Workers To Be Able To Ask For Flexible Hours

By Gerard Tubb, Sky Correspondent

New mothers will be able to share leave with their partners and all workers will have the right to flexible hours under radical reforms.

Changes to be announced by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg will mean mothers could return to work two weeks after childbirth and hand over their leave to the father.

Every employee in the country will also be given the right to ask for flexible hours to encourage different work patterns for parents and help more women back into work.

Mr Clegg believes that enabling relatives and friends of working parents to alter their working patterns will boost the economy.

The Government estimates around a million women are effectively locked out of employment because of problems balancing work and childcare.

The plans to allow anyone to ask for flexible hours are an extension of the rights introduced in 2009 for parents of children aged 16 and under.

They also mean that grandparents will be able to apply so that they can look after their grandchildren.

Under the changes, a mother could decide to stop her maternity leave at any point and hand over the rest of the year to her partner instead.

Parents will be able to "chop up" time between them or take time off together, as long as no more than 12 months is taken in total and no more than nine at guaranteed pay.

Fathers-to-be will also be given a legal right to take unpaid leave to attend two antenatal appointments.

Mr Clegg will claim that the plans could transform opportunities for young people who want to start a family.

"You won't get to 30 and suddenly have to choose - motherhood or work - because we're making the changes that give you a route back," he will say.

The Lib Dem leader rethought the reforms after being warned that extending paternity leave from the current two weeks would be too difficult for businesses.

Flexible leave will be reviewed by 2018 and extending paternity leave will be re-examined then, Mr Clegg is expected to say.

"These are major reforms and, at a time of continuing economic difficulty, it's sensible to do them in a number of steps, rather than one giant leap," he will say.

"More and more men are taking on childcare duties, or want to, and flexible leave builds on that."

A study last year of eligible parents showed 28% of women and 17% of men had asked to change their work patterns in the previous two years, with 80 to 90% of requests accepted.

At Odyssey Systems on Teesside, a telecommunications company with 30 employees, management says it has helped parents to change working hours, but extending the scheme to everyone will be a burden.

Sales director Christine Gilbert said: "We're still here because we think about customers first. To say that everybody in the whole company has to have flexible working is just going to be a massive managerial nightmare."

Adam Marshall, director of policy at the British Chambers of Commerce believes the new proposals could cause "unnecessary friction" in the workplace and "unrealistic expectations about the level of flexibility most businesses will be able to accommodate".

But the TUC welcomed the proposals, with General Secretary Brendan Barber describing them as common sense.

He said: "These reforms will make life easier for millions of working parents. Businesses will also benefit from a more engaged workforce and a larger pool of people to recruit from."

The entitlement to ask for flexible hours will be introduced in 2014 at the earliest and employers will have to provide good reason for refusing a request.

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John McAfee: Anti-Virus Guru Flees After Murder

Millionaire software company founder John McAfee has gone on the run following the killing of his neighbour on an island off the coast of Belize.

The 67-year-old, who amassed a $100m (£63m) fortune developing anti-virus software, said he buried himself in the sand with a cardboard box over his head so he could breathe to evade police when they came to question him about the murder of Gregory Faull.

The head of the country's anti-organised crime brigade, Marco Vidal, said Mr McAfee was wanted for homicide.

However, in an interview with technology magazine Wired - which was apparently given while on the run in the Central American country - Mr McAfee denied killing his neighbour and claimed the Belize government had a vendetta against him.

He said he ran because he feared Mr Faull had been killed by mistake and he had been the real target of the shooting.

In the telephone interview he said: "I thought maybe they were coming for me. They mistook him for me. They got the wrong house. They killed him. It spooked me out."

He described how he had hidden from police under the sand and claimed that if the Belize police found him they would kill him.

Mr Faull, 52, a retired builder, was found dead inside his two-storey home north of San Pedro, on the island of Ambergris Caye, on Sunday morning.

There was a gunshot wound to his head and a single 9mm Luger case was found at the scene.

It is known that Mr Faull had been unhappy about Mr McAfee's dogs and had filed a formal complaint with the mayor in San Pedro last week.

