Facebook shares fall sharply in opening minutes on Nasdaq and end Monday more than 11% below Friday's offer price

Shares in Facebook fell by 11% on Monday as underwriters deserted the stock and questions continued to be asked about how Nasdaq, the second largest US stock exchange, handled the flotation.

Pre-market trading had seen heavy selling of the stock, which was supported just above its $38 listing price on Friday by the leading banks who bought shares ahead of the initial public offering (IPO).

Within minutes of the shares going on sale again on Monday they were in freefall, and were soon trading close to $33 before recovering to end the day at $34.03.

The fall added to the embarrassment over Friday's share issue, when trading on Nasdaq was delayed by more than 30 minutes due to technical glitches. Facebook's arrival set a record transaction volume for a market debut, with nearly 89m shares traded.

By midday on Monday in the US some investors still did not know whether orders placed on Friday to buy or sell the shares had gone through. "I heard a lot of brokers ranting and raving on Friday about this," one adviser to Morgan Stanley's brokerage affiliate, Smith Barney, told Reuters. The adviser said Smith Barney had a "large number" of market orders that were entered on Friday for the trading debut of Facebook stock that had still not been reconciled.

Nasdaq's chief executive, Robert Greifeld, said at the weekend he was "humbly embarrassed" by the outcome. The exchange had now modified its system for handling initial public offerings.

"It was just a poorly done deal and it just so happens to be the biggest deal ever for Nasdaq and they pooched it, that's the bottom line here," said Joe Saluzzi, the co-manager of trading at Themis Trading in Chatham, New Jersey.

Henry Blodget, the former Wall Street analyst who, ahead of the IPO, called the shares "muppet bait", said on his Business Insider site on Monday that the lack of big jump in first-day trading was probably good news for millions of small investors, who had been discouraged from piling into the stock.

He reckoned that a fair value for the company would be somewhere between $16 and $24 a share, depending on its results.

That would value Facebook at between $50bn and $85bn – a substantial amount, but far from the $104bn (£65.8bn) that the $38 share price put on it.

Investor sentiment cooled over the weekend after seeing the lack of "pop" – a spectacular jump in price – for the shares on Friday. But the Nasdaq itself rose 2.4% as US stocks rebounded from their worst week in a year. Apple stock rose by 5.8%, apparently as some investors who had unloaded the company's shares last week to buy Facebook reversed their positions.

Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter, who came out with an "outperform" rating on Facebook before the IPO, said he thought underwriters had overestimated demand for the company's stock. Last Tuesday, the underwriters, led by Morgan Stanley, increased the offering's price range from $28-$35 to $34-$38. On Wednesday, Facebook's early investors and other stockholders increased the number of shares they were selling in the IPO. Both had seemingly been signals that there was strong demand for shares.

"The late addition of 84m shares to the offering overwhelmed demand, limiting the first day price," Pachter said in a note to investors.

Having been listed at $38, with a greater number offered due to "high demand", the shares then began trading on Friday – after an embarrassing glitch – at $42.02. But they soon came off that level, to settle at a closing price of $38.32.

By Monday, sentiment had apparently turned against Facebook so thoroughly that underwriters seeking to unload the shares were forced to take substantial losses as the market marked the shares down.

Having seen a number of investment funds buy the shares on Friday as fund managers loaded up in the expectation that Facebook would bring a boost to their portfolio, the remaining buyers in the market on Monday were less willing to pay a premium – leaving the underwriters with no option but to accept a loss if they wanted to pass the shares on.

• Facebook
• Internet
• Social networking
• Social media
• Digital media
• Technology sector
• IPOs
• FTSE
• Stock markets
• Mark Zuckerberg

Charles Arthur
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Business secretary attacks Conservative party donor Adrian Beecroft's employment reform plan

Vince Cable all but confirmed that controversial proposals to allow employers to fire workers at will are to be ditched by the government.

As Tory sources confirmed that David Cameron was preparing to shelve the plans, Cable attacked the proposals by the Conservative party donor Adrian Beecroft.

"British workers are very co-operative and they are very flexible," the business secretary told the BBC. "So we don't need to scare the wits out of workers with threats to dismiss them. It is completely the wrong approach."

It is understood that No 10 is planning to ditch the proposal when a "call for evidence" ends next month on Beecroft's most controversial recommendation – that employers should be allowed to sack unproductive staff without explanation in a scheme known as no fault dismissal.

Under a compromise between the two coalition parties, Cable agreed to a six-month "call for evidence" last year to see whether companies employing fewer than 10 people favoured the idea.

One source said: "The no fault dismissal idea is unlikely to see the light. It will be rather a relief when we never have to talk about it again."

Cable spoke out after Mark Prisk, the Conservative business minister, was forced to answer an emergency question in the Commons granted to the shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna. John Bercow, the Commons Speaker, summoned Prisk after a copy of the report was leaked to the Daily Telegraph, and the Sunday Telegraph reported that Downing Street was preparing to endorse the Beecroft report.

