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Children’s television programmes including Blue Peter and Newsround will be moved off BBC1 and BBC2 as part of the corporation’s cost-cutting measures. The shows will move to digital channels CBBC and CBeebies as part of the Delivering Quality First scheme. The plans, part of a process which has seen the BBC commit to saving billions [...]

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She is a former Miss World, a successful Bollywood star and married to the son of one of India’s best-loved stars. She found international fame in the Hollywood film Bride and Prejudice, and Julia Roberts billed her as the world’s most beautiful woman. Thanks to the notoriety such fame and fortune has brought her, Aishwarya [...]

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Forget the reductions in news, arts and music programming announced in the BBC’s latest round of cost-saving alterations to the entertainment schedules – there is only one change that really matters. After 60 years on the flagship – or, in lay terms, “proper” – channel, BBC1, Blue Peter is to be moved to CBBC, the [...]

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A Chinese restaurant offering an all-you-can-eat buffet is charging customers £20 in ‘wastage’ if they leave food on their plates. Managers at the Kylin Buffet in Ocean Road, South Shields, have put up a notice urging diners to eat up all their food – or face the penalty charge. The policy has outraged one mother [...]

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Critics also warn that the move will make it harder for parents to regulate their children’s television viewing.   The corporation announced that all shows aimed at children will be moved off BBC One and BBC Two and onto digital channels dedicated to young viewers. They claim the move will save money while at the [...]

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Take an exclusive behind the scenes look at the making of the Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two video game. Meet some of the key people behind the creation of the game, and get a deeper understanding into the core gameplay features, mechanics and storyline. Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two [...]

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Yesterday she was told in no uncertain terms to stop playing mother to her fiancé’s children. But Elizabeth Hurley is clearly a woman who doesn’t scare easily as she stepped out with Shane Warne’s daughter. The model was snapped with her betrothed and his youngest girl Summer, and her son Damian, both 10. They were [...]

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Bronx high school teacher Charles Best found that the resources for his classroom were severely lacking. He and his fellow teachers bought pencils and copy paper out-of-pocket, and spent much of their time together discussing the ways they wished they could engage their students if they had the extra funding. “The resources our students needed [...]

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Lady Gaga will have to cancel her sold-out show in Indonesia following protests by Islamic hard-liners and conservative lawmakers, who said her sexy clothes and dance moves will corrupt young people. National police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar, responding to the pressure, said today that the permit for her 3 June “Born This Way Ball” concert [...]

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Women’s empowerment guru, Tyra Banks, has spoken out in support of Vogue’s decision to ban rail thin models from its pages. The 38-year-old media mogul and former supermodel praised the fashion glossy’s 19 editors today for banding together to put a stop to ‘thinspirational’ editorial and called for a toast ‘over some barbecue and burgers’. [...]

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A TV ad for Center Parcs resorts has been banned for promoting a family deal for when parents would least be able to take it. The £249 holiday promoted by the company was only available midweek  – and only in school term time. Both British and foreign holiday companies, together with airlines, routinely push up [...]

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In January she had a modest baby bump but what a difference four months can make. Chris Evans and his wife Natasha Shishman proudly showed off her heavily pregnant shape at the Sony Radio Awards. The Radio presenter, 46, was every inch the proud father-to-be as pointed enthusiastically at his wife’s baby bump, not that [...]

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Aishwarya Rai is no stranger to Cannes. The Bollywood actor and former Miss World has attended the film festival 10 times, but her appearance on the red carpet next week is set to be her most talked about. The cause of a controversy raging in India lies not with her latest film – Rai is [...]

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AS the gales raged and the floods rose, their homes were destroyed and their families torn apart. Caragh Hunter, of HART Wildlife Rescue, said: ‘Two were found inside a fallen tree. The others were found after being blown from trees. They’re all between four and eight weeks old. One was saved after a crow attacked [...]

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Prince Edward has declined a Belfast pupil’s appeal for a royal reprieve from homework. The prince was visiting Lagan College on the outskirts of the city in the first engagement of a one-day visit. During a presentation in the main hall, year eight pupil Michael Hare asked the prince to sign a royal pardon which [...]

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She says she has lost two stone since being pregnant, but Una Healy insists that she is still all ‘soft’ and ‘squidgy’ following the birth of baby girl Aoife Belle two months ago. That is hard to believe though, looking at the pictures of the super svelte singer making her way through Heathrow today. Una, [...]

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The final of the competition, which was broadcast on Sunday night on BBC2, was won by teenage cellist Laura van der Heijden. However Norman Lebrecht, the arts critic and BBC Radio 3 presenter, criticised the corporation’s coverage as being “low-key to the point of torpor”. Viewers also accused the corporation of using a lightweight production [...]

