City workers take record bonuses despite the financial crisis

Bankers and financiers have taken a record £12.6 bn in bonuses so far this year, despite the financial crisis. The bonuses arise from profits made at least a year ago, before the credit crunch hit, yet the figures will fuel debate about whether banks have acted responsibly at a time when the cost of living is sharply rising. The billionaire American investor George Soros is the latest to criticise the big bonus culture: "There is a real problem with incentives for the banking and hedge fund community," he said. (Sunday Telegraph)

Muslims 'taking control of prison'

An internal review of Whitemoor prison in Cambridgeshire reveals growing fears among staff that divisions between Muslim and non-Muslim prisoners will lead to a "serious incident". Several wings of the high-security prison have become dominated by Muslim prisoners, who make up a third of inmates. The report warns that the separate Muslim culture is "leading to hostility and Islamophobia". The Home Office is also concerned that prisons are becoming recruiting grounds for Islamic extremism. (Observer)

Teenage actor stabbed to death

A teenage actor was stabbed to death as he tried to protect his younger brother from a knife attack yesterday. Robert Knox, 18, who has a small role in the next Harry Potter film, was killed in Southeast London, not far from where Jimmy Mizen was killed two weeks ago. The Home Office is giving police new powers to stop and search young people in a bid to reduce knife crime –but the Children’s Commissioner for England, Sir Al Aynsley-Green, has warned that the policy could cause resentment. (Sunday Telegraph)

British boats trapped in Cherbourg

Thirty British pleasure boats, carrying more than 60 holidaymakers, have been trapped for the past week in an illegal blockade of Cherbourg marina by French fishermen striking over the rising cost of diesel fuel. The protestors have drawn a steel cable across the harbour entrance. They fired flares and threw bottles at any boat owners trying to escape when the cable was momentarily lifted. Similar protests are likely to spread across Europe this summer. (Mail on Sunday)

One of Labour's leading donors, the billionaire industrialist Lord Paul, has joined the chorus of criticism over Gordon Brown's leadership. He has accused the PM of not being tough enough and called on him to "exert his authority over his fractious party". The Indian-born steel magnate, who only last year promised to spend "whatever I can pay" to help Brown fight the next general election, now says he is "depressed" about the party’s troubles. (Observer)
The Mole: Crewe and Nantwich - and the aftermath

British farmers are abandoning environmentally friendly schemes in order to grow more crops, in response to soaring food prices. The Government-backed environmental schemes have done a huge amount to conserve the countryside over the last 21 years, but farmers have recently become disillusioned by the bureaucracy and tempted back to high-yield farming. (Observer)
In pictures: world food crisis

One of the Church of England's senior bishops has said that not enough is being done to convert British Muslims. The Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, said that the Church had gone to far in its desire to be sensitive to minority faiths: "What we need now is to recover our nerve." The Pakistani-born bishop has already warned against the emergence of 'no-go areas' for non-Muslims. (Mail on Sunday)

In the week the governor of the Bank of England warned of protracted economic hardship, divorce lawyers have reported a surge in trophy wives – and husbands – asking whether now is the time to make a move. Sandra Davis, head of the law firm Mishcon de Raya, said: "We have never been busier with stay-at-home spouses asking what their options are." (Observer)

There has been a sharp fall in hospital beds since Labour came to power, with record cuts in NHS wards last year. Increasing numbers of hospitals are going on "black alert", which means closing their doors to new patients because they are full. Patients' groups have described the loss of beds as "a national scandal". (Sunday Telegraph)

According to a think tank, the long summer holiday damages children's education and should be abolished. The Institute for Public Policy Research says that children from the poorest backgrounds tend to suffer "summer learning loss" due to the long break from class. (Observer)

Britain's health and social care systems are likely to be tested to the limit by the rising costs of dementia, a major health report will warn this week. The cost of caring for sufferers from the disease will more than double from £14bn to £35bn in England by 2026. (Independent on Sunday)

The death toll from the Sichuan earthquake and the mountain landslides that followed now exceeds 60,000, and the number of injured is not known. But the most urgent challenge for the Chinese government and aid organisations is the stunning figure of five million homeless. Huge refugee camps have been set up while long-term aid is awaited. (Sunday Times)
Chinese see seismic change in their premier

Barack Obama is hoping that Bill Clinton will play a key role in healing the divisions in the Democratic Party, once the Illinois senator is finally selected as the presidential candidate. According to a senior Obama aide, "Bill Clinton will give permisison for Hillary supporters to come into our camp." (Sunday Times)
US Election 2008

Germans, who like to think of themselves as individualistic, have been painted as a remarkably uniform race in a study conducted by Der Spiegel magazine. The detailed survey delves into everything from their favourite holiday destination (Majorca) to what direction they take when they enter a supermarket and how often they masturbate. (Observer)

The International Energy Agency has ordered an inquiry into whether the world could run out of oil. The IEA says it is launching the survey because of fears over the new demand from China and India. Oil hit $135 a barrel last week. (Observer)

Five directors at HSBC could share a £120m jackpot over the next three years, if shareholders agree. The payout will be dependent on directors at the bank hitting tough profit performance targets. (Sunday Times)

Unite, Britain’s biggest trade union, is set to announce a historic merger with its US counterpart – to form a new sort of international labour organisation. The deal is with the United Steelworkers Union (USW) which has more than one million members in the US and Canada. (Sunday Telegraph)

The latest novel to delve into the cultural efects of 9/11 is also about… cricket. Netherland, by Irish-born author Joseph O’Neill, has been hailed as a major achievement by US critics, despite being set around a New York cricket team. (Observer)

The literary world was impressed when Zadie Smith won a massive £250,000 advance for her first novel at the tender age of 19. Now it appears it was not just her precocious talent that landed the contract. Her agent, Andrew 'The Jackal' Wylie, explains: "Zadie Smith wrote a cover letter ending: 'I'm six foot tall, I'm 19 years old, and I don't exactly look like the back of a bus'." (Independent on Sunday)

The latest film by German director Wim Wenders was greeted with a chorus of boos at Cannes. Wenders won the Palme d'Or 24 years ago for Paris, Texas. But some critics walked out of the romantic thriller Palermo Shooting before the end. (Sunday Telegraph)

Actress Natascha McElhone, who plays David Duchovny's wife in
Californication, has paid an emotion tribute to her husband, cosmetic
surgeon Martin Kelly, who died suddenly of a heart condition on the doorstep of their London home last week at the age of 42. McElhone, 36, said: I can't believe that that magical, beautiful creature is not here any more... I still feel like the luckiest woman alive, even though he's not here." (Mail on Sunday)