The US warned India before the Mumbai attacks, a senior Bush administration official said today, fuelling criticism of the Indian government's lack of preparedness.

According to an unnamed official, the US told Indian officials that terrorists appeared to be plotting a water-borne attack on India's financial capital.

Several top Indian officials have resigned after the attacks that claimed at least 172 lives and injured more than 300. Vilasrao Deshmukh, the chief minister of Maharashtra state, yesterday became the latest official to offer his resignation over alleged warnings about terrorist activities that were not acted upon.

His deputy, RR Patil, also submitted his resignation after being quoted as downplaying the seriousness of the attacks. Their offers to go followed the resignation of the home minister on Sunday and came amid Indian media reports of a string of intelligence blunders, all of which are adding to an atmosphere that the government and state apparatus cannot cope with the scale and complexity of the security threat facing the country.

India has demanded that Pakistan hand over 20 militants it believes are in the neighbouring country amid fears that relations between the two nations will deteriorate following the Mumbai attacks.

But the Pentagon has seen no signs that Pakistan is preparing to shift troops out of its tribal region near the Afghanistan border due to rising tensions, a US defence official said.

"There are no indications that anything is happening. Nothing has happened or is planned to happen in that vein," the official told Reuters. "It's business as usual."

In India, recriminations after the Mumbai attacks have been rife.

An officer in the elite commando unit that ended the siege has told the Guardian his troops were delayed getting to the scene of the attacks because a plane could not initially be found to take them.

Major Vikram Singh, of the national security guard, said his unit, which is based in Delhi, took 10 hours to reach Mumbai. The NSG, nicknamed the Black Cats, have been feted by the Indian public after ending the siege. The criticism by a serving officer of his government is a sign of the anger politicians are facing after the attacks. Singh told the Guardian the delay may have let the terrorists gain more control of the two hotels and Jewish centre than they otherwise would have had.

Singh, who was speaking outside the Oberoi Trident hotel, said: "We've taken 10 hours to come from Delhi. Initially no one could judge the level of threat."

But the officer said his troops were ready to move 20 minutes after an order to deploy, and believes they were delayed by at least four hours in reaching the scene.

"In 20 minutes we could have started. The aircraft to take us was somewhere else."

Mumbai is 90 minutes by air from Delhi. Singh said an NSG unit should be based outside Delhi including in cities such as Mumbai: "Had we been in Mumbai, 30 minutes would have been enough to start the operation."

In a further sign of anger at India's elite, a senior politician seeking to attend the funeral of a commander killed in the fighting was refused permission by the commander's father.

Away from the recriminations there were signs yesterday that the death toll from the Taj Mahal Palace hotel may be less than feared. So far 23 bodies have been recovered, 19 Indian and four foreigners.

The trustee of a Muslim graveyard in Mumbai said yesterday that it would not bury the dead gunmen, with an official saying they are not true followers of the Islamic faith.

"People who committed this heinous crime cannot be called Muslim," said Hanif Nalkhande, a trustee of the Jamia Masjid Trust, which runs the three-hectare (7.5 acres) Bada Kabrastan graveyard in Mumbai. Meanwhile teams from Scotland Yard and the FBI have arrived to help the investigation. The British team will assist with the forensic investigation.

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Police forces across Britain have reopened a series of unsolved murder cases involving young women after an itinerant handyman was convicted today of raping and killing a schoolgirl who went missing 17 years ago.

Peter Tobin, 62, was given a life sentence for murder after a jury found him guilty of abducting, raping and murdering Vicky Hamilton, 15, who disappeared in the centre of Bathgate, near Edinburgh, in February 1991. Her body was dug up in the back garden of Tobin's former home in Margate, Kent, last year.

Detectives are understood to be re-examining at least four further cases involving missing girls and women after drawing up a detailed profile of Tobin's life and movements since he was born near Paisley, Renfrewshire, in 1946.

Detective Superintendent David Swindle, from Strathclyde police, said Tobin had travelled "extensively" across Britain during his life, and police were working on "any potential links between Tobin's movements and outstanding missing females or victims of crime".

The senior detective said there were no current plans to search houses, "but these options will be considered should the intelligence and evidence warrant it".

Detective Chief Superintendent Malcolm Graham, the head of CID at Lothian and Borders police, told reporters before Tobin's conviction that police across the UK were re-examining old and unsolved cases.

There had been "information sharing with a variety of other forces throughout the UK," he said.

Graham said there would be "further joint work between police forces across the UK" to establish whether Peter Tobin had committed any other crimes.

"Although the inquiries are potentially in progress in terms of checking unsolved cases or missing persons who have not been found, it is my expectation that we will begin that work more overtly and in earnest after the conclusion of this case," he said.

Tobin is already serving life for the brutal rape and murder of Angelika Kluk, a Polish student. Her body was discovered in September 2006, bound and gagged under the floor of a Catholic church in Glasgow where Tobin had been working as a handyman under an assumed name.

The jury in Dundee took less than two and a half hours to deliver its guilty verdict today. This was greeted with cries of "yes" from Vicky's family and friends. Her father, Michael, shouted "Rot in hell" as the judge, Lord Emslie, sentenced Tobin to a minimum of 30 years in jail.

Lord Emslie told Tobin he was guilty of a "truly evil" crime: "Yet again, you have shown yourself to be unfit to live in a decent society," he said.

"It is hard for me to convey the loathing and revulsion that ordinary people will feel for what you have done. You already have an appalling record of convictions for sexual and violent crimes.

