News in English

Over-eating and lack of exercise is set to overtake smoking as the leading cause of preventable death in the US, according to a government study.

More than eight million people took to Spain's streets today in an unprecedented show of grief and fury at bomb attacks the day before on Madrid commuter trains that killed 199 people and injured more than 1400, police said.

American Mafia families are recruiting their killers in Sicily because Americans are seen as unreliable and indiscreet, according to authorities in Rome and Washington.

Taiwan must build up its missile defences to counter the growing military threat from China, a US military expert said today.

NATO could play a welcome role in helping with the growing number of international peacekeeping missions in Africa, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said yesterday.

Australia, Britain and Spain will send their share of investigators and legal experts to Iraq to help in the trial of Saddam Hussein on war crimes charges.

Are admission rates to acute psychiatric care higher for immigrants from non-Western countries than for the traditional Norwegian population?

Zimbabwe's independent judiciary came under renewed attack yesterday as it was announced that President Robert Mugabe had suspended an outspoken High Court judge for alleged legal misconduct.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder was dealt a devastating blow in regional elections in the city-state of Hamburg yesterday, the first ballot box test in a year that is shaping as his annus horribilis.

North Korea emerged from six-nation talks on its nuclear program today and immediately rested blame on USA for "not willing to resolve this issue fundamentally".