Retailers Set Goals On World Cup Success

By Emma Birchley, Sky News Correspondent

England fans are not the only ones hoping the players can find the back of the net as their World Cup campaign finally gets under way.

Retailers too are banking on success.

The Centre for Retail Research has estimated that every time England scores - shops, restaurants and pubs will benefit to the tune of almost £200m.

At Sainsbury's, designers started working on the merchandise more than a year ago.

Corporate affairs director Alex Cole said: "The longer England stays in the tournament, the more excuse we have got for parties as a nation.

"But also the sun is really important so the sunnier it is the more likely we are to say, yes, we will have a BBQ and get some people round to watch the match with us."

The further in the competition England progress, the better for retailers

But it is not just sales of sausages and beer that soar. TVs are selling well. So too are souvenirs and sportswear.

Takeaway pizzas are expected to sell in their millions but many people will head straight from work to bars or restaurants to watch the matches.

Phil Collinson, manager at Rileys Sports Bar in central London, is expecting 30,000 fans to come through the doors during the tournament.

"It's our responsibility to make sure everyone from all the different nations has the chance to see the matches," he said. "It will be an incredible atmosphere and great to be part of."

Reaching the final 16 is expected to see the takings by retailers, bars and restaurants rise by more than £1.3bn while a place in the final would be worth almost £2.6bn to the economy.

Michael Jarman says success equals spending

With England taking on Italy in their first game, it can mean split loyalties if you are running an Italian business in the heart of London.

But while there is no surprise who Lorenzo Mariotti, manager of the restaurant Little Italy in Soho, wants to win, he knows the importance of the home nation staying in the competition.

"We really need both teams to play well and go (as) far as they can and hopefully meet in the semi-final or final," he said. "It will be the most great game of the World Cup."

Former footballer and city trader Michael Jarman says success in the tournament will see football fans out spending.

"You find the general morale and momentum of the UK consumer is going to be more upbeat, a bit more optimistic," he said.

"You then have the new football season starting. Naturally there will be a better feel-good factor."

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Great North Swim Challenger Dies Taking Part

A 52-year-old man has died after taking part in the Great North Swim in Windermere.

He was taken to hospital by air ambulance because of a "medical emergency", Cumbria police said.

Officers attending the event were alerted to the incident on Friday afternoon.

The man, who has not been named, was from Wallington, south London, police said.

The event's organiser, Nova International, released a statement, expressing its condolences.

It said: "Nova International deeply regrets the tragic loss of life at the Great North Swim today and offer our deepest sympathy and condolences to the family and friends of the individual concerned.

"In the case of a fatality there is a strictly planned procedure that we adhere to with the professional organisations.

"We must ensure that the next of kin are informed before any further comment is made but we will provide an update as soon as we are in a position to do so."

The Great Swim Series is staged in lakes, lochs and docklands across the country, its website says.

The Great North Swim was being staged this weekend and consists of various courses of between a half-mile and 3.1 miles.

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World Cup: England 'Well Prepared' For Opener

World Cup: 11 Players You Need To Watch

Updated: 3:39pm UK, Thursday 12 June 2014

By Nick Powell, Sports Editor

Like the Grand National, the World Cup has become a great participation event in offices, clubs and schools.

Join the sweep, pick the top scorer, guess how far England will go, perhaps even have a bet.

So to help, here's a team of men who are probably not big names in your household or workplace - but might be in a month's time.

:: Thibos Courtois, goalkeeper (Belgium/Atletico Madrid)

Actually a Chelsea employee, but doing so well on loan at Atletico that his future has become a big debating point in the last few months.

If Belgium are to do as well as the bookies predict, then he is certain to have enhanced his reputation even further.

Italy's veteran keeper Gianluigi Buffon has picked him out as a man to watch - and he should know.

:: Mauricio Isla, attacking right-back (Chile/Juventus)

Older than some of his colleagues in this fabled team at the age 25 and with almost half a century of appearances for Chile behind him, he has a great chance to win more admirers of his charging runs down the right.

Chile are in the same group as Spain and Holland but do not rule out Isla helping dump one of those giants out at the first hurdle.

