![Royal women to get equal rights]()
Female members of the Royal Family are to be given equality with men in the rules of succession to the throne, under historic constitutional changes agreed unanimously by the 16 nations of which Queen Elizabeth II is monarch.
The changes mean that if the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's first child is a girl, she will take precedence over any younger brothers in the order of succession. The 16 "realms", including the UK, Canada and Australia, also agreed to scrap outdated laws which ban the spouse of a Roman Catholic from taking the throne.
The changes were announced by Prime Minister David Cameron at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, attended by the Queen, in Perth, Australia.
Mr Cameron said the historic rules were "at odds with the modern countries that we have become".
Announcing the proposed changes, he said: "Put simply, if the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were to have a little girl, that girl would one day be our queen."
Mr Cameron said: "The great strength of our constitutional approach is its ability to evolve. Attitudes have changed fundamentally over the centuries and some of the out-dated rules - like some of the rules of succession - just don't make sense to us any more.
"The idea that a younger son should become monarch instead of an elder daughter simply because he is a man, or that a future monarch can marry someone of any faith except a Catholic - this way of thinking is at odds with the modern countries that we have become."
Reform of the succession rules, which date back to the 17th century, has long been seen as overdue in an age of greater equality between genders and faiths.
But the pressure for change became more urgent following the marriage of Prince William and Catherine Middleton in April, which raised the prospect of new additions to the line of succession in the near future.
Putting future princesses on an equal footing with their brothers will require amendments to a raft of historic legislation, including the 1701 Act of Settlement and 1689 Bill of Rights, as well as laws in a number of the Queen's other realms - Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Papua New Guinea, St Christopher and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Tuvalu, Barbados, Grenada, Solomon Islands, St Lucia and the Bahamas.
The UK's biggest nightclub owner has collapsed into administration after banks pulled the plug, putting 3,000 jobs at risk.
Luminar, which runs Liquid, Oceana and Lava & Ignite clubs in town centres across the UK, was told by its lenders that they would not extend a recent period of leniency due to end on Thursday.
The group, which employs 3,000 full and part-time staff and operates 75 venues, has suffered amid the financial gloom as its core market of 18 to 24-year-olds has been hit by high levels of youth unemployment.
It is understood that administrator Ernst & Young will continue to run the business as a going concern while it seeks a buyer.
The business was hit as consumers' disposable income was squeezed, while the smoking ban and changes in licensing laws to allow pubs to stay open longer have also hurt it. The company struggled to keep up with repayments on its £90 million debt pile as sales slumped.
It recorded losses of £198 million in the year to the end of February as sales dropped by 19% to £137 million.
Its lenders - Barclays and taxpayer-backed Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds - threw it a lifeline in May when they agreed to waive banking covenants on a temporary basis to allow the business time to turn itself around. This period of leniency was extended in August but expired today.
The group had been trying to drum-up more business by diversifying its offer, including holding Jongleurs comedy nights and introducing WooWoo cocktail bars next to its clubs. It had also been running more student nights and live DJs and acts to refresh its appeal.
Trading in recent months had been more encouraging although its profit margins have been squeezed as it put on more promotions. However, the English riots in August added to its woes and had a "material impact on trading".
The Milton Keynes-based group recently put itself up for sale in an attempt to secure its future. But it only received offers for part of the business and said these were not sufficient to generate returns for shareholders. Ernst & Young said it is to apply to have Luminar's shares delisted. They were suspended on Wednesday.
George Osborne has hinted that Britain could contribute more to the IMF after a rescue package was agreed for the eurozone.
But the Chancellor sought to reassure Tory backbenchers that UK money would not be earmarked to bail out the struggling single currency area.
Markets around the world have surged after hours of tense negotiation in Brussels finally produced a deal designed to cool the crisis.
Banks have agreed to take a 50% write-off on their Greek debt holdings, and the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) is to be leveraged to 1 trillion euro (£880 billion). Billions will also be pumped into vulnerable banks to protect them from failure.
The measures did not go as far as many financial experts had been demanding over recent months. But updating MPs on the developments, Mr Osborne said the eurozone now appeared to be on the "right road".
"Our view is that last night very good progress has been made towards solving the immediate crisis, very good progress on all fronts," he said.
