Your daily e-mail from the BBC



	Thursday, 24 July, 2008, 1:00 GMT 09:00 +08:00:Asia/Shanghai




TOP STORIES

	Canoe fraud couple sent to jail Back-from-the-dead canoeist John Darwin and his wife Anne are jailed for a £250,000 fraud.

	MPs scrap France's 35-hour week France's parliament passes a law which effectively ends the country's compulsory 35-hour working week.

	New E Africa food crisis warning More than 14m in the Horn of Africa need food aid because of drought and high prices.

	Net firms in music pirates deal Six of the UK's biggest net providers have signed up to a government plan to tackle illegal file-sharing.

	Soy foods 'reduce sperm numbers' A regular diet of even modest amounts of food containing soy may halve sperm concentrations, scientists suggest.




WORLD

	Karadzic seeks extradition delay Prosecutors at The Hague say they expect the extradition of war-crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic to be delayed.

	US lawmakers pass housing rescue The US House of Representatives passes a housing rescue bill after President Bush says he will not veto it.

	Italy targets illegal immigrants Illegal immigrants convicted of crime in Italy face longer jail sentences than those for Italians, under new laws.




AFRICA

	Sudan president defiant in Darfur Sudan's president defies accusations from the International Criminal Court during a rare visit to Darfur.

	Nigeria oil giant 'paid rebels' The head of Nigeria's national oil company says it paid $12m in protection money to rebels.

	New E Africa food crisis warning More than 14m in the Horn of Africa need food aid because of drought and high prices.




AMERICAS

	US lawmakers pass housing rescue The US House of Representatives passes a housing rescue bill after President Bush says he will not veto it.

	Hurricane Dolly lashes Gulf Coast Hurricane Dolly has reached the Mexico-Texas coast, bringing with it heavy rain and winds up to 100mph (161km/h).

	Top aide quits Argentine cabinet A key aide to the Argentine president resigns days after the government suffered a blow to its tax plans.




ASIA-PACIFIC

	China 'to allow Olympic protests' China says it will allow demonstrations in three designated city parks during the Olympic Games in Beijing.

	Rice holds N Korea nuclear talks US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meets her North Korean counterpart, the first such talks in four years.

	Powerful quake hits north Japan A powerful earthquake of magnitude 6.8 hits northern Japan, causing injuries, power cuts and landslides.




EUROPE

	Karadzic 'aims to defend himself' War crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic plans to conduct his own defence in his trial at The Hague, his lawyer says.

	EU suspends funding for Bulgaria The European Commission suspends aid to Bulgaria worth hundreds of millions of euros amid concern about organised crime.

	Italy targets illegal immigrants Illegal immigrants convicted of crime in Italy face longer jail sentences than those for Italians, under new laws.




MIDDLE EAST

	Iran vows no nuclear concessions Iran will not "retreat one iota" in its nuclear activities, its president says, defying fresh international pressure.

	Talabani denounces election law Iraq's president says he will not approve a draft provincial election law adopted by MPs despite a Kurdish walkout.

	Swapped human remains reach Syria Syria received the bodies of 114 Arab fighters handed over by Israel as part of last week's prisoner exchange.




SOUTH ASIA

	New opposition alliance in India India's communists and other opposition parties launch a joint campaign against rising prices and a nuclear deal with the US.

	Former Bhutto bodyguard shot dead A Pakistan People's Party activist and former bodyguard to Benazir Bhutto is killed by unknown gunmen in Karachi, police say.

	India media condemns vote 'taint' The Indian press says the Congress party-led government's vote of confidence win was "tainted" by charges of vote buying.




UK

	Net firms in music pirates deal Six of the UK's biggest net providers have signed up to a government plan to tackle illegal file-sharing.

	Father charged in quad bike probe The father of a girl who died after the quad bike she was riding was in collision with a Range Rover in Essex is charged with manslaughter.

	'Neglect' of Bletchley condemned UK academics sign a letter criticising the ongoing neglect of Bletchley Park




ENGLAND

	Canoe fraud couple sent to jail Back-from-the-dead canoeist John Darwin and his wife Anne are jailed for a £250,000 fraud.

	Bride-to-be dies in diving trip A bride-to-be from South Yorkshire apparently died after suffering the bends on a diving trip in the South Pacific.

	Police disrupt 13 terror networks Scotland Yard reveals it has disrupted 13 terrorist networks in London in 12 months.




NORTHERN IRELAND

	UUP, Tories consider closer links The Conservatives and UUP are to set up a working group to consider greater co-operation between their parties.

	Three held over extortion claims Three men are arrested in the west Belfast area, in what police have said was an operation against serious crime.

