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UK soldiers push to clear Taliban
Hundreds of UK soldiers launch an operation to clear Taliban insurgents from a key stronghold in southern Afghanistan.

Points failure caused rail crash
A points failure caused the Potters Bar train crash which killed seven people, an inquest jury decides.

Prescott Iraq intelligence doubts
The intelligence on Iraq's weapons threat was "not very substantial", former deputy prime minister Lord Prescott says.

BP boss scaling back oil effort
The new BP chief executive has said it is time to scale back some parts of the oil spill clean-up in the Gulf of Mexico.

Immigrant worker limit criticised
Government plans to limit the number of skilled foreign workers allowed into the UK are criticised by the Lord Mayor of London.

Fugitive Nadir will stand trial
Fugitive Polly Peck tycoon Asil Nadir, who fled to northern Cyprus in 1993, confirms he will come back to the UK to stand trail on theft charges.

Expenses four in appeals defeat
Three ex Labour MPs and an ex-Tory peer lose appeals over a ruling that they are not protected from prosecution over expenses fraud allegations.

Benefits face 'radical' shake-up
Merging all tax credits and benefits into a single payment is one option being considered by Iain Duncan Smith in a "radical" welfare shake-up.

Gove defends academy schools list
The Education Secretary insists there no is rush for schools in England to become academies, after criticism over the number of schools coming forward.

Suspect mail at US Paris embassy
Two employees at the US embassy in France are taken for medical check-ups after a suspect package is identified at the building's post room.

French mother 'relieved by truth'
A French mother who admitted killing eight of her newborn babies is relieved that her secret is finally out in the open, her lawyer says.

Boy's paintings snapped up at auction
An exhibition of paintings by a seven-year-old artist from Norfolk sells out, fetching about £150,000 in half an hour.

Rare million pound car clamped outside Harrods
A luxury car worth £1.2m is clamped outside Harrods in central London after being illegally parked.

Live - England v Pakistan
James Anderson completes a five-wicket haul on his 28th birthday as Pakistan struggle at Trent Bridge.

Bristol City capture keeper James
Bristol City sign England goalkeeper David James following his release from Portsmouth.

Ennis makes strong start at Euros
Britain's Jessica Ennis gets her bid for European heptathlon gold off to a strong start by winning the 100m hurdles and the high jump events in Barcelona.

Vettel heads Alonso in practice
Red Bull appear to be in total control as McLaren struggle during second practice for Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix.

Redknapp defends Parker pursuit
Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp defends the club's pursuit of West Ham's Scott Parker insisting the Hammers are guilty of unsettling the midfielder.

Venables' identity must be secret
The new identity of Jon Venables must be kept secret because there is "compelling evidence" of a threat to his safety, a judge says.

Sex parties banned at London home
The High Court bans a man from staging sex parties and pole-dancing classes at the mansion he owns in central London.

Man arrested over gangland murder
A 28-year-old man is arrested in connection with the murder of Kevin "Gerbil" Carroll in Glasgow.

Child, 3, drowned in garden pond
A toddler drowned after falling into a garden pond during a visit to a house in Edinburgh, it has emerged.

Widow's relief as remains found
The widow of a man believed to have been killed by the IRA in 1981 said she felt sad but relieved that her husband's remains appeared to have been found.

IFA fails to halt player exodus
The Court of Arbitration for Sport rules against the Irish Football Association in their bid to prevent more Northern-Ireland born players opting for the Republic.

Girl, 9, dies in rafting accident
A nine-year-old girl from Wales has died in a rafting accident while on holiday in Turkey.

Family funeral tribute to soldier
Hundreds of mourners attend the funeral of a "brave, courageous and loyal" soldier killed in Afghanistan.

Three charged with Uganda bombing
Three Kenyans are charged with the murders of 76 people killed when bombs exploded as they watched the World Cup on TV in Kampala, Uganda.

Four fined over SA 'racist video'
Four white South Africans are fined $2,700 (£1,700) each after making a video humiliating black university workers.

Sale of EDF's UK networks agreed
A consortium headed by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing agrees to buy the UK networks of French power group EDF for £5.8bn ($9.1bn).

China river hunt for toxic drums
Search teams in north-east China are still searching for thousands of barrels of toxic chemicals washed into a major river by flooding.

Deadly forest fires ravage Russia
Forest fires kill at least 23 people in central Russia, while a forecast of heavy rain brings relief to Moscow.

Sarkozy threat on police attacks
President Nicolas Sarkozy says he would like to strip French nationality from anyone of foreign origin who threatened the life of a police officer.

Military kills Mexico drug lord
The Mexican government says security forces have killed leading drug trafficker Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel.

Cuban hunger striker returns home
Cuban dissident Guillermo Farinas, who was on hunger strike for more than 130 days, is released from hospital.

Lebanon urged to resist violence
Syria's president and the Saudi king call on Lebanon's rival factions to avoid turning to violence amid mounting political tensions in the country.

Saudi warned on expelling Somalis
The UN refugee agency urges Saudi Arabia to stop deporting Somalis, saying 2,000 have recently been sent to Mogadishu.

South Asia floods kill hundreds
Floods caused by heavy monsoon rain kill hundreds of people in Pakistan and Afghanistan, washing away whole villages, roads and bridges.

