IT'S official - the Holyrood parliament building is not worth anything like the £430 million the taxpayer paid for it.

SKETCHSPOT the similarity between opposition politicians trying to tempt the First Minister into question time indiscretion and a keeper laying buns to entice a bear out of its den.

CONDOLEEZZA Rice took over yesterday as the 66th US secretary of state, declaring "history is calling us" as she replaced Colin Powell.

PEDESTRIANS have an "appalling" attitude to road safety, often weaving through traffic or stepping in front of moving cars, causing more than two million accidents, a new report has revealed.

THE families of the four Britons released from Guantanamo spoke yesterday of their concerns for the men's health, and told of US "torture" methods, as the former detainees experienced their first full day of freedom in three years.

SWISS chocolate giant Nestlé cannot trademark its slogan "Have a Break" for its KitKat bars, a top European Court adviser said yesterday.

A 37-YEAR-OLD man was arrested yesterday following an attack last month on Robert Kilroy-Silk in which he was covered in manure.

TEARS were shed yesterday as hundreds gathered with the Queen and Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, in London to pay their respects at the national memorial ceremony.

A CORONER recorded a verdict of unlawful killing following an inquest on Sally Geeson, who was found dead after vanishing on New Year's Day.

THE parents of a schoolboy who was stabbed through the heart in front of classmates yesterday launched a scathing attack on a report into his death.

THE British soldier who triggered the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal claimed yesterday he took photos of the incidents "to show his mum and kids".

VETERAN broadcaster Terry Wogan has set a new record by pulling in more than eight million listeners to his Radio 2 breakfast show.

BRITISH troops are vowing to use overwhelming force to smash any attempts to disrupt Sunday's elections in Iraq.

THE mass murderer Harold Shipman killed between ten and 15 patients while working as a junior doctor more than 30 years ago, an official report has revealed.

SIR Tim Berners-Lee, credited with inventing the world wide web and revolutionising communication, was named 2004's Greatest Briton at an awards ceremony in London last night.

LEAN people appear to fidget themselves thin, while obese people seem biologically driven to sit around and do very little, according to a radical new scientific study.

A FURTHER 220 British troops are to be sent to Iraq to take over from Dutch forces that are being pulled out, it was announced yesterday.

THEY rarely set foot inside a betting shop, but women have taken to online betting and casinos in their tens of thousands, according to new research.

MINISTERS were on the back foot last night over controversial plans to allow British citizens suspected of plotting terror to be put under house arrest.