these mortgages for probably some weeks.

"From a buyer's perspective the good news is there will be 95% mortgages available from the biggest lender in the country, the bad news is there will be no competition."

He added: "But it is a start, you have got to start somewhere."


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Norman Brennan: Fraudster Free Despite Tip-Offs

Written By Unknown on Jumat, 04 Oktober 2013 | 12.27

By Martin Brunt, Crime Correspondent

Neighbours of a fraudster on the run in Spain say they told British law enforcers where he was many times, but were ignored.

They claim nothing has been done to try to extradite fugitive Norman Brennan, 70, after he moved into their community.

Brennan, a retired joiner from Merseyside, jumped bail after admitting £120,000 of benefit fraud and fled to Mijas on the Costa del Sol.

He has lived there at the same address ever since.

Ex-pats say they alerted the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) , Merseyside Police, Crimestoppers and local Spanish police.

The Serious and Organised Crime Agency knew of his whereabouts two years ago, but says it was never asked to look for him.

Sefton Council, which prosecuted him, would not say when its investigators learned of his new address, but described the case as "very in depth and complex".

It is believed Brennan receives his old age pension in Spain and, astonishingly, even gets mail from the DWP in London.

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, who is leading a clampdown on benefit cheats, ordered an investigation after we confronted him with the case.

Benefits Cheat Norman Brennan Brennan drinks at a bar near his home

"I'm astonished. We will check this case and I can promise you that if they haven't done enough, they will now do their level best to get this man back," he said.

"If he's a fraudster, then we are already spending millions and we are returning billions to the exchequer by getting rid of fraud from the system. Billions more than ever before, but this sort of case is outrageous and I'll deal with it."

A neighbour of Brennan's, who did not want to be identified, said: "Some of us have called hotlines, emailed and even filled in online report forms to try to get action against this man, but nothing has been done.

"It's ludicrous that he has been allowed to stay here when he he wanted in the UK."

Brennan admitted seven charges at Liverpool Crown Court in 2008 and jumped bail before his sentence.

He admitted using the name of his brother Leslie to claim £120,000 in housing and council tax benefit, Jobseeker's Allowance and pension credits.

When he arrived in Spain he and his wife bought two adjoining properties on a complex beside a golf course.

He now appears to live alone except for his old dog Ben with whom he wanders a local park and spends evenings drinking in a nearby bar.

When we confronted Brennan near his Spanish home he refused to discuss his life on the run.

Crimestoppers said it had passed on calls about Brennan to police and the DWP.

Merseyside police said it had been working with other agencies to find and arrest Brennan since 2008.

After we put questions to the various UK authorities they have begun an attempt to extradite Brennan.


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China: Couple Speaks Of 'Forced Abortion'

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent

A couple have told Sky News how they were physically forced into an abortion by the Chinese authorities, three months before their child was due to be born.

At 4am last Friday, a group of 20 officials from the Shandong Province Family Planning Commission forced their way into the home of Zhou Guoqiang and his wife Liu Xinwen.

The officials kicked down the door of the family's home. Mr Zhou was held down while his wife was pulled from her bed and taken away.

Lui Xinwen, 33, was taken to the People's Hospital of Fangzi District in Weifang City where she was injected with an abortion-inducing drug.

Liu Xinwen Liu Xinwen says she was forcibly removed from her bed

Her baby, which she would later discover was a boy, died a day later in her womb. It took a further day for the foetus to be delivered.

Her husband was not told where she had been taken. It took him five hours to find her at the hospital. By then, the injection had been given.

Sky News met the couple six days later. Mr Zhou had invited us to the family's modest home in a rural corner of the province to hear their story.

We found his wife lying in the bed she had been taken from a week earlier. She was sobbing quietly.

"I miss him." she said.

China Abortion Couple An image of Liu Xinwen in hospital

"I didn't get to see him. I would be even more upset if I had seen him.

"Baby, I'm sorry. We were not meant to be. You rest in peace in heaven. We will pray for you. We hope your next life is better."  

Her heartbreak is the most brutal consequence of China's one-child policy.

The law is designed to keep the country's population in check. It prevents couples from having more than one child with a few exceptions in some rural provinces.

