UK News

The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for snow and ice on 12th and 13th January 2013.

There will be outbreaks of rain, sleet and snow, with temperatures dropping afterwards, leading to a risk of icy surfaces throughout the UK.

They recommend the public to take extra care when travelling and to be aware of the risk of disruption, this Saturday and Sunday.

Rail, maritime and transport union RMT announced today that the organisation has continued to increase its membership in the past twelve months in the teeth of the most savage attacks on jobs and working conditions for a generation.

Membership figures released by the union today show that RMT has put on a net gain of 1,456 members through 2012, taking the total to 77,549 – an annual growth of nearly 2% in the most challenging circumstances.

The union has increased its membership year-on-year from the 59,277 total when General Secretary Bob Crow was elected in 2002.

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According to eye witness reports and local activists, police are preventing protesters from demonstrating at the adventure playground set for demolition in Battersea Park, South London.

Police are said to be denying entry to the park, meaning that people already inside the protest area are having to use bottles instead of using the toilets outside of what is effectively a kettle.

Some participants have travelled a long way to join Occupy in Battersea Park, saying it is an example of how the financial crisis impacts locally. (NewsPoint)

More than a million better-off families will lose some or all of their child benefit, under changes which came into force at midnight. Families with one parent earning more than £50,000 lose part of their child benefit and it will be fully withdrawn where one parent earns above £60,000. However, if both parents earn £49,000 each, they will continue to receive child benefit.

David Cameron described the move as "fundamentally fair" but Labour said it was a "huge assault" on families.