Labour leader Ed Miliband urges banking sell-off. 8 July 2012Last updated at 10:38 ET Ed Balls: "The government is dragging its feet" Labour has demanded that top High Street banks should be forced to sell off hundreds of branches in a "root-and-branch" reform of the industry.
Shadow chancellor Ed Balls told the BBC that the government was "foot-dragging" on the issue. Labour is proposing that the sold-off branches should be used to create "challenger" banks, to increase lending and competition within the sector. But the government said it was already working to reform finance. The coalition says it is committed to creating challenger banks, to compete with the "big five" of Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC, RBS and Santander. Labour believes there should be a minimum of two challengers in place by 2015, meaning more than 1,000 branches would need to be sold off by the existing large banks to create seven sizeable lenders in the UK. Pay Peanuts and you get Monkeys.
19 July 2012Last updated at 10:54 ET By Tim Donovan Political Editor, BBC London G4S were contracted to supply 10,400 security guards during the Games Olympic organisers instructed G4S to pay security guards less than the wages that officials had publicly declared were being offered, the firm says.
Most security guards are being paid a basic wage of £8.50 an hour to work at the Games venues. It is below the rate of "approximately £10 an hour" which the government and Locog told MPs was being paid to attract recruits. Locog said pay and retention rates started at more than £9 an hour. The pressure to keep down wages has emerged as another factor which may have prevented G4S from meeting its contractual obligation to supply 10,400 security guards for the Games, leading to 3,500 extra armed forces personnel being drafted in.
Enhanced contract. UK recession deepens after 0.7% fall in GDP. Record 240,964 visit the Royal Welsh Show in heat. 26 July 2012Last updated at 15:56 GMT Some farmers stayed away from the Royal Welsh Show to catch up on work they could not do when the weather was bad A record 240,964 people have visited the Royal Welsh Show in Powys after one of the hottest weeks of the year so far.
The figure breaks the previous record of 240,140 set in 2006 at the four-day event in Llanelwedd. Wikileaks, war and calling the kettle black? The feverish activity across global news rooms to ferret out the best of the leaks from the morass of military material about the Afghan war disclosed on Wikileaks is continuing apace.
Undoubtedly, we are learning more of the scale, more of the mess that is military service in this war with its still indistinct concept of what “success” constitutes. There is much finger pointing at military inaccuracy, secrecy, cover-up and the rest. But I find myself wondering how history will judge the media’s role. Last year I reported a documentary entitled Gaza Unseen. We contrasted what the Arab TV world was transmitting of the Israeli invasion and what we were putting out. Whilst Arab television was showing unexpurgated footage of the most appalling death, destruction, and maiming. Of course, the UK media is overseen by a regulatory system which is in place to ensure ”taste and decency”. 'Brush' offers clues to fighting lung disease. 23 August 2012Last updated at 14:13 ET In people with cystic fibrosis, mucus is not properly cleared from the lungs Scientists say the discovery of an internal "brush" that helps clear lungs of unwanted matter could help them understand more about lung diseases.
A team from the University of North Carolina found that the brush-like layer pushes out sticky mucus and the foreign bodies it contains. Royal Mail shares to be sold before possible strikes. 27 September 2013Last updated at 16:30 Royal Mail shares are to be sold by mid-October, before postal workers have a chance to strike over the move.
The company is valued at £2.6bn to £3.3bn, the government said on Friday. The Department for Business said Royal Mail would list on the London Stock Exchange next month. BBC business editor Robert Peston says that the privatisation should be complete by 15 October. Tata's plea for UK government help. Paying tradesmen cash in hand morally wrong, says minister. The Chinese left behind by economic growth. 'Benchmark' homeless and housing centre for Cardiff. 19 July 2012Last updated at 10:52 ET Artist's impression of the completed homeless and housing complex on Dumballs Road, Cardiff.
Hostels have stood on the site for 20 years. A homeless and housing centre that will be a "benchmark" for other cities to follow is opening its doors. Cardiff council's Tresillian House and the independent Huggard centre are moving into the £8.7m complex following 18 months in a temporary home. It groups together two hostels, a day centre, training facilities and the council's single assessment centre for homeless people. The new centre will have beds for 44 people and another 23 emergency spaces.
Cardiff's council's housing cabinet member Lynda Thorne said the project was not just about providing a bed for the night but about the wider needs of homeless people. Portugal's Madeira hit by forest fires. 20 July 2012Last updated at 11:02 ET Firefighters have been despatched from the Portuguese mainland to help Hundreds of Portuguese firefighters are battling forest fires raging in areas popular with tourists - the Algarve and the island of Madeira.
Fires in Camacha and Santa Cruz on Madeira are threatening homes, but there are no reports of casualties. Dozens of people have abandoned their homes since fires began spreading in parts of Madeira on Wednesday. The Tavira district is worst affected in the Algarve. High winds are said to be hampering efforts to contain the blazes. The area burnt in the Algarve is reported to be much bigger than the area hit by fire last year. But a tour operator on Madeira told the BBC on Friday that hotels, golf courses, hiking routes and other leisure facilities were unaffected and open to tourists. On Wednesday, TV images showed flames several storeys high right on the edge of Madeira's main town, Funchal. Disaster drones: How robot teams can help in a crisis.
