World marathon record holder Paula Radcliffe was surprisingly beaten into third place in the Chiba International Ekiden Relay when she ran the first leg for Great Britain.

A rock group said it will go ahead with an on-stage suicide during a concert in the US next weekend, in defiance of a hastily enacted law designed to scuttle the plan.

The final moments on board space shuttle Columbia were revealed today as Nasa published transcripts of its last radio contacts with mission control.