UK jobless total falls by 18,000 to 2.49m

Unemployment has fallen slightly - David Freeman from the ONS analyses the figures

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The number of unemployed in the UK fell by 18,000 to 2.49 million in the June-August period, official figures show.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) also said the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance last month fell by 41,700 to 1.35 million.

The unemployment rate drops to 7.7%, down from 7.8% the previous quarter.

The number of people in work, both full-time and part-time, reached a record high of 29.87 million in the quarter, up 155,000.

The ONS looks at demand for full-time work and whether part-time workers would rather work longer hours.

It said almost 1.5 million people were part-time because they could not find full-time jobs, the highest figure since records began in 1992.

The unemployment rate has become a key economic indicator for the Bank of England which, under its recently appointed new governor, Mark Carney, is targeting the unemployment rate.

It says it will not consider raising interest rates from their record low of 0.5% until it falls to 7%.

The ONS also reported average earnings rose by 0.7% in the year to August, 0.5% down on July.

Longer term

There was a sharp difference in the number of men and women in part-time employment, with male part-timers increasing by 21,000 and women in part-time work falling by 13,000.

But more women were finding full-time work than men, with male full-time employment up by 69,000 compared with a rise of 79,000 for women.

Youth unemployment remains just below the one-million mark, with 958,000 unemployed 16 to 24-year-olds, down by 1,000 over the quarter.

The number of people unemployed for more than a year fell by 15,000 to 900,000. Those without work for between six months to a year rose by 29,000 to 446,000, but there was a fall of 32,000 people unemployed for up to six months, leaving 1.1 million in that position.

The worst affected areas in the UK were in Birmingham Ladywood where the unemployment rate stands at 11.4% and in West Belfast where it is 9.3%.

'Standards'

The Prime Minister, David Cameron, said the figures were "good news".

He added: "These are welcome figures. Of course, we all want to see living standards improve, and last year disposable income increased. But the way to deliver on living standards is to grow the economy, keep producing the jobs and cut people's taxes."

The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, said Mr Cameron should admit that there was "a cost-of-living crisis in this country".

Mr Miliband said: "Today's economic figures show a welcome fall in unemployment. They also show that prices have risen faster than wages and that is 39 out of 40 months that living standards have fallen since he became prime minister."

The Institute of Directors (IoD) said the jobs data showed the recovery was "job-lite".

The IoD's chief economist, Graeme Leach, chief economist at the Institute of Directors, said: "Today's labour market figures are not surprising. Just as employment losses during the recession were lower than expected, so too are employment gains with recovery. This isn't a jobless recovery but it is a job-lite one."

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) gave a cautious welcome to the figures.

Its chief economist, David Kern, said: "Although concerns remain over youth and long-term employment, the figures show that Britain's labour market is strong and flexible, and that the economy should record satisfactory growth in the third quarter. The large fall in inactivity is particularly pleasing, as more people are returning to the workforce and are looking for jobs."

He added that he expected the unemployment rate to continue to fall steadily and that the 7% unemployment rate targeted by the Bank of England would be reached in the autumn of 2015, a year earlier than the Bank had indicated.

Clashes after teachers protests in Rio and Sao Paulo

Protesters have clashed with the police in Brazil's largest cities, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, after marches in support of striking teachers.

Soon after a peaceful march by more than 5,000 people ended in Rio, a much smaller masked group attacked shops, set fire to a police car and threw petrol bombs.

There were also clashes in Sao Paulo, where shops were ransacked.

Police responded with tear and pepper gas and detained dozens of people.

Four officers were injured and seven banks were vandalized during the unrest in Sao Paulo, according to Reuters news agency.

Extra police had been deployed in Rio de Janeiro for the huge protest coinciding with Teacher's Day, on which the country recognises the profession.

Many shops and banks had boarded up their windows after last week's larger protests, which had gathered more than 10,000 supporters.

Police also cordoned off the Rio house of representatives, which was targeted last week.

'Right to strike'

After the end of Tuesday's march, masked protesters from the so-called Black Bloc anarchist group set fire to the boards, as well as public telephones, rubbish bags and other street furniture.

Metal boards were also taken by some groups and used as shields to confront the police.

A police car was set alight and protest slogans written on walls.

Teachers in Rio are demanding better working conditions and salaries and have the support of colleagues in other cities.

They have been on strike for two months and many complained that Rio's state government had started procedures to sanction the striking teachers.

But on Tuesday night, a Supreme Court judge said it considered the government's actions illegal.

Judge Luiz Fux told Brazil's state news agency, Agencia Brasil, that the sanctions infringed, "even if in a roundabout way, the civil servants' right to freedom of expressions through strike".