"But much detail remains unresolved and having put pressure on the eurozone to get this far, we have to keep up the pressure to get the details completed. They have started down the right road and now they have to finish the job."
He insisted that Britain will not contribute money to the EFSF bailout fund - but did concede that extra money could go to the IMF.
"Supporting countries that cannot support themselves is what the IMF exists to do and there may well be a case for further increasing the resources of the IMF to keep pace with the size of the global economy," he said. "Britain, as a founding and permanent member of its governing board, stands ready to consider the case for further resources and contribute with other countries if necessary."
But he stressed: "We are only prepared to see an increase in the resources that the IMF makes available to all countries of the world. We would not be prepared to see IMF resources reserved only for use by the eurozone."
The chancellor of St Paul's has said he resigned because he feared plans to evict anti-capitalist protesters camped on the cathedral's doorstep could lead to violence.
Canon Dr Giles Fraser, who has been sympathetic to the protesters, said he could not tolerate the possibility of an eviction similar to that at the illegal travellers' site at Dale Farm in Essex.
Dr Fraser quit following proposals that the church join forces with the Corporation of London to take legal action in a bid to remove the Occupy London Stock Exchange camp.
Dr Fraser told the BBC: "I resigned because I believe that chapter was set on a course of action that could ultimately lead to violence, to eviction, to protesters being forcibly moved on. I think it's about the church using violence in order to protect itself and that's something that I believe that it shouldn't do."
Dr Fraser denied there was any bitterness with the dean and chapter. He told the Guardian: "Nobody was a villain in this, it has been a matter of conscience for everyone."
The news came as the cathedral said it would reopen on Friday, a week after it closed for the first time since the Second World War.
St Paul's will open in time for the Eucharist service at 12.30pm, which will include a special prayer for the protesters, a cathedral spokeswoman said.
She said staff have resolved the safety concerns over the camp which caused the closure. Its dome and galleries will remain closed "for the time being" but the cathedral itself will be open to worshippers and visitors.
The cathedral's dean, the Rt Rev Graeme Knowles, said officials were considering all options in response to the protest, including the courts. The City of London Corporation, the local authority for the Square Mile, will meet on Friday to hear legal advice and decide whether to launch eviction proceedings.
But the demonstrators vowed to remain, saying they found the threat of court action "very worrying".
A young couple who died in a canal lock kept their relationship secret from their families because of their different backgrounds, friends of the teenagers have said .
Sarah Rylance, 17, and Fayz Uddin, 18, died in hospital after being pulled from the lock, near Brasshouse Road in Smethwick, West Midlands, by emergency services on Wednesday night, West Midlands Police confirmed.
Speaking at the scene of the incident, close friend Yasmin, 17, said: "They were a couple but obviously because of the general circumstances and different backgrounds they kept it quiet."
Describing the couple, she said: "Fayz was just the most amazing guy and Sara was the strongest and most determined girl. I had known Fayz since we were in Year Six at school together and I can't believe he has gone, I am still in shock."
A female friend of Miss Rylance, who asked not to be named, said: "I just keep looking at the edge of the path and thinking, 'What were they doing walking so close to the water? What were they thinking?' I can't believe what has happened."
Police refused to confirm reports that the teenager had been trying to save her boyfriend after he fell in the canal.
On a tribute page set up on social networking website Facebook, one friend posted: "Your death was so sudden. We are so proud of you for trying to save the one you love, it takes great strength and courage. Well done baby girl. We all love and miss you so much. Your a great girl and wont be forgotten any time soon. Love you."
Detectives from West Midlands Police said they were investigating the deaths on behalf of the coroner. Earlier a spokeswoman said they were looking into the circumstances surrounding the incident but that it looked like a tragic accident.
Mr Uddin had completed a one-year course in IT and business at Halesowen College last year. Principal Keith Bates paid tribute to the former student.
"I extend my deepest sympathies to both families after the tragedy," he said, adding that the college would be putting measures in place to help support any students who were affected by the deaths.
Former prime minister Lady Thatcher has claimed more than half a million pounds of taxpayers' cash in the last five years, the Government has revealed.
The 86-year-old Baroness, who is rarely seen in public and suffers ongoing health problems, benefited from the public duties cost allowance available to ex-PMs.
Since 2006, she has claimed a total of £535,000 in state handouts.