The policy is supposed to be enforced through financial penalties and not forced abortions. But in some provinces, over-zealous local officials, keen to keep within their birth quotas, break the law and terminate pregnancies by force.

"They don't have any humanity. They are not humans." Liu Xinwen said.

"They must have children and parents too. But they don't have any conscience. This is how China is."

Mr Zhou told how the officials held him down on the sofa while others took his wife away. In all, there were 16 male officials and four females.

We then sit down to look at photos he had taken in the hospital room. They are almost indescribably graphic.

One photograph shows Liu Xinwen lying on the bed. Beside her, on the floor, is a bucket. Inside is her aborted child.

Several other images show the foetus. It is fully formed.

China Abortion Family Mr Zhou broke down after discussing the abortion

"His nose, ears, mouth are all there." Mr Zhou said.

"It is a child that would have lived if not for the forced abortion. It's because of their cruelty. Look, his hand is very obvious."

Mr Zhou broke down as he recalled the moment he arrived in the hospital, just minutes after the injection had been administered.

"My wife was lying in bed. I asked her: 'Have you been injected?' She said 'yes'. I asked if the baby was still moving. She said 'not much'.

"After that, I didn't want my wife to see my crying. I went outside. I cried, but only for a while because I needed to return to comfort her. She was very sad. She cried, day and night.

"Every time I heard babies' voices from other wards, I could hardly control myself. I had to go out. I have lost my child. I am speechless, words can't describe my feelings."

China Abortion Couple A footprint on the front door of the couple's home

He claimed that his wife was forced to sign papers which said she had agreed to the abortion.

When she initially refused, he said they told her that if she did not sign the papers, they would arrest her husband and she would have nothing. We have not been able to independently verify this.

The couple already have one son. Zhou Junfeng is 10. As we talk to his parents, he runs around the house playing. He is oblivious to the grief around him.

After Zhou Junfeng was born his mother underwent a state-proscribed procedure to insert a contraceptive coil into her body.

She says that this "forced sterilisation" must have failed, allowing her to fall pregnant for a second time.

The couple had the option to tell the authorities about the pregnancy the moment they discovered it, four months after conception.

They decided not to come clean because they were concerned that an abortion may be forced on them.

China Abortion Family Mr Zhou and his son cook together

Instead, they said they planned to tell the authorities after the birth and then offer to pay the fine. This is common in parts of China and is sometimes acceptable.

Mr Zhou offered to take us to the hospital to see the room where the abortion happened.

Inside the hospital, we saw the room which is part of a fully functioning maternity ward; it is not a backstreet abortion clinic.

We found just two members of staff. One refused to comment. The other, a young nurse, was reluctant and a little startled to find a foreign TV crew in her hospital. 

"I don't know if it's forced or not. And I don't know the reason for it." she said.

"This is a maternity ward; there are many reasons for abortions. I don't know the specific reason for this case and it's not my place to care."

Sky News has approached the Shandong Health and Family Planning Commission, the central government Family Planning Commission in Beijing and the Chinese Embassy in London for a response to this case.

To date, none has been forthcoming.


12.27 | 0 komentar | Read More

Fifa Meets To Debate World Cup Date Switch

Written By Unknown on Kamis, 03 Oktober 2013 | 12.27

Heat On Fifa Over World Cup Switch

Updated: 3:03am UK, Thursday 03 October 2013

By Paul Kelso, Sports Correspondent

Of all the questions raised by Qatar's World Cup, the one most in need of an answer is the least likely to be addressed when Fifa's executive committee convenes in Zurich this week.

According to the short note in the agenda under the heading "sports politics", discussion will be limited to the timing of Qatar 2022.

If Fifa President Sepp Blatter gets his way, the committee will agree in principle to move the tournament away from its traditional - but in Qatar potentially dangerous - date of June and July, to a more temperate slot in the autumn or winter.

There will then follow a period of consultation in which all the stakeholders affected are talked round or persuaded through compromises that could yet involve financial compensation.

There will be much debate about when the tournament should take place, with everyone from the Premier League to the NFL canvassed and conciliated.

That is Blatter's plan, although he will face resistance from Michel Platini.

The Uefa president is proving just as elusive in a blazer as he was as player.

Having voted for Qatar and then been the first to call for a move to winter, he is now in favour of deferring a decision.