Mr Fux also summoned union leaders and government officials for talks on 22 October.

In an earlier demonstration on Tuesday, a group of homeless people tried to break into the house of representatives of Sao Paulo.

Police held off the crowd, and a small group later met with government officials.

In the south-eastern city of Belo Horizonte, a peaceful protest was held a central square.

Smaller groups also gathered on Tuesday in Brasilia, the north-eastern city of Salvador and other cities.

Brazil's security situation is a challenge to cities that will play host to the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games.

Hillary Clinton's Mercedes gets London parking fine

A car used by the former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton received a ticket for parking for 45 minutes in London without paying.

The £80 fine was put on the silver Mercedes as Mrs Clinton attended an event at Chatham House on Friday.

Her security staff were seen discussing the penalty notice with a Westminster Council traffic warden, but he refused to remove the ticket.

A Westminster councillor said: "We have to be fair to everyone."

Westminster City Council cabinet member for business Daniel Astaire said: "The former US Secretary of State was parked for nearly 45 minutes without paying.

"I'm sure she will understand that we have to be fair to everyone, regardless of their status on the world stage."

Mrs Clinton was awarded this year's Chatham House Prize in recognition of her contribution to international diplomacy and work on behalf of gender equality and opportunities for women and girls.

She has not commented on the ticket.

An iPhone Case That Doubles as a Charger

If you are the sort of person who is always short a charging block and cable, the PocketPlug may be just what you are looking for.

The PocketPlug is a case with two flip-out prongs that plug directly into an electrical outlet. You can charge your iPhone, no cable or transformer needed.

The case, which is plastic coated with so-called soft-touch material, provides some protection against dings and dents.

The case also has a USB port on the side that allows charging but not syncing. To sync the phone by wire you must remove it from the case. It has a cut-out for the control buttons and a chamber on the bottom that redirects sound so it comes out of the front of the case.

One difficulty: You can use only headphones with a straight, thin plug. Other kinds of plugs won’t be able to reach the deeply recessed jack.

The case is available for the iPhone 5 and 5s, 4 and 4S. The company said that a case for the Samsung Galaxy III is on the way.

While certainly a convenience, the PocketPlug is a bit expensive at $70. But I suppose you have to ask what it’s worth to never again have to say, “Oh no, I forgot my charger.”

Jeff Fluhr of Spreecast, on Finding Employees Who Fit

This interview with Jeff Fluhr, chief executive of Spreecast, was conducted and condensed by Adam Bryant.

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Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

Jeff Fluhr, chief executive of Spreecast, a social video platform, says he thinks that the work background of job candidates is less important than their “softer characteristics,” like “the cultural fit, the chemistry fit, their personality traits, their level of optimism.”

Corner Office

Twice a week, Adam Bryant talks with top executives about the challenges of leading and managing. In his book, "The Corner Office" (Times Books), he analyzes the broader lessons that emerge from his interviews with more than 70 leaders. Excerpt »

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Q. Did you have the entrepreneurial itch when you were a kid?

A. The first thing I did as an entrepreneur was during middle school. I started selling candy to other students, which was not O.K. from the principal’s perspective. I would go to this wholesale candy distributor, buy a bunch of candy in large boxes, and then sell it at marked-up prices.

Q. Are there entrepreneurs in your family?

A. My grandfather started a women’s clothing store in Manhattan that is still around today, and now my mother runs that store. I always looked up to my grandfather, and how he was controlling his own destiny. My father took an early retirement package from his job as an engineering executive at AT&T, and he’s since started a couple of companies as well.

Q. What was your first job after college?

A. I worked at the Blackstone Group in New York. I was 22, and working on these deals where we were buying big manufacturing companies. I spent a few years doing that, and I learned a lot. I had a dual degree from Penn in engineering and finance, and I focused more on the finance side when I went to Blackstone. But I wanted to work with higher-growth technology companies.

Q. That’s quite a first job out of college. What else did you learn from that time?

A. I learned a lot that’s valuable in the start-up world. One is understanding the inner workings of financial modeling. With the companies I’m involved with, I’m generally the only finance person for a while until the company starts to scale. But it also taught me how to look at businesses, and see how certain shifts in industries create opportunities.

I also learned about the discipline of hard work. It was an intense first job, with 80-hour weeks, and being at the office until midnight and sometimes working on weekends. I just saw the value of hard work and the importance of putting in the time.

Q. So your first company was StubHub.

A. I went to Stanford Business School because I wanted to either join a start-up or start my own company. It’s a great institution, but I dropped out because I started StubHub in the middle of my first year. We incorporated the company in March 2000, and then the Internet bubble burst in April 2000. That was an interesting dynamic in terms of raising our first round of capital.

