Scotsman: Insurers fear tax rule could send jobs to India OFFSHORING jobs to India may become more widespread among insurance companies next year unless the government acts to prevent a new tax rule, the industry body has warned.The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has urged the government to delay the introduction of VAT on outsourced insurance services, which it says could increase the industry's tax burden by more than £200 million a year. The ruling will only apply to outsourcing within Europe, meaning insurance companies will have more incentive to explore low-cost economies such as India. "It is not good news for UK plc," the ABI said. "It is more likely that outsourced services will move outside Europe."

ManchesterOnline: Cheshire to axe HQ jobs CHESHIRE Building Society is to axe up to 70 head office posts and close four branches in a drive to save more than £2m a year. Chief executive Karen McCormick announced the changes following a review launched when she took over the role on a permanent basis last month.

Icliverpool: 500 jobs at risk in glass fight A LEGAL challenge that could put 500 new glass factory jobs in Ellesmere Port in jeopardy began yesterday in the High Court. Irish-based Quinn Glass this year completed the construction of Europe's largest glass making factory at the former Ince Power Station.

Just-Auto.com: Pressings plant axes 70 Welsh workers Up to 70 jobs will go within a month at Krupp Camford Pressings in Llanelli, Wales, after it lost a major order from Volkswagen. Around 165 staff remain at the plant and virtually all production is now for Land Rover, with some additional work for Bentley, another VW Group company.

Ananova: Chocolate Factory Broken Up The famous home of Terry's chocolates has been closed. More than 300 jobs are to go at the plant in York, which is now owned by Kraft Foods International. The site on Bishopthorpe Road has been making chocolate confectionery since 1926 and recently produced 20,000 tonnes of chocolate each year for the domestic and international market.

Reuters: ADC says to cut jobs in England, Scotland Communications equipment maker ADC Telecommunications Inc. (ADCT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Wednesday it would cut about 150 jobs in England and Scotland as part of a move to lower manufacturing costs.

PRW.com: Symphony to cut jobs due to low margins Degradable plastics company Symphony Plastic Technologies is to cut jobs and review directors’ salaries in response to low sales and margins. The planned cuts follow a review of the firm’s strategy, it said this morning when launching its first half figures

ThisisMoney: BA job cuts 'in the thousands' A STAFF cull at British Airways, likely to run to the loss of thousands of jobs under new chief executive Willie Walsh, is to kick off with secret plans to axe 500 baggage handlers and cargo loaders - workers who played a major role in this summer's Gate Gourmet fiasco.

Scotsman: Uniq to axe up to 90 jobs as overhaul continues UNIQ, the convenience food giant, today revealed that up to 90 jobs in Britain will be cut as it shakes its business in the midst of difficult trading conditions. The overhaul comes in the wake of the arrival last month of new chief executive Geoff Eaton and the loss of 100 UK jobs in May after the firm saw annual losses widen to £70.6 million, from £15.6m.

BBC NEWS | England | Hampshire | 350 jobs go as final ferry sails The final cross-channel ferry is setting sail between Portsmouth and Le Havre on Friday as 350 jobs are lost.

BBC NEWS | RAC call centre staff cut by half Two hundred jobs are to go from the RAC's call centres in Bristol by the end of the year. The work is being transferred to India as part of the company's rationalisation plans which were announced earlier this year.

Leamington Spa Today: 200 staff left without pay as book company faces crisis More than 200 people have been forced to search for new jobs after distribution firm Books for Students went into administration.

TheBusinessEDP24: More jobs to go at Bernard Matthews Turkey producer Bernard Matthews yesterday announced a restructuring of the company with the loss of up to 110 jobs. The Norfolk-based company faces increasing competition from low-cost food producers based in the Far East and South America. At the same time, profit margins are being squeezed by major supermarkets and other outlets, which aim to pay less for its products.

Reuters: Consumer confidence falls unexpectedly Consumer confidence unexpectedly fell further in September to its lowest level in almost a year, pulled down by an increasingly pessimistic outlook for the economy, a report showed on Friday. Consultancy GfK Martin Hamblin said its confidence barometer fell to -5 from -4 in August. That was the lowest reading since October 2004, when it was -6. Analysts had predicted the index would remain at -4.

