The Birmingham Post
Nearly 15,000 Birmingham City Council workers who had new employment contracts imposed upon them could be set for legal action which, if they win, will leave taxpayers footing a multi-million pound compensation bill.
The GMB union said the cost of the council's "breach of agreements" could run into millions as a result of the way in which the controversial single status pay and grading review was implemented.
GMB regional officer Ann Lafferty is urging the union's 9,000 council workers to register an unfair dismissal or an unlawful deduction of pay claim against the local authority. p1
Meanwhile, city councillors in Birmingham are likely to take a lower than expected pay rise for the second year running.
In a move designed to show solidarity with the local authority workforce, allowances for the 120 council members are expected to rise in line with the nationally-negotiated local government pay award.
Details are not yet known, but next month's full council meeting will be asked to approve a 1.9 per cent payment from April 1 which will be increased and backdated if the size of the national pay award is larger. p5
Cadbury attracted mixed responses in the City yesterday when it gave a trading update which described a cautious approach to the second half-year. But shares moved higher in opening deals, up 13p to 636.5p.
Citigroup said although the trading update was largely "as expected" and the confectionary maker looked well positioned for a strong full-year performance other analysts said consensus forecasts may come down. p19
Financial Times
China raised energy prices across the board last night in a big policy shift that risks stoking the country's already high inflation.
International oil prices fell immediately as Beijing said petrol and diesel would go up by 18 per cent and electricity tariffs rose by less than five per cent.
Oil prices -- already under pressure as Saudi Arabia is expected to announce on Sunday an increase in oil production -- fell more than $4 a barrel to $132.32. p1
Mervyn King emerged victorious yesterday from months of tussling over the financial stability arm of the Bank of England, when the Treasury published a new outline for reform of the banking system.
The Bank governor secured Charles Bean, the current chief economist, as his new deputy responsible for monetary stability, and appointed Spencer Dale, the career bank economist closest to him, as the new member of the interest-rate setting Monetary Policy Committee.
The Treasury will legislate to create a Financial Services Committee "to buttress the independence of the decision-making process" on financial stability "and provide a source of expert advice and credibility". p1
The Times
With just a week to go before Zimbabwe's run-off elections -- and with the body count growing -- Robert Mugabe has been warned he could be hauled before the International Criminal Court in The Hague over the atrocities inflicted on his opponents.
A key Western diplomat said: "He needs to know he is moments away from an ICC indictment."
Twelve bodies of activists, most of them showing signs of torture, were found across Zimbabwe yesterday. p1
Homeowners face having to pay a specialist to inspect their trees under a safety regime drawn up by one of Britain's most respected watchdogs.
The British standard for tree safety inspection would require all trees to be checked by a "trained person" every three years, with a still more rigorous "expert inspection" by an arboricultureist every five years.
Tree owners will also be obliged to conduct a "walk-by" inspection themselves once a year. p4
The Daily Telegraph
Families face fines of £50 for failing to recycle their rubbish under a new pay-as-you throw bin charge scheme, a minister has disclosed.
Households could be forced to buy tagged or even bar-coded bin liners just to get councils to take away their rubbish. There are also proposals to force families to buy lockable bins to stop people illegally dropping their litter in a neighbour's bin.
The Tories said the plans were "stealth taxation that will push up the cost of living to breaking point". p1
Ed Balls launched his most brutal attack yet on grammar schools yesterday, accusing them on condemning thousands to educational failure.
The children's secretary said the existence of the 11-plus in some areas created a damaging two-tier system in which many fell behind.
He insisted that those who missed out on grammar places were made to feel like they had "already failed. p1
The Guardian
The government will be forced to step in to bail out the London 2012 Olympic athletes' village as the impact of the credit crunch and the sliding domestic housing market threaten to stretch the £9.3 billion budget for the games to its limit.
The chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority conceded for the first time yesterday that the village would definitely require additional public funding to cover a shortfall that could run to tens of millions of pounds.
