UK News: Economy stagnant for past six months

OFFICIAL figures looked set to confirm today that the UK's economy had failed to grow in the past two quarters.

Economists were predicting that GDP grew by 0.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2011.

The rise in GDP came after a decline of 0.5 per cent in the final quarter of 2010, leaving the economy stagnant.

Pro-lifers in policy role

A GROUP known to oppose abortion has joined a forum advising the government on sexual health, it emerged today.

The Life organisation was appointed this month to the new panel, which replaces the Independent Advisory Group on Sexual Health and HIV. The British Pregnancy Advisory Service has been omitted.

Ramsay's father-in-law fails in bid to gag press

GORDON Ramsay's father-in-law and former business partner Chris Hutcheson has failed in a bid to obtain an injunction to gag the press in a privacy case involving his family.

Mr Hutcheson can be named after the Court of Appeal partially lifted a cloak of anonymity over the legal action. Allegations that Mr Hutcheson had fathered two children by a mistress were published today in several national newspapers after they challenged his application.

Missing child pleas online

A CHARITY hopes to harness the power of Twitter as it sends out a new appeal for a missing child every 30 minutes today. The Big Tweet for Missing Children will highlight some of the 100,000 youngsters who go missing in the UK every year.

Kerry Needham, whose 21-month-old son Ben went missing 19 years ago, said: "I look at his picture and it gives me strength."

Obama bows to the Queen

PRESIDENT Barack Obama paid tribute to the "extraordinary service" the Queen has given to Britain and the world during her lifetime.

In an address to mark the state banquet in his honour, the US leader also highlighted the unique bonds his homeland shares with Britain.

Blackburn: Long-lost film footage of Edwardian England has been given special status by being listed on the Unesco UK Memory of the World Register. The Mitchell and Kenyon films were discovered in 1994 in the basement of a Blackburn shop where they had lain undiscovered for around 70 years.

Manchester: Paralympic sprint king Oscar Pistorius, nicknamed "the fastest man on no legs", is being turned into a classical work of art. His torso was covered in plaster at the Manchester Regional arena track by Bath-based artist Ben Dearnley, who is making a bronze sculpture.