Whatever the outcome, expect far more to be said about when the World Cup should take place, rather than whether it should be held in Qatar at all.

From the moment the tiny Gulf state was chosen, it was as clear as the Zurich mountain air that it would be problematic at best and a catastrophic folly at worst.

It should not have needed experts to explain that playing the world's greatest football tournament in the desert in summer was lunacy, but Fifa commissioned some anyway.

They concluded it was a major challenge and ranked Qatar fourth out of five bidders.

That did not stop 14 of the wise men on the executive committee from voting Doha.

Several of them have since been stripped of their Fifa blazers, ejected for corruption or resigned before they could be pushed.

Those that remain, and their successors, will attempt to prevent the entire deal unravelling.

We can speculate as to why Blatter lacks the stomach to do the obvious and re-run the 2022 race with Qatar transparently bidding for a winter tournament. But it is clear that is not his immediate priority.

Self-preserving instincts to the fore, he is hoping to engineer a grand compromise that keeps legal challenges at bay and allows him to run for a fifth term as president in 2015, something he once promised he would not do.

Europe's professional leagues will complain long and loud but as long as Fifa retains the backing of a rump of national associations, they will have little choice but to follow suit.

A November tournament that avoids a clash with the Winter Olympics remains the likeliest outcome, should Blatter play his hand right.

But there is one joker left in the pack - Michael Garcia, attorney-at-law and independent ethics investigator of Fifa's myriad alleged sins.

After nine months at bay, next week he embarks on a world tour of 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidders, pledging, I am told, to "make waves".

If he turns up something new, or makes any of the many alleged abuses of bidding rules stick, Qatar's World Cup may not happen at all.


12.27 | 0 komentar | Read More

Michael Jackson: Family Lose AEG Court Case

'Brutal Truths' In Jackson Trial

Updated: 11:55pm UK, Wednesday 02 October 2013

By Greg Milam, US Correspondent

The behind-the-scenes world of "King of Pop" Michael Jackson was laid bare during five months of evidence and "ugly" testimony in the civil trial between his family and final concert promoter.

The star's son Prince, ex-wife Debbie Rowe and mother Katherine took the stand during a brutal examination of his life and death.

Jackson's constant physical pain, his insecurities and struggles to perform, his use of prescription drugs and his relationship with his children were all picked over in forensic detail.

Jackson's family launched the wrongful death suit against AEG Live, alleging they were negligent in hiring and supervising Dr Conrad Murray.

The physician was convicted of involuntary manslaughter over the death of Jackson at his Los Angeles home in June 2009. He died from an overdose of the surgical anaesthetic Propofol.

Jackson had been due to start a series of 50 comeback concerts in London.

AEG Live maintained it never hired Dr Murray - and that Jackson himself chose and employed the doctor.

In court, one AEG executive described the Jacksons' claim as "nothing more than a shakedown".

Lawyers for the Jacksons claimed the promoter had put profit ahead of the star's health. They produced emails which they said showed AEG believed it did employ Dr Murray.

They showed the jury a clip of a Sky News interview with AEG chief Randy Phillips, conducted in the days immediately after Jackson's death, in which he said "so we hired him(Murray)".

In one email read to court, an AEG employee referred to Jackson as a "freak".

Jackson's 16-year-old son Prince told the jury about seeing his father as he lay dying in his bedroom. He said Murray told him: "Sorry kids, dad's dead."

Prince said his father had tried to give his children as humble an upbringing as possible. He also said his father predicted the comeback tour was "going to kill" him.

Debbie Rowe gave her first ever public insight into the couple's marriage, including Jackson's joy at having children.

But she also revealed much about the star's history of using drugs to control pain.

But AEG said it would never have financed the "This Is It" comeback if it knew Jackson was using Propofol, "playing Russian roulette in his bedroom every night".

It told the jury it should not be held responsible for what Jackson did in private, in his own bedroom at night.

At times the trial descended into open hostility between the two sides. The judge was forced to warn the lawyers about their behaviour after a shouting match in the court corridors.

At the heart of the trial - which has racked up legal fees running into the millions - was the question of how much Jackson's legacy is truly worth.

