Brown bullish despite new poll low
Gordon Brown has brushed aside questions over his leadership, saying his relationship with "Dave" Miliband is "fine". Talking to reporters for the first time since Miliband’s article in the
Guardian which was widely seen as a bid for the leadership, the Prime Minister said he would unveil next month plans... [continued]
The Mole: Poll not good for Brown - or Miliband 
153 die as Spanish jet crashes
The black box containing flight data and voice recordings has been recovered from the wreckage of yesterday's plane crash at Madrid's Barajas airport. The Spanair McDonnell Douglas MD-82, bound for the Canary Islands, was carrying 172 passengers when it took off, apparently with one engine on fire, overshot the runway... [continued]
Poll makes McCain frontrunner
John McCain has swept away Barack Obama's lead in the polls two months before polling day in the US presidential elections. A Reuters/Zogby poll, which a month ago gave Obama a seven-point
lead, yesterday showed McCain ahead by 46 per cent to 41. In an LA Times/Bloomberg poll, the two... [continued]
US Election blog: Obama toughens up his campaign ads as McCain pulls ahead
Alexander Cockburn: return to the Cold War for McCain
Brown in surprise Afghan visit
Gordon Brown has paid a surprise visit to UK troops in Afghanistan on the way to the Olympics in Beijing. Addressing members of 16 Air Assault Brigade at Camp Bastion in Helmand, the prime minister compared their efforts against the Taliban to the exploits of British gold medallists in China:... [continued]
Miliband backs Georgia for Nato
David Miliband has told the Guardian that Nato has set Georgia on the road to membership. The Foreign Secretary’s comments, during a visit to Tbilisi, are surprising since Nato
secretary-general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Georgian membership had not been discussed at Tuesday’s meeting of Nato foreign secretaries. That meeting... [continued]
Robert Fox: After Georgia, Nato must rethink its purpose
In pictures: Russia-Georgia war
MI5 blows apart terror stereotypes
A classified MI5 document seen by the Guardian contradicts the commonly held view that potential terrorists can be easily identified. The internal research says that there is no single path
to radicalisation and that extremists are as likely to be family men as loners. The document, based on the profiles... [continued]
How the war on terror backfired
Councils want to offer mortgages
Council chiefs are pressing to be given the power to offer competitive mortgages to first-time buyers and those at risk of repossession. In a letter to the Times, they propose borrowing £2bn from the public works loans board to fund the move, which they hope will rescue the housing market.... [continued]
Glitter returns to Thailand
Gary Glitter has returned to Thailand after Chinese authorities refused him entry to Hong Kong. The former glam rock star, whose real name is Paul Gadd, was deported from Vietnam to Thailand on Tuesday after being released from jail where he had served three years for sexually assaulting two young... [continued]