The leaks renewed coalition tensions as the Lib Dems made clear that they could not support the no fault dismissal proposal. But there were signs of irritation in Downing Street with the prime minister's departing policy guru, Steve Hilton, who asked Beecroft to commission the report, for stoking tensions with the Lib Dems.

The annoyance shows that Hilton is embarking on a year-long sabbatical to the US on less than perfect terms with Cameron. Hilton, a Tory ideologue who wants to trim the state, is deeply frustrated with the compromises his old friend Cameron is having to make as prime minister.

But sources indicated that relations would be patched up. "I am sure it will all be forgotten," one source said.

The leaks overshadowed a key message that Hilton, No 10 and the Lib Dems wanted to highlight – that some of the proposals in the Beecroft report are helpful and will be implemented.

There were more signs of tensions among Tories when a comparison between the draft leaked to the Daily Telegraph and the final version published yesterday showed that three key proposals were removed last October.

The paper seized on the absence from the final report of a call for a delay in plans to introduce flexible working for parents, a call to abandon proposals to give workers the right to request flexible working and a move to remove regulations on the employment of children.

The proposals were deleted by No 10 at a time when the prime minister faced criticism for upsetting female voters after telling the Labour shadow cabinet minister Angela Eagle to "calm down dear".

Among those proposals which were already part of government policy were reducing the qualifying period for employees to work before they could claim unfair dismissal from one year to two years, and a "fundamental review" of employment tribunal rules commissioned from Mr Justice Underhill.

Issues still "under consideration" included a no fault dismissal option for micro businesses employing fewer than 10 staff, reducing consultation periods for collective redundancies of 20 or more staff at the same time from 90 to 30 days, and considering extending a crackdown on no-win-no-fee services offered by some lawyers to encourage people to take up litigation to cover employment tribunals as well as other courts.

Another measure which is being considered, said the department, was removing "gold plating" for Transfer of Undertakings rules to protect staff whose employment contracts are transferred to new employers.

In his report, Beecroft suggests the rules "make it harder for the [new employer] to reduce costs by reducing the size of the workforce or the level of pay of the transferred workers. These regulations therefore serve to reduce the likelihood of a transfer that would result in greater efficiency or, if a transfer goes ahead, makes it harder to achieve greater efficiency". Beecroft goes on to recommend changes, including limiting the time for which the old contract arrangements had to be met to "one year or more", as is allowed by the EU directive.

Umunna said: "What a complete and utter shambles ... Is it not the case that putting people in fear of being fired at will, far from promoting growth, will have a huge detrimental impact on consumer confidence? I ask that because Mr Beecroft proposes to give businesses of fewer than 10 employees the power to fire at will through compensated no fault dismissal. That could affect more than 3.6 million workers in the private sector."

Some Tories believe it is wrong to rule out the no fault dismissal idea. Damian Collins, a Conservative MP who has edited a report called the Growth Factory,told BBC Radio 4's World at One: "I think businesses and people out of work would want us to consider any policies that might encourage small businesses to take on more staff."

Len McCluskey, general secretary of Britain's biggest trade union, Unite, said: "Beecroft's proposals would be disastrous for the economy. They will not create a single job. It is a charter for rogue bosses to make life even worse for working people in austerity Britain."

• Employment law
• Vince Cable
• Liberal Democrats
• Conservatives
• Work & careers
• Liberal-Conservative coalition

Juliette JowitNicholas Watt
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Police say reasons for man who was seen climbing over a fence beside the falls jumping are as yet unknown

A man survived a plunge of at least 180ft (55 metres) over Niagara Falls in an apparent suicide attempt on Monday – only the third person known to have lived after going over the falls without a safety device.

Niagara Parks Police said witnesses reported seeing the man climb over a railing up to 30ft (9 metres) out over the Horseshoe Falls at 10.20am local time and "deliberately jump" into the Niagara River. Seriously injured, he surfaced in the lower Niagara River basin near the Journey Behind the Falls observation platform and managed to make it to shore on his own.

"He waded ashore," said platoon chief Dan Orescanin of the Niagara Falls fire department. "He must have gotten swept into an eddy, floated over there and was able to get out on his own.

"That's another stroke of luck," Orescanin said. "If he was in the main current, he would have been swept down river."

Orescanin said the man was conscious and talking at first but got quiet. He appeared to have chest injuries, including broken ribs and a collapsed lung, Orescanin said.

The man was airlifted to Hamilton general hospital with what police initially said were life-threatening injuries. Hospital spokeswoman Agnes Bongers said later that the man was critically injured, but was expected to survive.

Authorities did not release the man's name.

Horseshoe Falls, on the Canadian side of the river, is the tallest of the three main falls, higher than the American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls.

