Sports minister Hugh Robertson says the London Olympics are set to come in under its £9.3bn budget with about £500m of the contingency funding left.
He told the BBC the exact figure would be announced to Parliament later.
But Mr Robertson said that "all being well we should be able to hand half a billion pounds back to the Treasury".
The £9.3bn budget, which included a £2bn contingency, was set in 2007 and was almost four times the estimated cost at the time London bid in 2005.
The budget was revised upwards after taking into account previously overlooked costs such as VAT, increased security costs, and an expanded brief for the Olympic Delivery Authority to regenerate the lower Lea Valley area.
Mr Robertson said the latest figure for the Games, which begin next month, was "a great advert for the British construction industry, for sport and for UK Plc".
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
London Olympics' Road Routes Revealed - Sky.com
TfL suggests taking other routes or other forms of transport during the period
12:32pm UK, Tuesday June 12, 2012
Drivers are being urged to avoid central London from mid-July as the transport network gears up for the Olympic Games.
The Olympic Route Network (ORN), a 109-mile network of roads linking Games venues from mid-July, is being brought in for the duration of the Games.
"During the Games, London will be turned into a massive sporting and cultural venue," London's transport commissioner Peter Hendy said.
"We have plans in place to get all athletes, officials and the world's media to their Games events on time and to keep London moving and open for business.
Work will be completed by the time the torch relay reaches London
"From mid-July, central London and areas around Games venues will be much busier than usual. The ORN, which is part of the host city contract for the Games, will be a vital part of managing the busy roads and delivering a great Games.
"It will come into operation on July 25, a couple of days before the opening ceremony and our advice to motorists is clear. From mid-July, avoid driving in central London, around the ORN and Games venues."
The ORN, including 30 miles of reserved Games Lanes, will open two days ahead of the Olympic opening ceremony and will be a key route to help the athletes, officials, media and sponsors who are expected to descend on London "in significant numbers" from July 16.
Congestion is expected and the M4 Games Lane is due to open from July 16 to help with the increased traffic, Transport for London (TfL) said.
Major building work for the ORN, including installing barriers for junctions, will start on July 20, with the aim of finishing it by the time the torch relay comes to London.
New road markings will be in place from the beginning of July with changes to more than 1,300 sets of traffic signals also up and running.
TfL says the changes will have only a small impact on road users because they will be offset by a complete ban on planned road works along the ORN and on all A and B roads.
The ORN and the Games Lanes will be enforced from 6am to midnight from July 25 and finish within three days of the Games ending.
Source: news.sky.com
'London 2012 terrorist threat' adverts banned - The Guardian
An advertising campaign by a firm aiming to cash in on the fear of terrorism during the London Olympic games by using images of the 7/7 attacks to sell bomb-blast window film has been banned by the advertising watchdog.
The Advertising Standards Authority described the campaign, which used an image of the bus destroyed in Tavistock Square in the 7 July 2005 bombings, as "wholly inappropriate and shocking" and likely to cause serious offence.
In its ruling the ASA said that the campaign had "exaggerated the potential threat faced by businesses due to the Olympic Games and could have caused undue fear and distress to someone who received the mailing".
The advertising regulator added that the campaign was in breach of the advertising code and banned it.
Used as part of a direct mail campaign by a company called Northgate Solar Controls that aimed to drum up orders for its anti-shatter window film, the 7/7 image was sent to about 4,400 businesses.
Northgate Solar Controls told business owners they may have already been visited by the Metropolitan police or another "government agency" to warn of a "red alert for the Olympic Games".
The campaign talked of a "very real threat" of suicide bombers entering the country more easily because of large numbers of visitors swamping ports of entry and "undetected terrorist sleeper cells" that could launch an attack affecting businesses.
Northgate Solar Controls said that it only targeted businesses in London and the home counties, where most of the Olympic activity is taking place, and that it was not scaremongering but instead wanted to "help minimise the risks in the event of an explosion by the application of bomb-blast film".
However, the business that complained to the Advertising Standards Authority about receiving the direct mail shot was based "almost 50 miles away from the nearest Olympics venue in Essex".
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Source: www.guardian.co.uk
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