Thirty local transport schemes worth a total of £113 million were given the go-ahead by the Government today.

Streets ahead of the competition

Durham, who began the season among the favourites for the Championship, continued their troubled start by being bowled out for 125 by an injury-hit Somerset side containing five players aged 20 or under yesterday.

Police have confirmed that a body found in a river is that of missing schoolboy Ian Bell.

Andrew Strauss eased a little closer to finding form ahead of the Test series against West Indies, although his 49 for Middlesex against Worcestershire at Lord's was not without incident.

A man has been charged in connection with a raid on a university museum where Chinese artefacts worth more than £2m were stolen.

A 35-year-old man has been charged with conspiracy to commit burglary by police investigating the theft of Chinese artefacts worth more than £2 million in a raid on a university museum.

Police scouring a swollen river for a missing eight-year-old boy said hopes of finding him alive were "fading" as the operation stretched into a fourth day.

An eight-year-old boy believed to have fallen into a rain-swollen river while playing with friends has been named by police.

Controversial "fracking" for shale gas should only take place at least 600 metres down from aquifers used for water supplies, scientists said today.

Middlesex 188 & 179 Durham 238 & 82-6 (Match drawn)

Middlesex 188 & 21-1 Durham 238 (Durham lead by 29 runs)

One in eight prisoners developed a drug problem after being locked up in jail, inspectors said today.

A seventh-century book that lay buried in a saint's coffin for hundreds of years has been saved for the nation.