John Armitt said: "The government at the end of the day will have to come in to support the village [financially] -- that is understood. But negotiations are going on at the moment to try to minimise the degree to which further government funding to support the village is required." p1
Paul Ince is expected to be appointed manager of Blackburn Rovers, providing the club's appointment of the MK Dons' manager can gain Premier League approval.
The former England player has emerged at the top of Blackburn's shortlist, ahead of Steve McClaren and Sam Allardyce, but he does not have the UEFA pro-licence normally required to take control of first team affairs at a Premier League club.
Blackburn are hopeful they will gain special dispensation from the league to allow the 40-year-old to take over at Ewood Park just 20 months after beginning his managerial career at Macclesfield. pS1
Their stock seems to have fallen somewhat over the decades as the nation has turned to more exotic types of European food. But the farmers who cultivate Britain's potato crop are sensing a comeback for the humble tuber.
With food prices soaring, they yesterday urged shoppers, 20- and 30-somethings in particular, to turn their back on fashionable staples such as pasta adn give potatoes a second chance.
The Potato Council, which represents more than 3,000 growers and processors and is backed by the government, invoked wartime spirit, saying people nervous of the credit crunch should turn to potatoes to keep them healthy, just as previous generations did while digging for victory in the Second World War. p13
The Independent
Scotland Yard detectives have flown to Bulgaria in a fresh attempt to shed light on one of the most controversial episodes in the secret history of the Cold War.
A team of senior police officers travelled to Sofia last month, it emerged yesterday, as part of the investigation into the unsolved murder of the Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov, who was stabbed with a poisoned umbrella while walking across London's Waterloo Bridge in 1978. p7
Daily Mail
A Labour minister last night told families struggling with the soaring cost of living to stop being "so bloody miserable".
In an astonishing message at a time of rising prices and falling incomes, transport minister Tom Harris said that despite the escalating credit crunch, "our citizens have never been so wealthy". And he claimed we were spending money on food and clothes in sums that would have "made our parents gasp".
Opposition MPs said Mr Harris' blithe insistence that the nation should cheer up was "breathtaking" when Labour had fuelled the squeeze on family finances. p1
Plans for a new generation of "stealth" warships are being drastically scaled back to save cash.
The long-awaited fleet of Type 45 destroyers, which protect other ships from air and missile attack, has been slashed from eight to six.
It means only three might be available at any one time when maintenance and refitting times are taken into account.
Critics fear that buying so few of the destroyers will leave the fast-shrinking Royal Navy gravely vulnerable. p31
PA City Round-up
The FTSE-100 index at 8:45am was up 3.8 at 5712.2.
The pound at 9am was 1.9726 dollars compared to 1.9729 dollars at the previous close.
The euro at 9am was 0.7884 pounds compared to 0.7856 pounds at the previous close.
Brent Crude Oil was $136.00 a barrel compared to $136.44 at the previous close.
West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil was $133.01 compared to $136.68 at the previous close.
CITY Gieve: Outgoing Bank of England deputy governor Sir John Gieve has added his voice to warnings over the economy and said the next year "was not going to be comfortable for anybody".
MONEY Costs: Consumers have seen their monthly outgoings soar by 26 per cent during the past two years driven by higher housing and energy costs, research showed today.
MONEY Savings: Men are proving more cautious with their finances in the credit crunch than women, a survey said today.
CONSUMER Sainsburys: The home delivery website operated by supermarket giant Sainsbury's has resumed trading after technical problems disabled it for more than 48 hours.
MONEY Holidays: Despite a credit crunch and fears of a recession looming, three fifths of holidaymakers admit they are overspending on foreign holidays, a survey showed today.
Companies reporting today include:
EGM: SMG
THIS DAY IN...
1921 Washington imposed a ban on women smoking. Anyone defying the ban was fined $25, with a further $100 for every cigarette.
1983 John McEnroe started a row with the umpire on the first day of Wimbledon.
1993 The first high-speed train completed a trial run through the Channel Tunnel.
TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS
John Taylor, Duran Duran bassist, 48; Nicole Kidman, actress, 41; Martin Landau, actor, 77.