entertainment headline news

BAA and Britain's airports: terminal decline?

2008-04-23T23:44:00.004-07:00

BAA, the group that owns Heathrow and six other UK airports, argues that vast investment is needed to improve its facilities. Yet the group is making more money than ever before. Last year, Heathrow made a £438m profit - an increase of 10% on the previous year. Which begs the question: where is all the money going?

Chaos at the terminal

2008-04-23T23:44:00.003-07:00

It was quite predictable really. When British Airways, the sole airline at Heathrow Terminal 5, boasted that the supposedly state-of-the-art baggage system "would work perfectly on day one" it was surely tempting fate. And lo and behold, the system proved a shambles when the terminal opened for business yesterday, causing chaos for thousands of angry passengers.

Fake tickets, please

2008-04-23T23:44:00.001-07:00

When is a fake ticket not really a fake ticket? When a rail protester has already paid for a season ticket.

Train punctuality - is 90% good enough?

2008-04-23T23:43:00.003-07:00

Britain appears to have developed a new skill - the knack of running trains on time.

Faster than a speeding Eurostar

2008-04-23T23:43:00.001-07:00

France's record-breaking TGV. Photograph: Francois Nascimbeni/AFP/Getty

France's Train à Grande Vitesse today superseded its past efforts and broke the world speed record for rail in a 357mph (574.8km) dash on the Paris-Strasbourg high speed line.

The V150 - named for the target number of metres it should do a second - is an enhanced version of the passenger trains that will run on the line at a more sedate 200mph.

You can read more on the train here, including the following bit of comparison for anyone who thought the new Eurostar line is whizzy:

In Britain the country's fastest train is the Eurostar which can reach speeds of up to 186mph. However, travelling at 354mph the TGV would cover the distance between London to Edinburgh in 64 minutes.

Update: From Princess Benelux in the comments comes video of the TGV at full speed.

4x4 drivers: human, too?

2008-04-23T23:41:00.002-07:00

Chancellors rarely boast about raising taxes, and Gordon Brown is no different.

Yet he has made an exception, explaining proudly in a series of interviews this morning that one particular group will have to cough up more thanks to his budget.

What is this marginalised minority? 4x4 drivers, of course.

Tax cuts for some have been financed by higher revenues elsewhere, Mr Brown told the Radio 4 Today programme. "That is why, of course, if you have got a 4x4, you are going to pay more road tax," he said.

Mr Brown identified the same group as budget losers on both BBC Breakfast and Sky News.

But, as the beleaguered four-wheel drive owners point out, not all such models are gas guzzlers of the type being targeted by means of the chancellor's higher levels of vehicle duty for high-emission vehicles.

So why single them out? Because these days, 4x4 drivers are the minority it's ok for everyone to hate. No apologies needed, no caveats given.

Have you had a petrol problem?

2008-04-23T23:41:00.001-07:00

A driver fills up at a Tesco
petrol station. Photograph: David SillitoeDrivers have been going online to talk about problems with their cars after filling up at supermarket petrol stations.

Some reckon the fuel has damaged their vehicles, but there is also widespread scepticism on message forums, with some posters joking about how everyone with a problem with their motor is now trying to blame Tesco, which insists its fuel is okay.

One writes: "I filled up at Tesco once... and my car keeps needing an MOT and a service... and now the brakes have gone funny ..."

Thousands of cars have broken down after filling up, however. The problems are apparently mainly focused in the south: Norwich, Essex, and Brighton have all been highlighted. More recent reports, though, also mention Manchester, Newcastle and Aberdeen.

One Vauxhall Corsa owner, writing on the PistonHeads' "gassing station", filled up at a Tesco in Dereham, Norfolk, and says the exhaust emissions warning light came on. The local garage told them they were the third person to have the same problem, which was being cause by a "bad batch of fuel". The Corsa owner says they will have to pay £90 for a new fuel sensor.

Does this sound how it is where you live? Please tell us about it by adding your comments below.

A new train of thought in rail excuses

2008-04-23T23:40:00.000-07:00

Train operators claim the inflation-busting fare increases announced this week are justified because services are improving.

And it's true. Just in time for the fare rise, a new excuse for delays has been introduced - and it's the best yet.

Forget the wrong sort of snow. Forget leaves on the line.

For sheer toothgrinding brilliance, the new, improved excuse is much better than them. It comes courtesy of Southeastern, as befits a company imposing some of the biggest fare increases on passengers. It isn't official yet, but it is so good that it's bound to catch on.

Road test your safety knowledge

2008-04-23T23:35:00.000-07:00

For those with children, and perhaps some of you without, the Department for Transport has launched (with help from the multibillion-pound technology firm 3M) a website designed to test your road safety knowledge. The launch, backed by the road safety charity Brake, coincides with road safety week.