The system was set up by John Major in 1991 to reward former incumbents of No 10 for work including answering letters and attending public events.
It has cost taxpayers more than £1.7 million in the past five years supporting Baroness Thatcher, her successor Sir John and, since 2007, former Labour premier Tony Blair.
Mr Blair, PM for a decade from 1997, has claimed just under £273,000 since leaving office in June 2007, including £169,076 in 2008-9 - more than his annual salary when he was in Downing Street.
Sir John, who ran the country from 1990 to 1997, has netted a total of £490,000 over the last five years.
Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude, who revealed the figures following a written Parliamentary question from Tory MP Philip Hollobone, said: "The public duties cost allowance is kept under review."
The jury in the Joanna Yeates murder trial has retired for the night and will resume considering its verdict on Friday.
Mr Justice Field has urged the six men and six women trying her neighbour Vincent Tabak to reach a unanimous verdict.
The defendant, 33, denies murder but admits the manslaughter of Miss Yeates, 25, at her flat in Clifton, Bristol, last December.
The judge said the jury needs to focus on what Tabak's intention was at the time she died.
The jury resumed deliberations on Thursday morning after spending three hours considering its conclusion on Wednesday afternoon.
Former Labour MP Margaret Moran is due to appear in court charged with fiddling her expenses by around £80,000.
The 56-year-old, who represented Luton South, sobbed in the dock last month when she appeared at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court. She could be heard crying before the short hearing.
Moran faces 15 charges of false accounting and six of using a false instrument.
It is alleged she "flipped" her designated second home, making claims for properties in London, Luton and Southampton.
Prosecutors also claim she submitted forged invoices.
She faces charges including an allegation that she dishonestly claimed £22,500 to repair dry rot at her Southampton home.
She is also accused of falsely claiming £14,805 for boiler repairs and work on her conservatory.
The court heard that the charges involve a total in the region of £80,000.
The former MP, who stood down at the last election, will appear at Southwark Crown Court.
The Government's new reading test for six-year-olds is a waste of taxpayers' money that will fail to identify youngsters' needs, literacy experts have warned.
In an open letter to Education Secretary Michael Gove, they say they are "deeply concerned" about the test, and call on him to reconsider its introduction.
The letter has been signed by David Reedy, the immediate past president of the United Kingdom Literacy Association, with support from others including Philip Parkin, general secretary of the education union Voice, John Coe, chairman of the National Association for Primary Education and Rona Tutt, chair of the National Literacy Association.
Plans for a reading test for six-year-olds were announced by the Department for Education (DfE) at the end of last year, amid concerns that children with poor reading skills were slipping through the net.
Pupils are asked to sound out or decode a series of words, some of which are "made up", to test their reading skills. The test is based on phonics, which focuses on sounds rather than having children try to recognise whole words.
Last month, a Government-commissioned report on a pilot of the test found that while two fifths of teachers said the check had helped them identify struggling youngsters, there were also some concerns.
The research found 72% of pilot schools said "pseudowords" caused confusion for some, or most, of their pupils and more than half of schools did not think the test helped to identify pupils with reading problems.
The open letter to Mr Gove says: "Many of our original fears have been confirmed by the evaluation report and the undersigned remain deeply concerned about the imposition of this test on all schools in England."
The letter adds: "The Government is proposing to spend millions of pounds of taxpayers' money every year on a test which will increase workload, undermine teaching time, fail in its core purpose of accurately identifying children's needs in reading and is unnecessary in promoting the already present teaching of phonics."
A DfE spokesman said: "Academic research from all around the world - from Australia to the US - shows that systematic synthetic phonics is the best way to teach early reading. Pupils who need more help to master phonics need to be identified as early as possible, which is why we will introduce a phonics check for six-year-olds from next year."
Personal details, including a photograph of a patient, have been put on Facebook as the confidentiality of NHS records is breached five times every week, figures show.
There were more than 800 incidents where the laws protecting the privacy of patient records were breached over the last three years by more than 150 NHS trusts, a report by the campaign group Big Brother Watch showed.
In one instance at the Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust, a member of medical staff was dismissed after posting a picture of a patient on the popular social networking site.
It comes after the Commons Justice Select Committee and the Information Commissioner Christopher Graham said tougher powers were needed so that those who break data protection laws and obtain personal details by deception could be jailed.
