ENVIRONMENT: A consortium of three firms have been named as the preferred bidder for a contract worth up to £1.4 billion to process nuclear waste at the Sellafield site in Cumbria.

French firm Areva and British companies Mace and Atkins formed AMA in order to bid for the work to process nuclear waste from the Magnox Swarf Storage Silo at Sellafield.

Sellafield’s chief project officer Scott Reeder said: “The market recognised the challenges presented by this important and complex project.”

ART: Mysterious street artist Banksy appears to have unveiled his latest creation, targeting the issue of government surveillance.

The artwork shows three 1950s-style agents, wearing brown trench coats and trilby hats, using devices to tap into conversations at a telephone box.

It appeared overnight on a street in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, just a few miles from GCHQ, where Britain’s surveillance network is based.

COURTS: Former News of the World editor Andy Coulson told the hacking trial yesterday that his affair with Rebekah Brooks “was wrong and it shouldn’t have happened.”

The married father-of-three acknowledged the “pain” the on-off relationship caused, particularly to his wife Eloise.