The Saudi Arabia-owned supertanker hijacked by Somali pirates in a raid several hundred miles out to sea is understood to have anchored off the coast of Somalia.

The Sirius Star, which is fully loaded with crude oil, is understood to be at anchor close to a headland called Raas Cusbad, near Hobyo.

The owner of the ship, Vela International Marine, said the 25 crew members on board were safe.

The company said response teams had been established and were working to ensure the release of the crew and the vessel, which was seized by pirates on Saturday.

The president of the company, Salah Kaaki, said it was working with relevant embassies while awaiting further contact with the pirates.

"Our first and foremost priority is ensuring the safety of the crew. We are in communication with their families and are working towards their safe and speedy return," he said.

Two Britons are among the crew of the Sirius Star, which was captured 450 miles (725km) south-east of the Kenyan port of Mombasa.

The British government today appealed for the immediate release of the hijacked crew.

The armed forces minister, Bob Ainsworth, speaking from Kenya, said the hijacking of the Sirius Star underlined the scale of the challenge presented by piracy.

"Alongside our international partners, the government is deeply concerned, not least because two of the crew are British," he said.

"We call on those holding the men to release them and the rest of the crew immediately. We are sending a strong message to pirates that their activities will not be tolerated and that the global community is united in its efforts to deter and disrupt them."

Saudi's foreign minister today described the hijacking as "an outrageous act".

In the first public comments made by the Saudi government on the issue, Prince Saud Al-Faisal said: "Piracy, like terrorism, is a disease which is against everybody, and everybody must address it together."

The Rail, Maritime and Transport union, which represents seafarers, urged the government to push for an expansion of patrolling and escorts to help counter the threat of piracy.

The union's general secretary, Bob Crow, said the growth of piracy was a threat faced by the shipping industry on a global scale and required a global response.

"The most important immediate task is to get the Sirius Star, and the many other vessels already being held by pirates, released with their crews unharmed,'' he said.

"Like all workers, seafarers should be able to work without the fear of imminent attack, and the ordeal faced by seafarers held to ransom is unimaginable."

Nato and other international warships have increased patrols around northern Somalia to try to deter the heavily armed Somali pirate gangs who have seriously disrupted one of the world busiest shipping lanes. The pirates are holding about a dozen vessels hostage and more than 200 foreign crew. They are believed to have already netted more than £20m in ransoms this year.

Most of the captured ships were attacked in the Gulf of Aden, which connects the Red Sea to the Arabian Sea. But the seizure of the Sirius Star, a new ship more than 300 metres long and weighing three times as much as a typical aircraft carrier, took place in unpatrolled waters, hundreds of miles south of Somalia, at a latitude intersecting with Tanzania.

The ship was on course to sail around the Cape of Good Hope to the US when it was seized. The oil on board represents more than a quarter of Saudi Arabia's daily output. News of the hijacking caused the price of oil to jump by more than $1 a barrel.

The US navy would not comment on a possible rescue operation, saying only that it was evaluating the situation.

A spokesman for the Royal Navy said he could not say whether British servicemen were involved in any attempts to rescue the vessel. "It is our policy not to discuss operational matters," he said.

The Foreign Office confirmed two Britons were on board the ship. The other seamen are from Croatia, Poland, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines. The pirates seldom harm crew members as they wait for ransoms to be paid.

A fisherman, Abdinur Haji, described seeing the Saudi tanker just a few miles from the shore this morning.

"As usual, I woke up at 3am and headed for the sea to fish, but I saw a very, very large ship anchored less than three miles off the shore," he said.

He said two small boats floated out to the ship and 18 men, presumably pirates, climbed aboard with ropes woven into a ladder.

"I have been fishing here for three decades, but I have never seen a ship as big as this one," he said. "There are dozens of spectators on shore trying to catch a glimpse of the large ship, which they can see with their naked eyes."

In a typical pirate attack, a gang of young Somali men in a high-powered speedboat ambush a passing ship, firing automatic weapons and even rocket propelled grenades if an order to stop is ignored.

Captain Pottengal Mukundan, the director of the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), said the distance from the shore where the Sirius Star was attacked meant the pirates must have launched their skiff from a "mother ship" they had previously seized.

"The huge size of a vessel does not seem to daunt the pirates," he said. "It shows their high degree of audacity and resources."

The hijacking is likely to send shudders through the shipping industry. Insurance premiums for companies using the Gulf of Aden have soared this year as Somalia leapt to the top of world piracy charts. So lucrative is the crime - a typical western-owned ship can fetch more than £1m - that there are now at least five Somali pirate gangs employing more than 1,000 gunmen, according to the East African Seafarers' Association in Mombasa.

Between July and September there were 47 attacks off Somalia's coast, the longest in Africa, and 26 were successful.

The US navy said shipping firms were partly to blame for the hijackings. Vice Admiral Bill Gortney, commander of the combined maritime forces, said 10 out of 15 of the most recent attacks around Somalia involved ships that had ignored the IMB's advice to stay about 250 miles away from the coast or had failed to employ security guards on board.

"Companies don't think twice about using security guards to protect their valuable facilities ashore," he said. "Protecting valuable ships and their crews at sea is no different."

Graeme Gibbon Brooks, managing director of Dryad Maritime Intelligence Service, said the pirates probably did not know how much oil the ship was carrying. "They have hit the jackpot," he said.

The British National party tonight vowed to take legal action after its entire membership list was published online in breach of a court injunction.

The party blamed disgruntled former employees for posting details of the names, postal and email addresses and ages of more than 10,000 supporters.

Details of the hobbies, professions and other areas of expertise of many members are thought to be included.

The membership list dates from late last year, the BNP said, and its publication had been prevented under a high court injunction obtained in April.

Embarrassed party bosses have complained to the police and are seeking legal advice to prevent the further spread of the data.

Simon Darby, the BNP's spokesman, said he found out this morning that the injunction had been broken, describing the posting as "malevolent and spiteful".

"This is being done to destabilise the party after a successful conference in Blackpool and before the elections for the European parliament in June next year."

He said the membership list, which was password protected and encrypted, had been stolen from the party. "This isn't a question of us mislaying the information, this is theft," he said.

Darby claimed the list contained the names of people who had never been members of the party as well as the names of current and former members. Although the party is taking action to take down the list, Darby conceded: "Once it's out, it's out."

"We are worried because kids' names are on the list. It is not information that should be in the public domain," he added. "We are always receiving death threats."

He said the party discovered the information had been leaked when its members started receiving unsolicited mail. "We found that members were being sent propaganda. We went to the Manchester high court and obtained an injunction. It cost tens of thousands of pounds," he said.

Darby said the party had complained to Dyfed Powys police – the BNP carries out much of its administration in Welshpool – but the force was unable to confirm that a complaint had been made.

The publication sparked alarm among the BNP's membership.

"I'm also on the list, what the fuck is going on? I could lose my job," posted one member on a north-west England BNP forum.

Another wrote: "God help anyone who is in the army, the prison service, health care, police officer or a teacher."

Since 2004, police officers have faced dismissal if found to be members of the BNP.

David Cameron today abandoned his commitment to matching Labour's spending plans from 2010 as he warned of a future "tax bombshell" if Gordon Brown presses ahead with plans to borrow £30bn to boost the British economy.

