UK loses 'highly sensitive Iraq War papers'

British Ministry of Defense documents on the Iraq war have reportedly been stolen from a lawyer for a private law firm on a train to London. 

A suitcase containing the documents was stolen from a solicitor of the law firm Eversheds on her way from Leeds to London on Monday morning, British media said on Wednesday. 

Highly sensitive documents relating to the Iraq War have been stolen after being left unguarded on a train by a lawyer working for the Government, The Times reported. 

"Legal papers in the possession of a lawyer from a firm of private sector solicitors working for the Treasury Solicitor's Department were taken from a train on 16 February," said spokeswoman for the Attorney General's Office. 

"The possible theft is under investigation by the British Transport Police. Action is under way in an attempt to recover the papers," she added. 

The lawyer was working for the Treasury Solicitor's Department, which provides legal advice to government ministries. 

According to The Times, the highly sensitive documents were stolen after the solicitor from Eversheds could not fit the case into the overhead storage space and instead stowed it in a baggage rack at the end of the carriage. 

The lawyer noticed that the case was missing after the train's arrival at King's Cross station and called police. 

Baha Mousa died in a British military prison in 2003

It is not yet clear what case the documents, which apparently contain no classified secret, relate to but it is supposed to concern an upcoming investigation in to the death of Iraqi civilian Baha Mousa in British military custody in 2003. 

A Leeds-based Eversheds partner was recently appointed to act for the defense ministry in a public inquiry into what the government has admitted as "substantial breaches" of the European Convention of Human Rights in the treatment of Mousa. 

The inquiry was first announced last May by then defense secretary Des Browne and is scheduled to hear opening statements on July 13. 

The Monday's incident comes latest in a series of embarrassing losses of government documents. 

In October 2008, a senior official left classified documents, related to al-Qaeda, on a train. The documents were later recovered and the man was fined for negligence.

UK inflation rate falls to 3%

UK inflation rate has fallen in January to nine-month low as the country's stocks have plunged and global economic recession has widened. 

Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation descended slightly in January to 3%, from 3.1% in December as cheaper food, fuel, transport and housing reduce pressure on prices, the Office for National Statistics said Tuesday in London. 

CPI inflation in the UK has dropped for four months consecutively. An inflation of 5.2% was recorded in September. 

The headline Retail Prices Index (RPI) rate, which includes mortgage costs and is often used in pay negotiations, reduced to 0.1% from 0.9% in December. This is the lowest rate registered since 1960. The decrease in RPI may lead to pressure on employers to limit salary rises. 

Transport costs have had the biggest downward contribution, as the price of petrol fell by 2.9 pence per liter to 86.3 pence between December and January. Diesel prices in the same period decreased 4 pence per liter to 98.4 pence.

Brown aide quits amid allegations

The deputy chairman of the British financial regulator quits after allegedly contributing to a major banking failure by ignoring warnings. 

HBOS ex-chief James Crosby left the Financial Services Authority (FSA) on Wednesday after his former head of regulatory risk Paul Moore accused him of contributing to the bank's failure. 

According to Moore, Crosby risked too much and would not listen to warnings that the bank was rapidly approaching failure. 

He also claimed that he had been sacked by Crosby in 2005 after confronting him on the issue. 

The credit crunch took its toll on HBOS last month, prompting the bank to be absorbed into the Lloyds Banking Group as a result of a successful government-brokered takeover bid. 

Premier Gordon Brown, whose government used to take Crosby's economic advice, however, insisted that the bank had sunk "because its whole business model was wrong" and not because of the surrounding allegations, BBC reported. 

"It is important that the FSA show at this time that it is operating to the best standards possible," he added while defending the Crosby resignation. 

Lessons had to be learned from what had happened in banking and the regulatory system had to be "improved", Brown said after chairman of the Treasury Committee John McFall grilled him on why the government was not taking enough action. 

The latest forecast for Britain's economic ebb and flow shows the economy is in "deep recession" and could shrink by up to six percent in mid-2009.