George Osborne's advice from the International Monetary Fund is like the curate's egg - good in parts.
George Tapp suffered horrific injuries when he was run down last week at a demo against blacklisting in construction. He tells the Star why he's as determined as ever to carry on struggling for justice
The government wants to ramp up Western involvement in the Syrian conflict but the cost will be more violence and instability in the region
AIDES of radical Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr held a meeting with key Sunni group the Association of Muslim Scholars yesterday in an effort to ease rising sectarian tensions in Iraq.
BRITISH Palestine solidarity activist Tom Hurndall, who was shot in the head by an Israeli soldier, died because of malpractice by his British doctors, an Israeli lawyer who is defending the alleged killer claimed yesterday.
UZBEK authorities shrugged off UN secretary-general Kofi Annan's call for an international probe into a government crackdown on protesters that witnesses say killed hundreds, Mr Annan said on Thursday night.
TWO men who claim to be US citizens alleged on Thursday that they had been detained for months and harshly interrogated by Pakistani intelligence and US FBI agents on suspicion of links to Islamist militants.
THOUSANDS of Shi'ites, many waving the Koran above their heads, protested against the US-led occupation of Iraq yesterday.
VENEZUELAN President Hugo Chavez accused the United States on Thursday night of harbouring a terrorist killer.
DETAINEES in United States military custody in Afghanistan have been the victims of widespread abuse by "young and poorly trained soldiers," a US newspaper reported yesterday.
COLOMBIAN Marxist guerillas ambushed a police convoy and clashed with government forces in separate incidents on Thursday, killing at least 13 officers.
PALESTINIAN President Mahmoud Abbas urged an end to a flare-up in violence in the Gaza Strip yesterday, saying that maintaining a ceasefire with Israel was in the best interests of all parties.
THE death toll from three ferry disasters this week in Bangladesh increased to 133 yesterday as hope faded for the 187 people who are still missing.