22 July 2012Last updated at 22:39 ET By Dougal Shaw Technology reporter Professor Nick Jennings explains why and how he is testing disaster drones An ominous plume of black smoke hangs over east London.
The scarcely believable news arrives in snippets: A huge blast has rocked the Thames Barrier; a surge of water is ploughing through the city; a sports stadium has collapsed; more explosions are reported on Twitter. Phone hacking: Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson face charges. 24 July 2012Last updated at 12:45 ET Alison Levitt QC: "This statement is made in the interests of transparency and accountability.
" Eight people, including Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, will face a total of 19 charges relating to phone hacking, the Crown Prosecution Service has said. The two ex-News of the World editors are to be charged in connection with the accessing of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler's phone messages. They are among seven of the now-defunct paper's former staff facing charges of conspiring to intercept voicemails. The CPS said the charges related to 600 alleged victims between 2000 and 2006. The others facing charges are former News of the World (NoW) managing editor Stuart Kuttner, former news editor Greg Miskiw, former assistant editor Ian Edmondson, former chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck, former assistant editor James Weatherup and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire.
Tata staff in Port Talbot and Llanwern face reduced hours and pay. 11 July 2012Last updated at 13:37 ET The changes will come into effect next month. More speed limit powers for councils proposed. 14 July 2012Last updated at 10:33 ET The DfT says 68% of road deaths in Britain in 2010 took place on rural roads Speed limits on many rural roads in England could be cut from 60mph to 40mph under government proposals. The reduction should be considered by councils on roads with "many bends or junctions", the Department for Transport (DfT) says in draft guidance. Cardiff earmarks space for 45,000 new homes by 2026. 13 July 2012Last updated at 12:35 GMT Plans have been unveiled for 45,400 homes to be built in Cardiff by 2026, with the city's population forecast to rise by a quarter to more than 400,000.
The biggest single proposal is for 7,500 homes in a new suburb west of Pentrebane and about 6,000 and 2,000 earmarked either side of Pontprennau. A further 2,000 homes could be built on land north of junction 33 on the M4. Ed Miliband exudes confidence as he faces press pack. 12 July 2012Last updated at 17:29 ET By Chris Mason Political correspondent Ed Miliband laughed off the negative headlines of a year ago "There are no hard feelings between me and News International. Twenty police officers injured during Belfast riots. 13 July 2012Last updated at 13:12 ET The secretary of state has urged Northern Ireland politicians to move quickly to take responsibility for parading issues. Twenty police officers were injured and up to 10 shots fired at police after trouble flared overnight in Ardoyne, north Belfast. It followed two parades along a stretch of road dividing Catholic and Protestant communities.
North Wales Police to trial neighbourhood justice panels. Seaton's Old Beer Road closed indefinitely after collapse. Why, oh why, does it keep raining? Labour leader Ed Miliband to address Durham Miners' Gala. End income tax 'aberration' for Wales, says working party. City region plan for Cardiff and Swansea to boost economy. Inside a knife-point mugging. Hunting for a way out of Britain's double-dip recession.
Social care - how the system works. Social care in England is rationed, depending on how much care a person needs and how much money they have. Benefit payments over Newport girl's rare heart condition 'flawed' Unite union fears over Remploy sites at Neath and Porth. Opposition unites behind no confidence motion in Lesley Griffiths. Home Riots. England riots 'Live' Vote 2011: Nick Clegg quit calls after council losses. Vote 2011: Lib Dems punished in UK-wide polls. MPs expenses: Repayments totalled £1.46m. University fees: Half opting for top fees, survey says. Mark Mardell's America. Protesters set for London march against spending cuts.
Alabama church bombing victims honoured by Welsh window. About time. England's universities face funding cuts of 12% Surprise 'critical' warning raises nuclear fears. Life Force Magazine. Free online photography magazine. Panorama - Panorama. Magazine Monitor. Doctors 'want halt to NHS plans but reject opposition' Cabinet secretary 'pulls government's invisible strings' Sir Terry Matthews to open Newport university campus. BBC ON THIS DAY. Italy blocks ferry of Moroccans fleeing Libya. Nuclear power plants shut down in Germany. UK aid supplies lost to Somali militants. School Report. New Severn inshore lifeboat launches at Beachley. Abused girls can be to blame, suggests Eddy Shah. 110 Triumph furniture jobs go at Merthyr and Tredegar.
Cardiff-Peking universities: Chinese medicine cancer treatment hope. Elderly care in Welsh NHS: New criticism from watchdog. New UK rescue team flies to earthquake-hit Japan. Tibet's exiled Dalai Lama to devolve political role. Tibet's Fight for Freedom. Libya: Death toll from escalating unrest 'tops 100' London 2012 countdown clock stops in Trafalgar Square :0)) Bahrain king declares state of emergency after protests. Libya protests: EU prepares for influx. Midsomer Murders producer suspended over race row.