:: Raphael Varane, central defender (France/Real Madrid)

He has only played five times for France, but at 21 years old he is part of a badly needed new generation for the 1998 world champions.

Big and strong - not to mention fiery - he got involved in an altercation on the pitch with opposition boss Diego Simeone at the end of the Champions League final, in which his Real team beat city rivals Atletico Madrid.

Jose Mourinho says he's the world's best young defender.

:: Mats Hummels, central defender (Germany/Borussia Dortmund)

If Germany go a long way in the World Cup, Hummels has the potential to be one of the stars of the tournament.

A dominant figure who can play as well as block, he also has a memorable name and a girlfriend, Cathy Fischer, who has been described as Germany's top WAG.

:: Yuto Nagatomo, left-back (Japan/Inter Milan)

Nagatomo has talked ambitiously about Japan winning the World Cup. One day, perhaps. Although they did reach the last 16 in 2010.

If they are to do it again, he will need to be at his best, both in defence and marauding down the left.

:: Juan Cuadrado, midfield (Colombia/Fiorentina)

Top scorer from midfield for Fiorentina in the Italian League with 11 goals last season, Cuadrado was converted from a right-back and is already interesting many of Europe's top clubs.

There is every chance there will be a long queue at his agent's door after the World Cup.

:: William Carvalho, midfield (Portugal/Sporting Lisbon)

You thought Angola was not the place to look for football talent?

This young man from Luanda has to force his way into Portugal's team but he is big and powerful (think Manchester City's Yaya Toure) with a future to match.

:: Paul Pogba, midfield (France/Juventus)

Still only 21, he has been in the headlines since Sir Alex Ferguson decided he was not good enough for Manchester United.

His poise belies his years. Zinedine Zidane, a World Cup winner in 1998, says his young countryman will become one of Europe's best central midfielders.

:: Ciro Immobile, striker (Italy/Borussia Dortmund)

This guy could be huge and may even be the World Cup's top goalscorer - worth a punt at around 50-1 if you like a bet.

No one got more than him in Italy last season and he has just signed for Dortmund.

Mario Balotelli is the big name in the Italians' attack ... so far.

:: Carlos Bacca, striker (Colombia/Sevilla)

Now carrying a nation's goalscoring hopes on his shoulders after injury ruled out his more illustrious colleague, Radamel Falcao, but he is up to the task.

He scored four goals towards the end of the season for his Spanish club, the Europa League winners.

And Bacca has every chance of helping Colombia progress from a group that also includes Greece, Ivory Coast and Japan - therefore boosting his own reputation.

:: Joel Campbell, striker (Costa Rica/Arsenal)

You're going to hear plenty about Joel Campbell because he is a big threat to England's hopes of progress from Group D.

Arsenal have loaned him out for the last three seasons, most recently to Greek club Olympiakos, for whom he scored against Manchester United in the Champions League.

His mum told him to read Psalm 27 - "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?" - before matches and apparently he does so.

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Queen's Birthday Honours: Stephen Sutton's MBE

By Rhiannon Mills, Sky News Reporter

Stephen Sutton, the teenage cancer sufferer who raised more than £4m for charity, has been honoured with an MBE in this year's Queen's Birthday Honours.

Stephen, who was 19 when he died last month, had been told about the honour before his death.

His fundraising efforts have inspired others to help him raise funds for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

His mother, Jane Sutton, said he saw it as an incredible honour to be nominated and gave it the thumbs up.

Jolie receives an honorary Damehood for her work to fight sexual violence

In a statement she added: "Although Stephen continually told all of us that he didn't do his charity work for recognition, even he acknowledged that to be appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire was 'awesome'."

He is joined on the list by the likes of actress Angelina Jolie, who is receiving an honorary Damehood for her work to fight sexual violence.

This week, Jolie has taken centre stage at a summit in London to End Sexual Violence in Conflict (ESVC).

Her honorary Damehood is part of the Diplomatic Service and Overseas Birthday 2014 Honours List for exceptional service to Britain overseas.

