Benefit payments cap rollout begins
By Anonymous on Apr 14, 2013 11:37 pm 14 April 2013 Last updated at 23:37 ET 
About 40,000 households will be affected initially
A government-imposed cap on many benefit payments nationwide is beginning in four London boroughs.
Couples and lone parents in Haringey, Enfield, Croydon and Bromley will not receive more than £500 a week while a £350 limit applies to single people.
The cap is set to be imposed across England, Scotland and Wales between July and September.
Jobseeker's allowance, income support, child and housing benefit count towards it, but not disability benefits.
The move is part of efforts to cut spending; the meant is said to reflect the average working household income.
The cap is not yet law in Northern Ireland.
The Department for Work and Pensions has said about £90bn was paid out in benefit payments to people of working age and their families in 2009-10; it hopes the cap will save it about £110m a year.
'Strong incentive' Jobseeker's Allowance, Income support, child benefit and housing benefit are on a long list of payments which count towards the calculation of the cap, which will result in an average cut of £93 for the 40,000 London households initially affected.
BBC News personal finance correspondent Simon Gompertz says people on disability benefits will be exempt from the cap.
As a way of encouraging people to seek work, ministers have decided that people with a job who receive Working Tax Credit will also not be affected, our correspondent added.
Ministers say that the threat of the introduction has already spurred 8,000 claimants who would have lost out to find jobs.
The government has revealed it is to spend an extra £2m as part of the initial roll-out.
Speaking last week, Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said: "The benefit cap sets a clear limit for how much support the welfare state will provide.
"But it's also a strong incentive for people to move into work and even before the cap comes in we are seeing thousands of people seeking help and moving off benefits.
"We have a very clear message: 'We will provide support to those who need it, but the days of outrageous claims giving people incomes far above those of working families are over'."
Labour has argued that a better way to cut the benefits bill would be to offer guaranteed jobs to the long term unemployed.
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BBC stands by show in N Korea row
By Anonymous on Apr 14, 2013 11:55 pm 14 April 2013 Last updated at 09:04 ET 
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Alex Peters-Day, LSE Students Union: "Students were lied to, they weren't able to give their consent"
The BBC has refused to drop a Panorama programme on North Korea after a students' union said it used students "as a human shield" to film there.
A BBC reporter posed as a professor with London School of Economics students to gain access to the country.
The LSE student union's Alex Peters-Day said Monday's programme should be dropped because students were lied to and could not give informed consent.
But the BBC said the students had been given full details ahead of the trip.
Read in browser » Thatcher funeral rehearsal staged
By Anonymous on Apr 15, 2013 03:09 am 15 April 2013 Last updated at 02:19 ET 
Members of the armed forces took part in the rehearsal
A full rehearsal of Baroness Thatcher's funeral procession has taken place in central London.
Hundreds of members of the armed forces drawn from all three services took part in the practice in the early hours.
They will line the route of the funeral procession from Westminster to St Paul's Cathedral on Wednesday.
Lady Thatcher's coffin is to be carried in a gun carriage drawn by the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery, which was also involved in the rehearsal.
The BBC's Ben Ando watched the rehearsal and said it was for the benefit of the service personnel taking part.
Scotland Yard's preparations are ongoing, he added, and the force says the security operation on the day will be in line with the perceived threat level.
Lady Thatcher, who died at the age of 87 on 8 April, has been awarded a ceremonial funeral with military honours, one step down from a state funeral.
On Wednesday, the former prime minister's coffin will initially travel by hearse to the Church of St Clement Danes - the Central Church of the RAF - on the Strand.
It will then be transferred to the gun carriage and taken in procession to St Paul's Cathedral.
St Paul's Cathedral has published a full funeral programme.
Respect MP George Galloway has said he will try to block plans designed to allow MPs to attend Lady Thatcher's funeral.
Ministers want to cancel Prime Minister's Questions and delay the start of parliamentary business - an approach backed by Labour.
But Mr Galloway has said he will object. Under parliamentary rules, the proposal would then have to be withdrawn, or MPs would have to hold a debate followed by a vote.
On Sunday, a song at the centre of an online campaign by opponents of Baroness Thatcher, reached number two after selling 52,605 copies.
The 51-second song, Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead from the Wizard of Oz film, was not played on BBC Radio 1's Official Chart Show.
Instead, presenter Jameela Jamil linked to a Newsbeat reporter who explained why the song was in the chart.
The news report - which included a brief snippet of the song - also included two views from members of the public on the controversy, with one saying it was "quite funny", while the other said it was "disgraceful".
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Read in browser » Firms count cost of cold weather
By Anonymous on Apr 14, 2013 07:01 pm 14 April 2013 Last updated at 19:01 ET 
Freezing conditions in March kept shoppers away from the high street
Both retailers and small businesses say the exceptionally cold weather in March damaged business activity.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said the number of people visiting shops last month was 5.2% lower than a year ago.
Meanwhile, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said the March freeze cost the UK's small businesses £174m.
It said more than half of small firms admitted that cold weather damaged demand and closed businesses.
The FSB reported that the £174m it estimated had been collectively lost by small businesses broke down to an average loss of £1,580.
'Encouraging' The BRC said that the worst affected regions were the east Midlands and the south west of England, with "footfall", the number of people entering retail spaces, down by 8.1% and 7%.
High streets across the country on average saw the biggest drop in activity, with visitor numbers down by 7%.
Out of town retailers were the next worst hit, with numbers down by 4.2% and shopping centres, which offer the most protection against the weather, down by 2.4%.
But although footfall numbers were sharply lower, last week the BRC said sales for the month were 1.9% higher in March than a year ago, a situation it described as "encouraging".
Helen Dickinson, British Retail Consortium Director General, said: "The prolonged cold was the main culprit for deterring shoppers, especially compared against the far milder March of 2012.
"It's not all bad news: our March sales figures were fairly strong, even if you strip out the data for the Easter weekend which fell earlier this year than in 2012. This suggests that, when people did venture out, they bought things."
A separate report by accountancy group Ernst & Young expects the UK economy to expand by just 0.6% this year.
Its Item Club spring forecast said that the overall economic growth will be led by a modest 1.2% rise in consumer spending, and continuing recovery in the housing market.
It added that exports would remain weak, as economic woes in the eurozone hit demand from Europe.
Read in browser » Conductor Sir Colin Davis dies
By Anonymous on Apr 15, 2013 03:16 am 14 April 2013 Last updated at 17:15 ET 
British conductor Sir Colin Davis has died at the age of 85, the London Symphony Orchestra has announced,
The Surrey-born musician - the longest serving principal conductor in the LSO's history - died after an illness, the orchestra said.
Read in browser » Chavez heir wins Venezuela election
By Anonymous on Apr 15, 2013 03:26 am 15 April 2013 Last updated at 00:06 ET
Socialist candidate Nicolas Maduro has won a narrow victory in Venezuela's presidential poll.
Mr Maduro, who was chosen by the late Hugo Chavez, won 50.7% of the vote against 49.1% for opposition candidate Henrique Capriles.
The electoral commission said the results were "irreversible".
There has been no comment from Mr Capriles, who earlier on Sunday has suggested there was an attempt to doctor the result.
Mr Maduro told a rally of supporters in the capital Caracas that he had won a "just, legal and constitutional" victory.
However, the margin of victory was far smaller than that gained by the late President Chavez over Mr Capriles at elections last October.
Almost 80% of eligible voters took part in the poll.
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