Britain's Premium Credit Rating Downgraded

Rating agency Moody's has stripped Britain of its top-grade AAA credit rating, citing slow growth and a rising debt burden.

After the international agency announced the one notch drop to AA1, Chancellor George Osborne said it was a "stark reminder" of the country's debt problems, but said the coalition was determined to stick by its plan for economic recovery.

The downgrade is a major blow for Mr Osborne, who has been coming under increasing pressure to take action to stimulate the economy.

Moody's said Britain's recovery was proving to be significantly slower than previous rebounds from recession and it did not expect the situation to change.

"[There's] increasing clarity that, despite considerable structural economic strengths, the UK's economic growth will remain sluggish over the next few years," it said.

Moody's is the first of the major credit rating agencies to knock the UK off of its top rating.

Moody's said it did not expect Britain's slow recovery to change

The ratings agency also cut the Bank of England's AAA rating by one notch, also to AA1.

Sky Economics Editor Ed Conway said: "The fact that Britain has lost its AAA crown for the first time since credit ratings were given to the UK back in the 1970s, it's a really big blow to Britain's reputation.

"It's something of an economic blow, but in a way it's more of a political problem for George Osborne. He made a key part of the Conservative election pledge to safeguard Britain's credit rating."

On Friday evening, the Chancellor said: "We have a stark reminder of the debt problems facing our country - and the clearest possible warning to anyone who thinks we can run away from dealing with those problems.

"We are not going to run away from our problems, we are going to overcome them."

Moody's said that the British economy is constrained both by the troubled global economy and the drag from businesses and the Government slashing its debt burdens.

"Moreover, while the Government's recent Funding for Lending Scheme has the potential to support a surge in growth, Moody's believes the risks to the growth outlook remain skewed to the downside," it said.

Mr Osborne has used maintaining the top credit rating for government bonds as one of the key arguments for the Government's austerity programme.

However, Labour has insisted that withdrawing demand from the economy has put it more at risk by stunting growth.

Labour shadow chancellor Ed Balls said: "This credit rating downgrade is a humiliating blow to a Prime Minister and Chancellor who said keeping our AAA rating was the test of their economic and political credibility.

"In the Budget the government must urgently take action to kick-start our flatlining economy and realise that we need growth to get the deficit down. If David Cameron and George Osborne fail to do so and put political pride above the national economic interest we face more long-term damage and pain for businesses and families."

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Food Bills May Rise Amid Growing Meat Tests

By Tom Parmenter, Sky News Correspondent

Consumers are being warned that food bills may rise if high demand for meat testing continues.

Since the start of the horsemeat scandal, laboratories all over the UK have been inundated with requests to test different meat products.

The latest Food Standards Agency results last week showed 29 positive results for horse DNA out of 2,501 tested beef products.

At Worcestershire Scientific Services laboratory staff have been working early mornings, late nights and weekends to keep up with demand.

Even some of the equipment has been unable to keep up with almost continual testing.

Laboratory manager Paul Hancock told Sky News that funding is tight, explaining: "The FSA do support the laboratory to a degree but things are very very difficult.

"If the consumer wants quality food they have to be prepared to pay for a degree of policing that."

Checking a meat sample for DNA from other species takes three days and costs between £75 to £100 per sample.

The number of labs capable of carrying out proper testing though has fallen over recent years due to funding cuts. In April, Somerset County Council will close its lab.

Those that remain open operate as competitive businesses rather than sharing information, equipment and practices with each other.

Mr Hancock added: "Ten or 15 years ago the labs used to work closely together that relationship has broken down because of commercial activity and that makes life a whole lot more difficult as well."

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Oscar Pistorius: Bail Decision Expected

A judge is today expected to decide on whether to grant bail to Oscar Pistorius, the athlete accused of shooting his girlfriend dead in South Africa.

Prosecutors have argued he is a cold-blooded killer and should be kept locked up, while his own lawyers say that he is far too famous to flee prosecution.

The bail hearing, which began last Friday, is resuming at 0800 GMT.

His coach Ampie Louw says that if the athlete is granted bail, he will start training again next week.

On Thursday, police were forced to pull their lead detective off the athlete's case after it emerged he himself faces attempted murder charges for shooting at a minibus.

Defence lawyers for Pistorius say the athlete shot dead his girlfriend by a terrible mistake, and deserves bail to prepare for his case.

Oscar Pistorius claims the death was a tragic mistake

They say the case has been marred by a bungled police investigation.

The 'blade runner', whose lower legs were amputated in infancy, is said to have killed model Reeva Steenkamp, 29, in the early hours of St Valentine's Day at his home.

Prosecutors have told the court it was a premeditated murder, with Pistorius firing four shots through a locked toilet door at Ms Steenkamp on the other side.

She was hit in the head, arm and hip.