Jolie said: "Working on the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative (PSVI) and with survivors of rape is an honour in itself.

"I know that succeeding in our goals will take a lifetime, and I am dedicated to it for all of mine."

In the acting world, Dame Maggie Smith is made a Companion of Honour, while Daniel Day-Lewis receives a knighthood, and Homeland star Damian Lewis gets an OBE.

In sport, Britain's winter Olympic winners are honoured. Skeleton gold medallist Lizzy Yarnold receives an MBE, as do visually-impaired skier Kelly Gallagher and her guide Charlotte Evans.

An OBE also goes to Wales rugby head coach Warren Gatland, while England women's cricket captain Charlotte Edwards receives a CBE.

Homeland star Damian Lewis gets an OBE

Golfer Laura Davies becomes a Dame, as do author Hilary Mantel and fashion designer Zandra Rhodes.

And MBEs go to Torchwood star John Barrowman, singer songwriter Cerys Matthews, and Nicola Clarke, chair of the Military Wives Choirs Foundation.

The Cabinet Office said 1,149 people had received an award and alongside the famous faces, 73% have been given to people for the charity or voluntary work they do for their local community.

Ron and Avril Head, who have fostered 140 children over the past 30 years, were in shock at receiving their MBEs.

Mrs Head said: "We hope this will be a way of promoting fostering. There are hundreds of children waiting for people to look after them and hopefully we might inspire people."

IT entrepreneur Scott Fletcher, from Manchester, also gets an MBE for helping young people into work.

Women receive 49% of the honours, while 6.2% of all those honoured come from ethnic minority communities, a slight increase on recent lists.

The last New Year Honours List was the first in which the women outnumbered the men.

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Man, 86, Held Over Death Of 70-Year-Old Woman

An 86-year-old man is due to appear in court following the death of a 70-year-old woman in her home in Scotland.

The body of Francine Clark was found at about 10.30am on Wednesday at her house in Fintry Gardens in Bearsden, East Dunbartonshire.

Following the discovery police detained the man, who is expected to appear at Dumbarton Sheriff Court later today.

A Police Scotland statement said: "An 86-year-old man has been arrested and is presently detained in police custody in connection with the death of a 70-year-old woman.

"Relatives are aware and a full report will be submitted to the procurator fiscal."

Bearsden is a prosperous suburb about six miles northwest of greater Glasgow. 

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Rik Mayall Post-Mortem 'Inconclusive'

Rik Mayall's Memorable Lines

Updated: 5:50pm UK, Monday 09 June 2014

Rik Mayall, who has died aged 56, starred in a host of comedy productions. Here are some of his most memorable lines and scenes:

:: As Lord Flashheart in Blackadder II:

(To Baldrick [Sir Tony Robinson], dressed in drag as a bridesmaid): "Thanks bridesmaid, like the beard. Gives me something to hang on to!"

:: As hero pilot Squadron Leader Lord Flashheart in Blackadder Goes Forth (1989)

Flashheart: All right men, let's do-oo-oo it! The first thing to remember is: always treat your kite [taps chalkboard picture of a biplane] like you treat your woman [whips the air with his cane]

Lieutenant George (Hugh Laurie) : How, how do you mean, Sir? Do you mean, do you mean take her home at weekends to meet your mother?

Lord Flashheart: No, I mean get inside her five times a day and take her to heaven and back.

Captain Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson): I'm beginning to see why the suffragette movement want the vote.

Lord Flashheart: Hey! Any girl who wants to chain herself to my railings and suffer a jet movement gets my vote!

"Captain Darling? Last person I called darling was pregnant 20 seconds later."

:: As Alan B'Stard in The New Statesman (1987 - 1992)

"Why should we, the country that produced Shakespeare, Christopher Wren, and those are just the people on our banknotes for Christ's sake, cower down to the countries that produced Hitler, Napoleon, the Mafia, and the the the, the the the, the the the Smurfs! Remember my friends, God is dead. Marx is also dead. But the market lives.The market must become your new God."

:: As Richard "Richie" Richard in Bottom (1991 - 1995)

Richie: Some people are short-tempered, aren't they?

