News

Charlie Hebdo suspects take hostage in north-east France

By RFI

The two suspected Charlie Hebdokillers on Friday morning took a hostage and holed up on an industrial estate after a car chase and exchange of fire with police in an area north-east of Paris.

After a car chase on France’s RN2 main road, the men took refuge in a printworks on an industrial estate at Dammartin-en-Goële, where they took at least one employee hostage, reports said.
The interior ministry confirmed on Friday morning that, thanks to sevral witnesses, it was "almost certain" that the two individuals inside the building were Chérif and Saïd Kouachi, who have been sought by police since they allegedly murdered 12 people in the attack on the offices of the satirical paper on Wednesday.
Residents and local workers have been ordered to stay indoors.
Gendarmes and police from the elite GIGN and Raid units were rushed to the scene to start negotatiations.
A large police deployment was launched north-east of Paris after the Kouachi borthers fled the capital, ditching at least one car and holding up a service station on the way.

Millions fear missing January’s rent or mortgage payments, says Shelter

Interest rate rise would put many more in trouble, with almost 60% saying they are already struggling to meet housing costs

More than 3m households in Britain fear missing their rent or mortgage payments this month, Shelter has said, adding that an interest rate rise would put many more in trouble.

Research from the housing and homelessness charity shows that almost 60% of people say they are struggling to meet their housing costs. One in nine fear they will be unable to meet January’s payments, as families struggle to balance their budgets after Christmas.

Shelter says “sky high housing costs” mean more people risk being swamped by their mortgage or rent demands.

“Many people have spent a long time thinking they have nowhere to turn and are often close to breaking point by the time they come to us. If you’re in this situation, it’s so important to remember you’re not alone and that help is available,” said Shelter’s helpline adviser, Nadeem Khan.

The number of visitors to its website seeking advice on eviction, repossession and rent and mortgage arrears has spiked in recent months, suggesting the problem is becoming more acute, a spokesperson said.

Shelter urged people to get in contact if they need help to avoid eviction.

“I spoke to a lady recently who was sick with worry for months because she couldn’t meet her mortgage payments and felt too ashamed to ask for help,” Khan said. “When finally a court notice landed on her doorstep she came to us and we were able to help the family keep their home.”

Evictions hit a record high of more than 100 a day in the autumn. Bailiffs repossessed more than 11,000 rented properties between July and September, the highest quarterly figure since records began in 2000, and 2,805 mortgage borrowers lost their homes during the quarter.

The bedroom tax has been blamed for driving the increase in evictions, by cutting the amount of housing benefit paid to social housing tenants whose homes are deemed too large for their requirements.

UK interest rates are likely to remain at their current record lows for some months, but a rise in borrowing costs could push more overstretched households into financial trouble.

Another survey found that a third of borrowers would struggle to meet repayments if they increased by between £100 and £199 a month.

“Our latest mortgage mood data suggests that many borrowers are not ready for an interest rate rise,” said Jeremy Duncombe, the director of Legal & General Mortgage Club. “The last time rates went up in the UK was in 2007, and although the base rate has been static at 0.5% for over five years, they will rise sooner rather than later.”

According to the Money Advice Service, a one percentage point increase in interest rates would add £90 a month to the cost of repaying a £180,000 mortgage. A rise of two points, taking the Bank of England’s base rate to 2.5%, would add almost £200 a month to the average repayment.

The Bank of England has repeatedly said it would raise interest rates gradually when the time comes. It has also indicated that borrowing costs will remain low until there are signs that real wages are rising.

Stansted delays after Ryanair passengers go through wrong door

Thousands of passengers faced delays at Stansted airport on Sunday after people arriving on a Ryanair flight went through an exit door “left open in error”.

Passengers waiting in the departures lounge were forced to go through security again after a group arriving on a flight from Lisbon mistakenly entered the airport through the wrong door.

Stansted said passengers faced “long security queues” and delays of up to an hour on some flights, as it drafted in extra staff to deal with the incident.

A spokesman for the airport said an investigation was under way to determine who was at fault for leaving the door open.

A Ryanair spokesman said: “The crew of this flight correctly directed disembarking customers to the assigned gate. However they entered the airport through a door which had been left open in error.

“Ryanair fully cooperated with Stansted airport as it rescreened departing passengers. A number of flights were delayed throughout the day due to earlier issues with de-icing facilities.”

Disgruntled passengers took to Twitter to express their frustrations, with some complaining of queues of two hours.

Rob Treloar tweeted: “Pandemonium at Stansted airport. Security queue stretches length of terminal twice!”

Duncan McKay wrote: “Ongoing security ’issue’ at Stansted airport. Massive queues as no one can get through security. Communication over PA has not been great.”

James Carter tweeted: “Massive security queues at Stansted, again. Been in line for two hours now.”

