Bank of England switches to plastic pound notes with Churchill fiver

Introduction of polymer £5 note in 2016 and Jane Austen £10 note in 2017 will end 320 years of paper money

Concept design for new polymer £5 note featuring former British leader Winston Churchill. Photograph: AP

Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, has formally announced that Britain will switch to using plastic banknotes in 2016, ending 320 years of paper money.

After a public consultation in which 87% of the 13,000 respondents backed the new-style currency, the Bank said it would introduce "polymer" notes, as it prefers to call them, in two years' time, starting with the new £5 note featuring Winston Churchill in 2016 and the Jane Austen £10 a year later.

Speaking at a press conference in the Bank's Threadneedle Street headquarters, Carney said: "Our polymer notes will combine the best of progress and tradition. They will be more secure from counterfeiting and more resistant to damage while celebrating the history and tradition that is important both to the Bank and the nation as a whole."

The move follows Carney's native Canada, where plastic notes are being rolled out, and Australia, where they have been in circulation for more than two decades.

Carney launched a public consultation on polymer banknotes, seen as cleaner and more durable, shortly after arriving at the Bank this summer. However, the Bank's notes division has been considering plastic money for several years.

Bank officials have been touring shopping centres and business groups around the country with prototype notes to canvas public opinion.

The Bank has promoted its polymer notes, featuring a see-through window and other new security features, as less threadbare and tougher to counterfeit.

It has sought to quell concerns about the environmental impact of printing on plastic by suggesting they can last up to two-and-a-half times longer than the cotton-paper notes in circulation at the moment. The durability will also compensate for the higher production costs and save an estimated £100m, the Bank claims.

Its laboratory tests showed polymer banknotes only begin to shrink and melt at 120C, so they would fare better in washing machines but could be damaged by a hot iron.

Carney has also announced that the Bank will follow new procedures when selecting the historical characters to appear on future notes, to avoid the furore it faced earlier this year, when the announcement of the Churchill £5 note appeared to suggest that no women – other than the Queen – would feature on any denomination.

A new advisory committee, with a majority of independent members, will now suggest a theme – such as scientific achievement – and the public will be invited to suggest specific figures for inclusion. However, the governor will retain the final decision over which person is featured.

"These changes will ensure that the characters on our banknotes are fully representative of the history and diversity of this great nation, while having the necessary public respect and legitimacy."

The move is the latest in a long line of changes for banknotes, first issued in return for deposits by the Bank when it was first established in 1694 to raise money for William III's war against France.

Colour £5 notes replaced white ones in the 1950s; the first portrayal of a monarch came in 1960, when the Queen appeared on a new £1 note; and the introduction of historical figures such as William Shakespeare started in the 1970s.

As part of the preparation for this latest change, banknote officials have already been working with retailers and the operators of vending machines and cashpoints.

Link, which runs the UK cash machine network, said its machines would need new cassettes to hold the plastic notes, because they will be smaller, and not because of the change in material.

The 15% reduction in size for Churchill notes compared with the current Elizabeth Fry fiver brings English notes into line with sizes in other countries. But they will remain larger than existing euro notes and the different denominations of sterling will retain tiered sizes to help blind people differentiate between them.

The Bank concedes no note is counterfeit-proof but says copying the new polymer notes will be slower and more expensive.

Federal Reserve to taper economic stimulus on heels of strong jobs growth

 Ben Bernanke signals end to massive five-year intervention
• Fed scaling back bond-buying programme by $10bn a month

Outgoing Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke announces a modest tapering to the Fed's quantitive easing programme. Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP

The outgoing chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, has announced that the US would pull back on its massive economic stimulus program, signalling the beginning of an end to five years of unprecedented government intervention in financial markets.

Bernanke, entering his final days as chairman of the US central bank, surprised many economists who had expected the Fed to wait until the new year to “taper” the so-called quantitative easing (QE) stimulus program.

But following a series of strong jobs growth numbers the Fed’s open markets committee said “cumulative progress” had been made in the US’s economic recovery and it was scaling back its $85bn a month bond-buying programme to $75bn.

"In light of the cumulative progress toward maximum employment and the improvement in the outlook for labour market conditions, the committee decided to modestly reduce the pace of its asset purchases,” the Fed said in a statement.

The cutback signals a gradual unwinding of the huge scheme that started in 2008. Bernanke’s successor Janet Yellen, the current deputy Fed chair, has signalled that she believes the US economy is still too weak to go it alone. Yellen is expected to be approved by the Senate later this week.

