Two local charities, backed by BBC Northern Ireland, team up once more to try to make Christmas brighter for needy local families.

Louis Smith, the first British gymnast to win an Olympic medal for 80 years, makes a passionate plea for more funding for his sport in the run-up to 2012.

A look back at some of Blue Peter's highlights and institutions as the show celebrates its 50th anniversary.

A Walsall children's playgroup says it is having to clean up needles left by drug addicts.

Falkirk Labour MP Eric Joyce is banned from driving for six months after speeding on the M9.

A wild rook found as a fledging is adopted by a Devon man to keep his parrots company.

In one of the strangest copyright infringement cases to come before a judge, a mother is fighting for the right to post a video on the internet showing her young son dancing to a song by Prince.

Aston Villa hold Liverpool, Tottenham draw at Chelsea and Man City hammer Sunderland.

A woman in her 60s is injured when she is mugged and pushed into railings in a south Devon town.

Fed up with jobs that don't allow them to spend time with their children, mums are starting their own businesses.

New facilities for premature babies and their parents are to be unveiled at St Michael's Hospital in Bristol.

Police at Bristol International Airport have developed an identity band to help missing children.

The weak US dollar is causing hardship in import-dependent East Timor, writes the BBC's Lucy Williamson.

Police are trying to establish if a seven-year-old boy was the driver of a car which crashed and overturned in Suffolk.

Production of Lockheed Martin's F-22 fighter jet may be halted as the US tightens the purse strings.

Television presenter Anne Robinson is banned from driving for six months after admitting a speeding offence.

A nursery is partially closed in Cumbria after four children are taken ill in an outbreak of E.coli.

A carbon tax will stop us using the atmosphere as a rubbish dump and will make it cheaper to protect it.

What Avram Grant faces to get Europe's top coaching badge

A wonder debut goal from Ched Evans earns Wales their third successive victory in Iceland.