And one friend of Jackson, who cared for his children during recording sessions, told Sky News it was wrong for the family to put the children through the court ordeal.

Melissa Vardey said: "He didn't want his children to have that pressure. He just wanted them to grow up as natural kids.

"I loved Michael Jackson, I love his children and I want people to know that he was a completely authentically beautiful parent."

Dr Murray refused to give evidence at the trial.

He is still appealing his conviction although he is due to be released from prison later this month.


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PTSD Fears Over Plan For More Army Reservists

Written By Unknown on Rabu, 02 Oktober 2013 | 12.27

By Alistair Bunkall, Defence Correspondent

Ministers' plans to replace tens of thousands of full time soldiers with reservists risks creating a new wave of veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, campaigners have warned.

In an interview with Sky News, Andrew Cameron, chief executive of Combat Stress, said members of the Territorial Army (TA) who serve on the front line are at far greater risk of developing the condition than ordinary troops.

Last year, as part of cost-cutting measures, the Government announced plans to double the size of the TA from 15,000 soldiers to 30,000, while reducing the number of regular servicemen by 20,000.

But reservists returning home from conflicts do not have the same level of support afforded to full time soldiers, Mr Cameron warned.

"The preponderance of post-traumatic stress disorder amongst veterans who are reservists is 50% higher than it is for regular servicemen," he said.

"The reason for that is they don't get the level of support from their regiment, their ship or their squadron that they might have done if they were a regular.

"If we double or treble the number and if we continue with high-intensity warfare then I think society has got a big challenge because we will see a lot more reservists who need help."

Combat Stress said that since 2009, it had seen a large rise in the number of veterans seeking help after returning from Afghanistan.

Andrew Cameron chief executive of Combat Stress Combat Stress CEO Andrew Cameron says reservists do not have the support

In 2008/9, the charity were approached by 56 Afghan veterans. This had risen to 271 in the last year, a fivefold increase.

Mr Cameron, whose intervention comes just days after Defence Secretary Philip Hammond was heckled at the Conservative party conference by veterans over cuts, said he expected veterans to need help for another decade.

He said: "I'm planning for services at or above the level we are providing for at least the next five years and I don't expect to see a tail-off in very much less than 10."

Soldiers' families, friends, colleagues and employers need to be more aware of what they have gone through, he added.

Jake Wood, 40, an investment bank analyst, was a Lance Sergeant in the TA in Afghanistan from April to October 2007.

He told Sky News he suffers from what he calls "Survivor Guilt" and "Killer Guilt", leading to nightmares and sleepless nights, after discovering a member of the Taliban had died in a firefight he had been involved in.

He said: "I didn't feel anything at the time. I couldn't. I was immersed in the normality of Afghanistan.

"But it's when you come home and you're re-immersed in the different normality of home, the cosiness of home life, that you can remember things differently.

"And I just remember playing my part in killing an extremely terrified, dying man."

Mr Wood said he also struggled to recover from a Taliban attack in which his commanding officer was blown up. Returning to work, he said, was a very difficult experience.

"On a moral level it didn't fill me with glee going back to that environment," he said.

"As a soldier on the ground, you look after the guy next to you and he looks after you. It's a cliché but it's a cliché for a reason because it's what happens.

"It's a completely unselfish, black and white existence.

"Then when you're suddenly re-immersed in an investment bank after just a few weeks leave, there can be this profound sense of sudden isolation, and also alienation as well, where you're just completely and utterly alone.

"It's basically a hangover from the past, which in my experience does not go away. And now I'm not expecting it to either. This isn't defeatism.

"I've had years of intensive treatment and I've no doubt it has helped me, and the reason I know it has helped me is that I haven't killed myself."

A recent study of thousands of servicemen and women in Iraq and Afghanistan by King's College London found 6% of reservists suffered from PTSD compared with 3% in a control group.

When studied again five years later, they were still found to have greater levels of PTSD and marital instability than regular soldiers.

The Ministry of Defence is set to release new figures detailing the number of servicemen suffering from mental health conditions on Thursday.


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Cameron: 'We'll Boost Aspiration With Reforms'

By Jon Craig, Chief Political Correspondent

David Cameron will round off the autumn party conference season with a pledge to create a "land of opportunity" in Britain.