ThisisMoney: First timers get raw deals FIRST-TIME home buyers who cannot stump up a large deposit are being hit with a double blow of huge fees and higher interest rates by some leading lenders.

ThisisMoney: Sipps will 'hit first-time buyers' A NEW tax break will allow Britons to spend billions on second homes as part of their pension. The change effectively gives investors 51% off the price of a property. But it could send the prices of holiday homes and buy-to-let properties soaring, making it even harder for first-time buyers to afford a home.

Independent: Ford to ditch half its suppliers in massive cost-cutting plan Ford Motor unveiled a sweeping shake-up of its relationship with its business partners yesterday, saying it would cut its number of suppliers in half and sign long-term contracts with the rest to try to shave billions from its costs.

Independent: Nationwide says house prices fall for second month in a row House prices fell for the second consecutive month in September, taking the annual rate of increase below inflation for the first time in more than nine years, figures showed yesterday.

Guardian: Labour's £10bn nuclear sell-off Operations at Sellafield and other major nuclear plants such as Sizewell and Dungeness are to be sold off to the private sector for more than £10bn under plans drawn up yesterday by the board of British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL).

TimesOnline: Poor growth 'due to public sector' INEFFICIENCY in the public sector was blamed by City economists yesterday for a drop in a key measure of Britain’s productivity growth to its lowest since present records began in the early 1990s. Official data gave a mixed picture of Britain’s productivity performance. But critics of the Government’s economic record seized on a new low for productivity growth measured by output per hour worked.

TimesOnline: Second-home tax break set to squeeze young buyers A NEW pensions tax break is set to trigger a multibillion-pound flood of cash into second-home buying that could keep houses out of the reach of struggling first-time and rural buyers.

BBC News: Minimum wage increasing to £5.05 The minimum wage will rise on 1 October, benefiting more than one million workers. Adults must be paid at least £5.05 an hour, up from £4.85, while 18 to 21 year olds will get 15p more at £4.25.

Stratford-upon-Avon Herald: Average Stratford house prices 12 times average salaries The average house price in Stratford costs a massive 12 times residents’ average salaries, a survey has revealed. According to ‘Home Truths: Pay and Property in the UK,’ Stratford is the hardest place to buy a home outside the South-East.

Forbes.com: UK Sept house prices up 1.8 pct yr-on-yr, lowest rate in 9 yrs - Nationwide Another modest monthly drop in house prices in September pushed the annual rate of growth to its lowest level in nearly a decade, the UK's biggest building society said today.

Economist.com: The chancellor's once solid reputation is increasingly at risk if Gordon Brown is the anointed successor to Tony Blair, then he owes it principally to his prowess as chancellor of the exchequer.

The Australian: RBA warning of 'meltdown' Further rises in oil prices, the collapse of a major bank or an unexpected jump in inflation could be all it takes to send the increasingly fragile global financial system into meltdown.

Washington Bureau: Forecasters thinking recession could be coming Economic forecasters and Wall Street analysts are quietly hedging their bets after months of rosy reports about a vibrant U.S. economic outlook. They're now mentioning the growing possibility of recession ahead.

CNN Money: California housing at 'tipping point' Forecasting group says state's economy to take a hit once its hot real estate market starts to cool.

Washingtonpost.com: Pop Goes the Bubble The difference between America and Australia: In America everybody’s talking the possibility of a real estate bubble. In Australia, they’re living it.

International Herald Tribune: House-rich or poorhouse? Anyone concerned about recent signs that red-hot real estate markets may be cooling off - a group that would include Alan Greenspan, the Bank of England and many homeowners on both sides of the Atlantic - might want to review the cautionary tale of the Three Little Pigs.

MotleyFool: A Recipe For A Housing Crash! First of all, let me start by saying that I'm not an economist and, indeed, I've never been formally taught this subject. However, after eighteen years in financial services, I'm confident that I have a good understanding of what makes consumers tick when it comes to money matters. Sadly, all the information that I've collected leaves me worried about our nation's finances as a whole.