"Abducting and killing a child on her way home from a happy weekend with her sister and then desecrating her body must rank among the most evil and horrific acts that any human being could commit."

Tobin was also convicted in 1994 of raping and sexually assaulting two girls, aged 14 and 15, at his flat in Havant, Hampshire, after he drugged them with the sedative amitriptyline - the same drug found in Vicky's remains - and gave them alcohol.

In a joint statement read out by her sister Lindsay Brown, Vicky's family thanked the jury, prosecutors and police. "Vicky was much more than a girl who was abducted and killed by a stranger, or the girl on a 'missing' poster. Our sister was a warm, clever, generous girl who shared many happy years with us.

"We will always remember Vicky as she lived, not as she died."

Hamilton's dismembered body was recovered, wrapped in layers of plastic bags, in two separate portions from a carefully dug pit in the back garden of Tobin's former home in Margate, Kent, in November last year after Lothian and Borders police uncovered DNA evidence linking him to the teenager's disappearance.

Forensic tests on Hamilton's purse, which was found in Edinburgh soon after she disappeared, disclosed that Tobin's son, then aged three, appeared to have bitten the purse while he was staying with his father in Bathgate.

Further tests on a knife hidden in the attic of the house in Bathgate, found after police searched the property last year, detected a fragment of human tissue belonging to Vicky. Four of Tobin's fingerprints were then found on one of the plastic bags covering her remains in Margate, and partial DNA fragments similar to Tobin's were detected on her body.

Tobin had denied all the charges, claiming he had been in Portsmouth on the day Hamilton disappeared. His defence advocate, Donald Findlay QC, told the jury there was "not one solitary scrap" of evidence that Tobin had met, abducted or killed Hamilton.

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The jury at the inquest into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes will not be permitted to consider returning a verdict of unlawful killing, the coroner conducting the hearing said today.

The coroner, former high court judge Sir Michael Wright, began summing up seven weeks of evidence by telling jurors they would be allowed to return only a verdict of lawful killing or an open verdict.

With all the evidence considered, a verdict of unlawful killing could not be supported, he said.

After consideration and submissions, he told the 11-strong jury, "I so direct you that the evidence in this case, taken at its highest, would not justify my leaving verdicts of unlawful killing to you."

Wright explained: "I'm not saying that nothing went wrong in a police operation which resulted in the killing of an innocent man.

"All interested persons agree that a verdict of unlawful killing could only be left to you if you could be sure that a specific officer had committed a very serious crime: murder or manslaughter," Reuters reported him as saying.

De Menezes, a 27-year-old Brazilian electrician, was shot dead by armed police at Stockwell underground station in south London on the morning of July 22 2005.

Police mistakenly believed he was Hussain Osman, one of a group of would-be suicide bombers, who had attempted to set off bombs on a number of tube trains and a bus the previous day. De Menezes was living in a block of flats connected to one of the July 21 bombers.

The coroner told the hearing the jury should not be able to "return a verdict which found any individual or institution criminally or civilly liable".

This included both the elite firearms officers who shot De Menezes dead inside a tube carriage, identified at the inquest only as C12 and C2, as well as senior officers involved in the "management and conduct of the operation", he added.

The jurors will additionally be asked to consider four questions, including whether C12 did indeed - as he told the inquest - shout "armed police" before opening fire; whether De Menezes then stood up from his seat; and whether the young Brazilian moved towards C12 before being grabbed by another officer.

The firearms officer testified that after the warning had been shouted, De Menezes's actions had made him fear the electrician was carrying a bomb. Several passengers on the same carriage contradicted this account, saying they had heard no warnings, and that De Menezes gave no significant reaction to the police's arrival.

However, Wright added, even if the jury found the officers had lied, they would not be able to blame them for the death. "Many people tell lies for a variety of reasons … [including] to mitigate the impact of what might be a … tragic mistake," he said.

The final questions ask the jury to select from nine possible factors that contributed to the shooting. These are: pressure on police following the July 7 suicide attacks; failure to provide police with better photographs of Osman; the failure to stop De Menezes before he reached the station; more general difficulties with correct identification; De Menezes' own behaviour on the day; poor communication of surveillance officers' views to command and firearms teams; the fact commanders did not know the precise location of firearms teams; shortcomings in communications systems between police teams on the ground; and a failure to get surveillance officers to stop De Menezes at the station.

The coroner told the jury, sitting at Oval cricket ground, near Stockwell station, that he was aware the Brazilian's mother, Maria Otone de Menezes, had attended much of the hearing. "Your heart will go out to her," he said.

"But these are emotional reactions, ladies and gentlemen, and you are charged with returning a verdict based on evidence.

"Put aside any emotion - put them to one side."

The summing up is expected to last two days.

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The political crisis that has paralysed Thailand and stranded as many as 300,000 international travellers took a dramatic turn today when a court disbanded the ruling party and banned the prime minister from office.

Judges from the constitutional court found the People Power party (PPP) and two senior coalition partners guilty of electoral fraud for vote-buying in last December's general election and barred the prime minister, Somchai Wongsawat, from office for five years.

The People's Alliance for Democracy, whose supporters have occupied Bangkok's two main airports as part of weeks of anti-government demonstrations, greeted the verdict with celebrations and said they would cease their protest tomorrow.

But the ruling party raised the spectre of street violence after government supporters, angered by the judges' widely expected decision, surrounded the Bangkok court and refused to allow the judiciary to leave the building.

