Councils are spending more than £1.2 million a year on awards ceremonies, it has been revealed.
The bill for events such as Loo of the Year and the British Parking Awards was disclosed in figures assembled by campaign group the TaxPayers' Alliance.
Glasgow City Council was the biggest spender on tickets, accommodation, travel and catering in 2010-11, with a total layout of £83,000.
Fife either hosted or attended 34 ceremonies, while 115 town halls said they did not incur any costs. Among the most popular competitions was the Local Government Chronicle Awards, while another was cryptically titled "The Magic of Motown".
The total bill across the UK is likely to be higher than £1.2 million as many councils responded to freedom of information requests by saying they could not provide data.
TaxPayers' Alliance spokesman Matthew Sinclair said: "Taxpayers will be staggered that councils facing significant pressure on their finances are spending thousands of pounds on back-patting award ceremonies.
"Recognising staff who have done well doesn't require this kind of extravagant spending. Some authorities have shown that they understand award ceremonies aren't the right priority for money that is supposed to be spent on frontline services, but others need a reality check."
A Glasgow City Council spokesman said: "Awards ceremonies help to recognise and share good practice in the public sector, and they present excellent opportunities to heighten the city's profile.
"For example, the Commonwealth Apprenticeship Initiative awards event showcased some of the many hundreds of successful young people in Glasgow who now have a bright future ahead of them thanks to Glasgow City Council and businesses in the city and beyond.
"Glasgow City Council is by far the biggest local authority in Scotland, and the total spend on events has to be seen in the context of our annual budget of around £2.5 billion."
Councils are spending more than £1.2 million a year on awards ceremonies, it has been revealed.
The bill for events such as Loo of the Year and the British Parking Awards was disclosed in figures assembled by campaign group the TaxPayers' Alliance.
Glasgow City Council was the biggest spender on tickets, accommodation, travel and catering in 2010-11, with a total layout of £83,000.
Fife either hosted or attended 34 ceremonies, while 115 town halls said they did not incur any costs. Among the most popular competitions was the Local Government Chronicle Awards, while another was cryptically titled "The Magic of Motown".
The total bill across the UK is likely to be higher than £1.2 million as many councils responded to freedom of information requests by saying they could not provide data.
TaxPayers' Alliance spokesman Matthew Sinclair said: "Taxpayers will be staggered that councils facing significant pressure on their finances are spending thousands of pounds on back-patting award ceremonies.
"Recognising staff who have done well doesn't require this kind of extravagant spending. Some authorities have shown that they understand award ceremonies aren't the right priority for money that is supposed to be spent on frontline services, but others need a reality check."
A Glasgow City Council spokesman said: "Awards ceremonies help to recognise and share good practice in the public sector, and they present excellent opportunities to heighten the city's profile.
"For example, the Commonwealth Apprenticeship Initiative awards event showcased some of the many hundreds of successful young people in Glasgow who now have a bright future ahead of them thanks to Glasgow City Council and businesses in the city and beyond.
"Glasgow City Council is by far the biggest local authority in Scotland, and the total spend on events has to be seen in the context of our annual budget of around £2.5 billion."
One of Michael Jackson's bodyguards told jurors he had barely stepped into the singer's bedroom when he heard the King of Pop's daughter scream "Daddy!".
Nearby, Jackson, 50, lay motionless in his bed, his eyes slightly open. His personal doctor, Dr Conrad Murray, was trying to revive him when he saw that Jackson's eldest children were watching, the Los Angeles court heard.
"Don't let them see their dad like this," Dr Murray said, the first of many orders that bodyguard Alberto Alvarez told the court he heeded in the moments before paramedics arrived at Jackson's home in June 2009.
What happened next - after Mr Alvarez said he ushered Jackson's eldest son and daughter from the room - is one of the key pieces of prosecutors' involuntary manslaughter case against Dr Murray, 58.
According to Mr Alvarez, Dr Murray scooped up vials of medicine from Jackson's nightstand and told the bodyguard to put them away. "He said, 'Here, put these in a bag'," Mr Alvarez said.
Mr Alvarez did so, placed an IV bag into another bag, and then said Murray told him to call for an ambulance.