Q. You ran StubHub for seven years before selling it to eBay. What were some lessons you took away from that experience?

A. It was the first time I had an operating role. It was definitely a jump-in-the-deep-end experience. In retrospect, the way we recruited the first handful of people had a lot of positives, but there are probably multiple schools of thought on this. I basically brought in a number of friends — people I knew from college or high school, and others with one degree of separation from those people.

Q. And your thinking was...?

A. One, I have access to them and I know who they are. Two, I respect them and trust them and think they’re smart. And they were interested and available. I’m sure there are people who say you shouldn’t hire your friends. Having said that, one of the huge advantages of doing that is there was instant trust. And hiring people is tough, and there’s a high failure rate in hiring at early-stage companies. With people I already knew, there’s obviously a failure rate there, too. But some of the potential issues were nonissues, like trust and really knowing the person.

Q. Tell me about your approach to hiring at your current company.

A. I’ve found that the softer characteristics of a person — the cultural fit, the chemistry fit, their personality traits, their level of optimism — are far more important than somebody’s experience. What I was often doing at StubHub as the company grew was to say, “O.K., we need a V.P. of marketing and we want somebody who’s been a V.P. marketing at another consumer Internet company, and hopefully, they’ve done these certain things because that’s what we need.” But the reality is that if you get somebody who’s smart, hungry and has a can-do attitude, they can figure out how to do A, B and C, because there’s really no trick to most of these things.

Q. So how do you interview now?

A. I always ask people why they’re thinking about leaving their current job, and why it isn’t fulfilling what they’re looking for. Part of that conversation is about what they’re looking for, and their goals for the next step of their career. Understanding that helps create a picture of whether they’re going to be a good fit.

Q. What else about the culture at your current company?

A. We’ve always done “hack days,” where the engineers basically can build whatever they want for a full day, and then present what they’ve done to the company. But recently we’ve started doing “hack weeks.” So we basically let the engineers build whatever they want for a week, and then present their ideas to the whole company. And all of the nonengineers are also asked to come up with ideas for what features they want to see on Spreecast, or it could even be on some parallel initiative. It allows us to innovate completely out of the box.

Motivating engineers and keeping them excited and engaged is something we’re obviously very interested in. We’re trying to create a sense of empowerment and autonomy where they can kind of do what they want, and they don’t just always have to do the next batch of work that’s on the priority list.

Q. What career advice would you give to a graduating class of college seniors?

A. One of the things I tell people is that experience is overrated. I still sometimes find myself falling into the trap of thinking, when I’m trying to fill a role, “Has the person done the work that the role requires?” That’s the wrong question. It should be, “Let’s find a person who has the right chemistry, the right intellect, the right curiosity, the right creativity.” If we plug that person into any role, they’re going to be successful.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

A Day to Remember the First Computer Programmer Was a Woman

In 1842, Ada Lovelace, known as the “enchantress of numbers,” wrote the first computer program.

Fast-forward 171 years to today (which happens to be Ada Lovelace Day, for highlighting women in science, technology, engineering and math), and computer programming is dominated by men.

Women software developers earn 80 percent of what men with the same jobs earn. Just 18 percent of computer science degrees are awarded to women, down from 37 percent in 1985. Fewer than 5 percent of venture-backed tech start-ups are founded by women.

Those statistics, released by Symantec, the security company, and the Anita Borg Institute, which works to recruit and promote women in tech, provide context for recent debates in Silicon Valley, like why Twitter has no women on its board.

Given that girls begin to shy away from computer science when they are young, because of a lack of role models and encouragement from parents and teachers, perhaps a short history lesson on Ms. Lovelace would be helpful.

She was the daughter of Lord Byron, the poet, who split from her mother shortly after her birth. Her mother encouraged her to pursue math to counter her father’s “dangerous poetic tendencies,” according to the University of California, San Diego.

Meanwhile, in Silicon Valley, some people sense change in the air.

“There’s a lot more focus than we’ve seen in the past, and a lot more hard conversations,” said Telle Whitney, chief executive of the Anita Borg Institute.

The Symantec and Anita Borg report tried to find a bright side — the wage gap is smaller in technology and engineering than it is in other fields, and the job opportunities are many.

Astia, which offers programs for women tech entrepreneurs, announced Tuesday a partnership with Google to expand its lunch series for introducing women founders to investors.

And two scientists, sponsored by Brown University, are hosting a mass Wikipedia editing session on Tuesday, for people to create and expand upon entries for women in science and technology.

Happy Ada Lovelace Day.