Mr McAfee claimed in his communications with Wired magazine that the dogs had been poisoned on Friday. But he said he did not suspect Mr Faull, just the Belize authorities.

Last April, Belize police raided Mr McAfee's home looking for drugs and guns, but he was released without charge after being detained for a few hours.

He said: "Under no circumstances am I going to willingly talk to the police in this country. You can say I'm paranoid about it, but they will kill me, there is no question.

"They've been trying to get me for months. They want to silence me. I am not well-liked by the prime minister. I am just a thorn in everybody's side."

Mr McAfee moved to Ambergris Caye in 2008, where he had armed guards patrolling his property. He sold his stake in the software company in the 1990s, and reinvented himself as a yoga teacher.

He said he lost all but $4m of his $100m fortune in the financial crisis.

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'Idiot' Driver Wears Sign As Punishment

A woman who was caught on camera driving on a path in Cleveland has served the first of two hour-long humiliations, standing in the cold holding a sign warning people about idiots.

Shena Hardin served out her highly-public sentence for an hour on Tuesday, with the second hour to come on Wednesday.

Shena Hardin begins her punishment

The 32-year-old was bundled up against the harsh weather, puffing on a cigarette, wearing dark glasses and avoiding comments as passing vehicles honked their horns.

Her handwritten sign read: "Only an idiot would drive on the sidewalk to avoid a school bus."

Satellite TV trucks streamed the event live.

Hardin repeatedly drove across across a path, rather than wait behind a parked school bus as it unloaded its passengers.

The bus driver captured her in the act on his mobile phone and then contacted police.

Hardin's licence was suspended for 30 days and she was ordered to pay $250 in court costs.

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Margaret Moran Found To Have Fiddled Expenses

A Political Career In Tatters

Updated: 2:02pm UK, Tuesday 13 November 2012

Margaret Moran's expenses claims were some of the most notorious of the Westminster scandal and shattered her political career.

It was all a far cry from her promising start in the Labour party in the 90s.

Moran first stood for election in 1992 and finished third in the race for Carshalton and Wallington.

Despite the defeat, she was picked for an all-woman shortlist to stand for Labour in Luton South in the 1997 election, going on to win the seat from the Tories.

She was re-elected in the 2001 election, and promoted to assistant whip, then went on to be voted in for a third term in 2005.

In October that year, her expenses claims for 2004-5 emerged as the second highest in the country - coming to £168,569.

And when the expenses scandal broke in 2009, she was revealed to have claimed £22,500 to treat dry rot at her partner's home in Southampton - 100 miles from her constituency and Westminster.

She remained defiant in the immediate aftermath, saying: "Any MP has to have a proper family life, they have to have support of their partner."

But amid growing public fury she announced she would stand down at the next general election, saying the "understandable public anger" had caused her great stress.

In the first hint of medical problems that would later render her unable to stand trial, she said this had "seriously worsened my existing health problem".

Moran was formally barred from standing again as a Labour candidate and agreed to repay the money.

She had already been off work since the expenses scandal erupted, blaming stress, but the drama did not end there.

In March 2010, she was among several MPs - including three ex-Cabinet ministers - caught in a TV "sting" agreeing to use their position to influence government policy for cash.

The group were secretly filmed discussing the possibility of working for what they thought was an American lobby company.

Moran was suspended from the Labour Party after the revelations.

Little was then heard from her until September 2011 when the Crown Prosecution Service announced she would face criminal charges.

She wept inconsolably throughout a hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court, having to be passed a tissue by a court official.

It was later ruled that she was unfit to stand trial because of her mental health problems but a trial of the facts went ahead in her absence.

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'Zombie Firms': Mass Unemployment Warning

More than 100,000 so-called zombie firms – debt-laden companies surviving only because of ultra-low interest rates – are at risk of failure, a think tank has warned.

According to the Institute for Turnaround (IFT), a 'zombie collapse' is threatening to hit the country once interest rates return to more traditional levels.

"The number of businesses only able to pay off the interest on their debt, has escalated to somewhere between 100,000 to 150,000," the IFT said.