The Prime Minister will vow that the Conservatives will "finish the job" the coalition has started in "clearing up the mess" created by Labour.

In his speech at the end of the Tory conference in Manchester, he will promise to boost aspiration with sweeping reforms of education, welfare and the economy.

After major announcements this week on Help-to-Buy, welfare, GPs' hours and a petrol price freeze, Mr Cameron will call for a second term with a Tory majority.

"This party at its heart is about big people, strong communities, responsible businesses, a bigger society - not a bigger state," he will say.

011013 SUNRISE DAVID CAMERON SHORT INTERVIEW PIC Mr Cameron at the conference in Manchester

"It's how we've been clearing up the mess. And it's how we're going to build something better in its place. So let's stick with it and finish the job we've started."

Mr Cameron will begin his speech by declaring: "Our dreams are about helping people get on in life, aspiration, opportunity. These are our words, our dreams.

"I believe it is the great Conservative mission that as our economy starts to recover we build a land of opportunity in our country today."

But he will say finishing the job is about more than clearing up the mess, adding: "It means building something better in its place.

"In place of the casino economy, one where people who work hard can actually get on.

Conservative Party Conference

"In place of the welfare society, one where no individual is written off.

"In place of the broken education system, one that gives every child the chance to rise up and succeed.

"Our economy, our society, welfare, schools, all reformed, all rebuilt - with one aim, one mission in mind: to make this country, at long last and for the first time ever, a land of opportunity for all."

Mr Cameron will say it makes no difference whether you live in the North or the South, are black or white or a man or a woman, what school you went to, what background you have or who your parents were.

"What matters is the effort you put in, and if you put the effort in you'll have the chance to make it," he will say. "That's what the land of opportunity means. That's what finishing the job means."

On aspiration, Mr Cameron will say: "You don't help children succeed by dumbing down education. You help them by pushing them hard.

"Good education is not about equality of outcomes but bringing the best out of every single child.

Conservative Party Annual Conference Boris Johnson London Mayor Boris Johnson giving his speech at the conference

"You don't help people by leaving them stuck on welfare, but by helping them stand on their own two feet.

"Why? Because the best way out of poverty is work - and the dignity that brings."

In a strongly pro-business message, Mr Cameron will say: "We know that profit, wealth creation, tax cuts, enterprise - these are not dirty, elitist words, they're not the problem.

"They really are the solution because it's not government that creates jobs, it's businesses.

"It's businesses that get wages in people's pockets, food on their tables, hope for their families and success for our country."

Mr Cameron will say there is no short cut to a land of opportunity, no quick fix and no easy way to do it.

"You build it business by business, school by school, person by person, patiently, practically, painstakingly," he will say. "And under-pinning it all is that deep, instinctive belief that if you trust people and give them the tools, they will succeed."

And in a rallying call to his party to fight for an outright Tory victory in 2015, he will say: "It requires a strong government, with a clear mandate, that is accountable for what it promises and yes, what it delivers.

"And let me tell everyone here what that means. When the election comes, we won't be campaigning for a coalition.

"We will be fighting heart and soul for a majority Conservative Government - because that is what our country needs."

:: Watch David Cameron's speech live on Sky News from 11am.


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Extended GP Opening Hours Pilot Unveiled

Written By Unknown on Selasa, 01 Oktober 2013 | 12.27

A £50m trial to encourage longer GP surgery opening hours has been unveiled by the Prime Minister in an attempt to cut the pressure on overstretched A&E departments.

Up to half a million patients are expected to be covered by the pilot project in areas across England which could see surgeries open from 8am to 8pm seven days a week.

Almost one in five patients in a recent NHS survey said inconvenient appointments were a concern, with more than 70% backing weekend and after office opening hours.

The scheme, which is being unveiled at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, will offer extra cash to groups of GPs proposing the most effective ways to improve patient access.

Jeremy Hunt Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt will outline the plans at the Tory conference

As well as extended surgery hours, ministers hope they will pioneer more effective use of technology, such as consultations with patients via video calls, email and by telephone.

Electronic prescriptions, online appointment booking and allowing people to visit a number of different surgeries across an area are among other measures which could be introduced.

David Cameron said: "Millions of people find it hard to get an appointment to see their GP at a time that fits in with their work and family life.