In a keynote speech on the economy in London, the Conservative leader insisted increased borrowing today would mean higher taxes tomorrow as he ripped up his pledge to follow the government's spending commitment in 2010.

Cameron predicted tax rises equivalent to an 8% increase in income tax if the government went ahead with a "borrowing binge".

"We can't afford a spending splurge," the Tory chief said.

"Gordon Brown knows that borrowing today means higher taxes tomorrow and if he doesn't tell you that he's misleading you."

Cameron rejected suggestions the announcement would lead to real-terms spending cuts, claiming it would simply amount to "lower levels of increases".

"The right thing to do for the long term isn't always the easiest thing in the short term," Cameron said.

The Conservative leader said he was a "practical man not an ideologue".

"I believe in simpler taxes and lower tax rates," he added.

Insisting that "free enterprise is best", Cameron warned against political interference with the Bank of England's independence to cut interest rates.

After Cameron became leader he promised to match Labour's spending plans up until the 2010-11 financial year. The policy was particularly important at a time when it was thought Brown might call an early election and it meant the Conservatives were protected against the Labour charge that a Cameron government would slash spending on essential public services.

In his speech today, Cameron claimed Labour would no longer be able to use this line of attack successfully because people would not believe them.

"Of course, Labour will try their old lies about Tory cuts. If they do, we will know they are planning tax rises. But they don't understand what has changed.

"The world has moved on. People are not fools. They can see that reducing the increase in government spending is not a cut, but what it says: less of an increase. And in any case, after 11 years of waste and broken promises from Labour, they can see that spending more and more alone does not guarantee that things get better."

Cameron did not say how he would reduce spending. He said he had asked all shadow ministers to review every spending programme to see "if it is really necessary and really justifiable".

Taking questions from reporters, he refused to say whether the Conservatives would vote against tax cuts the government was expected to announce in its pre-budget report. He said that until the party saw exactly what was proposed, he could not say whether or not he would support them.

Alistair Darling, the chancellor, hit back, accusing the Conservatives of turning their back on the electorate.

"There is a consensus here and right across the world that governments need to support people and support the wider economy," he said. "We will not be turning our back on on people like the Tories. Yes, we will be tightening our belts, just like the country is tightening its belt, in the face of a slowing economy."

Peter Mandelson, the business secretary, also waded into the row, arguing that there would be "very serious" consequences if the government did not do "all it could to help British businesses survive".

Diego Maradona took a World Cup semi-final place from England in 1986 and today he took the urine. Argentina's new head coach told a captive audience in Glasgow that it was hypocritical of the English to vilify him for the Hand of God when Sir Alf Ramsey's side had bent the rules to win their own World Cup at Wembley two decades before. A warm reception is anticipated for the 48-year-old when he steps into international management against Scotland tomorrow night .

Maradona's accusation was delivered with mirth rather than menace as he held his first besieged official press conference since being unveiled as the surprise successor to Alfio Basile earlier this month. His first game brings him into confrontation with Terry Butcher, the Scotland assistant manager who was part of the England team beaten by Maradona's duplicity and brilliance in Mexico 22 years ago and who this week expressed a lingering wish to punch the former Argentina captain for that infamous first goal.

"I don't know why Butcher is taking this attitude," said Maradona, rolling his eyes and feigning hurt when informed by a translator that George Burley's number two will not be shaking his hand at Hampden Park. "I am fine with people who are fine with me and I don't understand why Butcher takes this attitude. Let Butcher get on with his life and I will get on with mine. If he doesn't shake my hand I will still be alive the next morning. I'm not going to lose any sleep over it."

A female journalist then asked whether he would not feel resentment at being cheated out of a World Cup quarter-final. Maradona paused, then smiled, then drew a parallel between the Hand of God and Geoff Hurst's second goal against West Germany in the 1966 World Cup Final. "I say to the young lady, England won a World Cup with a goal that never crossed the line. It was plain to everyone who saw it that it never went in, so I don't think it's fair that everyone should judge me when stuff like that went on." Warming to his theme, Maradona held his hands a foot apart and added: "It was this much before the line. They just never used to have action replays in those days." Cue raucous laughter from the Scottish and Argentinean contingent inside the Radisson Hotel.

England-baiting aside, there was a seriousness to Maradona's address befitting a man with his troubled history and a manager who, prior to taking on the role of leading one of international football's superpowers, had overseen just 23 games from the sidelines as coach of Deportivo Mandiyu and Racing Club in the mid-1990s. The legendary player dismissed the suggestion he has plenty to prove as coach of an Argentina side that has won only one of its last eight matches and lost its last World Cup qualifying game to Chile.

"I don't feel under pressure at all," said Maradona, who will work alongside his World Cup winning coach, Carlos Bilardo, in the national set-up. "If I hadn't accepted the offer I would have been a coward and I didn't want to shy away from the challenge. We have a long hard road ahead of us, it is not going to be easy, but the Argentinean national team needed someone to guide and help them and now we are on a mission together. Hopefully we will have a collective experience on the road to South Africa."

Inexperience is not the only charge levelled against Maradona since his appointment, with his temperament also on trial in the international spotlight. As a player he blamed a failed drugs test at the 1994 World Cup on a FIFA-led conspiracy to hound him from the game while his cheerleading displays at the 2006 World Cup in Germany are clearly ill-suited to the technical area.

"I am the manager of Argentina now and I'm not going to get involved in anything like that," he said of football's politics. "As for the touchline, it depends on how the team are playing. If they are making me feel safe and sound then I'll be fine. If they are making me nervy then maybe I will behave like you saw in Germany."

Maradona scored his first international goal against Scotland at Hampden Park in 1979 and flirted with the possibility of one day managing in Britain. He also refuted the theory that great players do not make great coaches. "Cruyff showed in his time with Barcelona, with what he achieved there, that that can be the case," he reasoned.

It was when asked to describe his own personal journey, one that has entailed cocaine addiction and a fight for his life in a Cuban clinic offered by Fidel Castro, that Maradona gave the shortest reply of all. "I get up every morning, simple as that," he said. "I get up every morning."

Heather Mills has made a series of complaints to the UK's press watchdog about alleged harassment, inaccurate reporting and invasion of privacy over articles in four newspapers, including the Sun and Daily Mail.

MediaGuardian.co.uk understands that, in total, Mills has made six separate claims to Press Complaints Commission about a series of articles published in The Sun, Daily Mail, Daily Express and London Lite.

It is understood that one complaint relates to alleged harassment from London Lite.

The other five relate to alleged inaccurate reporting and alleged invasion of privacy of the ex-wife of Sir Paul McCartney and her five-year-old daughter, according to sources familiar with the situation.

"Heather thinks that the intrusion into the life of a five-year-old is unforgivable," Joe Dolce, Mill's US-based representative told MediaGuardain.co.uk.

"As for the inaccuracies, we are searching for corrections. Heather has spent more than enough time with lawyers in the last few years, so she is searching for an amicable resolution to something that has gone unchecked for too long. We want to work with the media but they have to work with us too."

A PCC spokesman confirmed that it had received the complaints from Mills' representatives.

"The PCC has received a number of complaints around accuracy, privacy and harassment and we will be seeking to find a resolution with the newspapers concerned," a PCC spokesman told MediaGuardian.co.uk

Mills finally settled her acrimonious divorce from Sir Paul McCartney in March this year, when she was awarded more than £24m.