"If those organisations employ on average 10 people each, consigning them to oblivion overnight would have a profoundly undesirable effect on unemployment."

"Zombies are a problem that can and should be responsibly managed - these are real businesses that carry the fate of people's livelihoods and wellbeing with them."

Some companies have already been forced to sell off crucial assets to survive, further harming their future viability.

It said capital-flush firms have been engaged in a "corporate 'pick and mix' in each portfolio" amid a large-scale disposal of assets worth billions.

The IFT has published spoof videos of football manager Arsene Wenger leaving Arsenal for "Limbo Town FC", to show what happens when quality assets are sold off.

The Bank of England base rate has been at a historic low of 0.5% since March 2009.

Once the base rate climbs again, indebted firms are at risk of seeing their debt burden increase too.

However the IFT also warns that some sectors that exist with oversupply, such as retail, will need to shed more jobs and firms before recovery can be achieved.

"There will be business failures but the enlightened management and investors who move to tackle their challenges stand a much better chance of staying viable and sustainable long after the competition has faded away," it said.

"To return to a productive and growing economy, we need good people working in business models that have a long term future," the IFT said.

"Companies stuck currently in limbo with unaffordable debt, having been starved of investment and lacking, after a punishing recession, the energy and the skills to break out of their inevitable decline, need some TLC - tough loving care."

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Petraeus' Successor John Allen In Email Probe

Petraeus Affair Scandal: Timeline

Updated: 9:33am UK, Tuesday 13 November 2012

The end of General David Petraeus' career has raised several questions about when the affair began and who knew about it. Here is a timeline of events according to officials involved in the investigation.

:: Spring 2006 Paula Broadwell meets Gen Petraeus at Harvard University, where she is a graduate student. Petraeus is a lieutenant general working on a manual about counterinsurgency and is invited to give a speech about his experiences in Iraq.

:: January 2007 Gen Petraeus is confirmed as the commanding general of US troops in Iraq.

:: 2008 Ms Broadwell begins to study his leadership, and he invites her on a run with him and his team along Washington's Potomac River.

:: October 2008 Petraeus is named commander of US Central Command, based at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida, where Jill Kelley and her husband attend social events alongside the area's military elite.

:: June 2010 Gen Petraeus is confirmed as the new commander of the war in Afghanistan and Ms Broadwell expands her research to become an authorised biography, making multiple trips to the country and getting unprecedented access to Gen Petraeus and his staff.

:: September 2011 He is sworn in as CIA director with his wife, Holly, by his side. Mr Broadwell keeps in contact and is invited to his office for events, including a meeting with Angelina Jolie. In November of that year, the pair begin an extramarital affair, according to retired Army Colonel Steve Boylan.

:: January 2012 Ms Broadwell's biography is released and she tells her local paper, the Bismark Tribune, that he is an inspirational figure.

:: May 2012 Ms Kelley, a socialite, starts to receive harassing emails and an FBI probe begins. They later determine the email trail leads to Ms Broadwell. Emails between Gen Petraeus and Ms Broadwell suggest an affair.

:: July 2012 The affair ends, according to Col Boylan, a friend of Gen Petraeus. The FBI has concluded there was no security breach, but continues to look at whether Gen Petraeus had any involvement in emails sent to Ms Kelley.

:: October 2012 By the end of the month, Ms Broadwell and Gen Petraeus have acknowledged the affair following questioning by the FBI. He is urged to resign by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

:: November 8 Gen Petraeus asks Barack Obama if he can resign, on the day the president returns from election celebrations in Chicago. Mr Obama accepts the resignation a day later.

:: November 9 Ms Broadwell's husband emails guests to cancel her 40th birthday party, scheduled for that weekend.

:: November 10 Ms Broadwell's biography of Gen Petraeus jumps to 111th place on Amazon, up from 76,792nd the day before as her identity becomes known.

:: November 12 Members of Congress demand to know more details about the sequence of events and FBI agents begin searching the North Carolina home of Ms Broadwell.