Charlotte Carey added: “Whole of Stansted airport has to be re screened because of a security breach.”

And Tom Wallace said: “Yet again, Europe’s favourite ’airline’ delivers. Shambolic, I think would be the word of choice.”

Deadline looms for major UK banks to submit ringfencing plans

The Bank of England is preparing this week to scrutinise plans by major banks to insulate their high street operations from riskier investment banking activities.

In the latest attempt by policymakers to reduce the need for taxpayer bailouts, banks have been instructed to present their proposals to the Bank by Tuesday – expected to be submissions running to hundreds of pages of documents.

Major banks face having to overhaul the way they run their operations in order to convince the Bank they can protect consumers if their businesses run into trouble. Many will likely be required to create a holding company as well as distinct ringfenced and non-ringfenced entities, each with its own board of directors.

No more than one-third of the members of a ringfenced bank’s board may be current employees or directors of another entity in the group – which may present challenges, given the new regime is being introduced to make bankers more responsible for their actions.

Ringfencing the high street from investment banking was recommended by the independent Vickers commission, which was set up in the first year of the coalition government. While banks have a deadline of 1 January 2019 to comply with the rules, Threadneedle Street is demanding evidence that work is under way to protect consumers from the collapse of an investment bank.

The requirements could force banks to significantly scale back their investment banking arms and embark on fresh reviews of their strategies. The ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has already warned that this could lead to an increase in the costs for consumers, as banks try to pass on the expenses associated with both restructuring and the restrictions on moving resources around their operations.

The lenders have known since the autumn that they need to submit their plans by Tuesday – a deadline that largely affects HSBC, Barclays, Santander’s UK arm and the Co-operative Bank as well as the bailed-out Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland.

But any bank with deposits of £25bn or more by 2019 could also be expected to submit plans. This has implications for: TSB, which is in the process of being spun out of Lloyds; Williams & Glyn, which is being spun out of RBS; and Virgin Money, the recently floated banking business backed by Sir Richard Branson.

Omar Ali, UK head of banking and capital markets at EY, said the timeline for the changes was ambitious given the scale of structural reform that could be forced upon the banks. “The discussions that take place in the first half of this year based on the initial plans will be critical to the future shape of the industry,” he said. “Many are likely to ask for waivers given the short timeframes for submitting their plans.”

When it published its thoughts on ringfenced banks in October, the Bank of England said the submitted plans “would ideally include provisional UK holding company and UK regulated entity balance sheets and profit and loss statements, enabling supervisors to assess the viability and sustainability of the entities and their level of going and gone-concern capitalisation”. A further consultation will take place this year on how much capital each of the entities should be required to hold – one of the key issues that bankers want to know in making their preparations.

Rentokil may receive millions from sale of City Link assets

City Link’s former owner Rentokil Initial could receive a multimillion-pound payout from the sale of the collapsed courier firm’s assets under a deal in which it retained guarantees on leasehold properties.

The pest-control firm said in 2013 that it had kept a £20m liability that guaranteed the payment of leases on six properties – a mix of offices and depots – after it sold City Link to Jon Moulton’s private equity firm Better Capital for £1. The services company also holds a charge on certain City Link assets which means the proceeds of any sale go to Rentokil to cover those leasehold liabilities, with other creditors, including unpaid staff, placed behind it in the queue for payment. Rentokil declined to comment on the scale of the charge, but well-placed sources said the financial benefit from holding the charge could amount to “several million pounds”.

After City Link called in administrators on Christmas Eve, liability for leasing out the six properties returned to Rentokil. Those liabilities are expected to have reduced in scale and the company can reduce them further by subletting the properties, but it may still have to seek money from the City Link administration process to cover the liabilities.

The RMT union yesterday called for a full inquiry after more than 2,300 workers at City Link were made redundant this week and up to 1,000 self-employed drivers and agency workers have not been paid for a fortnight’s work after the collapse. Self-employed workers, some of whom are owed more than £20,000, are angry that they were allowed to continue delivering parcels in the run-up to the collapse, incurring fuel and van-leasing costs.

Administrators from Ernst & Young were formally appointed on Christmas Eve, with many workers learning about the situation on Christmas Day. Only a month earlier City Link’s managing director, Dave Smith, wrote to suppliers and staff saying rumours of its likely collapse on Christmas Eve were untrue and those found responsible for the rumours would be “pursued through legal process”. Ernst & Young said it would examine directors’ statements as part of a report on their conduct.The government’s Redundancy Payments Service will have to pick up the tab for employees’ redundancy payments. Better Capital has said it expects to recover £20m from City Link, half the £40m loan which underpinned its efforts to revive the parcel carrier. Because it invested in City Link through a series of loans, Better Capital is classed as a secured creditor and is therefore at the front of the queue for recompense, ahead of staff and suppliers.