The man, believed to be in his 30s or 40s, was rescued about two hours later after fire department rescuers rappelled down the steep and rocky gorge and pulled him in a basket back up the cliff.

"It was very difficult. Between the shale and the boulders, and everything is wet and slick. It's slimy," Orescanin said.

About seven rescuers struggled to carry the basket up to a point where it could be lifted with ropes suspended from an aerial truck.

"We had to basically hand-carry him back up, a foot at a time, up the rope," the chief said.

The rescue came weeks before daredevil Nik Wallenda plans to walk over Niagara Falls on a tightrope after convincing United States and Canadian officials to grant an exception to laws prohibiting stunting.

Although several daredevils have survived trips over the falls in barrels or other contraptions, beginning with Annie Edison Taylor in 1901, few have survived unprotected. In 1960, seven-year-old Roger Woodward was swept over the falls wearing a life jacket and survived.

Authorities don't believe Monday's plunge, on a warm and sunny Victoria Day holiday in Canada, was a stunt.

"Based on witness statements and surveillance video, it doesn't appear in any way, shape, or form that this was anything other than a suicide attempt," Niagara Parks police sergeant Chris Gallagher said.

More than 6m cubic feet (0.17m cubic metres) of water go over the brink of the Falls every minute during peak daytime tourist hours, according to the Niagara Parks Commission.

The last person to go over the Falls unaided and survive was a 30-year-old Canadian man in March 2009. In October 2003, Kirk Jones survived his plunge over the falls.

After getting the call on Monday, rescuers didn't immediately know whether the man at the bottom of the gorge had gone over the brink or entered the water at the base.

"When we heard that he had gone over the falls we were shocked," Orescanin said.

• Canada
• Americas
• United States

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Ofsted warns early entrants taking maths and English GCSE are less likely to achieve top grades

Inspectors will crack down on schools who enter pupils early for GCSE maths after concern that a rise in taking exams at a younger age is damaging children's education, Ofsted says in a report published on Tuesday.

School inspectors in England will be asked to challenge "extensive use" of early and repeated entry to GCSE exams, after the proportion of children sitting maths before they were 16 rose from 4.5% in 2008 to nearly 14% in 2011.

Ofsted warns that this has encouraged "short-termism" in teaching and learning and has led to underachievement at GCSE, particularly for able pupils. Early entrants in both maths and English are less likely to achieve an A or B grade.

The report illustrates how the government's measures of school performance have driven an approach to maths that is devoted to boosting league table positions rather than children's needs.

The standard measure of school success is the proportion of children achieving five good passes at GCSE, including English and maths. Maths has become a priority for headteachers as GCSE pass rates are lower than in English, but schools are focusing attention on "borderline" children – those capable of being pushed up to a C grade.

The report warns that pupils working "well below expectations", who are in need of the most effective teaching, tend not to be the centre of attention.

This is also an area of grave concern because these are the most likely pupils to leave school without a qualification in mathematics and therefore not well equipped for their future lives.

Many of the most able children are not achieving their potential because early entry puts too much emphasis on a grade C at the expense of understanding or mastering maths.

More than 37,000 pupils who performed at the highest level at primary school gained no better than grade C at GCSE in 2011.

The report says: "Our failure to stretch some of our most able pupils threatens the future supply of well-qualified mathematicians, scientists and engineers."

Exams have also become less challenging, the report says. The change at GCSE from three levels of entry to two in 2008 means the higher level examinations – for more able children – now have fewer questions on A and A* grade material. This makes them less demanding for the most able pupils, but suitable for children who would have taken the intermediate tier.

The removal of coursework means pupils have no experience of tackling extended mathematical tasks at GCSE. A-levels have also become less demanding, with some pure maths topics previously included in A-level maths now part of the further mathematics course.

As well as being entered for exams early, children are resitting individual units to improve their grades. In some schools, pupils are entered for the same exam with two awarding bodies to increase their chance of a C grade.

Poorly performing schools are more likely to enter children early for maths, while private schools are least likely to have early entrants, according to separate research conducted by the Department for Education (DfE).

The effectiveness of schools' work in maths was judged good or outstanding in 57% of the primary schools and 52% of the secondary schools visited for the survey.

Ofsted chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw said he wants all children to have the best education and mathematics is a fundamental part of that. He added that too many pupils do not fulfil their potential, including many of the most able.

Education secretary Michael Gove wrote to Wilshaw in March asking him to examine how the practice of early entry could be discouraged.

Schools minister Nick Gibb said: "We will be asking schools to be even more ambitious when it comes to maths attainment at every stage of a child's education. It is vital that we reverse the decline that has seen us fall from eighth to 27th in maths internationally."

A DfE spokesman said early entry was not about setting higher targets, but encouraging schools to have a more ambitious approach to the subject.