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Model Katy French's Friends Admit Drug Charges

Two friends of the top Irish model, Katy French, have admitted possessing cocaine with intent to supply on the weekend she collapsed at their home almost five years ago.

The 24-year-old socialite slipped into a coma after visiting the home of Kieron Ducie and Ann Corcoran, and died in hospital four days later.

Traces of cocaine were found in her system and a post-mortem examination revealed she suffered brain damage.

The model and socialite Katy French

Appearing at Trim District Court, Ducie, 43, and Corcoran, 31, admitted the drugs charges, which date back to December 1, 2007, when Miss French visited their Kilmessan home, in Co. Meath, days after celebrating her 24th birthday.

Her parents John and Janet and sister Jill maintained a bedside vigil as the model lay critically ill on a life support machine at Our Lady's Hospital in Navan.

Her mother and sister were in court to hear the former couple plead guilty to the charges, and left without speaking about the case.

They are expected to return when Ducie, who was dressed in a dark suit and yellow tie, and Corcoran, who wore a long dark coat, are sentenced on February 5 next year.

Judge Leonie Reynolds was told a second charge of recklessly supplying Miss French with drugs and failing to get medical assistance quickly enough had been dropped.

Miss French became a tabloid darling in the two years before her death.

She was born in Switzerland and had moved with her family to Ireland when she was a young girl, settling in Enniskerry, Co Wicklow.

Before her death she revealed she had used cocaine, branding it part of the Dublin social scene, but claimed she had quit the drug, warning others of its dangers.

The Olympic champion swimmer, Michelle de Bruin, Irish rugby star, Shane Byrne, and the singer, Chris de Burgh, were among hundreds of mourners at her funeral.

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Wrong-Way Motorway Death Driver Museka Jailed

A drink-driver who caused the death of an aspiring model by driving the wrong way down a motorway has been jailed for eight years.

Wilfred Museka was travelling at "motorway speed" when he was in a head-on collision that left 20-year-old Rebecca Caine, from Leeds, with fatal injuries.

Zimbabwean national Museka, 31, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving at an earlier hearing at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court.

Ms Caine's family and friends sobbed as the court heard the force of the crash between junctions 21 and 22 on the M62 near Manchester caused her to be flung from the car.

She suffered severe injuries to her face, head and body.

Museka, who came to the UK as an asylum seeker from Zimbabwe, had also admitted fraudulently claiming to have held a full UK driving licence for 10 years, driving with no insurance and with excess alcohol.

Rebecca had been returning to Leeds from a night out in Manchester in the early hours of September 16. The court heard she was in the back seat of a car being driven by friend. Shortly before they were hit they were said to be "singing happily" in the car.

Rebecca's parents, twin brother and younger sister were in court to see Museka jailed.

They paid tribute to her at the time of her death, in a statement which read: "As you can imagine our lives are shattered and our hearts are broken into pieces.

"She was a beautiful girl with her whole life ahead of her. She was embarking on a modelling career and would be finishing her final year of her business degree at Leeds University.

"Rebecca was a bright light that attracted everything to her with her infectious laugh and her beaming smile.

"She saw the best in everyone and was loved by hundreds of friends. The worst part is the emptiness and the total waste of a beautiful life. She was only 20 when she died.

"She was our little girl now she is our little angel. Something somewhere has failed us."

Museka had previously been convicted of drink driving and had been caught driving while disqualified on three occasions in the past.

In sentencing Museka, Judge Adrian Smith said Miss Caine had a "bright and happy future to look forward to".

"No sentence of this court can possibly reflect the loss of a life such as Becky's," he said.

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Abu Qatada Freed After Winning Appeal

Terror suspect Abu Qatada has been released on bail after winning his latest appeal to avoid extradition to Jordan.

The radical cleric smiled as he was driven from Long Lartin prison in Worcestershire and returned to his family home in north west London.

Qatada smiling as he leaves prison

He was taken from the maximum security jail in a black Volkswagen people carrier and made no attempt to hide from photographers.

Protesters gathered outside his house shouted "out, out, out" when he arrived later and was escorted inside by officials.

Resident Jackie Chaunt, 50, said: "He shouldn't be here. It's a disgrace." Aaron Baker added: "We're paying for all this as taxpayers. Its ridiculous."

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling said in the Commons that the case shows why the Human Rights Act needs overhauling.

"All of us believe the law should not operate in this way and this case underlines my view that there is a very real need to major changes to the way the European human rights framework operates," he said.

Qatada was granted bail on Monday after judges ruled returning him to his home country to face trial would breach his human rights.

Home Secretary Theresa May had obtained assurances from Jordan that evidence obtained through torture would not be used at his trial.

But in a serious blow, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) said this could still not be guaranteed and refused to back the Government.

The radical cleric arriving at his London home

The decision is the latest twist in an 11-year legal battle, that is believed to have cost the British taxpayer at least £1m.

Qatada, once described as Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe, will have to obey a 16-hour curfew and can only go out between 8am and 4pm.

He will also have to wear an electronic tag, cannot use the internet and will be barred from contacting certain people - who cannot be named for legal reasons.

Round-the-clock surveillance of his home is now expected to be put in place, at a reported cost of up to £100,000 a week.

Downing Street has said the Home Office will be ensuring "we take all the necessary steps" to make sure Qatada does not pose a risk to national security.

Qatada was granted leave to remain in Britain in 1994 after arriving here and seeking asylum but he was convicted of terror charges in Jordan in his absence in 1999.

Since 2001, Britain has been trying to deport him to his home country so that he can be retried but every attempt has been thwarted.

In April, he was rearrested and Mrs May declared he would soon be on a plane - but yet again, he managed to appeal.

Britain has been trying to deport Qatada since 2001

The Home Secretary insists he is still "a dangerous man" and the Government is appealing the latest court ruling on the basis that Siac applied the wrong legal test.

"We believe that we have got the right assurances from the Jordanian government," the Prime Minister's spokesman said.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg added: "We are absolutely determined to see this man get on a plane and go back to Jordan, he does not belong here.

"He wanted to inflict harm on our country and this coalition Government is going to do everything we can to challenge this every step of the way to make sure that he is deported."

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Frankie Dettori Has 'Positive Test'

Jockey Frankie Dettori is to face an inquiry after a 'positive test' at Longchamp in France.

The rider's legal representative, Christopher Stewart-Moore, revealed that Mr Dettori will face a France Galop inquiry next week following the test in September.

He released a statement saying that the Medical Committee of the French authority is planning a hearing.

"On behalf of Frankie Dettori I can confirm that, as a consequence of a positive test at Longchamp on September 16, 2012, he will be the subject of an inquiry by the Medical Committee of France Galop next week," the statement said.

"In compliance with, and out of respect for, the regulations of France Galop, he will not be commenting further until the France Galop procedures have been completed."

The statement did not specify what the test was for.

Dettori had four rides at Longchamp on September 16, a day of major trials for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe meeting the following month.

The Italian partnered Marco Botti's Joshua Tree to finish third in the Qatar Prix Foy, while the John Hammond-trained Sarah Lynx trailed home last in the Prix Vermeille.

He was then beaten just a head into second on Godolphin's Farhh in the Prix du Moulin and was third for his former employers on Willing Foe in the Prix Gladiateur.

France Galop have not commented on proceedings and in previous similar cases they have not issued a statement before the hearing.

Dettori is one of the biggest names in flat racing. Last month he made the headlines when his 18-year association with the Godolphin stable came to an end. He plans to ride as a freelance in 2013.

The 41-year-old partnered nine English Classic winners in the royal blue silks, including their first in 1994 Oaks victor Balanchine, and a total of 110 Group or Grade One winners for the owner.

A host of Dettori's big-race winners have been trained by Godolphin handler Saeed bin Suroor, including four of those that formed the rider's 'Magnificent Seven' at Ascot in 1996, when he won all seven races in one afternoon and cost bookmakers millions of pounds in payouts.  

He had recently been sharing the Godolphin rides with fellow retained jockeys Mickael Barzalona and Silvestre de Sousa before the split.

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