She had sought £125m from the six-year marriage, while McCartney had offered £15.8m.

When they had failed to reach an agreement, Mr Justice Bennett was forced to step in to impose his own judgment in the divorce case.

In October 2007, Mills launched an extraordinary tirade against the media live on GMTV for allegedly portraying her as "a whore, a gold-digger, a fantasist and a liar" and vowed to take her fight to them.

"Some of them [the press] are still supportive but a specific portion are abusing me. I will investigate each and every one of those journalists," she told GMTV presenters Andrew Castle and Fiona Phillips as she brandished a dossier of clippings.

Mills also accused the press of peddling lies and "pushing her to the edge", adding that media had led a "hate campaign" against her.

"They've called me a whore, a gold-digger, a fantasist, a liar, the most unbelievably hurtful things, and I've stayed quiet for my daughter," she told GMTV.

"We've had death threats, I've been close to suicide. I'm so upset about this ... I've had worse press than a paedophile or a murderer and I've done nothing but charity for 20 years."

· To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 7239 9857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 7278 2332.

· If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

The five-month deadlock that reduced the Northern Ireland assembly at Stormont to a political stalemate was broken today.

The province's two largest parties, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Féin, announced that they had agreed a deal on devolving policing and justice powers.

The protracted dispute over when to transfer responsibility for the police and courts from Westminster to Northern Ireland has prevented other business being carried out. The governing executive in Belfast has not met since June.

Both the first minister, Peter Robinson, of the DUP, and the deputy first minister, Martin McGuinness, of Sinn Féin, confirmed the new deal would enable cabinet meetings to resume from Thursday, and Robinson called on Gordon Brown to help finalise the process.

"We believe these agreements are capable of gaining the confidence of the community," Robinson said, "and we look to the prime minister to make good his commitment of helping to resolve the financial arrangements relating to the devolution of these powers.

"The executive … meetings will continue each week until business is up to date; we will then revert to our fortnightly meeting.

"The agreement we have reached represents a very satisfactory resolution," Robinson added.

Brown said: "This is a historic day for Northern Ireland which writes a new chapter in their history.

"For the first time we have seen a breakthrough in the deadlock over the devolution of policing and justice, and this is the last building block in the process for bringing peace and democracy to Northern Ireland."

The Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Shaun Woodward, said the deal was all the stronger for having been brokered by Northern Ireland's own parties.

"This is homegrown," he said. "It is something authored by the politicians of Northern Ireland. It will actually mark a maturing of the political process."

In Dublin, the Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, said the Irish government welcomed the deal: "It is of great importance that devolution of policing and justice powers proceed. Its successful completion will be the final piece of the jigsaw of the peace process."

The Conservative shadow secretary for Northern Ireland, Owen Paterson, also welcomed the deal.

Secret talks have been ongoing between Sinn Féin and the DUP over the last few weeks to end the potential crisis in the fragile Stormont coalition.

The impasse had been caused by disagreement over when policing and judicial powers are to be transferred from London to Belfast.

Sinn Féin appeared not to have realised its goal of setting a precise date for devolving the powers to Stormont. Instead McGuinness and Robinson agreed to a series of steps leading to the eventual transfer of those powers.

Under the deal, temporary arrangements for electing a justice minister will be replaced by permanent rules by May 2012. There is no timetable but both parties have committed to seeing the process through.

McGuinness said "significant progress" had been made, and both ministers said they wanted devolution to happen "without undue delay".

"We are both agreed that policing and justice functions should be devolved; every leading politician in this community is committed to this outcome," McGuinness said.

The Sinn Féin MP joked that this Thursday marks his 34th wedding anniversary and said he hoped he would back from the cabinet meeting in time for dinner with his wife Bernie.

The ministers were speaking after a private meeting of the assembly and executive review committee.

Under the deal a new attorney general is to be appointed for Northern Ireland. Currently, the attorney general for England and Wales also holds the Northern Irish post. The two ministers said they are "minded to invite" barrister John Larkin QC to take the post.

Larkin is a Catholic who was educated at a Christian Brothers grammar school in west Belfast. He previously held the Reid Professor of Law post at Trinity College, a chair once occupied by the Irish President, Mary McAleese.

It has been speculated the centrist Alliance party, currently in opposition in the assembly, may be invited into government and offered the justice ministry as a compromise measure.

An Alliance spokesman said it would call for extra sessions of the assembly to be held in the weeks before Christmas to catch up on lost business and demonstrate cross-party commitment to power-sharing.

Asked whether the party could take the justice portfolio, he said: "We are willing to be constructive for the people of Northern Ireland."

Alternatively, the ministry could be offered to another party at Stormont, such as the nationalist SDLP or the Ulster Unionist party.

Syria should play a "constructive role" in the search for Middle East peace, David Miliband urged on his groundbreaking visit to Damascus today.

But the foreign secretary said that rocket attacks by Hamas, supported by Syria, were harming that process.

Speaking after talks with the country's president, Bashar al-Assad, Miliband mixed flattery with a warning that a commitment to peace was not compatible with backing for the Palestinian Islamists who now control the Gaza Strip.

"Syria is a very important country with important responsibilities," the foreign secretary told reporters at a joint press conference with his Syrian counterpart, Walid al-Muallem. "Syria has the opportunity to play a constructive role for peace in the region."

But he added pointedly: "I argue that Hamas's violence hurts Syria, which says it believes in a comprehensive peace."

Muallem sidestepped a question about Syrian support for Hamas and the Lebanese Shia movement Hizbullah, both of which are treated by Britain and the US as terrorist organisations.

Miliband's visit to Damascus is the first by a British cabinet minister since Tony Blair was publicly lectured by Assad shortly after the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.

According to Syria's official news agency, Sana, Assad told Miliband today that peace needed "seriousness" from Israel and an "honest sponsor and an effective European role". The president said that a comprehensive peace based on UN resolutions was the "only way to bring about security and stability in the region".

Miliband's 24-hour stay represents a significant thaw in relations between the two countries. By engaging with Syria the UK hopes to encourage signs that Barack Obama, the US president-elect, will reverse the George Bush-era policy of boycotting and sanctioning the Assad regime, Iran's only Arab ally.

Miliband said he believed the election of a new administration in the United States "does represent a new opportunity for engagement by the US in the Middle East region".

Syria is delighted with the visit – a speedily arranged return fixture after Muallem came to London three weeks ago. Damascus feels things have been going its way since the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, broke the ice in the summer by inviting Assad to an EU summit in Paris.

Britain points to tightening Syrian control of its border with Iraq, its improving relations with Lebanon and its desire to continue negotiating with Israel.

Last month Syria formalised its diplomatic ties with Lebanon after dominating it for nearly three decades until 2005. It also held indirect peace talks with Israel through Turkish mediation.

The foreign secretary told the BBC: "Syria certainly has had some big questions to answer about the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq, about the situation in Lebanon, about its contribution to the stability of the region."

The Israeli president, Shimon Peres, visiting London, expressed concern that Syria was "divided" – wanting both peace with Israel and continued relations with Hizbullah and Iran.

"I am afraid that Syria thinks it can make two moves – forwards and backwards – and that is a problem," Peres said.

