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The analysis of fraud trends during 2013 by CIFAS - the UK's Fraud Prevention Service reveals a surprising mix of apparently good and equally alarming news about fraud. ID fraudOn the plus side, fraud went down in 2013 by 11 per cent from the levels recorded in 2012 – the first year-on-year drop since 2010 – but fraud remains at a much higher rate than in pre-recessionary times. Explaining the decrease CIFAS says that the 11 per cent decrease in fraud levels is proof of the positive preventative impact of counter fraud measures such as data sharing. Richard Hurley, CIFAS communications manager, noted: “The decrease in fraud comes on the back of The Audit Commission’s Protecting the Public Purse 2013 which also reported a reduction in the number of frauds, and is good news for those who participate in the collective effort to prevent fraud. “On the other hand, the fraud has not necessarily ceased to exist. Much comment has been made over the past year by senior police a...

Manchester United have not bid for Juan Mata, but refuse to rule out making a future offer for the Chelsea player. The 25-year-old is a player United boss David Moyes admires but Chelsea's valuation, believed to be more than £35m, could be a stumbling block. Mata has struggled for regular football under manager Jose Mourinho and has not figured at all since New Year's Day. United have no intention of selling England striker Wayne Rooney as part of any deal.Senior figures at Old Trafford have told the BBC that United have not made a bid for the player.  However it is understood that the Spanish international midfielder is a target as Moyes seeks to bring in new faces to freshen up his struggling team. Chelsea are anticipating a bid for the playmaker in January despite the club's firm public stance that he will not leave.  Mourinho told Football Focus at the weekend that Mata needed to "adopt to the direction" he was taking the team, but that he "di...

KHARTOUM: An emergency regional summit planned for Thursday in the capital of war-torn South Sudan has been cancelled, official media in Khartoum said. The East African regional bloc IGAD has been mediating in talks in Ethiopia between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and rebels allied to his sacked deputy, Riek Machar. But those talks are deadlocked and IGAD, the seven-member Intergovernmental Authority on Development, had called the special summit for Thursday in South Sudan's capital Juba. "The government received an urgent memo today from the IGAD secretary informing them that the emergency summit... has been cancelled", Sudan's official SUNA news agency quoted Abdul Mahmud Abdul Halim, a senior official in Khartoum's foreign ministry, as saying Tuesday. The report gave no reason for the cancellation. South Sudan's foreign ministry spokesman Mayen Makol said earlier that he hoped all seven IGAD heads of state would attend. "The key ...

Nicolas Anelka, the French footballer and striker for the English club West Bromwich Albion, has been charged by the Football Association after making a 'quenelle' gesture, considered by many to be anti-Semitic, during a recent match. The 34-year-old performed the salute, putting one arm across his chest and straightening the other, during West Brom's 3-3 draw at West Ham United in the Premier League on 28 December 2013. A statement published on Tuesday by the Football Association website reads "It is alleged that, in the 40th minute of the fixture, Anelka made a gesture which was abusive and/or indecent and/or insulting and/or improper, contrary FA Rule E3[1]. It is further alleged that this is an aggravated breach, as defined in FA Rule E3[2], in that it included a reference to ethnic origin and/or race and/or religion or belief.” Anelka has until 1800 GMT on Thursday to respond to the charge. If found guilty, he faces a minimum five-game suspension, und...

Rebel fighters have staged coordinated attacks near the western Iraqi city of Falluja, destroying two army tanks and capturing a police station, police have said. There was no immediate word on the casualty toll from those assaults, which occurred during a standoff between the army and armed fighters who overran Falluja two weeks ago. Elsewhere, car bombs and shootings killed at least 24 people, mainly in the capital, Baghdad, police and medics said. A suicide bomber in an explosives-laden fuel tanker blew it up under a highway bridge near the town of Saqlawiya, about 10km north of Falluja, causing the bridge to collapse and destroying one of two army tanks parked on top, police said. Gunmen then attacked and destroyed the second tank. Simultaneously, dozens of gunmen stormed a police station in Saqlawiya, forcing its occupants to surrender. Army helicopters later attacked the gunmen in the police station. The destroyed bridge lies on the main highway leading west from Baghdad a...