On the third day of Murray's trial, prosecutors tried to show that Dr Murray, who has pleaded not guilty, delayed calling authorities and that he was intent on concealing signs that he had been giving the singer doses of the anaesthetic propofol.
Meanwhile, Jackson's personal chef, Kai Chase, told the court about seeing a panicked Dr Murray come into the kitchen on the day of Jackson's death and telling her to summon security and send up Jackson's eldest son Prince. The chef said she sent the boy upstairs, but did not call security.
Five to 10 minutes after Ms Chase said she saw Dr Murray in the kitchen, the doctor called Jackson's personal assistant Michael Williams, who dispatched security to Jackson's bedroom.
If convicted, Murray could face up to four years in prison and lose his medical licence.
Slack rules that allow the unemployed to count haircuts as job hunting must be toughened, a leading think tank has said.
Instead people should build up "points" for activities that genuinely help them get work in order to receive benefits, according to a Policy Exchange paper.
The call comes with the coalition and Labour both insisting that those who contribute to society should be prioritised in the welfare system.
Housing minister Grant Shapps has signalled that workers could go to the top of queues for council housing, while Ed Miliband used his speech at the Labour party conference this week to hit out at individuals who want "something for nothing".
Under the current arrangements, Jobseeker's Allowance claimants usually have to undertake two "job-seeking activities" per week - but the Policy Exchange report said these can mean only inquiring about a job or checking the newspaper, rather than applying.
One acceptable activity is "seeking specialist advice on improving your job prospects with regard to any physical or mental limitations" - which could include having a haircut, according to the study.
As a result, research has found UK jobseekers only spend an average of eight minutes a day looking for work, even though the public want them to be hunting for up to five hours.
The paper proposes introducing a points-based system based on tougher job hunting requirements. Activities such as attending a job interview would earn claimants more points than putting together a CV, or "seeking information" about jobs.
The report's author, Matthew Oakley, said: "Most employees are obliged to work full time at the tasks set by their employers to support themselves financially.
"If they don't they are liable to be sacked and lose their income. Jobseekers should be similarly obliged to work full time at fulfilling the obligations attached to their benefit receipt. If they don't then those benefits should be withdrawn."
The wrangling over the the UK's largest illegal travellers' site is to return to court with the fate of the encampment still unclear.
It was claimed on Thursday that if the High Court allowed residents to escape eviction it would "send out the wrong signal" to the nation.
A victory for the travellers of Dale Farm, near Basildon, Essex, "would strike to the very principles of the rule of law", said a barrister representing Basildon Council.
The council has been battling for a decade to remove the travellers, who now number some 400 individuals on more than 50 pitches, from the green belt site.
On Thursday the residents launched a fresh, three-pronged attack on moves to evict them.
They came to the High Court in London with a battery of legal arguments contained in three separate applications for judicial review to stop the clearance.
But Reuben Taylor, for the council, said the authority had done all it could to comply with planning and human rights laws and its decision to take direct action was not unlawful, unreasonable or disproportionate. He told Mr Justice Ouseley: "At its heart these proceedings seek an order from the court that would enable the residents to stay at Dale Farm in breach of the criminal law."
The Court of Appeal ruled against Dale Farm travellers in 2009 after they sought a judicial review claiming their human rights had been breached.
The clearance was finally due to begin last week after legal proceedings were apparently exhausted. But a new High Court injunction prevented bailiffs moving in while the courts grappled with the fresh legal arguments.
They involve human rights and planning law and claims that the sick and elderly and children on the site will unfairly suffer if the evictions go ahead.
Possible legal action by the European Commission over the issue of Britain limiting benefits claims for those overseas could leave taxpayers facing a £2bn bill, Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith has said.
He told the Daily Telegraph the move threatened to break the "vital link" which should exist between taxpayers and their own government.
Mr Duncan Smith is currently spearheading reforms to the country's benefits system, bringing in the Universal Credit.
The commission is reportedly threatening legal action against the UK because of the "right to reside" element of the habitual residence test.
Britain has been given two months to fall into line with EU rules and could face the prospect of the commission taking the case to the EU's Court of Justice, it was reported.