Here are eleven warning signs which suggest a bleak outlook for many households:

EN24: Virgin Money jobs at risk Scores of staff could lose their jobs at Virgin Money as the company is now planning on outsourcing jobs elsewhere in the UK. Bosses at the Richard Branson-owned company have revealed the company intends to restructure. The Whiting Road-based company said it planned to outsource all its back-office administration work and other jobs were being reviewed to meet a new organisational structure.

Scotsman: Shake-up fails to halt profits slide at Jenners JENNERS, the historic Edinburgh department store, has suffered a further slide in profits amid falling consumer sales - but new owner, House of Fraser, has promised that its back-office shake-up involving more than 100 job cuts will deliver annual savings of more than £3m.

BBC NEWS | England | Devon | Firm closes with loss of 100 jobs A Plymouth-based telesales company has laid off its 100-strong workforce. Staff at the city's Market Reach say they were told on Thursday morning that the company had gone into liquidation and they would not be paid.

BBC NEWS | Jobs will go at tobacco factory The loss of 134 jobs has been announced at a cigarette rolling papers factory in south Wales. The Imperial Tobacco Group blamed a cost cutting exercise for the closure of the plant at Treforest near Pontypridd.

SkyNews: BOOTS GLOOMY OVER XMAS Boots has reported a new fall in sales. And it says it does not see the chances of a major rise in consumer confidence this Christmas. Comparable sales fell by 1.6% in the second quarter - twice as fast as over the previous three months. But the firm said the first-half fall of 1.3% was distorted by cheaper medicines due to regulatory price changes, insisting that sales of its health and beauty ranges and toiletries had been encouraging.

ThisisMoney: House prices continue to fall HOUSE prices are still falling despite a healthy pick-up in sales, Britain's biggest building society revealed today. Nationwide said the average price of a home slipped 0.2% to £156,517 in September following a similar fall the previous month. That pushed the year-on-year rate of increase down to 1.8% - the weakest since May.

Telegraph: Brown 'still too optimistic' over growth Gordon Brown could be forced to revise his economic growth forecast even lower than 2pc after new official figures showed the economy is growing at its slowest pace for 12 years.

Independent: Economy: Things can only get tougher Retail sales hit 22-year low. Growth at 12-year low. Inflation at nine-year high. Unemployment rising. Gordon Brown has suffered a body blow to his political reputation - just days after his confident speech to Labour conference - with the release of official figures showing the economy at its weakest level for 12 years.

Guardian: Struggling GCap threatens 100 job cuts GCap Media announced up to 100 job cuts and tripled its cost savings target yesterday as it sought to regain the confidence of the stock market after making a stuttering debut as the UK's largest commercial radio broadcaster.

Guardian: Blood on the shop floor as retailers report sales falling at the fastest rate since records began The fragile state of consumer spending was underlined yesterday as the CBI's latest survey of the retail sector showed sales volumes falling at their fastest rate in the report's 22-year history. The survey will worry the Bank of England, which cut interest rates last month and has said it expects consumer spending - which accounts for two-thirds of the economy and has been its main driver for several years - to recover in the second half of the year

Scotsman: Scotmid axes jobs on first loss in 20 years SCOTMID hit its 250,000-plus members with a triple whammy of bad news yesterday - store closures, job cuts and a first loss in 20 years - and admitted a rapid expansion over the past couple of years has dramatically backfired.The Edinburgh-based Advertisement supermarket-to- funeral parlour group has expanded aggressively in recent years, spending an estimated £40 million-plus on a range of acquisitions, including Dundee-based retail chain Morning, Noon & Night (MN&N) last August for £30 million.

ManchesterOnline: Co-op staff told to change or face the sack MORE than 2,000 financial advisers at Co-operative Insurance Society have been warned to accept new contracts or face the sack. The staff received a letter from the Manchester giant stating they had been dismissed from their current job, however they would be offered a new role at the company. But union leaders at Usdaw believe the contracts offer less favourable conditions and that some staff stand to lose around 20 per cent of their salary because of unachievable sales targets.

TimesOnline: Yet more blood on the high street Britain's embattled retailers know all about slowing economic growth - and so do their shareholders. Many will have lost count of the number of trading statements and interim results they have seen littered with references to the "difficult", "challenging", "tough" or "deteriorating" high street conditions.