The site is a decent enough attempt to put a bit of fun into learning about road safety. Youngsters are set challenges such as filling in the blank to complete the road safety sentence. The science part of the site tackles topics such as force and is designed to nestle into the Key Stage 2 curriculum. There's also stuff for teachers.

Parents are tested on seemingly more prosaic subjects such as the legal age/height for children travelling in the front passenger seat.

By George, it's patron saint's day

2008-04-23T23:34:00.002-07:00

Fewer than one in five of us know that today is St George's day, prompting a government agency to suggest tips for celebrating Englishness. But is there any wonder we are confused given the divergent press coverage to mark the day?

The soaring cost of food

2008-04-23T23:34:00.001-07:00

The World Food Programme calls the current global food crisis the "silent tsunami". Is it about to hit Britain?

Tutting at wind farms

2008-04-23T23:33:00.002-07:00

Plans for one of Europe's largest onshore wind farms have been vetoed by Scottish ministers. Will such opposition to turbines scupper efforts to hit renewable energy targets?

Papers binge on Prescott's bulimia

2008-04-23T23:33:00.001-07:00

Does John Prescott's admission that he suffered from bulimia while deputy prime minister deserve sympathy, suspicion or ridicule?

Bad omens

2008-04-23T23:32:00.004-07:00

Trade unions, the Conservative party and backbench Labour MPs have all voiced their gripes about Europe recently. But there is news today of an unlikely group of critics who have joined the fray.

The death of the village pub

2008-04-23T23:32:00.003-07:00

First the post office, now the local watering hole. The Telegraph reports that the other hub of community life - the village pub - seems to be in severe danger.

Wealthier does not mean happier

2008-04-23T23:32:00.001-07:00

The rightwing papers, plus the Indy, have written up the results of an Office of National Statistics (ONS) report showing that though Britons are wealthier and healthier than in 1971, the same proportion still complain about their lot.

Diana: case closed

2008-04-23T23:31:00.001-07:00

"The Usual Suspects" is the tag given to the police line-up of paparazzi photographers taken the night Diana died and printed on the front of the Times.

The dishevelled men - who hounded Diana but against whom the authorities will bring no charges - resemble the characters from the 1995 film of the same name. But the mystery that dogged that film, "Who is Keyser Soze?", has no parallel in this case.

Would you carry a flame for Beijing?

2008-04-23T23:30:00.001-07:00

It was supposed to be a simple, morale boosting celebration of sporting spirit. Instead, this weekend's Olympic torch relay through London threatens to become both a major security headache for the city and a potential PR disaster for the Chinese government.

Taste not included

2008-04-23T23:29:00.002-07:00

If there is one thing newspapers enjoy it's sneering at footballers' homes. "Right," comes the implicit message, "they might be young, athletic, hero-worshipped and rich beyond the dreams of avarice, but at least they've go no taste."

Having said that, Phil Neville's home, pictured, covered in detail in today's newspapers, is the easiest of targets.

Market madness?

2008-04-23T23:29:00.001-07:00

One of the most respected names in global investment banking, UBS, writes off almost £10bn more in mortgage assets and its beleaguered chairman steps down. But are the markets spooked? No, in fact they're positively chirpy.

Papers remain true to form over immigration issue

2008-04-23T23:28:00.002-07:00

The House of Lords economic affairs committee usually goes about its business in happy anonymity, but has emerged blinking into the spotlight after producing a report on one of the moment's hot topics - immigration. It has recommended that the number of newcomers to the UK be capped, arguing an economic case based on "irrelevant and misleading" data does not add up.

Zimbabwe election: what the papers say

2008-04-23T23:28:00.001-07:00

Two things seem clear. Firstly, Robert Mugabe was most likely soundly beaten in Zimbabwe's elections. Secondly, he won't give up power without a fight.

Chaos at the terminal

2008-04-23T23:27:00.002-07:00

Transsexual man to be mum

2008-04-23T23:27:00.001-07:00

News that an American man is due to give birth to a baby girl this July has the tabloids all of a flutter. But the case of Thomas Beatie, 34, is not as miraculous as it might first appear.

UK is seventh heaven, survey says

2008-04-23T23:26:00.002-07:00

The UK has been ranked as one of the world's most stable and prosperous countries, beating the US, France and even Switzerland in a global assessment of every nation's achievements and standards.

Obama's big gamble

2008-04-23T23:26:00.001-07:00

Barack Obama has gone further than any previous African-American candidate in the race for the White House. He has easily outshone Jesse Jackson and certainly Al Sharpton. Part of Obama's appeal has been his vision of a true United States of America, not one segmented into ethnic groups. As he memorably put in 2004 at the Democratic convention: "There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America, there's the United States of America."