"If Syria will understand that they can't have the Golan Heights and keep Lebanon as a base for the Iranians, then the decision will be clear. But if she wants the Golan Heights back and keeps her bases in Lebanon - which are really controlled and financed by the Iranians - no Israeli will agree to have Iranians on our borders."

Syria's Golan Heights have been occupied by Israel since 1967.

Moallem also disputed that the UN nuclear agency's discovery of uranium traces at a bombed site was an indication that Syria was building a nuclear reactor.

He reiterated that the site was "under construction and it's not operational ... It's a military establishment and not for nuclear purposes."

Barack Obama today renewed his promise to make a decisive break with George Bush on the environment, using a summit convened by Arnold Schwarzenegger to promise a "new chapter in America's leadership on climate change".

The video appearance by Obama confirmed Schwarzenegger's role as a global leader on climate change, a position shored up only hours before when the California governor set a bold new target for his state to get a third of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020.

In his address, the president-elect accused Bush of failing to show leadership on the issue of climate change. "That will change when I take office," he said.

He went on to lay out an ambitious agenda, beginning with targets aimed at reducing greenhouse gas ambitions to 1990 levels by 2020. He also reiterated a campaign pledge to invest $15bn each year in development of clean technology - including coal and nuclear power.

"This investment will not only help us reduce our dependence on foreign oil, making the United States more secure. And it will not only help us bring about a clean energy future, saving our planet. It will also help us transform our industries and steer our country out of this economic crisis by generating 5m new green jobs that pay well and can't be outsourced."

Schwarzenegger's targets for electricity generation as well as Obama's appearance at the conference confirmed the governor's leadership role in
efforts to curb green house gas emissions at a time when there has been a vacuum at the federal government level.

Yesterday, the governor signed an executive order committing California to obtain a third of its electricity from renewable sources.

"I am proposing we set the most aggressive target in the nation for renewable energy," he told reporters. The state legislature still must pass the goal into law.

Even before yesterday's order, California was already committed to producing 20% of its power from wind and solar power by 2010, and new plants are under construction in the state. "Today is all about changing our goals and raising the bar," Schwarzenegger said.

Today's summit comes at a pivotal time, ahead of the United Nations meeting on climate in Poland next month and amid expectation of a dramatic shift in US environmental policy once Obama is in the White House.

As Obama noted in the video address, he will not attend the meeting in Poland but had asked members of Congress who will be there to report back to him.

"Once I take office, you can be sure that the United States will once again engage vigorously in these negotiations, and help lead the world toward a new era of global cooperation on climate change," he said. "When I am president, any governor who's willing to promote clean energy will have a partner in the White House. Any company that's willing to invest in clean energy will have an ally in Washington. And any nation that's willing to join the cause of combating climate change will have an ally in the United States of America."

Schwarzenegger's meeting brought together European, Indian and Chinese officials, oil company executives and environmentalists along with a handful of Schwarzenegger's fellow governors.

Schwarzenegger invited his 49 fellow governors to the summit, but only four - from Florida, Illinois, Kansas and Wisconsin - were expected to make an appearance. Representatives from Michigan, Colorado, Utah and Washington state were also on hand.

Although California is unable to sign international treaties on climate change, Schwarzenegger has built a reputation for his efforts to cut emissions both in California and abroad.

He set up a cape-and-trade emissions market between western US states and Canadian provinces.

The governor is expected to follow up on those efforts at the summit with a declaration in which participating leaders will pledge to work together to reduce emissions.

"This declaration will help advance efforts being undertaken by our national governments for the next global agreement on climate change," Schwarzenegger's office said in a statement.

Schwarzenegger is also expected to sign agreements with Indonesia and Brazil making it easier for California companies to invest in reforestation projects in those countries.

However, the governor was also accused of trying to pre-empt Obama, who has committed to bringing in a national emissions reduction plan within two years.

The agenda for the summit carries a disclaimer saying it is not intended to displace any action by the federal government.

Schwarzenegger said in a statement that the summit was aimed at a global audience. "We are sending a powerful message to the rest of the world, while striving to influence the position our national governments take in the next global agreement on climate change," he said.

The head of the army in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been sacked after a series of defeats against rebels in the east of the country.

President Joseph Kabila replaced Dieudonne Kayembe with General Didier Etumba due to the "urgency of the situation", according to state television.

Etumba was previously head of the navy and former head of military intelligence.

The change comes after a number of chaotic army retreats from rebel advances. On Sunday, the rebels seized a government army base despite a promise by the Tutsi rebel leader, Laurent Nkunda, to observe a ceasefire. Yesterday, they took control of Rwindi, the headquarters of Virunga national park.

There were reports today of soldiers fighting Mai Mai militia who are usually loyal to the government. The fighting, which took place around Kanyabayonga, about 80 miles (130km) north of the regional capital, Goma, suggests splits within Congo's fractured army.

"Kayembe has been removed. I guess the president wants to change the dynamics after the losses," a source close to Kabila told Reuters.

The Congolese army is dogged by low morale, poor discipline and allegations of corruption. Four soldiers were convicted yesterday of rape, looting and deserting their posts, according to AFP.

The British Foreign Office announced today that Lord Malloch-Brown, the minister for Africa, would travel to Congo next week to meet Kabila and the Rwandan president, Paul Kagame, to discuss the violence, which erupted at the end of August and has displaced at least 250,000 people.

The government has refused to negotiate with Nkunda.

One of Britain's most authoritative judicial figures last night delivered a blistering attack on the invasion of Iraq, describing it as a serious violation of international law, and accusing Britain and the US of acting like a "world vigilante".

Lord Bingham, in his first major speech since retiring as the senior law lord, rejected the then attorney general's defence of the 2003 invasion as fundamentally flawed.

Contradicting head-on Lord Goldsmith's advice that the invasion was lawful, Bingham stated: "It was not plain that Iraq had failed to comply in a manner justifying resort to force and there were no strong factual grounds or hard evidence to show that it had." Adding his weight to the body of international legal opinion opposed to the invasion, Bingham said that to argue, as the British government had done, that Britain and the US could unilaterally decide that Iraq had broken UN resolutions "passes belief".

Governments were bound by international law as much as by their domestic laws, he said. "The current ministerial code," he added "binding on British ministers, requires them as an overarching duty to 'comply with the law, including international law and treaty obligations'."

The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats continue to press for an independent inquiry into the circumstances around the invasion. The government says an inquiry would be harmful while British troops are in Iraq. Ministers say most of the remaining 4,000 will leave by mid-2009.

Addressing the British Institute of International and Comparative Law last night, Bingham said: "If I am right that the invasion of Iraq by the US, the UK, and some other states was unauthorised by the security council there was, of course, a serious violation of international law and the rule of law.

"For the effect of acting unilaterally was to undermine the foundation on which the post-1945 consensus had been constructed: the prohibition of force (save in self-defence, or perhaps, to avert an impending humanitarian catastrophe) unless formally authorised by the nations of the world empowered to make collective decisions in the security council ..."

The moment a state treated the rules of international law as binding on others but not on itself, the compact on which the law rested was broken, Bingham argued. Quoting a comment made by a leading academic lawyer, he added: "It is, as has been said, 'the difference between the role of world policeman and world vigilante'."