BBC NEWS | Business | House price 'slowdown continues' Annual house price growth is continuing to slow, according to the Nationwide. Prices rose by just 1.8% during the 12 months to September - the lowest increase since May 1996, and a further decline on the August's 2.3% growth. But the Nationwide said August's 0.25% drop in interest rates to 4.5% may now be helping to boost the housing market.

Independent: Richard Lambert; The risks are on the downside... consumption needs to pick up quickly Richard Lambert, a member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee, has just returned from a regional visit where he found little to indicate he was wrong to vote for a cut in interest rates last month.

ThisisMoney: Consumer CCJs rocket THE number of lenders turning to the courts to help claw back debts from consumers is rising at the fastest rate since the last major recession in 1991.

Reuters: Personal debts of 100,000 pounds become more common The consumer boom has come on the back of plastic spending to such an extent that some people are now carrying unsecured debts of 100,000 pounds, a leading personal finance expert said.

Motley Fool: Beware Of Property As A Pension! Currently, investors in self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs) can invest in land, property funds, property-company shares or a single commercial property.

New York Times: Is It Better to Buy or Rent? The thought has occurred to just about everybody who owns a home in a hot housing market: maybe it's time to cash out.

BBC News: Slowest UK GDP growth in 12 years The UK economy was growing at an annual rate of just 1.5% in the second quarter of 2005, according to new figures.

Reuters: Kesa H1 earnings fall sharply Kesa Electricals Plc, Europe's third-biggest electrical retailer, said on Wednesday its first-half retail profits fell 27 percent and ruled out a market upturn in France and the UK in the near future. The owner of the Comet chain in the UK and Darty in France said retail earnings fell to 36.3 million pounds for the six months to July 31, on a 0.8 percent drop in like-for-like sales.

ThisisMoney: The OAPs still paying mortgages HALF a million homeowners are still paying off their mortgages after retiring from work, research revealed yesterday. Dreams of a debt-free retirement are disappearing, with the monthly repayments often remaining a burden long after working days end.

Guardian: Labour has £1bn defence float in its sights The government is expected to press ahead with a full privatisation of QinetiQ, the technology firm spun out of the Ministry of Defence, despite political opposition and City scepticism. Three top investment banks are working flat out on preparations for a controversial £1bn stock market debut, hoping to take advantage of the upturn in defence spending after 9/11.

TimesOnline: Oil becomes Brown's handy scapegoat AN OIL shock as bad as that of the Seventies. This was how Gordon Brown depicted the troubles facing the global economy as he explained on Friday why he is about to stage an embarrassing climbdown over his rose-tinted economic forecasts.

TimesOnline: Well-off get bigger tax breaks for buy-to-lets THE dispute over tax breaks for the wealthy intensified yesterday as it emerged that betteroff taxpayers will be able to buy holiday homes and buy-to-let properties through their personal pension funds and get back 51 per cent of the purchase price from the taxman.

TimesOnline: Britain 'less competitive' for business Whatever message Chancellor Gordon Brown may have been trying to impart about Britain's economic well-being this week, he will not have welcomed the findings of a global survey which says that Britain has become a markedly less favourable location for business in the past year.

ThisisMoney: Remortgagers boost property outlook BORROWERS piled in to remortgage in August, taking advantage of cheap deals. New figures from the British Bankers' Association showed gross mortgage lending exceeded the same period a year earlier for the first time in 12 months at £16.8bn.

BBC NEWS | Business | HMV sees few signs of improvement Music retailer HMV has reported a 4.4% drop in like-for-like group sales, and said there were few signs of an improvement on the UK High Street.

BBC NEWS | Business | House of Fraser sees losses widen House of Fraser has described its half-year pre-tax loss of £3.1m as a "robust performance in an extremely difficult trading environment".

ThisisMoney: Barratt warns of 'challenging' market THE boss of Britain's biggest housebuilder, Barratt Developments, today warned of another full year ahead of 'challenging' housing markets. But Barratt chief executive David Pretty said his firm is in a good position yet again to outperform the sector in terms of profit growth after delivering another year of forecast-beating figures.

