The Bank of England has injected a further £50 billion into the economy as the UK battles to stave off another recession.

The Bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted to increase the quantitative easing (QE) programme - effectively printing more cash - from £275 billion to £325 billion despite the risks it poses to the country's inflation rate. Meanwhile, it held interest rates at a record low of 0.5%.

Record low interest rates have helped drive down the number of repossessions in the UK to the lowest level since 2007, lenders have said.

Around 8,500 properties were repossessed in the fourth quarter of the year, 9% down from the previous quarter, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said.

Buy-to-let mortgages worth £14.1 billion were advanced last year, the highest figure since 2008, new figures show.

A total of 124,000 such mortgages were made last year, up from 94,100 in 2010 as the market continued to recover, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said.

The Government must tackle the "scandal of extortionate price rises" in London hotels during the Olympic and Paralympic Games, a Labour MP has said.

Shadow minister for London and the Olympics Tessa Jowell claimed prices across London were averaging an increase of 315%, as she called for action "on behalf of those already struggling families across the UK who want to be able to afford to come to London and enjoy the Olympic and Paralympic Games".

A middle wage earning man could triple his annual private pension income through seven "positive choices", a report has suggested.

Decisions including working for one year after state pension age and shopping around to buy the best annuity could boost a typical male earner's yearly retirement income from £2,200 to £7,710, the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) said.

A young couple are celebrating winning a rollover jackpot of more than £45 million in the EuroMillions draw.

The pair, who have not yet been named but are from Nottingham, banked a staggering total of £45,160,170.50, Camelot said.

The Government has confirmed it will halve the subsidies paid to households who install solar panels - but insisted it had made improvements to the controversial changes.

Ministers have warned the falling costs of solar technology made the subsidies too generous and the feed-in tariffs scheme, which pays people for small scale renewables projects, risked spiralling over budget.

The Government has announced a £4.5 million fund aimed at boosting adult skills in cities across England.

The City Skills Fund will offer £500,000 to help provide skills identified by local employers, in partnership with colleges and other organisations.

Up to 80,000 more neighbourhood disputes and small rows between businesses will be diverted to mediation under Government plans to make it cheaper and quicker to solve problems.

All small claims would automatically be referred to a telephone-based mediation service, rather than the courts, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said.

Councils will share funds of £11.5 billion in the coming year, Finance Secretary John Swinney has said.

The budget settlement for 2012-13 aims to continue the council tax freeze across Scotland's 32 local authorities and pay for shared agreements with the Scottish Government.