Mr Duncan Smith said: "These new proposals pose a fundamental challenge to the UK's social contract. They could mean the British taxpayer paying out over £2bn extra a year in benefits to people who have no connection to our country and who have never paid in a penny in tax. This threatens to break the vital link which should exist between taxpayers and their own government."
He added: "The EU settlement is supposed to protect the right of member states to make their own social security arrangements. But we are now seeing a rising tide of judgments from the European institutions using other legal avenues to erode away these rights, and we should be gravely concerned.
"As if this week's decision was not bad enough, we are also fighting increasing demands for the UK to pay benefits to those who have long since moved abroad, and who may never have made more than a token contribution to UK society."
Sending children to bed early may help to keep them slim, research suggests.
Scientists recorded the bed times and waking times of 2,200 Australian youngsters aged nine to 16.
They found that children who went to bed late and got up late were 1.5 times more likely to become obese than those who went to bed early and got up early.
Late-nighters were also almost twice as likely to be physically inactive and 2.9 times more inclined to spend hours in front of a TV or computer.
"The children who went to bed late and woke up late, and the children who went to bed early and woke up early got virtually the same amount of sleep in total," said study author Dr Carol Maher, from the University of South Australia.
"Scientists have realised in recent years that children who get less sleep tend to do worse on a variety of health outcomes, including the risk of being overweight and obese. Our study suggests that the timing of sleep is even more important."
For young people, mornings are more conducive to physical activity than nights, when the temptations of prime-time TV and social networking are greater, Dr Maher pointed out.
The findings are published in the October 1 issue of the journal Sleep.
Children who were early-to-bed and early-to-rise went to bed 70 to 90 minutes earlier on average than those who stayed up later, the study found. They also accumulated 27 minutes more moderate to vigorous activity each day.
Body Mass Index (BMI) scores, which relate weight and height, were higher for late-risers than early-risers. Late-risers were more likely to be overweight or obese.
A former police chief facing trial for corruption has been reinstated as a commander at Scotland Yard following an appeal against his dismissal, he said.
Ali Dizaei, who claimed a police appeal tribunal "unanimously" dismissed his sacking, said: "I am delighted to be reinstated. I have always wanted to be a Met Police officer and now vow to clear my name."
There was no immediate comment from Scotland Yard.
Dizaei, 49, is due to stand trial early next year accused of misconduct in a public office and perverting the course of justice.
The prosecution follows an investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
The charges are linked to an incident outside the Persian Yas restaurant in Kensington, west London, on July 18 2008.
Iranian-born Dizaei, who was wearing his uniform on the date in question, is accused of arresting a man after a row despite knowing he did not have reasonable grounds to do so.
He is also alleged to have perverted the course of justice by falsely claiming in written statements that he was a victim of an unprovoked assault by the man.
The senior officer, a former president of the National Black Police Association, pleaded not guilty to the charges at a court hearing in June.
A murder hunt is under way after a young butcher was stabbed to death in his shop.
The victim, thought to be in his early 20s, died at the scene after the attack in north London on Thursday.
Officers are yet to make an arrest, a Scotland Yard spokesman said.
Police were alerted to the attack at Halal Food Direct, 16 The Broadway, Wood Green, shortly after 3pm.
The victim, a member of staff at the business, was treated by paramedics but died at the scene, Scotland Yard said.
The attacker fled the scene after the stabbing, which police believe occurred following a dispute in the shop.
A senior investigating officer, Detective Chief Inspector Steven Lawrence, said: "At this early stage it appears there was a dispute in the shop which resulted in the victim being stabbed. The male suspect then made off from the premises on foot.
"This incident occurred in a busy area in the middle of the afternoon, and we need to hear from any witnesses who have not yet come forward.
"Did you see anything that may be of use? Did you see in which direction the suspect ran off? It is essential that anyone with information contacts the police as soon as possible."
Anyone who could help was asked to call the incident room on 020 7321 9290, or, if wishing to remain anonymous, Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.
The parents of a toddler found dead in a flat have been charged with his manslaughter.
Jamie Green, 32, and Sonia Britton, 35, have also been charged with causing and allowing the death of a child, an Avon and Somerset Police spokesman said.
Their son, Jayden Lee Green, two, was found on August 21 at the flat in St George, Bristol.
Green and Britton, of Bell Hill Road, are due to appear before Bristol magistrates.