Dan Greenhaus, the chief global strategist at broker BTIG, called the move “a bit of a shock”. But he said markets were expecting the Fed to pull back. The Fed also made clear that it has no intention of increasing interest rates in the near future and would keep them low "well past" the time when the unemployment rate reaches 6.5%. It is currently 7%.

While many have praised Bernanke for his stewardship through the worst financial crisis in living memory, the Fed has presided over a lacklustre recovery despite massive, and continuing, intervention.

The Fed has kept interest rates close to zero for five years and been pumping money into the economy through a series of QE programs. Under QE3, the latest one, the Fed has bought $85bn a month in mortgage-backed assets and other bonds in an attempt to kickstart the housing market and encourage investment. So far the Treasury has bought more than $1tn worth of bonds under the scheme, which started in September 2012.

The jobs market appears to be on the mend. The unemployment rate fell to a five-year low of 7% last month. The US added 203,000 new jobs in November, the 38th consecutive month of growth. Jobs growth has now averaged more than 200,000 a month over the last four months.

PNC bank chief economist Stuart Hoffman said: “Economic growth has picked up after some weakness in the first half of 2013. The drags from Federal spending cuts and tax increases are abating, the housing market recovery continues, and stronger global growth is boosting US exports.”

Given these factors, Hoffman said it was inevitable the Fed would trim the “extraordinary stimulus it has provided to the economy”.

Bernanke in many ways seems the ideal Fed chairman for a financial crisis. The Harvard-educated economist is a scholarly expert on the Great Depression. "I am a Great Depression buff, the way some people are civil war buffs," he wrote in 2000. "The issues raised by the depression, and its lessons, are still relevant today."

He was determined to apply the lessons of the Great Depression to the greatest financial meltdown the US has experienced since the 1930s crisis. Back then unemployment soared to nearly 25% and economic output plunged close to 30%. Bernanke sees the Fed’s failure to act swiftly at the time as one of the key factors for the depth of that recession.

The last financial crisis didn’t bite as deep – unemployment peaked at 10% in 2009, although many areas of the country experienced worse and many groups of people, particularly the young and people of colour are still suffering rates far higher than the national average.

Mark Gertler, a New York University economics professor and friend of Bernanke, said the Fed chairman would likely be seen as one of the great leaders of the Federal Reserve. “It’s a remarkable coincidence that someone with his set of skills was in place when the crisis hit,” he said.

While Bernanke, like many others, failed to see the crisis coming, he was one of the best qualified people to tackle it, said Gertler. “Once it happened his response was rapid and he prevented a catastrophic meltdown,” he said.

If the recovery has been tepid, Gertler said Bernanke could not be held entirely to blame. Trouble in Europe and a series of politically engineered crises in Washington have also taken their toll on the recovery. “There is only so much monetary policy can do,” he said

US announces further $25m aid to Philippines after typhoon Haiyan

Secretary of state John Kerry pledges additional help during trip to storm-ravaged Tacloban

John Kerry pledges $25m in extra aid to the Philippines, on his visit to the typhoon-ravaged city of Tacloban Photograph: Jay Directo/AFP/Getty Images

The US is to provide nearly $25m (£15.2m) in additional humanitarian aidto help the Philippines deal with the devastation wrought by typhoon Haiyan last month, the US secretary of state, John Kerry, said after touring the worst-hit region.

Kerry flew to central Tacloban city, where he visited a food distribution centre and talked with officials and survivors.

"This is a devastation unlike anything that I have ever seen at this scale," Kerry said at a temporary USAid headquarters in Tacloban. "It is really quite stunning," he said. "It looks like a war zone and to many people it is."

The new food aid, shelter materials, water and other supplies he announced bring the total US assistance package to $86m for one of its closest Asian allies.

One of the most ferocious typhoons to hit the Philippines, Haiyan left more than 6,000 people dead and nearly 1,800 others missing. It damaged or swept away more than 1.1m houses and injured more than 27,000 people.

More than 4 million people were displaced, with about 101,000 remaining in 300 emergency shelters in central provinces.

In Manila, President Benigno Aquino III appealed for help from diplomats and international aid agencies, saying Haiyan left massive damage and losses amounting to $12.9bn.

Accompanied by cabinet members dealing with the typhoon's aftermath, Aquino presented a four-year reconstruction plan to build shelters away from newly declared danger zones, repair infrastructure, revive the livelihoods of tens of thousands of farmers and fishermen, and restore government services.