Any way to treat a lady?

2008-04-23T23:25:00.002-07:00

Perhaps Heather Mills's verbosity did her no favours, but you do wonder at the capacity of people to stick the boot into Sir Paul McCartney's ex.

Are MPs' home expenses too lavish?

2008-04-23T23:25:00.001-07:00

How much would you spend fitting out your kitchen? You can get a pretty decent one from Ikea for between £1,000 and £3,000. But apparently that's not good enough for our MPs who can claim up to £10,000 for a new kitchen on expenses, plus another £12,000 on other household items. The Sun brands the allowance as a "massive 'makeover' perk", and it is not alone in noting, with barely disguised outrage, that it's all at the taxpayers' expense.

Mail turns on murdered teenager's mother

2008-04-23T23:24:00.002-07:00

A nasty press campaign has begun against Fiona MacKeown, the mother of 15-year-old Scarlett Keeling, who was murdered in Goa.

Iran 'dove' Fallon flies Bush coop

2008-04-23T23:24:00.001-07:00

Does the sudden resignation of the top US military commander in the Middle East, Admiral William Fallon, signal that the Bush administration is planning to attack Iran?

Calling Jeremy Clarkson

2008-04-23T23:23:00.002-07:00

If, like George Monbiot, you're not the biggest fan of Jeremy Clarkson, you might enjoy this.

Has the Civil Serf been rumbled?

2008-04-23T23:23:00.001-07:00

Has the self-styled blogger "Civil Serf" been found out and fired after exposing the "pointless and doomed world" of government, or is she just lying low?

Ikea: closet imperialists?

2008-04-23T23:22:00.000-07:00

Furniture store Ikea has been blamed for a lot of things in its time but there is a new one to add to the list.

Should the military wear their uniforms off-duty?

2008-04-23T00:25:00.001-07:00

The news that RAF personnel have been subjected to abuse while wearing their uniforms off-duty has prompted outrage.

Is this the end of ID cards?

2008-04-23T00:24:00.001-07:00

The home secretary, Jacqui Smith, confirmed this morning that parliament will not vote on compulsory ID cards until after the next general election, but does that mean the whole project is off?

UN attacks celebrity drug use

2008-04-23T00:23:00.000-07:00

A new UN report has blamed celebrities who use drugs for encouraging their abuse by others.

You say tiger, I say Toyger

2008-04-22T23:57:00.002-07:00

A sabre-toothed cat that looks like a tiger is proving a hit in the urban jungle.

Turkey-US 'genocide' row grows

2008-04-22T23:57:00.001-07:00

The ramifications of a US resolution describing the deaths of more than a million Armenians in Turkey in 1917 as a "genocide" are considered by a number of today's papers.

Britain's role in Musharraf-Bhutto deal

2008-04-22T23:56:00.001-07:00

Evidence is emerging of the depth of British and US involvement in a deal that helped General Perves Musharraf to retain office as the Pakistani president after his controversial election victory on Saturday.

Royal Mail is on strike - try pass the parcel

2008-04-22T23:55:00.003-07:00

A strike by Royal Mail workers, set to be the longest in 11 years, began at midday yesterday after last-minute pay talks failed to end in agreement. The two-day stoppage and another strike next week will in effect block deliveries for six days.

Brown snub to Mugabe

2008-04-22T23:55:00.001-07:00

Gordon Brown has adopted a very moral stance on Zimbabwe by threatening to snub its president, Robert Mugabe.

Football's gender gap

2008-04-22T23:54:00.000-07:00

The contrasting sporting and financial fortunes of men's and women's football are in the spotlight this morning.

Divorcing Bin Laden Jr

2008-04-22T23:52:00.000-07:00

Remember the story about the Cheshire housewife who married Osama bin Laden's son? Now she's getting a divorce, according to the Sun.

Northern Rock: a very British panic

2008-04-22T23:51:00.000-07:00

"If this was a panic, it was quintessentially British," says the Telegraph, which seems strangely heartened by the well-mannered queues of people outside Northern Rock branches waiting patiently to withdraw their money.

Greenspan on Iraq and the UK economy

2008-04-22T23:50:00.004-07:00

Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the US Federal Reserve, has been sounding off about Gordon Brown, UK house prices and the Iraq war.

Northern Rock in a hard place

2008-04-22T23:50:00.003-07:00

The Bank of England will today throw a lifeline to Northern Rock by providing emergency funding. The beleaguered lender has fallen victim to the liquidity squeeze in the banking sector, the Financial Times reports in its splash.