About 350 sailors are being forced out of the Royal Navy against their will as part of defence cuts.
A total of around 1,020 Navy personnel will be told they are being made redundant in the first round of military job losses, a third of them compulsorily. Some 810 sailors applied for redundancy but only 670 of them are being allowed to leave.
Navy personnel who risked their lives during the Libyan campaign - including crew members of HMS Cumberland, which helped rescue British citizens from the North African country in February - are among those being axed, The Daily Telegraph reported this week.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) stressed that nobody deployed on operations, preparing for operations or on post-tour leave on the day redundancy notices are issued would be forced out of their job. Royal Marines, who form part of the Navy, are exempt from the current tranche of redundancies.
The plans to cut posts were announced earlier this year as part of a programme which could see 11,000 redundancies across the Royal Navy, Army and RAF by April 2015 in an effort to tackle the deficit and bring the defence budget under control.
Earlier this month about 920 soldiers and 930 RAF personnel were told they were being made redundant, 750 of them against their will.
Defence Secretary Liam Fox said the past actions of military chiefs had helped lead to the cuts. He told the Guardian that the MoD had to accept a share of the blame for the depth of cuts to the military budget that had led to thousands of redundancies.
Former First Sea Lord Admiral Lord West said the UK still did not have a clear national security strategy.
"I believe that we have now over successive governments cut the military to a dangerously low capacity," he told BBC Radio 4. "What's sad is that we haven't really got a proper national security strategy... We don't have a clearly articulated view of our position in the world and what we should be able to do."
Shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy said Dr Fox had to take responsibility for his actions. He said: "Liam Fox is not the victim but the author of his defence review, which has left holes in our equipment programme and is sacking thousands of service personnel, including those who have served on the front line. Morale is already low - entering into a blame game will only make matters worse. We need solutions not accusations."
A teenage girl has been gunned down in the street with two friends while clutching her 11-month-old son in her arms.
Jessica Chrichlow, 18, collapsed to the ground alongside two sisters - named locally as Sammy, 17, and Alex, 19 - after being caught in the crossfire of a botched gangland attack, witnesses said.
Police said it was "hugely fortunate" that the baby escaped injury.
Detective Chief Inspector Mick Foote said: "It was a random, reckless act and we are fortunate we are not dealing with a fatal shooting here."
The three victims had been outside in John Fearon Walk, North Kensington, west London, enjoying balmy temperatures when the attacker got off a bike and screamed "mother f****r" at the group, a neighbour, who did not want to be named, said.
Police said the child may have been missed by inches as the bullet hit his mother.
Mr Foote added: "I do not believe the girls were the intended targets. What's particularly devastating is that the young girl was carrying a young child. This was totally unprovoked."
As a hunt was launched for several young men seen on bicycles on the west London housing estate on Thursday night, the officer said he was "working on the basis" that the shooting was gang-related.
One neighbour said her 12-year-old daughter saw the shooting from her bedroom window.
Jacky Cinesey said: "I have sent her to school in tears today. These girls were just outside enjoying the sunshine. It's horrifying."
Former News of the World chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck has insisted that he took "no part" in the matter which led to his sacking.
Mr Thurlbeck, who was arrested in April by Scotland Yard detectives investigating phone hacking at the now-defunct Sunday tabloid, was fired earlier this month.
In a strongly-worded statement he vowed to fight his unfair dismissal claim against publishers News International "to the end".
Mr Thurlbeck's alleged role in the phone hacking scandal has been closely scrutinised after details emerged of an email sent in June 2005 which was headed "for Neville" and contained transcripts of illegally intercepted voicemail messages.
The email, which surfaced in April 2008, seemed to contradict News International's previous stance that hacking was confined to a single "rogue reporter".
Mr Thurlbeck, 49, alleged that his former employers withheld the reason for his dismissal from him for nearly a month.
He said he found out why he was sacked from Scotland Yard, but for legal reasons did not reveal any details.
In a statement issued by his law firm, DWF, he continued: "I took no part in the matter which has led to my dismissal after 21 years of service.
"I say this most emphatically and with certainty and confidence that the allegation which led to my dismissal will eventually be shown to be false.
