Street actor in sex offences trial

Coronation Street star William Roache will go on trial today accused of committing historic sexual offences against five girls.

The 81-year-old veteran soap star was arrested at his home in Wilmslow, Cheshire, last May and later charged with two counts of raping a 15-year-old girl in East Lancashire in 1967.

A month later he was additionally charged with five indecent assaults involving four girls aged between 11 or 12 and 16, allegedly committed in the Manchester area between 1965 and 1968.

DLT assault trial due to start

The prosecution case is due to open today in the trial of DJ Dave Lee Travis, who is accused of a series of indecent assaults and one sexual assault.

A jury should be chosen from a potential pool of 18 people at Southwark Crown Court this morning, before Miranda Moore QC outlines the Crown's case.

The 68-year-old, whose real name is David Patrick Griffin, is facing 12 counts of indecent assault dating between 1976 and 2003, and one count of sexual assault in 2008.

Rolf Harris to enter assault pleas

Veteran entertainer Rolf Harris is due to enter pleas today to 12 counts of indecent assault and four of making indecent images of a child.

The 83-year-old is set to appear at Southwark Crown Court accused of assaults against four girls between 1968 and 1986.

Harris was initially charged with nine counts of indecent assault in August, and last month prosecutors confirmed they had added another three counts.

Miliband: I’ll rebuild middle class

Labour leader Ed Miliband has promised to "rebuild our middle class" in the face of a cost-of-living crisis.

The Opposition leader said a "strong and vibrant" middle class was essential for the country's success but its foundations were being undermined.

Writing in The Daily Telegraph Mr Miliband said the squeeze on living standards was not just affecting the poorest in society but meant a "struggle" for those in the middle.

Inflation tipped to edge higher

Inflation is expected to have crept up slightly from a four-year low when figures for December are published today.

The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rate fell to 2.1% in November, but economists on average expect it will have nudged ahead to 2.2% over the latest period.

Petrol price rises and household energy bill hikes are expected to drive the rise, but easing food inflation and aggressive high street discounting in the run-up to Christmas should have kept the lid on the increase in the cost of living.

Christmas shopping rush dropped off

The Christmas high street shopping rush thinned out again last year after footfall in December dropped 3.7% compared with 2012 as consumers increasingly turned to the web.

Figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) also showed that over the last quarter of the year, numbers were down 3.8%, the worst drop since August 2012.

Overall footfall recorded by the BRC/Springboard monitor was down 2.4% in December compared with the previous year. It was double the 1.2% year-on-year drop seen in December 2012.

Flawed IT system costs MoD millions

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has wasted millions of pounds on a botched computer system, leaked documents have revealed.

The Recruitment Partnering Project, a £1.3 billion scheme intended to enable the Army to recruit online, is almost two years behind schedule and will not be fully operational until April 2015 at the earliest, The Times said.

Up to £15.5 million has been spent on the computer system, but according to the newspaper, the problems are so serious that Defence Secretary Philip Hammond is considering spending nearly £50 million on a new solution.

A&E locum costs soar 60% in 3 years

The cost of paying temporary doctors to work at accident and emergency units in England increased by 60% in three years as hospitals struggle to find permanent staff.

Data obtained by the Labour Party showed that spending on locums was £83.3 million last year, a rise from £52 million in 2009-10, the BBC said.

Agency doctors are employed for almost one in 10 consultant shifts and up to one in six more junior posts, the figures reveal.

'Tortured’ Britons await decision

Four Britons who were blocked by UK courts from suing foreign officials who allegedly tortured them while they were held in Saudi Arabian jails will find out today if European judges regard the refusal as a breach of human rights.

Ronald Jones, Alexander Mitchell, William Sampson and Leslie Walker claim they were subjected to beatings, sleep deprivation and anal rape as well as being given mind-altering drugs following their arrest in 2000 in Saudi Arabia's capital city, Riyadh.

Mr Mitchell, Mr Walker and Mr Sampson were arrested after a series of terrorist bombings in Riyadh and Khobar, eastern Saudi Arabia, and claimed they were tortured into admitting responsibility. Mr Jones was seized after being injured in a bomb blast outside a bookshop.

'British option’ proposed for firms

Millions of companies which do not export to Europe should be exempted from the most burdensome Brussels regulations, according to a new report by a business group campaigning for reform of the European Union.

Single market regulations cost UK businesses an estimated £7.5 billion a year, but fewer than 5% of companies actually export goods or services to other EU states, found the report by Business for Britain.

The report proposed a "British option", under which the 95% of UK companies which do not need access to the single market would not be required to comply with its rules.

Meanwhile, its authors propose that the UK remain in the EU but withdraw from "political" aspects of the single market, and use the money saved to open up a chain of trade missions to promote British exports around the rest of the world.