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Parents were warned today to prepare for a Furby invasion this Christmas. Yes, that furry mechanical friend, which resembles a malevolent hamster crossed with a chimp, has had its first makeover in six years. Makers Tiger Electronics aren’t giving anything away, just this image of the next generation friend called Taboo. Whether the company can [...]

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A balmy evening in South-West London, and I’m trying to convince a handsome chap called Jake to cha-cha-cha. I’m hoping that as a couple we have the potential to dance in perfect harmony, and to encourage him I’ve brought along his favourite food (cocktail sausages) and put on his favourite CD (Strictly Dance Classics). But [...]

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After giving birth to her third child last summer, one could forgive Claudia Winkleman for wanting to take it easy. However, the Strictly Come Dancing presenter tells Mandrake the new child has made her so broody her husband has had to impose a baby ban.   “I’d like another baby but my husband has banned [...]

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Fifteen-year-old cellist Laura van der Heijden has won the BBC’s Young Musician prize for 2012. The teenager played Sir William Walton’s Cello Concerto with the Northern Sinfonia at the competition’s final at The Sage in Gateshead. Accepting the £2,000 prize, van der Heijden, from East Sussex, said she felt “amazing” and “so, so lucky”. She [...]

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Tintin is experiencing new and exciting adventures these days. Not just in the cinema, but in Belgian courts as well. Bienvenu Mbuto Mondondo, a Congolese national studying in Brussels, filed suit to obtain an injunction against the continued publication, distribution and sale of Hergé’s comic book Tintin in the Congo (Tintin au Congo), as well [...]

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Grownup children still living with their parents get a pretty bad press. In Britain and America they’re labelled “Kippers” (Kids In Parents’ Pockets Eroding Retirement Savings) or “Yuckies” (Young Unwitting Costly Kids). In Australia it’s “Slops” (Singles Living Off Parents). In Italy it’s “Bamboccioni” (Big Babies). The Japanese are even less delicate: their “parasaito shinguru” [...]

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The Knightsbridge retail emporium will mark the Queen’s 60 years on the throne by broadcasting the national anthem from speakers on the side of the building every day for a month. The tune will be played every day at midday from this Wednesday until Friday June 15.   During the actual Jubilee weekend of June [...]

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The advertising campaign has made no difference to the travel plans of more than two thirds of respondents in survey a carried out by YouGov for the prepaid currency card provider Caxton FX.   The research, which was completed by more than 2,000 people, asked if the campaign – which reportedly cost £4million – had [...]

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Simon Cowell predicts Britain’s Got Talent winner Pudsey will become the most famous dog in the world. He’s probably right. I can just see Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence being cast as Ashleigh and Pudsey portraying himself – and maybe Colin Firth playing Simon since he’s putting up the money? There simply isn’t a Hollywood [...]

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Marvel’s The Avengers movie won big on Twitter and in the box office when it premiered May 4. However, one joke from the movie has set off bloggers from the adoption community and fueled an online petition seeking an apology from Marvel Comics. Jamie Berke created a Change.org petition, “Marvel Comics – Apologize to Adoption [...]

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Disney are normally associated with talking animals, princes and princesses, and objects which have come to life with a tough of magic. Well, the magical wizards at Disneyland have made that last thing a reality, after unveiling a high-tech solution which can turn anything – from doorknobs to buckets of water – into interactive buttons. [...]

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Model Sasha Pivovarova has given birth to a baby girl just two days after posting the first picture of her pregnant bump. The Russian-born 26-year-old, who has yet to reveal her new baby’s name, announced the birth via Twitter yesterday, telling her fans: ‘It’s a beautiful baby girl… ’ It is a first baby for [...]

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Social media: It’s not just for college kids anymore. Families use Facebook to stay in touch across generations. Friends well into middle age share photos on Instagram. There’s even an 80-year-old grandmother on a quest for 80,000 Twitter followers. But how does social media’s widening reach affect the family unit? The brand-engagement firm GMR Marketing [...]

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Like most loving parents, Chris and Kathy Coker were anxious when their son Bradley embarked on his gap-year trip around the world. Even though they knew he was sensible, it was hard not to worry about what could go wrong. And so, the Cokers recall, they breathed a sigh of relief when they learned that [...]

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They came armed with rubber gloves, wellies and lashings of Dunkirk spirit. And the brigade of volunteers who took our battle against litter to the beaches managed to fill an astonishing 3,200 bin bags with rubbish. In total, more than 60 miles of coastline was cleared of litter after thousands of volunteers turned out to [...]

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The number of England’s beaches gaining Blue Flag awards for cleanliness has increased in 2012. But about 30% of the beaches might not reach tougher water quality standards being introduced next year, said Blue Flag scheme organisers Keep Britain Tidy. For 2012, a total of 79 English beaches have received blue flag awards – nine [...]

