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The Royal family have announced that the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton is pregnant. After marrying Prince William in a huge national celebration in April 2011, speculation has been rife as to when their first child would be announced.

A spokesman for St James's Palace said she is currently in hospital due to severe morning sickness and is expected to stay for at least a few days, but that the royal family are delighted about the pregnancy. 

Details are vague at the moment, though expect to hear much, much more about baby, who is likely to one day become the King or Queen of England. He or she will be third in line to the throne.

The statement from the palace revealed:

"Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Cambridge is expecting a baby."

"The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh, The Prince of Wales, The Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Harry and members of both families are delighted with the news."

It also downplayed the fact that the expecting mother is in hospital, explaining:

"As the pregnancy is in its very early stages, Her Royal Highness is expected to stay in hospital for several days and will require a period of rest thereafter."

London Mayor Boris Johnson has continued to welcome Indian students to Britain as part of his tour of the country. All this week he has been in India promoting British universities and strengthening ties with their Indian counterparts, whilst also taking the opportunity to slam the recent changes to international student visas.

India has a population of 1.2 billion people, and half of them are under the age of 25, making it the perfect country to target for growth at British universities. Indeed, during a visit to Amity University, south of Delhi, the Mayor emphasised London as a study option for the university's students:

"As Mayor I will do all I can to promote London as a place that is open for business and open to the brightest talent in the world. International students not only bring bright ideas that cement the reputations of our leading universities, they have huge spending power that boosts the UK economy."

Amity University already has a small campus in London and Mr Johnson encouraged the idea of it expanding. The Chancellor of the university, Atul Chauhan explained:

London's mayor Boris Johnson has repeatedly come to the aid of foreign students during his visit to India, calling for fewer restrictions on student visas.

Boris's trip to India has been used to send a clear message to Indian students that London is still welcoming international talent as it re-establishes itself as a 'global centre for education'. 

This comes at a time when last summer's chaos surrounding London Met university sparked uncertainty amongst Indians abroad over whether the UK was mistreating its overseas visitors.

The latest large-scale student protest took place yesterday. Organised by the National Union of Students (NUS), thousands of students marched through the streets of London to protest about increased tuition fees.

The protest was largely peaceful and ‘good humoured' with only a brief stand-off between police and protestors at Westminster. NUS leader Liam Burns explained the reasons behind the demo:

"Education should open doors, but the government is slamming them shut...The damaging effects of recent changes to education have restricted access for future students and created new barriers for those currently studying."

However, the march didn't go completely to plan for the NUS, who were hoping for 10,000 marchers, rather than the 3,000-4,000 that actually turned up. Things got worse for Liam Burns when he was heckled and had eggs thrown at him whilst he was making his speech. Protestors from more extreme organisations were unhappy with how the NUS leaders had dealt with the increased fees, and invaded the stage before the speech could be finished.

London Mayor Boris Johnson is the latest in a long line of prominent figures in Britain to question the government's decision to increase restrictions on student visas. Being a member of the Conservative party that introduced the new rules, the attack carries even more weight and shows the widespread concern over the changes.

The Mayor focussed on the financial side of the things, emphasising the importance of international students to Britain:

"[The visa changes] are not in the interests of London and the UK economy... We are losing a massive business opportunity here which is completely crazy for the UK market, which is brilliant at higher education, to be closing itself off from some of the best and brightest students from around the world."

The Mayor is making a week-long trip to India later this month, to visit New Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad in an attempt to further develop economic ties with the country. He revealed that whilst there, one of the main issues he'll be discussing will be the recent student visa changes and that he hopes to gain "ammunition" to support his argument against them.

Whilst admitting that a tougher immigration policy in Britain may be needed, he argued that current restrictions are going about it in completely the wrong manner: