UK News: IMF warns of 'bumpy and uneven' recovery

BRITAIN will have a "bumpy and uneven recovery" and ministers must be ready to change economic policy if growth and inflation do not develop as they hope, the International Monetary Fund warned today.

But the IMF gave its backing to the Government's policy of "fiscal consolidation".

Fraudsters' faces published

THE faces of some of Britain's most wanted suspected fraudsters have been published in an effort to bring them to justice.

Crimestoppers said the 10 suspected criminals were allegedly responsible for at least 200 million of fraud.

They include a live-in carer suspected of a 35,000 fraud.

4m to help councils cope with housing benefits cuts

MINISTERS today allocated 4 million of funding to digital schemes designed to help councils deal with the impact of cuts in housing benefit.

Campaigners have warned that thousands of private tenants could be forced out of their homes by changes, including caps on housing benefit payments introduced in April, which are intended to save the Government 1 billion from the 21 billion housing benefit bill by 2013/14.

Changes to copyright law

THE Government is to make changes to copyright law which could open the door to new services for film and music fans. Britain's current intellectual property regime makes it technically illegal to transfer content from CDs or DVDs on to a different format, such as an MP3 file on a computer. Business Secretary Vince Cable is expected to say tomorrow that he will legislate to stop these restrictions.

Somerville signs up for show

JULIA Somerville is joining the BBC consumer TV show Rip Off Britain.

Somerville will join Angela Rippon and Gloria Hunniford after Jennie Bond stepped down.

"I'm delighted to be joining a programme that has made such a great connection with its viewers," she said.

Derby: The Government "added insult to injury" by spending 15 million on consultants for a rail contract that was awarded to a German company, union chiefs said. Campaigners have called for ministers to switch the 1.4 billion contract from Siemens to struggling Derby-based Bombardier.

London: Police have warned clubbers to beware of a potentially deadly batch of Ecstasy after two people were taken seriously ill at Fabric nightclub in Clerkenwell, central London, over the weekend. A senior detective said the batch they had taken of drugs was unaccounted for.