13 June 2011 last updated at 09:28 ET Share this page Kate McCann told MPs it was "unbearable" to be left in the dark The government has been urged to improve support for the "heartbroken" families of people who go missing. The UK's first parliamentary inquiry into the issue heard from campaigners who say there is a "complete gap" in help for those affected. Kate McCann, whose daughter Madeleine vanished abroad in 2007, told MPs [...]

12 June 2011 last updated at 03:36 ET Share this page Could these be the new Angels of the South? A procession of humanoid pylons, carrying renewable energy to our homes. A thing of beauty rather than a blot on the Sussex Downs or the woods of Oxfordshire. The idea comes from a design competition run in Iceland in 2008. Massachusetts-based architects Choi and Shine used materials and construction methods are similar to standard pylons, [...]

12 June 2011 Last updated at 22:38 ET Share this page the theme of Ed Miliband's speech to community leaders in London will be "responsibility" Labour leader Ed Miliband is to signal a change in his party's approach to high executive pay and to people who abuse the benefits system. In a speech to community leaders in central London later, Mr Miliband's theme will be responsibility. He will say Labour is seen by some as [...]

12 June 2011 Last updated at 09:49 ET Share this page House of Lords: first elections in 2015 says Tory Lord Strathclyde The first elected "senator" will take their seat in the House of Lords in May 2015, Lord Strathclyde has predicted. The leader of the Lords insisted Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg's reform plans would succeed where others have failed over the past 100 years. But when pressed, the Tory peer refused to say [...]

11 June 2011 last updated at 03:22 ET Share this page the document was written by civil servants in 2006 at a time when Ed Balls was on the backbenches A document by civil servants urging spending restraint from the Labour government in 2006 is among more of Ed Balls' leaked, private papers published by the Daily Telegraph. The file was written when Tony Blair was PM and mr Balls was a backbencher. The Conservatives [...]

12 June 2011 Last updated at 09:50 ET Share this page some universities may vanish under the new regime, Mr Hughes admits Universities should cut costs not "cry foul" that the rise in tuition fees to £9,000 will not be enough, Lib Dem deputy leader Simon Hughes has said. The government's access to education advocate told the BBC they should look to cut the wages of vice-chancellors. He also urged inner-city schools to offer scholarships [...]

12 June 2011 Last updated at 09:15 ET Share this page Lib Dems are NHS change 'safety valve' Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg will next week claim the Lib Dems have got their way in coalition battles over a planned shake-up of the NHS in England. Prime Minister David Cameron will give the results of a listening exercise on the controversial plans on Monday. He has already signalled key concessions including allowing doctors to take [...]

12 June 2011 last updated at 06:41 ET Share this page the UK has presented a draft UN resolution condemning Syria's suppression of protests The UN Security Council must proceed with a resolution condemning violence by Syrian troops against its own people, the foreign secretary has said. William Hague said the prospects of securing one were "on a knife-edge" amid opposition from its ally Lebanon. He told Sky News connections between the two countries made [...]

10 June 2011 Last updated at 10:36 ET Share this page Lewes MP Norman Baker could lose seat in boundary changes The Liberal Democrats were left licking their wounds last month – not only did they lose control of councils at the local elections, including Lewes, but also the vote on the referendum. Now, the most detailed analysis conducted to date suggests that they could also be the main casualties in the boundary review, which [...]

11 June 2011 last updated at 21:26 ET Share this page Research suggests only about a third of women give up alcohol completely while pregnant Drinks retailer Diageo is to fund a training programme for midwives in England and Wales on the dangers of pregnant women consuming alcohol. The Department of Health hopes the initiative will reach 10,000 midwives and in turn help more than one million expectant mothers over three years. It is part [...]