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A Tory MP has said the effects on the tax system because of the changes to child benefit are a “disaster waiting to happen”.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix is postponed until Sunday following heavy rain in Suzuka.
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First Minister Carwyn Jones is to write to David Cameron over the decision to close the passport office in Newport.
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Street lights on Gallowtree Gate will glow green to highlight peace events across the city Part of Leicester is being cordoned off ahead of two protests expected to take place in the city centre.
The English Defence League (EDL) is due to hold a demonstration and Unite Against Fascism (UAF) will stage a counter-protest.
Several roads around the eastern part of the city will be closed from 0900 until 1800 BST.
The groups are banned from marching but will be escorted to hold static protests in Humberstone Gate East.
Officers from 13 forces will be on hand to maintain order. It is expected to be the largest police operation in Leicester for several decades.
Some bus routes will also be disrupted, so temporary stops have been set up in Belgrave Gate and Abbey Street.
A map showing details of road closures and other public information is available on the council’s website.
A series of “green-themed peace events”, including a performance by musician Billy Bragg, were held in Leicester on Friday and more are expected to take place on Sunday.
Some street lights will glow green, and the city council has urged people to wear green ribbons and attend the peace events as an alternative to taking part in any demonstrations.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Four Nato soldiers have been killed in an insurgent attack in western Afghanistan, alliance officials say.
They were Italians, the defence ministry in Rome said.
Italian media reported that the four were killed and another wounded in an ambush in the Gulistan Valley in the western province of Farah as they were returning from a mission.
Italy has about 3,400 soldiers in Afghanistan, with the deployment set to grow to 4,000 by the end of the year.
The deaths brought the number of Italian soldiers killed in Afghanistan in the last six years to 34, of whom 21 have lost their lives in the past two years.
The ministry in Rome gave no details about the attack and did not confirm reports that a fifth soldier was wounded.
So far this month 24 Nato soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan.
More than 2,000 Nato service members have been killed there since the start of the war. in 2001.
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Nine men are arrested in the Republic of Ireland for questioning about dissident republican activity.
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Disabled people and their carers will be hit with more than £9bn in welfare cuts over the next five years, a think tank warns.
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Gunmen in south-western Pakistan torch nearly 30 tankers carrying oil to Nato troops in Afghanistan, officials say.
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Thousands of letters informing people that they have paid too little or too much tax for the last two years are due to arrive at addresses across the UK.
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Rescuers say they could be just hours away from completing an escape tunnel for 33 miners trapped in a Chilean mine, but they will not be rescued until next week.
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Chris Huhne says governments should not speculate about the global economy outside of a Budget Public sector cuts could be scaled back if economic conditions deteriorate, the energy secretary has said.
Lib Dem minister Chris Huhne told the Daily Telegraph the spending reductions due to be outlined on 20 October were not “lashed to the mast”.
He added that deep cuts may also become less urgent if the economy performed better than expected.
Meanwhile, Chancellor George Osborne has stressed that the coalition’s cuts will be phased in over four years.
Their comments come amid concern from some economists that the UK is still susceptible to a return to recession and that the £83bn cuts programme, due to be detailed in the comprehensive spending review, could worsen matters.
BBC political correspondent Mike Sergeant said the message from the prime minister and the chancellor so far had been that the planned cuts were unavoidable, but there now appeared to be a slight softening of the harsh language ahead of the spending review.
“George Osborne is emphasising the fact that spending reductions will be staggered over four years. The full pain won’t all be felt at once,” our correspondent says.
“Chris Huhne – himself an economist – seems to be even more flexible. Mr Huhne’s argument is that if the economy performs better, cutting spending could be less urgent. If things deteriorate, deep cuts could be economically dangerous.”
Mr Huhne said Mr Osborne’s emergency budget, which indicated a shift in fiscal policy away from the former Labour government’s, had been “absolutely right”.
But Mr Huhne also argued that the figures could be amended if global conditions deteriorated.
“I’ve never known one Treasury red book to be exactly like the last one. There is always a change,” he said.
“It is a bit like setting sail. If the wind changes, you have to tack about to get to [your destination].
“Global growth could be either higher or lower. We just don’t know, and it’s not sensible, outside the Budget period, for governments to make speculations about what is going to happen.
“The right time to look at that Budget judgement is when we come up to the Budget in the spring. The key thing then is to look at things in the round and remember the overall objective is to stabilise and begin to reduce the public debt to GDP ratio.”
He said he believed a return to recession – known as a double-dip – was “not impossible”, although he did not consider it “likely”.
Mr Osborne, who was in Washington on Friday for the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, had stressed that the government was “trying to sustain a steady and sustainable recovery”, the Financial Times reported.
He said: “We are talking about a staggered plan that takes place over four years and does not take place overnight.”
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Mr Parker joined Facebook in 2004 and worked as the company’s first president Facebook co-founder Sean Parker has donated $100,000 (£62,000) to support the US state of California’s ballot measure to legalise marijuana.
Financial filings for the Proposition 19 campaign revealed the donation.
Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz also made donations totalling $70,000 to the measure last month. The pair are no longer with Facebook.
Californians vote next month on whether to legalise the possession and sale of marijuana.
“What’s interesting here is that [Parker] is a member of the generation that really gets it,” Drug Policy Alliance spokesman Stephen Gutwillig told the Associated Press news agency.
“We think he’s pivotal to the future of drug policy reform in the country,” said Mr Gutwillig, whose organization will be the main beneficiary of Mr Parker’s donation.
Mr Parker, who was recently portrayed in the film The Social Network, joined Facebook in 2004 and helped steer the website’s first major round of funding as the company’s first president.
The internet entrepreneur, who is now a partner at a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, also worked as the co-founder of the music sharing service Napster at the age of 19.
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England’s Jo Jackson wins gold in the women’s 20k walk while the athletics action is under way on day six of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
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Water levels in the Dead Sea are falling sharply and farms and businesses along its shore are suffering.
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From library to smart phone – is this the direction universities will travel? It’s the end of your shift, you dash for the train and switch on your mobile phone as you find yourself a seat.
You log into your degree course learning zone and discover you’ve been set a tough assignment. You download some key text books from the online university library and begin swotting.
While fellow commuters bury their heads in the Metro, you get some tips from course mates through an online forum.
By the time you reach your stop you have tapped out an essay plan on your smartphone.
Is this the university experience of the future? For an increasing number of students it’s happening now.
And with the cost of university set to rise considerably, many more are likely to study for their degrees in cheaper, more flexible ways – perhaps through digitally-based distance learning providers.
This is the view of the vice-chancellors’ body, Universities UK, which warns that as public funding contracts, the traditional residential university experience could become the preserve of an elite.
One of its senior figures, Professor Geoffrey Crossick, argues that the prospect of mortgage-sized debts could force everybody else to find alternative ways in to higher education.
Already more than 80% of England’s students work while they study, and about a third of UK undergraduates study part-time – allowing for full-time work.
And an increasing number are seeking more flexible alternatives – with one in 10 UK graduates now on distance learning courses.
One degree and Masters course provider, RDI, which works with a number of UK universities, is positioning itself in this market and has already made the content of some courses wholly accessible via mobile phone.
For a fraction of the cost of a standard residential three-year degree course, students can study a range of subjects through Facebook-type distance learning technology.
RDI chief executive Dr Philip Hallam says today’s teenagers are comfortable using this technology for learning.
“And parents of those at traditional universities are beginning to ask ‘what are we paying all this money for?’ – if their child is getting eight hours of lectures a week and the rest of the time they’re going online.”
With RDI, the equivalent of a three-year degree course costs between £5,000 and £7,000, and this can be taken and paid for at a pace the student can manage.
Compare this to the £25,000 debt – including tuition and living costs – that this year’s freshers can expect to graduate with.
Dr Hallam says: “It’s a couple of hundred pounds a month and most people find that easily affordable and they can work at the same time.”
RDI says the student graduates with the same degree as they would get by physically attending the university, but with no debt.
But is the experience they are getting as good?
The University of Birmingham offers a masters course through RDI.
The institution’s pro-vice chancellor for teaching and learning, Adrian Randall, says the technology is a huge enabler.
“But it’s not a substitute for the real thing,” he adds.
Birmingham already has a significant number of students studying from home and it works hard to ensure they feel integrated into university life by providing them with digital networks of their own.
Many believe there is no substitute for a traditional university experience But surely even the student who lives at home misses out on some of the key university experiences?
Not according to Nikki Brice, who has just completed a distance learning masters course in children’s literature from Roehampton University, while working full-time as a lawyer.
She says the level of one-to-one contact was far higher than she had experienced in previous “onsite” post-graduate courses.
RDI’s Dr Hallam argues the on campus experience is all about teenagers growing up.
He says: “If you’ve grown up already then there’s not a lot of point in going to that environment and anyway it’s an expensive way to grow up.”
Professor Rick Rylance, chief executive of the Arts and Humanities Research Council, says there will still be a strong demand for a face-to-face experience, whether that’s between students and their teachers or the students themselves.
But he acknowledges what people want from degrees has changed.
For many they are no longer a “once in a lifetime passport” to a better life.
He argues that if the participation rate reaches the point where 50% of young people are in higher education, then the game will change in quite a significant way.
The professor, who graduated in 1976, says: “We simply can’t afford to give everybody the experience I had.”
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University education is making increasing use of digital technology The key issue for him is whether that traditional experience becomes an elite experience.
Prof Rylance says: “I do think that would be a terrible prospect because it would fix social mobility.”
If universities become extensions of private boarding schools like Eton then there will not be the same social mixing that occurs at university now, he says.
And the nature of the university experience will “thin out” and degrade for those who still attend, he adds.
The vice-chancellor of Roehampton University, Professor Paul O’Prey, fears if the graduate contribution grows significantly then those with the most to gain from university will be deterred.
Put simply, some people would have to borrow the equivalent of their family’s annual income to get themselves a degree.
But there is another side to this elite argument, in terms of what different universities themselves can offer.
Prof O’Prey says there are quite a lot of similarities between universities currently, but that this will change if institutions are allowed to charge differing fees.
Soon only those with a “historic brand and reputation” may be able to provide that traditional experience, he says.
“The traditional university model will be available in a much more narrower band of institutions. Outside of that will occur a range of programmes offered in very different ways,” he adds.
Roehampton is already making changes to its structure to give its paymasters, the students, a greater say in how it is run.
“We are using modern technologies to consult students on major policy changes and consulting them on budget changes,” he adds.
And the university is already embracing a greater range of digital technology and online teaching modules to help regular students as well as those on distance learning courses.
“It’s what students want, they want to be able to download that lecture they missed and watch it again online,” he says.
Prof Rylance has no doubt that universities will change because they have always experienced turmoil and have never been stable for very long.
Prof O’Prey says things will be different but not necessarily worse for those doing courses in the new ways.
“But as Darwin’s theory of evolution found, if you can’t adapt you won’t survive.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