The figures, released following a Freedom of Information Act request, showed there were at least 806 incidents in 152 NHS trusts where NHS employees breached data protection policies between July 2008 and July 2011 - more than five a week.
These included 23 incidents where NHS staff were found to have posted confidential medical information on social networking sites, either mentioning a patient's name, commenting on them or sharing details from their confidential records.
There were more than 90 incidents where NHS employees inappropriately accessed or used the private medical information of their colleagues, and more than 30 incidents where they looked up family members, the figures showed. Their actions led to a total of 102 NHS staff being sacked.
Nick Pickles, director of Big Brother Watch, said: "This research highlights how the NHS is simply not doing enough to ensure confidential patient information is protected. Urgent action is needed to ensure that we can be sure our medical records are safe."
A spokesman for the Information Commissioner's Office said: "We continue to work with organisations from across the NHS to improve the security of patients' information and will consider taking action where it is clear that an organisation has failed to meet its legal obligations."
Health Minister Simon Burns said: "We have issued clear standards and guidance to the NHS about what needs to be done to keep patient records secure and confidential. Individual NHS organisations are responsible for ensuring their staff understand and follow that guidance."
Directors in the country's top firms have seen their pay rise by almost 50% in the past year, taking their average earnings to just under £2.7 million, a new study has revealed.
Research by Incomes Data Services (IDS) among directors in FTSE 100 companies showed that their 49% increase - which covers salary, benefits and bonuses - was higher than the 43% jump in the pay of chief executives.
Average bonus payments for directors increased by 23% from £737,000 in 2010 to £906,000 this year, said the report.
Steve Tatton of IDS said: "Britain's economy may be struggling to return to pre-recession levels of output, but the same cannot be said of FTSE 100 directors' remuneration.
"The generous remuneration packages that FTSE 100 directors now receive indicates a marked improvement in boardroom fortunes.
"But with closer scrutiny of boardroom pay expected in the future, remuneration committees will have to make sure that they are able to provide full and thorough justifications for the bonuses awarded.
"This means that they will have to be much more transparent about how total benefits packages are structured and how performance is measured."
The pay of FTSE 100 chief executives rose by 43% in the last financial year to an average of £3.8 million, while finance directors enjoyed a 34% increase to take their average earnings over the £2 million mark, according to the report.
Mr Tatton said the figures showed the pay gap between the boardroom and the shop floor showed no sign of closing, adding: "At a time when employees are experiencing real wage cuts and risk losing their livelihoods, without further explanation it may be difficult for FTSE 100 companies to justify the significant increase in earnings awarded to their directors."
Many thousands of hereditary cancers and deaths could be prevented simply by taking aspirin, a landmark study has found.
Two pills a day cut the long-term risk of bowel cancer in people with a family history of the disease by 60% and there was also evidence of a similar impact on other solid cancers with the same genetic link.
The findings, published in an online edition of The Lancet medical journal, suggest aspirin treatment could prevent up to 10,000 cancers over the next 30 years and possibly save 1,000 lives. Despite taking large doses of aspirin - two 300 milligram pills per day - patients taking part in the study suffered no undue adverse effects.
Aspirin is known to raise the risk of internal bleeding and stomach ulcers, as well as certain kinds of stroke. But according to the researchers it could be a risk worth taking for people with a high cancer susceptibility.
The study, called CAPP2, provides the most definitive evidence yet of aspirin's anti-cancer properties. It focused on patients with Lynch syndrome, a genetic fault that strongly predisposes people to bowel cancer and a number of other solid organ cancers.
Around one in 1,000 members of the general population carry the defective genes, which account for one in 30 cases of bowel cancer. Other diseases linked to Lynch syndrome include womb, ovarian, pancreatic, brain, stomach and kidney cancers.
Those affected are 10 times more likely than average to develop cancer, often at a young age. Each year around 40,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with bowel cancer and more than 16,000 die from the disease.
CAPP2 involved scientists from 43 centres in 16 countries, including the UK. Between 1999 and 2005, a total of 861 study participants identified as Lynch syndrome carriers began taking aspirin or a dummy placebo pill.