The Petraeus verdict

2008-04-22T23:50:00.001-07:00

The contrast between the view from Washington and the view from Baghdad over progress in Iraq is highlighted by the Guardian and the Independent today. "Washington: the surge is working. Baghdad: the lottery of life goes on", leads the Guardian. The Indy fills its front page with much the same, in a more verbose manner.

Brown faces unions strike threat

2008-04-22T23:49:00.001-07:00

The Telegraph leads with the Trades Union Congress, which opens in Brighton today, and the news that Gordon Brown is facing a "double backlash" from the unions.

Absolute zero tolerance

2008-04-22T23:48:00.002-07:00

Kathleen Jennings, the cub scout leader who was taken to court for leaving her feet on a train seat, can be thankful that David Jones was not one of the judges.

Diana - 10 years on

2008-04-22T23:48:00.001-07:00

Today is the 10th anniversary of the death of Diana, and most of the papers - perhaps sniffing the opportunity to push a few extra copies - need no second invitation to highlight the fact.

Russia on top of the world

2008-04-22T23:47:00.000-07:00

If there were any doubt about Russia's motives for planting its flag at the North Pole, Pravda dispels them.

The name of the father

2008-04-22T23:46:00.004-07:00

On the face of it, it is surprising that the headline appears in the FT: "MPs back human-animal hybrid embryos ... Committee supports inter-species research." The idea of allowing human-animal hybrids got the tabloids going when it was first mooted. But the papers all have a different take on the recommendations of the parliamentary panel scrutinising the human tissues bill.

Fins ain't always what they seem

2008-04-22T23:46:00.003-07:00

Something that may be a Great White shark has been spotted twice off the coast of Cornwall. "JAWS 2," splashes the Sun, happily. The latest sighting comes from a "shaken" mother of two, who filmed the creature with her camcorder.

The latest weight loss advice: get a thin friend

2008-04-22T23:46:00.001-07:00

Feeling fat? Forget the diet and dump your tubby friends instead. That's the conclusion of a study reported widely today that looked at the social networks of 12,067 people researchers followed for 32 years. The American research found that obesity can spread from person to person, much like a virus.

Things can only get wetter

2008-04-22T23:45:00.002-07:00

Photographs of waterlogged English towns fill the front pages, with Tewkesbury, its abbey rising as a lonely island from the brown water, a particular favourite. There is "looting, panic-buying - and a water shortage", splashes the Times.

The water shortage is an irony many of the papers dwell on. A treatment plant flooded, leaving thousands of residents of Gloucestershire without clean water and supermarket shelves bare of bottled water. The Guardian reports that with thousands cut off by rising water, the RAF was airlifting people to safety in one of its biggest peacetime operations

Tories get that sinking feeling

2008-04-22T23:45:00.001-07:00

"Got a sinking feeling, Dave?" asks the Sun, which carries a picture of the Tory leader knee-deep in floodwater. The paper's Trevor Kavanagh continues the theme: there has been a "flood of foul-ups" and the party is "dead in the water". The Tories are soft, arrogant and idle and should, like Gordon Brown, be visiting flood victims in the Tory heartlands rather than jetting off to Rwanda, Kavanagh writes.

Light(en) up

2008-04-22T23:44:00.004-07:00

The revelation that at least seven cabinet members "did pot", as the Sun puts it, excites the Times today. It publishes a photograph of the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, playing a drinking game while at Oxford. She is wearing pyjamas and making rabbit ears with her hands.

The plot to kill Boris Berezovsky?

2008-04-22T23:44:00.003-07:00

The plot thickens. "Putin regards London, with some justice, as like pre-Castro Havana, an open city awash in the laundered loot of Yeltsin's privatisations, draining the new Russia of investment and talent and giving refuge to people he sees as tax-dodgers and thieves," writes Simon Jenkins in the Guardian. One of those people is undoubtedly the exiled tycoon Boris Berezovksy, who - if the Sun's sources are correct - was the target of a Russian hitman who intended to murder him in a hotel room some time during the past fortnight.

Camilla: Serious matters of state

2008-04-22T23:44:00.001-07:00

The thought that "Queen" Camilla might one day snatch the title that would have been - should have been - Diana's renders the Express aghast. "Charles is entitled to a married life with the woman he loves," sniffs the paper. "But for the sake of the monarchy he would be well advised to push the matter no further than that."

Exit pursued by a schoolboy

2008-04-22T23:43:00.004-07:00

Britain has poked the bear with a small stick: what will the bear do now? Russia says there will be "serious consequences". The phrase "cold war" is back on the front pages.

