THE expenses of the BBC's top executives are "entirely justifiable", its director general Mark Thompson said in an extraordinary defence of the corporation's

NETWORK Rail has been rebuked by its regulator for failing to slash six-figure bonuses for senior executives after causing massive delays on the Scotland-London west coast mai

DAME Vera Lynn and Prime Minister Gordon Brown are among the celebrities and politicians who have contributed recipes to a new Armed Forces cook book.

BRITISH taxpayers will have to stump up their "fair share" to fight climate change, Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned, as he announced plans for a £60 billion fund to

HARRODS owner Mohamed al-Fayed said yesterday that he would erect a Michael Jackson memorial at the store which the entertainer said was one of his favourite places.

The leader of the Front for Change initiative, Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense Bloc MP Arseniy Yatseniuk, said that the crisis in Ukraine is escalating, rather than ending, according to Interfax-Ukraine. "I clearly understand that the crisis will continue moving, and, as

President Victor Yushchenko held a consultative meeting on preparation of Kyiv to host events of EURO 2012 on Thursday, the president's press office reported. The participants of the meeting, which took place at the reconstruction staff of the 'Olimpiysky' National

Ukraine has fully fulfilled its duties on the transit and purchase of Russian gas according to the contracts signed in January, President's Envoy on Energy Security Bohdan Sokolovsky has stated, according to Interfax-Ukraine. On the other hand, taking onto account

National JSC Naftogaz Ukrainy would take part in an open auction on the sale of an 18.296% stake in OJSC Ukraine's Ukrtatnafta (Kremenchuk Oil Refinery in Poltava region), the press secretary of the state holding, Valentyn Zemliansky has told Interfax-Ukraine.

Having appointed the "cold pragmatist" Mikhail Zurabov to succeed the "sentimental" Viktor Chernomyrdin, Moscow is realizing a strategy to buy up cheap financial and industrial assets in Ukraine, Director of the Institute of Global Strategies Vadym Karasiov told Interfax-Ukraine on

LOYALIST paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland yesterday confirmed they have decommissioned their weapons.

ALAN Milburn, the former Cabinet minister once backed as Tony Blair's natural successor, is to quit politics at the next general election.

HER role as the hectoring host of You Are What You Eat has led her to being loved and loathed in almost equal measure by millions of TV viewers.

A SECOND post-mortem examination of Michael Jackson's body was reported to have been ordered last night, following a request from his grieving family.

GARY Player made history by becoming the youngest Open Championship winner when he lifted the Claret Jug at Muirfield in 1959.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday welcomed resumption of talks between India and Pakistan and said dialogue was the only platform to address issues and find an amicable solution to problems.

Chief of Army Staff General Deepak Kapoor on Saturday sought to allay Pakistan's apprehensions over the positioning of troops along its border by asserting that India was never a threat to its neighbour.

Seeking to put an end to the crisis in the party, Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhara Rao on Saturday revoked the suspension of rebel leaders who raised a banner of revolt against his leadership.

The Centre is considering repealing a controversial section of the penal law which criminalises homosexuality. A meeting will be convened soon for evolving a consensus on repealing Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, official sources said on Saturday.

A senior Nepalese Maoist leader has taken exception to the banning of Indian Maoists who he said are 'fighting for social transformation' in the country.