Obama breaks a presidential taboo
October 30, 20092 Comments

Saluting stiffly, his coat jacket whipped by a blustery wind, the commander-in-chief watched as the coffin was borne past him by six army soldiers in combat fatigues. Or, to put it another way, an American President was spending a night without sleep, to experience the ultimate human cost of a war that, though he might …
Tropical storm hits Ashcroft
October 30, 2009No Comments

Michael Ashcroft, the Conservative peer who is funding a key part of David Cameron’s election campaign, is caught in the middle of a legal and political storm in the Central American haven of Belize, where many of his businesses are based.
In an interview with The Independent the country’s Prime Minister, Dean Barrow, has accused the …
Berlusconi’s scarlet fever
October 30, 2009No Comments

Most people who contract a serious illness take to their beds and try to sleep it off – but not Silvio Berlusconi.
The Italian Prime Minister, suffering from a case of scarlet fever, was so incensed by a political talk show earlier this week that he shrugged off his condition to phone in and register his …
Jacques Chirac to stand trial
October 30, 2009No Comments
Support for Blair
October 30, 200911 Comments

Tony Blair’s prospects of becoming the first EU President were fading last night despite a last-minute plea from Gordon Brown to Europe’s leaders to “get real” and back his predecessor for the post.
A succession of countries cast doubt on Mr Blair’s chances of winning enough support to be nominated as the first President of the …
Brown hails ‘breakthrough’ in climate talks
October 30, 2009No Comments