South Dakota Ranchers Face Storm’s Toll, but U.S.’ Helping Hands Are Tied

UNION CENTER, S.D. — The cattle lay in heaps of tangled hooves, collapsed against fences and submerged in creeks. Some had curled up behind hay bales, hiding from 70 mile-per-hour winds that scattered herds for miles, struck by hypothermia weeks before they were scheduled to go to market.

In one of the worst blizzards to hit western South Dakota, ferocious winds and snow as deep as five feet killed tens of thousands of livestock and damaged the area’s economy. More than a week later, many of the cows remain unburied.

“At this point in time, it’s important to step over the dead ones and take care of the living,” said Gary Cammack, a state representative and rancher who lost 120 cows and calves, about a fourth of his herd.

Delayed by more inclement weather and ground too soggy for tractors, Mr. Cammack, like many ranchers in this farming community just east of the Black Hills, hopes to begin the gruesome work of cleaning up the carcasses this week. But while state and county agencies have helped clear roadsides and have provided burial pits, the federal government shutdown has only complicated the crisis.

Fetching about $2,000 a head and outnumbering South Dakotans by 5 to 1, cattle make up about a quarter of the state’s $24 billion-a-year agriculture industry, its largest economic driver. About a third of the state’s 16,000 beef farms are west of the Missouri River, the area hit hardest by the storm.

Ranchers looking for guidance on how to document their losses with the federal Farm Service Agency, whose workers have been furloughed, are, as some here say, “plumb out of luck.” And the stalling of a farm bill in Congress has left many families skeptical about whether disaster relief will ever come.

State officials estimate a death toll of as many as 20,000 cows. An official number may not be known for weeks as producers continue to search for livestock. But the loss has become about more than the economic devastation, which could linger for years and put some producers out of business. South Dakotans are fiercely self-reliant, but they now feel invisible as they ask federal officials to lend a hand.

“If this event had happened to one rancher, if he had lost everything that he owned, you would not hear one word from us,” Mr. Cammack said. “We would pull together and make him whole. But how do you do that when you’re all in the same boat?”

On Oct. 4, after a week of 80-degree temperatures, heavy rain shifted into 36 hours of unexpected whiteout conditions that left close to five feet of snow in some areas. The blast of snow, rare for early October, was the fourth-heaviest ever recorded in South Dakota, said Susan Sanders, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Rapid City. A much smaller weather system swept through this week, as cold temperatures, rain and snow continue to plague the region and put surviving cows at risk of exhaustion and sickness.

Ranchers say the cows had not developed winter coats and were still grazing in summer pastures when the storm hit, making them vulnerable in unprotected fields and largely out of reach. The financial toll is even greater when considering the calves those cows would have produced.

“They were carrying next year’s paycheck,” said Lynn Spring, a rancher who considered himself lucky for losing 100 cattle.

The blow comes a year after cattle ranchers weathered a severe drought that raised feed prices and forced some to shrink their herds. The recent losses only added uncertainty to their balance sheets, especially with Congressional leaders at an impasse on the farm bill.

The legislation could include a livestock disaster program that provides assistance for producers in dire straits. Kristi Noem, a Republican who is South Dakota’s sole House member, was recently appointed to a committee tasked with hashing out the differences between the House and Senate versions of the measure.

But ranchers, who are working to document their livestock deaths so they can submit the figures when the government reopens, are doubtful that help will come from Congress anytime soon.

“They’re acting like a bunch of kids fighting over a toy,” said Matt Kammerer, another South Dakota rancher. “They’re getting paid; they ain’t feeling any hardship.”

Mr. Kammerer was among the thousands of residents who lost power during the blizzard, hunkering down at home with his family playing the board game Trouble by candlelight. By the time he emerged, he had lost a fifth of his 200 cows, a number he brought a county commissioner out to verify on a recent morning.

Out in a field, they gazed down at an open grave, where his animals were stacked three layers deep, with dozens more owned by other ranchers. Farther out, in a nearby pasture, cattle that belonged to a distant relative of Mr. Kammerer lay uncollected. Out of a herd of 125, only 11 survived, he said.

“They might not ever recoup,” he said, fighting back tears. “You take $80,000 worth of debt at the bank, and there’s nothing left for them to pay that off. I mean, there’s nothing.”

English 'beat French to frogs legs' claim after Wiltshire dig finds

A major archaeological dig in Wiltshire has unearthed evidence of frogs legs being eaten in Britain, 8,000 years before France, it has been claimed.

The team, which consists of Mesolithic period experts, also found other types of food including salmon and nuts.

David Jacques, from the University of Buckingham, said people living there thousands of years ago were eating a "Heston Blumenthal-style menu".

The team hopes to confirm Amesbury as the UK's oldest continuous settlement.

The dig will run until 25 October.

It is being filmed and made into a documentary by the BBC, Smithsonian, CBC and others to be screened at a later date. The project is being led by the University of Buckingham.