Chelsea expect to complete the £21million signing of Benfica midfielder Nemanja Matic in time for him to make his second debut for the club on Sunday against Manchester United. As Standard Sport revealed last week, Chelsea had to wait until after Benfica’s match against Porto yesterday for  negotiations to be finalised. Matic has already set his sights on a return to Stamford Bridge and is likely to travel to London tomorrow to complete the deal. Chelsea have made buying a defensive midfielder one of their  priorities and decided to try to re-sign the Serbia international months ago. Matic originally joined the club from MSK Kosice for just £1.5m in 2009 and made only three substitute appearances before being sold to Benfica two years later as part of the £25m deal which saw David Luiz go the other way. His value then had risen to £4m but such has been Matic’s development at Benfica that Chelsea are prepared to hand the Portuguese giants a significant profit to ge...

Nasa has captured a new image of a hand-shaped formation around a star that has been dubbed the "hand of God. Scientists said it was a nebula - a cloud of gas - around a neutron star called PSR B1509-58, or B1509 for short. Neutron stars are created when massive stars run out of fuel and collapse. The star has collapsed so much, Nasa says it is only 12 miles across and incredibly dense. When it collapsed, it also caused an explosion which cast gas and material out into space. It revolves at seven times a second and in doing so it throws out huge amounts of sub-atomic particles in streams. It is the interaction between the particles and the gas that, when photographed with a special camera, create the amazing image. A previous image of the "hand" was captured in 2009 by Nasa's Chandra X-ray observatory - a telescope contained in a satellite which is able to see X-rays 100 times fainter than any detector on Earth. The new image was taken by the agency's...

CENTRAL African Republic’s interim president, Michel Djotodia, has caved in to international pressure and resigned after failing to halt inter-religious violence, drawing thousands onto the streets in celebration. The resignations of Mr Djotodia and his prime minister Nicolas Tiangaye yesterday were announced in a statement issued at a two-day summit of the Economic Community of Central African States (CEEAC) in neighbouring Chad. Talks to decide on new leadership will take place in Central African Republic, it said. Thousands of people have been killed and one million displaced by cycles of violence since abuses by Mr Djotodia’s mainly Muslim rebels, known as Seleka, prompted the creation of Christian self-defence militia after he seized power in March. With memories of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide stirred by the unrest, France sent hundreds of troops to its former colony last month to support African peacekeepers. However, the killings have continued, and France has repeatedly...

  A senior American official has said the United States is "very open" to building a new relationship with Cuba. However, Edward Alex Lee of the US state department stressed that any improvement should go hand-in-hand with more political freedom on the communist-run island. He said the two countries had held "very constructive" talks on migration and other issues this week. But he declined to give any details of what he called "substantial progress". Mr Lee, who has been on an official visit to Cuba, added the two nations would seek to continue these rare negotiations. Despite our historically difficult relationship...we have been able to speak to each other in a respectful and thoughtful manner," he told a news conference in Havana. But he added that the US wanted a "fundamental change" in the Cuban government's attitude towards its own people. We want to have that opening reflect - from the Cuban side - a respect for Cubans to...

The England star has been sidelined with a groin problem since New Year's Day after playing through the pain barrier. He has missed his side’s last two defeats and was expected to return to action when Swansea visit Old Trafford today. Now boss David Moyes is so desperate for the striker to return he has ordered him to go on a warm-weather training break in the Middle East. United refused to confirm exactly where Rooney will go but Moyes said: “We have sent him away on a hot weather break. His groin hasn't quite recovered yet. “We have sent a fitness coach with him, and he is away with his family. Hopefully we’ll get him fi t for Chelsea (January 19). We’ll give him a bit of a break and see how he is. “He’ll do some work with the fitness coach and spend time with his family. We feel the best thing to do is for him to do some work in warmer weather and hopefully it will help him. “He also needs a bit of strengthening work in that area, so he will continue working be...

A Spanish prosecutor on Friday demanded the courts investigate allegations of misappropriation by Barcelona in their 57-million-euro ($78 million) signing of Brazilian star striker Neymar last year. A member of the fan-owned club, currently the Spanish league leaders, has lodged a complaint against its president Sandro Rosell alleging misappropriation of 40 million euros out of the total fee paid for Neymar. Contracts shown to the courts by the club support “doubts raised in the complaint over the signing”, public prosecutor Jose Perals said in a court filing. He called on the National Audience, Spain's highest criminal court, to launch a judicial investigation into the complaint. Barcelona has said it paid a total 57 million euros to sign Neymar Da Silva Santos Junior from Brazilian club Santos in June, but it declined to give full details, citing a need for confidentiality. The complaint accuses Rosell of misappropriation of funds because members do not know the “rea...