Witnesses said they heard gunshots and screams from the home in a gated community surrounded by three-metre-high stone walls and an electric fence.

Pistorius contends he was acting in self-defence.

He says he mistook Ms Steenkamp for an intruder and felt vulnerable because he was unable to attach his prosthetic limbs in time to confront the threat.

The 26-year-old said he grabbed a 9-mm pistol from under his bed and went into the bathroom.

Pistorius described how he fired into the locked toilet door in a blind panic in the mistaken belief that the intruder was lurking inside.

Bail hearings in South Africa allow for prosecutors and defence lawyers to lay out their basic arguments, based on preliminary evidence.

The arrest of Pistorius stunned millions who watched in awe last year as the Olympic and Paralympic sprinter reached the semi-final of the 400m in the London Olympics.

The impact has been greatest in sports-mad South Africa, where Pistorius was seen as a rare hero who commanded respect from both blacks and whites, transcending the racial divides that persist 19 years after the end of apartheid.

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Pistorius Cop Faces Attempted Murder Charges

The investigating officer in the Oscar Pistorius murder case is facing seven charges of attempted murder from a 2011 shooting.

Hilton Botha and two other officers reportedly opened fire on seven passengers in a taxi mini-bus in an attempt to stop it. It is alleged that the officers, who were on duty at the time, were drunk.

They were arrested after the event in October 2011 and charges were initially dropped but were reinstated by the state prosecutor yesterday.

Botha is set to appear in court in May to face the charges, but police plan to keep him on the Pistorius murder case despite them.

The South African Police Service has confirmed the charges against the detective and launched an investigation which may see Botha suspended.

Hilton Botha arrives at court to give evidence at Pistorius' bail hearing

Spokesman Neville Malila said: "We were only informed yesterday that attempted murders charges against Hilton Botha have been reinstated."

He said that Botha's case would not hamper his investigation into the circumstances of the Valentine's Day shooting at Pistorius' Silver Lakes home.

It is unclear why the charges against Botha were reinstated. He denies being drunk and  has told a South African news channel that he was chasing suspects.

Medupe Simasiku, the spokesman for National Prosecution Agency, said he could not say how the charges would affect the case against Pistorius.

He said: "The (Pistorius) prosecutors were not aware of those charges (against Botha).

Oscar Pistorius is due to find out whether he will be granted bail

"We are calling up the information so we can get the details of the case. From there we can take action and see if we remove him from the investigation or if he stays."

Under cross-examination during Pistorius' bail hearing, Botha was accused of contaminating the crime scene in the paralympic star's home and backtracked on key details, including the distance of witnesses from the house.

In his often confused testimony, Botha, who was described as a 24-year police veteran with 16 years as a detective, conceded that police had left a 9 mm slug from the barrage that killed Steenkamp inside a toilet at the scene.

Police also lost track of illegal ammunition found inside the house, Botha said, and the detective himself walked through the crime scene without wearing protective shoe covers, potentially contaminating the area.

He also claimed in court that police found boxes of testosterone and needles in multiple Paralympic champion Pistorius' bedroom following the Valentine's Day shooting last week, but then said later he wasn't sure what the exact name of the substance was.

The lead defence counsel Barry Roux accused the police of oversights and mistakes on their initial investigation.

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Oscar Pistorius Arrives For Bail Verdict

Pistorius: Prosecution vs Defence

Updated: 2:01pm UK, Tuesday 19 February 2013

Two very different versions of what happened in the moments before Reeva Steenkamp's death have been heard at a bail hearing for Oscar Pistorius.

The athlete has been charged with the premeditated murder of his girlfriend in the early hours of Valentine's Day. He denies murder.

Below are the key arguments from the prosecution, along with Pistorius' account of events as read from his statement in court.

:: The Prosecution

Pistorius fired his gun four times into the door of a bathroom, knowing that Ms Steenkamp was inside after an argument.

She had locked herself in the room after fleeing down a seven-metre passage from the bedroom following the row at Pistorius' luxury home in Pretoria, South Africa.

Pistorius followed her with his 9mm pistol, first putting on his prosthetic legs.

He shot his gun four times through the door, killing an "unarmed and defenceless" woman. The door was then broken open from the outside.

There was "no possible explanation" to support Pistorius' claim of mistaken identity - that he believed the person inside the bathroom was a burglar.

If that were the case, prosecutor Gerrie Nel argued, why wasn't Pistorius' first thought to the whereabouts of his girlfriend?

Mr Nel argued there was a motive for the killing.

:: The Defence

Pistorius had "no intention" of killing his "beloved" Ms Steenkamp and he is "absolutely mortified" by her death.

In the early hours he heard a noise and thought an intruder had come through a bathroom window and was hiding there. He felt vulnerable and shouted for the intruder to get out and for Ms Steenkamp to call police.