Bingham said he had very recently provided an advance copy of his speech to Goldsmith and to Jack Straw, foreign secretary at the time of the invasion of Iraq. He told his audience he should make it plain they challenged his conclusions.

Both men emphasised that point last night by intervening to defend their views as consistent with those held at the time of the invasion. Goldsmith said in a statement: "I stand by my advice of March 2003 that it was legal for Britain to take military action in Iraq. I would not have given that advice if it were not genuinely my view. Lord Bingham is entitled to his own legal perspective five years after the event." Goldsmith defended what is known as the "revival argument" - namely that Saddam Hussein had failed to comply with previous UN resolutions which could now take effect. Goldsmith added that Tony Blair had told him it was his "unequivocal view" that Iraq was in breach of its UN obligations to give up weapons of mass destruction.

Straw said last night that he shared Goldsmith's view. He continued: "However controversial the view that military action was justified in international law it was our attorney general's view that it was lawful and that view was widely shared across the world."

Bingham also criticised the post-invasion record of Britain as "an occupying power in Iraq". It is "sullied by a number of incidents, most notably the shameful beating to death of Mr Baha Mousa [a hotel receptionist] in Basra [in 2003]", he said.

Such breaches of the law, however, were not the result of deliberate government policy and the rights of victims had been recognised, Bingham observed.

He contrasted that with the "unilateral decisions of the US government" on issues such as the detention conditions in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

After referring to mistreatment of Iraqi detainees in Abu Ghraib, Bingham added: "Particularly disturbing to proponents of the rule of law is the cynical lack of concern for international legality among some top officials in the Bush administration."

Jason Burke reports from north-west Pakistan, where government troops are fighting Taliban militants.

The UK Organ Donation Taskforce has rejected calls for an opt-out system. One member of the panel, Dr Paul Murphy, tells health editor Sarah Boseley why the taskforce reached that decision.

A government inquiry is under way into the tragedy of 'Baby P', the 17-month-old infant who died in Haringey after repeated abuse by his guardians, despite 60 visits from care workers. Robert Booth looks at what the investigation hopes to achieve.

Martin Chulov reports from Baghdad on plans to build an underground railway system in the Iraqi capital.

And Duran Duran talk to our Latin American correspondent Rory Carroll on their first visit to Colombia.

Martin Burton was 16 when he died, but his family's decision to donate his organs has transformed other lives. His parents went to meet one whose life was saved

The England manager, Martin Johnson, has given his players a vote of confidence after their defeat to Australia by making only one change to the team that will host South Africa on Saturday. The Wasps flanker James Haskell is the lone newcomer, replacing Tom Croft at No6, while the uncapped Leicester No8 Jordan Crane takes Michael Lipman's spot on the bench.

It had been thought that Johnson would shake his inexperienced side up after they fell 28-14 to the Wallabies at Twickenham, particularly the pack which struggled unexpectedly in the scrum. Dylan Hartley had been touted for a starting place at hooker, but Lee Mears retains the No2 shirt thanks to his more reliable lineout throw. Andrew Sheridan, one of only four players remaining from the England team that lost to South Africa in last year's World Cup final, has been passed fit despite suffering a neck injury against Australia.

Haskell's return certainly makes sense after the positive impression he made when he came off the bench against Australia, and his physical presence will be required against Schalk Burger on Saturday. Croft will start on the bench, where he will be joined by three of his Leicester team-mates. "It's great we can choose between two very young and exciting players in James and Tom," said Johnson, who defended making only one change. "We want to get some consistency in the team. They are aware of the mistakes we made, but they have the opportunity to correct them.

"The defeat rankles. We are still growing into the way we are playing. It only takes a momentary lapse, a few guys going off script in the heat of battle, for things to break down in that area. We gave away eight kickable penalties. We need to cut out mistakes, cut out penalties and put ourselves in a position in the last 20 minutes to win the game. The great thing from our point of view is that there are lots of opportunities out there - we just have to see them and exploit them. We will see a different game this week and a better scrummaging contest."

Danny Cipriani maintains his position at fly-half, holding off the claim of Toby Flood. Cipriani was heavily criticised for his kicking and his perceived lack of leadership during Saturday's match, but the man he replaced as England No10, Jonny Wilkinson, today defended him. "Danny is showing the kind of authority it took me a long, long time to gain," Wilkinson said. "When I was first in the England camp with him, before the World Cup last year, and then again during the Six Nations this year, he displayed a very strong understanding of how he sees the game and what he wanted to do. He was very self-assured.

"I know that there is a perception that Danny might not have had the greatest of games at Twickenham, but I had immediate empathy with pretty much every decision he made. The fact that some of them didn't come off is not important, they were still the right decisions. Likewise I don't think it matters that a couple of kicks didn't go over because I know the next day they will go straight through the middle."

Earlier South Africa delayed their team announcement until Thursday because of injuries. Their coach, Peter de Villiers, had been due to finalise his squad this morning but has not had "sufficient time to assess the injury situation and confirm the availability of players". Hooker Bismarck du Plessis and prop Gurthro Steenkamp are both definitely out of the match at Twickenham with hamstring and ankle injuries respectively, while scrum-half Fourie du Preez is a doubt after withdrawing from the 14-10 victory over Scotland with a thigh strain. Prop Brian Mujati and wing Bryan Habana are also doubts, so Jannie du Plessis has joined the squad in London.

Despite the problems in the Springboks' camp, Johnson insisted they would be extremely motivated for playing England. "I think they will definitely be up for it. They won't have any problems with that," he said. "They will want to finish the season off on a high and beat us at Twickenham. It's a big thing for opposition teams to come here and win, as you saw with the Australians' reaction when they won on here on Saturday. They play with huge intensity, passion and physicality."

England team to play South Africa at Twickenham on Saturday

D Armitage (London Irish); P Sackey (Wasps), J Noon (Newcastle), R Flutey (Wasps), U Monye (Harlequins); D Cipriani (Wasps), D Care (Harlequins); A Sheridan (Sale Sharks), L Mears (Bath), P Vickery (Wasps), S Borthwick (Saracens, capt), T Palmer (Wasps), J Haskell (Wasps), T Rees (Wasps), N Easter (Harlequins).

Replacements: D Hartley (Northampton), M Stevens (Bath), S Shaw (Wasps), T Croft (Leicester), J Crane (Leicester), H Ellis (Leicester), T Flood (Leicester).

Alan Shearer is ready to accept the manager's job at Newcastle United and may even be prepared to work for Mike Ashley, the club's controversial owner. Rob Lee, Shearer's closest friend and confidant, said yesterday that although the former Newcastle and England forward has been until now reluctant to swap his role on Match of the Day for the dugout, Shearer has had a change of heart.

Lee's comments are highly significant and can be interpreted as coming directly from Shearer. Lee, who played for Newcastle for almost a decade until 2002, could expect to be offered a senior position should the latter succeed Joe Kinnear at St James' Park. Shearer is far too proud to risk losing face by touting for the job himself and then being rebuffed but Lee is unlikely to have spoken so frankly without his blessing.

In an interview with The Mag, Newcastle's principal fanzine, the former England midfielder said: "I can honestly say, yes, Alan Shearer will manage Newcastle. Until now I would have just said that he would one day but I finally believe that he would tomorrow if the job is how he wants it, without all the silly games going on that have killed it."

Ashley remains optimistic that he will sell Newcastle by the new year but is nonetheless understood to have made contingency plans for buying players in January should a proposed deal with a United States-based consortium, which is performing due diligence, fall through.

Lee feels that appointing Shearer in place of Kinnear, the interim manager whose short-term contract runs out after Saturday's Premier League game at Chelsea, could offer Ashley hope of a rapprochement with Newcastle's fans.

Those supporters cannot forgive the sports retailer for sacking Kevin Keegan in September but Lee said: "The fans would love Alan to take over now. Mike Ashley would solve a lot of his problems by appointing Alan and accepting that mistakes have been made. Alan could be a priceless get out of jail card. Now is the time to make the club what we all want."

Although it would be inconceivable that Lee, whose reading and knowledge of the game are much admired by Shearer, would not be offered a key role, Dennis Wise would almost certainly have to depart his director of football post.

"Yes I would love to be part of it," admitted Lee. "It is time for Alan to take the job on. Roy Keane and Gareth Southgate learnt on the job and, like Keane at Sunderland, one thing Alan has is the respect of every single player at Newcastle.

Lee is convinced Shearer would attract players of sufficient quality to transform Newcastle's fortunes. "I know for a fact that Michael Owen and any top player would play for him," he said. "We have not got European football at the moment but Alan Shearer will be a magnet for the top guys."

Shearer's lack of managerial experience could count against him when any new owners make an appointment but Lee's hunch is that Ashley could struggle to finalise an outright sale. Intriguingly, Tyneside rumour suggests that a group of local businessmen are willing to become minor shareholders and run the club on a day-to-day basis, leaving Ashley in majority, but remote, control.

"If he doesn't sell by January he has a problem attracting buyers," Lee said. "In which case he has to pull a rabbit out of the bag and make a statement of intent by making a permanent appointment and starting again. Mike Ashley has to put a top man in charge if he is going to stay. He has to create the buzz and get the fans back onside."

Lee suspects Kinnear will not be around much longer. "Any new owners are going to want to bring in 'their' man and I don't think it would be Joe. I can't see Joe as a permanent Newcastle manager."

Perhaps tellingly, Lee also doubts that Keegan will make yet another return. "Kevin would still be a good appointment if he is allowed to be Kevin Keegan the manager and not Kevin Keegan the coach," he said. "He needs to be in full control to really have an effect. But we don't know if Kevin would want it if he was offered it."

Where does Barack Obama rank in the rolling league table of global celebrity? A little above Sting, but some way below Madonna? Higher or lower than Michael Jackson? Is he a Marilyn or a Mandy Rice-Davies?

According to canny marketeers, he's right up at the top and there has been a scramble to trademark his name, and variations on it. Here are a few product names currently waiting for patent approval in America, according to our friends at The Smoking Gun.

Bearak Obama: a bear

ObamaLlama: needless to say, a llama

Broccoli Obama: frozen vegetables (?)

Obamajamas: pyjamas, differing from normal pyjamas I don't know how

Obamaland: a company establishing itself to flog "educational publications and guides"

And a t-shirt carrying the slogan: "Who's Yo'bama Now?"

Some - perhaps hoping that they'll have better claim to it this way - have gone for OBAMA acronyms: "Officially Bridging America Motivating Americans" and "Our Best Answer For Managing America," are just two of them.

In this spirit, a challenge for LiS readers: whose stardust would you like to borrow and to sell what product?

The banality of evil makes revenge unsatisfactory. Once caught, the monster that pulled the fingernails from the baby or the serial strangler of women always turns out to be an unworthy vessel for society's fury: just another psychotic lowlife, weirdo, child of violence, passing on the damage done to him with double force.

That's why the world needs to find more satisfying quarry to blame. Conveniently, social workers are always there to fill the role required by a frenzy of media hate. They failed to save a child: they are the true killers. The fury stirred up by the Sun verges on lynch mob incitement: 200,000 have signed its petition calling for the heads of "all the social workers involved in the case". "Blood on their hands" was the headline. Pictures of these public servants asked "Do you know them?", with a number to ring.

Surprisingly few children are murdered, given how many parents are drug addicted, psychotic, violent or profoundly inadequate; 29,000 are on the child protection register and another 300,000 are reckoned to be "in need", with concerns about their quality of life. Yet last year of all those children in danger, 68 were killed (15 of those by strangers). Given how extraordinarily vulnerable children are, that is a relatively low figure to be balanced against the thousands who survive precarious lives, often thanks to social workers, who are never thanked.

Back in 1974, Maria Colwell was the first child murder I covered. It happened to be the case that set in motion the laying down of new child protection measures. Every time a child dies, another report finds failures in process or practice, and another bout of reorganising follows a media frenzy. This time the hysteria has reached a newly demented pitch. Everyone finds in this rare horror the "proof" for whatever it is they already think about society. Trevor Kavanagh in the Sun says it's caused by a "leftie mafia" and "the corruption of entrenched Socialism". David Cameron and Iain Duncan Smith call it a sign of their "broken society".

Yet the number of children killed has fallen steadily - down 50% in England and Wales since the 1970s. Professor Colin Pritchard, an expert on child abuse, points to World Health Organisation statistics: Britain was fourth worst among western nations in the 1970s. Now it is among the best: only four countries have fewer child murders per million. Compare America, where child murders have risen by 17% since the 1970s. "Our child protection has never been better," Pritchard, of the school of health and social care at Bournemouth University, says. "Especially in the front line." And social workers are better trained. "I am awed by what these young people have to face."

Pritchard's research shows most child murders are committed by severely mentally ill mothers; next come mentally ill fathers, then mothers whose children are already on at-risk registers, and stepfathers or cohabitees who have a record of at least one act of violence.

There is a fixed trajectory in the reporting of horrors. Whether it is the death of a child or a train crash, someone can always be found who blew the whistle, who reported the need for more rail inspections - or a lower social worker caseload. Talking to directors of children's services reveals that a lot of social workers, a lot of clients and a lot of their relatives write letters warning of failings: it's an emotive and hard-pressed service. Panorama finds unsurprising evidence that some police officers disagreed with some social workers about whether Baby P should go into foster care. Anyone who has sat in on a case conference can hear different views: not all will agree with the final decision. When it is fatally wrong, as in this case, someone can claim "I told you so." Paul Ennals, of the National Children's Bureau, points out that 80% of children who die are not on "at risk" registers, which may make social workers more or less culpable.

Is every child death preventable? Possibly. But it would come at a social cost the likes of the Mail and the Sun would certainly not tolerate. All children at any risk could be added to the 60,000 in care. But search the Mail and find no shortage of outrage on the lines of "How social workers took away our children for 11 months without a shred of evidence". The Sun may get its scalp: The director of children's services in Haringey is unlikely to survive a critical report. Labour has framed the rules to make sure there is personal accountability at the top in such cases.

The fallout will be serious. Children's departments will cover their backs and take many more into care. The pendulum may be due a slight swing that way, but it has its own dangers: when social workers are seen as child snatchers, parents are less willing to seek help or take injured children to hospital. There is no evidence to show if it is better to take a child away soon after birth when there is a danger the family can't cope. A child might have a better life with adopters; and if the authorities delay until the damage is done, the prognosis for older children in care is poor, many ending up in prison. But few doubt that, if parents are "good enough", children are best off with their own families. What Solomon can make the right call every time?

At a conference on the morning the Baby P story broke last week, those who have worked in children's services all their lives were cast down by the coverage. They said how much better things had been since Margaret Hodge's Every Child Matters and Ed Balls's Children's Plan - at last schools, social services and health were starting to work together, though dragging professions out of their silos is hard work. A new generation of headteachers understands that treating the whole child - from breakfast to after-school club - and connecting all the services a family in trouble might need is the way to improve education results, too. There is optimism in the air as the progress from 2,500 children's centres already looks good, working to catch family problems at the earliest age.

There will always be catastrophic failures, but one case blasted out of all proportion can undo years of good. David Lammy, the MP for the Haringey constituency of Tottenham, wonders how his borough will ever attract new social workers with the Sun waiting to tell them they have blood on their hands. If too few are found and more children suffer, the Sun is unlikely to own up to blood on its hands.

polly.toynbee@guardian.co.uk

Sunrise is at least an hour away when Atsushi Sasaki steers his fishing boat out of Oma and into the notorious straits separating Japan's mainland from its northernmost island, Hokkaido.

By the time he reaches the open water of the Tsugaru Strait, the wind has turned into a gale and the waves grow higher with every assault on the bow of his boat.

But Sasaki, a wiry 61-year old with a crewcut and the teak complexion of an inveterate fisherman, is unfazed: even the discovery that the coolbox containing his lunch is now flooded with seawater is accepted with a shrug. For now, his concern is directed solely at his prey: the bluefin tuna.

Global stocks of the highly prized fish have plummeted by 90% in the last 30 years, and much of the blame rests with Japan, by far the world's biggest consumer. Every year the Japanese get through about three-quarters of the world's bluefin catch; 80% of tuna caught in the Mediterranean ends up on the Japanese market.

Faced with the imminent collapse of bluefin stocks, fisheries officials from 45 countries are meeting in Morocco this week to discuss bluefin quotas for the Atlantic and Mediterranean next year. Conservationists want a moratorium, but Japan is reportedly about to support a scientific panel's recommendation that the quota be set at 15,000 tonnes, about half the current level.

But while attempts are being made to rescue bluefin tuna populations in seas thousands of miles away, nothing is being done to prevent Japan's appetite for tuna sushi and sashimi from ripping through stocks along its own coastline.

But Sasaki is not part of Japan's overfishing problem. Rather, he could be the solution. There are no trawler nets or lines coiled in heaps on his boat (named, with incidental irony, Man'yu, or Ten Thousand Tuna). He is one of barely 200 ippon-zuri fishermen around Japan, who catch tuna sustainably using a combination of a rod and line, a basic sonar and occasional luck.

The former salaryman, who quit his office job 20 years ago to lead the life of an itinerant fisherman, is a regular visitor to Oma, one of just three places in Japan where the method survives.

In an attempt to prevent the tradition from dying out and to protect local stocks from being fished into oblivion, the local authorities have assigned the Tsugaru Strait for the exclusive use of Oma's 60 rod-and-line fishermen.

The move has met with mixed results. The ippon-zuri have become embroiled in a row with longline fishermen who violate the exclusion zone by using baited lines often several miles long. Elsewhere, trawlers, equipped with sophisticated sonar, plunder coastal waters, aided by the absence of official quotas and collusion between politicians and the powerful fishing lobby.

High fuel prices, lower profit margins and stricter quotas in other parts of the world have created an irresistible urge for Japanese boats to take more bluefin from their own waters. And all the time demand is growing, not only in Japan, the US and Europe, but increasingly in China and Russia.

"Japan's fisheries have no idea how many tuna they are catching or what size they are," says Sasaki, in the smoke-filled cabin of the Man'yu. "The smaller tuna have all been caught, along with the fish they feed on, and unregulated fishing with trawlers is to blame."

Faced with official diffidence and scant popular enthusiasm for conservationism, Sasaki is spurred on by relatively low operating costs and the knowledge that he is playing a small part in a nascent interest among the Japanese in sustainable sushi.

"We need proper stock management," he says. "Collapse is just around the corner."

The bluefin tuna caught off Oma, a town of 6,000 people on the northern coast of Aomori prefecture, are seen as the tastiest in Japan and typically fetch twice as much as imported fish at auction. In 2001, a 202kg (445lbs) Oma bluefin sold for a record ¥20.2m (£141,400).

The yearly average catch for Oma is 2,500 tuna, worth about ¥1.6bn (£11m) to the local economy. This is tiny compared with a few decades ago, says Hirofumi Hamabata, head of the town's fishing cooperative. "After the war, each boat returned with about half a dozen tuna every day," he says. "They were so cheap you'd have to sell 4kg of fish just to be able to afford a pack of cigarettes."

Akihiro Furukawa, a longline fisherman for 13 years, admits he fears for the future: "My son wants to follow in my footsteps, but by the time he's old enough to go to sea, there won't be any fish left to catch."

In the Tsugaru Strait it is usual to see 150 boats fishing for tuna. Today, though, the weather has put most fishermen off. And after several hours at sea on an empty stomach, Sasaki is ready to call it a day. As darkness descends on Oma, another ippon-zuri fisherman who has had better luck returns. Watched by groups of children, six tuna weighing up to 100kg are unloaded and packed into wooden vats of crushed ice, ready be driven to the Tsukiji market in Tokyo before dawn. The fish may well fall under the gaze of Toichiro Iida, a wholesale trader who seeks out Oma tuna at auction. His family firm, Hicho, has been in business for almost 150 years.

He says many of his fellow traders know nothing about the provenance of their tuna."They're just happy to buy the cheaper fish and make easy profits, but to do that they have to buy tuna that has come off a trawler," says Iida, who counts Tokyo's best sushi chefs among his clients. "Even some sushi restaurateurs don't know if their tuna is caught using nets or by more sustainable methods," Iida says. "It is about time they learned."

Backstory

The Japanese eat 600,000 tonnes of tuna a year - about a third of the total fished worldwide, and about three-quarters of the total bluefin fished worldwide. In 2006, Japan mported 44,000 tonnes of bluefin, just over half of it from the east Atlantic and Mediterranean. According to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna, which meets in Marrakech this week, about 61,000 tonnes of bluefin tuna were caught in these seas last year - more than double the permitted catch of 29,500 tonnes. The commission has set a target of 25,500 tonnes by 2010, but many experts believe this should be nearer 15,000 tonnes. The Blue Ocean Institute's guide says bluefin tuna should be avoided altogether. Some restaurants, such as the Moshi Moshi chain in the UK, have removed bluefin from their menus.
Justin McCurry

They give Action Man a certain ruggedness and bestow instant testosterone on movie heroes, and according to British psychologists, facial scars can also make men more attractive to the opposite sex.

Men with mild facial scars were typically ranked as more appealing by women who were looking for a brief relationship, though they were not considered better as marriage material, a study found.

In the same experiments, women with facial scars were judged to be as attractive as those without, the researchers said.

The sexual allure of the facial scar has long puzzled psychologists. Many believe they are seen by women as a sign of masculinity and an exciting, risk-taking personality, though in Shakespeare's All's Well that Ends Well, an old lord, Lafeu, takes a different slant, commenting: "A scar nobly got, or a noble scar, is a good livery of honour."

Psychologists at the universities of Liverpool and Stirling decided to investigate the effects of facial scars by asking 115 women and 64 men to rate the attractiveness of eight strangers of the opposite sex. Half were asked to look at original face shots, while the other half viewed images that had been digitally manipulated to add scars to their cheeks, jawbones or foreheads.

While the scars made no difference to the perceived attractiveness of women, scarred men ranked 5.7 percentage points higher in the appeal ratings than those with undamaged skin.

"A large scar is unlikely to make you more attractive, but there are some scars that women do seem to find appealing. There's the whole James Bond thing, where a person is attractive but probably not the best marriage material," said Robert Burriss, a psychologist at Liverpool who led the study.

For each picture, volunteers were asked to guess whether the scar was from a fight, an accident or illness. The men's scars were often blamed on a violent encounter, while those on women were often attributed to accidents.

"When scarring is seen as the result of a violent encounter, it signifies strength or bravery in a guy, or it could be due to an accident, and so evidence of a risk-taking personality. Either way, it's another way of assessing a man's masculinity," Burriss said. Men without scars could be seen as more caring and cautious, and so more suitable for a long term relationship, he added.

The study appears in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.

It has been one of the most drawn-out goodbyes in recent history, but last night Yahoo boss Jerry Yang finally gave in to his critics as he announced his decision to step down as the company's chief executive.

Months after scuttling a potential $44bn takeover by Microsoft, the 40-year-old confirmed that he would be resigning his post – but only once a suitable successor has been found.

The decision brings to an end a long period of speculation over Yang's future at the top of the company he helped found in 1994.

In a statement Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock said he was "deeply grateful" to Yang, but would be starting a search for a new leader who could "take the company to the next level".

"Jerry and the board have had an ongoing dialogue about succession timing, and we all agree that now is the right time to make the transition to a new CEO," Bostock said.

Although the timing of the announcement came as a surprise, it had been widely predicted that Yang's tenure was drawing to a close, particularly following severe criticism over his handling of a $44bn takeover bid from Microsoft earlier this year.

"Having set Yahoo on a new, more open path, the time is right for me to transition the CEO role and our global talent to a new leader," he said in a statement. "I will continue to focus on global strategy and to do everything I can to help Yahoo realise its full potential."

Yang was a surprise choice for the job when he took over 18 months ago, succeeding former Hollywood executive Terry Semel. Although he had helped start the internet company 14 years ago, he did not have experience running a large company and campaigned largely on his passion.

Although his dedication and commitment have never been questioned – just a few days ago he told a crowd at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco that he would "run through walls" for Yahoo – his shortcomings were cruelly exposed by events both outside and within his control.

Yahoo's share price has been hammered during the financial crisis and profits for the last quarter showed a drastic drop. That news led the company to confirm last month that it planned to shed around 1,500 jobs – cuts that come on top of another 1,000 layoffs in January.

Even taking into account the tough economic conditions, Yahoo has suffered more than most, with its stock falling below $10 a share last week – down from highs of $30 earlier this year.

But it is the botched negotiations with Microsoft which will linger in the memory and did the most damage to Yang's reputation.

After the failure of his drawn-out negotiations with the Seattle software company, many investors felt that Yang had deliberately scuppered the Microsoft deal in order to keep the company independent. Among those fiercely critical of the approach was corporate raider Carl Icahn, who threatened a hostile takeover of the Yahoo board.

But although Yang recently insisted that there was "no poison pill" approach to the Microsoft offer, his critics remained vocal, particularly after Yahoo's share price continued to plunge.

By the end of his term Yang must have felt like the chief executive's job was a poisoned chalice. Even his attempt to come up with a profitable alternative to the Microsoft deal – a multimillion-dollar advertising agreement with rival Google – failed after Google decided to pull out following an investigation by the US Department of Justice.

The decision to step down will come as a painful personal blow to Yang, who founded Yahoo with Stanford friend David Filo in 1994 and has regularly stated his commitment to the site.

The 40-year-old billionaire said he had always acted in the company's interests, and planned to retain his former title of "chief Yahoo" and stay heavily involved in decision-making.

"I have always sought to do what is best for our franchise," said Yang in a statement. "When the board asked me to become CEO and lead the transformation of the company, I did so because it was important to re-envision the business for a different era."

But with Yahoo on the rocks after a tumultuous year, his time at the top was looking increasingly limited.

"The company is in desperate need of change, and this is clearly one way to do it," Ross Sandler, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets told Reuters.

It is not yet clear who the leading contenders to take over Yang's job are, but Bostock said the board would vet candidates from inside the company and from elsewhere in the business world.

Sales at the John Lewis online operation have declined for the first time since the business was set up in 2001.

The internet operation of the department store group saw sales dip 8.8% last week compared with the same week last year. Overall sales at the John Lewis group, regarded as a bellwether for the high street, were down by a startling 14% - the ninth consecutive weekly decline.

The downturn underlines the scale of the problems now facing retailers - and the about-turn in the fortunes of the JohnLewis.com shows that internet operators are no longer immune.

Separately Terry Duddy, the chief executive of Argos and Homebase group HRG, said trading conditions now were the worst he had witnessed in 25 years, while Debenhams' deputy chief executive Michael Sharp told a London conference that the retail sector "is staring into the face of the worst Christmas we have ever had".

Debenhams is trying to pull in shoppers and shift stock with a three day 25%-off sale and there is mounting speculation that Marks & Spencer is planning a one day "guerilla sale". Last week M&S was offering 40% off furniture.

IMRG Capgemini e-retail index last week showed the extent of slowdown now hitting online retailers. It said internet spending in October was up just 12.7% - the smallest increase since December 2004. Twelve months ago growth was running at more than 70%.

Earlier this week online fashion store Asos reported record sales and profits. In the last six months its sales were up more than 100% and profits rose by more than two thirds to £4m.

But Asos is a relatively small business, with half its customers under 25 and unburdened with mortgages and household bills. It is also operating in the still-fast-growing online fashion business.

Robin Terrell, the managing director of John Lewis Direct, said fashion sales at the department store's web operation were also up more than 100% - but trade in homewares and electricals has gone into reverse.

"Toys have taken off in the last few weeks, they are up 20% year-on-year, and seasonal goods are doing well. But big ticket furniture is suffering. Furniture accessories are doing well, as people refresh rather the replace - but you have to sell an awful lot of throws to make up for one new sofa."

Terrell said the downturn in online sales coincided with the banking crisis and, particularly, "when Lehmans went pop".

Earlier this year, when the first signs of serious decline started to show on the high street and in the big out-of-town malls, the John Lewis website was still racking up year-on-year sales growth of around 30%.

The John Lewis Direct boss, a former Amazon executive who joined the partnership earlier this year from lingerie website Figleaves.com, is now planning a major overhaul of the fashion range on the website for next year, so that shoppers will be able to search by colour and size, watch video clips of clothes on models and choose from a wider variety of brands. The aim, said Terrell, was to offer the same range and service online as in the stores.

The retailer is now bracing for a difficult Christmas and its annual winter sale this year will start on the website at 6pm on Christmas Eve. The stores will go on sale, as usual, on December 27.

Several retailers experimented with starting their sales online on Christmas Day last year and were surprised at the number of orders placed on that day.