Eddie Hitler (Adrian Edmondson): Yeah, well, about four or five thousand of 'em, by the looks of things.

Richie: Yeah. But it's wonderful, though, Eddie. I mean, look. All the local communities are out there, on the streets.

Eddie: Beating the shit out of each other.

Richie: Yeah! Oh, I love carnival time. Oh, look at that policeman over there!

Eddie: Which one?

Richie: The one jumping up and down, waving his arms.

Eddie: The one that's on fire?

Richie: Yeah!

Source: IMDB

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Urgent Passport Cases 'Fast-Tracked For Free'

Passport Service Cuts Hit Expat Applications

Updated: 12:14pm UK, Wednesday 11 June 2014

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent

The backlog and workload problems at the passport office are causing frustration and anger - not just for people based in the UK, but for Britons living all around the world.

Until a few years ago, British citizens living abroad could simply wander down to their embassy and apply for a passport. It would be issued within a day or two. Job done.

The system was then changed largely because passports had become more sophisticated - with biometric technology for security. Embassies didn't have the equipment to produce the new biometric passports.

So, regional offices were set up within certain embassies around the world. For those of us living here in Beijing, Hong Kong became the regional hub.

We could apply via the British Embassy in Beijing, the application would be sent to Hong Kong and the new passport would be issued there. A little more bureaucratic but still entirely workable.

But in December, "cost saving" measures were made to the application system. All regional offices were shut and Britons globally were told they must apply for their replacement passports in the UK.

They now have two options. Either they can travel to the UK and then apply for the "one-day" service. That could cost a huge amount in air fares.

The alternative is to send their application form, together with their old passport, to the UK Passport office in Liverpool - a process that the Passport Office says will take "at least six weeks".

That means that for at least six weeks the applicant is unable to leave wherever it is they live. For many, that's entirely impractical. For some, it will impact on their business.

With a bit of research and a half-hour long distance phone call to the passport office, I have discovered that it is possible to send a copy of your old passport rather than the original, but only in "exceptional circumstances" determined on a "case-by-case basis".

However, this leads to its own problems - the moment the new passport is issued (back in the UK) the old one (still in the hands of the applicant) is cancelled.

So in the time it takes to send the new one to the applicant overseas - several weeks - they are unable to travel because the passport they hold will be flagged as 'cancelled' at immigration.

Confusing? Frustrating? Certainly.

The stories we're hearing are mounting up - a British bride-to-be, living in Hong Kong, has been waiting for her replacement passport for eight weeks. She still doesn't have it. Her wedding, in Bali, is in two weeks.

A Briton living in South Africa who's taking a group of South African children to the World Cup, had been waiting 15 weeks.

A British businessman living in Hong Kong told us he'd waited 10 weeks. His new passport has just arrived but the passport office forgot to send back his old one which contained his visas. He is therefore still unable to travel.

The bottom line is this - not all that long ago, Britons living abroad could get a replacement passport in a day or two.

Now they are being grounded for "at least six weeks" and in many cases, far longer.

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McCanns: Search Shows Madeleine May Be Alive

Kate and Gerry McCann believe the lack of evidence found during new police searches proves their daughter could still be alive.

The couple say they are "very pleased" with the digs carried out in Praia da Luz over the last 10 days.

"We are further encouraged that despite the intensive searches, no trace of Madeleine has been found and this reinforces our belief that she could still be alive," they said in a statement.

"As parents of a missing child, we have always wanted all reasonable lines of inquiry to be followed and it is gratifying to know that a substantial amount of work will take place over the coming months with the close co-operation of the British and Portuguese authorities.

"We would like to thank all those involved for their efforts and the members of the public who have come forward with information."

Kate and Gerry McCann believe their daughter could still be alive

Officers from the UK have been working with their Portuguese counterparts on sites in and around Praia da Luz, where Madeleine disappeared in 2007.

Police say this is only the "first phase of this major investigation which has been agreed with the Portuguese".

It is thought the UK teams will start flying home today but officers say more searches will take place "shortly".

