Wednesday, 27 July 2011

Piers Morgan drawn into hacking scandal Ex-tabloid editor: 'I'm quite happy to be parked in the corner of the tabloid beast and to have to sit here defending all these things I used to get up to'

Former tabloid editor Piers Morgan faced being drawn into the phone-hacking scandal on Wednesday after an interview surfaced during which he appeared to accept that such practices were tolerated on his watch.

Morgan, who edited Rupert Murdoch's now-defunct News of the World in the mid-1990s and went on to edit rival the Daily Mirror, was asked by the BBC's Kirsty Young how he felt about "dealing with people who rake through bins for a living, people who tap people's phones, people who take secret photographs."
Morgan, who replaced interviewer Larry King on CNN in January, began his answer by saying that "not a lot of that went on," but then acknowledged that newspapers he worked for used information obtained by these methods.
"A lot of it was done by third parties rather than the staff themselves. That's not to defend it because obviously you were running the results of their work," he said in an excerpt of the 2009 interview posted on the Daily Telegraph's website on Wednesday. 
"I'm quite happy to be parked in the corner of the tabloid beast and to have to sit here defending all these things I used to get up to. I make no pretense about the stuff we used to do," he said.
Video: Murdoch assesses damage to media empire (on this page)
The phone-hacking scandal at the News of the World has rocked Murdoch's empire, prompting the media baron to close the title, fire top executives and abandon a bid to buy UK broadcaster BSkyB. 
After a reporter and private investigator who worked for the paper were convicted and sent to jail for phone-hacking in 2007, the company said the practices were limited to a single rogue employee.
But more victims emerged and the crisis catapulted to a new level earlier in July when The Guardian newspaper reported that the alleged victims included the families of British troops killed in combat and murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler.
Trinity Mirror, the owner of the Daily Mirror, on Tuesday ordered an investigation into whether journalists there also engaged in phone hacking after a former journalist told The Independent the practice was "endemic" at the paper.

 

Monday, 25 July 2011

Seven million Brits driving Euro motorists round the bend


AXA, in its annual holiday driving survey, estimates around seven million of us are likely to be driving abroad this summer but research among European neighbours suggests that only one in five Europeans think Brits drive carefully when abroad. And only one in four think Brits who drive in their country actually understand local driving laws.
The biggest area of complaint is confusion at roundabouts and junctions, followed by a tendency to drive too slowly, confusion over which side of the road to use and driving too fast. Data from the insurer shows that two million British motorists have had an accident while driving abroad.

Overall Brits were ranked by their neighbours as seventh best drivers out of 11 European nationalities. Germans were rated the best (with nearly three times more votes than anyone else) and Greeks the worst.

Research among British motorists backs up the suggestion that we don't know our gauche from our droite when it comes to negotiating foreign road rules. When it comes to the most basic requirements of driving abroad, there seems to be a lot of confusion with 27 per cent admitting they don't know whether a GB sticker is needed and a further 21 per cent wrongly say it isn’t.

One in three heading off abroad didn't know whether their insurance would cover them, with two thirds of these making the potentially disastrous assumption that it does.

When asked the meaning of six different European road signs, the average number of correct answers was just 28 per cent. For some signs, such as a Spanish sign indicating overtaking is allowed, the number was as low as 15 per cent.

Additionally, general road rules were not well known, with 40 per cent unaware of the need to carry a reflective jacket and red triangle in France and over half (51 per cent) not knowing the requirement to change beams on headlights for right hand drive countries.

More amusing misunderstandings included a belief by one in four that jumping red lights in Italy was perfectly legal, and 28 per cent thinking beeping a horn on Sunday was illegal in Spain.

Amanda Edwards at AXA says: "While the UK has one of best records for road safety in the world, it seems that when we go on holiday many of us forget to pack our road sense. 

"It really is important if you are driving abroad to understand the local driving laws and stick to them, as well as making sure you drive safely at all times.

"Failure to do so could mean some potentially tragic and expensive holiday souvenirs

 

Brits abroad caught out by significant ATM fees

According to recent research, British holidaymakers spent over £391 million in ATM withdrawal fees while travelling abroad within the past year.                           


The findings, published by Sainsbury’s, showed that an estimated £14.2 billion was withdrawn by British holidaymakers over the same 12 month period from cash machines in countries such as Spain, U.S.A and Korea.

The average charge for an ATM withdrawal within the Eurozone was found to be approximately £1.67, with some cash points charging up to £2.66.

ATM charges overseas were less common but still expensive, with approximately 3.7 million people admitting to withdrawing a collective total of £2.6 billion on credit cards.

This works out to an approximate average of £726 per person.

While the majority of people would probably accept that charges such as these are inevitable when using credit or debit cards abroad, the actual figures involved are still quite shocking.

Another rather intriguing set of statistics revealed that men are approximately 50% more likely than women to use their credit cards to withdraw cash while overseas.

While fewer women will use overseas ATM machines to withdraw cash though, those that do are likely to withdraw considerably more than men, on average.

David Barrett, Head of Sainsbury’s Travel Money, said “As a nation, we spend a huge amount every year on our holidays.”

Travel money cards are a great solution for those who are worried about fees and charges while travelling abroad.

Regardless of whether you are staying in Europe or going overseas, you can preload money onto a travel money card before you leave.

This guarantees you won’t be subject to the same charges as someone who is withdrawing money using their debit/credit card while travelling.

Transfer Money to the U.S.A

If you are looking to invest in the U.S.A, think carefully about how you will be transferring money to the U.S.A. Foreign currency exchange rates quoted by banks are almost always worse than the exchange rates available through specialist currency dealers.

So if you are sending money to the U.S.A – which you will inevitably have to do if you are looking to make a property investment, be sure to compare the market before you buy your overseas currency.

 

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