Overnight, a grenade was thrown from a flyover near Bangkok's barricaded domestic Don Muang terminal, killing one person and injuring 22 other sleeping protesters.

Analysts portrayed the situation on the ground as extremely volatile, while others said the judges' decision, made with uncharacteristic haste, was tantamount to a covert coup through which a royalist-military elite sought to strip the elected government of power.

"Thailand is in the middle of a crisis," said Sunai Thasuk, of Human Rights Watch, who was at the courthouse. "The government supporters are very, very upset. The climate is very volatile and both sides have been known to use violence against each other. It's a highly dangerous situation."

Britons caught by the shutdown of Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International airport a week ago told of their fears over the political turmoil, and mounting frustrations over their inability to find a way to leave the country.

The foreign secretary, David Miliband, urged commercial airlines to lay on extra flights for stranded passengers. Speaking to reporters, he said more than 12 commercial flights would be made to Thailand today. "We are working with all the airlines to honour their responsibility to ticket holders."

The airport authorities in Thailand said they would assess tomorrow how soon flights could resume at Bangkok's two main airports.

Cargo flights were resumed today, reducing the economic impact of lost export earnings, estimated to be £53m daily.

Demonstrators at the airports were overjoyed when they heard the verdict.

"My heart is happy," said Pailin Jampapong, 41, choking back tears of joy among the throng at Suvarnabhumi. "My friends are very happy."

Immediately after the decision to disband the PPP, Machima Thipatai and Chart Thai parties, Somchai said he would abide by the rule of law and stand aside, describing it as "not a problem. I was not working for myself. Now I will be a full-time citizen."

But the ruling, which bans Somchai and 36 party executives and MPs, does not prevent the PPP rump from reforming. They immediately signalled that they would move to the new party of Puea Thai (For Thailand) - a measure not barred by the constitution.

The former minister Jakrapob Penkair, a close confidante of the ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, said the court's decision had come as no surprise. "Our members are determined to move on, and we will form a government again out of the majority that we believe we still have," he said.

But Giles Ungpakorn, a political scientist at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University, accused the "fascist Pad", judges and the monarchist-military elite in the capital of staging a "judicial coup" to rob the rural poor government supporters of their rights.

"The majority of the Thai population, who are poor, face a double whammy," he said. "First, the elite royalists are doing everything possible to take away their basic democratic rights. Secondly, mass job losses are occurring among workers in the tourist industry as a result of the airport blockade. The Pad protesters are middle-class extremists who don't have to go to work."

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The radical Islamist cleric Abu Qatada today had his bail revoked and was returned to indefinite detention in a maximum security prison, pending the outcome of a legal battle over his deportation to Jordan.

The Special Immigration Appeals Commission, in effect Britain's national security court, ruled that evidence from the security services heard in secret, had convinced them that there was now an increased risk that Qatada would try to abscond.

Qatada, who was dubbed by a Spanish judge as Osama bin Laden's right hand man in Europe, was released on bail in June to live with his family in west London, under a 22-hour curfew, after the court of appeal ruled it was unsafe to return him to Jordan.

The radical cleric has already spent three and half years in maximum security jails since he was first declared a risk to national security in January 2001, on the grounds that he encouraged other extremists to commit acts of terrorism by providing religious sanction for them.

The SIAC judges said that their decision to revoke his bail was based on the evidence they had heard in secret. "The secretary of state relies on information contained in the closed case to justify the revocation of bail." This remains secret and is only spelled out in a separate closed, unpublished judgment.

The open version of the judgment published today said that none of the reasons put forward by the Home Office in the public sessions of the commission's two-day hearing would justify the revocation of his bail. These included the seizure at his home of memory cards, MP3 players, computer discs and video tapes.

They also rejected security service arguments that the publication of a message from a senior al-Qaeda figure on a jihadist website in July appealing to religious scholars to return to the battlefield, and the pending government appeal to the House of Lords against the decision not to deport him, also increased the risk of absconding.

The judges said it has been a longstanding assessment of the security services that Qatada, also known as Mohammad Othman, is a senior religious extremist with links to al-Qaeda and these factors in themselves did not justify revoking his bail.

Before the Siac hearing got under way it had been reported that Qatada was trying to flee the country, but Mr Justice Mitting, sitting with two other immigration judges, said that the cleric's declared interest in renouncing his Jordanian citizenship and attempting to go to the country of his birth, Palestine, did not amount to a breach of his bail. They said that they did not regard as at all significant the fact that he had not formally notified the Home Office of attempts on his behalf to find a third country, other than Jordan, willing to take him.

"If the appellant identifies a state or territory willing to receive him, and seeks to put into effect his declared wish to go there, he will be fulfilling the obligation imposed on him by the deportation order to depart the United Kingdom... We do not, however, see any realistic prospect that either of these two possibilities will be open to him in the near or medium term," they added.

During the hearing, his barrister, Edward Fitzgerald QC, said that his lawyer, Gareth Peirce, and writer, Victoria Brittain, had been involved in the initial attempts to find a country willing to take Qatada.

The home secretary, Jacqui Smith, said she was pleased that Qatada's bail had been revoked: "He poses a significant threat to our national security and I am pleased that he will be detained pending his deportation, which I'm working hard to secure."

Qatada was back in Belmarsh prison in east London last night, but is expected to be moved to Long Lartin maximum security prison in the near future.

