The Liberal Democrats have been ordered to stop making unsolicited automated calls to voters or face prosecution after being found to have breached privacy rules.

Nick Clegg was today facing embarrassment after the Information Commissioner expressed "concern" over plans to bombard 250,000 voters with automated phone calls featuring a recording of the Liberal Democrat leader.

United Utilities is calling on the water regulator to let prices rise to reflect both higher energy costs and the effects of the credit squeeze.

Simon Evans talks to Marion King, the woman who hopes the curse of protracted payment transfers will be lifted this week

It can happen to any of us and the regulator receives 600 complaints a month. Sue Hayward sees how to avoid falling foul of the 'slammers'

YouTube is awash with lovingly crafted Lego stop-motion recreations of pop-cultural staples like Star Wars, Indiana Jones and the Thriller video. But some bright young things out there choose to spend their lego time on less derivative projects. The weird and wonderful gadgets below were all built from the iconic four-by-two bricks which debuted in 1950s Denmark, with the help of the Mindstorms robotic invention system originally released in 1990.

Neither strictly hippies nor 17 in number, Berlin's 17 Hippies have for 12 years been a mainstay of Germany's world-music scene, wowing audiences across Europe, and as far afield as Russia and Japan, with their energetic pan-ethnic performances. Currently numbering around a dozen players, their diverse backgrounds afford a truly international blend of influences, with lyrics delivered in German, French or English, and all manner of cultural hybrids occurring in the music.

After 15 years of dizzying expansion, the coffee giant founded by Howard Schultz finally appears to have run out of froth. Andrew Gumbel reports from Los Angeles

Ben Verwaayen, the chief executive of BT, has called for a review of the universal service obligation that legally binds the company to provide basic telecoms services to British homes.

Huddersfield have signed a second member of last year's Australian Premiership winners for next season. Shane Elford will join his Wests Tigers team-mate, John Skandalis, at the Giants on a three-year deal.

Biomedical scientist David Ricketts tells Virginia Matthews why his job is so rewarding