	Four in hospital following crash Four people are taken to hospital following a road accident involving a car and a quad bike in County Londonderry.




SCOTLAND

	Man murdered in front of children A murder inquiry is launched after a man was stabbed to death while out for a walk with his girlfriend and her two children.

	'Suicide' GP guilty of misconduct A Glasgow GP who prescribed sleeping pills to a patient who wanted to take her own life is found guilty of misconduct.

	Family lose Narnia web name fight An Edinburgh couple have lost a battle with the estate of Chronicles of Narnia author CS Lewis over a web domain name.




WALES

	Footballer, 30, dies before game A goalkeeper collapses and dies after warming up for a friendly football match in Flintshire.

	Family tribute to murdered 'hero' The family of a man originally from Gwynedd stabbed to death in New Zealand say he was a hero.

	Fire evacuees allowed back home Residents are allowed to return home after a garage fire led to evacuations amid fears of exploding canisters.




POLITICS

	Net firms in music pirates deal Six of the UK's biggest net providers have signed up to a government plan to tackle illegal file-sharing.

	Games spending 'needs eagle eye' There must be "tight control over costs" in the run-up to the 2012 London Olympics, MPs say.

	Johnson urges obesity 'movement' Alan Johnson calls for a "national movement" to tackle obesity and warns against "vilifying the extremely fat".




BUSINESS

	Net firms in music pirates deal Six of the UK's biggest net providers have signed up to a government plan to tackle illegal file-sharing.

	Three-way split on rate decision The majority of Bank of England policymakers voted to keep rates at 5% this month, but one voted for a cut and another for a rise.

	Bloomberg and Gates fight smoking Two of the world's richest men launch a campaign aiming to tackle smoking in the developing world.




ENTERTAINMENT

	No action over Leslie rape claim No further action is being taken over a rape allegation made against former Blue Peter presenter John Leslie, police have confirmed.

	Des O'Connor to leave Countdown Veteran TV presenter Des O'Connor is stepping down as the host of Countdown at the end of the current series.

	Winehouse parents reveal waxwork A waxwork model of Amy Winehouse is unveiled by her parents at Madame Tussauds in London.




SCIENCE/NATURE

	Renewables mandate 'undermined' Green groups accuse the UK government of trying to sabotage Europes rules on renewable energy.

	Fossils date Dry Valleys' origin Tiny fossils time the climate shift which gave rise to Antarctica's Dry Valleys, a landscape akin to Mars.

	Dolphin call tells calf who's mum Bottlenose dolphins whistle more to their newborns, perhaps to stop theft by other females, researchers say.




TECHNOLOGY

	Net firms in music pirates deal Six of the UK's biggest net providers have signed up to a government plan to tackle illegal file-sharing.

	Manned spaceship design unveiled The first official image of a proposed joint Russian and European manned spacecraft is unveiled.

	MySpace signs up to OpenID scheme Members of the social networking site could soon be using their login details to access lots of other sites.




HEALTH

	Low uptake mars chlamydia testing Chlamydia screening in England reached just a third of those it should have in its first full year, the BBC learns.

	Soy foods 'reduce sperm numbers' A regular diet of even modest amounts of food containing soy may halve sperm concentrations, scientists suggest.

	Discovery may boost statin safety Scientists have pinpointed the genetic cause of a rare side effect of the cholesterol-lowering drugs statins.




EDUCATION

	Schools hunting 'missing' papers Schools in England are trying to track down national curriculum test papers mislaid by the Sats contractor, ETS.

	Morris tells Balls to reform Sats Ed Balls should not resign over the Sats problems, but should use it as an opportunity to overhaul testing, says Estelle Morris.

	Cameron pledge on apprenticeships The Conservatives are vowing to create 100,000 more places for apprentices, saying it will cut social problems.

ON THIS DAY NEWS FROM THE BBC ARCHIVES

1974: Nixon 'must hand over Watergate tapes'
The US Supreme Court orders President Nixon to surrender tape recordings of White House conversations about the Watergate affair.

2000: Loyalist killer Michael Stone freed from Maze
Loyalist paramilitary hitman Michael Stone is released from the Maze prison in Northern Ireland.

1987: Archer wins record damages
Former deputy chair of the Conservative Party Jeffrey Archer is awarded record libel damages at the High Court.

	OPTIONS AND HELP
		You are subscribed from the e-mail address: subscribe@reasonables.com Change To change your e-mail address, the content or format of your daily e-mail, visit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/email Unsubscribe To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/email Other e-mails To see the full range of e-mails available visit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/email

		Help If you are having problems with story links or for general help visit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/email/help Feedback Please send feedback to: mailto:dailyemail@bbc.co.uk

		Copyright BBC 2005