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Kevin McDonald's double put paid to any romantic notions that Arsenal's tyros could win a trophy

The Conservatives have just released some video of the police searching Damian Green's office in the House of Commons. The footage doesn't amount to very much. It shows Andrew Mackay, David Cameron's senior parliamentary adviser, challenging the police in Green's office (and, apparently, beating a pretty swift retreat when they ask him to turn the camera off) and most of the clip shows Dominic Grieve, the shadow home secretary, talking about the affair.

Grieve says the pictures show "a dark day for democracy". He's been accused of going over the top. Still, on the day before MPs slam the door on Black Rod before the Queen's Speech in memory of what happened when King Charles I sent the heavies into the Commons chamber, the release of this video is going to turn the temperature up even higher.

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News of potential merger with Australian rival reflects how harsh realities of economic downturn are forcing consolidation in airline industry. By Graeme Wearden

Ford's $2m-a-year chief executive, Alan Mulally, today vowed to work for an annual salary of just one dollar if the struggling US car maker has to take government money as part of a $25bn (£16.76bn) bail-out of the US car industry.

In a further move to woo congressional support Mulally has vowed to sell Ford's fleet of corporate jets, cancel next year's bonuses for global management and US employees as well as closing more plants, trimming its dealer network and stepping up its work on electric vehicles.

In its business plan, submitted to Congress today, Ford said it was seeking bridging finance of some $9bn but argued that if Congress gave its approval it would not have to draw down the money.

"For Ford, government loans would serve as a critical backstop or safeguard against worsening conditions, as we drive transformational change in our company," Mulally said.

America's big three auto makers Ford, General Motors and Chrysler, were all due to submit business plans to Congress as they seek financial support to weather the economic downturn which has seen the industry faced with fierce competition and plunging sales.

Some congressional leaders have already made it clear they are determined to ensure the car makers will only get their support if they come up with credible restructuring plans.

Today Ford said that it expected both the company overall and the north American operations to be either profitable or breaking even in 2011. The forecast is based on a US market recovery which would see sales of 12.5m units next year, 14.5m in 2010 and 15.5m in 2011.

Ford has already sold Aston Martin, Jaguar and Land Rover over the last two years and yesterday said it was looking at the future of Volvo, which could involve the sale of the Swedish car maker.

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William Balfour, 27, was the lone suspect in the deaths of Hudson's mother, brother and nephew

The "dancing pig in Cuban heels" may just top the charts, come Christmas. John Sergeant, the marvellous and maligned political journalist who won the hearts of the nation on Strictly Come Dancing, has announced plans to release a Christmas single.

Let's Not Fight This Christmas will be released on December 8. Written by Squeeze's Chris Difford, it is a collaboration between Sergeant, 64, and Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley of The One Show.

Sergeant will face tough competition from the X-Factor winners, whose soppy take on Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah is a favourite for Christmas No 1. But of course Sergeant has one distinct advantage: he can't sing.

The BBC's former chief political correspondent, Sergeant won the hearts of millions with his, er, distinctive dance moves. Despite the sneers of Strictly Come Dancing's judges, he enjoyed a deluge of fan support – and indeed seemed headed for the crown. But Sergeant decided that this was "a joke too far," resigning from the programme at the end of November. "It's like when you decide when you leave a party, and the time to leave a party is before the fight starts, and I think that's really what's happened on this occasion," he told a press conference.

Sergeant may not look like Kylie, but he certainly has the je ne sais quoi of past Christmas hits. Let's just hope that his singing voice is as fine as his dance moves.

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The mortgage market will come to a standstill next year unless the government takes further action to help banks and building societies, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said today.

Director general, Michael Coogan, raised the prospect of "mortgage rationing" as he admitted the government's demand for mortgage lending to return to 2007 levels could not be achieved.

His warning echoed last week's prediction by the government's mortgage tsar, Sir James Crosby, that 2009 could see negative net lending for the first time as more home loans are paid off than new ones are granted.

Addressing this year's CML conference, Coogan called on the government to take further steps to make life easier for mortgage lenders, including cutting the cost to the banking industry of funding the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).

The scheme is currently paying out depositors in Bradford & Bingley, the collapsed Icelandic banks and London Scottish Bank, and Coogan said the contributions demanded by the government could amount to 20%-30% of the industry profits next year.

"Unless government takes further targeted action to help market participants, we will see a worsening of the picture next year compared to this. I would therefore not disagree today with Sir James Crosby's analysis or prognosis in his report," Coogan told delegates.

"A good outcome next year in my view would be if had lending at levels seen in 2008, but bearing in mind we will be in a recession ... this would be a real challenge."

Jon Pain, the retail markets managing director at the Financial Services Authority (FSA), agreed with the predictions for negative net lending.

But while some areas of the mortgage market had dried up, Pain said the regulator wanted to "encourage growth in mortgage lending that properly reflects the price of risk".

The CML has forecast that net lending this year will be half the record £108bn reached last year. However, the government has set this figure as a target for the banks accepting its £37bn bail-out.

Coogan set out a number of steps the government, the Bank of England and the FSA should take rejuvinate lending. These included calling a halt to demanding that lenders pass on base rate cuts because of the impact this has on savings rates, and allowing income support for mortgage interest payments to be paid when one borrower's income is reduced, not just an entire household's.

He also said specialist lenders should be allowed to use the special liquidity scheme which banks and building societies can use to swap mortgage bonds for higher rated government paper, and that the terms of the £37bn recapitalisation measures should be reviewed.