British and US support over Iraq wanes

2008-04-22T23:43:00.003-07:00

The Guardian takes a speech by Douglas Alexander, the trade and development secretary, in the US last night and runs with it on its front page. Under the headline "Brown message to US: it's time to build, not destroy", the paper suggests the speech asserts the importance of multilateralism to Brown and marks a clear sign that he will reorder Britain's foreign policy.

'A dead Iraqi is just another dead Iraqi ... '

2008-04-22T23:43:00.001-07:00

Below an image of a US soldier's mirrored sunglasses, reflecting people and cars waiting behind an army checkpoint, are the words "A dead Iraqi is just another dead Iraqi ...You know, so what?"

Brown U-turn over supercasino

2008-04-22T23:42:00.002-07:00

"Build, build, build ... but not a supercasino," is how the Times sums up Gordon Brown's presentation of his forthcoming legislation during prime minister's questions yesterday. It's the supercasino U-turn that most excites the papers this morning.

Fears over mortgage meltdown

2008-04-22T23:42:00.001-07:00

Mortgages, train fares, the NHS and the love life of Osama bin Laden's son - it's a mixed bag on the front pages today.

Sleep on the cheap

2008-04-22T23:41:00.000-07:00

Spain is attempting to resurrect the siesta by rebranding it as "Iberian yoga", the Independent reports.

Tories trumpet world of wedded bliss

2008-04-22T23:40:00.003-07:00

David Cameron's campaign to reverse social breakdown through tax breaks for married couples pleases the Mail. A lot.

The good times are over

2008-04-22T23:40:00.001-07:00

As the Bank of England tightens the squeeze on borrowers yet
again, with a fifth interest rate rise in less than a year, many
papers see further pain ahead. The Times, Daily Mail and Financial Times all lead with the story, which also receives much comment.

Green Swedes turn off big cars

2008-04-22T23:39:00.002-07:00

Big Saab and Volvo station wagons could be going out of fashion in their homeland of Sweden, according the International Herald Tribune, as the Italians relaunch a tiny but iconic car.

Brown flags up constitutional reform

2008-04-22T23:39:00.001-07:00

The papers give a very mixed response to Gordon Brown's proposals on constitutional reform: most quibble, some bring out the flags, while others throw off their anoraks in celebration.

Jacqui Smith: fete for purpose

2008-04-22T23:38:00.004-07:00

Yesterday the papers were falling over themselves to praise Gordon Brown's handling of the crisis; today it is the turn of the new home secretary, Jacqui Smith, to bask in the honeymoon glow the new government is enjoying.

Diana concert: cheery or cheesy?

2008-04-22T23:38:00.003-07:00

The Guardian and the Telegraph are as cheeky as they dare to be about the Concert for Diana held at Wembley yesterday in honour of the nation's dead darling.

Moved? Maybe a bit

2008-04-22T23:38:00.001-07:00

"Never has there been such a fuss about a bloke moving his office next door," says Matthew Engel in the FT. "And to the last the process was interminable.

Quentin Davies: the big, fluffy bellwether of a bunny

2008-04-22T23:37:00.000-07:00

Gordon Brown welcomed a new MP to the Labour party yesterday: Quentin Davies, a Tory who said he could no longer tolerate David Cameron's "vacuous" leadership. "Gordon the Magician pulled a big, fluffy bunny of a Conservative out of the hat," enthuses the Mirror.

Can he fix it? Blair heads to the Middle East

2008-04-22T23:35:00.000-07:00

Confirmation that Tony Blair will indeed take up a new role as the Quartet's Middle East envoy - the departing PM apparently suggested himself to George Bush, who recommended him to the UN - causes consternation in the papers.

Gissa referendum

2008-04-22T23:34:00.002-07:00

Yes, yes, we have a new leader - but what about our referendum? In the ring, ready for a fight: the Telegraph, the Mail, the Sun, the Express, all of which despise the EU treaty thrashed out last week. In the "no need for a squabble, let's move on" camp: the Guardian, the FT and the Independent. Sitting, uncomfortably, on the fence: the Times, which is unsure whether this is a "technical amending treaty" or "a constitution in all but name", but thinks a referendum is "almost inevitable".

Brown sauce and ciabatta

2008-04-22T23:34:00.001-07:00

In a consummate piece of PR, Gordon Brown opens up to the Mirror over a bacon sandwich and a bottle of brown sauce in Eve's Sandwich Bar - not quite a greasy spoon, as the blackboard menu betrays ("salt beef with gherkins on ciabatta, £4.20"), but humdrum enough.

The minitraite? Barely there

2008-04-22T23:33:00.002-07:00

You might expect the French to be fairly worked up about the treaty their new president and Angela Merkel are trying to push through in Brussels. After all, they did say a resounding NON to its forerunner two years ago. But in fact the French are not terribly bothered about what they call, rather sweetly, the "minitraité".