'Most significant'

Mr Jacques added: "This is significant for our understanding of the way people were living around 5,000 years before the building of Stonehenge and it begs the question - where are the frogs now?"

The latest information is based on a report by fossil mammal specialist Simon Parfitt, of the Natural History Museum.

He examined the discoveries from the dig which has resulted in 12,000 finds, including 650 animal bones, all from the Mesolithic era.

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“Start Quote

By the end of this latest dig, I am sure the records will need to be altered”

Andy Rhind-TuttAmesbury Museum and Heritage Trust

Andy Rhind-Tutt, chairman of Amesbury Museum and Heritage Trust and co-ordinator of the community involvement on the dig, said the studies at Amesbury could help explain why Stonehenge was created.

"No one would have built Stonehenge without there being something unique and really special about the area," he said.

"There must have been something significant here beforehand and Blick Mead, with its constant temperature spring sitting alongside the River Avon, may well be it.

"I believe that as we uncover more about the site over the coming days and weeks, we will discover it to be the greatest, oldest and most significant Mesolithic home base ever found in Britain."

He added: "Currently Thatcham - 40 miles from Amesbury - is proving to be the oldest continuous settlement in the UK with Amesbury 104 years younger.

"By the end of this latest dig, I am sure the records will need to be altered."

The site already boasts the biggest collection of flints and cooked animal bones in north west Europe.

The term Mesolithic refers to specific groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Palaeolithic and the Neolithic periods.

NSA leaks journalist Glenn Greenwald leaves the Guardian

Glenn Greenwald, a journalist who covered data leaked by US whistleblower Edward Snowden, has announced he is leaving Britain's Guardian newspaper.

Mr Greenwald said he was departing to take up a "dream" opportunity.

Documents from Mr Snowden, a former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor, revealed internet and phone surveillance by US intelligence.

Brazil, where Mr Greenwald lives, says it wants to speak to Mr Snowden over allegations the US spied on it.

According to information leaked by Mr Snowden, the NSA intercepted communications by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and monitored millions of emails and phone calls by the country's citizens.

As a result, Ms Rousseff cancelled a planned visit to the US.

Jose Alberto Freitas, the head of intelligence in Brazil's police force, said it was "crucial" to speak to Edward Snowden, as he could "provide technical details that will help our investigation advance".

Mr Snowden, who is wanted by the US on espionage charges, is currently living in Russia, having been granted asylum by Moscow.

'Crucial role'

In a statement posted online, Mr Greenwald described his "partnership with the Guardian" as "extremely fruitful and fulfilling" and praised the editors and journalists of the newspaper.

He said his new venture was "momentous" but he was not yet able to give any details about it.

He told online news site Buzzfeed he would be involved in a "new, large-scale... media outlet".

The Guardian's Jennifer Lindauer said: "Glenn Greenwald is a remarkable journalist and it has been fantastic working with him.

"Our work together over the last year has demonstrated the crucial role that responsible investigative journalism can play in holding those in power to account."

Mr Greenwald has been fiercely criticised for his work with Mr Snowden. But in a BBC interview earlier this month Mr Greenwald said none of the information he had published could have damaged national security.

In August, his partner David Miranda, who lives with the journalist in Rio de Janeiro, was held for nine hours at Heathrow under anti-terror laws. Police seized a number of electronic items he was carrying.

British Home Secretary Theresa May defended the move, saying the police had to act if someone had "highly sensitive, stolen information".

Mr Miranda denied wrongdoing.

Yahoo to keep larger Alibaba stake than planned

Yahoo will keep a bigger stake in China's e-commerce giant Alibaba than originally planned, after the Chinese firm sells shares on the stock market.

It now plans to sell up to 208 million of its 523 million shares. It initially agreed to sell 261.5 million.

Alibaba is expected to launch its share sale next year and could be valued at more than $100bn (£64bn).

Analysts said Yahoo was looking to cash in on the listing, not least because of Alibaba's continued growth.

"The idea is you don't want to have to sell at the initial public offering (IPO) price, you want to sell later to potentially get the appreciation going up," said Ben Schachter, an analyst with Macquarie Research.

Yahoo shares have surged since Marissa Mayer took over as chief executive 15 months ago

Alibaba is China's largest e-commerce group and has been growing fast, raising speculation that its stock price will rise after listing as investors bet on continued growth.

According to Yahoo, the Chinese firm's sales grew 61% in the April-to-June period to $1.74bn and net income jumped 160% to $717m.

The announcement to hold to a higher stake came as Yahoo reported that its profits fell to $297m in the third quarter, compared to $3.16bn a year ago.