The treatment went on for two years. Initial analysis of outcomes in 2007 showed no difference in bowel cancer rates between the two groups. However, in the years that followed treatment it became clear that aspirin was having a delayed impact. By 2010 a total of 19 new bowel cancers had been identified among participants given aspirin and 34 among the placebo group. This represented a 44% reduced incidence rate associated with aspirin treatment.
Further analysis singling out the 60% of patients who took aspirin for at least two years revealed an even more striking result. Then there were just 10 cancers in the aspirin group compared with 23 in the placebo group, a difference of 63%.
People fear more for their financial health than their physical well-being over the next six months, a report has suggested.
The Hopes And Fears survey found that nearly a third of people believe their biggest concern will be money-related.
This includes worries about not be able to make ends meet, sinking into further debt, a friend or family member having money problems and the possibility of sinking into a double-dip recession.
Health came in second place, with 23% saying they were concerned about their own wellbeing or that of family members.
Opinium Research, which carried out the study, said this was an about-turn from six months ago, when health was the biggest concern in its research and finance came second.
James Endersby, managing director of Opinium Research, said: "What is alarming is the number of different financial concerns that now top people's worries, demonstrating that consumers do not see an end in sight for these fiscal troubles.
"The fact that more people are now scared of money problems over health problems for themselves really paints a picture on where people's minds are."
The top of the list was dominated by worries related to the economy, with people concerned about their living standards falling, losing their jobs - and not finding another one - and Government cuts.
The research involved 2,023 UK adults and took place last month.
St Paul's Cathedral is to reopen, a week after anti-capitalist protesters forced it to close for the first time since the Second World War.
The cathedral doors will open in time for the Eucharist at 12.30pm, which will include a prayer for the protesters camping outside.
The reopening follows the resignation of cathedral chancellor Canon Dr Giles Fraser on Thursday, who quit because he feared plans to evict the protesters could lead to violence.
The former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey described the situation as a "debacle", which was threatening to damage the reputation of Christianity.
The Dean of St Paul's, the Rt Rev Graeme Knowles, said officials were considering all options in response to the protest, including the courts. The City of London Corporation, the local authority for the Square Mile, is expected to meet to hear legal advice and decide whether to launch eviction proceedings.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Lord Carey criticised both the "mismanagement" of the situation by St Paul's authorities and the "self-indulgence" of the protesters. He said the cathedral authorities "seemed to lose their nerve" after initially welcoming the protesters, adding: "One moment the church was reclaiming a valuable role in hosting public protest and scrutiny, the next it was looking in turns like the temple which Jesus cleansed, or the officious risk-averse 'elf and safety bureaucracy of urban legend. How could the dean and chapter have let themselves get into such a position?"
He accused the demonstrators of being "cynical and opportunistic" and said a picture had emerged of "spoilt middle-class children returning home at night for a shower and a warm bed".
In his article, Lord Carey described Dr Fraser's resignation as a "sad day" for the cathedral. Dr Fraser, who has been sympathetic to the campaigners, quit following proposals that the church join forces with the Corporation of London to take legal action to remove the camp.
He said he could not tolerate the possibility of an eviction similar to that at the illegal travellers' site at Dale Farm, telling the BBC: "I resigned because I believe that chapter was set on a course of action that could ultimately lead to violence, to eviction, to protesters being forcibly moved on."
The former vicar of Putney said he had no criticism of those at St Paul's who held a different view, telling the Times: "They, too, are making principled stands for what they believe in. At no point has anyone asked me to leave."
The Commonwealth must "strengthen" its commitment to human rights, David Cameron said as he arrived in Australia to meet fellow heads of government from across the 54-country group.
The Prime Minister said it would show it could be an "organisation for the future" after a high-level internal report warned it risked becoming irrelevant unless it stood up more publicly to abuses.
He also expressed confidence that the 16 Commonwealth nations which have the Queen as head of state would agree to scrap royal succession laws which give precedence to sons over first-born daughters.
Asked whether the Commonwealth was outdated, he said: "It is an organisation for the future. We live in a world of networks and this is a great network: a third of the world's population, 54 different countries across six continents. But not just a network, a network with values about promoting human rights and democracy and freedom.
"And we are going to be strengthening those values at this heads of government conference because of the very good work which has been done over the past year."
He was referring to a series of recommendations made by Eminent Persons Group, whose UK representative Sir Malcolm Rifkind has warned the Commonwealth faces a "crisis" without urgent reform.
