Clair Birch says her £170,000 annexe was designed around her disabled daughter’s needs, but planning officials have rejected her appeal. (Photo: SWNS) A mother who spent £170,000 building a two-storey annexe for her disabled daughter could now be forced to demolish it after losing a planning appeal. Clair Birch, 59, built the one-bedroom annexe in…

A federal jury in Los Angeles ordered the United States government to pay $12.7 million (£7.8 million) to a California family after it seized their 6,300-acre ranch on Santa Cruz Island. The verdict, delivered in February 1999 after a three-week trial, ended a decades-long property dispute between federal park officials and attorney Francis Gherini, whose…

Nathan Cofnas (L), who exposed Cambridge professor Jason Arday’s plagiarism, suspended by Ghent University. A day after Ghent University suspended him, US academic Nathan Cofnas has said he was made a “scapegoat” after he brought plagiarism allegations against late former Cambridge professor Jason Arday into the spotlight.Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Cofnas said he…

1890 $100 Watermelon Treasury Note Fr. 377 with Admiral David Farragut and famous green Watermelon reverse An extremely rare 1890 $100 Treasury Note, known to currency collectors as the “Watermelon” note because of its unusual back design, is set to go under the hammer in October. Only about 35 of the original 120,000 notes are…