• Ofsted
• GCSEs
• Teachers' workload
• Teaching
• Schools
• Children

Jeevan Vasagar
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Office for Nuclear Regulation in talks to extend life of aging power stations earmarked for closure

Britain's ageing nuclear reactors, which were due to close in the next decade, are set to be kept open under a plan approved by the industry's regulator.

In a move that could have far-reaching implications for the government's energy policy, the Office for Nuclear Regulation has told the Guardian it is working with the country's dominant nuclear operator, the French-owned company EDF, to extend the life of its eight nuclear power stations in the UK, and that it is "content for the plants to continue to operate", as long as they pass regular safety tests.

The two organisations are also discussing other improvements to EDF's plants, including monitoring systems and dealing with the reactors' ageing.

Just a few weeks ago ministers were still referring to the need to "keep the lights on" in Britain when a number of existing nuclear and coal power stations closed over the next few years, by building new nuclear and gas power and subsidising renewable energy technologies and carbon capture and storage.

The plans have emerged as the government prepares to publish its energy white paper , setting out plans to introduce a guaranteed minimum price for the power produced by low-carbon generators to encourage an estimated £110bn investment in nuclear and renewable energy, and carbon capture and storage equipment that traps emissions from new gas stations. EDF said it has yet to make a formal decision, but the first power stations which could be submitted for another periodic safety review (PSR) to remain open beyond their planned closure were Hinkley B in Somerset and Hunterston B in Ayrshire, both of which were due to shut down in approximately 2016.

The company has said it wants to extend the life of seven of its plants for an average of seven years, a figure it has already raised from five years and which could increase again if EDF decided it was commercially viable to keep them open longer. Its other plant, Sizewell B in Suffolk, is expected to remain open until 2035.

Plans to keep the nuclear plants open will encourage critics of the government's energy policy, which calls for expensive new nuclear reactors to meet short- to medium-term demand while renewable energy such as wind, solar and tidal power are improved so they can be deployed on a mass scale.

The government is also betting on carbon capture and storage technology to enable gas powered stations to keep burning fossil fuels without breaching tough limits on future carbon emissions.

Tom Burke, a former head of Friends of the Earth, lobbyist and visiting professor at Imperial and University Colleges, London, said EDF's decision had been "always on the cards" since the government put in a carbon floor price.

The floor price gives low-carbon energy producers like nuclear, as well as renewable companies, an advantage by making fossil fuel burners who run coal and gas plants pay a minimum amount for each unit of carbon produced from their power stations.

The policy, announced in last year's budget, begins in April 2013 at £15.70 per tonne of carbon – more than double the current market price. That rises to £30 per tonne at the end of the decade. At £15.70 the UK power industry would have had to pay more than £3bn for the carbon price alone, based on a 2007 estimate of its total emissions.

"Effectively the carbon price will pay the costs of the life extension, and then some," said Burke.

"There never was a plausible energy security argument for building new nuclear: they thought it was a cheap way of getting a transformation to low carbon. [Life extension] buys us time for renewables and carbon."

The plans to keep the plants open follow a difficult few months for the government's nuclear programme with one of the two leading consortiums bidding to build new reactors pulling out, citing the political fallout from the Fukushima nuclear leak in Japan after the tsunami in that country, and reports that one of the major credit rating agencies could downgrade the rating – and so increase the cost of debt – for EDF and its new-build partner Centrica, if they went ahead with plans to build four new reactors.

EDF said: "Extending the lives of our nuclear power stations makes absolute sense in terms of filling a short-term energy need while the country rightly continues towards aggressive decarbonisation targets."

However the company said it was still fully committed to building new reactors, dismissing suggestions that the life extensions would undermine the need for new capacity.

"Life extension helps with the very short-term risk but doesn't change the need or urgency of the new nuclear programme in the longer term," said a company spokesman.

"The fundamental need for new capacity remains: the inability of old coal to meet tighter emissions limits being the foremost factor."

EDF did not need specific permission from the Office for Nuclear Regulation to submit the plants for the next 10-yearly periodic safety review, but said it had raised its intentions with the regulator because it liked to work with the regulator on a "no surprises" basis.

Robert Gross, a leading energy expert at Imperial College, London, said he was surprised the life extensions were not expected to cause more safety issues, but said that the decision could buy time for the energy industry, which was struggling with demands to build new gas, nuclear and renewable energy in a short period of time, including problems raising finance. "Another advantage would be we'd have more clarity on how successful we were being with renewables," said Gross.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change said on Monday: "Extending the lifetime of old nuclear plants will only give us a few more years of power. We will be shifting a problem to another day. New nuclear is where the future lies for long-term energy security. This is why it is so important we begin the transition on market reform today."

• Nuclear power
• Energy
• Energy industry
• Green politics
• Carbon emissions
• Climate change

Juliette Jowit
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Obama expresses frustration with Pakistan over its refusal to open up Nato supply routes in protest over US drone attacks

The rift between the US and Pakistan deepened on Monday as the Nato summit in Chicago broke up without a deal on Afghanistan supply routes.

