UK News: MPs question foreign aid for Pope's visit

MPS demanded to know today why £1.85 million of foreign aid funding was spent on the Pope's recent visit to the UK.

An influential Commons committee called on ministers to explain today how diverting development cash to subsidise the trip met global aid guidelines.

Revamp for fat patients

AMBULANCE fleets across the country are being revamped, with wider stretchers and lifting gear to cope with the increasing number of fat patients, it was reported today. Every ambulance service in the UK has started buying the specialist equipment, according to the BBC.

Second worst year for anti-Semitic incidents

THE second highest number of anti-Semitic incidents was recorded last year, a Jewish security charity said today.

More than 639 reports of bigoted violence and abuse were received last year by the Community Security Trust (CST). They included street attacks, hate mail, threats, and the vandalism and desecration of Jewish property.

The charity said the figures marked the second worst year since records began back in 1984.

Call for personal teaching

TEACHERS should accept that children differ genetically in how and how much they can learn and move towards more personalised learning, according to researchers.

Academics at King's College London's Institute of Psychiatry studied test results from 4400 sets of 12-year-old identical and fraternal twins.

Researchers found that nature and nurture were both influential factors.

Van Outen lands OK! TV job

DENISE Van Outen is to make a return to TV presenting after being named host for the new Channel 5 show OK! TV.

The ex-Big Breakfast star, who was also a judge on BBC1 musical hit Any Dream Will Do, will launch the show this month.

London: Scientists at University College London have developed the world's first reliable blood test for the human version of mad cow disease. The breakthrough could transform diagnosis and screening of the fatal brain disorder, and identify carriers.

Cambridge: A major road was shut for three hours after a lorry loaded with feathers caught fire.

Traffic came to a standstill after white feathers, used to fill duvets, were strewn across the A14 near Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. Firefighters said the lorry fuel tank had ruptured causing an extensive fire.