BBC NEWS | Business | Mercedes 'plans 8,000 job cuts' Carmaker DaimlerChrysler is planning to cut more than 8,000 German jobs at its troubled Mercedes division, according to a newspaper report.

BBC: Rita's legacy haunts oil market ...However, the lack of refining capacity has pushed up the price of fuels, including gasoline.

This Is Money: Pension fund property warning INSURER Norwich Union today expressed concern that people may invest their pension fund in property without fully understanding the implications of this.

LewRockwell: Panic Now and Beat the Rush An estimated $1.4 trillion in adjustable-rate mortgage debt will be reset in the next two years at considerably higher rates, adding to already swelling unsold home inventories. In short, the marginal U.S. consumer and his charitable lender are facing a financial version of the perfect storm.

Reuters: Mortgage approvals rise in August-BBA Mortgage approvals for home purchases showed their first annual rise in more than a year in August, adding to mounting evidence that Britain's cooling property market is stabilising, according to data on Tuesday.

FT: US consumer confidence hits two-year low Consumer Consumer confidence dropped to its lowest level in two years after Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent rise in petrol prices.

FT: Rita causes record damage to oil rigs Hurricane Rita has caused more damage to oil rigs than any other storm in history and will force companies to delay drilling for oil in the US and as far away as the Middle East, initial damage assessments show.

Estate Agency News: Revenue slump set to continue... There is unlikely to be any recovery in the value of the estate agency market until 2008.

SunOnline: Plot to keep Brown down TONY Blair’s allies are counting on an economic downturn to derail Gordon Brown’s bid for the Labour crown, a former minister claimed yesterday. The warning by ex-pensions chief Frank Field came amid signs the Chancellor’s eight-year run of luck at the Treasury may be running out.

BBC NEWS | Job cuts fear at steel producer Talks aimed at avoiding job losses at the last remaining big stainless steel producer in Sheffield are taking place. Outokumpu, the world's second-largest stainless steel producer is planning to move new orders from Coil Products in the city to Finland, hitting UK jobs.

BBC NEWS | Business | Allsports enters administration About 1,700 jobs are on the line after the sportswear retailer Allsports called in the administrators Tuesday. Many of the chain's 267 stores must close after a harsh price war, administrator BDO Stoy Hayward said.

Motley Fool: Three Miserable Mortgage Rip-offs! As the housing market comes off the boil, sneaky mortgage lenders are frantically looking for ways to keep the gravy train going.

ThisisMoney: Chancellor set for a £10bn cash grab NATIONAL Insurance, VAT and a windfall tax on oil companies and banks are the most likely targets of a cash grab by Gordon Brown. Experts warn the Chancellor needs to raise at least £10bn to ensure his arithmetic adds up.

Guardian: We can do this the nice way ... or the nasty way The International Monetary Fund made it clear last week that it saw the world's largest economy as an accident waiting to happen. The US could not continue to live beyond its means indefinitely, and there were only two ways to deal with the unsustainable imbalances in the global economy: the nice way or the nasty way.

Guardian: Brown may have to weather a storm if his forecasts fail The economy remains in fairly good shape, but the chancellor's self-imposed rules may have put him in unnecessary danger

BBC NEWS | England | West Midlands | Job fears at Vodafone call centre Union officials have criticised mobile telephone company Vodafone following reports that its Birmingham call centre is to close with the loss of 600 jobs. Managers have asked all staff at the base in Brindleyplace, including those on sick and maternity leave, to attend a meeting on Tuesday afternoon.

ThisisMoney: Mortgage fees under scrutiny MORTGAGE lenders that bumped up administration fees could be forced to scrap them after coming under the scrutiny of the financial watchdog.

Independent: Alexon sees no end to slump in sales Shares in Alexon fell 7 per cent yesterday after the Dolcis-to-Bay Trading clothing group admitted it was "impossible" to predict how long its sales slump would last.

icWales: Watch out for 'stealth taxes'A leading business group yesterday warned Gordon Brown may have to push up taxes after he indicated economic growth would not be as strong as previously thought.

Haaretz.com: Fischer raises interest rate to 3.75% Governor of the Bank of Israel Stanley Fischer announced his monetary policy for October yesterday, kicking up central bank rates by 0.25 percentage points to 3.75 percent.

