Telecoms watchdog Comreg is considering banning calls to and from certain sub-Saharan countries after the re-emergence of a scam in which mobile customers can have their call credit stolen.

Thousands of stories like John B Keane’s The Field in the 227 million hectares sold or leased in large-scale land deals since 2001. Denise Hall reports.

The cherished hopes of hundreds of exiled families longing to return to their native islands in the Indian Ocean were dashed today when the Law Lords upheld the British government’s last-ditch bid to stop them going home.

BRITAIN’S relations with the US suffered a damaging blow yesterday as the government was forced to admit that two US “rendition” flights transporting terrorist suspects had landed on British soil.

THE people of the Chagos Islands, driven from their Indian Ocean paradise by the British government more than 40 years ago, may soon be able to return home after a stunning High Court victory yesterday.

Families expelled from the Chagos Islands by the British government to make way for the Diego Garcia US airbase today won their legal battle to return home.

THE Communications regulator yesterday launched an attempt to crackdown on internet dialling scams.

The International Red Cross fears US officials are holding terror suspects secretly in locations across the world without saying where they are.

The US was today accused of handing al-Qaida suspects over to foreign intelligence agencies where they can been tortured.

US President George W Bush has approved a “21st century blitzkrieg” plan to quickly strike Iraq with a heavy air assault backed up with an invasion force of 200,000 to 250,000 troops.

The Bush administration has stepped up pressure for a new UN Security Council disarmament resolution for Iraq and disclosed plans for moving B-2 bombers closer to Baghdad, preparing for possible war to remove President Saddam Hussein.

The crew of the American B-1 bomber that crashed in the Indian Ocean has been rescued.

The Japanese government was tomorrow expected to formally approve a plan to provide logistical and non-combat support for the US-led war on terrorism.

US Defence Secretary Donald H Rumsfeld has said the new war on terrorism will be long and not start with a massive offensive.