However, the 2012 results included a $2.8bn gain from the sale of a part of its Alibaba holding.

It also announced a slight fall in third quarter sales to $1.81bn.

Tiny, wireless pacemaker due to be launched in Europe

A miniaturised, wireless pacemaker that can be inserted into the body without invasive surgery has been given approval for use in the European Union.

Developed by US start-up Nanostim, the device is designed to be implanted intravenously directly in the heart.

It is less than 10% of the size of a conventional pacemaker and uses a built-in battery.

Experts said it was an "exciting development" but at a very early stage.

The pacemaker has yet to receive full US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval.

Conventional pacemakers require a patient to be cut open and a pocket created in the body to house the pacemaker and associated wires.

Such wires are regarded as the component of pacemakers most likely to fail. The pocket created for the pacemaker is also liable to infection.

By contrast the Nanostim pacemaker is delivered via a catheter inserted through the femoral vein near the groin.

It has a built-in battery, smaller than an AAA battery, that lasts between nine and 13 years. Eliminating the need for wires lowers the risk of infection or malfunction and means that patients are not restricted in the amount of activity they do, the firm behind the device claims.

The procedure to fit the pacemaker typically lasts around half an hour. The device is designed to be easily retrievable so that the battery can be replaced.

Because the device is delivered intravenously, it also means patients will have no scarring.

One doctor, involved in its trials, described it as "the future of pacemaking".

"For the past 40 years the therapeutic promise of leadless pacing has been discussed, but until now, no-one has been able to overcome the technical challenges," said Dr Johannes Sperzel of the Kerchhoff Klinik in Bad Nauheim, Germany.

"This revolutionary technology offers patients a safe, minimally-invasive option for pacemaker delivery that eliminates leads and surgical pockets," he added.

Better understanding

But others were more cautious.

Prof Jeremy Pearson, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said: "This is a potentially exciting development but it's early days.

"Before this leadless pacemaker becomes widely available, we need a better understanding of how long it will last, as well as how easy it is to replace if necessary. As our knowledge of this new pacemaker widens, so too will the expertise needed to fit this potentially exciting device."

The company behind the device has recently been bought by global medical device firm St Jude.

It has had several wire-based pacemakers recalled in recent years.

Other device makers are also planning to go wireless. The Wireless Cardiac Stimulation system has been developed by US start-up EBR Systems and UK-based tech firm Cambridge Consultants and uses a tiny wireless electrode no bigger than a grain of rice powered by an ultrasonic pulse generator, inserted lower down in the chest.

In 2011 the device was implanted in 100 patients in hospitals across Europe.

Cardiac pacemakers are used to treat slow heart rates. The devices monitor the heart and provide electrical stimulation when the heart beats too slowly.

The first pacemaker was fitted in 1958. Currently more than four million people around the world have some sort of cardiac rhythm device with an additional 700,000 people getting one each year.

Dutch diplomat attacked in Russia

A senior diplomat at the Dutch embassy in Moscow has been beaten up in his flat, days after a spat involving a Russian official in The Hague.

The diplomat, named by Russian media as Onno Elderenbosch, was reportedly tied up by men posing as electricians.

Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans said the diplomat had been lightly wounded. He added that he had summoned the Russian ambassador.

Mr Timmermans apologised last week after a Russian diplomat was arrested.

Dmitri Borodin was held for several hours on suspicion of mistreating his two young children, prompting President Vladimir Putin to demand the Dutch apology.

Protests were held outside the Dutch embassy in response to the arrest.

After an investigation, the Dutch foreign minister conceded that police had breached the rules on diplomatic immunity.

Writing on his Facebook page late on Tuesday, Mr Timmermans said the Dutch diplomat, whom he did not name, had been mistreated by two intruders.

"Our people must be able to work there safely and I want the assurance that the Russian authorities also take their responsibility on that point," he said.

'Lipstick'

According to Russian TV, Moscow police confirmed that the deputy head of the Dutch embassy had been attacked.

When Mr Elderenbosch, 66, had returned home he found the lift was not working and two men in uniform were inspecting the fuse box, the report said. When he opened his door, he was then attacked.

The motive for the attack is not clear.

Russian reports said that Mr Elderenbosch was tied up and beaten, and that the attackers daubed a heart on a mirror in lipstick with the letters LGBT. The letters are an acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.

Diplomatic relations between the two countries were already strained before Mr Borodin's arrest.

The Netherlands launched legal action to free 30 people from several countries who were detained in Russia after a Dutch-flagged ship belonging to environmental group Greenpeace, the Arctic Sunrise, was boarded over a protest on a Russian oil rig in the Arctic.

The activists and journalists on board have been charged with piracy.

