News
UK set on diplomatic course with Iran
The government is "100 percent focused" on a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear dispute and does not want an Israeli strike against Iranian nuclear facilities, Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on Thursday.
Prince William to do SAS stint
Prince William is set to spend time with the SAS in the last of his military secondments, Clarence House said on Thursday.
Man arrested over passport theft
A 48-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the theft of 3,000 blank passports and visas from a security van in Manchester, police said on Thursday.
Police say Jersey murder inquiry 'unlikely'
Police on Jersey say they are unlikely to launch a murder investigation, despite the partial remains of at least five children having been found at a former care home, because the bones cannot be dated.
Bus passenger stabbed and beheaded on Canada Prairies
A man sleeping on a Greyhound bus as it rolled across the Canadian Prairies was killed and decapitated by his seatmate on Wednesday night, other passengers who were on the bus told media on Thursday.
Casualties after bus overturns in Poole
Several passengers were injured, some possibly seriously, when an open-topped double-decker bus overturned near Poole harbour on Thursday, police said.
Domestic oil output steady in 2007
Crude production was steady in 2007 from the previous year as new oilfields came onstream to offset drops in output from older oil wells in the North Sea, a government report said on Thursday.
Target-driven police 'letting crooks off lightly'
Police attempts to meet targets have led to serial and even violent offenders getting off lightly, lawyers and magistrates said on Thursday.
Smoking ban cut heart attacks
Scotland's 2006 ban on smoking in public places cut the heart attack rate by 17 percent within one year, with non-smokers benefiting most, researchers reported on Wednesday.
World's oldest joke traced back to 1900 BC
The world's oldest recorded joke has been traced back to 1900 BC and suggests that toilet humour was as popular with the ancients as it is today.
Bomb threat to Gaza Bible bookshop prompts call for prayers
A bomb threat to a Bible bookshop in Gaza run by the Palestinian Bible Society has led to a call for prayers.
Christians, Muslims walk thin line between peace and conflict
Christian and Muslim scholars meeting at Yale University for a discussion on peace and reconciliation this week forewarned that a clash of "global proportions" would inevitably unravel in the near future unless Christianity and Islam learn how to co-exist.
Report: Women of faith could help curb extremism and religious conflict
Women of faith have the potential to curb religious extremism and reduce the role of religion in conflict, says a new report from Catholic aid agency Progressio out on Wednesday.
Bishops discuss human sexuality at Lambeth Conference
The Anglican bishops meeting at the Lambeth Conference are today tackling the most anticipated item on their packed agenda as they move onto the thorny subject of human sexuality.
'Costly empathy is the way of Christ,' Keswick Convention hears
Christians who talk about bio-ethics and the issues of life and death such as abortion, euthanasia, infertility, "must not talk about these issues with judgement or hatred", said Dr John Wyatt, Professor of Neo-natal Paediatrics at University College London.
Israel's opposition calls for new election
Israel's right-wing Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu responded on Thursday to Ehud Olmert's decision to resign as prime minister by calling for new elections, a move that could paralyse Middle East peace talks.