• Catholic monks faced child abuse investigation, school admits January 14, 2012

    Downside School apologises to parents over revelations resulting from police examination of school recordsSeven Roman Catholic monks with links to a top public school have faced police investigation over child sex and pornography offences, the school a...

  • Power blackout could have caused Italian cruise disaster January 14, 2012

    Experts say the Concordia's navigational devices may have failed after passengers tell of possible engine room explosionLike all forms of modern mass transport, cruise liners are utterly dependent on complex electronic devices to steer them – and on ...

  • Bomb kills dozens of Shia pilgrims in south Iraq January 14, 2012

    Blast near town of Zubair is latest sign of power struggle between rival Muslim sectsA bomb tore through a procession of Shia pilgrims heading toward a largely Sunni town in southern Iraq on Saturday, killing at least 53 people in the latest sign of a ...

  • PIP implants scandal: women march on Harley Street to demand replacements January 14, 2012

    Protesters were among the 40,000 UK women to have received implants from the now-closed French companyAround 60 women marched to Harley Street on Saturday calling for private clinics to replace PIP breast implants.The group met in London with placards ...

  • Taiwan breathes sign of relief as Ma Ying-jeou wins January 14, 2012

    Relief in China and US as the voters give another term to president who negotiated closer ties with Beijing's regimeThe rain that swept the city streets, blurring lights and muffling the blare of klaxons, perhaps helped to dampen passions. Outside the ...

  • Golden Globe celebrities enjoy meal of real gold as poverty tightens grip on US January 14, 2012

    Hollywood braced for Ricky Gervais satires, but hunger activists say gold flakes for dessert are beyond a jokeHollywood is not known for its displays of modesty, and the world certainly does not look to film stars for lessons in financial restraint. Bu...

  • Why do we still get booth babes at CES? | Kate Bevan January 14, 2012

    Old-fashioned objectification of women rules the roost in tech. It cheapens the industry and demeans women – and menSex sells: you don't have to look very far to see implicit promises of sex in a lot of advertising. In general, I don't have a problem...

  • Three killed as Italian cruise ship runs aground – video January 14, 2012

    At least three people have been killed and thousands evacuated from a cruise liner after it ran aground off the Italian coast

  • 'Yoga can damage your body' article throws exponents off-balance January 14, 2012

    A $5bn industry is outraged over a New York Times article saying that the keep fit regime is bad for your body One of the most common sights in New York is slim, young professional women scurrying across the city with a rolled-up yoga mat under one arm...

  • Iran accuses US and Britain of role in killing of nuclear scientist January 14, 2012

    Tehran sends diplomatic letter to US saying it has evidence of CIA involvement in killing of Mostafa Ahmadi-RoshanIran has accused the US and Britain of being behind the assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist this week in Tehran.Iran's foreign m...

  • British films to be pitched as a global brand January 14, 2012

    An official review says that the quality of UK movies should be promoted to compete with HollywoodA major review of movie-making policy is set to call for an annual film week and a series of celebratory national film days, in an effort to promote a Bri...

  • George Osborne urges UK businesses to look beyond eurozone to Asia January 14, 2012

    In a speech in Hong Kong the chancellor will try to deflect attention from Europe's deepening sovereign debt crisisGeorge Osborne arrives in Hong Kong on Sunday for a three-day tour of Asia, in a bid to deflect attention from the deepening debt crisis ...

  • Heather Locklear -- Family Wants Treatment at UCLA Hospital January 14, 2012

    Heather Locklear is out of the hospital, but we've learned her family wants her back in -- at UCLA Hospital.As we first reported, Heather went to rehab last October in her battle with prescription drug addiction ... and it wasn't her first… ...

  • Chinese relief as Taiwan re-elects president January 14, 2012

    Ma Ying-jeou, who has forged closer links with Beijing, triumphs decisively over first female presidential candidateTaiwan's incumbent president, Ma Ying-jeou, who has overseen an unprecedented thaw in relations with China, has been re-elected decisive...

  • Inside Danish TV's thriller factory January 14, 2012

    As Borgen captivates a British audience, Maggie Brown goes to Copenhagen to visit the channel behind an extraordinary television boomAs they sift through a pile of enthusiastic British press cuttings, united in praise for the latest television triumph ...

  • Mitt Romney, would-be president of the 0.001% | John Stoehr January 14, 2012

    We keep hearing that Romney is a moderate, but his economic policies make Reaganomics look like socialismAn old photograph of Mitt Romney has surfaced and, understandably, both liberals and conservatives are disgusted. Taken in 1966 by the Associated P...

