
Lloyds Banking Group is to axe thousands of jobs next year in a fresh wave of cuts under plans to reduce costs, sources have said. Up to 5,000 positions are expected to be cut in the UK in 2010, on top of thousands already slashed this year.

United Kingdom affluent shoppers hit by the recession are fuelling a shoplifting crime-wave, according to research. Middle-class people reluctant to give up luxuries they can no longer afford are behind thefts of expensive foods, alcohol and cosmetics, the Centre for Retail Research data claimed.

World global demand for energy which has fallen in 2009 because of the recession is forecasted to soar 40% by 2030 and the Copenhagen summit next month will be “crucial” to design an energy sustainable future according to the “World Energy Outlook 2009” released in London by the International Energy Agency.

Some 400 clowns and doctors skilled at clowning took part in an international conference in Buenos Aires to present scientific evidence, backed by their own experience, to show why laughter was healthy

World leaders marking the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall's fall have said the battle against injustice around the world must continue. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was joined at the Brandenburg Gate by UK PM Gordon Brown, France's Nicolas Sarkozy and top US diplomat Hillary Clinton.
They warned human rights were still under threat for millions of people.

The winning ticket holders of the United Kingdom's largest-ever lottery prize are a married couple from Newport, in south Wales, and a syndicate from Liverpool. The two tickets will take a £45,570,835.50 share of Friday's £90m (100 million Euros) Euro-millions jackpot.

The Vatican has offered to allow conservative Anglican clergy to join a special section of the Catholic Church. They would be able to retain the Anglican liturgy and a married priesthood.

The main honour and credit for the fall of the Berlin Wall belongs to Pope John Paul II and it is wrong to say it was the work of former Soviet president Mijail Gorbachev said the historic leader of Poland’s Solidarity movement and later head of state Lech Walesa

A huge expansion of nuclear power was signalled Monday by the British Government as it named 10 sites where new power stations could be built. The first is set to be operational by 2018 and, by 2025 nuclear electricity generation could amount to around 40% of new energy provision.

A 13 year old cat came down with the H1N1 virus flu in the state of Iowa, in the US Mid West, the first case so far proved and evidence that humans with the flu virus can spread it to pets.