Barack Obama, at a press conference to wind up the summit, made no attempt to conceal his exasperation, issuing a pointed warning to Pakistan it was in its wider interest to work with the US to avoid being "consumed" by extremists.

Seldom in recent years have the tensions between Washington and Islamabad been on public show to the extent as at the Chicago, overshadowing the two-day Nato summit.

The main point of friction is Pakistan's closure of Nato supply routes to Afghanistan in protest over drone attacks and a US air strike in November that killed two dozen Pakistani troops.

Obama refused to make time during the two-day summit to see the Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari for a face-to-face bilateral meeting. In a press conference, Obama made a point of stressing that the only exchange he had with his Pakistani counterpart was short. "Very brief, as we were walking into the summit," Obama said.

The US president said he "did not want to paper over the cracks" and that there has been tension between the US-led international force in Afghanistan and Pakistan over the last few months.

But ultimately, it was in the US interest to have a stable, democratic and prosperous Pakistan, Obama said, adding it was in the interest of Pakistan to work with the US to ensure it is not consumed by extremists.

There are fears in the US that the Pakistan government is unstable and that the government could fall, to be replaced by hardliners. The risk for Obama is displaying his annoyance with Pakistan at the Chicago summit is that Zardari could leave the summit feeling humiliated and even less willing to play a positive role over Afghanistan.

Obama declined to meet Zadari one-to-one because Pakistan is refusing to re-open its Afghanistan border to Nato, which means the US and others are having to resupply their military forces through the slower and more expensive routes from the north and Russia.

The president claimed that he never anticipated the Pakistan supply line issue being resolved at the summit and, taking a more optimistic view of the stand-off, he said they were making "diligent progress".

"We think that Pakistan has to be part of the solution in Afghanistan. Neither country is going to have the kind of security, stability and prosperity that it needs unless they can resolve some of these outstanding issues," Obama said.

The British prime minister, David Cameron, at a press conference in Chicago, reflected the irritation with Pakistan, describing the blocked routes as "frustrating". Cameron said he expected a deal eventually but not at the summit.

In its final communique, Nato formally committed to its withdrawal of the 130,000-strong force from Afghanistan based on a timetable agreed earlier by Obama and Karzai. All international combat troops would be withdrawn by the end of 2014. But the communique said a smaller force would remain to help "train, advise and assist" the Afghan army.

The communique does not say how many troops will be left but US commanders in Kabul are looking at a Nato force of around 15,000-20,000. Reflecting the public mood in Nato countries tired of the war, the comminque said the withdrawal timetable is "irreversible".

Obama, at the opening of the second day of the Nato summit on Monday morning, showed his displeasure with the Pakistan government by singling out for mention the Central Asia countries and Russia that have stepped in to replace the Pakistan supply route and made no mention of Pakistan. Zardari was in the room at the time.

To ram home the point, the US defence secretary, Leon Panetta, also held a meeting at the Nato summit with senior ministers from Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Panetta expressed his "deep appreciation" for their support.

Zardari has demanded an apology from the US for the killing of the 24 Pakistani troops in November in return for reopening supply lines. He is also proposing that the tariff for each vehicle be raised from $250 to $5,000. The US is bitter about this, noting the amount of American military and other aid that goes to Pakistan annually.

In his wrap-up press conference, Obama stood praised the Chicago police for their handling of the demonstrations but also defended the rights of the protesters. "This is part of what Nato defends: free speech and freedom of assembly," Obama said.

• Pakistan
• Nato
• US politics
• Obama administration
• Barack Obama
• Asif Ali Zardari
• Afghanistan
• US military
• United States

Ewen MacAskill
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Guns are increasingly popular with well-off Indian women who feel that they should be able to defend themselves against crime

When Dr Harveen Kaur Sidhu travels from her home in an upmarket neighbourhood of the north-western Indian city of Chandigarh, she always slips her lightweight .22 revolver in her bag. The gun is a new purchase – Sidhu got her licence only a year ago – but now the 33-year-old dentist won't travel without it.

"I don't have faith in the police to protect me. There are so many attacks on women these days. It's everybody's right to defend themselves. I think all women who are vulnerable should be carrying guns," Sidhu said. She is not alone. A growing number of well-off, educated Indian women are turning to firearms for protection.

The trend is part of a broader growth of gun culture in the land once known for the non-violent principles of Mahatma Gandhi.

There are estimated to be 40m guns in India, the second highest number in the world after the US. Licences are hard to obtain and most are illegal weapons, many manufactured in backstreet workshops. Ownership levels per capita remain low – three guns for every 100 people in India – but there is strong anecdotal evidence that middle-class interest in firearms is rising fast.

One sign is the emergence of groups such as the National Association for Gun Rights India, founded in 2009, which lobbies for fewer restrictions on ownership of firearms. "We are not trigger-happy people. We are looking at [using firearms] as a last resort. We see [guns] as a force equaliser," said Rakshit Sharma, the group's secretary general.

