Around 10,000 bears are being kept in tiny cages on bear farms in China, to be milked for their bile, a highly prized ingredient in Chinese traditional medicine.

This has been revealed by British charity Animals Asia, which buys up the farms to release the bears, after corrective surgery to repair the infected holes in their abdomens.

The organisers of the London Marathon are taking legal action against a Channel 4 Dispatches episode Tracing the Marathon’s Millions.

In this it was claimed that three quarters of the event’s turnover was accounted for by salaries and undisclosed costs, a claim that the organisers refute.

Retailer Brighthouse, which makes its money selling aspirational products to credit-impaired households at an annual rate of interest of 29.9% over three years has been criticised by charity Credit Action.

A wide-screen TV at £1650 would end up costing £3650 at Brighthouse, an item many would argue that the poor households, on an income of £20,000 pa or less and Brighthouse’s target market, should not be encouraged to buy. Credit Action say that such customers should not go to Brighthouse but should save to buy over a longer period. There is also the argument that such purchases at this price level are, in any case, irresponsible, particularly given the price of under £100 for new TVs bought in supermarkets.

In a recent piece in the Daily Telegraph Credit Action admitted that Brighthouse customers liked the fact that they could purchase products beyond their means.

George Gray, 50, is to appear at City of Westminster Magistrates Court on June 14 charged over an alleged £253,000 fraud at the Foundation for Integrated Health.

The foundation was set up by the Prince of Wales.

Serbian model Katarina Rebraca, 37, has been arrested for allegedly embezzling £327,000 from her breast cancer charity and spending it on lavish parties, a Jeep and clothes.

Four other women have also been charged with fraud and embezzlement at the Katarina Rebraca Fund.

Children who fail to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day are depriving themselves of essential vitamins and nutrients, and could be at increased risk of developing cancer.

This is the warning given by the World Cancer Research Fund which reveals that four out of five children do not get their five a day and that the average for children aged five to 15 is only three a day, with one in 14 boys and one in 25 girls eating none a day.

An Asda store in Cardiff started charging charity collectors £100 to operate in its store.

Due to the bad publicity generated for Asda by its charging the Cardiff High School and Christian Aid to offer bag-packing services to shoppers, the group has backed down and refunded the money to the charities.

The League Against Cruel Sports has been censured by the Charities Commission for “party political activity” in criticising the Conservatives for wanting to repeal the ban on hunting.

The charity questioned if the party that David Cameron is trying to brand as the “Compassionate Conservatives” would not be better characterised as the “Nasty Party”

According to a MORI poll taken in September 2009 around 75% of the public support the 2005 ban. The league has a website on the issue at www.league.org.uk/keepcrueltyhistory

A trust set up by a former campaigning police officer, the Victims of Crime Trust, has been voluntarily dissolved after it failed to account for hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of donations, and failed to submit accounts for more than four years.

The trust was “mismanaged”, according to the Charities Commission by its founder, Norman Brennan and his team.

Brennan, who has enjoyed much misguided media support, was formerly a constable with British Transport Police, the farce paid for and controlled by the transportation companies.