Masked raiders have made off with a £500,000 haul of luxury watches in a "brazen robbery" in front of stunned city centre shoppers.

The robbers struck at Selfridges in Manchester while the store was open and busy.

They walked into the premises in Exchange Square wearing high visibility jackets and trousers shortly after 7.20pm on Wednesday.

Police said the trio then smashed display cabinets with an axe and crowbars and stole 100 watches.

They escaped in a black Mercedes Benz driven by a fourth offender. The car was found abandoned in Robert Street, Strangeways, a short time later.

Watches including Audemars Piguet, Jaeger Lecoultre, Hublot and Cartier were stolen.

Detective Constable Adam Cronshaw said: "This was a brazen robbery while the store was open and busy with members of the public. It was clearly well planned and executed. These men were in and out in less than 80 seconds and were very particular about the watches they selected.

Published: 20 September 2012

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The Government is reportedly considering linking hikes in benefit payments to average pay rather than inflation.

The automatic uprating could be axed and welfare payments frozen for two years, with any increases then linked to average pay, according to BBC Newsnight.

A Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) spokeswoman said any changes to how benefits hikes are calculated will be looked at by the Government later this year.

The claims come as Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith insisted shifting to monthly benefit payments would help the poorest as he dismissed claims the move will push low-income families into debt.

He told MPs the new Universal Credit had been designed for the majority but would also help longer-term claimants by weaning them off fortnightly payments before they return to work.

The Tory minister also defended moves to encourage claimants who have limited internet skills to apply online, arguing it would be a "very good opportunity to get these people back into the 21st century".

MPs on the Work and Pensions committee were also told that waiters, hairdressers and any other worker that receives tips will have to declare them if they claim the new benefit. "Tips are counted as income," welfare reform minister Lord Freud said.

Under the Universal Credit there will be one single monthly benefit payment - rather than weekly or fortnightly as at present - and social tenants will have to pay landlords themselves.

Published: 18 September 2012

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Vince Cable has dismissed criticism over text messages he exchanged with opposition leader Ed Miliband.

Former Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell warned the Business Secretary that such communication could undermine the coalition by aggravating already disgruntled Tory backbenchers.

But Mr Cable told ITV1's Daybreak: "In politics you have to have a reasonably adult way of dealing with people. I very, very occasionally talk to Ed Miliband and sometimes his people, and indeed people across the spectrum."

When asked if he was annoyed that the Labour leader had made their communication public, he replied: "It doesn't matter. There's nothing to be embarrassed about for him or for me. I talk to people across the political spectrum.

"I think that is what politics involves, being grown up, not being tribal. I don't feel remotely embarrassed about it."

In an interview with The House magazine, Sir Menzies said: "The success of this coalition depends upon everyone who participates in it being a full subscriber, and I don't think, we were using the expression pick and mix a little while ago, I don't think it helps a partnership to suggest that you may already be looking for another partner.

"If you were a Tory backbencher hearing of these things, especially one who's disaffected, who wishes there was an unrestricted Tory government, what would you make of it? Would you be encouraged to be yet more loyal to the front bench or would you say well, that's a kind of, maybe, not a green light but an amber light. Proceed with caution. An amber light to people like myself to say well, if so and so looks as if he's talking to the other lot why are we are bothering with this lot?"

Mr Cable's aides dismissed the criticism of the text exchanges between the Business Secretary and the Labour leader.

Published: 14 September 2012

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Former deputy prime minister Lord Prescott is hitting the road to launch his bid to become the country's highest profile police and crime commissioner.

He will unveil his election minibus which he will use to tour Humberside ahead of the November elections.

It has been designed as a "mobile consultation surgery" where people can speak to the Labour candidate about policing and crime issues.

He wants to focus on police cuts and is pledging to protect frontline posts.

He said he wanted a "Plan B" as an alternative to losing police officer numbers in Humberside and asked the public's help in drafting his manifesto.

"If elected, I'll make sure the public are heard and protected from these frontline cuts," he said.

Published: 13 September 2012

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Prime Minister David Cameron apologised Wednesday to the families of the 96 victims of the 1989 Hillsborough football stadium disaster for the "double injustice" they suffered.

Speaking after the release of thousands of documents, he told parliament the Liverpool supporters had suffered first from official failings that led to the deaths and then from police attempts to blame the victims of the crush.

"On behalf of the government -- and indeed our country -- I am profoundly sorry for this double injustice that has been left uncorrected for so long," a sombre Cameron said in a statement to lawmakers.

He was speaking after the Hillsborough Independent Panel, a seven-member body led by the Bishop of Liverpool, published a report into Britain's worst sporting disaster following a review of previously unseen files.

The disaster was caused by massive overcrowding in the Leppings Lane End of Sheffield's Hillsborough stadium at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.

To ease overcrowding outside the Leppings Lane End, police opened an exit gate, allowing supporters to flood into the central pens. Fenced in, fans were crushed to death.

Lawmakers gasped as Cameron said the panel found that police repeatedly tried to cover-up evidence of their own failings following the disaster in a bid to make it look as if fans were at fault, Cameron said.

Police "significantly amended" 164 statements, including the removal of 116 negative comments about the leadership of the police, he said.

He said there were also failings by the ambulance service, including that it may have been possible to revive some of the victims had they received treatment earlier.

"With the weight of the new evidence in this report, it is right for me today as prime minister to make a proper apology to the families of the 96 for all they have suffered over the past 23 years," Cameron said.

"Indeed, the new evidence that we are presented with today makes clear that these families have suffered a double injustice.

"The injustice of the appalling events -- the failure of the state to protect their loved ones and the indefensible wait to get to the truth.

"And the injustice of the denigration of the deceased -- that they were somehow at fault for their own deaths."

Cameron said the attorney general would now review the "deeply distressing" report to decide whether to apply to the high court to quash an original, flawed inquest into the tragedy.

The city of Liverpool will hold a two-minute silence from 3:06 pm (1406 GMT) -- the time the match was called off -- as a mark of respect to the victims, ahead of a candle-lit vigil.

Cameron said the victims' families had long believed that some of the authorities attempted to create a "completely unjust account of events that sought to blame the fans for what happened.

"The families were right."

Published: 12 September 2012

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A new era for mobile phone use has begun as the UK's largest network operator unveiled plans to launch the country's first superfast 4G products and services in time for Christmas.

Orange and T-Mobile owner Everything Everywhere, which has been renamed as EE, will make the state-of-the-art technology available to some 20 million people in 16 cities across the UK.

Unveiled at the Science Museum in London, the 4G network, which offers speeds up to five times faster than 3G, will be available on HTC, Samsung, Nokia and Huawei devices, as well as "one more to come", which is widely expected to be Apple's iPhone 5.

The announcement is likely to enrage EE's competitors, including Vodafone, 3 and O2, who have threatened legal action over telecoms regulator Ofcom's decision last month to allow EE to launch 4G on its existing network.

The 4G services will allow uninterrupted access to the web on the go, high definition movies to be downloaded in minutes and TV to be streamed without buffering.

Four cities - London, Bristol, Cardiff and Birmingham - are being switched on initially for the company's engineers to begin live testing and systems integration in readiness for the customer launch.

EE gave no specific date but said 4G will be available to its customers by Christmas in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Derby, Glasgow, Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield and Southampton.

The group plans to roll out the service to further towns, cities and rural areas next year, with population coverage of 70% and rising to 98% in 2014.

Published: 11 September 2012

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The rampant growth at Burberry showed signs of wavering as the luxury fashion house warned its profits would be at the bottom end of expectations.

The group, which has 196 retail stores, 207 concessions, 48 outlet shops and 58 franchise stores worldwide, said like-for-like sales ground to a halt in the 10 weeks to September 8 and have started to fall over recent weeks. Total sales including new space were up 6%.

The luxury goods firm, famous for its red, black and camel check, warned adjusted pre-tax profits for the year to March 31 will be around the lower end of market expectations.

Burberry, which was founded in 1856, spent much of the year bucking the gloomy trend in the wider retail sector due to its exposure to robust emerging markets, especially China.

Burberry chief executive Angela Ahrendts warned the external environment was "becoming more challenging". She added: "Given this background, we are tightly managing discretionary costs and taking appropriate actions to protect short-term profitability."

The flat like-for-like sales in the second quarter so far are a sharp slowdown from the 6% hike reported for the first quarter to June 30.

Burberry reported a 24% surge in annual profits to £366 million in its last financial year, while total revenues were also up 24% to £1.9 billion as key Asian markets showed more strong growth and flagship stores in London and Paris performed well.

Burberry previously announced plans to add a further 12% to 14% of selling space in this financial year but did not give details of store openings in its update.

Published: 11 September 2012

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Dozens of bouquets of flowers, posters and cards were left at the gates of Kensington Palace on Friday as Princess Diana was remembered on the 15th anniversary of her death.

Tourists, well-wishers and passers-by took photos and read the tributes at the royal residence in the British capital, Diana's official home from 1981 until her death, just as they had done in far larger numbers 15 years before.

Diana died aged 36 in a car crash in a Paris road tunnel on August 31, 1997 alongside her companion Dodi Fayed, triggering an outpouring of grief from much of the British public.

Within hours, a carpet of flowers had begun to spread out in front of the palace and many Britons threw off their reserve and mourned openly.

In one of the defining moments of his time in office, then prime minister Tony Blair described her as the "people's princess", striking a chord with the grieving nation.

Fifteen years on from that day Maria Scott, 41, who travelled from Newcastle in northeast England to visit the temporary memorial, said she had made the journey every year since Diana's death.

"Diana should be remembered because she's the mother of our future king and she should never be forgotten," Scott said.

"To the country I would say this tribute means a lot and I would like to think William and Harry would like this as well, that we are remembering their mother and all of her humanitarian work as well.

"She wasn't afraid to go the extra mile for anybody."

Published: 09 September 2012

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Thousands of official documents relating to the Hillsborough disaster will be published for the first time this week.

The papers, some of which had been covered by the 30-year rule, come from the files of 80 organisations including the Government, South Yorkshire Police, Sheffield City Council, the South Yorkshire coroner and the fire and ambulance services.

The families of the 96 football fans who died in Britain's deadliest sporting disaster will have the first access to more than 400,000 pages on Wednesday morning. Later that day a statement is expected to be made to MPs in the House of Commons.

A report explaining the contents of the documents will be published by the Hillsborough Independent Panel, which has been overseeing the release.

The 96 Liverpool supporters died in a crush at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough stadium on April 15, 1989 where their team were to meet Nottingham Forest in an FA Cup semi-final.

A report into the disaster by Lord Justice Taylor, published in 1990, found that the main reason for the disaster was a failure of "police control".

The victims' families say it is an injustice that no individual or organisation has been held fully accountable for the disaster. They believe a Major Incident Plan was never initiated by South Yorkshire Police and fans in the Leppings Lane end were denied emergency medical attention.

Published: 09 September 2012

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Chancellor George Osborne has insisted there is still an economic case for Scotland to stay within the United Kingdom.

Mr Osborne entered the independence debate during a visit to Glasgow, where he gave a speech to business leaders at the annual Confederation of British Industry (CBI) Scotland dinner.

He said there is more to Unionism than "wallowing in nostalgia".

Setting out his case for a No vote in late 2014, he accused Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond of failing to provide a credible answer to his plan for a shared sterling currency union.

"Today the advocates of independence argue that Britain's value to Scotland is spent, that union is no longer in Scotland's economic interests and that those who continue to believe in Britain are wallowing in nostalgia," said Mr Osborne.

"I want to take this argument head-on. I make no apology for sharing all of the instinctive emotional attachment to Scotland's place within the UK. Our shared history and culture, distinct yet intertwined identities, a whole greater than the sum of its individual parts.

"In a world in which a separate, independent Scotland wished to pursue divergent economic policies, what mechanism could there be for the Bank of England to set monetary policy, as it does now, to suit conditions in both Scotland and the rest of the UK?

Published: 07 September 2012

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