VOTERS have delivered a resounding No to plans for Britain's biggest road-charging zone.

AN SNP councillor has defected to the Labour Party in Glasgow. Colin Deans, who had been in dispute with the SNP, switched sides on Thursday night.

JACK Straw, the Justice Secretary, has been given a slap on the wrist by the Electoral Commission for declaring a donation four years late.

THE ban on giving NHS treatment to patients who choose to go private for part of their healthcare is to be lifted in Scotland.

ENVIRONMENTAL groups yesterday condemned as a "failure" the climate change and energy deal agreed by EU leaders yesterday.

GORDON Brown hailed agreement over a European Union-wide fiscal stimulus package yesterday as proof that countries were united on how to tackle the economic downturn.

THOUSANDS more jobs were lost or threatened yesterday as the economic downturn and efficiency savings continued to cut a swathe through British industry.

THE vote yesterday formally kick-started the process of one of the most far-reaching and controversial takeovers in Scottish business history.

IRELAND will hold a second referendum next year on the Lisbon reform treaty after winning key assurances from European Union states who want it fully ratified by the end of 2

Barack Obama will become the first black president of the United States next month after a gruelling two-year battle.

Voicing scepticism over Pakistan acting decisively against terrorists operating from its soil, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said such elements have been let off in the past after some initial action."We can make available whatever evidences we have. In

Hundreds of people today marched towards UN office in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to protest the world body's declaration of the Jamaat-ud-Dawah as a terror outfit while political and religious leaders criticised the government's decision to crackdown on the group.

Kasab's letter has been forwarded by the Mumbai police to the External Affairs and the Union Home Ministries for necessary action, Joint Commissioner of Police Rakesh Maria told media persons in Mumbai on Saturday.

A large number of operatives of intelligence agencies were present in Faridkot and ouside the house of Ajmal Amir Iman alias Kasab, the lone gunman captured for the Mumbai terror attacks, according to a report aired by Geo News channel

As the Pakistani government cracks down on terrorists linked to the Mumbai carnage, the media in the country has embarked on a 'soul-searching' exercise, with questions being raised as to why the Islamic nation has become the 'hub of militancy

Addressing a poll meeting in the south Kashmir's Shangus village on Sunday afternoon, Dr Singh said, "There are people who are ready to carry out bloody attacks on our country. Our desire to improve relations with Pakistan cannot be fulfilled

In a blunt message to Islamabad in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, British Premier Gordon Brown said on Sunday that "time has come for action" against terrorists operating from the soil of this country as he revealed that the

Chaudiri Abdul Majeed and Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood, who held a series of senior posts in Pakistani nuke programme, went to Taliban headquarters in Kandahar in mid-August 2001 and spent three days with bin Laden who was keen on acquiring weapons

Pakistan's intelligence agencies are no longer backing outlawed groups like the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, which will not be allowed to use the country's soil for any acts of aggression, President Asif Ali Zardari has said.

Pakistan claimed on Saturday that Indian fighter jets had violated the country's airspace in two separate sectors and were forced out by its combat aircraft, a charge dismissed by India.