Almost 150 jobs are to be axed by Portsmouth City Council and there are almost certain to be more to follow. The cash-strapped council is axing 48 posts to save cash, at the same time as almost 100 people have opted to take redundancy as part of a radical revamp of care services for people needing help at home.

The Royal College of Nursing was last night heading for the first national industrial action in its 91-year history in protest at the government’s decision to hold back part of the pay increase nurses were due this month.

A seven-year-old boy and his HIV-positive parents at the centre of a deportation battle have been granted a legal reprieve after coming within hours of being put on a plane to Malawi.

A portable foetal heart monitor which has been developed for pregnant women could help to cut the number of stillbirths in Britain, according to the charity that funded the research.

Teenage anorexics will win greater rights to refuse treatment for their eating disorders under controversial new mental health laws to be debated by MPs this week.

A shortage of people willing to adopt has led to more children being taken into care. Latest figures show at the end of March last year 465 children in Warwickshire were being looked after in care compared to 445 two years ago.

More than half of the population carries a gene that makes people more likely to pile on the pounds, scientists announce today. They hope the discovery could eventually lead to treatments to help people lose excess weight they carry simply because of their genetic make-up.

A woman suffering from a perforated duodenal ulcer died as a result of a gross failure to provide basic medical attention by NHS staff on two separate occasions, an inquest ruled yesterday.

The UK’s biggest Rastafarian temple was turned into a major drug dealing centre where hundreds of people went to buy cannabis and crack cocaine every day, detectives said yesterday.

Childcare that would allow pupils to spend 50 hours a week in school could undermine family life, teachers said yesterday.