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He’s been married to his actress wife for seven years who recently gave birth to their third child. And this weekend, ahead of Mother’s Day, actor Ben Affleck paid tribute to Jennifer Garner and praised her for being a ‘world-class mum’. He took to his Facebook page yesterday to post a video of him speaking [...]

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It was a simple gesture; a child’s innocent hug that brought a smile to the face of the Queen.   Amid the grandiose surroundings of St George’s Hall in Windsor Castle — 4,000 miles and a world away from her village in Uganda — Lydia Amito stood in line waiting to meet the monarch.   [...]

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After a long and successful career in political spin, Tigryulia the tiger decided it was time to paws and focus on being a stay-at-home mum. The white feline became a household name in Ukraine after being a poster cat for the now jailed Yulia Tymoshenko’s presidential campaign Tigryulia is now back in the spotlight after [...]

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The name Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje is not one that slips easily off the tongue but it’s worth mastering because we’re likely to be hearing a lot more of it in the future. Followers of the wilfully perplexing American fantasy series Lost may recall its owner as Mr Eko, the former drug lord turned fake priest who [...]

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We used ready-to-roll red and blue sugarpaste icing (£1.15 for 250g from janeasher.com) to decorate. It’s so easy children can do it. For the cakes 250g (9oz) butter, slightly softened 250g (9oz) caster sugar 4 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten 250g (9oz) self-raising flour 1 tsp vanilla extract 5 tbsp milk For the icing [...]

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Throughout the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee year we are featuring some of your memories of meeting and seeing Queen Elizabeth II. While children have formed an important backdrop to the various celebrations and landmarks of the Queen’s 60 years on the throne, it is impossible to predict what a child will do – whether it is [...]

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Police are warning primary school pupils about chatting online amid fears that paedophiles are targeting children on websites such as Moshi Monsters and Club Penguin. Bedfordshire Police is sending officers into more than 300 schools to raise awareness about online imposters after parents highlighted possible ‘grooming’ incidents. One mother told police that her son was [...]

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‘What the —- is this bull—-?” Eyes on mine, Mike Tyson slams his fist down on the leather sofa. Then he smiles – a smile that travels slowly up from those sadistic-looking incisors to the flames tattooed over his left eye. “That was what I was like back then. I had this rage inside and [...]

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Her sense of style is coveted by many but now Kourtney Kardashian has influenced the world of parenting. While Jacob has been found to be the most popular name for boys for the 13th year straight, Mason has come in at second place according to a list made by the U.S. Social Security Administration. The [...]

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Prince Harry has always been a bit of a joker so it is no surprise that he managed to make this little baby smile. The Prince proved he has a softer side as he clowned around for a friend’s baby during a polo match. He couldn’t resist making the little tot laugh as he took [...]

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The Duchess of Cambridge’s parents, who now boast their own coat of arms, could soon be moving to a house befitting of their new status. According to residents in their home village of Bucklebury, Berkshire, Michael and Carole Middleton have viewed The Manor, a £4m mansion close to their current home. But all hopes the [...]

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Vancouver mother Wendy Tsao wanted to find the perfect comfort toy for her four-year-old son Dani, one that he would instantly bond with and cherish forever. But rather than run to the shop, she rifled through his stacks of drawings and found inspiration in his own imagination. Mrs Tsao took to needle and thread to [...]

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A teenage boy is accused of heading a group of hackers who targeted Tony Blair, MI5 and the BNP. TeamPoison claimed responsibility for hacking Scotland Yard’s anti-terrorist hotline and posted recordings on YouTube. The 17-year-old was arrested on Friday and police seized all of his computer equipment. He was released on bail over the weekend. [...]

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Sophie Clucas, her mum Clair Clucas, 38, and her grandma Joy Parkinson, 64, will personally hand in the letter at 10 Downing Street. Sophie said she wanted the Government to change course as restoration work on Wakefield Cathedral, which she visits every Sunday, has ground to a halt due to rising costs.   Sophie, a pupil [...]

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Up to 525,000 Scouts across the UK are set to take part in their first week of community volunteering since “bob-a-job” week ended 20 years ago. Planned activities include tackling speeding, removing graffiti, renovating care homes and building habitats for rare bees. The young people have been encouraged to do jobs which will help their [...]

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The World’s tallest Lego tower has been erected in Seoul, South Korea, built by 4,000 children, using 500,000 bricks and measuring a dizzying 31.9 metres (105ft) high. The toy tower was unveiled on Sunday by Danish Crown Prince Frederik, who laid the final record-breaking brick, as part of a celebration to mark Lego’s 80th birthday. [...]

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The two women preside over modern textiles and fashion, and 20th century fashion there respectively. This is indeed an exhibition that lifts the spirits and that is ultimately as light-hearted as many of the designs included display lightness of touch. It is also the place to go to see some of the biggest, boldest, most [...]

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