There were also unconfirmed reports last week that Scotland Yard has been granted permission to question three suspects about the case.

More follows...

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London Faces Gridlock As Black Cabbies Protest

Thousands of black cab drivers are set to bring severe disruption to central London in protest at the regulation of rival cab services such as Uber.

The Google-backed app allows users to order a car at the touch of a button, and the fare is calculated using GPS tracking.

But traditional cabbies say this is effectively a taxi meter, which only black cabs are legally entitled to use in the capital.

The protest will see up to 12,000 cars fill the streets around Trafalgar Square from 2pm.

Transport for London (TfL) has warned of significant traffic disruption.

The transport authority is seeking clarification from the High Court over whether or not services such as Uber should be licensed, and say today's action is "pointless".

Garrett Emmerson, TfL's chief operating officer for surface transport, said: "A number of taxi drivers are set to cause pointless disruption for Londoners over a legal issue that is down to the courts to decide upon.

"TfL will work with the Metropolitan Police to do all we can to keep central London moving, however, given the scale of the likely disruption, we would advise drivers to avoid the area if at all possible."

Mick Cash, acting general secretary of the RMT transport union, said: "There will be serious disruption on Wednesday.

"But that will be nothing compared to the disruption and dangers of allowing our licensed taxis to be driven from our streets through a combination of ignorance and greed."

There are some 25,000 black cabs in London which can be flagged down in the street and use a metre to calculate fares.

There are a further 44,000 private-hire minicabs which must be pre-booked with a set fare and destination.

Uber has been the focus of anger from taxi drivers across European countries, including Spain and France.

On Wednesday Uber announced that a black cab service was being added to its app platform, meaning drivers of the classic London cab can now be booked through the app if they sign up.

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Passport Service Cuts Hit Expat Applications

The backlog and workload problems at the passport office are causing frustration and anger - not just for people based in the UK, but for Britons living all around the world.

Until a few years ago, British citizens living abroad could simply wander down to their embassy and apply for a passport. It would be issued within a day or two. Job done.

The system was then changed largely because passports had become more sophisticated - with biometric technology for security. Embassies didn't have the equipment to produce the new biometric passports.

So, regional offices were set up within certain embassies around the world. For those of us living here in Beijing, Hong Kong became the regional hub.

We could apply via the British Embassy in Beijing, the application would be sent to Hong Kong and the new passport would be issued there. A little more bureaucratic but still entirely workable.

But in December, "cost saving" measures were made to the application system. All regional offices were shut and Britons globally were told they must apply for their replacement passports in the UK.

They now have two options. Either they can travel to the UK and then apply for the "one-day" service. That could cost a huge amount in air fares.

The alternative is to send their application form, together with their old passport, to the UK Passport office in Liverpool - a process that the Passport Office says will take "at least six weeks".

That means that for at least six weeks the applicant is unable to leave wherever it is they live. For many, that's entirely impractical. For some, it will impact on their business.

With a bit of research and a half-hour long distance phone call to the passport office, I have discovered that it is possible to send a copy of your old passport rather than the original, but only in "exceptional circumstances" determined on a "case-by-case basis".

However, this leads to its own problems - the moment the new passport is issued (back in the UK) the old one (still in the hands of the applicant) is cancelled.

So in the time it takes to send the new one to the applicant overseas - several weeks - they are unable to travel because the passport they hold will be flagged as 'cancelled' at immigration.

Confusing? Frustrating? Certainly.

The stories we're hearing are mounting up - a British bride-to-be, living in Hong Kong, has been waiting for her replacement passport for eight weeks. She still doesn't have it. Her wedding, in Bali, is in two weeks.

A Briton living in South Africa who's taking a group of South African children to the World Cup, had been waiting 15 weeks.

A British businessman living in Hong Kong told us he'd waited 10 weeks. His new passport has just arrived but the passport office forgot to send back his old one which contained his visas. He is therefore still unable to travel.

The bottom line is this - not all that long ago, Britons living abroad could get a replacement passport in a day or two.

Now they are being grounded for "at least six weeks" and in many cases, far longer.

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