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• Gaza civilian death toll rises steeply
  The civilian death toll in Gaza increased dramatically today, with at least 12 members of an extended family, including seven young children, killed in an air strike on their house in Gaza City while the bombing of two United Nations schools being used as shelters took 13 lives.The bodies of the Daya family were pulled from the rubble of a house in Gaza City […]
• Sarkozy urges Syria leader Assad to press Hamas for Gaza truce
  Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, today flew to Syria to urge President Bashar al-Assad to pressure Hamas for a ceasefire in Gaza, as the fighting with Israel entered its 11th day."I know the importance of Syria in this region and its influence on a number of players," Sarkozy said in Damascus. "I don't have any doubt that Presiden […]
• Russia's Gazprom chokes EU gas supplies
  Deliveries via Ukraine reduced to a quarter of normal levels, with Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Romania and Turkey all hit
• Police launch online neighbourhood crime maps
  Crime maps detailing the number of offences committed in every neighbourhood have been published online by all 43 police forces in England and Wales, the Home Office said today.The colour-coded maps show the levels of burglary, car crime, robbery and other offences, and include charts showing whether crime is rising or falling.The project is part of the gove […]
• Indian PM Manmohan Singh accuses Pakistan agencies of supporting Mumbai terror attacks
  India's prime minister today accused "official agencies" in Pakistan of being behind the Mumbai terrorist attacks, raising hackles in its nuclear-armed neighbour.In an address to his country's elected officials, the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, offered his strongest views on the three-day assault by "terrorists" which left mo […]
• Atheist bus campaign goes nationwide
  A £140,000 advertising campaign aimed at persuading more people to "come out" as atheists was launched today with a plan to broadcast a message doubting God's existence on the sides of buses, the tube and on screens in central London.Its slogan – "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life" – can already […]
• Debenhams and Next perform better than feared
  Debenhams and Next both defied the gloom gripping the high street this morning by posting Christmas trading figures that were better than feared, sending their shares soaring on the London stockmarket.Although both companies suffered falling sales in recent months, they appear to have weathered the crisis better than rivals such as Marks & Spencer, whic […]
• Cold snap deepens as temperatures reach -10C
  The freezing new year weather looks set to continue causing problems for commuters today as temperatures dipped as low as -10C in Scotland, with chillier spells likely later in the week.Thermometers in southern England were reading -7C by dawn , prompting the Met Office to issue a severe weather warning for London and eastern and south-eastern England.Foreca […]
• Barack Obama nominates Leon Panetta as new CIA director
  Barack Obama's nomination yesterday of a Clinton administration veteran, Leon Panetta, as the CIA's new director, has sharply split the Democratic party between those who say he lacks intelligence experience and those who have welcomed him as a sharp break with the past.The rift in Democratic ranks suggests Panetta's confirmation in the Senate […]
• Tech Weekly podcast: Macworld and CES preview
  This week, we bring you four Tech Weekly programmes (so, more Tech Daily, perhaps?), based around what's happening at the Macworld and Consumer Electronics Show expos in the US.Bobbie Johnson will round up the big names and scour the floor to find out about the new exciting gadgets that we'll be seeing during 2009 – and we'll bring them to y […]