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Revealed: The 27 Marks & Spencer stores being closed as 1,200 staff lose their jobs

M&S today announced 1,200 job losses amid falling sales

Marks & Spencer today revealed the 27 stores it will close after one of its worst ever Christmas trading performances. The retailer announced it will shut 25 Simply Food stores and two of its smaller M&S outlets and cut more than 1,200 jobs after sales fell by 7.1 per cent.

Single father turned away from swimming pool... because health and safety say he can't supervise two sons

Hillsborough Leisure Centre

A single father was left stunned after he was turned away from a swimming pool when staff told him he could not provide proper supervision for his two sons.

Woman drink-driver who crushed toddler to death outside school gates is jailed for seven years

Finlay Woods

A woman was jailed for seven years today for crushing a 15-month-old toddler under the wheels of her car.

Mother gives birth at home to baby boy ... then FIVE hours later gets up to make family Christmas dinner

Karen Holmes

Why Jack couldn't climb the beanstalk: How health and safety rules even affect your panto

panto

Health and safety regulations have turned getting the show on to the stage into such a performance that a theatre company fears being shut down before the curtain goes up.

It could be as easy as popping a pill: Scientists race to unlock 'love drug'

Love drug: Oxytocin is involved in sex and sexual attraction

Advances in science could lead to the creation of drugs that make us fall in - and out - of love.

One dead and two Good Samaritans fighting for their lives after motorway pile-up

M4 traffic

A motorist has been killed and two Good Samaritans who stopped to help him seriously injured after they were hit by vehicles on a motorway slip road.

Cold war! EU gives Russia 24 hours to switch pipeline back on after 12 countries are left without power

gas pipeline

Russia today shut off all gas supplies to Europe through Ukraine, leaving 12 countries without fuel in freezing winter conditions.

Long-extinct creatures like the woolly mammoth could be brought back to life thanks to scientific advances

woolly mammoth

It has long been synonymous with death. But the dodo could live again, along with other long-extinct creatures from the fearsome sabre-toothed tiger to the lumbering Neanderthal.

Boy, six, drives family car to school after missing the bus

Rappahannock Hospital,

A six-year-old boy who missed his bus tried to drive himself to school in the family car.

Blundering funeral firm buries wrong man despite vicar's protests... then secretly digs up and replaces coffin

The Rev Andrew Mannings

Mourners were gathered, and family members paid their last respects as the deceased was laid to rest. But there was just one problem - the funeral directors had brought the wrong body.

GPs told to isolate flu patients and make them wear masks as fears grow of a pandemic

woman wearing mask

Patients with the flu as well as doctors will be told to wear face masks under the first guidance of its kind ever issued to GPs

The most exclusive club in the world: Barack Obama lunches with four U.S. presidents

Men of power: U.S. President George W. Bush (C) meets with his father George H.W. Bush (L), Barack Obama (2nd L), Bill Clinton (2nd R) and Jimmy Carter (R) in the Oval Office of the White House today

Pictured: The Dalmatian who gave birth to a bumper litter of EIGHTEEN pups

dalmatians

Policewomen sue the Met for £1m each in 'groping' sex case

Julie Facey and Paula Church

Two women police officers are suing the Met for £1million each over sexual harassment allegations against three male officers.

'I'm sorry': One of world's richest men leaves note to wife before killing himself over credit crunch

A family spokesman said: 'The desperate situation of his companies have broken the passionate family entrepreneur and he took his own life'

Adolf Merckle told his family that he 'had to go to the office for a while' - then drove to a railway embankment and threw himself under a train.

Revolt! Robbed of their right to buy traditional light bulbs, millions are clearing shelves of last supplies

End of light as we know it: Millions of Britons are stocking up to grab the last of the traditional bulbs

Millions of Britons are finally waking up to the fact that their beloved light bulb will disappear for good after 120 years. Traditional 100-watt bulbs are vanishing from the High Street because of a controversial European Union decision.

Apple makes iTunes available to all MP3 players - but increases cost of premium tracks to 99p

apple

Apple is opening up the digital music market by making songs purchased from its iTunes online store playable on any MP3 player. Until now, most tracks bought from its library could only play on iPods.

Middle-class suburban and rural children more likely to drink and take drugs than their inner-city peers

drink

Middle-class children growing up in suburbs and rural areas are bigger binge-drinkers and drug-takers than peers in the inner-cities, an official survey has showed.

They're the carrier bag boots that could save the world... But would you actually wear them?

Carrier bag boots

Boots made of recycled carrier bags have been created by an eco-conscious designer keen to make use of old plastic bags.

Animal carer dies from rabies 'after being scratched by dog in Africa two years ago'

Lisa McMurray, who contracted rabies while abroad, has died in hospital. She may have harboured the disease for two years

A woman who died from rabies may have contracted the disease in Africa more than two years ago. Lisa McMurray had been in a critical condition in intensive care.

WORLD NEWS

obama        

Pictured: The amazing tin can bomber made by British pilot in Great Escape POW camp

Remarkable: The scale version of a Lancaster Bomber was made out of items found by captured British World War II pilot E Taylor

Three teenage burglars escape jail after returning stolen items with signed apology card

A BURGLAR BREAKING INTO A HOUSE

Three teenage burglars with a conscience walked free today after sending a signed card to their victim saying: 'Very sorry, it will never happen again'.

Duke charges taxpayers £280,000 to build public footbridge over his riverbed

Duke of Beaufort

One of Britain's richest men has cashed in on a 400-year-old aristrocratic right by charging hard-up taxpayers £280,000 to build a bridge over his riverbed.

Married pilot 'sexually harassed blonde stewardess' on luxury jets

Ed Murray

A married luxury jet pilot sexually harassed an air hostess as they flew executives around the world, an employment tribunal has heard.

Boris Johnson faces probe into claims he jeopardised Home Office leaks investigation

London Mayor Boris Johnson

London Mayor Boris Johnson faces a formal investigation into his role in the Whitehall leaks inquiry. He is accused of prejudging the outcome of a police investigation into Tory MP Damian Green.

Age of desktop computers is over as sales of laptops soar

laptops

The age of the desktop PC appears to be over as sales of laptops have surged ahead.

The African queen Elizabeth: British grandmother is crowned by tribal chiefs in Ghana

Tribal honour: Liz Busch with members of the Ewe tribe in Hohoe who made her queen in recognition of her work with children

A grandmother who left her family, friends and London home to start a children's centre in Ghana has been crowned queen by tribal chiefs.

Playing outside can prevent children becoming short-sighted

Children

Playing outdoors dramatically cuts a child's risk of becoming short-sighted, research shows.

Benedict Brogan
Robin Page