Those iniquitous equities

2008-04-22T23:33:00.001-07:00

"The crowds had come to see ... four more leaders of the private equity movement being cut, diced and fricasseed," writes Matthew Engel in the FT. "Following their colleagues' disastrous performance before the [Treasury select] committee a week ago, this lot were better prepared. They had whole armfuls of facts about their companies' transparency, kindness and social responsibility ... None of them could [say] how much capital gains tax their companies paid."

The Times is feeling indulgent towards 2007's "masters of the universe". "If private equity earnings are choked by tax, livelihoods in all social and economic groups will suffer."

Fears over an Islamist 'mini-state' in Gaza

2008-04-22T23:32:00.002-07:00

The papers are anxious today at the violence in the Gaza Strip and there are concerns in editorials about the ascendancy of the gunmen of Hamas, with fears the territory could be morphing into something akin to Mogadishu.

Should all police be armed?

2008-04-22T23:32:00.001-07:00

"NOW ARM ALL OUR POLICE" is the splash headline in today's Daily Express, following the fatal stabbing of a police officer yesterday.

Should immigrants 'learn our lingo'?

2008-04-22T23:31:00.001-07:00

"LEARN OUR LINGO" is the Sun's splash headline today, apparently backing Ruth Kelly's call for councils to reduce the amount of documents they translate into foreign languages.

Madeleine: time to 'turn down the volume'?

2008-04-22T23:30:00.002-07:00

"DESPICABLE," splashes the Mirror. "INSULT TO MADDIE MUM" howls the Sun. During a press conference yesterday, a "callous" German reporter asked the parents of the missing four-year-old Madeleine McCann how they felt about "the fact more and more people seem to be pointing the finger at you".

Much too flash: the 2012 logo

2008-04-22T23:30:00.001-07:00

Yesterday they were mocking it. Today, the Sun and Mail triumphantly report that the juddering fluorescent London 2012 Olympics logo is not only bizarrely inadequate to the task of promoting the capital - it can trigger epileptic fits. "Within hours of it being launched we received 12 reports of people suffering seizures," a spokeswoman for Epilepsy Action tells the Sun.

Putin changes the climate

2008-04-22T23:28:00.000-07:00

Comparing himself to Gandhi, the self-proclaimed "pure and absolute democrat" Vladimir Putin told the Times on Friday that the next Russian president would be chosen "by the people" - unlike, he pointed out, the next British prime minister.

It was one of the less provocative observations made by Mr Putin, who said he would point Russian missiles at European targets if the anti-missile shield America plans to create in eastern Europe goes ahead. The White House says the shield is intended to stop North Korean or Iranian missiles. Mr Putin demurs.

How to recycle a chicken

2008-04-22T23:24:00.001-07:00

The pig eats the chicken, the chicken eats the pig, and you eat both.

A crisis beyond five hostages

2008-04-22T23:24:00.000-07:00

The Telegraph's front-page story musters as much gung-ho optimism as it reasonably can. "SAS on alert to rescue snatched Britons ... A crisis team [has] been assembled with police hostage negotiators, MI6 officials and Arabic linguists preparing to fly out to Baghdad. On the ground the crisis team will liaise with the SAS. Norman Kember, the 76-year-old Christian peace activist, was freed in an SAS operation in Baghdad last year."

Buy-to-let them off the hook

2008-04-22T22:58:00.000-07:00

More than 80,000 "buy-to-let families" - note the un-Rachman-like "families" - face a "tax shock", according to The Times.

Are you mono or bi-cultured? Find out here

2008-04-21T23:36:00.001-07:00

Fifty years after the physicist and novelist CP Snow ignited a debate about the split in western culture between science and the arts, the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Music are marking the occasion with a discussion about science and creativity.

In a New Statesman article on October 6 1956, Snow claimed scientists had "the strength of a social force behind them", while the arts were "like a state whose power is rapidly declining".

He lamented the "indifference" scientists showed towards philosophy, the low profile of the graphic arts and the way in which the "younger rank and file" of scientists "hardly read at all", but concluded that it was "traditional culture" which had more to lose.

DNA test advance sees forensic science march on

2008-04-21T23:35:00.003-07:00

News that thousands of unsolved crimes could be cracked by the latest in a string of groundbreaking DNA testing techniques will further increase the ever-growing profile of forensic scientists. The government-owned Forensic Science Service (FSS) said it was piloting a computer analysis system which can interpret previously unintelligible DNA samples. This, it reckons, could boost its detection rate by 40%.

