News
Live news stream
'One in 50' private tenants faced 'revenge eviction'
One in every 50 tenants who rent from a private landlord in the UK was evicted or served with a notice because they had complained about a problem in their home, research has shown.
Read: Brits 'stuck in the rent trap'
An estimated 213,000 people across England faced losing their rented accommodation last year because they had approached their landlord, letting agent or local council about getting a problem fixed.
According to housing charity Shelter, a survey of more than 4,500 private renters suggested many more renters were too scared of losing their home to complain at all.
Shelter said a family living in Norfolk had been handed an eviction notice three weeks after reporting damp and mould to their landlord.
Another family from Lancashire complained about a leaking roof, and were then told by their landlord it "wasn't worth his while", before being served with an eviction notice.
Payday firms must treat borrowers with 'sensitivity'
The City regulator said struggling borrowers should be treated "with sensitivity" by payday firms and said that it expects that around one quarter of lenders will decide they cannot meet its higher consumer protection standards and leave the market when it takes over next month.
"There will be no place in an FCA-regulated consumer credit market for payday lenders that only care about making a fast buck," said Martin Wheatley, Financial Conduct Authority chief executive.
Read: Inquiry into how payday lenders treat borrowers
The FCA will examine the culture of each payday firm and it will want to see how they communicate, how they propose to help people regain control of their debt, and how sympathetic they are to each borrower's situation.
It is expected to work with lenders to find ways for them to share more up-to-date information about borrowers, to prevent them from handing out loans which turn out to be unaffordable.
Advertisement
The top five websites Britain can't live without
The UK's favourite websites and what makes them so popular, according to new research.
Read the full storyVietnam 'scaling back search for missing jet'
Vietnam is scaling back the search in Vietnamese waters for a Malaysian Airlines jetliner missing for four days, a senior Vietnamese official said.
Read: Air chief denies saying jet detected near Malacca Strait
"We still have plans to search with a few flights today, while other activities are suspended," Deputy Transport Minister Pham Quy Tieu, who heads the Vietnam search, told reporters. Tieu said searches by ships were being suspended.
He said Vietnam had asked Malaysian authorities for information about reports that the plane, carrying 239 passengers and crew, had changed direction after its last known contact on Saturday but it had yet to receive any response.
Meanwhile, China will add two planes to the search, the country's civil aviation chief said.
Cameron tells Israel peace deal would be a 'great prize'
Speaking ahead of his two-day visit to Israel today, David Cameron said that if the leaders of Israel and the Palestinian Authority could take the final "difficult steps" to a peace deal "the prize could be great".
– Prime Minister David CameronI want to encourage Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas to build on the strong leadership they have shown so far and to take the final difficult steps towards peace.
The prize could be great: a stable, prosperous Middle East with a sovereign and viable Palestinian State living in peace alongside a secure Israel at the heart of it.
A secure future. A prosperous future. That's what we should all set our sights on.
Fire crews battle blaze at San Francisco apartments
Firefighters are battling a blaze at a high rise apartment building under construction in San Francisco.
The building set alight around 5pm local time and quickly spread because the building's fire suppression systems had not yet been installed, San Francisco Fire Department spokeswoman Mindy Talmadge said.
There were no initial reports of injuries, NBC News Bay Area reported. Firefighters confirmed that burning embers spread to the roof of a nearby building but were quickly extinguised.
Advertisement
Timeline of the 1984-85 miners' strike
- March 12 1984 - National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) chief Arthur Scargill unites various strikes into nationwide industrial action, without a ballot.
- June 18 - The battle of Orgreave - 5,000 riot police took on 5,000 protestors, who pelted officers with bricks and stones.
- September - Thousands of miners and police clash once more at Malty Colliery near Rotherham. Protestors have been out of work for six months and the lack of income was starting to take its toll.
- November - A growing number of miners decide to return to work as Christmas looms. Violence on the picket lines becomes more widespread.
- March 3 1985 - Delegates at an NUM conference decide 98 to 91 to end the strike.
Read: Calls for inquiry on 30th anniversary of miners' strike
Air chief denies saying jet detected near Malacca Strait
Malaysia's air force chief has denied a media report that the military last tracked a missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner over the Strait of Malacca, far from where it last made contact with civilian air traffic control when it disappeared four days ago.
Read: 'Have Hope' messages appear as search for jet widens
"I wish to state that I did not make any such statements," air force chief Rodzali Daud said in a statement today.
The Strait of Malacca, one of the world's busiest shipping channels, runs along Malaysia's west coast.
Read: Authorities identify second man using stolen passport
The airline said on Saturday that the flight, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew, last had contact off the northeast Malaysian coastal town of Kota Bharu.
Calls for inquiry on 30th anniversary of miners' strike
Calls for a public inquiry into one of the most bitter industrial disputes in living memory are being stepped up as communities remember the miners' strike.
Read: Scargill's reaction to Thatcher's death
Read: Thatcher and the decade of genuine revolution I saw
It has been 30 years since coal miners, lead by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) chief Arthur Scargill, walked out of pits in Yorkshire, Kent, Scotland and the North East before voting in a union wide ballot.
The strike started when the Thatcher-led Government announced the closure of 20 pits and the loss of 20,000 jobs.
Labour MP Ian Lavery has tabled an early day motion in Parliament, which “regrets" any wrongful arrests or convictions during the dispute of men "who have never received justice”.
The recent revelation in Government papers released by the National Archives that Margaret Thatcher secretly considered calling out the troops at the height of the strike has heightened the belief that a full-blown inquiry should be held.
Cameron pushes for peace ahead of Israel visit
David Cameron has called on the leaders of Israel and the Palestinian Authority to "take the final difficult steps towards peace," as he prepares to fly to Israel this morning on what will be his first visit to the region as Prime Minister.
Mr Cameron will join US Secretary of State John Kerry in trying to persuade Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to agree to an outline for a final peace deal by the end of April.
Read: PM to meet Middle East leaders
Before his two-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories, he said: "Secretary Kerry's efforts to secure agreement on a negotiating framework that could lead to peace are entering a critical phase and I'll be using my visit to support those peace efforts."