Lord Neuberger: Legal aid cuts threaten to deny justice

Proposed cuts to legal aid could deny justice to those who need it most, the UK's top judge has warned.

Supreme Court president Lord Neuberger said reduced access to legal aid could lead to inefficient claims costlier for the court system.

If people had to drop claims, it would be "a rank denial of justice and a blot on the rule of law", he said.

The Ministry of Justice said the annual £2bn bill for legal aid was "costing too much".

An MoJ spokesperson said that the £350m cuts "will create a sustainable legal aid system that will still be one of the most generous in the world".

"At a time when major financial challenges are being felt by businesses and households across the country the legal sector cannot be immune from the government's commitment to getting better value for every penny of taxpayers' money we spend."

'Protecting citizens'

Lord Neuberger's comments came as he delivered the annual Tom Sargant Memorial Lecture.

He also used the speech, organised by legal campaign group Justice, to urge ministers to be "very careful" about restricting the right of people to use a judicial review when challenging the decisions of local councils and other public authorities.

He said moves to discourage "weak" applications were "understandable, even laudable", but warned: "One must be very careful about any proposals whose aim is to cut down the right to judicial review.

"The courts have no more important function than that of protecting citizens from the abuses and excesses of the executive - central government, local government, or other public bodies."

Warning of the potential harm from government cuts to the legal aid budget, Lord Neuberger said: "Cutting the cost of legal aid deprives the very people who most need the protection of the courts of the ability to get legal advice and representation."

'Blot on law'

He said recent changes to the system had reduced the types of claim which qualified for support and increased the "stringency" of the eligibility criteria.

He added: "If a person with a potential claim cannot get legal aid, there are two possible consequences. The first is that the claim is dropped - that is a rank denial of justice and a blot on the rule of law.

"The second is that the claim is pursued, in which case it will be pursued inefficiently, and will take up much more of the court staff's time and of the judge's time in and out of court."

This would mean "greater costs" and delays for the court system, he said.

Police and government 'plebgate' row intensifies

Three police chiefs are refusing to back down after criticism by the home secretary for not disciplining officers accused of trying to discredit former Tory chief whip Andrew Mitchell.

The chief constables of West Mercia, Warwickshire and West Midlands Police say they will go before MPs to explain.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said a misconduct case should have been answered.

Officers are accused of giving a false account of a meeting with Mr Mitchell.

That meeting followed a row with police officers when Mr Mitchell was stopped from riding his bicycle through the gates of Downing Street in September last year.

A transcript of the later meeting showed that, while he admitted swearing, Mr Mitchell denied using the word "pleb" or insulting the police.

But afterwards three senior police officers said he had refused to elaborate on what had happened and should resign.

'Carefully considered'

On Tuesday, the IPCC questioned the "honesty and integrity" of the officers, and said that West Mercia Police had been wrong to conclude they had no case to answer for misconduct.

Theresa May: ''The IPCC statement makes troubling reading''

Home Secretary Theresa May said the IPCC's report "made troubling reading".

Responding in a joint statement, the chief constables said the watchdog had turned down their offer to play a greater role in the investigation.

They pointed out Mr Mitchell had "never made a complaint to police" and the forces themselves referred the incident to the IPCC.

"We asked for the matter to be independently investigated by the IPCC because we recognise the significant public interest in the matter, however this was declined," the statement added.

"The IPCC have supervised this investigation throughout and have been invited to reconsider their position on more than one occasion."

The chief constables said their decisions following the investigation had been "carefully considered" and were backed up with legal advice.

Home Affairs Select Committee chairman Keith Vaz said David Shaw, chief constable of West Mercia Police, would be summoned before MPs next week to explain why misconduct hearings had not been held.

Mr Shaw, along with the chief constables of Warwickshire and West Midlands Police, said they welcomed the opportunity to appear before the committee.

West Mercia police and crime commissioner Bill Longmore said he was seeking a meeting with Mrs May to discuss the IPCC's "critical" statement.

The chairman of the Association of Chief Police Officers, Sir Hugh Orde, told the BBC the saga had shown the "critical" need for a fully independent police investigation system.

"What I am clear on is it requires an explanation from the leaders of those three police forces - all of whom have very clearly said they want to come to the home affairs select committee and be held to account in an open and transparent forum by elected MPs, to explain their side of the story.

"I think that is the right place for that debate to take place."

Disputed claims

Eight people, including four police officers, have been arrested and bailed over the September 2012 row at the security gates to Downing Street. The Crown Prosecution Service is currently considering charges.

The altercation happened on 19 September when Mr Mitchell was told by police not to take his bike through the main gates. The former Tory chief whip has apologised for an outburst, but has always disputed claims he described policemen as "plebs".