Manchester United boss David Moyes was shocked to find out the club's scouts had failed to secure deals for Alvaro Negredo and Jesus Navas over the summer - and watched on as two of his top targets joined Manchester City instead. According to the Daily Mail, the United boss was "dismayed" to see Negredo and Navas join his closest rivals after taking over from Sir Alex Ferguson. The former-Everton boss tried to bring Negredo to Goodison Park, and was reportedly lining up a summer move for the Spain international having taken the reigns at Old Trafford. Moyes has endured a difficult first half of the Premier League season in his maiden Manchester United campaign. The reigning Premier League champions currently find themselves down in seventh position, five points behind Liverpool in fourth place - the last Champions League qualifying spot. And while striker is not a position of obvious need for United considering they have Javier Hernandez, Robin Van Persie, Wa...

TORONTO - Hidden away at the Kia training ground last October, it was hard not to chuckle. Some of us did, I recall, during Toronto FC’s end-of-season pressers. There were smirks after listening to Stefan Frei’s eulogy, and furious tweeting at Richard Eckersley’s bewilderment. After a disgruntled Danny Koevermans completed his woe-is-me spiel that day, it seemed TFC wasn’t close to where rookie head coach Ryan Nelsen promised they’d be 10 months earlier. Having just watched the Reds complete a 6-17-11 season, winning two of their final 12 matches, scoring less than a goal per game on the year, the half-filled room of media members had good reason to question TFC’s direction. “We are very close,” Nelsen said with a straight face at the time. “It doesn’t take too much to turn a team around. The club’s head honcho, Tim Leiweke, had echoed his coach’s position. Now, less than three months later, Toronto FC is set to unveil one of the biggest signings in MLS history. As the T...

Justin Bieber paints an innocent picture posing alongside his cute younger sister Jazmyn in the latest selfie posted on his Instagram perhaps in an attempt to brush aside his bad boy image which has been refuelled following claims that he vandalised a neighbour's house. The 'All That Matters' singer has been spending an increasing amount of time with his family since the Christmas holidays and it looks as though he's been playing dress-up with his sister Jazmyn judging by the latest snap on his Instagram which shows the adorable youngster wearing a bright orange wig while beaming broadly. Clearly the doting brother, Justin, 19, can be seen gently holding her around the shoulders while staring into the camera. As if the picture alone wasn't cute enough, Justin wrote the caption: “Me and my little princess.” The photo was posted early this morning just as allegations emerged accusing Justin of pelting eggs at a neighbour's house yesterday evening. TMZ cla...

Liverpool hitman Luis Suarez has a new trophy for the mantle, picking up the Barclays Premier League ‘Player of the Month’ award for December. Suarez’ accolade was hardly a shock after scoring a record-breaking 10 goals over a four match stretch. December began poorly for Suarez and Liverpool as the striker was stuffed goal-less in the 1-3 away loss to Hull City. That blank shot Suarez into high gear, however, as he tore into his favorite side to play against, Norwich City, for four sensational goals during the Reds 5-1 triumph on December 4th. Three days later it was West Ham’s turn to receive a beating as the Uruguayan’s brace led Liverpool to a comfortable 4-1 victory at Anfield. With six in the bag Suarez then set his sites on Tottenham where he unleashed yet another dominant performance, scoring twice and assisting twice in the 5-0 smashing that sent Andre Villas-Boas packing. On the 21st of the month Suarez gifted the Kop a fourth and final sterling performance, scorin...

Brand X Editions wants Christopher Wool to fulfil their alleged agreement A lawsuit against Christopher Wool and his gallery, Luhring Augustine, over a series of unfinished prints, will go ahead after a New York state judge ruled on 2 January to largely deny a motion to dismiss. The suit was brought by Brand X Editions, a Long Island City studio that was working with Wool on a series of 60 monoprints. Brand X wants to enforce an alleged agreement under which it would pay the production costs of the prints and retain one-third of them.  According to Brand X’s complaint, all went well until someone from Luhring Augustine admired the prints. Then Wool, realising they were worth more than anticipated, tried to change the contract “to get the deal he wishes he made rather than the one he did make”, the court papers say.  First, he allegedly demanded Brand X take only one-quarter of the prints and when that was rejected he offered to pay all the costs and retain all the p...

