Bomb 61 In Baghdad, 116 Hurt

At least 61 people have been killed in a bomb blast at a market in eastern Baghdad's volatile Sadr City slum, according to police.

It comes six days before US combat troops are due to withdraw from Iraqi towns and cities.

About 116 people were also wounded in the explosion in the mostly Shi'ite Muslim area in one of Iraq's worst attacks this year.

A witness said the explosion tore through a part of the Mraidi Market where birds are sold, setting stalls ablaze.

Bloodshed has dropped sharply across Iraq in the past year, but militants including Sunni Islamist al Qaeda continue to launch deadly car and suicide bombings aimed at undermining the government and reigniting sectarian conflict.

The market bombing comes just four days after the US military formally handed control to local forces of Sadr City, where US and Iraqi forces fought fierce battles against Shi'ite militiamen in the spring of 2008.

Three school students died in another bombing in Sadr City on Monday, one of a string of blasts that killed 27 people across Iraq that day.

On Saturday, at least 73 people died in suicide truck bombing outside a mosque in Kirkuk province.

High death tolls remain common despite the fall in overall violence.

Two female suicide bombers killed 60 people outside a Shi'ite shrine in the capital this April, just days before twin car bomb blasts killed 51 people in Sadr City.

Such attacks cast doubt on the ability of local security forces, rebuilt from the ground up after they were dissolved by US officials in 2003, to vanquish a stubborn insurgency on their own.

Sadr City is a bastion of support for fiery anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al Sadr and his Mehdi Army militia.

However, the Mehdi Army has frozen most activities in the past year and Iraqi government forces have retaken control of the area.

Analysts say attacks are likely to intensify ahead of a parliamentary election in January.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki has built his reputation on reducing the bloodshed, and has lauded the partial withdrawal of US troops.

Maliki, a member of Iraq's Shi'ite majority, has urged Iraqis not to lose heart if insurgents take advantage of the US military drawdown to step up attacks.

A US military spokesman has said only a small number of American troops will be left in Iraqi cities after the June 30 deadline for combat forces to leave urban areas, but that the exact number is still being worked on.

Govt Beats Tory Iraq Inquiry Motion

The Government has comfortably beaten a Tory motion to revise its proposals for the Iraq inquiry following a number of concessions.

Earlier, Gordon Brown's spokesman said the Prime Minister would be willing to give evidence to the inquiry in public.

Ahead of the Opposition Day debate, his spokesman said

Morocco Rejects Home Office Request

An extradition request for a martial arts expert suspected of having helped mastermind the £53m Securitas depot robbery in Kent has been rejected by Morocco, Sky sources say.

Cage fighter Lee Murray was arrested in Rabat in 2006 in connection with the raid.

The UK Home Office had applied for Mr Murray's extradition.

Fears For Depressed Missing Banker

A depressed Dutch financier who recently left his job at troubled banking group ABN Amro has gone missing along with two of his shotguns, police have said.

Officers are concerned for the welfare of high-flying banker Huibert Boumeester, who has not been seen since Monday, when he missed a business appointment.

'Violence Erupts At Tehran Protest'

Witnesses say protesters and riot police are clashing in the streets around Iran's parliament.

Three witnesses told The Associated Press hundreds of protesters have gathered in a square next to the parliament building in defiance of government orders to halt demonstrations demanding a new presidential election.

The police beat the protesters with batons, released tear gas and fired gunshots in the air, the witnesses said.

Some demonstrators reportedly fought police while others fled to another of the city's squares about one mile to the north.

Another witness told Reuters news agency police and protesters clashed in Baharestan Square but said there were no casualties.

However, a woman who said she witnessed the violence told CNN: "This is a massacre."

Amateur video posted on the internet purportedly shows the chaos on the streets amid the renewed violence.

Young men and women can be seen throwing rocks and pushing barricades, one blazing, in the street.

Others shout: "Death to the dictator!"

It is not possible to verify the video because of government reporting restrictions.

Iran has ordered journalists for international news agencies to stay in their offices, barring them from reporting on the streets.

But Twitter users, who claim to be in Tehran, are also saying police are beating people on the streets and shooting "people like animals".

"I see many ppl with broken arms/legs/heads - blood everywhere - pepper gas like war," persiankiwi writes in English.



"They were waiting for us - they all have guns and riot uniforms - it was like a mouse trap - ppl being shot like animals."

Sky News does not know who this user is but they have supplied information over the last week which appears to suggest they are messaging from inside Iran.

Twitter user persiankiwi also reported seeing seven or eight militia using batons to beat a woman on the ground.

"She had no defence nothing - sure that she is dead."

The user goes on to say people are fleeing into alleys where militia are waiting for them, writing: "From 2 sides they attack ppl in middle of alleys."

Search For Missing Swimmers Ends

The search operation for two sea swimmers who went missing in fierce tides off Weston-super-Mare has been officially called off.

The pair, named locally as Dave Ellams, a chef, and Lee Tompkins, a receptionist, are feared drowned after a huge search failed for find them.

Coastguards said "all chances of survival had passed".

King 'More Uncertain' Over Economy

Bank of England boss Mervyn King says he has "genuine concerns" about the course the UK economy is taking.

Speaking before the Treasury Select Committee, Mr King said he was "more uncertain now than ever" about how the economy would play.

He was speaking after a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said the UK economy was expected to constrict by 4.3% this year and then stagnate in 2010.

Mr King and fellow Bank policymakers agreed the worst of the falls were over and said the weak pound was helping bring Britain out of recession.

