The Prince of Wales has toured a historic porcelain works which is being regenerated thanks to one of his charities.

Charles spent Tuesday morning at the Middleport Pottery site, which was secured by the Prince's Regeneration Trust (PRT) two years ago after a lengthy funding drive attracted public and private donations.

The future of the Stoke-on-Trent site, built in 1888, had been in doubt until the PRT stepped in, as the principal tenant, porcelain-maker Burleigh, had been planning to leave the works altogether.

Since the PRT bought the site, however, the company's sales are up 16%, and more staff have been hired, bringing the total employed at the site to 60, while work to regenerate the area continues.

The red-brick canalside Victorian buildings making up Middleport are in the Burslem area Stoke, in the heart of Staffordshire's Potteries, famed around the world for its quality porcelain.

Tuesday is the second of a two-day UK tour Charles is undertaking to champion British business, engineering and craftsmanship. He has shown a close interest in the Middleport site since 2009 when plans were first discussed for the Prince's charity to step in and regenerate the works.

Published: 22 January 2013

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Thousands of Russians plunged into icy waters to celebrate the Orthodox holiday of the Epiphany on Saturday, as air temperatures dipped below minus 40 degrees Celsius (minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit) in some places.

The purification ritual, commemorating the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist, sees devout Orthodox Russians plunge into cross-shaped holes cut into frozen ponds and rivers.

Devotees believe the water takes on sacred powers during the holiday.

In line with custom, men and women clad in long white shirts or bikinis, emerged themselves three times into the ice-holes in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

In Moscow, hundreds of people gathered for their freezing dip at a park pond in the city centre, where air temperatures fell below minus 10C.

Children also took part in the ancient rite that has been passed on through generations since early tsarist times.

The somewhat unusual Orthodox ceremony takes place every year from midnight to midnight between January 18 and January 19, mainly in Russia.

Bathers believe the annual ice plunge will purify them and the cold water will strengthen their bodies.

Published: 19 January 2013

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A single economy for the island of Ireland would be good for prosperity, jobs and investment, Sinn Fein has claimed.

Party president Gerry Adams called on the Irish and British governments to set a date for a border poll and let the people of Northern Ireland vote on a united Ireland.

Delivering a keynote address almost 15 years since the Good Friday Agreement, he said a referendum in the next term of the Assembly and Oireachtas would be a key element in moving forward.

"Irish unity makes sense," the Louth TD said in Dublin.

"It makes political sense. It makes economic sense. It is in the best interests of the people of these islands."

Despite loyalists staging a protest in Belfast over the Union flag controversy for a seventh week and the economic crisis in the Republic of Ireland, Mr Adams maintained that it is time to legislate for the island to be united.

"Republicans believe that partition has been bad for the people of this island and for our economy. It has been bad for investment, bad for growth, bad for jobs," Mr Adams said.

"A planned single-island economy would be good for prosperity, good for jobs, good for investment. It would benefit everyone. Together is stronger."

Greater co-operation and harmonisation and unity would transform the economic and political landscape, Mr Adams said.

"Imagine the financial and efficiency benefits if there was one education system, one health service, one energy network and all-island investment practices."

United Ireland 'makes more sense'

A single economy for the island of Ireland would be good for prosperity, jobs and investment, Sinn Fein has claimed.

Party president Gerry Adams called on the Irish and British governments to set a date for a border poll and let the people of Northern Ireland vote on a united Ireland.

Delivering a keynote address almost 15 years since the Good Friday Agreement, he said a referendum in the next term of the Assembly and Oireachtas would be a key element in moving forward.

"Irish unity makes sense," the Louth TD said in Dublin.

Published: 19 January 2013

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China's latest economic figures gave traders cause for optimism as the FTSE 100 Index maintained its strong start to the year.

Output rose to 7.9% in the final three months of the year, from 7.4% in the previous quarter, although the result for the year of 7.8% was still the country's weakest annual performance since the 1990s.

The renewed optimism over the state of the world's second largest economy meant the FTSE 100 Index, which closed at a fresh four-and-a-half year high last night, rose by another 33.4 points to 6165.9.

Miners were the driving force behind the improvement, with copper specialists Evraz and Kazakhmys up 12.3p to 303.7p and 22.25p to 798.25p respectively.

Rio Tinto was 65.25p higher to 3504.75p as shares recovered from Thursday's shock departure of chief executive Tom Albanese in the wake of nearly £9 billion of write-downs, driven by its disastrous acquisition of Alcan in 2007.

The latest surge for the FTSE 100 Index came despite more gloom from the retail sector after the Office for National Statistics said seasonally-adjusted sales volumes declined by 0.1% on the previous month.

This was worse than City forecasts for a rise of 0.2% and fuelled expectations that the UK economy will show another decline when fourth quarter GDP figures are released next Friday.

Published: 18 January 2013

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A helicopter has crashed in central London after hitting a crane on top of a tower block by the River Thames.

The stricken aircraft cartwheeled to the ground and exploded into flames before crashing into a street during the rush hour.

Burning wreckage and aviation fuel covered the road as eyewitnesses reported seeing cars on fire and hearing people screaming.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed that the helicopter had come down, while London Fire Brigade said the crash happened near Wandsworth Road in South Lambeth. Fire and rescue services said they were taking "lots of emergency calls" as eyewitnesses described seeing grey smoke towering into the sky, close to Battersea Bridge.

The crane was on top of a building called The Tower, in the St George Wharf development, and is billed to be one of Europe's tallest residential towers. The building is only a few hundred metres from MI6 and is situated on a busy roundabout. London Fire Brigade confirmed that the crane appeared to have been left "in a precarious position".