His group, he said, receives "many inquiries from women who want to know how to obtain a gun and stay within the law". The trend is strongest in regions where a tradition for firearms is well-established, such as Punjab in the north-west, due to local wealth, a strong martial history and a brutal insurgency that ended only 20 years ago.

The local taste for conspicuous consumption has also boosted sales. "Business is very, very good. Better than it's ever been," said Satish Kumar, a gunseller in Chandigarh, the Punjab state capital. "People buy weapons, 10% for security and 90% for status. People will happily spend 80,000 rupees (£9,600) on a foreign-made handgun."

Kumar said only one in 50 purchases were made by women but the number was rising. Data obtained earlier this year under India's new Right to Information law revealed that nearly 31,300 arms licences have been issued to women in the Punjab and 31,026 of them have actually purchased arms.

One recent enthusiast is Anita Dhiman Dass, who lives in Ludhiana, a prosperous centre of trade and farming 80 miles west of Chandigarh. Dass, 46, got her first gun three years ago, has three weapons on her licence and says a Ruger .22 pistol is her favourite. "It's so light. I put it in my bag when I go shopping, to the mall, to the market or wherever. It is very necessary. There is so much robbery these days. They just snatch chains and bangles," she said.

Like Sidhu, Dass said carrying a gun made her feel secure. Her husband, Ishwar, runs a car dealership in the town. His collection of 11 weapons includes hunting rifles and vintage shotguns. Dass said a four-year-old grandson was now "very fond of guns" and the family's new puppy has been named "Sniper".

Navdeep, a housewife in Ludhiana, said she had a shotgun at home for security when her husband was working away from home, and recently bought a lighter pistol for use outside the house. "A lot of lower-class men, they harass women, so a gun is very good way of telling them to back off. If I am coming home late at night on my own, it is very necessary. Even if the police come, it is too late," she said.

The phenomenon may in part be a response to the failure of the state to inspire confidence among many middle-class Indians, particularly women. Almost all women interviewed by the Guardian said they felt an increased level of threat.

General violence levels in India are actually down and homicides using guns have dropped dramatically over the past decade, but levels of reported sexual crimes have increased significantly.

Gang rapes in the capital, New Delhi, are commonplace. One recent news magazine's investigation revealed widespread misogyny among the city's senior police officers, many of whom said the crimes were the fault of the victims.

"There are so many incidents, especially in Delhi. Women who are working or who are travelling should definitely have a gun," said Sidhu. She explained that changing lifestyles were making women more vulnerable, particularly single women working or coming home late at night. "Why should I be dependent on someone else, even my husband or the police, for my own safety? I should be independent," she said. "Imagine all the problems and mishaps which could be avoided if women could defend themselves properly. The females have to be self-armed and protected and should send out a strong message that we are not taking this anymore."

• India
• Women

Jason Burke
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Libyan convicted of 1988 bombing laid to rest in Tripoli suburb during low-key burial attended by fewer than 100 mourners

Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the only man convicted over the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, was buried at a simple funeral on Tuesday, in vivid contrast to the rapturous welcome he was given on his return from Scotland three years ago.

Back then thousands greeted him at a stage-managed arrival at night at Tripoli airport. Hailed as a returning hero, he was met and embraced on the plane's steps by Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam.

By contrast, no officials from the current or any previous administration were in attendance as his body, wrapped in a white shroud, was placed in a grave in the dusty Zarwani cemetery in Jansour, Tripoli's westernmost suburb.

Megrahi's family insisted it was an ordinary funeral, but in fact it was less than ordinary. Normally large crowds gather for burials, as is Libyan tradition, but less than 100 mourners, including his four sons, followed the coffin as it was carried down a sandy path to the empty plot in the baking heat.

Libyans are divided over Megrahi's guilt or otherwise in the destruction of Pan Am Flight 103, which killed 270 people, but the stigma of his involvement with Gaddafi's security services lingers.

As is custom, the funeral was held promptly, the day after he died in the large villa given to him by the Gaddafi regime in a upmarket Tripoli suburb, and his wife, Aisha, and one daughter remained at home.

After his body was washed it was taken to the graveside where an Iman said traditional prayers and mourners chanted Allah Akhbar (God is Great).

The tomb, covered now in brown earth and marked with four grey breeze blocks, marks the end of a journey that began in Sabha, hundreds of miles to the south in the Sahara.

Megrahi's tribe was close to Gaddafi's, one reason why so many members were chosen for key posts in the dictator's security services.

"We are just ordinary people, this was an ordinary funeral," said his cousin, Mohamed Rashed, 52, who worked with Megrahi at Libyan airlines, but said he had no role in the former regime's security apparatus. "I hope that the truth will be revealed. We asked him [shortly before he died] 'do you wish for the truth to come out?' and he said 'Yes I do'."