Scotsman.com: Glimmer of hope for retailers on the rack How much longer will the consumer downturn last - and how much deeper will it go?

Reuters.co.uk: No need for tax rises on current plans-Brown Current spending plans are affordable and there is no need for tax rises to pay for them, Chancellor Gordon Brown said on Monday, despite being set to slash his growth forecasts.

Times Online: Brown will need to go beyond rhetoric After a succession of trade unionists had invoked memories of the bad old days of labour relations, the Chancellor was destined to sound like the embodiment of new Labour, even if he had to mention the extra tax that he would be needing to collect in order to balance his books.

Economist: A nasty whiff of inflation Thanks to higher oil prices, inflation is creeping up all around the world.

FT: Greenspan warns on mortgages The booming US housing market has led to a worrying decline in standards in the mortgage lending industry, Alan Greenspan, Federal Reserve chairman, has warned.

FT: Germany's inflation at highest for 4 years Eurozone inflation is expected to rise steeply this month on the back of soaring energy costs after German data on Monday showed prices increasing at the fastest pace for four years.

Money Week: UK Taxes Are Set To Rise Chancellor Gordon Brown leaked the announcement that he was downgrading his forecasts for UK economic growth to coincide with Hurricane Rita and on a Saturday, when the financial markets were closed, in the hope that he could get away with the minimum of adverse publicity.

Money Week: The Bubble In The US Housing Sector Significantly, Mr Greenspan has drawn an important linkage in his analysis of the situation. He states not only that the ongoing process of monetary tightening could throw the escalating housing market into reverse, but...

Money Week: Stalemate For UK Interest Rates Rate expectations in the UK have been volatile so far this year. At the start of 2005 markets began to price in a rise in UK interest rates as likely, reflecting concerns of a re-acceleration of domestic growth and inflationary pressures...

FT: Bush tries to reassure public on high petrol prices President George W. Bush on Monday made a rare public appeal for Americans to share cars and curb non-essential driving as part of an effort to reduce high petrol prices following the two hurricanes that have struck the Gulf of Mexico coast.

FT: Oil rebounds despite less Rita damage than feared Oil prices closed strongly on Monday despite emerging evidence that the damage to US production and refining facilities caused by Hurricane Rita was less severe than feared.

ThisisMoney: Gordon Brown outlines his vision A SUPER-CONFIDENT Gordon Brown appeared to rule out emergency tax rises today. The Chancellor issued a 'don't panic' message to the City as he strode to the Labour conference to be crowned prime minister in waiting.

TimesOnline: Taxes 'must rise' by 3p in the pound Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, will have to raise taxes by the equivalent of 3p in the pound after vastly overestimating economic growth, a leading think tank warned today.

BBC News: Oil dips as US refineries reopen Oil prices have continued to fall as some refineries which emerged largely unscathed from Hurricane Rita have started to reopen.

SKY News: Brown rejects tax jibe The Chancellor is insisting that current spending plans are affordable and tax rises are unnecessary.

BBC News: Chancellor 'faces tax rise call' Gordon Brown may have to raise taxes after he suggested UK economic growth would be lower than the government had forecast, a business group has warned.

smh.com.au: Slowdown hits home for agents There are plenty of For Sale signs going up all over your suburb. But they are not being put up on your neighbours' houses. All over the city, real estate agents, hit by the downturn in listings and property sales, are selling their assets and shutting up shop.

thebusinessonline.com: Brown under fire over economic growth downgrades Chancellor Gordon Brown’s claim that the high oil price was almost single-handedly responsible for his decision to downgrade his growth forecasts for the British economy this year came under sustained attack at the weekend.

thebusinessonline.com: Statistically speaking, never trust the ONS Last week the Office for National Statistics (ONS) put out a particularly interesting press release. This claimed that four in 10 people trust government figures.

'UK house prices will fall by up to 50%' - in2perspective In an article published in The Observer today, financier-turned-economic pundit Jim Mellon identifies five trends that he predicts will lead to a dramatic fall in house prices in the US and UK within three years. "Stock markets will collapse, house prices in the over-extended markets of the UK and the US will fall by up to 50%, and major investment banks and other financial institutions will go bust," forecasts Mellon.

