City news in 250 words: Thursday 10 June

163 CHILD ABUSE VICTIMS who were sexually and physically abused at children's homes in Manchester in the 1950s to the 1990s, are to receive compensation. It comes after 168 other victims were awarded a total of £2.26m in 2007. The victims say they were abused at Rosehill in Northenden, Broome House in Didsbury, and Mobberley Boys School in Knutsford, run by the council's social services department. The settlement means the victims will not have to give evidence in court.

PICASSO SETS and costumes worn by Dame Margot Fonteyn are going on display as part of a major exhibition by the Royal Ballet at the Lowry centre in Salford. Unseen work by LS Lowry, who had a love of ballet, will also go on show there. Plans for a permanent Royal Opera House (ROH) base in neighbouring Manchester, which have been in the pipeline since 2008, are currently on hold.

THE FINAL BIG BROTHER BEGINS: A widow from Stockport is one of the 14 housemates in what is the final series of the reality TV show. Corin Forshaw, 29, is a shop worker who is often mistaken for Katie Price. Corin had been married for just four months when her husband was killed on the building site where he worked as a labourer in 2005. She said his death taught her that you have to grab life 'by the short and curlys.' She joins 13 other contestants including an ex-forces amputee, a self-obsessed Beyonce lookalike, an Australian and a Christian minister.

Out of the window weather forecast:The BBQ is dead. Long live the oven.