As the row between the then-cabinet minister and the police intensified, Mr Mitchell met Inspector Ken MacKaill, of West Mercia Police, Detective Sergeant Stuart Hinton, of Warwickshire Police, and Sergeant Chris Jones, of West Midlands Police - acting on behalf of the Police Federation which represents rank-and-file officers - at his constituency office in Sutton Coldfield.

In comments made after the meeting, Inspector MacKaill claimed the former chief whip would not provide an account of the incident and called for his resignation.

Deborah Glass: ''In my opinion the evidence indicates an issue of honesty and integrity''

The transcript also shows that during that meeting, representatives from the three forces acknowledged that the integrity of their Metropolitan Police colleagues was no longer intact. One of the representatives stated the London officers had "put words in your mouth that are untrue".

West Mercia Police conducted an internal investigation into claims the three officers had been trying to discredit Mr Mitchell and concluded that there was no case to answer for misconduct or gross misconduct.

It said that there was no deliberate intention to lie to journalists.

On Tuesday, the IPCC - which oversaw the West Mercia investigation - said it disagreed and called for a misconduct panel to be held to determine whether the three officers gave a false account in a deliberate attempt to discredit Mr Mitchell in pursuit of a wider agenda.

However, IPCC deputy chairwoman Deborah Glass added that, because Mr Mitchell had chosen not to make a formal complaint, she was powerless to direct misconduct proceedings.

The Police Federation criticised Ms Glass for her "personal outburst".

European stocks rise on US debt hopes

LONDON: European stock markets rose on Tuesday as lawmakers in the United States neared a budget deal to reopen government services and raise the country's borrowing limit to avoid a catastrophic default.

On the downside, shares in British luxury fashion group Burberry slid on news that its long-serving and successful chief executive Angela Ahrendts will step down next year to head up Apple's retail operations.

Approaching midday in the British capital, London's benchmark FTSE 100 index was up 0.77 per cent at 6,558.01 points, as investors reacted to news also that British inflation remained steady in September.

In Frankfurt, the DAX 30 jumped 0.70 per cent to 8,785.29 points and the CAC 40 in Paris grew 0.52 per cent to 4,245.03 compared with Monday's closing values.

“US lawmakers are finally making headway on a deal to avert financial destruction before Thursday's D-day deadline, propping up market sentiment in overnight trade across US and Asian share markets and pulling up Europe,” said Ishaq Siddiqi, market strategist at ETX Capital traders.

With just days to go before Washington runs out of cash to pay its bills, Republicans and Democrats said they are close to an agreement to end a stand-off that has shut the government for two weeks.

While expectations have been for a deal to be made – equities have remained buoyant despite the gridlock – the news will come as a relief because a US default would send global markets tumbling and likely spark another worldwide recession, analysts have claimed.

The European single currency dipped to $1.3555 from $1.3559 in New York late on Monday. The dollar fell to 98.52 yen from 98.67 yen.

Sterling rose against the dollar and euro, while the price of gold fell to $1,259.62 an ounce on the London Bullion Market from $1,285.50 on Monday.

Meanwhile, a survey revealed that investment sentiment in Germany rose in October, in a further sign of strength in the biggest eurozone economy.

The widely watched investor confidence index calculated by the ZEW economic institute rose 3.2 points to 52.8 points, beating a forecast by analysts who said it would remain stable.

It was the highest level since April 2010, as it was in September when the index reached 49.6.

On the corporate front, shares in Burberry slid 4.51 per cent to 1,513.50 points. Burberry's chief creative officer Christopher Bailey will take over from the 53-year-old US national Ahrendts, adding chief executive to his title, the company said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange.

On the upside, shares in British postal operator Royal Mail rallied further, as formal trading of the stock began following its controversial part-privatisation.

Royal Mail shares jumped as high as 490 pence in morning deals on the first day of trade for many of the 690,000 small investors who had bought stock last week.

That increased the value of Royal Mail to as much as GBP4.9 billion ($7.8 billion, 5.8 billion euros), following part-privatisation of the group by Britain's Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government. That marked a vast gain of almost 50 per cent from the offer price of 330 pence.

Shares had already surged last Friday, and on Monday, in conditional trading among institutional investors.

In Paris, shares in cable manufacturer Nexans slumped by 12.74 per cent to 37.04 euros after the company warned it would report a loss in the second half of the year and said it would shed 468 jobs in Europe including 206 in France.

Meanwhile, more than 1,000 people demonstrated in Paris against 900 job cuts in France and 10,000 in the world by telecom-equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent. But company head Michel Combes warned that if the restructuring did not go ahead, the group could “disappear” because it had been losing 800 million to 1.0 billion euros per year since 2006.