Still reeling from a thrashing by the SNP in Glasgow East, Gordon Brown now faces the threat of a Nationalist victory at a byelection in his own backyard. for more click here
A supertax on high earners should be considered as part of Gordon Brown’s autumn fight-back, a minister says today.
Ivan Lewis, writing in The Sunday Times, calls on the government to introduce a new economic package to bail out the hard-pressed middle classes – possibly paid for by new taxes on the rich. for more click here
Russia is considering arming its Baltic fleet with nuclear warheads for the first time since the cold war, senior military sources warned last night.
The move, in response to American plans for a missile defence shield in Europe, would heighten tensions raised by the advance of Russian forces to within 20 miles of Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, yesterday. for more click here
The crisis in Georgia has focused minds on the supply of oil to western Europe via lines that cross - and avoid - Russia. for more click here
The 22 MPs want the Commons and the Lords to be allowed to swear allegiance to their constituents and the nation rather than to the monarch.
The cross-party group, led by Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker, says MPs’ “principal duty” should be to the people who elected them. for more click here
US President George Bush said after a visit to CIA headquarters that the stand-off with Russia over Georgia could stretch “throughout the coming weeks”. for more click here
Zimbabwe’s main opposition party says authorities have confiscated travel documents from its leader and other officials ahead of a regional summit.
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said the documents were taken at the airport in the capital, Harare. for more click here
There is a ghost at the table around which the four principal negotiators have been sitting these last three days, trying to resolve Zimbabwe’s political crisis.
The talks are haunted by the spirit of the late Joshua Nkomo, whose fate stands as a warning to anyone trying to strike a deal with President Robert Mugabe. for more click here
The brief, brutal war in Georgia is not a victory of the Russians over the West. That is just a schoolboy way of looking at the whole sorry episode. Nor is it, as David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary and would-be Labour leader, would have it, some disgraceful resurgence of Russian imperialism for which they must be punished by withdrawal of international privileges. That is to completely misunderstand the situation on the ground and in the Kremlin. for more click here
WASHINGTON — Other than the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, few foreign policy initiatives have gotten more diplomatic attention from the Bush administration recently than thawing its increasingly chilly relationship with Russia.
Twice over the last 10 months, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates have been sent on joint missions to convince the Kremlin that it should cooperate on a variety of fronts, including missile defense and nuclear proliferation. for more click here