US has deadliest Afghan war month
US forces suffered the deadliest month of their nine-year Afghan campaign, with 66 service members killed in July.

US economic growth slows to 2.4%
US economic growth slowed between April and June, with GDP growing by an annualised rate of 2.4%, the US Commerce Department says.

'Video leaker' moved to US base
A US soldier accused of leaking video of a deadly 2007 Iraq helicopter attack to the Wikileaks website is transferred to a Virginia base pending trial.

Strikes and ash extend BA losses
BA reveals a steep quarterly loss of £164m after being hit by cabin crew strikes and disruption caused by the volcanic ash cloud.

Airbus firm EADS lifts output aim
Airbus parent firm EADS says it is confident about future orders, despite reporting a fall in second-quarter earnings.

Royal Mail pension plan opposed
The Pensions Regulator is opposing a crucial plan to pay off the £10bn deficit in the Royal Mail pension scheme.

MoD 'to pay for Trident renewal'
The MoD is facing further pressure on its budget after the chancellor says it will have to pay for new nuclear submarines, and not the Treasury as before.

Public to veto council tax rises
The public will be able to veto their council tax bills in England if charges are above an agreed limit, ministers will announce.

Coalition deal 'untruths' claim
Labour's Ed Miliband claims the coalition government was "built on a series of untruths" after revelations in a BBC documentary.

Calcium pills 'raise' heart risk
Calcium supplements taken by many older people could be increasing their risk of a heart attack, research shows.

Pregnant women rights questioned
The right of women to choose whether they have home births is being questioned by a leading medical journal.

Drug prescribed after web search
A father persuades the NHS to give his sick daughter a "miracle" drug he found on the internet.

Maths fears over A-level reforms
Plans to reform A-levels could put students off maths and lead to university department closures, an academic body warns.

150 schools ask to be academies
More than 150 top schools in England have applied to become academies, government documents show.

Dramatic fall in pupil expulsion
There has been a dramatic fall in the number of pupils excluded from schools in England in the past year, official figures show.

Call to check on mobile security
Owners of mobile phones are being asked to test the security of their network to see if enough is being done to stop eavesdropping.

UK troops use iPad app for fire mission training
Newsbeat's had an exclusive look at new training being given to UK soldiers at the Royal School of Artillery in Wiltshire.

Facebook data hoarder speaks out
Security researcher Ron Bowes tells BBC News why he collected and published the personal details of 100m Facebook users.

Mars site may hold 'buried life'
Researchers identify rocks that they say could contain the fossilised remains of life on early Mars.

Mammals decline in Chernobyl zone
The largest wildlife census of its kind conducted in Chernobyl reveals evidence of mammals declining in the exclusion zone.

Galapagos off Unesco danger list
A UN panel votes to remove the Galapagos Islands from a "red list" of endangered heritage sites, to protests from a leading conservation group.

DeGeneres leaving American Idol
Comedienne and chat show host Ellen DeGeneres is leaving American Idol after one season on the judging panel.

Ben Shephard says goodbye to GMTV
Ben Shephard bids farewell to GMTV after 10 years telling viewers: "I'm going to miss all of you, every single one of you."

Awards double for Valentine band
Welsh rock band Bullet For My Valentine scoop two prizes at this year's Kerrang! Awards, including best British group for the third year running.

Child-free by choice
More women in the developed world are choosing not to have children. So why do others think it's OK to question this decision?

The big cheese
With thousands expected to flock to a major cheese fair, why are Britons taking this once-humble foodstuff so seriously?

Was Dr Crippen really innocent?
Hawley Crippen is one of the most infamous killers in British history. But was he really innocent of murdering his wife?

Grim task of China oil clean-up
China is struggling with an arduous clean up after the country's worst oil spill, with grim conditions for those involved.

'I survived grizzly bear attack'
A Canadian woman has said she played dead in order to escape from a bear during an attack in Montana that left one man dead.

Rescues as Pakistan flood toll soars
More than 400 people have been killed and nearly 400,000 displaced in floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains in northern Pakistan.

Families' reaction to crash verdict
The families of the victims of the Potters Bar train crash say they would like a public inquiry into the incident which killed seven people.

A walk-in cow wash - it's Odd Box
The world of doggy ice cream, a huge waterfight in Russia and a walk-in cow wash. It's the week's weird and wonderful video stories in Newsbeat's Odd Box with Dominic Byrne.

Symphony to celebrate Yorkshire
Hundreds of amateur musicians have set the sights and sounds of Yorkshire to music.

Deadly forest fires ravage Russia
Wild fires have continued to rage in central and western Russia, with more than 20 people now reported to have died.

London's cycle-hire scheme explained
Transport correspondent Richard Scott investigates how London's new cycle-hire scheme works.

Bad trip
Are family holidays worth all the hassle?

Hoop dreams
Did they really play croquet at the Olympics?

On your bike
Testing London's new hire bicycles

7 days quiz
Who's the 'good lad'? Crisps boy, Massa or Dr Watson?

Rum ration
What did they do with the drunken sailor?

On the run
Northern Cyprus is a "haven" for fugitives no longer

Pick up a Penguin
Colourful 75-year history of the famous book publisher

Sex tourism boom
Brazil's uphill struggle curtailing lucrative trade in underage sex