Last updated: 9/9/2010 11:03:44 AM GMT

Peter Robinson steps aside as first minister of Northern Ireland
Posted on January 11, 2010
Peter Robinson said tonight he was stepping aside as Northern Ireland's first minister for a "short period" to deal with his family life amid allegations of a financial scandal involving his wife and her younger lover.
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    • Will the TOGS ever warm to Chris Evans as Tigger?
    Posted on January 11, 2010
    He had said he was stepping into shoes that are bigger than his own, and he did try not to put his foot in it. But when Chris Evans took the helm of Europe’s most popular breakfast show today it was not unlike a children’s entertainer trying to stay wacky for a bunch of stony-faced five-year-olds.
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    Labour MP Frank Field appears alongside Cameron at Tory launch
    Posted on January 11, 2010
    The socially conservative MP for Birkenhead, a persistent thorn in the side of Gordon Brown, indicated he was not defecting to the Conservatives. But he risked an internal party rift when he said that "more of the same" would not end poverty. His appearance, at a Demos think-tank event, will be a fresh blow for Labour morale.
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    Ed Balls denies cabinet split over election strategy
    Posted on January 11, 2010
    Ed Balls today played down claims that the cabinet is split over Labour's election strategy as a former minister urged the party to adopt a more radical manifesto if it wants to combat the Tory promise of change.
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    • Law and Music on Hold: Josipovic Now Heads Croatia
    Posted on January 11, 2010
    ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) -- For years, Ivo Josipovic was immersed in legal clauses and notes. He will have to put that world on hold now and get onto political pursuits, becoming Croatia's new president.
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    • Americas review
    Posted on January 11, 2010
    Freud fires opening shot in battle for soul of Fox News.
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    • An American Lament: Dear Mr.Gorbachev
    Posted on January 11, 2010
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    Alastair Campbell had Iraq dossier changed to fit US claims
    Posted on January 11, 2010
    Fresh evidence has emerged that Tony Blair's discredited Iraqi arms dossier was "sexed up" on the instructions of Alastair Campbell, his communications chief, to fit with claims from the US administration that were known to be false.
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    'Brown seized power without any idea what to do with it'
    Posted on January 11, 2010
    Tony Blair looked perplexed as he returned from a one-to-one meeting with Gordon Brown, his soon-to-be successor as prime minister, in June 2007. "There is nothing there," Mr Blair told his his closest aides. "He has no agenda for government. Nothing.
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    China's first gay pageant gives glimpse of new acceptance
    Posted on January 11, 2010
    The event is a striking sign of how far attitudes in China have changed and of gay people's increasing confidence. Gay sex was illegal until 1997. Homosexuality was classed as a mental illness for four years after that. Now an emerging gay community is busting stereotypes.
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    Today's comments
    Posted on January 11, 2010
    Charlie Brooker: There's no hope left for Labour – apart, perhaps, from hopelessness itself
  • Peter Preston: Slushy indecision
  • Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: Licentiousness breeds extremism
  • DJ Taylor: Pride before a fall
  • Rob Brown: Failed by Fianna
  • Francis Beckett: Young and wasted
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    The 'false' pandemic: Drug firms cashed in on scare over swine flu, claims Euro health chief
    Posted on January 11, 2010
    The swine flu outbreak was a 'false pandemic' driven by drug companies that stood to make billions of pounds from a worldwide scare, a leading health expert has claimed. Wolfgang Wodarg, head of health at the Council of Europe, accused the makers of flu drugs and vaccines of influencing the World Health Organisation's decision to declare a pandemic.
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    • US fears double-dip recession with rising job losses
    Posted on January 11, 2010
    Fears of a double-dip recession in the world's biggest economy were heightened today when Washington announced that the US shed 85,000 jobs last month.
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    • The Sports Report
    Posted on January 11, 2010
    Liverpool fans’ fury over abusive e-mail sent by Tom Hicks Jr
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    • Brown picks 'A-team' for election campaign
    Posted on January 11, 2010
    Gordon Brown has set up an "inner cabinet" to oversee Labour's general election campaign as he tries to convince his ministers that he will adopt a "team approach".
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    David Cameron calls for immigration curbs to keep population below 70 million
    Posted on January 11, 2010
    David Cameron called yesterday for the population of Britain to be kept below 70 million. The Conservative Party leader said that it was not unrealistic to reduce net immigration to levels recorded in the 1990s and that the current trends were “too much”.
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    Harriet Harman to announce plans to scrap forced retirement
    Posted on January 11, 2010
    Harriet Harman, the Minister for Women and Equality, is to argue that a major change in the law is needed to alter the perception that people are "past it" once they reach 65.
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    Iran can be bombed says General Petraeus
    Posted on January 11, 2010
    The US military commander for the Middle East and the Gulf region has confirmed that the United States has developed contingency plans to deal with Iran's nuclear facilities. Gen David Petraeus, head of Central Command or Centcom, did not elaborate on the plans, but said the military has considered the impacts of any action taken there.
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