David Cameron stepped up clashes with Labour in the UK today by insisting the case of child killer Mick Philpott did raise “wider questions” about the welfare system in the country.

Packages delivered to two Canadian schools contained a human foot and hand which which may belong a Chinese student whose alleged killer was captured during a worldwide manhunt this week.

British Prime Minister David Cameron was this afternoon returning from Brussels after sparking furious debate over Britain’s future in the European Union by refusing to sign up to a treaty to save the single currency.

The footballer at the centre of a gagging order over a relationship with reality TV star Imogen Thomas was named by an MP in the Commons today.

The footballer at the centre of a gagging order over a relationship with reality TV star Imogen Thomas was named by an MP in the Commons today.

The leaders of Australia’s two major political parties began negotiating power deals with independent lawmakers today after the nation’s closest election in decades failed to deliver a clear mandate to govern.

FACEBOOK users may have an input into where budget cuts fall, the Finance Department has suggested.

THE Conservatives entered detailed talks with the Liberal Democrats yesterday to look for ways to form a government, under pressure to make progress before nervous financial markets reopen today.

Gordon Brown will today call the UK general election for May 6 – heralding the start of what is set to be the hardest-fought campaign for many years.

NEXT weekend marks the 90th anniversary of the 1918 general election, the last British election in which the people of the 26 Counties participated.

A senior campaign worker for Canada’s governing Conservative Party has resigned after admitting writing a pro-Iraq war speech for prime minister Stephen Harper that plagiarised another world leader’s address.

Shares in Northern Rock surged today as bidders finalised their proposals for the crisis-hit mortgage lender.

Using the internet to promote acts of terrorism will become a criminal offence under plans to be unveiled by the European Commission today.

The Dutch parliament is holding crisis talks today after MPs passed a motion condemning its caretaker immigration minister for refusing to halt deportations of rejected asylum seekers until a new ruling coalition was formed.

British Airways faced a backlash tonight over an "extremely offensive" ruling banning a Christian employee from wearing a cross around her neck.

The vice-chair of the European Parliament’s special committee investigating CIA prisons in Europe today welcomed US President George Bush’s disclosure that terrorism suspects had been held in CIA-run prisons.

Charles Kennedy tonight confessed to a drink problem as he challenged his critics within the Liberal Democrat party to face him in a leadership battle.

CANADA’S politicians will hit the campaign trail this holiday season after opposition parties seized upon a corruption scandal to bring down the minority government of Prime Minister Paul Martin.

BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday declared his continuing support for police demands to detain terrorist suspects for up to 90 days without charge, less than 24 hours after Home Secretary Charles Clarke offered a compromise on the issue.

CANADA would become only the third country in the world to legalise gay marriage under landmark legislation passed in the House of Commons in spite of fierce opposition from Conservatives and religious leaders.

One of Europe’s new Commissioners was under growing pressure to step down tonight for describing homosexuality as a “sin”.

The Liberal Party lost its outright control of Canada’s Parliament early today but easily won the largest share of seats and will now try to lead the North American country’s first minority government in 25 years.

A controversial plan to let EU cash be used for medical research using human embryos was backed by Euro-MPs this afternoon.

BRITISH Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has demanded an apology from the BBC after Alastair Campbell and the rest of the British Government were cleared of political interference in the Iraq dossier row.

LIBERAL Russian MP Sergei Yushenkov, a leading critic of President Vladimir Putin, was murdered in Moscow yesterday

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was today holding talks with Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in a bid to ease the Kashmir crisis.

Euro-MPs will meet on Wednesday in a bid to rush through plans to freeze the assets of 27 organisations and individuals suspected of involvement in terrorism.

Former Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson should get his job back if the Government’s inquiry into the Hinduja passport affair exonerates him, a senior Liberal Democrat peer said today.