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Ahmadinejad grooms chief-of-staff to take over as Iran's president
Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei is controversial figure at odds with religious leaders, according to leaked embassy cableA close ally of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who favours cultural openness and opposes greater...
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Lambs to the slaughter: sheep sacrificed by Kyrgyzstan parliament
Turbulent central Asian state makes a traditional blood offering to drive evil spirits out of the parliament buildingIt has suffered two popular revolts, a bloody fistfight and a police raid that...
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Catholic defectors will leave Anglicans breathing sigh of relief – bishop
Church of England bishop Christopher Hill says losing clergy or laity to Catholic Ordinariate will let CoE move onA Church of England bishop says congregations will breathe a "sigh of relief" this week...
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Lesbian couple claim hotel turned them away as 'rejects'
Manager of Brighton hotel rejects allegations as lies and says he turned them away because they were 'rude and aggressive'A young lesbian couple who were refused a double room in a Brighton hotel are...
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Fighting threatens Ivory Coast return to normality
Alassane Ouattara's army takes on two separate militias resisting his control in Ivory Coast's commercial capital of San PedroFresh fighting and splits in the coalition that brought Alassane Ouattara...
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Nigerian elections in northern states postponed in wake of riots and violence
Election commission chief says polls in Kaduna and Bauchi will be delayed by two days because of security concernsNigerian officials have delayed gubernatorial elections in two predominantly Muslim...
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Libya rebels seize Tunisia border post in far west
Rebels take control of Dehiba border crossing – 13 Libyan army officers including two commanders flee across border to TunisiaRebel forces fighting government troops in the far west of Libya have...
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Tim Hetherington obituary
An outstanding photojournalist and film-maker, he defined a generation of reportageThe photographer and film-maker Tim Hetherington, who has been killed at the age of 40 while covering the escalating...
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Persimmon's former Saint closes door on a life in housebuilding
Ex-rugby player quits as chairman adamant the industry has learned from its mistakesFor John White, standing down from one of Britain's biggest construction companies is bittersweet. He can look back...
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There's no such thing as 'big society' – just many small ones, under steeples...
Churches are the obvious place for revived localism yet their potential remains locked behind regulatory clutter and spiralling costsThe "big society" will be on annual parade this Sunday....
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Small business lending falls again
Lending report by Bank of England is described as a 'horror story' by Lib Dem politicianLending to small businesses fell again in the first quarter of the year despite pledges by the banks to bolster...
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French riot police in uproar over lunchtime booze ban
Police unions furious as official decree is passed to prevent CRS officers enjoying their usual lunchtime wine and beer They might be lampooned as a bunch of truncheon-happy meatheads by leftwing...
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New York Times website attracts 100,000 subscribers
Earnings fall 58% as digital advertising fails to make up for a fall in print adsMore than 100,000 people have paid for online access to the New York Times since the paper began charging for it three...
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Festival of Britain 60th anniversary begins at Southbank
Southbank Centre's four-month jamboree includes a theatre inside a cow, world's longest bunting and Susan the straw foxFrom the patio of her concrete den, Susan the giant straw fox is keeping a vigil...
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Florida Britons 'tried to run away when shot in street'
New witness gives graphic account of killings of two young British holidaymakersA new witness has given a graphic account of the deaths of two British holidaymakers, describing how they tried in vain...
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Museum to return $44m Klimt painting seized by Nazis
Researchers discover Gustav Klimt's piece, Litzlberg am Attersee, was confiscated during second world warAn Austrian museum has announced plans to return a precious Gustav Klimt painting to the heir of...
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Brighton kisses goodbye to Banksy's kissing coppers
Graffiti artist's work, originally sprayed on the side of a Brighton pub, to be sold and shipped to AmericaFor years, it has been the two-fingered salute to the conventional art world, a poke in the...
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Queen sizes up Westminster Abbey a week before royal wedding
Monarch in 800-year old ritual hands out Maundy coins – and looks ahead to nuptials of William and KateIt was hard to avoid the suspicion that the Queen's attendance on her 85th birthday on Thursday at...
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Be Muslim for a month in Istanbul: pray five times a day and fast
A chance to be immersed in Islam, particularly Sufi traditions and the mystic Rumi - without having to convertIt has the ingredients of a conventional holiday – experiencing the culture and hospitality...
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Iranian hunger strikers sew their lips together in protest at UK deportation
The four men are among six hunger strikers who say they were tortured after taking part in protests that swept Iran in 2009Four Iranians, including a 17-year-old boy, are on hunger strike and have sewn...
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