British News & Issues

Afghanistan’s election commission cancelled the second round of a presidential poll today and declared President Karzai the winner after the last-minute withdrawal of his only rival. The Independent Election Commission (IEC) said the decision was made because of the cost and risk of organising the vote on Saturday, and because a one-horse race would raise doubts about the president's legitimacy. "The Independent Election Commission...

Coleen Rooney, the wife of England footballer Wayne Rooney, has given birth to a baby boy. The child, who the couple have named Kai Wayne Rooney, was born at 2.20pm at Liverpool Women’s Hospital, their spokesman said. The spokesman added: “Mother and baby are both absolutely fine. Wayne and Coleen are thrilled with the wonderful addition to their family life.” The name Kai, a variant of Kay, reportedly means "rejoice" in Finnish....

He has branded homosexuals satanic, deployed cloud–seeding fighter jets to ensure good weather on bank holidays and ordered riot police to break up anti-Kremlin demonstrations. As mayor, Yuri Luzhkov has ruled Moscow with an iron fist for the past 17 years. But with only two years of his fourth term left to serve, the populist mayor is coming under a barrage of criticism which some believe could signal the beginning of the end for...

With difficult state elections and a crucial military decision looming, President Barack Obama sat down with his wife Michelle last month to give an in-depth magazine interview about a subject that has hitherto not ranked highly on the White House political agenda — the state of the first couple’s marriage. The president used the occasion to complain that when he recently hopped aboard Air Force One to fly his wife to New York for...

Alistair Darling is preparing to plough billions more of taxpayers’ money into Royal Bank of Scotland to take the government stake in the bank from 70% to as high as 84%. A Treasury announcement this week will confirm RBS is signing up to a controversial deal to pump £270 billion of problematic loans into a state-backed insurance scheme. As part of the deal, the government will pour up to £19 billion of additional capital into...

Silvio Berlusconi today said he would not resign even if he was convicted of corruption as a new trial date was set for later this month. The Italian Prime Minister, 73, now faces two trials following the loss of his immunity from prosecution. Last month the Constitutional Court overturned a law which Mr Berlusconi pushed through Parliament shortly after being elected last year giving him immunity as long as he held high office....

Tens of thousands of postal workers have "solidly supported" a fresh strike, crippling mail deliveries across the UK in the latest motion of walkouts to hit the Royal Mail.Members of the note Workers Union braved pouring lavish to mount picket lines outside mail centres on the poll consecutive hour of industrial animation in a bitter row over jobs, pay and modernisation.A confederation official said the likewise proscription was again backed...