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Nato should beware of cooperating too closely with Russia after the invasion of Georgia last summer, the outgoing US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, warned today.

Speaking in London before attending a meeting of the military alliance in Brussels, she signalled that the US was willing to improve strained diplomatic relations with Moscow. "In principle, we don't have any problem [with closer ties]," Rice said.

However, the timing of renewed cooperation should be subject to tests, such as whether Russia was meeting its ceasefire commitments or "acting on its quite ill-tempered decision" to recognise two breakaway Georgian provinces as independent. "Those are ... the touchstones of when it makes sense," Rice said.

Two days of talks at Nato are expected to focus on Georgia's and Ukraine's hopes of joining the alliance. France and Germany fear that opening pre-membership negotiations with the two states would antagonise Russia.

The US government recently backed away from its call for Ukraine and Georgia to be prepared for Nato membership. It has called, however, for such "post-Soviet" nations' to modernise their armed forces and develop stronger democratic institutions.

Rice hinted that the US was considering seeking to improve relations with Moscow. "I think you would want to be very careful, for instance, about doing things that look military-to-military, because the Russian military is still sitting in the states," she said, referring to the standoff in the breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The US-backed government in Georgia claims the territories as integral parts of the nation.

"This [war] turned out badly for Russia, very badly," Rice said. Moscow had failed to bring down the Georgian government, its economy or international support for it, Rice said. "If they did anything, they managed to increase international support for Georgia, not decrease it."

Rice is cutting short her attendance at the Nato session to travel to India, where she will hold talks about the Mumbai atrocities.

Some Nato states have opposed allowing Georgia and Ukraine to join the organisation's Membership Action Plan (MAP). Despite internal divisions, the US is still hoping to find a new way for Georgia and the Ukraine to join the alliance.

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The BBC could face a battle to hold on to live coverage of the Olympics after 2012. By Leigh Holmwood

Torchwood actor John Barrowman has apologised after exposing himself on a live BBC Radio 1 show. By Leigh Holmwood

In these times of downturn, retailers are working even harder to get our money in the run-up to Christmas

A shortage of chemicals limits running water supplies in the capital, Harare, which is facing an outbreak of cholera

The Guardian's social affairs editor, John Carvel, and head of society, health and education, Patrick Butler, discuss the 'damning' report into Haringey council's handling of the case of Baby P.

David Kennedy, chief executive of the government's Climate Change Committee, discusses new proposals to reduce greenhouse gases by at least one fifth in just over a decade.

The Home Office civil servant alleged to have leaked documents that led police to arrest senior Conservative Damian Green spoke publicly for the first time yesterday. Chief political correspondent Nicholas Watt looks at the latest developments.

Diplomatic editor Julian Borger discusses the pressure facing Pakistan to act against terrorists following last week's attack on Mumbai.

And art critic Jonathan Jones assesses the winner of the 2008 Turner prize, Mark Leckey.

What to do if you are facing redundancy.

The latest photographs from the Guardian's centre page Eyewitness spread

Olympic gold medallist James DeGale today became the third member of Great Britain's boxing squad from Beijing to turn professional with promoter Frank Warren.

Warren has also signed Billy Joe Saunders, who lost meekly in the second round at the Olympics before complaining of homesickness, and Frankie Gavin, the 2007 world amateur champion, who was sent home before the Games when he failed to make his required weight. All three men will make their professional debuts early in 2009.

"I'm delighted to have signed James, Frankie and Billy Joe, and I'm very excited about working with them in the future," said Warren.

"I think they will all become world champions, and after their success as amateurs, the public is really going to get behind them and will want to watch their progress through the ranks."

Warren claimed that there would be plenty of opportunity to see his stable of fighters action. "There will be six to eight shows a year," he said. "We will be taking them around the country so the British public can see a work in progress as they are built to be world champions. We had to beat off a lot of competition to make these signings. These lads will follow in the footsteps of the likes of Naseem Hamed, Joe Calzaghe and Ricky Hatton. We are building them to be world champions."

After winning gold in Beijing, DeGale had insisted he would stay as an amateur for the London Olympics, provided his coach, Terry Edwards, remained in charge of the national team and he was given "sensible money" to train and provide for his family.

"I want to win a gold medal in my home town of London," he told reporters following his 16-14 victory over Cuba's Emilio Correa in the Olympic final. "Obviously the money will have to be nice, and it will be hard to say no if they offer me £1m [to turn pro] but I want to sign a contract [to stay as an amateur] until 2012. If Terry stays, I stay."

However DeGale, a 22-year-old from Harlesden, has become increasingly disillusioned with the Amateur Boxing Association. Another member of the British squad, light-heavyweight bronze-medallist Tony Jefferies, recently made public the squad's frustrations with the ABA saying: "The ABA haven't been in touch with me at all about staying amateur until 2012. They owe me a £5,000 medal bonus from the Olympics as well. James Degale hasn't got his either and he got a gold so his bonus was a lot bigger. I also got fined last month for not going to training camps before the European Championships."

"When we got off the plane we all thought we were going to have packages in place for us," added Jeffries, who has agreed a professional contract with promoter Dennis Hobson's Fight Academy. "With the next Games being in London, it was tempting to see what they were prepared to offer us to stay amateur. But I can't wait forever."

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Rafael Benítez has insisted he remains confident Robbie Keane will be a success at Liverpool, despite substituting the striker for the 15th time this season during last night's 0-0 draw against West Ham. Keane has played a full 90 minutes only three times since joining Liverpool from Tottenham in the summer, and scored just four goals for his new club.

