News Headlines - 19 November 2011

▽Occupy UK converges on London - The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/nov/19/occupy-london-protesters-ideas-bank
The Occupy movement continued to acquire momentum on Saturday as protesters from camps across the country converged in London to begin shaping a national campaign.
The supporters – from more than 10 Occupy sites, including Plymouth, the Isle of Wight and Edinburgh – gathered as the campaign opened an empty office building owned by the Swiss bank UBS as a venue for discussions, after taking control of it on Friday.

▽Family Doctors May Lose Power to Decide on Sickness Claims for Employees - Bloomberg
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-18/u-k-family-doctors-may-lose-power-to-decide-on-employee-sickness-claims.html
The Independent Review Into Sickness Absence, to be published next week, will say that family doctors, known as General Practitioners, aren’t well-placed to judge what work sick people could do, and have no incentive not to sign sick notes sought by their patients. The report will suggest a government-funded service to which both employers and doctors could turn

▽Four Metropolitan Police officers stabbed in London - BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-15803860Witnesses said a man had been chased by police in and out of shops before he fled into a butchers, grabbed a knife and attacked the officers.
Two of the PCs were seriously hurt and one suffered a broken hand during Saturday's incident in Kingsbury Road.

▽Scandal-hit Microsoft admits blow to morale - Telegraph.co.uk
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/microsoft/8901043/Scandal-hit-Microsoft-admits-blow-to-morale.html
Anyone who thought Microsoft was full of straight-laced computer geeks was wrong. Over the summer, a £10m High Court battle raised the curtain on allegations of a culture of lewd behaviour, heavy drinking and sexism at its UK division, entirely at odds with its blue chip corporate image.

▽Microsoft shareholders losing faith in Steve Ballmer - V3.co.uk
http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/news/2126089/microsoft-shareholders-losing-faith-steve-ballmer
Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer has seen shareholder support slip, despite the firm posting record profits for the financial year, as major investors continue to show concern over the company's direction.