UK News: Cameron to defend 'unravelling' reforms

Children's minister Tim Loughton said the move to axe the payments to 1.2 million families might need revising, just hours after it was unveiled.

Focus on armchair sleuths

ARMCHAIR detectives are being offered the chance to spot criminals on CCTV and report them to police.

Internet Eyes will be offering spotters rewards if they spot a crime and notify the victim.

The company has linked CCTV cameras from businesses to people's homes.

Child protection chief quits over merger plans

THE head of the UK's online child protection agency quit over Government plans that would curtail the body's independence.

Jim Gamble, chief executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (Ceop) Centre, resigned over the proposed assimilation of the agency into a new National Crime Agency.

The move is not in the "best interest" of vulnerable children, Ceop said last night.

Campaigner Sara Payne said she was "disgusted" by the Government's actions.

7bn bonuses spark anger

ANGER over City workers' pay packets was fuelled today by new figures showing cash bonuses hitting 7 billion.

The Centre for Economics and Business Research said pre-tax City bonuses are continuing to recover to pre-credit crunch levels, although slightly lower than last year's pot of 7.3 billion.

Bankers and other City workers have largely been blamed for the financial crisis.

Comedy star Wisdom dies

COMEDIAN and actor Sir Norman Wisdom has died at the age of 95.

His family said he died "peacefully" yesterday evening at the Abbotswood Nursing Home on the Isle of Man.

He had suffered a series of strokes over the past six months.

Londonderry: A car bomb exploded today in Northern Ireland. The device, planted in a Vauxhall Corsa, detonated just after midnight outside the Da Vinci retail complex near the University of Ulster in Londonderry. A spokesman for the Police Service of Northern Ireland said a warning had been received and there were no injuries.

Sussex: A Victorian pier was struck by a major blaze today. The fire broke out at Hastings Pier at about 1am, East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service said. The ballroom of the pier, closed since June 2006, was still alight this morning.