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RAF fighter jets scrambled to intercept Russian bombers in British airspace
This is the moment when the growing tension between Britain and Russia became almost tangible. Bombers approached British airspace at the weekend - and defence chiefs scrambled supersonic Eurofighter Typhoon jets to counteract the potential threat.The close encounter follows an announcement from Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, that bombers should resume the tactics of the Cold War, when incursions by long-range Soviet bombers testing UK air defences were a familiar routine.

Chávez deal to aid low-income Londoners
Up to a million people on income support will be eligible for half fares on London's buses under Ken Livingstone's oil deal with Hugo Chávez, Venezuela's president. Single parents, carers, the long-term sick and disabled people will benefit from the plan, first mooted during Mr Chávez's visit to the UK last year, paying 50p for a single journey if they use an Oystercard. In exchange for a 20% oil discount to fuel London buses, an office will be set up in Caracas, Venezuela's capital, where London officials will offer expertise in town planning, tourism, public transport and environmental protection.

Russia accuses Georgia of fabricating missile saga
Russia says its investigation showed it could not have dropped a missile in Georgia and accused the former Soviet republic of deliberately inventing a 'political tsunami.' Georgia has charged that a Russian plane dropped the missile on August 6 near the town of Tsitelubani, in what it called an 'act of aggression.' The incident reignited feuding between Russia and its pro-Western neighbor. Summarizing results of a Russian probe conducted on August 16-17 of the missile site, Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin on Tuesday accused Georgia of thwarting a proper investigation by even covering up the hole where the weapon was found.

A debt culture gone awry
The U.S. economy, once the envy of the world, is now viewed across the globe with suspicion. America has become shackled by an immovable mountain of debt that endangers its prosperity and threatens to bring the rest of the world economy crashing down with it. The ongoing sub-prime mortgage crisis, a result of irresponsible lending policies designed to generate commissions for unscrupulous brokers, presages far deeper problems in a U.S. economy that is beginning to resemble a giant smoke-and-mirrors Ponzi scheme. And this has not been lost on the rest of the world. This new reality has had unfortunate side effects that go beyond economics.

CIA criticises ex-chief over 9/11
The CIA's top leaders missed crucial opportunities to stop two of the 9/11 hijackers, the agency's own watchdog has concluded in a scathing report. The agency's ex-director George Tenet and his aides are heavily criticised for failing to prepare for the threat posed by al-Qa'eda before the attacks on the US. The CIA Inspector General John Helgerson concluded: 'The agency and its officers did not discharge their responsibilities in a satisfactory manner.' But review team he led found neither a 'single point of failure nor a silver bullet' that would have stopped the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. The report was completed in June 2005 and had been kept classified until Congress ordered the release of a 19-page executive summary. The full report is still classified.

Former CIA officer: US to attack Iran within 6 months
Fox News asked former CIA field officer Bob Baer on Tuesday whether the US is 'gearing up for a military strike on Iran.' Baer has written a column for Time indicating that Washington officials expect an attack within the next six months. 'I've taken an informal poll inside the government,' Baer told Fox. 'The feeling is we will hit the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.' His Time column also suggested that 'as long as we have bombers and missiles in the air, we will hit Iran's nuclear facilities.' Baer explained that what his sources anticipate is 'not exactly a war.' He said the administration is convinced 'that the Iranians are interfering in Iraq and the rest of the Gulf' but that 'if there is an attack on Iran it would be very quick, it would be a warning.'

Buy Feed Corn, They're About to Stop Making It
That bowl of Kellogg's Cornflakes on the breakfast table, or the portion of pasta or corn tortillas, cheese or meat on the table is going to rise in price over the coming months as sure as the sun rises in the East. Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the new world food price shock, conveniently timed to accompany our current world oil price shock. Curiously it's ominously similar in many respects to the early 1970's when prices for oil and food both exploded by several hundred percent in a matter of months. That mid-1970's price explosion led President Nixon to ask his old pal, Arthur Burns, then Chairman of the Fed, to find a way to alter the CPI inflation data to take attention away from the rising prices.

Iraq crash kills 14 US soldiers
Fourteen US soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash overnight in northern Iraq, the US military has said. The Black Hawk helicopter, carrying 10 soldiers and four crew members, crashed after experiencing a mechanical malfunction, a US statement said. There were reportedly no indications of hostile fire, but the cause of the crash is still under investigation. Later, at least 15 people died when a suicide bomber drove a fuel tanker into a police station in Baiji, police said. The head of the local hospital in the oil city, 180km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, said both police and civilians were among the victims. At least 40 people were wounded.