Dr Rashed, sporting a grey beard and dark glasses and dressed in a blue waistcoat and a traditional brown flowing coat, said his cousin had been ignored by officialdom.

"No officials came today. Only journalists. Too many. We are sad that he is dead, but we are not sad about the new political situation, the new freedom," he said.

He insisted Megrahi had no interest in politics. "As a family, we are just like anybody else. When we would sit down as a family Abdelbaset was not talking about politics, he was talking about anything, watching TV, he supported Libya Tihad [a Tripoli football team]. He was kind with his friends, with his family, he was religious, he memorised parts of the Qur'an."

Like thousands of Libyans, the Megrahis are adjusting to the new, uncertain political climate, where ties with the former regime are automatically suspect.

"He was innocent, I am sure of it," said another cousin, Ashur al-Zuwam. Clad in a black shirt and trousers and wearing sandals encrusted with the sandy dust of the cemetery, he added: "When Abdelbaset first got back he went to his mother and said, 'mother, if I am guilty of this, then you should not forgive me'. This shows he was innocent."

As the only person convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, Megrahi's death may remove the one man who knows the truth about who was responsible. Libya's ruling National Transitional Council has pledged to investigate the case, but refuses British police permission to travel to Libya to assist.

Many ordinary Libyans are happy to forget their tortured past, not least the sanctions and pariah status into which their country was plunged after Megrahi was linked with the 1988 bombing.

After Megrahi was convicted at a special court in the Netherlands in 2001 he served his sentence in prison in Scotland, until he was released on compassionate grounds in 2009 after being diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Zuwam insisted Megrahi had not consented to the hero's welcome foisted on him by Gaddafi on his return from Scotland in August 2009.

"After the revolution they said he was one of Gaddafi's soldiers, but I don't know, maybe the regime used him. In his last months he was happy to be with God. He was pleased also that he could come back to Libya to die."

• Abdelbaset al-Megrahi
• Lockerbie plane bombing
• Global terrorism
• UK security and terrorism
• Scotland
• Air transport
• Libya
• Middle East and North Africa
• Africa

Chris Stephen
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Prosecution says Cheshire teenager was murdered by parents in 2003 when she refused to agree to an arranged marriage

The sister of a teenager who was murdered by her parents when she refused to agree to an arranged marriage saw the killing, a court was told on Monday.

Alesha Ahmed told police she watched her parents "acting together" during the murder of her older sister Shafilea Ahmed, 17, in September 2003, Chester crown court heard.

Their parents, Iftikhar Ahmed, 52, a taxi driver, and his wife Farzana, 49, deny murdering Shafilea, whose badly decomposed remains were found near a Cumbrian river in February 2004.

Alesha, now 23, told police what happened in August 2010, when she was arrested for her part in a robbery at the family home in Warrington, Cheshire, the court heard.

Prosecution barrister Andrew Edis QC described the information as the final piece of the jigsaw; until then there had been no direct evidence linking the parents to the murder.

He said it was an extraordinary thing to accuse your parents of murder, to say "you were there and watched your parents murder your sister".

He said for the past "almost nine years, Alesha Ahmed had lived under the most extraordinary of circumstances", as had the whole family. There are three younger siblings.

Alesha had told friends about the killing between September and December 2003, but she soon retracted her comments and returned to the family home where she was brought back into "silence and denial". It must have been a great strain because of her divided loyalties, Edis said.

The court heard that during a trip to Pakistan in February 2003, Shafilea had been introduced to a cousin whom her parents wanted her to marry. She drank bleach at her grandparents' house in Pakistan, which her mother had claimed was a mistake during a power cut.

Edis said there was no way anyone would pick up a bottle in the pitch black of a bathroom and drink from it. As soon as she drank it, she screamed. It was, he said, a self-destructive act or one of serious self-harm. He also questioned why the trip to Pakistan did not involve marriage if her father only bought a one-way ticket for his daughter.

Shafilea was taken to Warrington hospital for emergency treatment when she returned home in May 2003.

A patient who asked her why she had drunk bleach was told: "You don't know what they did to me there."

Edis said Shafilea told the patient her parents had accepted a formal offer of marriage from her cousin and "that is why she drank the bleach". Edis said: "She didn't even like the guy, she wanted to get out of there but they had taken away her passport."

On Monday,, poems written by Shafilea were read to the jurors. One was called Happy Families and the other I Feel Trapped, in which she expressed her frustration about her family's concerns over honour and said she felt trapped. "I don't pretend like we're the perfect family no more," one of the poems said. "All they think about is honour."

She was murdered, Edis said, because she failed to conform to her parents' wishes and they embarked upon a campaign of domestic abuse after she allegedly "brought shame" on the family.

Shafilea's remains were identified by DNA and she was wearing westernised clothing – white stilettos – and her hair had been dyed red. By her clothing, the prosecution said, she was "seeking to demonstrate something of her independence and freedom".