They added evidence so far was positive from its mammoth £125bn quantitative easing programme to boost money supply.

However, the picture was "very mixed" in spite of green shoots from sectors in the economy, according to Mr King.

He said: "I feel more uncertain now than ever, because it's not a pattern of a recession coming into recovery that we've seen since the 1930s."

Mr King warned that banks were still restricting credit to companies, hampering an recovery.

He added: "There are genuine concerns about how quickly the recovery will pick up - looking at the clear evidence, (firms) are finding it hard to access credit from the banking system.

"A combination of that and real uncertainty over the global economy makes it very difficult to be confident of a rapid recovery."

Dave The Cat Survives Arrow Attack

A tabby cat has made an amazing recovery after a thug shot him with a crossbow.

The 14in bolt entered Dave's neck and came out by his left elbow - missing his heart and lungs by millimetres.

A vet told them that the blunt tip of the bolt meant the cat's organs were pushed out of the way, rather than being cut.

Deal Agreed To Avoid F1 Breakaway

Eight leading Formula One teams have agreed not to launch a rival championship next year after reaching a deal with motor sport's governing body the FIA.

Ferrari, McLaren, BMW Sauber, Renault, Toyota, Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Brawn GP had threatened to set up a breakaway series.

But FIA president Max Mosley said there would be a unified Formula One series in 2010 following a meeting in Paris.

He also confirmed he would not stand for a fifth term, despite previously insisting he was not prepared to step down as part of any potential agreement.

The row between the FIA and the F1 Teams' Association (FOTA), representing the eight teams, had been over Mosley's proposed £40m voluntary budget cap for each of the constructors.

Mosley has now agreed to FOTA's insistence that the plans be scrapped.

Instead, a watered down deal over cost-cutting was reached by both sides for next season.

Mosley, 69, said: "There will be no split. We have agreed to a reduction of costs.

"There will be one F1 championship but the objective is to get back to the spending levels of the early '90s within two years."

He added: "I will not be up for re-election now we have peace."

Mosley said the deal still maintains the "financial viability" of teams which he had been targeting with the initial cap.

As part of the agreement, existing teams must help new outfits with their engines and chassis.

Following the talks, F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone commented he was "very happy common sense has prevailed".

The meeting of the FIA's World Motor Sport Council had taken place in the French capital while FOTA had been due to meet in Bologna on Thursday to discuss their plans for a breakaway.

Kids 'Growing Up In No-Work Homes'

Almost a quarter of children in London live in households where no one is working, official figures show.


The figure of 23% is well above the national average of 15%, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The North East, North West, West Midlands and Wales all have a disproportionate amount of children in the same situation, with a rate of 18%.

The report also shows regional differences in the types of family children live in, their health, education and sentencing for crime.

An ONS spokesman said: "Although there are differences between regions, the data suggest that the most significant influence on children's experiences growing up is likely to be income deprivation."

The report also found London topped the list of regions with the highest number of families headed by lone parents - 31% compared with 29% in the North East, 28% in both the North West and Wales, and just 19% in the South East.

Two-thirds of families with dependent children in Northern Ireland and the South East involved married couples, compared with fewer than 60% in the North East, North West, Yorkshire and the Humber and Wales.

The report also found child obesity rates were high in urban areas such as Hackney in east London (16%), Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester, and low in Brighton and Hove (6%), Wokingham, Stockport, Sheffield, Windsor and Kingston upon Thames.

A lower proportion of young people in urban areas achieved five A*-C GCSEs or equivalent, compared with their rural counterparts.

London bucked the trend, largely because its non-urban areas cover a very small minority of pupils.

But there was also a significant variation in levels of attainment between urban areas, with more than 65% of children attaining five A*-C grades in Gateshead, Trafford, Wakefield, Solihull and Belfast in 2006/07.

Fewer than 55% attained the same results in Sheffield, Barnsley and Bradford, Coventry, Derby, Nottingham and Leicester.

The report's unveiling coincided with the release of a study by the Centre for Cities which warned the Government had to do more to tackle the problem of long-term youth unemployment.

Union: Lloyds Cut 240 Bank Jobs

Lloyds Banking Group has announced plans to cut 242 jobs in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, the Unite union says.

Unite said it believed 182 of the posts were going to be lost from its operations in Jersey, with the rest of the staff affected in the Isle of Man and Guernsey.

Lloyds was not able to comment on the claims.

Rob MacGregor, Unite national officer said: "Despite the difficult economic conditions, these hard working employees battled to give this section of the business a very healthy pre-tax profit in 2008.

"Even after recent the spate of job loss announcements by Lloyds Banking Group, this news still comes as a bitter pill to swallow for our members.

"Unite will continue to negotiate with the bank and push them to recognise the dignity of their Jersey, Isle of Man and Guernsey employees to ensure that the job losses are avoided."

Unite said it was demanding no compulsory redundancies and has called on the bank to do its utmost to protect the jobs.

Italian PM: 'I Never Paid For Sex'

Italy's prime minister has told a gossip magazine he never paid for sex amid scandalous claims about women at his parties.

Silvio Berlusconi has been dogged by suspicions stemming from his purported fondness for young models and starlets.

The 72-year-old billionaire gave his first direct response to the claims in an interview with Chi magazine.

Boy's Runaway Car Miracle Escape

A young boy has walked away unhurt after being hit by a runaway car which hurled him through the air.

CCTV footage broadcast on Turkish television showed the vehicle flying off the street and hitting four-year-old Muhammet Dirlik, knocking him down a flight of steps.

The youngster can then be seen picking himself and walking away.