Guardian: Oil market braced for Rita blast The world's oil markets are braced for a tumultuous week, with US refineries shut down in the wake of Hurricane Rita, and fears mounting that sky-high energy prices are taking their toll on gas-guzzling economies.

Yahoo: G7 to meet again on December 10 in London ...They also want to have another discussion early on about high oil prices, identified as a key potential risk for the global economy, U.S. Treasury officials said.

Telegraph: Sorry Gordon, you know you had it coming On Friday Gordon Brown acknowledged that his forecast for UK growth this year would not be met. Earlier the International Monetary Fund had reduced its own forecast from 2.6 per cent to 1.9 per cent.

The Observer | Alphabet of global downturn: "Although a natural optimist, I am going to make a prediction that is almost apocalyptic. In a short time - a few years at most - the rich West and Japan will have a terrible shock. Living standards will fall precipitously, companies will fail en masse and established institutions will find themselves in financial peril. Asset prices - particularly those of houses - will fall dramatically in some countries, notably the US and UK, and world trade conditions will deteriorate significantly"

Sky News: Brown admits fault Gordon Brown has been forced to admit economic growth will not be as strong as he had predicted. The Chancellor has repeatedly refused to give in to pressure to cut his Budget forecast for growth.

BBC Panorama: Brown's miracle economy Panorama asks whether Gordon Brown's miracle economy is as miraculous as it seems. BBC economics reporter Stephanie Flanders examines whether we have experienced a sea-change in Britain's economic fortunes, or another old-fashioned spending binge that will eventually run dry.

BBC NEWS | Politics | Economy 'weaker than predicted' Economic growth in the UK will be weaker than predicted, Chancellor Gordon Brown is set to admit. He will tell the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that record oil prices and a slow global economy are to blame.

TimesOnline: British Land planning £1bn disposal BRITISH LAND, the FTSE 100 property company, is planning to sell more than £1 billion of property over the next 18 months after a strategic review of its portfolio, The Times has learnt. It is understood that British Land will seek to cash in on high demand for commercial property and soaring values by selling assets that it believes will underperform in the next few years. Buildings for sale include CityPoint, a £500 million office tower in the City of London, which will represent Britain’s largest single office investment sale.

TheTimes: Brown to blame oil price rises for growth downgrade GORDON BROWN has set the stage for an embarrassing retreat over his economic predictions for Britain, signalling that he will cut his growth forecasts sharply while seeking to blame high oil prices.

This Is Money: Three big retailers awash with pessimism JOHN Lewis, Laura Ashley and Ottakar's added to the deepening gloom on Britain's High Streets. All said there was no sign of a pick-up before Christmas, chiming with recent downbeat comments from Next, Woolworths and B&Q.

This Is Money: Shops braced for grim Christmas WITH 13 weeks to go until Christmas, Britain's retailers are already braced for the worst festive season in recent memory.

Reuters: Inflation expectation fears stalk Bank of England After years of well-contained rices, Bank of England policymakers now fear that Britons could make their job harder by overreacting if inflation rises too far beyond its recent range. Climbing petrol prices and soaring household bills have pushed inflation well above the central bank's 2.0 percent target in recent months to a near-9 year high.

Reuters: Sterling hits 7-week low vs stronger dollar Sterling fell to its lowest level in seven weeks against the dollar on Friday, pushed down by a rebound in the U.S. currency.

Action News: No down payment? No sweat "What happens when you run out of people who could even qualify to buy a house with an interest-only, (zero-down), variable-rate mortgage?" Thornberg asked. "The answer is ... there are no more shills to enter the bottom of this pyramid and, therefore, the pyramid scheme will have collapsed into itself."

BBC: US jobless claims hit by Katrina The number of Americans out of work and seeking benefits as a result of Hurricane Katrina has risen to 214,000, according to US government figures.

Telegraph: Banker auctions his house by reducing price £2,000 a day A town house is to be sold by Dutch auction with the price dropping £2,000 each day it remains on the market. The idea is based on a technique used in financial markets and will test the nerve of bidders interested in the four-bedroom property.