Aquino said his government would aim for resilience from future storms as it helps the typhoon-ravaged provinces recover.

"We cannot allow ourselves to be trapped in a vicious cycle of destruction and reconstruction," Aquino said. "We are going to build back better."

BP makes first major Gulf of Mexico oil discovery since Deepwater Horizon

Find at Gila prospect marks first big oil discovery since US regulators lifted ban on deepwater drilling

BP also announced a $1bn write-off from its Pitanga well off the coast of Brazil. Photograph: Molly Riley/Reuters

BP has reported a "significant oil discovery" in the Gulf of Mexico, its first major find since the deadly rig explosion that triggered the worst environmental disaster in US history.

The company said it had hit oil at depths close to 9,150 metres (30,000ft) at its Gila prospect in the Gulf of Mexico, about 300 miles south-west of New Orleans.

The announcement marks the first big oil discovery since US regulators lifted a five-month ban on deep-water drilling in 2010 after the Macondo well blowout; it follows two finds in the Gulf in 2006 and 2009.

The discovery, whose commercial potential remains unclear, came as BP revealed a $1bn (£650m) write-off from its Pitanga well off the coast of Brazil, which never yielded the lucrative fossil fuels the company had hoped for. The oil company admitted it would not recover the $850m it paid to buy the Pitanga well, nor a further $230m spent on developing it.

BP said 2013 had been its most successful year for oil exploration for almost a decade: it had investigated 15 wells, making seven potentially commercial discoveries.

The company expects to spend around $4bn a year exploring and drilling new wells in the Gulf of Mexico over the next decade, a figure roughly equivalent to the sum it has set aside for clean-up costs, fines and compensation related to the disaster, which killed 11 people and released 4m barrels of oil into the sea. The final bill will not become clear until a US court judgment next year.

BP, which employs 2,300 people in the Gulf of Mexico, had seven wells in 2012, up from five in 2011, a further sign of the drilling revival in the region since the spill. While fracking and cheap gas have captured public attention, big oil companies have been moving back to the Gulf, building new rigs. A record 807 oil permits for the Gulf were issued in the first nine months of this year, up 14% on 2012, according to Bloomberg.

BP continues to fight a ban on competing for US government contracts that was imposed following the oil rig explosion, recently winning the support of the British government.

"The Gila discovery is a further sign that momentum is returning to BP's drilling operations and well execution in the Gulf of Mexico," said Richard Morrison, regional resident of BP's Gulf of Mexico business. The US oil major ConocoPhillips has a minority stake in the Gila prospect.

Introducing the muscle man

Shehraz’s fitness regime in preparation for his role has him working out thrice a day. PHOTO: FILE

LAHORE: 

Actor Shehraz is a man of few words. He is not your typical leading man, with conventional good looks. Instead, he is rugged and buff because of intense workouts.The System, a Lahore-based action thriller that released its teaser trailer last week, is bound to add to the growing hype surrounding the actor.

“I have always been interested in staying in shape, but for this film, I felt I had to transform myself,” says Shehraz. The trailer introduced the actor, who is making his debut.

Getting the perfect body has resulted in a rigorous diet and health regimen for Shehraz, who plays the lead role in the film, which is being directed by veteran Lollywood producer Ghafoor Butt’s son (and) Shehraz’s brother Shehzad Ghafoor. The film was first announced in the summer and began production in fall.

The trailer introduces Shehraz, a talented actor who, according to legendary actor Nadeem, along with other seniors connected to the film, grows in stature with every scene. Transforming his body meant developing a custom workout schedule, which began six months before the film’s shooting, and had Shehraz doing up to three workouts a day.

“My diet is very strict and I didn’t eat salts the last three months, so I would get quick and good results for my role.”

Set in Lahore, the film will explore how different forms of corruption at the local level permeate into everyday lives of middle-class families. The production team, which prides itself on being part of the revivalist cinema movement, looks to bring productions different from traditional Lahore-based ones that have been made in the past.

The film has been made with an approximate budget of Rs5 million and is shot with RED 2 cameras. Two songs have been shot in Norway and the film includes actors such as Shafqat Cheema, Nadeem Baig and Nayyer Ijaz. Three new female actors will be making their debut in the film.