Rediscovered discoveries

2008-04-21T23:35:00.001-07:00

Flower with a summer sun.
Photograph: Fred Hunt/AP
"Among the many useful discoveries which this age hath made, there are very few which, better deserve the attention of the public than what I am going to lay before your lordship."

This is the less than modest introduction to Edmund Stone's account in 1763 of the medicinal properties of willow bark, writes James Randerson. "There is a bark of an English tree," he wrote, "which I have found by experience to be a powerful astringent, and very efficacious in curing aguish (sic) and intermitting disorders."

The pain-relieving properties he hit upon are due to salicylic acid - the forerunner to aspirin.

Stone's paper is part of a huge online database of every paper held in the dusty libraries of the Royal Society - Britains premier scientific academy, which was founded in 1660. And the academy has now given free access to these papers via the internet.

Confess your teenage tantrums

2008-04-21T23:34:00.003-07:00

A neuroscientist said yesterday that teenagers were not totally to blame for their sulkiness, because their brains are still "works in progress", and they have underdeveloped empathy. The story stirred embarrassing memories here in Guardian Towers of those awkward years and we are keen to hear your stories about teenage tantrums.

To start the ball rolling, I would like to publicly apologise to my family for being a nightmare when I was aged 14 and we were on a trip to Orlando, Florida. I desperately wanted my dad to drive me quite a distance to Tampa so I could see a concert by Queensryche, a heavy metal band I was into at the time. (Who can forget their concept album Operation Mindcrime?) Not unreasonably, he said no and I barely spoke to him for five days despite the fact he had spent hundred of pounds to take us all to Disney World. I also realised later that I had got the concert date wrong.

Circumspection over circumcision

2008-04-21T23:34:00.001-07:00

A vigil in Toronto in memory of Aids victims on the final evening of the 16th International Aids conference. Photograph: Geoff Robins/AFP/Getty Images
The Guardian's health editor, Sarah Boseley, is posting from the 16th international Aids conference for News blog this week. Here is her final report. You can read the other reports here, here, here and here.

It may turn out to be the kindest cut of all, but it's still going to be a tricky business to make circumcision widely and safely available if it proves effective in stopping the spread of Aids.

Those involved in the three current trials are in sombre and restrained mood today. One piece of hyperbole, and they can see thousands of men rushing off to the traditional healer for a bit of impromptu and potentially dangerous surgery.

Slaughtering sacred cows

2008-04-21T23:33:00.001-07:00

Participants in the 16th International Aids conference perform a play intended to diminish prejudice against HIV positive people. Photograph: Jorge Uzon/AFP/Getty

The Guardian's health editor, Sarah Boseley, is posting from the 16th international Aids conference for News blog this week. Here is her fourth report. You can read the first three here, here and here.

Perhaps it's because we're in north America, where time is money, but this year's International Aids conference has been brisk, sanitised and to the point.

It's mainly about preventing the spread of disease, which the Gates Foundation is especially focused on. Even the announcement of new figures showing that one million people in sub-Saharan African are on drug treatment has been something of a footnote to the microbicides and circumcision agenda.

It's not like the last meeting in Bangkok two years ago, which was a noisy, chaotic and passionate affair, with access to drugs still a burning issue.

But no conference is complete without an enfant terrible. Along came Gregg Gonsalves, with the sort of hand grenade one used to expect at these events on a regular basis.

Battle of the planets

2008-04-21T23:32:00.002-07:00

The illustration of the International Astronomic Union (IAU) shows how the new solar system could look. Photograph: EPA/IAU/Martin Komm

The divergence in feelings some have for planets they will never visit can take you by surprise. The International Astronomical Union's proposals for defining planets were supposed to clear up arguments and confusion on Pluto's final status. Comparing the work of headline writers in British newspapers, however, you could be forgiven for thinking the astronomers had failed.

The Guardian has "Pluto survives as solar system acquires three more planets". The Times offers "Astronomers relegate 'dwarf' Pluto to second division of planets".

Actually, both are true. The proposals make Pluto one of a class of planets consisting of the smaller and more distant bodies (plutons) but, in doing so, frustrate attempts to strike it from the solar system's planet roll call altogether.

You could say, in tabloid speak, this makes Pluto plucky, a triumphant underdog, but some see it as a fudge. "I just want to go on record as saying that this is one of the most dimwitted proposals I've heard in a long time," declares Kevin Drum in Political Animal.

For those who can't say no

2008-04-21T23:32:00.001-07:00

Flags representing the 8,000 people who die of Aids each day, seen near the convention centre. Photograph: Jorge Uzon/AFP/Getty

The Guardian's health editor, Sarah Boseley, is posting from the 16th international Aids conference for News blog this week. Here is her third report. You can read the first two here and here.

