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Mr Brown will respond to his critics in the Commons

The Conservatives are set to call for a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Gordon Brown over his 1997 decision to scrap tax relief on pension funds.Shadow chancellor George Osborne has called his party’s Commons motion a test of whether Mr Brown has the “political courage [...]

More than 3,000 websites were reported to the IWF

Reports of websites that contain images of child abuse have continued to climb in the last year, a report has shown.In 2006, the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) investigated more than 31,000 reports of sites that contained alleged images, an increase of 34% since 2005.
More than 10,000 of [...]

Mr Hafsas said he could not feel happy about being rescued

A survivor of the supply vessel which capsized off the coast of Shetland has spoken about the accident which left eight of his colleagues presumed dead.Fighting back tears, Egil Hafsas said it took less than five minutes for the Bourbon Dolphin tug to topple.
He said [...]

Nurses are gathering for their annual conference

Nurses’ leaders say patients are being harmed by job cuts in the profession caused by continuing NHS deficits.The Royal College of Nursing, whose conference opens on Sunday, claims that more than 22,000 NHS posts have been lost in England in the past 18 months.
The government says the union’s figures [...]

The playground vandal was likely also burnt in the attack, police say

A two-year-old boy is facing surgery after receiving serious burns at a playground slide in the US that had been vandalised with harsh chemicals.Peyton Duschl received second and third-degree burns, mostly to his legs, after using the primary school slide.
Vandals had poured industrial-strength drain [...]

Late Night With David Letterman is one show CBS will put online

US TV network CBS is to launch a video sharing internet channel after agreeing deals with 10 online distributors.Among the companies signed up to deliver content are newcomer Joost, Microsoft, ComCast and Time Warner.
Viewers will be able to watch shows like crime drama CSI, [...]

NASA says it will delay the launch of space shuttle Atlantis at least until June 8 so that its hail-damaged fuel tank can be repaired.
The tank’s insulating foam was damaged on the launch pad during a freak hail storm in February, forcing the ship back into a processing hangar for repairs.
The US space agency had [...]

Xstrata is one of the world’s largest coal miners

Mining group Xstrata has sold its aluminium operations to a private equity firm for $1.15bn (£580.8m).Under the cash deal, New York-based Apollo Management will takeover Xstrata’s assets in the US and Jamaica.
The deal is expected to be completed in the second quarter of the year, Swiss-based Xstrata [...]

Snoop Dogg has a previous conviction for cocaine possession

Rap star Snoop Dogg is to appear in court in California after being charged with drugs and gun offences.The 35-year-old could face up to four years in prison for being a convicted criminal in possession of a gun and the transportation of marijuana.
The musician was arrested in [...]

The Bush administration, reversing a six-year-old North Korea policy based on deep mistrust, said it will now rely on Pyongyang’s “good faith” to ensure that funds released yesterday from a Macao bank are not misused.
    With time running out on a breakthrough nuclear accord, the United States said it had removed the final roadblock by agreeing [...]