THE rescue effort to help thousands of people caught up in the devastating floods was yesterday described as the biggest in peacetime Britain — as affected areas braced themselves for more heavy rain.

The UK needs at least 1,000 extra firefighters to deal with the threat of terrorist attacks, union leaders there said today.

A planned eight-day strike by Northern and British firefighters was called off tonight following the surprise intervention of the conciliation service Acas into the bitter fire dispute.