Published: 16 January 2013

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The deputy mayor for policing in London is being investigated by the police watchdog over allegations linked to a previous job, it was revealed.

A spokeswoman for the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said the body received the referral about Stephen Greenhalgh on Monday from the Greater London Authority (GLA).

She said: "This referral follows a complaint made to the GLA regarding the conduct of deputy mayor for policing Stephen Greenhalgh.

"The allegations which form the complaint relate to Mr Greenhalgh's previous role at a London local authority. The complaint is currently being considered by the IPCC."

Mr Greenhalgh's current role means he has the authority to appoint and sack senior officers in the capital.

Published: 15 January 2013

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Britain's biggest airport had a record-breaking year in 2012.

Heathrow handled almost 70 million passengers last year - a new calendar-year high and 0.9% more than in 2011.

The growth at the west London airport was driven by a 3.2% increase in north Atlantic traffic. There were also many more flights to Brazil as well as growth on Middle East, central Asian and east Asian routes.

African traffic dipped 5.7% and Indian traffic was down 3.4% last year due to airlines either reducing or ceasing services.

European traffic rose just 0.5%. There were significant variances, reflecting economic conditions, with Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain seeing a collective passenger reduction of 4.5% over the course of 2012.

Greece experienced the largest reduction (down 7.3%), followed by Italy (down 6.8%). Offsetting this, Germany's traffic increased by 2.3% and France's traffic rose by 0.6%. Domestic traffic was up slightly, by 0.5%.

Brazil saw the biggest increase (up 21%), followed by China, which saw passenger numbers rise 5.9%, while Russia had a 4.5% increase in passenger numbers.

Planes in and out of Heathrow flew 75.6% full last year compared with 75.2% in 2011. The 2012 figure was another record. Cargo traffic for 2012 was down 1.3%.

Published: 14 January 2013

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Tesco has revealed its best UK sales growth in three years as the chain's drive to reverse falling profits gathered pace over Christmas.

Like-for-like sales in the UK grew by 1.8% in the six weeks to January 5 after a big improvement in food following last year's disastrous showing.

Chief executive Philip Clarke said the seasonal performance was encouraging but added there was "a lot more to do" as the market leader looks to recover from last year's first drop in profits for two decades.

Tesco shares opened 3% higher. While the sales figure was better than City expectations, it was helped by comparisons with the previous Christmas, when the chain admitted it messed up its pricing strategy in a performance that wiped billions of pounds from its share price.

Having taken over the running of the UK division last year, Mr Clarke announced that Chris Bush, who has worked for the company for 30 years, is to join the Tesco board as UK managing director.

Mr Clarke's turnaround strategy has brought significant investment on a range of initiatives, including an additional 8,000 staff and the launch of its Everyday Value range, which has replaced Tesco Value.

Mr Clarke said Everyday Value and its upmarket equivalent, Finest, outperformed the business as a whole, with customers responding to a much stronger seasonal offering in these ranges.

He added that more work was needed to improve Tesco's performance in general merchandise, although he said the trends were better over Christmas.

Published: 10 January 2013

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Pensioners have been given some welcome news after the UK's top statistician said a key measure of inflation linked to retirement income and a raft of other investments and services should remain unchanged.

Jil Matheson, the national statistician, said that while the calculations used behind the RPI (Retail Prices Index) do not meet international standards, the index should be maintained due to its "significant value" to index-linked bond markets.

She recommended that a new index should be created from March, called RPIJ, which would use a different way of calculating the prices of goods and be closer aligned to the UK's benchmark level of inflation, the CPI (Consumer Prices Index).

There had been fears that changes to RPI calculations would see the index rise at a slower pace, which would have far-reaching implications as the index is linked to a wide variety of services and investments, from water bills and rail fares to pensions and even national debt.

There were concerns in particular for pensioners, as many annuities are linked to RPI and even a small percentage change could knock thousands of pounds off a typical 20-year retirement income. Many private pensioners also have their annual increases linked to RPI, while returns for investors with index-linked bonds and savings certificates are likewise based on the index.

The RPI review had also attracted controversy, as any change prompting a fall in the index would have provided a boost to Chancellor George Osborne and his debt-busting plans, saving the Treasury billions of pounds a year in interest on Government bonds.

Pensions expert Ros Altmann, director-general of Saga, said the decision not to alter RPI was "excellent news". She added: "To have radically changed the traditional inflation measure, on which many people's incomes depend, could have jeopardised the inflation protection inherent in many people's income arrangements."

Published: 10 January 2013

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Fears of a triple-dip recession will loom large for Bank of England policymakers after a gloomy start to the year for the economy.

Despite the continuing uncertainty, the Bank's nine-strong Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is expected to remain in "wait and see" mode this month and potentially some months to come.

Economists predict interest rates will be held at 0.5% for the foreseeable future, while the Bank is not expected to consider more economy-boosting measures under its quantitative easing (QE) programme until the path for the economy becomes more certain.

Many pundits think gross domestic product (GDP) slipped back into the red in the final quarter of 2012 following figures suggesting the dominant services sector contracted in December for the first time in two years.

With manufacturing the only bright spot so far in December after Markit/CIPS survey data also pointed to a poor performance from the construction industry, many experts hold out little hope for growth and fear the new year will bring scant economic respite.

A narrowing of the UK's trade deficit to £3.5 billion in November also failed to calm fears as economists said there needed to be a far bigger improvement in December to prevent net trade dragging on GDP in the fourth quarter.

America's recent fiscal cliff deal to avoid automatic tax hikes and spending cuts has provided some relief for the wider global economy, while the recent easing of eurozone sovereign debt tensions has likewise improved the outlook.

Published: 09 January 2013

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