"Robbie is a better player than the one we are seeing now," said Benítez this afternoon, before suggesting that the striker needed more support from his team-mates. "We know what kind of player Robbie Keane is. He needs people around him to pass the ball well. I believe he will be okay, he will score more if we create chances for him."

Keane made no attempt to disguise his frustration at being replaced by French teenager David Ngog last night, but Benítez was quick to defend his decision to withdraw the striker. "Players always want to be out on the pitch for 90 minutes, but we were thinking of different solutions and Ngog did well when he came on, holding the ball up. Robbie does get disappointed when things are not going his way. He is a worker, but he can improve.

Last night's draw sent Liverpool a point clear of Chelsea at the top of the Premier League, but the final whistle was met with boos. West Ham have not won at Anfield since 1963, and most fans had expected Liverpool to take advantage of the opportunity to go three points clear.

"Clearly we are frustrated, but we are ahead of Chelsea and that is positive," added Benítez, whose side have already been held to goalless draws at home by Stoke and Fulham. "Hopefully we will not be looking back at these three games as points that would have counted. I hope we will look at the end of the season as this point being decisive."

Earlier today defender Jamie Carragher had acknowledged Liverpool were going through a bad patch, saying: "You are always disappointed when you don't win your home games," said Carragher. "Obviously in the last three games at home we have not played as well as we could.

"The positive thing to take is the fact that we have qualified for the next stage of the Champions League and we are top of the Premier League. To do that when we are not playing well and going through a rough patch is really positive. Usually when you are not playing well you go down the table. Instead we are going up the league when we are not at our best.

"We put them under pressure which is what you expect," said Carragher, "but it has happened for years, goalkeepers having good performances at Anfield. In saying that, it is up to us to do a little bit more."

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Meet Mika. She works day and night so she can hang out with her favourite band, the Kaiser Chiefs. The strange thing is, she doesn't really seem to know why

Quantum of Solace's four-week reign at the top of the British box-office chart is ended by festive comedy Four Christmases

I am not an alcoholic but I do have a problem with drink. I rarely get properly drunk - maybe two or three times a year - but when I do, it's on a shameful, monumental scale. Historically, this has often coincided with the Christmas party season.

This year, however, will be different. Or that is the idea, at least.

Six months ago, after I found myself telling friends yet another "hilarious" tale of a drunken incident, I embarked on a self-imposed period of alcoholic awareness, designed to remove the possibility of ever again being incapacitated by drink. I realised that unless I could find a way to avoid my epic displays I would be forced down the route of the alcoholic and have to give up drink completely. I was going to have to learn to deal with one drink at a time. Here's what I, and others in my position, have discovered.

First, establish whether you have a drink problem

This is easier said than done. Hypnotherapist Georgia Foster, author of The Drink Less Mind (Foster Publishing) and a specialist in helping people gain control around alcohol, says: "Sometimes we all drink too much. The odd, one-off 'blitzing it' moment is fine. But if it's a regular occurrence and it's not in check, that's a problem." That may be the case for many, but although my drunkenness was infrequent, to me, those blitzes felt problematic. Tania Glyde, author of Cleaning Up: How I Gave Up Drinking and Lived (Serpent's Tail), agrees that defining the extent of your drink problem is often subjective. "When I gave up drinking, lots of people said to me, 'You weren't that big a drinker'. Some people are able to drink huge amounts and not worry about it. I think you only have a problem when you reach your personal limit of shame."

Sarah (not her real name), 29, faced this question three years ago. Now a personal trainer, she used to work in the City where binge drinking after work was common. "I wasn't an alcoholic in that I didn't need to drink every day," she says. "But if I went out, I had only to have one glass and I just wanted to keep on and on. Every time I drank, it would result in me getting drunk. I didn't have any control." She was becoming increasingly miserable, smoking more and overeating, too.

Try hypnotherapy

In 2005 Sarah saw a hypnotherapist for 12 one-hour sessions which, she says, helped re-programme her mind, and convince her that she has control over her actions. It also helped her deal with other issues which were causing her stress and exacerbating her binge drinking. She now finds it easy to stop at two or three units. (She has also stopped smoking.) "I am at a point where I will happily say during an evening's drinking, 'Shall we just have a cup of tea?' instead of, 'Come on, let's do some shots'."

Be proactive, and prepared to lie

Since her successful hypnotherapy sessions, Sarah still follows some tried and tested practical steps to help control her drinking. And I can vouch for the fact that these tips work even if you haven't been hypnotised (I've always found hypnotism a bit freaky). "Always order a glass of water with every alcoholic drink," says Sarah, "and drink them simultaneously. Stick to small drinks: be firm if someone insists on you having a large glass. If they complain, tell them you prefer small glasses because the drink stays colder." Be prepared for hostility, she adds: "A few people I used to work with did not respond to it well because they felt it was a judgment on them. I would just say: 'Get lost.'"

If it gets too much, says Foster, resort to fibbing. "Pretend you're taking antibiotics, that you have a big meeting the next day or that you have a hangover. Drinking less can be a big social problem - people feel guilty about it. They feel they have to fit in with the social environment by drinking too much." In my experience, this is not always the case: I was with a very drunk friend the other night and apologised for ordering a Diet Coke. "You don't have to jushtify yourself to me," he slurred. The truth is, most people are too distracted by their own drinking to notice yours.