Palestinians dead in Israeli raids
An Israeli air strike in eastern Gaza on Wednesday has left at least one Palestinian dead and several others wounded, all reportedly part of the al-Qassam Brigades, Al Jazeera has learnt. A day earlier, two Palestinian children and four fighters were killed by Israeli fire in three separate incidents in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. The Israeli army said Wednesday's attack targeted a group of armed Palestinians who were approaching the border fence area. An Israeli army spokesman said: 'We fired on them and reported hitting them.' Hamas said its fighters were looking out for Israeli military movements near the fenced area when they came under attack.

Pro-democracy activists arrested in Burmese protests
Hundreds of pro-democracy supporters in Burma marched today to protest at the doubling of fuel prices by the country's military government. About 300 protesters walked from the outskirts of the capital, Rangoon, encouraging onlookers to join the rare display of public opposition as plainclothes police officers watched from a distance, witnesses said. The protesters scattered as junta supporters took away at least six people in cars, onlookers added. It was unclear where the six were taken. 'We are marching to highlight the economic hardship that Myanmar people are facing now, which has been exacerbated by the fuel price hike,' said one protester, who identified herself only as Mimi.

Bush distances himself from the 'non-functional' Iraqi government
President George Bush referred publicly to the growing US frustration with Iraq's Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, yesterday, but said the Iraqi people would have to decide whether to continue supporting him. His remarks fell short of the glowing endorsement Mr Maliki is accustomed to receiving from the US President and followed demands by the powerful Democratic Senator Carl Levin for the Iraqi Assembly to throw out Mr Maliki. Senator Levin is the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and his comments on Monday that the Maliki government is 'non-functional' sent shockwaves trough the political establishment. The Senator wants withdrawal of American troop to begin within four months and believes that most of the US forces should be out of the country by the middle of next year.

Student riots spread in Bangladesh
Riots have spread from the capital to other towns in Bangladesh [AFP]
At least 50 people have been injured in Bangladesh as a violent student protest, that began at Dhaka University, spread across the capital and the country. The clashes with police continued on Wednesday despite an apology from the interim government and the closure of an army camp at the university gymnasium, one of the sutdent demands. In the capital, students from half a dozen colleges and universities took to the streets in support of their colleagues at the Dhaka campus, the largest in the country who boycotted lectures for the third consecutive day. At least six vehicles were burned and similar clashes with police were reported in the northwestern town of Rajshahi, the southern coastal town of Barisal and several other places.

Democrats in $7bn plan to turn US green
America's politicians are waking up to the moneymaking and job creation possibilities of combating global warming and challenging the Bush administration to invest in a new generation of 'green-collar' jobs. The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives wants to spend almost $7bn (£3.5bn) in the coming year to reduce the nation's enormous carbon footprint. This has put it on a collision course with the White House, which remains in denial about the dangers of global warming. A major clash is expected between the White House and Congress in the autumn, with President George Bush sceptical of the Democrats' newfound enthusiasm for the environment. The best way to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil is to drill for more, he believes. The oil industry is keen to open up vast new areas off Alaska's coast for drilling.

'Many' support pay-as-you-throw
Almost two-thirds of people would support a 'pay-as-you-throw' system of collecting household waste, a Local Government Association survey suggests. Its poll of 1,028 people found 64% in favour of lower council tax and charges according to how much rubbish they put out, with recyclers paying less. The LGA has set out three possible schemes for England and Wales. The government said it had finished a consultation on 'pay-as-you-throw' and was looking at changing the law. A Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs spokeswoman said: 'We would need to change the law to introduce variable waste charges and it might be possible to do something in the Climate Change Bill.

Benefits of third runway at Heathrow 'are exaggerated'
The true economic benefits of the Heathrow expansion have been vastly exaggerated, according to an independent investigation into the White Paper on the third runway. The claim of a potential £7.8bn benefit to the economy, used by the Department of Transport to justify the growth of the airport, was described by investigators as 'overestimated', while the financial benefits to the UK were found to be questionable by the independent consultancy Colin Buchanan, whose inquiry was commissioned by the Green Party. The 2003 White Paper that provided much of the basis for justifying Heathrow's expansion described the 'strong economic benefits' of a third runway. Yet according to the independent investigation shown to The Independent, many of the figures used in the report were overestimated.