UK News: Osborne income tax cut 'worth £45 a year'

CHANCELLOR George Osborne was set to offer an income tax cut worth around £45 a year in today's Budget.

He was expected to announce that the amount people can earn tax free will rise by 600 from April 2012, benefiting 25 million people and taking 250,000 out of income tax altogether.

HIV figures double

THE number of people infected with HIV in the UK has almost doubled over the past decade, figures show.

New cases jumped from 1950 in 2001 to 3780 in 2010, according to data from the Health Protection Agency (HPA).

All the cases involve people who acquired HIV in the UK.

Surgeons ready for UK's first face transplant op

BRITISH surgeons are preparing to carry out the UK's first face and hand transplant.

A team at the Royal Free Hospital in north London is assessing patients for the procedure, performed only once before, in France.

Professor Peter Butler, director of surgery and trauma at the Royal Free, has been researching face, and face and hand, transplants for years.

In 2006, he received the go-ahead for the UK's first full face transplant and is now waiting for a suitable donor.

New-build flood risk

HALF a million houses are set to be built on land at risk of flooding or contamination over the next decade, according to a new report today.

Research by insurer LV= showed huge development plans on ex-industrial estates.

One in ten new homes built on so-called brownfield land in the past decade has suffered problems related to the state of the land, said the report.

Princess Eugenie turns 21

PRINCESS Eugenie celebrates her 21st birthday today.

The Queen's granddaughter, who is sixth in line to the throne, is expected to mark the occasion privately. The royal, who is a student at Newcastle University, may go clubbing to celebrate the milestone.

WILTSHIRE: The painstaking search of thousands of acres of woodland for missing clubber Sian O'Callaghan by police and volunteers resumed today. Around 400 people turned out yesterday to search Savernake Forest, near Marlborough.

ISLE OF WIGHT: Merging three prisons has left an institution where drug use is endemic, the use of force is high and inmates seek sanctuary in a segregation unit, a report has revealed. An inspection of HMP Isle of Wight found a quarter of prisoners were locked in their cells during the day in one section of the jail.