News Headlines - 22 December 2010

▽Spy may have died at hands of sex partner - The Press Association
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5jEjVxz0bRmqXKhKtTgj9lWlFT_vw?docId=B2356951293042434A00
MI6 spy Gareth Williams may have died at the hands of a mystery bondage sex partner he met on London's gay scene, detectives hav suggested.

▽Met Police officers suffered 'worst violence in 27 years' during student riots, claims Yard chief - Daily Mail
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1340826/Tuition-fees-riots-Met-Police-suffered-worst-violence-30-years.html
The Millbank student riots saw the most sustained violence in 27 years, the Metropolitan Police chief said yesterday.

▽Bank of England policymakers were split three ways - AFP
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gvaOHvum4fqcw3zgZCrBq2woHvAg?docId=CNG.11ffaa04a82178ed303b72aab2e727fb.c81
Seven members out of the nine-strong Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted in favour of maintaining rates, and against pumping out more cash into the economy, at the meeting that was held on December 8-9.
However, Andrew Sentance appealed again for a quarter-point hike in interest rates to calm inflation, while Adam Posen repeated his call for the bank to inject more money into the economy to aid recovery.

▽UK economy could contract in 2011, warns Bank of England's Paul Fisher - Telegraph.co.uk
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/8220185/UK-economy-could-contract-in-2011-warns-Bank-of-Englands-Paul-Fisher.html
A senior Bank of England official has warned that the economy may suffer another period of contraction in 2011, more than a year after the recession officially ended.

▽Japan Shows Trials of Escaping a Post-Bubble Funk - Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703814804576035233040817642.html
Academics wonder how Japan avoided the deflationary spiral their theories predicted and, instead, suffered only a decade of low-grade deflation.