"We want to support GPs to modernise their services so they can see patients from 8am to 8pm, seven days a week.

"We also want greater flexibility, so people can speak to their family doctor on the phone, send them an email or even speak to them on Skype."

Watch David Cameron live on Sky News from 7.30am

The first pilot projects are due to be operating by April 2014.

Similar initiatives are already being trialled in some parts of the country, including parts of Manchester, where some surgeries will move to seven-day opening.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who will talk about the initiative in his speech to the conference, said: "We live in a 24/7 society and we need GPs to find new ways of working so they can offer appointments at times that suit hard-working people.

"Cutting-edge GP practices here in Manchester are leading the way, and we want many more patients across the country to benefit."

Professor Steve Field, Chief Inspector for General Practice, said: "This move towards seven day services is great news for patients and should be embraced by GPs.

"I want to see brilliant access to GP services for patients across the country and will be assessing this in each practice I inspect."

However, shadow health secretary Andy Burnham accused Mr Cameron and his Conservative party of "taking the NHS backwards".

"This announcement is a major admission of failure and a U-turn of fairly epic proportions," he said.

"Patients are also finding it harder to get appointments, and turning to A&E instead, after he removed Labour's guarantee of an appointment within 48 hours."

:: David Cameron will be speaking live to Sky News this morning at 7.30am on the issue of GP surgery hours.


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US Shutdown: Deadline Passes Without Approval

US Government Shutdown Q&A

Updated: 5:51am UK, Tuesday 01 October 2013

:: Why is this happening now?

Normally the US federal budget is decided in March. Although it is proposed by the executive, headed by the president, it has to be put into law by the legislative branches of government – the House of Representatives and the Senate.

One element of the 2013/14 budget has upset the Republican Party more than any other.

Obamacare, as it has been called, is a healthcare plan that aims to provide greater access to affordable health insurance for poorer sections of society.

Several Republicans oppose it as it increases state spending and, they feel, interferes in what should be private matters.

In March, because the Republican majority House of Representatives and Democrat dominated Senate could not agree on a 2013/14 budget bill, a compromise was reached that kept the federal budget funded for a further six months while negotiations continued.

That six months was up on Monday at midnight. With no compromise reached and no bill approved to fund state spending, no money will be available to pay for non-essential services.

:: Why should the Republican Party do this?

American politics has become more partisan in recent years than at any time in recent history.

The 'Tea Party', a particularly right-wing, libertarian element of the Republican Party, has been increasingly determined to impose itself on the operation of the state.

Among its key aims are the reduction of the impact that government has on the life of an individual, and the reduction of government spending.

As well as believing federal government spending should be slashed in general, they believe Obamacare is in opposition to everything they stand for.

As a result, many Republicans who are allied to the Tea Party are so determined to stop Obamacare, they are prepared to effectively hold a gun to the head of government by refusing to back a federal funding bill that funds Obama's health care plans.

They want it thrown out or heavily watered down and this is their way of fighting for what they want.

:: Could this happen in the UK?

It is one of the particular characteristics of the US federal government system that the executive (i.e. the president and his cabinet), can be made up of people of a different political hue to the main chamber – the House of Representatives.

In the UK, the head of Government (i.e. the Prime Minister), only normally comes from the largest party, or grouping, in the main chamber (i.e. the House of Commons).

As a result, it would be rare for a Prime Minister in Britain to be opposed by the main chamber.

In America, the system of checks and balances that was put in place following the American Revolution means that a US president does not need the support of Congress.

This stops the President becoming too powerful, but can also mean that the head of state finds it impossible to push through legislation, as is happening at present.

:: What will happen next?

After the failure to reach a compromise, more than 800,000 federal government employees will be told not to come to work until a deal has been done.

Certain 'essential' government services, such as national defence, will still be provided but many of those deemed unessential will not.

With no funding approved, the federal government is also not allowed to borrow extra money.

As a result, in about two weeks it will effectively reach its credit limit and will be unable to pay interest on the debts it owes.

Many economists believe this could be disastrous for the US as world markets will lose confidence in its ability to pay its bills, with many investors potentially pulling out.

The consequences of that are hard to gauge but some fear it could trigger another world downturn.


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