The other advice I have assiduously followed over the past six months is screamingly obvious, but it works. "It's all common sense really - eat before going out," says Don Shenker, chief executive of Alcohol Concern. "And don't drink in rounds," he adds, "because you feel obliged to have another drink even if you don't really want one." That sounds a bit Scrooge-like to me. My advice is: buy rounds if you can afford it, just exclude yourself if you want to.

If you can't manage alcohol-free days, you are in trouble

Having a few days a week when you don't drink at all is crucial for gaining control of your alcohol consumption, says Foster. But seven out of 10 of her clients are bemused when she advises this. "Most of the people I see have drunk pretty much every day since they went to university." Personally, I can go for days without drinking, though, and then have no idea of moderation when I do drink. Commonly, people who are infrequent binge drinkers are perfectionists, says Foster. "They're very good when they're not drinking, but as soon as they drink, their rebelliousness comes out and they become "perfect" at doing the opposite of what they're supposed to. When I work with someone like that I try to tell them to stop driving the system so perfectly - because something is going to give." This is me all over.

Exercise extreme vigilance around free booze

"There is a real attitude of, 'If it's free, we are obliged to consume it'," says Glyde. "It seems rude not to swipe as much free alcohol as possible." Plus, alcohol is not called a social lubricant for nothing: "Work-related parties can be so intimidating," she says. "Especially if you are supposed to be networking. Everyone is looking over their shoulders, gimlet-eyed. The pressure of having to act like someone you're not brings out the child in all of us. I can remember spitting wine over a company director once and thinking, 'Aren't I clever? I'm really pissed, but I don't care.'" If you are aware of all these factors, have admitted to yourself that you are nervous or intimidated, then you don't have to get caught up in them.

Shenker's key party survival suggestion is to avoid top-ups from waiters: "Finish your glass and pick up a fresh one so you know exactly how much you've had. Decide in advance how much you are going to drink and stick to it."

If in doubt, don't drink at all

If you are like me, then there will be some times in your life - periods of stress, anxiety or childish over-excitement - when you are better off not drinking because the risk of getting trolleyed is too high. Taking the car is my top tip for complete alcohol avoidance in these situations. When I first resolved never to get drunk again I drove everywhere for weeks and drank nothing. Once you've done that for a while, when you start drinking again you can re-learn your limits. Now I know how I feel after one glass (not much different to sober), how I feel after two (a bit merry), and after three (disastrously drunk and ready to become more so). For the first time in my life I have an idea of when I am supposed to stop. I can say from experience that it is far more rewarding than letting gravity decide.

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Jason Atherton, the executive chef at Maze, on arctic roll, poisonous toads, and credit-crunch cooking

Banks and building societies were today warned they could find themselves in hot water if they use small print terms to avoid passing on this week's likely interest rate cut to their tracker mortgage customers.

The Financial Services Authority has waded into the row over the "collars" or "floors" that some mortgage lenders have in their terms and conditions, which allow them not to pass on rate cuts, even if the contract says the loan is tied to the Bank of England base rate.

Many holders of tracker home loans are looking forward to another sizeable reduction in their monthly costs if the Bank cuts rates on Thursday. Some economists are predicting a cut of a full percentage point, which would take the main rate down to 2%.

However, some lenders have small print in their contracts which allows them to set a minimum rate for customers.

Nationwide building society has indicated that once the base rate hits 2.75% it will not pass on any further cuts to borrowers, while Halifax has an option not to pass on any cuts below 3%, but both would be under pressure to do so. The restriction means a borrower with a Nationwide mortgage tracking 0.5% above the base rate will never see their pay rate fall below 3.25%, even if interest rates continue to fall.

Speaking today at the Council of Mortgage Lenders annual conference, Jon Pain, the FSA's retail markets managing director, said that while tracker interest rate floors could be a legitimate term of a mortgage, "it can only be if it is clear and unambiguous to the consumer, and is consistently and prominently spelt out in the initial KFI [key facts illustration] and offer document throughout the sales process".

He added: "If it is not [lenders] run the real risk of both breaching our disclosure requirements and having an unfair contract term you cannot enforce."

Pain said he was well aware of the potential risks some lenders faced in a very low interest rate environment. "But the solution cannot be to introduce contract terms that don't exist or are unenforceable," he added.

Yesterday, Nationwide launched a tracker deal with a collar of 1%, allowing new borrowers to benefit from further rate cuts. However, the rate on the mortgage is pegged 1.99% above the base rate.

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Cost of barrel of London Brent Crude at lowest for nearly four years. By Graeme Wearden

European leaders have agreed a deal relaxing new rules to cut car pollution and reduce the penalties for the automotive industry if their vehicles continue to spew out high levels of carbon dioxide, while setting a more ambitious longer-term target for slashing emissions from new cars.

Under the deal reached by French officials and members of the European parliament late on Monday, the big European car companies will be given a longer leeway to reduce CO2 emissions from new cars while fines levied on those breaking the new law have been dramatically cut.

Green pressure groups denounced the deal as capitulation to the powerful car lobby led by Germany. But EU officials, MEPs and European governments hailed the agreement as a breakthrough in a crucial part of the EU's ambitious climate change package.

"This is one of the most important results the EU is bringing to the [UN climate change] conference in Poznan," said Guido Sacconi, an Italian socialist MEP who led the negotiations with the French government that currently holds the EU presidency.

Monday night's agreement comes the week before a major EU summit which is supposed to approve the European climate change package aimed at cutting greenhouse gases by 20% by 2020. The complex negotiations surrounding four pieces of legislation which are to make the targets binding for 27 countries and European industries have hit several hurdles.