It was dark and Pistorius thought Ms Steenkamp was lying on her bed, not that she was in the bathroom. He wanted to protect her.

Pistorius hobbled to the bathroom on his stumps and fired his gun, a 9mm pistol he kept under his bed because he had received death threats.

After the shooting, he returned to his bed and saw that Ms Steenkamp was not there.

He shouted for help, broke open a door with a cricket bat and found her still alive. He carried her downstairs.

He had got up to fetch a fan from the balcony when he heard the noise in the toilet earlier, which is why he did not notice Ms Steenkamp was not on the bed.

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Oscar Pistorius: Defence Steps Up Bail Case

Lawyers acting for Oscar Pistorius will set out their case in an attempt to keep the athlete out of prison as his bail hearing continues.

The Paralympian arrived at the court in the back of a police car with a blue blanket covering his head.

Pistorius' father Henke and brother Carl - who have supported him in the two previous hearings - sat in the public gallery.

It is understood that Carl spent time with his brother in the holding cells earlier today.

Sky's Alex Crawford said it will be a "pretty explosive day" in terms of the details the court will hear about what is alleged to have happened.

Investigating officer Hilton Botha is expected to respond to Pistorius' version of events.

On the first day of the hearing, the court heard him claim he shot his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp because he thought she was a robber.

But the chances of him being given bail lessened after Magistrate Desmond Nair ruled the case a schedule six offence - meaning premeditated murder.

It means his lawyers now have to prove "exceptional circumstances" for him to be granted bail until he goes to trial.

The gold-medallist, known as the Blade Runner, is accused of murdering Miss Steenkamp at his home in Pretoria, South Africa, last Thursday.

His lawyer, Barry Roux, read out a statement which gave his version of the events that led to Miss Steenkamp's death.

Miss Steenkamp's funeral was held in Port Elizabeth

The 26-year-old denies murder and said the couple were "deeply in love".

In the statement, Pistorius said he felt vulnerable because he was not wearing his prosthetic legs. He claimed he fired his gun into the bathroom, but then realised Miss Steenkamp was not in bed.

He said: "It filled me with horror and fear."

After realising his mistake, he said he put on his legs, walked towards the bathroom and broke down the locked door with a cricket bat.

He then ran downstairs carrying his 29-year-old girlfriend, but "she died in my arms".

Pistorius went on: "I fail to understand how I could be charged with murder, let alone premeditated murder, as I did not plan to murder my girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp."

The couple went to sleep shortly after 10pm, Pistorius said, but in the middle of the night he woke up and thought an intruder had climbed in through his bathroom window.

He said he grabbed a 9mm pistol - which he kept under his bed after receiving death threats - and made his way in the darkness towards the bathroom door.

"As I didn't have my prosthetic legs on I was vulnerable," he said. "I fired a shot at the toilet door and shouted to Reeva to call the police."

Pistorius, who won two gold medals and a silver at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London, described how he was "absolutely mortified at the death of my beloved Reeva".

The bail hearing came as Miss Steenkamp's funeral was held in her home town of Port Elizabeth.

The memorial service was attended by family and friends who had travelled from around the world.

Six pallbearers carried her coffin, draped with a white cloth and covered in white flowers.

Her brother, Adam Steenkamp, said after the service: "There's a space missing inside all the people that she knew that cannot be filled again."

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New 4G Phone Operators Announced By Ofcom

Telecoms watchdog Ofcom has granted permits for more mobile phone firms to operate faster 4G networks.

The four new winners were announced as Hutchison 3G, a division of BT called Niche Spectrum,Telefonica O2 and Vodafone.

Existing 4G operator Everything Everywhere was also given expanded bandwith.

Ofcom said in a statement: "This is expected to lead to faster mobile broadband speeds, lower prices, greater innovation, new investment and better coverage.

"Almost the whole UK population will be able to receive 4G mobile services by the end of 2017 at the latest."

Ofcom said the purpose of the auction was to "promote strong competition in the 4G mobile market".

However new entrants in the sector, including Chinese-owned firms, failed in their bids.

The regulator said the failure of new entrants was simply because their bids were too low.

The auction raised £2.34bn for the taxpayer but the Government had hoped for a total of £3.5bn.

There was a reserve price on the auction of £1.36bn.

Britain's last big mobile phone spectrum auction was in 2000 for 3G services and raised more than £20bn.

Ofcom also revealed that it was "planning now to support the release of further spectrum for possible future '5G' mobile services".

It said that by 2030, demand for mobile data could be 80 times higher than it is in 2013.

Future development of 5G would be needed to meet this demand and avoid a feared "capacity crunch".

Ofcom added: "More mobile spectrum is needed over the long term, together with new technologies to make mobile broadband more efficient."

More follows...

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