Among controversial proposals to be debated is that homosexuality should be legalised in all member states where it is outlawed.
There looks to be agreement, however, on changing the succession laws to ensure that if the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's first child is a girl, she would be next in line to the throne after her father. "I think the time has come to change the rules so that if the royal couple have a girl rather than a boy then that little girl would be our queen. That's the rule we want to change," Mr Cameron said.
"But the Queen is not just queen of the United Kingdom. There are 16 realms and they are all going to be meeting this afternoon to discuss those changes and I believe we will make that change. This is a simple act of modernisation and one that's right for our time."
Downing Street is also confident of securing support from the 15 other countries where the Queen is head of state for scrapping the bar to the monarchy of anyone who marries a Catholic.
The jury in the Joanna Yeates murder trial is to continue to consider its verdict.
Mr Justice Field has urged the six men and six women trying her neighbour Vincent Tabak at Bristol Crown Court to reach a unanimous verdict.
The 33-year-old denies murder but admits the manslaughter of Miss Yeates, 25, at her flat in Clifton, Bristol.
The judge said the jurors must focus on what Tabak's intention was at the time she died.
They have already spent two days deliberating the case.
The judge asked the jury on Wednesday: "Did he intend to kill her or cause her really serious harm? The fact that afterwards the defendant may have regretted what he had done does not amount to a defence.
"If, having examined the evidence and despite the defendant's denial, you are sure that when the defendant strangled Joanna Yeates he intended to kill her or cause her really serious bodily harm, your verdict will be guilty. If you are not sure of his intentions when he strangled Joanna Yeates, your verdict should be not guilty."
The jurors "should not allow emotion" or sympathy towards Ms Yeates's family and boyfriend, Greg Reardon, to cloud their judgment when making their decision, Mr Justice Field added.
Landscape architect Miss Yeates was last seen alive on the evening of December 17 last year. She was reported missing two days later when Mr Reardon returned to their ground-floor flat in Canynge Road after a weekend away.
Police launched a massive hunt for the university graduate but her body was found by dog walkers on Christmas morning in a country lane in Failand, North Somerset - just three miles from her home. The net closed in on Tabak and he was arrested on January 20 when police matched his DNA to samples found on Miss Yeates's body and clothing.
A "huge funding gap" is opening up between the money needed to maintain flood defences and the cash coming from Government, it has been warned.
A National Audit Office report said the Environment Agency estimated it needed an annual increase of £20 million, or 9% more on its budget from the Government, to maintain protection from flooding in light of climate change and ageing defences.
But Government funding for the agency, which manages flood risk, has been reduced by 10% over the current spending review period, compared to the last.
Without an increase in central funding from 2015, communities would be increasingly reliant on locally-secured money to maintain flood defences, the report warned.
The NAO said reforms which see more responsibility being handed to local authorities for managing flood risks and raising money for flood defence schemes could prove a major challenge for town halls.
The new system will see some schemes to tackle flooding part-funded by local bodies or the private sector, with the lion's share of non-Government funding expected to come from companies, such as Gatwick Airport's owners who have contributed to local flood defences.
But not only are local authorities voicing "considerable concern about securing sufficient local funds, especially in the current economic climate", the report warned, they also feel they do not have the appropriate knowledge.
Margaret Hodge, chairwoman of the Public Accounts Committee, said: "The annual cost of flood damage is £1.1 billion and one in six properties in England face this threat, but they are being put at risk through reduced funding and a lack of technical expertise. A huge funding gap is opening up between what is required to maintain current levels of flood defence and Government funding."
She said the Environment Department (Defra), which has responsibility for flooding, had cut funding to the Environment Agency for dealing with the issue by almost £100 million in 2011/2012.
A Defra spokesman said: "We've reformed the funding system to allow the number of flood defence schemes to be increased and give local people greater choice and control over protecting their community from flooding. Under the new partnership funding system, the most at-risk and deprived areas can receive more money for flood defence schemes with funding from the private sector whenever possible."
Female members of the Royal Family are to be given equality with men in the rules of succession to the throne, under historic constitutional changes agreed unanimously by the 16 nations of which Queen Elizabeth II is monarch.
