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Lib Dems promise 35 hours of free childcare from nine months old Exclusive: Jo Swinson to announce dramatic increase as parties battle for female votersWorking parents would receive 35 hours a week free childcare from the day their baby turns nine months old under plans to be announced by the Lib Dem leader, Jo Swinson, as the opposition parties battle to win over female voters.The Lib Dems will make a dramatic increase in the availability of free childcare the centrepiece of the party’s manifesto, saying it would boost the economy by enabling more parents to return to the workforce earlier. Continue reading... Go to Source

Revealed: private surgery for NHS patients soars under Tories Figure show almost three-fold increase since 2010 to over 600,000 procedures last yearThe number of NHS patients having surgery in private hospitals has trebled since 2010, sparking accusations that for-profit companies are benefitting from an “enfeebled” health system under the Conservatives.NHS figures obtained by the Guardian show that it paid for 214,967 people in England to have an operation in a private hospital in 2009-10, Labour’s last year in power. The figure soared to 613,833 last year, an 194% rise in nine years. Continue reading... Go to Source

Essex lorry deaths: 10 teenagers were among 39 victims, say police Detectives release names of the dead including woman who sent final text to her familyTen teenagers were among the 39 Vietnamese people found dead in a refrigerated lorry in Essex last month, and the youngest of them were two 15-year-old boys, police have revealed.Detectives have completed identification of the bodies found in the container, which was shipped from Belgium to Essex on 23 October, and confirmed that all the victims were Vietnamese, 31 males and eight females. As well as the two children aged 15, Dinh Dinh Binh and Nguyen Huy Hung, there were three 19-year-olds, four 18-year-olds, and one 17-year-old. Continue reading... Go to Source

'Death of a river': the ruinous design flaw in a vast Amazon rainforest dam Operator faces choice of weakening 14km barrier or potentially devastating a biodiversity hotspot The biggest hydroelectric project in the Amazon rainforest has a design flaw that poses a “very serious” threat to human life and globally important ecosystems, according to documents and expert testimony received by the Guardian.The new studies suggest engineers failed to anticipate the impact of water shortages on the Pimental dam at Belo Monte, which is forcing the operators to choose between a structural weakening of the 14km-wide compacted-earth barrier and an reallocation of water in the reservoir or on the Xingu river, which is home to indigenous communities, fishing villages and some of the world’s mos...

Woman dies as floods hit Midlands and north of England Police pull body from water in Derbyshire as torrential rain causes major disruption A woman has died and dozens of homes have been evacuated after widespread flooding across large swathes of the Midlands and northern England.Some parts of the country received more rainfall in just 24 hours than they normally get in a single month, as more than 100 flood warnings were issued – including six warning of a risk to life. Continue reading... Go to Source

Man jailed for trying to rob Arsenal's Mesut Özil and Sead Kolašinac Ashley Smith did not expect latter to fight back as he tried to steal luxury watches, court toldAn armed mugger has been jailed for 10 years for attempting to rob two Arsenal footballers of luxury watches worth £200,000.Ashley Smith and his accomplice, who were both wielding knives, did not count on the bravery of the club’s Bosnian defender Sead Kolašinac in fighting back, Harrow crown court heard. Continue reading... Go to Source