Frantic mediation is going on in Brussels, with the French haggling with the parliament and with the 27 governments over renewable energy commitments, the EU's emissions trading scheme, the auctioning of permits for the scheme, whether or not they should be free or which industries should be exempted. Another thorny issue is over how to finance around a dozen pilot carbon capture and storage schemes, which would bury the emissions from coal-fired power stations.

Poland and eight other central European countries are in an insurrectionary mood, complaining that wealthy western Europe should bear the brunt of the package, that their electricity bills will rocket if they sign up for the scheme and that Poland in particular is being unfairly penalised because 94% of its electricity is coal-based.

Italy is also threatening to block agreement on the grounds that the package will prove too expensive at a time of economic recession. Germany is also driving a hard bargain.

"This will go down to the wire at the summit," said an EU diplomat.

President Nicolas Sarkozy of France is to go to Gdansk on the Baltic coast at the weekend to try to finesse a compromise with the nine central European countries in what a senior Polish official described as "the moment of truth".

Despite the air of tension and nervousness in Brussels, the agreement on car pollution suggests that Sarkozy will cobble together an overall package that preserves the key targets – a 20% reduction in greenhouse gases with 20% of Europe's energy mix also coming from renewable sources by 2020.

The conflicts are not over the targets, but over how to achieve them and how to divide the costs and burdens.

In the case of the rules for car emissions, the initial proposals from the European commission last year called for all new cars were to emit 130g/km of carbon dioxide by 2012, as an average across a manufacturer's fleet. That compares to current levels of almost 160g. Cars are responsible for around 10% of Europe's CO2 emissions.

Under the compromise now reached, the targets are being staggered over three years – two=thirds of cars are to reach that target by 2012, three-quarters by 2013, 80% by 2014 and all by 2015.

Fines on companies exceeding the target were to have kicked in at €20 per excess gram on a rising scale, but are now to start off at €5.

Yesterday's deal also set a new and lower target of 95g/km for emissions by 2020 - that had not been stipulated in the draft legislation.

Smaller or niche car manufacturers that produce only high emission vehicles, such as the UK's Jaguar and Landrover, will be able to ask for special "derogations" exceeding the mandatory targets as long as they reduce emissions by 25%.

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Brazil has announced a 10-year plan to slash rainforest destruction by 70% days after new figures showed Amazon deforestation was again on the rise

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You have been staring at the ceiling of your darkened hotel room for an hour and half but despite willing your eyelids to droop you are still wide awake. You glance at the clock. It is 4.10am. The sleepless nights and blurry days of jet lag will be familiar to anyone who has travelled across time zones for a holiday or business trip. But a new drug that has been successfully tested in human volunteers may offer hope for future travellers and shift-workers.

In two clinical trials the drug tasimelteon, which helps to shift the natural ebb and flow of the body's sleep hormone, melatonin, increased the time volunteers spent asleep, helped them to get to sleep quicker and reduced the amount of time they spent awake during the night.

The research team did not test how well their subjects performed the day after taking the drug - something that would be crucial on a business trip - but it should help travellers to feel more normal.

"All the evidence suggests it would because if you have shifted your clock and you've slept well, then you should perform well the next day," said Dr Elizabeth Klerman, at Brigham and Women's hospital, Boston, who led the study.

Melatonin is released naturally by the pineal gland deep in the brain in response to light levels. It binds to receptors in the brain's circadian clock and acts to entrain the clock to the day-night cycle. "You can think of melatonin as something which quiets the awakening signal from your body clock," said Klerman. "It does not put you to sleep ... but once you drop off it prevents you from waking up early if you are trying to sleep at an unusual time."

Tasimelteon mimics melatonin and binds to the same receptors. Klerman and her colleagues conducted two clinical trials in which they studied volunteers who had their body clock advanced by five hours - the same as travelling from New York to London.

They compared sleep patterns in people given the drug and those given a placebo. Neither the researchers nor the subjects knew who had been given which.

The researchers report today in the Lancet that in the larger of the trials, volunteers on the medium dose of the drug slept for an average of 48 minutes longer. The time they spent awake during the night was also less: 140 minutes on average for the placebo group, compared with 106 minutes for people who took a medium dose of tasimelteon. The study was funded by Vanda Pharmaceuticals, which makes the drug, though it has not yet been approved by the Federal Drug Administration.

Klerman said although melatonin is available in US health food stores - it is not legal in the UK - there is conflicting evidence about how well it works. It is licensed as a supplement and does not fall under the remit of the FDA. "What you get in a health food store isn't necessarily pure and the dose isn't necessarily what they say on the bottle," she said.

To combat jet lag, the NHS recommends topping up on sleep before you travel; adjusting to your destination, by shifting your watch as soon as you get on the plane; avoiding alcohol; and by spending lots of time outdoors in the daylight. If you are considering taking melatonin supplements the NHS recommends consulting your doctor first.

Travellers' tips

"'Change your watch to local time as soon as you get on the plane. Shower on arrival, then stay awake until local bedtime ... I find copious amounts of booze is the only way to get through the flight. Just drink a ton of water"
Dustan

"Melatonin speeds up the resetting of circadian rhythms. Not legally sold in the UK but widely available in most other countries, including the US"
doubleblind

"Flying west to east is the killer. Don't sleep on the plane. That's important"
nickum

From readers of guardian.co.uk/travel

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