Cybercrime: Britain 'Losing The War' Say MPs

The threat of a cyberassault on Britain is considered so serious it is marked as a higher threat than a nuclear attack, according to an influential group of MPs.

Despite being the preferred target of online criminals in 25 countries, the UK is still "complacent" towards cybercrime as victims are "hidden in cyberspace", the Home Affairs Select Committee said.

The group of MPs said funding and resources for tackling online crime, which includes identity theft, industrial espionage, credit card fraud and child exploitation, has not been sufficiently allocated.

Cybercriminals in 25 countries are said to be targeting the UK

Tougher sentences for online criminals and improved training for police officers are recommended by the committee to deal with the growing threat.

Committee chair Keith Vaz said: "We are not winning the war on online criminal activity. We are being too complacent about these e-wars because the victims are hidden in cyberspace.

"The threat of a cyberattack to the UK is so serious it is marked as a higher threat than a nuclear attack.

Christopher Whitehead, the hacker at the heart of an attack on Paypal

"You can steal more on the Internet than you can by robbing a bank.

"If we don't have a 21st century response to this 21st century crime, we will be letting those involved in these gangs off the hook."

Online crime - committed by lone hackers, activist groups and nation states sponsoring industrial espionage - has been estimated by online security firm Norton to globally cost around £250bn ($388bn) in financial losses.

The committee heard that the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau had discovered about 25 countries predominantly targeting the UK and said it was "deeply concerned" that EU partner countries are not doing enough to prevent the attacks.

The committee added it was "surprised" hackers from the group Anonymous, who cost Paypal more than £3.5m, were not given stiffer sentences.

Christopher Weatherhead, a 22-year-old university student who was described as a key operator in the group, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for his role in the attack. 

Hidden in cyberspace: The UK is too complacent towards e-crime, say MPs

Commissioner Adrian Leppard, of City of London Police, the most senior policeman in the country on online fraud, warned the committee that a quarter of the 800 specialist internet crime officers could be axed as spending is cut.

The committee was also alarmed that the Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre is having its budget cut by 10% over four years and its chief executive Peter Davies is leaving.

Last week, David Cameron threatened to impose tough new laws on internet firms if they fail to blacklist key search terms for illegal images by October as part of a wider crackdown on online pornography.

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Barclays Half-Year Profit Down 17% To £3.59bn

Barclays has reported a 17% drop in half-year adjusted profit of £3.59bn, as it announced a £5.8bn capital-raising rights issue.

It said adjusted income decreased 3% to £15bn, in the six months to June 30.

Barclays said a payment protection insurance (PPI) mis-selling provision of £1.3bn had been made and £650m had been put aside for provisions in relation to interest rate swaps.

The total mis-selling bill for the bank, which had been criticised previously for its aggressive corporate culture, now stands at £5.5bn.

The lender, which was hit last year by the Libor rate-rigging crisis, said it would seek a capital boost in order to meet capital requirements laid down by the Bank of England (BoE).

Past problems continue to haunt Barclays and its cash-call comes after the BoE last month told it to increase its leverage ratio - a measure of equity to assets - to reduce its risk.

Barclays was criticised for its ethics under former CEO Bob Diamond (c)

The rights issue will be for one new ordinary share for every four existing ordinary shares held and priced the issue at 185p per new ordinary share.

Barclays said: "This represents a discount of approximately 40.1% to the closing price on the London Stock Exchange of 309.05p per ordinary share on 29 July 2013 ... and a discount of approximately 34.9% to the theoretical ex-rights price based on the closing price."

The bank said its fundraising was a "bold but balanced plan" which would see it meet regulator demands by June next year.

It stressed it would not impact on its aims to boost lending to households and businesses.

However, shares fell around 5% in early trading as the rights issue was far higher than expected and as Barclays admitted its plans will put back some of the financial targets under its overhaul, dubbed Project Transform.

The bank will also issue £2bn of bonds that are turned into shares or wiped out if the bank gets into trouble.

Chief executive Antony Jenkins said the capital-raising plan enabled the bank to keep growth in its planned level of lending.

"I am certain the decisive and prompt action we are taking will leave Barclays stronger," Mr Jenkins said.

:: The bank said an estimated £42bn of Funding for Lending (FLS) capital was made to UK households and businesses in the six-month period.

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Hospital Patient Ratings Largely Positive

The first results of a new NHS test have revealed most patients are satifised with their standard of care.

Despite months of criticism about hospitals and A&E departments, only 36 out of more than 4,000 NHS wards had an overall negative figure in June.

This is a fall of 30 from April, when the so-called Friends and Family Test was first introduced.

A&E services scored between 100 to minus 13 and scores for inpatients ranked from 100 to 43.

