THE Home Office is preparing to slash the budget for supporting asylum seekers by almost half, The Scotsman can reveal.

TONY Blair will today try to reassert his leadership, struggling to catch up with public opinion after Downing Street conceded mistakes were made over the handling of the Asian tsunami disaster.

THE row over Jack McConnell's family holiday at the Spanish villa of television presenter Kirsty Wark intensified yesterday after he was accused of failing to declare a previous visit in his parliamentary register of interests.

A 22-YEAR-OLD student who disappeared at Hogmanay may have been attacked after climbing into an illegal taxi, detectives said yesterday.

THE BBC soap EastEnders has slumped to its lowest audience share in more than five years.

DETECTIVES were last night questioning a man and two youths over the murder of ten-year-old Damilola Taylor.

TONY Blair opened the door for David Blunkett's return to the Cabinet after the next general election, when the Prime Minister admitted he hoped his former home secretary would make a comeback.

A MAN found lying on a city-centre pavement with serious head injuries was last night in a "critical" condition in hospital. The 40-year-old, whose identity has not been disclosed, was discovered on Sunday morning in a doorway in St Mary's

POST-MORTEM examinations were being carried out yesterday on the exhumed bodies of two elderly men believed to be patients of a GP accused of murdering another of his patients.

YESTERDAY'S three minute silence came in for stiff criticism from some quarters, with Roger Gale, the Conservative Party vice-chairman dismissing it as the "worst kind of gesture politics".

A PAEDOPHILE who used his own daughters to lure girls to his home for sleepovers before drugging the victims also simulated their murders, a court was told yesterday.

HUNDREDS of millions of pounds were yesterday pledged to the international relief efforts following the Asian tsunami catastrophe as world leaders vied with each other to head the list of donors.

TRYING too hard to balance home, family and work life has led to an epidemic of "Hurried Woman Syndrome" among British women.

IN 1997, just three months after he swept to power, Tony Blair found himself leading a British public in shock at the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. In an instant he realised this was far more than an ordinarily

THE English, it seems, remain incredibly faithful to their favourite names, with Jack and Emily still the most popular given to boys and girls last year.

A MURDER inquiry was under way yesterday after a woman pregnant with twins was stabbed to death as she walked along a city street.

ANALYSISTONY Blair's years in Downing Street have been marked by an extraordinary ability to judge the public mood, and deliver a fitting and eloquent response for any catastrophe.