This is not Shehraz’s first attempt at acting; he was previously seen in the film Khamosh Raho, which was produced by his father. The movie, unfortunately, was a cinematic failure — now known as the debut of Juggun Kazim in Lollywood. The film was directed by veteran director Altaf Hussain and featured Shehraz as the second lead behind Shaan.

“It was a learning process for me, which was important as I learnt a lot of things from that movie. I feel now, that as a newcomer, the role was maybe a wrong choice,” says Shehraz.

The experience has pushed him to work hard on his own acting skills and become more selective about the roles he chooses. “In the end, it gave me motivation to work much harder. I waited for a script that was different and suited my personality better,” says Shehraz.

“I am not really allowed to discuss my role, but it’s not a stereotypical or traditional role of a hero. The character is multi-dimensional and has to adapt to various situations in the film, which has made the character challenging to play.”

The film has finished its first cut and will be undergoing its final phase of production, including colour-grading, in India. The film’s associate director Awais Ahmed says the teaser trailer attempts to project a new feel when it comes to cinema from Lahore.

“We wanted to show that films can be made that are not dependent on one hero, so we have gone with new faces in the lead roles. Now, the question is whether the public will like it or not,” says Ahmed.

The UAE on Waar: Technically good, message, not so much

The official Facebook page of Waar has more than 200,000 likes and says the film is inspired by true events.

Since its October 16 release, Waar has earned itself both local and international acclaim. Bilal Lashari’s action-packed offering illustrates Pakistan’s rocky relationship with neighbouring India. The film, which was recently released in the UAE, has emphasised the harsh reality of the ongoing war against terror in the country. Opinions on the movie varied, as relations between Pakistanis and Indians, who live abroad, are quite amicable in most cases.

Pakistani business analyst Zaid Ahmed, 23, who lives in Dubai, said: “The movie is a bit biased against India. But I’m proud of Pakistan for reviving its film industry. I really enjoyed the movie,” according to 7 Days, a UAE-based newspaper.

Conversely, 24 year-old Indian Viraj Mehta, currently residing in Dubai, said: “Movies like this will not be understood by South Asians in the UAE because Pakistanis and Indians grow up here together in a friendly manner.”

Dubai resident Khadija Syed, from Pakistan, said: “It is the best movie Pakistan has ever shot, but movies like this create difficulties in maintaining peace between the countries. Bollywood has also made controversial films about India and Pakistan, but I don’t think it helps to resolve anything.”

The official Facebook page of Waar has more than 200,000 likes and says the film is inspired by true events. Pakistani Dubai resident Farhan Chaudhry commented on the page: “Thanks Bilal Lashari for showing the reality behind some of the terrorist attacks in Pakistan and that the govern¬ment is still reluctant to take the issue to the UN.”

Dubai-based Pakistani expat Farhatus Saba said the relationship depicted between India and Pakistan is saddening. “The governments are to blame. If you look at the Indians and Pakistanis living abroad, they are friendly with each other. I’m happy that the Pakistani film industry is improving, but I also hope the relations between these two countries improve

Greek neo-Nazi suspects on trial for murder of Pakistani

Police officers escort one of the two suspected members of the Greek neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn accused of stabbing a 27-year-old Pakistani man to death in Athens on December 18, 2013. PHOTO: AFP

ATHENS: Two suspected members of the Greek neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn went on trial on Wednesday accused of stabbing a 27-year-old Pakistani man to death.

Dionyssis Liakopoulos, 25, and Christos Steriopoulos, 29, risk a life sentence if found guilty of the drive-by killing of Shehzad Luqman in Athens last January.

They were arrested a few hours after the murder when a taxi driver who witnessed the attack reported their motorbike numberplate to police.

According to the driver, the pair drove up behind the victim and assaulted him as he cycled near the Athens Acropolis.

A search of Liakopoulos’ home uncovered leaflets from the neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn, according a to a police source.

Both men deny being members of the party.

Human rights and immigrant defence groups have called a rally for later on Wednesday outside the Athens courtroom, where the trial opened under a heavy police presence.

Hearings were suspended shortly after the trial opened to settle procedural matters, including to allow time for the victims’ parents to arrive after their plane from Lahore was delayed.

The case is coming to trial three months after the fatal stabbing of a leftist rapper by a Golden Dawn supporter, which paved the way for a crackdown on the neo-Nazi group with six of its members charged with belonging to a criminal group.

Formerly on the fringe of Greek politics, Golden Dawn has seen its popularity soar as it taps into widespread anger over immigration and austerity reforms in debt-ridden Greece.