Biofuel sends food prices ‘up 75%’
A confidential World Bank report claims that switching agricultural land from producing food to biofuels has caused food prices to leap 75 per cent. The leaked figure will embarrass the White House,
which had said the impact of biofuels had lead to a price rise of less than three per... [continued]
In pics: global food crisis 
The world is running out of food
French students died after torture
The two French students found dead in a south-east London bedsit on Sunday night were horrifically tortured and murdered before the flat was set on fire in a bid to hide the evidence. Laurent Bonomo (right, with his fiance) and Gabriel Ferez, both 23, had been bound and stabbed scores... [continued]
Lord Chief Justice backs Sharia law
Some aspects of Sharia law should be adopted in the UK, according to the Lord Chief Justice, the head of the judiciary in England and Wales. Lord Phillips said that Muslims could use the law to help
settle financial and marital disputes, but that criminal courts should retain the power... [continued]
Peregrine Worsthorne: Better Sharia law than no law at all
Russia is the UK’s ‘No 3 spy threat’
Russia is seen as the number three threat to the UK, after al-Qaeda and Iran's nuclear programme, security services believe. The claim comes ahead of Russian president Dmitri Medvedev's first meeting
with Gordon Brown next week and against the backdrop of worsening relations between the two countries since the poisoning... [continued]
Medvedev: too liberal to go all the way?
Iran response on uranium awaited
Iran has yet to respond to an offer from the permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany designed to calm the increasingly tense war of words over its nuclear programme. Despite the
country's foreign minister speaking of a "new atmosphere" in the ongoing diplomacy, it is three weeks... [continued]
Robert Fox: US and Israel should beware of taking on Iran
MDC MP kidnapped by soldiers
An MDC MP was kidnapped in broad daylight earlier this week from the steps of the High Court in Harare, according to the Zimbabwean opposition. Naison Nemadziwa, MP for Buhera South in Manicaland,
was taken by soldiers in a campaign the MDC claims is aimed at removing its majority in... [continued]
Zimbabwe Today: more on the situation in Harare
Google told to hand over data
Google, the owner of YouTube, has been ordered by a court in New York to hand over the details of everyone who has watched content on the video-sharing website to Viacom, the US broadcaster behind MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central. The decision comes in a court battle over copyright infringement.
