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Public support 'crucial' to Afghan success, says general

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:58:54 GMT

Public support is "crucially important" to the success of mission in Afghanistan, the senior British commander in the country warned today, as the death toll among British troops rose to 231.

British man shot dead in Amarillo

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:50:33 GMT

A British father shot dead on a road trip through the United States after stopping in Amarillo because he loved the cult song was "just in the wrong place, at the wrong time", his family said.

Passengers rail route warning due to lack of drivers

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:17:56 GMT

Passengers were warned not to travel on a busy rail route today because of a lack of available train drivers.

Murder hunt launched to find firework killer

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:14:44 GMT

A murder hunt was under way today after a devoted mother of nine died saving her son from a house fire started by a firework pushed through her letterbox.

US army killer taken off ventilator

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:11:11 GMT

US Army officials say the man who killed 13 people during a shooting spree at Fort Hood has been taken off a ventilator but still remains in intensive care.

Suicide bomb in Pakistan market kills twelve

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:54:08 GMT

A suicide bomber apparently targeting an anti-Taliban mayor struck a crowded market in northwest Pakistan today, killing the mayor and 11 other people and injuring dozens, police said.

House passes sweeping US healthcare overhaul

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:35:04 GMT

The US House of Representatives approved a sweeping healthcare reform bill yesterday, backing the biggest health policy changes in four decades and handing President Barack Obama a crucial victory.

IoS graphic: Fall of the wall

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:01:49 GMT

Dying call of an endangered species – the 'Standard' vendor

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

His voice is just the same, piercing the air with its plangent sing-song call – "Staaan-D'd". After 30 years it's a familiar cry for the hundreds of commuters who pass through this central London train station every evening. But the patter has changed. Now Phil – not his real name, as he has asked for anonymity – no longer tells readers to buy their Evening Standard here. Instead he's got a new line – "take one, get one free".

The fall of the wall: For some, there's little to celebrate

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

It is unlikely that many residents will be wildly celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in the German capital's sprawling tower-block suburb of Marzahn-Hellersdorf tomorrow night.

The fall of the wall: Red dusk was a rare bright spot in 20th century

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

The collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia's President Vladimir Putin famously once proclaimed, was "the biggest geopolitical catastrophe of the century". Putin was speaking as a former Soviet apparatchik, in language calculated to stoke ever-combustible Russian nationalism, articulating his country's grievances against a world which no longer gave it the respect it believed due.

Hero or Villain? Egon Krenz

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Egon Krenz rose through the ranks of the East German communist party, the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, like gas in a stagnant pond. His ascent was so smooth, so inexorable, that it seemed less a matter of politics than of the laws of physics. Up and up he passed from its inert depths until, in 1989, he reached the top. At the age of 52, the tailor's son from Pomerania became master of the German Democratic Republic (DDR). But by then, the country didn't want one. It wanted freedom – from the party, its restrictions, especially, from people like him.

The Berlin Wall: Where are they now?

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

The Berlin Wall

Army killer 'had time to reload repeatedly'

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Army investigators working to reconstruct in second-by-second detail the one-man rampage inside a soldier processing facility at Fort Hood, Texas, on Thursday, are asking how the assailant had time to fire at least 100 rounds from a single handgun. The incident left 13 dead and more than 30 wounded.

Stuart Broad: Ashes hero and all-round good bloke

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Stuart Broad knew what happened last summer would change his life, and events over the past few weeks have shown him to be spot-on. If being recognised in the street more often than before – and being invited to appear on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross – were not proof enough of a higher profile post-Ashes, attracting the attention of Shane Warne surely clinches the deal.

Sport on TV: Sinking feeling means Perham can't let it all wash over him

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Honestly, kids will do anything to get on telly these days. But to be fair, sailing solo around the world at the age of 16 is a more formidable test of talent than having a ludicrous quiff and a twin. Mike Perham, from that great yachting stronghold of Potters Bar, was desperate to become the youngest ever to perform a circumnavigation – and not just of the M25. At 16, it was already impressive that he even knew what it meant.

Afghanistan: Time to leave

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Britain should start withdrawing, not reinforcing, its troops in Afghanistan. Sending extra troops is unnecessary and will prove counter-effective. The additional number of British troops is small, but the US is poised to send tens of thousands more soldiers to the country. The nature of the conflict is changing. What should be a war in which the Afghan government fights the Taliban has become one which is being fought primarily by the American and British armies. To more and more Afghans, this looks like imperial occupation.

McChrystal seeks to keep UK troops 'out of harm's way'

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Barack Obama's top general in Afghanistan is considering a radical realignment of Britain's role in the country amid fears that the Taliban will target UK troops in the run-up to next May's general election.

The dark savagery of the Taliban years returns

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

The opening night of a new restaurant, and the place is buzzing. The music is a mixture of rock and pop and there is no shortage of alcohol. A normal city scene, except the city is Kabul, and some of those at the party at the Martini are UN staff about to be evacuated out of the country because of the rapidly deteriorating security situation.

Time to leave Afghanistan: The options & arguments

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

This Remembrance Sunday, Britain's mission in Afghanistan is under question as never before. Three choices face Gordon Brown: stay as we are and stick it out; a staged, unilateral withdrawal; or a radical change of strategy.

Brown backs new tax on banks – but the US is opposed

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Gordon Brown suffered a rebuff from Washington yesterday after he signalled Britain's backing for plans for an international transactions tax on banks to help the world recover from the financial crisis.

Tough love: The good parents' guide

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

A generation of liberal parents has striven towards a utopian ideal: raising their children in a non-confrontational household, unfettered by strict rules. But a new study of 9,000 households found that children whose parents favoured this laissez-faire style of parenting were less likely to develop vital life skills – such as empathy, self-control and application – by the age of five than those whose parents took a traditional "tough love" approach.

Academics attack Professor Nutt over 'incorrect statements' on drugs

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Some of Britain's leading drug experts yesterday launched an attack on Professor David Nutt, who was sacked as chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) after he argued that alcohol and tobacco were more dangerous than cannabis.

BNP set to advance in ex-Speaker Martin's Glasgow seat

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

The battle for the parliamentary seat vacated by former House of Commons speaker Michael Martin could hand the British National Party its first major breakthrough in Scotland, it was claimed yesterday.

Comedian reveals unsavoury truth of food production

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

With his gangly frame and thick-rimmed spectacles, Alex Riley makes an unlikely assassin. Unfortunately for Britain's £182bn-a-year food and drink industry, his wisecracks about its unsavoury practices in a new BBC TV series are little short of deadly.