BBC NEWS | Business | Furnitureland in administration UK retailer Furnitureland has collapsed amid strong competition and a decline in demand, putting 500 jobs at risk.

Business Week: Housing Markets Are Stable ... Until They're Not Three top economists made a splash on the Wall Street Journal's editorial page this past Monday with a piece headlined "Bubble Trouble? Not Likely." But the way I read the research underlying the Journal piece, a better title would have been "Housing Markets Are Stable ... Until They're Not."

FT: Fears that Katrina has blown deep hole in deficit Now the hurricane seems likely to send American public finances plunging deeper into the red. The White House, sensing unrest in Republican ranks, has stressed that the total rebuilding cost remains unknown. But, with $62.3bn already appropriated, it seems reasonable to expect the Federal government's final bill will reach $200bn.

Reuters: G7 to welcome China yuan steps, wince at high oil Soaring energy costs and steps by China to loosen its rigid currency trading system looked set to dominate talks on Friday among finance chiefs from the world's rich nations.

Reuters: Morrison to close 3 depots, 2,500 jobs may go Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc is to close three distribution depots with the loss of 2,500 posts as it battles with problems arising from the ambitious acquisition last year of larger rival Safeway.

Bexley Times: Anger over possible job losses UP TO 600 workers at one of the borough's biggest employers are facing redundancy following the company's loss of a lucrative contract. Managers at Ferndale Foods, based in Hailey Road, Erith, have had a £40 million agreement with Asda supermarkets, to which they supply ready meals, terminated.

BBC NEWS | England | Staffordshire | Bathrooms firm set to axe 30 jobs Thirty people are being made redundant at the Twyford Bathrooms factory in south Cheshire. Employees at the plant in Alsager were told on Thursday the jobs will be axed by the end of October. The company said it has struggled with difficult trading conditions for the whole industry over the past year and is having to restructure.

BBC NEWS | England | Essex | Hundreds of jobs go with shutdown More than half the workforce at a factory in Basildon is to go after the firm announced production is to move. York International, which employs 450 people, is to stop making air conditioning units in the town as part of a restructuring. A company spokesman said production would be phased out over 12 months with the loss of 250 jobs

Guardian: It's tough out there, says John Lewis chief - but we can trade our way through it Conditions on the high street are "the worst for 15 years", the chairman of the John Lewis department store group said yesterday. Announcing a 3% dip in half year profits, to £78m, at the employee-owned partnership, Sir Stuart Hampson said trading conditions in the non-food sector were "exceptionally harsh" and that consumers had been "spooked" into curtailing their spending.

Guardian: Exporters forced to cut prices despite oil rise The continued sluggish performance of the eurozone - destination for half of British overseas sales - has sent manufacturing export orders to their lowest since the turn of the year, the CBI said yesterday. The CBI's latest snapshot of industry showed firms expect to have to cut the prices of their goods in spite of big cost rises caused by surging oil prices.

Policy Exchange: Bigger Better Faster More Britain has some of the oldest, pokiest and most expensive homes in the world. Our search for better alternatives took us to four countries with similar demand side pressures to find out how their planning systems succeed (and fail) to provide high quality, spacious homes at affordable prices.

FT: Latest storm could hit refineries harder than Katrina More than 1m people on Thursday fled their homes along the Texas and Louisiana coast to escape Hurricane Rita as President George W. Bush sought to avoid a repeat of the disastrous response to Hurricane Katrina by urging a mass evacuation.

This Is Money: City turns on Brown's figures GORDON Brown's optimistic view of the economy is unravelling fast, as City economists warn that soaraway oil prices could drive inflation as high as 3% and undermine growth.

BBC News: Delta to shed up to 9,000 workers Troubled US carrier Delta Air Lines has announced plans to cut up to 9,000 jobs and reduce the pay of those still left.

BBC NEWS | Business | UK factory orders 'remain weak' Manufacturing orders improved slightly in September, but remain near two-year lows, business group the CBI has said. Its latest monthly industrial trends survey showed that 39% of firms said order books were below normal, while only 12% said they were above.

Independent: IMF warns of $80 oil by Christmas The world economy could be plunged into recession by