CHILDCARE BOOST FOR WORKING PARENTS
A childcare tax break for working parents will be more generous than expected and expanded to older children more quickly, the Government announced ahead of the Budget.
The new scheme - due to come into force from the autumn of 2015 - will be worth up to £2,000 per child, compared with the £1,200 originally proposed.
And it will apply to all children under 12 within its first year of operation rather than the seven-year programme envisaged when it was first announced by Chancellor George Osborne a year ago.
STONES AXE GIG AFTER SCOTT’S DEATH
The Rolling Stones have cancelled an imminent concert in Australia following the death of designer L’Wren Scott, the girlfriend of lead singer Sir Mick Jagger.
The 49-year-old model and designer, who had been dating the Rolling Stones frontman since 2001, was apparently found hanged at a New York apartment.
Frontier Touring, the promoter of the band’s world tour, posted a message on its Facebook site to confirm a concert in Perth tomorrow will not go ahead.
HAGUE REPEATS WARNING OVER UKRAINE
Foreign Secretary William Hague will face questions over the next steps in the Ukraine security crisis today after Russia defied Western sanctions and recognised Crimea as an “independent and sovereign country”.
A defiant Vladimir Putin signed a decree opening the door to the strategic peninsula joining his country just hours after the US and EU imposed travel bans and asset freezes on senior Moscow officials.
Mr Hague renewed warnings to the Russian president of “serious consequences” if he failed to step back in favour of a diplomatic solution as annexation appeared inevitable.
CIGARETTE PACKAGING IMPACT STUDIED
Cigarettes in brightly coloured packs are considered to be less harmful than others, a poll suggests prompting health campaigners to renew calls for plain packaging.
Nine in 10 youngsters see cigarettes in standardised packs as “harmful”, according to the small poll conducted on behalf of Cancer Research UK.
But cigarettes from colourful Pall Mall and Mayfair packs are only viewed as potentially unsafe by six in 10 children, the charity said.
COUNCILS CALL ON YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT
Up to half of young people in England and Wales are out of work or under-employed, with the true scale of the problem being “hidden”, council leaders have claimed.
The Local Government Association warned that a third of all young people will be jobless of “trapped” in under-employment by 2018 unless local areas are given more control over skills and training.
More than two million people aged 16 to 24 in England and Wales could be looking for work, or be under-employed in the coming years, the group warned.
DISABLED ’WAIT MONTHS FOR BENEFIT’
Disabled and sick people are having to wait six months or more to find out if they are eligible for benefit, which MPs have attacked as “unacceptable”.
The delays were criticised by the Work and Pensions Committee, which called on the Government to take urgent action to clear a backlog of cases.
The MPs also urged the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to invoke penalty clauses with assessment providers Atos Healthcare and Capital Business Services.
£108m JACKPOT WINNER TO TELL ALL
Camelot will today reveal the identity of a lucky car mechanic who scooped a staggering £107.9 million on the EuroMillions.
The mystery man, who is also a racing driver, will discuss his plans for the future when he speaks at an event later.
The claimant, from Coulsdon in Surrey, had the only ticket to hit the jackpot from Friday’s draw, making him the National Lottery’s fourth biggest winner.
’TORTURE’ OF MISSING CHEF’S FAMILY
The father of missing chef Claudia Lawrence has said not knowing what happened to his daughter five years after she disappeared is like a cancer eating away at him.
Solicitor Peter Lawrence was speaking as he and his family marked the fifth anniversary of their daughter’s disappearance.
Miss Lawrence was 35 years old when she failed to turn up for a work at York University on the morning of March 19 2009, prompting a huge police search and high-profile campaign to find her by her father.
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