"And those responsible for the action, for which I have been unfairly dismissed, will eventually be revealed."
As much of Britain continues to bask in scorching conditions, weather watchers are waiting to see if Saturday will bring the hottest October day on record.
Meteorologists say it is unlikely the 26-year-old October record of 29.4C (84.9F) will be bettered but many will be glued to their thermometers as temperatures are set to close in on this figure.
The record dates back to October 1, 1985, at March in Cambridgeshire.
The final round-up of Thursday's highs left Kew Gardens in west London as the UK's hot spot with a temperature of 28.8C (83.8F). This was the highest ever September 29 temperature, beating a record set in York in 1895 when the thermometer reached 27.8C (82F).
Stephen Davenport, forecaster for MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said Friday looks likely to be the hottest September 30.
He said: "Potentially we're looking at 28C and 29C again today. That would make it the hottest September 30.
"Whether we will break the record tomorrow - there's a chance, but it's probably less likely. East Anglia and the South East are going to get the highest temperature but it should be hot over a large part of the country."
Mr Davenport said the weather is likely to stay warm until the beginning of next week when it will probably begin to cool. He said some areas of the UK were already missing out on the record temperatures.
Northern Ireland was covered in cloud, although still feeling quite warm. In Scotland, rain was threatening the north west and could move down as far as northern areas of England.
Sun-seekers were continuing to enjoy the unusual heatwave on beaches and in parks across the UK.
Plans to pay councils to bring back weekly rubbish collections came under fire for wasting taxpayers' money and imposing Whitehall control on local communities.
Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles announced a £250 million fund to help local authorities in England maintain weekly bin rounds or make the switch back from fortnightly collections. More than half of councils in England now have systems in place in which rubbish is picked up only once a fortnight.
The Conservatives pledged to bring back weekly bin rounds in opposition, but the long-awaited waste review this summer did not include measures to force councils to increase the rate of collections.
A survey by the Press Association earlier this year revealed that no councils were planning to reverse the move towards fortnightly rubbish collections, claiming people were happy with their bin rounds and going back to more frequent pick-ups would undermine recycling efforts and cost millions.
Unveiling the move before the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, Mr Pickles said he believed every household in England had "a basic right" to have their rubbish collected every week.
"Weekly rubbish collections are the most visible of all frontline services and I believe every household in England has a basic right to have their rubbish collected every week."
The funding, from next April, will be given to English local authorities which guarantee to retain or reinstate weekly waste collections for at least five years, and which demonstrate the potential to increase recycling rates or provide other environmental benefits, such as reducing fly-tipping and litter, alongside weekly collections.
Keith House, Local Government Association (LGA) Lib Dem spokesman on the environment, said: "It's good news that the coalition Government is providing new money to councils for the vital frontline services of bin collection and recycling.
"Hard-pressed councils will be pleased to receive positive news amidst the general picture of severe reductions in spending. However, there is more than a whiff of old-fashioned 'Whitehall knows best' in Eric Pickles' dictat that only councils that provide weekly bin collection will be eligible for the new money."
Dorothy Thornhill, deputy leader of the LGA Lib Dem group, said: "Eric Pickles has revealed his true colours as an extreme centraliser. His statement flies in the face of the coalition Government's commitment to localism. It appears that local services must be provided according to Eric Pickles' demands."
The prison population in England and Wales rose by almost 300 in a week to reach an all-time high for the fourth week running, figures have shown.
The total number of prisoners hit 87,501, only about 1,000 short of the usable operational capacity of 88,533, Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures showed.
The rising prison population, up 287 from last week's record high of 87,214, has been fuelled by the tough sentences for those involved in last month's riots, along with two thirds of defendants being held on remand, compared with just one in 10 for serious offences last year.
Those involved in the riots have been jailed for an average of 10.4 months for violent disorder, compared with an average of 5.3 months last year.
For burglary, the average sentence for those involved in the riots was 14.1 months, compared with 8.8 months last year.
But no prison places are currently activated under Operation Safeguard, which would involve using cells at police stations as accommodation for prisoners, the MoJ said.
Other contingency plans could involve bringing in new accommodation early, using extra places in the public and private estate, or reopening mothballed accommodation.