To the Bush government and backers of a Christian fundamentalist persuasion, the best way to preventing the spread of HIV/Aids is, in the words of a previous famous first lady, to "just say no". Don't have sex until you are married. Don't sleep with anybody but your partner. Don't inject drugs.

A number of people - to hazard a guess, the majority of the planet's population - don't find these things so easy. At the 16th international Aids conference in Toronto this week, hopes are pinned to scientific innovations that just might give human nature a hand.

Microbicides are among the front runners. These are gels or creams or barriers that a woman could use before she has sex and that kill the virus before it can infect her. The wonderful thing about microbicides is that they will give women an opportunity to protect themselves. For too many women in Africa, it's not a case of "just say no" - it's "can't say no". As a speaker here put it, they do not have control over their own bodies. Rape, violence and husbands who have got HIV from sex with prostitutes are their reality.

Prevention or cure?

2008-04-21T23:31:00.002-07:00

Actor Richard Gere, of the Heroes project, holds up a signed document with his fellow project co-chairs Peter Mukerjea (left) and Parmeshwar A Godrej, of Star TV in India. The campaign is intended to reduce stigma and promote prevention through public service announcements and messages in primetime shows. Photograph: Simon Hayter/Getty

The Guardian's health editor, Sarah Boseley, is posting from the 16th International Aids conference for News blog this week. Here is her second report - you can read the first here.

A major shift in priorities and emphasis is taking place in the fight against HIV and Aids.

A few years ago, campaigners, activists and doctors talked of little else but the need to get drug treatment to people with HIV in Africa and slow the heavy death toll. This week, at the 16th International Aids conference in Toronto, all the talk is of prevention.

It's not hard to see what has happened. After huge efforts, formidable campaigning and some extraordinary political victories, drug treatment is finally being rolled out to people in Africa. More than one million people in poor countries are now on the three-drug combinations that keep the virus at bay and allow them to lead normal lives.

Big noise over a big issue

2008-04-21T23:31:00.001-07:00

A protester shows her disappointment with the Canadian prime minister at the opening ceremony of the Aids conference in Toronto. Photograph: Adrian Wyld/AP
The Guardian's health editor, Sarah Boseley, will be posting from the 16th International Aids conference for News blog this week. Here is her first report:

Already the booing, the cat-calling and the placard waving in front of speakers has begun, and that was only the opening ceremony of the conference, an extraordinary event unlike anything else on the planet that calls itself a medical or scientific meeting. And nobody has yet had time to go near the pharmaceutical company stands with blood-red paint. They will though, mark my words. It's now traditional for Aids activists to let the drug companies know in vivid terms that they consider they have blood on their hands.

An allergic reaction to Parkinson's

2008-04-21T23:30:00.003-07:00

Hayfever may not be the cause of Parkinson's disease as some reports have suggested. Photograph: Suzanne and Nick Geary/Getty

Millions of people start to sneeze in the presence of cats, dust and other triggers. Large numbers of them may have woken up this morning to frightening news - newspaper stories that the five million with allergic rhinitis or hayfever in this country could be at increased risk of Parkinson's disease, writes The Guardian's health editor, Sarah Boseley.

Return of swamp thing

2008-04-21T23:30:00.001-07:00

Whatever happened to the great age of exploration? Two hundred years ago the likes of Mungo Park could hitch a ride up an African river and make names for themselves as great pioneers. Nowadays, it's even hard to make that sort of thing exotic if you throw in a search for a mythical swamp monster.

That's the problem encountered by the Centre for Fortean Zoology, who are hunting for a giant crocodile-snake-dinosaur thing called the Ninki-Nanka (this is how it might look) in Mungo Park's old stamping ground of Gambia.

The old days where the CFZ were popularly perceived as a bunch of slightly strange middle-aged blokes with beards are long gone

they boldly declare before setting off. But the group's blog of their experiences remains a tragicomic diary in which they relate their adventures with the earnest good humour you'd expect of, well, a bunch of slightly strange middle-aged blokes with beards.

Ten, nine, eight...

2008-04-21T23:29:00.003-07:00

As dawn comes up, the space shuttle Discovery is fuelled at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Photograph: Dave Martin/AP

Today's planned space shuttle launch is tailor-made for internet users.

Other events may cause scarcely a ripple on the web, but an army of accredited geeks has descended on Florida for the takeoff, ready to relay the least snippet of information to its natural internet constituency.

Apart from the rather boring mission homepage, for newsy updates you're much better checking out the slightly breathless blog from local newspaper Florida Today or Nasa's own launch blog. The launch itself is expected to take place at 2.38pm Florida time (1938pm BST).