The changes mean that if the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's first child is a girl, she will take precedence over any younger brothers in the order of succession. The 16 "realms", including the UK, Canada and Australia, also agreed to scrap outdated laws which ban the spouse of a Roman Catholic from taking the throne.
The changes were announced by Prime Minister David Cameron at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, attended by the Queen, in Perth, Australia.
Mr Cameron said the historic rules were "at odds with the modern countries that we have become".
Announcing the proposed changes, he said: "Put simply, if the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were to have a little girl, that girl would one day be our queen."
Mr Cameron said: "The great strength of our constitutional approach is its ability to evolve. Attitudes have changed fundamentally over the centuries and some of the out-dated rules - like some of the rules of succession - just don't make sense to us any more.
"The idea that a younger son should become monarch instead of an elder daughter simply because he is a man, or that a future monarch can marry someone of any faith except a Catholic - this way of thinking is at odds with the modern countries that we have become."
Reform of the succession rules, which date back to the 17th century, has long been seen as overdue in an age of greater equality between genders and faiths.
But the pressure for change became more urgent following the marriage of Prince William and Catherine Middleton in April, which raised the prospect of new additions to the line of succession in the near future.
Putting future princesses on an equal footing with their brothers will require amendments to a raft of historic legislation, including the 1701 Act of Settlement and 1689 Bill of Rights, as well as laws in a number of the Queen's other realms - Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Papua New Guinea, St Christopher and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Tuvalu, Barbados, Grenada, Solomon Islands, St Lucia and the Bahamas.
People can now see how their police force compares to others in England and Wales as the Government's crime-mapping website has expanded.
Anyone logging on to the police.uk site can now check the performance of their force on crime rates, quality of service and victim satisfaction compared with the 42 other forces. Users can see details of a wider range of offences reported on streets in their area, including public disorder, shoplifting, criminal damage and drugs offences for the first time.
The website, which crashed just hours after its launch in February leaving millions of users frustrated, has since had more than 430 million hits as people check the state of crime on their street.
Policing Minister Nick Herbert said: "We want to build on this success and deliver a more transparent and accountable criminal justice system.
"The addition of further crime categories and easy access to police force performance data will give people the information and power they need to hold their local forces to account and ensure that crime in their area is driven down."
It comes ahead of the controversial introduction of directly elected police and crime commissioners next year, which the Government says will help make forces more accountable to the people they serve.
By the end of the year, the website will include the naming of specific sites, such as football stadiums, parks and supermarkets, where crime and anti-social behaviour is concentrated.
By May next year, the website will also reveal what happened after a crime was reported to the police and track its progress through the courts.
When it was introduced, Information Commissioner Christopher Graham said crime mapping could be "an effective means of letting people know what crimes are taking place in their local area".
Mark Burns-Williamson, chairman of the Association of Police Authorities, said the site "puts powerful knowledge about policing into the hands of the public".
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will learn next week if he has won or lost his High Court bid to block extradition to Sweden where he faces sex crime allegations.
Lawyers for the 40-year-old Australian say his removal would be "unfair and unlawful".
Two judges sitting in London heard the case in July and are due to give their ruling next Wednesday.
The Swedish authorities want him to answer accusations of raping one woman and sexually molesting and coercing another in Stockholm in August last year.
Assange, whose WikiLeaks website published a mass of leaked diplomatic cables which rocked the US government, denies the allegations and says they are politically motivated.
The High Court in London is having to decide whether or not to uphold a ruling in February by District Judge Howard Riddle at Belmarsh Magistrates' Court, south London, that the computer expert should be extradited to face investigation.
The police watchdog has launched a "corruption" inquiry following allegations that an officer conspired to pervert the course of justice.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is investigating a complaint about a Merseyside Police officer.
The allegations relate to a Merseyside Police investigation in 2010 which resulted in a man being arrested, charged with breaching a non-molestation order and remanded in custody.
He was subsequently acquitted at court.
The man lodged a formal complaint about the conduct of one officer involved in the investigation, the IPCC said.
Merseyside Police referred the matter to the IPCC in September 2011 and a decision has now been taken to conduct an independent investigation.
IPCC Commissioner Naseem Malik said: "Allegations of corruption have the potential to undermine confidence in an individual police force and the police service as a whole.
"It is important therefore that a thorough and fully independent investigation is conducted to establish whether there is any substance to the allegations that have been made."
