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Physical restraint can be humiliating, dangerous and even life-threatening and the huge variation in its use indicates that some trusts are using it too quickly.

Face-down restraint, when a person is pinned face-down on the floor, is particularly dangerous, as well as extremely frightening to the person being restrained. It has no place in modern healthcare and its use must be ended.

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• Mental health
• NHS

Thousands of demonstrators flooded into a square in Brazil's economic hub, Sao Paulo, for the latest in a historic wave of protests against the state of public transport, schools and other public services.

Around 50,000 protesters gathered outside Sao Paulo's City Hall building, where a small group fought police in an attempt to force their way in. Another protest sprang up in the working class Rio de Janeiro suburb of Sao Goncalo.

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Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Trust have responded to figures released under the Freedom of Information Act that show the trust recorded 923 incidents of face-down restraint.

Reasons for restraint can include a patient being violent or aggressive to either themselves or others with a small percentage of patients requiring high levels of restraint due to the complex nature of their illness.

Analysis of our figures has shown that a small group of less than 50 patients, who demonstrate very complex and high-risk behaviours, account for over two thirds of the recorded incidents of restraint.

• Health
• Mental health
• NHS

Data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act showed 39,883 recorded incidents of all kinds of physical restraint in mental health trusts during 2011/12:

• Surrey and Borders NHS Foundation Trust reported just 38 incidents over the year while Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust reported 3,346.
• Figures for overall physical restraint incidents, including face-down incidents, were compiled from answers provided by 51 mental trusts.

• More than half of the responding trusts, or 27, said 3,439 of the incidents were of face-down restraint, a potentially life-threatening form of restraint.
• Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust recorded 923 incidents of face-down restraint and Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust 810,

• A separate survey of 375 frontline healthcare staff involved, showed almost a quarter, 22%, had not had face-to-face training on physical restraint techniques.
• More than four in ten, or 42% said that with hindsight, they felt that restraint.

Source: Mind

• Health
• Mental health
• NHS

Young people trapped by high property prices face having to save for up to 30 years before they can afford a deposit on their first home, a charity warned.

Independent research commissioned by housing charity Shelter shows that people in their 20s have become locked out of home ownership, meaning a generation will be stuck renting for longer.

The study looked at earnings, house prices, rents and spending on essentials in local authorities across the country to show the extent of the challenge faced by households wanting to save a deposit to buy a home in their area.

• UK
• Homes
• Mortgage

Nearly 40,000 incidents of physical restraint on mental health patients were recorded in one year - with more than 3,000 in the "dangerous" face-down position - according to figures.

Data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act showed 39,883 recorded incidents in England of all kinds of physical restraint in mental health trusts during 2011/12, resulting in at least 949 injuries to people with mental health problems.

Mental health charity Mind said there was "huge variation" between trusts in the use of all types of physical restraint.

Read more: Dealing with mental health problems and finding help

• Health
• Mental health
• NHS

King Abdullah II of Jordan will meet the Prime Minister David Cameron at Downing Street later today.

His visit follows the approval of a treaty designed to trigger the removal of radical cleric Abu Qatada from the UK.

• Politics
• Jordan
• Abu Qatada

George Osborne will shed light on his plans for the state-owned banks amid fresh pressure to split up Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).

The Chancellor is expected to use his annual Mansion House speech to suggest that a sell-off of the taxpayer's 40% stake in Lloyds could start by 2015.

He is also likely to order more detailed work on how to hive off toxic assets from RBS into a "bad" bank after a long-awaited report from the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards suggested it could be necessary.

Read: Report urges Government to consider RBS split

• Politics

• People dying from cancer receive earlier and better diagnosis, better follow-up support and dedicated help to ensure their wishes are carried out.

• A series of other factors also affected the care received by patients at the end of their lives including their ethnicity and differences in availability of equipment.
• People with dementia are at far greater risk of being hospitalised before death or dying in hospital instead of at home.

• Helping more people die in a manner of their choosing would not only ease the pain for the patient and their family but also reduce the number of emergency hospital admissions.
• A lack of support in the community leaves carers unable to cope, the report said.

Source: www.sueryder.org

• Health
• End of Life Care
• NHS

David Cameron will face questions from MPs after G8 leaders thrashed out limited agreements on how to handle the Syria crisis and tackle tax dodging.

The Prime Minister is due to make a statement to the Commons after claiming to have achieved significant progress at the summit of wealthy countries at Lough Erne, Northern Ireland.

Read: G8 nations pave the way for Syria peace talks

In a joint statement, the eight nations said a planned conference on ending the conflict in Syria should be held "as soon as possible".

• Politics
• G8 summit