  • Barack Obama's strategists find rich pickings as feuding Republicans attack Mitt Romney January 14, 2012

    The GOP frontrunner's rivals portray him as a heartless financier. If Mitt Romney does win in South Carolina, the Democrats are ready to exploit that imageThe fierce fight for the Republican presidential nomination, which is likely to see Mitt Romney e...

  • India orders crackdown on 'human safaris' in the Andaman Islands January 14, 2012

    As outrage over exploitation of Jarawa tribe spreads, minister flies in for talksEmbarrassed officials in the Andaman Islands are desperately attempting to deal with the fallout from reported abuse of tribal women, after revelations in the Observer tha...

  • ElBaradei quits Egypt presidential race January 14, 2012

    Reform leader pulls out, saying country's ruling junta has governed since Mubarak's exit 'as if no regime has fallen'Egypt's reform leader Mohamed ElBaradei has announced he is pulling out of the presidential race to protest the military's failure to p...

  • Ezra Pound's daughter fights to wrest the renegade poet's legacy from fascists January 14, 2012

    The 86-year-old Mary De Rachewiltz is taking on a band of Italian neofascists who are using her father's nameThe Italian castle where the poet Ezra Pound retreated in the 1950s to work on his epic poem The Cantos could scarcely be more remote, perched ...

  • Eviction is the best thing that could happen to Occupy London | Sid Ryan January 14, 2012

    Occupy claims it operates 'real democracy'. In fact it is a tyranny in which one vote can block any motion. It needs a rethinkThe camp at St Paul's cathedral was a beacon: it drew people from all over London together and united them in a common cause, ...

  • Ma claims victory in Taiwanese election January 14, 2012

    Ma Ying-jeou's Nationalist party says he has beaten Tsai Ing-wen after count of 80% of votes shows six-point leadTaiwan's ruling party has claimed victory in the island's presidential election.The honorary chairman of President Ma Ying-jeou's ruling Na...

  • Cruise liner runs aground in Italy - in pictures January 14, 2012

    A luxury cruise liner, the Costa Concordia, has run aground off the coast of Tuscany, killing at least three people and forcing some 4,200 people on board to evacuate

  • Catholic monks faced child abuse investigation, school admits January 14, 2012

    Downside School apologises to parents over revelations resulting from police examination of school recordsSeven Roman Catholic monks with links to a top public school have faced police investigation over child sex and pornography offences, the school a...

  • Power blackout could have caused Italian cruise disaster January 14, 2012

    Experts say the Concordia's navigational devices may have failed after passengers tell of possible engine room explosionLike all forms of modern mass transport, cruise liners are utterly dependent on complex electronic devices to steer them – and on ...

  • Bomb kills dozens of Shia pilgrims in south Iraq January 14, 2012

    Blast near town of Zubair is latest sign of power struggle between rival Muslim sectsA bomb tore through a procession of Shia pilgrims heading toward a largely Sunni town in southern Iraq on Saturday, killing at least 53 people in the latest sign of a ...

  • PIP implants scandal: women march on Harley Street to demand replacements January 14, 2012

    Protesters were among the 40,000 UK women to have received implants from the now-closed French companyAround 60 women marched to Harley Street on Saturday calling for private clinics to replace PIP breast implants.The group met in London with placards ...

  • Taiwan breathes sign of relief as Ma Ying-jeou wins January 14, 2012

    Relief in China and US as the voters give another term to president who negotiated closer ties with Beijing's regimeThe rain that swept the city streets, blurring lights and muffling the blare of klaxons, perhaps helped to dampen passions. Outside the ...

  • Golden Globe celebrities enjoy meal of real gold as poverty tightens grip on US January 14, 2012

    Hollywood braced for Ricky Gervais satires, but hunger activists say gold flakes for dessert are beyond a jokeHollywood is not known for its displays of modesty, and the world certainly does not look to film stars for lessons in financial restraint. Bu...

  • Why do we still get booth babes at CES? | Kate Bevan January 14, 2012

    Old-fashioned objectification of women rules the roost in tech. It cheapens the industry and demeans women – and menSex sells: you don't have to look very far to see implicit promises of sex in a lot of advertising. In general, I don't have a problem...