A pensioner has been jailed for six years after he admitted faking his own death in Central America to try to pocket a £520,000 life insurance payout.
A judge said Anthony McErlean, 66, committed "deliberate and calculated fraud" after he impersonated his wife to claim he had died after being struck by a produce truck in Honduras on December 6, 2009.
Fake official documents, including a death certificate, were produced in a bid to back up his bogus tale, claiming the crash happened as McErlean was changing a tyre.
A made-up witness said he was travelling with McErlean to take wildlife pictures, and that following the crash farm workers took his body away to a small village called Santa Rosa de Aguan.
Police were alerted by the Insurance Fraud Bureau, which had been contacted by suspicious officials at Ace European insurance company, which did not pay out a penny to McErlean.
The case bears similarities to that of back-from-the-dead John Darwin who faked his own death in a canoe accident off Teesside in 2002 to help him and his wife Anne claim insurance and pension cash before fleeing to Panama.
Detectives from Kent Police arrested McErlean and found him with a debit card in the name of Green. It emerged that not only had he faked his own death but he had been claiming pensions relating to his late father-in-law from a previous marriage who died in March 2007.
At Canterbury Crown Court on June 13, McErlean, of Petham, Kent, pleaded guilty to a series of charges. They included fraudulently making a claim to the Ace European insurance firm, fraudulently obtaining a passport and two counts of theft from a pension fund from the Port of London Authority totalling some £27,000 and £40,658 from the Department of Work and Pensions.
Dressed smartly, bearded McErlean showed no emotion as he returned to the same court to be sentenced by judge Adele Williams.
She told him: "This is deliberate and calculated fraud, not only from corporate bodies but also from the public. In my judgment, you were driven by a desire to gratify your own overweening greed. You sought to benefit at the expense of others."
The company which runs the pit where a miner died earlier this week has appeared in court in relation to the death of another worker at the same colliery.
UK Coal appeared at Pontefract Magistrates' Court accused of failing to ensure the health, safety and welfare of employees at Kellingley Colliery.
Ian Cameron, 46, died when equipment fell on him at the North Yorkshire pit in October 2009.
Earlier this week, Gerry Gibson, 49, died at Kellingley after a roof fall.
His death was the third at the colliery in three years after that of Mr Cameron and miner Don Cook, who died in a rock fall in September 2008.
Doncaster-based UK Coal appeared in court alongside mining equipment firm Joy Mining Machinery Ltd to face a number of health and safety charges.
The company is accused of failing to ensure that powered roof supports at a coal face at the pit were "maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair".
It is also charged with exposing people to health and safety risks at the coal face and not ensuring the health and safety of its employees, including Mr Cameron.
Worcester-based Joy Mining Machinery faces one charge of failing to ensure that people, including UK Coal, were provided with all necessary information about health and safety risks in relation to using the powered roof supports.
The case was adjourned until October 24.
The barman Amanda Knox falsely accused of murdering British student Meredith Kercher suffers nightmares as a result of her slander, his lawyer has said.
American Knox, 24, is appealing against her conviction for the killing, which prosecutors claimed was the violent finale to a bungled sex game.
In his closing arguments, Carlo Pacelli blamed Knox's false accusation for the recurring bad dreams his client Diya "Patrick" Lumumba keeps having.
Knox pointed the finger at Mr Lumumba during a lengthy interrogation by police following the murder in Perugia, Italy. She later said she had made this statement only because of the pressure police were putting her under.
In 2009 she was jailed for 26 years for the stabbing, in which she maintains she took no part.
But referring to comments attributed to her after the discovery of Miss Kercher's body, Mr Pacelli asked the court: "How could she have known that Meredith suffered a terrible agony?"
In another attempt to erase any sympathy the judges and jury may have for Knox, the Kercher family's lawyer contrasted her situation with that of his clients.
While the Kerchers are struggling to book a flight to Italy for the verdict, Knox has a private jet waiting to take her away, Francesco Maresca claimed. Miss Kercher's mother, Arline, had also suffered ill health, he said.
Making his closing remarks to the court, he also poured scorn on Knox's "false memory". He said: "You might forget where you left your car, but not the sound of someone screaming."
A verdict in Knox and Sollecito's appeal is expected to come on Monday.
