Barratts announces 1610 redundancies - BBC News

30 December 2011 Last updated at 10:16 ET

The administrator of troubled shoe chain Barratts Priceless has said it has made 1,610 employees redundant.

The job losses are at the retailer's concessions within other stores in the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

Administrators Deloitte said selling the concession part of the business will "not be achieved".

However they are still trying to find a buyer for Barratt's 173 high street stores, which remain open. 18 store closures have already been announced.

Deloitte said it is working with the concession holders, which include department stores, to see if the former-employees could be re-employed in other parts of their businesses.

Venezuela offers surgery to remove breast implants - BusinessWeek

CARACAS, Venezuela

Venezuela's top health official says free operations will be provided to women to remove faulty French-made breast implants.

Health Minister Eugenia Sader says women with implants made by the now-defunct French company Poly Implant Prothese may go to any hospital that carries out plastic surgery in order to have the implants removed.

France's health system has recommended that women with the PIP implants get them replaced, and has agreed to pay for surgeries that could total millions of dollars. In Brazil and Argentina, however, health officials just recommend checkups.

According to Venezuela's state news agency, Sader says the free procedure will simply be to remove the implants and will not include replacing them.

Katherine Jenkins splits with Gethin Jones - ITN

Katherine Jenkins has revealed on Twitter that she has split up with her TV presenter fiance Gethin Jones.

The Welsh singer began dating Jones in 2007.

Both announced the news that their relationship has come to an end on Twitter. Jenkins wrote: "Sorry for being quiet of late, it's just that I have some very sad news.

"Geth and I have decided to go our separate ways. We are both beyond broken-hearted. All your hugs and support will be much appreciated."

Cardiff-born Jones, 33, echoed his former fiancee's words, saying: "I'm deeply sad to tell you that Kath and I have ended our relationship as a couple. We are both heartbroken."

Imogen Thomas wishes you a very merry Christmas - The Sun

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Germany cosies up to Britain - The Sun

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World champion cyclist Mark Cavendish has been crowned BBC Sports Personality ... - BBC News

23 December 2011 Last updated at 11:48

World champion cyclist Mark Cavendish has been crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

Golfer Darren Clarke was second with world 5,000m champion athlete Mo Farah third.

England's cricket team were named Team of the Year and Andy Flower won Coach of the Year.

Golfer Lauren Taylor was the BBC Young Sports Personality - she became the youngest winner of the Ladies' British Open Amateur Championship aged only 16.

World number one tennis player Novak Djokovic won the Overseas Sports Personality of the Year.

Athletics coaches Janice Eaglesham and Ian Mirfin won the BBC Sports Unsung Hero award.

And former rower Sir Steve Redgrave won the Lifetime Achievement award while Bob Champion was handed the Helen Rollason Award.

Russian spacecraft to crash - Telegraph.co.uk

They said they are expecting fragments of the probe to fall to Earth anywhere between 51.4 degrees north of the Equator and 51.4 degrees south, covering much of the planet's most densely populated areas.

Phobos-Grunt, which cost more than £100m to build, was designed to collect rock samples from the Martian moon, Phobos during a two and a half year mission.

Having launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, it separated from its booster rocket 11 minutes in, but failed to fire out of Earth's orbit.

This is the latest in a series of Russian launch failures that have raised concerns over the state of space industries in the country.

Engineers in Russia and the European Space Agency had tried to propel the spacecraft away from the Earth's orbit, but were unsuccessful.

Earlier this year, debris from a falling Nasa satellite approximately half the size also came crashing to Earth. No one was hurt.