The United States, already at odds with China over that country's air defence zone, said on Thursday that new Chinese fishing restrictions in disputed waters in the South China Sea were "provocative and potentially dangerous. The legislature of China's Hainan province approved rules in November that took effect on January 1 requiring foreign fishing vessels to obtain approval to enter waters under its jurisdiction. Such a move, if broadly enforced, could worsen tensions in the region. Beijing claims almost the entire oil- and gas-rich South China Sea, rejecting rival claims to parts of it from the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam. "The passing of these restrictions on other countries' fishing activities in disputed portions of the South China Sea is a provocative and potentially dangerous act," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told a news briefing. China has not offered any explanation or basis under international law for these e...

Abbas Yazdi disappeared from Dubai on June 25 and his whereabouts remain unknown Held: Three men have been arrested in Dubai in connection with the disappearance of a British businessman who is feared to have been abducted and murdered Three men have been arrested in Dubai in connection with the disappearance of a British businessman of Iranian origin who is feared to have been abducted and murdered. The whereabouts of Abbas Yazdi, 44, remain unknown but the emirate's authorities said today they had forensic evidence linking the suspects with his kidnapping "beyond doubt". Mr Yazdi, who holds dual British-Iranian citizenship, disappeared from Dubai on June 25 after giving evidence via video-link to a tribunal hearing in the Hague related to a dispute involving the National Iranian Oil Company. His wife Atena has reportedly been told that it was "likely" he has been killed amid claims that he was targeted by a hit squad. The businessman has been ac...

According to the Daily Star, Eden Hazard has been urged to ditch Chelsea in favour of French champions Paris Saint-Germain by his former boss, Lille president Michel Seydoux. Hazard spent five years at Lille before transferring to Stamford Bridge in 2012, but recent speculation has seen him linked with a mega-money move- thought to be in the region of around €60million to be exact- to PSG. And whilst most Chelsea fans will be spending the entirety of the January transfer window praying that they can hold on to their star performer, Lille chief Seydoux is of the opinion that Hazard should move back to France. Seydoux said: “"When he left there was a small thrill but it was not great enthusiasm," he said. "Chelsea wanted him as did other English clubs. Today he is a great player. I have no advice for him as he is happy at Chelsea. "But if Chelsea want to sell him and he comes to Paris it will be better for us because we will see him again. "We need ...

Manchester City and Ivory Coast midfielder Yaya Toure has been named the Confederation of African Football (Caf) Footballer of the Year.  It is a third straight title for Toure, who also won December's BBC African Footballer of the Year award. He was up against fellow Ivorian Didier Drogba, of Galatasaray, and Nigeria and Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel. Toure, 30, emulates Abedi Pele and Samuel Eto'o with a hat-trick of wins. Ghanaian Abedi Pele won three in a row between 1991-93 while Cameroonian Eto'o took the award from 2003-05. Toure may not have won a major trophy for club and country last year but his class has shone through at both domestic level and for the Elephants of Ivory Coast. He was honoured at a ceremony in Lagos, Nigeria, on Thursday. Toure's form also led to him being the only African to be included on the 23-man shortlist for Fifa's World Player of the Year. His closest rival for the Caf award was Mikel, 26, who helped Nigeria win ...

Hollywood star Jessica Alba looked typically flawless as she attended the People's Choice awards sporting a white Jason Wu bandage dress. The washed out creation featured a front zip that ran the length of the dress and criss-cross side detailing. Also in white was Jennifer Hudson. The singer showed off her svelte physique in a tight-fitting Kaufman Franco wrap dress with subtle drapes. She accessorised with a black watch and space-age white and perspex sandals, but added a pop of colour to the outfit with bright pink lips. Sandra Bullock injected a good dose of colour into the proceedings with a quirky blue, yellow and green floral Peter Pilotto dress with an asymmetrical hemline. She topped off the look with a blue satin clutch and yellow pointed heels. Britney Spears, who picked up the Favourite Pop Artist award, looked feminine in a form-fitting Mikael D embellished dress with silver baroque detailing.

Mark Duggan, whose death sparked riots in England in 2011, was lawfully killed by police, an inquest jury has said by a majority of 8 to 2. The 29-year-old was shot dead by armed officers in August 2011 in Tottenham, north London. Rioting spread across London and other parts of England in what became some of the worst disturbances in decades. Jurors at the Royal Courts of Justice also concluded Mr Duggan did not have a gun when he was shot by officers. They also said it was more likely than not that Mr Duggan had thrown a gun from a taxi just before he was killed. Following the verdict his mother Pamela Duggan was led out of the court in tears, while his brother was seen screaming and shouting. One man shouted: "A black life ain't worth nothing." The coroner thanked the jury and told them they will be excused from future jury service for life if they want.