Snowmail: VAT cut expected
Updated on 23 November 2008
In tonight's show: VAT cuts are expected to be announced; new footage of the Afghan battle that claimed the life of Ghurkha soldier Yubraj Rai
VAT cut expected
Greetings All - Alex T here with a quick glance at how things are beginning to stack up for tonight's Channel 4 News...
A cut in VAT is expected to be announced tomorrow in the government's package to help Britain through the recession. Chancellor Alistair Darling promised help for every household in his pre-budget report, which is likely to include a reduction in sales tax from 17.5 per cent to 15 per cent.
There will also be other tax cuts aimed at poorer families and increases in public spending - all financed by borrowing.
David Cameron is issuing dark warnings about how shocked voters will be when they see the figures, but then again voters have seen stacks of shocking figures now for months on end. Fact of it is the worse it all gets, the better political capital Mr Brown appears to make out of it.
Police killed in Northern Ireland
Four policemen have been killed in a road accident in Northern Ireland. It happened around 4am in County Down and comes during a weekend in which at least seven people have been killed on the roads of Northern Ireland.
There is no evidence of any paramilitary involvement. The officers are believed to have been on their way to help a colleague when the accident happened between Warrenpoint and Klikeel.
New Afghanistan footage released
Footage has been released of a two-day battle in Afghanistan in which the first Ghurkha was killed in the war. Rifleman Yubraj Rai died this month when his patrol was attacked in Helmand province.
The images show his unit in battle south of the town of Musa Qala, which was once under Taleban control. This comes as US sources say they killed 17 militants near the southern capital Kandahar, but, as ever, all such statements should be treated with extreme caution from all sides in this war.
Watch yesterday's report
Did government know about missile strike?
Two MPs are asking the government to reveal whether it knew in advance that a British militant was going to be targeted in a US missile strike in Pakistan. Andrew Dismore, the Labour chairman of the human rights committee, and Patrick Mercer, the former Shadow Security Minister, want to know if British intelligence services were consulted beforehand.
Rashid Rauf, who was born in Birmingham, is reported to have been killed in the attack. He is suspected of involvement in an alleged plot to blow up passenger aircraft flying from Heathrow to North America. But there is still no hard evidence he was hit at all.
Viatican 'forgives' John Lennon
Finally a Vatican newspaper has decided to show some Christian forgiveness to John Lennon, decades after his controversial remark that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus.
L'Osservatore Romano marked the 40th anniversary of the Beatles's White Album by praising Lennon and the fab four, excusing his remark as "showing off, bragging by a young English working-class musician''.
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Email your suggestions to: more4news@channel4.com
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