  • Three killed as Italian cruise ship runs aground – video January 14, 2012

    At least three people have been killed and thousands evacuated from a cruise liner after it ran aground off the Italian coast

  • 'Yoga can damage your body' article throws exponents off-balance January 14, 2012

    A $5bn industry is outraged over a New York Times article saying that the keep fit regime is bad for your body One of the most common sights in New York is slim, young professional women scurrying across the city with a rolled-up yoga mat under one arm...

  • Iran accuses US and Britain of role in killing of nuclear scientist January 14, 2012

    Tehran sends diplomatic letter to US saying it has evidence of CIA involvement in killing of Mostafa Ahmadi-RoshanIran has accused the US and Britain of being behind the assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist this week in Tehran.Iran's foreign m...

  • British films to be pitched as a global brand January 14, 2012

    An official review says that the quality of UK movies should be promoted to compete with HollywoodA major review of movie-making policy is set to call for an annual film week and a series of celebratory national film days, in an effort to promote a Bri...

  • George Osborne urges UK businesses to look beyond eurozone to Asia January 14, 2012

    In a speech in Hong Kong the chancellor will try to deflect attention from Europe's deepening sovereign debt crisisGeorge Osborne arrives in Hong Kong on Sunday for a three-day tour of Asia, in a bid to deflect attention from the deepening debt crisis ...

  • Heather Locklear -- Family Wants Treatment at UCLA Hospital January 14, 2012

    Heather Locklear is out of the hospital, but we've learned her family wants her back in -- at UCLA Hospital.As we first reported, Heather went to rehab last October in her battle with prescription drug addiction ... and it wasn't her first… ...

  • Chinese relief as Taiwan re-elects president January 14, 2012

    Ma Ying-jeou, who has forged closer links with Beijing, triumphs decisively over first female presidential candidateTaiwan's incumbent president, Ma Ying-jeou, who has overseen an unprecedented thaw in relations with China, has been re-elected decisive...

  • Inside Danish TV's thriller factory January 14, 2012

    As Borgen captivates a British audience, Maggie Brown goes to Copenhagen to visit the channel behind an extraordinary television boomAs they sift through a pile of enthusiastic British press cuttings, united in praise for the latest television triumph ...

  • Mitt Romney, would-be president of the 0.001% | John Stoehr January 14, 2012

    We keep hearing that Romney is a moderate, but his economic policies make Reaganomics look like socialismAn old photograph of Mitt Romney has surfaced and, understandably, both liberals and conservatives are disgusted. Taken in 1966 by the Associated P...

  • Barack Obama's strategists find rich pickings as feuding Republicans attack Mitt Romney January 14, 2012

    The GOP frontrunner's rivals portray him as a heartless financier. If Mitt Romney does win in South Carolina, the Democrats are ready to exploit that imageThe fierce fight for the Republican presidential nomination, which is likely to see Mitt Romney e...

  • India orders crackdown on 'human safaris' in the Andaman Islands January 14, 2012

    As outrage over exploitation of Jarawa tribe spreads, minister flies in for talksEmbarrassed officials in the Andaman Islands are desperately attempting to deal with the fallout from reported abuse of tribal women, after revelations in the Observer tha...

  • ElBaradei quits Egypt presidential race January 14, 2012

    Reform leader pulls out, saying country's ruling junta has governed since Mubarak's exit 'as if no regime has fallen'Egypt's reform leader Mohamed ElBaradei has announced he is pulling out of the presidential race to protest the military's failure to p...

  • Ezra Pound's daughter fights to wrest the renegade poet's legacy from fascists January 14, 2012

    The 86-year-old Mary De Rachewiltz is taking on a band of Italian neofascists who are using her father's nameThe Italian castle where the poet Ezra Pound retreated in the 1950s to work on his epic poem The Cantos could scarcely be more remote, perched ...

  • Eviction is the best thing that could happen to Occupy London | Sid Ryan January 14, 2012

    Occupy claims it operates 'real democracy'. In fact it is a tyranny in which one vote can block any motion. It needs a rethinkThe camp at St Paul's cathedral was a beacon: it drew people from all over London together and united them in a common cause, ...

  • Ma claims victory in Taiwanese election January 14, 2012

    Ma Ying-jeou's Nationalist party says he has beaten Tsai Ing-wen after count of 80% of votes shows six-point leadTaiwan's ruling party has claimed victory in the island's presidential election.The honorary chairman of President Ma Ying-jeou's ruling Na...

  • Cruise liner runs aground in Italy - in pictures January 14, 2012

    A luxury cruise liner, the Costa Concordia, has run aground off the coast of Tuscany, killing at least three people and forcing some 4,200 people on board to evacuate