She was described as a Westernised young British girl of Pakistani origin at the beginning of the murder trial.

The prosecution said her parents had standards that she was "reluctant to follow". In particular, like most 16- or 17-year-old girls she wanted boyfriends, which caused intense pressure on the family. Her parents controlled her so she did not have freedom of movement, Edis said. She ran away briefly from home in 2002 and early 2003.

In February 2003, shortly before the trip to Pakistan, Shafilea was "recaptured or abducted" by her father outside the gates at Great Sankey high school in Warrington, where she was a pupil. She was forced into the car after she had run away.

In the year before she died, the prosecution said, her parents "embarked on a campaign of domestic violence and abuse directed at her and designed to force her to conform so that she behaved in a way that was expected.

"The defendants had spent the best part of 12 months trying to crush her will, realised they were not going to succeed and finally killed her because she had dishonoured the family and brought shame on them."

Edis said Shafilea went missing on 11 September 2003, but it was not reported to police until a week later. "Not by a member of her family, but by a teacher."

The prosecution alleges she was murdered by her parents at the family home on the night of 11 September.

Edis said arranged marriages were acceptable in many communities, but forced marriage was different. The defendants wanted an arranged marriage for their daughter but "in the end it was going to require compulsion because she didn't want to do it".

Shafilea had been "appalled" by the prospect of an arranged marriage in rural Pakistan. When she returned to the UK, she was taken to hospital as an emergency case and needed regular treatment.

He said no one else had caused Shafilea distress "apart from her parents". The prosecution claims they withdrew money from her bank account that she had saved from a part-time job.

Edis questioned the couple's behaviour following Shafilea's disappearance, not reporting it to police or attempting to find her. Iftikhar switched off his mobile phone and there were no calls made from the landline to try to find her, unlike two previous occasions when she was missing and they repeatedly phoned her.

The Ahmeds put their house on the market within two days. Iftikhar told a potential buyer they were moving to Lancashire "because the daughter had brought shame on the family", Edis said. He added it was a surprising observation to make "if she had simply run away from home".

The police were told of a potential sighting at a chemist's in Glasgow in November 2003 following public appeals. The couple were shown CCTV footage and said they were 90% certain it was Shafilea, whereas her teacher said it was definitely not.

Months later when the body was identified, the Ahmeds issued a brief statement talking of their beautiful and irreplaceable daughter, which contrasts with their conduct in the previous September, when the prosecution say "they did nothing at all" after her disappearance.

Edis told the jury that Shafilea's father had been married to a Scandinavian woman, Vivi Anderson, whom he had a son Tony with. In 1986 he married Farzana in Pakistan because Iftikhar "felt the pull of his family" and loyalty. When his uncle told him that it was time to marry Farzana, he complied.

Alesha Ahmed is expected to give evidence on Tuesday.

The case continues.

• Crime
• Forced marriage

Helen Carter
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Abdullah Senussi, who is wanted by France, the ICC and Libya, faces trial accused of entering country illegally, says court source

Muammar Gaddafi's former intelligence chief, who is wanted by France, the international criminal court and Libya, has been charged by Mauritania's public prosecutor in a secret court hearing, his first public appearance since fleeing Libya's crumbling regime to the desert country.

Abdullah Senussi, a confidante and brother-in-law to Gaddafi, will face trial for entering Mauritania illegally with a falsified Malian passport, a crime that carries a maximum three-year jail term, a judicial source said.

Senussi, who had been held in a villa in the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott since March, is alleged to be behind a massacre in Tripoli's notorious Abu Salim prison, which left around 1,200 inmates dead, and triggered Libya's revolt when lawyers sought to reopen the case last year.

A Mauritanian security official said an entourage of elite presidential guards had whisked Senussi overnight into the multi-domed courthouse. "He looked well, and seemed in good spirits under the circumstances," the official said.

"Normally he would now be held in the main prison, but our understanding is he is staying in a special location guarded by troops," the official said.

A judicial source said a trial was unlikely to begin soon. "A [trial start] date doesn't have to be set for up to three years, so that will buy the authorities time," he said.

France wants to try Senussi in connection with the 1989 bombing of an airliner over Niger in which 170 died. An ICC warrant is seeking Senussi for crimes against humanity in Libya.

British officials have also indicated they could seek access to him in relation to the Lockerbie bombing, in which Senussi is suspected of playing of a role.

Diplomats said there had been no clear indication what Mauritanian authorities planned to do with the high-profile prisoner. "More than anything else, the Senussi issue has been about smoke and mirrors," a diplomat said.

• Mauritania
• Libya
• Muammar Gaddafi
• Middle East and North Africa
• Africa
• International criminal court
• International criminal justice
• Lockerbie plane bombing
• Global terrorism
• UK security and terrorism
• Scotland

Monica Mark
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds