The government has said it aims to halve the UK's spending deficit over the next four years.

Treasury minister Liam Byrne told the BBC it was possible to do this while managing to "protect public services".

He said economic stimulus measures would continue next year but the focus would switch to paying off the debt.

But the Conservatives said the government's argument was based on "hope" of the recession ending and the UK had live "within its means".

In April's Budget, Chancellor Alistair Darling forecast that public borrowing this year would reach £175bn.

A Communist Party leader and police chief in the troubled western Chinese region of Xinjiang have been sacked, the official Xinhua news agency says.

The moves follow days of ethnic unrest in the regional capital Urumqi in which at least five people have died.

No official reason has been given for the sackings.

Mass protests have followed a spate of stabbings with syringes blamed on Uighur Muslim separatists. Unrest in Urumqi in July left nearly 200 dead.

Xinhua first announced that Urumqi Communist Party chief Li Zhi was to be replaced by Zhu Hailun, the head of Xinjiang region's law-and-order committee.

A former army major has resigned as a parliamentary aide to Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth, criticising the government's strategy in Afghanistan.

Labour MP Eric Joyce said the UK could no longer justify the growing casualty toll in Afghanistan by saying the war would prevent terrorism back home.

The government should set a time limit on the deployment of troops, he added.

Gordon Brown said the Afghan mission was "vital" for fighting terrorism and nothing should distract from it.

'Exit strategy'