John and Anne Darwin were each jailed for more than six years for carrying out a "determined, sustained and sophisticated" £250,000 fraud by faking his death in a canoeing accident.

The father of a seven-year-old girl who died when the quad bike she was riding was in a head-on crash in a country lane has been charged with manslaughter by gross neglect, lawyers said.

The Government has been urged to take action after a report found that the number of destitute asylum seekers and refugees had increased by 180% in just 18 months.

The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams will call on governments to keep their promises on aid and development or face further starvation, disease and premature death amongst the world's poor.

Britain's Olympics chiefs must keep a "tight control over costs and time" in its preparations for the 2012 Games in the face of a rocky economic climate and changing security demands, according to MPs.

A British soldier was killed by a suspected roadside bomb after his patrol came under fire in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said.

A Royal Marine receiving the George Cross for throwing himself on a grenade has been hailed as the most "extraordinary hero" by the head of the British armed forces.

The number of people without a bank account has risen despite a Government drive to tackle the problem of financial exclusion, according to figures released by the Treasury.

The Government has been accused of betraying police with an "insulting" pay offer by leaders of rank-and-file officers.

Police are trying to establish whether a seven-year-old boy was driving a car which overturned.

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