A family of foster carers are facing bankruptcy and homelessness after they signed up to a Government scheme to renovate their house to be used for disabled children's short breaks. Two years ago the Waite family received a grant from Leicestershire County Council to transform their home into a respite centre for severely disabled foster children. But after a dispute arose with the builder over the £75,000 extension to their three bedroom house in Leicestershire, Mark Waite, 44, and his wife Clair, 39, now face losing everything they have worked for. The couple, who represent the third generation in a 100-year family tradition of fostering disabled children, have had to sell all their furniture and clothes on ebay to pay solicitor's fees and say they now face total ruin. They say the council has "left them out in the cold" over the legal wrangle, leaving them responsible for tens of thousands of pounds of debt which will almost certainly result in them ending up on the streets with their two children.
A middle spotted woodpecker swoops into her nest and feeds her young in a forest in Trentino, Italy .
Southern England, the south-west and west Wales have been warned to expect more wild weather, with heavy rain and high tides possibly leading to coastal flooding and travel disruption over the weekend .
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DIVING boffins fired harpoons into 30-foot-long whale sharks in a bid to put the sea-beasts on Google Maps .