But there will be disappointment at the response rate, which was just 13.1% across England.

Patients are asked one simply question - whether they are likely to recommend the ward or A&E department they were treated in to friends and family.

They chose from six responses ranging from extremely likely to extremely unlikely and were asked to give reasons for their score.

More than 400,000 people completed the survey and results relate to around 4,500 NHS wards and 144 A&E services.

NHS England's national director for patients and information Tim Kelsey said the initiative was a "major step forward".

"Direct patient and citizen feedback is vital to improving the services the NHS provides. Trusts can concentrate their focus on improvement with this information," he said.

"From this first publication, we can see a significant and real variation in the quality of customer service across the NHS.

"There are home truths here and everyone will expect those Trusts who have large numbers of their patients choosing not to recommend their services to respond as quickly as possible."

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Arrest Made After Twitter Rape Threats

A 21-year-old man has been arrested after a barrage of sexual abuse was posted on Twitter aimed at the woman who campaigned for a female figure to appear on British banknotes.

Caroline Criado-Perez received hostile posts, including threats to rape and kill her, nearly every minute in the 48 hours after she attended the Bank of England's unveiling of the new £10 note, with Jane Austen's image on, on Wednesday.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "A 21-year-old man has today been arrested in the Manchester area on suspicion of harassment offences.

"The arrest is in connection with an allegation of malicious communications received by officers in Camden on Thursday, July 25."

The abuse started after Ms Criado-Perez fronted the £10 note campaign

On Sunday,  Ms Criado-Perez said she had been informed that an arrest had been made.

On her Twitter page she wrote: "Just heard from police that an arrest has been made. That's all I have at present."

She earlier called on the social networking site and police to take action over the abuse.

Twitter is under increasing pressure to take a tougher stance

She told Sky News: "It was really really disturbing to find that something as small as asking for one woman on a banknote could result in such a barrage of threats of sexual violence.

"It's just not acceptable and more than that it's actually a crime and Twitter needs to take it seriously and the police need to take it seriously."

Her comments come as an online petition in support of her, calling on Twitter to introduce a button to allow speedy reporting of abuse, has attracted more than 25,000 signatures.

She has also received support from MPs and celebrities.

Ms Criado-Perez added: "This is something that happens specifically to women and it's to make them shut up because there is a certain type of man who doesn't like women speaking and they don't like women speaking back to them.

"I wasn't going to give them what they wanted so I decided to start being very very public about the abuse I was receiving even though it was really unpleasant and obviously it's invited more abuse to a certain extent, but it's also invited so much support which has been absolutely incredible."

A spokesperson for Twitter said: "The ability to report individual tweets for abuse is currently available on Twitter for iPhone and we plan to bring this functionality to other platforms, including Android and the web.

"We don't comment on individual accounts. However, we have rules which people agree to abide by when they sign up to Twitter.

"We will suspend accounts that, once reported to us, are found to be in breach of our rules.

"We encourage users to report an account for violation of the Twitter rules by using one of our report forms: https://support.twitter.com/forms."

Jane Austen will appear on the front of £10 notes from 2017

The Metropolitan Police is conducting inquiries into the matter after receiving an allegation of abuse.

Labour's shadow home secretary and shadow minister for women Yvette Cooper has written to the head of Twitter in the UK urging stronger action over the matter, saying she is "deeply concerned by the handling of serious and violent threats of abuse and rape".

The letter says: " ... Despite the scale and seriousness of these threats, the official response from Twitter continues to be extremely weak - simply directing Caroline away from Twitter towards the police, and, belatedly, directing users to abuse reporting forms on Twitter.

" ... I urge you to go further and ensure that Twitter carries out a full review of all its policies on abusive behaviour, threats and crimes, including more help for Twitter users who experience abuse, a clear complaints process and clear action from Twitter to tackle this kind of persecution."

Comedians Chris Addison and Dara O'Briain are among the celebrities to back Ms Criado-Perez with messages on Twitter.

Addison wrote: "In case you missed it, here's the link to petition to add a 'Report Abuse' button to Twitter … Least we can do, right?"

And O'Briain posted: "If the ladies leave Twitter because of all the dumb, rapey 14-year-old boys, then I'm outta here people. Like most grown-up men too, I'd say"

MPs including Stella Creasy and Diane Abbott also voiced their support via the microblogging site.

Ms Criado-Perez, a freelance journalist who co-founded The Women's Room, an online database of female experts, organised a campaign which included a petition signed by more than 35,500 people after the Bank of England decided to replace Elizabeth Fry with Winston Churchill on new £5 notes.

The move would have meant there were no women apart from the Queen on sterling banknotes.

Her campaign was a success, with an announcement by the Bank last week that Pride And Prejudice author Austen will replace Charles Darwin on the new £10 note when it is introduced 2017.

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Usain Bolt And Mo Farah Could Race Each Other

One is the world's fastest man, the other is one of Britain's most successful athletes, and they could be going head-to-head in a race for charity.

Speaking to Sky, UK athletics star Mo Farah challenged Jamaican Usain Bolt to run over a distance of between 600 metres and 800 metres.

Farah, 30, is more used to competing over 5,000m and 10,000m, while Bolt specialises in the 100m and 200m.

They won their respective events at last year's Olympics and struck up a special connection during the London Games.

So the charity race, if it happens, would be over an intermediate distance, raising money for their own foundations.

Farah, who is also in form in middle distance running as he recently broke the British 1,500m record, said: "He's got his charity foundation, I've got the Mo Farah Foundation.

"It would be great to do a distance where people vote in - proper athletics fans - on what distance they think is most suitable."

He then told Bolt: "Are you up for that? Come on, you've got to do it."

Bolt, 26, replied he would be prepared to take on the challenge, saying: "That sounds fun.

"It's going to be hard but it's charity so it's all about fun and enjoyment.

"I'm up for anything, for anything's possible."

Bolt, also the world record holder at 100m and 200m, said running 1,500m would be out of the question.

"It's way too far," he said. "Six hundred (metres) for sure I can try because I've done 600m in training."

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Manchester Stabbing: Girl Fights For Life

A 13-year-old-girl is fighting for her life after a stabbing attack in which a man believed to be her father died.

The man who is understood to have launched the knife attack in Moston, northeast Manchester, died of knife wounds a short time later after driving a car into the side of a nearby pub.

Police found the seriously injured girl after 10pm on Sunday at a house where the body of a 41-year-old man, who had been stabbed, was also discovered.

Forensics officers at the scene in Moston

Her wounds are believed to have been inflicted with a knife.

Less than three hours later, officers were called to Watfield Walk in Harpurhey, a two-mile drive away, after reports that a man had threatened a car owner with a knife and stole a vehicle.

The vehicle was then seen by police near Rochdale Road. The 34-year-old driver drove the car into the side of the Alliance Inn pub when officers approached.

The suspected knifeman crashed into the Alliance Inn in Harpurhey

He was taken to hospital suffering from a stab wound and injuries consistent with a crash but died a short time later.

No one else was injured.

Forensics officers are at the scene of the attack in Moston, where an area around Delta Walk has been sealed off.

The attack happened a two-mile drive from where the stolen car was crashed

Detective Superintendent Simon Barraclough, of Greater Manchester Police, said: "We are in the very early stages of our inquiries and are piecing together the circumstances that led to two men losing their lives and a 13-year-old girl fighting for her life in hospital.

"Obviously the community will be shocked as to what has happened but we can say we do not believe anyone else was involved and are not looking for anyone else in relation to this incident."

Anyone with information can call police on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

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Gloucester Stabbing: Three People Arrested

Three people have been arrested after a man was stabbed to death close to where a carnival procession passed just hours earlier.

Officers were called to Park End Road in Gloucester shortly before 8pm last night following reports that a man had been stabbed.

The road borders Gloucester Park, where the town had held its annual family carnival and fete celebrations, including a procession.

A spokesman for Gloucestershire Police said two men and a woman have since been arrested on suspicion of murder.

A cordon remains in place at the scene.

Detective Inspector Jon Thompson said: "I would like to reassure people living in the area or visiting Gloucester that this type of incident is extremely rare.

"The investigation is ongoing and three people are currently in custody.

"However, we would still like to speak to anyone who was in or around Gloucester Park at the time and who might have seen what happened.

"Please can they contact Gloucestershire Police on 101 or speak to Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111."

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Immigration Figures 'Little Better Than A Guess'

Official figures showing how many immigrants are coming to the UK are "little better than a guess", according to a report by MPs.

The report by the Public Administration Select Committee says the number of migrants coming to the country is not properly measured, and warns the statistics are "not fit for purpose".

Analysis on how many non-UK residents are entering and leaving the country is primarily based on "random interviews" of travellers at ports and airports that were introduced to examine tourism trends, the report says.

Just 5,000 migrants a year are identified through the International Passenger Survey and many "may be reticent to give full and frank answers," it warned.

Although the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which uses the research to draw up its migration estimates, has "done its best" to produce informative statistics, the survey "is not fit for the purposes to which it is put" and ministers must find new ways to gather information, MPs said.

In the year to June 2012, immigration was estimated at 515,000 while emigration was estimated at 352,000.

The Coalition aims to reduce net migration - the difference between the two figures - from the hundreds of thousands down to the tens of thousands by 2015.

