Half billion loss for Northern Rock
Northern Rock is expected to announce today that is lost £585.4m in the first six months of this year - higher than analysts had feared. The bank, nationalised last year after its collapse signalled
the first wave of the global credit crisis hitting the UK, suffered from a rise in... [continued]
The West will rise from the financial ashes 
Portuguese police lied to McCanns
The Portuguese police have made public the 11,000-page file on the disappearance of Madeleine McCann last year, and a friend of the missing child's father says Gerry McCann was lied to in an attempt to trick him into a 'confession'. Portuguese officers had been told by a Birmingham lab that... [continued]
Beijing: games safe from terror
China says it is confident the Olympic games will be secure, despite an attack which killed 16 policemen in the north west of the country yesterday, blamed on Muslim militants. And the ICC said it
believed the authorities had done "everything possible to ensure the security and safety of everyone... [continued]
Beijing 2008: speedy analysis, strong comment, enduring photographs
Seven ways it could still go wrong for China
Man who killed wife gets pub ban
A judge has spared a man who strangled his wife from jail, but banned him from his local pub. Seventy-four-year-old Edward Flaherty has dementia and claimed not to remember killing his wife of 52 years last year. The judge decided he was too ill to go to prison, but instead... [continued]
US and Iraq slam Army’s Basra deal
Senior Iraqi and US military figures have criticised the British Army's refusal to participate in an offensive in Basra because of a secret deal they had made with the Mahdi army. The Daily Telegraph quotes Colonel Imad of the Iraqi army as saying: "Without the support of the Americans we... [continued]
Crude drops below $120 a barrel
The price of crude has fallen below $120 a barrrel for the first time in three months, amid speculation that the world financial crisis will reduce demand for oil. Earlier this summer the price
soared to unprecedented highs of $147 per barrel. Today's three per cent drop in price was... [continued]
The West will rise from the financial ashes
Freddie and Fannie: an American racket
Barclays sells life unit to Swiss Re
Swiss Re is to buy Barclays' life assurance arm for £753m. The cash sale, of policies representing around £6.8bn in invested assets, will give the UK firm a post-tax profit of £330m. Barclays
currently holds 760,000 life insurance and pension policies and annuity contracts. Swiss Re's chief executive, Jacques... [continued]
America and Europe will rise from the financial ashes
