News
Blast hits convoy near Kabul airport
A suicide bomber rammed a car into a convoy of NATO forces close to the airport in the Afghan capital on Tuesday, wounding 10 Afghan civilians, a police official said.
Pakistan opposition mull list of poll demands
Pakistani opposition parties began mapping out on Tuesday a list of demands that President Pervez Musharraf must meet to prevent their boycott of a January general election.
Obesity behind many maternal birth deaths
More than half of mothers who died during child birth were overweight, a report found on Tuesday.
Turner art prize goes to Mark Wallinger
Artist Mark Wallinger, famed for re-creating a one-man protest against the Iraq War, won the coveted Turner prize on Monday and pleaded "Bring home the troops."
Panel urges rich states to save trade talks
Rich countries must make unilateral concessions to spur on marathon world trade talks or call a halt to the negotiations if they are going nowhere, MPs said on Tuesday.
Teddy teacher leaves Sudan after pardon
A British teacher jailed in Sudan for letting her students name a teddy bear Mohammad left Khartoum for Britain on Monday after winning a pardon.
Labour party funding scandal flares up again
A financing scandal engulfing Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Labour Party flared up again on Monday when a cabinet minister disclosed he had failed to declare donations to the elections watchdog.
Brown to detail five-year cancer plan
Breast cancer screening will be extended to women from the ages of 47 to 73 as part of a five-year plan for cancer services, Prime Minister Gordon Brown will announce on Monday.
Britons waste billions on unwanted Christmas gifts
Britons waste 2.3 billion pounds every year on unwanted Christmas presents, and almost a third of them wind up being sold online after the festive season.
Police to interview canoeist back from the dead
A canoeist who went missing, presumed drowned, off the coast of northeast England five years ago has turned up alive and well at a London police station, officers said on Monday.
Bush contradicted on Iran nuclear programme
A new U.S. intelligence report says Iran halted its nuclear weapons programme in 2003 and it remains on hold, contradicting the Bush administration's earlier assertion that Tehran was intent on developing a bomb.
West urges inquiry after Putin victory
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday defended his party's landslide election victory as a big personal endorsement, but foreign monitors said the poll was unfair and the West pressed for an inquiry.
Venezuela's triumphant opposition faces long road
Bigger and bolder, Venezuela's opposition has gained on President Hugo Chavez for the first time in years with a vote win that stops him grabbing new powers but it has a long way to go to halt his socialist revolution.
Iran hails Gulf ties, Gulf Arabs tight-lipped
Iran went on a charm offensive in Qatar on Monday, hailing its debut presence at a summit of Gulf leaders as ushering in a new era of regional ties, but its Arab neighbours offered no immediate matching welcome.
U.S. closes in on mortgage relief plan
U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Monday he hoped to have a mortgage relief plan ready by week's end and urged Congress to give local governments more borrowing power to ward off foreclosures.
Australia ratifies Kyoto pact
Australia's new prime minister, Kevin Rudd, took the oath of office on Monday and immediately signed documents to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, ending his country's decade of opposition to the global climate agreement.