The Coalition is aiming to significantly reduce net migration by 2015

But MPs warned the Government is at risk of ending up with an "inappropriate" immigration policy if it bases its target level of net migration on uncertain statistics "which could be out by tens of thousands".

ONS migration estimates contain no information on the immigration status of migrants, while statistics produced by the Home Office do not indicate the number of visa holders with valid leave to remain in the UK or the number who overstay their leave to remain, the report said.

Statistics produced by both organisations are "blunt instruments" for measuring, managing, and understanding migration, it added.

The committee said migration figures could be considerably improved if the Home Office and ONS properly recorded and linked the data they already gather.

MPs called for the e-Borders system to be used for measuring immigration, emigration and net migration as quickly as possible.

Committee chairman Bernard Jenkin said: "Most people would be utterly astonished to learn that there is no attempt to count people as they enter or leave the UK.

"They are amazed when they are told that government merely estimates that there are 500,000 immigrants coming into the UK each year.

"This is based on random interviews of around 800,000 people stopped and interviewed at ports and airports each year.

"Only around 5,000 of those are actual migrants, many of whom may be reticent to give full and frank answers, to say the least."

The International Passenger Survey also fails to garner the type of information needed to work out the social and economic consequences of migration, such as demand for the National Health Service or schools.

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Theresa May 'Shocked' By Diabetes Diagnosis

Theresa May has spoken of her shock after being diagnosed with a chronic illness, but insists it will not affect her political career.

The Home Secretary was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes two months ago and must now inject herself with insulin at least twice a day for the rest of her life, the Mail On Sunday revealed.

Commentators had seized on Mrs May's dramatic weight loss over the past 18 months as proof that she was undergoing a style makeover in preparation for a future leadership bid.

But the Conservative Cabinet minister told the newspaper that dropping two stones was partly down to the illness.

"The diabetes doesn't affect how I do the job or what I do. It's just part of life ... so it's a case of head down and getting on with it," Mrs May told the Mail On Sunday.

"It was a real shock and, yes, it took me a while to come to terms with it."

There are around 300,000 people in the UK with Type 1 diabetes

Speaking about the timing of the announcement, Sky's chief political correspondent Jon Craig said: "I suspect she wanted to get the Abu Qatada deportation out of the way and wanted nothing to distract from that."

There are around 300,000 people in the UK with Type 1 diabetes. Despite decades of research, no vaccine has been found to prevent the disease.

Pressed on whether the illness would prevent her from one day succeeding David Cameron, she told the newspaper: "There is no leadership bid.

"We have a first-class Prime Minister and long may he continue."

Doctors told Mrs May she had the condition, which means her body does not produce insulin, in November but initially they thought she had Type 2 diabetes.

"It doesn't and will not affect my ability to do my work. I'm a little more careful about what I eat and there's obviously the injections, but this is something millions of people have," she said.

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Sasha Marsden: Barman Guilty Of Teen's Murder

By Frazer Maude, Sky News Reporter

A barman has been found guilty of killing teenager Sasha Marsden, whose partially burned body was found in a Blackpool alleyway.

David Minto, described by police as "cold, callous and evil", sexually assaulted the youngster before stabbing her 58 times with a kitchen knife.

She suffered such serious injuries that her body, which was found wrapped in carpet underlay and bin liners, had to be identified using DNA from her toothbrush.

Sasha was just 16 years old and had been studying childcare at a local college.

However, her plan to take up a part-time cleaning job in a Blackpool hotel to earn some extra money ultimately cost her her life. 

Minto, who worked at the Grafton House Hotel, owned by his girlfriend and her mother, first met Sasha through a mutual acquaintance on a night out.

The 23-year-old contacted her on Facebook, where his online name was David "Demon" Minto, and used the promise of part-time work to lure her to her death.

He told Sasha to come to the hotel on a day when he knew it would be empty.

After sexually assaulting and stabbing her, mainly in the face and neck, he tried to destroy the evidence by setting her body on fire.

The prosecution at the trial in Preston said she was found with several defensive wounds, showing she tried to fight for her life.

Minto claimed he had consensual sex with the teenager and said her blood was on his clothes because she had a nose bleed.

He claimed she left the hotel alive but the jury refused to believe him and found him guilty of murder.

Sasha's mother Jayne Marsden said:  "For his sexual gratification he's robbed us of saying goodbye to her. But he's also robbed us of her 18th birthday, her 21st birthday and her future. He's just robbed us of everything. I can never forgive him. Never."

Detective Superintendent Andy Murphy, of Lancashire Constabulary, said: "After our dealings with Minto, I would describe him as cold, callous, and evil.

"He's put Sasha's family through a real ordeal by pleading not guilty and taking this to trial.

"But the family have been brave and very dignified, appearing in court every day to hear the terrible evidence about what happened to their daughter."

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